Maybe the Journal should start an ongoing feature called “Boards Behaving Badly.” I don’t get it. These public servants are duly elected and have the backing of the majority of their constituents. Then once in office, they fall prey to taking the easy path of making tough or uncomfortable decisions, first behind closed doors, and […]
Publisher
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Leadership Seriously Lacking
My mom used to say, “Judy Ann, if you can’t say anything nice about someone … .” You know the end of that sentence. I hope she will forgive me. I landed my first real job when I was 15. I fried taquitos and made banana splits in El Monte, Calif. My first professional job […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Bay [T]rail Update No. 6
Publisher note: If I had my reporter’s hat on, I could tell you a lot of behind-the-scenes drama and painfully slow progress on the Bay Trail, the link in the California Coastal Trail between Eureka and Arcata. But I can’t. I’m a Bay [T]rail Advocate — one of the lobbyists. From the beginning of my […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Political Reality 2013
We often read in news articles that so-and-so couldn’t be reached for comment. Well, sometimes a reporter just doesn’t try very hard. Sometimes we’re even glad when our phone calls aren’t returned, truth be told. But I want Journal readers to know how hard we tried to get an interview with our new Humboldt […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
The Video Recording, Please
We have heard from Eureka Police Chief Murl Harpham, and we appreciate his swift response to Editor Carrie Peyton Dahlberg’s complaint about being threatened with an arrest after she took photos in the Eureka Main Library parking lot. Harpham says there is a video recording of the incident, but so far it has not […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Waiting for Answers
We want to give readers an update on an incident that happened Feb. 22 in the parking lot of the Humboldt County Library, reported in last week’s paper, especially since it has become the topic of much discussion on the Journal website and in this week’s letters to the editor. Journal Editor Carrie Peyton […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
[T]rail Update No. 5
YYYYYEEEEESSSSS!!! That was my reaction as I left the North Coast Railroad Authority board meeting in Eureka last Wednesday. The board had just voted unanimously to receive a report from three of its directors, the ad hoc Humboldt Bay Rail Corridor Committee, and directed staff to bring back a resolution supporting “a broad-based Humboldt […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Gifts All Around
Each year I write an introduction to the Journal Gift Guide, which runs every week between now and the week before … well, the start of Kwanzaa. I try to infuse it with holiday cheerfulness. Last year was especially tough. Three years into a recession like we’ve never seen before, not in my lifetime. […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Senseless Tragedy
It was overcast and still quite dark that morning, Sept. 27, when the three women parked their cars at Three Corners Market, put on reflective vests and checked the batteries in their headlamps. Maggie, Jessie’s dog, had her flashing collar turned on as usual. Then they headed out running north toward Arcata on the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
One More Step
On Friday, a subcommittee of the North Coast Railroad Authority will meet at 10 a.m. in the Eureka City Council Chambers with one agenda item: to learn from an engineer, a railroad expert, about the current condition of the 101 corridor right of way around the bay from Eureka to Samoa. Why do I care […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
News blackout
One blogger last week accused the Journal of a news blackout on the topic of the Bay Trail. It’s mostly true. When I volunteered to work with trail advocates in March, Journal Editor Carrie Peyton Dahlberg and her staff decided no coverage while the story is unfolding. The original Bay Trail Advocates’ plan was to […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
On Leadership
There’s a big difference between running for office and actually governing. Or being confirmed as a Supreme Court justice and crafting a thoughtful, independent decision. The latter takes leadership. We witnessed two examples last week, one in Washington, D.C., and one here in Humboldt. In 2010 I wrote in this column what the Health Care […]