Cover Story
Albert and the Baskets
The women in her family made baskets — Yurok, Karuk and Hupa women who, since time immemorial, went into the woods and hills to gather sticks and bark, lily stems and other materials, then pounded, split, dried, dyed and bleached them and wove them into beautiful, strong tools. Baby carriers, hoppers, cooking and eating bowls,…
No Shopping Cart Left Behind
Could Eureka’s scourge of shopping cart bandits and their war on our disease-free children (think of the children) be coming to an end? In its latest monthly newsletter, the city announced it’s going medieval, appointing a “shopping cart czar” (no joke) to bring an end to Eureka’s greatest dilemma: people stealing shopping carts and pushing…
UPDATED: Kim Bergel’s Slim, Slim Chance
UPDATE: Hold the phone! Kim Bergel’s chances of unseating Eureka Councilman Mike Newman for his Ward 3 seat just got a fair bit chunkier. When the Journal spoke to Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich after midnight, she estimated 1,000 or so ballots may have been dropped off at the Humboldt County Elections Office…
UPDATE: FINAL Report: Measure P On Solid Ground
FINAL REPORT: Votes cast:28,653 Precincts reporting: 107 of 107 Yes: 59.43 percent No: 40.57 percent Fourth report: Votes cast: 26,140 Precincts reporting: 94 of 107 Yes: 57.91 percent No: 42.09 percent Third Report: Votes cast: 21,684 Precincts reporting: 69 of 107 Yes: 56.11 percent No: 43.89 percent It’s looking like P will win, as expected. The…
4TH UPDATE: Tax Measures
4TH UPDATE: Here’s the final Election Night Report, with no changes. All local tax measures have passed, with the notable exception of the 1-percent proposed sales tax increase in Fortuna, which voters rejected decisively. Final report (results shown in percentages) Measure Q (Eureka) – 65.79 for, 34.12 against 5,586 votes cast, 100 percent of precincts…
5TH UPDATE: The Council Races
5th UPDATE: The final tallies are in… The only nail biter race appears to be in Eureka’s Ward 3, where challenger Kim Bergel trails incumbent Mike Newman by just 104 votes. It’s currently unclear how many provisional and vote by mail ballots remain to be counted in Eureka, so it’s hard to tell if Bergel…
UPDATE: No Go For Eureka’s Fair Wage Act
SECOND UPDATE: The third election night report is in, with 67 percent of county precincts reporting, but the numbers on Measure R didn’t change from the second report. It’s likely that most, if not all Eureka precincts, are in. Over at the Siren’s Song Tavern, Fair Wage Folks gathered to listen to Turtle of the…
2nd UPDATE: It’s Too Late!
2nd UPDATE: And the polls are closed… Stay tuned for the first batch of results, which should be posted any time now by the humboldt County Elections Office. UPDATE: The polls close in an hour, so if you want to vote you’d better get to it. If you’re on the fence, scroll down to see…
Former DA Candidate Moves On
Former Humboldt County District Attorney candidate Elan Firpo took her first steps in a new career today, stepping in as a partner in a prominent local firm now known as Zwerdling, Bragg, Mainzer and Firpo. “It’s a new challenge and I’m really looking forward to a new chapter,” said Firpo, who has worked as a…
Celebrating the Dead
The spirits of the dead were alive and celebrating in Old Town on Saturday night, with the 12th annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration in full swing. Put on by the Ink People Center for the Arts and Humboldt Communidad in collaboration with Danza Xalxiutlikue, the event featured a parade and dance performances in celebration…
Ebola Prep
The ebola virus has killed more than 4,900 people and infected more than 13,500, mostly in West Africa, in this latest outbreak, according to the World Health Organization. Just four people in the United States have come down with ebola: one who died (he contracted it before coming to the U.S.), two who contracted it…
Halloween Cuteness on the Plaza
The skies parted Friday afternoon, and trick-or-treaters on the Arcata Plaza found a pleasant surprise: sunshine. Local photographer Alexander Woodard was there to capture some of the Halloween cuteness.
Arkley’s ‘Dog Ranch’ on the Market
Ever dream of owning a property that offers room to wander, with ocean front views? Have a cool $2 million to spare? Well, if you answered in the affirmative to both those questions, then Rob Arkley has the property for you. The Arkley-owned Sequoia Investments X recently put a more than 200-acre swath of property…
Still Spooky
The skeletons continue tumbling out of the closet on Saturday, Nov. 1. You worked way too hard on that costume for one night of showing off. Take to Bear River Casino’s ballroom for the Halloween Hangover with DJs Pressure Anya and a bunch of other people in wild get-ups (free). Three cash prizes are on…
Revelers be Warned
The Arcata Police Department sent out a sternly worded press release this afternoon warning that criminal Halloween tomfoolery will not be tolerated. No doubt seeking to avoid a repeat of last year’s scary plaza spooktacular — which saw 35 arrests, a man stabbed with a liquor bottle and a cop car mercilessly beaten by a…
We Want Short Shorts
Writers of ridiculously tiny prose, your time is running out. Friday — aka Oct. 31, aka Hallowe’en, aka (over there yonder) Nevada Day — is the last day to enter our flash fiction contest. It’s too late to snail mail those suckers to us, so e-mail them to fiction@northcoastjournal.com. Or, if you have to, drop them…
Little Monsters
If the wet weather spooked you out of trick-or-treating last weekend — or if your candy got a little damp — you have a do-over coming on Friday, Oct. 31. Wring out your cape and wear it to the Arcata Plaza, where kiddies can collect candy from 4 to 6 p.m. (free). On the same…
Money Talks
Exactly 20 years ago, then-Congressman Michael Huffington tried to wrest a U.S. Senate seat from Dianne Feinstein by spending $29 million, most of it from his own piggy bank. With the $12 million that Feinstein spent, it was the most expensive race in U.S. Senate history. He lost the election. How charming those days were.…
Horizons Unknown
Doubt is a luxury,” declares local French-born artist Marceau Verdiere. “Being able to doubt means you have the time to doubt; you have choices to ponder.” These choices, and the time to consider their consequences, are actually a privilege, he says. In many places people have no time to doubt. They have to figure out…
First Saturday Night Arts Alive! Nov. 1, 6-9 p.m.
Presented by Eureka Main Street. Opening receptions for artists, exhibits and performances are held the first Saturday of each month. For more information, call 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreet.org 2. HUMBOLDT ARTS COUNCIL at the Morris Graves Museum of Art 636 F St. Performance Rotunda: Music by Mad River Rose. William Thonson Gallery: “Disconnecting the…
Gutenberg’s Legacy:
Although Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) is usually credited with having invented printing, it’s fairer to say that he introduced a system of mechanical printing to Europe, since virtually all the technologies he employed had already been invented, either in Europe or China. Like most innovators, his flair lay in combining existing methods, modifying and improving as…
On Higher Wages
Editor: I’d like to respectfully take issue with comments against Measure R by my employer, Dennis Rael, in his joint letter with Berit Meyer (Mailbox, Oct. 16). “Fixed income” describes the minimum wage precisely, and I don’t believe Measure R will harm me any. And neither should you. Since the ’70s, people on so-called “fixed…
VIACOMedy of Errors
Editor: When I saw Sean McLaughlin’s article, “Viacom Zaps Suddenlink,” in the Oct. 23 issue, I was anxious to get the real story about why we Suddenlink subscribers have been deprived of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, among others. I say “anxious” because of the back and forth baloney from Suddenlink and Viacom. Suddenlink agents…
Bike This Way
Editor: Mairead Dodd’s Oct. 23 letter about police Chief Andrew Mills’ vendetta against riding bicycles on sidewalks in Eureka left me wondering. My understanding is that it’s only illegal in specifically defined zones around Henderson Center and in the downtown area. When I looked it up years ago there were actual maps showing the boundaries.…
Smoking Section?
Editor: Arcata would do better instead of trying to ban smoking and public drinking, to be progressive and build a cool place for folks that do that to hang out that’s fairly close to the downtown square. Set aside some city property or buy a space, and make it a cool, fun, hassle-free place for…
Public Safety Funding?
Editor: My trust in Eureka Police Department has been severely damaged by the shooting death of the young man Tommy McClain (“Unanswered,” Oct. 9). It was tragic because it seemed so unnecessary. All the decisions that led to his death need a serious, unbiased review. Only a civil suit against EPD (if there is one)…
GMOs
Editor: I would like to know why the anti-P camp is so elusive (“Fear vs. Hope,” Oct. 2). We are not “confused consumers,” but would like, just as John’s cows, to be productive as long as possible and live a long healthy, happy life. Cheryl Furman, Kneeland Editor: As a local organic farmer I’ve been…
Vote This Way
Editor: It is surprising that Chet Albin didn’t drop out of the race for Eureka city council after the Aug. 2 “incident” at Arts Alive. I believe that can only be explained by the lack of print media coverage or investigation, though there was a reference to the incident by the Buhne Tribune in the…
Monster Mashups
Halloween is inarguably the best celebration of the year. New Year’s Eve is fine, but wrapped within the year-end partying is the knowledge of things left undone and the obligatory attempt toward improvement via resolutions — or the acceptance that this is as good as you’re going to get and all that the realization implies.…
All the News That’s Pot
High Times, the venerable marijuana magazine found in headshops and behind cardboard at your favorite corner liquor store, turned 40 recently. In celebration, the magazine released a coffee table book, which is generously reviewed in the New York Times by Dwight Garner. It sounds like a good read, chronicling the magazine’s wild early days, the…
Wick on Fire
John J. Bennett Reviews JOHN WICK serves as one more exhibit in the damning case against Hollywood’s conventional wisdom. People who should know better seem shocked that it opened well at the box office. Granted, a revenge shoot-em-up directed by stunt players (David Leitch and Chad Stahelski) may not be everybody’s idea of the perfect…
The Sweet Hereafter
When the spirits of the departed return, you don’t offer them just anything. Sweet, colorful pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, only shows up on altars and tables during the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations on Nov. 1 and 2. Have you been under a rock? Or on the East Coast? If…
Erato
flute in hand, poring over her shelves, seeking something diaphanous in an outfit, hears the cry of a blocked poet. Racing to the paper-strewn study on wings of thought, she diagnoses instantly, “Comma, not semicolon!” And departs, still sans outfit, a fleeting vision, and there is heard her faint, elegaic toot of farewell.
