Cover Stories
Meth and Native Peoples
Methamphetamine has disproportionately devastated Native American tribal communities. Native Americans now experience the highest meth usage rates of any ethnic group in the nation, according to a 2006 study from the National Congress of American Indians. The study also found that: Native communities abuse meth at nearly three times higher rates that than Caucasians.…
Banished
Arthur Jones has calmed down. His long, black ponytail salted with gray has stopped swaying. There are now thoughtful pauses between his words. He’s been talking for an hour with the fervor of one wrongfully accused. Standing at the rickety gate of his front porch, he stares out onto the Hoopa Valley. The expanse…
Election Results on Newsstands Now!
We went to parties; we talked to candidates; we clicked “refresh” on the county elections website about a hundred times; and we worked through the night to cram all of the late-breaking election results into this week’s print edition of the Journal, now on newstands. Track down a copy and you can read all about…
Still Awake? The Final Local Election Report is In … Atkins holds on (for now), Ferndale mayor race LITERALLY TIED
Above: HumDemHQ at the moment MSNBC projected Barack Obama’s reelection. Click to enlarge. This is it, polito-junkies. Late night snack. This is all the elections office is releasing tonight. Note: There will be a few provisional ballot numbers released later in the week. Eureka City Council Race: LINDA ATKINS – 3,935, 50.75% JOE BONINO – 3,727, 48.07%…
Goodbye Halloween, Hello Hospital
A severed ear, a broken jaw and a broken nose for the civilians, along with a cut lip for a cop, were among the injuries Arcata police counted up during this year’s Halloween … uh … can it be called a celebration? The Plaza was packed, even with its core cordoned off and officers on…
Arcata Main Street Executive Director Busted for Grow Op
Press release from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force: On 11-02-2012 at about 1000 hours the Humboldt County Drug Task Force served a search warrant at a residence located in the 2600 block of Manzanita Avenue, Eureka. No one was at home when the search warrant was served. Agents located a commercial marijuana growing operation in…
Goodbye, John, and Hello
The light in John Tutuska recognized the light in so many Old Town denizens, and several dogs, over the past 20-plus years, they overflowed Clarke Street Plaza midmorning today as they gathered to bid him farewell. Tutuska, who was 67, died Oct. 14. He was that sunbaked, handsome, peacefulness-spreading fellow who often could be found…
Vote Could Shape Future of SoHum Health Care
The little hospital and clinic that provide basic care in Southern Humboldt could soon get a new board of directors, in a vote that’s in part a referendum on the controversial hospital director. The Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District has been through a bankruptcy and bouts of heavy turnover, and now is in a heated…
Unfair to Bonino
Editor: Eda Bachrach’s recent hysterical rant against Eureka City Council candidate Joe Bonino (Mailbox, Oct. 11) was beyond unfair. Accusing Bonino of being a liar and his supporter Rex Bohn as a borderline criminal based in part on the similarity of their campaign signs borders on pathological!! I support Joe Bonino for Eureka City Council…
About Those Props
For those still weighing the 11 statewide ballot measures, they are: Prop. 30: Raises taxes temporarily to fund schools and some state programs. Prop: 31: Changes state budget cycle; shifts some sales tax money from state to counties. Prop. 32: Sharply limits unions’ political contributions. Prop. 33: Lets insurance companies set rates partly on…
Don’t Trust Monsanto
Editor: Thank you for your article, “The $38 Million Label” (Oct. 11). Why would six chemical companies and their allies be willing to spend that kind of money to prevent one simple line on an ingredient label? Why are they so intent on concealment? What kind of public policy is it that withholds pertinent information…
King Arthur, Part 2: Mount Badon
Then Arthur along with the kings of Britain fought against [the Saxons] in those days, but Arthur himself was the war-lord. … The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one day 960 men from one charge by Arthur; and no one struck them down except Arthur himself, and in…
What’s 35 About?
Editor: You did your readers a great service by acquainting those of them unfamiliar with “Project Censored” (Oct. 18) with an important source of news, instead of the usual mass media drivel including the births of two-headed chickens and the latest activities of meaningless celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Charlie Sheen. The Ballot Recommendation…
Two DVDs
A pair of worthy films that did not play in local theaters are now out on DVD: Damsels in Distress. In Whit Stillman’s first film since The Last Days Of Disco, a private East Coast college is watched over by a group of young philanthropists in training, headed by Violet Wister (Greta Gerwig). These…
Play Fair, Supes!
Editor: Thank you for pointing out that the county is paying over $700,000 in wages and benefits for workers to stay at home (“Don’t Bother Coming In,” Oct. 25), as supervisors continue “denying raises to minimum-wage workers.” IHSS home health care workers are the only county employees who are still paid minimum wage, and our…
Ahh, Krap!
If you refer back to recent local Kinetic lore we’ve reported on in these pages (“Kinetic Klash Kontinues” July 7, 2011, is a good place to start) you’ll note the existence of two merry, sometimes at odds kinetic kamps: The Kinetic Universe and the Humboldt Kinetic Association. Without getting too into it here, while there…
… Or Not
Editor: Margy Emerson expressed her worry, and that of many progressives, that voting for Jill Stein would help Romney/Ryan get elected. In a swing state, that would be a legitimate concern. But we do not live in a swing state. California polls show Obama holding a steady 15 percent lead over Romney. Even if Jill…
Cross Examining Marriage Equality
Four years ago, on Election Day 2008, California voters passed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that overturned a state Supreme Court ruling saying that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. A protracted legal battle followed, leading to a dramatic 2010 federal trial where marriage equality was once again on the line. The appellate…
Split Personalities
Reviews CLOUD ATLAS. Years ago, filmmaker siblings Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix), who can be called many things but not unambitious, decided to take a stab at adapting David Mitchell’s reputedly un-adaptable novel Cloud Atlas. They invited German filmmaker Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), another potentially brilliant filmmaker/iconoclast, to work on the screenplay. Together…
Music and Politics
Everything in life is political. You have your office politics, sexual politics, environmental politics, food politics, local, national, international and — particularly right now — straight-ahead electoral politics. How does music fit in? As we head toward Tuesday’s big election, we’ll take a look. The eco-political Environmental Protection Information Center, aka EPIC, celebrates its…
Sorry, Greens …
Editor: While it is a sad statement, right now a vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party is a mistake, unless the goal is to give Mr. Romney the election (Mailbox, Oct. 25). I would dearly like to vote closer to my heart and soul … but this election can’t afford it. I hold…
It’s Not Easy Reliving Bush
Dusty and the Big Bad World, now on stage at Redwood Curtain, is loosely based on real events: the 2005 decision by PBS — under pressure from the Bush administration — not to air a segment of a children’s program (Postcards From Buster) dealing with lesbian parents. Playwright Cusi Cram, who worked for an associated…
One Singular Sensation
Perhaps it was the meta nature of the story — a musical about the lives of dancers auditioning for a musical — but A Chorus Line became a true Broadway sensation. The 1975 production with a book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics by Edward Kleban and music by Marvin Hamlisch swept…
Election Season
You’re self-absorbed and judgmental, he says — As…
Posturing
Posturing
Crossing the Line from Model to Muse
Molly Ritter likes being looked at. She is a six-foot-tall, vivacious redhead with a striking figure; it is thoroughly unsurprising that she has become a sought after model. But for the local artists who have been lucky enough to work with her, Ritter is much more than just another pretty face. For many, she has…
Schools Held Hostage
Editor: Gov. Brown knows that to pass his tax proposal he can hold education as hostage (“Propping up Schools,” Oct. 4). What I would like to read is what cuts our legislators have made in order to respond to our weak economy. This is a government that cannot balance a budget without spending more than…
Have you seen a targeted political ad?
Help ProPublica find out how politicians are targeting you online. 1. If you spot a small blue triangle icon on any online political ad, or the words “Ad Choices,” take a screenshot of the ad. 2. Then click on the blue triangle or the words “Ad Choices” to find out which company showed you the ad.…
Go, Growers!
Editor: Mr. Faulk’s article, “The Grow Tax” (Oct. 4), shed a very dim light (pardon the pun) on the grow room taxation. There are two major flaws in this proposal that will very likely cost the Arcata taxpayer serious money: First is the fact that the $650,000 cost of this scheme must be paid up…
Who’s Watching You?
If you’re a registered voter and surf the web, one of the sites you visit has almost certainly placed a tiny piece of data on your computer flagging your political preferences. That piece of data, called a cookie, marks you as a Democrat or Republican, when you last voted, and what contributions you’ve made.…
