Cover Story
Bright Bird
If you happened to be hanging around the game pen up at Humboldt State University a couple autumns ago, you might have chanced upon a miserable huddle of characters puking their brains out like over-partied freshman. These guys were small and bright blue with pointy, soot-colored heads. And they’d just had some baaaad eggs. The…
Ben Franklin Smokes a Joint on My Shirt
Sad news. That awesome carnival on the Eureka waterfront is packing up. Soon it’ll be headed down the road, off to brighten the lives of people in some other lucky town. I managed to pop four balloons and win this golden Easter egg of a shirt, which features a droopy-eyed Benji bragging about the resiliency…
Fourth of July Grow Op Bust in Eureka Uncovers 147 Plants
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office: On 7-4-2012, approximately 11:00 a.m. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Community Response Unit (C.R.U.) deputies served a Humboldt County Superior Court Search Warrant on a residence in the 4000 block of Little Fairfield Street, Eureka. When deputies served the search warrant they located two people in the residence, Austin…
McKinleyville Bust: Lots o’ Weed, Lots o’ Guns, Lots o’ Cash
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office: On 07-03-2012, approximately 5:00 p.m. Agents from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force ( H.C.D.T.F.) assisted by deputies from Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Community Response Unit (C.R.U.) served a Humboldt County Superior Court search warrant in the 3200 block of Halfway Avenue, McKinleyville. When the search…
Bite You In The Face
That’s what the Humboldt marten does to the porcupine, supposedly. And it’s what the Center for Biological Diversity does, too, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fails to do what the Center wants — in this case, protect the minksy little triangle-eared critter, of which there are apparently only 20 left in California and…
Female Cage Fighter Tackles Eureka Transient
The Journal moved its offices to Old Town Eureka two years ago to be in the middle of the action, but this morning’s events weren’t exactly what we had in mind. I’d just stepped outside our door to make a phone call when a group of young people sprinted past, hung a left at the…
Pier Among Peers
The Los Angeles Times has decreed something up here in the far-north lonesome of California — den of countryfolk and rabid foxes — worthy of mention that has nothing whatsoever to do with quaintness, tall trees or medicinal wonders. No, it’s not our covered bridges (though we have some). No, not Bigfoot — such an…
The World’s Back
After a seven year absence, condo-cruise ship The World is back with us for the weekend. According to wikipedia, the 44,000-ton, 644-foot ship is owned by its 160 or so residents. The ship has 165 apartments, studio apartments and studios, including 88 “guest suites” rented out on short-term basis, as in a traditional cruise ship. Here’s…
Healy Bros. Building–Almost There!
Sure has changed since I wrote about the Second Street landmark here in March, 2010. Kurt and Kim Kramer showed off the results of 28 months of work, including a major seismic retrofit, at their “soft opening” this morning. The first tenants will probably be up and running in September, including The Siren’s Song…
Poo Lagoon
Ick. Blech. And oh, no: Somebody dumped a big load of crap into Freshwater Lagoon and now the park service has closed the boat launch. A visitor to the lagoon discovered the mess on the south end of the lagoon by the boat ramp on June 27 and reported it to officials at Redwood National…
Hoopa Bust Uncovers Weed, Heroin, Assault Rifle
Press Release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office: On 06-28-2012 at about 1330 hours Humboldt County Drug Task Force assisted by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and the Eureka Police Department served a search warrant at a residence located on Hostler Ridge Road at Community Road, Hoopa. Robby Ray Farr Jackson age 33 lives at…
Struggle for Survival
The federal Fish and Wildlife Service is almost ready to implement its controversial study on protecting the endangered northern spotted owl. The public input period has just ended, and once the agency finishes reviewing the roughly 100 letters it received, it will put together its final plan. There is a good chance that the chosen…
Circumhorizontal Arcs
I received a flurry of emails, complete with photos, following the Rio Dell-to-Trinidad appearance of a circumhorizontal arc on the afternoon of Day Two of the Kinetic Grand Championship (which is how we date things around here). Like the Holy Roman Empire (neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire),the arc is neither circum-, nor arc-like (we’ll…
Mary Jane: The Next Generation
Last summer’s Mary Jane: The Musical was a box office success that many more people wanted to see than could, so bringing it back this summer made sense — especially with recessionary blues still playing in the background. It was also an opportunity to shape a sharper evening, as well as add some new songs…
The Day the Earth Stood Still
On a scrap of hempen paper, by flickering candlelight, occasionally sneezing from the talcum drifting off his wig, John Adams penned a letter to his dearest Abigail. “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America,” he wrote, the feather-end of his quill tickling his nose. “I…
Devil’s Play
Editor: I’d like to commend Mr. Mendes on the highly relevant, insightful and darkly funny Bayshore Mall articles (“Bayshore Mall before … and after Wal-Mart,” June 21). I have spent equal amounts of time as a Borders wage slave and explorer out at Devil’s Playground, a homeless jungle and graffiti haven behind the mall. I…
Another Funny Person!
Humboldt’s slow, steady ascent toward comedic respectability continues. In the last couple of years, our once “ha”-famished county has seen a dramatic uptick in smaller venue standup comedy events thanks to the efforts of Savage Henry Independent Times magazine and the Ba-Dum-Chh comedy troupe. Both have nurtured their own stables of locally grown yuk-slingers, while…
Asteroid Dodger
SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD. Having seen the trailer for this something like a hundred times in the last few months, I was poised to dislike the movie. Either in spite of or due to this reactionary tendency, I found myself almost immediately disarmed. This feeling of mild but thorough approbation…
Vagabond Couples
There are a couple of vegetable dishes we’ve been making in our household lately starting with garlic and lots of ginger cooked in butter with thin sliced onions, cumin and mustard seeds, a mixture that’s known in India and Pakistan as tarka, or taarka — very tasty. David Tiller and his wife Enion Pelta-Tiller borrowed the word to…
We Have a Plan
I’ve been busier than usual these past four months on a project not related to the Journal. In March I joined Dennis Rael (co-owner of Los Bagels) and Rees Hughes (a retired HSU administrator) to form the Bay Trail Advocates. We began meeting regularly with three members of the Timber Heritage Association to get their…
Will Supreme
Will loves him some SCOTUS drama with Obama.
Local? From Salinas?
Editor: Good article on organics (“What’s Organic?” June 21). It is wonderful to see the chains like Costco and Safeway expanding their selections and mainstreaming such an important item. Worth noting is a label Safeway uses in its produce department. “Local,” the sign says, but when this gardener wondered how any local fruit was available…
Anti-Woman Policy
Editor: While reading “OB-Gyn Turmoil at St. Joe’s” by Carrie Peyton Dahlberg (Blog Jammin’, June 21,) regarding a near-ban on sterilization for the chain of hospitals which includes St Joseph and Redwood Memorial, I became angrier and angrier at the gall of those people in administrative jobs making these decisions. According to the article, “doctors…
Fishing Folly
Editor: The basic problem (“Tsunami Boats,” June 14) stems from fisherman greed and nepotism. Washington and Oregon have limited entry programs that actually limited entry. California, lead by the PCFFA (Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen ‘s Association), with much southern influence, in the early 1990s created a program that Increased crab licenses from 280 (average number…
Extreme Endurance
I am a fair weather athlete. The longer days and returning sunshine have dramatically improved my attitude about training. Even on rainy days I keep my shorts and running shoes close by, ready to put in a few miles during a cloud break. I registered for a half marathon at the end of September, so…
God and Wal-Mart
Editor: It’s good to know that Wal-Mart, a company that kills local businesses and profits by exploiting its employees, has now been sanctified by the Christian religion, which exploits its superstition-believers with fear-mongering and espousal of hatred toward people they don’t like. What a partnership! When I read of the blessing of Wal-Mart in the…
Mill Creek Woods
Here I go again. The refrain echoes over…
With Apologies To Amy Stewart
With Apologies To Amy Stewart
I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts
Mark Dery goes where many fear to tread. He’s a member of that endangered species, the freelance intellectual, not hindered by careerist academic drudgery, stifling ideological lockstep or commercial pressure. He’s grown beyond his earlier books, which paid too much obeisance to the gods of postmodern cultural theory. Here he seems more truly himself, and…
