Cover Story
Crackpot
Dr. Richard Stepp grabs the orange snowshoe by one end as an ersatz pointer to trace an island-hopping path from Northern Europe to Greenland to North America on the overhead projector map. He brought the snowshoe to his April 19 Bigfoot lecture at the Freshwater Grange to demonstrate a point about, well, big feet, but…
The Marsh Eviction’s Lone Protest Arrest: A Grandmother Who Stood Her Ground
Although a handful of advocates and homeless people shouted as the PalCo marsh was forcibly vacated by the Eureka Police Department on Monday, and the Vagabus, bedecked with signs of protest, made a surprise return appearance after eking its way as far south as Garberville, the only protester to actually be arrested was 73-year-old Hollie…
Great Divides
There are two factions of polenta lovers: those who want to dip their spoons into a bowl of golden creaminess and those who want to angle a fork through the browned, cheesy edges. Isn’t our nation divided enough? The polenta lasagna ($17) at Brick and Fire (1630 F St.) is a unifying force. True, it’s…
Weed Legalization Headed to the California Ballot
Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom (who visited Humboldt County pot farms last year) is launching the campaign for legal recreational marijuana today with support for an initiative that gathered enough votes to be on the November ballot. The initiative, which will need voter approval of more than 50 percent, has long been considered the most realistic…
Numbers from the PalCo Marsh Cleanup
The Eureka Police Department has released some information from the May 2 and 3 cleanup of the PalCo Marsh, in which over one hundred homeless people were displaced and/or rehoused. According to the press release, more than 60 tons of trash were collected in the two-day operation. Dozens of sharps containers, used to safely store…
Fresh Air in Freshwater
Missing the sun already? On Sunday, the grand opening of the Freshwater Farms Reserve nature trail, hosted by the Northcoast Regional Land Trust, drew crowds looking to bask in the sunshine along the newly minted paths. Along the 3/4-mile jaunt, with its interpretive signs and kayak and canoe launch, local artists posted up for plein…
HumBug: Gardeners’ Woes
Standing up to work the kinks out of my back brought on by bowing in submission to the dandelions, oxalis, and the nameless red-stemmed running weed among my strawberry plants, a tiny flash of orange caught my eye. When it landed in a nearby pear tree, I saw how its red and black elytra covered…
Evictions Ongoing in PalCo Marsh
There were more reporters, police and clergy than homeless people in the PalCo Marsh this morning as the City of Eureka made a final sweep of the area, forcibly evicting those remaining in the camps. As of 7:30 a.m. at least half of the residents remained, according to accounts, despite repeated warnings over the last…
TL;DR: Five Tips for Wanna-be Bigfoot Hunters
Maybe time, like Sasquatch himself, proved elusive this week. Or maybe you already read the cover story “Crackpot,” about why local physicist Richard Stepp thinks we shouldn’t dismiss the possible existence of Bigfoot outright, and now you’re ready to start your search. Either way, before you pack up your gear and head for the woods,…
Garden Tours with Homeland Security
The head of the University of California, who served for four years as President Obama’s secretary of Homeland Security, spent some time this week exploring Humboldt County. Her itinerary included visits with the United Indian Health Services, a float to the oyster beds on Humboldt Bay and a tour of Arcata Community Forest. The visit…
A Morning Emergency in the Palco Marsh
It’s quiet. Despite its reputation as a chaotic place, the PalCo Marsh, also known as the Devil’s Playground, often is. A few dogs, tied in front of tents, bark. The motor of a fishing boat on the bay can be heard just out of sight behind the trees. Eureka City Councilmember Kim Bergel walks with…
Can It
It has its own museum, it spawned an infamous Monty Python sketch/song (and subsequent musical), and has been added to tech vernacular to mean an unwanted abundance of junk email. You know what we’re talking about: SPAM, of course. SPAM, SPAM, lovely SPAM! It’s preserved so well in the annals of history (and in its…
Full Report: Judge Allows Bulk of PalCo Marsh Evictions to Proceed, Saying “I Have 11 Litigants”
OAKLAND — Eleven homeless people in Eureka cannot be evicted from a long-established homeless encampment on Monday unless the city complies with yet-to-be-determined conditions for their alternative shelter, a federal judge ruled from the bench this afternoon. The 11 sued Eureka in Federal Court on Monday, asking for a temporary restraining order that would prevent the…
Federal Judge Grants PalCo Marsh Restraining Order, But Only for 11 Plaintiffs
A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order to prevent Eureka’s pending eviction of people camping illegally in the Palco Marsh. Kind of. Courthouse News Services’ Katherine Proctor, who was in court covering this afternoon’s hearing, said federal Judge Jeffrey S. White granted a request for the restraining order, but not for all of…
Operating, Lease Agreements Last Hurdle for Container Community
Less than 72 hours before more than 100 homeless people are slated to be evicted from the Palco Marsh area, a new temporary housing project to accommodate 40 of them is taking shape. Down at the corner of Commercial and Third streets in Eureka, a bevy of construction crews worked busily this morning to continue…
Comfort Zone
Entering the vermillion and yellow interior of Ethiopian International Café (210 Fourth St., Eureka) is like being wrapped in a flag at a soccer match. On a recent rainy afternoon, following a tip about the restaurant’s outpost at the Arcata Farmers Market, we grabbed a random-couch-adjacent window table at the brick and mortar location and…
Dig, If You Will, the Picture
Before their time, it seems, the purveyors of the soundtracks of our lives are parting ways with us, leaving legions of broken hearts. This past week, we lost another great: The Purple One. His Royal Badness. Prince. Like Bowie, Prince leaves behind a few celluloid impressions, including 1984’s Purple Rain, showing Saturday, April 30 at the Eureka Theater at 7:30 p.m. ($5). As a film for film’s…
‘A Significant Threat’: Eureka Responds to Lawsuit, Offers Contradictory Declarations
The city of Eureka is arguing in a federal court filing that there is no need for a judge to issue a temporary restraining order halting the city’s planned May 2 eviction of homeless people living in the PalCo Marsh, because there’s no threat that they will be irreparably harmed by being forced to relocate.…
Hello, Handsome
Love Songs Walking through the woods near the Van Duzen River, something caught my eye low in the weeds along side the trail. On close inspection, I was surprised to see a cicada. I usually associate them with warm weather later in the year. It was pretty subdued so I was able to take plenty…
It’s Easy Being Green
Editor: Alec Howard’s quest to live a zero-waste lifestyle sounds like an interesting experiment but not exactly an inspirational example (“No Crap,” April 21). Memorizing bin numbers at the Co-op instead of writing them down on the little twisties probably doesn’t impress many people as a viable life strategy. Howard admits that his quality of…
Think, Do
Editor: For three weeks now the mind has been the subject of letters to the editor (“Mailbox,” April 7, April 14 and April 21). It is our common denominator. It brings us together and separates us as well, on this journey we partake in. The planet is but a fleck in the universe, and on…
Get It
If I had to pick a fictional character I’m most like, it would be Fancy Nancy, the girl in a series of books by children’s author Jane O’Connor. She loves big words. She’d rather go on an excursion than a trip and demonstrate her dance moves instead of showing them off. But I try not…
Butane Hash Oil
Whether it be oils, shatter, wax or honeycomb, the marijuana concentrates market is exploding. And in the eyes of some, that’s a very literal problem. Potent concentrates now make up about half of all legal recreational marijuana sales in Colorado, and some industry insiders predict the shatters, oils and hashes of the weed world will…
The Rains Have Come
The rains have come. All winter it has rained. But it is April now. In the fields, Under the warming sun, The grass is deep, thick, Electric. The cows are dancing for joy.
Cabbage Burgers
Cabbage burgers are individual-sized, savory yeast bread stuffed with peppered beef, cabbage and onions, and they are to rural Nebraskans what sourdough is to Californians. Think calzone or empanada, rather than a typical burger. In Nebraska, these little treasures are also called cabbage buns or runzas; in the neighboring state of Kansas they are called…
Every Song Tells a Story
In a sense, all songs are stories; the ones with lyrics are little more explicit (sometimes), but even instrumental music shares something about the human experience. In many cultures — I’m guessing — songs and music are more clearly understood as a vehicle for a story. That’s not to say that we don’t understand that…
March of the Conifers
Length isn’t everything. The Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) grows fast, quickly outsizing stands of Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana), California black oak (Quercus kelloggii) and Canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis). But although they may be taller, these feral Christmas trees are relative infants next to their Querci neighbors, which reach a peak size of between…
Let It Go
Reviews THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR. To say one movie represents everything that is wrong with Hollywood in 2016 is both facile and unfair; there are, after all, so, so many things wrong. But with The Huntsman, it’s tempting. It’s a sequel/sort of prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), itself a superfluous re-telling. This…
Dead Men’s Tales
The story behind Terrence McNally’s 2014 play Mothers and Sons first emerged in the playwright’s 1988 film André’s Mother, in which Katharine Gerard, the eponymous mother, meets Cal, André’s lover, at the memorial service for her son. Fast forward a couple of decades (McNally took a little creative license with the passage of time) and…
