Crash
Humboldt has one of the highest vehicle fatality rates in the country. Is it the roads or us?
Cover Story
Crash
It was Aug. 25, shortly before noon, and Jason Dewayne Fleming, 41, was driving along Lower Pacific Drive, not far from his Shelter Cove home. For reasons that are still under investigation, Fleming lost control of the car and crashed through a wooden fence before careening down a steep bluff, coming to rest about 20…
Homicide in Eureka UPDATED With Memorial Information
A memorial for Terry Lee Thomas will be held tonight at the Holiday Inn Express at 6 p.m. Thomas’ sister, Phyllis Thomas, says in the announcement: “We’ve heard that Terry was well liked by all who knew him despite his circumstances. We invite you to come join us to share the experiences and memories you…
UPDATED: Hoopa Officer-Involved Shooting; Eureka Homicide
2nd UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the officer who fatally shot a 47-year-old suspect near Weitchpec on Sept. 4 as Sgt. Seth Ruiz. Ruiz remains on paid administrative leave from the Hoopa tribal police department, pending the outcome of a multi-agency investigation. See the full press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s…
Last CAASPP Efforts: How Humboldt Students Scored
[image-1] School just started, but test scores are already out in one area — the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP).The test, which measures students’ mathematics and English skills, was only implemented spring of this year. How does Humboldt measure up? Not real well. Over a quarter of students in third through eighth grades…
DA Taps Outside Prosecutor for Warren Double Murder Trial
The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office is bringing in a special prosecutor to try the double-murder case of Jason Anthony Warren. Neither District Attorney Maggie Fleming nor Public Defender Kevin Robinson, one of the attorneys representing Warren, would comment on the move, citing a gag order looming over the case. But Mendocino County District Attorney…
Three Harbor District Hopefuls DQed for Lack of Signatures
It looks like there won’t be a 1st Division Harbor District race after all. Last month, we reported that a trio of candidates stepped forward announcing their intent to run for the seat being vacated by Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Commissioner Aaron Newman. Well, it appears two of them weren’t very serious.…
Republican of Year, Former Reagan Advisor Hannaford Dies
Former consultant to Ronald Reagan and conservative heavyweight Peter Hannaford died in his sleep Saturday night, just hours after appearing at an event at Eureka Books to celebrate the publication of his newest book. He was 82. Perhaps best known locally for his stint as the opinion page editor for The Eureka Reporter, Hannaford served…
HumBug: Good Mothers
In grammar school I learned that only the birds and mammals cared for their young. Later I learned that crocodiles and alligators build and protect nests, but largely the “lower lifeforms” do little after laying their eggs. Aside from the social insects that feed, protect and rear the young into adulthood, parental care is relatively rare…
Need $10K? Find the AT&T Slasher
AT&T is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction for whoever sliced through a fiber optic line Thursday morning between Ukiah and Hopland, resulting in a 16-hour Internet, phone and television outage that impacted five counties. Humboldt County was among the hardest hit by the outage, which stretched from…
The Reluctant Cyclist, part 6
Number of miles ridden: 7.5 Number of times feared for life: 1 Number of times stopped to admire the beauty: 2 Number of unicycles shared an intersection with: 1 Look, I’ve missed it, okay? And people have started asking me, “Hey, did you ride your bike today?” Guilt colors my voice every time I have…
iBlock – version 30.0
Arcata’s I Block Party, the annual fundraiser for the Arcata-Camoapa Sister City Project, celebrates three decades of international friendship and solidarity on Monday, Sept. 7, from noon to 6 p.m. in front of Los Bagels in Arcata (free admission). Enjoy live music from the Lyndsey Battle Trio, Mad River Rose, Samb A More and The…
Cannabis, Enviro Groups Agree! Or, No Wait, They Don’t.
When California Cannabis Voice Humboldt, the political action committee behind two proposed county marijuana ordinances, announced agreement with environmental groups yesterday, it provoked a mixed reaction from those groups. CCVH was responding to a letter sent to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors by four environmental groups that outlined the protections the groups believe a…
The Days of Beer and Bigfoot
Things get a little sassy-squatch in Willow Creek this Saturday, Sept. 5. at the annual Bigfoot Days, the event that honors the hairy biped (free). You know, the elusive dude with the size-22 shoe? He’s pretty shy, Yeti probably will make an appearance waving from someone’s truck in the parade as it rolls down Highway…
Trinidad Art Nights
Friday, June 5, 6-9 p.m. Shuttle Service available with several pick-up and drop-off locations throughout town. Lighthouse View (start of Trinity Street) BEACHCOMBER 363 Trinity St. TBA. MOONSTONE CROSSING 529 Trinity St. “Photography of Trinidad and Beyond,” Dana Utman, digital archival prints. Music by Tony Roach. SEASCAPE RESTAURANT AND PIER 1 Bay St. Art TBA.…
Sinking Sensation
Editor: I think NCJ generally does a terrific job handling controversial subjects. In the recent cover story on school bonds and lease-leaseback financing, however, NCJ crossed the line into sensationalizing (“The $50 Million Henhouse,” Aug. 27). The headline “$50 million Henhouse” and the tagline “controversial and legally questionable contracts” superimposed over a photo of the…
Worldly Things
Reviews DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL. My wife accompanied me to this one, both because she thought she might enjoy it and because I thought her presence might temper my cynicism. Wrong on both counts; she liked it even less than I did and my cynicism was left unfettered. Leaving the theater, she said, “Ugh,…
The Long Road to Happy
Happiness — that elusive, ephemeral state so often framed like a place to arrive at rather than a way of traveling. In its pursuit we are sold every variety of magic beans and, while it is clear that no one can be happy all the time, we still often feel like we’re doing something wrong…
All Hail the Heather
Whether planted in drifts or used singly in the foreground of a shrub planting, heathers are one of the easiest plants to succeed with on the North Coast. They tolerate harsh coastal winds, aren’t bothered by deer, and need only moderate amounts of water once established if they are well mulched and planted in drifts,…
The Reluctant Cyclist
Number of miles ridden: 8.6 Time traveled: 46:37 minutes (This included a stop at the Co-op during which I left Strava app on. Oops.) Number of stop signs deliberately blown through (clear view of no cars! Momentum! Some guilt!): 1 Number of times actively feared for life: 1 This was the kind of morning that…
When in Florence
“The streets met at odd angles, and urine reeked in the alleys. No one living in here could forget his basic humanity.” (When in Florence, p. 32.) This not a new book; it was published in 1986, but I only recently stumbled across it. And newness isn’t everything. In fact, sometimes it’s best to let…
Hiding Places
I am not a conspiracy theorist. Well, maybe I am a little. I can’t help believing in a conspiracy when some government or corporation keeps me from information that I need to assess a situation. And, because secrets are harder to keep these days, information kept hidden seems more significant. That’s what has happened locally…
What Are the Odds?
The feat was so stunning that all Rob Mandell could do was scream. Mandell, a Eureka native with a bad back, had just sunk a 5-foot putt on the 18th hole to shoot a 12-under-par 60 at Redwood Empire Golf and Country Club, setting a new course record. It is also the lowest score ever…
Zig Zag Trail August 1, 2015
In that pool, right there, we told the stranger, you can see them, the great fish spawning in winter when the rains come. That morning a brown haze dimmed the sun, ashes fell from the sky through air still and hot. When the water comes down the creek, the fish move up from the sea…
Generation W
School’s back in session and a new study reports that more college students are smoking pot frequently. Six percent of students told University of Michigan researchers that they smoked weed daily or nearly daily in 2014, according to a Reuters article, nearly double the number in 2007. (Quick math: If 6 percent of 20 million…
A September to Remember
The calendar says it’s September. How did it happen? As an ardent lover of summer, the month that marks the end of my favorite season takes me by surprise. A part of me wants to dislike September, but how can I, when our landscape is awash in golden light and the farmers’ markets are overflowing…
Welcome Students!
To everything there is a season, a purpose, and a time. It may be short, or it may be long, but undoubtedly time continually hurries on. I don’t really know what that means, but I’m sure whomever I plagiarized understood. Let’s just say it’s about seasons and cycles and changes. A couple of changes present…
Go Around
Editor: Jennifer Savage’s series on cycling (“The Reluctant Cyclist,” Aug. 20 and 27) presents another opportunity to proclaim loudly and widely that California law now requires motorists to allow 3 feet (36 inches) of space between their vehicle and any part of a bicycle that they wish to pass. This means that, regardless of how…
Transfigured
Bodies of Work, curated by longtime College of the Redwoods drawing instructor Dean Smith, brings together recent paintings and drawings that focus entirely on the nude human figure, that most elevated of Western pictorial subjects. The participants belong to Smith’s figure-drawing circle, which has met informally for several summers and shown here twice before. The…
On Conviviality
Editor: This letter is in response to “A Familial Vote” (Aug. 6). Author Michael Tout states that racing is a “controversial and at best questionable community activity.” However, he fails to state specific examples other than “macho power displays” and “noise pollution,” of which the noise pollution argument of one or two days a month…
Arts Alive!
Saturday, Sept. 5, 6-9 p.m. Presented by the Humboldt Arts Council and Eureka Main Street. Opening receptions for artists, exhibits and/or performances are held the first Saturday of each month. Phone (707) 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreet.org for more information or to have an exhibit or performance included. 1. EUREKA INN 518 Seventh St. Performances…
Gusto for Gustin
Editor: Amy Gustin got it right (“Cannabis Crossroads,” Aug. 6). What irony if a region known for its environmental activism lets the commercial pot industry ruin its environment. Environmental regulation will be very hard to enforce, and no government should make laws it cannot enforce; it engenders disrespect in the populace (apologies to Lao Tse).…
