Crude Figures
Humboldt’s soaring gas prices are putting the bust back into combustion
Cover Story
Crude Figures
Last Wednesday Shelly O’Brien climbed up a rickety old ladder in front of her one-pump, two-nozzle gas station on Myrtle Avenue in Eureka and raised the price of regular unleaded 14 cents to $4.52 per gallon. "Maybe one of these days I’ll be rich enough I can buy myself a new ladder," O’Brien joked on…
MEGA EXCLUSIVE WEB EXTRA: The Unexpurgated Heraldo-Dandy Papers
Sock! Wham! Pow! This week’s “Town Dandy” column — it’ll go live here at the stroke of midnight — contains some musings and ruminations about Heraldo, proprietor of the popular Humboldt Herald blog. It also identifies Scott Greacen, executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center, as member of that elite circle who know the…
Gold war
Tis the season for dredge miners to dust off their campers and mosey into the mountains for river gold. Tis also budget season, and the Karuk Tribe and California Trout have asked Gov. Schwarzenegger to endorse a provision that the state legislature added to the 2008 Budget Bill that would place a moratorium on suction…
Reggae War officially over
The news hit the SoHum blogosphere over the weekend. This press release (and advert for Reggae Rising) from People Productions makes it as official as it gets: The Dimmick Ranch and People Productions, Tom Dimmick and Carol Bruno, are pleased to announce that they reached a negotiated settlement with the Mateel Community Center on Friday…
Rich Somerville Found Dead
An unimpeachable source tells us that Times-Standard Editor Rich Somerville was found dead at his Trinidad home yesterday evening. More details as they become available.
No Paraskavedekatriaphobia
Did you notice the date on this paper? It’s Thursday the 12th of June, which makes Friday June 13th. That’s right, Friday the Thirteenth. I guess it’s no coincidence that M. Night Shyamalan’s latest scary movie, The Happening, opens that night. What’s the big deal that makes it an unlucky day? Hard to say. Those…
Cow v. Horse
Editor: I am writing in response to last week’s cover story on the low market value for horses in this area ("Ends Meet," June 5). Because they can no longer be sold for slaughter, there is an excess of animals, many of which are aged or can no longer work for other reasons. This situation…
Second Friday Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call 822-4500. 1: East Side Deli and Market 420 California St. Russell Bashaw, natural patterns using blends of organic materials, watercolors and wood.…
Cold Links
Editor: Marcy Burstiner makes a few interesting points regarding newspapers and the Internet ("Media Maven," June 5). I agree that newspapers could identify net links for patrons who have computer access and would like to learn more about a topic, and that, certainly, Internet news services could liberally use net links for those already hooked…
USFS Knob Sale
Editor: Seth Naman’s story about the Salmon River kayak and raft race was almost as good as getting wet, but there’s one point that bears correction ("Off the Pavement," June 5). Mr. Naman writes that "(t)he drainage basin of the Salmon River is almost completely covered by federally designated wilderness, making it one of the…
Eat Your Trash
For years, people in the gardening industry — seed companies, plant growers, owners of garden centers — have complained that gardening is on the decline. People don’t have time to garden anymore, they said. This younger generation just doesn’t want to spend the weekend in the backyard. Or if they do, they don’t consider the…
Jack and the Beanstalk
Ballet performance by North Coast Dance. June 7 at the Arkley Center It was a pleasure to sit in the tastefully ornate Arkley Center in Eureka on a Saturday afternoon. North Coast Dance’s artistic director, Danny Furlong, choreographed his vision of Jack and the Beanstalk as a vehicle for his company members and younger students…
Sum Funk
Live music June 7 at Benbow. George Clinton danced by the Eel River in a peacock headdress, pink and yellow mini-braids, and a checkered brown baller jacket down to his knees. The crowd sang out, "We want the funk! Gotta have the funk!" and bounced together in the same collective energy. Little girls danced on…
Gods of the Earth
Album by By The Sword. Kemado Records. When The Sword’s Age of Winters dropped in 2006, the album was received with a great deal of enthusiasm, especially by those heralding the band as part of the retro-metal movement that has barreled its way through the indie underground in recent years. Paying equal homage to both…
Marshlands: Another Interpretation
I hadn’t planned it this way, but I find myself writing once again about an artist whose work interprets our local marshes. This artist, Ellen Land-Weber, has focused on a specific place — the Arcata Marsh. It’s fascinating to see how different two artists’ approaches are when the inspiration is the same. The work that…
Secret Ingredients
In the days when we thought we had money, we used to go for breakfast to The Crest House in Culver City, a big "family restaurant" with a dark, dingy bar attached. We’d play racquetball for an hour, shower, then sit in the bar (away from the "family" section) and have Bloody Marys and a…
The Watery Farewell
Last Monday morning, a bumbling yellow bus carried Mr. Trone’s fourth-grade students eastbound down Highway 299. The Pine Hill Elementary students were about to say some sad goodbyes down by the rocky banks of the Mad River. Already waiting at the Mad River Fish Hatchery in Blue Lake, 11 baby steelhead swam round and round…
An Excess of X
Human females possess two X chromosomes, whereas males have one X and one small Y chromosome. This is in addition to 22 pairs of autosomal chromosomes unrelated to sex. Males prove that just one X is sufficient, so how do females cope with an excess of X chromosomes? They do so by inactivating one of…
About Schmidt
Confidential to Corpus Christi Federal Bankruptcy Judge Richard S. Schmidt: All is forgiven. The first few months of the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy case — the first few months of 2007 — were full of patent absurdities, and you bore some of the brunt of our ridicule. Who can forget the great "phone-booth office" scam, in…
Bike Lock
What remains of the former Arcata Library Bikes is not shiny and new. A pile of rusty cogs, broken spokes and flattened rubber wheels attached to partially disassembled metal bikes sits in front of a painted yellow garden shed off of Alliance Road. Inside the shed, one working mountain bike stands upright and is available…
Ages of Man
Previews Apparently fans of movies made from comics like their fare solidly in the mainstream. As a result, the somewhat brooding, arty take of Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk sank faster than a blueblood at a bar brawl. So, a mere five years later from director Louis Leterrier (the Transporter films) comes The Incredible Hulk, opening…
Gas Crime
A few months ago, security tapes from the Indianola Market captured images of a "decent-looking guy" rolling up to the gas pump in a White Jeep Cherokee. As the gas flowed like a river into the handsome man’s jeep, he frantically looked through his pockets, side panels and wallet for his money. But by what…
Myrtletown Cemetery
The long-dead doze beneath me, their stones set…
Have RV, still gonna travel
Well, you bought the damned thing — you might as well use it. That’s the advice one rich fella says to another rich fella who, perhaps, is wondering whether he and the wife oughta take their Fleetwood Bounder with the boss triple slide-outs for a spin this summer. It’s also the attitude RV parks around…
Aspects of Tragedy
By William S. Kowinski Between Two Winters returned to the Carlo Theatre stage last weekend, not as an encore so much as an iteration — a tryout of changes before its upcoming weekend at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Tasked with creating and performing an Aristotelian tragedy by adapting a story from the news,…
