Dog Fight
A madcap escapade of larceny, vendettas and a pair of missing mastiffs
Cover Story
Dog Fight
The story has all the elements for a crackerjack Coen brothers thriller: It starts with a burly, goateed biker called “Scooter” and his pure-bred English mastiffs, Max and Brandi. The day after Thanksgiving, Scooter reports Max and Brandi stolen — taken, he says, by a pair of devious lovebirds who loaded his gentle giants into…
Two Crows Electrocuted
The power outage in part of Arcata this morning (including the Journal office) was caused by a pair of crows shorting out a transformer according to PG&E spokesperson Jana Morris, who called KHUM in response to an inquiry from DJ Mike Dronkers. Since there were two crows, Dronkers surmised that the electrocution was perhaps related…
Lost Coast Communications buys KXGO
Big news in the local radio world: Lost Coast Communications is buying KXGO from Redwood Broadcasting. This brings the Ferndale-based radio group up to four stations, the others being the KHUM flagship, the “new rock” station KSLG and KWPT, The Point. LCC CEO Patrick Cleary confirmed the purchase. “It’s a great station. It’s a real…
Photos Released in Arson Investigation
The Humboldt County Arson Task Force released these fuzzy security camera stills that show a suspicous pedestrian strolling through South Bay Elementary School Tuesday night before a fire erupted , causing half a million dollars in damage. The task force has determined that the fire was indeed caused by arson, though no arrests have been…
Mr. Bohner in the WSJ
Beautifully bearded rock god /green handiman/all-around nice guy Steve Bohner makes a surprise appearance in today’s Wall Street Journal , giving expert testimony on the solar hot-water systems industry. Bohner, who owns Arcata’s Alchemy Construction Inc., even throws down some righteous rock ‘n’ roll attitude on those Wall Street fat cats: He bristles a bit…
Could L.A. Weed Ruling Hurt Local Economy?
Yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance that will limit the number of licensed marijuana dispensaries in the city to 70. Currently they have about 1,000 of ’em, according to Reuters . The measure also will prohibit dispensaries from locating less than 1,000 feet from schools, public parks, libraries or churches or across…
Bomb Scare in Arcata
Update, 4:49 p.m. — Interim Chief Tom Chapman clarifies the city’s role in suspending photography at the scene. The parking lot behind Arcata City Hall by the library, as well as the nearest sidewalk to the lot, was closed all morning as investigators examined a suspicious device. APD officers were directing people away from the…
Titus And Her Tweet Quake
PoynterOnline’s Julie Moos interviewed Caroline Titus, editor and publisher of The Ferndale Enterprise, about her leap into the Twitterverse on Jan. 9, after the 6.5 quake in Humboldt. Titus recalls how, once she’d made sure her family and a neighbor were OK, she went to town to do the usual reporterly thing of “chronicling the…
Eureka, Haiti Victims of ‘Earthquake Weapon’?
The U.S. government can’t reduce the deficit or pass health care reform, but when it comes to weaponry, you better recognize! Within reason, that is: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez apparently believes that Eureka’s 6.5 temblor and Haiti’s devastating 7.0 quake were caused by a top-secret Pentagon shockwave weapon — a sort of disaster-blaster that can…
Sundberg Is In
At a meeting in the North Coast Journal offices a few moments ago, lifelong McKinleyville resident Ryan Sundberg ended the speculation — he confirmed that he will, in fact, join the throng seeking the seat of outgoing Fifth District Supervisor Jill Duffy in the upcoming election. Sundberg, 34, is a member of the Trinidad Rancheria…
Humboldt County Promo Videos
Remeber those promotional YouTube videos the county spent a pile of money on a while back ? This isn’t those.
Got Earthquake or Storm Damage?
If your house was among the many that sprouted cracks and leaks (or worse) in Earth’s recent tectonic North Coast smackdown, or if it suffered flood damage from the near-Biblical storm that’s saturating our very pores, well… Humboldt County to the rescue! Low-interest, deferred loans are now available for low-ish income residents to conduct home…
Points de suspension
Dapper Dean. Hey, a bankrupt Texan! What a twist, though! If you were giving odds 10 years ago, who would you have expected to end up still in control of his insanely over-leveraged megalithic megacorp … Maxxam/Pacific Lumber’s Charles Hurwitz, High Lord of the Financial Dark Arts, or boy-faced newspaperman Dean Singleton? Well, you got…
Quake Recap
Editor: Excellent coverage of the earthquake (“Rumbletown,” Jan. 14). However, the picture of Old Town’s Café Waterfront serving patrons by candlelight raises a red flag. Candles present a safety no-no after an earthquake due to existing or possible gas leaks. Ken Hansen, McKinleyville Editor: Jan. 9 was a memorable day, but what will stand…
Whole Wheat Severity
Editor: Long ago the Co-op Bakery — more formally known as the North Coast Bakery, or simply to some as the God D*ed Bakery — did indeed make a “severe” whole wheat loaf (“Quest for Bread,” Jan. 14). We still do: It’s our whole wheat sourdough, and some people still love it. We also used…
Logged In
Editor: Thank you for writing about the transition to electronic medical records (EMR) in your Jan. 7 issue (“Top of the Charts”). I was disappointed that, in your otherwise extensive coverage of the local challenges, you failed to mention or have any discussions with me or my colleagues at Eureka Family Practice. Not only are…
Doofi, Comic and Tragic
Editor: It’s not often — well, not very often — that the entire letter page is a downer (“Mailbox,” Jan. 7). And Josh Kinch isn’t even participating this time! I certainly respect everybody’s right to not have my opinion, but I thought “Prodigal Arkley” (Dec. 31) was a cartoon and humor masterpiece. As a hip,…
Simulation and Its Discontents
Daily life is being reshaped so rapidly and extensively by quickly pervasive new technologies that experienced perspective is correspondingly crucial. With The Second Self in 1984, Sherry Turkle established herself as a trenchant observer and analyst of the personal computer’s effects on people, and perhaps more importantly, as a deft writer on the subject. In…
Correction
Last week’s earthquake story, “Rumbletown,” contained an inaccurate description of the geological event that caused the Jan. 9 quake. The fault line between the Gorda and Pacific plates did not slip vertically, as we had described; it slipped horizontally. The Journal regrets the error.
Transference
Formed in 1993 in Austin, Texas, Spoon, fronted by songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Britt Daniel, has offered an impressive catalogue of pop songs influenced in equal measure by early Gang of Four, Wire, The Velvet Underground and Can (the band’s name is derived from a Can song). Instrumentally, the rhythms are angular, jagged and choppy,…
How To Cook Supermarket Pork Chops
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The greed of the American pork industry has messed with the modern day pig to the point that almost all available pork is now so lean it has lost the ability to be tender. It isn’t hard to trace the switch to lean pork in the…
Under January Skies
Don’t close the door The storm arises Go…
A Skin-color Enigma
Growing up in England in the ’50s, I thought of myself and my friends as having "regular" skin color, while dark-skinned people were the exception. To put it bluntly, we were white and they were black. Now that I’m lucky enough to have dark-skinned friends, and to have spent time in places like India and…
Budget Disaster Prep
Whenever disaster strikes, talk of preparedness is sure to follow. Were we ready? Did we have what we needed? What should we have done differently? Experts exhort community members to stockpile rations, batteries, extra clothes and medical supplies. But what about those folks scraping by, the ones struggling to put the regular food on the…
Grim Subjects
Previews Opening Friday, Jan. 22, is Tooth Fairy starring Dwayne "don’t call me The Rock" Johnson as a tough-as-nails hockey player who, after discouraging a young child, is forced to perform the duties of the actual tooth fairy as punishment. You want the tooth? You can’t handle the tooth! Rated PG for mild language and…
Heads Watered
On Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors declared its support for agricultural tourism, upscale lumber products and kids with big, fast computers, and it laid some money on the table to help those things flourish across our land. These were the big winners in this go-round of disbursements from the Headwaters Fund, the county’s…
Living the Blues
She’s fixing her makeup, getting ready for a night on the town dancing at the Jam to Moo-Got-2. Then suddenly it’s like something from one of the old blues songs she sings. The man she loves appears at the door with blood on his hands, and before she knows it, he’s pulled out a .45.…
United Front
If anyone can join fishing forces with enviro forces and come up with a communal yell, it’s the North Coast tri-county region of Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino. That’s what Betsy Watson says. But, even so, nobody says it’s easy. Watson, a Humboldt State University sociology professor, is facilitating meetings of a working group that’s…
