Cover Stories
Drag for the Next Generation
Dressed as a fairy princess in a purple gown and pointed ears, the drag performer known as Tucker Noir spoke in a bedtime story voice, telling the kids and grownups in the College of the Redwoods auditorium, “First there was clothing, then there was drag.” As the words got bigger, she kept the Mother Goose…
Fear Vs. Fact
Peppered throughout the national and local debates regarding drag, and particularly all-ages drag shows, is loaded language suggesting — or flat-out charging — that these shows serve to “groom” children for abuse by sexual predators. Some proponents of an online petition supporting a ban of all-ages drag shows in Humboldt County have even cast the…
Music Tonight: Thursday, May 25
RampArt is hosting another hardcore punk show tonight at 7 p.m. Two Rhode Island bands, Providence’s Catalyst and Bullet Proof Backpack from Middletown (a group of teenagers who run their own label, which gets a huge thumbs up/fuck yeah from this old head), will share the stage with the Brain Dead Rejects, from parts unknown.…
Rhode Island Man Sentenced to 25-to-life for Kneeland Murder
A 28-year-old Rhode Island man was sentenced today to serve 25 years to life in state prison for the murder of 28-year-old Emily Lobba in her Kneeland home last year. Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Kaleb Cockrum sentenced Austin M. Medeiros for the first-degree murder today, and added another six years, four months to his…
Prominent Foster Parent Arrested in ‘Lewd Acts’ Investigation
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office arrested a prominent local foster parent yesterday on suspicion of committing lewd acts against a minor. In response to a Journal inquiry seeking more information about the circumstances of the arrest, sheriff’s office spokesperson Samantha Karges said William Scott Peugh, 46, was arrested at 4:30 yesterday afternoon on suspicion of…
Missing Woman’s Remains Recovered After Defendant Tells Investigators Location in Plea Deal
The body of a 32-year-old woman who has been missing since April of 2021 was recovered earlier this month from a site on the “outskirts of Eureka” after the man who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for her death directed investigators to the location as part of a plea agreement, according to the Humboldt County…
Comedy Tonight: Wednesday, May 24
It’s comedy night at the Arcata Theater Lounge, where at 7 p.m. you can enjoy the stand-up work of Los Angeles comedians Josh Edelson and Austin Silver ($15, $20 VIP, $10 advance). If you’d prefer your comedy locally sourced and easier on the wallet, head over to Savage Henry Comedy Club two hours later, where…
CSU to Release Assessment of Title IX Issues After Systemwide Audit
The California State University Board of Trustees will release an assessment following a report on a system-wide Title IX audit scheduled to be delivered at 8:30 a.m. at its meeting tomorrow. The law firm Cozen O’Connor received feedback from nearly 18,000 CSU community members through anonymous surveys and in-person visits. The announcement at the trustees’…
Zoo Welcomes Bear Cubs ‘Oak’ and ‘Tule’
The Sequoia Park Zoo announced today that two black bear cubs have arrived, becoming the first denizens of the new bear and coyote habitat. “The cubs will not be visible to guests — but might be heard playing behind-the-scenes in the care quarters — while they become acclimated to their new home,” the announcement states.…
Movies Tonight: Tuesday, May 23
It is once again movie night over at the Humboldt Bay Social Club and tonight’s offering is The Simpsons Movie, perhaps the last somewhat-funny piece of entertainment created by the once-brilliant cartoon sitcom. It’s free to get in, and the show starts at 6 p.m. And speaking of movies, last week saw the loss of…
Goth Day Revisited in Ferndale
In the foggy Ferndale Cemetery, a darkly dressed group walked through between headstones and crypts. Veils, hats, trench coats and platform Doc Martens — you’d be forgiven for assuming there was a funeral. This grim procession was not grieving but rather celebrating Goth Day Revisited. For the second year, a gaggle of goths haunted the…
Music Tonight: Monday, May 22
Mondays are traditionally dedicated to the brave souls who serve at the public’s pleasure (and, unfortunately, occasional displeasure, due to a few over-entitled types), and the Logger Bar has a fine Service Industry Night that morphs at 7 p.m. into Rocker’s Reggae Night, curated by DJ Deaf-I. This is a free event and a lovely…
Music Tonight: Sunday, May 21
Poet and local treasure Jerry Martien is getting together with some friends to, among other things, honor the life of former Humboldt resident, songwriter and master picker, Thad Beckman, who died in January. The show will be held at the Arcata Playhouse at 7 p.m., and the first set of music and poetry will be…
NCJ Preview: Drag, Birdmobiles and Sketchy Seafood
This week we’re looking at why family-friendly drag show performers take the stage despite the intensifying backlash. We also talked to law enforcement about the supposed risk to kids — turns out we’ve got high rates of abuse in Humboldt but it doesn’t appear to be coming from drag shows. Later, a birder confesses to…
Music Tonight: Saturday, May 20
It feels like only yesterday when I last reported on this event, yet that is the ephemeral and fleeting nature of time; it tugs and curls away from us like wisps of morning fog or lace curtains rustling in the afternoon breeze, brief, halcyon moments guiding us to our end of days. I am of…
Sheriff’s Office Releases Names of Officers Who Wounded Suspects in April Shooting
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the three officers who fired their guns in an April 18 shooting in Eureka that left two suspects in critical conditions. The shooting came after a report of an armed robbery at the Bayshore Mall led to a police pursuit that ended when the suspect vehicle crashed at…
Harness the Wind
The Redwood Coast Kite Festival and Artisan Fair is back for another twirling, swirling, diving and dancing good time this Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21, at Halverson Park (free admission). Watch the colorful array of kites jump and fly in the sky over the bay. Bring your own kite to the Fun Fly…
Pedal Party
Saddle up for two-wheelin’ fun at the Bicycle Celebration and Expo, happening Saturday, May 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jefferson Community Center (free). May is National Bike Month, and Bike Month Humboldt wants you to join in for a family-friendly celebration of the benefits of bicycling, like good health for you and…
Humboldt Insider + Menu of Menus
Back in the Sunshine First things first: Just because it’s Humboldt County, sheltered under redwood canopies and the occasional morning fog (we don’t call the eighth month Fogust for nothing) doesn’t mean you can’t get a burn. So grab your shades, slather on some SPF and get ready for the return of sunny weather. Take…
Beloved But Not Green
Editor: Lynda McDevitt, in her May 4 letter (Mailbox), didn’t mention a biomass energy technology that is much higher emission and much lower efficiency than the Scotia biomass power plant, the much-beloved wood stove. Beginning more than 30 years ago, when I attended a talk by the “Burning Issues” organization (burningissues.org/lukebiomass.html), I have been strongly…
Correction
A history column in the May 11, 2023, edition of the North Coast Journal headlined “Chinese Again in Humboldt, Part One,” incorrectly stated how many columns will be in the series. There will be four. The Journal regrets the error.
Hake on the Menu
As a billionaire, I’m told I should do something good for the planet. That’s B.S., of course, but I opened a sustainable seafood restaurant to make it look like I care. At the Washed-Up Seafood Galley, everything is extra-sustainable because my staff of expert beachcombers only harvests already dead or dying organisms. And there’s no…
Untitled, for my first unrequited love
The place of my birth is reaching out to me like Janus, with its tentacles, sea-salty and inebriated. We remember the ocean as children: watching the water flow in and out, the glistening anemones and the sand dollars, the sea urchins, the fresh air and our mothers in their dresses. I gave the first boy…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries dramatist Samuel Beckett, winner of the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature, wrote 22 plays. The shortest was Breath. It has no dialogue or actors and lasts less than a minute. It begins and ends with a recording of the cry of a newborn baby. In between there are the sounds…
‘Encouraged to Leave’
Speaking publicly for the first time since the future of her tenure at Cal Poly Humboldt became uncertain, Native American Studies Department Chair Cutcha Risling Baldy said she felt “encouraged to leave.” The local product, a Hoopa Valley Tribal member of Hupa, Yurok and Karuk decent, was speaking at this month’s meeting of the Cal…
Timelines
Last weekend, I decided to do something I occasionally find myself driven to with the same blind intensity of purpose that steers a spawning salmonid: I rewatched a favorite movie. Not just any movie, but one I consider to be perfect from the score to the atmosphere to the acting, just a wholly enjoyable experience.…
Chocolate Tart Renovation
After 22 years, we finally renovated our kitchen. Refinishing our cabinets and removing the old countertops was a fun project for our family. During this process, our kitchen has been a semi-functioning mess: cabinets covered with plastic wrap, cookware on the dining table and a bare countertop. Luckily my sink and stove were still hooked…
Strong Start for Pacific Halibut and Rockfish
Much like the Pacific halibut opener a couple weeks ago, Monday’s rockfish season debut was curtailed by rough ocean conditions. Luckily the delay lasted just a day as boats were headed to the rockfish grounds first thing Tuesday morning. And as expected, wide-open rock fishing was reported from Shelter Cove north to Crescent City. Expect…
The Birdmobile
For years I had an old newspaper clipping taped to my even older refrigerator. It was a Car Talk column by Tom and Ray Magliozzi called, “Who’s Hardest on Cars, Anyway?” A couple had written the mechanics asking them to determine once and for all if men or women wore out their cars more quickly.…
Not that Kind of Mother
THE MOTHER. Now that the Mother’s Day brunch dishes have been cleared, the bath bombs dissolved and hug coupons redeemed, let’s talk action movie motherhood. Wives and children are a civilizing force on action movie men, who put aside the weapons of war for family. Well, at least until someone kidnaps or murders said objects…
Lessons of a Drag Hag
The first time I saw drag, it was Bugs Bunny. Maybe it was the time he wore red lipstick and a crown of fruit like Carmen Miranda. Could have been when he rode an impossibly fat white horse sidesaddle downhill in a winged helmet and gold bustier as Brunhilda. As a flapper, a femme fatale…
Chinese Again in Humboldt, Part Two
Editor’s note: This story, which originally appeared in the Ferndale Enterprise, contains quotations that include racist language and slurs. On Saturday, Sept. 29, 1906, the steamer Roanoke arrived in Eureka’s harbor from Astoria, Oregon. Among its passengers were members of the management team for the new salmon cannery about to begin operations at Port Kenyon,…
