dummy March 2011 (North Coast Journal)
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Cover Stories
The Other Side of the River
Rain fell steadily, muting the dark-green forested hills, the pasture and the tall redwoods. It fell gray-on-gray on the rocky river bar etched by ephemeral roads, and on the river itself, humping north a good 10 feet below the low-water bridge — a narrow concrete-slab that spans half the river before it peters out on the gravel…
Ferry money
The McCann Ferry, which carries just a few people at a time across the Eel River, is decidedly the pipsqueak among 35 ferry services in the country that recently received grants to improve their facilities. It doesn’t transport cars and mobs of people like most of the venerable old beasts on the list, such as…
Passing Fad
The following is an excerpt from a 1989 economic development report called, “What Businesses Make Sense for Humboldt County?” prepared for the county by Arizona firm Mountain West Research: “According to local interviews, by the mid-’70s, the quality of the marijuana produced in Humboldt County was well known. The growing business flourished for six to…
Truce
Ever since their Volkswagen buses puttered up Highway 101 some 40 years ago, Humboldt County’s marijuana growers have been quasi-citizens. On the one hand, they’ve drastically reshaped the region’s economy and collective identity: The money that’s generated directly and indirectly by the pot industry finds its way into almost every resident’s paycheck. As the timber…
Mudslide Updates
UPDATE, 5:30 pm: There has been much speculation about the status of AT&T’s fiber optic cable — our spindly underground information link to the outside world, which lies buried along the Hwy. 101 corridor. Moments ago the Journal received an email from an AT&T spokesman. Brace yourself for some Grade A intel: Our cable is…
Humboldt, the 45th Most Healthy County in the State
It’s counterintuitive, what with our clean ocean air, our outdoorsy fervor and our preponderance of brewer’s yeast-eaters, but Humboldt County residents’ health ranks in the bottom quarter of the state, according to the second annual County Health Rankings, released today by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. There’s a…
Massive Mudslide Envelops Hwy. 101
UPDATE, 3:55 p.m.: Several SoHum schools are cancelling classes for the remainder of the week. South Fork High School, Redway Elementary School and the Osprey Learning Center will be closed Thursday and Friday due to transportation and food delivery concerns, Southern Humboldt Unified School District Superintendent Michael McAllister told the Times-Standard. UPDATE, 2:25 p.m.: Caltrans…
Farewell, Chris Crawford
The local blogosphere continues to reverberate with shock and sadness over the death of Chris Crawford, a passionate political figure, respected businessman and accomplished technology expert who died last weekend after a brief battle with liver cancer. Crawford was a vibrant and active member of the local political scene. A proud “lifelong Republican,” he worked…
Bomb Threat at HSU (0ver)
Update as of 4 p.m. Humboldt State University’s Founders Hall and Van Matre Hall have been reopened after a bomb threat prompted the evacuation and closure of the two buildings. The area is now safe to occupy. The University Police Department completed a sweep of the two buildings at approximately 3 p.m. and discovered no…
It Rained
When Mielke’s right, he’s right. But just how right he was could be seen on 11th St. in Arcata today where Journal reader Dan Davis shot these pics of some dude Arcata resident John Hunter taking advantage of the abundence of wet. Note: Life jackets, while recommended, are not legally required by kayakers on…
Charlie’s Early Review of Cedar Rapids
Journal film critic Charlie Myers has been on vacation in Portland, Ore., the city that steals Humboldt County’s youth. One of the perks of the place is that movies there often get released on their actual release date. So while Cedar Rapids starts today in local theaters, it’s been up there for weeks. Through the…
HumCo in the New York Times
They say the best movies about American culture are made by foreigners, the logic being that it takes an outsider’s eye to really see things objectively. I’m not sure if I buy that, but I will say that this piece on Humboldt County from today’s New York Times (by Canadian-born, North Carolina-raised author Wells Tower) really…
Global Warming?
Reading today’s headlines, you might think that a healthy, evenly matched debate is thriving between scientists who believe human-created carbon dioxide causes global warming and those who challenge that belief. The reality is that the skeptics represent the merest tip of the iceberg (so to speak) within the scientific field of climate change. Since 2007…
Money
The latest YouTube vid by SF lo-fi kings Sic Alps illustrates the song “Do You Want To Give $$?” with grainy images shot on Super-8 by SA mastermind Mike Donovan swerving between panhandlers and businessmen on cell phones before culminating in a sequence where guitarist Noel Von Harmonson is showered in dollar bills as the…
The Joy of Lemongrass
I tried out the new Cambodian joint recently, accompanied by a posse of ‘rents and friends. I’d heard that some Cambodian food can be completely alien to American palates, but Annie’s Cambodian Cuisine turned out to be quite accessible and totally delicious. Cambodian or Khmer cooking is similar to Thai in its liberal use of…
Shades of Sunshine
Editor: I find it odd and a bit irritating that under a heading of “Stereotypes Wrong,” Charles Custer said that Arcata’s medical cannabis ordinance was “motivated by a community uprising called ‘Nip It in the Bud,’ … aimed to drive indoor growers out of town.” (“Truce,” March 17) My, my, what a simplistic bit of…
Unsaying the Poem
The poem unsays itself out of the heart….
Emad Resigns
Less than two months after the Board of Supervisors narrowly voted to reappoint him to the Planning Commission, Bruce Emad this week sent in a letter of resignation, announcing that his 12 years of service on the commission will end, effective April 30. He and fellow commissioner Mary Gearheart already submitted letters of resignation earlier…
March 24-31
March 24. The Sweden Solar System is the world’s largest scale model of the solar system. A spherical building representing the sun is located in Stockholm; other planets and celestial bodies are represented by sculptures and exhibits placed at appropriate distances around Stockholm or along the coast of the Baltic Sea at a scale of…
Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Missionary Mystic
Thanks to Black Elk Speaks by poet John Neihardt, and to a lesser extent, The Sacred Pipe by Professor Joseph Epes Brown, Black Elk has become one of the most famous American Indians in history — even though he was not a great warrior or leader. These books are about his spiritual visions and beliefs.…
Perils of We
Editor: In “The FUD Factor” about Japan’s post-tsunami nuclear reactor problems (“From the Editor,” March 17), you quote Professor Stepp of HSU about the media in such situations. He says, “They basically yell ‘Fire’ in a crowded theater and then interview the people they frightened to see if they are afraid.” Kudos to him for…
Several Shades of Why
Musician, singer/songwriter and producer J Mascis, best known as the frontman for Dinosaur Jr., has been quietly prolific. In addition to his work with Dinosaur Jr., whose original members regrouped in 2007, Mascis released records with The Fog, Witch, Velvet Monkeys, Gobblehoof and, most recently, Sweet Apple. After his largely ignored 1996 solo acoustic album,…
Casting Stones
Editor: Before Mr. Crlenjak goes correcting others’ corrections, he should put his own house in order. I found no fewer than six errors in his pompous and irrelevant letter (“Mailbox, March 17). First, he used the word “loathe” (a verb) where he meant ‘loath’ (an adjective). This is a common mistake but a mistake nonetheless.…
Moving Together
A dance festival in Humboldt County? That’s the stuff dancer dreams are of made of. It’s happening in Arcata the last weekend in March when New World Ballet presents the first annual Humboldt International Dance Festival at the Old Creamery. Performances, prominent teachers and dance artists, back-to-back classes and lots of dancers to meet and…
Sneakers, Ropes
Editor: I read with interest Heidi Walters’ article on sneaker waves (“Sneaker Savvy,” March 10). Over a year ago and soon after the State Parks issued a rogue wave warning, they were informed in writing that the rope fence they have erected on Clam Beach poses a significant and unnecessary hazard to beach users. In…
Story on the Door
When the Journal moved to its new offices in the Omicini Building at Third and F in Eureka, more than few staff eyebrows were raised by the sign on the door of Room 206. There, on a frosted glass window straight out of The Maltese Falcon, was the name Earl Warren Jr.: Could this be…
More For Tellers
Editor: Thank you for your informative article about Coast Central Credit Union (“Big Job,” Feb. 17). I was shocked to see how much the CEO is paid and would like to see tellers paid more, and more money made available in loans to small businesses. I’m having a difficult time believing that Coast Central is…
Correction
The captions for the diagrams in last week’s Field Notes (“Tsunami Myths”) were incorrect. In fact, the Pacific plate (blue-gray) is subducting the overriding North American plate (brown). Also the etymology for the word tsunami was reversed: tsu = harbor; nami = wave.
Music, She Wrote
It shouldn’t be that way, but when you look back at music history, up until recently compositions by women are a rarity. Particularly when you look at the “classical” repertoire, well, the dead white guys dominate. Frances Nobert, an organist and a professor emerita from Whittier College, has dedicated part of her life to unearthing…
Jazz March
In Humboldt County, May is kinetic, October is green and March is jazzy. Check your calendar. The Redwood Coast Jazz Festival is back for its 21st installment from March 24-27, showcasing some of the finest touring, danceable jazz bands, trad and otherwise — along with some blues, zydeco and swing thrown in for good measure.…
Vintage Arkley
My reporting skills are a little rusty. But last Friday we had one person on the editorial staff off on vacation, another at the dentist, another one on deadline for this week’s cover story, and our ace HSU intern on spring break. We all had agreed that it would be great to cover the keynote…
Good Lawyer, Bad Alien
Reviews: THE LINCOLN LAWYER. I have been an avid fan of Michael Connelly since reading his first book The Black Echo, published in 1992. This put me two books ahead of Bill Clinton who apparently discovered Connelly when The Concrete Blonde was published in 1994, back when Clinton still had good taste. Connelly has a…
Long Way Down
The nation’s housing bubble, which evidently is still deflating, should also have deflated a stalwart local myth — that Humboldt County’s housing market is immune from the violent ups and downs of the larger marketplace. It’s not. Granted, our bubble wasn’t as distended as those in Phoenix and Las Vegas, and thus the resulting fallout…
Burns Named Acting Editor
Veteran staff writer Ryan Burns has been named acting editor of the North Coast Journal as of Wednesday, March 23. Burns has been with the Journal since 2008 and has won numerous writing awards for the paper. Tom Abate, who served as editor for the past six weeks, is no longer with the company. His…
Emad Resigns From Planning Commission
Long-time Planning Commissioner Bruce Emad submitted a letter of resignation effective April 30th, citing both personal and professional reasons, the county announced in a press release today. A call to Emad was not immediately returned. His sudden resignation leaves an at-large vacancy on the commission, which is (still) in the midst of the county’s General…
Your Roadshow Moment
Anyone who’s watched the very successful PBS show Antiques Roadshow knows the fantasy: You stumble upon some precious relic at a yard sale: “Wow, it’s worth that much?” You find some forgotten lamp in the attic or rescue a priceless painting from a dumpster and learn its sky-high value from an expert: “I had no…
Green Day
Ah, St. Patrick’s Day! On any other day in Humboldt County, publicly displaying “the green” could lead to getting pinched — either by authorities or jonesin’ acquaintances. This Thursday, the opposite is true. Go greenless; face the consequences. St. Patty’s is also the one day a year where any given establishment will inevitably trot out…
Tsunami Myths
Sometimes it’s easier to explain something by what it isn’t, rather than what it is. After listening to the local scuttlebutt following last week’s tragedy in Japan, let’s put some myths to rest: A tsunami isn’t a single wave. It’s a series of waves, 20 to 30 minutes apart. Generally the biggest waves are not…
Campfire Girl
Crickets chirped as a young Michelle Shocked strummed her guitar and sang a few tunes around a mythic campfire at the Kerrville Folk Festival on a spring night 25 years ago. Before her set she’d been approached by a British journalist, Pete Lawrence. “He asked if he could record a few songs,” Michelle recalled. “What…
Boring Aliens, Momish Aliens
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES. I would not recommend Battle: Los Angeles to anyone. Not that it’s especially unlikable or hard to watch, there just isn’t really anything to hold a viewer’s attention for more than a few minutes. Hard-bitten, battle-scarred Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is but days away from retirement when duty calls,…
Just A Drill
Loaders, tractors, and dump trucks lined 7th Streets above Arcata City Hall on Friday morning, buffered by orange traffic cones where they stuck out into the bike lane. It was a hasty job. Truck beds were left open. Windows were left cracked. An Ingersoll Rand compressor sat with its hitch against the ground, and a…
Hometown Angel Angle
Editor: As a fan of the Field Notes columns, I find it ironic that when Barry Evans wrote about Jimmie Angel and Angel Falls (“Why Waterfalls,” March 10), he apparently didn’t know that the North Coast Journal and the international headquarters for the Jimmie Angel Historical Project share the same hometown-Eureka. Let me add some…
The FUD Factor
For nearly two decades before becoming editor of the Journal just a few short weeks ago, I worked in mainstream media — corporate media as some have cursed it, myself included, especially whenever I was forced to report on the Big Story of the day, which often involves big helpings of FUD – fear, uncertainty…
March 17-23
March 17. Tobacco plants have more sensitive receptors than dogs do, making it possible that they might someday be used to sniff for drugs or explosives. Their reaction time, thus far, is too slow, as it takes hours or days for their leaves to wilt or wrinkle or discolor in the face of such a…
Tsunami Damage
In the wake of the tsunami that clobbered Crescent City Harbor last week, two dozen fishing boats from that battered city now crowd into Eureka’s Woodley Island Marina, floating refugees from the worst disaster to hit the North Coast in decades. “I don’t know what happens next,” said Joe Daignault, skipper of the Gemini, a…
McKinleyville Arts Night
1) Plaza Design, McKinleyville Shopping Center. Gus Clark, paintings and live demo; Music by Pete Zuleger. 2) North Coast Gallery, McKinleyville Shopping Center. Julie Smith, photographs. 3) Grace Good Shepherd Church, 1450 Hiller Rd. Patricia Howe, photographs. 4) McKinleyville Family Resource Center, 1450 Hiller Rd. Families are invited to attend and help their children build forts.…
The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir
If somehow this civilization survives much longer, I expect that Leslie Marmon Silko will be judged a major American writer — especially because in order to survive, it’s likely this civilization will need to pay attention to her perspective. While Ceremony, her first novel, is her most familiar (partly because its handy brevity makes it…
Ruminations, Tribulations
Editor: I thought the Journal had gone downhill after Hank Sims left but I really got a charge out of the column (“Thinking Globally,” March 10) by new editor Tom Abate. He hit the nail on the head when he talked about: legalizing and taxing marijuana to prop up the county’s coffers; calling the hypocrisy of the…
Still Walking (DVD)
The title of Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s sixth feature, Still Walking, is derived from the lyrics of a 1968 Japanese pop song, “Blue Light Yokohama,” by Ayumi Ishida. What appears to be a sentimental connection to the recording by aging matriarch Toshiko (played brilliantly by Kirin Kiki) turns out to be a bitter memory. This…
Reviewer Reprimand
Editor: It makes me sad to see actors who go to work, school and travel on a shoe-string budget try to put on high quality productions, only to be upstaged by a mediocre review. William Kowinski’s review of the Ferndale Rep’s “Amadeus” was mainly devoted to a detailed account of his discomfort and annoyance at…
Slack Tide
Captain Bitts loved to crow: “The mud is…
Refugia Refreshing
Editor: In your article on suction dredge gold mining regulations in rivers (“Golden Rules,” March 3), new 49’er James Buchal made an ugly and untrue statement when he called cold-water refugia an “idiotic theory” of Native American tribes. Refugia are not a theory. I have more than 10 years of professional salmon biology experience in…
Guitar Messengers
They call it “Acoustic Africa,” the tour featuring three stellar guitar players, Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe and Afel Bocoum and Habib Koité, both from Mali, backed by a traditional African band. The styles of the lead musicians vary, but they share a common respect for their music heritage, coupled with a willingness to adapt and…
Pedantic, Facetious?
Editor: I understand Ric Schlexer’s reticence in challenging Barry Evans on a point of astronomical science (“Winter Hexagon,” March 10). I, too, am humble as the day is long-in December-and am loathe to express my lukewarm views. Sometimes, though, truth compels me to speak out. Such is the case with the tooth-grinding, blackboard-scraping phrase, “Far be…
Polenta: Not Only From Corn
On March 17, 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II (hitherto King of Sardinia) was proclaimed King of Italy by the first Italian Parliament. On March 17, 2011, Italy turns 150. I don’t expect flags will be displayed from windows and balconies: Italians reserve that for the national soccer team’s big games. I choose to celebrate Italy’s sesquicentennial…
