Cover Story
Faces of Humboldt Photo Contest
What’s in a Face? All five senses dwell there, competing for the mind’s attention. Your emotions are most acutely expressed by the twitch of your cheek and brow muscles. The face is a translator, making each of us fluent in the universal human language. You wear your history on your face — the blessings and…
UPDATED: Nonprofit Sues Blue Cross Over Obamacare Networks
A Southern California nonprofit filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Anthem Blue Cross misled millions of customers when rolling out its plans under the Affordable Care Act, leaving many enrollees on the hook for large out-of-pocket expenses. According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, the suit alleges that the insurance giant published inaccurate provider networks, causing many customers…
Dressin’ Trashy
Blue Lake is riddled with festivities thanks to the Mad River Festival. Unlike those wimpy festivals that last a day or two, MRF is nearly two months of the clown-y, theater-y, crafty fun that Dell’Arte does so well. The Trash Mash-Up is about as DIY as you can get, in terms of garbage, anyway. The…
County Moves Forward with Tax Hike
There’s a tax measure coming to a ballot near you. In fact, if you live in a city, you’re likely to see a couple of them. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this morning to move forward with putting a county-wide sales tax before voters in November, though there’s still some questions as…
Eureka Denies Release of Controversial Memo
After conferring with an outside attorney, the city of Eureka has denied a Journal request seeking the release of a controversial memo penned by former City Manager Bill Panos on the day he left his employment with the city. The Oct. 4 memo — or, more specifically, the controversy surrounding it — was thrust into…
Fo Schnitzel
Now that the US has been punted from the World Cup finals by Belgium, we could use a little comfort food. How about German? Too soon? Off to Stuf’t Potato (if you haven’t been, don’t worry — it’s not nearly as food-court as the name suggests) for German and Austrian soul food (3200 South Broadway,…
Father, Son Killed in Alleged Fortuna DUI
A 74-year-old man and his 53-year-old son were both killed Thursday night in a suspected DUI crash on Fortuna’s Drake Hill Road, the California Highway Patrol reported this morning. According to the CHP, Jacky Martin, 53, of San Francisco, was driving a 2004 Mini Cooper southbound on Ronald Avenue toward Drake Hill Road with his…
Clowns Prefer the Journal
Dell’ Arte International recently awarded its 2014 Prize of Hope to Clowns Without Borders, setting off a day of clowning around and red-nosed hijinks. Blue Lake’s prestigious performing arts school hands out the annual Prize of Hope to the person or theatre who has worked “for the hope of humankind; daringly, lovingly, vulgarly, seriously, poetically……
Big Bang
The Fourth of July is one of the few occasions when fire lights up the entire sky and nobody runs for help. There’s more to Independence Day than gunpowder and bright lights, though. Humboldt County goes whole hog with festivals, jubilees and more. The city of Fortuna starts things off early with a Fireworks Celebration…
Fire Props
Editor: Heidi Walters is to be commended for her fine article about the good and bad aspects of fire, and how tribes are trying to work cooperatively with the Forest Service to use fire as a management tool to protect the forests (“Good Fire, Bad Fire,” June 19). She gave excellent background info about how…
Trinidad Art Night
Upper Trinidad OCEAN GROVE 480 Patricks Point Drive. Afterparty at 9 p.m. with DJ Slum Lotus. $5 admission. SAUNDER’S PARK (start of Patricks Point Drive). Fire Dancing by Circus of the Elements at 8:45 p.m. TRINIDAD MUSEUM 400 Janis Court at Patricks Point Drive. “The Trinidad Lighthouse 1871-present.” Music by Val Leone, jazz standards. TRINIDAD TRADING COMPANY 460 Main St. Jeff…
Leech Removal
Editor: Emily Dalton’s article, “The Insurance Leech” (June 19), makes it abundantly clear that our health care “system” is broken. And even with “Obamacare,” only a few Band-Aids are going to relieve some of the pain. But until profit is taken out of delivering health care, the bottom line will always be money and not…
Boo, Buhne
Editor: I have both positive and negative comments to two recent blurbs. First of all, Ryan Hurley compares the Sequoia Park Zoo to a gulag (“Buhne Tribune,” June 19). While our little zoo is by no means on the same level as zoos in larger cities, we do have a dedicated staff that maintains an…
Expression of Freedom
Hey, baby, it’s the Fourth of July. What’s on your celebration agenda? Debating whether Americans are truly free given the shackles of income inequality, lack of adequate health care and steep decline in quality education? Getting ripped along the river, burning pallets and blasting fireworks until the night sky is as lit as your buddy…
First Saturday Night Arts Alive!
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. A. ESCAPE SALON & SKIN 215 Seventh St. David Jernigan, photography. 2.…
Wall to Wall
Remember being a kid and staring wide-eyed at one of those all-you-can eat buffets? The overwhelming, giddy-in-your-toes excitement over what to pick first? Well, this month’s Arts! Alive features a spread so stocked with goodies that I can’t pick just one. So let’s have a taste of the highlights, shall we? And, like that kid…
Quest for the Mother Tongue: Part 1
According to most linguists, all languages trace their roots to a single mother tongue, dubbed “Proto-World,” “Proto-Sapiens” or the “Ur” language. Invented more than 100,000 years ago, before humans left our African homeland, it spawned about a dozen “proto-languages” from which the world’s 6,000 living languages (and countless dead ones) emerged. Proto-Indo-European (PIE), for instance,…
Game of Groans
Has anyone else noticed the erroneous TV schedule listing for the Access Humboldt channel? On the first and third Tuesday evenings of each month, for instance, Access’s local government channel has apparently been airing old episodes of the Addams Family. According to my TV schedule, that time slot is supposed to be reserved for meetings…
July To-Dos
With temperatures rising and both vegetable gardens and landscaped areas hitting their stride, there’s a lot to be done in the garden and it’s easy to fall behind. Not only are there the usual tasks like weeding and deadheading, but some plants are outgrowing their spaces, the daily vegetable harvest is picking up speed, and,…
Hog Riled
Humboldt County’s pigs recently got a stay of execution, of sorts. A blessing for them, perhaps, but a whole trough of trouble for the many local hog raisers who lost the only nearby slaughterhouse capable of turning pigs into retail-worthy pork. Humboldt County is home to a host of hog raisers, backyard farmers and small-scale…
Gray Matters Summer 2014
ISSUU Direct Link
The Clunky Bunch
Review TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION. I don’t seek out Michael Bay movies, but I don’t really avoid them either. Once you’ve seen a dozen or so helicopters explode over a freeway, you’ve sort of seen them all. Inevitably, though, I end up seeing the films as a tag-a-long, at a friend’s house, when I’m drinking…
Locals
You never stop being from where you’re from, but you stop being a local by degrees. You get a house in town and don’t make as many of those long trips into the hills. You get a truck without four-wheel drive. You stop coming out for the school fundraisers. You stop recognizing the kids. You…
Correction
A map that ran with last week’s cover story (“Lion Stories,” June 29) inaccurately identified the location of Fieldbrook’s Wagle Lane, where there have recently been a number of mountain lion sightings. For a corrected version of the map, view the story online at northcoastjournal.com. The Journal regrets the error.
Oh, Snap!
I love fresh seasonal vegetables swimming in fat. I would be content on a diet of fresh veggies and butter, with candy for entertainment. Is it humanly possible to dislike a simple perfect garden tomato, sliced, sugared, salted and drizzled with olive oil and vinegar? Cabbage shredded and fried in butter and caraway seeds? Kale…
Failed Metaphor
Editor: I don’t usually comment publicly on other people’s statements, but when I read a letter such as that written by John Hardin of Ettersburg (“Letters,” June 26), I must say something. The writer attempts to liken Jews of Humboldt County to marijuana growers to make some sort of metaphorical point. He writes about “the…
Dropping Drug Time
Editor: “Bongress” (“Week in Weed,” June 5) notes pending legislation with possible “positive impacts” on defendants currently serving mandatory minimum sentences. The United States Sentencing Commission is accepting public comment on making drug guidelines retroactive. The deadline for public comment is July 7. Congress established the commission in 1984 to guide federal sentencing policy and…
Bass is Us
Editor: In the District 4 Supervisors election, the incumbent, Virginia Bass prevailed over Chris Kerrigan by only 235 votes (52 percent to 48 percent) (See “Blog Jammin,” page 11). Bass outspent Kerrigan by 2 1/4 times ($81,493 to $35,922). Virginia Bass will remain our District 4 Supervisor. As such, she needs to be reminded that…
