Fighter Down
A local man works to walk again as his injury shines a spotlight on Trinidad’s fight night
Cover Story
Fighter Down
It’s a sunny morning, and Steve Watts is sitting in a motorized wheelchair in the courtyard of a Santa Clara spinal injury rehabilitation center, his mother by his side. Watts, known locally as a ripping local jam band guitarist and music promoter who’s served on a litany of Arcata boards and commissions, broke his neck…
Crime in Eureka
The Eureka Police Department is releasing quarterly crime reports of data and trends in order to, as an EPD news release says, “drive a greater awareness of crime and demonstrate [the department’s] desire to work with the community.” Here’s the latest data: Some of the trends noted by the EPD, between January 2013 and June 2014,…
Tonight’s Setlist: The Siren Calls
Mmmmmmmonday. It’s not always a bad thing! Tonight for example, the Siren’s Song Tavern is the site once again of a fun, fun show, this time with Ruby Pins, all quiet vocals and louder sounds that wander the pop gamut, Silver Shadows, described as “Veruca Salt meets Lush,” and our very own Monster Women. All…
UPDATED Highway 96 Open, Fire Almost Out
SECOND UPDATE: Six Rivers National Forest reports that the Sugar Bowl Fire should be 100 percent contained by 6 p.m. this evening, July 28, and fully controlled by 6 p.m. July 29 The road is now open with no restrictions, although motorists “should be aware of potential hazards of rocks or debris rolling down from the…
Operation Yurok Wraps With No Arrests
A three-day law enforcement sweep of marijuana grow sites on Yurok Tribal lands last week yielded 13,000 plants, 300 pounds, seven guns, zero arrests and a very short press release. The Sheriff’s Office identified suspects and will seek arrest warrants, according to a press release: From 07-21-2014 to 07-24-2014, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office joined…
More Sparkle Than Eureka Can Handle
One of the biggest gem, bead and jewelry shows in the country ended up in little old Eureka this weekend. But at closing time Saturday inside Franceschi Hall at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds, Gem Faire vendors were feeling the fizzle. As some began to drape cloth over their wares — colorful skeins of bright and sparkly beads, humongous…
Tonight’s Setlist: Remembering Tina, Festive Festivals, Burlesque, Dreamy Pop and Sludge
Tina Fraser Photo by Bob Doran On a serious note — although I sense the event will be as much celebration as memorial — a bunch of former/current denizens of the Humboldt County punk scene are hosting Tina Bina Boob Ops Wake, a gig/remembrance for Tina Fraser, who passed away from cancer earlier this year.…
The Search For Jeff Joseph
LA Weekly has a story this week about a family’s search for their missing relative, Jeffrey Keith Joseph, an “L.A. man on probation for running a rogue pot shop in Venice.” Relatives fear Joseph might have disappeared on a trip to Hoopa, judging by calls made on his cell phone, including the last one placed…
Rock Beats Fire
It’s easy to forget just how far the county line extends. Once you make it out to the Mattole Valley, though, you’re immediately happy to claim it as part of Humboldt’s beautiful landscape. Protecting it, particularly during dry seasons like this one, requires a top-notch fire service. The 25th annual Roll on the Mattole is…
Tonight’s Setlist: Dig Deep, Dance Hard, Goth Out (VIDEO)
When’s the last time you went to the Digger? Exactly. What a perfect opportunity to head out to the Clam Beach Inn — with your designated driver, natch — and witness Humboldt skate rockers Imperial Destructo, the punk-blues (emphasis on punk) stylings of Nebraska’s Saint Christopher and the dirty folk of Montana’s Whiskey Hooves (see video above).…
Vroom! Vroom!
You’ve likely noticed the influx of super shiny, classic cars on the highway lately. They just ooze nostalgia, and it’s nearly impossible to take your eyes off of them. If you’re driving, this can be a dangerous distraction. Luckily for you, most of these vintage American cars are headed to the same place: the Fortuna…
Took the Words out of My Mao
Editor: I was bothered to see Heidi Walters’ use of the expression “gang of four” in the article “Big Trees” (July 17). I created that as a descriptive label when I was writing about the four supervisors Estelle Fennell, Rex Bohn, Ryan Sundberg and Virginia Bass, and their destruction of the General Plan Update. Journal…
Secrets and Pies
In “Blackberry Picking,” the late poet Seamus Heaney writes: “You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet/ like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it/ leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for/ picking.” And a lusty, greedy business it is, reaching into a briar, snaking stained fingers around thorns for the heavy,…
The Little Trees Matter
Editor: Regarding the rate of big trees’ growth skyrocketing after adjacent thinning: Well, no s**t, Sherlock (“Big Trees,” July 17.) This is a big issue in the tree-ring analysis of historic weather conditions, the fact that direct access to sunlight increases tree growth (thus the dropping of adjacent trees due to wind, age, water erosion…
Poo-pooing Pot Ads
The National Guard has been called in to assist a massive bust on Yurok Tribal lands. Seventy marijuana grows are being targeted for “eradication,” according to a press release from the tribe, in response to concerns about widespread environmental and cultural damage caused by the grows. A Los Angeles Times reporter has been following the…
No! Sleep! ‘Til Autumn!
Heya, Humboldt! I don’t know what’s caused the explosion, but here we are in the middle of summer and in addition to festival madness — how about that Folklife Fest?! — you’ve got a whole slew of shows coming at you. First, the 30th annual Reggae on the River is coming up July 31 through Aug.…
Pretty Fly
You may have noticed those giant kites in the sky above Clam Beach and wondered what’s going on out there. It’s kiteboarding, also known as kitesurfing. It’s similar to wakeboarding or waterskiing, but instead of being towed by a boat, you are pulled along by a giant, steerable, wind-borne kite. “Kiting is like rubbing your…
McKinleyville Natural Foods?
It’s a cloudless June day and Eureka Natural Foods owner Rick Littlefield is standing on Central Avenue in McKinleyville as the Pony Express Days parade kicks into high gear. He takes in the sights, watching as floats sponsored by local businesses cruise by, children dance and horses strut. Littlefield has been looking to get into…
Stream Bailout?
Editor: Scott Bauer of California Fish and Wildlife is not the only one haunted by the future of salmon (“Point of No Return?” July 10). As a nation we pay an ever-more-dreadful price for denying people the freedom to smoke marijuana: the carnage and cost of the international War on Drugs, the world’s largest prison…
Rewind
Reviews SEX TAPE. It feels like most romantic comedies have the same pacing as big summer blockbusters. The stakes are impossibly high, each moment is incredibly important, all building toward a thrilling declaration of love in some giant set piece. A Katherine Heigl movie is just as exhausting as Transformers. Which is why the relaxed…
Soft Drinks, Obesity and Scientific Neutrality
Some connections are just so obvious we hardly give them a second thought: drinking and driving, crack and bad teeth, smoking and lung cancer. And — this week’s topic — soft drinks and weight gain. The logic is so right there — you put on weight when calories going in exceed calories going out, and…
Friendship, Art and Endurance
It’s not an ordinary book, with crisp black type on slick snow-white paper. It consists of stitched rags and metal fragments left from the grenades the women in a Nazi slave labor camp were forced to drill. It is a book of simple domestic images with personal meaning, small enough to hide from the guards,…
Fairgrounds
Anger is best grown Under darkening skies In howling winds, Where victims and villains Litter festering landscapes. Breaking fertile soil, Planting wild seed, Watering incessantly Teases the ruminants And increases circulation.
