Cover Story
Get Out of Jail for a Fee
By the time locals went to the polls in 2014 to elect a new district attorney, they’d heard a lot about Humboldt County’s famous pot industry. Candidates had debated strategies for going after the worst players, for protecting the patients who benefit from California’s legal medical marijuana system, and for dealing with an ever-growing pile…
Many of Humboldt’s Worst Roads Are Probably Not Going to Get Fixed
We went through your complaints about bad roads in Humboldt County and got some information about when and if they’re scheduled for repair. One common theme is that people often don’t know which entity is responsible for maintaining roads in their neighborhoods. In Eureka, for example, roads fall into several different jurisdictions, even within city…
Heal Thyself
How’s your cold? Just kidding. No one cares. You missed getting sick when everyone else was coughing and sneezing, and now that your friends and co-workers are healed up, they have no sympathy for you. Fine. You can drown your sorrows in more canned soup and cough syrup or you can drag yourself to a…
Let’s Parklet!
Old Town Eureka’s first parklet is prime for the sitting — well, uh, after this afternoon’s rains stop. After a slower-than-expected permitting process and rain-delayed construction, the one-parking-spot space in front of Ramone’s is ready for beverage sipping and general relaxation. Enjoy accordingly.
The Art of Ink
If you’re itchin’ for some ink let the pros have a stab at you at the Inked Hearts Expo at Blue Lake Casino from Thursday, Feb. 4 through Sunday, Feb. 7 ($10 day pass, $30 all access for all four days). Tattoo artists, representing a diverse array of styles and backgrounds, come with guns blazin’…
Minor Theater Closing on Friday
Coming Attractions, which has operated the Minor Theater in Arcata since 2005, will shut the historic theater down Feb. 5. Josh Neff, who took ownership of the Minor Theater building and adjacent storefronts last year, says he plans to re-open the movie theater, but expects renovations to take at least a month. The theater celebrated…
Interim no More: Supes Tap Beck as New DHHS Director
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors has voted to remove the “interim” from Connie Beck’s job title and make her the official director of its Department of Health and Human Services. Beck was appointed the department’s interim director back in December, taking over for the retiring Phillip Crandall after the supervisors’ hired replacement, Kristin Brinks,…
Feds Announce New Klamath Accord to Remove Dams by 2020
A new deal has been reached to remove the four hydroelectric dams that clog the Klamath River and revive the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, the federal government announced today. According to a joint press release, the federal government, the states of Oregon and California and PacifiCorp — the energy company that owns…
Supes Set to Discuss Vacation Rental Ordinance
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is about to plunge into the increasingly fraught issue of vacation rentals, a topic that has Trinidad and communities large and small across California, and the nation, tied up in knots (and, in many cases, lawsuits). The Supes will consider a petition on whether and how to regulate vacation…
Wheetley Bows Out of Supes Race
Arcata City Councilmember Mark Wheetley has dropped out of the race to become Humboldt County’s next Third District supervisor. Wheetley, who was arrested last month on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, made the announcement in an email statement sent out this morning, citing “a number of personal and professional obligations” that would…
HumBug: Bugs in Midwinter
The middle of winter is not the best time to be a bug guy. There aren’t many around and most of the ones that are hide under rocks. Sometimes though, they surprise you. Returning home one recent night, I found a dozen or so medium sized, dark colored critters on my front door. Even without…
TL;DR: Five Things You Need to Know from This Week’s Cover Story
Busy week? We get it. Here are some highlights from the cover to get you caught up. Not long after he was elected as Mendocino County’s district attorney in 2011, David Eyster instigated an innovative — and lucrative — new program. County residents charged with certain marijuana felonies — usually possession with intent to sell…
County Simultaneously Releases Budget App, Grim Budget Forecast
The county of Humboldt launched an interactive online budget application Friday aimed at helping residents better understand their government, just as county staff released a fairly gloomy five-year budget forecast. “Open Budget,” the new interactive tool that can be found here, is designed to let folks explore different facets of county spending and revenue collection,…
Pile On
If the wall-to-wall Betty Boop décor (down to a tacked-up pair of socks) doesn’t give it away, the sign exclaiming that pizza fries with meatballs and cheese are back should clue you in that Deb’s Great American Hamburger Company (3340 Redwood Drive, Redway) is not about subtlety. Good thing, too. You will be grateful for…
Arcata Recycling Center to Close
The Arcata Resource Recovery Center — better known as the spot on 10th Street where you can drop off your recyclables and get your deposit back on glass bottles and cans — is closing. As the Mad River Union first reported, Rick Powell, the general manager of Eel River Resource Recovery — which owns and…
Cyclist Killed in Eureka
An unidentified bicyclist was hit and killed by a pickup truck yesterday evening at F and Trinity streets in Eureka. According to a Eureka Police Department press release, the cyclist was traveling north on F Street and ran a stop sign and traveled directly into the path of an oncoming 1971 Chevrolet pickup truck that…
Deadline for Marijuana Laws Lifted, Two Days After Supes Cram Through Ordinance
Two days after the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors passed a comprehensive outdoor medical marijuana cultivation ordinance — an effort of superbureaucratic speed — state lawmakers lifted the deadline that led to the county’s mad rush. Assemblyman Jim Wood announced this morning that his emergency legislation, lifting a March 1 deadline for local jurisdictions to…
Crackdown
It’s been a tough season for California crabs, crab fishermen and those who love the tasty crustacean. But just because crabs from our own waters are off the table for a while, it doesn’t mean we’ve stopped loving them or valuing their importance in our local culture and economy. Fortunately we can raise our claws…
After Twenty Years
(for J.) Canning peaches we talk about the past. About women looking for land of their own. I say, “I was thrilled to find this place that had a view and a waterfall. Just what I’d asked for.” She said, “All I wanted was to walk through the woods to my best friend’s home.” My…
The Sound
What is the “Southern California Sound”? I heard the term recently mentioned in regards to a band playing The Depot on Friday (The Donkeys) and although I immediately had an idea of what the sum of that sound is, the individual parts that make it up were a bit more troubling to identify. The artists…
Dip into Muhammara
I like to make world peace happen on my table. As I am going through a dip phase, recently I have prepared various batches of Romanian fasole b tut (bean spread), Russian eggplant ikra (“poor man’s caviar”), and Syrian muhammara and served them next to each other accompanied by homemade crackers. I read about Mohamad…
Thanks for the Crisis, Now What?
Editor: At the Jan. 19 Eureka city council meeting, we all took a big step forward in the housing movement focused on houselessness in Eureka by resolving to declare a shelter crisis (see this week’s “NCJ Daily”). A resolution first submitted by Councilmember Atkins at the Jan. 5 city council meeting was gutted with a…
Dams and Plans
Editor: Bravo Diane Higgins! (“Mailbox”, Jan. 21.) And I nearly forgot how horribly frightening Robert Morris and Lee Ulansey are (“Plan Fray,” Jan. 21). I never thought they should be in the positions they occupy and this latest tantrum re-confirms that thought. Their sense of entitlement just gives me goosebumps. Kathryn Travers, Eureka
USPS is Just Fine, Thank You
Editor: Regarding your Jan. 14 editorial “Going Postal,” I can understand people’s confusion about ads for marijuana versus ads for marijuana-related goods and services. As a letter carrier and vice president of the local National Association of Letter Carriers branch, I’m glad our congressional representative has stepped in to help clear up the confusion —…
Indie No-go
Reviews BLACK ROAD. I occasionally lament the fact that, even at my most esoteric, I tend to watch widely distributed, well-known if not always well-regarded movies. Unlike a rock nerd, who might happen upon some transcendent three-piece at a nothing bar in the small hours, I take in mostly what the cinematic establishment pushes at…
Wagner in Wranglers
Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, known formally as Der Ring des Nibelungen, is a four-part gesamtkunstwerk (bear with me here) from the mid-19th century that is staged in four parts with a total running time of up to 16 hours. It isn’t something that’s overwhelmingly familiar to most people — outside of opera fanatics — in…
The Dead and the Glowing
Skeletons in My Closet I collected my first insect when I about 6. It was a honeybee from the iceplant in my front yard. That was followed by a bumblebee. My folks encouraged me with books and supplies. Together they made me a butterfly net. Now in my 60s, I have accumulated a lot of…
Thirst
Cheers and applause from a standing-room-only audience filled the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors chambers on Jan. 22 when the board voted unanimously to adopt an outdoor medical marijuana land use ordinance. The ordinance — the culmination of a fast-paced review process by the board, county staff and the planning commission begun in September —…
In the Hole
A Mattole Valley resident for several decades, Teresa Davey is no stranger to rough roads. The 4-mile drive to the local elementary school, which she makes twice daily with her young daughter, requires navigating steep gravel switchbacks and a stretch of river-adjacent road which often floods in the winter. That’s on a good year. Over…
