Homing the Houseless
Housing First is spreading across the nation, but can it work in Humboldt?
Cover Story
Homing the Houseless
At 52, Brad Saxenhaus had been chronically homeless his entire adult life. A mentally ill drug addict and alcoholic, he’d been in and out of programs, treatment and transitional housing, but always wound up back on the streets, sleeping on the cold ground. “I always said, ‘I gotta fix this, I gotta fix this.’ I…
Greek Drama
I am told by a reliable Greek co-worker that everything is Greek. Everything. And yet when I swung into the office with a paper bag from Humboldt Soup Company (1019 Myrtle Ave., Eureka), there was some panic — from the Greek Panikos, incidentally — as to whether its gyro ($8.29) would be Greek enough. The…
Sundberg: Pot Tax Will be on November Ballot
Humboldt County Supervisor Ryan Sundberg told KINS Radio this morning the county plans to put a medical marijuana cultivation excise tax on the November ballot. A projection tallied by the interim county administrative officer, Sundberg said, projects the tax earning $2 million in the first year, assuming a $1-per-square-foot fee and 10 percent participation from…
Harbor District to Present on King Salmon Dredging Plans
The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District is holding an informational meeting on Wednesday, March 2 to discuss its dredging plan for the channels in King Salmon. The district decided in a January meeting that it would dredge the King Salmon main channel, and said in a report, “dredging activities for the King Salmon…
Huff to USPS: ‘Stop this Reckless Consolidation’
North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman joined a bipartisan trio of colleagues today in introducing legislation that would halt U.S. Postal Service plans to close and consolidate mail processing facilities across the country, including one in Eureka. Locals have long lamented USPS’s plan — which is currently on hold — to shutter Eureka’s processing facility and…
Jury Selection Underway for Bullock Trial
Jury selection is underway for the trial of Gary Lee Bullock, who faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted on charges that he tortured and murdered St. Bernard’s pastor Fr. Eric Freed on New Year’s Day 2014. Because of the notoriety of the crime and the projected length of the trial…
City of Eureka Poised to Embrace Needle Exchange, Oust Panhandlers
Brandie Wilson, founder of Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction (HACHR), says her organization has saved at least a dozen lives in 2016, thanks to its distribution of Naloxone, an opiate overdose reversal drug. HACHR has been able to give Naloxone to drug users within Humboldt County, along with 2,000 clean needles. Now the Eureka…
Weekend Crash Claims 34-year-old McKinleyville Woman
The California Highway Patrol is continuing its investigation into a single car crash on State Route 96 near Willow Creek on Saturday morning that left a 34-year-old McKinleyville woman dead. According to the CHP, Stormy Joy McConnell was driving her silver 2000 Nissan Frontier southbound on State Route 96 at about 8 a.m. when, for…
TL;DR: Six Things you Need to Know About This Week’s Cover Story
Busy week? We get it. Here are some highlights from “Homing the Houseless” to get you caught up. (And a few things that didn’t make it into the issue.) With the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Eureka City Council slated to vote Tuesday on a joint-resolution that would pledge the two governments’ dedication…
HumBug: Endangered Species
On a recent sunny day, I was taking the long way home when an insect fluttered daintily in the sunshine ahead of me. Reflexively, I reached out and snatched it from the air in a carefully cupped hand. When I opened my hand a tiny bit, I saw what looked like a gray lacewing. Never…
John Jaso: Humboldt’s Dreadlocked Baseball Hero Talks Concussions
Humboldt-grown pro baseball player John Jaso is the subject of a fantastic article that came out this week on VICE Sports. In it, Jaso’s former teammate Fernando Perez (a World Series champ and he’s a better writer than me? Sigh) talks with Jaso about playing catcher, diva pitchers, being a Moneyball player and the debilitating…
Faith in the System: Arreaga’s Public Defender Reflects on Murder Acquittal
It was an emotional moment in a Humboldt County courtroom this week when Jason Arreaga was acquitted of murder charges stemming from a 2014 double slaying. “He was gripping my hand as hard as he could,” said Heidi Holmquist, Arreaga’s public defender who successfully argued for his innocence. “He was really overwhelmed, as I was…
Getting Legit: Local Growers Line Up to File on First Day of County Ordinance
A small crowd clustered at the top of the stairs of the Humboldt County Planning Department on Friday morning, waiting for the doors to open. In their hands, they clutched their land use ordinance permits for medical marijuana cultivation. “We’ve been gearing up all week for a big day,” said Rob Wall, interim planning director,…
Marijuana Group Says it Will Sue County Over Outdoor Cultivation Ordinance
Humboldt County’s newly enacted medical marijuana cultivation ordinance, which goes into effect tomorrow, is already facing a legal threat. The Humboldt Mendocino Marijuana Advocacy Project (HuMMAP) filed a notice with the county on Tuesday saying that it intends to sue to stop the ordinance. HuMMAP spokesperson Robert Sutherland confirmed the filing with the Journal and…
UPDATE: So Hum Highway 101 Crash Kills One
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office identified the victim in the Feb. 25 crash. Dillon Boots, 27, of Arcata, died of blunt force trauma as a result of the accident. The office is running a toxicology report as part of its investigation into the crash. Previously: A pair of early morning crashes on U.S. Highway…
Good Golly, Khinkali
This winter has been a proper winter for the first time since I moved back from the East Coast in 2010. The drought-stricken pastures have been soaking up the water and the cow wallows are thick with mud. The hills have returned to their proper verdancy. It’s been cold enough that I don’t have apologize…
Mark Lovelace
Humboldt County 3rd District Supervisor Mark Lovelace is serving his final year in office as the chair of the board. But the San Jose native and former punk rock club busboy won’t stop playing music anytime soon. He grew up listening to big band jazz music and the crooning of Bing Crosby with his parents.…
Willow Creek Spring
In Spring the flowering dogwood blooms, And the hawks begin to cry, They circle and chase and sing of love Across the Willow Creek sky. The trilliums told, their leaves unfold, Deep throats a’filled with white, There will still be cold, some splashing sun, And rain with its steely bite. For many a year I’ve…
I Carry it in my Shoe
If you include my college newspaper, I’ve worked for eight different news organizations as a reporter or editor. Never once did I flash a press pass. I’m pretty sure I never had one, even in the six months I covered the cop beat. The closest I came was a press sticker I had for my…
Gravity Waves: Confirming a Metaphor
At 2:51 a.m. PDT on Sept. 14, twin observatories in Washington and Louisiana detected “ripples in the fabric of spacetime.” After months of checking and re-checking, the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) team, including Humboldt State University alumnus Corey Gray, announced on Feb. 11 it had found evidence of gravity waves in a fifth-of-a-second “chirp”…
Road Barriers
The rain has stopped, the homeowner has said they can stay the night, and the inhabitants of the Vagabus are doing what they call “puking the bus,” which means removing all of the contents of the 41-foot 1971 Bluebird schoolbus so they can clean and organize within. Previous efforts at a deep cleaning have been…
Minor Concern
Editor: The plan of the new owners for the Minor Theater is great news for film lovers (“Return of the Minor,” Feb. 18). However, I have two reservations. Serving food and beverages during the movie might be profitable and might attract patrons, but how can this be anything other than distracting and interruptive? Also, I’m…
The Dignity of Tiny
Editor: I appreciate Thadeus Greenson bringing light to the conundrum of Eureka’s homeless population (“Push and Pull,” Feb. 18). The declaration of a “shelter crisis” by the city council relaxes zoning and other ordinances to allow legal, temporary occupation of some city properties. Is there a plan to shelter in some of these areas? Secure…
Bamboo Snafu
Editor: After reading Heather Jo Flores’s article on bamboo in the backyard (“To Bamboo or Not to Bamboo,” Feb. 18), I wanted to add my two cents. I agree that a neglected grove of bamboo can be a bear to deal with. The bamboo in the picture was probably put in 20-plus years ago. People…
Humbled by Humboldt
Editor: In his review of “The Invention of Nature” (Feb. 18), Bill Cassel writes that my hero, Baron Alexander von Humboldt, “was probably gay.” I believe there’s no question about it; our lad was as gay as a spring lamb, although, as Cassel puts it, we don’t know if “he was practicing or just inclined.”…
Better Weed, Lower Taxes
Editor: Eureka Police Chief Mills told KINS Radio that he wants to “… tax the snot out of it. …” McGuire’s Senate Bill 987 would impose a 15 percent tax at the point of sale (“Sign up, Pay up,” Feb. 18). On top of this, the bill also ensures the cities and counties can tax…
Getting the Word out
Editor: After reading “Sex and the Future” (Feb. 11), a very informative article, I would like to provide some information about the state of education at the local Planned Parenthood in Eureka. As a member of the local Planned Parenthood Board of Advocates, I know that during the 2014-2015 school year, Planned Parenthood’s health educators…
Cast Out
Reviews THE WITCH. A few things built my expectations for The Witch. First, of course, was the trailer, which cut together some of the more striking visual elements and off-putting moments into an unnerving little straight shot of devilishness, overlaid by pull quotes declaiming it as the new scariest movie ever made. But we’ve all…
Throbbing
Editor: Jennifer Savage’s reductionist portrayal of marital sex as a hurried athletic romp (“Steamy Windows,” Feb. 11) exemplifies the decay and meretriciousness of American popular culture and current presidential politics: want of discretion, modesty and respect. Her prodigal disclosures are painfully devoid of love, beauty, poetry, tenderness, romance and eroticism. Anaïs Nin, George Sand and…
Roughing the (Joint) Passer
Two football players lost their positions on their team rosters after being busted with weed. University of Kentucky linebacker Jason Hatcher had a pound of weed on him when he was pulled over for speeding on Feb. 22, cops say. The college later announced his dismissal from the roster for breaking team rules. According to…
Festival de Cine
The 18th annual International Latino Film Festival lights up Mill Creek Cinema March 1 through 3 at 6 p.m. ($5 per film, free to students enrolled in specific classes at HSU/CR). This collaboration of Humboldt State University’s Department of World Languages and Cultures and College of the Redwoods’ Arts and Humanities Department lets viewers enjoy…
