How Green is Humboldt?
Humboldt has decidedly a eco-groovy reputation, but is it deserved?
Cover Story
How Green is Humboldt?
As the world readies to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, it seems a fitting time to take a good, hard look in the mirror. Yes, Humboldt County, home to towering redwood trees, flowing rivers and a magnificent coastline, was green before it was cool. It’s a place where folks outfitted their homes with solar…
A Grape Idea
The Humboldt County economy has been based on a cycle of boom and bust from its inception. From the time the gold rush first drove settlers through the redwood curtain to the timber and fishing industries, Humboldt County has always adapted and survived after economic crashes. Today, Humboldt gets by in no small part due…
St. Joes Service Workers Vote Union
Service workers at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka have voted 149 to 74 to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), with 223 of the 227 eligible bargaining unit members voting. The ballots were counted Friday, April 18. The workers voting for representation include nursing assistants, housekeepers, monitor technicians, cafeteria workers, operating room aides…
‘Til Next Time, Tall Ships
The tall ships are gone, leaving humans bereft of slow-motion sea battles in Eureka’s Inner Reach but bay birds rejoicing at the absence of sporadic cannon fire. Here are some scenes from Sunday’s “battle” between the Hawaiian Chieftain and the Lady Washington. But may we just say that whilst the Chieftain’s seasoned captain kept his…
Updated: Man Wanted for Questioning in Possible SoHum Homicide
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victim of an apparent homicide in Southern Humboldt as 36-year-old Zackery Jacob Chapman, of Redway. Meanwhile, a suspect in the case, 33-year-old Benjamin Jasper Carter, remains at large, according to Sheriff’s Office Lt. Wayne Hanson. The Sheriff’s Office launched its investigation after someone called 911 to report…
Coroner Identifies Motorcycle Crash Victim
The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office has identified the man killed in a Eureka motorcycle accident early Sunday morning as 26-year-old Tommy Ricardo Ruiz. The Eureka resident was killed at about 12:35 a.m. Sunday after falling off his bike in the 1000 block of Broadway while traveling at a high rate of speed. According to a…
Tonight’s Setlist: Strings sublime
That genre of music popularized by the great Django Reinhart has been the subject of some debate over how it’s commonly referenced. Is “gypsy jazz” a racial pejorative? My brief research yielded neither a clear answer nor cause to stop use of the phrase, so I’ll go with it for now. Self-described “Americana meets gypsy…
Tonight’s Setlist: Beautiful and stoned
Get yer rock on Tonight, the Alibi hosts Seattle stoner rockers Ancient Warlocks. Do you like seductive, powerful riffs? Do you enjoy feeling music reverberate through your body? Do you ever experience a twinge of nostalgia for those hot desert nights making out in the back of your ’67 Mustang while the Kyuss cassette spun…
McKay Tract Community Forest: Five Thumbs Up
The state’s first county-owned community forest is nearly a reality, after the board of supervisors voted unanimously to accept grant funding to purchase a 1,000-acre portion of the McKay Tract on Tuesday. There’s much to do before the land is accessible to the public, though. “The immediate next steps are processing the property transaction and…
Tonight’s Setlist: Drop everything!
SILA – The World Needs More Love from Sila on Vimeo. Usually we like to offer you a buffet of musical options, letting you choose according to your tastes, needs and desires. This week continues that tradition — but if we were to choose One Show You Must Go To, it would be Sila at…
Search and Enjoy
All year long, we try frantically and in vain to keep our kids from eating things they find in the bushes, then we release them like packs of dogs to hunt colored eggs and goodies. We’re weird, but we’re fun. On Saturday, April 19, kids all over the county will be rooting around for treats…
Via con Carnitas
Remember when La Chaparrita (1718 4th St., Eureka) closed and then opened again next to McDonald’s? Prepare to reboard that emotional roller coaster, because it has lost its lease and is closing again. Saturday, April 19 will be the last day to get your fix of the San Diego style Asada fries ($8.50), which can…
Tonight’s Setlist: Roots & Reality Reggae, R&B
Reggae star Prezident Brown brings his version of the new roots and reality consciousness reggae to Humboldt Brews. While scrolling through his online press kit for a photo, the band’s rider popped up. In case you’re wondering what the man and his band require, their needs are relatively basic: a case of water (Note: Can’t…
Clean Up to Hoe Down
If you don’t play it right, Earth Day will be about guilt — your carbon footprint can seem a little Sasquatch in the light of everyone else’s energy-efficient bulbs. Don’t let it get that far. Unplug some appliances and go get your hands dirty. Hit up one of the bevy of environmental do-gooder groups in…
eARTh Week Outreach
Like ants, they’re crawling all over the concrete. On hands and knees, small groups of students congregate here and there while others strike out on their own. Brightly colored chunks of dusty pastel smudge their fingers with pinks, yellows, and greens.. It’s Earth Week, and McKinleyville High School’s quad has a festival atmosphere in anticipation…
Correction:
Last week’s “Stage Matters” misidentified a play’s author. Adam Long co-developed The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised].
Weed Disagree
Editor: Grant Scott-Goforth’s article in The Week in Weed (April 10) failed to mention the Tashkin study published in 2006 (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17035389). That study was a large-scale epidemiological study (instigated by the Bush administration) that was expected to prove that cannabis causes lung and other cancers. The problem was that it not only failed to show…
Where the Wild Things Are
I recently wrote a column for the Journal about the river otter, one of the many adorable, cuddly denizens of the North Coast. “They’re so cute,” several readers commented, seeing the photo in the story. Then the April issue of National Geographic arrived in our mailbox with an article about our desire to bring wild…
Trouble on the Line
Hey McGuinty! My father and I used to be pretty close. We would talk on the phone every week about family, life, career and stuff going on in the world and in each other’s lives. This has changed in the last couple of years, and he’s kind of a douche lately. All he does is…
Growin’ Food in the ‘Hood
When you think of growing your own food, chances are the first image that pops into your mind is of raised planting beds with neat rows of squishy little plants that need weeding, water and for you to talk nicely to them every time you pass by. While I can always spare a few words…
Go See Sila
Drop everything Usually we like to offer you a buffet of musical options, letting you choose according to your tastes, needs and desires. This week continues that tradition — but if we were to choose One Show You Must Go To, it would be Sila at the Jambalaya Friday night. The Kenyan-born artist shimmers, pulses and…
The Instigator
Suave and smooth in his suit a shining beauty, he commands the room holds court, dispenses approbation withholds affection, sure and neat While the sun is settling into still he will decide the determination of love a force in motion and that which requires great patience On the street of a soundless night he is…
A Grape Idea
The Humboldt County economy has been based on a cycle of boom and bust from its inception. From the time the gold rush first drove settlers through the redwood curtain to the timber and fishing industries, Humboldt County has always adapted and survived after economic crashes. Today, Humboldt gets by in no small part due…
Third Friday McKinleyville Arts Night
Third Friday McKinleyville Arts Night is presented by members of the McKinleyville business community and is open for all McKinleyville businesses to display the work of local artists. Receptions for artists, exhibits and/or performances are from 6-8 p.m. on the third Friday of each month. Call (707) 834-6460 or visit www.mckinleyvilleartsnight.com for more information. 1)…
Life is Like a Box of Produce
“What’s in the box?” I wonder, my excitement escalating as I get ready to open it. One week, the first Sun Gold cherry tomatoes of the season beam at me from their basket. Another week, the first sweet peppers show up glowing like lamps. Every week, the assortment of fresh produce in the community-supported agriculture…
Touchdown
Reviews DRAFT DAY. I don’t particularly care for or about the National Football League. And over the years, I’ve come to view professional athletic organizations and their sanctioning bodies with an ever more jaundiced eye. Recently, in the middle of some cavernous, anonymous, Midwestern chain restaurant, lamenting my lot, I realized that the many giant…
GMO Spider-Corn:
Say what you will about 3rd District Humboldt County Supervisor Mark Lovelace but the guy is driven to combat climate change. Lovelace warmed up to voters in the early 2000s by accomplishing community forest preservation in the Arcata area. Meanwhile, during his 2008 campaign for supervisor, Lovelace practically exhaust-ed himself addressing the combustible issues surrounding…
How Green Is Your Weed?
Is your purple kush green? Not its floral tint, but its environmental hue? Actually, back up a second. Can you say with certainty that it’s purple kush? Where was it grown? Indoor or outdoor? What fertilizers and pest controls were used? A trapping of black market weed is that it’s difficult to trace with much…
Responding to Tragedy
The high school students, nearly 100 of them, gathered before dawn on April 10 at Los Angeles’ Union Station. Arthur Arzola, the smiling 26-year-old admissions counselor who personally recruited most of the students to attend Humboldt State University’s two-day Spring Preview event, was there to greet them. Hailing from more than three dozen Southern California…
