Howdy, Sheriff
Two men named Mike duke it out to become the county’s top lawman
Cover Story
Howdy, Sheriff
There’s a gold star badge pinned to his chest, a pistol tucked into the leather holster at his hip, and on his belt you’ll find a shiny pair of handcuffs. Hardware aside, though, the job of a modern-day sheriff bears little resemblance to that of the iconic lawman of the Old West — the dusty,…
Did You Suffer An Overdose?
In this week’s Journal we write about the absconding of Dr. Fran Day from her medical practice in Eureka. She left without giving proper written notice to all of her patients and, apparently, she took their medical records with her. While it may or may not be related to her disappearance, Dr. Day has been…
CR Officially Withdraws Jefferson Offer
After the press release of a couple weeks ago, you may have assumed this was a done deal already. It wasn’t. Not until last night when CR’s Board of Trustees took President Jeff Marsee’s advice to abandon controversial plans to acquire Jefferson Elementary School on Eureka’s West Side (see “Schoolyard Scrap,” Feb. 18, 2010). And…
Arcata Vegan Apostate Pepper-Pied
The SF Chron reports that Arcata author Lierre Keith, a former vegan turned anti-vegan , was pied with some sort of chili-pepper creme concoction while giving a speech in the Bay Area last weekend. Vegan anarchists claimed responsibility. Roll the tape: Your browser is not able to display this multimedia content. Keith talks about the…
Strawn Steps Down — Treasurer’s Race Open
Interested in being Humboldt County’s next tax man? On the very last possible day to file for this race, longtime Humboldt County Treasurer/Tax Collector sent out a press release saying that he would not file for reelection. Instead, Strawn said, he would be supporting his assistant, John Bartholomew. “[Bartholomew]’s knowledge of investments from his many years…
An Encounter with the Messiah
When I talked with Raj Patel , a couple of years ago about the politics of food scarcity ( Why Does Food Cost More? ), I had no idea he would be proclaimed Maitreya , the Messiah for followers of a New Age cult known as Share International . But there he was on the…
Surreal Estate
Yesterday the Times-Standard continued its tradition of leaving real estate market analysis to those who have a vested interest in said market. (See remarkably similar examples of T-S -published Realtor Pollyannaism here and here .) This time around, Coldwell Banker Cutten Realty agent Jill MacDonald set about answering this recurring query: “Is the real estate…
Red Letter
Editor: Eric Hedlund’s clarification last week should be held as an ideal to the rest of us ("Mailbox," March 4). As a letter to the editor, it closes in on perfection: Beautifully written without any pretension, to the point despite the breadth of its information, generous, warm and laced with wisdom. Having read it three…
tomorrow
is Thursday Lonnie may walk to basketball practice…
The Genocide
Editor: In my book, genocide is as bad as it gets. Your author’s tortured determination to establish that the Indian Massacres of 1860 were undertaken for profit — hence the "extortion" of the title — seems to have required some dubious accounting ("Genocide and Extortion," Feb. 25). He states that a then-recent collection of renegade…
The Winter of Mixed Drinks
The Scottish outfit Frightened Rabbit caught a mess of critical praise with their 2008 sophomore release, The Midnight Organ Fight. The Hutchison brothers, Scott (singer, guitarist and lyricist) and Grant (drummer, percussionist), packed the record with vibrant, raw emotion. The immediate live feel and sharp lyrics made Frightened Rabbit a band to take notice of.…
You Gotta Export
Editor: I have been struggling to respond to the letter from Sara Sunstein in the last issue ("Mailbox," Feb. 25). Her comments that local companies such as Eel River Beef, Mad River Brewing and Cypress Grove Chevre should not grow beyond Humboldt County struck me as both naïve and shortsighted. Sunstein obviously has never been…
Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse
Because environmental studies professor David Orr’s book is gracefully written, with a lucid and comprehensive vision, it is easy to read. However, because of its subject and its messages, it is very difficult to read. For all of those reasons, it is important that everyone reads it, because it is about our future, which is…
Self-Contained
I have never been much of a container gardener. People who are able to fill their porches and balconies with blowsy, overflowing, well-designed, regularly-watered containers are, in my opinion, nurturers. They know how to take care of things and they enjoy doing it. I am not one of those people; I want to admire plants…
A Pair of Paradoxes
Paradox: a seemingly contradictory statement that may nevertheless be true. The story goes that in 1943, the Swedish Broadcasting Company announced that a civil defense test would be held one day of the following week, starting Sunday and ending Saturday. In order to test the efficiency of the Civil Defense units, the actual day of…
Out in the Street
It’s just a butt on a door. Most of Beachcomber Café’s patrons either display amusement or remain oblivious — more concerned with acquiring coffee and a Trinidad Special to notice. Sometimes, co-owner Alice says, folks walking by will do a double-take, stop, point, laugh and "then the camera comes out." But joy and acceptance of…
The Climate-Killers Inside
The grow house scene in Humboldt County has made us famous, like it or not. What goes along with growing pot indoors, and what is often overlooked, is the enormous amount of electricity that grows consume. We like to think of ourselves as an environmentally aware community, and in many ways we are. Humboldt County…
Wonder in Underland
Previews Opening Friday, March 12, Matt Damon stars in Green Zone, which, despite sharing the same lead actor, director and basic subject matter of the films chronicling the exploits of former CIA agent Jason Bourne, is not a "Bourne" flick. Damon plays Officer Roy Miller, who has been dispatched to Baghdad in 2003 to find…
Dread from Texas
You know him as Jah Sun, the dread-locked reggae singer from Arcata, but once upon a time he was simply Jason, an Austin Texas teen, a young rapper with an attitude. "When I was into the rap thing I was like shaved head, tattoos, chains, Timbalands," said Jah Sun in a chat over the weekend.…
Out in the Rain
For the past three and a half years, Rodney Brunlinger has ridden his bicycle every weekday to the Humboldt County Courthouse, where he’s worked for the same amount of years on the third floor in the assessor’s office. Come rain, fog, high winds or sloth. And at first, when the 40-something assessor’s technician started bike…
Standing Tall
Swooping, now, like the proud red-tailed hawk surveying his demesne, we travel from the mountaintop to the flatlands, saluting the old hippie coot in his Class K shack before paying our respects to his brother the tea bagger, now chamoising a 4×4 outside his tract home. This is Humboldt County. The lowlander desperately wishes to…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call 822-4500. 1) Arcata Artisans 883 H St. Susan Morton, paintings and glasswork; Oceana Madrone, quilting and beadwork. 2) Arcata City Hall* 736…
Jah Clarification
Editor: Wait a minute! Your writer got it backwards in "Irie vs. Irate" (March 4). I do not support "murder music" at all. I attended an open discussion at Aunty Mo’s and one point I made is that people from other cultures have different beliefs. It is not accurate to suggest that I support murder…
