Humboldt Responds
Readers begin a dialogue on race, policing and the deadly toll of a tragic week
Cover Story
Humboldt Responds
We on the North Coast watched intently, tied to our televisions, radios and news feeds this week as more painful stitches were added to the fabric of this nation’s history. We watched as parallel tragedies unfolded in Minnesota and Louisiana, where black men were killed by police bullets, adding fresh urgency to the steady boil…
UPDATE: CHP Seeking Persons of Interest in Fortuna Hit and Run
The California Highway Patrol has released the names of two persons of interest in last week’s fatal hit-and-run. Marcia Maelinda Kitchen, mother of one of the deceased, and Joshua Wren Pearlston, her boyfriend, are both being sought for questioning. Kitchen is the registered owner of the Jeep involved in the collision. The CHP say they…
UPDATE: Klamath Boating Accident Victim Identified
At 10:30 a.m. today, a Yurok Tribal Police Department officer assisted a sheriff’s deputy to recover the body of James Dennis Cook, also known as Major. Cook’s body was tangled up in branches and brush in the river. He had been missing since last Friday following a boating accident. The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office will…
Eureka Seeks Dismissal of PalCo Marsh Lawsuit; Plaintiffs Look to Make it a Class Action
The city of Eureka is asking a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit brought by 11 people challenging the city’s May 2 eviction of the PalCo Marsh homeless encampments. Meanwhile, Peter Martin, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, has informed the court he intends to turn the case into a class action suit, which could bring…
Folklife Does ‘Send me Back Home’ for Merle
A full house experienced a magical “Sing Me Back Home” tribute to Merle Haggard at Saturday’s closing performance of the Humboldt Folklife Festival in the Dell’Arte Amphitheatre in Blue Lake. The “Merle choir,” which performed the tribute, was put together with members of different local bands who shared a common bond in that they all…
Jail Adds Suicide Netting to Budget
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will discuss tomorrow whether to add a provision for suicide netting to the Humboldt County jail’s budget. The item comes after a rash of suicide attempts — 12 in 2015 — in the facility, one of which proved fatal. Two of the 12 attempts involved inmates jumping from the…
Williams Grove, Avenue of the Giants
Saturday was the annual picnic of the Redwood Camera Club on the Avenue of the Giants. The majesty and beauty of the Sequoias always makes for an enjoyable ride. This was my first time to visit Williams Grove. It will not be my last. There are many good picnic spots, toilets and river access. I…
Eureka City Council Set to Discuss Food Trucks, Personal Property
The Eureka City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to allow food trucks or “mobile vendors” to operate in specifically zoned sections of the city, potentially pass a storage of personal property ordinance and (probably) grant two more contracts to the Mercer Fraser Co. The mobile vendors ordinance, which was discussed at length July 5,…
Poet Laureate Dana Gioia Reading and Lecture
Sometimes big things happen here in quiet ways. For instance, did you know that former chair of the National Endowment of the Arts and California’s current Poet Laureate Dana Gioia will read poetry and lecture on July 18 at 7 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eureka (free)? Now you do. He’ll be joined by…
Peter and the Wolf Returns
Pokémon isn’t the only thing kids like that starts with “P.” The Eureka Symphony’s Peter and the Wolf is back at Dell’Arte’s Carlo Theatre, July 17 at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. (free, first-come first-serve basis), with the popular “Instrument Petting Zoo” at 10 a.m. at the amphitheater. Kids can touch and hear instruments before…
School of Hard Knocks
We love our clowns in Humboldt. They’re artsy and political. Funny and serious. Schooled in Commedia dell’Arte, our clowns entertain us while elevating our consciousness. And so it is with our neighboring clowns. When these characters come to town, we go to hear their message, too. The San Francisco Mime Troupe brings its current show, Schooled, to…
Humboldt is Burning
All that glitters is not gold? Really now, Mr. Shakespeare. We know you knew a thing or two about drag. And, as you like it, so do we. Get ready, loyal subjects. Royalty reigns at the Bayside Grange this Saturday, July 16 when kings, queens and in-betweens take to the stage at Humboldt’s Inaugural Drag…
Maybe Next Year
I think we can all agree that last week was a particularly bad week for news. I wasn’t in Dallas, but I was in Texas — in Austin at the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, eating chicken-fried steak, black-eyed peas and … well, there’s always a side of gummy mac and cheese.…
Letting the Days Go By
A memory from the 20th century recently found its way back into my mind. During my somewhat unremarkable final two years in high school, I was able to leave campus for lunch. This was a big deal for us upperclassmen. It was also a prime time for many students to get in their cars and…
It’s All About the Egg
It’s the superficially idyllic 1950s in post-war Middle America. The role of women is to be decorative and do good works. Lesbianism does not exist (after all, Queen Victoria said so). The only dark cloud threatening this Eden is the Red Menace. And so it is that we find ourselves, as members of the audience,…
Non-random Random Primes
This is the story of how a curious coin-tossing paradox led a pair of Stanford University mathematicians to find an unexpected property of prime numbers, a quirk in full view that had gone unnoticed. First, the paradox: Alice tosses a coin until she sees a head followed by a tail (H-T); Bob tosses until he…
Dating Secrets
Reviews Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. As I’ve said time and time again, R-rated comedy is a risky genre. Banking on the strength or audacity of the material, it forsakes all the families and summer-break teenagers who seem to be the primary drivers of the movie industry. And because awards shows are myopic and…
Solstice Haiku
Wild seed-soaking rains give way to root-warming sun: short-shadowed summer.
Predicting the Unpredictable
A decent winter’s rain does not mean an easy season for firefighters. True, this last year capped a record-breaking four-year drought with a moderately wet El Niño, but the drought, according to meteorologists, is not over. The aquifers and snowpacks are far from replenished and the woods and fields are drying out. According to Cal…
Some Reflections on Firefighting
The California Conservation Corps, which hires and trains young people ages 18 to 25 (and military veterans up to age 29), recently turned 40. This year the Fortuna CCC center trained 38 new corpsmembers to be firefighters and provide fire camp support. The CCC’s motto is “hard work, low pay, miserable conditions … and more!”…
Pot Not the New Almond
How much marijuana is being grown in Humboldt County? We’ve all heard some store porch supposition on the subject, but there’s little actual data to back it up. A recent article, published in the April edition of Environmental Research Letters, may help fill this vacuum. University of California Berkeley research specialist Van Butsic, and Jacob…
‘Affordable,’ Really?
Editor: I have dealt with several realtors who were as shady as lawyers (Mailbox, July 7). Realtors rarely report other bad agents. When was the last time anyone ever heard of any lawyer or doctor reporting one of their fellows? That would be a big, fat never. They don’t do it because anyone who “tattles”…
Gambling with our Lives
Editor: OK … We have brought flowers, lit candles, written notes, cried, and sung (NCJ Daily, June 16). The politicians, police, FBI, and hospital personnel have all congratulated each other for doing a fine job for the media. Forty-nine of our fellow citizens have been slaughtered. The president’s speech following the massacre lectured us that…
The Many Lives of Strawberries
When I buy a basket of strawberries, I put my nose in them and inhale deeply. I smell sun, spring then summer, long days and warm weather. As a child in Italy, strawberry season always felt painfully short and therefore precious. In late March and early April, strawberries broke the monotony of winter fruit —…
Northern Nights Music Festival
Summer Arts and Music Festival is over and Reggae isn’t here yet. Maintain your SoHum summer music high with the Northern Nights Music Festival, happening July 15-17 at Cooks Valley Campground (see www.northernnights.org for ticket prices). Enjoy three days of fun, four stages of DJs and live bands, a river to float down, tall trees…
