Cover Story
Humboldt’s Mayberry
The woman had lived in Fortuna long enough to appreciate a few things about the place. It was cheaper than most other Humboldt towns. Sunny. Neighbors were mostly great. But she hadn’t been there long enough, apparently, to feel she was Fortuna-to-the-bone. Perhaps she was too liberal, the woman mused, standing on the sidewalk in…
The Outsiders
Once again, our teen correspondents Nick and Kaylee Savage-Wright are heading to San Francisco for this weekend’s massive, seriously eclectic (and sold out) Outside Lands Festival, where headliners include Neil Young (Friday), Metallica (Saturday) and Stevie Wonder (Sunday). Here’s a little preview of what they have planned. Check back next week for a report on what they…
Eureka Resolves to Reaffirm Commitment to Create Jobs
Last night, the Eureka City Council unanimously voted to adopt a harbor revitalization resolution presented by a community group, but only after it was determined that the document doesn’t legally bind them to do anything. Councilmember Linda Atkins said she was concerned about some of the big-ticket projects listed as goals in the resolution, including…
FOUND: Rail Propaganda Data Source [Updated]
Update, 3:20 p.m.: In a follow-up email to the Journal, the Humboldt Bay Harbor Group’s citizen leader, Susana Munzell, confirmed that the data now being used to promote the east-west railroad project is from a 15-year-old study that operated under a very different set of hypotheticals: As I recall, the information came from a study…
KMUD In Deep
KMUD radio (91.1 FM Redway/Garberville) — the funky, feisty radio station (aka KMUE 88.1 in Eureka, KLAI 90.3 in Laytonville and 99.5 FM in Shelter Cove) that knits the independent hinterlands into a tight community — is in jeopardy. “We don’t have any cash,” said Rob Bier this morning (Tuesday) on the phone. Bier is…
Double Trouble! 15-Year-Old Twins Arrested This Morning in Eureka
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office: On 08-7-2012, approximately 4:30 a.m. the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call of a residential burglary interrupted at a residence in the 4800 block of Allen Court, Eureka. The homeowners were sleeping when they thought they heard their garage door open. The husband got out…
East-west Rail Propaganda, Anyone?
A resolution on the agenda for tomorrow’s Eureka City Council meeting asks council members to swear allegiance to the riduculous controversial east-west rail proposal, and the resolution is preceded by an almost comically biased “summary” of the issue. (Read the full text in pdf form here.) The agenda item was prepared by members of the Humboldt Bay Harbor…
Eureka Man Arrested After Stabbing Daughter’s Boyfriend
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office: On 08-02-2012, approximately 8:15 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a fight in progress and one of the combatants was stabbed. The fight was occurrung at a residence in the 1100 block of Freshwater Road, Eureka. Deputies responded to the scene and met with…
Women in Black
An older woman stands in line at Murphy’s Market with a small bottle of water. Short and hunched over, she’s dressed in all black, loose-fitting clothes. She smiles at the clerk, looks down and says something softly, then slowly toddles into the sunny summer streets of Trinidad. Late on a Friday afternoon, it’s busy downtown.…
Is Texas Funny?
The Red Velvet Cake War is the summer comic confection now on stage at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Eureka. The Verdeen girls — Gaynelle (played by Jacqui Cain), Peaches (Denise Ryles) and Jimmie Wyvette (Gloria Montgomery) — live in the small Texas town of Sweetgum. They chafe under the domination of the family…
What You See Is What You Get?
For over 20 years, photographer Alan Dismuke has been taking self-portraits. No, he’s not the world’s most narcissistic artist. In fact, he is often difficult to identify in his portraits. The figures in Dismuke’s work appear as male, female, young, old, rich, poor, nude and clothed. But behind the costumes, wigs and makeup, they are…
Cockburn Country
In October 2009, KGOE Program Director Tom Sebourn posted to his personal blog a video he took at a Eureka peace rally. He noted that rain dampened the crowd but not the spirit, and added “Here is local resident Alexander Cockburn addressing the crowd.” I missed that peace rally, probably because of the rain. Most…
Get Your Port On: Part 2
Get Your Port On: Part 2
By Blood: A Novel
In 1974 San Francisco, a professor on leave rents an office in an old building to write, but finds himself separated by a paper-thin wall from a working psychiatrist. Most of her sessions are masked by a white-noise machine, but for one client she turns it off. That client’s plight becomes his obsession. So there…
Ag, Keep it Clean!
Editor: The message of your story “Manure Maneuver” (July 19) seemed to be that the government was imposing paperwork on dairy owners who are already doing all they can to keep cow manure out of our streams. That may or may not be true of the two dairy owners you interviewed but it is not…
The Black Oak
You are my black oak, Quircus kelloggii, mossy…
Parks Still Worthy
Editor: Hats off to the visiting public that continues to support state parks during the current media wars (“State Parks Scandalpalooza,” Blogjammin, July 26). Here is hoping that the other part of the public, the ones who are outraged at the funds located suddenly by California State Parks, finds another battle to fight. There are…
Wreck of the Milwaukee
In retrospect, it was a disaster waiting to happen. On the night of Jan. 12-13, 1917, three months before the United States entered World War I, the 10,000-ton USS cruiser Milwaukee attempted to free the submarine designated H-3, which had beached at Samoa a month earlier during heavy fog. The plan was to tow the…
More Cheap Eats
Editor: My wife and I, both seniors, enjoy eating at the Village Pantry, Valley West, Arcata. (“Cheap Eats,” July 26.) They offer a nice selection on the senior menu which includes soup or salad, a nice meat entree accompanied with a starch choice and prepared vegetables, all for under $20. When we don’t feel like…
Ducks! Lawnmowers! Bocce!
Celebrating everything that makes it both wild and woodsy, Rio Dell gets its romp on this week with Wildwood Days. The five-day festival has everything from racing lawnmowers to mustering firefighters, with plenty of alliterative events in between. (Parade, poker, penny scramble.) And it might even be sunny. Maybe. Things get started on Wednesday, Aug.…
Rail Wreck
Editor: In his letter of July 26, “Railbanking Sham,” Mr. Mitchell seems to believe that restoring rail travel will be as simple as putting trains back on existing tracks. He writes, “It would be a tragedy to see this 100-year-old asset simply vanish due to unnecessary destruction of the railway.” All one has to do…
? Shades of Grey
Humboldt’s summer weather got you down? You’re just not looking hard enough!
Two Turntables and…
As the world looks to London for champions, we have one coming to town Friday. Ronald K. Keys Jr., a turntablist from Cleveland aka DJ Swamp, took the 1996 U.S. title in the annual DMC DJ competition hosted by Disco Mix Club. The honor earned him a position in Beck’s band for a few…
Less Talky More Dancey
STEP UP REVOLUTION. As a long-form dance video, this is good stuff: breakneck choreography, clever cinematography, beautiful people in various states of undress — it nails all the steps. As a proper movie? Not so much. This is my first experience with the Step Up franchise, and I got basically what I was expecting.…
Blues by Good Buddies
It’s time for the local blues scene to shine. Saturday’s 12th annual Buddy Brown Blues Festival in sunny Blue Lake honors the late Blue Lake bluesman Richard “Buddy Brown” Duggins with a ful day of the blues. The Buddy Fest headliner is once again the other Buddy, guitarist Ivan Elmo “Buddy” Reed and The Rip…
Profitable Busts
Editor: I can understand Sheriff Downey being overwhelmed in his Herculean efforts to close down marijuana grows in his fiefdom (“Downey Calls for Backup,” July 26.). But what the Journal’s article does not mention is that law enforcement gets to keep all the money it seizes. And we’re not talking spare change here, but serious…
Gaia: A Fest for Mama Earth
Black Oak Ranch is pretty much ideal as a festival venue. The towering black oaks are a big part of that, providing cooling shade and a home for the hawks, crows and other birds that cruise the sky above you. There’s a creek running through the 150 acres ranch, room for five stages and…
