Cover Story
Prelude to a Sweep
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series looking back at the May 2, 2016, clearing of homeless encampments from the PalCo Marsh and what led to it. In 2011, Miles Slattery, then a project manager for Eureka’s Parks and Recreation division, hiked a group of potential grant funders through the tangle of…
TL;DR: Our Favorite Quotes From This Week’s Cover Story
Hey readers, we know that reading 4,500 words can be a slog for some in the fast, digital world. Even if that 4,500 words is about something as fascinating as the city of Eureka’s many, varied attempts to address the entrenched homeless camp in the PalCo Marsh and the accompanying emails we obtained from public…
Tent Cities: An Expert’s Opinion
In the lead-up to the PalCo Marsh vacation, city and county officials and members of the homeless working group, emailed around articles with suggestions for what worked in other cities and states. Among these was an article written by Iain De Jong, titled “Tent City: How to Respond Effectively.” De Jong, a consultant and professor…
Redway Man Killed in ATV Accident
A Redway man was found dead this morning from injuries he suffered in an ATV accident on an unmarked trail south of Briceland Road. A group of concerned residents located the body of David J. Dresser, 59, trapped under the vehicle after searching in the area where he was last known to be, according to…
Hello, My Name is: Humboldt’s Flying Squirrel
Say hello to Humboldt’s flying squirrel, formerly known as the northern flying squirrel. Look into his black, marble-like eyes. Look at them. Smaller and darker than the northern variety, with which they share some territory, these little gliders have just been classified as a new species and named for our county’s namesake, naturalist Alexander von…
Music Tonight – Wednesday, May 31
Didn’t get enough jazz last night at the Mad River Brewery Tap Room? Return this evening as The RLA Jazz Trio with Paula & Don will be doing their thing for you and the family. Same deal as last night — and most nights — with a 6 p.m. start time and free enjoyment.
Music Tonight – Tuesday, May 30
Although Friday is still far out of sight, sneak on up to the Mad River Brewery Tap room at 6 p.m. this evening to catch some jazz from Blue Lotus. They’ll start around 6 p.m. and go until about 8:30 p.m. and all for free. Bring the kids as well — just keep ’em away…
Humboldt Crabs Fan Fest
Slap the dust out of that bleacher cushion, cram your C-cap on and follow the streams of Crabbies faithful to the Arcata Ball Park Thursday, June 1 for the Humboldt Crabs Fan Fest starting at 5 p.m. ($5 with hot dog, chips and drink). Meet the players, watch batting practice and get autographs for the…
Splashdown: Kinetic Day 2
They survived the sand and dared Deadman’s Drop. On Sunday, Kinetic Grand Championship competitors got amphibious, using foam, floats, kayaks and paddles to navigate the waters of Humboldt Bay. Making waves (and making it back to shore) is no joke — listing craft, log jams and busted cabooses were just a few of the challenges.…
All Downhill: Kinetic Day One
After parading around the Arcata Plaza, teams competing for glory (or just trying to stay upright) took off on the 2017 Grand Kinetic Championship. As the crowd cheered on Saturday, the human-powered contraptions made their way to the Manila Dunes to face Deadman’s Drop, the steep, sandy, downhill challenge that’s toppled many a team. Photographer…
Huffman Town Hall Coming to Garberville
Congressman Jared Huffman is taking the next segment of his town hall tour to Garberville on May 31 after drawing large crowds up and down California’s 2nd District in the wake of President Donald Trump’s election. According to a release from his office, Huffman will “discuss how to make forward progress in today’s political climate”…
Music Tonight – Saturday, May 27
Some salmon action is on the bill tonight at the Inn at 2nd & C (formerly the Eagle House Victorian Inn) in Eureka, where there is a seafood dinner and benefit concert for local fishermen and salmon protectors. The dinner starts around 6 p.m. but if you just want to get in for the music…
A Dylan-esque Celebration
Highway 299 (OK, State Route) led to a great sunset view of the Blue Lake skyline for Wednesday night’s seventh annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash at the Mad River Brewery. All I really wanted to do was to drink a glass of cold hard cider, as I wasn’t going anywhere else for the evening, and…
Judge Denies Skilled Nursing Defendants’ Change of Venue Bid
Judge Timothy Cissna denied skilled nursing magnate Shlomo Rechnitz’s request for a change of venue in a wrongful death and elder abuse lawsuit following a short hearing today, rejecting claims that he couldn’t get a fair trial in Humboldt County. Cissna said the case should be tried locally because it involves a substantial personal injury…
Fiery Crash Involving Local Family Kills Two, Several Injured
Two people were killed, including a Eureka man, and several other members of a local family were injured in a fiery collision just after midnight on U.S. Highway 101 north of Willits. But a Good Samaritan pulled five injured passengers from the wreckage just before both vehicles burst into flames. Three Eureka residents — identified…
Music Tonight – Friday, May 26
Thick grooves are on the bill at The Arcata Theatre Lounge around 8 p.m. courtesy of local reggae jammers The Dubbadubs along with Stonechild and trippy-pysch DJs The Desert Dwellers. Harnessing exotic instruments, eastern scales and reverb-drenched foreign female vocals, these dwellers of the desert bring you something you might hear in a yoga tent…
The Art of the Wheel
“For the Glory!” Ready yourself for the rallying cry ringing out across the county this weekend as dozens of Kinetinauts (nuts?) and their human-powered contraptions roll, rumble and race across sea, sand, mud and land during the Kinetic Grand Championship happening May 27-29 (free). The Humboldt County Memorial Day Weekend tradition celebrating the wacky and…
Music Tonight – Thursday, May 25
Tonight the Miniplex in Arcata is hosting Seattle band Mommy Long Legs, who come out of the feminist punk scene of the Queen City and who are making their Humboldt debut (I think). Local “femme-nasty” rap duo Vagsicle — think Talking Heads art performance blending with some part of The Beastie Boys and a secret…
AAI Flow Fashion Show
Arcata Arts Institute’s fashion design students show off their creations at the AAI Flow Fashion Show this Saturday, May 27 from 8 to 10:30 p.m. at the Arcata Theatre Lounge ($30, $20 seniors/students). New and returning students conceive and create these original wearable designs and walk them down the runway.
Films al Fresco
They’re here! Those sweet summer days that stretch out late leaving lots of time for outdoor activities. And when those activities cross over from dusk to darkness, sunset to stars, well, that’s even better. Watching movies under the night sky against a backdrop of redwoods is a sublime way to spend a summer evening with…
Sushi Party
Sushi was not always such high-brow cuisine. In the 1800s, sushi street vendors were the taco trucks of Edo (now Tokyo), hawking fish and rice preserved with the vinegar from which it draws the “su” in its name. True, it got pretty formal later on and you can certainly find the most rarified meals of…
Don’t Panic, Bro, It’s Science
Researchers at Washington State University are looking for a few brave volunteers to get really high in the name of public safety. The study aims to develop a Breathalyzer to detect marijuana use to help police implement state law, which provides that drivers with five nanograms or more of THC in their bloodstream can be…
I’m With Her
Reviews ALIEN: COVENANT. I saw Ridley Scott’s ground-breaking Alien (1979) too young and imprinted on its visceral sci-fi horror like a duckling. Artist H.R. Giger, whose work calls to mind an Art Nouveau death cult, designed a beast that finally frightened us more than humans. Its oil-slick, black, eyeless bullet of a head, with its…
HumBug: Shades of Green
Finally, it seems spring has sprung and from the pale rattlesnake grass (Briza maxima) to the deep Crayola blue-green of the firs, the old logging road was lined with a thousand shades of green. My eye caught movement at the edge of a little clearing so I followed it. At first I thought it might…
Hello, Sailor
The genre of light opera may seem like an odd one to 21st century audiences but only if you think about it too much. Productions in that niche pop up on theater calendars everywhere from high schools to Broadway. It can be tricky for small productions with all the singing the genre indicates. Light opera…
Four Journeys of Love and Loss
Each May, the graduating students in Dell’Arte’s MFA program in ensemble-based physical theatre put the sum of their talents and training on the stage at the Carlo Theatre in Blue Lake for the Thesis Festival. For anyone (this reviewer included) who has watched these students develop their skills and talents over the three years of…
‘A Fundamental and Necessary Right’
The basic premise of the California Public Records Act is simple, articulated in a single sentence in its preamble: “Access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.” I’d recommend that everyone in Eureka City Hall take the time to read the…
Going Wild in the Garden
Interested in attracting more birds, bees, and butterflies to your garden? Pete Haggard, a local expert on insects and co-author, with his wife Judy, of Insects of the Pacific Northwest, has compiled a list of the best local native plants for wildlife. Here are his top 10 picks. Red Alder This fast-growing, deciduous tree commonly…
Hey, Handsome
Darth Omus I was delighted to see some of my favorite tiny moths milling around the tips of tall bushes along the road. Our local fairy moths (Adela sepentrionella) are remarkable for their extravagantly long antennae and the fact that they are the only member of their family to feed on a perennial flowering plant,…
For Decency’s Sake
Editor: Having been horrified by the tragedy of the death of Mr. Lawson I read the editorial with interest (“The Lens of Experience,” May 18). I was raised in the Bay Area as well, but my experience was far different. In my high school, class sizes were 300 students and I doubt that even 10…
‘To Understand Each Other’
Editor: Your column, “The Lens of Experience,” is one of the best written pieces I have read in my lifetime. It was meaningful, to the point, very well expressed and very important for helping to understand the turmoil that seems more frequently to be surrounding us. Columns like yours are needed to help us come…
The Privilege of Safety
Editor: Continuing the discussion from the May 11 letters (“Racists Among Us”), I don’t want to ask of anyone that she not lead the fullest life she can. I don’t want my community to be a fearful, unsafe place. I am humiliated by the racism in my country. I am aggrieved by the suffering and…
Single Payer Now
Editor: The GOP supports the right to life in its platform. The mission of the right to life is “to protect and defend the most fundamental right of humankind, the right of every innocent human being from the beginning of life to natural death.” The Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal;…
About Time
Editor: Time is monumentally confusing and, like almost everyone (including most physicists), Barry Evans, in this column of May 18 (“It’s About Time”), has it all wrong when he says that “… yet one-way time moves irredeemably from past to future.” He’s correct in that physical events only change from past to future (the broken egg…
‘An Artificial Legal Controversy’
The county of Humboldt is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging newly hired public defender David Marcus doesn’t meet minimum state qualifications for the job, calling the suit “both frivolous and baseless.” “(The suit) asks this court to intervene in a purely political dispute over the appointment of the Humboldt County public defender,”…
Missed
Poem escapes was one brilliant moment can’t recollect art show just want to share was no show appointment oh Humboldt oh hum county went to vigil and wept trying to imagine saffron silk like butterfly wings enveloping mother family, friends and community trying to make sense of it all this bright star loss did not…
Entertained to Death
Technology giveth, and technology taketh away. I’ve been pondering this thought for a while now. I won’t claim to be a fully out-of-the-closet Luddite, but compared to many — my children especially — I am far more wary of the trade off between what we get from technology and what we give to technology. Specifically,…
USO Dance
Let’s go to the hop — the Lindy hop, that is. Jammin’ Friday hosts the USO Dance, Friday, May 26 from 7 to 11 p.m. at Arcata Veterans Hall ($9). Show up in your sharpest vintage military uniform or other classic clothing and swing your partner at this USO-themed dance. Dancin’ lessons provided from 8…
