Prepare for Impact
A new vaccination law has school administrators caught between a needle anda hard place
Cover Story
Prepare for Impact
As the first day of school approaches, there’s an anxiety building in many administrative offices throughout Humboldt County. The anxiety doesn’t seem to be pervasive, but cloistered in different pockets throughout the region. And it centers around a simple question: Will students show up? It’s not your typical first day of school stress, but this…
Charges Dismissed Against Local Nurse in Elder Abuse Case
The California Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that on Tuesday, Aug. 30 Judge Timothy Cissna dismissed charges of elder abuse against William Clawson, a registered nurse, in a preliminary hearing. Clawson’s co-defendant, Mia Bressler, pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge the day prior and was sentenced to three years of probation and 200 hours of…
HumBug: An Afternoon on the Van Duzen
Trying to stay up to date with the entomological fauna in my area, I went for an extended hike, braving ankle-deep waters and wading upstream from my usual haunts. I saw quite a few pale-faced clubskimmers (Brechmorhoga mendax), one of my many favorite dragonflies. You usually see them flying within inches of the surface at…
Orr Pleads in Shooting of Phillipsville Woman
A 60-year-old Southern Humboldt man faces 14 years in state prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter stemming from the April 25, 2015, killing of a woman in Phillipsville. According to a press release from the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, Earl Orr pleaded guilty Friday to voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm to cause…
Sheriff IDs Shooters in Deadly Standoff
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the officers who shot and killed David Allan Fulton after a tense Aug. 18 standoff in McKinleyville as being from Mendocino County. During the 17-hour standoff, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office sent an armored personnel carrier and its SWAT team north to aid its neighboring agency. It appears…
Fair Competition
Entering the west gate at the 120th annual Humboldt County Fair on Wednesday afternoon, I was drawn to the tantalizing smell from the third annual Surf & Turf Barbecue Contest. A large crowd was at the racetrack grandstands sampling the free seafood, pork, beef and poultry. The offerings were quite a contrast in taste and…
An Apology to Our Readers
Last week, an ad produced by Living Styles Furniture Design ran in our pages with an image of a woman carrying a mattress. That photograph, by Andrew Burton, used out of context and without permission from the photographer or Getty Images, was of Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who carried her mattress to and…
Tap In
On Saturday, Aug. 27, Rohner Park will be awash in micro-brews during the 13th annual Hops in Humboldt from 1 to 5 p.m. ($45, $35 advance, $75 VIP, $10 non-drinkers). A dizzying 35 breweries are slated to pour more than 100 brews into your commemorative cup. Let’s be realistic. This is a deluge of beer…
Decision 2016
OK, you can’t complain about your choices here. On Saturday, Aug. 27, two drink-spillingly funny people are in Arcata. And actually, you could see them both. A former Groundling, fierce LGBT ally and the funniest redhead since Lucille Ball, Kathy Griffin is at the Van Duzer Theatre at 8 p.m. ($75). When she’s not dropping…
Location, Location, Location
In a previous Setlist, I mused on what qualifies a band as local. Now, I won’t wade into those waters again, but on a somewhat related note, I’ve been wondering why it matters where a band is from. Unsure of exactly how much that information matters, I will admit it scratches an itch. The question…
The Itch
Often it can’t be scratched, And rarely defined this human itch. It tickles just beyond reach, And niggles below the briefness Of accomplishment. Some say love is the calming salve, While some say it is the cause, And still others blame Job For forcing the question. And I once prayed in chapels That echoed with…
A Waiting Game
It’s a seat at one of the state’s most powerful tables. With 12 members handpicked by Sacramento’s top officials, the California Coastal Commission determines the future of projects proposed on some of the nation’s most scenic and valuable real estate. Reviled by some as an agency that mires development in a tangle of regulatory red…
Let it All Out
It used to be way easier to keep a secret. It is pretty close to impossible these days. But it seems the harder it is to keep a secret, the harder government agencies work to try to do just that. When I heard the news in June that someone had hacked into the emails of…
Small is Beautiful
There are plenty of good reasons to develop a skill set for growing food in small spaces. Maybe you only have a tiny balcony with sun for half the day? Or a hot, paved driveway but no other yard? Perhaps you’re in student housing? Or maybe it’s more of a time constraint: You’d like to…
Wild Women
Here on the North Coast, we are familiar with the tattooed bars on the chins of Native American women. But imagine the reaction of mid-19th century men and women seeing those markings on a white woman who appeared otherwise no different from them. That is the position Dell’Arte Community Development Director and faculty member Zuzka…
Bros in Arms
Reviews WAR DOGS. War, as we know, is profitable — in fact, it’s a whole economy, as War Dogs makes sure to tell us right at the beginning. The film, directed by Todd Phillips, is based on a 2011 Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson about two 20-somethings who sell weapons to the Pentagon. And…
Shots, Shots, Shots
“Every year, thousands undergo this operation, and the French Ambassador says pleasantly, that they take the small-pox here by way of diversion, as they take the waters in other countries.” — From a 1717 letter from Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey Lady Montagu was writing from Adrianople (modern Erdine) in…
Not Even From Around Here
I get alarmed calls every week about the Bulgarians. They’re paying exorbitant sums for property in Petrolia, Bridgeville and Alderpoint, I’m told. They’re jogging along rural roads with automatic rifles strapped to their backs, according to one woman at a recent community meeting. They’re buying out family ranches and slowly taking over the county. And…
De-regulate It!
Editor: It is with breathtaking irrationality and greed that the city of Arcata has embraced a cannabis tracking system (“Farm to Flame,” Aug. 18). This plant, after 10,000 years of beneficial use by humanity, doesn’t need the regulation being proposed for it, which is a crass justification for taxing it. One can only hope that…
‘Hate is Hate’
Editor: I have been out of town so just got around to reading the NCJ issue for Aug. 11, 2016. I originally was stimulated to write about the article about Esteban Gonzalez (Best of Humboldt) but kept getting sidetracked by the brouhaha surrounding the participation of Sizzla Kalonji at Reggae on the River (NCJ Daily).…
‘Class Warfare’
Editor: What a pitifully grotesque scene is described in Linda Stansberry’s Aug. 18 article (Putting Heads Together for Housing First). Many of these 300 heads make their own living out of managing the class of homeless people who wake every morning to the mantra of “Move On!” to shuffle off into the dawn. What a…
Style, Class
Dressing for the first day of class at Humboldt State University isn’t a high-pressure fashion emergency (you remember junior high). Students roll up in what’s comfortable and what speaks to their personalities and their pursuits. Photographer León Villagómez documented some incoming student style on Monday. You can follow him on Instagram @leonvillagomez and hey, us @northcoastjournal.…
My Life, My Choice
Editor: The excellent article written by Michael Joyce (“End of Life Options,” Aug. 18) prompted me to share my own experience with the St. Joseph Health Care System. I was hospitalized three times last year in two hospitals managed by that health care system. Let me first state that the nursing care I received was…
A Valuable Option
Editor: Having worked as a provider of services to people with disabilities in the Eureka area for over 40 years, I appreciated your balanced assessment of a recently enacted law in California — the End of Life Option Act (Aug. 18). That the Catholic church would apply religious dogma to deny people the right to…
Ramen Rumble
Before I went to college, I had no idea white people ate ramen. In my hometown in upstate New York, noodles were too exotic. If you were broke, you ate spaghetti with sauce from a jar, potatoes or bologna sandwiches. Ramen was either the dreamy bowl we traveled to sigh over in a restaurant or…
