Redemption Value
As the county takes recycling to the next level, will it toss out the group that started it all?
Cover Story
Redemption Value
Used to be only hippies recycled. Back in 1971, when a ragtag crew of AmeriCorps volunteers and conscientious objectors (including current Assemblyman Wes Chesbro) launched the Arcata Community Recycling Center, hauling in your empties was like another form of protest — a rejection of America’s wastefulness and imperialism. Buoyed by the inaugural Earth Day in…
CR Update: Still Fighting
College of the Redwoods Trustee George Truett this week sent a letter to District Attorney Paul Gallegos — and matching ones to the DAs of Del Norte and Mendocino counties — accusing CR professors of breaking the law. Truett alleges that the Academic Senate, the governing body that represents CR faculty, violated the Brown Act…
The Kid Kicks Ass
Previews: The big opening this weekend is Toy Story 3, the three-quel (in 3D) in the über-successful Pixar/Disney franchise. At this point the boy, Andy, is going off to college and Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and the other toys end up (accidentally) donated to a daycare center ruled by a stuffed bear (Ned…
After the Oysters
It was 20 years ago when Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono started playing their guitars together, jamming on rock tunes they knew and, after a time, the occasional original. While attending CSU Chico they put together one band after another, eventually settling on the name The Mother Hips. By 1993 they’d recorded their first album,…
Sandpiper, Unhitched
Sometimes, you’ve got to wait for a really good thing to blossom. Maybe even sit out some delays, suffer a little disruption. Take Sandpiper Park, for instance. For about 60 years, the sandy half acre on the corner of H and G in Arcata has been home to an assortment of come-and-go trailers, RVs, campers,…
Faction Adventure
When a friend was awakened last Wednesday morning by the clock-radio voice of a local DJ announcing election results, she was bewildered to learn that, since the contest was a primary and few candidates had achieved the 50-percent-plus-one necessary to win outright, very little had been settled the previous night. “Wait,” she said, groggy and…
Know Your Limit
Editor: I agree with your decision to exercise restraint regarding the release of immaterial and prejudicial information regarding an electoral candidate (“Town Dandy,” June 10). Your argument was well reasoned and well expressed. My only qualm with your column is the phrase “double the legal limit” in the first graph. This perpetuates the…
Lo Siento
Editor: As a local Spanish teacher, (and as a spelling “snob” in my English speaking life, if I must confess), I need to let you know it is painful to look at the cover of the latest Journal, with the large words “Los Hechados” across the photo of the town of Samoa (“Los Hechados,” June…
Summer Reading
Editor: I’d like to thank you and the rest of the North Coast Journal staff for printing Jim McVicker’s “Keep Singley Safe” letter in the June 10 edition. I haven’t laughed so hard while reading the NCJ in a long time. A white person concerned about possible breaches of agreements and/or contracts with a federally…
Eggs & Tea
The valley is a crescent moon of…
Heads Up!
Heads Up! Crabs Baseball From The Outside…
Bien Padre Corn Tortilla Chips
Bien Padre — The hip Mexican brand name surprised me when I first saw it years ago. I wondered if the owners of the company knew what it meant — but more on that later. Let’s review the chips: Most of us on the North Coast are familiar with the industrial-sized corn chips from Bien…
Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal
Fresh from the breakup of the San Francisco-based pop band The Nerves, whose song “Hanging on the Telephone” would later become a hit by Blondie in 1978, singer/songwriter Peter Case drifted south to Los Angeles and its region’s burgeoning D.I.Y. music scene. Case formed The Plimsouls, named after the British term for “sneakers,” in 1979…
Ferndale vs. McKinleyville
It can be hard to get Humboldtians out of their houses at night. OK, there’s some good stuff on TV, I get it. But if you’re like me, during your once a month pilgrimage to Arts Alive! in Old Town, you find yourself saying, “They should do this more often.” Businesses open late, people walking…
Not So Messy
Fare una frittata in Italian means, literally, “to make a frittata” — a dish of lightly beaten eggs (to which vegetables or other ingredients are often added) cooked in a skillet. Fare una frittata also means, figuratively, “to make a mess,” as when you drop an egg on the floor. Whenever my mother sent me…
McKinleyville Arts Night
Join us for our community’s celebration of local art and artists for music, food and fun. You can find more information about the artists and venues and see additional images online at www.mckinleyvilleartsnight.com. McKinleyville Art Night continues to be the third Friday of each month and is open for all McKinleyville businesses to display the…
Fusang: 5th Century Pacific Crossing?
We know that Columbus wasn’t the first non-native to visit the Americas, since we have hard evidence that Vikings under Leif Ericson created an exploration base on the Atlantic shore of Canada around 1000 C.E. “L’Anse aux Meadows,” situated on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, is evidence of the earliest incontrovertible pre-Columbian discovery. Which leaves…
Oysters etc.
Oysters, oysters and more oysters. That’s what you’ll find on the Arcata Plaza Saturday — along with oyster eaters galore — as Arcata Main Street presents their 20th Annual Oyster Festival. They’ll have dozens of restaurants and local chefs preparing bivalves in all sorts of ways: grilled, fried and raw, supplemented with who knows what…
A Cinderella Story, Humboldt-style
Victor Temple, artistic director of Arcata’s New World Ballet, is almost beside himself with excitement about his company’s new production, and it’s infectious. I caught it when I ran into him handing out flyers at the Farmers’ Market. As we strolled from the Plaza to the NWB studio in the Old Creamery, he continued buttonholing…
