Cover Stories
The Billion-Dollar Dream
A whole lot of money and a whole lot of cargo. That’s what a draft report says is necessary to build and pay for a railroad between the Samoa Peninsula and the national rail system in the Central Valley. Restoring the north-south line would also cost a bundle — more than $600 million, according to…
Run Out on a Rail
Last week, in a meeting filled with passionate arguments, surprise twists and dark insinuations, Arcata City Councilmember Alexandra Stillman had her appointment to the North Coast Railroad Authority rescinded by the same committee that appointed her in May. And after some confusion, a vote, more confusion and two re-votes, she was replaced on the NCRA…
Draft Reports Calls for Supes to Repeal Emergency Ordinance
A new draft report from the Human Rights Commission calls for the county to repeal its emergency ordinance, which restricted demonstrating in front of the County Courthouse in response to Occupy protests last year. The report, completed this week by a Human Rights Commission subcommittee assigned to focus on the ordinance, recommends that the Board…
‘Defend Humboldt’ With AK-47, Suggests a T-Shirt
Saw a guy wearing this T-shirt at The Local beer bar in Eureka last night. The man, whose name is Kevin Williford, said he bought it at the Little Red Lion cocktail lounge on Fifth Street. “They had piles of ’em,” he said.
Breastfeeding Event Planned at Farmers Market
This Saturday, mothers throughout the community are invited to come to the Arcata Farmers Market at 10:30 a.m. and breastfeed their babies on the southeast corner of the plaza. Talk about milking it. The Big Latch On is an international event happening as a part of World Breastfeeding Week. The goals of the Big Latch…
Ferndale Enterprise Wins National Awards for Editorial Writing
The Victorian Village’s scrappy weekly, the Ferndale Enterprise, was informed last week that it nabbed two awards for best editorial writing in the National Newspaper Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The 135-year-old paper is more or less a one-woman-show these days, with Caroline Titus (wife of Ferndale Mayor Stuart Titus) acting as publisher, editor, reporter, page designer…
NPR on Pelican Bay Hunger Strike
In case you missed it, yesterday’s Morning Edition on NPR included a report from Michael Montgomery of KQED and the Center for Investigative Reporting, who sat down and spoke with a few inmates who’d recently been released from Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit back into a general prison population. A hunger strike protesting the terms and…
Humboldt’s Farm Bureau Turns 100
A crowd of dairy people – including a princess! — spent a fine afternoon in the old mill lot and field behind the Samoa Cookhouse last Saturday, celebrating the Humboldt County Farm Bureau’s 100th anniversary. In fact, Humboldt’s farm bureau was the first formed in the state (back in 1913, of course), and the second…
A Magical Elk Moment on the Beach
This was the sight we woke up to a couple of mornings ago, off the beaten track in Mendocino County: My video shows the five-strong bachelor group of Roosevelt elk at dawn last Thursday on Usal Beach, in the Sinkyone Wilderness, south of Shelter Cove. In a couple of months, they’ll be putting their attack…
School Board Responds to Johnson’s Plagiarism Apology
After one of its trustees bitterly apologized for committing plagiarism, the Northern Humboldt Union High School District board released a statement today, promising to inform future trustees that plagiarism is wrong. If you’ve somehow missed the hubbub to this point, here’s a brief recap: During a speech at Arcata High School’s June 13 commencement ceremony,…
ROTR
The standoff between Reggae on the River and Reggae Rising is finally over. Reggae on the River is returning to French’s Camp from Aug. 1-4. With any luck, folks can let go all those negative vibes and get back to enjoying some music. The bill boasts 25 featured acts and a smattering of other vocalists…
Goodbye to the Albee Stadium Eucs
The last of about eight stately eucalyptus trees flanking the Del Norte Street edge of Eureka High’s Albee Stadium came down earlier today. Mid-morning, as rare warm sunshine streamed down, a tree cutter dangled high among the boughs of the final tree, sawing carefully then repositioning to saw again. Each separated limb dropped with a resounding…
VROOM
Polish it up, pop the hood and show it off. Auto Xpo is pulling into Fortuna. The rodeo dust has barely settled, and as the horse trailers and bull riders ride into the sunset, a fleet of classic cars rolls into town. This is a weekend of vintage obsession, so it’s only fitting there’s an…
All Ways in a Good Way
Lyndsey Battle’s third and newest album All Ways in a Good Way flows between curious ukelele picks, intriguing percussion and the Caribbean sounds of a tenor pan, all with folky bass, banjo rhythms and soulful, bluesy vocals.Battle gives her hometown sounds of the Mississippi River Delta a folky, Humboldt soul. It’s enough to make any…
Bus Appreciation
Editor: Enjoyed the article on the county and city transit buses (“Another One Rides the Bus,” July 18). I encourage others to leave the car in the garage and take the bus more often. I am a semi-regular on the city bus and sometimes the county service. It can be a pleasant way to reach…
Step Down, Dan
Editor: As a former NHUHSD trustee I find Dan Johnson’s plagiarism and his continuing silence on the matter appalling. I am also shocked at the lack of public response by the school board and administration as a whole. At the least I would have expected the district to call an emergency board meeting to draft…
Huge Truck Invasion
Editor: As a former trucker, I’d like to see any truck get through any road (“Straightening the Hairpins,” July 11). But, as a responsible citizen, I have to take into account opposing factors. They say that the bigger trucks with 52-foot trailers weigh more and wear out the road. I think that they must conform…
Hunger Pangs
Editor: Great update on the hunger strike at Pelican Bay (“Blog Jammin’,” July 11). I hope all those guys starve to death. I was especially touched by their perceived lack of due process. How many of their victims did they deprive of due process (not to mention their lives)? Inmates at Pelican Bay are not…
KEET’s Simple Challenge
Editor: In reference to a former employee’s comments in the June 27 issue of the North Coast Journal (“Inside KEET”), it was disappointing, as president of the KEET board of directors, to learn that his tenure with KEET-TV concluded in a manner that, clearly, he remembers with some bitterness. His technical abilities and contributions during…
Staking a Claim
Despite a number of high-profile police shootings, and the recent arrest of a Eureka Police officer by his own department for an alleged assault, few people who file injury claims against the Eureka Police Department are paid. With one notable $4 million exception, claims against EPD rarely seem to pay off. Every year dozens of…
Speak up on GPU
Editor: I am seriously distressed by, as Hezekiah Allen described, "the winner-take-all political culture" that Estelle Fennell has embraced (“Blog Jammin’,” June 20). It's been said that there wasn't enough time for people in more rural areas to participate in the GPU process. Thirteen years: just not enough. Early June, Fennell creates a rewrite of…
Boards Behaving Badly
Maybe the Journal should start an ongoing feature called “Boards Behaving Badly.” I don’t get it. These public servants are duly elected and have the backing of the majority of their constituents. Then once in office, they fall prey to taking the easy path of making tough or uncomfortable decisions, first behind closed doors, and…
Valley Time
Away from the coast, for several days in June, Where the river bends broad and wide, Spring holds on, Giving way to an old vibrancy still lingering in the valley. A chance morning rain: warm, brief, light as a whisper, Sharpening the songs of birds and painting the last flowers across fields Between dwellings added…
New on the Menu in Eureka
There’s a recession on, but apparently we still need to eat. When this year’s Menu of Menus hit stands (and the Journal’s app), a couple of places hadn’t officially opened yet. Three of them are in downtown Eureka. Who doesn’t love a stadium dog? And yet, even as you unwrap the foil, isn’t something telling…
The Faraway Nearby
Stories are compasses. We navigate by them, build our sanctuaries and our prisons out of them. So says Rebecca Solnit, who excels at steering seemingly unconnected stories. Call this a memoir, but don’t expect tidy or even linear reflections on a serious illness, a caving relationship or her mother’s debilitating Alzheimers. Instead, navigate Solnit’s meanderings…
Copy That
Here is the thing about a great speech. The person who gave it probably didn’t write it. There are exceptions. Abe Lincoln, Winston Churchill, maybe Barack Obama in 2004 — “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America.” In another version of my life I…
Gender Blender
The stage has long been a place for disguise, and the truths that disguise may reveal. Within the permeable categories of art and entertainment, performers pretend to be who they are not. Gender has often been an element of that disguise, sometimes forced by the sanctions of a given time. Since women weren’t permitted on…
Hot Summer Nights
It has come to our attention that some folks need a little primer on how to make out at live music gigs. Yes, the sweet aphrodisiac of sound — whether it’s slow caresses as the indie band twinkles dreamy songs or aggressive booty squeezing during the DJ’s dance set — music often puts people in…
Combining Wetlands with Wastewater Treatment
Halcyon trails wandering around reedy ponds and grassy meadows give little sign of the tumultuous history of the 307-acre Arcata Marsh and Wetlands Sanctuary. Two years after passage of the Federal Clean Water Act of 1972, the State of California prohibited discharge of wastewater into bays and estuaries without “enhancement.” Instead of buying into a…
Timeless Dance from Cuba and Beyond
This weekend presents the opportunity to travel from the evolving landscape of movement that is being called “new dance” all the way back to the ancient roots of Afro-Cuban dance and drum. On Friday, Synapsis in Eureka presents Leslie Castellano and Like Houses Through a Kaleidoscope, a dance and acrobatic stilt performance by two nomadic…
Gimme the Creeps
Reviews THE CONJURING. James Wan and I have come a long way. In 2004 he came to prominence as writer-director of the vastly successful Saw. That movie (and the franchise it spawned) did more for torture-porn than any other single project. Reactionary as I am (I’d put torture-porn right up there with found-footage in the…
