Sanity on Trial
Two paths diverge in court: One leads to a mental hospital, the other state prison
Cover Story
Sanity on Trial
Through a certain lens, James Everett Dunlap was in the midst of an incredible tale of personal redemption. He’d apparently clawed his way back from the depths of mental illness and a crippling psychosis. He’d overcome a years-long methamphetamine addiction and was proudly 26 years sober. He started a successful construction business, relocated to his…
Feds, States Ink Historic Klamath Agreements
Under a cloudless blue sky and with the water of the Klamath River glistening in the sun behind them, a host of federal, state and tribal officials gathered around a fish cleaning table this morning to sign a pair of agreements to remove four dams and chart a new path forward for communities from the…
Swing, Baby
By now the musicians who played the Redwood Coast Music Festival this past weekend have packed up their instruments and are back on the road, and the dancers who spent the weekend swinging and spinning have soaked their feet and swapped their festival finery for their regular duds. Seems like a good time to peruse…
UPDATED: Man Dies in EPD Custody at Hospital
Police have released the name of the man who died in custody on April 2. According to previous reports, Jeremy Edward Jenkins, 33, died from an unspecified medical emergency after being taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital. Officers said he “had ingested a substantial amount of methamphetamine.” Jenkins was a frequent name on the EPD’s arrest…
Shoaling has Made Humboldt Bay’s Entrance Very Dangerous
The entrance to Humboldt Bay has become dangerous for fishing boats and impassable for larger ships, thanks to winter conditions that created massive shoals off the jetties. Two or three cargo ships have already been turned away, said Harbor District CEO Jack Crider, and another chip ship is due April 20. It’s unclear if that…
UPDATED: California, Oregon Governors to Make ‘Major Announcement’ on Klamath
UPDATE: North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman sent out a press release this morning confirming that Wednesday’s “major announcement” on the Klamath River will include the signing of the reshaped agreement to remove four dams that have clogged the river for decades. “The signing of this new agreement to tear out the Klamath River’s aging hydropower…
HumBug: Love Songs
Walking through the woods near the Van Duzen River, something caught my eye low in the weeds along side the trail. On close inspection, I was surprised to see a cicada. I usually associate them with warm weather later in the year. It was pretty subdued so I was able to take plenty of photos…
TL;DR: Five Things You Need to Know from This Week’s Cover Story
Busy week? We get it. Here are five things you need to know from this week’s cover story, “Sanity on Trial.” They might even entice you to read the whole thing. The abrupt resignation of Yurok Tribal Chair James Dunlap last month amid revelations about a murder case in his past, coupled with the ongoing…
FCC Takes a Step Over the Digital Divide
A divided Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to modernize Lifeline, a program that subsidizes critical communications services for the poor, to include broadband Internet access. The vote means that, by the end of the year, Americans with a household income at or below 135 percent of the federal poverty line will be eligible for…
New Trial Denied, Sentencing Scheduled for Littlefield
A Humboldt County Superior Court judge denied Timothy Floyd Littlefield’s motion for a new trial yesterday, leaving the McKinleyville man facing eight life sentences after his 2013 convictions on 11 child molestation charges. In December, the California First District Court of Appeals found Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John Feeney abused his discretion in granting…
City’s Shelter Crisis Declaration Up for Amendment
With the May 2 deadline for the estimated 180 people currently camping in the Palco Marsh to leave fast approaching, the Eureka City Council may use the much-debated Shelter Crisis Declaration, which passed in January after heated discussion and passionate public comment, to create some extra space for those in need. The original resolution, which…
#TasteofMain 2016
We hate to eat and run … wait, that’s not true. We love walking around Old Town grabbing a bite here and there. But last night we were on a mission to eat our way through all 26 stops in the Taste of Main Street pass book. We were focused and we were swift, working…
Stranger in a Strange Band
What was the first concert you ever went to? Which one was the best? These are questions I love asking people because not only are they interesting, but they show the lasting power of music. No matter how embarrassing we may now view our attendance at our first show, we can’t help but smile and…
Humboldt on Tap
Collaboration is in the air. Just when I’d been anticipating the almost-annual collaboration brew, a special beer Humboldt brewers create and put on tap for Beer Week, I discovered an equally inspired mashup: Yoga plus beer tasting — a yoga class that goes straight from namaste to IPA. This is a thing. For the past…
There Was An Old Woman Who Worked in the SHU
Grey walls and chain link, razor wire and gun towers. I work here. I teach murderers not to dangle their participles. Blue shirts and knit caps, across their backs CDC PRISONER. Numbers doing numbers. But look! Words blossom from their fingertips. Vines of stories Twine out of their mouths, poems Roll from their palms like…
SOS
You don’t need sea legs to have brunch on board the LCI 1091, but it would help to pine for a salty atmosphere and even saltier corned beef hash. That’s the yen that gathered Leroy Marsh and a handful of volunteers on a recent Friday morning — as it does every Friday and Sunday morning…
String Theory
It is possible to look right through the surfaces of Natalie Craig’s mixed media paintings, admiring their airy architecture. They are multi-layered, like baklava or Jenga. Inside the laminate picture planes, each translucent leaf is differently inscribed. Pencil, oil, gouache and digital photo prints — each medium embodies different moments of the process. Craig said…
Arts Alive!
Presented by Eureka Main Street. Opening receptions for artists, exhibits and performances are held the first Saturday of each month. For more information, call 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreet.org. A TASTE OF BIM 613 Third St. Maggie Draper, artwork. ADORNI CENTER 1011 Waterfront St. Athena Medina, Judy Willis, Paul Rickard and Barbara Saul. ALIROSE 229…
Crash of the Titans
Reviews BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. “I so wanted it to be a good movie,” said a friend of mine the day after the opening of this studio tentpole/global happening. In addition to speaking for mostly everyone, that assessment is spot-on. Aside from the hyper-driven, vertically integrated marketing hurly-burly, Batman v. Superman is still…
Seeing Double
Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors is an unsubtle tale of mistaken identity. It’s one of the Bard’s more accessible plays and one of his few true farces. Staging Shakespeare is challenging for even top-tier theater companies, but North Coast Repertory’s production pushes a lot of the right buttons for a family-friendly, though slightly naughty, night…
A Proxy War
A Harper’s Magazine writer recently reiterated a stomach-turning admission of racist societal control concocted by the Nixon Administration. That scandal plagued presidency was the first to declare war on drugs, and did so squarely in the midst of social and racial upheaval, as well as a foreign war. In a recent article arguing in favor…
Beautiful Broccoli
Broccoli is one of those crops that a lot of us have trouble with. Sometimes you get a great head, sweet and delicious. Other times you get a bunch of bolted shoots covered in aphids. So what’s the trick? Broccoli has some special needs, and a basic understanding of what to do, and what not…
Say Cheese
A school picture of my fifth grade daughter is on my refrigerator, secured with a magnet. On top of that is a little slip of paper with a string of numbers on it. I turned the wallet-sized photo into a mug shot. I did it as a joke, without thinking. With the general inertia that…
Staying Afloat
Editor: Grant Scott Goforth’s article “That Sinking Feeling” (March 24) gave a great overview of the problem of abandoned boats in coastal ports. San Francisco Bay was littered with abandoned ships during the Gold Rush. Los Angeles and San Diego had a pile of abandoned yachts and sail boats during various stock market and real…
Forest for the Trees
Editor: The article “Salmon Outlook: Less Fish, Less Fishing” (March 24) points to the ocean and commercial fishermen looking to make a living in the fishing industry. The article mentions El Niño, drought, unproductive ocean conditions, 32 million salmon from hatcheries and the removal of the dams on the Klamath River. But when we look…
Our Families
Family above all else. It’s a statement with a profound ring to it. When your family is healthy, you are too. When your family is hurting, you are too. I was asked to share my thoughts on what’s happening among this area’s Native American people and cultures. What I can say is everything that happens…
