UPD Chief Responds to No-Confidence Vote
Humboldt State University Chief of Police Donn Peterson was with university Vice President of Administration and Finance Douglas Dawes when he first learned of the no-confidence vote from his officers through a press release from their union Monday. Speaking to the Journal, Peterson said he was so shocked at the news that he asked Dawes…
Wings of Freedom Bomber Crashes in Connecticut
The World War II-era plane that crashed in Connecticut this morning was part of the Wings of Freedom Tour that makes annual stops on the North Coast and most recently passed through in June. According to CNN, the vintage Boeing B-17 crashed while attempting a landing at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. All 10 passengers…
A Southern Humboldt Feast
This past weekend was a celebration of Southern Humboldt bounty in Garberville, with the Feast of Fields hosted by Southern Humboldt Business and Visitors Bureau. After Friday’s Meet the Farmers Dinner at the Historic Benbow Inn, participants strolled Southern Humboldt Community Park on Saturday, sampling local produce, foods and beverages. The fruits of the region…
Dozens ‘Die’ on HSU Quad to Protest Climate Change
Bodies were strewn across the Humboldt State University quad Friday afternoon as students staged a die-in to bring awareness to the global climate crisis. Dozens participated in the protest, which spanned about an hour. Local photographer Mark McKenna was there to document the protest and share the following slideshow.
Safe Spaces v. Free Speech: Watch the HumRights Bar Debate (Video)
Over the course of about an hour one night last week, two people with diametrically opposing views on a heated topic sat in a bar and had a reasonable, civil conversation about it. Crazy, right? The Humboldt Center for Constitutional Rights (HumRights) hosted the debate, which saw Humboldt State University students Freddy Brewster (a Journal…
HumBug: Friends and Enemies
This week I started to write about spiders and ended up buying a book on mosquitoes. In the recently published book The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator, author Timothy Winegard calculates nearly half the people who ever lived died of mosquito bites. To put things into a modern perspective, mosquitoes kill on average…
NBC News Investigation Finds Vitamin E, Pesticides in Illicit Vape Cartridges
An investigative report published by NBC News this morning seems to underscore the dangers of vaping cannabis products purchased on the illicit market, as reports of serious vaping-related lung disease continue to increase nationwide. The news outlet purchased 18 THC vape pen cartridges — three from licensed dispensaries and 15 on the unregulated, illicit market…
Benbow Inn Files for Bankruptcy Protection, Blames U.S. Bank
The Benbow Historic Inn filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday after going into debt to bring the Humboldt County landmark up to meet federal Americans with Disability Act standards, according to John Porter, managing partner for Benbow Valley Investments. “We just filed for reorganization,” he said, characterizing the situation as a large national…
Photos from Sunday at the North Country Fair
Sunday at the 46th annual North Country Fair featured another splash of the popular rhythms and dances of Samba da Alegria’s Samba Parade, along with the usual mix of live music on multiple stages, vendors of all types and — atypically for the season — occasional rain. See highlights of the parade in the slideshow…
North Coast Night Lights: Ramparts on the Coast
The Stars in Motion and Thoughts on Geotagging A photograph can be worth many more than a thousand words. It’s an old expression, though, and maybe the number “one thousand” just isn’t what it used to be. But you’ll be happy to know that I’ll spare you the full count today and just touch on…
Coast Guard Rescues 3, Chihuahua from Battered Sailboat (With Video)
The Coast Guard rescued three people and a Chihuahua from a disabled sailboat that was being battered by up to 40-mile per hour winds and 20-foot seas off the coast of Klamath Wednesday morning. The captain of the Missfit, which was traveling from San Francisco to Washington, called in their predicament around 6:25 a.m. and…
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Full disclosure, I absolutely love autumn. In fact, fall is one of the only times I feel justified in my general instinct to cloister myself away from the rest of the human world while finding a balance between social isolation and subterranean slumber. This might seem like a cop-out to many of you and I…
Goat Cheese Galore in Bayside
Somehow, lavender is not the first scent you expect on a goat farm. But Karin Eide, owner and operator of Spring Hill Farmstead Goat Cheese in Bayside, is probably not what you imagine when you think of goat farmers, either. With a mane of fiery red hair, a love of bright colors and seemingly-endless tolerance…
The Cat Would Like to Offer an Apology
Good morning. You’re probably wondering why I’m here, just a few minutes before dawn, with my full weight pressing down on your chest and my extended claws resting lightly on your neck. I’m hoping now is a good time to talk. Despite the passage of nearly a year, it seems you’re still holding onto some…
Ad Astra‘s Thoughtful Action
Review AD ASTRA. Back in the dark and distant past, when the word “independent” was first buzzily attached to American cinema on a widespread basis, there was a whole cable channel dedicated to it. IFC still exists, or so I am told, but in that creaky, bygone era, such upstarts had little to no budget…
In Praise of Sunshine
They say sunshine is the best disinfectant and North Coast readers need only look at Senate Bill 1421 for evidence. The landmark police transparency law, which the California Legislature passed last year and took effect in January, reverses decades of institutionalized obfuscation by mandating that law enforcement agencies throughout the state release certain types of…
Make Greta Proud
There’s been a lot of attention on global climate change this week, what with Greta Thunberg’s fiery, scornful speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23 and the Global Climate Strike that saw millions of people take to the streets a few days earlier. And rightfully so. The climate crisis is real and…
‘I’m Sad’
Editor: I love burgers (“Burger Week,” Sept. 12)! The list of burgers you’ve presented for Burger Week is impressive but I’ve noticed a deficit of veggie burgers (less than 10 percent, if I’m counting correctly). I walked into one establishment hoping to substitute a veggie patty on their “Burger of the Week” but they didn’t…
A Tiny How-to
Editor: Buy land to cover projected need for homeless housing (“With Housing Element Passed, Staff Pushes Forward on Tiny Houses,” Aug. 29). Stake it out for the number of tiny houses to give each homeless person or persons a one- or two-person unit. Construct all plumbing and electrical in high quality materials and performance ratings. Select…
To Reduce Suffering
Editor: The first time I met someone who used they/them pronouns, I too struggled with the potential lack of grammatical clarity. It didn’t take me terribly long to realize that the suffering I might endure as a result of occasional grammatical confusion was miniscule compared with the suffering trans and nonbinary folks endure as a…
But …
Editor: The editorial “We’ve Come to Prefer They/Them Pronouns” (Sept. 12) details the issues the journalistic world has in dealing with the identification of the non-binary among us. While this identification issue presents a problem for editors, it seems there are more pressing issues facing culture regarding the societal shift to mandate inclusion of the…
It’s About Greed
Editor: In advocating for a Humboldt County “Climate Action Plan” process, David Simpson, co-founder of the Mattole Salmon Group writes, “The decades of inaction based in denial are having tragic consequences, mostly in other places in the world, but our turn could come at any moment.” (“Some Urgency,” Sept. 19). Dismissing the tragic impacts that…
Is Science Done For?
A story attributed to the wily Sufi philosopher Nasrudin tells of a man who offended the king and was condemned to die. “Give me but a year, lord, and I will teach your horse to talk,” the man begged. After the king agreed to postpone the sentence for a year, a fellow prisoner asked the…
In Praise of Tiny Tomatoes
Resting on my kitchen counter Lies a nest of ruby red tiny tomatoes Each complete in its skin Their size this summer out-selling the more robust ones. All the markets’ approval Have been summed up (More than likely by Google) The first summer of its kind to revel in the winning cup. A fruit thus…
Soldiers Unknown
Chag Lowry knows some stories need to be told to make way for healing. He also knows some stories have been pushed aside and ignored, recast by outsiders or, worse, simply relegated to the dust bins of history as people pretend they never existed, allowing old wounds to fester. With his third book Soldiers Unknown…
Free Will Astrology
(March 21-April 19): Comedian John Cleese speaks of two different modes toward which we humans gravitate. The closed style is tight, guarded, rigid, controlling, hierarchical and tunnel-visioned. The open is more relaxed, receptive, exploratory, democratic, playful and humorous. I’m pleased to inform you that you’re in a phase when spending luxurious amounts of time in…
Flood Watch
If you think the government is going to bail you out if a flood comes, think again. While a dozen or so public agencies will do their darndest to save your life and maybe even your house, once the disaster is over, you are largely on your own. If you are a homeowner, you probably…
‘Badly Tainted’
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster has grave concerns about the Willits Police Department’s hiring of Jacob Jones, having learned of sustained allegations of the officer’s dishonesty during his tenure with the Eureka Police Department. In a scathing, incredulous 2,400-word letter to Willits Police Chief Scott Warnock, Eyster expresses dismay at Jones’ hiring despite the…
