Spending Headwaters
We need the economic development fund now more than ever. Who’s getting the money?
Cover Story
Spending Headwaters
Think of it as a duffel bag full of money — more than $20 million at our disposal to spend as we see fit. It’s actually a modest sum compared to the vast revenues Humboldt County lost in 1999 when the state and federal governments bought the Headwaters Forest from Pacific Lumber Co. There are…
The trees are dying
A Yosemite sugar pine, victim of bark beetles You remember that scene in The Day After Tomorrow — the goofy 2004 global warming thriller — where Jake Gyllenhaal tries to outrun a wave of insta-freeze that’s chasing him down hallways and around corners? (You’re forgiven, or even commended, if the answer is no.) Well, a…
Million Gallon Spill
Last Tuesday afternoon, Journal reader Rachael Brilbeck went for a stroll on the beach on the North Spit, right across from the Evergreen Pulp Mill, which is currently shuttered. Everything was normal when she set off on her walk, but when she returned an hour and a half later she saw something strange. At some…
New fiber hope?
Proposed fiber path along Hwy. 299 The fiber scramble continues. The strangest thing about the various efforts to bring a redundant broadband fiber to Humboldt County is how new plans just seem to pop up out of nowhere. Virtually everyone is in agreement these days that a second fiber optic cable is vital to our…
At Last
Last night, while many in Humboldt were out partying to celebrate the swearing in of our new prez, I stayed home with my wife Amy to watch the Inauguration Balls on TV, on MSNBC to be exact. Amy imagined we might see some of the top-flight bands playing, but that wasn’t what MSNBC offered. While…
Marijuana Inc. – CNBC.com
Thompson)Marijuana Inc. – CNBC.com: preview of news show coming Jan.
The Next Leader of the U.S.A.
If Paul Morley of the Observer (London) had his druthers , tomorrow we’d be celebrating the inauguration of North Coast Journal food columnist Joseph Byrd as our new president. Joseph Byrd of the USA, my mascot of an American truth that is more David Lynch than Steven Spielberg, developed sounds for toys, wrote TV theme…
Large Art in Small Places: Bruce, Kevin 1580088805 $24.95
Large Art in Small Places: Bruce, Kevin 1580088805 $24.95: upcoming book includes murals of Eureka by Duane Flatmo and
Alleged cockfight kingpin arraigned
Local landowner Ray Christie was arraigned at the county courthouse today on six misdemeanor charges stemming from last month’s raid on his McKinleyville farm, where animal control officers found heaps of evidence suggesting a massive gamecock breeding operation. Christie, who looks like this — — appeared in street clothes (blue flannel shirt, Carhartt jeans, workboots)…
Ann Coulter with John Matthews on KSLG Monday
the book This just in from KSLG: Ann Coulter, the author of Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America will discuss her new book with John Matthews Monday, Jan. 19 at 9:00 a.m. Coulter is the legal correspondent for Human Events and writes a syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate. Her weekly column can…
Flyer of the Week
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Bond Freeze
Everything — or a helluva lot — teeters in the balance in California as our leaders dicker and dicker over what to do. By February or March, we’ve all been told, the state will be out of cash. By June 2010, there could be a $42 billion budget shortfall. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the Democrat’s $18…
Orange Blossoms
Editor: There is one value that the row of Eucalyptus trees along the 101 corridor provide us that was not mentioned in your Jan. 8.article (“O, Eucalyptus,” Jan. 8). Viewed from across the bay they create a beautiful scenic vista. Please refer to the attached photographs that I recently took from Arcata’s marsh. Removing 50…
Salute to Dave
Editor: Many thanks to Dave Silverbrand for his article on Nancy Huntzinger and her murdered son Curtis (“Nancy’s Day,” Jan. 9). As a father, community member and human being, I read his account of a mother who for 18 years refused to give up searching for answers about her son’s disappearance and was moved to…
Bummer
Editor: Kyana Taillon’s antiseptic images of the “upsides” [sic] of marijuana only serve to perpetuate the false notion that there are few negative effects from its cultivation and use (“New Year’s Eve,” Jan. 1). Perhaps her promise to explore “some of the darker aspects” in the future might include a close-up of the thin, tear-stained…
‘Saving Sam’
Editor: I was incredibly saddened and very upset that you decided to undress Sarah Price so publicly, as she was a very private person (“Saving Sam,” Dec. 25). Simply going by your descriptions of Sarah, it was an intrusive move to publish her pain and her ending of her life. I also found the timing…
Tikis, Traders and Candied Meat
When I was a teenager in Tucson in the ’50s, one of the few places to play or hear live jazz was a dive on the south side of town called "The Hula Hut." It was there I was called to play vibes in a small pickup band backing jazz legend Anita O’Day (the best…
Colors Flowing Like Water
Up in Crescent City, there’s a place where you can rent a room and have access to a beachfront artist’s studio. The owner, Rande Rothman, uses the space herself to create her silk paintings, and she loves her craft so much, she just can’t keep it to herself. She says that after discovering the medium…
Life of Kaufman
Previews For once, our overlords at Coming Attractions have scheduled the week’s big release to open at the mall (and only at the mall). Notorious is a Fox Searchlight biopic of slain rap star Biggie Smalls, aka the Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace, and as such it should appeal to the teen-tween filmgoers to whom…
Undamming the Klamath
When I’m kayaking the lower reaches of the Klamath, it sure feels like a one big river. Over 250 miles long, the Klamath drains an area of nearly 16,000 square miles, about four times that of Humboldt County. Yet it’s puny compared to its big brother on the west coast, the Columbia, which is five…
NPK’s Mission
It was five and a half years ago when I met the self-described “Humboldt independent high-energy dance-rock quintet” called NPK backstage at Reggae on the River. A lot has happened to the SoHummers since then: Members went from 20-something to 30-ish, babies were born, the band grew from a trio and recorded three full-length albums.…
The English Major
Jim Harrison is known as a master of the novella — his most famous work is probably Legends of the Fall — but he’s also written what I regard as an American epic with the 800-plus pages of the interlaced novels, Dalva and The Road Home. This new one is an ordinary-sized novel, a first-person…
Third Friday McKinleyville Arts Night
Presented by members of the McKinleyville business community. Receptions for artists, exhibits and/or performances are from 6-8 p.m. on the third Friday of each month. Phone 268-1800, for more information. 1. The Front Gallery & Gifts 1181 Central Ave. Orion Siris, eclectic mix of celestial rock and psychedelic visuals 2. Mirador Glass Miller Business…
The Audacity of Hope
Inauguration Day will be a day of celebration for many and perhaps a little sadness for others. Whatever your feelings about Barack Obama, the United States will swear in a new president on Jan. 20. In The Audacity of Hope, we gain insights into our new president’s life and philosophy. Obama shows us his political…
Cryland
The sound of American blues has progressively changed, leading to different breeds of music since the use of the electric guitar. In turn, this opened the door for rhythm & blues and subsequently rock ’n’ roll. Blues "hybrids" are numerous, from hard rock of the late ’60’s (bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin) to late ’70s…
Yet Another Poem from the Arcata Marsh
The way those solitary egrets pose for pictures…
Booty and the Barrister
Much of Tuesday’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting was taken up by the annual appointments to the various commissions, committees, subcommittees, agencies, panels and etc. whose presence is customarily graced by one or more members of the board. The list was long. Sometimes no one could recall what exactly the commission or committee in…
Dredge Fight
You can almost smell the whiff of burnt palm as gold bugs everywhere rub their hands together with ever-more-gleeful vigor. That’s because some predictions have it that gold will soar to yet higher heights this year, maybe $1,500 an ounce. Did it last year, in March, hitting an historic $1,023 an ounce. (Then it crashed,…
Beyond the Milky Way
It wasn’t all that surprising when a woman stopped by our office the other evening and said she’d just been over at Café Mokka — the place with the hot tubs in the enchanted forest — where she overheard that two guys there had discovered a spiral galaxy. All sorts of intellectual pursuits take place…
