Cover Story
Summer of Fun
Humboldt County has a wealth of organized summer activities for young people. Get out there and enjoy. Many require pre-registration, and scholarships may be available — call for details. General & Multi Activities Camp Cooper. Mondays-Fridays, June 20-Aug. 12. Cooper Gulch Park, Eighth and Myrtle streets, Eureka. Ages 5-12. Drop-in program. First 50 on Monday…
Former County Employee Wins Gender-Discrimination Case
Steve Hughes says there’s at least one positive outcome to his being passed over for promotion after a 26-year career with Humboldt County’s Employee Training Division. “I have an idea what discrimination feels like,” he says. Discrimination was something Hughes knew a lot about professionally. He was his division’s equal employment officer and disability program…
3rd UPDATE: Man Shot By Police in Arcata
3rd UPDATE: The Arcata Police Department held a press release this afternoon to release more information about yesterday’s officer involved shooting. The suspect, who was shot four times after allegedly charging an officer while wielding a metal cane, remains in stable but critical condition. See the full press release at the bottom of this post…
Appellate Court Wants to See EPD Video, Sets Oral Argument Date
Justices in California’s First Appellate District have decided they want to look at the police dash camera video Eureka is trying to keep the public from seeing. In an unusual order, the justices asked the Humboldt County Superior Court file a copy of the video under seal with the appellate court. But the superior court…
Korbel Mill Sold
The Korbel Mill, which has been for sale for almost two years and closed down last February, recently sold to the Trinity River Timber Company. Green Diamond Resource Company, which owned the sawmill, announced the sale — which includes the fixed mill assets, a lease of the property and associated log and lumber yards and…
Identities Released in Fatal Weekend Crashes
The California Highway Patrol responded to a pair of fatal crashes over the weekend. The first occurred at 3:25 p.m. on Friday, when a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero driven by Lawrence Ramos Jr., 21, of Rocklin, was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 101 when he, for unknown reasons, drifted across the center divide and directly into…
Human Remains Found on Eel River
A person canoeing the Eel River on Sunday found human remains close to Stafford. Due to their extreme state of decomposition, the coroner’s office has not been able to learn the sex or any other identifying features of the body. Chief Deputy Coroner Ernie Stewart said it appeared the body had been there “quite some…
UPDATED: Why is Eureka Being Squirrely About Handing over Public Records?
Editor’s Note: An update has been added at the end of this post. Well, this is awkward. You see, generally we at the Journal don’t talk much about our requests for documents made under the California Public Records Act. We just submit them and then write about the information we get back. That’s kind of…
HumBug: Ants
One of nature’s most successful designs has to be the ant. Judging by their numbers and the number of species occupying different niches they are one of evolution’s biggest success stories. It is estimated that they account for about 10 percent of the biomass in some environments and 10 percent of the carbon dioxide in…
A Graduation Day Downpour: An HSU Commencement Slideshow by Mark Larson
Rain fell during most of HSU’s first commencement ceremony on Saturday morning, the weather thematically appropriate for HSU’s informal motto: “I love Hills, Stairs & Umbrellas!” Most of the large crowd of attendees came prepared with umbrellas and rain gear, but HSU staff handed out free plastic ponchos to those who missed the weather forecast.…
County Settles Wrongful Death Suit
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved a settlement agreement this week that includes the payout of $250,000 stemming from a fatal car accident on Avenue of the Giants involving a county employee. On Jan. 3, 2014 county employee Keith Shuetzle was driving a Humboldt County Roads division truck southbound on Avenue of the Giants…
The One That We Want
“Summer lovin’ had me a blast … ” If you’re gearing up right now to belt out the next line to “Summer Nights,” the infectious he-said-she-said account of high school romance from Grease, you’re not alone and you’re in for a treat. The 1978 movie adaptation of the musical about a group of high schoolers…
Crab is Back
Humboldt’s commercial crab fishermen are back in business as of today, hauling up pots all along the California coastline, including our county. Well, most of our county. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife declared the fishing open in all but the area “between 40° 46.15′ N latitude (a line extending due west from the…
Get on Your Bikes and Ride
May is National Bike Month and our bike-friendly area has plenty of activities planned to encourage people to tool around on two instead of four wheels. This week, Siren’s Song Tavern is showing short films at the all-ages Humboldt Bike Shorts Film Night on Thursday, May 12 at 7 p.m. (free). Fortuna’s Sport & Cycle…
Bigfoot, Narrow Mind
Editor: I was perplexed by the article “Crackpot” (April 28). While Dr. Stepp’s keen interest in Bigfoot is interesting, I was amazed he was allowed a weekly forum by different HSU departments. I’ve have never seen Bigfoot, nor has anyone I know. But I don’t dismiss the possibility he exists. What I have and do…
For the Trees
Editor: The forests of the Mattole River’s largest tributaries, the North Forks, have many lovers; a remote, wild beauty, a long history as prodigious fish habitat, and more recently as a war zone during the MAXXAM era, have given them great charisma. These forests are now mostly owned by Humboldt Redwood Company, and recently two…
Flights of Angels and Cries of Doves
I originally hesitated to jump on the bandwagon of grieving for the former artist known as Prince, not because he wasn’t deserving, but because the outpouring was near universal and ubiquitous. Now, a few weeks since his passing, I feel comfortable reflecting on our loss, and the temporal nature of other artists and entertainers. Like…
Vote!
Editor: Estelle Fennell should definitely be re-elected to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. There’s no question about it: Democrat Estelle Fennell is a dedicated public servant who deserves our support. Estelle is compassionate, intelligent, serious and committed to working with and working for all members of our community. I wish I could say the…
Panegyric: The Pencil
“As though naturally/ Erasures would speak the language of pencils.” — Howard Nemerov I hop across the paper on my pointed head, skipping with my heartbeat’s soul of lead. I’m a somewhat slender fellow, rounded body shining yellow … built to fit two-fingers’ thumb, tattoo like, Tattooer number “1” Then, when travels tend to wear…
Sugar on Top
The cupcake — as a trend, as a gourmet obsession and as a boutique industry unto itself — is over. It’s been given unnatural longevity here behind the Redwood Curtain, but elsewhere in the U.S., the fast-zombie craze died down in the aughts, when Sarah Jessica Parker teetered off the set of Sex and the…
Leaving Humboldt in the Dust
The sleepy, dusty desert east of Los Angeles may be looking like a threat to Humboldt County’s marijuana industry. While the arid landscape may seem inhospitable to plants, two small cities in the region have been making strides to entice large-scale commercial marijuana farmers. Land prices have skyrocketed in Desert Hot Springs and Adelanto since…
A Court of Their Peers
The judge is chewing gum. Her hair is piled in a messy bun on top of her head, where a pair of sunglasses also rests. She giggles shyly as she walks up to the podium and adjusts the microphone. Teen Court is now in session. A national diversion program, Teen Court is operated locally through…
Twirling Toward Freedom
“My artist’s statement is a mixtape,” Gina Tuzzi said. The paintings in her show Dance Hall Days at the Sanctuary this month are Valentines to the music that defined her personal teenage idyll. The works’ sleek, patterned surfaces make them look contemporary; gyrating silhouettes from the iPod commercials of the 2000s are an unavoidable reference…
Mold School
A mold epidemic has struck schools from Hoopa to Pecwan, shuttering classrooms and cafeterias, shuffling kids into less-than-ideal temporary rooms, prompting impromptu days off and sparking a multi-million-dollar repair project. Jon Ray, the superintendent of the Klamath Trinity Joint Unified School District, which oversees eight schools spread over 1,000 square miles, including Hoopa high school…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at locations in Arcata. Visit www.arcatamainstreet.com for more information about the event or call 822-4500. Special for graduation week: Arcata Main Street will be providing free horse-drawn carriage rides around the plaza during Arts! Arcata. Watch for appearances by Samba Alegra, the Bayside…
Aww, Shucks
This week the Journal took home a total of seven awards at the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, a peer-judged competition which includes some 800 newspapers throughout the state. Competing against similarly sized weeklies, we fared well, garnering awards that reinforce our mission, which is to take the best in-depth, long-form reporting we…
Water Boys
We launched from the beach in Trinidad in a motley assortment of watercrafts. Twelve-year-old Nate Ferguson was paddling his sit-on-top fishing kayak and 14-year-old Cory Soll was in a touring kayak. Leading the group was Jason Self, the boys’ coach and surrogate uncle, who owns Kayak Trinidad. He paddled a white-water kayak and my friend…
Black Five
Avid readers of teen fantasy fiction will find much that’s familiar in Black Five: vampires, werewolves, witches and the odd fairy and dragon. However, local author J. Lynn Bailey has recast these creatures as denizens of a richly imagined realm called Nighmerianotte. This world lies in another dimension that roughly overlaps the U.S., Europe and…
O Captain! My Captain!
Reviews CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. I’ve made no secret of my base-level disinterest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe nor my growing concern that said universe, in its ever-widening, sun-blotting expansion, will soon consume all available funding and creative energy available in mainstream movie-making, to the exclusion of any content non-Marvel. Overstrong? Maybe. Paranoid and borderline…
Marsh Repercussions
Editor: The PalCo Marsh has been cleared of the roughly 150 people camping there (“Clearing the Marsh,” May 5). While 40 new beds were made available by private individuals in the converted shipping containers, those are only for 90 days at a time. That means that up to 110 people are now out looking for…
