The Green Issue 2015
Paul Sever’s Wilderness. The Lost Coast Trail and the man who keeps it wild
Cover Story
Paul Sever’s Wilderness
The thick fog north of Black Sands Beach quickly masks the hikers I had met the day before as they pass by, heading south. Like myself, they had started the Lost Coast Trail at Mattole Beach, some 25 miles north. For most, this journey is about the solitude and beauty of the Lost Coast, the…
Spamtastic
If you are comfortable enough with your identity and tastes and can say loud and proud that you enjoy some fried Spam, congratulations on stepping into the light. (And you may want to hit up the Spamley Cup competition this weekend.) If not, stop lying to yourself. Take the first steps toward self-acceptance at the…
McGuire Proposes Comprehensive Medical Marijuana Bill
Pot’s on a lot of minds in Sacramento these days. Our own state senator, Mike McGuire, announced on 4/20 that his proposed medical marijuana bill was approved unanimously by the Senate Business and Professions Committee. The bill would create a Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation under the state’s consumer affairs department, which would “license and…
UPDATED: CHP Investigating Possible Cop-Versus-Pedestrian Accident in Eureka
UPDATE: See the full press releases from the Eureka Police Department and the California Highway Patrol copied below this post. PREVIOUSLY: The California Highway Patrol is current investigating an incident in which a Eureka police officer may have run over a transient sleeping on the Balloon Track property, according to Eureka Police Capt. Steve Watson.…
4/20’s Back!
“This is lame,” murmured one of Arcata’s few hardcore stoners around 4:23 p.m. this afternoon. A couple of young men had stepped off the concrete slab at Redwood Park, the small piece of public property that the Humboldt Center for Constitutional Rights had wrested from the control of a zealous city staff over the course…
Dramatic Rescue on the Lost Coast Trail
Emergency crews from almost a dozen agencies worked through Saturday night and into Sunday morning to rescue a hiker from a remote area of the Lost Coast Trail, near Shelter Cove. The crews battled an incoming tide, darkness and heavy fog to get the hiker — who’d been critically injured in a fall — to…
Drowning Marks Humboldt’s Fifth of 2015
The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office has identified the man who drowned while swimming near Trinidad’s Agate State Beach on Friday Thursday afternoon as 34-year-old Brad Lee Senatore, of Fairfield. It’s the fifth drowning death recorded so far this year in Humboldt County, which typically averages five or six annually. An experienced diver, Senatore went for a…
HumBug: Tourists
Two years ago in early June I got a “County Record” to my name. That’s what Odonata Central calls it when you are the first to report sighting a particular species of dragonfly or damselfly in a given county. You send in an identifiable photograph, the place and date. They evaluate your photo to assure…
Grab Some Popcorn
Humboldt State University film students have been bringing carefully-crafted independent films to local aficionados for 48 years via the Humboldt International Film Festival. It’s the oldest student-run film festival in the world — HSU students have been prescreening and judging festival submissions since 1967. This year, the festival returns to its original home, the Minor…
Mall Cops
For the last month, the Eureka Police Department has been under contract to provide daily foot patrols at the Bayshore Mall. The written agreement between the city and the mall has been in place since March 17, with an EPD officer walking the mall in four- to five-hour shifts, seven days a week, with the…
Front Stairs
Front Stairs The first one is the toughest It’s a bit rickety, and Uneven in certain spots Nubs of jagged wood Stick into bare feet and dig Further into skin A thousand times The pattern follows And torments the soles. — Cliff Johnson
My Humboldt Diary
When President Obama made his announcement of loan guarantees to the nuclear industry in 2010, Bob Rowen decided it was time to pick up his pen. My Humboldt Diary: A True Story of Betrayal of the Public Trust, is Rowen’s account of his life as a nuclear control technician working for Pacific Gas & Electric at the…
A Sustainable Fish Fry
It was still dark at 6 am, but the street light shining into the custom aluminum bed of the pickup parked on the Englund Marine dock revealed a mass of finger-length, silvery night smelt. You may not think of smelt as dinner fare — they certainly weren’t on my shopping list until someone suggested I…
Mood Music
You know when you’re in a kind of mood and then music comes to you that does more than reflects that mood, it soaks right into you and you soak in it, revel in it, until that weird sadness you were feeling evaporates away with the music? That’s where I found myself while listening to…
Elevator to Space
When a passenger jet takes off, about one-third of its weight is the fuel it will burn flying from point A to point B. Rocket designers would swoon for such efficiency! When NASA blasts a rocket into orbit, it’s basically launching fuel, polluting the atmosphere with the exhaust en route. For instance, fuel accounted for…
Haulin’ Trash
Getting a picture of Humboldt County’s waste situation is a little like snapping a picture of Bigfoot: Even if you get something, it’s going to be blurry and inconclusive. That’s not to say there isn’t good data out there about the trash that Humboldt creates. But tracing a piece of trash from the bin under…
Saddle Sore
Reviews THE LONGEST RIDE. This is not my first rodeo … movie. From 8 Seconds to The Cowboy Way, I’ve seen my fair share. Despite my lack of interest in actual rodeos, the film genre is usually entertaining. What’s not to like about watching people fall down, literally get back in the saddle and then…
Before All Hope For the Planet Is LostThose of us who adhere to science and facts need to speak more loudly and more often.
1 Support change at the top. Support those who prioritize the environment: legislators who put forth bills to reduce waste and enforce clean water regulations; elected officials who serve the public’s interests; citizen leaders who demand accountability; businesses that voluntarily go greener. We, as individuals, have a responsibility to do right, but shouldering the burden…
The Ave
Whether it’s a gorgeous summer weekend or a wet, socked-in Tuesday afternoon, Humboldt County’s Avenue of the Giants doesn’t disappoint. It can be undertaken as a whirlwind tour with windshield views of the world’s tallest trees or an all-day destination for a romantic duo. Known by locals as “the Ave,” this 31-mile stretch was formerly…
Food Not Lawns
Growing food at home is hardly a new idea. But in this culture, where more people know how to take the perfect selfie than how to grow a potato, urban agriculture has become a form of activism. The slogan “Food Not Lawns” is spreading like wildfire. Here are some reasons why: Lawns are the largest…
Learn Spanish
Editor: I suppose it’s a way of establishing your credentials as a progressive by printing part of the front page in Spanish (“Preparados,” April 9). But why stop there? Print the whole newspaper in Spanish, because that’s the way California is heading. Here illegally and can’t speak English? No problem, here’s a driver’s license anyway.…
It’s Alive!
Editor: Grant Scott-Goforth is mistaken to equate ending cannabis (marijuana) prohibition with an experiment (“Give It Away Now,” April 9). Like the original prohibition with alcohol, which historically is known as the Grand Experiment, the sequel, with cannabis, is the experiment. More like a Frankenstein experiment. The effort in Washington D.C. is simply a desperate…
Thanks, Buhne
Editor: I want to start by telling Ryan Hurley how flattered I am that he would consider me a charter member of the “tall, aristocratic, well-coifed public servants club” (“Nerfing the World,” April 2). One out of three isn’t bad — I am tall. “Aristocratic?” — hardly, as the son of a waitress and a…
And Another Thing…
Editor: Harkening back to the recent article about the harm the out-of-town growers are doing to our streams with the water diversions (“Drained Dry,” March 26). We know what the problem is, no more studies necessary. What is needed is some strong government action, such as $10,000 fines, which go on the title of the…
High Time
Editor: I was intrigued with the March 12 “Week in Weed” (“Rabbits with Habits”). DEA agent Matt Fairbanks testified in the Utah Senate against medical marijuana. Obviously, as cannabis wars grind to a desultory, ignominious end, proponents and troops in that war grasp at whatever straws remain in the public opinion blitz. I almost, but…
Correction
The cover story, “Ready,” in the April 9, 2015 edition of the North Coast Journal contained inaccurate statistics regarding the population of South Fortuna Elementary School. Fifty-one percent of the school’s students identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 37.5 percent of them speak English as a second language. The Journal regrets the error.
Third Friday McKinleyville Arts Night
A celebration of local art and artists with music, food and fun. McKinleyville Arts Night is open for all McKinleyville businesses to display the work of local artists on the third Friday of the month. Call 834-6460 or visit www.mckinleyvilleartsnight.com for more information. CALIFORNIA REDWOOD COAST AIRPORT 3561 Boeing Ave. Redwood Art Association show featuring…
Baked in Arcata
Arcata and pot. Are they, or aren’t they? In 2014, the city started collecting a tax for high electricity use, a move clearly targeting residential grow houses. The council’s relationship with dispensaries has been all over the map since medical marijuana was legalized in 1996, culminating in a cap on the number of dispensaries allowed…
Grab Your Binoculars
This time each year, birding revelers flock to fields and wildlife habitats throughout Humboldt for Godwit Days, the annual celebration of the Marbled Godwit. The week-long festival from Wednesday, April 15 to Wednesday, April 22 celebrates its 20th year this year and features field trips, lectures, workshops, art exhibits, boat excursions and more during the…
