The Man Who Unsolved a Murder
Behind the defense investigation that freed a Hoopa man accused of killing a child
Cover Story
The Man Who Unsolved a Murder
On Aug. 28, 1976, sometime between 7:30 and 8 p.m., a 6-year-old boy named Willie Cook disappeared from the bed of his father’s pickup in Happy Camp, a secluded logging community in Northern California’s Klamath National Forest. Willie’s father, Bill Cook, had been working on his lawnmower at a repair shop in the center of…
The Boys are Back in Town
Baseball is a crazy, beautiful, devastating and triumphant game. Sometimes, all in the span of a week. It’s a game of failure, where hitters can be successful if they get a hit three out of 10 times. And if you can win just over half of your meaningful games, you are in a great spot…
Gregory Lee Rael — 1950-2025
Gregory Lee Rael, 75, passed away at his Bayside home on June 14, 2025. Greg lived a life of incredible depth in the outdoors, overseas, and in the courtroom. He was a friend and mentor to many, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a grandfather, a counselor to those who ran afoul of the law,…
Maria “Nellie” Nunes — 1930-2025
Maria “Nellie” Nunes, a beloved aunt and friend to many, passed away peacefully on Friday, June 20, 2025, at the age of 95, in Sharpsburg, Georgia. Born on January 1, 1930, in the Azores, Portugal, to Marcial Machado and Clementina Coelho, Nellie lived a life marked by hard work, deep relationships, and quiet grace. She…
Music Tonight: Monday, June 30
It’s another Metal Monday at Savage Henry Comedy Club, and this line-up looks cool. San Diego’s black/doom group Woods Witch is joined by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s solo black metal violinist Joey Molinaro, along with excellent local acts Ultramafic and Psyop Victim. As ever, the show starts at 7 p.m., it’s a $5-$20 sliding scale, and while…
Music Tonight: Saturday, June 28
The Creative Sanctuary presents another jazz show at the Arcata Playhouse tonight at 7 p.m., this one is a tribute to trumpeter and composer Kenny Dorham, a criminally underrated musician who died far too young and is perhaps most famous for his work with the early iteration of the Jazz Messengers. Co-producers James Zeller and…
Unraveled and Overturned Cases, and Street Food
This week’s cover is a CalMatters story about how a Hoopa man was arrested for a 32-year-old murder, and how a defense investigator unraveled the case against him. We also have an update on why the murder conviction of Jake Henry Combs has been overturned and what happens next. Finally, we’re sharing top picks from…
Erika Tomczak, nee Janssen
Erika Tomczak, nee Janssen, a resident of Eureka, CA since 2002 passed away on June 7, 2025 at the age of 83 years. She was an unselfish, kind, brave, sharing person born in Bremen, Germany on May 12, 1942. Her early childhood years were not easy because they were during World War II. The Allies,…
Celebrate the Opening of the Humboldt Bay Trail South
Celebrate the beginning of a new era for outdoor recreation and transportation in Humboldt County. After two decades of vision, planning and community persistence, Humboldt is ready to celebrate a milestone: the completion of the Humboldt Bay Trail South segment, linking Eureka and Arcata with a continuous, safe and scenic bike and pedestrian trail along…
Music Tonight: Friday, June 27
There’s an outsider rock and psyche show at the Wild Hare Tavern at 7 p.m. New(ish) local bands The Mercury Suckers and Western Extra will join up with Los Angeles group Hooveriii for an evening of the good stuff. The Wild Hare is one of the best new venues out there, with an excellent sound…
Rita Consuelo Orlandini
“Let My Love Be Heard” On May 16, 2025, Rita Consuelo Orlandini lost her long battle with cancer. With her passing, we lost a warrior woman who meant so much to so many. Rita was born on April 29, 1941, in Vallejo, California, to Cecilia Orlandini (Keiser), a city clerk, and Antonio (Tony) Orlandini, the…
No More Dogs at Friday Night Market, Fourth of July Festival and Fireworks
Dogs are no longer allowed at Eureka’s Friday Night Market and Fourth of July festival after the city issued a press release about the policy change on June 25. The city cited that crowds have grown over the years with more than 13,000 people attending last year’s Fourth of July festival and some 7,000 people…
Music Tonight: Thursday, June 26
Nashville’s Crys Matthews plays a right-handed acoustic guitar as a leftie, upside down to the casual viewer, with the tenor strings up top and the wrapped lower strings sitting on the bottom, a tradition which dates back to the pre-recording era of American blues music, and was the style in which Elizabeth “Libba” Cotton, the…
AI for Social Justice
Dear Editor: Collin Yeo’s most excellently written “Computer World” (June 19) damnation of AI resonated with me. I had a very similar, but not as well worded, email discussion on the topic this past week. My correspondent replied with an option that has altered my perspective: His friend’s son, a longtime activist/co-founder of Occupy Wallstreet,…
Ozempic, the Wonder Drug? Part 1
“These drugs have the potential to change societies, not just individuals.” — Michael Le Page, New Scientist, March 29, 2025 Obesity is a chronic disease approaching crisis levels. Currently, about 42 percent of Americans are obese, having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more, with a predicted rise to 50 percent of the…
Fathers Day
In raising children, Everything that matters Becomes apparent. Kirk Gothier
‘Inflammatory and Prejudicial’
An Alderpoint man found guilty of first-degree murder in 2023 appears headed for a new trial after a state appellate court recently overturned his conviction, finding a local judge erred in allowing the jury to be presented with “inflammatory and prejudicial” evidence that may have changed the outcome of the case. Jake Henry Combs, who…
That Summer Feeling
We live in a culture where apology, a change of temperament or evolving ideological alignment are considered signs of weakness. This seems like an intractable, complex problem, but it’s simple to sidestep when you remember everyone who runs things here is stupid as hell and arrogant to boot, and that you don’t have to be…
What’s Good at Friday Night Market
Eureka’s Friday Night Market festivities are in full swing on the blocked-off streets of Old Town each week (but for the July 4 break). As you weave through the musicians, vendors and performers, here are a few new food stalls to check out. Summer ceviche Arcata Pizza and Deli (APD) has lately branched out with…
Trinidad Art Night
This townwide walk includes a variety of art exhibits, live music, artist receptions, face painting, skate ramps, pop-up sales and oyster, cider or wine tastings. Forbes & Associates and Westhaven Center for the Arts present Sarah Corliss. For more info, call (707) 834-2479 or visit trinidadartnight.com. THE LIGHTHOUSE GRILL 355 Main St. Jeff Stanley, acrylic…
Love’s the Best Doctor on the Mend at Dell’Arte
If Dell’Arte’s newest offering feels dated, it’s because it is. Love’s the Best Doctor is adapted from French playwright Moliere’s l’Amour Medicin from the 1600s. Michael Fields’ rework adds an onslaught of tech and social media observations, cute musical numbers and unapologetic explication of our healthcare system in the brash ruckus and masked chaos that Dell’Arte excels…
28 Years Later‘s Resurrection
28 YEARS LATER. When he’s really cooking — which is frequently — Danny Boyle can be one of the most engaging, adventurous directors in the business. Trainspotting (1996), only his second feature, changed the lives of a generation of us with its boundless energy, convention-shattering camerawork and an absolute banger of a soundtrack. Ever since,…
Walkies Only
Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series exploring ableism and the rhetoric that sustains it. In the fall of 2015, I had no idea what I was walking into. My wife and I had agreed to a huge gamble. We gave up job security, a considerable chunk of our first ever consistent…
‘Prioritizing Public Safety’
Editor: My compliments to the Eureka Police Department (EPD) for doing a stellar job prioritizing public safety at the No Kings rally on Saturday. I was positioned at the curb on the east side Fifth Street between J and K streets. An EPD officer was parked in the alley across the street from us keeping…
‘A Promise’
Editor: I worked for nearly 60 years and depend on Social Security. This isn’t a handout — it’s a promise that millions of us older Americans have paid into with every paycheck and have earned. This administration is dismantling an essential program, closing offices, cutting hotlines and spreading misinformation to justify these attacks. As an elder…
‘No Common Sense’
Editor: President Trump commented recently that targeting California farming and hospitality workers for deportation left these industries “hurt badly” by the loss of reliable workers. He felt the workers had been mostly taken, because they don’t have “maybe what they’re supposed to have,” and he feared their replacements would be criminals. To solve this, Trump…
‘Destroying our Medical Infrastructure’
Editor: This federal government is aggressively destroying our medical infrastructure: Funds for Medicaid are being shrunk, grants for medical research have been canceled and the federal organizations that physicians rely on are being decimated by firings, funding cuts and inappropriate personnel substitutions. What this means for you, our patients, is that your physicians and medical…
