Cover Stories
Super Donors
More than 900 people donated at least $100 to the seven county supervisorial races. Candidates submitted names, occupations, addresses and donation amounts for each of those people who donated through May 24. (Plus, they disclosed any additional $1,000-plus gifts up through election day.) We transcribed every one of those entries into spreadsheets. That’s, like, thousands…
Knuckle Down
When two new county supervisors take their seats at the end of this year, the balance of power in Humboldt County will have shifted toward developer interests and property rights. On Election Day, businessman and frequent community volunteer Rex Bohn earned more than 64 percent of the vote in a three-way race in the 1st…
You Scratch My Back …
Another county supervisor primary election has come and gone, and soon unwanted political signs will be piled on the curb like leaves in the fall. The blizzard of cash has finally settled, and it’s easy to see all the strange and striking footprints left by donors. Thousands of people gave to the seven supervisorial campaigns,…
Moments of Truth
The writing on the wall came early — in giant scrawls — on election night, and the two conservative allies who raised buckets of money to win supervisorial seats celebrated as two different parties erupted around them. At the Elk’s Club in Eureka, Rex Bohn huddled at a back corner table with County Supervisor Virginia…
And Now, Huffman’s Cakewalk to Congress
Jared Huffman, the termed-out Democratic state assemblyman, was the top vote-getter in California’s newly formed 2nd congressional district while Republican investment banker Dan Roberts edged out a crowded pack of challengers to earn a spot in the November runoff. Huffman was considered the frontrunner in the 12-way race to replace longtime Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma),…
EPD Meth Bust Numero Uno
Press release from the Eureka Police Department. This was one of two busts today … : On 06/12/12, at about 6:00 PM, the Eureka Police Department’s Problem Oriented Policing Unit (POP) served a search warrant at a residence on the 3300 block of ‘E’ Street, Eureka. The warrant was in response to information EPD…
EPD Meth Bust Numero Dos
… and here’s the other one: On the morning of 6/13/12, investigators with the Eureka Police Department’s Problem Oriented Policing Unit served a search warrant on the subject of a methamphetamine sales investigation, Jose Hector Godoy (AKA “Hector Godoy”). The warrant was obtained after the POP Unit received information Godoy was selling methamphetamine from his…
Dancing Mascots Usher in Humboldt’s Wal-Mart Era (PHOTOS)
Standard Humboldt morning drizzlemist floated onto eager shoppers-in-waiting as they lined up outside of Eureka’s brand spankin’ new Wal-Mart Wednesday morning. It’s been six months since the Journal was finally able to confirm that the planet Earth’s largest retailer would be creeping into the Bayshore Mall. Now here we are. Opening day. Let’s do this.…
The Eureka Wal-Mart Has Been Blessed
UPDATE 6/13: For Wal-Mart’s grander Grand Opening ceremonies, go HERE. “Psalm 33:12 says, ‘Blessed is the nation that has God as the Lord,'” said Hydesville Community Church associate pastor Jeff Beltz from a temporary podium this past Sunday. “Basically what He’s saying is the nation that is faithful and places God first in decisions, honor,…
Catch a Vandal
It’s the sort of boorish behavior you really don’t want to draw attention to — because the jerks perpetrating such deeds so obviously seek attention. “Look at me, I can haz bash windoze and stick my thingamijiggy glue gun in door locks!” However, since we’re talking about vandalism to office buildings and businesses in Old…
The Case of the Eureka Glue Bandit
Hey, Humboldt! Do you recognize this sticky character? This security camera footage from 4:55 a.m. on June 9 allegedly shows a ball-capped fellow squeezing glue into a door lock in Old Town’s Carson Block Building … which, if true, way sucks. Help us bring his reign of adhesive terror to an end! Again, WHO IS…
![Conspiracy Theory Alert: Agenda 21 [Updated]](https://i0.wp.com/www.northcoastjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/agenda21isevil.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Conspiracy Theory Alert: Agenda 21 [Updated]
[Update, 6/12, 9:52 a.m.: Yesterday the Journal sent an email to all county supervisors and supervisors-elect seeking comment. Supervisor Jimmy Smith responded this morning: “I haven’t been contacted by the United Nations … however, if I do hear from them I will happily convey their questions or comments.”] It’s not surprising to see public discourse…
Tsunami debris arrives
Just last week a local team formed to prowl our beaches looking for debris from the March 2011 tsunami in Japan. And it looks like maybe just in time. Earlier this week, a dock washed up on Agate Beach near Newport, Ore., and was soon therafter verified to have been broken up and swept asea…
Journal Wins Investigative Reporting Award
We just got an ebullient email from our publisher, Judy Hodgson, who’s currently in Detroit, along with Editor Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, for the annual Association of Alternative Newsweeklies conference. We suspect she may have had a celebratory drink or two. Why? She explains: Carrie won 1st, investigative reporting under 50K circ, for “Vulnerable.” (link here,…
Armed Robbery at Scotia’s PALCO Pharmacy
From the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office: On 06-8-2012, the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office received a 911 open line from the Palco Pharmacy, Scotia at approximately 1:20 p.m. The dispatcher could not hear any voices, but did hear phones ringing in the background, there was no voice on the line. The dispatcher advised Sheriff units to…
Guest Post: On the Implications of Evangelical Prayer at the Eureka Wal-Mart Opening Ceremonies
The following was submitted by friend o’ the Journal Austin Roberts in response to last week’s blog post about the juicy itinerary for the Eureka Wal-Mart’s impending opening ceremonies. Roberts has a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Humboldt State University and a master’s in philosophy of religion from Claremont School of Theology. He is…
While You Were Sleeping: Wells Fargo Door Smashed, Suspect Nabbed
Good morning! Press release from the Eureka Police Department: On 06-07-2012 at about 11:20 pm, Officers of the Eureka Police Department responded to a reported burglary in progress at Wells Fargo Bank (605 G Street) in Eureka. Officers were advised that motion alarms had been activated inside the business. Upon officers arrival at about…
Analog Youth to Digital Adult to Quantum Old Geezer
The future isn’t what it used to be. (Yogi Berra, maybe) I’m about three years older than ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer. ENIAC, which stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was a “Turing-complete” digital computer, that is, capable of being reprogrammed to solve virtually any numerical problem. ENIAC, which weighed nearly 30 tons…
Adventures with Kefir
You are at the grocery store and a bottle with a brightly colored label catches your attention: You read the word “kefir” on it and wonder what it is. Sensing your curiosity, the bottle answers: “My name is kefir: I am a type of fermented milk. I have a creamy consistency, a slightly sour taste…
Election Day
With grace and humility, Will faces Humboldts voters.
Free Speech Now! (And Eat at McDonald’s)
In the movie Norma Rae, Sally Field plays a textile worker who tries to organize a union at her mill. In the movie’s climax, thugs try to throw her out of the factory. She scribbles the word “union,” climbs up on a table and holds it up. For a moment everyone in the factory stares…
Arts! Arcata
Second Friday Arts! Arcata is Friday, June 8, 6-9 p.m. Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call (707) 822-4500. 1 3 Foods Café: 835 J St. – Live music 2 Abruzzi, 780 7th…
The Run
You hear their engines roar as they zoom by on heavy metal steeds, leather-clad riders rolling down the road in packs. They’re on a run to somewhere, but a big part of the pleasure is the ride there. This weekend that somewhere is the Redwood Run, or as they’re calling it this year, The Kiwanis…
Life in Color
Most would agree that art has the ability to enrich our lives: Great works of visual and performing art can make us keenly aware of what is possible beyond the whitewash of typical daily experience. When we think about where we come into contact with this art, many of us picture austere gallery spaces, venerated…
Reganomics
As a working comedian, you want to play the big rooms. Simple logic dictates that the more seats you have the potential to squeeze butts into, the higher potential monetary return you’ll have for a given performance. You get that, right? But rumor has it that the world is not solely driven by economics. While…
Don’t Trivialize Trains
Editor: Beginning with the article’s title, “Choo-choo Fantasies” (May 24), Ryan Burns seeks to trivialize the concept of an east-west railroad by ridiculing its potential supporters. This approach mirrors one used by our county’s troglodytes (cave dwellers) to any proposal that might increase economic activity and prosperity. Another is to swamp it with “practical” objections.…
Debris Watch
In the parking lot by the Redwood Gun Club, on the Samoa Peninsula near Manila, we smeared bug repellant on as fast as we could. The mosquitoes, swarming, bit anyway. Grabbing her clipboard, GPS, camera and measuring wheel — all, along with the bug repellant and sunscreen, courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…
Georgian Zen
About a month ago Georgia-born songwriter/guitar picker Caroline Aiken loaded a few of her guitars and her dogs, Chula and Ita, into her truck and headed out from her home in Athens, Ga. She made her way to the Southwest and played a couple of shows there with another Georgia peach, Arcata-based songstress Joanne Rand,…
Where Are The Dwarfs?
Reviews SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNSTMAN. With a little luck, maybe this will be the last of the Snow White remakes. Not because it adds anything to the mythology: The 1937 Disney version is and will most likely remain the definitive movie version of the fairy tale. No, Huntsman would be an appropriate end point…
Electric Cables
“Good things come for those who wait.” It’s a hackneyed cliché, but the statement rings strangely true for Teenage Fanclub’s bassist, vocalist and founding member, Gerard Love. After over two decades contributing to the Scottish band’s trademark pop sound, a mixture of Byrds-like harmonies, ringing guitars and melodies loaded with hooks, the shy TF bassist…
Van Gogh: Up Close
He is among the most mythologized of artists: the tortured, mad, solitary, ignored genius. As if his paintings are not striking enough, the severed ear and suicide color them more strangely in this cartoon world. This calm and excellent volume is the antidote, as well as a revelatory look at the heart of his work.…
Middle-Class Blinders
Editor: Discernment, not. Spinning the Journal’s integrity? Yes. ?(“We’re Not Stenographers,” May 24) The Eureka police practiced deliberate torture on demonstrators occupying the Caltrans building. A Times-Standard videographer was present, filming, but the Times-Standard declined to report this highly significant aspect. Did the Journal blow their cover? No way. No, Burstiner was all bent by…
The Measure of Seeds
I see an ocean of mustard Extending beyond…
Bland Opening
Bland Opening
