Trouble on the Mountain
A popular outdoor recreation area is also a makeshift shooting range, causing growing safety concerns By Elaine Weinreb
Cover Story
Trouble on the Mountain
Horse Mountain is a popular place for outdoor enthusiasts in the Humboldt Bay area. In the winter, the 4,880-foot peak attracts snowboarders, sledders, skiers and snowshoers. In the spring, summer and autumn, it brings birders, wildflower viewers, hikers, photographers and rock-climbers, while history buffs enjoy the remnants of an old quarry where copper was once…
Richard Christopher Quigley December 20, 1957-December 23, 2023
Richard Christopher Quigley, known lovingly as Rich, passed away in his home on Dec. 23, 2023. He was surrounded by the love of his life and ex-wife, Sheri Johnson, his two daughters, Jessica and Richelle, and his sister-in-law and long time friend Cyndi, who introduced him to Sheri. Rich was born Dec. 20, 1957, to…
Music Tonight: Thursday, Jan. 18
Here’s a couple of shows with no cover if you are looking for some entertainment that won’t drain your resources for the coming weekend. At 7 p.m. at the Logger Bar, Bayou Swamis member and scene stalwart Jeff Landen brings the oomph and va-voom to a songbook of tunes — original and otherwise — that…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, Jan. 17
Speaking of the Miniplex, new weekly free queer dance event Big Mood will be rolling out tonight at 8 p.m., with sonic bounce provided by the venerable DJ Pandemonium Jones. If you are looking for an older institution, the Harlem Globetrotters are in town at the same hour for a showcase face off against their…
Sheriff’s Office IDs Homicide Victim in Manila
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office today identified the remains found Jan. 5 in the area of the Manila Dunes as belonging to Pete William Dibean, whose death has been determined to be a homicide. According to a news release, the 56 year old was known to be “living in a well-established makeshift metal structure in…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, Jan. 16
One of the best outdoor backyard shows I caught in the last few years was an ecstatic drone set by the raga-metal group Biomass, headed by Open Head Records honcho Luke Aronie. Sadly, the group migrated to Los Angeles some time ago, but they’re back for a night of the good, soul-scouring loud and pretty…
UPDATE: Local Emergency Declared Due to Storm Damage
UPDATE: Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal has declared a local emergency due to the “significant impact of floods” during this past weekend’s storm, the first step toward being able to request state and federal assistance. “Significant flooding of small creeks and streams, as well as main stem flooding of the Mad River began on Friday,…
Music Tonight: Monday, Jan. 15
Band of Brothers is a jazz quartet composed of two sets of very incredible musical siblings. Tony Levin is likely the most familiar of the crew, because beyond his bass and chapman stick work with everyone from King Crimson to Peter Gabriel, he is often found in this very venue with one of his impressive…
EPD Releases Body Cam Footage from Fatal Shooting
The Eureka Police Department has released body-worn camera footage from officers’ fatal shooting of Matthew Robert Williams, 31, on Nov. 26 after a traffic stop. According to EPD, Williams fled from the passenger seat of a vehicle EPD pulled over for expired registration tags near the Ingomar Club and officers Jeremy Sollom and Nick Jones…
Target Trouble, Schneider and Dinsmore Updates, Ice Cream and Kelp
This week we’re talking about the problem with target shooting on Horse Mountain, sometimes with inadequate backstops and close proximity to hikers and others. We’ve also got updates on what’s happening with Travis Schneider’s halted home building, as well as the release of Steven Dinsmore’s release from prison. Finally, we’re sampling the local ice cream…
‘The Real Dick’
Editor: I agree the real victim in this story is the girl. If her parents haven’t taught her that stealing is wrong and disrespecting working employees doing their job is OK … it leaves me wondering who the dick is in this story … Jennifer? Pete Haggard, McKinleyville Related Stories
‘Why the Secrecy?
Editor: I enjoyed Jennifer Fumiko Cahill’s Top Ten Dick Moves of 2023 in the Dec. 28 issue (Rex Bohn gets a two-fer!). One she missed is the lack of transparency by the Coast Central Credit Union’s board of directors. Why won’t the board reveal the number of votes each candidate received in the 2023 board…
‘Profit Over Patients’
Editor: I went with my husband to visit a friend at Granada Rehab in Eureka on Dec. 24. During the visit we were told that the roommate was contagious with COVID-19. We started to leave but another nurse said she was not contagious. Three days later, my husband and I, aged 80 years, both came…
‘Win-Win’
Editor: In recent discussions at the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee meetings, the idea of reducing Central Avenue from five lanes to two, with the integration of roundabouts, has emerged as a winning innovation to help create a sense of place in our town center. The proposed transformation is a strategic move toward fostering a safer,…
Correction
A photo caption on page 2 of the Jan. 4, 2024, edition of the North Coast Journal misspelled Miss Indian World 2023 Tori McConnell’s name. The Journal regrets the error.
Sea Palm Crime
My brief crime spree included breaking and entering, grand larceny, vandalism, attempted murder, wire fraud, resisting arrest and, finally, indecent exposure. However, as a criminal, I have a line I will not cross. This gives me a sense of moral superiority over regular low-life criminals. That line is: I will not harvest sea palm (Postelsia…
‘I Order Him Released’
After living in a kind of legal and custodial purgatory in the Humboldt County jail for months, Steven Dinsmore is once again a free man. Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John Feeney resentenced Dinsmore on Jan. 8 pursuant to a new state law that took effect on the first of the year and ordered Dinsmore,…
Message: The Quest
Atlanta born there was a man who in his youth had known the wrongs of racial hate–and thus began the quest where living love belongs. Of brotherhood he dared to dream: so, peaceful action was the way. Amid sin’s torrent truth would stream: by words and courage, hearts he’d sway. With truth in triumph, Glory…
On the Tundra
As I have mentioned since the arrival of winter, this season has a lot of dead nights on the calendar of live entertainment. However, even a leafless tree or dead snag can hide a honeycomb in its trunk. This week is one such honeycomb. We have it all going on: big name entertainers spanning across…
Jersey Boys
Yellow neon letters curl in the window above bright café chairs outside Jersey Scoops in Loleta (348 Main St.). Inside, there are more rainbow-colored chairs and barstools, shelves and refrigerators packed with local jams and snacks, and a refrigerator case stuffed with beef and eggs from Ferndale’s Foggy Bottoms Boys Farm. On a barnwood wall…
Spark Birds
Those of us who are besotted with birds can often trace our interest back to one particular bird, our “spark bird.” Seeing that bird ignited a fascination with the species that’s impacted our lives in myriad ways, from where we live to what we do for a living and how we spend our free time…
Good Grief‘s Best Friends
GOOD GRIEF. With a brief break in the rain at last, I was in no mood to delve into the weedy waters of grief this week but here we are. Had it not been Dan Levy writing, directing and starring in the Netflix drama/comedy/romance, I would have spared myself all thought beyond what an 80-minute…
On the Finding of ‘Human Remains’ in the Dunes
As I write this on a Sunday night, more than 48 hours have elapsed since the sheriff’s office “received a call regarding human remains found by beachgoers in the area of the Manila Dunes” about a half-mile from my house. I learned about it the next morning when my county supervisor texted that a body…
Missed One
Editor: A story that I think should’ve made the Top 10 Stories list (Dec. 28) but didn’t is last winter’s storms. January’s windstorm and February’s snowstorm literally altered the landscape of vast swaths of the county. Tens of thousands of trees were knocked down by the wind, and perhaps millions of understory trees (mostly tan…
‘Offended, But Not Surprised’
Editor: I was disappointed and offended, but not surprised, at the title of Jennifer Fumiko Cahill’s article, “Top 10 D***k Moves of 2023” (“Top 10 Dick Moves of 2023,” Dec. 28). Apparently, Ms. Cahill feels free to use a derogatory term, referring to male genitalia, to criticize her top 10 negative actions by men in…
