Cover Story
Upstream Battle
Driving up State Route 96 on a spring morning, it’s hard not to let your worries melt away. The inviting curves of the roadway snake through the verdant hills, the Klamath River churns below. Glimpses of snow-capped mountains appear in the distance — a dusting from a late spring storm — but the air on…
UPDATE: EPD’s “Streamlined” Budget
UPDATE: Chief Mills released a summary of his budget proposal on the Eureka Police Department’s blog. Citing the need to make the department more “streamlined and efficient to fill the vacuum created by laying off PSOs and annuitants”, the workload currently carried by police services officers will be redistributed between officers, technical support and citizens.…
UPDATE: Arcata Homicide Suspects Arrested
SECOND UPDATE: Arcata Police Chief Tom Chapman confirmed this afternoon that the two remaining suspects in the Saturday night homicide of Trevor Mark Harrison were arrested recently. Robert Louis Huntzinger, 34, was arrested last night around midnight in Blue Lake, Chapman said, and Billy Joe Giddings, 35, was arrested today around 3:45 p.m. in Loleta.…
Drag Thunderdome
Annie Hart clawed her way to the championship and a spot on the Red Carpet Girls roster at Friday night’s Drag Wars finale at Humboldt Brews. The towering, faux-hawked Hart won over the crowd and the judges (Denise Ryles, Emerald Diamond and yours truly) with her lip sync skills, her reading (trash talking) and her…
Arcata Weathering the Budget Storm, For Now
As other local cities — we’re looking at you, Eureka and Fortuna — contemplate deep budget cuts, it looks like Arcata will be able to hold the line on services, and even tuck a bit of money away for a rainy day. City staff is proposing a budget — slated to be discussed at study…
HumBug: Tigers by the Tail
Looking out my window today I saw a happy and familiar sight, the instantly recognizable large, yellow and black striped butterfly, the Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus). The family papilio includes the zebra, black, spicebush, anise, pipevine and pale swallowtails. The tiger is the largest and most common of them all with a wingspan of…
Airport Updater: Loans, Z rejection, Portland, and a bigger jet
The county’s Aviation Division is likely to receive some temporary financial relief in the form of an intra-county loan, should the division’s dwindling trust funds be unable to support an ongoing structural deficit. As the Journal reported in March, the division was facing a fiscal year-end deficit of more than $800,000. The aviation enterprise fund…
Oh, Mama
Mom says she doesn’t want anything for Mother’s Day. Don’t call her bluff. She fed you and cared for you and cleaned you up when you got sick on the couch. At least spring for brunch. The Emma Center Mother’s Day Brunch on Sunday, May 10 at 9 a.m. at the Bayside Grange is always…
Everyone’s on Board with Regulation
“If you put marijuana on the agenda, they will come,” whispered the ghosts of old policy makers. And, lo, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board listened. At a packed meeting this afternoon, the board discussed its proposed regulations for Northern California cannabis cultivators. It was the second time this week, following the board…
Wild Night Drinking
You need new drinking buddies. Expand your circle to the two- and four-legged set at the Sequoia Park Zoo’s annual Brew at the Zoo on Saturday, May 9 at 4 p.m. ($45, $40 advance, $35 advance online, $20 designated drivers). This year, with construction on the Watershed Heroes exhibit complete, you can wander all over…
Thinking Out Loud
Let’s look ahead to the end of the month for a moment: The 39th annual Summer Arts and Music Festival takes place May 30 and 31 at Benbow and features headliners JJ Grey & Mofro — think blues, funk, soul, rock and gospel — and Blackalicious, a Sacramento hip-hop duo consisting of rapper Gift of Gab and…
What Do You See?
At first glance, the pencil strokes on the canvas look like the outlines of an unfinished project. “So, what do you see?” Brent Eviston asks, pointing to the abstractly posed figures of the drawing. Then it starts to pop out. It’s a rabbit. Or maybe it’s people dancing. Or maybe they’re fighting. Regardless, the figure…
Nerd Fight
Reviews AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. Joss Whedon seems to be in an unenviable position. After the writer/director reportedly fought tooth and nail to retain creative control of Ultron, now he has to contend with the dull roar of Internet chatter, if he cares to listen. There are a few camps: The apologists have cast about…
Going Deep on Tough Issues
Theater can be a fantastic escape. Stage magic can entrance and transport us to intriguing realms. Comedic dialogue can beguile us. A trip to see a show can be a relaxing break from the challenges and frustrations of the “real” world — wayward lovers find each other in the end, heroes are rewarded, villains get…
Can’t Get No Love
In the big-money world of plant breeding, where prima donna perennials are primped and photographed for their PR launch, a number of truly stellar plants are flying under the radar. Just because a plant doesn’t have its own Pinterest page doesn’t mean it’s not a winner, and though I love Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and Digiplexis ‘Illumination…
Green Machine
Editor: Yeah, good title. Your article on “Growing the Machine” (April 30) was interesting and nicely informative — but flawed. “The local marijuana industry has united.” Not! That claim is just another of their stuffed audiences. I strongly liked what Scott Greacen said about why he was excluded (“steaming heap of bullshit”). Well, he’s not…
Bad Call
Editor: In last week’s “Table Talk” (“Hum Plate Roundup,” April 30), Jennifer Fumiko Cahill made reference to “the majestic screams of bald eagles.” Clearly Jennifer, like uncounted other moviegoers, has been duped by Hollywood. The bald eagle’s true vocal repertoire has been described in field guides as, “rather weak, flat, chirping whistles” (Sibley) and “high-pitched…
Don’t be Afraid
Editor: “Alienation and desperation are the roots of the anti-social behavior we would like to see improve among the homeless,” writes Anna Hamilton (“Mailbox,” April 30). Right on sister! This same alienation and desperation also dwells within the expensively dressed, well-housed people at the top. How else could they not see and/or care about the…
Kinched
Editor: In commenting on the article on the Hispanic community of Humboldt County (“Preparados,” April 9), Joshua Kinch from Eureka wrote, “This is the first group in our history to insist on not assimilating, and using their language and culture instead of ours” (“Mailbox,” April 30). If this were true, wouldn’t we in Eureka and…
Gopher Broke
Editor: As a retired dairyman from the Ferndale area, I would have a big problem if I caught anybody donating a gopher to my fields (“Down and Dirty,” April 2). When making winter feed such as silage haylage or hay, you’re mowing tall grass and when it gets mixed with dirt from mole or gopher…
Reckoning Day
It seems Eureka’s days of fiscal reckoning are upon us. “The problem is the city has kicked the can down the road as far as it could. Now it’s at our feet,” Police Chief Andrew Mills said, explaining why just six months after voters overwhelmingly passed a tax extension to protect public safety spending, his…
Advice to a Student
Much as despair seems the only dance move left, the Klamath will not die, no matter how much of it irrigators divert to the valley, no matter if they fail to tear down the dams to flush away the blue green algae and the pesticides, no matter if the last remaining coho and the…
Waterboarding Weed
California’s water board is making a bid to become the state’s strictest marijuana regulator. Following cultivation site visits earlier this year, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board has proposed a system to register nearly every outdoor grower in Northern California. The regulatory program, as drafted, would require registration — including names and an…
Humboldt on Tap
Great relationships can benefit from a little time apart. No matter how smooth, how satisfying the partnership, stepping away can be a revelation. If you’ve been drinking India pale ales, nothing may seem as beautifully matched as that sharp, hoppy tang and that higher alcohol buzz. They dance inseparably across your senses, satisfying taste and…
