What Now, Treesitter?
Happy activists bask in the Humboldt Redwood Co. chief’s vow to not cut old growth, but they say there’s still plenty more forest to save
Cover Story
What Now, Treesitter?
An eerie dreamlight slanted in from the west, a spray of pale gold shot through a crack in the late-day cloud ceiling. It struck a small remnant of ancient redwood forest, where one sky-vanishing tree towered taller than the rest, wider, older — 2,000 years old, some say. Straight up, up, until its bulk was…
Driving into the Hydrogen Future
Humboldt State unveiled its hydrogen fueling station today with Rep. Mike Thompson here to help with the ribbon-cutting and talk about the role the Schatz Energy Research Center is playing in our renewable energy future. He’s shown above driving HSU’s hydrogen-powered car, which he’d just helped fill with fuel. Here’s a soundbite from Rep. Mike’s…
It Must Be Said
“ICE” — the very stupidest of the Bush-era bureaucracy rebrandings. Are we all agreed?
Thus Spake ICE
Editor’s note: The following is a press release from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 18 illegal alien workers for The Sun Valley Group arrested in ICE operation Enforcement action at Arcata flower grower is part of ongoing ICE investigation ARCATA, Calif.- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents executed a federal search warrant…
More images of ICE raid at Sun Valley
As ICE continued to search and arrest people at Sun Valley today, three people observing the raid from the road by the main entrance linked arms and stood in front of one of the white vans, with most of its windows whited out, as it began to exit the company compound onto Upper Bay Road.…
Imagenes de la migra
photos by Bob Doran
Feds Back In Town
The federal depart of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement — aka “La Migra,” previously known as the INS — is staging some kind of huge operation in Arcata. Bob Doran is in the parking lot of Westwood, where something like 10 vehicles are staged. McKinleyville’s Dennis Mayo tells KHUM’s Mike Dronkers that a huge number of…
Willie
Willie Nelson at Dimmick Ranch He came to the Ranch on the Humboldt/Mendo countyline and played a whole lot of songs, his hits and then some. I’m pretty sure everyone went home satisfied — I did. Trigger, Willie's Martin N-20 guitar, covered with autographs and worn from years of play Oh yeah, I guess he’s…
Rogue Nuke Truck Closes 36
That massive truck wipeout that has closed Highway 36 by Dinsmore since about noon? Get this — it’s 110 feet long, just about twice as long as the legal limit for Humboldt County — and it’s intended for carrying nuclear material. Although everyone assures us that its contents were innocent at the time of the…
Bigfoot Daze
We got a note today from our friend Richard at the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau : If yer looking for something to blog today, I wanted to share something that might be fun, given that this weekend is Bigfoot Days and that 2008 is the so-called Year of the Bigfoot (he turns 50…
Cyclist’s Death Rallies Advocates
Greg Jennings was bicycling home to Blue Lake Monday evening after work, on Highway 299, when a pickup drifted onto the shoulder and struck and killed him. Jennings’ death has sent shock waves through the tight-knit community of bicycling commuters, and beyond, with many people saying it’s time the community at large gets serious about…
Brown Clamps Down
On Monday, yet another branch of government took yet another stab at imposing some order on California’s chaotic medical marijuana system. This time it was state Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office published an 11-page set of guidelines meant to define some ground rules for the implementation of Prop. 215, the generous but vaguely worded…
The Outlaw
What do you say about Willie Nelson? He’s an icon, an American treasure, a songwriter with a beat-up guitar who transcended the world of country music he came from, and transformed it in the process. Willie was a Texas boy who made the leap to songwriter-central, the country music capital, Nashville, in 1960. His song…
To The Death
The chief executive of MediaNews Group, corporate parent of the Times-Standard, is a Texas-born, Denver-based media legend by the name of Dean Singleton. Singleton is a fearsome figure in the business, a man who leaves a trail of corpses in his wake wherever he wanders. He doesn’t customarily do things by half, unless that thing…
Smart Folks Don’t Vote
Editor: Upon seeing the cover of the Aug. 21 Journal and the article about Barack Obama following I could not help but be amused and dismayed (“Dreams of Obama,” Aug. 21). Amused because we continue to praise a politician who has already and will continue to violate the laws he is supposed to be making…
Mas Fascismo
Editor: I found Dave Berman’s letter in “Mailbox” (Aug. 14) very interesting, and would like to offer some further comment. It seems to me that at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, machinery was put into operation gradually to transform American society into a feudalistic society. There was something of a hiatus during the Bush…
On KH$U
Editor: After watching somewhat appalled from the sidelines, today’s disclosure in the KHSU saga compels me to write an open letter to the HSU administration. (See “Station Identification,” July 31). Having been a participant at KHSU-FM both while a student in the mid-’70s and for years after as a volunteer I’ve seen firsthand a progression…
Will She Peek?
Editor: I am sorry to have to tell you I will no longer be reading the North Coast Journal after having enjoyed it for many, many years. Ever since the change of the guard in your paper’s editorship, standards have gradually slipped to a level which today I can only call abominable. I no longer…
Bwhaaaaa
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The other candidates running for president
One fundamental fallacy dooms all Alt Prez candidates to failure. Tell someone that you’re voting for a third-party candidate and he or she will whine, “You’re just throwing your vote away.” No you’re not. You can do whatever you want with your vote. If you’re a liberal, your vote doesn’t automatically belong to the Democrats,…
I’jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody
In Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, a prisoner is given pen and paper to write. A guard turns his musings in to the secret police. This fictitious “document” is the novel I’jaam. I’jaam are the dots that indicate vowels in the Arabic script. Arabic is often written without dots, the meaning is inferred from the context. Not…
True Norwegian Black Metal
When I initially learned of Vice’s plan to publish True Norwegian Black Metal, I tempered my expectations, half expecting a hatchet job on one of the most significant music genres to develop over the past 20 years. Vice, after all, is well noted for its hipster status and sardonic treatment of subject matter — both…
A Crostata for Aunt Lucia
I have always loved crostata alla crema (tart with pastry cream). My mother, however, did not bake desserts of any kind. My aunt Lucia baked tarts with her homemade jam and made excellent pastry cream, but in her kitchen never the twain would meet. I feasted on her pastry cream and nibbled at her jam…
Parc Avenue
I’m sick of Canada. I’m tired of hearing about their state-funded schools, National Health, and their music. Canada has the nerve to fund the arts in their country, including partial support of a large number of bands — Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Broken Social Scene, The Stars, The New Pornographers, Destroyer, to name a few…
Back to Brideshead
Previews Opening Wednesday, Aug. 27, is Traitor, a thriller starring Guy Pearce as an F.B.I. agent investigating the activities of a Special Operations officer played by Don Cheadle. Jeff Daniels co-stars. Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language. 113m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek. Also opening Wednesday is Hamlet…
