Why Do People Hate Kirk Girard?
Venom meets vigilance in the snakepit of Humboldt County planning
Cover Story
Why Do People Hate Kirk Girard?
Angry residents surged into a series of heated Humboldt County Planning Commission hearings. The crowd was starting to resemble a mob. Fourth-generation locals had joined forces with “back-to-the-land” idealists over a common enemy: the county planning director. He and his government accomplices, they said, were trying to stifle their freedom by restricting what they could…
NCJ Blogwatch!
Tracking a few dozen blogs that write about Humboldt County. Click HERE.
“Who Pooped And Peed on the Bank? (Ode to Betsy Lambert)”
Seven-O-Heaven’s “Will” was inspired by recent events at the Occupy Eureka encampment and sent us this ode to Betsy Lambert. It’s kinda childish, but “Will” usually is. Listen here! Ode to Betsy Lambert by Andrew Goff UPDATE!!!: Will just sent along the lyrics and chords so that you can all play and sing along…
About Those Elections (RESULTS)
In case you were curious… BLUE LAKE UNION SCHOOL GOVERNING BOARD MEMBER, Vote For 2 LISA HOOVEN – 181 – 33.64% MANDI LEWIS – 125 – 23.23% LEX ROHN – 132 – 24.54% LANA MANZANITA – 97 – 18.03% EUREKA CITY SCHOOLS, TRUSTEE AREA 4, Vote For 1 JUDY ANDERSON – 2,169 – 42.05% SUSAN…
State Absconds With $15M in Local Transportation Funds
At last week’s meeting of the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG), Caltrans Project Manager Kim Floyd shocked some big-time local decision-makers. She told the assembled League of Extraordinary Officials that, back in June, the state repossessed roughly $15 million in transportation funds that had been slated for safety and maintenance work along the Hwy.…
Where Will Arcata’s Recyclables Go Next?
With the Arcata Community Recycling Center planning to close its doors in January, it’s unclear who will get Arcata’s coveted recyclables. At its next meeting, the Arcata City Council will discuss the Humboldt Waste Management Authority, and in particular the joint powers agreement that created the authority more than a decade ago. “I would like…
![Occupy Eureka Raided [Updated]](https://i0.wp.com/www.northcoastjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/dsc_0534.webp?resize=200%2C150&ssl=1)
Occupy Eureka Raided [Updated]
Update: Eureka attorney Laura Cutler arrived at the county courthouse this morning to find the scene pictured above — the lawn scattered with debris and cordoned off with police tape. The protesters, she said, were given only 10 or 15 minutes to vacate the encampment in the dark, early-morning hours under threat of tear gas.…
Guest Post: Storming StrangeBrew
Gwen Neu, a teacher who lives in Eureka, attended StrangeBrew in quest of the gender she found sadly under-represented in the Journal’s recent beer judging. Anyone reading the North Coast Journal a few weeks ago might think beer is a manly sort of beverage. Not so fast. Plenty of women were sampling, savoring and sometimes…
Eureka Police Accuse Occupiers of Defecation, Assault
One day after the EPD arrested an alleged Occupy Eureka protester for stealing a carafe of cream from Starbucks, things take a turn for the worse. The press release: On 11-04-2011, Officers of the Eureka Police Department responded to several crimes involving subjects who appear to be affiliated with the “Occupy Eureka” group. At about…
The Last Five Musicals
The Last Five Years, now on stage at Redwood Curtain in Eureka, is the fifth musical produced on the North Coast since August, and the 11th since last September (if you count the two Mozart operas along with the three Sondheims and the two Lerner and Loewes). It’s even the second time in that period…
Kudos, in Karuk
Editor: Kudos to Heidi Walters for her article (“In Karuk,” Oct. 27) highlighting the Albers family and their desire to teach their children Karuk. Kudos, too, to the Albers family and all the other Karuk and Yurok families trying to keep their languages alive. Languages are such an amazing part of our existence on earth. Communication is a…
The Crooked Bee Eater
It might seem surprising if you know the players, but Saturday’s convergence of two Boston-based new acoustic stringbands, The Bee Eaters and Crooked Still, at the Arcata Theatre Lounge will be the first time those groups have played together. The common thread between them is Tristan Clarridge, cellist for Crooked Still and fiddler for The…
District Fever
Never discount the potential for excitement in a minor election. School boards? Community services districts? No snoozing, citizen! This is your chance to dive into the conflicted heart of what makes us human: the desire to promote one’s (superior) ideas over another’s, coupled with the altruistic desire to serve one’s community. (Or, through the gimlet…
Even More Beer!
“This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption … Beer.” — From that one Robin Hood movie that I really like but most people don’t. In case you missed the brew-ha-ha of a blind beer tasting the Journal did a few weeks back…
Becalmed
The sun is out. There is a gentle breeze. It would be a fine day to take a ride on the water. Captain Tim Petrusha and Captain John Powell, however, are spending Friday inside, doing paperwork. They’re bar pilots for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, a small government agency tasked with…
For a Friend
Big weekend for reggae with three major concerts scheduled, each quite different. We’ll start with Saturday when the local reggae massive assembles at the Bayside Grange for an afternoon-into-evening benefit to help the family of Joe Magana, owner of the Que Grande taco truck who was recently diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Not to get political,…
Johnny on the Spot
Reviews THE RUM DIARY. Oh, Johnny Depp, how we missed you. We’ve been repeatedly pelted with Depp performances, each as annoyingly eccentric as the last. He saw a niche, and he filled it until it overflowed. His partnership with Tim Burton has long since lost its charm, and the image of a swarthy and drunken…
To the Rescue
Editor: As a wildlife rehabilitator and wild bird rescuer with Bird Ally X, I was glad to read Heidi Walters recent piece “Murre Hard Times” (Oct. 27). As she describes, there have been a very large number of juvenile common murres dead, found recently on our region’s beaches. At several points between North Jetty and Trinidad,…
Obscurities
Best known as the leader of The Magnetic Fields, eccentric singer/songwriter Stephin Merritt has also written Chinese operas, musicals and film scores. For Obscurities, a terrific collection of rarities and previously unreleased material, Merritt looks back and cherry picks a number of obscure gems — not without a price. “It was agony to put together,”…
Collective Cartoonists
Editor: Mr. Joel Mielke missed one in his “Collective nouns of Humboldt County” (Oct, 27): A pretension of cartooning social commentators. John Anderson, Arcata
Days of Sun and Grass
Twenty years as a band is a big deal warranting the homage heaped on The Mother Hips in 2011. For a few months Sierra Nevada Brewery offered a specialty lager called Hips Helles. In June came Now We Give It To You, a stunning hard cover book compiling over 150 Jay Blakesberg photos of the…
Yard Sofa
Yard Sofa
Blind Luck
Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you’d think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise. Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell Here we are. It’s impossible to overemphasize the improbabilities implied in those three words. So many instances…
Floral Arrangement
While it is true that power corrupts and…
Place
For many artists living and working in Humboldt County, no matter their style or medium, the diverse natural beauty of this place inspires passion. Temperament and craft play their part in the approaches the artists interviewed here take in expressing their environs, be it town or county, with results that are as varied and striking…
Arts Alive! November
Lynn Carlin continues her exploration of movement and pattern in watery worlds with a show of original acrylics on paper at Old Town Antique Lighting. Lynn’s impromptu spirit is well suited to her subject matter. “I try to work fast, intuitively choosing colors and creating an overall look that feels right in the moment,” she…
