Cover Story
Witness Marks
She was once the first, the finest and the fairest, but as the 20th century progressed and the Carson Block building became middle-aged, her owners decided the grand old madame had no right to show her wrinkles. They troweled a layer of stucco over her stately redwood boards. In 1958 they removed the turret that…
No, I Like Eureka
The plot thickens. This afternoon, the Journal received a letter from the Westside Sanguine Society, Eureka’s anonymous rogue publicity agent and creator of the popular “I Like Eureka” stickers that now blanket Eureka, from stop sign to cop car to seen-better-days bicycle. The envelope included two stickers, per the Sanguinists’ M.O., as well as two…
The Case Against DIY
There are some items on a menu that you move right past because damn, you could just throw that together at home. Where’s the sous vide? The duck fat fryer? In what world are you going to pay someone to make you a bowl of black beans with avocado slices? That would be the world…
Carson Block Redux: When Stucco Was King
Local historian Bob Libershal was kind enough to come by the Journal office recently and deliver a copy of an article he found during his duties as archivist for the Eureka Heritage Society. The article, from June of 1924, sheds light on why the H.H. Buhne Company, which bought the Carson Block building from the…
Humboldters to Get Brief Break from Historic Wetness
In the midst of a historically wet winter, and after being pummeled by rain, hail, lightning and thunder last night, Humboldt County’s in for a bit of a break. Kind of. National Weather Service Meteorologist Shawn Palmquist said the area should see showers taper off throughout the rest of today. Tomorrow should be mostly dry,…
Mills Mulls Prison Reform With Gov. Brown, Other Chiefs
Eureka Police Department Chief Andy Mills and police chiefs from around the state met with Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday, March 17 at the 2016 California Police Chiefs Association Symposium to discuss Brown’s November ballot initiative, which would ostensibly streamline the early release of nonviolent offenders from prison. The proposal — allowing corrections officials to…
St. Joseph Pushing for Trauma Center Certification
St. Joseph Health President David O’Brien will address the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors tomorrow morning to provide an update on the hospital’s efforts to become a certified Level III trauma center. The hospital has never before sought trauma certification, but is now applying for the designation. Trauma centers in the United States are generally…
Humboldt County Grand Jury: ‘Be Wise, Immunize’
In its first report of the year, the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury took a look at the county’s low vaccination rates, noting we currently rank 54th out of the state’s 58 counties when it comes to kindergartners and seventh graders. The grand jury hones in on transportation as a major barrier to getting the…
HumBug: Serendipity
Taking macro photos of insects in the wild is kind of like hunting. If everything goes well you find a subject, get the shot and bag your prey. Unlike deer hunting, you do not need to carry home a dead animal and dress it out in the garage, there is no season and, as of yet,…
TL;DR: Five Things You Might Have Missed in This Weeks’ Cover Story
Busy week? We get it. Let us build you a scale model of this week’s main story. Here are some highlights from “Witness Marks.” Eureka’s Carson Block building turns 124 years old this year, and she’s celebrating her long life by returning to her roots. A patchwork of grant and loan funding put together by…
Eureka: Marsh Campers Must be out May 2
The city of Eureka is moving forward with a plan to expel all homeless encampments from the Palco Marsh area behind the Bayshore Mall by May 2. The city is meanwhile soliciting proposals from organizations or individuals with an “exit strategy” for the 200 or so people currently living in the marsh area, but doesn’t…
‘They’ve Got me Dead to Rights’: Opening Argument Given in Bullock Case
Over the course of 45 minutes this morning, the Humboldt County District Attorney’s office gave jurors a preview of the evidence it will present in the coming weeks in an attempt to prove that Gary Lee Bullock tortured and murdered St. Bernard Pastor Father Eric Freed on Jan. 1, 2014. In an opening statement that…
Schlock of the Irish
Sure, you could hit the bars for the annual amateur night that is St. Patrick’s Day, guzzling green beer with a sparkly green top hat wobbling on your head. Or you could celebrate Thursday, March 17 the traditional way: by watching Leprechaun, the 1993 cult horror flick about a miniature ginger menace hassling pre-Friends Jennifer…
Up in the Air
This weekend, you can’t throw a rock without someone juggling it. From Friday, March 18 through Sunday, March 20, Humboldt State University’s West Gym is commandeered by the juggling juggernaut that is the 16th annual Humboldt Juggling Festival (free). From 10 a.m. to midnight, all manner of spinning, juggling, circus skills and theater workshops are…
Drug Mules and Dogs
My cousin’s mule, Festus, was Humboldt County’s most wanted creature on four legs in the summer of 1995. For Festus had eaten close to $60,000 in outdoor cannabis, and a neighbor was prepared to shoot him on sight. So he was dispatched several ridges away to my family’s ranch, where he would finish his days…
The Martellus Map
As we saw last time, Columbus optimistically believed he was sailing west to Marco Polo’s Cipangu (Japan), then thought of as part of the “Indies,” which he estimated to be 2,300 miles from the Canary Isles. Had he known it was actually 7,800 miles, he might have had second thoughts. The main inspiration for assuming…
On Judging
Editor: I read the article “Judged” (March 10) with some interest. Obviously knowingly filing a false affidavit is a serious matter, particularly when done by a person in a position of trust. And if it turns out to have been perjury, that is particularly appalling. But please keep in mind that these judges are entitled…
McKinleyville Arts Night
A celebration of local art and artists with music, food and fun. McKinleyville Arts Night is open for all McKinleyville businesses to display the work of local artists on the third Friday of the month. Call 834-6460 or visit www.mckinleyvilleartsnight.com for more information. CALIFORNIA REDWOOD COAST AIRPORT 3561 Boeing Ave. View artwork by Humboldt County…
In This Together
Reviews THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY. Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy, at its best, shows distinct signs of genius, ambition, insight, courage and humanity. That said, not every Cohen project reaches those heady heights. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) is of course, an indelible artifact — a hilarious, scathing, frighteningly…
Tiny is Big
Editor: While I appreciate some of the points Elliot Linn made in his letter (“Mailbox,” March 10), I do take exception to him calling tiny homes substandard housing. We should remember that housing as large and resource intensive as our current standard is an anomaly in the history of humanity. Certainly the traditional housing of…
Why We Sued
Editor: Humboldt County should comply with environmental law like everyone else, which is why HuMMAP is suing over the marijuana ordinance (“The Week in Weed,” March 3). But we are told Humboldt County will make no serious effort to settle our lawsuit because it believes we have no money. This is the arrogance of having…
Carsonomics
Any way you look at it, the Carson Block is big. Big in stature, long in history, iconic in design and an important part of Eureka’s economy. With the massive rehabilitation of the building nearing the end of its first phase (see Linda Stansberry’s cover story), the Journal wanted to get a sense of the…
Still Learning
Early morning air Holds court beneath Flowering pears. I exhale again Wandering aimlessly Between branches, Counting to 10 In Tagalog …
Keepin’ It Eire
St. Patrick’s Day is upon us (or past us, depending when you read this), the day us non-Irish look to simplify and reduce an entire culture to a Hallmark-esque version of binge-drinking balderdash ending in a black-out. Then there’s the day after St. Patrick’s Day, when we are biologically reminded that we are not Irish…
Irish All Year
St. Patrick’s Day rolls around and it’s once again time to eat Irish food, or rather our Irish-American version of it. If the salty little slab of pink brisket we ate from a sample cup in Costco didn’t sate us, we toss a corned beef in a pot. Sure, corned beef and cabbage isn’t as…
