‘Witnessing A Miracle’
The story of two young sisters lost in the woods and the frantic search to find them
Cover Story
‘Witnessing a Miracle’: The Story of Two Young Sisters Lost in the Woods and the Frantic Search to Find Them
10:32 a.m., Sunday, March 3 Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal is running late for a hastily scheduled press conference that’s been called in the face of an onslaught of media attention as a rapt nation awaits word on the status of two young girls who have been missing in the woods near Benbow for 44…
APD Chief Vows to Keep Investigating Lawson Case Despite Grand Jury’s Refusal to Indict
Shortly after the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office announced this afternoon that a criminal grand jury had declined to indict anyone in connection with the 2017 stabbing death of David Josiah Lawson, Arcata Police Chief Brian Ahearn told the Journal that his department is committed to continuing its investigation into the 19 year old’s slaying.…
Grand Jury Declines to Indict in Lawson Case
The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office announced this afternoon that a criminal grand jury convened to hear evidence in the stabbing death of David Josiah Lawson has declined to issue any indictments in the case. According to the press release, the criminal grand jury convened Feb. 28 and heard testimony from 25 witnesses, including experts…
McGuire Applauds Death Penalty Moratorium That Halts Executions of Two Humboldt County Inmates
North Coast State Sen. Mike McGuire issued a statement this morning applauding Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to halt state executions in California and shutter the lethal injection chamber at San Quentin State Prison for his tenure in office. Newsom’s decision offers an immediate — if temporary — reprieve to the state’s 737 death row inmates,…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, March 13
Lou Barlow is lo-fi music royalty, having co-founded the magnificent Dinosaur Jr. and fronted Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion in decades past. Tonight he presents an intimate show — rumor has it only 50 tickets will be sold — at the Siren’s Song at 7:30 p.m. The door price runs from a fairly substantial $25…
Remembering Benito Nuñez-Rodriguez
It’s about 5 p.m. on March 10 and under a blue sky, a handful of people walk down Goble Lane in Ferndale, where family and friends of Benito Nuñez-Rodriguez will place a cross with his name a little ways away from where a search team found him March 1, about 12 hours after he went missing in the…
EPD Makes Murder Arrest
The Eureka Police Department arrested Albert Durant Kress Sr. today on suspicion of murdering Raymond Prudhomme, who was found dead inside a Eureka apartment last month. EPD is releasing little information on the case but announced in a press release this afternoon that it had taken Kress, 48, of Eureka, into custody. It stated that…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, March 12
UK-transplant Ben Todd has made a career out of playing washed-out, white-guy indie blues ala The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with his group Lonesome Shack. Tonight he brings the band to the Siren’s Song at 8 p.m. to celebrate the release of its most recent and possibly most ambitious record yet, Desert Dreams (price TBA).…
Save the Redwoods League Will Dedicate Tree to Tony Smithers
The Save the Redwoods League will dedicate a redwood tree near the league’s memorial grove neighboring Avenue of the Giants to Tony Smithers, the late director of the Eureka-Humboldt Visitors Bureau who died suddenly on Jan. 14. “We are honored to dedicate a redwood tree in the wilderness of Humboldt Redwoods State Park to honor…
UPDATE: Highway 101 Open to Controlled Traffic After Crash
UPDATE: U.S. Highway 101 is now open to one-way controlled traffic in both directions north of Willits after a fatal crash this afternoon. PREVIOUSLY: U.S. Highway 101 is closed in both directions between Willits and Laytonville, after a fatal, head-on collision shortly after noon today. According to California Highway Patrol Officer Jason Taylor, a black…
With McKinley Headed to Ohio, We Look Back (Slideshow)
The statue of William McKinley that stood sentry at the center of the Arcata Plaza for more than a century has officially begun the 2,500 mile trip to his new home. Arcata City Manager Karen Diemer confirmed that a transporter picked the 9-foot bronze up from the Arcata corporation yard, where it has laid in…
HumBug: Going into the Light (Fixture)
In an effort to make one of those yucky housecleaning tasks a tad more interesting, I decided to check out the dead bugs in my kitchen light fixture before feeding them to my goldfish. In the past I’ve found millipedes and, once upon a time, even a potato bug (Jerusalem cricket). How that got up…
Original Women’s March Organizers Host Conference Honoring International Women’s Day
When, citing the lack of diversity among its organizers, the original group planning the 2019 Women’s March decided to postpone the event, which ultimately went forward under new leadership, they decided to take a different approach and plan for International Women’s Day. In spite of backlash, they expanded their group, kept making plans and hosted…
Music Tonight: Sunday, March 10
Trends come and go in the music world like the fair and gossamer wings of butterflies twirling in elegant sun-stoked circles in a bid to outdance but never quite outrun the agents of decay in this swirling world. One such trend with which I am not so enamored by is the contemporary habit of removing…
Your Dance Card is Full
There’s a dance born every minute. At least that’s the case this weekend at the eighth annual 1 Minute Dances, happening Friday and Saturday, March 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. at Redwood Raks World Dance Studio ($5). The event brings artists from California, the larger U.S. and around the world together to share their…
Foggy Bottom Milk Run
Enjoy a fun, family run through Ferndale’s farmlands at the Foggy Bottom Milk Run, Sunday, March 10. The certified 4- and 10-mile runs kick off at noon starting on Main Street and the 2 mile starts at 2 p.m. All races start/finish on Main Street at Ocean Avenue, ($45-$10 to participate, free to watch).
Music Tonight: Saturday, March 9
It’s Metal Night at Humbrews! Three local loud acts compete at 9 p.m. for sonic annihilation in a Bloodsport Kumite-style event designed to showcase the killer chops of each contender. In the mix tonight we have Finger Hash of the Gods, or FHOG, who will play a doomy stoner set headed by my old pal…
Vigil Set to Commemorate Ferndale Flood Victim
Benito Nuñez-Rodriguez, the 35-year-old man who drowned in the flood waters of the Eel River Feb. 28, will be remembered by family and friends as a funny, compassionate and helpful man. Michelle Rodriguez, a friend of 13 years, remembers Nuñez-Rodriguez spending time helping his neighbor maintain his yard after the neighbor sustained a back injury.…
Carrico Sisters’ Outdoor Skills Instructor to be Honored
When Leia Carrico, 8, and her sister, Caroline, 5, disappeared into the woods around their home near Benbow on March 1, much of the nation held its breath for the next 44 hours until they were found. (Read more here.) But, though their 4-H leaders were worried, too, they say they also knew the girls…
Spaghetti FUN(d)Raiser for the NEC
Carbo load at the Spaghetti FUN(d)Raiser for the Northcoast Environmental Center on Saturday, March 9 from 5 to 9:30 p.m. at Bayside Community Hall ($20, $10 in advance; $25, $15 at the door). Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Coastal Cleanup Day by dancing to music by Kingfoot, enjoying a delicious dinner and a bidding…
Plunge Bath
Jump on in, the water’s … 50 degrees. Pshhht. That ain’t no thing. Especially when there’s a hot tub, heated dressing room, catered lunch and Bloody Mary waiting for you on the other side. What’s this madness? The long-running (off a short pier) Humboldt County tradition, the Discovery Museum’s 18th annual Perilous Plunge, of course,…
Friday Night Noir: The Killers
The Eureka Theater’s Friday Night Noir series continues with The Killers (1946) showing Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. ($5). Burt Lancaster stars as a former boxer trying to live an unassuming life after leaving a shady past behind. But as it goes with noirs, we see his fate sealed in the form of a…
Music Tonight: Friday, March 8
The Old Steeple hosts T Sisters tonight. Erika, Rachel and Chloe Tietjen are not the Fates of ancient Greece or the Norns of Norse mythology, but one could be forgiven for mistaking them for demigoddesses upon hearing the tightly woven harmonies in their ethereal Americana tunes. Expect the sort of bright effortless sound that comes…
Music Tonight: Thursday, March 7
Seattle, Washington, trio ings is led by songwriter Inge Chiles, who composes what she refers to as “lullaby rock.” Those tunes will be on display tonight at the Outer Space at 7 p.m. ($5-$20 sliding scale). Joining the fray is local duo Cowtown Serenaders, playing a set with visuals by local animator Violet Crabtree, and…
Soothsayin’
There are many great shows this week. I know I say that a lot but I can assure you I always mean it. I am honest in sharing my opinion, maybe to a fault, though my mom often quoted William Blake to me: “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you…
Trump, Yeast and the Mainstreaming of Weed
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) dropped a bit of a bombshell recently on the Cannabis Economy podcast, revealing a private conversation he had with President Trump after former Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III announced he was unravelling Obama Administration protections for folks in states that have legalized cannabis in some form. As Gardner relays it,…
Pay it Forward
Like most of Humboldt County and much of the nation, we witnessed with a growing sense of dread last weekend as the story of two young sisters missing from Benbow stretched on, hour by hour. We at the Journal witnessed as a hastily assembled press conference at 10:30 a.m. on March 2 was delayed due…
No Celtic? Blame the Volcano
Celtic is virtually absent in the English language, despite the fact that almost everyone in what is now England spoke a branch of Celtic before Germanic speakers invaded the country following the departure of Roman legions in 410 A.D., as I discussed in “The Weirdness of English, Part 2” (March 16, 2017). The exception is…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Genius inventor Thomas Edison rebelled against sleep, which he regarded as wasteful. He tried to limit his time in bed to four hours per night so he would have more time to work during his waking hours. Genius scientist Albert Einstein had a different approach. He preferred ten hours of sleep…
Lonely Hunters
Reviews GRETA. Back, back into the distant, dusty past, the long ago of the 1990s, when the second wave of New Hollywood cinema was peaking, Neil Jordan rose to prominence — notoriety? — for revealing (26-year-old spoiler alert) a penis where people weren’t expecting it in The Crying Game (1992). Jordan had been making movies…
Bovinity
In the muddy pasture at the end of the lane black cows graze. Tufts of fur brush-stroke their backs mud-manure cakes their sides dark-wet slurry down sturdy shanks their modest beef-cow udders lurking turgid in the dark between, their occupation ripping grass and vetch with a tearing crunch, of looking up to chew, to gaze,…
‘Very Serious’
Editor: It is obvious that the leadership of Humboldt State University has no vision of what the educational process is about or how it effects the student athletic population in positive ways. HSU athletics was the vehicle for me to obtain a degree that fulfilled my professional goals. My profession was teaching and coaching for…
Humility
Editor: The Feb. 7 issue looked at the impact of sexual abuse in Humboldt County within the catholic church (“Rid me of This Troublesome Priest”). Perhaps other readers, like me, were struck by the statement in Gretha Omey’s letter to the editor (Mailbox, Feb. 21) that read, in part, “The church will be purified. No…
The Bully of Oz
Editor: Did you know that bullies are, at their core, insecure? They compensate for this insecurity through braggadocio, bellicosity, bluster and bumptiousness. And they gather around them a coterie of equally insecure sycophants and wannabes. Also attracted are those who are fearful of being left out of the “in crowd” the bully and his or…
‘An Iconic Image’
Editor: There is an iconic image I love, by Martin Munkascsi, of a Bedouin horse race; all hooves in the air, the rider with a coin between his teeth, intent on the goal. This week’s cover photo is just as good; all four feet in the air, water drops flying, eyes intent on whatever coyote…
The Women Have It
It’s International Women’s Day this Friday, March 8, so it’s particularly appropriate that Humboldt theater-goers have two very different female-centric productions to choose from. At Humboldt State University’s Gist Hall Theatre is José Rivera’s Adoration of the Old Woman, a well-crafted envisioning of Puerto Rico’s future through the eyes of a young woman, her great-grandmother,…
‘Arcata’s Idiotic Plan’
Editor: Let me get this straight, the statue of our late president is being torn down because he advanced territory into Arcata during his time in office? (“McKinley is Off the Plaza,” posted online Feb. 28.) Didn’t Americans do that all over the U.S. when our forefathers came to this country? Isn’t that why America…
Hoopa’s Long Wait for a Grocery Store is Over
On Monday, semi-trucks lined up outside of the new Hoopa Shopping Center waiting to unload pallets of groceries. Inside, more than a dozen new employees swiftly stocked shelves, learned how to use the cash registers, practiced frying chicken and worked in their respective sections of the store. The sounds of drills and hammers echoed as…
Why Care About Zoning?
Editor: The Humboldt County Planning Department is now developing new zoning regulations for 13,000 parcels covering half a million acres of land in order to comply with the updated General Plan (“On the Go-Slow,” Jan. 24). They have already started with a series of public workshops, including one at McKinleyville’s Azalea Hall 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 13.…
‘The Spirits There’
Lyn Risling’s clear, inviting images celebrate the Native Northern California in her exhibition Reconnecting: A Cultural Journey. Contour lines and panels of vivid color illustrate a world drawn from indigenous stories, in which human beings and animals coexist and interact as equals, without anyone making a big deal out of it. A gentle humor animates…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at locations in Arcata. Visit www.arcatamainstreet.com, Arts! Arcata on Facebook, or call 822-4500 for more information. ALCHEMY DISTILLERY 330 S G St. Open House for Arts! Arcata. ANGELICA BRIDAL 1101 H St. James Adam Taylor, photography. ARCATA ARTISANS 883 H St.…
