James Faulk, former city editor, reporter and “fat guy” film columnist for the Times-Standard, was arrested yesterday by Eureka police officers and booked into the Humboldt County Jail on charges of heroin possession. Around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Faulk was observed leaving an apartment complex that was the subject of an EPD search warrant, a press release sates. Faulk was stopped by officers in the department’s Problem Oriented Police program, who ordered him to unclinch his right hand. When he opened his fist, three small packages — or “bindles” — of tar heroin fell to the ground, according to the release. In his pocket the officers allegedly found a syringe loaded with liquid heroin.
[Update: 3:20 p.m.] Faulk left his position as second-in-command in the T-S newsroom earlier this year, taking a voluntary leave of absence from which he never returned. Managing Editor Kimberly Wear told the Journal in July that the departure was Faulk’s choice, adding that she was unaware of his reasons. [Disclosure: Faulk was a colleague of mine during my tenure at the T-S, and we had classes together at HSU.]
After arresting Faulk, EPD officers searched the apartment complex, where they allegedly found approximately five grams of tar heroin, a digital gram scale, drug packaging materials and drug paraphernalia including “cooker spoons” and hypodermic syringes. Three people inside the apartment were also arrested.
From the release:
Lawrence “Butch” Rogers, 69 of Eureka, was arrested and transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked for possession of heroin for sale and probation violation. This was Rogers’ third arrest by POP this year. He was previously taken into custody on a felony warrant, and on 9/29/10, Rogers was arrested for possession of heroin for sale after officers found approximately a half-ounce of tar heroin during a parole search on the 3200 block of Cleveland Street. However, due to health concerns, Rogers was refused at the jail (on that occasion) and ultimately cited and released with a court date.
Barbary Emery, 54 of Eureka and the apartment’s primary tenant, was arrested and transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where she was booked for possession of heroin, maintaining a place for purposes of drug use/sales, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of hypodermic syringes.
Pamela Bizieff, 58 of Eureka, was arrested and transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where she was booked for possession of heroin for sale, possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of hypodermic syringes.
This article appears in Ride ‘Em Candidate!.
Pity.
How the mighty fall…
He was in the English program at HSU with me, too. Bummer!
whereas I still have zero interest in drugs, I do have a newfound curiosity to read this guy’s movie reviews.
Wow. That’s so sad.
Indeed it is Rose. Addiction is a sonofa …. Time to ask for help, James, there are a lot of us out here, just make the call.
Look at the ages of these people. I think it’s time to grow up and get a real job.
This is such sad news. What is almost more alarming, however, is John “the Reporta” Osborn’s post. To take delight in the the suffering of another is childish at best, at just plain evil at worst. Shame on you John. I think a little self-relection is in order for James Faulk AND John Osborn. My best wishes to the both of you.
Ditto what Dan said. James is a good guy and he has friends.
James Faulk all the way. This is something he may have done, not what he is.
Oh, that’s so sad..but maybe getting arrested is the best thing that could’ve happened. It might be the wake up call he needs in order to get help with kicking the habit and getting his life back on track. I wish him and the other people arrested the best of luck.
I wish James all the best too, and hope he knows he has many friends in the community. Anatu, please don’t judge Mr. Osborn based on a single comment. John is a stand-up guy.
Listen to you people. Where is the call for help and assistance to Butch, Barbary, and Pamela… or are they just toss aways in your path to seek the prize of redemption for your conscious?
Typical BS, you all should try getting involved in your communities- donate to the homeless, donate to recovery houses, spend some time understanding the plague as it is, present compasion…. Your selective crys are too narrow in focus. The streets eat TOO MANY people.
Anyone who finds something to “celebrate” in James’ predicament needs to do some serious self-reflecting.
This is more serious than the myopic and sophomoric journalistic competition.
James is a good person, and as many noted he has many friends, some of whom have, in the past, struggled with substance abuse, as I have.
If anything, former “competitors” ought to offer James assistance, rather than taking glee in a time of need.
James, my prayers will be with you, buddy.
Glenn:
You know John O. better than that. There was no glee in his remark, just head-shaking sadness.
People come to the Internet expecting to find grotesqueries that aren’t always there.
I’m not seeing any glee with this. And yes those other folks have better selves too. These powerful drugs can override rational choice.
No, don’t be fooled. Osborn is really as sleazy as you think. “Stand-up” is hardly the correct term. People who know him are usually fooled by his act but the honeymoon never lasts. “The Distorta” should just go home and be ashamed of his endlessly low behavior. His poison has infected us long enough now.
I wish James Faulk a good recovery from any addiction. I also echo “Jonathan”‘s 8:04 comments above.
Addiction is something that takes over our very lives and makes us forget what’s truly worth living for. James, I hope you get better soon, buddy.
Eh what did he buy, forty bucks worth? Too bad.
He must’ve been depressed. Folks don’t usually start doing heroin because they are satisfied with the way their shit is going. Usually people do it to make themselves feel better. Heroin doesn’t actually make people delusional like some of y’all are suggesting. Meth maybe, but heroin naw, plenty of functional junkies.
Our country is senseless. In other parts of the world, folks can get prescribed heroin to deal with their heroin habit. What a concept.
The mental status of 1090 heroin addicts at entry into treatment: Should depression be considered a” dual diagnosis suggests that with heroin addicts seeking treatment depression/anxiety is a parallel issue and not a result of addiction. Being nutty is due to being more addicted and therefore suggests a dual-diagnosis.
Curious shit about this is 16% of folks trying to kick reporting psychosis. What I’ve seen among heroin addicts is the day after they try to kick, they lose their damn minds. Again, our dumbass country leaves the only option to substitute some other drugs (methadone, subutex, laam) which do nothing for the psychosis, only the nausea.
Just saying, feel bad for dude to fall into this shit when our society is gonna treat him like a subhuman for no logical reason.
James is a smart, feeling person. My heart is with him and his little family. I’m glad people aren’t trashing him here. He deserves support.
Most of the comments in this thread are constructive and understanding.
It’s good to see that.
The scum bags on the T-S Topix forum are having a field day.
We ALL face challenges in life and stumble. It’s very human.
It’s what we do with those challenges that eventually defines us.
No one has the right to judge James without even knowing him. I’ve talked with him numerous times and he always struck me as being professional.
I wish James a speedy recovery.
Um, thanks for putting words in my mouth Glenn and Anatu. In fact, you should know better Glenn than to distort people’s comments…You two are probably just a bit more familiar than most about mine and James’s past friction and are jumping to conclusions as a result.
I think it is horrible what happened to James and I feel even worse for what kind of impact this will have on him and his family in the future. I hope this incident will be the start of recovery for him.
As Hank said, my comment was not malicious but a sad remark for what has happened to him.
Apparently they busted the residents of the apartment for 5 grams of heroin. I’ve never used heroin, so I’m not sure how many doses that is. Anybody know?
(My impression is that 5 grams is a pretty small-time bust, but I’m not sure, so I’m asking for clarification.)
This in regards to “reporta” and his opening statement and lackluster follow up.
According to Hank Sims, we readers are supposed to “know John O. better” in order to suss out his supposed well meaning in the comment “how the mighty fall..” regarding James Faulks’ arrest for posession of heroin. Well, I don’t know John O. from Adam, nor do I know anything about his and James’ past frictions; however, I do know that his comment, by all appearances, is anything but full of good intentions and I don’t believe I am off base for thinking this, depite what “reporta” would have us believe in his lame excuse for follow-up clarification.
John O., whomever you may be, people get caught up in all kinds of games, both conscious and unconscious, for all types of ill-founded reasons. This little psychological bait-and-switch doesn’t fly with me and I do believe Hank Sims ought to stand corrected in his assumption that this reader or other readers approached this venue in the hopes of “finding grotesqueries”. I value my intelligence and discrimination, and I find John O.’s approach to be thinly veiled sarcasm and his follow up to be cowardly after-the-fact pandering.
@let’s be clear: You should have stopped at “I don’t know John from Adam.”
For one, why has this thread become an issue of targeting me for a four-word comment which, if any of you had any understanding about what it actually meant, you wouldn’t be typing here trying to assume and intuit what those four simple words mean.
A few people in this thread digressed and took it upon themselves to interpret the simple comment I made and grossly made conjectures that are not accurate. If I wanted to slam James, I would do it openly and honestly. Wouldn’t be the first time.
You all will see what you want to see; I can’t convince you all of anything else. But what I said is actually a fricking compliment to James. He was a great writer and I enjoyed his columns in the TS. He was also a prominent media personality in this community who is widely known for his journalism, writing, and comedy (Fat Guys). So when I say the “how the mighty fall,” it’s in reference to this known member of our community succumbing to a horrible scourge like so many here. I say it sadness because I have had friends fall to heroin and meth, and it sucks, real bad.
So all you haters out there who think they know what I’m thinking or saying based off a known phrase with a specific meaning: go fuck off, plain and simple. How’s that for clarification “Let’s Be Clear…”
John, Welcome to the blog world. It sucks when it’s you being attacked doesn’t it. I think you are a pretty good guy and a decent writer but you could learn from this expirience and keep it in mind when you are writing about others. “Journalist” includes an ability to see not just see your own perspective (and percieve it as fair) but to see the version that might be viewed by others and ensure that they agree. Ultimately the goal of a sucessful journalist and to write and be seen as objective by all.
I believe that you see the goal line but as your earlier comment proves, your not there yet.
At least you have the potiental which is far more than the majority of your colleagues.
party foul with your comment, ryan…you posted this here, welcome to the internet. I’m actually surprised more people haven’t bashed him, as well anybody should have the right, but glad it’s the other way around.
OH PLEASE STFU YOU HIDEOUS FUCKING DIMWITS.
And the next anonymouse who whines about their “rights” on our site will get a swift lesson in how alienable those rights are.
this blog post is hideous. Put your money where your mouth is, hank, and remove this poor guy’s pic from your home page.
Wow Hank. At one point, I though you were a pretty decent writer with a distinct and intelligent voice but it appears you are a hysterics-prone, hubris-filled Nazi with little in the way of restraint or professional credibility. Not sure why you would make comments such as your last gem directed at your readership public….or is this typical behavior for you? Perhaps an imposter?
It’s only gonna get worse as the premedicated add ptsd leetspeak raised to suck on the internet’s teet.generation comes up in the world, both in mugshots and hideous fucking dimwits who’ve been trained to emotionally invest in things like nationalism rather than the real people living next door to them. And by then they’ll be blaming loose marijuana laws.
haters gotta hate,
even if they think their better then that.
everybody has a bad day,
doctors, plumbers, teachers, journalists, everyone.
don’t need to start throwing around the dimwits and nazi comments.
save it for the Mirror.
“First Time” sure inferred a lot from Hank’s short comment.
The James Faulk guy looks like he is mentally retarded, which would explain the quality of the time standard paper.
I suppose Joel is right. Just seems rather uncharacteristically vitriolic and childish from someone typically very composed in printlife. I enjoy Hanks thought out columns which is why it’s a bit shocking to see this. It’s not outrageous to see his comments as being a tad bit unprofessional seeing as he calls his readers dim wits publicly but I suppose anything goes in today’s media circus. Still, I must maintain that it’s comments like these that made me turn off TV news years ago, even if I have inferred too much this time.
Blog commenting is a dark and scary id-filled place, First Time (if that is your name).
Sometimes, in my quest to urge people to STFU, I succumb to the dark side. Please forgive me.
Shame on you – all of you – for using this unfortunate time to air your grievances.
James deserves more than this because he’s ONE OF YOUR OWN. Don’t you get it? John O. certainly does. John is not your problem.
Dragging each other down will not solve the problems of society and journalism’s place in it. Be good to each other.
Joe Pierson (above) has a dim opinion of the Times Standard, but his comment reminds me of the sub-standard comment threads on the TS website.
They look like junkies , that’s for sure . Too bad the Fed’s can’t distinguise between the Pot tokers and Heroin dopers .
All is forgiven Hank, just don’t let it happen again 😉
James and I went to high school, and shared some time at the T-S, he in editorial and me in advertising. I have always known him to be kind, inquisitive, funny, challenging and devoted husband and father. Why is he different from the other folks he was picked up with? Well, he contributed to our community in a way that few have the honor of doing. He did it for years. He wrote great stories and plain old news stories, he was uproariously funny in his Fat Guy writing. What did those other schmucks do? Yes, he is exceptional and one “of our own”, and I really hope he comes back.
Yeah I hope he just was having a bad go at life, and will be able to see that what he was doing is not going to get him anywhere, and that he wants to get somewhere, other then there or jail, and that there is hope and life out there waiting for him!!!!
Andrea,
Your attitude shows loud and clear. Exactly what do you know of the others’ lives, friends, relatives, achievements?
This could have been an opportunity to challenge your assumptions and actually grow a bit. Go sell some advertising.
Well Mitch, I guess that Andrea doesn’t share your saintly generosity of spirit.
Damn.
James…I hope you can overlook the nameless faceless ones at the T-S blog, I didn’t even look knowing how bad it can get there.
And too, please forgive inelegant comments from your friends and collegues because not all are writers and some of us post in haste.
This news really grabs at my heart…having lost two childhood friends to heroin–They Died! But you have to think instead about all the other ones who beat it and wrote about it so someone else wouldn’t go there and fall in the hole.
I don’t want to hear you lost your family and were buried too soon. I want to hear what led you to this place and how you prevailed in the end!
You have more friends than you know, more people are counting on you surviving and thriving than you’ve ever met. Please be well soon.
It’s sad, but this arrest could be what saves James’ life. The rest is up to him.
So does this mean there won’t be a review of Ape Canyon II anytime soon?
anon.r.mous your back? go away again…
How come nobody is seeing the bigger picture here? I think we can all agree that our relaxed attitude towards street drugs and living in a community that embraces a gateway drug like Marijuana will continue to destroy lives. Simple.
I’ve met James several times on a professional basis, and I just wanted to say – if he happens to check these comments – that I used to use heroin for a couple years, along with whatever else I could get my hands on at the time, but no one would know it to look at me now. It’s not the end of the world. I hope you kick it all like I did, and go on to be successful and happy. Please ignore the attention-seeking losers in the Times-Standard comments.