Here’s a preview of all the scintillating stories and fascinating factoids you’ll find in this week’s paper:
On the cover, Heidi Walters comes out of the woods with the California Department of Fish and Game and hits the asphalt running. Walters examines the new role the DFG is playing in urban planning. It’s the perfect time — it turns out — for the paradigm shift since so many general plans are in the process of being updated at the moment. By getting involved now, the DFG hopes to ensure that fish and wildlife aren’t just protected in our forests, but in our cities as well.
In the Town Dandy, the NCJ’s Great Helmsman shares the paper’s rationale for how it voted in the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy case. After seriously mulling over the advice of readers, the Journal finally went with its gut and “pulled the lever” for the Mendocino Redwood Company.
Japhet Weeks digs deeper into the Martin Cotton case, trying to narrow down the possibilities of how and when the 26-year-old, who died in police custody last August in Eureka, sustained the blunt force trauma that killed him.
Seth Naman kayaks Willow Creek and his friend loses — sorry, loans — his boat to one of the river’s “scariest most gut-wrenching sieves.” A sieve, in this case, is not what you think it is, it’s “a hole in a rock, or a hole in between rocks, where water rushes through. … the mortal enemies of river runners …”
In Table Talk, Bob Doran gives a baguette a bath and calls it lunch. Actually, he calls it pan bagna, and these savory little sandwiches from the south of France sound pretty tasty.
Then in the Hum Doran finds out how the Asylum Street Spankers — arriving in town soon — came up with their crazy name. Also Willie Nelson is coming to the county. And the finger-popping, Lindy Hopping Jazz Fest will be in full swing — pun intended — this weekend.
In Review this week takes a look at two CDs and a DVD, all recommended. The film The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a “dramatic story about a dark chapter in the history of middle America, told by an uninhibited artist who happened to be at ground zero with his camera, his wits and his creative spark,” writes “Chef Boy” Ari LeVaux. Sea Lion, a new CD release from The Ruby Suns, is worth a listen, according to Mark Shikuma: “Sea Lion is an excellent, imaginative sophomore recording, fronted by a talented singer-songwriter-producer, who shows one can knit together a wide patchwork of influences, both organic and industrial, into a contemporary pop format, resulting in an otherworldly (and warm) musical quilt,” he writes. And Vs. (Definitive Edition) by Mission of Burma is “one of the most powerful and unique rock albums of its era, and a turning point for the American underground,” according to Spencer Doran.
If you don’t want to bring your entertainment home to you, Jay Herzog recommends going to the theater. Israeli film The Band’s Visit is “well worth seeing” in his opinion. In Bruges is also worth the ticket price, though “Ultimately the movie suffers a bit from the fact that it’s a hit-man comedy — a very good one, but an example of a sub-genre that’s pretty played out at this point (10 years ago, pre-Pulp Fiction, it would have seemed much bolder).” And if your heart is set on a period piece, you might like The Other Boleyn Girl, although Herzog gives it a lukewarm endorsement: The film “wasn’t quite the overheated soap opera I feared it would be, though it was a bit of a slog,” he writes.
Or you could avoid cinemas all together and drive up to Crescent City for the 10th Annual Aleutian Goose Festival. Or go out in search of a spaghetti-sprouting Polychaete worm named Cirriformis, just 10 cm long, lurking in the smelly sulfidic mud of the bay.
And last, but not least, check out this weeks poem, a rumination on spring, penned by poetess Stephanie Silvia.
This article appears in The Not-So-Peaceful Atom.
I did not state that the MRC plan was the best option.(http://www.northcoastjournal.com/032708/towndandy0327.html)
I stated that they are the lesser of the evil plans on the table.
I hope the MRC means what they say(even though it is vague and confusing) about not cutting old growth. MRC still utilizes herbicides(think of our water and fish), they clearcut(traditional or sustainable, a clear cut is what it is) and they plan to use helicopters for timber removal(can you say “steep slopes slide” three times really fast?)
Please visit our blog http://humboldtforestdefense.blogspot.com/
for more info regarding the bankruptcy.
We are celebrating a recent and major victory. The “Bonanza” THP(home of “Spooner” in Nanning Creek near Scotia) expires this fall. PL neglected(forgot, gave up, etc.) to file for an extension before the deadline. Thank you to all who have helped in this noble endeavor. We couldn’t have done it without the sitters, the setters, the community and other friends of trees.
Who says Treesitiing doesn’t work?
Jeff: Sorry it took a couple of days for this to get up. For some reason, the system held it for moderation, and I didn’t notice until just now. Sorry about that.
I know that Wordpress sometimes will automatically hold comments that include two or more links because it thinks they’re spam. You don’t have two links, but you have two URLs. Maybe it’s the same deal.
I wrote that you said that MRC was the best option on the table. Isn’t that the same thing as saying it’s the “least evil” option on the table?
Assuming that you’re not pro-evil, I think it is.
No worries, Hank.
True, I did imply that the MRC plan is the best plan on the table. However, I do not agree with all of the practices on MRC. I personally feel that the Nature Conservancy plan was slightly less “evil” than the MRC plan, but I was recently surprised to discover that even the Nature Conservancy has issues in regards to promoting herbicide use(See “The New Greenscare” on the HFD blog).
The issue is the same for any form of dissent, ie. the war, election fraud, etc. The maninstream media has spin doctored much of our so called “news”. During this era of “global consciousness”, fears of environmental collapse often dominate the mainstream and alternative news, general programming, movies, etc.
Corporations are cashing in on the newest fad of green doublespeak, to sell things like cars, gasoline and even promote issues of local interest, such as “sustainable forestry”.
In this frantic and confusing atmosphere, public perception is easily swayed. Afterall, many Americans(including myself, sadly and regrettably)were duped into voting for Bush after the 9/11 attacks, believing that Iraq was somehow liable. The media fueled that fire which tricked citizens to support an illegitamate war, which has turned into an inferno over the past five years.
I also feel that public perception of “environmentalists” can be misconcieved for being “hard to please”, as in regards to regulations and restrictions towards industries that affect our environment. This is not true. I feel we have more focus and attention for the nitty gritty details, than much of the general public.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m stoked about the possiblities of Charles Hurwitz getting the boot out of Humboldt. This is an event that I feel everyone in Humboldt and beyond would appreciate. However, I along with Karen Pickett and many other concerned “environmentalists”, remain skeptical.
We may all win this battle, but who’s to say we won’t still be at war?
PS. Thank you Hank, Heidi, and everyone else at the NCJ for bringing the voice of the community in the open for public debate and interpretation. The NCJ brings me hope(most of the time)that freedom of speech does exist in our local media and I feel that the NCJ is the last local mainstream outlet for real news and issues untainted by Arkley(besides the press machine, I heard the NCJ is printed at the Eureka Reporter). Kudos to the NCJ!(no sarcasim implied)