The highest King Tides of the year arrived in Humboldt County this week, offering both a spectacle and a warning. Unlike waves or swell, which are wind-driven, tides are the daily rise and fall of the ocean, created by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. They become “King” tides when the sun, moon, […]
Wiyot Tribe
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NCJ Preview: Bitten, Food Will Not Bring Us Together, Wiyot Tribe Celebrates the Return of Digawututklh
On this week’s episode of the NCJ Preview, News Editor Thadeus Greenson discusses the North Coast Journal cover story Bitten, by Erica Kate Terence Steinbring. Jennifer Fumiko-Cahill talks about protecting yourself from the drama that comes with Thanksgiving in her story Food Will Not Bring Us Together. Finally, Greenson wraps up the episode with a […]
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Wiyot Tribe Celebrates Return of Digawututklh
The Wiyot Tribe held a private ceremony and celebration today to mark the official return of Digawututklh, a 350-acre section of ancestral land in Samoa with significant historical and cultural importance to the tribe. “This place has traditionally been used for food harvesting such as clams and surf fish, it was also a ceremonial place […]
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Developer Agrees to Tear Down Controversial Home, Faces Daily $40K Fines
Local developer Travis Schneider has agreed to remove his partially constructed 20,000-square-foot home on Walker Point Road in an effort to resolve a litany of permit violations that resulted in a county-issued stop-work order on the project in December of 2021. In an April 5 letter to Humboldt County Planning Director John Ford, an attorney […]
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Bongio Steps Down as PlanCo Chair, Commission Approves Letter of Apology to Tribes
Humboldt County Planning Commission Alan Bongio officially stepped down as the commission’s chair before last night’s meeting, at which he and fellow commissioners voted unanimously to send a letter of apology to three Wiyot area tribes stemming from his conduct at a meeting last month. Bongio did not speak at the meeting about stepping down […]
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PlanCo to Consider Formal Letter of Apology to Wiyot Area Tribes
The Humboldt County Planning Commission will consider Thursday sending a letter of apology to three Wiyot area tribes after Commission Chair Alan Bongio’s comments during its Aug. 18 meeting, which tribal officials found deeply offensive. After a representative for local developer Travis Schneider accused the Wiyot Tribe and Blue Lake Rancheria representatives of lying during […]
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Supes to Consider Censure of Bongio
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is slated to consider censuring Planning Commission Chair Alan Bongio tomorrow, a month after he made incendiary and offensive comments about local Native tribes, referring to them as “Indians” while intoning they had lied and negotiated in bad faith with a local developer. The agenda item will also see […]
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Humboldt CSD Board to Consider Stripping Bongio of Presidency
The Humboldt Community Services Board of Directors will consider at its next meeting whether to remove Director Alan Bongio from his role as president amid an ongoing backlash over recent comments made in his role as chair of the Humboldt County Planning Commissioner that left local tribal officials deeply offended and shook their confidence in […]
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Planning Commission Sends Schneider Permit Back to Staff
The Humboldt County Planning Commission voted unanimously last night to send the issue of local developer Travis Schneider’s permits back to staff in an effort to find a path forward that will be agreeable to local tribes and the California Coastal Commission. While Schneider and Commission Chair Alan Bongio expressed deep frustration at a meeting […]
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UPDATE: Planning Director Disputes Developer’s Account as More Permit Problems Arise for Schneider
UPDATE: Planning Director John Ford followed up with the Journal this afternoon after publication of this article to say he’d checked his records and wanted to clarify the timeline surrounding his Jan. 19 conversation with developer Travis Schneider. Ford was adamant that he did not undermine what county planner Cliff Johnson had relayed to Schneider […]
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PlanCo Staff Recommends Approval of Schneider Permit; Documents Shed New Light on Contentious Meeting
A couple weeks after the matter spilled cantankerously into public view, Humboldt County and Building Department staff is recommending the Planning Commission approve the permits necessary to allow a local developer to continue construction of his family home, with some revised conditions, at its meeting tonight. The issue arose after Travis Schneider violated the terms […]
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Arcata Council to Consider Unity Statement, Land Acknowledgement
The Arcata City Council will consider Wednesday supporting a “Statement of Unity against Anti-Semitic Messages and all Forms of Hate Speech” in the wake of anti-Semitic flyers found in the city and other areas of the county in recent weeks. While most of the distributions now under investigation occurred around the Fourth of July, a […]