The Times-Standard gets one right

Lonely goatherds have feelings too, you know.

In case you missed it, the Times-Standard had a good editorial last week about some Arcatans who got ornerier than drunk dingoes when a local business proposed using agricultural land for its designated purpose.

Apparently people in Arcata care only about jobs at recycling centers that are subsidized with public funds. Actual businesses that raise tax revenues rather than spend them can pretty much eat shit.

Read on.

Calling all YIMBYs

Recently, two of Humboldt County’s most beloved homegrown companies–Lost Coast Brewery and Cypress Grove–made moves to expand.

Each has met resistance from its potential neighbors. In the case of Cypress Grove, it’s already dropped plans to build a new dairy just outside Arcata’s city limits.

The cheesemaker, now owned by Swiss cooperative Emmi, had been negotiating the purchase of a 23-acre parcel of land near 17th and Q Streets in the Arcata Bottom where it was going to build a barn that would house as many as 1,400 dairy goats. Neighbors called foul, citing concerns over noise and odors.

The fact is, the Cypress Grove project was exactly what that land was set aside for–agricultural use. The folks whose homes overlook the property knew that when they moved in.

Admittedly, the Lost Coast Brewery is a slightly different situation. It will require a zoning change for limited industrial use at the vacant property near Ocean View Cemetery.

Still, we’re left scratching our heads. If we as a community can’t support the expansion of our own local businesses–what can we support? Here we have two local success stories with niche products trying to create more jobs, but apparently, even that’s not good enough.

Humboldt County has lost a lot of jobs over the years. The state is on the brink of financial disaster. Times are tough.

We at the Times-Standard believe both of these projects have local backing, but no one has really come out to say it.

So, we’re putting out a call to all of you Yes In My Backyard folks out there. Let your voices be known.

We could use a few YIMBYs right now.

Atkins edged out for congeniality award at Nielsen forum

Notice the strong resemblence between Linda and motivational speaker and author Dale Carnegie who penned the widely popular "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

Boy oh boy! Someone needs a hug.

”I’m really ashamed to be a part of the city of Eureka now,” [Eureka City Councilwoman Linda] Atkins said, going on to charge that Nielsen’s firing was done to “demoralize the community” and that the city council and Tyson are unresponsive to the will of Eurekans. “I waste time Tuesday nights at city council meetings with the way members of our council don’t listen to their citizenry.”     -Times-Standard

All in favor of her not wasting her time any longer, say aye.

Secret memo suggests Atkins should be careful when calling her co-workers ‘puppets’

Initially we thought Eureka City Councilwoman Linda Atkins’ comments to the Times-Standard about (former) Police Chief Garr Nielsen’s termination were just uninformed, unprofessional, and paranoid. But, as the note below suggests, they might also have been hypocritical. Holy crap!

For Gallegos, ‘multitasking’ means pandering to growers and paying off campaign debt all at the same time

Let’s just hope no one offers him a piece of gum….

Dumbfuck for sale. Serious inquiries only, please.

Gallegos looks to use redistricting discussions to lock re-election prospects

Humboldt County Supervisors won’t be able to avoid wildly whacking the virtual political hornets’ nest Tuesday when they begin discussions on adjusting the supervisorial district boundaries as part of California Elections Code laws following the most recent census tally.

Don't hate me because I am beautiful. Please do cut me some slack on my fundamental lack of knowledge of the law, dismal management and leadership capabilities and breathtakingly giant lapses of morality.

The board is expected to appoint Sheriff Mike Downey, District Attorney Paul Gallegos, Assessor Mari Wilson and Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich to the newest committee to mull over ideas,  listen to outspoken members of the SoHum and NoHum public and bring a plan back to the board for a vote.

The supervisors have until November 1 to make the changes that reflect the county’s population growth, which has increased the most in Supervisor Ryan Sundberg’s 5th and Clif Clendenon’s 2nd districts.

As of now Community Development Diservices Director Kirk Girard isn’t directly involved and the Nov. 1 deadline looks easily doable.

As part of the redistricting discussions, insiders say Gallegos will use his position to try and float a plan to sell or cede all county lands to neighboring  Del Norte, Trinity and Mendocino counties except for Garberville, Redway, Arcata and a few pockets of houses in Eureka.

According to his braintrust Natalynne DeLapp and Richard Salzman, the plan would virtually assure Gallegos’ re-election for as long as very small-, small-, medium-, mediumish large-, large-, very large-,  massively large-, and off-the-fucking-hook-EPIC-scale marijuana production remains illegal.

North Coast Journal hosts convenient child porn links in Cole Machado child porn story

As traditional ad revenues declined, North Coast Journal Publisher Judy Hodgson encouraged her staff to explore innovative product placement opportunities.

Thank you to the friend who sent this to us! Hugs!!

Fieldbrook pot bust is EPIC

Amber Jamieson worked at EPIC with Mirror favorite Natalynne DeLappdance. Kind of makes the imagination run wild, doesn't it?

And we mean E.P.I.C.–as in the Garberville-based Environmental Protection Information Center, whose office manager has given “grassroots organization” a whole new meaning.

EPIC’s Amber Jamieson was arrested yesterday in a multi-agency pot bust in Fieldbrook that yielded a smidge under 500 pounds of processed marijuana, neatly packaged for resale, with a street value estimated at $1.5 million.

Jamieson’s significant other, James Shelton, who was similarly arrested at the Fieldbrook residence, has a less direct connection to the litigious enviro org: Mr. Shelton–shocker alert–is a “glass-blowing artist” whose magical objets d’art are sold at EPIC’s gift shop.

Jamieson graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in–wait for it–Natural Resources Economics. Despite the stupidity on full display now, she won an academic award at HSU and was photographed, possibly just for our amusement, standing next to a fellow award winner by the name of Soran “Rio” Anderson.

Soran "Rio" Anderson, left, stands next to Amber Jamieson. both found to be out standing in their fields.

Does that name ring any bells?

It just might. Anderson was an employee of the Community Development Disservices Department in 2007 when he was arrested for growing more than 3,000 plants up at Tooby Ranch–an incident Hank Sims described as “a heartwarming story about the tenacity of our county’s agrarian heritage.”

Read Hank’s version of Anderson’s arrest on Rose’s blog here. Read the Times-Standard’s account of Jamieson and Shelton’s arrest here.

Photo credits The Environmental Protection Information Center and Humboldt State University.

Veteran investigative reporter uncovers earlier instance of the letter s followed by four or more o’s

"Sooooo, a needle pulling thread...."

New NCJ editor not acting all crazy just yet

North Coast Journal Publisher Judy Hodgson appears to have not screwed up anything important in her most recent selection of a new editor.

Hodgson formally announced yesterday that  Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, a Sacramento Bee veteran not everyone in the world hates, would take the helm of the iconic weekly next week.

Peyton Dahlberg replaces Tom Abate, whose six-week tenure began with fascinating radio interviews and glowing “news” stories about the paper’s major advertisers, and ended–inevitably–with involuntary committal.

Peyton Dahlberg, who is not currently on parole and has no restraining orders pending against her, earned a master’s degree from Columbia University’s prestigious Graduate School of Journalism. She has a husband and two cats, all reportedly alive.

About Abate, Hodgson would only say, well, nothing.

Carrie, welcome to Humboldt County. There’s this guy named John Matthews we’re just dying for you to meet.

DERAILED: Is ethics complaint the end of the line for Clendenen as NCRA director?

Supervisor Clif Clendenen's NCRA votes may come back to bite him in the caboose.

District 2 Supervisor Clif Clendenen is the subject of a fresh Fair Political Practices Commission complaint alleging the North Coast Railroad Authority director’s opposition to a revived rail system could possibly be related to the fact that the rail in question abuts his Fortuna property.

According to the complaint, the Clifster hasn’t been working against the railroad just to pass the time away:

Clif Clendenen continues to express his opposition to restoring freight rail service from Willits in Mendocino County Humboldt Bay. Instead he has informed his constituents that he favors ‘rail-banking’ that portion of the NCRA line through the Eel River canyon. Such a goal would eliminate nearly all of the freight traffic that would pass by Clendenen’s Cider Works thereby having an effect on the utility and value of the real property owned by Clif Clendenen’s family.

Clendenen, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisor’s lone NCRA representative, was named a director in January 2009, meaning he’s had only two and a half years to point out this potential conflict of interest.

Have you met Clif? That’s actually not very long for him. Like the blink of an eye.

But still. Busy man that he is, certainly he could have taken a minute to note that his opposition to a revived rail system could increase the value of his family’s property.

Click here to see a portion of the FPPC complaint. We’ll try to link up to the whole document later so you can decide for yourself whether Clif’s tenure as NCRA director should be fee-fi-fiddly-i-over.

Humboldt Herald: Desperately seeking originality

Help Wanted: Progressive with great adequate writing skills to produce content for a local anonymous blog political think-tank following the sudden departure of key personnel.

Must hate Rob Arkley, Frank Jager, Virginia Bass, Rob Arkley, Dave Tyson and Rob Arkley. Must find a way to also hate Ryan Sundberg despite having to pretend to give a shit about his heritage in order to keep the casino cash flowing.

The ideal candidate would be articulate English-speaking, divisive and able to suspend disbelief for extended periods of time, possibly forever. Must also be able to steal crap graphics from other crap blogs think-tanks, since we’ve never established even a baseline competence at creating our own. A sense of humor would be nice, but you know. Why start now.

Job involves having to listen to Elizabeth Connor and regularly Windexing to a streakless shine the mirror at which Mark Lovelace admires his tiny self.

Salary: Whatever Bill Pierson has left after that whole pre-nup thing falls through.

Lovelace: Paper Doll Thriller Edition