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Posts published in “Essays”

Shaded Parcels

The issue of shaded parcels — properties whose legal status is in doubt — has intensified in Southern Humboldt, where numerous landowners have been put on notice about suspected subdivision violations. County Planner Cliff Johnson…

Alexander Cockburn, 1941-2012

I last saw him in person a year ago in San Francisco. He looked thin and drawn but, as always, he was in good spirits. I'd been on long hikes with Cockburn where he walked…

River Views

Quicker fellows than me at the AVA noted online in the July 14th “Mendocino County Today” (“Mendocino County Today” appears in the AVA’s print version as “Off The Record”) that the comment section of the…

Jehovah’s Witness

A friend recently wrote to me about his philosophical discussions with a Jehovah’s Witness, and his letter brought back boatloads of memories of my friend Woody, an African American Jehovah's Witness, an elder in his…

The Arraignment Of Jose Gutierrez

“Not guilty,” said Jose Gutierrez on Friday, July 13, when Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu asked how he was pleading to the felony charge of assaulting a federal officer. The alleged crime had occurred on April…

The Manufactured Crisis

To understand how this scandal came about and why it may well shape the future of state parks, we have to have a plan where to dig for the basic facts (“artifacts” if you like)

Rockabilly Rebels

The seventh annual Rockabilly in the Redwoods Festival at the miniature livestock Arena in Scotia, Humboldt County, was held during the weekend of July 20-23 as an alternative to the Ka-Ka in the River Festival…

River Views

When I came home from a backpacking trip to Desolation Wilderness one of the temples of my eyeglasses was drastically out of balance with the other. I learned that term, “temple” (for the sidearm of…

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