March 20, 1980
Front page news, ÒSlide cuts vital hwy — Ô101Õ closed til March 26Ó: A major landslide has cut north-south transportation on Highway 101 and threats of subsequent slide hamper efforts to clear 100,000 cubic yards of dirt, boulders from the roadway.
Caltrans workers had been clearing the road four miles north of Leggett early Sunday morning from slides occuring earlier in the weekend when the mountain gave way. Thousands of tons of earth covered the road and blocked the Eel River, some 60 feet below the roadÕs level. ...
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A sewage overflow, distinct from a spill indicating human error, occurred last Friday releasing more than 10,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into the bay from the Arcata system, city public works director Frank Klopp said. ...
The overflow resulted from heavy rainfall causing increased runoff which overloaded the system clarifier ...
...The county and state health departments and the state Regional Water Quality Control Board have all been notified and ... deemed the overflow not a critical health hazard.
... Those engaged in clam digging in the north end of Arcata Bay should either refrain until next week or cook the harvested clams well, officials announced.
Front page news, ÒTwo new faces on council:Ó Arcata voters turned out in droves to return Sam Pennisi to city council and sent Julie Fulkerson and Victor Green along with him.
Fulkerson outpaced the rest of the seven-candidate field, receiving 2,805 votes. Pennisi, first elected to the council in 1976, came in second with 2,621 votes.
In his second race for a council seat, Green faced a seesaw battle with Bette Dobkin and incumbent Bill Johnson as returns trickled in. Johnson came in fourth, nearly 300 votes behind Green, with a total of 1,665. Dobkin placed fifth with 1,589 votes. ...
One week after a shootout that left an armed robbery suspect dead and an Arcata Police officer wounded, the police department is wondering what it could do differently and townsfolk are asking how it could happen here.
Police Officer Leon Rogers, 29, is recuperating from gunshot wounds in his hip and abdomen. ...
Rogers, responding to an alarm in the Arcata Police station, trailed a Datsun B-210 speeding away from Timberline Liquors to a dead end on Fourth Street. A quick chase on foot brought Rogers within 20 feet of Robert Matthews Donner.
Yelling ÒStop or IÕll shootÓ apparently provoked Donner to fire and, when the shooting was over, Donner lay dead in the grass next to 390 Fourth St. and Rogers was sinking to his knees. ...
May 15, 1980
From ÒParty Line,Ó by M.P.H.: A RECORD — At least it seems so to me — as I look our the window and see all the gopher holes in our yard ... all a part of the wildlife out here on Buttermilk Lane. BUT I hear that, since former golf pro, Alex Weber, has become Greenkeeper ... at Baywood Golf and Country Club, he has trapped 41 gophers, shot four, and figures he has about five to go. That was two weeks ago! Does that make him a gopherologist? ...
All the Arcata residents whoÕve called their mothers long distance to wish her a Happy MotherÕs Day will have noticed by now that the faceless voice on the other end of the reveiver no longer asks you to recite your telephone number before putting the call through.
As of May 10, Pacific Telephone has switched to the automatic long distance dialing system to help them eliminate billing problems. Eureka will have the same technology near October.
Eureka residents, however, now may use touch-tone telephones, while Arcata is still only capable of dialing.
Emmylou Harris and The Hot Band stepped into Humboldt StateÕs East Gym May 9, and provided the capacity crowd with a captivating performance unmatched in recent months.
Drawing from the selection of her acclaimed albums, Harris and company discharged twangy, wide-open countryrock-bluegrass material which loosened the reins of the Humboldt County audience. ...
July 10, 1980
From the Òfirst in a two part series of articles dealing with battered women in Humboldt CountyÓ: The unemployment rate in Humboldt county is at its highest in 2 years, while the sorority of battered women grows and grows in membership.
Is there a cause and effect relationship here? When the unemployment rate goes up do the legions of battered women increase? ... The Union sought to find the answers to these and similar questions, but found that some are hard to come by.
Those involved with counseling local women who have been battered by their mates say the problem is getting worse, but they have no statistics to prove it. Law enforcement officials say it is a problem, but disagree about whether or not it is on the rise. They donÕt keep statistics on battered women, either.
... Among the counselors and law enforcement officials there is considerable disagreement over what the causes of woman battering are.
ÒBasically, at least in our experience, most of there problems stem from alcohol abuse or drug abuse,Ó Sgt. Thomas Helimann of the Humboldt County SheriffÕs Department said.
Heilmann said that Òassaultive behavior of all kinds has been on the increaseÓ in the county, including woman battering. ...
The sheriffÕs department and other local law enforcement agencies donÕt keep detailed statistics on woman battering because of the cost involved. Such statistics are filed under the broad ÒassaultÓ label.
... Paula Sloan, is the co-director of Humboldt Women for Shelter, a private, non profit agency located in Arcata. It is the only agency of its kind in this area that deals solely with the needs of battered women ...
She views problems such as unemployment and alcoholism as Òjust added tensions or frustrations. Job pressures, unemployment, drug abuse, the weather are all excuses. TheyÕre not the core of the problem.Ó
The core of the problem, she said, rests in our societyÕs attitudes toward women. ...
Sloan said the causes of wife beating are oppression, sexism and power. ...
July 31, 1980
Humboldt County welcome mats are being spread throughout the area for the second time this year.
The Arcata UnionÕs 1980 ÒWelcome to HumboldtÓ tourist tabloid is in its second printing with distribution underway in Eureka and the southern reaches of the county ...
Inside the 2-section tabloid are tips for not only the far-from-home tourist, but also for the Humboldter looking for fun and excitement in his or her own backyard. ...
Cartoon caption, one fisherman to another: ÒCut that fish open and weÕll know what bait theyÕre takin.ÕÓ
ÒWell, what they feedinÕ on?Ó
ÒPOP TOPS!Ó
People are the solution to water pollution.
Entire column,ÒLife Begins at 60,Ó by Edileith: My youngest baby grandson died.
The usual words we talk and write become superfluous.
A deeply-experienced Community of Shared Grief (a manifestation of the Koinonia) springs instantly into being. We know our oneness. The hugs and sobs and smiles-through-tears. The getting on with the task to be done. The gifts of flowers from the gardens, banana bread, cards and notes.
A card which shows an open window with outstretched hands letting a bird fly free. Letting go.
A search for meaning, a learning we must not miss.
To each his own learning. Private, alone;
This moment we have been given. This moment of life is to be lived. Let us grieve in it; let us rejoice in it. Let us be alive in it. It is what we have.
August 28, 1980
Front page article, ÒWhirlwind tour — Jarvis pounds the stumps rounding up tax slashers,Ó by Allan Erickson: To some people, heÕs a silly old man with a new toy, for many others he is the only hope for the country, and to almost everyone heÕs an enigma.
But one way or another, Howard Jarvis has a talent for attracting attention, holding it, and doing big things with it.
Meeting with about 33 people last Thursday at the Eureka Inn, the crowned prince of the right wingÕs emergence into grassroots, initiative politics, told the people the fight to cut government spending is not over with the defeat of Proposition 9 last June, the measure which would have cut State income taxes in half.
Middle aged and elderly people sat on the edge of their chairs, eagerly taking in every word, although some were not bashful about expressing their reservations about trying to resurrect Prop. 9.
ÒI was concerned that it would only help the rich,Ó one woman from Redding said.
...ÒThatÕs a lie, sweetheart, and IÕll tell you why,Ó the irrepressible Jarvis retorted. ÒI asked the opposition if the current income tax was fair and they said yes. Then I asked them if cutting those taxes would be fair and they didnÕt have an answer.Ó ...
The DellÕ Arte Players CompanyÕs summer show, ÒColonel Pottie Meets Bigfoot,Ó ... featuring a special appearance by the only captive Bigfoot ever known to man, is available for summer booking.
The nine-foot-tall female Bigfoot who juggles and plays the tuba, weighs a dainty 800 pounds and is under special contract to the DellÕArte Players Company, who pay her in roots and herbs. ...
June 6, 1985
Front page news, ÒJobs! A new industry on the wayÓ: The North Coast has waited a long time to hear those words. Chronically high unemployment ... has been the status quo for more than a decade due to a declining timber industry and more recently, a troubled fishing industry.
At long last, workers here may have their collective foot in the door fo a brand new industry: the manufacturing of structures used to drill for oil off the West Coast and Alaska.
The announcement was made last Friday to a packed and jubilant audience of Eureka and county officials at the Eureka Inn: Wright Schuchart Harbor Inc. has been awarded a $15 million contract by Exxon, Inc. to build an oil drilling platform here.
The above-the-waterline structure will be built in four sections — called modules — and barged to its destination six miles off Pt. Pedernales just north of Santa Barbara. ...
Caption to photo page, ÒPony ExpressionsÓ: Though postponed twice Saturday afternoon, the Pony Express Days Parade in McKinleyville has at least 60 entrants not deterred by descending dampness. ... The Dows Prairie 4-H Club is represented by Beth and Kathryn Kitchen, Jennifer Martin and Janis Branco. Joe Birnie of McKinleyville displays his bicycle entry, adorned to commemorate the Tour of the Unknown Coast bicycle race, as his parents, Jim and Earlene Birnie look on. Joe won the best-dressed bicycle for the third year in a row. Roosevelt ÒTedÓ Duter straddles his silver Suzuki, which is embellished with bows, flags and a toy horse for an extra kick. Dufer, of McKinleyville, calls the bike Òan iron horse.Ó ...