It is shameful and humiliating to be part of a city that wants to get rid of a social problem instead of fixing it. It is even worse when they try and bend the United States Constitution to do so.
Letters to the Editor – April 4, 2010
Yes, believe it or not, I do acknowledge that a huge number of the panhandlers in Arcata are… disreputable characters, overly aggressive, intrusive and even threatening, drug addicts, even trust fund babies who really have no need to be panhandling, etc. But please acknowledge the big picture and the fact that there are many who are not, and our society is currently woefully inadequate in providing for them. The last thing they need is to be further stigmatized, stereotyped and blamed.
Maggie Nystrom: Big-ass books with Brobdingnagian benefits at the Arcata Library – March 31, 2010
The most overlooked section of the Arcata Library is the Oversize section. Did you know that we have special shelves where we put all of the books that are too tall to fit on our regular shelving? The Reflexology Atlas is in this section. It is so big that the pictures of the hands and…
Dave Meserve: Don’t Let A Pointless Panhandling Prohibition Destroy Free Speech – March 18, 2010
Arcata has a proud history of defending civil liberties. Let’s maintain that tradition.
Kevin Hoover: Freedom Of Expression Includes Freedom From Harassment – March 18, 2010
All kinds of limits exist on public behavior. You can’t yell at people. You can’t say certain words. Why is it OK to demand the contents of other people’s pockets? The panhandling ordinance is really just regulating an offensive business practice.
Maggie Nystrom: Meet the Tinker of Tamlacht and other interesting Irish – March 11, 2010
You may have heard about the planned power outage PG&E has scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 13 on into Sunday. The Arcata Library is no longer affected, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Kristyna Solawetz: Cultivate, Coordinate Local Food Production – March 6, 2010
Last September, the Co-op’s Eat Local Challenge drew commitments from 630 people to consume food produced in our region. The challenge of the coming decade will be to plan for a local food system that encompasses all residents of Humboldt County. In the past several years there has been a surge of growth in the…
Letters to the Editor – March 3, 2010 (Updated to include Feb. 24 letters)
OK, what does the Arcata soundtrack have for theme music? There are any number of Grateful Dead sets that might work and the Marching Lumberjacks/Crabgrass Band repertoire would be hard to argue against (it’s the sound track of my summer!), but how about Pink Floyd’s “Money”: it rocks (like Arcata), but with an edgy seven beats per measure and it expresses our love/hate relationship with the old skid grease.
Savage Henry – The Onion meets Rolling Stone – February 18, 2010
New magazine to continue local print media’s trouncing of cyber-blowhards
Eye Editorial: Reclaim Redwood Park – February 10, 2010
Make 4-20 Arcata’s annual Community Fair. Fill Redwood Park and environs with Arcata’s best – its civic groups, service clubs, businesses, schools and university. Have a skills fair, a crafts fair, a jobs fair, food vending, school recruitment, outdoor activities demos, theatrical presentations and more, lasting into the evening. Park the antique fire truck and some police cars in the middle of the meadow for kids to climb on. There are many, many more possibilities, and we ought to get started soon putting the day-long event together.