BIG NEWS

Somebody wondered in a most-miffed fashion the other day, in a response to a previous post, “what important community issue was shelved to make room for this stupid, worthless blog entry.”

Well, if you have to ask…I did have a breaking news story about white stallions I probably shoulda put in there instead, but, well, but….

But nevermind, because this time I’ve got some real Big News. THEY’VE FOUND BIGFOOT! Dead, however, with DNA verification and whatnot pending and some live Bigfeet right now looking nervously over their shoulders because the intrepid hunters say they’re gonna catch them, too — alive (the stories don’t say the hunters actually killed the dead ‘foot, though).

OK, so you already heard the news. There’s an oddly unimpressed feeling attached to this latest bigfoot announcement. And today’s New York Times story about the find in deep-woods Georgia does note that one of the photographs the hunters gave media “showed what resembled a gorilla — or maybe an old sheepskin rug — lying twisted in a freezer, with a dollop of intestines protruding from its belly.”

Gruesome, nonetheless. Also — and nobody’s reported this one yet so it’s a real big scoop — the hunters told a friend of theirs that as they approached the Bigfoot carcass, they saw a white horse — or maybe it was a ghost of one — galloping off into the woods, whinnying warning to the other Bigfeet.

Let’s see, it took about a minute, maybe two or three to write this post. Appalling.

Update: Latest news even freakier still. Apparently, the creature isn’t Bigfoot, but (one could infer, if one wanted to) a strange human-possum cross-species accident of nature — or perhaps a secret govt experiment gone wrong??

 

Who’s going to run KHSU?

You may remember that HSU announced an interim station management team after Elizabeth Hans McCrone was forced into retirement.

As Advancement VP Rob Gunsalus wrote in his open letter to the community:

We are exploring options for leadership of the station. Program Director Katie Whiteside and Director of Development Pam Long are assuming joint responsibility for management of the station on an interim basis. I have confidence in their abilities, and both will continue with those additional responsibilities during the transition.

Well, today Pam Long told management that she’s found a new job in the Bay Area and will be gone in three weeks. At the moment Katie Whitesides is on a much deserved vacation. Rumor has it another interim manager may be on the way who will make everyone happy, and provide leadership that will pull the station out of its current mess, but that’s all we’ve heard.

(Note: That’s Pam on the left above, Katie on the right.)

Update: Pam Long’s new job is with the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, where she’ll be event planner, volunteer coordinator and liaison to the board.

 

Today in Wiggins

The P-D lands the first post-”bullshit” interview with the senator. I’m bumping it up here into a new post because it’s a frightening, must-read piece.

It’s absolutely clear that Wiggins is not well, and is in desperate need of the medical attention that her friends and associates insist she is not receiving. Instead, they’re propping the woman up and saying everything is just cool. It’s more than a little grotesque.

Cindy Thomas, a Petaluma nurse and Wiggins supporter, said Wednesday at the Capitol that she took the senator’s remarks to the pastor as a sign of strength.

“It’s a perfect example of how she goes to bat for people. She’s a no-holds-barred person,” said Thomas, who was in Sacramento on Wednesday with United Health Workers of America to lobby legislators.

“She doesn’t bull—- us,” Thomas said. “She talks in terms everyday people can understand, and not in Sacramento-ese.”

Again — if someone taking this line could please identify the “bullshit arguments” in Pastor Jones’ address, I’d be much obliged.

 

The Evolving Wiggins Mystery

The Press Democrat comes through with a telling update. Santa Rosans close to the senator tell tales very similar to the ones that Humboldters tell in this week’s “Town Dandy,” which will go live right here at the stroke of midnight. P-D reporters Derek J. Moore and Mike McCoy provide a lot more detail, though:

One local official said she was astounded by what she witnessed in Wiggins’ office around three months ago when, in a meeting with a half-dozen officials from two counties to discuss the state budget crisis, the senator “flew off the handle and jumped out of her chair” to angrily berate a staffer over a minor issue.

“I had been warned going in,” the official said about Wiggins’ behavior.

Wiggins started over from the beginning of a prepared script each time a new official entered the meeting. By the time it was over, the local council member said, “I was shocked.”

“I’ve known Pat for a long time. I walked for her when she ran for City Council and supported her when she ran for the Assembly and Senate. This is totally, totally out of character for her,” the council member said.

“I was wondering how much longer they can keep this under cover. I didn’t want to be the one to blow the whistle,” the council member added.

Amazingly, other friends and colleagues continue to insist that everything is just okie dokie with Pat. Another variation on “Oh, that’s just Pat!” For all this and more, read the full P-D piece. It’s fascinating.

Quick side note: Gotta pay respect to Bruce Anderson at the Anderson Valley Advertiser. He noted a couple of weeks ago that the senator had come unhinged lately. Who would have guessed that he would have been so quickly proven so spectacularly right? His piece isn’t online or I’d link it.

UPDATE: Just one more thought. It seems more and more certain that, despite her friends’ objections, Sen. Wiggins is not well. If so, we will probably find out the specific malady soon enough.

Hats off, then, to two class acts. First of all, I’d like to note that I called Wiggins’ competitor in the 2006 election, Republican Lawrence Wiesner, also of Santa Rosa. Unlike some of Republican comrades, Wiesner refused to speak to the incident, saying only that he came to know Wiggins in the election and he wished her no ill.

Most of all, though, one has to admire Pastor Robert Jones, the target of Wiggins’ YouTubed outburst. He’s being urged to make more hay of the matter every which way, and he indicated early on to the Sacramento Bee that there would be further actions forthcoming. Since then he has evidently had a change of heart. He’s not returning reporters’ phone calls, including the Journal’s. He appears inclined to let the matter drop.

Perhaps he possesses that rare quantity one hears so much of but rarely encounters in the actual world — simple Christian charity.

 

Wigged

That’s tellin’ ‘em, California State Senator Pat Wiggins! Let them eat cake!

And give me two of whatever you just had!

Via the Sac Bee’s Capitol Alert.

 

Humboldt: Street View’d!

We’ve been waiting for a year; now it’s finally here! From Rio Dell to Patrick’s Point, Humboldt County has been added to Google Street View!

Now’s when the fun starts. We’re going to give some kind of prize — TBA, but awesome — to the Street View sightseer who finds the best Humboldt County Street View sight and posts it here.

Get searching!

UPDATE: Helpful hint — to acquire the link to the specific Street View you have found, use the “Link” button, as seen in the top-right corner of the screenshot on this page. Copy the link (control-C or command-C). Then paste it in your comment inside a HTML link tag, like thus:

<a href=”[STUFF YOU COPIED]“>Here’s a rad cool Street View! Prominent Ferndalian caught leaving downtown motel with female ‘friend’!</a>

Your rad cool Street View will be thus linked.

 

Batley in at ER?

The word coming over the transom this morning is that longtime Eureka Reporter staffer Diane Batley has been tapped to replace departed editor Glenn Franco Simmons. This would seem to confirm some earlier intel we had received, one part of which was that a thorough nationwide talent search came up bupkis.

Batley is 32 years old.

UPDATE, 3:16 p.m.: Et voila:

Eureka Reporter names new Managing Editor

EUREKA - The Eureka Reporter announced Friday that Diane M. Batley has been named Managing Editor of the daily newspaper.

 

The Lipizzaner Backlash

As always, we are gratified when one of our hard-hitting news stories busts out of the page and acquires a life of its own. And such has been the case with Heidi Walters’ pretend expose of the city of Arcata’s attempt to quash the “World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions.”

In the real world, we understand that Arcata City Councilmember Mark Wheetley addressed the issue at this week’s council meeting. It seems that the Eureka Reporter will publish a story tomorrow that will seek to disprove our reportage.

Meanwhile, yours truly appeared on KHUM this morning to explain myself to deejay Cliff Berkowitz:

 

Making Friends, Influencing People

Confidential to KHSU’s Sista Soul: You know, inviting your Pelican Bay listenership to send “KHSU love letters” to Rob Gunsalus may have sounded like a good idea at the time, but there is just a wee chance that the gesture will be misinterpreted.

 

Rob Gunsalus answers some questions

If you read Kevin Hoover’s report in this week’s Arcata Eye about on what’s going on at KHSU, you came away with some unanswered questions. Hoover raised a slew of concerns and put them to HSU V.P. for Advancement Robert Gunsalus via cell phone (Mr. G is on vacation).

Hoover noted, “During a fragmented conversation marked by static and dropouts, Gunsalus declined useable comment on most questions. Most responses were, at his insistence, off the record and unreportable. On-the-record comments tended to be somewhat bland and inspecific.”

Apparently, Gunsalus has taken some time since then to craft some more specific answers to concerns expressed by many listeners. The VP’s official followup to the initial announcement of Elizabeth Hans McCrone’s departure came out today:

Open Letter to the Redwood Coast Community

Dear Friends,

I’ve been looking carefully at the many questions that have come up since the July 16 announcement of Elizabeth Hans McCrone’s departure as KSHU’s [sic] general manager. It seems to have caused unfounded fear and rumors about the station’s future.

I want to put that fear and those rumors to rest.

As soon as it was possible, I met with the station’s staff and I sent a personal message to the station listserv. A press release was also sent to all local media. However, many questions have been raised since then, and I thought it would be helpful to address what seem to be the main concerns.

First and foremost: Humboldt State University is fully committed to KHSU, and will remain so for many years to come. KHSU’s license is not up for sale and the station has a bright future ahead of it as the most listened-to station on the Redwood Coast. We are proud to provide this public service to our community.

There are also no immediate plans for changes in the programming at KHSU. I cannot stress that enough. At the same time, we are constantly reviewing, revising and questioning our programming, striving to better meet the needs of our listeners.

 

Live Folk! And More!

It’ll be up and running on northcoastjournal.com at 7:30 p.m. — “Flying Fingers” night at the Humboldt Folklife Festival! This’ll be the first of four consecutive nights of live music from the fest, streamed to your home. Then, on Saturday — all-day folk bonanza!

If you read this before 7:30, go on and over now to check out a promotional video from John Henry of the top-secret Venue Project, of which the NCJ is a proud inaugural member. We’ve worked out the kinks with a couple of test broadcasts — Tim Robbins at Dell’Arte, music from Muddy’s Hot Cup — and now we’re ready to go full-bore with this thing.

John Henry lets slip the big secret. After Saturday’s folk events, we are thrilled and honored to be broadcasting leeeeeeee-iiiiiiii-ve from the Roller Derby bout of the year — The Bad Axes v. The Tree Sluggers! Live from Redwood Acres, 8 p.m. on a hot Saturday night!

If only their mothers could see them now! Thanks to The Venue Project, and the North Coast Journal, they can! And so can you!

Hosannas!

 

From the More-To-The-Story Dept.

More turmoil at the ever-tumultuous KHSU …

Hans McCrone Departs KHSU-FM

Rob Gunsalus, Vice President of Advancement (external affairs and fundraising) at Humboldt State University, announced today that Elizabeth Hans McCrone, General Manager of KHSU-FM, has submitted her resignation to pursue other endeavors.

Dr. Gunsalus thanked Ms. Hans McCrone for her many years of service, not only to KHSU but also to the University. Prior to her appointment as the station’s General Manager, Ms. Hans McCrone was Director of the former Office of Community Relations.

Katie Whiteside, KHSU Program Director, and Pam Long, the station’s Director of Development, will share Ms. Hans McCrone’s responsibilities until a successor is named.

KHSU is the most listened to radio station on the North Coast and I know Elizabeth’s many colleagues and supporters join me in expressing our appreciation for her efforts on behalf of HSU and KHSU,” Dr. Gunsalus said.

 

Breathe. Two (2) Bigfoot updates

The Cupertino Courier (via the S.J. Mercury News) has a story about a private investigator named David Paulides, who has a book coming out Aug. 1: “The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California.”

Paulides is head of North American Bigfoot Search, an outfit devoted full-time to researching our friend. (Even if you absolutely loathe Bigfoot, or Bigfoot news, or both, check out the website to see the poignant painting of Bigfoot as well as a bitchin’ badge.)

Paulides has been full-timin’ on the Bigfoot beat for four years, a healthful portion of that time spent in the Hoopa Valley talking to tribal elders and others. He seems to be a real stickler for credibility: He made every purported Bigfoot-sighting witness sign an affidavit before he and his team would bother to research the sighting. He told the CC:

The witnesses appreciated the professionalism.

Meanwhile, in related Bigfoot news (’tis the season, with the anniversary of Bigfoot’s christening coming up, and we wonder is the T-S throwing a party?), someone is trying to hawk his/her superior Bigfoot researcher skills on ebay, according to a post yesterday on Boing Boing. And, whereas our fellow above, Paulides, approaches his game with an eye for delicacy and detail, and skillful promotion we might add, our “big game hunting outfitter in Wyoming” bluntly states his qualifications, and you can take ‘em or leave ‘em dammit but just send the money:

With all the stories and rumors surrounding the legend of Bigfoot,I think it is time to have the right person hunting (searching) for the real answers.Most of the Tv shows,books,and articles covering the search for Bigfoot are a joke.Nothing but pure amatuers.Most searches involve people setting up trail cameras,etc.,in stationary settings,this is totally the wrong approach.My methods would be covering lots and lots of territory in very remote country.I have been a big game hunter nearly all of my life and am an experienced big game hunting guide and am currently employed by a big game hunting outfitter in Wyoming.Contact me if you would be interested in funding an expedition that will get results.

Starting bid: $150,000. Alas, bidding ended today. (No bids. Maybe NABS is hiring?)

 

Live on the Web

Sorry for the short notice, but if you and your demented loved one are kicking around at home tonight and looking for something to do, you might want to check the live webstream of Gabe Lubowe and Fortress of Attitude at Muddy’s Hot Cup tonight.

Lubowe’s a classical pianist, and he’s rocking a lovely version of “Rhapsody in Blue” as I type. Whereas Fortress of Attitude, up later, are comedy rock’n'rollers from L.A. There must be some kind of a connection.

Stream by StreamGuys. Catch it at northcoastjournal.com.

UPDATE: I think the stream’s going to be off and on until about 8 p.m., at which point it will be all the way on.

 

Tawdry sordid quote of the day

from Thadeus Greenson’s story in today’s Times Standard about Chief Gunderson’s lawyer seeking a change of venue:

”The bottom line is that Humboldt County has been saturated with innumerable articles, broadcasts and cyber chat relating to this case,” [lawyer Russ] Clanton wrote. “The opportunity for a fair trial has been compromised by the tawdry, sordid themes that commercial journalism promotes in pursuit of profits.”