The Humboldt Herald

Did I miss it, or is there absolutely no mention in Today’s Eureka Reporter of Captain Buhne’s exposé of plagiarism in an ER Op-Ed?

One would think the ER would take such matters seriously. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time the feisty daily was foiled by less-than-honest letter writers. In the most famous case, ER editor Glenn Franco Simmons went so far as to instigate a police investigation. That wasn’t just a political move, was it?

As pointed out by Capt. Buhne, local attorney and Op-Ed writer Andrew Stunich may have lifted hefty portions of his anti-Islam column from this website.

Or maybe it was the other way around, and Stunich and the ER are victims of unauthorized republication, which was then copyrighted by Barry L. Brumfield, who runs the site Israel’s Messiah.

In either case one would expect the ER to get to the bottom of this situation. Unless the ER’s sympathies lie with Mr. Stunich unlike they did with infamous letter-writer Richard Salzman. Ya think?

Without question, there is no love between GF Simmons and Salzman. The same probably can’t be said about Simmons and Stunich. Just compare Simmons' smirking editorial about fuel efficient drivers with Stunich’s anti-environmentalist views:

Simmons says environmentally minded drivers “are do-gooders who swab themselves in a hallelujah haze that exemplifies their allegiance to the Church of Environmentalism (i.e. Greenism), but the truth is, they have their own sinful natures.”

Stunich says the environmental movement “has a hard core, anarchist element that comprises a dangerous, decentralized organization with an apocalyptic, self-hatred view of humanity and a cult like worship of deep ecology that should alarm rational people.”

I don't know Simmons' stance on Mohammed, but the ER will surely look into this plagiarism matter and say something in their sturdy, white pages. Won’t they?

UPDATE 7/2/06 - I received an email from Glenn Franco Simmons who pointed out that he requested Abdul Aziz to write an Op-Ed about Islam, so let the record reflect that Mr. Simmons is not anti-Islamic. In addition, he said his quote in bold above was in jest.

He also so said that he is trying to determine who is at fault in the plagiarism scandal. The ER published a clarification in today's paper, saying attempts to get a response from either Stunich or Brumfield have been unsuccessful.

UPDATE 7/12/06 - Andrew Stunich posted a comment pointing out that his statements as quoted above were in reference to Earth First rather than all environmentalists. I apologize for any mischaracterization.

Local resident John Wiebe saw the bigger context of recent vandalism at a trail head into Headwaters Forest and wrote a great editorial for today’s Times-Standard. Mr. Wiebe’s sentiments expand on comments made by SAF here on this very blog.

The ailing Klamath River got some attention in Washington DC today as Rep. Mike Thompson and other lawmakers demanded relief for salmon fisherman impacted by the drastically reduced salmon fishing season this year.

"The Republican Congress is ignoring the fact that working families are being displaced, being put out of jobs and going bankrupt," Thompson reportedly said on the House floor.

The SF Chronicle reports that “fishermen in coastal communities including Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay, Fort Bragg and Eureka have seen their incomes plummet as the harvest of salmon has dropped by as much 90 percent.”

[Photo Source]

An asteroid resembling an armless, legless soldier will pass in close proximity to Earth just in time for the Fourth of July. The Bush Administration has declared the asteroid a message from God that it’s okay to maim poor US citizens in the U.S. war against “terrorism,” aka the undefined enemy that justifies diverting trillions of U.S. dollars to the War Without End. Praise Jesus and Hallelujah.

Goddamn liar and war mongerer Donald Rumsfeld is upset at the New York Times for publishing articles about US spying on banking transactions.

“People die,” said the hypocrite, who has so far failed to condemn the Times for publishing false reports that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Similarly, G.W. Bush condemned the NY Times by saying their reports on spying by the US Government “does great harm to the United States of America.” Those are big words from a man whose lies have caused the torture, suffering and death of untold thousands of people around the world, especially in the U.S., Iraq and Afghanistan.

Having just returned from a couple days of recreating in our beautiful Humboldt hills and rivers, I found this comment left by SAF:

Isn't it ironic that [The Times-Standard] roast[s] the people who drove through gates and toppled an information booth at one of the Headwaters preserve trailheads while at the same time remaining silent about the real ongoing devastation of the Old Growth Redwood forests.

Too true. Here in one of the most biologically unique places on Earth, the silence over the loss of old growth redwoods is deafening.

Maybe people think the issue is dead, that the old-growth is already gone (not true, just check out the Save Ancient Forests blog). Or maybe newspapers shy away from the volatile issue because they don’t want to alienate Pacific Lumber’s management. Maybe editors are afraid of appearing aligned with forest protestors and their so-called radical agenda of protecting such irreplaceable trees. In any event, the lack of uproar over the plundering of the forests is a real head shaker.

On a related note, it is encouraging that so many people are jumping into the fray over local development. While some people think the best thing to do with Humboldt County is to turn it into Los Angeles, many others strongly disagree. This particular debate is likely to offer up another heated Humboldt County campaign cycle in the lead-up to the November Eureka City Counsel elections.

The Balloon Track falls under a public trust doctrine, which will require any development there to adhere to certain guidelines and restrictions.

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The T-S gives a toast to people driving fuel efficient cars. This is in direct response to the editorial in the ER in which Glenn Franco Simmons projected his guilt by claiming that drivers of bio-diesel cars smirk at him in his SUV. I’ll bet a gallon of veggie fuel that Simmons wore a smirk of his own when he wrote that fuel efficient drivers are “do-gooders who swab themselves in a hallelujah haze that exemplifies their allegiance to the Church of Environmentalism.”

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Restoration efforts are giving a boost to salmon in the Mattole River. Muchos gracias to all the folks who have worked to restore the Mattole and its tributaries over the last twenty-five years. Even if you are a bunch of “do-gooders.”

This is good news in these dire days of the salmon, where we stand in the shadows of the lowest salmon runs ever recorded on the Klamath River. Among other factors that are killing the Klamath are three dams that must be removed. The dams are up for re-licensing this year, and if the licenses are approved they will last for fifty years. The Klamath salmon can’t wait that long.

So here’s a shout out to PacifiCorp to Remove the Klamath Dams!

A lawsuit alleging illegal collaboration between the US government and AT&T to spy on millions of US citizens went to court in San Francisco today to hear pleas by Justice Department attorneys for the case to be dismissed. Arguing that continuation of the suit could jeopardize "state secrets," federal attorneys asked judge Vaughn Walker to throw the case out of court.

See the press release by Electronic Frontier Foundation who filed the suit in January following revelations that the government had "instituted a comprehensive and warrantless electronic surveillance program that ignored the careful safeguards set forth by Congress."

An AP article yesterday revealed that Federal and local police are gathering citizen phone records without subpoenas through the use of “data brokers” who literally lie, cheat and steal to get the information. The article, which the T-S ran yesterday on page C7, quoted Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-KY as saying the data brokers “can basically obtain any information about anybody on any subject.” Yes folks, freedom is on the march – right out the back door into the secret information gathering rooms at AT&T and into the massive databases of the so-called National Security Agency.

The methods used by these data brokers were revealed to Congress yesterday.

Speaking of AT&T, the giant telecom is changing its privacy policy so that your phone records can be delivered right into the hands of the lying, spying US government without giving you any legal recourse. One change enacted is that AT&T, not you, owns your private information.

See, don’t you feel better? They are not stealing your phone records and personal information to give to the government, they are simply handing over what’s theirs. It’s a property thing. Nine-tenths of the law, you know.

As reflected in the local blogs by Buhne, Fred, Eric, and Yours Truly, the Humboldt County Newspaper War is a hot topic around town, even if the two contender papers aren’t saying much. T-S editor Charles Winkler says he is dealing with the competing new daily with “a great deal of determination,” while ER publisher Judi Pollice relies on a cutsie editorial format of ending every paragraph with “where’s the outrage” while not addressing the question at hand: Is the goal of the ER to put the T-S out of business?

The local news-reading public doesn’t need Pollice to spell it out. And judging by comments on the blogs readers don’t buy her claim that the ER wants the T-S to keep going for another 150 years.

This blogger agrees that a little competition between the papers can be beneficial to everyone. So here’s hoping that the T-S rises to the challenge, makes some suggested improvements, and defeats Arkley’s revenge.

I stumbled upon this Publisher’s Forward in the Humboldt Advocate regarding the local “media war” largely waged between Eureka’s two daily papers: The Times-Standard and the Eureka Reporter. The apparent goal of the ER – to put the T-S out of business – seems obvious enough to anyone paying attention. Rob Arkley, Jr., who has the most toys (in Eureka) and his fingers in many a local project, began a daily newspaper to give positive coverage to his agenda. The ER’s thick white paper, combined with slanted giant headlines, gives a boost to the right-wing schema in general.

The Publisher’s Forward is the perspective of a local editor (Shawn Warford – Humboldt Advocate) discussing another local editor (Judy Hodgeson - North Coast Journal) and her rave reviews of Arkley’s Eureka Reporter. Increasingly, Hodgeson’s weekly paper echos her pro Arkley stance, just as the ER promotes an Arkleyesque spin.

A case in point is the latest issue of the NCJ, where Hodgeson interviews Andrea Arnot, who writes a society column for the ER. Hodgeson’s fawning over Arnot, Worth Dikeman and the so-called “upper crust,” combined with the mewling condemnation of Richard Salzman is yet another display of NCJ towing the Arkley line.

Local papers report last night’s forum held by Citizens for Real Economic Growth (CREG) to discuss toxics on the Balloon Track was well attended. Despite the Eureka City Council’s majority decision to stop the public process regarding the future of the blighted Balloon Track, citizen groups organize forums to address the issues of contamination, clean-up and possible development on this optimal Bay front parcel.

City Council member Chris Kerrigan, who cast the only dissenting vote in 2004 when the Council decided to ditch the public process was quoted in both daily papers as telling the forum “send me some council members that will agree with me,” referring to the upcoming November elections.

The Eureka Reporter, which is owned by the same local millionaire that wants to buy the Balloon Track and plop down a development called “Marina Center” described the development plan as including “offices, industry, residences (adjacent to the formal Balloon Track site) and retail, which includes anchor store The Home Depot.”

Funny how the swanky drawings of Marina Center leave out any obvious depiction of the Big Box, which aside from capping the contaminated site with asphalt is the most contentious and distasteful prospect.

Walt Frazier’s blog over at the Times-Standard is so well-written that I have to recommend it.

His latest post confronts readers with a little US history in the face of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the recent suicides of three inmates.

Like Walt, I was disgusted to see the reaction of Rear Adm. Harry Harris who called the suicides an “act of war” and said the inmates “have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

Who is waging the war? While the US holds “detainees” indefinitely, with no hope of trial or even charges brought against them, the “detainees” are tortured and ridiculed.

Like the Bill of Rights, the Geneva Convention is being shat upon by a bunch of chicken hawk war profiteers who proclaim such reprehensible actions are “the tide of freedom.” But like Bush says of the constitution, maybe the Geneva Convention is just a “goddamn piece of paper.”

For a hearty laugh, check out Capt. Buhne's visual art piece on the election aftermath.

After you peruse Eric Kirk’s musings about the affects of the internet, check out this article by journalist John Pilger, who writes that the media’s “censorship by omission” has shaped views in the United States about war. I would expand to say the media has the power to shape people’s perceptions about nearly everything, including ourselves. (Bad breath? Too fat? Just buy this drug/subscription/plastic surgery/slogan).

Although we certainly have some good muckrakers out there getting the scoop, they are often shut out by mainstream media, which offers little diversity in points of view. As we all saw in the lead-up to the US invasion of Iraq, the mainstream media pounded the drums for war while Bush told the lies, and then the media repeated those lies.

As Pilger points out:

Governments fear good journalists. The reason the Pentagon spends millions of dollars on PR, or “perception management” companies that try to bend the news is because it fears truth tellers, just as Stalinist governments feared them.

The internet is an upset for those who have controlled the media, and therefore public perception, for so long.

Pacific Lumber recently sold some 3,500 acres to Resource Land Holdings from Colorado Springs, Colorado. According to the Times-Standard, portions of land include areas in Kneeland, Miranda, Rio Dell, Fortuna and Mad River. Exactly how much acreage from each area was sold has yet to be announced. It will be interesting to see the public reaction to this news.

“This ain’t your daddy’s PL.” That’s a memorable line from a letter to the editor that appeared before the failed recall election. The “old” PL wouldn’t have sold off portions of their land to pay off timber bonds. They didn’t need to. The “old” PL was debt free. The “new” PL (or “PALCO” as they prefer to be called these days) is in debt for $740 million.

Ok, the local blogs have covered this before (and recently) but it deserves another mention.

Why on Earth does it take the Times-Standard so drastically long to print letters to the editor? And why don’t they put those letters on line?

I bring it up because when I cracked open a paper copy of the T-S today I saw a letter to the editor from Meighan O’Brien which requested a coroner’s inquest into the shooting death of Cheri Lyn Moore, which was published in the Eureka Reporter at least a month ago. The letter is memorable because the ER responded to the letter with an irrelevant and defensive comment, to which she responded with a second letter to the editor. All that transpired weeks ago, yet the T-S has just gotten around to printing her first letter.

Is she being punished by the T-S for sending her letter to the ER? Or is she being dissed for some other reason?

A coroner’s inquest has since been officially called for and is underway. The T-S reported this eighteen days ago. Printing her letter now makes it (and her) appear outdated.

It is offensive that the T-S takes so long to print letters, which they have repeatedly said are very important to them. But their ho-hum approach to getting the letters in print is insulting to letter writers who take time to express their opinion on what is happening in our community.

Incidentally, I’m having a hard time finding O’Brien’s original letter as printed in the ER online. Content in local papers should be on-line, searchable and linkable to facilitate these on-going discussions, which don’t end after the shots ring out or the call for an inquest is reported.

A man who planned to carry out a violent attack on an abortion clinic and abortion doctors faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if found guilty. Robert Weiler of Maryland confessed to building a bomb which later detonated while agents attempted to disarm it. The Washington Post reports that 25 year-old Weiler planned to bomb the clinic and "shoot doctors who provided abortions." Weiler remains in jail pending trial.

In contrast with the above, environmental and human rights activist Daniel McGowen faces life in prison if found guilty of politically motivated arsons carried out in 2001 at Superior Lumber Company in Glendale, Oregon and Jefferson Poplar Farms outside of Portland. McGowen, who was rounded up with dozens of others in the FBI’s Operation Backfire, has plead not guilty and remains on house arrest pending trial. Because the FBI deems McGowen’s alleged actions as politically pro-environment, it tags the actions as “terrorism.”

The FBI's round-up of environmentalists is referred to as the Green Scare by activists who see the similarity between today's climate and the communist-fearing Red Scare.

It is suspect that the FBI has declined to label extremists who bomb abortion clinics and shoot abortion providers as “terrorists,” but slaps this inflammatory term on people who engage in political property destruction that causes no physical injuries. No one is arguing that property destruction isn’t a crime. But to call it terrorism in order to score stiffer terms while handing lesser sentences to truly dangerous people is a load of crap.

An announcement by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on January 20, 2006 revealed indictments against a dozen environmental and animal rights activists that could result in sentences of 30 years to life plus 335 years for incidences in which no one was hurt.

Counter Punch points out the irony that on the same day, Oklahoma City bomber Michael Fortier was released after only ten years in jail for an action that killed 168 people.

Today, the National Lawyers Guild condemned the FBI's Green Scare tactics as unconstitutional.

Perhaps the FBI is covering for the failure to nab Osama, and is going for the easy pickings of grassroots activists who are easily found at their workplaces. McGowen was arrested at WomensLaw.org where he works to give battered women resources they need to get out of abusive relationships.

For more info on the Green Scare check out this blog by freelance writer Will Potter called Green is the New Red.

A lawsuit brought against the National Security Agency for warrantless wiretaps is in court today in Detroit. This will be the first court in the country to hear arguments on the legality of the NSA program. For some background on the case and the players check out these notes posted on the Daily Kos.

One surprising piece of info is that the NSA HQ is a city between Baltimore and Washington, DC with over 50 buildings. Government spying is an old game, so much so that it has its own zip code.

Shane Brinton, campaign manager for Richard Marks, has endorsed Bonnie Neely for 4^th District Supervisor. Good for Shane. He’s got his eyes on the prize – a full clean-up of the Balloon Track - and he understands that Neely is more closely aligned with the working class people than her opponent.

Neely is reportedly “thrilled” with the endorsement, and had kind words for Brinton. She told the Times-Standard “It is wonderful to have the support of a young, grass-roots activist who has accomplished so much at such a young age. I admire the great campaign he ran, and we share many of the same values and concerns.”

Marks himself has not come out with an endorsement yet.

KMUD news had an interview with Paul Gallegos on the evening news (it will be replayed tomorrow, Friday June 9^th at 8am).

News director Estelle Fennel asked him the burning question on everyone’s mind: will Dikeman be allowed to stay or will he get canned from the District Attorney’s office? Gallegos said Dikeman’s tenure was a “personnel issue” and couldn’t be discussed on the radio, but did say “people [in the DA’s office] have to be on board” and that if they are “not working with me, maybe [they] need to go someplace else.”

He’s right. But if they work against him without voluntarily going “someplace else,” Gallegos needs to take the sometimes unpleasant responsibility of a leader and fire them. People get into habits, and if it is an ingrained, years-long habit to work against Paul, it’s doubtful that in-office saboteurs will “straighten up and fly right,” as Nat King Cole used to sing.

LOOKING BACK

Now that the election is over and we've all had some sleep, it is interesting to note the North Coast Journal’s article published just over a year ago announcing Worth Dikeman’s intention to run against Gallegos in the recent election. Two things stand out.

First, NCJ editor Hank Sims wrote at the time that Gallegos fired deputy DA Allison Jackson “apparently for political reasons.” In light of the Journal’s May 18 smear piece on Gallegos and attorney Ed Denson, in which Jackson was the source of dubious information, its easy to see who is operating “apparently for political reasons.”

Second, the Journal concluded that Dikeman’s early entry into the DA race would aid voters in the county to “pick a district attorney who best reflects its idea of effective, appropriate law enforcement.”

Based on the police influence in Dikeman’s campaign, it appears the voters have done just that. By rejecting the unmitigated marriage between prosecutors and police, a majority of the voters turned out to the polls to vote for an independent DA.

Rob Arkley must be pissed. After going to the lengths of starting a free paper, which is now in daily circulation, the election did not go his way. Dikeman failed, Measure T passed and with Bonnie Neely’s 14 point lead, it is highly unlikely that Nancy Flemming will beat her in November.

The Eureka Reporter (aka the Arkley Tribune or the Eureka Republican) began daily publication in January 2006. As its owner, Rob Arkley, Jr. had the ability to accomplish what no other citizen had the power (read money) to do – influence local political thought with his own daily paper. With the addition of the ER, there appeared to be a rightward swing in Eureka, with the Times-Standard oddly becoming, by default, the progressive newspaper. Strange indeed.

It is no secret that the Arkley’s use their wealth to influence right wing politics around the country. He notoriously spent over $500,000 to unseat former Democratic Party Senate majority leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota in 2004. His cash infusion to Schwarzenegger put Arkley in the top twenty donors to the movie star gov’s coffers.

The most recent national donation by the Arkleys went to Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who once bragged that he helped “deliver” Ohio to George W. Bush in 2004. Aside from his blatant admissions, Blackwell’s shady electoral shenanigans have also been exposed by Dan Hamburg and now Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. With politicians like Blackwell (the Mid-West counterpart to Katherine Harris) who needs elections? If you have enough money, you can just buy the damn things.

Reporters at the ER say they are free to report on whatever they want, and are not pressured to regurgitate the Arkley point of view as “news” (however that might be the job of ER editor Glenn Franco SimmonS).

Recent reporting indicates the reporters are doing their jobs. A May 25, 2006 article reported court documents refute Dikeman’s comments that his exclusion of Native Americans as jurors wasn't racially motivated. (But funny how that particularly hard-hitting article is not on-line).

Maybe Nancy Flemming is right – we are critical thinkers here in Humboldt County, and smart enough not to be fooled by big money attemtps to control the people and influence our vote, whether it be Wal-Mart, Maxxam, or Security National.

The County's most contentious race this election cycle ended with the re-election of Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who grabbed 52.81% of the vote. Challenger Worth Dikeman came in at 47.07%. It was after midnight by the time the final call was made with Gallegos holding the lead.

This was a much closer race than the failed recall attempt two years ago, in which the numbers showed early voter rejection of Maxxam’s attempt to control Humboldt County politics.

It was no surprise that Measure T passed though with numbers lower than expected at 54.60% of the vote.

With the election over, the future comes a little more into focus. One thing is for sure - a legal challenge will be made to Measure T, as promised by its big-money opponents.

But whether Worth Dikeman will remain at his post at the DA’s office is up in the air. Dikeman says he will stay, and Gallegos has refrained from saying whether he will fire him.

It’s time for Paul to clean house. The voters have supported him three times in the last four years. The sour grapes sabotaging from inside the office must stop, and that means ousting the saboteurs.

If there is any accuracy to the current poll at the Times-Standard, Humboldt County residents are more than ready for this election cycle to end.

This area is full of people who are passionate about their positions, and the closer you live to Eureka, the county seat, the louder and more frenzied those passions seem to be expressed.

My prediction is that tomorrow (or the next day) the local papers will run editorials that beckon us all to put our differences aside and just get along. I don’t know why they always say that – it won’t happen. Too many people are dedicated to their cause, whether it is to plop a giant big box on the Balloon Track or to stop developers from turning our little city by the bay into Southern California.

Despite how draining it can be to listen to people spout off about their causes (especially when I don’t agree or the speaker is bigoted, pig-headed or just wrong), I would much rather live in this politically heated climate than some other place where the townspeople are comfortably numb.

But unfortunately, apathy (aided by television, prescription drugs, I-Pods, alcohol, and many other vices) has found a home even in this majestic place. I asked a young man recently whether had registered to vote. “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t know who to vote for anyway.” Too bad more people can’t see that participation in the “dumning down” of the populace just makes them (and all of us) easier to squash and control by a corrupt power structure.

Going to the polls will not fix all of the immediate problems that loom over us, but it’s a crucial step toward correcting what ails us. Especially in Humboldt, where vote counting is still a relatively accurate activity.

I just returned from a four-day vacation away from the internet. Remember the days when your activities, whether for work, news or pleasure, did not include the “internets” (as G.W. Bush calls it)? Those memories are starting to seem old fashioned.

Just so we’re clear – I love the internet. When I first had access to the World Wide Web, I thought “wow, atrocities like the holocaust will never happen again.” I reasoned that the common person’s ability to post news and commentary that everyone (with access to the web) could read would thwart fascist dictators in their attempts to conquer the world.

I’ve since wisened up. The Bush administration has told lie after lie to get us into Iraq, to make us pay for an unnecessary and immoral war that benefits giant corporations like Haliburton and Bechtel.

In a related observation, there are two contrasting articles in today’s San Francisco Chronicle (of which, for better or worse, I am an avid reader). There was an article about a terrible murder in Indiana, in which a family of seven was brutally shot in their home. Flowers and other items formed an impromptu memorial outside the scene of the crime. The murderer turned himself in and is now in custody in preparation for what will in all likelihood be a death penalty case.

Another article in the same section discussed the investigation into the November 2005 killing of innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children by US Marines. In one of the houses where the murders occurred, seven people were shot with Marine gunfire. As of now, none of the Marines are in custody.

An Iraqi journalism student, Taher Thabet, was there during the massacre. When the US Marines came pounding on his door demanding to be let in, he huddled quietly with his family and stayed silent until the rampaging soldiers went away.

Days later, he took shocking footage of multiple bodies stuffed into body bags and blood-spattered walls and pillows in Iraqi homes. The footage has sparked an investigation, but it took months to get the media to pay attention. Thabet lived to tell a tale some US citizens don’t want to acknowledge – that the US military is committing atrocities in Iraq against civilians who did not attack or even threaten the United States.

Thankfully, more and more US citizens refuse to stick our heads in the sand regarding the murderous crimes committed in our name. Bush’s approval rating continues to be reported as the lowest ever.

No doubt there are still a bunch of dittoheads who sieg heil Bush no matter how incompetent, dishonest or embarrassing he proves himself to be. Thankfully, they are the minority.

Time will tell if the outpouring of independent journalism made possible by the internet will compel people to stop this and any other war the Bush administration is keen on.

One thing is for sure - it is imperative that people honor their rights to free speech and free press while we face unprecedented media conglomerations and oily government lies.

Kudos to Pete Nichols for his letter to the editor in the Eureka Reporter. By all appearances, there is a police “power-grab” occurring under the guise of the Dikeman campaign. Mr. Nichols understands the importance of having a DA that is independent from the police.

Thankfully, other residents also understand the importance of an independent DA’s office. Yesterday’s editorial by Jack McCurdy made a similar point. As a newspaper reporter who closely covered police, he observed that “DAs almost always go along with what the police or sheriffs want.” Too true. Especially in Humboldt County, where the police are famous for abusing their power in furtherance of their personal prejudices.

So I was a little shocked to see the editorial by Officer Curtis Honeycutt, who accused residents and “protestors” of lacking outrage over the April 30^th homicide of 24 year-old Eureka resident Trevvor Davenport.

After years of police crackdowns on local protestors, it rings hollow to read a police officer’s lament that citizens are not protesting this particular homicide. Certainly, the death of that young man is a tragedy. But Officer Honeycutt appears to have ulterior motives in this editorial. Namely, to accuse residents who are upset over the police shooting of Cherri Moore of politicizing her death.

Is Officer Honeycutt suggesting that if there was a public demonstration over the death of Trevvor Davenport that he would drape his arms over the shoulders of the protestors and join in the mourning?

Of course not. He is simply echoing the cries of the Dikeman camp that accuses Paul Gallegos of using the police shooting of Cheri Moore for political gain. Oddly, it is Dikeman and his police officer campaign managers who repeatedly use the Cheri Moore killing as political fodder.

Officer Honeycutt says Cheri Moore “chose her outcome” of being shot in her home nine times by police. Residents of this community beg to differ.

This blogger’s outrage over the hasty killing of Moore began upon reading the following quote printed the day her death, when a member of the SWAT team who apparently had an itchy trigger finger said over the walkie-talkie, “just advise when HNT (or hostage negotiations team) is not an option, and then we can resolve it.”

That resolution was the end of Cheri Moore’s life, and the beginning of a tasteless politicization of her memory by the very people who caused her death.