I have been reading the series in the Eureka Reporter on suicide kind of like you would drive by an accident. You don't really want to know, but you look anyways. The Eureka Reporter - Article I have lost a few friends who have taken this route. I just can not understand why this happens. A few years ago Rick Collins worked for me as basketball ref and a softball umpire. We had a good working relationship and I have missed him since that day he took his life. I read recently that his wife Kathy was so upset at him that she wanted to strangle him for what he did. In this latest article the wife left behind said the same thing. It must be a terrible thing for the spouse to live with. I wish I could have talked to Rick before he made that decision myself. Too late.
What is going on locally in Humboldt County? Today I was at Coopers Gulch hitting softballs with the guys. I noticed this little red car cruising the parking lot a few times. They finally stopped and this young girl got out and was arguing with this driver who ran toward the woods. A young guy came running out of the woods with no shirt to meet him. They started cussing at each other and the girl went to the guy that was in the car and smacked him a good one and made the comment, "It was only a sweater for God's sake!" The guy did not listen and the two went blows. I have learned the hard way to stay out of this type of threesome. All sorts of their buddies came out of the woods from playing Frisbee Golf and rooted their favorite on. There were probably over 20 or so witnesses. They broke up after the girl got between them, but then she left enough room for them to go back at it. I do not know how many people there were filming it on their cell phones. After they had enough of one another, they were given an ovation from the young witnesses. I hope this does not escalate further. Times just seem to be getting crazier as the years go by.
Eureka and the county in general has really deteriorated. Remember 1997? OK, Old Town was in worse shape, but their just seemed to be a vitality. More families raising decent kids. So whats it going to be like in 2017? My guess is alot of old baby boomers, and alot of really young tweakers causing havoc.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTrolls, such as the one posting as "barbara_shults" (above) haven't done much to cheer us up.
ReplyDeleteI hate to ask, but could you delete it so that nobody steps in it?
It's frustrating to watch, isn't it? At least getting involved in public issues can help ease the frustration of watching some of these people self-destruct. The behavior you described makes me think "tweakers".
ReplyDeleteCarson, quit being everyones nanny. The post in question obviously says 'barbara shults' in big blue letters. Just ignore them next time you see them.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is directley connected to the overwhelming number of services that the county continues to support. The sad thing is that these services are enabling the current problems to grow. The other problem is that these services are bringing in other addicts/homeless into our area from outside counties. This will definatley make these numbers and problems to continue to grow in Humboldt County.
ReplyDeleteI think getting rid of social services would make bad matters worse. there needs to be some reform, obviously but I don't want to see little kids starving in the streets of Eureka like some third world nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI would say meth abuse is a huge issue ..
Mental illness is also another big problem.
Lack of economic opportunty for young people.Economic pressures have led to a lower standard of living for most people
Plus we live in a society that is saturated with violent images.
The US government uses violence in an attempt to solve the worlds problems
TV, movies, big time sports, video games and popular music all glorifies violence.
Its complicated obviously but there are a few of the reasons for the problems