Humboldt's Internet/Telephone Outage Leaves Four Dead

I was in Garberville (much more on that later) manning an outstation.  It was hot.  I was in pain.  The odor of sweat and pot wafted through the air.  I had pulled into town with Nashville Pussy's "Struttin' Cock," which was appropriate.  Now it was after lunch (during which time I had tripped on the uneven sidewalk while walking to get a burrito) and it was hotter ... and the computer program I was using went down.  I called into the Eureka office in attempt to see if they were going through the same thing there.  All the lines were busy.  This was not good.

By the time I made it back to civilization, I learned that the Internet and phone service was out for most of the county.  I first heard it was due to solar flares.  Later it was tied to those fuckwads at AT&T.  Figures.  My cell phone is still down, though I've heard various reasons as to why.  My other phone and Internet is back up, however.  In the meantime, nobody could get through to 911, you know, in case grandma keeled over or something.  As far as I know, four people didn't die, but it's only a matter of time before one of these outages does leave someone dead.  A lot of people don't have land lines anymore.  Even if they did, and Suddenlink was their provider, they had no phone.  If you can't call out, you can't call 911.  If you can't call 911, you run the risk of dying.  Perhaps the psychotic ex, the one you have a restraining order against, comes barging in and you don't own a gun and aren't good with a blade.  Maybe you feel your chest tighten and have just enough strength to get to the front door.  Maybe you're waking up from a nap and the right side of your body has gone limp.  Maybe your kid starts going into convulsions and you don't have a car.  Either way, it's obvious Humboldt County needs some alternatives to one lone fiber optic line.  It's the equivalent of two cans and a string, and it's not working.

Hey, if I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say between this and the chemical exposure at Kay Jewelers in the Bayshore Mall it would seem like a dry run for a terrorist attack.  At the very least, the fiber optic line is a good target for anyone looking to cripple the county.

The Internet is back.  Most phones are back up and running.  And this incident will soon be forgotten ... until it happens again in a few months.  Humboldt needs to stop relying on AT&T and start looking at other alternatives.  AT&T can't keep customers more than a few months, let alone run efficient fiber optic lines.  I got rid of the company a few years ago.  Here's to hoping the people of Humboldt decide to do the same.