Not Blue about the Blue Heron 

Editor:

The other day while driving down Broadway I observed a drunken/drugged, bare-chested man pin wheeling onto Broadway without looking either way for traffic, causing multiple cars to slow down in order for him to cross the street. I thought to myself how this scene would look to anyone wanting to start a business or maybe a young doctor and family thinking about opening a practice in our beautiful part of the world. A half minute later I was in front of the Blue Heron Lodge with the usual handful of patrons outside doing whatever they do, which wasn't working in the traditional sense. I then noticed police were there and plywood was being put up in the front of the hotel ("Blog Jammin'," Feb. 12). "Finally!" I thought to myself.

Congrats to Police Chief Mills, the Eureka police, the Eureka City Council, Brian Gerving, Greg Sparks and anyone else involved in the shutdown of what was one of the first impressions you get of Eureka entering from the south. The filth in these rooms is disgusting and the owners, the Squireses, should be made to pay for any expense incurred by the city for having to maintain their property, the lodging permits that they failed to obtain, court costs, code violations, rents incurred by their guests and anything else that the city can fine them for. I believe the majority of the Blue Heron residents are getting some kind of aid and I'll bet the Squireses were right behind the checks collecting their rent. The Squireses ripped off their residents and through them, us. For years that hotel/motel was a blight on the city both visually and economically. The Blue Heron, with less than 1 percent of the city's hotel/motel rooms, generated 11 percent of the emergency calls to the city.

Again, thanks to all involved and to the Blue Heron, I say good riddance!

— Rick Brennan, Eureka