A move to secede on California-Oregon border
A move to secede on California-Oregon border
SF Chronicle ^ | Oct. 5, 2008 | Kevin Fagan
Siskiyou County -- Some folks around here think the economic sky is falling and state lawmakers in Sacramento and Salem are ignoring their constituents in the hinterlands.
"We have nothing in common with you people down south. Nothing," said Randy Bashaw, manager of the Jefferson State Forest Products ...."The sooner we're done with all you people, the better."
Talking about secession has been a quasi-joking conversational saw since 1941, when five counties in the area started things by actually declaring themselves - briefly - to be the state of Jefferson. But now, with the economy in trouble and unemployment soaring, the idea of greater independence is getting its most serious consideration since World War II.
Locals complain that federal and state regulators have hampered the fishing and timber industries to protect forestlands and endangered species such as sucker fish and the spotted owl. Most water from the rainy Shasta region is shipped south, with little economic benefit to the area. Even the California sales tax draws sneers.
The Grange Hall of Yreka... is activating 51 of its brethren halls in the area to collect 1 million signatures to have a statehood advisory measure put on the California ballot. Tony Intiso, a runoff candidate in the Nov. 4 election for Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors, has pledged to force the issue and is running campaign ads calling for regional freedom.
"It's not rocket science to see why it makes sense, and how we could do it," said Brian Petersen, a landscaper who runs the main online forum advocating statehood, www.jeffersonstate.com. "The capitols of California and Oregon ignore us. We want out.
"All we have to do is get an initiative on the ballot and vote to get things going."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
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Originally Posted by Malsua
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