New push to fuse Northern California, Southern Oregon into a state of Jefferson stirs little interest here
By Damian Mann / Mail Tribune
September 08, 2013 2:00 AM
Supporters of a
TEA Party-inspired effort [
~62 min video (Preview) ] to secede from California
encourage Jackson County to rally behind the
creation of the State of Jefferson. "
Now the northern part of California and the southern part of Oregon have a chance of making history," said Mark Baird, who owns a radio station in Yreka and has spearheaded the secessionist movement.
Growing
discontent over California regulations prompted the Siskiyou County
Board of Supervisors in a 4-to-1 vote last week to support the
secessionist movement. The lone vote in opposition was cast by board
Chairman Ed Valenzuela. He said he took an oath to uphold the state
constitution and was elected to solve problems within the existing
system. Siskiyou supervisors hope other rural, conservative Northern
California counties will join them. They say they're being ignored by
Sacramento legislators while being saddled with excessive regulations.
Modoc County supervisors are scheduled to vote on the issue on Sept. 24. Both the California Legislature and Congress would have to sign off on any secession effort.
"This
isn't going to be easy," Baird said. "It's a long shot, but it's not a
joke to us." Baird got the idea when he heard former California
Assemblyman Stan Statham speak at a recent TEA Party meeting. Statham's
ideas fired up Baird and within a month the movement spread, and the
Siskiyou supervisors cast their vote. Statham has proposed carving
California up into three states. The secession idea has since gained
national attention and points to a growing rural/urban divide.
In
2011, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors in Southern California
hosted a statewide summit to discuss having 13 counties secede from
eastern California to form "South California."
Southern
Oregon and Northern California have long been known somewhat
whimsically as the state of Jefferson, a reference to a movement in 1941
that gained steam until the start of World War II. Since then, the
state of Jefferson has been mostly a state of mind. Baird said Southern
Oregon and Northern California share a common interest in logging, ranching and a feeling that lawmakers are standing in the way of creating more vibrant economies.
"That's why we belong together," Baird said. He hopes to get support
from 11 or 12 California counties, from Del Norte on the north coast
down to Yuba above Sacramento.
The economics of creating a new state
have been one of the main stumbling blocks, he acknowledged. Most of
the counties have small populations, a tiny tax base and little
industry. Baird said the idea faces significant challenges, and he hopes
to find a university that will devise an economic study on the
feasibility of secession. He said the counties hope to create a more
business-friendly environment than currently exists in California to
overcome their financial woes.
Jackson
County commissioners say there has been no groundswell of support for
secession locally. Commissioner Don Skundrick said he's only received
one comment from a local resident favoring secession. He said he
empathizes with the frustrations expressed by folks in Siskiyou County. "I don't mind tilting at windmills, but the reality is it's never going to happen," he said. Jackson County has met significant resistance from Salem over the years, but Skundrick said this area has a can-do attitude, though the economic malaise is beginning to chip away at it. "We don't wait for Salem to get things done," he said.
Going forward, Skundrick said rural parts of the state need to pick
their battles and work with metropolitan areas to solve problems. "If we would stop spitting in the wind and work with moderates, we should just try to chip away at things as best we can," he said.
Commissioner
John Rachor said many of the concerns and problems plaguing Northern
California counties are similar to those locally, including discontent
over policies set in urban seats of power. "Everywhere but the
Willamette Valley is upset with the Willamette Valley," Rachor said. "We
all feel the Willamette Valley is calling the shots."
Commissioner
Doug Breidenthal, who courted the tea party during his campaign, said
he's sympathetic to Northern California counties. "It personifies the
disconnect between the urban portions of the state and the rural
portions of the state," he said. Breidenthal said Jackson and other
rural counties have demanded more local control, particularly over
management of local resources. Even though he doesn't see much local
support for secession, Breidenthal wouldn't rule out the possibility it
could gain significant traction. "I would never want to predict the
future," he said.
In Yreka, which
was once proposed as the capital of the state of Jefferson, the
reactions to the secession movement are mostly favorable, though many
residents have questions about the economics. Drake Davis, owner of
Don's Sporting Goods, said he supports the secession idea up to a point,
but wonders how his county can sustain itself if detached from California. “With
only 45,000 people in Siskiyou County, there's not much of a tax base
and not much industry,” he said. On the other hand, the county is
largely ignored by the huge population centers to the south, Davis said.
"Northern California is abused by Southern California and the Bay
Area," he said. "It would be nice to have more control over what's going
on in this area."
Siskiyou
County Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said regulations from both the state
and federal levels have strangled the local economy, and it's time for
the county to fight back. A county once home to more than 50 mills now
has two veneer plants, she said. Unemployment balloons up to 18 percent
during the winter, she said. "We want to change from being a dependent
county to one that is self-sufficient," she said. Armstrong said locals
have many gripes about how the county is treated by Sacramento. Local
residents are fuming over a fire protection fee of more than $100 a
property that is sent to the state each year. She cites the
"militarization of fish and game" officials, who she said roll into the
county and scare local residents with their guns and other threatening
tactics. "It's not a friendly atmosphere," Armstrong said. The state
largely has left her county out of the ongoing debate over Klamath Basin
water issues, even though three dams are within its boundaries, she
said.
Harvesting
timber also is a big concern locally. Mark Crawford, a 66-year-old
logging company owner in Siskiyou County, said his area has received a
lot of regulations and little help from the state. "It's big money
interests in Sacramento pulling the strings," he said. Crawford said it
can take six months or longer to get a permit to harvest timber, noting
the same permit in Oregon usually takes about a month. The secession
movement will succeed or fail depending on how seriously people in
Northern California counties take it, he said. "If nothing else, it
should get Sacramento's attention," Crawford said.
Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or dmann@mailtribune.com.
