from Reason TV

Should anyone other than Northern Californians and Southern Oregonians have any say in this matter?  Enjoy!

Wanna Blog?

Doc is currently about 1000 miles from the State of Jefferson and very much outside the information loop.  If someone within the sphere of influence would like to carry on with this blog - please leave a note in the comments section and we can make contact.  Elsewise - keep on !

Radio talk show tomorrow evening.

  Barbara Peterson from FarmWars.info is well informed on agriculture issues. This should be a real treat. 

Klamath Basin Water Wars and Jefferson State

Translation

Join Dave Hodges and myself this Sunday as we talk about the Klamath Basin water theft issue, Agenda 21, and the proposed new state of Jefferson carved out of a piece of both Northern California and Southern Oregon, which just so happens to be the area affected by the proposed removal of the Klamath River dams.

This area is the testing grounds for a systematic Agenda 21 takeover, and the people who live here are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
If you are from the area that is being affected by these issues, please call in and let us know what is going on in your neck of the woods.

Date: Sunday 11/03/2013

Time: 7:00 pm Pacific /9:00 pm Central

Listen live here: http://thecommonsenseshow.com

News on Dam Removals

For those of you tracking information on the Klamath River - a video on the agenda of dam removal.  In addition, a discussion on the potential coming battles.  It looks like this issue is being pushed to the forefront - another means for dividing people rather than uniting them.

It seems to me that if they pull the existing dams, they will have an unbelievable silt problem for years, as all the fine particulate behind the dam will cover every little bug hole in the river.  No bugs, no food, no fish.  Plus, there is a lot of land and the current system is a compromise between many players.  Local environments are local decisions - perhaps the feds need to be invited to leave.

Open Letter to the Editors and the People,

"The Sovereignty Seed Company" is part of my on-going personal effort to expose through art and writing the dangers of GMOs, unmitigated climate change, and lack of jobs and alternative energy development.  It is a small business I started as a conceptual art happening that could become the core of a boycott to encourage consumers to stop buying all seeds produced by Monsanto, Syngenta and their subsidiaries and alert Jackson County voters to the dire need to ban GMOs.

 

Via this open letter I am proposing the idea that the region known as "State of Jefferson" becomes a "District of Resource". I believe our region is truly "the last stand" where people will finally come together to champion Planet Earth and Mother Nature.  In the center of this region is Jackson and Josephine Counties, where 90% of the world's non GMO beet and chard seeds and 50% of the world's non GMO food seeds are grown.  This is why the Rogue Valley is Ground Zero in the battle for seed sovereignty, food security and community and individual rights.  The groundwork has been laid to make this the perfect home to a new kind of leadership.
 
"Jefferson" (which is roughly delineated as Redding to the south, Roseburg to the north, the eastern California and Oregon borders to the east, and the Pacific Ocean coast of Northern California and Southern Oregon to the west) makes more sense now than any other time in the past. Instead of ambitions to secede from the Union, I am promoting the idea of abandoning the struggles of rehashing the past and add something brand new to the Constitution.

 

 As Washington D.C. is a center for government and politics, creating a District of Resource in our Western region would be a center for job generation and resource stewardship that could put our country back on track.  Because our region  has the remaining untouched and protected Old Growth Forests, the Siskiyou Monument known for its miraculous bio-diversity, vast watersheds, huge resource reserves, gold mining and other features that need to be stewarded for the good of our Country, it seems the very best place to honor and build environmental protections and healthier living standards and to incubate a new economy, new beliefs and hopes for an economic revival that works in concert with and with respect for Nature and natural systems.
 
Washington D.C. is the location for politics and government, and our region, as a District of Resource,  could become the center for stewardship of natural resources with focus on creating jobs that are in concert with nature and projects that reclaim the commons and  prevent further exploitation and waste of America's natural resources and dependence on fossil fuels. Adding to the U.S. Constitution for this problem-solving concept with help us heal many rifts and move forward with new courage, resolve and tools for action, as opposed to get bogged down in disagreements, divisions and potentially a civil war.

It is towards that purpose the Chamber of Commons is growing our national platform from the cradle of the beautiful Rogue Valley. Please friend Champions of the Commons on Facebook and consider becoming a member of the Chamber of Commons. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Catie Faryl  www.catiefaryl.net   see more of my artwork there
a co-founder of the Chamber of Commons
2983 Highway 66
Ashland, OR  97520
(541) 488-9223
champions of the commons on Facebook
championsofthecommons @gmail.com

Benton County on SB 863

   The state of Oregon pulled a fast one on the people, and the Feds are in the process of pulling the same stunt on the states.  We, the people of Jefferson, should concur with the sentiment expressed by our compatriots in the Williamette Valley.

from Medford Mail Tribune

[Jefferson] secession: Realistic hope or ‘illusion’?

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.