Posted on 10/06/2008 8:03:23 AM PDT by AuntB
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 ...
You sound like you’re from the area. What kind of work is available in the region (if any)?
Very cool. Kali is too big. It takes from all areas to feed the four major cities. It like New York State. All those people to feed New York City. Imagine if NYC had to pay for itself.
“Any guesses as to how long it would take for this new ‘state’ to turn to Washington for financial aid?”
These folks might surprise you. They would, I hope, demand the federal government get the illegal aliens of the Mexican Drug Cartels our of our forests. As it is now, our LEO’s do nothing but try to control the situation without the fed’s help.
“Any guesses as to how long it would take for this new ‘state’ to turn to Washington for financial aid? “
Say what? It is the rest of the State that is asking for a federal bailout and spends billions in welfare. The northern part of the State is propably financially sound and doing just fine.
If that were the case, maybe we should let San Francisco, Marin, Alameda and San Mateo counties split off into THEIR own state. They have nothing in common with the rest of the state, as far as I can see.
Nice, thanks.
I totally agree that that’s what needs to happen to NY. I always feel so bad for my girlfriend in upstate having to deal with all the idiocy that NYC causes. Maybe they could cut Ithaca out of the ground and float it next to Staten Island. Then it could at least be an island like its namesake. Or sink it. It might make a good Atlantis since we all know they’re so much more advanced and intelligent there.
Reminds me of how Northeastern Alabama, Northwestern Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee almost formed the State of Nickajack (crazy name, but Lake Nickajack is there) because of the Civil War.
Then you have the South Florida/Panhandle divide.
I am sure there are a lot places in the country where this kind of thing makes sense.
Is this serious or merely mental masturbation?
We fighting or fantasizing?
If this is real, let’s do it. I’m in.
As a former Zonie that would make me proud and happy too.
We in the Central Valley want out of the state too. And we have all the food!
I’d vote for this in a New York second.
Don’t forget Eugene, another slime hole. Our ranch is 17 air miles from the KA border, I wish it was further away.
These folks are serious.
I would think the eastern 2/3rds of both Oregon and Washington would want to join as well.
Pass a right to work law and build a port somewhere near where the present Oregon and California borders meet and you would have a lot of international shipping move there as well. They could immediately lower costs by hiring non-union workers who don't average $120K annually to type shipping documents and $85K annually to drive fork lifts. The difference would go a long way toward paying off the building and maintenance of this infrastructure. Then add an extraction tax on any water shipped south.
“I’d vote for this in a New York second.
Don’t forget Eugene, another slime hole. Our ranch is 17 air miles from the KA border, I wish it was further away.”
Don’t forget, your neighbors just over that border are the good guys!
Map it out. Our local state legislators claim they don’t like Philadelphia much either. Maybe we could negotiate a trade.
This areas economy is natural resource based. It has been dedcimated in the last couple of decades by the Spotted Owl and then the sucker fish. WE are still holding our own but work is hard to come by. However there is a lot of unskilled labor here so if you have skills or training your chances at work are much better.
Politically, it would be MUCH easier to get each state to allocate electoral vote by Congressional district, as Maine and Nebraska do it. We’d lose a few electoral votes in the red states, but we’d pick up a LOT of votes in the red areas of blue states. Channeling anger into something that is politically possible, rather than pie-in-the-sky would be much more productive.
I can't stop laughing, and I am doing my best to look busy. Failing.
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