Posted on 11/01/2011 9:45:13 PM PDT by marsh2
Yreka, Calif. — About 700 people attended a meeting at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds on Saturday sponsored by the activism group Defend Rural America, founded by Idaho native Kirk MacKenzie. The meeting consisted of a film, a fundraising auction and discussions with a panel of eight sheriffs from Northern California and Southern Oregon. A charter bus brought more than 40 people from the Bay Area and around 250 people from other areas outside of Siskiyou County, according to Liz Bowen of Scott Valley Protect Our Waters (POW), who co-organized the event.
More than 10 political action groups were in attendance, distributing information about candidates, ballot initiatives and issue-specific campaigns. The event got underway with the premier of a documentary film by MacKenzie about the Klamath dam removal issue and how it relates to the current status of rural communities in Siskiyou County and around the country. The film presented a wide array of concerns about the federal government’s role in land management and its impacts on rural economies and communities. Many Siskiyou County residents were featured in the film, speaking about potential effects of dam removal and wider-ranging topics such as the influence of the United Nations and environmental groups on rural communities. After the film and the auction, the panel of sheriffs, including Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey and a property rights attorney, took the stage to address their concerns about the challenges they believe rural communities are facing. Lopey began the panel discussion by presenting his views about Klamath dam removal, what he sees as federal government incursion into state and county jurisdictions, and the current state of rural America. Lopey told the audience that many sheriffs in Northern California and Southern Oregon are becoming increasingly concerned about government taking power out of the hands of citizens and making poor land use decisions that have the potential to destroy the “rural way of life.” “These are constitutional issues,” Lopey told the crowd. “We are here because sheriffs are sworn to uphold the United States constitution. We are broke, so why are these people doing stupid stuff to make us poorer?” Lopey asked, referring to concerns about the costs associated with Klamath dam removal, and higher taxes and power rates that may come along with the process. Del Norte County Sheriff Dean Wilson told the audience that “there is an assault on our communities. The government is denying us of our resources that make us self-sustaining. We have allowed this to happen to our country, but our founding fathers gave us the tools to fix it. We can take back our country county by county.” Nearly every sheriff mentioned concerns about decommissioning of roads in publicly owned forests and the lack of government coordination with local officials during the process. Trinity County Sheriff Bruce Haney said roads in national forests are essential for search and rescue missions in remote areas. Haney also expressed his concerns about the influence of government and environmentalists. “The federal government is being inundated by environmentalists,” Haney said. “Our youth are being indoctrinated by the public schools system and colleges.” Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood said, “Events like this are something that hasn’t happened before. There is an awakening of a giant here.” Every sheriff received a standing ovation after their opening statements, and many of the panel’s comments were punctuated with applause throughout the discussion. For more information about Defend Rural America, visit www.defendruralamerica.com.
See also Steven Greenhut: Rural rebellion brewing http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/county-324351-rural-state.html
And interview with Siskiyou County Sheriff Lopey: http://www.teapartymedia.net/20111030/we_the_people_radio_2011-10-30.mp3
Things are heating up in Siskiyou County. People in northern rural CA have HAD it with federal and state regulations that are destroying their way of life, jobs, family, community and county. The Sheriffs and local governments are aligned right along with them. FED UP!
Gee, I think I will wait until someone puts this in a readable format.
decommissioning roads in public forests effectively denies the public access to public land. We don’t want to look at forests, or deserts, or lakes, - we want to explore them - Bambi and his friends can move over and share.
Don’t worry, someone will be along to do it for you.
Hope prevails supreme.
Sheriffs discuss challenges they believe rural communities face
Yreka, Calif. — About 700 people attended a meeting at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds on Saturday sponsored by the activism group Defend Rural America, founded by Idaho native Kirk MacKenzie. The meeting consisted of a film, a fundraising auction and discussions with a panel of eight sheriffs from Northern California and Southern Oregon.
A charter bus brought more than 40 people from the Bay Area and around 250 people from other areas outside of Siskiyou County, according to Liz Bowen of Scott Valley Protect Our Waters (POW), who co-organized the event.
More than 10 political action groups were in attendance, distributing information about candidates, ballot initiatives and issue-specific campaigns.
The event got underway with the premier of a documentary film by MacKenzie about the Klamath dam removal issue and how it relates to the current status of rural communities in Siskiyou County and around the country.
The film presented a wide array of concerns about the federal government’s role in land management and its impacts on rural economies and communities.
Many Siskiyou County residents were featured in the film, speaking about potential effects of dam removal and wider-ranging topics such as the influence of the United Nations and environmental groups on rural communities.
After the film and the auction, the panel of sheriffs, including Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey and a property rights attorney, took the stage to address their concerns about the challenges they believe rural communities are facing.
Lopey began the panel discussion by presenting his views about Klamath dam removal, what he sees as federal government incursion into state and county jurisdictions, and the current state of rural America.
Lopey told the audience that many sheriffs in Northern California and Southern Oregon are becoming increasingly concerned about government taking power out of the hands of citizens and making poor land use decisions that have the potential to destroy the “rural way of life.”
“These are constitutional issues,” Lopey told the crowd. “We are here because sheriffs are sworn to uphold the United States constitution. We are broke, so why are these people doing stupid stuff to make us poorer?” Lopey asked, referring to concerns about the costs associated with Klamath dam removal, and higher taxes and power rates that may come along with the process.
Del Norte County Sheriff Dean Wilson told the audience that “there is an assault on our communities. The government is denying us of our resources that make us self-sustaining. We have allowed this to happen to our country, but our founding fathers gave us the tools to fix it. We can take back our country county by county.”
Nearly every sheriff mentioned concerns about decommissioning of roads in publicly owned forests and the lack of government coordination with local officials during the process.
Trinity County Sheriff Bruce Haney said roads in national forests are essential for search and rescue missions in remote areas.
Haney also expressed his concerns about the influence of government and environmentalists. “The federal government is being inundated by environmentalists,” Haney said. “Our youth are being indoctrinated by the public schools system and colleges.”
Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood said, “Events like this are something that hasn’t happened before. There is an awakening of a giant here.”
Every sheriff received a standing ovation after their opening statements, and many of the panel’s comments were punctuated with applause throughout the discussion. For more information about Defend Rural America, visit www.defendruralamerica.com.
Not hope. Faith that complaining is stronger than acting.
Your awesome.
My awesome is awesome isn’t it?
Following with great interest.
Thank you for posting.
Click on the link.
Please act like a grown-up.
It is truely awe inspiring
They better watch out. Next thing you know the FBI will arresting a bunch of them as “militia members” just like up in the GA mountains yesterday.
:) You can’t say much more about an awesome than that.
Thanks - my license plate holders say the State of Jefferson. My website has the gold pan with the double cross. We are mostly poor counties. We do not have the tax base to support a separate state government. Don’t think they would let us go anyway. It is too much fun to torture us.
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