Free Republic

A former U.S. military vessel built during World War II is now anchored in Costa Rica’s South Pacific, where it has taken on a very different mission: helping protect marine life from illegal fishing.The MODOC, a 1944 vessel originally built for the United States Navy at Levingston Shipyard in Orange, Texas, is now used as a floating operations center by Earthrace Conservation. The organization purchased the former Navy and U.S. Coast Guard ship in 2019 and converted it into a conservation vessel for patrols, surveillance and support work in protected areas. Today, the ship remains based in the waters of...

Alturas, Calif. — With no confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), Modoc county plans to reopen businesses on May 1, which goes against the state's stay-at-home order. Modoc county will allow non-essential businesses to begin to reopen, making it the first county to ease out of the governor's stay-at-home order. "We're doing it very strategically and in stages just as the governor is recommending and we feel confident in that," said Modoc County Sheriff Tex Dowdy. "The county in itself, the businesses are moving forward without us, so it was in our best interest to get some framework out there and...

If you were hunting waterfowl with a bow how well would you do? Would you need superior skills like Robin Hood. Ever wonder or did you have to retrieve your arrow after you missed that duck. Chances are you lost that arrow. In the early days of yesterday, the native American Indian (Klamath, Modoc tribe) hunted waterfowl with a skipping arrow. Just like tossing those thin stones where it skips across the water. These native indians did it with an arrow. If you missed the shot, the arrow can still be retrieved since it floats. One of the tactics that...

An Appalachian people offers a timely parable of the nuanced history of race in America Head into Sneedville from the Clinch river, turn left at the courthouse and crawl up Newman’s Ridge. Do not be distracted by the driveways meandering into the woods, the views across the Appalachians or the shadows of the birds of prey; heed the warnings locals may have issued about the steepness and the switchbacks. If the pass seems challenging, consider how inaccessible it must have been in the moonshining days before motor cars. Halfway down, as Snake Hollow appears on your left, you reach a...

Four people were killed and two others critically wounded on Thursday when a woman opened fire at a Native American tribal office near the Oregon border in Northern California, police said. The suspect, a 44-year-old woman identified as Sherie Lash, also known as Sherie Rhoades, was taken into custody at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office in Alturas, California, a spokeswoman for the Alturas police department said.

Sprawling across the northeastern corner of California, this huge, thickly forested county with more cows than people epitomizes the Western frontier - and what seems to be a two-faced political ideology. Modoc has the highest Republican registration of any county in California, it unfailingly elects anti-tax Republicans to office, and the vote here against last month's ballot measure that would have raised a variety of taxes was one of the most lopsided in the state. And yet, per capita, Modoc County gets more state taxpayer dollars than all but one of California's 58 counties. The prevailing attitude among the right-wing...

West Valley hydro plan creates problems Distraught residents and landowners made emotional statements and fired critical questions during two intense scoping meetings held at the Likely fire hall last week, voicing their opposition to the proposed hydroelectric power project in West Valley, east of Likely on the South Fork of the Pit River Federal Energy Resource Commission (FERC) staff members conducted the meetings to gather public opinion regarding the future project. As proposed, the project would consist of two small hydroelectric turbine generators, one located near the West Valley Reservoir dam and the other near the Jess Valley highway at...

My wife and I are wondering about what Modoc County CA is like. Looking at the presidential election results on the county by county map it is the "reddest" county in CA. Weather, people, treatment of new-comers, government, etc