[env-trinity] Redding.com: Recall proponents target Trinity County supervisors

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.redding.com/news/2013/dec/13/recall-proponents-target-trinity-county/
Recall proponents target Trinity County supervisors
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	* By Jenny Espino
	* Posted December 13, 2013 at 6 p.m.
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Proponents of a recall have filed paperwork targeting all but one of the five members of the Trinity County Board of Supervisors, the county clerk-recorder’s office confirms.
The notices of intent to recall supervisors Judy Pflueger, Judy Morris, Karl Fisher and John Fenley were received Dec. 6 Friday. But that’s not all. An organizer of the recall effort says signatures are still being collected in Supervisor and Board Chairwoman Debra Chapman’s District 4.
Deanna Bradford, county clerk-recorder, said her office is verifying the petitions, which require a minimum of 20 valid signatures for the effort to clear its first hurdle. The office wraps up its task next week.
In the meantime, at least three of the four supervisors have filed their responses, though they were not available for public inspection on Friday.
Pflueger, who confirmed she responded to the petition this week, said the recall attempt is yet another in a long list of dealings with a group that’s been behind other unsuccessful recalls of county officeholders and two ballot initiatives to overhaul and downsize government. The county is suing to stop the two initiatives from getting on the ballot next year, and a hearing is scheduled in January.
“This is almost a daily situation,” Pflueger said. “The county and the board have done nothing wrong. They have the best wishes at heart. There is nothing around that is hidden. But they (the group) are tired of government.”
Diane Richards, a recall proponent in Fenley’s District 5, said she and other supporters are trying to oust officials who have ignored their concerns and replace them with people who will take out ordinances that are unconstitutional.
“We were very successful (gathering signatures) for our initiatives. I suspect we will very, very successful with the recall petitions,” said Richards, confirming that she will be among those to seek office if the recalls prevail.
Proponents of the recall also tried unsuccessfully to start recall campaigns against Bradford, District Attorney Michael Harper and Sheriff Bruce Haney.
One of Richards’ chief complaints is a set of rules for recreational vehicles on private property. She said the ordinance, which went into effect in spring, requires that they be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles and movable.
But for rural residents facing hardship, that may be too much to ask, she said. She noted that she knows of at least 30 people have been issued citations for not being in compliance.
“We are one of the poorest counties in California. This is not the city,” she said.
Pflueger defended the RV code, saying it was created in response to squatter camps and marijuana grows, issues that were brought to the board by residents concerned for their safety.
Some of the RVs are not equipped with septic systems.
“They are living in there with no sewer or water,” she said. “We are also trying to control these illegal grows. (People) come for this temporary time and they devastate and pollute the ground.
“Citizens requested that we do something about this. When you’re the one who lives next door, you don’t appreciate living next to something like that,” Pflueger said.
Herk Shriner, who lives just outside Weaverville, said people also were upset that the board chose not to consider a vote on the state of Jefferson, a movement primarily by rural counties to break free from California.
“The Jefferson issue to me is one of representation,” he said. “Sacramento only wants Trinity County for its water. We don’t have rights and we don’t get paid for the water that gets shipped out of here.”
Richards continued to insist the board is getting in the way of people becoming involved with their government. Residents wanting to address the board used to get five minutes during the public comments portion of regular meetings. Now it’s three minutes, she said.
She was in the middle of telling the board about what prompted the American Revolution in October, when the board ordered a Trinity County Sheriff’s Office deputy to escort her out of the chambers.
“I only had two paragraphs about our colonial history and the writs of assistance, which began the American Revolution, which begot the Fourth Amendment,” she explained. “I got stopped after my first paragraph. I only probably got one minute in.”
The initiatives for now face a legal limbo.
The “We the People’s Reaffirmation of Constitutional Rights” and “Forest Fire Prevention Act” if passed in June’s primary election, would eliminate the county’s building department, void any government liens on private property, open public land to harvesting dead wood without a permit, repurpose the Trinity County District Attorney’s Office and prevent any future changes to the county’s general plan and more.
Richards said she is being represented by an attorney based in San Francisco, and they have a court date set for Jan. 13.
All she and other supporters seek is a say in how fires are fought and how forests are managed, and they want to lift a restrictive process to obtain building permits, she said.
And yet, the initiatives are crafted in a way that worries officials were they to pass.
Chapman in July said they violate state and federal laws and expose the county to costly litigation and the loss of funding from those agencies.
Richards, who is a member of the Trinity County Patriots tea party group, was hopeful about starting to collect recall signatures in winter.
Before proponents can begin to circulate petitions, they will need to place public notice about the recalls in the newspaper and provide copies of the recall petition to the clerk-recorder’s office.
Bradford said they will then be given 60 days to collect the equivalent of 25 percent of registered voters for each district. That number can range between 300 and 500 valid signatures.
“We’ll be collecting signatures while it’s snowing,” Richards said. “We’re hardy stock up here. We’re independent and we like to live the way we want to live.”
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