The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted, 4-1, on Tuesday to pursue seceding from California, the Redding Record Searchlight reported. ”We have to have government that's local, understands our issues and has empathy” for those affected, said Mark Baird, a Scott Valley rancher who's also president for Scott Valley Protect Our Water and vice president of the Siskiyou Water User's Association. Baird is leading the charge to form a new state from rural counties in Northern California and Southern Oregon, though he certainly wasn't the only voice in support of the move. More than 100 people packed the supervisors' chambers Tuesday for the discussion on whether the county should issue a declaration that it wants to secede from the state. "Many proposed laws are unconstitutional and deny us our God-given rights," said Happy Camp resident Gabe Garrison. “We need our own state so we can make laws that fit our way of life.” 
 
 Among those in attendance was Erin Ryan, field representative for Rep. 
 
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 Doug LaMalfa. "The state of Jefferson is the place I want to raise my son," Kayla Brown said. When a speaker asked those in the audience who was in favor, "nearly every hand in the room was raised," the newspaper said. Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said the issues were about regulation, restriction of rights, lack of representation, regionalism and restoration of limited government. ”We also have this enormous bureaucracy of unelected officials making decisions for us,” she said. Supervisor Ed Valenzuela, who chairs the board, was the only vote against the decision, the Searchlight said. I took an oath when I ran for re-election, which I just did, and that was to uphold the Constitution, and uphold the constitution of the state of California,” he said. I signed on to do that, I signed on to work within the system I know. I don't like it, I don't agree with it all the time but at the same token, I did sign up for that and I will continue to do so.” 
 
 In August, county residents lobbied the board to consider separating from the state over a laundry list of complaints including a lack of representation in Sacramento for the Republican-majority county, issues pertaining to water rights and the rural fire prevention fee. Siskiyou County would also invite other neighboring counties in California and Southern Oregon to join in the effort to create a new state. "I was one of the people who thinks the state of Jefferson wasn't a bad idea," he told the newspaper. “There has been a total lack of respect in terms of our water rights and the fire fee. Those things may not be important to the rest of the state, but it's important to us." Humboldt County Supervisor Rex Bohn told the Times-Standard that his board would probably meet to consider their options. “It is also full of state roads that they won't be able to maintain, and federal land.” 
 
 Times-Standard staff writer Catherine Wong contributed to this report.
– Not a big fan of Southern California? Neither is Northern California, apparently. Supervisors in rural Siskiyou County voted 4-1 Tuesday in favor of seceding from the state, reports the Times-Standard. The county thinks state officials in Sacramento are too focused on the big metro areas of the south and thus want to form a state of its own—to be called Jefferson. Supporters want to invite other northern counties, and perhaps a few from Oregon, to join, too, notes the Los Angeles Times. ”We have to have government that's local, understands our issues, and has empathy,” says one local rancher. It's clearly a very long-shot bid, one that would eventually require the blessing of both the state legislature and the US Congress. Still, neighboring Humboldt County is expected to meet soon to consider the idea. (Meanwhile, some counties in Colorado want to form a new state of their own.)