9/24/00
Residents of California-Oregon Border Have High Hopes of Forming a New State

HAPPY CAMP, Calif. (AP) - Residents near the California-Oregon border along the Jefferson State Historic Route have high hopes of seceding to form a 51st state. They've got the hats and t-shirts all printed up for the 150-year-old, offbeat idea that is turning more serious for locals by the day. Residents say the idea is appealing because they feel neglected by state governments to the north and south of the region. Supporters say that lawmakers have imposed regulations that they do not think are based on knowledge of the area. Those regulations include limits on logging, fishing and hunting to protect wildlife. Many say the restrictions interfere with their lifestyles, and farmers say water rights regulations have hurt their businesses.

The state that secessionists are proposing would be named ''Jefferson,'' after founding father Thomas Jefferson. The state of Jefferson would encompass Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc and Lassen counties in California, and Coos and Curry counties in Oregon. Residents of these areas say they have more in common with each other than with the urban San Francisco Bay area, Southern California or Portland, Ore. Siskiyou County alone is sparsely populated, with about 44,200 residents in an area roughly five times the size of Rhode Island.

The statehood movement does not have universal support in the region, however. Some believe it has an anti-environmental aspect that could threaten the scenic, mostly unspoiled country.

''What started out being a rather fun kind of attention-getting situation has become a fairly polarizing movement that is pretty intolerant,'' said Carol Wright of the Klamath Forest Alliance, a grass-roots environmental organization.

Others like the idea of a 51st state, but they don't think it will come to pass. ''We still like the Jeffersonian ideals and all,'' said Mark Dean, executive director of the Yreka Chamber of Commerce. ''I take it as a nice, historical story and a political state of mind, but not anything we think is going to come to fruition.''

The idea has been around for about 150 years, but hit an all-time high in 1941, when residents tried to get a road built so they could ship out deposits of copper, chrome and manganese mined in the area. Some gun-toting residents even went so far as to blockade a highway and hold a torchlight parade where they inaugurated their own governor. The federal government built the road during World War II to bring out minerals to help with the war effort.

The dream of Jefferson state lives on, but even if enough support is drummed up, it will be an uphill legal battle. The Oregon and California legislatures would have to approve it, as would the U.S. Congress. The new state would have to adopt a constitution, set up a legislature, provide universities and colleges and license and regulate doctors, lawyers and other professionals.

A retired Forest Service archaeologist who wrote a book on the movement said he doesn't think there's enough of a tax base to make it feasible. ''We cost California more than we contribute as a county because there is nothing here that is making money,'' James Rock said. ''What would you have? You'd build another Appalachia.''