I had previously written for PSI about North State sheriffs who are joining local ranchers in a battle against federal regulators who are trying to bust four Klamath River dams, which will destroy what remains of the agricultural industry. Here is my column from Sunday, in which I detail this brewing rural rebellion:
These rural folks, living in the shadow of the majestic Mount Shasta, believe that they are being driven away so that their communities can essentially go back to the wild, to conform to a modern environmentalist ethos that puts wildlands above humanity. As the locals told it during the Defend Rural America conference Oct. 22 at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds, environmental officials are treading on their liberties, traipsing unannounced on their properties, confronting ranchers with guns drawn to enforce arcane regulatory rules and destroying their livelihoods in the process.Here we see local officials standing up against state and federal ones and rural residents fighting a mostly urban environmental movement. Perhaps we're seeing a renewed sagebrush rebellion.
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