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E-mail StoryNeedles just the latest town to consider 'breakaway' course
| Saturday, May 24 2008 4:57 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, May 24 2008 5:00 PM
Here's an idea that's foreign to most Californians: the concept of a "breakaway" region. And I mean foreign, literally. Secessionist movements are something we usually read about only in the international section of the newspaper. South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transdnestr -- places few of us had heard of before they decided to break away from whatever country they've unwillingly been a part of. (In this case it's Georgia, itself a one-time breakaway republic.)
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Add another one to the list: Needles, pop. 5,300. Some folks in the San Bernardino County town want to secede from California and join Nevada, which lies just on the other side of the Colorado River. Or, if Nevada won't have them, Arizona. Last resort: Merge with Barstow or Blythe and start a new, 59th county.
Needles is on the easternmost edge of the largest county in the lower 48 states, 215 miles from the county seat, San Bernardino. That in itself can present challenges, but now the townfolk, led by Councilman Roy Mills, are especially frustrated. San Bernardino County won't help maintain the town's beleaguered Colorado River Medical Center as a full-service hospital, a move that may force many to seek medical care across the river in Arizona. Of course, many in Needles already work and shop across the bridge in Arizona, where gas is almost a buck per gallon cheaper. Or in Nevada, where Needles high school sports teams play all their games.
State Sen. Roy Ashburn, whose Bakersfield-based 18th Senate District includes Needles, backs the secession effort, citing Needles' failed bids to land big retailers that went to neighboring towns across state borders. Ashburn said he will push for a feasibility study on the move.
But many Needlers acknowledge that this may just be a case of the sand being a little browner on the other side.
"It ain't never going to happen," said Don Rupe, a volunteer with the Needles Chamber of Commerce. "The City Council is still yakking about it, but they're talking out their you-know-what. They're nuttier than fruitcakes, in my opinion."
Last year the rebellious talk was emanating from Ridgecrest -- or, more specifically, Vice Mayor Tom Wiknich, who had convinced himself that Ridgecrest wasn't getting its money's worth from Kern County, and that it would be better off seceding and joining neighboring Inyo County. That irritated the locals enough for some to call for Wiknich's recall. Supervisor Jon McQuiston squelched all talk of secession when he showed up with charts and graphs suggesting that if anybody was getting a raw deal, it was the county. By his estimation, Ridgecrest was receiving $2.73 for every dollar its citizens sent to Bakersfield. Wiknich grudgingly dropped his secession inquiry and his constituents dropped the recall bid.
The year before that, it was the unincorporated highway exit of Gorman, just south of Lebec. Businessman Clyde Martin, noting that Gorman-area folk were using services across the border in Kern County, rather than Los Angeles County, had tried to get L.A. supervisors to allow 1,814 acres (and 11 voting citizens) to move into Kern. No dice, the supes said.
Santa Barbara County was dealing with breakaway sentiments in 2005. Residents in the northern, more conservative half of the county wanted to split and create a Mission County from the cities of Santa Maria, Lompoc and others. The idea got as far as the county ballot, where it failed.
Some groups have tried to carve entire states out of the existing political landscape. Out West, the most famous is probably the State of Jefferson, which would run roughly from Yreka to Medford, Ore. It exists now mostly as a state of mind.
But recently a group in Hood River, Ore., has been making noises about a new state of Eastern Oregon. The group plans to ask Congress and the Oregon Legislature to allow 17 eastern Oregon counties to secede and reform as the 51st state.
The challenges such a state would face are not unlike those a wayward city or newly created county might experience. Would it have the revenue to pay for its schools? Law enforcement? Roads?
Editors of the paper in Pendleton, Ore., asked some of those very questions to a leader of the secessionist group. "I honestly don't have a clue," was the answer. The word "independence" has a nice ring to it, but the details can be cumbersome.
Reach Robert Price at 395-7399 or rprice@bakersfield.com.