Unnamed speaker drops Luigi Mangione reference at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“Luigi Mangione killed a man because of deny, defer, distract, defend. What’s the alternative to that, people?”
So said an unnamed public speaker at Tuesday’s Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting in apparent praise for Mangione, the 26-year-old programmer who allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in broad daylight last December, bizarrely becoming an instant folk hero thanks to his good looks.
With the mere mention of Luigi’s name in the board chambers, one couldn’t help thinking something wicked this way comes. We are almost certainly in the end times.
Rational people are shaking their heads, but religious members of the audience, they’re nodding in agreement. Some of them, anyways.
Consider the weather. The winds Tuesday were fierce enough to lift cars off the road. Those same roads were underwater and barely passable by the end of the day. Armageddon time.
There’s nothing to do but buck up. When the going gets tough, the tough … write letters?
District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye
It’s true. District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye was so impressed with President Donald Trump’s response to the LA wildfires, he wants to write Trump a love letter. What’s not to love? Donald Dufus blamed the death and destruction in Southern California on DEI hires and ordered the Army Corp of Engineers to pour 2.2 billion gallons of next summer’s water on rain-saturated farmlands 200 miles north of LA to prove he’s somehow in control of the state’s water supply.
Now Crye wants Trump to come to Northern California to rake our federal forests.
“There’s a whole list of things that we could actually ask Trump for, but I think the lowest hanging fruit is just to focus on one,” Crye said. “And there is one thing that obviously he can do, as it states in that letter, and start cleaning up our federal forests.”
Though he didn’t name it, Crye was obviously referring to the deceptively titled federal Fix Our Forests Act now churning through our completely corrupted U.S. Congress. The bogus bill only fixes forests for Big Timber, according to numerous environmental organizations. Big trees be falling and a buzz saw of lawsuits are coming, guaranteed.
Plummer Supports Local Wildfire Projects
Shasta County District 4 Supervisor Matt Plummer
Shasta County District 4 Supervisor Matt Plummer tried to stop Crye from signing on to Trump’s insanity without at least claiming what the federal government has already pledged Shasta County.
“I support, you know, sending the letters, and I support the overall direction of them,” Plummer said. “I do have some recommendations on the letter to President Trump in terms of making it more specific in terms of our ask, because what I’m at least seeing from the federal government is that they’re taking very specific action, terminating specific leases, ending certain grants.”
Plummer seems to understand Shasta County can’t expect anything out of the Trump administration. That’s why he emphasized asking Trump to fulfill five federal wildfire projects already underway in Shasta County, even as the real president, ketamine-crazed billionaire welfare queen Elon Musk and his gang of teenage hacker incels are line-deleting U.S. Treasury payment accounts.
Our real president, Elon Musk.
Full disclosure: My current home in the Whitmore area 30 miles east of Redding is involved in two of the five projects Plummer proposed adding to Crye’s letter, both of which have been put on hold, even before Trump took office.
“I was on the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District Board for the last two years before having to leave to jump on this one,” Plummer said. “And so they’re heavily involved in this work, but there’s a home hardening and defensible space project that’s starting up in Whitmore, and it is intended to reach 500 homes.”
That’s project No. 1.
“If the federal funding freeze could terminate that project and put that at risk, so that would be one thing to ask the federal government to continue to fund,” Plummer said. “There’s a second project, which is they’ve been working on a community wildfire prevention plan and they’re about halfway through, but they have just paused that because of the federal funding freeze. And so that requires an additional $200,000 from the federal government. And so if we could ask to have those continued, that would be really helpful to the community.”
That’s project No. 2.
Cut to the chase, Crye refused to change the letter to Trump because he doesn’t care if five federal projects protecting Shasta County from wildfires are canceled by Musk, as long as there’s any chance he might be mentioned in our burgeoning rightwing media, or saints preserve us, by his Glorious Leader himself.
Controlled burn photo courtesy of Shasta County Firesafe Council.
In a second proposed letter, to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Crye argues that because the state-funded CAL FIRE Shasta-Trinity Unit is an over-performer statewide when it comes to prescribed burns, the state should pick up the difference in Shasta County’s rising fire insurance rates.
Demonstrating how uninformed Crye’s letter to Newsom is, the first thing it demands is “a statewide moratorium on policy cancellations and non-renewals for properties in counties affected by wildfires for at least one year following a state of emergency.”
That’s exactly what led to the present fire insurance crisis. Passed in 1988, Proposition 103 was intended to stop insurance companies from gouging customers. But our encroachment on urban/wildland interface during the past 50 years, combined with global warming, has turned the entire state into a tinderbox.
The LA wildfires threaten to bankrupt State Farm (full disclosure: my insurer) because the rates it charges have been unable to keep pace with the damage that’s being done by wildfires in California. The company has made an emergency request with the state of California to permit it to raise rates by 22 percent in May.
That comes on top of a similar increase last year. The fire insurance industry in California is caught in a classic death spiral and soon the state will be the insurer of last resort, assuming the state still exists.
That’s why doomsday is on our minds. We’re not going to rake ourselves out of this hellscape. The only thing to do is run, now, as far away as possible.
Instead, the board voted 5-0 to write letters to Trump and Newsom.
Chriss Street receives $40,000 consulting contract from Shasta County.
Another Strange Chriss Street Story
For some unexplained reason Chriss Street was on the agenda once again as his friend Chair Crye attempted to justify giving the Orange County transplant $40,000 to research why physicians don’t want to move to Shasta County.
There are many reasons why hiring Street is a foolish idea, but of all the strange stories that have been told about him, his attempt to sue Shasta County for racial discrimination is easily the strangest.
It’s all based on the fuzzy math surrounding the county’s legal losses in former Shasta County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Patrick Kropholler’s civil lawsuit, settled for $2.6 million last December; and the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of officer-involved shooting victim Thomas Barbosa, settled for $12 million last March.
Here’s the skinny: In Street’s shakedown delivered to the board in April 2023, he claimed the Latino officer involved in Barbosa’s fatal shooting was scapegoated by then-Sheriff Eric Magrini. But as A News Café reported last December, Magrini recused himself from the investigation (which was conducted by RPD) because he did have a personal history with the Latino officer and he wanted to avoid any perception of bias.
Retired Sheriff’s Capt. Patrick Kropholler (pointing).
In Street’s telling of the story, Kropholler rode to the Latino officer’s rescue and defended him against the alleged racist sheriff’s plot to scapegoat him. But as revealed by the Ellis Report, an expensive outside investigation of the case, Kropholler’s attempts to insert himself into the Barbosa investigation caused lasting damage to the relationship between the Sherriff’s Office and the Redding Police Department.
Here’s where Street and the racial discrimination comes in.
“Chriss W. Street is informed, believes and alleges that Shasta County Third District Supervisor Mary Rickert leaked confidential information to Shasta County Assistant CEO Eric Magrini that Chriss W. Street was Hispanic,” Street proclaimed to the board. Many observers were astonished, since Street’s name is hardly Spanish-sounding and he easily passes for white.
Former Shasta County Sheriff Eric Magrini.
Street alleged that Magrini and Rickert “had valid reasons to fear that if Chriss W. Street as a Hispanic became Shasta County CEO, he would investigate and disclose the facts related to the false and potentially fraudulent effort to make (the Latino officer involved the shooting) a sacrificial lamb.”
The Latino officer was not charged in the Barbosa shooting. But sacrificial lamb or not, Shasta County ultimately paid $12 million to settle the wrongful death lawsuit. Shasta County District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert bristled at Street’s allegations of racism.
“Street’s claim of me being a racist is totally unfounded,” Rickert told A News Café. “He is lying about any conspiring he accused me of doing with Eric Magrini. My husband and I operate farms and ranches that employ people that are Hispanic. On the Prather Ranch we have had in our employment four generations of the same family since 1979. That’s 45 years of a relationship with this family. I am a Catholic and I attend Mass, my priest is Mexican and I attend services in Spanish.”
Magrini offered similar sentiments.
“As it relates to his defamatory and slanderous claims against me, I find it interesting how one person can judge another when they have never met or held a conversation, ever!” Magrini said. “I have never spoken to the man or met him in person. We do not share common friends or socialize in the same circles. However I am not surprised that an affiliate of Kevin Crye would act in such an unprofessional and belittling manner.”
Nothing came of Street’s threats to sue Shasta County. Shasta County settled with Barbosa’s family for $12 million last March. After Rickert attended a closed session board meeting last December where the majority voted to settle Kropholler’s lawsuit for $2.6 million, she encountered the outside attorney who handled the case after the meeting adjourned.
She asked him if he’d read the Ellis Report, which seriously undermines Kropholler’s credibility, calling the $2.6 million settlement into question.
The outside attorney said he hadn’t read it yet, according to Rickert.
A News Café contacted the outside attorney and County Counsel Joe Larmour and asked if the outside attorney read the Ellis Report.
So far there’s been no response.
District 2 Supervisor Allen Long
Watching the Detective
District 2 Supervisor Allen Long has an inquisitive mind, which makes sense considering he’s a retired RPD detective. Long tore into Street’s qualifications for the consulting contract like a honey badger ripping through an anthill, much to Crye’s displeasure.
“So, the next question, and I know I keep beating this dead horse,” Long asked Shasta County CEO David Rickert. “What is relevant in his background that shows that he has experience recruiting medical doctors to our community, which was the basic scope and function of this $40,000 consulting fee?”
Rickert noted that Street has done some consulting in the health care field. When Long asked why the County CEO position offered to Street in 2023 was rescinded, Rickert said it is county policy not to publicly discuss personnel issues. Street allegedly failed a background check.
“Right, I figured you would answer that, but I know that there was a former offer which was rescinded,” Long said. “You’ve got three brand new board members here currently. I need to know the background and why that offer was rescinded before I could ever support somebody for this consultant, because I don’t know what happened on a prior occasion.”
An exasperated Crye had had enough.
“Supervisor Long, with all due respect, this is going down a road that, as chairman, I’m going to say I want to move us to public comment, because these are conversations that you could have extensively, and you’re putting our CEO in a situation, you’re asking him to answer questions that legally he can’t do it,” Crye said.
Street, CFO of the secessionist New California State movement—SOJ without the swag, but better real estate—remains a controversial figure. His insider knowledge of the Kropholler case calls into question just when Crye learned about the Kropholler lawsuit.
Mercifully, Plummer bailed Crye out, saying he’d ride chaperone on Street to make sure the county gets its $40,000 worth.
The board voted 4-1 to approve Street’s contract, with Long the lone dissenting vote.
District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye seeking inspiration.
A Chilling Ending
TBH, A News Café felt like Plummer threw Long under the bus on the Street issue, and not for the first time. But when the board came back from closed session—no action taken—Plummer demonstrated he’s not tolerating Crye’s impetuous self-serving motions, such as his attempt to shortchange Hill Country Community Clinic on the nearly $1 million in mental health services it provided to the county during the past year.
Hill Country’s retroactive contract renewal agreement was item 6 on the consent calendar; Crye pulled it at the beginning of the meeting. When it came time to explain why he pulled C6, Crye’s inability to articulate a cogent response was typically cringe worthy.
“Well, I mean, the thing for me, and again, not to make this a bigger issue than it is, but we’re seeing so much of this play out federally, and even in the state,” said Crye, who’s eager to start chopping public programs like his hero Trump. “So I do recognize the cost of doing business and keeping the doors open and getting some money put forth. But again, I talked about the word retroactive when it showed up 37 times on one of my very first agendas in ‘23 that I just, makes me viscerally ill.”
Maybe see a doctor?
“I mean, that’s how people go out of business,” Crye ranted. “In my world, people go out of business. If you perform a service or give a product that you can’t make at a profit to keep your doors open, you don’t stay in business.”
Cockeyed Kevin proposed paying Hill Country half of what it’s owed now and the rest later, so he can personally investigate any illegalities in the agreement.
That was a bridge too far for Plummer.
“I think if we’re concerned with organizations going out of business, not paying them for services they’ve already provided is a great way to do that,” Plummer countered. “And I think also, I mean, if we’re concerned about the legality of the contract, I mean, can we ask County Counsel … if we feel that this meets the standards of the legal requirements of a contract?”
Shasta County Counsel Joe Larmour and CEO David Rickert.
Plummer turned to County Counsel Joe Larmour.
“So this wouldn’t be on the agenda unless it had already been passed through County Counsel’s office and determined to be legal?” Plummer asked.
“Correct,” Larmour answered.
“So there’s no legal concerns as far as you’re aware with this contract?” Plummer asked.
“There are no legal concerns in this contract.”
“So if we’re sending the message to our community partners that, OK, keep providing services in good faith while we get our contract in order, and then we’re not going to pay them for some of that potentially, that sends a pretty chilling message to them not to partner with us,” Plummer concluded.
Plummer’s analysis resonated with all the board members, Crye excepted. District 3 Supervisor Corkey Harmon was first to second the chilling effect of not paying people what you owe them.
District 3 Supervisor Corkey Harmon.
“I’m along the lines of what Supervisor Plummer said, which is we pay our bills and I think it does send a very chilling message going forward,” Harmon said. “That’s not the message I want to send. So I could get on board with what Supervisor Crye is saying going forward analytically, but I think at this point, you guys, we need to honor our obligations.”
Even CEO Rickert was chilling.
“Yes, Mr. Chairman and board, I’d have to concur,” Rickert said. “I would suggest you pay for the work they’ve already done and then look forward with what they’re doing and make adjustments based on that. But to not pay them for work that’s already done would send a very chilling message to our other nonprofits and to Hill Country.”
Crushed, Crye was forced to join the unanimous vote approving Hill Country’s retroactive contract.
Hopefully, it won’t be the last time the board majority corrects Crye’s worst impulses.
Shasta County District 2 Supervisor Allen Long presents Permit Center Manager Josh Fugitt with Employee of the Month award.
SCOREBOARD
Regular Calendar
R1: Adopt a resolution which recognizes Josh Fugitt, Permit Center Manager of the Department of Resource Management as Shasta County’s Employee of the Month for February 2025.
Score: 5-0
R2: Receive an update from the County Executive Officer on County issues and consider action on specific legislation related to Shasta County’s legislative platform and receive Supervisors’ reports on countywide issues.
Score: Board voted 5-0 to write a letter supporting AB 303, state legislation that will provide more local control for locating large battery storage facilities such as the one that recently burned down in Moss Landing.
R3: Approve letters to President Trump and Governor Newsom regarding current risks and the escalating insurance crisis associated with wildfire throughout California (Sponsored by Supervisor Crye).
Score: 5-0
R4: Receive a presentation regarding healthcare in Shasta County and authorize the County Executive Officer or their designee to draft and sign a contract with a consultant (Sponsored by Supervisor Crye).
Score: 4-1, with Long dissenting.
R5: Conference with Labor Negotiators, Deputy Sheriffs Association and United Employees of California Local 792.
Score: No action reported out of closed session.
R6: Conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation.
Score: No action reported out of closed session.
Consent Calendar
All items on the Consent Calendar were approved unanimously. C11 was pulled.
C1: Designate the appointed Council Members as the Local Planning Council and approve an Annual Certification Statement Regarding Composition of the Shasta County Local Child Care and Development Planning Council.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C2: Reappoint Tim MacLean (District 2) and Steve Kerns (District 3) to the Shasta County Planning Commission to serve four-year terms to January 15, 2029.
C3: Appoint Paul Truman to the Halcumb Public Cemetery District to serve the remainder of a four-year term to January 3, 2028.
C4: Approve an agreement with AP Triton for the development of a County Fire Master Plan.
C5: Adopt a resolution which delegates authority to the Shasta County Fire Warden to execute evergreen mutual aid/ automatic aid agreements.
C6: Approve a retroactive renewal agreement with Hill Country Community Clinic for services at Community Mental Health Resource Center.
C7: Find the “Shasta County Roofing Membrane Replacement – Various Locations Project,” Contract No. 610983, categorically exempt in conformance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Section 15301, Class I –Existing Facilities and Section 15302, Class II – Replacement or Reconstruction, approve plans and specifications, and direct the Public Works Director to advertise for bids, and authorize the opening of bids on or after March 27, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.
C8: Approve budget amendments for the “2640 Breslauer Way Roof Replacement Project,” which increase appropriations and revenue by $8,878 in the Land Buildings and Improvements Budget (BU 166) and adjust appropriations by $8,878 from account 034800 to account 095166 in the Mental Health Admin Budget (BU 410).
C9: Approve budget amendments for the “Alternative Custody Metal Siding Replacement Project,” which increase appropriations and revenue by $45,000 in the Land Buildings and Improvements Budget (BU 166) and adjust appropriations by $45,000 from account 033791 to account 095166 in the Sheriff’s Alternative Custody Budget (BU 246).
C10: Approve an agreement with Harbert Roofing, Inc., for roofing services.
C11: Take the following actions regarding the California Energy Commission for California Automated Permit Processing Program (Program): (1) Adopt a resolution which: (a) finds that the Program is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(c)(2); (b) authorizes the amended application to the Program for funding to implement an online permitting platform for residential rooftop solar energy systems; (c) designates authority to the Director of Resource Management, or their designee, to accept Program funds and to execute all Program documents necessary to secure, accept, and expend Program funds and to implement the Program, including retroactive; and (d) repeals Resolution No. 2023-050; and (2) approve budget amendments which increase appropriations by $3,000 and revenue by $20,000 in the Building Inspection Budget (BU 282) offset by an increase in Reserves for Contingency (BU 900).
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