Proposed casino.
On July 14, Shasta County Superior Court Judge Stephen Baker ruled that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors majority broke the law in July 2023 when it voted 4-1 to approve a 30-year Intergovernmental Agreement to provide emergency services, law enforcement, road maintenance and other county services to the Redding Rancheria’s proposed new casino at Strawberry Fields.
The board majority—Chair Patrick Jones and Supervisors Kevin Crye, Tim Garman and Chris Kelstrom—approved the contract despite opposition from local law enforcement and first responders. The California Land Stewardship Council, a quasi-anonymous group thought to be comprised of prominent local opponents of the casino project, filed suit in February 2024 seeking to vitiate the contract.
“Vitiate” is lawyer-speak for “blow it up,” which is exactly what Judge Baker did to the Intergovernmental Agreement.
Did former Shasta County Board of Supervisors Chair Patrick Jones break the law?
“As acknowledged by even the petitioner in oral argument, ‘The County has a right to be wrong,’ ” Baker stated in his four-page decision. “Although a Board of Supervisors can make bad decisions or unpopular decisions, it cannot make illegal decisions.”
“Having reviewed the admissible evidence and relevant authorities, the Court finds the Respondent’s decision to approve the Agreement in the instant was not authorized by law,” Baker continued, adding that the Board majority’s action “was arbitrary, capricious, entirely lacking in evidentiary support.”
Baker found that the Board majority “failed to follow the critical process which the public and all interested parties were entitled to rely upon.” By failing to exercise its full discretion the Board majority broke the law, the judge found, citing three specific instances.
First, the Board majority failed to notify the departments impacted by the decision, including the District Attorney, the Sheriff and the Fire Chief.
Second, the County Counsel’s Office and Risk Management did not review the Intergovernmental Agreement, as required by the County Contracts Manual.
Finally, the Board majority ignored the fact that that County Staff, the Sheriff, the Fire Chief, the District Attorney and acting County Counsel all opposed the Intergovernmental Agreement.
Based on those facts, Judge Baker set aside the Board majority’s decision to approve the agreement with the Tribe. The Judge will present a more detailed decision at a status conference Friday afternoon, where the county will be permitted to respond.
“The Tribe is aware of the decision and waiting to see if the County files an appeal with the 3rd Appellate District,” said Michael Hollowell, an attorney for the Redding Rancheria.
Former District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert was only board member to vote against the illegal Tribal agreement.
Former District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert was the sole supervisor to oppose the agreement in July 2023 and feels vindicated by the court’s decision.
“I am absolutely delighted that the court arrived at this decision,” Rickert said. “I knew the night of the board meeting when the vote took place, that this should have been considered an illegal and definitely unethical decision made by the board majority. I was the lone dissenting vote (4-1) and in my opinion, this was a huge loss and injustice for the taxpayers in Shasta County. The long-term projections shared with me estimated that this vote to approve the tribal agreement as written could have cost the county about $200 million dollars over the next 30 years. I am so relieved that the court has revealed the truth and justice will be served for the residents of Shasta County. A wrong has been made right, and I feel vindicated.”
Shasta County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye and County Counsel Joe Larmour did not reply on admittedly short notice.
Chair Crye Buries Another Letter from the State Attorney General’s Office
Like President Donald J. Trump, who fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner last Friday after she dared release a negative report, Shasta County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye doesn’t like getting bad news.
Who can forget newly crowned Chair Crye taking the hand-off from the departing Jones in January 2024, subsequently disappearing a letter from California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office clearing Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett of mishandling the Zogg Fire settlement? The allegations of misconduct were made by Jones and amplified by Crye then sent in a letter to Bontas in August 2023 requesting a special counsel to prosecute DA Bridgett.
Jones eventually admitted shitcanning the letter. As local activist Jeff Gorder noted in May 2024, months after the letter disappeared, we never got any real answers about the AG’s letter.
“The public has yet to receive a satisfactory answer as to why the letter was not immediately disclosed when it was received by the County,” Gorder said at the time. “The only reasonable explanation we’re left with at this time is that there was a decision to bury the letter because of the impact it might have on the March 5 election.”
That letter from the AG was dated January 29, 2024. Turns out another letter dated even closer to the March 5 primary election, March 1, 2024, was sent from Bontas’ office to Chair Crye.
Chair Kevin Crye: Send him a letter, he’ll probably lose it.
Rickert, who was a supervisor at the time, recently received a copy of the letter. The letter is a warning from Chief Deputy Attorney General Venus Johnson to Shasta County. It’s the first time Rickert has seen it.
Deputy AG Johnson’s letter concerned Resolution 2024-007, passed by the board in January 2024 and authorizing the carrying of concealed weapons on county property with a permit, and the Shasta County Elections Commission’s recommendation for hand count elections in February 2024. She tackled the guns first:
“Given the upcoming primary election on March 5, we write to remind the Board that state law prohibits firearms at or near polling places and locations where votes are being counted, and those laws remain in effect regardless of the Board’s resolution. Specifically, Elections Code section 18544 prohibits anyone “in possession of a firearm” from being “in the immediate vicinity of, or posted at, a polling place without written authorization of the appropriate city or county elections official.”
Next the hand counting.
“Second, the Attorney General is also aware that on February 26, 2024, the Shasta County Elections Commission submitted a recommendation to the Board that ‘there should be a local ordinance mandating that Shasta County conduct [its] elections using hand counting of ballots at the precincts with paper poll books.’ That recommendation was made despite the provisions of Assembly Bill 969, which prohibit a manual vote count in an election with over 1,000 registered voters. We anticipate and expect that the Board of Supervisors and the County Registrar will comply with California law and follow state election procedures, notwithstanding the Commission’s recommendation.”
While neither Rickert nor then-District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman were shown the letter, former Shasta County Assistant ROV Joanna Francescut said the AG’s office sent the letter separately to the elections department.
“I was just made aware of the letter sent to Chair Crye from the AG this week,” Rickert said. “I was shocked and bewildered why, once again, the chair of the Board of Supervisors hid such a letter from the public and from me, a sitting supervisor. This is the exact opposite of transparency, and the public should be outraged that the county passed an illegal resolution and was given notice that it was illegal; that the resolution violates state law. I am stunned that county counsel has not recommended the resolution be rescinded upon receipt of the letter from the AG’s office.”
According to current state law, carrying a concealed weapon with a permit is generally prohibited in local government buildings, although some members of the comment section might object.
Correction, 8/7/24 12:15 p.m.: The following section states that former Shasta County Supervisors Mary Rickert and Tim Garman were not shown the March 1, 2024 email from California Chief Deputy Attorney General Venus Johnson regarding Shasta County BOS Resolution 2024-007 and the Shasta County Elections Commission. In fact, according to Clerk of the Board Stefany Blankenship, the email was sent to Supervisor Kevin Crye, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, the Shasta County Clerk, and the Shasta County Sheriff. As already confirmed by A News Café, the email was also sent to the Shasta County Elections Department. Rickert and Garman maintain that they never saw the email, which did not indicate it came from the AG’s office in the subject line . “After receiving this letter Chair Crye should have brought Resolution 2024-007 back to the board so it could be rescinded,” Rickert said. “That never happened. Chair Crye did not inform the public about this dire warning from the state Attorney General’s office. We should have brought this back to ensure that we’re in compliance with state law.”
Max Walter as the great American Poet Carl Sandburg. Photo by R.V. Scheide.
Max Walter’s Portrayal of Carl Sandburg Gets Close to Home
When former grade school teacher, local activist and ANC reader Max Walter recently invited me to view his play, “Spirit of Carl Sandburg, The People’s Poet in His Own Words,” I was somewhat trepidatious. I’m vaguely familiar with Sandburg, 1878-1967, meaning I know he wrote, “The fog comes in on little cat feet.”
I’m not a huge fan of poetry. Sorry.
Nevertheless, I found myself at Walter’s recent performance at the Old City Hall Arts Center and walked away thoroughly impressed.
Walter is a newcomer to acting, playwriting, playing guitar, and even Carl Sandburg himself. Apparently he’s a quick study. He became deeply interested in the poet during the past decade and began performing his play, with permission from Sandburg’s estate, in 2019—it’s also available in book form under the title, “Carl Sandburg: American Experience.”
Walter literally breathes Sandburg into existence from the “hush” to where the poet will return at the end of the two-act play, which is structured using Sandburg’s poems such as Chicago, Memories You Can Hold Me Even and Smooth, and I Am the People, The Mob. He takes a pass through the Rootabaga Tales from Sandburg’s successful children’s books and slings a guitar playing selections from his folk music collection, “The American Songbag.”
For a first-time playwright, Walter gets the basics right: “Spirit of Carl Sandburg” has a narrative arc, a beginning, middle, and end. When Sandburg slips back into the “hush” at the end of the play, the inevitability of it all doesn’t seem quite so sad. That’s life.
Later, I asked Walter how he developed the mannerisms for his version of Sandburg.
“At the very beginning of the play, there are two quotes that give me ultimate confidence for the evening,” Walter said. “The first is, ‘I was never once worried about my destiny.’ When I say that, I feel the same about the rest of the evening. Shortly after, he quotes Emerson, by saying, ‘Expression is half the man!’ That is my guidepost for all that follows and my key for the best performance I can give.”
Walter’s next performance will be Brevard, NC on September 10, in the home country of Carl Sandburg’s national historic home.
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