Liz Writes Life 2-17-2021

 February 17, 2021

Liz Writes Life

Recall Gov. Newsom

A state-wide petition to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom has been making headlines as the number of signatures needed to put a recall on an election ballot continues to grow. Recent headlines say the number of signatures is up to 1.5 million. The petitioners have a month left to meet the legal deadline and are hoping to get another 500,000 signatures from registered voters.

If you are a registered voter and have signed the petition, do not sign it again. Under election codes, your signature will only be accepted once. If you sign it more than once, it will affect the outcome of actual signatures gathered. Each county clerk throughout the state will be verifying the signatures within each county office comparing it to the signature used for voter registration. It is important to sign the petition with the same signature if you want your signature to count. Recall petitions are quite finicky and must meet exact rules.

If the recall petition does receive the correct number of signatures, the petition will then demand an election for the actual recall. The petition does not actually recall the governor, but is needed to create the election voting process.

Republican California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley is a leader in the recall petition, which began last fall. Because of the pandemic and lockdowns, the leaders were able to get three additional months to obtain the needed signatures. I believe it was a court that made the decision.

Kiley, who is an attorney, has written a book titled, “Recall Newsom: The case against America’s most corrupt governor.

Petition available

In trying to reach rural areas, Kiley will be in Yreka on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 for a book signing at Zephyr Books and Coffee on Miner’s Street from noon to 3 p.m. Petitions for additional signatures will also be available for those who may want to join in this effort.

There are two recall groups working cooperatively to obtain the needed signatures. In an unusual twist, the Republican National Committee announced last week that it is donating $250,000 towards the recall efforts. 

RNC Chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, said, “Gov. Newsom’s authoritarian measures, blatant overreach and complete mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic have proved that he is woefully unqualified to lead the state of California.” She added that it was time the people used their constitutional recourse to remove him from power. Republicans are united in this.

Also, last November, Kiley and fellow Assemblyman James Gallagher won an all-important lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom, which stated Newsom abused his authority by changing state law in violation of the California constitution during the pandemic. The court decision now denies Newsom the power under California Emergency Services Act to amend, alter or change any existing statutory law or make new statutory law to legislative policy. 

Making law is the state legislature’s business not the governor’s through executive demands.

Snowpack increased

Because we received some good snow storms in January, the snowpack at the headwaters of the Scott River at the south end of Scott Valley brought in some decent numbers, when employees of the Klamath National Forest conducted the annual February snow survey on Feb. 2, 2021.

The overall percentage of snowpack is about 81 percent of average for February. Middle Boulder station 1 at 6,000 ft. measured 44.2 inches of snow with the average of 49.4 inches during the past 75 years.

Middle Boulder station 2 is a bit higher in elevation at 6,200 ft. and it measured 103 percent of average at 50.1 inches. Dynamite Meadow at 5,700 ft. dropped to 59 percent of average at just 22.1 inches.

Swampy John, above Etna on Salmon Mt. at 5,500 ft., hit 72 percent with 40.6 inches compared to an historical average of 55.9 inches.

KNF does the surveys in cooperation with the CA. Dept. of Water Resources as part of the statewide program that forecasts the quantity of water available for agriculture, power generation, recreation, and stream flow releases throughout the year. 

Luckily, the big storm several weeks ago brought in the much needed snow and increased the snowpack in the Sierras to about 93 percent of historical average on Feb. 1, 2021. That survey by state employees recorded 63 inches of snow depth at the Phillips snow station near South Lake Tahoe. 

Karla Nemeth, Director for DWR, is still worried because of the dry start to the 2020-2021 winter. She said, “While there is still a chance we will see additional storms in the coming weeks, the Department and other state agencies are preparing for the potential for a second consecutive year of dry conditions.”

Darn that is not good. Even though the temperatures were a little too warm for my liking in the first half of February, at least continued rain and snow storms are in the forecast. Sure do hope the snowpack gets higher and higher in the mountains.

Peace to you -- and may calm fill our hearts even as these trying times make us wonder.

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

# # #