The city of Needles is considering breaking off from California and joining neighboring Nevada.
Interesting. We have always thought that a major earthquake would chip off a piece of western California into the ocean, but it seems now that politics is more powerful than any quake, and may splinter off a piece of the Golden State's east side.
Needles is a small desert town of 5,000 citizens cradled by California, Nevada, and Arizona. The town is 213 miles from the county seat of San Bernardino County, and is feeling slighted by the county, and the state of California.
To pursue secession, Needles would have to have the move approved by both state legislatures, as well as a majority of voters from both counties. Then, Congress must sign off on it because the state line would have to be redrawn.
Mayor Jeff Williams is not so convinced that the switch is doable, and calls the attempt to annex Needles into Nevada questionable, and the response of a "City Council throwing a fit like a child. They are thinking with their emotions and not their minds." The reason for wanting to leave the state? The Needles City Council is complaining over the county providing less financial aid for a struggling city-run hospital than the City Council has expected.
As one friend put it to me, "Let them leave. If they get hungry, they'll be back."
If only we could convince San Francisco to secede.