I live in Modoc county, and whoever wrote that article probably figured no one would ever do any fact checking.
Starting with the first line, the county is in the northeastern corner of the state, not the northwest. And there are two hospitals, not one. And alturas is not the only town in the county. Which is why the hospital employment shows higher numbers than one would expect for a single hospital. The county board of supervisors, all republicans, channeled millions of dollars of school funds to the hospital in Alturas. Illegally, and the state caught them, which has precipitated the mess.
As for it being the most republican county in California, of that i have no doubt. The congressman for here, Tom McClintock, is a party hack who doesn't even live in the district, never has, and is not even from here. The place is so republican that they ran him as a carpetbagger and he won, just because the republican party put him up.
It is ranch country, and a lot of people still make their living on horseback here, literally. Most of the ranches have been in the same families since they were settled. The Paiutes that live here are generally treated like feral people. The last massacre of both whites and indians occurred in about 1912, so there are families that lost grandparents on both sides and they still remember. The author's reference to confederate flags came out of left field, i have no idea where that came from, it is not a feature here. But wouldn't be completely out of character if it was.
One of the other towns in Modoc county is Cedarville. Our hospital was on hard times also, but in June we voted through a bond issue to double the hospital assessment on property parcels to keep it open. I wish the moron author had taken the time to research that far, instead of making his point by distorting the facts. Virtually no one in my town, Cedarville, balked at increased taxes for a specific purpose that was for the public good. And believe me, it is not because it is a Democratic majority in town. The author needs to try again, many of his points were erroneous, but i imagine the NPR folks just sucked it up like a cold beer in August.
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