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Last year we published a story about a small city in Northern California battling a lumber company over access to water. The article focused on the city of Weed, a faded mill town of 2,700 residents in the foothills of Mt. Shasta. For over a century, Weed’s tap water has come from a natural spring on land owned by the timber company, Roseburg Forest Products. Roseburg last year told the city to find another water source, angering residents who said the water was always intended for municipal use, not to be given to the highest bidder.
That’s where we left off.
Seven months after our story ran, a group of residents sent a letter to the district water office asking to clarify the ownership of the municipal water. They also convinced the Weed City Council to back their request.
Roseburg responded by suing the residents and the Weed City Council.
“It is difficult, until you are in the middle of something like this, to understand how intimidating and scary it is to be named in a lawsuit by a huge company with lots of money to spend on lawyers,” Bruce Shoemaker, one of the nine residents who was sued, wrote in a letter to a local newspaper.
Two Oakland-based lawyers, James Wheaton and Paul Clifford, who are representing the Weed residents, asked Superior Court Judge Karen Dixon to dismiss the suit against the individuals on the grounds that it violated their freedom of speech. The lawyers invoked a California law that allows defendants to strike down lawsuits meant to silence criticism, cases known as strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits.
Last week the judge ruled in favor of the residents.
“I think Roseburg figured they would scare these people and shut them up,” Mr. Clifford said in an interview. “But instead of it scaring people off, it emboldened them.”
Continue reading the main storyAn emailed statement by Roseburg’s general counsel, Stuart Gray, said the company was “disappointed” that the case against the residents had been dismissed and was considering an appeal.
Who owns the water? The Weed City Council and Roseburg will continue to battle it out in court.
California Online
(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)
• “We are just getting started,” President Trump said in announcing a rollback of regulations on the environment, health care and financial services. “It is a mirage more than a miracle,” said Xavier Becerra, the California attorney general. [The New York Times]
• Got $2.5 million or more? You still may have trouble finding a home in Silicon Valley. [Mercury News]
• After a six-day preliminary hearing, an Alameda County Superior Court Judge ruled Thursday that Derick Almena and Max Harris, two former residents of the Ghost Ship warehouse that burned a year ago, will go on trial for 36 counts each of involuntary manslaughter. [The Mercury News]
• A 32-year-old firefighter from the San Diego area died Thursday battling the Thomas fire in Ventura county, the second death related to the Southern California fires. [San Diego Union-Tribune]
• Last week two worlds intersected when a cooking fire at a homeless encampment destroyed six homes and damaged a dozen others in the affluent neighborhood of Bel-Air. [Los Angeles Times]
• Moments after the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to roll back net neutrality regulations, Scott Wiener, the state senator representing San Francisco, pledged to introduce legislation that would preserve open internet protections for consumers in California. [Los Angeles Times]
• Kevin de León asked State Senator Tony Mendoza, who is under investigation for sexual misconduct, to step away from his position. Mr. Mendoza’s reply: No. [The Sacramento Bee]
• U.C.L.A. shattered its own record as the nation’s most popular college choice for high school seniors, attracting more than 113,000 freshman applications for fall 2018. [Los Angeles Times]
• Lori Ajax, California’s marijuana czar, issued the first batch of temporary business licenses for the upcoming legal marijuana market. Two businesses in the greater Bay Area were among the first to get them. [The Californian]
• Twenty-seven percent of California schoolchildren between 12 and 17 believe their peers see them as “gender nonconforming.” [The Associated Press via KCRA]
And Finally ...
On Thursday we featured a conversation between two Times correspondents on whether the rivalry between Northern and Southern California was fading. The discussion drew a strong response from readers. Here are some excerpts:
— I’ve always thought that the Bay Area was politically more liberal and culturally more conservative while SoCal was politically more conservative and culturally more liberal. This is less pronounced now but still true. The new division is more urban/rural, coastal/inland, east/west than north/south. — Terry Burnes
— NorCal folks tend to be more intense — about everything. Food, recycling, art, politics. There is a seriousness to all aspects of life. SoCal lives up to its reputation as being generally more chill. Angelenos are like the catering trucks to San Francisco’s four-star dining. They’re just as awesome, only a bit messier. The two areas are like siblings; competitive, bickering, supportive, loving siblings. — Rachael Cudlitz
— Having lived many years in both Northern and Southern California, I think what is most striking is how oblivious the two halves are to each other on a day-to-day basis. In each place, the other is talked about very much like one would report on events on the other side of the country. — Marcia J. Bates
— It is no surprise that San Francisco and L.A. don’t see a north-south rivalry. The are both highly democratic, densely populated, commercialized areas which impose taxes for their pet projects on the rest of the state. These areas control the state budget without needing or wanting any input from rural areas. If you really wanted to know about schisms in California you should have asked a reasonable State of Jefferson supporter. — Anita Paque.
California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.
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