When Assembly bill 666 Was presented on February 14 of this year, it was a reserved space – what is called a bill, tabled to beat a legislative period and intended to be modified on a later date.
In the tradition of California spot invoices which are largely within the jokes, the member of the assembly Chris Rogers and its staff referred to the north coast favorite mythological creature, Bigfoot.
“There is a long and legendary story with spot invoices in California,” Rogers (D-Santa Rosa) told Times-Standard. “John Burton, who was a state legislator and continued to be the president of the Democratic Party, would introduce a bill every year that was to be poor a crime, like a joke. …
“And we thought it would be particularly funny (to introduce a Bigfoot bill) because generally spot invoices disappear. We thought that we would go above the top with AB 666 and that on the road if we needed it, we could modify the bill and tell people: “Bigfoot disappears; Bigfoot is elusive. “”
Rogers therefore presented the bill designating Bigfoot as “the official cryptid of the State”.
He could not have planned the weeks of the newspapers that followed while his inner joke was beginning to draw the attention of the media to the regional, state and national level.
AB 666 even caught the attention of the host of “The Late Show” Stephen Colbert, who joked: “Well, it's strange and completely useless. California already has a mystical fur creature – Randy Quaid. »»
“Even before Stephen Colbert spoke about it in his program and we did something about it, we already obtained Bigfoot enthusiasts who were holding up, who were really excited by this bill,” said Rogers. “With hindsight, it makes sense because things are so tense, especially when you talk about national politics.
“People are concerned about the future, legitimately worried about what is happening … And this bill provides at least this moment of lightness within politics that has a kind of shared culture so that people on the North coast can rally. This allowed us to have fun while being serious about some of the other problems we are working on. »»
Bigfot East Serious business, however, for many communities north of the Sequoia curtain.
“If you look at him from the point of view of tourism, he really draws attention – at least to Sacramento – to the north coast,” said Rogers.
For the moment, the text of the reserved space remains. A bill to designate a state cryptide is not unprecedented: Wyoming legislators have tried three times to raise jackalope to official status; Washington's legislation to devote Sasquatch has never been signed.
And AB 666 is not the first time either that the Times-Standard has encountered Bigfoot legislation. In 1967, the year in which the famous Patterson-Gimlin film claimed to capture Bigfoot on the camera, the Times-Standard printed an opinion article calling on the state legislators to “legalize Bigfoot”.
“The idea of legislating on something that may not exist may seem a bit far, but our legislators have done some distant things in the past, such as the flight of a citrus or an artichokes a crime in California. … We now propose that the Senator Randolph Collar and the Assembly, Frank Belotti, in the convocation in January of the state legislature, introduce another bill on the region at home – one to “legalize” Bigfoot “.
Andrew Genzoli, a writer of the predecessor of Times-Standard, The Humboldt Times, first invented the expression “Bigfoot” in October 1958.
In an article entitled “Giant Footprits Puzzle Residents along Trinity River”, Genzoli told the experiences of Jerry Crew, who met with large humanoid fingerprints in the Creek Bluff region while working on a road construction team.
The crew presented in Genzoli a plaster plaster of the footprints, 18 inches long and 7 inches wide.
Ten days later after Genzoli's article, however, colleague Bill Chambers would cast a doubt about the story of Crew after learning that the crew colleague Ray Wallace may have made the imprints. The demystification, however, did not embody the interest in the new named Bigfoot.
“It is the day Bigfoot was born; Mr. Genzoli appointed him Bigfoot, “said Eric Nelson, a volunteer at the Willow Creek China Flat Museum and the retired professional application.
“Before the Amerindians had regional names, and there were regional names throughout the country – Woodbugger, Missouri Mudman, in the North West Pacific, Hairy Man, Creek Devil, Boss of the Woods, Ridge Walker – a certain number of names and associations for a kind of creature that was large in the woods. But that day in 1958, they put everything in Bigfoot. »»
Located at the junction of highways 299 and 96 – known by many under the name of “Bigfoot Highway” – the China Flat Museum is organizing a world renowned Bigfoot collection. The museum is often called Bigfoot Museum, although it is a general history museum with a disproportionate Bigfoot wing.
In 1988, Nelson declared, realizing that the matriarchs and patriarchs of the region died and carried with them the relics of the wealthy Amerindians and the beginning of the beginning of the community, the residents of Willow Creek founded a museum of general history. Although he contained memories of Bigfoot, it was only almost a decade later when Bob Titmus, a longtime investigator from Bigfoot, bequeathed his domain at the museum that his Bigfoot collection was born.
Nelson said that museum visitors are all ages and come from around the world. He underlined the television show “Finding Bigfoot” as a recent meeting point for many young people.
“I think it's generational. At each generation, he seems to have legs again, “said Nelson. “One of my friends who has a shop in Willow Creek who has Bigfoot memories noticed that he had an adult adult (visitors), parents influenced by … '' with Leonard Nimoy, and their children were motivated or inspired by finding Bigfoot. ''.
“We have so many youtube creators who pass. There may be four or five individual YouTube creators who filmed the content of Bluff Creek during the summer. It's continuous. I brought in a gentleman and interviewed myself last year, Groovy Gavin, an cryptide YouTube investigator, and it was only an average interview, but it was seen 597,000 times. »»
Shannon Hughes, president of the Willow Creek Chamber of Commerce Board, told Times-Standard that being a believer in Bigfoot was not really optional for the 1700 residents of the community.
“You can't really live in Willow Creek if you are not a believer,” said Hughes jokingly. “And if you are not, you keep it for yourself.”
Hughes said that the proximity of the community with Bluff Creek and to the state of Route 96 the place firmly at the epicenter of the history of Bigfoot of the 20th century, and that its business community has enthusiastically adopted this position.
“Willow Creek is really the capital of the Bigfoot world – not only because of local history, but because of how much we have decorated the city in any Bigfoot. And of course, there is Bigfoot Daze. »»
This summer, Willow Creek is expected to host its 63rd annual Bigfoot Daze festival. The block celebration, scheduled for July 12, will showcase a variety of sellers, live music and the famous parade on the theme of Bigfoot of the community. This year's event will also include a new place in downtown Willow Creek, because its previous Veteran's Park is renovating.
“I think whoever looks at the cultural impacts of these cryptids – and that's what it is; This is a cultural impact that they have as a driver of the local culture – (knows that) Bigfoot, takes the cake by far, “said Rogers. “Bigfoot is the one everyone knows around the world … and in California, we all know that Bigfoot comes from Willow Creek.”
Rogers said that, although the introduction of AB 666 was fierce had been sandwiched between two invoices that work to advance renewable energies on the North Coast, it was not an accident in the sense that Bigfoot has a disproportionate relationship with the region and its ecology, and the protection of these important elements of its legislative agenda.
Nelson also said it was not a coincidence that Bigfoot calls the Klamath mountains his house.
“Bigfoot, for me, represents nature and how powerful and elusive it is – and how fragile and resilient – it's all these things. And that's what our mountain range is – because it's so biodiversity; We have 18 species of conifers at a distance from Mile in our mountains. It is unknown in this world … It is a magic mountain range, so why not have a magic beast that is elusive and furtive in these mountains. »»
Robert Schaulis reached 707-441-0585.
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