RODONI'S WAY: 2ND DISTRICT SUPERVISOR EMBODIES SOUTHERN HUMBOLDT'S
INDEPENDENT SPIRIT

EUREKA -- Politicians come in two general flavors.

There are the diplomats, who spread the same silvery balm of rhetoric over
every issue.

Then there are the ones who shoot from the hip, fire off their gut
feelings. You may not agree with them, but at least you know where they stand.

Most would agree Roger Rodoni, who represents Humboldt County's fiercely
independent southern district on the Board of Supervisors, falls into the
second category.

"I don't consider myself too wild -- I'm too old to be wild," Rodoni said,
his 62-year-old smile breaking through a salt-and-pepper beard. The
lifelong rancher's eyes twinkled beneath a black cowboy hat, his tweed
blazer contrasted by a pair of jeans and boots.

The District

Rodoni's district stretches from Fortuna south to the county line -- the
land of Eel River Valley ranchers and farmers. It's also home to that
invisible community of marijuana growers.

Taking a position that seems against his Republican stripes, Rodoni has
repeatedly voted against accepting state and federal money to participate
in the Campaign Against Marijuana Program. Rodoni insists his vote is not a
pro-drug stance.

"The war on drugs is where I have a problem," he said. "If you're
appropriating $500,000 to chase pot growers ... I can think of a lot of
other things we can do with that money that would be more advantageous,
like fixing some of our roads.

"It's a simple matter of economics. The price of marijuana is going down
because the supply is going up. What good is all this money we're spending
- -- at best (CAMP) is a price suppressant. If you eliminate CAMP the price
would go out of it. So my voting against CAMP is not in the best interest
of marijuana."

[NON-DRUG POLICY PORTIONS WHICH FOLLOW NOT ARCHIVED]