Shasta County officials are rescinding a policy that would ask the media to confine themselves to a special media room during Board of Supervisors meetings. The room, which has been there for as long as the chambers has been there, is separated from the board chambers by a window. As we reported earlier in the week, the board apparently is uneasy about recent disruptions. The policy would still allow reporters to enter the chambers but if the audience was ordered outside, the media would have to go out along with everybody else. Sheriff Mike Johnson made some statements seen as disparaging of the policy and Thursday Chair Kevin Crye released a statement saying that security is the sheriff’s responsibility, and that the media room access was being rescinded.
-Steve Gibson