A bombshell announcement awaited the crowd Wednesday night at a meeting called by Sheriff Michael Johnson concerning a proposed corrections and rehabilitation campus. The facility was proposed for a piece of City of Redding property that would be purchased by the county off Eastside Road near the River Ranch Neighborhood. Residents of that neighborhood have brought a lawsuit to oppose the project. All of those complaints became moot Wednesday night when, with a flair of drama and suspense, Sheriff Johnson announced that the facility will not, in fact, be built at that location at all. He said the decision was due to public outcry and some issues with the environmental impact. Still, with Shasta County having the highest per capita arrest rate in the state, and a jail that’s usually 90% full, finding solutions for criminal accountability remains a priority. The Sheriff still wants to establish the campus, but an alternative location has not been determined.
-Steve Gibson