Living in California, Is it worth it?

I was born in Auburn, California on March 1, 1954. Both of my parents were born in California's Central Valley. My early years were spent in the High Sierra Gold Country along what is now Interstate 80. We lived in Gold Run, Immigrant Gap, Alta, Blue Canyon and Dutch Flat. My folks had moved to the area to set up a sawmill in Gold Run in the Mid 1950's. The mill was very successful and it was sold in 1959, along with 6 million board ft, of standing timber.

My Dad and his brother Steve, pooled their resources and purchased the James Hall Ranch in Meridian CA, right along California's Sacramento River. My family lived on the ranch

for a couple of years, then my Dad purchased a couple of lots in town (Meridian) and, using a VA loan, built a beautiful home on Mawson Rd,

I started school in Meridian in 1960 in a 4 classroom school in Meridian. I went through 6th grade in that old brick school house. In 1967, construction was completed on a new, very modern school. I attended that school in 1967 and 1968. That is where I met Mr. A.J. Hyatt, who you have heard about a lot in other posts on this blog. He was the Principal of the Meridian School at the time and left the same year that I graduated 1968.

Growing up in Meridian was a wonderful opportunity for a curious young kid. Having access to the Ranch and everything on it, offered unlimited opportunity for learning about life. Although we lived in town, it was only a 2 mile bike ride or walk to get to the ranch. I learned to drive in a 1951 Jeep CJ3A which had been purchased new by my dad and his brother for the lumber business. All of my cousins and all of my brothers and sisters learned to drive on the ranch in that Jeep. By the age of 10 or so, I was driving all over the ranch by myself with a .22 Ruger rifle, reeking havoc on the jack rabbit population. I learned to drive, shoot, operate heavy machinery, weld, fabricate, etc, etc. in this situation. all by the time I was 14.

I went on to Sutter High School in 1969 and graduated in 1972. I attended one year of Community College at Yuba College in Marysville.

The next phase of my life was all about learning to work and making a living in California. My dad had separated himself from the operation of the Ranch and his brother early on. He employed some of the equipment from the lumber operation in Gold Run and leveled the ranch. After that task was complete, he gathered up more earth moving equipment and began a 15 year career leveling rice and orchard land in Colusa and Sutter counties. I had the opportunity to work with him in that business until he retired in 1975. He went on to purchase another cattle ranch in Penn Valley, CA and develop it into home sites. He passed away in 1999.

After my dad retired, I found my calling in the underground construction business. I worked for several companies, installing underground telephone cable in Northern California.

I got married in 1979 and had 2 children, Lauren Brooke, and Nathan Blair.

In 1979, I went to work for a company in the Central Valley that rented late model Caterpillar tractors to farmers for cultivation of rice land in the spring. I was given the job of Area Manager and was responsible for operations north of Sacramento, The company was very successful and it was a dream come true for a kid who had grown up around "vintage" Caterpillar equipment that was often held together with bailing wire. My dad could fix anything. He often said all he need was wire and a pair of pliers. Agri-Till offered me the opportunity to work around almost new Caterpillar track type tractors that were immaculately maintained and managed,

The Ag rental business hit some rough times in the mid 1980's when the savings and loan crisis hit, Agri-Till was forced to completely re-invent themselves to survive. The new Agri-Till had not place for me. I had a wife with MS, 2 kids and I did not feel I could move, I left Agri-Till in 1985.

The partner in Agr-Till who hired me was a young guy named Dick Lolmaugh. He had been raised on a peach and cherry orchard in Marysville, attended Cal Poly in SLO, and went on to found Agri-Till with a guy named Leo Marihart. Dick had been forced out of Agri-till a year or so before I left. He had gone on to build an equipment business that specialized in machinery for the waste management industry. I began to do work for Dick, manning trade shows, doing marketing, etc. At some time subsequently, I became a partner in the company which was called Waste Management Machinery Inc. We worked together in a facility in Selma, CA until late 1985 when we were approached by some men from New York who wanted our expertise in pumping very viscous liquids. We had been using small suction dredges to move heavy waste liquids in farming situations. Later that year Dick and I were both offered a full partnership in a venture to bid an upcoming job in Benecia, CA. to stabilize a large quantity of liquid waste that was was being stored in open ponds in the CA bay area. Dick and I began the process of establishing a company called Hydro Stabilization, Inc. We were 5 partners. Dick and I, Richard Lamphear, who at the time was an employee of the client, and two guys who were loggers in upstate New York. The team was set and we were awarded the job. The job completed in early 1987 and Dick and I parted ways in the wake of that job. Hydro had been very successful for a couple of farm boys and gave us both a badly needed boost when it was badly needed.

I moved on to form Cen Cal Ag Services, Inc. with long time friend and partner, Mike Lear of Davis, CA. I obtained a California Pest Control Operator license and we began to do pest control work in Sutter, Yolo, Sacramento, Colusa and Solano counties.

In 1997, we were offered a distributor ship for Argo amphibious all-terrain vehicles by the manufacturer in Canada. We had purchased an Argo vehicle for a waste job we were doing for Dow Chemical in Pittsburgh, CA. We had been using it for spraying tomato beds in the spring. Mike and I borrowed $25000.00 from my folks to purchase the first 4 Argo vehicles and a parts supply in 1988. We operated the Argo distributorship from within Cen-Cal Ag Services until 1991. Mike and I separated the two operations in 1991 and I moved the Argo operation back to Yuba City, CA and formed a new company to hold the distributorship. Points West Argo, Inc. began a 20 year run representing Argo in 13 states, Mexico and the Caribbean. Market and financial factors in the Great Recession of 2008 caused Argo to change the distribution model for the US that they had used since beginning operations in 1987. They decided to eliminate their US distributors and sell their products direct to OUR dealers. The US Argo dealer network was totally built and managed by the US distributors. Argo had no role in that process. New ownership at ARGO saw an opportunity to change the model and secure our network of dealers and our profit structure for their own. We were given a choice of signing a document promising not to sue them over the takeover of our business and becoming a factory direct dealer or severing our relationship completely with ARGO. We chose the former. We felt that if we streamlined our operations and sales in California stayed at least static, we could survive. The recession deepened and California sales plummeted. We were forced to end our relationship with ARGO and re-invent ourselves.

Points West Argo, Inc. still exists today, as ARGO did not see fit to come after us for using their name in our name, We downsized our facility and concentrated on the golf cart part of our business which we had added in 2004. Today, the company operates a website dedicated to golf cart parts and provides service and parts for golf carts and Argo vehicles.

That all brings me back to the subject of this article. Living in California. Since my days at Agri-Till and Hydro Stabilization, the regulation imposed on companies doing business in California has been getting increasingly more anti- business. At Hydro Stabilization we were exposed to the most stringent health and safety regulations anywhere. The operations of Cen-Cal Ag services were overseen by County and State regulators making things very hard to operate in California. As with many things, when impediments are put into place slowly, you may not notice. We just learn to comply in order to keep working. One of the operations of Points West Argo, Inc. is a the operation of a FFL, or federal firearms license. My company has a federal, state, and local license to engage in the sale and transfer of firearms in CALIFORNIA!

It is interesting how that really works. The federal FFL is difficult to get and takes awhile. The license is given by the US Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, or ATF. I hear from them about every 2 to 3 years for an audit and every 5 years for a license renewal. The second amendment that allows us to own firearms lives within the US constitution and the US government knows that and mostly respects that right. The state of California, however holds huge power as to how those rights are managed. Many states just depend on the ATF system of back ground checks to manage gun sales. Not California. They operate their own Department of Justice firearms department. They require a state license, a personal license a local license, waiting periods, background checks for ammunition purchases and more. There are even state laws that prohibit the loaning of firearms, or the incidental transfer of ammunition to anyone else, and a prohibition of using lead ammunition for taking any animal.

Operating a licensed firearms business in California is very difficult. I believe the state of California wants it that way. They do everything in their power to make it difficult to do business. Our Attorney General is a very liberal politician. He does not believe that anybody should be able to own a gun or buy one. His political views run systemically through the department of justice. They do nothing to help dealer navigate through the labyrinth of regulation. Since the Covid -19 pandemic hit in March of 2020, The DOJ firearms division does not take any phone calls. They have decided they do not need to talk to dealers. They instruct us to use email to communicate with them. Then they ignore the email. I have problems right now that I can not resolve. I email as instructed and they ignore me. I have recently decided that the obstruction to the legal sale of firearms by the CA DOJ is real and there is no end to it in sight I am giving up the fight. As much as I have enjoyed the ability to own an FFL, the return on investment is not there. I am cleaning up loose ends and closing my FFL.

So back to the question, why do I live in California when the state makes it so hard to do business here? Lets look at what is good about living in California. There is the weather. We have 4 seasons. Winters are fairly mild if you do not live in the high Sierras. Spring and Fall are delightful, and summers are mild except for the hottest part when we see temps over 100 deg. , but with low humidity. Low humidity, that is the important part. Spend some time in the Gulf South and see what high humidity feels like.

The recreational opportunities available in California are endless. I live in the northern half of the Sacramento Valley. We are 2 hours from the high Sierras. Just 2 hours from the venue that hosted the 1960 winter Olympics. World class winter recreation. The Sacramento Valley is home to many rivers and lakes. Fishing and hunting opportunities are everywhere. two and a half hours to my West is the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco, the Redwoods, etc, etc.

Over the last few years, I have looked hard at leaving the suffocating business climate of California for greener pastures. The reality is that I am coming to the end of my business career and will embarking on retirement in the coming years. Living in California is also more expensive than living in other states. Income tax, sales tax, gas tax, property tax, vehicle registration fees, etc., all add up to a high cost of living. There has to be places that are less expensive to spend the money we will have left. I am sure there are. But, lets consider what has to happen to be able to do that. First we would have to close any business we have left that requires a facility. My parts and repair business could probably not be re-created in another state. My web based parts sales business can be done from anywhere with a laptop and internet service. Secondly, we would have to sell our home. Not an attachment issue, but our friends and kids are here. There would be a commission, packing and moving expenses, the expense of finding a new home in another state. Lets say it would cost $15-20k to move. We could pay a lot of taxes in California and still be ahead of the game by staying put.

California has given me a lifetime of opportunities that I may not have had if I was born somewhere else. Even with the suffocating regulation and punitive tax structure, California is my home and I will most likely stay here for the finish. I plan to be fishing, hunting, jetskiing, boating, camping, etc. in the wonderful climate of Northern California for the foreseeable future. They don't want us in Idaho anyway.

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