CALIFORNIA

• TULARE COUNTY has filed suit in federal court to block the U.S. government’s designation of some 328,000 acres of national forest land known as the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The county claims it did not have “meaningful input in the process” before President Clinton, in April, set aside the land for the monument within the 1.2 million-acre Sequoia National Forest to protect half of the 75 remaining giant sequoia groves in the Sierras.
  The county says it will lose 105 lumbermill jobs and face other financial setbacks. The federal government says it is not restricting commercial logging or public access for recreation during the three-year planning period before the monument designation becomes final.
  
  
• RIVERSIDE COUNTY is going electronic this election year with its first-ever touch-screen voting equipment. There are 614,000 registered voters who will have available to them 4,000 machines in all 715 polling places, according to Registrar Mischelle Townsend. The election official cited simplicity, accuracy, security and cost-effectiveness as attributes that sold the county on the devices. The county spent about $14 million on the electronic ballot boxes and the peripherals Townsend said.
  
  

FLORIDA

• Prisoners in MIAMI-DADE COUNTY have an opportunity to learn a skill and give something back to the community. The Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department recently started a cabinet shop program to train prisoners to make useful wood objects, which are then donated to United Way to distribute to the underprivileged during the holidays. Among the items inmates have made are clothes lockers, children’s step stools, toy appliances, games, and building blocks.
  The county also provides prisoners training in auto mechanics, welding, small engine repair, auto body repair and printing.
  
  

MICHIGAN

• OAKLAND COUNTY holds a biannual auction to raise money for the county. County departments contribute items and get back a portion of net profits from the auction. This fall’s auction included luxury cars, trucks, vans, a bus, bicycles, office equipment, computers, jewelry and lawn mowers. The 2000 auctions brought in $423,098 in May and $245,958 last month, according to Jack Smith, Oakland County chief of support services. The lower take was due to fewer vehicles offered in October compared to last year Smith explained. The next auction is scheduled for next spring.
  
  

NEW YORK

• SUFFOLK COUNTY could be the first county in the country to cite motorists and fine them ($150) for operating their car and using a hand-held phone. There are a growing number of city ordinances addressing this public safety issue around the country but this is the first time, it is believed, that a county has taken such action.
  “We are targeting careless driving habits that didn’t exist 10 years ago,” said Suffolk County Executive Robert Gaffney.
  The New England Journal of Medicine, in a study conducted a few years ago, reported that those operating vehicles are three to six times more likely to be involved in an accident while their attention was divided talking on a telephone.
  
  

TEXAS

• The Texas Historical Commission (THC) has divvied up about $49 million in grant funds to 19 counties for the preservation and restoration of Lone Star State courthouses.
  THC Architecture Director Stan Graves said an additional $750 million to $1 billion may be required to completely restore all Texas county courthouses many of which date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  “It is our responsibility to honor this irreplaceable legacy by empowering local communities to use preservation as a way to promote heritage tourism and [to] revitalize local economies,” said Larry Oaks, THC executive director.
  The top five awardees were: GRAY, $3.8 million; HOPKINS, $3.6 million; ELLIS, $3.5 million; RED RIVER, $3.4 million; and MILAM, $2.9 million.
  
  

VIRGINIA

• Police trainers in ARLINGTON COUNTY are using new software called ADORE (Automated Daily Observation Report and Evaluation) that shaves off 2 to 2-1/2 hours a day in documenting police recruits’ training. The new software allows computerized note-taking and includes a rating system that allows trainers to track performance in dozens of categories.

(News from the Nation’s Counties was compiled by Valerie Ziobro, special correspondent; Terry King, senior staff writer; and Bev Schlotterbeck, County News editor. If you have news from your county, please e-mail to: cnews@naco.org.)