Keep your U.S. Flag: Nevada to remain a state

CARSON CITY - The Nevada Highway Patrol won't have to storm Nellis Air Force Base to evict service members and confiscate jets after all.

Citizens have decided they prefer Nevada remain part of the United States, rather than become its own country.

The petition for the state's secession from the union fell far short Monday of the necessary signatures to require President Barack Obama's acknowledgement.

The Obama administration created We The People at petitions.whitehouse.gov for citizens to voice their beliefs. Obama promised to make a response to any petition on the site with at least 25,000 signatures in a month.

The petitions, filed for all 50 states, were launched after Mitt Romney's defeat in the presidential election.

Nevada, with only 10,726 signatures, couldn't garner even half the required support. But 10 other states did surpass the 25,000-signature level by 5 p.m. Arizona was about 900 signatures short.

The president also will have to respond to a petition, signed by more than 26,000 people, that calls for deportation of about 1 million people nationally who signed secession petitions for various states.

Stan Vaughan, the Las Vegas chess grandmaster who led the state secession effort, blamed Review-Journal articles for frightening people into not signing the petition.

Nevada historian Guy Rocha previously told the Review-Journal the state constitution contains a "paramount allegiance" clause in which the state and its residents gave up any right to secede from the union. He added that the federal government could use force to secure obedience or charge citizens with sedition if they tried to secede.

"A lot of people were intimidated by the false charges they could be charged with sedition," said Vaughan, who ran unsuccessfully in November as an Independent American Party candidate for the 1st Congressional District.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1868 found that secession can occur only through revolution or an agreement by the states, such as a constitutional amendment.

While falling short in numbers, Vaughan said his efforts were successful because it made more people aware of state rights. He still maintains that Nevada can secede because it was not admitted into the union on "equal footing" with other states. The 13 original states did not have to adopt paramount allegiance clauses in their constitutions, nor did they have to agree to allow federal government control of much of its land.

Vaughan said he expects Obama will say something meaningless in response to the petitions from the states that met the 25,000 requirement.

Other successful petitions on We The People call for the federal government to legalize marijuana and to repeal anti-gay marriage laws. One signed by 45,000 people calls for the repeal of Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Gov. Brian Sandoval opposes the secession effort, as does Texas Gov. Rick Perry. More than 119,000 people signed the Texas secession petition.