Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 4-28-11

·       Amador Supervisors OK’d a plaque to honor donors who helped restore part of Fiddletown’s China Town.

·       Amador County’s local Cal-Fire unit announced that burn permits are now required starting Sunday, May 1^st.

·       Jackson to seek more recreation surveys toward Prop 84 grant application for a new city park.

·       Wildfire Awareness Week will be marked by an Extreme Makeover “Defensible Space” edition Saturday in Grass Valley

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 4-28-11

·       Amador Supervisors OK’d a plaque to honor donors who helped restore part of Fiddletown’s China Town.

·       Amador County’s local Cal-Fire unit announced that burn permits are now required starting Sunday, May 1^st.

·       Jackson to seek more recreation surveys toward Prop 84 grant application for a new city park.

·       Wildfire Awareness Week will be marked by an Extreme Makeover “Defensible Space” edition Saturday in Grass Valley

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 4-28-11 - TSPN's Tom Slivick sits down with Sutter Creek City Manager Sean Rabe to discuss the Gold Rush Implementation Committee.

Amador County – Amador County Supervisors on Tuesday approved placing a monument and “a small bit of landscaping” on a county lot in Fiddletown, honoring donors who helped restore two Chinese buildings.

Alice Kaiser, Fiddletown Historic Preservation Society president, said they “need to recognize people who donated a significant amount of money,” and the best spot to do so was next to the restored Chinese gambling hall, in a vacant dirt lot where a neighbor normally parks heavy work trucks. Money and plants donations will be “beautifying a very small part of Main Street.”

Supervisor Brian Oneto of District 5 said he spoke with the neighbor, and “it feels like locals versus the Preservation Society.” The neighbor said they might want to place the monument in the existing park west of the gambling hall.

Kaiser said she grew up in Fiddletown and considers herself local, and regardless of location, the county should address the liability of “private parking on the county land.” She said if someone backs into the building, it could cause $200,000 damage, and “you are liable.”

Supervisor Richard Forster said: “I don’t see the sides coming together today,” but “I think your Supervisor should be involved in the discussion.” He recommended Oneto discuss the issue with the Society. Kaiser and Oneto had not spoken. Kaiser said she didn’t speak directly with the dump truck owner and “it was probably a diplomatic error,” but she wanted to wait until the county approved using the lot.

GSA director John Hopkins said the county now knows someone is parking there, and must decide if they want it to continue. Supervisor Louis Boitano said no, due to liability, but wondered about prescriptive rights for parking there. County Counsel Martha Shaver said “you can’t get prescriptive rights against public property.” Oneto asked about ADA compliance, and Shaver said accessibility would be a pathway.

Leland Peterson, monument mason, said the 30x30 lot was donated to the county for a park, and “I don’t think he meant for it to be a parking lot.”

Gary Reinoehl, Amador Historical Society said heavy vehicles compacting soil “can have some adverse affect on fragile historic buildings.” Rebecca Brown called it “an eyesore,” urging a “decision today,” to “let the Preservation Society continue the hard work they are doing.”

Forster said he was “ready to move forward, and with non-concurrence from Supervisor Oneto, it needs to be hammered out one more time.” Oneto said if they are “dead set” they want the monument in that park, “I’ll go along with that.”

Shaver said since the “county wasn’t aware of this use until now,” it should check for pollution and oil drips on the lot, and “the county does have liability.”

The board voted 5-0 to have Hopkins amend the Preservation Society management agreement to allow the monument and landscaping, and add particulars for ADA “and anything else that becomes a liability.”

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Amador County – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reminded people not to forget their burn permits starting this weekend.

Fire Prevention Specialist Teri Mizuhara of the Amador-El Dorado-Sacramento-Alpine Unit of Cal-Fire, said Cal-Fire “is reminding everyone that dooryard burn permits are required starting Sunday, May 1st.” The permits are issued to the public free of charge, are valid for three years from the date of issuance and allow for the burning of dry vegetation that originates on the landowners property. The permits do not allow the burning of trash, which is illegal.

Unit Chief Kelly Keenan is encouraging people to get an early start and begin disposing of all vegetation now when it is safe to burn the piles of tree branches, shrubs and weeds, versus later in the year when burning debris piles can escape.

Keenan said: “We still have a lot of extra vegetation” from the “very destructive December 2009 storms and if we don’t continue to aggressively dispose of this fuel, come summer our wildfires will have the potential of becoming catastrophic.” It is estimated that in some areas there is 33 percent more fuel on the ground than in past years from that single storm.

“Last year 23 percent of our wildland fires in Amador and El Dorado Counties were from burning debris piles that escaped the control of the person in charge,” Keenan said. To reduce risk of starting a wildfire, he advised to begin disposing of vegetation now when it is safer to burn.

Safety tips included keeping burn piles 4x4 feet in size. He advised to scrape the ground to bare dirt in a ten foot wide ring around each debris pile, “have a shovel and water supply (a charged hose) nearby to use in the event your fire escapes from the pile and make sure an adult is in attendance until the pile is completely extinguished.”

Free burn permits are available at most of the local staffed fire stations, Keenan said, and “don’t forget that the use of burn barrels is no longer legal in El Dorado or Amador counties.” For tips on burning debris piles safely or other fire safety topics, see the Cal-Fire website fact sheets. For alternatives to burning, contact Amador Fire Safe Council, or El Dorado Fire Safe Council for details on available programs.

Cal-Fire advised people to remember that they can only burn on “permissive burn days,” so don’t forget to call the local Air Quality Management District immediately prior to lighting burn piles. In Amador call (209) 223-6246. In El Dorado call (530) 621-5897.

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Amador County – The Jackson City Council on Monday determined to seek more recreation survey responses to find what people want in a park in central Jackson.

Amador County Recreation Agency Executive Director Tracey Towner-Yep said it has been hard to gather survey responses, which would be submitted with a grant application for Proposition 84 funds to build a project to meet the city’s recreation needs. ACRA is lead agency in seeking the competitive grant through the California Department of Park & Recreation which can have a maximum of $5 million per grant.

Property called Oro De Amador, after a failed development from the 1980s, is a 160-acre property between New York Ranch Road and North Main, which the city acquired in December 2006 for free from Chubb Insurance Company.

In public comment, Judy Jebian said “it would be nice if Tracy can actually pull down a grant.” She said she is a property owner of land adjacent to the Oro De Amador, and every effort should be made to get survey responses from Rollingwood, and other adjacent property owners. Jebian said “no matter what goes in, there will still be traffic impacts.”

She said a project might impact the “view shed” coming into town on the highway, and “any kind of high-impact sports would be played on the tailing wheel piles, and that would have an impact on our view shed.”

Jebian said everyone knows about the arsenic of the tailings at the park, placed there during operation of the Kennedy Mine. She said “any kind of excavation would be highly problematic,” and arsenic is not only toxic but is carcinogenic. She did not want to get people’s hopes up for the park, and said her “highest hope is for a passive park.”

City Manager Mike Daly said at the next meeting, city and ACRA staff “will present some preliminary site development options for review by the public and the City Council.”

Mayor Connie Gonsalves asked what the next steps are in the process. Towner-Yep said they need a conceptual plan, with an estimated cost to maintain the project, and they would “need an EIR based on whatever it is we design.”

Towner-Yep said she could ask for donated concept drawings, but “when you ask for things for free, you don’t always get what you need.”

She said she understood the council wanted more survey responses from a wider demographic. The 450 or so surveys returned included more than half from people age 18 and under. Daly said “we are running out of time,” and it is “two months before the application is due.”

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Amador County – Wildfire Awareness Week is coming May 1-7 and will be showcased this weekend with the actual defensible space clearing process in neighboring Nevada County.

The U.S. Forest Service announced plans for an “Extreme Home Makeover – Defensible-Space Style” this weekend to demonstrate the creation of fire safety and defensible space at a Grass Valley home.

The homeowner, Bureau of Land Management staff, members of the Nevada County Fire Safe Council, a certified arborist volunteer and 4H volunteers will attend the work project, set for 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April 30 at 15384 Rattlesnake Road in Grass Valley.

BLM public information officer Jane Arteaga and Joanne Drummond, executive director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County announced the event last week. The defensible space makeover was planned to allow Nevada County and any attending homeowners to get experience preparing for fire season. Drummond said Foothills residents can watch this weekend as one Grass Valley home gets an “Extreme Makeover,” just in time for fire season.

She said “representatives from the California Fire Alliance, Fire Safe Council of Nevada County and Chicago Park 4-H Club will help one homeowner create a defensible space around his home.” Members of the public are welcome to watch and learn this Saturday, April 30.

“Take Responsibility” Day will kick off Wildfire Awareness Week and show homeowners in Nevada County what they can do now to protect their homes this summer and prevent the spread of wildfires.

“This event will give homeowners the chance to see an actual defensible space clearing in process at a local home,” said Joanne Drummond, executive director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County. “People can see the clearing in action and ask questions of the homeowner, Bureau of Land Management staff, Fire Safe Council staff, a certified arborist volunteer and 4-H volunteers.”

The Extreme Makeover – Defensible-Space Style” is 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April 30 at 15384 Rattlesnake Road, Grass Valley.

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency and county fire agencies last month approved a joint fire hydrant inspection program to tend to the more than 1,000 hydrants the agency oversees in Amador County.

The Agency announced the decision March 30th, saying it had been working with Amador Fire Protection District and other county fire agencies to develop a cooperative program of fire hydrant inspections. In its late March meeting, the AWA Board of Directors approved a policy of guidelines and forms for the project.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said “Amador Fire Protection District staff will make inspections of AWA-owned fire hydrants in the district.” He said the “inspection program will help alert the Agency to problems with hydrants or other fire protection equipment.” Mancebo said the Water Agency has had informal relationships with some of the fire agencies, but the AWA Board asked for a formal policy.

AFPD Battalion Chief Dave Bellerive said later that the agencies are working together on a plan that will “ensure that the fire hydrants we have are in good working order.”

Mancebo said there are about 1,053 AWA hydrants in Amador County. The Agency has begun the task of identifying each hydrant by its GPS coordinates, but has not completed that project due to reduced staffing levels and budget constraints. Agency crews currently inspect hydrants on an as-needed basis. In some of the county’s water systems, hydrant repairs are being deferred for lack of funds.

During discussion, Directors Paul Molinelli Senior of District 1, and Art Toy of District 5, said they supported a formal hydrant inventory and maintenance program, and an understanding of the cost involved in such an effort, before adopting a policy involving other agencies, Mancebo said. The policy was approved on a 3-2 vote, with Molinelli and Toy dissenting.

Also in late March, the AWA Directors voted to hold a workshop aimed at rental property owners on the issue of tenant billing for water and wastewater service. Mancebo said more than 900 Agency customers, about 11 percent, are renters.

“The current policy of billing tenants directly for water and wastewater services has become a costly burden on the Agency, due to tenant turnover and delinquencies,” Mancebo said.

Currently, liens against property for unpaid Agency bills total more than $150,000. Property owners are ultimately responsible for water and wastewater bills and penalties, but the Agency has been billing and attempting collections from renters as a courtesy service.

AWA staff proposed to stop billing tenants during the last budget process as a potential cost reduction. Directors want to hear from rental property owners before making a decision and will schedule a public workshop on the matter within 60 days.

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Amador County – Assemblywoman Alyson Huber is pushing to allow local jurisdictions pool funds to operate Preston, or other closed state facilities.

Huber continues to fight to keep Preston Youth Correctional Facility operating, by seeking to add budget language that would allow its operation by a Joint Power Authority agreement made among local counties and officials.

Huber’s recent bill to try to slow down the closure of Preston was defeated in committee as the California Department of Corrections moves to close the facility. Huber Chief of Staff Tim Reardon said Monday that Huber is now trying to insert some language into the state budget bill to allow local counties to form a Joint Power Authority so local counties can use their funding together so that they can still have those facilities in which to put wards returned by the state.

Reardon said the plan would keep Preston useful, keep it open as a facility and keep it going in Amador County. The budget is due in June. He said Huber will be trying to talk to local officials and set some meeting to discuss the issue.

Counties are getting back the wards, as the Juvenile Justice portion of budget will be trying to phase out all of facilities, Reardon said. It will give back funding to counties, but “startup costs may not be part of what they get.” So if counties work together, they might be able to handle that cost. He said the “money they get is not going to be enough to startup or to handle these programs.” The aim is to keep Preston vital and keep it as a facility.

He said the juvenile justice portion of the budget is trying to get in this other language to allow local counties, under a Joint Power Authority agreement, “to negotiate with the state to use a facility like Preston.” It would allow multiple counties to get funding and keep the facility running. Reardon said they still have “some hoops to jump through,” but “Alyson is committed to keeping Preston open” and finding viable alternatives to doing so.

He said California Department of Corrections is pretty firm about not changing its mind about the decision to close Preston, and they have some “essential fiscal realities in their case.”

Reardon said they are in the process of setting up meetings to put the issue on the plates of local officials, to make inroads into the communities, and start to “see how local officials would want to see it structured.”

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Sacramento – A Rancho Cordova man last week was indicted on charges of credit card fraud and identity theft, who at the time of his arrest had hundreds of names and stolen credit card numbers in his possession.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Armenak Avagyan, 28, of Rancho Cordova was arrested Wednesday, April 20th, after being charged in a five-count indictment for using, possessing and trafficking of counterfeit and fraudulent credit cards, as well as identity theft.

The indictment alleges that from 2009 to 2011, Avagyan engaged in a wide-ranging scheme to steal credit card information using “Skimmers” installed in gas station pumps to create counterfeit credit cards using stolen information. Those counterfeit cards were then used to charge the victims’ credit card accounts for expensive items bought by Avagyan and others in the Sacramento area. Wagner said that skimming “device making equipment found on Avagyan and in his house contained hundreds of names and stolen credit card numbers.”

Avagyan was arrested last Wednesday (April 20) and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman. Avagyan remains in custody and is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on May 5th.

The case was the result of extensive investigation by El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department, Rocklin Police Department, and agents from the Secret Service and FBI. U.S. Attorney Matthew Morris is prosecuting the case.

If convicted on all counts, the maximum statutory penalty is 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, with an additional two-year consecutive sentence for identity theft.

Amador County Undersheriff Jim Wegner said Monday that there was no indication that the case had any link to some 40 incidents of credit card theft reported last week by the Amador County Sheriff’s Office and Jackson Police Department. Wegner said the ACSO will be looking into any possible link to the case.

In the Amador County cases, Wegner in mid-April said Sheriff’s Detectives are conducting additional investigation into local venders and businesses “which have a nexus to the accounts which have been compromised. The identity of the businesses will not be released to protect the integrity of the investigation as well as to protect those venders from unsubstantiated allegations which would negatively impact their business.”

Wegner said the majority of fraudulent charges to the compromised accounts in Amador County had occurred in England, Canada, Georgia and Colorado. Accounts that have been compromised have been from four local banks or financial institutions. All four of the institutions have been cooperative with the investigation.

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