Amador County – The Amador County Sheriff’s Office announced the investigation of the death of an unidentified person whose body was found badly burned in a vehicle after a suspected crash and fire off of Steiner Road. 

Undersheriff Jim Wegner released details of the death investigation in a statement Thursday, which said that at about 7:35 a.m. Wednesday, March 30, “the Amador County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a burned vehicle on Steiner Road which may contain a body.”

Amador County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene near the intersection of Steiner Road and Oakstream Road where they located a burned 1994 Isuzu Trooper which appeared to have been involved in a low speed collision with a fence. The driver’s side doors of the SUV were resting against the fence. In the rear passenger portion of the vehicle, Sheriff’s Deputies located burned human remains.

The Undersheriff’s statement said “Amador County Sheriff’s Detectives responded to conduct a death investigation. The investigation determined the vehicle was currently owned and driven by a 37-year-old male worker at a local winery who was last seen by witnesses the evening before and who was reported to be intoxicated.”

California Department of Fire investigators “were asked to assist with the investigation as it related to the cause of the vehicle fire. The Cal Fire Investigators reported that the burn indicators were consistent with an accident and there was no immediate evidence indicating the fire was intentionally set, however evidentiary samples were taken and are being analyzed at the California Department of Justice.” The California Highway Patrol was requested to conduct a vehicle collision investigation.

ACSO’s statement said: “Due to the severity of the burns to the decedent, Sheriff’s Detectives are utilizing DNA obtained from a relative in San Joaquin County to confirm the identity. A forensic pathologist conducted an autopsy of the decedent and determined the cause of death to be ‘Total Body Thermal Injury’.”

The statement said there “was no evidence of gunshot wounds, sharp force or blunt force trauma located on the decedent during the autopsy.” This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Ione City Council learned Tuesday that it has lost part of its grant funding for a building and restroom project at Ed Hughes Memorial Arena due to a bidding error.

City Engineer John Wanger said Amador County Recreation Agency had to request an extension on $100,000 in Prop 40 funds it had pledged to the project, due to delays.

It went to bid in February, and an “unusual bid bond” submitted by a subcontractor to the general contractor, Wanger said: “We proceeded with the low bidder,” and a notice of award was issued, then another bidder submitted a protest. City staff looked at wording, which said they must have a bond with the bidding contractor.

Wanger said “we actually had to find the bid non-responsive,” reject the award that was given to the low bidder, and award the project to the second lowest bidder. He said that put the project 2-3 weeks behind schedule.

City Manager Kim Kerr said the project originally would be paid for by $82,000 from the State Resource Bond Act, the ACRA funds, and park fees. She said ACRA pulled back the $100,000 for reprogramming because the funds had to be spent by March 31. She said ACRA’s board of directors at its April 13 meeting “will look at how they can assist the city with reprogramming those funds.” Kerr said “this has been a project where everything that can go wrong has” gone wrong.

Kerr sent a letter to Assemblywoman Alyson Huber to see if she can help get an extension on the funds, and the state has said it has “about 20 projects in the situation we are in.” She said this is the number one project they want to get done in Howard Park.

ACRA Executive Director Tracey Towner-Yepp reiterated that she “wanted to make sure that those funds were safe,” and she wants to help with backfilling for the restroom and building project.

During public comment, Dominic Atlan said attended motorcycle races held recently in Hughes Arena, which despite the hard rain drew about 500 people. He said two porta-potties were not enough, and the wait for the bathrooms was about 25 minutes. He said Pizza Factory was the only vendor there, and a fundraising concession could have done good business.

“We were all surprised by the people there,” he said. They had 145 entrants and “bring their own crowd,” including spectators and mechanics. They are scheduled to come back April 30, Atlan encouraged the city to seek more races there by the Stockton racing league.

Recreation Commissioner Laurie Lord said crowds for horse events at the arena are also big, and can have 100 riders in one open division.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Sutter Amador Hospital in Jackson announced Thursday that a “focused risk assessment” confirmed that radiation exposure is not a concern in the hospital’s Outpatient Center and Pediatric Center.

The hospital temporarily relocated the Pediatric Center for a week after employees expressed concern over recent health issues. The clinic is normally located on the second floor of the building above the radiology department.

Anne Platt, SAH Chief Executive Officer said: “We took our employees’ concerns very seriously and addressed them immediately.” The hospital “not only conducted internal tests but also brought in an external expert to evaluate the radiation safety program.” Test results finalized Wednesday “will assure our staff that the building meets all industry standards and their environment is safe for our staff and for our patients.”

On March 30, experts from both the hospital and the Sutter Health System tested radiation levels in the first floor radiology department and in the Pediatric Clinic. Readings were normal, and an independent health physicist, Michael Grissom completed his risk assessment Wednesday confirming those findings. Grissom said: “The structural integrity of the building is intact and the performance of all radiation shields is in compliance with all regulations.”

Dr. David Stone, director of the Pediatric Center was “pleased with how promptly the hospital administration responded and provided reassurance to our staff while also maintaining their confidentiality.” He was confident the Outpatient Center, including the Pediatric Center, is a “safe environment.” Stone said: “We all look forward to moving back as soon as possible.”

The hospital in a release said “diagnosis of a thyroid nodule is the most common endocrine problem in the United States,” and “in this case, it was a small number of employees that had thyroid nodules detected.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel this week announced the commission of a custom-made motorcycle to be named and designed to honor the Miwuk heritage.

Jim Giuffra of Amador Fine Tune Customs of Martell, world class custom metric bike builders, will build “Asumati,” a 750 cc Honda Street Tracker-style custom bike with race inspired suspension. It will be a convertible with a passenger seat/tail section and passenger pegs that can be added with a few bolts.

The bike is the latest creation by Giuffra and AFT Customs for Jackson Rancheria, and will be displayed on tour around the country. “We have known the local builder for years,” said Chad Lewis, Promotions Coordinator for the casino. “This build between AFT and Jackson Casino will be a fun project for everyone involved.”

Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel is owned and operated by the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians.

Lewis said the name selected for the bike is “Asumati,” a Miwuk word meaning grizzly bear, the monarch of the forest. In Miwuk stories, the bear is a symbol of great strength and courage. There is a tale of a young brave who fought a long and furious struggle with a grizzly bear, finally killing the huge animal with a tree limb.

His accomplishment was so remarkable that his tribe called him Chief Yo Semitee – the name for a full grown grizzly – and this name was passed to his children and eventually to the entire tribe and even the valley in which they lived.

Lewis said “Like most Native Americans, the Miwuks had no written language until they came into contact with white men. Theirs was a spoken language and their history and traditions were passed down through the generations by elders repeating stories as they had been told them.”

He said “white men took it upon themselves to write down the words the Indians spoke, so the written vocabulary was necessarily phonetic. The Indians had no use for these writings. For them words were sounds that lived in the memories of the people.”

There are many spellings of the word, various white man’s spellings, the more familiar being Yosemite. But the Jackson Rancheria Miwuks prefer asumati. Lewis said “this word, meaning a creature of strength, courage, intelligence, and a kinship with man, is the name they have chosen for this very special custom bike.”

Asumati is scheduled to be unveiled at the Los Angeles Calendar Show in June, then go on to the American Motorcycle Dealer World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Sturgis, South Dakota, and the Rat’s Hole Custom Bike Show. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.