Calaveras County – The California Highway Patrol’s San Andreas unit is planning a series of free “Start Smart” teen driver training classes in April and May in Calaveras County.

Public Information Officer Rebecca Myers announced the series of four free teen driver classes, set for April 6 and 8 and May 3 and 9, with one class each in San Andreas, Murhphys, Jenny Lind and Copperopolis.

Myers said “RSVPs must be made by telephone or in person to the San Andreas CHP office. Space is limited and at least one parent or guardian is required to attend with their teen.”

CHP’s goal is to “reduce the death rate among teenagers” as the result of motor vehicle collisions, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said are the leading cause of death for Americans who are 15-20 years old.

Myers said “to address this alarming trend, the CHP developed a program called Start Smart.” It is “aimed at helping newly licensed and future licensed teenage drivers understand the critical responsibilities of driving and to understand that accidents do happen, but collisions are 100 percent preventable.”

The primary objective of Start Smart is to provide teens and their parent or guardians with an “interactive safe driving awareness class which will illustrate how poor choices behind the wheel of a car can affect the lives of numerous people.” ¶ Myers said the “San Andreas CHP cordially invites teenagers and parents and/or guardians to attend a Start Smart class.

The classes are all 6:30 to 9 p.m., with the first set for Wednesday, April 6 at Mark Twain Hospital in San Andreas. The second class is Friday, April 8 at Murphys Fire Department. The third class is Tuesday, May 3 at Jenny Lind Fire Department, and the fourth class is Monday, May 9 at Copperopolis Fire Department.

For more information or to make reservations, call (209) 754-3541.

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Amador County – The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced March 9 that growers with crops affected by a freeze in Amador County and five other Northern California counties last November are now eligible for a limited time to apply for low-interest loans to replenish their losses.

Qualification include that farmers must “have suffered at least a 30 percent loss in crop production or a physical loss to livestock, livestock products, real estate or chattel property.”

Growers in Amador County who had their crops affected by freezing temperatures are now eligible to receive low interest emergency loans from the USDA, up to $500,000.

The USDA Secretary of Agriculture designated a disaster due to freezing temperatures on Nov. 25-26 of 2010. The designation was made primarily in San Joaquin County, and in contiguous counties, including Amador and Calaveras counties, and four others. The designations were announced March 9.

Growers in those counties are eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, and they have eight months, through Nov. 9, 2011, to apply for such loans to help cover part of their losses.

FSA documents list that USDA “emergency farm loans” help “producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding, other natural disasters, or quarantine.” The emergency loans can be used to “restore or replace essential property” or “pay all or part of production costs associated with the disaster year.”

The loans can also “pay essential family living expenses,” help to “reorganize the farming operation,” and “refinance certain debts.”

Collateral is required, and “producers can borrow up to 100 percent of actual production or physical losses, to a maximum amount of $500,000.” FSA documents said the “loans for crop, livestock and non-real estate losses are normally repaid within one to seven years,” but may be extended to 20-year loans. Also, “loans for physical losses to real estate are normally repaid within 30 years,” but may be extended to 40-year loans in “certain circumstances.”

The interest rate on the loans is currently 3.75 percent. Applications for emergency loans must be received within eight months of the county’s disaster designation.

Among requirements, the “borrowers must keep acceptable farm records.” They also “must operate in accordance with a farm plan they develop and agree to with local FSA staff.” The borrowers also “may be required to participate in a financial management training program and obtain crop insurance.”

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Amador County – Wet weather over the weekend is expected to continue this week.

Snowfall in the Amador County Upcountry led to chain control about 3 miles above Pine Grove on Highway 88 early Sunday. East Bay Municipal Utility District anticipated the heavy rain and made capacity available at two reservoirs in Amador County with water releases at Pardee Reservoir and at Lake Camanche. The release rate Friday afternoon at Camanche was reportedly up from 2,400 cubic feet per second to over 3,000 cubic feet per second.

The National Weather Service had predicted a flood watch – a high likelihood of flooding – due to expected heavy rain.

Clouds rolled in Monday over Jackson with pea-sized hail in the afternoon, and slick roads led to reports of at least two vehicles leaving the roadways in Amador County. One included a “vehicle over a cliff” reported at about 3:45 p.m. An east-bound vehicle left Highway 88, east of Climax Road, and a responder reported that he had “made it down to the driver,” who was “conscious and alert and claimed to be uninjured.”

The National Weather Service is predicting a stormy week ahead, with two storms possible, and moderate to heavy rain. The service said rapid rises will be possible on small rivers, creeks and streams across the area.

The service forecasts a 100 percent chance of rain Tuesday night through Thursday, with an 80 percent chance of rain Wednesday night. Rain is predicted to continue through the weekend ahead.

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Amador County – A Jackson Planning Commission public hearing expected to be heavily attended Monday was postponed due to the expected lack of a quorum due to illness of one commissioner and conflicts of interest reported by two others.

City Manager Mike Daly said the public hearing to discuss an application to subdivide 4 parcels in the Rollingwood Estates mobile home park into 226 separate lots was tentatively rescheduled for April 4, as only two of the commissioners would be available to attend the hearing, and it would not give the commission a quorum, that is, a majority of the commissioners being present.

Daly said Vice Chair Kathlyn Devlin would recuse herself from the discussion because of a financial conflict of interest, due to her business interest in New York Fitness, and its proximity to Rollingwood. Commissioner Darek Selman also reported a conflict of interest because a member of his family owns a unit in Rollingwood. Daly said Selman’s conflict might be more of the “common law” type, in that it might financially benefit a relative.

He said the three remaining members, Chair Walt Hoesser, and commissioners Dave Butow and Joe Assereto, would be left without a quorum due to one of them being ill and unable to attend Monday. The meeting’s agenda included a closed session to discuss potential litigation over the Rollingwood issue. Its owner is seeking to split 4 lots of the park “into 219 mobile home lots and seven common area lots.”

According to the application, C&L Investment Company, represented by Joe Chirco “is proposing the subdivision of the parcels which comprise the Rollingwood Mobile Home Park located at 20 Rollingwood Drive.” The subdivision “would create separate legal lots to allow for individual ownership of the spaces which the mobile home owners currently rent.”

The report said the city “General Plan designation of the project site is Single Family Residential with a conditional use permit to allow for the mobile home park.”

Daly said the public hearing’s postponement date would be announced later. It was tentatively set for April 4.

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Amador County – Motherlode Taxed Enough Already Party members asked the Amador County Board of Supervisors Tuesday for a chance to comment on a draft county General Plan that was released earlier this month and will be subject of an April joint meeting of supervisors and Planning Commissioners.

Board Chairman John Plasse said he would “take the fire on this,” saying it was his idea to limit public comment at the April meeting so the Board of Supervisors could make sure staff had followed through on directions given them by the board. He said the board has “heard from lots of you” and also heard lots of criticism asking when the General Plan would be done. He said “there were 27 to 29 General Plan advisory committee meetings,” with discussion on what should and should not go into the plan. They had individual meetings on seven elements, and four joint meetings of Supervisors and Commissioners.

Plasse said “we were hoping to avoid rehashing the same issues over and over again,” but rather to see that staff had followed through on direction given.

TEA Party member Virginia Manner said they “did not have the time or take the time to attend the meetings.” She and others asked for more time to read the new pages in the General Plan.

Manner said they were “not familiar with the language,” and a TEA Party speaker explained the faults of language in the General Plan, specifically regarding property rights.

Supervisor Richard Forster said they recognize not everyone has been able to attend, but they would like to get it done so it will not cost the county more money than it already has. Forster said the county has been “fairly thorough” about getting the public involved.

Plasse said a full public comment period was intended to follow at a later meeting on the draft plan.

One TEA Party member said “socialists are taking over this country.” He criticized the term “sustainable” in the General Plan and said the county did not need affordable housing in the plan. He said: “We don’t really need this. We need to take a better look at it before we head down that road, the road to socialism.”

Sherry Curtis said she had asked that a definition of sustainability be included in the glossary. Plasse said “it’s in there,” and the glossary is one of the things they would be going over, because they “have not had ample time for public comment” on that.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said the “whole General Plan is a work in flux.” He said he did not speak for the whole board, but he thought people would get a chance to speak at the next meeting.

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Amador County – The Ione City Council last week joined other local council jurisdictions last week in proclamation honoring long-time fireman Butch Martin for his 48 years of putting out fires in Amador County.

City Manager Kim Kerr recommended adoption of the proclamation that “congratulates Charles ‘Butch’ Martin on his retirement from the Sutter Creek Fire Department” and “his public service to Amador County and dedication to the fire services in the County.”

The proclamation said “Martin is retiring from Sutter Creek Fire Protection District after 48 years of service. City staff, including Fire Chief Ken Mackey, City Clerk Janice Traverso, and Kerr helped construct the proclamation.

The proclamation said Butch Martin was born in Sacramento on May 28, 1946 to Joseph “Babe” Martin and Marie Martin. Butch Martin joined the Sutter Creek Fire Department in 1962 at the age of 16. After graduation from Sutter Creek High School in 1964, Martin became more involved with the Sutter Creek Fire Department.

In 1969, Martin “married the love of his life, Peggy Martin” and they have two children, Chuck Martin, Jr. and Lynie Harmoning and have two grandchildren, Dustin and Megan.

As a California Department of Transportation worker for most of his career, Martin was assigned to the Ione Cal-Trans maintenance yard. During that time he was always there to lend assistance to the city of Ione Maintenance Staff when needed.

Martin’s dedication to “Amador County fire services reflected in his desire to get full-time firefighters in each fire station to provide the necessary fire suppression and medical services to the residents in the County,” reflected by his “supporting the two sales tax measures to ensure funding,” including Measure L, which narrowly lost, and Measure M, which succeeded and is now funding fire departments county-wide.

The proclamation said “if Butch was in the area when an emergency call went out in the Ione area, he was always there to assist us no matter how long of a day he may have already had.” His “priority was always to help others, ranging from medical care to performing ventilation on a roof of a working structure fire or even the interior fire attack.

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Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisor allocated $94,000 in “Title 3” funding over the last three fiscal years, with $43,000 going to the Amador Fire Safe Council and $51,000 going to the Amador County Sheriff’s Department.

Title 3 funding, established by the “Secure Rural Schools & Community Self-Determination Act,” requires annual allocation renewals. In a 5-0 vote, supervisors re-allocated $23,000 from fiscal year 2008 to the Fire Safe Council to be used specifically for a Community Wildfire Protection Plan for Pine Grove and Volcano, which also will be paid with a $50,000 grant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. As reimbursed or if not needed for up front expenses, the funds were allocated to also be used to develop the next priority Community Wildfire Protection Plan in Fiddletown.

The Board also allocated $20,000 in 2009 funds to be used to develop the Upcountry Community Fire Protection Plan, from Dew Drop and eastward, estimated at $15,000, with the balance to be used for public outreach in connection with Fire Wise Community development.

The Board allocated the balance of 2009 funds, of $17,317 and all of the 2010 funds of $33,631, for a total of just under $51,000, to the Amador County Sheriff’s Department for reimbursement of search and rescue and other emergency services on federal lands.

Undersheriff Jim Wegner said if Title 3 funds had been allocated, the Sheriff’s Department would have been able to reimburse the county General Fund for up to $53,000 in work done on National Forest land since 2009.

Wegner said the Sheriff’s Department has a reimbursement contract with the U.S. Forest Service for up to $23,000 in annual patrolling services in national forests. He said there is another contract for up to $15,000 in controlled substance investigations. He said in 2009, the department had 398 hours of deputy and response time that would have been reimbursable by Title 3 funds, and another 310 hours in 2010.

The funds can be used to reimburse the participating county for search and rescue and other emergency services, including fire fighting, that are performed on federal land in the National Forest system. It also can be used to carry out a “Firewise Communities” program, or be used to develop Community Wildfire Protection Plans.

Amador Fire Safe Council Executive Director Kathy Coos-Breazeal said the federal Firewise program was “putting the onus of labor and cost on the homeowner” for fire protection, with “intrinsic” rewards, for which the council must be a “cheerleader.” The board spoke more in favor of developing the Community Wildfire Protection Plans, but also supported the Firewise outreach, which could be used to secure other grants for work “on the ground,” such as fire-break clearing.

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