Amador County – Emergency irrigation spraying on Mace Meadow Golf Course has helped the Amador Water Agency reduce the level of its treated wastewater storage pond, and led to the lifting of a voluntary water conservation order for Upcountry water customers.

27 days after issuing a voluntary conservation order due to heavy rains, the AWA Wednesday announced that it was lifting the order, after the level of water in the storage ponds at Mace Meadow was brought below the level the state considers critical to the system.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo announced the easing of the voluntary conservation order, saying “the backwash pond at the Mace Meadow Golf Course is now below the two-foot freeboard emergency level, as determined by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.”

He said dry weather, coupled with the agency’s agreement with Mace Meadow “allowing significant irrigation on the golf course, has reduced the pond level.” He said irrigation spraying on the golf course will continue through the upcoming weekend, “which will reduce the pond level by at least another foot.”

Mancebo said: “We will be monitoring the weather and the pond level closely and work with the Golf Course Board to reactivate early irrigation before the pond reaches the two-foot freeboard elevation, should that be necessary.”

The voluntary water conservation order was put into place on Jan. 6, after heavy rains. On Wednesday, it was lifted. It covers all public water customers of Mace Meadow Mutual Water Company, Rabb Park Community Services District, Pine Grove Community Services District and AWA’s Retail System in the Central Amador Water Project. Water usage can return to normal in all of those districts.

Mancebo said the agency wanted “to thank all of the Upcountry water users for their cooperation in conserving water over the past month.” He said when they “ask for help, our customers always go above and beyond.”

AWA Operations Manager Chris McKeage has been working on installing a filter system to recycle backwash water that flows into the Mace Meadow storage pond. McKeage said agency crews are on track to have the second-hand backwash recycling plant online in two weeks. It’s expected that recycling will reduce backwash water sent to the ponds by at least 80 percent.

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Amador County – Amador County Public Health on Tuesday said it is “not too late to vaccinate,” and incidents of flu are reportedly on the rise. ¶ Amador County Health Officer, Dr. Robert Hartmann said Tuesday that “flu cases are increasing across the United States,” and “25 states are now reporting” what they call “widespread flu activity.”

Hartmann said California just increased the state’s flu activity status rating to “regional,” a “designation shared with 15 other states, meaning that many regions in California are reporting laboratory confirmed influenza cases.”

Amador County Public Health recommended that everyone receive their seasonal flu vaccine if they have not already received it this season. Public Health clinics are held 2-6 p.m. each first and third Tuesdays of the month, and 9-11:30 a.m. on the fourth Tuesday of the month. The cost for a flu vaccination is $10, and Medi-Cal billing is available. Private providers, clinics and pharmacies may also still have a supply of flu vaccine.

Hartmann said flu prevention measures are also important. Key recommendations include washing your hands often with warm soapy water for at least 30 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizers.

Another important practice is to “cover your cough and your Sneeze, and if you cough or sneeze into a tissue, throw it away and then wash your hands.

Hartmann said a third important way to prevent spread of flu is to “stay home if you are sick.” He said: “Current guidelines are asking our community members to stay home for at least 24 hours after they are fever-free.”

Flu symptoms include a fever of 100 degrees or higher, in addition to a cough or sore throat. Other symptoms that could also be present are a headache, runny or stuffy nose, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

For information, call Amador Public Health at (209) 223-6407.

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Amador County – The University of California Cooperative Extension is hosting a “Fruit Tree Grafting Clinic” from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 5 at the Amador County GSA Building, at 12200-B Airport Road in Martell.

The “hands-on” clinic on grafting techniques is for home gardeners and will be hosted by U.C. Cooperative and Amador County Master Gardners.

The Master Gardeners program announced the clinic this week, saying that “grafting is the art of inserting a piece of one plant into another in a certain way expecting that the parts will grow together and form a permanent union.”

Discussion will include grafting different varieties of fruit trees, including “pit to pit,” for peach, nectarine, apricot, and plum; or “seed to seed,” for apples. The technique allows gardeners “to create a variety of fruits that will mature at different times on the same tree. This also allows the necessary cross pollination of some trees, including cherry.”

Materials and procedures will be presented. Scions are collected when pruning during the dormant period and stored in a damp, cool location until it is time to graft. Related tools such as a “whip, tongue and cleft grafts will be demonstrated and practiced.” Bud grafts will be discussed, and a variety of fruit tree scions will be available.

For information, or to ask questions about the class, or for other gardening questions, call the Master Gardeners at the U.C. Cooperative Extension Office from 10 a.m. to noon, Tuesday or Thursday, at 223-6838; or send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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SONORA – Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority announced last week the opening of its Small Business Center, through a $10,000 contribution by AT&T to purchase 10 laptop computers.

Tuolumne Economic Development Authority Director Larry Cope said the business center will provide a private meeting and a conference training room for business consultants from the Business Alliance of Tuolumne County and other partners. He said AT&T recently awarded the Economic Prosperity Council, the nonprofit arm of TCEDA, with a $10,000 contribution to purchase 10 laptop computers and business software. The new center, along with the 10 new laptops, will be available for hands-on computer training for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Multiple consultants met with “350 new small business clients in 2010” and there “was a real need for professional office space for confidential client meetings,” Cope said. “Office space for consultants to meet with their clients was extremely limited,” and “this new small business center will solve that problem.”

Lorinda Forrest of Launch Point Consulting said having an office “lends credibility to our small business services,” and “a professional location with a phone, computer and WIFI access, and a space to spread out business and marketing plans.”

The Business Alliance of Tuolumne County formed last March 2010 to streamline business consulting services for four agencies in Tuolumne County, and provide a centralized phone number and website. Services are free to small business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs, including business and marketing plan mentoring, finance, human resources, website development and maintenance, bookkeeping, patents, publicity, and understanding county and city resources and regulations.

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FRESNO – Andrew Kerber, 22, of Chico pleaded guilty Monday in a Fresno court to violating the civil rights of congregants of Congregation Beth Shalom, a synagogue in Modesto.

Kerber faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Sentencing is April 8. The Justice Department announced the plea Monday. Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights, said the “department will continue to aggressively prosecute those who seek to violate the rights of their fellow Americans to worship freely.”

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, Benjamin B. Wagner said the “country was founded by people who sought to practice their religion without being harassed, threatened, or intimidated. It is our obligation to ensure that all Americans can be secure in the exercise of their First Amendment rights.”

According to court documents, on or about Feb. 2, 2006, Kerber and two other men, Abel Mark Gonzalez, 23, of Morgan Hill, Calif., and Brian Lewis, 23, of Modesto, defaced and damaged the synagogue.

Kerber admitted that the men spray-painted anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi graffiti on the synagogue’s exterior walls. Kerber further admitted that the men spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on the exterior walls of, and caused other damage to, Our Lady of Fatima Church and School and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, both located in Modesto. Lewis and Gonzalez pleaded guilty for their role in the offense on Jan. 14.

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Amador County – Dozens of local organization members, philanthropists and elected officials attended the retirement party of long-time Community Foundation of Amador County Executive Director Shannon Lowery last Thursday afternoon at Thomi’s Banquet Room in Jackson.

The group helped usher out Lowery’s eight-year leadership of the Community Foundation, during which she helped give more than $1 million to thousands of local charitable organizations, individuals and programs. The festivities also helped welcome the new Executive Director Tina Hurley.

Lowery said she planned to tour in an RV after her retirement, and then possibly travel abroad, all after her husband retires . Attendees last week included new Supervisor Chairman John Plasse, and Supervisors Louis Boitano and Ted Novelli. Also attending were many of the Amador Community Foundation board members, including President Stan Lukowicz, and others.

Some of the many groups which receive funding from Community Foundation programs also attended.

Lucowicz said is was a “bittersweet time” for the Amador Community Foundation, which in the last year surpassed the $1 million mark for spreading funding throughout county projects.

He said the Community Foundation is “increasingly a vehicle for local people to support local projects or know their bequests will be used in our own community.”

Lucowicz said: “We have Shannon to thank for taking us to this point and it’s hard to say goodbye. At the same time, we very much appreciate Shannon’s guidance in helping us find Tina Hurley, who has the experience and skills to help us grow the donor base and expand the support we can provide to the local community.”

The year ahead includes a plan to mark the 10th anniversary of the Amador Community Foundation.

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Amador County – The Foothill Conservancy’s lawsuit to stop a plan to expand Pardee Reservoir and flood parts of the Mokelumne River is scheduled to be heard Friday.

The Foothill Conservancy is suing to stop a 20-year plan by East Bay Municipal Utility District that would expand Pardee Reservoir and flood three miles of banks along the Mokelumne River in Amador and Calaveras Counties. The suit seeks to overturn the Environmental Impact Report on which the East Bay MUD board of directors based its “2040 Water Supply Management Plan” in 2009.

Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright in filing the 2009 lawsuit said the EIR included “one expansion option that would flood the entire Middle Bar reach of the Mokelumne River and up to a mile of the Electra Run above Highway 49.” He said the 2040 Plan “retained 4 alternatives for a new Pardee Dam, 3 of which would destroy the Middle Bar reach and historic 1912 Middle Bar Bridge.”

Wright said the Moke, which feeds Pardee, “is not the property of East Bay MUD, and they are not above the law.” He said the EIR fails under the California Environmental Quality Act by “failing to adequately analyze and mitigate the impacts on Amador and Calaveras counties from the new Pardee Dam.”

The suit alleges East Bay MUD “inadequately responded to concerns” and ignored testimony from public hearings in Sutter Creek, San Andreas and Oakland. The suit asks the court to set aside approval of the 2040 water plan.

Filed in Amador County Superior Court, the suit was moved to Sacramento Superior Court, where it will be heard Friday by Judge Timothy Frawley, who could make a preliminary ruling shortly thereafter, followed by a final ruling later this year.

The suit was filed jointly with “Friends of the River,” and “California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.” Sportfishing Alliance Executive Director Bill Jennings in a release with the suit called East Bay MUD “a municipal vampire” that has “spurned reasonable alternatives that would have assured its customers of a reliable water supply.”

John Tinkl of the Calaveras Community Action Project said a new Pardee Dam “would be a disaster for the region’s recreation, economy and scenic beauty,” and it “flies in the face of other options that could meet potential water needs but not harm” the region.

Wright said it “is only the second lawsuit Foothill Conservancy has filed in its 20-year history.” He said it “is such an important issue, and people care so much about this river,” they had to do it.

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Amador County – An sewer line overflow last week in Ione has staff suggesting the need to replace the sewer main along the length of Preston Avenue, which could cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

Ione City Council received a report this week detailing the overflow, which leaked about 500 gallons of raw sewage onto a private property on Craig Street.

City Manager Kim Kerr said early Tuesday that the sewer main along Preston Avenue might be as old as the system itself, from the 1950s. It was known to have cracks, but now the intrusion of root balls has caused blocks.

The report said the city received a complaint Jan. 24 of a possible sewer collection system overflow off of Preston Avenue. PERC Water responded and determined a line at a “residence was overflowing raw sewage and it had flowed into an adjacent yard of a house on Craig Street.” The PERC crew determined the main was blocked along Preston Avenue, north of Waterman Drive, causing the overflow.

PERC cleared the blockage, and on Jan. 25, the city’s insurance provider worked with PERC and property owners to clean up the raw sewage that flowed into the yards. Unfortunately, the house where the sewer collection system overflowed is vacant and about 500 gallons spilled before detection and blockage repair.

Kerr said “no raw sewage entered any residents, just backyards.” She said it was the second back up in the last four months and there are reoccurring backups and overflows on this line that need addressing.

Kerr said City Engineer John Wanger “has researched the sewer main for Preston Avenue due to the reoccurring overflow issues we have had.” Wanger “determined that the sewer main needs repairs or replacement the length of Preston Avenue.” Wanger’s estimate to make the repairs was $225,471, if the city completes the repairs and/or replacement for the length of Preston Avenue.”

She said “if the project is broken down into segments, then the cost is higher due to multiple factors. Kerr said they will likely try to look at making replacements in stages.

Kerr said she would seek city council permission to address the issues “by having the city engineer prepare the specifications and issue the bid documents.”

The contract cost for the city engineer on the project was $21,745, which was included in the total cost of $225,471 to replace and/or repair the sewer main on Preston Avenue.

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