ACRA Blue Moon

New Year's Eve Bash

Amador County – Amador Water Agency staff last week reported two spills discovered recently, including an estimated 15,000 gallons of raw sewage that leaked near Wal-Mart, and about 385,000 gallons of raw water that leaked onto Mace Meadow Golf Course.

Operations Manager Chris McKeage reported the spills last week to the AWA board of directors, including the estimated loss of 15,000 gallons of wastewater.

AWA General Manager Gene Macebo said an air release valve stuck in the open position and allowed wastewater to spill at a rate of about 10 gallons a minute. The valve was located next to a drainage swell that passes under the Wicklow Way bridge near Wal-Mart. Mancebo said the swell is a tributary to Rock Creek, but they do not believe sewage reached the creek. The leak was first noticed December 1st, and they were not sure how long it was leaking.

Mancebo said: “Somebody had noticed an odor and we investigated and that’s how we found it.” No sanitizing chemicals were needed, and the agency was only instructed to clean up the site.

McKeage said the other leak, discovered November 29th, was larger, but involved raw river water used as backwash to clean filters in the Buckhorn water treatment plant. He said it was still considered a spill, and was reported.

It was estimated about 385,000 gallons of backwash water spilled onto Mace Meadow Golf Course, and they did not find the leak for about two weeks.

Mancebo said during the storm, a tree fell and due to the ground being soft and wet, the tree broke the pipeline. It was not noticed for a while because it was under a tree and snow in a remote area.

Backwash is sprayed in summer at the golf course, and stored in a pond during winter. The pipe was carrying water to storage when the leak occurred.

The golf course captures runoff and stores it in ponds, and uses the water as irrigation. Mancebo said the leaking backwash flowed into the Mace Meadow ponds, went through the ponds, and “we believe some of it eventually did get out of the ponds and into a tributary to Pioneer Creek.”

He said: “We have had spills before, and water in backwash ponds is better quality that creek water during a storm event.”

They went through the reporting process and the Amador County Department of Environmental Health did not instruct the agency to add any sanitizing chemicals at either site.

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Washington, D.C. – Following a much anticipated tax vote, Congressman Dan Lungren, who represents California’s 3rd District, including Amador County, explained in a release why he supported the legislation.

He said he supported the December 16th bill “because it will prevent the government from claiming a larger share of your income essentially preventing a job-killing, $624 billion tax increase on all Americans during a recession.”

He said: “The enactment of the tax bill agreement should be seen as but the first step in working to improve the economic well being of our nation’s families and small businesses.”

Lungren said: “Preventing scheduled tax increases on January 1st is not a tax cut,” but is merely allowing people “to keep income that was scheduled to be sent to the IRS had we failed to take legislative action to stop it.”

He said “pro-growth policies and serious action by the new Congress to reduce federal spending are both necessary to the creation of a fiscal environment that is consistent with sustained economic recovery.”

Lungren said: “It is not the government’s money, and the attempt to let taxes automatically rise was simply a version of fiscal sleight of hand.”

He said “there are provisions in the tax agreement which I would not have included,” but “we must not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.” He said spending in the bill such as ethanol subsidies “are simply pork,” and he believes that “any extension of unemployment benefits should be paid for with reduced spending.” He said while some “suggested that we could have gotten a better deal if we had waited until the new Congress is sworn in, there is no assurance of this.” Lungren said “both the Senate and the White House would certainly fight any attempts to expand pro-growth tax policy. A continued struggle might continue for months.”

Lungren said “increased withholding taxes would have begun at the turn of the New Year.” He said at a time when our economic recovery remains fragile, imposing a new tax burden on individuals and businesses could stifle growth or even threaten a double dip recession.”

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Amador County – A 26-year-old man faces multiple felony drug charges after a traffic stop in Ione early Tuesday, and added to the growing list of drug-related arrests by the Ione Police Department.

Ione Police Chief Michael Johnson said in a release Thursday that Daniel Halsell, 26, was taken into custody following a traffic enforcement stop at about 1:30 am on Tuesday, December 14th. An Ione Police officer stopped Halsell for a minor traffic infraction.

Johnson said “upon further investigation it was discovered that Halsell was in possession of controlled narcotic substances and drug paraphernalia.” Halsell was arrested and booked into Amador County Jail on multiple felony drug charges.

The “arrest is consistent with the on-going efforts to combat drug trafficking, illegal possession of drugs,” and driving under the influence “within the Ione city limits,” Johnson said, noting that his “officers are proactive in their drug related enforcement efforts and hoping to send a message that the Ione Police Department will continue to have zero tolerance for drugs in the community.”

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

Amador County – The Plymouth Planning Commission hosted a workshop Wednesday for comments on two developments proposed by Reeder Sutherland Incorporated and its Draft Environmental Impact Report.

The city and the applicant for Shenandoah Ridge and Zinfandel subdivisions led a presentation, and took public comment. Three people spoke, but only one was a Plymouth resident.

Kathy DuBois of Jackson said the map shows no buffer areas between residential and agricultural zones. She also said the Draft EIR did not include architecture styles, and criticized dead end roads in the plans.

Jennifer Mason of Plymouth said she lives across from the city sewer plant and has cows, horses and sheep, but was more worried about traffic speeding on Old Sacramento Road. She said the rugged area in the south part of the Zinfandel footprint was steep, and a wildfire there once spread at “six miles a minute.”

Elida Malick of Fiddletown asked why the “two separate and distinct projects” were “lumped into one EIR.” She also asked if she could get an extension on the comment period, because the document was hard to digest, especially over the holidays. Malick also wondered about Old Sacramento Road becoming a main route in and out of the development.

Plymouth consultant Edward Heming said the two projects were joined under one EIR because the California Environmental Quality Act likes to see comprehensive impacts. He said the projects are going in under a pretty close time frame, and they felt that splitting the projects would be a piecemeal approach.

Heming said the city and applicant would have to give approval of an extension on the comment period. Bob Reeder, of Reeder Sutherland, said later that an extension was unlikely due to delays and time constraints already faced. He noted that Plymouth has changed city planners several times since he has been developing the projects.

He said the comment period required was 30 days, but it was already extended to about 45 days, ending December 31st.

Stefan Horstschraer said they have discussed fire exit roads and a management plan with AFPD Chief Jim McCart. He said connection of Old Sacramento Road came from the city planner in 2005, and traffic speed would be addressed in the EIR. He doubted people would use the road to go to Sacramento, but likely would use it to get to Latrobe Road.

Horstschraer said city documents address architecture guidelines. The Plymouth City Council discussed buffer zones in depth in public hearings for its recent General Plan update, and declined to include buffer zones in the document.

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Amador County - Sutter Amador Hospital has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in mammography as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

Their mammography program also passed the annual State and Federal inspection led by the California Department of Public Health, Radiology Health Branch.

Mammography is a specific type of imaging test that uses a low dose x-ray system to examine breasts. A mammography exam, called a mammogram, is used to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases in women.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field.

“Sutter Amador Hospital voluntarily goes through this rigorous review process to ensure that we meet nationally accepted standards of care,” says Judy Vermason, Radiology Manager. “Receiving the ACR Gold Seal of Accreditation is a testament to our commitment and expertise in advanced diagnostic imaging.”

The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 34,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

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