Amador County – The local California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection recommended this week that as people change their clocks for the end of Daylight Savings Time this weekend, they should also change the batteries of important gadgets in the home, including smoke and other detectors.

Nancy Longmore, fire prevention specialist with the Tuolumne-Calaveras unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said in an e-mail this week that as Daylight Savings Time ends, people should change the batteries in their clocks and smoke detectors.

Daylight savings time ends Sunday November 7th, and people “fall back,” setting their clocks at 2 a.m. to be back by one hour, to Standard Time. Longmore said: “This is a great time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.”

She said “almost every day a smoke detector saves somebody’s life, but only when the smoke detectors are maintained and working properly.” To keep your smoke detector in proper working order, CDF recommends testing all smoke detectors on a monthly basis.”

They also should be maintained by changing the batteries twice a year, and vacuuming them once a year, because dust and cobwebs can impair sensitivity of the detectors.

Smoke detectors should be installed in hallways that lead to all sleeping areas; in basements; and in each additional level of your home.

Longmore said the “life you save may be your own or that of a loved one.”

For more information, see www.fire.ca.gov.

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

Amador County – Top vote-getter in the Ione City Council race, Ron Smylie, said he is ready to go to work and prove his commitment to the voters.

Smylie said he feels “very comfortable with the vote” because he has “been in Ione for over 50 years,” and his family has been in Ione for over 50 years. He has done a number of things in Ione, including teaching, coaching different levels of youth sports, and running the swimming program, which he ran with Patty Knobelauch in 1972.

Smylie taught elementary school for seven years at Ione, has coached a district championship team, and has been a mentor in Amador County. He thought all of those things added up to help him win this city council race.

Smylie took almost 25 percent of the vote in the six-candidate race for three seats, with 884 total votes. He said he was proud that he was the highest vote-getter, as it “really confirmed my true commitments to them,” the voters, “and it “confirmed that they believe in me.” Smylie said now he needs to prove his commitment to them in his job on the city council.

Smylie said he was not sure when he would be sworn in, but he was told it could take two to four weeks to certify the election. He said he was looking forward to getting prepared for the council.

Smylie’s coaching includes 10 years coaching with the Argonaut High School baseball program, including work as varsity assistant, JV coach and then varsity head coach.

Smylie said: “I grew up in Ione, went through the school system in Ione.” After graduating from University of the Pacific, he came back to teach and coach here. He took a break from teaching, then came back to teach eight years at Preston Youth Facility. He is now in his 10th year at Toyon Middle School in Calaveras School District, teaching children with disabilities.

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

Amador County – The city of Plymouth had two setbacks in the general election Tuesday, with its top vote-getter being ineligible, and a city-wide measure to raise the “Transient Occupancy Tax” failing by 32 votes.

The Plymouth ballot included three candidates for two positions, but only two candidates were eligible. Sean McGinness, who moved out of town, but still appeared on the ballot, received 172 votes, Peter Amoruso had 156, and Sandy Kyles 96.

City Manager Dixon Flynn said Wednesday that “Sean McGinnis came in this morning and signed his resignation, and it will be up to the city council whether to hold a special election or to appoint somebody.”

Flynn said he did not know which way the council was leaning in the decision, and he would only recommend that they make a decision. He said: “That’s such a political decision that is best left up to them.” He said “a special election costs money,” and “appointing somebody means appointing somebody for four years.”

City attorneys said the council has 30 days, until its December 9th meeting, to make a decision. Flynn said in January, state law will change to allow 60 days to make such an appointment, but it was not clear if it would apply to Plymouth. He said a special election takes at least 60-90 days to bring about.

The council will have the issue on its December 9th agenda, and they may have preliminary discussions November 18th, its only November meeting.

Also Tuesday, Measure O, to raise Plymouth’s Transient Occupancy Tax, failed with 169 “no” votes to 137 “yes” votes.

Flynn said “probably what happened was people don’t understand it,” and “probably thought it was a tax on them.”

He said he likely would recommend bringing it back, but first they “need to do an education program” because a TOT tax “is a tourist tax on visitors.”

Flynn said the 10 percent TOT tax proposed in Plymouth now is low compared to other areas. He knew “a number of people who thought it was a tax, and thought they were going to have to pay,” and “they don’t understand it.”

Election Supervisor Debbie Smith said the Amador County Election Department estimated there are 1,700 to 1,800 provisional and vote-by-mail ballots from across the county that must still be counted.

Ballots must be verified, and the counts updated, Smith said, and they “don’t know yet how many of those are going to be good.” She said the state wanted a rough estimate. The office starts its 1 percent manual count Monday.

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

Sacramento – 3rd District Assemblymember Alyson Huber and some of her colleagues grilled California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials on the reasoning behind their plan to close Preston Youth Correctional Facility during a Joint Legislative Audit Committee last Thursday.

Chaired by Huber, the committee was held at the State Capitol and attended by busloads of concerned Amador County citizens. The buses were chartered by District 2 Supervisor Richard Forster, whose district is home to the historic facility.

Huber said that despite the cooperation of CDCR officials, who provided four boxes of documents in support of their decision, there “still seemed to be no clear vision or plan” that justified choosing Preston as the facility best suited for closure. She used the hearing to compel answers to questions about how they will mitigate the impacts of the closure.

Scott Kernan, Undersecretary at the CDCR, and Rachael Rios, Chief Deputy Secretary of the Division of Juvenile Justice, both present as witnesses, repeatedly stated that they were forced to close the facility due to budgetary cutbacks by the state and a declining ward population driven by legislation that puts more wards under county care.

Kernan said Preston went from roughly 10,000 wards to 1,300 today, and “unfortunately departments are funded by the amount of wards they have.” He said Preston is an “aging facility” with “estimated ongoing infrastructure costs” of more than $40 million, compared to (VIDEO) $13 million for the O.H. Close and N.A. Chaderjian youth correctional facilities in Stockton. He said most Preston wards will be incorporated into these two facilities.

Kernan said the CDCR’s plan has always been to keep two youth facilities open in the north and two in the south, and to “keep wards as close to their families as possible.”

Huber said there are currently 174 administrative staff members at DJJ headquarters, 49.1 in Stockton and 29 at Preston. She said it is “really hard to justify (cutting expenses) by closing a facility instead of cutting staff.”

14th District Senator Dave Codgill of Stockton said the CDCR is operating under the policies of the current administration and suggested it may be better to “put these decisions on hold until we see where (Governor-elect Jerry Brown) and the new legislature want to go.”

Kernan said they are open to “shift with new policy changes.”

Drew Soderborg, Senior Fiscal and Policy Analyst in the Legislative Analyst’s Office, confirmed what many in the audience already knew – that Preston ranked highest in the state under the criteria of Farrell v. Cate, a lawsuit which led to an overarching plan to remedy serious ongoing problems in the juvenile justice system. The acknowledgement resulted in rounds of applause.

Rios pointed out that the next highest ranking facility was 3 percent lower on the list, and the lawsuit was only one of several factors that played into their determination.

Amador citizens also voiced their concerns during public comment.

Pam Handle, a teacher at the N.A. Chaderjian facility said “we become families for these (wards) because…many don’t have families. To shut us down is a legacy your department does not want to live with.”

Huber said a community meeting will be held to discuss the matter further in December.

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

Sacramento – 3rd District Assemblymember Alyson Huber and some of her colleagues grilled California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials on the reasoning behind their plan to close Preston Youth Correctional Facility during a Joint Legislative Audit Committee last Thursday.

Chaired by Huber, the committee was held at the State Capitol and attended by busloads of concerned Amador County citizens. The buses were chartered by District 2 Supervisor Richard Forster, whose district is home to the historic facility.

Huber said that despite the cooperation of CDCR officials, who provided four boxes of documents in support of their decision, there “still seemed to be no clear vision or plan” that justified choosing Preston as the facility best suited for closure. She used the hearing to compel answers to questions about how they will mitigate the impacts of the closure.

Scott Kernan, Undersecretary at the CDCR, and Rachael Rios, Chief Deputy Secretary of the Division of Juvenile Justice, both present as witnesses, repeatedly stated that they were forced to close the facility due to budgetary cutbacks by the state and a declining ward population driven by legislation that puts more wards under county care.

Kernan said Preston went from roughly 10,000 wards to 1,300 today, and “unfortunately departments are funded by the amount of wards they have.” He said Preston is an “aging facility” with “estimated ongoing infrastructure costs” of more than $40 million, compared to (VIDEO) $13 million for the O.H. Close and N.A. Chaderjian youth correctional facilities in Stockton. He said most Preston wards will be incorporated into these two facilities.

Kernan said the CDCR’s plan has always been to keep two youth facilities open in the north and two in the south, and to “keep wards as close to their families as possible.”

Huber said there are currently 174 administrative staff members at DJJ headquarters, 49.1 in Stockton and 29 at Preston. She said it is “really hard to justify (cutting expenses) by closing a facility instead of cutting staff.”

14th District Senator Dave Codgill of Stockton said the CDCR is operating under the policies of the current administration and suggested it may be better to “put these decisions on hold until we see where (Governor-elect Jerry Brown) and the new legislature want to go.”

Kernan said they are open to “shift with new policy changes.”

Drew Soderborg, Senior Fiscal and Policy Analyst in the Legislative Analyst’s Office, confirmed what many in the audience already knew – that Preston ranked highest in the state under the criteria of Farrell v. Cate, a lawsuit which led to an overarching plan to remedy serious ongoing problems in the juvenile justice system. The acknowledgement resulted in rounds of applause.

Rios pointed out that the next highest ranking facility was 3 percent lower on the list, and the lawsuit was only one of several factors that played into their determination.

Amador citizens also voiced their concerns during public comment.

Pam Handle, a teacher at the N.A. Chaderjian facility said “we become families for these (wards) because…many don’t have families. To shut us down is a legacy your department does not want to live with.”

Huber said a community meeting will be held to discuss the matter further in December.

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

Amador County – The city of Plymouth had two setbacks in the general election Tuesday, with its top vote-getter being ineligible, and a city-wide measure to raise the “Transient Occupancy Tax” failing by 32 votes.

The Plymouth ballot included three candidates for two positions, but only two candidates were eligible. Sean McGinness, who moved out of town, but still appeared on the ballot, received 172 votes, Peter Amoruso had 156, and Sandy Kyles 96.

City Manager Dixon Flynn said Wednesday that “Sean McGinnis came in this morning and signed his resignation, and it will be up to the city council whether to hold a special election or to appoint somebody.”

Flynn said he did not know which way the council was leaning in the decision, and he would only recommend that they make a decision. He said: “That’s such a political decision that is best left up to them.” He said “a special election costs money,” and “appointing somebody means appointing somebody for four years.”

City attorneys said the council has 30 days, until its December 9th meeting, to make a decision. Flynn said in January, state law will change to allow 60 days to make such an appointment, but it was not clear if it would apply to Plymouth. He said a special election takes at least 60-90 days to bring about.

The council will have the issue on its December 9th agenda, and they may have preliminary discussions November 18th, its only November meeting.

Also Tuesday, Measure O, to raise Plymouth’s Transient Occupancy Tax, failed with 169 “no” votes to 137 “yes” votes.

Flynn said “probably what happened was people don’t understand it,” and “probably thought it was a tax on them.”

He said he likely would recommend bringing it back, but first they “need to do an education program” because a TOT tax “is a tourist tax on visitors.”

Flynn said the 10 percent TOT tax proposed in Plymouth now is low compared to other areas. He knew “a number of people who thought it was a tax, and thought they were going to have to pay,” and “they don’t understand it.”

Election Supervisor Debbie Smith said the Amador County Election Department estimated there are 1,700 to 1,800 provisional and vote-by-mail ballots from across the county that must still be counted.

Ballots must be verified, and the counts updated, Smith said, and they “don’t know yet how many of those are going to be good.” She said the state wanted a rough estimate. The office starts its 1 percent manual count Monday.

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

Amador County – Top vote-getter in the Ione City Council race, Ron Smylie, said he is ready to go to work and prove his commitment to the voters.

Smylie said he feels “very comfortable with the vote” because he has “been in Ione for over 50 years,” and his family has been in Ione for over 50 years. He has done a number of things in Ione, including teaching, coaching different levels of youth sports, and running the swimming program, which he ran with Patty Knobelauch in 1972.

Smylie taught elementary school for seven years at Ione, has coached a district championship team, and has been a mentor in Amador County. He thought all of those things added up to help him win this city council race.

Smylie took almost 25 percent of the vote in the six-candidate race for three seats, with 884 total votes. He said he was proud that he was the highest vote-getter, as it “really confirmed my true commitments to them,” the voters, “and it “confirmed that they believe in me.” Smylie said now he needs to prove his commitment to them in his job on the city council.

Smylie said he was not sure when he would be sworn in, but he was told it could take two to four weeks to certify the election. He said he was looking forward to getting prepared for the council.

Smylie’s coaching includes 10 years coaching with the Argonaut High School baseball program, including work as varsity assistant, JV coach and then varsity head coach.

Smylie said: “I grew up in Ione, went through the school system in Ione.” After graduating from University of the Pacific, he came back to teach and coach here. He took a break from teaching, then came back to teach eight years at Preston Youth Facility. He is now in his 10th year at Toyon Middle School in Calaveras School District, teaching children with disabilities.

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