Tom
Friday, 30 April 2010 04:13
U.S. Post Office Launches New Stamp Aimed At Encouraging Shelter Animal Adoptions.
Amador County - On April 30th, the U.S. post office launches a new stamp - Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps. This campaign continues the Postal Service's 50+ year tradition of raising awareness of serious social issues with special commemorative stamps. The 44-cent stamps feature photos of five cats and five dogs who were all adopted from shelters. Ellen DeGeneres, a long-time advocate for helping animals, is the celebrity face for the campaign. Coinciding with the campaign is a one-day only Animal Shelter Open House where locals can “find love for less” by adopting cats and dogs for reduced adoption fees. The event includes at least 15 booths from local vendors, many with animal-related businesses, and a bbq with cooking done by the 49er Sports Grill. There will also be raffle prizes and information on volunteer opportunities. The Animal Shelter Open House takes place on Saturday, May 1st from 10 am to 2 pm at 12340 Airport Road in Jackson. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:16
“Motherlode Tea Party” Assembles Locally
Amador County – The nationwide “Tea Party” movement can now claim a branch in the Motherlode. Organizers announced the formation of the newly formed “Tea Party in the Hills” or “Motherlode Tea Party,” through mass email this week. They said the group was actually formed last month, when 34 attendees from throughout the county assembled at the Fiddletown Saloon for an initial formation meeting. Leaders of the group expect twice the attendance at their next meeting. According to the group’s mission statement on their website, the “’Motherlode Tea Party’ is a gathering of Mother Lode Gold Country residents of Amador and surrounding counties who, out of a common love for our country and a grave concern about the direction of our present government, strives to reestablish and maintain the values of our Founding Fathers.” The group’s stated goal is to “bring our government back into compliance with the principles under which our Country was founded.” The “Tea Party” is a nationally-coordinated movement of individual groups throughout the country which have cropped up over the last year. The “Tea Party” name is based on the Boston Tea Party, a 1773 revolt against the British government by colonists in Boston. The stated intent of their protests varies from group to group, but is usually based on an anti-tax, anti-big government platform. Many party members have also been critical of the Obama Administration and what they see as the “socialist agenda” of Washington. Among the beliefs of the “Motherlode Tea Party,” they state that “socialism, in any form and to any degree, means tyranny.” Their website says “the U.S. Constitution established a limited government. Limited government is incompatible with unlimited taxing, spending, and deficits.” On the subject of American exceptionalism, the “Mother Lode Tea Party” states that “we have everything to be proud of, and nothing to apologize for.” The local tea party is co-facilitated by Jack Vining and Austin Ford. Their next meeting takes place Wednesday, May 5th at 6:30 pm at Belotti’s Banquet Room in Sutter Creek. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:17
Motherlode Vintner Seminar Attracts Dozens to Plymouth
Amador County – About 45 people attended a vintners’ seminar Wednesday in Plymouth that looked at the legal, environmental and economic challenges of the wine and grape industry. Local and regional winemakers heard keynote speaker Paul Dolan and others talk about the challenges for facility and land management in the industry. The seminar, “Motherlode Wineries & Vineyards,” was co-sponsored by Dolan, who is an industry leader, winemaker and farmer, who with his partners is making Mendocino Wine Company a model for the wine industry. The day-long seminar looked at “legal, environmental and economic challenges for facility and land management” in the Motherlode counties. Dolan talked about biodynamics and sustainability, saying he has 3-and-a-half full-time workers farming 70 acres. He said “once you understand the dynamics,” it becomes easier for fewer workers to farm grapes. U.C. Davis Extension Doctor Grady Wann told what vintners can do to nurture sustainability, besides switching to solar power. Wann said “shifting your world view” and point of view is tough, but once it is done, you can see “there are other options to take on, to farm differently.” Wann said growers can “assess the way you do things now and take small steps to make it more efficient and more sustainable.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:19
Jackson Clean It & Green It a Huge Success
Amador County – Another successful Clean It & Green It event took place in Jackson last Saturday (April 24th). The annual event coincides with Earth Day and serves as a spring-clean up for the entire city. Over 300 volunteers participated in the event, including 225 through the Disney Give a Day, Get A Day promotion, which allowed select participants to receive passes to Disneyland. City Manager Mike Daly said volunteers began arriving at Detert Park at 8:30 am and “were sent out into Jackson to pick up trash and work on a couple special assignments.” Special clean-up projects included the Kennedy Mine Amphitheatre, Jackson City Cemetery, and the planter beds at the Highway 49/Main Street intersection. Many community organizations also participating in the “Green It” fair with demonstrations, special projects, and other activities intended to increase awareness of positive “earth-friendly” habits, recycling and energy use. Daly said local band “Hero's Last Mission” provided some excellent music to entertain the volunteers upon their return, as well as for attendees at the Green It fair. Daly gave “great thanks go to Bank of Amador for meal service, Jim McHargue at Amador County Solid Waste for his help working with the City to coordinate the event, Amador Community Foundation for hooking us up with the Disney program, ACES Waste Services for supplying the debris box, the Kiwanis Club for beautifying the planter beds at the 49/Main signal and all the other groups of volunteers who made the event such a success.” Also, an “E-waste Collection Event” took place at the old Prospect Motors lot directly across the street from Detert Park, billed as a “safe and environmentally friendly way to recycle all of your old electronics with 100 percent of all donations benefiting the Argonaut High School Science Club.” The club raised almost $500 assisting with E-Waste Collection. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:20
Two Extricated After Car Rolls On Highway 88
Amador County – Emergency personnel extricated a man and a woman from a car after a vehicle they were riding in reportedly rolled over in the 10800 block of Highway 88 Thursday outside of Jackson. Sometime after 3 p.m. a caller reported that a red Chevy Blazer had rolled over in a crash, and that 2 people were injured and pinned inside the vehicle. The Blazer came to rest on its top facing east, in the west-bound lane of Highway 88, laying in the ditch next to the road. 13 emergency vehicles responded, including Jackson Volunteer Fire Department, the CHP, American Legion Ambulance, CalFire and the Amador County Sheriff’s Office. Firefighters using Hurst extrication tools cut away parts of the Blazer to remove the two people inside. A man was removed first, on a flat yellow stretcher board, and placed on a rolling ambulance stretcher. He then sat up and stood up from the stretcher, before being placed back onto it and rolled to an ambulance. A woman was then removed on a flat stretcher and placed on another wheeled stretcher, and she sat up as medics checked her. Both the man and the woman were reportedly injured. The man had an apparent arm injury and the woman had an apparent injury to her forehead. Both seemed to be alert and speaking with emergency personnel when they were removed from the scene. The crash occurred just east of Bonnefoy Lane on Highway 88, and backed up traffic for about a half mile toward Jackson. The Blazer was completely off the roadway and traffic was passing by as the extrication was under way. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:20
Two Extricated After Car Rolls On Highway 88
Amador County – Emergency personnel extricated a man and a woman from a car after a vehicle they were riding in reportedly rolled over in the 10800 block of Highway 88 Thursday outside of Jackson. Sometime after 3 p.m. a caller reported that a red Chevy Blazer had rolled over in a crash, and that 2 people were injured and pinned inside the vehicle. The Blazer came to rest on its top facing east, in the west-bound lane of Highway 88, laying in the ditch next to the road. 13 emergency vehicles responded, including Jackson Volunteer Fire Department, the CHP, American Legion Ambulance, CalFire and the Amador County Sheriff’s Office. Firefighters using Hurst extrication tools cut away parts of the Blazer to remove the two people inside. A man was removed first, on a flat yellow stretcher board, and placed on a rolling ambulance stretcher. He then sat up and stood up from the stretcher, before being placed back onto it and rolled to an ambulance. A woman was then removed on a flat stretcher and placed on another wheeled stretcher, and she sat up as medics checked her. Both the man and the woman were reportedly injured. The man had an apparent arm injury and the woman had an apparent injury to her forehead. Both seemed to be alert and speaking with emergency personnel when they were removed from the scene. The crash occurred just east of Bonnefoy Lane on Highway 88, and backed up traffic for about a half mile toward Jackson. The Blazer was completely off the roadway and traffic was passing by as the extrication was under way. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:19
Jackson Clean It & Green It a Huge Success
Amador County – Another successful Clean It & Green It event took place in Jackson last Saturday (April 24th). The annual event coincides with Earth Day and serves as a spring-clean up for the entire city. Over 300 volunteers participated in the event, including 225 through the Disney Give a Day, Get A Day promotion, which allowed select participants to receive passes to Disneyland. City Manager Mike Daly said volunteers began arriving at Detert Park at 8:30 am and “were sent out into Jackson to pick up trash and work on a couple special assignments.” Special clean-up projects included the Kennedy Mine Amphitheatre, Jackson City Cemetery, and the planter beds at the Highway 49/Main Street intersection. Many community organizations also participating in the “Green It” fair with demonstrations, special projects, and other activities intended to increase awareness of positive “earth-friendly” habits, recycling and energy use. Daly said local band “Hero's Last Mission” provided some excellent music to entertain the volunteers upon their return, as well as for attendees at the Green It fair. Daly gave “great thanks go to Bank of Amador for meal service, Jim McHargue at Amador County Solid Waste for his help working with the City to coordinate the event, Amador Community Foundation for hooking us up with the Disney program, ACES Waste Services for supplying the debris box, the Kiwanis Club for beautifying the planter beds at the 49/Main signal and all the other groups of volunteers who made the event such a success.” Also, an “E-waste Collection Event” took place at the old Prospect Motors lot directly across the street from Detert Park, billed as a “safe and environmentally friendly way to recycle all of your old electronics with 100 percent of all donations benefiting the Argonaut High School Science Club.” The club raised almost $500 assisting with E-Waste Collection. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:17
Motherlode Vintner Seminar Attracts Dozens to Plymouth
Amador County – About 45 people attended a vintners’ seminar Wednesday in Plymouth that looked at the legal, environmental and economic challenges of the wine and grape industry. Local and regional winemakers heard keynote speaker Paul Dolan and others talk about the challenges for facility and land management in the industry. The seminar, “Motherlode Wineries & Vineyards,” was co-sponsored by Dolan, who is an industry leader, winemaker and farmer, who with his partners is making Mendocino Wine Company a model for the wine industry. The day-long seminar looked at “legal, environmental and economic challenges for facility and land management” in the Motherlode counties. Dolan talked about biodynamics and sustainability, saying he has 3-and-a-half full-time workers farming 70 acres. He said “once you understand the dynamics,” it becomes easier for fewer workers to farm grapes. U.C. Davis Extension Doctor Grady Wann told what vintners can do to nurture sustainability, besides switching to solar power. Wann said “shifting your world view” and point of view is tough, but once it is done, you can see “there are other options to take on, to farm differently.” Wann said growers can “assess the way you do things now and take small steps to make it more efficient and more sustainable.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published in
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:16
“Motherlode Tea Party” Assembles Locally
Amador County – The nationwide “Tea Party” movement can now claim a branch in the Motherlode. Organizers announced the formation of the newly formed “Tea Party in the Hills” or “Motherlode Tea Party,” through mass email this week. They said the group was actually formed last month, when 34 attendees from throughout the county assembled at the Fiddletown Saloon for an initial formation meeting. Leaders of the group expect twice the attendance at their next meeting. According to the group’s mission statement on their website, the “’Motherlode Tea Party’ is a gathering of Mother Lode Gold Country residents of Amador and surrounding counties who, out of a common love for our country and a grave concern about the direction of our present government, strives to reestablish and maintain the values of our Founding Fathers.” The group’s stated goal is to “bring our government back into compliance with the principles under which our Country was founded.” The “Tea Party” is a nationally-coordinated movement of individual groups throughout the country which have cropped up over the last year. The “Tea Party” name is based on the Boston Tea Party, a 1773 revolt against the British government by colonists in Boston. The stated intent of their protests varies from group to group, but is usually based on an anti-tax, anti-big government platform. Many party members have also been critical of the Obama Administration and what they see as the “socialist agenda” of Washington. Among the beliefs of the “Motherlode Tea Party,” they state that “socialism, in any form and to any degree, means tyranny.” Their website says “the U.S. Constitution established a limited government. Limited government is incompatible with unlimited taxing, spending, and deficits.” On the subject of American exceptionalism, the “Mother Lode Tea Party” states that “we have everything to be proud of, and nothing to apologize for.” The local tea party is co-facilitated by Jack Vining and Austin Ford. Their next meeting takes place Wednesday, May 5th at 6:30 pm at Belotti’s Banquet Room in Sutter Creek. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 30 April 2010 04:14
Central Sierra Mining Assoc. Seeks Members For SMARA Board
Amador County – The Central Sierra Mining Association met April 16th in Sutter Creek and has reactivated, with the intent of helping the mining industry. One of its board members this week announced that it is looking for supervisors and planning department people to join an “issues committee” to look at the California Surface Mining Reclamation Act. Association Board member Tim K. Smith on Tuesday asked colleagues and friends to spread the word about the formation of the “Issues Committee.” Smith said this week that Central Sierra Mining Association has “just become reactivated and are working to promote and protect the mining industry in Central California and the Central Sierras.” Smith said: “We are looking for members to sit on the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act Issues Committee.” He has himself and Joel Pitto “so far as volunteers.” Smith said he was “hereby asking” for members of county planning departments and Board of Supervisors from both Amador and Calaveras counties to sit on the committee. Smith said he would like to have an organizational meeting of the committee between May 8th and 14th. He said the Central Sierra Mining Association board will limit the committee to 9 members with balanced representation. The Association’s voting board membership is open to operators and associate operators. He said: “We currently are working on getting the treasurer’s report and the current bylaws in electronic format for your review.” Smith forwarded an answer to one question asked at the April 16th meeting. Stephen Testa, executive officer of the State Mining and Geology Board, gave a clarification of the definition of a mining operator. Testa said the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act defines an “operator” as “any person who is engaged in surface mining operations, himself, or who contracts with others to conduct operations on his behalf, except a person who is engaged in surface mining operations as an employee with wages as his sole compensation.” He said “obligations and responsibilities of an operator” are included in various sections of the law and the board regulations, but the definition is in the law. For CSMA membership information, contact Mike Del Orto at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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