Tom
Monday, 12 April 2010 01:43
Amador County News TSPN TV with Christian Toma 4-12-10
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Friday, 09 April 2010 04:23
AFPD board Chooses to Hire Battalion Chiefs, Not Cal Fire
Amador County – The Amador Fire Protection District voted 3-2 Tuesday to make independent hires, rather than sign a contract with Cal Fire. Supervisors Louis Boitano, Ted Novelli and Chairman Brian Oneto voted for a plan offered by AFPD Chief Jim McCart to hire battalion chiefs, engineers and firefighters. McCart’s plan also will look at hiring on contract for Lockwood and Sutter Creek fire districts. The first hires will be at Battalion 10 in the Upcountry, and Battalion 20 in District 5. Novelli said: “I have nothing against Cal Fire.” He said Amador has some good firefighters living here, and if they have the opportunity to hire them, he supports it. He said “all agencies in the county have outstanding fire service.” Plymouth Mayor Patricia Fordyce said she was not sure about hiring Cal Fire. Supervisor John Plasse, voting against direct hires, said the Cal Fire proposal was for too short a time period, then it reverted back to a plan with no leadership. Plasse proposed the $300,000 could go to hiring retired CDF people on the “open market” with the direct-hire proposal, to oversee the AFPD. Supervisor Richard Forster voted against McCart’s plan, preferring the independence Cal Fire would offer. Forster told McCart: “If you want people to have faith in this, you need to come up and represent it,” not have someone from Sutter Creek representing it. Sutter Creek Fire Protection District board member Ron Watson said “we’ve had minor input.” Watson criticized labeling McCart an “administrative chief,” while he still works at incident scenes. Watson said people don’t care what the personnel are called. He said “we have fire experience, and you have plans put together by people with no fire experience.” Ione Councilman Lee Ard said Ione was staying out of the regional approach, despite City Manager Kim Kerr’s best efforts to get the city involved. Ard said “we would be crazy to get involved in this political issue.” He said Ione has the “complete structure,” with captains, fire marshals and a chief. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 09 April 2010 04:29
ACCNET Arrests Stockton Man, Siezes $23K In Drugs, $37,000 In Cash
Amador County – The Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team made an arrest Tuesday in Stockton that led to the seizure of $23,000 in prescription drugs, and more than $37,000 in cash. The drugs and cash were shown to the media Wednesday for a photo opportunity. The drugs included 1,500 pharmaceutical pills, 2 mason jars of marijuana, a bowl of marijuana oil, 19 doses of steroids, and a large amount of cash. Narcotics unit Commander Jackie Long announced the arrest of Eric Fideldy, 25, of Stockton for numerous drug charges relating to pharmaceutical opiates, steroids and marijuana sales. The Amador County narcotics team concluded an investigation Tuesday with Fideldy’s arrest. Narcotics agents had received information of Fideldy’s “trafficking in pharmaceutical opiates that have been seized in Amador” County by the narcotics unit. Long said agents placed Fideldy under surveillance “and observed Fideldy conduct a marijuana sale.” Following that, agents arrested Fideldy and seized $1,840 in cash and 13 grams of marijuana. The narcotics unit “obtained a search warrant for his residence in Stockton,” where agents found an additional $35,876 in cash, plus various drugs and paraphernalia valued at $23,000. Narcotics agents confiscated 173 methadone pills; 637 Hydrocodone pills; and 347 pills of Oxycontin, each of 80 milligram doses. The agents also confiscated 63 valium pills; 287 unknown pharmaceutical pills; 19 vials of steroids; and 67 hypodermic syringes. Agents found 247 grams of marijuana; one container of “butane honey oil” (or marijuana oil); and 7 marijuana plants. Fideldy was transported and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp for multiple charges for possession for sales of pharmaceutical opiates, steroids, and marijuana. His bail was set at $593,000, and he was scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon. Long said the “street value of the pharmaceutical opiates is believed to be in excess of $23,000.” The cash seized from Fideldy and at his home totaled $37,716. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 09 April 2010 04:21
County Releases Details on Departmental Reorganization
Amador County – The Amador County Administrative Agency on Thursday released details on the recently approved reorganization of County departments as proposed by County Administrative Officer Terri Daly. “This is no longer business as usual; things have changed and we have to change with them,” said Daly shortly before the board approved the plan on Tuesday. The release says “the reorganization is the result of the financial situation of the County which has not changed dramatically since the mid-year budget update which was presented to the Board last month.” Daly said “we anticipate a $4.7 million shortfall in our General Fund for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, which represents about a 12 percent overall cut to next year’s budget.” The plan reduces 11 existing departments “who have overlapping or shared functions” into 5 units: Administration, Community Development, Health & Human Services, General Services Administration and Public Services. All 5 units fall under the supervision of Daly, who in turn reports to the Board of Supervisors. At Tuesday’s meeting, Daly anticipated the possible dismissal of 5 or 6 employees in management or mid-management positions as a result of the plan. She estimates the reorganization will save $500,000 in salary in the coming year. Daly said the key principles guiding the proposed reorganization are cost savings, eliminating job silos, creating a strong management team, instilling more flexibility into the organization and setting the groundwork for future growth and expansion. “With the Board’s approval of the reorganization, the department heads and I will immediately begin working on the implementation details. In the weeks ahead, much work will be required within each department to identify the appropriate departmental changes to find maximum efficiency and effectiveness within each unit,” said Daly.
Three departments- Veteran’s Services, Probation and the Ag/Air UC Extension – are not affected by the change and will report directly to the Board of Supervisors. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 09 April 2010 04:25
CA Conservation Corps. Assist in River Pines Clean Up
Amador County - River Pines is in the midst of a town-wide cleanup courtesy of the Amador Fire Safe Council and the California Conservation Corps. Amador FSC Executive Director Cathy Koos Breazeal told TSPN the cleanup is the result of a U.S. Forest Service grant for communities on the federal “at risk list.” It provides $110,000 for debris cleanup to preserve local watersheds and fire protection, with a required matching grant of $4000 in volunteer hours. Her agency applied for the grant last year and received funding last October. Breazeal said the River Pines Revitalization Association (RPRA) is “really trying to get their town back to the way it once was,” referring to the towns origin as a vacation resort in the 1920s. “All I did was engage the (Conservation Corps) and the townspeople began to pitch in,” she said. Beginning Monday, approximately 15 Corps and community members began the cleanup stage of the process. Homeowners who signed up ahead of time were asked to bring their trash to the curb and the volunteers travel block to block throwing the waste into dumpsters. Breazeal said the cleanup process will take approximately one week, at which point they will begin clearing defensible space around nearly 305 homes, many of which are built close together. Corps members are expected to help out on this and other area projects for the next six weeks. For every one year they work they get a year’s college tuition. Breazeal said the volunteers were also treated to a “historical and educational history of the town” by RPRA member Shirley Jones. “We are hoping that by doing all this it will give the townspeople more ownership,” said Breazeal. “There is a lot of personal pride in the town that we want to get back.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 09 April 2010 04:27
Pine Grove Scoping Meeting Outlines Hwy. 88 Improvement Project
Amador County – Regional transportation representatives gave an up-to-date overview of the Pine Grove State Route 88 Improvement Project before a large crowd of concerned citizens at the Pine Grove Town Hall on Wednesday evening. Neil Peacock, Program Manager for the Amador County Transportation Commission, said the proposal includes 12 different alternatives for route modifications at a price tag “not to exceed $40 million.” He said the “purpose of this project is three-fold: to improve operations, alleviate congestion and enhance safety.” All of the proposed alternatives include extensive road widening or the construction of new roads all together through forested, mountainous areas, which would affect existing structures and land parcels. Caltrans originally determined the need for the project a decade ago based on traffic and safety studies. In subsequent years, Caltrans completed a project study report and acquired federal funding from a variety of sources, including a $356,000 earmark from Congressman Dan Lungren to be used for project planning. In 2008, a cooperative agreement was developed making ACTC the “Implementing Agency” for project management while Caltrans still retains “Lead Agency” status and project oversight. “Big transportation projects take quite some time to come to fruition- that’s just a part of the game,” said Peacock. Peacock said the purpose of the meeting was not only to educate the public on progress thus far, but also to gather input on who should be selected for an advisory committee representing local interests who will “provide feedback to the technical experts in our consultant team.” Leslie Regos (RAY-GOES), ACTC Community Outreach Consultant, asked groups who represent Pine Grove or local interests to nominate one representative to join the Stakeholders Working Group because there are “pretty strict criteria for participation.” She said participants are expected to attend a number of meetings and devote non-paid time. She stressed that the routes discussed are just concepts. “Our job is taking all of those lines and building infrastructure that is reasonable from a community acceptance standpoint,” she said. Considering the length of the project so far, she stressed the importance that funding go into the “implementation of a solution.” She said “as much as we’d like to say cost doesn’t have as much weight in these solutions, it does.” Peacock said the project must abide by the rules and regulations of the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Protection Act. Project construction is not estimated to take place until 2024. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 09 April 2010 05:49
Jay Elias - County Assessor Candidate 4-9-10
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Friday, 09 April 2010 04:13
Amador County News TSPN TV with Christian Toma 4-9-10
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Friday, 09 April 2010 04:29
ACCNET Arrests Stockton Man, Siezes $23K In Drugs, $37,000 In Cash
Amador County – The Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team made an arrest Tuesday in Stockton that led to the seizure of $23,000 in prescription drugs, and more than $37,000 in cash. The drugs and cash were shown to the media Wednesday for a photo opportunity. The drugs included 1,500 pharmaceutical pills, 2 mason jars of marijuana, a bowl of marijuana oil, 19 doses of steroids, and a large amount of cash. Narcotics unit Commander Jackie Long announced the arrest of Eric Fideldy, 25, of Stockton for numerous drug charges relating to pharmaceutical opiates, steroids and marijuana sales. The Amador County narcotics team concluded an investigation Tuesday with Fideldy’s arrest. Narcotics agents had received information of Fideldy’s “trafficking in pharmaceutical opiates that have been seized in Amador” County by the narcotics unit. Long said agents placed Fideldy under surveillance “and observed Fideldy conduct a marijuana sale.” Following that, agents arrested Fideldy and seized $1,840 in cash and 13 grams of marijuana. The narcotics unit “obtained a search warrant for his residence in Stockton,” where agents found an additional $35,876 in cash, plus various drugs and paraphernalia valued at $23,000. Narcotics agents confiscated 173 methadone pills; 637 Hydrocodone pills; and 347 pills of Oxycontin, each of 80 milligram doses. The agents also confiscated 63 valium pills; 287 unknown pharmaceutical pills; 19 vials of steroids; and 67 hypodermic syringes. Agents found 247 grams of marijuana; one container of “butane honey oil” (or marijuana oil); and 7 marijuana plants. Fideldy was transported and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp for multiple charges for possession for sales of pharmaceutical opiates, steroids, and marijuana. His bail was set at $593,000, and he was scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon. Long said the “street value of the pharmaceutical opiates is believed to be in excess of $23,000.” The cash seized from Fideldy and at his home totaled $37,716. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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