Hwy 88 near Peddler Hill was the sight of quite a mess Saturday afternoon. California Highway Patrol Officer Mike LeMasters reports that at approximately 12:15 pm Saturday afternoon a 1999 Peterbuilt with a trailer full of 45,000 pounds of corn grain became separated when the trailer broke away from the cab causing the vehicle to jack knife blocking the east bound lane. LeMasters states the situation only became worse after the heavily traveled road started to jam with traffic heading westbound. LeMasters and two Department of Transportation, Caltrans, workers worked on traffic control while tow crews attempted to right the truck. However, the situation suddenly only got worse as the trailer ripped open releasing grain on the roadway. The remaining grain was offloaded from the trailer which was towed to a Caltrans yard. The lane was reopened about 6 hours after the accident at 6:15 pm. LeMasters compliments the Caltrans staff for their traffic control measures which he states helped prevent any more traffic collisions in the backup.

An end of the year bust in Calaveras County of a Mokelumne Hill house last week turned up more than a pound of methamphetamine and resulted in the arrest of five people. According to the Calaveras Enterprise, Calaveras County Sheriff's Department SWAT team members and Narcotics Enforcement Unit officers served a search warrant at a house located on the 8100 block of South Main Street in Moke Hill. The methamphetamine and some cocaine, with a combined street value of about $20,000, were seized during the search, a sheriff's report said. Those arrested during the raid were:

• James Oscar Paxia Sr., 52
• Judy Markey, 55, who live at the searched residence
• Donald Allen Osburn, 38, of the 7900 block of Nall Street, Valley Springs;
• Samuel Ugene Kaufman, 39, of the 8800 block of Sierra Lane, Mokelumne Hill
• Alondra Michelle Rebolledo, 24, of Sutter Creek.