News Archive (6192)
Amador deputies arrest a Livingstone man for armed robbery
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Livingstone man for armed robbery of two customers who were leaving the Jackson Rancheria Casino early last Saturday, March 3.
Amador County Undersheriff Jim Wegner released details of the investigation and arrest Tuesday, saying that Anthony Vincent Soria, 25, of Livingstone, was detained in a “high risk manner” on Highway 49 after reportedly robbing two customers who were leaving the Casino. Soria was arrested and charged with robbery, assault with a firearm and possession of a concealed, loaded firearm. He was booked into Amador County Jail, with bail set at $50,000.
On March 3, at about 3:20 a.m., Amador Sheriff’s Department received a 9-1-1 call reporting that a suspect had brandished a firearm at two subjects near the entrance to the casino. The caller said the suspect fled heading west on Ridge Road in a blue Ford Mustang and the victims were attempting to follow the suspect in a black Honda, Wegner said. An Amador County sheriff’s deputy and Sutter Creek Police officer contacted the victims at the intersection of Ridge Road and Highway 49.
The victims said they had been gambling at the casino, and upon leaving, they came upon a blue Mustang, occupied by a Hispanic male, stopped on New York Ranch Road. “The occupant reported his vehicle was disabled. The victims assisted the male with pushing his vehicle off the roadway and then with starting the vehicle.”
The victims said the “suspect then drew a handgun, pointed it at the victims, and demanded money.” They said the suspect took between $500 and $600 dollars from them, as well as a driver’s license. They tried to follow the suspect vehicle, and said it may have turned north on Highway 49.
The Sutter Creek Police officer stayed with the victims while two Sheriff’s deputies checked Highway 49 for the suspect vehicle. Wegner said the suspect in the suspect vehicle was located traveling north on Highway 49 near Highway 16, and the vehicle was stopped in a high risk manner by deputies on Highway 16 near Highway 124, with assistance by a California Highway Patrol officer.
Soria was detained at the scene of the stop, Wegner said. A search of his vehicle “revealed a loaded handgun, $600 dollars in U.S. currency, the victim’s driver’s license, and clothing he was reported to be wearing at the time of the robbery.”
The victims were transported to the scene and positively identified Soria as the suspect that robbed them at gunpoint.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Daffodil Hill tentatively scheduled to open Friday March 16
Written by Tom
Amador County – McLaughlin’s Daffodil Hill is set to open on Friday, March 16, weather permitting.
Daffodil Hill is an historic private ranch in Volcano that transforms into a flowering paradise each spring, with thousands of visitors for about four weeks viewing its six-acre grounds displaying blooming almonds, crocuses, tulips, hyacinths, violets and lilacs in a farm setting, and its blanket of daffodils.
Not a commercial enterprise, and not formally publicized or promoted, Daffodil Hill has been owned by the same family since it was acquired in 1887 by pioneers Arthur McLaughlin and Elizabeth “Lizzie” van Vorst-McLaughlin. The several hundred-acre property was purchased from Pete Denzer, a Dutchman, who planted a few daffodils around his residence in remembrance of his home country.
In the early days of the Gold Rush, Daffodil Hill was a regular stopping place for teamsters hauling timber from the Sierras down to the Kennedy and Argonaut Mines, and fore eastbound travelers heading for the Comstock Lode on the Amador-Nevada Wagon Road (Highway 88).
In 1887, after coming west from New York and Ohio, Arthur’s wife, Lizzie, began to plant additional daffodils to beautify the ranch. The bulbs have been nurtured and added to by subsequent generations as a memorial to their ancestors.
Today much of the landscape around the old homestead is covered with several hundred named varieties of daffodils. For the last 20 years, the McLaughlins’ descendants have continued to personally plant several thousand new bulbs per year. In the past several years an average of 16,000 daffodil bulbs per year have been planted by the Ryan brothers and their families: great-grandchildren; great-, great-grandchildren; and great-, great-, great-grandchildren of Arthur and Lizzie. It is estimated that today Daffodil Hill has approximately 300,000 bulbs.
Located at 3,000 elevation, the site includes the original 1880s barn, wagon wheels, Gold Rush era mining equipment, antique farming implements, and peacocks, chickens, miniature donkeys and a horse.
Daffodil Hill is open only in the spring, usually from mid-March through the first weeks of April. After that, it goes back to a working ranch and is not open for visitors. Weather determines the length of the blooming each season, and the Hill is not open during or immediately after inclement weather.
Visitors should call the Hill hotline before they visit to make sure it is open. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week, weather permitting. Admission and parking are free, though donations are gratefully accepted, and proceeds go toward purchase of the next season’s planting of bulbs.
Call Daffodil Hill at (209)296-7048 and Amador County Chamber of Commerce at 1(800)649-4988.
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Ione City Council will consider a Sewer Committee request to delay hiring a sewer engineer
Written by Tom
Amador County – Ione City Council on Tuesday will consider delaying selection of an engineer for its sewer plant Report of Waste Discharge and other work as state deadlines loom.
Ione City Attorney James Maynard in a report said Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board “has conditionally approved the plan outlined in the Seepage Discharge Compliance Plan, a plan that is intended to minimize the burden of any rate increase on Ione’s residents.” He said “the plan also gives the city additional time to explore use of the tertiary plant, whether in addition to the current effluent flows from ARSA and CDCR or in replacement of that flow.”
Regional Board commented on the Seepage Plan in a Feb. 16 letter, Maynard said, and the “city faces an upcoming deadline … to respond to concerns raised.” Robertson-Bryan Incorporated “submitted responses to the technical questions and the City must prepare a response providing further clarification” to three other questions. He said RBI answered most of the questions in its addendum.
The remaining question to be answered by March 16 “regarding compliance with dates in the (Cease and Desist Order), is almost wholly dependent on the outcome of the upcoming hearing at the Regional Board at which the City will ask for an extension of time to prepare the Report of Waste Discharge,” Maynard said.
Councilman David Plank said the Request for Proposals (RFP) has gone out for a sewer engineer to finish the Report of Waste Discharge, and only one firm had submitted a proposal as of Monday. The city Wastewater Committee on Tuesday will ask for an extension of the RFP deadline, and ask for the city to select an engineer at its April 3 meeting, Maynard said.
He said it is hoped the Regional Board will grant an extension to the required responses in the Cease and Desist Order. The Regional Board has “asked the city to prepare a new scope of work and compliance schedule as the city is well behind the schedule outlined in the Seepage Discharge Compliance Plan.”
Maynard said the Regional Board “asked that the city obtain proof of raw sewage contamination at the bottom of both Pond 5 and Pond 6 through pond bottom sampling.” He said “significantly, Board staff has sufficient confidence in the science underlying RBI’s Seepage Plan that they have not asked for the sampling to be done until submission of the Report of Waste Discharge, currently slated for May 30.” He said, though, that it was “understood” the Council would prefer sampling soon to confirm that the project as proposed in the Seepage Plan “will solve the City’s problems.”
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Amador County – Multiple fire fighting agencies worked late into the morning Tuesday to mop up after an early morning fire that gutted the interior of the Jack In The Box restaurant in Martell.
Amador Fire Protection District led multiple agencies in fighting the fire, which included six engines and a truck from various agencies, including Sutter Creek, Jackson, Ione and AFPD. A wall beside the drive-through lane was broken, as were the front windows of the building, and the front and sides of the building were blackened from smoke, as personnel finished mop-up.
Fire officials remained at the scene late into the morning interviewing people, and fire crew members wrapped up hoses, as fire retardant foam flowed across the parking lot.
AFPD Battalion Chief David Bellerive said the fire was first reported at 5:40 a.m. and was fully extinguished in about two hours. He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation and “we will probably be out here pretty much the whole day” investigating.
Bellerive said there was one investigator on the scene at 11 a.m. and another investigator will come to work on finding the cause. Smoke reportedly led to a car crash involving four vehicles on Highway 49, as reported by one of two Sacramento television stations at the scene late in the morning. Bellerive said: “There was a crash and we did have heavy smoke conditions” when they arrived.
Personnel were dispatched to the fire at 5:40 a.m., Bellerive said. It took about an hour to get it under control, and about another hour to get it extinguished, then they did extensive mop up as well.
When he arrived, there was only smoke visible, and the fire was up in attic. He said it was hard to find and there was a lot of heavy black smoke. “Once we went in to make the interior attack, there was a lot more fire.”
He said the building’s structure remained intact, but the interior of the restaurant has extensive fire damage. There were no injuries. The store was not open at the time that the fire was reported. There were no employees at the scene during the fire, and there were no fire fighter injuries, he said.
Responders included six engines, one truck and about 25 personnel, including responders and equipment from Jackson Fire Department, Sutter Creek Fire District, Ione Fire Department and Cal-Fire.
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Sutter Gold Mining received its mill building permit on the Lincoln Project
Written by Tom
Amador County – Sutter Gold Mining Incorporated announced Monday it has received a permit to construct buildings for its new mill complex at the Lincoln Mine Project near Sutter Creek.
Amador County Building Department issued the permit March 1, which Sutter Gold Mining President, CEO and Director, Dr. Leanne M. Baker, called “a critical milestone for our company.”
Baker said: “Our site is completely winterized, our Mine Safety and Health Administration training program is in place, and we intend to begin excavation work for the foundation in the next several weeks.” As the mill foundation and building construction proceeds through summer and fall, Sutter Gold Mining plans to “work concurrently to prepare and develop the underground stopes for mining.”
Sutter Gold plans to mine 150 tons a day, seven days a week, while the mill will handle 210 tons per day, running five days a week. A 30-hole exploration program is under way, Baker said, and “five holes have been completed and await assay results.”
The company awarded foundation construction work for the mill, shop and staff services buildings to DG Granade Incorporated of Shingle Springs. Based in El Dorado County, Granade will use several local suppliers and subcontractors including Amador Transit Mix, Short Circuit Electric, JM & Sons plumbing and Allbright Steel Services. Site grading is being done by Doug Veerkamp General Engineering.
The completed Tailings Processing Area is currently being used for storage and staging. Purchased mill equipment is being evaluated and refurbished. Four air compressors were delivered in January. A “regrind ball mill has been disassembled for inspection,” Baker said.
Staff has already replaced parts in a primary jaw crusher. Coarse ore bin belt feeders and flotation cells are being rebuilt in Denver, Colorado for delivery in April and July. The company expects its primary rod mill this month.
In January, Sutter Gold Mining received two air permits from Amador Air District, including a comprehensive, site-wide “Authority to Construct,” and another for installation of back-up power.
The company’s Lincoln Project “will represent the first commercial underground gold mining operation on the historic Mother Lode in more than 50 years,” Baker said. The project is based on a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment in 2001 that said yield is expected to average “23,000 ounces per year at a cash cost (to produce) of about $700 per ounce before royalties.”
Sutter Gold Mining currently controls 3.6 miles of the Mother Lode of Amador County, with 90 percent of the property still unexplored. Properties include seven historic mines with significant historic gold production totaling 3.5 million ounces or 27 percent of the historic gold production from the 120-mile long Mother Lode Gold Belt, which produced 13 million ounces of gold.
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Amador Supervisors approve $15,000 for ‘Save the Wheel Project
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Supervisors expect a budget shortfall next year but decided last week to try to help fund the “Save the Wheel Project,” donating $5,000 a year over three years.
Supervisors directed payment with contingency funds, to be offset by Supervisors’ individual “discretionary” recreation funds.
Jackson Councilman Keith Sweet, chairman of the Save the Wheel Committee, said the project needs to raise $700,000 to match state grants to build a wheelhouse around Kennedy Mine Tailing Wheel Number 4. Sweet asked Supervisors for $15,000, paid over three years. The city must finance the project, and incremental donations will repay the city.
Sweet said 1,100 mailers in February sought similar three-year pledges, and the donation balance last Tuesday was $14,400. Supervisor Brian Oneto asked about cost estimates of $265,000 to build the wheelhouse, $140,000 for engineering, design and environmental costs, and where the rest of the money would go. Sweet said the state accepted much of the 10-year-old environmental work done for a previous grant at the Wheel, but about $8,000 in analysis was required on the tailings.
Supervisor John Plasse, chairman of the Kennedy Mine Foundation, said “this project is good for the community,” and he will support it with his discretionary funds, and by personal donations. He voted on the project as a member of ACTC’s oversight board “not without some trepidation.” He said efforts to preserve the wheel “should be done as a community,” and he will add items to the benefit auction.
Plasse said $5,000 a year will not break the bank, but County Administrative Officer Chuck Iley probably was not happy to hear that, because Iley will have to lead the county in facing what they expect will be a $1.5 million to $2 million dollar budget shortfall next fiscal year.
Supervisor Ted Novelli said if Iley says this is a good project to carry forward, he would support it. He thought it would be good to preserve county history “for all the young children coming up.”
Supervisor Vice Chairman Richard Forster said “the county does keep the lion’s share” of local Transient Occupancy Tax, and the Wheelhouse project would be good for promoting county tourism. Supervisor Chairman Louis Boitano said Sierra Nevada Conservancy has money for such projects. He also suggested his preference of getting “south facing coverage on both wheels,” number 2 and 4, by building partial wheelhouses.
Oneto said the county next year could have trouble meeting basic services, and the wheelhouse would be cheaper if they could just go and build it. He said discretionary funds were $10,000 but were reduced to $5,000 each, and remain unfunded this year.
Sweet said it is a big project and a big building, and it will help preserve one of Amador County’s “iconic historical artifacts.”
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Amador School Board will consider 16 teacher layoffs for the coming school year
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Amador County Unified School District Board of Trustees in a special meeting Wednesday will consider notifications for laying off 16 teachers in the school district to start the next school year due to a decline in enrollment and average daily attendance.
Potential layoffs, beginning no later than the start of the 2012-2013 school year, include 9 grade school teachers, 2 junior high teachers, 4 high school teachers, an alternative education principal, and a part-time athletic director position.
Any employees that are to be laid off must be notified by no later than March 15. Trustees will consider a resolution with the “intention to dismiss certificated employees of certain particular kinds of certificated services for declining average daily attendance for the 2012-2013 school year,” according to the agenda. The agenda noted that “it will be necessary to decrease the number of certificated employees in the District by the equivalent of 16.33 full-time positions for the ensuing 2012-2013 school year … because of such reduction or discontinuance of services.”
Nancy Gamache, executive director of District personnel, submitted a draft resolution with recommended positions to layoff. It included five K-6 grade “self contained classroom teachers,” four K-6 “response to intervention teachers,” one 7-8 grade math teacher, one 7-8 grade social science teacher, and four high school teachers of the subjects of vocational education/auto mechanics, physical science, social science and counseling, plus a 1/3rd time athletic director position. The draft resolution also included the elimination of one full-time alternative education principal position.
Trustees could also consider a resolution to “specify criteria used in determining the order of termination of certificated employees who first rendered paid service on the same date,” and notes that the governing board of the ACUSD “anticipates that it will be necessary to terminate the services of certificated employees” at the start of the next school year.
The resolution gives points per credential and per year of experience in the district, years outside the district in the same employment, and other credentials and degrees. It also contains a “tie-breaking procedure,” and notes that if “common day hires have equal qualifications” based on the criteria, points will be given for chairing a department, being a “teacher in charge,” or being a tutor or support provider.
The “employees with the fewest points shall be terminated before employees with more points,” and in cases of a tie with the criteria, “the District will then break ties by utilizing a lottery.”
The school board special meeting starts with a closed session at 5:30 p.m. and regular session at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 7 in the Supervisors chambers in Jackson.
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Amador County Treasurer announces a property tax-default auction is set for March 7
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Tax Collector and Treasurer Michael E. Ryan announced last week that a public auction of tax-defaulted property will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 7 in the Amador County Board of Supervisors’ Chambers.
Ryan said “parcels become subject to sale by the Tax Collector at the end of five years from the date of tax default. The available parcels will be offered for sale on an oral bid basis for at least the established minimum bid. The parcels will be sold to the highest bidder.”
The primary purposes of the public auction are to collect the unpaid delinquent property taxes that are owed to the County; and, to return the property to a tax-paying status.
Ryan said he “would like to remind interested parties that these parcels must be withdrawn from the sale in the event that the tax amounts due are paid by the day prior to the auction. Parcels may also be withdrawn in the event certain conditions exist that affect the sale parcels.”
Information regarding the auction rules, the terms and conditions of the sale, and a list of the parcels being offered for sale, are available on the County’s website, under “Government,” then “Treasurer/Tax Collector,” then “Tax Sale Information,” and then “2012 Tax Sale.”
The auction list includes 17 parcels or holdings of parcels, as of Jan. 18, with five having been withdrawn. They included a portion of a California Lode mining claim.
For more information contact Ryan at (209) 223-6364. The Board of Supervisors’ Chambers is located in the Amador County Administration Center, 810 Court Street in Jackson.
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Sutter affiliates team up to streamline care for outpatient services
Written by Tom
Amador County -- Sutter Amador Hospital and Sutter Medical Foundation, part of the Sutter Health network, have partnered to transition the hospital’s health centers and outpatient laboratory services to the medical foundation, effective March 1.
Sutter Amador Hospital CEO Anne Platt announced the change Tuesday, saying it “can help create better access for patients and make care more affordable for all.”
As a rural hospital, Sutter Amador Hospital delivers many outpatient medical services along with inpatient services under the hospital’s cost structure. Platt said many hospital services can be provided more efficiently if outpatient services are not charged at inpatient rates.
Over the past year, hospital leadership has been exploring ways to continue to offer care within the community while improving affordability so more patients can access services. Transitioning outpatient services, such as primary care and lab, to Sutter Medical Foundation helps meet the goal.
Care centers making the transition are Sutter Amador Pediatric Center, Sutter Amador Women’s Services, Jackson Family Practice, Pioneer Family Practice and Plymouth Family Practice. March 1, they will be known respectively as SMF Pediatrics Center, SMF Women’s Center, Jackson Health Center, Pioneer Health Center and Plymouth Health Center. All patients can receive outpatient lab service at the Sutter Medical Foundation Lab Patient Service Center located at 100 Mission Boulevard.
“Sutter Amador Hospital is transitioning employment for those who work within the centers and lab to Sutter Medical Foundation,” Platt sadi. “Sutter Medical Group also has offered employment to the physicians, nurse practitioners and advanced practice nurses working in the five health clinics. No positions were eliminated as part of the transition.”
It brings other advantages for patients and Amador County, she said. Patients will have access to a comprehensive electronic health record a full three years ahead of the hospital’s anticipated implementation. Patients will also have greater access to Sutter Medical Group specialists across Northern California.
OB-GYN Doctor Robert Young said “in the past, Sutter Amador Hospital has had difficulty recruiting physicians to work in a rural community, and finding specialty physicians willing to accept patients… The hospital has only been able to offer new physicians private practice opportunities. As the complexities of health care have grown, private practice has become less attractive to providers.” But “Sutter Medical Group can help bridge that gap and can be a vital link in connecting our community with more specialty care options.”
Sutter Medical Group and Sutter Medical Foundation have had solid reputations for delivering quality and comprehensive care since the 1990s, recognized most recently by Integrated Healthcare Association as a top performer and California Association of Physician Groups for high standards of excellence.
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Jackson City Council requests a redline version of the latest draft of the city sign ordinance
Written by Tom
Amador County – Jackson City Council on Monday requested a “redline” version of the latest draft of its sign ordinance, to be able to see and decide on changes that it wants.
Vice Mayor Connie Gonsalves said she was surprised by some of the changes made to the draft ordinance, thinking that after the last meeting and council input, she was expecting no changes. Gonsalves said she remembered saying: “I really am not in favor of any of it,” and she preferred keeping the ordinance the same and she “wanted no change.”
Mayor Pat Crew said he thought that the issue of window signs should be addressed, but that was the only change he thought would occur. Councilman Wayne Garibaldi said the current ordinance did not address digital and electronic signage, which he thought the changes would address.
Gonsalves said in the workshop, Jan. 23, they also discussed the “factor of enforcement,” and they could not discuss that fully until they know the changes.
City Manager Mike Daly said staff would prepare a redline version that shows where the changes were made in city code, and he would also gather information about enforcement and fairness. He said some people are allowed window signs and some are not. The Council continued the public hearing to its next meeting.
City Planner Susan Peters presented a list of changes or non-changes she said was directed from the Council at their workshop. She thought that the council definitely wanted cabinet signs and pole signs taken off the table.
Peters said the draft ordinance would make no change in pole sign regulations, allowing signs of a maximum 35 feet in height and 32 square feet per side. It made no change for internally lit cabinet signs, of which current regulations allow only lettering and logos. It also has no change to banner signs, which would allow two signs to be displayed three times a year for 30 days each.
The draft also would have no amortization period, as recommended by the Planning Commission, that is, no time limit for signs to meet ordinance requirements. Peters said it instead “grandfathers” in the existing, non-conforming signs, with no need to be replaced, unless work being done on a sign is at a cost of 50 percent or more of the value of the sign. She said City Attorney Andrew Morris approved that wording.
She said the Council “directed staff to amend the nonconforming sign section of the ordinance to allow for existing nonconforming signs to be grandfathered,” and the section was amended to grant “all existing permanent signs nonconforming status.”
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