Save Mart Supermarkets, based in Modesto, recently purchased 132 Albertson’s stores in Northern California, including the Amador County store. It was announced last week that the Sonora store will be closed this coming Saturday leaving the Sonora area’s 65 employees without jobs. According to Save Mart spokesperson Alicia Rockwell the Jackson store will remain open and will slowly be converted over to a Save Mart store. Customers will not see a big difference in the store for at least three to four months. Employees here are also safe, says Rockwell, the purchase agreement for the stores included the employee positions and each employees now a Save Mart employee. There are no major plans to change the operations of the Amador County store, with the exception of the change of name and product content.

Residents of Jackson and Ridge Road seem to be at odds at the moment over Casino traffic. The Jackson City Council, at their last meeting discussed agenda items at both the Board of Supervisors and Jackson City Council meetings, over traffic coming to and from the Jackson Rancheria Casino. The Ridge Road Coalition reported to the Board of Supervisors recently that while they were told that the Rancheria had directed all service deliveries, tour busses and employees to use the Dalton Road access off of Hwy. 88, casino patrons are continuing to use Ridge Road to New York Ranch Road

The BOS reviewed an addendum to their agenda and then took a position on Tuesday regarding Assembly Bill 1634. GSA Director John Hopkins and Animal Control Director John Vail explained the main direction of the bill.  The Bill would prohibit any person from owning or possessing any cat or dog over the age of 4 months that has not been spayed or neutered, unless that person possesses an “intact” permit. The bill would establish an intact permit fee in an amount yet to be determined by a local jurisdiction, and would then require the revenue from these fees to be used for the administration of the local jurisdiction’s permit program. The Bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by a prescribed civil penalty. Hopkins pointed that many people are, or will be, opposed to this bill as it takes away “people’s rights or perceived rights.”  Hopkins then went over the fines and fees portion of the bill. The bill states that any person in violation of the law shall be fined $500 for each animal for which the violation occurs as well as for each applicable period of noncompliance. The penalty shall be imposed in addition to any other civil or criminal penalties imposed by the local jurisdiction. Because the local jurisdiction is responsible for the enforcement of this law that leaves the question of who is going to fund such a program and oversee its implementation?

Monday an environmental group filed suit against the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board claiming that tens of thousands of farms have been illegally exempted from laws requiring the monitoring and reporting of toxic water runoff. The lawsuit targets the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's "ag waiver" program, which allows farmers to join coalitions rather than test their own runoff. According to the suit, millions of pounds of pesticides and fertilizers are applied to farmlands, later washing into creeks and streams and, ultimately, into the Delta. There, the toxins threatened fish such as the Delta smelt, environmentalists say.