News Archive (6192)
Prescribed forest burns to include 1,037 acres near Hams Station
Written by Tom
Amador County – The U.S. Forest Service announced it will begin fall prescribed burns in El Dorado National Forest as soon as weather conditions are right, with about 5,300 acres of national forest land scheduled to be burned, including 1,037 acres near Hams Station in the Amador Ranger District.
Deputy Fire Management Officer Steve Parr said prescribed fires are an important way to maintain forest health and reduce fuels that could feed future wildfires. Parr said: “Prescribed fires are ignited only when both weather and fuel conditions exist that will ensure low to moderate burning rates and firefighting resources are available to keep fires within fire lines.”
The prescribed burns planned in El Dorado National Forest over the fall and winter include 1,037 acres in the “Prospect Rock Prescribed Burn,” located on the north side of Highway 88 across from Hams Station and south of the Cosumnes River, in the Amador Ranger District. The project was planned to begin Sunday, Oct. 23.
Placerville Ranger District planned the “Iron Trap Prescribed Understory” burn of 1,375 acres near junction of Mormon Emigrant Trail and Silver Fork Road.
Parr says prescribed fires and pile burning are intended to reduce the amount of vegetation, such as needles, small plants, brush, and small trees, which can carry fire from the forest floor into treetops. Studies and experience have shown that prescribed fires will stimulate the growth of grasses, forbs and shrubs that provide food for deer, mountain quail and other wildlife.
“We are sensitive to the fact that smoke has an impact on people, particularly those with respiratory conditions and allergies,” said Parr. “Every effort is made to ignite prescribed fires when weather patterns will carry smoke away from populated areas.”
The Forest Service must comply and coordinate with state and local county air pollution control districts. Smoke may continue for days after actual ignition because of the large scale of these projects.
The Forest Service recommends that people living in or near the forest contact the nearest ranger station if they have respiratory illness or think the smoke might adversely affect them. These people will be placed on a “Sensitive Persons List” and will be notified of impending prescribed burning projects.
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Cal-Fire plans prescribed burns on Tiger Creek and Salt Springs roads
Written by Tom
Amador County – California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced Thursday that it is planning prescribed burns on Tiger Creek Road and Salt Springs Road starting next Tuesday in Amador County.
Patrick McDaniel, Cal-Fire Forester of the Vegetation Management Program for the CDF’s Amador-El Dorado-Sacramento-Alpine Unit, announced the prescribed burns Thursday, saying that the burning will begin Tuesday, Oct. 25, and run through the month of November.
McDaniel said the Cal-Fire Amador-El Dorado-Sacramento-Alpine unit, based in Camino, “plans to conduct a prescribed broadcast burn on Sierra Pacific Industries and Pacific Gas and Electric properties located along Salt Springs Road and Tiger Creek Road in unincorporated portions of Amador County.”
He said people who are sensitive to smoke and who feel they may be affected are requested to contact him at (530) 647-5288.
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AWA OKs new fees, plans regional reclamation study workshop
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Amador Water Agency plans a Martell Regional Reclamation Study public workshop next week at it office in Sutter Creek. AWA Supervising Engineer Erik Christeson announced the public workshop in a letter last week, sying that the AWA requested attendance of the public.
The Martell Regional Reclamation Study is being conducted by the AWA “to investigate the potential use of recycled water within Amador County and to provide a road map for the future design and construction of Regional wastewater reclamation facilities.”
Christeson said “this upcoming workshop will provide you with the opportunity to discuss the benefits and potential concerns you may have about recycled water and a regional recycled water system. The study will be developed by considering input from members of the public, business leaders and other governmental agencies.
Also last week, AWA announced approval of some new rates for its customers. On Oct. 13, the AWA board of directors “approved revising the schedule of fees for services at the Agency to adequately reflect the cost of service provided.”
AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said the board approved “a new $1.50 charge for paying a bill by credit card, and increases in fees for service calls, service reconnection, construction water, annexation or detachment and backflow prevention were also approved.
The complete fee schedule is available on the Agency website and at the AWA office.
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Sweet urges people to save the date for McDonald's hearing
Written by Tom
Amador County – Jackson Vice Mayor Keith Sweet urged
people Thursday to save a date next Tuesday for the Amador County Board
of Supervisors’ hearing on an appeal of the County Planning
Commission’s variance approval for McDonald’s Restaurant, which would
allow it to remodel its Martell restaurant without following its
original 1992 conditions of approval.
Sweet and eight other county residents jointly filed the appeal of the McDonald’s decision by the Planning Commission, and said in an email to TSPN that he urged people to “please come to the hearing and speak up if you can. Meanwhile, we urge you to talk to, call or write your county supervisor, discuss this issue with your friends and neighbors, and support maintaining Amador’s beauty, value and history.”
Sweet said “all over the country, McDonald’s has built restaurants that fit a community’s historic architecture and unique character. We want them to do that here, too. The least we can do is make sure the 1992 condition on color and materials (Condition 19) stays in place.”
Sweet was joined in the appeal by Mayor Tim Murphy, whose Sutter Creek City Council supported the appeal with a resolution and a letter. The appeal was jointly filed by nine residents, including Sweet and his wife, and former County Planning Commissioner Brian Jobson, who was on the commission when Mcdonald’s originally went in, in 1992.
Sweet, who abstained from his Council’s vote to approve the letter, said the conditions of approval were very progressive at the time. Also in the appeal are Susan Jobson; Keith and Gail Sweet; Tim and Jill Murphy; Renee Chapman; John Luy; Martin Gates; Paul and Kathy Hansch; and Sandi Baracco.
In the letter, Sweet said “in September, McDonald’s persuaded the Amador County Planning Commission to remove the 1992 use permit condition for the Martell McDonald’s that requires the building exterior to use neutral, earth-tone colors and wood, stone or real brick.”
Sweet said that “allows McDonald’s to remodel the Martell outlet to have the boxy, white plastic ‘big box’ look of McDonald’s in Anywhere, USA.” He said “local citizens appealed that decision to the Board of Supervisors and are involved in discussions with McDonald’s regarding an alternative design that better fits our community.”
Sweet requested his Jackson City Council support of the appeal in the form of a letter, which was approved Oct. 11, though not in as strongly worded language as a similar support letter by Sutter Creek City Council.
The Amador County Board of Supervisors will hear the appeal of the Planning Commission decision at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, or soon after that time.
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Amador County wins a suit that will allow it to sell the Amador Cannonball train replica
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County has prevailed in civil court and cleared the way to sell the replica train engine and coal car, the “Amador Cannonball,” which has been housed at the Amador County Museum grounds since 1980.
Amador Superior Court Judge Susan C. Harlan on Oct. 17 denied plaintiffs John Queirolo and Diane Bennett’s request for provisional relief in a preliminary injunction to halt the sale.
Former Museum Curator Georgia Fox said Thursday: “I’m really sad. I’m really upset,” after hearing the news. She said she was not allowed to be subpoenaed to testify, though Queirolo and his daughter, Diane Bennett were planning to subpoena her.
Boy Scouts restored the replica train before, Fox said, and she had talked to a group of scouts about restoring it again, before Supervisors were approached about the train by a Colorado non-profit. She said the issue did not have another hearing that she knew of. Fox said: “It’s really too bad that the supervisors let this happen.”
Judge Harlan heard the case Sept. 15, when, according to the docket, plaintiffs Queirolo and Bennett gave arguments, and Deputy County Counsel Jennifer Magee argued on behalf of the defendants, Amador County and the Board of Supervisors.
On Aug. 24, visiting Judge Thomas Kolpacoff, held a hearing, for which minutes said discussion ensued “regarding ownership of the train in question.” Sides also discussed the County’s “Exhibit A, Letter from Finegold’s Wholesale Distributors dated March 12, 1980.” The court found that giving the train “to the care and custody of the Amador County Museum” did “not mean title has changed and title was given to Amador County.”
Kolpacoff granted “the temporary restraining order” to be “only in effect until the next hearing, Sept. 15.”
Amador County was “restrained and enjoined from selling, attempting to sell, or causing to be sold the Train,” and were “restrained and enjoined from actions to facilitate to move or participate in moving of the Train pending the next hearing,” with the hearing continued to Sept. 15.
Harlan heard the case Sept. 15, including Magee making “an offer of proof” regarding testimony by John Hopkins, director of County General Services. The ruling followed a month later in Amador County’s favor, while the restraints remained in place against the train’s sale or moving.
The county in April heard from Durango Historic Railroad Society of Durango, Colorado, which wanted to purchase the train. They know the train as the “Emma Sweeney,” from a film made in Durango. The society pledged donation of $5,000 to the Amador County Museum in exchange for donation of the train to the Colorado non-profit. Queirolo in August told Supervisors he had a $5,000 check for the train, but did not offer the check to supervisors.
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Sobon Family winemaker Paul Sobon marks 30 years as a winemaker
Written by Tom
Amador County – Sobon Family Wines’ winemaker marks his 30th anniversary of being a winemaker this year, and last week he gave TSPN a tour of one of the family’s two vineyards.
Winemaker and vineyard manager Paul Sobon and his family own and operate Sobon and Shenandhoah Estates wineries, and they farm 130 acres of grapes, predominantly zinfandel. They also grow about 20 different varieties, with some small plots that they sell only in their tasting room.
Sobon vineyards is formerly the D’Agostini Winery, which is 155 years old, and was founded in 1856 by Adam Uhlinger. The Sobon family purchased the winery in 1977, and Paul Sobon said he began making wine in 1981. He spent a harvest season in Australia, and has taken winemaking classes through the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Last week, Sobon spent the midway mark of the harvest cycling every 30 minutes or so between work crews picking grapes at the Sobon vineyards at 14430 Shenandoah Road, and processing the grapes at Shenandoah Vineyards.
He said the crew members pick about a ton of grapes a day, each, and they will be processing about 18 tons a day. Last week, a crew was picking syrah grapes from 12-year-old vines, while across the ravine stood field of zinfandel vines that are 60 years old, and above those, the more zinfandel on 85-year-old vines, which make up one of its lines, the “Rocky Top.”
He said the harvest is cut off generally in the second week of November when the days are getting so much shorter. He said if your grapes are not ripe by then, they probably won’t get ripe. After that, he will spend about three weeks on the road marketing his wines in other states, at locations that already sell their wines.
The quantity output this year being hurt from severe spring weather will mean more purchases, and he buys grapes exclusively from Northern California, in a 50-mile radius, with a little bit from Lodi, and Contra Costa County. Sobon said almost all of the grapes they buy are zinfandel, with a little bit of petite syrah.
He said all of their over $15 wines are made with all Amador County grapes.
The Sobon vineyard at Shenandoah Road includes California register historical landmark marker number 762, a plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in Cooperation with the James W. Marhall Chapter Number 49 of the E. Clampus Vitus, on Sept. 16, 1961.
The winery includes a museum with old winemaking items, including old oak casks, presses and old bottles of the D’Agostini line. The tasting room has a wall of ribbons, and the local selections, including some sold exclusively at the tasting room.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Amador County – Ione City Council last week appointed a “broker of record” to work on getting savings in employee benefits, and discussed ways of cutting benefits as it copes with a General Fund deficit.
The council appointed Keenan & Associates as city “broker of record.” Hal Selby of Keenan & Associates said there will not be big savings to begin with. Selby said “you have an election period to join Cal-PERS, that ended back in August. That starts again in June, so they can talk about that again. He said staff needs to be thoroughly briefed, and he can only assist staff with decisions as they make them.
City Attorney James Maynard said right now they need to look at where they can get savings. City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said they will “try to take one bite at a time and break the ice in our partnership.”
Mayor David Plank said the city has a lot of employees near the retirement age, and should look at leveling out that burden with early retirements to get the loss of employees to a reasonable number.
Resident Jim Nevin said he would like to see short-term savings with a reduction in the number of employees. He said the city has gone 110 days without a budget, and you haven’t made one single cut.” He said city employees get their Social Security paid, though every other employee in the county pays their own. He suggested the council make a “symbolic surrendering” of their $180 meeting stipends.
Resident Larry Rose criticized the mayor for spending $800 on a trip to the League of California Cities conference in San Francisco. Plank said the trip was booked before an auditor found the $500,000 deficit in the General Fund.
Resident Dominic Atlan, who said he has looked into benefits savings for his employees, said the “only thing the city is not overpaying for is dental and vision. He said health, retirement, sick days and holidays are overpaid and he was sick of hearing complaints of small spending, like the mayor’s trip to the conference.
Atlan said city spending on health benefits doubled in 2004, and it pays $105,000 annually on health benefits, or $10,000 a month. He said “there’s $60,000 a month in inflated benefits that nobody’s talking about.” He said “$10,000 a month is way too high for health benefits.”
He said “those are the things we should be shopping around” and worrying about, “not the pennies.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Amador County – Ione City Council is looking at a way to get out of a two-year, $800,000 contract with the company that is operating its wastewater treatment plant, as the city battles to overcome a General Fund budget deficit.
City Manager Butzlaff last week said they need to reduce the budget by $570,000, and so far, employee departments had offered options of $307,000. The rest needs to come from employee costs, including salaries and benefits. He said furloughs are not a direct reduction but are behavioral reductions, and make up for about $80,000 in concessions offered from six employees represented by the Service Employees International Union.
City Attorney James Maynard said the city is looking for a way to make a positive separation from PERC Water Solutions, which operates the city wastewater treatment plant. He said if they cut ties the wrong way, they will be “on the hook for two more years of operational costs.” The city’s two-year contract with PERC is for $800,000.
Councilman Lloyd Oneto said that the contract approval in June was made when he voted yes. He said his vote was predicated on a promise from then City Manager Kim Kerr that if he did not like the company, they could give a 30-day notice and end the contract.
Resident Larry Rose asked about the city paying PERC $66,000 for July and August, more than $1,000 a day to run the plant. He said the city “should be able to trim that” with a level 4 operator. He also asked about City Attorney James Maynard’s bill for May of $21,000, and asked if anyone was watching Maynard’s time, with a total billing of $30,000.
Maynard said due to the nature of his job, there will be increased costs early on as he “gets up to speed.” There are also outside forces beyond his control which add to the city’s legal costs, such as litigation and claims brought against the city. He said he charges a very low flat fee to the General Fund, but the outside forces increase the extra work.
Oneto said: “We would not have nearly as big a bill if we would have been watching a long time ago.”
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ACTC hopes hybrid 3-lane suffices for Pine Grove Cooridor Improvement
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission last week endorsed a hybrid 3-lane improvement project for Highway 88 through Pine Grove, and will look to make it effective in increasing traffic flow, and meeting Caltrans needs, without the impact of a major project.
Commissioners approved sending out a request for proposals for the project, after Planner and Program Manager Neil Peacock recommended that “for the remainder of the project, we go with requests for proposals,” not contracts and consultants. He said “all of our consultants are currently on stop work,” and are “basically being let go, so we can bring a prime back on.”
He recommended appointing a Commissioner to the project, so he could spend thousands of dollars at a time confidently, as they meet with Caltrans, “so that our new consultant hits the ground running.” Peacock said by March they “will have a wall-sized example of this hybrid new project.” He said per the grant funding of $1.7 million used on the project study, “we are under the gun to deliver a project by June 2014.”
The next phase, he said, will do all state and federal environmental studies needed for the project, and it will include intimate contact with the PTA, the school, businesses and residents in Pine Grove.
Peacock said “there was once again resounding opposition to the five-lane, through-town” alternate at the recent elementary school workshop. Some wondered if traffic forecasts were off, and if there will really be that much growth and lot splints upcountry.
Commissioner John Plasse said Supervisors will soon be asked to adjust county nexus fees, which were based on Department of Finance population increase estimates that did not occur. He asked if the Caltrans “purpose and needs” formula that evaluated the Pine Grove corridor alternates also used those faulty numbers.
Peacock said Caltrans requires using those numbers, in evaluating traffic flow estimates to the year 2044. But he said the project estimate can say: What if the Department of Finance projections did not happen?
He said the alternate can do things not required in a classic expansion, like through lanes, turn lanes and other fixes, if it shows the hybrid meets all purposes and needs.
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Kennedy Mine Foundation plans a grand opening and dedication of its new archive building
Written by Tom
Amador County – The grand opening of the new Kennedy Archive Building is set for 3-6 Saturday, Oct. 22 at the new building, which will be the cornerstone in the historical records preservation effort of the Kennedy Mine Foundation.
A dedication of the new facility will be conducted form 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22. Tracey Towner, on behalf of the Kennedy Mine Board of Directors, urged people to “come and celebrate this milestone in Kennedy Mine history.” Friends and family are welcome, beverages and snacks will be offered.
Board member Linda Rianda, said during the Sutter Creek City Council reports Monday that the Kennedy Mine has been working on the archive building, and the grand opening Saturday is planned to take place “rain or shine.”
She said the Kennedy Mine Archives already has people contacting them all the time about their relatives who worked there. Rianda said the grand opening will include regular surface tours of the mine and grounds.
RSVP to the grand opening at (209)223-9542 or e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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