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.

A new schedule has been announced for the opening of the Hwy 49 Bypass of Sutter Creek and Amador City. According to Project Manager Scott Maas, the Sutter Creek Bridge false work is still being removed, slowly, and it is now estimated to be mid-February before the Bypass will be ready to open. Maas states that The removal of the current section of false work will be completed this week. The removal of the last section, Span #1, will begin this week and will take approximately 4 weeks to accomplish. Maas indicates that this delay is not being caused by lack of equipment or personnel; instead he states “it is just time consuming to remove the false work carefully and safe! The bridge railing is expected to be completed in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

A massive manhunt under way for an Amador County man identified as the shooter in the bizarre shooting of two diners Saturday night in a crowded dessert shop in San Diego. San Diego police say that a 45-year-old Jackson man Ralph Stephen Garbarini, a construction worker from here in Jackson was identified by witnesses as the shooter when fleeing form the scene. Garbarini had been in San Diego only a month and was living out of a camper. In what police are calling a random attack, the gunman killed Michael Andrew Fineman, 44, of Clairemont at 9:30 p.m. at Extraordinary Desserts on Fifth Avenue in the Park West neighborhood.

On Thursday December 28, 2006 at approximately 1031 hours, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call with an open line and a male voice heard yelling in the background. Amador County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the residence located at 26991 Hwy 88 in Pioneer and arrived at 1039 hours.  American Legion Ambulance personnel, Amador Fire Protection District and California Department of Forestry personnel also responded. Upon the arrival of deputies a decedent, who had suffered thermal injuries, was found lying in an open doorway.  The door led outside to the snow covered deck.  Burnt paper, a fire starter and a candle were located at the door to the wood stove approximately eight feet from where the decedent was located.

The totals are in for 2006 accidents in the Amador Unit of the California Highway Patrol and the numbers are up over 2005 numbers and interestingly enough, the same as 2004. 636 accidents were reported on Amador County Roadways in 2006, up from 582 reported in 2005. These numbers include only reports at the CHP, and exclude the cities of Ione, Jackson, Sutter Creek and Plymouth. Of the 648 accidents reported in 2006 350, or over half, were injury accidents.  March and April of 2006 saw the highest accident totals, generally, according to Public Information Officer Craig Harmon, due to inclement driving conditions because of the severe storms that impacted the county during those months.

On Sunday December 17, 2006 at approximately 10:05pm, an Amador County Sheriff’s Deputy patrolling Electra Road contacted four occupants of a van.  As the deputy contacted the occupants he could smell the odor of alcohol and observed two teenage girls in the rear of the van with a twenty eight year old male.  The deputy also noticed that the two girls were securing their clothing. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the girls, ages 14 and 15 were part of a church youth group and the 28 year old male was identified as an intern youth pastor who was reportedly driving the girls home to Calaveras County.

Saturday Evening another car was abandoned after an accident on Defender Grade.  The car, a 280 ZX, rolled on Defender grade traveling about half way down the hillside before coming to rest.  The person who reported the accident in to 911 indicated that the driver of the car was upset because they had made the call and that the driver then hid in the woods near the accident. When police arrived, there was a heat signature in the woods picked up by an infrared camera, but the driver was gone. Law enforcement will continue the investigation.

Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe is teaming up with District Attorney’s from our neighboring counties and the California District Attorney’s Association, or CDAA, to unveil a statewide prosecutor’s campaign to combat the rising numbers of arrests and accidents from driving under the influence of alcohol. “Make it Home or The Holidays” is the theme of the campaign to be launched by the CDAA. This marks the nation’s first coordinated effort by the prosecutors association to focus attention on driving under the influence.

The campaign is being spurred on by statistic that shoe DUI arrests and accidents are once again increasing in California while decreasing in other states. In 2005 alone there were 1719 alcohol related fatalities in CA, approaching the number of homicides in the state, according to CDAA Executive Director David LaBahn. CDAA will receive a 3.4 million dollar grant from the federal Office of Traffic Safety to assist prosecutors throughout the state in prosecuting DUI cases.

“This is a deal breaker” is how the Amador Planning Commission characterized traffic mitigation fees being applied to a recently reviewed project proposed for downtown Pine Grove. The request was for the conversion of a residential property to various commercial businesses about one half a mile east of the Ridge Rd intersection with Hwy 88 in Pine Grove. The Technical Advisory Committee previously asked for a traffic study, which was prepared and presented. During the public hearing developers Phil Longacre and Jack Stewart appeared before the planning commission stating that a commercial development in the Pine Grove area could help, not only the community directly around the project, but the county as a whole as consumers in the upcountry area could reduce car trips on Hwy 88 as consumer needs are meet in the upcountry areas.

Last week's Plymouth city council meeting showed a city divided by the looming concept of a proposed casino that the town has been fighting for three years now. A number of citizens spoke out during public comment telling the city council that it is time to sit down with the Ione Band of Mi-Wok tribe and "make the best of their situation." Plymouth business owner and resident Maria Simon stated, "For 3 and a half years we have been fighting the battle and I am tired of it. I understand everybody's fear, but just as you respect Mr. Reeder's right to seek permits for subdivisions in our city, you must give the tribe that same respect.