This week 30 cage fighters weighed in at the Jackson Rancheria for last night’s popular Global Knockout. The event was completely sold out weeks ago. The fighters, fans and promoters are all pumped up and ready for the highly anticipated show. After the popularity of the last two events it is sure to return at the Jackson Rancheria.

Yesterday’s Amador Water Agency meeting brought some interesting news from Ryland Homes, the developer of the Wildflower subdivision in Ione. Ryland’s representatives stated that the water agency’s request for cash upfront payments for water connections for the planned 276 home neighborhood may be beyond the company’s scope at this point. The dollar amount being discussed is around the 1.3 million dollar mark and Ryland representatives state that the company has already invested 28 million dollars into the project and this additional investment may not be feasible based on the City of Ione’s current sewer and water constraints.

A crowd gathered at the Amador County Transportation Commission building to honor long time Transportation minded citizen Bill Breiner. Breiner was appointed as ACTC in 1992 by the Board of Supervisors. He served in that capacity for 14 years was elected as the Chairman of the commission for 12 consecutive years of his tenure. . Last night, ACTC Executive Director Charles Field commended Breiner on making Amador County’s Transportation System what it is today. Supervisor Louis Boitano presented Breiner with a resolution honoring him for his dedicated service. ACTC General Manager Pat Ireland, then revealed a sign dedicating the current ACTC building to Bill Breiner for his years of dedicated service.

The murder trial has been set for two men accused of killing a Mokelumne Hill man in the spring of 2005. Donald Pinon and Daniel Rocha are accused of shooting David Jessop, 19 in the back of the head while Jessop was in bed. According to Calaveras County officials drugs and gangs are believed to be involved. A Calaveras County Superior Court Judge ruled in May 2005 that two Valley Springs men must stand trial for murder along with other charges. Twenty-one-year-old Donald Pinon and 20-year-old Daniel Rocha stand accused in the shooting death of Jessop who was found shot to death in his bed early on March 16th  2005 in Mokelumne Hill.

After numerous incidents of injury, 100,000 infant sling carriers made by Infantino have been recalled. Thursday the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of the SlingRider Infant Carrier. The slings have a plastic slider on the fabric strap that can break causing infants to fall out of the carrier. There have been ten reports of the sliders breaking. Eight babies actually fell out of the carriers, four of which had impact injuries and were taken to the emergency room. One baby received a fractured skull. The recall involves the Infantino SlingRider carriers with item numbers 141-210, 151-210, 151-528 and 151-534. They were sold at Target Stores, Babies R Us, BJ's Wholesale Club, Modecraft and other retailers nationwide from July 2006 through February 2007. Products labeled “Made in Thailand” or “New 2007 Design” are not included in the recall. For more information, contact the safety commission at (800) 638-2772

Monday night the Sutter Creek city council received a final staff report on the Sutter Creek wastewater treatment plant and regional wastewater plans. City Manager Rob Duke presented the council with findings from a study which analyzed the possibilities of three options for a regional wastewater solution. Option one was to build a new regional plant in Martel. The estimated completion date for a Martel wastewater plant would be approximately in March of 2013. Rob Duke told the council that this timeline would be excruciatingly close to overlapping with an agreement between ARSA and the City of Ione which allows ARSA capacity in Ione’s plant until January of 2014.

Yesterday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting must have set a record time with the open session discussion lasting for a total of 7 minutes. The only open session item before the Board Tuesday was consideration of the renewal of their membership the Central Sierra Resource Conservation District. According to the District’s website, “The United States Department of Agriculture's Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) program helps people in rural areas plan and carry out activities that increase the conservation of  natural resources, support economic development, enhance the environment and standard of living in local communities

The Jackson Planning Commission met last night with two items before them the project determination of the Jackson Hills project and administrative reports. Before discussions began under public matters Kathy DuBois spoke in regards to the City’s proposed General Plan. She said the Plan was missing pertinent information in regards to population and demographics. She said the recently adopted 106 HEU’s (or Housing Equivalent Units) for the upcoming year presents a growth rate of 6.3% which is too high a number, in her opinion, for the City of Jackson. She did not however, present the information on how she came to such a percentage. She also said that there is no real vision in the general plan and suggested as well that language be added in regards to mixed land uses. DuBois concluded that she felt the City should not allow any growth as they have an illegally inadequate existing and proposed General Plan.

The city of Ione has established their position with the Buena Vista Band of Miwok Indians. That position has not changed within a year’s time or with another TEIR. The City and its officials say the new Draft Tribal Environmental Impact report is still not sufficient in how it addresses mitigations for impacts that will be caused by the tribe’s Flying Cloud Casino. The city addresses traffic issues and what is termed as “gridlock” in downtown Ione, as patrons and workers of the proposed casino are anticipated to clog local roads. This leads the city to discuss the staffing of the Ione Police department and the need to increase staffing to two fulltime officers on each shift, plus additional supervisory personnel. The costs of this alone are estimated at 100,000 dollars per officer and 115,000 a year for an additional sergeant.

CHP and local law enforcement remained busy over the weekend between the popular event Dandelion Days, a drunk driving accident that resulted in a triple fatality, as well as the 13 other accidents that occurred between Friday and Sunday afternoon. According to CHP Officer Melissa Scobee’s report an accident occurred on Latrobe Rd south of the El Dorado City Line Saturday morning around 9 am. Cyrus Perata of Fair Oaks was driving south bound on Latrobe Road at a stated speed of 60 mph. Perata attempted to negotiate a curve at the unsafe speed and as a result his 2006 Suzuki Motorcycle traveled off of the west roadway edge and onto the gravel and rock shoulder. Perata applied his brakes, but struck a rock causing the motorcycle to fall to the right and eject him. As a result of the accident he was transported to SAH with moderate injuries including a broken wrist and complaints of pain to his shoulder.