According to the American Cancer Society, fewer people died of cancer in 2004 than in 2003, marking the second consecutive year that cancer deaths have declined in the United States, a new American Cancer Society report shows. According to Cancer Statistics 2007, there were 3,014 fewer cancer deaths in 2004 compared to the previous year. The report is published in the latest issue of the ACS journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. That number is much higher than the drop of 369 deaths reported between 2003 and 2002. And that suggests the trend is more than just a statistical blip, experts say. "This second consecutive drop in the number of actual cancer deaths, much steeper than the first, shows last year's historic drop was no fluke," says John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. "The hard work towards preventing cancer, catching it early, and making treatment more effective is paying dramatic, lifesaving dividends." The number of breast cancer cases in the US has leveled off in recent years, according to Facts & Figures. In 2007, 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected.

Earlier this week state officials, Senator Dave Cox along with the new warden at Mule Creek State Prison, Rich Subia and the new Secretary of the Department of corrections, James Tilton, held a public forum in Ione to hear input from citizens on how the prison is affecting the local community. First to address the three men was a woman who lives directly across from the prison. She told them that her tap water has been tainted and is undrinkable as a result of the prison's waste water system, and although she is provided with containers of 5 gallons of drinking water every day, her daughter will soon be having a baby and it isn't fair that the inmates across the street will bathe in clean water and her grandchild will not. Other members of the public demanded the current wastewater situation with the prison be declared an emergency telling the three officials that they want a response immediately and that it is unacceptable to have mothers washing their children in dirty water.

Sutter Amador Hospital (SAH) is pleased to announce the addition of pediatrician, David Stone, M.D. to their medical staff. Dr. Stone began seeing patients on Tuesday, January 16th at the Sutter Amador Pediatric Center located at 601 Court Street, Suite 200.  Sometime this spring, the pediatric center will relocate to the hospital’s new Outpatient Services Center on 100 Mission Boulevard. “Our pediatric center’s patient volumes have increased over the past year,” says Anne Platt, SAH’s CEO. “We are thrilled to be able to fill the need for a second pediatrician in our community.” Dr. Stone comes to us from the Trinity Mother Francis Health System, where he ran their Trinity Pediatric Clinic in Jacksonville, Texas for almost 10 years. His experience prior to his time at Trinity includes Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Center in Tyler, Texas and fifteen years in group and private practice in San Diego, California. Dr. Stone served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force where his role was staff pediatrician.

Two people, the subject of an intense manhunt this afternoon in downtown Jackson, used there last hours of freedom to get beauty treatments at a poplar local salon. Now they are the best groomed inmates at the Amador County Jail. The ordeal began today when Jackson Parking Enforcement Officer Paul Neasbitt contacted three individuals in the North Main Street Parking Lot. Two individuals, a male and a female were seated inside the dark colcored Acura Integra, while a third subject was kneeling by the driver’s side door. Officer Neasbitt asked all three individuals for identification. The two males provided identification, and Officer Neasbitt stepped to the rear of the vehicle to request a patrol officer to his location and to run a check on the license plate. As he did this the driver of the vehicle started the Acura and began to back up. Officer Neasbitt ordered the driver to stop, however he gunned the engine, continuing to back the vehicle in Officer Neasbitt’s direction. Officer Neasbitt had to grab the rear spoiler on the vehicle and throw himself to the side of the vehicle, to avoid getting hit. The Acura then sped away on the north main street and a pursuit ensued as a Be On the Lookout was broadcasted for a small black car with the two occupants inside.

Cold weather conditions combined with inattentiveness to the roadway continued to wreck havoc over the weekend. On Friday morning an accident occurred on Latrobe Road when Robert Liad 55 and of Sutter Creek was driving his 1995 Jeep northbound on Latrobe Road at about 35-40 miles per hours. According to Officer Mike LeMaster’s report Liad was attempting to use his cell phone and while looking down at his phone he inadvertently let the Jeep drift off the eastern edge of the road. Liad immediately turned hard to the left to bring the vehicle back onto the road and subsequently turned too far causing the Jeep to continue in a northwest direction across the southbound lane of Latrobe Road. The vehicle began to spin in a counter clock wise motion of the west roadway edge. The right side of the Jeep dug into he dirt shoulder causing it to roll onto its side and into a barbed wire fence. Liad was uninjured; however the accident is a reminder to pull over when distracted while driving- like when making cell phone calls.

Many of the Eldorado National Forest’s developed recreation sites were built 30-50 years ago. Since then, visitor preferences and demographics have changed and some sites no longer serve their projected recreation demands. Some facilities are in poor shape and are not meeting visitors’ expectations. Now, in an effort to respond to these conditions, as well as considering the national direction, the forest is implementing the Recreation Site Facility Master Planning (RSFMP) process for developed recreation sites.  The process will take approximately one year and will involve public input. The RSFMP is an analysis tool that was developed for use nationally to help forests align their developed recreation sites with the unique characteristics of the particular forest, projected recreational demands, visitor expectations, and anticipated revenue.

As Amador County Education Officials approve their Local Education Agency Plan to meet the federal government’s No Child Left Behind mandates, California State Officials are preparing to battle the feds over the 2002 Educational Initiative. California State Department of Education Officials are hoping Congress will consider the state’s concerns about the federal law, concerns which center around the basic question of how to effectively evaluate the progress of students.