On Friday January 5, 2007 at approximately 0330 hours, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office received a report that a 17 year old female had been sexually assaulted by her former step-father at a residence on Buckhorn Ridge Road in Pioneer.  Amador County Sheriff’s Deputies responded and contacted the female and the suspect.  The female stated she had taken medication and became drowsy.  She subsequently awoke to find the suspect, nude, orally copulating her.  She indicated the suspect sexually penetrated her digitally and with a foreign object.  The suspect was interviewed at the scene and confessed to the committing the acts. Amador County Sheriff’s Investigators responded to the scene to conduct additional interviews and to collect the physical evidence.  The victim was transported to the UC Davis Medical Center for an examination. The former step-father, John Frederick Gladish, 57, of Pioneer was arrested and transported to the Amador County Jail for processing.  Gladish was charged with violations of PC 288A(F), oral copulation of an unconscious victim; and PC 289(E), sexual penetration of a victim under the influence of medications.  Gladish’s bail was set at $50,000.00.

A preliminary hearing was held before Judge David Richmond last Friday on the matter of murder charges facing Ione resident David Jackson.  Jackson is accused of murder, elder abuse and receiving stolen property in the murder of John Baker, 73 years old, of Ione.  During the preliminary hearing, Officer Garrett Henderson of the Ione Police Dept. testified that the body of Ione resident John Baker was discovered by his caretaker at about 4 pm. on 7/26.  Officer Henderson secured the scene and called the DA's Office for assistance. Officer Henderson testified that he had also spoke with the defendant's sister, who called police twice in the early morning hours of 7/26 to report that the defendant had called her claiming to have killed a 13 year old boy in a fight.  Officer Henderson contacted the defendant outside of his apartment a little after 1 am. on 7/26.

Amador County’s fire protection community is getting closer to placing an initiative on the ballot that would designate funding for the consolidation and modernization of the County’s fire fighting forces. The measure would reserve a half a cent from county sales tax transactions to be placed into a fire fund, which would in turn be disbursed to local fire departments in the form of a one-time 50 thousand dollar allocation, with additional provisions based on population and call volume. The money would be used for the creation of a 24 hour paid fire staff, improved equipment, and upgraded infrastructure to deal with the ever-increasing factors of call volume and population. Last Thursday’s Amador Fire Protection Authority meeting began with an animated discussion lead by county administrative officer Terry Daly. Daly outlined a calendar for the ballot initiative, which would be submitted in time for the November 4th 2008 election.

Daly stressed the importance of coming up with a specific plan for the funding, stating, “We cannot just go to the voters with our hat in our hand; we need to show exactly why we need this money and where we will be making improvements to services.” The discussion then turned to the possibility of consolidation. Ione City Manager Kim Kerr presented the Authority with a detailed plan for the consolidation of the Ione and Jackson Valley Fire Departments. The plan included provisions for splitting a 24 hour paid fire staff, as well as a shared administration. In turn, Mark Morton, chief of the Jackson Fire Department,  talked about recent discussions between the Jackson and Sutter Creek Fire Departments on the subject of a merger into the Amador Fire Protection District. He said that the two departments were considering the possibilities of either a full merger or a Joint Powers Authority, but that “there was still a lot of work to be done in terms of a detailed plan.” The meeting wrapped up with the creation of a new committee that will meet weekly in order to formulate the details of a fire budget, as well as spending policies for the AFPA.  The next AFPA meeting will be on Thursday, May 1st. 

The latest statistics from the Amador Fire Protection District continue to show that medical aid calls make up the majority of calls received. The Amador Fire Protection District responded to 124 incidents in March 2008.  The 73 for medical aid and 12 vehicle accidents accounted for 68% of the total incidents. 10 of the incidents were fire related: 2 structure fires, 1 chimney fire and 7 wildland fires.  58% of the total calls occurred between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.

A four car injury collision occurred Friday, adding to a string a multi-car collisions reported by the California Highway Patrol last week. The crash occurred at the intersection of Ridge and New York Ranch Road, which continues to be a hot spot for Amador emergency responders. Friday it became the location for a 4 car crash which sent two people to the hospital and left one car up in the air atop another. The intersection continues to be a hot spot for Amador emergency responders. According to the official CHP reports, one driver pulled out directly into the path of another, apparently unaware of oncoming traffic. Two other vehicles failed to navigate the collision in time. CHP were still investigating the crash when these photos were taken, however, no major injuries have yet been reported. This was one of many moderate collision accidents reported last week.

The CHP has released the report on the accident that occurred on Tuesday morning involving an impaired driver. According to Officer Frank Peixoto’s report Michael Craig 49 and of Happy Valley was traveling eastbound on Hwy. 88 approaching the intersection of Lower Ridge Road. While, George Ruiz, 44 and of Fontana was traveling westbound on Hwy. 88, stopped at the intersection of Lower Ridge Road for a red traffic light.

Saturday, Amador County will see an influx of motorcyclists as the Italian Picnic grounds become the destination for the Unsung Heroes Motorcycle Ride to benefit the Special Olympics of Northern California. The ride is anticipated to generate 800 to 1000 riders which will begin from three separate points, the Harley Shop in Folsom, the new Harley Shop on Sutter Hill and a point in Stockton. The route, according to the Special Olympics is about 60 miles in length no matter what the starting point. The ride was founded in 2001 by the late Dennis "Buzz" Mazzuola, formerly deputy chief of the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office Investigations Division and a 29-year veteran of the Stockton Police Department. The ride starts at 7:30 am. Registration forms are at www.sonc.org/regions/region_ne_article2.html. According to CJP Community Outreach Officer John C Hardey and Sutter Creek Police Chief Rob Duke state that they have not been notified of the ride- but both agree that this amount of motorcyclists will casue impacts to Amador County roadways.

The county has now recorded our 10th fatal victim of a traffic collision Monday morning. The accident occurred at Camanche Rd and Camanche Parkway North in the Ione area around 8:07 am when a black Chevy Cavalier and a white pick up truck hit head on. According to the report written by investigating Officer Cheryl Wilburn, 54 year old Daniel Hugh Cunningham of Ione was traveling on Camanche Road at approximately 45 mph when he suddenly crossed over the double yellow lines and into the path of a 17 year old male from Ione who was driving a 1996 Chevy pickup truck.

Tonight the City of Jackson will hold a Planning Commission meeting that will once again discuss the Jackson Hills Project. At their last meeting the planning commission decided to hold a workshop on the 500 plus home subdivision, golf course and recreational facilities proposal for acreage located behind Raley’s off French bar Rd. Major concerns over the traffic impacts of what could be potentially 2500 cars has been a concern of the city’s citizens and the Amador county Transportation Commission which recommended against the project during the Environmental Impact stage last year. The Commission will also be picking a date for a workshop with the ACTC to look at possible mitigations for the developers to defer and diffuse some of the traffic impacts. The meeting is tonight at 6 o’clock..

A small fire damaged an outbuilding yesterday in Plymouth. The fire on Old Sacramento Rd near Latrobe Rd was reported about 7 pm at the Skaggs trucking yard. Amador Fire Protection District Battalion 20 and Calfire Crews all responded to the blaze which was quickly contained.