Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, and California State Association of Counties Thursday announced a bold set of 152 actions designed to reduce serious injuries and fatalities 10 percent on California’s roadways by 2010. Actions were created with goals geared toward reducing head-on collisions and run-off-the-road crashes, improving safety at intersections and interchanges, and enhancing safety for pedestrians and bicycles. Local Caltrans representatives and California Highway Patrol members were among 300 safety stakeholders from 80 different organizations attending yesterday’s SHSP safety summit in Anaheim. In addition to the four lead agencies, stakeholders from cities, counties, state agencies, private sector businesses, and grass-roots organizations attended.  Another summit will be held in Sacramento on May 7, 2008.

The Amador County Planning Commission has announced they will hold two public hearings May 20 related to amendments to Title 19 of the Amador County Code. On May 16, 2006, the code was amended to include regulations relating to sea-land storage containers to encourage appropriate locations and uses for such containers and protect the visual quality of the county.  Since the adoption of the ordinance, existing and potential situations have surfaced that suggested the ordinance may need to be updated. Because this matter has proven to be of great interest and concern to the community, the planning commission invites all interested persons to attend and participate in the public hearing. The meeting is seen as another opportunity for the public to voice concerns and offer possible solutions to the issues regarding the use of sea-land storage containers.

The second item is intended as a public workshop, but may result in a public hearing if the commission feels prepared to make a recommendation on the matter to the board of supervisors.  Staff will present a proposed new county code to establish a design review process and associated standards for development of commercial, high-density multi-family residential and manufacturing zone districts.  In other words, the design guidelines are intended to provide project developers and property owners with an understanding of Amador County’s goals for aesthetically compatible and appropriate development projects that fit the unique and storied character of Amador County.  The hearings will be held at the County Administration Center's Board of Supervisors Chambers located at 810 Court Street in Jackson. The hearings are scheduled for 7 p.m. or as soon thereafter as can be heard.  Copies of both proposals are available on the planning department's Web site at www.co.amador.ca.us/depts/planning or by contacting the department at 223-6380. Anyone unable to attend but wishing to comment on either of these items may submit written statements to the Planning Commission.

With rising temperatures, rapidly drying vegetation, and the onset of summer weather patterns, CAL FIRE’s Tuolumne Calaveras Unit, or TCU, is preparing for an early start to the 2008 fire season. 74 seasonal firefighters, including recruits from Amador County, were hired on April 28 and are completing training this week.  This early hiring of seasonal staff is in addition to the 12 seasonal firefighters currently employed in TCU.  Starting today, these firefighters will staff the Unit’s 15 stations 24 hours per day.  In addition to fire engines, they’ll have 1 water-dropping helicopter, 1 air tactical airplane and 1 air tanker are in full operation at Columbia Air Attack Base.  Also, the 10 fire crews at Baseline and Vallecito Conservation Camps are staffed and will demonstrate their fire readiness at their annual drill May 6 and 7. The opening of fire season varies geographically throughout the state, based upon weather conditions, fuel loads and increased fire activity. The decision to staff the fire engines early is made by the Unit Chief based on local fire conditions.  By hiring seasonal firefighters, staffing fire facilities 24 hours per day, and bringing the air operations on early TCU has increased emergency response capabilities to match the fire potential in Tuolumne, Amador, and Calaveras counties.

Local gardeners from Amador and Calaveras county are now utilizing their skills to benefit others. Gardeners ranging from expert to amateur are working together with the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency food bank, or ATCAA, by donating home grown produce to help curb a rising number of hungry and homeless. The idea is so simple it’s almost ingenious. "When you're out there putting out your garden, put in an extra row," said Lee Kimball, food bank director.

The effects of our current economic downturn have hit home, and the food bank representatives believe that personal contributions begin in your own backyard. The food bank can not take complete credit for the idea. The Plant-a-Row program is mentioned in the popular book, “Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul”.

Kimball thought it was a great idea and immediately went to work implementing the program locally. Additionally, people with chickens are encouraged to donate their extra eggs to supply more protein fortified contributions. In 2007, the ATCAA food bank was only able to provide an average of 2.25 pounds of food per person per month, Kimball said. They served an average of 11,000 people per month. Master gardeners will be available to answer questions and offer advice to people interested in participating. The food bank asks that all interested gardeners sign up by calling 984-3960. For more information on Plant-A-Row for the Hungry, visit www.gardenwriters.org.

Amador Public Health reports that three rabid skunks in the Jackson vicinity have been identified in the past two months. According to health officials, this is a significant increase for the county. These 3 rabid skunks were in close proximity to one another, indicating to health officials that the general skunk population could be experiencing a rise in rabies.  In these situations it is crucial that domestic dogs and cats be up to date on their rabies vaccinations. Several dogs and livestock have been exposed to these rabid skunks. “With only 2 rabid skunks reported in the past 10 years, we have concerns there are many more rabid skunks that we don’t know about and there will be more potential opportunities for people and their animals to be exposed,” says Dr. Robert Hartmann, Amador County Health Officer. Prevention is the best weapon for protection against exposure to rabies. Protection would include: keeping your dog and/or cat’s rabies vaccinations up to date, avoiding exposure to wild animals for both yourself and your animals, and not feeding wild animals and keeping your dog and cat feeding bowls away from wild life access.

What started as a reunion-style picnic on a hill in the outskirts of Ione on May 3, 1857, has now grown into four days of special events. Now known as the Annual Ione Homecoming, the event will be celebrating its 132nd year this May.  On May 3, 1876, as part of the nation’s centennial celebration, the event was moved from that famed hill to the present-day Howard Park, where a then state-of-the-art racetrack and grandstand had just been constructed. Each year, the non-profit Ione Picnic Association, or IPA, which is the organizer of the entire homecoming, holds a fundraiser to help support the historic event. 

This year’s was a showing of The Story of Seabiscuit, which brought to light the fact that the famous racehorse was owned by Charles Stewart Howard for whom Howard Park is named. In 1942, Howard bought 32,000 acres of land that is now Rancho Arroyo Seco, and included in the sale was the 89-acre parcel that is now Howard Park.  Howard died in 1950, and the park land was sold to the City of Ione in 1995. The homecoming entertains with a different theme each year, with this year’s theme of “Mardi Gras Magic” paralleling that of the Amador County Fair.

According to the IPA website, the annual homecoming is “a bridge connecting our rich past and exciting future!” Another longstanding tradition is the homecoming’s mascot, “Benny Bedbug,” a cartoon bug invented in the early 1970’s by G. Lambert.  Each year, Benny characterizes the theme of the event, which in past years has included 2001’s “Benny Goes Around the World,” 1980’s “Gold Fever,” and 1978’s “Fantasy World.” The 2008 Ione Homecoming runs May 9th through the 11th, in Howard Park and Downtown Ione, with the Miss Ione Scholarship Pageant this Saturday, May 3rd at Ione Elementary School.  Tickets are available at Ione Auto, Coldwell Banker in Ione, the Rancho Arroyo Seco office, from Ione Picnic Association members, or by calling 209-274-2777.  You can obtain more information about homecoming events on the IPA website at www.IonePicnic.com.

The California Exposition & State Fair yesterday announced that it is seeking entries for its 2008 Commercial Wine Competition. First held in 1855, the State Fair's wine competition, limited to California wines, is the oldest and most prestigiously judged wine event in North America. The 2007 competition brought a record number of entries with over 650 wineries participating in the judging.  "The California State Fair Wine Competition is not only a ranking of the state's best wines as viewed by our judges, but also a reflection of the growing quality of wine as it continues to have a wide impact on all Californians, the nation, and the global marketplace," says Norb Bartosik, CEO of the California State Fair. Entry forms, fees, wine labels, and the wine itself may be submitted by Friday, May 9 to Expo Center, Building 6, located on the grounds of Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Boulevard, Sacramento. Commercial wineries can access a Competition Handbook and Entry Form by going online to www.bigfun.org. Interested parties may obtain additional competition information by calling the California State Fair Wine Department at (916) 263-3159.

San Joaquin Valley air regulators approved a plan Wednesday to clean up the region's soot-laden air so that it meets federal pollution standards set more than a decade ago. California's farm belt has some of the highest levels of airborne dust, smoke and soot in the country. In all, 26 of California's 52 counties with air-quality monitoring stations received failing grades for either high ozone or particle pollution days, according to an American Lung Association Report. Amador, Calaveras and Sacramento Counties were tops on the list. San Joaquin valley air is blamed for contributing to our local air problems, one Amador Air Control official said. The San Joaquin district's governing board voted 8-3 in favor of a plan that could keep families from using their fireplaces for up to 35 days each winter and require local employers to have a portion of their workers carpool.

Environmentalists said the proposal didn't go far enough, and unfurled white prayer flags outside the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's meeting in Fresno to illustrate the premature deaths associated with the valley's polluted air. Community members wore paper dust masks as they testified about the effects of particulate matter pollution, which has been linked to respiratory problems, heart attacks and lung cancer. The plan is meant to comply with standards set in 1997 under the federal Clean Air Act that measure the highest levels of one kind of particulate pollution allowed over one year.

More rigorous standards were adopted in 2006, an issue that air regulators will have to address after meeting 1997 levels. Farmers speaking at Wednesday's meeting warned that a stricter plan would have risked job losses in the valley, the nation's most productive region for fruits and vegetables. Air quality advocates said the approved plan could have done more to regulate dairies, wineries and diesel pumps on farms, some of the many sources that contribute to the tiny specks of pollution. If the California Air Resources Board sanctions the plan, it will head to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for final approval.

The Amador County School District Board postponed the second reading and approval of the proposed Drug Testing Policy until the next regularly scheduled meeting in light of ongoing skepticism. The board decided that more information was necessary after several questions were raised at the meeting Wednesday evening. Much of the public concern corresponded with the likelihood of false positives being reported, and the Board asked if it was plausible to obtain statistical analysis charting the likelihood of false positives. Board member Karl Knobelauch (ka-nobe-uh-lock) asked staff to “check with the local probation department”, as they have extensive experience in regards to drug testing, and because the drug policy “gives students the permission or an excuse to stay clean, and not fall under peer pressure.” Bret Harte High School Principal Dean Way was at the meeting as well, and told the council that he “was skeptical of the drug policy, although it sounds effective. It makes a statement that drug use was not the norm and would not be accepted.”

The Amador County Unified School District held a Public Hearing to discuss the proposed increase of Developer Fees Wednesday evening. The District recently requested a Developer Fee Study be completed by Williams and Associates LLC. The current fee for residential is $2.63 per square foot, with the proposed fee equaling $2.97. The current commercial fee is .42 cents per square foot with the proposed fee increasing to .46 cents. The board approved the increase unanimously and the fee will become effective June 23, of this year. The board was also presented with the Facility Inspection Tool findings. Between November of 2007 and January of 2008, each school site in the district was inspected by two maintenance workers, Facility Consultants MimiDene (Mee-Mee-Deen) Williams and Barbara Murray.

During the inspections each classroom, bathroom, storeroom, and custodial room were inspected for there cleanliness and safety in the context of functional school facilities. All sites in the district were given “good to excellent” reports. Plymouth Preschool received the only perfect score. However, during the inspections several issues were brought to light, including lax fire extinguisher inspections and Amador High Schools issue of hazardous materials on campus. These materials are part of the auto mechanics program held on site. 55 gallon barrels of oil were found during the inspections and had been sitting at the site for some time. They must be removed by the County’s Environmental Health Department.