Last year the event brought thousands of bicyclists into Amador County, many complaints from local residents, loud concerns for the county’s law enforcement agencies and tragically one death of a participant in a traffic accident. This year the promoters of the Sierra Century Ride will be holding the event in Calaveras County. A century ride is a 100-mile race, and this one involves long climbs and long downhill stretches. This year's ride will begin and end at Kautz Ironstone Winery in Murphys. Local nonprofit organizations will earn funds by providing assistance to riders at rest stops in Sheep Ranch, Wilseyville, Mountain Ranch and Angels Camp. All roads will remain open during the ride, and this year organizers will post signs to alert motorists to the route.

This Monday morning, debris burning in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties will be banned and that means the Amador El Dorado Unit will not be far behind. The announcement comes on the heels of increased fire activity in the foothills, including a 111-acre wildfire last week in San Andreas and a small grass fire Tuesday in the Sonora area. "It does seem that conditions are more severe earlier this year than past years," said CalFire Tuolumne Calaveras PreFire Division Chief Steven Hollett, Cal Fire, announced Wednesday that burn permits will be suspended starting 8 a.m. Monday. Tollet adds that "Experience has shown that suspending debris burns is an effective way of preventing wildfire escapes, especially as California enters a period of hotter and drier weather," he said. Beginning Monday, people wishing to burn debris on their property will be prohibited from doing so unless they can prove that their burn must be completed for health or safety reasons, fire officials say.

Last night a bizarre incident delayed the Sacramento fund raising dinner of Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton while the Sacramento County bomb squad investigated a coffin brought to the area by anti-war protestors. Anti-war activists Virginia and Stephen Pearcy, who made headlines in February 2005 for hanging an effigy of a soldier on their Land Park area home, brought a flag draped coffin as a protest against the U.S. involvement in Iraq. Shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, the Secret Service began to conduct a sweep of the area and asked to look inside the coffin. Pearcy refused, stating that they had no probable cause to do so.

A female bank robber dubbed the 'Pony-Tail Bandit' by the FBI has hit banks in three different states this month alone,including a Roseville bank last week. The FBI believes the unidentified female bank robber is responsible for bank robberies in Austin, Texas, Lynwood, Washington as well as the Roseville caper. The FBI’s Sacramento Violent Crimes Task Force, the Roseville Police Department, and law officers in Washington and Texas are investigating the robberies.  The woman is described as a white female, early to mid-20’s, 5’3” to 5’5”, 110 to 120lbs (thin build), blonde hair, with no visible scars, marks, or tattoos. The 'Pony-Tail Bandit' demanded cash in all of the robberies. She has worn a white or blue baseball cap with her blonde hair in a ponytail in all three robberies.She is suspected in the 5/7/07 robbery of the Wachovia Bank in Austin, Texas, the 5/23/07 robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank in Roseville and yesterday's robbery of the First Heritage Bank in Lynwood, Washington. Anyone with information regarding these bank robberies is asked to contact the FBI in Sacramento at (916) 481-9110, the FBI in San Antonio at (210) 225-6741 or the FBI in Seattle at (206) 622-0460.

The world traveling Atlanta lawyer at the center of the tuberculosis controversy, with a dangerous strain of TB, was allowed back into the U.S. by a border inspector who disregarded a computer warning to stop him and don protective gear, officials said Thursday. The inspector has been removed from border duty. The unidentified inspector explained that he was no doctor but that the infected man seemed perfectly healthy and that he thought the warning was merely "discretionary," officials briefed on the case told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation.

The investigation is continuing into the Vogan Toll Road fire that occurred early last Friday morning. According to Jackson Fire Chief Mark Morton, he, the Jackson Police Department and Cal Fire investigators are all working closely on leads they have received. Jackson PD Captain Christy Stidger said they do suspect that the fire is arson. Stidger said that Tom Oldeg, the CDF arson investigator, Fire Chief Mark Morton and Jackson Detective Chris Mynderup have all been following up on what she called “some pretty good leads.” Captain Stidger also revealed that they are investigating it as a burglary as property was missing.  Stidger said a computer was found to be missing after investigators searched the scene. The fire broke out last Friday at 4:30am at the Law Offices of Stephen Zalkind. The fire was first reported by the Jackson Police officer on scene to be a fully involved structure. Fire crews from Jackson and Cal Fire arrived on scene within minutes with two engines a piece. The structure by this time was fully ablaze and concerns turned to limiting the spread of the fire to the surrounding fields. Crews were able to limit the spread and the fire was under control by 5:07 am, but the building was a total loss.

Amador County’s second major construction project, the new county courthouse, is being completed on time and on budget. GSA Director John Hopkins said, “We are well below what we would consider industry standards for change orders or contingencies with all of the information we have right now. We are about 2.3% in contingencies and typically contingencies for remodel projects are any where from 7-10%.”  The project to move the courthouse to its new location at 500 Argonaut Lane was a natural transition for the county that had out grown its administration center and was being required to find an American with Disability Act compliant facility for the Amador County Superior Court.

 

Amador County may not be the biggest county concerned about its future in regards to Indian Gaming establishments, but the legal actions taken here are making waves statewide. According to the Contra Costa Times Amador Counties recent victory regarding the invalidation of the Municipal Service Agreement between the Ione Band of Mi-Wok Indians and the City of Plymouth, and the subsequent upholding of that local decision by the Third District Court of Appeals, has stimulated similar legal actions elsewhere- specifically in Contra Costa County.

A road rage incident ended with the suspect getting arrested for an entirely different crime yesterday mid morning. According to Under Sheriff Jim Wegner a woman was driving down Ridge Road in her mini van when an unidentified suspect in a truck was following close behind. The woman pulled over to allow the man to pass, but the suspect instead pulled over and exchanged words with the woman. Wegner indicated that the woman felt threatened by the suspects contact, but they parted ways and she went on her way to Lowe’s. In the Lowe’s parking lot as she was getting her child out of the mini van the man entered the parking lot and parked near her.