The Sutter Creek man facing vehicular manslaughter and Driving under the Influence charges for a wreck that killed his friend, remains in custody in the Calaveras County jail while awaiting his pretrial. At an arraignment last Thursday in Calaveras County Court Allen appeared along with his public defender- his next hearing date is June 7th. Jared Allen, 24 years old, was arrested after a May 1 accident on Hwy 49 in Mokelumne Hill in which his passenger, Jeremy Brown of Jackson, was ejected from the Jeep Allen was driving and killed. The California Highway Patrol arrested Allen at the scene for suspicion of DUI. According to the CHP report, Allen lost control of the vehicle after attempting to steer around a car that was stopped in the highway waiting to make a turn. Allen struck the other vehicle and drove off the roadway, rolling the Jeep and ejecting Brown who was not retrained by a seat belt.

At approximately 4:28pm yesterday afternoon a vegetation fire was reported at 17252 Shake Ridge Road at Stone Jug Road. According to Camino Dispatch the small grass fire was contained quickly. Local Fire Crews responded with 5 engines and a dozer.

Stating he is responding to a surge of gun violence across the state and rising gang violence involving firearms, Assistant Assembly Majority Leader Kevin de León last week announced the introduction of legislation, AB 362, to for the first time, regulate handgun ammunition sales in California. Currently, there are no regulations concerning the distribution and sale of handgun ammunition.

Lodi officials have released the name of the murder victim that was transported from Lodi to the Defender grade area earlier this week by her boyfriend and his mother.

Yesterday just before noon sirens whaled through Jackson and Pine Grove as fire and emergency personnel responded to a structure fire on Debbie Lane, located off of East Clinton Rd. An Amador County Sheriff’s Deputy says that smoke was showing from the attic of the home. Upon arrival, fire crews investigated the source of the smoke and discovered a fire in a garbage can- possibly started by a discarded cigarette

The last couple of weekends Amador County roadways have been fairly quiet, but by the time Friday rolled around it was clear that this weekend would be different. The first accident to be reported occurred on Friday at 11:15am on Hwy. 88 and Van De Hei Ranch Road.

Several Fires were reported around the region yesterday afternoon around the 3 o’clock hour. Amador-El Dorado CalFire units were spread thin outside the county responding to both a fire in Calaveras County and one in Sacramento County. The Calaveras County incident, near Paloma, was reported around 3:30 pm as a grass fire along the intersection of Hwy 49 and 26 outside Mokelumne Hill. Its location was soon narrowed down to a fire in the Paloma area near Goodell Road. Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit crews were dispatched to the scene as well as several Amador El Dorado Units. Air Support was also called in to fight the brush fire.

Around 5 pm last evening what could have been a dramatic accident off of Irish town Rd near Wieland Road was avoided by the brute force of some local firefighters and passerbys. According to witnesses on scene a White Chevy Tahoe was reported tipping toward its side and about to roll over with only two men holding the SUV from tumbling. Apparently, the driver had swerved to avoid a car that pulled out of a shopping center in front of her. As a consequence she traveled up the side embankment of the road leaving her car dangerously close to rolling over. Two passerbys held the vehicle until Units from the Amador County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, Amador County Fire Protection District Battalion 10 and CalFire all arrived on the scene. Firefighters from Battalion 10 and Calfire were able to hold the vehicle while an air jack was used to right the vehicle and prevent additional body damage. The accident produced no injuries and is under investigation by the CHP

The Friends of Amador County, a group formed in opposition of the Buena Vista Band of Me-Wuk Indians proposed Flying Cloud Casino, is reacting to the Final Environmental Impact Report from the tribe. The reaction to just one issue, the issue of school bus safety, was swift and angry according to Friend’s President Jerry Cassesi. According to the Final report from the tribe they agree that "Certain loading points in the area lack adequate space to accommodate pick-up, drop-off and vehicular traffic circulation at the same time, creating potentially hazardous conditions."  According to Cassesi, although the tribe admits those dangers to the community’s children, their response is inadequate and in fact states Cassesi, it is arrogant.

A victory in court last Thursday for the Gillman Family Partnership in their civil suit filed against local contractor, Buddy White. After an 8 day jury trial the jury awarded the Gillman Family partnership a 292,000 dollar judgment against B&G Mechanical and its owner Buddy White. The jury found that White was guilty of fraud and breach of contract. The breach of contract amount awarded by the jury was 166,000 dollars. The balance of the award, 126,000 dollars was awarded based upon the fraud found by the jury.