The Amador County Sheriff’s Office announced that on Wednesday through cooperation with the CDCR they arrested a violent parolee at large.  At approximately 1pm on Wednesday, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Parole Unit.  They advised they possessed information that a parolee at large, considered armed and dangerous, was at the Jackson Rancheria Casino.

Fast response by local fire crews set the minds of a residents in the China Graveyard Road area at ease. A vegetation fire was reported at 1:56 pm as spreading on a a hill. The fire was moving from the edge of a residence’s property down the hill towards the Kennedy Mine Apartments. Residents watched to be sure they didn’t need to evacuate as the fire creeped towards the apartments. Crews arrived on scene and went to work immediately and a short time later the fire was out. Fire crews remained on scene mopping up hot spots. It appears as though the fire was started by a tractor being used to clear weeds on a property. 

As the hot weather continues the fire situation is becoming more critical every day. A thunder and lightning storm moved quickly through the Eastern Sierra on Friday afternoon, July 6, 2007, igniting approximately 10 fires all being managed as one called the Inyo Complex Fire. As of Sunday morning, the three biggest fires still actively burning are: 1)The Oak Fire burning west and north of Independence, on both sides of US 395 2) The Seven Fire burning west and north of Independence 3) The Sage Fire burning in Big Pine Canyon.

Ralph Stephen Garbarini, former Jackson resident pleaded guilty today to fatally gunning down a businessman at a popular dessert cafe in an apparently random act. Garbarini, admitted in Court today to shooting San Diego resident Michael Fineman at point-blank range Dec. 30, minutes after being thrown out of the restaurant by staff. Fineman, a 44-year-old father of three, had complained to restaurant staff that Garbarini was staring at him while he was having dessert with his wife and two friends and it was making them uncomfortable.  Garbarini returned just minutes later with gun in hand, headed directly for Fineman's table, shot him and the other male at the table, then calmly walked out and vanished and a statewide man hunt ensued.

An early morning brushfire this morning was reported around 4:20 near the Buena Vista Landfill transfer Station on Buena Vista Rd in the Ione area. Jackson Valley Fire Personnel, Cal Fire Crews and Amador County Sheriff’s Deputies all responded to the scene. The fire was reportedly about one half to three quarters of an acre burning in some brush. No structures were threatened, however it was discovered that there was no power going to the buildings at the dump, and that raised concerns that the fire was started by power lines that were down. PG&E crews were then called to the scene and notified that the fire was burning actively at the base of their power poles. The fire was contained by 5 am. Fire crews will remain on scene through out the morning for mop up.

Fire Crews were busy on Friday with both a grass and structure Fire. The first fire occurred at Carbondale and Maxwell Roads in the area. The initial call of a smoke check on two large burn piles came in to Camino Dispatch at 2:22pm. Local Fire crews responded in force with 13 engines, one dozer, 3 hand crews, and 3 water tankers. Upon arrival it was realized that the burn piles had spread due to a breeze and had carried embers which landed and created a series of spot fires.

A motorcyclist from the Roseville area came to Amador County for lunch Saturday but wound up in a helicopter headed for UC Davis. The male driver indicated that "something ran into the road" and he hit his breaks hard.  The motorcycle and its rider then somersaulted and landed in a ditch. The motorcycle then bounced about 50 feet down that ditch. The driver suffered fractures to the lower extremities and was flown out by helicopter. Later Saturday afternoon a  CHP officer was involved in a foot pursuit of a "possibly wanted suspect" when the suspect apparently resisted arrest. Both the CHP and the Amador Sheriff's Office put out an "Officer Needs Assistance" call. Shortly after the the call for help the CHP officer who was attempting the arrest had to use mace on the suspect.  The suspect was taken to the gas station on Silver Drive and medics flushed the mace off his face using a hose.  He was then taken to the hospital for evaluation.

One only has to see March’s call totals for the Jackson Fire Department to realize how busy our local volunteers have been. In March the department received 95 calls, the most calls that the Jackson Fire Department has ever received in one month. That totals at 3.1 calls per day.  In comparison in March of 2006 there were only 66 calls.  Out of the 95 calls received last month Medical calls dominated with 65% or 62 calls. Traffic accidents came in a far second at 13% or 12 calls. Not far behind were fire related calls with 12% of the calls or 11 calls in total. There were 8 public assistance calls in March and 2 Hazardous materials calls. As of March 31st the department has received a total of 256 calls averaging at 2.8 calls per day.

This weekend CHP Officers had some relief with only 4 reported accidents occurring between Thursday and Sunday, compared to the 6 accidents that were reported on Saturday alone last weekend. The first accident reported occurred on Thursday on Hwy. 88 west of Omo Ranch Road. According to Officer Steve Ladd’s report Stephen Henson of Folsom was traveling east bound on Hwy. 88 in his 2004 Doge Ram truck, towing his newly purchased 2007 Ski Doo snowmobile and trailer. While negotiating a right curve in the roadway, Henson observed a white panel type delivery truck traveling west bound partially over the double yellow lines and continuing into his lane. Henson stated that the steered to the right to avoid the truck, however the unknown driver continued into the eastbound lane and sideswiped the trailer as well as caused damage to the trailer and the snowmobile. The delivery truck then fled the scene.

The Jackson City Council voted to give Jackson’s Police Chief, Scott Morrison a helping hand on Monday night. Before the council was the approval of the reclassification of one Police Sergeant Classification to Police Captain Classification. Chief Morrison reported that throughout the history of the Jackson Police Department the ranks and structure of the department has changed. Approximately 7 years ago the department added one Police Detective that would rotate throughout the ranks, and more recently, 4 years ago, created a permanent Sergeant position. “The department is growing in numbers. We are much busier and have many more responsibilities and things we haven’t handled years earlier,” said Morrison. This includes high tech crimes, one of which they have recently encountered. He reported that under the current rank structure, the second in command is Sergeant Christy Stidger, if re-classification were approved he reported she would become the new Captain.