The statewide program Click It or Ticket campaign held May 21st through June 3rd was a big success locally, according to CHP Public Information Officer Craig Harmon. Harmon said the Amador Unit of CHP ticketed 58 people for seat belt violations. Seat belts were not the only thing Officers were looking for as others received tickets for not having front license plates, tinted windows, and other traffic violations. “While we are out primarily looking for seat belt volitions and child restraints violations we are also looking to make contacts for any safety violations and to remind motorist on the stops about the hazards of drinking and driving and not wearing seat belts,” said Harmon. He also added that seat belts save lives and stated, “Over memorial day weekend 22 Californians lost their lives on the our Highways and 11 of them were not wearing seat belts, so that’s 50%.”  The State has not yet released the all of the results for CHP units statewide.

The City of Ione had quite the meeting last night when the city council began by swearing in two new police officers. Those same officers were then put to work almost immediately when a suspicious object was discovered outside of the city hall. The Officers passed a note to City Clerk Janet Traverso warning of the danger outside of the City Hall and the Calaveras County Bomb Squad was called into service. While drama unfolded outside of the City Hall drama of a different sort began inside as the City Council dealt with several hot topics.

An alleged plot among 10 men to overthrow the communist government of Laos involved a scheme to use the California Highway Patrol Academy to train the future regime's police force according to California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Fran Clader who said the CHP was contacted by federal investigators who suspect the plot's organizers. The organizers were planning to help the CHP recruit Hmong, who are originally from mountainous regions of Southeast Asia. According to court documents, organizers hoped to call on those officers to "abandon" the CHP after they completed their state-funded training and to provide law enforcement for a new regime.

Yesterday at approximately 1pm an accident was reported on Sutter Creek Volcano road across from Pine Gulch Court. The accident was described by the person who called it in as severe. A helicopter as well as an ambulance was immediately called in for what was now revealed as a 2 vehicle accident. Shortly there after a second ambulance was called in to help accommodate 3 injured people.

There have already been some changes announced to the Amador County Fair for this year and one of those is the return of the Miss Amador Pageant to Thursday night, the opening night of the fair. This year there will be six candidates for the crown taking the stage at 8pm on Thursday July 26th at the Bandstand, known as the Central House Stage.

With summer right around the corner and temperatures warming up, now is the time for Pacific Gas and Electric Company's qualifying customers to sign up for a 20 percent discount on their energy bill. And according to PG&E thousands of customers that qualify for the program are not applying for it. PG&E states that thousands of income-qualified customers eligible for the California Alternate Rate for Energy (CARE) Program can receive a 20 percent reduction on their monthly energy bill. Customers can see the discount on their bill after a full billing cycle. On average, CARE saves households $41 per month on their gas and electric usage.

The Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority, Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Council (Council) and Central Sierra Resource Conservation and Development (CSRC&D) have announced a joint workshop to provide watershed residents and interested parties with an update on activities completed as part of the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Assessment and Planning Project, and Council and CSRC&D activities. The date of the workshop is Thursday June 21, 2007 6 p.m. Also, Prior to the public workshop, there will be two meetings at the same location, also open to the public: those are the same date at 3-4:30 p.m.: Central Sierra Resource Conservation & Development and 4:30–6 p.m.: Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Council at the Hotel Leger, 8304 Main Street, Mokelumne Hill CA  95245

Some faulty bolts over the Memorial Day weekend caused some concern among AWA staff regarding the Transmission pipeline when water was reported spouting out the pipeline. AWA crews arrival on the Mondani property located off of New York Ranch Road determined that an air release valve that is attached to the pipeline had become unattached and was in turn was shooting water that was visible from the roadway. According to Gene Mancebo, Manager of Engineering and Planning said, “It appears bolts that hold it down were either faulty or didn’t get tightened correctly and (the valve) came loose.” AWA staff responded quickly and was able to turn off the spouting water and fix the problem.

CalFire has announced that due to weather indications for thunderstorms and concerns about the fire season being off to an early start, the state fire agency will begin staffing their watch towers. Volunteers are getting ready to staff look out towers like Mount Howell Look Out Tower in Placer County as forecasters expect thunderstorms in the high sierra Thursday. Lightning is notorious for starting wildfires and this year has been responsible for several devastating fires across the country. According to CalFire’s Amador El Dorado Unit Public Information Officer Tobie Edmonds there will be no impact for either the Mt Zion Tower or the Blue Mountain Tower. This applies only to towers in the higher elevations.

If a new law, Assembly Bill 105, passes through the State Assembly, teenagers under the age of 18 will be banned from using tanning beds.  AB105 raises the minimum age kids may use tanning devices to 18. Under current law, children 14 to 18 can use tanning booths with parental permission. According to leading dermatologists tanning beds can be even more dangerous than natural sunlight because they primarily use ultraviolet "A" wavelengths. The ultraviolet "A" that you get in a tanning booth is hundreds or even a thousand times more intense than what you get from natural sunlight  and with malignant melanoma now the leading cause of cancer deaths among woman aged 25 to 29 Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-El Segundo wrote the bill. If it passes and is signed into law, the teen tanning booth ban would take effect January 1, 2008.