October is getting off to a cool and potentially wet start, and that means Foothill and Sierra drivers to start preparing for winter weather according weather and CHP officials. For drivers in the down country areas of the county that means checking windshield wipers and tires, as well as, generally being more cautious. For Upcountry drivers this means checking both wipers and tires, but also making sure vehicles are ready for winter driving conditions, including the use of chains. According to California Highway Patrol Community Outreach Officer John C Hardey, “Drivers should slowdown, be aware, and exercise due caution and consideration toward other drivers.”

More sales of land in the Jackson Valley around the proposed Buena Vista Band of Miwok Indians Flying Cloud Casino have been recorded by the Amador County recorder’s office. Some of the buyers have familiar names and the prices continue to escalate. In the last few years several large parcels either adjacent to or near the proposed casino site on Coal Mine Road have changed hands. A 55 acre parcel near the proposed casino site recently sold for 342,000.

At yesterday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting the Executive Director of the Amador County Recreation Agency, Tracy Towner Yep discussed the possibility of receiving grant funding from the Recreational Trails Program through the California Dept. of Parks and Recreation. The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is a local assistance program of the US Dept. of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.

Tomorrow Tracey Towner Yep, Executive Director of the Amador County Recreation Agency will present to the Board of Supervisors her report on the “State of Recreation” here in the county. The Recreation Agency, one of the newest agencies here in the county, has grown rapidly in the past 20 months.

This weekend’s accident reports began with a hit and run accident on Friday at approximately 4:04pm, involving a 2005 BMW Motorcycle. According to Investigating Officer Zane Fralick’s report Robert Waggomer, 59 of Pioneer, was east bound on Ridge Rd. when he was hit by a pickup truck, make and model unknown.

If the Oakdale parolee suspected of robbing six banks including branches in Sonora, San Andreas and Valley Springs — in the past year will face federal or state charges is not yet clear. Joe Luis Resendez Jr., 38, was arrested Thursday at the intersection of Hwy 49 and Clinton Rd, in Jackson after he was seen fleeing from Umpqua Bank in Valley Springs shortly after it was robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash.

The Amador Water Agency and the City of Ione are looking at creative ways to avoid another winter disaster such as last year’s over flows at the Ione waste water treatment plant. Recently, on the Water Agency’s consent agenda one such project appeared. The project offers to both reduce the waste water flows to the Ione treatment plant by realigning the dumping of Ione water treatment plant backwash from the wastewater system, as well as freeing up more capacity for the current developments under construction in the city.

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The indoor marijuana-growing operations busted this month throughout the valley in successive raids in several residential neighborhoods will now become part of a larger federal probe in the region. On Thursday A federal grand jury in Sacramento handed down indictments on four San Francisco men arrested Sept. 13 in the first of the raids in Stockton, said Gordon Taylor, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency assistant special agent in charge.

El Dorado County officials have now announced an agreement with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians announced that will allow construction of a casino in exchange for at least $190 million in payments to the county over 20 years. The county had fought the tribe in state and federal courts for years to block the casino and hotel project, which is planned off Highway 50 in Shingle Springs.