Amador County Superior Court Judge David Richmond upheld a stay Tuesday that allows three abused horses owned by an Amador County man to remain in the care of El Dorado County's Grace Foundation. According to District Attorney Todd Riebe, “Richmond ordered that both the order signed by Judge Wagner in El Dorado County preventing return of the 3 horses in possession of the Grace Foundation to defendants and the order signed by Judge Cadle preventing sale or transfer of the 2 horses in defendant John O'Sullivan's possession are to remain in effect pending further order of the court.”  The court hearing stems back from a citizens call on January 4, 2006 claiming that their neighbor’s horses appeared emaciated. Amador County Animal Control responded to the neighbor's complaint of the emaciated horses on a ranch in Fiddletown, which is owned by John O’Sullivan.

Tuesday the Board of Supervisors reviewed the request for a front setback of a home proposed to be located north of Shenandoah Road on the east side of River Trail and Emigrant Trail in River Pines. The applicant Lou Garcia requested a variance to allow for the construction of a single family residence located on a 3,000 square foot lot. In order to build the 792 square foot home he said the home would have to encroach 10 feet into the required 25 foot setback, 15 feet into the 50 foot setback from the centerline of the roadway and 10 feet into the 15 foot rear setback.

On Tuesday, May 1, the Mothers' Club of Amador County will host their second event for parents providing information on how to protect children from predators. Beginning at 6 p.m., the free event will feature an hour of selections from a DVD called "Abduction Prevention Pack - The Complete Parents Guide on Child Abduction, Awareness & Self Defense," followed by open discussion. "Obviously mothers and fathers have a personal interest in protecting their children," said Leslie Vasquez, Director of the Mothers' Club, "but most of us don't know what to do. We don't want to introduce ideas the kids aren't ready for and yet it's too prevalent to go unaddressed." The DVD, which is produced by Kidz 'n Power, is a selection of prominent experts giving sound advice and speaking on the topic including how to talk to children about it and step-by-step instructions to teach children of all ages what they should do in various situations.

The Amador County Women’s Network held their monthly meeting recently at the Jackson Rancheria. The network otherwise known as the ACWN, is a friendly organization designed to meet local businesswomen and to strengthen ties in the community, as well as a forum for social and educational events, a vehicle to promote business opportunities and support scholarships for deserving high school seniors in Amador County.

On Friday, April 27th at 7pm, the Amador County Historical Society offers a special event at the Volcano Press in Volcano. Publisher Ruth Gottstein will show guests around the old 1856 brewery that currently houses the Volcano Press. She will also talk about the publishing and marketing of several interesting historical Volcano Press books, past, present and future and recount the life of a small press. The Volcano Press is directly across Consolation Street from the Union Hotel; turn right at the end of Main Street in Volcano. Refreshments will be served. For more information contact Andy Fahrenwald at 267-5967 or e-mail Andy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Schwarzenegger administration's latest contract offer to the state prison guards union would boost pay more than 14 percent over three years, but the union would have to give up some of its management power in return. Union officials said they are unwilling to make such concessions. They also contend the proposed pay scale would put prison guards further behind other state and local law enforcement agencies.

The first 4 months of 2007 have proven fatal on Amador County roadways with the number of fatal accidents on our local roads rising to 7 fatal accidents with 9 victims. The accident that killed a local Pioneer man occurred yesterday afternoon on Hwy. 88 at Buckhorn Ridge Road at 12:35pm. According to Officer Pat Ong’s report 49 year old George McNees was traveling on Hwy. 88 west bound at 50 mph on his 2007 Harley Davidson Motorcycle in the Buckhorn area. 74 year old James Marquis of Pioneer was traveling southbound on Buckhorn Ridge Rd. and was stopped at the intersection of Hwy. 88 in his 1994 Dodge Caravan. As McNees approached the intersection of Buckhorn Ridge Road Marquis entered the intersection directly in front of McNees path. McNees applied his brakes and attempted to stop. Marquis upon seeing McNees applied his brakes and stopped directly in front of him. McNees at that point was unable to avoid Marquis who was stopped and laid his Motorcycle onto its side. He subsequently collided with the left side of Marquis’ van and sustained major head trauma. McNees was pronounced deceased at 1:52pm at Sutter Amador Hospital.

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.

On the Consent agenda yesterday the Board of Supervisors approved a Memorandum of Understanding or MOU for the Amador County Sheriff’s Office to continue providing services to the Amador County Superior Court. The Amador County Sheriff’s Office has provided security and bailiff services to the Amador Superior Court for a number of years now based on an interim agreement that the Board approved several years ago. The Sheriff’s Office and the Superior Court have negotiated a revised MOU for the provision of the security and bailiff services.