The Amador County Transportation Commission held a special meeting Wednesday night to discuss the Jackson Hills Golf Course and Residential Community. ACTC staff had asked their Commission’s Board of Directors to take a specific action regarding a recommendation to the Jackson City Council for the project.

A young couple with a baby found themselves in a predicament Wednesday evening on the river along Electra Road. Apparently the couple had arrived earlier in the day and crossed over the river to the Calaveras side by wading in the low water. 

Parents have become increasingly wary of letting their children use the internet as internet sex crimes targeting children have been on the rise. Locally, Amador County has also encountered these crimes. More recently in December the Sheriff’s Office arrested Richard Phillip Davidson, 48, of Pioneer after they received reports of a sexual predator trying to contact children via the internet

Congressman Dan Lungren held a Town Hall meeting in Ione Monday night where he spoke about gas prices and offshore drilling.  With gas prices expected to go over five dollars a gallon or more, the questions facing most Americans is how to obtain more oil and why aren’t we spending more money on renewable energy research?  President Bush and Republican presidential nominee John McCain are pushing to lift the 26-year ban on offshore drilling, and have received recent criticism from Governor Schwarzenegger and environmentalists. Many experts agree that offshore drilling will not immediately bring gas prices down and may effect the environment. At a recent global warming conference, Schwarzenegger stated that “anyone who tells you (that offshore drilling) would bring down gas prices any time soon is blowing smoke." Lungren supports lifting the ban on offshore drilling, stating that due to upgraded technologies, the risks of polluting the environment are greatly reduced.  When asked about looking at renewable sources of energy, Lungren emphasized the importance of looking at “all the possibilities,” including wind and solar power, biofuels, and more efficient hybrid vehicles, as well as searching for more oil sources in the U.S..

At the Ione City Council meeting Tuesday evening, Laurie Lord was appointed by Mayor Andrea Bonham and approved by the City Council to assume the title of Park and Recreation Commissioner. Her current position on the Planning Commission is now open and the City will be holding an application process. Also discussed at the meeting was the work plan and priorities for the Planning Department for the upcoming fiscal year. A list of projects were given to council in a staff report, including zoning code updates, sign ordinance, landscape provisions, home occupation regulation, historical regulations for Main Street and the historical district totaling approximately 39 thousand dollars. Jack Brotherton, a citizen of Ione, mentioned to the council that “both Murphy’s and Palo Alto’s sign ordinances were extraordinary,” and he believed that looking into other agencies policies “could help to save some money”. The top 3 priorities chosen by council were the zoning code update, sign ordinance, and historical regulations totaling approximately 22 thousand 5 hundred dollars

 

A massive rebuilding of about a mile of busy Interstate 5 in downtown Sacramento begins this Friday, May 30th. Detours and delays are expected to cause consternation for the estimated 200,000 motorists who use that section of the freeway daily. At various time, northbound and southbound lanes will be closed to all traffic during the six-week project. Caltrans says there will be approximately two weeks of lane and ramp restrictions to each direction of I-5 from the Capitol City Freeway-U.S. Highway 50 interchange to Richards Boulevard so contractors can replace freeway drainage and pavement. After curing, an additional week of lane and ramp restrictions will take place to allow time for the contractor to apply a polyester sealant. The area is called the "Boat Section" because it is below the water level of the nearby Sacramento River. In the late 1960s when I-5 was being built, the area had to be drained and a system of pumps installed to keep it from filling up with water during storms. “The problem is underneath the surface,” Caltrans says. “River silt and sand have blocked the drainage system that has been in place since the road was completed in the early ‘70s. As ground water has pushed through joints in the seals slab, the water has nowhere to go but up through the pavement. This is causing cracks, spills and deterioration on the surface.”

 

Sutter Creek residents will soon see a significant increase in sewer rates. The city is currently in the process of implementing a Sanitary Sewer Management Project, or SSMP, as a part of the statewide Waste Discharge Requirements adopted in 2006. The SSMP will also fulfill the City’s requirements under the Cleanup and Abatement Order issued in September of 2001 by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The city council heard a presentation this week by Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe, who is in charge of managing the project. He explained the details and requirements of the SSMP, which is estimated to cost around 400,000 dollars a year when fully underway. The city is currently undergoing discussions with a consultant who created a program for the Jamestown Wastewater District on how to best implement the Operations and Maintenance Program element, one of the largest aspects of the SSMP in terms of cost and time. The final certification of the SSMP is scheduled for May 1, 2010, but residents can expect the rate increase by the end of this month, when the first phase is completed.

Finally, we have a correction to a story that ran in Thursday’s news broadcast: the Jackson Planning Commission's action regarding the moratorium on historic structure demolitions was a recommendation to the City Council, NOT an enactment of the ordinance. The item will be reviewed by the City Council at their next regular meeting on Tuesday, May 27.

Four Chefs from Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel are scheduled to take part in the Taste of Elegance Pork Competition on Monday, March 10. The nationwide competition will take place at the Radisson Hotel in Sacramento starting at 5:30 p.m. Jackson Rancheria Chefs who will be participating include Executive Chef Michael Golsie, James McGrath, Raymond Jursnich, and Julie Munson. The event, produced by the National Pork Board and the California Pork Producers and sponsored by Cargill Meat Solutions, features top chefs from throughout the area competing before a panel of professional judges. The competition is designed to inspire innovative ways to use pork while showcasing the talents of local chefs. Cash prizes are presented to the top three chefs. The winner progresses to the regional level with a shot at the national competition. The event also includes public tasting and a People’s Choice award. Tickets are $15 per person and are available at capitolchefs.org. For more information, call 800-822-WINN or visit jacksoncasino.com.

The Ione City Council voted unanimously to authorize City Manager Kim Kerr to execute change orders for the East Main Street Reconstruction, which includes Oak Ridge, El Dorado, and the Pleasant Valley Overlay Projects.