Another marijuana garden bust for the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department was announced yesterday when Calaveras County Sheriff's deputies destroyed 3,000 more marijuana plants on a hillside near Mokelumne Hill.  The grow has all the trademark appearances of a Mexican Drug Trafficking organization garden. So far this year, Calaveras deputies have eradicated 26,000 marijuana plants, a record for the county. Last year, 20,000 were seized. There were no arrests and no weapons seized at the Moke Hill site but Deputies did spot one person fleeing the scene as they approached. The investigation is ongoing.(

West Nile Virus has now claimed an 86 year old Acampo man. The unidentified man died recently of complications from West Nile virus, becoming San Joaquin County's first reported death this year and the state's fourth.

The California Highway Patrol today mourns the loss of Officer Douglas Scott Russell, a 46 year old officer assigned to the Placerville Office. Russell was intentionally run down yesterday by a 38 year old Sacramento man that was leading Rancho Cordova Police on a high speed chase east bound on Hwy 50. 

California is now one step closer to seeing inmate population caps mandated by the Federal Government. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s request for a stay in the creation of a special three-judge panel to consider possible population caps for prisons ordered by the feds has been denied. U.S. District Judges Thelton Henderson of San Francisco and Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento, the very same two judges who called for the creation of the panel - yesterday rejected Schwarzenegger's request for that stay.

Wednesday a collision resulted in serious injuries to a Jackson woman after an ATV accident. According to the CHP report by Officer Jeremy Dobler, the accident occurred in Pine Grove off of Homestead when 31 year old Tanya Graham was riding a 1996 Honda a ATV on private property when she drove off of a steep embankment, landing in a dry creek bed. Graham was taken to mercy San Juan hospital for treatment.

A wild land fire was reported on Latrobe Road in El Dorado County yesterday around 2:55 pm. The fire, near Wetzel Oviatt, closed Latrobe Road for some time. Cal Fire crews responded along with two air tankers and two attack helicopters knocking the fire down quickly and containing it to just 10 acres. Although the fire was contained there was fire fighting activity at the sight for some time last evening.

Yesterday afternoon a commercial vehicle took out the fire hydrant near the Kragen Auto Parts in Jackson. The fire hydrant looked like Old Faithful as water streamed into the air while Jackson City Fire crews responded and Jackson City Water crews shut down the geyser within moments.(

Wednesday Night the El Dorado National Forest held a meeting in Jackson to review the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the new OHV trail management plan. More questions were asked that were answered- some of those questions included: Why didn’t the Forest Service acknowledge historic routes, or past decisions? If there are 15x more OHV registrations since 1989, why is the Forest Service trying to close down trails and roads, making the trails and roads even more crowded?  Is there a way to get money from OHV registrations to fix trails and roads, instead of just closing them down? And finally, if the National Direction is to eliminate dispersed camping, or camping anywhere in the National Forest OUTSIDE of a designated campground, how can some of the alternatives offered in the DEIS even be considered?

Local authors, and Husband and wife team, Kimberly Wooten and R. Scott Baxter, are looking for your help. Currently the historical archaeologists and longtime Amador County residents, are putting the finishing touches on a photographic history of winemaking in Amador County, with an emphasis on the Shenandoah Valley. 

Amador County is soon to see the first of many annual events as this year the First ever Amador Film Festival will be held. It opens September 20 in Sutter Creek. It will continue at several locations in Amador County through September 23.