Tomatoes from California have not been implicated in recent outbreaks of illnesses from Salmonella bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a news release Saturday.  The FDA warned consumers nationwide to avoid raw plum, roma and round, red tomatoes, unless they were grown in the following regions: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennesee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, the Netherlands or Puerto Rico. Consumers should contact the store where they bought tomatoes if they don't know where the fruit came from.

Also, consumers should look out for tomatoes in fresh salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo and other dishes. Harvest season in California usually starts in July. Since mid-April there have been 145 reported illnesses from Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, an unusual form of the bacteria. At least 23 people have been hospitalized. California is one of 16 states that have reported illnesses from the outbreak. The California Department of Public Health recommends Californians use caution in selecting tomatoes, based on guidance from the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has no indication that tomatoes grown in California are associated with this outbreak.

Increasing fire danger in the local region has prompted red-flag warnings and advice on how to reduce wildfire risk. The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for lower elevations in Northern California. The watch will be in effect from Tuesday morning until Thursday afternoon, according to the weather service's Web site. Winds will increase in the Sacramento Valley and foothill areas Tuesday morning, when high temperatures are expected to be around 86 degrees. Northerly winds of 15 to 30 mph, with gusts of up to 40 mph, are anticipated. Also contributing to the fire danger are low daytime humidity and poor overnight humidity recovery.

Pine Grove Community Park may soon see some much-needed amenities:  a new bathroom and stage.  Supervisor Louis Boitano has pledged 5000 dollars of his recreation funds for improvements to the park. Roy Ragan, a board member of the Pine Grove council, as well as the Pine Grove Community Services District, reports that the new bathroom will be located on the opposite side of the building, with the new stage in between, adjacent to the fire house wall. The stage will be cement, probably with an open-slat gazebo-type covering.

At Wednesday night’s council meeting, members discussed the myriad of uses for a stage at the park, including summer events such as Hot August Nights. Also, the stage could be used for parties and other public gatherings.  Once the club has obtained the funds, they will send out requests for bids and hope to have the project finished sometime this year. In the meantime, for this summer’s Hot August Nights, the council will again borrow the stage from the Jackson Senior Center. Ragan added that “we have the best small park in Amador County,” citing the fact that the park is completely fenced and has great play equipment for toddlers on up.  In addition to the recreation funds pledged to the park, Supervisor Boitano will also be giving $10,000 to Pine Grove Elementary towards their new playground equipment.  Boitano says, “We like to take care of our people.”

The Sutter Creek City Council last week voted to approve a set of  traffic impact study guidelines drafted by the  Amador County Transportation Commission. The goal of the guidelines is to provide a mode for standard traffic data collection and analysis throughout Amador County, with the ultimate goal of a uniform system for implementing standardized funding mechanisms. Since November, ACTC staff has been taking the guidelines to each city planning commission in order to receive comments and direction. At the meeting Monday night, ACTC director Charles Fields told the Sutter Creek City Council that it was really necessary for all of the cities and the county to adopt the guidelines for them to be effective. “We all need to address traffic in the same way,” Fields said. “If one jurisdiction does not adopt these guidelines, it will impact the whole playing field.”

The city council did have some concerns about the guidelines, and questioned the nature of their authority. City Manager Rob Duke stated that he felt the guidelines should be advisory, and not legally binding. The guidelines include a set of “Statements of Overriding Consideration,” which provide an avenue for developments with traffic impacts that cannot be mitigated, if developers can meet 5 of 8 of criteria.Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe, who was previously employed by ACTC and worked to draft the guidelines, explained that the statements were not a requirement, but a recommendation designed to reduce the number of miles traveled. At the end of the discussion, the Council voted unanimously to approve the guidelines as an advisory tool for standardizing Amador’s traffic impact studies.

The Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency, also known as ATCAA has secured a 250,000 dollar grant from the California Emerging Technology Fund, or CETF to help five rural Sierra counties improve high speed Internet accessATCAA Central Sierra Connect involves Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties. It is part of a statewide effort to help rural counties gain 100 percent coverage for high speed internet and encourage wider use of technology by all residents. The CETF, created as part of private telecommunication company mergers, is charged with helping rural areas “catch up” to urban areas of the state. “Ultimately, we all want high speed Internet to be as universal as telephone service and is easily to use for all residents including low-income, senior and disabled people,” said Project Coordinator Michelle Shelton.

“That is vital to the future of our communities.” Central Sierra Connect is the second of seven rural regions in the state to secure a planning grant – the first, Redwood Coast Connect serving Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and Mendocino counties, was funded last year. Each local county will be contributing time and funding to the project, and each will be able to develop its own more detailed plans for future projects. Calaveras County’s Mary Sawicki, the Program Manager for Calaveras Works and Human Services, said broadband connections are essential for helping disenfranchised people find jobs and resources. “It has been said over 80% of employment opportunities are advertised on the internet,” she said. “The internet opens up resources and educational opportunities that appear almost limitless.” For more information, visit the website: www.centralsierraconnect.org. for all households and businesses. The one-year project, called ATCAA Central Sierra Connect, will launch with the first meeting of the project Advisory Council in the morning and a community forum at Ironstone Vineyards on June 12, from 1-4 pm.

First-time playwright Linda James Hein has crafted a semi-autobiographical play entitled The Ox Herder, which opens with its World Premiere at The Sutter Creek Theatre on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 7:30 PM.  The GalaHerder is inspired by Linda’s life as a court reporter during the time she reported Calaveras County’s Charles Ng criminal case in the early 1990s.  The Ng case is only a strong thread in the fabric that has been woven into a play which brings two people together in an atmosphere of life, death, and rebirth.

Playing Gerald is local talent, Steve Cannon, who won the “Best Actor” award for his performance in Volcano Theatre’s Shadowlands. Playing Laura is Sarah C. Broyles, who is a recent Theatre Arts graduate of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. The Ox Herder is directed by Monica MacLean, Artistic Director for The Sutter Creek Theatre.  Monica has been involved in theatre arts as a professional actor and director for over 30 years. Friday will mark the Gala Opening supporting the Award given for best original play at the Mother Lode Drama Festival, April 2008. The Gala performance will be followed by a reception with local wines, champagne, and cheese. For more information, go to www.suttercreektheatre.com. Opening/Fundraiser this night will kick off a four-weekend run with 13 performances, including matinees. The Ox

It takes a creative mind to come up with a concept such as shaving your hair to support the fight against cancer. But that is exactly the premise behind “The Great Amador Head Shave”, an annual fundraiser put on by the Amador STARSThe idea is the driving force behind Locks of Love, a non-profit organization created specifically for this purpose. Amador STARS provides support, transportation and resource services for local cancer patients. They invite you to join them in having your head shaved on Tuesday, June 10th from 7:30 to 10am at the STARS office at 631 Court Street in Jackson. If you have questions or for more information, contact Amador STARS at 223-1246. organization. To be specific, the trimmings will be used to make hairpieces for children suffering from long-term medical hair loss due to cancer treatments like chemotherapy.

There was some controversy this week regarding recreation fees for the Powder House Estates Subdivision Agreement. The Powder House Estates development will be located adjacent to the Sutter Crest subdivision in Sutter Creek, and will consist of 11 single-family residential lots and one town home parcel consisting of 54 lots.  In addition, a new street identified as Powder House Drive will be created for access, and the Sutter Crest West road will be extended into the new subdivision. Construction on the project is expected to begin this summer.

This week, Tracy Towner Yep, executive director of the Amador County Recreation Agency, went before the Sutter Creek City Council to contest developer Stan Gambel’s request for the city to waive Park and Recreation fees for the project. The developer’s argument was based on the fact the fees were adopted subsequent to the project approval. Towner Yep argued that “waiving the impact fees does not waive the impacts,” and noted the lack of park facilities in the town. “Parks and Recreation are tantamount to building the nicest communities in the world,” she said. A visibly perturbed Stan Gambel then approached the council, to rebut Tower Yep’s contest. “I’m not asking for the world,” Gambel said, “I think I have been more than generous.” Gambel was referring to his donation of 3.2 acres to the city for an affordable housing program as well as 17.2 acres for open space. Gambel will also be funding road improvements on Gopher Flat Road. Substitute City Attorney Samuel L. Jackson, in for Dennis Crabb who is on vacation, informed the council that it was entirely up to their discretion whether or not to impose the fees. In the end, the council agreed to waive Park and Rec fees for the project, but will still require the payment of traffic mitigation fees.

The Amador County Unified School District began their Wednesday evening meeting with a Safety Award presented by Diane Rappaport, the Executive Director of the Tuolumne JPA. The award honors Amador High School as the “Most Improved” out of 4 surrounding counties. According to Rappaport, Amador was chosen because of the swift and impressive clean up of its shop and science labs after multiple waste issues were established. The award has some money attached to it, with 2 checks totaling 15-hundred dollars also presented to the board to be used for future safety needs. Also on the agenda was the Retirement Incentive Pay Conversion Plan, which was pulled from the previous meetings agenda because of ongoing legal discussions. The board approved the plan 6-1 with Board member Porray dissenting.

Two tentative agreements were also on the agenda, including one with the California School Employees Association, and one with the Amador County Teachers Association. The first agreement with the California School Employees Association, or CSEA, involved housekeeping, including such language changes as compensatory time for full time employees and a year long trial run for seniority preferences when it comes to long term absences. The seniority wheel is a common practice in other districts and would allow a part time employee to acquire a full time employee’s work load if said employee were on a long term absence of more than 20 days. Board members questioned whether or not this agreement was taking away flexibility from the district by only allowing employees to step up, as opposed to hiring a sub. But according to staff the agreement is basically “to clean up our practices, and put some consistency in the system.” The agreement was approved 6-1. The tentative agreement with the Amador County Teachers Association was approved 5-2.

The Amador County Sheriff Office has just announced that Sheriff Martin Ryan has been appointed to two important positions within the statewide California State Sheriff’s Association, or CSSA. CSSA President Ed Bonner, Sheriff ofThe Tribal Issues Committee is established to monitor and review issues of statewide interest with respect to Indian tribes with particular focus on the relationship of law enforcement to tribal governments and the new challenges tribal gaming presents to law enforcement. The Board of Directors manage and direct the business, property, and affairs of the corporation. According to their website, the CSSA was founded in 1894 to provide a unified voice for the states 58 county Sheriff’s in matters of mutual interest and concern including state and federal legislation impacting law enforcement. Sheriff Ryan stated that he “is honored” to have the confidence of CSSA President Bonner and looks forward to serving the in his appointed positions. Placer County, recently appointed Sheriff Ryan as a member of the CSSA Board of Directors for 2008-2009, and Chairman of the Tribal Issues Committee for the same tenure.