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Great Amador Head Shave
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The Great Amador Head Shave
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.
Putting a Roof Over Amador’s Treasures
A new roof
is in the process of being built for a historic building housing many valuable
tokens of Amador County’s past. During a presentation at Tuesday’s Board of
Supervisors meeting, representatives of the museum and the Board discussed the
status of the project and some setbacks. According to museum curator Georgia
Fox, the building’s leaky roof has become a steadily worsening issue over the
last 30 years. The leaks would eventually have the potential to damage some of
the museums valuable Gold Rush-era artifacts. The building itself was originally
built in 1859. Starting May 12th, the county embarked on a 60 day
project to replace and reinforce the museum’s roof. The museum is expected to
reopen to the public in late July or early August, unless the roof is finished
sooner. The work has been running smoothly so far, with the exception of one
setback. There is only one contractor in California
who is qualified to apply an expensive carbon fiber wrap to the roof as a form
of insulation. Beyond the cost of this expensive proposition, there is the logistic
problem of working a schedule out with that contractor. At the end of the
discussion, the board made the recommendation that the museum research the
likelihood of finding contractors in neighboring states who can do a carbon
fiber wrap at a lesser price.
Joyce Park Upgrades
The
newly-acquired Joyce Park in Pioneer has seen a lot of activity as of late. Tracey Towner-Yep, Director
of the Amador County Recreation Agency, or ACRA, provided the ACRA Board with
an update at their meeting Wednesday. Meeks Lumber donated lumber and
materials, which were used to rebuild the snack shack and bleachers. The park needs another set of bleachers, and
Towner-Yep is looking for a donation of 60 linear feet of angle iron for
that project. Other upgrades include the transformation of the existing house
into a darkroom, which is almost complete. The agency also walked the 80-acre property with a
naturalist, who found a wide variety of natural plants, including wild ginger
and heritage roses and apple trees. The agency plans to construct about
3 to 4 miles of trails on the property, which extends from Woodfern Drive south, across Highway 88.
ACRA will be holding public hearings on June 2nd and June 29th,
where they will invite the public to provide comments and suggestions for other
improvements. Towner-Yep also indicated
that she would welcome suggestions at the ACRA-sponsored Kennedy Mine BBQ on May 29th. For more information on the improvements to
Joyce Park or the May 29th BBQ, contact ACRA staff at 223-6349.
Economic Stimulus Proposal Gets Strong Support
As
predicted, discussion of the proposed Amador Economic Stimulus Package was the highlight of Tuesday’s
Board of Supervisors agenda. But few expected a standing room only crowd of
mostly local contractors and realtors backing the measure with
overwhelming support. The premise behind the package is simple: promote new
structure and home building through substantial reductions in fees. The details
of the plan were outlined in a presentation by local contractor Paul Bramell,
brainchild of the project. “For
those of you who are not aware, the impact fees in Amador County have been
raised dramatically in the last couple years…Talk to any local tradesman…they
will tell you how frustrated they are with the high fees and regulations
involved in building a home,” said Bramell in his proposal. In public comment,
one person after another illustrated their frustrations in numeric values. New
facility fees cost 7,757 dollars, park and recreation fees are 4,300 dollars
and traffic mitigation fees are 3,000. On top of these are 439 dollar grading
permits and encroachment
permits of 625, up from 75 dollars two years ago.Home starts in Amador County
are down from 247 in 2006 to 94 in 2007.
One resident spoke of a friend of
his who was attempting to build a small home for his five acre property and
expected to pay upwards of 25,000 dollars in fees. “I recommend we completely eliminate
impact fees for a six month period,” said Bramell. Proposed savings could be
between 15,000 and $20,000 dollars per home. When up country resident Debbie
Dunn spoke, she relayed the crowd’s frustration, but also reminded them that
cutting or completely eliminating fees for a time period could have negative
results. “I think this
is an economic trend. We can’t just trash all of our fees. We have roads that
need to be fixed, and schools.” Supervisor Escamilla reiterated her
point. “People don’t remember why we put these fees in. Because a lot of people
come up here and say they don’t have a place for their kids to play. We need fees for parks and roads
in Amador County. It’s going to take a while, we
can’t just decide this today,” he said. The Supervisors plan to further
investigate pros and cons and continue discussing the package during next
Tuesday’s meeting.
Board Opposes Code Defining Tribal Lands
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors
made clear their position on a new bill amending the California Penal Code to define trespass on
tribal lands. Senate Bill 331 seems to contradict legislation implemented after
the court case Tillie Hardwick vs. the United States, which created a
intermingling of private and trust properties where boundaries, right-of-ways,
and infrastructure are often ambiguous. In a letter from the Siskiyou Board of
Supervisors, Chairman W. R. Overman warned against the “potentially
devastating” effects of SB 331.
“The ambiguities of (Tillie Hardwick) currently create frictions and lead
to unrest within the Indian country. The plain language of SB 331 will
provoke further unrest and exacerbate already difficult jurisdiction issues.” These potential issues include
additional burdens for the criminal justice system, an interference with free
enjoyment of private property held in fee by non-Indian and non-tribal
member Indian owners, as well as removing long time tribal residents from their
homes. The Board of Supervisors tended to agree. “What this bill would do is
essentially involve our Sheriff’s office in tribal matters,” said City Counsel
Martha Shaver. “Do we
want to be involved in what are essentially tribal disputes?” The Board agreed
with Overman that the new bill should contemplate such side-effects, and
thus should be re-written to achieve its objectives without adversely affecting
the unique character of Tillie Hardwick lands. The Board voted unanimously to
send a letter of opposition to state legislators encouraging them to defeat
this bill.
Rideshare Project Riding High On Grant Money
The
Foothill Rideshare project has received a 10,000 dollar grant from the Amador Air District. Renee Chapman gave a presentation to the
Amador Air District Board of Directors at their meeting on Tuesday. Chapman says that according to the
2000 Census, approximately 33 percent of Amador County’s workers travel out of
the county for work, and that most of those commuters travel in SOV’s, or
single-occupant vehicles.
The project’s solution is to form vanpools. Chapman says that many people are wary of forming a vanpool because other riders are liable for another rider’s share of cost if they “drop out of” the program. The 10,000 dollar grant will subsidize the vanpool program and pay for up to two seats of a vanpool for up to three months if a rider leaves that vanpool. Chapman says the purpose of this program is to “get cars off the road” and “cut emissions.” Foothill Rideshare has been operating for about a year and had about 220 people sign up during their pilot program.
Business Owners and the State of Downtown Jackson
While no one
has any solid answers as to why downtown Jackson
has been seeing a decline in business over the years, the evidence of such a
decline is visibly apparent. Two businesses – Rosebud’s Pub and Grill and the
Wow! Bakery recently closed there doors on the same day. While Rosebud’s owner
Ron Busch says the close is only temporary, he believes a number of factors
have made running his business that much more difficult. “For me, I think the decline started when the
County offices moved away,” said Busch, referring to the county’s headquarters
move and restructuring. “County
business used to come downtown, but not any longer. Ever since then I’ve seen a
gradual drop.”
Busch also sited tour buses as a contributing factor to downtown interest, saying that he has seen a decline since most tour buses were no longer allowed on Highway 49 some ten years ago. Busch says he will be reopening Rosebud’s doors, but he can’t say when. Money is tight, but Busch is currently renovating Rosebud’s as part of what he refers to as “Jackson beautification.” He says that the renovated Rosebuds will be smaller scale and more intimate. We also caught up will Tom Miller who leases the neighboring building and was currently renovating due to rotted wood on the front frame. Miller is an 11-year resident in Amador City and owns a business there. He stated bluntly that he believes downtown businesses have been affected because there is “no place to park”. He has seen shopkeepers parking wherever they can and always stepping outside to feed the meters to avoid tickets. His building, a beautiful relic of Jackson’s downtown in its heyday, is estimated to have been around since 1865. It was originally a post office, twice, but burnt down twice before becoming a barbershop.
Pine Grove Bypass Project
The Pine Grove Corridor Project, so
named because the Community is
still undecided about whether they want a bypass or to widen Highway 88- is
still waiting for a green light. Work on this project can not begin before
winter of 2008 and likely not before 2009 due to the state budget
deficit. The California Transportation commission will decide by May of this
year when this project can proceed. In 2003 and 2004 a lot of work was done.
If funding comes through, work will start up again, at which time the Pine Grove community and Cal Trans will decide between the bypass and road widening. The Pine Grove citizens want to know how these road changes will affect the “look and feel” of their community. To assist with this, CalTrans has a “Context Sensitive Solution” strategic plan that analyses the impacts of such a project on a community. CalTrans calls this a “humanistic approach to design that emphasizes aesthetics, pedestrians, bicycles, and the overall impact on the environmental and urban fabric, which produces roadways that are fully integrated into the natural and man-made systems.” This will allow town improvements and community identity to be addressed at the same time as road improvements. This kind of cooperative environment is anticipated to help make all parties happy.
U.F.O In the Amador Skies?
Some locals may be wondering if they were the only ones who witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object passing through the night sky this weekend. Residents of Jackson and Amador City reported seeing a large bright object that was neither a satellite nor a planet. Not to fear – it wasn’t alien -- it was American. The sun was reflecting off the space shuttle Atlantis while it disembarked from the International Space Station. Atlantis undocked from the InternationalKennedy Space Center tomorrow. The Atlantis mission began February 7 and delivered the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory to the space station. The mission also included three spacewalks, the delivery of a new crewmember to the station and the return of another astronaut after his nearly four month stay aboard the complex. Space Station at 1:24 a.m. Monday, ending its almost-nine-day stay at the orbital outpost. The Atlantis crew is expected to complete its 13-day mission with a landing at NASA's