The West Nile Virus is starting earlier this year in the Sacramento area. Officials have confirmed the first bird death from the virus. According to the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District Manager David Brown, it’s a few months earlier than usual for Sacramento to see an American Crow death from West Nile Virus.  “It’s an early wake-up call for residents to start putting on a mosquito repellant when they’re going outside when the mosquitoes are active and certainly do what they can to reduce mosquito development sites in and around their yards,” says Brown. Brown says officials are surveying areas where mosquitoes like to lay eggs. He says that includes foreclosed homes with abandoned swimming pools or standing water. Last year there were 24 cases in Sacramento County, including one death. That’s compared to 2005 when there were 170 cases.

The Board of Supervisor’s actions toward the proposed Buena Vista Casino have been a rollercoaster ride of late, with a series of recent unexpected votes and a paper trail of formal statements between the two parties. Yesterday, in an exclusive interview with TSPN, Supervisor Richard Forster outlined the latest update, considered to be a minor victory in the County’s lawsuit process.

Two suspects were arrested Friday in the Silver Lake area for an alleged carjacking in Stanislaus County and for being in possession of stolen property.  Mark Raymond Whiteley and Solanda Sutherland, both residents of Waterford, CA, were found in the disabled vehicle along Highway 88 Friday morning by the CHP. A routine license check revealed that the car was stolen in an alleged carjacking. The suspects were taken into custody at gunpoint. Several chainsaws were found inside the vehicle. With assistance from other officers, it was determined that the suspects had allegedly committed several other felonies, including the theft of the chainsaws, which belong to a Pioneer man who helped the suspects with their car earlier that week. The suspects were transported to Jackson and booked into the Amador County Jail Friday afternoon. Both Whiteley and Sutherland reportedly have gang affiliations and are charged with carjacking, grand theft, and receiving stolen property. Each are being held on $100,000 bail.

Shortly after another flu epidemic shut down a Southern California prison, officials at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione shut down two of the institution's three main yards last week when dozens of inmates started showing symptoms of the illness. Mule Creek officials closed the yards when 46 inmates at the prison about 40 miles east of Sacramentohospitalization. The closures came 11 days after the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation imposed more drastic measures at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Riverside County.

At the prison near Blythe, two inmates died amid a flu outbreak that struck 805 prisoners, put 12 of them in the hospital and prompted authorities to shut down the institution to inmate transfers and all visiting. The official causes of the inmates' deaths are still under investigation. Weathersby said it was the vastness of the Chuckawalla illness outbreak that led prison officials at Mule Creek to take action at their prison. "We're being cautious," Weathersby said. "We're aware of what happened a few weeks back." began to come down with the flu. One of the two yards remained closed as of Friday, according to Mule Creek spokesman Chris Weathersby, meaning that inmate movements have been severely restricted to keep the illness from spreading. One Mule Creek inmate required

 

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.

Fiddletown is expecting a flood of visitors for its 4th Annual Heritage Day on April 5th , and wine will be a cornerstone of the event. Fiddletown’s vineyards have always played a special role in the County’s wine market. During the late 1800’s, Fiddletown was considered the prime region for winemaking within Amador County, but demand and popularity dwindled as major wine producers in Sonoma and Napa counties flooded the market. It wasn’t until the 1960’s when Fiddletown’s vino was rediscovered by Sacramento wine merchant Darrell Corti. Since then, Amador County has regained its fame as one of the most respectable wine-making communities in United States. The Best of Fiddletown Wine Competition is the cornerstone of the Heritage Day event. Two stages of competition will judge wines based on the UC Davis 20 point system and for the “People’s Choice”. Competition results will be announced at 3 p.m. at the Fiddletown Heritage Day celebration. For more information, visit www.fiddletown.info or the group's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/fiddletownpreservation.

Where have all the bees gone?  Lately, honeybees have been dying or simply vanishing from hives nationwide.  Researchers don’t know the exact cause, but have named the phenomenon “colony collapse disorder,” or CCD. Researchers believe the culprit may be some sort of virus, or may be the result of parasites or pesticides. Whatever the cause, central valley farmers are becoming concerned, even going so far as to rent mobile hives in order to pollinate their crops.

Honeybees, which are not native to the United States, are used to pollinate many types of crops, mainly almonds in California, but also melons, apples, peaches, and other produce. Although the central valley is feeling the impact, local beekeepers aren’t worried. Sean Kritelich, owner of Paloma Pollinators here in Amador County, says this nationwide panic hasn’t affected our local economy – in fact, it’s thriving. According to Kritelich, Amador County has not experienced a decline in bee population, and explains that there are many other types of pollinating insects, including bumble bees, wasps, and deer flies, to name a few. 

These other insects need certain wooded areas and plants to survive, of which Amador County has in abundance. Kritelich says the reason other areas need to use honey bees for pollination is that the natural habitat has been removed to make way for more farm land, thereby effectively wiping out other pollinating insects that could have done the job. He blames current commercial agriculture, saying the reason the United States is dependent on honeybees is due to the “insane way agriculture is carried out in this country.” Judy Peet, of Peet’s Apiaries, a Calaveras County bee farm, says they have experienced a small loss in their bee colonies, or hives, but that loss has not affected their business. Peet indicated that perhaps because of their isolated location, their bees weren’t affected by CCD.

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.

At the last School Board meeting, Superintendent Mike Carey enthusiastically congratulated and awarded the Block “A” Community Service Award to Dalton Brown, a freshman at Argonaut High School. This multi-talented young man is the first freshman ever to win this award.

The presentation wasn’t the only moment of pride for Superintendent Carey. Amador will be sending 2 champions to the State Spelling contest. This year’s Amador County Public Schools’ “Spelling Bear” had 30 participants. Chew successfully won the Spelling Bear earlier that afternoon by successfully spelling ‘embarrass’.  The winner, 6th grader Krista Chew of Pine Grove, is a returning champion. She finished 10th in the state at last years State spelling contest. Joining Krista this year will be Haley Capitanich, a student from the Ione Junior High school.

On the opposite end of the academic spectrum, concerns were also voiced by board member David Dutra regarding the failing grades of some high school students. Earlier this year, an administrative directive was created to try to

encourage more parental involvement in their children’s educational success. Dutra was concerned that there was no follow-up to this directive. He suggested that the parents of students with failing grades be surveyed to see if they had been contacted regarding their children’s grades. Board president Mary Walser felt that contacting parents was not the role of the board, but rather the responsibility of high school principals. The board agreed and Dutra reiterated that principals should be making random calls and include the results in their report to the board.

 

The city of Plymouth may have equestrian trails in its future. The city is in the process of updating its general plan.  Paula Daneluk, the city’s planner, gave an update on the circulation element in the draft plan at Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting. The plan proposes adding multiple roadways throughout the Plymouth area to accommodate for expected growth.  Also, the plan includes adding sidewalks and multiple crossing improvements, as well as bikeways and nature trails. Bob Reeder, a local land developer, proposed adding equestrian trails branching off from the fairgrounds and heading west, toward his company’s proposed development, Shenandoah Ridge.