Amador County high school freshmen will now be getting a driver’s education in school. State law had deemed that schools must offer driver’s education classes in school and the Amador County Unified School District joined that requirement this semester by offering driver’s education in the freshman health classes. The school board of directors on Wednesday received a report from Elizabeth Chapin-Pinotti, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, who told of the new classes. She said the class would supplement the private instruction students were getting. The class will teach things like the affects of drug and alcohol use on driving ability. Chapin-Pinotti and staff surveyed school principals and determined the class should be covered in health classes for freshmen. The driver’s education class will have the required thirty hours of seat time and use the book, “Responsible Driving,” by Glencoe/McGraw Hill, a book already used in classes at Independence High School in Sutter Creek.

In other school board news, the board heard student reports. Argonaut High School’s Daniel Stevens and Jerry Brady reported that the school would be installing a new bronze sculpture of a Mustang, donated by the Class of 2008. From Amador High School, Jeriel Fountain and Tanner Scholtes reported that the senior class was brainstorming to find funding to install a new sound system at the stadium and told the board members that they could “pitch in” on the effort.

Residents are encouraged to attend the second in a series of public workshops on Ione’s General Plan Update. The meeting will focus on important issues related to the location of parks and recreation, housing developments, the utilization of downtown Ione and other land use topics. The workshop will be held Monday, September 8, 2008 at 7pm in Evelyn Bishop Hall. The meeting will feature extensive public input opportunities through interactive surveying, question and answer, and provide an open forum for comments. Participants will also learn to put their ideas on paper through several mapping exercises. This is an opportunity for participants to share their views and give insight on how to maintain Ione’s quality of life while planning for a thriving and enriching future.

Three Ione residents were sentenced to prison, the latest yesterday afternoon, for their involvement in a Jackson Valley Road methamphetamine lab. Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe announced the latest sentencing resulting from four arrests in April at two adjoining properties on Jackson Valley Road in a remote part of Ione. Patrick Lee Chandler, 53, of Ione was sentenced Thursday to 270 days in jail, followed by 5 years of supervised probation. Chandler was convicted of possessing pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. His brother, Daniel Carl Chandler, 50, also of Ione, was convicted of the same charges June 12th, but died while before sentencing. Daniel Chandler was out of police custody at the time of his death. Jeffery Lee Andel, 47, of Ione, was sentenced on August 8th to 3 years in state prison. Andel was convicted June 12th of manufacturing meth and possession of pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture meth. Penny Susan Wilson, 58, also of Ione, was convicted of the same charges and was sentenced July 17 to 4 years and 4 months in state prison. Riebe in a release said the drug, pseudoephedrine is a common primary ingredient of meth and federal law limits the purchase of products containing pseudoephedrine to no more than 3.6 grams per customer per day. An investigation by the Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team revealed that the defendants worked in teams to purchase quantities of pseudoephedrine-based medicine from different pharmacies in Amador County. On multiple occasions they purchased more than three times the legal limit. On April 25, agents executed a search warrant at the two Jackson Valley Road properties. The search found glass and plastic containers with acetone, ammonia and red phosphorus, plus gas and liquid cylinders and a container of crushed pseudoephedrine pills. Authorities also seized four firearms, including a loaded shotgun. A hazardous material team assisted with cleaning the property after the police investigation.

California District 3 Congressman Dan Lungren stopped at the Ione Pharmacy Tuesday morning to discuss a U.S. House bill aimed at protecting community pharmacies across the country. Lungren met with Ione Pharmacy owners and pharmacists, John and Carolyn Stremfel and also Brian Anderson, state relations manager of the National Community Pharmacists Association. Lungren was on a fact-finding visit for two bills pending in the U.S. House of Representative. John Stremfel told Lungren and Anderson that about 70 percent of his business was from pharmaceuticals sales. Stremfel said about 70 percent of his customers were over age 65 and on Medicare. “When you look at some of the large companies that are almost giving away their prescriptions, how’s that affecting you?” Lungren asked. Stremfel noted that with California taking a percentage of Oxycontin prescriptions, the pharmacy loses money on those prescriptions. Lungen is pushing legislation in the House of Representatives called the “Saving Our Community Pharmacies Act of 2007, or HR 3140.” It would change the Medicaid generic drugs formula that drastically cuts pharmacy reimbursements. According to a release from the National Community Pharmacists Association, HR 3140 would “provide an accurate pharmacy reimbursement benchmark” and “ensure continued patient access to life-saving, cost-effective prescription medicines.” The release said the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 makes Average Manufacturers Price “the basis for the Federal Upper Limit on generic drugs dispensed by Medicaid.” The General Accounting Office found Average Manufacturers Price-based Federal Upper Limit prices were below the pharmacy acquisition costs for 59 of 77 drugs sampled. The release said thousands of pharmacies with large Medicaid populations may be forced to close in the early months under the new reimbursement law. Lungren said his grandfather was a pharmacist in Souix City, Iowa, and his father was a doctor.

As the period to comment on the Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort’s Draft Environmental Impact Report draws to a close on August 29th, citizens both for and against the project are rallying forces. For the last year, the project’s proponents have executed a vigorous public outreach program, holding numerous public information workshops to promote the project, in addition to becoming involved in community activities and service. At this point, project sponsor and the face of Gold Rush, Troy Claveran, has become a familiar face in the streets of Sutter Creek. For several months, project supporters, which include multiple Sutter Creek business owners, have been especially vocal, appearing at city meetings and endorsing the project at their businesses. However, in the last several weeks, opponents to the project have begun to gain momentum as well. Monday night, about 100 Sutter Creek residents attended the Planning Commission meeting, which included a period of public comment on the DEIR. Comments for and against the project were about 50/50. Supporters of Gold Rush say that the project, which includes an 18 hole golf course, club house, and over 1300 residences, bodes well for the area’s businesses and commerce. Opponents, on the other hand, say that the project will ruin Sutter Creek’s small town atmosphere and way of life, and will be a visual blight on the area. Sutter Creek resident Bart Weatherly has begun a campaign with the aim of convincing the city to scale the project back to its original proposal. Weatherly said that he believes residents should be able to vote on the project. The City Council and Planning Commission will be holding a joint meeting on Tuesday, September 2 at 6:00, to review the project’s fiscal study, wastewater plan, and development agreement. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.

The Tuolumne/Calaveras Unit of CAL FIRE will be conducting a focused defensible space compliance law enforcement operation in Calaveras County on Saturday and Sunday, August 30th and 31st, 2008. The purpose of this operation is to issue citations to homeowners who have not cleared around their homes as required under Public Resources Code 4291. Since 2005, the Code has required 100 feet of clearance around all structures, or to property lines, whichever is closest. The minimum fine is 340 dollars per violation. Officers will be out in the field for both days inspecting homes that were previously inspected earlier in the season. According to Fire Chief Mike Noonan, "maintaining defensible space is critical to protecting not just your home from wildfires but also your neighbors home. We cannot guarantee that a fire engine will be available to protect every single home during a wildfire." For more information about defensible space requirements contact your local Cal Fire station, or visit www.fire.ca.gov.

The Amador County Unified School District board of directors on Wednesday voted to renew a school truancy police officer position for the upcoming year and discussed cost sharing with the cities of Ione, Sutter Creek and Jackson. The board voted 6-0 with one absence to give Superintendent Dick Glock the authority to sign a contract renewal for the resource officer position that is based in Sutter Creek. Glock said that Jackson officials had decided to not share in the cost of the truant officer, due to a 16 percent cut in the Jackson Police Department. Glock said Jackson Police Chief Scott Morrison had informed the district that the JPD “will continue to follow good policing procedures, increase patrols around the schools and in general continue a high level of responsiveness.” Finance director Barbara Murray said the resource officer would cost 24,500 Dollars. Murray said the officer’s salary was paid in part with a 10,000 dollar Karl Washington grant, a gift born from the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings. Glock said the officer, based in Sutter Creek, could police school campuses in Ione and Jackson if those cities’ police chiefs give the OK. The current resource officer’s position was to expire Monday, September 1st, five days after the board’s meeting, prompting board members to seek renewal of the contract rather than letting it expire. Board member Terry A. Porray asked that “next year, please let’s do this a lot earlier.”

Congressman Dan Lungren on Tuesday visited the former cogenerating plant near Ione, which will be the site of a new green energy plant that could open by May 1st of 2009 and bring as many as twenty jobs and about a million dollars in salary to Amador County. He also stopped at the Ione Pharmacy to discuss a U.S. House bill aimed at protecting community pharmacies across the country. Lungren, California District Three Congressman, representing Amador County, met with Oneto Group owners Rux and Eddie Oneto at the Co-Gen electric power plant on Coal Mine Road, along with Amador Air District Pollution Control Officer Jim Harris and project director Bob Buckingham of the Renegey corporation, of Tempe, Arizona. Buckingham is set to negotiate a lease agreement with the Oneto Group and his company would purchase the business, then use it as a biomass electric plant, operating on wood from logging waste, construction refuse and agricultural waste. “It’s just straight forward wood combustion,” Buckingham said. Emissions in the air would be one-tenth of that of similar coal electric plants. The burning biomass would operate the turbine generator and produce 18.4 megawatts of power, the equivalent of 15,000 homes. “It’ll probably power the better part of this area,” Buckingham said. Lungren said the biomass plant was the next logical step in the power industry, noting that, in his opinion, the use of “corn for methanol production has taken food stock and turned it into a fuel stock.” Lungren said he has been trying to get such alternative energy legislation into the house floor, though the speaker of the house has not been allowing such legislation into Congress. “We’ve been trying to do that – wind, solar – all these alternative sources. It just makes sense now,” Lungren said. Buckingham said Renegy would have people on the site in October and would put five million to six million dollars into refurbishing the plant, with testing planned for the spring, and they hoped to have the plant online and operational by May first of next year. Buckingham said the plant would burn 200,000 tons of biomass a year. “Economically, it’s a very viable opportunity,” he said. Using the existing plant will save money too. “If we build this from scratch, we’d be looking at close to $60 million,” Buckingham said.

A combined effort between the County Narcotic Enforcement Team, or ACCNET, and various other local law enforcement agencies has resulted in the eradication of an illegal commercial marijuana cultivation site in a remote area of Amador County, east of Fiddletown. The site was raided on August 21st by ACCNET agents in cooperation with the Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team. ACCNET had identified the cultivation site while conducting reconnaissance in that area. ACCNET conducted surveillance of the location and determined the site was being tended to by a Mexican national drug trafficking organization. A nearby property owner also reported hearing gunfire from the canyon during the past few weeks. The Amador County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team were utilized to secure the cultivation site due to the probability of encountering armed cultivators. No suspects were found at the location. The eradicated marijuana was extracted from the cultivation site. A total of 5,729 marijuana plants were collected from seven separate but inter-connected plots. The investigation is ongoing. This is the third commercial marijuana cultivation site seized by ACCNET this year. All of the growing locations so far have been tended to by a Mexican national drug trafficking organization.