The final Amador County Fair numbers have at last been released, and the results are good. Amador County Fair CEO Troy Bowers reports that attendance was about 29,500, up from last year’s 28,815. “Paid gate (sales) were actually down. What we did well with (this year) was our presale (tickets). A lot of people took advantage of the discount.” Also, about 200 youngsters took advantage of this year’s promotion, which was free admission for all those dressed as a crawdad. The fair drew people from as far away as Livermore, reports Bowers. “The rodeo was a big draw this year, but the rodeo and the derbies both did extremely well.” The junior livestock auctions also did well. Bowers says it was “a good, solid auction,” slightly less than last year, which was a “record auction” for the fair. Overall, 227 lots, or animals, were purchased for a total of 300,444 dollars, all of which goes straight to the kids for upcoming college expenses, and for “socking away for next year’s projects,” says Bowers.

The City of Jackson is now taking applications for the much talked about Jackson Revitalization Committee. The formation of the committee was recommended by the city’s Economic Development Committee and approved by the city council this year. The new committee, now being referred to as the JRC, will focus on recruiting and retaining new businesses and industries, sustaining a growing economy, and thus “enriching the lives and experiences of Jackson property owners, merchants, residents and tourists.” The JRC will be responsible for implementing and updating the economic development strategic plan for the city. The new committee will be comprised of two city council members, two Jackson merchants, two Jackson property owners, one member of the Jackson Historic Business Association, or HJBA, one Jackson resident, and three members-at-large. The JRC will operate as a public/private non-profit organization. Committee members will be appointed with the help of a special nominating committee, and the final decisions will be made by the Jackson City Council. Members of the public are encouraged to apply by filling out an application, which can be picked up at City Hall at 33 Broadway in Jackson, or on the city’s website at ci.jackson.ca.us.

The Plymouth City Council got reviews of its ending fiscal year and upcoming new fiscal year in a staff budget workshop Wednesday night in Plymouth City Hall. Mayor Jon Colburn convened the special meeting, with Vice Mayor Pat Fordyce and council members Patricia Shackleton and Greg Baldwin attending. City Manager Dixon Flynn started the workshop with a presentation of the fiscal 2007-2008 accounts payable records that compared the payments of this ending year with those of 2006-2007. Most notably, he showed payments to the Amador Water Agency had dropped by 162,000 dollars. In 2006-2007, it was 270,000 dollars and it dropped to just over 108,000 dollars this fiscal year. “I felt pretty good about the costs going down, but this is the only sheet with costs going down,” Flynn said. But the contract with the Amador County Sheriff’s Office had declined a little too, from 101,000 dollars to 95,900 dollars this year. Dixon reported that engineering payments had risen by 150,000 dollars over last year, totaling nearly 250,000 dollars. Councilman Baldwin said he thought that increase was due to Federal Emergency Management Association work requirements. Another big rise came in planning costs. Flynn said the city spent 394,000 dollars, up from 169,000 dollars last fiscal year. “We’re probably going to be recovering 60 to 70 percent of that cost,” Flynn said. The fiscal budget was expected to come up short 42,000 dollars, with revenue projected at 564,000 dollars. The city had come in under budgeting in all other areas. Planning overrun of 87,700 dollars equaled the budget deficit almost entirely. Colburn asked that the next meeting have city facilities manager Selby Beck there to help with some questions. Gardner said after hopefully two or three more budget meetings they will finish the budget. The Plymouth City Council next meets Tuesday, August 26 in a joint meeting with the Plymouth Planning Commission to work on the city’s general plan. The council has a regular meeting scheduled Thursday, Aug. 28th.

Amador Water Agency Board Member John Swift attended the Ione City Council meeting Tuesday and told of water pressure problems despite having the AWA’s new water tank on-line. Speaking in the public comment period, Swift and Chris McKeage of the AWA staff told the council that engineers had expected a higher water pressure but affected areas were still being found. McKeage said Ione residents who are having pressure issues should call the AWA to report the problems. McKeage said the Oak Ridge area, for example had a historical water pressure of 45 to 50 pounds per square inch. But after initiating the new water tank, they had a 35 to 45 pounds per square inch of pressure. Councilman Jerry Sherman of Oak Ridge said he was trying to get his shower to run and one of his sprinkler heads wouldn’t come up. McKeage said the AWA was still “zeroing in on the problems” and was charting the rise and fall of pressure, with some water pressure varying with elevation changes. Dominic Atlan, who lives in that area but about 150 feet lower, on Quail Court, said he was talking for at least a dozen people in his area who could not be at the meeting Tuesday but were suffering with pressure losses. That included toilets that were barely filling, though he said his showers did work. Councilman Jim Ulm asked if there was any pressure affected at Castle Oaks Golf Course, where Atlan is the course PGA professional. Atlan said he hadn’t noticed any affect there. Jack Brotherton, an Ione resident, said he thought the citizens should get the water pressure that they are paying for. McKeage said a pump might help with the pressure differences, which also can be affected by the size of plumbing at houses.

Central House Technologies, Amador County’s premier Internet Service Provider has signed a strategic alliance with Think Smart, Sacramento Business Journal’s 5th fastest growing company of 2007. Under the terms of the merger, Central House remains as an active company continuing to provide service to all of their customers. Central House’s two key employees, Joe Rohde and Steven Blanton of Plymouth, have moved to the Think Smart Headquarters and will remain employees of the combined company. Rohde has taken the role of Vice President of Sales and will be working with clients as well as developing the local and regional sales teams. “Merging with Think Smart not only gives us the ability to provide new services, it immediately enhances the level of support that our existing customers will receive,” commented Rohde, Central House founder. Central House customers have immediate access to Think Smart’s state-of-the-art Network Operations Center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. “It’s nice to have more engineers to handle customer calls and distribute the work load,” says Blanton, Senior Support Engineer. As an added benefit the merger brings new services to the Central House portfolio. Think Smart offers Smart Managed Services for Small and Medium sized businesses in need of technical support. “We are tremendously excited about the partnership between Central House and Think Smart. Central House has provided best of breed Internet services and customer support for many years,” said Rob Ross, Think Smart’s President.

Police officials in Ione are assuring residents that two separate but coincidental events were not linked as the cause of a citizen’s death. On August 9, the Ione Police Department and medical personnel responded to a local residence on South Church Street to investigate a reported man down in the back yard area. The adult male was determined to be deceased. The Amador County Sheriff and Coroner Martin Ryan was called to the scene and assumed the investigation. No suspicious circumstances or foul play were discovered at the scene. Within the same week’s time, the Sheriff received confirmation from two “unrelated, reliable sources” that a mountain lion has in fact been seen in the vicinity of Howard Park and the 300 block of South Church Street. To date, the mountain lion has not presented aggressive behavior or threatened the safety of any human being. “Despite the numerous rumors circulating, there is no evidence that a mountain lion, or cougar, had anything to do with the male’s death or that a lion tampered with the body whatsoever,” said Police Chief Michael Johnson. However, citizens should exercise caution and familiarize themselves with precautions relating to possible contacts with dangerous wildlife, he said. Johnson is currently working with the local Fish and Game authorities to coordinate efforts to deal with the wild cat accordingly. According to Undersheriff James Wegner, the male’s cause of death was attributed to acute coronary-artery thrombosis.

The City of Sutter Creek is gearing up to make some major changes to its historic downtown in order to facilitate compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. When Caltrans turned over Historic Highway 49 to the City’s possession after the bypass opened, they also awarded 94,000 dollars to the City for the purpose of refurbishing Main Street in order to comply with ADA regulations. However, Sutter Creek’s historical status does not warrant full ADA compliance according state law; the City is only required to ‘attempt compliance to the extent feasible’ as determined by the local building department. On Monday, city leaders met with Sutter Creek Building Inspector Jeff Kelly for a walkthrough of Sutter Creek’s conspicuously handicap inaccessible historic main street. Kelly lead a discussion of the proposed altercations to Main Street, which include grinding large portions of the sidewalk to eliminate fissures, installing wheel chair accessible ramps into the street at several intersections, and installing handrails on staircases. Kelly also stressed the importance for business owners to equip their buildings with ADA compliant fixtures, to the extent feasible. “You need to show that you are making an effort to comply,” he said. Back at the meeting, City officials heard a presentation from Sutter Creek business owner Dennis Griffin, who proposed guidelines to standardize the refurbishments, in order to maintain the historical look of the town. During the discussion, Sutter Creek business owner Dan Walker entered the meeting, and informed the group that he had just settled a lawsuit for 50,000 dollars over an injury sustained on the sidewalk adjacent to his business. Walker questioned the plans for that sidewalk, which include the installation of a longer, ADA compliable ramp outside of the existing ramp leading from the sidewalk onto Main Street. Walker then stated repeatedly that he felt that the city was planning to make the changes “half-assed,” and that he objected to the attempts to make Main Street ADA compliant. Walker also said that if the City went through with their current plans, he would block off the sidewalk proximate to his business. In the end, the Council agreed to restudy the refurbishments planned for the sidewalk outside of the Sutter Creek Palace, and awarded a 27,300 dollar bid to Vinciguerra Construction.

The Ione City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to apply for a 560,000 dollar loan to complete the city’s new firehouse, using City Hall as collateral, and also approved a 5 percent raise for its city manager. Opposition to the loan cited world and U.S. financial crises as reason to pull the plug --- for now – on the new firehouse. Mayor Andrea Bonham, Vice Mayor Lee Ard and Councilman Skip Shaufel voted yes to direct City Manager Kim Kerr and City Finance Director Mark Smith to work with the loan provider to finalize the loan documents. The 3-2 vote also approved a resolution using the city hall “or a similar city property” as collateral in the loan and authorized City Manager Kerr to sign the loan and collateral documents. Ard said the financial industry is in a bad state, such that a city can get a loan and then a week later have that loan approval rescinded, as happened to the city in this case. Councilman Jim Ulm spoke against the loan before the vote. “We didn’t think we could afford this firehouse. We can’t afford it,” Ulm said. Ulm thought the city should finish the slab - or firehouse’s foundation - for now, and then call it quits on the project until a later date. “This is a recipe for disaster,” Ulm said. “We don’t have to have that. We’re not in that bad of shape.” Sherman also voted no, saying before the vote that he opposed “going out and getting more loans at the city’s expense.” Bonham said she saw the approval as a “substitution of a loan that we previously approved.” Finance director Smith told the council that they could not mortgage city-owned property and Kerr said the move was a common means of financing for municipalities.

By the same 3-2 vote, the council approved a 5 percent raise in salary for City Manager Kim Kerr. Ulm asked if she had not already received a raise and Kerr affirmed that, saying by contract she received a 3 percent raise in October 2007 to mirror the raises of the Service International Employees Union employees at the city. The 6,200 dollar pay increase raised Kerr’s annual salary to 129,780 dollars. Ard said he considered the raise a reward for the finest city managing in Ione city history. “Ione is well managed and in good shape financially,” Ard said. Bonham agreed, saying that she had been on the council four years and Kerr had accomplished more in one year than the city had accomplished in all of the other three years.

Nearly a thousand children and their parents and coaches ushered in the 2008 Mother Lode Youth Soccer League, or MLYSL, on Saturday August 16 at Charles Howard Park in Ione. Red-shirted members of the league’s volunteer board of directors coached some of the 72 teams from Amador County, numbering just under 850 children, while neighboring Calaveras County sent two more teams and Linden sent another nine teams. That made 83 teams this season, according to League Registrar Michelle Moreno, one of the 14 MLYSL board members and a parent of two soccer players. The kids range in age from 4 to 14 years old, playing in divisions of Under 6, Under 8, Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15. Local youth soccer has also sent teams to play in a summer indoor league in Folsom. Moreno said that the indoor league has been going on for the last five years, and this summer was the biggest turnout, with Amador sending six teams. MLYSL also offers a winter league. In the winter they will have either district-wide travel teams, going to Modesto and Tracy, or a seven-on-seven league for local teams. The latter, she said, would cut down on the travel and make it easier for parents and coaches to make the games. MLYSL plays 8 a.m. to mid-afternoon each Saturday until Oct. 25, when they host their season-ending Soccer Jamboree. Moreno said the Jamboree is not a tournament, so that the Under 10 age groups are allowed to play. Every participant gets a lapel pin and the points system allows for ribbon awards for first, second and third place.