State - Proposition 8, a proposed amendment to the California Constitution that would ban gay-marriage was approved by voters, 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent. The controversial amendment was the most heated and heavily funded proposition in California, setting records for campaign funding both for and against. Propositions supporting standards for confining farm animals, redistricting, veteran’s bonds, and victim’s rights were also approved. Amador County voters approved by majority Propositions 2,8,9, 11 and 12. Story by Alex Lane (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County – The 2009-2010 California Legislature convened last Monday with all 80 Assembly members and 20 of the 40 Senators being sworn in to office. Amador County’s Senator Dave Cox took the oath for his second term, saying it is his “pleasure to represent the people of the 1st Senate District,” and thanking voters for reelecting him. The veteran Republican in a release said he “was pleased by the announcement of the new Senate President Pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, that he would appoint all 40 Senators to the Senate Budget Committee.” This was a recommendation Cox made in October in a letter to Steinberg and Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill. Cox said he believes a collective Senate Budget Committee will “lead to a more comprehensive examination of the programs funded by the state budget, and it gives all Senators a stake in the final outcome.” In delivering his acceptance speech as the leader of the Senate, Steinberg announced that he will ask all 40 Senators to sit on the committee. “Californians are facing challenging times and the state is facing a historic deficit,” Cox said in a release last week. “By making the Senate a committee of the whole, all 40 senators will be more involved and more accountable in the budget process.” The current process allows the majority to ignore the minority until the very end of the budget process when a two-thirds vote is required for the budget and tax increases. Compromise must be encouraged earlier in the process. Cox said this change to the current process could help reduce the annual partisan gridlock. Cox said the time is now to improve the state budget process and increase legislative oversight. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

The California Farm Bureau Federation has submitted a statement to the House Agricultural Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, urging lawmakers to develop a system that will clearly identify the targets of food recalls. This comes after the Federal Food and Drug Administration first pointed their finger at tomatoes and then hot peppers as possible culprits in this summer’s nationwide salmonella outbreak that has mystified FDA investigators for months. Although the ongoing investigation into the cause of the outbreak has recently centered on serrano and jalapeno peppers from Mexico, California tomato and pepper growers continue to feel the dire effects of the now defunct implications on their produce. Specifically, the California tomato market has been severely impacted, with some growers estimating that it will take up to five years before the market will be able to financially recover. Ed Beckman, president of the California Tomato Farmers cooperative based in Fresno, says that tomato sales on the West Coast were down nearly 40 percent in June. According to Beckman, although the tomato market is showing signs of recovery in the food service sector, the demand for retail produce is still weak. Beckman testified last month in one of two congressional hearings that looked at the traceability of produce, as well as the damages to the tomato sector caused by the FDA’s actions. Beckman questioned the FDA’s approach to the outbreak, but could not suggest a revised procedure “until the FDA opens up and tells us what happened.” Recommendations from the Farm Bureau included more funding and staffing to investigate food borne illnesses, as well as better reporting and communication between the FDA and food handlers. In addition, the Farm Bureau is calling for revised FDA procedures that will pinpoint the culprit of a food-borne illness before a consumer alert is made. The Bureau would also like to see risk-management tools put in place that will compensate producers for losses attained through no fault of their own.

The Ione Police Department had a few items to present to the Ione City Council during their meeting Tuesday evening, starting with the swearing in of new police officer Pollie Pent, and the announcement that the department still currently has one vacancy to fill. In regards to the vacancy, a new hiring process has been instated which incorporates 4 levels through which applicants are processed. According to Police Chief Johnson, “There were initially 26 applicants, and from that, 4 strong candidates are currently standing”.

Mule Creek State prison in Ione will be the first of 30 or so state penal facilities readying to carry out a federal court mediation agreement ending the use of race as the sole determining factor in making cell assignments. The ruling traces back to a 1995 lawsuit in which a black Californian prison inmate, Garrison Johnson, sued the California Department of Corrections, saying that the segregation of prisoners was a violation of their rights. The ruling was finalized in a 2005 Supreme Court decision that led to federal court mediation and an agreement that California’s double cells would be desegregated. The Sierra Conservation Center in Tuolumne County, or SCC, and Mule Creek will be the first to comply with the court order said SCC Correctional Lieutenant Kevin Wise. Both prisons are part of a pilot project planned for July 1st. While most inmates and correctional officials agree that it is a noble idea, many fear the worst. Traditionally, prison life dictates that people of different races avoid mixing with other populations. Gangs have traditionally formed along racial divisions. But according to Wise and other Correctional Officers, any tensions brought about by the integration will only be temporary. Additionally, the transition will happen through attrition. Incoming inmates will be placed in empty beds based on a "first available and appropriate" basis. "We don't anticipate any large-scale problems," he said. According to one officer at San Quentin State Prison, “The benefit is for inmates to live how they are supposed to live. It is rehabilitative. This is how we live in the world. It should be the same way in prison too.” The Texas prison system integrated its cells in the early 1990s and eventually saw a decline in racial tensions, said Professor Jim Marquart, chair of the criminology department at the University of Texas at Dallas, who studied the transition and is advising California during its process.

The Amador County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, in partnership with Cal Fire, is planning a major disaster preparedness exercise to be conducted at the Amador County Fairgrounds. This year’s exercise will consist of an actual neighborhood evacuation drill due to a catastrophic wildfire situation. Law enforcement representatives will go door to door in a pre-designated neighborhood simulating an evacuation in the Plymouth area. Residents will not be asked to evacuate but will be provided fire safety information. The purpose of the exercise is to give participants an opportunity to evaluate current response concepts, plans and capabilities for conducting a large scale neighborhood evacuation due to a catastrophic wildfire. The exercise will focus on key local emergency responder coordination, critical decisions and the integration of supporting agencies and mutual aid assets necessary to save lives in an effective and safe manner. Amador County, like many Sierra Nevada counties, is at a very high risk of experiencing catastrophic wildfires. Long, dry summers punctuated with periods of severe drought combine with erratic weather and heavy fuel concentrations to create an explosive fire environment. Amador County’s growing population creates conditions for catastrophic loss of homes and businesses as well as human life. “We recognize the potential for a catastrophic wildfire event and will continue to enhance our response capabilities to protect the lives of our citizens”, says Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan. Ryan emphasized the importance that many agencies play in responding to a disaster and views this exercise as an excellent opportunity to bolster interagency cooperation and to provide for a more efficient use of limited resources. The exercise takes place on Thursday, June 5th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth. For more information, contact Lynne Olson, Emergency Services Coordinator at (209) 223-6384.

Emergency declarations for five counties ringing Lake Tahoe were signed late Tuesday by California and Nevada governors to help speed fire-protection efforts in the scenic mountain resort area hit by a catastrophic blaze last summer. The declarations were among more than 70 recommendations by a special panel formed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons after the Angora Fire destroyed 254 homes and caused $140 million in property damage in South Lake Tahoe. "We will not rest until this natural crown jewel is as safe as it is beautiful," Schwarzenegger said prior to the signings that affect California's El Dorado and Placer counties and Nevada's Carson City, Douglas and Washoe counties. "Many of these recommendations can be implemented swiftly, and I hope that everyone with the power to make these changes does so quickly," Gibbons said, referring to the California-Nevada Basin Fire Commission's report. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who joined the governors, commission members and firefighters at the conference, said that saving Lake Tahoe "is going to be a continuing work in progress. One thing is clear, it's not going to be done in 10 years, it will be ongoing." The fire commission wants the state and federal governments to free up money quickly, primarily to cut thick stands of trees. Many of its recommendations are intended to resolve the bureaucratic infighting among overlapping agencies that has hampered fire-prevention efforts for years. The commission said thinning overgrown forests around communities should be completed within five years and within a decade throughout the entire Tahoe basin.

Two local educators are attempting to introduce a new program to Amador County which involves preparing homeowners to stay and defend their homes during the event of a wildfire, instead of evacuating. The program, known as “Prepare-Stay-Defend” or PSD, is part of the fire protection system in Australia, and its proponents hope it will one day become integrated into America’s mainstream fire services. Last week, the Amador Fire Protection Council heard a presentation from Roy Pike and Steve Bowman, the founders and directors of PSD in America. The two have over 70 years of combined fire fighting experience, and both serve or have served as community college educators on fire technology and suppression. Pike and Bowman noted in their presentation instances where communities were ordered to evacuate too late from their homes and perished when their vehicles were overtaken by wildfire. Such was the case in San Diego a few years ago, when most casualties occurred on the freeway when evacuees became stuck in traffic and subsequently were overcome by fire and smoke. Pike and Bowman believe that if the communities in San Diego had been properly educated and prepared, they could have stayed and saved their homes and their lives. The PSD program includes courses that people can take in order to better understand the nature of fire and how to prepare for it, as well as how to establish neighborhood fire watch groups. In addition, Pike and Bowman are involved in the design plan for the first residential development in the nation constructed upon PSD principles, which will be located off of Aqueduct Road in Pine Grove. “It is important to make clear that we are not trying to displace fire authorities. Rather, we are aiming to work within the fire system and establish a mutual aid with the expectation that homeowners can be properly educated to make the choice of when to stay and defend and when to evacuate,” said Bowman. For more information on the Prepare-Stay-Defend program, you can visit the website at www.prepare-stay-defend.org.

Fire crews from Nevada and Oregon have arrived to help California firefighters battle hundreds of blazes that are darkening the sky over California, leading public health officials to issue air-quality warnings. The lightning-caused fires have charred tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes, though few buildings have been destroyed, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CALFIRE. "It's just extremely, extremely dry," Berlant said Tuesday. "That means any little spark has the potential to cause a large fire. The public needs to be extra cautious because we don't need any additional wildfires." Elsewhere in the state, residents were ordered to evacuate an area of Monterey County on Wednesday because of a huge blaze that started before the lightning storm. More than 800 wildfires were set by a storm that unleashed nearly 8,000 lightning strikes across Northern California over the weekend. The storm was unusual not only because it generated so many lightning bolts with little or no rain over a large geographical area, but also because it struck so early in the season and moved in from the Pacific Ocean. Such storms usually don't arrive until late July or August and typically form southeast of California.

Last week, the Amador Fire Safe Council held a public information workshop on how to create defensible space. Executive Director Cathy Koos Breazeal gave a presentation on the steps homeowners need to take to prepare for wildfire. The concept of defensible space deals with how to best landscape the area around one’s home in order to minimize the threat of wildfire spreading to the structure, and also provides firefighters a space in which to work while protecting the structure. California State Law requires the homeowner to clear 100 feet of space around the home and other buildings. Providing defensible space does not mean that you need strip all vegetation around your home, but it does require clearing 30 feet of flammable vegetation immediately around your house. In addition, the next 70 feet is a “reduced fuel zone,” which should be clear of debris and should have vertical and horizontal spacing between plants. Large trees do not have to be cut and removed as long as all of the lower limbs and plants beneath them are cleared, which serves to eliminate a vertical “fire latter.” Trees should also be trimmed at least 10 feet away from chimneys. Koos Breazeal also recommended several other ways to prepare for fire. She stressed making a family plan, including designating two meeting places outside of the home. Preparations should be made for pets and livestock; livestock can be brought to the Amador County Fair grounds, but don’t rely on animal shelters for your pets. Be sure you have one crate for each pet, and a place where you can take them if you have to evacuate. Also, make sure your driveway is clearly marked, in both directions as you approach your home. Think about your driveway in the event of heavy smoke- your address should be made of metal and reflective. The Amador Fire Safe Council also provides a free roadside chipper service, in addition to several other services. For more information on these services and defensible space, visit www.amadorfiresafe.org.