This morning around 3:30 am a vehicle accident was heard by Amador County Sheriff’s Deputies before it was seen on Hwy 88 near Pitt Street. The deputies heard the accident from their offices above and rushed to respond. The solo vehicle accident blocked the east bound lanes of Hwy 88 as the first deputies on scene around 3:32am. The Jackson Police Department arrived on scene moments later to find a 99 Saturn blocking a lane. The driver, a San Jose woman appeared to uninjured but her car had leaked a large amount of fluid causing a clean up effort by the Jackson Fire and CalFire crews. The roadway was cleared just after 4am

Saturday morning about 10 am a report of a bicyclist down was received by local emergency services. Lockwood Fire Protection District, Cal Fire , American Legion Ambulance, and the Amador County Sheriff’s Department initially responded to the 22 year old male that had been involved in a solo bicyclist  accident. The victim had been unconscious for several minutes and had an apparent head injury. The bicyclist was transported to Westover Field from which he was airlifted to a valley hospital. The accident is under investigation by the CHP.

It was officially announced yesterday that the skeletal remains found last Wednesday in Fiddletown are indeed the bones of Mary Starkey the missing woman from Ripon.  Local CYA crews working in Fiddletown discovered the body, wrapped in a blanket, 10 yards off of the roadway, coincidentally the same day that the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office had reported that they would be entering the County on a possible lead. The Manteca man, Roy Gerald Smith, a 45-year-old convicted sex offender who has been the focus of the case plead guilty in court on Monday. The San Joaquin DA’s office reported that Smith entered a plea to avoid the death penalty as his defense said Smith is genuinely sorry for his actions.

A California Youth Authority (CYA) fire crew made a gruesome discovery yesterday while working in Fiddletown when they stumbled upon skeletal remains. According to a press release from the Amador County Sheriff’s Office, yesterday at approximately 9:30am the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office advised the Amador County Sheriff’s Office that they were responding into Amador County regarding a lead on the possible location of a murder victim.  The Amador County Sheriff’s Office assigned an investigator to assist.  At approximately 11:10am, Cal Fire contacted the Amador County Sheriff’s Office and reported that a CYA fire crew working in the area had located some human remains in a wooded area south east of Fiddletown. 

The local community is pulling together to help our neighbors in Tahoe recover from the destruction of the Angora Fire. The 3,100 acre fire was contained on Sunday, but not before destroying 254 homes, damaging 25 others and displacing about 3500 people. Amador County residents are holding Angora Fire Donation Drives in three different locations to help the displaced families recover. The Donation Drive will be held Saturday July 7th from 10am to 4pm in three different locations; at the Volcano Communications Tech Center, behind the Pine Grove Park, Calvary Chapel located at 18400 Ridge Road in Pine Grove, and at Detert Park Baseball Field in Jackson.

The Amador Fire Protection District and the Sutter Creek Fire department have released their numbers for the month of June. The numbers remain high. The Amador Fire Protection District Battalion’s responded to 119 incidents in June 2007 in the areas which include Pioneer, Pine Grove and Plymouth. The calls included 63 medical aids & 26 vehicle accidents which accounted for 77 percent of the total incidents.  9 of the incidents were fire related: 2 structure fires, 2 vehicle fire and 5 vegetation fires.  47% of the total calls occurred between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. Sutter Creek Fire crews responded to 45 calls of which 66 percent were medical calls, 11 percent fire related calls, and 4 vehicle accident, 2 with injuries

Yesterday afternoon a four car accident occurred on Hwy 88 just outside of the Jackson City limits near Bonnefoy Rd. The accident involved a pile up that occurred after a white Dodge pick up truck, driven by Tim Wilson of Pioneer stopped on Hwy 88 for traffic stopped in front of him. The vehicle behind Wilson, a 1987 Honda Motorcycle driven by Cody Davidson, also of Pioneer, also stopped as did Lorraine Nunez of Pioneer who was directly behind Davidson in her 2002 Toyota Camry. A 16 year old Pioneer girl suddenly observed the traffic in front of her as being stopped and she applied her brakes, however, according to the CHP report written by Officer Melissa Scobee, sue to her unsafe speed she was unable to stop. The teen then slid into Nunez, Nunez the hit Davidson, ejecting him from the motorcycle, and continued forward hitting Wilson as well.  The motorcycle driver, Davidson, was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The accident is under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

Last night the number escalated substantially to nine- in one night. Duke states that the burglaries began as a crime of opportunity with the burglars hitting unlocked vehicles in the Sutter Crest Estates neighborhood. Last night’s rash of break-ins was also opportunistic in nature with the cars unlocked in the Mt Pleasant and Sutter Oaks neighborhoods. The burglars then hit the Nickerson and Badger Street neighborhoods. Duke also reports that in the earlier burglaries in Sutter Crest Estates a vehicle was stolen once the burglars found the keys inside of the car in the ignition. Chief Duke asks that anyone with information contact the Sutter Creek Police Department at 267-5456 or Amador Secret Witness at 223-4900.

Last night around 9:30 pm  a serious accident happened on Hwy 124 just outside of Ione. According to witnesses on scene the accident occurred when the driver of this motorcycle, who was northbound, drifted over the center line and collided head on with a southbound van. The driver of the van attempted evasive action but was unable to avoid contact with the motorcycle and its driver. The driver of the motorcycle suffered a serious injury to his leg and arm and was flown by air ambulance to UCDavis med Center. The CHP is currently investigating this accident.

On Tuesday (3-27-07) afternoon Sheriff’s Investigators were in Wilseyville following up leads on a burglary that had been reported on March 9th in West Point. An estimated $78,000 worth of property had been taken during the break in. Investigators located the Stolen Willy's Jeep at a residence on Mitchell Mil Lane. The stolen Jeep had been spray painted in an attempt to disguise it. While Investigators were inspecting the Jeep they heard an all terrain vehicle approach the scene. Investigators attempted to contact the subject described at this time as a white male on the ATV. As the ATV approached Investigators noticed it matched the description of the ATV that had been stolen in the burglary they were investigating. As Investigators attempted to contact the subject he fled the area on the ATV.