Amador County – Some good news for Amador County boaters. The ban on boats registered in Santa Clara County has been lifted as part of a policy change by the East Bay Municipal Utility District. The ban was put in place as a protective measure against the invasive Quagga and Zebra Mussel after Zebra Mussels were discovered in adjacent San Benito County. Both lakes Camanche and Pardee, managed by EBMUD, will now accept vessels registered in Santa Clara County pending a successful vessel inspection. This change is the result of research done to determine the extent of the current infestation in Northern California as well as the vulnerability of Pardee and Camanche to the threats posed by invasive mussels. At this time, East Bay Municipal Utility District has taken several steps to manage the Quagga and Zebra mussel issue at Lake Camanche, Lake Pardee, and San Pablo Reservoir. This includes banning vessels from Southern California and outside of California, and inspecting vessels from approved counties. No further discoveries of mussels have been made in the region, and Santa Clara County agencies have implemented an active prevention program in their reservoirs. Additionally, Pardee and Camanche have been determined to be less vulnerable to mussel infestation than reservoirs in the East Bay. Vessel owners will be asked to complete a vessel history survey and to present the vessel in a clean and dry condition. The condition of the vessel will be determined by a physical inspection. In order to help prevent the spread of all aquatic invasive species, the "Clean and Dry, Inside and Out" requirement for all vessel owners will be enforced again this year and into the future. For more information, including detailed descriptions of the vessel history survey and the physical inspection or to learn more about invasive mussels, please visit www.ebmud.com/services/recreation. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – A slight turnout for the Ione City Council Community Preservation Workshop had a bright side in letting the council share ideas last week. Mayor Lee Ard said council credibility was in jeopardy but he pledged support. Ard said the council will work with City Manager Kim Kerr on a brochure to recruit volunteers for the Main Street Program. Ard said: “I will go door-to-door to get volunteers, and I hope my peers will help too.” Kerr said staff was basically looking for council direction, but was “hoping to have a lot more comments” from the public. The 4 programs are for Main Street, downtown facades, an economic study and the creation of a redevelopment plan. Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said she loved the new downtown, with the Mexican restaurant and her Clark’s Corner coffee shop drawing people from Upcountry and Volcano to Ione downtown. She said she spoke with people who are 80 years old and had not been to downtown Ione in 10 years. When they came, they ran into people they had not seen in 10 years. She commended Jack Brotherton on his work on the Main Street Program, and supported starting it and the Façade Program. Councilman David Plank counted 22 or 24 Ione residents at the meeting, and only 2 were downtown business or property owners. He encouraged people to comment in a letter to the council, or by stopping in City Hall to talk to Kerr, or City Planner Christopher Jordan. Councilman Skip Schaufel said the “façade program really makes sense.” He supported the economic study, which would look at Ione residents’ spending through credit card data, which Kerr said could help locate businesses here or help local shops carry saleable items. Schaufel said “we need businesses that will thrive” to move downtown, and the council “should start all of these programs.” Ard said he thought the Main Street program have the city council as its initial “governing board.” After it is “running smoothly,” they can start a non-profit and get a director. Plank said he would like to see the meeting continued, for the “crucial element” of getting downtown business and property owners involved. He said the city should send letters to all of them to tell them about the next meeting. Kerr said she will get more in depth information on the Main Street Program and bring it to the April 21st council meeting. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Ione Recreation Commission will see the “Conservation & Open Space” and also “Circulation” Elements of the city’s General Plan update today. Staff reports to the commission this week included a memo from Daniel Hamilton of Pacific Municipal Consultants, and a summary of the elements, along with drafts of each. The Conservation and Open Space document includes a Vision Statement, Related Plans and its relationship to other elements, along with goals, policies and action items. Hamilton said the major issues covered “include agriculture, air quality, flooding, land reclamation, land use, minerals, recreation, scenic resources, soil conservation, a trails system, water supply, and wildlife.” Hamilton said the element included “policies to create a trails system throughout Ione, preserve creeks and wetland areas, protect environmentally sensitive areas and biological resources, and protect water quality.” The element contains “Major Policies of Interest,” which Hamilton said “are among the areas most discussed by the Executive Committee, Planning Commission, and City Council,” in their work on the Conservation and Open Space Element. Policy includes coordination “with relevant State and local agencies, property owners, and local interest groups to restore, enhance, and preserve creeks in and around the city of Ione.” The policy says that “Public and private projects shall be required to avoid impacts to wetlands if feasible. If avoidance is not feasible, projects shall achieve no net loss of wetlands, consistent with state and federal regulations.” Actions include requiring “setbacks and buffers for all development within areas containing wetlands or for development which will occur adjacent to wetlands or waterways.” City Manager Kim Kerr reported that the “General Plan is proceeding to be completed on time in August,” and “staff wanted to provide copies of relevant elements, such as Circulation and Conservation and Open Space, for review and comment by commissioners.” She said “commissioners should provide any comments they have so (staff) can ensure that they get incorporated. The elements are preliminary draft plans that will be going through the approval process in the next few months, but staff wanted to allow the commissioners the time to review and comment. The commission – made up of Russell Baldwin, Rosemary Johnson, Mark Lively, Laurie Lord and Fraser West – also is likely to select a new chair and vice chair for the upcoming year. The Rec Commission meets at 6 p.m. today at Ione City Hall. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, approval of funding for this year’s state fair exhibit took the backburner to a dispute over reimbursement for last year’s exhibit. As stated by Supervisor Richard Forster, he did not want to authorize county funds until they found a resolution to a dispute between the Amador County Chamber of Commerce and Kam Merzlak, last year’s exhibit designer and the owner of Merzlak Signs in Jackson. Merzlak claims that Jackie Lucido, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, verbally promised him any prize money that would come as a result of the exhibit. He has received none. Merzlak’s exhibit, titled, “Picture Yourself in Amador County,” took both the Silver and Superintendent’s award at the 2008 State Fair. Merzlak says this was ironic considering Lucido nominated him to receive the Superintendent’s award. Merzlak was also upset that the Chamber allegedly reversed this decision during a closed session meeting which he was not invited to attend. “This is an issue that has been blown way out of proportion,” said Lucido when it was her turn to take the podium. She added: “I feel very disappointed that the Supervisors would look to undermine the decisions of the chamber.” She said the issue before the Supervisors was funding for this year’s exhibit and any dispute with Merzlak was not their business. Supervisor Brian Oneto said, “we’re just trying to do due diligence.” Supervisor Ted Novelli offered to play mediator between the Chamber and Merzlak in helping to settle the dispute. Forster said he wanted to “make sure the books are clean before we go into next year.” Merzlak said he would only work on this year’s exhibit if changes to the contract were made that would specify how the funding would be disbursed. The Supervisors agreed to make language changes in the contract and to authorize approximately $3,300 from the County coffers for exhibit construction. The estimated costs for an exhibit this year are between $10,000 and $20,000. In addition, Supervisors will look into contributing additional money from their own funds. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County -- A crowd greeted the new Amador Water Agency Board of Directors in its first meeting Thursday. Several members of the Protect the Historic Amador Waterways group addressed the board. Wendell Peart of Pine Grove said the “unsusual replacement of so many of you seems to say the public wanted change.” Peart said people say “PHAW folks” caused the high cost of the Amador Transmission Pipeline, but the past board could have settled and did not and litigation let the $8 Million estimate to grow later to $19 Million. District 1 Board Member Bill Condrashoff said he was there “because I don’t want to see the agency’s customers subsidize growth.” He said the pipeline money is already spent and he cannot change that, but he is “here to prevent it from happening again.” Project Manger Krista Clem of Golden Vale and Mokelumne Bluffs subdivisions, said it was “illegal for the water agency to deny water to limit growth.” She offered a 30-acre pond as part of a water reclamation project for AWA, near Highway 88 and an existing AWA easement. PHAW member David Evitt and Peart urged the board to select a president from its new members. Evitt preferred Condrashoff, saying it would still be the same board approving an upcoming audit, later on the agenda. Condrashoff said “you might have a different president, but it will still be the same board.” The board later kept Terence Moore as its president and made Condrashoff vice president. Engineering Manager Gene Mancebo reported that the Plymouth Pipeline is in the final mode of insurance documents and Mountain Cascade is gearing up for construction. Condrashoff asked if the Plymouth Pipeline could serve all of its 1,000 proposed units in 9 projects there. Mancebo said as designed it could not, but they were looking to add capacity and supplement the pipeline to get more water to Plymouth, which may include using wells. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County - The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors approved a contract for the Plymouth Water Pipeline Project yesterday afternoon and also approved the financing to get the project started. The board voted 5-0 to authorize General Manager Jim Abercrombie to execute a notice of an award for construction of the project, pending approval of the contract and project by the Plymouth City Council later last night. Results of Plymouth City Council’s decision were unavailable at press time this morning, but should be available in the noon report. The AWA board also voted to amend the agreement to note financial obligations. Finance Manager Mike Lee broke down costs, noting Plymouth would pay a 1.34-Million-Dollar participation fee to the AWA, and receive 200,000 dollars in reimbursement from the USDA for the reservoir project, a Community Development Block Grant of 874,000 dollars and 4.25 Million Dollars in federal USDA grants. Plymouth’s consultants, however, said Wednesday that another 1.25 Million Dollars in grants had been attained, for 5.1 million dollars in grants. The city will also get 5 million dollars in USDA loans. Lee said the breakdown formula had Plymouth paying 74.5 percent of the total actual project costs and the AWA paying 25.49 percent. Easement costs of the various project segments came out with Plymouth paying 5.79 Million Dollars and the AWA paying 1.9 Million Dollars. Loan attorney Jim Boyd introduced two documents for separate USDA loans of 3 million dollars and 2 million dollars each, which the board approved as the AWA Financing Authority. Lee said the AWA will pay 800,000 dollars at the outset of the project, using reserve funds. District 1 Board Member Elect Bill Condrashoff asked why that was paid up front. Abercrombie said the amount could have been financed, but the payment up front avoided financing fees. Lee said in the long run, the agency would benefit more from Plymouth water payments over 40 years in the contract than the 800,000 dollars would earn in the bank at 4-and-1/8 percent interest. The four new board members elect all attended the meeting, during which the sitting members elected District 5 Board Member Terence W. Moore as the new board president. The other four board members, Condrashoff, District 2’s Gary E. Thomas, District 3’s Don Cooper and District 4’s Debbie Dunn likely could take the oath of office in the first week of December. The election results must be certified by Registrar of Voters Sheldon Johnson, and then the Amador County Board of Supervisors must also certify the results before elected politicians can take office. Story by Jim Reece

An employee of Mule Creek State Prison in Ione was one of six state employees honored Wednesday for their commitment to increasing contracts to California State businesses and companies operated by disabled veterans. Robin McCune, of Mule Creek’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, was awarded the Advocate of the Year Bronze Medal by the State and Consumer Services Agency, or SCSA, in a ceremony at Sacramento State University. According to the SCSA, McCune helped facilitate research on how to expand and improve the use of the disabled veterans business enterprises Web site content by transferring the data into user - friendly formats. McCune succesfully merged databases so staff could distinguish vendor information by goods or services. The ceremony and subsequent awards come as the result of a direction by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 that his administration do at least 25 percent of its purchasing and contracting through certified small businesses and at least 3 percent with disabled veterans business enterprises. The State Agency Recognition Awards honored employees for their innovation and outstanding service in working to meet the governor’s goals. In the words of SCSA Secretary Rosario Marin, “our Governor knows small businesses are a vital resource to state government and the California economy and has raised the bar for departments and agencies to expand the role of small firms and disabled veteran businesses doing business with us." Story by Alex Lane.

By Jim Reece -

The group Amador Support, Transportation And Resource Services prepares for its fifth annual Camp Out For Cancer with its own little legacy. The group has a 4-year tally of 36,000 dollars that it raised for regional cancer research. That equates to 10 percent of the running total the last 4 years going to research, while the rest of the funds stay local. Executive Director Ginger Rolf said that STARS transports cancer patients to doctor’s appointments around the county and the region, and started its own walk-a-thon, the all-night Camp Out For Cancer five years ago. STARS had one cancer van at the time. Now they have four vans, purchased with the Camp Out funds. The other 10 percent goes to research at the Sutter Cancer Center, where Dr. Vincent Caggiano head research. The funds stay pretty local for research, Rolf said, because “patients from Amador County go for radiation and other things we don’t offer usually go to Sutter Cancer Center.” The hospital, at 2800 L Street in Sacramento, is part of the Sutter Hospital organization.

The STARS Camp Out For Cancer has 29 teams signed up, with 800 participants expected, Rolf said. The event will be held September 20th and 21st at the Argonaut High School football field, with teams walking around the Argonaut track, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday and ending at 9 a.m. Sunday. STARS has a Camp Out goal this year to raise 100,000 dollars. The event will have 7 bands and also a karaoke party. For information about the Camp Out For Cancer or to make contributions, call the STARS Jackson office at (209) 223-1246. Online, see www.AmadorSTARS.org.

In a letter to the Amador County Board of Supervisors, Joan Villa, Vice President of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians Tribal Water Association is claiming that Amador County and the county’s Department of Environmental Health are interfering with “the efforts by Indian Health Service to upgrade (their) tribal water system and replace (an) aging water storage tank.” In the letter, dated August 19th, the band is charging that Amador County does not have any authority over their tribal lands, per a 1992 federal court order, which dismisses all claims to jurisdiction over tribal trust properties, including the band’s property on Jackson Valley Road in Ione. T

he Ione band is also claiming that Amador County has delayed the water upgrade project for more than two years, which they say has caused “irreparable harm,” and for which they may seek civil and/or criminal action “as allowed by law.” Villa has requested that the Board of Supervisors investigate the county’s involvement in the delayed water project, and that the matter be placed on the next regular board meeting agenda.

Mother Lode Youth Soccer League opening day in Howard Park showed some of the reasons the family-friendly league has become so popular among Amador County’s young families. Coach Megan Eckhart of the Dwight Jennings DDS Ione Blizzards and her players’ parents formed a bridge at the sideline for the Blizzards to run through. And their foes, the Pizza Factory Ione Bandits also ran through the bridge -- to cheers, despite the Blizzards winning the match, 3-0. Eckhart is a 12th year coach in the MLYSL. She said she didn’t even have her own kids when she started coaching. Now she has four children, including two in the league – Corey, 7, of the U-8 Blizzards, and another on the U-6 Guard Dogs.

Daniele Molin is another parent-coach, assisting with the Blizzards and the U-6 Guard Dogs. Her son, Micah is a Blizzard. And her future player, Corra, 4 weeks old, she held on the sidelines. Molin has been coaching for five years. Michelle Moreno has been involved in MLYSL soccer for 10 years, now with her sons, Christopher, 9, and Kyle, 11, playing on teams. Moreno is one of the volunteer board members and is registrar of the league. All of her children started in the league at age 4, including Cody, 16, now trying out for the Thundering Herd soccer team at Amador High School. Coaches among the league’s ranks include Argonaut High School varsity coach Roque (Rocky) Mireles (also a parent), Argonaut JV coach and volunteer board member Mark Herberger, and Amador head soccer coach Tod Ruslender and JV coach Barron Peterson. Ruslender is president of the board and a coach and Peterson is also a board member and referees matches in the Saturday league.