Amador County - The electricity of pump water from Tiger Creek to the Central Amador Water Project in Upcountry translates to 20 percent of the Amador Water Agency’s total operating costs. That includes debt service – the payment of loans. But the AWA board of directors Thursday heard in a report, as it has before, that major use of electricity does not translate into a high priority to qualify for Department of Health Services grant. Engineering and Planning Manager Gene Mancebo said the efficiency of the agency has kept CAWP customers for the most part form running out of water. A study of its operation of the CAWP line between 2004 and 2008 found 162 incidents when the water stopped flowing. Of those, 97 were electrical or mechanical problems. And of those, 52 were caused by power outages, with “18 of the power outages greater than 4 hours.” 4 times, they had water pumping stopped for longer than a day, with 2 resulting from fires and 2 resulting from winter storms. “These pump stations are not in very good condition,” Mancebo said. Much of it is original, including 30-year-old control panels, pumps and motors, which may have been repaired over the years. He said “they would not meet today’s standards for electrical codes.” Kennedy Jinx Engineering estimated that replacing the pumps would cost an estimated $3.3 million dollars. That would be only for construction and not for the total cost. Mancebo said they “pretty much would be rebuilding the whole system,” including motors, cams, pumps and the like. And the existing line would have to operate during construction. He said “the best approach would be to build the new pump station next to the old one.” He said “we’re beyond reliable capacity,” and “if we don’t go forward with the gravity supply line, this should be on the top of the list of our things to do.” The gravity supply line solution, estimated at $13.3 million dollars, was rejected by the California DHS, he said, because the agency did not see it as a priority, because they do not run out of water. Mancebo said the “public has no idea how close we are to not having this operate.” The DHS would need to see higher health risk issues for the project to become a priority. He said the agency could probably use the existing pump and 12-inch, tar-lined pipeline for 20 years, but it already has eroded pinholes in its ¼-inch steel pipes. And in 20 years, at age 50, “you are probably going to need to install new pipe.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – An 80-foot bridge drew dozens of onlookers Thursday morning in Sutter Creek. A crew of workers from the Amador Water Agency and the Mountain Cascade Incorporated used a large crane to lift the steel, one-piece bridge from the bank of Sutter Creek, and slowly swing it into place. The bridge was to be fastened to pilings mounted in concrete at either side of the creek, and the full installation was expected to be finished by the afternoon. The AWA said the bridge will open to foot traffic “later this year.” The bridge arrived by truck from southeast Los Angeles County sometime Wednesday and spent Wednesday night parked on Old Highway 49 on the south end of town, next to the Sutter Creek welcome sign. The 8-foot wide, 80-foot long steel bridge was manufactured in one piece, and its unpainted surfaces showed the orange of oxidation, except for its silver galvanized steel footings. It drew professional and amateur photographers to chronicle the installation from different angles. The bridge was placed between Sutter Creek’s riparian civic lots, on Eureka Street, behind City Hall, and on Eureka Street, across from Gallery 10 and Susan’s Place Wine Bar & Eatery. The walking bridge will later be part of the Plymouth potable water pipeline, which will link the town with the AWA’s Tanner Water Treatment Plant on Ridge Road. The 8-and-a-half mile pipeline will use existing and new piping to connect the town to Amador Water Agency services, and will help lift a 3-decade building moratorium in Plymouth. Mountain Cascade is also contracted to build the $5.6 million dollar pipeline, and reportedly is a month ahead of schedule on the project. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Ione City Council voted Wednesday to plan on hiring a company to manage its wastewater treatment system, but it also deferred the decision on which company to hire. The council held a special meeting and heard presentations from 4 companies seeking to take over operation of the city wastewater treatment plant. “We decided to digest all of the information that the 4 presenters gave us yesterday and make our decision at our June 2nd meeting,” Councilman David Plank said. The council voted 4-1 to not hire a new “level 4” wastewater plant operator, and in doing so also “voted to have an outside operation” come in and operate the plant. Plank said council members are all anxious to get a new operator, but they “still have a little more math to do in our cost comparisons.” The city must look at costs. The council wanted to “take a few extra days to digest all of the information.” PERC is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Veolia Water Company is based in Pleasant Hill, Southwest Water is from Los Angeles, and Severn Trent is from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Plank said: “We have, without question, 4 of the top operation and maintenance wastewater treatment plant independent firms in the country, wanting to work in little old Ione.” He said they are all good companies, which makes it a tough decision. All 4 companies handle national and worldwide accounts. Plank said some city employees in the wastewater department may chose to go to work for the contractor, once a company is chosen. The bids came in at a range of $440,000 up to $544,181 dollars, including low bidder, PERC. The bids included a year’s contract, with proposed operations costs, and bids related to the collection system, the water treatment plant, maintenance and tertiary work. City Manager Kim Kerr said: “we are projecting our costs at $459,492 dollars.” She said part of the process is to see if the companies can operate the city’s system cheaper than the city does it “in-house.” 8 companies expressed interest and the 4 were chosen to make presentations. Each bid included $50,000 dollars in maintenance, including $30,000 for the wastewater treatment plant and $20,000 dollars for the tertiary system. Of the bids, Veolia’s was the highest at $544,181 dollars. Severn Trent bid $468,954; Southwest Water bid $447,000; and PERC bid $440,160. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Pacific Gas & Electric Company advised people to use caution around waterways over the Memorial Day weekend, due to snowmelt runoff, expected to surge this weekend with Sierra rain. PG&E publicist Nicole Liebelt advised area residents to exercise caution around rivers and waterways this 3-day weekend and throughout the month of May due to elevated snowmelt runoff conditions. Liebelt said: “Weather forecasts predict significant precipitation in the Sierras this weekend into early next week.” PG&E anticipated that the rainfall would “rapidly pass through the snowpack and quickly enter contributing channels as it drains out.” She said “because the snowpack and soil are already saturated, the water runoff efficiency is expected to be high; thereby causing a rapid elevation in the hydrograph and river levels.” Local reservoirs are expected to fill up over the next several days, and it may be necessary to initiate spills from these reservoirs as maximum storage levels are reached. Rafters, kayakers, and canoeists should be aware of fast river flows and should exercise extreme caution by checking local conditions before undertaking their trip. She said people should “know the water,” its characteristics and possible impacts of the cold snow runoff water flows. Cold water can cause hyperventilation contributing to fatigue. When combined with swift water, even the strongest swimmers are easily overwhelmed. Cold water can stimulate the gasp reflex, causing an involuntary inhalation of air or water. The gag reflex, a result of cold water immersion, prevents air or water from passing in to the lungs causing asphyxiation. Sudden cold water immersion can trigger cardiac arrest. Cold water entering the ear canal can cause vertigo and disorientation. This may confuse the swimmer causing the victim to swim deeper into the water. Cold water reduces body heat 25-30 times faster than air does at the same temperature. 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 last week was accused of a Brown Act violation by a local resident, but the AWA said the subject of that claim was erroneous. Jim Edmonds of Jackson in a memo to the board accused AWA of violating the Brown Act for its Small Diameter Pipeline project to be placed within the Amador Canal, by changing it from a raw water delivery system to a treated water delivery system. Edmonds’ memo, received by AWA May 4th, asked: “What right does the management have to break this contract that was both written and published?” Edmonds, who lives on New York Ranch Road, said the agency’s “negative declaration” for the small-diameter pipeline is not true, “since many people are affected by the small diameter pipeline and were not aware of the placing of (a) treated water line and the plan to not install a raw water line in the canal east of New York Ranch Road.” Edmonds said “the people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.” AWA Board Chairman Terence Moore said that “putting a raw water line in the canal was part of the Amador Transmission Pipeline project.” He said the “treated water line is a different project,” with its own approval process, and “some raw-line customers might want to get on the treated line.” Moore said the people should “bare in mind, we don’t even have easements to either one of these projects.” Moore said the agency is just following its directive from the state “to seek to provide treated water to all customers.” Moore said the agency is still exploring construction options and applying for grants to fund installation of the small diameter pipeline, which was planned to deliver raw water to customers along the Amador Canal, now that the Pipeline has been completed to replace the canal as the agency’s primary water conveyor to the Tanner Water Treatment Plant. Moore said the board will hold a special meeting this summer to update the public on the progress of the small diameter pipeline. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – A CBS Nightly News crew was videotaping around Amador County yesterday in preparation for the Motherlode of its interviews – today’s 10 a.m. interview with Frank Halvorson of Prospect Motors. Halvorson said Wednesday afternoon that television news crew members from Los Angeles and San Francisco were coordinating interviews with various people around town Wednesday. He said they did on-camera interviews with the athletic directors at both Amador High School in Sutter Creek and at Argonaut High School in Jackson. They also were planning to interview in Sutter Creek, with City Manager and Police Chief Rob Duke. It all stems from the 2-month-old closing of Halvorson’s 22-year-old General Motors dealership, Prospect Motors. The crew also took video footage around Jackson and the Gold Country and interviewed 30-year customer of Halvorson’s, 84-year-old grade school principal Virginia Grabbe. The principal at Isador Cohen K to 6th grade School in the Sacramento City Unified School District, Grabbe brought Halvorson a copy of her new book, “Love Ya, It’s Been A Great Ride,” a memoir that will be coming soon to Barnes & Noble. The Orangevale resident said she has been a 30-year customer of Frank Halvorson’s Prospect Motors. A widow, she said she has never been to a Jiffy Lube, but has her Cadillac serviced at Prospect – or did so until GMAC pulled the papers on the dealership. Grabbe said she has bought 6 Cadillacs at Prospect, one every five years. She rolled up in her 2008 STS Cadillac on Wednesday, in her white fur coat, for the interview with CBS. She said she bought the new Caddy in August, adding, Quote: “so that will hold me until we can get them reopened.” Halvorson said he will sit for an interview at 10 a.m. today with Bill Whittaker, to film a spot for the CBS Nightly News with Katie Couric. He said Paul Facie of Los Angeles pitched the story to the Couric machine and the rest is soon to be history. The cars are gone and the showrooms are empty, but a rally 2 months ago may have at least stirred GMAC’s brass, if not just filled one of their e-mail bins. Now national ears will be hearing the telling of a story born in the Gold Country and reared by the federal bailout of the auto industry – the coincidental same week the Halvorson dealership was closed. But that’s the start of the rest of the story. Back to you, Katy. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

According to a survey released Sunday the national average price for gasoline rose about 5 cents over the last two weeks, and Amador County citizens are feeling the pain at the pump as well.  Nationally, the average price of regular gasoline on Friday was $2.80 a gallon. On Friday in Amador County that same gallon could be bought for $3.05 or more.  The week before in Martell gas was about $2.95 a gallon. And the pain at the pump only gets worse as you head farther up country with gas last week at $3.20 and just yesterday at $3.25. The survey found that the highest was in San Francisco at $3.17, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide, but analyst obviously didn’t visit Amador County.

Amador County - The Ione Band of Miwok Indians joined dozens of national Indian tribes in a legal limbo this week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that tribes recognized after 1934 cannot have land taken into federal trust. The 6-3 ruling was released Tuesday on a case heard by the high court in November. The Boston Globe reported Wednesday that “the court decided that land-trust status should have been granted only to tribes that were federally recognized before 1934.” The Ione Band of Miwok Indians is currently in the application stage of having land in and around Plymouth taken into trust, for the purpose of a 2,000-slot machine casino. Tribal spokesman Matthew Franklin did not return a call before air time to comment on how he thought the ruling might affect the Ione Miwok’s casino project. The tribe lists on its Website that it was federally recognized on March 22nd, 1994. In the Supreme Court case: Carcieri v. Salazar, the governor of Rhode Island sued the Narragansett tribe, which argued that 31 acres of land it owned in Charlestown, R.I., should be placed in federal trust. The Globe reported that: “State officials, concerned that the tribe would create a tax-free zone or build a casino, argued that federal law prevents the U.S. government from taking land into trust for tribes recognized after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The Narragansett Tribe was federally recognized in 1983. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston rejected the state's claim in July 2007, but the Supreme Court reversed that decision (Tuesday)… Debate hinged on the phrase ‘now under federal jurisdiction,’ wording in the 1934 law. Rhode Island officials argued it meant the law would apply only to tribes that were recognized when the law was passed, while the tribe argued it was ambiguous.” The Globe quotes Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion, which stated that: "Because the record in this case establishes that the Narragansett Tribe was not under federal jurisdiction when the (Indian Reorganization Act) was enacted, the secretary does not have the authority to take the parcel at issue into trust." The Ione Band of Miwok Indians proposes 120,000-square feet of facilities for its casino and “world class hotel,” with 2,000 gaming machines and 40 table games in a 65,000-square foot of gaming area. The 700-member tribe also proposes facilities for entertainment, Bingo, conventions, meetings, childcare, offices and a lounge and bar area. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - Efforts to clean up tens of thousands of abandoned mine sites throughout the West should get a boost from the economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama last Tuesday. Amador County alone is home to at least 39 registered mines and countless other abandoned shafts dating back to the 19th century. The stimulus bill apportions more than $1.5 billion to the National Park Service, Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management for related projects. These agencies anticipate using a large portion of these funds to address abandoned mines on public lands. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a strong advocate for this funding, anticipates that priority funding will be based on which projects generate the most jobs. The amount allocated is considered a first step, as more than $25 million was spent on mine cleanup in the last budget year. The Environmental Protection Agency says it could cost as much as $50 billion to clean up mines throughout the west. There are over 161,000 abandoned mines in Alaska and 11 other western states, plus South Dakota. Story by Alex Lane

Amador County – CBS Nightly News wrapped up a second day of filming in Amador County yesterday, including a strolling chat with Frank Halvorson across the empty parking lot out in front of Prospect Motors. Correspondent Bill Whitaker and a crew from northern and southern California captured the story through interviews. They include former Chamber of Commerce President Paul Molinelli Jr., area Principal and avid Prospect customer Virginia Grabbe, and local Interfaith Food Bank director Kathleen Harmon, and Jackson City Manager Mike Daly. They spoke with the athletic directors at Argonaut and Amador High Schools, where Halvorson’s donations over the last three decades have helped field teams and trim fields, paint and light scoreboards, dress out teams, and inevitably fill stands and bleachers and gravel sidewalks. Just after 10 a.m. yesterday, Halvorson joined Whitaker and his technicians on the front sidewalk of Prospect Motors, his showroom empty behind him, his fleet of General Motors vehicles gone from view, taken back by GMAC. They walked the length of the empty parking lot as the cameraman back-pedaled, with Paul Facie of Los Angeles holding a large square light filter to block the high late morning sun for the camera. Earlier, Harmon stood on the sidewalk, talking to Facie about Halvorson and also the giving nature of Amador County. She told him about the turkey shortage the week before Thanksgiving, when 400 turkeys were gathered. Now, the biggest philanthropist in Amador County is telling his side of the story. The story is set to air on CBS Nightly News with Katie Couric, with the broadcast date as yet unknown. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.