A heated discussion about a sign permit ended in a call to the sheriffs department at the Amador County Planning Commission Tuesday night. On one side of the discussion was Jamie Lubenko, executive director of the Amador Vintners Association, who was representing 33 of 36 wineries in Amador County. On the other side of the issues was Jerry Wright, owner of the wineries Villa Toscano and Bella Piazzo. The Amador Vintners Association is pursuing a permit for multiple directional signs throughout the county, which will point visitors to the five closest wineries. The Amador Vintners included Villa Toscano and Bella Piazzo on their sign plan, although Wright is not a member of the association. However, Wright disagrees with the location of the signs that will advertise his wineries; he wants Villa Toscano to be on the first sign one sees as one enters Shenandoah. “I tried to meet with Amador Vintners, and they tried to shoot me, and now they are trying to run this down our throat, and it’s not going to happen. We have invested a quarter of a million in 5 years promoting Amador County, and I will be happy to litigate this if necessary,” Wright stated.
Wright further charged the Amador Vintners of allowing wineries into the association who were not up to county code on their kitchens and wells. ACPC Chairman Andy Byrne asked Lubenko if she could simply comply with his request. Lubenko responded that it was not fair to the other wineries to do this, and that she was worried that it would start a trend and other wineries would request to be moved. The interested groups went back and forth on the issue for about an hour. Between his times at the podium, Wright conversed with Supervisor Brian Oneto in the back of the room. At one point, Wright took the stand and began heatedly yelling and cursing at the Planning Commission Members, and refused to step down when Byrne asked him to. It was at this time that somebody stepped out of the room and called the sheriffs department. The sheriffs arrived only a few minutes later, but Wright had already left the premises. ACPC unanimously approved the sign permit.
