The man accused of murder, elder abuse and receiving stolen property appeared in court late last week. Ione resident, David Jackson is facing charges related to both stealing from and then brutally murdering 73 year old John Baker of Ione last summer on July 26th. Jackson's court appearance was brief as his trial readiness conference was continued until June 11th @ 2 p.m.

This weekend was the 126th Annual Italian Picnic and Parade. The Italian Picnic grounds were packed with thousands of Amador County Citizens and out of towners that enjoy the festivities on the first weekend of June every year. The rides and games kept the kids busy leaving the adults to the music, dancing, bingo, food and more.(SUE VIDEO) The Italian Picnic grounds will continue to be occupied until next weekend when hundreds of high school kids turn out for the popular Sober Grad event.

Because Amador County is a popular tourist designation, local law enforcement must often become involved in crimes that occur here when victims and perpetrators visit. That was the case this weekend when on Saturday, June 2, 2007 the Amador County Sheriff's Office was notified by the Sacramento Police Department of an allegation from a minor that he was molested by an acquaintance while camping in Amador County. 

District Attorney Todd Riebe announced last week the undercover sting that netted many local individuals operating illegally without contractor’s licenses. The sting was held in Jackson and now the State Contractor’s Board Investigative Fraud Unit is offering more information on how the sting was conducted. When Illegal operators who showed up at a sting house in Jackson to bid the fake project they were swept up by the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) and arrested for contracting without a license. Members of the CSLB's Statewide Investigative Fraud Team (SWIFT) posed as homeowners and invited suspected phony contractors to a duplex to bid on various home improvement projects, including landscaping, painting, concrete work and fencing.

Recently the City of Jackson held three workshops for the Oro de Amador property to discuss the future of acquired 155 acre historic parcel. About 40 people attended the three workshops held at varying times to accommodate different sections of the community. Input varied greatly from everything from donating the property to the Kennedy Mine Foundation to being the home of some badly needed recreation facilities. At the end of every meeting people were asked if they were interested in being an active part of the continuing process and City Manager Mike Daly indicated that the City also got a good response in that aspect as well. Although all of the plans for the property are preliminary because of the environmental clean up work that needs to be done, the community input is considered a great success.

California voters passed Proposition 84, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coast Protection Bond Act of 2006 (the Act) on November 7, 2006. Proposition 84 added a section to the Public Resources Code (PRC), which authorized the Legislature to designate funds for the protection and restoration of rivers, lakes and streams, their watersheds and associated land, water, and other natural resources.

District Attorney Todd D. Riebe announced today the results of an undercover investigation which resulted in 17 cases of allegedly contracting without a license. The operation, which took place Wednesday of this week, was a combined effort by investigators from the Contractors State License Board, the California Department of Insurance, Fraud Division, detectives from the Jackson Police Department and investigators from the Amador County District Attorney’s Office. The investigation underscores the fact that illegal contractors continue to operate in this region and pose a threat to consumers

Defendant John Magsayo, the intern youth minister charged in connection with a December 2006 incident involving two minor age girls, was once again in court this week. The hearing was to respond to additional charges filed against him, which he and his legal counsel, Robert Schell had argued in a hearing on May 24th should be dropped by the court. The two new charges, felony counts, which the DA’s office is basing upon evidence that one of the allegedly abused minors was highly intoxicated, were answered to by the defendant.

District attorney Todd Riebe is wasting no time in filing charges against the 45 year old Pine Grove man accused of critically injuring his girlfriend’s 19 month old baby. Andrew Neil Farkas admitted to investigators that on Wednesday May 16, 2007 between 8:00 and 8:30 pm hours that his girlfriend’s child was crying and banging a "sippy cup" against the wall. Farkas said the child would not stop and that he picked the child up by the waist, shook him and then slammed his head into the wall.