The Amador STARS organization sponsored another successful “Great Amador Head Shave” event Tuesday. A host of hairy volunteers showed up for the 5th Annual fundraiser to support those with cancer. To be specific, the trimmings will be used to make hairpieces for children suffering from long-term medical hair loss due to cancer treatments like chemotherapy. Three volunteer hairstylists- Kelly, Chandra and Laura- were on hand to lovingly remove the donated hair.  One volunteer, David Carlson, has shaved his head each year since the programs inception in honor of those in his family who have been touched by cancer. The idea is the driving force behind Locks of Love, a non-profit organization created specifically for this purpose. Amador STARS provides support, transportation and resource services for local cancer patients.

It takes a creative mind to come up with a concept such as shaving your hair to support the fight against cancer. But that is exactly the premise behind “The Great Amador Head Shave”, an annual fundraiser put on by the Amador STARSThe idea is the driving force behind Locks of Love, a non-profit organization created specifically for this purpose. Amador STARS provides support, transportation and resource services for local cancer patients. They invite you to join them in having your head shaved on Tuesday, June 10th from 7:30 to 10am at the STARS office at 631 Court Street in Jackson. If you have questions or for more information, contact Amador STARS at 223-1246. organization. To be specific, the trimmings will be used to make hairpieces for children suffering from long-term medical hair loss due to cancer treatments like chemotherapy.

A new roof is in the process of being built for a historic building housing many valuable tokens of Amador County’s past.  During a presentation at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, representatives of the museum and the Board discussed the status of the project and some setbacks. According to museum curator Georgia Fox, the building’s leaky roof has become a steadily worsening issue over the last 30 years. The leaks would eventually have the potential to damage some of the museums valuable Gold Rush-era artifacts. The building itself was originally built in 1859. Starting May 12th, the county embarked on a 60 day project to replace and reinforce the museum’s roof. The museum is expected to reopen to the public in late July or early August, unless the roof is finished sooner. The work has been running smoothly so far, with the exception of one setback. There is only one contractor in California who is qualified to apply an expensive carbon fiber wrap to the roof as a form of insulation. Beyond the cost of this expensive proposition, there is the logistic problem of working a schedule out with that contractor. At the end of the discussion, the board made the recommendation that the museum research the likelihood of finding contractors in neighboring states who can do a carbon fiber wrap at a lesser price.

The newly-acquired Joyce Park in Pioneer has seen a lot of activity as of late. Tracey Towner-Yep, Director of the Amador County Recreation Agency, or ACRA, provided the ACRA Board with an update at their meeting Wednesday.  Meeks Lumber donated lumber and materials, which were used to rebuild the snack shack and bleachers.  The park needs another set of bleachers, and Towner-Yep is looking for a donation of 60 linear feet of angle iron for that project. Other upgrades include the transformation of the existing house into a darkroom, which is almost complete. The agency also walked the 80-acre property with a naturalist, who found a wide variety of natural plants, including wild ginger and heritage roses and apple trees. The agency plans to construct about 3 to 4 miles of trails on the property, which extends from Woodfern Drive south, across Highway 88. ACRA will be holding public hearings on June 2nd and June 29th, where they will invite the public to provide comments and suggestions for other improvements.  Towner-Yep also indicated that she would welcome suggestions at the ACRA-sponsored Kennedy Mine BBQ on May 29th.  For more information on the improvements to Joyce Park or the May 29th BBQ, contact ACRA staff at 223-6349.

As predicted, discussion of the proposed Amador Economic Stimulus Package was the highlight of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors agenda. But few expected a standing room only crowd of mostly local contractors and realtors backing the measure with overwhelming support. The premise behind the package is simple: promote new structure and home building through substantial reductions in fees. The details of the plan were outlined in a presentation by local contractor Paul Bramell, brainchild of the project. “For those of you who are not aware, the impact fees in Amador County have been raised dramatically in the last couple years…Talk to any local tradesman…they will tell you how frustrated they are with the high fees and regulations involved in building a home,” said Bramell in his proposal. In public comment, one person after another illustrated their frustrations in numeric values. New facility fees cost 7,757 dollars, park and recreation fees are 4,300 dollars and traffic mitigation fees are 3,000. On top of these are 439 dollar grading permits and encroachment permits of 625, up from 75 dollars two years ago.Home starts in Amador County are down from 247 in 2006 to 94 in 2007.

One resident spoke of a friend of his who was attempting to build a small home for his five acre property and expected to pay upwards of 25,000 dollars in fees. “I recommend we completely eliminate impact fees for a six month period,” said Bramell. Proposed savings could be between 15,000 and $20,000 dollars per home. When up country resident Debbie Dunn spoke, she relayed the crowd’s frustration, but also reminded them that cutting or completely eliminating fees for a time period could have negative results. “I think this is an economic trend. We can’t just trash all of our fees. We have roads that need to be fixed, and schools.” Supervisor Escamilla reiterated her point. “People don’t remember why we put these fees in. Because a lot of people come up here and say they don’t have a place for their kids to play. We need fees for parks and roads in Amador County. It’s going to take a while, we can’t just decide this today,” he said. The Supervisors plan to further investigate pros and cons and continue discussing the package during next Tuesday’s meeting.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors made clear their position on a new bill amending the California Penal Code to define trespass on tribal lands. Senate Bill 331 seems to contradict legislation implemented after the court case Tillie Hardwick vs. the United States, which created a intermingling of private and trust properties where boundaries, right-of-ways, and infrastructure are often ambiguous. In a letter from the Siskiyou Board of Supervisors, Chairman W. R. Overman warned against the “potentially devastating” effects of SB 331.

“The ambiguities of (Tillie Hardwick) currently create frictions and lead to unrest within the Indian country. The plain language of SB 331 will provoke further unrest and exacerbate already difficult jurisdiction issues.” These potential issues include additional burdens for the criminal justice system, an interference with free enjoyment of private property held in fee by non-Indian and non-tribal member Indian owners, as well as removing long time tribal residents from their homes. The Board of Supervisors tended to agree. “What this bill would do is essentially involve our Sheriff’s office in tribal matters,” said City Counsel Martha Shaver. “Do we want to be involved in what are essentially tribal disputes?” The Board agreed with Overman that the new bill should contemplate such side-effects, and thus should be re-written to achieve its objectives without adversely affecting the unique character of Tillie Hardwick lands. The Board voted unanimously to send a letter of opposition to state legislators encouraging them to defeat this bill.

The Foothill Rideshare project has received a 10,000 dollar grant from the Amador Air District.  Renee Chapman gave a presentation to the Amador Air District Board of Directors at their meeting on Tuesday.  Chapman says that according to the 2000 Census, approximately 33 percent of Amador County’s workers travel out of the county for work, and that most of those commuters travel in SOV’s, or single-occupant vehicles.

The project’s solution is to form vanpools.  Chapman says that many people are wary of forming a vanpool because other riders are liable for another rider’s share of cost if they “drop out of” the program.  The 10,000 dollar grant will subsidize the vanpool program and pay for up to two seats of a vanpool for up to three months if a rider leaves that vanpool.  Chapman says the purpose of this program is to “get cars off the road” and “cut emissions.” Foothill Rideshare has been operating for about a year and had about 220 people sign up during their pilot program. 

Now, that number has increased to about 340.  They are hoping to get the word out, and will be installing signs along commuter thoroughfares, such as Latrobe Rd. In addition to vanpooling, Amador County offers many other solutions to commuting, such as carpooling, Amador Regional Transit System, walking, and of course, the good old fashioned bicycle. For more information on joining a vanpool, or other commuting alternatives, visit the Foothill Rideshare project’s website at www.FoothillRideshare.com.

While no one has any solid answers as to why downtown Jackson has been seeing a decline in business over the years, the evidence of such a decline is visibly apparent. Two businesses – Rosebud’s Pub and Grill and the Wow! Bakery recently closed there doors on the same day. While Rosebud’s owner Ron Busch says the close is only temporary, he believes a number of factors have made running his business that much more difficult.  “For me, I think the decline started when the County offices moved away,” said Busch, referring to the county’s headquarters move and restructuring. “County business used to come downtown, but not any longer. Ever since then I’ve seen a gradual drop.”

  Busch also sited tour buses as a contributing factor to downtown interest, saying that he has seen a decline since most tour buses were no longer allowed on Highway 49 some ten years ago. Busch says he will be reopening Rosebud’s doors, but he can’t say when. Money is tight, but Busch is currently renovating Rosebud’s as part of what he refers to as “Jackson beautification.” He says that the renovated Rosebuds will be smaller scale and more intimate. We also caught up will Tom Miller who leases the neighboring building and was currently renovating due to rotted wood on the front frame. Miller is an 11-year resident in Amador City and owns a business there. He stated bluntly that he believes downtown businesses have been affected because there is “no place to park”. He has seen shopkeepers parking wherever they can and always stepping outside to feed the meters to avoid tickets. His building, a beautiful relic of Jackson’s downtown in its heyday, is estimated to have been around since 1865. It was originally a post office, twice, but burnt down twice before becoming a barbershop.

The Pine Grove Corridor Project, so named because the Community is still undecided about whether they want a bypass or to widen Highway 88- is still waiting for a green light. Work on this project can not begin before winter of 2008 and likely not before 2009 due to the state budget deficit. The California Transportation commission will decide by May of this year when this project can proceed. In 2003 and 2004 a lot of work was done.

If funding comes through, work will start up again, at which time the Pine Grove community and Cal Trans will decide between the bypass and road widening. The Pine Grove citizens want to know how these road changes will affect the “look and feel” of their community. To assist with this, CalTrans has a “Context Sensitive Solution” strategic plan that analyses the impacts of such a project on a community. CalTrans calls this a “humanistic approach to design that emphasizes aesthetics, pedestrians, bicycles, and the overall impact on the environmental and urban fabric, which produces roadways that are fully integrated into the natural and man-made systems.” This will allow town improvements and community identity to be addressed at the same time as road improvements. This kind of cooperative environment is anticipated to help make all parties happy.

Some locals may be wondering if they were the only ones who witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object passing through the night sky this weekend. Residents of Jackson and Amador City reported seeing a large bright object that was neither a satellite nor a planet. Not to fear – it wasn’t alien -- it was American.  The sun was reflecting off the space shuttle Atlantis while it disembarked from the International Space Station. Atlantis undocked from the InternationalKennedy Space Center tomorrow. The Atlantis mission began February 7 and delivered the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory to the space station. The mission also included three spacewalks, the delivery of a new crewmember to the station and the return of another astronaut after his nearly four month stay aboard the complex. Space Station at 1:24 a.m. Monday, ending its almost-nine-day stay at the orbital outpost. The Atlantis crew is expected to complete its 13-day mission with a landing at NASA's