Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 4-26-12 - TSPN's Tom slivick talks with Michael Smith about the upcoming Rancho Murieta Air Show.

Amador County – The Amador Fire Protection Authority board of directors last week discussed the recent public workshop on fire defensible space and insurance, and some new laws counties face.

AFPA Board Chairwoman, Jackson Vice Mayor Connie Gonsalves said she attended the setback workshop that was started by a couple of concerned citizens, who are concerned that the insurance companies would not insure people. Gonsalves said “working in the industry, I can say that is a possibility.”

She said some insurance companies require 500 feet of defensible space, and others require 1,000 feet. Some require the equivalent of a clear-cut as defensible space.

Board member, Supervisor Ted Novelli said it was requested at the meeting, hosted by Supervisors, that an ad hoc committee be formed, but he said Supervisor Vice Chair Richard Forster did not want to have another ad hoc committee.

Gonsalves said the setbacks are a very serious issue that we all face, for a number of different reasons. One is the water flow in the Upcountry. Another is the particular clearances, and she wanted the AFPA board to be aware of the issues because it will probably come through us again.” She said “if we are a model county, and make sure all of the properties are clear,” the insurance industry might look at that.

Board member Jake Herfel of Jackson Valley Fire District, said the problem was that one-third of the county can’t meet the requirements.

Amador Fire Protection District Chief Jim McCart said the fire department numbers are another issue, and homes are supposed to be within five road-miles of a fire station. He said with that requirement (which formerly was 10 road miles) we might possibly need more fire stations.

Novelli said Robert Manassero of Manassero Insurance, during the workshop noted that three major carriers have cut people that they insure, and some are not even taking new customers in the county anymore.

Novelli said Wendell Peart sent a letter about the issue to Supervisors, and copies to the governor, the Regional Council of Rural Counties, Senator Ted Gaines, and Assemblywoman Alyson Huber.

The issue will be the topic of discussion at a Thursday, April 26 meeting of the Amador Fire Safe Council, which will discuss with the public its Community Conservation Wildfire Protection Plan for the Greater Pine Grove Area.

Executive Director Cathy Koos Breazeal said over two months, Fire Safe Council has been driving every street, road and lane in the Pine Grove area, conducting neighborhood risk assessments, gauging fuel models and risk. People can come see how their “neighborhood stacks up and learn tips on how to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildland fire.”

The meeting is 7 p.m. Thursday, April 26 at the Pine Grove Town Hall on Highway 88.

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Amador County – The Amador County Chamber of Commerce set its main benefit event of the year for Friday, May 18, the annual Chamber Benefit Golf Tournament.

Chamber office manager Diane Sherbourne also sent out a membership info “blast” that the tournament needs its members’ help. The event is the main fundraising event for Chamber, and it is a tax deductible donation because the Chamber is a non-profit organization.

Chamber members can do several things to help, including volunteering to help run the tournament. Members can also donate raffle prizes, and items for golfer packages, in amounts of 128 each, such as candy bars, golf balls, pens, hand towels, gift certificates or discounts for businesses.

Members can also enter to play golf. The $85 per player includes 18 holes of golf with dinner, a golf cart, range-balls and prizes. People can also become a hole sponsor for $100 to advertise their businesses. And for $400, members can buy a Company Package which includes a foursome for golf, and a Hole Sponsor package.

Other sponsorship opportunities include the Gold, Silver and Bronze packages, and members can get more information by contacting the Chamber office for details. Volunteers will make a call to follow up in the near future.

Visit the Amador County Chamber of Commerce at 115 Main Street in Jackson for information, or call (209) 223-0350.

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Amador County – The Ione Business and Community Association announced its 2012 community grant recipients.

The Association announced Friday that is has awarded the $3,950 in grants during the past six months. Those recipients included the Ione Picnic Association, which received a grant for $1,500, and the Preston Castle Foundation, which received a grant of $1000.

Ione Business and Community Association also gave a grant of $500 to the Ione Police Department’s K9 program; along with a $300 grant to the IBCA Little League Baseball team. It also gave the Ione Elementary School Tech Tools for Teachers program a grant of $250, and a $200 grant to the Junior Girl’s Golf Program.

More information and grant applications are available via the IBCA website ibca.biz, or by calling the IBCA Secretary at 274-2777.

The Ione Business and Community Association (IBCA) was organized as a non-profit corporation in 1994 to advance the general interests of the Ione area.

The all-volunteer group supports local businesses and the community by sponsoring annual public events that involve and entertain locals and also attracts tourists. This includes the Ione Car Show, Shred Day, a fireworks booth, Ione Cleanup Day, the Harvest Faire, and the Christmas Parade. Since its inception, more than $70,000 has been distributed to worthy individuals and groups within the community.

Among events listed on the IBCA website are three set for this Saturday, April 28, including a veterans recognition parade, a Shred Day 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Evelyn Bishop Hall, and the Preston Castle Photographer’s Day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Preston Castle.

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Amador County – The U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday that the wet weather seasonal closure of designated dirt roads and trails in El Dorado National Forest has ended, with the exception of 42 routes that remain closed by court order.

Forest Supervisor Kathy Hardy said the “recent warm weather dried out most of the lower elevation dirt routes.” As a result, she is “opening the majority of these routes to motorized vehicle use. However, 42 routes that cross meadows will remain closed to motorized vehicle traffic due to a recent court order.”

Hardy said some of the open routes aren’t as dried out as others. Forest visitors are responsible for staying on routes and not causing resource damage. Travelers may also encounter hazards on the open routes since little maintenance has been completed.

Frank Mosbacher of the Forest Service office in Placerville said many high elevation routes are still covered with snow and “drivers should use care not to cause resource damage. In most cases, these routes are located on soils that drain better than lower elevation routes constructed in clay based soils.”

Forest visitors can obtain free motorized vehicle use maps at all El Dorado Forest ranger stations and at the Placerville headquarters.

The U.S. District Court directed the Forest Service to keep 42 routes seasonally closed until a final court order is issued later this spring. Hardy said the court may direct her to keep portions of these routes closed until the Forest Service completes a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the route segments that cross meadows.

The SEIS is scheduled to be completed by April 2013. Information about the court order and locations of the 42 closed routes are posted on the El Dorado Forest website.

The seasonal closure does not apply to the Rock Creek Recreational Trails Area near Georgetown, which has its own wet weather closure procedures. The Mormon Emigrant Trail remains closed to through-traffic due to snow.

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Amador County – A bill to stop litigious “extortion” under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act will be heard by the California Senate’s Judiciary Committee in May.

Senator Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) wrote Senate Bill 1186, which he discussed in a posting on his Senate website. He said it “would stop unscrupulous attorneys from using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) from extorting money from businesses.” The bill will be heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee May 9 at 130 p.m. in State Capitol Room 112.

Dutton, who represents Senate District 31, including portions of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, is “urging anyone who has been extorted by one of these attorneys and can be in Sacramento on May 9 to attend the hearing and make your voice heard.”

He said SB 1186 “is a simple, common-sense measure that allows business owners 90 days to fix minor infractions before a lawsuit can be filed. The legislation also protects the rights of the disabled while ensuring that small businesses are protected from frivolous lawsuits.”

Dutton said small businesses around the state have faced litigation by “drive by” attorneys who say they “represent a client claiming that person’s ADA rights have been violated, even though the business owner wasn’t aware of any potential problem. The letter further states that to avoid a costly lawsuit, the business owner must pay the attorney and his client between 4,000 and $6,500.”

Dutton encouraged people who can’t attend the Senate committee hearing to send a letters addressed to him to: State Capitol, Room 5097, Sacramento, CA 95814.

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Amador County – Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort hosts the 34th Annual Mother Lode Hot Jazz Party 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 29 in three locations at their casino and hotel facility in Jackson. Ticket proceeds benefit the ARC of Amador & Calaveras and American Legion Post 108. Three locations for the Hot Jazz Party also feature three themes at the casino at 12222 New York Ranch Road in Jackson. At the Grand Oak Ballroom is “The French Quarter.” In the Fire, Rain Cloud Room is “Le Petit Theatre.” And in the Garden Terrace is “Bourbon Street.” The Mother Lode Hot Jazz Party includes six bands, headlined by Red Skunk Gypsy Band. People must be 21 years old to attend. All events are subject to change. For details visit the Dreamcatcher’s Club or JacksonCasino dot com. Or call 1(800)822-WINN.

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Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 4-25-12

·       Amador Supervisors approved amendments to county banner code for economic hard times.

·       Family and friends plan the Len Jagoda Memoria Fundraiser, the first for lung cancer research and awareness.

·       Fees were waived by Supervisors for a maintenance shed and baseball lighting at Mollie Joyce Park.

·       Supervisors amended sign code to allow permanent exempt banners for announcing public services.

·       Fire Safe Council’s Greater Pine Grove Community Conservation Wildfire Protection Plan enters final stages, plans workshop with details of study Thursday.

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 4-25-12 - TSPN's Tom Slivick talks with Amador Water Agency General Manager Gene Mancebo about the AWA’s recent move to form a voluntary Community Facilities District to fund the Amador Transmission Pipeline and also incremental expansion of the Amador Water System.

Amador County – Amador County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to amend county sign code to allow two banners to be displayed by any one business during a declared economic downturn.

The banners will be limited to 60 square feet each, 120 square feet total, and displayed only in Commercial or Manufacturing zones in unincorporated Amador County.

Supervisor Vice Chairman Richard Forster voted against the amendment, saying he supported allowing three banners in economic hard times. Supervisor Ted Novelli said he would go along with that but Supervisors John Plasse and Brian Oneto disagreed. The Chairman, Supervisor Louis Boitano was absent due to medical leave.

Oneto said it would be a happy medium for him to allow two banners. Plasse said he would not support the third banner for economic needs because it would mean 180 square feet of signage, which he thought was too much for drivers to read.

In public comment before the vote, Walter Wiseman of Roundtable Pizza in Martell thanked supervisors, saying: “This has been a long road,” and he has been working with the Planning Department for 6 months. He said two banners will help, and three would be great.

Novelli asked Wiseman how he would use three banners. Wiseman said his first banner would promote the lunch buffet. The second would promote a daily pizza special. The third promotion, he said, would have to be done to keep from hurting pizza sales. Once he did a special sandwich sale with a third banner, and sold sandwiches. He increased sandwich sales from a typical 150-200 to 770 in just over two months, and it didn’t hurt pizza sales.

He pays up to $400 for a banner that is 3x20 feet, which he calls a 100 mph banner because theoretically if you were driving 100 mph on Highway 49, you could read it. Plasse said: “But you wouldn’t be able to read three.” Oneto said: “Just so you don’t get an outer space banner.”

Wiseman said the water tower at the Martell shopping center has “mocked” him for some time, and he wished he could advertise the center on it. He said Roundtable has rented a highway billboard, but the cost was $1,200 a month. Novelli said: “I’m in favor of your water tower.”

Forster said he was still an advocate for the third banner, because putting up nice banners is going to help your business during economic hard times.

 Planner Cara Augustin said consideration for a declaration of economic need should be on the next regular agenda, May 8.

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