Amador County – The Amador Sheriff's deputies and Ione Police collaborated recently to catch a suspect in the act of burglarizing Fred’s Mini Storage in Ione, and the suspect was implicated in multiple regional burglaries.

According to a sheriff’s office release, at about 3 a.m. on May 4, an Ione Police Officer responding to assist an Amador County Sheriff’s Deputy with a traffic detention on Highway 88 observed a vehicle stopped near Fred’s Mini Storage at 7300 Martin Lane in Ione. The vehicle, a tan 1997 Ford Probe, matched the description of a vehicle wanted by Sheriff’s Detectives as possibly involved in a previous burglary at the business.

The Ione officer notified the Deputy of his observation and then made contact with the vehicle’s two occupants. The deputy sheriff arrived seconds later as a third subject was observed fleeing through the mini storage. Nearby, a section of fence had been cut, and miscellaneous property from one of the storage lockers was strewn about the area.

Upon arrival of a Sheriff’s sergeant, a search of the premise was conducted utilizing the Ione Police K9 patrol officer. Dwayne Allen Hickingbottom, 49, of Stockton was subsequently found hiding in the nearby brush. The Sergeant found Hickingbottom in possession of two baggies of suspected methamphetamine and burglary tools.

A search of Hickingbottom’s vehicle revealed additional burglary tools and drug use paraphernalia. A California Highway Patrol Officer and a Sutter Creek Police Officer also assisted at the scene.

Hickingbottom was arrested and charged with burglary and possession of a controlled substance, burglary tools and drug paraphernalia. Hickingbottom was also determined to be wanted on four separate San Joaquin County Superior Court felony arrest warrants for burglary, possession of a controlled substance and receiving stolen property.

On May 5, 2011 Amador County Sheriff’s Detectives, who have been working on the burglaries which have occurred at the mini storage, conducted searches of multiple residences in both San Joaquin and Sacramento County. Through the supplemental investigation it was determined that Hickingbottom is responsible for multiple burglaries within the region.

Detectives determined Hickingbottom paid associates $30 to transport him to his crime locations and then return a short period later to pick him up with whatever stolen property he had obtained. Based on additional investigation, Amador County Sheriff’s Detectives conducted another search of Hickingbottom’s vehicle and located previously unreported stolen property.

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Amador County – U.S. Congressman Dan Lungren will host a Congressional Field Hearing on the Child Human Trafficking Problem in Sacramento and Northern California Tuesday in Rancho Cordova.

Lungren announced Friday that he “has been working on the issue over the past two years because the Sacramento area has the dubious distinction of being among the top offenders when the FBI surveys the level of occurrence.”

Joining Lungren will be Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Lungren said “members of local, state and federal law enforcement will testify about the problem and community organizations will outline their efforts to rescue young girls, the most common victims who are trafficked for sex.”

The hearing will be a “rare collection of experts collaborating on an issue that victimizes young girls locally – and all over the world,” Lungren said.

The Congressional Field Briefing on the Trafficking of Children in the Sacramento Region is set for 1-4 p.m. Tuesday at Rancho Cordova City Hall.

The briefing will include presentations by U.S. Attorney Ben Wagner; Herbert Brown, the Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento FBI; Commander Timothy Johnstone of the Sacramento Regional Terrorism Threat Assessment Center; Chief Nicholas Sensley, who is the Human Trafficking Task Force Specialist of the Truckee Police Department; Jenny Williamson, Founder of Courage To Be You and Courage House; and Vicki Zito, the parent of a trafficking victim. The briefing will also feature a video interview with Ashley Judd.

Lungren said the Congressional Field Briefing addresses “efforts to combat domestic sex trafficking of children. As you may be aware, Sacramento has the unfortunate distinction of being a hub of human trafficking. It is our hope that as we continue to bring together leaders in anti-trafficking work, we can stop the exploitation of children in this region and across the nation.”

Lungren, (R-Gold River) has two other meetings set for the next month around District 3. He plans a Town Hall meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17th at Rancho Cordova City Hall in the American River Room. Lungren also has a Town Hall meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 21st in the West Room of the Folsom Community Center.

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Amador County – A recent arrest of a suspect in a burglary in progress at Fred’s Mini Mart in Ione had the Amador County Sheriff and business owners commenting on the success of local law enforcement agencies.

Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan said the case showed how sharing information between law enforcement agencies can lead to the interruption of a crime in progress. Ryan has often stated that “law enforcement in Amador County is a team sport” and he said “this case demonstrates how our local law enforcement agencies depend on each other and work together to apprehend offenders.”

The mini storage owners, Deb and Fred Van Anda, in a letter to Ione City Manager Kim Kerr commended the Ione Police Officer and K9 officer involved in the arrest, saying “Fred’s Mini Storage has had a rash of break-ins and it was so rewarding to finally catch the bad guys.”

Deb Van Anda said she “watched the interaction of the Amador County Sheriff Deputies, Sutter Creek Police and the Ione Police and saw how well they work together. It was very clear to me, even at 4 a.m., that there was mutual respect for each other and their departments.”

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Amador County – Pacific Gas & Electric will fund $9,000 in grants for regional economic development in the four-county area of Amador, Tuolumne, Calaveras, and Mariposa Counties.

Beth Hartline of the Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority in Sonora said PG&E contributed funding to the Central Sierra Economic Partnership, as a whole, and to each of the four counties. The contributions have helped more than 155 retail and manufacturing businesses in the four-county region save more than $280,000 during 2010.

Larry Cope, Chairman of Central Sierra Economic Partnership, said PG&E is “continuing its long-standing commitment to support the economic vitality of the communities it serves.” PG&E again awarded grants, funded by its shareholders, to the Partnership.

Cope said the partnership “focuses on the economic development of Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties and works to bring together public and private resources to ensure the success of businesses in the Central Sierra Region.”

In 2011, PG&E has granted $9,000 to support regional economic development in the four counties. PG&E presented $5,000 to the CSEP, as well as $1,000 to each county. Over the past two years, PG&E has contributed a total of $18,000 to the organizations “for the purpose of holding local energy summits, promoting the use of PG&E’s energy conservation programs to our small and large retail businesses and manufacturers, recruitment of businesses, and toward increased economic viability of our rural communities.”

PG&E generated $200,000 in income to local contractors and provided jobs for 13 people in Tuolumne, Calaveras, and Mariposa counties.

Plans for 2011 include energy summits in Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa, to reach more business owners with cost- and energy-saving programs, including lighting and refrigeration replacement.

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Amador County – An Elk Grove man was arrested last week after allegedly walking out of Wal-Mart with a television, abandoning it after being chased, and then allegedly stealing a shirt from K-Mart, which he wore in an apparent attempt effort to make a get-away.

Amador County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that deputies had made an arrest last Friday of Christian Francis Gerlach, 39, of Elk Grove, who was charged with burglary, with bail set at $40,000.

On Friday, May 5 at about 4:30 p.m. Sheriff’s Deputies “responded to the report of a male subject that had just stolen a television from Wal-Mart. It was reported that a Wal-Mart Loss Prevention Officer had chased the suspect through the parking lot until the suspect elected to abandon the stolen television. The suspect was last seen running towards K-Mart.”

The Sheriff’s office in a release said that “upon conducting an area check, a K-Mart employee told deputies that she had observed a subject enter K-Mart that matched the description of the Wal-Mart suspect.” The employee stated that the suspect stole a red shirt which he put on, before fleeing toward Highway 88.”

“Amador County Sheriff’s Deputies continued to check the area and ultimately observed the suspect attempt to conceal himself in the high grass on the north side of Highway 88 near Wicklow Way. Two deputies approached the suspect, who refused to comply with their orders. The suspect was subsequently detained in a high risk manner.”

ACSO said the “Wal-Mart Loss Prevention Officer positively identified the suspect during an in-field show up. The suspect’s identity was also confirmed via surveillance video which captured him in the act of committing the crime.”

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Amador County – The U.S. Forest Service announced last week that the Mormon Emigrant Trail will be closed due to snow likely until mid-June, and will not be available as an alternate route to Lake Tahoe, after Caltrans closed Highway 50 for two weeks, starting this week.

El Dorado National Forest Public Information Officer Frank Mosbacher said Mormon Emigrant Trail was expected to remain closed due to snow until mid-June. Mosbacher said the “popular El Dorado National Forest highway runs between Sly Park and Highway 88 is currently covered by 10 feet of snow on its eastern end, near Highway 88.”

He said the “road will not be available as an alternate route to Lake Tahoe with Highway 50 closing for two weeks of repairs to Echo Summit’s roadsides.

Caltrans is detouring traffic on Highway 50 eastward traffic and Highway 99 northward traffic to Lake Tahoe through Amador County, via Highways 16, 49, 88, and 89.

Caltrans District 3 made the decision to temporarily close the route while working to replace a rock wall at Echo Summit in El Dorado County. The project will include one-way traffic control for up to six weeks after Highway 50 is reopened. Highway 50 will be open with no restrictions on Memorial Day weekend.

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Amador County – The Plymouth City Council and Planning Commission held a joint session last week and discussed Reeder/Sutherland’s two residential projects Zinfandel and Shenandoah Ridge subdivisions.

Plymouth City Manager Jeff Gardner said Tuesday the meeting showed that the Commission and Council have a lot to understand “before they decide whether or not they want to approve the developments.” That includes seeing how the projects are “fitting together with the vision of Plymouth for the future.” Gardner said a lot of good suggestions came up from the panel, and they found some things they did not like.

The two projects plan for 485 single-family homes, including 370 in the Zinfandel Subdivision, and 115 in the Shenandoah Ridge Subdivision.

Gardner said: “We’ve got many more meetings.” The Environmental Impact Report and associated issues need to be addressed, and “we don’t have to have a tax revenue sharing agreement in place but I’d like to be done with that.”

The joint meeting was continued to May 18, and “something associated with this development project will start to be incorporated into regular meetings to get the work done, he said. “Potentially at build-out these two projects could double the size of Plymouth,” he said, and the city is actually working on its first Development Agreement in 20 or 30 years, after officially lifting a decades-long building moratorium based on the city water supply.

The city has completed its $3 million sewer upgrade project, and is awaiting a new waste discharge permit approval by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Plymouth must still work out its Conditions of Approval for the project, and staff is also working on the a revenue sharing agreement with Amador County. Gardner said “the agreement has not even been given to the County yet,” and staff is “putting together a preliminary draft proposal.”

He has talked with Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan’s office about expectations for service levels, and they must also address the possibility of losing “COPS” grant funding. Gardner said they “may not have money to pay for police services,” and he has “to sit and discuss some service levels with the county.”

The areas planned for annexation into Plymouth will have little or no commercial development, with right now only a very small piece of commercial property in the annexation area, right along Highway 49. As a result, he hoped the revenue sharing agreement would not address commercial development right now.

Staff have been working on the Development Agreement with Bob Reeder of Reeder/Sutherland, and staff also is working on Conditions of Approval, having started with the city attorney’s “boiler plate” document. He said “Conditions of Approval are relative to impacts,” and help mitigate impacts.

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Amador County – The Tour of California bicycle race will make a ride through Amador County this year, with a speed trial leg of the race stopping next week in Ione.

Funk said as the AMGEN tour, a professional bicycle race was preparing for race legs all over California, ACT was working with Ione Business and Community Association and the city of Ione administration “to organize a small festival of our various recreational opportunities.”

Maureen Funk, of the Amador Council of Tourism said she will be in Sacramento Monday at the Lifestyle Festival for AMGEN and she expected to tell all of their booth visitors about the time trial conclusion in Ione the next day.

The racers are expected to be coming into Ione between noon and 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17th, said Funk, who said the festival in Ione will have booths to help people enjoy the excitement of the Amgen Cycling Road Race, the largest cycling event in the United States.

The Tour de-France style road race has been challenging the world’s top cycling teams in eight stages, the last several years, with participants including many recent Tour-de-France winners, including 7-time champion Lance Armstrong, who will be one of 19 teams in this year’s race. Armstrong is racing with Team Radioshack.

Ione will be part of Stage 3, the Auburn to Modesto leg, which is a 121.9-mile stage, which begins at 10:15 a.m. in Auburn and will conclude in Modesto at 3:30 p.m. Cyclists are estimated to come through Ione between noon and 12:30 from Michigan Bar Road to Highway 104, through downtown Ione, and the out of town on Highway 104.

Sharon Long of Ione said: “This leg of the race will be a sprint. There will be no parking in downtown until the cyclists have gone through Ione,” and “side streets around Main Street will be blocked off.”

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Amador County – Nine members of the Post 108 American Legion Riders will be leaving early Monday with some local fanfare to head to Rancho Cucamunga, where they will be part of the 23rd annual “Run For The Wall,” a cross-country motorcycle ride to honor all Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action, Killed in Action from all wars and to show support for military personnel all over the world.

Albert “Poncho” Villa, President of the Chapter 108 American Legion Riders and his Vice President Brian Dommes, and another of the nine riders, Denver Stauss, gathered today (Friday, May 13th) at the American Legion Hall in Sutter Creek to talk about the ride.

Villa said: “Veterans, active military and supporters of our military gather at Rancho Cucamonga to begin a ride across the United States to gather at Washington D.C. and celebrate Memorial Day along with thousands of other motorcyclists.”

Villa said about 200 motorcycle riders from across the country will converge on Rancho Cucamunga, and break into platoons of 30 or so motorcycles. He said they will have northern, southern and central routes, for the various platoons, with the object being to travel across the country to Arlington, West Virginia, to the Vietnam Veterans Wall.

Villa is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, serving in 1969-1970. Some others of the nine Post 108 Riders are also. Eight are military veterans, the others and passengers, are either sons of Legionnaires, or members of the Auxiliary.

Villa said: “This is the first time to do this for all of us,” a ride for fallen vets, POWs, MIAs, KIAs and for wounded military. “This is an honor for them, for those who can’t ride. We call it a mission. It’s not a party, or a fun ride.”

Strauss said they have been planning and saving for 2 years, and expect to spend about $3,000 on the 10-day trip, on hotels, gas and food. They tried to go last year, but could not get the trip together in time. One rider from Amador went last year, and told them what to expect.

Brian Dommes, Post 108 Riders vice president, said the reason for the ride is a support effort to remember, and help the healing process from mental scars from what they saw and did over there. He said he is kind of scared, and knows it will be physically and very emotionally demanding.

The Post 108 Auxiliary will be giving the Amador Run For The Wall group coffee and pastries at 7 a.m. Monday, May 16, and Villa said they “will probably kick the stands up at 7:45 a.m.”

The Amador 108 Riders will ride through Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, and West Virginia.

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Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 5-13-11 - TSPN's Tom Slivick sits down with Ione City Manager Kim Kerr to discuss the current happenings in the city of Ione.