Amador County – The Amador County Sheriff’s Office is seeking public comments on its proposal for the 2011-2012 State of California Off-Highway Vehicle grant program.

According to state requirements, public comments can submitted from March 8 through April 4.

Sheriff Martin Ryan said in a release Friday that “this year a two-step application process will be required to allow public comment and feedback before final submittal. The preliminary application is due March 7.”

The application submission opened a 30-day public review and comment period. After that will follow the final applications, which are due on Monday, May 2. The State is using an Internet-based “On-Line Grant Application” process as the means to apply for State funding.

The Amador Sheriff’s Office grant application is for law enforcement activities. The preliminary application will be available online by visiting the California State OHV Grants and Cooperative Agreements program website. Hard copies may be requested by contacting Amador County Sheriff’s Sergeant Andrew Mendonsa at (209) 223-6785.

Current State regulations require annual public participation in the fund allocation process. The agreements support Off-Highway Vehicle management activities within the national forest, including operations and maintenance, restoration, law enforcement, education and safety.

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Amador County – The Amador County Recreation Agency and the Jackson City Council are taking input from the public on what they want in Jackson in terms of a park or other facilities at the Oro De Amador park property.

The city and ACRA are teaming to get a grant for the revitalization of the park, and ACRA Executive Director Tracey TownerYep said public meetings will be held to take input on the Oro de Amador Property in Jackson. A couple of those sessions are next week.

Towner-Yep said Monday that the “Amador County Recreation Agency and the city of Jackson are applying for grant funding through California State Parks for a new park development in Jackson.” She said the city and ACRA “are currently holding public meetings to get the opinions of Jackson residents to ensure that the park we build is the park that you want.”

City Manager Mike Daly said a couple of city council committees have looked at developing ballparks at Oro De Amador, to supplement Detert Park, the only city ball field. Another idea was interpretive trails, or a trail system connecting the tailing wheels, which could easily connect with the rest of town. Daly said there have been thoughts about a skate park, or an approved aquatic facility, though the latter would require high operational costs.

Daly said the key to the project is grant funding, and ACRA would be lead agency in seeking the highly competitive Proposition 84 recreation grant, through the California Department of Park & Recreation. The grants max out at $5 million.

Oro De Amador Park is a 160-acre property between New York Ranch Road and North Main, which the city acquired in December 2006 for free from Chubb Insurance Company, which acquired it after a real estate foreclosure in the mid-1980s.

Towner-Yep said the “meetings and public input are necessary to qualify for the funding so please help us by coming to a meeting or filling out a survey online.”

Two upcoming meetings are next week. The issue is on the Jackson City Council agenda at their meeting starting 7 p.m. Monday, March 14 at the Jackson Civic Center. ACRA and the city will also host a kiosk outside City Hall from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, during Dandelion Days.

People may check the ACRA website or Facebook for more information and more upcoming meeting dates, or they can call (209) 223-6349.

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Amador County – Sutter Creek City Council on Monday was to consider a mid-year budget report that showed an increase in revenue enough to fund the city swimming pool, and also pay the city’s share of a county narcotics investigation unit. But it also showed some errors in budgeted spending.

City Manager Sean Rabe in a report to the council dated Monday recommended approval of a resolution to update the city budget for the fiscal year 2010-2011 as of December 2010.

The draft resolution, in part, said “city staff has determined that certain estimated revenues in the General Fund can be increased.” It listed “revenue accounts amounting to $75,951 of increased resources for the fiscal year.” It also said “staff has determined that certain expenditure accounts will be needing additional funding or reductions in funding to conclude the fiscal year.” It showed expense accounts with “$52,487 of net increases.” The amendment would restore funding in the swimming pool program to its original budgeted amount.

Rabe in the report said: “In general, the budget is looking to be in good shape,” and noted “increased revenue projections result in the contingency fund increasing from the budgeted $72,000 to $91,000.” The contingency included his recommended budget restorations of the pool, and also participation in the Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Taskforce.

The council in November transferred “$35,000 from the pool fund to the Police Department to offset the costs of the ACCNET positions, with the understanding that the council would revisit this by the end of February.” The actual cost to Sutter Creek for ACCNET was about $18,000 from December 2010 to June 30, he said.

Rabe said as a result of increased revenue, the city’s portion of the cost “does not need to come from the pool fund.” He said it was also possible the state would reimburse the city for costs associated with ACCNET.

Though increased revenue was “good news,” Rabe said “there is significant concern over a potential property tax reduction of $60,000.” The “issue is still not completely decided yet and involves issues with the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund,” which “frankly puts Amador County in the unenviable position of being a test case for the state.”

“In terms of other revenues,” Rabe said “all other sources are hitting their targets or are performing better than anticipated.” Transient Occupancy Taxes are ahead of budget. He said some expenses are exceeding budgeted amounts, and a majority “stem from erroneous budgeting.” One example was no budgeting of fuel for Public Works vehicles. Other errors included under-budgeting police hours, and “an unrealistic budget assumption” in police overtime.

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Amador County – In the wake of the confidential settlement of a civil rights lawsuit by a student, the Amador County Unified School District continues to increase its diversity programs and training.

Alesa Schachter, an attorney for the School District and its Tuolumne Joint Power Authority, said she could not comment directly on the settlement, signed last August and September. She said a confidentiality clause kept her from commenting directly about a part the settlement, which required the School District to put in place a diversity or tolerance program by the year 2011-2012. Schachter said she could provide information in general about tolerance and diversity programs in ACUSD, including past, present and future programs.

Schacter provided a list of diversity and tolerance training programs, including “programs and curriculum beginning in 2010-2011 and beyond.”

It said “Breaking Down the Walls,” which began in April 2008, and “is a powerful, interactive program that creates a unique environment of self reflection and community building.” Staff and students at Amador and Argonaut High Schools and Ione and Jackson Junior High Schools “have already all participated in and completed this training and workshop.”

In April, teachers and district leaders will participate in the Anti-Defamation League’s “A World of Difference Training.” The League in 2010 presented a training program, “Making Diversity Count,” for all high school teachers and administrators, “including Principals, vice principals and counselors.”

A “Tolerance and Acceptance Committee” meets the first Tuesday of each month during the school year, with “at least one representative from each school site, district administrators, parents and other community members.” It is open to all, and will “discuss and disseminate information regarding bullying, tolerance and acceptance” in schools and “how to effectively prevent intolerance, discrimination and bullying.” It will give school sites articles for discussion during staff meetings, to give “real world scenarios they can work through.”

In January was “Anti-Bully Week,” and the district is also in the process of adopting the “Peace Builders” program. There is a plan for “Holocaust Remembrance Day,” Sunday May 1, and the district will encourage sites and teachers to discuss the Holocaust during the week of May 2-6.

In August 2009, teacher Jennifer Norton, a certified trainer with the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., provided training to the District’s principals for those principals to “work through their start of the year staff meeting discussion on the issues of inclusion, tolerance and cultural diversity.”

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Amador County – Federal authorities received a fifth guilty plea last week in a wide-spread bid-rigging scheme related to foreclosures in San Joaquin County.

The justice department said a real estate investor pleaded guilty Friday in Sacramento U.S. District Court to “conspiring to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County.

Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General of the justice department’s Antitrust Division announced that Yama Marifat, 38, of Pleasanton, “pleaded guilty to conspiring with a group of real estate speculators who agreed not to bid against each other at certain public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Joaquin County.”

According to court papers, the “primary purpose of the conspiracy was to suppress and restrain competition and to obtain selected real estate offered at San Joaquin County public foreclosure auctions at non-competitive prices.”

Varney said: “After the conspirators’ designated bidder bought a property at a public auction, they would hold a second, private auction, at which each participating conspirator would bid the amount above the public auction price he or she was willing to pay. The conspirator who bid the highest amount at the end of the private auction won the property. The difference between the price at the public auction and that at the second auction was the group’s illicit profit, and it was divided among the conspirators in payoffs.

Marifat participated in the scheme from about April 2009 to October 2009. To date, five individuals, including Marifat, have pleaded guilty in connection with the investigation, including Anthony B. Ghio, John R. Vanzetti, Theodore B. Hutz, and Richard W. Northcutt.

Marifat pleaded guilty to bid rigging, a violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Marifat also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

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Amador County – Assemblywoman Alyson Huber’s bill to delay closure of Preston Correctional Youth Facility for six month will be heard next week by a committee in the California Assembly.

Huber on Friday announced that she is “pushing ahead on her efforts to stop the current closure proceedings” at Preston, and her Assembly Bill 8 will be heard by the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, in a hearing set for 9 a.m., Tuesday, March 15, at the State Capitol.

Introduced by Huber last December, AB 8 “seeks to temporarily halt the closure of the Preston Youth Correctional Facility. The measure delays the closure process at any youth facility for a period of six months.”

Huber said: “During this time frame the Legislature and the Governor can examine the decisions” of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, “as they begin to address how to best serve the youth offender population.”

Huber, (D-El Dorado Hills) said “AB 8 also states that employee staffing may not be cut, instead keeping staff at levels the same as before the closure was announced last October.” Reductions in staff and inmate population numbers have already started at Preston.

Huber said: “This will not be an easy fight, but it is the right fight for Amador County and for the dedicated employees and their families who have given so much to Preston and to the state of California.” She said: “I hope to convince the Committee that it is not in anyone’s best interest, including the youth we are rehabilitating, to close down the most successful facility in the state, without a thorough and fair evaluation.”

Letters of support for AB 8, to be submitted to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, can be e-mailed or posted to Huber at P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249.

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Amador County – The San Andreas Unit of the California Highway Patrol said a Sonora woman killed Monday on Highway 49 in Calaveras County may have been texting on her cell phone while driving when the fatal crash occurred.

CHP public information officer Rebecca Myers in a release Wednesday said CHP has “determined that a major contributing factor” in the crash killing 22-year-old Lisa Marie Villalobos-Wilson “was because the driver was texting on her cell phone.”

“According to cell phone records released by her parents,” Villalobos-Wilson “was in the process of sending or had just sent a text message to her boyfriend when her vehicle drifted off the right side of the roadway.” She then swerved to the left, overcorrecting and “causing her vehicle to swerve into the opposing lane, striking a south-bound vehicle” driven by Benjamin Grant, 20, of Mountain Ranch. The vehicles collided in the south-bound lane of Highway 49, north of Cosgrave Road, in Calaveras County. “Villalobos-Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Myers said: “We have also determined that Ms. Villalobos-Wilson was only wearing the automatic shoulder restraint belt.” The “lap belt portion was not used, which may have contributed in Ms. Villalobos-Wilson being partially ejected from her vehicle, resulting in fatal injuries.”

The crash was reported at 7:35 a.m. Monday, Feb. 28, and Grant and his passenger, Daniel Crane were both treated for minor injuries at Mark Twain Hospital.

Myers said the CHP “would like to remind everyone that they need to put down the phone, focus on driving, and always wear your seatbelt properly, otherwise it may cost you your life, or the life of someone else.”

Myers said: “Too many motorists are continuing to talk or text on the cell phone even though the law has been in effect since July 1, 2008.”

Lieutenant Tim Port said “driving in itself is multi-tasking, requiring a motorist’s full attention. Then you add a moment of inattention, such as looking at your cell phone, and consequences can be disastrous for a driver and those around them.”

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Amador County – A Federal Grand Jury last week charged 15 people with racketeering, extortionate extension of credit, and narcotics offenses at two Bay Area casino card clubs, Artichoke Joe’s Casino and Oaks Card Club.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag announced the indictment, which was unsealed March 3 in redacted form. It charged that between February 2008 and the present, Cuong Mach Binh Tieu, Lap The Chung, Bob Yuen, Ding Lin, Skyler Chang, Chea Bou, May Chung, and Hung Tieu “agreed to conduct and conducted the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity.”

The indictment alleges that they “associated in fact at the casinos to form an enterprise and that they used the casinos’ facilities and assets to extend and collect extortionate credit and distribute illegal drugs.”

Maximum punishment for the RICO crimes is 20 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Federal narcotics offenses have maximum prison terms ranging from 20 years to life, and maximum fines ranging from $1 million to $4 million.

The indictment alleges that these narcotic offenses occurred either at the casinos or through the use of the casinos’ facilities.

Lap The Chung, Bob Yuen, Ding Lin, May Chung, and Hung Tieu are also charged with federal extortionate extension of credit offenses with maximum punishment of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Haag said: “Extortionate credit is otherwise known as loansharking, and the indictment alleges that such loansharking occurred at the casinos on numerous occasions over the past two years.” Each of these defendants is an employee of either Oaks Card Club or Artichoke Joe’s Casino.

The indictment is the result of an approximately two-year investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration, who worked with the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Gambling Control and the Internal Revenue Service.

On March 2, the FBI, DEA and more than a dozen other agencies “arrested 14 of the defendants charged in the indictment. They also simultaneously executed more than 20 search warrants throughout the Bay Area and elsewhere.”

Haag said: “During the course of executing the search warrants, agents seized several hundred thousand dollars in cash and thousands of dollars worth of casino gambling chips, jewelry, and valuables, several pounds of narcotics, and numerous firearms.” The investigation was conducted and funded in part by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a multi-agency task force that coordinates long-term narcotics trafficking investigations.

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