Amador County – The Stockton Ports are “calling all singing Ports fans” to audition for the chance to sing the National Anthem at the baseball team’s games.

The Stockton Ports Professional Baseball Club announced that it would be holding auditions from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15 at Sherwood Mall in Stockton. The farm team of Oakland Athletics will have representatives at Center Court of the Sherwood Mall, and “singing hopefuls should come prepared to sing the National Anthem.”

Ports community relations manager Margaret Sacchet said the club was excited to be holding its own “American Iodol-like” auditions this year. She said: “Last year we had a lot of great performers and we would love to add to that this season. We are also looking for people who play instruments.”

Ports Media Relations Manager Allison Mandel said “fans that cannot make the Feb. 15 audition date need not worry.” She said the Ports will be holding a second audition in March, about which more information will be made available at a later date.

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Amador County – Rep. Dan Lungren received a nod from the President last week for his health care amending bill, which has been referred to a committee in the early going of the 112th Congress.

Dan Lungren, representative of California’s District 3, including Amador County, was “surprised, but pleased” that Obama gave support to his effort to change a portion of the healthcare bill, according to a Sacramento Bee report Thursday. ¶ Obama in his State of the Union address Jan. 25 referred to Lungren’s bill, “The Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act.”

In a Wall Street Journal transcription, Obama said in part: “I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law. So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses.”

The bill was initially introduced after last year’s approval of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” but it fell short of the 218 signatures needed to force a vote. Lungren re-introduced the legislation in January, saying it was a “repeal of a government-run health care system,” and an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. Lungren said: “Last year the American people and small business spoke and I listened,” and the Affordable Care Act “includes a number of provisions that are of concern to the American people.”

Lungren’s bill would repeal a 1099 tax reporting requirement from the law that would require businesses to report to the IRS any purchases of goods or services from one company that total more than $600 in one year.

The Republican Party last September issued a “Pledge to America” to “repeal this job-killing small business mandate.” The pledge said: “This 1099 reporting mandate is so overbearing that the IRS ombudsman has determined that the agency is ill-equipped to handle all the resulting paperwork.”

In mid-January, Lungren’s bill had 245 co-sponsors, including 12 Democrats. By Thursday it had 263 co-sponsors, including 27 Democrats. On Jan. 12, Lungren’s H.R. 4 was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means, where it could be deliberated, investigated and revised before potential general debate.

The website GovTrack listed 29 organizations supporting Lungren’s legislation, including the National Small Business Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

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Amador County – Upcountry Community Council’s subcommittee on fire safety discussed fire issues for what is considered the most hazardous area of the county, the Pioneer, Volcano and Buckhorn areas.

Fire Safe Council Executive Director Cathy Koos-Breazeal and consultant Jim Simmons discussed the newly released draft of a Pioneer and Volcano Community Conservation and Wildfire Protection Plan, primarily written by Simmons.

Co-chair of the UCC committee, Rich Farrington said an executive summary of a 1991 Bartholomew Engineering study of the Upcountry water system where he found “the system cannot maintain a 20 (pounds per square inch pressure) residual in all areas during high flow periods and cannot meet the fire flow criteria in most areas.”

Farrington said: “I believe that Gene Mancebo,” general manager of the Amador Water Agency “said that none of the recommended improvements have been made to this Upcountry system.”

Farrington said he thought it was “important to address this as an issue in the Pioneer-Volcano Wildfire Protection Plan, and should “be addressed by the appropriate government agencies” such as the Amador County Board of Supervisors, AFPA, AFPD, AWA, Mace Meadow Water Agency, Rabb Park CSD, Pine Grove CSD, and the public.

He said: “The goal should be to develop a plan to bring the fire hydrants in CAWP up to current standards. I realize this will be expensive and it could take 50 years to make it affordable, but a plan is needed.”

He said Jackson Valley Fire District had found a number of hydrants where when a valve is turned, “nothing comes out.” He said he has heard two or three have been found, but even as many as 13.

He said Upcountry has a lot of old “standpipes put in 30 years ago,” with 2-inch diameter, as compared to the 4-inch hoses used by fire departments. Some are also situated within existing roadways. Farrington said during the meeting, Ray Blankenheim, chief of fire volunteers, said it was “possible that some of the valves in the roads have been paved over and are not accessible.”

Farrington said there is a “need for better coordination over hydrant maintenance inspections, and if a1991 study said virtually none of AWA’s hydrants met standards, with nothing done, the problems are compounded.

He hoped to have some kind of written policy within a month which would allow “fire staff to turn on and check to see that water comes out of the hydrants, and check the threads.” Mancebo said he was working closely on the issue and expected to have guidelines soon, and possibly in writing.

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Amador County – The Sierra Nevada Conservancy in January announced a series of workshops for its new “Strategic Plan,” and also to take input on how it will give out its grants in the future.

In a letter to “stakeholders,” Sierra Nevada Conservancy asked for input as it develops its new “Strategic Plan.” Joan Keegan, Assistant Executive Officer said Sierra Nevada Conservancy is “in the process of developing a new Strategic Plan to guide our work over the next three years.”

She said: “With input from many stakeholders, we have refined our future direction into four main areas of focus that cut across our existing programs.” The areas of focus are healthy forests; watershed protection and restoration; agricultural lands; and tourism and recreation.

Keegan said the Conservancy needs stakeholder help to develop the goals and “determine the specific actions we’ll undertake for each area of focus.”

She said it was “extremely important to us that we get as much stakeholder input as possible to our new Strategic Plan,” so they planned a series of regional workshops to hear stakeholder thoughts and ideas. She said the Conservancy will also “be sharing ideas we are considering for how to structure our future grant program.”

The meetings will be held Monday, Feb. 7 in Auburn, Susanville and Sonora; and Thursday, Feb. 10 in Oroville, Bishop and Visalia.

If people cannot attend the meetings, the Conservancy will be broadcasting the 30-minute workshop over the Internet, on both Feb. 7 and Feb. 10. She said interested parties will be able to submit suggestions and ideas electronically, by registering at the SNC website.

Keegan said the public’s “views and ideas will help shape the future direction of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. ¶ For information, call Janet Cohen at (877) 257-1212.

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Amador County – Two regional scholarship contests have been announced recently, and seniors from Amador County are eligible to enter.

Graduating seniors in Caltrans District 10, including Amador County, could get a $1,000 scholarship from the California Department of Transportation if they chose a transportation-related career.

Caltrans District 10 said seniors who are about to graduate from high schools in Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, or Tuolumne counties may be eligible for a $1,000 scholarship.

The student must have a minimum grade point average of 2.6 or better, as verified by their school counselors. They must also plan to pursue a college degree on any discipline that could be applied to transportation.

Interested students must submit an application and an essay of 500 to 750 words, writing about the applicant and why he or she is interested in transportation as a career. Applications must be postmarked by March 31. For more information, visit the websites for Caltrans, or the non-profit Transportation Foundation.

The Sacramento Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility also is offering a scholarship essay contest, based on a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Dr. Harry Wang, President of the PSR, and Dr. Bill Durston, Contest Chairman announced the contest in a release at the end of January. The Sacramento Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility scholarship essay contest is open to high school seniors in Sacramento and surrounding counties of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, San Joaquin, Solano, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties.

The contest offers $10,250 in total scholarship money to be awarded to the top ten winners. To enter, high school seniors should submit an original essay of 500 words or fewer describing their thoughts about a statement by Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, and World War II Supreme Allied Commander.

The essay contest is based on a statement by Eisenhower, who declared: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

Wang said high school seniors should “submit an essay describing their thoughts about the relevance of President Eisenhower’s words to the current state of our nation and our planet.”

Deadline for the Physicians for Social Responsibility essay contest submission is March 9. For contest details, see the group’s website, or call 916-955-6333.

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