Amador County – A “Let’s Open Our Museum” campaign has been launched by the Amador County Historical Society to raise funds for eventual reopening of the Amador County Museum, and its Mine Model Exhibit, which has now been closed for more than two-and-a-half years.

The date of the fund-raising dinner will be Saturday, Feb. 26 at Thomi’s Banquet Hall in the Mother Lode Plaza in Jackson. The festivities start with a 5:30 p.m. social hour, followed by dinner and the program, including a grand prize drawing and a silent auction.

Rich Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer of the Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel, will be the main speaker. Also on the program will be representatives of other community organizations and governments, who will stress how important the museum is to the city and county’s culture, tourism and education.

The Historical Society now has a five-year agreement with the county to access the museum and grounds, and is close to finalizing plans to make the mine model compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also will soon engage historical preservation engineers to examine and analyze the brick structure of the building, which was built in 1859. The museum, before it opens, will also require changes, to make it compliant with ADA law.

Money raised by the dinner on Feb 26 will go totally to the “Let’s Open Our Museum” fund. Tickets will soon be available from members, and local outlets at $30 each. Attendees can also buy a table for eight for $240 and bring friends. People may contact a member of the fundraising committee about tickets.

The fundraising committee includes new Historical Society President Gary Reinoehl, Rebecca Brown, Mary Heidecker, Georgia Fox, Barbara Long, Phil Giurlani and past president Larry Cenotto. For ticket information, call the Society office at (209) 257-1485; e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or write ACHS at P.O. Box 761, Jackson, CA, 95642.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Regional Transit System board of directors last week approved a new Mobility Manager position, and also added a dispatch position, both part time.

New Transit Manager Carla Meyer said she met Jan. 14 with Caltrans, and “we received tentative approval” to hire a person to fill a 25-hour Mobility Manager.

Meyer told the ACTC board last week that she has been working to rewrite one grant that is “so far out of its original scope” that it is becoming a problem. One option would be to create a fixed route for a vehicle that assists disabled riders, with door-to-door exclusive service, on call. The route would be designated differently.

Supervisor John Plasse said it was similar to a “dial a ride” program. Ione Councilman David Plank asked where the Mobility Manager position would be housed, and Meyer said it would be at the ARTS Transit Center in Sutter Creek.

Plasse said Meyer did a good job working with Caltrans on both the dispatcher and Mobility Manager positions. He said it was hard to imagine that ARTS “are on the last six months of a two-year grant” for the Mobility Management program, which was delayed due to a contract issue and hiring questions.

The Commission unanimously approved the addition of a 25-hour a week Mobility Manager position and also a 35-hour a week dispatch position, and to amend the budget accordingly.

Meyer said Monday that ARTS faces potential budget cuts as the state looks to be planning to continue making a gas tax swap for county road funding. She is looking at bus route funding grants, and rewriting a grant to better fit new plans for existing programs.

She is working on increasing bus routes that go to Sacramento, and also adding to the efficiency, of the ones that go there now. She is looking at a deviated fixed route that will go without stops from Amador County to Sacramento.

“We are looking at streamlining our Sacramento run,” Meyer said. “It would carve a significant amount of time” from the bus ride, and make the mass transit option as fast as driving a car to Sacramento.

It now runs twice a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and she said it already connects with a Sacramento bus route that goes to the Sacramento International Airport. Meyer said she is “looking for funding to reestablish some of the midday runs,” because of the good links to the airport.

It would allow commuters to park for free at the ARTS transit center while they are on vacation, or “better yet, leave your car at home in garage,” and “spend the savings on your vacation” instead of parking fees at the airport.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Ione Police Department, and members of the Amador County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team endured a two-hour standoff Monday at a home in Ione that ended peacefully, despite two children reportedly being held hostage.

Ione Police and the Sheriff’s SWAT team arrested Jeffery Phillip Largent, 37, on a felony warrant after the standoff, which reportedly started when he barricaded the entry to the house, after authorities arrived to try to arrest him, at about 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 24.

KCRA 3 TV in Sacramento showed a video of Largent later surrendering to about six camouflage-clad SWAT team members, and a uniformed officer, after the end of the standoff. KCRA reported that Largent held his two children hostage in the home, and said the 37-year-old Largent was wanted on a felony warrant out of Sacramento.

Largent’s children, age 11 and 12, were able to leave the home safely, and then Largent came out on his own. KCRA video broadcast at about 7:45 p.m. Monday, showed Largent walking out of the home at which the standoff occurred, with his hands raised in the air. Largent walked in the driveway of the home, in front of an Ione Police car. Waiting for him were about six SWAT team members, wearing helmets and full assault gear, with guns drawn, and one of them had a K-9. Largent turned around, hands still raised, to face the home, then placed his hands on his head. SWAT team members then advanced on Largent and took him into custody.

Authorities were shown placing Largent into a police car, and Largent was later booked into the Amador County Jail.

A request for more information about the Ione standoff was made to the Ione Police Department, but was unanswered before airtime today.

Also Monday, Jan. 24, KTXL Fox 40 reported the discovery of the body of a 15-year-old boy in West Point, in Calaveras County. KTXL said: “A man hiking on his property on Jurs Road found the body, and the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department said it was that of a 15-year-old boy. Deputies arrived around 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon, and say the case is being investigated as a homicide. The boy’s body is now at the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.”

The Calaveras Sheriff’s Department had not returned a call requesting more information on the incident prior to airtime.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Regional Transit System board of directors last week approved a new Mobility Manager position, and also added a dispatch position, both part time.

New Transit Manager Carla Meyer said she met Jan. 14 with Caltrans, and “we received tentative approval” to hire a person to fill a 25-hour Mobility Manager.

Meyer told the ACTC board last week that she has been working to rewrite one grant that is “so far out of its original scope” that it is becoming a problem. One option would be to create a fixed route for a vehicle that assists disabled riders, with door-to-door exclusive service, on call. The route would be designated differently.

Supervisor John Plasse said it was similar to a “dial a ride” program. Ione Councilman David Plank asked where the Mobility Manager position would be housed, and Meyer said it would be at the ARTS Transit Center in Sutter Creek.

Plasse said Meyer did a good job working with Caltrans on both the dispatcher and Mobility Manager positions. He said it was hard to imagine that ARTS “are on the last six months of a two-year grant” for the Mobility Management program, which was delayed due to a contract issue and hiring questions.

The Commission unanimously approved the addition of a 25-hour a week Mobility Manager position and also a 35-hour a week dispatch position, and to amend the budget accordingly.

Meyer said Monday that ARTS faces potential budget cuts as the state looks to be planning to continue making a gas tax swap for county road funding. She is looking at bus route funding grants, and rewriting a grant to better fit new plans for existing programs.

She is working on increasing bus routes that go to Sacramento, and also adding to the efficiency, of the ones that go there now. She is looking at a deviated fixed route that will go without stops from Amador County to Sacramento.

“We are looking at streamlining our Sacramento run,” Meyer said. “It would carve a significant amount of time” from the bus ride, and make the mass transit option as fast as driving a car to Sacramento.

It now runs twice a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and she said it already connects with a Sacramento bus route that goes to the Sacramento International Airport. Meyer said she is “looking for funding to reestablish some of the midday runs,” because of the good links to the airport.

It would allow commuters to park for free at the ARTS transit center while they are on vacation, or “better yet, leave your car at home in garage,” and “spend the savings on your vacation” instead of parking fees at the airport.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Assemblywoman Alyson Huber received a “Legislator of the Year” award from the California Regional Council of Rural Counties for her work in the state Legislature last year in support of the state’s rural counties, and issues that affect them.

Huber, an El Dorado Hills Democrat who represents Amador County in Assembly District 10, was honored as one of two recipients for the annual Patti Mattingly Award for 2010. Assemblywoman Connie Conway, a Tulare Republican, was also selected to receive the 2010 Mattingly Award.

Huber assistant Jennifer Wonnacott announced receipt of the award in a e-mail last week, saying that the award is “given to a policymaker that that has demonstrated leadership on rural issues and an understanding of the unique challenges that rural communities face.”

Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon, first vice chair of the executive committee of the Regional Council of Rural Counties, said “RCRC appreciates the important work” Huber has done “on behalf of her rural constituents.” Dillon said “residents of Amador County and the other rural portions of (Huber’s) district, should know that she served them well in a very difficult 2010 legislative session.”

The award was established in the memory of former Siskiyou County Supervisor Patti Mattingly, “for her tremendous courage, commitment, and ability to promote constructive solutions surrounding rural issues.” Recipients are selected by the RCRC Board of Directors.

Amador County District 2 Supervisor Richard Forster, a member of the RCRC executive committee, said RCRC applauds “Huber’s efforts this past year,” saying “she was instrumental in working with a number of other rural legislators to secure the passage, of an exemption for counties under 50,000 in population from experiencing deferrals in state payments to counties.” Forster said that had the exemption “not happened, small counties like Amador would have faced a severe financial crisis.”

Wonnacott said Huber’s other important actions in the 2010 California Legisature included “securing vital law enforcement money for several years for rural counties” and writing “Assembly Bill 580, which addressed septic tanks regulations being issued by the State Water Resources Control Board.”

RCRC is an association of 31 rural counties that advocates before the Legislature, Congress and state and federal government agencies on behalf of rural issues. The Council has its headquarters in Sacramento, and county supervisors make up its governing board, with a supervisor from each county serving on the RCRC board of directors.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – A “Let’s Open Our Museum” campaign has been launched by the Amador County Historical Society to raise funds for eventual reopening of the Amador County Museum, and its Mine Model Exhibit, which has now been closed for more than two-and-a-half years.

The date of the fund-raising dinner will be Saturday, Feb. 26 at Thomi’s Banquet Hall in the Mother Lode Plaza in Jackson. The festivities start with a 5:30 p.m. social hour, followed by dinner and the program, including a grand prize drawing and a silent auction.

Rich Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer of the Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel, will be the main speaker. Also on the program will be representatives of other community organizations and governments, who will stress how important the museum is to the city and county’s culture, tourism and education.

The Historical Society now has a five-year agreement with the county to access the museum and grounds, and is close to finalizing plans to make the mine model compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also will soon engage historical preservation engineers to examine and analyze the brick structure of the building, which was built in 1859. The museum, before it opens, will also require changes, to make it compliant with ADA law.

Money raised by the dinner on Feb 26 will go totally to the “Let’s Open Our Museum” fund. Tickets will soon be available from members, and local outlets at $30 each. Attendees can also buy a table for eight for $240 and bring friends. People may contact a member of the fundraising committee about tickets.

The fundraising committee includes new Historical Society President Gary Reinoehl, Rebecca Brown, Mary Heidecker, Georgia Fox, Barbara Long, Phil Giurlani and past president Larry Cenotto. For ticket information, call the Society office at (209) 257-1485; e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or write ACHS at P.O. Box 761, Jackson, CA, 95642.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.