Amador County – An Ione woman in custody and wearing handcuffs squeezed through a vent window and stole a Jackson Police car early Saturday morning, then led authorities on a 15-minute pursuit before the vehicle was stopped with spike strips, and forced into a ditch by another JPD vehicle in Calaveras County.

Jackson Police Captain Christy Stidger on Tuesday announced the arrest of Mary Bristow, 20, and her brother, David Bristow, 21, of Ione on various charges.

Mary Bristow was arrested for evading, stealing a vehicle, escape from custody and obstructing or resisting a peace officer. David Bristow was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance.

The Bristows were initially detained about 12:30 a.m. Saturday when JPD officers investigated a suspicious vehicle parked at the south end of the Jackson Gate Plaza and discovered them in a 1991 white Chevy pickup truck.

Stidger said the “officers became aware of a handgun in the cab of the vehicle” and “extracted both of the occupants from the vehicle.” The gun was “later determined to be a plastic replica.”

Stidger said “Mary Bristow was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a Jackson patrol vehicle. While officers continued their investigation, David Bristow began to choke on what officers believed to be illegal drugs.”

She said “while officers were tending to David Bristow, Mary Bristow was able to maneuver her handcuffed hands from behind her back to her front. Mary Bristow then crawled through an approximately 9-inch by 9-inch ventilation opening, in the partition that closes off the backseat from the driver’s area of the patrol vehicle.”

Driving away in the patrol vehicle, Mary Bristow led authorities on a 15-minute pursuit, involving JPD, Amador County Sheriff’s Department, Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department, and California Highway Patrol officers from Amador and Calaveras counties. Stidger said: “During the course of the pursuit, Mary Bristow utilized the police radio, taunting pursuing law enforcement.”

“The pursuit ended in Calaveras County at the intersection of highways 49 and 12, when spike strips set up by the Calaveras CHP were deployed.” The “spike strips damaged the tires to the stolen police vehicle,” but Mary Bristow continued driving, although at “considerably lower speeds. This allowed Jackson Police Officer Jeff Courtney to perform a Pursuit Intervention Technique maneuver on the stolen vehicle, causing it to spin out of control and into a ditch.”

After the stolen vehicle was in the ditch, Jackson K9 officer Al Lewis and his canine partner, Condor, were deployed on the vehicle. Stidger said that Mary Bristow, knowing the canine was being deployed, surrendered, requesting that he not “let the dog get her.”

Both Mary and David Bristow were treated at Sutter Amador Hospital and booked into the Amador County Jail.

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Amador County – The Sutter Creek City Council selected its new leadership last week, selecting Mayor Pro Tem Tim Murphy to be the Mayor for 2011. The council also selected newly elected Councilwoman Linda Rianda as this year’s Mayor Pro Tempore.

Council members also made appointments to the Planning Commission. Councilwoman Sandy Anderson announced at the end of December that she would appoint Robin Peters, who was appointed by retiring Councilman Pat Crosby. Peters replaced Anderson’s former appointee to the commission, Corte Strandberg.

Rianda appointed Frank Cunha to again represent her on the commission, which she had done after being appointed to replace former Mayor Pro Tempore Bill Hepworth.

Newly elected Councilman Jim Swift appointed Ed Arata to the Planning Commission, joining Councilman Gary Wooten’s appointee, Robert Olson; and Murphy’s appointee, Mike Kirkley. On Monday, Kirkley was selected by the Planning Commission to be chairman for 2011, and Cunha was picked as vice chairman.

City Manager Sean Rabe said the city council in closed session last week agreed to appoint Interim Chief Brian Klier to be the full-time chief of the Sutter Creek Police Department. Rabe said he was instructed by the council to bring back a contract for the next meeting, and he is negotiating with Chief Klier. Rabe said he was confident that they would produce a “mutually agreeable contract.”

Also last week, the council moved toward consolidating three committees on budget, finance and personnel, into one committee. That consolidation and all committee assignments may be considered at the next council meeting.

The council also approved the draft policy city council minutes, in answer to some fallout from issues raised by the recent Grand Jury report. Rabe said the format of “action minutes” would be used, which includes minimal details of discussion, and chiefly makes note of actions taken.

The policy sets a 30-day time limit by which the minutes, must be completed after a meeting is held. Rabe said the draft policy will be brought back with an accompanying resolution of approval.

Rabe said he made an “inventory of the minutes that are missing,” and found that there were increments of as long as 6 months when no minutes were made. It also goes back about 3-4 years, and there is “no way we will be 100 percent caught up.”

He wasn’t sure how minutes would be updated, but didn’t support using recordings. He said former City Clerk Judy Allen’s notes from meetings would probably be used to make action minutes.

The council agreed to have a citywide vote to change the clerk position from elected to appointed, so a non-city resident could take the post. That election might come sooner than 2012, if a statewide budget election is held.

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Amador County – The Amador County Office of Education board of trustees will hold a special meeting Thursday to consider an application for a grant for a school bus replacement program.

The board canceled its regular meeting Wednesday, but set the special meeting, and must meet a Friday deadline for the grant application. The district seeks to replace a 1990 Ford bus used for transporting special education students, with 12 seats and two spaces for wheelchairs. The bus has 414,000 miles and was purchased in 1990, according to documents, and it was driven 1,516 miles last school year.

Barbara Murray, assistant superintendent of business services said in a report to trustees for Thursday’s meeting that the district qualifies for a maximum possible award of $155,000, and “there is no match for this grant.”

She said the district qualifies for the “Small School District and County Office of Education Bus Replacement Program” for the current fiscal year by its average daily attendance, given to any school with fewer than 2,501 students, based on the previous school year’s attendance.

Murray said the award “may include the cost of the bus plus taxes, excluding registration. Recipients will be responsible for paying for specifications that are not standard.” She said where “unique needs occur,” the California Department of Education “may cover some additional options, but awarded agencies should, ‘build’ their buses with the expectation that non-stock options, will be out-of-pocket costs.”

The California Department of Education runs the grant and “after receiving the required quotes, the CDE will notify agencies of their total award.” Murray said the district office has all information required by the grant. The application is due Friday, Jan. 14, and awards will be listed March 1.

The transportation department will build the bus to the district’s required specifications, Murray said, and “if there are additional costs that the grant does not cover, we will bring the item to the board for approval before we proceed with the purchase.”

Murray said staff does “not anticipate a major cost to the county office,” and recommended approval of the application for the bus replacement grant.

The special meeting is 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 13 at the district office conference room, at 217 Rex Avenue in Jackson.

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Amador County – Amador County Recreation Agency this week announced plans for a ceremonial ribbon cutting for its new flying disc golf course at Mollie Joyce Park in Pioneer.

The ribbon cutting is set for 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, and precedes the planned first tournament on the new course, which has nine holes.

ACRA Director Tracey Towner-Yep announced the ribbon cutting, and said “a lot of good work is happening up there.” The ceremony includes coffee, hot chocolate and donuts, “along with enthusiastic disc golfers.”

She said “making the dream a reality,” and the course a reality, merited thanks to the Jackson Rancheria Hotel & Casino, Keith Lynch, Merzlak Signs, Play It Again Sports, Ferguson Plumbing, Augustin Custom Cabinetry, Disc Golf Association, numerous unnamed volunteers and ACRA Program Director Matt Nestor.

Nestor planned the Martin Luther King Disc Golf Tournament as part of the grand opening of the course. Registration begins at 9 a.m., the ribbon cutting is at 9:30 a.m., a players’ meeting is at 9:45 a.m. and tee off is at 10 a.m.

The 76-acre park was deeded to ACRA by Fred Joyce on February 5th, 2008, on condition the park be maintained for public recreation use. Towner-Yep, Nestor and others at ACRA have worked with local disc golfers, who volunteered to help design the course around Mollie Joyce Park’s hilly and wooded terrain. In addition to golfers, two Little League Baseball fields have been revitalized, and ballgames have become a regular fixture at the park again, after years of non-use.

The park is on Woodfern Drive, off Carson Drive, in Pioneer, about 15 minutes from Jackson, and 40 minutes from Kirkwood.

For information, call Matt Nestor at (209) 223-6349, or go online to goACRA.org.

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El Dorado County will host a workshop on preventing the spread of Yellow Starthistle Jan. 28.

The free workshop includes biology, and mechanical, cultural and chemical control methods. Learn techniques specific to controlling Yellow Starthistle in orchard and vineyard settings. Learn to prevent introduction or further spread of Yellow Starthistle and other invasive weeds on property, and protect un-infested and priority or high-value areas.

Registration is recommended, not required. Call (530) 621-5503. The free workshop is 1:30 to 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28 at the El Dorado County Admin Building, in Placerville.

Sponsors are the El Dorado County Invasive Weeds Management Group, University of California Cooperative Extension and the El Dorado County Agriculture Department.

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Amador County – Assemblywoman Alyson Huber announced a change in her “mobile office hours” in her second term of office, and she will continue to have a monthly office open in Amador County.

Aide Jennifer Wonnacott announced the change Monday, saying Huber will continue to hold office hours as she did for the past two years, although “details have changed slightly.”

Wonnacott said “with the opening of the Rancho Cordova district office in Sacramento County last year, mobile district offices will only be held in Amador and El Dorado counties now and will occur the same day of each month.”

Huber’s staff will be present at all listed mobile district office hours and “residents are encouraged to bring their questions, ideas and solutions regarding state legislative issues that affect the community.”

The Amador County mobile office day is each second Wednesday of the month, falling this week, on Jan. 12. The office in Amador County is open 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. each second Wednesday, in the Human Resources offices of the Amador County Administration building at 810 Court Street in Jackson.

Huber’s El Dorado Hill mobile office is open 1-2 p.m. also on each second Wednesday of the month. That office is located in the El Dorado Hills Community Services District, in the Parks Conference Room, at the corner of Saint Andrews and Harvard streets.

Wonnacott said if those office hours do not work, constituents can contact one of Huber’s district offices in Lodi or Rancho Cordova to schedule an appointment.

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Amador County – The city of Ione’s requested changes to its city limits and its “Sphere of Influence” will be heard next week by the Amador County Local Agency Formation Commission.

The LAFCO board of directors is scheduled to start the meeting, in part, by selecting its new chairman and vice chair. The board will then consider a resolution to amend Ione’s Sphere of Influence, and open a public hearing on the matter.

Ione proposes a Sphere of Influence amendment to add portions of four parcels and remove a portion of another from its sphere. The resolution says the “addition includes the city’s wastewater treatment plant, the Castle Oaks Water Reclamation Plant, and privately owned properties.” As part of the proposed change, there would be concurrent amendments “to remove the same lands” from the Spheres of Influence of the Amador Fire Protection District, the Amador Resource Conservation District, and County Service Areas 5, 6 and 7.

LAFCO next week will also consider an annexation of just over 33 acres of land into the city of Ione, making up the land that holds the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The property is owned by the city, and also the Fitzgerald and Dutschke parcels.

The agenda notes that the “proposal is exempt from the requirements for notice and hearing.” The city of Ione is lead agency in both the amendment and the annexation. Both were subject of a joint meeting of the Amador County Board of Supervisors and the Ione City Council, who on the LAFCO board’s request came to an agreement about the changes.

The LAFCO announcement said that all people are “invited to testify and submit written comments to the commission,” and if someone challenges a LAFCO board action in court, “you may be limited to issues raised at the public hearing or submitted as written comments prior to the close of the public hearing.”

All material regarding the meeting is available for public review at the LAFCO desk at the Amador County Planning Department.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20 in the supervisors chamber at the county admin building, in Jackson.

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Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors set its Land Use Committee to work on looking at lifting a moratorium, to the county’s General Plan amendments, to make way, for more work in the mining-related industry.

Planner Susan Grijalva requested “direction to staff regarding, whether to consider the possibility of adding an exception to the county’s moratorium prohibiting the acceptance of applications for general plan amendments”, which are on hold while the General Plan is being updated.

Grijalva said in a staff report that “the highest paying jobs in Amador County are mining related”. At a recent economic development workshop, it was asked if the board might consider amendments “to allow applications that would provide for ‘value added’ product manufacturing and processing operations which utilize the county’s existing natural resources.”

She wanted to consult with General Plan consultants, EDAW, to make sure there are no ramifications to the General Plan update.

Supervisor Ted Novelli asked if there would be a cost to look into the issue, and if so, how much. Grijalva said she was concerned that an amendment could create a “need to redo anything we’ve done in the General Plan so far.”

She said any application would be separate, and “being that they are General Plan amendments as opposed to zoning changes,” it may be different, but she expected applicants would pay for the cost of changes.

Supervisor Brian Oneto asked if they could charge the applicant, if indeed there were costs. Grijalva said she was unsure, but an example would be the cost to rerun a traffic model, which she thought likely, would be a cost to the applicant. She said EDAW has been through this before and would know the answer.

Novelli said he would like to “have the land use committee say, why they want to go forward with this.” Forster said he did not want to hear EDAW say a $3,000 study was needed to look at this feasibility. He said “it doesn’t involve major housing complexes being located in the county. This is something completely different.”

Chairman John Plasse said they should “question but verify” what EDAW says about the situation. He said for the sake of economic development and revitalization, the “government can get out of the way,” in this case, for the “harvesting of natural resources.” He said the self-imposed regulations of the General Plan were passed by the state in 2005, and the county still has not completed the update it began in 2008.

The board voted 5-0 to refer the issue to the land use committee, as Forster motioned, “to let them come up with a recommendation and bring it back to the full board.”

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Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission will get a presentation next week on what staff sees as the top 3 proposals for the Highway 88 Improvement Project, and could take action to eliminate 10 other alignments found to be less realistic or popular.

ACTC planner and project manager Neil Peacock said the commission “may take action on recommendations regarding the elimination of various alternatives” for the Highway 88 “Pine Grove Improvement Project that have been received to date from the project’s advisory committee”, “as well as issues, related to the project’s next phase.”

Peacock said Monday there were originally 13 alternatives for the road’s improvement, and staff will recommend elimination of 10 of those. The top 3 include the construction of a Northern Bypass, the widening of Highway 88 “Through Town”, or building a new “One-Way Couplet” highway south of town. The One-Way Couplet would convert existing Highway 88 into one west-bound, one-way road through Pine Grove, and then build a new east-bound road, starting just south of Pine Grove, at the foot of the hill.

The “Northern Bypass” option would go partially through the Caltrans maintenance yard, through the ACES transfer station, and part of the Crestview neighborhood. It would cross Volcano Road, pass around the backside of the elementary school, and come out near Mount Zion Road.

The “through town” expansion would widen the road to 4 traffic lanes and a center turn lane. It would be required to be built on an 80-foot right-of-way, measuring 40 feet from the center line of Highway 88 on either side of the road.

In November, the Pine Grove Community Council proposed a 14th alternative, to build both Northern and Southern “one-way couplets,” while leaving existing Highway 88 to become a more, small-town Main Street type of road.

Peacock said Alternative 14 had not yet been evaluated, needed further study and was not part of recommendations for the commission. The proposal will be given the same evaluation as other alternatives. He said building two roads could double the project cost and double the right-of-ways needed.

The project has a limit of $40 million, Peacock said, and “$33 million to $45 million “is the ballpark were looking at right now,” for the three alternatives he will recommend, but they all need more focused analysis.

The public is encouraged to attend and will be given an opportunity to provide further input directly to the commission. The meeting is 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19 at the County Admin Building, at 810 Court Street in Jackson.

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