In a press release dated October 27th the Ione Band of Miwok Indians reported that the United States Department of the Interior had dismissed an appeal by Amador County regarding the recent lands determination and legal opinion given by members of the that Department. Amador County challenged the land determination decision back on October 18th. Now the tribe has announced that both additional appeals filed regarding that land determination have also been dismissed by the Board of Appeals for the Interior Department. 

The Amador County Unified School District not only has a new Transportation Facility slated to open at Christmas break, but now the organization has a new leader. Andrew Peters has been selected as the new Director of transportation for the district. Peters comes to the county from the Mother Lode Union Elementary School District in Placerville. According to as press release from Superintendent of Schools Dr Mike Carey, Peters is a dynamic, energetic person who bleeds “yellow” because he is committed to excellent school transportation. Andrews has many years of practical experience in transportation from his tenure in El Dorado County as well as a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He is also involved in the Civil Air Patrol and the Lions Club.

Wal-Mart, Longs Drug Stores, Raley's, Kroger and CVS are among the big chains that sold a popular painkiller that is now being recalled.  Nationwide, 11 million bottles of acetaminophen which is the generic version of Tylenol is being recalled, although officials stress the brand-name version is fine. The pills were made by Perrigo for dozens of retailers. CVS stores are pulling the pills from their shelves. 

On Saturday, November 4, dedicated volunteers worked along the banks of the Mokelumne River removing truckloads of trash and debris in the annual Mokelumne River Cleanup. Kayakers, four-wheel club members, river conservation and watershed advocates, trail builders, East Bay MUD employees, and interested citizens worked side-by-side to beautify the river. ACES Waste and Recycling volunteered dumpsters while Starbucks supplied plenty of strong coffee for volunteers. With the aid of caffeine and dumpsters; volunteers picked up everything from cigarette butts and household trash to box spring mattresses.

This is big game week and last night downtown Jackson was  crowded with Argonaut Mustang faithful as the annual “Downtown Rally” got underway. Main Street was closed to traffic, with the exception of floats, the Argonaut High School Band and the football teams, for about one hour. The crowd was large this year as the Mustangs celebrated their fourth year heading into the CIF Play Offs. 

The Amador Unit of California Highway Patrol has a new weapon in their fight to save your life from becoming a victim of your own speed or someone else’s. And that made yesterday a bad day to speed on Hwy 88 just west of Jackson on the stretch of roadway known as “Hurricane Hill”. Hurricane Hill has been the site of several fatal accidents in recent years- according to Amador Unit Public Information Officer Craig Harmon-. Harmon states that Hurricane Hill is especially dangerous in weather like we experienced yesterday-wet. This made the stretch of roadway a natural location for  Amador Unit Officers to debut the Lidar-  a new technology that uses a laser beam instead of radar to clock the speed of motorists.

The Amador County Recreation Agency learned yesterday afternoon at their regularly scheduled meeting that the Ione city council has pulled their financial support for the countywide recreation agency out of next year’s budget. The city had voted unanimously to designate approximately $11,000 for ACRA in their budget earlier this year but Tuesday afternoon voted to take it out, 3-2. Ione City Councilman and ACRA Board Member Jerry Sherman stated, "This was out of the blue to me, I did all I could to keep ACRA in our budget, but I was simply out numbered." This will impact the agency by thousands of dollars as every city and the county contributes to the organization on a per citizen basis.

Amador County Unified School District’s new transportation facility is nearly complete. The facility which has been under construction for nearly two years has faced many obstacles, including earth moving concerns due to asbestos, arsenic in the soil, and delays in the manufacture of the actual building due to Hurricane Katrina. The facility is located off of Lower Ridge Rd and Bowers Drive, behind the Bowling Alley on Sutter Hill. The facility’s construction was also part of the Master Agreement between the school district and District Attorney Todd Riebe as part of the agreement that put Amador County Unified School District Buses back on the road in 2003 after the transportation department was basically closed down due to safety concerns. 

The Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Council is planning to provide free training to all people interest to help monitor water quality in our local streams. Citizen water quality monitoring is monitoring of the environment by community members interested in the protection of their rivers, lakes and streams. The 3-part training series will include an introductory session; use, operation, and calibration of the testing equipment; and habitat assessment and riparian plant identification.

More Central Valley farmers, as well as some elsewhere in the state, will be eligible for aid to offset losses caused by the July heat storm, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. The six California counties added to the list of primary natural disaster areas are Amador, Contra Costa, San Benito, San Joaquin, Santa Clara and Yuba. All qualified farm operators in the designated areas are now eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.