Civil suit against Nemees proceeds New owners want water pump returned

By Joel Metzger |The Calaveras Enterprise I Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 8:54 am In a ruling announced last week, Calaveras Superior Court Judge John E. Martin allowed two parts of a civil lawsuit filed against Mike and Michelle Nemee, former owners of Trinitas golf course, to move forward – an accusation of trespassing and conversion. Conversion is any unauthorized act that deprives an owner of personal property without his or her consent. “We... Read More

Rivers and Water

Delta plan’s one glaring omission: the Delta By Michael Fitzgerald January 27, 2013 Record Columnist Gov. Jerry Brown snubbed the Delta region in his annual State of the State address this week. Sometimes it seems Brown has it in for us. The governor’s record can be read as the actions of a man who feels toward our region something between indifference and outright hostility. Here’s a telling speech excerpt. “Central to the... Read More

Lode arts center killed in emotional vote

By Dana M. Nichols Record Staff Writer January 23, 2013 12:00 AM SAN ANDREAS – The Calaveras High School band will never play the national anthem in a 500-seat performance hall once proposed for the campus in San Andreas. The school’s choirs won’t raise their voices there. And drama students won’t stage “Annie” or “Oklahoma.” In an emotional vote Tuesday night, a divided Calaveras Unified School District... Read More

Comments on CCWD (Calaveras County Water District) Financial Issues

Op-Ed by Dennis Dooley, President of CCWD The following article is my thoughts about the cost and complexity of CCWD. These are my thoughts and I am not speaking for the Board or the staff, but I think that they will generally agree with what I write. One of the most common questions I am asked is why are our rates so high, and secondly, are you out of your mind even considering raising rates? The CCWD District is a very large district and has so... Read More

Parks advocates, owner share vision of restoring Schaads

By Dana M. Nichols Record Staff Writer January 20, 2013 12:00 AM WEST POINT – Schaads Reservoir has fallen on hard times in the past decade or so. An abandoned junker sits where the road dead ends at the east end of the lake, potholes and mud discourage many motorists from trying the entry road, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife no longer stocks the lake with trout. Closed, too, are the famous campground and bar that Effie Schaad... Read More

Radio station goes online before going on line

By Dana M. Nichols Record Staff Writer January 19, 2013 12:00 AM WEST POINT – A tiny blue building in downtown West Point just became a mass media outlet. But KQBM is not a typical radio station. The community radio license issued by the Federal Communications Commission means there won’t be any advertising. And for that matter, at the moment there isn’t any broadcasting, either. Officials with the Blue Mountain Coalition for Youth... Read More

Trinitas saga not over yet

By Joel Metzger Posted on January 15, 2013 While most county residents may have thought the drama surrounding Trinitas was over, it has yet to reach a conclusion. The latest chapter in the tale of this storied property is a lawsuit filed by Lance and Renee Dami, new owners of 160 acres, formerly part of the ranch owned by Mike and Michelle Nemee, builders of The Ridge at Trinitas Golf Course in Wallace. Trinitas was built on agricultural land without... Read More

Let’s not take oaks for granted

By Buzz Eggleston | Posted: Tuesday, January 15 Editor’s note: Calaveras County officials have revived long-neglected efforts to draft an oak preservation ordinance, the topic of this November 2005 column, reprinted below. Steve Stocking of San Andreas, a botanist and former professor at San Joaquin Delta Community College, tells us that an acorn planted when that column first appeared, well-tended and protected from animals that would eat it, could... Read More

Land restoration project in Calaveras

Much of the forested Sierra is overgrown and at risk of catastrophic wildfire…Modern-day Miwok crews funded by federal grants and local groups, are partnering with the U.S. Forest service to do this clearing work. Click link for article, photos, and audio of Native Crews Restore Sacred Sites on U.S. Forest Lands, Sacramento, CA Capital Public Radio, January 01, 2013  Read More

New supervisors eager to start 2013

Incoming county supervisors’ 2013 to-do list is a little longer and costlier than the average spate of New Year’s resolutions in Calaveras County, but at least as ambitious. Take District 1 newcomer Cliff Edson, who said Wednesday he aims to put board members back on the weekly meeting schedule resisted by his predecessor, Gary Tofanelli. Edson, poised to take Tofanelli’s seat on Jan. 8, said he fears the board’s lengthy, twice-a-month meetings... Read More