Board hopefuls split on TOT tax

Candidates in three Calaveras County Board of Supervisors races, appearing at a forum Thursday night in San Andreas, clearly separated themselves from their opponents on the issue of increasing the county’s lodging tax. The forum was hosted by Citizens for a Better Calaveras, a group organized in hopes of putting a measure before county voters next year to lift the 6 percent tax to 10 percent. Officially known as the transient occupancy tax, it... Read More

3 seats open on Calaveras board

By Dana M. Nichols Record Staff Writer October 02, 2012 12:00 AM SAN ANDREAS – Land use issues loom large in this year’s races for three seats on the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors. Which candidates voters choose could determine whether the county is able to resolve more than half a decade of gridlock that has often pitted planners against property rights advocates and has frustrated developers and conservationists alike. Supervisor... Read More

Ebbetts Pass group seeks input

The Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway Association will host two public meetings next week focused on planning for the future of the nationally-designated scenic corridor on Highway 4, between Arnold and Markleeville. The meetings will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Alpine County Administrative Office Building, Board Chambers, 99 Water St., Markleeville; and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Independence Hall Community Center, 1445 Blagen Road,... Read More

New Riparian Restoration Connection Website Offers Funding & Training Opportunities!

Hello! The Tamarisk Coalition,a non-profit alliance working to restore riparian lands, is excited to announce the launch of a new website called the Riparian Restoration Connection (RRC) http://www.riparianrestorationconnection.com/. This new resource has been created to help connect the riparian restoration community in the West to funding opportunities, trainings, conferences, events, and other educational opportunities specifically relevant to... Read More

Sweet Home Calaveras

For many high school students in Calaveras County, graduation offers the opportunity to free oneself from what Mark Twain Elementary teacher Jeff Airola described as the “Calaveras bubble.” Students are free to explore the broader world or, as many local teens phrase it, escape. What many students may not anticipate is that even after branching out into the greater environment Calaveras County may call them back. In a 2008 video produced by Bret... Read More

Troubled waters for ‘Bump’ festivals

Popular Tulloch event target of lawsuit Calaveras County is looking to quiet Lake Tulloch Resort’s oft-debated Bump parties in court, seeking a permanent injunction against events the county describes as a “public nuisance.” The Sept. 4 lawsuit centers on whether Bump parties, which routinely draw between 1,500 and 3,000 attendees, qualify as a legal land use under the resort’s decades-old administrative use permit. Resort owner Bernadette... Read More

Curtain call: CUSD may drop theater project

Posted: Friday, September 21, 2012 By Mike Taylor Calaveras Enterprise As its financial future teeters on the brink, trustees of the Calaveras Unified School District may close the curtain on the performing arts center planned for Calaveras High School. The theater was promised to voters in 2006, when Measure A, a $13.5 million facilities bond was passed. In 2008, former Superintendent Jim Frost said that the district might have asked for too little... Read More

Calaveras High School Earth Club Meets with CAP

CAP’s Tom Infusino meets with Calaveras High School Earth Club at Big Trees State Park. Tom has spoken to a range of age groups on nature related topics in the past, and likes to integrate the topics. “I not only explain about the life of the plants and trees (e.g. how they grow, how they protect themselves, how they help each other, etc.), I like to talk about the life lessons we can learn from them (e.g. how to grow, how to protect... Read More

Where’s the beef? How an old business can create new jobs

Despite Calaveras County’s high unemployment, Paloma resident Sean Kriletich is bullish on the local economy. The goat and pig rancher sees greener pastures ahead. Kriletich and his father, Michael, are drawing up plans that would bring a meat processing plant to the Mother Lode. As an agricultural and natural resources representative at Calaveras Grown, Sean is well-versed on the challenges facing area ranchers. “The whole issue is essentially... Read More

Sawmill project bad for ecology

http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/content/tncms/live/ Posted: Friday, September 21, 2012 10:37 am Whatever one may think of Castle & Cook’s “Sawmill” project, it is nothing less than an ecological calamity in the making. I refer specifically to the intent to relocate – up to? – 8,000 oak trees, one assumes by cutting down that number and replacing them with saplings elsewhere. Speaking as a field botanist and mid-Sierra wildflower... Read More