Wall of fame
Dynamic duo
El Dorado to honor its athletic best.
Two team up to market art.
Sports, A6
News, etc., B1
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C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r – E s t. 18 51
Volume 170 • Issue 36 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Friday, March 26, 2021
Orange tier on horizon for El Dorado County Thomas Frey Staff writer El Dorado County could soon move into the orange tier. Giving county officials an update on local impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, county Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting said she expects the seven-day daily average of coronavirus cases to drop to about three per 100,000, which would eventually qualify the county for the moderate orange tier in the state’s
Blueprint for a Safer Economy. “Having orange and yellow tier values doesn’t do anything for us now but it would mean that if we can maintain values at least low enough to qualify for the orange tier next week, we would be assigned to the orange tier,” Williams said. If that occurs, she said the county could be moved to the orange tier as early as March 31. “Unless things start turning upward, I think we have a pretty good chance,” Williams added. When asked if El Dorado County
could have another COVID-19 breakout, Williams said the county is less likely to have another surge if it continues to get ahead in vaccinations. So far 70,838 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the county, according to Kristine Guth, Public Health program manager for the county. Guth said 53.7% of doses have been administered to residents 65 and older.
In-person meetings to return?
Board of Supervisors, said staff is looking into ways to hold meetings in-person again at the board chambers on Fair Lane. She said one of the major hurdles has been wearing masks in the chambers. Dawson said she tested the sound quality in the chamber by wearing her mask while speaking and said it was hard for others to comprehend her. She said once audio tests are completed “hopefully by mid-April”
Kim Dawson, clerk of the
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See Orange tier, page A3
Nothin’ stops Norm Thomas Frey Staff writer Editor’s note: Norm Stoldt, aka Stormin Normin, has shared his many thru-hiking adventures with Mountain Democrat readers over the years. Also a dedicated race walker, he recently completed his 500th competitive race/walk.
Mountain Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
The seal of the city of Placerville, pictured on the front door of City Hall, depicts a gold miner and in the background a noose hanging in an oak tree.
Noose or no noose, City Council greenlights forum
W
hen COVID19 shut down all the organized race walking events Norman Stoldt was signed up for, he was about 50 races short of his decades-long goal of competing in 500 competitive runs or walks before his 80th birthday. The 79-year-old Placerville resident began competing in races during the Marshall Mash Bash in the spring of 1991 as a runner. Due to knee problems, in 1996 Stoldt began race walking. “I discovered that I was a much better race walker than I ever was a runner,” Stoldt said. “In my 60s and now in my 70s I found that I was competitive with the runners in my age group.” The Air Force veteran said race walking, which requires competitors to keep at least one foot on the ground at all times, is the ideal sport for seniors with knee problems because “it reduces the stress on joints by a factor of 10 compared to running or jogging.” Stoldt said he loves being a dedicated race walker. “My thrill of the sport is not just about physical fitness or winning trophies and medals,” Stoldt said. “It’s also a way for me to support a variety of good causes in youth programs, medical research and the environment.” Shortly after races were shut down due to
Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer
Courtesy photo
Placerville’s go-getter Norman “Stormin’ Norman” Stoldt hit his mark of finishing 500 run/walk events before his 80th birthday — even though the last 54 had to be participated in virtually. Stoldt is hoping in-person running events return as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes and in the meantime he’s breaking out his bicycle. COVID-19, organizers began hosting events virtually. For months Stoldt supported important causes by signing up for races where he completed the race in his own time and place of his choosing before receiving a T-shirt and medal in the mail. Retired police dogs injured in the line of duty were one races’ beneficiaries. While competing virtually, Stoldt alternated completing
races at El Dorado and Ponderosa high schools’ tracks, along with Happy Valley Road in Somerset. He hit his goal of race No. 500 participating in the Run to Feed the Hungry event, which has been run every Thanksgiving morning in Sacramento since 1994. This year Stoldt completed one of the largest Thanksgiving runs in the nation near his home on the track at El Dorado. On the road to 500
Stoldt had family at his side. His daughter Melanie trained and competed with him when he started his journey until an injury forced her to drop out. Oldest daughter Elizabeth joined him for a time. “We often trained on the bike path off Missouri Flat Road,” Stoldt said. “My most fulfilling race was doing a three-person relay with Elizabeth and my granddaughter n
In a 3-2 vote Tuesday evening the Placerville City Council decided to host an educational forum on the topic of the noose on the city seal and the town’s Old Hangtown epithet but to limit the City Council’s decision following the forum to whether to remove the noose from the city seal. Decisions on the logo’s design or the Old Hangtown nickname will be postponed to a later date. A subcommittee of Vice Mayor “This for-or-against Kara Taylor and Councilwoman situation we’ve been Patty Borelli, in for a year is not working with productive for the City Manager Cleve Morris, was community.” directed at the — Kara Taylor, March 9 meeting vice mayor of Placerville to create an outline for a public forum to educate the City Council and residents on the history of the noose and nickname. The subcommittee came back with a process for the meeting and further items to be considered. The proposed topics of the forum and the presenters include: • History of Native Americans in the Placerville area presented by Erin Young of the Wopumnes Nisenan-Mewuk Tribe. • Early settlement, Gold Rush, Hangtown and Dry Diggings incorporation/un-incorporation presented by a historian from California State University, Sacramento. • Name change to Placerville, Pony Express, John Studebaker, the volunteer fire department
See Norm, page A8
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See city logo, page A9
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