Pioneer now saves most El Dorado County customers 19.5% or more on electricity generation over PG&E in 2023. Visit pioneercommunityenergy.org or call 916.758.8969 to learn more.
Your Power. Your Choice.
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Volume 172 • Issue 36 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
Friday, March 31, 2023
Winter encore
Courtesy photo
El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson speaks to educators and law enforcement officers at a school threat assessment training. “The idea here is to prevent bad things from happening by collaborating and working on getting out in front of it and making sure there is a communication system,” he said.
School violence focus of prevention training Dina Gentry El Dorado County Office of Education
Mountain Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
A dusting of snow covers daffodils blooming in downtown Placerville across from the historical John Pearson Soda Works building the afternoon of Tuesday, March 28. The spring equinox came March 20 but winter weather seems to be sticking around with recent highs in the low 50s that dipped into the 30s and dropped the snowline to about 1,800 feet.
schools. The training took place recently at the county Department of Probation and was opened by Carey Buchanan, El Dorado County Office of Education principal of juvenile court school and adult education. “There are many people in this
More than 100 representatives from El Dorado County education, law enforcement, Health and Human Services and the District Attorney’s Office gathered for training on a new student threat assessment model that can be used to prevent violence in
n See Prevention Training, page A9
Alvarado-Gil vows to be conduit to the state Capitol Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer
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State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil is no stranger to bureaucracy. She spent several years as an advocate and founder of charter schools in the Bay Area and served on an advisory commission for special education. However, she had never run for office. “I was looking at the list of those who were running and it was kind of the same old, same old,” she remarked. “People were being recycled from one role to another and ultimately didn’t represent the values that I or my neighbors have.” She said she called one of the candidates and did not get a favorable response. “It was a kind of snooty, ‘This isn’t for
“In order for us to be successful I need people to come forward with their stories, their experiences, their concerns, their ideas, their solutions.” — Marie Alvarado-Gil, District 4 state senator you,’ response,” she recalled. Having concerns for the future, not the least of which was the possibility her grandchild might not grow up in California, she decided to run in the November 2022 election. “So many families are leaving and businesses are closing down,” she reflected. “So this was important to me.” Knowing that a single person can’t “fix” the government, she admits to having high hopes to enact change. “There are so many things that we can do better,” she said.
“I don’t subscribe to the far left or the far right,” she noted, adding that this made her a divergent choice on the ballot. A self-proclaimed moderate, Alvarado-Gil is a proponent of a smaller, simpler government and intends on getting back to the basics. “Back to common sense versus all these complex, bureaucratic policies,” she explained. She noted her personal ideals should n See Alvarado-gil, page A8
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