NEW COACH
See clearly
Union Mine’s football program names new leader.
Clearly Tahoe offers a new outlook of the alpine lake.
Sports, A6
News, etc., B1
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Volume 170 • Issue 58 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Monday, May 17, 2021
DAs challenge increased inmate early release Mountain Democrat staff In order to comply with the governor’s budget summary released in May 2020 and temporary emergency regulations that went into effect April 30, California’s prison officials have increased the amount of good-conduct credits some 76,000 inmates can earn toward their release. El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, joined by 40 other elected DAs across the
Buffers to alleviate density of VHRs
state, sent a petition Thursday to Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Kathleen Allison, requesting the repeal of the temporary emergency regulations. “The new CDCR regulations could shorten the sentences for the most dangerous criminals as much as 50%,” Pierson said in a statement issued Thursday. As an example Pierson’s office cited the case of James Michael Watson who while already on parole for multiple prior felony
convictions went on a crime spree in November and December 2019, stealing firearms, pointing a loaded assault rifle at a victim and leading law enforcement officers on a highspeed pursuit where he drove into oncoming traffic. Watson pled to multiple felony charges and was sentenced to nearly 20 years in state prison. “ Under CDCR’s new regulation this dangerous criminal could be released after only serving 1⁄2 of his sentence,” Pierson said.
An administrative law petition is often the first step in seeking a formal court order declaring the emergency regulations unlawful. By invoking an emergency, the traditional regulatory scheme and transparent public comment period was bypassed. If the emergency regulations are nullified by a court, CDCR would be forced to pass the regulations in the traditional manner, requiring the State Office of Administrative Law to provide greater transparency and public input.
going for gold
Laney Griffo Tahoe Daily Tribune SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday directed staff to pursue 500-foot buffers around vacation home rentals at Lake Tahoe. The county has been creating and tweaking the VHR ordinance for about four years. In February 2021 supervisors directed county staff to compile data on the possibility of including buffers in the ordinance. While there is a cap on the number of VHR permits allowed in the Tahoe region, the buffer will force rentals to be more spread out and not clustered within neighborhoods. The buffers aim to prevent commercialization of neighborhoods and cut back on noise issues. There are about 850 VHR permits in the Tahoe region. With a 500-foot buffer in place each VHR would remove permit availability from an average of 10 surrounding homes or lots, leaving about 974 lots that could be VHRs. Supervisors in November 2020 placed a cap on the available number of VHR permits at 900. Staff also recommended a 1,000-foot buffer around large VHRs but the board told staff to stick with the 500-foot buffer for now. Existing VHRs will not be impacted by the buffers. As long as they pay their taxes, renewal and business license fees and don’t violate the ordinance, they can keep their permits. The board was also in favor of extending the buffers to VHRs throughout the entire county. With tourism in other areas of the county such as the West Slope growing in popularity, supervisors want to get ahead of any potential issues like the ones seen in Tahoe. Supervisors voted unanimously to add the buffers to the ordinance and asked staff to bring back to the board a first reading with those changes within 90 days.
Photos by Laurie Edwards
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park docent Doug Picard points out a gold flake to Owen Maher, 10, of Novato. Owen and his father, Dan, were the first competitors May 8 in the Gold Discovery Park Association’s Gold Panning Challenge fundraiser. Panners are timed as they sift sediment in search of gold flakes and those with the fastest time in the nine-week contest will be awarded a gold nugget July 3. Second and third-place prizes will also be awarded. Competitors must pull anywhere from four to eight flakes from the panning trough. Proceeds from the Gold Panning Challenge will aid educational programs at the park. The contest will run from noon to 3 p.m. each Saturday through July 3 behind Bekeart’s Gunshop. Also pictured are Owen’s mother, Deidre, left, and volunteer Dianne Thompson.
Eric Hildreth of Cottonwood, Utah, above photo, and his son Ashton try gold panning for the first time. Ashton finished with a time of 5 minutes, 45 seconds despite a twominute penalty for missing one of his four flakes. There to assist was past World Gold Panning Championship competior Maureen Brown, far left, while volunteer Dianne Thompson, far right, kept time. Water is swirled around inside a gold pan, right photo, as gold flakes settle out.
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Aleeah Clinkenbeard, 6, of Marysville shows a vial containing the gold flakes she panned in the competition.
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