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– Weekend Edition – mtdemocrat.com
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2026
VOLUME 175 • ISSUE 65 | $1.00
Mountain Democrat photo by Shelly Throene
A hazy sky is seen from Highway 193 looking into the American River canyon Wednesday afternoon. A fire to the south is the source of smoke in El Dorado County.
Smoke getting in your eyes? Lance Gunnersen
Mountain Democrat photo by Shelly Thorene
El Dorado High School teacher Lance Gunnersen stands in his woodshop near a student-built skateboard ramp. Gunnersen, 64, has retired from teaching.
Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit News release
Smoky skies are hard to miss around El Dorado County. Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit officials have received many calls and inquiries about the smoke and where it’s coming from. Much of the smoke is drifting into Amador and El Dorado counties from the Gann Fire in neighboring
PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
Sentencing of the man accused of being an accessory after the fact in the killing of El Dorado County resident Tyson Fiddler has been postponed until November.
Staff writer
F
Joshua Joseph Lighthall, the Sacramento man accused of murdering Fiddler in 2024, is currently in custody in the county jail in Placerville. He was arrested last April, more than a year and a half after the discovery of Fiddler’s body. Lighthall faces a first-degree murder charge, as well as a special charge alleging that a deadly weapon was used. The criminal complaint against Lighthall also names Michael Alexander Cooney, a Placerville resident described in that document as having known that a felony murder had been committed by ■ See PLEA, page A9
■ See GUNNERSEN, page A8
Alleged murder accomplice takes a plea deal Staff writer
Shelly Thorene
or countless students at El Dorado High School, woodshop was more than a place to build projects. It was a place to gain confidence under the guidance of teacher Lance Gunnersen. Students return to class Monday but they will see a new teacher standing in front of the classroom as Gunnersen, 64, retired in May. A multi-talented tradesman, he taught drafting, robotics, electrical engineering, auto shop and metal shop for 29 years, serving 12 years at the Placerville high school. In addition to teaching, Gunnersen has carved other paths. “I have been on the board of the California Industrial Education Association for many years, and I am a past president,” he shared. “The group is
■ See SMOKE, page A3
Lance Armstrong
~
finds a new groove
Courtesy photos
Above, Lance Gunnersen, center, stands in the shop with his students at a podium they built for the El Dorado County Veterans Monument in 2018. Below, student-built wooden trains are finished and ready for Santa’s Toy Shop, a program started by Gunnersen in the 1990s.