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David Zelinsky named Hangtown Christmas Parade Grand Marshal Prearrange Now with Guaranteed Prices Andrew Vonderschmitt Features editor
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Photo courtesy of DOT
Example of a road overlay — this project was completed on Barkley Road in Camino, which received a 3-inch overlay this last construction season.
PRESERVING THE PAVEMENT
Supervisors get update on road maintenance Noel Stack Editor
El Dorado County Department of Transportation staff presented a maintenance and operations update at the county Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday afternoon. DOT Highway Maintenance Superintendent David Marino led off with an organizational chart and listed DOT Maintenance Division’s duties: • Bridge Crew is responsible for bridge maintenance, curb, gutter and sidewalk repairs, graffiti removal and guardrail repairs. • Traffic/Signal Crew is responsible for sign maintenance, traffic signal and lighting maintenance and striping and marker maintenance. • Equipment Shops are responsible for heavy equipment maintenance and repairs — locations on west slope and Tahoe. • Road Crews are responsible for dead animal removal, drainage culverts, erosion control, grading, roadside ditching, right-of-way brushing and herbicide application, road maintenance, road repairs and street sweeping. “I do want to note that when … snow removal conditions exist all of these crews come together and do a collaboration of making sure snow removal happens and they also respond to emergency situations, as needed,” Marino added. Surface treatment applications completed by staff or via outside contract are: • Micro-milling — Removes the high points of existing pavement to restore proper grade and removes surface irregularities, improving ride-
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■ See ROAD WORK, page A5
n a life built on service to family, profession and community, David Zelinsky has quietly become one of Placerville’s most trusted and admired figures. Now, after nearly 50 years in the area, Zelinsky is set to ride as the grand marshal at the 47th Hangtown Christmas Parade on Sunday, Dec. 7 in Placerville — a distinction he greets with his trademark humility and humor. “I moved here in the bicentennial,” Zelinsky recalled of his arrival on July 4, 1976. “When the next July 4 comes, it will be a full 50.” But numbers, as a CPA, are just part of Zelinsky’s story. At the center are people and a drive to serve.
Roots that run deep Zelinsky’s path began in San Francisco, drifting north first for college at the University of California, Berkeley. “We were at Berkeley during the berserkley time,” he joked. He and Connie eventually crossed the border for a year at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. It was in those years, surrounded by social change, that he learned what it meant to endure and adapt. “I got my Mr. Degree,” he quipped. “That’s a bit of a joke, I got married, so I got my Mr. Degree.”
Mountain Democrat photo by Shelly Thorene
David Zelinsky, seen here in front of the Veterans Memorial Building where he has contributed countless volunteer hours, will lead this year’s Christmas parade in downtown Placerville. He met his wife on campus. “My wife is the main thing I got out of Berkeley,” he said. “I realized I didn’t want to, you know, stop this relationship. I had to ask her a couple times … I was so young that I
had to have my parents’ permission.” Connie eventually said yes and the family grew: four children — Charlotte, Ben, Emily and Helen — each of whom he recounted with pride and gentle humor along with six
grandchildren.
A career spanning numbers, law and people Zelinsky first set out as a CPA, often ■ See GRAND MARSHAL, page A4
Commission OKs new gas station with conditions; group plans appeal Noel Stack Editor
Courtesy graphic
The proposed AM/PM station on South Shingle Road at Durock Road has received Planning Commission approval but an appeal is planned.
Drivers excited about the possibility of a new AM/ PM on Durock Road in Shingle Springs will have to idle a while longer. The Shingle Springs Community Alliance has announced it will appeal the El Dorado County Planning Commission’s project approval. On Nov. 12 commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of granting applicant Strauch and Co. a conditional use permit for the construction and operation of a new ARCO AM/PM that would consist of a 3,349-square-foot convenience store, a 100-footlong automatic car wash, a 4,606-square-foot fuel canopy with six fuel islands and 12 fueling positions and three underground storage tanks — ■ See STATION, page A5
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