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– E S T. 18 51
– Midweek Edition – VOLUME 175 • ISSUE 4 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2026
Earnshaw named first county chief information officer
Impermanence of all things
Noel Stack Editor
El Dorado County officially has a familiar face in a new role. At the Jan. 6 EDC Board of Supervisors meeting Amanda Earnshaw was appointed chief information officer, heading the Information Technologies department. AMANDA EARNSHAW Earnshaw celebrated her 19th anniversary with the county on the same day supervisors unanimously approved her new position. She had been serving as the interim department head for more than a year. Her first official day as CIO was Jan. 10 and she’s compensated with an annual salary of $192,753.60. “We are a service department,” Earnshaw said. “We want to serve our departments so they (can) serve the public.” The new CIO also encouraged feedback. “As an IT department, we’re always willing to grow,” she assured the board. “We’re always willing to change.” Earnshaw’s commitment to improving relationships between IT and other county departments earned District 4 Supervisor Lori Parlin’s praise. “Mandy … you embraced where we were trying to go with this vision,” Parlin said. “You’re at department head meetings trying to
Mountain Democrat photos by Andrew Vonderschmitt
Above, Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Gaden Shartse Thoesam Norling Monastery in India close their Sacred Arts and Healing Tour in Placerville with a mandala dissolution ceremony at Federated Church on Jan. 10. This year’s mandala represented “Fierce Compassion,” known as the Solitary Yamantaka Mandala — the enlightened manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom in his wrathful form. The monks, hosted by Placerville Friends of Tibet, continue their tour in Folsom this week. Below, The dissolution ceremony involves a ritual destruction of a sand mandala that took dozens of hours to complete, acknowledging the impermanence of all things.
■ See EARNSHAW, page A8
In the
NEWS
in
2025
The Mountain Democrat looks back on some of the top headlines of the past year. See Friday’s edition for more top stories.
EDHCSD weathers a turbulent year Noel Stack Editor
PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
The El Dorado Hills Community Services District Board of Directors and staff, not to mention the public they serve, endured a whirlwind of changes in 2025. The storm began in January 2025 when
newly elected board member Chuck King abruptly resigned but two days alter tried to rescind that resignation. However, on Feb. 6 then EDHCSD General Manager Mark Hornstra and board President Stephen Ferry sent out a news release announcing King’s resignation and a vacancy on the board. King’s initial resignation came a week after he proposed removing board President Ferry from his leadership role, asking for a special meeting on the issue. “President Ferry has consistently failed to comply with required confidentiality of his position,” King maintained. Ferry countered with a statement at a board meeting that it was King who had ill intent. The issue came to a ■ See EDHCSD, page A8
Placerville group protests ICE shooting Mary ElliottKlemm Indivisible El Dorado
El Dorado County residents concerned by the recent invasion of Venezuela by the current presidential administration, as well as the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE in Minneapolis, Minn., gathered Jan. 10 at the Courthouse on Main Street in Placerville to exercise their First Amendment right to demonstrate their opposition. Hundreds of people participated ■ See PROTEST, page A9
1 Dentist Dentist!
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Courtesy photo
Protestors stand outside the El Dorado County Courthouse in downtown Placerville Saturday to protest ICE activities and President Donald Trump’s recent actions.
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