■ GHOST STORIES
Women of Character event offers a glimpse into El Dorado County history. ■ INSIDE, B2
IN EL DORADO HILLS ■
OCTOBER 15, 2025
PARTY FOR THE USA ‘In this community, EDHCSD PROMISES
nobody fights alone’
El Dorado Hills Community Services District News release
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Village Life photos by Shelly Thorene
The Young American Patriots Fife and Drum Corp make their way down Town Center Boulevard during the America 250 event.
Daughters of the American Revolution
CELEBRATE USA’S 250 YEARS Shelly Thorene Staff writer
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he kick-off celebration America 250 sponsored by the Charlotte Parkhurst and General John A. Sutter chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution was held in El Dorado Hills Town Center on Oct. 5. The event was held to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of American Democracy. The all-day celebration featured a parade with the the Young American Patriots Fife and Drum Corp, the Highway 50 Wagon Train and other groups, kids activities, history exhibits and lectures, musical performances and the Junior American Citizen DAR National Art and Poetry contest school winners award ceremony. Daughters of the American Revolution is a nonprofit women’s service organization founded in 1890 to preserve history and promote patriotism. The DAR website states, “Any woman 18 years or older who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence
he El Dorado Hills Community Services District is turning pink for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Through HEIDI HANNAMAN special events, education and fundraising efforts, the CSD will shine a light on the importance of awareness, early detection, advocacy and funding for research and cures. EDHCSD Director Heidi Hannaman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024. “I received a diagnosis nobody ever wants, but far too many women receive. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer,” Hannaman shared. “My story is not unique. We need to do more as a society to support research and find cures, and that starts with sharing stories and creating awareness. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2025, around 316,950 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women. About 59,080 new cases of ductal carcinoma in situ will be diagnosed and, tragically, about 42,170 women will die from breast cancer. “My doctors told me there are only four things I can control with this disease: 1. Stress, 2. Nutrition, 3. Sleep and 4. Exercise,” Hannaman ■ See NOBODY, page A4
Wrongful conviction sets DA on new path Noel Stack Editor
The Highway 50 Wagon Train Association wagons, above, joined the birthday celebration for the USA held in El Dorado Hills. Below, Vicki Klein, regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution Sacramento Chapter, listens to a speech by El Dorado County District 1 Supervisor Greg Ferrero during the DAR event. is eligible to join the DAR. She must provide documentation for each statement of birth, marriage and death, as well as of the Revolutionary War service of her patriot.” Two DAR chapters represent women on the west slope of El Dorado County — the El Dorado Chapter (eldorado. californiadar.org) and the Charlotte Parkhurst Chapter (folsom.californiadar.org).
El Dorado County has settled with Ricky Leo Davis, the man wrongfully convicted of a brutal murder in El Dorado Hills 40 years ago. It’s a multi-million-dollar lesson EDC District Attorney Vern Pierson doesn’t want any other law enforcement agency, city or county to learn the hard way. “The Ricky Davis case, with its $4.5 million price tag, exposed the catastrophic consequences of flawed interrogation tactics,” Pierson said. “The financial burden on taxpayers, combined with the profound human cost, demands reform.” The settlement includes Davis receiving $3 million from El Dorado County, $500,000 in state compensation and nearly $1 million in incarceration expenses. In 2016 The Innocence Project challenged the 2005 conviction of Davis, who was sent to prison for life in the 1985 slaying of Jane Anker Hylton. The victim was stabbed more than 30 times at a Stanford Lane home where she and her daughter were staying following a fight with her husband. Davis’ conviction was largely hinged on what was later determined to be a false confession by his former girlfriend Connie Dahl. DNA located on a shoulder of the gown near where a bite mark also emerged on the 54-year-old victim’s body was tested by the Sacramento Crime Lab, which made its findings known in 2014. The deposit was from a male but did not match Davis or Archie Hylton, the victim’s husband. Legal maneuvers and a new trial for Davis followed but in February 2020 El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Melikian declared ■ See PATH, page A7
El Dorado County settles long-battled mitigation fee lawsuit Noel Stack Editor The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 8 executed a settlement agreement to end the decade-long case of Thomas and Helen Austin v. El Dorado County, which challenged the county’s compliance with the procedural requirements of California’s Mitigation Fee Act. “Despite being provided proof that all fees were being utilized for the purposes for which they were
collected — mitigating the impacts of traffic from new development — the court ordered the county to refund Traffic Impact Fees that were collected over an approximately 22-month period in 2015-16,” a statement released by the county notes. In 2015 El Dorado Hills residents Thomas and Helen Austin sued El Dorado County, the El Dorado Hills Community Services District and the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, arguing the agencies violated the California Mitigation Fee Act and shouldn’t have collected certain permit fees paid by home builders
in those jurisdictions. The act requires agencies to prepare and approve updated nexus studies every five years that justify fees collected and outline how money will be spent to benefit the public and offset impacts resulting from new development; however, the agencies named in the lawsuit had failed to submit their nexus studies as required at the time the Austins and many others paid fees. The courts ruled in the Austins’ favor and a series of ■ See SETTLEMENT, page A7
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