Amador City News

A Jackson family was grateful to hear that Amador sheriff's deputies took Umberto Valencia away in handcuffs on Dec.

From left, Ione Police Chief Mike Johnson, Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan, newly sworn-in Sutter Creek Police Chief Brian Klier and Jackson Police Chief Scott Morrison were all smiles following Klier's swearing-in ceremony during the Sutter Creek City Council meeting Monday.

Guide Charlie Chatfield, right, in plaid shirt, tells visitors about Mother Lode history during a tour of the Sutter Gold Mine just outside Amador City, about an hour's drive from Sacramento.

The Christmas spirit may be thriving in Amador County, but it has not stopped a number of thieves from perpetrating crimes during, as the song says, "the most wonderful time of the year." On Dec.

Does the California Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, or Proposition 36, work? Though championed as a common-sense approach to battling drug addiction and overcrowded prisons, numerous arrests in Amador and Calaveras counties throw a long and controversial shadow over the program.