CARS BRAVE slick road conditions after heavy March rains flooded portions of Parrotts Ferry Road. File photo/Union Democrat, copyright 2011

It was a year filled with recalls, occupiers and one really big Christmas tree, and as 2011 draws to a close, The Union Democrat takes a look back at the events that shaped the Mother Lode.

The local economy was a major topic in 2011 as counties slashed budgets and cut dozens of employees. Major employers like Sierra Pacific Industries added workers while other venerated businesses like Andy’s hardware store closed for good.

The year saw a number of unusual  weather events like a major snow storm in March and a freak wind storm in December.

Several high-profile crimes took place during the year as hackers accessed the bank accounts of hundreds of area residents, vandals torched three Tuolumne County Sheriff’s squad cars and a man shot his friend to death in an argument. A Columbia Elementary School aide pleaded guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old student, while an Arnold dance instructor was jailed for having sex with a 16-year-old boy.

2011 had its share of tragedies. Two Central Valley scuba divers were killed in a diving accident in Jamestown, a pair of Twain Harte fishermen were lost at sea when their boat sank in the Gulf of California and two local girls died when they were struck by a train in Idaho in October. It was a particularly deadly year in Yosemite National Park where 13 people were killed in accidents, including three hikers who went over a waterfall.

The following is a month-by-month list of 50 major news events from the past year.

JANUARY

Officers shoot man after car chase
    An Altaville man was shot by officers on Parrotts Ferry Road on Jan. 2, after a multi-county chase involving Angels Camp police.
    Jon Ryan Young, 32, was taken to a Modesto hospital where he was listed in critical condition. Young was hit by six bullets fired by four California Highway Patrol officers.

Teacher accused of sex with student
    An Arnold dance teacher was charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor after an alleged affair with a 16-year-old male student.
    Sarah May Davey, 32, taught at Satori Dance Studio in Murphys before her arrest. A plea agreement called for May to serve a maximum of 60 days in the county jail or electronic monitoring.

Sheriff: Bones belong to Lee
    The Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that remains found in a Jan. 15 search belong to missing Sonora man Darvis Lee Jr.
    A forensic expert identified Lee’s remains using dental records and a piece of a jawbone found in the Five Mile Creek area on Big Hill. Lee, then 36, was last seen alive on Oct. 19, 2010.

Ten horses rescued from ranch
    A search warrant served on the morning of Jan. 29 resulted in the rescue of 10 horses that were living in a small fenced area filled with mud and manure in Copperopolis.
    Nigh Lawhon, 72, of Copperopolis, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge in July, and the horses were moved from his property on the 3900 block of Beaver Court and placed in an animal rescue program.

FEBRUARY

Group contests Walmart plans
    A citizens’ group filed a petition against the City of Sonora to stop the approved expansion of the Walmart store.
    The Tuolumne Jobs & Small Business Alliance was seeking an injunction against a city ordinance adopted in October 2010 that allows Walmart — and any future developer in the space — to implement its own zoning rules without the requirement to complete an environmental impact report.

Waller receives $521K in suit
    A jury awarded $521,250 to former Calaveras County Chief Building Official Ray Waller in his successful suit against the county for violation of his privacy rights following his termination.
    The county released about 1,200 pages from Waller’s personnel file in April 2008, about 15 months after dismissing the veteran of more than 20 years with the local government.

Joan Smith takes helm of YCCD
    Joan Smith was named the Yosemite Community College District’s new chancellor during a special meeting in Modesto on Feb. 23.
    The former Columbia College president and interim district chancellor was appointed to the post permanently by the Board of Trustees.

Propane blast injures man
    A Mi-Wuk Village mobile home was destroyed by a propane explosion that severely injured the owner on Feb. 25.
    James La Harran was saved in a dramatic rescue by his neighbors after being trapped under burning rubble from his destroyed home at the Sierra Village Trailer Park on the 23600 block of Highway 108. He suffered multiple broken bones to his arms and legs, and the explosion blew pieces of the trailer’s roof more than 100 feet away.

High-schooler called hero for
fighting Columbia fire
    A Columbia man credited a good Samaritan with saving the lives of his family members on Feb. 28.
    Ray Reiser, his wife Debbie, son Josh, and grandchildren, Lily, 6, and Riatt, 3, were all sound asleep in their Gold Springs rental home when a flue fire broke out on the night of March 2.
    Devin Martinez, 18, was on his way home to Sonora when he noticed the fire. Martinez pulled over and called 911 to report the fire. He then grabbed a garden hose, climbed up onto the house and started spraying down the flames while talking to a dispatcher and pounding on walls and windows.

Pilots killed in UAE crash
    Pilots Tyler Orsow, of Angels Camp, and part-time Calaveras County resident Chuck Kimes, of Nevada, died when the vintage plane they were flying crashed in the United Arab Emirates on Feb. 27.
    The two men, known in Calaveras County for their interest in flying unusual airplanes, died while ferrying a vintage seaplane from Dubai back to Addison, Texas. It was Orsow’s 25th birthday.

MARCH

Spring’s first storm brings flooding
    Steady weekend storms dumped nearly a foot of snow onto parts of the Central Sierra and deluged foothill areas, knocking out power service to many and causing some creeks and streams to top their banks.
    The storms, which began on March 19, were followed by two more powerful Pacific storms that moved through the area the following week.

Vietnam Wall comes to Lode
    The American Veterans Traveling Tribute and Traveling Vietnam Wall Memorial arrived in Tuolumne County on March 23 for an event-filled stay at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds.
    The display, which traveled the country to honor veterans, arrived from Texas and was escorted to the fairgrounds.

Past dug up in bypass work
    Archaeological crews cataloged a handful of American Indian sites in or near the path of the East Sonora Bypass’s second stage.
    Work on the two-mile section of bypass, from Peaceful Oak Road to Via Este, is slated to begin this year and continue into 2013. An assortment of stone tools were found, as well as grinding rocks and organic matter that gives an indication of what native people ate.
Cemetery vandal ordered to clean up, serve jail time
    The vandal who did $225,000 in damage to Sonora’s Odd Fellows Cemetery in January was required to clean up the historic graveyard as a condition of his probation.
    Sentenced in Tuolumne County Superior Court on March 7, Anthony Briggs, 21, of Sonora, will also serve 10 months in jail after pleading guilty to a felony charge of cemetery vandalism.

Authorities say meth lab bust
county’s first in four years
    Three people were arrested on suspicion of operating a meth lab after narcotics investigators raided a house in Tuolumne on March 9.
    Deputies with the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office narcotics team arrested David Charles Carr, 56, Donald Raymond Carr, 57, and Cory Bruce Modrell, 42, after executing a search warrant at a residence owned by David and Donald Carr’s 76-year-old mother.
    When deputies entered the home on a search warrant for David Carr, they found chemical bottles and tubing associated with a small methamphetamine production operation. The suspects were capable of producing a continuous supply of narcotics for personal use and for sale.

APRIL

Two Valley men die in Jamestown diving accident
    Jamie Pollard, 37, of Stockton, was pulled from the water by a friend on April 9 and later died at Sonora Regional Medical Center following a scuba diving accident. Tuolumne County Sheriff’s deputies on April 11 recovered the body of a second victim,  Dale Allen Dedic, 34, of Lodi, with the help of a submersible robot.
    Pollard reportedly suffered a dive-related injury and Dedic was trying to rescue him when both men ran out of air.
    They were part of a group of divers who were exploring the 600-foot-deep, water-filled Harvard Pit, part of the Jamestown Mine site. The men were planning an underwater treasure hunt before the accident at the mine pit, dubbed “Whiskey Lake.”

Adult Day Health Center closes
    The Sierra LifeNet Adult Day Health Center — the only adult day health care provider in Tuolumne County — closed its doors April 29.
    The closure affected more than 50 participants at risk for medical and mental health crises, as well as staff. Representatives for Sierra LifeNet said the closure was the result of a state decision in March to eliminate funding for adult day health care, or ADHC, as a Medi-Cal benefit option.

Tuolumne man shoots friend to death in alcohol-fueled argument
    Clarence Gaylon “Rocky” Lavell, 26, was arrested and eventually convicted in the April 17 shooting death of Raymond “Ray-Ray” Engle, 40.
    The incident occurred at 1:30 a.m. at a home on the 19000 block of Birch Street, Tuolumne, after authorities say the two men got into an argument over alcohol. Witnesses said Lavell shot Engle in the chest with a .22 caliber rifle. Lavell pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is now serving a 25-year prison term in Tracy.

Charter school chief put on leave
    Michael Gibson, principal of the acclaimed Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy in Tuolumne, was placed on administrative leave in April on allegations of grade fixing and poor oversight.
    Gibson admitted no wrongdoing and eventually retired after Summerville Union High School District’s Board of Trustees held hearings to investigate accusations that student grades were changed. Nine students faced losing their diplomas following the scandal.

MAY

ID thefts plague hundreds
    Authorities struggled to explain a wave of identity thefts that washed over the Mother Lode in early May.
    It was eventually discovered that computer hackers used data-mining software to gain access to a database for credit card swiping machines at a Day-O Espresso house on Highway 108. Employees were not implicated in the scheme. In all, 330 local residents reported falling victim to the scam after fraudulent charges began turning up on their accounts.

Railtown on closure list
    It was announced in May that Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown is one of 70 state parks scheduled to close July 1, 2012.
    The closings were announced as part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shore up the state budget. Railtown administrators are still looking for a way to involve non-profit organizations and businesses to keep the park off the chopping block.

Authorities shut down pot shops
    Authorities raided all three of Tuolumne County’s marijuana dispensaries on May 25 in a coordinated effort to stamp out what they say were for-profit pot sales.
    Nine people were arrested in early morning raids at Foothill Care Collective, on Mono Way in Sonora, Today’s Health Collective Inc., on Via Este Road in East Sonora, and Alternate Natural Solutions Inc. on Enterprise Drive in Chinese Camp.
    More than 15 pounds of processed marijuana and hundreds of pot-based foods and oils were seized from the three cooperatives, which have been operating for more than a year. The raids also netted stacks of $100 bills and more than $80,000 from bank accounts belonging to some of the suspects.

JUNE

Big budget cuts, layoffs planned        The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors announced drastic budget cuts to shore up the county’s $5.2 million shortfall
    About 80 county employees were directly affected by the cuts and 25 people were laid off outright, including six Tuolumne County Jail booking clerks. The clerks were reinstated after state lawmakers approved additional funds to fight crime in rural areas.

Calaveras closes $1.7 million
shortfall with cuts
    Calaveras County supervisors closed an estimated $1.7 million budget shortfall after contentious deliberations and approved a $53.9 million general fund budget on June 28.
    The budget included the layoffs of 11 county employees, including four sheriff’s deputies. Sheriff Gary Kuntz wrestled with the Board of Supervisors on whether he or they had the final say about how his department would reach its final budget figure and supervisors rejected a plan for major realignments to county departments as proposed by Supervisor Steve Wilensky.

Pendley pleads guilty to sex with student in classroom
    Brennan Pendley, a former after-school aide at Columbia Elementary School and son of the District Superintendent John Pendley, pleaded guilty on June 10 to having sex with a minor in his class.
    He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of having sex with a 14-year-old girl and is serving a one-year sentence at the Tuolumne County Jail.

Two die in Sonora house fire
    Armando Puccinelli, 92, and companion Viola Hootman died in a house fire in Sonora early in the morning on June 29 on the 12000 block of Mountain View Road. An electrical component failure was blamed as the cause of the deadly blaze.

SPI mill reopens in Sonora
    Sierra Pacific Industries reopened the Standard lumber mill in late July after a two-year shutdown. The mill was shuttered in 2009 after the collapse in the housing market drastically cut the demand for lumber.
    The sprawling century-old mill underwent a $15 million facelift and was outfitted with modern equipment to enable it to process a wider range of raw timber. The mill will employ about 130 workers when it is at full capacity, and SPI also plans to expand its fencing mill in Chinese Camp.
JULY

Two Twain Harte men lost at sea after Baja fishing boat sinks
    Twain Harte residents Mark Dorland, 62, and Al Mein, 63, vanished along with five other fishermen after a 115-foot charter boat sank in the Sea of Cortez on the Fourth of July.
    The search for the missing men was called off weeks after the now notorious fishing boat Erik sank during a freak storm. Two other local men — Steve Sloneker and Bob Higgins, both of Sonora — survived the sinking after spending several hours adrift.

Three die at Vernal Fall
    Three people were swept to their deaths over Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park on July 19.
    Ramina Badal, 21, of Manteca, Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto, and Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock, died after one of them slipped and fell into the Merced River while taking pictures and the other two went to help.
    Other Yosemite incidents include two people swept over the bridge at Wapama Fall at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, a hiker who drowned after falling into the Merced River below Vernal Fall and a hiker who went missing while with friends. George Penca, 30, of Hawthorne, was last seen June 17 atop Yosemite Falls and is presumed to have fallen.

Council says no to pot dispensaries
    The Sonora City Council on July 18 passed an ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana collectives from operating in the city limits. The council voted 4-1 to adopt the rules with Councilman Hank Russell dissenting.

Realignment: State plans to return 51 inmates to county
    A plan by state lawmakers to cut costs, reduce prison populations and reform the parole system shifted a heavy burden onto the Mother Lode on Oct. 1 under Assembly Bill 109.
    Parolees identified as non-violent, non-serious and non-sexual offenders began to return to counties across California. Authorities in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties decried the move citing lack of funding and an increased strain on already stressed local jails.

AUGUST

Spellman, Lynch recall targets
    Angels Camp resident and former City Council candidate George Fry filed a notice of intent to recall Vice Mayor Jack Lynch in August. Fry subsequently dropped the recall effort citing difficulty getting paperwork approved by elections officials.
    Former Board of Supervisors candidate Michael McDaniel, of Rancho Calaveras, fell short of the signatures needed to attempt to recall District 5 Supervisor Darren Spellman during the next election.

Habitat breaks ground
    Habitat for Humanity’s Tuolumne County chapter broke ground on the Parrotts Ferry Village subdivision, which will eventually be home to 36 families.
    The homes go to people who have jobs but make less than the county’s median income. They pay sliding-fee mortgage payments on interest-free home loans and have no equity for five years.

Hwy 49 house destroyed by flames
    A house on the 9400 block of Highway 49, near Rawhide Road was destroyed by flames on Aug. 8 after a downed power line fell on a neighboring property.
    The house consumed in the fire was owned by Don and Trudy Brenon, an elderly couple who were home when the fire began. A sheriff’s deputy carried the two, who have difficulty walking, from their home.

Two men booked in TH slashing
    Two men were arrested after being accused of attempting to kill a Twain Harte couple on Aug. 23.
    Richard Zachariah Souza, 18, of Scotts Valley, and Travis James Gredvig, 22, of Tracy, have both been charged with attempted murder in the attack. Both of the victims, Colleen Ann Peck, 45, and Glen Lawrence Bannister, 49, spent days in a coma and endured lengthy recoveries following the stabbings.
    In a separate incident on the same day, Souza was charged with stealing a Sonora man’s car at gunpoint in the afternoon.

SEPTEMBER

Employees burned by Sonora
Denny’s closure
    The long-standing Denny’s restaurant on Mono Way closed mysteriously and its employees were locked out after the diner’s owner died of a heart attack.
    It was later discovered that the business owed more than $82,000 in back taxes and the owner had not been paying into unemployment benefits for restaurant’s 15 employees. It took several months for employees to collect back pay that was owed to them.

Don Pedro charter off and running
    For the first time in its history, Lake Don Pedro area residents got a locally governed charter school in early September.
    Golden Lakes Charter School has 91 students in its K-12 program and 17 employees. The school received a $450,000 charter implementation grant from the state for start-up costs.

Rancheria celebrates three dates
    The Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians observed three milestones in September: the 100th anniversary of the year the Tuolumne Rancheria was established, the 45th annual Acorn Festival and the 10th anniversary of the opening of Black Oak Casino.
    The Tuolumne Rancheria was purchased by the United States on Oct. 26, 1910, and established as a home for landless Indians. The original acquisition consisted of 289 acres. Today there are more that 1,700 acres.

OCTOBER

Sonora joins “Occupy” movement
    On Oct. 15, Sonora joined other American cities that have seen protesters gather to decry corporate practices and economic inequality.
    About 200 people gathered in Courthouse Square after the organizers of “Occupy Sonora” utilized Facebook to spread the word. The group continues
to hold gatherings every Saturday morning.

Zombies occupy Sonora
    Zombies joined other working stiffs gathered in downtown Sonora on Oct. 15 to revel in pre-Halloween dress-up.
    The three-hour zombie-themed “Walking Dead Sonora” costume event was the first of its kind in town, but was fashioned on other events held throughout the country.

TUD eyes large bump in rates
    Many Tuolumne Utilities District customers were outraged after the district proposed drastically raising rates on Oct. 17.
    The original plan would increase a typical residential customer’s bill by about 34 percent over the next three and a half years, and raise the district’s base water rate about 50 percent in January. District officials have said that the district faces a $2 million annual deficit due to increases in personnel costs and an increasingly costly regulatory environment.

Former Sonora girls killed by train
    Two former Sonora-area teens were killed after they were struck by a train in central Utah on Oct. 16.
    Kelsea Webster, 15, and Savannah Webster, 13, died from their injuries while another girl, Essa Ricker, 15, of Spanish Fork, Utah, who was a friend of the Websters, was also killed in the accident. The girls were reportedly standing near the tracks and watching a train go by. They were struck when they failed to notice a second freight train running in the opposite direction.

County gets $4.35 million for botched landfill
    Tuolumne County will receive $4.35 million in a settlement over the failed closure of the Jamestown Landfill. But the county still owes almost $1.5 million before its total debt incurred over the incident is paid.
    The county Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Oct. 18 to accept the settlement funds from Bryan A. Stirrat & Associates and HF Geological Engineering, as well as cross defendants Condor Earth Technologies and FERMA Corp.

New businesses fill old Mervyn’s building
    Three new stores filled the long-vacant Mervyn’s building in Sonora starting in late 2011.
    Big Lots, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Petsmart opened in the Crossroads shopping center on Sanguinetti Road between October and December. The newly formed Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority was instrumental in filling the 63,000-square-foot building, and the new businesses created approximately 120 full time and part time jobs.

NOVEMBER

Lode gears up for Amgen tour
    It was announced in early November that Sonora will host Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California in spring 2012.
    Featuring 20 world-class cycling teams comprised of a total of roughly 150 riders, the Tour of California is the most prestigious bicycle road race in the nation. Sonora’s leg of the race will begin on May 16 and will travel through western Tuolumne County before reaching the finish line nearly 130 miles later in the town of Clovis in Fresno County.

Andy’s hardware closes
    Andy’s True Value Home Center closed its door permanently after more than half a century in Sonora.
    Store owner Steve Anderson said he chose to retire and close Andy’s hardware store for a combination of reasons that had more to do with the overall economy than with increasing competition from stores that have opened in Tuolumne County in the past two years.
    His father, Andy Anderson, co-founded the store in 1957 and the store employed 57 people when it closed.

    Capitol tree begins journey
    People called it a once-in-a-lifetime event as they waited Nov. 5 for the Capitol Christmas Tree to arrive at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds — the first stop on its way to Washington, D.C., where it was placed in front of the Capitol building.
   Hundreds watched as the 65-foot tree was paraded from the south end of Washington Street to Stockton Road, then west to the Mother Lode Fairgrounds where it was greeted by hundreds more.
    A month later, 7-year-old Sonora boy, Johnny Crawford had the honor of pushing the button that activated the Capitol Tree lights during an official ceremony in Washington, D.C.

DECEMBER

Sheriff’s cars torched overnight
    Three Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles were badly damaged on the morning of Dec. 1 after they were deliberately set on fire.
    The fire was sparked by someone who threw gasoline on the vehicles parked behind the Sheriff’s Office administration building on Yaney Ave. The damage was estimated at $120,000.

Wind storm fans flames, kills power, closes schools.  A freak wind storm cut a path of destruction across the Mother Lode on Dec. 1 as 45 mph winds toppled power lines, uprooted trees and damaged dozens of homes.
    One person was severely injured after a large tree fell onto her house, while falling timbers smashed buildings from Arnold to Twain Harte. Downed power lines sparked fires across the region and Calaveras Big Trees State Park had to be closed after several large trees fell in the park.

Comcast launches fast Internet
    The nation’s largest cable company flipped the switch on Dec. 7 on a highly anticipated, multi-million dollar fiber optic line that promises to give Tuolumne County residents more channels and faster surfing on the web.  Comcast unveiled its new services during a demonstration at the Sonora Opera Hall on Washington Street.