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mtdemocrat.com
Friday, February 21, 2020
Volume 169 • Issue 21
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New suspect in 1985 murder appears in court n Green could
be tried as an adult Dylan Svoboda Staff writer
Democrat photo by Thomas Frey
El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson speaks with media following Michael Green’s first court appearance Wednesday in Placerville. Further proceedings for Green take place March 20.
Michael Green, the new suspect in the 1985 Jane Hylton murder case, made his first appearance in El Dorado County juvenile court Wednesday. Prosecutors are aiming to try the defendant, who was 17 years old
at the time of Hylton’s death, in adult criminal court. Green is scheduled to appear again March 20 in El Dorado County Superior Court, following the county Probation Department’s completion of a “transfer hearing report” — the first move in transferring a defendant from juvenile to adult court. As a teen at the time of the murder, the now-51-year-old’s trial
Michael Green is especially unusual, according to El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson. “Procedurally, the
court has to go through some steps on the juvenile side of it,” Pierson said. Green was arrested Tuesday, Feb. 11. Authorities booked him into El Dorado County Jail Friday, Feb. 14. El Dorado County public defender Tim Pappas is representing Green in the case. Hylton was found dead July 7, 1985 at an El Dorado Hills home. Green is said to be one n
See Green, page A7
Mandala love Democrat photo by Dawn Hodson
The Hillwood Drive home in Shingle Springs appears partially damaged by the blaze that broke out late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.
Body found in Shingle Springs home fire n Crime scene investigators
working to determine cause of death Dawn Hodson Staff writer A dead body was found inside a home that burned on Hillwood Drive in Shingle Springs early Wednesday morning. El Dorado County Fire Protection District Chief Tim Cordero said they were notified of the fire around 1:15 a.m. Firefighters from the El Dorado County Fire Protection District and Cameron Park and Diamond Springs fire departments responded. An investigator from the El Dorado Hills Fire n
See body found, page A7
The Tibetan Buddhist monks of Gaden Shartse Monastery, above, lead a prayer at Friday night’s opening ceremonies where the monks began work on a green tara mandala, gave blessings and performed a Vajravidaran Healing Ritual. On a North American tour, the monks make a stop in Placerville each year, this time at 7533 Green Valley Road, to share a little bit of their culture. Tonight the community is invited for Green Tara Empowerment before the completed mandala is dissolved — a vital Buddhist lesson of impermanence — in a ceremony Saturday evening. Mandala apprentice Dorjee Tsering, right photo, begins work on the sand mandala as mandala master Geshe Lharampa Jampa Wangchuk observes. Democrat photos by Kevin Christensen
See more photos on page A9.
EID looks at costs of operation during power shutdowns n District estimates
nearly $400,000 in additional expenditures in 2019 Dawn Hodson Staff writer With the memory of last year’s PG&E public safety power shutoffs still fresh in everyone’s minds, at the Feb. 10 El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors meeting Dan Corcoran, the agency’s director of operations, provided an overview of how the
shutdowns affected operations and budget. EID, like much of the county, was hit by five distinct power outages although pre-planning and a diligent staff prevented interruptions in service to the district’s water or wastewater customers. Corcoran noted that EID maintains 168 electrical service connections with PG&E and was prepared for all of them to be de-energized. Most of those connections supply electricity for water and wastewater treatment, distribution and pumping and water storage and hydropower generation facilities. Electricity is also used to keep Sly Park Recreation Area functioning
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as park access fees often need to be electronically processed and maintaining communication is important in the event of an emergency. In anticipation of these power outages the district purchased additional generators in 2018 and early 2019. It also rented several generators to avoid interruptions in service. The district currently maintains a fleet of 187 generators. These back-up generators minimized the potential for water and wastewater service interruptions, maintained water supplies for fire suppression, avoided sewer overflows and maintained safe operations on the
22-mile El Dorado Canal. Corcoran said the back-up generators are not designed for regular or prolonged usage and are expensive to operate. The district estimates that the five power shut-off events in 2019 cost the district $344,000 in labor, including regular and overtime hours, and $47,000 in generator rentals and fuel. Fuel is a key factor in these costs with the price of running generators as high as $50,000 a day to supply significant power loads. There was no loss in hydroelectric generation revenues as all the power n
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See EID, page A8