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Volume 170 • Issue 89 | 75¢
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Friday, July 30, 2021
Officer Opp braves Grizzly home fire, saves kittens Thomas Frey Staff writer California Highway Patrol officer Jarvis Opp was assisting a fellow officer with a DUI crash around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night in Grizzly Flat when a man in a pickup pulled up to alert him of a nearby house fire. “This guy was super frantic,” Opp said. “I could tell (he) was serious.” Opp said he dropped what he was doing to attend to the Tyler Drive fire, about two blocks away, where he saw flames rising from a home’s roof. Opp said he found three children outside but they didn’t know where a missing sibling was. He also learned five kittens were trapped inside. Opp said he couldn’t get through the front door because it was blocked but when he tried the backyard, he was able to get through a sliding door and into the house — without fire protection equipment. Opp has been with CHP 14 years and worked major Photo courtesy of CHP wildfires in Malibu, Santa Cruz and Paradise, but he has Mountain Democrat photo by Thomas Frey Flames rip through a Tyler Drive home in California Highway Patrol officer Jarvis Opp saved five kittens in a house Grizzly Flat. n See Officer Opp, page A6 fire July 17 in Grizzly Flat.
County educators address ‘one size fits all’ guidance Thomas Frey Staff writer Administrators of three school districts in El Dorado County have written letters to state officials, opposing statewide COVID-19 guidance. The California Department of Public Health announced July 12 that it was easing its mask guidance for kids in a K-12 setting based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated recommendations. The new safety measures for faculty and students make wearing masks outside optional, but when inside masks are required. CDC’s new guidance also reflects recent evidence that indicates in-person instruction can occur safely without physical distancing when masking is implemented. Local educators say COVID-19 restrictions should be made at the district level, not the state. “Face covering requirements should be left in the hands of locally elected school boards,” states Mother Lode Union School District Superintendent Curtis Wilson in his July 22 letter to CDPH. “California is a diverse state and each school district and local health conditions differ. Therefore, implementing a ‘one size fits all’ face covering guidance policy seems unreasonable and unscientific.” County supervisors voted to support residents who oppose mask mandates, especially “no n
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See guidance, page A7
Mountain Democrat photo by Eric Jaramishian
Tyler Jacobs holds a bronze plaque honoring his father, the late Capt. Paul Jacobs, as a space for it is readied on the Honor Wall of the El Dorado County Veterans Monument Tuesday afternoon.
Navy captain’s plaque goes up Eric Jaramishian Staff writer
I
t’s settled. Tyler Jacobs got to see his father, Navy Capt. Paul Jacobs,’ bronze plaque placed on the Honor Wall at the El Dorado County Veterans
Monument in Placerville Tuesday. The plaque placement followed a decision by the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors to deny an appeal by monument founder Richard Buchanan on the grounds that the Navy captain did not meet criteria to go on the Honor Wall.
The appeal, filed July 6, came on the heels of an initial appeal made to the El Dorado County Veterans Affairs Commission, which was unanimously denied. Paul Jacobs, who died at his n
See Plaque, page A6
22 EID generators funded with some FEMA money Michael Raffety Mountain Democrat correspondent At an estimated cost of $2.4 million, the El Dorado Irrigation District will fund 22 generators, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency paying 75% of that figure — $1.8 million. EID will pick up 25% of the cost. The application for these funds through the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services was authorized by the board June 24, 2019. A year later on June 2 the district received notice from FEMA that its application for 10 drinking water pump backup generators and 12 wastewater lift station generators had
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been approved. Before buying generators the district must advertise for design services proposals. Design is expected to be completed in 2022, with construction in the spring of that year, including automatic activation during a power outage and connection to its supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. The generators are expected to be operational by summer 2023, according to information provided by district Senior Engineer Liz Carrington. The water pump station backup generators will also ensure there is enough water pressure for firefighters hooking up to fire hydrants to put out a fire.
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Board President Pat Dwyer noted that from his experience on the El Dorado County Fire Safe Council he knows how complex and vexing applying for such grants can be. He also noted this is a one-time savings for generators that the district would have had to buy anyway. The district has three years to use the grant. In the meantime, work continues by Granite Construction on the $42.7 million Folsom Lake pump station upgrade. The overhead bridge crane and stainless steel piping required additional lugs welded n
See Generators, page A3
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