NEWS, ETC.
SPORTS
Ponderosa postseason probable after win over Nevada Union.
Tibetan Buddhist Monks return to El Dorado County this week.
A5
B1 Clothing and S hoes Placerville 455 Placerville
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020
mtdemocrat.com
Volume 169 • Issue 18
| 75¢
Dr Cameron Park 3300 Coach Ln
“The whole point ... is to get our new friends, the homeless campers, invested in the idea that there’s a better way ... ” — Pete Brown, organizer with The Lighted Candle
Placerville 3961 El Dorado Folsom 616 E. Bidwell
Rd
www.SnowlineHos pice.org
District 1 supervisor race
Candidates talk EDH hot topics Sel Richard Staff writer
Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
Deanne Fittro, holding son Graceson, gets a kiss from Danny Palmer as the couple recounts their experience living on the streets among El Dorado County’s homeless. Deanne and Danny sobered up to leave that life behind and are now living in an apartment in Cameron Park.
Homeless couple chooses
family over fear Pair tells Placerville officials of help and support from The Lighted Candle
Pat Lakey Staff writer
Danny got a job and they moved into a Cameron Park apartment. And that’s a great thing, because Deanne was afraid she was going to give birth to her son while living on a hillside above Broadway in Placerville. She and Danny, who occasionally had run into one another during their nomadic lifestyle, reconnected on Facebook and found the chemistry had grown stronger over the years. And what grew truly powerful was their will to change, to get off the drugs and alcohol and get off the tent-studded hill above Broadway. “I got my daughter back,” said Terri Fittro, visiting her daughter and sonin-law in the same complex where Terri had slammed the door half-a-dozen years ago. And Grandma also got a miracle named Graceson, a grandson born four
D
eanne Fittro met Danny Palmer at Magoon’s Saloon in Pollock Pines 14 years ago, both drinking and drugging and both destined to be homeless as each wore the mantle of “black sheep” in their families. Terri Fittro kicked her then 31-yearold daughter out the door of her Cameron Park apartment six years ago. Palmer’s folks booted him from their Pollock Pines house, telling the then-25year-old to hit the streets; he’s 40 today. That’s a long time to live homeless for both Deanne and Danny — but today they feel like their lives have begun anew, thanks to help from The Lighted Candle, a volunteer group that helped them get back on their feet. The Palmers married in August,
weeks early last October, but who now is a chubby, cheery little soul who loves to smile. Graceson (pronounced Grayson) was so named because, Deanne said, her child is proof of God’s grace, giving her another chance to live the life she craves. She became clean and sober during her pregnancy and despite the fact that she has an older son, Michael, who will be 11 in March, she has no doubt that her new baby is a gift that lit up the path she needed to take with Danny. “We’re going to court soon, to try to get custody of Michael,” smiled Deanne, handing off her newest boy to her mom. Danny, who is the nephew of late golfing great Arnold Palmer, now works for First Impressions Design and Landscape — a job he landed with the help of one of the volunteers from The n
District 1 supervisor candidates fielded constituents’ questions Thursday night Ron Briggs at a League of Women Voters of El Dorado County forum at the Norm Rowett Pavilion. Incumbent John Hidahl, El Dorado Hills Community Services District board President Wayne Haug Ben Paulsen, attorney and former EDHCSD board member Wayne Haug and former District 4 Supervisor Ron Briggs spoke on issues ranging John Hidahl from cityhood viability, land use, taxes, campaign financing and personal vision. Hidahl opened by citing his 41 years in local government, Ben Paulsen ranging from roles on the El Dorado Hills Fire Board, the Area Planning Advisory Committee, EDH n
See Candidates, page A7
notice In observance of Presidents’ Day holiday the Mountain Democrat will not publish Monday, Feb. 17.
See Homeless couple, page A7
Garden Valley fire punts — firefighters to be laid off n Board of Directors takes
no action in budget shortfall Dawn Hodson Staff writer After months of exploring different options in the wake of a failed assessment to fund fire services, the Garden Valley Fire Protection District Board of Directors held a special meeting Feb. 5 and decided against all of them. That decision means three Garden Valley Fire Protection District engineer/ paramedics will be laid off and the district will have to tighten its belt and rely more on volunteers for the foreseeable future. Currently Garden Valley has six full-time engineer/paramedics, one part-time fire chief and one part-time administrative secretary. Facilities include one main fire station in Garden Valley and two volunteer stations, one in Kelsey and the other in Greenwood.
1 DENTIST!
#
Three Years Straight!
Down the road from the main station is a Cal Fire facility. The district’s financial problems come on the heel of the failure of last year’s ballot measure that would have put an additional fire suppression assessment of $182.58 on improved property and $71.38 on unimproved property with an annual increase of 2 percent. That meant the district’s current budget of between $1.4 million and $1.5 million, which includes revenue from property taxes, strike teams and incident management teams, would be reduced in the coming fiscal year to around $740,000, not including any strike team or incident management team revenue, which can vary from year to year depending on need. Layoff notices to three engineer/ paramedics have already gone out, according to Garden Valley Fire Chief Clive Democrat photo by Dawn Hodson Savacool, although Savacool said if one Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit Chief Scott Lindgren, standing third from left, of his captains is qualified and capable of discusses how a Schedule A contract with his agency would work at the special n See Garden Valley Fire, page A6 meeting of the Garden Valley Fire Protection District Board of Directors Feb. 5.
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