Mountain Democrat, Wednesday, May 20, 2020

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Special delivery

Feeding kids

The Placerville and Sacramento Valley Railroad gets a new locomotive.

School districts partner to ensure no children go hungry.

News, Etc., B1

Prospecting, B2 C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r   – E s t. 18 51

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Volume 169 • Issue 59 | 75¢

mtdemocrat.com

EDUHSD cutting jobs Dylan Svoboda Staff writer

Photo by Jessica Slightam

Despite having to return home due to COVID-19, Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguer Justin Dillon is still training. He’s seen here back at home at El Dorado High School working on his form.

Blue Jays prospect

Justin Dillon pitching in Placerville

Thomas Frey Staff writer

T

he El Dorado High School football field where Justin Dillon once took snaps under center for the Cougars isn’t where the Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect expected to be this deep into the 2020 calendar year. He expected to be playing in the Toronto Blue Jays organization on the East Coast, but due to the coronavirus he is back home in Placerville and throwing on his old high school football field. “I am enjoying the extra time with my fiancée and our families, but we are all ready for the season to

start and for our lives to go back to normal,” Dillon said. “It will be interesting to see what the MLB and MILB decide to do with our season.” Since he was 5 years old Dillon has given the game of baseball everything he has. It led him to throw the first no-hitter in Sacramento State history. Then he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 10th round of the 2017 MLB draft. This season he reached the Blue Jays triple-A spring training team. But spring training came to a screeching halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that brought Dillon

and his fiancée back to Placerville.

Instead of getting ready for the season in the Toronto Blue Jays facilities, Dillon exercises and works out where he can and throws at his old high school as well as Results Physical Therapy. “I am doing a lot of anaerobic exercises, which are high-intensity movements such as medicine ball programs, tire pulls, box jumps, hill sprints and any type of explosive movements,” Dillon said. When he throws he has an array of catchers to help him out — from his father and his future father-inlaw to current Colorado Rockies catcher Dom n

The coronavirus pandemic’s fiscal impact on one El Dorado County school district is coming into focus. The El Dorado Union High School District Board of Trustees voted to lay off nearly two dozen classified employees in the coming months during a meeting May 12. The district is anticipating an approximate “10% cut in state revenue as well as the reduction or elimination of several special programs and grants, resulting in the loss of approximately $7 million,” according to district spokeswoman Serena Fuson. “This is a very difficult time for everyone in our community and we are all watching the terrible economic fallout from the coronavirus,” EDUHSD superintendent Ron Carruth said in a statement. “Every position that we are reducing was filled by an outstanding person who provided important services to help keep quality in our schools. This n

See EDUHSD, page A6

3 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in SLT region Dylan Svoboda Staff writer Three new cases of COVID-19 were found in the Lake Tahoe region over the weekend. The countywide, confirmed coronavirus case count is now 67. With no new recoveries the number of known, active cases is 15. All three new cases are men from the Lake Tahoe region. Two are in the 18-49 age group and one is older than 65. The Lake Tahoe area has now had 25 residents test positive for the virus, the most of any region of the county. El Dorado Hills sits close behind with 19 confirmed cases. The county reported 505 additional tests since Friday afternoon, the largest weekend uptick in tests to date. The county reported 258 last Monday, May 11. About 4,408 tests have been

See Dillon, page A6

n

See COvid-19 cases, page A6

Flower baskets coming back to Main Street this week Pat Lakey Staff writer This is not a story about the coronavirus that darkened so much of Placerville — and you probably should lower your face mask for a second so you can clearly shout, “Yay!” It’s good news sure to make everyone except those who have something against petunias smile. Because those glorious floral shouters of springtime once again are going to be lining Placerville’s Main Street, their bright blooms filling and overflowing baskets hanging in 20 strategic locations. The flower baskets seemed doomed not so long ago, but they weren’t

bug-bitten — they were figuratively thrown onto the trash heap by the Placerville Downtown Association, dumped unceremoniously in January as the PDA seemed to go to seed itself. Upheaval within the merchants group led to a majority of members quitting the PDA; a PDA spokesman would tell the City Council in an open meeting that the group no longer wished to accept a traditional $11,000 annual contribution from the city of Placerville for promotional purposes such as the Festival of Lights, and that numerous other PDA-associated amenities and events enjoyed by the n

Get ready for that Summer Heat!

1 DENTIST!

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Three Years Straight!

Photo by Yvette Clerici

Former Placerville mayor John Clerici, current Vice Mayor Dennis Thomas and longtime landscape artist Zane Davis and his 4-year-old son Leif, from left, over the weekend show one See Flower baskets, page A7 of the 20 baskets of petunias that will be installed along Main Street come Wednesday.

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