Cruisin’
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
Corvette club rolls through local senior communities. friday, August 7, 2020
News, Etc., B1
Volume 169 • Issue 92 | 75¢
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2 eateries face stiff fines if they stay open Pat Lakey Staff writer El Dorado County will send certified letters warning of hefty fines to two restaurants that county officials say are not abiding by COVID-19 restrictions, mainly by not requiring employees and others to wear face masks, in an effort to gain their compliance. The letters, reportedly to be sent out in the next few days, will explain that if Apple Bistro on Highway 50 just east of Placerville and Café El Dorado at 5787 Pleasant Valley Road do not take measures to follow directives emanating from Gov. Gavin Newsom, the suspension of their county health
could reach $500 a day, Baldridge permits that occurred late last week said, “Fine, fine, fine — I’m trying to will lead to fines that could reach as make a living here and I’m staying high as $500 a day. open. Contacted by phone Thursday as “I put my life she was busy savings into this putting together “I put my life savings into this and I’m not going breakfasts for down.” customers, Café and I’m not going down.” Phone calls El Dorado’s — Café El Dorado owner Cherie Baldridge to Apple Bistro owner said she were answered by intends to remain a recording of a open despite woman’s voice that says the restaurant learning about the letter soon to that lies between Placerville and arrive in the mail. “I don’t care,” said Cherie Baldridge, Camino is “still open every day from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., despite what the health who has had the restaurant four-anddepartment or media are stating.” The a-half years. Told the fines start at message apologizes to callers, saying, $100 a day for the first offense and
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“We are unable to answer the phone due to all this hype.” Jeannette Waldow, owner of Apple Bistro, has dug in her heels regarding staying open for customers with or without facial coverings. Complaints from the public led to the two eateries drawing attention from county health officials and while disciplinary action has begun against both, the women are standing firm. In fact, posted prominently at Apple Bistro are signs that essentially tell “government agents” they are trespassing on the property and therefore are themselves subject to n
See Fines, page A5
Glitch skewing case rate; county avoids COVID-19 watch list Thomas Frey Staff writer
Photo by Laurie Edwards
Nothing that swims the chilly depths of Ice House Reservoir could possibly outshine the Neowise Comet as it tracks through the night sky July 22. The comet has been starring in nature’s own play, “Splendor in the Sky,” since midJune and its run can still be seen (with binoculars) nightly by checking out the northwest corner of the sky’s stage. Neowise was closest to Earth July 23 and won’t be back for another 6,800 years, according to NASA. This photo is a composite of three images taken after sunset, as the sky was darkening and then when the Neowise Comet appeared after it became completely dark.
For the time being El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams doesn’t think El Dorado County will be moved to the governor’s coronavirus watch list. While the Lake Tahoe region and El Dorado Hills are both designated as high case rate areas, the rest of the county has a moderate or low case rate. And Williams said the state’s data reporting system CalREDIE has a glitch that has led to underreporting of test results, causing the Governor’s Office to pause adding counties to the watch list. “The case reports that are being submitted by the lab are somehow getting hung up somewhere and not necessarily reaching the health departments,” Williams said at Tuesday’s El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting. If counties report more than 100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period, or 8% positivity rates, they’re placed on the state’s monitoring list. If a county remains over that threshold for three straight days, additional coronavirus safety restrictions are put in place. County data reflected a case rate of 113 per 100,000 population Aug. 5 and a positivity rate of 9.4%. “I’m pretty confident at this point with the data problems that it’s pretty unlikely that even if they corrected it today and found out we were over the threshold that we wouldn’t have at least three days (but) probably a lot more than that based on them not wanting to spring anything on us,” Williams said. But watch list or no, the number of cases reported in the Tahoe region continues to draw concern. The Lake Tahoe region accounts for 340 of the county’s 702 cases (just less than 50%) that have been reported in the county and District 5 Supervisor Sue Novasel wants the state to help. Novasel, who represents that area of the county, said she is seeing an increase in tourism. With much of Sacramento closed she said many people are heading up the hill to enjoy the outdoor recreation Tahoe has to offer. “It’s getting way out of control up here,” Novasel said. “People are coming up here and they don’t care. They aren’t using personal protection; social distancing is not there. It’s very difficult to enforce.” Williams said even if Tahoe closed and restricted everything like salons, malls, gyms, places of worship and n
See Data Glitch, page A6
Supervisors delay decision on raising garbage rates Dawn Hodson Staff writer With a full agenda ahead of them, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors briefly discussed and then postponed consideration of a proposed rate hike for waste disposal services at Tuesday’s meeting. The item was continued to the Aug. 25 meeting. Up for consideration is an amendment to the Solid Waste Services Franchise Agreement with Waste Connections (El Dorado Disposal Service) requiring use of compostable green waste bags, modifying language related to the collection of green waste and community cleanup events and increasing the surcharge remitted to the county on
tons of landfilled solid waste. The board also heard a request to approve rate increases for residential and commercial trash service and use of the material recovery center. If ultimately approved by the board, effective Sept. 1 rates would increase 6.69% plus 19 cents for the collection of residential solid waste and 8.28% for the collection of commercial solid waste within the El Dorado Disposal Service franchise areas A, B and C. Franchise area A includes Placerville, Shingle Springs, Rescue, Diamond Springs, El Dorado, Pollock Pines; B includes Somerset, Grizzly Flat, Fairplay, Amber Fields, Cothrin Ranch, Mt. Aukum, Outingdale; and C includes Georgetown, Pilot Hill, Lotus, Cool, Coloma, Garden Valley and
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Greenwood. As examples of how rates would be affected if the increase is approved, the rate for a 35-gallon residential container in area A would go from $26.57 to $28.54, the rate for a 64-gallon container would go from $34.25 to $36.73 and the rate for a 96-gallon container would go from $40.15 to $43.03. Additional services would cost extra, such as the community cleanup event voucher, which would go from being free to $15. Commercial rates would vary depending on the amount of debris picked up as well as type and number of pickups per week. In area A, for example, one yard of waste picked up once a week n
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