CLAIM JUMPERS: Preseason play ends with 10-5 record MORE IN SPORTS:Gymnasium packed with New Year's resolution-makers; Bowler Papapetrou barely misses perfect score, C1
1HE MOl HERLODE'S LEADING INFORMATION SOURCE SINCE1854 • SONORA, CALIFORNIA
WEEKEND
JAN. 2-4, 2016
e erans revise ans or memoria
TOD AY'S READER BOARD BRIEFING OPlnloll —Harrop: Some states lagging in Real ID Act compliance; Fields: What a year for women, for better or worse.A4 'a.
ROcldWOIR —Delays slated for highways 12 and 26 in Calaveras County.A4
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Commission to consider changes to pavilion plan
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SIERRA LIVING
By ALEX MacLEAN The Union Democrat
Military veterans hoping to build a memorial pavilion outside of the Tuolumne Veterans Memorial Hall honoring victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have revised their plans to remedy concerns raised by a county advisory committee.
The Tuolumne County Historic Preservation Review Commission considered the original plans in November and asked the project's proponents to rework the design so the monument would not block the view of the historic structure at 18875 Fir Ave. in Tuolumne. The veterans will present the revised • KEEP 'EM WARM: Experts warn pet owners of the dangers of cold temperatures.B1 • FOAM RECYCLING: Gardeners offer annual polystyrene recycling in January.B1
NEWS ELSEWHERE • POPE SPEECH:Pope Francis calls for an end to the "arrogance of the powerful" in New Year' s homily at St. Peter' s Square.A2 • EMAILS:State Department releases 5,500 more pages of Clinton electronic correspondence, thousands of pages short of the goal. A2
PUBLIC OFFICIALS • Senator Tom Berryhill (R). State Senate District 14: 4641 Spyres, Suite
2, Modesto, CA 95356; 576-6470. Two-year term ends 2016. • Assemblyman Frank Bigelow (R). Congressional District 5: 33-C Broadway, Jackson, CA 95642. Phone: 916-3192005 or 209-223-0505. Two-year term ends 2016.
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plans to the commission at a meeting scheduled for 4p.m. Monday on the fourth floor of the County Administration Center, at 2 S. Green St., Sonora. "We respect their opinions, obviously, and we want somebody to be critical about the thing to make sure it's correct," said Iraq veteran Aaron Rasmussen, who is working closely on the project with Vietnam veteran Frank Smart. The new designs eliminate the roofed
Tori ThomasI Union Democrat Iabova) Courtesy photo,Nick Gauthiar (right)
Brandon Crabtree (above, in blue), 9, of Modesto, sleds with his brother, Wyatt Crabtree, 5, on a trashfree hill Friday near Twain Harte Golf Club. Other areas of the county have been left littered with trash by snow seekers, some of which filled firefighter Nick Gauthier's truck bed (right) after he cleaned a stretch of Highway 108 on Monday.
pavilion and push the monument farther
east on the northwest lawn of the property to avoid blocking the view of the hall from Fir Avenue. Three stone plaques would be mounted on the memorial itself commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks and ensuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Proponents say the memorial could also be
Local firefighter cleans up highway trashed by snow-seekers Broken sleds, grocery bags, The Union Democrat tires,bottles and cans, food scrapsand a pair of chopsticks At 5 a.m. Monday morning, filled more than a dozen plastic firefighter Nick Gauthier could garbage bags. startto see dark marks against Gauthier found more than the snow along Highway 108 on 200 water bottles, a quarter of his way to plow a helistation which were left unopened. south of Pinecrest. His final stop, the popular "By the time the sun came unofficial snow-play area Little out, I could see the damage Sweden, had the most debris. done," said Gauthier, 29, of Tu- Built i n 1921 as a ski resort, olumne. an abandoned building was deThe next two hours he spent molished by the county in 2012. picking up t r ash from Long The privately owned property Barn to Little Sweden, 22 miles has long had issues with illeeast of Sonora, leftcarelessly by gal parking and being used as a snow-seekers. dump site. uI told my boss I'm clockGauthier carted his pickup ing out, I'm not looking at the truck, the bed overflowing with mess," Gauthier said. bags and bitsof broken sleds, By SEAN CARSON
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back to U.S. Forest Service Station 12 in Long Barn, where he
works. When a truck pulled up to empty the trash containers on the site, the driver asked about the trash in Gauthier's pickup. He was so moved by the cleanup effort he took the trash in addition to hi s r egular load, saving Gauthier a trip to dump, Gauthier said.
Coun faces
big agenda in new year
Low snow last weekend saw
parking violations in full swing with fl ocks o f s n ow-seekers parked illegally or obstructing the 65-mile-per-hour Highway 108, said officer Nick Norton of the California Highway Patrol.
PUBLIC MEETING:Tuolumne County Board of Supervi sors,9 a.m .Tuesday,board chambers, County Administration Center, 2 S. Green St., Sonora. By ALEX MacLEAN The Union Democrat
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The TuolumneCounty Board ofSupervisors will kick off a new year of business by tackling several issues that have generated
Norovirus cases on the rebound faces, food or water. The state public health department warned that cases of noroUpset stomach, vomiting and virus are on the rise, and there diarrhea? have been several outbreaks this It's likely norovirus, a highly winter all over California. It's commonly called the stomcontagious virus that spreads from touching contaminated sur- ach flu, but it's not related to the By LACEY PETERSON The Union Democrat
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much public interest in recent months.
Some of the highlights scheduled for Tuesday's meeting include possible decisionsrelated to a proposed Dollar General storein Columbia, architecturalwork for a new county jail, tree mortality and medical
influenza virus at all, Dr. Liza Ortiz, Tuolumne County Public Health Officer, said. California as a whole, including Tuolumne County, has seen norovirus cases this winter. Ca-
marijuana.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the board's chambers on the fourth floor of the
See ILLNESS /Back Page
Today:High 55, Low 32 Sunday:High 57, Low as Monday:High Se, Low 42
Weather Page C6
Meet Dr. Parsa. An expert in women's health. And kindness.
SeeAGENDA/Back Page
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