Meeting on May 13The regular meeting of the Amador County Sesquicentennial Committee will be held on May 13 from noon to 2 p.m. in the large meeting room at the General Services Department complex on Airport Road.
The committee will meet again on May 27 but will move its location to the county administration center on Stoney Creek Road.
The committee has decided to meet at least twice monthly until after the Sesquicentennial Banquet on June 14.
Monument dedicationThe county's Sesquicentennial Committee and the Native Sons parlors will dedicate a monument and plaque to the older-than-you-think Amador County Courthouse on June 5.
The Committee's Plaque Project chair, Charline Buckley, reported that the three Native Sons parlors in the county - Ione, Jackson, Sutter Creek - will pay for the monument to be placed in front of the courthouse and the order's Grand Parlor will dedicate it. Official county approval is expected.
When a new courthouse is created out of the 1950s old hospital and the present county administration building is converted into courts for the State Superior Courts of Amador County, what's to become of the old courthouse?
Some rumors circulate that the state wants to raze because it's a hazard. Others say the county wants to sell it. In a few years, for the first time in the county's history, it looks like it will abandon historic courthouse hill.
The present building, with its 1940s facade, may not look overly ancient but historians know that its art deco skin hides the brick sinews of two earlier county buildings, the second court house built by 1864, and the hall of records, which arose in 1893. Over time, through in-fill construction, those two buildings became one.
In the late 1930s, the county went modern and wrapped the old in a new facade and tacked on a new jail.
Will "save the old courthouse" be the cry in a few years? If the courthouse goes, will the plaques and monuments remain to remind of the history that occurred there? Stay tuned.
Liberty Pole"Liberty" as concept and reality was probably more on the minds of residents here 150 years ago when Amador County was born and the town of Sutter Creek was incorporated.
That's why Sutter Creek's founders marked the center of the new political subdivision at the "liberty pole." Apparently, they didn't erect a new pole but used an existing one as the town heart.
Who put the old one up? Perhaps Hanford and Downs or Hanford and Wildman, early-day traders at a post on hilltop in the early 1850s.
The site was on what used to be called "Little Humbug Hill," roughly in front of today's Native Sons Hall on Main and Highway 49. Fitting therefore that Amador Parlor 17, Native Sons of the Golden West, whose hall rests on the legendary hill and whose facade faces where the pole once stood, will be sponsors to erect another.
According to the ramrod for the project, councilman and vice mayor Bill Hepworth of Sutter Creek, the flag pole will be 30 feet tall.
It would probably take extensive research to determine when the old pole went down - but most likely in one of the many fires which scorched that side of Main as late as 1888. The county archives did come up with a photo taken in 1866 which shows a pole appearing over the roofs on Main Street stores.
Whether that one was re-erected after a fire or the original, no one can say. But Sutter Creek, on a date this fall, will once again have its "liberty pole." It may foster residents to again think more about what "liberty" means and how precious it is.
T-shirt sales doing wellCommemorative items promoted by the Amador County Sesquicentennial Committee are selling like proverbial flapjacks. Profits from the sales are going into the committee's Cemetery Fund, benefitting all of Amador's pioneer cemeteries.
By this writing, probably as many as 300 T-shirts with Ralph Merzlak's "Moon Over Thunder Mountain" panoramic photo at Raley's have been sold. The cemetery fund gets $6 per shirt. It gets $50 each for the same photo framed and matted.
Ron Scofield's now-familiar Sesquicentennial logo appears on other items like banners and throws, all very popular, says ACSC promotions chair, Lynda Burman. Also expected to appear sometime in June is a Sesquicentennial silver coin designed by Robert Richards of Sutter Creek and being funded by Daniel Trassare of Jackson.
Not for sale, but to be given away at the Sesquicentennial Banquet are other commemorative items including engraved wine glasses donated by the Volcano Telephone Company. Other items are also included in the price of the dinner.
Grand jury appear at Sesquicentennial meetingRepresentatives of the Amador County Grand Jury (2003-2004) appeared before the Amador County Sesquicentennial Committee last week. To investigate? Fortunately, no. They sought permission to use the ASCS logo on the cover of their report due out this summer.
They got it, with relief.
Bank of Amador contributes $500To help defray expenses for the gala Sesquicentennial Banquet on June 14 - the county's birthday - Bank of Amador has contributed $500. Bank president Larry Standing, on behalf of officers, employees and stockholders of the local bank, passed the check to the ACSC this week.
Wal-Mart displayHow do you reach Amador and area people about the Sesquicentennial and its events? Having a display at the entrance of Wal-Mart would work.
At a meeting, Shirley Miller reported that such exhibit is now in place, with banner, flag, a display of photos, news about the cemetery tour and a calendar of events.
They want to change the display often. So keep the new items coming.
