October archives

Oct. 25

Ponte Ranch proposal goes to county planners

Project calls for 1,027 housing units

By Nick Baptista

   The Ponte Ranch Project, a major commercial and housing development proposed for approximately 450 acres near downtown Valley Springs, was submitted Oct. 20 to the Calaveras County Community Development Agency and Planning Department.

   Ryan Voorhees, president and owner of CRV Enterprises, is the developer and Dave Tanner of Tanner Consulting Group is the planning consultant.

   The proposal has been in the discussion stage for more than a year and encompasses property that is located between Lime Creek, South Petersburg and Hogan Dam roads and the Valley Springs Public Utility District Treatment Plant.

   Proposed plans call for a mixture of open space, trails, homes, kindergarten through eighth-grade school, 150-room hotel and conference center, commercial office complex, shopping center and fire station/sheriff’s substation.

   The proposed development, first introduced as Spring Valley in July 2005, was the subject of a town hall meeting a year ago and has been modified after receiving input from the public and several community groups and organizations, such as myvalleysprings.com, Tanner said.

   Ideas coming from those meetings led to the incorporation of landscape screening and impervious surface management into the project, Tanner added.

   The proposal submitted to the county seeks a tentative subdivision map for 1,027 housing units. The project has one 2.5-acre park and links to the proposed school site, Calaveras County Water District retention basin and recreation area projected off Highway 26 and Hogan Dam Road and the proposed regional park at New Hogan Lake.

   Some of CRV Enterprises’ mitigation fees will be used to assist in the development of those nearby parks, Tanner said.

   In addition, CRV Enterprises has purchased a 240-acre site above Paloma Road that will be utilized for storm water retention, wastewater spray fields, additional open space and oak tree mitigation, he said.

   Plans also call for the Valley Springs Public Utility District and CCWD to work together on a new water treatment facility that will service the proposed project with the capability of handling additional future growth in the community. The water would come from CCWD’s unused allotment of water at New Hogan Lake.

   The office complex and shopping center have the potential to create in excess of 1,000 new jobs in Valley Springs, Tanner said, while the new Foothill Fire Protection District station would include a community meeting room, Sheriff’s substation and emergency med flight helicopter pad.

   Another feature of the plan is the development a new road that could eventually connect Highways 12 and 26 and relieve traffic congestion at the four-way stop in downtown Valley Springs.

   Tanner said he anticipates the Ponte Ranch Project will reach the Calaveras County Planning Commission in six months for consideration.  

Oct. 20

Morgan Thomas, left, with her sister Brittany.

Death of 15-year-old provides life to others

By Nick Baptista

   A Valley Springs area mother lost her 15-year-old daughter to a horse-riding accident Oct. 14, but she and her family have found solace that Morgan G. Thomas’ death and the donation of her organs saved or helped the lives of several other children.

   Morgan’s aunt, Sheri Nichols, speaking for the family, said several of her niece’s organs were used to save the life of a 5-year-old girl and other organs were donated to the Shriner’s Hospital in Sacramento to the benefit of additional children.

   “I may not be bringing my baby home, but another mother will be able to bring her baby home from the hospital,” was Gina Neal’s reaction after the death of her daughter, Nichols said.

   Morgan died on her 15^th birthday doing one of the things she loved best, her aunt said. She was a very experienced rider and the horse simply tripped, Nichols added.

   The accident happened in the family’s horse arena off Southworth Road at approximately 10 a.m. Morgan was riding her grandmother’s horse Kia.

   The horse sustained a bruise, but otherwise was unharmed in the fall in the sandy arena, Nichols said.

   Morgan was transported by medical helicopter to the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where she was pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m.

   Nichols described her niece as “a great kid, full of life who liked to be in the background and hated it when people frowned. She loved life, her family and animals.”

   Morgan also enjoyed softball, basketball and country music and after a recent visit to the County Music Capital of Nashville, she was looking forward to the family’s planned move to Tennessee.

   She attended Calaveras High School last year as a freshman, but recently withdrew in anticipation of the move to Tennessee, her aunt said.

   A celebration of Morgan’s life was held. Monday at Assembly of God Church in Valley Springs.

   Morgan was 2 years old when her father died, Nichols said. One of the items on her My Space webpage was that she would like to have gotten to know her father more.

   “She’s doing that now,” her aunt said.

   The family has established a fund in Morgan’s memory at the Bank of Rio Vista to help with burial and other expenses. Donations can be sent to In Memory of Morgan G. Thomas, Bank of Rio Vista, 2 Nove Way, Valley Springs, CA, 95252.

   “People have rallied to help us,” Nichols said. “We live in such a good county.”

   In addition to her mother and aunt, Morgan is survived by her sisters Ashley, 20; Brittany, 19, and Anna, 7; half brothers Trevor Thomas and Nicholas Thomas; grandparents Norman and Mary Lou Andrews, Don and Joan Nichols, and Patsy Thomas. Aunt and uncle Mary and John Hejny and uncle Mark Thomas also survive her.

   Her cousins are Donald, Katherine, Cassandra, Lydia, Josiah, Johnny, Dorothy, Grace, T.J. and Isiah Hejny and Kim, Julie and Christina Baker.  

Oct. 13

Burson Postmaster Wendi Sherman displays a sheet of the Breast Cancer Research Stamp, the first-ever “semipostal” or fundraising stamp issued by the Postal Service.

Stamps help breast cancer research effort

By Nick Baptista

   Burson Postmaster Wendi Sherman is doing her part to increase funding for breast cancer research.

   Sherman, a cancer survivor, uses the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to promote the Postal Service’s Breast Cancer Awareness stamp. The stamp costs 6 cents more at 45 cents for first-class postage, but the additional charge goes to the National Institutes of Health and the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense.

   The stamp has raised nearly $48 million for breast cancer research since it was first issued July 29, 1998. Congress recently extended the sale of the Breast Cancer Stamp to Dec. 31, 2007.

   Designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, the stamp features the phrases, "Fund the Fight" and "Find a Cure" and an illustration of a mythical "goddess of the hunt" by Whitney Sherman of Baltimore.

   Sherman is encouraging her postal patrons to spend the extra money and be eligible for a gift-basket drawing. The theme of the gift basket she is preparing for one lucky customer is “Things That Are Pink,” the color associated with the fight against breast cancer.

   Postal patrons who buy an entire sheet of Breast Cancer Awareness stamps are donating $1.20 to the cause and will receive a chance to enter the drawing.

   The extra expense for the stamp is tax-deductible, Sherman said, and customers will receive a receipt to save for tax purposes.

   The drawing will take place Nov. 1.

   Sherman, who underwent surgery a year ago and is undergoing treatment until February, also has informational literature regarding breast cancer, such as the “ABCs of Breast Health” and “Three Steps to Finding Breast Cancer Early,” available in the post office.

Oct. 11

Jamie Luoma is on the road to recovery after sustaining injuries in a Sept. 7 auto accident.

Benefit set to help Luoma family after tragic accident

   A Nov. 4 benefit dinner and dance to assist a 4-year-old Valley Springs girl injured in a Sept. 7 auto accident that claimed the life of her mother is being organized.

   Jamie Luoma, 4, sustained major injuries including head trauma and was transported by air ambulance to U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento following the accident on Highway 26 west of Escalon-Belotta Road.

   Her mother, Flora Santos Luoma, 45, died from injuries sustained when the 2002 Land Rover she was driving collided head-on with a 2005 International big rig.

   According to the CHP, the big rig was westbound on Highway 26 east of Fine Road when it drifted off the south side of the road. The driver overcorrected and the rig veered left into the eastbound lane directly into Mrs. Luoma’s path.

   Mrs. Luoma was a registered nurse at Stockton’s Dameron Hospital.

   The Luoma Family Benefit is scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to midnight at the Veterans Memorial Hall, 189 Pine St., Valley Springs, and will feature the sounds of Stone Corral. In addition to a dinner and dance, the event will include a raffle and auction.

   The cost is a $15 donation per person and Samantha or Geoff Cooper are the contacts at (209) 772-8802 or (209) 483-8342.

   Direct donations can be made to the family through an account at the Bank of Rio Vista. Donations can be sent to Bank of Rio Vista, The Luoma Family Benefit, 2 Nove Way, Valley Springs, CA 95252.

Oct. 6

Students at Jenny Lind Head Start School have prepared a get-well card for Angelo Joseph "Joey" Regusci Jr. who was wounded late last month in Iraq.

GI with Valley Springs ties wounded in Ramadi

By Nick Baptista

   A U.S. soldier with family in Valley Springs is recovering from life-threatening wounds sustained late last month in Iraq.

   Angelo Joseph “Joey” Regusci Jr. was wounded in Ramadi, Iraq, as his unit was defusing a roadside bomb. One GI died from the blast and another was wounded. Regusci, whose father Angelo Joseph Sr. and stepmother Dorothy have lived in Valley Springs the past six years, is recovering from multiple injuries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

   Regusci’s father and sister Casey, a former Marine, have been at his bedside during the recovery, Dorothy said.

   Regusci joined the U.S. Marines shortly after graduating from Vanden High School in the Fairfield-Vacaville area. Following his discharge from the Marines, Regusci joined the U.S. Army and was looking forward to making the service a career, his stepmother said.

   He had just re-enlisted in the Army for another six years when he was wounded. He had been in Iraq for approximately a year.

   The family moved to Valley Springs after Regusci entered the service, but he would spend time in the area visiting his family when he was on leave.

   He is “doing OK now,” Dorothy said, following several surgeries. The lens has been removed from his right eye and it will be reattached in six months. In addition, he sustained a broken jaw, broken right arm, lost hearing in his right ear and is recovering from shrapnel wounds to his right leg and arm.

   He was expected to undergo skin-graft surgery to his leg on Thursday and he is on blood thinners to control blood clots in his leg.

   The road to recovery is expected to take from three to nine months, Dorothy said, but he could be coming home during his recovery in a month to six weeks.

   “He’s getting much stronger everyday,” she said, and a recent visit by two members of the band Aerosmith “pumped his spirits up.”

   In addition, students at the Jenny Lind Head Start School prepared a get-well card to help improve Regusci’s spirits.

   “He’s not out of the woods now, but at least he’s safe,” his stepmother said.  

Oct. 4

Valley Springs Elementary School students had an opportunity last week to see their earlier creativity during a parade of quilts. The students designed the squares for 21 quilts. one for each class, an all will be on display this weekend at the Fall Quilt Show.

School's patriotic creations to be on display at Fall Quilt Show

By Nick Baptista

   Valley Springs Elementary School students who provided artwork for a series of patriotic quilts that will be on display during this weekend’s 2006 Fall Quilt Show got an opportunity to see their work prior to the event.

   A parade of the school’s quilts was conducted during an assembly on Friday and all 21 quilts will be showcased during Saturday and Sunday’s event presented by the Loose Threads Quilt Guild of Valley Springs.

   Working with members of the guild, students in the school’s 21 classrooms last school year drew patriotic quilt blocks and those blocks were placed on the 21 quilts the guild completed. Plans call for the quilts to be sold to the public through a silent auction and the proceeds returned to each class.

   The student quilts feature a variety of themes including Red, White and Blue, Frog and Flags, The Cat in the Hat, the Twin Towers and Patriotic Stars.

   Guild members also told the students about the history of quilts and their Quilts of Valor program to provide a handmade quilt to each service man and woman wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  The show will be at the Valley Springs Elementary School multipurpose room and the hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

   Margaret Peters is the featured quilt artist and there will be longarm demonstrations by Dian Keeper and Gail Belmont.

   Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children.  

Mail: P.O. Box 1297, Valley Springs, CA 95252 
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