The Union Democrat
Pioneer puzzle
Woods Creek in the west county was brimming with placer gold when the earliest Argonauts made camp there. It was some months after the tailrace of Capt. John A. Sutter’s lumber mill unexpectedly yielded the glittering flakes that gave rise to a...
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Triumph to tragedy
Atrailer fire in Copperopolis on Friday displaced 2026 Mother Lode Roundup Queen Kaelee Gates and newly-crowned 2027 Miss Grand National Rodeo Queen Taryl Townsend, while they were in the Bay Area for a competition. The fire destroyed the trailer...
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Going for gold
Nearly 600 Special Olympics athletes from throughout Northern and Central California competed in Tuolumne County this year at four regional events hosted with help from local volunteers, donors, first responders and sports facilities. The Tuolumne...
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Viral sensation
More than 125 people packed the Stanislaus National Forest headquarters in Sonora on Thursday evening for a presentation on Bigfoot, filling 75 seats and leaving more than 50 others standing. The turnout followed a Forest Service social media post...
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Growing leaders
Members of the Tuolumne County 4-H Youth Development Program were recognized by the county Board of Supervisors during a public meeting Tuesday, with four members of the board unanimously approving a resolution proclaiming this week as National 4-H...
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Piece by piece
Workers with handheld drills and other power tools began dismantling the Bird House on Mono Way on Wednesday, starting with panels of decorative trim and sliding glass doors from the rear of the building while another worker in a boom truck bucket used...
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Labor days
County workers hold picket signs at Courthouse Square in downtown Sonora on Monday (above and bottom) and pack the Board of Supervisors chambers (right) ontuesday during the board’s weekly meeting.the workers are fighting for better pay and benefits.
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Conservation legacy
More than 120 years after President Theodore Roosevelt visited Yosemite National Park with preservationist and public lands advocate John Muir, their descendants spoke publicly Saturday at Rush Creek Lodge in a talk moderated by The Wilderness...
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Reel them in
More than three decades after Tuolumne County served as the backdrop for parts of “Back to the Future Part III” and the Academy Awardwinning western “Unforgiven,” local tourism officials are again making a push to bring film productions back to the...
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Animal anniversaries
The Performing Animal Welfare Society is marking the first anniversary of a male bobcat named Archer’s arrival at its 2,300-acre sanctuary in San Andreas. Archer came to PAWS on Sept. 7, 2025, after being among several animals seized earlier that year...
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Watershed work
More than 350 volunteers helped the Sonora-based nonprofit Yosemite Rivers Alliance improve and restore nine vulnerable Central Sierra meadows in the Stanislaus National Forest this past summer. The nonprofit’s volunteer stewardship program...
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Winning notes
Ayoung fiddler from Mountain Ranch took home the grand prize and won over the crowd Saturday at the 42nd annual Columbia Fiddle and Bango Contest at Columbia State Historic Park. Camden Prottung, a competitor younger than 20, won the fiddle category...
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Wildcat pride
Sonora High School’s annual homecoming parade filled downtown Sonora with floats, music, queen candidates, class princesse, and student revelers on Friday. Sonora High faced off with Orestimba in the first league matchup of the season. For full...
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From the ashes
It’s been one year and 23 days since the devastating 6-5 Fire burned through Chinese Camp on Sept. 2, 2025, and signs of rebuilding are becoming more apparent as some residents who lost homes in the blaze are now moving into replacement homes. Chinese...
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Built for backroads
Twain Harte Fire Department has a brand-new, offroad-capable Type 6 engine, set up for wildland fire response during fire season, significantly shorter in height and length than larger fire engines, allowing firefighters to access people, emergencies,...
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Changing course
People with the Sonora-based nonprofit Yosemite Rivers Alliance are restoring a stretch of the Tuolumne River just downstream from the town of La Grange that used to be crucial Chinook salmon and steelhead spawning habitat. Earlier this month, on...
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Protecting giants
California State Parks, with Cal Fire, plans to conduct prescribed burns in Calaveras Big Trees State Park as soon as next Wednesday, Sept. 30, in four treatment areas covering about 780 acres in the South Grove of Giant Sequoias in Tuolumne County,...
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Staffing dispute
Aformer employee and a current employee of Mercy Medical Transportation, the new ambulance contractor for Tuolumne County, have criticized Mercy for the management of its transition since taking over emergency medical services and transportation for...
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Never alone
Editor’s note: This story discusses suicide and mental health crises. Anyone experiencing a mental health or suicidal crisis can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The Tuolumne County Behavioral Health Department also operates a...
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Ackerson action
Abill that centers on Ackerson Meadow in Tuolumne County, proposing to swap about 170 acres of Yosemite National Park to be part of the Stanislaus National Forest in exchange for switching about 160 acres of National Forest land to Yosemite NP...
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Books wanted
Book donations are being accepted until Oct. 15 by Friends of the Tuolumne County Library for the organization’s annual fall book sale. Donors may leave their gently used books at the library’s front counter for processing by volunteers, who make the...
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GOP faithful
Fifty-two days before pivotal midterm elections in November, Tuolumne County Republicans gathered Saturday to wine, dine and cheer for their candidates for District 2 supervisor, California State Assembly District 8, Congressional District 5, and...
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‘Never forget’
More than 200 people of all ages turned out at the 9/11 Global War on Terrorism Memorial in Tuolumne before 9:11 a.m. Friday for a remembrance ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Military veterans from...
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Born after 9/11
Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, fewer Americans can personally remember watching the events unfold that morning. There’s nothing to remember firsthand for today’s high school students. They were born years later and know 9/11...
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Winter wildcard
Oceanographers and other forecasters say potential for a strong El Niño or super El Niño this winter is growing, and that could mean a wetter-than-average winter for the Central Sierra Nevada and the Mother Lode, as well increased risks of flooding and...
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Groveland facelift
Volunteers will fan out across Groveland and surrounding areas Saturday morning for the fifth annual Groveland Facelift, a community cleanup that last year resulted in nearly 700 pounds of trash being hauled away. The free event is scheduled from 8...
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Room to grow
Youngsters who attend Little Peeps Daycare at Chicken Ranch Rancheria helped grownups break ground Friday on a new, expanded Little Peeps facility near Chicken Ranch Casino Resort. Communications staff for the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Mewuk Indians...
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Path partners
The Stanislaus National Forest thanked the Arnold Rim Trail Association this week for partnering with the forest’s Calaveras Ranger District to host and fund a three-day trail care workshop last month, training 12 volunteers from the Ebbetts Pass...
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Data center debate
While an outright pause on datacenter development failed to get enough votes needed to pass at a public meeting Tuesday, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to begin developing regulations for the emerging industry amid concerns...
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A fresh start
Two new male adult tigers recently arrived at the nonprofit Performing Animal Welfare Society sanctuary in San Andreas, with humans at PAWS and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals praising the change in environment for the pair of giant...
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A lasting legacy
Alate Tuolumne educator, artist and historian who spent much of her life involved in music, theater and the arts has left a $150,000 gift to Summerville Elementary School District to support its growing band and performing arts programs, District...
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Sierra support
Job creation, economic development and stronger workforces in rural areas and underserved communities were the focus of regional summit in Sonora last week highlighting projects across seven Central and Eastern Sierra counties funded by $9 million in...
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Keys in hand
New tenants began moving into the first completed homes this week at a 30-home affordable housing development under construction in the Westside Subdivision in Tuolumne. It’s a significant milestone for the Tuolumne Band of Me-wuk Indians, the tribe’s...
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Creative connections
Atraveling exhibition that showcases paintings, sculptures and spoken-word works from artists across seven Central and Eastern Sierra counties is now on display at the Chakachi-no Learning Center in Jamestown as its final stop of a months-long regional...
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Still no trace
A search for a missing paddleboarder last seen nearly two weeks ago at Beardsley Reservoir has been suspended and has transitioned to a recovery operation, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office told The Union Democrat on Monday. At the same time, the...
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New approach
Four firefighters, two helicopter pilots and a contractor bulldozing a fireline have died in Colorado, Utah and Oregon this year. Fast-moving fires have burned millions of acres and destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings in the West. California,...
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‘Keep fighting’
Seventy-five days before voters go to the polls for the midterm elections, the Tuolumne County Democratic Central Committee hosted a sold-out “Evening in the Pines” dinner that featured candidates for county District 2 supervisor, California State...
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Eyes everywhere
Automated license plate reader cameras and their potential to track and share information about people, their locations, and their vehicles are among the most controversial new technologies being embraced, criticized, and, in some cases, rejected by...
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Roadless rollback
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is rolling back a rule prohibiting logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests, including more than 4 million acres of federally managed forest lands in California. The change...
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Service in action
Eagle Scout candidate Corban Stenger, a Sonora resident and member of Scouts Troop 500, recently planned, raised money for, received permissions for, and recruited help to build and complete a new sign for Columbia Airport over the course of about one...
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Generous gesture
Sierra Conservation Center and Tuolumne County Ravens Special Olympics Team furthered their longstanding relationship on Thursday, as the Ravens accepted a check for nearly $17,400 from Warden Joshua Prudhel and the prison’s Community Resource...
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Frozen peril
Agraduate of Soulsbyville Elementary and Sonora High School survived a traumatic commercial crab boat wreck in a winter Alaska storm in the dangerous Bering Sea that required U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hoist rescues of he and eight crew members in...
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Expanding care
The Mathiesen Memorial Health and Wellness Center that’s currently under construction in Jamestown is being recognized by the state as part of a broader effort to expand behavioral health care in rural and underserved communities throughout...
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Who pays?
Calmatters In the final few weeks of his last legislative session as California governor, Gavin Newsom is asking lawmakers to help reduce how much profit-making utility companies must pay out after wildfires. His administration has for weeks floated...
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Housing crunch
Every eight years, state housing regulators give cities and counties across California an especially dreaded homework assignment: Make a plan for a bunch of new homes. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration assigns localities goals to hit at four...
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Answering the call
About 650 people turned out Saturday at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds for a benefit dinner supporting 9-year-old Clayton Radovich, of Jamestown, who is battling T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. Proceeds from the “Rad Like Clayton” fundraiser will go...
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Coverage crisis
Ayear and a half after the Eaton Fire, Gil Barel is still waiting to move back into the Pasadena home she has rented for nearly a decade. Her complex did not burn down, but smoke engulfed it for days during the January 2025 fire. Barel wants to make...
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Deadly aftermath
Authorities working the Gann Fire in Calaveras County found a deceased woman inside a burned residence in the 4600 block of Jaquima Drive in unincorporated Angels Camp, county sheriff’s and coroner’s staff said Thursday. Cal Fire announced earlier...
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‘Don’t Flock me’
This story was originally published by Calmatters. In the past year alone, they’ve helped catch suspected murderers, bank robbers and hit-and-run drivers. They’ve located dozens of stolen cars and helped send a wildland arsonist to prison. They’re...
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Gann Fire
A brush fire that broke out Monday evening southeast of New Hogan Reservoir and Valley Springs had grown to 3,760 acres by 4 p.m. Tuesday with no containment, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for 90 square miles of rural western...
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Still soaring
More than 80 years after flying bombing missions over Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, Tuolumne County resident Dennis “Denny” Thompson celebrated his 104th birthday Saturday at Sonora Moose Lodge 2183. The celebration honored not only...
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Young changemakers
Agroup of high school students who call themselves Tuolumne Students for Change recently hosted a car wash and raised $600 for one of the county’s leading distributors of food to families in need. Donors with the Sonora Area Foundation heard about the...
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Vanished paradise
Newlyweds Robert and Dorothy Duryea were outdoor enthusiasts par excellence, so it was not too unusual that they chose camping in Yosemite National Park for a two-week honeymoon. The couple, 1913 Stanford University graduates, were married in a...
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Recovery continues
The Sonora man accused of causing the Dove Fire told investigators he had been smoking a cigarette near the blaze’s point of origin Sunday afternoon when he dropped the butt into some dry grass and ran off after realizing it had ignited a fire that was...
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Built to last
Fifty years after Dan Pinnell opened a flooring business in Calaveras County, the family-owned company is celebrating both a milestone anniversary and changing of the guard. Pinnell’s Carpet One Floor & Home will host a public 50th anniversary...
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Another close call
As firefighters continued to get the 225-acre Dove Fire under control Monday afternoon, a second vegetation broke out less than a mile away and prompted new evacuations, road closures and another large emergency response before crews stopped its...
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Master craftsman
San Andreas native Dewayne Konz has been woodworking for most of his life. According to him, when he was just a young man attending Calaveras High School, woodshop was the only class that he got an A in. “My woodshop teacher loved me,” the 65-year-old...
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New lifeline
Aproposal to secure a new long-term water source for Tuolumne County has reached a major milestone after more than a decade of work. On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation opened a 60-day public comment period on a draft contract that would...
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Rad like Clayton
The Mother Lode Fairgrounds will host a benefit dinner at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, in support of Clayton Radovich, a 9-year-old Jamestown boy who is battling T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. The dinner, organized by local community members in support...
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Recreation rising
The nonprofit Youth Sports Foundation of Tuolumne County is now well underway with phase two construction at its Foundation Sports Park in East Sonora, next to the county-owned Standard Park Sports Complex. Phase one of Foundation Sport Park is...
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Bigfoot fest
The sixth annual Sierra Bigfoot Music Festival returned to Twain Harte over the weekend, bringing three days of family fun and live music back to the Sierra Nevada foothills as it has every year since 2020. The festivities began Friday afternoon with...
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‘The real truth’
On a warm, still morning off Big Hill Road, high above Columbia and downtown Sonora, a family sought painful answers about a loved one who was last seen more than 15 years ago. Sonora residents Sandy Lee, 66, Darvis Lee Sr., 74, and Jake Lee, 27, were...
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Community canvas
Community boosters in Big Oak Flat and Groveland recently organized the creation of a 65-foot-wide, 9-foot-tall mural to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and unveiled it last Saturday on the Wards Ferry Road side of Around the Horn Brewing Co. Board...
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Cowboy kindness
Members of the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Posse welcomed athletes from the local Special Olympics Northern California team, the Tuolumne Ravens, and representatives of Black Oak Casino Resort to the Posse Grounds on Tuesday evening to present the Ravens...
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Highway redo
Caltrans District 10 has started a $36.4 million project to rehabilitate and resurface 31.7 linear miles of Highway 4 in Alpine County, westward from Highway 89 to the Calaveras County line, a job that is scheduled to be completed by November...
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Campus prep
There wasn’t a parking spot in sight Saturday morning near Cover’s Apple Ranch in Tuolumne, as nearly 1,500 people came to celebrate the Back-to-school Bash and Touch-a-truck events that were held at the property. The free event was hosted by the...
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Gold Rush kids
More than a dozen children from as far as Manteca and as near as Sonora arrived in Columbia Friday morning for the kickoff of the Columbia State Historic Park Junior Rangers program. The program is scheduled to be a four-week educational course that’s...
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Funding fight
Property owners in Groveland rejected a proposed fire assessment Wednesday that would have provided roughly $1.6 million in additional funding per year for the Groveland Community Service District Fire Department. Results announced Wednesday by GCSD...
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World stage
High Voltage Dance Academy in Sonora sent shockwaves through the dance world last month at the 2026 Thunderstruck International Finals in Las Vegas, which took place at the Rio Hotel and Casino from June 23-27. At the conclusion of what the academy...
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Golden Rule
Five generations of a Sonora family gathered Sunday to celebrate the 100th birthday of the woman who made it all possible. Marjorie East marked a century of life that has included growing up during the Great Depression and World War II to a...
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Fair success
Organizers say about 13,000 people attended the Mother Lode Fair from Thursday through Sunday that featured the return of a professional rodeo and destruction derby, special exhibits in honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary and generated more...
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Heritage and honor
Sonora resident Carol Travis pointed to a photo of her father, Ronald “Mick” Hamilton, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, and a photo of her fatherin-law, Robert Rundle, who served in the U.S. Army during World War II, on Thursday in...
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‘A surreal experience’
Five Twain Harte Fire Department firefighters responded to the massive June 11 warehouse distribution yard fire in Tracy, which consumed a 1-millionsquare-foot Medline medical supply warehouse in under one hour and sent up a dark smoke column that rose...
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Bucking expectations
Two years ago, 16-year-old Jamestown native Lincoln Arellano made the decision to start training as a competitive saddle bronc rider. That decision led him down a path to a second-place finish last month at the California High School Rodeo State...
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Community promise
Tangible steps of a dream-come-true were taken by Tuolumne County residents and Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-wuk Indians of California members, as ground was broken on the site of what will eventually be home to a new, $32 million health care facility...
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