Fire crews are responding to a structure fire in Rancho Calaveras.

The fire on the 2200 block of Gallius Lane was reported at 2:05 p.m., according to Cal Fire.

Responding are engines from Cal Fire and Calaveras Consolidated Fire Authority and water tenders from San Andreas and Mokelumne Hill fire protection districts. 

A wooden brace supports a pier at the Sonora Inn. Maggie Beck / Union Democrat, Copyright 2013.

The wooden bracing on South Washington Street at Stockton Road was installed on the eve of the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race last May after a driver lost control of his car and crashed into a supportive pier.

Dozens of students and parents turned out for a Summerville High School board meeting Thursday to discuss an alleged student bullying incident, only to be turned away by the district’s board.

Most audience members wanted to speak about a parent complaint lodged by Al Dieste, father of freshman Beto Dieste. Dieste says his son has been targeted by bullies who, he claims, have formed a “Hate Beto” club.

This year’s bills for a controversial state fire fee will be delayed due to a high number of challenges filed by property owners.

According to representatives with both the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the state Board of Equalization, the bills for the $150 State Responsibility Area fire fee will not go out in April as expected. 

PUBLIC MEETING: Utica Power Authority, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, agency headquarters, 1168 Booster Way, Angels Camp.

The Utica Power Authority may be no more after its meeting Tuesday night.

The joint agency that brings water to Angels Camp, Murphys and points in between is expected to be called by a new name that reflects its primary purpose.

The City of Sonora will close the public parking lot at Green and Linoberg streets for more than a month starting Monday.

The 13 parking spaces will accommodate Sonora Police Department vehicles while the Green Street police station undergoes construction to its roof and garage, according to Sonora Public Works Supervisor Bill Seldon. 

Downtown Murphys business owners are lending one another a helping hand in efforts to find a pair of dogs missing now for several weeks.

Most mysterious is the disappearance of Ripley. The 9-year-old Maltipoo, a Maltese-poodle mix, served as the store mascot at Vdora on Main Street and comforted brain-injured military veterans at a Martinez VA hospital and Bay Area hospice patients prior to his Feb. 24 disappearance.

Calaveras County students learned the difference between fact and fiction at the annual Ag Day celebration Thursday at the county fairgrounds in Angels Camp.

An estimated 750 fourth- and fifth-graders from every corner of the county came to take a closer look at the county’s largest industry, according to Calaveras County Farm Bureau President Toni Ann Fischer, of Valley Springs.

Doug Clark, 65, of Sonora, has been a volunteer firefighter with the Tuolumne County Fire District for 32 years. Maggie Beck / Union Democrat, Copyright 2013.

“I was helping put it out until the fire department got there,” Clark recalled. “I just got to talking to those guys and they said, ‘Why don’t you be a volunteer?’ ”