A Columbia man with a history of scuffling with law enforcement was arrested Wednesday after allegedly assaulting a Sonora police officer.

Sonora police dispatchers received a report about 1 p.m. of a man dressed in black with a white cowboy hat who was yelling at passing vehicles near the 1200 block of Highway 49.

A Sonora police officer responded to the scene, and for unknown reasons, the man said “he was going to kill” the officer and charged him, the Sonora Police Department said in a statement released after the incident.
   

2012 COPYRIGHT UNION DEMOCRAT

“This is more than a job,” the senior Tuolumne County Veterans Services representative said. “It’s a life.”

Her interest comes naturally. She has a stepfather, brother, two sons and two grandsons who have served in the military.

Barnes, 66, will retire in December after 35 years with Tuolumne County, 30 of those in the Veterans Services Office.    Her job is to connect veterans and their families with benefits they are entitled to from the federal and state Department of Veterans Affairs. She also helps veterans get medals and other honors they were promised during their military service but never received.
  

More than half of Tuolumne County renters are struggling to pay for housing, according to a new report.

The California Coalition for Rural Housing found that 55 percent of county renters are unable to reasonably afford a typical two-bedroom apartment.

The findings were based on a nationwide comparison of housing costs and employee wages compiled this month by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
  

A multi-agency probation and parole search conducted Tuesday led to five arrests on felony warrants, parole and probation violations, and various drug and weapons charges.

Tuolumne County Sheriff’s investigators and patrol deputies conducted the searches with members from the District Attorney’s Office, Probation Department, State Parole, California Highway Patrol and U.S. Forest Service.

Searches were conducted at 34 locations and 51 people were contacted by law enforcement officers during Tuesday’s operation.
  

While other children were out playing sports, Chad Grasmuck was in his tree fort writing poetry.

The Calaveras County native later found that his propensity for writing verse and short stories would help him cope with stresses he faced during three combat tours as a U.S. Marine in Iraq.

The 33-year-old aspiring author, currently a second lieutenant deployed in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, said his passion for writing was rekindled in college after serving in the Iraq War.

“I’ve been writing lyrics and short stories since as long as I can remember, but it never really got focused until I got to college and began writing about my experiences in war,” Grasmuck said.
   

A team of eight Bret Harte High School seniors lived it up in Sacramento for four days last week as part of the California Academic Decathlon Competition, and they won more medals than anyone expected, according to team coach Amy Avrit.

The group advanced to the highly competitive state Academic Decathlon after a surprise win at the Calaveras County contest, their first in 17 years.

This time, it competed against 65 other California schools, many of which were magnet and charter schools. Granada Hills Charter High School, located in Los Angeles, placed first overall for the second year in a row.