Jackson council delays taking sides in SPI railroad dispute Thursday, February 14, 2008 By Jerry Budrick Amador County Historical Society representative Dave Butow presented a request that the city council pledge its support in the society's efforts to preserve the Amador Central Railroad "for its past and possible future contributions to the economic history" of Amador County. The railroad belongs to Sierra Pacific Industries, a highly diversified family-owned company with more than 1 million acres of California forest under its control. According to Hoover's, an online business information site, SPI ranks 326th on Forbes' list of privately-owned businesses. Butow's presentation painted an unflattering picture of SPI as unresponsive to the historical society's proposal that SPI contribute real property, right of way and personal property of historic value, along with some assistance, leading to creation of a relocated Martell Station as a museum. Butow showed photos to the council members depicting sections of track destroyed by SPI and of a water tank that has been placed in the railroad right of way, all of which, he said, is in violation of state environmental regulations. Response to Butow's request came from Dave Brown, an engineer with SPI. Brown took issue with much of what had been presented, particularly the accusation of unresponsiveness. He said that SPI had made a sincere attempt to continue operation of Amador Central Railroad, but had found it to be unprofitable in the extreme. Councilman Andy Rodriguez motioned to postpone a decision about supporting Butow's proposed resolution, pending acquisition of additional information from both parties, along with the time to study the information. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
