On Sept 27, 2014 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sheriff John D’Agostini along with the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give residents of El Dorado County another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.  Bring your pills for disposal to any one of the three sites established by Sheriff D’Agostini or the site established by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department:

1. The Sheriff’s Main Office, 300 Fair Lane, Placerville, Ca.
2. The Sheriff’s El Dorado Hills Sub Station, 4354 Towne Center Dr., El Dorado Hills, Ca.
3. The Sheriff’s Georgetown Sub Station, 6101 Front Street, Suite 4, Georgetown, Ca.
4. Safeway Parking Lot, 1020 Johnson Blvd, South Lake Tahoe, Ca.

The Prescription Drug Take Back service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Place containers that have liquid in them inside a closed zip lock baggie. Remember to black out personal information on the containers, such as the patient’s name.

We will not be prepared to accept needles, sharps, or household waste, only medications. To Learn about Sharps and Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection/disposal opportunities contact El Dorado County Environmental Management Division at (530) 621-5300

Last May DEA announced that, Americans turned in 390 tons (over 780,158 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 6,072 sites operated by thousands of state and local law enforcement partners with DEA during last Aprils National Take Back Day.  When those results are combined with what was collected in the seven previous Take Back events, over 4.1 million pounds—more than 2,123 tons—of prescription medications have been removed from circulation, nationwide.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue.  Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.  Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—pose potential safety and health hazards.

■ Unused or expired prescription medications are a public safety issue, leading to accidental poisoning, overdose, and abuse.

■ Pharmaceutical drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs when taken without a prescription or a doctor’s supervision.

■ The non-medical use of prescription drugs ranks second only to marijuana as the most common form of drug abuse in America.

■ The majority of teenagers abusing prescription drugs get them from family and friends – and the home medicine cabinet.

■ Unused prescription drugs thrown in the trash can be retrieved and abused or illegally sold. Unused drugs that are flushed contaminate the water supply. Proper disposal of unused drugs saves lives and protects the environment.

■ Take-back programs are the best way to dispose of old drugs. But if a program is not available:

Take the meds out of their bottles. Mix them with something unappealing, (like used kitty litter or coffee grounds). Seal them in a bag or disposable container, and throw that away.

■ For more information on prescription drug abuse, go to:

http://www.dea.gov,  or

http://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.com , or

http://www.justthinktwice.co

Help protect our community. Bring your unwanted prescription drugs to one of our drop off locations.

On Wednesday September 3rd at 2134 hours, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to a verbal disturbance in the 5000 block of Bucks Bar Road in Placerville. The call was quickly upgraded to an assault with a deadly weapon with a report of shots fired. When Deputies arrived, they discovered an unconscious male subject who had sustained a gunshot wound. The subject was evacuated from the scene and transported to Marshall Hospital. The subject later succumbed to the injury. A second subject was taken into custody and transported to Marshall Hospital because of medical concerns. There are no outstanding suspects in relation to this incident. An investigation into the shooting is currently under way and there will be more information to follow once the investigation is completed.

In 2013, Sheriff D’Agostini held community meetings (We Work For You) in each of the five Board of Supervisor districts. The purpose of these meetings was to inform the tax paying citizens of El Dorado County what the Sheriff’s Office was doing in each district to combat crime, address community concerns and educate the public on the resources available to them from the Sheriff’s Office.

In early 2013, our local station Foothill 7 Television, volunteered, for no compensation, to assist The Sheriff’s Office to produce some training videos, recruiting videos and a series of programs to educate the public on the resources available and daily activities of The Sheriff’s Office. In harmony with Sheriff D’Agostini’s vision of transparency in keeping the citizens of El Dorado County informed of Sheriff’s Office activities, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Foothill 7 to develop such video projects. Since 2013, and continuing to the present day, Foothill 7 began accompanying and videotaping Sheriff’s Office employees in the performance of their duties, both in their office and in the field, with a vision of developing a television show that would allow the citizens of El Dorado County to observe firsthand, the job the men and women of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office perform on a daily basis.

After cataloging over one year of recorded material, Foothill 7 Television held a series of discussions with their contemporaries at the local FOX Affiliate (KTXL FOX 40). As a result of those discussions, The Sheriff is pleased to announce that KTXL FOX 40 will begin broadcasting 26 original episodes of a weekly television show entitled: “Sheriff’s…El Dorado County.” The episodes will begin broadcasting on September 20th, in Prime Time, following Saturday’s NCAA College Football Game of the Week and Fox 40 News, at approximately 9:00 PM every Saturday, and again at 11:00 PM every Sunday. Please see the specific times and dates for broadcast below.

A press conference will be held in the Briefing Room of the Sheriff’s Office on September 9th at 11:15 AM. The Sheriff and members of his Department, along with representatives of Fox 40 and Foothill 7 Television will be present at this conference to present details and answer any questions you may have. The Sheriff’s Office is located at 300 Fair Lane, Placerville, CA 95667.

When asked for comment, The El Dorado Lake Tahoe Film Office stated, “We are extremely pleased to see television content being created locally. Film production stimulates the economy and we applaud this venture.”

Sheriff D”Agostini stated “I want to encourage all citizens of El Dorado County to watch this show and observe firsthand how the employees of their Sheriff’s Office are at work on their behalf. So too, I would hope we all take great pride in sharing with the larger community of Northern California what a great place El Dorado County is to live, work and raise our families.”

Tentative Broadcast Schedule:

Saturdays:

• 9/20 at 9:00pm
• 9/27 at 9:00pm
• 10/4 at 9:00pm
• 10/11 at 9:00pm
• 10/18 at 9:00pm
• 10/24 at 6:00pm
• 11/1 at 9:00pm
• 11/8 at 9:00pm
• 11/15 at 9:00pm
• 11/22 at 9:00pm
• 11/29 at 6:00pm
• 12/6 at 9:30pm
• 12/13 at 8:00pm
• 12/20 at 6: 00pm
• 12/27 at 6:00pm

Sundays:

· 11:00 pm