A convicted child molester is scheduled to appear in district court this morning for arraignment. James E. Hope is also facing a February trial in Carson City for the molestation of two girls there. Hope is accused of the 2004 molestation of a 10-year-old Carson Valley girl. He was awaiting arraignment in Carson City at the time. When Douglas County brought charges, Hope fled to Washington, where he was convicted and sentenced of yet another molestation. He has a plea deal on the table in Douglas, but has so far not signed it.
A Placerville man who last June admitted his involvement in a drunken brawl with a limousine is back before District Judge Michael Gibbons this morning for sentencing. Damian Butler, who was 22 at the time of the March 31 incident, said he thought he was Superman. "I was really intoxicated," he was reported telling the judge. "I believed I was Superman without a cape." The driver of the limo said Butler jumped on the hood of the vehicle and tried to kick out the front window with his feet.
There's the tiny speck of a cloud on the horizon this week with a slight chance of rain predicted for Friday. Until then it will be more of the same, mostly sunny skies, high temperatures in the 60s and lows in the 20s. There were a lot of ice lawns around the Valley on Sunday morning, might be a good idea to shut down the sprinklers for the season.
