From “The History of Old Farmington”: Bridge Collapses. July 15, 1907. The T.J. Drais Bridge, a wooden structure south of Farmington that was the crossing on Johnny Creek, collapsed with the Ed Drais harvester and 14 head of animals as they were crossing it. A real tragedy to happen. One animal was killed and it was very difficult to clear out. A new steel bridge was built in 1908.

What a coincidence. 40 years later the following appeared in the Stockton Record January 15, 1947: “The County Highway Bridge over Little John Creek between Farmington and Escalon caved in under a heavily loaded truck sometime last night and will be out of service for 2 months. The central span went down when a vertical steel truss gave way. No trace of the truck which caused the damage has been found.”

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Public hearing before the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors will be held Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 44 N. San Joaquin Street, Stockton, CA. This is a public hearing and will receive oral or written statements regarding the expansion of Farmington.

This is the Board of Supervisors hearing for the General Plan Update to determine a Preferred Alternative for growth and development in Farmington. The Board of Supervisors will continue the consideration of landowner land use designation change requests and the policy direction for Farmington from the public on April 30th at 1:30 p.m.

All persons interested in this matter are invited to be present at this meeting and submit oral statements regarding all projects.

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Deepest sympathy goes out to the family of Chandler Groves who passed away on April 4, 2013.

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Happy Birthday to Jeannine Kroon on Sunday, April 21st.

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Please contact me either by E-mail farmingtonnews@gmail.com or phone 896-6697.