From David Richie:
El Dorado County Supervisor Helen Baumann is scheduled for a court hearing 10 a.m. Oct. 24 to fight a drunken driving charge filed against her by the El Dorado County District Attorney's office.
Baumann, left, did not attend her arraignment Tuesday in El Dorado County Superior Court but her attorney, Donald Simonds, appeared on Baumann's behalf and entered a not guilty plea.
Reached by telephone Wednesday at his El Dorado Hills office, Simonds said the Oct. 24 date will be a pretrial conference. He declined to make any further comment, indicating that his is still in the "discovery" phase of the case and it is much too early to talk about it.
The charges against Baumann, 56, stem from an incident on the night of June 6 when she allegedly lost control of her car on Latrobe Road, crashed through a barbed wire fence and rolled down an embankment. California Highway Patrol officers stated that she then apparently drove back up the embankment, crossed the road and hit another embankment.
Because of medical concerns, Baumann was transported to Mercy Hospital, Folsom, where she was treated and released without being booked into El Dorado County Jail.
Earlier The Bee reported that her blood-alcohol level registered over the legal limit of 0.08, but the California Highway Patrol, which investigated the accident, did not release Baumann's exact blood-alcohol level.
She issued this statement about a week after the accident that said: "While there remain many unanswered questions, and my attorney has advised me not to comment, I am extremely concerned and want to apologize for the strain and disruption the situation has caused our law enforcement and emergency services."
Baumann has reached her term limit after serving eight years on the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors and she will leave office in January.
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