On Tuesday, Sonoma Valley High School students, mostly Latino, cut morning classes and marched up Broadway to the plaza, where they assembled in protest against current policies for immigration into the U.S. The high school reported at least 175 absences that day, representing over 10% of the student body.
Monitoring the march were high school principal Micaela Philpot and Sonoma County Sheriff Deputy J. Cobert, whose regular assignment is safety on the high school campus. At the plaza, the deputy was observed photographing many of the students, as well as some of the adults who attended in support of the protest.
The only confrontation at the march was by three of those adults. Mike Smith, draped in a US flag, and Will Shonbrun (standing on the far side of Smith in the photo below, with Philpot looking on)
challenged the deputy over the issue of taking photographs, as did Dave Henderson separately. This grievance was taken to the Sonoma City Council at its meeting the following evening, where it was argued that these men, as citizens, had a right to assemble without being photographed.
While the council members were prevented by state law from commenting on items not on their agenda, council member Ken Brown requested that the council consider at a subsequent meeting any city policy concerning the photographing of persons gathered on public property.
