Moth quarantine in Sonoma
The California Department of Food and Agriculture announced on Monday the 15-square mile boundary of the quarantine imposed after a second moth was discovered in Sonoma on April 20. The quarantine will restrict movements of all plants including grapes, and will subject growers and nurseries and other plant businesses within the zone to inspections.
Chief Deputy Agricultural Commissioner, Stefan Parnay said that while there is a possible plan to spray in other, heavily infested, areas there is still no intention to spray in Sonoma, which has seen only two moths in as many months. Here in Sonoma, twist ties will remain the control measure. “It makes economical sense and is the long term best plan,” said Parnay. The Agricultural Commission is working with local businesses to make sure the quarantine can be affected with minimal disruption to their operations.
City cracks down on Plaza pooches, pedalers
If you take your dog to Sonoma Plaza, be prepared to add $100 to the high cost of pet care – but don’t say you weren’t warned.
The Sonoma Police and Public Works Departments are installing signs this weekend to warn patrons against walking dogs anywhere in the Plaza, or riding bikes and skateboards along the park’s winding walkways. Violations will be cited as misdemeanors, with a $100 fine for a first offense and $250 thereafter.
Signs will be posted on garbage cans along the park’s perimeter. The first one went up by the Plaza rose garden, Sonoma police Sgt. Dave Johnston said Thursday.
Johnston said that the ban on dogs was based on sanitation and cleanliness concerns. The no-riding rule – on the books since at least 1989, but until now short on enforcement – doesn’t apply to the public “horseshoe” driveway in front of City Hall, which is defined as a public roadway.
“If somebody wants to ride up to City Hall, that’s okay,” Johnston said, noting that many people like to do just that to pay bills or transact city business in person. “Ride up, ride out – just don’t crisscross.”
Public Works gets new digs
The old saying that “the cobbler’s children go shoeless” is no longer true of Sonoma’s Public Works Department, which is settling into a new building – complete with functional bathrooms and heating.
“Now I can be happy,” joked Street Foreman Dean Merrill, a 19-year departmental veteran. “I feel like I’m in a castle.”
The new offices at the agency’s Eighth Street East corporation yard was constructed over 11 months at a cost of $864,000, said Sonoma Building Official Wayne Wirick. The yard itself was purchased by the city from Nicholas Turkey Farms in 1977, and an aerial photo from 1981 shows Public Works’ now-former quarters – a cramped, three-room structure whose shabby wood-paneling makes a striking contrast to the new space’s clean white walls and general airiness.
But the change is more than aesthetic – it’s organizational. The new headquarters feature dedicated offices for each sub-department: streets, water, parks and cemetery. There’s also a large conference room, a part-time office for the city engineer, and regular business hours of 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday.
“You don’t realize how confined you are until you move out,” said Public Works Director Milenka Bates, explaining that since each departmental supervisor now has his own telephone and computer space, “we’re able to be more efficient and serve the public.”
Maps and diagrams were still being hung on the walls Monday, but Bates said all should be ready for the public open-house during National Public Works Week (May 18–24).
Arson averted at Brockman Lane
Sonoma police are investigating an attempted burglary last week which left a porch bench in flames on Brockman Lane.
The drama began shortly after midnight on Sunday, April 27. Police were en route to a burglary call in the 300 block of Brockman Lane, when they received a second call from a nearby resident who said someone was pounding on his front door and yelling about a car fire. The second caller looked through his window, saw two dark-clad men rummaging through one of his vehicles, but when he confronted them, they fled in a white van. After a brief chase, two other dark-clad men ran from a different Brockman Lane house, jumped in the van, and roared off into the night.
It was at this point that the two callers noticed the blazing bench on the porch of the house that the second pair had fled, so they yanked the bench’s pad off the porch and doused it with a hose. The home sustained light smoke damage under the porch eaves, and it was later discovered that a black registration book was missing from one of the rifled vehicles. No other damage was reported, and the identity of the front-door pounder remains a mystery.
Police have not yet located the suspects or their vehicle, the latter described as a newer model Ford van with “nice-looking wheels.” Anyone with any information is asked to call the Sonoma Police Department at 996-3602.
Electronics drop-off at SVHS
Don’t toss that old technology – this Saturday, take it to Sonoma Valley High School.
The school is teaming with Fresno-based Electronic Recyclers International to provide a free opportunity to dispose of old computers, monitors, printers, television sets and other unusable or unwanted electronic items. The effort will also provide much-needed funds for the Sonoma Valley High School Leadership Class and student activities.
It is illegal to simply throw an unwanted television or computer monitor in the trash in the state of California. Electronic items have toxic elements in them that are environmentally hazardous when they are dumped into landfills.
Saturday’s event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Sonoma Valley High School student parking lot, 20000 Broadway, Sonoma.
For more information, call Scott Young at 935-1197.
Hike to the planets
A late-night hike to Pluto – along with solar and stellar observing sessions – will be one of the featured events this Saturday as Kenwood’s Robert Ferguson Observatory celebrates National Astronomy Day.
“We’re not having parades or anything,” said observatory-board secretary George Loyer, noting that the first-quarter moon should provide a nice viewing target before it sets. “We’ll get a look at the moon, and have a nice dark sky for the rest of the observing sessions.”
Two viewing sessions are offered – free solar observation from noon to 4 p.m., and stellar observation beginning at 9 p.m. Attendance for the latter is $3 per person and free for those under 18. Loyer said a tour of the observatory’s PlanetWalk – a 2-1/2-mile scale model of the solar system led by PlanetWalk builder Angelo Parisi – will begin at 10 p.m.
National Astronomy Day was founded in 1973, when California astronomer Doug Berger decided to bring telescopes to the people and set them up in parks, malls, and streetcorners.
“It’s just developed over the years into this great opportunity to do public education,” Loyer said, noting the surprise with which people often greet their first close-up view of Earth’s cosmic neighbors. “That ‘wow‘ is what you’re looking for – it’s always a pleasure.”
The Robert Ferguson Observatory is located in Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park near Kenwood, at the end of Adobe Canyon Road off Hwy. 12. For more information, visit http://rfo.org.
