Vote-by-mail ballots ready for June 3
Sonoma Valley voters who’d rather cast their June 3 ballot from the post office than from the voting booth have until May 27 to notify the county clerk’s office.
Vote-by-mail request forms are included with the recently mailed sample ballots/information pamphlets, but voters may also send a personally signed letter to the Registrar of Voters, Vote By Mail Division, P.O. Box 11488, Santa Rosa, CA 95406. Letters containing more than one voter’s request must be signed by each requestor.
Completed ballots may be mailed to the Registrar of Voters or deposited between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Saturday, May 31, at the Sonoma Veteran’s Memorial Building, 126 First St. W., Sonoma. They may also be returned to any Sonoma County polling place on Election Day, June 3, between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. If the ballot can’t be returned personally, the voter should contact the Registrar of Voters at 565.6800 or 1.800.750.VOTE (8683).
WillMar welcomes interim director
During the next six to eight months, Ann Bauer will be reaching out to the community on behalf of the WillMar Center for Bereaved Children.
“We are so pleased to have someone with Annie’s expertise and ability engaged with WillMar Center as we continue our work and develop as an organization and a community resource,” center president Ilene Sagall said last week.
Bauer, a West Coast native, was recently named the center’s interim executive director following the resignation in March of executive director Tim Boeve. She brings with her a strong nonprofit and consulting background, specializing in academic medicine, international public health and education-related programs, and has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Health Council as well as Director of Planning and Administration for the Dartmouth Medical School.
During her tenure, she will focus on organizational assessment, strategic planning, board development, advancing community outreach, and working with staff, volunteers and WillMar Guardians to continue in its mission to bring joy to grieving children.
Haufler honored for DUI busts
If you drive drunk in Sonoma, Deputy Eric Haufler will be happy to meet you.
“He’s a DUI magnet,” police Sgt. Dave Thompson said. “He knows what he’s looking for.”
Haufler, an eight-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol and relative newcomer to Sonoma, is one of 22 officers throughout Sonoma County recently honored for his efforts during late December’s “Avoid the 13” anti-DUI campaign. Of the 200 countywide DUI arrests and nine within Sonoma between Dec. 14 and Jan. 1, Haufler was responsible for four. The officers were feted during a May 6 luncheon in Santa Rosa, which also featured a training by the county District Attorney’s office in drunk-driving prosecution.
“Avoid the 13” involves a dozen Sonoma County law enforcement agencies and the CHP. The semi-annual campaign will next target drunk drivers May 23 to 26, with city patrols, sobriety checkpoints and maximum freeway enforcement, seeking to keep drunks of the roadways.
Golden Gate Bridge congestion pricing
On Friday, the Golden Gate Transit board voted to bring the congestion pricing increase before the public at a hearing on June 11. The purpose of the increase would be to discourage commuters from traveling at peak hours. The goal is to have no less than 10% of the cars traveling less than 10 miles per hour below speed limit. The incentive is a rate hike during peak hours of 50 cents for fast track users and a flat $1 for cash. “Timing is not ideal,” said Mayor Joanne Sanders, a board member, “in that we’re all ready in the midst of a toll increase.” This new hike would come on top of a dollar rate hike bringing the Fast Track price to $5, and the cash price to $6. The new price would be $5.50 for fast track, and $7 for cash.
Auto thieves plague Plaza
Three vehicles were targeted and one is still missing following a recent Saturday crime spree in downtown Sonoma.
The first incident involved a red Mazda 2000 pickup truck that the owner had parked in the alley behind El Dorado Kitchen shortly after 1 p.m., Saturday, May 3. He left the key in the ignition while helping a friend unload items from the truck, and both key and truck were gone when he returned some 10 minutes later.
Later that afternoon, a car was stolen from the Casa Grande lot behind the Swiss Hotel. The driver had parked his 1988 Mazda RX-7 at 8 a.m., ate lunch and listened to music between 11 and 11:30, then returned at 3:10 p.m. to find it missing. When police arrived on scene a few minutes later, they noticed that a Chevy Astro van in the adjacent parking slot whose front windows had been lowered and a brass screw inserted in the ignition switch. The van’s owner said that although her wallet was still inside, a grey Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and two items of jewelry had been taken.
That night, the owner of the RX-7 was surprised to see his car parked in front of a muffler shop near the west end of West Napa Street. The ignition had been punched and the stereo system had been taken – but the thief or thieves left behind a nut driver, a stick of lip gloss and a black silk tie.
The red Mazda pickup, license number 6E26824, has a heavily tinted rear window and was still missing as of presstime Tuesday. Sonoma Police Sgt. Dave Thompson asks anyone with any information about these incidents to call to Sonoma Police Department at 996-3602.
