Susan and Niels Chew’s house at 300 East Spain Street was one of the features of League for Historic Preservation’s Cottage and Garden Tour last weekend. In the foreground is a David Austin rose called, Eden. KAREN PREUSS
Firefighters find missing woman
A Sonoma woman is safe at home following an hour-long, multi-agency hunt Thursday afternoon which included firefighters, bus drivers and a downtown flyover by the “Henry 1” sheriff’s helicopter.
“Given the extreme heat today, and her situation, we put as many people on it as we could,” said Sonoma Police Sgt. Dave Thompson, explaining that the 45-year-old Denmark Street resident suffered from a variety of medical issues including epilepsy. “She was okay – we returned her to her home and she was fine.”
Thompson said police also notified local taxi and bus drivers – including those working for the school district.
“Since they were getting out, all their bus drivers were driving around,” Thompson said.
Capt. Jeff Paganini of the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority said an engine crew found the woman near the corner of Second Street East and East Napa Street. The crew was heading west on East Napa Street around 3 p.m. when someone spotted her sitting on a rail overlooking Nathanson Creek. Shortly afterward, the woman was reunited with her family.
“We just got lucky,” Paganini said. “End of story – it was a happy ending.”
Sonoma joins state seatbelt campaign
Through June 1, Sonoma Valley drivers who trust their safety to luck rather than common sense could pay more than $400 during California’s fourth annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign.
“We want to make sure that all drivers and passengers buckle up on every ride, day and night,” Sonoma Police Chief Brett Sackett said of the campaign, which started Monday. “Our officers will be on the lookout for those who are not buckled up and for teens and children not riding properly restrained.”
Police Sgt. Dave Thompson said last year’s effort resulted in 105 citations, of which four were passengers. He said a survey last week at the First Street West/West Napa Street intersection showed 91 percent compliance.
State law requires drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts at all times, with a hefty fine for non-compliance: $80 to $91 for adults and $330 to $401 for children under age 16. California currently has the nation’s fourth highest seat belt use rate at 94.6 percent. While that’s climbed in recent years, the rate among California teens is 88.9 percent.
“We will not accept excuses or give warnings,” Sackett said. “It’s Click It or Ticket.”
No spray planned for apple moth
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is planning on placing twist ties in the area around the two insect finds to control the spread of the light brown apple moth. Before this is done, in the near future, according to Stefan Parnay, Division Manager of the Sonoma Agricultural Commission, they will be doing informational out-reach, holding an open house where the community can come and find out about the treatment plan, and then they will send notices by mail to those residents in the posted treatment area.
The current quarantine area covers 15 sq miles. The twist ties will be placed in an area covering 200 meters around each of the two insect finds.
So far, there is no discussion of aerial spraying. “The CDFA would lead on the eradication program,” said Parnay, “and they have said that the only plan is to use twist ties. There’s been no mention of spraying.”
Council fetes city workers
Monday morning’s weather was cool, cloudy and a perfect counterpoint to the delicious aroma wafting skyward behind Sonoma Public Works Department’s Eighth Street East headquarters.
“That smoky smell of breakfast is my fingers burning,” Sonoma Mayor Joanne Sanders said with a wry smile, as she tended an enormous propane grill.
Under the supervision of Sonoma Ox Roast grillmaster Howie Ehret, the mayor – along with Councilmembers Stanley Cohen and Steve Barbose, City Manager Linda Kelly, Public Works Director Milenka Bates and administrative aide Eithne Bullick – were cooking and assembling breakfast burritos for the city’s 20 street, parks, water and cemetery workers as part of National Public Works Week.
Bates said Sonoma Market donated the sausage and bacon, with such local businesses as Eraldi’s Mens Wear and Scandia Landscaping providing raffle prizes ranging from gift certificates to a potted redwood tree.
“They’re out there – they don’t complain,” Bates said. “They do their job day after day after day. It’s nice to be able to take a moment and recognize them and say thank you.”
Sonoma’s Public Works will hold an open-house today from 2 to 6 p.m, today at their new offices, 19728 Eighth Street East, Sonoma. For more information, call 938-3332.
Water symposium coming to Sonoma
The Sonoma Ecology Center is sponsoring a forum on aspects of water use from recycling, bottled water, groundwater and water conservation techniques as well as water quality and quantity in Sonoma and nearby county woodlands including care of local creeks.
Speakers include Brian Michelsen, a Programs Specialist with the Sonoma County Water Agency, and David Lewis a University of California Cooperative Extension Advisor working in watershed management.
Following the presentations, representatives from the Sonoma Ecology Center will be available to talk with attendees about how Valley residents can join in caring for our local creeks. “Community involvement is essential to protecting our water supply and creek habitats, and there are many ways to get involved.”
The Water Wisdom forum is free and open to the public, with funding provided by Proposition 50. Kenwood Depot is located at 314 Warm Springs Road in Kenwood. For more information contact Julie Jehly at 707-996-0712, ext.115, or e-mail julie@sonomaecologycenter.org.
Surveillance video fingers parolee
A 45-year-old man was arrested without incident last week at his El Verano home in connection with an auto burglary at the Overlook Trail parking lot.
Raymond Lee Hernandez was booked into county jail May 14, for violation of parole and possession and fraudulent use of a stolen credit card.
The saga began when someone flagged down a deputy just after 1 p.m. to report a black Acura SUV with its driver side window smashed. The deputy located the owners, who said a purse and wallet had been taken. When the husband tried to cancel his wife’s credit card, he was told that someone had used it within minutes of the burglary to buy $48 worth of food, beer and California Lottery Scratchers at the 7-Eleven in Boyes Hot Springs.
Police interviewed the sales clerk and secured the store’s surveillance video, which Sonoma police Sgt. Dave Thompson said showed a “heavily tattooed” man wearing a Hank Williams, Jr. T-shirt. A records check matched Hernandez’s tattoos, and deputies took him into custody around 5 p.m. – and impounded as evidence the T-shirt featured in the surveillance video.
Survivors Reunion honors eight
A Sonoma Developmental Center employee will be reunited tomorrow night with those who saved his life last May, at tomorrow night’s 15th Annual Survivors Reunion in Glen Ellen.
SDC firefighters Matt Wales, Jeff Chadfield and Mark Swanson, along with assistant nursing coordinator David Mendez and carpenters Kyle Hale, John Loftus, Matt Salopek, and Scott Colburn will receive certificates of honor from the United States Congress, the California State Senate and California State Assembly. The eight are being commended for their response to a May 2007 incident involving an on-duty SDC employee who experienced cardiac arrest. Emergency responders from Sonoma Valley Fire and the Sonoma Valley Hospital will also be recognized for their part.
The event is sponsored by the Sonoma County Paramedic Association as part of National Emergency Medical Services week, which runs May 18-24
