Light to descend on RAC

In the wake of a November rape in Boyes Hot Springs, area residents will be making a simple request Thursday night to the Springs Redevelopment Advisory Committee: “Let there be light.”
Specifically, the group – which marched with candles and song Nov. 13 through the dark Vallejo Avenue neighborhood where the 28-year-old woman was sexually assaulted a week before – will be following up on their call for more safer streets.
“In response to the November 13th candlelight vigil and call for a formal lighting study and better lighting in the Springs, The Redevelopment [Advisory] Committee (RAC) has placed lighting on the agenda for their next meeting,” march organizer Dmitra Smith announced in an e-mail sent Sunday. “Voice your concerns, identify the unsafe areas in your immediate neighborhood, and call for a timeline to complete the study and improve the lighting conditions in our community.”
Detectives are still investigating the case, which occurred in Vallejo Avenue’s 300 block around 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6. The woman was walking by herself when a man wearing a mask and wielding an eight-inch kitchen knife pulled her off the road and into the brush, according to Det. Sgt. Dave Thompson of the county’s Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Unit.
The suspect is described as having a stocky build with wide shoulders and a deep voice. He spoke English without a discernable accent and was wearing a dark-colored, hooded sweatshirt, blue denim jeans and a “Mike Myers”-style mask from the movie “Halloween.” Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at 707.565.2650.
RAC, which reports to the county Board of Supervisors, serves as a liaison between that panel and the Springs community. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley, 1100 W. Verano Ave, in Maxwell Farms Regional Park. The group is planning to gather in the Maxwell Farms parking lot at 6:30 p.m. before proceeding to the RAC session.