The relentless rain that is pebbling the skylight over my Glen Ellen desk is both a welcome relief and an annoying distraction. A relief because, in this climate change-driven world, fresh water becomes a more precious resource every year, and annoying because the rain was challenging the efforts of a weed-whacking crew from the California Conservation Corps (CCC) who were busily and stoically attacking the head-high weeds and grasses on the SDC campus with weedwhackers.
That campus is approximately 15 feet from my office and, like many people living close to the former Sonoma Developmental Center, the eruption of so much tall and soon-to-be-dead fuel felt like rapidly increasing cause for concern about the potential for a wildfire to erupt.
We expressed that concern in these pages a few weeks ago, and we know that others expressed their concern as well. Richard Dale, executive director of the Sonoma Ecology Center, reported having conversations with both First District Supervisor Rebecca Hermosilla, and Gerald McLaughlin, a construction analyst at the California Department of General Services, the agency in charge of the SDC property.
Dale was uncertain what prompted the CCC action, but guessed it may have been stimulated by a variety of voices. Whatever the cause, the effect is more than welcome. We doubt that much of a dent will be made in the fuel load until the rain is over, but it’s comforting to know that the State is taking the fuel threat seriously.
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Welcome Back to Print Steven Serafini
It gives me special pleasure and no small amount of relief to welcome Sonoma Valley sportswriter, sports editor, native son, star athlete and certified Homer Steven Serafini into the pages of the Sonoma Valley Sun.
Steven was the award-winning Sports Editor of the Sonoma Index-Tribune for 24 years, where he also penned countless “Open Field” columns, addressing a broad range of subject matter from the perspective of someone with family roots in Sonoma soil for several generations.
Steven is the real deal, a sports writer who has played multiple sports at multiple levels, and was a certified star at soccer.
Knowing that no community newspaper can fully serve the community without covering school sports, we at the Sun considered it a sign of beneficence from that great sports fan in the sky when a chance encounter rekindled an old relationship and he agreed to return to the pages of newspaper print.
You’ll find his opening story on page 28, sharing the recent induction of the record-setting SVHS boys’ basketball team from 1993-94 into the Dragons Hall of Fame.
Steven will be covering sports in the Valley, with an understandable focus on teams at Sonoma Valley High School, but his athletic expertise stretches in every direction and we expect you’ll be learning about the Bay Area’s professional teams as well. If you have sporting interests you’d like him to explore, let us know.
Welcome onboard, Steven.
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