Your weekly dish of short bites

The teenager arrested for setting his ex-girlfriend’s house on fire is still in jail (bail: $1.06 million) but the charges have been reduced. The 19-year-old was found outside the burning Boyes Blvd. home at dawn on April 22. He was initially charged with attempted homicide, child endangerment and arson. The DA’s office says that Aldalberto Barajas Jimenez now faces only the arson charge. Arraignment is set for next week.

It’s fun hanging out with the Valley of the Moon Pentanque Club. The game is kind of like French bocce ball, but don’t say that around Depot Park – you’ll get pelted from both sides. The club’s recent tournament welcomed guests, those of little skill and even less European blood. Good food, great wine and friendly competition with a heavy accent. Narin Garrett, one of the club’s top female players, says she’s been playing long enough to pick up “petanque French.” That is, she can now swear in a second language.

Andy Weinberger admits his loyal Readers’ Books staff is probably not there for the health plan, “a half empty box of Band-aids and a bottle of ibuprofen.”

Measure J, a bid to raise the sales tax in Sonoma from 8% to 8.5%, went from proposal to the June ballot in a matter of weeks. More time is being taken in Healdsburg, where a similar tax measure, planned for the November ballot, has been postponed… Another quick decision from the City Council regarding other people’s money, and why not – they don’t vote here: a 2% boost in the hotel room tax. The new bucks (most of which will replace money lost to the state) will fund marketing efforts to drive more visitors here. Let the trickle down begin!

With 37 years in the business and still going strong (those budgets aren’t getting any easier to figure), a prestigious honor for Sonoma’s Assistant City Manager Carol Giovanatto, the 2012 recipient of the Municipal Management Association of Northern California Women’s Award for Career Excellence.

“The Adventures of Robin Hood” plays the Sebastiani Theatre next week. Was Robin one of the original 99 Percent? His ‘take from the rich, give to the poor’ campaign, minus the swords, would play well in today’s political theatre. The tights, not so much.