Sonoma paving begins, again
Problems have delayed one Sonoma roadwork project – but another is posing fewer problems than expected.
City Hall’s horseshoe repaving is moving so quickly that Aug. 19’s Tuesday Night Farmers Market can be held in its traditional location, Sonoma City Clerk Gay Rainsbarger announced Friday. The market moved out of the horseshoe and onto First Street West Aug. 5 to accommodate asphalt workers.
The same good news can’t be said for Caltrans’ Highway 12 repaving project between Agua Caliente Road and Fremont Drive, which was slated to begin last week. Equipment difficulties prevented the work from meeting its Aug. 6 start date. By Tuesday’s press time, the project was slated to begin Monday.
The roughly two-week undertaking is scheduled to commence daily between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. in order to keep traffic disruptions to a minimum.
The 7.1-mile stretch from Agua Caliente to Schellville isn’t the only part of Highway 12 getting a spruce-up. Daytime projects include sewer maintenance near Waterman Avenue and culvert repair between Kunde Winery Road and the Kenwood Inn. In addition, the Highway 121 stripe-and-seal between Ramal Road and the Sonoma/Napa county line should be finishing today. Caltrans says commuters can expect delays of no more than 15 minutes.
Armed confrontation on Orange Avenue
A nearly three-hour standoff on Orange Avenue ended with an armed suspect in custody – along with a friend who may have tried to help him.
Twenty-three-year-old Sam Heyerly was booked into Sonoma County Jail on Tuesday, Aug. 5, on charges of domestic violence, terrorist threats, resisting arrest with threats, damaging a phone, and discharging a firearm in a negligent manner. His bail was set at $300,000.
The incident began shortly before 8:30 p.m., when Sonoma Police and Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies attempted to contact Heyerly at his home in connection with a domestic violence report taken that afternoon. The victim, who reportedly bore visible injuries from the previous day’s assault, told police that Heyerly had also threatened to kill her parents.
As Heyerly was known to possess firearms, deputies telephoned him and asked that he come outside. A gunshot was heard from inside the house, and a few minutes later Heyerly appeared, yelled at the officers and retreated back inside.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department Special Operations Unit – hostage negotiators, tactical dispatchers and support, bomb squad, and SWAT team – responded and attempted to negotiate with Heyerly, but he didn’t respond.
At one point, an unidentified 29-year-old friend and neighbor of Heyerly’s tried to enter his house through the backyard. He was detained by officers and booked into Sonoma County Jail for obstructing peace officers.
At approximately 11:10 PM, the SWAT team spotted Heyerly outside his house near the back of the property. Moments later, he was taken into custody.
Further investigation by the sheriff’s Domestic Violence Unit allegedly discovered a 12-gauge shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle inside the house, along with an undisclosed amount of ammunition.
Stabbing suspect arrested
An 18-year-old El Verano man was hospitalized Thursday night following a stabbing in the 300 block of Verano Avenue which police say appeared to be gang motivated.
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Thompson said the victim was walking with friends some time before 9 p.m., Aug. 7, when they were surrounded by a group of seven or eight young men wielding knives, sticks and baseball bats. A brief chase ensued, followed by an attack in which the victim was struck with a bat and received three serious stab wounds to his arm and ankle.
The assailants fled, and police learned of the incident through Sonoma Valley Hospital personnel after the victim had been taken there by family members, Thompson said.
One suspect, 19-year-old Simon Calvillo, was arrested at a friend’s Sonoma home just after 11 p.m. by deputies with the Sonoma County gang task force, who are currently continuing the investigation. Calvillo was booked into county jail for assault with a deadly weapon and participating in a criminal street gang. He remains in custody on $150,000 bail.
