Free Republic

After a few years out of the spotlight, Petaluma's notorious Sampson family is back in the news after a badly decomposed body was found on their property and a feud with neighbors grew ugly when one family member allegedly began dumping human waste at a nearby property. snip In an unrelated case, a dispute with neighbors over a dog allegedly led a member of the Sampson family to dump human waste on their property in retaliation. snip The feud continued to escalate, reaching a head in February last year when the neighbor found buckets and bags of human feces, bloody...

The Pride parade will begin at 11a.m. and run west to east down Main Street in Guerneville. and if this past winter’s holiday light parade is any indication, it should have more imaginative and diverse floats and brim with more jubilation and good will than ever before. Grand Marshalls this year are LGBT-friendly Fifth District Supervisor, Efren Carrillo and Dr. Marshall Kubota. . . a full line up of family oriented games including a dunk tank and an inflatable jumpy house, and Pride 2012 will see the return of Lilith’s Lounge, the Radical Faerie Freedom Village . .Sr Sara Femme...

300 attend Support the Troops rally honoring servicemen and women; number disappoints organizersSeveral hundred people gathered beneath a hot afternoon sun Saturday at Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square to pay homage to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq. Amid red, white and blue balloons and American flags of all sizes, the friends and families of local servicemen and women said prayers for their loved ones and shared words of support and encouragement. "Where else can a mother come and carry pictures of her son?" Windsor resident Melinda Anderson told the crowd. Anderson said her 24-year-old son, Marine Sgt. Bobby Anderson, has...

The Third Annual Sonoma County Support the Troops Rally will be held at Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa, California on Saturday, June 24th, 2006, from 10am - 2pm. Our Third Annual Sonoma County Support the Troops Rally in Santa Rosa, California, will be even bigger and more exciting than last year's rally! We'll have special speakers such as KSFO’s Melanie Morgan and Brigadier General Joseph Schroedel, live musical entertainment from local bands, and the return of the "jumphouse" for the kids! Other speakers will include Col. Louis “Pete” Peterka; Lt. Col. Steve Countouriotis; Deborah K. Johns, spokeswoman for Move...

In the fog-shrouded forests of California's remote North Coast, winemakers believe they've found the perfect terrain to grow the notoriously fickle pinot noir grape prized by connoisseurs. Vineyard developers are snapping up thousands of acres of redwoods and firs in Sonoma County, with plans to clear the trees and plant the once-obscure varietal made famous by the wine-fueled road trip film "Sideways." Environmentalists and residents in Annapolis, a tiny town about 140 miles north of San Francisco, are trying to rein in the pinot lovers. "If you've seen the movie, you've seen the glassy-eyed stare they have when they talk...

We need more protection for the California Tiger Salamander and its habitat, the vernal wetlands of Sonoma County. It is a hard, scientific fact that a great deal of the planet's life depends directly on the existence of wetlands ( visit http://ceres.ca.gov/wetlands/ ). California has lost 95% of its vernal wetlands, and Sonoma County has lost 85% of its vernal wetlands habitats. Vernal wetlands function, among other things, as flood control, they filter and recharge our groundwater, and in Sonoma County, they feed the Petaluma and Russian Rivers and the Pacific Ocean, and they form the headwaters of the Laguna...

Pay in 1990s found to rise average of 4% for poor families, 24% for wealthy The North Bay was a spectacular job machine in the 1990s and into 2001, but the benefits went overwhelmingly to high-income workers while a growing number of low-income residents hardly gained ground, according to a study to be released today by a Sonoma County research group. "Economic growth in the North Bay has failed to bring shared prosperity to the region's residents," said Martin Bennett, executive director of New Economy, Working Solutions, a group representing union, housing and religious organizations. The study covering Sonoma, Marin,...

Ambystoma californiense, the California tiger salamander, has found success where die-hard environmentalists have failed: The lowly reptile has single-handedly slowed down Sonoma County's relentless growth. The reclusive, rarely seen creature has been credited with -- or blamed for -- delaying a dozen major construction projects on the Santa Rosa plain. It has stalled everything from new housing subdivisions and a shopping mall to a Santa Rosa elementary school. ... Conservationists have championed such issues to slow growth in their county, but no issue has matched the salamander's record for halting development. The salamander, builders say, has put on hold the...

Nearly nine of every 10 registered voters in Sonoma County cast ballots in last month's general election, the greatest local voter participation in history. In an impassioned, divisive presidential election that drew even apathetic Californians to ballot boxes, Sonoma County's record 89.4 percent turnout was bested statewide only by Marin County - and that by only one-tenth of a percent, 89.5. Sonoma County elections officials, who predicted turnout of 83 percent, called the final figures "remarkable" and "huge." "I knew it was going to be big," said County Clerk Eeve Lewis, who oversees the Registrar of Voters office. "This was...

Retired trucking business owner Al Maffei's neighborhood characterizes Sonoma County with its ranch-style homes scattered among vineyards and grazing pastures. But when it comes to politics, the area along Fulton Road sticks out like an NRA hat at an organic foods market in Sebastopol. "I just couldn't vote for John Kerry," said Maffei, a World War II veteran who said he didn't like Kerry's accusations about the military during the Vietnam War. "He told lies." A registered Republican, Maffei lives in one of the few voting precincts in Sonoma County where President Bush won a majority on Election Day. Of...

Sonoma State University student Gabrielle Chretien worries that if President Bush is re-elected, his war on terror will lead to more drawn-out military conflicts all over the world. "It's very sad," said the 20-year-old liberal studies major. "He's using money that we don't have for a war so many of us do not want, and yet there is no health care." Ashley Brucklacher has a different view. The 20-year-old communications major at SSU said she is also concerned about the war. But she supports Bush's actions, even if all the pre-war justifications have not panned out. "I don't think that...

Comparisons to successful Sonoma Avenue homeless center fail to quell outrage Anger and frustration were in evidence Monday as southwest Santa Rosa residents challenged city officials over plans to place a homeless shelter in their neighborhood. Residents said the former Santa Rosa Naval Auxiliary Air Station was selected without community involvement and they were not impressed by assurances it would be as successful as the one the city opened on Sonoma Avenue a year ago. "This is what the Boston Tea Party was all about," said Stuart Kiehl, a leader of the Wright Area Action Group. While Kiehl called...