Rohnert Park E-Edition

Follow us on Sonoma County Enters The Orange Tier* April 9, 2021 14 Pages Sign up for the FREE e-Edition and get the latest local news Newspaper of Rohnert Park-Cotati-Penngrove-Sebastopol delivered to your mailbox Serving Communities Quote of the week: of Rohnert Park, Cotati and Penngrove “Spring is the perfect since time to think of people 1993 like you – a season full of hope and happiness.” “Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” *Orange tier -Unknown 1. Retailers can expand to full capacity Learning 2. Restaurants can expand indoor service to 50 percent capacity 3. Bars that don’t serve food can reopen outside only with modifications responsibility Guess Who? 4. Churches, synagogues and mosques and other places of worship I am an actor born in New Jersey can expand to 50 percent indoor on April 6, 1969. I had my screen 5. Gyms, dance and yoga studios and dance center can expand through ranching debut in a “Halloween” movie, to 25 percent inside. By Patrick Norton and later had a recurring role on 6. Movie theaters can expand inside to 50 percent or 200 people The rolling hills undulate over the Rohnert Park skyline. Live a popular sitcom about friends. whichever is less. oaks funnel down the topography. Carving out an existence tied to I’ve had big-screen success as a 7. Libraries can resume full customer capacity. the rhythms of nature. Barbed wire fences stitch across the slopes, comedic actor and even played 8. Shopping malls and swap meets can expand to full capacity, though quilting a pattern of farms and ranches where people live in much an insect super hero. the same way. Farmers and ranchers are still intimately connected common areas must remain closed. to the cycles of life, in this time and in this place. Jim Groverman Answer: Paul Rudd Paul Answer: and his daughter Kimberly are part of that connection. Inside this issue Honoring Earth Day 2 Distracted driving 2 Letters 2 Hiking versus biking 3 Library news 4 Police Logs 4 Sonoma County Pride 4 Drive through food drive 4 Prescription takeback 4 Gardening principles 7 WSCUHSD concerns 8 SSU presents old sonnets 8 Sebastopol Senior Center 8 Join us on Earth Day 8 Programs report 8 Huntington’s disease 8 Man sentenced 12 Redistricting Commission12 Mayor supports remodel project Writing out of crises 12 Animal Shelter League's President, Cheryll Currier, handed over a check for $33,000 to Gerard Giudice, RP's Mayor, in support of the Animal Shelter's Clinic Remodel Project. What, at first, was Fun Facts 14 a commitment of $20,000 to support this project, grew to the current amount as costs kept going up. Rotarians to recognize 14 The shelter is so grateful to have the support of this wonderful non-profit! Even during these difficult Shop into spring 14 fundraising times we can count on them to help the animals! Donations to ASL can be made on Children’s museum opens14 their website: animalshelterleaguerp.org or mailed to ASL, 301 J. Rogers Lane, RP CA 94928. Photo courtesy of ASL Attend garden camp 14 Café Espresso Feature of the week Ceres Community Project Kimberly Groverman delivering eggs. The pink and blue egg carton holder was hand crocheted by Kim for egg delivery with her horse, Nacho. serves millionth meal Star Dewar, of Star Shots Photography Above the Crane Creek Regional Park lies the 350 ranch. The Weekly Columns By Brandon McCapes ranch is 43 acres and is owned by Jim Groverman. He runs Angus A Sebastopol-based non-profit that prepares nutritious, organic meals for the chronically ill while cattle on the land and also farms hay, corn and pumpkins on other Thomas Elias 3 providing teens with opportunities to learn life skills served its one-millionth meal last month. properties nearby. Kimberly, now eleven, recalls how the ranch got Mary Grace Pawson 3 Since it began in 2007, the Ceres Community Project has expanded to include three kitchens and its name. “When we moved here I was three and my dad was fifty, Sweeping up solutions 7 two gardens in the North Bay, including Sebastopol, Santa Rosa and San Rafael. At the kitchens and so he called it the 350 ranch.” Kimberly has lived on the ranch since Words to ponder 3 gardens, teens 14 and up can learn to grow organic food and prepare meals from scratch alongside she can remember. Collectively the Grovermans farm and ranch 650 History 3 adult volunteers. acres and Kimberly is learning it all along the way. “We farm and The meals are then donated to area residents living with chronic diseases like cancer, who typically ranch for a living, and Kimberly is a big part of it,” states Jim. The receive four meals per family member for 12-24 weeks. The meals are sent to the entire family in an lifestyle has imparted a passion for the land and the endeavors that effort to encourage families to learn about and make a practice of making and consuming healthy home- Kimberly embraces. “Spring and fall are very busy times. It’s a lot made meals. of work and a lot of fun,” Kimberly notes. She looks forward to According to Ceres Communications Director Deborah Ramelli, the non-profit was conceived about going down to the barn after breakfast every morning to do the 14 years ago when then personal chef and caterer Cathryn Couch took on a teenage protégé. Because chores. Then in the afternoons Kimberly drives their John Deere the teen, the child of one of Couch’s friends, had little professional culinary experience, the two worked tractor to drag the horse arena smooth where she rides and trains her Cougars unable to close 5 ‘Ceres’ see page 7 quarter horse, Nacho. Sportsman’s Report 5 Ranching has allowed Kimberly to become familiar with the cycle of life. Not only is she in tune with the planting and the reaping of their annual crops, but also with the animals on the ranch. Kimberly CRPUSD-Special Board report and her father have bonded over hunting turkeys as well, providing Entertainment an intimacy with food that some people never get to experience. Kimberly hopes to get a Tom this year and make turkey cranberry School Reopening and sausage from her bird. Her experience and her “can do” attitude made her uniquely suited for the ranch’s latest acquisition of a way- faring flock of chickens. Approximately two and a half years ago Jim and Kimberly found Covid-19 Safety Plan a flock of four chickens at the bottom of their driveway that someone By Cassandra May Albaugh had apparently abandoned on the back roads above Rohnert Park. The Cotati Rohnert Park Unified School District held a short 45-minute special board meeting on “We caught the four chickens and took them home to our barn. The April 6. The two key agenda items pertained to reopening schools in the district. First was the approval next day, there were four more,” remembers Jim. Kimberly took to Scott Sheldon 12 of the COVID-19 Safety Plan. The next was approval of the reopening dates for elementary grades the new flock immediately. The chickens were kept in an old coop TK-2, grades 3-5 and secondary grades 6-12. and Kimberly wasn’t sure what she was going to do with them. Ken Weise 12 The COVID-19 Safety Plan was a state requirement for reopening schools. It had to be approved However, the old barn was falling apart and the flock provided a and posted at least five days before any reopening. It was posted on March 30 on the district’s website perfect excuse to breath new life into it. “I was so excited watching at: https://www.crpusd.org/news/what_s_new/c_o_v_i_d-19_safety_plan_for_in-person_instruction. the barn progress. I would be on Zoom for class and could look out Health... This plan was developed in partnership with key stakeholders to include the labor unions based on state the window and watch the transformation,” states Kimberly. The old guidelines dated January 14, 2021. Sonoma County was then in the most restrictive purple tier. Updated barn was renovated to be completely predator proof and offer Body... state guidelines were issued on March 20, 2021 and the county moved into the red tier recently and ‘Ranch’ see page 8 likely will move into the orange tier this week. According to Superintendent Mayra Perez, the district Mind... is beginning to look at options based on the most recent guidelines; however, the priority is to get the Sprit... schools open as soon as possible. Marta Posada, the Pandemic Case Coordinator, said the “guidelines are ever changing” that they are “dynamic and fluid” and that they “will modify it (the safety plan) as Julie Ann Soukoulis 6 guidance evolves.” The current plan was unanimously approved by the board. WSCUHSD ‘School Reopening’ see page 14 Steven Campbell 6 Glenn Mollette 6 Special Board report Sebastopol City Council By Cassandra May Albaugh The West Sonoma County Union High School District held an- other special meeting on March 30. The meeting, online by Zoom and YouTube, was their continuing effort to keep the community in- resolution condemns formed on opening schools this year and consolidation of the high schools planned for 2021-2022. The agenda and links to the video Kids recording of the meeting can be found on their website at: West anti-Asian American hate Sonoma County UHSD (wscuhsd.org) The first three items pertained to approval of the COVID-19 By Brandon McCapes Safety Plans for Analy, El Molino and Laguna High Schools.

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