Quote of the week: Café Espresso Health: Biweekly Poll Question Feature of the week “Friendship - my definition - is built on How to prevent teeth wear and tear Do you think Rohnert Park has a good two things. Respect and trust. Both ele- emergency alert system? ments have to be there. And it has to be Page 6 mutual. You can have respect for some- one, but if you don't have trust, the Yes ___ No ___ I don’t care___ friendship will crumble.” News: Please vote on line at www.TheCommunityVoice.com Rare albino Cotati tree still thriving after ― Stieg Larsson move -- Previous question and it’s results -- Should 3-D printed guns be allowed? Magnified is now Page 6 Café Espresso Page 3 Yes - 0% No - 88% I don’t care - 11% Newspaper of Rohnert Park-Cotati-Penngrove August 24, 2018 - 14 Pages Friedman’s Home Improvement Correction: In the article about the Sonoma State American Language Institute it is said Roberta Hodges is the language institute director, however, Cotati Accordion Festival still a hit this was incorrect. Hodges is the director of International Education after 28 years at Sonoma State University. CommunityRP to host community forum for public forum safety director search By Irene Hilsendager Join us Monday, Aug. 27 for a Community Forum on the next Public Safety Director from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Community Center located at 5401 Snyder Ln. in Rohnert Park. We will be seeking your input on what you want to see in our next Public Safety Director. Come learn about the city’s recruitment plans and share your- thoughts regarding the next leader of our police and fire services. The collaborative forum will also serve as a way for residents to hear about the city’s recruitment plan for hiring a new public safety director. Council Member Gina Belforte said of the search, “The city’s search for a new public safety director gives us an opportunity to listen to city residents, be innovative in our approach and take steps that respond to residents’ goals and desires.” Until a new director is found, Jeffrey D. Weaver, former Se- bastopol police chief, will serve as Rohnert Park’s interim chief. Several different accordion acts performed at last weekends’ famed Cotati Accordion Festival. Hernandez Hideaway pictured above. Cougars slay Dragons J.C. Newman By J.C. Newman munity in general. The 28th Annual Cotati Accordion Festival squeezed into La Goree and festival co-producer, Linda Conner, work all year Plaza Park last weekend with a heavy turnout to the tune of over booking musicians, lining up vendors, working with the city and de- five thousand individuals. signing the program. Lisa Benz is coordinator of over one hundred In the American mainstream pop or rock-n-roll world, the accor- volunteers. Many more contribute their time to the festival’s suc- dion is not common. You just don’t see them in bands and they don’t cess. hang in a lot of instrument stores either. So seeing so many of these “It’s really a lot of fun and it’s really a joy to see all the smiles strangely designed instruments on stage and displayed in the ven- and how happy everybody is,” said Goree who has incorporated the dors’ tents sparkling new and playfully mysterious was an awesome help of his wife and two daughters who volunteer at the festival sight. But seeing them is one thing - the accordion’s sound when every year. one truly listens to it is mesmerizing and conjures one’s free spirit The Cotati Accordion Festival is a non-profit organization estab- and stirs joy in one’s heart. lished in 1991 to promote the love of the accordion and to support “That’s the one thing people mention more than anything else, is local youth service organizations. As of last year they had con- how much joy is in the park,” said Scott Goree, Executive Director tributed nearly $500,000 to the youth of the community. Proceeds of the Cotati Accordion Festival. Goree took over as Executive Di- are donated to the Cotati / Rohnert Park Education Foundation, the rector of the festival in 2004 when original founders, Clifton Buck- Thomas Page music program, the Outdoor Education program at Kaufmann and Jim Boggio retired. Anyone familiar with the Penngrove Elementary, the Nursery School Cooperative, who inci- accordionist statue in the La Plaza park? That’s Jim. It has become dentally provide security and Boy Scout Troop #4, who set out do a representation of the festival itself and of the Cotati musical com- ‘Festival’ see page 8 Revisiting those who lost it all: Rasheed Rankin, a junior at Rancho Cotate High School and mem- October wildfire victims still on the road to recovery ber of the varsity football team, reaches the ball over the goal line By Katherine Minkiewicz servation Service) and the FSA as he makes a touchdown during their game against Sacramento Driving over Sonoma Moun- (Farm Service Agency), which High School. tain on a perfectly sunny Mon- are programs of the USDA and Jane Peleti day morning it is almost hard to we were able to redo the fence believe that a raging, relentless lines on the property, which is By David Rheinhart wildfire swept through the lush huge given that we have live- Cold air, bright lights and the raucous cheer of the crowd wel- landscape almost a year ago; stock, cows and goats,” Melissa comed the Rancho Cotate Cougars back to their stadium Aug. 17 however, once you turn onto explained. “And that was a huge for their first game of the new season against the Sacramento Drag- Bennett Valley Road and task just getting the ranch up ons which ended with victory and a score of 16-12. Big moments: Arnold Drive, you start to see and functioning again and at the those are what made the difference against the Dragons in the first the scars, singed trees and same time trying to plant and half. While skills and the fundamentals kept the pendulum from blackened earth, a scene almost seed, harvest and try to make it swinging, it was the Cougar’s keen eye for opportunity that helped out of an apocalyptic, dystopian to the market and make a liv- them seize the opening lead. movie. Yet up from the ashes ing… it has definitely been a “Their line was phenomenal,” said Joseph McCray, the Dragon’s progress in recovery can also be struggle this year.” head coach. “They executed well, they blocked well and they’re a seen — foundations being laid, The only structure that didn’t very well coached team. They just got the early start that we couldn’t wooden frames being raised and require replacing was their feed overcome.” It was a vicious back and forth for the first quarter of contractors busily working. barn and green house and other the game. Sonoma wildfire victims, survivors included their goats, Dragon’s linebacker, Sherman Gay, managed a diving intercep- Bee-Well Farms and Sandra chickens and cows, all of whom tion at his team’s fifteen-yard line after the Dragons pressured and Geary, are two such victims of seem unfazed by the flurry of jostled the Cougar’s quarterback, Jared Stocker, on a throw. Things the wildfires that can also be work that’s been going on for 10 looked bleak, but then the Cougars responded with an interception seen making steady progress in months. of their own only a few plays later. Defensive back and wide re- rebuilding their livelihoods. While the two have had mo- ceiver, Riley Cronin, snatched the ball right out of the Dragon’s fin- Last October, The Voice inter- ments where their heads hang gertips then tore off down the field for a 17-yard return. That set the viewed fire victims to get their low and they question the next play up perfectly when Cougar’s running back, Rashid Rankin, take on a disaster that was prospect of the behemoth task at took the ball for a 10- yard jaunt through Dragon lines to score the quickly unfolding and almost a hand, the two evoke an incredi- game’s first touchdown. year since the fires started, we ble feeling of resilience and pos- “I’m just proud of my guys. Proud of them. I love them to death. went back to revisit those who itivity, their cheery mood and Their effort overcame all obstacles tonight,” said Cougar’s head lost it all. smiles almost contagious. coach, Gehrig Hotaling. Bee-Well Farm “We get overwhelmed some- While the first quarter belonged to the Cougars, the second was Austin and Melissa Lely, a times… and (the most challeng- the Dragon’s. They managed to rally with a few touchdowns that young and passionate duo, ing thing) has been staying brought them within nipping distance of the Cougar’s score, but a started their dynamic farm in mentally energized and moti- pair of failed two-point conversions left them just shy of a tie. 2015 and were starting to break Austin and Melissa Lely in front of one of their garden beds adjacent vated, but then we just look up “Tonight we complimented our defense well,” said Hotaling on even with their new business in to the site of the home they lost in the October fire. and we are in paradise,” Austin the subject of his team’s offense. “We did put them in a couple of the fall of 2017; however, on Robert Grant said. bad spots, but it’s our first game and Sacramento is tremendous.