Roundup: New again
A new type of little library, new owners at Rust, a new superintendent in Forestville, new paintings of old buildings in west county, and more
What a great idea! A Little Library for Puzzles
Are you a lover of puzzles? Do you have some puzzles you’ve already finished that you’d like to find a home for? Drop them off and maybe pick up another at the Puzzle Exchange just south of Sebastopol at 8837 Barnett Valley Road.
Rust Boutique in the Barlow gets new owners
Rust founder and stylist Alice Briggs has sold her popular clothing store in the Barlow to new owners Tishia Merlo and Hayley Johnson. The deal closed on August 6. The new owners closed the store for one day to reorganize and add some new things, and they opened for business on August 8.
Merlo and Johnson have never run a clothing business before, but they’re both businesswomen—Johnson owns a paving stone company that she ran with her father and Merlo ran her own bookkeeping firm. For several years, they’ve had their eyes out for a business they could buy and run together.
“We've known each other for over 20 years,” Merlo said. “In fact, this year is our 20th anniversary of meeting. Our kids went to kindergarten together. So over the years, we're both entrepreneurs, and we have that spirit. We’ve always loved fashion and gifts. We've talked about buying homes and redesigning homes—so design and that kind of thing has always been something that we love—but this is a whole new venture for us.”
Merlo and Johnson said they’re planning to stick with Brigg’s current fashion aesthetic, while folding in some of their own tastes over time. Many of the brands will stay the same—Mother Denim, Level 99, Hobo handbags. They’ve also added a skincare line, gifts and jewelry.
“We love Rust,” Merlo said. “And I think that was the only way for us to come into something like this—to find something that was established and beloved and that we could sort of adopt rather than just come in and take over.”
Merlo and Johnson are trying to get to know their new clientele. If you’ve been a Rust client in the past (and even if you haven’t), let them know what you’d like to see in the store. You can let them know in person or via the questionnaire on their website.
Find Rust at 6780 Mckinley Ave., Sebastopol, and online at rustboutique.com.
Ken Silman, new Superintendent at Forestville
The board of Forestville Union School District hired Ken Silman as the new Superintendent in July. For the last three years, Silman served as the superintendent/principal of Cinnabar School District in Petaluma, CA. Before that he worked at a TK-8 school in Tracy for seven years as an administrator (two years as vice-principal and five years as superintendent.)
In a letter to parents, FUSD board president Max Broome wrote: “Mr. Silman has experience building many educational programs, including a Professional Learning Community system, a Science Technology Engineering Art and Music (STEAM) program, and a gardening program. Ken connected with a grant program that made Cinnabar a part of the Environmental Pathways program that gives students hands-on learning and experiences through free field trips. Ken also started a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program (PBIS) at Traina and worked with PBIS at Cinnabar.”
Broom noted that Silman started out as “a sportswriter in the Bay Area before beginning his career in education twenty years ago.”
Remembering old West County with paintings by Ethan Cranke
As a lark, Forestville artist Ethan Cranke decided to paint some of west county’s nostalgic old businesses: the Monte Rio Theatre, the River Inn Grill in Guerneville, and Carr’s Diner in Forestville. He put them up on the Guerneville Locals page on Facebook, thinking someone might be interested and, boy, were they! In 12 hours, he’d sold all five paintings and gotten commissions for other spots, including some of the local bridges over the Russian River (which he’d been planning to do anyway).
Cranke, who used to teach plein air painting in San Francisco, said, “I’m focusing on old places that kind of strike a chord for people that grew up around here or came up here all their lives, that kind of thing.”
These small nostalgia pieces are a bit of a departure for him. A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Cranke usually does figurative and concept driven pieces “that explore identity, spirituality, kind of modern absurdities,” in addition to plein air landscapes. But if you’ve got a west county site you’d like to see turned into a painting, contact him at ArtByEthanCranke@gmail.com. You can see more of his work at ethancranke.com.
Great Service from…Caltrans?
We saw this interesting tale from Sebastopol’s Alan Rosenzweig on Nextdoor this week:
A couple of months ago, I reported to Caltrans about a traffic light at the intersection of Lynch and Gravenstein Highway in Sebastopol. The light at the intersection did not have a delay between the two roads, [making it seem] that the Gravenstein traffic was running the red light. I wrote a letter to Caltrans about it, and the next day I received a call from a man at Caltrans. He asked me about the situation. A few days later, I happened to be at the intersection and saw a Caltrans man taking notes and watching the traffic flow. I walked over to the man and asked him if he was there to change the delay at the light. He says to me, “Are you Alan?” which surprised me. I have to say how impressed I was about Caltrans and our state government working at its best. He told me I was correct, and he changed the delay to allow for both directions to have a red light before the green light turned for the traffic. Now I feel much safer at the intersection and really appreciate our state government working at its best. Thank you, Caltrans. Just a shout out to our state for taking care of this so quickly.
Correction
In last Sunday’s RoundUp, we included a story about the SW100, the new giving circle in west county. We said, incorrectly, that if you join SW100 before Sept. 1, you can vote at the member meeting on Oct. 25. Here’s what it should have said: “If you join SW100 before Sept. 1, you can participate in the online voting that will run from 9/29/25 - 10/11/25. Winners will be announced at the member meeting on Oct. 25 at the Balletto Event Center.”
SW100 is still accepting new members. Join now.
Sebastopol Police Logs, August 11-17
The following are crimes excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.
MONDAY
10:17 a.m. Resisting a peace officer and possession of nitrous oxide (misdemeanors) at Gravenstein Highway South. Suspect arrested.
TUESDAY
10:25 a.m. Possession of a controlled substance and unlawful paraphernalia (misdemeanors) at Morris Street. Suspect arrested.
10:57 a.m. Served a felony arrest warrant for an outside agency at Morris Street. Suspect arrested.
WEDNESDAY
4:38 p.m. Shoplifting, with at least two prior convictions (felony), at North Main Street. Pending further investigation.
THURSDAY
6:12 a.m. Battery causing injury to a police officer (misdemeanor) at Bodega Avenue. Suspect arrested.
7:06 p.m. Resisting a peace officer (misdemeanor) and driving without a license at Gravenstein Highway North. Suspect arrested.
8:57 p.m. Selling or using illegal fireworks (misdemeanor) at Litchfield Avenue. Suspect arrested.
SUNDAY
10:18 a.m. Possession of unlawful paraphernalia and a controlled substance (misdemeanors) at Bodega Avenue. Suspect arrested.
OTHER POLICE ACTION
The Sebastopol Police Department also recorded 179 events requiring police action during the period, such as lost animals, assisting citizens, parking violations, foot patrol, traffic hazards and reckless driving.
Re: traffic light at Lynch and Gravenstein Highway, thank you Alan Rosenzweig!