RoundUp: Persimmons and Pomegranates
Gift Cards for SNAP recipients, pulling out vineyards and more
$25,000 in gift cards for SNAP recipients
The Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce announced on Facebook this week that the County of Sonoma has awarded them a grant of $25,000 to purchase local restaurant and grocery store gift cards to be distributed to SNAP recipients.
“We are currently developing a clear and equitable process for distributing the restaurant and grocery gift cards, and our priority is to ensure they reach the community members who need them most,” Chamber Director Myriah Volk said. “Thanks very much to Supervisor Lynda Hopkins for expediting this during a time of need for many!”
The story of a vineyard
Several acres of grape vines were pulled out and piled up in heaps this week just off Pleasant Hill Road in Sebastopol. Days before bulldozers were ripping out the vines, leaving an empty field.
A story in the SF Chronicle this week reports that 2,711 acres of vineyards, or 5% of the total, have been removed over the last year in Sonoma County with more to come. Less demand for wine means that winegrowers did not harvest all the grapes on their vines this year.
However, the vineyard shown above has its own story. A former apple orchard, the vineyard was planted 25 years ago by David and Linda Duckhorn in May 2000. Their son, Michael, had done a lot of the thinking to figure out how to replace the apples with grapes. “He loved land,” said David Duckhorn, who remembered riding around with him on a tractor. “Michael didn’t live to see the vineyard,” said Duckhorn about his son, who passed away in 1996. About ten years ago, the Duckhorns sold the vineyard to its current owner but continue to live next door.
Seeing the vines piled up in the field, and knowing this story, a few of the Duckhorn’s neighbors decided to save some of the vines and replant them in their yards in hopes that they will grow back. The owner of the larger vineyard plans to replace the pinot grapes with a new varietal, according to Linda Duckhorn.
VIDAS wins $100K Impact100 Grant
The Impact100 Redwood Circle gathered on Saturday in Rohnert Park to celebrate its 10th Anniversary of giving to nonprofits in Sonoma County, cumulatively totaling $1.9 million. Impact100 consists of 283 members.
This year’s Impact Grant of $100,000 went to VIDAS (Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy and Services), which provides trauma-informed immigrant legal advocacy and community wellness programs. This grant expands their capacity to provide direct immigration legal representation, remove economic barriers to justice and establish a more effective countywide communication protocol to equip everyone—particularly those most underserved—with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions in their best interests.
The two runners-up, Ceres and The Family Justice Center, received merit grants.
As part of the program, the Elsie Allen Marching Band performed wearing uniforms that were purchased through an Impact100 grant from a previous year.
Heads up for December deadlines
Submit your art to the SebArts Member Show
The next exhibit at Sebastopol Center for the Arts is the Annual 2025 Member Show, which runs from Dec. 6 to Jan. 4. All SebArts members are welcome to submit one piece of artwork to this exhibition. Have a piece you’d like to exhibit but you aren’t a member? Join now. All mediums. If you’re already a member, apply now to submit a piece of your personal art to the show. There is a $25 registration fee to enter an art piece in the show.
Submit an essay for the 2nd annual Sebastopol Times Holiday Essay Contest
Sebastopol Times is excited to announce our second annual Personal Essay Contest. We were so impressed and moved by the essays people submitted last year. Let’s do it again! (You can read them here.)
Your essay can have a holiday or New Year’s theme or be about something completely different. Send your essay to sebastopoltimes@gmail.com by 5 pm on Monday, Dec. 15.
There are only three rules:
The essay must be more personal than political. (You may be horrified or thrilled about the reign of Donald Trump, but this isn’t the place for that.)
The essay must be between 500-1,500 words.
You can’t have AI write it.
This essay contest is open to people of all ages.
We will choose our favorites and publish them during Christmas week, Dec. 22-28.
Feel free to contact us with questions at sebastopoltimes@gmail.com.
Looking forward to seeing your personal essays!
Correction
In our piece on The Livery, we wrote a sentence that seemed to suggest that Greg Beale had opened Goldfinch restaurant. That is not the case. Goldfinch was opened by Nick Izzarelli and his team.
The Big Picture
Sebastopol Police Logs, October 27 – November 2
The following are crimes excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.
MONDAY
10:48 p.m. Theft by use of information from an access card, forgery and burglary from a building (felonies) at McKinley Street. Investigation suspended, leads exhausted.
WEDNESDAY
11:24 a.m. Embezzlement and obtaining money by false pretenses (misdemeanors) at Main Street. Referred to District Attorney for review.
11:34 a.m. Vandalism with damage to property (misdemeanor) at McKinley Street. Referred to District Attorney for review.
11:34 a.m. Vandalism with damage to property (misdemeanor) at McKinley Street. Suspect arrested.
THURSDAY
5:55 p.m. Exhibiting a deadly weapon other than a firearm (misdemeanor) at Sebastopol Avenue. Investigation suspended, leads exhausted.
9:28 p.m. Shoplifting (misdemeanor) at Gravenstein Highway North. Pending further investigation.
SUNDAY
7:11 p.m. Served a misdemeanor arrest warrant for an outside agency at Laguna Park Way. Suspect arrested.
OTHER POLICE ACTION
The Sebastopol Police Department also recorded 172 events requiring police action during the period, such as lost animals, assisting citizens, parking violations, foot patrol, traffic hazards and reckless driving.
