RoundUp: Storm tossed
A corporate lunch, a lost cyclist, downed trees, a snack thief and our new intern
Is the Press Democrat about to be sold to the Hearst Corporation?
The curtain may fall on local ownership of Sonoma County’s only daily newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, if a pending sale is finalized with New York-based Hearst Corporation, owner of the San Francisco Chronicle.
On Friday, Feb. 7, The San Francisco Standard, a news website, broke the story of the PD’s possible sale (paywalled).
The Sebastopol Times also heard about the deal from multiple sources close to the PD’s investor group.
In its reporting, The Standard interviewed Doug Bosco, a former U.S. Congressman, general counsel for the Press Democrat and one of the investors in Sonoma Media Investments, which owns the PD and other local papers, including the Sonoma Index-Tribune and Petaluma Argus-Courier.
While not confirming or denying negotiations with Hearst, Bosco told the Standard “I will say this, the original investor group, including myself, is aging, and there has been general discussion about passing off or selling the newspapers to some financially capable entities.”
Continuous publication of the Press Democrat dates to 1897, with all but three decades being under local ownership. Ernest Finley first published his Santa Rosa Evening Press in 1897. Following a series of mergers and buy-outs of competing newspapers, the present Santa Rosa Press-Democrat flag was unfurled 1948. Finley died in 1942. His son-in-law Evert Person and his daughter Ruth Finely maintained ownership until Ruth Finley’s death in 1985 when the paper was sold to the New York Times Company, which later sold it to Halifax Media Group of Florida in 2011.
The investment partners of Sonoma Media Investments were applauded in 2012 for returning ownership of the Press Democrat to local hands. In addition to Bosco, SMI investors include Darius Anderson, a Sonoma-based real estate developer and Sacramento political lobbyist; Jean Schulz, wife of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz; and Sonoma Valley residents banker Sandy Weil; and former Dolby Sound CEO Bill Jasper.
The Press Democrat reached its circulation zenith of 104,000 Sunday print copies in 2004, according to official circulation audits. It now has around 40,000 subscribers, counting both print and online. Like all legacy media, the PD has suffered financially in recent years as print advertising has declined, and companies spent their advertising dollars on social media instead. SMI sold its Mendocino Avenue office building in downtown Santa Rosa and its Rohnert Park printing plant in recent years. Since 2022, The Press Democrat has been printing its newspapers at the Hearst-owned printing plant in Fremont that also prints The Chronicle and other Bay Area newspapers.
Sebastopol cyclist drowns during storm
Sebastopol cyclist Frank Robinson, 81, was reported missing on Wednesday evening around 9 pm, when he didn’t return from his ride. According to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, his bicycle was equipped with a GPS device. His body was recovered early the next morning from a flooded roadway in the 5800 block of Hall Road, near Sanford Road, just north of Sebastopol. A common cycling route, both roads were completely inundated during the storm.
The storm also took a toll on local trees
A dangerous beauty
Graton artist Lisa Beerntsen is a painter by trade and a professor of Fine Arts at SRJC. Even her random photos on Facebook have a painterly touch. She captured this lovely photo of Atascadero Creek at full flood.
Applications open for Academy of Innovative Arts
West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) has created a webpage and an application form for prospective 9th grade students of the Academy of Innovative Arts (see our story on the new school in Forestville.) The new school will accept 30 students for its first freshman class and applicants will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, although in-District students will have priority. The deadline for applications is April 11th. Register here.
The munchies…
From the Sebastopol Police Facebook page:
At approximately 3 am, Wednesday morning, a Sebastopol PD officer was conducting a security check of the Chevron station on Highway 12 on the east side of town. As the officer was pulling into the parking lot, he saw a white pickup exit the parking lot, at a high rate of speed and without it’s headlights on. At the same moment, the officer saw the glass of the front door to the gas station was smashed and there were candy bars and other snacks strewn about the ground.
The officer caught up to the pickup and effected a traffic stop on the vehicle with another officer. The subject was detained without incident. In the bed of the truck, officers saw dozens and dozens of candy bars and other snacks foods, as well as locating a crowbar in the vehicle. When questioned, the suspect admitted to breaking into the gas station and stealing the treats. Officers later reviewed surveillance video from the station, which captured the entire crime.
Needless to say, it was a sweet arrest.
Meet the Sebastopol Times’ new intern, Albert Levine
Albert Levine grew up in Sebastopol, is a former reporter with the SRJC Oak Leaf and currently working at the Sonoma State Star. He is focused on labor and social justice issues and how international events affect local communities. He’ll be doing his senior internship with us, and we’re thrilled to have him on the team.
Sebastopol Police Logs, Jan. 27 – Feb. 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
1:31 p.m. Petty theft (misdemeanor) at Sebastopol Avenue. Pending further information.
4:06 p.m. Served a misdemeanor arrest warrant for an outside agency at Sebastopol and Petaluma avenues. Suspect arrested.
9:31 p.m. Disorderly conduct, lodging and occupying property without owner’s consent (misdemeanors) and having an open container on public property at Willow Street and South Main Street. Suspect arrested.
TUESDAY
6:04 p.m. Possession of unlawful paraphernalia, trespassing and refusing to leave (misdemeanors) at Willow and South Main streets. Suspect arrested.
WEDNESDAY
8:59 p.m. Arson of an inhabited structure or property (felony) at Willow and South Main streets. Referred to an allied agency.
FRIDAY
8:09 p.m. Conspiracy to commit a crime and vandalism with defacement of property (misdemeanors) at Keating Avenue and North Main Street. Cleared by circumstances beyond police control.
SATURDAY
1:02 a.m. Battery of spouse or companion and violation of a court order regarding domestic violence (misdemeanors) at Abbot and Petaluma avenues. Referred to District Attorney for review.
1:06 p.m. Served a misdemeanor arrest warrant for an outside agency at North Main Street and Sebastopol Avenue. Suspect arrested.
SUNDAY
12:03 p.m. Disorderly conduct involving alcohol (misdemeanor) at Depot Street and Sebastopol Avenue. Suspect arrested.
OTHER POLICE ACTION
The Sebastopol Police Department also recorded 139 other events requiring police action during the period, such as lost animals, assisting citizens, parking violations, foot patrol, traffic hazards and reckless driving.
“The evil was not in the bread and circuses, per se, but in the willingness of the people to sell their rights as free men for full bellies and the excitement of the games which would serve to distract them from the other human hungers which bread and circuses can never appease.”
—Cicero
The Week of Feb. 3-8
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So my only local daily paper will be the Sebastopol Times?