Sunday RoundUp: May Day, May Day
Copper wire thieves, Morris dancing, and update on the racist graffiti incident from the principal of Analy
Copper wire thefts plague West County
The Sebastopol Times got a call from reader Bob Hirsch on April 24. His land line and internet had been out for 10 days. Bob lives out on Montgomery Road, one of those long, bucolic roads off Bodega Highway, west of Sebastopol. Hirsch was just one of several thousand West County residents who lost phone and internet in recent weeks due to the theft of copper wire from telecommunications lines.
According to an AT&T spokesperson, “AT&T’s year-to-date financial loss from copper theft in California has reached $32 million. But beyond the financial impact, the more serious issue is the disruption to connectivity for our customers. Copper theft can leave residents, businesses, and entire communities without reliable phone or internet service, affecting everything from daily communication to access to emergency services.”
Hirsch said thieves either climb the poles or drive up in an unmarked bucket truck at night, drop the wire, cut it into segments, then speed off.
On April 28, the Sonoma County Sheriff put out a call to the public for help.
Beginning in February 2026, deputies assigned to rural areas including Sebastopol, Graton, Forestville, Freestone, Windsor and Petaluma have received numerous reports of copper wire being stolen directly from utility poles owned by AT&T.
In these incidents, unknown suspect(s) have reportedly cut down the lines, stripped the protective coating, and removed the copper wiring inside, often leaving the outer casing behind. These thefts have disrupted phone and internet service for AT&T customers in the affected areas until repairs can be completed.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes Unit have been actively investigating these cases since the initial reports and continue to pursue leads. The incidents are believed to occur overnight in remote locations throughout the county.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office encourages residents to remain vigilant during overnight hours. Any vehicles observed parked along roadways or in residential driveways during late-night or early-morning hours, especially those that appear out of place or suspicious, should be reported immediately to our Dispatch Center at 707-565-2121. Community awareness and timely reporting are critical in helping deputies prevent crime and ensure neighborhood safety.
Anyone with information related to these thefts can contact our office at the phone number above, or complete an anonymous tip on our webpage, www.sonomasheriff.gov/silentwitness.
Morris dancing on May 1st morning
In the pre-dawn darkness, a long line of candles marked the path that wound around the Sebastopol Youth Annex, but you could already hear the music coming from the clearing beyond where a group of Morris dancers and audience members were already making merry with an improvised communal dance.
As the sky began to lighten in the east, teams of Morris Dancers took center stage. As we wrote in a 2024 article on Apple Tree Morris, “Morris dancing is an English folk dance tradition. A mention of it appears in Shakespeare (“a morris for May Day”) in All’s Well that Ends Well, and there are earlier mentions of the tradition in church records.”
Because it was foggy on the morning of May 1st, we didn’t have that luscious experience of the sun breaking over the mountains, but that didn’t seem to dim the spirits of dancers or the 35 or so folks that had gotten up early to watch them dance.
A simple Morris Dance just before dawn on Friday, May 1, 2026.
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Analy principal responds to the recent racist and Nazi graffiti incident behind Safeway
In our article on the racist and antisemitic graffiti behind Safeway, we mentioned in a comment that we’d reached out to Analy principal Chuck Wade, asking if the students involved were from Analy. We also asked if he’d noticed the growing impact of people like white supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes on young men on the Analy campus, and what, if anything, the high school was doing about that? Here was his answer:
Hi, Laura—
I did hear about the graffiti, but I don’t know who was charged. I did see (maybe it was your reporting?) that they were juveniles. Usually, the Sebastopol PD connects with us if our students get in trouble.
With respect to your second question, I can say that I am extremely concerned about the pernicious impact of social media on our young people—but, no, I don’t know that Nick Fuentes is a big influence around here. If we have white nationalists on campus, they are not public about that.
And, yes, we are doing a number of things to counteract the normalization of racism. Here are a few:
Our admin team worked recently with our DEI coordinator to produce materials (fliers, videos, and restorative protocols, for example), explaining what is acceptable, what is not, and how to get support.
We are implementing a 9th-grade teams structure next year, which will help us be more uniform and clear about our expectations about how we treat one another here.
Our Access and Belonging committee drafted a resolution addressing hate speech and bias to be adopted by the Board.
We’re implementing a phone-free school day next year, both to limit—at least for a few hours—the impact of social media, and to minimize opportunities for bullying and harassment.
I hope that helps!
Chuck
Embrace the Garden
There are lots of places to get flower and vegetable starts right now in West County—and now there’s another one: the intriguingly named Abbraccio il Giardino (English translation: Embrace the Garden).
A lot of folks were sad to see Absolute Statuary & Fountains, south of Sebastopol, close up shop last year. Now the property has a new owner, Deborah Connors, who intends to bring back some beautiful pots, fountains and statuary, as well as integrating a nursery into the expansive property.
Right now, it’s a work in progress, but one of her suppliers, Jennifer Hart, has brought in some gorgeous heirloom and organic vegetable and flower starts. Go check ’em out.
Correction
In our article on racist graffiti behind Safeway, there were a few typos, including this one: The sentence, “These racists, they’re minority…and they don’t represent the values of this country or Sebastopol.” This should have read “These racists, they’re a minority…and they don’t represent the values of this country or Sebastopol.”
