Driver runs off roadway, fails field sobriety test

Posted Wed. Jan. 31, 2007 ------- A Windsor man failed to negotiate a curve on Highway One Sunday night. His compact car ran off the road in front of the Carmet subdivision and came to rest in a large drainage ditch. When Bodega Bay Fire and Russian River ambulance crews arrived, they determined his injuries to be minor. Highway Patrol officer gave the driver a field sobriety test. The driver was subsequently arrested for suspicion of drunken driving. In this photo the driver's mouth is checked for missing or broken teeth while CHP officer hooks up the errant man.

Construction starts at Harbor View housing

Posted Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007 -------- Builders moved equipment onto the site of the new “low cost housing” project in Bodega Bay this week. Construction began on the retaining walls and preparations for pouring the foundation.

Permits for the construction were issued months ago but weather and other permit problems delayed the start of construction.

The builders will continue working as the weather permits, said Philip Young, spokesman for RJB Development, Incorporated, (R.J.B. Development is solely owned by Richard Joseph Battaglia)

Read the full story here -----

Porto Bodega sold

Posted Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007 --------- On the market for since 2002, Porto Bodega Marina and RV Park has been sold.

Escrow is expected to close Wednesday, Jan. 31. The new owners will take over operations on Thursday, Feb. 1.

The new owner is Richard Battaglia of Newport Beach. Battaglia is also the owner of the Harbor View subdivision.

Battaglia bought that subdivision two years ago. Battaglia runs a real estate empire through several subsidiaries with 100 percent ownership of about 2700 units from Arizona to Hawaii. Battaglia is also the designer of numerous theme parks. His firm is an architectural and engineering consultant and operator of existing and proposed parks throughout the world. His projects range in size up to $2 billion.

Read the full story here -----

Head-on crash destroys two cars but both drivers walk away

Posted Wed., Jan. 24, 2007 -------- A small pickup truck and a new sedan collided on Highway One just north of the north intersection of Bay Hill and Highway One. Both drivers were out of their cars when Bodega, Bodega Bay Fire arrived. The driver of the pickup, a 25-year-old man was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with moderate injuries. Traffic backed up for a mile in both directions during the busy morning commute hour. The yellow pickup was southbound when it collided with the northbound sedan driven by a Coast Guardsman on his way to Station Bodega Bay.

The driver of the pickup, Don Henderson, 26, of Windsor had an injury to his shoulder but was transported to check for possible internal injuries. The VW Jetta driver, David Urtasun, 19, Rohnert Park, declined any medical aid. The California Highway Patrol's preliminary investigation established that Urtasun fell asleep when his vehicle crossed the center line and struck Henderson's pickup. The road curved and the vehicle went straight. This same curve has been the site of several severe crashes. In seperate accidents, one young man lost his life five year ago and a young woman remains in rehabilitation after two years.

One year after the murder of Manuel Santos -- Read Breezy

Over 600 eat crab at Bodega Bay Grange Ciopinno -- go to

Pt Reyes Dark employee accussed of embezzlement

Posted Jan. 20, 2007 --------- POINT REYES STATION – The owner of the Point Reyes Dark reported at 3 p.m. Friday Jan. 19 a staff member embezzled a substantial amount of cash. Other sources confirm that a trusted employee (on staff for less than a year) had taken over $20,000. The embezzler was confronted by the owner earlier that afternoon. More details as they become available.

Addtional information Monday, Jan. 22, 2007 -------- Lt. Scott Anderson said this afternoon that no further information is available except that the investigation continues and no arrest has been made.

Editor's note: Due to the lawsuit filed by The Point Reyes Dark against the Navigator, we are unable to speak to the Dark -- except through our lawyers -- to seek their comment or version of this story.

Cadet Hand obituary -- click

Read story of diver who almost became a shark's lunch here --

TMDL and why it is so important: How Much is Too Much?

The role of TMDLs in the regulation of water quality

By JW Sharp

Take a walk outside sometime, perhaps after the rains stop and the warm sun returns. Head down the hill, through the woods and to the banks of your creek. The heavy flows of winter will have passed on, leaving inevitable changes in their wake: banks collapsed, trees fallen, and, looking closer, a great deal of fine, powdery sediment, perhaps coating a shallow gravel bed with just enough contamination to prevent sensitive salmonids from raising their young. Under federal and state regulations, this natural result of erosion is qualified as a pollutant and must be quantified within the confines of the Total Maximum Daily Load determined for that particular waterway.

More than half the waterways in the North Coast Region were declared impaired by sediment in 2002, including the Estero Americano and large sections of the Russian River. Besides sediment, the main sources of pollution are heat and oxygen. Although these are all naturally occurring substances, even beneficial ones, there is a point where they become too much, where they exceed the carrying capacity of the waterway and limit the usefulness of the habitat. That point is known as the Total Maximum Daily Load.

Click to read the full article

Man tumbles 150 feet down a Bodega Head cliff and survives

Click to see gallery of photos

A reported prowler alerts the Sheriff; another neighbor reports a burglar just hours later

Posted Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 --------- An early morning report had Resident Deputy Charlie Bone in uniform at 2 am today. A resident reported a burglar along Highway One just north of The Tides. Prowler was already gone when Bone arrived to investigate. Just a few hours later, about before Bone had changed out of uniform, another call reported a burglar at a residence on Smith Brothers Road.

As Deputy Bone arrived, a Lincoln Navigator pickup truck sped south on Highway One. The burglarized homeowner had confronted the suspect who then ran for his truck and beat feet. Homeowner, pointed to the fleeing vehicle, "That's him, that's him."

Deputy Bone gave chase. The large Lincoln made it to the patch of black ice south of North Harbour Way and spun out, remaining on the road.

When Deputy Bone arrested the suspect, he found stolen goods from another residence on Smith Brothers Road. The suspect was charged with burglary and possession of stolen goods and violation of probation. He was hauled off to jail.

Tomales Peace Café protests Bush's surge

In Tomales, a group of neighbors, of various political persuasions, came together for a couple of hours on Sunday to publicly express their personal reasons for waging peace in times of warfare. Participants included those whose lives, as civilians or as combatants, have been diminished by the tragedy of "death with glory." The Tomales Peace Café, together with the Bodega Go-pher Peace group, posted themselves along Highway One to remind motorists that even the smallest of communities, hanging on the edge of a vast continent, can "be the change we wish to see in the world" (Gandhi).

Locals voice their objection to Bush's surge

Sunday, Jan. 14, 2007 --------- A sunny day brought a constant stream of drivers visiting the Sonoma Coast. They were greeted in Bodega and Tomales by local peace group members with flags and banners. The slogans on the signs condemned Bush's oil war and his recently announced expansion of troop levels. A similar demonstration was held Friday in Point Reyes Station.

Another tire dumper strikes the coast

Sunday Jan. 14, 2007 --------- Sonoma County Sheriff's Resident Deputy Charlie Bone is looking for the culprits that dumped about two dozen used tires along Bay Hill Road Friday night. The distribution of the tires along the road suggested the one of the dumpers was in the back of a truck throwing tires while an accomplice drove.

This is the second time that tire dumpers have struck the coast recently. Still unknown dumpers left over 200 tires along Goat Rock Road about a year ago.

Dump fees for tires at the county trash collection service have risen to $8 per tire. When dumpers left 200 tires at Goat Rock State Beach Road, State Parks had to pay the County Dump to receive the tires.

Bodega Bay Fire buys another fire engine

See the new/used engine

Follow this informative series in the LA Times: Altered Oceans

A crane breaks a leg on Paisano Bros. dock

Posted Jan. 13, 2007 -------- Bodega Bay Firefighters were called to Paisano Bros. dock Friday to assist this tilted crane. The equipment was working when an outrigge broke through the old dock planking. Injuries were minor. But the crane required another crane to lift it upright.

Special: Editorial -- Sharp's Tack -- click here

Long time resident Karen Stafford died Tuesday, January 2. -- click

Wild storm cuts electric, downs trees and scatters debris

Posted 2 pm Wednesday Dec. 27, 2006 -------- Bodega Bay Firefighters were up most of the Tuesday night clearing fallen trees. The storm blew itself ashore Tuesday morning and by evening had dropped over an inch of rain in West Sonoma County. By midnight the rain had restarted dumping another half-inch. Winds from the south kept the heavy rainfall in place. By 2 am the wind shifted to come from the north and the rain tapered off. Wind speed and gusts increased. Firefighters were kept busy with a continuous string of emergency calls reporting Highway One, Windy Lane or Coleman Valley Road blocked or houses struck by falling trees. Scattered power outages accompianed the storm.

This home in Bodega Bay had a tree fall on it during the night. There were no injuries, but there was one very shaken resident.

Wind gusts up to 78 mph were reported at Mt. Barnabee in Marin County. Bodega Marine Lab weather station showed 44 mph gusts. The weather station at the Bodega Bay Firehouse recorded 51 mph gusts about 2 am. Power outages throughout the area left weather stations without power and unreliable readings at the height of the winds.