Archive News pages Month of July, 2006

Helicopter lifts fall victim

Posted 5 pm, July 21, 2006 -------- About 3 pm, today a 68-year-old man slipped and fell at Miwok Beach, at the Sonoma Coast State Park. He fell about 12-feet from the trail leading down to the beach.

The victim lost consciousness for a short time. When Bodega Bay ambulance arrived they evaluated the severity of the injuries and called on Sheriff’s Helicopter Henry-One to airlift the patient to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

 

Forcible Rape at Doran Park

Updated at 5:10 pm, July 19, 2006 -------- An 18-year-old Sonoma County woman was forcibly raped in the early morning hours of Monday, July 17 at a Doran Park restroom. The perpetrator has been arrested and is at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility.

The victim was camping at the Doran Beach Regional Park with a companion. A man from an adjacent campsite followed her to a restroom at about 3 am.

Deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriffís Department were dispatched to the Coast Guard Station Bodega Bay, at Doran Beach Regional Park at 3:37 am.

Arriving deputies learned the victim was accosted and forced into the men's restroom. She was then forcibly raped in a restroom stall.

The victim escaped her attacker when a witness entered the restroom. The witness saw the attack and asked what was going on. The victim then escaped and fled to her campsite. She immediately reported the attack to her companion. The victim's boyfriend then confronted the attacker. The attacker pulled a handgun and threatened the victimís boyfriend.

Within the hour, deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department arrested Mark Farish, a 28-year-old Sacramento man, for the sexual assault. (Update: 7 am, July 24, 2006 -------- Resident Deputy Charlie Bone made the arrest.) He and a companion (the witness who interrupted the attack) were camping in an adjacent campsite and had socialized with the victim earlier in the evening. Deputies did not locate the handgun.

The victim was transported to the hospital by Bodega Bay ambulance for a medical examination and later released.

Detectives from the Sonoma County Sheriffís Department Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Unit were called out and are investigating this incident.

Farish was booked into the Sonoma County Jail for rape, forced oral copulation, forcible acts of sexual penetration, assault with a deadly weapon, and battery. The District Attorney's Office filed all of the above listed felony charges. Farish's bail is currently set at $160, 000.

Rape at Doran Park

Posted 8 am, July 19, 2006 -------- An 18-year-old woman was raped in the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 18 at a Doran Park restroom.

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputies are withholding most details of the crime and the circumstances.

The perpetrator has been arrested and is at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility.

The victim was camping at the Doran Beach Regional Park with a companion. A man from an adjacent campsite followed her to a restroom at about 3 am. He forcibly raped her there.

The victim called for assistance after the rape from the Bodega Bay Coast Guard Station. Bodega Bay Fire District ambulance rendered aid after the vicious assault.

Solo pickup misses turn off Hwy One

Posted 8:30 am, July 13, 2006 -------- A southbound pickup truck missed the right turn off Hwy One at Doran Beach Road Wednesday afternoon (about 5 pm). The out of control vehicle skidded off the roadway and down a 25-foot embankment. Bodega Bay Fire, Bodega Volunteer Fire and Valley Ford Volunteer Fire responded. The vehicle was in a precarious position resting against tree limbs. The vehicle was secured with a winch from BB Fire Chief Sean Grinnell’s truck so firefighters could safely extricate the victim from the mangled vehicle. The victim was carried up the hill to the waiting ambulance several hundred feet away.

Fog was on the ground at the time of the crash. Sheriff’s Helicopter Henry-One landed at the Watts Ranch in Bodega. BB ambulance M-11 transported to the waiting helicopter. The victime was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with moderate injuries.

Man arrested for assault with a deadly weapon

At 5:00 pm, Wednesday, July 12, Deputy Charlie Bone responded to the Valley Ford Store 14400 Highway 1, Valley Ford, regarding a man with a gun outside threatening a customer. The threats were over minor damage to the suspects car allegedly caused by the victim.

The victim said that the suspect fled in an older white Cadillac. While enroute to the Valley Ford Store Deputy Bone passed a matching vehicle. Deputy Bone turned around and located the vehicle, a1998 Cadillac, parked in the 21500 block of Heron Drive near the Bodega Bay Lodge. The vehicle was registered to Glenn Manuel Silva, 52 years, of Duncans Mills. No one was in the vehicle.

Deputy Bone assisted by three other deputies, CHP and State Park Rangers went door to door to advise residences of the outstanding suspect and weapon. A short while later an employee at the Bodega Bay Lodge noticed a subject matching Silvas description behind the business next to the sewer facility.

Deputies, CHP Officers, and State Park Rangers searched behind the Lodge, locating Silva who immediately surrendered. Silva was unarmed at the time of his arrest, but admitted to pointing a handgun at a customer at the Valley Ford Store. During questioning Silva said the gun was fake and that he threw it out the window somewhere past the store on Bodega Highway.

Silva was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, and booked into the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility. The weapon is still outstanding.

Navigator misses deadline.

Posted: Noon, July 11, 2006 -------- Navigator Online is feverishly working on the new website. Problems have overcome intentions. But, “perseverance furthers.”

Man drowns in the Salmon Creek lagoon Saturday evening; wife survives

Posted 8 am, July 9, 2006: A Petaluma Pastor who jumped into the waters of Salmon Creek lagoon Saturday to save his drowning wife died. His unconscious wife was pulled to safety and revived by passersby.

Alfonso Juan Mendez, 48, of Petaluma, and his family were enjoying a day at the beach. They were playing in the lagoon waters when his wife, Apalonia Mendez fell into the water. His family, wife and three children were together at the popular Salmon Creek beach. They were both pulled to the shore of the lagoon by passersby. State Park Rangers were called. When Rangers arrived they confronted an apparently lifeless man and his extremely distraught family. The Rangers started CPR and called for emergency help.

First reports to emgency dispatch had two drowning victims witnessed within ten minutes. Two helicopters were dispatched from Santa Rosa. Bodega Bay Fire and Ambulance rolled along with Bodega Fire Volunteers and Occidental Fire Volunteers.

All arriving emergency help had difficulty reaching the victim. High water in the lagoon prevented vehicles from driving around the east side and across the mouth. The victim and his family were on the west side of the lagoon several hundred yards south of the mouth. Emergency vehicles attempted to cross the dunes at the Bean Ave. parking lot. Firefighters and paramedics reached the victim by hiking down from the north Salmon Creek parking lot and around the lagoon.

Ransey German was on the beach with her family. They were alerted to the commotion farther along the lagoon and went to help. They found the unconscious woman “face down in the water and starting to sink.” German’s family group pulled her ashore and began CPR. Apolonia Mendez “felt the chest compressions” and revived. German’s husband, sister-in-law and her friend started to look for the other victim. At the time the 19-year-old daughter of the victim was screaming for help. German’s family thought there was a child under the water and started searching with their hands and feet. They were already exhausted from pulling Apolonia to shore. They searched without success.

Mr Mendez had slipped into a deep pool. Another bystander dove into nine-foot water and pulled, with help from the German family, Mr Mendez to shore. Witnesses said they saw him in obvious distress before he disappeared under the water. Bystanders had already called Park Rangers for help.

He was pronounced dead by paramedics after 20 minutes of CPR. Both REACH helicopter and Sonoma County Sheriff’s helicopter HENRY-ONE responded to the scene. The family was taken to the Salmon Creek Ranger Station.

Mr Mendez was a Pastor at the Petaluma Open Door Church. A Catholic priest visiting from India was among the bystanders. He said prayers for the dead man.

More Breaking news ------- Fire in dunes at Salmon Creek

 

Second of July celebratons

Sunday, July 2, the Bodega Bay Firefighters Association held their annual Pancake Breakfast the the Bodega Bay Grange Hall. There was a steady stream of folks coming for breakfast.

A tamale and pozole fundraiser was held
Saturday, July 1 at Porto Bodega from Noon to 5 pm. The event raised over $1500 towards the reward fund for the capture of the killer of Manuel Santos.

(additional note posted 7/3/2006: The reward fund to capture the killers of Manuel Santos has about $4000 according to Connie Bennett at Porto Bodega.

Photo below is of the friends and family of Manuel Santos making tamales the Friday evening at the Porto Bodega Rec Room. They made 1000 tamales.

Buy a tamale and catch the killer of Manuel Santos. Pozole both pork and chicken were available.

 

Photos below: At the Tacos to Catch a Killer fundraiser, June 17 at Porto Bodega.

The fundraiser earned over $2000 toward the reward to capture the killers of Manuel Santos.

A tamale and pozole fundraiser will be held
Saturday, July 1 at Porto Bodega from Noon to 5 pm.

 

 

Guadalupe Cervantes, Louisa Gomez, Estella Cervantes and Carlos Ruiz prepare plates of enchiladas and tacos.