Russian River Shelter Benefit

You can have a delicious spaghetti dinner and support the Russian River Shelter Program at the same time. This is a win/win for everyone!

2nd Annual SPAGHETTI DINNER & SILENT AUCTION

All proceeds benefit the
RUSSIAN RIVER SHELTER PROJECT (RRSP),
This event is generously co-sponsored by the
Guerneville Community Church

Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008
5 to 8:00 pm
Ongoing Silent Auction and Door Prize Drawings

$10.00 FOR ADULTS
$5.00 FOR CHILDREN

Please join us for a delicious spaghetti dinner featuring community leader Ila Donovan’s world-famous spaghetti sauce recipe, and enjoy a festive evening of entertainment, door prizes and friendship with your Guerneville neighbors

Each ticket includes an entry in drawings for fabulous prizes; including one grand prize for adult entries with a value from $500 to $1,000. All children’s tickets include drawings for toys, games and books.

Guerneville Community Church
Birkhofer Hall
14520 Armstrong Woods Road
Guerneville, CA

Contact: Marcy Orosco at (707) 869-4488, irenedeem@comcast.net, or our website at www.russianrivershelter.org

All proceeds from this event will go toward securing shelter during harsh weather for our unsheltered community members along the Russian River Valley. This 2nd Annual Fundraiser benefits the RUSSIAN RIVER SHELTER PROJECT ~ committed to providing a safe haven for unsheltered men and women in our community. The shelter project is a generously supported by volunteers, local businesses, agencies and organizations throughout West Sonoma County.

TICKETS FOR SALE AT: Guerneville Parcel Box Plus, 16129 Main St., Guerneville, CA

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Wonderland Golf & Gourmet

Support the extraordinary usefulness and beauty of the Monte Rio Community Center

Northwood Golf Course will be the location of this first annual Golf & Gourmet event will benefit the equipment fund of the Monte Rio Recreation and Park District.

Since the 1940’s, the Monte Rio Recreation and Park District has been caring for the lands under its charge with great success. People flock to our river beaches throughout the year and recognize that this is an outstanding natural playground.

Thousands of people have visited their many venues; the Amphitheater, River Meadow, Beaches, Koret Park and most recently, the Monte Rio Community Center – and enjoyed family reunions, weddings, political events and fundraisers.

The First Annual Wonderland GOLF and Gourmet will benefit the equipment fund of the MRRPD and will raise needed funds for tables, chairs, kitchen equipment for the Monte Rio Community Center, as well other equipment necessary for use at our other venues.

The MRRPD is eager for everyone to get to know more about them and by participating in this tournament, or buying a ticket to the gourmet dinner, they will have a chance to hear about MRRPD’s plans for the future and to see firsthand, the extraordinary usefulness and beauty of the Monte Rio Community Center. This organization has served the community for decades, and with the public’s participation, the MRRPD can become an even stronger organization with more desirable places for everyone to enjoy.

Please join in the fun as a golfer, diner, sponsor, donor or volunteer and help make this event as special as the lands MRRPD’s protects and maintains.

Northwood Golf Course will be the location of this first annual Golf & Gourmet event will benefit the equipment fund of the Monte Rio Recreation and Park District. Golfers of all skill levels are welcome to play in this fun nine-hole scramble at Northwood. The after-tournament dinner will be held at the Monte Rio Community Center where a gourmet meal designed by Christina of Simply Scrumptious catering.

Non-golfers are encouraged to buy tickets to the dinner and auction at the nominal cost of $30.00! Christina is known for her unique blend of local produce, florals and other distinctly Sonoma County products designed with both taste and visual appeal.

The main goal of the event is to raise funds for equipment (tables, chairs and kitchen equipment) for the Monte Rio Community Center. “It is imperative that the District continue to offer the best to our community and out of area groups who want to use this beautiful facility,” said Gretchen Mino, MRRPD Board Member. MRRPD manages several outdoor venues too, including the Beach, River Meadow and the Amphitheater. All of these venues have upkeep and equipment needs.

In addition to fine food, and Sonoma County wines, guests will enjoy live music performed on a newly acquired piano and will enjoy bidding at a beautiful silent auction that will include spa treatments, eco-adventures, jewelry, wine and food experiences and much more.

Golfers will play $95 each which includes a round of golf, tee prizes, gourmet dinner and a chance to win a round of golf for four at the fabulous Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Contact the MRRPD at (707) 865-9956 for more information or to sign up to play in the tournament. Information and registration forms are also available at www.mrrpd.org.

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Timber Harvest at Sheephouse Creek

Sheephouse Creek Watershed Area
Past, Present, and Proposed Timber Harvest

Another precious watershed is is danger of losing the very forest that keeps it healthy. Please learn about this Timber Harvest Plan and what you can do to influence the outcome. www.ncriverwatch.org



Sheephouse Creek (near Duncans Mills in Sonoma County) is important for its watershed values near the coastal zone as well as an important salmon spawning and rearing area. In addition, there is a current Coho captive broodstock program overseen by the Department of fish and Game.

Sheephouse Creek Boundry Map

A Non-industrial Management Plan (NTMP) for logging of 331 acres and a THP for logging of 81 acres have been filed with CDF (now known as CalFire). Together these plans total 442 acres or 20% of the watershed acreage. If allowed to cut as proposed, these plans together with already approved plans Within the last ten years amount to almost half of the forests in the Sheephouse watershed, creating potential cumulative impacts. Unfortunately, CalFire only does a THP by THP analysis and no real analysis on the broader cumulative impacts within the watershed.






Sheephouse Creek is in danger of being adversely impacted causing, in part, the demise of one of the last few remaining coho streams in Northern California. Currently, the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is conducting a Coho Salmon Impact Evaluation for Sheephouse Creek. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has declined to review the plan but sent a letter to Cal Fire stating the critical importance of this habitat area for Coho. It must be pointed out that Cal Fire is the lead agency on approving these plans and has a history of ignoring the professional opinions of other agencies.

Below are links to each logging plan for more information. Also see Activist Corner for discussion on what some activists are doing and to get more information to send comments on the plans.

Letters of concern go to:
CDF c/o 135 Ridgeway Avenue,
Santa Rosa, CA. 95402
or at santarosapubliccomment@fire.ca.gov

For the Non-Industrial Management Plan, 1-08-NTMP-004SON, go to:
ftp://thp.fire.ca.gov/THPLibrary/North_Coast_Region/NTMPs2008/1-08NTMP-004SON

For the Timber Harvest Plan, 1-08-025SON, go to:
ftp://thp.fire.ca.gov/THPLibrary/North_Coast_Region/THPs2008/1-08-025SON

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Relay for Life- Petaluma

Dream Team Volunteers

The 10th anniversary of Petaluma’s Relay for Life must also mark the long relationship between the American Cancer Society and two long-time, hometown volunteers.

The friendship and skills of Marilyn Herzog and Gail Nielsen are inextricably woven into Petaluma Relay’s existence. Their passion and dedication is the stitch on the fabric of the local volunteer community. And after 30 years of service, they continue to inspire other members of the community to continue its ongoing success.

With her upbeat personality and energy, Marilyn Herzog has always been involved with some form of volunteerism for the Petaluma community. With skills in sewing and fabric design, Marilyn has always had an interest in fashion and fashion design. So it was natural, with this love and passion, to begin her volunteer career by organizing fashion shows for the local PTA and Petaluma hospitals.

In 1978, she was inspired to join in the fight against cancer when she learned on television that the star quarterback for the University of California Berkeley Bears football team was stricken with leukemia. “I couldn’t believe this amazing athlete was struck down in his prime,” Marilyn says. With her husband’s encouragement she approached the American Cancer Society to do fashion shows to raise money for the cause. “It took nearly a year to get it approved. I had friends who went to bat for me and told the board that I was a good risk.” Thirty years, and many shows later, she is still an organizing force with the American Cancer Society.

Marilyn knew she needed help with the fashion shows and asked her good friend, Gail Nielsen, to join her in the planning and execution of the event. The two met while Gail was buying some fabric from Marilyn and they became good friends. Their shared love of sewing and community became a shared cause.

They were a dream team: Marilyn, the people person, used her contacts and sources to get custom-made clothing for the show and Gail, who is good with numbers, used her background in bookkeeping and accounting to take care of the business and financial end of the events. The fashion shows were wildly successful and became even more so when they changed the event to be a two-day affair adding a second evening event with a dinner and an auction. “That’s when we started making the bucks” said Marilyn. “We would net over $100,000 on those events.”

The two friends have also served the cause in the wider organizational realm of the American Cancer Society over the years. Marilyn started the local ACS unit in Petaluma and was its first president. She also helped develop the board of directors. In 1996, Marilyn was selected as income development volunteer for California by the American Cancer Society. She later became regional president for ACS, which covers western Northern California.

Want to learn more? Contact:
Nell K. Western
Co-Chair
2008 Petaluma Relay for Life
Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.
www.events.cancer.org/rflpetalumaca

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Occidental Candidates Night

Occidental Community Council presents:

Occidental Candidates Night

Meet the 5th District Supervisor Candidates - Efren Carrillo and Rue Furch

Format: Each candidate will get 5 minutes to address the Occidental community and then will have a chance to take questions from the audience. Come prepared with questions and really get a chance to know the candidates.

Location: Occidental Community Center
3920 Bohemian Highway (at the corner of Bohemian Highway and Graton Road)
Occidental, CA

Date: Monday, September 15, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Information: www.occidental-ca.org

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