News

The theme of the April 14 meeting of the Cloverdale City Council is seemingly water — the council will be viewing a presentation on its updated water and sewer rate study and giving direction on whether or not to proceed to a public hearing with new rates, and will also be discussing whether or not it wants to join the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership. Additionally, the council will be reviewing an amendment to its polystyrene prohibition ordinance.

Editor’s note: All people named are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Protestors are calling for his ouster, politicians, including close friends, are calling for him to resign, and another woman has come forward alleging abuse, but Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli has remained silent, releasing only cursory statements through his lawyer.

On March 30, 2021, Sebastopol police officers received information of possible sexual assaults that occurred in the City of Sebastopol between December 2019 and March 2021.Upon further investigation, the suspect was identified as Robert Jacob, the former mayor of Sebastopol (2014) and the co-founder of Peace in Medicine, Sebastopol’s first cannabis dispensary.On April 10, 2021 at 7 a.m., Sebastopol police officers contacted Robert Jacob in the 7400 block of Woodland Avenue and took him into custody for an arrest warrant related to five felony and one misdemeanor sexual assault crimes against a minor, including  266j PC, 288(c)(1) PC, 288.2(a)(1) PC, 288.2(a)(2) PC, 288.4(a)(1) PC, and 289(i) PC. (According the California Penal Code, these involve, among other things,  transportation of a child under 16 for lewd and lascivious acts, distribution of child pornography, arranging a meeting for sexual purposes with a person believed to be underage and sexual penetration with a person under 16 years of age.)Jacob was transported to the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility and is being held without bail.This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sebastopol Police Department at 707-829-4400 and refer to Report #21-0220.Townsy Sebastopol is a recently-launched community web app, offering local news, online shopping at local stores, a local event guide, local volunteer and job boards and more. Find it at https://townsyapp.com.Sonoma West Publishers is partnering with Townsy to make our news more accessible to the Sebastopol community. 

When Sebastopol city Councilmembers Diana Rich and Neysa Hinton first chose the newest honoree for the Locals Who Make a Difference program, they didn’t realize he was the son of the current honoree. His last name is different so they didn’t make the connection. All they saw was a promising young man who spent a lot of time helping his community.

As day two of the revelations concerning Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli began, more organizations and individuals were distancing themselves from Foppoli.

Roughly 50 members of the West Sonoma County Union High School District community assembled in front of the district office in Sebastopol on April 8 at 3 p.m. for a “United Rally to Revote” demonstration, urging for the board of trustees to revote against consolidating Analy and El Molino high schools.

As Sonoma County inches into the orange tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy and more parts of Sonoma County’s economy open up, local officials are continuing to urge caution and promote the continued use of masks and social distancing.

Throughout the day on Thursday, April 8, calls for the resignation of Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli increased in tone and tenor throughout the county and beyond. The calls for his ouster come on the heels of an extensive San Francisco Chronicle article alleging that he had sexually assaulted at least four women over a period of nearly two decades.

Politicians, political groups calling for his resignation