People

The following are excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.

The following are excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.

I sat down with Gaby (at Retrograde Coffee) on April 7. That ended up being a pretty big day for those of us who who were waiting for the overdue appointment to the Supreme Court of a Black woman. Ketanji Brown Jackson (RBG to KBJ) got the nod that day, and we were suddenly in a country a notch closer to Rev. King’s dream of reaching the time when all of us “would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Last week, I met JD, an imposing character with a lot on his mind, who had moved his iconic bus to behind the Youth Annex over on Morris Street. The big move over to the SAVS (Sonoma Applied Village Services) property up on 116, was days away. JD wasn’t sure how he’d do with the imposed rules and guidelines the place was going to come along with, but it also seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. 

Rick is remarkable. He’ll be teaching an on court tennis clinic, and someone will walk by outside the court, and he yells, “Hi Beth!” Or it may be “Hey there, Larry! How’s your knee doing?” Or he’ll ask me about my father-in-law who he met once 20 years ago. “How’s Erni doing?”  I don’t have an explanation for how the guy remembers everyone’s name, except for the possibility that he really cares. 

For a short guy, Gary Weiner sure stands out in a crowd. He’s a distinctive looking man who, in his always all black hipster outfit, with shaved head and Woody Allen-esque glasses, comes across as far younger than the 72+ years he’s at. Gary is an iconic West County character with a lot to say. 

A few weeks ago, while walking the dog around the neighborhood, I ran into an older gentleman on his morning constitutional, who was even more gabby and full of stories than I was. He said his name was Neil, and that he’d lived here his whole life, and was older than dirt. He was happy to yack about just about anything.