Flowery School turns down annex proposal; ?46,127 tourists visit Sonoma Mission

68 YEARS AGO

(From the Index-Tribune of Jan. 6, 1950)

By a scant margin of five votes, registered voters of the Flowery School District on Tuesday turned down a proposal which would have annexed the Flowery Elementary School, Fetters Hot Springs, to the El Verano School. Only 153 out of the mover 500 registered cast ballots. There was 78 “no” and 73 “yes.” ... Sonoma Valley weather thermometers found a new low this week, the Fahrenheit indicator fluctuating between 23 and 30 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday. Local residents awoke on Wednesday morning at approximately 6 a.m. to see sleet and some snow falling. ... Fire Chief Frank Lantz of the Sonoma Fire Department reported yesterday that during 1949 city fire apparatus answered a total of 48 calls. ... Additional electric capacity for Sonoma Valley to the extent of 4,000 horsepower has been made available by the recently completed PG&E substation just south of Sonoma, according to an announcement by Clifford Bartlett, Manager of the Company’s North Bay Division. ... Granville Macpherson, owner of the Boyes Theater, Boyes Hot Springs, will be the new proprietor of the Sebastiani Theater, Sonoma, succeeding John J. Mohr, whose retirement was announced last week. This announcement was made yesterday by August Sebastiani who said that the Boyes theater man would lease the show house effective Feb. 1. Macpherson stated that he will continue to operate his Boyes Theater along with the Sonoma enterprise.

67 YEARS AGO

(From the Index-Tribune of Jan. 5, 1951)

Some 50 Sonoma residents who attended the open meeting of the Sonoma Grammar School district board of trustees last Friday evening, seemed agreed on at least one thing – that there should be another inspection of the once condemned brick school building on East Napa Street. During the two-hour session, many opinions were ventured. Dr. C. B. Andrews, local physician, was most emphatic in challenging the inspection made by state engineers in 1948, after which the building was declared as “unsafe for use.” ... J. P. “Toots” Serres, well-known Valley resident and chief of the Valley of the Moon Fire Department, was on Tuesday night named as Chief, Fire Section for Civil Defense of Sonoma Township. Serres will head up the entire firefighting equipment of the Valley and will be responsible for further organization if needed and will coordinate the departments and supervise training programs.