Above the fold: Stories that intrigued Sonoma in 2018

The best news about 2018 is that it wasn’t 2017, at least not in Sonoma Valley.

This year it was Butte County that was swept by wildfire, and those residents’ suffering made Sonomans all the more aware that however bad the Tubbs and Nuns fires were last year in the Valley, it could have been worse.

But there was still plenty of news, trends and themes that gave 2018 in Sonoma its own memorable character. These are the stories that caught our readers’ attention – and ours – in the year about to end.

Farewell SDC

One story has been years in the making, the slow-motion shutdown of the Sonoma Developmental Center. The anchor of Eldrige opened its doors in the 19th century, but on Dec. 17 of this year, the last of what were at one time over 2,000 developmentally challenged residents found another home. Some staff will stay on to manage the “soft closing” of the facility, while the state decides what to do with its extensive acres, diversity of buildings, wildife corridor and unique history.

Cannabis not quite puffing along

While some hailed the first year of legal recreational use of cannabis in California – and its taxes a potential source of revenue for cash-strapped communities – not everyone was sold on the benefits of cannabis as civic savior. That includes the Sonoma City Council, which put permanent pressure on the pause button over pot sales in town with a series of moratoriums on a dispensary. An effort by Sonoma dispensary-hopeful Jon Early to force the city’s hand with a citizen petition backfired when the council delayed a vote on the petition in order to study it further, eventually approving it for a place on the ballot in November of 2020.

New dynamic on City Council

The City Council itself was the subject of multiple news stories, perhaps most significant was the November election, which found incumbents Madolyn Agrimonti and Rachel Hundley retaining their seats for a second term, with newcomer Logan Harvey, 30, winning the seat vacated by former Councilmember Gary Edwards. The addition of the progressive-leaning Harvey in place of the more centrist Edwards will almost surely change the dynamic of council votes in 2019.

Gateway Project approved

One substantial development project received the green light from City Hall: The Gateway Project at Broadway and MacArthur went through all the motions time and again to move its mixed-use project forward, first convincing a cautious Planning Commission, then a split City Council to finally get approval for the mixed-use development. It will bring 33 residential units and 3,100-square-feet of commercial space to the corner, long blighted by the empty Sonoma Truck & Auto buildings.

Hospital takes action

Sonoma Valley Hospital continued to pop up on the front page throughout the year, most notably with the cost-saving closure of its little-used birthing services and the formation of a taskforce to examine the financial viability of the Skilled Nursing Facility. Such potential cutbacks are a response to the challenges faced by community hospitals nationally. But as the year ends, the hospital hopes to regain some vigor through a $20 million capital campaign to build an outpatient diagnostic center. Meanwhile, SVH earlier this year solidified its relationship with UCSF, in what hospital officials say is a big step in ensuring needed healthcare services for Valley residents for years to come.

Closely watched court cases

Crime had its day in court as two Sonoma men were convicted and/or sentenced in 2018, though their cases predated the year. Steven Rothschild was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing his wife, Nita, and sentenced to six years in state prison. Still, his defense to escape a murder conviction – that she emotionally abused him through constant nagging – troubled many.

Former Boys & Girls Club athletic director Paul Dwayne Kilgore has his day in court, as well, as the convicted child predator drew a 150-year sentence for child molestation. A subsequent lawsuit, filed this fall on behalf of victims, charged the club with failing to take complaints about Kilgore from parents and members seriously and, additionally, made claims as to a cover up by club officials.

Similarly, Hanna Boys Center also found itself facing a civil suit in the wake of the molestation conviction of former counselor Kevin Thorpe, brought on by plaintiff victims who say that Hanna knew or should have known of Thorpe’s pattern of behavior. Thorpe, who worked at Hanna for 14 years, pled guilty to 11 sex offenses in June and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Menus, please...

The Fremont Diner, long a culinary magnet along Highway 121 linking Napa with Sonoma, closed abruptly one June afternoon, leaving diners wondering what happened. The shuttered roadhouse attracted plenty of rumors but when it reopened in September, with a fresh paintjob and the new name Boxcar Fried Chicken & Biscuits, owners Erika and Chad Harris downplayed the drama and pointed to the slimmed-down menu as evidence there was really no story here, just success fatigue.

Winter shelter ?under fire

While some fretted over the temporary loss of a popular eatery, many in the Valley literally do not know where their next meal is coming from, or where they’ll eat it. Homelessness has become a immediate concern in Sonoma as it is throughout much of the county, and how communities deal with it is a measure of policy, resources and heart.

Sonoma Overnight Support managed to wrangle another year of financial support from the county for its winter shelter program in July, after initially being denied a needed grant. But as the year draws to a close, some neighbors of the winter shelter location at the Sonoma Alliance Church on Watmaugh Road have threatened to file suit against the church over its apparent lack of a permit and proper zoning. Response to the suit, and the continuing problem of finding a roof for an increasing number of occupancy-challenged residents, indicate it’s not a problem that will be solved overnight.

23 and... we?

A 21st-century version of a heartwarming family story surfaced last winter, when Sonoma Valley High School senior Tyler Sievers sent his spittle off to Ancestry.com and found that he had some 20 half-siblings, like him the result of a sperm donor’s generosity. “We all have blond hair,” Sievers said. “And the nose and the chin and the height. It’s weird to look at photos.” As of February he had only met one of his sibs, Heather Taylor of Santa Rosa, but since all 21 children discovered their relationship through Ancestry.com, there may be more close kin out there whose DNA remains a secret, at least for the time being.

Other stories that concerned Sonoma’s residents in the past year include:

Price Pump leaves town, and takes a lot of jobs with it

Schellville pallet factory on fire, again

Bret Sackett retires as Sonoma’s police chief

Both the Sonoma Cheese Factory and the Hotel Sonoma are still in planning limbo.

Contact Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com