Bennett Valley Voice

BENNETT VALLEY VOICE VOLUME 3 Number 3

Memo From The Board

Our newsletter is going out to all valley residents this time and is shorter so that we could include an announcement of our upeoming special meeting, TUESDAY, SEPT. 23, 1980 at 7:30 P.M. at Yulupa School. Two items will be addressed. The first is the alarming increase in burglaries our area has been experiencing. This problem was discussed at our July meeting with several residents requesting advice from law enforcement.

Mike Ferguson from the Sheriff's department will discuss ways of combating burglary and answer questions. The second item on the agenda will be 1st District Supervisor candidates, Robert Adams and Kathleen Hill, who are in a runoff election in November. They will be speaking to us as well as hoping to hear our concerns.

Following the conclusion of the public

Bennett Valley Homeowners Association

September, 1980 President Vice-President Secretary/Treasurer BVHA

Board Of Directors

1979-1980 Tamara Boultbee Nancy Batson Barbara Maberry Ted Chamberlain Bill Jacobs Fred Hazlett Paul Hamilton Max Moberly Paul Mowbray meeting, current Bennett Valley Homeowner Assoc. members are asked to remain for a short meeting to elect 3 persons to the Board of Directors. Board members serve for 3 years.

Board members whose terms are expiring are Fred Hazlett, Barbara Maberry and Paul Mowbray. Hope to see you there.

Please Come!

CONCERNED about increased burglaries in Bennett Valley? BAD GUY UNDECIDED forwhich Supervisoral candidate you'll vote? VOTE ST DisTRiCT @ Adams • HİLL then Come TUESDAY

Sept. 23, 1980

7:30 P.M.

Yulupa Schoo

Refreshments

Bennett Valley Homeowners Association

Post Office Box 2666 Santa Rosa, California 95405 OIOV -2-

Early Bennett Valley Politics

Bennett Valley has had political "ties" since its infancy. In the 1853 Assembly race, James N. Bennett who lived in Bennett Valley and for whom it was named, and Judge Robert Hopkins were nominated by the Settlers party. At the same time, the Democrats, who held their convention in Santa Rosa, nominated Joe Hooker of Sonoma Valley and Lindsay Carson.

The election on September 7 sent Carson to the legislature but ended in a tie between Hooker and Bennett. The main issue of the ensuing campaign was the removal of the county seat to Santa Rosa from Sonoma. According to accounts of that time, Santa Rosans said very little aloud about the issue and Sonomians were afraid to mention it.

But the candidates did and on October 29, 1853 in a tight contest, James N. Bennett beat Joe Hooker by 13 votes. In the legislature, Bennett introduced a bill which would submit the question of the location of the county seat to a vote of the This bill was passed quietly by the legislature in 1854 before "drowsy Sonomians in the historic old city" knew what was going Supposedly Sonomians didn't think country upstarts in Santa Rosa could garner enough votes to move the county seat, or that matter, even come up with an appropriate Santa Rosans, however, were busy-talking about, among other things, the need to have the county seat located in a central spot of the county.

On election day, September 6, 1854, the issue passed--much to the surprise and chagrin of the Sonomians. September 22nd, the archives were moved to the new county seat in Santa Rosa. Source - Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, Ca., Robert A. Thompson, 1877.

"Clover" 4-H

Well, the new Clover 4-H Club is off and rolling! Looks like it's going to be a powerful team this year. The club officers are: President-Daryl Hurley; Vice President-Jan Ballestrazze; Secretary-Debra Hodgson; Treasurer-Kelly Veale; Corresponding SecretaryJennifer Aldridge; Reporter-Jason Caselli; Sergeant-at-Arms-Ronda Caselli and Destra Hurley; Song Leaders-Leslie Acquistapace and Lara James; Historian-Wes Colgan.

So far there are 54 excited members, each taking fun and educational projects. If you are not in 4-H and would like to join this club, please call Charles and Val Hurley, 584-9243. Jason Caselli, Club Reporter

Y-Lupa Or Ya-Lupa

Much has been said about the proper way to pronounce YULUPA and the word's origin. According to Dr. Platon M.G. Vallejo (he was the son of General Vallejo) Yulupa is an Indian word pronounced ee-0o-100-pa. It means literally, "near the sea-plunge" or "place of the sunset". In olden times, the conical mountain we know as Bennett Peak was named Yulupa. Due to its location, lying to the west of the Sonoma Valley, during certain seasons of the year the decending sun would center behind this shapely peak creating quite a pleasant effect.

Hence the Indian name. This same name, Yulupa, was given to the first rancho created from the lands surrounding Yulupa Mountain and deeded from Vallejo to Miguel Alvarado. Alvarado was a soldier who had served at the presidios in Sonoma, San Francisco and Santa Barbara. He gave ranching a try for a while but abandoned his effort after war began in California in 1846.

Mariano Vallejo reclaimed the land (the land encompassed 3 leagues of land) but only after an extensive court battle. Source - History of Sonoma County, Cal., Vol. 1; Honoria Tuomey, 1926.

Design Review

The Design Review Committee announces a change in their meeting location. The committee now will meet at Yulupa School at 7:30 p.m. each 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. As & community service, the Bennett Valley Homeowners Board voted at their June meeting to donate $50. to the Bennett Valley Volunteer Firemans Assoc. to go toward purchase of new fire fighting equipment If you are interested in joining the Bennett Valley Homeowners Assoc., contact any board member or come to a monthly meeting. Dues are $5.00 upon joining(1st year) and $3.00 each ensuing year.

Our Board meets monthly on the fourth Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bennett Valley Fire Station. We are always looking for articles for our newsletter. If you have any information of interest either current or historical, please get in touch with us and we'll try to include it in our next newsletter.

(Newsletters are published quarterly). Two items we are currently working on are personal recollections of years past and early Fire District information.