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This county official wants to slow your roll

We drive by this sign on Bennett Valley Road nearly every day. But have you ever wondered who updates it? It turns out the person responsible is Clyde Galantine, an engineering tech in Sonoma County’s Public Works-Traffic Division. “Sixty percent of my job is trying to figure out ways to slow cars down,” Clyde told me. But lately, “the more we do, the less we seem to accomplish.” In Sonoma County, just like in the rest of the nation, it turns out people are driving faster (and crashing more) during the pandemic.

Clyde isn’t giving up, though. In addition to these two signs in our neighborhood, he maintains two more like them on Lakeville Road. He also has two portable “radar trailers” — the displays that tell you how fast you are going as you approach — in his “arsenal” of weapons he uses to correct our bad habits. (Here’s a glimpse into the darkness of the human psyche: Clyde sets his radar trailers to “blank out” when cars approach going more than 20 miles over the speed limit. Why? Because he’s learned if he doesn’t, people try to go faster, just to see a big, huge number). Clyde also is the one to contact if you want to have speed humps installed on your street (but read this first to understand what’s required). And finally, Clyde manages the county’s “Burma-Shave”-inspired campaign that uses three sequential signs to shame us into taking our pedals off the metal. (“I initially called it the Squirma-Shave campaign,” he said, “but the name did not take off.”) His first trio of signs, which he distributed for free to about 100 residents, read: “Don’t Die. Don’t Kill. Slow Down Sonoma County.” (He admits some people found these upsetting.) The second campaign is up now: “W2F! Way Too Fast! Slow Down Sonoma County.” Clyde is currently taking suggestions for a third campaign. If you have ideas (or want some signs), you can contact him at Clyde.Galantine@sonoma-county.org.

Addendum from a rainy Saturday: Two more cars flipped over in the ditch on Bennett Valley Road. We got a photo of one of them, below. SLOW DOWN!

Where should we post these signs?

So it turns out that Clyde Galantine is also the one who can get these “No Dumping” signs posted to deter dumping on our roads. He confirms our suspicion that some private junk haulers unload their worst stuff on rural roads to avoid paying fees. In August, a couple of neighbors got together and organized an impromptu clean-up — watch this space for news on future gatherings to do the same. Meanwhile, Deb Forton of Red Dog Vineyard is spearheading the Bennett Valley Community Association’s efforts to keep roadsides cleaner. She’s made contact with our man Clyde. To move forward, what she needs from us are suggestions about where these signs will do the most good. (We took the photo above on Grange Road, where two signs are already posted.) Please include both an approximate street address and a photo of the location. You can send your nominees to Deb at igropno@yahoo.com.

Still haven’t packed your Go-Bag? We can help

The recent drizzle notwithstanding, fire season is here. If you haven’t packed your Go-Bag yet, here’s a handy list of essentials. And here is a general list of emergency resources (including PG&E and Bennett Valley Fire Department phone numbers and other smart info). Both thanks to Robert Stephens.

The 5-lion photo is for real!

Those of you who don’t follow NextDoor Bennett Valley (or even some of you who do, but didn’t read all 200+ comments on the photo, above) may be interested to learn that this is really five mountain lions, not a composite photo, as some initially suspected. It was taken in early September in the Taylor Mountain area by Billy Goode, who later posted an incredible video of these same five lions walking around the property (which is owned by Goode’s parents). According to Quinton Martins, of the community conservation project Living with Lions, this female and her four cubs have been on his radar for a while. “We have captured trail camera photos of her on Taylor Mountain before. It is a mom with 4 well developed offspring.” He added: “Having 4 cubs survive to this age is quite a feat — so well done to mom! We hope to tag some of these young before they disperse from their mother to see how many survive to breeding age.” We’ve been in touch with Kate Remsen at Living with Lions, and in our next newsletter, we’ll post an update.

New feature: Q&A with a BVGG

The Bennett Valley Grape Growers Association has a gorgeous new website that lists its members and provides key data (total acres planted, elevation, etc…) about each vineyard and winery in our midst. We thought it’d be fun to find out a little bit more about the people behind the data. We reached out to Sally and Brian Connell, the owners of Bennett Bench Vineyard, and peppered them with questions. You can read our entire back and forth by clicking through to the interview here on our website, but here’s a taste: The Connells have four border collies (Sally is a top dog trainer, specializing in the area of Agility). All four dogs are great herders — so great that they believe they are good at herding gophers (unfortunately, Brian says, they are not).

Thank you to our volunteers

We want to give special thanks to Craig Harrison for his many years of service to the BVCA. Craig has been living in Bennett Valley for almost 20 years. He has been serving with the BVCA since 2006, and most recently was the editor of this newsletter 2018-2021. We asked him which community project he was most proud of working on. His answer: “Improving the roads in Bennett Valley.”

He’s also an author. you can find his two books on Amazon: Seabirds of Hawaii & Dreams of a Vanishing Africa. Thanks for everything you do, Craig!

September 28, 8:45 a.m.: County Supervisors meeting on Cannabis Program

There are several hundred residents in Bennett Valley involved in speaking out on Sonoma County’s Cannabis Program. Recently this group presented these slides to the county. If you want your voice heard, be sure to attend a public meeting on September 28!

1. September 28 - 8:45am WATCH LIVESTREAM - link here

Once the meeting has started, click the “In Progress” hyperlink to begin viewing.

2. JOIN THE ZOOM MEETING: Link here

Meeting ID: 921 1624 5755
Enter Password: 353649

Participate by phone:
Dial +1 (669) 900 9128
Enter meeting ID: 921 1624 5755 Enter password: 353649

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Public Comment may be made via email or during the live zoom meeting. To submit an emailed public comment to the Board email bos@sonoma-county.org. Please provide your name, the agenda number(s) on which you wish to speak, and your comment. These comments will be emailed to all Board members. Public comment during the meeting can be made live by joining the Zoom meeting using the above provided information. Available time for comments is determined by the Board Chair based on agenda scheduling demands and total number of speakers.

We are posting regular updates on this program here on our website.

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I’m new to this editing gig, so I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Amy Wallace Harvey and my husband, Dale, and I live on Sonoma Ridge Road in Santa Rosa. I’m a freelance writer and Dale owns a small investment firm. In our spare time, we grow a few grapes. I’d love any ideas people have for making this newsletter more useful and more fun. Please send any and all feedback to amywallace323@gmail.com.