She's Kicking Her Cancer, And You Can Join Her

Nicole Nada plans to arrive at her first chemotherapy session in Greenbrae in style — after a 6-day, 320-mile charity bike ride from Eureka starting on May 15.

Larkspur-Corte Madera editor Derek Wilson writes a column called "Tick Tock..Time of My Life" that chronicles his days living with Stage 4 carcinoid cancer. Here's his latest entry. -- It's already a long trip from Nicole Nada's home in Eureka to see her doctor in Greenbrae. Her next trip is going to take a lot longer. Nicole is planning to embark on a bike trip, beginning in Eureka on May 15 and ending at the Marin Cancer Institute in Greenbrae on May 21, just in time for her first round of chemotherapy. What a way to arrive. She's blogging about her journey on her site www.kickingmycancer.com. "Why the ride? Three reasons, most importantly for myself — I love to cycle and be active and it seemed like the perfect way to arrive at …

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Local Press Leads Coverage of 'Yellow Lamborghini' Case

Lamborghini thief, drive-by shooter, jealous teen: TV Movie or Major Feature?

  The press is having a field day with revelations about the 17-year-old local suspect in the theft of Guy Fieri's yellow Lamborghini and a series of crimes related and incidental. Leading the charge is the Marin Independent-Journal, with several investigative articles on Max Michael Wade's past brushes with law enforcement.  Even the AP story cites the Marin IJ, even though they call Wade "the teen from tony Marin County" (see Press Democrat pick-up of the feed). Yesterday the IJ exposed some of the results of the storage shed search, including the following: Investigators also found false identification cards for California, Florida and New York, local police scanner coordinates and a full San Francisco Police Department uniform with a …

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Heart of Healdsburg

Hospital Saves Life of Healdsburg Man After 'Widow-Maker' Heart Attack

Healdsburg District Hospital thanked for their quick action.

  On Jan. 12, Healdsburg resident Don Peters suffered a heart attack while volunteering at his church in Healdsburg. Within minutes, Healdsburg District Hospital’s emergency department physicians began treatment that ultimately saved Don Peters' life.  “My world was turned upside down in the many days Don was in a coma, during which the doctor's and nurse's attentive care was nothing short of miraculous," said Don Peters' wife Debbie Peters. "Thank God, the nearest hospital was HDH." Debbie Peters said she was thankful the doctors "didn’t give up on Don," she said. "If not for HDH’s expert ED doctors, the quick-response medical team, and the Intensive Care team, my husband would not be here with me today." Don Peters said he recalls a …

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Rants

Rants: What's Buggin' You?

Here's your chance to sound off in our new weekly forum.

  NOTE: This article was updated on Friday, May 4. So, what’s making you upset this week? Is there something you want to get off your chest? We’re again offering a forum here this week to give everyone a chance to weigh in on the topics you choose. Last month, we had more than 40 comments -- and we've left those here if you want to catch up. But feel free to jump in on some new topics. Sure, we’d like the topics to be locally focused, but go ahead and add in any thought you have that you believe will start up a good, civil online community discussion. Sometimes the rants lead to action. Last month, for example, North Street resident Mark Goff complained about the lack of a four-way stop sign at the intersection of North and Fitch streets. …

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Keri Brenner

2:10 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

@John Ballachey: Good point! I'd also like to know if there's a law on this...anyone out there have the inside track?   more ›

Heart of Healdsburg

UPDATE: Healdsburg 'Open Letter' Was to Rebut Criticism

Mayor Gary Plass and City Councilman Tom Chambers explain the need for sending out their "Open Letter from the City of Healdsburg" last week.

NOTE: This story was updated on Sunday, April 22, to add an explanation, as detailed in a Press Democrat article, for sending out the "Open letter from the city of Healdsburg"  last week. The "Open Letter" was originally published in its entirely on Healdsburg Patch and is repeated below. (Ed. note): As you may have heard, Healdsburg is facing a budget deficit and a pension fund shortfall. The city has already cut 30 positions over the last few years and has asked staff to pay more into their own benefits costs. Utility rates are also going up. Additional planned actions are a proposed half-cent sales tax increase measure on the November ballot, and a possible installation of parking meters in the downtown streets. A public workshop on the…

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Michael Nelson

12:10 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012

It's the financial recession. The problem isn't just union contracts but the city has loss numerous sources of revenues to the general fund. With less funds the city can't maintain the high levels of funding for the high cost of its pension commitments. With less general funds means there will not be enough monies to pay all its employees or pension commitments. So a 401K actually sounds good…   more ›

Heart of Healdsburg

Healdsburg Fire Chief: 'We're as Low as We Can Go'

In wake of budget crisis, Healdsburg City Council to explore alternative ways to cut fire department expenses to avoid layoffs.

  Healdsburg will investigate alternative ways to slash costs on fire protection services after Fire Chief Steve Adams told City Council he cannot afford to cut any more staff positions. "Right now, we're at the minimum standards to be operating effectively and safely," Adams said in an impassioned presentation Monday night at Healdsburg City Hall. "We're as low [in staffing] as we can go." Adams said later he was asked to cut $150,000 from his $2.3 million budget for 2012-13. Since the fire department has not much surplus equipment or other assets or expenses that could be eliminated, that means cutting roughly three jobs -- identified as possibly Fire Marshal, a post now held by Linda Collister; Fire Inspector/Engineer, now held by Ruben…

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2nd District Congressional Race: Local Opinion

Press Democrat editor voices his impressions.

5 Easy April Fools' Day Pranks

Pull a prank on someone and get some laughs – what's been your best prank of all time?

  April showers may bring May flowers but April 1 brings the jokes! Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery, according to History.com. No matter the origins, it has become a beloved tradition for hoaxters, pranksters or anyone who likes a good laugh and Patch has five ways for our readers get in the spirit. 1. Keep the kids occupied with a word search puzzle. Although it looks like a normal word search, none of the words listed are actually in the puzzle. Your victim will search endlessly for the words while you egg them on to keep searching. The puzzle, created by Aprilfoolzone.com, conveniently includes spring time words like basket…

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Planet of the Dogs: In the Pack at King's Kastle

The alternative canine facilities in Windsor and Cloverdale provide rehabilitation for difficult animals that's a far cry from the animal shelter model.

Visiting King’s Kastle is like opening the door to a parallel universe. Dogs lay on couches without reprimand. They trot on treadmills, dutifully working off their excess energy. A television is kept on all day long to provide background noise and the sound of human voices. A big hangar door is wide open to the outdoors, an acre-large playground for racing about, dog-to-dog interaction, scratching, playing, whatever it is dogs do. There are 58 canines at King’s Kastle in Windsor this day, and for the humans visiting, it’s like the Planet of the Dogs. Two "field supervisors" are ever-present with them, keeping the dogs safe, watching their body language, cleaning the area and monitoring the dogs' health and well-being. They are the "alpha …

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Christian Kallen

7:06 pm on Saturday, March 24, 2012

Maureen, good question about Cash's rehabilitation. Douglas Keane is keenly (sic)interested in adopting him, but can't do so right away. But he won't stand in the way if Colleen finds the right match for Cash and a new home. Colleen, however spends a lot of time finding the right match for dogs like Cash - no use sending him to the wrong home and starting the same cycle over again.   more ›

Visions for Vacancies

Long-Empty Corner Gas Station Seeks Future

Vacant service station site could serve numerous uses, even a gas station

The lot at the corner of Piper Street and Healdsburg Avenue has been vacant for some time now. Situated on a prime location on Healdsburg's main street, there has been speculation as to what type of use might be appropriate there. Formerly Cook's 76 station, the lot has been fenced off and the building vacant for about five years. Healdsburg residents have voiced some tentative opinions as to what they would like to see replace it. One resident commented, "It was a service station before; wouldn't it be easy to put in another one?" Another opinion offered was, "Healdsburg could use a good low-to-medium price restaurant, like a Mary's Pizza Shack or Applebee's. Not necessarily one of those, but something like that." Another long-time …

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