November 18th, 2009 01:06pm
by Chris.Smith
You tell me, but I have a hunch that everybody involved in the saga of recalled Cotati Councilman George Barich – including Barich himself – knows that Tuesday’s overwhelming vote puts him back where nature intends for him to be.
That is off the City Council and back in the gallery, where he can reprieve his character as a lone-wolf council watcher, gadfly and critic. The roguish Barich was born to the role.
His election to …
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November 17th, 2009 03:05pm
by Chris.Smith
Maybe 60 rubberneckers gathered near Michelle and Kevin McCarthy’s new place in northwest Santa Rosa to gawk at the spectacle of a house virtually hacked in half by a bizarrely up-tipped crane. I was just another of them, but snooping is my job.
I assume we all felt a bit guilty to stand there shaking our heads at the awesome and ironic (Reliable” Crane) accident that put the McCarthy’s out of the home they’d …
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November 16th, 2009 03:22pm
by Chris.Smith
Suddenly, officers with Sonoma County’s least understood and perhaps most under-estimated police department are very much in the news.
The vicious assault on a woman in the theater-arts department at Santa Rosa Junior College and the JC’s expanded no-smoking rules both are commanding attention from officers with the SRJC police. And, yes, they are real police.
There’s a misconception that the JC cops are cadets, or that their jurisdiction ends at the …
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November 11th, 2009 07:27pm
by Chris.Smith
Were you at the Veterans Day parade in Petaluma?
It was huge, a moving festival of rifles, flags, boots, smoke-trailing aircraft, chest medals, jeeps and other battle hardware, cheers, tears and crisp military salutes.
If you didn’t know better, you might have thought it was a celebration of war. And hereabouts some people regard it as just that.
But that parade didn’t honor war. It solemnly acknowledged that warfare has been integral to American history …
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November 10th, 2009 03:58pm
by Chris.Smith
Guy Schott persists at showing us what we’re capable of.
Guy, a 46-year-old water engineer in Santa Rosa, pushed himself in recent years to set two world records on a pull-up bar. I am in awe of the man and am so grateful that he never asked me how many pull-ups I can do.
It occurred to Guy last year to see how many sit-ups he could perform. He got to 150 before his …
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November 5th, 2009 03:09pm
by Chris.Smith
Sara Bei Hall, one of the greatest runners ever to grace an oval track in Santa Rosa, will be in town this weekend (Nov. 7 and 8) to switch roles with one of her greatest fans.
Sara’s mom, Karen Bei, will run her first 10K in Sunday’s Redwood Empire Food Bank “Run to Stop Hunger.” Sara, who’s training for the 2012 Olympic trials, will cheer from the sidelines with her husband, …
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November 4th, 2009 06:31pm
by Chris.Smith
Say you’re Jeff Kolin. You’ve worked as Santa Rosa’s city manager for nine years and built such a strong professional reputation that the city of Beverly Hills — swimming pools, movie stars — concludes that you are the top choice as its new city manager.
You’re asked if you would consider leaving Santa Rosa and coming to Beverly Hills, where you will be paid handsomely to run a city that is …
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November 3rd, 2009 03:31pm
by Chris.Smith
If I tell you I missed my Horizon Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Sonoma County and had to stay another 24 hours in Sin City, you’ll say, “Sure you did.”
But it’s true. I’m still not sure what my mind did to cause me to miss the Sunday afternoon flight after I arrived at Vegas’ McCarran Airport plenty early. As far as I can tell, this is what happened:
You may …
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October 28th, 2009 11:03am
by PD
All right then. It would seem our discussion of the pros and cons of those extra-noisy Harley Davidsons has gone on about long enough. I move for a vote.
If you believe that the minority of Harley riders who install roar-boosting pipes or rev the engine to make it rumble do that purely because they’re concerned about their safety and want to make certain that drivers of cars and trucks are aware of their presence, …
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October 28th, 2009 10:43am
by Chris.Smith
Life really is one darned thing after another, isn’t it? There’s so much going on in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties that I’m starting this Online post to give us another way to discuss it all.
In addition to writing my column and profiles in the PD, I’ll use this space to share views and stories from all over this blessed and forever tested patch of Earth. I’d like to have a …
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Chris Smith has been writing for The Press Democrat for more than 30 years and has been a full-time columnist with the newspaper since 2002. After graduating from San Jose State University with a degree in reporting and editing, he worked as a reporter for the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the weekly Independent Coast Observer in Gualala/The Sea Ranch before becoming a correspondent for The Press Democrat in Fort Bragg/Mendocino. He is married to 
