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Sebastopol City Council to consider same-sex unions resolution March 16

This just in:

"A RESOLUTION URGING THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF SONOMA COUNTY TO ADOPT A POLICY IN SUPPORT OF CIVIL MARRIAGE FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES AND REQUESTING THE COUNTY RECORDER/CLERK TO BEGIN ISSUING MARRIAGE LICENSES TO SAME-SEX COUPLES"

Sebastopol City Council will meet at 7pm on March 16 to consider the resolution and Mayor Kelly requests a large turn-out to show support. Directions to meeting site are also below. The Mayor asks that you forward her message to your lists.

Friends and family,

I'm sending the resolution that the Sebastopol City Council will be
considering on March 16th. This resolution is co-sponsored by Councilmember Larry Robinson and myself. This is based on the resolution that the Oakland City Council will be considering at their March 16th meeting. Our council meeting starts at 7pm at the Youth Annex on Morris Street next to the Community Center. (Morris Street is the first signal after entering Sebastopol westward on Hwy 12 from Santa Rosa).

PLEASE, attend and show your support...and forward this email widely.

Linda Kelley
Mayor, Sebastopol
(707) 824-1674
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*WHEREAS, the City of Sebastopol has by local policy and ordinance shown its commitment to fair and equitable treatment of all persons regardless of gender or sexual orientation; and

WHEREAS, Sebastopol and Sonoma County are home to thousands of families headed by same-sex couples, many with children; and

WHEREAS, both the United State Constitution and California Constitution clearly state that no laws will be made depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and

WHEREAS, both the United States Constitution and California Constitution clearly state no laws will be made or enforced that abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS, both the United States Constitution and California Constitution clearly state that no person within its jurisdiction will be denied equal protection of the laws; and

WHEREAS, marriage is recognized as one of the fundamental elements of individual liberty; and

WHEREAS, marriage is a unique civil contract, separate and distinct from any religious, ethnic, or other traditions; and

WHEREAS, the opportunity to publicly and legally commit to share one's life with a person of one's choice is for many people one of the most central aspects of human experience, and denial of marriage to same-sex couples is a denial of fundamental civil rights,

WHEREAS, denying civil marriage to gay and lesbian families deprives them of thousands of state and federal rights, privileges, immunities, protections, and responsibilities; and

WHEREAS, gay and lesbian families deserve the same rights and legal protections as other families under the law, including the protection of their spousal rights and privileges and protection of their children's economic interests by insuring their access to the resources of both parents; and

WHEREAS, civil marriage ensures state and federal rights, protections, and responsibilities that are otherwise unavailable to gay and lesbian families; and

WHEREAS, suffering the inability to access these legal protections results in significant harm to these families, including financial insecurity, lack of retirement and death benefits, and lack of access to family court for dissolutions; and

WHEREAS, no resident of Sonoma County should be refused equal protection under the law; and

WHEREAS, discriminatory marriage laws result, especially, in significant harm to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people by perpetuating homophobia, just as anti-miscegenation laws barring people of different races from marrying, legal in the United States until 1967, perpetuated racism and social ostracism; and

WHEREAS, discriminatory marriage laws undermine the state of California's commitment to equality, privacy, and justice for all of its citizens, as well as undermining marriage itself; now, therefore, be it

THEREFORE, NOW BE IT RESOLVED, that the Sebastopol City Council urges the Board of Supervisors of Sonoma County to adopt a policy in support of civil marriage for same-sex couples and to request the County Clerk/Recorder to immediately begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Sebastopol city Council requests the County Clerk/Recorder to immediately begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Sebastopol City Council vehemently opposes any amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would restrict or ban same-sex marriages; such proposed amendment being discriminatory against gay and lesbian families.

California County Debates Use of Gene-Altered Foods

Tuesday's New York Times has an article concerning the Mendocino County fight to outlaw growing genetically-modified crops in the county. Measure H on Tuesday's ballot would prohibit growing GMO foods. California County Debates Use of Gene-Altered Foods

Sig Anderman on the quarries

Sig Anderman, a board member of FPA who has researched the quarries, has this to say about the plan to expand them:

The gravel quarries, as they now operate, let alone expanded, don't belong in a residential area. Started decades ago, with use permits of limited duration, covering limited land area, these quarries have 'had their run.'

The quarries now overwhelm our small town - with up to 700 gravel trucks a day (according to the quarries' count) rolling through town or down Mirabel Road. With noise of crushing, loading and back-up whistles starting at 7 in the morning, six days a week disturbing neighbors for miles, with unsightly equipment and rockpiles intruding on our Scenic Highway. And worst of all, with toxic diesel fumes from quarry trucks poisoning our air for everyone adult and child visiting, living, or working in Forestville.

While we need gravel for construction (the Forestville gravel is used mainly for road beds, as I understand it), most other populated areas in these parts(San Francisco, Marin County) have long since given up quarrying in residential neighborhoods, and turned to imports from less populated areas. That way everyone bears the real 'cost' associated with gravel production, not just the unlucky neighbors of the quarries burdened with the relentless traffic, the intrusive noise, the poisonous diesel fumes, and the unsightly operations.

Anectodes about people 'favoring the quarries' (do they also favor the traffic and the toxic fumes?) are very much at odds with the sentiments expressed at town meeting after town meeting when the topic is invariably raised. At the town meeting held specifically to discuss the quarries, after presentations by both the quarries, and full, open discussion, a show of hands showed four (4)people in favor of expansion and seventy-one (71) opposed. A written survey was distributed at the last town meeting. The results: two (2) in favor of expansion and everyone else opposed.

There are many other sources of road bed gravel - other than the Russian River. Most residential communities have turned to them already. Sooner or later, we will have to as well. Let's do it sooner, rather than later, before all the damage is done.

Please come discuss the issue with Sig and others in our The Quarries discussion.

Pocket Canyon Update

By Vesta Copestakes

Review #2 of the Pocket Canyon Timber Harvest Plan was held in the California Department of Forestry offices and was once again well attended by those most impacted by this plan. Water issues continue to dominate their concerns. There is no way you can harvest trees from a forest without some impact on the watershed and therefore the water system that the neighbors of this property depend upon.

ALERT!

UPDATE ON POCKET CANYON TIMBER HARVEST PLAN
Public comment on the Pocket Canyone Timber Harvest Plan (THP 1-02-216-SON) has been RE-OPENED!

It will remain open until 5pm on March 8. A review team is tentatively scheduled for February 19th. Comments must be submitted in writing no later than 5pm on March 8. The plan is available for review at the California Department of Forestry office at 135 Ridgeway Ave., Santa Rosa, Questions? Call 576-2959.

Info on the plan and its impacts at www.pocketcanyon.org

Town Meeting Report

By Joan Riback

More than 100 residents came to the Forestville Planning Associations January Town Meeting to learn the current status of the issues facing Forestville and to learn how they, as concerned community citizens can influence those issues. Half of the meeting was devoted to the Low Flow proposal for the Russian River covered elsewhere in this issue of the Gazette. Here is a summary of Forestville’s current development projects.

Protectors of the Watershed

By Bob Rawson
With the issues surrounding the flow of the Russian River coming to a boil more interest has been generated in an organization by the name of the River Watershed Council. The Russian River Watershed Council is a 501C-3 non- profit organization representing the stakeholders in the Russian River. Linda Curry is the Coordinator of the Russian River Watershed Council and may be reached at http://www.rrwc.net 707-526-7865.

CDF Appeals Superior Court local THP decision.

By Forests Unlimited

Water scarce Joy Road near Bitner west of Occidental.

The California Department of Forestry (CDF) has filed an appeal of Judge Lawrence Antolini's 11/18/03 decision rescinding CDF's approval of Timber Harvest Plan 1-01-219 SON. Attorney Edwin Wilson who represented The Joy Road Area Forest and Watershed Association against CDF and Harmony Forest & Land Company in the original case (SCV-229850) received of the appeal on 1/14/04.

The Economics of Low Flow

By Vesta Copestakes
The majority of my adult life, I have made my living in marketing. I can’t help myself. I just love to market business, etc. So when I see this Low Flow proposal heading our way, I’m like a lot of other Russian River businesses, I freak out! I’m all for the fish, but! Is there a compromise here folks!

I saw that part of the Entrix story that only studied the paddling businesses and never even considered the lodging, dining, service, and retail aspects of our local economy. Yikes! If they are so daft as to look at only one aspect of the human element of river survival, how thoroughly did they study the fish aspect?

It’s About the Fish…

Download file

By Vesta Copestakes

The Sonoma County Water Agency has been mandated by the federal government to study how to save the dwindling populations of endangered fish in the Russian River. That sounds good. Four years ago they hired an environmental consulting firm to study how best to accomplish this. Over the four-year period of time, Entrix billed the water agency 4 million dollars. For that amount of money and time, you’d expect a very thorough report covering all bases and considering all options.