Page 6 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2018

Sonoma power-broker Darius Anderson and his Kenwood Investments was working toward getting it approved by Sonoma County last year but nobody knows—when is the next meeting? Anderson took over a hunting club in the eco-sensitive Baylands and set out to build a three-story place for the region’s wealthiest skeet shooters and pheasant killers.
Now the Wing and Barrel Club proposes a lot line adjustment to remove
89 acres from land near the town of Sonoma, not far from Napa, via
The Conservation Act Status. They ask $145,000 fee for organizations to join or 75, 000$ for individuals—to kill birds and drink.
Well, a nal vote on the proposal has been pushed o until a sta report by the county’s Permit & Resource Management Department is written. “The latest on Kenwood is we haven’t written the sta report,” says Blake Hillegas.
How “green” and “sustainable” is that? We live in a time when we know there is no “away”. And we know we are a “throw-away” society. Some, because new products are shoddily made and sold cheap. (Well, not really, if you consider they might not last long.) Do we really dump things in the ocean, or set them oating on barges?
The argument for it includes it being a sincere endeavor to support an old- fashioned gun club while their website describes the Wing and Barrel Club as a new clubhouse that is “outwardly luxurious and magni cent,” a place to enjoy “...unparalleled world-class wines.”
We recently talked of Sonoma Proud. We are an innovative people here, often considered at the forefront of some practices. How can we have come to have our ways dictated by an out-of-state, for pro t, company?
Selling points for it includes a discussion of “moral values,” - meaning that teaching kids to shoot is good for the families and their heritage.
Really? Watching beautiful bird’s fall dead as we drink? That teaches young people values?
I want peace in the valley, but guess it’s all about money.
OPINION: #enough #marchforourlives #timesup
OPINION: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Two women are talking.
“Every time I am down in the dumps, I get a new hat.”
“Is THAT where you get them!”
By Paula Swanson
Well, not any more. The idea of recycle, re-use, re-pair, is “out the window”
now, and into the land ll. Of course, you may need to wait in line, and then pay a disposal fee. And it may not feel good to dispose of something that is still usable – you just no longer want it.
OPINION: More Shooting in Sonoma?
For those of you who do not know of this treasure, Recycletown is located outside the entrance to the County Land ll. There, rather than discarding them, you may donate items that are usable. Everything, including the kitchen sink! Furniture, gardening supplies, windows, doors, random wood, tiles, lighting xtures, housewares, clothing (often new from a store close-out), bedding, curtains, books, recorded music, bicycles, play equipment, wheel chairs and commodes, odd and assorted pieces that perhaps, only if you were looking for it would you know what it is. These are organized for easy perusal, and sold for a pittance.
By Katy Byrne, Sonoma
The sound of gun shots lling the air doesn’t sound like a more peaceful
I remember feeling it was not right when the county awarded a contract
to manage the Land ll to an out-of-state company. How could they possible have our best interest in mind? Sonoma Compost was known for it’s quality products. Local yard waste, decomposed, and sterilized. Bulk. Piles. Serve yourself, or have it scooped into your truck. No middle man, no packaging,
no shipping, no predetermined quantity (bagged). It is gone now. And now, after the last rains, edicts at Recycletown. Certain things must be covered, or removed. Inventory is greatly reduced, therefore sales. Therefore income. Therefore layo s. Therefore more taken to the land ll. More money for the out- of-state management company... There seems little reason for the changes that were required. Toilets, tubs, sinks, etc. which had sat in the open must now be under cover. Really? Also windows. Gardening supplies – pots, ats, etc. It is di cult to believe. Other inventory is just gone.
Sonoma to me. And the proposal to shoot beautiful birds while drinking plenty of expensive wine seems bloody sad in Sonoma region.
I went to Recycletown a couple days ago, and was stunned, shocked, and saddened. There was not very much there, and things were not where they usually are.
I commented and questioned. Then I became disgusted and angry.
I have frequented Recycletown since the 80’s. I think it is a most ingenious concept. One Sonoma County could be quite proud of. Perhaps it could be replicated across the country – maybe even farther!
UPLAND BIRD HUNTING Our members have access to 24 hunting fields spread across over 1,000 acres of upland bird hunting fields. The ultimate shooting club offers seasonal pheasant, chukar and quail hunting from October to April with access to club dogs and guides for the utmost hunting experience.
18 years. We should be ashamed that so little has changed — which means it’s about damn time that something does.
6 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 4/18
“taking your place in the arc towards justice.”
By Lynda Hopkins
It’s stunning, tonight, reading the news coverage and seeing the photos
from around the world of thousands of people who came together to March For Our Lives today. It makes me think back. I was a junior in high school when Columbine happened, and in college for Virginia Tech. In other words, I was on the leading edge of the school shooting generation.... back when
the unimaginable became reality, back when we collectively agreed that these events were unconscionable, back when we naively assumed that such atrocities would lead to political action.
But it’s been 18 years since Columbine. That’s an important number: long enough for someone to be born and earn the right to vote in the age of school shootings. Long enough for those of us who were students witnessing school shootings to grow up and have kids that now witness school shootings. Long enough for me to be old enough to get a text that my kindergartener’s school is on lockdown because of another threat of gun violence.
Here’s to the next generation, and as Dmitra Smith put it today,