Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Don't be alarmed by all the trucks and sirens. It's a fundraiser for burn victims.
If you work in or plan to visit the downtown Novato area Wednesday, your lunch break could be a tad bit loud. North Bay fire departments and members of emergency response agencies will rev up and roll through Sonoma and Marin counties Wednesday for the 15th annual North Bay Firefighter Burn Relay, a benefit for the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation. With an escort from the California Highway Patrol, a parade of trucks will roll into Novato at about 12:30 p.m. and pull in front of the main fire station on Redwood Boulevard at 12:40 for a 10-minute stop. Every year for more than a decade, concerned residents have called 911 or the fire district office to ask what's going on. "We come right through the middle of town at lunch hour, and they hear…
38.09812
-122.56583
7025 Redwood Blvd, Novato, CA
Novato Fire District Station 61
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One woman allegedly had her life threatened and another had her fingers crushed during altercations, police said.
Novato police responded to two recent domestic disputes at downtown Novato apartment complexes that resulted in felony charges being faced by two local men, police said Tuesday. On Sunday, a 60-year-old man was accused by a longtime girlfriend of threatening to kill her during a feud over items he believed had been taken from him, Novato police Sgt. Eric Riddell said. The woman said her boyfriend of 12 years grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against a wall in their apartment in the 800 block of Diablo Avenue before making a statement that he had the ability to kill her, according to the police report. The woman was not injured. Peter Lamkin was arrested at 11:27 a.m. Sunday and taken to Marin County Jail, where he was booked on …
Monday, May 21, 2012
Police on lookout for those purchasing alcoholic beverages for underage people.
You don't have to touch a downed power line to get zapped ... it might just reach out and nail you.
Last week's wind-related power outage in Novato was a silver-plattered reminder about how dangerous downed power lines can be. A comment from Battalion Chief Gerald McCarthy of the Novato Fire District, who was on the scene of downed power lines in a southern Novato neighborhood the night of May 17, put it in perspective. "I have been here for 20 years and cannot recall a more dangerous circumstance because of the amount of power involved and the amount of people immediately around the lines," he said. Power was cut to 8,700 customers — more than one-quarter of the city — then quickly trimmed to 7,000 and finally to about 560 by 1:20 a.m. Friday, Pacific Gas & Electric said. Full service was restored to the remaining customers at 5:45 p.m…
38.08027
-122.55126
Sequoia Glen Ln & Redwood Blvd, Novato, CA
Location of downed power lines
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Truck went off the road on northbound 101 near Seminary Road, CHP says.
A 62-year-old Santa Rosa man was killed Monday morning in a single-vehicle crash on northbound Highway 101 at the Sausalito/Marin City onramp, the California Highway Patrol said. The CHP received several calls of a crash just south of Seminary Drive at 5:35 a.m., CHP Officer Eric Hohmeister said. A passerby on the Sausalito bike path reported a truck in a ditch shortly thereafter. Minutes later a CHP officer spotted a 1988 Dodge Dakota wedged in a drainage canal between the onramp and the bike path. According to a preliminary report, it appeared the truck had driven through a grassy median, crossed the onramp, sideswiped a guardrail and crashed through a chain-link fence that runs along the canal just south of Seminary Drive, Hohmeister …
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Novato man guilty of molesting girls, ages 6 and 8, last year and taking pornographic photos of them.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Armando Gil, a suspect in the Hamilton Marketplace shooting from January 2011, was sentenced Friday on unrelated charges.
The sentencing of a suspected gang member Friday prompts a couple of questions to Novato residents: Is the town's gang problem bigger or smaller than other surrounding cities? How worried are you about gang violence? Has law enforcement made significant progress and successfully sent the message to gangs that Novato about its zero-tolerance stance? The gang member sentencing Friday had little to do with gang violence, but it did put a man behind bars who was key suspect Novato shooting last year. Armando Gil, 27, a suspect in a pending attempted murder trial, was sentenced on an unrelated counts of having sex with a minor and making criminal threats, according to a story in the Marin Independent Journal. More than 18 months after two men …
Driving while texting can even interfere with law enforcement, California Highway Patrol officials say.
Cell phone calls, texts and other distractions on the road earned approximately 5,900 Bay Area motorists citations from the California Highway Patrol last month, including 526 in Marin County, the CHP announced. The 5,900 citations to drivers throughout the region came during the CHP's "It's Not Worth It" campaign to remind the public of the dangers distracted driving poses as part of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, according to CHP officials. "We were overwhelmed with the support here in the Bay Area," CHP Chief Teresa Becher said in a statement. "Our allied law enforcement agencies as well as many other public and private entities in the community stepped forward to make a difference." Last month, the CHP issued roughly 30,…
Transmission poles come down on Sequoia Glen Lane, cutting electricity to more about 8,700 customers Thursday night.
It will be mid-afternoon before all Pacific Gas & Electric customers affected by Thursday's outage get power restored because of the tricky nature of replacing a downed power pole, a PG&E spokesman said Friday. A downed pole and two downed lines caused an outage just after 6 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of Sequoia Glen Lane and South Redwood Boulevard in southern Novato. PG&E said 8,700 customers — at least one quarter of customers in the city — were affected, but it was quickly reduced to about 7,000 over a widespread area. On Friday morning, spokesman Joe Molica said 564 customers probably would not have power restored until 4:30 p.m. Late Thursday PG&E said it expected to have everything repaired by about 9 a.m. Friday, but …
38.08027
-122.55126
Sequoia Glen Ln & Redwood Blvd, Novato, CA
Approximate location of downed power poles
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The following information from May 14-15 was supplied by the Novato Police Department. Arrests do not indicate a conviction.
The Headliner: May 14, 8:49 p.m. – An animal related incident was reported in the 200 block of Ignacio Boulevard. Baby ducks were reported crossing the street in front of Jack in the Box and headed toward the freeway overpass. The mother duck had flown off. Four baby ducks were recovered and transported to the Marin Humane Society. May 14 12:14 a.m. – Vandalism was reported at the Hamilton Marketplace in the 5800 block of Nave Drive. A motion detector at a business alerted a police response. Officer(s) found that asphalt rocks were thrown through the windows of Pete’s Coffee and Yogen Fruz. The estimated damage is $1,200. 9:22 a.m. – A fraud was reported at the Century Rowland Plaza. A wallet was lost or stolen at the cinema …
Tina McMillan
12:07 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
If we think there may be poles with dry rot residents could contact PGE with their concerns about specific poles. Fixing a problem before it becomes a disaster is paramount. I have noticed trees being trimmed around PGE poles all around town and our street was serviced when there were repeated power outages several years back. Maintenance has been good here, which means we can make it even better… more ›