Free Republic

PETALUMA, Calif. (KGO) -- In the North Bay, an event celebrating Pride Month was met with protest. It happened outside a Petaluma library where demonstrators pushed back against Saturday's Drag Story Hour event, which they believe isn't appropriate for children

Petaluma has become what officials said is the first city in the country to permanently ban the construction of new gas stations, a move intended to signal a faster transition to zero-emission vehicles ahead of California’s sweeping efforts to curtail climate change. The Petaluma City Council voted unanimously Monday to prohibit the creation, expansion, reconstruction and relocation of gas stations, encouraging owners to transition to stations that serve electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles. Petaluma hopes to become carbon neutral by 2030. “We need to do our part to help mitigate and adapt to our changing weather patterns that exist because of...

Video lecture by Kevin Shipp, former CIA Agent, describes the Shadow Government/the Deep State.

The appearance of Confederate flags along the route of Friday’s Petaluma Veterans Day parade has sparked outrage among some viewers, including San Rafael Rep. Jared Huffman. “It was just so out of place that I had to do a double-take,” said Huffman, who appeared in the parade riding an old WWII-era Jeep with Petaluma resident Steve Countouriotis, a decorated war hero.

A Petaluma woman who had been asleep in her home was startled to find a stranger asleep on her couch when she got out of bed Thursday afternoon, authorities said. The intruder, later identified as James Adams of Placerville, apparently had eaten some food, as well, after making himself at home in the Caulfield Lane abode, police said. The resident discovered him at about 2 p.m., when she came downstairs and saw him sleeping on the sofa. She quickly ran back upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom, calling 911 and provoking an extensive response from police officers who surrounded...

After a few years out of the spotlight, Petaluma's notorious Sampson family is back in the news after a badly decomposed body was found on their property and a feud with neighbors grew ugly when one family member allegedly began dumping human waste at a nearby property. snip In an unrelated case, a dispute with neighbors over a dog allegedly led a member of the Sampson family to dump human waste on their property in retaliation. snip The feud continued to escalate, reaching a head in February last year when the neighbor found buckets and bags of human feces, bloody...

Victor Flores said he was in the bathroom of his Petaluma home last week getting ready for work shortly after 4 a.m. when an explosion shattered the predawn silence, followed by a scream. He immediately thought his wife was being attacked as she returned home after working the night shift, Flores said. In fact, dozens of federal agents had converged on their McNeil Avenue house to arrest their oldest son, also named Victor Flores, and search the rental house as part of an investigation into a 2010 triple homicide in South San Francisco. The quiet neighborhood was awakened by loud...

A Petaluma high school teacher was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly setting up an illicit date with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl, police and prosecutors said. Scott Eugene Dietlin, 34, a teacher at Casa Grande High School, was arrested in San Mateo on Saturday after allegedly showing up for a date with "Jackie," a teenage persona created on MySpace by two teen boys, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. The 15-year-old San Mateo County boys posted the online profile as a joke, Wagstaffe said. When Dietlin allegedly contacted "Jackie" in April, the boys...

A 34-year-old teacher from Petaluma was arrested Saturday morning in San Mateo on several felony charges relating to trying to meet and seduce a minor, according to Burlingame police detectives, who made the arrest. At approximately 9:45 a.m., Burlingame police detectives arrested Scott Eugene Dietlin on charges of sending harmful matter (via electronic e-mail) with the intent to seduce a minor, attempting to contact a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, and arranging to meet with a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, according to a police press release. This arrest was the culmination of a...

We want to thank you for visiting our website! We plan on bringing some of the most prolific and beautiful warbird / air racer vintage aircraft to Petaluma to be hosted by the sponsors on Sunday Nov 11 between 8:30 A.M. and 2 P.M. The sponsors are cordially invited to view aircraft up close and personal. You will have a chance to meet active test pilots, air racers, airshow performers, and veterans who have served our country to preserve freedom. Between 1-2 P.M. you will have a chance to see these beautiful aircraft take to the skies for formation fly...

This is a reference thread with links to previous FR threads discussing the arrest of a suspect, John Mark Karr, in the decade-old cold case concerning the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, plus case resources for continued commentary on investigation of the crime.

Four years after the murder of JonBenet Ramsey became one of the most talked about crimes of the decade, John Mark Karr began working as a substitute teacher in Sonoma County schools. Karr's brief stay in local schools ended about four months later when he was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. After he was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in connection with the 1996 slaying of the former child beauty queen, school officials rifled through files for details, old neighbors fielded dozens of questions from the media and a former landlord recalled a visit from police in 2001....

Petaluma animal control workers expected to find a horde of cats when they knocked on the door of a 67-year-old man whose neighbor complained of stench. Instead, they stumbled onto a scene straight out the movie, "Willard." About 1,000 pet rats -- ranging from 3-year-old adults to little, pink newborns -- shared the one-room house with Roger Dier.

New Marine Steven Kiernan has agreed to accept school rules governing graduation next week at Petaluma High School, ending a dispute that brought hundreds of angry calls, letters and e-mails to Principal Mike Simpson. Kiernan, 17, who graduated Wednesday from Marine boot camp in San Diego, will wear a cap and gown over his Marine dress blues at the high school's commencement June 11. The teen completed high school requirements early to attend boot camp, and his family had sought to forego the cap and gown so he could walk at graduation in uniform. But Kiernan said his respect for...

BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nevada (AP) -- As jugglers danced with hoops and spirals of fire, vehicles belched flames and hypnotic drums echoed through the night, more than 35,000 costumed revelers ritually burned a 40-foot neon-and-wooden icon of a man deep in the Nevada desert. The 19th annual Burning Man festival, a bizarre counterculture event in one of the most remote places in America, was back, this year with record crowds. "It's an emotional experience," said Silvie, of San Diego, who would give only her first name. "There's a reverence here." The annual fantasy event grew out of San Francisco's bohemian...

A teenage rape victim excoriated Rep. Lynn Woolsey for intervening on behalf of the man who attacked her, and rejected the congresswoman's subsequent apology for seeking leniency from a sentencing judge. "I don't accept her apology," said Tina Phan, who was 17 when Stewart Pearson, 20, of San Rafael, raped her in her Terra Linda home last summer. "She represents the rapist who took advantage," the victim said of Woolsey. "The people that vote for her are saying the same thing and supporting the rapist. She can never say sorry (for the letter) because of what he did to me,...

Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - Congresswoman asked for leniency for worker's son convicted of rape Rep. Lynn Woolsey apologized yesterday for "making a horrible situation worse" by asking for leniency for an acquaintance who raped a Marin teenager. "I am writing to apologize to the young woman from Terra Linda who was the victim of sexual assault at the hands of Stewart Pearson," Woolsey, D-Petaluma, said in a brief written statement to the Independent Journal. "I did send a letter during the sentencing phase to (Marin Superior Court) Judge Terrence Boren, explaining that I knew Mr. Pearson's family, thought highly...

<p>The Sonoma County Coroner's Office is trying to determine through fingerprints the identity of a woman found dead near a bike path in Petaluma on Sunday morning.</p> <p>Coroner's Sgt. Will Wallman said the woman appears to have hanged herself from a small tree. She was found in a sitting position at 9:42 a.m. in bushes in a field area next to the bike path in the 1900 block of Matzen Ranch Circle.</p>

Join our Yellow Ribbon Rally in Petaluma. It starts at 9am at Walnut Park on Saturday April 12. http://www.petalumapatriots.org