December 27, 2001 Sheriff's Calls
OLEMA – Deputies received a report at 8:30 a.m. last Wednesday that a vandal had broken signs at two businesses.
MARSHALL – A man at 1:33 p.m. Dec. 18 reported that a burglar had broken into a garage along Highway 1 and stolen property.
FALLON – A Fallon-Two Rock Road resident at 7:30 p.m. last Wednesday said a man had entered her family’s property without permission and was outside yelling. The woman said the family’s daughter had been in an abusive relationship with the man, and he has been harassing her. The family was now locked inside their house, she said. After being told to leave several times, the man finally "complied," a deputy reported.
BOLINAS – A man on Brighton Avenue told deputies that another man had reported being hit in the face several times by a third man. Two men were arrested at 3 p.m. last Wednesday on charges of public drunkenness.
STINSON BEACH – A man at 7:19 Saturday notified deputies that a "friend" had "just lost it" and thrown objects at him and punched him in the face several times. The friend works as a waiter, he said.
TOMALES – A man at 7:27 p.m. Sunday complained that a stranger (described as in his 60s and wearing a baseball cap) had been harassing customers in a restaurant, had then paid his tab, and was now "running around in the street yelling about Jesus."
STINSON BEACH – A Seadrift Road resident at 1:40 a.m. Monday told deputies she had been hearing booming music coming from a vehicle for 20 minutes. All was quiet when a deputy arrived.
SAN GERONIMO – A San Geronimo Valley Drive resident reported that during the night a would-be thief had pulled out his truck’s ignition and had tried to start the truck by hotwiring it with alligator clips.
FOUR CORNERS – A deputy at 11:28 a.m. Saturday found a cow loose on the roadway and returned it to its pasture.
LAGUNITAS – A man on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at 11:40 p.m. Saturday said he wanted to speak with a deputy about people using heroin. A deputy, who noted the man was "rambling and not making a lot of sense," gave him advice.
FOREST KNOLLS – A woman at 3:01 p.m. Saturday called from work to complain about someone living in a backyard shed. She said she thinks there could be health and fire hazards.
LAGUNITAS – A Mountain View Avenue resident at 5:34 a.m. Saturday said he heard a "sound like gunshot" somewhere in the area. All was quiet when a deputy arrived.
WOODACRE – A Central Avenue resident at 8:53 a.m. Friday notified deputies he was upset with his neighbor starting construction work so early in the morning and asked what his own rights are. An officer advised the neighbor about "construction hours per the county code."
BOLINAS – An Oak Road homeowner called West Marin deputies from New York at 10:34 a.m. Friday and said she had learned from a Realtor that her ex-tenant, who never returned her key, has been entering the homeowner’s house and removing property.
TOMALES – A Dillon Beach Road resident at 1:10 p.m. Friday notified deputies there were wild turkeys in her yard and asked about her rights in dealing with them. An officer referred her to the state Department of Fish and Game.
MARSHALL – A woman at 3:50 p.m. Friday reported there was a boulder 2.5 feet in diameter on the Marshall-Petaluma Road. A deputy handled the traffic hazard.
BOLINAS – A Wharf Road resident at 5:44 p.m. Friday notified deputies that a resident had stolen money out of his hand. A deputy arrested the second man on charges of grand theft.
FOREST KNOLLS – Just before 6 p.m. Friday, three residents in the Montezuma Avenue area independently reported hearing gunshots. The number of shots was variously given as six, 10, and 12.
TOMALES – A woman at 6:59 p.m. Friday notified deputies that two to three inches of rocks covered the pavement at Dillon Beach and Middle roads. She asked that an officer determine if the county Department of Public Works should be summoned. County firefighters instead took care of the traffic hazard.
NICASIO – A deputy at 10:45 p.m. last Thursday reported that a woman in her 50s, who "rarely ever drinks," had consumed one drink and was "not alert."
BOLINAS – Deputies assisted Bolinas Fire Department medics when a 72-year-old man fell down.
BOLINAS – A deputy on Oak Road at 8:55 a.m. last Thursday arrested a 22-year-old man wanted on a felony warrant for drug dealing. Bail was set at $25,000.
LAGUNITAS – A deputy at 9:11 a.m. last Thursday reported a motorist was "feeling dizzy" after spinning out on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. The officer assisted fire department medics by providing traffic control. No other vehicle was involved.
POINT REYES STATION – A man at 10:38 a.m. last Thursday reported a customer was "extremely verbally abusive and angry." A deputy provided mediation.
CHILENO VALLEY – A Tomales-Petaluma Road resident at 1:02 p.m. last Thursday complained about receiving harassing phone calls for two or three months. She said the caller, whom she thinks she knows, says nothing but stays on the line until she hangs up.
FOREST KNOLLS – A Castro Street merchant at 4:43 p.m. last Thursday reported a bunch of "Avoid the Marin 13" posters had been left at the business. Deputies were also notified of a citizen wanting such posters, as well as "bumper strips if available."
WOODACRE – A man at 4:55 p.m. last Thursday complained of a yellow Mercedes Benz with its flashers on parked in the middle of a street for four hours. A deputy determined the car had mechanical problems and was broken down.
INVERNESS PARK – A woman at 11:22 p.m. last Wednesday asked deputies to check if a black-and-white dog with no shelter was still in the back of a pickup truck parked on Laurel Avenue. An officer was unable to find either the truck or the dog.
CHILENO VALLEY – A man at 1:12 p.m. last Thursday reported a vandal had been shooting at mailboxes.
INVERNESS PARK – A housesitter at 5:11 a.m. notified deputies the homeowner has been having problems with a man, who repeatedly calls her and who may have been stalking her. The housesitter reported receiving harassing calls at 4 and 5 a.m.
SAN GERONIMO – A Sir Francis Drake Boulevard resident at 3:59 p.m. last Wednesday notified deputies that four juveniles were boogie boarding in San Geronimo Creek. He said the activity "doesn’t look safe." By the time a deputy arrived on the scene, the juveniles were gone. However, a neighbor told the officer that all four juveniles had emerged from the creek and "just looked cold." She said they were all youths from the neighborhood.
CHILENO VALLEY – A woman at 6:22 p.m. Dec. 19 reported three or four males and a female had driven up to a ranch looking for work. After being asked to leave, she said, the group wandered on the ranch before leaving. A man from the ranch followed them in his own vehicle.
CHILENO VALLEY – A man called the Sheriff’s Office at 7:24 p.m. Dec. 19 and through a Spanish-speaking interpreter reported that a woman 8.5 months pregnant was having chest pains. She had been frightened in an earlier incident in which someone pointed a gun at her and others in a car, he said.
POINT REYES STATION – Deputies at 9:37 p.m. Dec. 19 received word of a loose brown cow on the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road between Highway 1 and Platform Bridge. An officer could not find the cow.
SAMUEL TAYLOR PARK – A Highway Patrol officer at 9:49 p.m. Dec. 19 gave a motorist a ride to Forest Knolls to call friends after the motorist’s suburban utility vehicle broke down on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
POINT REYES STATION – An elderly woman at 7:50 a.m. Dec. 19 reported a nose bleed but could not hear well enough to understand the dispatcher.
INVERNESS PARK – A woman at 11:17 a.m. Dec. 19 alleged that her daughter had been the victim of statutory rape. The case was referred to the Investigations Division.
LAGUNITAS – Deputies at 12:03 p.m. Dec. 19 received a report of trespassing at property along Arroyo Road. A deputy determined there was no merit to the report. A window had merely fallen out of an abandoned shed, and a tree had fallen down next to the main building.
BOLINAS – Deputies at 12:08 p.m. Dec. 19 received a report from a man, whose English was difficult to understand, but officers heard something about a window broken at the community center and two men hitting a woman in a van. A deputy could not locate the man, and no one downtown saw or heard anything similar to the unclear report officers received.
NICASIO – A Nicasio Valley Road resident reported a homeless encampment had been established in a forest next to her house. She said the homeless person had a "suntanned complexion" and "a strange look about him," suggesting he was possibly insane.
WEST MARIN – Three sheriff’s deputies conducted 10 sting operations Dec. 19 looking for merchants selling tobacco to underage customers. Eight clerks were cited around the head of Tomales Bay and in the San Geronimo Valley. Boys and girls aged 15 to 17 from the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team and from a Youth Leadership Group were sent into stores to buy cigarettes. The clerks, although not the stores, face fines of up to $200 for first-time offenses.
STINSON BEACH – Deputies at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 19 received a complaint from firefighters that a parked vehicle was blocking the firehouse doors.
STINSON BEACH – Deputies at 6:34 a.m. Dec. 16 were notified that a burglar had broken into a business during the night and stolen $2,300.
POINT REYES STATION – Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Ginnodo, commander of the West Marin Substation, has asked The Light to let readers know that a campaign to remove abandoned cars is underway in West Marin. Lt. Ginnodo said the Sheriff’s Office will arrange to have abandoned vehicles towed off private property, as well as public property, if the landowners signs a release. The substation’s phone number is 663-1151.
December 20, 2001 Sheriff's Calls
FALLON – A burglar broke into a rock quarry’s trailer/office and vandalized the trailer, as well as stole property, the owner reported at 10 a.m. last Thursday.
BOLINAS – A woman at 10:30 a.m. Friday notified deputies that a "friend" had left a "strange" message on her answering machine. Not only did her friend threaten to break her window, she said, he also approached her car while she was parked along Highway 1 next to Bolinas Lagoon and yelled at her. The woman said she believes her friend was on drugs.
BOLINAS – A woman at 12:30 p.m. Friday reported a vandal had broken the rear window of an empty house on Brighton Avenue and that someone had seen a man leave the house that morning. A deputy surmised that someone may have been trying to get out of the rain.
DILLON BEACH – A man and his wife plus a friend were digging for clams on a sandbar when their canoe drifted away and capsized Friday evening. The three then swam to shore but were suffering from hypothermia by the time they reached land. Realizing their danger, the trio broke into an empty house on the Dillon Beach Road and called fire department medics. They offered to reimburse the owner of the house for damage they caused getting inside.
TOMALES – A woman at 2:45 p.m. Dec. 9 reported she was being followed by someone with whom she has had civil-court problems. A deputy contacted the suspect and concluded the person had a legitimate reason for being in the area.
POINT REYES STATION – A woman at 11 a.m. Dec. 11 told deputies that a man is living in her elderly father’s residence. She said she has power of attorney over his estate and had never given the man permission to stay in her father’s house. The man left without incident when officers told him to.
SAN GERONIMO – A woman at the school district notified deputies at 10 a.m. Monday that a burglar had broken into the district’s garage during the night.
NICASIO – A woman at 12:26 a.m. Monday reported that her 50-year-old secretary, who lives on Camino Margarita, had charged computer equipment to her credit card without permission.
STINSON BEACH – A woman at 1:09 p.m. Monday notified deputies she had received a box of dishes with white powder on the bottom of all the cups. The woman said the powder looked like residue from dishwashing, but when she called the manufacturer, she was told it doesn’t wash the dishes it sends out. Concerned about anthrax, the woman rewrapped the cups and washed her hands and face before calling authorities.
STINSON BEACH – A man at 8:22 p.m. Monday told deputies he was driving northbound on Highway 1 at Calle del Arroyo when someone in a southbound vehicle threw a five-gallon container of propane at him. He said the container broke a rear window and broke off the sideview mirror of his car.
BOLINAS – A man at 1:39 p.m. Sunday complained that three drunk men on Wharf Road were harassing him.
BOLINAS – On Brighton Avenue at 3:07 p.m. Sunday, a man that told deputies he worked for Internal Affairs of the CIA said a young man had threatened him with a two-by-four.
STINSON BEACH – A Dipsea Road merchant at 4:41 p.m. Sunday complained that a thief had stolen two, large beach umbrellas from his business. One umbrella alone cost $800, he said.
NICASIO – Deputies at 8:41 p.m. Saturday received word that a deer had been hit on Nicasio Valley Road. To save the Humane Society a trip from Novato, an officer looked for the deer but could not find it.
FOREST KNOLLS – An anonymous resident at 10:26 p.m. Friday complained about a loud adult at a house on North Forest Drive. A deputy found a juvenile party underway and dispersed the guests.
OLEMA – A man at 12:11 a.m. Friday complained about several loud partygoers along Highway 1. A deputy contacted the group, who agreed to disperse. However, in hurrying to get away, "one guest decided to go swimming in a creek," a deputy quipped.
SAN GERONIMO – An elderly couple in the middle of a divorce got into an argument over property, and the wife accused her 82-year-old husband of grabbing her by the arm. The two by now were in separate rooms, the wife told deputies by phone.
STINSON BEACH – The Highway Patrol at 12:57 p.m. Saturday asked deputies for help in removing debris from Highway 1 between Calle del Arroyo and Steep Ravine. A deputy could not find the debris.
BOLINAS – A Wharf Road merchant at 6:20 p.m. Saturday reported that four or five people were having a verbal fight on Wharf Road. A deputy abated the quarrel.
PLATFORM BRIDGE – A tree fell across the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road at 8:46 a.m. Friday. Deputies arranged for the roadway to be cleared.
POINT REYES STATION – Deputies at 5:58 p.m. Friday received a report of a tan dog in the middle of Highway 1, forcing cars to swerve around it. An officer tried to assist the Humane Society by moving the dog to the side of the road but could not find the animal.
OLEMA – Deputies at 6:47 p.m. Friday received word that a television set had been stolen at a business on Highway 1.
WOODACRE – Firefighters at 11:05 p.m. Friday were summoned to Central Avenue where a six-month-old baby was constipated. A deputy reported "nothing unusual."
BOLINAS – A woman on Wharf Road at 12:26 a.m. Saturday complained of being harassed by an acquaintance in his 50s, whom she had encountered in a bar. She said he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, causing scratches.
INVERNESS PARK – A vehicle ran into some bushes along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at Balboa Avenue around 2 a.m. Friday, shearing off the top of a utility pole. Neighbors heard the driver yelling that he was trapped. However, the driver got out of the vehicle on his own, and officers called PG&E. The 29-year-old driver from Inverness was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with "major head lacerations," the Highway Patrol reported. The driver refused to take a blood-alcohol test and was arrested on drunk-driving charges.
BOLINAS – A man at 9:12 a.m. last Thursday notified deputies that when he asked his ex-girlfriend to leave the previous night, she had stayed in his truck. He said she broke out all the windows and "destroyed" the vehicle. She was now in front of a bar, he added. The man asked to file a vandalism report but requested that no action be taken against her at this time.
BOLINAS – An Aspen Road resident at 3:11 p.m. last Thursday reported an ongoing problem with neighbors parking "in the middle of the road," making it difficult for her to pull into her driveway. When an officer checked, all the vehicles on Aspen Road were legally parked.
SAN GERONIMO – A woman at 4:41 p.m. last Thursday reported she had lost her purse at the school. She said the purse, which may have been left on the trunk of her car and fallen onto the road, contained a checkbook, $120 in cash, and $350 in checks. She told deputies she has received a call to pick up her purse and would let them know what happened.
FOREST KNOLLS – Firefighters at 6:35 p.m. last Wednesday put out a grease fire in a stove on Montezuma Avenue.
CHILENO VALLEY – A deputy at 12:33 a.m. Dec. 11 found a Holstein cow on the road and returned it to its pasture.
BOLINAS – An Aspen Road resident at 3:16 a.m. Dec. 11 reported hearing 20 explosions that did not sound like gunshots. A deputy determined the noise came from a vehicle backfiring.
BOLINAS – A woman at 11:50 a.m. Dec. 11 reported an orange BMW had dumped garbage at Elm and Juniper roads. She said she would like to speak to a deputy about an ongoing problem with garbage being dumped along roadsides. Such dumping has been a continual problem on the coast since the West Marin Sanitary Landfill closed in 1998 and county supervisors decided against replacing it with a dropoff site.
POINT REYES STATION – Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Ginnodo, commander of the West Marin Substation, has asked The Light to let readers know that a campaign to remove abandoned cars is underway in West Marin. Lt. Ginnodo said the Sheriff’s Office will arrange to have abandoned vehicles towed off private property, as well as public property, if the landowner signs a release. The substation’s phone number is 663-1151.
December 13, 2001 Sheriff's Calls
STINSON BEACH – The owner of a triplex at 10:34 a.m. Friday told deputies she had evicted a tenant and feared he might return and damage the property. At 8:56 p.m. Monday, a resident reported hearing the same man in a "pushing and screaming" fight with his girlfriend. The man left the scene, but a deputy located and counseled him.
LAGUNITAS – A woman on La Questa at 7:11 a.m. Monday notified deputies she had received a suspicious envelope from a doctor’s office in Florida. She said she had called long-distance information, and there was no listing for the doctor. A deputy noted there was no powder or wetness on the package, which was left unopened.
STINSON BEACH – A Highway 1 homeowner at 7:39 a.m. Monday told deputies she had learned from a neighbor that former housesitters were still in the residence although they had no permission to be there. She said the housesitters have been throwing parties and may be selling drugs. She said the neighbor had asked them to leave, but they refused.
BOLINAS – A man caretaking a Juniper Road house notified deputies at 7:39 a.m. Monday that a woman had come into the house and "lunged" at him.
SAN GERONIMO – A woman at 11:54 a.m. Monday reported there was a drunk driver’s vehicle swerving back and forth on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at Nicasio Valley Road. She gave the driver’s license plate number to deputies, and the vehicle turned out to be registered to a woman in Forest Knolls.
FOREST KNOLLS – A Forest Drive resident at 1:01 p.m. Monday reported receiving harassing phone calls since October, adding that she has possible information on the suspect.
BOLINAS – A Cedar Road resident at 4:34 p.m. Monday told deputies his fence had been damaged that day. He said he would call back the next day after trying to "work things out" with a neighbor.
SAN GERONIMO – A man at 10:09 p.m. Monday told deputies that an older, white Toyota pickup had been tearing up the school’s ballfield.
NICASIO – A vehicle hit a cat on Nicasio Valley Road at 3:57 a.m. Sunday. A deputy assisted the Humane Society by moving the cat to the side of the road.
BOLINAS – Berkeley Police at 5:11 a.m. Sunday told West Marin deputies they had recovered a vehicle that had been stolen from an Elm Road resident. Deputies notified the man.
BOLINAS – A woman, who had been letting people stay on her Horseshoe Hill Road property, asked deputies at 8:21 a.m. Saturday "how to evict guests that had overstayed their welcome," an officer reported.
OLEMA – A man at 11:36 a.m. Saturday reported a case of road rage at the bottom of Olema Hill where a orange Ford van ran a bicyclist off the road.
BOLINAS – A woman at 2:28 a.m. Saturday notified deputies that a drunken man and woman were at a church, where they were harassing a female employee.
BOLINAS – Firefighters at 3:13 p.m. Saturday reported there was a sick person in a van parked on Wharf Road.
WOODACRE – A Madrone Avenue resident at 5:32 p.m. Saturday reported her black nylon purse was missing. She said the purse, which may have been stolen, contained the keys to her house and car, as well as credit cards.
WOODACRE – A woman at 6:50 a.m. Saturday asked deputies to check on the welfare of her sister, who had spoken angrily to her on the phone, "saying some crazy things."
LAGUNITAS – A man at 9:01 p.m. Friday reported that a woman lying in bed "was struck in the forehead by an unknown object that fell from the ceiling." After repeating he "cannot tell what the fallen object was," the man added that the woman received only a cut, a deputy reported. The officer found no evidence of any crime and noted the woman had been drinking.
INVERNESS PARK – A Sir Francis Drake Boulevard resident at 1:38 a.m. Saturday complained about loud music coming from vehicles nearby. A deputy found residents having a party and advised them to keep the noise down. They said they would.
FOREST KNOLLS – A father at 12:26 p.m. Friday told deputies he was worried about his three-year-old son because the boy’s mother keeps large amounts of marijuana in her house and is constantly high. No one was at the house when a deputy checked.
STINSON BEACH – Deputies at 12:51 p.m. Friday received word that two males yelling for help were stuck on a bluff 200 feet down from Highway 1. A helicopter responded and rescued a surfer stuck on the cliff. There was no second male, just a surfboard. At 1:16 p.m., deputies learned that two Coast Guard vehicles, which had also shown up to help in the rescue, had become stuck in mud with the tide coming in. The vehicles were freed before the tide reached them.
OLEMA – A Highway 1 merchant at 2:49 p.m. Friday told deputies that in front of her business she had found a blue backpack with a sleeping bag attached. She said she did not want to touch the backpack, fearing it might contain explosives or other contraband. She said she would leave the backpack where it was and see if the owner returned for it.
BOLINAS – A man called deputies at 4:33 p.m. Friday to say he was going to a garage to pick up a 1978 Pontiac that belongs to his girlfriend. A deputy noted the car is the subject of a "long-standing civil dispute." The garage owner told deputies he would call them if the man and his girlfriend showed up.
STINSON BEACH – A man at 7:41 p.m. last Thursday told deputies that a Bolinas woman had asked him to murder her husband. He said that over the past six months, she also asked other men to kill her husband. A deputy had a meeting with the woman.
BOLINAS – Deputies at 8:49 a.m. last Thursday received a report of a loose cow on Highway 1. Officers could not find it.
SAN GERONIMO – A Park Service ranger at 12:34 p.m. last Thursday notified deputies that a man in his 50s was yelling at people driving past him on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Although a deputy agreed the man was "acting strange," the officer said the man was merely heading to Woodacre to get gasoline.
BOLINAS WYE – A Overlook Road resident at 5:06 p.m. last Thursday said he had been the victim of road rage around 9 a.m. and that he believes the other driver was a neighbor.
FOREST KNOLLS – A resident at 8:45 p.m. last Wednesday complained that a pre-programmed stereo in an apartment was "playing music so loud the entire neighborhood is shaking." The resident said that the stereo was stuck on although no one was home in the apartment. A deputy entered the apartment through a window, turned off the stereo, and secured the home.
INVERNESS – A deputy on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at 10:28 p.m. last Wednesday arrested a man on charges of making harassing phone calls, making threats, and violating a court order.
FOREST KNOLLS – A deputy on Cortez Avenue at 8:49 a.m. last Wednesday arrested a 16-year-old girl for allegedly violating probation.
POINT REYES STATION – A Mesa Road resident last Thursday said a "friend" had called him at 5 a.m. and threatened to bring a gun and kill his pets. He said the suspect is a 50-year-old woman who had stayed with him until he told her to find another place to live.
LAGUNITAS – A man at 5:23 p.m. last Wednesday complained that a homeless man with a sleeping bag was camping out in the postoffice. A deputy told the man to leave, and he did. That evening, an anonymous caller complained that the man was back in the postoffice. Noting that the man had already been moved out once that day, an officer said he would speak to the postmaster the next day.
LAGUNITAS – A woman at 5:51 p.m. last Wednesday called deputies from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to say a man in a blue pickup truck had tried to ram her vehicle. Deputies were able to identify the man via his vehicle’s license plate, and Fairfax Police noted, "He has a bad temper."
MARSHALL – A woman on the Marshall-Petaluma Road at 1:29 p.m. Dec. 4 complained that in late November, 10 fifth-grade boys staying in a cabin at Walker Creek Ranch were "physically and mentally abusive." She accused them of "foul language, abuse of authority, and instilling fear." She noted a Walnut Creek policeman is working on the case.
POINT REYES STATION – Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Ginnodo, commander of the West Marin Substation, has asked The Light to let readers know that a campaign to remove abandoned cars is underway in West Marin. Lt. Ginnodo said the Sheriff’s Office will arrange to have abandoned vehicles towed off private property, as well as public property, if the landowner signs a release. The substation’s phone number is 663-1151.