Second Look Sunday: A Positively #Petaluma Weeks In Review

There are lots of great things going on in #Petaluma, you just have to dig for them. Positively Petaluma searches for and collects the positive information about our great city in one place: The Petaluma Magazine. The Second Look will be a reflection of some of the posts from the previous weeks.

1000’s are enjoying their free subscription with thousands of positive articles including these most recent posts from previous weeks:

Petaluma Celebrates the Centennial of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad

Petaluma’s Alex Tanalski California State Chili Champ

Barich works her way up the cross country ranks

Record-breaking season for the Case Grande HS X-country team

$6 million makeover for Petaluma school

POPULAR: Positively Petaluma Interview with Actor Adrian Grenier

Petaluma’s First Firefighter James Mott Not Forgotten

Petaluma Coastguardsman Honored for Bravery

A motorcycle crew with a heart of gold

“Save Lives Sonoma” helps 13-year Old Lewis Save The Life Of His Father with CPR

Award-Winning Pacific Empire Chorus Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Fleet week with the crew of the Sea Scout Ship Compass Rose

Trojans bounce back for happy homecoming

Rich history of river celebrated in Petaluma

Petaluma Racer not yet out of gas

Petaluma’s Labcon bringing new energy to North Bay

Video Petaluma Casa Grande Matt Abramo: A Bright Light In A Dark Room

From Marketing Executive to Petaluma Farmer: Deborah Walton created Canvas Ranch

Dead Pirates Roberts Day with Actor Cary Elwes

Other posts can be found on PositivelyPetaluma.com. Thanks also for “Like”ing us on Facebook and following us onTwitter.

#Petaluma Celebrates the Centennial of Northwestern Pacific Railroad

Trains were a big factor in our local economy and industry. The fact that we have a Northwestern Pacific Railroad Museum and Historical Society is because Petaluma would not be the town that it is today without the rail system.Positively Petaluma did a little digging into the history and wanted to show you some vintage photos of the train history in Petaluma.

Our historical Petaluma Visitor Center and art center is the original train depot and in the past has served as the center of our city’s transportation since 1914. In 1991 it was featured in a made for TV Hitchcock thriller in 1991. Today it will become a depot for the new Sonoma Marin Rail Transit Commission (SMART)train system.

Click here for more history and vintage photos including the McNear family standing at the Petaluma Depot and current photos of our train museum.

Animal Rights Activist Abuse Video found MISLEADING of #Petaluma Duck Farm According to Sherrif's Department

According to a more credible source, the North Bay Business Journal, than the animal rights activist who spent months to choreograph a 2 minute video in attempt to denigrate yet another Petaluma Farmer the Sherrifs Department determines the video is misleading.

This is what was reported in the last day.

PETALUMA — An initial Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department investigation Wednesday seems to have found that claims of animal cruelty at a duck farm west of Petaluma appear to be unfounded, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The sheriff’s office on Thursday clarified that the operation searched Wednesday was Reichert Duck Farm at 3770 Middle Two Rock Rd. and not Sonoma County Poultry, a Penngrove-based producer of the Liberty Ducks brand sold in local stores. Jim Reichert, who describes himself as a fourth-generation poultry farmer, started Sonoma County Poultry in 1992. John Reichert is general manager of Reichert Duck Farm, which said it was founded in San Francisco in 1901.

A video recorded by a worker at Reichert Duck Farm affiliated with the animal-rights group Mercy for Animals prompted the Sheriff’s Department to send deputies, detectives, two veterinarians and an animal-control officer to the property, according to the Press Democrat. One of the vets told the publication that the practices are in line with industry standards.

#Petaluma's First Firefighter James Mott Not Forgotten

You may have seen some of the posts on James Mott and his memorial today. This led me to do a little more research on him. The first firefighter in Petaluma was 1873 but at that time there were no city employees and only volunteers. James Mott was the first paid Petaluma firefighter for our city starting 1807 and became a part of the YOUNG AMERICA ENGINE COMPANY NO. 3, PETALUMA FIRE DEPARTMENT. He was also the city jailer and ambulance driver well-known for his special bond with his horse Black Bart. He is also the first Petaluma firefighter making the ultimate sacrifice while fighting a fire in the downtown who lost his life in the line of duty in an vehicle explosion on October 20,1912. His life would end a few days later at the age of 57.

Positively Petaluma memorializes his life for his duty to our city but also celebrates that we have not lost the lives of any other firefighters since then. A record we would like to sustain indefinitely.

Click here to read more from the actual San Francisco Call newspaper who covered the accident as well as some other archived articles. We also captured a photo of the California Firefighter Memorial in Sacramento where James Mott’s name is inscribed. You will find that Mott and other volunteers acted heroically to help the injured from this explosion.

Positively #Petaluma Interview With Actor Adrian Grenier

An August 23 Facebook post by Adrian Grenier caused a big stir in Petaluma. His post garnered over 1000 “Likes” and several comments and shares by Petalumans. His status showed him with friends at our annual Taste of Petaluma with comment “Rockin’ #TasteOfPetaluma w/@catatomic @rbcsavage awesome delicious day”. This caused Positively Petaluma to want to find out more and share his experience here.

Adrian Grenier visited our town and attended our annual event while visiting family friends. The following interview was completed while Adrian was in Greece and would not have been possible without the help of Laura Sunday who hosted Adrian during his stay in Petaluma. Adrian is an actor, producer, director and musician most notable playing the lead role of Vincent Chase in the Emmy nominated HBO original series Entourage.

Click here to read the entire interview and learn more about Adrian’s stay in Petaluma including some of his favorite restaurants in town.

#Petaluma Casa Grande Matt Abramo: A Bright Light in A Dark Room

Casa Grande High School picked up their first win of the season last week and the Cougars’ two-star kicker commit was a big part of it. In the 47-0 shellacking of Ukiah, Abramo nailed both of his field goal attempts – with a long of 46-ya

rds – and was 3-of-3 on point after attempts. Abramo punted once for 53 yards and sent six of his eight kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

For the season, Abramo is 7-of-7 on Points After Touchdown (PATs) and 4-of-5 on field goals with a long of 46-yards. Abramo has also hit a 45-yard field goal this season and is averaging 34.2 yards per punt with 11 pinned down inside the 20 on 31 attempts. Abramo has also sent 14-of-19 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Click here to see more on his stats from the previous week and a video of some pretty amazing kicks-offs.

"Save Lives Sonoma" helps 13-Year Old Lewis Save The Life Of His Father with CPR

Photo Kent Porter, Press Democrat, 2014

According to an Press Democrat Article “ Forestville teen saves dad’s life“ and EMS1’s article based on the same Randi Rossman Press story “ Calif. teen’s CPR saves father, impresses responders“, Lewis Griffith, a 13-year old from Forestville, learned how to save his father’s life in a P.E. class at Forestville Academy. This education was part of a countywide effort by a coalition of emergency responders and health agencies called Save Lives Sonoma. They target and teach seventh-graders hands-on CPR. They report that his father slumped unconscious and not breathing on the kitchen floor and Lewis announced to his startled mother he knew what to do. Firefighters arrived on the scene with the teen working on his father on his own.The article provides the following background from #Petaluma’s Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Schach who adds:

“The reason we picked seventh-graders is they’re smart enough to learn it and teach it to the rest of their family and friends and they’re not too cool for it yet,” Schach, who coordinates Petaluma Fire Department’s efforts with Save Lives Sonoma, said about 2,000 people in the south county have been taught, including hundreds of middle-schoolers. Hundreds more area students are slated to get the training in the next several months. “We’re already seeing results,” Schach said, noting five people have been saved by someone stepping up to do the chest compressions in the past two years. “There’s been a drastic increase in the amount of bystanders doing (hands-only) CPR.”

Click here to see an video of another story like this one posted only four months ago.

It's Free & Takes 2 Seconds To Improve #Petaluma. How?

How you ask? Here’s the background as reported yesterday in the SCSL.

Petaluma entrepreneur Anastasia Schuster helps entrepreneurs and small businesses be more successful. By putting them in front of groups to share their passion and expertise, they are able to build their client base.

This is a woman with a dream. Anastasia gives back to her community in addition to her Access Speakers business activities, through an extra-wide range of volunteer activities throughout the year. Now she needs our help.

She has applied for a $150,000 small business grant being offered by Chase bank. “Receiving this would change my life as well as all the people and businesses I serve,” says Anastasia, who must receive 250 votes before Oct 17th to be considered for the grant that would fund software and vital staff hiring in order for her to expand her Petaluma-based business nationwide.

So how can you help Petaluma by a few seconds of your time and one click of the mouse? Click here to vote for her on Chase Bank’s Mission Main Street Grants page.

From Marketing Executive to #Petaluma Farmer: Deborah Walton created Canvas Ranch

When you hear about the Walton’s on a ranch, you can’t help to think about the American Television show ‘The Little House on The Prairie.’ But these Walton’s are not from Spencer’s Mountain or Simi Valley. Deborah is a native to Mill Valley who replanted with husband Tim, an artist, in the Two Rock Valley.

I had the pleasure of meeting Deborah at Graffiti Restaurant one night while listening to Peter Welker’s Jazz Sextet on the Petaluma Riverfront. Deborah is a former marketing executive for Santa Rosa Junior College and Bodega Land Trust. Besides ranching she still helps a non-profit Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa with marketing communications.

One way she creates luck for herself is to read the classified ads (today for her it is craigslist). She found a three line ad with a piece of property on it…and she said “Oh my god, it’s actually affordable and it was right around the corner from where we were currently renting” Tim was in New York at the time and she called him up and said “Hi honey. I bought a farm.”

Click here for more of the story about Deborah and the Canvas Ranch including a KSRO interview of her as well as a video when she served as academic staff on a U.C. Cooperative Extension AGROpreneurship program.

#Petaluma's Laurie Figone gets her shot on the big screen on TNT's "On The Menu"

This self-proclaimed “cook-a-holic” is a native of Novato and currently resides in Petaluma. Joe Wolfcale of the Novato Advance [ Novato native gets her shot on the big screen on TNT’s “On The Menu”Cooking with Laurie] interviews Laurie Figone a 55-year-old mother of two whose first show “ On The Menu” (a cooking show featuring Ty Pennington and chef Emeril Lagasse) will air for the first time Friday, Oct. 17 beginning at 8 p.m. on TNT and will feature the cuisine of California Pizza Kitchen.

Growing up on the Leveroni Brothers Dairy ranch in rural Novato, she studied agriculture at Petaluma High School. She is a proponent of using locally sourced ingredients from Sonoma and Marin County. In the interview she says “There are some delicious things being grown around these parts,” She also goes on to say “My dream is to one day have a sponsor for my show,” Figone said. “Everyone loves Sonoma and Marin, and they all want to know what’s being produced there.”

Click here for more good news stories about Petaluma.

Demand Soars for Organic Milk #Petaluma Dairies Trying to Keep Up

KPIX Channel 5's Don Ford covers story Organic Milk Shortage Hits California Grocery Markets interviews Clover's Jennifer Beretta

There is such a demand for organic milk that dairies are having a hard time keeping up. Organic milk can only come from certified organic cows and there are only so many of them. According to Clover Stornetta’s Jennifer Beretta hopes that each cow can produce about 6 to 7 gallons per day.

It’s not easy to increase the supply also. In order for these cows to be certified organic they have to be raised from calves fed with organic hay which takes years. Other factors are a shortage of farms growing the organic hay and the drought is not helping matters also.

Click here to see the video interview.