News Roundup From 2/28 to 3/4

Catch up on any news or events you missed.

Friday

• A San Rafael man was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for shooting into the house of a Marin County Superior Court commissioner in December. Ryker William Schenck, 48, pleaded guilty in Marin County Superior Court last month to shooting into an inhabited dwelling, Deputy District Attorney Dori Ahana said.

• A Novato man was arrested on suspicion of being drunk behind the wheel and another person was transported to a hospital with minor injuries following an eight-car crash Thursday night in San Rafael, the California Highway Patrol said.

Thursday

• Columnist Richard Rapaport writes about a San Rafael neighbor in the Peace Corps. She is currently living El Salvador. In terms of both distance and way-of-life, Sarah Sterling is a long way indeed from her family’s hilltop San Rafael home. A 2005 graduate of Marin Catholic High School and 2009 University of Vermont grad, we caught up with Sarah recently when she was online in an Internet café recently in a rural pueblo in El Salvador’s Ahuachapan Department. Emailing us in America, she joked that even though coffee is one of the region’s cash crops, as far as this café is concerned, “there’s no coffee involved.”

Wednesday

• Less than two days after , the organization’s former affiliate in San Rafael has shut down, citing a lack of funding. Golden Gate Community Health, which lost its Planned Parenthood affiliation last September amid financial and administrative problems, closed its clinic on H Street as well as its five other clinics in the Bay Area.

• A disabled big-rig was cleared from southbound U.S. Highway 101 in San Rafael and traffic is flowing normally again, a California Highway Patrol officer said. The incident occurred at about 6:05 a.m. when the trailer of a big-rig traveling south on the highway became detached and blocked lanes.

Tuesday

• Facing a possible $4.3 million budget gap, San Rafael City Schools will be issuing at least 52 pink slips to employees in the elementary and high school districts by March 15, according to a report from the SRCS superintendent. Governor Jerry Brown’s 2011-2012 budget plans to cut $12.5 billion in state programs and leave public education funding flat, depending if voters approve a five-year tax extension. This tax extension would have to be approved by the state legislature in March before it could be on the June ballot.
• The Marin County Board of Supervisors plan to defend its case supporting the plastic bag ban in the face of a lawsuit filed by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition on Feb. 24. Amid enthusiastic cheers from the public, the supervisors unanimously passed the ordinance on Jan. 25.  On top of banning plastic bags in unincorporated Marin, the ordinance imposes a 5-cent fee per paper bag for anyone who forgets their own reusable bags at grocery stores.
• Around 5:49 a.m., San Rafael firefighters responded to a structure fire on 10 Meyer Rd., where a homeowner successfully doused the blaze before they arrived. The homeowner smelled smoke before the detector went off, and went downstairs to find flames starting to spread to drapes and combustible materials, according to Fire Chief Chris Gray.  The homeowner was able to extinguish the fire before the firefighters arrived.

Monday

• City staff need more information about the business plan of a new sober living facility on 1 Culloden Park Rd. before they can evaluate if the residence complies with city codes as well as state and federal statutes. The property at 1 Culloden Park Rd., which opened for business on Feb. 10, could house up to 12 to 15 recovering male alcohol and drug addicts at one time. The house operates like a business, charging $4000 per month for a room and meals.