The bank robber has a familiar mug

<p>Usually the security-cam photographs that police release of bank robbers are so grainy and indistinct the bandit could be your grandmother and you couldn’t make her out.</p><p>Not so with the shot Santa Rosa police released after a blond, bespectacled man held up the US Bank in Montgomery Village last month. The picture’s so clear and lifelike the guy could use it on his passport.</p><p>Many people recognized him from the portrait and phoned the police. Robbery detectives armed with a warrant are looking for Christopher Wenmoth, 39, a frequent contributor to the PD’s letters to the editor.</p><p>In a May letter, Wenmoth vented his dissatisfaction with Santa Rosa police and the district attorney over the 2007 police shooting of Richard DeSantis. He’s also written passionate letters on topics from conservation to making better use of the schools through double sessions.</p><p>A few people who recognized Wenmoth from the bank-camera photo recalled that the last time they saw him or his picture was in 1996 — when he ran for a seat on the Santa Rosa school board.</p><p>Police believe the ex-candidate walked into that bank on July 23 wearing no disguise, not even a cap or dark glasses. Anybody who’s ever seen him could easily identify him from the security picture.</p><p>What appears to be true of Chris Wenmoth, wherever he his, is that he cares about the big issues and he’s got some of his own.</p><p>THAT “FINE” FISH: A crowd gathered Friday to dedicate that sweet gem of a park at the Santa Rosa Avenue gateway to the Prince Memorial Greenway, and to thank former Councilman Steve Rabinowitsh and everyone else who labored for years to make it a reality.</p><p>Artist Mario Uribe offered the assembly two interesting tidbits about the 13-foot-tall rainbow trout he helped create for the park.</p><p>One is that much of the money for the leaping fish came from fines paid by a polluter that the city’s environmental crimes unit caught dumping into the Greenway’s Santa Rosa Creek.</p><p>Also, Mario revealed, “If you look at the fish a certain way, it bears a resemblance to Steve Rabinowitsh.”</p><p>SECOND TO GERARD: It was a festive scene in central Occidental — and the aromas were divine — when friends and kin of paella chef Gerard Nebesky gathered Wednesday to witness his triumph on national TV.</p><p>Big screens at Occidental’s Bistro des Copains showed Food Network heavyweight Bobby Flay challenge Gerard to a smackdown to see who could make the best paella.</p><p>Paella? It’s the wondrous Spanish concoction of rice, saffron, garlic, peppers, chicken, seafood and what-have-you that’s cooked in shallow pans over live flames.</p><p>Flay did his best, but paella is what Gerard does. The dashing, curly haired Freestonian travels far and wide creating his edible art in pans the size of flying saucers.</p><p>A great cheer went up in Occidental when the judges on TV declared that Gerard’s paella was tastier than Flay’s.</p><p>As much as anything, Gerard was relieved. He knew back when the cookoff was filmed in April that he’d beaten Flay, but the Food Network made him swear not to tell.</p><p>FAREWELL, GATEKEEPER: Santa Rosa’s City Council has said thank you and goodbye to Paula Waters. She retired Friday from the job that included greeting all visitors to the city admin offices, even those from parallel galaxies.</p><p>“We get all kinds,” said Paula, who was welcoming even to people like the lady who walked in wearing a tiara and announced that God gave her Santa Rosa, and she’d like, please, to be shown the home from which she would rule her realm.</p><p>Someone to see you, Mr. Kolin.</p><p>Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.</p>