2014 in review: Protest, drought, quake rattled Sonoma County, North Coast

The earth moved on the North Coast in 2014.

Feet pounded the ground in protest, the balance of political power shifted and an August earthquake south of Napa struck terror in the darkness.

The year's biggest stories were the decision not to bring criminal charges against a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy who shot and killed a 13-year-old boy, and the acquittal of Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo on a charge of attempted peeking.

A magnitude-6.0 earthquake that struck in the early morning of Aug. 24 south of Napa once again jolted the region awake to the realities of living in California. A fourth year of withering drought through spring and summer dominated headlines, before being supplanted in December by the most significant rainstorms in years. Those storms filled reservoirs and farm ponds and pushed the Russian River above flood stage in Guerneville for the first time since 2006.

Beyond the drought, there was a seismic shift in local agriculture, punctuated by a massive beef recall after federal agents raided Rancho Feeding in Petaluma and uncovered what authorities said was a pattern of deceitful behavior, including swapping out the heads of slaughtered cows with eye cancer.

But 2014 also was a year when Sonoma County's health care system changed significantly, with Palm Drive Hospital closing and Sutter Hospital opening a new facility on Highway 101. Sonoma Clean Power expanded its reach as the county's economy continued to hum along.

A stroke of President Barack Obama's pen in 2014 could boost the economy along the Mendocino Coast. The president in March took executive action to fold the stunning Stornetta Public Lands into the California Coastal National Monument.

Decision in Lopez death

In July, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch's decision to not bring charges against a sheriff's deputy who shot and killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez in 2013 sparked another wave of protest around the county.

Ravitch concluded that Deputy Erick Gelhaus' use of lethal force was a 'reasonable response' to what the deputy encountered, which was Lopez walking on a sidewalk on Moorland Avenue in southwest Santa Rosa carrying an airsoft rifle designed to look like an AK-47 assault rifle.

Gelhaus, a 24-year Sonoma County deputy and Iraq War veteran, told Santa Rosa police investigating the shooting that he thought the teen was carrying a real assault rifle when he ordered the boy to drop the gun. Lopez did not drop the gun and instead began to turn, the barrel of the airsoft gun rising as he pivoted, according to police. The deputy fired eight rounds, striking him seven times.

'The evidence establishes that while in the lawful performance of his duties, Deputy Gelhaus was faced with a highly unpredictable and rapidly evolving situation,' Ravitch said in drawing her conclusions. 'Given his training and experience, he believed honestly and reasonably that he was faced with a do-or-die dilemma.'

The decision outraged Lopez supporters and activists, many of whom took to the streets in subsequent days to make known their anger and frustration. A July 13 protest drew about 200 people to Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa and also resulted in a brief blockade on Highway 101 near Third Street after a smaller group marched up the onramp and onto the road.

On the anniversary of Lopez's death, Oct. 22, mourners gathered at the Moorland Avenue lot near where the teen was shot to remember the boy. Sonoma County is acquiring two properties on Moorland and Horizon Way to possibly transform them into a large urban park.

Carrillo acquitted

In April, Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo's acquittal on a charge of attempted peeking generated a firestorm of controversy. It also led to an extraordinary Board of Supervisors meeting on May 6, when his colleagues on the board demanded that he step down.

Carrillo was arrested by Santa Rosa police on July 13, 2012, wearing just his socks and underwear, after a neighbor, identified only as Jane Doe, twice reported a man outside her apartment around 3:40 a.m.

At trial, Carrillo said he had been dropped off at home by his girlfriend and noticed a light on in the woman's kitchen. He said he went over to share beers with her in the hopes of having sex. He told police at the scene that he could not remember her name.

'You lurked, you trespassed, you tore (a window screen) and you terrorized a young woman,' Supervisor Shirlee Zane said to Carrillo at the May 6 meeting. She said he couldn't lead 'if people don't believe you have character and integrity.'

Carrillo, however, called his predawn behavior that led to his arrest 'a foolish and unfortunate act,' while suggesting that politics and 'people with axes to grind' were behind calls for him to leave office. He vowed to stay on while addressing what he said is an addiction to alcohol.

'I am looking for ways to become a better person and be able to do my job in a better fashion,' he said.

Drought, and rain

California entered October as the fourth-driest water year on record, which on the North Coast meant dwindling reservoir supplies and restrictions on water use. And then the spigots in the sky opened up in November, bringing a series of storms that, while not drought busters, definitely made a good dent.

Rain fell on 13 of the month's first 15 days, for a total of 10.64 inches in Santa Rosa. The rain swelled creeks and reservoirs, and helped kick-start growth in forage crops relied upon by ranchers for their animals.

Storms in early December also caused significant flooding in Healdsburg and along the Russian River near Guerneville, with storm damage estimated at $8.8 million. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency in the county.

But water managers were not ready to declare the drought over, not with much of the state under extreme or exceptional drought conditions and the need for sustained precipitation through the winter and spring to make up for a 36-month shortfall.

Overall, California needs 150 percent of normal precipitation to make up the rainfall deficit this year.

Napa earthquake

At 3:20 a.m. Aug. 24, violent shaking emanating south of Napa jolted people around the North Bay awake.

Those nearest the quake's epicenter rode out the next 20 seconds or so in their beds, as the terror gripped them in the darkness.

When it was over, fires raged in a mobile home park north of Napa, thousands of homes were damaged and many historic buildings downtown were battered and broken. About 60,000 people also were without power.

The sun rose that Sunday morning over a city in a state of shock.

The magnitude-6.0 temblor, dubbed the South Napa earthquake, killed one person, injured about 200 others and caused about $360 million in property damage throughout the region.

Striking so close to the 25th anniversary of the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake, the Napa temblor was a startling reminder of California's vulnerability to such forces of nature.

Scientists at UC Davis believe the Napa quake occurred along the West Napa Fault, and estimated its length at 45 miles, much longer than previously thought. They also predict the fault is capable of a much stronger quake in the future.

The news comes as many people affected by the Aug. 24 quake still are repairing damage to their homes and businesses, after potentially millions of dollars in state and federal disaster aid was made available to individuals.

Rancho Feeding scandal

In January, a federal raid on the Rancho Feeding slaughterhouse in Petaluma prompted allegations that make the stomach turn.

Two former owners and two employees of the slaughterhouse, which became the focus of an international meat recall, were charged with selling meat from diseased cattle and concealing the elaborate scheme from federal inspectors by swapping out the heads of cows with eye cancer.

Federal prosecutors said that Rancho foreman Felix Cabrera, or another kill floor employee at his instruction, fooled inspectors by placing heads from apparently healthy cows next to carcasses of cows with eye cancer, making the diseased carcasses appear healthy. The indictment stated that this 'switch and slaughter' of uninspected cows with eye cancer occurred during the lunch break taken by federal meat inspectors, at a time when plant operations were supposed to cease.

Rancho recalled 8.7 million pounds of beef in February, a month after federal investigators raided the plant on Petaluma Boulevard North. The recall affected an estimated 44,000 retail establishments and caused significant financial harm to North Bay ranchers who had used the plant for the custom slaughter of their grass-fed cattle. The ranchers were ordered to dispose of any remaining meat processed at Rancho last year.

Jesse 'Babe' Amaral Jr., a former co-owner of Rancho, was indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy to distribute adulterated meat and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, among other charges. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Cabrera, Rancho co-owner Robert Singleton and Eugene D. Corda, Rancho's main yard person, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing tainted meat and are expected to cooperate with prosecutors.

As a result of the recall, Rancho owners halted operations and sold the slaughterhouse. The plant reopened in April under the ownership of investors led by Marin Sun Farm CEO David Evans.

Hospital changes

Sonoma County's health care system was shaken up with the controversial closure of Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol and the opening of a new Sutter Hospital on Highway 101 north of Santa Rosa.

In April, directors of the Palm Drive Healthcare District voted to close the hospital because of severe financial troubles and declining overnight patient stays. Many in the county said privately that Palm Drive's closure was a long time coming, the product of declining inpatient volume, intense competition from large hospitals in Santa Rosa and dwindling reimbursements from private insurers.

But critics of the closure lambasted the district board and are seeking to reopen Palm Drive as an acute care hospital with an emergency department. The plan is backed by the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation, a nonprofit group that has supported hospital operations through donations and gifts.

By contrast, Sutter's new $292 million hospital opened Oct. 25 off Highway 101 next to the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts north of Santa Rosa.

Sutter turned the keys to its former Chanate Road facility over to the county, which built the original Community Hospital in 1937. Sutter took over the facility in 1996, agreeing to contract with the county through 2016 to provide an array of health care services, including indigent care, medical services for jail inmates and reproductive services for women, including abortion.

The aging campus required costly seismic retrofitting, and in 2008, Sutter announced plans to build a 183,000-square-foot hospital with 40 general medical surgical beds, 20 obstetrical surgical beds, 12 intensive care unit beds, 12 neonatal intensive care beds, 10 labor, delivery and recovery beds, a 24-bed observation care unit and a 12-bay emergency department equipped with three rapid care stations for treating patients whose injuries are not severe.

The last patient at the Chanate hospital also was the last baby born there, a 10-pound boy delivered just before 1 p.m. Oct. 24. Two hours later, the new family was moved to the new hospital, and the old facility closed permanently.

Political shake-up

There was a shake-up in local politics, with James Gore winning a seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors after the most expensive campaign in county history and three new faces joining the Santa Rosa City Council.

Gore beat Deb Fudge for a seat on the board, and replaced Mike McGuire, who won an easy victory to become a state senator, taking the seat formerly held by Noreen Evans.

Overall spending in the Gore/Fudge race, including expenditures by outside groups, hit about $947,000, a new county record. The previous record, set in the 2012 race for the 1st District supervisorial race between Susan Gorin and John Sawyer, was $826,400.

The Santa Rosa City Council added three new faces in Chris Coursey, John Sawyer and Tom Schwedhelm.

Actually, Sawyer earned a return trip after he previously served on the council from 2004 to 2012. Sawyer was promptly selected as the city's mayor in December during the council's first meeting.

Members of the reconstituted council expressed a desire to move past acrimonious divisions of the past year. A city task force presented the outgoing council with a report detailing recommendations for more open and transparent government. The recommendations included providing earlier and more detailed notice to the public of agenda items, establishing time-certain periods for public comment, and requiring the city attorney to report all legal settlements over $50,000, instead of the past practice of waiting for someone to inquire.

Sonoma Clean Power

This was the year Sonoma Clean Power powered up.

The agency began the year with a modest plan to launch with a select number of homes and businesses. But then the threat of legislation that would have changed how agencies like Sonoma Clean Power enroll customers ramped things up considerably.

Sonoma Clean Power ends the year with 170,000 accounts in all, representing more than three-quarters of PG&E's electricity customers in the county.

The agency is now the default provider for all residents and businesses in Santa Rosa, Windsor, Sonoma, Cotati, Sebastopol and the unincorporated county. Rohnert Park and Cloverdale will go online in 2015. On Dec. 15, the Petaluma City Council voted to sign on.

So far, the agency has set rates that are 4 to 5 percent below those of PG&E while purchasing power from sources that emit a third less greenhouse gases, according to Sonoma Clean Power. The agency's basic CleanStart program draws 33 percent of its power from renewable sources — mostly geothermal and some solar — but gets 30 percent from burning natural gas. Another third comes from large hydropower plants, which the state does not consider renewable.

As for the legislation that hastened the rollout, it blew a fuse and died.

Economy growing

Sonoma County's economy continued its rebound from the recession, with the jobless rate falling to 4.9 percent in September, the lowest level in more than six years.

The county added 4,100 new jobs, gaining back almost all of those lost during the recession. In 2010, unemployment peaked at 11.2 percent in the winter of 2010.

Sonoma County benefited from a growing labor market, record-level business investment and greater bank lending, including in the home mortgage market, statewide. An increase in California wine exports — up to $527.7 million in November compared to $509.5 million at this same point in 2013 — bodes well for the local economy, as did a surge in tourism. About 73 percent of the county's hotel rooms were occupied, up from 53 percent about five years ago. Restaurant and hotel taxable receipts also were up 8.1 percent from 2013.

Protecting coastal lands

With a stroke of his pen, President Barack Obama extended enhanced federal protections to a breathtaking stretch of Mendocino County coast near Point Arena.

After 2½ years of grass-roots lobbying by local residents, the 1,665-acre Stornetta Public Lands were folded into the 1,100-mile California Coastal National Monument, making the community of Point Arena 'the only land-based gateway to the coastal monument,' according to North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, whose district includes the parcel.

Extending along about 3 miles of coastline south of the Point Arena lighthouse and Manchester Beach, the area offers bluff-top views of the ocean. It also includes the Garcia River estuary and habitat for several endangered species.

The year ended with calls for Obama to similarly protect another parcel, a stretch of 350,000 acres running from Lake Berryessa in Napa County to Snow Mountain in the Mendocino National Forest.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.