The City of Healdsburg's new children's soccer program got a surprise boost this week with a $5,700 donation from garbage mogul Jim Ratto.
The check was presented this week to the City Council by Jim Salyers, vice president of Redwood Empire Disposal Co. He said Ratto wanted to help the soccer program after reading about a second embezzlement case involving the Healdsburg Youth Soccer League.
He said Ratto, 73, of Santa Rosa, grew up in Italy where soccer is especially big.
"It was unexpected and very nice," Mayor Susan Jones said Wednesday of Ratto's donation, which will pay for initial costs - mainly soccer equipment - to get the city program up and running.
Ratto's companies have the exclusive garbage franchise in eight of Sonoma County's nine cities. His corporation, the Ratto Group, also hauls refuse in unincorporated areas of Sonoma County and communities in Marin and Mendocino counties.
The trash titan's contract with Healdsburg was extended in 2010 for 10 years.
The Ratto Group has stepped up with donations the past several years to help salvage imperiled events, including July 4 fireworks shows in Petaluma and Windsor and the Rose Parade in Santa Rosa.
Last week, Mitzi Giron, 30, president of the Healdsburg Youth Soccer League, was charged with three felonies in connection with the embezzlement of $51,000 from the sports organization.
Her arrest came less than three years after former League president Kyle Hoffman was sentenced to nine months in jail for embezzling $58,000 from the league.
Following the latest criminal case, city officials decided to launch a new league through Healdsburg's Parks and Recreation Department.
City officials, who had the support of the moribund Youth Soccer League, said they wanted to ensure the game continues to be offered to children in Healdsburg.
So far, about 50 kids have signed up to play in the city's program, which will serve boys and girls age 4 to 10.
Registration has just begun and the hope is that as many as 200 kids will sign up by the July 19 deadline, said Sonja Drown, Healdsburg recreation manager.
Practice begins the week of Aug. 5. Games run from Sept. 7 though the end of October. Cost to register is $68, which includes a uniform. There also is an "activity assistance program" available to low-income participants to offset some of the registration costs.
Ratto's donation will pay for portable goals, 200 soccer balls, 25 field cones and 100 pull-over practice shirts.
(You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.)
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