April 15 is Carmina Salcido day

Ten days from now is the 20th anniversary of one of Sonoma County's most heart-wrenching days.

April 15, 1989, was one day after a hollow, hateful Boyes Springs man named Ramon Salcido went on a methodical rampage that consumed five lives, most of them his own kin. He disappeared that April 14 with his three little daughters.

On the 15th, a visitor to the garbage transfer station between Sonoma and Petaluma spied what he thought were three discarded dolls. But they were young girls whose throats were slashed. One, incredibly, was still alive.

Carmina is nearly 23 now and the biggest thing in her life is the anticipation of the release of the book she co-wrote with veteran author Steve Jackson. "Not Lost Forever" isn't due out from William Morrow until October, but some booksellers are taking pre-orders.

There will be a lot in the book that will hurt to read. As a 3-year-old, Carmina recovered in the embrace of Sonoma County, but not long after she was adopted by a cultish Missouri couple whom she says spared her no variety of abuse.

I asked her how it has been to write her story and she said, "It's been really healing for me."

We wish her a best-seller.

NOT YOUR SUNGLASSES? L.A.'s Jack Weinberg was in Santa Rosa visiting his son's family and they dined at the East West Cafe.

Afraid he might lose his sunglasses, Weinberg excused himself to go put them in his rental car. He walked out to the parking lot, pushed the "Unlock" button on the key and placed the glasses inside the silver car that beeped for him.

After dinner, he returned to the lot and that car was gone. He found his silver rental a few spaces over.

"Oh my God," he said. "I put my glasses in somebody else's car."

If a man's shades mysteriously appeared in your car and that's causing spousal distress or driving you crazy, you and Weinberg can help each other.

SHAUN'S NEW TICKET: The CHP put out a remarkable press release the other day.

It said that officers intent on keeping drivers to the posted 55-mph speed limit in the highway construction zone on 101 between Windsor Road and Bicentennial Avenue had in two days ticketed "over 60 drivers" for speeding.

The statement identified one, just one, of those drivers: teenager Shaun Malone of Windsor. The CHP said Malone was written up for going 76 mph in the work zone.

Why did the press release single him out? Because Malone's the 18-year-old who went to court with his parents to argue that data from his car's GPS unit proved he was wrongly ticketed by a Petaluma traffic cop for allegedly speeding on Lakeville Highway in July of 2007.

The CHP might rethink whether it was fair to publicize Malone's citation when no one else is outed in a press release for a speeding ticket.

And Shaun. Son, you need to be driving as though your grandmother, the judge in your Petaluma case or God himself is sitting in the backseat.

CHER 'N' CHAIR: The houselights had dimmed and the Merle Haggard/Kris Kristofferson show was on at the Wells Fargo Center when an usher discreetly led a couple of latecomers to seats six rows from the stage.

The woman sat next to an older gent I'd love to talk to. Did he realize he was seated beside Cher?

Apparently her boyfriend is big into Haggard and Kristofferson. The stealth visit left the Wells Fargo crew hoping that Cher was so smitten with the place that she'll come back and play it herself.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.