2 graveyards; where will you go?

Old cemeteries fascinate, and on Saturday we've got our pick of overdue public events at two of the most historic and intriguing of Santa Rosa's graveyards.

The first, at 10 a.m. at the Rural Cemetery, will dedicate a headstone on the grave of Edward Neblett.

A multifaceted man, Neblett left Virginia for California gold. He was sheriff of Trinity County and a state legislator before he became the first mayor of Santa Rosa in 1876.

Shelly Jeffries, wife of former Mayor Schuyler Jeffries, discovered last year that if there ever was a marker on Neblett's grave, it had long ago rotted or been carried away.

She, Schuyler and former Mayor Jane Bender appealed to the city's 20-plus former mayors to pony up to rectify the situation. Most did.

A new, $850 headstone now marks the resting place of both Neblett, 1819-1907, and his wife, Ann Jane, 1816-1898.

Refreshments will follow a brief dedication expected to attract several still-kicking former mayors.

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ALSO ON SATURDAY, starting at 10:30 a.m., folks gripped by the stories that occupy old graveyards will dedicate monuments bearing the names of more than 1,300 people buried in a Sonoma County cemetery that for decades largely disappeared.

It's the Chanate Historic Cemetery, an indigents' field across Chanate Road from Sutter Medical Center.

Jeremy Nichols is a cemeterian, current president of the Sonoma County Historical Society and a champion of a decades-long effort to restore the old county cemetery and identify, through far-flung records, as many as possible of the 1,500 people who died poor and were buried there between 1874 and 1944.

Friends of the Chanate graveyard (chanatecemetery.org) contributed to a campaign to place there three large stones, and to affix to them bronze plaques bearing the names of everyone known to be buried there.

"We have 1,300 names on the plaques," Nichols said. He said the names of the others interred there may never be found, "but we did our best."

There will be speeches Saturday morning, a rifle salute and well-deserved thanks to all who helped keep a hallowed piece of Sonoma County history from vanishing forever beneath the weeds or, worse, a parking lot.

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UP THE DRAIN: Laura Lano-Bucklin was surprised when a CHP officer appeared at her workplace the other evening and gave her back her lost driver's license.

Another officer had pulled her over in late May, then accidentally dropped the license down a grated storm drain.

After the story made the paper, the officer had been ordered by superiors to go back to the drain and use all means necessary to retrieve the license. He fished it out and apparently took it to Lano-Bucklin's place of work but she wasn't in, so he asked another officer to try later.

Lano-Bucklin, who contends the traffic stop was a mistake from the start because she hadn't been driving without her seatbelt on, is still shaking her head but she's feeling much better.

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