Chris Smith: A Facebook video helps a Santa Rosa nursery catch a thief

The owner of the landmark King’s Nursery goes online for help after a woman is videoed twice carting merchandise to her car without paying.|
CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

One time was too many.

But Fred King of Santa Rosa's landmark, 121-year-old King's Nursery nearly dropped his leaves when his suspicions about a particular shopper caused him to review his security video.

He watched as a woman driving a white Nissan carted away a nice pot without paying for it, then returned eight days later and walked off with another pot and a garden bench - a total of about $500 in merchandise.

Fred and a helper patched the video into a Facebook short set to music. He asked the public's help to identify the woman.

The video drew more than 81,000 views. Several viewers supplied a name. Fred said that on Sunday, a Santa Rosa police officer went to the suspect's house and cited her after finding the stolen bench and one of the pots in clear view.

Fred will donate them to The Living Room, the day center for homeless women and children. He said in true Fred fashion, “We're trying to make sunshine out of a shady deal.”

Watch the video here:

Caught in the Act

UPDATE!!!! 6/9/18 To all our extraordinary Facebook friends and invaluable customers- we are astounded by the help, response and time everyone took in this endeavor to identify the thief in our beautiful garden. With over 50,000 views, she had been identified in about 18 hours and tips are still coming, all about the same person. We are so very grateful. The authorities have been alerted from the get-go and have indicated that they will pursue this if we will press charges, which we intend to do. We will try to update when we actually have more information and understand the authorities' actual response. It would have been the easy path to have ignored this situation and chalked it up to a cost of doing business, which we do more often than we would like. The release of this video was not intended to shame or belittle this individual; that, of course, is a by-product of her actions.We wished to shine a light on what we are pretty sure has been an ongoing situation for us and quite possibly others. Thank you for all the suggestions for checking receipts and other measures. However, we are not yet prepared to change our level of service, trust, or belief in the golden rule because of this. Being in this business of flowers and joy we see no other way, even when stuff happens. Love and cheer and flowers to our community, our state, our nation and internationally, as that is how far the responses have come from.......All of us at King's From 6/7/18 - Do you know this person? If so, and if she has visited you, we suggest you inventory your valuables. Just Sayin'.

Posted by King's Nursery on Thursday, June 7, 2018

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OH SO CAREFULLY. That's how you remove more than a century-old, earthquake-loosened stained glass windows from a historic church.

It'll be something to watch Wednesday when workers begin to take out the windows of the First Baptist Church on First Street East in Sonoma.

The hand-cut glass came to Sonoma in 1903 from San Francisco's First Methodist Church.

The windows already were in need of TLC when they were weakened by the Napa-Sonoma quake of 2014. Church members are still toiling to come up with the $58,000 it will cost to have all of the lovely, old windows removed, taken entirely apart, reconstructed and replaced in the church.

Doing the work is the Calistoga glass firm, Great Panes.

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LAST YEAR about this time, the crowd at the Wednesday Night Market hushed as three couples recited their wedding vows on the Old Courthouse Square stage.

Just before 7 p.m. at this week's market, three other couples will renew their vows there in front of everybody.

Market manager Leslie Graves scheduled the ceremony after Jeffrey Clark asked if he and his wife, Heather, could mark their 25th anniversary back where their eyes first met.

It was a Thursday Night Market in 1992. Jeff was challenging passersby at 4th and D to try to win a teddy bear by sinking a basket in a trick backboard.

His future wife stepped up, dropped $20 for a heap of tries - and sank her first shot.

Jeff and Heather married June 11, 1993. If you go Wednesday, let Jeff show you his arm tattoo with a 4th-and-D street sign, a basketball, a $20 bill, a teddy bear and the name of the woman who stole his heart like Stephen Curry snatching a pass from LeBron James.

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MISS SOCO COVER-UP: Did you see that after 97 years the Miss America competition is ditching the swimsuit strut?

The Miss Sonoma County contest will follow suit.

For years, the portion of the Miss Sonoma County competition that required the hopefuls to step about in a one-piece swimsuit stirred debate.

But organizers stuck with the tradition, noting that Miss Sonoma County is a lead-up to Miss America and that it can be of benefit to remain poised and confident while standing before a crowd in a swimsuit. No more.

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.

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