Bring the kids, leave the politics at home

When hundreds of Latinos and others took to Sonoma County streets recently to protest proposals to crack down on illegal immigration, Roseland-area radio station KBBF helped lead the charge.

But with the approach of Roseland's first public Cinco de Mayo festival, the bilingual station is urging people to respect the celebration - and check their politics at the door.

Though the volunteers running KBBF are passionate advocates for farmworkers and other Latino immigrants, they know it's crucial that this inaugural Cinco de Mayo event be peaceful, uniting and, as much as possible, politically uncharged.

"We're leaving the politics out," said Evelina Molina, who pretty much lives and breathes KBBF.

"This event (on May 5) is going to set the pace," she said. She recalled one of the dominant images of last year's Cinco de Mayo, the news photo of a young man hurling a hunk of concrete at police on Sebastopol Road.

Especially now, as Latinos are asking to be treated as contributing members of the community, Evelina said, "We can't afford to have the rock-throwing, front-page terrorist look again."

There's much to be gained if this first Cinco de Mayo in Roseland is a mellow, community affair. Spread the word.

NOTE TO SELF: Look what came in Montgomery High senior Josie Kraus' mail. A letter from herself as an 11-year-old.

Josie recalls now that in sixth grade at Strawberry School, teacher Rafael Rivera had the kids write and turn in letters telling themselves what they expected their lives to be like as they approached graduation from high school.

Josie assumes the letter from 2000 was mailed to her by Rivera, who's now retired and living near Portland. It turns out she was wrong about some of what she wrote.

For instance, she wrote that in 2006 she'd be getting ready to attend Sonoma State and learn to be a mechanic. Actually, she'll study civil engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

But even as a kid she knew she'd work to open up all sports to women. "We will play football, baseball and not be forced to wear bathing suits while playing volleyball," she wrote.

Josie was the goalie on the girl's varsity team at Montgomery. But she was a female pioneer in her favorite sport - wrestling.

She had it right, too, when she wrote that as a graduate, "I will be saying goodbye to my best friends. I will also be saying goodbye to childhood ... ."

SUMMER DREAM JOB: There's so much interest in public art in Sonoma County right now that the nonprofit Artstart is looking for a slew of young artists - 50 of them - to work on commissioned projects this summer.

Artistically inclined 15- to 20-year-olds can apply at www.artstart.us for what could be the coolest summer job they've ever had.

ASHES TO ASHES: It was a huge job, and a rather sad one, to remove that great and gorgeous oak that toppled onto a riverside house near Healdsburg last week.

Mike Hodgin, who owns the tree service called on to lift away and cut up the oak, knew it very well. He'd trimmed and cabled and tended the tree for years.

Mike's crew of eight used two large cranes to pick it up. Smaller branches were chipped, and Mike said he was glad to spread the nutritious mulch around the neighboring oaks.

"We tried to make the best of it," he said. That also included sharing the resulting firewood - about 15 cords of it - with neighbors who'd admired the tree.