River Water Shutoff + New HHS Coach + 'Gushing' Sunnyvale Leak

Happy almost Friday, Healdsburg! Hope you're staying as safe and cool as can be expected out there. Keep reading for the scoop on what's happening in town today.

First, today's weather:

Mostly sunny and very sweaty. High: 96 Low: 54.

Here are the top 5 stories today in Healdsburg:

1. More bleak drought news ahead. A TV crew from the Bay has descended on Healdsburg to report on the state's impending moratorium on diverting Russian River water, expected to go into effect next week. Under the crackdown, City of Healdsburg residents may be restricted to 55 gallons per person per day — and many private vineyards and farms will reportedly be cut off completely. Paul Foppiano of Foppiano Vineyards says that once both his wells are cut off, "I won’t be able to irrigate my vines at all.” (CBS San Francisco)
2. Healdsburg High School just got a new football coach. Robert “Bear” Gray, who replaces Shaun Montecino as the Greyhounds' new head varsity football coach, tells the Trib: “I always admired the program at Healdsburg under coach Tom Kirkpatrick and I’d like to get our football team back to that level. I want to bring pride back to the school.” He adds that the shrinking roster of kids on the team doesn't concern him. “I don’t need 60 guys on the team," coach says — "just get me 11 that can play.” (SoCoNews Healdsburg)
3. Here's what's on the agenda for the Healdsburg City Council meeting this coming Monday, which will be held virtually again due to the current COVID spike. First, the city manager will give an update on the local drought, water supply and COVID situations. Then comes public comment — likely featuring some impassioned speeches from the Healdsburg water activists behind the "PAUSE" petition that's been circling. Then there's a bunch of budget stuff and road maintenance stuff. And for the grand finale, we get a bigger-picture "Climate Mobilization Strategy Presentation by the Regional Climate Protection Authority" and "City Council Discussion of Priorities." (Facebook)
4. Save the date: An in-person "Fire and Earthquake Safety Expo" will be held at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds on Aug. 7. You'll be able to "meet emergency responders, receive CPR and fire extinguisher training, watch emergency response drills, browse safety information booths and much more," event organizers say. Sheriff's reps will also be there to hand out evacuation tags and evacuation zone info. Kid-pleasing sideshows will include a live Henry-1 helicopter rescue demo, a live "fire suppression drill" and a chance to sit in a fire engine. (Facebook)
5. Mateo's, the fancy Mexican restaurant on Healdsburg Avenue near the roundabout, officially closed its doors earlier this week. "We have truly enjoyed our 10 years of serving you and working with local farmers, ranchers, fisherman, and purveyors to create local sustainable cuisine here in Sonoma County," restaurant owners say in a goodbye note posted to their website. "We’ll be taking a little break and have some interesting projects in the works. We’ll be sure to keep you informed of our plans as they develop." (Mateo's Cocina Latina)

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Today in Healdsburg:

• Healdsburg Housing Forum (8:30AM)
• Prune Packers Baseball Game at Rec Park (3PM)
• Northern California Little League Baseball Championships at Rec Park (7PM)

Healdsburg Patch Notebook

• See that image above of the big water leak on Sunnyvale over the weekend? Another neighbor took some dramatic video footage of the same leak. It's kinda painful to watch, considering... you know. "Been running steady for over 3 hours now. City was called," wrote the guy who uploaded the video. Meanwhile, more neighbors over on Nextdoor suspect the same leak may have been the cause of reported internet outages for Sonic customers in the area. (Facebook & Nextdoor)
• Brace yourself for another influx of wealthy out-of-towners in spandex: Outside Magazine has named Healdsburg one of America's best "cycling base camps," thanks to a Healdsburg Hotel program that offers guests "tailored cycling outings around California’s wine country, with help from a loaner Garmin GPS device preloaded with local routes." (Outside)
• The Raven Players have something cool in the works for late August. It's a free outdoor night show called "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)," and it's described as "an irreverent romp through all of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories and tragedies in one hysterical, audience interactive wild ride." (Nextdoor)
• Did you detect some tremors in the wee hours yesterday? There was reportedly a small, shallow 3.2-magnitude earthquake in the Armstrong redwoods area just west of Healdsburg. Dozens of neighbors reported feeling it online. One of them notes: "fairly good shake, woke me up from a sound sleep, heard momentary roar, possibly trees?" (VolcanoDiscovery)
• Here's a recording of the 30-minute briefing Sonoma County officials gave yesterday on the county's ongoing COVID-19 situation. (Facebook)
• The Sonoma County Office of Education is looking to hire a "Social-Emotional Learning Support Teaching Assistant." (Facebook)
• Did you know you can stream thousands of movies for free on the Sonoma County Library's streaming app, Kanopy, as long as you have a library card? And they just added movie trailers to the experience as well, for better browsing. (Facebook)
• You may already have a "go bag" ready for yourself in case of wildfire evacuations, but what about your pets? Sonoma County Animal Services has a handy checklist you can use. (Facebook)
• A dashing Maine Coon-looking cat named Fishy (!) has gone missing near March Avenue and Prentice Drive. (Facebook)
• A blue bicycle has also gone missing from the Bird Courts. (Facebook)
• This video of Healdsburg senior citizens playing a game of "balloon volleyball" — with a little help from their walking canes — is the sweet, meditative Zen experience we all need right now. (Facebook)

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That's all for today, folks. I'll be back tomorrow morning with your next update! If you're loving these newsletters, consider inviting some of your friends and neighbors to follow along. You can send them this link to subscribe.

— Simone Wilson

About me: I was born and raised in Healdsburg, CA, where I was the editor of the Healdsburg High School Hound's Bark. I have since worked as a local journalist for publications in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City and the Middle East. I'm currently a senior product manager for Patch.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Healdsburg Daily? You can reach me at simone.wilson@patch.com.