Bill Lynch

I started worrying last December when our rainfall was below normal. Then came January, February and March and I realized I’d passed through a time warp back to 1976-77, the driest period ever recorded in California up to that time. It began in December 1975. The creeks were mere trickles...

“Give me the making of people’s songs, and I care not who makes its laws.”. –Andrew Fletcher, Scottish writer, 1653-1716. The music that was once alive in our hills, especially those near Jack London State Historic Park, is back, bringing with it all the joy that touched our souls and filled our hearts before being cruelly silenced by a terrible plague.

The recent front-page story about the opening of the new “forever home” of Pets Lifeline (“Pets Lifeline Is Homeward Bound,” April 30) brought back memories of the Sonomans who made it all possible. Nancy King, PLL’s current executive director, has carried forward a local institution that got its start here...

There was a time when residents of our lovely vale did virtually all of their shopping at stores arrayed around the Plaza. Even as late as the 1980s, Sonoma Valley residents living on the east side of town came to the Plaza to shop for groceries at a 10,000-square-foot supermarket occupying a large swath of First Street East directly across from the Carnegie Library.

Apr. 27—Emmy winner and television icon Ed Asner returns Friday and Saturday to the Alban Arts Center, in St. Albans, with his touring political comedy, "God Help Us!" The show was previously performed with the 91-year-old actor at the Alban Arts Center in 2019. Asner is best known for his...

Apr. 27—Monster Jam, the popular touring motor sports series, returns to the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center June 4-6 with action-packed competition reimagined for 2021. The three-day monster truck extravaganza is scheduled to feature some of Monster Jam's biggest names, including Grave Digger, Great Clips Mohawk Warrior, Black Pearl, Wildside,...

By the time rock ‘n’ roll hit Sonoma in the early 1950s, the town had already been the center of just plain rolling for more than a decade. It began when Samuele Sebastiani opened his “Rollertorium” in a brand new, 9,500-square-foot building in the middle of the block on First Street East, July 11, 1940. The new roller skating rink managed by John Benedetto was welcomed by hundreds of Sonomans who donned their skates to glide around the rink at the opening celebration.

Apr. 18—If not for a trip to Charleston, HBO's new documentary, "Our Towns," might never have gotten off the ground. Steven Ascher, who co-directed the film inspired by the book "Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America" by writer/researchers James and Deborah Fallows, said, "Charleston has a special place in the film. It was the test case."

Apr. 18—Ellen Beal told me to try the lavender ice cream and then the rocky road. Both were featured flavors this month at Ellen's Homemade Ice Cream. The rocky road was brilliant, like the best version of an old favorite, but I wasn't sure what to make of the lavender.

With the pace of vaccinations amped up into overdrive, there are a number of indications that we may in fact being getting our lives back. With that has come the reality that we are seeing our restaurants reopening, and a return of catering in limited capacity. As restaurant and foodservice operators seek to find their definition of the “new normal”, there will come a need for new and creative menu solutions.

Off season, in the wake of an awful year, it is perhaps fitting that the Friday night lights of Arnold Field, so much a part of every football season here since 1952, went out with a whisper instead of a roar. The Sonoma Valley High School Dragons played their last football game at our town field in the middle of March, 2021. No fans were allowed.

Apr. 3—West Virginia's annual celebration of the state's traditional arts and culture is returning in 2021, albeit in a highly condensed form. The Vandalia Gathering, typically a sprawling event held at the state Capitol Complex over Memorial Day Weekend, has been reduced to a two-hour concert on Saturday, May 29.

The big white cross above Sonoma on Schocken Hill east of Mountain Cemetery was first erected by the Sonoma Kiwanis Club in 1923. It was the club’s contribution to the 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of our Mission. The Mission Centennial festival was a huge four-day event that ran...

The history of doughnuts in Sonoma Valley starting rolling around in my head recently after a news story in the Index-Tribune announced that Marisa Wondolleck is opening her Dirty Girl Donuts shop in the old Subway sandwich space on Broadway across from Sonoma Valley High School. I remember that a doughnut shop existed next to that location when I was in high school. Now it has come full circle.

Recent commentary regarding the naming of schools and other buildings, including at least one in Sonoma Valley, has suggested that people who were slave owners, abusers of Native Americans, racists and bigots should be replaced with the names of people who are more deserving. Sonoma Valley has, more often than...

Mar. 2—The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra is streaming its new concert, "A Night of Eclectic Sounds," online now through Sunday. Recorded in late December at the Culture Center in Charleston, the on-demand performance features guest pianist Barbara Nissman, along with guest conductors Luke Zyla and Robert Turizziani. The program includes...