Clearly, the party boy's mom is joshing

<p>What's going on in the head of Janice Millard? She's the mother of the young Sebastopol man who laid a sob story on home-rental agents on the Russian River, then was host for a massive party whose catastrophic conclusion apparently injured him and others and could have killed somebody.</p><p>Millard said it's not the fault of her 20-year-old son, Nick Gruber, that the vacation rental's deck collapsed under the weight of who knows how many dancing kids. The people who rented the house to Gruber, she said, “rented an unsafe house, obviously.”</p><p>Why would a mother say such a thing? Here her son went to vacation-rental agents and said that before he's deployed Afghanistan he'd like to take his girlfriend to a getaway near Guerneville and propose to her.</p><p>Though Camille LeGrand of Russian River Getaways would rather not rent to a 20-year-old, Gruber's appeal touched her heart.</p><p>With his signature on the strict rental contract, Gruber promised he would not have anyone at the house except himself and his girlfriend.</p><p>Then the word went out: It's party time in Guerneville. A fairly mellow gathering last Friday night preceded the huge, boozy Saturday night bash that ended with the deck collapse.</p><p>And Gruber's mother declares that he's not to blame.</p><p>I'm going to presume she knows very well Gruber is responsible for this mess, but she denied it hoping the resulting outrage would shine more light on the issue of personal accountability and reduce the likelihood of anyone ever repeating what her son did in Guerneville.</p><p>Good going, mom.</p><p>A MOVIE CREW shooting at Montgomery Village is wrapping up a short comedy tentatively titled, “The Once and Future Bride.”</p><p>Director/producer Maria Sundeen (bridalfilm.blogspot.com) et al have shot mostly inside Allison Hargrave's Starlet Bridal shop.</p><p>Hargrave said it's been fun to watch and to watch people watch — “We have a lot more fingerprints on the windows these days.”</p><p>SYRUP ON SNOOPY: Good eggs in the Santa Rosa Kiwanis Club heard there's a “Sunday at the Funnies” exhibit at the Schulz Museum and agreed that nothing goes with the Sunday comics better than a hearty breakfast.</p><p>From 10 a.m. until noon this Sunday, Kiwanians will serve a free pancake breakfast to everyone who pays for admission to the museum.</p><p>NASCAR BRANCHES OUT: Students and staff at Petaluma Junior High are liking the almost 30 trees planted on campus as a gift from a racy benefactor. </p><p>NASCAR is giving away young trees as a carbon exchange for the greenhouse emissions that will be produced by the 2010 Sprint Cup Series at tracks across the country.</p><p>The 15-gallon trees donated recently to Petaluma came to the junior high, where most of the black and coastal oaks and buckeyes are already planted. Students will plant the last few NASCAR trees when visitors from Infineon Raceway and City Hall come by today at 11:30.</p><p>THAT'S NEIGHBORLY: On Friday, folks will wonder what's up at the building near SRJC that's home to Community Market and Gaia's Garden vegetarian restaurant.</p><p>It should be quite a little scene, with live music at Gaia's and a friendly crowd stocking up and chatting at the market.</p><p>It will be a neighborhood acting like a true neighborhood. JC-area residents will shop and eat to help a struggling neighbor, Indigo Crone, who's battling an aggressive cancer.</p><p>Owners of both the market and restaurant will donate a portion of the day's receipts to Crone and the musicians will give her whatever comes into their tip jar.</p>