Unusual stories filled Petaluma news in 2018

A mountain lion stalked the livestock of Penngrove while rats munched on popcorn at the Petaluma movie theater and a bird strike caused a power outage. And those are just the animal-related stories.|

A mountain lion stalked the livestock of Penngrove while rats munched on popcorn at the Petaluma movie theater and a bird strike caused a power outage. And those are just the animal-related stories.

The news from Petaluma was peppered with strange, unusual, bizarre and unique stories again this year. A valedictorian's rant was cut short while a Fourth of July reveler's rant was widely heard. A Petaluma resident found fame on cable TV while a Penngrove resident was selected to go to outer space.

Also, Drag Queen Bingo happened.

A look back at the unusual stories of 2018:

Yoga + beer

Yoga instructor Hannah Yurth, a former employer of Lagunitas Brewing Company, started the weekly Downward Dog Yoga Sunday series.

The class, which is taught at Lagunitas' Petaluma campus, includes all of the stretching, poses and mindfulness of a typical yoga class. But the $15 fee includes a pint of beer at the end.

While many people may be surprised by the juxtaposition of a yoga class inside a beer factory, Yurth said there are benefits.

'Doing yoga in a place you wouldn't normally expect it is liberating,' she said.

'Ratatouille' screening?

Movie goers were greeted by a sign posted on the door of Boulevard Cinemas in January stating that the county health department had closed the business because patrons reported seeing rats. The facility was inspected, and rat droppings were found inside theaters. The movie house reopened the next day, but downtown Petaluma remained a rat's nest.

Rodents were spotted scurrying along Water Street behind businesses, and along the SMART rail trestle. The city and SMART spent $12,000 on an exterminator to clean up the problem.

Calf rescued from well

A 350-pound calf fell down a well while grazing one January afternoon west of Petaluma, remaining stuck in a few feet of water for several hours until a team of local firefighters came to the trapped animal's rescue.

The young male beef cow likely climbed on top of the boarded-up well in the middle of a Fallon Road field. The old boards covering the well gave way, plunging the calf about 15 or 16 feet down into about 4 feet of water.

Ten firefighters from Two Rock, the U.S. Coast Guard, Cal Fire and Wilmar Fire used rescue webbing to fashion a harness around the calf, and made a makeshift haul system.

An American picker

Petaluma resident Jim McCormick loved collecting old wine artifacts ever since he found his first Thompson mechanical corkscrew 30 years ago.

Some 4,500 artifacts later, his collection landed him a spot on a popular cable TV show. The History Channel program 'American Pickers,' a reality show about two antique dealers who travel the country 'picking' through peoples' collections looking for that rare treasure, came to Petaluma and spent several days filming McCormick and his extensive collection.

'It was pretty cool,' McCormick said. 'It was really a great experience for me. I got my 15 minutes of fame.'

Penngrove's puma

In March, rumored sightings of a mountain lion in Penngrove neighborhoods coupled with sheep deaths that residents believe were attributed to the large cat stirred fears for some in the rural area.

Residents reported unsettling sightings near Penngrove Elementary School and in neighborhoods and speculation abounded on social media site Nextdoor.

Sarah Keiser, a Penngrove rancher, said her neighbor's security camera captured nighttime footage of the mountain lion on the prowl. She feared a mountain lion could harm her dogs and her farm animals.

'Every night, it's very worrisome,' she said.

Mic drop

It was the moment Lulabel Seitz spent four years working to achieve. The Petaluma High School valedictorian used her commencement speech as a platform to underscore the value of perseverance, until her mic was disconnected.

The microphone cut off four minutes into her speech after she deviated from the script she previously submitted, and as some students cheered and chanted 'let her speak.'

The event proved polarizing. School administrators said student speakers were made aware their microphones would be cut if they deviated from the speeches they submitted. Seitz, who said she was sexually assaulted on campus by a person she knew, said she wanted to air her frustration over what she viewed as a lack of action taken by the administration.

Birds cut power grid

Nearly 18,000 PG&E customers in Petaluma were without electricity for several hours in July after a bird flew into power equipment and disabled it.

Traffic signals were out or blinking red all over town, causing massive traffic backups, residents reported, and some confusion at how to proceed at four-way stops.

Petaluma public works employees hustled to restore the traffic signals, while police in cars monitored major intersections.

Independence Day rant

Ivette Celedon and her family were gathered for a Fourth of July celebration at her father-in-law's east Petaluma home, where they planned to watch the fireworks display at the nearby fairgrounds and relax to some music. But it was that very music that brought an unfriendly knock on the door.

Larry Lappin, a bearded white man in shorts, an American flag T-shirt and a American flag bandana tied around his head was standing in the doorway, and he erupted in an angry tirade — using multiple obscenities — about the family's Spanish-language music.

The confrontation, recorded on a cellphone by Celedon, had more than 1 million views on Facebook. Lappin later apologized to his neighbors.

Penngrove to the stars

NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, who grew up in Penngrove, was selected for the first crewed American mission to space since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011.

Mann, a Rancho Cotate High School graduate who became an astronaut in 2013, was one of nine Americans selected to test NASA's new crewed space capsules, the U.S. space agency announced Friday. She will be aboard Boeing's CST-100 Starliner when it makes its first test flight into orbit next year.

B-I-N-G-O

Drag Queen Bingo, which is as eccentric as it sounds, takes place at Sauced in Petaluma on the second Saturday of the month. It regularly attracts audiences of upwards of 50 people or more, taking place after normal dinner hours.

If there's a joke that can be made about a number, a letter, or a bingo ball, hostess Kimber Rose makes it. Some are hilarious, some are a little on the lame side, some are silly, some are X-rated, and some are delightfully weird. But every new one-liner is greeted by the roomful of players with cheers, laughter and blissful good spirits.

The 32‑year‑old driver had a preliminary blood‑alcohol level of more than four times the legal limit, according to Petaluma police.

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