Paul.Gullixson: February 2009 Archives

Those two young cougars are still on the loose

The story of how Nicole Lentz of Santa Rosa fought off two young mountain lions Monday afternoon was the talk of my family and neighborhood this morning. We know the Lentz family and were hiking with our dog in the same area about four hours earlier.

The story was also the main subject of conversation at my children's school today. Austin Creek Elementary is just a short distance from where the attack occurred. One teacher told me the school received a number of calls from nervous parents imploring the school not to let kids out on the grass playing fields adjacent to the school. Given the downpour that was occurring at dropoff time today, that didn't seem to be an option anyway.

Nichole's husband, Gary, is a friend and a regular contributor to our letters to the editor. He told me a short while ago that Nicole was "pretty shaken up last night" but was doing better today. He said his family doesn't want to be afraid, but they also know that those two young lions are still out there somewhere - and they don't seem to be afraid of cruising the neighborhood.

"Let's put it this way. Our kids (ages 8 and 10) walk to school every day rain or shine," he said. "I drove them this morning."

For those who know the area, there's a break among the houses on Mountain Hawk Way with a switchback trail down to the ravine and the open space area east of the Skyhawk subdivision. Nicole Lentz and their 4-month-old Labrador, Piper, had just reached the bottom of that trail about 4:15 p.m. and were hiking along near the creek when the juvenile lions came out and tried to attack Piper.

At first, Nicole thought they were bobcats, Gary said. She fought them off by kicking them and then Piper broke loose from her collar. "I don't know if it was a good thing or not, but she actually then used the leash to hit the animals," said Gary. When she was able to make it into a neighbor's backyard through a fence, she thought they were safe. But then one of the lions "scurried under the fence . . . It was like a bad movie." The lions ran off when the neighbor and their dogs came outside.

The odd part was the lions then hung around the neighborhood and was on one family's front porch for a while. As Kerry Benefield noted in her story today, the cats were later cornered in a back yard but were able to leap a fence and get away, heading in the direction of Los Alamos Road.

The Lentz family got Piper after they lost their previous dog last fall following a hike on Mount Hood. The dog apparently had a heart attack. It was clear, Nichole was not about to lose another one to tragedy.

"If there's one thing to be learned from this story it's don't mess with my wife," said Gary. 

- Paul Gullixson

Enough already . . . Where is California's emergency budget plan?

Californians keep hearing that the "Big Five" in Sacramento are close to hammering out a compromise plan. But where is it?

Assemblyman Jared Huffman told us on Jan. 30 that he expected a budget plan to be released no later than last week - before Friday's furloughs. At least that was what members of the Democratic caucus were led to believe.

David Crane, the governor's economic adviser, told a breakfast gathering of the Sonoma County Alliance on Wednesday that he expected a plan to be released either late last week or early this week. But nobody knows for sure because everything is happening behind closed doors.

In a state that prides itself on process, public participation and transparency, it's remarkable how much of the world's sixth largest economy hinges on secret meetings with five people.

Floor sessions are scheduled in both house of the state Legslature today, but there's nothing to talk about - at least concerning the budget. State Senate Leader Darrel Steinberg tells the Sacramento Bee that the earliest a vote could occur would be on Wednesday. Possibly later.

Cities and counties can't afford to wait. They have to deal with their deteriorating budgets. The Santa Rosa City Council meets tonight to confront a $23 million budget gap.

Hey, even a bad budget plan is better than nothing.

- Paul Gullixson