God Scrapped
After standing for 13 years behind a Petaluma building, a 12-foot-high sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Milles recently became unexpectedly mobile. Purchased for $21,000 in 1984, and now possibly worth more than $100,000, the piece is an authorized replica of Milles’ The Rainbow, depicting God standing on a rainbow, hanging stars in the sky. A few weeks ago, officials at Bibbero Systems Inc. discovered the sculpture was missing and offered a $10,000 reward. That prompted a call from a local landscaper designer, who says she bought the “scrap metal” for $200 at the Sebastopol flea market. “The base is a little bent where they pried it off and one star is bent on the God-figure’s elbow,” but repairs are possible says Bibbero vice president Don Buckley. Once the sculpture is refurbished, it will be installed in either the Sonoma or Tahoe home of company president Mike Buckley.
Guns be my Wife
Repeatedly quoting lyrics from Ian Hunter’s song “The Outsider” (“Death be my mistress, guns be my wife”), Jarvis Peay opens the November episode of his Napa Public Access TV program with images of guns, followed by video of three Napa police officers’ homes, giving the exact street address for each. City officials objected, and a Napa judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing Peay from going near the officers or publicizing the addresses. Peay couldn’t be reached for comment. Napa Public Access TV station manager Dan Monez, who is also a former Napa police chief whose own home was once featured on Peay’s program (but without the street address), says he couldn’t prohibit Peay from airing the episode showing the three officers’ homes. “I’m not allowed to exercise prior restraint,” Monez explains. “We’re a First Amendment venue.”
Mission Memories
The names of 28 Coast Miwok children baptized at Mission San Rafael Archangel on Dec. 14, 1817, will be read aloud in their native tongue at a celebration of the mission’s 190th anniversary. A mass will include the Lord’s Prayer recited in the Miwok language. This will be the first time that the Miwok have been leading participants in an official program on this mission site. “It’s so magical,” says Theresa Brunner McDonald, curator of the mission museum. “It brings alive a sense of our living history.” She adds, “The Coast Miwok were here already [when the mission fathers arrived]; this is their home.” The celebration begins at 4pm, Saturday, Dec. 15, St. Raphael’s Church, 104 Fifth Ave., San Rafael. For more details, call 415.454.8141.
