In Your Town for April 7, 2023
CORTE MADERA
Board sets forum
on restroom plan
The Planning Commission has scheduled a public meeting for Tuesday on a proposal for a restroom building in Town Park.
The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at the interim Town Council chambers at 240 Tamal Vista Blvd., Suite 108. Teleconference access instructions and project details are online at bit.ly/3UnuVas.
The Parks and Recreation Commission advanced the project to the planning board in January.
SAN RAFAEL
Principal named for
Miller Creek school
Erin Dinday, the principal at Petaluma Junior High School, has been selected as the new principal at Miller Creek Middle School.
The appointment takes effect July 1. The starting annual salary is $159,252.
The district’s board of trustees approved the appointment at its regular meeting on Tuesday.
Dinday’s education career includes three years as assistant principal at Petaluma High School and two years as assistant principal at Martinez Junior High School. She also spent nine years as a secondary English teacher, and was named teacher of the year in 2016 by the Martinez Unified School District.
Dinday will be the fourth principal at Miller Creek Middle School in the past year. Tenisha Tate-Austin left in June after three years, followed by Stephen Coyle, who resigned in January. Former Mill Valley Middle School principal Anna Lazzarini has been interim principal since Coyle’s departure.
Dinday, who lives in San Rafael, has a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a minor in Spanish literature from the University of California at San Diego. She also has a master’s degree in publishing from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
NOVATO
Jury convicts man
in hate crime case
A Petaluma man accused of racially motivated vandalism against a Black woman last year has been convicted of a hate crime, the Marin County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Robert Lynn Thorne III, then 39, was arrested in October after an incident at the Novato Fair Shopping Center. The victim told police that Thorne, who is White, used racial slurs against her, spat on her car and kicked a door on the vehicle twice. The damage, which included scratched paint, was estimated at $1,000.
A jury convicted Thorne of a misdemeanor hate crime on March 29, the district attorney’s office said. He was sentenced to 80 days in jail, placed on probation for a year and ordered to perform 15 hours of volunteer work.
WEST MARIN
Permit approved for
Dillon Beach wells
A county planning official has approved a coastal permit for a water well project in Dillon Beach.
The Estero Mutual Water Co. sought the permit to operate two wells along Ocean Boulevard. The company drilled the wells in September under an emergency permit granted in response to the state drought declaration.
A deputy zoning administrator approved the permit during a hearing on March 30 at the Marin County Civic Center.