{"id":3389,"date":"2009-06-14T22:55:45","date_gmt":"2009-06-15T06:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sparselysageandtimely.com\/blog\/?p=3389"},"modified":"2009-08-25T21:36:12","modified_gmt":"2009-08-26T05:36:12","slug":"crash-injures-west-marin-citizen-ad-manager-kills-her-popular-dog-sebastian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/?p=3389","title":{"rendered":"West Marin Citizen advertising manager hurt in crash; her popular dog Sebastian dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"100_1817_1\"The advertising manager of The West Marin Citizen<\/em><\/strong>, Linda Petersen, 61, of Inverness, suffered major injuries last night around midnight when her car hit a utility pole just west of Motel Inverness.<\/p>\n

Her tiny Havanese dog Sebastian was killed in the crash, causing much sadness around Point Reyes Station.<\/p>\n

Linda took him everywhere she went, and when The Citizen<\/em> opened its office in Point Reyes Station more than a year ago, Sebastian soon became a much-beloved dog about town.<\/p>\n

A gentle animal with long, silky hair and almost sad eyes, Sebastian charmed most people. Adults, as well as children, regularly stopped by The Citizen<\/em> office just to see him.<\/p>\n

As it happened, I had taken care of Sebastian<\/strong> all afternoon and evening yesterday while Linda helped with a caterer’s event in Stinson Beach.<\/p>\n

On her way home to Inverness, Linda stopped by my cabin about 11:30 p.m. to pick up Sebastian but didn’t stick around long, explaining that she was sleepy and needed to get to bed. Unfortunately, her concern proved to be all too valid.<\/p>\n

\"seba-daffodils\"<\/p>\n

Sebastian among my daffodils.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just after she drove through Inverness Park, she fell asleep at the wheel, ran off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and hit a utility pole. A sheriff’s deputy noted that although the car’s front end was crushed, the utility pole received virtually no damage.<\/p>\n

\"seba-cafe\"<\/p>\n

Photographer Jasper Sanidad caught Linda’s and Sebastian’s affection for each other being echoed by a couple behind them in the garden of Caf\u00c3\u00a9 Reyes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Paramedics transported Linda to Marin General Hospital<\/strong>, where she underwent surgery today for multiple broken bones and a collapsed lung.<\/p>\n

\"100_2379\"<\/p>\n

Linda’s daughter Saskia van der Wal places roses on a small cairn above Sebastian’s grave<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This afternoon, Linda’s daughter Saskia<\/strong> and I picked up Sebastian’s body at the Marin Humane Society, where Animal Control had taken him. Returning to Point Reyes Station from Novato, we stopped near Nicasio Reservoir’s dam where a roadsign warns of falling rocks and gathered a trunk-full of rocks. She and I then buried Sebastian under a persimmon tree in my front yard and used the rocks to erect a cairn over his grave.<\/p>\n

The mound of rocks is intended to serve both as a memorial to Sebastian and as a barrier to critters that might want to dig him up.<\/p>\n

\"daveseba_1\"<\/p>\n

Linda was my houseguest for a year<\/strong> in 2007-08, and she and I have remained close friends.<\/p>\n

I’m still in shock over what has happened to her, but I’m confident her spirit will be what saves her. When I talked with Linda at Marin General today, she was determined to get through this ordeal and resume her normal life.<\/p>\n

As for Sebastian<\/strong>, during the year he and Linda lived in my cabin, we became buddies. (In this photo by Linda, I’m sheltering him from a cold wind<\/em>.) When Linda was away, Sebastian slept beside me on my bed at night. In recent months I had looked after him several afternoons a week.<\/p>\n

However, at 16 Sebastian was virtually deaf, legally blind, and (for the last few months) hobbled by an untreatable tumor on a rear leg. He didn’t have that much longer to live, but I still haven’t come to terms with the finality of his death. I probably won’t for some time.<\/p>\n

\"100_1427\"<\/p>\n

As an old dog, Sebastian was too blind to notice the deer close behind him, and the doe quickly realized he was no threat<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sebastian came from San Juan, Puerto Rico<\/strong>, where Linda lived for more than 20 years. Saskia had found him running in the streets of a working-class neighborhood, filthy, and eating garbage.<\/p>\n

He nonetheless was such a sweet dog that Saskia tracked down his owners and asked if she could have him. Embarrassed by his condition, they gave him to her. In short, even as a young dog Sebastian was so good-natured he saved himself from a street dog’s life and enjoyed 11 good years instead. He was that charming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The advertising manager of The West Marin Citizen, Linda Petersen, 61, of Inverness, suffered major injuries last night around midnight when her car hit a utility pole just west of Motel Inverness. Her tiny Havanese dog Sebastian was killed in the crash, causing much sadness around Point Reyes Station. Linda took him everywhere she went, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,12,6,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dave-mitchell","category-general-news","category-inverness","category-personal","category-photography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":49,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3996,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions\/3996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}