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Sonoma County chosen spot of all the earth as far as nature is concerned, according to the famed plant wizard Luther Burbank Diverse County, with 1,010,000 acres of land on 1574 miles of scenic roadways, Cinema County is rightfully famed for its agriculture. Did a culture, industry and

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recreation, as well as for the amazingly successful ethnic and economic mixture of its more than 340,000 residents on for the forward looking philosophy of its local governing bodies. Now we invite you to take a closer look at Sonoma County in the eighties with your host Rich

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McGlinchy. You're a very specialization Sonoma County in the eighties. Uh, my guest on this program is the person who is departing county government after dozen years, doing many, many things people in Sonoma County. The nice part about the person that's going to be talking to you

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in the next couple of minutes is it is a lifelong friend. Practically two. We're talking about Helen Rudy, the third to speak supervisor and fine, thank you, and we have been acquainted more years and we'll be there. One of, uh, Helen, you you were elected in

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1976 and you're finishing your third term. Chose not to go any further, but I have a hunch that you must have had a life before 1976. Tell us a little bit about you before you assumed the role is third District supervisor. Well, thank you, rich. Everyone

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loves to talk about their life, of course. And and I'm no exception, Aziz. You know, we met many years ago at the what was then the Cinema County Hospital was my first graduate duty nursing, and I did it in Sonoma County. And I'd like to remind

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the hospital the hospital people of that and my affection for that old hospital, Uh then, of course, is, you know, the war came along and I did Servat the American Red Cross blood bank in San Francisco. But as many other young wives and mothers, I had

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Children, and eventually I followed my husband to the east Coast. Um, we came back and, of course, but then I had a child who was six, and she started school. And that was the beginning of what I call my do gooder career, as the Children say

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have a child that interest school. The first thing you do is sign up for the P. T. A. That was perhaps the greatest step I took because I I believe the p t. A. And I tell them that they are responsible for this political career that

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I have. Once you get involved with education, it touches government. It touches government spending money and the elect the elective process because you have a board of education and so on. Um and I with four Children, you can see that there was a time I was

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in three p. T a s. Of course, Will end does something to your personality. Certainly. And so I started speaking out. And when you start to speak out, you speak out to the government in some fashion. And my pretty soon I was asked to do more.

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I should say responsible things in the school system. And then came a time when there was going to be a retirement from the center of the Board of Education. My good friend Alice's Ybor had served and she wanted to retire. And I was very, very honored

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to have Denny Daw, um come and ask me and Judge Moskowitz Come and ask me to serve on the center of the Board of Education. And I thought that would be a lovely thing to do A little more, shall we say, Umm Then the p t

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A. I did take that on and and served and loved every bit of it. I was there in the Sand Rosa Board of Education for 10 years. Um, my Children grew up and graduated, of course, and I felt that that spot could perhaps should perhaps be

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held by someone closer to the educational system. Meanwhile, there was this little, uh, turmoil going on at the Board of Supervisors in Sonoma County. As you recall, there was a recall coming up in the third District. And, uh, I took a position that it was not

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a really worthy of a recall and any no election at the same time, I chose to run in that and resign my position in the Board of Education and one on the Board of Supervisors. And so I have stayed there through three terms. Let's go back

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to that. Just a minute. What? What actually prompted you to offer? I know you said you've been 10 years of the school board. Your Children were grown, so you felt you were not as close as you once were. But what prompted you to jump into politics?

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I really don't know. You know, I come from a family. My father and mother were not political people as such, but as farmers back there in the Midwest. They were good citizens. They always voted. They took their place wherever they were needed to help. And I

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thought everyone had to give something, you know, to their community. And because they were great community supporters. And so that that led me into my work with the schools and certainly with Children. You know, my first love, of course, is the health of Children being a

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nurse and having four Children and now eight grandchildren. My love has not changed. It's still there. I think Children need a great deal of support in the way of life. Uh, they need a great deal of attention. And, you know, I really despair when I say

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I think Children have a harder time now than they did when I was growing up. Um, many forces out there at them, so I have always kept that interest. However, I'm also ah, a person that, um is able to manage to work with people, many people,

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differing opinions and perhaps sometimes controversy. I learned that when I was on the Board of Education that I could bring people together. And, uh, you know, I've often said that I'm not great leader, as we look to for the political leaders, but I'm such a good

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follower of good ideas That I end up is looking like leader, and people do ask me to step in and do things. Border supervisors had had some volatile years prior to mine thinking, Well, can I do some good? There is my kind of person able to

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bring something to the board of Supervisors that we seem not toe have. And some of that was, you know, they've been Corley fighting and and having distress, and I thought that and they'd never had a woman before. You said I was just going to get you

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would beat me to never had a woman I was going to think. Not only Twitch interjected, not only was Helen Rudy, the first woman ever elected to the Board of Supervisors, she was the first woman elected twice, and the 1st 1 was elected three times. And

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she chose not to run for 1/4 race to be the first woman to win four times. But I think what is more important than that is and I say this with all sincerity, Uh, you talk about being pushed into the leadership part. That's not really true.

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I think you were recognized as a leader a long time ago. I think. More than that, you were recognized as great lady. Oh, bless your heart, rich. I That's nice of you to say. I think of myself is just a uh huh common, ordinary, healthy individual

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with shall we say some good that we're bringing. And, uh and, um, I'd certainly say that I have had good health all these years, and that makes a difference. You have a lot of energy, and you're in the right place and you support and you carry

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your load and you do your homework. You do your work and, um, and so that it makes it easy to continue on with kind of work that I've done. And I like working closely with people in constituents and as a supervisor. You certainly do that. Um,

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and and, uh, people's problems are your problems locally were not far away. We telephone call is my AIDS. No, is just a matter of dialing the number and you speak to your supervisor generally, and and so that is the kind of thing I enjoy. And, um

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and I thought it was needed on the Board of Supervisors. At that time, I thought it was needed badly, and I saw a change coming along and I decided to run another saying that you brought to the board Helen its complement time. The thing about to

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the board, I think, is a willingness to listen, uh, the fairness with which you've always met the public from the board from sitting up there Not on your willingness to listen, but your graciousness in your courtesy. This is something that we've been in short supply it

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in the past that was somewhere supervisor have been very abrasive people and have been very difficult for the person who comes up to that podium for the first time to deal with because he's scared to death anyway. Or she and you have made that an easy

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task. And I think the public in general, Certainly the voting public in general Ocio. Ah, great vote of thanks for making the process of appearing before your borders to provide a little bit easier to do, you know? And that's really that's nice conflict. Let me ask

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you this, do you? You saw a county government, then you see it Now, what do you think is the main differences in this 12 years? Well, certainly, life has become even more complex than it was then. I think we all were thinking of things such as

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the population explosion, the racist problem. The, um um we seem to go from one big issue at that time. The growth problem and that, really, the growth problem was perhaps behind the recall at that time. And how do we deal with this sudden explosion of people

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and growth? And and what are the impacts of such a happening? And the impacts frequently our distress of people, they they always before we've had plenty of land and plenty of air and plenty of water, and it was free in a sense that the at least

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the the air was free and the water was cheap and land was available. But we were beginning to feel the fact that we'd hit the Pacific Ocean and there was no go west young man go west kind of thing. And now people were beginning to hit

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the wall and it created problems and they are compounded. It's just not another family moves in, so you have a little bit more. But the actual distress factor was higher and we dealt with that. But now added to that, we have the whole hazardous materials situation,

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the chemical age and the fear that the pollution of air, water and earth is bringing to us. We have added to us is no longer that kind of community where everybody knew each other and have you felt safe. You know, we didn't lock our doors when

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we came When I what, even at that time on the board and, um, Children walk to school, all my Children had walked to the elementary junior high and some way got toe high school. By then, you know you're riding with friends and someone and and now

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people are afraid to let their youngsters walk around the block in situations. No, I think that may be overdone, but let's face it, we do. They don't They don't know their neighbors. They don't know other people. We have added very complex issues in a short period

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of time. 12 years is a very short period of time to see this change. The whole computer world and the paper world is upon us rich. I don't know if you remember, but when I first came on the board, our agenda looked like your papers here.

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They weren't bound. They weren't bound there It waas had very little background information. I remember as it grew, I did say to Leonard, Warden, at that time, Leonard, we should put this in a notebook so that you know, we're not some bling with all these papers

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here we put it in the notebook and pretty soon there, after we grown out of the first notable. Now we have two notebooks that big, you know, and that shows you the kind of issues that are coming before the board. Of course, a lot of the

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the General Plan update created some of those land use issues for us. That's the afternoon notebook that we now have. That notebook is you said that one pages now? Yes, that's right. How would you assist your your replacement? Yes. Well, you know you'd be interested. I

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just want to preface that by saying, when I came on the board, I did come from the Board of Education, which is different than the Board of Supervisors. You know, you have a superintendent like a city manager, and and he pretty much places things before us.

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Supervisors are, you know, we we administrators, executors and legislators all and one. And, um and so I came to this in my office, was absolutely empty and pieces of furniture absolutely empty. And there was no one to speak. Teoh. Now Holland takes, you know, is interesting.

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You don't go around helping other politicians very much, especially if you, uh, may want to replace them at some time. Why should you make them look good? For heaven's sakes? I think that's part of our we've just gone through in the election. And, you know, nobody

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helps anyone else to look great on. So I walked into this empty office and had to fall around on in certain ways, but did and the staff is is wonderful. I I just could never say enough nice things about the staff generally and the help of

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this. You remember Dave Nicholls was still our county administrative officer, and I'd known Dave for many years, and so he was very helpful. Department heads were very hopeful and so on. But I have to face the fact that I had nothing there to help me. And,

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of course, Chuck Hagel wasn't about to help. And the men that I had defeated wasn't about to help, so we worked ahead. I hope this time it will be quite different. I did call Tim Smith yesterday to congratulate him and invited him to come in so

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that we can start turning over those issues that are before me. And there are some Still nothing is finished. Really. You know, you can conclude a program in a project, but then there are always those that air halfway through and invited Tim. I expect him. I

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believe he will be going to see Sacha meeting next week, and as soon as he comes back, we're going to start reviewing the things that are still on my calendar, and my aides will be emptying my files and he can start filling them, but we're gonna

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come back. We have a lot of things coming this last 12 years. Lady and gentlemen Helen Rudy, third district supervisor who is just including her 12 year office. First woman not only to be elected to the board, but to be elected once, twice, three times. We'll

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be back first these important messages. I'm Eric Dickerson, and I'm going to show you something that could save your life. Now say these footballs or your loans. Every time you smoke, you can damage your lungs with every puff. Day after day, year after year, your lungs

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could get more and more damaged until finally, they may not breathe at all. Your loss could end up useless, so don't smoke. Keep your lungs full of clean, fresh air. Take care of your lungs. They're only human. The American Lung Association. The Christmas seal People. I'm

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Lisa Hartman. You know what's really incredible to me. I can't believe some people still think you can get AIDS from a handshake or a drinking glass or by picking up a telephone. It's just not true. The fact is, it's difficult to get AIDS, and there's no

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reason to be afraid of people with AIDS. They need us to help, and most of all to care. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to a very special program in honor of a very special person we're talking to Helen. Rudy, who has been the third district supervisor

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for the past 12 years, is concluding her third term of office. Chose not to seek 1/4 term, which she most surely would have thought to stick it. Uh, we've talked about her background before she became a supervisor. Then why should he served 10 years on the

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Board of Education and then went to the Cinema County Board of Supervisors? And I think one of the things that ought to be asked do right now is what did you find was the easiest. And what did you find? The most difficult thing? I'm being a

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supervisor. Well, I would say the course. The easiest has always been my relationship with my constituents and working with people. Uh, that's always been relatively easy for me. And as a nurse, you know, you're rather trained in that way. And my mother was a very outgoing

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person, and I've always lived in sort of that kind of outgoing environment helping people and so on. And I have always felt that my job there was to help people, you know, the county has certain regulations and in ordinances that set up for the good of

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the public. Ah, by the people who brought them to our attention and so on. And there's a number of people out there who need to get through them to do what they want to do. I've always found it easy to to help my constituents understand what

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the county is about, what what we're about, and so on. It's always been easy for me and to work with the programs that are coming from that that we see is needing some upgrading or something. For instance, I've always of course, you know, I've always enjoyed

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working with a hospital. I would enjoy working with social services when we're talking about Children and Children's needs, and and so I think the hardest part for me is the rial political difficulties of that. Because, you know, I I tend to tell you I'm not really

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a political person, a such, um, there's the, you know, the manipulation and the maneuvering and the working behind the scenes and so on. That goes on in all politics, obviously, and it does in the county. And as the county becomes more complex and abs more issues

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of pressing nature, I think we will see a little bit more of that. Um, I tend to like to have everything out on the table so that we can move it around to the best advantage of everyone. And you can't always do that. And I'm always

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forgetting that on and, uh, having to bring myself up to doing that, you should. You adopted the right attitude to begin with. He carried it out for 12 years, and, uh and it was proper. You were never a politician. You were a person who, a good

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governing official, the person who was concerned with the county and the people involved in it and concerned with getting the facts to making the right decision. Most of the other things were not your bag. And I think that's to your great Well, I recognize that we've

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had wonderful supervisors who have served at on the board since I've been there, starting with Brian and Area and Will Johnson and some have lost and some have one on. And I have enjoyed working with with him all it is, it's just a little different. My

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style is a little different than sometimes the other styles. I never know what you said, Teoh Giving Ernie the carpenter is to his award for being the chairman, you know? And she wrote a little note. Just because I love you doesn't mean I can always stand

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your e giving them. Because I love you. Like I mean, I always let me ask you to think. What efforts do you feel that you've completed that were really important to you? What do you feel is unfinished? Oh, isn't it funny? You know, this little roast

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the other evening? I was getting all this praise, which, you know, it is typical, but I said to the board on Monday morning, You know, up until that time, I thought we'd all work hard together on all projects. You know, I was glad to hear that

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I done them all by myself. And I had this little, uh, you know, dinner. But I've always thought that on the board I think this board does a great job of working together. Most of the votes are are, uh, not recognized as one supervisors project versus

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somebody else's project. The projects are presented to us no matter who is sort of started them and whose finishing them these air the county overall projects I've been very pleased to. Obviously we were vote differently on some some of them. But in a sense, I look

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back over the 12 years, and I think it's been an effort on the part of the Board of Education to finish the General plan. Board of Supervisors. No, but you remember I sat on the 1st 1 No, right. We finished the 1st 1 and threw. These

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years, we have maintained it. We've made some changes, but not many were. Now, I think coming too close agreement to the updating of that general plant. I'm rather pleased to have sat on two of them to help with the direction of the growth of Sonoma County

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and the grows and the and planned growth, inclusion of parks, placement of roads, um, the infrastructure that is needed for the kind of growth that we see here in cinema. Connie have been rather proud, but it's it's A. It's a board effort. As such, I suppose

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some of the things that you think of alone are those that you do in your own district. In a sense, although you always have the help in the support of the board, Um and there is, you know, we're finally at the point where we're gonna upgrade

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Santa Ros Avenue, which has been this old street, the old entrance to Santa Rosa for these many, many years. That was, uh, in great need of coming into its own. Shall we say that we have finally passed that assessment district? And I think right now we're

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setting back, um, light standards and people are there digging up to put in a water system and so on. I'm very proud of that. I like to think that I helped in social services to bring the dependent unit of those Children who, by no no doing

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of their own, must find themselves removed from their parents over a period of time and sent and kept at a unit for their protection in their welfare. I've always thought that it perhaps belonged under the social services where we have the Children's protective services rather than

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in what I call the criminal justice system because you get the overtones that the Children out of the dependent Unit may have done something wrong or that they may be, shall we say, juvenile delinquents because of its relationship to the criminal justice, See? But because of

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the fact that of the place it was less willing us and so on, rather having to departments out there we tended to keep it in the Criminal Justice Department was my wish. When I came on that we might make that change. You know, we've made it

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this last year, or self services. It is now under the social services I Valley and Moon Children. Yes, even the Name Valley? Well, not really, but even the name is Comitatus. It's sort of a warm feeling for these Children who are there simply because the adults

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in their life couldn't handle the situation of that time. That's that's another one that I'm very pleased about. I'm very pleased to think that we're going ahead with a master plan for the hospital services. I think our community hospital is an outstanding one. Memorial is outstanding.

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We have to find hospitals here to serve the needs of the people and government is you know, you. As you know, many county hospitals and other counties are. They're just there. They just pick up where they're needed. Our community hospital is a thriving hospital, and it

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has tremendous service for this community and even for our employees and so on. And I'm very pleased that we can move along with what I hope is a master plan for its continued development. It is never standing still. It is always meeting the needs of the

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people of this community. And I'm glad to see that what, if any, One thing that's unfinished conservative. What I write the primary? I can't say the jail is on finishing because im sure that's one of those buildings that will have my name on it when I

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leave. Perhaps nowhere else but at the jail. I can't say that something you know that proud of. I wish it were on a big school of some kind instead, but I think the jail is finished, and that's been with me from those first early years and

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and how difficult it is to understand the intricacy of running a jail, and I think most of the public doesn't. But we must protect people who are mandated to be somewhere. And they must not have their in freedom's infringed upon. As consequently, you come along trying

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to understand what it is. The jail should be finished. But could the traffic problem And I'm sure everyone here would agree with me that I leave unfinished. You know, I've served on the 1 1/4 action committee for years. The vote perhaps, will be taken on what

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we what is our perhaps most recommended plan that will be taken till March or April? And I'm gonna be home sitting under an apple tree, reading a good book by them. So I do. I regret that we couldn't bring that together before I leave, but I

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think we can't. Our traffic problem will be with us. We have used up our level, of course, rich when they have you. Thank you for have you come back and visit as a politician? Retired. All right. You have been very, very kind in all these years

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and I've enjoyed our old friendship and our new friendship. The thank you for what you do for the county. Thank you. dear. We've been talking Teoh, as you can really see a great lady and the one who waas our first female supervisor First he was elected

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one time two times three times and, as I said twice before, would have been elected a four time. She chose to run. She chose not to. And she is going into retirement, which really probably won't be retirement at all if I know her pretty well. But

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we've been talking with Helen. Be Rudy the Supervisor third District of Viking 76. Have you and I alone determine my name is Which McCarty program. It's a no McCann In 80. I'll be back next week with another member of the county government family related agency. We

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learned a little more about this kind of unit in county. We all until then. Good night. Good luck. Good help. You know,