Morning report: short takes around town

Cleaning out the cupboard this morning and found some nuggets to share about our community:
* A group of equestrians have formed an organization to lobby for the preservation and improvement of horse trails around town. They're fond of the network of trails along the Kern River near the Panorama bluffs. Check out their advocacy website here.
* Steven Mayer has a wonderful piece on an act of heroism by a Bakersfield soldier in Afghanistan. Read Sgt. Robert Fortner's story here.
* Those college acceptances are arriving and local kids have until May 1 to make up their minds. I'll be compiling a list to celebrate those kids moving on. If you have a name, shoot it to me.
* Media analyst and author of "What Would Google Do?" author Jeff Jarvis takes newspaper publishers to task in a scathing diatribe that has a lot of truth to it. Read his post here.
* Ray and Lisa Karpe of Karpe Real Estate spent yesterday in Fresno at a White House Regional Forum on Health Reform. They were there as directors of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Southern California Chapter.
* The Women's and Girls Fund of Kern County will be handing out new grants on April 29 at Seven Oaks Country Club. This is the fifth annual event for this worthy group that promotes women and girls locally. Call 325-5346 by April 22 for infomation to attend.

Making sweet music in Korea: Bakersfield musicians on tour

Got a nice note from Teresa Adamo, whose son is among the young musicians on tour with the Bakersfield Youth Symphony in South Korea. (see previous post here) This is a trip of a lifetime for these youngsters. And in a time of budget cutbacks that threaten all music programs, it's heartening to see these kids succeeding. Their achievement should be testament enough to the power and influence of music in a young person's life. To check out the full array of photos go to the youth symphony website here.

Kids and guns: the other side of the story

Tragedies like the shooting rampage that killed 14 at an immigrant counseling center in Binghamton, N.Y. always lead to questions about gun control. I don't think that's a bad conversation, and I personally am not offended by some of my friends who believe all weapons inherently evil, even if I don't agree. But I wish those folks could meet kids like those shown in this picture (click on picture to enlarge). They're our kids, all from Bakersfield, good kids from good families with good values. And all happened to be reared in families where hunting and the shooting sports were the norm. This is the other side of the Binghamton story that seems rarely told. I had a chance to see all these kids this weekend out at the Kern County Gun Club where 150 shooters from across the nation converged for a skeet shooting competition. Two of those pictured above (Brian Foley and Elizabeth Key, seated above)are Ridgeview High seniors headed to Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., on shooting scholarships. The girls seated on the tailgate are the shooting Shuford sisters, all high achieving kids in their own right. Brooke (seated right) is a BHS senior deciding between theUniversity of San Diego and Cal Poly (she's interested in micro biology), Emily (seated left) will be a senior at BHS and Rachel will be a freshman Driller. For every Binghamton tragedy there are thousands of examples like these high achieving kids who have learned to use and respect firearms.

Lakeside School alumni circa 1976 reconnect

Yet more evidence of the mainstreaming of social networking sites like Facebook. I'm out in extreme west Kern County today, shooting competition skeet and eating barbeque, among people who would never be mistaken for being technologically savvy, when a colleague casually mentions she used Facebook to create a "group" devoted to alumni of Lakeside School over off Old River Road. The site has been up less than two months and dozens have joined, posting pictures and reconnecting. There's the swim team, the 4H Club, class outings etc. More evidence of the mainstreaming of social networking that never ceases to impress me. Check out the Lakeside group here.

Kevin McCarthy: My weekly report from the Hill

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, shared some good news in this week's "Report from the Hill." As usual, he is heading back to the district for the weekend. In His words:

"Good news regarding the Bakersfield Federal Courthouse. Working with Congressman Jim Costa, the Bakersfield Federal Courthouse project cleared a major hurdle Tuesday night by receiving the necessary funding to proceed with construction. With the caseload and back load of court cases that exist, this project is important to our community. For over a year and a half, I have been trying to cut the red tape of our bureaucracy and instill some common-sense related to hurdles imposed on us relating to this courthouse. We are moving forward and I will continue to work with our community to ensure that this courthouse becomes reality.

"The federal budget debate was intense this week and the budget that passed will chart the course of our country for years to come. I worked with my colleagues on a budget that focused on job creation, and brought down spending because the $9 trillion in additional debt proposed by the Democratic House budget proposal will mortgage the futures of our children and grandchildren. We cannot afford to continue on this path of borrowing and spending that will have to be paid for not by us, but by future generations. Unfortunately, our budget proposal did not pass, and the budget that did pass last night would double our national debt in the next eight years (and beginning in 2012, and every year thereafter, the government will spend more than $1 billion a day just to pay interest on our debt). Even with the passage of this budget, I will continue to work with my colleagues in the House to fight for common-sense fiscal accountability.

"I also wanted to catch everyone up a bit on last Friday’s unveiling of my WIND Energy Act in Tehachapi. The goal of this bill is to create a stable business climate to allow for more and continued investment in clean renewable wind energy by extending the production tax credit (PTC) for the next decade. Additionally, it will create green jobs in an economy that definitely needs more jobs and clean renewable energy development. I believe Congress needs to act now to take action to create a climate for stable wind energy development and other renewables.

"Also, I wanted to let everyone know that I am accepting internship applications for my summer internship program. I got my start as an intern for Congressman Bill Thomas, and I encourage those who have an interest in local or national events to check this opportunity out. Applicants must be of junior standing in college and have a minimum 3.0 GPA. Students would spend two weeks working in our local office in Bakersfield and then will work for four weeks in my Washington DC office. To apply, students should visit my website (kevinmccarthy.house.gov) or call my district office in Bakersfield at (661) 327-3611.

You know you're from Bakersfield when ...

I ran across a group formed on Facebook dedicated to the quirkiness that is Bakersfield. Some of this stuff is hilarious and some of it is off color, but it's all in good fun. For the full list check it out here, but here are a few excerpts:


"A tribute to the quaint town of Bakersfield, California... loved by some and despised by most.

1) You will park a mile away from the entrance just to have your car parked under a tree.

2) You laugh when people complain about 95 degree weather.

3) When you go out of town and see a sign saying "Union Ave" you expect to see a hooker.

4) Rosedale is a world all its own.

5) You remember the TWO times in the last 25 years that it snowed in Bakersfield, and you remember everything you did that snow day.

6) Everyone always says they're going to leave, but you know that if you try, you get sucked right back in.

7) You know Trouts, and were not talking about the fish.

8) One of your friends owns a house on a spot where you had field parties in high school.

9) You know if you're not a Luigi's at exactly 10:30 Saturday morning you're not getting a steak sandwich.

10) You think a red light is just a suggestion.

11) You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.

12) You realize that Valley Fever isn't a disco dance.

13) You have to "explain" to someone about Beach Park.

14) Someone from out of town talks about how foggy it is and you tell them, "Just wait."

15) You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.

New Veterinary Hospital wins national design award

Had a chance to chat with an old friend last night, Dr. Paul Ulrich, who was absolutely giddy with the news that his new veterinary clinic (check out his website here) won a prestigious national design award. Paul owns Bakersfield Veterinary Hospital over on Harris Road right off Gosford behind Sam's Club. I've had a chance to tour the place and it looks like a mini hospital with operating rooms, kennels and even a "pet library." It's absolutely gorgeous, which is one of the reasons it received a 2009 Hospital Design Competition Merit Award for Excellence in the 44th annual Veterinary Economics Hospital Design Competition. Paul has both a small and large animal clinic and has been a mainstay veterinarian in Bakersfield for years.

Meg Whitman hits town to court business leaders

Heard this afternoon that Meg Whitman, the former eBay president who is considering a run for governor, slipped quietly into Bakersfield today for a luncheon with local business leaders at the estate of Barbara Grimm-Marshall. The luncheon featured about 30 business leaders and was not a fund raiser but rather was billed as a "get to know you" session with Whitman. I'm told Whitman talked about the need for education and budgetary reform in California and floated the idea - to applause - that we need to return to a part-time legislature. She also mentioned that if she runs as a Republican (check out her website here) she will make effective use of technology, like President Obama, to extend her campaign. Among those attending were Realtor Ray and Lisa Karpe, Bob Stine (president & CEO of Tejon Ranch) and wife Betty, Brent Dezember (president of Structurecast) and wife Anna, retired banker Ray Dezember and wife Joan, Castle and Cooke CEO Bruce Freeman and wife Monica, farmer Pete Pankey, retired Kern High School District trustee Bob Hampton, Joe Colombo, Greg Bynum, Grimmway's Jeff and Amy Meger, Sean McNally and former Aera Energy CEO Gene Voiland. Grimm-Marshall, one of the primary owners of Grimmway Farms, the largest carrot producer in the world, has been busy on the political scene. Last weekend she hosted a fund raiser for Lisa Green, running to replace Ed Jagels as Kern County District Attorney.

Lisa Green gets a boost from the Grimm family

Lisa Green's campaign to replace Ed Jagels as the next Kern County District Attorney is beginning to look like a juggernaut. The longtime deputy D.A. has been relentlessly campaigning for a full year now, since she made it clear before a downtown Rotary Club audience that she was in it to stay. Not only does she have the blessings of Jagels, but she's been busy lining up well-heeled followers. Over the weekend, I am told her campaign raised some $20,000 when carrot family doyenne Barbara Grimm-Marshall (owner, Grimmway Farms, the world's largest carrot producer) and sister-in-law Kari Grimm hosted a fund-raiser for Green at the Metro Galleries in downtown Bakersfield. Of course, it never hurts that Green's husband, Jeff Green, is chief legal counsel for the carrot company. Green's lone opponent at this point is former prosecutor Bob Barton, who served as a prosecutor from 1988 to 2005.