Researchers suggest we may all need a "new" vaccine shot or a booster in the near future, Amazon buys the Wilson Road Walmart to get up a delivery facility and a sign from Chet's Club joins the museum

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other company or publication.

* ... COVID VACCINES: There seems to be a growing consensus that the array of coronavirus vaccines - Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson - are not long-term solutions to the ongoing threat of mutant

variant viruses. Researchers now say they vaccines will likely need booster shots, or new vaccines altogether, because they lose their effectiveness over time. That, of course, would mean that billions of people across the world may have to receive a booster shot just so society can maintain an upper hand against the Covid-19 viruses and its variants. Researchers are hoping they can find a way to give the vaccine in pill form, vastly reducing the hassle factor in receiving the dose.

 

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Did they stop painting wings on brick walls or did girls just find other places to take pictures?"

 * ... SEXUAL ORIENTATION: This clip from a CNN discussion pretty much says sit all. What do you think?

 * ... AMAZON: Did you hear Amazon is expanding again in Bakersfield, this time taking over the old Kmart on Wilson Road as a new delivery station? The company said the building would under go an extensive renovation to evolve into a Last Mile delivery building creating some 200 jobs. The company hopes to open the new facility at the end of this year.

 * ... MUTANT VARIANT: Right when it looks like things are getting better with the pandemic we learn there is a new "double mutant variant" discovered in California. The new variant first emerged in India and a handful of cases have been detected in the Bay Area. The "double mutant" carries two mutations that helps it latch onto cells.

 * ... CHET'S CLUB: Yet another iconic neon sign has joined the Kern County Museum, this one from Chet's Club, an old card club  and diner on Edison Highway. Chet's Club was housed next to the Lucky Spot honky tonk and was known for its coffee, chili and occasional rough crowd. The sign is now at the Kern County Museum.

 * ... MEMORIES: A nice old picture of the Penny's building that is now a local museum. Thanks to the Kern County History Fans and Art Moore for sharing this.

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And this one, again from the Kern County History Fans, of that famous place the Bakersfield Inn.

Amazon to build a second fulfillment center here, spring breaks out in Bakersfield as the rest of the nation freezes, and is Coca-Cola telling employees they may be acting "too white?"

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other company or publication.

 * ... AMAZON: There was more good news on the job front locally as Amazon announced it will open its second fulfillment center in Kern County, this one in Shafter. Amazon is expected to hire some 1,000 workers for full and part-time job at a base of $15 an hour plus benefits. Planned for 4500 Express

Avenue, the new facility will cover one million square feet to pick and ship items to customers on the west coast.

 * ... BLESSINGS: Consider for a moment what the rest of the country is going through: thousands without power and running water in Texas, record snow across the east coast and sub freezing temperatures across a huge swath of the country. And then there is Bakersfield, our much aligned home that is sunny and blooming like spring is around the corner. Pear trees are blooming, the camellias are out and shorts are replacing hoodies and jeans. This is a time to count our blessings for those of us who call Kern County home.

 

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "It was like Lord of the Flies on the vaccine websites today."

 * ... COCA-COLA: Has Atlanta-based Coca-Cola included training for its employees on how to be "less white?" That's word from the Coke employees who said in an effort to promote diversity, the company has included training materials that caution white employees to beware of being "too white." A spokesperson for Coca-Cola responded to the images on the social networking platform Twitter. “The video circulating on social media is from a publicly available LinkedIn Learning series and is not a focus of our company’s curriculum,” the spokesperson said, but added that the course is “part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace.” Isn't being "too white" like being "too right handed," and if that is the case, what are we supposed to do about it?

 * ... MEMORIES: This 1916 photograph shows what was called Legislative Route 4, which would later become Highway 99, just north of Bakersfield.

Father Bert Mello of OLPH dies, county supervisors struggle with redistricting and a veteran sheriff's deputy says crime is out of control here

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed, now online only. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this such a special place. We value your feedback. Email your news and notes to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... RIP BERT MELLO: Father Bert Mello, who took over at Our Lady of Perpetual Help just

three years ago, has died. His passing was announced Wednesday morning at the start of the

inaugural Kern Catholic Prayer mass to audible gasps from the capacity crowd. There is no immediate word on how he died. Mello had a compelling personal story and spoke opening of his hard partying self indulgent way of life before he turned to the church.

* ... SUPERVISOR DISTRICTS: The biggest story politically is what will the federal court rule in deciding what happens to the county supervisor districts before the November election. Thanks to the lawsuit bought by the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund and the Dolores Huerta Foundation,

the court ruled the districts must be redrawn because they were crafted in a way that dilutes Latino voting strength. In other words, the county needs a second "safe" Latino district. How that is done and which incumbent it might effectively unseat - David Couch? Mike Maggard? Mick Gleason? - is critical since campaigning is already under way for those incumbents like Maggard who face reelection. All this is unprecedented and we should know soon what the court decides. Meanwhile, Maggard and others continue to campaign hard in a district that might not soon exist.

 * ... AMAZON DELIVERY: Bakersfield has been chosen for a new distribution center that will help deliver Amazon products quicker to the home. According to Oscar Baltazar, senior vice president for Collier International, the new "fulfillment" center will be located at the Wonderful Industrial Park near 7th Standard Road. Amazon does not own the facility but rather contracts with its owner to help fulfill its mission of fast delivery.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "When my dog sniffs another dog’s poop I can only assume that it’s their equivalent to checking a friend’s facebook page."

 * ... CRIME: How bad is crime in Kern County? How about the worst as it has been in more than 30 years. That is how Kern County sheriff's deputy Martin Downs answered the question when he appeared with partner Casey Brunzel on KERN NewsTalk 96.1. Downs and Brunzel are part of the KCSO's rural crime unit that specializes in oil, agriculture and livestock crime. Why has crime spiked? "There aren't any consequences," Downs said, describing a cycle of arrest and release that leaves few in fear of the law.

 * ... KERN VETS: Some of the most interesting talk radio locally is found on a new program devoted to our local veterans. Hosting by Army Airborne veteran Chad Garcia, "KERN Vets" runs every Saturday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM. Last week Garcia interviewed two veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima and this week his guest will be a Vietnam veteran with two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star. They will also discuss the issue of "professional veterans" who seek attention but don't tend to their own issues.

 * ... CHINA PALACE: The county health department has shut down another popular restaurant,  China Palace on California Avenue. Inspectors found cooked chicken and some vegetables were kept at improper temperatures and there was also some uncovered raw shrimp and chicken in a walk in refrigerator. No word on when it will reopen. Meanwhile, Muertos remains closed after inspectors found multiple violations about a week ago, including roaches.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this picture of Chester Avenue and 18th Street back in the day. Photo courtesy of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Bakersfield flirts with setting a new record for heat as we welcome the season of rolling blackouts, professional cyclist Tyler Williams returns to California for a break and some good form around town

 * ... HEAT WAVE: Welcome to the season of excessive heat, rolling blackouts, faulty air conditioning units and the general resignation that we are in for a long summer of temperatures well above 100 degrees. The folks who live in the Haggin Oaks area got their first nasty taste of summer Monday

when some 450 homes lost power, and other blackouts were reported in the Northwest as well. Will we break any records? The website ClimateSpy.com says the hottest day on record for this month was set June, 29, 1976, when the mercury hit 113.9 degrees, and the hottest month on record was July 1988 when we averaged 102.7 degrees. According to another weather website, Bakersfield averages 33 days a year with temperatures over 100 degrees. But hey, it's a dry heat, right?

* ... WELCOME HOME: Welcome home Tyler Williams, the Bakersfield lad and professional cyclist for the Israeli Cycling Academy team who just wrapped up a race in South Korea. Williams took to Instagram to say he is headed back to California after more than five months abroad (he is based in Spain) and is looking forward to being reunited with his wife, Brea Williams.

* ... RAAM: And speaking of cycling, good luck to a crew of local cyclists who are participating in the Race Across America, but this time riding fixed gear bikes. Among those racing are local fitness instructor Joe Peterson, Bill Elrich, Albert 'Vegas' Vasquez, Misha Tyler, Bo Bohannan, along with two riders from Los Angeles. The eight-man team is crossing the country headed to a finish line in Annapolis, Maryland.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. That's about a  year's worth of groceries at that store."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "It's so hot a Tennessee Williams play just broke out in my room."

 * ... GOOD FORM: Here's an example of some good form compliments of King Door sales consultant Michael Whitmore: "I just wanted to send you a note about the great folks at Stockdale tile. Remember the disabled vet that had his donation jar ripped off a week or two ago in front of Walmart? Well the owner and staff at Stockdale Tile presented a $1,000 check to that gentleman this week to replace the money that was taken. It’s great to know that there are still kind hearted people around."

 * ... BAD FORM: Here's a good reason to avoid California Avenue between H Street and Oak Street while it is being repaved. I was on H Street headed south at the bottled up California Avenue intersection when the driver of a silver pickup tried to cut in front of a woman driving a black SUV. A verbal argument broke out, complete with heads popping out the windows hurling insults, and it ended when the man driving the silver truck threw a soda can at the woman, bouncing off her window.

 * ... MEMORIES: Karene Williams wrote to say she enjoyed "your short piece about the old Sears store in downtown Bakersfield. My mother, Winifred Williams, was auditing supervisor at that location from 1955 until it moved into the new store at Valley Plaza. She continued as auditing supervisor at the new store until she accepted a position in the headquarters offices in Alhambra. After she retired from Sears many years later, she moved to Lake Isabella and worked at the catalogue store until Sears closed their catalogue businesses. Our family has fond memories of Sears and are sad to see it go downhill."

Amazon enters the war of streaming content as consumers abandon cable and traditional TV programming, and local donors make a local children's hospital a reality

 * ... AMAZON: The long, slow decline of cable and local TV is showing signs of accelerating with the announcement by Amazon of plans to stream popular new content via its Prime membership.

The idea: offer Amazon's Prime members (they pay $99 a year for free shipping and streaming video) access to Showtime, Starz and more channels at a low added cost. As noted in The Los Angeles Times: "Traditional pay-TV operators have struggled for years to come up with easy-to-use streaming options for their consumers." Amazon's move is similar to that of Hulu and Netflix, which charge a monthly fee so folks can cut the cord to traditional cable. This fragmentation in programming has been long in the works, and it has already taken its toll on the once robust marketshare of the major networks and their local affiliates. Millennials and those younger are leading the charge in cutting the cord (there has been a 16 percent decline in viewership for young adults aged 18-24), and it won't be long before most of us are cobbling together streaming options that bypass cable.

 * ... MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: We live in a generous community, and sometimes we forget to thank those for have done so much to lift the tide for all of us. So here's a big hats off to all the people who contributed to the Bolthouse Family Pediatric Department and the Helen Taylor Cobbs Children's Healing Garden over at Memorial Hospital's Lauren Small Children's Medical Center. (Joe and Jana Campbell funded the garden in memory of Jana's late mother, who loved gardening). Memorial is doing something important here, putting together a facility so local families with ailing children will not have to leave town for treatment.

 * ... NORM HOFFMAN: I took a short bike ride up Fairfax Road the other day and noticed that someone repainted the yin-yang symbol at the spot where Norm Hoffman was struck and killed by a motorist back in 2001. Hoffman, the popular Bakersfield College health professor with a larger-than-life personality, inspired many with his healthy lifestyle, outgoing personality and emphasis on the spiritual. The ancient Chinese symbol for yin-yang was painted after its death, it faded, but someone freshened it to remind us of a life well lived.

 * ... POLITICAL HUMOR: A Muslim journalist from Chicago posted this on Twitter: "Does anyone know if the concentration camps Trump is planning for us Muslims will have WiFi?"

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Beer comes from hops. Hops are plants. Beer is salad."

 * ... SPOTTED: On Mount Vernon near the Starbucks a late model SUV is spotted with these two messages taped to its windows: "Radical Muslims R Here ... Buy a Gun!"

 * ... ACTIS: Hats off to the girls volleyball team from Actis Jr. High, the lone team from the San Joaquin Valley to make it to a tournament in Los Angeles. The team compiled an overall record of 37-3 and capped off the historic season with a 16-14 victory over Commerce Jr. High in the final game on the LA tournament. Congrats to coach Dan Letourneau, his coaches (daughters) and these amazing student athletes. 

While the furor over the Confederate flag burns hot, a local black news talk show host questions the rush to tear down monuments in the South to Civil War heroes

 * ... FLAG: The controversy over the Confederate flag is resonating across the country, and it is nowhere as hot as on social media. When Amazon decided to stop selling the flag, I spotted this note on Facebook speaking to the hypocrisy of it all: "Amazon sells a huge variety of shirts, posters, you-name-it featuring the hammer and

sickle, Joseph Stalin’s mustache, all things Che Guevara, Vladimir Lenin and other colorful revolutionaries ... Guevara’s book Guerilla Warfare is on sale in four different formats. In one of the worst genocides in modern times, Stalin forcibly starved Ukrainian peasants in what’s known as the Holodomor, a 'terror-famine' that left anywhere from 2.4 million to 7.5 million Ukrainian peasants dead in 1933."

 * ... MORE FLAG: The feeding frenzy that started with the Confederate battle flag has now moved on to the hundreds of statues of Confederate war heroes that appear throughout the south, as well as schools and streets named after rebel leaders. Is it reasonable to expect that every vestige of the Civil War, from the Southern perspective, be removed from society? I was struck when local talk radio host Ralph Bailey, a conservative African American and host on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM, yesterday defended Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate calvary general from Memphis known as the "wizard of the saddle." After the war Forrest became a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but later fully embraced the Union and apologized for his actions, much to the dismay of his fellow Southerners. Said Bailey: "The facts are irrefutable. Forrest experienced a Malcolm X-like racial epiphany. Not only did he walk away from an incredibly lucrative slave trade profession but he addressed a crowd of black pole bearers in 1875 calling for racial equality well documented by The New York Times. He had no political motivation and had to have been vilified by friends and family who viewed blacks as innately inferior. Not only should his bust remain in the Tennessee statehouse but he should be a symbol of change and forgiveness ."

 * .... SOUTH HIGH: If you are a Bakersfield native, you know that the rebel flag was used by South High School to support the "Rebel" athletic teams. Said Ronal Reynier: "Here in Bakersfield we had a similar situation in 1976 when South High School was asked to change the 'Stars & Bars' flag they had been using for 19 years. The proposed flag would be a field of red with SH in gold. It was proposed at the meeting to change it to a field of red with SHS in blue trimmed in white. This was not agreeable to one faction. A student asked to speak. He said that the solution would be to have a new red flag with a gold hammer and sickle. He was suspended from school for five days.

 * ... PERRY: Former Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry was in town the other night for a fund raiser at the Westchester home of Kyle Carter and his wife, Kim McAbee. You can bet Perry will be followed by a parade of other GOP contenders who will be courting some of our area's influential business people.

* ... SPOTTED: A panhandler on a freeway ramp holds a sign proclaiming: "Mostly harmless."

  * ... INDEPENDENCE HIGH: Phyllis Adams dropped me a personal letter to thank a group of Independence High School seniors who have entertained residents at Carriage House Estates. "Glenn Miller era music was played by Richard Gonzales and dancing was enjoyed with students and residents for several hours," she wrote. What a satisfying feeling for teens to plan and enjoy time with their elders. Sharing of those evenings will be long remembered."

 * ... MEMORIES: Joe Chavez wrote with this memory from East Bakersfield: "Does anyone remember Louie the mailman from the 1960s? He delivered in east Bakersfield and he always had a smile. I myself would chase after him when I was waiting for a toy or model kit I ordered. Then it was off to swim at Jefferson park. What wonderful days!"