Another Basque pub crawl goes into history, Ken Keller is promoted to CEO of Dignity Health's Memorial Hospital and media executive Louis Amestoy heads to Colorado

Monday November 26, 2018

 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 such a special place to live. Send your news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... BASQUE PUB CRAWL: I rarely miss the celebrated Basque Pub Crawl, that annual ritual when thousands of people flock to the iconic Basque eateries and bars on the east side around

Thanksgiving. This is the biggest night of the year for people like Rod and Julie Crawford, owners of Pyrenees bar and restaurant. Rod Crawford said Pyrenees was packed all day and well into the evening. When I popped in Friday afternoon, it was buzzing with people and young professionals who return home for Thanksgiving. Other spots on the crawl list include Woolgrower's, Noriega Hotel, Amestoy's, Luigi's Deli and Delicatessen, the Silver Fox, Mexicali downtown and Bill Lee's. They aren't all Basque, but that doesn't mean they don't make the list.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Saw a guy wearing a winter scarf with a T-shirt in Los Angeles today and I just can't live like this anymore."


 * .. SPOTTED ON A FRIEND'S FACEBOOK PAGE: "My parents moved a lot when I was young. But I kept finding them."

 * ... OVERHEARD: Two men are talking about the Rite-Aid on 23rd Street, notorious for the amount of homeless who gather and beg for money at its entrance. "About two weeks ago I am driving east and I see a Rite Aid employee, a small woman, tackle some homeless guy in the parking lot. He who stole something - booze, cough syrup- not sure what, but she chased him down. She got it back and let him go. Happens all the time I hear."

 * ... KEN KELLER: Ken Keller, chief operating officer at Memorial Hospital, has been promoted to chief executive officer, replacing Jon Van Boening who has moved into a more corporate role at Dignity Health overseeing multiple hospitals.

* ... MOVING UP: Congratulations to Louis Amestoy, a public affairs specialist at Aera Energy who is moving to Colorado to become director of content for the Greeley Tribune. Amestoy previously worked as editor of The Bakersfield Californian before moving on to a stint in radio at American General Media and later Aera. Greeley is owned by Carson City-based Swift Communications, which operates newspapers and magazines across Colorado and much of the west.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this shot of JC Penny's on Chester in 1930 compliments of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Colleen McGauley out at CASA, Memorial's Jon Van Boening gets a big promotion and KERN radio host Ralph Bailey mixes it up with KHSD candidate Bryan Colebrook

Friday, November 3, 2018

 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 such a special to live. Send your news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... BRYAN COLEBROOK: We are within a week of the mid-term elections and things are getting hot, not only among the candidates but between some candidates and the press. On the local level, KERN radio host Ralph Bailey mixed it up with Kern High School District candidate Bryan

Colebrook in a less than four minute interview that ended with Bailey abruptly ending the interview. At issue: Colebrook's statement questioning why his opponent Jenifer Pitcher is running when she doesn't have children and is single. Things got hot and the interview went to hell. Colebrook and Pitcher are running neck and neck, so we are left to wonder: will this help or hurt Pitcher, or Colebrook? The Valley Voice, an acerbic online newsletter, posted a video calling Bailey the "town drunk" and saying he basically ambushed Colebrook. Your take?



 * ... DIGNITY HEALTH: Dignity Health, which operates the two local Mercy Hospitals and Memorial Hospital, is going to grow in a big way when it merges with Catholic Health Initiatives, creating a $28 billion health system giant with 700 facilities in 28 states. The deal was announced at the end of last year and is expected to close by the end of this year. CHI is based in Colorado and it operates 103 hospitals, including four academic health centers and major teaching hospitals. Dignity operates hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada.

 * ... VAN BOENING: The pending merger may explain why Memorial President Jon Van Boening has just been promoted at Dignity, moving into a position making him responsible for the business operations of seven hospitals in Dignity's Central California service area. Van Boening, who has been president of Memorial since 2001, will retain an office in Bakersfield. Meanwhile a search has begun for a new president of Memorial Hospital.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If anybody tells you you’re putting too much Parmesan on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don’t need that negativity in your life."

 * ... MCGAULEY: After 17 years as head of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Colleen McGauley is out as its director. No one is saying what really happened (there is a story there somewhere) but CASA said in a news release that McGauley is moving to a new position as senior advisor. Stay tuned.

 * ... GRIMMWAY: Hats off to the employees of Grimmway Farms who spent Saturday helping clean up the area around Lamont. More than 200 employee volunteers and their families pitched in to help clean parks, road and walkways throughout the community.

 * ... MEMORIES: Thanks to the Facebook page Kern County of Old for sharing this old photo of the Grapevine, then and now.

Joseph's Italian restaurant falls on hard times, Greg Kerr joins Vance Palm to air CSUB home basketball games and a bit of Bako history from the archives

Friday, September 21, 2018

 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 such a special to live. Send your news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

* ... JOSEPH'S: The iconic Italian restaurant Josep's has fallen on hard times and may be flirting with going out of business. In an unusual move, the eatery's owner took to Facebook to share his concern. His post: "It is

with a heavy heart I must make this announcement... This summer has been incredibly hard on us and I'm not sure if we're going to be able to make it out. I've cut every aspect of spending, including the lowest number of employees we've had since my nana and father ran the place back in the 80s. My mother and father created and experienced the peak of this restaurant during the 1990s and early 2000s. I've been struggling to bring that back but I lack the finances and charisma they had. On top of that, the city continues to grow daily and competition ceaselessly arises. Simply put, the neccessary finances to keep the business afloat are not coming in. The money that does come in is only enough to cut even. This does not include license renewals, taxes, rent, and other utilities. I continue daily to keep the place alive and going for one more week at a time. But I know there will come a point where it's not going to be possible, especially now that we are in the midst of fair season. The fees of maintaining the business will eventually catch up. To be clear, we are not closed yet, we're still fighting to be open as of now, although the future of Joseph's is looking bleak. This is but a heads up to our loyal guests who frequent the establishment on a weekly basis. I know who you are and I feel it is my responsibility to prepare all of you."

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "You know that nice tingly feeling you get when you’re falling for someone? That’s common sense leaving your body."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "Just be yourself. Someone will love you for it then soon enough hate you for it."

 * ... CSUB BASKETBALL: This year's season of CSUB basketball will feature two veteran broadcasters airing the games. The university said all home men's basketball games will be broadcast on WatchESPN for the second-straight season. The Roadrunners are bringing back play-by-play announcer Vance Palm and welcoming local sports anchor Greg Kerr as the color analyst. Palm is entering his 20th year as a local play-by-play announcer. He currently has the longest tenure among announcers in the Bakersfield community and has been with the `Runners for just shy of a decade. Kerr, a constant in Bakersfield sports reporting since in 1987, has agreed to team up with Palm for CSUB's home games this season. Kerr was inducted into the Bob Elias Kern County Hall of Fame in 2016, becoming just the second journalist to join the ranks.

 * ... BRIDGET BARNES: And speaking of CSUB basketball, one of the more interesting people I have met recently is Bridget Barnes, wife of CSUB head coach Rod Barnes. The Mississippi native is a deeply spiritual lay minister whose mother was a Jehovah's Witness but she now identifies herself as a Christian. Check out her website at bridgetbarnesministries.life.

 * ... DIGNITY: Congratulations to Dignity Health which announced a partnership with CSUB athletics to for Mercy and Memorial Hospitals to be the exclusive health care providers for CSUB athletics. Dignity is one of the more savvy marketers in the region and its Hello Humankindness campaign has been a huge hit. In October, it will become one of the primary sponsors of my show, The Richard Beene Show, on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM.

* ... ADVENTIST HEALTH: Meanwhile things aren't going so well over at Adventist Health, formerly known as San Joaquin Hospital. The hospital laid off a couple dozen of employees this week in what it called a restructuring.

* ... MEMORIES: How about this old picture of the Woody Store in the 1950s. I spotted this on the Kern County of Old Facebook page where the caption read: "Woody was named after Dr. Sparrell Walter Woody, who homesteaded with his wife at the foot of Blue Mountain in 1862. The Woody School District was founded in 1873 and a post office opened in 1889. A local legend states that the outlaw Joaquin Murrieta once had a cave/hideout in the area that he used while on the run."