The recession drags on in the jobless numbers and the injured Padre Hotel manager begins to heal

  

* .. JOB LOSSES: This recession won't be over until unemployment eases, both locally and nationally. So it wasn't exactly easy reading when I saw a study saying Bakersfield had lost more than 5,000 private sector jobs from April 2009 to April of this year. That's a loss of about 3 percent of all jobs in the private sector, another indication that we are bumping along the bottom of this recession. Las Vegas suffered the sharpest year over year decline in percentage terms, losing 4.71 percent. Wichita, Kansas, was the next worst at 4.69 percent. Closer to home Fresno fared a tad better than us, losing 2.43 percent of his private sector workforce.

 * ... DAVIS NEWS: Heard from reader Adele Davis who said she too graduated from UC Santa Barbara in one of the first classes to attend the "new" campus in Goleta. She is the wife of Dr. Doug Davis, music professor at CSUB who is from Clinton, Tennessee. Add him to the list of local Tennessee transplants. He is takingn of leave of absence this year to work on some unfinished compositions and perhaps write some new material. She also told me that Matthias Kleinsasser, a merit scholar and graduate of Bakersfield High, just graduated from law school at the University of Texas at Austin. He was a viola player in high school who went to UC Irvine as a music major. His mother is Dr. Jeanne Harrie, chair of the history department at CSUB, and his father is Dr. Jerry Kleinsasser, a recently retired musicologist at CSUB.

 * ... HEALING: Good news from Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas where Padre Hotel general manager Drew Hall is on the mend after a horrific jet ski accident. The 31-year-old was gravely injured last Tuesday when he fell off his jet ski in Lake Havasu and was run over by another ski. He suffered multiple skull fractures and may lose sight in one eye, but friends and colleagues say he is making a miraculous recovery. He is now in a private room, eating, getting out of bed and joking with nurses and his doctors. No word yet what kind of rehabilitation is in store but his co-workers at The Padre are anxious to get him back.

 * ... THIS IS SUMMER? Hard to believe we're in mid June and we continue to have these unseasonably mild weekends. Could not have asked for nicer weather for the annual Wine Fest, which was a huge hit, and all the restaurants around town seemed busy. Mild weather, water in the river, blue skies, not the time to be anywhere else than here.

 * ... PERFECT GIFT: Is there any better birthday gift for an empty nester than calls from your children? Knowing they are well and happy and hearing that familiar lift in their voices is all one needs.

 * ... BAKERSFIEDISM: You know you are from Bakersfield if "you drag raced on Acacia Avenue behind the cemetery."

Padre Hotel manager now stable after horrific jet ski accident and more love for the Ohio State Buckeyes

* ... JET SKI ACCIDENT: If you have spent any time at the new Padre Hotel downtown chances are you've seen or met Drew Hall, the 31-year-old manager who makes everyone feel at home. Now it's our turn to reach out to Drew, who was in a horrific jet ski accident on Lake Havasu earlier this week. Drew and two other Padre managers were on jet skies when Drew went down and was accidentally hit by another jet ski. (police say no alcohol was involved) Family members say he suffered multiple skull fractures and  may lose sight in one eye, but the worst is over and he is now out of intensive care and in stable condition. His aunt said he is talking, though confused and groggy, and doctors say there are no neck or spinal injuries.  He's currently at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas where he was flown after the accident. His parents, who live in Virginia and visited Drew at The Padre recently, flew in to be at his side. A graduate of James Madison University, Drew has worked for the company that owns the Padre for several years and recently was promoted to general manager of the iconic Bakersfield hotel. He had planned to stay in Bakersfield and recently engaged a Realtor to find him a home. Please keep this young man in your thoughts and prayers.


* ... NEW PARTNER : Heard the other day that Matthew C. Clark has been named a partner in the law firm of Chain, Cohn and Stiles. Clark is a graduate of Garces High School and Loyola Marymount University and joined the firm in 2006. He's a graduate of Leadership Bakersfield, helped the Stockdale mock trail team for four years and recently was named to the board of Clinica Sierra Vista.

 * ... BUCKEYE LOVE: Got a nice note from Dan Schaffer, operations manager at KAXL Radio here, telling about his love for the Ohio State Buckeyes. He actually went to Ohio University but has a Buckeye tree in a large pot on his back patio. "It has a problem with the extreme heat here in Bakersfield, but I try to keep it moist with a mist spray every afternoon at about 3 p.m. in the summer and in the winter, I periodically dump a bag of ice on the soil to simulate snow. The seed that I planed was given to me by a friend who had brought it here from Columbus." Schaffer noted that the music worship leader at First United Methodist Church, Andrew Irvin, is an Ohio State grad. "Go Bucks!" he said.

 * ... TBC FOUNDATION: I'm fortunate to work for a family who truly believes in giving back to the community. The Bakersfield Californian Foundation represents the family owners (not the company or newspaper itself but rather family interests) and it recently awarded $81,450 in grants to a couple dozen organizations. Among them were the Bakersfield Music Theater, National Alliance on Mental Health, Boys and Girls Club, League of Dreams, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield SPCA, Kern Bridges Youth Homes, Paramount Bard Academy and the Bakersfield Police Activities League.

 * ... OLIVIER WINS: Heard that Clint Olivier, the former KGET Channel 17 news reporter, won his race for a seat on the Fresno City Council. Janet Beckman, his mother-in-law, says Olivier won with a convincing 62 percent of the vote. Her daughter Alisha is married to Olivier.


* ... OVERHEARD:  Reader Randy Fendrick shares this jewel of a story: "I was standing in line at the bank when a woman on a cell phone next to me was sharing her conversation with everyone within earshot... when she reached into her shoulder hand bag, took out an open bottle of beer and proceeded to take a big swig. Some how your column came to mind." Only in Bako. 

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're from Bakersfield if  "you remember the name of the theater on Baker Street just south of Kentucky. (The Rialto)

Padre Hotel's Drew Hall undergoes six-hour surgery after jet ski accident

 Drew Hall, the 31-year-old manager of the Padre Hotel who was severely injured in a jet ski accident, underwent a six-hour surgery to repair multiple skull fractures and appears to be stable. That's what relatives and friends tell me about Hall's surgery at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. Drew was critically injured on Lake Havasu Tuesday when he fell off his jet ski and apparently was hit by another jet ski. He was airlifted to Las Vegas where he underwent surgery, and relatives say he is responding to verbal commands. Drew's parents flew in from Virginia. Drew's aunt is posting updates on his condition so check back with this post or ones posted earlier. Keep this young man in your thoughts and  prayers.

Padre Hotel manager critically injured in jet ski accident on Lake Havasu

 I heard today that Drew Hall, the popular young manager of Bakersfield's Padre Hotel, has been critically injured in a jet ski accident on Lake Havasu. Padre owner Brett Miller told me that Drew and a couple other Padre managers were taking some time off at the lake when they went jet skiing on Tuesday. Apparently Drew went down and was hit in the head by another jet ski. He was airlifted to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. Miller said Hall, who is in his early 30s, had responded to a doctor's command to squeeze his hand and that surgery was scheduled. Drew is a popular figure at the Padre and had planned to settle down in Bakersfield, enlisting a Realtor to help him find a home.