Andy Vidak's defeat is a stunner from election night, someone needs to snatch up Michael Bowers, voters choose experience over tribalism in electing David Couch and a mother-daughter team starts a new business

Friday, November 9, 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.

 * ... ELECTIONS: The biggest surprise (for me at least) on election night was the defeat of state

Sen. Andy Vidak. Vidak lost to a Democrat from Sanger named Melissa Hurtado, who to my knowledge never campaigned in Kern County. Vidak's defeat will also mean his Kern County aide, Michael Bowers, will be out of a job. Bowers is one of the most personally dynamic people I have met in a long time, and I suspect it won't take long for him to find a new gig.

 * ... DAVID COUCH: I was also heartened to see that Supervisor David Couch won reelection to his newly redrawn 4th District, where Hispanics comprise almost 68 percent of the population. Few public servants work harder than Couch, and I was glad to see that experience trumped tribalism in the 4th District. Running second was Delano Mayor Grace Vallejo, also a solid public servant but a candidate who was simply outworked in this race.

 * ... MARIJUANA: Now that Kern County voters have rejected three measures to regulate the sale of medical marijuana, it looks like the 20-something dispensaries that remain open will be closing before the end of the year. That's bad news for folks who rely on medicinal cannabis to treat anxiety, pain or sleep disorders, who will soon be driving to Arvin where its sale and distribution has been approved. No word on when the first dispensaries in Arvin will open.

 * ... LOVE AND CHEESE: I was at the Crash Lounge the other day when I ran into a mother-daughter couple who have started an impressive new business. It's called Love & Cheese and it features custom made cheese and veggie trays that are nothing short of amazing. Lisa Miller, the mother, is in business with her two daughters, Heather Ahlf and Victoria Stockman. Check the photos of their products and if interested, give them a call at (661) 444-1506.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "How many different animals did we have to jump on the backs of before we discovered horses were cool with it?"

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree years ago."

 * ... LEAVING CALIFORNIA: This popped up on the internet the other day. Ain't it the truth.

 * ... MEMORIES: I found this picture on the Kern County Historical Society Facebook page with this caption: "In 1918, a photograph was taken on the steps of the Kern County Court House in Bakersfield. On the front steps stand the men that had returned home from 'over there.' Behind these servicemen stand the veterans of the American Civil War. No further proof required -- Kern County supports its veterans."

The three-way race in the 4th District on the Board of Supervisors heats up, Couch fends off attacks on the "English only" charge and the Boy Scouts prepare to honor Monsignor Craig Harrison

Friday, August 10, 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. Email your news and notes to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... 4th DISTRICT: Is it possible to get elected to county office here when you criticize the oil and gas industry? We will test that thesis in November when voters decide whether to re-elect David

Couch as 4th District supervisor or opt for one of his two challengers, Delano Mayor Grace Vallejo or Lamont Chamber president Jose Gonzalez. Gonzalez, for one, has been harshly critical of the oil and gas industry and took to the podium during a public hearing in Arvin to trash fossil fuels. For her part, Vallejo warned against "biting the hand that feeds you" and has taken a more balanced approach to the industry that provides so many local jobs. Couch of course is a strong supporter of the local fossil fuel production.

 * ... ENGLISH ONLY: In Couch's bid for reelection he is battling the perception that he is hostile to Latinos, a position being advanced by Vallejo supporter Dolores Huerta, among others. It all stems from the time Couch served on the Bakersfield City Council and supported the idea of declaring English has the official language of the city. But if you listen to his detractors, Couch was proposing "English only" in the city of Bakersfield, which Couch said was not only wrong and misleading but highly inflammatory. "I never supported English only," he told me. "I think it's great if people speak two, three or four different languages." This being politics, you can expect this charge to be repeated by Couch's opponents. As Couch himself said: "It's going to be a food fight."

 * ... HOMELESS: The number of people suffering from "homeless fatigue," an apparent lack of sympathy for those who roam our streets, is on the rise. And it doesn't help when a homeless encampment pops up in a park in Oildale where folks are sleeping under the plastic slides and swing sets.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "My friend is studying to be a librarian so I've decided to study to become a blacksmith."

 * ... MORE TWITTER: "If I owned a diner I’d have a sandwich called 'The Usual' so everyone would feel special."

 * ... MONSIGNOR CRAIG: Monsignor Craig Harrison is being honored by the local chapter of the Boy Scouts, the Southern Sierra Council, at its Distinguished Citizens Dinner next month.
The Boy Scouts of America-the Southern Sierra Council will honor Harrison at the Sept. 7 dinner and reception t Luigi's. Proceeds from the event will benefit scouting programs, such as the community Scoutreach Project that brings scouting to underserved areas through Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Explorer Scouts, and STEM Scout programs in partnership with local schools, churches, and law enforcement. Contact (661) 325-9036 for tickets.

 * ... MEMORIES: Enjoy this old photo at the corner of Dale Drive and Roberts Lane.

California oil production is surpassed by other states, Supervisor David Couch gets another opponent and the late restaurant critic Jonathan Gold's love affair with Bakersfield

Friday, July 27, 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. Email your news and notes to rsbeene@yahoo.com. 

 * ... OIL PATCH: The folks in the local oil industry are finally able to relax a bit after three years of belt tightening and anxiety over soft prices and world demand. The industry is doing well, with the

price of a barrel of oil hovering around $70 and the U.S. on its way to overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top oil producer. But Chad Hathaway, president of Hathaway Oil, told me that California continues to slip in terms of overall production because of a hostile state government in Sacramento and burdensome regulations. States that are now producing more oil than California, or headed that way, include Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and Colorado.

 * ... FOURTH DISTRICT: Supervisor David Couch has another opponent in his bid for reelection, Lamont Chamber of Commerce president Jose Gonzalez. Gonzelez joined Delano mayor Grace Vallejo in challenging Couch, who us running in a newly drawn Latino majority district thanks to the MALDEF lawsuit that forced the redistricting. Vallejo was the choice of a group of Latino leaders to run, but she has all but disappeared from public view, spurning offers for interviews and raising questions about her desire to run. Lamont was previously part of Supervisor Leticia Perez's district but landed in the Fourth District due to the new boundaries. (file photos of Gonzalez and Vallejo)

 * ... RIP JONATHAN GOLD: Bakersfield lost a true friend this week with the death of Jonathan Gold, the award winning Los Angeles Times food critic who was one of Bakersfield's biggest fans. Gold visited here frequently, bringing the likes of Dewar's, Luigi's, Pyrenees Bakery and Woolgrower's to his wide audience. He loved our food, our quirkiness and our people. Consider the opening of a piece Gold wrote in the LA Weekly: "I have been accused of overpraising Bakersfield, and perhaps it is true. Dewar's, across the street from Bakersfield High School, is still the best old soda fountain in the state, and even if it didn't make the world's best nut chews — little Tootsie Rolls of taffy stuffed with crunchy, salty almonds — I would still go there for the thrill of seeing the counterwomen tamping the ice cream into sundae goblets in a way that makes the marshmallow crème spurt out the sides. Luigi's may not be the oldest surviving Italian restaurant in the western United States, but it feels as if it is, and the platters of pasta and beans, the Saturday-only burgers on toast and the homemade spumoni are straight out of 1906. The Arizona Café features a style of California-Mexican cooking that feels a century old... Bakersfield, a scant two hours away, offers the not-inconsiderable pleasure of being in a place that is neither Los Angeles nor part of greater Los Angeles, a town that is thoroughly Californian but can also feel a lot like the good parts of Oklahoma. It's the home of the Bakersfield Sound, the Merle Haggard/Buck Owen/Rose Maddox thing that brought a bit of grit back to country music, and without it the radio now would probably sound even more like Taylor Swift. But mostly, at least for me, there is the old-fashioned cooking at one of the city's Basque dining halls, huge, multicourse feasts originally intended for the Basque shepherds staying at the local boardinghouses. They have become so popular that the few sheep men who show up are treated like local celebrities."

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "In the event of a tornado, put some weiners in your pocket. That way the search dogs will find you first."

 * ... LOCAL CRIME: A group of thieves are hitting businesses across town in a most brazen way: they are using stolen pickup trucks to pull the glass entrances of businesses and cleaning the places out. It has happened at least four times in the last month, the latest occurring at a Cigarette shop on Stockdale and Allen Road and at the Finish Line bicycle shop across from CSUB on Stockdale Highway. The thieves, who all appear to be young white men, wear masks to hide their faces and use stolen trucks to pull off the glass entrances. They are hitting these businesses between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

 * OILDALE: The "welcome to Oildale" sign on North Chester just can't seem to get a break. Shortly after it was installed it was destroyed by a car, and now the replacement sign has been tagged by graffiti.

 * ... MEMORIES: Take a look at this picture of North Chester, compliments of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Fresno State donors withhold their dollars after a professor tweets that Barbara Bush was a racist, TBC loses some top talent and watching the candidacy of Grace Vallejo as she challenges David Couch

Friday April 20, 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.

 * ... BAD FORM: Let's hope there is a special place in hell for people like Randa Jarrar, the Fresno State English professor who sparked outrage by calling the late Barbara Bush a "racist" who raised a "war criminal." Free speech aside, it was an act of bad form that was only topped when she made a

bad situation worse by doubling down on her outrageous tweet. Entitled and arrogant, Jarrar went on to tweet that she was a tenured professor who was in no danger of losing her job. Alumni donors are outraged and some are withholding donations until they see what the university does. Jarrar's arrogance and meanness are prime examples of the destructive tribalism sweeping out nation.

 * ... TBC EXODUS: The exodus of talent at The Bakersfield Californian continues unabated. I learned this week that James Burger and Harold Pierce, arguably the two best beat reporters at the paper, both turned in their resignations. Burger is a longtime government reporter and Pierce is known as a young rising star in the newsroom. It the past year, the paper has lost a lot of top talent, including columnist Lois Henry, lifestyles editor Jennifer Self and political editor Christine Bedell. Word is both Burger and Pierce are going to work for local non-profits.

 * ... UNITY: No one should ever underestimate the importance of what happened when Kern County Latino leaders gathered to agree on a candidate to challenge David Couch in the newly aligned supervisor's district. Some of the biggest and most influential names in the local Latino community - Dean Florez, Leticia Perez, Daniel Rodriguez, H.A. Sala, Mark Martinez and others - met to build a consensus of support for Delano Mayor Grace Vallejo to challenge Couch. To get this done, potential candidates Joe Aguirre, Jose Gurrola, Donny Munoz and Emilio Huerta all agreed to support Vallejo. Couch is no slouch and enjoys broad support, but unity of this stripe is hard to find and can be a powerful force.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Just once, I want to be able to say 'I got this' without a look of panic coming over my wife's face."

 * ... POLITICAL DEBATE: It was standing room only at the CSU Bakersfield library when Cynthia Zimmer and Scott Spielman faced off in a debate Thursday afternoon. The next debate comes on Friday, April 27, when a town hall forum is held at the Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame featuring candidates in all the top contests. I will be moderating the debate along with Supervisor Leticia Perez.

 * ... BLVD SUCCESS: The hottest new entertainment venue in town, BLVD over off Buck Owens Boulevard, held its open house and grand opening this week and the raves were unanimous. The place is enormous, has multiple bowling centers, restaurants and bars, laser tag and games. BLVD is located near Temblor in an area off Buck Owens that was once home to large box stories that later moved.

 * ... MEMORIES: Don't you just love this picture of the old Miss Frieses Maternity Home where so many people were born back in the day? The building, located on 8th Street, looks remarkable similar to the old Bakersfield hospital that still stands across the street from the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Photo courtesy of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.