Joe Biden clinches Pennsylvania and becomes president elect, the return of pets to the White House (German Shepherds Major and Chamo) and the world loses Jeopardy host Alex Trebek to pancreatic cancer

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.

 * ... ELECTION: Joe Biden is now the president-elect following one of the closest elections in American history which saw a record number of votes. All of the ballots are not yet in but Biden hit the magic

number in electoral votes when he won Pennsylvania on Saturday. In his acceptance speech Biden vowed to be a president for all Americans, regardless of party. Most Republicans I know were disappointed but resigned to a Biden presidency. Others, in fact perhaps most Republicans I know, are more fearful of vice president-elect Kamala Harris and their perception of her as "too far left" should something happen to Biden and she rises to the presidency. Dr. Brij Bhambi of Centric Health called Biden's acceptance speech "powerful and well worded that met the moment." Pastor Angelo Frazier of Riverlakes Community Church had this to say: "Yes, convictions are not based on polls, politics or focus groups, regardless of the outcome of the elections, it is this country we are fighting for... we must fight the good fight with honor, integrity and truth. It is the founding principles in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that we uphold for all people and parties. The lust for power must never trump the triumph of love! We are all Americans now and we will be afterward. Let's rolll." Both Bhambi and Frazier are regular commentators on The Richard Beene Show on KERN Newstalk 96.1 FM. Frazier appears Mondays and Bhambi Fridays.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If civil war starts, I ain't running! Cause I'm fat, that's why."

 * ... FIRST DOGS: The election of Joe Biden will do one thing we can all agree on: it will be good to see pets back in the White House. Joe and wife Jill have two German shepherds, Major and Champ, and the president is quite fond of dog kisses, we are told. In the pictures below are Major and Champ along with another yellow lab that a voter named ... Joe Biden.

 * ... ALEX TREBEK: We lost Alex Trebek, the longtime host of the popular game show "Jeopardy!" who died Sunday after a bout with pancreatic cancer. Trebek, 80, served a year with the cancer (the odds of surviving a second year with pancreatic cancer are just 7 percent) but recently took a turn for the worse and died Sunday. Trebek's connection with Kern County was strong, thanks in part to Sheri Horn-Bunk of the Taft College Foundation. When Horn-Bunk discovered that Trebek once joked he might attend Taft College to study oil drilling in retirement she reached out to him to appear at the West Kern Petroleum Summit. He did, graciously, and later funded a scholarship there. My wife and I were guests of Horn-Bunks last January when we went to Burbank to watch the filming of Jeopardy! where Trebek greeted us with warmth and charm. He was one of a kind and he will be missed.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this old picture of a motorcycle club in Kern County back in the day.

Voters kill the proposed tobacco tax; does this portend bad things for the twin tax hikes for the November ballot?

* ... TOBACCO TAX: I was surprised that Proposition 29, which would have added a new $1 tax on cigarettes, appears to be losing by a narrow margin. The tobacco lobby threw almost $50 million in misleading ads against the tax, but some experts think a general anti-tax sentiment across the state may have doomed the measure. If that is the case, it spells trouble for the two tax measures that will be on the November ballot to bail out higher education.


* ... NUT FESTIVAL: A group of folks who work hard to improve the image of our community are hoping a "nut festival" will bring Bakersfield some better publicity. It's all the brainchild of Sheryl Barbich and a small group of influential business people who are modeling the "nut festival" after the garlic festival in Gilroy and other successful events. The first Kern County Nut Festival will be held June 14-15, 2013, at the Kern County Museum. Organizers stay the event will feature a number of culinary creations using almonds, pistachios and walnuts, as well as games and activities for kids and adults. It's still being planned, but this could be just the thing our community needs to put Bakersfield in a better light.

 * ... JEOPARDY! Alex Trebek has hosted the popular game show "Jeopardy!" for almost 28 years, and there is a lot of speculation on when he might retire. In a recent interview, he dropped the idea that he may just drive up to Taft College to take a few courses. "Learning something new is fun," says Trebek. "When I finish as the host of `Jeopardy!' I'm going to go up to Taft in central California. They have a small college there that teaches you about oil drilling. I'd like to take a course," he says.

 * .... D-DAY: The 68th commemoration of D-Day brought this note from Bonnie Bogle Farrer. "On June 6, 1944,  my father sent me a telegram from 'somewhere in England.'  Six days after D-Day he landed at the Normandy beaches  in France as a major in the American Army. A medical doctor, he cared for both American and German wounded soldiers. Much later, he wrote his war memoirs about those incredible days."

* ... BILL RAY: If you consider yourself handy around the home, or if you aspire to be, head over to Bill Ray Tile on East Brundage on Saturday for a workshop on laying tile. Bill Ray Tile has an incredible selection of tiles around the world, and they will be giving away Dodger tickets and other prizes. Bill Ray is located at 6301 East Brundage and the workshop starts at 11 a.m.


 * ... EATERY: The renaissance of downtown Bakersfield continues with the opening of yet another restaurant, this one called Muerto's Kitchen and Lounge in the Wall Street alley just across from Guthrie's Alley Cat.  I stopped by the other day and was impressed by its menu and service (I highly recommend the white wine sangria and machaca tacos). Muerto's is in the space formerly occupied by Azul and the infamous Sud's Tavern in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally a firehouse in the late 1800s and in fact the back patio area was the stable for the horses that pulled the fire wagons.  Muerto's is owned by Shawna Haddad-Byers, formally of Fishlips.

* ... BAD FORM: From Dr. Bill Farr, a physician whose office is near the intersection of Calloway Drive and Brimhall Road: "A teacher from Emerson Junior High dumped all of her class room crap all over the dumpster in my office, missing the dumpster and getting it all over the floor.  The trash (collectors) would not pick it up because it was such a mess. The pupils' grades and reports were scattered all over the ground."