The debate heats up over Critical Race Theory, Jordan Love to take the field for the Green Bay Packers and former TV anchor Ron Kilgore passes away

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. 

 * ... CRITICAL RACE THEORY: It looks like our local school boards, traditionally viewed as venues of decorum, have become ground zero in the debate over Critical Race Theory. Already activists have

descended on meetings of the Kern High School District to oppose CRT, and some analysts say it was this debate that led to Glenn Youngkin winning the Virginia governor's race. Tune into the Bakersfield Observed podcast on Spotify for a lively conversation on CRT between Pastor Angelo Frazier and me.

 * ... JORDAN LOVE: Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has tested positive for coronavirus meaning he will sit out this Sunday's game at Kansas City. Filling in for Rodgers will be Bakersfield native Jordan Love, a Utah State graduate who has been playing a backup role for Rodgers while in Green Bay.

 * ... WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Bakersfield has seen some great TV news talent come and go through the years and today we put a spotlight on some of the best we have lost. One of those who’s made it big: Melissa Magee.  McGee was at KBAK for three years in the early 2000s. After Bakersfield, Magee switched to weather reporting and received her Broadcast Meteorology Certificate from Mississippi State. She spent 11 years at East coast powerhouse WPVI-TV in Philadelphia before joining KNBC Los Angeles in 2020. She replaced longtime KNBC weatherman Fritz Coleman upon his retirement last year and is now the lead forecaster on the NBC4 News at 5, 7 and 11 pm.  

 * ... TV PASSINGS: And speaking of news personalities, former anchor Ron Kilgore passed away this week. Keep him and his family in your thoughts. Kilgore was news director, reporter and an anchor  at KBAK, KERO and KLYD radio.  He passed away earlier this week. He had most recently been a radio news reporter at KNX Newsradio in LA. Beverly Carr was one of the first women in Bakersfield TV news at KBAK in the late 1970s. She later spent the 1980s and 1990s in Spokane at KREM and KHQ. Carr passed away last September at just 66. (pictures courtesy of Facebook Group Bakersfield Radio and TV Broadcast Group).

 * ... RIP ROSE: We lost Rose Lee Maphis recently, one of the great names in the story of the Bakersfield Sound. Maphis performed as a harmony singer and rhythm guitarist as a duo with her husband Joe Maphis. They were pioneers of the Bakersfield Sound that developed in the mid-1950s and were known as Mr. and Mrs. Country Music. In her later years, she worked as a greeter at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, sharing stories about the genre's legends. Maphis's guitar is on display, next to that of her husband's double neck Mosrite and sheet music for their recording of the song Dim Lights.

 

 * ... MORE MEMORIES:  Who remembers Granite Station, located a bit northeast of Bakersfield just outside a Woody? This station is the location of an historic stage coach stop. Sadly the station accidentally burned down with all the historical artifacts in the mid 1990s. Thanks to the Facebook history page for this Greg Iger soht of Granite Station.

 

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And how about this old bar on Chester Avenue, which I spotted on a Facebook page devoted to old bars and saloons. The caption read: "Inside the "Arlington Hotel Bar" at 19th Street & Chester Avenue in Bakersfield, California......c.1895."

City Council votes against a homeless hotel near Bakersfield Heart Hospital, Labor Day revelers trash our own Hart Park and local among those rescued in the Cedar Fire

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.

 * ... PROJECT ROOMKEY: It was a tough call, but the Bakersfield City Council did the right thing in voting unanimously to reject plans to use a hotel near the Bakersfield Heart Hospital as the site to temporarily house the homeless. The idea was called Project Roomkey, which envisions using local hotels to house the homeless during this Covid-19 pandemic. Anna Lavin, executive director of the Kern County homeless collaborative, said she was disappointed in the vote especially when she felt city staff had

supported the idea. But while Lavin and others urge compassion when it comes to the homeless, what about the surrounding businesses that must subject their own customers to to the endless parade of homeless and the problems they often bring: trash, filth, drug use, mental illness and a host of unsanitary conditions? The project ran into a buzzsaw when Dr. Brij Bhambi, a local cardiologist and one of the Heart Hospital Owners, urged the Council to vote down the idea because of the safety issues it raises with the hundreds of people, patients, employees and visitors who drop by the hospital campus daily. Let's be honest here: what local business, particularly one that serves people who already are ailing from medical conditions, want their customers to be forced to walk the gauntlet of the homeless just to get treatment?Project Roomkey is a sound idea but this was not the right location.

 * ... CREEK FIRE: You can thank the creek fire, roaring and threatening Shaver and Huntington lakes, for the bad air quality in Kern County. While the fires rage, dozens of hikers and campers have been rescued in the Sierras, including weather forecaster Aaron Perlman of KBAK TV and his wife, who had been in the area camping. (file photos of rescues)

 * ... CRESSMAN'S: If you are a regular visitor to Shaver Lake, chances are you may have stopped at Cressman's General Store to gas up or to buy a sandwich. Well, Cressman's did not make it, burned to the ground over this past weekend, another casualty of the Cedar Creek Fire. Cressman's was well known to Valley residents and it once hosted the Heavenly Half marathon as a starting point.

 * ... TRASH AND LITTER: Hart Park, which has struggled for years with trash and litter, was left a mess after the long Labor Day weekend. Huge crowds descended on Hart Park Sunday on the banks of the Kern River, leaving literally mountains of trash. A resident of Round Mountain Road, CSUB professor Dr Jeanine Kraybill, snapped a picture of the trash days after the weekend and wrote a personal note to the Kern County Board of Supervisors. It read: "I realize this is a very challenging time in terms of providing resources to clean up the trash left behind at the park and the illegal dumping that occurs out on RMR, but I would like to know how the County is and/or plans to continue to address this issue. I know I do not have to tell you the damaging environmental impact that dumped and left debris causes--this really is also a public health issue. I want to know if there are clean up crews still operating? What is being done by Park Rangers at Hart Park to combat against people leaving their trash?... I want us ALL (both residents of Kern County and visitors) to enjoy our public spaces. I love Hart Park--it is a special place, with so much potential---I am just heart-broken to see this. I am sure this is upsetting to you as well."

 * ... MEMORIES: Recognize this old building on 34th Street? Well according to the Kern County History Fans Facebook page, the old roller rink used to be home to Bell's Garden Supply, at least in this picture dated to 1949.

Bakersfield's KBAK TV sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group and more musings on Bako's horrific trash and litter problem

 * ... KBAK: The sale of KBAK (channel 29) to Sinclair Broadcast Group means all three local TV stations have changed hands in the past year. The Baltimore-based Sinclair group won a bidding war to buy Fisher Communications, which has been quietly marketing its stations for several months. In the past year, market leader KGET 17 was sold to Nexstar Communications and KERO 23 was sold to
the Scripps TV group. No word on what this will mean for KBAK and its FOX 58 affiliate and their staffs.

  * ... TRASH: More musings on our litter problem, this thought compliments of Susan Chaidez.   "Many people don’t have the time, vehicle  or money to drive to the dump to take care of their trash.  Dumping it in a business dumpster is illegal. Why doesn’t the city or county station large dumpsters (like recycle dumpsters) in particular areas that are affected by this? ... The only way to stop the freeway trash is for a CHP officer to catch the offender who has uncovered trash while driving down the highway at 70 miles per hour.  But if it happened a few times and those people were required to pick up trash on a Saturday in lieu of a fine it would be a deterrent and a win-win fix. I recently witnessed a gardener 'blow' trash from a yard he was tending into the street far enough away that I know he wasn’t going to pick it up. This issue is everyone’s problem, it looks terrible and reflects on us as a community. We are better than this!"

 * ... EAST: Rick Van Horne, a local teacher and a board member with the Bakersfield City School District, wrote to say that Pat Patterson made an appearance at the recent 75th anniversary committee meeting for East High School. "Pat, who was a longtime counselor at Bakersfield High, was a freshman on opening day at East High in 1938," he said. "She was also the very first freshman class president of East High."

 * ... MOVING ON: Congratulations to Doug Collins, a 2002 graduate of Stockdale High School and California Baptist University who is now director of students (youth pastor) at Pathways Church in Redlands. His proud mother, Laurie Collins of the Kern Council of Goverments, said he proposed to his girlfriend Anna Hickey during Christmas and is getting married in the Lodi area on August 17. "We are so proud of him and so glad God answers prayers and directs lives," she said.

 * ... MEMORY: From reader Joe Chavez: "Remember Richard's toy store? And the stamp and coin shop on Baker Street? I used to go to there after a Saturday show at the Tejon Theater to buy an Aurora model kit monsters or sci fi spaceships... This was a awesome time in the mid 1960s. Is there any one out there who has pictures of these long gone places? Either outside shots, or indoor?"

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And Dennis Claxton added this: "I think that the Brundage Variety Store was first opened as Fiddlers Variety (I may have misspelled the name). I grew up on Cypress and remember going in there to buy candy ... also our dad worked at Golden Crust bread. He delivered bread to Taft., Maricopa and Ford City... I would go with my dad every summer for a week and load his truck and smell the bread and ride with him on his route and he would pay me $10."              

 * ...  BAKERSFIELDISM: You are really a Bakersfield old timer if you remember when the "east side students of the one high school (KCUHS) caught the street car at Baker and Sumner to 19th Street, then west to F Street and south to the high school." Thanks to Jack M. Rademacher for that one.

Bako Bits: Get ready for the "Nut Festival" in June, voting is underway for the Best of Kern County and a new face at KBAK TV

 * ... TRASH: Betsy Gosling spotted something you don't see often in our community. "On Sunday morning on my way to church at about 8:30 a.m., a man is picking up trash along Gosford across the street from Sam's Club.  I really commend him for doing that. He's obviously doing that on his own and

wants the street to be clean.  I want my residential area and have begun pulling garage sale signs off poles and picking up papers myself.  It's our planet and we need to take care of it.  Most people don't think about that, unfortunately."

 * ... NUT FESTIVAL: Planning is well under way for the first Kern County "Nut Festival," a two-day celebration of the almonds, pistachios and other nuts that are so important to our local economy. Organizers are promising a"truly unique experience" that will put Bakersfield on the map, much as the garlic festival has done for Gilroy. It is planned for Friday and Saturday June 14-15.

 * ... BEST OF KERN: Remember to vote in the annual "Best of Kern" competition that highlights everything from the best romantic restaurant to the best personal trainer in town. The voting started this week and extends over a month. To vote, go to bestofkern.com and register your email. The results will be printed in the April 27 edition of BakersfieldLife magazine.

 * ... DIVAS: Speaking of BakersfieldLife magazine, a new group of "Dining Divas" will debut the February issue. The new group includes teacher Andrea Ames, Stephanie Pickering, Marlene Morales of Chain Cohn and Stiles, Denise Ornelas of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and pastry chef Mai Giffard.

* ... OVERHEARD: Best panhandling line of the week, so far: "Do you have any change I could use to get back to Shafter to get my debit card?"

* ... SPOTTED: Posted by a friend on Facebook: "While I was waiting for my takout pimento cheese sandwich, a woman walked in, placed an order and said to the cashier, apropos of nothing, 'I need some affirmation.' Without missing a beat, he replied, 'You are awesome. Nice to get what you ask for, isn't it?'"

 * ... DID YOU KNOW? Did you know that certain birds actually mourn the death of other birds? That's the conclusion of a study in the journal Animal Behaviour, which concluded that when a Western scrub jay dies,"other jays may hold a kind of funeral - screeching over the body for as long as half an hour."

* ... KBAK: More comings and goings in the local television market. Rob Finnerty is joining Lynda Halligan and Aaron Perlman on KBAK/KBFX Eyewitness News Mornings. Finnerty arrives from Boston where is was most recently a wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch. Previously he was sports anchor for New England Cable News.