The Catholic Church reels from yet more disclosures of ignoring predatory priests, are you ready for Round Two of hoarding toilet paper and sanitizer and Maya Cinemas gets a new general manager

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.

 * ... CATHOLIC CHURCH TROUBLES: The seeming never-ending sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church are well documented, and the Diocese of Fresno is at the epicenter locally for dealing with a long history of priests preying on both young men and women.  (The Fresno Diocese is only one of two dioceses in the state that has yet to release its list of credibly accused priests) But virtually no one expected the scandal to tarnish the reputation of the late Pope John Paul II, the once wildly popular Polish pope who ruled for 26 years. But now, thanks to a report from the Vatican itself, the late pope has been tied to the growing scandal of disgraced former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick. Among the findings of the Vatican report: Pope John Paul chose to ignore evidence that showed McCarrick engaged in decades of sexual abuse, including pedophilia. McCarrick has become the poster child of how Catholic priests prey on others: "grooming" victims with adoration, attention, money and gifts all the while using his power and public standing to intimidate the victims and his critics. The McCarrick scandal is a major embarrassment for the church, but it likely won't lead to an effort to reverse the canonization of Pope John Paul II. (file photo of the late Pope John Paul II and the degraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick)

  * ... HOARDING ROUND TWO: Remember when the pandemic first hit and you couldn't find toilet paper, paper towels and hand sanitizes anywhere in town? Well, get ready because we may be entering yet another period of hoarding and grocery shortages. that's the word from the nation's major grocery store companies who say there already is a shortage of kitchen staples like butter and spices because so many people are cooking home. And in the Southeast, Kroger Co. reinstated new limits on the amount of toilet paper and paper towels that customers can purchase. "We are on the cusp of the next uptick in major pandemic buying, said Dave Kauder, vice president of merchandising at New Seasons Market. The New York Times said grocers expect cleaning wipes to remain scarce and are keeping an eye for a rush of demand for new paper products. GOOD ADVICE: If shortages happen here, make sure you check Stinson's Stationers (stinsons.com) which has become a reliable place to find scarce items like bath tissue, hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Sure, human touch is nice, but have you ever tried on a cable knit LL Bean cardigan?"

 * ... MOVIE MIKE: Congratulations to Mike Armendariz, who has been appointed general manager of Maya Cinemas in Bakersfield. Armendariz previously managed the company Delano cinema complex and is recognized as one of the leading authorities on American cinema in California. For the past three years Armendariz has been a regular commentator on movies every Friday on The Richard Beene Show on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM/1180 AM.

 * ... MEMORIES: From the Kern County History Fans Facebook page comes this great shot of the Moronet Building 18th and Eye streets.

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And don't you love this old shot that was featured on the Kern County of Old Facebook page? You are looking west on 19th Street from L Street. 

District attorney candidate says pot shops are frequented by gang members, Maya Cinemas to give it Bakersfield facility a facelift and yet another telephone scam

Monday, May 14, 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. 

 * ... MARIJUANA: California has decriminalized marijuana and made it legal to use for both medical and recreational purposes, and recently President Trump indicated he was ready to allow

states to decide for themselves, signaling a radical change in the federal government's view of cannabis. And consider this: nine states and the District of Columbia now allow for recreational marijuana use and 30 allow for medical use. And more states are lining up to join the legalization wave. Sounds like a trend, right? Yet locally, opposition to cannabis remains strong and appears rooted in an antiquated view of the hemp that has been around for thousands of years. Which is why I found a story in the Taft Midway Driller on district attorney candidate Cynthia Zimmer so intriguing. In it, she says this: "I will tell you, the customers in pot shops are gang members. They are not (all) people who are sick, although some may be." The most frequent customers, Zimmer said, "are physically well people between the ages of 18 and 24, male, who come up and buy marijuana." That may make a good sound bite for a DA candidate in a conservative county, but it does not sync with well documented research that shows the heaviest support (and use) of cannabis comes with people ages 50 and older, middle aged professionals who hardly qualify as gang members. And it also detracts from research showing that widespread use of cannabis (even for recreational use) can help combat the opioid crisis by providing addicts with a more benevolent alternative than street drugs. The times are changing, as they say, just slower here in Kern County.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Sometimes, when my husband has a day off, I like to bring the TV remote with me to work."

* ... MAYA CINEMAS: It looks like Maya Cinemas will get a facelift later this summer. That's the word from Larry Poricelli, vice president of marketing for Maya, who told me last week work will begin in August to spruce up the popular theater. The downtown theater is now eight years old and Poricelli said we can expect new seats (likely the new larger leather recliners that will reduce the total number of seats in each theater) as well as other upgrade. Meanwhile, the new Maya Cinemas in Delano opens this Thursday.

 * ... FOODIE: Good news for the local Pettit family that producers the grass-fed, carrot finished Santa Carota beef. The beef has been so popular at our local Eureka Burger that the restaurant chain now offers it at all 20 of its California locations.

 * ... MORE FOOD NEWS: Speaking of restaurants, how difficult is it for restaurants to recover after getting a bad review or running into trouble with the health department? First, restaurant critic Pete Tittl savaged the new Texas Roadhouse out a Valley Plaza in a piece in the Sunday Californian, faulting  both the quality of the steaks and the side dishes. And last week, downtown eatery T.L. Maxwell's was also savaged when an ex worker sued it claiming she was forced to served moldly food in a dirty kitchen full of vermin and roaches. In the age of social media, these stories are circulated, shared, liked and commented on thousands of times, zipping through the internet at the speed of light and tarnishing reputations along the way.

* ... SCAM: Remember when I told you about the 31-year-old high school English teacher who was scammed out of $6,000 by someone on the phone claiming to be from the IRS? Well it has happened again, and this time it turned ugly and personal. Tina Zimmerman, a sales rep for the American General Media radio group in town, received a call Friday from someone claiming to have kidnapped her daughter. "When I answered the phone there was the voice of a young girl screaming that she had been kidnapped," Zimmerman said. Then a man came on the phone, claiming he had kidnapped her daughter and ordering her to go to a bank to withdraw money, all the while demanding that she stay on the phone. Zimmerman smartly put the man on speaker phone and motioned to a nearby friend to call her daughter's boyfriend. It turned out her daughter was okay, but Zimmerman was left badly shaken. "All I could think about was my daughter and if she was safe," she told me. So the next time a stranger calls, let it go to voice mail.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this classic photo from the Kern County of Old Facebook Page. A classic.

Kern Health Systems pulls out of negotiations to build new administrative building downtown and some good and bad moments downtown

 * ... MISSED OPPORTUNITY: Well, the city passed up a chance to have a major employer (Kern Health Systems) purchase vacant land and bring a couple hundred jobs downtown. The land, across from the Maya Cinemas, has sat vacant for years and the Kern HMO was ready to purchase it

outright for new administrative offices. But when bureaucrats become involved, things never seem to go as smoothly as they should, and Kern Health walked away after the city set too many conditions. The two councilmen who represent the wards closest to the project - Terry Maxwell and Willie Rivera - called it a missed opportunity for downtown development and jobs in a time when growth is stagnant. On this issue, they got it right.

* ... ACHIEVER: Congratulations to Bakersfield native Connor Mojo who has been named an "outstanding senior" at Oklahoma State University. A graduate of Stockade High School and the son of Jeff and Dena Mojo, Connor is an industrial engineering and management major. He is a member of the Honors College and also served as vice president in the OSU Student Foundation (STUFU), an organization that promotes philanthropic giving on campus, as well as an officer in the Sigma Nu fraternity.

 * ... FOODIE: Friends have been raving about the new Victor's Mexican Grill on F Street downtown, so I sauntered in to see what the fuss was all about. Don't expect sit-down service or a cold margarita, because this place was birthed on the Chipotle model: a simple take-out menu featuring fresh burritos and bowls, all at a reasonable price with speedy service. If that is your ticket, punch it here at the new Victor's.

 * ... PADRE: And speaking of food, it was good to see that the folks over at The Padre Hotel finally succumbed and brought back some of the favorite bar food items that disappeared from the menu some time ago. The Brimstone's popular sliders and nachos are back, as well as some tweaks to the hotel's popular salads.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If you don’t have anything nice to say, you’re probably just being realistic."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: A friend posted this on his Facebook page: "I spotted a guy at Starbucks today. He had no smartphone, tablet or laptop. He just sat there drinking his coffee. Like a psychopath."

 * ... BAD FORM: Note to the driver of the white Mitsubishi with the gold "in loving memory" sticker on its back windshield: was it really necessary to toss your empty McDonald's cup and a handful of used napkins out your window the other day?

 * ... GOOD FORM: But hats off to the young man named Cody who came to the aid of a 93-year-old World War II veteran who had slipped in the parking lot while headed to Denny's on Panama Lane. He later spent time with him and walked him back to his motel.

 * ... BARBECUE: And don't forget the St. Francis of Assisi annual barbecue next Thursday in the east church parking lot. For $30 you get to hobnob with your neighbors and dine on a New York steak, fettuccine, green beans, salad and rolls, and all for a good cause.

Longtime Kern County Superior Court Judge Jerold Turner retires and remembering the old Beale Park grocery store

 * ... TURNER: Kern County Superior Court lost one of its most tenured judges this month with the retirement of Judge Jerold L. Turner. Turner is a true Bakersfield native, born at Mercy Hospital and attending school at Franklin Elementary and Foothill High before heading off to UCLA. He eventually

came back to Bakersfield and went to Bakersfield College and later earned a degree in history from UC San Diego. He started his career at Vizzard, Baker, Sullivan and McFarland and later worked at Young Woolridge. He became the court commissioner in 1990 and was elected a judge in 1992. He will now be "of counsel" with Thomas Anton and Associates.

* ... SPOTTED: A group of people are urging their friends on social media to boycott the downtown Maya Cinemas for allowing a group to set up a table in front protesting police brutality in the death of David Silva. Silva, if you remember, was the man who died in the custody of Kern Sheriff's deputies in front of Kern Medical Center. Emails are being distributed saying this is a slap in the face of Kern County law enforcement.

 * ... PARKWAY: Carl Nicita wrote to respond to another reader who warned others about speeding on the new Westside Parkway. Said Carl: "Just wanted to send a quick comment regarding a contention by a reader that BPD is trying to 'increase it's coffers with more revenue' from traffic tickets on the new Westside Parkway. I beg to differ. It's not about revenue. It's their duties as traffic officers to protect the public and enforce driving regulations. Unfortunately receiving a citation maybe the only way a driver will get the message to drive safely."

* ... BEALE PARK: Jerry Kirkland wrote that reader Mike Stewart "stirred the memory cells of many of us who spent our formative years hanging out at Beale Park during the 1940s and into the early 1950s. The little store that he refers to - I think it was called Beale Park Grocery - was owned by a funny old guy named Gus Ergo who lived directly across the street from his business, most often referred to as just Gus's. You could call in an order and it would be delivered by Gus himself in his black delivery van. My brother, Al, worked for Gus as the delivery boy for a short time but, although a gifted athlete, he was a terrible driver and probably got fired. During the war there were lots of shortages, one of them being Fleer's Bubble Gum - the penultimate chew. Gus seemed to come up with a case of Fleer's on a fairly regular basis and when that word got out, the race was on for those of us at Roosevelt School, knowing the supply would not last long.  I found myself in that neighborhood a few years back and wandered down E Street. The little store is long gone, of course, but I saw where it had been, the empty lot badly overgrown, the old foundation barely visible among the weeds. Different times."

 * ... MEMORIES: Lamar Kerley wrote to ask if anyone else remembers a business called Cactus by Mueller out on Rosedale Highway. "Even as an adolescent I loved plants and was quite taken by their succulents and cactuses. In the early 1970s before all of the bridges were built, going out there was quite a drive, a long trip my mother was not fond of doing."