Experts warn of a "twindemic" this winter as the common flu and Covid collide, pastor Frazier holds onto hope, Kevin Keyes joins the CSUB Runners and a trip down memory lane

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.

 * ... TWINDEMIC: It's hard to think about fall or winter during the height of the Bakersfield summer heat, but experts are already warning of a possible "twindemic" this winter as the common flu converges

with Covid-19. Both the flu and Covid-19 share similar symptoms like fever, a cough, sore throat, fatigue and a headache. Experts are now predicting that a record number 98 million flu shots will be given this year in the country. Still, fully 50 percent of American adults say they may opt out of vaccines for the common flu and Covid-19.

* ... THE POWER OF HOPE: Angelo Frazier is a pastor at Riverlakes Community Church and if there is one theme that is emerging from this pandemic, he says it revolves around the concept of hope. "Be an ambassador of hope," he says. "Choose hope." It is a simple yet powerful message that speaks to our heart, and reflected in our behavior, during difficult times. Hope, he reminds us, is life and life without hope is not living at all.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "One day you’re young and hip and the next day you’re buying a pair of pants at Costco."

 * ... GO RUNNERS: Kevin Keyes is joining the men's baseball team at Cal State Bakersfield as a volunteer director of Player Program and Development. Keyes is a lifelong resident of Kern County and has worked for decades as a coach, community advocate and broadcaster. He recently retired from the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, where he worked as a community prevention specialist mentoring at-risk youth. Prior to that, Keyes had served with the Kern High School District as a community specialist for 11 years, while also coaching football at Liberty High School.

* ... WATER ASSOCIATION: Congratulations to Jenny Bertagna Holtermann who has been appointed executive director of the Water Association of Kern County. Holtermann is a fourth generation California farmer and a graduate of Cal Poly. She has worked as a social media advocate as well as in public relations for several agricultural firms in the San Joaquin Valley. She replaces Beth Pandol who held the position for a decade. Along with her husband, Holtermann is a co-owner of H& H Family Farms, an almond farming enterprise in Wasco, CA. She is past president of the Kern County branch of the California Women for Agriculture and past chair of the City of Wasco Planning Commission.

 * ... HOMELESS WAVE: The director of the Mission of Kern County, Carlos Baldovinos, is warning of a new wave of homelessness. The triggers are all there: a massive disruption in the workplace caused by the pandemic, 18 percent unemployment, the reduction in federal benefits and the end of a moratorium on evictions in California. All the factors are there to bring on yet another wave of homelessness, he warns.

* ... OLD KERN: My friend Kevin Keyes (*mentioned above) posted this incredible picture of members of a church on Cottonwood Road. His take: "This is my Families Old Kern. Shout Out to the Church of The Living God, Pillar and Ground of Truth 1949 Cottonwood Road ( Lakeview Ave. / Martin Luther King Blvd). The Family Ties ...well they are deeply Rooted in History. Keyes, Sherman, Nichols, Edwards, Jamerson, Carter, Osborn, Grissom, Guilder, Stephens, Newton, Roberson, Brothers. Roll Call!" Thanks to Kevin and Archible W. and Norma H. Sherman Jr. for sharing this remarkable photo.

A frank discussion of race and white privilege is planned for The Richard Beene Show this week, The Cat People hold a fund raiser and what in hell are all those fireworks going off in all hours about town?

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 person or organization.

 * ... OUR NATION: Protests and riots are erupting across our county as people take to the streets to protest systemic racism not only in police departments, but in society in general. Are we in for a

summer of protests and violence? Will all of this ever end? We will devote two days this week on The Richard Beene Show (daily from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM/1180 AM) to the topics of racism, white privilege and historic grievances rooted in our shared history. On Monday Pastor Angelo Frazier of Riverlakes Community Church joins us at 2:30 p.m. and on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Keith Wolaridge of the Panama Buena Vista School District and Michael Burroughs of CSUB's Kelley Institute of Ethics join the show.

 * ... THE CAT PEOPLE: Looking to help a good cause? The Cat People, one of our community's more active non profits engaged in reusing stray cats, is holding a fund raiser where a photo of your car will be mounted on a ceramic tile for $30.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "A 70-year-old man in Seattle survived the coronavirus, got applauded by staff when he left the hospital after 62 days -- and then got a $1.1 million, 181-page hospital bill."

* ... TRASH: We all know Kern County's reputation as a dumping ground, where some residents don't think twice about leaving a mattress, box spring and broken TVs next to the road. But few roads are more littered than Camino Grande Drive right off Fairfax and Alfred Harrell Highway, a stretch known to cyclists as the "old dump road" that leads to a cogeneration plant. Almost every day someone, too lazy to take a load to the Kern County Dump off Bena Road, unceremoniously leaves mountains of trash by the side of the road.

 * ... FIREWORKS: Are you one of the hundreds of residents who have heard fireworks going off during the past few weeks? People are speculating why: is it related to the Black Lives Matter protests? Early warning that July Fourth is coming? Just more random noise from the mischievous?

 * ... GRANITE STATION: My friend John Kelley posted these pictures, old and current, of Granite State just outside of Woody. Said Kelley: "Built it 1873 by John Elden, this stand of buildings served as store, restaurant, and lodging place on the stage route between Bakersfield and Glennville. In later years it became a stopping place for freighters and sheepmen who were on their trek to the Mojave Desert. Granite Station had one of the longest bars in California, the building it was in burned down several years past BIG loss."

 * ... MEMORIES: The old Highland Cafe back in 1920., thanks to Steven Humprhreys.