While the nation grows more secular, more Catholic priests are accused of sexual misdeeds, local boy Tyler Williams wins the yellow jersey in an Arkansas cycling race and it's time for a frank discussion of the homeless

 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.

 * ... SECULAR UNITED STATES: The national trend of the United States becoming a more secular nation continues without slowing down, with just 30 percent of Generation Z believing in the existence of a God. According to The Wall Street Journal, only 44 percent of millennials believe in God,

far down from the 70 percent of the Silent Generation and 63 percent of the Baby Boomers. "Today," an essay read, "scholars are finding that by almost any metric they use to measure religiosity, younger generations are much more secular than their parents or grandparents." It went on: "The decline has come about as a result of a combination of demographic changes: America has become more multiracial, and larger shares of Americans are jettisoning Christianity and either aligning with other religions or are leaving religion behind entirely and joining the ranks of the religion nones."

 * ... PREDATOR PRIESTS: Two more priests, this time from the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, have been accused of sexual abuse and had their priestly faculties removed "pending the outcome of a formal investigation." The allegations were leveled against father Daniel Madigan and father Maurice O'Brien, both retired but both of whom have been accused of improperly touching young men in a sexual manner. The sheer number of priests who have been accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual activity is astounding, including the one prominent Kern County case where former priest Craig Harrison is facing multiple lawsuits from men who say Harrison preyed upon them as young men.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I don't care who you voted for, show me your rescue pet."

 * ... HOMELESS: Is the homeless problem getting any better in Kern County, or is there simply a reservoir of pent up goodwill praying that it will get better? Ask anyone on the street and the answer is unanimous: there has been no discernible decrease in the homeless population over the past few years. They remain living in our parks, on our street corners, in the alleyways, on the streets and leaving a mess in their wake. Yet some of the people coordinating the anti-homeless effort say progress is being made. We will discuss the gap between perception and reality this week on the Bakersfield Observed podcast when Jim Wheeler of Flood Ministries and Carlos Baldovinos of the Mission of Kern County join me for a frank discussion of the work before us. The podcast will drop Thursday on Spotify, KERNRADIO.COM or wherever you get your podcasts.

 * ... TYLER WILLIAMS: Tyler Williams, a 26-year-old phenom pro cyclist from Bakersfield, took the yellow jersey and won the Joe Martin Stage Race over the weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Williams, who raced in Europe a few years back, races for the LA-based L39ion racing team. Williams held the leader's yellow jersey until the penultimate stage when he lost it, only to regain it and win the race on the last stage.

 * ... MEMORIES: I thought you would all enjoy this old picture of downtown Carpenteria back in the day.

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And finally this old shot of a Texaco station on the old grapevine road, circa 1940s, from the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Fire guts the old Logan's Roadhouse, Chad Hathaway gets married, two women to speak out on breast cancer today and is Bob Price really an old, senile reporter?

 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.

 * ... BREAST CANCER: Most breast cancers are diagnosed among woman over the age of 50 - most

often in the 55 to 65 age range - and Diane Nelson and Stacey Shepard are two witnesses to that. Nelson, a pharmaceutical rep, and Shepard, a writer at The Bakersfield Californian, will be sharing their story  Tuesday at CBCC at 5:30 p.m. in an “Ask Us Anything” format. And both will be guests on The Richard Beene Show today at 2 p.m. to share their experiences as a warning to others.

 * ... BOB PRICE: Bob Price, the popular former editor at The Californian who has since joined KGET as a reporter, received a bit of hate mail at the station when a text referred to him as a "senile old fart." In typical Bob Price fashion, he joked in a post that he was surprised it took eight months in his new job to be criticized.

 * ... TYLER WILLIAMS: Congratulations to Tyler Williams, a Bakersfield lad who has built an impressive career as a professional cyclist. Williams was among an elite group of racers who were named by USA Cycling to compete in the first ever UCI sports world championships. The event is scheduled to take place inDecember. Williams burst onto the professional scene after learning to ride (long and fast) with local cyclists who routinely ride into the foothills (Woody, Glennville etc) on the weekends. After a stint living and riding in Spain, he returned to the United States and made his home in Santa Rosa. Recently, Tyler and wife Brea welcomed their first child into the world.

 * ... HAPPILY MARRIED: And hats off to Chad Hathaway,  president and owner of Hathaway Oil, and wife Lindsay who were married this weekend in a small ceremony officiated by state Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield).  Hathaway is a regular guest as an oil industry expert on both The Moneywise Guys and The Richard Beene Show on KERN NewsTalk 96.1/1180 AM.

 * ... LOGAN'S: Fire engulfed the old Logan's Roadhouse Grill on California Avenue Saturday morning and suspicions immediately focused on vagrants who have been using the building for shelter.

 * ... MEMORIES: This wonderful old picture of the Beale Clock tower draped with a Red Cross fund raising banner comes compliments from the Kern County History Fans Facebook page.

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And then there is this, a picture circa 1939 of loading bins of potato planter which fertilizes and plants potatoes in one operation. Photo by Dorothea Lange.

Protesters hit the Bakersfield streets both nights this weekend under a heavy police presence, Cheryl Scott to head the Bakersfield College Foundation and homecoming for two young Bakersfield lads

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.

 * ... PROTESTS: Where were you during the weekend protests downtown against the death of George Floyd? I watched some of the coverage online and to my surprise I

received a text message around 10 p.m. Friday from my work colleague J.R. Flores saying he was with the demonstrators and they were marching into Westchester, where I live. Never one to miss the drama, I hurried down to 21st Street to catch a couple hundred people both in cars and on foot, honking horns, holding signs and chanting as Bakersfield police kept a respectful distance. Somewhere along the way, someone busted out a window at Bonnie's Best sandwich shop in 21st Street, but otherwise the protest seemed peaceful. (photos by JR Flores)

 * ... ANGELO FRAZIER: One of the witnesses to both nights of protests was Pastor Angelo Frazier of Riverlakes Community Church. Frazier used his time to walk between the police and the protesters urging calm, and noted he was disheartened by the defacing of the police memorial in front of the police station. Frazier will appear on The Richard Beene Show on (KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM) Monday at 2:30 p.m. to talk about the protests. (photos courtesy of Angelo Frazier)

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If you are looting in Minneapolis please grab me an air fryer."

 * ... HOMECOMING: I ran into a couple of young friends on a bike ride this weekend on the road to Woody. Local boy Tyler Williams, a cycling phenom who has raced professionally across the world, was in town on personal business and hit the road for a quick 50-mile ride with Zach Griffin and a few others. Williams is married to another local product, Brea Williams, and they are expecting their first child in October. The couple live in Santa Rosa where Tyler trains with California-based cycling team and Bree is a nurse at the Santa Rosa Hospital. Also on the ride was Zane Adamo, a Bakersfield High graduate who is the son of Felix and Teresa Adamo. Felix is a world class photographer who is retired from The Bakersfield Californian and Teresa is also a journalist who is now writing children's books. Zane told me he was "walking in my father's footsteps" and is devoting his life to professional photography. (File pictures below of the Williams and Adamo)

 * ... CHERYL SCOTT: Congratulations to Cheryl Scott who has been appointed executive director of the Bakersfield College Foundation. Scott will direct all fundraising and community outreach and will report directly to college President Sonya Christian. Since 2005 Scott has been vice president of the Kern Economic Development Corp.

 * ... CLEROU: I spotted these photos on the Historic Union Cemetery Facebook page. A caption read: "Colonel Joe Clerou served his country with honor. The youngest of eight children of Louis and Lucie Clerou. After graduating from the University of San Francisco, Joe enlisted into the Marine Corps in 1941. During World War II he was involved in battles of Guadalcanal , Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. After World War II he was called back for the Korean War. After proudly serving his country Colonel Joe Clerou married his love Shirley Clerou and had six children and went into the tire business, working at Clerou Tire. Thank you for your service Colonel Joe Clerou 1919 - 2003

Bakersfield flirts with setting a new record for heat as we welcome the season of rolling blackouts, professional cyclist Tyler Williams returns to California for a break and some good form around town

 * ... HEAT WAVE: Welcome to the season of excessive heat, rolling blackouts, faulty air conditioning units and the general resignation that we are in for a long summer of temperatures well above 100 degrees. The folks who live in the Haggin Oaks area got their first nasty taste of summer Monday

when some 450 homes lost power, and other blackouts were reported in the Northwest as well. Will we break any records? The website ClimateSpy.com says the hottest day on record for this month was set June, 29, 1976, when the mercury hit 113.9 degrees, and the hottest month on record was July 1988 when we averaged 102.7 degrees. According to another weather website, Bakersfield averages 33 days a year with temperatures over 100 degrees. But hey, it's a dry heat, right?

* ... WELCOME HOME: Welcome home Tyler Williams, the Bakersfield lad and professional cyclist for the Israeli Cycling Academy team who just wrapped up a race in South Korea. Williams took to Instagram to say he is headed back to California after more than five months abroad (he is based in Spain) and is looking forward to being reunited with his wife, Brea Williams.

* ... RAAM: And speaking of cycling, good luck to a crew of local cyclists who are participating in the Race Across America, but this time riding fixed gear bikes. Among those racing are local fitness instructor Joe Peterson, Bill Elrich, Albert 'Vegas' Vasquez, Misha Tyler, Bo Bohannan, along with two riders from Los Angeles. The eight-man team is crossing the country headed to a finish line in Annapolis, Maryland.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. That's about a  year's worth of groceries at that store."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "It's so hot a Tennessee Williams play just broke out in my room."

 * ... GOOD FORM: Here's an example of some good form compliments of King Door sales consultant Michael Whitmore: "I just wanted to send you a note about the great folks at Stockdale tile. Remember the disabled vet that had his donation jar ripped off a week or two ago in front of Walmart? Well the owner and staff at Stockdale Tile presented a $1,000 check to that gentleman this week to replace the money that was taken. It’s great to know that there are still kind hearted people around."

 * ... BAD FORM: Here's a good reason to avoid California Avenue between H Street and Oak Street while it is being repaved. I was on H Street headed south at the bottled up California Avenue intersection when the driver of a silver pickup tried to cut in front of a woman driving a black SUV. A verbal argument broke out, complete with heads popping out the windows hurling insults, and it ended when the man driving the silver truck threw a soda can at the woman, bouncing off her window.

 * ... MEMORIES: Karene Williams wrote to say she enjoyed "your short piece about the old Sears store in downtown Bakersfield. My mother, Winifred Williams, was auditing supervisor at that location from 1955 until it moved into the new store at Valley Plaza. She continued as auditing supervisor at the new store until she accepted a position in the headquarters offices in Alhambra. After she retired from Sears many years later, she moved to Lake Isabella and worked at the catalogue store until Sears closed their catalogue businesses. Our family has fond memories of Sears and are sad to see it go downhill."

New Orleans may soon have all its school children in charter schools, I scored gold in two tickets to CrabFest and what is your rule on tipping in restaurants?

 * ... BETSY DEVOS: Newly minted Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is a strong supporter of charter schools, striking fear into teacher's unions and others who fear this could spell the demise of traditional education. But the future may already be here, in no place else than post Katrina New

Orleans where the percentage of children attending charter schools has reached 92 percent. I spotted this letter in Politico Magazine: "Soon, New Orleans may become the only big city in the country without a single traditional public school run by a central office; nearly all have been turned into charter schools—there are now more than 80 in all—and the five remaining holdouts may be converted in the next few months. A few thousand families take advantage of the state’s voucher program, enrolling in local Catholic schools. And overall, test scores here have improved markedly." In a report by The New York Times, there were surprising percentages for other urban school districts: Flint, Mich., stands at 52 percent; Kansas City is at 40 percent, Philadelphia 32 percent; Detroit is at 53 percent and the District of Columbia is at 45 percent. The lesson: give parents choice and in many cases they opt out of public schools in troubled urban districts.

* ... CRABFEST: Life is full of small surprises and mine came when I scored two tickets to this year's CrabFest out at the Fairgrounds this weekend. There are a lot of terrific fund raisers about town - West Rotary's Cioppino feed comes to mind - but I put CrabFest at the top of my list. It's a huge event featuring fresh crabs and ribs and proceeds go to help the folks at St. Francis School for the purchase of band instruments, art supplies and sports equipment and fees. It has also provided funds for construction of the school chapel, renovation of the cafeteria and the formation of popular extracurricular activities such as Academic Decathalon and Homework Club.

 * ... TYLER WILLIAMS: Congratulations to Tyler Williams, a 22-year-old Bakersfield lad who is living the dream as a professional cyclist in Europe. Williams, who attended Centennial High before being home school so he could compete, is riding for the Israeli-sponsored Cycling Academy team on the Pro Continental circuit. The team is currently based in Girona, Spain, and when back stateside he calls Santa Rosa home. Williams and his high school sweetheart, Brea Wanner, wed a few months ago.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I know you're supposed to eat three meals during the day, but how many do you eat at night?"

 * ... TIPPING: What is your policy on tipping? My standard is 15 percent but if the service is really good, and the waiter not too overbearing but at the same time attentive, I go 20 percent or higher. Jeramy Brown, general manager of The Mark Restaurant on 19th Street, appeared on my radio show on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM and approved my system, but also said some restaurants in bigger cities are now doing away with tipping altogether, choosing instead to simply raise the price of the meals. My take: allow me to retain the decision on how good (or bad) the service was.

 * ... TOWNHOMES: Some good news for downtown: the first tenants have moved into the 17th Place Luxury Townhomes, a major step in the further development of residential facilities east of Chester Avenue. Coming soon: a new downtown coffee shop and bakery called Cafe Smitten on 18th Street.

 * ... PUMPKIN CENTER: I am a sucker for almost anything that connects us to our past, and that's why I spend far too much time on a Facebook page called "Kern County of Old." This is a treasure trove of information on the history of Kern County, thanks to folks who post family pictures and memories. This is one that jumped out at me, posted by a woman who accompanied this post with a picture of her relatives early on in Pumpkin Center. "Thought it would be cool to share a little family history today......This is Taft Highway in 1932. My grandfather Mike Giminiani started the little town of Pumpkin Center with a fruit stand and grocery store. It was the last stop to Taft during the big oil boom. He also had a jitney service that drove loggers to and from Johnsondale up above Kernville with that car you see pictured here. He also bootlegged and made his own wine... To this day, the large wine barrels are still in the cellar of the house my mother grew up in. I have such fond memories there."

Bakersfield's Tyler Williams places second in the grueling and prestigious Paris-Roubaix bicycle classic and a cluster of earthquakes have put the Los Angeles area on edge

 * … QUAKES: A series of earthquakes have rattled the Los Angeles area and led to speculation that an even larger quake may be overdue. According to The Los Angeles Times, there have been five

earthquakes larger than 4.0 in the last five months. That is the greatest cluster of quakes in the LA area since 1994. Bakersfield has had some smaller quakes and of course is just an vulnerable as the LA basin. The twin 1952 quakes destroyed much of historic downtown Bakersfield.

* … TYLER: Hats off to 19-year-old Tyler Williams of Bakersfield who placed second in the prestigious and grueling Paris-Roubaix bicycling race in France. Williams in a gifted athlete and cyclist who competes on the professional Under 23 BMC development team. The Paris-Roubaix classic is one of the most punishing one-day races in professional cycling and has been held in northern France for more than 100 years.

 * … SPOTTED: Spotted on a friend's Twitter feed: "One of my goals in life? To finish a tube of chap stick before losing it.”

* … SCAM: Barbara Mullin lives in Kern City and dropped me a note to say the scam artists posing as security system experts have made the rounds there. "My son lives a little over a mile from me and they had been running in that neighborhood as well. Apparently, they have covered a good amount of area in Bakersfield. Another scam I got was a phone call saying they were from (Microsoft) Windows, that my computer had a virus, my e-mail was compromised and I was going to lose everything. Some time ago, they called and said they were from Windows Service System and said the same thing. I was stupid enough to believe them and I lost everything I had on my computer. Lucky for me, I called Dell and they restored my computer to working but I lost all my e-mail addresses and everything I had in my folders. So beware of anyone saying they are from Windows."

 * … MERCY: Kudos to the Friends of Mercy Foundation which launched a new annual giving program – The Legacy Circle at Mercy.  In its inaugural year, 23 people ranging in ages from approximately 25 to 37 became charter members by donating $500 each. They met three times during the year and at their second dinner, voted to use their cumulative gift of $11,000 to fund two state of the art Vein Finder Devices. Each of these devices is being used several times each day in the emergency rooms at Mercy Hospital Downtown and Mercy Hospital Southwest. These devices are unique to the Mercy hospitals and allow caregivers to more easily access veins when  a patient needs an IV insertion.  This past month, the Foundation launched the second year of the Legacy Circle and recruited 30 new members; 86 percent of last year’s membership joined the group once again. If you are interested in finding out how to join this group of young philanthropists, contact the Friends of Mercy at (661) 663-6700 or www.supportfriendsofmercy.org.

 * … FREE BOOKS: Here is an effort worth getting behind. Austin Albert is a 17-year-old senior at Liberty High School who is working on a community service project for his Boy Scout crew. He wants to create several "free libraries" in the South High School area but needs residents, churches or business owners to allow the mini library to be placed on their property. He already has collected more than 200 books that will stock the libraries. Contact Austin if you can help at (661) 303-7556.

Local cycling phenom Tyler Williams is named to a major racing team, looking for sad Christmas songs and remembering Officer Val at Bakersfield High School

 * ... OFFICER VAL: My story on the late Bakersfield police officer Val Torres last week brought another memory from former Bakersfield High student Riley Parker. "Like David Gay, I also had a flood of memories when I saw Val Torres’ (obituary) photo last week. Probably the best was the day that he stopped four of us returning to school from an off campus trip to a local pool hall. Val’s solution was to escort us to the old BPD building that sat on the north side of Truxtun Avenue between ‘H’ and Eye Streets. Val marched us in and sat us all down in the ‘squad room’ where he instructed us to read various sections of the Penal Code addressing our absence from classes and the possible ramifications of our conduct. After a brief education in the law, Val sent us back to BHS to meet with Mr. Martin. That experience ended our short lived career in the fine art of cutting classes."

 * ... CYCLIST: Congratulations to Tyler Williams, an 18-year-old former Centennial High School student who will be joining the BMC professional cycling team. Only four of the 14 riders on the elite BMC development team are Americans. The team will give these incredible young athletes a chance to race at a higher level in Europe and the United States. Tyler only started riding bikes a few years ago and has risen quickly to the highest levels of the sport. Last year he spent time in Europe riding for the U.S. Junior cycling team.

 * ... CRIME: The amount of petty thefts across town this Christmas season is truly astounding. Bikes are stolen out of garages and even Christmas decorations are disappearing from yards. This past weekend, a young woman was locked out of a house and was sleeping in her car in La Cresta (waiting for others to return) when she was awakened by a man who used a rock to smash the window to steal her purse.

* ... LOST CAT: The folks over at the SPCA on Gibson Street provide an important service in scanning stray cats to determine if they are "chipped" so they can be returned to their owner. I took a stray over there the other day and sure enough she was chipped and registered to a Karen Smith of Ridgecrest. The phone number was disconnected and the address was no longer relevant, but if you are reading this, Karen, contact me to be reunited with your pet.

 * ... COVENANT: Covenant Community Services, the group devoted to helping current and former foster children get on their feet, is hosting a unique fund raiser beginning this Thursday. It's called "The Party No One Came To" and is a way to bid on auction items online. There are tickets to San Francisco 49er games, a NASCAR racing experience and much more. Simply go to www.thepartynoonecameto.com to register and bid.

 * ... BUCK: Longtime music critic and writer Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times has released a list of "some of the saddest yuletide songs ever recorded." Among those making the list were "It's Christmas Time for Everyone but Me" by Buck Owens and "If We Make it Through December" by Merle Haggard.