Will Fessler be the new Athletic Director at CSUB? And noting the stream of paroled state prisoners walking our streets

* ... CAL STATE: There is a lot of speculation over who will replace the retiring Rudy Carvajal as athletic director at Cal State Bakersfield. This will be one of the bigger decisions made by President Horace Mitchell, who successfully pushed through the effort to bring CSUB sports up to the Division 1 level. Insiders tell me the only real inside candidate appears to be Roger Fessler, the former general manager of American General Media who joined CSUB as associate athletic director last year. Fessler's passion is college sports, and he has previous experience as athletic director at St. Francis University in Pennsylvania. But Mitchell could always choose to look outside the campus to bring in his own personal pick. A search committee has been formed, but anyone with any experience with university politics know this is the president's call at the end of the day. This is not an all inclusive list but among those on the search committee are assistant athletic director Gloria Friedman, Foundation athletic committee chair Greg Bynum, Roadrunner Club president Alan Wade, coaches Alan Collatz and Tim La Kose, associate vice president of enrollment Jackie Mimms, faculty athletic representative Jackie Kegley and John Holtzman, vice president of student affairs. (Rudy Carvajal with President Mitchell pictured below, followed by Roger Fessler)

 
 * ... HARVEY HONOR: Mayor Harvey Hall was honored with Cal State's John Brock award Thursday night at a dinner and reception at Seven Oaks Country Club. Organizers were thrilled the event sold out, particularly considering it was up against a number of other events: the opening of a new show at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, a private dinner and fundraiser for Meg Whitman at Barbara Grimm's estate, and the big NFL game between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings.

 * ... SPOTTED: A group of eight to 10 newly released state prisoners, all in matching white T-shirts, khaki slacks and black canvas prison slippers, walking west from the Greyhound Bus station into the heart of Westchester Wednesday morning. Ever get the feeling that these parolees are just being dumped into our community by the overburdened state prison system?

 * ... MAHAN OUT: Heard the bad news that Will Mahan, a Bakersfield High School and Bakersfield College alum, tore his ACL in practice and is out for the year at the University of Washington. Mahan is the starting punter on the Husky football team and will apparently take this year off and return next season.

* ... BAKERSFIELD INN: Reader Denise Irvin wrote to talk about her high school years when she would visit the old Bakersfield Inn and enjoy its pool. "There wasn't a swimming pool in every backyard then, but we 'younger ladies' soon discovered that we were welcome at the Bakersfield Inn for an impromptu swim party. We could order a lime Coke from the bar and spend the entire Saturday afternoon sunning and swimming at the Inn's pool, and if we got lucky there might even a bunch of cadets from Minter Field there to flirt with. Ah! Those were the days!"

 * ... LA CRESTA: Reader Gene Buchanan is another who recalls the old La Cresta Air Park off Panorama Drive. "It was my understanding that La Cresta was closed to private aircraft until Meadows was cleared by the Air Force. Until then we were flying off a dirt strip about 10 miles east between Breckenridge and Kern Canyon Road just east of Hillcrest Memorial park. It was August 1945 and I was a student pilot. When Meadows opened we moved there. Got word that La Cresta was going to have a small air show and Batman was going to jump from a plane. He went up in a J3 to about 6,000 feet and jumped. He had wings sewn to his sleeves and between his legs. You could hear the wings flapping, sounding like machine guns. He opened his parachute and his feet swung forward and then when they swung back he hit the ground. I was 16 at the time and was very impressed. And by the way, you know you're from Bakersfield if you remember the hamburgers served with a special sauce at Bloomfield's drive-in on Niles Street."

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM:  You know you're from Bakersfield "if you consider 10 percent seasonal unemployment the norm."

Bako Bits: Confusing a Husky with a Cougar, a valentine to the historic Noriega Hotel and budget woes at CSUB

  Wrapping up some nuggets from around our community and trying to outrun some angry University of Washington alumni who are after my hide ...

 * ... MAKE MINE A PICON PUNCH: Always nice to see Bakersfield's rich culture recognized by the national media, and the September edition of the Altantic magazine turned its attention to the historic Noriega Hotel, one of our renowned Basque dining establishments and home of the famous Picon Punch. (read the entire story here) The writer Wayne Curtis gives the Noriega its due, even if he did focus primarily on the punch and not the terrific food. From the story:

  "But what lured me here was the Picon Punch. The early history of the drink remains murky, but it appears to be a Basque-American concoction, without antecedent in the old country. The punch has some variants within its broad range. But it’s usually made with grenadine, club soda, a float of brandy, and Amer Picon, a bitter French aperitif made with herbs and burnt orange peel. I’m told in some Nevada bars it’s served in a mug, rather than the standard old-fashioned glass."

  * ... WITH APOLOGIES TO THE HUSKIES: I erred in a recent item noting that former Bakersfield High Driller Will Mahan was punting for the University of Washington Huskies. I actually called the school the "Washington State Huskies," which given college rivalries these days is enough to get me tarred and feathered by the Husky faithful. It's like confusing UCLA and USC or the Georgia Bulldogs with the Florida Gators. KERO-TV anchor Jackie Parks, herself a University of Washington alum, told me she just about "choked on my coffee" when she read her beloved Huskies were mentioned in the same sentence as that "cow town" college across the state, the Washington State Cougars. So with apologies to Jackie and the Husky faithful ... mea culpa.

 * ... DIVISION ONE REPORT FROM CSUB: Karen Langston, one of the marketing folks over at Cal State Bakersfield, turned me onto the Athletic Department's  "Roadrunner Report" blog which is rich in information on the university. (you can read it here) In it, Athletic Director Rudy Carvajal gives an update on the school's move to Division I and how the recession and budget crisis is affecting the program. Tough times all around. In Rudy's words:

 

 "The bad news is that the budget crisis, particularly as it impacts CSUB’s Athletics Program, has been significant. Not only has it reduced staffing and state support, it has also increased our scholarship fees this year by 30%, which amounts to more than $250,000 in additional and unexpected expenses. Cumulatively, it also marks the third consecutive year of state budget reductions. Our ability to turn this around will depend upon our ability to encourage community volunteers to help us and to make significant progress in growing our donor base. Without considerable growth and support in both of these areas, it will have a profound effect on our future.

One can easily see that we need growth and not reductions in support to be able to sustain the 19 Division I sports we currently offer. While the average donation has grown over the last few years, the number of donors has fallen. We really need your help, and there are many ways that you can assist us. For example, if each of our current donors recruited just one new donor, we could double our donor base. It is that simple, and you could make that happen." (photo of Rudy courtesy of CSUB)

 

* ... REMEMBER THE GARCES, CSUB BARBECUES: Don't forget two important fund raisers coming up that need our support. The first is the annual Garces Memorial High fall barbeque, featuring the famous "Icardo special" New York steak or Teriyaki chicken dinner. Cost is $25 a person and doors open at 5 p.m. This comes up Thursday, October 1. My elder daughter graduated from Garces and I know the folks work hard and do a good job, and even when money is tight, this is a fund raiser to support. The next week, on Thursday October 8, you can dine again at the 31st annual Cal State Bakersfield athletics barbeque. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.. Tickets are being presold for $25 each and are $30 at the door. Call 661-654-3473.

Lost jobs, lack of insurance and a struggling real estate market: taking the economic pulse of our community:

I don't pretend to be an economist, but I do listen when I'm out and what I'm hearing these days indicates an economic stagnation of a depth unseen in our generation. Some snippets of where we are:

* ... THE ECONOMIC CRISIS ON TRUXTUN EXTENSION: Had a chance last week to visit with Dr. Raj Patel of Preferred Family Care Physicians over off Truxtun. Patel has been our family doctor for years and I'm an unapologetic fan of his practice, which teams him with Dr. John Heidrick and office manager Teri Reyes. I was there getting my semi-annual allergy shot, and Patel shared with me that his practice is off 10-plus percent because of this economy. Why? First, many folks have simply lost their jobs and with that their health insurance. So they're gone. Second, many companies have pushed their employees to high deductible plans where the employee pays the first $2,000 or $2,500 in health care out of their own pocket. With money as tight as it is, folks simply aren't showing up at the doctor's office for every ailment. And lastly - and this was a tad surprising - Raj said even some folks with insurance are delaying visits because they are so strapped for cash. The result: fewer people in the waiting room and no doubt some folks who should be there are not. (Patel is third from right in this group photo taken when Preferred Family was honored by the Red Cross as one of our community heroes last year)



* ... VIEW FROM A CUSTOM BUILDER: Got a nice email from Dave Turner, owner of Turner Custom Homes, giving me his take on the real estate market. Dave is one of the high-end builders who has been sucker-punched by this downturn. I had cited Dave in an earlier post (read it here) and he wanted to clarify a few points. In his words:
a)The upturn in new home construction is mild, and mostly in the entry level due to the stimulus.
b) The market locally seems in balance between buyers and sellers, which should stabilize prices somewhat. The foreclosures may keep values down for quite a while, but banks seem to be metering out their REO’s (Real Estate Owned, i.e. foreclosures) so they don’t flood the market and push prices lower;
c)The study I cited from San Diego was from a builder publication noting that the head of the Dept. of Real Estate at a San Diego university (don’t recall which) predicted that values in the San Diego market would not return to 2005 levels until 2016. Real estate is local, and what is true elsewhere may or may not be true in Bakersfield. I cited it only as an indicator of what we might expect “value-wise.” I don’t expect our activity level will ever get back to where we were during the giddy days.
d)Regarding the higher-end, I don’t think I mentioned a National Assn. of Home Builders publication that predicted the higher-end market won’t return until 2012. Again, that is a national prediction, and may or may not be true here – just another indicator.

* ... LOCAL BOY PUNTING FOR THE HUSKIES: It was good to see Will Mahan, a product of Bakersfield High School and Bakersfield College, on the field and doing well as a punter for the University of Washington Huskies this weekend. Thanks to retired endodontist Dr. Bob Smith, himself a Driller dad, for pointing this out to me.