Bakersfield Observed

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Local protesters call for the complete dismantling of the Bakersfield Police Department, more illegal dumping around down and calls to destroy all images of "white Jesus"

People's Budget Bako movement, they want nothing short of the complete dismantling of the police department. That's the word from Faheemah Salahud-Din Floyd and Dalton Jones who appeared on The Richard Beene Show to explain their goals. According to Floyd, the Bakersfield Police Department is so riddled with bias and racism that it cannot be saved, and must be abolished. And what would take its place? Jones suggested "community policing" by block activists who could keep the peace. In the absence of police, our country already has a version of that in our gangs, who impose their own will and law in the absence of authority. (Facebook photo of Floyd)

* ... ILLEGAL DUMPING: The sheer amount of illegal dumping about down is disgraceful, and virtually no part of our community is immune from someone treating our roadsides like their own personal toilet. Camino Grande off Alfred Harrell Highway and Fairfax is a favorite dumping spot, and the other day I spotted a dead pit bull by the side of the road, left unceremoniously to rot in the summer sun.

* ... GREAT CLEANSING: First came the statues of the Confederate dead, then anyone whose family owned a slave, then the Spanish missionaries and then our founding fathers. So we shouldn't be surprised when the new purity police took aim at symbols of Jesus no less to erase from society, particularly images that appear to make Jesus light skinned. A white skinned Jesus, the thinking goes, must be a product of white privilege. When Jesus goes, can Santa be far behind?

* ... BIKE FRIENDLY: There is a new list out recognizing the most bike friendly cities in the nation, and Bakersfield is no where to be found. To be sure, Bakersfield is certainly not near the top of the list, but it should rank somewhat higher given our cross-city bike trail and the ability to get out and ride off the road. According to Places for Bikes, a non profit, the top give cities friendly to bike commuters include San Luis Obispo, Madison, WI., Santa Barbara, Washington, D.C., and Missoula, MT.

* ... RIP TORI HOFFMANN: I was saddened to learn of the death of Tori Hoffman, the 29-year-old daughter of Tom and Beth Hoffman who passed away last week. No cause of death was given and a memorial service is planned fo rValley Baptist Church (Fruitvale campus) today (Thursday) at 11 a.m. Tori was the daughter of Tom and Beth Hoffmann, founders of the successful Hoffmann Hospice operation here in Bakersfield. She graduated from Bakersfield Christian High School and later received a degree from CSUB. Keep the Hoffmann family in your thoughts.

* ... COVID CLOSURES: More restaurants are being forced to close temporarily after employees test positive for Covid-19. The latests forced to shutter are Woolgrowers and Dewar's, perhaps two of the most iconic restaurants in town. Also closed was the In-N-Out location on Panama Lane. Their closing comes as Luigi's Old World Delicatessen reopens after a short closure due to an employee testing positive.

* ... MEMORIES: Here's a wonderful old photo, compliments of John Kelley, of the historic Fox Theater under construction.

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Protesters destroy statues in San Francisco of Father Serra and Ulysses S. Grant, and how soon will they come for Father Garces at the traffic circle and the Big Indian at Ethyl's Corral? Plus a walk down memory lane with some old shots of Highway 99

three statues in San Francisco, one of Father Junipero Serra, one of Francis Scott Key and a third of Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who just happened to be instrumental in defeating the Confederacy and freeing the slaves. All three were unceremoniously defaced and torn down as police looked on. And so it goes.

* ... MORE STATUES: The tearing down of history brought this retort on Facebook: "Last night, the mob took down down three statues in Golden Gate Park: one of St. Junipero Serra, and founder of the California missions; on off Francis Scott Key, composer of the "Star Spangled Banner"; and one of Ulysses S. Grant, whom Frederick Douglass eulogized as “a man too broad for prejudice, too humane to despise the humblest, too great to be small at any point. In him the Negro found a protector, the Indian a friend, a vanquished foe a brother, an imperiled nation a savior.” Think about that. On Juneteenth. The man probably most responsible for emancipation not named Lincoln had his statue torn down and vandalized. And the apologists for the mob are justifying it on the grounds that Grant once held a single enslaved person, who he manumitted before the Civil War, and because he had married a woman from a slaveholding family. Had enough yet?"

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Sometimes, when I squirt the dish-washing liquid, a few soap bubbles escape and float through the air and I'm instantly five-years-old again."

* ... MORE SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "To the guy in line at the post office telling everyone about the governor's mandate to wear masks... Your mask doesn't do diddly squat on your chin with your mouth and nose exposed."

* ... LOCAL ICONS: Locally, you have to wonder when the mob is going to come after some of the icon institutions here in Bakersfield. Will the statue of Father Garces at the traffic circle suffer the same fate at Junipero Serra in San Francisco? How long will it be before they come for the statue of the Big Indian out a Ethyl's Corral? And didn't Ben Franklin own slaves, even though he denounced slavery later in life? We will also have to rename Franklin Elementary, and you might as well rename Jefferson school at the same time. So much work to do and so little time.

* ... MEMORIES: Check out these old pictures of California Highway 99 over the years.

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Karma reigns when a farmer returns trash to the offender's house, weak internet signals plague thousands, Jeff Huckaby of Grimmway is the organic farmer of the year and a third In-N-Out is planned for Rosedale Highesy

has illegally dumped a mountain of trash on his property. This time, instead of just cleaning it up, the farmer culled through the trash and found an envelope with the offender's address in Delano. So the farmer loaded up with truck with the trash, drove to the home in Delano and unceremoniously dumped it on the lawn. Now that is what you call karma.

* ... OUTAGE: Have you been having problems with your internet service provider? Many have throughout Kern County, whether your provider is Spectrum or DirecTV or Dish, and the problem seems to be growing worse while so many are at home during the pandemic. This week, there was a major outage on Monday, affecting millions of people in areas such as Miami, Brooklyn, Orlando and Atlanta.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I don't require much to be happy. Five meals a day. A triple espresso. Nine hours of sleep. A pair of yoga pants, complete solitude, and no obligations whatsoever."

* ... GRIMMWAY FARMS: Congratulations to Jeff Huckaby, the chief executive officer of Grimmway Farms who has been named Organic Farmer of the Year by the Organic Trade Association. Thanks to Huckaby, Grimmway's Cal-Organic production has grown from a few hundred acres to more than 45,000 acres of vegetables in California, Florida, Georgia, Colorado and Washington. Cal-Organic now provides more than 65 different organic vegetables.

* ... IN 'N OUT: Some news is simply bigger than the coronavirus, or even the protests and Black Lives Matter. And that, at least here in Bakersfield, is the opening of a third In 'N Out burger franchise on Rosedale Highway at Coffee Road. The third location has been approved by the city planning commission but no word yet on when it might open.

* ... MEMORIES: Lovely picture of old Chester when the clock tower was still standing.

Sunday, June 14, 2020

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?

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.

Friday, June 12, 2020

A medical expert warns we are "inviting disaster" by failing to practice social distancing, 24Fitness closes abruptly, LAX allow marijuana at the airport and a discussion on race at a local church

before your own. For Kern County, Bhambi said a big problem is that a large percentage of our younger people have underlying health issues brought on by obesity, Diabetes and unhealthy lifestyles. That means the virus will spread more quickly in a population that should otherwise be healthy.

* ... 24 HOUR FITNESS: If you are a member of 24 Hour Fitness, you need to look for another gym. The popular fitness club, long a fixture in Bakersfield, abruptly closed two Bakersfield locations after firing employees and contractors on an automated telephone call. That's right, employees were told to call into a meeting where an automated message informed them they were all laid off. (photo by Jolie Brouttier)

* ... UNITY MEETING: Hats off to the coordinators of the Unity in the Community meeting at St. Peter's Church Thursday evening, an excellent start on the conversation about race in Kern County. Michael Bowers, vice president of Centric Health, helped coordinate the community meeting along with NaTesha Johnson, Kelly Gafford Gibbons and Traco Matthews. These are difficult conversations, but open meetings like this, where everyone has a seat at the table, are important to get the conversation going.

* ... LET'S TALK RACE: Next week, on Tuesday, I will host another conversation about race and "white privilege" when Michael Burroughs and Keith Wolaridge join me on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM for an open ended discussion. Burroughs is the director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics at CSUB and Wolaridge is a trustee with the Panama Buena Vista School District. The conversation starts at 1:30 p.m. next Tuesday, June 16.

* ... POT AT LAX: Are you ready to travel with your medicinal marijuana? Up until now, it has been strictly forbidden to carry marijuana into a U.S. airport, or to store in in your luggage. But now Los Angeles International Airport, better known as LAX, has announced that it will permit travelers to bring small amounts of legal marijuana through security in their carry-on bags. LAX is honoring the 2016 law that allows people to possess small amounts of pot, and is allowing travelers over the age of 21 to enter the airport and pass through security with the permitted amounts of marijuana. "The Los Angeles Airport Police Department will allow passengers to travel through LAX with up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and 8 grams of concentrated marijuana," reads a statement on LAX's official website, which was posted in September 2018.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: Masks hanging from the rearview mirror are the new fuzzy dice."

* ... GOOD ADVICE: I spotted this bit of good advice on Facebook from my friend Louis Gill, head of the Bakersfield Homeless Center: "What was... is done. Change is here. Lean into it and help make something better."

* ... MEMORIES: Enjoy these classic pictures of Bakersfield courtesy of the Bakersfield of Old Facebook page.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Ward 1 attracts another potential candidate, a local protester dies and police speculate there is a police coverup, and Michael Burroughs examines the concept of 'white privilege'

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.

* ... WARD ONE: There's a lot of posturing and positioning for the soon-to-open Ward 1 council seat being vacated by the retiring Willie Rivera. Arlena Fink Waller, a developer with deep roots in the ward, is the latest to express an interest in the seat. She joined Michael Bowers, a vice president of marketing with Centric Health, to flirt with the idea of running. Both Waller and Bowers are African-American, but Ward 1 is increasingly becoming an Hispanic dominated ward and it remains to be seen who might else enter the race. Waller threw out the possibility of a run on her Facebook page and

even included a call for a show of hands of who might write checks to support her candidacy. Bowers has already picked up a lot of support, thanks to his background in politics, first as an aide to Congressman David Valadao and then to former state Sen. Andy Vidak. The City Council must first decide whether to appoint an interim council person or wait until November or hold a special election.

* ... PROTESTER DIES: The protester who was hit and killed by a car last week has been identified as 55-year-old Robert Forbes. It was late at night, around 10:30 p.m., when police said a car came upon protesters marching in the street near the intersection of Oak and California, hitting Forbes who later died. The incident has blown up on social media, with some saying the driver deliberately hit Forbes with his lights off, and others describing him as a white supremacist. Police dispute that, saying his lights were on and that the driver did hot appear to be speeding Nonetheless, some want to make this a racial issue, saying the driver (who is white) may get off hitting and killing a black man because of his privilege and race. The driver has yet to be identified.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I’m not shy, I’m just really good at figuring out who’s worth talking to."

* ... WHITE PRIVILEGE: Michael Burroughs, head of the Kegley Institute of Ethics at CSUB, penned an opinion piece for The Californian Sunday addressing the concept of white privilege. It's a worthwhile read on a subject that needs to be mastered. Said Burroughs: "I am a white man, and, thus, in this society, I am a privileged man. On a daily basis I take for granted privileges of personal safety, of respect, of not needing to justify the value of my life to others. There are very few, if any, harmful stereotypes that lead to my being pre-judged in social interactions or encounters with authority figures. I have never been in fear for my life due to the color of my skin and others’ reactions based on my race. I have the privilege to ignore my skin color, to forget my race. If I choose, I can remain unaware of racism as a pressing problem because it does not come for me each day; it does not seek me out, daily, in my life, work and relationships."

* ... 7 TEACUPS: I had not heard of the "7 teacups" on the Kern River until I spotted this remarkable picture on Facebook. Apparently this is actually Dry Meadow creek where it empties into the Kern River a few miles from the Johnsondale bridge.

* ... MEMORIES: My thanks to fellow history buff John Kelley for posting these old pictures of the 76 station on the Grapevine as well as a coffee shop. Enjoy.