Bakersfield Observed

Sunday, March 14, 2021

The newly vaccinated wake up and head out to dine after a year of hunkering down, a coalition vaccinates farmworkers in Delano and Greyhound wants to move to the Amtrak station

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.

* ... OUT AND ABOUT: Were you among those who go out this weekend, perhaps taking in dinner at a local restaurant, after a year of hunkering down? It was the thing to do: gather up friends who have been vaccinated and hit the town, or at the very least head to an intimate dinner party. One thing is for sure: our local

eateries are on fire: big crowds were spotted at Mexicali and the Starlite Lounge and other popular local restaurants throughout the city. To be sure Covid is not behind us, but the level of confidence has grown where newly vaccinated couples are braving the elements to dine out.

* ... WHAT WE WILL MISS: For sure there will be things we will miss about hunkering down at home: endless days working in T-shirts and pajamas, family time that found a new rhythm during the lockdown, home cooking and a reluctant relaxation that came with the knowledge that you had no where to go but home. In his Sunday piece in The Bakersfield Californian, columnist Bob Price put it this way: "Some things we'll hang on to," he noted. "Home gyms, hiking, garage ping pong, cooking, board games. Appreciation for local small businesses. The willingness to sacrifice."

* ... GOOD NEWS: The Greyhound bus station downtown has always been an eyesore: dirty, neglected and a gathering spot for newly released prisoners. But now, after years of effort, it looks like Greyhound is finally packing up its bags and leaving for greener pastures. This week, the City Council at its Wednesday will consider a deal that would allow Greyhound to lease space at the Amtrak Station. "Due to an evolving business climate, Greyhound staff determined they no longer have a need for a facility of that size. City staff determined the relocation of Greyhound bus services to the existing city-owned Amtrak Station site achieves various major objectives of the City Council," according to a city memo. The property, located at G and 18th streets, is ideal for a multi purpose facility to compliment the Padre Hotel and the Bitwise building.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I keep changing the wifi password to make sure that my wife always needs me."

* ... KATIE BARTON: Katie Barton has been named general manager for American General Media's group of radio stations after serving as director of sales and marketing. The appointment of Barton was part of AGM's move to shuffle leadership responsibilities for its stations in California and New Mexico. In addition Rich Watson, currently general manager of AGM's properties in the Santa Maria area, has been appointed regional manager of AGM California, overseeing the station groups in Bakersfield, San Louis Obispo and Santa Maria.

* ... COVID VACCINATIONS: Hats off to local defense attorney David Torres and other volunteers who spent their Saturday coordinating Covid vaccines for farmworkers. In all, five groups came together to organize a mass vaccination site in Delano: the United Farm Workers, the UFW Foundation, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, the Latino COVID Task Force and the County of Kern. Torres was among the volunteers who spent their day making sure vaccinations reached those who work in the fields.

* ... MEMORIES: Check out this shot of the coffee shop of the old Royal Palms Motel around 1965. Compliments of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

* ... MORE MEMORIES: The Kern County of Old page also served up this nugget, date uncertain, of police officers parading with their canines.

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Bakersfield high on the list of cities with the most pedestrian deaths, Jolie Brouttier nominated for Teacher of the Year and are we finally nearing the end of the pandemic?

* ... PEDESTRIAN DEATHS: Were you surprised by the recent survey that shows Bakersfield ranking second in the nation for pedestrian deaths? The study cited wide streets that encourage speeding (true) and crosswalks that are spaced far apart (also true.) And the study when on to report (in a story carried in The Bakersfield Californian) that people of color, older adults and walkers in low income neighborhoods

suffered higher fatality rates. While that may be true, it also comes as no surprise. Why? Because across the country people in low income neighborhoods suffered higher fatality rate for all the obvious reasons, including lack of street lighting, the presence of more pedestrians, drug use and homelessness. What the study should have noted is that Kern County and Bakersfield are home to all the factors that lead to pedestrian deaths: a huge underclass of often illiterate people living in run-down neighborhoods, rampant drug use and addiction that leads people to make bad decisions, homelessness that is virtually out of control and wide, flat roads that lead to speeding. Until our demographics improve, you can expect to find Bakersfield on this list for years.

* ... MUSIC TO MY EARS: On the one-year anniversary of the pandemic that has taken more than 500,000 American lives, it was encouraging to read the opinion piece in Thursday's Bakersfield Californian by Centric Health owner Dr. Brij Bhambi. "Science saved us," wrote Bhambi. "There is decency and divinity is saving human life. The vaccinated are less likely to spread the virus to the vulnerable and more likely to protect by literally being a human shield between the virus and the vulnerable... Now is not the time to sit on the fence and allow the virus to morph. The vaccinated are protected and protect. Vaccine hesitancy is counter to civic responsibility."

* ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: When is Oprah going to interview people who lost their pipeline jobs?

* ... TEACHER OF THE YEAR: A big congratulations to Jolie Brouttier, who has been nominated as Kern County Teacher of the Year representing the Bakersfield City School District. The award will be given out later this year. Brouttier taught for seven years at McKinley Elementary and is now at the Downtown School. During the pandemic, Brouttier "visited" her students at their homes, leaving yard sign greetings while spending her other spare tine raising money for backpacks and other supplies for the neediest of students.

* ... PROSECUTORS: And speaking of high achieving women, Gina Pearl has been named Prosecutor of the Year by District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer. Others in the District Attorney's office being honored were Andrea Kohler and Arthur Norris who won the Justice Award and Amy French was honored with the Support Staff Person of the Year honors.

* ... MEMORIES: Check out this classic shot of cars on the old Ridge Route encountering Dead Man's Curve, a slice of the road that took many lives, and shots of the curve today. Photos courtesy of Kern County of Old Facebook page.

* ... MORE MEMORIES: And can you stand one more picture of the old Wayne's Dairies? Not sure of the date but the employees pose here in their crisp white shirts before the dairy entrance.

Sunday, March 7, 2021

Volunteers pick up a thousand pounds of trash left by the homeless in the Kern River and ask: Where is our city? Meanwhile restaurants open up to crowds and Disneyland looks to April 1 to open

* ... KERN RIVER CLEANUP: Volunteers were out in force this Saturday to help pick up mountains of debris in the littered Kern River, and they were quick to show their frustration with city and state policies that have created the mess we have today. Dozens of tents and encampments, some seemingly permanent, have shot up along the riverbank in the last few months, leaving tons of trash, igniting the occasional fire

and endangering the safety of runners, walkers and cyclists who often are attacked by pit bulls and other breeds owned by the homeless. Said Bill Cooper, whose work years ago led to the creation of the bike path: "BringBackTheKern! and KRPF volunteers took about 1,000 pounds of really disgusting trash and debris from the river at Beach Park. Homeless were hauling more trash to their camps on dirt bikes as we worked. One guy was flashing women volunteers. No control by the city." As an aside, it's interesting to note that while the city does occasionally "sweep" the riverbed area of homeless and debris, the hard work is left to those who actually use the bike path and trails: the taxpayers.

* .. MISSING BOYS: There are few who expect the search for two California City boys who disappeared at the end of last year -Orrin West and Orson West - to end well. This weekend Bakersfield police joined the search forcing on a rural area by East Pacheco and Cottonwood roads, but came up empty. It is an odd and frightening story, made stranger by the fact that neither the boys' biological parents nor his foster parents have been part of the search or have spoken to the public about what happened to Orrin and Orson.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I don’t want a one-time stimulus check. I want you to stop stealing so much of my paycheck every week."

* ... OPENING FOR BUSINESS: We already are getting a glimpse of the post-Covid world. On Sunday, the usual lines of customers waited for seats at the 24th Street Cafe, and restaurants are starting to fill as the nation eagerly waits the end of the pandemic. And in another sign things are improving, state has announced that some fans will be allowed to attend major league baseball games, and Disneyland will be opening with some restrictions on April 1.

* .... MEMORIES: A classic old picture of the budding of the Kern River power plant around 1905 and another shot of old Bakersfield sign. Both classics.

Thursday, March 4, 2021

The Catholic faithful turn their backs on the new Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, pressure builds for a "third gender" on US passports and the homeless take over our bike path through town

* ... ABORTIONS AND THE VACCINE: Roman Catholics are rejecting the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine for Covid-19 because it is produced using a cell line derived from an aborted fetus. That is what Catholic leaders across the country are telling the faithful, and it has put a spotlight on the Pfizer and

Moderna vaccines that have been in the field. It's a tricky question and it pits a moral question against science that can save lives, and Friday Centric Health's Dr. Brij Bhambi will discuss the issue on The Richard Beene Show at 2 p.m. on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM/1180 AM. The Archdiocese of St. Louis has advised parishioners to seek out the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines as alternatives.

* ... GENDER FREE PASSPORTS: The Biden Administration is under pressure to allow U.S. Passports to be issued with a third "gender," a simple "X" to denote neither male nor female. The X gender designation has already been adopted by at least a dozen states and Washington, D.C., and the ACLU and other groups are pressing the Biden administration to all the designation on all passports.

* ... RESTAURANT OPENINGS: Restaurants across Kern County are starting to reopen, some with no restrictions and others - like Mexicali downtown - with limited seating. The truth: some restaurants hardly closed at all, allowing pre-pandemic seating in a county that pledged not to enforce the state policy. But with the rush toward herd immunity making progress, many local restaurants are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and opening up.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "We are living in a generation that would unplug you from life support just to charge their cell phones."

* ... HOMELESS: Runners, cyclists and hikers are having to avoid a large part of the Kern River bike path due to a surge in homeless encampments. The area along the river between Beech Park headed west to Gosford Road had largely been free of homeless camps, but in the last few months dozens have cropped up, leaving trash and debris, abandoned fires and unleashed dogs to harass runners and bikers. The bike path going east from Beech Park to Manor has always been difficult due to the homeless, but they have now migrated much farther west.

* ... MEMORIES: Yet another close up picture of Wayne's Dairy compliments of the Facebook page Kern County History Fans.

* ... MORE MEMORIES: Bakersfield, looking south on Union Ave (US 99) coming up on California Avenue and the Bakersfield sign. The Historic 99 Facebook page carried this photo.

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Kern County will receive a huge increase in Covid-19 vaccines, the Sheriff's Department seeks to hire dozens of deputies and Alta Sierra will have its ski lifts open this weekend

* ... COVID VACCINE: There is some good news locally about the number of Covid vaccines that will be available in Kern County. Brynn Carrigan, head of Kern County Public Health, said the state's weekly allotment has been increased to 14,850 doses, almost twice the previous weekly allotment of 8,800.

Carrigan said the county hopes to vaccinate as many as 3,000 people a week at the Kern County Fairgrounds alone. And that doesn't count any new doses Kern may receive when the Johnson & Johnson vaccine wins approval and hits the market. The new J&J vaccine promises that anyone who receives it will not be hospitalized and not die from COVID-19.

* ... SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood attended a meeting of the leadership of the state sheriff's association and was surprised to learn that at some departments, fully half of the deputies are taking the coronavirus vaccines. The acceptance rates "range from 10 percent to 50 percent," he said. At home, meanwhile, Youngblood's department is seeking to fill dozens of jobs for deputies, a hard reality when other departments pouch our own fully trained deputies with the lure of higher salaries.

* ... DROUGHT: While it may be true that the mountains have received some much needed snow, make no mistake that here in the valley we remain in a drought. That's the word from ABC23's Elaina Rusk who said the valley "remains in moderate drought with severe drought status in the mountains from the Kern River Valley to the Tehachapi area. the Mojave Desert, including the Ridgecrest area, are classified as extreme drought."

* ... ALTA SIERRA: But there is still enough snow at Alta Sierra to keep the chair lifts open, and the resort says it will be open this weekend. Meanwhile over on the coast the state has announced that Oceano Dune in Pismo Beach is opening to a limited number of cars this weekend.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "When you tell someone you are praying for them, are you really?"

* ... RONDA NEWPORT: Ronda Newport, president of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors, was honored with the 2020 Warren G. Carter that “epitomizes the integrity, professionalism and traditional values of Watson Realty.”.

* ... MEMORIES: My thanks to the Kern County History Fans Facebook page for this picture of the old Kern County Jail, built in 1894 at the northeast corner of Eye and 16th streets.

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Amazon to build a second fulfillment center here, spring breaks out in Bakersfield as the rest of the nation freezes, and is Coca-Cola telling employees they may be acting "too white?"

* ... AMAZON: There was more good news on the job front locally as Amazon announced it will open its second fulfillment center in Kern County, this one in Shafter. Amazon is expected to hire some 1,000 workers for full and part-time job at a base of $15 an hour plus benefits. Planned for 4500 Express

Avenue, the new facility will cover one million square feet to pick and ship items to customers on the west coast.

* ... BLESSINGS: Consider for a moment what the rest of the country is going through: thousands without power and running water in Texas, record snow across the east coast and sub freezing temperatures across a huge swath of the country. And then there is Bakersfield, our much aligned home that is sunny and blooming like spring is around the corner. Pear trees are blooming, the camellias are out and shorts are replacing hoodies and jeans. This is a time to count our blessings for those of us who call Kern County home.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "It was like Lord of the Flies on the vaccine websites today."

* ... COCA-COLA: Has Atlanta-based Coca-Cola included training for its employees on how to be "less white?" That's word from the Coke employees who said in an effort to promote diversity, the company has included training materials that caution white employees to beware of being "too white." A spokesperson for Coca-Cola responded to the images on the social networking platform Twitter. “The video circulating on social media is from a publicly available LinkedIn Learning series and is not a focus of our company’s curriculum,” the spokesperson said, but added that the course is “part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace.” Isn't being "too white" like being "too right handed," and if that is the case, what are we supposed to do about it?

* ... MEMORIES: This 1916 photograph shows what was called Legislative Route 4, which would later become Highway 99, just north of Bakersfield.

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Monsignor Craig Harrison leaves the church alleging no due process to defense himself against abuse allegations, experts worry the state is not ready to power electric cars and women make it official: men with cats are not as sexy as men with dogs

* ... ELECTRIC CARS: Before we get too excited about electric cars, and California ridding itself of fossil fuels, you might listen to Elon Musk and Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota Motor Corp. At his year end press conference, Toyoda warned there simply isn't enough electricity to fuel thousands of electric vehicles, particularly in California where the aging grid can barely handle summer power surges. "The current

business model of the car industry is going to collapse," he said. "The more EVs (electric vehicles) we build, the worse carbon dioxide gets... when politicians are out there saying, 'Let's get rid of all cars using gasoline,' do they understand this?" Toyoda reminded everyone that the electricity that runs EVs comes from fossil fuels, and the only way the United States can power millions of EVs will require a huge expansion of the electrical grid and electrical power. And without fossil fuels, that today is impossible.

* ... CRAIG HARRISON: Two years after he was suspended from the Catholic Church because of allegations of sexual abuse, Monsignor Craig Harrison has decided to leave the church for good. Harrison laid out his reasons for leaving the church, and his plans, during a press conference in front of the office of his attorney, Kyle Humphrey. Both Harrison and Humphrey laid the blame directly on the church, saying it had failed to give his defense a proper hearing and there was virtually no "due process" in their decision to suspend him. Harrison said he retains his calling to God and in fact was more devoted to his faith than ever. While Harrison's days in the church are over, the legal issues surrounding the allegations of abuse remain, as well the lawsuits surrounding it. Among those lawsuits: Harrison's suit against the church claiming defamation, and his lawsuits against two detractors. To this point, none of the men who accused Harrison of wrongdoing have filed civil lawsuits themselves.

* ... MEN AND CATS: Do women really think men who are fond of cats are less desirable than men who like dogs? Well that's what the folks over at Match.com say, according to their analytics based on millions of interactions. Rachel DeAlto, chief dating expert at Match, put it this way: "Chicks don't want a guy with a cat." That is all according to a story in The Wall Street Journal which said straight men who reveal they own a cat have a 5 percent lower "like" rating than other men. In one study, a group of women were asked to look at random photos of a man, one of him sitting alone and the other with a cat. The result: regardless of which photo they saw first, the man photographed with a cat was deemed less "masculine, more neurotic and ultimately, less datable."

* ... SPEEDER BEWARE: For the past month Bakersfield police have been feasting on speeders on the newly widened 24th Street. Virtually every morning BPD motorcycle units and patrol cars hide in the alleys on the south side of 24th to catch speeders headed east. If that is on your commute, beware.

* ... QUOTABLE: "I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." - Mark Twain

* ... MEMORIES: Some lovely old shots of Kern County back in the day, compliments of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Friday, February 12, 2021

Dementia patients are at a much greater risk to die from the coronavirus, it's time for Girl Scout cookies, Bakersfield police target 24th Street for traffic enforcement and remembering the space shuttle Enterprise

* ... DEMENTIA: There's some more bad news when it comes to the coronavirus: an exhaustive new

study shows that people with dementia are much more likely to be hospitalized, or even die, from Covid-19. The risk is so high, say researchers, that it defies some of the characteristics known as risk factors for people with dementia, including old age, obesity, diabetes and asthma. And worse: the same study shows that black people are three times as likely as whites to become infected with the virus.

* ... MORE COVID: Meanwhile a growing number of Kern County residents are getting their second shot of the vaccine, reflecting some of the early groups (frontline medical workers, police and firemen and paramedics. The Biden administration has promised to increase the supply of doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna campaigns, and there is hope that the new one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will soon hit the U.S. market. And in a related story, it turns out the much maligned Russian vaccine, known as Sputnik V, is surprisingly effective, up to 92 percent effective in people 60 and over. Mexico has already ordered millions of doses of the Russian vaccine as have other South American nations.

* ... VACCINES: And finally, the Centers for Disease Control had issued a report saying you no longer have to quarantine if you have both shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The CDC did say, however, to be cautious once you are 90 days out from being vaccinated.

* ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "Y’all ever be just about to start eating healthy and accidentally buy 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies?"

* ... SPEED TRAP: For the past two weeks Bakersfield police have been pulling over dozens of drivers for speeding along the newly widened 24th Street downtown. Police officers in both cars and on motorcycles are stationing themselves in the alleyways on the south side of 24th Street and pulling over speeders headed eastbound.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "The White House confirmed that illegal aliens convicted of rape or assault will not be deported. Meanwhile, you can still go to jail for holding a church service."

* ... MEMORIES: This photo of the shuttle being ferried to Edwards Air Force Base is courtesy of the Kern County of Old Facebook page. The cutline: "On This Date, Jan. 31, 1977: The first Space Shuttle orbiter, Enterprise, arrived at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. As many in the Antelope Valley witnessed, it was conveyed at 3-mph from Rockwell International’s assembly facility in Palmdale aboard a 90-wheel transporter. The unpowered version of the shuttle was housed at Dryden Flight Research Center in preparation for a series of ground, captive- and free-flight tests prior to the space launch program."