A CSUB economic predicts the coronavirus will trigger a recession, Grimmway Farms celebrates 50 years in business and Bishop Joseph Brennan makes an appearance at St Francis no less

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.

 * ... CORONAVIRUS: Will the coronavirus plunge the United States into a recession? CSUB

economics professor Dr. Richard Gearhart believes it will, and it's hard to argue against when you look at the economic hit we are taking as we respond to the virus. CSUB has suspended classes for the rest of the semester, Disneyland has closed, Broadway shows have shuttered, the NCAA has canceled the men's and women's college basketball tournament known as March Madness, the NBA and NHL seasons have been suspended, major league baseball delayed the start of spring training, the Bakersfield Tennis Open has been canceled and there will be no more audiences at hit TV show recordings like Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune and The Ellen Show. Can the closing of public elementary and high schools be far behind? What about all the charity events and walks that start in the spring? What about high school and college graduations? How will this affect the homeless and their encampments? All signs point to a tough few months ahead of us, so stay calm, and stay tuned.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "The wage gap isn't real. Men just tend to go for higher paying jobs, like doctor, engineer and CEO. Whereas women go for lower paying jobs like female doctor, female engineer and female CEO."

 * ... GRIMMWAY FARMS: Grimmway Farms is celebrating its 50th anniversary, one of the truly inspiring local stories of two brothers (Rob and Bob Grimm) who started hawking corn on street corners in Anaheim and went on to build what is now the nation's largest carrot producer. The Grimms have both died but CEO Jeff Huckaby is now at the helm and says Grimmway is weathering the coronavirus scare quite nicely. Orders for Grimmway's line of organic produce sold under the Cal-Organic brand are up, and fully 50 percent of all of Grimmway's business now comes from organic produce. The company employs some 7,000 people in seven states and ships product to 20 countries.

 * ... BISHOP BRENNAN:  The Kern County Catholic Prayer breakfast was held this week, featuring an address by Bishop Joseph Brennan from the Diocese of Fresno. The irony in the room was rich: here was the bishop who will make the final decision on the fate of Monsignor Craig Harrison, who has been accused by multiple men of sexually molesting them dating back to the late 1980s. Some Father Craig supporters boycotted the event although there was a robust turnout nonetheless. And this is the same bishop whose diocese is being sued by Father Craig for defamation. Finally, the event was held in the Monsignor Craig Harrison Youth Center at St. Francis. If Harrison is kicked out of the church, that signage will undoubtedly come down. 

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: A sign of the times.

* ... MEMORIES: Workers attend to the wreckage of the Porche Spider that James Dean was driving when he lost control and went off the road on Highway 46, dying at the scene.

Thanks to the new sales tax the city of Bakersfield is flush with cash, Bob Price takes his brand to KGET, an explosion of homeless along the bike path and the pigs that live amongst us

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.

 * ... FLUSH WITH CASH: So did you read the city is suddenly flush with cash? That's right, reporter Sam Morgan reported in The Californian that even the most optimistic predictions of how

much money the new sales tax would generate have been exceeded. "The good financial fortunes have left city officials with the unique problem of needing to find new projects to fund," Morgan wrote.

 * ... ROBERT PRICE: It has been two weeks since Bob Price left The Californian after 30 years and started a new gig at KGET. He hit the ground running so to speak, appearing on air almost immediately in a coat and tie no less (inside joke for those of us who worked with Bob) and by my estimation he has been a smash hit. Not because he was fluid and graceful and knowledgeable on the air (that will undoubtedly come later) but rather because he was himself. The genius in KGET hiring Bob was exactly that: they hired the iconic Bob Price, rarely cranky, occasionally disheveled, but always self deprecating, funny and lovable. All of that TV smoothness will have to come later, but for now KGET should pride itself in adding a valuable brand to its lineup of talent. Tune in and enjoy the show.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I sneezed in Costco today and it was the most attention I have gotten in the past year."

 * ... HOMELESS: Despite the best efforts of the city, which has now thrown a cool couple million dollars into trying to control the homeless explosion, the situation on the ground is out of control. All along the banks of the dry Kern River, from Beach Park out to Manor, I counted at least a dozen homeless encampments, some with multiple tents replete with campfires, vicious dogs and trash - piles of trash. Think back a few years ago when all the improvements were made along the river-shade areas, viewing stations, new paths and infrastructure. Today, the homeless own the entire riverbank, their dogs running loose and their trash extending for miles. And so it goes,

 * ... TRASH: Don't get me started on the people who treat our community like their own trash receptacle. Like whoever used Round Mountain Road to unceremoniously dump computers, computer screens, CPUs, printers and keyboards, strewn across the road.

 * ... CAMELLIA SHOW: The annual Camellia Show was held this weekend at the Bakersfield Racquet Club, drawing entries from across the state and dozens of entries locally. There are some 32,000 varieties of camellias, and here are a few of them.

 * ... GARDNER FIELD: Check out this Army training flight over Taft during War War II when Gardner Field (along with Minter Field) trained thousands of pilots for the war. Photo compliments of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

 * ... MEMORIES: I spotted this old photo on the Kern County of Old Facebook page. Who remembers it?

New City Manager Christian Clegg meets the press, Supervisors Couch and Perez who strength in their respective districts and Justin Salters hangs his own shingle as a public relations specialist

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.

 * ... CTIY MANAGER: Bakersfield's new city manager, Christian Clegg, held his first press conference this week, introducing himself to local reporters and vowing an "inclusive" administration that will take time to listen to the City Council and community about our priorities. Interesting,

perhaps in reference to the recently retired Alan Tandy, Clegg said he was not a "bull in the china shop" and instead hoped to have a more collaborative process. Clegg spent nine years in Stockton as an assistant city manager and said he plans to stay in Bakersfield for a long time.

 * ... ELECTIONS: Super Tuesday was just super for a handful of local candidates, predictable in many ways and highly instructive in others. First, the victory of Supervisor David Couch over Emilio Huerta is proof that hard work does indeed pay off. Couch was handed a new district he had to work (thanks to the federal court ordered redistricting) he was up against the son of civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, and he still steamrolled to victory, a testament to his tireless campaigning and work on behalf of his district. The same can be said for Supervisor Leticia Perez, who also waltzed to victory despite her troubles with the law when she was charged with a conflict of interest because of her husband's cannabis consulting business. Like Couch, Perez knows her district, works it and proved voters will show their loyalty to politicians who care. Mayor Karen Goh may prove to be one of the most popular politicians in town, and welcome Philip Peters to the Board of Supervisors after he won easily the race to succeed Mick Gleason in District 1. If Peters plays his card right, he will be a supervisor for many years to come thanks to the political machine that helped put him into office.

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "I consider my self to be a capable, somewhat intelligent, middle aged man. However, I just double-tapped a photo in a magazine to see it better."

 * ... JUSTIN SALTERS: Congratulations to Justin Salters, a veteran political consultant who just launched his own public affairs and strategic communications company, Salters Associates. A CSUB graduate who is active on the alumni board, Salters has a decade of experience and hopes to focus on clients in the San Joaquin Valley.

 * ... MISSION BANK: Mission Bank held its official "grand opening" at its new location this week, capping off a month's long move from its old facility just a block away. The bank took over the old San Joaquin Bank building at the corner of 17th and L street, remodeled it and updated the exterior. The bank was founded in 1998 and in 2012 merged with Mojave Desert Bank.
A.J. Antongiovanni serves as its president and CEO.

 * ... VULTURES: Check out these turkey vultures that descended on my street downtown and took up temporary residence in a tree across the street.

  * ... MEMORIES: Check out the old Rosenthal's Pacific Sales Company
located at 1621 19th Street in 1918 . Thanks to Art Moore and the Kern County History Fans Facebook page for this one.

Supervisor Leticia Perez stiffs KGET and fails to show up for her own debate, Kern County voters to decide the fate of two marijuana initiatives and GM kills the Impala, but the sedan will live on in our car culture

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.

 * ... SUPER TUESDAY: More than 60,000 Kern County voters have already casts their ballots in the Super Tuesday primary, when California joins 13 other states and the territory of Somoa in deciding both local and national elections. Locally, two marijuana initiatives are on the ballot,

Measure D and the competing Measure E, which was put forth by the Board of Supervisors. Supervisors David Couch and Leticia Perez are up for reelection, as is Mayor Karen Goh. For what it is worth, I am voting for Measure E and I am voting against Proposition 13, a huge school bond measure. I also recommend you vote to send Karen Goh back for a second term, allow David Couch to return to office and give Leticia Perez another term, despite some recent bad form on her part that I will discuss next.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Talented? You bet. I can lie in bed and fall asleep halfway through whatever show I’m watching. Every. Single. Time"

* ... LETICIA PEREZ: What was Supervisor Leticia Perez thinking? You are the incumbent, you are invited to a debate to face your challengers, you confirm, and then you stand them up. That's right, Perez was a 'no show' for the KGET televised debate and anchor Jim Scott did not appear pleased. I am told Perez was supposed to be there at 6:30 p.m. along with the other four candidates, they waited, and at 7 p.m. decided to go ahead without her. No phone call, no explanation, nothing. I contacted Perez and was told she was meeting with the Senate Pro Tem working on oil and gas leases, but Facebook told a different story: she was spotted at a birthday party for Democratic state Sen. Melissa Hurtado. Either Perez is supremely confident in her reelection, or she committed a brazen act of bad etiquette,  or both. It was bad form, supervisor, really bad form. For the record, the other candidates are realtor Ben Valdez, businessman Ronnie Cruz, entrepreneur David Abbasi and Greenfield Union School District Board member Dr. Ricardo Herrera.

 * ... TRASH: Lia Mendez is a runner and cyclist who knows how to set an example for the rest of us. Check out her post on Facebook: "A few months ago, I got into the habit of picking up litter while running the Kern River Parkway trails. It started as an impromptu cleanup effort, as I would inevitably encounter at least one discarded plastic bag on every run, and my rule became that if I found a bag, I wouldn't stop picking up trash until I'd filled it up. Because I would often find multiple plastic bags on the same run, I usually ended up removing a lot of litter from the trail. Pretty soon, my regular running route was starting to look a lot better. Often, other people enjoying the trails take notice of me picking up trash. They smile and offer me thanks, a fist bump, sometimes a high five.
"There's plenty for everyone!" I smile back at them, and hope that the next time they come across a piece of trash on the trail, they remember that crazy lady they saw running with a handful of garbage that one time, and decide to take action themselves. When I encounter trash in the environment, I don't see it as someone else's problem. I see it as an opportunity to lead by example and help make my community a better place." Thank you, Lia, for setting a good example for all of us.

* ... LAST IMPALA: General Motors has announced it is ending the production of the Chevrolet Impala, one of the most beloved classic American made sedans of all time. Sales of sedans have slumped and the Impala fell out of favor with car buyers. But one place it will always have a home is at the classic car shows in Bakersfield, where the Impala remains one of the all time favorites.

 * ... MEMORIES: And from the Kern County History Fans Facebook page, check out this old photo of Taft Union High School.

CSUB professor warns the coronavirus could disrupt the hot economy, the homeless leave a mountain of trash at the Park at RiverWalk and lunch at Woolgrower's looks like a white pickup convention

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.

 * ... CORONAVIRUS: How worried should all be about the coronavirus? According to Dr. Richard Gearhart, CSUB economic professor, plenty. Not only could the existence of the virus cause death in at risk people, but it could also upend the world economic order. The Dow has dropped 3,000 points

this week already, and Gearhart thinks another 1,000 point drop could be in the offering, an event that gut retirement and 401(k) accounts and possibly affect the reelection prospects for President Trump. And, Gearhart warns it could also disrupt the production of penicillin and antibiotics, which China leads the world in. Of the four major companies that produce the  active pharmaceutical ingredient for benzathine penicillin G, three are located in China. Most of the world's antibiotics are produced in China and India.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I just finished the laundry and all my socks had their partners. Is this what having your life together feels like?

 * ... HOMELESS TRASH: If you think the homeless prefer to hang about downtown, think again. These pictures are from the Park at Riverwalk, an absolutely disgrace. Here is what Peter Wolleson said when he posted these pictures on Facebook: "I witnessed this catastrophe firsthand. If you live in the southwest, and you think the homeless problem is mostly sidewalk-crappers in the downtown area, I’ve got news for you. This is the Park at Riverwalk. This is a few hundred feet from where your children play at the playground. And ultimately, this is your drinking water. This debris will be washed downstream and buried. These propane canisters will continue to rust until they burst, and the bottles of charcoal lighter fluid and buckets of human feces will gradually leach into our groundwater. The city needs to address this- IMMEDIATELY."

* ... GOOD FORM: Congrats to Bakersfield photographer JoJo Butingan, a master cameraman who had one of his pictures published in Westways magazine, the publication of the Automobile Club of Southern California. The stunning photo of the hills of Kern County appears in the March issue.

 * ... OUR TOWN: Tell me if these pictures, and the caption by my friend Jeff Flores, don't speak to our community. "No this is not a white truck convention or a Ford or Chevrolet dealership. It is just another fine day at Woolgrower's Restaurant where the food is good, people are friendly and the white truck memo circulates!" Amen to that.

 * ... MEMORIES:The evolution of Mercy Hospital downtown in old photos, compliments of the Kern County History Fans Facebook page. Amazing.

Is a new priest headed to St. Francis now that Monsignor Harrison has been on suspension for almost a year? Plus the former head of the Kern Community Foundation comes on to share his story of a childhood molestation and Rick Kreiser is honored by Bakersfield College

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.

 * ... ST. FRANCIS: The Diocese of Fresno is apparently ready to send a new pastor to St. Francis to fill in until the questions surrounding the fate of Monsignor Craig Harrison are resolved. It is not yet

confirmed but I was told a new priest could be here sometime in March. Meanwhile, the status of Harrison remains unresolved almost a year after he was suspended by the Diocese over allegations by now grown men that he preyed on them sexually when they were young. Harrison has denied the charges but a recent report from the Fresno District Attorney's office found the allegations "credible." Shortly after that revelation, Harrison and his attorneys filed a defamation lawsuit against the Diocese of Fresno.

 * ... RADIO TIME: H.A. Sala, a prominent criminal defense attorney who is part of Craig Harrison's defense team, will appear on my radio show this week to respond to the Fresno DA's finding and launch a defense of Harrison. Does Harrison's lawsuit against the church mean he has given up on getting his job back at St. Francis? (After all who sues their boss expecting to get their job back?) How damaging is it when a DA's office says the evidence against Harrison seems credible? Were they implying he may be guilty of the accusations? We will cover these questions and others when Sala comes on the program this week.

 * ... JEFF PICKERING: And finally, we will chat with Jeff Pickering on Tuesday after his own revelation that he was molested as a youth by a doctor but as ashamed to come forward. Pickering, who now lives in Florida but spent time in Bakersfield as head of the Kern Community Foundation, will speak to the shame, guilt and embarrassment that explains why he kept the molestation a secret for 30 years. Pickering has documented his gripping story in a serial blog post that can be found at ... https://stillpracticingmetoo.fyi (Jeff Pickering pictured with his wife, Stephanie)

 * ... RICK KREISER: Congratulations to Rick Kreiser for being recognized by Bakersfield College for his contributons to the BC Foundation. Kreiser was honored at the Sterling Silver Dinner held at Seven Oaks Country Club Saturday night. In addition to Kreiser, the school also honored Dr. Bill Baker for his 43 years of service at the team doctor for BC football. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Burton)

 * ... BERNIE SANDERS: Just 48 hours after President Donald Trump spoke to a rousing crowd at Meadows Field, Bernie Sanders swept through town to cheer on his supporters at a rally at the Park at River Walk. And, despite what you might read on social media, particularly Facebook, it was a standing room only crowd that greeted the Democratic front runner. Facebook was full of posts saying only a handful of people showed up for the event, but in fact there was a crowd of around 3,500 who turned out for the rally.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Stop assuming all toddlers want to give you a high five."

 * ... MEMORIES: Stephen Humphrey posted this on the Kern County History Fans Facebook page. The caption: The Bakersfield Club in 1914 located on the n/e corner of 19th and "F" Streets. Building demolished after the 1952 earthquake. West Side Liquors now occupies the location.