larger view

Should Tejon Ranch become a national park?

Erica Rosenberg, director of the New National Parks Project, tossed out that idea in leading off an Atlanta Journal-Constitution Opinion piece  posted Tuesday night (UPDATE: the column also was published in Wednesday's Californian). Rosenberg's opinions piggyback on the publicity and viewership of this week's broadcast of Ken Burns' new PBS Series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."

Rosenberg writes, "The 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch, between Los Angeles and Bakersfield in California’s Tehachapi Mountains, features extraordinary ecological resources: ancient oak groves, Joshua tree and pinyon pine forests, and 80 imperiled species, including the California condor.

"Its owners and some environmentalists have cut a deal to put 90 percent of the ranchland into a private conservancy in exchange for allowing intense development on the remaining 10 percent. But here’s what hasn’t been seriously considered: Protecting this precious area as a national park for the benefit of creatures and people in one of the nation’s most densely populated regions."

Interesting idea but seems like we ought to take care and improve the national parks we already have before chewing off the intense politicking that would accompany any future acquisition. 

larger view

Men’s Health magazine, in its October issue, gives Bakersfield a D-minus score, ranking 87th among 100 U.S. cities for being “accident prone.” But, unlike some Men’s Health surveys that seem to unfairly single out Bakersfield for hate (examples here and here), this one seems in line with reality.

Charleston, W Va., was dead last, with an F and a 100th ranking. No surprise given that area’s huge coal-mining industry. Rochester, NY, a center of high-tech, ranked No. 1. Los Angeles, where people are apparently too busy being seen to be hurt, was No. 3. Our friends in Fresno ranked 62, earning a C-minus.

Men’s Health compiled its scores and rankings by measuring fatal workplace accidents; accident deaths from car crashes; drowning, falls and fires; emergency-room visits and bandage sales. Um, yeah, in reviewing that last, I’d say we pin the needle in most of those categories. Sadly.

You may have seen the half-dozen letters to the editor in The Californian on Wednesday, critical of a front-page story and photos on pole dancing published in the Bakersfield College Renegade Rip newspaper.

Here's the online version of the story that triggered all the hullabaloo.

Do you think The Rip stepped over the line in publishing such an article and photos?

Ben Schwartz at a new site called My Teacher, My Hero alerted us to a new video former Disney Studios Chairman Richard Cook had recorded to honor North High School teacher Florence Gholz.

In the 90-second video testimonial, Cook fondly recalls the impact Gholz had on his life as a sophomore English student at North, including how she gave him self-confidence and taught him how to learn, not what to learn. 

We read in a separate Bakosphere thread what a great guy Cook is, and this video just reinforces that perception. 

Richard Cook's sudden departure as chief of Walt Disney Studios remains a hot topic in Hollywood.

Cook, a graduate of North High School in Bakersfield, stepped down on Friday, stunning industry heavyweights like producer Jerry Bruckenheimer and actor Johnny Depp who worked closely with Cook.

While falling revenue from Disney films was certainly a factor, several publications mentioned Cook's Bakersfield roots in speculating on why Robert Iger, Disney's CEO, may have decided Cook no longer fit with the company.

The Wrap, a site covering Hollywood, quoted an anonymous source as saying “Iger’s a big city, flashy kind of guy. His first job in business was as weatherman, an on-air personality. Dick comes from Bakersfield. These are completely different guys. Dick’s an insider. Iger’s not."

The LA Times went a step further, saying, "The Bakersfield native wasn't embarrassed to wear Mickey Mouse ties and say "gosh," and he could be equally comfortable among ego-driven movie stars and small-town theater operators. His folksy nature stood in contrast to Iger, who is controlled, contained and cerebral."

Former Bakersfield Californian music critic Richard Chon landed on his feet after losing his reporting job back in the mid-1990s. These days he's the frontman of the Saddle Cats, an East Bay band that specializes in Western Swing music. 

ABC7 in the Bay area aired a nice piece that captures the impact Chon, an accomplished violinist/fiddler, has had in overcoming any belief the son of Korean immigrants can't thrive in a scene long associated with white American musicians.  

Chon said he fell in love with Western Swing after landing at The Californian. As ABC7 reports, Chon turned to music full time after losing his reporting gig, and found comfort in music more readily identified with Dustbowl immigrants.

"We can be very proud of our ethnic heritage and I am very proud of being Korean," Chon told ABC7. "But at the same time, I feel like I want to meet the culture in the middle. I think this country becomes very strong if people do that."

Well said. 

Jason Bird nearly killed himself over the weekend in an extreme-sports motorcycle jump near Taft -- yet says from his hospital bed that he'll make a comeback. 

KBAK Channel 29 reports that while attempting a world-record jump, "Bird broke his jaw, cheekbones and many other bones in his face. Doctors told family members that a major artery was severed in his face, causing a lot of blood loss. His left arm is broken, as well as both legs. The 32-year-old man is equipped with a trachea tube and can't talk, eat or even swallow."

Wow. 

We understand his quest to get back on his feet, and wish him a quick recovery, but stunts like this are proof extreme athletes are a different breed.

Many people with serious concerns with government or business may vent for a short time, then move on.

Not Laura Hart.

Hart is the author of the KVHD Under Fire blog, whose sole focus is to put a spotlight on activities at the Kern Valley Hospital District. Her blog description captures that focus: 

"Attorney general Jerry Brown opens can of worms! Bogus indictments of doctor and pharmacist. Bad investigation. Crimes of certain board members gone unchecked. The public healthcare district that tried to hide its treachery. Not anymore." 

Hart is persistent in chronicling the ordeal of former CEO Pamela Ott, who faces a variety of elder-abuse charges. She has logged more than 100 posts over the past year, on topics ranging from board meeting coverage (including video segments) and posting of hospital documents and reviews of local-media coverage of hospital issues. 

It's not reading for the faint of heart, but it's an example of dogged coverage on a vary narrow topic.

A Bakersfield man's passion for World of Warcraft evolved beyond simple gaming to the point where his "Dread Pirates" guild -- i.e. online gaming partners -- have become a true family that is supporting him through a divorce and the challenges of raising a 3-year-old son.

Jason Schweitzer is featured prominently in a Los Angeles Times article that examines World of Warcraft and the deep emotional ties that unite millions of hardcore WOW players worldwide. Schweitzer's personal case is explored in detail, including these telling paragraphs:

"For Schweitzer, 27, a Bakersfield resident, the Dread Pirates replaced the co-workers, family and buddies who someone his age might typically draw on in a difficult time like a divorce. He confided in them over his headset.

"The only people I had to talk to about it were guild people," he recalled recently. "All of my friends are in Dread Pirates. I don't really have any others."

The story is a good read, and respectful of this new form of digital relationship building that will likely continue to grow.

"Tanya" from Bakersfield reports that on Monday morning she and her husband saw -- and captured on camera -- something odd in the night sky that they can't identify.

In a post on the MyUFO blog, Tanya describes seeing in the eastern sky a "large pulsating sphere. It was very bright and in constant motion. It looked very close as if it was in our atmosphere not in space like a star."

She included seven photos that show a scribble-like light. She writes, "I am not sure what this is, as I am no expert on anything relating to the sky."

On a related note, there were four separate reports of a UFO in the San Jose area that same day, although the descriptions were completely different than Tanya's.

Loud, drunk partiers from Bakersfield who like to cuss at the top of their lungs in the middle of the night ruined a recent Sequoia camping trip for Kate Gale and her family.

Kate's blog post captures the chaos, and includes this passage:

"They have a lot Bud Light and Natty Light, they explain they come up here to get loud, I ask why they didn’t go to the lake, isn’t that what lakes are for?  Why the Sequoias?  But arguing with these people, doesn’t seem wise.  There are eight people, five men with shaved heads, tattoos, military guys who bench a lot when they aren’t curling beer."

Not hard to imagine why they cut their campout short.

She also mentions a camping trip in the area last year that was capped by seeing gang members sporting a machine gun. She might want to hunt for a new spot for the next campout.

Desiree Horton, aka Chopper Chick, has brought her helicopter to Bakersfield, where she's on call for firefighting duty.

Horton's blog -- "The Adventures of Chopper Chick -- has a pretty good roundup of wildfire activity in Southern California and elsewhere. That focus on collecting the news comes not only from her current job as a contract pilot, but also her past gigs as a TV chopper reporter in LA.

Her experience as an in-air reporter became a quest to become a pilot, which is now her career. From her blog: 

"The helicopter is my office. It is a place where I experience many emotions and learn many lessons. It is a place of work, but also a keeper of dreams. It is a place of deadly serious encounters, yet there I discover much about life. ..."

Seems a little over the top, but The Hill, a publication that covers DC politics, recently published a story leading with the "escape plan" Bakersfield and CSUB police "devised" for Congressman Kevin McCarthy at his recent town hall meeting at the Icardo Center.

Seems like planning is something any police force would do for an elected official going in front of a large crowd divided by a heated national issue. But apparently it's news when it happens in Bakersfield, with security planning elevated to a "stark reminder of the precautions that have been put in place in the wake of heated town hall meetings this summer."

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, has justed posted a short first-person piece on Huffington Post titled "Dreaming in the California Fields."

The piece leads with, "The summer harvest is a strange time to be contemplating the death of the California Dream."

The tale touches on family history, California's current troubles and the inevitable booms and busts that remind us all that frugality is something we ought to keep close at hand.