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Who should pay for development? Get 17-year-olds involved Keep July 4th safe, legal, fun Doctor’s stroke, community’s tragedy California is going up in flames Talk’s cheap, but campaigns aren’t Move on, Bruce Sons Time to weigh in on our future Put leeches to work Find the will to ‘fix’ homelessness June 06 July 06 August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 June 06 May 06 April 06 March 06 February 06 January 06 December 05 November 05 October 05 September 05 August 05 July 05 June 05 May 05 April 05 March 05 February 05 Blog RollAsk The Californian Editorials Entertainment Eye of Bakersfield Faith Forum Fired Up! Inside Sports Neighbors Right Thinking Sound Off Talk of the Town 
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PUBLISHED 12/1/2006
A sewer line. Most of us take for granted that our homes are hooked to one and when we flush our toilets or empty our sinks, the waste will float efficiently away.
So the battle over Kern County’s ordinance requiring homes in metropolitan Bakersfield be hooked to a sewer line may seem perplexing.
But the dispute between Kern and a group of property owners and developers is really over the area’s orderly growth and provision of services to support the...
PUBLISHED 11/30/2006
The good news: Predictions new electronic voting systems would melt down on Nov. 7 didn’t come true.
But enough problems did crop up to support California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s vow to hold Senate hearings next year.
These problems must prompt Congress to get off its collective lethargic rear ends to set minimum nationwide standards that include requiring “paper trails.”
After the June primary election fiasco in Kern...
PUBLISHED 11/30/2006
Cal State Bakersfield’s enrollment in 2005-06 was down, causing the university to lose $1 million. President Horace Mitchell says it won’t be a continuing problem. The school is now meeting enrollment targets.
Losing money is only part of the problem.
Keeping students interested in attending Cal State Bakersfield is the issue. The school must appeal to local residents, as well as outsiders, in order to compete with other schools for attendance.
...
PUBLISHED 11/29/2006
The case of an attorney whose vehicle crashed on Highway 178, fatally striking a vehicle driven by Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Hudnall, highlights the need for the State Bar to overhaul its attorney discipline policies.
A panel that includes personnel, police and safety professionals, as well as State Bar representatives should be formed to re-evaluate the organization’s discipline system.
The panel should recommend changes to the state...
PUBLISHED 11/29/2006
Wanted: People with thoughtful opinions and a desire to help improve their community. Must be open-minded, curious and willing to argue.
Become a community member of The Californian’s editorial board. Meet with community leaders, national and state politicians, and supporters and critics of The Californian. Debate issues. Help shape the newspaper’s positions on big and little issues facing the community.
Six people will be selected to serve as...
PUBLISHED 11/28/2006
A high number of technical fouls called against players in the NBA this season prompted players’ union director Billy Hunter to threaten legal action against the league.
The league put into place a “respect-the-game” rule that limits the outbursts from players after a call has been made. Outbursts have been an ongoing problem in the league.
The rule is necessary to set some limits on increasingly obnoxious player behavior. The league must not...
PUBLISHED 11/28/2006
A new, Democratic Congress must persuade the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to put some common sense and decency into implementation of new Medi-Cal rules.
If California loses some of its federal Medicaid funds, don’t blame it on a bumbling state bureaucracy. Blame it on the feds. Worse than losing money is the resulting harm to people in need.
California and 20 other states are months late in applying tightened standards to verify...
PUBLISHED 11-26-2006
If egos and hurt feelings can be set aside, Bakersfield’s proposed downtown federal courthouse site could benefit both the legal community and residents.
But it will require cooperation and good will from all parties. It will require looking at the city’s proposal objectively and not through grudge-filled eyes when federal General Services Administration representatives meet with city officials on Dec. 8.
We hope GSA representatives will...
PUBLISHED 11-24-06
Mexican laborers with guest worker visas at Sierra-Cascade Nursery in Susanville were not given meals, worked long hours without overtime pay or breaks, and worked without proper equipment.
The lessons learned from an ongoing federal investigation of worker complaints could impact chances of establishing a broader-based guest worker program.
Simply: Farmworkers deserve respect and fairness in exchange for the tough work they perform in conditions average Americans...
PUBLISHED 11-24-06
A citizen’s group appointed by Kern County supervisors to find a suitable street naming project to honor native son and country western icon Merle Haggard is winding up its work.
Supervisors are expected to consider the group’s recommendations next month.
So far, the top two contenders appear to be renaming 7th Standard Road, from Highway 99 to Chester Avenue; or Airport Drive in Oildale in honor of Haggard.
What is your preference?
Send letters...
PUBLISHED 11-27-06
The fraternity members who made racist and sexist comments in the film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” should not be the ones offended by the film.
Rather it should be those who are the targets of their big mouths.
Putting aside the controversy behind a release they signed to participate in the film, the three fraternity boys have to own up to their hurtful, disrespectful comments.
Three...
PUBLISHED 11-27-06
The City Council should follow the county’s lead and require restaurants to post letter grades following health department inspections. The grades reflect only health and sanitation, not the type or quality of food or ambiance.
After months of debate, the Board of Supervisors adopted a grade system similar to what is common throughout much of Southern California. But the county’s ordinance does not apply to restaurants in the city. It should.
Many...
PUBLISHED 11/21/2006
Commendably, the Kern County Superintendent of Schools is planning strategies to make students feel safer at school, to find out why they are harassed, and use drugs and alcohol.
Those were recent behavior findings of nearly 12,000 students in Kern County who took the California Healthy Kids Survey during the 2005-06 school year.
The results showed that fewer than one-quarter of Kern County’s seventh- graders felt “very safe.”
Daryl...
PUBLISHED 11/21/2006
It’s time for 43 million Medicare recipients to review their prescription drug coverage for the coming year.
Even though open enrollmen lasts until Dec. 31, sign-ups should be completed by the first week in December to avoid the last-minute rush that plagued the program last year and delayed delivery of medications.
Recipients who are satisfied with their current choices will be re-enrolled automatically. Nonetheless, they should review what...
PUBLISHED 11/20/2006
Money is being well spent on migrant education to help immigrant families in Kern County understand how the education system in this country works.
Close to $500,000 from the MEES grants will be sent to Kern County schools this year from a statewide appropriation of $5.4 million.
Migrant children and parents both benefit from the grants — especially when they do not speak English. Although the program is not individualized, parents and students are...
PUBLISHED 11/20/2006
There’s no greater present anyone can give this season than the gift of life — and it is desperately needed.
On occasion, supplies of various types pf blood run short, so steady donations are always a good way to ensure an adequate supply.
There may be long-term solutions to stabilize the county’s blood supply, and borrowing from nearby cities is possible on occasion.
But in a crisis — often a fact during holiday seasons when accident...
PUBLISHED 11/19/2006
The problem with First 5 Kern is not just its troubled contract with a group of researchers at Cal State Bakersfield.
It is that the apparent lack of oversight and poor management decisions uncovered by a Californian investigation of the contract is just the latest in a series of missteps and self-serving use of tobacco tax money intended for Kern County’s children.
Kern County supervisors refused last week to take modest steps to begin reining in First 5...
PUBLISHED 11/17/2006
Property continued to be destroyed and injuries still occurred. The tough fireworks ordinance Bakersfield City Council members and Kern County supervisors passed before the July 4th holiday did not stop the carnage.
But it did catch people’s attention. Likely it will take two or three years of enforcement to change people’s behavior.
And it will take the support given this week by the Kern County Board of Supervisors to convince people that fire...
PUBLISHED 11-16-2006
Forget it. That’s the best advice voters can give election-obsessed state party leaders who are thinking of changing the date of California’s presidential primary election — again.
The concern is that by the time the primary election is held in California — June — many presidential nominating convention delegates may have been chosen by voters in states that hold their primaries between January and March.
If a candidate has a huge...
PUBLISHED 11-16-2006
A fundamentally new and likely beneficial approach to citizenship exams is being test-driven by the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services, successor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The new test is designed to show whether potential new citizens have a basic understanding of how American government works, rather than knowing dozens of dates, times and places in American history.
The effect is to shift emphasis of qualification for...
PUBLISHED 11-14-2006
Near universal praise has deservedly greeted NASA’s decision to devote a space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
Citing improved shuttle safety, as proved by two highly successful recent missions to the International Space Station, NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin agreed to add the Hubble repair mission to the dwindling number of flights remaining until the shuttle fleet is grounded in 2010 due to age.
The once star-crossed...
PUBLISHED 11-14-2006
Specific issues and young people wanting policy change encouraged voters ages 18 to 29 to actually get out and vote.
Having candidates ask young voters to vote — either by phone calls or visiting in person — also helped the turnout.
Keeping young voters interested in voting is a challenge this country faces come election time.
About 10 million young people voted last Tuesday — 2 million more compared to the 2002 midterm elections.
...
PUBLISHED 11-13-2006
States can use federal grant money equaling $50 million for abstinence programs for people up to the age of 29. Is there no better way to spend $50 million other than to preach abstinence to adults?
How about using it for abstinence programs for teens? Or for safe sex education or birth control methods to reduce abortions. The government says its statement is a clarification of grant rules, not a requirement that money be used for groups ages 19 to 29.
...
PUBLISHED 11-13-2006
By a 66 percent margin, Arizona voters rejected a proposition that would have entered people into a $1 million lottery just for voting.
Bribing people to go to the polls is not the best way to increase turnout.
Voters’ interest isn’t in casting a vote, but in the dollar sign flashed in front of them.
People who are not educated on the issues would have been voting for a chance to win $1 million — not to actually elect officials or pass...
PUBLISHED 11-12-2006
The city of Bakersfield has an offer it can’t — and shouldn’t — refuse. But unlike offers that sound too good to be true, the ability to buy the Borton, Petrini & Conron building at below appraised value makes perfect sense for both the city and the law firm.
The five story, 50,000 square-foot building is on the north side of Truxtun Avenue across from the Police Department. There is a parking lot in the rear of the building.
The...
PUBLISHED 11-12-2006
Even if members of the Student Government Association at Bakersfield College don’t want to impose designated smoking areas on campus, someone should.
Each community college district decides smoking rules for campuses and the Kern Community College District has an obligation to protect students from both smoking and second-hand smoke.
Some community college campuses in the state have become tobacco-free while others enforce designated smoking areas.
...
PUBLISHED 11/10/2006
They’re the snipers of the political wars, often well camouflaged, usually emerging at the last minute of a campaign to take shots at the opposition.
“They” are independent expenditure committees, and the shots such campaign finance groups take at candidates can be purposefully unfair distortions of positions and issues designed to better their own self-serving ends.
They exist through the connivance of politicians who crafted campaign finance...
PUBLISHED 11-9-2006
Voters have spoken: They conclude Kern County has sufficient money to fix local roads. Measure I was not needed.
For the second time in two decades voters have rejected a half-cent sales tax that would have been used to repave and widen some of the roads that are in desperate need of fixing. Money would have also been used to build new roads.
The sales tax hike took a wrong turn somewhere. Proponents of Measure I should make improvements to the proposal and bring...
PUBLISHED 11-9-2006
Change. Clearly voters nationally demanded it overwhelmingly, and they’re getting it. But change must be managed carefully and moderately. It will be tempting for long frustrated Democrats to proclaim a solid mandate for fast and wholesale change. But insensitive domination of the opposition isn’t statecraft.
And at this time our nation needs that. We are still a nation at war and worldwide terrorism is no respecter of gradual policy change. It...
PUBLISHED 11-8-2006
Complaints by the usual apologists that Saddam Hussein didn’t get a fair trial or that it was manipulated by the U.S. are ridiculous.
Groups like Amnesty International and the International Center for Transitional Justice, among others, have criticized both the trial and the sentence.
Equally suspect is Saddam’s post-sentence call for all Iraqis to “forgive, reconcile and shake hands.” Throughout his murderous career, Saddam...
PUBLISHED 11-5-2006
The following is a summary of candidates The Californian has endorsed for Tuesday’s election. Ballot measure summaries will appear tomorrow. To read the entire editorial, go to www.bakersfield. com.
Statewide offices
U.S. Senate: Dianne Feinstein (D) has vast experience at all levels of government and has served the state credibly and well in Congress.
Governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has matured since his brash “girlie men” days...
PUBLISHED 11-6-2006
The following is a summary of The Californian’s recommendations regarding initiatives on Tuesday’s ballot. To read the entire editorial, go to www.bakersfield.com.
Local
MEASURE G — YES. This $100 million bond issue is needed to repair and construct schools in the Bakersfield City School District.
MEASURE I — YES. Proceeds from this half-cent sales tax will be used to match state and federal transportation funds, repair Kern...
PUBLISHED 11-3-06
It is premature to give up five years of work to develop a site for off-road vehicle riders to use, as some critics have suggested.
Displaced in recent years from several scattered areas in the greater metropolitan area — including Hang Glider Hill at Hart Park — riders focused their efforts to find a home on a 11,000-acre site, six miles north of the city.
During the five years of negotiating for a site, riders worked collaboratively with public...
PUBLISHED 11-3-06
Kern County voters should vote yes to confirm the seven judicial candidates on the ballot.
Two are state Supreme Court justices and five sit on the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno. The court in Fresno hears appeals from superior courts in Kern and several other central valley counties.
There are no controversial issues regarding the judges’ confirmation elections, which are uncontested and nonpartisan.
After appeals court judges are appointed by the...
PUBLISHED 11/2/2006
No more audits! We already know First 5 is a mess. From the state commission on down to county commissions — including Kern’s — First 5 is squandering tax monies, is plagued by cronyism, and lacks necessary fiscal and management oversight.
In other words, when voters barely passed Proposition 10 in 1998, they created a cash cow that is being milked by people with personal agendas, some more interested in lining their pockets than helping kids....
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