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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 4-29-07
The American dream of home ownership has turned into a nightmare for many of the nation’s families, including many in Bakersfield.
The news last week was grim:
• Kern County’s foreclosure rate is triple the nation’s.
• Law enforcement and real estate professionals report mortgage fraud litters Bakersfield’s housing market.
Greed, lax lending rules and enforcement, fraud and buyer stupidity have caused rampant...
PUBLISHED 4-29-07
The downturn in real estate markets has plummetted housing values in many communities. Kern County Assessor Jim Fitch told The Californian last week that his department is seeing only a flattening of local property values. But Fitch predicted by the end of the year, values may drop 10 to 15 percent. That drop could mean a drop in the amount owners pay in taxes.
The tax roll for fiscal year 2007-08 will be delivered to the Kern County Board of Supervisors in...
PUBLISHED 5-1-07
Implementing a system to alert the public to emergencies quickly and easily must be accelerated.
Despite huge hurdles, putting some sort of system in place should result from a workshop state officials — led by Lt. Gov. John Garamendi — are planning with telecommunications industry representatives.
Despite Garamendi’s hope for a simple and inexpensive system to be in place within two to five years, Bakersfield and Kern County officials agree huge...
PUBLISHED 5-2-07
Students have a great opportunity to attend a University of California campus, even if some of the ones they chose rejected them.
UC campuses at Los Angeles, San Diego, Irvine and Berkeley have teamed up with UC Merced to help increase the new campus’ enrollment.
It’s tough even for the very best students to get into some UC schools. Those who narrowly missed being admitted will be invited to participate in the Shared Experience...
PUBLISHED 4-27-2007
Bakersfield City Manager Alan Tandy wants us to turn up the heat on the California Transportation Commission to get Kern County’s fair share of the voter-approved bond money to build desperately needed new roads.
The problem: We have pathetically little fuel to create the heat.
When Kern County voters last November rejected a half-cent sales tax measure, they extinguished the fire under efforts to obtain increased state funding for local road building.
...
PUBLISHED 4-26-2007
Californians should support a proposed college student loan forgiveness program that will pay back in long-term benefits far more than it costs in short-term revenue losses.
Instead of feeling they are “stuck” with paying a stranger’s debt, taxpayers should consider AB 1267 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, as a sound investment.
If enacted, the bill would pay for four years of California State University or the University of...
PUBLISHED 4-26-2007
Amid a raging political battle over mandating a vaccine against a virus that can cause cervical cancer, the point is being ignored: Young girls need to be vaccinated.
Both Democrats and Republicans criticized making a vaccine mandatory for young girls to protect them against human papillomavirus, or HPV.
There is nothing controversial about it. Protection from HPV is needed and this vaccine targets the right age group — girls starting at age 11.
...
PUBLISHED 4-25-2007
The San Joaquin Valley’s air should have been scrubbed clean yesterday. Tomorrow is too late. And two decades from now is outrageous. But, regrettably, that is the reality of our situation.
The valley’s population growth, its geography that traps dirty air, and its polluting industries, including agriculture and oil, are big obstacles to cleaning up the air to meet state and federal standards.
Our families, friends and neighbors are getting...
PUBLISHED 4-24-2007
Kern County has been awarded a $30 million grant that will help divert thousands of poor Kern County patients away from emergency rooms, sending them to lower-cost clinics for their basic, primary care.
The program developed with the grant will provide more appropriate services in a cost-effective way. It will benefit both patients and taxpayers.
The program should be hailed as an advancement in Kern County and serve as a model for other programs in Kern County...
PUBLISHED 4-24-2007
Ever wonder who the sale and use tax deadbeats are?
Wonder no longer. Starting last week, the State Board of Equalization began publishing a quarterly list of companies that together are more than $219 million behind in their payments. The list does not include businesses whose claims are on appeal or for which repayment plans have been made. And they only are the ones behind by more than $100,000 — 222 of them.
This isn’t just a matter of...
PUBLISHED 4-22-2007
Learning that an oil refinery near their northwest Bakersfield home planned to expand, Michael and Jillian Stump wrote to Kern County planners:
“Irrespective of who is at fault, the town has grown up around the refinery, a fact well-known to Flying J when it purchased the facility. ... We have grave concerns about the safety of refinery operation in this area, given the vicinity of so many people trying to live, work and attend church.”
County planners...
PUBLISHED 4-22-2007
How metropolitan Bakersfield grows in the decades ahead will affect all of us. Our concerns will help guide Kern County and Bakersfield City planners as they begin updating the area’s general plan. Get involved. Attend a workshop or send your comments to planners.
Workshops will begin at 6 p.m. They include:
• May 7 — Northeast — East Bakersfield Senior Center, 2101 Ridge Road.
• May 8 — Northwest — Greenacres...
PUBLISHED 4-23-2007
The road to potentially faster and cheaper highway construction has been paved by the state Supreme Court.
It did so by unanimously upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 35.
Enacted by voters in 2000, Proposition 35 changed state law, allowing highway engineering work to be done by outside contractors, as well as Caltrans engineers.
The new ruling comes at a perfect time. Last year, voters approved $42 billion in infrastructure bonds, $20 billion of...
PUBLISHED 4-23-2007
For energy conservation to work, Pacific Gas and Electric must give its customers additional incentives to join the effort.
There’s a lot of red tape involved in obtaining free energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs from PG&E. And they are expensive to buy.
If PG&E wants to inspire people to save energy, it must offer all its customers fluorescent light bulbs at no cost or discounted cost.
PG&E offers discounts for fluorescent light bulbs that...
PUBLISHED 4-23-2007
Join the fun and shower with a friend to conserve water. Authorities in San Francisco are pushing showering and bathing with spouses as a voluntary conservation effort.
Even though Kern County isn’t as hard-pressed for water conservation, we should make sacrifices to help the overall water situation in California.
Other ways to voluntarily conserve are:
• Take shorter showers.
• Use modern low-flow shower heads.
• Turn off...
PUBLISHED 4-20-2007
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is either too clueless to lead the Justice Department, or he is not truthfully explaining why eight U.S. attorneys were fired and his role in their dismissals.
Either choice is reason enough for Gonzales to resign or be fired.
“The moment I believe I can no longer be effective, I will resign as attorney general,” Gonzales told senators Thursday.
That moment has arrived.
For weeks, Gonzales has struggled to...
PUBLISHED 4-19-2007
The battle to develop a vaccine to prevent valley fever needs a big push now from Kern County residents.
In Sacramento, a $1 million appropriation sought by Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, for the Valley Fever Vaccine Project passed one committee hurdle this week. But the funding faces potentially tough times on the long road to inclusion in the state budget. Ashburn has managed to snare more than $6 million in state funding since 1998 for the vaccine program.
...
PUBLISHED 4-19-2007
It’s time to take pride in what California has to offer. California has the largest state park system in the nation, but the attraction is deteriorating.
More money must be allocated for park maintenance. Development plans must focus on preserving California’s recreational facilities.
An Indian gambling casino is proposed for construction at the entrances to three Northern California parks in the popular redwood forests. In Southern California,...
PUBLISHED 4/18/07
Schools are “big business.” Those we elect to school boards and those they hire to make “big business” spending decisions must not be financially enriching themselves.
You’re thinking: “No way could they financially benefit from their decisions.”
Just off the top of our heads we can think of three examples:
• A new school is being built. Trustees buy the land, and hire an architect, construction manager and general...
PUBLISHED 4/18/07
Students beware: Credit card debt can be hazardous to your futures. Schools must help drive home that point as students head off to college. At the end of four years of college, they should not be buried in debt.
Universities and colleges should focus on the dangers of credit cards and how to manage credit during their freshman orientations.
Credit card companies are clever when it comes to advertising to college students. Often students who get lured into...
PUBLISHED 4-17-2007
The tragedy that struck a Virginia college campus Monday reminds us that violent, angry people exist. Innocent people fall victim to their wickedness.
At this writing, 33 people have died, including a gunman, and 26 people have been injured in shootings at Virginia Tech. It was the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. But it was not the first on a school campus.
It was premeditated, with the shooter chaining building exits so his victims could...
PUBLISHED 4-17-2007
A ‘seaport’ in the Antelope Valley isn’t the fevered fantasy of a sun-stroked desert rat.
The idea by Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonivich is worth a cold, hard look, with potential benefits to East Kern as well as Southern California.
Antonovich’s proposal to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority — of which he is a member — is to load cargo containers from the port of Long...
PUBLISHED 4-15-2007
Mike Maggard likens metropolitan Bakersfield to a troubled capsule tumbling out of control in space. Only if the occupants work together to fix the problem can it land safely on earth.
The Kern County supervisor, who represents the developing 3rd District that includes northwest and northeast Bakersfield, is referring to metropolitan Bakersfield’s congested roadways and the need for county and Bakersfield city officials to work together to fix the...
PUBLISHED 4-15-2007
Perhaps our elected and appointed government officials don’t really understand what we face on the streets of Bakersfield. Let’s tell them.
Send The Californian your horror stories. Send us your letters describing what your commute around town is like.
Where are the trouble spots, the trouble times of day? What is the worst intersection? Why is traffic congested in your area of the city? Who is to blame? Are conditions getting worse? What...
PUBLISHED 4-16-2007
Yelling obscenities and angry hang-ups come from people who call state agencies and instead of talking to a human, get an automated system telling them to push button after button.
What was supposed to be a technology advancement has turned into the frustration that drives people over the edge. Automated answering machines also leave people with a bad impression of that particular agency.
Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, introduced Assembly Bill 865 to rid...
PUBLISHED 4-16-2007
It’s ridiculous to pay $200 for sneakers — especially for kids who will outgrow them rapidly.
Star point guard of the New York Knicks, Stephon Marbury, decided he should step in and put an end to the nonsense.
He introduced his own line of sneakers, hats and jerseys called “Starbury.” Nothing sells for more than $14.98.
It is many parents’ dream to be able to purchase inexpensive shoes and basketball gear that kids think are...
PUBLISHED 4-16-2007
It’s great to see children doing selfless acts. Paige Atkison, 9, created Smile Missions to raise money for Operation Smile — a national organization that sends physicians to Third World countries to repair cleft lips and palates.
Paige — who had a cleft lip herself — is raising money for children who do not have the means to repair their lips.
She has collected more than $7,000 from businesses, private donations and from her own allowance....
PUBLISHED 4-13-2007
After a two-day hearing before his Senate Governmental Organization Committee, Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, said Wednesday he is “optimistic” about proposed compacts with Indian tribes seeking to massively expand casino gambling in California.
For Californians to be “optimistic,” the compacts adding 22,500 new slot machines to casinos operated by five Southern California tribes must be written to better protect workers, customers,...
PUBLISHED 4-12-2007
Kern Medical Center is far from turning the financial corner, but with the naming of Paul Hensler of San Diego as chief executive officer, the county has taken a vital step in putting the hospital on the long road to recovery.
KMC has been plagued for years with operating deficits, a poor management structure and decreasing payments for treating indigent adults and Medi-Cal patients.
The hospital’s chronic deficits have threatened the vitality of many other...
PUBLISHED 4-12-2007
If putting a referendum calling for the immediate pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq is passed by the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should veto it.
Whatever else the idea is, it is a political ploy — a bad one — that has no place on the state’s ballot.
Senate Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, is pushing the proposal for the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot.
Not at all by sheer happenstance, the proposal that will be attractive to...
PUBLISHED 4-11-2007
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen must slow down her top-to-bottom review of electronic voting systems and her threat to decertify some makes and models.
If her soon-to-be-unveiled final plan stands as initially proposed, it will create havoc for county election clerks — especially as they prepare for the Feb. 5 presidential primary. County election departments operate the balloting and vote counting.
All but one of the state’s 58 county...
PUBLISHED 4-11-2007
If you want a flight to Sacramento, let the airlines hear you LOUD and clear. Support the effort to have a direct flight from Bakersfield’s Meadows Field Airport to Sacramento. The once popular route was axed several years ago.
So far public demand has been strong. Let’s hope the noise is loud enough to convince airlines to restore the service.
The county is surveying its public employees to see how often they are required to travel to Sacramento on...
PUBLISHED 4-10-2007
Proposition 36’s drug diversion program needs a fix — jail time for offenders who don’t comply with treatment requirements.
Passed by voters in 2000, Proposition 36 mandated that people convicted of drug offenses be sent to drug diversion programs rather than prison, assuming no other felonies were involved in their cases.
As well-meaning as the idea is, several studies have proved the program is not living up to even modest goals of...
PUBLISHED 4-10-2007
Support is needed for a life saving bill that would prohibit teenage California drivers from talking or sending text messages on cell phones or working on laptop computers while driving.
All it takes is a moment’s glance at the phone to be distracted, potentially causing a fatal accident or serious injury. Even though some people have mastered texting without looking at the phone, all focus needs to be on traffic and on the road. Sending text messages via a...
PUBLISHED 4-9-2007
More than 10 years ago, Bakersfield photographer and pawnbroker Curtis Dalton pleaded with Caltrans to use its electronic sign at the mouth of the Kern Canyon to warn people against swimming and drowning in the Kern River.
It was — and is — a great idea to help stem the tide of deaths every year of people who don’t know or understand how treacherous the whitewater river is.
It’s time to try again. A decade ago, Caltrans maintained that their...
PUBLISHED 4-9-2007
Talk about a bad idea. California must fight the Bush administration’s attempt to deny poor, undocumented women free birth control.
If the Bush administration has its way, California will have to do background checks on all women requesting family planning services under free public medical insurance to ensure they are in the country legally. The Bush administration needs to lay off this idea. Think about the health and well-being of these women and their...
PUBLISHED 4-8-2007
The stench hangs over the “golden parachute” deal floating Steve Ladd out of his job as executive director of First 5 Kern.
Such a deal:
• Ladd will receive a year’s salary ($113,000).
• He will keep working for the commission until July 20, but he doesn’t really have to show up for work and his lack of attendance won’t affect his pay.
• After July 20 and until the end of the year, he will be on “terminal...
PUBLISHED 4-8-2007
How should First 5 Kern commissioners and their new executive director use the millions of dollars in tobacco tax money that pours into Kern County every year.
Under Proposition 10, which California voters passed in 1998, the money must be used to benefit children under 5 years of age.
Should the money be focused on a single goal — universal child care, health care — or should it be spread out to multiple programs with an assortment of goals?
How can...
PUBLISHED 4-6-2007
There’s something very wrong when the poisoning of seven people, including children, is overshadowed by the poisoning of dogs and cats. But that seems to have happened this week, as we appeared to care more about tainted dog and cat food than we do about the latest episode of food tainted by the E. coli bacteria.
Have we gotten so used to people being sickened and even killed by their food — most recently their “healthy” eat-your-greens —...
PUBLISHED 4-5-2007
Lowering standards of the No Child Left Behind law to create the appearance that schools are adequately educating our children doesn’t make sense.
Same goes for opting out of the law’s requirements, which is what the House and Senate propose under separate versions of a reauthorized NCLB.
The federal act, passed in 2001, expires this year. For this program to continue, Congress must approve a new law and the president must sign it.
The House version...
PUBLISHED 4-5-2007
What is it about Florida’s 2000 presidential election fiasco that electronic voting critics don’t understand?
Congress is considering a proposal by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., that could suspend the federal mandate to switch to electronic voting as a safer, more secure voting system. HR 811 must be voted down or amended.
If enacted, the bill would mandate all electronic voting machines produce a paper printout. This is an appropriate goal. But some...
PUBLISHED 4-4-07
Kern County will suffer severe economic and environmental damage if a court order that threatens to shut down the California Aqueduct is not delayed.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled the state lacked a permit to kill chinook salmon and delta smelt as a consequence of pumping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into the Aqueduct.
Roesch gave the state 60 days to obtain the permit from the Department of Fish and Game or shut down pumping....
PUBLISHED 4-4-07
Information about contraceptive practices, as well as abstinence must be included in public school sex education.
But states receive federal funding only for sex education programs that focus on abstinence. In California, schools must provide students with information on both abstinence and contraceptive benefits in preventing sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies.
There are three separate federal programs that fund abstinence-only-until-marriage...
PUBLISHED 4-3-2007
What is it with some school board trustees that they do not understand or do not want to follow state laws?
The Californian recently took a quick survey of just a few school districts in Kern County to determine how elected trustees were filling out their state-mandated financial disclosure forms.
These are disclosures required by the Fair Political Practices Commission to prevent California’s local government officials from using their political...
PUBLISHED 4-3-2007
Created by California voters in 1974, the Fair Political Practices Commission advises local government officials, including school board trustees and enforces the state’s many anti-corruption laws.
One of the newest laws added to the controls over elected and appointed government officials is AB 1234, which requires “ethics training” for politicians and requires public agencies set limits on the amounts members can be reimbursed for travel and other...
PUBLISHED 4-1-2007
It is time for Fire Civil Service Commissioner Stuart Gentry to go. Gentry should do the right thing — resign now. If he doesn’t, City Council members should fire him when they meet on April 11.
At best, Gentry has demonstrated poor judgment and stupidity. After an investigation by a hearing officer, Gentry’s behavior has been described as “bizarre.”
The bottom line is that this City Council-appointed member of the Fire Civil...
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