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Almost perfect presents Look around and be thankful Charities need a break in these tough times A unique way for government to fight blight Schools must cash tech check Adjust system, not just bosses’ salaries City must respect its own history Green jobs can rebuild economy Democrats in power must not overreach Needed: More election staff 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 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 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 5/30/08 ----
We get another sobering reminder this morning about the nature of the job of a law enforcement officer.
When friends, family and colleagues pay tribute to Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy James Throne at Canyon Hills Assembly of God Church and lay him to rest at Hillcrest Memorial Park, we will get another glimpse of the inherent dangers of wearing a badge.
And another glimpse of this truth: that the men and women who wear those badges are both courageous and...
PUBLISHED 5/29/08 ----
Bakersfield is the most dangerous place in California to be a teen driver — or, presumably, to ride with one.
That’s one of the conclusions we can draw from a study by Allstate Insurance, “Allstate America’s Teen Driving Hotspots,” released earlier this month.
It’s particularly relevant as hundreds of local high school graduates take to the streets this week, newly freed from their scholarly obligations. June is the...
PUBLISHED 5/28/08 ----
California’s new hands-free law dealing with cell-phone use behind the wheel takes effect in a little more than 30 days. Are you comfortable yet with that little earpiece?
But text messaging — that mode of electronic communication requiring drivers to look down at the tiny letters on a tiny screen — will remain, strictly speaking, perfectly legal.
Starting July 1, all drivers 18 and older will be required to use Bluetooth devices or other means...
PUBLISHED 5/28/08 ----
State researchers have offered further evidence of what we long suspected: The dust and soot in our air is killing us. In fact, it is far worse than previously assumed.
Up to 24,000 deaths per year in California can be associated with regular exposure to fine-particulate pollution, known as PM 2.5. That’s triple the previous official estimate of 8,200.
A review by state researchers of several major studies from the past five years addressing the problems...
PUBLISHED 5/27/08 -----
The state’s solar energy industry is growing at an astounding rate, and the need for qualified workers is growing right along with it. Meanwhile, the need for economic diversity in sun-plentiful, energy-rich Kern County continues.
A new study of the solar-power industry conducted by two community college researchers, shows that California’s ever-growing obsession with solar power has created roughly 17,000 jobs across the states, with another 5,000 jobs...
PUBLISHED 5/25/08 ----
Karen King must like challenges. As the incoming chief executive officer of Golden Empire Transit, she’s certainly got one now.
King, who starts June 23, will be taking the reins of a regional bus system that is vastly underutilized, underappreciated and burdened with low expectations. GET has been largely hamstrung by a longstanding approach to community planning that all but ignores public transportation.
King comes in with excellent credentials. She has...
PUBLISHED 5/23/08 ---
The U.S. Department of Energy’s belief in a national energy plan that depends heavily on wind power is good news for windmill-rich Kern County.
The energy department released a report last week that portrays a future reliance on wind energy that surpasses all but the most ambitious previous projections.
The report foresees wind farms up and down both coasts, extending across the Great Plains, supplying 20 percent of U.S. electricity needs by the year 2030...
PUBLISHED 5/22/08 ----
The $300 billion, five-year farm bill approved by the House last week over the objections (and soon-to-be overridden veto) of President Bush has several meritorious provisions. But, all things considered, it is a bad farm bill.
Food prices are skyrocketing and farm incomes are soaring, yet Congress has seen fit to dole out billions to high-income agricultural operations. Bush wanted to cut back on subsidies to wealthy farmers, suggesting the cutoff for aid to...
PUBLISHED 5/22/08 ----
We visit places like Yosemite National Park, in part, to get away from the valley’s omnipresent haze of borderline-toxic air.
It’s painfully ironic to realize that visitors to Yosemite get a blast of noxious pollution every time they visit the revered park — especially if they enter with their windows down.
Government inspectors say a buildup of carbon monoxide in the 74-year-old tunnel that tourists use to enter the park poses a potential...
PUBLISHED 9/21/08 ----
Gov. Schwarzenegger claims California government doesn’t have a “revenue” problem. It has a “spending” problem.
Guess what! It has both.
There is a disconnect between Californians’ expectations for government services — law enforcement, fire protection, education, roads, you name it — and their willingness to pay.
Since voters’ 1978 passage of Proposition 13, which set limits on property tax rates and...
PUBLISHED 5/21/08 ----
The theft of 20 guns from the Kern County Sheriff’s Department property room by a part-time employee demands a hard look at the Sheriff’s policies, procedures and available technology related to security.
Sheriff Donny Youngblood is justifiably furious and mortified that an “extra help” employee, 18-year-old Edgard Luis Nava, has been taken into custody in the wake of revelations that 20 handguns have disappeared from storage over the past...
PUBLISHED 5/20/08 ------
Living in Kern County can be hazardous to your health. That’s one way to look at the findings in a new report on public health from the Great Valley Center.
Central Valley residents don’t have the doctors and medical specialists, per capita, found elsewhere in California, and they are more likely to die of diabetes and heart attacks. They suffer more often from assorted poverty- and pollution-related illnesses than the rest of the state, and are...
PUBLISHED 5/18/08 ----
Applaud the Tejon Ranch agreement for its promise — to preserve about 90 percent of the largest private landholding in California and the largest private parcel of wilderness land in Southern California.
Applaud the company for its forward thinking — protecting the habitat of endangered species and the public’s access to what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger described as a “vast California treasure.”
Applaud for the landowner’s...
PUBLISHED 5/16/08 ----
Back-to-back fires this week, one resulting in the death of an elderly Bakersfield man, are evidence that more must be done to convince homeowners to buy and install smoke detectors.
The fires and death could have been prevented if the Bakersfield homes had been protected by low-cost, effective warning devices.
Bakersfield City Fire Department crews responded to a morning fire at 806 E. Belle Terrace Tuesday. Investigators believe an elderly man was smoking in...
PUBLISHED 5/15/08 ---
Kern County is in line for a $100 million expansion of its Lerdo Jail, and the check won’t come a moment too soon.
Overcrowding and disrepair have forced the Sheriff’s Department to release nonviolent offenders who, in most cases, have served only 30 percent of their sentences — a non-solution solution the 2005 Kern County grand jury criticized as a blow to judges’ intentions when they issue sentences.
Space constraints are so bad that at...
PUBLISHED 5/15/08 ----
This is the tale of two Bakersfield city planning commissioners. One appointed by former Ward 3 City Councilman Mike Maggard, the other by Ward 7 Councilman Zack Scrivner.
Ken Weir, the present Ward 3 councilman, wants to oust Russell Johnson from the Planning Commission. Weir’s supporters contend Johnson has a conflict of interest because he now works for Maggard, an elected Kern County supervisor. When Johnson was appointed to the commission, he worked...
PUBLISHED 5/14/08 ---
Vote-by-mail ballots for the June 3 primary started going out to voters May 5. There’s a record number of them this time. That’s not a big surprise given the continuing upsurge in voter preference for that type of balloting.
But with new mail-ballot voters joining the ranks every election, it’s clear that voter education is a continuing challenge. The rules for voting via mail are a little different than they are for traditional precinct voting...
PUBLISHED 5/14/08 ----
Kern County voters are receiving their sample ballots in the mail and their applications to vote by absentee ballots.
The Californian’s editorial board met with candidates vying for offices and with proponents and opponents of initiatives that appear on the June 3 ballot.
A summary of the editorial board’s recommendations follows.
To read the entire editorial, go to the Opinion section’s FIRED UP! blog at www.Bakersfield.com/blogs....
PUBLISHED 5/13/08 ----
Eighty-degree days are here, which means 90-degree days are right around the corner. And that means people, especially kids, will be drawn to water.
Sadly, almost inevitably, that means drownings.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proclaimed May “Drowning Prevention Month,” and the declaration is not empty words. His proclamation marks the launch of a six-month effort by the California Department of Developmental Services to raise awareness about...
PUBLISHED 5/13/08 ---
Farmers deserve the opportunity to maximize the potential revenue from their products, and consumers deserve the opportunity to enjoy those products in all their logical variations.
Both groups would benefit if a new California bill loosening restrictions on roadside fruit stands and farmers’ markets becomes law.
A bill by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, would allow growers to repackage fruit that would otherwise have to be thrown out because...
PUBLISHED 5/11/08 ---
This is painful. So, it might as well be straightforward. This is a difficult endorsement to make. Editorial board members wanted to endorse challenger Cliff Thompson for 4th District supervisor.
Thompson has a passion the incumbent lacks. He is willing to get out and talk to the people in the 4th District. He is open to new ideas. His heart is open to everyone, not just the politically connected and powerful. We wish we could say the same for Watson, but we...
PUBLISHED 5/9/08 ----
Envision Bakersfield’s long-anticipated downtown linear park, South Mill Creek, finally at completion — except for a few spotty storefronts interrupting the scenic walking path every quarter-mile or so.
Imagine the long-awaited City Walk project, just south of Bakersfield’s Rabobank Arena, finally coming to fruition — except for the abandoned-looking warehouse situated squarely in the center.
Those are glimpses of city redevelopment in a...
PUBLISHED 5/8/08 ----
Bakersfield voters should return Harvey Hall to the mayor’s office for a third term. Hall, first elected in 2000, has served the city with honor and dignity through occasionally difficult times.
Challengers with appropriate credentials have not stepped forward — no doubt because Hall is widely regarded as having done a good job.
Hall’s vision of the job is not that of an aggressive, policy-dictating activist mayor. Hall believes his role is to...
PUBLISHED 5/8/08 ----
The handwriting is becoming clearer on the political wall. Although she has vowed to continue her long, hard slog to the White House, Hillary Clinton’s chances of cinching the Democratic presidential nomination are dimming.
Barack Obama won the North Carolina primary Tuesday by a decisive and impressive margin. Although Obama had long been favored to win the state, dark clouds loomed over his campaign for the past two weeks, threatening to trim his lead...
PUBLISHED 5/7/08 ----
In Kern County, you’re never too far away from a double cheeseburger and a large order of fries.
That’s one of the truths we can glean from a recent study that awards Kern County the third-worst ratio in the state of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to supermarkets and produce vendors.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan California Center for Public Health Advocacy, along with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the research institute...
PUBLISHED 5/7/08 ----
Congratulations to Greg Chamberlain, who will be formally appointed the 10th president of Bakersfield College on Thursday. He assumes his post on July 1.
Chamberlain should have a healthy appreciation for the community college experience, because he attended a two-year school himself before obtaining a BA in music education from California State University Dominquez Hills and an MA in computer education from Fresno Pacific University.
He should have plenty of...
PUBLISHED 5/06/08 ----
The Kern County airport at Meadows Field will survive the unexpected departure of Mexicana Airlines, whether it’s a 30-day hiatus or a longer absence.
And the multimillion dollar investment that went toward the construction of an international terminal and U.S. Customs office shouldn’t hurt Kern County taxpayers because the outlay is coming indirectly from airport improvement funds — recent and anticipated federal grants of the type generally used...
PUBLISHED 5/06/08 ----
Lloyd Levine is correct. A physically fit work force is a highly productive work force. A healthy labor pool is less inclined to overtax the state’s health-care infrastructure than a labor pool of coach potatoes.
But Levine’s plan — to tie a company’s eligibility for state contracts to its effort to promote a healthy lifestyle among its workers — is misplaced.
Assemblyman Levine, an athletically inclined Los Angeles Democrat, knows...
PUBLISHED 5/4/08 ----
Do we need clean and abundant energy? Do we need more jobs? Do we support the oil industry? Sure we do. But those are not the disputed issues in the debate over the Big West refinery expansion plans.
With the refinery surrounded by homes, stores and schools, the issue is: Can the refinery be safely expanded and operated?
Dueling advertising campaigns have been launched by the refinery and its supporters, and by plant expansion opponents, including community...
PUBLISHED 5/2/08 ----
The retirement of two Kern County Superior Court judges presents local voters with the rare opportunity to select replacements.
Most often, judges are appointed by the governor. If they face no opposition when their terms expire, they return to office without undergoing the rigors of an election.
But the timing of the retirements of Judge H.A. “Skip” Staley and Judge Clarence Westra places the seats on the June 3 ballot. It is an opportunity for...
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