Reader: In Tuesday’s paper I
read about the Kern County Sci-
ence Fair winners and it was so
nice to see the winner honored.
These students have spent months
on these projects and have won at
various school and district levels to
be able to attend the science fair.
My hat goes off to every student
who made it to the county level.
I was disappointed to see that the
paper did not bother to print the
fourth and fifth grade winners. It
does not matter that they do not
compete on the state level.
This paper prints every name
from the Kern County Fair that
even has an honorable mention.
The paper claims to support the
schools but when you had a chance
to honor all winners you blew it.
—Julee Skowron

Jenner: I’m sorry to inform you
that we no longer print the winners
and placing finishers in every cate-
gory of competition at the Kern
County Fair.
Unfortunately we can’t justify
the many hundreds of inches of
news space needed to print all
those names.
I do wish we’d had the room to
print all the science fair winners,
including the fourth and fifth grade
winners. Editors have to make
tough decisions about what to
include and what to omit in our
print columns.
We don’t have such space con-
straints on our Web site, where you
can find the complete list.

Reader: I turned 11 on February
21st. Two days later I went to coun-
ty for the Oral  Language Festival.
The next day I read the paper and it
listed all the winners for the five
categories.
Let me tell you I was very upset
that you only listed THEM. You
could have put in the kids that
could have won.
—Natalie Hernandez

Jenner: Natalie, I applaud your
performance in the Oral Language
Festival.
But according to Steve Talbot of
the Kern CountySuperintendent of
Schools office, more than 190 stu-
dents from 17 regions participated
in that competition.
One of the unfortunate realities
of my business is that you can’t
make everyone happy. And one of
the unfortunate realities of life is
that sometimes you have to win the
top award to be recognized.
Reaching the county level of this
competition is indeed a noteworthy
accomplishment, and you should be
very proud, whether your name
made the paper or not.

Reader: The heartfelt picture of a
son’s return from war (March 19
Day in Pictures) captured a pre-
cious moment of time that even
Hollywood couldn’t duplicate.
Sweet.
Rosemary Gutierrez and her
handsome son, Miguel, embracing
is a scene that illustrates the thou-
sands of times since the beginning
of time when boys returned home
from war to the arms of their moth-
ers.
We see in the mother’s face grati-
tude for her son’s safe return and
their love for one another. The
anguish and suffering of war is evi-
dent on his mother’s face.
This picture depicts the many
facets of war — its tragedy and suf-
fering.
The bond between mother and
son cannot be described.
It just is.
The picture is a masterpiece. It
touched my heart.
It is a scene reminiscent of World
War II when my 21-year-old broth-
er returned from war on a balmy,
Wisconsin June evening, one of two
survivors of his company. The oth-
ers lay in peace in a Normandy
cemetery.
—Sue McBee

Jenner: Thanks for your com-
ments. It was indeed a poignant
image.
On the fifth anniversary of the
war in Iraq, we devoted the entirety
of our Day in Pictures page to
images of local soldiers and
Marines (and their family mem-
bers)who have served in that con-
flict.
I’m glad you found it moving.

Reader: I see constant state-
ments in The Californian about how
neighbors should watch over empty
houses in their neighborhood to
prevent illegal parties and trashing
of properties.
Come on — are you afraid of
offending your advertisers? In
many, if not most of the empty
house problems, foreclosed proper-
ty is owned by mortgage lenders.
They are responsible for security
and upkeep of those properties.
They and their agents, the realtors,
stand to make money from the sale
of those properties, and should be
expected to watch over them.
Sure, when we leave town, we tell
our neighbors, and if it is an
extended time, we notify the local
Police Department so the house
gets a little more attention.
But if we left the property unat-
tended for a while without doing
any of those things, I sure wouldn’t
be blaming the neighbors or police
if my property was trashed while I
was gone. Property owners are
responsible for property upkeep —
and that’s a fact.
— Fred Shaughnessy

Jenner: Huh?
We never said the owners of
homes aren’t responsible for them.
But these homes aren’t abandoned
and run down. They are just empty
with for-sale signs.
Neighbors certainly do have
something at stake if kids identify
these homes as party houses and
trash them.
I see no reason why they should-
n’t help by keeping an eye on these
abandoned homes.