First place: Pismo Sunset

Pismo sunset Feb. '07

Nemesis Station's Star Trek Collection

Nemesis Station is the local Star Trek/SciFi club here in Bakersfield. The items in our display have been collected by our members over many years. They range from action figures to Star Trek novels, pictures and many other collectibles from Star Trek's 41 year history. Every year, we use this display to promote our annual Bowlathon to raise money for the Jamison Children's Center. This year's event will be on October 13 from 1-5 pm at the Southwest Lanes. Club members will be bowling in costume and there will be a silent /live auction and raffle. Also, Kern County Fair mascot KC the Bull may make an appearance like he did last year! Come and check out our display in the Hobby Building at the Fair!

The Father Brown I knew

In 1964 a young priest named Father Tod Brown, an assistant pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, knocked on the Martinez family's front door forever changing the lives of the five younger siblings. Father Brown, with his pleasant demeanor and his long black coat, impressed upon my parents the importance of religion over a mug of hot coffee. My parents promised Father Brown that we would all be in Church and begin our religious training for Holy Communion and Confirmation as soon as possible. The good Father had been walking the neighborhood streets of 34th to 40th street in the evening darkness looking for families to attend his church. In the mid sixties the neighborhoods in that vicinity had a large influx of hardworking, Mexican families new to the area. By the following week we were all enrolled in catechism classes and going to the ten o'clock mass on Sunday. Father Brown had also gone into other homes and all together we numbered around twenty boys and girls, between the ages of nine to sixteen that had been Baptized, but for various reasons never received the other sacraments. With Father Brown's guidance and patience we eventually made our Holy Communion and Confirmation, some of us as teenagers. We also attended and graduated from CCD classes, catechism for high-school age teens. My mother always considered Father Brown a blessing in disguise, showing up at the right time and answering her prayers. After my mother passed, I was putting some of her things away and came across an envelope with yellowed newspaper clippings, these news clippings were about Father Brown' s rise to Monsignor then Bishop, and all the good works for his parish in Bakersfield and Fresno. My sisters and I believed in Father Brown then, and now, we will always be grateful to him for going that extra mile in our direction.

NAWER demands Governor of California save secret ballot elections for farmers

The National Alliance for Worker and Employer Righ

Internet:
wfine@freeworkplace.org
http://www.freeworkplace.org

Company Information :
The National Alliance for Worker and Employer Righ
122 C. St suite 220
Washington, District of Columbia 20001
USA
Ph. 202-492-3196

Media Contacts:
William Fine, Executive Director
wfine@freeworkplace.org
202-492-3196

National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights Demands Governor Schwarzenegger Save Secret Ballot Elections for Workers in California urges veto of Senate Bill 180 robbing our workplace freedom

S. 180 is a bill denying civil liberties to the most vulnerable people in California - those who work the farms of the state. Farm workers deserve better than to loose their hard earned rights to the schemes of the labor bosses.

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, D.C./EWORLDWIRE/July 19, 2007 --- National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights demands Governor Schwarzenegger save Secret Ballot Elections for workers in California, and it urges veto of Senate Bill 180 robbing the public of workplace freedom that many have died to keep.

S. 180 is a bill denying civil liberties to the most vulnerable people in California - those who work the farms of the state. "Farm workers deserve better than to loose their hard earned rights to the schemes of the labor bosses," says organization Executive Director of the National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights Will Fine. "Under this bill, labor bosses would be allowed to unionize through intimidation farmworkers to gain more members and their forced dues. Under threats of job loss these workers would be compelled to sign the 'card checks' in their homes. It does not matter that these workers do not often know what they are signing or that union thugs coerce them untill they get their cards signed."

"It is obvious under these harsh conditions for workers why the United Farm Workers Union looses more than half of all elections through Secret Ballot Elections. There is no doubt that SB 180 is a payoff to the union to save it by increasing membership at the expense of workers rights. Passing S.B. 180 means the State of California would allow more workers to loose their election rights to the labor unions. How long would all Californians be free when every voter did not have the right to a secret ballot election in private and force was used to control the outcome of every vote?"

"Do not listen to the calls and schemes from labor bosses on card check, Governor Schwarzenegger. Close your ears and turn away. Listen instead to the Americans that have sacrificed their lives to come to California to live in freedom. Why should S. 180 be forced on farm workers to make them give up their right to an election that should be private and free? Say no to these union shock troops that hold farmers hostage through Card Check, Governor, and veto S. 180. In vetoing this Bill, you send a message across the country; workers rights can never be compromised to the labor mobs again," said Fine.

S.B. 180 is likely to pass the California Senate soon and move onto to the Governor for a veto. The Governor has not yet stated a position on the Bill.

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CONTACT:
Will Fine
National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights
122 c. st. suite 220
washington, DC 20001
PHONE. 202-393-1185
EMAIL: wfine94268@aol.com
http://www.freeworkplace.org

SOURCE: National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights

Tigger collection

My Tigger collection that I've started about 9 years ago contains Tiggers from all over the world. I have Matryoshka Nesting Dolls with Tigger and his friends painted on them from Russia. I have Tigger Australian Money which is pounds in Australia. I've got Tigger coins, Tigger stickers, pencils, pens, cups, clocks, different stuffed Tiggers, and Tigger kitchenware. I've even designed and sewed my own Tigger Quilt. The newest thing that I've added to my Tigger collection is a glass etching of Tigger that I'm doing myself.

From Oksana: My mom has over one hundred different Tiggers. My mom loves Tigger. She even has a Tigger tattoo.

Can Bakersfield Students Really Change the World? For One Dollar?

If you thought teenagers were only about drugs and drop-outs, gangs and graffiti, it’s time to think again.

Last spring students at West and Centennial High Schools in Bakersfield joined students at three high schools in the Bay Area to raise money to build a school in Kenya. Each of the U.S. schools ran a fundraiser called “One Dollar For Life” or ODFL for short.

The idea is simple but powerful.

Every student is asked to give just one dollar. There’s no pressure, just an invitation: are you willing to do something to make a better world? If you are, then your dollar is combined with those of other students around the country and used to build small-scale infrastructure projects in developing countries—schools, hospitals, irrigation systems, etc.

The students at the five California high schools raised a total of $9,000 from their one dollar donations. And what happened with the money?

They built the school in Kenya and it now houses 45 students who used to go to class in a horse barn. Readers can view a short slide show of the school’s construction at http://odfl.org/pages/redirect-YouTube2007Kenya.html

Terry Kropp is a Bakersfield mother who sent three sons through the Bakersfield school system. She is the person who introduced ODFL to West and Centennial.

“It’s so easy for kids to be cynical and isolated,” says Kropp. “I wanted to find a way for them to get connected to their world and to understand that they could actually do something to improve it.”

Kropp found out about ODFL through her husband, Chuck Kropp, who has taught math in Bakersfield high schools for 30 years. He knew a teacher at Los Altos High School in the Bay Area who had started ODFL earlier last year. He asked if they could try it at West High. The answer was yes.

So Chuck Kropp worked with his school’s Interact club to sponsor the ODFL fundraiser. It was the first such drive in southern California, which made it somewhat daunting.

West’s Interact Club adviser, Jodie Hare , enlisted the help of Bakersfield West Rotary Club. Rotary sponsors Interact clubs at high schools throughout the country.

According to Brad Henderson, West’s Rotary Interact liaison, “Rotary encourages students to contribute to the world of International Understanding. In fact, ‘Interact’ stands for ‘Inter(national) Act(ion).” ODFL seemed like a good way to get students involved in a project that would add something positive to the world.”

The drive was a new thing for the school but went very well, said Hare. “Our kids really took to the idea,” she said.

“The funny thing is,” she continued, “we thought we were just helping others. But the beneficiaries turned out to be not just those Kenyan students who got a new school. Our own students found out they could actually make a difference in the world,” she said.

The drive at Centennial High School was led by social studies teacher and Interact club adviser, Sheila McLeod. The Centennial Interact Club raises thousands of dollars every year for local needs but the international angle proved new to them.

According to McLeod, “What intrigued our students was the idea of making an investment in other students’ future.” Centennial raised $2,000 within a matter of days, all from one dollar donations of its 2,000 students.

McLeod said the fundraiser was simple to implement and that the results became visible almost immediately. “Within just a few weeks of our drive’s completion, we learned of the school that was begun and that would be operating within months.”

The One Dollar For Life organization worked with a Non-Governmental Organization in Kenya, SEANet, which undertook the actual task of building the school.

SEANet had a track record with similar such projects in the past which made it a good partner, said Terry Kropp. The school building itself was designed by a Kenyan architect with a degree from the London School of Design.

According to Robert Freeman, a teacher at Los Altos High School and the founder of ODFL, “The secret of ODFL is that it’s not really about the dollar. It’s about whether a teenager wants to choose to create a better world. Once they do that, they become bigger people and anything becomes possible.”

ODFL hopes to conduct 50 fundraisers in the U.S. this year and build another 5 schools in the developing world, according to Kropp, who holds a high vision for the future.

“If every high school student in America gives just one dollar, we can build over 1,000 schools a year in the developing world,” she says. “And in the process, we’re going to create a whole new generation of American teenagers.”

No room for drugs or graffiti there. That may be the hidden gem in it all.

###

Article on 'Flash From The Past'

I worked part-time for Auto Photo for 13 ½ years, September 1978 to March 1992. Auto Photo was headquartered in London with its regional office in Costa Mesa. I was an independent contractor.

My responsibility was to maintain Photo Booths located throughout Bakersfield. I had Photo Booths at Woolworth’s 19th & ‘K’ Streets and College Center, Newberry’s at 19th & Eye Streets and Benton Park at South ‘H’ & Wilson Road, K-Mart on 34th Street, two Jimmy’s Arcade, Rosanne’s Bar at California Avenue & Real Road and in the Mug Room at Sheriff’s Central Receiving (downtown jail). I got a commission plus a monthly flat fee on the one in the Mug Room.

I did this concurrent with my fulltime. I quit because Auto Photo wanted me to expand to other business in Bakersfield and did not have the time to devote to the expansion.

I can tell many stories associated with my time at Auto Photo.

My Thoughts on the War

My son will soon be deploying for his second tour of duty in Iraq. In fact, the actual date is September 27, 2007. Its too close for comfort. I'm the very proud and terrified mother of United States Marine Cpl. Jose Rodriguez III. Soon my family will gather at Camp Pendleton in San Diego to see him off. I have been there before but it doesn't get any easier. The things i do know are....I support our troops 1000%. I don't like war but we are in it. Maybe we shouldn't be in Iraq, but we are. America doesn't run. Wouldn't the terrorist love to think they have defeated us. People need to support our troops and pray everyday. These young men and women are sacrificing so much for you, me and all of America. Find a military family and help them out in some way...write a letter or card, assemble a package for their loved one, mow the grass-anything. The holidays are right around the corner. Do something. I too, read and watch t.v., and cry with these military families. I support you and your loved one. May GOD protect all our troops and their families. I will sign off the way I signed off each letter I wrote my son everyday during his first tour of duty in Iraq......Be Safe Be Strong!! --Loretta Davis, proud mother of Marine Cpl. Jose Rodriguez III, Bakersfield, CA.

Bakersfield, Taft Fighters Claim Victories at Gladiator Challenge

Sunday’s “Full Force Gladiator Challenge” at Eagle Mountain Casino featured several fighters from Bakersfield and Taft, with Bakersfield fighters Bryan Travers and Darvin Wattree squaring off in the first of the evening’s two main events.

Travers, who trains with the Academy of Martial Arts in Bakersfield, was 8-1 going into the event, and Wattree, a member of Bakersfield’s Underground Fight Club, was undefeated at 3-0. The fighters weathered both of the five-minute rounds, but Travers was awarded the win by unanimous decision, with all three judges giving both rounds to the 24 year-old Bakersfield resident. The fight boosted Travers’ record to 9-1.

According to Travers’ trainer Eric Nolan, “Bryan came into this fight at about seventy percent due to an injured ankle but he toughed it out and pulled off a victory against a very tough opponent.”

Travers wrestled for four years at CSUB on a full scholarship.

Doug Hunt, a member of Taft’s Buyudo Fight Club who also trains with Bakersfield’s Underground Fight Club, earned his third professional victory on Sunday in a match up against Bakersfield independent fighter Jack Morrison. Hunt’s repeated strikes from the mount position caused Morrison, a black belt in Shotokan karate, to verbally tap out in the first round.

According to John Dodson, Hunt’s manager and the trainer of the Taft Buyudo Fight Club, “Doug Hunt trains very hard and takes his training very seriously, and that has certainly shown in his last two fights.” Hunt, a guard at the Taft Correctional Institute, also chalked up a victory at Eagle Mountain’s last Gladiator Challenge in July. His record is now 3-2.

Austin Achorn of Taft’s Buyudo Fight Club and Casey Ray of Bakersfield’s Underground Fight Club also fought at the event.

The next local mixed martial arts event will be in January at the Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore

The War in Iraq

Less than a week ago was the six year anniversary of the attacks on Septemeber 11, 2001.

Then, I was a naive little eighth grader going to a predominately "red" school, and chose to support the GOP to fit in. I waved American flags and sang along to every Toby Keith song imaginable.

In high school, I started hanging out with those "kids" who were rebellious and had "ideas of their own." It was during that time that I was introduced to some rather interesting conspiracy theories of that fated day.

Now, out of high school and well on my way to college, pursuing political journalism, I have a clearer understanding of this war.

September 11th has been officially dubbed "Patriot Day," but as some of us may recall, that day showed anything but patriotism, and instead the horror of terrorism. However, these attacks were not necessarily those by the Taliban (there's a bunch we haven't heard about in a while), as we have been lead to believe by Fox News, but by those within our our sacred government. Now, six years later, we know that Bush knew about the attacks well in advance but never took them seriously.

I know a lot of you reading this are already planning on spraypainting the word "terrorist" on my garage door after reading this. COMMUNICATING these so-called "conspiracy theories" does NOT undermine the lives that were lost in the Twin Towers. We are undermining them by NOT asking questions. By just believing this terrorist conspiracy hoax our government placed in our laps just to save face.

9/11 was merely just a well-planned gimmick to get American support of a war. We were initially chasing Bin Laden, so why are we in Iraq? Why the sudden itinerary change?

It has nothing to do with a war on terrorism. This isn't a war on terrorism. It's a war FOR oil. It's a cheap conspiracy put on by our own government to get our approval of this war. Don't believe me? Show me a black box from the planes that crashed. How about any remains from Flight 93, the plane that was supposedly aimed for the white house? Show me ANYTHING that was found.

Show me where the plane hit the Pentagon, because a 747 JET did not crash into that little hole on the side of the Pentagon. Just to prove my point more, why was every single person inside in a meeting on the other side of the building, coincidently?

Everything added together is too suspicious to believe.

My Bionicle Collection

Today I'll be writing about my Bionicle collection. I have been accumulating this group of models for years. The Bionicle Line is produced by the Lego company, and are posable figures made partly out of Lego Technic pieces. At first I had an aversion to these somewhat frightening creatures. However, the first time I received a used Toa Tahu from my cousin Michael, the instant I built it I fell in love with these inventive creations. From there I bought a Toa Metru Nuju in 2002, and have continued buying them until my last purchase, Toa Mahri Matoro. In my exhibit at the fair, I placed 13 of my 40-odd Bionicle figures in the showcase.

One of the reasons I love the Bionicle line is because of the genius of its creator — Greg Farshtay. Also, Bionicle would not be the same without the Bionicle Comic, produced by DC Comics and drawn by the talent of Stuart Sayger. The Bionicle books are wonderfully inventive, and I enjoy talking about them with my very good friend, Christopher Geyer. I buy (practically) all of my own Bionicles, and one time spent an hour and a half building one with my loving father.

What I have been trying to say throughout this entire article is that even though some parents may believe that the Bionicle characters would not be healthy for their children (give them nightmares and such) I believe that building with their own two hands, instead of spending hours in front of the TV or computer playing video games, is the best thing for children, no matter if the parents believe the figures are spooky, because it is simply better for their imagination and inventive abilities. Thank you for reading this short paper that I have written.

hockey collection

My collection is all about hockey. My hockey collection has a goalie mask from the Sharks and it's autographed by all the players from the 2001 season. I have some hockey sticks from the Bakersfield Condors and hockey pucks. I have some money that has hockey on it. I have hockey jersies autographed by "Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe and Wanye Grezky, an L.A. Kings jersey, an Edmontion Oilers jersey, and a Chris Ponger Anaheim Ducks jersey. I started collecting in January 2007.

Princess Leia Collection

This is the first year I have entered a collection into the Kern County Fair. It is a Princess Leia Collection. I like Princess Leia because she is pretty, and it is fun to dress up like her. I have gone to Star Wars conventions with my parents and dressed up like her. I also like the way she does her hair in "buns". I met the actress who played Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher, and had my picture taken with her. I have a lot of figures, dolls and things like cups and toothbrushes. She is my favorite Star Wars character.

West vs. Liberty 9/14/07

Review: R. Kelly's "Double Up"

I was curious about the R. Kelly latest CD because I knew he was in trouble so I assumed he would change the content of the lyrics of his songs. I was dead wrong.

The latest CD "Double Up" is outrageous. Musically his CD is fantastic but the lyrics are somewhat disgusting. I will mention a few songs and the suggestion for these young people minds to adventure in (wow).

The CD is very sexual in its connotation. One of the songs "Double Up", he is suggestion that you double up. Another song is "Same Girl", partners doing the same girl. The song that is the biggest hit on his CD is "I'm A Flirt", he's basically telling his partners don't trust me with your girl, wife, sister or any female.

I chose this CD to review because I believe a lot of young people listen to this music and replace reality with fantasy. The three songs I mentioned have some form of negative connotation toward women. These songs are more than entertainment, I believe some young people take these songs to a different level and believe this is what you are suppose to do.

This may be not believable but think of this. The shooting in the plaza was over a female. Was this young man flirting with the shooters girlfriend, did he want to double up or were they messing with the same girl. These are just suppositions but in reality could this be true? We need to listen to what these young people are listening to, some of these lyrics are "outrageous" and very "suggestive".

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