Coming Clean

They say confession is good for the soul. Back in Junior High School at Haven Drive, then finally at Arvin High School in 1960, my friend, Gary D. Smith and I were members of “The Untouchables”. This was Arvin’s very own, model airplane club, where we met once a week at the Arvin Community Center and built model airplanes, which you either bought at Fox Appliances or Gannon’s Cycle Shop. You built these using model airplane glue and with 20 people building models at the weekly meeting at the Center, you could get quite a buzz in a closed up room, no one thought of “Getting High” from the sniffing the glue fumes, after all, you could always go outside where all of the advisors were smoking and breathe that instead.

Back in those days they did not have RC (Radio Controlled) airplanes. We built “U” control planes that were flown in a circle attached either two wires or two string control lines, free flights (motorized gliders) or un-motored gliders. Either of the last two, you released into the wind, never to see again, but the event usually involved a 10 mile chase in cars and pickups careening down narrow roads and through farm fields with three or four guys screaming directions to the driver, who was also looking up for the plane. Eventually they would realize they had been following a crow or turkey vulture instead of their plane and would return back to our Saturday flying area. This was the grass covered physical education playing fields just north of the boy’s locker room at Arvin High School, where we had room to fly our planes in an open, cushioned field with no trees.

This was also the time when America and USSR had started the space race with the “Soviet Sputnik(October 4, 1957)” and “American Echo(August 12, 1960)” and so a few of us were into building quite basic rockets. Our first rockets were water pressure powered. You filled the rocket most of the way up with water, then pumped it up with air and released it, getting soaked during your effort. Next came fizzy rockets with baking soda and vinegar, Alka Selser or anything else that created pressure, then on to solid rocket fuel engines. We would go to Dick Miller’s Drug Store and buy jars of Salt Peter (Potassium Nitrate) powder, then roll moistened cotton twine into the powder until it became heavily coated. We would then use these as fuses to light off our rockets.

Ah, but I have digressed!

It is now our freshman year at Arvin High School and our first exposure to science. As an experiment, the teacher had each of us go to the Arvin Dry Cleaners on the southeast corner of Haven Drive Boulevard and Bear Mountain Highway to buy one dry cleaners bag which they sold us for 10 cents each. As a school project, everyone filled their bags with natural gas from the Bunsen burner spigots in the Chem Lab classroom, and then tied the open end tightly with string, the other end of the string was tied to a pill vial in which each student placed a note asking anyone who found this to write back with the location it was found. In a mass release, everyone turned their balloons loose at the same time in the quad area of Arvin High School. Several students did receive responses from thousands of miles away, but alas, Gary and I did not.

We were real disappointed that our balloons were not found, so we decided to release additional balloons from my home at 301 Grove Street on our own. Pretty quick it became an obsession, and Gary and I were spending all our lunch money every day buying more bags. But we never received back any responses, even though there was not a pill vial left in the house and piles of pills out of their bottles in the bathroom medicine cabinet. We never thought that we could have blown the house totally down, if our stove, where we filled the balloons, would of had been equipped with pilot lights, and with 8 or 10 bags floating in the living room, while we finished filling the bags.

Gary was making some fuses with a new bottle of powder we had just purchased while I was filling the bags, when I thought, “Heck, Why not tie a fuse to a bag?” At first we tied a short fuse to one balloon, lit the fuse and released the balloon into the air. Up-up it went. Finally at about a thousand feet we saw a flash of light and small ”Boom!”. “Wow! That was exciting! Lets’ tie all the rest of them together, use a longer fuse and see what happens!” By this time it was getting dusky dark, but determination prevails and we finally got all of the balloons ready, lit the fuse and off it went. The balloons finally climbed out of sight and we figured the fuse had gone out when suddenly there was this giant flash in the night sky with a giant boom.

Alright! That was fun! Shortly later the siren from the Arvin Volunteer Fire Department sounded and we thought, “Wow! There’s a fire someplace!” when I heard our telephone ring. I answered it and found that the fire chief was looking for my father who was the County Road Foreman. It seems that their phone lines had lit up with calls about a mid-air collision, flaming debris seen plummeting toward the ground. The search for the crash scene and possible survivors was on. All of the police and volunteer firemen were scouring every back road and field. Reports were coming from everywhere. “It was north of Town! - No!” “East of Town –No!” “Tell your dad to try South of town.”

This event had taken a life of its own, with crews driving aimlessly around looking, most of the night. The following Wednesday, the Arvin Tiller lead with a story about the flaming mid-air collision. Was it a UFO, single plane explosion or two plane collisions? No wreckage had been found despite hundreds of hours of searching, costing thousands of dollars. The last line of the article was a plea for anyone with information to come forward.

This was the end of our model rocketing and amateur ballooning for awhile, but most of all, I hope that the statute of limitations has expired by now.

The End

Gone Fishing

On a crisp summer morning, 7th of July, 2007. At around 7 o'clock in the morning I found myself all alone on Stark Weather Lake in the middle of Mammoth Lakes. Fly fishing with a G.Loomis 9 foot rod with 5 pound line using a bead head green woolly bugger with a sinking tip. After two or three casts i got a huge strike in the deepest part of the lake. This yielding a 4 pound 10 ounce rainbow trout. I shared this fish with a large family of friends and made the most delicious grilled trout tacos for 10. Tight Lines. Lois Ann Barnett

Fishing in Sitka, Alaska

This was a 42 lb King Salmon I caught while fishing in Sitka, Alaska August 17th 2006. It was the biggest King Salmon caught on the trip.

McFarland Students in New York City and Madrid, Spain.

National and International travel have become a integral part of McFarland students' education in order that they appreciate a broad view of the world.

I support our troops and their purpose!

I never post on here but for once would like to add a small taste of my opinion. Although I know as soon as it is posted I will be told how wrong my opinion is. I for one support our troops to the fullest extent. I have many friends who are overseas right now and have lost 2 very close to me. My grandfather fought in World War II and was honored in this years Veteran's Day Parade. I think people are so paranoid that someone is out to get them that they forget there might possibly be no "hidden agenda". Someone might just be looking out for you. War has always been a part of our history. I don't want to be at war as much as any of you but sometimes it is a necessity. If a stranger was harming your child would you try to talk it out with them and be polite? No. You wouldn't. You would be irate. I am irate that people had the nerve to fly our planes into our buildings and kill our people! I think it is a necessity for us to be at war right now. If we quit now they will only come back again. If you are waiting on the world to change by means of sitting back and avoiding conflict you have one long wait. These things require action. You all will be singing a different tune when you get your wish and we withdraw our troops and then the war moves here to be fought on our land. Then it will be thanks to you that more of our people will be lost. God bless America! And God bless our troops!

Taft Sees Comparatively Huge Increase in Sales Tax Revenue

Taft City leaders were excited to learn of a near 16% increase in sales tax revenue from last year’s reporting period after meeting with the city’s revenue management company this week. The 15.9% increase came mostly from the industry groups of fuel and service stations, autos and transportation, business and industry, general consumer goods, and food and drugs.

The increase is huge in comparison to the county and state’s average sales tax growth, which were estimated at 2.71% and 3.05%, respectively.

According to City Manager Bob Gorson “We’ve been making efforts to get the citizens of Taft to keep their money in the community. These numbers seem to indicate that it’s been working. We’re hoping the trend continues.”

We are fighting the right war!

We are in a fight for our lives and our civilization against Islamic Fundamentalists. Our President Bush is fighting the right war in Iraq. Thank God for the brave men and women in our armed forces who are willing to fight for our freedom. It is sad to see the "politically correct" Generals in the Pentagon who have set "rules of engagement" that hinder the battle. It is time to push for VICTORY with our new General in Iraq. Iran will be our next battle.

Taft City Councilman to Represent Kern at League of California Cities

The League of California Cities South San Joaquin Division appointed Taft City Councilman Cliff Thompson to be the League’s Kern County representative Wednesday.

Thompson was unanimously voted to a two-year term as Kern County representative Wednesday night at the League of Cities meeting in Wood Lake. In addition to Taft, representatives from McFarland, Delano, Coalinga, and Shafter were at the meeting along with representatives from Senator Dean Florez’s office.

“I’m very excited about the chance to represent the cities of Kern County at the League,” said Thompson Wednesday, “I want to thank everyone for this opportunity, especially Senator Florez’s office which was very supportive.”

The League of California Cities is “an association of California city officials who work together to enhance their knowledge and skills, exchange information, and combine resources so that they may influence policy decisions that affect cities,” according to the League. The League frequently weighs in on issues in the legislature, and has been described by lawmakers as one of the most powerful lobbies in California.

The South San Joaquin Division is made up of 37 cities in Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Kings, and Madera counties, and meets once a month to discuss policy issues that affect the South San Joaquin cities and plan and coordinate the activities of the division.

“It will give us an opportunity to more thoroughly examine what’s happening at the state level and give us more of a voice to influence those decisions that affect the cities here in Kern County,” said Thompson.

Thompson's first meeting as Kern County Representitive will be September 5.

The War in Iraq

Just think, if Saddam was so bad, now as Bush n company try to pull sway there, more people have died in the last year than in all the years that Saddam was in power so who's the greater evil?, We seem to be worse!

Wars, every one of them are about money, makin money and so many corporations here are makin tons of money, I understand that if a new truck gets a flat tire they throw it away and buy another one cuz Halliburton makes a ton of money on this war, and they moved to Dubai, so the US couldn't see what there doing,. Its sickening, all the young American boys that had to die so they could take our money, and all the poor Iraqis that's have died, they wont even tell us the true number, I'm guessing it's over 80k and over 200,00 Iraqis wounded and they're not our enemy, Just think, Al Quaidia doesn't even have an army, were fighting a street gang really, I'd say if we cant stop the Bloods or Cripts here, that kill over 10,000 Americans in America every year, not to mention the robbing and raping, how do we, the supposed most powerful country in the world , ever think we could win against a smaller street gang in Iraq, the answer is, were not tryin to win, were tryin to keep the war going on as long as possible as to make more money for the companies that supply the armies, That's just sick, When we 1st went into Iraq, we didn't go to the museums 1st ,or the banks, to secure them, the 1st target was the oil pipe lines and oil producing facilities, So don't ever say its about freedom, cuz it isn't, its about money, My god there wasn't even any Al Quaidia in Iraq until we got here. We have completely wrecked that country, The Iraqi's were never our enemies, they were never a threat and now it seems we have completely forgotten about Bin Laden, what on earth is going on, well Im a fool and even I can see what happening.

I love this country ,the people, and the beautiful countryside, the cities, but look what's going on before its too late and bush declares martial law!

What country comes to mind when I say these following statements, its a country that can take any citizen to jail forever without trial or a phone call, can hold them forever with a charge, can torture them, can tap our phones and computers, suspended habeas corpus, took the freedom of press and the freedom of speech away, and all the other countries in the world hate them, no its not , Nazi Germany, The USSR, or Cuba, or Red China, its the good old USA, now I expect the storm troopers to come at 3am tonight and take me away to Spain and torture me for the next 40 years, Is this Nazi America? God please I hope not, and our forefathers fought to preserve this? I think not. Bush took the country over in a military coup, but the people cant even see that,

tell me Im wrong

Vincent

NO MORE WAR

DEAR PRESIDENT BUSH:

HAVE A HEART and please do not send any more troops to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Bring all U.S. troops home NOW.

Local girls participating in California Junior Miss scholarship program

“The mission of America's Junior Miss is to emphasize education by providing scholarship opportunities to outstanding, college-bound high school girls, and to encourage personal development in all young people.” http://www.ajm.org/about/

Four Kern County young ladies: Brittany Lopez, Delano; Bethany Feil, Bakersfield; Cheyanne Gustason, Tehachapi; and Laura Arnold, Shafter; are in Rohnert Park, California this week having a memorable time participating in the State level of America's Junior Miss scholarship program. These young ladies represent what is good and admirable in our youth today. They embody the "Be Your Best Self" motto that is the spirit of Junior Miss.

The 43 state participants will be judged in 5 categories: Scholastic (20%), Judges Interview (25%), Talent (25%), Fitness (15%) and Self-Expression (15%). This competition is broken into three evening events. August 9th & 10th will be preliminary judging events where the girls are judged throughout the evening after performing as a group in a high energy fitness/stamina routine, presenting their unique talent, and then expressing themselves in long dresses to show their poise, gracefulness and ability to answer a question on the spot! The Scholastic judging and Judges Interview take place prior to the evening events. On Saturday, August 11th, ten finalist will be announced and from that ten, a new California Junior Miss will be selected. The California Junior Miss would then compete the following June in the National program in Mobile, Alabama. Each level of the program offers a greater potential for scholarships as well as life time friendships.

The Junior Miss programs are open to High School Juniors. Local communities that participate are: Bakersfield, Shafter, Tehachapi and Delano.

Former participants, although hoping for scholarships, admit that their greatest joy was the friendships made and the memories that the experience itself brought to their lives.

Real Estate Lunch at Woolgrowers

There was a luncheon for Realtors and other Real Estate Industry types today at Woolgrowers. It was just a fun get together with no ulterior motives or hidden agendas. It was nice to have a friendly gathering, and nice just to enjoy the food and scintillating conversation without having to be educated or working. I guess these events used to be held, and then not so much for a while.

One thing I noticed was that the Basque dish that I really look forward to at Woolgrowers, namely tongue, was not served.

I was surprised to hear that there was a rumor that my company, McKinzie Nielsen Real Estate, was being bought by Touchstone. This is definitely not true. I think the rumor originally was about Touchstone and another company merging, or one being bought by the other, but I don't know if that is true, either. Something was supposed to happen today, according to this rumor, and it didn’t, so we will see, in the near future, if and when something does happen.

I also heard that Keller Williams is opening a Bakersfield office, but if they can’t get 40 agents to sign on, then they will not. They are recruiting, but we will see if they can get that many agents to join.

Sharing the same initials as Keller Williams, Karen Wass, who has retired but owned KW Associates wrote an interesting letter to the editor in the Bakersfield Californian. I was looking for it but unable to find it online. If anyone clipped it, could they please send it to me? It was a very bold statement, and I won’t even attempt to paraphrase it until I am able to read it again.

Good Night, Bakersfield

Fraternal Order of Eagles

Have you ever volunteered for some job, and after you did it, you were really proud of yourself? Go to the Eagles on Friday evening for their delicious steak/chicken dinner and all the trimmings, believe me you will not be disappointed.

This meal is prepared and set up by volunteers. Greg and his staff in the kitchen work very hard to give you the best, these people are all volunteer members. Alphonso, Adolph Arnie, and Gary work hard at the bar area, making sure things run smooth, again volunteer members. The ladies of the Auxiliary, Ruth, Helen, Mary Ann, and Adella who work faithfully at all the functions, selling tickets for this event or a dinner dance, also member volunteers.

Many members at the Eagles go beyond the call of duty, coming after work, giving up a lot of tv time or missing watching their children's sporting events. Does being a volunteer require a special drive in oneself? I do know one thing about people who volunteer for whatever the cause, are very generous in life and in giving. I've only named a fraction of volunteer members but I know to make the Eagles run so well, it takes a lot of hands.

Team Volkslaugh: Just your average sandbaggers.

    I'm doubled over watching my sweat fall to the ground. My throat is burning as I suck wind trying to catch my breath. It's 104 degrees in the shade, only crazy people would be outside working out right? The sandbag in front of me is creating dust clouds that add to the already poor air quality of the night. I grip the bag and with every muscle in my body rip it off the ground, over my head and let go. I hear the bag hit the ground a few feet behind me and I position myself in front of it again. Only 4 more reps to go and I am ready to be done. I want to head inside to the air conditioning, clean off, and relax. "Let's go guys, you are doing great, only a few more," someone yells. They are right, I can do 4 more. Sweating, and wheezing, I throw the 100lb bag 4 more times. This set is over.

    Three nights a week our group comes together to reclaim our lives. If you were to hear us describe a nightly workout, you might think we are gluttons for punishment, we probably are. Kettlebells, sandbags and other tools used in Underground strength training keep us sweating, dirty and sore for days after our workouts. Our hands are calloused, our backs are strong and our necks red. We are the complete opposites of who we were last year. How did we go from soft, weak and sedentary young folks to predators who eat up and spit out cute pink little dumbbells? It didn't happen over night, it wasn't easy, and at times it was no fun at all.

    This group started as a small group of friends. They had many things in common. They were young, they were fun, and they were all miserable in their own skin. We were fat, lazy, and getting fatter and lazier. We commonly shared our feelings of hurt and confusion, questioning the joys and satisfaction in life. Though few had the guts to say it, we all knew our weight was the primary cause of our troubles, fears and shame. After a few talks we decided to make some healthy changes. It started small. Volleyball on saturdays instead of sitting around watching movies. When some of the guys became interested in using kettlebells for strength training the girls where not about to be left out. We started with only two kettlebell workouts a week. We laugh now when we remember what used to kill us. Soon we realized that our diets needed to improve to see any real weight loss. It took time and the help of our Nutritionist Diane Campbell. With her help we found out what and when we should be eating.

    We realized that we needed some goals to measure our success. Not only did our goals need to be attainable, they needed to be so desirable to us that we would do what ever was required to reach them. This isn't about fitting into our high school jeans. This is about reclaiming the dreams we had when we really believed we could do whatever we wanted. We chose the volkslauf mud run as the fitness challenge to work towards. The run is hard enough that we needed to train and was far enough away we had time to drop weight and make the necessary changes.The changes started small but soon snowballed until we had to cut back on our workouts since we had begun over-training.

    Many who had never ran a mile in their lives now could handle a 10k with little problems. We were stronger, fitter, and happier than we had been in a long time. Word spread, the workouts continued and as our knowledge of fitness expanded so did the number of folks in the group. If you come to our workouts you can expect to be shocked at our methods. You will be filled with questions from what in the world are those heavy things to why would anyone in their right mind do this. Those that have taken our challenge experience the pain that has led to a deep satisfaction in our lives. For us this change is not about being healthier and adding years to our lives, this is about adding life to our years. Obesity destroys life. Quality and quantity. We challenge Bakersfield to get fit. You can do what it takes to reclaim your life. It's not easy and it's not going to be fast, but every step is worth it. No more excuses. Don't wait. Go outside tonight and join us as we sweat our way to freedom. We aren't trainers or natural athletes, we are average people who are ready for Bakersfield to join us in reclaiming our dreams, and our lives. We are Team Volkslaugh.

A Journey Through The City of McFarland

The City of McFarland’s quaint history still rings true today. The community was founded as a result of one family’s journey, and as families still journey here, they celebrate small-town quaintness but with extended opportunities as never before. McFarland Activities Committee now arranges four major family-oriented events citywide which the community supports with enthusiasm. The new Cinco de Mayo Chair and seasoned educator, Mayela Bujanda-Medina, organizes various grand extravaganzas for the Cinco de Mayo celebration.

With each changing season, some of our families have enjoyed parenting on national and international levels. In the recent past, former coach, Jim White, taught his cross-country teams never to give up, and because his personable, fatherly character, his teams became national champions rating recognition in Sports Illustrated. Other families continue to open their doors and hearts to international students affecting those young lives dramatically by immersing them into an American democratic lifestyle, one they will forever cherish. Ag teacher and longtime McFarland resident, Mike Elliott along with his wife Susan, hosted Shuhrat Ergashev of Uzbekistan in 2003-2004. Shuhrat came to McFarland High knowing spoken English but struggling with written English. In the beginning of that year, AP Literature was daunting to him, but he ended the year with confidence in his writing skills as well as with an edge on study skills. He now sends e-mails noting his many thanks to his American parents and teachers at McFarland High for helping him through his own national tests, ones he had to pass in order to advance to a university. A part of his national tests included a thorough analysis of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Shuhrat currently works for the Uzbekistan Consulate. With similar enthusiasm, dairy owners, such as Mr. and Mrs. Cardoza, happily open their home to Russian students and eagerly show these young citizens life in rural America.

Step into the world of McFarland and you will continue to uncover unique opportunities for students here. The philosophy, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” describes our local people who shower our graduating seniors with scholarships averaging $250,000.00 a year. McFarland High School also has the largest percentage of students who enroll at Bakersfield College in this county. In addition, we have a special grant with Paramount Farming whose generosity never ceases to amaze me. Upon partnering with Paramount Farming and CollegeBoard, MHS is implementing SpringBoard, a direct instructional curriculum which embodies multiple-modality techniques for collaborative learning that will support the AP programs and AVID programs in order to increase greater success for all students. Moreover, each fall Paramount Farming takes enormous pride in MHS teachers by offering grants for class projects, and each spring the local company fills huge conference rooms honoring valley students with generous scholarships and delicious feasts. Paramount Farming goes beyond benevolence when at these galas, it doubly rewards scholarship recipients by including their parents as well as the most-influential teacher in their high school experience.

Postive imput into McFarland does not end there because of dedicated community leaders, parents, and educators. Every year MHS's percentages for students attending UCs grow. For example, several students currently attend UC Davis and look forward to their graduation next spring. Just this past May, Lizzette Medina, a former MHS student, earned her four-year degree in Molecular Cell Biology from Berkeley’s Pre-Med Program. In 2006, Rocio Bravo, daughter of Jorge and Delia Bravo, entered the Ivy League experience at Brown University and will continue her second year this fall.

Patriotism, diversification, and globalization are matters that demand informed and tolerant future generations, and in this vein, local businessmen, Warren Carter, Don Carter, and Don Davis cheerfully give of their time by providing the Leadership Team Forum at MHS, encouraging future leaders of America.

With businessmen, community leaders, teachers, parents, and students uniting, many lifechanging avenues occur, and a family's journey through McFarland can become a chapter in a nostalgic memoir contributing to their lives and to our great country.

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