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KATIE PRICE: We're finding the courage to address bullying in our schools
Sam came in to my office in tears. I'd never met this freshman before, but I could tell there was something terribly wrong. As I gently prodded him to tell me what was bothering him, he began rocking back and forth, wracked in sobs. "They won't leave me alone," he said. "And I can't take it anymore!" Eventually Sam -- not his real name -- opened up to me and admitted that for...
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Monday, Feb 06 2012 11:05 PM
Better to vote early than late on HSR
The Californian said in its Feb. 5 editorial, "Supervisors' HSR vote is premature," that it would like Kern County Supervisors to wait to take a position on the high-speed rail project until the final business plan is released. Yet the California High-Speed Rail Authority will begin acquisition meetings later this month with Fresno-area property owners. Apparently, the authority isn't waiting for its own business plan. The carrot of the high-speed rail maintenance facility has been promised to nearly every city between Bakersfield and Merced. So, why is this a reason to delay the vote?
Certainly, jobs are needed in Kern County and elsewhere. If the state has money, construction jobs can be generated from a host of needed infrastructure projects without paying for inner-city destruction and tearing up the prize asset: some of the best farmland in the world.
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Monday, Feb 06 2012 11:04 PM
The future is self-driving cars
The concept of a California bullet train is an exciting and a great advancement in transportation -- 30 years ago. Aside from the ever-expanding costs and the proposed completion date of 2033, I'm sure the system will be obsolete and abandoned before it is finished.
While we are discussing the plusses and minuses of the system, all U.S., Asian and European auto manufacturers, and Google, are currently developing autonomous (self-driving) cars, with some scheduled for 2020 production. An autonomous Prius already has traveled more than 140,000 miles with speeds of more than 110 mph. Nevada has passed a law allowing autonomous cars on all state roads this year.
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Monday, Feb 06 2012 11:03 PM
Phillips' side not told
I enjoy Californian CEO Richard Beene's columns. I have no connection to Terry Phillips. I have no journalistic credentials -- I'm just a reader. Nonetheless, it seems to me that Beene misstepped in his Jan. 25 "Bakersfield Observed" piece on Phillips standing silently during a flag salute at a service club and badly misstepped in his defense/counterattack when Phillips complained.
Beene says that since the facts he presented (Phillips stood silent during a flag salute at a service club; some of the conservatives there were upset; and Bakersfield voters won't be receptive to this) are accurate, his piece was accurate.
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Monday, Feb 06 2012 11:02 PM
Some rules are necessary
I often disagree with Dr. William Bezdek. I also often disagree with many nonsensical government regulations. Time and again, I have complained about some bureaucrat harassing us for not dotting i's and crossing t's in paperwork. Many regulations have significantly increased our cost of doing business. Hospital administrators and compliance officers are afraid -- so they overshoot. Lawyers often take these regulations and bring unnecessary lawsuits. However, some sensible regulations must be in place to protect patients and physicians.
While Bezdek makes a good point about regulations in a general sense in his Jan. 25 Community Voices piece, "The government agency that's holding our hospitals hostage," I disagree with the example of angiography cited. First, we must take every possible precautions to avoid any infection. Angiography procedures are invasive, surgical and imaging procedures where we insert catheters into the body and check sensitive organs like the heart or brain, and precautions must be taken to limit infection as well as radiation exposure to patients and providers. A proper gown, mask and scrubbing is a must, and there must be oversight to ensure that old-school physicians like Bezdek are complying with the rules. If not, he could be tracking infection from one patient to other, and God forbid someone gets a MRSA endocarditis because of a negligent doctor.
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Monday, Feb 06 2012 11:01 PM
Where do we draw the line?
Regarding the Feb. 3 letter "Nobody's perfect": While the writer's statements may be true, does that mean we should forgive and forget all past transgressions?
I personally believe one can overlook Newt Gingrich's three marriages, but find it difficult to overlook his affair with one woman while married to another.
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Monday, Feb 06 2012 11:00 PM
You have to earn your way
It amazes me that there are entry-level jobs that can lead to good careers on the market and we employers cannot fill them.
I guess it is too much to ask that applicants have a clean DMV record, can pass a drug test, arrive to work on time, and follow simple instructions to gain employment, and they expect premium pay to learn to do a job that they have never done before. And then there are the ex-cons out there who can use a helping hand to get on their feet; tried that several times, but it has never worked out (though I am sure there are the exceptions). I guess all the good people already have jobs.
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Saturday, Feb 04 2012 09:56 PM
Let's start screening caregivers of elderly
Financial stability is considered a mark of people in middle and old age (40 and older). Consider the fact that 70 percent of our nation's wealth is controlled by people over age 50. But just as banks are interested in this, so, too, are criminals. This sets up older adults for a variety of theft schemes and scams. Simply stated, thieves know that older adults have money and see this as a window of opportunity. This is especially true when older adults need in-home assistance with activities of daily living (for example, bathing, dressing, grooming, feeding oneself, etc.).
The prevention of elderly abuse by dishonest caregivers is a significant socioeconomic problem.
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Saturday, Feb 04 2012 09:55 PM
Mom must be held accountable
I have been appalled to read about the tragic death of Trinity Hanna. How does this happen to a sweet little 3-year-old?
Here is how it happens: The mother moves in with someone who is addicted to meth and marijuana. Because of his addiction, he is unable to control his emotions and properly take care of this sweet little girl. He becomes angry over his pathetic life and takes it out on this poor child until he finally beats her to death. The mother looks the other way, hoping to maintain her relationship with this animal.
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Saturday, Feb 04 2012 09:54 PM
Paying public employees
As a corollary to Marc Haiungs' Jan. 31 Community Voices piece "Don't balance budgets at expense of public servants' pensions," let me say in general the public gets its money's worth from public employees. I spent the last half of my career in the County Counsel's office, taking a pay cut of more than 60 percent when I left private practice. True, I was motivated by a desire for more family and church-work time, but what made it practical and possible was the retirement and fringe benefits. While with the County Counsel's office, I know I saved the county a minimum of $50 million in liability losses by vigorous defense in court, and loss prevention training of county employees.
I was not an exception. The majority of people with whom I worked were highly dedicated and effective. Indeed, I found county employees, on the whole, more efficient and productive than what I saw in the private sector providing legal services to major corporations and businesses. If we want competent public employees, we need to offer an attractive package of pay and benefits. Traditionally, and for me, that meant less pay during my career in exchange for good health insurance and a secure, and not excessive, retirement income.
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Saturday, Feb 04 2012 09:53 PM
We all are fallible
Bakersfield Rotary Clubs conduct an annual ethics conference for high school students. Other organizations such as Scouting and Kern County Student Leadership -- to mention only two -- include an essential ethics dimension. Cal State Bakersfield's Kegley Institute for Ethics focuses on college students.
If we expect new generations to behave ethically, why do we in the "older generation" so frequently fail? God granted us "free will" -- the freedom to make choices. Not all of our choices meet ethical standards. We all are fallible humans -- including candidates for high office.
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Friday, Feb 03 2012 11:02 PM
Teacher inspired her special-needs son
The season is coming to an end and I wanted to give a special thanks to a very special teacher and coach who puts his heart and time into the teens that are in special ed. I'm talking about Brad Hull, a special education teacher and wrestling coach at Foothill High School.
My son, Juan Lopez, is a special-needs person who attends Hull's classroom and also is part of the Foothill wrestling team; this will be his last year attending school and being on the wrestling team. I'm very proud of my son and will always be; he has fought all his life to be accepted and to find something he likes to do. He found it in competition in wrestling and in skateboarding. A lot of us take life for granted, but I look at my son and think if he goes out there and gives it all he's got, life won't be bad at all. Whether he wins or loses, he still gives it all he can.
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Friday, Feb 03 2012 11:01 PM
Starbucks lifts foster youths' holidays
Thanks to the giving spirit exhibited by Starbucks in the Bakersfield area, many foster youths in our community have great memories of the 2011 holiday season. Starbucks lent its support to Aspiranet's third annual holiday gift drive, helping us solicit and collect gifts for foster children and families in need during November and December.
Because of the generosity of Starbucks' staff and its customers, we collected and distributed 3,400 gifts throughout California. Whether it was a young child snuggling with an oh-so-cool pillow pet or a teen cruising on a brand-new skateboard, no words can express the joy that these gifts brought to our foster children and their families.
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