Originally published Feb. 23, 1997
Reader: This month, TBC ran an editorial hit piece on President Trump ("Our View: Trump ‘tilts at windmills’ with bogus cancer claim," April 7). He had made a speech about wind power causing cancer, which frankly was ridiculous. I love him but would be the first to admit that he sometimes is…
Contact The Californian's Robert Price at 661-395-7399, rprice@bakersfield.com or on Twitter: @stubblebuzz. The views expressed here are his own.
It was dusk when Gary Moore, his wife Petrina and their 4-year-old daughter jumped into the family's little red Honda for a short jaunt down Highway 99, from Delano to McFarland, for a Sunday-evening visit with another couple.
Reader: The bar that TBC sets for those reporters that contribute to its op-ed, national and world news pages is not set very high. As a matter of fact anyone who is a Trump hater is always welcomed with open arms. Case in point was "Trump struggles with border issues," published April 7, ab…
New York City cab driver. Hazardous waste cleanup technician. Budget airline flight attendant. To that list of challenging jobs, add this: top executive of the California Republican Party.
Reader: I know you are getting a lot of well-deserved compliments on your excellent Baker Street neighborhood article, as well as suggestions for places left out ("Where We Live: In Old Town Kern, renowned restaurants and pervasive homelessness are side by side," March 24). I have a couple o…
Paul Golla, the new head coach at Garces High School, likes what he sees of his new team thus far, even without the pads and footballs.
In what will be his first extended interview with local media, Michael Stewart will sit down with The Californian's Robert Price for a special installment of TBC Media's "One on One" webcast to talk about his new job — head football coach at Bakersfield High School.
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In the spring, they pick oranges and tangerines. In August, grapes. Then, come October, a choice: vegetables in and around Arvin or strawberries over in Santa Maria. The hours can be long, the work backbreaking.
Reader: The "article" about how local new car sales will be affected by the impending 1-cent sales tax increase is hardly relevant for the front page of The Californian, even on a slow news day ("Car dealers see purchase incentive in impending city sales tax increase," March 26). This is not…
East Bakersfield's history-rich Baker Street corridor is populated with a number of great restaurants — and the city's most severe homeless problem. Disconnected souls live both on the street and in homeless shelters around and among several renowned dining establishments. The result is a pr…
The Gaslight Melodrama, one of Bakersfield’s great little treasures, just opened a show called “Shafter vs. Wasco.” It’s corny, slapstick fun, but the theme speaks to an actual truth: The Kern County farm towns, 10 miles apart and almost identical in size and demographic makeup, have a decad…
The late, great food critic Jonathan Gold was known to have visited Old Town Kern even when he had no intention of writing anything about the trip.
Reader: How can The Bakersfield Californian post the (March 19) headline, "Jury acquits Kern High teacher who allegedly sexted with student"? They said (Kern High School District teacher Johnny Gray Watson) wasn't guilty of that (charge) and the girl (who had accused him) admitted it wasn't …
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Wondering what's so pleasantly different about that chile verde? Wide-eyed over that steaming platter of garlicky Basque fried chicken? Sizing up an angle of attack on that briny, rich clam linguine?
Filmmakers have been turning their cameras on Kern County landscapes practically since moving pictures first existed.
Here is one way to bring a community together.
Reader: I am a 73-year-old, Bakersfield-born-and-raised grandmother. I am not a big reader of the Sports section. I have one grandson at Garces High School and no connection to the state champion Foothill High School boys basketball team. But I want to extend my greatest compliments to The C…
The Union Pacific Railroad has finally broken ground on a new train depot in east Bakersfield, a turn of events that frees us to speculate on what could or should become of the historic old one, built in 1889 by the defunct Southern Pacific.
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Two unimaginable things have taken place in Bakersfield's Sikh community over the past several days.
Reader: I am responding to your question from last week's Sound Off, "Did we go too far in reporting on Chris Burrous' bizarre death?" Yes: You go too far in reporting on people who died with drugs because you're not considering the children.
Announcing the return of the "notes" column ...
Old Stockdale, that proud little bastion of winding, tree-lined streets and sprawling mansions spaced incongruously alongside quirky pastel bungalows and low, broad ranch homes, has a stubborn streak.
Reader: Honestly, Bakersfield Californian? What is the purpose of this article ("LA coroner: Burrous died of meth toxicity," Feb. 23) other than the posthumous shredding of his character? Is this really newsworthy? Seems far more sleazy tabloid. Wonder how Chris’ family feels when they read …
When prices drop and supply increases, even in the face of steady demand, the consumer benefits.
Reader: Shame on you for writing this article ("'Mikey Smash,' killed in downtown knifing, had apparent Hells Angels affiliation," Feb. 21). You state you contacted his family and got no response. First of all, can they not grieve in peace? Second of all, because they don’t respond that give…
Each of the dusty old documents in the Walter Stiern Library Historical Research Center's voluminous archives tells two stories.
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The killer approached from the backyard.
Reader: The photographer caught this devastated woman at possibly the most extreme moment of her shock and grief ("Woman dies, four children left injured and orphaned in northwest Bakersfield house fire," Feb. 9). How unkind, actually cruel, to publish this picture for the public to witness.…
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This may come as a shock to some, but Gov. Gavin Newsom knows where Bakersfield is. Not only that, he seems to appreciate the depth of its economic challenges.
Lynne Haley used to occasionally imagine herself standing up in a crowded Bakersfield restaurant and shouting, "Raise your hand if you've ever been to Camp KEEP!"
This will be simple, I assured myself. I am large and hairy and capable of simulating a deep, authoritative voice.
We live in the age of apology. We're sorry we misspoke, we're sorry we were insensitive, we're sorry we had the audacity to once have been less enlightened.
Reader: Just read your article on Bakersfield's Westpark neighborhood ("Where We Live: In Westpark, the new freeway's path determines homeowners' fate," Jan. 27). You captured the human side brilliantly. As one the property appraisers commissioned to perform the eminent domain appraisals for…
By now, most people are at least vaguely aware that something culturally monumental is happening Sunday that will compel Americans to gather around television sets.
If you work in oil, agriculture, construction or a line of work associated with one of those industries, Bakersfield is a great place to call home. If you work in the creative arts — as a writer, an animator or a musician — Bakersfield is a great place to be from.
Forty years before the first bulldozer tore into Bakersfield's Westpark neighborhood, people were attempting to drive on the Centennial Corridor freeway.
Reader: Your columnist, Leonard Pitts, wrote that Nathan Phillips, the Native American elder who was mixed up in that incident in Washington with the high school kids from Kentucky, was a "Vietnam veteran." Fake news! The man served in the military during that time but that doesn't make him …
It was 7 a.m. when I picked up the phone in our Seattle hotel room and called home. Pam, who had been minding our house, feeding the dog and collecting the mail, answered.
Reader: I refer to the Associated Press article in the Jan. 10 Californian headlined “Trump stalks out of shutdown session with Dems.” Who fact-checks Associated Press material and associated headlines? There are conflicting reports in the article sourced both from Democrats and Republicans …
At her swearing-in ceremony last week, new District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer playfully borrowed an ominous line from "Game of Thrones," HBO’s bloody medieval fantasy of power lust, betrayal and assassination: “Winter has come.”
If you are the type to dodge jury service, today’s column is not for you. If you are the type that looks forward to it, read on.
A few years ago, the TV comedy team of Key & Peele had a running shtick: the Obama Anger Translator.
Reader: Reading The Californian’s “Notable deaths of 2018” article, one was notably absent: Pat DeMond. I also do not recall seeing any coverage of her Oct. 10 passing in your paper at that time.
Mark Witsoe is not in charge of the Meadows Field airport. You are.
The House of Representatives has 435 members. The two who represent Kern County couldn't be much further apart in the pecking order.
Reader: One of your Monday columnists, Anna Smith, was right when she said local news sources are the watchdogs that protect democracy and local quality of life ("When we starve the watchdog, we threaten democracy," Dec. 31). I wish they’d make decisions that ensured they’ll be here for us i…
Anyone who has driven the surface streets of Bakersfield recently knows big changes are coming. The Centennial Corridor is about to roll across and over the city's west side, and the 24th Street widening project northwest of downtown is gaining momentum.
Every year at this time, many in my profession, and perhaps yours, find themselves bidding the old, departing year a not-so-fond "don't let the door hit you on the way out."
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