Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 451 - 475 of 906
The Tehachapi Unified School District began their 2020-21 school year on Aug. 12 with virtual learning. According to Superintendent Stacey Larson-Everson, meal service will continue as before at all schools with pick-up between the hours of 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. The TUSD School Board held their first official meeting of the school year on Aug. 11 with the most pressing items dealing with the $6 million deficit in the district budget due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, the Board voted to...
When I asked Jericho Vise what brought her and husband Joe to Tehachapi, she said "a wedding." Not their wedding, but one that was held at Dorner Family Vineyard about three years ago. She said it was so "awesome" that they wanted to move to the area. Jericho and Joe both grew up in Dana Point which is on the coast in Orange County. Jericho said that her grandma was a Yorba and that her brother now lives in the old family home in San Juan Capistrano. She comes from a surfing family; her father...
Currently the Tehachapi Senior Center is still closed. However, they are encouraging seniors to order and pick up lunches Monday through Friday. Lunches can be picked up between 11 a.m. and noon but must be ordered the day before. Monday lunches should be ordered on Friday. To order or for more information call the Senior Center at (661) 822-5412....
On the weekend of Aug. 1, about 15 members of the Lemon Drop Divas women's vintage RV club visited Brite Lake campground. The weekend was planned with a hillbilly theme including costumes, games, movies and a visit to the wineries (in costume). Face mask making was one of the first projects tackled by the group. Lemon Drop Divas is a nationwide group started by Southern California resident Anita Gunton five years ago in January. The group goes camping every month but also plans lunches, cruises...
The TUSD Board held a special meeting via teleconferencing on July 21 to address the issue of how schools will open on Aug. 12. Superintendent Stacy Larson-Everson told the Board that, based on the new guidelines issued July 17 by the California Department of Health, the District must open for virtual learning only. The ruling states: “Schools and school districts may reopen for in-person instruction at any time if they are located in a local health jurisdiction that has not been on the c...
Council supports AVA designation On June 26, the City of Tehachapi was notified that the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau was reviewing the application submitted in 2018 by the Tehachapi Winegrowers Commission to establish the approximately 58,000-acre “Tehachapi Mountains” AVA (American Viticultural Area). This division of the U.S. Treasury Department assigns specific viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to bet...
The Tehachapi Rotary Club, now used to telephonic meetings, had some interesting speakers to close out the month of July. On July 16, the always interesting Jon Hammond highlighted some very interesting and relatively unknown facts about the Tehachapi area. Did you know that Mojave is only 50 feet higher than Keene? Or that the highest temperature recorded in Tehachapi is 104 degrees? According to Hammond, the Blue Oak makes up the majority of trees in Tehachapi while the Gray Pine is mostly fou...
Recent statistics for the COVID-19 Pandemic numbers in Kern County and, of course, Tehachapi can be "old news" by the time we receive them. The local news stations update the County numbers daily; but how do you find out how many cases are in Tehachapi? The Kern County Public Health Services Department has a dashboard on their website http://kernpublichealth.com/covid-19_dashboard that is updated daily giving the statistics for all of Kern County. If you scroll down, beneath the stats is a blue...
At the July 14 School Board meeting, Superintendent Stacey Larson-Iverson presented three possible pathways for reopening Tehachapi schools on Aug. 12. A blended A/B Model would include a modified school schedule to be combined with online learning. The two possible patterns presented suggested two days of on campus instruction with three days of virtual instruction or four days on campus with the following week distance learning. Still being considered is five days a week of distance learning...
On July 13, the Tehachapi Planning Commission granted Greenbriar Capital an additional six month extension to present the final Environmental Impact Report and Final Master Development Plan for the Sage Ranch Community to the Commission and to City Council. Greenbriar is the corporation responsible for the development of the 138-acre Sage Ranch community to be located on Valley Blvd. just west of Tehachapi High School. Development Services Director Jay Schlosser had suggested either a three or...
On April 15, in the middle of the pandemic, Yolanda Manfredonia closed escrow on her new Tehachapi home and, accompanied by her German shepherd Cesar, moved lock, stock and barrel from Orcutt, her home of 10 years that is located in the Santa Maria Valley. Yolanda is a California native, born at Los Angeles General Hospital and raised in the San Fernando Valley. Following her marriage and the birth of her two sons, the civic minded Yolanda worked for the City of San Fernando for 13 years, for...
Brite Lake is the perfect place for a family outing and picnic this summer. After three months of being closed to all visitors, Brite Lake Aquatic Recreation Area finally reopened to the public at the beginning of June, and on June 12 also opened for camping. Operated by Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Park District, Brite Lake is located at 22902 Banducci Rd. in Brite Valley and is fun for the entire family. There are 41 camping spaces, six with full hook-ups, 12 with partial hook-up and 23...
As a result of the Federal Government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) the County of Kern has received $2 million of California’s allocation from the Coronavirus Relief Fund which was created to provide financial assistance to state and local governments. Based on population, 10 cities in Kern County qualify for reimbursement of expenses that (a) are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency created by COVID-19, (b) were not budgeted by...
For the last 15 years, Tehachapi has partnered with the Kern County Community Program Department to receive Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from HUD funds to be used for projects that will eliminate blight and blighting influences, and benefit families and neighborhoods in the low to moderate income range as defined by HUD. The agreement is for three years and needed to be approved by June 19 to continue the program. At their June 1 meeting, the Tehachapi City Council voted...
Paul Kaminski, who for many years served as principal of Jacobsen Middle School and then as Interim Superintendent during the 2018-19 school year, is retiring from Tehachapi Unified School District. Kaminski was lured to Triassic Vineyard by his wife Marilyn to what was supposed to be a small personal celebration. Seated outside on the patio, he was told that the decorations were for an upcoming graduation party. It wasn't until a parade of honking cars full of well-wishers descended on the...
Food for the Frontline Kern County was inspired by an example set by the city of New Orleans in an effort to help overworked front-line emergency room workers impacted by COVID-19, and at the same time support local restaurant owners and employees. George Hay, marketing director for Jim Burke Ford Lincoln in Bakersfield and Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Kern County) have teamed up to form the Kern County version of the initiative. They began working with Kern Community Foundation to raise funds to...
The Tehachapi Arts Commission has announced that due to the social restrictions currently in place with the COVID-19 pandemic, they will postpone Art 2020 – their introductory cultural event that was to take place in mid-May. At least 40 artists were scheduled to come to Tehachapi and participate in the first annual “plein air” competition. Plein air artists are those who gather their paints, brushes, palette, canvas and easel and head into the countryside to draw and paint in the landscape allo...
Back at the end of January, and before the social lockdown, Bill and Anya Norton, now recently retired, moved from Lancaster into their new home in Bear Valley accompanied by their four cats. Although both of them are aviation enthusiasts, for Anya it was the 4th of July hot air balloons that sold her on Tehachapi. She has worked on a balloon crew for 13 years. Bill retired from Edwards Air Force Base where he was flight test engineer and worked on both the F35 and the F22. Born in Northern...
In a telephonic meeting on April 20, the Tehachapi City Council voted unanimously to support the City’s response to the draft Environmental Impact Report released on Feb. 28 by the High Speed Rail Authority. Any City comments were to be received by the HSRA by April 28. In an eight page document, Development Services Director Jay Schlosser said he attempted to evaluate the way the project would impact the community and suggest ways to improve it, adding it would be pointless to fight the p...
At the April 13 telephonic Planning Commission meeting, the commissioners voted unanimously to give the Sage Ranch development an additional six months to complete their Environmental Impact Report and submit a Final Master Development Plan. The Sage Ranch project is a multi-unit planned community encompassing 138 acres to be located south of Valley Blvd. and west of Tehachapi High School. The Preliminary Development Plan for Sage Ranch was originally approved by the Planning Commission on Feb....
On April 14, Houchin Blood Bank again teamed up with the City of Tehachapi and Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Park District to hold a blood drive at Aspen Builders Activity Center located at West Park. In order to follow the strict social distancing requirement during the Coronavirus outbreak, Houchin brought two buses and everyone wore protective masks. In spite of restrictions, the drive was another success due to the generosity of Tehachapi residents. Houchin has scheduled a walk-up blood...
Following government recommendations that people wear face masks whenever out and about, many Tehachapi residents are now keeping themselves busy by making face masks. Some are making masks for themselves, their families and friends while others are making them to be donated to nonprofits, health providers and anyone else who needs them. Four ladies from Bear Valley Springs, Rhonda Brady, Cathy Criger, Lyn Mazie and Annette Shepherd have been working as a group, but from their own homes. It...
"Easter trees are very popular in parts of Germany," said Colleen Kohnen, "and I've wanted to do one for a very long time." The recent December storms created a unique opportunity for the creation of Kohnen's tree. The heavy wet snow that fell on Tehachapi following Christmas Day caused the loss of many trees throughout the area. Like many other residents, Tehachapi mural artist Lyn Bennett found that many of her manzanita trees suffered severe damage. Another Tehachapi artist, Lynette Brown,...
City approves utility deferments, waivers during COVID-19 crisis In an effort to address the continuing COVID-19 crisis and support small businesses and city residents, the Tehachapi City Council met in a Special Meeting on March 18 in front of City Hall to vote on a temporary policy to defer water, sewer and trash payments for small businesses and to waive late fees for residential customers for two months. With Councilman Phil Smith on the phone, the council unanimously approved the plan. The...
After living in Oroville, Calif. for 28 years and following the devastating Camp Fire that destroyed nearby Paradise in 2018, John and Sherry Priest decided to move farther south to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Now that they have settled in Tehachapi, Sherry's sister and nephew from Texas have decided to move here as well. Both John and Sherry are retired. John drove the big semi-trucks hauling oil and gas for 30 years and Sherry at one time managed two ARCO stations and...
