Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 851 - 875 of 906
At the May 12 meeting of the Tehachapi School Board, Superintendant Susan Andreas-Berval had some exciting news to report. The Jacobson Middle School track team, under the direction of coach Amy Lang, did very well in the recent regional meet and will soon be headed to the state competition. Sixth grader Sara Heier set a new school record for the 800 meter race. The old record was set last year by an eighth grader. The Association of California School Administrators (ASCA) for Kern County named...
Michael and Becca Dillenbeck had been trying to move to Tehachapi from Bakersfield for quite a while. According to Becca, after losing a couple of short sales, they decided to just move and worry about buying a house later. Becca is not new to Tehachapi. She grew up here. She was born in Kearney, Nebraska, but moved to California and Tehachapi at the age of five. Her mother is Tehachapi civic leader Mary Beth Garrison and her father is a real estate broker in Bakersfield. She met Michael at Poin...
Tehachapi Hospital holds an annual appreciation luncheon for the volunteers who run the hospital’s thrift store. From the program: “The luncheon is greatfully dedicated to you for your generosity, hard work and service. Although we don’t say ‘thank you’ enough, please never forget that we appreciate your endless efforts. Each one of you is a valued member of the Tehachapi Hospital Team. Please accept heartfelt thanks from each employee of Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District.” Lots of guild me...
Last fall Chris and Carolyn Wiles finally moved to Stallion Springs from California City where they had lived since 1998. Carolyn said that she used to drive around Tehachapi pretending that she lived here. As a result of her work as a supervisor at Terra-Gen Operating Company, Carolyn was often in town. She represents Terra-Gen at Chamber of Commerce meetings and has been on the board of both Tehachapi and Mojave chambers for some time. Chris is a civil service employee at Edwards Air Force...
Pending an appeal by the group Tehachapi First, Wal-Mart will be coming to Tehachapi. On April 24, at a 9 a.m. hearing in Kern County Superior Court in Bakersfield, Judge Kenneth C. Twizzelman found that the City of Tehachapi had done their due diligence in complying with the request of Tehachapi First attorney Mark Wolfe for an amended Environmental Impact Report. In the courtroom, with Wolfe and representing the City of Tehachapi, was Patrick Carrick as lead counsel, and Keli Osaki...
Eugene Suksi, CEO of Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District, gave an update on the construction of the new Tehachapi hospital at the April 21 Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting at Pacino's. Chief Executive Officer Eugene Suksi came to the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District (TVHD) as interim CEO in July 2014 and was appointed permanent CEO in December 2014. He has more than 25 years of senior executive experience, including CEO at Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City, Calif.; Chief Operating...
Monroe High School Principal Laura Barba brought the school board up to date on the alternative school’s activities and achievements at their April 14th meeting. She told them that this year attendance is up and that the school has adopted a new motto, “All Panthers every day and on time”. A Magic Mountain Incentive trip will include between 20 and 35 students. She added that school is adding STM (science, technology and math) classes and now has a counselor two full days a week. The schoo...
Non-profit Showcase organizer Linda Carhart was presented with a proclamation by Mayor Susan Wiggins and the Tehachapi City Council, at their April 20th meeting, recognizing April 12-15 as National Volunteer Week. The showcase was the first ever event of its kind locally and it was a resounding success with 42 participating non-profits. Linda read a note that she had received from the Tehachapi Depot Railroad Museum describing their positive experiences at the showcase. Another point of order...
A desire for a quiet and peaceful lifestyle is what originally attracted Ellen and James Rice to Tehachapi. After 31 years as a heating and air conditioning fitter, James finally decided to retire. The couple had lived in Palmdale for 21 years and was more than ready to make the move to their mountain retreat. However, before settling into their Bear Valley home in the fall, they spent almost six months in Bridgeport, California, where James could enjoy the outdoor activities he loves: archery,...
In response to the California State Water Resource Control Board’s newly expanded water regulations, the Tehachapi City Council heard the introduction of a new Water Shortage Contingency Plan for Tehachapi at their April 6 meeting. It is up to individual communities to find ways to meet the new goals. The state’s July 28, 2014 plan for a 20% reduction in water usage has fallen short of its goal and produced only enough water for 1.96 million homes, prompting the new mandatory program. Ten years...
On Wednesday evening, April 1, the City of Tehachapi hosted a public meeting held at the Tehachapi Police Department’s community room, located at 220 West C St. The city was asking for public input into several grant funding opportunities provided by California’s Active Transportation Program. The program focuses on promoting non-vehicular transportation such as bicycling and walking in a safe and healthy manner. The city had been successful in obtaining around 2.5 million in grant funding fro...
In the last issue of The Loop, retired planetary scientist Ann Tovormina shared her dream for a sustainable lifestyle in Tehachapi. Her house was designed and executed to have a low carbon footprint and still be a comfortable home. The last article dealt with the building of the main house which was constructed using passive solar energy as the primary source of heat with the back-up of a masonry stove. Electricity to the entire property is supplied by active solar panels which are mounted on...
Sara and Fred Nilson moved to Tehachapi last October from Bakersfield. When I asked what brought them here, Sara said it was the beautiful area, the horse-friendly atmosphere and they also had friends here. Both of them were raised in the Bakersfield area. Fred attended Kern Valley High School in Lake Isabella and is an only child. He currently does international sales for an oil related company in Bakersfield. His company builds and leases out mud coolers to be used on hot oil wells. He is a...
At its regular meeting on March 16, the Tehachapi City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance prohibiting hookah lounges within the city limits. To the surprise of many, two Bakersfield television stations sent television cameras to film the vote. The ordinance defines a hookah as “a water pipe made of metal or other material, usually decorated and shaped somewhat like a bottle or small tank, with a flexible cord pipe also known as shisha, nargile, hubble bubble, nag, and turkish water...
Representing Tehachapi High School Robotics Team 585 at the March 24 school board meeting were seniors Kurt Pauer and Austin Beck. The students presented an update on the activities of their successful robotics team. Pauer said, “The program fosters a love of engineering, promotes critical thinking and helps to prepare students for the job market.” The program has a hands-off mentoring policy, which enables the students to design, build, program and test their robots themselves. Under the sup...
It was the clean air and country setting that lured Curtis and Sharon Cummings to Tehachapi. Two of their children have been plagued by allergies, so they were really looking forward to the healthful change in beautiful surroundings. Curtis has been a directional driller for Geo-Guidance Drilling Services in Bakersfield for seven years. Of course, I had to ask what a directional driller does; Curtis told me that it was his job to steer the drill to the oil. He has a fifth wheel trailer, which he...
I met Ann Tavormina when she spoke at the Triassic Legacy Vineyard "Winter Wednesday" presentation in February. The title of her talk was "Designing and Building a Passive Solar, Fossil-Fuel Free, Grid-Neutral Home". It was soon obvious that it was far more than designing a house, it was designing a sustainable lifestyle. When I talked to her after her presentation about possibly writing about her project, she very graciously invited me to visit her home and see how the project had grown since...
A group of students from Tehachapi High School presented a petition to the school board at the March 10, 2015 board meeting. The petition containing 705 signatures requesting that Tehachapi High School remove a regulation which currently forbids students to stay in their cars before school. They must stand outside in the frigid morning air before the doors open. According to the spokespersons for the group, Jacob Balkar and Naithan Sischo, the school has taken away one of their freedoms. In an...
Izabel Tahsini and David Gutierrez purchased their Bear Valley home last November. They wanted to move away from the congestion of Inglewood, Ca., to a more rural setting. They had friends in Tehachapi who encouraged them to come for a visit and then to look for a home here. David is owner of Precise Home Services, a construction/home repair business. He is in the process of moving this business from Los Angeles to Tehachapi. He was born in Nicaragua and was five years old when his family came t...
The Loop recently learned of an amazing young cancer survivor by the name of Jennifer Kochanski (or Jenn) from Jim Wallace of the Tehachapi Cancer Foundation. He felt that her story could possibly help others who are dealing with cancer. On meeting her I was even very impressed by her grace, beauty and the candor with which she told the story of her journey with cancer. Jim met Jenn when, after moving to Tehachapi last fall, her family discovered that their new home had no central heat. They...
Keith Wilson and his wife Annie purchased their Tehachapi home last year. They were attracted to the experience of four seasons and the great weather. Keith felt the new house needed a little work and has been upgrading it a bit at a time ever since. They still have a house in Inyokern, California, which they plan to sell and Annie still has her house in Palmdale. Even though the couple has been married for five years, Annie’s children are finishing school there and it is convenient to her j...
On Monday, Feb. 10 the Tehachapi School Board was treated to a presentation by Tompkins Elementary School Principal Cherie Belcoe and some of her students. Fifth grader Kayla Winchell explained her award-winning science project to the board. The project involved the effects of salt, sugar and sand on the melting of ice. Fourth grader Clair Schmidt also presented her science project exploring the effects of spring water, tap water and salt water on plants. Both of these students will be...
Carol Figueria and Jack Tate wanted a vacation home in the mountains and last summer they found their Tehachapi getaway. Since they are only here about two weekends a month and were traveling in Italy in the fall, it took a while for me to give them an “official” welcome. It was almost December before we connected. When they are not in Tehachapi, they live and work in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angelescounty. Jack owns Tate Heating and Air Conditioning, “The Weather Changers”, located in Mis...
At its regular meeting on January 20 at the Wells Education Center, the Tehachapi City Council voted unanimously to adopt an "Urgency Ordinance" that establishes a temporary moratorium on the permitting of hookah lounges within the Tehachapi city limits. City Manager, Greg Garrett, reported that the city had received a permit request to locate a hookah lounge in a currently vacant building on South Green St. The emergency measure would give the city 30 days to further study this land use and to...
On Jan. 22, County Supervisor Zack Scrivner, City Manager Greg Garrett, Mayor Susan Wiggins and Tehachapi's Economic Development Council (EDC) were treated to a tour of the new 32-acre greenhouse in Cummings Valley which is owned and operated by SunSelect. The Canadian company is 100% family owned and operated by the Krahn family, which has operations in Toronto and British Columbia. The company has over 100 years of sustainable greenhouse growing experience and is headed by Chief Executive Offi...
