Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 323
Families with children all dressed up for their Christmas photo (some in jammies) came to see Santa and enjoy a breakfast of pancakes and sausages Dec. 3 at Tehachapi's annual Breakfast With Santa at Jacobsen Middle School cafeteria. Three service clubs – Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions – as well as the Salvation Army, fielded volunteers to set up, cook and serve. Photographers Jazmine Moreno and Daniel Moreno worked steadily to get the best pictures of the children on Santa's lap. There was no cha...
Young person with a goal – Forde Files happened to stop on the way to Albuquerque a month ago and discovered a charming Brigadoon-like place called Ludlow, Calif., a hundred or so miles past Barstow. It consists of a Chevron station, a Dairy Queen, a café and a motel. I checked into the motel at the gas station. About 20 people live in Ludlow. The town is owned by the Harold Knoll family. Employees, mostly young, are bused in from Barstow to work. There's no alcohol sold anywhere in town. It...
The SunSelect hydroponic greenhouse complex in Cummings Valley, which did not exist four years ago, is a high-tech wonder. "It's a world-class facility and one of the most modern greenhouses in the world," SunSelect CEO Reinhold Krahn told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council on Wed., Dec. 7, at the Tehachapi Police Department Community Room. "There are only two other in the world. This is the 3.0 version." The family-owned, British Columbia-based company has an $80 million...
2-year build-out for new Tejon Ranch community To access information on the Grapevine plan that the supervisors approved Dec. 6, go to the Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department web site. Under Environmental Document Postings and Updates on the first page, click on Grapevine Specific and Community Plan. The detailed document is 1,016 pages long. Kern County Supervisors unanimously approved Tejon Ranchcorp plans for the 8,010-acre residential, industrial and commercial Grapevine...
American Legion Auxiliary needs now-outlawed plastic grocery bags When Tehachapi newcomer Judith Campanaro became part of The Loop family as a reporter, she brought something else – a way with crafts that has captured widespread attention. Campanaro makes magic with those pesky plastic grocery store bags that the state of California has been trying to eradicate for years. Cutting the bags into thin strips and working it like yarn, she creates carry bags and soft, cleanable, lightweight mats that...
The first annual Quarter Auction for the Tehachapi High School Robotics Team 585 on Sunday, Dec. 11, will generate funds to operate the 36-member club as well as support the club's outreach to younger robotics teams. Teams are organized in four age levels under the banner of the FIRST Robotics Competition that sponsors an annual, fiercely competitive international competition. Under the leadership of faculty advisor/science teacher Danielle Evansic, the Tehachapi club mentors a FIRST Lego League...
Leafy trees in Tehachapi are preparing for winter by shutting down nutrients to their leaves, a process that produces bursts of brilliant color in a final farewell. The red and burgundy colors are the result of chemical changes triggered by light and cold. The yellow and orange colors are in the leaves all along, masked by the green chlorophyll. In the fall, trees break down the green pigments, exposing the colors. In the dry brown leaves on the ground, all the pigments are gone. Some trees,...
California's economy is rebounding toward full employment, according to the Caltrans-California Economic Forecast 2016-2050 County-Level Forecast, Mark Schniepp, director. "In 2017, the big story in the California labor market will be 'full employment,'" the forecast says. "Since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007, the unemployment rate has been elevated with a large number of job seekers unable to find work. But in 2017, the unemployment rate in California will average 4.9 percent,...
Retail leakage happens when residents go to Bakersfield or Lancaster/Palmdale to shop instead of shopping in Tehachapi. Tehachapi Economic Development Coordinator Michelle Vance is on a mission to turn that around, to keep the money in Tehachapi and to draw shoppers up the hill to make their purchases. "One hundred fifty-eight million dollars leave our town every year," Vance told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council on Nov. 2 at the Tehachapi Police Department community room....
Members of his first team, hundreds of Warrior fans celebrate: It's 300 victories for coach Steve Denman! As giddy as teenagers and bearing pre-printed "300" t-shirts, men who played on the first team that Steve Denman coached as Tehachapi High School head football coach 34 years ago descended upon Coy Burnett Field Nov. 4 to celebrate what they were certain would be Denman's 300th victory. The 51-year-olds were not disappointed. The Warriors defeated Bakersfield's West High, 35-7, triggering a...
Adventist Health officially assumed management and operation of the Tehachapi Hospital and three clinics on Nov. 1, 2016 with a ribbon cutting on the tented hospital parking lot at E street and Curry. The Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District relinquished operation of its properties in a 30-year lease agreement with Adventist, an affiliation that enabled the district to complete the new hospital at Capital Hills. Adventist also will operate the new hospital when it opens. "We made it," Adventist...
As the Replacement Tehachapi Acute Care Hospital races toward completion and a grand opening some time in February, 2017, the Zen-like Healing Garden is emerging from the grounds outside the big-windowed cafeteria. In a few years, the young trees will provide shade and vegetation will complement the beautiful stones that float on pebbles and on the earth. Beyond the labyrinth circle and the open wall to the west lie the rolling hills of the Loop Ranch, a fitting homage to the Broome family, who...
Take the kids – The Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Park District's sparkling new Meadowbrook Park is scheduled to open Oct. 29. The dog park at Meadowbrook has been upgraded too. Rec & Park also is renovating the Activity Center at West Park with a $100,000 donation from Aspen Builders. Community College campaign – Cerro Coso Community College President Jill Board spoke to the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council about the need for an educated workforce and how the college can hel...
The city of Tehachapi's grant-funded infrastructure improvement on Valley Boulevard west of Curry Street saw the installation of curbs that define the new road alignment. The improvements began with the placement of larger underground storm drains and includes narrowing a portion of Valley Boulevard to conform to the city's Specific Plan, which rejects busy multi-lane arterials. Above top, crews smooth out the newly poured curb. Above lower, a cement truck pours its material into a machine that...
The total value in 2015 of all agricultural commodities in Kern County was almost $6.9 billion, a decrease of 9 percent from the 2014 crop value of $7.5 billion, Agricultural Commissioner Ruben Arroyo said in his annual Agricultural Crop Report. While the report (www.kernag.com), does not address the cause of the decrease, Assistant Commissioner Glenn Fankhauser told Forde Files that the drought and water restrictions impact the types of crops that growers choose to plant. Growers key their choi...
The campaign for two seats on the five-seat Tehachapi City Council is a ferocious one this year as candidates Mary Ann Hester and Ken Hetge battle incumbent councilpersons Ed Grimes and Mayor Pro-tem Kim Nixon in a race in which the fundamental nature and direction of the city is in the balance. The Forde Files spoke to each of the candidates. The Incumbents Kim Nixon – Tehachapi resident for 30 years, age 60. Nixon has served on the Tehachapi City Council for five years and is Mayor pro tem. I...
The 2016 Bakersfield Business Conference, sponsored by the law firm Borton Petrini and masterminded by George Martin, of counsel to the firm, delivered an array of speakers on Sat., Oct. 8 that were primed and ready to share their vision in this year of hyper-politics. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, 84, speaking to an overflow crowd in the smaller "Political" tent on the 31-acre conference grounds at California State University, Bakersfield, said that when Donald Trump comes to...
Ag water negotiations Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District Water Conservation Coordinator Liz Block has produced colorful magazines for young students that explain where Tehachapi area water comes from and how to be a good steward of the resource. Block worked with consultants on "Project Wet" to provide teachers with the magazines and other water conservation materials. The magazines – one written for the second-grade level and the other written for the fifth-grade level – introduce the...
The ceiling tiles of the Tehachapi Replacement Acute Care Hospital are laid in, and that's a good milestone, Senior Project Manager Lisa Polansky of SHP Project Development, the hospital project manager, told the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District board of directors. "It means that the overhead utilities are signed off," she said. The complex labyrinth of pipes, conduits and wires above the ceilings are as deep as the walls below, she said. Covering them up means a tough job has been...
Tehachapi Kiwanis serve Pasta Fest!...
The East Kern County economic diversification study currently being carried out by the Austin-based TIP Strategies has found that "location quotients" (LQ) by occupation show ratios of high-level jobs per geographical designation above those of the nation, state and Kern County as a whole. "Location quotients by occupation is one of the most exciting findings," TIP senior consultant John Karras said at a presentation to the East Kern Economic Alliance on Sept. 7, 2016 at the Rio Tinto plant...
Guild to the rescue – From the operation of its little thrift shop at 101 West E Street, the Tehachapi Hospital Guild through the years has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in hard cash to purchase vital hi-tech equipment for the Tehachapi Hospital. Now the Guild has in excess of $675,000 in its bank account, and Adventist Health (soon to be the operator of the new hospital and clinics), with its big purchasing power and resources, doesn't really need those funds for equipment. As the R...
At the end of a marathon 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. closed meeting on Fri., Aug. 26, the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District board of directors selected district Assistant General Manager Tom Neisler to succeed General Manager John Martin, who is retiring in November. Neisler was one of 30 candidates for the job. He will be the fourth general manager in the 51-year history of the district, following engineer Bob Jasper, surveyor Glen Mueller and public administrator Martin. The Bear Valley Springs...
City of Tehachapi requests letters of support to help win more Active Transportation Program (ATP) grants. Those big three-foot wide concrete pipes lining a four-block stretch of West Valley Blvd. west of Curry St. are sections of new storm drains that are being installed prior to extending the city's growing matrix of bicycle paths. Those big three-foot wide concrete pipes lining a four-block stretch of West Valley Blvd. west of Curry St. are sections of new storm drains that are being...
Guadagno and Sons Amusements, the carnival that has come to Tehachapi for 20 years during the Mountain Festival, is a fourth-generation operation. Joe Guadagno (gua-DAN-nyo) was in Tehachapi to oversee the setup of 16 carnival rides on the vacant lot bounded by Valley Boulevard and Curry Street. He works with his brother Chris and his father Tony and mother Sharon out of the West Garden Grove, Orange County company headquarters. Joe Guadagno's grandfather John founded the company in 1954. "My...
