Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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The Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Park District programs offer more than games. "Thousands of kids come through our programs," District Manager LeAnn Williams told the Greater Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce at its April 19, 2016 monthly luncheon at Pacino's Restaurant. "They could be abused or bullied or had a fight with their girlfriend. This could be the best hour of their week. We want it to be a safe place for kids and families. We want staff members to be positive role models." The...
Water report – "Jacobsen Reservoir held 1,220 acre feet in storage on April 15, which is about average for that date," Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District Manager John Martin reported to the district board on April 20. "Our forecast shows the reservoir peaking at 1,429 acre feet on May 10." The drought, he reported, is continuing into its fourth year. "The State Water Project allocation is currently 45 percent but it could still go up. Northern Sierra precipitation is 121 percent of n...
The Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District board of directors is expected to approve the proposed affiliation with Adventist Health at its regular board meeting Feb. 16, 2016. The proposal and ballot measure language were on the agenda for the Feb. 2 special meeting at the Tehachapi Area Association of Realtors meeting room, but following an hour-and-a-half closed meeting, the board tabled a vote and adjourned the public meeting in four minutes. "The agreement (about 180 pages, not including...
Wait, what? – February blew in with a snowstorm that closed Hwy. 58, and Post Office patrons met with puzzlement when they found that the counter was closed on Feb. 1 (see sign). Postal customers accepted the closure with good grace. The most common utterance (detected as Forde Files stuck 65 Save Mart-purchased stamps on a batch of mail) was "What happened to 'Through rain and sleet...?'" According to Wikipedia, the phrase is not an official Post Office motto. It is an inscription on a post o...
Members of the Tehachapi High School Key Club, a service organization sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Tehachapi, shared their activities and philosophy at the Kiwanis club's Jan. 27 regular lunsheon meeting at Pacino's restaurant. Under the leadership of senior Brandon Monzon, the club has grown to 28 members this year. The Key Clubbers engage in volunteer activities in the community, including fundraising for the Eliminate program to help fight deadly neo-natal tetanus, serving at events like...
The Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District (TVHD) has donated six jam-packed first aid kits to the Tehachapi High School Athletic Department for the school's sports teams. The kits, carried in sturdy red canvas bags, will be with the teams when they play on the road and at home. "The District supports the health and well-being of the students," said Dr. Sam Conklin, a member of the TVHD board of directors and former THS football team physician. THS Athletic Director Pat Snyder will check out the k...
*BREAKING NEWS* The Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District board of directors adopted a resolution at its Feb. 16, 2016 meeting approving the lease of all the district's facilities to Adventist Health for a period of 30 years. The agreement includes a $27 million pre-payment on the lease that will enable the district to complete construction of the new hospital. "On behalf of Adventist Health, I express my appreciation for the process that has gone on for 18 months," San Joaquin Hospital President...
At first glance, it could be a palace in the mist, arising mysteriously from the pages of history. At night, hundreds of lights create an image of a sparkling Manhattan Island or of a cruise ship beckoning across the water. The landmark Lehigh Southwest Cement plant has been producing construction materials for homes, roads and infrastructure in California since 1908. With the supervision of engineer William Mulholland, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works built the plant to supply cement for...
Kaiser Permanente unveiled its new medical office in the Tehachapi Junction mall (Starbuck's) Jan. 19, 2016, to the accolades of Kaiser members who live in the Greater Tehachapi area. An estimated 700 of the 5,000 local Kaiser members dropped in during the grand opening of the new facility, which will be staffed with doctors four days a week and a nurse practitioner five days a week. The hours may be extended to Saturdays, depending on demand. "It's a godsend," said Bill Durr, a 15-year Kaiser...
Kern County representatives who spoke at the El Nino preparedness meeting Jan. 9 at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Tehachapi offered valuable advice that can – and will – save lives. It's easy to say "Get prepared," but harder to actually sit down and plan it. Red Cross volunteers at the meeting helped attendees jump-start the process by giving out information and Go-Bags filled with life-saving items such as light sticks, emergency blankets, face masks, water and emergency ponchos. Here is som...
Pssst ... You can play if you plan ahead... read on... hapi undertook to develop a brand that distilled the Greater Tehachapi area's appeal. Following months of study and surveys, consultants concluded that what resonated the most with residents and visitors was the mountains. The logo that the consultants developed is a calligraphic suggestion of mountains. In the logo's various iterations by local agencies and groups, the word "up" is used -- as in "Come up and enjoy our community." In the...
Nikki to MB – Nikki Cummings turned over the post of president of the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council (GTEDC) to Mary Beth Garrison on Jan. 6 at the council's meeting in the Tehachapi Police Department community room. Cummings' three-term tenure as president was a period of robust growth and expansion for the organization, whose mission is to encourage economic growth in the Tehachapi area. When she first became involved with the GTEDC, she said, "I was the youngster hanging o...
Tehachapi High School head football coach Steve Denman, speaking to the Kiwanis Club of Tehachapi on Dec. 16, 2015, has learned more than a few things about teenagers in 34 years of coaching. "Kids keep you young," he said. "Kids just want to have guidance, direction and boundaries – and get out of the way." Denman spoke at the invitation of Kiwanian George Novinger, who was principal of THS when Denman began his coaching career in 1982. The accumulated wisdom on the dais represented an u...
The Tehachapi Replacement Critical Access Hospital (circled), wrapped by the hills of the Loop Ranch, already stands like a beacon of light above Hwy. 58, the freight train tracks and the city. Construction is moving smoothly toward opening in 2016. The U.S. Post Office on right of the hospital looks attached in this long lens photo taken facing north from across the valley, almost at Highline Road. The white water tank to the right is on the Loop Ranch; the dun-colored water tank to the left...
Kaiser Permanente health care providers will open its 2,500-square-foot Tehachapi Medical Office Building on Feb. 1, 2016. Kaiser Senior Vice President David Womack told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council Dec. 2 at the Tehachapi Police Department community room that the 5,000 Kaiser members in the Tehachapi area who have been served by a mobile health vehicle will now have a permanent presence. The Kaiser Tehachapi Medical Office Building is in the Tehachapi Junction strip mall...
Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce President Ida Perkins has told the local business community that implementation of proposed California wage and sick leave Initiative 15-0105 would be devastating for small businesses. If the initiative is placed on the ballot and approved by voters, she said that by the time of full implementation, “Most of our small businesses – they won’t be in existence.” While a phased-in increase in minimum wage accommodates businesses with fewer than 25 employees at the fir...
Help for local military veterans -- City Councilman Ed Grimes reports that the inaugural dinner of the Veterans Collaborative Services on Nov. 21 at Veterans Memorial Hall was a great success. The gathering produced more than $6,000 in donations for a food bank, counseling services and housing assistance for our local vets. Anyone needing help or wishing to help, please call Grimes at 661-822-4226 or Norm Clendenin at 661-822-1014. Rasslin' and traveling – Members of the Tehachapi Valley Wrestli...
Lancaster native Tony Schoen began working as a financial controller in the nascent wind industry in 1988 and rode the boom-and-bust roller coaster until he retired from that business in 2004. For 16 years he worked in a small building on the hillside south of Hwy. 58 in the middle of the wind turbines. Describing himself as "a local desert rat," Schoen (pronounced "Shane"), 61, told the Kiwanis Club of Tehachapi of his experiences under Zond, Enron and GE. Schoen first worked with James G.P....
Forde Shorts...
Marie Wyman Marie Wyman, an award-winning dollmaker for 40 years, creates reproductions of antique dolls in porcelain, complete with era-appropriate garment design, fabrics, lace and ribbons. She makes one or two of a kind and sells them all over the world. When she isn't working on dolls, she makes aprons and table runners for her Lutheran Church sales, quilts and hats for the Madera Children's Hospital and dresses for children in South Africa. "Everything gets used," she said. "I use stray...
A two-year resident of Tehachapi, Lauren Jaimes has been making clay dolls for four years. She transforms the clay, which she bakes in a dedicated toaster oven, into individual humans with their own personalities and characteristics. Her dolls feature expressive eyes and they exude sweet innocence. She places them in theme vignettes. She found that creating dolls makes her happy. "The art comes from the fun and joy of it," Jaimes said....
When Ludwig Van Beethoven premiered two symphonies and other works at a four-hour concert at Vienna in 1808, the musicians grumbled for lack of rehearsal time and one critic described the event as "a cart rolling down the hill with no horse." At Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra's Nov. 1 concert at Country Oaks Baptist Church, which featured one of the symphonies performed that night in Vienna as well as the artistry of guest violinist Mischa Lefkowitz, there was no grumbling and no runaway cart....
Watch it! Hospital video tour – Click on "take a tour" on the web site TVHD.org for a four-and-a-half minute video tour of the new Tehachapi Replacement Critical Access Hospital. Senior Project Engineer Ana Vlad is the tour guide. Residents of the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District who have supported this project and have twice voted bond measures to build it will be happy to see the construction progress on this outstanding facility. KMC on its own – Kern Medical Center CEO Russell Judd told...
Two Tehachapi community service superstars have announced new plans. Houchin Blood Bank Account Manager Christina Scrivner will leave that post on Dec. 31 to dedicate herself to her busy household. Scrivner has been instrumental in the success of numerous blood drives for the Bakersfield-based non-profit blood bank. At the Nov. 4, 2015 meeting of the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council (GTEDC), Houchin CEO Greg Gallion announced Scrivner's departure, praising her "enthusiasm, energy,...
Advance team, engineers share progress at community meetings California High Speed Rail (HSR) Authority has jettisoned a proposed track alignment across the Lehigh Southwest Cement 40-year expansion quarry and Oak Creek-area wind farms in favor of a more westerly route through Cal Portland Cement quarry property. HSR engineers have been meeting with Cal Portland executives to work out the better of two proposed routes through their quarry. Much of the HSR track through the property would be...
