Shedding light on local issues.

School enrollment up – Tehachapi Unified School District (TUSD) Superintendent Susan Andreas-Bervel reported to the district Board of Trustees on Aug. 12, 2014 (the day before school started), that projected student enrollment in the district is up. She said that Cummings Valley Elementary is up three students, Golden Hills elementary is up 14, Tompkins Elementary is up 31, Jacobsen Middle School is up 58, Tehachapi High School is up 86 and Monroe Continuation High School is up 24, for a total of 4,399 projected enrollment. The figure, which is an estimate until the final enrollment count ("in-seat attendance") 10 days into the school year, is 216 students more than the total at the end of the school year in June. The projected enrollment prior to commencement of classes a year ago in August of 2013 was 4,255. The increase in students is a contrast to the loss of several hundred students in district school enrollment over the past three or four years. Board President Mary Graham expressed concern that Tompkins enrollment has reached capacity but Principal Sheri Belcoe said there are still two empty classrooms.

No ouches – TUSD Superintendent Andreas-Bervel reported that no Workers Comp claims were filed in the district during the month of July – the first time ever that no claims were made during the period of a month. The district has 400 employees.

Long-time teachers – TUSD honored teacher Sandra Hare for her 30 years of service in the district. Hare teaches first grade at Tompkins Elementary. Vicki Lange, Beth Burgess, Patty Cox and Sandy Ransom were honored for their 25 years of service. Cox teaches kindergarten at Tompkins, Burgess teaches third grade at Tompkins, Lange teaches fourth grade at Golden Hills and Ransom is an English teacher at Tehachapi High School. Classified employees George Wright and Pam Huyer received honors for 25 years of service in the district.

Keeping 'em safe and secure – The Tehachapi Police Department is providing safety monitoring of the Safe Routes to School project adjacent to Tompkins. Parts of Curry at Pinon are blocked off during construction. A state grant is paying 90 percent of the $450,000 project. Tehachapi Police Department Officer Zack St. John is returning as on-site school safety officer. The district is working with the police department to get an additional officer in the schools part time. Superintendent Andreas-Bernal said the police department is looking at overtime to cover the second position.

Decisions – The Cummings Valley Parent Teacher Organization received a $10,000 grant from Kaiser-Permanente to promote health, nutrition and physical wellness. The PTO is deciding how to spend it. Alicia Schroeder wrote the successful grant.

College aquí in Tehachapi – Thirty people gathered at district headquarters Aug. 6 for orientation and enrollment in Cerro Coso classes to be held in TUSD facilities.

Beer! – At the Aug. 6, 2014 breakfast meeting of the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council at the Original Apple Shed Restaurant, David Brust said the July 19 Tehachapi Mountain Brew and Grill Fest at Benz Visco Sports Park drew 1,000 people under damp skies and made more than $11,000 for local charities. Competitors entered 66 beers in the craft beer competition. Promoter Brust is organizing his next event, the Apple Festival, on Oct. 11-12, 2014. The inaugural Apple Fest last year, bolstered by advertising in Bakersfield, was a huge success that brought thousands of people to downtown Tehachapi. An encore is expected this year, with more of what visitors were asking for – apples and apple concoctions.

Gran Fondo – Tehachapi Community Outreach Coordinator Michelle Vance reports that 450 riders have registered for the Sept. 13, 2014 Gran Fondo bicycling event. Riders are coming from afar – one from the nation of Chile. One-hundred fifty volunteers will help at the event, which extends over all the Tehachapi area, from Keene to Bear Valley Springs, to Stallion Springs to the wind farms and downtown. See http://www.tehachapigranfondo.com for information, registration and maps of the Gran Fondo course (97 miles 7,288-ft. vertical climb), Medio Fondo course (67 miles, 5,009-ft. climb), Piccolo Fondo (36 miles, 2,005-ft. climb ) and Fun Fondo (16 miles, 732-ft. climb).

Slowing the gusher –Kern County Second District Supervisor Zack Scrivner told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council that the money hemorrhage at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield has slowed. Scriver said the county budget "had looked bleak because of the hospital." Alarmed supervisors reduced the financial loss from $3 million a month to $400,000 a month in three months, he said, and it should "loosen up on budget restraints." The supervisors were able to reduce the budget by 5 percent and stave off layoffs, he said.

For wine tasting, go this way – The Cummings Valley wine growers are working on a signage program that wll direct visitors from the populated areas of Tehachapi to their wine tasting boutiques. With Triassic Legacy Vineyard developing a bed and breakfast to complement their tasting room, Dorner Family Vineyard building guest cabins and a tasting room, another B&B already established and, of course, the continued success of the trailblazing, award-winning Souza Family Vineyard tasting room, Cummings Valley businesses anticipate a burst of agro-tourism.

Where is Stallion? – Stallion Springs Community Services District Manager Mary Beth Garrison says her community can be found "at the end of a 13-mile cul-de-sac." (It's at the far south western end of Cummings Valley). She told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council that Stallion's water usage is down 1,984,625 gallons in July from a year ago July. She reported that 14 new homes are being constructed at Stallion.

Fabrics wanted, save the babies – Anne Marie Novinger, the Tehachapi Kiwanis CLUB chairman for Kiwanis International's ELIMINATE Project, is collecting scraps and pieces of fabric for recycling (mostly for quilt making). The Tehachapi Kiwanis CLUB has pledged to raise $5,000 for the international effort to eliminate maternal neo-natal tetanus (MNT), and is at the $4,200 mark. Neo-natal tetanus dooms newborn babies to an excruciatingly painful death, and one vaccination of the mother at a cost of $1.80 will protect her and all her babies for 10 years. Kiwanis International began the project in 2010 in partnership with UNICEF, and MNT has been eliminated in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Iraq, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Liberia, Madagascar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Timor Leste and the United Republic of Tanzania. The ELIMINATE program continues its program to eradicate the killer disease in 24 other countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen. Anne Marie asks everyone to find those forgotten pieces of cloth in the back of the closet and schlep them or a donation to The Original Apple Shed Restaurant, 333 East Tehachapi Blvd. (Anne Marie and her husband George own the place). Kiwanis International tackled world-wide iodine deficiency for its previous major project. In another massive effort by a community service organization, Rotary International, in partnership with UNICEF and the World Health Organization, is engaged in a 30-year program to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. The effort has seen 2.5 billion children vaccinated against polio and the disease defeated in all but a handful of countries. For information on the ELIMINATE Project see see http://sites.kiwanis.org/Kiwanis/en/theELIMINATEproject/home.aspx (click on "Progress" for map of countries.)