Forde Shorts

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's on Interstate 40 and the old Route 66. As I finished breakfast in the morning, I noticed chocolates for sale on the counter near the register with a sign, "For Nolan Martinez." I assumed it was some accident or sickness and upon inquiry found that 18-year-old Nolan, who works on the weekends at Ludlow with his mom Corrine Brown, is earning money to pay competition travel expenses for the drum line at Bakersfield College. A native of Yermo and graduate of Silver Valley High School, he is studying physics at Riverside Community College. (His mom told me he stays with his aunt in Riverside). It's easy to see he is a motived young man. He has a GoFundMe page and has accumulated half of the needed $900 for travel expenses. I have never met him but Forde Files is inclined to think this young man is worthy of encouragement.

Cash is cool – At the Dec. 7 meeting of the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council at the Tehachapi Police Department Community Room, Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District CEO Eugene Suksi reported that Cash the Wonder Dog has been serving the community in so many ways. Suksi has an inside track with Cash, an Australian Sheepdog who seems to be everywhere in Tehachapi. Cash is the official water bowl sponsor for the Tehachapi Visitors Center and provides the "Pooch Packs" with biscuits and poop cleanup bags. He is a sponsor of the GranFondo, the Tehachapi Recreation and Park District Smart Start program for kids, the Tehachapi Warriors High School and Composite Mountain Bike Teams and he helped at the groundbreaking of the Meadowbrook Dog Park. If you see Cash, give him a pat.

Hospital report – Suksi said construction on the new hospital will be complete in four to six weeks. Three of 45 contracts have been closed. The remaining contracts will be closed within a year. The healthcare district will soon move out of the construction mode into strategic planning as the district – relieved of the responsibility of administering and building a hospital – moves into new areas of health care for the community.

Teachers – Tehachapi Unified School District Susan Andreas-Bervel reported that the district is opening an additional second grade class at Golden Hills Elementary School. She said negotiations with the Tehachapi Association of Teachers were at an impasse. The high school students collected enough money ($3,000) to send two local veterans on an Honor Flight.

Hooray for the

students and vets!