News: Tehachapi News

Tehachapi Soldier Christopher Perkins injured

Tehachapi soldier Sgt. Christopher D. Perkins sustained a serious injury from an improvised explosive device (IED) while on patrol on August 8 in Iraq. He was transported to an Air Force Base Hospital in Germany.

Perkins was released a few days ago to Vilseck, Germany and is expected to make a full recovery. Christopher is presently in Vilseck at his home base spending time with his wife Heather and his daughter Emily.

Perkins graduated from Tehachapi High School in June, 1999. He will be coming back to the U.S. at the end of his term in Feb. 2009.

City asks governor not to raid revenues

As the City Manager of the City of Tehachapi, I cannot express strongly enough our opposition to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s potential raiding of the Cities' treasuries.

As a city in California, we are required each year to adopt a balanced budget and to live within our means. Recently, the City of Tehachapi faced a $1.5 million budget shortfall and as such, was forced to make some difficult decisions regarding cuts to projects and programs. This was done, however, and a balanced budget was adopted. We were not able to pilfer the monies of any other agency.

We have also been notified that the State may consider taking money from local Redevelopment Agencies. The Redevelopment Agency in Tehachapi has been an enormous success and has funded significant improvements in our historic downtown and created a vibrant downtown business community. To confiscate Redevelopment money would be a deliberate attempt to damage our City. We will do everything in our power to oppose this potential plunder.

As public employees working on the “front lines” of public service, City Managers, Councils, and staff members have great knowledge of how to be successful. I strongly encourage Gov. Schwarzenegger and his administration to consult with City officials and associations in order to develop a comprehensive plan that will not damage local economies and services.

Depot cleanup is under way

The City of Tehachapi has begun the laborious task of clearing out the site of the Tehachapi Depot, which was destroyed in a fire on June 13. According to City Manager Greg Garrett, the city has replacement value insurance, which means the construction of the Depot will be covered.

However, more assistance and community contributions will be needed to help complete the restoration. Toward that goal, an organization called “Back on Track,” made up from volunteers from Friends of the Tehachapi Depot (FOTD), has been organizing fund-raising events.

Coming up this weekend is a “Back on Track Concert” - a musical extravaganza to benefit the Depot. The concert will take place on Saturday, Aug. 23 from 1 to 5 p.m. in Tehachapi's Phillip Marx Central Park (corner of 'E' & Mojave streets).

It will feature many multi-talented local Bands, including “Runaway Train,” “Geezers on the Loose,” “The Pat Strong Trio,” plus musicians Tracy Barns, Maria Weir Werth, Jerry Mulkins, Max Valentino, Debby Hand, Peter Cutler, Tony Vice Ken & Laurie Leiboff and more.

There will be a tasty variety of food -- BBQ, Native Indian, and salads along with beer and margaritas from Jake's Steakhouse. There will games, prizes and special guest speakers and local painters all on hand for this important Depot Rally. For more information visit www.TehachapiDepot.com

Once rebuilt, the Depot will house an orientation center for the Tehachapi Loop, the engineering marvel that literally put Tehachapi on the map in 1876 when trains pulled by steam engines were first able to climb over the Tehachapi Mountains. (Trivia fact: the first building in Tehachapi was a small telegraph shack.)

The rebuilt Depot will be home to the famous Stokoe Collection of functioning outdoor mechanical signals and over 275 additional items such as phones, lamps and other items from a Stationmaster's desk, the nerve center of any railway station. Railway china from the luxurious and romantic days of dining cars, tools of the working railroad men, a one-of-a-kind collection of lanterns and caboose furnishings will help tell the story of the treacherous route through the Tehachapi Mountains.

Tehachapi and The Tehachapi Loop remains one of the most heavily traveled freight routes in the nation, with over 40 trains passing through each day.

All monetary contributions and donations of historic railroad items for the completion of the historic Depot and Railroad Museum are tax deductible, as FOTD is a non-profit organization under IRS regulations 501(c)3.

All of collected funds will be transferred to the City of Tehachapi, which is acting as the lead agency in rebuilding the Depot. Funds may be used for construction, landscaping, and installing the Railroad Museum in the rebuilt Depot. The goal for completion is to have the Depot open in time for the 2009 Tehachapi Centennial Celebration.

Vacation's over! It's back to school for Tehachapi kids

Summer vacation officially ends this week for the 4,900 students in Tehachapi Unified School District as they return to their classrooms on Aug. 20.

Enrollment in the six schools of the 522-square- mile Tehachapi Unified School District is holding steady, according to preliminary estimates from staff involved in registration.

At Tehachapi High School, where registering students last week found their bedraggled commons area in the throes of a major facelift, enrollment will be around 1,500 when the final report to the state is filed on the first Wednesday in October.

That number has varied by five to 15 students over the past three years. The high school has four grades, beginning with ninth.

Jacobsen Middle School -- serving sixth through eighth grades at its campus on Tehachapi Boulevard-- registered 1,144 students as of last week, and the number is expected to level off at under 1,200. That number is consistent with previous years.

At Cummings Valley Elementary on Bear Valley Road, serving the rural west valleys of the Greater Tehachapi region, new registrations are coming in daily and should stabilize at approximately 700.

Tompkins Elementary on South Curry Street in the heart of Tehachapi stands at 730 students and may rise a bit higher. Last year, Tompkins began its year with an enrollment of 720.

Alternative school Monroe High School, located on Eumatilla at the east end of the Tehachapi Valley, has registered 120 students and will likely go to 140.

The stable enrollment numbers, suggested Jackie Lawlor, secretary to the counseling office at Jacobsen and a district employee for 21 years, is a reflection of the quality of the schools and the appeal of life in the Tehachapi area.

“People move here and want to stay,” Lawlor said. “We have great schools, great teachers and people who care, from the teachers to the custodians. They genuinely care about the students from the top to the bottom.”

Lawlor, who has been employed at Jacobsen for 14 years, said that while middle school is a hard age for youngsters, “They can be a lot of fun.

“Every day is different. The great thing about working at a middle school is every day the kids bring the joy of life.”

At Tehachapi High School, the students will be experiencing their own joy as they watch -- from behind safety tape -- the construction of their new commons area, complete with new trees, and walkways and terraced seating.

Tehachapi High School Principal Cary Johnson said the new landscape design is the result of a collaborative charrette process and the availability of funds.

The school bond that built the high school and Cummings Valley Elementary, Johnson said, was not sufficient to pay for additional required reinforcements as well as to construct the high school as originally designed. To carry out the mandated reinforcements, the district was forced to eliminate the performing arts building and a covered walkway. Subsequently several hundred thousand in funds were left over -- not enough to build the school as planned, but enough to made a difference in another application.

“We had to use it or lose it,” Johnson said.

The funds could be used only for improving the school, he said.

“The school was not designed for a mountain town,” Johnson said. “There was no area for the kids to collect and relax.”

The commons was a big dusty wasteland with inadequate pedestrian circulation.

Students walking from one building to another on the spacious campus, he said, would have to fight the wind and would track mud into the classrooms.

“The poor kids had to run for shelter in the cafeteria,” said Johnson, who is serving his second year as the high school principal.

A committee of students, staff and parents “brainstormed in the library for a whole day in April,” Johnson said, and the idea of a more useable, friendly commons shot to the top of the priority list.

“The superintendent [of schools] did a survey that prioritized the needs. The one key thing was redoing the commons.”

The students brought in ideas they had seen and liked on other campuses, he said.

“A lot of changes came from the students,” Johnson said. “They wanted boulders, benches, waste cans. They didn’t want mud and wind. They wanted to be protected from the elements.”

The original commons created pedestrian traffic jams around the periphery, he said, and the existing concrete paths were inadequate.

Two terraced areas in front of the 700-800 and 900-1,000 buildings will help create protection and “will have a nice flow of traffic.”

The grassy areas will be hydroseeded, he said.

Improvements also include new gutters.

The project started later than Johnson had hoped.

“The initial bid was way too much, so they rebid it. We started in late July. It should be finished a couple of weeks into school.”

Positive news on local home prices and employment

Home prices have dropped less in the greater Tehachapi area than elsewhere in Kern County during the second quarter of 2008, new economic data from California State University, Bakersfield, shows.

With the exception of a 2.4 percent median price increase for Delano, which was the only city in the report to post a gain, home prices in greater Tehachapi apparently are edging toward stability and out of the freefall of the past year.

As reported in the latest issue of the Kern Economic Journal, published by the university, Tehachapi's median home price for the second quarter of 2008 (April-May-June) was $266,600, a decrease of $5,100 from $271,100 for the first quarter (January-February-March), a change of negative 1.9 percent.

Kern County as a whole showed a median home price change of negative 6.5 percent, down $14,550 from $224,800 for the first quarter to $210,250.

Other Kern County cities and communities showed a wide range of home depreciation, from Taft with negative 6 percent, Bakersfield and Ridgecrest with negative 7.2 percent, California City with negative 17 percent and Rosamond with negative 22 percent.

Abbas Grammy, professor of applied economics at the university and publisher of the Kern Economic Journal, also reported that the second quarter unemployment rate in greater Tehachapi is one of the lowest in the county.

Tehachapi's second quarter unemployment rate of 6.3 percent was down from 6.9 percent for the first quarter. The Tehachapi unemployment rate was the same as that of Inyokern and higher than Kernville (3.8 percent), Lebec (4.1 percent) and Ridgecrest (5.3 percent).

Bakersfield's second quarter unemployment rate was 6.6 percent.

Arvin posted the highest second quarter unemployment rate at 26 percent, ahead of Delano at 25.3 percent.

Other unemployment rates for nearby communities were California City, 7.4 percent, Rosamond, 7.7 percent and Mojave, 11.9 percent.

The new data reveals that the Kern County economy is on the upswing.

Grammy reported that as a whole, “The county's economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent, which is 1.8 percent faster than that of the previous quarter.”

The Kern County economy generated $15.77 billion in personal income, $90 million more than the previous quarter, he reported.

The county's labor market indicators improved.

“The county added 6,000 members to its work force and created 8,400 jobs.”

The number of unemployed workers decreased by 1,800, he said.

On the other hand, Grammy found that “Businesses have become more pessimistic about local economic conditions; the Business Outlook Index has declined for the fifth consecutive quarter, reaching its lowest value in nine years.”

Factors negatively impacting the business outlook, he said, are rising fuel costs, continued recession in the housing market and sluggish growth of the national and state economies.

The journal is available to the public free of charge at http://www.csub.edu/kej.

BVS embezzlment case

A quiet investigation triggered by an internal audit has uncovered the alleged embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Bear Valley Association funds, according to Bear Valley Police Department.

The police said a former employee of the homeowners’ organization is under scrutiny in connection with the case.

The police department has turned to case over to the District Attorney Major Fraud Division.

The case, which remains under investigation, “on July 16 was submitted in early forms to the District Attorney,” said Sgt. Dave Watts, detective at the Bear Valley Police Department.

“We have been working on it for a little while,” Watts said. “We are waiting for the DA to file.”

Kern County Deputy District Attorney Mike Hayward, in charge of major fraud investigations, said the Bear Valley Police Department had submitted papers pertaining to the investigation.

“We’re working on the case right now,” Hayward said. “Nothing has been filed yet. I can’t talk about it. Until we file a case we can’t arrest somebody.”

The identity of the suspect has not been released and his or her whereabouts apparently is a mystery.

Authorities say the suspect acted alone.

Michael Bennett, the association’s general manager, confirmed that an investigation is ongoing and “Law enforcement asked us not to make any comments until they issue a warrant... As soon as they say ‘go,’ we will release a new statement.”

The association hopes to go to court with the complex case, Bennett said, where “the details will be made painfully public.”

The association of homeowners at the upscale, 25,000-acre development that includes a country club and golf course, equestrian facilities and lakes, may have been hit with a loss “in excess of a quarter of a million dollars,” according to John Yeakley, general manager of the Bear Valley Community Services District. He made the statement in his August 2008 column in the Bear Valley Springs Bear Tracks, a monthly publication of the Bear Valley Springs Association and the Bear Valley Community ServicesDistrict.

The alleged employee theft, Yeakley wrote, was disclosed at the July general meeting of the association board.

In anofficial statement, Sgt. Watts said, “On July 16, 2008, the Bear Valley Police Department submitted charges of embezzlement to the Kern County District Attorney Major Fraud Division against a former employee of the Bear Valley Springs Association. The investigation is ongoing. The loss has been determined to be in the hundred of thousands of dollars. The thefts occurred over a two-year period and went undetected until uncovered during an internal audit. It This point, all evidence indicates that the identified suspect, whose whereabouts are unknown, acted alone.”

Hayward, the deputy district attorney, said the incidence of major fraud in Kern County has risen recently with the housing market “belly up.”

Both sides in talks over Golden Hills civil lawsuit

Lawyers for Golden Hills Sanitation Co., Inc and AB Land Development, Inc. are battling for a resolution to an acrimonious civil case involving allegations of pollution, negligence and trespass, easement disputes, restraining orders and accusations of “junk science” as they slug out negotiatio ns in mandatory settlement conferences in Bakersfield.

“We’re trying to work out a settlement right now,” said Calvin R. Stead of Borton Petrini LLP, attorney for Golden Hills Sanitation District, the wastewater plant in Brite Canyon that serves more than 400 customers in Golden Hills.

“The parties agreed to talk to the judge to work out a settlement. We are trying to work out a resolution without the necessity of a trial.”

Frank Gordon of Lebeau Thelen, attorney for AB Land Development, Inc., was not immediately available for comment about the ongoing negotiations. He told the News earlier that his client “doesn’t want to air the case in the press.”

AB Land Development is owned by Edward Borges, whose property includes the defunct Golden Hills golf course and country club, as well as Tom Sawyer Lake, into which the sanitation company pipes its treated wastewater.

The sanitation company sued the development company in 2006. The development company and Borges filed a cross-complaint. Various motions have been filed in the past several months in Superior Court, with a mandatory settlement conference July 28 and another set for August 28.

The trial date is set for Feb. 17, 2009.

A visible show of support

The sons and daughters of Tehachapi who are serving in the military will be acknowledged on downtown banners, the Tehachapi City Council declared at its Aug. 4 meeting at Veteran’s Hall.

Following a presentation by project organizer Janet Edwards, the council voted 5-0 to purchase banners featuring pictures and names of local men and women in the military, to be displayed on the new light poles.

“They’re making a sacrifice on a daily basis and we get lost in our own worlds,” said Edwards, 43, whose father was a Marine.

“He never got thanked for all he did,” she said.

Other project organizers are Diane Koeth and Monic a Bonham.

Edwards suggested that options for selecting those who will be on the banners “begin with Tehachapi residents who are currently deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or any designated combat zone or have died while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.”
The next category would be those currently service active duty in any of the armed forces outside of the United States.

The third category might be those serving active duty within the United States.
The last category might be immediate family members of a Tehachapi resident who are currently deployed to a combat zone.

Mayor Deborah Hand, citing how touched she was a t a recent fundraiser in Bear Valley Springs for wounded Marine Justin Clenard, said, “For a family who has lost a loved one -- to have that acknowledged in their community – it means so much more than the money spent on the pole. I’d be very much in support of this.”

Councilman Ed Grimes said his stepson served in Iraq “and he was one of the lucky ones. He came back. This [banners] is more permanent. This is more visible. We are proud of our soldiers. They are heroes.”

Councilman Stan Beckham asked if the wind would be a factor in ruining the banners.

City Manager Greg Garrett said a seasonal banner program under the auspices of Main Street Tehachapi and the Great Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce was established already.

“This is a city banner,” Garrett said. “Through the RDA (redevelopment funds) we have purchased the breakaway arms, enough for a two-block area. We’ve already established the plan. We can incorporate Ms. Edwards’ project. ”

In other city council business, the members approved a lease agreement between the city and the Tehachapi Community Theatre for use of the remodeled Beekay Theater [cq on the spellings].

“We have a lease,” said Mayor Hand jubilantly after Councilman Stan Beckham challenged the deal and apparently was satisfied with the explanation.

“It’s on the cusp of not being ethical,” Beckham said preliminarily. “To turn it over to someone almost for nothing with RDA funds is unethical.”

Garrett said the building will available to other community organizations, who will rent from the theater group, which will set the fees.

City attorney Tom Schroeter said, “I think this is a political issue.”

Calling the theater operation “budget neutral,” Karl Schuck, president of the theater group, said, “We have been working very diligently with Greg. We have invested hundr eds of hours. Under the business plan we’ve devised, we have this building operate at no cost to the city. We pay for the utilities, the maintenance, the equipment, the chairs and the risers. The city is not providing any staffing or financial support.”

Schuck said if the contract were made under the state of California rules, union stagehands would earn $48 an hour for 40 hours of work, with time- and- a- half for work at night – “pricing the building out of use for more potential users. It’s a bargain.”

Councilman Phil Smith said, “It will breathe even more life into downtown. This is a no-brainer.”

The vote was 5-0 on the lease.

Carl Gehricke, whom the council named a planning commissioner at the last meeting, said he decided to decline the position after seeing Form 700, the financial disclosure document.

“They required me to fill out Form 700,” said Gehricke, who was worried about identity thef t. “It would be a public document. It would show all the property I own, my income, where I received it and any savings over $10,000.”

Gehricke is the owner of Tehachapi Bible and Bookstore on Curry, which also sells satellites for television.

Charles White, who is active in the Tehachapi Heritage League and other civic activities, accepted the planning commission position.

Kay Koski brought a group of senior ladies to thank the city council for supporting the Senior Center nutritional meals program against a threat by the county to close it down.

“We were successful,” she said. “The program has changed. Now we are bringing in meals in bulk from Rosamond. Today (Aug. 4) we had liver and grilled onions and Brussels sprouts. The seniors really enj oyed it. It is hot colorful, wholesome food. They were all impressed.”

Koski said 22 came to the center for lunch that day. She wants to build the number to 40 or 50 and increase the meals sent to homebound seniors. The seniors, she said, like to socialize and play pinochle and chicken foot.

Seniors accompanying Koski were Diane King, Jean Lind, Barbara Moore, Evelyn Nash, Hazel Owens and Gigi Gomez.

City seeks enterprise zone designation

The Tehachapi City Council has agreed to battle for one of four available California enterprise zone designations, voting funds to kick off the competitive application process.

A successful campaign will mean substantial tax breaks for new manufacturing and industry the city.

In a 4-0 vote -- Mayor Deborah Hand recusing herself because she has a business within the funding agency’s boundaries -- the city council at its Aug. 4 meeting at Veterans Hall committed $53,833 in Redevelopment Agency funds to help pay for the preliminary enterprise zone application.

“I think it is a good tool to use,” said councilman Ed Grimes before the vote.
Public speaker Charles White, newly appointed planning commissioner for the city of Tehachapi, said that the challenge is how to attract businesses and that the city is fortunate to have access to more help.

“We talk to people all the time – they ask, ‘Why can’t we get more industry at the airport? A lot of it is lack of marketing,” White said.
Councilman Stan Beckham said, “We can’t go wrong with this.”

Henry Schaeffer, owner of Henry’s Home 4 Less, said, “I see this as another government boondoggle. Only big businesses get the incentives. We get nothing.”
Phil Smith, councilman, said, “Anyone in this city would love to see a major manufacturer move here, like GE manufacturing its wind turbines here. No one in this room can say we don’t want that.

“Boondoggle? I would disagree. Why pass up this opportunity?”

Mayor pro tem Linda Vernon said, “It is sure to be a successful endeavor. I fully support it.”

The provisions of the enterprise zone do not apply to retail establis hments, but, applicant organizers said, the ripple effect would benefit the community as a whole.
The multi-jurisdictional enterprise zone concept presented to council members at the meeting includes the cities of Tehachapi and California City and the unincorporated communities of Mojave, Rosamond and Boron. The application will be a collective effort.

Tehachapi is the first city council to put its money on the table for the area-wide application.

According to Barry K. Jung, director of the County of Kern Community and Economic Development Department, the lead agency for the application, the California City city council, which met on the matter several weeks ago, is still pondering its decision. The interests of the other entities lie in the hands of County Supervisor Don Maben, working in conjunction with local and county economic development organizations.
“The county has20not made an official commitment yet,” Jung told the Tehachapi City Council. “We have been waiting for the state to issue guidelines for the application. They are supposed to be out this month.”

He said the state is working on streamlined guidelines, and that the application deadline is January, 2009.

The cities of Inyokern and Ridgecrest, which were within, or partially within, the original boundary of the proposed enterprise zone, decided not to join the application process.

The East Kern Airport District has put up $10,000, Rosamond Community Services District $5,000 and the Mojave Chamber of Commerce has made a contribution to the application process. The California City contribution, should they choose to join the application, will be about $60,000, Jung said.

The state-wide battle to become designated as an enterprise zone is highly competitive, organizers said – more so now because the cash-strapped state, denied the normal taxes generated in an enterprise zone area, may decide the whole program is costing to o much in lost revenue and end it.

“There are 42 enterprise zone slots in California,” said Tehachapi Community Development Director David James. “Four slots are open this year.”

Each enterprise zone has a 15-year life span, he said, and at the end of that period, the city can re-apply. There is no automatic participation, he said, as cities have to make good use of the opportunity or lose it.

James said that an enterprise zone requires local incentives as well as those provided by the state.

“Tehachapi already has an incentive policy [business plan] that was adopted 12 years ago, in 1997,” James said. “It’s not entirely sufficient for an enterprise zone but it is an awfully good start. We have a solid base for submitting an application.”

The trend in enterprise zones, he said, “is towards multi-jurisdictional. You get more bang for the buck.” He gave the Palmdale-Lancaster enterprise zone as an example of that trend.

Companies that have taken advantage of the enterprise zone in Bakersfield, he said, include Dreyer’s Ice Cream and Bolthouse Farms.

“They used the employee voucher incentive,” Jung said. “They took good advantage of that.”

It is possible to apply as a single city, James said.
“Wasco is applying as a single city,” he said.

He said the city has three options: to apply as part of a multi-jurisdictional effort as put forth, to apply as a single city or to do nothing.

Jung said that .cities within the multi-jurisdictional enterprise zone would be competitive with each other, but by pooling marketing resources, all would benefit.
nbsp;“It comes down to what the various cities have to offer,” Jung said.
Employees who work at an enterprise zone facility in Mojave, he said, “could live and shop in Tehachapi”

Jung told the council that 16 communities have indicated an interest in the four state slots.

“In the next round there will be only one slot,” Jung said. “No more zones will be expiring in the next 10 to 12 years.”

The initial cost to submit the application is high, he said, and requires hiring a consultant to prepare it.

“It is $170,000 to put in the application and do a negative environmental declaration,” he said. “Fifty-three thousand, eight hundred thirty three dollars is Tehachapi’s share of the application cost.”

City staff costs “may be another $9,700,” Jung said.

Over the 15-year life of the enterprise zone, he said, the city will be obliged to be involved in marketing, printing brochures and going to trade shows.

“The KEDC (Kern County Economic Development Council) is prepared to help with marketing,” he said. “Their executive director is on board. My department is also charged with some marketing record keeping.”

Jung explained that to be considered as an enterprise zone, an applicant must meet three of five criteria as defined by the state of California. Using Tract 61data from the 2000 census, Tehachapi qualified with three of the criteria.

Tehachapi met these three criteria:

The net increase in per capital income must be less than the benchmark of $8,214.0 0. Tehachapi’s was $4,428.00 according to the 2000 census.
The number of persons in the proposed enterprise zone area living below the poverty line must be greater or equal to 15.2 percent. Tehachapi’s figure was 20.4 percent.

A disaster must have been declared within the enterprise zone jurisdiction during the last seven years. Storm flooding in East Kern established this qualification.

Tehachapi did not meet these two criteria:

The average rate of unemployment must be more than 7.4 percent. Tehachapi’s was 6.75 percent
The number of households below the county family median income m ust be equal to or greater than 70 percent. Tehachapi’s was 55.7 percent at the time of the 2000 census.

Study describes use of Route 58

A preliminary study of truck and goods movement on the Route 58 corridor between Barstow and Interstate 5 shows that 75 percent of the 6,100 drivers interviewed use it because it is the shortest and fastest way to get to their destinations.

In quick, one-minute interviews, the drivers were asked 12 questions at both east- and west-bound sides of the Boron rest area and then at the California Highway Patrol weigh stations at Hart Flat (eastbound traffic) and Cache Creek (westbound traffic).

Preliminary results of the study also show:

-- 80 percent of the trucks on Route 58 are five-axle double trailer units;
-- 65 percent of the trucks on Route 58 are based outside California;
-- 65 percent of the eastbound trucks turned off Route 99 in Bakersfield and onto Route 58;
-- 94 percent of the westbound trucks on Route 58 have a destination in California;
-- 70 percent of the westbound trucks will use Route 99 in Bakersfield to get to their destinations.

Reporting on the transportation study at the Tehachapi City Council meeting July 21, Councilman Phil Smith said the data will be used to secure funding for climbing lanes and other construction.

“The next cycle of federal funding will have an emphasis on goods movement,” Smith said.

The study is a joint project of the Kern Council of Governments and the San Bernardino Associated Governments, which is the lead agency.

Ronald E. Brummett, executive director of the Kern county organization, said that the study is “not even half done.”

The first data, gathered during the week of June 9-12, 2008, was taken during planting season, Brummett said. The second batch of data will be gathered during the first or second week of September, at harvest season. The data will be consolidated for a final report.

Brummett said the interviewers were posted at the Boron rest areas for 48 hours and again at the Hart Flat and Cache Creek weigh stations for 48 hours.

“We had to go through extensive permitting with Caltrans to set it up,” Brummett said. The permitting involved setting up safety zones and signs, he said.

At the Boron rest areas the trucks were not obliged to stop as at the official CHP weigh stations, said Brummett, who speculated that truckers in contact with each other by radio declined to stop when they learned it was not mandatory.

“It was not a 100% count [at Boron] but we got a good sample,” he said. “We had a sign that said ‘Truckers please exit here,’ and three lines taking information.”

Interviewers -- 12 of them -- filled out some information, such as the type of truck, to speed up the process.

He said the interviews gave truckers the opportunity to share their thoughts about the transportation grid.

The 12 questions included:

-- Why did you choose this route?
-- Do you know what you are carrying?
-- From what route did you turn onto 58?
-- Are you going to your yard or delivering to a shipment to a consignee?

Brummett said the consultants also collected data on vehicle flow, setting up traffic counters at major roads along the Route 58 corridor where trucks turn off.

“We counted at six or seven places along the corridor,” he said. The intersections included state highways 14 and 99 as well as U.S. Highway 395 (Kramer Junction) and several more in San Bernardino County.

The consultant hired to gather and analyze the data is KOA Corporation of Los Angeles, which specializes in transportation planning and studies.

Grave markers stolen

Kids with nothing better to do have been known to enter the fenced Old Tehachapi Cemetery and kick over headstones, but some time between July 17 and July 25, vandals raised the bar by stealing wooden grave markers.

“This time it was really a wholesale kick,” said Judith Kennedy of the Tehachapi Rose and Garden Society, which cares for the hilltop site.

The replica markers, a project of the Tehachapi Heritage League, were not original but were decades old. Granite or marble headstones 130 years old or more distinguish some of the other graves.

Kennedy said that Pat O’Donnell of the society, who attends to the graveyard several times a week, sent her an e-mail July 26 telling of the loss.

O’Donnell reported that 10 grave markers had been taken from the cemetery. He later discovered another one missing, for a total of 11.

Nine of the markers carried the inscription “Unknown” and one was from the grave of a Scott Lycurgus Johnson.

According to the cemetery records, died at the age of 27 in 1877.

The cemetery, once called the Shields Cemetery, was established in 1858. The last burial on the property was in 1927.

Twenty-nine persons are listed on the display case as buried in the cemetery, including an infant with the last name of Godwin (1876), a Thomas Godwin who was “killed by James Hayes” (no date), C. North who was “killed in a gun fight at Greenwich” (1877) and Bud Thomas who was “killed by a horse in Bear Valley” (1873).

Sharon del Rio, who has lived across the street from the graveyard for 25 years, said that some of the smaller children in the neighborhood -- who like to play outlaws in the enclosure -- reported seeing “bigger kids” knocking over the markers.
“They were not only knocked over but they’re gone,” del Rio said.

“People are in and out all day long,” said del Rio, who can hear people exclaiming about the inscriptions. “Some people who go in do not nice things.”
She said the marble monuments have been relatively unmolested.

According to Kennedy, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution are in the process of identifying more names of people buried at the site.
“More graves are being discovered,” she said.

Some of the graveyard improvements were done as an Eagle Scout project.
The site is adorned with roses and a meditation bench. Located at Violette Court and Lilac street in Golden Hills, it is surrounded by homes.

“It’s like a sacred place,” del Rio said. “It’s part of our history. If we lose it we can never get it back.

“Some families buried there still have family here. They want to know their loved ones are safe.”

Del Rio said her husband Curtis now locks the gate at night and opens it in the morning.

The Kern County Sheriff’s Department is looking for the vandals who took the grave markers.

Anyone with information about the missing wooden markers is urged to call the Kern County Sheriff’s Department at 861-3110.

Sex offender ordinance poses dilemma

Kern County Supervisors are mulling over a proposal to repeal an ordinance that restricts where registered sex offenders can live. The problem, say supervisors who represent areas like Tehachapi, is that the ordinance makes metropolitan areas off-limits and pushes the problem into outlying areas.

The board approved the ordinance June 3 by a 3-2 vote, but shortly thereafter, supervisors Jon McQuiston and Don Maben -- joined by Ray Watson, who originally had voted for it -- were asking the full board to repeal it.

“There’s not much space left in the metropolitan area that they can live in,” said Maben, who had asked for clariication of the legal meaning of licensed day care facilities and other issues left unresolved while the state Supreme Court considers Jessica’s Law, which establishes residency rules for sex offenders.

“Some issues are being challenged. We will get clarification,” Maben said.

In the meantime, County Counsel Bernard C. Barmann submitted a memorandum to the supervisors on July 15 summarizing the legal complications of the ordinance.
“As we have said,” Barmann wrote, “as goes the fate of Jessica’s Law, so goes the fate of our ordinance. Further, given the legal uncertainties and practicalities involved, we have doubts as to whether the District Attorney’s Office would elect to prosecute a state parole agent for violation of the new ordinance.”

The county ordinance prohibits registered sex offenders from moving to within 2,000 feet of any licensed day care facility within the unincorporated area of the county. The effect of the ordinance, according to County Counsel, is to prevent offenders from moving into 74 percent of the 54,000 residential parcels in the unincorporated area of the county.

Tehachapi Police Chief Jeff Kermode said, “there are a lot of constitutional questions...Jessica’s Law doesn’t give us enforcement tools. The county law (new ordinance) faces some of the same issues.

The county ordinance, he said, will have more of an effect on uncorporated areas rather than smaller cities, that can enact their own ordinances.

“It may force small cities to pass similar ordinances,” Kermode said. “Shafter passed an ordinance six months ago with specific distance requirements. Arvin considered one but the city council has not acted on it.”

Jessica’s Law, he said, “states that local jurisdictions can create additional regulations.” Parolees, he said, are closely monitored by the state.

“My bigger concern is that lifetime registrants are no longer on parole and under state supervision.”

(Offenders in the county are on probation and are supervised by the county).
Ultimately, the sex offender parolees and those on probation will be without supervision three years after their release.

According to the Megan’s Law web site, 19 registered sex offenders live in the 93561 area code. Their addresses, photos, offenses and other characteristics are listed on the web site. The high risk and serious offenders have the most information listed, while information for lower-risk offenders may not include an address or other data.
Registered sex offenders are required to check in once a year or when they change addresses, Kermode said.

During the year he has been chief, the Tehachapi Police Department has made three arrests for registration violations, he said.

“It’s not too bad,” said Kermode of the sex offenders who live locally. “Most of them seem to play by the rules most of the time.”

He said, “I haven’t seen a need for it (a local ordinance) at this point.”

People in Tehachapi seem to look out for the children as a community.

“On one street,” Keromode said, “everybody on the street knows who the sex offender is. If he gets too close to a park or a school bus stop they’re on the phone to the police department.

“It’s one of the advantages of living in a small town.”

High-end Marriott takes shape

Hoteliers Chuck and Kay Yoo will open their third hotel in a row on Tehachapi Boulevard with the May, 2009 debut of their 56,000-square-foot Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott.

The $12 million project is rising rapidly from the earth in the heart of the city as steel framing beams now reveal the shape of the first floor.

“I’m really proud,” Chuck Yoo said. “They all said it would be impossible to build a Marriott. For one year I was negotiating with Marriott. We argued together. This is a top hotel. This is a different kind of franchise.”

The Yoos own two Best Western franchises on Tehachapi Boulevard to the east of the emerging Marriott – the Mountain Inn, which they bought in 1982 and enlarged, and the Country Park Hotel, which they built in 2003 and opened in 2004.

The Yoos are counting on capturing the increasing business traffic that is descending on the city, much of it generated by the burgeoning wind energy industry, the presence of railroad workers and employees connected with the expanding California Correctional Institution.

“Tehachapi is not any longer a small town,” Chuck Yoo said. “Tehachapi is a very fast-growing community. Why lose the business to Bakersfield? They can come up here and spend more money.”

Chuck Yoo said they had planned to build a four-story, 60,000-square-foot Marriott complete with a Japanese restaurant, but Tehachapi city planners insisted they trim it down to three stories and 56,000 square feet. The Yoos had to jettison the restaurant as a consequence.

“They said to keep the country style,” Chuck Yoo said. “They said ‘We don’t want that [four stories], no high-rises.’”

The Fairfield Inn and Suites will have 82 units – 67 suites and 15 regular rooms – and will feature 26 balconies to capture the mountain views, an indoor pool, a courtyard suitable for meetings and concerts complete with a barbeque, a 1,100-square-foot lobby with a fireplace, a 1,200-square foot continental breakfast room, a 36-person meeting room, a fitness room, high ceilings and two televisions in every suite, including a flat 32”-high-definition unit.

“The concept is very special,” Chuck Yoo said.

They will staff the hotel with 30 employees.

Tom McCormack, project superintendent for general contractors Wallace & Smith of Bakersfield, is happy with the progress of the job and said all the parties involved are working well together.

“This city is great to work with,” McCormack said. “There is coordination and continuity. Everybody doing this is a team – the city, the owners, the company.”
He said the city called for a “more homey atmosphere” in rejecting a fourth floor on the hotel.

“We look forward to the next project we can do with the city,” McCormack said. “We like the small town atmosphere.”
John Knopf is assistant supervisor for Wallace & Smith and Ed Felicidario is the project manager.

Wallace & Smith, which specializes in commercial projects, recently finished a Hampton Inn in Bakersfield.

According to Tony Plaza, job foreman for framers Grant Construction of Bakersfield, the first floor will be enclosed by walls by the end of week.

Now that the big beams are visible, the site is attracting attention of passersby. McCormack said people stop frequently to ask what is being built and to express their support.

The Yoos, who originally are from South Korea, have lived in Tehachapi almost 27 years. Their son, Philip, 25, is a 2001 graduate of Tehachapi High School. He earned a double degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in Latin American studies and global economics and is leaving soon to begin law school at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He spent two years in Seattle working as a political organizer.

High-tech solution helps district save on the cost of meter-reading

The Golden Hills Community Services District is going “high tech” with its water meters and saving money in the process.
Over the past year the district has implemented several money-saving measures, including the installation of 800 automated meter-reading devices (meters read by radio), according to Bill Fisher, district general manager. There are plans to add 2,000 more.
The meters have enabled the district to reduce the meter reading time from up to four days down to one, while eliminating the possibility of transposing numbers when reading by hand. Fisher said meter readers can drive down a street and read meters on both sides at one time without leaving the truck.
Data received from these new meters will also indicate a continuous flow of water during a 24 hour period, which generally indicates a leak. The home owner can then be notified to check their system.
If someone questions the reading, district field staff will still go out and read the meter by hand. The new meters store up to two years of water use history. This data can be used to generate a profile for a day, week, month, or whatever time period required. Fisher said the meters can show periods of high usage, no usage (such as when a family is out of town for the weekend) and even if a person got up and flushed the toilet in the middle of the night.
The new meters have been helpful in assisting customers who question their water bill by showing peak times of usage and determining how they may adjust their usage if their bill is too high. Is it the sprinklers coming on for an extended period, did they clean out the horse trough, did they leave the hose on after washing the car, or do they have a leak? Fisher said water usage dropped by about two percent following the installation of the new meters.
In addition to the automated meter-reading devices, the district has put a telemetering system in place that monitors and controls the well pumps and levels in the district’s storage tanks. The system turns the pumps on automatically to maintain the proper water needs for the service area. It also schedules pumping at off-peak hours, generally between midnight and 6 a.m., when electricity costs are lower, unless the tanks drop below a preset level. It's a smart system -- in the event of a pump not running or tanks getting too low or exceeding the maximum set level, it automatically notifies maintenance personnel to come and fix the problem. Currently, the district has eight tanks that store 3.75 million gallons of water.
In the winter the district pumps about 400 to 500 gallons per minute; in the summer that goes up to 1700 to 1900 gallons per minute, most of which goes to landscape irrigation.
“Every summer we get accused of raising the rates,” Fisher said. “It's just the consumption that goes up, not the rates.”
“We have not had a water rate increase since 1999. We operate the system very efficiently,” said Bill Fisher, General Manager of the Golden Hills Community Services District.
Fisher noted, however, that the time had come for better efficiency. “What we're proposing is that the basic water rate of $19.90 will remain the same and only the consumption rate will change, based on usage.”
In a letter to the residents Fisher noted that, 'The cost of doing business has escalated beyond the current revenue stream.'
The district has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 4 at 6 p.m. related to the proposed increase. They have notified all of the property owners who have a water meter and provided them the facts as to what's taking place.
For those having questions about the cost of water and how much is a cubic foot, etc. Fisher offered some interesting charts and displays. For example:
• One cubic foot of water is equal to 7.83 gallons.
• Water today costs approximately one-third cent per gallon.
• The average monthly home usage of water during the summer would fill a room 21 x 21 x 8 feet.
• The average monthly home usage of water during the summer is the equivalent of leaving a faucet running non-stop at a rate of one half gallon per minute.
Fisher said anyone who has questions about the new proposed rate structure in Golden Hills can stop by the CSD building at 21415 Reeves Street, and Fisher or any other member of the staff will be glad to answer questions.

Quake Rattles Tehachapi

Some people felt a mild shaking in Tehachapi at 11:42 a.m., July 29, from a 5.8 earthquake centered near Chino Hills, the United States Geological Service (USGS) reported.
According to the USGS web site the quake was felt as the equilivant of a 3.0 here in Tehachapi. No damage was reported locally.