Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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One of the traditions jolly Old St. Nick has in July is to visit our great community for the Christmas in July Toys for Tots event at Marty Pay Insurance Agency. This year's event will be on Wednesday, July 14 and Santa has a lot of surprises and prizes in his bag! He's suspended his naughty and nice list for the evening, anyone who brings an unwrapped toy will have a chance at a drawing for prizes including a 55-inch TV. There will be other prizes provided by local businesses and Santa is...
We are all placed in different roles in our business and personal lives sometimes on a daily basis. There are always situations where we are the student learning an activity or a new skill. Later the same day our situation may change, and we find ourselves in the instructor or leadership role. Some of us then go home and assume the role of mom or dad now becoming, "chief cook and bottle washer," and assume all the roles. Part of the trick is defining what your role should be in each situation...
Now's the time of year when just that ounce of prevention with our home can make all the difference in the world. Little things this time of year can make a big difference especially with summer around the corner. Simple things such as checking the batteries in your smoke alarms. Maybe it's been a while since the filter in the air and heating unit has been changed. Just these little items can make a big difference.Assuming we don't get any snow, and that's probably a safe assumption by now,...
We all know earthquakes are a daily occurrence in California. In fact, according to the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), 100 earthquakes are registered each day, luckily mostly small ones! But most of us have experienced much bigger quakes over the years. This week is the 115th anniversary of the San Francisco quake, which with the accompanying fires, leveled most of the City by the Sea. Eighty-three years later the area was rocked by another earthquake during the "Battle of the Bay"...
According to a 2016 survey, the average American will spend 43 days of their life on hold. This is based on 10-20 minutes a week. Unfortunately, in the age of COVID we can all testify to that number being blown out of the water! We've all experienced contacting a company and having the call routed to a calling center abroad. In the age of COVID even those centers are closed as countries throughout the world have stay-at-home orders for employees. This is making an already huge problem even...
Marty Pay Farmers Insurance has won the prestigious Toppers Club Award for the 23rd year. The Award is based on a combination of sales and service and is achieved on an annual basis. When asked about the Award, Marty gave credit to his staff and policyholders. "I've been blessed with an incredible staff that believes in customer service being No. 1. The staff has over 66 years in insurance and it shows up in how we respond to customers. You're really dealing with an intangible and the proof in...
I have always been an Ali fan. I literally grew up watching him fight. While I disagreed with his stance on the draft, watching him in the ring was a thing of beauty, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." In my conference room I have a picture of Ali and his four greatest victories, over Liston, Frazier, Kenny Norton and, of course, the Rumble in the Jungle against Foreman. But what most people don't realize is that Ali's bravado and big mouth were not his idea! According to Angelo...
Since the pandemic struck last March the Federal Government, and rightfully so, has spent a lot of funds keeping Americans and small businesses from going under. But one thing we all know is somewhere down the line the bill will be due for all of this. Here are some ideas that have been bounced around in Washington. Please keep in mind none of these are in the proposal stage, but they have been discussed. The first idea being tossed around is the taxation of unrealized gains. Let's say for...
Hopefully with at least one vaccine being mass produced we will see the end of the virus this coming year. But where does that leave business and commerce in the future? Will we ever go back to business as usual or are we looking at a new normal? Experts have been looking at our world changing to a more digital online society as far as how we do business. Now they are telling us that shutting down the country has fast forwarded us 10 years into the future. It is hard to argue with the numbers....
In what's become a semi-annual success story, our Toys for Tots drive this year brought in over 750 toys all of which will stay in our community. In this year of COVID we had an abbreviated collection period and not as much advertising as we normally do. But our incredible town responded as it always does with a flood of toys, most of which were bigger than last year's toys! Besides my office on F Street, we had a number of great drop-off locations. Maria and Ivan Jadric at Tehachapi Martial...
In this year of COVID-19 and "red tiers" and "purple tiers" it's sometimes hard for businesses to keep up with the demands of staying open. All this while making sure customers and employees are safe. This opening and closing makes it even more important to shop locally. Local businesses bring desperately needed jobs to the community. Many businesses have done an incredible job maintaining employees with government help such as the Payroll Protection Plan and a local plan administered by the...
Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and errors of government regulation, or to take arms against a sea of troubles including not being able to serve clients or risk the possibility of catching a virus! While the question may not be as dramatic as a Shakespeare play, the consequences can be. We're living in a difficult time, governments and businesses are walking a tightrope trying to determine what's the best balance in the world of COVID. The rules of the game are constantly...
The wildfires in 2017 were costly for homeowners and insurance companies alike. Moody's reported insurance losses at over 12.3 billion dollars. Unfortunately, the fires the following year were worse in terms of personal loss and insurance loss. More than 100 people lost their lives in the 15 fires in California in 2018 including the Camp and Woolsey fires. The insurance industry lost 24 billion dollars in those California fires and this year the human loss and suffering and financial loss will...
In this age of COVID, companies have had to adapt and change to keep up with new regulations and rules regarding how to do business. Fortunately, at Marty Pay Farmers Insurance they've been able to service and help their customers even though the office doors have been closed with everyone here available to answer phones and take payments. Because of that, the office has qualified for the 22nd time as a Toppers Club award winner! The award is based on certain criteria in sales and service in dif...
We’ve all gotten used to the dreaded blackout whether planned or not, the lights are off and life as we know it dramatically changes! Some of us run to the candles or the portable lights to light up a room. Some of us have even prepared by keeping ice packs in the refrigerator to keep food cold, buying a few hours. But, what do we do if a few hours runs into a day or a day runs into two days? How do we prepare? The answers are as varied and complex as is the problem. Living in earthquake and f...
In the thirty-plus years since I left Southern California and decided to open up my Farmers Agency in Tehachapi, I’ve been asked this question a lot, “why Tehachapi?” What would motivate you to leave an Agency in Sherman Oaks to come up here? What makes Tehachapi different? Like many of us who transplanted from the L.A. area, I was used to driving in bumper to bumper traffic with the sounds of horns as your constant companion. The air was so smoggy that on a bad day you couldn’t see the mountai...
For many of our forefathers, America was a dream. It was a land of opportunity where one could reach their goals and objectives. Where kings and queens and petty dictators had no say in the final outcome of your work. A place you could control your own destiny. These men and woman brought this attitude to America and it became woven into the patchwork of our society, and became the American spirit ... what some people call American Individualism! This attitude has grown and we've had many more p...
We’ve all had family or friends in a nursing home and for some people it’s a wonderful experience with friends, activities and plenty to do. For many veterans in V.A. Nursing Homes it can be a tough road to hoe. Many of our Veterans are alone and have very little contact with the outside world. In many cases family, if there is any left, are far away and the vet is out of sight and out of mind. Project D.E.F.T. was designed to help fill that void by providing our veterans with a Christmas car...
On any given weekday afternoon from 12 to 3 p.m. on 1560 KNZR in Bakersfield, California, a talk show host with a raspy voice bellowing out "God Bless America" can be heard giving us his point of view on a series of issues. Jaz McKay has been a staple of local talk radio for a number of years, but behind that booming voice is a man in trouble who is concerned about his family and what will happen tomorrow. His lovely bride, Laura McKay, has been diagnosed with end-stage liver disease and has...