Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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There is a longtime Bear Valley Springs resident who has caught and safely relocated not dozens, or even hundreds, but literally thousands of rattlesnakes over the course of his life. His name is Ron Hayton, and he started catching rattlesnakes under his grandfather's tutelage when he was only five years old. Ron, 79, is a retired L.A. County fire captain, and decades ago he started the Snake Guys snake relocating service, providing free assistance for area residents. Ron's volunteer efforts...
Before the City of Tehachapi planned its first two ventures into public recreation, the pickleball courts at the police station and the 5-A-side soccer field at the newly opened Valley Park, they began an assessment into the recreation facilities available throughout the Greater Tehachapi Area from all providers including programs, facilities and operations. To save public funds, the city staff undertook a comprehensive analysis of each recreational entity within the Tehachapi area with a focus...
Our valley has lost two noteworthy members in the past few weeks. Eldon (Don) Kordes was well-known as a member of the CSD Board for a few years. He was also very talented as a woodcarver and donated pieces to the Tehachapi Heritage Museum. As a veteran, he will be interred at Bakersfield National Cemetery on April 3 at 10:45 a.m. A Celebration of Life will be held at the Tehachapi Heritage Museum at noon that day. Meanwhile, his carvings will be on display through the month of March at the museum. James Phillips Carmichael has also been lost...
James (Jim) P. Carmichael passed away at home on Sunday, Feb. 18, following a short battle with cancer. Jim was born Feb. 16, 1942, in Los Angeles. He grew up in Inglewood, California and joined the Navy in 1960. Jim and Linda met on a blind date in 1962 and were married in 1966. Jim was a mentor to many young people as an Assistant Scout Master, Little League Coach and Commander of the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps Haven Division. He also worked as a machinist in the aircraft industry...
Greg Cunningham is an amazing person, tech and friend. I have spoken with many of his customers, and each have nothing but praises for Greg. He will be missed for his knowledge, kindness, humor and friendship. One day, Greg came to my shop and told me that he was retiring. He asked if he could put my phone number and name on his phone message that would indicate that he was retiring. I told him that it would be okay, and that I would do my best to take care of his customers. I told him that I...
The Stallion Springs Community Service District is asking residents help protect the community by clearing weeds, debris and trash from yards. Tips for debris reduction can be found on the Kern County Fire Department website at www.kerncountyfire.org/fireprevention/hazard-reduction or you can call the Stallion Springs Fire Department at (661) 822-3980. The Stallion Springs CSD has also been included in a Hazard Reduction Grant with Field Institute and they have already begun clearing brush area...
The guest speaker at the Feb. 9 Rotary luncheon was Gregory Matheson, the retired director of the Los Angeles Police Department Criminalistics Laboratory where he had worked for over 30 years. Matheson emphasized that he is a criminalist and not a criminologist. A criminologist uses science to study crime and criminals. A criminalist collects and analyzes forensic evidence from a crime scene and is court qualified in toxicology, serology, crime scene investigation and the examination of...
On Dec. 10, the Tehachapi Police Foundation hosted 17 local children at their annual Shop with a Cop event. After enjoying pizza from Hungry Howie's at the Tehachapi Police Department, the children rode to Walmart in police vehicles, sirens blaring, for a shopping spree. This year the Police Foundation was joined by Bear Valley Springs Police, Stallion Springs Police, California City Police, Kern Country Sheriff's Office and California State Parks Assn. The children that were chosen to shop had...
On Nov. 10, a large crowd gathered at the CSD meeting to welcome our newest member of the BVPD. Chief Dan Suttles swore in Imelda Rizo, our first woman on the force. She spent most of her childhood in California City, and graduated from Mojave High School. She knew from an early age that she wanted to work in law enforcement. Originally, she was assigned to Los Angeles County's maximum security jail. She spent almost 15 years with LASD. She was promoted to Senior Deputy and oversaw a unit that...
A small group of interested locals hiked to a canyon on Bear Mountain recently to visit a rock art site whose location had been lost in the fog of time. Among the hikers was Fred Fickert, 75, who first discovered the artwork almost 60 years ago, when he was a 16-year-old on horseback gathering cattle on his family's ranch, which later became Bear Valley Springs. Back in 1966, all of Bear Valley and most of Bear Mountain were owned by the Fickert clan. The family first moved to Bear Valley in...
The main issue occupying the minds of our valley these days, aside from bear break-ins, is the issue of a raised tax to fund the police department and the gate. On Thursday, July 14, an overflow crowd turned up for the deciding CSD meeting on whether to put the proposed tax on the ballot for November. A few members of the community rose to send pleas to the Board to do what we can to protect our police protection and to fund our gate. Most of the community has come to the realization that the ca...
Hamed Jones, Tehachapi's new Director of Finance was introduced to the City Council at their February 7 meeting by City Manager Greg Garrett. Jones is taking over the city's financial reins from Hannah Chung who recently retired after over 20 years as the city's Finance Director. For the last four years, Jones has been the Administrative Services Director for the Bear Valley Springs Community Services District. Jones and his family have been Bear Valley residents since 2008. Prior to the Bear...
Toys for Tots had another great year here in Tehachapi collecting just under 900 toys for kids in our community. Last year between our collections at Christmas and our Christmas in July, we collected over 1,200 toys. This year we were at about the same level, collecting over 300 this past July. We've been fortunate to have several incredible businesses supporting this effort. Country Real Estate, Tehachapi Martial Arts Center, the City of Tehachapi, Bank of the West and Tehachapi Treasure Trove...
It's that time of year again as we gear up for Toys for Tots in our community. This truly has been a community effort and the response has always been fantastic! Between our "Christmas in July" and our Toys for Tots in December, we managed to collect over 1,200 toys last year, all of which stayed in our town! We're looking at the same incredible group of businesses supporting our effort. Boxes will be at Country Real Estate, Tehachapi Treasure Trove, Miramar International and Tehachapi Martial...
It's that time of year of year again as we gear up for Toys for Tots in our community. This truly has been a community effort and the response has always been fantastic! Between our "Christmas in July" and our Toys for Tots in December, we managed to collect over 1,200 toys last year, all of which stayed in our town! We're looking at the same incredible group of businesses supporting our effort. Boxes will be at Country Real Estate, Tehachapi Treasure Trove, Miramar International and Tehachapi...
Stallion Springs Police Department hosted the first 2021 Torch Run in Kern County. There was a great turnout of supporters, donors, law enforcement, community members and athletes. The team raised over $650 for local athletes. Representatives from the Special Olympics came to Stallion Springs for the torch run from the Community Center to the iconic SS covered bridge. The SSPD received a lot of support from people gathered with signs along Stallion Springs Drive to the bridge supporting them...
On Oct. 14, Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Kern County) along with law enforcement officials, the Auto Club (AAA), victims and their families joined forces to educate the public of the signing of Assembly Bill 3, and to educate the public of the horrific pain caused by illegal street racing and sideshows. "Illegal street racing and sideshows destroy innocent lives. Far too many families have lost loved-ones. This is 100% preventable," said Assemblyman Fong. "This law gives the courts another tool to...
On September 9, Assembly Bill 3, authored by Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Kern County), cleared the California State Legislature unanimously and is now headed to the Governor's desk for final approval. AB 3 aims to crack down on illegal street racing by allowing courts to issue a driver's license suspension for up to six months for participating in sideshows. "Illegal street racing and sideshows wreak havoc in our communities, draw permanent damage to our roads, and claim innocent lives,"...
This is the ninth article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. Lew was born in the little town of Crosbyton, Texas, on August 3, 1935. He was the oldest of three boys, the youngest brother dying in a tragic accident in 1939. As Lew recalled: "This was during the Great Depression and nobody really had anything. My father took any job that he could-he shoveled coal out of a coal car at a railroad station; he drove a truck; he picked grapes...
It's that time of year for harvesting in the Grimmway fields along Banducci and Pelliser Roads in Cummings Valley. As you leave or come in to Stallion Springs, watch for workers cutting between the cars, entering or exiting their cars that are parked along the road. Bear and California Condor sightings in Stallion Springs Residents have reported multiple sightings of a small black bear in the southwest area of (lower) Stallion Springs. As a reminder, please DO NOT approach or feed the bear and...
Now that we are having our lives change from total quarantine lockdown to little ventures out as some businesses open and some of us even go back to work, we at Have A Heart Humane Society have a few concerns. Our pets have been used to our being home and around for close to three-and-a-half months. Now while this may have irritated your cats (haha), your dogs have LOVED it! They may have a little trouble understanding or adjusting to your new hours away from home. Try to keep giving your pets that little bit of extra attention when you get...
Get out and run! The Tehachapi Recreation and Park district (TVRPD) has transformed several of its cancelled events into bright lights for the community. District Manager Corey Torres said the district has given the eggs it had purchased for the popular Easter Egg Hunt to a volunteer group to give to families for Easter egg hunts at home. The Easter Egg Hunt, which was scheduled for Sat. April 11 at West Park, draws hundreds of children every year in four age categories up to age 10. The event...
Rubien Dee Brandon passed peacefully in his home surrounded by loving family on Sunday, Nov. 17. Rubien was born on the 4th of July in Wetumka, Okla., and was raised in Border, Texas. He was commonly known to his high school friends as "Tex." After college, he served as a military policeman in the United States Army which inspired him to pursue a career in law enforcement with the San Diego and Tehachapi Police Departments. After 25 years in law enforcement, Rubien turned in his badge to pursue...
Public Safety Power Shutoffs: a topic swirling in controversy. There are many opinions about why they are necessary, whether they are necessary, whether they prevent fires, whether the power companies are profiting from these outages, or whether the safety outages are happening as fallout from PG&E filing for bankruptcy. According to many sources, it is indisputable that PG&E and the other electric utilities do bear responsibility for many of the wildfires which have plagued California in...
SB 54 prohibits police, sheriff deputies from cooperating on most ICE actions Law enforcement jurisdictions in the Greater Tehachapi area are upholding the California state law that prohibits them from assisting federal authorities in most illegal immigration enforcement activities. "It's not a big problem. It's no problem at all," Tehachapi Chief of Police Kent Kroeger said to Forde Files. "There is extensive policy regarding immigration violation. If there is a request for information from...
