Serving the community since 1970
Serving the community since 1970
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This week for Couch’s Corner, I would like to spotlight a very special group of young Shafter/Buttonwillow residents and football players at Shafter High School. Every year before Buttonwillow’s harvest festival and parade, the community led by a local farmer, organizes a clean-up event. This year was no different. A large majority of our local volunteers are the Shafter High School football team (Go Generals!). Community clean-up events are a great way to make a dif...
Several times recently we’ve dedicated Couch’s Corner to programs designed to help the homeless and disadvantaged in our community. This week, I thought we’d provide an update on one of those programs, Laborers of the Harvest. In the past few months, LOTH has been awarded three grants and is implementing a first of its kind program that I hope we can replicate throughout the county. The key grant, as far as I’m concerned, is the one that uses state job skills training funds a...
This week our District 4 staff had the pleasure to visit three facilities in Kern County that are trying to address our local homelessness problem. Homelessness is on everyone’s mind these days as the problem seems so intractable but the good news is that work is being done to correct this. The three facilities we visited were the M St. Navigation Center, the Brundage Lane Navigation Center, and the Recycling Lives facility. All of these are relatively new and are part of t...
Next Tuesday, March 8, at 7 p.m., the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Specialist Lorie Meza will be presenting at the Old Courthouse Building in Wasco, 810 8th St. She will be discussing community oriented policing to members of the community. I will be joining her to speak at this event. District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer has been invited as well. Representatives from the Sheriff’s and the District Attorney’s Office will be there to speak. With the recent shoot...
Kern County has many jewels, places and things for which we can be proud. Two of them are the Buena Vista Aquatic Recreation Area (BVARA) and Kern River Parkway Bike Trail. Back in 2013, when I was a new Supervisor, BVARA was in District 4 as was much of the bike trail. It seemed appropriate to try to connect them and to enhance both assets. So I discussed this with the Public Works Department, they started the conversation with the other stakeholders, most notably the Kern...
After a tumultuous year, we as a community will hopefully get to relax and enjoy Christmas with our loved ones. During this Christmas season, I am thankful for the opportunity to reflect and contemplate about the negative and positive aspects of this year. Although communities in Kern County are not holding large gatherings with friends and family members, we are still finding ways to make adjustments to enjoy this annual holiday. Whether it is reading a new book, singing...
Can you believe it has been one year since the opening of the Delano Recovery Station? This past week, Telecare opened the doors to the public to celebrate the one-year anniversary. Since the facility began operating in June 2020, the voluntary sobering program plays an integral role in District Four reducing substance abuse in Kern County’s second-largest city. The five-client, short-stay (4-10 hour) program provides screening, access and linkage to care for individuals w...
Last year, state and local governments nationwide encountered a once-in- a-generation global pandemic. Our community remained resilient, and the Kern County Department of Public Health ensured combating the virus was a top priority with the successful implementation of the state’s vaccination schedule and outreach to our most vulnerable communities susceptible to covid-19. In March of 2020, the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund provided Kern County the ability to invest r...
One of the most rewarding experiences of serving as Fourth District supervisor is working with young adults that share an idealism and belief that no limits can stop what they can accomplish. I was reminded of this when I met with some of the youth leaders at Transitional Youth Mobilizing for Change, a local nonprofit that creates opportunities for young people 16-24 years of age to identify and take on issues of concern in their community. Back in the fall of 2019, these...
I love it when Ag and energy work together in Kern County to show the world how to do things better and this week, it happened again. The two industries worked together in Arvin at Tasteful Selections, a pioneer producer and distributor of the world’s bite-sized potatoes. On March 24, District 4 staff was on hand to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for an innovative microgrid energy technology created by Concentric Power, Inc. that will help Tasteful Selections maintain p...
Spring is around the corner, and with it, spring cleanups. That’s why I’m pleased to announce that this month the Board of Supervisors approved the bylaws and the formation of the Keep Kern Beautiful Committee, of which you can be a part. With the official formation of this committee on Feb. 9, the county becomes an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, the national organization, in its effort to increase awareness of the problem of litter and the need for beautification, but...
One good thing leads to another. While we are anticipating a navigation center for the homeless in Delano to be opening soon, the progress we made in Delano is helping us get programs in other rural communities going as well. Progress in Arvin, Lamont, Taft, McFarland and Wasco are the direct result of what we’ve been able to do in Delano and bodes well for Kern County’s long-term approach to homelessness in the rural areas of Kern County. Already much funding and add...
This week I want to share a program available in north Kern that may be just the thing your family needs to deal with an adult family member experiencing a substance-abuse crisis. If you have an adult family member or know someone who is acutely under the influence of alcohol and/or other substances and willing to accept services on a voluntary basis, the Delano Recovery Station may be just the thing your family, and this adult individual needs. Opened recently at 629 Main...
It’s 2021, and with 2020 in the rear view mirror, let’s all hope these vaccines, our social distancing, and our personal protective measures help eradicate this pandemic in the New Year. As we look back upon some of the heroes from 2020, I can’t help but recognize the work of the California Farmworker Foundation and their executive director, Hernan Hernandez, who has been working most of the year out of the spotlight making sure his farmworkers are protected and that the f...
After a tumultuous year, we as a community will hopefully get to relax and enjoy Christmas with our loved ones. During this Christmas season, I am thankful for the opportunity to reflect and contemplate about the negative and positive aspects of this year. Although communities in Kern County are not holding large gatherings with friends and family members, we are still finding ways to make adjustments to enjoy this annual holiday. Whether it is reading a new book, singing...
District 4, we now have a vaccine that offers us hope that we can finally begin to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, but we still have a stay-at-home order we need to follow, at least for a while, until the vaccine starts to make a difference. At the beginning of this month, Acting State Public Health Director Erica S. Pan announced a Regional Stay-at-Home Order that supersedes the state’s tier based “Blueprint for a Safer Economy.” In an effort to reduce the r...
Recently the City of McFarland opened a new animal shelter with 15-20 kennels. The facility is equipped with several amenities including a medical room, laundry room, and food sorting area. McFarland, like many cities throughout the district, remains resilient in the midst of an economic uncertainty from the pandemic. I am thankful for City Manager Maria Lara and the Community Development Department working tirelessly to obtain the USDA Community Facility Loan/Grant funds for...
As Fourth District supervisor, I work with Kern County Animal Services on efforts to reduce the euthanasia rates in our county. Recently, KCAS announced for the first time on record, that the shelters operated by the department reached no kill status. No-kill shelters prevent the killing of animals based on arbitrary criteria such as color, age or breed. Furthermore no-kill shelters find a placement for 90% of their population. Reaching this important community achievement...
In recent months, Kern County has taken measures to reopen the economy and support small businesses with CARES Act stimulus funds. In May, the Kern County Public Health Department rescinded the local emergency health order to coincide with California’s transition to reopening the economy. That same month, Governor Newsom modified the states’ stay at home order to allow county variance in economic reopening. This step allowed counties to reopen at their own pace provided the...
In light of the ongoing battle against covid-19, Kern County received a surprise visit from the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams. As the nation’s doctor, Vice Admiral Adams oversees the 6,000 member U.S Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and guides public health officials through general advisories and action reports on issues regarding advancing the health of the nation. During his visit, Dr. Adams encouraged our community to follow public health guidelines to m...
One of the great things about being your county supervisor is the chance it gives me to hear your ideas and help implement them, when feasible. Three current examples of this come to mind, which I will share with you here. We can’t always implement these ideas, and I won’t promise you something I can’t deliver, but the door to my office is always open, and your ideas are always important to me, even if sometimes for one reason or the other, we can’t make them happen. One rec...
In the aftermath of the George Floyd killing, folks started saying things like “defund the police.” In the aftermath of the gang-related killing of 11-year-old Makaliah Osomo and 12-year-old Elayna Saidee of Delano July 2, I hope those conversations are put to bed. Improving the police force should always be on the table, certainly no police or sheriff’s department is perfect, but this recent media blitz on how cops are bad is a false narrative that is so much more harmf...
With the summer months starting to get into full swing and triple-digit temperatures heading to the Fourth District, our office is pleased to announce that cooling centers will be open again this summer. Please see the attached information below. Our office will notify you what days and locations these cooling centers will be open. For the health, safety and comfort of our residents, the Kern County Parks Division, in cooperation with the Department of Aging and Adult Services...
Recent events have demonstrated that we are still a divided nation. It does not have to be this way in Kern County. In my years of political experience, I have seen and talked to folks from all over the county. I have heard from them what matters, and I have listened. My findings will not surprise you, nor should my recommendations on what we should do. But sometimes, in the face of fear and hatred, we need to be reminded of who we are. In the end, as I have said here in this...
The united effort between the community and county officials to bend the curve and combat COVID-19 continues to make substantial progress. The Board of Supervisors, public health officials, and key county agencies are working around the clock to ensure the Kern County’s Emergency Operations Center functions at full capacity and that key stakeholders are updated on the county’s emergency preparedness. The EOC is tasked with ensuring local hospitals are preparing for pos...
