Bakersfield.com Lois Henry

LOIS HENRY: Planting seed for animal welfare is worthwhile

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:52:16 PDT

A potential solution to our depressing animal overpopulation problem has been staring the Board of Supervisors in the face for months now, and they've done nothing. I'm not talking about a theoretical solution (and no, not mandatory spay/neuter, either).

This is tried and true and not just in far-away places like Calgary, Canada. This technique has worked right here in Kern County and Bakersfield.

Lois Henry: Idiots blowing it on 4th of July

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:54:27 PDT

Last summer I called for a ban on personal fireworks.

Hoo boy! The reaction was swift and furious.

Lois Henry: Smart growth talk is cheap

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:53:38 PDT

As usual, when it comes to sprawl, the Board of Supervisors is talking out of both sides of its mouth.

It happened again last week when supervisors denied one mega, leapfrog project making all the appropriate "smart growthiness" noise about stretching services too far, traffic impacts, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Lois Henry: Air regulations about to grill restaurant owners

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:08:30 PDT

Creep, creep, creep. Here they come again -- the government.

Specifically, this time, it's the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District circling restaurant charbroilers.

Lois Henry: Anything's worth a try to deal with Kern's pet overpopulation

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:56:48 PDT

Bill Bruce (not the Frontier High principal) looks nothing like a rock star.

Far from it. The bureaucrat from Calgary looks a lot like our own homegrown bureaucrats, middle-aged and somewhat, er, rumpled.

Lois Henry: It's all about the politics

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:23:28 PDT

So, Alexander Haig is alive and well, and apparently serving on the Bakersfield City Council in the guise of Zack Scrivner.

Lest there was any question, Scrivner answered it last Wednesday with a Haig-esque "I am in control here," op-ed piece about just who's pulling the strings on negotiations with the police union (fire too, I presume, but he didn't mention them).

Bills aim to curb fees

Tue, 26 May 2009 17:15:08 PDT

I've been bugging Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, ever since I found out that Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, had a bill up to repeal fees charged by the Forest Service for the public to use its own lands.

McCarthy told me Tuesday he's been working with the House Resources Committee on a similar bill to match Baucus' effort.

Lois Henry: This land is your land, for a fee

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:36:46 PDT

Lame ideas have more lives than cats, I swear.

Glancing at the Sequoia National Forest's website, it appears the "ring around the lake" fee proposal is baaaack. Along with new proposed fee sites along the Kern River up to and including Lloyd Meadow.

'Heir apparent' system robs taxpayers of voice

Sat, 16 May 2009 22:00:33 PDT

If all goes as I expect it will -- and I expect it will -- the first female Kern County Superintendent of Schools in the 143-year history of that office will be appointed on June 8 as soon-to-retire Superintendent Larry Reider nods his approval.

Looking at more recent history, Christine Lizardi Frazier will remain in that elected office until she decides to retire, at which time she likely will choose

Lois Henry: Lessons in democracy aren't clean and efficient

Tue, 12 May 2009 16:37:50 PDT

Trying to make democracy more "efficient" is never a good idea.

Besides, there are far worse sins -- such as cutting people out of the process.

Costly conference a learning experience

Sat, 09 May 2009 20:46:57 PDT

A couple of local school districts are spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to send people to conferences in Las Vegas and Hollywood after they just laid off teachers, cut programs and reduced class sizes.

I think that's a good thing.

Fees, regulations and my new summer footwear

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:08:46 PDT

Here are some odds and ends for your entertainment, placed in totally random order so you have to read all the way to the end -- because you never know what gems are hidden here.

Our fees are slipping. Well, here's hoping.

Swine flu: Kill the noise. It's making you sick

Sat, 02 May 2009 17:24:57 PDT

People, people, please. Calm dowwwwn! If you're reading this from anywhere within the borders of Kern County, I can tell you with near certainty that you are far, far, FAR more likely to die from being overweight and out of shape than any kind of flu, swine or otherwise.

So stop crowding into emergency rooms and quit bugging your doctors to get swine flu tests or prescriptions so you can stockpile flu drugs. All you're doing is running down supplies and clogging up an intricate testing system.

Lois Henry: Rally a family reunion for victims of Kern "justice"

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:07:51 PDT

As press conferences go, Tuesday's "Witch Hunt" rally was one of the odder and more interesting ones I've ever covered.

Setting aside the outright bizarreness -- such as the tall, thin man in the crowd with the parrot on his shoulder -- it felt like part press conference, part tent revival and part celebrity stalking.

Lois Henry: Plans only as strong as our backbone

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:52:07 PDT

I tried. OK? Really, I did.

I was all set to write a happy column about Earth Day (which is today, so pick another day to dump your battery acid down that gopher hole) and how government agencies are going ever "greener."