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Putting Money in the Bucket

Putting Money in This Bucket Can

          “CHANGE” a Life!

The holidays are upon us and it is time for the annual Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign. The local Red Kettle campaign provides comprehensive emergency assistance such as food, emergency shelter, transportation, utility assistance, medications, clothing, school supplies, and more directly to families from Taft and other West Side communities. The Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign provides 100% the funds needed to maintain these vital services. All funds raised remain in and are used in our local communities!

DONATE NOW!!! To your local Taft Salvation Army Unit or sign up to ring bells at a Red Kettle

 location in Taft

To sign up to ring bells at Albertson’s or Kmart email or call

Sheri Black    sblack@taftcollege.edu   OR

Lisa Brettschneider lbrettschneider@taftcollege.edu

Checks or donations can be mailed to or dropped off at:

Taft Salvation Army Unit

915 N. 10^th St.  #20

Taft, CA  93268

Working together we can touch lives and make a difference in our local communities. Make this a great Christmas season, for yourself and others, by giving to those in need.

“Help people, not with words or by sitting still, you

must go out and do something!”

                                       William Booth, Founder of Salvation Army

Care from the Bears

By Alberto Muro

The annual Teddy Bear Toss returned to the Rabobank arena on November 28 as the Bakersfield Condors faced off against the Stockton Heat. An estimated crowd of 8,000 in attendance were prepared to partake in the charitable event.

Originating during the 1999-00 season, the teddy bear toss became part of Bakersfield tradition, and every year thousands in attendance bring stuffed animals to throw onto the ice. The objective behind the teddy bear toss is simple: as soon as the Condors score their first goal, thousands of stuffed animals take to the air in the name of charity.

All proceeds collected from the ice go to United Way of Kern County. So every bear that was thrown onto the ice will become a delightful addition to a less fortunate person’s life. Not to mention, players of the Bakersfield Condors cleared their bench to help with the collection of the stuffed animals.

Considered as a notable charitable organization, the Bakersfield Condors Association proves yet again that they have the community in mind as they host nights like the Teddy Bear Toss.

Despite suffering a 2-3 loss against Stockton, the annual Teddy Bear Toss had the perfect turn out. Thousands of stuffed animals arrived to their icy destination, but their real journey begins when they become a part of someone else’s life.

“Four for you, Glenn Coco!” (Mean Girls 2004)

By Ashley Renteria

This winter Taft College’s National Society of Leadership and Success is selling Christmas gram treats for students and faculty!

Starting December 1st through the 8th, students or faculty can purchase nice or naughty Christmas grams in the cafeteria or in front of the administration building from 10 AM to 1 PM.

Naughty grams will be a “coal” treat while the nice grams will be a festive treat.

The Christmas grams will be sold $2 for 1 gram and $3 for 2 grams.

Christmas grams will be delivered to classrooms on December 9th and 10th by Santa Claus and friends.

Get in the holiday spirit by sending your friends and teachers a nice or naughty Christmas gram!

Peanuts Review

By Jonathan Celiz

Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts has been a cultural staple for years, ranging from their famous tv specials to musicals and now finally a feature film. Expectations are high if the people at Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox can provide a movie that’s a worthy addition to the Peanuts legacy.

Blue Sky Studios has been known as being the distant third-tier when it comes to feature animations while they’ve had success with the Ice Age franchise, their films have never reached the height compared to the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks. Whether they could faithfully adapt Peanuts had led to some understandable concern among fans fearing it would stoop to the trends of celebrity voice acting and questionable pop culture references in order to appeal to a younger audience.

Fortunately, neither is the case as the movie itself is just as charming and timeless as Peanuts ever was. Even with the incorporation of cg, it’s easy to tell how much effort went into translating Schulz’s style into 3D with none of the awkward hyper-realism that plagued other computer-generated interpretations of classic cartoon characters. Even the smallest details such as never seeing the bottom of Snoopy’s plane during the highly-elaborate Red Baron scenes.

The story itself keeps it’s charming and simple as it’s more of a collection of vignettes rather than a single cohesive story, the only thing tying them together is Charlie Brown’s attempts at impressing the “Little Red-Haired Girl” and the Red Baron sub-plot that pops up occasionally throughout the movie and are a treat to watch in digital 3D.

With only a few gripes at the pacing, this movie is by far Blue Sky’s most consistently great effort that is thoroughly entertaining for all ages and hopefully sets a precedence for their future films and makes for a worthy box office contender that stands out to the other 2 big animation giants this holiday season.

Bookstore Open House

Third Annual Door Decorating Contest

Flying High Again

By Alberto Muro

The season of winter sports returns to the state of California, and just in time as popular resorts have received reports of heavy snow during the beginning weeks of November. In Southern California, a popular resort known as Mountain High opened its doors to the public on November 13.

Employees at Mountain High were at the entrance greeting people with a smile. Although booths were open for season passes, tickets, and lift tickets, they remained empty since a majority of people arriving came prepared, and without hesitation lines to the lift filled up.

Since it was opening day at Mountain High, a DJ was spinning music which in a sense gave people their own soundtrack to race down the mountain. Despite being considered a safety hazard, some riders already came with their own headphones.

Taft College student Jose Salamanca looked forward to the snowy conditions at Mountain High and kept up to date with the weather reports. Jose says he has been snowboarding for 3 years, and this will be his fifteenth trip to Mountain High. Prior to the opening day, Jose said he could not wait to test out his new board, “I have just ordered my board last month, and have been anticipating to test out the durability of it.”

When asked about the fundamentals of snowboarding, Jose mentioned his previous experience with boards, “Snowboarding to me shares its similarities with skateboarding which helped me greatly adapt to the environment; I mean even the falls share the same pain aspect.” It was surprising to see the toll that falling in snow had, and Jose did not let a botched landing ruin his day by the look of his bloody smile he was ready for more.

Snowboarders were not the only people scaling down Mountain High. Fans of skiing also took to the slopes and maneuvered carefully down the mountain, and just like the snowboarders, they too had smiles on their faces. The Mountain High experience is inexpensive and is a great environment for people to learn about winter sports.

Panda Express Opens New Location in East Bakersfield

By Hector Gutierrez

Panda Express opens its eighth location in Bakersfield on the southeast corner of Brundage Lane and Oswell Street.

The Panda Restaurant Group hired CRM Architects and Planners to frame and establish the new location which covers exactly 19,359 square feet of land next to Taco Bell, according to a CRM foreman.

The restaurant itself however will cover 2,280 square feet leaving the remaining area for 29 on-site parking spaces.  This location will also include a drive-thru to compete with the two fast food restaurants next to it. On the other hand, this location will feature a 70 foot sign visible to Highway 58 which is something the other two restaurants lack.

This was a big issue for the city because 35 feet is the limit for that particular zone in Bakersfield. Luckily, the city granted its proposal as long as CRM constructs proper roadway along Oswell Street.

Panda Express has begun advertising for employees the first week of November and is expected to open its doors December 16^th of this year.

The area is expanding after Wal-Mart opened one of its neighborhood markets just behind where the new Panda Express will be located.  Considering Jack-in-the-Box and Taco Bell, Panda Express will be the third restaurant within a one mile radius of this highly populated area.

Neighborhoods to the south of Brundage Lane are expanding as well which will only create a higher demand for more businesses to accommodate to.

Penn State Wrestling Comes to Bakersfield

CSUB wrestler looks to set up a take down.

By Michael Clites

Penn State traveled across the country for a meet with Cal State.  The overmatched Roadrunners fought hard throughout the duel, but the Nittany Lions proved why they are the number one team in the country. With All-American coach Cael Sanders in their corner, the Penn State Nittany Lions truly dominated every match they wrestled in.

The first two matches were won by Penn State in a majority decision. Following those was the pinning of Bakersfield native, CIF State Champion, Coleman Hammond. This was Hammond’s first time being pinned this season as he went against the number four ranked wrestler in the country, Zain Retherford.

As more matches went completed, and more points were racked up by the Penn State team. As the night was beginning to be wrapped up, the Roadrunners only had a few more matches to try and get just one point on the score sheet. But this would prove to be difficult as one of the final matches was against number one ranked Morgan McIntosh at 197 lbs. McIntosh has never once been taken down in his NCAA career and looked to remain perfect against CSUB’s Reuben Franklin. Doing so, the match was won by McIntosh in decision with a final score of 12-3.

The score was 35-0, with Penn State leading by the time it was the heavyweight’s turn to take the mat. CSUB’s Matt Williams faced Penn States Jan Johnson in this heavy bout, knowing his team desperately needed some points to avoid being shutout in their own house. This wouldn’t be an easy task, but in the end, Williams got it done. Matt Williams scored points with riding time and escaping his opponent. The final score for the bout would be 4-0, Williams.

Although avoiding a shutout, the CSUB wrestling team was simply out wrestled the whole night, only getting one takedown against the entire Nittany Lions team. A learning experience indeed for Cal State’s wrestler.

Crafty Pork

by Alberto Muro

It was in late October that the World Health Organization announced that processed meats such as bacon caused cancer. That announcement had little effect among those that admire bacon, and Bakersfield’s annual Bacon and Craft Beer Festival was that place to be for bacon lovers.

Hosted by Bakersfield’s own Lengthwise Brewing Company, the Bacon and Craft Beer festival was held at Stramler Park. Patrons tasted food from 20 different restaurants in Bakersfield and sampled drinks from 30 breweries throughout California.

Patrons also had access to life size games such as Jenga, Connect Four, sack tosses, and beer pong. There was a sand volleyball court set up, and it did not remain empty as teams were divided between men and women. There was strong competition.

To everyone’s surprise, the beer pong players were able to keep things in order as the activities commenced and not one single glass was broken. Music tunes from an early 2000s playlist echoed throughout the venue, and it kept everyone in a nostalgic peaceful mindset.

A message of responsibility.

The restaurants that served the patrons handed out their pork themed dishes, Don Perico’s handed out their bacon wrapped shrimp, Eureka! dished out their bacon sliders, and Lucille’s BBQ made their pulled pork sandwiches.

An out of the ordinary yet surprisingly delicious treat came in the form of ice cream. Local Bakersfield ice cream business La Rosa gave patrons a chance to try their bacon flavored ice cream.

The main attraction did not just focus on craft drinks and pork products. After waiting in an enormous line of pork enthusiasts, Lengthwise Brewery finally unleashed the roasted pig on attendees. Slathered in juices and giving off quite the aroma, the pig gained quite the media frenzy as people snapped photos.

One notable feature about Bakersfield’s Lengthwise Brewery hosting the event is that the proceeds will be going to charity. Similar to VillageFest in September, Lengthwise and other breweries made it possible for people to enjoy themselves in the name of charity.