Growing old

I grew up in Taft and after 78 years have seen things change from clean, friendly neighborhoods to downright plight. Following World War II, our family lived in Victory Square apartments as dad just came home from overseas. Kids had plenty to do with the trimmed lawns, playground, trees to climb, a small market and we felt safe.

In 1959 we moved into our first home in South Taft. Three bedrooms, nice yard and a garage for the car and nice neighbors.

Later I worked for Kern County Animal Control for 32 years and watched progress come and go. I worked closely with code enforcement and environmental health and stayed on top of enforcement, keeping our neighborhoods livable.

Neighborhoods changed and as the job market went down so did our clean, neat neighborhoods. Victory Square went from a fun place to downright plight.

The apartment units in total disrepair, dumpsters overflowing, junk cars littering the yards. South Taft has fallen into disrepair as well. People living in travel trailers plugged into homes, junk cars in yards and on streets and trash piled in yards and dogs running the streets.

What has happened to code enforcement, animal control and environmental health? Staff shortages, pay, COVID, or all of the above? The county residents recently voted in a 1-cent sales tax to help cover costs, but to what extent? The sheriff is expecting a big piece of the pie as well as fire and road repairs. Will our neighborhoods continue to go downhill as a result of mismanaged funds or a lack of staffing, or to once again make our neighborhoods clean and safe places to live? Only our Board of Supervisors and our own Supervisor Zack Scrivner know the answers to this serious problem. — James McCall, Taft

I’M DONE WITH THE NFL

I’m done. The just-completed Super Bowl was a disgrace. The NFL interposed a so-called “black national anthem” in front of our national anthem at the start of the game, thereby inserting the ugliness of racism into what is supposed to be a fun sporting event. This was overt racism that helps perpetuate this scourge on our society.

Actor Morgan Freeman had it right when he said: “The only way to get rid of racism is to stop talking about it.” The NFL apparently doesn’t want to do that and is happy to promote it to the detriment of our country and our society. The United States of America is the greatest country on earth and is not a racist country. We have fixed that.

The NFL and the people who planned this event were disrespectful both to the national anthem and to our country. Our “One Nation Under God” has only one national anthem. It has unified us for almost 250 years. That’s all we need. So, I am done with the NFL. I will henceforth not watch their games or buy their merchandise or have anything to do with their sponsors. Good riddance. — Wilbur W. Wells, Tehachapi

GIZMOS IN THE AIR

Using the principle of Occam’s Razor, that the simplest explanation is the most accurate, the reason the Air Force shot down four unidentified aerial phenomena, or UFOs in the old parlance, in the past eight days is that 1) we have not been looking into any type of incursion into North American air space; and 2) the sky is vast and there is a lot of flotsam and jetsam in the jet stream, like giant birthday party mylar balloons and corporate swag.

There are all kinds of gizmos up in the air — just look up. A word of caution to our military pilots, both Royal Canadian and U.S. Air Force. If you see a properly dressed British lady using an umbrella to steer herself on the jet stream east, please hold your fire. She is in a hurry to New York City to star in the Broadway revival of “Mary Poppins!” — Jeffrey Weese, Bakersfield

PERPETRATORS DETERMINE OUTCOME OF POLICE ENCOUNTERS

After reading and trying to digest your thoughts (“Our View: ‘Killing County’ documentary should ignite reform push,” Feb. 12), I am unable to stand by and further listen to alleged truths. My background and history make me unable to stand down on this issue! I retired from the Beverly Hills Police Department after serving 37.5 years and know how police work is done.

The person stopped or suspected determines the outcome! This means resisting detention or investigation, furtive moves during the arrest, cause the outcome. All of you people, the people that constantly believe the police shoot people for pleasure, should be subject to a police training program “shoot don’t shoot!”

It is a program where laser guns are used by the student/trainee, a video plays with different scenarios, and some are shot, some are not.

Many errors are made by the person with the gun! Police encounters with potential life-threatening incidents are in microseconds, many times in low-light conditions.

Police officers prefer to go home when their shift is over and not to the coroner’s office. The perpetrator determines the outcome of every encounter with the police officer. Frequently, the people reeling against police conduct allege racial profiling and police administrators deny it, which is not true.

Police do profile, not by race but by perpetrator description, information not just suspects and perpetrators but witnesses and victims just like YOU profile someone who is about to take your teenage daughter to the movies or you’re going to hire for a job. Investigate the shoot no shoot training, see if you kill an innocent person! — Tom Edmonds, Bakersfield