Serving the community since 1922
Serving the community since 1922
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The Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church held their annual Takedown Tournament recently, drawing 160 competitors, the largest field in the tournament's history. Pastor Pat Coyle, along with a team of volunteers, put on the tournament, the season-opening event for most of the wrestlers. The tournament is affiliated with the Kern County Youth Wrestling Association, helping it draw wrestlers from all over the county and the Central Valley. Wrestlers came from as far as Selma,...
The Minter Field Air Museum will be getting a special visitor on Saturday morning, and they are preparing for the VIP. Santa Claus will be landing at Minter Field in an airplane, giving his reindeer a rest, as they prepare for the long trek on New Year's Eve. Santa will be accompanied by Mrs. Claus and will be handing out stuffed animals to all children attending the event. The stuffed animals are courtesy of Pets Smart on Ming Avenue in Bakersfield. According to Minter Field...
The Shafter Lions Club will be holding their annual Shafter Christmas Parade on Friday December 3 at Mannel Park. The event will begin at 4:30p.m., with a bounce house, food, music, and other activities for the kids. There will also be a Christmas Tree raffle. At 6:30p.m., the Christmas Parade will take center stage, full of floats, cars, trucks, and of course, a visit from Old St. Nick. At 7:30 p.m, the festivities at the park will continue, with the addition of Santa Claus,...
There is an adage that has been around Shafter High throughout its history, “Once a General, Always a General.” This adage is no more evident this past week with the Shafter High Generals football team bringing the school’s first Valley championship since 1955. The city is full of Generals, young and old, rejoicing the victory. From store clerks, students, teachers, business owners, everyone is a proud General. The win has touched the entire city in a very positive way, givin...
In the race for the two open seats on the Shafter City Council, Mayor Cathy Prout has kept her large lead in Nov. 8’s election, gathering 34% of the vote for a total of 1,682 votes, easily outdistancing all of the other candidates But, the race for the remaining seat has tightened since the last update. According to the Kern Elections Office, incumbent Cesar Lopez has closed the gap with Gustavo Olvera, with only 31 votes separating the two. After the previous update, O...
The Shafter High Generals, for the first time since 1955, are Valley Champs in football. The Generals pulled one more victory out in their incredible playoff run by beating Caruthers, 41-35, on Friday night. Freshman quarterback Ezekiel Osborn had another outstanding game, going 22-37 for 372 yards in passing, with three touchdowns. Maryon Sloan, just one of a slew of weapons for Osborn, led the corps of receivers with 199 yards with 10 receptions. This included a 65-yard...
The Shafter Kiwanis Club hosted Coach Mike Ayon of the Shafter Boxing Club and a couple of his boxers at their regular meeting last week. Ayon and his group have put the city of Shafter on the boxing map for over a decade, with numerous regional, state and national champions. On Wednesday, "Fast Eddie" Rodriguez and Jerikah Wilson Argueta were on hand to give the members a boxing demonstration, as well as answer a questions about their sport and their club. Both Eddie and...
The Shafter High Generals, for the first time since 1955, are Valley Champs in football. The Generals pulled one more victory out in their incredible playoff run by beating Caruthers, 41-35, on Friday night. Freshman quarterback Ezekiel Osborn had another outstanding game, going 22-37 for 372 yards in passing, with three touchdowns. Maryon Sloan, just one of a slew of weapons for Osborn, led the corps of receivers with 199 yards with 10 receptions. This included a 65-yard...
The historic Green Hotel in Shafter is open on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for tours, giving residents a peek back into the rich history of Shafter. Built in 1913, the Green Hotel no longer accommodates overnight guests, but it is often open to events approved by the Board of Directors, including lunches, dinners, weddings, reunions and other special occasions. Indoor special occasion dinners or lunches can accommodate up to 18 people, and outdoor events, under the...
First in an occasional series on local farming. Shafter farming has had a rich and varied history, with big booms mixed with years of harsh winters and challenging harvests. Local farmer Geordy Wise, who has his own acreage and manages 22,000 acres for other clients as part of Pacific Ag Management, has seen the best and worst of times in the 25 years he has been involved in farming in the area. Wise said that the evolution of crops has depended on, among other things, water,...
The Shafter High Generals are bound for the Valley Title Division IV game with an overtime win over the Matilda Torres Toros on Friday night, 42-41. The Shafter defense, which had trouble stopping the Toros in the second half, came up big and stopped Torres on a two-point conversion in overtime, giving the Generals the win. The No. 8 seeded Generals upset the top seed, Liberty Madera, last week to get a place in the semifinals. In the first half of Friday's game, Shafter used...
With the challenges owners face in caring for their pets, a local business is doing its part to giving customers a healthy and safe option for their four-legged family members. Bob Vella and Jennifer Carroll operate Penny Pet Products, based at the Minter Field complex. Vella said that the company has been operating for over a year and the business is doing very well, with customers enjoying having a healthy option for their pets locally. Penny Pet produces a wide variety of...
With the newest update from the Kern Elections Office, candidate Gustavo Olvera has widened his lead over incumbent Cesar Lopez in the race for one of two open City Council seats. Mayor Cathy Prout has a wide lead for the first seat. Prout has 33% of the vote, with a total of 1,162 votes. Olvera increased his margin over Lopez by 75 votes, leading Lopez now by 100 votes, 879 to 779, as of the Nov. 15 update. Rafael Zamudio has 18%, with 620 votes. An unknown number of mail-in...
The Shafter High Generals went to Madera on Thursday night and stunned the #1 seeded Liberty-Madera Hawks 14-13 in their CIF Division IV quarterfinal. Liberty had entered the game undefeated at 11-0, with just one game as close as seven points in their season. The first half of the game was two quarters of would haves and should haves, with the Generals having several opportunities to put points on the board, but were always a bit short. Two pass plays were apparent touchdowns...
The Shafter High Generals are bound for the Valley Title Division IV game with an overtime win over the Matilda Torres Toros on Friday night, 42-41. The Shafter defense, which had trouble stopping the Toros in the second half, came up big and stopped Torres on a two-point conversion in overtime, giving the Generals the win. The No. 8 seeded Generals upset the top seed, Liberty Madera, last week to get a place in the semifinals. In the first half of Friday's game, Shafter used...
The Shafter City Council approved two candidates that were interviewed at the last council meeting to be a part of the Shafter Planning Commission. David Puizer and Lovedeep Joshan were approved to serve on the commission, beginning in January. The Planning Commission's duties include reviewing and acting on matters related to planning and development in Shafter. The role of the commission is to work with the City Council to ensure that the common vision for the community is...
David Payne brought his one man show, "Christmas with CS Lewis" to the Shafter Ford Theater on Sunday, giving two performances, a matinee at 2:30p.m. and an evening performance at 6:30p.m. Payne portrayed the acclaimed author who was the creator, among many others, of "The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe", a best selling childrens' book that has become a standard for essential reading. Payne told the tale of an encounter between the author and fellow author JJ Tolkien, who was...
The Community Circle Church held their annual slo-pitch softball tournament on Saturday with over a dozen teams vying for the championship. It was a double-elimination tournament and there was one team that came through for the title. The team was coached by Elijah Villigran and showed great power on offense and a stingy defense. It was a co-ed tournament, with talented players from both genders on the field. There was also good food, including breakfast burritos, hot dogs,...
The Richland Junior High Girls' 8th Grade Volleyball team finished an undefeated season recently as they went 18-0 for the season. Coached by Rosie Villagomez, the team, made up of 12 girls, played several schools from the area, including teams from Wasco, McFarland, and several Delano schools. The squad, according to parent Analisa Garcia, was made up of girls who had played their first volleyball last year when they competed on the 7th grade team. "There are two girls,...
The Shafter Kiwanis Club held their monthly Terrific Kids Luncheon at the Shafter Veterans Hall that recognizes a select few of Richland School District students who have exhibited specific traits for that month. This month, the trait was Respectful. Each student honored was nominated by a teacher or staff member who feels that the student has displayed Respectfulness throughout the month. Those honored are invited to a special lunch, as well as awarded other items to...
Minter Field Air Museum held their annual Wings n Wheels event on Saturday, drawing thousands to the airport, getting a look at an array of aircraft, car, trucks, and military vehicles on the site. President Ronald Pierce said that this year was a success, the second year it has been held since the pandemic forced the group to cancel the major fundraiser of the year for two years. "It was a challenging time but we had great support from the community and we are back bigger...
There were no real changes in the direction of local races when the Kern Elections Office updated the results from the Nov. 8 election on Tuesday. For the two open seats on the Shafter City Council, Mayor Cathy Prout still holds a sizeable lead, accumulating 775 votes, outdistancing her opponents with 35% of the vote. Gustavo Olvera is still leading incumbent Cesar Lopez by 24 votes, 541-517, with 24.5%, compared to Lopez's 23.46 percent. Rafael Zamudio has 16.8%. In other...
At the votes continued to be counted in Tuesday's general election, it appeared that Mayor Cathy Prout is headed to reelection to another term, receiving over 500 votes, easily outdistancing the rest of the field. Newcomer Gustavo Olvera was leading incumbent Cesar Lopez by 30 votes for the second open seat on the council, with more than half the votes to be tabulated on Wednesday night. Olvera is currently serving on the Shafter Planning Commission and is a retired police...
Shafter's Ford Theater will host David Payne's "Christmas with C.S. Lewis" show this Sunday, Nov. 13, performing at 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. Payne has been portraying the acclaimed author for over 20 years. He started playing Lewis after answering a casting call over two decades ago. Over 20 years and over 1,000 performances later, Payne is still wowing audiences with his accurate portrayal. Payne has performed in Shafter twice previously during the Colours Festivals. The first...
A trial date has been set in the sex crimes case against Matthew Maldonado. The trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 9 a.m. Maldonado has been charged with five counts of annoying/molesting a child. Maldonado had a different attorney who appeared in court on his behalf on Thursday morning. Previously, Maldonado was represented by Kyle Humphrey, who has appeared in several high-profile sexual misconduct cases in the Central Valley. On Thursday, his attorney of...
