LOIS HENRY: Patriotism in the eye of the beholder - Bakersfield.com

Which is why I envisage this ranking is a fine convenience to re-assess honest what patriotism mode to us and how we are, or aren't, living up to what we believe. There's a anomaly between walking and talking," agreed Christopher Meyers, employer of the Kegley School of Ethics at Cal Society Bakersfield. Some of the criteria Men's Health used was a inconsiderable weird. On the contrary some of it showed we're doing extra talking than walking when it comes to patriotism."

Voter turnout was of the factors that smacked both Meyers and me in the face. We were 46th away of the 100 cities surveyed. That's really our highest ranking among the rest of the factors. However it's the that galls me the most. Voting is a rock backside basic equable of participation. In the Jun 8 election, aloof 33 percent of registered voters bothered to end their X.

That's shameful. Much enhanced so when you dig that augmented Kern residents would hog been eligible to plebiscite had they lifted a immature finger and registered. When you place those eligible-but-unregistered voters in the mix, it goes from shameful to embarrassing. For instance, we had an abysmal 30 percent turnout for the exclusive ballot in May 2009, the most virgin picking the California Secretary of Polity had complete stats on. Looking at eligible voters, though, Kern's turnout was in fact single approximately 20 percent.

What can you speak to that? Civic engagement. We ranked 58th in the Men's Health survey. This is a longtime gripe of mine. Universal folks can and cook produce a alteration all the time. Nevertheless they acquire to influence involved. Hunt for Sing Bender, a longtime activist in the Rosedale area.

She figured absent how to stay informed, easier than ever promptly that most megalopolis and county documents are online, reached outside to neighbours and learned to navigate the system. As an aside, some meetings are all the more streamed breathing on the Internet or cable television. Still so, the County Board of Supervisors cattle call webcasts lone customary 187 hits per meeting.

Ultimately, Bender was the clue target a giant coupled overpass that would corner loomed above nearby homes testament not be built at the congested Hagemen Pathway and Santa Fe Road intersection. Instead, a even quieter underpass will be constructed. I impression a bulky apathy among residents in Bakersfield with regard to fitting involved in local civic activities," Bender said in an email. With regard to issues in resident government, this apathy is yet greater."

On the other hand her existence taught her adult can cause a difference. Her dependence is the Men's Health survey will provocation Bakersfield. Ability isn't free. It isn't effortless," she said. Spending on veterans. This truly hit hard. We were ranked 91st. Ugh.

In fact, the Wounded Heroes Fund and Front Wrinkle Program, for vets and families suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, are life mimicked forthwith in other parts of the state, according to Russ Sempel, who runs the Front Path Program. We've created programs in Kern County that are existence endorsed nationally and that's a by-product of our patriotism," Sempel said. So multifarious organizations for veterans keep popped up in the carry on uncommon years, he said, that they're promptly working on integrating services so they don't overlap.

Kern County has risen to the needs of our families," he said. That congenial of genuine patriotism is a beneficial thing, Meyers said. It's a essential commitment to freedom and homage for other people's rights and the limited and a willingness to act," he said. Anything less is honorable unAmerican. Opinions expressed in this string are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her borderline appears Wednesdays and Sundays.

Police concerned about motorcycle gang presence in Kern Three obloquial outlaw motorcycle gangs retain caught the control of Bakersfield police who intend to end everything they can to clasp any crook exercise in check, officers said Friday.