Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Lake Isabella, CA

LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — Debra Chase owns the French Gulch marina in Lake Isabella.

"We have a full-service store-general store that has boating supplies, beverages, bate and tackle, snacks and we also provide private moorings for private vessels," Chase, said.

They also let water enthusiasts rent space to put their boat and provide equipment for kayaking, paddle boarding and other things.

She said last year with the drought business was difficult.

"Unfortunately, last year with the water being so low was one of my historically worse seasons," Chase said.

This year the hope is things will be different.

"We're so excited about the massive amounts of water we have this year, because not only do we get people from LA, Orange County, Bakersfield obviously, but we get so many European visitors," Chase said.

According to the California Department of Water Resources, last year the water level at Isabella Lake was 36,000-acre feet at its lowest. That's less than 10% of the capacity. Currently, the water level is 326,000-acre feet, about 57% capacity.

1st district Kern County Supervisor Phillip Peters, said excitement is in the air.

"People are extremely excited about the lake and what that's going to mean, and this area attracts tourists from all over the world and once they get here they get to see Kern County a little bit more, but this is the big draw and people are really excited for what this is going to mean," Supervisor Peters said.

"This is going to be a whole new Lake Isabella and it's going to provide a lot of opportunities for recreation, for fishing for rafting throughout the year and it's going to really impact tourism to this area," Supervisor Peters said.

Chase said the entire community will benefit from this.

"It's going to benefit not only me but the rafting companies that have been suffering and the campgrounds, the restaurants," Chase said.

Chase said there's been a lot of misconception out there that the lake is closed because of all the debris coming down from the recent floods, but everybody has done a great job cleaning it up.

She said the lake is beautiful and they anticipate a huge season.

Good morning Supervisor Peters,

I am contacting you on behalf of the residents of Lake Isabella and the Kern River Valley (KRV).

We would like to thank you for hearing us and addressing our concerns regarding the proposed implementation of Senate Bill (SB) 1383.

At the May 23 board meeting, it was stated that the board members were willing to take and consider all ideas and proposals for new plans on how to move forward with compliance regarding the KRV, specifically Lake Isabella. We have been working on gathering information, consulting and interviewing other jurisdictions in order to gather data for a couple of plans.

It was previously stated to us by Public Works that in redrawing our boundaries for Economy of Scale and including previously waived Kernville and Wofford Heights, they were looking out for the residents of Lake Isabella, trying to ensure that the property owners did not shoulder the new waste fee burden alone. Looking out for the town of Lake Isabella is commendable. We would like to request that the Economy of Scale idea is revisited.

Much like you were going to redraw boundaries to combine these Census Designated Places (CDPs), you are able to use the same maneuver to remove the CDP of Lake Isabella from the Universal Trash Collection area. We request that this be done.

We also request that Lake Isabella's census tract, No. 52.05, be combined with the adjacent tract, No. 52.07, to the northeast. This would put Lake Isabella in a low population density area and be eligible for a waiver. The new census tract would have a population of 5,904. It would have a square mile area of 421.70. The population density would be 14.00, well below the criteria set forth by SB 1383. It also does not come close to the threshold of an 8,000-person population of a given census tract. Tract 52.05 could also be combined with 52.06 to the south or 52.03 to the east, with a similar result.

Your team and Public Works are already aware that this is not only possible, but acceptable. The only economic impact on the county would be the hourly pay of the employee doing the paperwork.

A state-imposed economic hardship on a low-income community is an excellent reason to take Lake Isabella and the KRV out of this SB 1383 equation. An Economy of Scale [would] favor the residents rather than the waste hauler.

Mr. Peters, you are our representative, so you are aware of the demographic of this valley. I will share the demographics with those who might not be aware.

All data is from the U.S. Census Bureau and can be verified independently.

These people simply do not have another $500 per year. Hundreds of boxes of free food are given out to them each month. The ones lucky enough to own their small city lot or mobile home will lose it, putting them on the street and on the county's welfare rolls, thus costing the county much, much more than it will take in.

As you also know, the lesser fortunate generate very little waste. They already live exactly like the state of California would like them to live. We see no need to punish them for that.

Chuck Magee stated in an interview that the currently proposed SB 1383 implementation plan for Kern County was outlined as it was because it was the cheapest and easiest way to do it. Let's put aside what a terrible statement that is, albeit honest, and focus on the fact that we have an easier and cheaper implementation plan for unincorporated Kern County and, specifically, Lake Isabella. Take Isabella out of the Universal Trash Collection area as you agreed to do for the rest of the KRV.

This plan will work, and it's not costly. Public Works has already done the legwork on Economy of Scale. You can also expedite this quickly.

Soon, we here in the KRV would like to see a headline that reads, "Kern County Board of Supervisors rushes to save its residents from losing their homes." What we do not want to see in a national headline is "Kern County unnecessarily taxes thousands of residents out of their homes."

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter,

Tammie R. Barbee, the residents of Lake Isabella and residents of the Kern River Valley

Play/Pause

Mute/Unmute

Embed video

Playback Speed

Video Quality

Embed video

Copy the code below to embed the video.

<div _="@=1410,dis=none"><div _="@=1411,dis=none"></div></div> Copy

Playback Speed

2

1.75

1.50

1.25

Normal

0.50

Video Quality

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Picture in Picture Cast Fullscreen

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Cast Fullscreen

LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (KERO) — On Tuesday, House Speaker and California Congressman Kevin McCarthy joined the US Army Corps of Engineers and Kern County community leaders at a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the official completion of Phase 2 of the Isabella Dam Safety Modification Project.

Phase 2, the core of the project, is where all the main repairs were made to reduce flood risk for downstream communities like Bakersfield, which as we know has been on many people's minds given the recent storms. Community members say they now feel safer and are happy to have their lake back.

McCarthy spoke at the ceremony, saying that the timing of this completion has been key, as flood safety and water storage have been concerns across California after the rain.

"It is important for everyone down below in Bakersfield that you are safe now, and we can store more water which we need in California, and this is the year we are getting the snowpack, so we are not wasting it," said McCarthy, adding, "Recreation. Come up to Lake Isabella and Kernville and you can have a beautiful time."

And that recreation is a big part of these mountain communities' culture.

"I moved here because of the lake, because I row and wind surf," said Lake Isabella resident and community liaison Eva Hollmann. "The lake is my life."

Hollmann says shortly after she moved here, the dam was placed at the top of a national list of dams in critical need of attention.

"We have to drain it, we have to build another dam, all kinds of terrible stories going on, and I decided because my whole soul was involved with the lake that I needed to get involved," said Hollmann

Hollmann says she began attending public meetings more than 10 years ago and became a voice for the community-led Lake Isabella Dam Task Force, communicating between resident concerns and project managers. Though she says it wasn't easy, it was worth it, because now they are able to hold all the water from the recent storms.

"We get our lake back. We get our recreational areas back," said Hollmann. "Oh yeah, this is huge."

Chariman of Sukut Construction Michael Crawford, who spoke at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting, discussed the major effort required to make this repair project happen.

"We worked over 2.6 million man-hours," said Crawford.

All that work allowed for the main projects, like raising the auxiliary dam by 16 feet, constructing a new emergency spillway with a labyrinth weir, and adding filters and drains to address the earthquake, seepage, and water overtopping concerns.

The main concern now is that the snow is melting. Lead engineer for the Dam Safety Project Michael Ruthford says the team is looking into that.

"Our grosspool is about 568,000 acre feet. We are going to get very close to that and maybe just a little bit over," said Ruthford.

If the water does go over the dam, Ruthford says it will not be enough to get over the labyrinth weir, only the service spillways, which was made specifically to deal with snowpack melt like the corps is expecting, easing those concerns of water going over the labyrinth weir.

The project will now move on to Phase 3, which consists of constructing a new operations building for the US Army Corps of Engineers who will be permanently working at the dam, as well as a visitor center in Lake Isabella, which will be administered by the US Forest Service.

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

To help residents and businesses learn about their local water supply, California Water Service (Cal Water) encourages customers to visit and view their annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). Customers can now find their 2022 CCRs, also known as water quality reports, plus obtain prior years’ reports online at calwater.com/ccr.

The reports provide detailed information on the previous year's water supply, sustainability, testing, standards and more. Customers who do not have internet access may request a copy by contacting their local Cal Water office.

“Protecting our customers’ health and safety is our highest priority, and the Consumer Confidence Reports are our way of being transparent about the quality of the water that our customers are drinking, cooking with and using every day,” said Jon Yasin, local manager. He noted that Cal Water met all primary and secondary standards. “Cal Water customers can rest assured knowing that we treat and test for hundreds of constituents and that our water either met or surpassed all standards set by the state and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year.”

About Cal Water

California Water Service provides high-quality, reliable water and wastewater services to about 2 million people statewide through 494,500 service connections. The company has been named one of “America’s Most Responsible Companies” and “America’s Most Trustworthy Companies” by Newsweek and a Great Place to Work. More information is available at calwater.com and calwatergroup.com.

Play/Pause

Mute/Unmute

Embed video

Playback Speed

Video Quality

Embed video

Copy the code below to embed the video.

<div _="@=1409,dis=none"><div _="@=1410,dis=none"></div></div> Copy

Playback Speed

2

1.75

1.50

1.25

Normal

0.50

Video Quality

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Picture in Picture Cast Fullscreen

Play/Pause >>

Mute/Unmute

0:00 / 0:00

Settings Closed Captions Cast Fullscreen

LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (KERO) — After a fire destroyed a trailer in a Kern County mobile home park, the neighbors there say the person they believe is responsible keeps coming back and threatening to start more fires.

The trouble is quite literally keeping the people who live at the Sunset Trailer Park in Lake Isabella awake at night. They've organized themselves into 24-hour watch shifts, patrolling the property around the clock with baseball bats.

"We're not sleeping. We're staying awake and taking turns patrolling out here to make sure that he's not coming back," said Sunset resident Kimberley Jones.

Jones says that on July 8, 2023, Kern County firefighters responded to a blaze that ultimately destroyed one of the trailers in the park.

"I was really freaked out from it, because, like I said, I have PTSD from the French Fire because I lost my home in it," said Jones.

Sunset resident Raymond Smithson remembers the chaos of the fire.

"Some people are freaking out, screaming and hollering, and we hear explosions over there like propane tanks are going off, the flames are starting to climb higher up the tree," described Smithson.

"A lot of people were very upset because we know it was done intentionally," added Jones.

Sunset Park residents say the alleged arsonist is the boyfriend of a former resident and they have identified him from security footage.

Multiple residents say that since the July 8 fire, the alleged arsonist has repeatedly returned to the trailer park, making threats to set more of the mobile homes on fire.

"I'm afraid he's going to come in here, and he's said it to multiple people, that he's going to come in and finish the job and burn everybody out," said Jones.

The owner of the property confirmed that the man residents have identified as the arsonist has shown up to the property repeatedly.

The park houses about 10 residents, including Patrick Jones, and they say wish law enforcement could do more about it.

"Right now, there is so much turmoil that you can't even think," said Jones. "We're devoid of sleep. We stay up all night watching for this guy."

Smithson says he realizes law enforcement is understaffed, but he thinks someone repeatedly coming and threatening to burn down multiple people's homes over someone who doesn't live there anymore should be considered important enough to respond to.

"I understand in some cases they don't have enough manpower and they don't have enough money, but still. Something that is obviously threatening and dangerous to multiple people's lives," said Smithson. "Everything we got is in here."

Stay connected to 23ABC News on the air and online as we continue to follow this story.

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.