Some of the biggest news of the year in southeastern Kern County originated in a desert oasis called California City - an incorporated area of 208 square miles that is the state's third largest city in terms of land mass.
Just this week, Cal City manager Steve West announced he was resigning to take a top administrator post in the city of Hesperia.
West, California City's longestserving manager, will leave behind a nearly bankrupt municipality.
Following the loss of a special tax, Cal City's payroll was slashed, along with some services.
Some positive things, though, did happen in 1997.
A grocery store and fast food restaurant are supposed to be built in conjunction with a drug store.
Officials of the Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America also are eager to break ground for a $100 million, 2,000-inmate prison that would bring jobs for about 400 local residents.
In June, an Oxnard attorney and a Studio City businessman said they have the money needed to gather signatures for a ballot initiative that would legalize Las Vegas-style gambling in the city.
Blackjack, roulette, craps, slots and other forms of gambling would be legalized under a constitutional ballot initiative sought by attorney John Brown and businessman Robert Wilson.
If approved by voters in November 1998, the initiative would change the California constitution to allow such gambling only in California City and on one American Indian reservation.
Missing family,
prison closure
Also last week, authorities said they were expanding the investigation into the case of a mother and her two children who were found wandering in desolate patches of Edwards after suffering car trouble Dec. 11.
The investigation stems from the widely publicized story of a 13year-old girl who walked 20 miles in 24 hours across a dry lake bed before she was discovered by Air Force personnel at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center area on the base.
The girl told Air Force police that her baby brother and mother were still lost somewhere in the desert, which prompted authorities to unleash a massive search that included 80 people from three agencies, several dogs and five helicopters.
The mother, Jennifer Carpenter, was found at 9 a.m. Dec. 13, about 13 hours into the search, but she did not have her baby son with her.
A separate search party discovered the boy, barefoot and nearly frozen to death, a few minutes later about a mile from where the mother was found.
The mother told authorities her car ran out of gas near 200th Street East and Avenue B. She said she and her children abandoned the car to search for help.
Authorities were investigating both the mother and father, an Air Force staff sergeant at the base. The children were placed in protective custody.
In mid-October, officials at Boron Federal Prison (BFP), one of only two federal minimum-security prisons in California, said that facility will close within two years.
According to a prison official, the Boron prison is too expensive to maintain, so more than 500 inmates will be relocated, possibly to a new Victorville location.
Employees at BFP, who number about 100, will have the option of transferring to any other prison in the federal system.
"It will certainly impact our town," said Wilma Wilkins, a member of the Boron Chamber of Commerce.
The town had been on the road to recovery in recent years, since a general and mostly steady decline beginning in the 1970s, when there were 14 restaurants and cafes in town. Recently there were no restaurants; today there are two.
Other major news
Also of note in southeastern Kern County this year:
On Jan. 31, convicted murderer Lyle Menendez, who is serving a life term without the possibility of parole at a state prison in Tehachapi, married his pen pal girlfriend in a telephone ceremony. Lyle and his brother, Erik, were convicted for the first-degree murders of their entertainment executive father, Jose, and their mother, Kitty.
On April 18, Cal City firefighters battled flames and thick smoke for more than three hours before containing the biggest fire in the city's history at the Silver Saddle Ranch and Club. A problem with propane servicing was blamed.
On May 26, Rosamond resident Lester Graves, 66, was shot in the neck by authorities after he attempted to use a bulldozer to run over a California Highway Patrol officer. The officer had been chasing Graves after he fled during a routine traffic stop.
In mid-June, Kern County health officials announced that a 71-year-old Tehachapi-area woman had bubonic plague. Before she became ill, the woman routinely walked in the woods near her Golden Hills home.
On June 30, Rosamond-based environmental activist Norma J. "Stormy" Williams died. She was 63. Williams was the founder of California Communities Against Toxics and Desert Citizens Against Pollution and South Kern Residents Against Pollution.
On Sept. 4, a massive rainstorm caused Cache Creek in Mojave to overflow, sending tons of mud into the parking lots of dozens of businesses.
On Sept. 8, the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved the proposal by The Golden Queen Mining Co. to revive mining operations on Soledad Mountain, the site of gold mining since the 1800s. The mine operation is expected to create about 230 jobs for the Mojave area.
On Sept. 13, Vernon P. Saxon Jr., former vice commander of the Flight Test Center at Edwards, was honored during groundbreaking ceremonies for a new aerospace museum in Boron named in his honor.
In October, the newly created nine-member Construction Advisory Committee met for the first time to discuss the future of schooling in Mojave and California City. The committee will make recommendations to the Mojave Unified School District Board on whether to add campuses and modernize existing buildings and how to pay for it.
On Oct. 8, Mojave youth camp owner Alexander Longrifle pleaded no contest to two infractions for running an unlicensed nonprofit facility for delinquent and runaway kids. The plea came after months of vigorous investigation by authorities, who were determined to link Longrifle to child endangerment and other felony charges.
On Oct. 10, two F-15 fighters streaming smoke, a group of thirdgrade students and a blast from an explosion at the Borax mine all helped kick off the opening of the U.S. Borax Visitor Center. The center's inauguration also marked the company's 125th year in business.
On Oct. 23, a T-38 training jet crashed at Edwards, killing two crewmen, after an in-flight collision with an F-16 jet fighter. The wreckage debris spread over a three-quarter-mile area.
