Sylvia Mendez hopes to inspire, creates group to help court-dependent children

There were innocent moments but enough to tremble the world of Sylvia Mendez.
The local businesswoman had put on an ice-skating benefit last December to raise money for abused and neglected children who were part of the CASA program and Jamison's Children Center. About 300 children, separated from their families during the holiday season, were able to spend time with each other and ice skate for a day.
But the turning moment came when Mendez saw an 8-year-old who spotted her brother in the crowd. She hadn't seen him in four months as they had been placed in different foster homes with no way to contact each other. Overwhelmed, the little girl rushed over to hug her brother tight, unsure when she would see him again.
Then in a follow-up moment, another child tried returning a jacket to Judge John Brownlee after he finished ice-skating. The boy thanked the judge for letting him borrow the coat.
No, it’s yours to keep, donated through the fund-raiser, Brownlee explained.

“Really? I’ve been praying for a jacket,” said the humble boy.

He hadn't had a jacket to call his own. Now he did.
And in a way, Mendez had something to call her own: It was a mission to expand this little ice-skating benefit into something bigger and grander this year, and come Dec. 12 at the Rabobank Arena, it’s Mendez’s hope that she will be able to reach about 2,800 court-dependent children and let them ice skate for a day, learn from mentors who have been through similar experiences, watch a Condors hockey game and mainly, forget about their troubles and appreciate the innocence, love and laughter of being child.

“When you look at it in the larger scheme of things, we only touched 300 kids last year. That’s not enough when there's almost 3,000 kids in the system,” Mendez said. “I had to raise the bar. (Me and my husband) believe in mentoring, in making a difference.

“You have to inspire.”

 
As part of her inspiration, she has formed the new nonprofit group, Children Joining Children for Success, which is organizing the Dec. 12 event, in partnership with the Condors.
She’s even “recruited” her husband, well-known criminal defense attorney H.A. (Beto) Sala (well, his free time, if he has any) and she has enlisted volunteer board members, Dr. Rebecca Rivera, Dr. Dennis Martinez, attorney Silva Lopez, Kern County Deputy District Attorney Wendy Avila and Dee Slade of the African-American Network.
The project has meant rising up at 2 a.m. to start her day:  planning the benefit, running her court-reporting business, and making time for her husband and daughters — but she knows the next three weeks are critical to make the event successful.
There are three things she needs to accomplish right away, she says, and she needs the community's help.
First, she is looking for 28 mentors who found ways to persevere past troubled childhood experiences and serve as role models.

“We want the children to meet successful professionals who went through similar hardships as a child and made it,” her husband said. “We are trying to instill in the children that they need to rely less on the government and more on hard work, creativity and helping others.”

The second item off Mendez’s checklist is tracking down the owners of the Rabobank Arena suites. Mendez said she’d like to ask if some or all of them could donate their space on Dec. 12 so the mentors can meet with the children in 20-minute sessions.
Mendez said her own childhood past — she grew up in a violent home with an alcoholic father who knew the penal system too well — has motivated her to hold this event.

“When I was 10, I used to drive my brothers and sister to the bus stop to get school, which was out in the country in Delano,” Mendez said. “My mother would leave early to go pick grapes at 5 a.m. and we would have to fend for ourselves.

“Our lives were nothing like the privileged life our children have today,” said Mendez, referring to her daughters. “My husband and I have made a pledge that our children will learn to have compassion, tolerance, and be there for children who need help.”

The third item is, of course, finding sponsors and selling tickets to the hockey game. Ticket prices are $10 and $16.
She is currently working with some schools, such as the Downtown Elementary School, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and high school forensic teams, including Bakersfield Christian, Centennial, Bakersfield, East, Ridgeview, Garces Memorial, and South, that are participating in fund-raiser.

“Although the CASA program and Jamison Center stand to benefit, the participating schools and children’s organizations will receive a percentage of the proceeds they raise in ticket sales to help them support their own school programs, where widespread budget cuts in the school system have impacted their ability to operate,” Mendez said.

A junior board of the Children Joining Children for Success consisting of youth from the high school forensic teams, CASA and Jamison Center will be formed. The goal is to get the youth to mentor court-dependent children.

I’m hoping we can create “leadership among our academically successful youth,” Mendez said. “Our children will learn to have compassion, tolerance, and be leaders for children who need help.”

Meanwhile, Sala says he’s never seen his wife so determined and focused on helping children caught in our system.

“You just don't know when you impact a child,” Sala said.

But you do know when a child impacts you.
For Mendez, there’s no turning back.

For more information about the benefit, email Sylvia Mendez at sylviamendez@cjcfs.org or call 661-631-2904. The web site is www.cjcfs.org.

Crossing arms at railroad intersections become reality

It started with a tragic death, a motorist killed after her car collided with an oncoming train at a railroad intersection that had flashers, yes, but no crossing arms to temporarily block drivers. Since 2001, at least 10 people have died at railroad intersections with no crossing arms in parts of Kern County, in cities such as Bakersfield and Shafter.

The crashes prompted State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, and a railroad safety committee to propose the installation of crossing guards at the following locations along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line: Kratzmeyer Road; Merced Avenue; Poplar Avenue; Peterson Road; and Blankenship Avenue. About $1.2 million was spent on this project, mainly from federal funds.

“There’s no excuse in today’s age to not have gates,” Florez said. “This is a big issue for rural communities.”

The last of the five intersections received gates this summer, and on Monday, Florez plans to recognize the groups — Caltrans’ rail division, the county roads department, the California Public Utilities Commission and Burlington Northern Santa Fe — that made the project possible. The event will be held at 2 p.m. at the Merced Avenue and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad crossing.

“It was a team effort between (these groups) that we were able to ensure that the railroad safety improvements at each of these intersections came before another accident and prior to the foggy season,” said Rudy Salas, Florez’s district director.

The group effort was needed because the responsibility varies by agency.
The state Public Utilities Commission, for instance, determines what kind of improvements should be made at railroad crossings. In this case, the commission recommended that crossing arms be installed.
That shifted the responsibility to Caltrans, which sought funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation and searched for a contractor to take on the project. Meanwhile, the county roads department finished road work, such as widening, leading up to the railroad crossing.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s duty is to maintain the gates once installed. Caltrans officials, however, say improvements to railroads are the responsibility of the city or county that has jurisdiction over each roadway.
Regardless, the efforts to address the problem were in hopes of stemming any future accidents.
The deaths drive home just how important the crossing arms are for the community.
David Richard Woodruff, 65, died June 24, 2008, when a train hit his truck as he crossed the railroad intersection on Merced Avenue, near Shafter. Crossing lights were flashing, but there were no railroad guards. California Highway Patrol officials have said it appears Woodruff, a Bakersfield resident and school board member for more than 35 years, was trying to beat the train. His family, however, has said Woodruff was not a risk-taker.
In late November 2006, Rafael Marin Carrillo, 41, was killed when his Chevrolet sedan crashed with an oncoming Amtrak train at a railroad crossing at Kratzmeyer Road, Rudd Avenue and the Santa Fe Railroad tracks, northwest of Bakersfield. The railroad intersection did not have crossing arms, but CHP officials say Carrillo failed to yield to the oncoming train.
At the same Kratzmeyer location, Mary Young Williams, a 79-year-old Buttonwillow resident, died Feb. 17, 2005 when a train hit her 2003 Mercury after her car became stuck on the tracks as she crossed.
In December 2001, a van carrying seven men believed to be farmworkers crashed into an oncoming double-decker train while trying to cross a railroad intersection on Poplar Avenue in Shafter. The driver, Mario Andres Aguilar, did not have a license, but the issue of the crossing not having guards was raised. The crossing did have lights and bells.

“Crossing arms are one additional visual warning device. However, ultimately it is still up the crossing user to pay attention to their surroundings,” said Lena Kent, spokeswoman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

At times, driver distractions, intoxication or unfamiliarity with the area can play a role in train accidents, Caltrans officials said.
Railroad crossing improvements, however, are a priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation, which sets aside $15 million for California annually, said Ken Galt, chief of the railroad crossing safety branch, which is part of Caltrans rail division.

The tragic tale of Highway 46

Two recent crashes on Highway 46 that killed six adults and one infant within days of each other revived attention to the two-lane stretch famously dubbed “Blood Alley” for its horrendous accidents of the past.
Last Wednesday, three 19-year-olds, Steven Dub, Kayla Shepard and Hilary-Kendall Fix, who were from the Bay Area and Southern California, were killed on Highway 46 near Wasco when their Toyota Corolla collided head-on with a truck, according to county Deputy Coroner Annette Pinales. Days earlier, on Oct. 23, Shirlene Ann Soto, 62, and Walter Earl Elliott, 84, both of Los Osos, died when their Prius smashed head-on into a Chevy Cavalier that was passing two trucks in the opposite direction on 46 near Highway 33. In the Cavalier were Avenal residents Jose Alberto Sanchez, 25, and one-year-old Nathaniel Sanchez, who died at the scene while a woman passenger, was taken to Kern Medical Center.
The accidents arrive on the heels of a groundbreaking ceremony planned for Nov. 10, marking the beginning of expanding 46 from two to four lanes. The improvements will likely be done in segments and the first section calls for work to begin on an eighth-mile section.

“It's been a 10-year journey,” said State Sen. Dean Florez, referring to the planned expansion that became one of his first major projects as an assemblyman in the late 90s.

The journey was sparked by a high-profile crash in 1999 on Highway 46 that left a young woman dead and a Bakersfield family badly injured. The crash would set the stage for a public campaign to repair a road.
At the time, the Waski family - parents Michael and Eileen and sons, A.J. and Michael Jr. - were traveling on Highway 46 to the Central Coast to celebrate Independence Day with friends when they were struck by a car driven by 22-year-old Michelle Phillips, also of Bakersfield. She died at the scene, but the Waskis were hit hard. They were hospitalized and some members would later undergo weekly physical, speech and occupational therapy sessions to start over. The family would ultimately sue the state, alleging the road was in dangerous conditions. The state settled for $4 million in 2001.

“The one thing we like is that (Highway 46) is going to be turned into a four-lane highway,” Eileen Waski told The Californian after the settlement in 2001. “This family went through pure devastation, hell, hell … and I hope nobody has to go through that again.”

Soon after the Waski-Phillips crash, Florez and The Californian Editorial Board launched a highly-publicized “Fix 46” campaign, calling for public action to make 46 a state priority and bring needed dollars to repair the road.
Florez said his involvement did raise criticism from other officials who said he was just looking for media attention. But he said the plan was to fulfill his promise to the Waski family to fix the road that has long connected Bakersfield travelers to the Central Coast.

“This was our big campaign,” Florez said. “It caused a lot of ruckus.”

Securing the funding, completing a years-long Caltrans environmental study, and acquiring the additional land is what gobbled up the time before the road work, which is a planned expressway, could begin, Florez said. 

“We've been keeping track,” he said.

Tracking the list of fatal accidents that have occurred along the Kern County section of Highway 46, sparking the debate into how deadly the road really is.
In the past, law enforcement officials have said motorists are causing these crashes, not the road itself. Some travelers are risk taking unsafe passes that can result in injuries or death.

“We've had good years (no deaths) and bad years,” said Lt. Doyle Green, the CHP area commander for the Buttonwillow office. “There's really has nothing to do with the road. Some people are making unsafe passes when they shouldn't.”

As to the danger, Highway 46 is no different than any other two-land road, such as Highway 65, 119 or 166, Doyle said. The bigger issue is that motorists need to have patience and put safety first.

“It's basically people who are in a hurry,” Doyle said. “They are trying to get to the coast or home. They can't wait so they have to pass.”

The speed limit is 55 mph and there's been many times when the CHP has cited drivers for going 70.
Florez, however, says that the road is what makes people impatient, thus the need for four lanes.

“People's impatience is a function of the road, and it's not that people are impatient,” Florez said. “Accidents are going to continue to happen unless it's fixed, and this is the only way to get to the coast unless you go” way around.

The planned four-lane expressway will help, Doyle agrees, because it will allow trucks and other slower-moving vehicles to the right.
Of course, careful drivers can also make a difference.
A CHP tasks force in 2008 that focused on highways 46 and 41 allowed officers to devote additional time to those areas, Doyle said, and it resulted in 1,000 additional tickets being issued from the Buttonwillow office. That task force was made possible through federal grant monies that are not available for 2009.

But “we have funding for Highway 119 this year,” he added.