The Mountain Enterprise

Last updated
The Mountain Enterprise
Type Weekly newspaper
Owner(s)Hometown Publishing, LLC
Founded1966;58 years ago (1966)
LanguageEnglish
City Frazier Park, California
CountryUnited States
Website mountainenterprise.com

The Mountain Enterprise is a weekly newspaper published since 1966, circulating in the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass east and west of the Grapevine section of the Interstate 5 in the San Emigdio Mountains region of California, midway between Los Angeles and Bakersfield. Its sister publication is The New Mountain Pioneer, published monthly.

Contents

Coverage area

The newspaper's 600-square-mile coverage area spans northern Los Angeles County, eastern Ventura County, and southwestern Kern County, including the developments of the 270,000 acre Tejon Ranch property, the Western Antelope Valley, Gorman, Lebec, Frazier Park, Lake of the Woods, Lockwood Valley, Cuddy Valley and the Pine Mountain Club community.

Ownership

The first edition of The Mountain Enterprise was issued on September 22, 1966, by Nedra Hawley Cooper as a mimeographed, hand-stapled and hand-drawn publication; its first editions were produced on a blue Royal typewriter now housed at the Ridge Route Communities Museum & Historical Society. [1] [2] Fred Kiesner was editor from 1973 to 1976. [3]

Keith Nelson, superintendent of Ridgelite Products, and Kitty Jo Nelson, a teacher, purchased the business from Neil Keyzers in 1985. The Nelsons sold it to Bob Weisburg and Morrie Prizer in 1995. [4]

In late 2004 the management of Hometown Publishing, LLC and its publications The Mountain Enterprise and The New Mountain Pioneer plus the Mountain Communities Phone Book was assumed by Gary Meyer (publisher) and Patric Hedlund (editor). In November 2006 ownership of Hometown was taken over by Meyer, Hedlund and Pam Sturdevant, with general management continuing under Meyer and Hedlund. In 2014 ownership passed to Meyer and Hedlund. It is today published in a tabloid format of between 28 and 36 pages weekly.[ citation needed ]

In 2024, the newspaper came under new ownership. [5]

Awards

2017

The National Newspaper Association (NNA) announced The Mountain Enterprise was awarded First Place for Best Breaking News Series for "SWAT Standoff Alarms Mountain," by Patric Hedlund.

2015

The Mountain Enterprise was awarded First Place by the National Newspaper Association for Best Feature Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.

2014

First Place for Best Editorial Comment was awarded for Patric Hedlund's " Brought to you compliments of AB109: Convicted burglar returns to the mountain."

2013

The Mountain Enterprise was awarded Artistic Photo Second Place from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for Patric Hedlund's image of a colorful benefit run for Mountain Youth Can Change Communities (MyC3). That same year Gary Meyer and Patric Hedlund won Editorial Comment Second Place for "Lebec County Water District needs serious leadership." The newspaper also won Second Place for Front Page design that included a towering smoke plume over Interstate 5 by Aaron Rose, and a fourth Second Place for Website excellence.

2011

In April 2011, The Mountain Enterprise won the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) 2010 First Place award for Best Website and First Place for Online Breaking News Coverage.[ citation needed ]

2010

In April 2010, The Mountain Enterprise won the California Newspaper Publishers Association First Place award for Best Website and First Place in Public Service for its 2009 ongoing coverage of the remote Pine Mountain Club community's struggle to obtain life-saving firefighter-paramedic service.[ citation needed ]

2009

The newspaper won awards from the National Newspaper Association on July 10 for (1) a series of investigative reports on the starvation of horses in Lockwood Valley (second place), (2) reporting on the struggle by Pine Mountain Club residents to secure Kern County's first firefighter-paramedic program (third place), (3) Editorial Writing about the newspaper's public-service responsibility in "The Stinkin' Public and Our School District's Brain Drain," by Patric Hedlund (Honorable Mention), and (4) an environmental story headed "Secret Negotiation between Tejon Developers and 'Big Green' Groups Sprouts Deal" (third place). [6] [7]

2007

On July 14, the newspaper was given three awards for excellence by the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

They won First Place in the Environmental Reporting category for achievement in continuous reporting of the Fallingstar home development proposed for 700 homes around Frazier Mountain High School by Patric Hedlund, Gary Meyer, members of the community and The Mountain Enterprise team.

The newspaper also won First Place for Best Website.

The Mountain Enterprise also won Second Place in the Public Service category for achievement in continuous reporting of the Pine Mountain community's decade-long initiative to get Kern County to provide life-saving firefighter paramedic services through the Kern County Fire Department. [8]

Controversies

2011

Lebec County Water District board member Julie McWhorter demanded that The Mountain Enterprise reporters cease using flash photography during the district's public meetings. When the newspaper refused to stop taking flash photographs, McWhorter claimed that the flashes were causing her medical problems. She also claimed that California Government Code Section 54953.5 and 54953.6 gave her the right to stop the use of illuminated photography during LCWD's public meetings. The newspaper refused to cease its photography in the face of threats by McWhorter and board member Tony Venegas to "call the sheriff." Kern County Sheriff's Sergeant Mark Brown attended an LCWD meeting in June 2013 and stated afterward that he believed the photography was appropriate for a public meeting. McWhorter chose not to run in the next election and Venegas ceased his threats against the newspaper.[ citation needed ]

2010

In December the newspaper was the target of criticism by the Kern County Grand Jury for its coverage of a controversy regarding the destruction of heritage oak trees during the construction of a new Frazier Park county library. [9] A jury committee said a "lack of communication" was responsible for the controversy and blamed that circumstance on "the people of the area and their newspaper," adding that The Enterprise news articles "appear to be inaccurate and/or inadequately researched." [10] The Mountain Enterprise responded citing three statements made in the jury's report that The Enterprise says were false, and stating that the county's own arborist had told The Mountain Enterprise that the Grand Jury had not contacted him to corroborate the three claims made in the report. In an editorial, Meyer and Hedlund wrote that the jury made no attempt to contact them before issuing the report, which, they said, "attacks the citizens and the newspaper . . . with statements that are shocking in their shallowness. [9]

2006

Pine Mountain resident David Seidner filed a lawsuit against The Mountain Enterprise for defamation, [11] citing stories published in the newspaper during the 2005 campaign for the Pine Mountain Club Property Owners Association Board of Directors. Seidner's preferred candidates lost the election and he claimed that The Mountain Enterprise had made untrue statements about him in the course of its reporting about the campaign issues. Seidner also had claimed that the publisher and the editor of the newspaper (Gary Meyer and Patric Hedlund) had tampered with the ballot box in the election. The Mountain Enterprise filed an Anti-SLAPP motion to strike with the court which required Seidner to demonstrate that his arguments had merit or risk paying the newspaper's attorney's fees. The suit was dropped immediately.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frazier Park, California</span> Unincorporated community in California, United States

Frazier Park is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Kern County, California. It is 5 miles (8 km) west of Lebec, at an elevation of 4,639 feet (1,414 m). It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass. The population was 2,592 in the 2020 census, down from 2,691 in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake of the Woods, California</span> Census-designated place in California, United States

Lake of the Woods is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in southwestern Kern County, California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 790.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lebec, California</span> Census-designated place in California, United States

Lebec is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in southwestern Kern County, California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,239.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine Mountain Club, California</span> Census-designated place in California, United States

Pine Mountain Club is an unincorporated community in southwestern Kern County, California. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 2,315. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Pine Mountain Club as a census-designated place (CDP). It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorman, California</span> Unincorporated community in California, United States

Gorman is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located in Peace Valley south of the Tejon Pass, which links Southern California with the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California. Due to this location, the area has served as a historic travel stop dating back to the indigenous peoples of California. Tens of thousands of motorists travel through Gorman daily on the Golden State Freeway since the highway's completion in the mid-20th Century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grapevine, California</span> Unincorporated community in California, United States

Grapevine is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California, United States, at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. The small village is directly adjacent to Interstate 5 and consists mainly of gas stations, motels an other travelers roadside services. At an elevation of 1,499 feet (457 m), the community is located at the foot of a grade known as the Grapevine that lies in Grapevine Canyon through the Tejon Pass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Tejon</span> United States historic place

Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon between the San Emigdio Mountains and Tehachapi Mountains. It is in the area of Tejon Pass along Interstate 5 in Kern County, California, the main route through the mountain ranges separating the Central Valley from the Los Angeles Basin and Southern California. The fort's location protected the San Joaquin Valley from the south and west.

Tejon Ranch Company, based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. The company was incorporated in 1936 to organize the ownership of a large tract of land that was consolidated from four Mexican land grants acquired in the 1850s and 1860s by ranch founder Edward Fitzgerald Beale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Emigdio Mountains</span> Mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in California, United States

The San Emigdio Mountains are a part of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, extending from Interstate 5 at Lebec and Gorman on the east to Highway 33–166 on the west. They link the Tehachapis and Temblor Range and form the southern wall of the San Joaquin Valley. The range is named after Emygdius, an early Christian martyr.

The Fort Tejon Historical Association (FTHA) is a historical society dedicated to preserving the historic site at Fort Tejon State Historic Park, in Kern County, California, and educating the public about the fort’s role in 19th century California and U.S. history.

The El Tejon Unified School District serves kindergarten-through-12th-grade students in the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass, which include Frazier Park, Lebec, and Pine Mountain Club in the southern mountains of Kern County, California. Lockwood Valley is part of the district even though it is within Ventura County, and Gorman students are accepted into the high school by special permit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass</span> Communities in Kern, Los Angeles and Ventura counties, California

The Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass, or the Frazier Mountain Communities, in the San Emigdio Mountains is a region of California that includes Lebec, Frazier Park, Lake of the Woods, Pinon Pines, and Pine Mountain Club, in Kern County, Gorman in Los Angeles County and Lockwood Valley within Kern and Ventura counties. They are all within or near the Tejon Pass, which links Southern California with the San Joaquin Valley. Also sometimes included within the communities are Cuddy Valley, Grapevine, Neenach and New Cuyama.

Kim Noller was the editor of the Mountain Enterprise, a weekly newspaper serving the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass and headquartered in Frazier Park, Kern County, California. He was born in Tampa, Florida, to Charles Noller and Jane Tebbets Noller, and died in Bethlehem, Georgia.

Rancho Castac or Rancho Castec was a 22,178-acre (89.75 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Kern and Los Angeles counties, California, made by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Jose Maria Covarrubias in 1843. The rancho in the Tehachapi Mountains lay between Castac Lake on the south and the present Grapevine on the north and included what is now the community of Lebec. The rancho is now a part of the Tejon Ranch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorman Joint School District</span> School district in California

Gorman Joint School District is a public school district in Gorman, California. It is the smallest school district in Los Angeles County.

Tejon Mountain Village is a proposed residential, commercial, and recreational development of pristine, rugged property in the Tehachapi Mountains owned by the Tejon Ranch Company in Lebec, southern Kern County, California. The development includes the largest conservation and land-use agreement in California history. It was approved by the county's Board of Supervisors in October 2009. Opponents launched a legal challenge that was denied in state district court in April 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Watson (broadcaster)</span>

Raymond A. (Ray) Watson is a former American television executive who was a member of the Board of Supervisors in Kern County, California, representing the western part of the county, between November 2002 and November 2012. He was chairman of the board in 2010. Watson was named Broadcaster of the Year by the California Broadcasters Association in 2002. He was on the advisory committee of the Carrizo Plain National Monument and was a director of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castac Lake</span> Endorheic lake in Lebec, California

Castac Lake, also known as Tejon Lake, is a natural saline endorheic, or sink, lake near Lebec, California. The lake is located in the Tehachapi Mountains just south of the Grapevine section of Interstate 5, and within Tejon Ranch. Normal water elevations are 3,482 feet (1,061 m) above sea level.

Centennial, California is a proposed 12,323-acre (49.87 km2) master-planned community on Tejon Ranch in northwestern Los Angeles County between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. It is situated in the far western Antelope Valley at the foothills of the Sierra Pelona and Tehachapi Mountains. It would be built along California State Route 138 east of Interstate 5 and northeast of Quail Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Lebeck</span> Early settler of Kern County, California

Peter Lebeck was an early settler of Kern County, California. The only certain information known about him is that he was killed by a bear, probably a California grizzly, and buried underneath a valley oak in 1837. The tree he was buried under is known as the Peter Lebeck Oak. He is attested only by his grave marker, now at Fort Tejon, but the unknown circumstances of his identity and death have cemented his position in the culture of the San Joaquin Valley. He represents the earliest known victim of a bear attack in California.

References

  1. "The Mountain Enterprise," The Mountain Enterprise, undated
  2. "What Is in a 50th Anniversary? 50 Years of History," The Mountain Enterprise, September 9, 2016, page 3
  3. "People Power Rocks in Lockwood," The Mountain Enterprise, March 22, 2019, page 5
  4. "TME Countdown to Its 50th Year," The Mountain Enterprise, February 13, 2015, page 7
  5. Meyer, Gary (August 23, 2024). "Your local newspaper has new owners!". The Mountain Enterprise. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
  6. National Newspaper Association list of 2009 awards for The Mountain Enterprise
  7. The Mountain Enterprise, July 17, 2009, page 1
  8. The Mountain Enterprise, July 20, 2007, page 1
  9. 1 2 "Report Jeopardizes Grand Jury's Credibility," The Mountain Enterprise, December 17, 2010, pages 2 and 16
  10. "Grand Jury criticizes tree controversy; Says mountain oaks are dying," KGET-TV on mnbc.com website [ dead link ]
  11. Gary Meyer and Patric Hedlund, "Right to Report Political Debate Defended," October 7, 2006, The Mountain Enterprise