Off the I-15

I’ve heard plenty of kids complain that there’s nothing to do in Barstow. But instead of sitting around in front of the XBox, these three Barstow Junior High School students decided to get creative. I came across them as I was driving down Virginia Way returning from an assignment Monday afternoon. Justice Chavez, 13, (left) and Pamela Martin, 12, (right), were so bored that they decided to wrap their friend Desean Clay, 13, in packaging tape.

The kids initially thought I was coming to yell at them when I did a U turn and pulled up in front of them to get a second look. But upon finding out I was from the newspaper, they immediately started hamming it up.

Who says kids don’t know how to use their imaginations any more?

The Arizona Senator and Republican presidential nominee is a busy man. How do I know? I just tried calling two of his California-based offices for a story I am working on and got busy signals. Who gets a busy signal these days.

The article is about how the national candidates, Obama and McCain, are targeting Barstow (if they are at all) or what they can offer small towns like Barstow.

To be fair, I also called Obama’s California Headquarters. The woman who answered the phone said to call back at 11 a.m. because the whole office was in a staff meeting. Unfortunately, I have a staff meeting of my own at 11.

If you are working for one of the campaigns locally, please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. I’d love to talk to someone on the front lines of the campaign in Barstow.

aaupperlee@desertdispatch.com

Desk: 760-256-4121

Mobile: 760-646-6025

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

If the number of video views on www.desertdispatch.com decided who wins the November election, Joe Gomez would be mayor and Willie Hailey and Tim Saenz would fill the two open slots on the City Council.

Following appearences at a Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast, videos of all the City Council candidates and two of the candidates for mayor went live on www.desertdispatch.com. I monitored who was getting the most views throughout the week and will now share the results of my completely unofficial and totally amateur poll with you.

City Council

Willie Hailey - 107 views

Tim Saenz - 104 views

Richard Villegas - 69 views

Gene Deaton - 56 views

Carmen Hernandez - 48 views

Marvin Ellis - 45 views

Mayor

Joe Gomez - 90 views

Lawrence Dale - 77 views

Nathaniel Pickett did not attend.

The videos are still up. Click on the above links above (the underlined names in blue) or head over to www.desertdispatch.com, click on more videos and then select the local candidates tab.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

If you haven’t seen it, pick up a copy of the new Desert Dispatch, on stands today.

Barstow politics meet Web 2.X.

All three candidates for the mayor’s office have launched Web sites. The sites contain the candidate’s position on issues, goals if elected and personal biography information. All have a place where supporters can donate to the campaign.

Nathaniel Pickett

Joe Gomez

Lawrence Dale

It’s Dale’s first foray into the Internet. The seasoned mayor said it was time to jump on the world wide web.

Gomez’s site has been up and running for awhile as a blog, through www.blogger.com, to keep track of Barstow news and happenings. He frequently features Desert Dispatch articles on the site. In addition to his blog, Gomez has transformed his myspace.com page to a campaign portal. He’s also got a facebook.com page. He wants to reach younger voters with his sites.

Pickett is also going after the younger crowd but references his Web site as a place people can go to get quick information about him and his campaign activities. His campaign manager, Suzanne Summer, said the Web site will be updated frequently.

Stay tuned in to www.desertdispatch.com for more of the 2008 campaign online.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor