TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Columnist Lois Henry got this note about her reports on the attempt to rescue a logger in the Tehachapis.

Lois:

First and foremost .... God Bless You!

I've labeled Sunday not only as Church day but also "Lois Day!"

I find it so shameful that any paramedic would refuse a ride on the tractor, to help someone in need....

Anyway, it appears that our county is asleep behind the wheel, and refuses to make any changes. Why on earth can't our firemen and women, who retire at 50 at full pay -- that we pay for -- be paramedics? For the life of me I do no t understand something so simple.

Maybe the logger would have still died, but maybe, just maybe, we, the people of Kern County, wouldn't have the honor of hearing from Daniel Rodriguez's office either, (rest assured, it's coming).

Just my thoughts Lois.

Mr. Hall, whom I've personally met, seems to be a pretty good guy, and a reasonable man. I don't understand the fact that we can't train our firemen and women just like other counties, I just don't get it!!

Keep up the fantastic work Lois, you make us citizens proud!

-- Sincerely, Greg Sturges

Arthur: Lois has more on this issue today. See her column on A1.

***

Some readers were offended by our cover illustration Friday -- the packaged condom with a stamp on it.

One caller told me it was "inappropriate and in poor taste." He didn't appreciate the play on words, which used language from a recent series of U.S. Postal Service commercials.

Another, the mother of a teenager, left a message saying she was "shocked to see the front page.... Whoever allowed that should be let go.... should be canned!

"What a horrible, horrible thing to put on the front page. I also resent the article on page 4. I have a 15-year-old daughter and I'm upset about that."

First of all, sincere apologies to all who were offended. Our reasoning was:

1) This was an important story about efforts being made to lower the very high rates of sexually transmitted disease in Kern County (and other areas).

2) The county's rate of teenage births also has been among the highest in California.

3) While you may or may not agree with the state's plan to send free condoms to teens who ask for them, there is no denying that the state is trying to address a serious public heath problem.

A sampling of different opinions on these issues can be found in the many comments posted online about our story (at bakersfieldcalifornian.com).

I'll admit it -- the cover illustration was somewhat risque and deliberately attention-getting. But I don't regret it. These issues need attention. And I'm proud that our health writer, Kellie Schmitt, seems to have been the first reporter in the state to write about this program.

***

Reader: Why didn't South Sequoia Girls All-League Volleyball team get printed?

-- Kim Salazar

Sports Editor Tony Lacava responds: Simple answer. All it takes for a league to get its all-league team published in the newspaper is for a league representative to e-mail it to us. We run every all-league team that is sent to us.

***

Reader: Our Wasco High School Wrestlers won SSL Championship (on a recent) Saturday and there is not one article about them. I know Wasco never gets any credit but come on. The kids work hard and deserve glory!!!!

-- Lucia Lopez

Sports Editor Tony Lacava responds:

Thanks for taking the time to write to The Californian.

Due to way too many things going on in town Saturday, and because we have a limited number of reporters, we were unable to staff that event.

When we are unable to staff an event, we have to depend on the host school to call us with the results. (When you see a high school roundup in our paper Wednesdays through Sundays, those are all calls made to us by coaches from events we did not send a reporter to).

Unfortunately, we got no call on this event Saturday. We attempted to contact the athletic director of the host school (Tehachapi), but were unsuccessful. If we can chase down the results, we still want to run them in the paper.

Hope that helps,

***

A reader wrote to staff writer Courtenay Edelhart:

I love, a really, smart, highly intelligent, well informed person. it's a pleasure to read your article

Gary Crabtree [author of the monthly Crabtree Report on the local housing market] is really nice, he spent a half an hour with me on the phone a while back when I had a question, I was very impressed with his candid conversation [and] upfront perspective. [Crabtree was quoted in the Jan. 23 article, "Upside-down borrowers face little-known tax deadline"]

I just wanted to say, I appreciate a good writer.

Keep up the good work

-- Richard Lee Swanson

Arthur: Thank you.

***

Reader: Why don't you update local oil prices online daily?

-- Ken Beard

Arthur: Unfortunately, the news services we receive no longer provide that information.

Also, several years ago we found that the audience for this information had started to go to other sources for it. The feedback we got from numerous subscribers was that they could get better and more timely pricing info elsewhere.

At one time we had more than 1,000 people signed up for our Oil Price email alerts. As that dwindled, we conducted two reader surveys and got very little support.

Currently we are considering a new service that provides detailed pricing information as well as some other oil-related links. If we start that, we'll announce it in the paper. Thanks for asking.

-- Follow John Arthur on Twitter @BakoEditor This feedback forum is designed to give readers a way to voice criticisms and compliments or ask questions about news coverage. Your questions -- which may be edited for space -- are answered each Sunday by Executive Editor John Arthur.