A look back at the best quotes of 2022

Dec. 28—One may make you laugh, the next might make you cry. As we look back at 2022, The Californian's reporters and editors have gathered their best quotes from stories written during this incredible year.

There are quotes that reflect triumph, while others denote tragedy. Some are keen observations, while others may be a bit more cynical. There are buoyant reactions from coaches and players, and words wrapped in sadness and sorrow from grieving parents and a Rabbi experiencing the power and devastation of remembering as a community.

These quotes reflect the richness of this place where we live, the joy and grief, the violence, the loving care, the problems, the never-ending search for solutions.

Enjoy, and happy New Year.

"There's white smoke."

— Ryan Alsop, Kern County's chief administrative officer, referencing a traditional signal given when cardinals reach agreement on the selection of a new pope. In this case, Alsop was referring June 23 to a breakthrough in contentious negotiations between leaders of the B3K prosperity economic collaboration and a coalition led by the Kern Community College District over who would lead the county's application for a state grant that could fund tens of millions of dollars in local economic development efforts.

"To be seen in places of power is to be seen with dignity, with respect, with optimism — it's to be seen. And we look to empower at the margins. ... This victory is all of ours."

— Manpreet Kaur, the first Sikh Punjabi woman to join the Bakersfield City Council, speaking in her opening address after winning the Ward 7 race in the 2022 midterm election.

"I want to thank everyone in this audience, my constituents of Ward 7 and everyone that has supported me. Manpreet, you're going to get the hot seat in a second... and I know you're going to do a great job. Only words of advice is buckle up, because this ride has some twists and turns in it sometimes."

— Chris Parlier, speaking at his final meeting as Bakersfield City Councilman representing Ward 7 after nine years of service.

"I feel that it is time that farmworkers come out of the shadows and that people see how farmworkers live, that there is light shone on their experiences. People need to know what being a farmworker in the U.S. means."

— Flor Alvarado, who joined fellow ag advocates on a trip to Washington, D.C. as part of a push for workers rights within the agriculture industry.

"There's a lot of naysayers out there that say, you know, we only won D-III championships. Here's a D-I. Now what you got to say?"

— Garrett Brown, Bakersfield Christian High School boys basketball coach, after his team won its first Division I section title by beating Fresno-Central on Feb. 24.

"We graduate next week, but we're still playing baseball. What a beautiful thing."

— Jacob Fragoso, the Kennedy High School baseball coach, following the Thunderbirds' 5-4 win over Reedley-Immanuel in Visalia for the school's second straight valley championship in May.

"It was ecstatic. It was like the best day — the second-best day of my life."

— Zaila Clark, Bakersfield College triple jumper, on taking first place at the SoCal Championships in May a year and a half after giving birth to her son Cam.

"Thoughts, visions started racing through my mind. I thought about my grandparents, their parents, their uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers and sisters. All of them that were brutally murdered. But at that moment, I felt I was holding my family in my hands."

— Chabad of Bakersfield Rabbi Shmuli Schlanger speaking about gathering 6 million buttons for the Central Valley's first Holocaust museum to represent the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.

"I didn't kill him, but I did help get rid of his body. If that makes me guilty, so be it."

— Matthew Queen, the convicted murderer of a Bakersfield 3 member Micah Holsonbake, denied killing Holsonbake in an exclusive jailhouse interview with The Californian.

"It is now when the misleads in theater end and the constitutional protections begin. One of the fundamental things our society has is trial by jury, and it needs to stay pure."

— defense attorney Timothy Hennessy at a press conference about comments from the Kern County District Attorney's Office regarding his client, Trezell West, the adoptive father of the California City boys, Orrin and Orson West, who faces murder charges in connection with their deaths.

"We got the perfect storm. We are struggling right now — (we have) frequent meetings at our facilities just trying to keep the wheels on and take care of people. We are definitely challenged."

— Terri Church, former chief nursing officer for Dignity Health's Mercy and Memorial hospitals, said this in January about the Omicron-fueled wave, low staffing levels amid record-breaking resignations and a deluge of patients seeking help for non-COVID related ailments.

"Exhausted and stressed."

— Lisa Hernandez, a medical records technologist in the orthopedic department at Mercy Southwest, said of her emotions during the height of the Omicron wave in January.

"Why our homicide rate is the highest — I can't answer, but (the liberal left) can't either. The progressive movement is dying and they know it is. They want to claim that our world is safer today than it ever was. And ... if you find anyone that believes that — other than a left-wing liberal Democrat — please tell them I think they're nuts."

— Sheriff Donny Youngblood

"This child murderer is a cruel and ugly, sick-minded person who should never see the light of day ever again."

— Clara Alvarez, the mother of 13-year-old Patricia Alatorre. Alvarez's comments were read aloud in Kern County Superior Court before her daughter's murder and rapist, Armando Cruz, was sentenced to a life term.

"I wanted the world to know that ... I went through pain and I've been through it. This documentary is to let ... those that are not aware of how fraternity, sororities, marching bands or any type of group that has some type of induction process know exactly ... what it entails and what it looks like. ... I don't want anyone to go through what I went through."

— Brent McClanahan, a former Cal State Bakersfield student who was hazed at a fraternity operated by CSUB. McClanahan shared his 2011 experiences in a documentary released this year.

"I have nowhere to look and everywhere to look for her."

—Bakersfield 3 mother Jane Parrent said about her search for daughter Baylee Despot. Despot went missing in 2018 and has not been found.

"Nobody in the state of California can tell you how many children under 18 died at the hands of their parents or caregivers last year. Period. Nobody. Nobody has access to real data."

— Dr. Jeoffry Gordon, a retired family physician who advocates for child welfare.

"The DA spends her whole career trying to prove people did not act in the heat of passion. It would be very, very difficult for them to argue in the heat of passion."

— Defense attorney Mark Raimondo said about retrying Wendy Howard for voluntary manslaughter. Howard was acquitted of murdering her ex-partner Kelly Pitts, but jurors deadlocked on voluntary manslaughter and she could be retried on that charge. Howard said she shot her ex-partner in self-defense.

"I don't think people understood what we had in our heart. I don't blame anyone, but they didn't know. We kept saying: We have a dream. We know we'll be great neighbors. We know we'll improve the community. We know that we'll make a shelter and a safe home for a very particular kind of woman, who is down on her luck, who's not fleeing domestic violence, who doesn't have drugs immediately in her past."

— Lisa Elzy Watson, a member on the board of directors for Casa Esperanza, a transitional home for homeless women and children that opened in October.

"We just kind of have to go with the flow and if the timing is right we can go, and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't. Our life is what they want. That's why we were late (to the courtroom on Nov. 18). It's what they want. ... It's our little circus. It's crazy and it's fun."

— Christy Mancera, a mother after finalizing the adoption of Isabella, who became the 13th child for her and Gabriel on National Adoption Day.

"So many crosses, so many markers. Then I saw his cross, his name, his rank, his date of death ... and I just lost it."

— Fran Florez recalling her first visit to her father's grave in a cemetery in Holland filled with the graves of American servicemen, like her father, who were killed in action during World War II.

"On at least one occasion, as I was a child, I witnessed hooded Ku Klux Klansmen on horseback riding through the Black section of town ... and yelling racial epithets at members of my family and others in the Black community."

— Cal State Bakersfield President Emeritus Horace Mitchell, who shared his perspectives and experiences at Journey to CSUB: Experiences in the Civil Rights Era, a special event held Nov. 7 at the university's Walter Stiern Library.

"We see it as a great way to honor the culture, the language, the contribution Native Americans have made and continue to make while serving in the nation's armed forces."

— Angel Galvez, CEO of the Bakersfield American Indian Health Project, which is partnering with Honor Flight Kern County to fly 100 Native American veterans to the memorials and monuments of Washington, D.C. in 2023.