Ridgecrest Daily Independent
A jury trial date in June has been set for a 59-year-old Ridgecrest man accused of first-degree murder and arson.
George Richard Smith pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge, along with arson and reckless evasion of a police officer. He entered the plea on July 2, 2020.
Smith admitted to killing his wife to Ridgecrest Police Officer Joe Roque, who recorded the conversation according to the Ridgecrest Police Department charging statement.
“My wife of 36 years, I killed her,” George Smith said in a “spontaneous statement”, according to the documents. “I just wanna [expletive] die, I don’t wanna deal right now.”
NAWCWD’s White retires after 47 years of service
Ridgecrest Daily Independent
Charlie White celebrated 47 years of federal service during a flag-raising ceremony on Feb. 10 at China Lake.
After joining the Navy in 1974, White trained in Florida and Colorado and was assigned as an air intelligence officer for Attack Squadron (VA) 25, named “Fist of the Fleet.” He attended the Air Force Target Intelligence Officer School, where White was then assigned to the Intelligence Center Pacific supporting the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific.
He then spent two and a half years aboard the USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), traveling the world, and afterward, he then spent two and a half years at the Fleet Intelligence Center, Europe and Atlantic.
Ridgecrest Daily Independent
Ridgecrest Regional Hospital’s day care has been open for nearly a year now providing necessary services to its staff and their families.
“The day care has been a blessing to so many employees who don’t know what they would have done without it,” said Tera Moorehead, RRH’s Director of Community Outreach.
The daycare opened shortly after “COVID-19 guidance for child care and student supervision in the event of a school closure” press release was published by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s offices on March 17, 2020.
“We had to work with the Department of Social Services to obtain an Emergency Employer Sponsored Child Care waiver,” Moorehead said. “When schools and daycares closed we opened the day care to ensure our staff who had no other child care options could still come to work.”
Ridgecrest Daily Independent
Starting this weekend, Ridgecrest Regional Hospital will be closing its vaccine appointment waitlist and opening an online booking system under an agreement for vaccine distribution with Blue Shield beginning Monday. In an effort to honor our commitment to those already on our waitlist, we will continue making callbacks to the age-based eligibility of 65 and older in the order received, as more vaccine becomes available, said Michelle Whalley, RRH Clinic Administrator and Vaccine Taskforce Leader. This is going to be no easy feat, but we are determined to press on to the best of our ability. We have over 5,000 seniors 65 and older in line to call back and schedule. We are working on this in anticipation of adverse weather conditions, which have also delayed shipments and hampered our efforts this past week.