• Hurd Hobson (Editor-in-Chief)
• Homer Wilson
• Earl Barron
• Vince Bellingham
• Fred Bockhauser
• Reverend Arendale Clancy Flabel
• Dr. Carl Tarkanian
• Arlin Tompkins
• Cletus Mooch
• Mabel Perry

The Kern County Inquisitor is one of California's oldest and most reliable news outlets, having served the Central Valley continuously since 1926. Founded in a barn by William Walter Hagway, the Inquisitor began publishing on March 28, 1926. From 1926 until the events of the second World War in 1941, the Inquisitor was published on a daily basis by Mr. Hagway and relied upon by ranchers and farmers alike, who enjoyed the paper's slant on agricultural stories and horoscopes. During this period of time, the paper was famous for its pictures of the newest farm implements and livestock engaged in various reproductive activities.

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When the founder's son, William Walter "Billy" Hagway, Jr., enlisted in the United States Army, the Inquisitor gained the county's first wartime correspondent. From 1941 to 1944, Billy faithfully reported to his father on a weekly basis, and Billy's chronicles of the War were published verbatim in the Inquisitor's pages. Readers were intrigued by the stories that came from far flung parts of the world, like Japan and Hawaii.

As the War grew more intense, Billy Hagway began taking greater risks in order to obtain the most fascinating stories about the war. Each story, it seemed, found Billy involved in a greater degree of peril than the last. Some readers noted that it seemed like Billy pulled his stories right out of war movies, and the parallels to the films -- not to mention Billy's dapper good looks -- were indeed uncanny. Each editorial written by the junior Hagway and published by the paper during this remarkable period concluded with a caution to the young correspondent from his father: "Billy, don't be a hero, don't be a fool with your life."

Billy Hagway returned home as a hero in 1944. A parade through downtown Bakersfield commemorated his return.

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Mr. Hagway continued at the helm in the post-war years, teaching Billy the skills and traditions of managing the paper. In 1951, with circulation on the rise, Mr. Hagway retired, after 25 years of service, turning over the reigns of the newspaper to Billy Hagway.

Billy and his associate, Clyde Fornier, ran every detail of the paper from 1951 through 1966, supervising both content, sales, and circulation. For a time, the paper rivaled that of the larger Bakersfield Californian but as the 50s came to a close and the 60s dawned, the larger newspaper gained a stronger foothold in the more urban areas of the county, which were beginning to be developed. The county's first Burger Chef opened in 1959, a sign that things were changing in Kern County.

By 1960, the Inquisitor had begun marketing itself almost entirely to the farming communities, a decision made at the urging of Clyde Fornier. To save expenses, Billy Hagway and Clyde were living together, Billy never having married, and Clyde was caring for the newspaper while Billy looked after the two year old orphan he had adopted the previous year. For a time, Billy was the county's most eligible bachelor but he exercised self-restraint most admiringly and remained content to enjoy life with Clyde and the child who lived with them.

During this period of time, Clyde began to assert himself more as the dominant force behind the paper. A no-nonsense disciplinarian, Clyde made sure that every item of agricultural importance, no matter how seemingly insubstantial it might at first appear, was reported in the paper. Clyde also saw that the paper added a section dealing with Broadway musicals and entertainment. Unfortunately, the odd mix of farming news and Broadway reviews along with the economic downfall and droughts of the early 60s, caused circulation to drop precipitously from 1960 through 1965.

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In 1966, Billy Hagway convinced Clyde that the paper had to be sold in order to remain viable. The Teagarden Corporation, headed by Everett Teagarden, acquired the paper in early 1966. Clyde Fornier continued to contribute farm reports for awhile after the sale, but these grew few and far between, as the paper turned its focus more towards social events unfolding in the country.

Mr. Teagarden, a San Franciscan by birth, had fled his native city, claiming it was being taken over by radical political elements from the left wing. Beginning in 1966 and continuing through 1973, Mr. Teagarden wrote almost daily about the problems facing the country. Not a day went by that readers weren't exposed to Mr. Teagarden's conservative views concerning the Vietnam War, the drug culture that seemed to have enveloped his native San Francisco, "hippies" and their mood-alterning music, and, most of all, the sexual revolution.

The latter topic became the subject of a regular column that, at first, appeared weekly, then bi-weekly, then daily, called "Love Isn't Free" -- the name being chosen to counter the "free love" movement of the late 60s that encouraged sexual promiscuity. Heretofore, the paper had found its audience among local farmers, who enjoyed the forecasts of lunar cycles and climatical shifts. Mr. Teagarden's sex column, however, drew new readers to the paper and established a new base of conservatives concerned about the decline of sexual morals in America. His crowning achievement was a three part story on "life inside a commune and sex," which appeared to have been based on first-hand undercover knowledge.

During the 60s, up until the end of the Vietnam War in 1973, Mr. Teagarden adopted one conservative cause after another. He staunchly defended the war efforts, condemned drug use, psychedelic music, hippies, and most of all, urged readers to return to the decency of the 50s, when a date meant taking a girl to a malt shop and not to a "love in."

In the late 70s, Mr. Teagarden found new causes to herald. Pornography had begun to proliferate, an outgrowth of the "sexual liberation" from the 60s. On a weekly basis, Mr. Teagarden reviewed films for readers, alerting them to the ones containing objectionable content. After viewing the film "Deep Throat" in 1978, Mr. Teagarden personally prevented the film from being shown in Bakersfield by organizing a protest against a theater owner that had proposed to exhibit the film. The Mayor and City Council came out against the film too after viewing it at Mr. Teagarden's home. The war against sexual immorality was on.

Soon thereafter, tragedy struck. While visiting Van Nuys on a business trip in 1982, Everett Teagarden collapsed and died of a massive heart attack. His loss was mourned by the thousands of subscribers and by close friends. With no immediate family to inherit the paper, its future became cloudy.

Billy Hagway and Clyde Fornier had, ironically, moved from the Central Valley to San Francisco in 1968 and had not been heard of or seen in years. The paper's staff continued to publish on a weekly basis as Mr. Teagarden's estate was administered.

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In 1984, with the paper teetering on the brink of insolvency from a two year leadership vacuum following Everett Teagarden's death, a savior arrived in the guise of Thornton Killebrew.

For years, Killebrew had been part of an Ivy league think tank devoted to conservative causes. At age 65, he had decided to retire and to follow the advice of Horace Greeley to "Go West." Killebrew had long admired the simple majesty of the Central Valley and its clean, refreshing air. Coincidentally, Killebrew had also followed the history of the Inquisitor for the past 25 years and was aware of the paper's importance to the community and its current plight.

In a swift turn of events, Killebrew purchased the paper from Everett Teagarden's estate and began transforming it into the respected source of conservatism that it remains today. The country was riding a wave of conservative euphoria when Killebrew acquired the paper, with President Reagan more popular than any U.S. president since FDR and the economy booming in all sectors. The liberal voice had been reduced to a whimper in Kern County, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the Inquisitor and Thornton Killebrew.

That wave of good fortune continued until the rueful day that William Jefferson Clinton was sworn in as the country's 42nd president in 1992. Almost immediately, the conservative agenda took a back seat to topics such as "national health," an idea long ago banished by sensible people. After a long period of conservative and impeccable moral values demonstrated daily by Presidents Reagan and Bush, the country plunged itself back into the morass of the 60s, with water cooler conversation turning towards the President's new and innovative uses of cigars. God-fearing conservatives everywhere were appalled at this behavior.

Thornton Killebrew staunchly defended the efforts of Kenneth Starr to uncover the truth about the activities of the President and an intern named Monica Lewinsky. Millions of dollars were spent on the investigation and the "Starr Report," which Killebrew seized on as the "definitive and irrefutable proof" that the country was rotting at its moral center, and the President was leading the way. Subsequent editorials called for the impeachment of the President, and the 100% devotion of all Republican members of Congress to put aside all other government business and concentrate exclusively on exorcising the demon President from office.

By this time, Killebrew had become almost as fanatical as his predecessor regarding sexual mores. Excerpts from the "Starr Report" appeared almost daily in the Inquisitor. Not content with the printed version of the Starr Report, Killebrew had approached aging film director Russ Meyer about making a movie of the President's exploits in the White House with the intern, a film Killebrew felt certain would expose the President to decent people everywhere and justify the millions of dollars and thousands of man hours invested by Congressional Republicans in the Starr Report.

Unfortunately, Killebrew's efforts to make the film never reached fruition. While pitching the film idea to Van Nuys producers in 2001, Killebrew collapsed of exhaustion and died. His loss is still felt today.

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At the time of Thornton Killebrew's death in 2001, the Inquisitor's circulation had dwindled to a few thousand papers per day. Killebrew's dogged pursuit of evidence against President Clinton and his desire to have the Starr Report filmed had occupied most of his time during his final two years. The increasing demands and costs of publishing the Inquisitor on a daily basis forced the paper to resort to weekly editions, but its retained its steadfast constituency of concerned conservative readers.

On October 14, 2001, the Conservative Republican Action Perogative of Kern County (CRAPKC) was formed as a charitable foundation. The Foundation's stated objectives are to express the views of conservatives everywhere and to serve as an alternative to mainstream liberal media outlets, like CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and GQ. The Foundation's creator and President, Hurd Hobson, has pledged to have the Inquisitor back on the newsstands of Kern County in the very near future. For the immediate future, we are pleased to present the paper in its on line version, free of charge, on a weekly basis.

[Although public contributions are accepted, the Conservative Republican Action Perogative of Kern County is not a 501(c)(3) organization, and contributions to it are not tax deductible.]

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The President/CEO of the Conservative Republican Action Perogative of Kern County (CRAPKC) and Editor-in-Chief of the Kern County Inquisitor, Mr. Hobson is the final arbiter of all content found on the pages of the Inquisitor. A gentle man with the persona of a old country preacher, Mr. Hobson nonetheless carries forth the Inquisitor's mission with as much enthusiasm as his predecessors, Everett Teagarden and Thornton Killebrew.

Click Here To Go To Mr. Hobson's Archive Page

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Mr. Wilson is the president of the Kern County Gun Club and one of the area's foremost authorities on 2nd Amendment issues. He is a lifetime resident of Bakersfield and a veteran of the Vietnam War. Mr. Wilson firmly ascribes to the belief that: "Guns Don't Kill People, People With Guns Do."

Click Here To Go To Mr. Wilson's Archive Page

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Mr. Barron is a correspondent from the Great State of Texas and the President/CEO of Barron Oil Company, a small oil company with its offices in Dallas. As an "insider" among the oil intelligentsia, Mr. Barron provides unique and thought-compelling views concerning the value of oil to our nation. Mr. Barron also has the ear of Washington on key issues concerning the petroleum industry by virtue of knowledge of business and the fact that he and George W. Bush were fraternity brothers.

Click Here To Go To Mr. Barron's Archive Page

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Mr. Bellingham is a former employee of the U.S. Forestry service. Claiming to be a victim of liberal policies aimed at protecting the environment at the expense of big business, Mr. Bellingham resigned under pressure from his position as a forest ranger in 1997 and has since written many outspoken columns for the Inquisitor exposing "tree huggers" and "environmental nuts" for their "anti-business" agendas.

Click Here To Go To Mr. Bellingham's Archive Page

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Mr. Bockhauser is an enrolled agent and tax advisor. Understanding the tax laws imposed by our government is often perplexing, and Mr. Bockhauser manages to simplify these laws for the average person. Mr. Bockhauser is a noted critic of the Internal Revenue Service and has reportedly won many cases against the Service, as a result of which he claims the Service has placed him on their secret "most wanted" list. A self-described "tax outlaw," Mr. Bockhauser presents a conservative viewpoint on the tax system in terms our readers can understand and appreciate.

Click Here To Go To Mr. Bockhauser's Archive Page

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Rev. Flabel is a frequent contributor on the subject of women's rights issues and a fervent supporter of the right to life movement. A man of kindness and peace, Rev. Flabel's words nonetheless bring fear to the hearts of those who would forsake God's word for a life of moral sin, and he holds "abortioninsts" particularly accountable for their actions.

Click Here To Go To Rev. Flabel's Archive Page

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Doctor Tarkanian is the chairman of the economics department at the East Bakersfield Community College School of Business. A respected scholar of national repute, Dr. Tarkanian consulted with the advisors to the last two Republican Presidents and is on "stand by" to assist with the formulation of a national economic policy for the current President.

Click Here To Go To Dr. Tarkanian's Archive Page

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Mr. Tompkins is the Inquisitor's foreign affairs analyst. He brings a distinguished background to the paper, having served on numerous local war games commissions and chaired the annual Kern County paintball tournament for the past six years. Mr. Tompkins is the President of the Kern County War Council and owns one of the county's finest collections of miniature collectible war figurines.

Click Here To Go To Mr. Tompkins' Archive Page

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Mr. Mooch comments on political issues and also runs Mooch's Barber Shop in East Bakersfield. He has served in various leadership capacities for a number of conservative Kern County organizations. Mr. Mooch was a barber in the U.S. Army for eight years and has "seen it all."

Click Here To Go To Mr. Mooch's Archive Page

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Mrs. Perry is another lifelong resident of Bakersfield. Her grandfather, Abner Perry, was one of the founders of the First Bakersfield Bible Church, and Mrs. Perry has devoted her life's work to the that of promoting Christian beliefs and "evangelizing the heathens." Readers have grown to appreciate and value her advice and observations on issues affecting the church and God.

Click Here To Go To Mrs. Perry's Archive Page

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