Inga Barks is suspended from her Fresno radio gig after being arrested for drunk and disorderly, and the family in the Glenwood Gardens death shows some real class

 * ... GLENWOOD: About the only class shown in the aftermath of the tragic death of 87-year-old Lorraine Bayless at the Glenwood Gardens retirement home has been shown by the victim's family. The family could have hired a lawyer and slapped the facility with a lawsuit, but instead it issued a calm, clearly worded statement praising the care Bayless received and saying it was not in the family's nature to file a lawsuit. In a world that is increasingly crass and litigious, it is nice to see that some form of class still lives.

 * ... PRICE: It was nice to run into David Price the other day at downtown Rotary. Price is the retired head of the county resource management agency who moved to Tennessee and promptly came down with serious spinal problems that left him almost crippled and near death. He is now back walking, smiling and making his trademark jokes. "I have a few things that don't work," he told me, "but I am blessed with what I have." Dave and wife Liz were on the west coast headed toward a cruise to Hawaii to celebrate his health and their 30th wedding anniversary.

* ... HERMAN: The Bakersfield Museum of Art's goodbye to outgoing executive director Bernie Herman was a heart warming tribute to Herman's nine years of service. A huge crowd attended the tribute, representing some of the community's most stalwart supporters of the arts. Among those I spotted were Cindy Pollard, Dona Baker, Art Sherwyn, Larry and Sandy Reider, Jeff and Stephanie Pickering, Gary and Bettina Belter, Bob Crewdson and Nicole St. John, Claire Putney, Gary Frazier, Sheryl and Lou Barbich, John Brock Jr., Don Martin, Judi McCarthy, Betty Younger, Vince and Linda Rojas, Tracy Walker-Kiser, Evelyn Johnson, Lesa and John Mackessey, David and Suzanne Leon, David Cohn, Bart and Napier Hill, Vince Fong, Susan and Rod Hersberger, David and Kristine Morton, Dr. Madan Mukhopadhyay and wife Dolly, and many more.

* ... INGA: Radio talk show host Inga Barks has been put on paid leave by her Fresno employer pending the outcome of an investigation into her arrest at the Marketplace in southwest Bakersfield. Police said Barks was drunk and disorderly when they found her reportedly passed out in her car near Tahoe Joe's bar and restaurant. Barks blamed her condition on medication she is taking.

* ... SCHNEIDER: Hats off to Lieutenant Lincoln Schneider, who has been named one of the Navy's 2012 Recruiters of the Year. The Navy Recruiter of the Year awards recognize the most accomplished and successful recruiters across the country. Schneider is a 1999 graduate of Stockdale High School and later Tulane University.

More good news on building permits from Mission Bank and the Bakersfield Museum of Art introduces its new executive director to the community

 * ... BUILDING: There is more evidence that our local economy is improving, albeit slowly. A report from Baynes Bank, vice president over at Mission Bank, shows marked improvement in the number of building permits being issued. While the total number of 2012 permits pulled were 259 percent higher than 2011, he noted "we are still less than 50 percent of where we were a decade ago." Bank said a large apartment project has broken ground near Gosford and Pacheco roads, "and there are two more significant projects being discussed in the Northwest.... Also of note, Standard Pacific Homes (the national builder that purchased local builder Probuilt Homes) pulled eight permits in December. These are the first Bakersfield permits they have pulled in over four years. Welcome back."

 * ... MUSEUM: I ran into the newly appointed executive director of the Bakersfield Museum of Art just a few hours after his appointment was announced. My guess is that John Lofgren and his wife Inger will fit nicely into our community. He's got the charm, experience and drive to take the museum to the next level. I chatted with Lofgren while he was out dining with retiring director Bernie Herman and his wife Joan, Sheryl and Lou Barbich and museum board chair Susan Hersberger from Aera Energy.

* ... AMMO SALES: The push by the Obama administration for new restrictions on gun ownership has led to a predictable surge in the sales of weapons and ammunition at local gun stores. One gun shop owner, Gene Thome of Bear Mountain Sports, told me there is a run on almost every type of ammunition, and that he sells his Glock semi-automatic pistols as quickly as they arrive.

 * ... SPOTTED: A pox on the young man driving a newer VW Passat who casually tossed his fast food drink cup out his window while driving south on Gosford Road.

 * ... WRESTLING: The folks who raise the money to keep the wrestling program alive at Cal State Bakersfield have an important event coming up on Saturday, Feb. 9. It's a dinner to celebration 40 years of wrestling and it costs just $40 a seat. It will be held at Stockdale Country Club at 6 p.m. Make your checks payable to the Coyote Club and mail them to Janis Varner, 12300 Old Town Road, Bakersfield, Ca. 93312.

 * ... GUILD HOUSE: Another cause worth supporting is coming up Sunday, January 27, at the historic Guild House on 18th Street. It's a five-course dinner (including wine and a tour of the graceful, grand old dame of downtown homes) to benefit the Henrietta Weill Child Guidance Center. Tickets cost $100. Call Nada for reservations at (661) 834-3566.

 * .... BANDUCCI'S: Marilyn Brown dropped me a note about the old lunch place Banducci's Corner. "My dad ate lunch there several times a week with friends and relatives from the Edison area.  As a family we would go out to dinner on Friday nights and one of our favorite places was Banducci's Corner.  I remember Julia Banducci giving us kids candy from the attached store. Banducci's was a fun place with good food where everybody knew your name!"

A happy ending for Blackie, an American Staffordshire Terrier who was left in Bakersfield after his owner was injured in a truck crash. He is now back home in Texas

 * ... BLACKIE: Patricia Boles is active in the local animal rescue community and shared with me the story of Blackie, a sweet American Staffordshire Terrier who was separated from his owner after a truck accident here. For three months Blackie was cared for by the folks at the Kern County Animal Shelter while his owner was convalescing in Texas. Boles meanwhile raised enough money to fly Blackie back to Texas in a private plane, but only after a commercial carrier at LAX refused because it thought Blackie was a dangerous pitbull. Said Boles: "Cherie Charlton spent hours on and off work exercising this dog... The dog was returned home by Bonny Schumaker (an amazing woman and president of a group called 'On Wings of Care') and of course all of this was overseen by the new (animal control) director Jan Woodward. Just think everyone should see that all the workers at KCAC have big hearts and though they have a distressing job to face daily they truly love animals." (photo of Bonny Schumaker and Blackie)

 * ... WELCOME HOME: This is the time of year when the sons and daughters of Bakersfield who are living away or at college come home to rekindle friendships and enjoy a home cooked meal. One of those in town is Sarah Audelo, daughter of Joe and Mimi Audelo, who now holds a Master of Public Policy from The George Washington University in Washington D.C. Sarah graduated from Ridgeview High School and received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.

 * ... MUSEUM: Bernie Herman, the retiring executive director of the Bakersfield Museum of Art, sent out a seasonal letter asking folks to donate to the museum. Herman will retire early next year (a search committee is interviewing finalists for his job now) and we should all take a moment to thank Bernie for guiding the museum these past eight years. When Herman became director, the museum had more than $1 million in debt. Today it is debt free and thriving, offering summer camps for children and sponsoring such popular events as Via Arte.

 * ... HOLIDAY THEFT: Eileen Sanchez awoke the other day to find that thieves made off with her son's basketball hoop. "I know this might seem trivial considering what has been happening in the world these days, but I wanted to share my disappointment at a time of year that should be full of giving and good tidings. My son's basketball hoop was stolen by a thief in the night. Actually, more like probably four thieves as this basketball hoop had a 54 inch glass backboard, water in the base, and weighed at least 300 pounds, no easy task. We purchased the hoop for his birthday this past June and he has shot baskets almost everyday since. My son and his dad spent ten hours putting that thing together and rolling it outside making sure it was just the right height.  He taped off the free throw line and knew just where the three point shots were.  It's sad to discover how quickly someone can take the joy out of a young boy's heart. Again, I know having a basketball hoop stolen is nothing compared to many things that are happening, but it's just one more sad example of a culture where people are so willing to take from others without hesitation, and from a child no less."

* ... GOOD WORK: The folks over at West Rotary are up to more seasonal good needs.  The group volunteered to sponsor 30 needy children at the KCMH-Children's Services this Christmas. Said county worker Vija A. Turjanis: "Last week I needed a trailer to pick up all the gifts that Rotary West  donated in response to the letter our kids wrote.  The  generosity of this organization is truly amazing as they made the magic of the holiday season came alive. Our neediest kids are going to have the most awesome Christmas and they will believe that our community and Santa does care for them and most importantly they will know that they are not forgotten during the holidays."

The owners of The Padre Hotel win a contract to renovate and restore Belmont Park in Mission Beach and there is turmoil in our local arts organizations

* ... PADRE: The owners of The Padre Hotel have been chosen to renovate one of San Diego's most historic areas, Belmont Park in Mission Beach. Brett Miller, CEO of Eat.Drink.Sleep, the company that brought The Padre back to life three years ago, said he looks forward to working with architects and engineers to return Belmont to a premier entertainment venue.The company also owns the Tower23 hotel and restaurant in Pacific Beach and the boutique hotel Heat in Lake Havasu.

 * ... LOST DOG: If you have a dog or cat, have you bothered to have them "chipped" so they can be returned if they get lost? Susan Ferguson wishes she had done so with her 15-year-old Bichon who escaped from her Westchester home recently. "Please urge your readers to get their animals chipped," "She had just been brushed and her collar was off.  Someone said they saw her near Jim Burke Ford but wasn't able to get her." As a side note, she posted a note on her lost dog on Craigslist, which is notorious for its scam artists. And now people are calling her from boiler rooms offering to find her dog for a hefty price.

 * ... LOCAL ARTS: There is a lot of turmoil in the local arts community with the top jobs of two important organizations- the Bakersfield Museum of Art and the Arts Council of Kern - in limbo. At the museum, a search committee is interviewing finalists for the director's job being vacated by retiring director Bernie Herman. Meanwhile the director of the Arts Council, Michael Millar, is on leave for an unspecified illness. Miller has been on the job since last summer but is largely unknown in the community (never helpful when trying to raise money), and during his absence the board has had to resort to layoffs because of dire financial conditions. Stay tuned. (file photo of Bernie Herman)

* ... SCHAEFER: Kim Schaefer, who worked for Congressman Jim Costa for more than two years, has joined the staff of incoming Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez. A native of Bar Harbor, Maine, Schaefer transferred to Stockdale High School in her junior year and later went on to study at both Bakersfield College and Cal State Bakersfield. She was a campaign coordinator for Costa and is now a communications director for Perez. She is 32.

 * ... SOUTHWEST BASEBALL: One of the better run, and more generous, organizations in town in the Southwest Baseball League. This weekend the leagaue will be hosting its Toys for Toys tournament with more than 60 teams involved. Each player will donate an unwrapped toy and the league will donate another couple thousand dollars to the Jamieson Center. In November, the league held a Turkey Trot Tournament that allowed it to donate 60 turkeys and $2,000 to local shelters. Now that's setting a good example for these kids.

 * ... RENEGADES: The victory by the Bakersfield College Renegades before 16,000 fans like week continues to resonate among fans. Said Ben Ansolabehere: "I think the best words I can use, as Jerry Collis used to say, is 'Good Old Kern County Pride.' Pride in the players, never quitting, determined to achieve their goals, and doing their jobs to the best of their abilities while knowing their teammates are doing the same... Finally to the people and fans of Kern County and BC in particular. They transported many of us old players and alumni of BC back, in my case 45 years, to the time when BC football was this very same experience every Saturday home game."

Bernie Herman to retire as executive director of the Bakersfield Museum of Art, planning on retirement and move to Southern California

 Bernie Herman has announced he is stepping down as executive director of The Bakersfield Museum of Art after eight years at the helm of the city's most prominent arts organization.
 Herman told members of the museum's Board of Trustees that he was planning on retiring and moving to Southern California to be closer to his daughters. He plans to leave the organization early next year and work with the Board on a transition.
 Herman has been a fixture in Bakersfield civic and non-profit organizations for 27 years, and once served as head of Mercy Hospital. He replaced Charles Meyers as head of the museum eight years ago.
 No word yet on who might succeed him at the museum. Among his most memorable accomplishments were dealing with a crushing debt that was later paid off and greatly expanding the museum education programsl.

Bako Bits: foreclosures move to higher end homes and an update on community treasure Marv Steinert

 * ... MORE SCARY HOUSING NEWS: I'd love to share some good news on the housing front but the truth is our country and are community remain mired in a nasty mess that will likely linger on for a good time to come. More evidence of that came from the Wall Street Journal that reported that an increasing number of foreclosures are now coming in the high end market. Up to this point, the lion's share of foreclosures have been coming in the entry level market, where many folks got in way over their heads thanks to aggressive lending and "creative financing." Yet now we learn the high end accounted for 30 percent of the foreclosures in June, up from 16 percent when all this started three years ago. You can read the full Journal report here but this is disturbing data on any level. Some of these foreclosures involve so called "exotic mortgages" like interest only vehicles, which are virtually impossible to refinance once the property is less worth than the loan. Add to that folks losing their jobs at all levels, and we have a problem. From the Journal story:

 "The report shows that foreclosures, after declining earlier this year, began to accelerate in the late spring and that more expensive homes have more recently accounted for a growing share of all foreclosures. "The slope of that curve in recent months is much sharper than it was recently," said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow. Rising foreclosures among more-expensive homes could create added pressure for a housing market that has shown signs of stabilizing in recent months as sales of lower-priced homes pick up."

 * ... UPDATE ON MARV:  Heard the other day that local businessman Marvin (Marv) Steinert continues to battle a condition that has left him virtually blind. A couple months ago Marv came down with something called "temporal arteritis," an inflammation or damage to the blood vessels that supply the head. It apparently has affected his eyesight to the point where he cannot see, but he is hanging tough, taking visitors and staying involved in the community. Marv is one of the most personally generous - and good spirited - businessmen in our community, and he has spread his largess to non-profits across town. Keep him in your thoughts.



 * ... LOCAL KID WINS AWARD: Kudos to Jadon Gauthier, a Bakersfield High School grad and Biola University student, for picking up another award for "Jitensha" (Bicycle), a short film shot on location in Tokyo. (read previous story here) Jadon is a junior down at Biola and the son of Jay Gauthier, a manager at Guardian Guaranty Corp. The film didn't win anything at the Venice Film Festival but did pick up a Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival. Jadon says "it nominates us for an opportunity for a $10,000 Vision Award for short film!" He says the movie cast and crew (check out the website here) is waiting to find out if Jitensha will be selected for the prestigious Sundance film festival.

 * ... VIA ARTE A SUCCESS: Stopped by the Via Arte exhibit over at The Marketplace this weekend and was amazed at the crowd and pleasantly impressed with some of the terrific chalk art. This is one of the signature events for the Bakersfield Museum of Art and it wouldn't be a success without folks from the museum like executive director Bernie Herman, Emily Falke and David Gordon, who put in long hours to make this a success. (Photo courtesy of Barbara Reid)

Bakersfield Museum of Art: steady as she goes

One can't help but wonder when this recession is going to start hurting some of our local non-profits and art groups that hang on by a thread in the best of times. And so it was at the Bakersfield Museum of Art tonight when it held its opening for the Ludvic painting and sculpture exhibit. It was good to see so many of the loyal supporters of the arts there: Bart and Napier Hill, Larry and Sandy Reider, Rogers and Esther Brandon, Barbara Reid, Claude and Shirley Fiddler, Milt Younger, Sheryl Barbich, Sue Jennings, Bobbie George, Cynthia Icardo, George and Marcia Giumarra among others. Museum executive director Bernie Herman tells me it's a tough year for the museum, with expected cutbacks in support from the city and county amid a general sense of recession-borne frugality. But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, including the Reiders and Rog Brandon shown in the photo.

Bakersfield Vision 2020: why it's important

Bakersfield Vision 2020 was a grassroots effort to improve our community by helping our community leaders realize what was important to the public: things like water parks, green space, better zoning, anything to help offset the "hot and dusty" reputation of our city. Why it took a grassroots campaign to help "educate" city and county leaders is another story for another time, but it's worth noting that Vision 2020 is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Local consultant and activist Sheryl Barbich has single-handedly (my words, not her's) pushed this agenda for the past decade, and it's good to see her still at it. Certainly others have helped, names like Bernie Herman, Susan Hersberger, Debbie Moreno, John Pryor, David Price, Larry Reider, Jim George and others. Here's a typical Vision 2020 priority, taken from the minutes of its February 11th meeting:

"John Pryor presented a request from council member (Zach) Scrivner for input on this two-mile sound wall along the freeway. Proposals include greenery and mural, both of which are encouraged in the V2020 Action Plan... it was recommended that any murals ... be in keeping with the image of cooler colors to offset the high negatives in Bakersfield's image of hot and dusty."

Glad to see Sheryl and her crew are still in there lobbying. We need more people willing to get involved and roll up their sleeves to help.