A new downtown infill project of luxury apartments heads toward the final stretch, remembering the remarkable Betty Leonor and new guidelines for giving blood

* ... PROGRESS: A new project to bring semi-luxury apartments downtown looks like it is entering

the final stretch. Siding has gone up on the new 17th Place, a 44-unit complex that sits between N and O streets off 17th, just a block from the Rico Bowl. The project, targeted to millennials with apartments in the 1,200 square foot range, is the brainchild of Ward 4 city councilman Bob Smith and his son, Austin Smith. It will be an important test in the concept of urban 'infilling' for Bakersfield and, if successful, will undoubtedly spark more investment downtown.

 * ... ROSEDALE: And speaking of progress, road crews are busy trying to complete the widening of Rosedale Highway between Highway 99 and Coffee Road. New asphalt and striping has been completed west to Mohawk and the center dividers are now in well past that.

* ... GOOD FORM: This was a scene at Dewar's downtown the other day when a reader and her brother were enjoying some sodas at the bar. "A film crew was present at one end of the counter. We were at the opposite end when a nice man came over to us and asked if he could hide behind us while the film crew was there. He picked up his 'to go' order and disappeared. When we attempted to pay for the sodas we were told the gentleman paid our bill. That has never happened to either of us before and we will never forget his kind act. As we were leaving my brother commented, 'Why do you suppose he did that?' I smiled and said, 'because we are old and he felt sorry for us!'"

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If women think all men are the same, then why do they worry so much about picking the right one?"

 * ... OVERHEARD: At the Bakersfield Racquet Club a man is telling a partner: "I gave blood yesterday and now they ask if your current gender is the once you were born with. A real sign of the times I suppose."

 * ... BETTY: It was a year ago that cancer claimed the life of Betty Leonor, an incredible talent and artist who did some of her best work while living and working in Bakersfield. A native of the Dominican Republic, Leonor landed in Bakersfield almost by mistake (she followed her husband here) but immediately attracted a large following for her stunning series of oil paintings, many self portraits. Leonor died of liver cancer at the age of 44, but her legacy lives on via her paintings that hang on walls throughout our town.

 * ... TRIBUTE: I posed the question earlier about legacies, and how we believe we will be remembered when we are gone. Most of us will never be famous, or well known beyond our immediate circles, but that doesn't determine the impact we live. Consider this note from John Moore of Moore Farms/White Wolf Potato, who wrote to note the passing of his secretary and bookkeeper Margaret Morrison. "Margaret passed away at age 85 one week before the end of our potato harvest earlier this month. It would have been the finish of her 60th season working for our business. She was a dedicated employee who worked with four generations of Moore's. A Canadian by birth, she began working for my grandfather in 1956 and finished her career working with my children. She was the mainstay of our office for many years and she witnessed many changes in the way we do business. From the days of adding machines, hand typewriters, and landlines to today's world of cellphones, computers and accounting programs, she saw it all. Margaret never had children of her own thus dedicated her life to the success of our business and the well being of all her associates here. Her passing marks the end of an era. Her longevity was matched only by her loyalty. Such people are rare and hard to find and she will be greatly missed!"

A major university issues a "bias free" language guide that says the use of the word "American" can be offensive ... really? And artist Betty Leonor dies after battling liver cancer

    * ... LANGUAGE: Here's another sign of the times we live in: a "Bias Free Language Guide" has been put together by faculty and staff at The University of New Hampshire. The guide recommends, among other things, that we drop the reference to being Americans" because that could be offensive.

Seriously. Said the guide: “North Americans often use ‘American’ which usually, depending on the context, fails to recognize South America. American assumes the U.S. is the only country inside these two continents.” Instead, the guide recommends terms such as “U.S. citizen,” “resident of the U.S.” and “North American or South American” as “preferred.” Some other recommendations in the guide:
    Problematic: Opposite sex. Preferred: Other sex.
    Problematic: Homosexual. Preferred: Gay, Lesbian, Same Gender Loving
    Problematic: Normal … healthy or whole. Preferred: Non-disabled.
    Problematic/Outdated: Mothering, fathering. Preferred: Parenting, nurturing.
    Problematic/Outdated: Obese, overweight people. Preferred: People of size.

 * ... LEONOR: Our community lost a shining light this week when local artist Betty Leonor died after a long battle with liver cancer. Betty was know for her stunning self portraits in oil which were exhibited several times locally at The Metro Galleries. While battling cancer she returned twice to her beloved Dominican Republic where she established a foundation to help impoverished youth. Her husband is former CSUB baseball coach Bill Kernen.

 * ... PASSING: I was also told that Pat Patterson, the very first freshman class president at East High School in 1938, passed away this week. She was also a long-time teacher and counselor at Bakersfield High.

* ... MUSIC: A big Americana music festival is coming to the CSUB amphitheater in October, and this weekend country radio station KUZZ 107.9 is giving listeners a chance to score tickets before they go on sale. Sets of tickets to the 99 Music Festival will be given away this weekend only on KUZZ. The music festival, featuring Ray Wylie Hubbard, James McMurtry, Sam Outlaw, Monty Byrom and others, is a tribute to the unique sound that has been called "Americana" music. Tickets are going for $40 and can be purchased beginning next Friday at www.99musicfest.com.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER:" I feel like there’s something missing in my life and I don’t know if it’s a person, a puppy, or just a burrito."

 * ... BASEBALL: Congratulations to a local Bakersfield baseball team that has earned a berth in the World Series in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The Northwest baseball 18U won the Pacific Southwest Regional (California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Colorado) and will leave next Thursday for the World Series. The team is comprised of players from 10 different Kern County schools and is a true representation of Bakersfield at its best.

  * ... TREES: The Bakersfield City School District dropped me a note regarding a reader who complaining about trees being cut down at Munsey Elementary School. Said Steve McClain from the business office: "We would like to share with your readers that Munsey Elementary School’s tree removal was part of the district’s school safety improvement plan which includes the extraction of deteriorated trees. In place of the damaged trees, we are planting three new Chinese Pistache trees that will grow alongside two recently planted Oak trees. Over time, these trees will provide shade for the student bus loading area and the hard court play areas for primary grade students. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this public concern as we strive to improve our schools for children.

Remembering the late Wendy Wayne, child welfare advocate, and catching up with what is going on out at Cal State Bakersfield

 * … WENDY: The social networking site Facebook can be annoying and intrusive at times, but I was thankful when it "reminded" me that it was Wendy Wayne's birthday on Tuesday. She would have

been 66.  For those of you who weren't lucky enough to know Wendy, she was a local child welfare advocate who had a heart of gold and never met stranger. She died in June of 2012 after a long battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but the work she did here and elsewhere to help the needy and disenfranchised will live on forever. She was a UCLA graduate, a registered nurse and a Peace Corps volunteer. For Wendy, happiness came in helping others, in learning and accepting opposing points of view and in growing spiritually. Thank you, Facebook, for reminding me of this very special person. (photo of Wendy with husband Gene Tackett)

* … VOLLEYBALL: My bet is the new sand volleyball program out at Cal State Bakersfield is going to be a big success. This will be the second year of the sand game, which is played by some of the same Runner women who play on the hard court. Three sand courts have been built outside the student recreation center and the university is busy readying the area for spectators.

 * … BASEBALL: And speaking of CSUB, baseball season is just around the corner. Manager Bill Kernan is hoping this year's squad will win the Western Athletic Conference and end up in the NCAA baseball tournament. Strange that a spring sport is getting ready to kick off when we hardly had a winter.

 * … ART SHOW: Betty Leonor is one of our community's most gifted artists and her stunning oil paintings will be on display at The Metro Galleries on 19th Street starting this Friday. This will be Leonor's second show at Metro and it promises to be her best. Leonor, by coincidence, is married to Cal State baseball coach Bill Kernan. Her show is one of the main draws for the monthly First Friday celebration downtown.

 * … BAD FORM: Stephen Knapp writes that he lives a retirement home run by the Kern County  Housing Authority between Ming Avenue and Wilson Road on Real Road.  "There is a legal crosswalk in front for people to cross Real Road to go to K-Mart and other stores which a lot of use.  Most of the people who live here are disabled and use wheelchairs, walkers, canes etc. and move slowly. The speed limit is 40 miles per house and the crosswalk is clearly marked with lines and yellow warning signs, but few drivers even slow down.  I have sat trying to cross while 5 to 10 cars pass and don't stop.  I have even had cars pass in the other lane when I am trying to cross.  One time a lady in a large SUV honked at me and flashed a one finger salute as she sped by. I feel there should be signs warning people to slow down for seniors just like in school   zones.  I just hope it doesn't take one of us getting killed before someone addresses the problem.

 * … DROUGHT: Judy Henderson wrote to weigh in on California's long drought. She recently took a visitor from Arizona on a walk, and he noticed that  "water ran freely in the gutters of more than one street. Lawns were so saturated with water that soil washed onto sidewalks. One home had a sprinkler that watered the street only. A resident was washing down the sidewalks around his home.  Our visitor commented that it looked to him that Bakersfield had plenty of water to waste… How often should winter rye lawns be watered? Are some lawns still on the summer timer cycle?  Should winter lawns be watered for two minutes, twice a week?  Could we find the source of gutters that run with water twenty-four hours a day. We need to be pro-active to stop the waste.  People of Bakersfield can do better for our city and state."

RIP Vernon Chappel, ex Bakersfield College cheerleader, and keep Audrey Chavez in your thoughts as she battles an illness

  * ... RIP: Vernon Chappel, a legendary cheerleader who epitomized the spirit of college life at Bakersfield College and Cal State Bakersfield, has passed away. Most recently Chappel was a minister in Raleigh, N.C., but many folks remember when Vernon was an enthusiastic BC cheerleader in the late 1970s. He was at BC when the Renegades won the Junior Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and he later went on to CSUB to help cheer the basketball team in its march to the national finals. Marlene Morales, head of communications over at the Chain Cohn Stiles law firm, told me he was scheduled to return here to conduct a sermon at St. Paul's when he died in his sleep. He was just 56 years old. (photos courtesy of Marlene Morales)

* ... AUDREY: One of our community's most tireless volunteers, Audrey Chavez, is hospitalized with a bleeding disorder and is in need of blood donations. Audrey is the founder and leader of the Bakersfield AIDS Project and Ricky’s Retreat AIDS Hospice. Her blood type is A positive and you can donate in her behalf at Houchin Community Blood Bank (her account is under the number 779). The blood drive goes until February 9. Please keep Audrey and her family in your thoughts.

 * ... FIRST FRIDAY: There are a lot of reasons to head downtown for First Friday, including getting a bite to eat at one of the growing number of downtown restaurants (Uricchio's Trattoria, Muertos, Mama Roomba, Chef's Choice Noodle Bar, The Mark, Mexicali among them). One of the more impressive openings will be held at The Metro Galleries (19th and Eye streets) where the work of Betty Leonor will be featured. This is some really stunning stuff that makes Metro a must stop during your walk around downtown. Also at 6 p.m. there will be a ribbon cutting for Al Mendez's remarkable mural on the side of Front Porch Music next to The Padre Hotel.

* ... BURGLARY: There have been a rash of burglaries and break-ins in the neighborhoods up near Bakersfield College. I am told homes on Princeton, Radcliffe and Shattuck have been hit and neighbors are now alert and reporting any suspicious activity.

 * ... VETERAN: This note courtesy of reader Linda Burton: "Yesterday on the corner of Snow and Coffee roads I saw a heartbreaking sight. One of our valued elderly war veterans stood in the rain, his head held low as he rested against his cane and vehicle with a sign that read; 'life is hard, help if you can.' I stopped and gave him a card for groceries and asked what was happening. He said he’d been struggling financially, needed a new pacemaker and was trying to convince the Veteran's Administration to pay for it. I asked him to please get out of cold rain and to deal with it another day, but he refused. I felt furious and saddened that this poor man who had given so much for so many was reduced this. Then just as I was leaving I saw a young woman walk up with a bag of groceries, followed by a young man who stopped to offer cash.  It occurred to me what a wonderful community we live in spite of our broken federal system. We all need to do more for our senior citizens folks, this kind of thing should never happen!"

 * ... MEMORIES: Bernice Johnson wrote me a nice note sharing with me some of her old Bakersfield memories. The first time she had a Mexican meal, for example, was at Sinaloa when it was located in the current Wood Grower's building. It was the night before one of her girlfriends was getting married, some time in 1951. She also shopped at the Green Frog Market when it was located at California and Chester avenue, and later in the 1980s used to drive from Shafter to eat at Banducci's Corner.

 * ... TEA ROOM: And finally, Jackie Ardell wrote to with the answer to the name of the old tea room that was located on Truxtun Avenue. "I used to worked there in the 1940s.  It was Betty Lee's Tea Room." Another reader, Jean Gillian, remembers Betty Lee's as a large home with a wrap around porch. "The owner served fabulous meals but also had rooms to let for single women for it was difficult to find housing in the 1940s.  Still remember the owner for she bought her meat from a butcher and owner of Stephens Market on Chester and Fourth Street. She was a large well dressed woman and  knew what she wanted when placing her orders and watched that the butcher didn’t place his fingers on the scale when weighing the meat!"