Housing prices still heading south and four from Bakersfield named All-American in skeet shooting

* .. HOUSING BLUES: The long feared "double dip" in housing prices is now taking hold in as many as one in five major housing markets. That's the word from Zillow, the national real estate sales and data provider. Our own market here in Bakersfield remains slow, and local Realtors tell me there isn't a lot of inventory on the market. We are still working through thousands of foreclosures, and there are more to come. Zillow identified the top five cities to find a "bargain" for a house because of depressed prices. They are Naples, Fla., Cape Cod, Mass., Charleston, S.C., Merced, CA. (one house that sold for $337,000 five years ago just sold for $80,000) and Chicago. (read the Zillow and ABC report here) Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal referred to the pending flood of new foreclosures as "shadow inventory" and said there were enough homes expected to hit the market to last about 10 months based on average sales rates. It said the worst hit areas are California (naturally), Arizona, Florida and Nevada.

 * ... TRAVELING HOPWOODS: Reader Dale Hopwood wrote to remind me that Bakersfield was known as "Quakersfield" after the 1952 earthquake that devastated our once historic downtown. But he really wanted to talk about his children, some of whom moved away but came back home to live and work. His son, Ken Hopwood, is a North High graduate who was living in the Southland but moved back to work as a software engineer for Prosoft. Ken 's wife, Becky Coats, is working with the reading class at Endeavour Elementary. Meanwhile daughter Dana Villicano is teaching science at Fruitvale Junior High and another son, George Hopwood, is working at UC Santa Barbara in the special projects office. Finally, the last of the traveling Hopwoods is his daughter Sara Holm, a geologist living in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

 * ... SKEET HONORS: Kudos to four Bakersfield skeet shooters who have been named to the 2010 All-American Teams by the National Skeet Shooting Association. This is really unusual to have so many from one club make the All-American squads, and it's a credit to the programs and facilities at the Kern County Gun Club located near the Lake Buena Vista Recreation Area. Ben Wagoner, the 45-year-old owner of Air Control Services heating and air conditioning, was named to the Rookie First Team while Brian Foley was named to both the Open Honorable Mention team and the Junior First Team. Foley graduated from Ridgeview High and is now a freshman at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo. Also named All-Americans were sisters Emily and Rachel Shuford, a senior and sophomore at Bakersfield High respectively. Rachel made the Sub-Junior First Team and Emily the Junior Honorable Mention Team. 

 (Above picture left to right Emily Shuford, Brian Foley, Brooke Shuford and Rachel Shuford. Lower picture is Ben Wagoner with Brian Foley)


 * ... B-TOWN JUST FINE: Reader Dave Collins, who works at the local collection agency Commercial Trade, dropped me a nice personal note and ended it by saying "... by the way, I think 'Bako' is just fine along with B-town and Bake-in-the-field." Add him to the list who think 'Bako' is not an insult.


* ... BAKERSFIELDISMS: You know you are from Bakersfield when ...  "You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink" and "You know Trouts and we're not talking about the fish."

Bako bits: a video tribute to a fallen friend, the shame of Roy Ashburn and a holiday weekend

We're heading into a holiday weekend with temperatures (mercifully) down a full 10 degrees to the high 90s. (You know you're from Bako when a weekend high of 98 sounds good). Let's wrap up some news around our town:

* TRIBUTE TO A FRIEND... I'm still mourning the loss of Alton Saceaux, one of the tribe of avid recreational cyclists around town. (see my previous post here) I was moved by what he told Californian reporter Steve Swenson some years ago, that you simply have to "assume you are invisible" to try to stay out of harms way. I do a good bit of riding and can't count the number of times when you hear the truck behind you and wonder if your time is up. You simply can't worry about it and have to concentrate on holding a straight line. There will be a memorial ride Thursday evening starting at the Bike Bakersfield headquarters downtown (everyone is asked to have lights on their bikes) beginning around 6:30 p.m. One of Alton's friends posted this moving video tribute which I'd like to share. Keep his family in your thoughts.




* THE SHAME OF ROY ASHBURN:.. Columnist Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times took Bakersfield's Roy Ashburn to task today for being one of two state senators to refuse to join others in agreeing to a voluntary 5 percent pay cut. Ashburn is already in the hot seat for voting with the Democrats to break a budget logjam and I can't imagine this will endear him to his constituents. Roy gave a Times reporter a pitifully lame excuse for failing to do so, saying the money may simply go back to the budget controlled by Senate Democrats. Really Roy? I'm just stunned how these guys just don't seem to get it. Folks are being laid off, struggling, and everyone I know (including employees at The Californian) have suffered pay cuts as well as cuts in the 401(k) match. Roy's earlier move was hailed by some as an act of courage; I see this an act of self serving cowardice. (Photo courtesy of Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America)



* SKEET CHAMPIONSHIPS ... Can't get enough of explosives this weekend? Head out to the Kern County Gun Club next to Lake Buena Vista Recreation Area for the California State Skeet Shooting Championships. Two hundred of the best skeet shooters in the state will be on hand for three days of busting clays. There's no cost to come watch these incredible shooters. Among the stars will be some junior shooters from Bakersfield who have made names for themselves, including Brian Foley, a recent Ridgeview High grad headed to Lindenwood University in Missouri on a skeet scholarship. Brian is the reigning world champion in the 12 gauge. Also, Bakersfield High sisters Brooke, Emily and Rachel Shuford will be there shooting the lights out of the targets. Shooting runs Friday through Sunday all day.

Kids and guns: the other side of the story

Tragedies like the shooting rampage that killed 14 at an immigrant counseling center in Binghamton, N.Y. always lead to questions about gun control. I don't think that's a bad conversation, and I personally am not offended by some of my friends who believe all weapons inherently evil, even if I don't agree. But I wish those folks could meet kids like those shown in this picture (click on picture to enlarge). They're our kids, all from Bakersfield, good kids from good families with good values. And all happened to be reared in families where hunting and the shooting sports were the norm. This is the other side of the Binghamton story that seems rarely told. I had a chance to see all these kids this weekend out at the Kern County Gun Club where 150 shooters from across the nation converged for a skeet shooting competition. Two of those pictured above (Brian Foley and Elizabeth Key, seated above)are Ridgeview High seniors headed to Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., on shooting scholarships. The girls seated on the tailgate are the shooting Shuford sisters, all high achieving kids in their own right. Brooke (seated right) is a BHS senior deciding between theUniversity of San Diego and Cal Poly (she's interested in micro biology), Emily (seated left) will be a senior at BHS and Rachel will be a freshman Driller. For every Binghamton tragedy there are thousands of examples like these high achieving kids who have learned to use and respect firearms.