Thieves find a new way to break into garages, it's rattlesnake season around town and a huge weekend with Easter, Cirque du Soleil and Fleetwood Mac

 * … THEFTS: Here's a new technique that thieves use to break into our garages, and pay special attention if you own bicycles or motorcycles. A friend who lives on Country Club Drive in the

northeast awoke to find his two very high end mountain bikes (worth some $18,000) gone from his garage. The thieves, it turned out, punched a hole into the garage door and used coat hangers to release the emergency manual pull for the garage door. The whole process likely took just a few minutes. The quick fix: use a zip tie to anchor the emergency pull. Meanwhile, there has been a rash of home burglaries in the downtown area, including several where thieves entered through windows that were cracked open to enjoy the cooler weather.

 * … RATTLESNAKES: The warming weather ushers in snake season, and already they are out on our hiking and riding trails. Pat Bentley was walking her Airedale on the dirt path west of Coffee Road when she came upon two rattlesnakes. "Usually I let her off the leash when we're away from the path. For whatever reason, I didn't this time. Thank God! I was about 10 yards away when I saw them. They didn't move until I bent to get a stick. The scary part was how FAST they moved then. Like lightening. I knew there was a reason that I'm totally snake-phobic! Needless to say, she won't be off leash at all from now on."

 * … SPOTTED: A colleague posted this on Twitter: "Discovering mid-bite that the Jelly Belly is cinnamon rather than the Very Cherry you expected — life is made of these disappointments."

 * … WEEKEND: This is a huge weekend for our local restaurants, so if you are planning to be out and about, make your reservations now, particularly if you plan on being downtown. Besides being Easter weekend, Cirque du Soleil is in town at the Rabobank Arena and Fleetwood Mac will perform there for a sell out crowd on Monday.

 * … WINGS: Wings of Rescue is a terrific organization that flies stray dogs and cats to loving new homes. This note came from organizer Kristi Townsend: "I would like to thank the people of Kern County for their recent flood of donations to Wings of Rescue. They will be doing another massive airlift in April. In addition to spay and neuter, Wings of Rescue has been a very cost effective way to save countless dogs and cats and send them to their forever homes in other states. Please, can we keep a good thing going?"

* … ACHIEVER: Hats off to Kylee Koland Hoelscher who will graduate from Cal State Long Beach in May with an MFA in creative writing. The daughter of Pamela Koland, she is 1997 graduate of Bakersfield West High School and a 2001 graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara, with a BA in English.

 * … MEMORIES: Here is a blast from the past complim's ents of retired teacher Gail Oblinger: "How many people remember when the bookmobile used to be a regular feature at the Hillcrest Shopping Center? That was maybe in the 1970s. It came once a week in the late afternoon. If for some reason you missed getting there, it would be on Mt. Vernon Street in the Freddie’s Top o’ the Hill parking lot on a different day. Lots of the same adults and children showed up each week, and pretty soon everyone knew each other and it was a social time as well as book check out.  In summertime, folding chairs were set out and  children’s movies were shown in the parking lot at dusk.  Sometimes little craft programs were included.  I made a cornhusk doll there. "

Appreciating locally owned businesses and getting ready for more parolees to walk the streets of Bakersfield

 * ... STINSON'S: Dropped by Stinson's Stationers this week and joined a couple hundred other people for a tri tip sandwich lunch. The occasion was a table top show featuring more than 30 vendors displaying the latest in office supplies. Ben Stinson III wielded a bullhorn and worked the Sonoma Street warehouse like a showman, giving away prizes and introducing folks as they walked in the door. Locally owned since 1947, Stinson's is one of those reminders why Bakersfield is such a special place to live. There is nothing like walking into a Stinson's showroom, or a locally owned restaurant like Uricchio's or Luigi's or Casa Munoz, and being greeted by name by the owner.

* ... INMATE RELEASE: It was disheartening, not to mention alarming, to read that the Supreme Court has ordered the California prison system to release 30,000 inmates because of crowding. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood called it "shocking" and "dangerous" and noted state inmates are more of the hard core criminal types. "These are real prisoners, real felons," he warned, not just some pot smoking offender. It's  yet another consequence of this long recession that has left California broke and with a swollen prison population, many of whom will be dumped on the streets of Bakersfield. (Photo courtesy of the California Department of Corrections)

 * ... SPOTTED: Mick Fleetwood, founder and co-namesake of the legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac, was spotted at the downtown Padre Hotel this weekend.  The British-born Fleetwood was seen talking to friends and fans on the Prairie Fire lounge but it was not immediately known why he was in town.

 * ... GARCES CIRCLE: Nice to see the Garces Circle all spruced up and landscaped after the long Cal-Trans project to improve the overpass. If you haven't been down to the circle, it's worth a drive by. 


 * ... YOUNG DOC: Michele Newell wrote to sing the praises of her nephew, Jon Witcher, former valedictorian at Centennial High School. The son of Bob and Caryl Witcher, he will be graduating in June with a Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Science from UC Davis. He attended the University of Arizona where he received his bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and  then transferred to UC Davis where he earned his master’s.  "Not only will he become Dr. Witcher in 2011, he will also gain a wife! In October, he will marry Jasmyn Pangilinan, a graduate of BHS and daughter to Florencio and Nenette. Florencio is a local physician here in Bakersfield. Our family could not be more proud!" she said.

 * ... UCLA BOUND: Another local high school senior, Daniel Kinder, is headed to UCLA to study neuroscience. What makes this particularly appealing is that Daniel, who attends Liberty High, will be able to part of research for a cancer that has struck his own father. "On May 18, 2010 my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor that was eventually deemed cancerous. My major will allow me to be part of the research for cancer at the UCLA Medical School campus." Congratulations, Daniel.

 * .. BAKERSFIELDISM: You know  you may be from "old Oildale" if you remember Art 'D Que's Drive-in on the corner of North Chester and Justine Street, where Winchell's now stands. Thanks to Clete Harper for this little nugget.