Remembering the Lakeview Gusher and I take some heat for criticizing public employee unions

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* ... LAKEVIEW GUSHER: If you think the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is bad, consider the 1910 Lakeview Gusher that blew between the towns of Taft and Maricopa. The total volume of oil spilled at the historic Kern County gusher was 378 million gallons, the equivalent of nine million barrels. The Deepwater Horizon blowout has yet to reach half that size. I'm not downplaying the economic and environmental impact of the Gulf disaster, but the Lakeview Gusher still stands alone in terms of sheer volume. In fact, it remains the largest oil spill in history. The Lakeview spill took 18 months to get under control and created a lake that workers actually crossed in wooden row boats. (photos courtesy of the West Kern Oil Museum

 * ... REMEMBERING DUDLEY'S: Faithful reader Glen Worrell recalled that the old eastside eatery  Dudley's (on the corner of Mt. Vernon and Quincy Street) primarily catered to boys while the girls ate across the street at Hopi's. "I worked at Dudley's my junior year (at East Bakersfield High School). Dudley had a platter of spaghetti and beans with one slice of bread (a penny a slice for more bread). That was 15 cents. There was also tamale and beans for 20 cents - no bread. Dudley also had a plate lunch that featured meatloaf, mashed potatoes and a vegetable (no bread). You could always get a slice of bread for a penny. About half way between Quincy Street and Flower Street was another place for students to eat. Boy and girls both ate there. That's where the smokers went. I still mix spaghetti and beans together at Woolgrower's!"

* ... COUNTY WORKERS: Reader Mona Martin took me to task for suggesting that public employee unions haven't felt the same pain as private sector workers in this recession. She noted her husband has worked for the county for 24 years and argues it has been anything but a cakewalk. "One would think that after 24 years our family wouldn't have to bite our nails until they bleed during budget hearings, but we always do, and let me tell you, it has gotten old." She went on to say that he has been reassigned and suffered multiple pay cuts. "We are not getting rich off his job, only expecting what was promised for his sacrifice of pay increases ... Please reconsider your impression that county workers don't know how to suffer cutbacks."

 * ... BIG JOE: Had a nice chat the other day with local trainer Joe Peterson, one of our community's true competitive athletes. I found him at Yokuts Park after his morning boot camp ended and he shared his thoughts about competing in the most recent Race Across America bicycle race. It was his 11th time doing the race - that is amazing in itself - and this time his mixed tandem team broke the previous RAM record by 5 1/2 hours. "And it was the first time I went across the entire country without one drop of rain," he told me. "In fact we had very little wind even in Kansas." Congrats, Joe.

  * ... SPOTTED: Saw this on Twitter, posted as a re-tweet by Rep. Kevin McCarthy: "Think Wimbledon tickets are expensive? Our national debt has gone up by $1,729,000,000 during the Isner versus Mahut match."

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From Facebook: You know you're from Bakersfield if you remember "cruising Chester Avenue and Stockdale Highway on date night and the drive-in theater right off the freeway at the airport exit."

Father Craig heads for Russia with iPad in hand and what about a "I Love Bakersfield" campaign?

 * ... HIGH ACHIEVER: Reader Georgann Greene wrote to tell me about a remarkable young man who is about to graduate from UCLA. He's Richard Rodriguez, a 2006 Centennial High graduate who was the first in his family to go to college. He is also a hemophiliac and has received treatments at the UCLA Medical Center his whole life. Yet despite this, he is graduating with a major in microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics. Richard spent last summer studying and working in a science lab at Harvard University. His goal is to become a research physician specializing in blood disorders. Now, that's a high achiever.


* ... HAPPY 90TH: An anonymous caller left a happy birthday wish for John Evelyn, a longtime Bakersfield resident who will turn 90 years old this week. Apparently John is a regular hiker of the Panorama Bluffs and has amassed quite a fan club over the years. The caller said he's headed to Morro Bay to celebrate his 90th and wanted to wish him all the best. Happy birthday John.
 

 * ... BAKO LOVE: If New York can have its ubiquitous "I LOVE NEW YORK" slogan plastered on T-shirts and car stickers, how about a "I LOVE BAKERSFIELD" campaign? At least that was the thought of Ray Dezember, the retired banker and Bakersfield booster who took the idea to Sheryl Barbich, head of the local Vision 2020 effort. Ray wrote a check and Sheryl ordered 5,000 "I Love Bakersfield" car stickers. Expect to see them around town. You can pick them up at the downtown Chamber of Commerce or the Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau.

 * ... ROAD RAGE: More feedback from my post on cyclists almost being killed by irate drivers on the road to Woody. This from reader Layne Logan: "As much as I'd like to see the guy who tried run  your fellow cyclists off the road get his just desserts, I'm afraid I have to side with (reader) Marty Richardson on this one. It appears to me that (an earlier reader) didn't quite comprehend what Richardson was saying. She didn't say anything about the cyclists doing anything illegal, only that the road was dangerous. While the rise of riding can never be eliminated, it can be minimized. I ride daily, but on wide roads or roads with marked shoulders or bike lane. Just because you're legal doesn't mean you're safe. Being in the right (legally) will be little consolation to you or your family if you end up badly injured or killed (remember Norm Hoffman). As I told my kids when teaching them to drive defensively - you can be dead right."

 * ... IPAD: Ran into Monsignor Craig Harrison at The Padre Hotel the other afternoon and he was busy showing off his new iPad tablet from Apple. He was clearly impressed with the iPad's impressive array of applications but admitted he was a novice at technology. Father Craig also told me he was preparing for a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, with 60 other folks from the parish. Cutting edge technology meets old world Mother Russia.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're a Bakersfield old-timer if "you remember the names of Bakersfield's two first-rate Jewish delis around the corner from each other. (Dave's on Chester and Joe's around the corner on 21st Street.