Is public opinion moving toward banning fireworks? And when will the Bakersfield City Council put public safety over the needs of the non profits who sell fireworks?

 * … FIREWORKS: Until our City Council puts public safety over the needs of the non profits, Bakersfield will continue to endure the danger that both legal and illegal fireworks pose every July Fourth. But it does appear that public opinion appears to be moving in favor of a ban. Take for example Kathy Scott, one reader who has always enjoyed small firework displays in her neighborhood, until recently. "This year our home was rattled with what seemed to be bottle rockets, fireworks setting homes on fire in nearby neighborhoods, and several nights later this is still continuing." Then, her daughter in Indiana called to say her own daughter had been burned by remnants falling from the sky. Kathy's solution? Outlaw home fireworks but provide plenty of venues for controlled displays.

 * … THE MARK: A beautiful new patio with outdoor seating is getting ready to open at The Mark, one of downtown's newer upscale eateries. The restaurant leased a small parking lot next door on19th Street, cordoned it off with New Orleans-style wrought iron, and is installing an outdoor bar and seating. It should open in about a month.

 * … FOOD DEALS: And speaking of local restaurants, the Wall Street Cafe on L Street is now offering 50 percent off all bottles of wine on Wednesdays. And over at Uricchio's Trattoria downtown, they are offering a $6 happy hour artichoke pizza that is outstanding.

 * … HALL OF FAME: Congratulations to Bakersfield's Hal Stewart and Kernville's Paul Mooney for being inducted into the California Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame. Along with Keith Phelps and Fred Sanders of Southern California, Stewart and Mooney were inducted after last weekend's state championship that was held at the Kern County Gun Club. Stewart worked at KMC as director of pharmacy services for 27.5 years and the last seven years for Kern Health Systems as its corporate pharmacist. Mooney is a broker/owner with Century 21 of Lake Isabella Realty.

* … WATER: If you want some tips on how to deal with the drought, head over to Urner's Appliance Center this Saturday where the Water Association of Kern County and other agencies will be giving out free advice on water saving appliances, landscaping and more. It runs from 9 a.m. to noon.

 * … OUR THIN SKIN: I've been thinking a lot about how our community reacts to criticism (the latest was the salvo from actor Eric Roberts who stayed in town long to determine that we "suck.") It reminded of a recent column by the New York Times' David Brooks in which Brooks - unlike Roberts - catches the nuances of life, community and self esteem. In his words: "People with a crooked timber mentality tend to see life as full of ironies. Intellectual life is ironic because really smart people often do the dumbest things precisely because they are carried away by their own brilliance. Politics is ironic because powerful people make themselves vulnerable because they think they can achieve more than they can. Marriage is ironic because you are trying to build a pure relationship out of people who are ramshackle and mess." And finally Brooks concludes, and this is for you, Eric: "Have you noticed that people from ugly places love their cities more tenaciously than people from beautiful cities?" And that is because happiness is earned through friendships and human kindness, not geography or a view.

Bako Bits: Looking for a $2 million mansion? Plenty to choose from in Bakersfield, and more on stray dogs and cats and those young gun skeet shooters about town

 * … REAL ESTATE: How many homes do you think are for sale in Bakersfield for $2 million or

more? A simple search of the Trulia real estate website found five in that range, starting at $2.3 million and soaring to a $2.9 million mansion boasting seven bedrooms, eight baths and 16,000 square feet of
living space. Meanwhile, an old home I have admired downtown that sold for $220,000 in 2010 is back on the market listed at $775,000. What is this, 2006?

* … STRAYS: The throw-away culture that exists in our society unfortunately extends to pets, and Kern County seems ground zero for stray animals. Recently an emaciated, but very sweet, female gray cat showed up on my porch. She was hungry, for food, for water and most of all, for attention. I later learned that she had been spayed and walked with a limp because of an injury that no one bothered to attend to. A friend took her in, nourished her and heard the soft purr of a cat that only wanted to be loved. By the time she was taken to a veterinarian, it was too late. Someone out there unceremoniously dumped this cat in my neighborhood, an act so cruel that it defies logic. At least "Honey," as she was named over a 72-hour period, had love at the end.

 * … OVERHEARD: A friend coming back from the beach this week remarked: "What moron at Caltrans decided to reduce Highway 46 to one lane during Spring break week for minor road work?"

 * … SPOTTED: Former Gov. Pete Wilson was in town this week and was spotted in the lobby of the Padre Hotel chatting with KEDC director Richard Chapman and county counsel Teri Goldner.

 * … YOUNG GUNS: One of Bakersfield's best kept secrets is that each year it produces some of the best young skeet shooters in the nation. And that tradition continued this weekend at the Ken Barnes Open Skeet Tournament at the Kern County Gun Club. Miles Ramsey, the 13-year-old Stockdale Christian seventh grader and son of Mark and Betsy Ramsey, came away as the class champion in both the 28 gauge and 410 bore and as High Overall Champion in his class. And Jenna Bouni, 16-year-old daughter of Frank and Lori Bouni, shot a perfect 100 X 100 in the 12 gauge and also claimed the lady's championship with an overall score of 388 X 400. She is a freshman at Grand Canyon College in Phoenix. Both kids represent a long line of local teens who have had outstanding careers shooting skeet.

   * … MEMORIES: Jack Kelley posed this question:  "Good morning Richard. I was wondering if any of the old timers in Bakersfield remember the police motorcycles painted red and black. They were painted black and white after a lawsuit forced all vehicles issuing traffic tickets had to be painted black and white. I don’t think this applies anymore."
                                                                 

Rep. Kevin McCarthy votes against the fiscal cliff compromise and celebrating the success of two local businesses in our downtown area

* ... MCCARTHY: Interesting to note that our own Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Whip in charge of herding votes for House Speaker John Boehner, voted against the fiscal cliff compromise that Boehner supported. Did McCarthy vote against the measure only once he was sure he had the votes to pass it? Or was he simply casting a vote in tune with his conservative district? Also voting against the measure was Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader. Former GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan supported it.  McCarthy told me this about his vote: “There were good reasons to vote for it, and good reasons to vote against it. I believed that any legislation considered by the House had to seriously address the root of our debt crisis: Washington’s out-of-control spending.”

 * ... SERVICE: Harry Starkey, general manager of the West Kern Water District, gave this shout out to  good service in the city of Taft. "I went to a local framing shop here in Taft (KC Photography and Framing owned by Robert and Karen Mitchell) to have a few things matted and framed for a small job in my office. I was trying to describe the colors I wanted matched when the owners offered to come by my office to match the colors directly. Now that’s service!"

 * ... YOGA: It's good to see two locally owned yoga businesses doing so well. Both Inner Bodyworks and Yoga Space have moved to freshly renovated buildings in the downtown area, and both seem to be enjoying brisk business. Yoga Space is located on F Street and Inner Bodyworks is near the Fox Theater on H Street. (photo of staff at Inner Bodyworks)

 * ... OLYMPIAN: There are reports that five-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode, the most successful female shooter in Olympic history, may be coming to Bakersfield in April for the Ken Barnes Open Skeet Championship. Rhode most recently won a gold medal in last year's Olympic skeet shooting competition. If her schedule permits, I am told she will shoot the 12 gauge in the April 12-14 tournament to be held at the Kern County Gun Club. The tournament is named after local Realtor Ken Barnes, the first person to ever shoot a perfect 400 X 400 in tournament skeet.

* ... FIRST FRIDAY: Downtown's popular monthly event returns for the first Friday of 2013. Metro Galleries continues to show Christine McKee's "On the Homefront" exhibit, a stunning show devoted to military families and those who serve. Next door at The Foundryit  is opening night for "It's Not Easy Being Green." This show features works created by Foundry members using green as the predominant color. First Friday organizer Don Martin tells me there are lots of new events planned for 2013 including a free monthly concert starting in March.

Downtown residents gather to oppose the widening of 24th Street and seniors at Garces Memorial High School pull off a year-end prank

* ... 24th STREET: There is a small but growing movement to oppose the widening of 24th Street downtown. A flyer being distributed to Westchester residents opposes the widening, saying it will destroy historic property and lead to a 40 percent decline in property values. The group is urging people to attend the upcoming hearings on the Thomas Roads Improvement Program (TRIP) project. Expect to hear more from these citizens. The plan is to widen 24th Street to six lanes, three in each direction, while cutting off some access to the south side of downtown by closing off some of the streets.

* ... GEESE: Darlyn Baker was heading west on Truxtun last week when traffic ground to a halt near Empire Drive. "Lo and behold, heading north across Truxtun was this family of geese.  It looked like the parents and six little ones. They made it safely across at their own pace... How refreshing to see the power of nature... to bring Truxtun traffic to a halt!" (photo by Darlyn Baker)

 * ... GUN CLUB: The Kern County Gun Club will hold its annual dinner and auction this Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Bakersfield Elks Club. This is always an interesting and well attended event featuring both live and silent auctions and drawings. Tickets are $100 each. For more information call Ken Ferra at (661) 332-4680. And speaking of the shooting sports, I ran into Mark and Betsy Ramsey at Trader Joe's the other day and they told me son Miles has taken up skeet shooting at the Kern County Gun Club. Miles is being tutored by Clifford Bolt, an ace skeet shooter and a terrific coach. Miles is thinking of entering the Junior World tournament later this summer. (file photo of skeet shooter)

 * ... SPOTTED: Driving south on Highway 99 in a pickup truck, the driver is reading the Camera Ads auto trader publication while his passenger is engrossed in texting on his cell phone.

* ... SENIOR PRANK: A group of seniors over at Garces Memorial High School posted flyers photoshopping the faces of Monsignor Michael Braun and other school administrators on a historic picture of Adolf Hitler and some of his henchmen. They also apparently glued some of the classroom doors shut to delay the final exams for underclassmen. All this was done after they had graduated but underclassmen still had a few days of classes left. This little prank was clearly in bad taste as well as being destructive, but as one parent said: "Boys will be boys. Monsignor Braun should just budget for year-end pranks like this."

* ... SWAP MEET: Reader Joe Michael was at the swap meet on Union Avenue one recent morning when he noticed a young woman wearing a matching smock and pants like a health care worker with a stethoscope in her front pocket. Michael wondered how smart it was to carry a stethoscope in such a dusty and dirty environment. "A good friend of mine living in another city had surgery ... and contracted a staph infection, which entered his blood stream, went to his heart and lungs and he died the next day..... I thought of approaching her and asking where she worked and if she planned to sterilize the stethoscope before using it, but decided against it," he said.

* ... PREFIXES: More feedback on those old telephone prefixes, this one from reader Don Edwards: "My folks bought a house in the early 1950s out by the airport. I well remember the party line and prefix days. However the EX prefix wasn't Exchange. It was Export. Just a very trivial correction."

Special birthday wishes to a remarkable man and yet more remembrances of Jack and Elaine Lalanne.

 * ... BIRTHDAY: Special birthday wishes go out to a man who doesn't know the meaning of slowing down. Check out this resume Louis Kerker, who will turn 100 on February 12th, was born in Peoria, Illinois, and ended up in Bakersfield in 1936 working for Superior Oil. During World War II he became a Seabee and was attached to the 1st Marine Division. He later returned to Superior Oil and worked another 37 years before retiring in 1976. He became a school crossing guard for 10 years and in 1990 organized a volunteer Citizen Service unit at the Kern County Sheriff's Department. The Bakersfield BPOE #266 is sponsoring a lunch for Louis at the Elk's Club at 11:30  a.m. on his birthday.

 * ... JACK LALANNE: Everyone seems to have a story about the late and great fitness guru Jack Lalanne, but there are few like the one told to me by local resident Herb Loken. "Back in the 1940s," he said, "I was dating a pretty gal in Minneapolis. One day she boasted she had won an award for doing 10 men's pushups. Being a gymnast myself I had to make her prove her feat, which she did! To my surprise in later years Elaine became the wife of Jack Lalanne."

 * ... FUND RAISER: The Bakersfield Police Activities League (BPAL) does an awful lot of good work with some of our community's underprivileged youth: tutoring, community service, boxing, soccer and other special programs. Of course all that takes money and organizers have now set a major fund raiser for Saturday, February 12, at the Kern County Gun Club. They are looking for major sponsors and teams to participate in a round of sporting clays. If interested, call Lili Marsh at (661) 324-6561 or Kristi Spitzer at (661) 378-7751. 

 * ... SPOTTED: Outside the downtown Starbucks on 24th Street a clean-shaven middle-aged man, wearing nice slacks and a tie, with a sign reading "Help an American." He was holding a plastic donation cup but didn't seem to be picking up much action.

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader Linda Welch: "You know you're from Oildale if you remember the brick building at the corner of Wilson and North Chester across from Standard School was the original Kern County Library."

A German POW returns to Delano to visit where he was held, and remembering Jack LaLanne

 * ... GERMAN POWS: More response on my earlier post about German and Italian prisoners of war working in local agriculture during World War II. Betty Kouklis wrote to say that her husband was working in Delano one day several years ago when he was approached by a stranger, accompanied by his daughter, son in law and grandson. Turns out the stranger had been a German prisoner in Delano and was given a trip by his family to return to Delano to visit where he was held. The camp was on 4th Avenue (now Garces Highway) across from where Delano Hospital is now located. Said Betty: "It was a small camp and he recalled the time our senior class sang Christmas carols from across the street, and hearing the music from the VFW Hall that was nearby. I have the letter he wrote after he returned to Germany and gave a copy to the Delano Historical Society. As far as I know there is no other document to verify the camp existed."

 * .... RIP JACK: Local resident Jack Skaggs, a retired California  State Patrolman, regaled some friends this weekend with a story about pulling over the late fitness guru Jack LaLanne in the summer of 1978. Skaggs was patrolling the Long Beach Freeway just north of the 405 when he noticed a pearl white Stutz Bearcat weaving. The license tag read "Reduce." It turned out to be LaLanne, who was quite sober and explained he was weaving because he was searching the radio dial for a favorite program. Skaggs said LaLanne insisted on getting out of the car and demonstrating his ability and  limberness, performing feats that were  impossible "unless you were in tip top shape and extremely flexible... mere mortals could not begin to duplicate what he did." Later Skaggs learned that LaLanne, who was around 64 then, was heading to Long Beach to swim the harbor while pulling dozens of rowboats. "He told me to stay in shape and I took those words to heart," said Skaggs, an avid cyclist and fitness buff.

 * ... FOLLIES: Robbie Bonas wrote to say how much she enjoyed reading about the "The High Fever Follies" put on by the Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. "It took me back to that wonderful experience of participating in 'the chorus line' and 'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy' number with Phyllis Adams. I was very honored to have met, and danced, with Phyllis. I was in awe of how beautiful she was and how high she kicked those long graceful legs of hers! She was the energy and joy for all who participated in that production."

 * ... SPOTTED: Leon James "Lee" DeWyze Jr., winner of the ninth season of American Idol, was spotted at the Red Robin at Valley Plaza recently. Stephany Trevino is a server there and spotted DeWyze immediately. He was with his manager and two other men and were headed to Fresno when they stopped for lunch.

 * ... GUN CLUB: The Kern County Gun Club is hosting a "women's day" this Saturday, February 5. For $50, you get lessons in shooting trap and skeet. This includes free use of guns, all ammunition, free clay targets and lunch. Club manager Cyndi Benson told me she's trying to get more women into the shooting sports. Cyndi already runs a successful youth program at the club. The gun club is located adjacent to the Lake Buena Vista Recreation center.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader Al Gutierrez: "You know you're a Bakersfield old-timer "when you recall attending rock and roll dances at the Rainbow Gardens on Union Avenue. They stars performing before standing room only crowds included Chuck Berry, the granddaddy of rock and roll, Little Richard and Fats Domino. The Gardens is now the Kern County Basque Club."

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."

Today's Bako bits: Business booms at H. Walker's, a sick website and charity for a good cause

Some short shots around our fair community, trying to look for a bit of good news in a bad economy:

* THE MAGIC OF H. WALKER'S: Stopped by H. Walker's Men's Clothing Co. today and had a nice chat with owner Tracy Walker. Here's something you don't hear often these days: business is booming. Tracy said the company had its best April in five years, an incredible feat considering every other retailer I know is hurting. As mentioned before (see previous post here) Tracy is a master marketer and her shop is always brimming with good cheer, not to mention the occasional glass of cabernet. Tracy's birthday is tomorrow (April 24) and she'll spend a special weekend with hubby Brian in Santa Monica.

* WOMEN'S AND GIRLS' FUND: This unique philanthropy, part of the larger Kern Community Foundation, is gearing up to honor its grant recipients next Wednesday at a luncheon at Seven Oaks Country Club. Call 661-325-5346 if you are looking for tickets. Fred Drew is the new Foundation CEO and he is putting his stamp on the place. I hear that Amy Powell-Smith has left the Foundation and they are looking for a new communications person.
* HONORING LITERACY EFFORTS: The Californian and specifically publisher Ginger Moorhouse will be honored tonight by the Kern Adult Literacy Council for helping to fight illiteracy. The afternoon event will be held at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Unfortunately Ginger will not be there; she's been caring for husband John who remains hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center fighting an infection from his recent kidney transplant. Ginger hopes to have John home in a few weeks.
* SKEET SHOOT FUNDRAISER: There will be a benefit skeet shoot on Saturday, May 9, to help fund the Scholastic Clays Target Program that teaches youngsters gun safety and prepares them to compete in the shotgun sports. This benefit will be held out at the Kern County Gun Club and will cost $40 per person. You shoot 100 targets in any gauge. Contact the gun club to sign up.

* I HATE BAKO: You had to figure this would happen, but there is now a Twitter feed devoted to finding stories that put Bakersfield in a negative light. (its logo is above) You can find it at twitter.com/IHateBako. It does have a link to an absolutely hilarious video on Bakersfield called "The armpit of the state" (click the link here to view) but you have to be able to poke a little fun at yourself. Here's another sample of what you will find there:

"Adult illiteracy rate in Kern County is 25%. I take that to mean that 25% of people in Kern County won't be reading this."

Some people have too much time on their hands.

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.