Another California cop is shot and killed, Amy Travis takes over as head of CASA and Brian Dignan resigns as athletic director at Garces Memorial High School

Friday, January 11, 2018

 Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this such a special to live. Send your tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... OPEN SEASON ON COPS: Another cop has been shot and killed, this time a 22-year-old

rookie in Davis who seems to have been killed execution style. Authorities said Natalie Corona was investigating a traffic accident when someone calmly walked up to her and shot her. The suspect, who later shot and killed himself, lived just a few blocks from the accident scene.

 * ... CASA: Amy Travis has been appointed the new executive director of the Court Appointed Special Advocartes (CASA), replacing longtime director Colleen McGauley who recently retired. Travis worked under McGauley for years before leaving to work at OneLegacy, but was lured back after McGauley decided to retire.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "My dogs don’t understand why I have to leave the house everyday, and quite frankly, neither do I."

 * ... BRIAN DIGNAN: Brian Dignan has resigned as athletic director of Garces Memorial High School, but will stay on as head men's basketball coach. In a Facebook post, Dignan said he wanted to spend more time with his family and noted that Gino Lacava would replace him as AD. Dignan previously spent a decade as an assistant basketball coach at CSUB and he also coached at Bakersfield Christian High School. Meanwhile Dignan's wife, former TV weather person Melissa Dignan, has also taken on a new job with Environmental Safety Solutions. Congrats to them both.

 * ... HEATHER LAGANELLI: One of the pioneers of the locally sourced farm to table movement, Heather Laganelli, has purchased the building that houses her downtown restaurant, Locale Farm to Table. Laganelli tries to use food and meat products produced no father than 100 miles from Bakersfield, and her creative culinary touch has created a strong and loyal following. Her restaurant is located across from the downtown Post Office in the old Vincent's Cyclery Building. She also purchased an adjacent building that once housed a silversmith and a cobbler, and she plans to convert that into a "to go" restaurant sometime later this year. (Pictured is one of Heather's desert creations)

 * ... CRUELTY: By now we have all heard about the woman who was shamed for riding a 
Bird scooter and dragging along a dog. The story recently appeared in London and the post has gone viral on social media. If you missed it, here is the original post: "While riding bikes downtown on A and 20th street, we watched this awesome human being riding one of the Bird Scooter’s at about 15 MPH dragging this poor dog behind her by a leash. The dog was on its side and we watched it being drug at least 100 yards and there’s no telling how long she had been dragging it for before we saw her. You can see that its paws are all completely bloody. I was unable to get a good picture of the poor dogs side. Sat on the phone with BPD while following her all the way back to an apartment on 24th St. She had the nerve to tell us that “shit happens, just like with kids”! Ummm yeah I don’t drag my kids down the street by a leash. If only she would have been a guy! She told me that she was going to call the cops on me for harassment and threatened me but she sure didn’t open the door and have something to say when the police went knocking on the door. I hope to see you again girly! Feel free to share this post. " Since then police have interviewed the woman and said the dog has been treated and will fully recover. Stay tuned to see if charges are filed.

 * ... MEMORIES: I found this on the Kern County History Fans Facebook page, with this caption: "The first constructed building on the now BHS (Kern County High School) campus was in 1885 and it was called the Commercial Building. The building stood where current Elm Grove is with several of the original 1895 driveway palm trees still standing."

Can it be possible that the best of humanity was on display in the carnage of Las Vegas? Meanwhile back home, St. Vincent de Paul holds its fund raiser to help the needy

 * ... HOPE: Is it possible that something good can emerge from the tragedy of Las Vegas?

What I witnessed was incredible courage and bravery among so many at the concert, people putting their own lives in danger to rescue others, regardless of race or age or skin color, people called upon to do the right thing when the stakes were highest. It was the human condition at its best, putting to shame the partisan tactics of our ruling political class, the hurtful polemics of our Hollywood elite and the narcissistic behavior of our sports icons. The best of us was on display a night when it rained gunfire on the innocent.

 * ... LOCAL VICTIMS: The list of those killed with links to Kern County is now five: Jack Beaton died shielding his wife from gunfire, Bailey Schweitzer was just 20 years old and starting off in the workplace, 52-year-old Victor Link was originally from Shafter, Kelsey Meadows was a 27-year-old Taft resident and Melissa Ramirez was a recent graduate of CSUB.

* ... GARCES BBQ: Leave it to the folks at Garces Memorial High School to put on a steak barbecue for the ages. The annual Holy Smoke Barbecue was held last week on a perfect evening for steaks, twice baked potatoes and libations. Among those I spotted were Brian and Melissa Dignan, Joe Zeiman, Bruce Haupt, Tommy and Jenny Haupt, Scott Spielman, Gina Pearl, Dan and Katy Raytis, county CAO Ryan Alsop, David Jensen, Jeff and Shauna Rockwell and Victor Martin and Mariah Schultz. Thanks to my friends at Mission Bank, Samy Abiaoui, Lisa Boydstun and Bob Meadows among others, for asking me to attend.

 * ... MORE STEAKS: Yet another of my favorite fund raisers is coming up this Thursday when St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Center holds its annual barbecue to support its work feeding the homeless. The center now provides two hot meals a day to upwards of 400 homeless men, women and children in our community. They receive no federal funds, so they rely on the success of their annual fall barbecue which will be held this Thursday, October 5. Doors open at 5 p.m. and they start serving Harris Ranch New York  steaks and all the trimmings, grilled by Gary and Adam Icardo, at 5:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door - 318 Baker Street, or at the thrift store next door in advance. Tickets are $30. It may be the best $30 bucks you spend all year.

* ... SANTA CAROTA BEEF: And speaking of steaks add this to my bucket list: I see that Temblor Brewing Co. is now offering a specialty hamburger featuring Santa Carota beef, a locally produced grass and carrot fed steak that is unrivaled in taste. Sign me up for that.

 * ... SPOTTED: Two adult bobcats are seen off the bike path at the base of the Panorama bluffs.

 * ... DOWNTOWN: The Soul to Soul concert featuring the husband-wife team of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw was a huge success, not only on the stage before a packed house of adoring fans but in the downtown area where the restaurants were jammed wall to wall. There was a 90-minute wait for a table at Mama Roomba, Urhicchio's Trattoria was packed and we finally snagged a seat at the bar at Jin Sushi before the crowd melted away around 7:30 p.m.

 * ...KUZZ: Congratulations to Melissa Joy Dignan, the former local TV weather anchor who is returning to media to work as an on-air personality for KUZZ radio on the weekends. Dignan worked for KERO TV from 2008 until 2011 when her contract was not renewed. During her time off she spent time raising her three children. She is married to Brian Dignan, head basketball coach at Garces Memorial High School.

KERO parts ways with weather girl Melissa Dignan and Make a Wish holds a fund raiser

* ... MAKE A WISH: I'm told there wasn't a dry eye in the house when Mike and Cathi Stier hosted an event last week for the Make a Wish Foundation. The guest speaker was John Crowley, who shared his family's journey to save his children from a devastating neuromuscular disorder called Pompe disease. Harrison Ford has done a movie based on their family's story called "Extraordinary Measures." Said one participant: "Mike and Cathi went to extraordinary measures to share the Make a Wish dream and the national director came to the event and pledged up to $25,000 in matching donations. The money will stay in Bakersfield since we have 38 children locally waiting for a wish."

* ... KERO: It looks like KERO TV 23 has decided to part ways with popular weather girl Melissa Dignan. The station's top brass told Melissa they would not renew her contract and she would be off the air by the end of this year. Melissa told me she was surprised and saddened by the news and that she has grown to love Kern County and wanted to stay. "This is my home, this is where I met my husband," she said referring to Brian Dignan, former assistant men's basketball coach out at CSUB. Melissa joined KERO in January of 2008 and is known for her perky, upbeat forecasts and for supporting the adoptions of homeless dogs and cats. Here's wishing her the best.

* ... UCLA: Another local kid is about to graduate from college, and this one is the son of Debbie Moreno, president of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. "My son Marcus, a former East High student who is set to graduate from UCLA in another month with a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, just had quite an experience to remember these college years by. While on a final quarter field and marine biology study on a tiny island off the coast of Belize, they had to cut the month long program short by a week and evacuate off the island in a hurry as Hurricane Rina approached. After almost a full day and night of travel I got a text in the middle of the night that they arrived safely back in Los Angeles."

* ... TOW SACK ANNIE: Yet another reader, Charly Price, wrote to recall Tow Sack Annie, a woman who walked up and down Edison Highway and Bear Mountain Road, hurling insults to those who dared yell her name. In the 1950s, Charly was just a teenager and on a whim he and some pals tracked Annie down to her trailer where they had planned to knock on her door. "But being brave macho boys we all chickened out and threw pine cones on her roof. Well, it wasn't long before she came out screaming and cussing. I will tell you that she scared the heck out of all of us and we never thought about bothering her again!"

* ... LA CRESTA MEMORY: Mike Huston was reared on La Cresta Drive and wrote to share a few memories of the old Alta Vista area. "Last week I drove down Alta Vista Drive between Columbus and Bernard. I was left with the memory of three food markets that were so close in proximity, yet separately thrived in the late 1960s. On the corner of Alta Vista and Columbus was a small convenience type store, named Sears Market. Traveling south on Alta Vista at Water Street you found a 'super' market named Spic ‘N Span. My grandmother lived across the street and frequented the store for all of her groceries. Spic ‘N Span had black and white checkerboard flooring, its own butcher shop along with an aging white haired butcher named Van. If I’m not mistaken, the Reimer family owned the store. Further south on Alta Vista at Bernard, you found Green Frog Market, where of course it still stands today. Other than the Spray Rite Car Wash and the Tam O’ Shanter, there were a host of other business in this stretch, which have faded from my recollection. Perhaps some readers will help."

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: Terry Gaiser writes that you may be from Bakersfield "if you took your car to Three-Way Chevrolet on Chester Ave downtown for service and had lunch at Dave's Deli. You probably listened to the 'new' rock and roll music on KBIS, KAFY or KWAC!"