Downtown residents and businesses cheer on news that the Greyhound Bus Station will be demolished, the founder of the Grossman Burn Center is arrested for DUI in the deaths of two young boys, it is rattlesnake season and some really bad form at Starbucks

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 community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other company or publication.

 * ... GREYHOUND:  After years of trying, it looks like the old Greyhound Bus Station downtown will finally be leaving, making room for a multi-story apartment complex that would change the nature of downtown. The Californian's John Cox reported that the 60-year-old property sold in July for $1.27

million to Church Plaza LLC, whose officers include Majid Mojibi, president of San Joaquin Refining Co. Inc. The Californian said the development will be the family's first residential project and will include about 100 rentals. For many downtown residents and businesses, the bus station has been an eyesore, dirty, dilapidated and attracting a bad element to downtown. Along with the Padre Hotel and the Bitwise project going on at the corner of H and 18 streets, the new project will go a long way in sprucing up an eyesore. (photo courtesy of Alex Horvath/The Bakersfield Californian)

 * ... RATTLESNAKES: If you get out and about to run, hike or bike, beware that we are entering the peak season when rattlesnakes are breeding. I spotted this one near Hart Park on the bike trail, a baby but one not to be trifled with. I pulled this from a website devoted to rattlesnakes: "A friendly reminder and warning for those of you with kids and dogs - It is September and the start of football season, but it is also the time of year when copperheads are born. The baby snakes are born with venom and ready to defend themselves. The mama snake generally gives birth to about 8 - 10 of these critters, so if you find one there are others around. The babies will keep those greenish/yellow tips on their tails for about a year. These snakes are not generally aggressive but will bite if you are unfortunate enough to touch or step on one. Do not reach under bushes, around rocks, or even flower pots without looking first. They like damp places so beware, even under children's toys and dog dishes!"

* ... AMAZON PALM: Would you be comfortable using your "palm" to check out and pay for grocery items? That's what Amazon hopes as it rolls out its new palm technology that uses your unique palm print to identify and then pay for your items. Amazon said it chose to use palm-scanning technology because it’s “considered more private” than other biometric alternatives, which include things like eye-scanning technology or facial recognition. “You can’t determine a person’s identity by looking at an image of their palm,” Amazon added.

 * ... GROSSMAN ARREST: One of the co-founders of the Grossman Burn Center has been arrested on two counts of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence in the deaths of two young boys in Westlake Village. Police said Rebecca Grossman, 57, apparently sped through an intersection and ran into two brothers, Mark and Jacob Iskander, who had been taking a walk with their parents and siblings. The incident happened around 7 p.m. on a quiet residential street. Rebecca Grossman is the wife of Peter Grossman and both are listed as co-founders of the Grossman Burn Center. The Grossman Burn Center operates locally out of Memorial Hospital on 34th Street. (file photos of the Grossman and the two brothers who died in the incident)

* ... BLM PROTESTS: A shot of some of the graffiti (easily washed away) that protesters left on the steps of the Bakersfield police department this past weekend.

 * ... STARBUCKS: What would your reaction be if you received this at Starbucks?

 * ... MEMORIES: A classic old picture from Taft compliments of the Kern County History Fans Facebook page.

Another Basque pub crawl goes into history, Ken Keller is promoted to CEO of Dignity Health's Memorial Hospital and media executive Louis Amestoy heads to Colorado

Monday November 26, 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 place to live. Send your news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... BASQUE PUB CRAWL: I rarely miss the celebrated Basque Pub Crawl, that annual ritual when thousands of people flock to the iconic Basque eateries and bars on the east side around

Thanksgiving. This is the biggest night of the year for people like Rod and Julie Crawford, owners of Pyrenees bar and restaurant. Rod Crawford said Pyrenees was packed all day and well into the evening. When I popped in Friday afternoon, it was buzzing with people and young professionals who return home for Thanksgiving. Other spots on the crawl list include Woolgrower's, Noriega Hotel, Amestoy's, Luigi's Deli and Delicatessen, the Silver Fox, Mexicali downtown and Bill Lee's. They aren't all Basque, but that doesn't mean they don't make the list.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Saw a guy wearing a winter scarf with a T-shirt in Los Angeles today and I just can't live like this anymore."


 * .. SPOTTED ON A FRIEND'S FACEBOOK PAGE: "My parents moved a lot when I was young. But I kept finding them."

 * ... OVERHEARD: Two men are talking about the Rite-Aid on 23rd Street, notorious for the amount of homeless who gather and beg for money at its entrance. "About two weeks ago I am driving east and I see a Rite Aid employee, a small woman, tackle some homeless guy in the parking lot. He who stole something - booze, cough syrup- not sure what, but she chased him down. She got it back and let him go. Happens all the time I hear."

 * ... KEN KELLER: Ken Keller, chief operating officer at Memorial Hospital, has been promoted to chief executive officer, replacing Jon Van Boening who has moved into a more corporate role at Dignity Health overseeing multiple hospitals.

* ... MOVING UP: Congratulations to Louis Amestoy, a public affairs specialist at Aera Energy who is moving to Colorado to become director of content for the Greeley Tribune. Amestoy previously worked as editor of The Bakersfield Californian before moving on to a stint in radio at American General Media and later Aera. Greeley is owned by Carson City-based Swift Communications, which operates newspapers and magazines across Colorado and much of the west.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this shot of JC Penny's on Chester in 1930 compliments of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Colleen McGauley out at CASA, Memorial's Jon Van Boening gets a big promotion and KERN radio host Ralph Bailey mixes it up with KHSD candidate Bryan Colebrook

Friday, November 3, 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 news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... BRYAN COLEBROOK: We are within a week of the mid-term elections and things are getting hot, not only among the candidates but between some candidates and the press. On the local level, KERN radio host Ralph Bailey mixed it up with Kern High School District candidate Bryan

Colebrook in a less than four minute interview that ended with Bailey abruptly ending the interview. At issue: Colebrook's statement questioning why his opponent Jenifer Pitcher is running when she doesn't have children and is single. Things got hot and the interview went to hell. Colebrook and Pitcher are running neck and neck, so we are left to wonder: will this help or hurt Pitcher, or Colebrook? The Valley Voice, an acerbic online newsletter, posted a video calling Bailey the "town drunk" and saying he basically ambushed Colebrook. Your take?



 * ... DIGNITY HEALTH: Dignity Health, which operates the two local Mercy Hospitals and Memorial Hospital, is going to grow in a big way when it merges with Catholic Health Initiatives, creating a $28 billion health system giant with 700 facilities in 28 states. The deal was announced at the end of last year and is expected to close by the end of this year. CHI is based in Colorado and it operates 103 hospitals, including four academic health centers and major teaching hospitals. Dignity operates hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada.

 * ... VAN BOENING: The pending merger may explain why Memorial President Jon Van Boening has just been promoted at Dignity, moving into a position making him responsible for the business operations of seven hospitals in Dignity's Central California service area. Van Boening, who has been president of Memorial since 2001, will retain an office in Bakersfield. Meanwhile a search has begun for a new president of Memorial Hospital.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If anybody tells you you’re putting too much Parmesan on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don’t need that negativity in your life."

 * ... MCGAULEY: After 17 years as head of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Colleen McGauley is out as its director. No one is saying what really happened (there is a story there somewhere) but CASA said in a news release that McGauley is moving to a new position as senior advisor. Stay tuned.

 * ... GRIMMWAY: Hats off to the employees of Grimmway Farms who spent Saturday helping clean up the area around Lamont. More than 200 employee volunteers and their families pitched in to help clean parks, road and walkways throughout the community.

 * ... MEMORIES: Thanks to the Facebook page Kern County of Old for sharing this old photo of the Grapevine, then and now.

Holy Week is upon us, the generosity of Jim and Beverly Camp and another successful Cioppino Feed by West Rotary

 * ... HOLY WEEK: Holy Week is upon us, and it seems a relevant time to thank our blessings and the recognize the good around us. Let's start today with some good news:

 * ... JIM CAMP: Communities are enriched in many ways, through civic engagement, wise and sober political leadership, volunteerism and charity. We all can contribute and we all can make a difference, and when we do, those who come after us will inherit a better world. Jim and Beverly Camp are among those who exhibit this spirit of engagement and generosity, and last week they donated $1 million to Memorial Hospital to help fund an eight-bed unit for the new Grossman Burn Center. Camp, owner of S.A. Camp Co., recalled the humble origins of his family and the guiding principle of giving back that has been handed down from his parents and grand parents.

 * ... CSU BAKERSFIELD: How fun was it to watch CSU Bakersfield fare so well in the NCAA Tournament? They performed admirably in their loss to Oklahoma, but performing on a national stage in front of a huge audience only elevated the team, the campus and our community. Hats off to Coach Rod Barnes and his Roadrunners for a memorable year. CSUB alum Rep. Kevin McCarthy was at the game and had this to say: "March madness is one of the biggest sporting events of the year. While the team that cuts down the nets will likely be a national college basketball powerhouse, the tournament exposes smaller schools to millions of fans. And today, millions of fans saw a CSUB program on the rise. And like countless examples in our community, they did it with heart. That is more than enough reason to celebrate."

 * ... CIOPPINO FEED: West Rotary did it again, putting on a Cioppino Feed to a several hundred clam and fish stew loving folks at Monsignor Leddy Hall up at Garces Memorial High School Saturday night. The club and its foundation raise upwards of $150,000 every year and promptly find ways to donate the money to deserving local charities.

* ... TRASH: It was good to see city work crews cleaning up literally mountains of old clothes, trash, abandoned shopping carts and debris out of the dry Kern River bed that has become home to homeless encampments. It's a dirty, but necessary task that happens a few times a year along the bike trail and the river bed. Homeless camps, once confined to the area near Manor Street, now extend all the way west to CSU Bakersfield.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If you want to be remembered after you die, borrow money from everyone you know."

 * ... GRIFFITH FIELD: Lisa Krch, communications director over at the Kern High School District, corrected me on the renovation of Griffith Field by saying the plan to install artificial turf changed last year with the State Senate passed a bill banning artificial turns until studies on potential health risks are completed. "While it was part of the original stadium project, the Kern High School District has changed plans for the project to now include a sod play field," she said. "The project also includes infrastructure (e.g. curbing, irrigation, etc.) to accommodate an artificial turf field should artificial turf fields become a viable option in the future."

Amazon enters the war of streaming content as consumers abandon cable and traditional TV programming, and local donors make a local children's hospital a reality

 * ... AMAZON: The long, slow decline of cable and local TV is showing signs of accelerating with the announcement by Amazon of plans to stream popular new content via its Prime membership.

The idea: offer Amazon's Prime members (they pay $99 a year for free shipping and streaming video) access to Showtime, Starz and more channels at a low added cost. As noted in The Los Angeles Times: "Traditional pay-TV operators have struggled for years to come up with easy-to-use streaming options for their consumers." Amazon's move is similar to that of Hulu and Netflix, which charge a monthly fee so folks can cut the cord to traditional cable. This fragmentation in programming has been long in the works, and it has already taken its toll on the once robust marketshare of the major networks and their local affiliates. Millennials and those younger are leading the charge in cutting the cord (there has been a 16 percent decline in viewership for young adults aged 18-24), and it won't be long before most of us are cobbling together streaming options that bypass cable.

 * ... MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: We live in a generous community, and sometimes we forget to thank those for have done so much to lift the tide for all of us. So here's a big hats off to all the people who contributed to the Bolthouse Family Pediatric Department and the Helen Taylor Cobbs Children's Healing Garden over at Memorial Hospital's Lauren Small Children's Medical Center. (Joe and Jana Campbell funded the garden in memory of Jana's late mother, who loved gardening). Memorial is doing something important here, putting together a facility so local families with ailing children will not have to leave town for treatment.

 * ... NORM HOFFMAN: I took a short bike ride up Fairfax Road the other day and noticed that someone repainted the yin-yang symbol at the spot where Norm Hoffman was struck and killed by a motorist back in 2001. Hoffman, the popular Bakersfield College health professor with a larger-than-life personality, inspired many with his healthy lifestyle, outgoing personality and emphasis on the spiritual. The ancient Chinese symbol for yin-yang was painted after its death, it faded, but someone freshened it to remind us of a life well lived.

 * ... POLITICAL HUMOR: A Muslim journalist from Chicago posted this on Twitter: "Does anyone know if the concentration camps Trump is planning for us Muslims will have WiFi?"

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Beer comes from hops. Hops are plants. Beer is salad."

 * ... SPOTTED: On Mount Vernon near the Starbucks a late model SUV is spotted with these two messages taped to its windows: "Radical Muslims R Here ... Buy a Gun!"

 * ... ACTIS: Hats off to the girls volleyball team from Actis Jr. High, the lone team from the San Joaquin Valley to make it to a tournament in Los Angeles. The team compiled an overall record of 37-3 and capped off the historic season with a 16-14 victory over Commerce Jr. High in the final game on the LA tournament. Congrats to coach Dan Letourneau, his coaches (daughters) and these amazing student athletes. 

Memorial Hospital to break ground on new children's pavilion for emergency care, and the Bakersfield Californian Foundation is taking applications for its spring grant cycle

* … MEMORIAL: There's an important event this week that promises to usher in a new era of medical treatment for young children in our community. On Wednesday, Memorial Hospital will hold a ground breaking for the Robert A. Grimm Children's Pavilion for Emergency Care at Memorial's

Lauren Small Children's Medical Center. Over the last few years Memorial has made huge strides in developing a facility that can serve young children with serious medical issues. The Lauren Small Center already has a pediatric intensive care unit, a neotnatal intensive care units and a pediatric acute care unit. The Children's Pavilion will be the only dedicated pediatric emergency department between Los Angeles and Madera.

 * … SPOTTED: Posted on a Twitter feed was this missive: "I've got a better chance finding a unicorn than I do of going through an entire day without dealing with some jackass."

 * … DOWNTOWN: The Bakersfield Californian (family) Foundation will be accepting applications for its 2015 Spring Grant Cycle. The cycle will be focused on improving downtown Bakersfield. This includes projects involved in litter removal, public art, community gardens, historical preservation — and anything else a Kern County 501©3 nonprofit can dream up to better downtown. Online applications only. The application is due Friday, April 3, and can be found at http://www.bakersfieldcalifornianfoundation.org). Contact tcowenhoven@bakersfield.com with questions.

 * … DAY: A reader's note about local TV personality George Day triggered a lot of memories, including this one from his son. "This is George Daisa III writing this note. My son is George Daisa IV and my father was George Daisa II.  His father was born in Romania and came to the United States during World War IU and his name was George Daisa. My father started a radio show in San Antonio, Texas and as a catchy name he used 'Night with Day.' This was around 1946 and the name stayed with him all his life. About eight years before he died he legally changed his name to Day. Although he deeply loved the Hispanic people, his roots are not in the Latin culture, but from Romania."

 * … MORE DAY: And add this from Will Wim: "Anecdotally, I do remember coming home from school early one afternoon to see George Day advertising and demonstrating a hide-a-bed for the Hub or Weatherby's Furniture store. After several attempts to show how 'easy' it is to pull the thing from a couch to a bed, George got really mad and they had to cut away from live TV when he began to swear at the thing. Found out later from his son, George, that the store routinely tied hide-a-beds down to transport them, but the rope was hidden at one end where George didn't see it."

* … BAKERSFIELDISM: Tommie Sue Self says you might be from Bakersfield if you remember the champage bubbles at the old Brock's department store. "My mother, Patricia Light Self, had worked downtown as a dental assistant and later a Bell telephone operator after she'd arrived from central Texas and before marrying daddy and moving to Shafter. She said the bubbles were to let folks know that Brock's was having a big sale… Sometimes I got to roam around behind the scenes of dressing rooms and stock areas. Others would have us both try out make-up and perfume as we sat on tall stools at the make-up department counter. My brother, Travis, and I had formal photographs taken there too by a Brock's photographer. I really enjoyed standing on the corner by that bubble-making machine, watching it churn out all those bubbles - a la The Lawrence Welk show - and mama's getting those perfume-scented sales postcards from Brock's that I used as bookmarks."

The nation celebrates the 70th anniversary of D-Day, old warbirds are headed to the Minter Field Air Museum and more bad form about town

* … DDAY: It's amazing to think we are celebrating the 70th anniversary of day Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy. Each day we lose more members of the Greatest Generation, that time when so many men and women gave everything so that the we could enjoy freedom. If you haven't paid a visit to Normandy and the solemn military cemeteries there, it is worth putting on your bucket list.
Locally, it's great to see so many aging veterans take the Honor Flights back to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials to these brave men and women. Today, we remember.

 * … MINTER FIELD: Speaking of remembering, put Saturday, June 14, on your calendar for a special air show and display out at the Minter Field (Shafter) Air Museum. There will be an airplane fly-in in memory of the late T-6 Warlock pilot Al Goss, vintage planes and race planes. The museum has also invited local car clubs and military vehicles to the event. It runs from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Pancake breakfast is another $5.

* … BAD FORM: A middle aged is behind the wheel of a late model Acura westbound on Truxtun extension doing 30 mph and weaving all over the road at lunch hour. His sin? Texting while driving.

* …MEMORIAL: I goofed in inferring that Mercy Hospital was the only local hospital to have Vein Finder devices. Turns out that Memorial Hospital also has three such devices, including two in the Lauren Small Children's Medical Center.

 * … FUND: Kudos to the Women's and Girls' Fund which has reached its goal of having a $1 million endowment. The fund, part of the larger Kern Community Foundation, awards grants to improve the lives of Kern County women and children. It was started in May 2005 by Judi McCarthy and a handful of friends and grew to $300,000 within two years.

 * … TINY'S: The renovation of the old bank building on the northeast corner of 18th and Chester is continuing, but did the building ever house a restaurant called Tiny's? Walt Berry has worked in the Sill Building across the street for 50 years and says he remembers Tiny's being located on the southeast corner, not the northeast. "Some of my friends keep telling me Tiny’s Restaurant was on that corner, but I have a picture of that intersection from November 1940 which clearly shows Tiny’s was on the south east corner. I also remember my father parking in front of Tiny’s in October 1949 on the southeast Corner. Can you or someone in your organization tell me if Tiny’s was ever on the northeast corner?"

A history teacher recalls 9/11, the Einstein Pavilion opens at Memorial Hospital and kids unite for breast cancer awareness

* ... 9/11: Ben Ansolabehere remembers exactly where he was during the World Trade Center attacks, sitting as his desk at East High School when fellow teacher Mike Warner told him to turn on the TV. "After seeing the aftermath of the first plane and being a history teacher, I knew that planes were  not allowed over Manhattan Island because of a similar incident with a B-24 Liberator and the Empire State Building. Seeing the second plane hit the other tower sealed the fact that we were under attack. 'Less we forget!'"

* ... CANCER: Hats off to Crysta Barrick and a group of friends at Liberty High School who have started a club to assist those battling breast cancer. The idea started when Crysta's mother, Natalie Barrick, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer last year. The group is called Operation HOPE (helping others prevail everyday) and it hopes to grow to other schools in Kern County. I could not think of a better way to recognize October's breast cancer awareness month than shedding some light on this special group of students.

 * ... EINSTEIN: I attended the opening of the new Einstein Pavilion front entrance at Memorial Hospital in honor of the late Dr. Hans Einstein. It's a beautiful facility and a fitting tribute to this remarkable man. Among those I spotted at the opening were Memorial CEO Jon Van Boening and wife Phillis, Tracy Walker-Kiser, Laura Weiner, Ernie Schroeder, David and Catherine Gay, Rogers Brandon, Greg and Mary Bynum, Harry Starkey and Kimberly Ward-Graham, Rob Noriega, Tom Smith, Hal Aaron, Dr. Nick Hansa, Dr. Chris Hamilton, Holly Arnold, Sue and Herb Benham, Steve and Pat Loyd, Steve and Kari Grimm-Anderson, Dr. Tommy Lee and many others.

* ... SPOTTED: A regular reader who asked that her name be withheld shared this observation at the Goodwill store on Olive Drive. "As I was going down an aisle a mother with her little girl in a cart were coming toward me. Mother handed her a bag of Skittles and she immediately dropped it and the candy went all over. The mother said no we are not going to pick it up and she shoved it under the rack with her shoe...(Then she) handed the little girl another bag of Skittles at the end of the aisle and same thing again, all over the floor and mother kicking it once again toward the racks.... she never said  a word to anyone working there."

 * ... OVERHEARD: A regular on Facebook laments the lack of civility on the social networking website. "I am really, really, REALLY tired of seeing everyone's political agendas paraded on here. Just while scrolling down RIGHT NOW there are five posts from friends that appear bashing one candidate or the other. At this rate, my Facebook account will be discontinued sooner, rather than later."

 * ... ALS: If you are free Saturday and want to support a good cause, stop by the third annual ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) barbecue and fund raiser. It's set for for 11 a.m. at Stella's Sandtrap (3133 Niles Street) and costs only $7 for a try-tip lunch. I am told some 92 percent of the money raised stays right here in Kern County.

A new book titled The End of Men argues it's a woman's world, and remembering the September 11 terrorist attacks that forever changed our world

 * .... WOMAN'S WORLD: A new book called "The End of Men" argues that women are better at adapting to changing world economic conditions than men, and it is getting a lot of press these past few days. While men may still dominate in the board rooms, author Hanna Rosin argues that in a fast changing world, men tend to cling to what they know while women quickly adapt to new conditions. Said the New York Times columnist David Brooks: Over the years many of us have embraced a certain theory to explain men's economic decline," he said."It is that the information age economy rewards traits that, for neurological and cultural reasons, women are more likely to possess." And add to that: the number of women achieving college degrees is far outpacing men.

 * ... 911: Amazing to think it has been 11 years since the terrorist plane hijackings and horrific attack on the World Trade Centers. Do you remember where you were when you learned what happened? Do you remember how we all rallied around our country and you couldn't find an American flag for sale anywhere? It was a time we all came together, save for the occasional odd comment or email like the one composed by a local man saying the attacks were God's way of punishing us for our sins. And speaking of bad form, shame on NBC for failing to honor a moment of silence recognizing the moment of the attacks, opting instead to interview Kris Jenner (of Keeping up with the Kardashians) about her TV show and her breast implants.

 * ... MEMORIAL: Memorial Hospital opened its new Einstein Pavilion this week, honoring the long and distinguished life of Dr. Hans Einstein, who passed away recently at the age of 89. The hospital is on a roll and recently opened its Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, allowing ailing children to remain in town instead of traveling hours for treatment. (file photo of Hans Einstein)

 * ... SPOTTED: At the downtown Starbucks on L Street, a very young girl (maybe two years old) accidentally spills her drink, causing a grouchy man next to her to flip off her father. A Bakersfield police officer witnessed this bit of bad form, intervened, handled the situation and everyone moved on.

 * ... SICK BAY: Mike Marotta, co-owner of the physical therapy group Pair and Marotta, was involved in a nasty bicycle crash during a race last Sunday in Bend, Oregon. He broke his right clavicle and pelvis and underwent surgery. Marotta is a state cycling champion in his age group, an incredible athlete, and was racing in the 60-plus age division.

 * ... DEBATE: When Joe Biden and Paul Ryan square off for the vice president's debate on October 11, there will be a local girl helping coordinate things at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Avery Williams, a Stockdale High graduate who is now a sophomore at Centre College, will be serving as an official volunteer for the debate. Proud mother Cindy Williams told me she is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and is a representative on the Academic Excellence Committee. Father Scott Williams works for Chevron and mother Cindy is a teacher for the Panama Buena-Vista Unified School District.

 * ... OVERHEARD: A local business executive is speaking to a friend about the number of jaywalkers in our community. "Yesterday I almost ran a guy down who was walking across Golden State Highway. And at the Garces Circle a mother with young children and a stroller were dodging traffic. It's everywhere."

Memorial Hospital unveils its Pediatric Care Unit and Bakersfield prepares to host state cyclo cross championships

  * ... MEMORIAL: I was afforded a sneak peek of the new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital recently during a reception for donors. Hospital president Jon Van Boening deserves a lot of credit for having the vision of bringing a children's hospital to Bakersfield, and it's just short of amazing how much has been accomplished in such a short period of time. All this, no doubt, is due to the generosity of the people of our community. Among those I spotted at the reception were Dr. Javier and Laurie Bustamante,  Tracy Walker Kiser of H. Walker's Men's Clothiers, whose Rotary Club of Bakersfield donated $100,000 to the cause, Duane and Corey Keathley, Nancy Carr, Pat and Steve Loyd, Jill Thayer, Dr. Madhu Bhogal, Dr. Tommy Lee, Valley Republic Bank's Bruce Jay and many others.

* ... BIKE FRIENDLY: Get ready for a huge cyclo cross bicycle race out at Hart Park this weekend. It's the official Southern California versus Northern California cyclo cross championship which always draws a good crowd. Sam Ames, the manager over at Action Sports and himself and accomplished cyclist, is coordinating the race and will be my guest on Californian Radio KERN 1180 Monday morning at 9 a.m. Later in the hour I will be talking with representatives of Bike Bakersfield about efforts to create a cycling master plan for our community.

* ... OVERHEARD: A young woman remarking on the spectacular weather this past Friday: "I had business down on Union Avenue and it was so nice even the hookers were in their summer attire!"


* ... BLOWBACK: The Las Vegas sportswriter who penned a childish rant about Bakersfield has received some feedback from my readers. Said one: "The next time you come to Bakersfield (if you dare lower yourself to grace us with your presence), take some time out of your hectic schedule to actually investigate our city. We're obviously not going to be as flashy as Las Vegas (who is, by the way?) and our city has been built around the cornerstone of hard work, industriousness, and family. Our main contributions (agriculture and oil) to this world are things that are actually useful and tangible endeavors. Compare that to a city whose entire existence has relied on tourists dollars through the arguable seedy business of gambling. Now don’t get me wrong, I love going to Las Vegas and seeing the beautiful hotels and incredible shows. But there is no way in hell I would ever choose to live there."

 * ... GLUTEN-FREE: The latest issue of Fortune magazine notes that going gluten-free is the latest food industry craze. It's apparently so popular that Subway is testing a gluten-free sandwich roll and brownie and McDonald's offers a gluten-free bun in Spain, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

 * ... BEST OF KERN: Make sure you go to www.BestofKern.com to add your voice to the annual "Best of  Kern County" polling. This year is a tad different; each week for a month a new group of businesses will be nominated. The results will be published in the April 28 issue of BakersfieldLife magazine.


* ... WHO KNEW? Did you know that Highland High grad Cami Benjamin turned tennis pro by the age of 15 and competed against players like Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Steffi Graf? She’s also featured in the book “Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis.”