If Hispanic lawyers like H.A. Sala are pit bulls in the courtroom, what about lawyers of other ethnic backgrounds, a reader asks. And domestic oil production skyrockets thanks to hydraulic fracturing

* … OIL: Thanks to a boom in domestic oil production and better fuel economy in cars and trucks, the United States is experiencing fewer shocks at the gas pump. According to The Wall Street Journal,

domestic crude oil production has shot up 47 percent since late 2010. In fact, domestic oil production in October surpassed imports for the first time in 20 years, the paper said. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is responsible for much of the increased production.

* … TANDY: Anne Stoken wrote in response to my earlier post about City Manager Alan Tandy. Said Anne: "Fans of the NHL, the Condors and ice hockey in general would greatly appreciate it if you would cease to refer to an alleged assault by City Manager Tandy 'during' an amateur hockey game.  It's clear from the video and the descriptions by eyewitnesses that whatever occurred happened 'after' an amateur hockey game." True enough, but Tandy is out of the woods after the District Attorney declined to prosecute.

 * … PITBULLS: And Julie Womack wrote to question my description of H.A. Sala and Daniel Rodriguez as courtroom pit bulls who could have squared off in the Tandy case.  "So if Hispanic lawyers are pit bulls, what breeds of dogs would be identified with attorneys of other ethnic lineages?" she asked. If any lawyer is as dogged (no pun intended) as H.A. Sala is in the courtroom, he or she is also a pit bull.

 * … WALL STREET: I stopped by the Wall Street Cafe the other day and was delighted to find the owners had rolled out a fresh new summer menu. The "summer salad" featured fresh strawberries and the caprese salad was outstanding. The cafe is located at 1818 L Street.

* … ACHIEVER: Hats off to Christopher Siebert, a Bakersfield student who was named to the Dean's List at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. He is a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering.

 * … REED: Joanna Reed, owner of Cricklewood Nursery and Landscape, dropped me a note to say her son, Mark Reed, was honored as Father of the Year by the American Diabetes Association for the work he has done on behalf of diabetes research and outreach. Said his mother: "He shared the podium with Jakob Dylan and Michael Helfant who were also honored. All three men have children with Type I diabetes and have taken time from their busy schedules to help with a very worthy cause.  Needles to say I am quite proud. Mark is a graduate of Foothill High and the father of Ryan Reed, NASCAR Nationwide driver No. 16 who has Type I diabetes."

 * … MEMORIES: Ninety-year-old Irene Hageman Bower sent this note about the old St. Joseph's School.  "It was located on the north side of Oregon Street in the 500 block. I lived on the south side of Oregon Street in the 400 block, and attended Washington Elementary School for the second and third grades. When Washington Elementary School became a junior high, we students were transferred to Longfellow Elementary, where we attended until moving back to Washington Junior High.  After graduating from there in 1938, I went on to attend one semester at Bakersfield High School before being transferred to the newly completed East Bakersfield High, from which I graduated in 1941. Our home on Oregon Street, as well as St. Joseph School, was demolished for the creation of the cross town freeway."

Downtown Bakersfield gets a new restaurant, Texas 28, and a new study links sunburns during youth with a higher incidence of cancer

* … EATERY: Another new restaurant is opening in downtown Bakersfield. It's called Texas 28 and it is located on 18th Street between Eye Street and Chester Avenue. Shawna Haddad, owner of

Muertos just a few blocks away, conspired with the owners to create a menu featuring a variety of waffle dishes as well as items like Chicken Fried Steak Strips, Blue Pig Quesadilla, Pulled Pork Salad and a Fried Chicken Sandwich. It opens at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

 * … SPOTTED: Sarah Audelo, a Ridgeview High graduate who went on to attend Georgetown University, was spotted in a picture in the Californian of President Barak Obama signing a presidential memorandum reducing the burden of student loan debt. Sarah now works for the Center of American Progress in Washington, D.C. She is the daughter of Joe and Mimi Audelo, who recently moved to Santa Barbara.

 * … HEAT: Here's another cautionary tale about staying out of the sun. A new study suggests that the risk of developing skin cancer is directly tied to sunburns in childhood. As reported in The New York Times, the study found that "women who had at least five blistering sunburns during their teenage years had a greater likelihood of developing any of the three main forms of skin cancer." It went on to say that the "risk was particularly high for melanoma, which kills an estimated 8,800 Americans every year."

* … BAD FORM: The following image is compliments of reader Pearl Birchard-Adam: "Just before noon (the other day) both my husband and I saw at Sam's on Gosford a darling 2-foot Pekinese in the basket of a shopping cart scratch his anus on the same wire where we place our fruits and vegetables. The manager who we had called insisted that the store could not keep out guide dogs for the disabled. I repeated the dog's size several times to no avail. My description of the two well dressed ladies caused him to say that they have signs posted saying no dogs are allowed. My husband added that this is the second time he has seen cute dogs in Sam's shopping carts. This must be a concern for all shopper's health. I do not want any of my food to have had contact with dog excretions. The employee at the entrance who verifies Sam's cards can and should also verify a dog's size and utility. Adorable is not sufficient."

 * … ST. JOSEPH'S: Cecilia (Aughinbaugh) Bishop called to respond to an earlier reader's comments about the old St. Joseph School. "There are plenty of us still around," she told me. "But I don't remember the school being on Baker Street. I was there from 1956-1960 and I remember it as being on Oregon Street, or somewhere around there." Any other St. Joseph alumni out there who can shed light on this?

 * … MEMORIES: And finally, this last memory of Tiny's Restaurant from reader John Kidd. "During the early and mid 1960s our bunch of couples would hang out there after the game or movie. We always tried to get the big circular booth in the southwest corner of the building, and succeeded dozens of times. It was adjacent to the staircase that led downstairs to the bathrooms in the basement. It eventually dawned on us that a lot of people who went down there never came back up the staircase. We even went so far as to go down there, and see if there were people still in the bathroom. In addition to the two bathrooms, there was a third door through which we could make out the sound of machines  (perhaps cooling or heating equipment). Does anyone else remember this or know what was going on down there? I have always thought it was probably illegal gambling, and may have been tied in with the infamous downtown tunnels."

Monday's Bako Bits: A resident warns of a security scam, the Kern County Nut Festival is coming up this Saturday and Tim Lemucchi remembers St. Joseph's School

 * … SCAM: Heads up on a new scam going around town. The other evening Janice Rivera, who lives out near Jenkins Road, said a man showed up at her door saying he was there to upgrade her security panel. Her husband let him in, but Janice was wise enough to ask for his identification. "I

looked at the man and said 'You have a Vivant employee badge on.'  He told me that Vivant bought out Monitronics. I said, 'No they didn't, I would've received an email.' I told him no thanks and goodbye. He then left without saying another word. A few minutes later, I remembered that I did receive an email from Monitronics, quite a few months ago, warning of this happening…. Beware and be alert!"

 * … MOVE: I spent the last week moving into a new home, and I could not have done it without some superior customer service from a few local companies. Jesus and Ryan of Hansen's Moving and Storage were quietly efficient and friendly, and Rich Johnson of Johnson's Painting squeezed me into his schedule to spruce the place up. Also kudos to local Realtors Dutch Toews and Gary Gibson who made the process seamless. These are times when you welcome those local connections in a town like Bakersfield.

 * … BELMONT: This is the week of the Belmont Stakes when California Chrome will be going for the coveted Triple Crown. The California-bred colt is the darling of the nation, and all eyes will be on the New York race park when he races at 3:30 p.m. PST on Saturday. Steven Mayer, the Californian's senior writer, will be at the Belmont covering the story.

 * … SPOTTED: I spotted this bit of humor on Twitter: "Twitter is like the fridge. If you're bored, you keep opening it."

 * … MEMORIES: Ronal Reynier shared this memory" "I was reading BakersfieldLife (magazine) and memories of my youth came launching back to me. There on page 142 was a photo of
someone named Richard Lemucchi, a real gentleman." Reynier said he was not sure if it was the same man, but he recalled working for Richard Lemucchi and his family during his junior and senior years in high school at the Tejon Theater. "I remember Richard not only as one of the finest athletics to come out of Bakersfield but also as one of the classicist  dressers in town at the time and all the girls that worked for him, fell in love with him. He had a big problem at the time with pigeons. They would roost and break the neon lighting. The city would not let you spray a chemical that would burn their little feet and then they would fly away to roost somewhere else. So Richard and I on some nights, during the last show, would go up on the roof and shoot them. We would drop them into a dumpster in the alley from the roof. I think that he may have helped me attain expert marksman when I entered the Army."

 * … LEMUCCHI: And speaking of the Lemucchis, Tim Lemucchi wrote to say he is among the proud alumni of St. Joseph's School. "All the Catholic kids who lived in East Bakersfield went there. We assembled by class in line each morning in the yard in front of school. Sister Mary Imelda, the principal, would lead the flag salute and morning prayer and then we would march to our classrooms. If you were an unruly student, which I was occasionally, the sisters of Mercy who ran the school would provide little mercy. A good rap across the knuckles with a ruler would usually end problems immediately. Mrs. Wonderly, my fourth grade geography teacher instilled in me a love and fascination for geography that I retain today."

 * … NUT FESTIVAL: An update on the upcoming Nut Festival set for this Saturday at the Kern County Museum from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. One of the features will be folks sharing the Nuttiest Thing That Ever Happened to Me, a live story-telling event where people can tell a true, family-friendly story about something nutty that happened to them.  Among those sharing stories will be Californian executive editor Bob Price, radio talk show hosts Scott Cox and Ralph Bailey and Californian heath reporter Courtenay Edlehart. Too bad this is scheduled right when California Chrome will be running in the Belmont Stakes.