College decision time for high school seniors and the pain of Roy Ashburn

* ... TATUM'S COMEBACK: Behind every fund raiser and worthy cause there are a thousand inspiring stories. One of them belongs to Tatum Holland, a high achieving youngster who was diagnosed with cancer when she was just 15 years old. Today, six years cancer free, she is a lively, intelligent, healthy 22-year-old student at Sacramento State making her parents proud every day. Tatum, who graduated from Liberty High School, overcame a rare form of bone cancer that led to chemotherapy and surgery. She is one of the reasons that her father, Greg Holland, and his team over at Coldwell Banker are sponsoring the "Relay for Life Wine Tasting and Auction" fund raiser. It will be held this Saturday (March 13) from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Motor City Lexus on Gasoline Alley to benefit the American Cancer Society. There will be plenty of wine (featuring 25 Central Coast wineries) and food so pick up your tickets at any Coldwell Banker office or at Imbibe Wine and Spirits on Truxtun Avenue. Proud father Greg  told me: "We have seen first hand what this disease can do and we have also seen how God works in the lives of those people affected by this terrible disease. So thank you very much!" Tatum's mother, Janet Sanders, and step mom Stephanie Holland are both deeply involved in cancer fighting and fund raising efforts. (Tatum is shown in the picture below.)

 * ... ROY'S SAGA:  Nobody should take any joy in the drama surrounding state Sen. Roy Ashburn, the conservative Bakersfield legislator whose arrest on DUI charges in Sacramento (after leaving a gay night club) led to his "coming out" as a homosexual on the Inga Barks KERN Newstalk radio program. There's a deep sadness to all this, if for no other reason than one can only imagine Ashburn's pain in dealing with his sexual identity. Which is why I thought it was piling on when Pastor Chad Vegas told Barks that Ashburn's admission was a "perversion... a sin ... a corruption of Roy." I'd prefer to let Roy work this thing out himself without playing moral judge and jury. Pastor Vegas and others should remember what my late mama always told me: "Live and let live."

 * ... DECISION TIME: It's that time of year when high school seniors all over Bakersfield are getting their acceptance letters or emails from colleges around the country. Some of the most popular local choices - UCLA, UC Berkeley and USC - won't be heard from until early April. These are stressful but exciting times for both our kids and their parents. My advice: enjoy these special moments because you wake up, and your children are gone. Seems like just yesterday that my youngest was at Christa McAuliffe Elementary in Marsha Ketchell's class and today she's wrapping up her sophomore year at Michigan in Ann Arbor. If you'd like to share where your sons and daughters are going to college, shoot me an email and I will compile a list.

* ... GAUCHO COCKROACHES: Speaking of universities, one of my work colleagues is reporter Gretchen Wenner, who has some deep roots at UC Santa Barbara. Not only did she graduate there, but her father is a retired UCSB biology professor. One of her favorite memories was the live collection of giant African cockroaches her father kept at the portable biology trailer, housed in plastic garbage cans that he would put on counters so the janitors would not accidentally trash them. Her parents, by the way, met at the University of Michigan. "So there's Wolverine and Gaucho blood there," she said. That's some good heritage.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're from Bakersfield when "You know the ingredients in a George's Special and you have had a 'Black and White' for lunch."