Husband of a Bakersfield native dies in an avalanche in eastern Oregon, and The Padre Hotel refinances its debt

  * … AVALANCHE: It turns out there was a local connection to a terrible avalanche in eastern

Oregon that killed two people and injured two others. According to reader Nelda Oldham, it was the husband of her grand daughter Laurel Coulter who died in the mishap. Authorities said Shane Coulter, an aeronautical engineer, was cross country skiing in the Wallowa Mountains when he was killed. Laurel, who was born in Bakersfield, is also an aeronautical engineer with Boeing in Seattle. "He was an expert skier," Oldham said. "Shane was a wonderful ,modest young man and our family is devastated."

 * ... PADRE: The Padre Hotel has successfully refinanced much of its debt with a $10.7 million loan from Fresno-based United Security Bank. The loan refinances the debt the Padre incurred during the acquisition process and construction, but leaves in place a loan made by the City of Bakersfield. The bank's local vice president, Bart Hill, negotiated the deal and says this is one of the biggest real estate loans in downtown Bakersfield in the last five years. It is also a sign, Hill said, of the vitality of downtown Bakersfield and the local economy in general. United Security Bank is headquartered in Fresno with a dozen branches mostly located in the San Joaquin Valley. The bank purchased Taft National Bank eight years ago. The refinancing leaves San Diego developer Brett Miller as the sole owner of The Padre.

 * … CAFE: There's a beautiful new addition to our downtown restaurant scene over on L Street near the Sequoia sandwich shop. It's called Cafe Wall Street and it is owned by the couple that runs the successful sushi restaurants Enso and Toro at The Marketplace. The interior is stunning, featuring soft lighting, wide distressed wood floors and vintage iron light fixtures. I stopped by the other day and was told the official grand opening will not come until next month, but it is now serving customers in its soft opening.

 * … EATERY: And speaking of restaurants, congratulations to the folks over at the Little Italy restaurant in the Town and Country shopping center who are celebrating 10 years in business. To celebrate, the owners are offering $10 lunch specials all year.

 * … TWITTER: This humorous thought was posted on Twitter: "When life knocks me down, instead of getting back up I usually just lie there and take a nap."

* … MEMORIES: Judi Anderson Gahagan wrote with this question about Valley Plaza: "We would like to know what year the Valley Plaza mall opened, and we want to know if any readers remember a 'drug' type store being across from Wyatt's Cafeteria, and the name of this store. At a family dinner we could not come up with a name for this store… one member in our family could remember his mom buying donut holes inside this store." Judi: Valley Plaza opened in 1967 but I am not familiar with the store in question. Maybe other readers can help.

Former San Joaquin Bank president Bart Hill returns to the banking industry with United Security Bank, and Bako makes a list of the "least romantic" cities

 * ... NEW JOB: Bart Hill, the last president and chief executive officer at the old San Joaquin Bank, has returned to banking with a new job. Hill is now vice president and regional manager for United Security Bank, a Fresno-based financial institution with two locations in Kern County. USB is

 a 25-year-old full service community bank with offices up and down the San Joaquin Valley that puts an emphasis on commercial lending. Previous to this, Hill worked in the development offices at Cal State Bakersfield. He said he is "excited to return to banking and will be helping USB perform the traditional role of a community bank, which is simply working to make Kern County a better place to live. I look forward to continuing my community involvement and encouraging the participation of USB employees."

 * ... LITTER: The problem with litter in our community seems almost intractable, but reader David Losa suggested something different from his experience living in Utah: a vacuum truck on the road to pick up trash. "It was no different from a trash and garbage collector truck. But instead of forks to empty dumpsters and big clamps to empty trash cans, the trucks had vacuum and suction hoses controlled by the operator to pick up litter. If our city could procure this equipment that would mitigate the safety issues related to directly exposing personnel to vehicular traffic, risk of contacting valley fever from working outdoors and speed up the operation."

* ... LEAST ROMANTIC: Bakersfield has made another list, this time ranking as one of the "least romantic" cities in the nation. That is according to the movie rental company Redbox, which compiled its list based on the total number of "romance related" movie rentals last year. The most romantic cities were Marquette, Mich., Greenville, N.C., La Crosse, Wis., Ames, Iowa and Greensboro, N.C.  The least romantic list included Laredo, and Midland, Texas, El Centro, Ca.,  the Texas cities of Victoria,  Odessa, McAllen and Houston, Bakersfield, Fresno, and finally Beaumont, Texas.

 * ... CRIME WATCH: This idea comes from a reader who asked to remain anonymous. Leaving your garbage bins on the street all day advertises to would be burglars that no one is at home. On garbage pickup day, designate someone on your block to make sure all the containers are removed quickly after the the trucks make their rounds.

* ... BANDUCCI'S: Inez Coronado was mentioned in this column as someone who worked at the old Banducci's Corner. She reached out to me to share her story: "I started to work there when I was 20 years old. My mother, Kathy Lewis, was working there at the time. I have some wonderful memories about customers and co-workers. Julie Banducci and Lee Stanley were some tough bosses, but were some of the best.  One of my most favorite memories is having my daughter tell me, as an adult, that she loved having me come through the door after getting off work at Bnaducci’s because I always smelled of spaghetti. Some co-workers from Banducci’s still get together at Christmas time. I met the most wonderful people I will always remember. Some of these folks now frequent Doubletree where I have worked since shortly after Banducci’s closed its doors  I could write two books, one for Banducci’s and one for Doubletree. What a wonderful way to spend your career, to meet wonderful caring people every day of your life."