The ugly side deals made by Gov. Jerry Brown in the gas tax deal begin to emerge, a hats off to the volunteers who made the Haggard childhood home unveiling a success, and Watson Realtor Mary Christenson brings back her colorful Easter display

 * ... GAS TAX: The details of how Gov. Jerry Brown managed to get the votes to pass the state's large gas tax hike emerging, and they are not pretty. It turns out Brown had to promise reluctant

legislators some $1 billion in pet projects (payola some call it) to assure passage. As the conservative blog FlashReport noted: "The deal is so bad they needed $1 billion in payola to buy enough votes to pass it. And shamefully, only 60 percent of the gas tax collected from SB 1, authored by Democrat Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose), will actually be used for road maintenance and repairs. Environmentalists got plenty of taxpayer-funded payola as well including money for more public transit, and for walking and bicycling projects. SB 1 does nothing to relieve traffic congestion or expand highway lane capacity. If Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown are trying to force California’s middle class out and small businesses, then it’s working."

 * ... HAGGARD HOME: The official unveiling of the Merle Haggard childhood home at Kern Pioneer Village was a success, but the real story unfolded behind the scenes thanks to scores of volunteers. Since the resignation and departure of museum director Zoot Velasco, the museum was been rudderless as its board of directors determines what they need in a future director. So it was left to the Board and other volunteers to pull off the event, among them Steve Sanders, Sheryl Barbich, Beth Pandol and Tracy Walker-Kiser.

 * ... EASTER: Mary Christenson, the award winning Watson Realtor, is at it again this Easter. This is the sixth year that Christenson has decorated her Seven Oaks home with thousands (3,000 at last count) of plastic Easter eggs to celebrate Holy Week. It has become something of a Seven Oaks tradition with families stopping by to snap pictures on the "bunny bench" and this explosive mosaic of color. The eggs will be removed the day after Easter.

 * ... SPOTTED: A woman hiking with two men on the Panorama Bluffs gingerly picks up a soiled diaper and walks it 30 feet to the nearest trash bin. Her male companions would not touch it.

 * ... OVERHEARD: A middle aged man is asking a friend if he would recall the name of an old bar that once stood at Panorama and River Road on the site now occupied by a car wash. Anyone remember?

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Marriage is like a public toilet. Those waiting outside are desperate to get in. Those inside are desperate to get out."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: Posted by my friend Joe Drew: "Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason."

 * ... FIRESTONE: I've become a fan of the privately owned Firestone Grill on California Avenue and Highway 99. Twenty plus big screen TVs, robust salads and a fine signature burger, but what is with the tiny napkins that, unfolded, are barely the size of your palm?

 * ... 24TH STREET: Kelly Giblin dropped me this note about the houses being razed on 24th Street: "Each day as I drive past the homes and buildings on 24th Street that are being torn down for the street widening project, I can't help thinking that there must be a huge amount of material and fixtures in those structures that could be salvaged and repurposed. Does anyone know if that is being done? With all the structures being torn down for the widening project and the Centennial Corridor Project, I cannot help but think that it is a real tragedy if everything just ends up in a landfill."

Zoot Velasco out as director of the Kern County Museum, more developments on the 18th Street Corridor and remembering when Bonanza's Hop Sing came to town

* ... ZOOT: So did Zoot Velasco get the boot as chief executive officer of the Kern County Museum? The official word is that he resigned, but there was plenty of bad blood in the air during his short eight-month tenure, so we can all read what we like into what really happened. Almost from the day

Velasco started the job, there were grumblings about his management style (some board members viewed him as arrogant and aloof) and that doesn't play in a meat and potatoes town like Bakersfield. Velasco joins a long and growing list of folks who have been recruited to come to Bakersfield for important fund raising jobs only to quickly flame out.

 * ... QWIKCAFE: Attention downtowners: the new QwikCafe, a new "to go" venture by the folks who own the popular Sequoia Sandwich Co., will officially open on Monday, March 20, the first day of Spring. QwikCafe is located next to the downtown Sequoia Branch at 18th and L streets and will feature 'to go' salads and sandwiches. An attractive new dark awning just went up this week to match it to the Sequoia shop just next door.

 * ... CAFE SMITTEN: Meanwhile a few blocks east down 18th Street, the newly opened Cafe Smitten coffee house continues to do a gangbusters business, making it hard to get into at times. Said Sharon Antongiovanni. "I took your advice on the 27th of February and attempted a trip to Café Smitten. I was reminded why I do not go downtown. There is no where to park, it was 3:30 in the afternoon and there was not a table available due to students with laptops taking up all the tables with empty cups. I hope they can stay open but they need us baby boomers to spend money in there instead of just college people that are just taking up space. I had an out of town guest and we were looking forward to some coffee and something sweet. Unfortunately it will be along time before I venture downtown again." Give it another shot Sharon, it is worth the wait

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "'Engagement' can mean either planning to marry or initiating combat. Coincidence?"

 * ... GOOD FORM: Karen Frost shared this scene that will make your day. "My job takes me down Union Avenue, with all of its sad sights, twice a day. This morning I saw something that I just have to share with you. It is 42 degrees outside and as I sat in my car at a red light, a woman with bare feet walked across the street in front of me.  When she reached the other side of the street, a woman in a Kia pulled over, beckoned to her, got out of her car, and gave the barefoot woman the shoes off of her own feet. No idea who that woman is, but I'd like her to know she inspired me to do something for someone else today."

  * ... MORE GOOD FORM: Sunny Kapoor, my favorite Ohio State Buckeye, shared with me some good news on his son, Arie, who has been accepted into the Royal Veterinary College of London, beginning in September. Aries is a graduate of Centennial High School and of Chico State where he earned a degree in Animal Sciences. "He most likely will end up with some hefty college loans, but it is a fulfillment of a lifelong dream of being a veterinarian," he told me. "My younger son, Nigel, also a Centennial grad, is a senior at University of Arizona in the Electrical Engineering program. Bakersfield has been good to our family."

 * ... MEMORIES: And finally, there is this from reader Jim D. Smith: "The blog about Dan Blocker of Bonanza fame caught my eye. A couple of years after the series ended, the Cartwright cook, Hop Sing, was in Bakersfield.  Real life name Victor Sen Yung. He gave a cooking demonstration in the houseware department of Brock's where I worked. It was at the beginning of the wok craze."

New museum director struggles with logo for Pioneer Village and CSUB President Horace Mitchell and wife Barbara celebrate 50 years of marriage

 * ... MUSEUM: Zoot Velasco was hired as a "change agent" for the Kern County Museum (now

Pioneer Village) and as the new CEO he has certainly come in with enough energy and new ideas to fill a room. But judging by the two proposed new logos to brand Kern Pioneer Village, Velasco lacks an eye for graphic design. It would be charitable to describe both as uninspiring, clunky and amateurish, so let's hope the museum's board of directors (can you hear me Beth Pandol?) steps in to help Zoot find a logo that lives up to the museum's promise.

 * ... FIRST COUPLE: Congratulations to CSUB President Horace Mitchell and his wife Barbara who are celebrating their 50th year wedding anniversary. Mitchell became CSUB's fourth president in July 2004.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Common Sense isn’t a gift. It’s punishment, because you have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it."

 * ... MEMORIES: Superior Court Judge Thomas Clark dropped me a note to recall some memories when he was a boy. Said Clark: "Your mention of crawdad fishing in the canals brought back memories. As a boy I fished many a crawdad out of the irrigation canal that abutted our property (near Brundage and N Street). All the canals were teeming with crawdads in those days. I think they are long gone now---probably as a result of mosquito abatement spraying."

 * ... GOOD FORM: Here's a big shout out to Joe Rivera, a Bakersfield High graduate who just achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He is a member of Troop 125, which is the troop associated with St. Francis Parish. Said his proud mother Katie Rivera: "His Eagle Scout project was to paint address curbs for the senior citizens of the Kern City neighborhood, to make it easier for emergency vehicles like police, fire and ambulance to find their homes in the case of emergency. Joe and the great boys from Troop 125 (and his two younger sisters) painted 227 address curbs, a project which spanned about two months."  Joe is now a freshman at Bakersfield College.

 * ... SPOTTED: An older red Ford SUV is spotted around town with a bumper sticker that reads: "*UCK TRUMP" under what appears to be the symbol of the United Farm Workers. Do we really have to share our foul personal sentiments with everyone else?

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: This nugget comes from reader Bill Upshaw: "You would be an old timer if you remember the Santa Fe Rail Road whistle that was sounded each week day at noon and again at (I think) 12:20 p.m. This whistle was located at the rail road round house at California Avenue and Oak Streets and could be heard all over town."