Catholic Charities of Bakersfield dedicates a new food pantry downtown, KERO anchors Todd Karli and Jackie Parks heading east and where are those party schools?

 * ... CATHOLIC CHARITIES: Hats off to the folks over at Catholic Charities of Bakersfield who dedicated a new food pantry recently on Chester Avenue. The building was dedicated in honor of Monsignor Craig Harrison, and its opening marked the end of an extensive two-year renovation.

Beverly Camp, who serves on the board of the Fresno Diocese, said the building was totally gutted "and now it has allowed us to get going and get everything on track." The diocese held its annual Harvest of Hope fund raiser at the Kern County Fairgrounds this weekend. Last year the event raised $340,000 for the charity.

 * ... ENERGY: The debate over the role of fossil fuels in our society is nothing if not passionate. Consider this from reader Carole Cohen: "Thank you for your succinct and relevant take on fossil fuels. If your readers are truly adamant about the high risks of using fossil fuels, then I would invite them all to rid themselves of any appliance, vehicle, or other object that is either reliant upon fossil fuel to operate or was made from or with the use of fossil fuel. That will, of course, include all motor vehicles, all electric appliances, large and small, including but not limited to heating and air conditioning units, and while they are at it, they should level the house, give the clothes to the Goodwill and then stand naked on their plot of ground and enjoy life. When everyone has evolved to that state, we will then be free to replace our previous fossil fuel use with some other totally risk-free technology that is abundant and affordable enough to provide energy to all seven billion people who inhabit this planet - not just the privileged few who live in the industrial world - and has the technological potential to create a cleaner environment than already exists. Please let the rest of us know what is devised.  Incidentally, for those of you who were not alive during the 1970s, the big concern at that time was global cooling."


 * … ADIOS: Longtime KERO anchors Todd Karli and Jackie Parks are leaving the station and moving to the East coast. Karli has accepted an anchor position at WBOC-TV in Salisbury, MD., and his last day at KERO will be December 18. Parks, his wife, will stay in town until the end of the school year and join her husband then. These are two class acts in the local TV market and both will be missed.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "That depressing moment when you dip your cookie into milk for too long, it breaks off, and you wonder why bad things happen to good people."

 * ... BAD FORM: On L Street downtown a 30-something woman opens her driver's side door at a stop light and spits on the road. I could have done without that on my morning commute.

 * ... PARTY SCHOOLS: If you are getting ready to send your son or daughter off to college, you might consider this new list the nation's biggest party schools. In no particular order: Tulane University, University of Michigan, University of Colorado-Boulder, Ole Miss, Syracuse University, Florida State University, University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, Ohio University and the University of Iowa.

 * ... MORE BAD FORM: This note showed up in my mailbox from a frustrated reader: "Drivers, if you hear a fire or ambulance siren blaring pull over to the right! Chances are the ambulance or fire engine really needs to get somewhere... Once I watched a woman cross in front of the ambulance pushing a stroller."

Forecasters believe this winter's El Nino will be a whopper, and before your send your kids off to college, make sure you check out the top party schools

* ... EL NINO: The signs are improving that California will experience a significant El Nino this fall and winter, so strong that one forecaster is predicting a "Godzilla El Nino" event. In fact, The Los Angeles Times reported the "strengthening El Niño in the Pacific Ocean has the potential to become one of the most powerful on record, as warming ocean waters surge toward the Americas, setting up a pattern that could bring once-in-a-generation storms this winter to drought-parched California... After the strongest El Niño on record muscled up through the summer of 1997, the following winter gave Southern California double its annual rainfall and dumped double the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, an essential source of precipitation for the state’s water supply."

* ... PARTY SCHOOLS: Now that so many local families are preparing to send their children off to college in the fall, it's time to review yet another list of the top party schools in the country. Starting from No. 10 down to No. 1, the list goes like this: Tulane, University of Illinois, Louisiana State University, Iowa State, Penn State, Colorado, Arizona State, University of Georgia, West Virginia and the top party school, University of Wisconsin at Madison.

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: A sign at a Nebraska elementary school ushers in the school year with this message: "School resumes August 12. Resistance is futile. You will be educated."

* ... BAD FORM: Carol Knapp read a story recently about how texting and walking can lead to weight gain, and then she witnessed this: "When I was going into Walmart two weeks ago I was in a hurry... (but) I couldn't get past a woman who was texting leaning on her cart in the doorway. She was moving at a snails pace. She was about 150 pounds overweight. Leaving Walmart I was unfortunate to get behind another woman in the doorway speaking on her cellphone moving almost as slow... she was about 50 pounds overweight.  I hope I don't pack on the pounds now for making these rude comments but I bet I eat as much if not more than these two women.  I think I am able to keep the pounds at bay because I move at a faster pace and I also mow my own yard, dance and I don't text.  I used to belong to Weight Watchers so I know the struggles with the pounds so I am really not try to insult anyone."

 * ... GOOD FORM: Plez Taylor Jr. was at Red Lobster recently to celebrate his wife Vivian's birthday as well as their 67th wedding anniversary. "When we asked for check was informed a young couple had pad our check," he said. "It really made our evening and wish there was a way to thank them."

  * ... SNAILS: And finally, my friend Mary Helen Barro submits this interesting tip for your flowerbeds: "My flowerbeds were a breeding ground for snails, until landscaper extraordinaire Olga See of O’See Em Bloom on Calloway Drive introduced me to Cocoa Shell Mulch, which she sells for about $11 a bag. When cocoa beans are roasted, the shells separate from the beans.  The roasting process sterilizes the shells, which makes them weed-free and organic.  Within a few weeks, my garden was snail-free.  The flower beds look lovely, and my garden smells delicious!  The recycled cocoa bean hulls also help retain moisture, which means less watering, and also reduce weeds organically, so I don’t have to use chemicals.  Be careful, though if you have dogs, since cocoa mulch contains caffeine and theobromine, which could be toxic. Thanks to Olga See, my flowerbeds are now snail and bug free!"