Valley Republic Bank sponsors another Latination at The Metro Galleries, remembering the comedic genius of Joan Rivers and lamenting more deaths from drunk driving

 * … LATINATION: It's the biggest First Friday of the year this week and Metro Galleries on 19th Street is having its 6th annual exhibit Latination. Metro owner Don Martin tells me that this has been the best

year of entries overall and that the judges had a difficult time picking their top choices. In six short years this event has become something of a Bakersfield tradition. As always, you can expect Luis Aguilar and his restaurant El Pueblo serving the food and drinks and popular local band Mento Buru performing throughout the evening. For the second year in a row I will be presenting the top three awards along with KERO-TV 23 anchor Jackie Parks.

   * … JOAN: RIP Joan Rivers, a woman whose sharp wit and humor left us laughing. Three of my favorite Joan Rivers jokes: "The first time I see a jogger smiling, I’ll consider it… My best birth control now is just to leave the lights on... I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die, they will donate my body to Tupperware."

 * … DRUNK DRIVING: Suzanne Bierley was one of a handful of readers who wrote to express their outrage at the number of deaths caused by accidents involving drunk drivers. "The laws must be tougher on drunk drivers! The horrific accident on Rosedale Highway early Saturday morning may not have happened if stricter penalties were imposed the first time. What is it going to take? Sure we will put out candles, balloons and stuffed animals at the scene – but that does not account for the two lives that were unnecessarily taken from their family and friends. What about six months in jail and $15,000 fine for first offenders and it goes up from there? Too many innocent victims are dying because someone wants to irresponsibly drink and then get into a car. My heart goes out to the three passengers and their families."

 * … GOOD FORM: Florence Diaz asked me to thank the anonymous Good Samaritan who aided her when she took a tumble. "There is an angel walking around the Southwest part of town." she wrote. "I don't know her name but I would like to thank her profusely for staying with me during my unfortunate spill in front of Von's at the Marketplace. She not only stayed with me, but she got a friend to pick up her daughter after school, called 911, and informed my son of the accident. I'm sorry I didn't get her name in all the confusion. I wanted to thank her and let her know how much she is appreciated."

 * … COKE, NOT PEPSI: And speaking of Good Samaritans, I singled out John Moralez the other day for single handedly directing traffic at an accident site. The problem, a witness identified him as a driver for Pepsi. His wife, Donna Moralez, told me he works for Coca-Cola, not a small distinction in the beverage industry.

 * … GRAMMAR: The University of Oklahoma was left red faced this past weekend when it ran an advertisement on its academic programs but misspelled a word in the process. While beating Louisiana Tech in football, the university ran a banner advertisement reading: "You're degree is within reach." Ouch.

Bako Bits: Brain drain at the county, more drunks on the road and a bid to spike car sales

Cleaning off my desk preparing for a little vacation on the other coast. Wish I had better news on the local economy but it's chugging along the bottom, not getting any better but not getting much worse either. Let's wrap up some loose ends:

* FATHER OF THE YEAR? ... Just as we suspected, the driver who crashed head-on into another vehicle on Enos Lane on Sunday was drunk, according to the cops. And I suppose it should come as no surprise that the driver, 27-year-old Pedro Munoz of Delano, had been arrested on drunken driving charges two years ago. The tragedy is that Pedro's lack of responsibility led to the death of his wife and his two daughters, and the injury of a family of innocents in the truck he hit. Pedro's first mistake was driving drunk and his second - and fatal - mistake was trying to outrun a CHP officer who clocked him going 83 mph on Enos. Father of the year? Don't think so. By the way, that stretch of Enos between Panama Lane and Stockdale Highway is always treacherous. You have traffic heading to Interstate 5 and then trucks towing boats and RVs coming from the Lake Buena Vista Recreational Area. Be careful out there. (photo below courtesy of KGET TV)



* COUNTY BRAIN DRAIN ... Didn't want to let it pass without noting the pending retirement of David Price III, the chief of the Resource Management Agency. Dave is a longtime county bureaucrat and a good one at that, and it never hurts when you are blessed with a keen sense of humor and wit. Dave is heading to the bucolic hills of east Tennessee where his wife has family. He's worked at the county for 21 years. Price joins a number of other longtime county employees to leave recently, including County Counsel Bernie Barmann, waste management director Daphne Harley and Schools Superintendent Larry Reider.

* CLUNKERS FOR CASH ... Nice piece in today's Californian on the "clunkers for cash" program aimed at getting high polluting cars off the road. Turns out the California New Car Dealers Assn. is advising members to hold off until details can be worked out. One dealership eager to get in on the deal is Jim Burke Ford, where general manager Dan Hay reports a lot of interest. The deal: you get up to $4,000 for a trade-in toward the purchase of a new more fuel efficient vehicle but there are some small hiccups the program has to hurdle. Questions? Call your local car dealer for details.

Kern County: home of the drunk driver

Doesn't it seem we get more than our fair share of utterly horrific cases of drunk drivers in Kern County? Two cases made their way through the courts this week. The first involved Jose Hernandez, the 39-year-old multiple offender (seven drunken driving convictions) who was flying down Stockdale Highway at 90 mph (with his 2-year-old daughter no less) when he slammed into a sedan at Fairway Drive, killing Barbara Blair. Hernandez (pictured) was found guilty of second-degree murder and will be sentenced April 9. Hernandez apologized but it seems a tad late for that. The other case involved 18-year-old Noemi (Nemo) Perez, a promising young Cal State Bakersfield track athlete who was killed Feb. 8 near Arvin.(view earlier story here) She was doing nothing more than driving down Highway 223 when a vehicle driven by a drunk Francisco Nestor Santo, 22, crashed into Noemi's car and another one. He cut a plea deal and pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. He will be sentenced March 25. He's in the Lerdo Jail while on a U.S. Border Patrol hold.