Are the streets of Bakersfield growing meaner by the day? And would it surprise you to know that the labrador retriever is among the dogs that need the most attention?

 * ... MEAN STREETS: Are our streets growing meaner by the day? I've been mulling this over for the past year or so as I've noticed an explosion of homelessness as well as an alarming rise in young men who clearly of the criminal bent. For the most part the homeless are harmless, and many are

suffering from emotional or mental disorders or just simply down on their luck. But the restless, jobless criminal element is also out there, contributing to the spike in petty thefts and burglaries that has not left any neighborhood unscathed. And we wonder why folks want to live behind the gates in Seven Oaks and other planned communities.

* ... DOGS: Do you know what breeds of dogs need the most attention? By that I mean they thrive on human interaction. According to the iHeartdogs.com website, the Australian Shepherd tops the list follows by the Labrador Retriever, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Border Collie, Brussels Griffon, German Shorthair Pointer and the Cocker Spaniel. Personally my tastes have always run toward pound mutts.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Russia hacked the election and I can't even hack my neighbors wifi."

 * ... PROVIDENCE: Congratulations to Tracy Leach and her crew over at Providence Strategic Consulting which held a holiday open house at its newly renovated offices on F Street. Leach furnished the offices with some handsome locally made tables and wrought iron, a testament to the creativity that Kern County offers.

 * ... WOOD WORKING: And speaking of local artists, I recently purchased a seven-foot long handmade wood table from Sam Ames, a friend who has been repairing wood instruments (violins etc) for years and has now turned his attention to making custom furniture  The table is made from reclaimed vineyard stakes and - like the piece in Tracy Leach's office - speaks to our local history, our agricultural heritage and a burgeoning local artisan scene.

* ... STARS THEATER: The Stars Dinner Theater has been struggling financially for several years now, but its regulars give its performances rave reviews. Said Marilynn Dunbar: "We attended Forever Plaid, the Christmas version, and it was delightful. The talent was amazing, as good as anything you would see in Los Angeles. The only thing lacking was a larger audience."

* ... MEMORIES: Here's some more on those junior baseball fields that existed next to Memorial Hospital, from reader Warren Pectin. "There were 10 baseball diamonds at the JBA fields on 34th Street near the Memorial Hospital. I played two years in the minor league (junior high school age) and two years in the major leagues (freshman and sophomore years.) ... There were close to 60 different teams consisting of about 15 to 18 individuals/ team, each with a sponsor that provided uniforms, bats, baseballs, etc... The managers and assistant managers were guys who enjoyed baseball and coaching, some of whom were fathers of the players but not on the same team as I recall. We usually played one game a week on a Saturday and the 'season' started before school was out and ended by the last days of summer. Each age group had an all-star game that was played at Sam Lynn field on North Chester. The playing fields were moved to the Sam Lynn area my second year in the minors (1959) and remained there for some years after I quit playing. The 1,000 or so boys who played and the 120 managers and assistant managers were kept up to date weekly as standings were published weekly by the Californian and occasionally an article about an individual or team would also be featured in the Californian."

Petty thefts, robberies and burglaries soar in Bakersfield and the collective shame of the litter in our community

 * ... CRIME: Did the news that the number of thefts and robberies have spiked recently really surprise anyone? There is hardly a neighborhood in town that hasn't seen an increase of petty thefts, car break ins and home burglaries. Prison realignment has dumped thousands of "non violent "offenders on our streets, but it doesn't make the person who returns home to find the house ransacked feel any better. What can we do? Police Chief Greg Williamson appealed for more community support, which to me translates into active community watch programs and constant communication with the police when you see something suspicious.

* ... LITTER: You know our litter problem here is bad when a visitor from Oregon takes the time to write a letter to the newspaper about how terrible we look to outsiders. "Of all the areas we have traveled in California as well as all over the USA, the trash around Bakersfield was deplorable. Surely the citizens care about the impression they are making," wrote Marcia Nashem of Bend, Ore.

 * ... OVERHEARD: An employee at a local grocery store is overheard telling a customer about shoplifters."The most common things they steal here are meat, cheese and coffee. Hard times."

 * ... DIETS: A recent study by the New England Journal of Medicine seems to confirm what we all know: dieters who eat earlier in the day rather than later lose more weight. In otherwise almost identical groups with the same caloric intake, those who ate dinner before 3 p.m. lost more weight than those who ate later. "Weight loss," a story in The New York Times said, "should focus not just on calories and nutrients, but also the timing of food.

* ... EAST HIGH: I have already mentioned that legendary broadcaster Don Rodewald is being inducted into the East High School Hall of Fame, but I neglected to mention the other honorees. They include Cornel Jordan, Don Galey, Rick McLeod, Manuel Oroz, Vernon Bell, Ruscel Reader, Bob Boyer, Terry Moreland, Ed Granillo, Dean Jones and Larry Press.

* ... MEMORY: Jack Moore is a third generation Bakersfieldian whose grandparents owned the Speedway Market. His own father regaled him with stories of the old Union Avenue Plunge and the mischief of his youth. "My dad was quite a rambunctious kid.  I am guessing that there were homeless people back then that lived down on the river and a friend and my dad would shoot at them with bow and arrows. He always referred to them as bums and they would get chased off.  He would also throw oranges at the cars and trucks pulling into the Orange Grove Trailer Park where they lived. My dad eventually went to Bakersfield Union High School for a year, about the time that Frank Gifford was becoming a football star."

* ... MEA CULPA: I screwed up in reporting on the success of Stacy Vanderhurst, a 2003 graduate of Centennial High School who went on to graduate from Notre Dame and is now completing her doctorate at Brown University. I erred in saying she graduated from high school a decade earlier.