A weekend of wild weather in Kern County, and what kind of mother takes her small children to a movie about the death of a heroin addict?

 * ... WEATHER: What a glorious, and unusual, weekend of weather. It's always the talk of the town here when it rains, but sprinkle in some wind, lightning and powerful thunderstorms and it was an evening to remember. I spotted some trees down, but the southern Valley came out relatively unscathed. Folks in Frazier Park said the rain was near biblical in its strength. We could use more shows of nature like that.
(Photo courtesy of KERO-TV, viewer submitted)

 * ... SPOTTED: At the Kidfest celebration at the Kern County Museum Saturday a rather large, tall man was spotted wearing a T-shirt with this message on the front: "Fat people are hard to kidnap."

 * ... BAD FORM: Since when it is okay to bring your small children to an R-rated movie? That's what happened this weekend when I dropped by the Valley Plaza cinemas to catch the heart breaking and bitter-sweet documentary called "Amy," the tragic story of British jazz singer Amy Winehouse who died of a heroin and alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the age of 27. It's a terrific profile of a woman that Tony Bennett said was the best jazz singer since Ella Fitzgerald, but it wasn't appropriate for the two very young girls who were seated with their mother.

 * ... OVERHEARD: Anthony Bernal picked up this conversation at a grocery store between a man and a woman chatting on her cell phone. "I didn't want to say anything while you were on the phone, but you're in America now. You need to speak English. If you want to speak Mexican, go back to Mexico. In America we speak English." The woman's reply: "Sir, I was speaking Navajo. If you want to speak English go back to England."

* ... BAD FORM: If there is a universally despised bit of 'bad form,' it has to be folks who walk their dogs and allow them to poop wherever they desire. Said reader Joe Chavez: "I live in the country  club area, and there's a person who walks three dogs at a time. I've  seen that this person has no control over them and every time they leave excrement on my sidewalk. I work very hard to keep my area clean and I would like to tell this person to please carry something to pick the poop up. Would be much appreciated."

* ... TREES: Michelle Claxton sent this note about the trees being cut down at Munsey Elementary School on the corner of Real Road and Belle Terrace. "I presume the city school district thinks the kids do not need shade or a soft grass area for playing ball and running and physical activity.  I completely and fully understand the drought. Our city has closed the local park swimming pools, water spray-parks, and must limit the water usage to keep plants alive, but when is it over kill? Maybe the school district will be replacing the trees with large shade structures and that would be okay, but I doubt that expense will be forthcoming."

A huge thunderstorm rolls through Bakersfield and it's the talk of the town, and more on those IRS telephone scams that are targeting so many Kern County residents

 * … RAIN: Who knew that a passing rainstorm could pick up our spirits? The rain (and wasn't Friday night amazing?) was the No. 1 topic in town over the weekend and everyone is hoping for more. Which brings us to this: You know you are from Bakersfield when you take pictures and video of the rain and post it on social networking websites. (photos by Don Martin and Christina Sweet)

* … IRS SCAMS: Our community is being inundated by telephone sammers posing as Internal Revenue Service agents. One reader called to say she returned home to find a "very threatening" message on her answering machine from someone claiming to be front the IRS. When she called Bakersfield police, an officer told her more than 150 people a day are complaining about the scams.

 * … SCAMS: And it gets worse. Kati McKeown in Rep. Kevin McCarthy's office passed along this note from an IRS official:  "The calls can seem scary and legitimate at the beginning. They know your name, they know the last four digits of your Social Security Numbewr, and they reference a specific amount of money that you owe. They insist on immediate payment, even threatening arrest if you hang up! They sometimes keep victims on their cell phone the whole time they are going to the store and buying the pre-paid card. The latest twist is that they tell victims to show up with payment at a specific IRS office. It is not the one closest to the victim’s home. It is often an inconvenient 50 miles away. (Using the IRS office makes this seem more legitimate.) After the victim acquires the pre-paid card, the scammer 'generously' offers to let them off the hook for the lengthy drive. They 'permit' the victim to settle the debt by giving the scammer the numbers off the back of the card, without having to make the trip to the IRS office. If you could help us share just one message, it would be this: The Internal Revenue Service NEVER directs taxpayers to put money on a pre-paid card!"

 * … POLLUTION: This thoughtful note came from Carlos Luna, who was traveling west on 7th Standard Road recently when he spotted a huge mound of almond trees burning near Snow Road.
"This farmer may have had a permit or was in a hurry to get rid off the trees before regulation for no burn days takes effect. May I mention it was a hazy day our surrounding mountains were slightly
visible yet this farmer was burning. The Air Resource Board continues to cut back on citizens burn days, however allows farmers to burn huge piles of green wood. Where is the logic? We get home that afternoon listening to the TV news telling us to brown bag it, don't idle the car, walk kids to school
you get the picture. The ARB should encourage these farmers to take their trees to nearby co-gens or make mulch for our freeways  The co-gens will at least clean up the exhaust before leaving the stacks, but no they want to eliminate our burn nights and fireplaces."

 * … ACHIEVER: Hats off to Lindsay Pearson, a junior at Frontier High School who has been accepted into the 2015 Investigative Journalism Program at Boston University next summer. Her father is Jerry Pearson, a partner at the law firm of Young Wooldridge.

 * … GOP: Karen DeWalt dropped me a note to remind be that the Bakersfield Republican women are gearing up for their annual Pizzazz Luncheon and Fashion Show. The theme is "Celebrating America" and Assemblywoman Shannon Grove will be the guest speaker. The event is Tuesday, Nov. 11 at the Bakersfield Marriott. Tickets can be purchased by calling (661) 477-7004 cost is $50.

 * … MEMORIES: Bud King remembers when "you could bring a Golden Crust wrapper to the Tejon Theater on a Saturday in the summer and get in free if you were a kid. Years later my dad's company, King Trucking, tore down the old bakery. "