A tribute to a career teacher who touched so many lives and dealing with a traffic nightmare on Truxtun

 * ... TRIBUTE: Jamie Henderson, who retired as superintendent of the Rosedale Union School District, dropped me this wonderful tribute to career educator  Lloyd Palmer, who died recently. Palmer spent 30 years as a social studies teacher at Curran Junior High, where Henderson found himself as one of Palmer's students in the early 1960s. "Kennedy was president, we had just come through the Cuban missile crisis and John Glenn had circled the earth.... It was a good time to be studying U.S. history and the Constitution." Henderson said Palmer knew every student by name and was always upbeat and positive. Years later, when as Rosedale superintendent Henderson was dealing with a difficult challenge, Palmer called and offered his support. "Forty years after I had been in his classroom he still checked on his students and offered them encouragement. Mr. Palmer, I realize having you as a teacher was a true blessing from God. May God continue to comfort and bless you and your family." (Californian photo of Henderson below)

 * .... TRAFFIC: The opening of the new Mohawk bridge connecting Truxtun Avenue with Rosedale Highway is proving to be a nightmare for morning commuters headed from the Southwest into town. Apparently so many drivers are using it to get off Rosedale Highway and onto Truxtun that it is backing up east-bound traffic on Truxtun almost all the way to Coffee Road. It seems particularly bad between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. when traffic it at its worst.

* ... CSUB: I will be chatting with Jeff Konya, the new CSUB Athletic Director, Friday (July 8) at 10 a.m. on SmartTalk 1230 AM on Californian Radio. Konya will lay out the strategic direction of the athletic department and answer any questions from callers. We will also discuss the embattled wrestling and women's tennis programs and the fund raising efforts to save them.

* ... SPAY, NEUTER: Did you know that one intact female dog, plus her offspring and their offspring, can product 67,000 dogs in just six years? That's the word from Ha Adolfo, founder of the Basic Needs Foundation. And that's why her group is hosting two free mobile spay-neuter clinics for low income pet owners of Lake Isabella, Wofford Heights, Onyx, Bodfish, South Lake, Mountain Mesa and Kernville. These clinics will take place on Saturday, August 20, and Saturday, October 22, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the parking lot of the Lake Isabella Vons. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-404-SPAY (7729).

* ... STREET CARS: John Pryor says you are an old timer if you remember the city's electric street cars that traveled on tracks back and forth between the Southern Pacific Railroad station on Baker Street, down 19th Street to the Santa Fe Railroad station on F Street at 15th Street, just north of Bakersfield High School. "On the very last day of the street cars operation, sometime in the 1930s, my father took me for a ride from Baker Street to F Street and back. He knew it was the end of an era for Bakersfield, and gave me an experience I still remember 70 plus years later!"

  * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader Kyle Estle: "You know it’s summertime in Bakersfield when the internal temperature on your outdoor grill is above 150 degrees BEFORE you light it!"

The real face on the recession, getting ready for gridlock and the courage of a rape victim

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 * ... JOBLESS: I received a thoughtful note from a reader challenging my notion that foreclosed homes are the "picture of this recession." The contributor noted that it's not the house itself, but rather the person in the unemployment line that is more representative of these difficult economic times. "It's the face of the person at the unemployment office, trying to figure out the confusing and contradictory paperwork, trying to get a hold of someone to answer simple questions and hoping that a paperwork snafu or single Senator won't result in the loss of benefits or force him out of his home and make him wonder how he will eat." I stand corrected. These are tenuous times for so many of our neighbors. I appreciate this input, which stands  in contrast to others who -  blessed with jobs and homes and security - trivialize the pain of others by waltzing through this recession engaged in idle gossip seemingly oblivious to what is happening around them. And so it goes.

 * ... COLLEGE BOUND: Terri Richmond, social studies chair over at Foothill High School, alerted me to two of her International Baccalaureate students who have been accepted into some impressive colleges. Maria Zepeda will choose from Wellesley, Yale, Stanford, Brown and Columbia, and Omar Gonzales has been accepted at the University of Southern California and Emory University in Atlanta. Going on to any college is something to celebrate, but these two kids have really excelled. Well done.

* ... MORE FOOTHILL: Beyond the kids mentioned above, Foothill High has a lot more to crow about. Joan Herman, lead counselor, told me the school is seeing a "depth and breadth of college acceptances that thrills us: Yale, Columbia, Brown, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Emory, Grinnell, Stanford, USC, Occidental, UCLA (9!), UC Berkeley ... What is especially notable is that these students have done it with none of the advantages that others enjoy: most of our students come from extremely low-income homes, are usually the first in their family to go to college (and sometimes to finish high school) and often come from homes where English is not the first language. Despite those obstacles, they achieve at the highest levels!" Joan gave special thanks to Rebecca Farley, the international baccalaureate coordinator who is tireless in her efforts to prepare these students to excel.

  * ... VICTIM COURAGE: I was moved by the story of rape victim Donna Bulford speaking at Cal State Bakersfield this week.(read the Californian full story here) Bulford was the victim in the "Babies R Us" case in which she was robbed, kidnapped and raped in broad daylight. It took courage for this young woman to face her accuser and then share her story with others. This is a strong young woman who obviously was reared by parents who filled her with confidence and self-esteem. (Californian photo by Michael Fagans)

  * ... GRIDLOCK: Don't say that City Manager Alan Tandy didn't warn us. Now that the rainy season is about over, work is getting underway on road projects across town. And if you think it's bad now, just wait because it's going to get much worse. Consider the already nightmarish intersection of Brimhall and Coffee roads, where they are rerouting a sewer line and planning massive improvements. The morning and afternoon commutes - already hellish - are starting to look like something you expect elsewhere. And don't forget about the year-long project at Coffee Road and Truxtun Extension. Getting through that intersection is going to make a colonoscopy look like a walk in the park.

* ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're from Bakersfield when "you complain that it takes you almost 20 minutes to go from one side of town to the other."