A fifth grader gets a lesson in the lack of civility by a BMW-driving mom and the Fox Theater prepares for a big anniversary

* ... BAD FORM: Robert Dobrzanski spent a recent afternoon watching his fifth grade daughter compete in a basketball game at a local Christian school. His daughter's team was beaten badly, but he was impressed with the sportsmanship displayed on the court and by most of the parents of both teams. That is, until he got into his car outside the school and a black BMW sedan pulled up next to them with the windows down. "I noticed the little girl from the opposing team in the car," he said. "I said, 'you are a very good player and congratulations on the win.' The little girl shyly thanked me. The conversation should have ended then but the mom said, 'Yes, it is especially fun when you win' and they drove off. We all know it is fun to win but does a Christian adult have to rub it in to a little 10 year old's face? Parents and adults need to lead by example and this lady needs to grow up. Just because you have a nice car and nice Gucci glasses and purse doesn't mean you can act like a jackass. Plus you have your kids at a Christian school. Baffling."

 * ... FOX TALES: The Fox Theater Foundation is planning a big celebration of downtown's majestic old dame, and it is looking for stories of folks who either worked there or visited over the years. Foundation member Phyllis Adams is looking for "Fox Tales," memories and incidents from the time the Fox opened on Christmas in 1930 and on through the years. If you have something you'd like to contribute, send it to the Fox Theater Foundation, 2001 H Street, 93301. The Foundation is also planning a Friends of the Fox Membership Drive starting this month and ending on June 14.

 * ... GOH: Another fund raiser, this one for 5th District Supervisor candidate Karen Goh, is planned for March 22 at The Metro Galleries downtown. The event is hosted by galleries owner Don Martin and Dr. Nick Hansa, owner of Chef's Choice Noodle Bar. Call (661) 322-2225 with questions.

 * ... SPOTTED: From a writer who identified himself only as Baseball Aficionado: "For consideration in your 'Spotted' section of Bakersfield Observed. Opening Day Ceremonies for Southwest Little League. 10,000 kids and parents eagerly awaiting the start of the season. Picture perfect day, not so picture perfect interruption as an impatient middle aged woman walks onto the field and interrupts the program multiple times as the emcee is speaking with some unfortuante exchange urging someone to move their parked car. Clearly she could have waited or handled this more discretely without having to put a damper on this beautiful morning.  What happened to patience as a virtue?"


 * ... THEFTS: Petty thefts are nothing new, particularly in this economy, but it doesn't take the sting out of it when it happens. A frustrated Ann Olcott wrote to tell me about her 20-year-old grand daughter, Jami, whose car was broken into at West High while teaching a Color Guard class. "Her new laptop and new GPS were stolen along with all her text books," she said. "Her friend, who was with her and also teaches Color Guard, had his new laptop stolen along with his wallet. Jami works for Kern High District and Standard School District teaching Color Guard to help pay her way through college. These are two hard working Bakersfield College kids, who teach high school and junior high Color Guard to pay for their college and living expenses. Insurance will not cover these item because Jami only has liability on her car. This is a huge loss for them. When will this stop?"

 * ... AGING AMERICA: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state with the youngest median age - 29.5 - is Utah. The state with the oldest median age? Maine at 42.7.

Tree Foundation of Kern holds a fund raiser and remembering when Sam the Hippo graced old Bakersfield

 * ... TREES: One of the more lower profile but highly effective non profits in town is the Tree Foundation of Kern, which is devoted to bringing more shade to our community.  I have purchased trees through the Foundation to honor friends, watched them planted and then grow, and I will tell you this group does a lot of good for our community. This Friday, it's holding a fund raiser called "An Evening of Wine and Cheese" at The Metro Galleries on 19th Street. The cost is $50 per ticket or $85 for a couple, and it includes hors d'oeuvres and wine from Croad Vineyards. There will be a silent auction and artists showing "trees in art." Email Melissa Iger at tree info@urbanforest.org or call (661) 325-6650.

* .... SAM: Frank Echenique is in the livestock transportation business, and he clearly remembers when Sam the Hippo lived in town. "We transported Sam from the Old Kern County Fairgrounds on North Chester to Larsen's Dairy on Wible Road. Sam was in the horse stalls. It took us all day... Sam did not want to go into ther cattle trailers... it was a fireman squirting water around the stalls that got Sam to go into the trailer. The news media left the fair grounds and then they were tired of waiting at Larsen's Dairy so Sam didn't make the news that day.  Also we had another encounter with Sam. We were asked to hide Sam as part of a scavenger hunt put on by Teen Challenge. He was hidden in our trailer at a church on Ming Avenue by where the Golden Corral resturaunt is now. We do remember Sam the Hippo."

 * ... RILEY'S JOURNEY: Riley Parker is a private investigator and friend, and occasionally I spotlight him in this space because I admire what he has done to whip himself into shape. At one time he weighted 232 pounds and was told by his doctor he was headed for a life as a diabetic. He changed his lifestyle, bought a  bicycle and committed himself to healthy eating and exercise. Where is he today? "After spending two months hovering in the 205-207 range, I met with my doctor at Kaiser-Permanente.  While that was a significant change from my all-time high of 232; my doctor suggested that I do an even more aggressive change to my lifestyle. What that really meant was going virtually Vegan in my eating habits. We did so with the help of a book entitled 'Eat to Live.' It took one week from the onset of those changes to attain, and then pass, my goal weight of 200. This morning, for the first time in two decades, I saw a '1' as the first number on my digital scale. Today, I set a new goal weight of 190.  I can’t describe how much better I feel…how many things no longer hurt, and how much energy I have. You must convince people my age, those original baby-boomers, to get off their butts, get some serious exercise, and to eat like paupers. It is the only way to overcome the affects of what our over-indulgence and wealth has done to us. The alternative is a really crappy fourth quarter of life. I’m going out on Saturday for a celebratory 50 mile bike ride." Well done, Riley. (photo of Riley and Jane Parker)

 * ... GOOD SERVICE: Sometimes it's the little things that count. For William and Pamela Goldman, it's the friendly Walmart greeter that they have come to appreciate. "I don't have his name, sadly, but he does his job in a professional manner. My wife and I require mobil carts to do our shopping, and this gentleman always finds one for each of us. Good deeds should be recognized."

 * ... MORE SERVICE: And speaking of service, Jeff Pickering wrote to praise the folks over at Action Sports who provided gold star customer service after he purchased a bicycle. Pickering is CEO of the Kern Community Foundation and is now cycling to work several days a week.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From Marlene Morales: "Geez, you know you’re from Bakersfield if you had your high school senior pictures or family photos  taken at Olin Mills back in the 1970s and 1980s."

Meet Zeb Smith, hero of the anti "Shame On" movement, on Californian Radio KERN 1180 Monday morning

 * ... STARDOM: Zeb Smith may not be a household name now but he's darn close to it. If you haven't heard, Smith is the local contractor who took on those folks who picket local businesses with the "Shame On" signs. Smith works as a non-union contractor and has long been fed up watching these Carpenter's Union workers picket local companies. When he saw them in front of the new Dewar's candy store in the Northwest, he thought "enough is enough." He made his own poster, reading "Shame on These ...(expletive)" and had his picture taken next to the banner. After posting on Facebook, the picture went viral and he's become an instant hero to legends of people who disagree with the "Shame On" protesters. I'll have Smith on Californian Radio KERN 1180 Monday at 9 a.m. Tune in to hear how Smith has become a hero to many in our community.

 * ... MATLOCK: Learned the other day that retired Bakersfield police chief Eric Matlock has been battling a serious illness that has left his weak. Matlock served as chief from 1999 to 2004 when he retired, and has remained active in our community. In 2007 he was inducted into the CSUB Alumni Hall of Fame. Keep Matlock and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

* ... SPOTTED: From reader Craig Holland: "A guy on a skateboard going around the (Garces) traffic circle against traffic! It is difficult enough on a bike going with traffic. He looks like a future nominee for an upcoming Darwin award."

 * ... LEADERSHIP: A new organization is seeking nominees to honor the "unsung heroes in our midst who represent the humble qualities of servant leadership." The award is named for the late civic leader Warren Carter, former president of Watson Realty. A breakfast to honor the winner is set for Thursday, May 3, at Stockdale Country Club. To nominate someone go to www.kernleadershipalliance.org.

* ... HISTORY LESSON: Another nugget from a June 1896 edition of The Californian: An advertisement for Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic promises that "it makes children as fat as pigs... just as good for adults." It was offered for sale by J.A. Hughes, "leading prescription pharmacist of Kern County."

 * ... SAM THE HIPPO: Randy Martin over at Covenant Community Services wonders who remembers a hippopotamus who used to live over near Sam Lynn Ball Park. "If it wasn't a hippo," he told me, "it was some other large beast."

McCarthy: put people before fish to end California's severe water crisis

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, (R-Bakersfield) and House Majority Whip, gives us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his words:

 "Our community knows first-hand the impacts of California’s man-made water crisis. For the past few years, we have witnessed the land that has gone fallow and the joblessless that has resulted from restrictions on water pumping in the Delta. That all changed on Wednesday when the U.S. House of Representatives took the first step to resolve this by voting to put families before a tiny fish and end California’s man-made drought. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act passed with both Democratic and Republican support and would get water flowing in our community again.

 "In this bill, we return pumping operations in the Delta to the bipartisan 1994 Bay Delta Accord. The Accord was hailed as an end to California’s water wars and was praised by the Clinton Administration and other prominent Democrats such as Rep. George Miller and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, along with Republican Governor Pete Wilson, environmentalists and water users all across our state. The bill we passed on Wednesday continues the bipartisan spirit of the Accord to address California’s man-made drought.

 "In addition to getting our priorities right by putting our families and communities before a fish, this legislation will have a real impact on our local economy. It would increase water supplies to the Central Valley and Southern California by approximately 1.4 million acre-feet annually. Instead of that additional water getting lost to the ocean, we could irrigate almost 460,000 acres of farmland and potentially create up to 30,000 jobs. I went to the House Floor on Wednesday to talk about the merits of this legislation.

 "Passing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act wasn’t the only action taken this week to get people back to work. On Tuesday, I joined my colleagues in unveiling the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act, a package of bills that will empower small businesses by increasing their access to capital to grow and thrive. In fact, this Act includes legislation I introduced last year to modernize current regulations so entrepreneurs have more opportunities to access capital to grow their business and hire new employees. In his State of the Union Address, the President asked Congress to send him a bill that empowered entrepreneurs. This package of bills does just that, and already enjoys broad bipartisan support.

 "Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They generate over 60 percent of the new jobs in America, and startups alone have created 40 million jobs since 1980. It is the risk-takers in the private sector that will get people back to work and keep America’s economy first for years to come, but government policies can either be a help or a hindrance. The JOBS Act makes government a partner in job creation, and that’s what I came to Washington to do. I will continue to fight for policies that will put our communities first and get people back to work.

Boat and RV show is a big hit; a signal of better economic times? And a random act of kindness is offset by bad form

 * ... RV SHOW: Apparently the big boat and RV sportsman show out at the Kern County Fairgrounds this past weekend was a huge hit, drawing near record crowds and giving local businessmen a reason to smile. Is this an indication that things are getting better? Are folks feeling more confident about making big-ticket purchases? Let's hope so.

 * ... KINDNESS: Marian McBride passes along this random act of kindness. "A few days ago I went to der Wienerschnitzel on Ming Avenue. When I reached the drive-up window the owner was waiting with a big smile.  I thought he was happy to see his most vocal fan of Street Dogs (hot dogs wrapped in bacon and including grilled onions).  Instead, he told me that the customer in front of me had paid for my order.  I asked why and he said she just did a kind thing.  She was driving away (white car), which I didn’t recognize. Perhaps she had seen in her mirror that I am an old lady in an old pickup. Perhaps she heard my old-school ways of thanking people for everything. Those two Street Dogs tasted better than any others ever did. Thank you, unknown lady, for a very sweet, very kind act.

 * ... SPOTTED: Meanwhile, not everyone displays such good form in public. Take this example of bad behavior witnessed by Jolie Brouttier: A woman in the Rite Aid parking lot off Gosford Road leans over the driver's seat, opens the passenger door and tosses out a large to-go box, leaving her lit cigarette on top of the trash. "Seeing me catch her in the act and give her a disgusting stare-down, she proceeds to back up and flip ME off, not paying attention to the other cars behind her, nearly causing a collision. From litter bug to unsafe driver, this woman has a lot of class. NOT!"

* ... ASHBURN: I had a chance the other day to catch up with Roy Ashburn, the former supervisor and state senator who had a very public fall from grace two years ago when he was ticketed with a DUI in Sacramento and later revealed he was gay. Ashburn is now running for his old seat as a First District supervisor, along with several other candidates, and no matter what you think of his politics, it was good seeing him emotionally healthy and happy. This is not an endorsement of his candidacy, but rather an endorsement of the concepts of forgiveness and redemption. Ashburn called his arrest and subsequent "coming out" a blessing in that is allowed him to reorder his life. He has been sober for two years.

* ... AUTHOR: Niko and Sally Livingston dropped me a note about their son, who has just penned his first children's book. The new author is 26-year-old Stuart Livingston, a graduate of Bakersfield High, Bakersfield College, and Cal State Northridge. He co-authored, and co-illustrated a book that’s received the Kirkus Star for remarkable merit from Kirkus Reviews. It’s a children’s graphic novel titled Explorer:  The Mystery Boxes and features Stuart’s story 'The Soldier’s Daughter.'  Writing and illustrating are sideline projects to his full-time job creating storyboards for the cartoon 'Futurama.'" Congrats to this young man.

 * ... OUR HISTORY: In 1896 a Los Angeles company placed regular advertisements in The Californian announcing a cure for "Cancer and Tumors.... No knife or pain. No pay till cured!"

A few examples of really bad behavior in our community and examining the demographics of a changing America

  * ... BAD FORM: Sometimes you just can't avoid the stupidity of your fellow man. As in when Warren Rooney was cycling on Round Mountain Road about four miles east of Gordon's Ferry when he experienced an incident that could have left him in the hospital, or worse. "It was a Saturday afternoon when a vehicle came up behind me going 45-50 mph and the passenger slugged me in the back. I could tell that the vehicle was coming close by the sound and so I was inches from the edge of the pavement and they came up next to me within a foot or so. It was an older American made SUV, possibly a late 1980s or early 1990s Chevy Blazer or Suburban. It had an old red-orange paint job that looked like it might have been done at home. The rear license plate was inside the rear window and had reflective plastic between the license plate and window making it difficult to read." This guy should be easy enough to notice around town.
 

 * ... SINGLES: There has been a rash of stories recently on our nation's changing demographics, including statistics that show that fully half of all adults are unmarried and most of them are living alone. And now comes a website devoted to the single life called "QuirkyAlone." The website says it is devoted to people who "enjoy being single (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and prefer being single to dating for the sake of dating. It’s a mindset. Quirkyalone is not anti-love. It is pro-love. It is not anti-dating. It is anti-compulsory dating."

* ... DRIVERS: Nancy Barnett read my earlier post about an unlicensed driver, who had no insurance, caused an accident and then just drove off before police arrived. She added this:  "At the checkpoints the Bakersfield Police Department hold, if you are driving without a license but you can call someone to come get your car and drive you home, they let you go.  Do the police actually think that person won't get behind the wheel and do this again? It's even more amazing how many people don't keep the registration up to date on their cars!  If it was you or me and our tags were 6 months out of date, we'd be pulled over in a heartbeat and ticketed!"



 * ... HEALTH FACTS: Researchers now believe that adopting a diet of fish and other foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids will help your memory as you age. In fact, The Wall Street Journal says some doctors are recommending we eat fish three times a week. And there is this: other research shows that men who are at least six feet tall have a much lower risk of developing heart failure than shorter men. So count yourself lucky if you're tall and enjoy that tilapia a few times a week.


* ... WEILL: One of my favorite and worth-while nonprofit fund raisers is coming up next month when The Weill Child Guidance Foundation will hold its annual wine tasting at the historic Guild House Friday, March 23, from 5:30 p.m. 8 p.m. This is always an interesting evening and a chance to taste some good wines and munch on hors d'oeuvres while touring the beautiful Guild House. The cost is $75 per person. Call Toni Ross at (661) 322-1021, ext. 186 for reservations. Proceeds benefit the Henrietta Weill Memorial Child Guidance Clinic, which has provided mental health services for Kern County children and families for 66 years.

 * ... OUR HISTORY: Did you know that John Philip Sousa and his "Sousa's Peerless Band" performed in Bakersfield's Armory Hall on February 26, 1896? The cost for reserved seats? Just $1.

Dewar's attracts protesters, and supporters. Not the counter protester on the left

 The "shame on" union protesters are out in front of the new Dewar's ice cream shop. This photo, apparently taken by an unknown photographer and posted on Facebook and subsequently widely distributed, catches the action. Note the counter protester and his sign to the left.

Dreaming of water in the Kern River this summer and taking stock of the supervisor races

* ... SUMMER DREAMS: Remember last summer when a good snow pack helped keep the Kern River flowing through town? There were paddle boarders, kayakers and canoeists up and down the river from Beach Park to the Park at RiverWalk. But don't expect the same thing this year, particularly if we don't get more rain and snow in the mountains. One friend in the water business predicted "we'll have periods of water in the river but it won't be deep enough to paddle board." Keep your fingers crossed for some rain and snow.

* ... SUPERVISOR: Leticia Perez, the former staffer for state Sen. Michael Rubio, has just turned in 3,132 signatures to the Kern County Election's office to get on the ballot for the Fifth District Supervisor race. Rubio told me last week Perez is busy walking the district and he predicted she would defeat her primary rival, Supervisor Karen Goh, who is running for a full term. Perez supporter Linda Fiddler said the signatures "were all collected by friends, relatives and neighbors who have turned out every Saturday and some Sundays since the beginning of the year to visit voters at their doors. Those volunteers rock!"

 * .... ASHBURN: Speaking of county supervisors, former supervisor and state senator Roy Ashburn is back running for his old First District seat after a drunk driving incident that could have ruined his career. Ashburn will be my guest Monday on Californian Radio on Kern 1180 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tune it to hear Ashburn lay out his priorities and thoughts, including how forgiving he thinks voters will be after his  DUI arrest and revelation that he is gay.

* ... TRASH: From my inbox comes this story on how one man deals with bags of trash dumped on his property. "A friend that has property in the country has trash left along side his road.. When that happens he looks in the bags and usually finds a discarded envelope with an address on it. He then writes a nice note telling the owner that they must have lost this bag and delivers it to their house along with all the trash.  A good way to get it back to the rightful owners!"

 * ... MORE TRASH: Yet another reader, Gerhard Schmidt, wonders why whoever dumped the mattress simply didn't look in the telephone book for a number to call (661-326-3114) to have large items hauled away free. "Details are  in the green pages of the phone book. Of course the people who do those things might not be able to read your blog or the phone book."

 * ... AIRLINES: The Dutch airline KLM is experimenting with a system that allows passengers to pick their seats by viewing the backgrounds of other passengers using the social networking websites Facebook and LinkedIn. Here's how it works: you can voluntarily link your seat assignment to your Facebook page so other passengers can view your background in case they might want to sit next to you. Sounds a little much to me but let's see if it works.