Local businessman finds his stolen bike on Craigslist and Bako police set up a sting to recover it; and readers provide some blowback to this blog

 * ... CRAIGSLIST: Hats off to the Bakersfield Police Department for helping arrange a sting operation to recover a stolen bicycle. The bike was stolen out of the garage of local business owner Mark Ramsey earlier this week, and sure enough, Mark later spotted it listed for sale on Craigslist, the free online classified website. He alerted the police and a sting was set up near the Canyon Hills Church. "Long story short, we drove up, the detectives hopped out of the car, introduced themselves and busted two guys, 19 and 16, for burglary and possession of stolen property. The minor was on probation already... Hats off to the BPD and the detectives who handled the whole thing... professionals the whole way through and on it in a flash. Nice to know we have some good quality people working at the BPD... considering the budget cuts, smaller workforce etc. they're still ready and willing to put it on the line to bring criminals to justice, uphold the law and do what they can to make our community a safer place."

 * ... FEEDBACK: A reader known simply as "Kash" is a regular contributor to this column who never minces words. Kash's latest missive concerns recent posts about people texting and driving and the three joggers who came upon two young people in the back of a pickup truck. "First, nobody can drive in this city, with or without a cellphone in hand. Quit writing about that boring crap whenever one of your stupid, loyal readers writes in. I'm surprised none of them caught me driving. You wouldn't know what to do with that story. Second, the people spotted having intercourse in their truck. Actually, that's quite adventurous and romantic. Here is this bright young man treating his girlfriend to a nice, private time, when all of the sudden three nosey runners drop in on them. If they were good human beings, they wouldn't have bothered with the truck. In this over populated world we can all still control our actions and let people have as much privacy as we can control. If they accidentally saw them getting it on, they should have looked away while apologizing profusely. Ever get intimate anywhere you're not really supposed to? It increases the fun. Try it sometime. If I was the one caught by runners I'd keep going at it while telling them off. I keep it classy.... Third, as your BFF I can tell you the truth. The truth is, you need to change your picture. It makes you look like an ass. You can do better." (Hang Glider Hill photo by Michael Renzi)

 * ... MEMORY: The pickup truck post also brought this response from Riley Parker. "I couldn’t help but laugh at the account of the lovers in the pickup bed. My family lived in a house on the adjacent oil lease from 1948-1962. There was no Paladino Drive, no Morning Drive and no State Route 178. Access was via a gravel road from Kern Canyon Road near the ‘Y’ where the Chevron is located today. On any given summer evening, and sometimes during the pre-dawn of morning, lovers would find their way to the top of that ridge and/or the top of what became known as ‘Hang Glider Hill.’ Seldom would they stay for more than an hour. Dad used it as a teaching moment, explaining that sometimes minor infractions, in this case trespassing, should be overlooked and the violators granted a bit of grace. In any case, there were spectacular views of cars traversing the grapevine, and of the moon rising over Breckenridge, with no housing developments or lighting to interfere. The only sounds emanated from the sheep being tended by Basque shepherds as they grazed the wheat stubble. Those are very pleasant memories."

 * ... SHADE: Norma Sacchini submitted this rant on the tendency in our community constantly trim shade trees. "I am driving down Old River Road and what are they doing while it is 109 degrees? Thinning all the beautiful shade trees. Why? These trees do not need to be trimmed... no wires anywhere on Old River Road...We need the shade and all the beauty we can get!"

* ... MOVIES: Marsha Kennedy added her thoughts about people who bring young children to R rated movies. "The 'entitled generation' feels they have the 'inalienable right' to do what pleases them, with no thought or concern towards anyone else. However, their parents enabled them by never telling them no and allowing them to do whatever they pleased and giving them everything they want. I'm a parent of four grown sons and am not without compassion - but there are times that parents need to either get a babysitter or do a family outing instead!"

 * ... SPOTTED: In a case of really bad form, a young man in his 20s in spotted urinating in the public parking garage on 18th and Eye streets during the lunch hour mid week as a woman in a Toyota SUV waits to drive him off.

The fattest state in the union? Mississippi. The Centers for Disease Control releases an obesity rating list and remembering Dr. Hans Einstein

* ... GOOD CAUSE: If you're like me you have your list of favorite charity fundraisers (West Rotary's annual Cioppino Feed and St. Francis Parish School's CrabFest are near the top of mine). But another one not to miss is the "Elegant Evening of Wine" to benefit the Joe Alexander Scholarship Foundation. This is an East Rotary-inspired event that, while a bit pricey, is always a first class operation thanks to folks like Vernon Varner, Phil Icardo, Daren Alexander and others. It's a great alternative to the time consuming charity golf tournament or chicken dinner at a country club, and it's all for a good cause. This year it's set for Saturday, Sept. 29, at the downtown home of Dr. Mark and Sue Ashley. It's the 10th anniversary of the event and the 100th birthday of Joe Alexander. Tickets are going for $175 each. Contact Vern Varner for more information at (661) 979-5788.

 * ... EINSTEIN: Our community lost a giant recently with the death at 89 of Dr. Hans Einstein, one of the preeminent experts on Valley Fever. Einstein, a distant relative of Albert Einstein, was born in Berlin but his mother moved him to The Netherlands after Hitler took power. He came to the United States as an exchange student and attended Furman University. Dr. Gerhard H. Schmidt recalled this story from Einstein's mother, who had been living in England where political scandals usually involve sex. "So, when Dr. Einstein’s mother was visiting from England just after Watergate and the Nixon resignation, her big question was, 'But where’s the sex?'"

 * ... OBESITY: Obesity is a national epidemic, and now the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has rated the states in terms of the best, and worst. The fattest state? Mississippi leads the nation with a rate of 34.9 percent, followed closely by Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana and Kentucky. Even the "most fit" states have high obesity rates. The least obese state was Colorado where 20.7 percent of the people were overweight, followed by Hawaii and Massachusetts. California came in with a rate under 25 percent.

* ... WOOD-DALE: Marlene Morales, the communications director over at the law firm of Chain, Cohn and Stiles, dropped into the Wood-Dale market for the first time recently. "It's everything I've read and now just experienced. Old fashion fresh meat counter with old fashion customer service. I felt like I was in Ozzie and Harriet's movie. Everyone waiting in line conversed with each other as we all observed the fresh meats (Harris Ranch steaks, stuffed pork chops, various sausages, bison, frog legs, scallops, halibut, etc...)  Then at the cash  register, the checker introduces herself as Darlene and proceeds to tell me that for the holidays they will be offering turducken... Turkey stuffed with duck, the duck stuffed with hen. Needless to say, it was a wonderful experience back in time and glad
Bakersfield still has old fashion values and grocery stores."

 * ... GOOD DEED: Here's a nugget to brighten your morning, compliments of reader Ginny Espinoza. Ginny's friend held a yard sale recently and a couple bought several items and paid with two $100 bills, both of which turned out to be counterfeit. "Last week the mother of the male came to my friend’s house to pay the debt! Her son was guilt-ridden (now in jail for another offense) and asked his mother to make good.  I am just hoping that he will repay her one day! I really have to give kudos to the mother – that couldn’t have been easy!"

 * ... SPOTTED: Peter and Patty Wonderly and a friend were running the foothills just north of Morning Drive and Paladin recently when "we noticed a pickup truck parked on the edge of the hilltop. We ran up the side hill and as we crested the top we witnessed a young couple in the truck bed - complete with mattress - scrambling to get into their clothes. Hey - keep it classy, folks."

A reader recalls a chance encounter with the late Julia Child, who revealed her family's Bakersfield roots

   * ... JULIA CHILD: Did you know that the late Julia Child (she would have been 100 years old this Wednesday) had Bakersfield roots? That's according to Susan Peninger, who shared a story about running in to the famous author and cook at LAX years ago. Child was alone and Peninger engaged her in conversation. "She asked my favorites (recipes) of hers and when I told her a gateaux and her roast chicken, she repeated the words I can still hear in my head when I think of her. Then, suddenly, the tables turn (no pun intended) and she was the one asking questions. She wanted to know all about me and where I was from, and so forth. When I said Bakersfield, she told me that her father had owned land in Bakersfield and that the family was here often during that time. In my research later, I discovered her father, John McWilliams Jr., was a California land developer who did own Kern County land and as I recall it was in the 1920s-1930s, and perhaps beyond.  It was Julia herself who told me the family lived here briefly."

* ... OUR WORLD: Claudia Casagrande wrote to share an experience in the Kern Medical Center waiting room. "I spent 5 1/2 hrs in the orthopedic waiting room at KMC with a relative who has a broken leg.  The waiting room was hot and crowded.  Crowded with people with broken limbs as well as able bodied friends and family. A young woman with a newly casted leg hobbled in on crutches to wait for her pain prescription. She was in obvious pain and looked around for a place to sit. She asked one middle aged woman if she could sit in the only vacant chair. The woman replied that she was saving it.  No one offered their seat, so I, probably the oldest female in the room, offered mine, after which a young man with an injured arm, insisted that I take his seat. The scenario played out several more times that afternoon and a few more men and woman offered their seats to others.  But many able bodied men and women did not. The woman who was saving the chair saved it for a half hour or so, before her son came and sat. "

 * ... CAL RADIO: Prices are going up in the local real estate market and the inventory of homes for sale is at or near an all-time low. On Monday at 9 a.m., join me on Californian Radio (KERN 1180) when I will be chatting with Scott Tobias, head of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors, when we will be talking about the state of the local market.


* ... THE MARK: The staff of the new downtown restaurant called "The Mark" is a collection of young people picked up from other eateries across town, and two of them are local products from rival high schools. Chef Ro Fernandez is a Shafter General, and bar manager Tony Partida (formerly of Cafe Med) hails from cross county rival Wasco. "It's like old home week here," Partida told me. The Mark is beautiful addition to downtown and is located on 19th Street in the building that once housed Goose Loonies.


 * ... INTERNS: Assemblywoman Shannon Grove has a new group of interns for her Bakersfield and Sacramento offices, all of them high achieving youngsters. They include Kirsten Albers, a sophomore in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; Leah Avila, a junior at Cal State Bakersfield; Mackenzie Carter, a sophomore at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; Jasmin Howells, a junior at Patrick Henry College in Virginia; Michelle Huete, a sophomore at UCLA;  and Andrew Worthing, a senior at Northwestern College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 


 * ... MOVIES: Here's something I bet most people have experienced. From reader Beth Espinoza: "The new trend in Bakersfield is to take your baby, toddler, adolescent, etc. to movies with R ratings. I sat next to families at Ted and Savages most recently. Now I know I shouldn’t be judging the parenting skills of others but, really, people? If you can’t afford a baby sitter then go see a movie made for families!"

Ryan Newbrough (Stockdale High and Harvard) produces anti-Obama video spoof that is the hit of YouTube but not popular with CNN anchor Alina Cho

* ... OBAMA VIDEO: Ryan Newbrough, a Stockdale High product who went on to graduate from Harvard, has a huge hit on his hands with a YouTube video that expresses his generation's disappointment with President Obama. The video, viewed more than 300,000 times, was created by Newbrough and his Harvard classmate, Justin Monticello. It speaks to the high hopes young people had for Obama four years ago that some feel gave not been fulfilled. The two appeared on CNN recently and were subjected to a combative interview by CNN host Alina Cho. The video is sung to the Gotye hit "Somebody that I Used to Know."

 
   * ... BAKERSFIELD SOUND: Local residents Scott and Shana Wood were in Nashville recently to take in the Bakersfield Sound exhibit, the tribute to the late Buck Owens and the Fender guitar-influenced twang that changed country music forever.  "So nice to see Nashville acknowledge the contribution of Bakersfield talent to country music! Made me even more proud to be from Bakersfield.  Nashville is a great place to vacation and I highly recommend making the trip to see the Bakersfield Sound Exhibit."

* ... SPOTTED: Reader Linda Welch spotted a woman driving a large black Ford pickup on Olive Drive on a recent morning: "She was talking on her cell phone, smoking a cigarette or something else, drinking her coffee and eating a taco... The only thing missing was a bunch of kids not in car seats."

 * ... REALLY BAD FORM: Rhaya Lemons was driving west on Highway 178 when she came up on an older, red Ford in front of her. "First a cigarette was tossed out," she said. "Then the ashtray was emptied. Then a fast food bag. And last, but not least by any means,  a diaper in your honor sir. Everything thrown from that vehicle hit my car window but the diaper. This driver made quite the good toss with that 'over' the roof of his car. Bad form. "

 * ... THE OAKS: Southwest resident Bobby Blackmon wrote to complain about cars being egged in The Oaks and Haggin Oaks. "Yesterday when leaving the house for breakfast with my wife I found my vehicle had been hit at least three times on the hood and door. While driving to the car wash, instead of breakfast I noticed many cars throughout The Oaks and Haggin Oaks had been hit. Do these people not realize this is doing real damage to vehicles which could need expensive paint jobs to repair the damage of these pranks? Hopefully these people get caught so the neighborhood can be safe from weekend property damage and vandalism, not just dirty cars!"

   * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader David Moren: "Wow that Bakersfieldism about testing TV tubes at Thrifty's in Hillcrest brought a smile and many memories of my childhood. As kids my brother and I would ride our bikes to the Hillcrest shopping center almost daily. I can remember taking a tube that dad had pulled out of the TV and told us to go test it. The old tester had a small but complete inventory of tubes in the cabinet underneath the testing sockets.  Also spent many hours in the sporting goods aisle there. And the comic book stand. Then off to Fiddler's store to browse the toy department. Stop in at the barber shop next to the post office, always got a piece of Bazooka Joe bubble gum from the barber after a haircut, or Pipkin's store for prescriptions when mom was with us. Up to W.C. Grants to check out the pet department and a cookie from Smith's Bakery. What wonderful memories."
   

Burglaries, break-ins and thefts are exploding across Bakersfield as California's prison realignment program dumps hundreds of felons onto our streets

* ... CRIME: Hardly a day goes by when I don't hear a story of a burglary, break-in or some type of petty theft that seem to happen anywhere and everywhere across town. In the past week alone a couple in Westchester awoke to find a man on drugs standing in their kitchen, a friend in Oleander returned to find his entire house and garage ransacked and a reader in The Oaks had his truck broken into. District Attorney Lisa Green told me that the total number of "complaint requests" (potential crimes passed to her office from Bakersfield area police agencies) has jumped a whopping 33 percent over this time last year. She attributed it directly to the ongoing prison realignment program that is dumping hundreds of lower level offenders on our streets. "It's not a popular thing to say," she told me, "but people who would otherwise be in state prison are out there committing crimes." (file photo Lisa Green)

* ... BECKWITH: I chatted recently with Ryan Beckwith, the (relatively) new athletic director at Bakersfield College. Along with his counterpart at CSUB, Jeff Konya, these two men have brought new energy to our local colleges. One side note about Beckwith that you may not know: he was training to make the U.S. Olympic decathlon team when he decided to take the Bakersfield College job. (file photo of Ryan Beckwith)

* ... SPOTTED: Hats off to the middle aged woman who was spotted on the Panorama Bluffs early Monday morning, picking up the trash that other people who park along Panorama had tossed from their cars.

 * ... MORE KETCHUP! Longtime Bakersfield resident R. Bussard wrote that he was at the Chevron and McDonald's at Rosedale Highway and Allen Road on Monday when he heard a loud, angry voice coming from a grey Ford Excursion parked at the curb. "She was loudly complaining to someone in the vehicle that she ordered a hamburger with ketchup only" but received an "(expletive) cheeseburger" instead, yelling at the occupant to get out and change the order.  "...With that the back door opened and a 7 or 8 year old girl climbed out with the wrong burger in hand and went inside.  I was standing 40 to 50 feet away so I turned and looked towards the unhappy lady. She appeared overweight as she waited and used a cell-phone to text.  Soon the youngster came back with the correct sandwich. As she drove off with her mouth full I read the large stencils on the back window: 'Redneck Girls.' Appropriate."

 * ... TUTTI FRUITTI: I finally ventured over to the Tutti Fruitti yogurt shop on a steaming Saturday recently and learned what the fuss was all about. Folks in the Southwest have been raving about this place for months, and its two-for-one Daily Deal offer in the Californian set an all-time record for sales. Well, it's worth it. Check it out in the Town and Country Shopping Center at the corner of Gosford Road and Stockdale Highway the next time you need a refreshing snack.

* ... QUAKE MEMORIES: Linda Harden Brammer was living in Alameda when the great earthquake of 1952 hit, and she remembers the initial false reports that the oilfields west of Bakersfield had been set on fire. "My grandparents and several aunts, uncles and cousins lived in Taft at the time and my mom was worried sick. Phone lines were down and calls just did not go through. My dad got emergency leave from the Navy and our family made a trip down to Taft. Of course, everyone was okay. While we were down here, we made a trip around the area and took many photos, even going up to Tehachapi and photographing the damage there. "

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're from Bakersfield if "you got your television tubes tested at the Thrifty's in Hillcrest."

Local housing market is in a squeeze with bidding wars breaking out on homes and a man literally gives "the shirt off his back" to a homeless man in Oildale

* ... HOUSING: Last week I cited a Realtor.com report on the local housing market, indicating as many as 1,815 homes were on the market locally. That triggered responses from local experts saying the real number was actually much lower. Here's appraiser Gary Crabtree, one of the leading experts on our local market: "In June, there were only 545 homes on the market, not 1,815 and it’s down 32 percent from the same period last year. There is an extreme undersupply of active listings on the market when you consider that the number of active listings comprise 0.4 percent of the total single family homes in Bakersfield. The main reason for the discrepancy is that they count homes with accepted contingent offers on them as active listings. There are bidding wars on homes with 2 to 4 offers not uncommon, but prices are being held in check by the restrictive appraisal practices mandated by Fannie and the continued use of 'distressed' sales as comparable."

  * ... SPOTTED: This heart warming encounter was related to me by reader Darlene Stewart: "On a recent trip to the Oildale Post Office I observed a man with no shirt (possibly homeless) asking directions to the morgue, because his brother had just died. He asked a couple driving out of the post office parking lot about directions to the morgue. They in turn asked me and I directed them next door to Mish Funeral Home. The gentleman in the car, not wanting him to have to go into the funeral home without a shirt, took his shirt off and offered it to him but he did not want to accept it. The gentleman wouldn’t take no for an answer and just slipped it over his head. This is the only time I have ever witnessed someone literally 'giving the shirt off his back.'"

* ... SPAY-NEUTER: Good news for all you out there who care about our pets. Bakersfield will soon have its own high-volume, low-cost spay-neuter clinic, called Critters Without Litters. The non-profit group was founded by Joann and Larry Keller, the couple behind the successful “Fix Your Pit” voucher program, which subsidized the cost for over 1,800 pit bulls and pit mixes since 2010. The equipment is on order and staffing is under way for the clinic, which is scheduled to open this fall. The clinic expects to perform 35 to 40 spay and neuter surgeries a day. For more details or to support this program call Larry Keller at (661) 831-6000.

 * ... RADIO: Join me tomorrow at 9 a.m. on Californian Radio KERN 1180 when I will be chatting with Ryan Beckwith, the athletic director at Bakersfield College. We'll be talking about his priorities and the upcoming Gades football season. (file photo of Beckwith)

* ... SUBMARINE: Gene M. Bonas is a Navy veteran and former submariner who is part of a group trying to save the USS Clamagore (SS343), which he called the last Guppy III submarine now destined for the scrap heap. "The Clamagore, commissioned in 1945, has served as a museum since 1981. It played a critical role as a prototype sub and Cold War warrior in helping to develop the technology that truly won the Cold War. Now, the Clamagore needs a $3 million overhaul.  If we, as past and present submariners and Navy veterans, don't save the Clamagore, she will be sold to the highest bidder for scrap or sunk to make an artificial reef." If you want to donate, send a check payable to "Save the Clamagore" to George Bass, 110 River Birch Drive,  Salisbury, N.C. 28146. (file photo of the USS Clamagore)

 * .... BAKERSFIELDISM: From John Strand in Lake Isabella: "You might be a Bakersfield old-timer if you remember the 210-foot 'Eiffel Tower' which stood on the Pacific Telephone building at 20th and Eye streets for many years. It was part of the YJ radiotelephone system which preceded our current cell-phones. Back in the day it was the highest structure in Bakersfield.

Bakersfield is among the fastest selling home markets and another example of some really bad homophobic form at a local bar

 * ... HOME MARKET: The average home in Bakersfield stays on the market just 44 days before being sold, putting our town on the list of cities with the fastest selling home markets. According to Realtor.com, our median home price of $149,500 "is the lowest on this list, except for Detroit, and only a little more than a fifth of the median price of a San Francisco house. Only 1,815 houses were listed on the market, a decline of more than 47% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the 44 days on the market is a drop of 22.8% from a year ago, compared to the national average of 9.67%. The labor market is far weaker in Bakersfield than it is in some of California’s healthier local economies, with an unemployment rate of more than 14% in June, compared to about 7.5% in San Francisco and 8.2% in the United States."

* ... BAD FORM: Ty Shaffer was enjoying an evening at Tahoe Joe's Sunday when he witnessed an extreme case of bullying mixed with homophobia. "This wasn't a kid bulling another kid, this was a grown adult bulling two other grown men he claimed where gay... This man was at the bar and told these two men that he was going to take them out to the parking lot and kick their asses." A couple in their 50s intervened and sure enough the bully turned on them and tried to grab the woman, only to be deterred by her husband, who got into a tussle with the bully. "The fight was broken up. The older man left with a gouge above his eye from the fall.  He and his wife said that people at any age need to stand up for others and put bigots like this guy in his place. By the way I overheard the bully say he was going to call the cops on that man and have him jailed. Really, didn't he just commit a hate crime? Typically response from a bully!"

* ... HALLOWEEN: Another seasonal oddity from my correspondent Craig Holland. "Facebook friends are bemoaning the fact that Wal-Mart and Target already have Halloween costumes for sale." In August?

 * ... BAKO FAMILIES: Sean McNally of Grimmway Farms tipped me to this tidbit about the first cousin of former Fresno State football player and now New York Giants Bear Pascoe: "(His) first cousin, Kathleen (Pascoe) Clerou, recently had a baby girl named Lucile Pauline Clerou after the matriarchs of two great longtime Bakersfield families.

* ... SPOTTED: Jon Bennett is a resident of Seven Oaks and regularly spots a young man driving a gray Buick Ranier SUV who has the bad habit of tossing trash out his window into the street. "He has been tossing trash all around the neighborhood for months even after being confronted by numerous residents," he told me. "Some people are just jerks." In fact, Bennett sent me a video of the young man doing that, callously throwing trash out the window of his silver-gray SUV.

* ... SEVEN OAKS: And speaking of Seven Oaks, the old truism "all politics are local" is alive and well even at homeowner associations across our community. Which is why I found it interesting that an old friend, retired dentist Robert Smith, is running for the homeowner's association board of directors at Seven Oaks Grand Island. Bob is trying to increase homeowner influence and threw his hat into the ring for the August 22 election.

* ... QUAKE MEMORIES: Marjorie Poore Payne shared with me her memories of the 1952 earthquake, when her family was living at their dairy farm in Lamont. After the "big July shaker," Marjorie's mother took the children to the then-famous Union Avenue pool. "My mother stayed while we swam for several hours until, over the loud speaker, it was announced that everyone should get out of the pool and go home that there had been another big quake. We did return home to Lamont to find that waterlines were broken and major damage for the operation of the dairy barn. My dad had to truck in water for the cows and of course have a generator to milk the cows. The memories still linger and every July and August I remember that unexpected and most frightening event."

Downtown Bakersfield boasts new eateries including the new upscale steak house The Mark, and local kids bust the clays in skeet tournaments

* ... EATS: I wandered into the new downtown steak house called The Mark this week and I have one word for it: spectacular. It's located in the old Goose Loonies building on 19th Street just around the corner from the Fox Theater and the Padre Hotel, and though its sign is not yet up, the renovated building with a handsome outdoor patio are easy to find. The eatery features wide distressed wood floors and long dark bar that remind me of some old place on Union Square in San Francisco or a rusty speakeasy in the swank Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The owners, two podiatrists, tell me the grand opening will come later, but this is a place to stop by if you are in the mood for something new and exciting. Meanwhile just a block down the street Dr. Nick Hansa says business is brisk at his Chef's Choice Noodle Bar, a clean and welcoming Thai restaurant with a friendly buzz and terrific food. Chef's Choice opened in April of last year and has now gotten into the catering business as well. If you are one of those who live in the Southwest or Northwest and haven't ventured downtown recently, you are missing some terrific eateries. (file photos of Chef's Choice Noodle Bar)

* ... SKEET: Bakersfield has a long tradition of producing world champion skeet shooters, and the Buoni children continued that legacy at the Junior World Skeet Shoot in Stockton this past weekend. Dominic Buoni, a graduate of Bakersfield Christian High School who now attends Lindenwood University on a skeet scholarship, was crowned Collegiate .410 bore champion and Collegiate high overall runner up by busting 397 out of 400 targets. Meanwhile his little sister, Jenna, took home high overall Junior Lady Runner-up third and Junior Lady .410 champ. Congratulations to these kids. (Dominic, center, shown with his skeet squad)

*  ... SPOTTED: Donald Taylor spotted actor Ned Beatty at Noriega's last week enjoying lunch. "He looked fit and was very gracious to all. Semper Fi," Taylor said. (file photo of Ned Beatty)

 * ... OVERHEARD: A resident of La Cresta is sharing the story of a neighbor who stumbled upon a homeless encampment at the rear of his property near Garces Memorial High School. "It looked like someone had been living there for months," she said.


* ... LANE SPLITTING: What is your feeling about motorcyclists who split lanes in traffic? Kerry McGill said he generally has no problem with it unless it is done at reckless, high speeds. "Several years ago while returning from Irvine I was in the car pool lane doing 10 miles an hour when a motorcycle passed me doing 65 mph and hit my passenger side mirror. He ended up crashing, breaking both legs. A motorcyclist behind him stopped and said he could not believe how reckless that guy was. How many times, I wonder, have we drivers been startled by those lane splitting in stopped or almost stopped traffic. I think it should be illegal, and I have a motorcycle license."

* .... EARTHQUAKE: Here's one last memory of the 1952 earthquake, a note from Linda Meadows Polston who was just three and a half years old but recalls it vividly.  Her parents had been awakened by a loud roar and ran into their back yard where her father held her tightly. "My grandma Perry was saying loudly, 'I hear the trumpets of the Lord.' She kept repeating it ... my grandma was convinced that the Lord's kingdom was coming and right now! It's amazing how a traumatic incident sticks in one's mind with clarity, even for a small child." (photo courtesy of BakersfieldNow.com)

 * ... LEGION: The good folks over at the American Legion Post 26 have opened a thrift shop on the southeast corner of 21st and H streets. It is staffed by volunteers and customers pay what they can afford. All this to support local veterans, a cause worth supporting. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.