RICHARD BEENE: Bakersfield Observed, a blog about life, media, politics and people
By Richard Beene
Wine and dine
I read a story in The Los Angeles Times the other day about the AMC movie chain introducing "fine dining" in some theaters. That's right, a full dinner with beer and wine, along with the movie. But do we really need more noise and smells in the theater than we already have? Can you imagine sitting in front of someone dining on prime rib and a crunchy salad?
Bonnie Owens Drive?
I had lunch the other day with Jim Carlton, an old colleague from the Los Angeles Times who was in town doing a story on the local economy for The Wall Street Journal. Jim spent the day interviewing many of our community's most prominent leaders and brought me this tidbit for this blog:
"I heard someone say they were starting a campaign to rename Airport Drive 'Bonnie Owens Drive' because it connects Buck Owens Boulevard and Merle Haggard Drive," he told me. Bonnie, of course, was married to both Buck and Merle.
Memorial
Congratulations to Sherrie McMurtrey who was named Bakersfield Memorial Hospital's volunteer of the year.
The announcement was made at the annual diner for Memorial's Foundation Board of Trustees, held at Luigi's Delicatessen.
The hospital is coming off a successful golf tournament that raised several hundred thousand dollars for the Children's Medical Center.
The Mark
The folks over at The Mark, the new restaurant downtown that has proved wildly popular, are planning to open a catering and banquet facility next door.
The Mark is located in the old Goose Loonies location at 19th and F streets, and the owners will use the vacant facility next door as a banquet rental.
Bad form
Shame on the middle-aged man driving down 21st Street who ignored the city fire truck and Hall's Ambulance that tried to pass him with their emergency lights on.
The driver was so absorbed on his cell phone that he apparently didn't hear the sirens.
Friday night lights
There's a big game up at Garces Memorial High tonight when the Rams take on Sanger for the Division II Valley Championship. Garces is expecting a full house and is also alerting neighbors that there will be fireworks after the game. So be prepared.
Mea culpa
Beverly Stone dropped me a note to correct some bad grammar in this blog. "Lesson in fractured English: 'Peddling' is commonly construed as an effort to sell something. 'Pedaling'" meaning applying foot pressure to the pedals of a conveyance, is what I think you meant. You need a good, or at least better, proofreader." You're hired, Beverly.
Richard Beene is president and CEO of The Bakersfield Californian. He blogs at www.bakersfieldobserved.com. These are his opinions, not necessarily those of The Californian. Email him at rsbeene@yahoo.com.
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The family of David Silva announced Friday it has filed its long-expected federal civil rights claims against the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, six sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant, two California Highway Patrol officers, the county and the state alleging excessive police force killed him.
He’s Dr. Merle Haggard now. The bad-boy hero of the rebel strain of music that put Bakersfield on America’s cultural map half a century ago did something Friday he hadn’t done since he was 9: He sat still in school.
SACRAMENTO -- The California High-Speed Rail Authority won approval Thursday from a federal railroad oversight board to start construction this summer on the first leg of what would be the nation's first bullet train.
A 25-year-old man who died in Kern County sheriff’s custody Monday night had two plastic baggies with illegal drugs stuffed in his throat, the department reported.
A Bakersfield attorney’s rocky marriage, marked by a divorce suit and a history of loud, public arguments, reportedly erupted into violence early Wednesday morning when police say he turned a gun on his wife and fired.
A woman found dead in a southeast Bakersfield garage Tuesday was identified Friday as 18-year-old Mia Ramirez of Bakersfield.
After a search that lasted much of Tuesday afternoon, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man on suspicion of homicide in connection with the discovery of a woman’s body in a southeast Bakersfield garage.
Bakersfield DUI attorney Mark Joseph Madrigali pleaded not guilty to three felonies in Kern County Superior Court Friday in connection with the shooting of his wife.