Panhandling goes on anywhere in Bakersfield you go, it seems. Some cities have ordinances against loitering and begging. Does Bakersfield?

Ran into them a couple days ago when I went to that Target. First time it happened, but I'll stop going there if they keep hanging out there. There are other Targets to go to. Heck, there are other stores to go to.

 So, catpaw brings up a good question: do Bakersfield have an ordinance against this? If not, why not? I'll go check out the city's web page after work and see if there is a number to call to report this. After all complaining doesn't solve anything.

I don't have huge issues with panhandling by the homeless, but I get pretty angry at healthy, able-bodied young men, or worse, kids, asking me for money.  This happened to me at Circle K at Fairfax and Auburn a couple of weeks ago, and I was stunned!  This guy was probably about 17 years old, decently dressed, and asking me for money!

Here's the answer.

It's illegal (misdemeanor, 647 (c) Penal Code) for anyone "who accosts other persons in any public place or in any place open to the public for the purpose of begging or soliciting alms."

But, people can ask for donations in public areas of multiple store businesses (malls or shopping centers) as long as they don't block ingress and egress from the stores, Bakersfield police told me.

A stand-alone store such as a 7-Eleven has the right to refuse to allow people to ask for money. The store can also approve it.

Police generally don't, but they can, enforce the begging law. People can always refuse to give or base shopping decisions on what they encounter.

On a personal note, I shop at the 99 Cent Store on Ming Avenue where someone is always asking for money for homeless people. They sit at a table with a locked box you can put money into. They never bother me. Which is why I always give them money. And they are very thankful.

I give mine direct to the Homeless Shelter.  I believe the Californian looked into the charity represented by the ammo-can brigade and found it somewhat nebulous.  I may be remembering it incorrectly.

I came out of the FoodsCo market up here one evening, and there was a young man with a plastic jar soliciting funds for Teen Challenge. I asked him if he knew John Burns, and he said yes. Poor kid, I thought, and I gave him a dollar. They get into trouble if they don't bring back a certain amount of money.

I guess I'm just jaded... I walk past folks asking for money or selling stuff without even really acknowledging them. I saw a whole lot of this going on when I lived up north and just got sick of it. Got into the habit of just walking on past out to the car.

Why was it necessary to highjack bjhayes blog and start a new one on the same topic?  Is this part of the new interest group thing?  If so, I don't care much for it as it just causes multiple blogs on the same topic.

Would that also be the reason for Lois starting a blog saying all the things the bloggers had been saying for the past week?

Must agree Nancy, why post the same thing someone else has? Just feel free to comment on the original blogs. Unless of course you have a criteria of blogs you are required to write during a week.

It's certainly not bakosphere's intention to 'hijack' blogs. If we see a blog we like we link to it to let you know about it in case you missed it.

Having said that, there have been instances of blogs on similar topics popping up among staff writers/bloggers here. While blogging isn't exactly a new technology, it's a relatively new undertaking for many of us at the paper. As such there are a few flaws still to be ironed out.

And michele, we don't have a set amount of blog posts we're 'required to write during a week.'

Bako, When average people start numerous blogs on the same topic I tend to think it's because they either want THEIR name in lights (so to speak) or they want the ability to speak without being deleted by the original poster of the topic.  I would hate to think that's the Californian staff's reason for posting a new blog on an existing topic with identical comments as the regular bloggers.

Had there been something dramatically different I might see the reasoning but there wasn't.  Personally, I think it's disrespectful of the staff to take attention away from the lay posters with an identical posting.

It's sort of shouldering the way in and you should be more original than that.

I liked it when Bakosphere linked to my vacation blog...that one did not happen to start a conversation up like this one did,but it did get me a few more readers~Thanks!. As for Lois ,she writes opinions for the paper and that "blog' is in today's local section...there have been at least 7 blogs about "expelled" the film...each time we have the opportunity to review our stance and maybe find out something new.

Comments and new information can be added to current blogs and not spread out over several locations.

While part of my objection was about the staff creating new blogs on the same topic, my main complaint was that the entire article had been said on the blogs.  Almost verbatim in places...hence the half serious comment about plagerism.

The intention of Bakosphere or any other staff blog highlighting and linking to a post of interest by a B.com community blogger (or any offsite blog, for that matter), is the exact opposite of taking away attention from the original post.  If that was the intention, then the staff post wouldn't bother with citing or linking to the original post at all.

As you've noticed, staff blogging has really picked up speed in the last half-year, due to a concerted effort by leaders in the newsroom to embrace the technology and devote staff time to it.  Views of the staff blog index page, at http://bakersfield.com/blog..., has steadily increased, and pointers to staff blogs on the People page, separated out from the recent community blogpost list on the People page, have been made more user-friendly.  Not everyone surfs the blogs here in the same way.  To a longtime user who's used to navigating via the recent blogpost page or the recent blog comment page, it may be frustrating to see "duplicated" topics, especially introduced by persons seen as johnny-come-lately usurpers.  But for users who surf via the recent staff blog page, Bakosphere especially can serve as a vital guide to what's hot and happening on Bakersfield.com in general, on the staff and community blogs in specific, and in the Bakersfield-connected web and blogosphere beyond.

When Bakosphere links to an interesting post by a community blogger, what that means is that the staff bloggers want you to go and read and comment over there, and recognize that some folks might see this recommendation before they see the original posted buried in a reverse-chronological queue.

Jason, I have no problem with staff blogs.  I think they are enlightening and informative.  My complaint was that the one staff blog in question repeated everything that had already been said, sometimes verbatim.  Where is the benefit to anyone in that?  There were numerous blogs already posted on that subject so the point was totally lost on me, and still is.

It DOES take away from the original blogger as people tend to respond to the newest bog on a topic while the original sort of fades away.  That was my meaning in using "highjacking" (I apparently was corrected with "hijacking") to describe it.

While the staff greatly contributes to the blogs why is it unreasonable to ask that they try to be original in their contributions?

With all due respect, I don't feel people need to be "guided" by the staff to find lay persons blogs.

I guess TBC subscribes to the notion that you can't underestimate the lack of attenton  of bloggers.

Actually, they are probably trolling for quotes they can use in the paper so if you post to this blog be sure to use spell check.

LOL Audrey.  I've had clients tell me "I read what you said in the paper."  Every time that happens I shudder wondering what the heck I said that got printed.  Was I on a rant?  Did I sound like an idiot?   Wait ! Don't tell me.  :-)

Nancy, which staff blog are you referring to?  Bakosphere?  (re: reposting content from other blogs verbatim)  Blogging is not a science, and staff blogging by reporters and editors is still developing its hows-and-whys-and-wherefores; I honestly don't think that a staff blogger using quotes from a blogpost instead of just linking to it or participating in the discussion there is consciously trying to hijack the discussion, they just need to be talked to about it.

Audrey, I can't tell you about how "blogscrapes" are developed and chosen for print, but in my experience, it seems that most result from an obviously seeded post in Talk of the Town or Eye of Bakersfield that asks a brief question and solicits opinions.

Now, as for us underestimating the lack of attention [you changed your wording while I was writing that, Audrey!] of bloggers or condescending by thinking you need a guide--that's not what I'm saying.  Again, not everyone surfs the site the way you do.  Many newspaper.coms have staff blogs that act as a sort of short-cut overview of interesting site activity for the day, and that's what Bakosphere has been redesigned to be since the reinvigoration of staff blogging earlier this year.  Just because you already saw it doesn't mean everybody did.  You'd rather Bakosphere ignore the community blogs when it does its round-ups of interesting site posts?

Okay, one idea we're kicking around re: not hijacking comment threads and discussion is to close comments on posts that are merely meant to point out interesting posts and drive traffic to them.  We haven't made any decisions yet, but it's on the table.

P.S. I like new blogs on the same subjects because clicking to page 5 say and scrolling down to find a new comment take too much time...it does all seem to be based on how one uses the blogs,go to the home page,use the comments,page or just scroll the blogs looking for whats interesting~ I tend to do all throughout the day myself.

Jason, this is the blog I referred to as  "plagerism" (although not in the strictest sense I guess.) http://people.bakersfield.c...

That was the first to get under my skin.  Then along comes the one about begging.  I'll admit that one DID link to the original poster although it started bringing comments of it's own which took away from the original.

My opinion stands on all counts but I do apologize for not being clearer on this particular thread.  I lumped them together and I shouldn't have done that.  I did however, make my feelings clear on Lois's blog as did a couple of other bloggers.

Off that topic and on to another comment made about regualr bloggers starting numerous blogs on the same topic.  I doubt there's much you can do about that, but I would think something could be done about staff doing the same thing.

The No Holds Barred post you're referring to was a blog reposting of Lois Henry's print column.  As we don't have news story comments, a couple of our print columnists, as well as our opinions staff, repost material from print here in order to allow for reader opinions.  I can understand your frustration with a staff blog rehashing a topic already covered by community bloggers, but please note that as a reposted print column, this makes it a slightly different issue.

Jason

I often edit (or delete) after I post to a blog.  Sometimes, when I see what I've  posted in actual print,  I cringe.   I'm trying to be a less inflamatory "Audrey", believe ot or not.

BTW you have to read between the lines to see that I'm yanking your chain.  Maybe I'm too subtle?

Sage, I agree that going to page 5 10th post down is irritating but having comments scattered all over about the same thing makes it hard to find one that you might have commented on and would like to return to.  How can one remember all of them.  Maybe a thought would be to lock a thread after so many pages and that way new comments would pop up on the newest page.  I'm no computer whiz so I have no clue how those things work.  I just know that topics like the paralyzed young man got crazy as did the topic about the beer fest.  I don't want to see the staff contribute to that quagmire.

When I come to the blogs I generally go to new comments to see what's going on today....right now.  To my discredit I rarely go to "New Blogs" which means I miss a lot of what people have to say that didn't get commented on.  I don't even see my own son's blogs until someone comments on thembut that's just me and just the way I read the blog.  I want to know what people are talking about NOW.

I'll try to be more flexible in my search habits but the truth is, there are so many comments on here when I sign on that I don't get around to different areas.  If I did, I'd be here ALL day instead of all morning.

Jason, Thanks for clearing that up.  I'm afraid that I, along with many others most likely, don't differentiate when it comes to staff blogging whether it's current or a reprint of an article.  In all honesty I fail to see the reasoning behind Lois's column being printed on the blog after there were pages of blog comments already. 

I confess I don't understand the newspapers reasoning but one thing's for sure....  you folks get public opinion on all of it.  Wouldn't it be nice to get praise as often as criticism?

As far as I understand it, Lois' column is regularly scheduled for print, and similarly she regularly posts them on her blog, no matter the subject.  I'm happy that she does write non-print-article posts in between reprinted columns and is an active commenter responding to comments on her blog.  Note that as far as I know, we have only a few columnists who regularly post as blogsposts the text of their print columns, and we have also recently seen the phenomenon of staff blogposts being reprinted in the print product as columns after they were originally posted on their blogs.

Don't tell the circulation department about this but I've discovered the daily paper paper is just about useless.  By the time I get it, the blog folks have already discussed the news and articles.  I normally only take the weekend paper but got an offer a while back to get the daily at no extra charge.  The news is old news by the time I open it because between internet home page news, on line TBC news, and the blogs, I've read all that's interesting to me.

If circulation is down, it's no wonder.