This sounds like an attack on Badewitz. What get's repeated here is "homosexual activist" and then a mocking of his appearence.  Is that the official position of TBC? Will you continue to refer to Badewitz this way, or will you give equal emphasis to Mettler being a "anti-constitution activist and anti-gay fundamentalist Christian"?  Will you be mocking Badewitz on a daily basis for seeking justice after being physically assaulted? Offensive in the extreme. This is like blaming the victim of a mugging by mocking him. Sick and shameful.

I'll stay tuned in to see if you do.

I must say this is entirely inappropriate for a news agency to post. What happened to the neutrality of the press? I thought the news media were supposed to be unbiased! I knew that The Bakersfield Californian was a little corrupt (hell even high school journalism students can tell that), but this just a personal, biased, and bigoted attack! I would expect this from Fox news, but not here. Please re-visit the Ethics of Journalism. 

Kind of a cheap shot of a posting, Bakosphere. Personally I worry a lot more about a person's character than whether or not they choose to wear body jewelry on a particular day. I'll take a peacemaker with multiple body piercings any day over someone who claims to be a community leader but apparently thinks it's OK to physically assult those with an opposing viewpoint.

It worse than that.  If this guy goes to court and there's a jury, the NEWSPAPER is culpable in biasing opinion against him.  TBC couldn't be more wrong than to not only take cheap shots at someone who was assaulted, but to encourage cheap shots against someone who may be going to court.

This is bad and in a bad way. You should delete this post. If you don't, I hope that if this guy does go to court, he sues TBC for seeking to harm his reputation with this very blog.  A newspaper is a shaper of public opinion. TBC is abusing that power.

"If "homosexual activist" (Chad Vegas' words)"

Chad Vegas' words  - repeated by you to make what point?  I highly doubt that  "Christian activist" Chad Vegas has ever met this young man and knows nothing about him. And "Christian activist"  Ken Mettler has proven the hypocrisy of "Christian activists" -  what happened to "Christian" values such as love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc. etc.?

Shame on you for such a childish posting, and shame on Vegas and Mettler for their hypocrisy.

I thought it was funny.  How is talking about his lip ring/lack of lip ring harmful to his reputation?

He sure looks different sans lip ring and sporting a white shirt and tie.  I'm impressed.  (not)

First of All,

Badeweitz isn't the victim of an assault.  In fact, According to witnesses, Badeweitz was the aggressor.

((   http://www.kget.com/news/lo... ))

Secondly,

To state that The Bakersfield Californian is biased towards Mr. Mettler is quite hilarious.  It couldn't be further from the truth.

Reading the Staff blogs, you would see the blatant bias against Mr. Mettler.

Ignorance is bliss.

Put yourself in his place, Nancy. If you got punched and didn't even attempt to harm the puncher, would you feel it was justified for the newspaper to then mock your appearance and reinforce a label that might not even apply to you?

Remember. People who read this blog are also selected for jury duty. They form impressions of individuals based on what a newspaper says. This blog isn't a news story. It's commentary on a news story and it's commentary with a clearly biased opinion AGAINST THE VICTIM.  Will TBC next mock some woman who is raped and happens to be wearing a piercing in her nose or mouth? How far will they take this practice of singling out individuals involved in assault cases to influence public perception of victims?

My eyes are pretty good, PJ. Badeweitz may have argued with Mettler but the video shows Mettler clearly as the aggressor. But that's is ASIDE from THIS blog's clear agenda to mock Badeweitz's appearance. This blog is careless in it's regard for how it depicts Badeweitz. It adds up to a negative image of him that the newspaper has NO business being involved in.

Maybe he is wearing that white shirt so when Mr.Mettler kicks him when he is on the ground,the footprint will be clear?

 Mr."lethal fist/foot" Mettler~ what a man~ not. Especially seeing how he committed the same crime in 2002 ,the very same crime that "made him" cross the street to "get his signs back".

This was mean spirited.

Heh...he's the spokesperson for peace all right.  He has a restraining order against him in San Diego by his girlfriend for domestic violence.  He's filed a suit against her family too.  Peaceful fella he is.

Why did he take off all that facial garbage before going on camera this time?

Well,not to impress you,it seems! LOL~ just joking Nancy.This is getting us no where. Neither of these two gents are poster boys for good behavior it seems.

I guess the "two sides to every story" idea  doesn't apply here, Nancy.  How many who are so quick to condemn Ken Mettler were actually there?  The eyewittness says he was protecting himself.  Domestic violence against a girlfriend, huh.  A little different when its mano e mano I guess.

Let me start by saying I have no idea what was said that sparked Mettler's act. Some say he was shoved, hit, whatever first, some say he was verbally accosted. I don't know and I really don't care. I do know this. Freedom of speech doesn't give anyone the right to become verbally agressive or abusive and it damn sure doesn't give anyone the right to lay their hands on me without my permission.

I really don't care if someone calls me an SOB(sorry Mom)or tells me toF..O..., but once I say "whatever" , I mean whatever. If I ask you to stop and you don't, you'd better be ready to face the consequences of your flapping piehole. If you put your hands on me(or a loved one), you are in deep S*#t. I'm no tough guy and am not a man given to violence. I haven't been in a fight since 1992 and I have never in my life started a fight, but I have finished quite a few of them.

I remember when men were men, no matter their sexual preference, and when a fight broke out, it was over when it was over. No lawyers or cops(unless someone else called them)and everyone went their own way when it was done. That's just not the case anymore. People want to initiate an altercation then be held blameless when the crap hits the fan. If this guy would have whipped Mettlers ass, it is unlikely this would even be an issue. People would be saying Mettler had it coming and it is unlikely he would've reveived any airtime or print by the biased(HA!)media.

This issue is very emotionally charged, but if you don't want to risk your safety, on either side, maybe you should learn when to pipe down. It could be much worse. This guy couldve been whipped by a serious bad ass that nobody knew and who ended up getting away without repercussion. He could've actually been injured and not just ended up with a bruised ego. People need to remember that there isn't always going to be someone there to break up a fight and there isn't always going to be a cop to protect you from your own big mouth.

We make every possible excuse for people in our own camp, and look for every possible fault in people from the other camp.  The same is true of both camps.  Intellectually honest people do neither.

Let me start by saying I have no idea what was said that sparked Mettler's act.

Hatred of the Other.

Exactly, hatred of the yes on 8  crowd.

Further, if this young man is so entrenched in his beliefs to be who he wants to be, why did he completely change his appearance for the camera this time. 

If he's such a pacifist, why does he have a restraining order against him in San Diego for domestic violence?  Mettler has no history of violence.

Oh lordy, Signgate...bring in the FBI.

At the time of Friday's intersection incident Badewitz had some kind of lip-piercing going on...Mettler didn't punch it out with his lethal right hand

I wouldn't advise hitting someone in the mouth to begin with. The last time I did that, I caught a tooth and split my knuckle to the bone. Not fun.

...would you feel it was justified for the newspaper to then mock your appearance and reinforce a label that might not even apply to you?

It's called an opinion, Foster. It's protected speech.

Have another bottle of whine.

Maybe Mettler should take fewer lessons from Torquemada and more from Gandhi. 

Uh Yeah;

I'm not a fan of playing a victim and this has everything SCREAMING "Hey Look at me, I'm a Victim". Yes there are two very distinct sides to every side and we already had a Bakersfield Police Sergeant stating on an interview that both parties were NOT requesting any further action.

What we have here is a Misdemeanor that did not occur in any Peace Officers presence and at the time BPD was on scene neither party wanted to pursue anything. So the best thing that will happen has already happened, The report was written end of story. If either party wants to pursue anything further than they can go down to the Police station, buy a copy of the report and then submit it with a Misdemeanor complaint form explaining why they want something pursued by the District Attorney's office.

So the SCREAMING victim can do that very thing, But don't count on seeing Mr. Mettler being handcuffed and hauled off to jail in the back of a Police car. The very poor video has obviously been viewed by our so called victim and he saw what everyone else has seen and that is a very obscure view of ken Mettler Swinging at someone or something. No contact was viewed on this video nor was there anything seen from the other point of view either.

Yes Ken Mettler made a bad decision and he put himself into a bad position. The whole thing will be a He said, He said with the witnesses and probably be found to be Mutual combat by the District Attorney and Rejected. End of Drama.

And Mr. Badewitz Please don't come back and stir crap up just because you find out Mr Mettler has a job, and is a Political figure and you are trying to capitalize on 15 minutes of fame.

The one thing we do have is video of Mettler punching and kicking (like a little girl) towards an individual. Evidence is always more provocative than "witness" testimony. All the he said, she said nonsense is not nearly as moving as video showing one alleged action and not showing the other.

Lets hope Mettler loses his job and goes on TV to give  a homophobic rant, I would miss my liberal agenda meeting for that.

I enjoy how choosing not to fight back is a "liberal" ideal, when it was Jesus himself who said the same thing. Silly hillbillies.