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Local TV station, KERO-23 aired a story last night about an abandoned pit bull puppy chained up and left to die in a Shafter sump.

Fortunately someone saw the puppy, covered in trash, and alerted Shafter Animal Control. The puppy is now at the shelter and I just got this e-mail from shelter manager, Shyanne Schull:

"This puppy is currently doing well at the shelter. She is going to see the vet today to get started on meds. I have a donation of $50.00 that was given to us to start her care.  I am taking names and numbers of interested parties who might like to provide a home and care for her while she heals. 
Channel 23 interviewed me yesterday and the news aired last evening.  In response, I have had a few calls with some interest in fostering this dog and even some wanting to donate monetarily toward her recovery."

Out of hate comes hope. In Kern County, fortunately, it seems one is never far behind the other.

Bet this isn't what he had in mind when Sen. Roy Ashburn called on Ronald Reagan's memory when it came time to vote on the state budget last week.

(this popped up because today and tomorrow is the anniversary of the 1942 Battle Of Los Angeles. confused? more details here)

2. Ronald Reagan. When he was governor of California, Reagan, his pilot and two members of his security detail were flying near Bakersfield when a big light appeared behind the plane. “All of a sudden, to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens,” Reagan told the Wall Street Journal. “When I got off the plane I told Nancy about it and we read up on the long history of UFOs.” The reporter then asked if Reagan believed in UFOs and Ronnie backpedaled, not wanting to seem loopy. “Let’s just say that on the subject of UFOs, I’m an agnostic,” he replied.

Getting laid off right before Christmas can affect a man. Drastic measures are often called for.

This man took it a step further: He withdrew his nomination for a Beautiful Bakersfield Award.

Here's an excerpt from his blog, Miles: Unfiltered, Uncensored & Commercial Free.

One has to wonder how many jobs could have been saved; how much money could have been redirected toward social services; how the effort involved in coordinating and televising such an event could have benefited local charitable organizations by donating that time rather than celebrating Bakersfield’s’ failure to thrive, prosper and look after it’s own.

Can't argue with that.

This tweet was sent a couple of hours ago:

Just passed 10 limos in a row...in Bakersfield. Whaaat?

Ok, bloggers. Why were there 10 limos in Bakersfield this morning?

Perhaps they were lost.

There's probably no denying that Bakersfield is a football town. The high school state wrestling tournament at Rabobank is a sight to behold, the Condors provide enough entertainment to keep the fans coming back, and good luck getting a parking spot when it's AYSO Saturdays, but Friday night football nights still rule here.

Baseball may be a close second though. Seems like every boy in Bakersfield plays Little League at some point in his life. So it was always kind of a surprise that Cal State Bakersfield had water polo but no baseball team. Title IX probably had something to do with that. Regardless, baseball is here now and apparently the man in charge is quite a character in his own right.

Not many current Cal State coaches can say they took time off from their sport to become a New York playwright!

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Check out this picture, which appeared on the back page of the Sports section today. It shows the winners of a recent Jesus Shack flag football tournament at CSUB.

It's quite a lineup.

From left to right, New York Giants backup QB, David Carr; his younger brother, Bakersfield Christian standout QB and Fresno State-bound Derek Carr; former Fresno State and Bakersfield Blitz wide receiver, Eric Mahanke; Bakersfield Christian record-setting wide receiver, Jake Peterson; former Utah State defensive lineman and former Blitz player, Nick Onaindia; and Bakersfield College wide receiver, Nick Van Horne.

Is it any surprise they won?

Civilized in this case is actually Fresno, so ignore the song lyrics for a while, and focus instead on this blogger's two pictures he snapped while stopping in Bakersfield for something to eat.

Great. Now we're known for gaudily-painted pickups and spelling errors!

And talking of trucks, here's Herb Benham's column about a husband and wife long-haul trucking team.

Twitter is full of insults to this fine city of ours.

If only those drive-by critics would stop in for breakfast at Arizona Cafe, lunch with the hordes at Luigi's or sit next to a complete stranger and share some pickled tongue and free red wine at Noriega's, perhaps they'd change their tune.

Hmmm, we do have more than unique restaurants here. Don't we?

Anyway, here's the tweet, so close to twit it's grinnable:

is in Bakersfield. I wish there was an emoticon for Disdain

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A story on BakersfieldNow.com about the drug sniffing dogs currently patrolling local high schools raises an intriguing question:

Should those dogs be sniffing around the areas where staff members congregate too, like the teachers' lounge, or the custodian's quarters perhaps?

The question was posed to KHSD spokesman, John Teves, who gave the following response:

"I know of no studies or evidence indicating that there's any problem amongst teachers, it's the kids that we are concerned about."

But back to the dogs. The recent patrols at Foothill and Liberty netted no narcotics, so the drug dog was either having a Konan moment, or the Trojans and Patriots are indeed more Screech than Spicoli.

Or, they're hiding their stash in the teachers' lounge!

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We were looking at drilnliftcrude's blog in our morning news meeting earlier today and began to wonder the same thing he was: Just what natural landmarks can you see from Bakersfield on a clear day?

These past couple of weeks have certainly been glorious ones for those us who like the view of the surrounding mountains. Driving east on Panorama has been a real joy lately.

So we decided to try and answer drilnliftcrude's question. Can you actually make out Mt. Whitney from Bakersfield? What are the names of the snowcapped peaks we've been seeing all around us? Our photo editor is scouting the best location to take a panoramic picture and we'll have a reporter identify our surrounding mountain ranges.

The rain should clear up soon, giving us just the kind of perfectly clear conditions this project will require.

(This is the photo drilnliftcrude linked to. It shows Yosemite's Half Dome from Turlock)

Everyone knows Hart Park is famous for peacocks, stray cats, Californian photographers and loud mariachi music bumping from car speakers on the weekends.

But it's not often a model attempts to mimic the park's famous feathered residents.

You never know what will show up on flickr nowadays!

Edit: At the request of the photographer, we've taken the image down. You can see it at the link above.

According to new figures from Scarborough Research, Bakersfield is pretty much in the middle when it comes to sending text messages.

The report states that 48 percent of Bakersfield residents who have cell phone plans send text messages on a regular basis.

Top of the list: El Paso, Texas (57 percent).

Bottom: Grand Rapids, Michigan (35 percent).

Text message use in Visalia and Fresno was also reported at 48 percent.

You can get a complete list at the Scarborough Web site, under Press.
 

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Found this photo of a local school on flickr.

Picture is from 1988.

Which school is it?

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Bakosphere can't condone the headline of this blog post about a Bakersfield speeding ticket and the online traffic school nightmare that followed, but we do wonder if the author took a second to mimic the semi-famous double-hand signals that would accompany such a headline!

One thing we can agree with: If we'd just spent some time in Fresno, we too would be driving as fast as we could to get away.

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Californian photographer Casey Christie took this photo yesterday afternoon of two dogs on Doyle Street in Oildale.

Here's Bakosphere's caption to get you started:

"Look important. It's that guy who takes wildlife photos for the newspaper."

Wonder how many of us have been feeling the same thing these past few days?

From a Sarah Castle tweet:

I would hate bakersfield a lot less if the sky wasn't clogged with smog. Those mountains are beautiful!

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The Internet community doesn't seem to be giving Cal State Bakersfield much of a chance in its men's basketball tilt with Stanford tonight.

There's not exactly an abundance of love being thrown around for our city either. Here's a few excerpts:

From the Bootleg:

Two facts that are perhaps only of interest to me. First, guess who graduated from Bakersfield. Trick question, as the answer is no one I’ve ever heard of. Wikipedia says their notable alumni are a US Congressman, a California State Senator, a UFC fighter, a world champion wrestler, an MLS soccer player, a soccer player in a Canadian league, a basketball player in a Latvian league and, I’m not making this up, a professional slam poet named Big Poppa E. Kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel there.

Mind you, College Sports Hotline has a warning for the Cardinal:

Stepping out of conference following a tough loss (to Washington) to face an uninspiring opponent with a 6-17 record in what probably will be a half-empty arena … there’s the potential for a Stanford letdown and, consequently, an upset.

Also, Bakersfield isn’t as bad as you might think.

Back to the Bootleg, who's having none of it (thank goodness this nasty little man isn't talking about our site):

Bakersfield has lost two straight and to add insult to injury, their official website contains typos.

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The new Bakersfield Life magazine came out recently and we were thrilled to learn that former Congressman Bill Thomas shops at Green Frog in his cutoffs.

Check out the entire magazine here.

Consider this a public service announcement, and thank Twitterer Queen Erin:

"Big Bakersfield news the Shamwow man may be at the home show at the fair grounds! Were getting big time!"

Used to dry the car with one of these back in the day. Every time the commercial comes on TV it's a quick trip down memory lane.

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Now that the Do-Gooders have revealed themselves as part of a credit union's marketing arm, what will happen to the good deeds they so generously bestowed upon Bakersfield unsuspecting public.

No more free pizza? How about those complementary movie tickets?

It was fun while it lasted.

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Two Scandinavian travelers take a frantic week long tour of the West Coast and stop in Bakersfield along the way.

Using Lonely Planet as their guide they arrive at Trout's.

What's particularly fun about their post is the journey from Vegas to Bako where they get a pulled over a couple of times and talk the CHP officers into posing for a photo. They probably didn't try those same shenanigans with the BPD!

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Most people stop by Lengthwise Brewing Company for a handcrafted beer or a serving of fish and chips.

But now there's another reason to drink so much Harvest Moon Wheat Ale that you need to pee every 10 minutes.

We just stumbled across this blog post from Lengthwise's President and Director of Operations, Jeff Williams. We thought it was a strange name for a beer, but then we clicked on and read about a neat new urinal which doesn't use water!

A few interesting potheads have been in the news recently. Two of them are accused of bludgeoning a couple of old people to death in Bakersfield, while the other is better known for winning 8 gold medals in the Beijing Olympics.

There will be those who argue that marijuana is, to quote from "The Heartbreak Kid," the "devil's lettuce" because it leads you to allegedly burglarize someone's house and murder the people inside.

Then there will be those who say it can't be that bad for you because you can smoke it and still be considered one of the best athletes in the world.

It's probably just like everything else. If you're a callous nutjob to begin with, it's not going to change much and if you're built like a fish and train like a demon then it's also probably not going to have much effect.

Still, the debate will rage on and millions will be spent fighting it and buying it.

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The only Pug I've ever known hung it's tongue out the side of its mouth and snorted rather than breathed. It was a great dog though.

See more Bakersfield Pug photos here.