Post a Comment On: Bakersfield Observed

 * ... HONESTY: Here's a sweet story of honesty, forgiveness and faith that will send you into the weekend with a smile. Sixty years ago, when 87-year-old Kenneth Cannon of Wasco was in his
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 * ... RIVERA: Now that KBAK TV and longtime anchor Kurt Rivera have parted ways, speculation is turning to who will move into his chair as nightly anchor of Eyewitness News. One possibility:  Erin Briscoe who just joined the KBAK morning team after leaving KERO TV. Her tenure in the market and name recognition would seem to make her a logical candidate. Like most companies when it comes to personnel issues, KBAK declined to comment on exactly why Rivera left, but insiders saw this coming when his biography and picture were taken down from the KBAK website and his company Facebook page disappeared. Last month Rivera was arrested after a domestic disturbance involving the 50-year-old anchor and his 36-year-old girl friend, Mindy Morrow. Although the district attorney's office declined to prosecute, Rivera's career at the station is over.

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* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I’m glad I don’t have to hunt for my food, I don’t even know where sandwiches live."

 * ... MORE TWITTER: "Classic. Wells Fargo (allegedly) sends an email ALERTING me someone tried to hack my account. Then puts me on hold 45 minutes. Great 'ALERT.'"

* ... CRIME: Stephen A. Montgomery answered my call about crime with this missive: "The answer to your question as to is there more crime or are we just hearing about it more may be directly above in Lois’ column as she considers the downgrading of the fines for those few citations issued for illegal fireworks. Our system is simply doesn’t do enough to make bad actors feel the pain hence more crime. Far too often the pain is left for the victims to deal with."

 * ... BURGLARIES: And speaking of crime, a friend who lives downtown told me about her own home being burglarized at 10 in the morning. "A few minutes before I left the house a young man was knocking on my door for a long time. I finally answered through the door and he said he had the wrong house. As I was leaving I saw him with another man. They saw me drive off and when I returned an hour later, they had used a rock to smash through a window and get into the house."

 * ... MCMURTRY: James McMurtry is an award-winning singer and song writer who will be a headline at the Oct. 10 99 Music Festival out at Cal State Bakersfield. He has produced a dozen albums and is a regular on the Americana music scene out of Austin. His father is Larry McMurtry, a Pulitzer Prize winning author of the mega hit Lonesome Dove.

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