Billy Goat Acres my Ass!

If you think the term Bako is bad, just wait till you get a load of this one. In the “Sound Off” portion of the Local section today, someone totally unloaded on Mike Jenner, the Executive Editor for the Californian, over a picture in Saturday’s paper. The picture was of a rainbow “as seen from 18th Street in downtown Bakersfield.” The author accused the paper of perpetuating the “hick town” image and attacked The Californian for being a “one-horse newspaper.” He also exclaimed that “this might be a picture of the outskirts of Ford City or Billy Goat Acres” but the suggestion of reflecting it as a representation of downtown Bakersfield was a “stupid idea.” He then went on to claim that “there is no way to determine the damage this one photo could have done to efforts of the many that have done their best to promote Bakersfield as an “All American City…”

Although I am encouraged to find another citizen concerned about our city’s ‘image’ and I agree that The Californian does not always (usually?) project the image I think many of us would like to convey, I don’t see how a picture of a rainbow, no matter where it is taken from, can be all THAT detrimental. It’s a freakin’ picture of a rainbow for heavens sake. Again, I must say - get the panties out of your ass!

As far as I’m concerned, this man’s “sound off” is more detrimental to our negative self image than the picture is – by far.