Hitting the Highs and the Lows

A fifteen-year-old boy was found dead on the side walk Wednesday night in South Bakersfield. According to the article in the paper, Princess Bedford, also fifteen, was walking to church when she spotted her cousin laying in the street with a gunshot to his head. Geez – how awful. Police suspect the shooting was gang related because someone walking with the boy returned fire to the men in the drive by. A few blocks away they found the car, “riddled in bullet holes,” and the driver who was considerably less riddled.

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A very clever arsonist set fire to the playground equipment at Almondale Park in Northwest Bakersfield. The children’s toys went up in flames this past weekend and oddly enough, there is no sign of how the fire started. The fire is particularly unusual considering the, “equipment is made of the most up-to-date – and safe – materials.” The thing I can’t figure out is what this guy had against the kids in the neighborhood. They’ve been waiting for years for the city to finish the park and now – pouf – it’s gone.
I think we’d better keep our doors locked extra tight this Christmas.

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Bakersfield has a new smash and grab burglar downtown. For the past three days he’s been smashing windows at jewelry stores and pawnshops, and getting away with thousands in jewelry. Either he has a VERY demanding wife with an unhealthy obsession for jewels, or he’s planning on trading the loot off for some cash.

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A 50 something woman spotted a crazy man hitting her dogs in the yard yesterday afternoon so she and her husband went out to tell him to stop. Instead the man hit her husband with the heavy belt. The woman returned with a rifle and shot two warning shots into the air hoping to scare the man off. Apparently he was still undeterred, so she shot him in the leg. According to the paper, “The man was not slowed by the shot in the thigh because he may have been high on PCP.” The found the man by the side of the house. I don’t know what he was on, but if getting shot in the thigh didn’t slow him down, it must have been something good.

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Thousands of grubby little skater dude got a thrill yesterday when legendary Tony Hawk showed up in town and put on a show in front of Copeland’s on Ming Ave. (okay – they’re not all grubby.) Reporters estimated there were close to 4,000 people standing in the 99° heat trying to catch a glimpse of the skateboard star twirling in the air, which probably means only 1,000 actually did.