More News Nips

Governor Schwarzenegger came to town again yesterday. He seems to love it here. The paper quoted him as saying, “This is a terrific place.” In fact, there are rumors that he plans on holding ANOTHER special election and suggesting that the new capitol of California be Bakersfield, thus eliminating the whole “armpit of the state” moniker. (Okay, I made that last part up.) But he does seem to hang out here a lot, which is really no surprise considering we are a red county in a blue state.

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It looks like the DA’s office may finally get what they want. In exchange for being released from jail, Jeremy Sons has agreed to testify at Bruce Sons fourth trial. I guess hunting him down like a dog and locking him up for contempt of court was a good idea after all.

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The burglar who had people in the southwest freaked out for months pled no contest and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Twenty year old Jerrad Allen had taken up sneaking into people’s homes and watching women. In one case he fondled a minor. When he was finally spotted, he lead police on a chase, and actually managed to get away, but he left one very important piece of evidence behind – his driver’s license. Police pulled up to his place and arrested him a few hours later.

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There’s an article in the paper today explaining how the city is planning on keeping water in the river. There’s some sort of deal between the city and the Kern County Water Agency that keeps the river wet through the summer for people who want to splash around in it. (Me? I’d rather not. Too many bodies still unaccounted for.) I wonder if other cities have deals to keep water in their rivers. Seems kind of strange to me.

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Students at Cesar Chavez Elementary School got a special treat yesterday. All 450 of them were bused over to Mesa Marin raceway yesterday to take a photograph in front of the stadium before the track is demolished. Buses pulled directly into the pits and the children were directed toward Turn 1 for the photo. Marion Collins, the former owner of the race track, was also on hand for the event.

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In honor of Rosa Parks passing, all GET buses in town are going to have a giant black ribbon on the front seats of all their buses for the rest of this week. The ribbons will read “In Memory of Rosa Parks” and they will only be moved if an elderly black woman refuses to sit in the back of the bus.