Bako Bits: Non profits hard at work in a Bakersfield spring and a tribute to a Marine

  * ... MAKE A WISH: Hats off to the  caring students at San Joaquin Valley College's Associated Student Body who raised $9,000 for the Make-a-Wish  Foundation. The money will go to cover the cost of a Disney cruise for the family of 6-year-old Kaleb, who has undergone two liver transplants. Foundation director Cathy Anspach told me the students became aware of Kaleb's struggles and went to work raising money through car washes, food sales, raffles and other events.

 * ... STOLEN FLAMINGOS: Remember the pink yard flamingos that were stolen out of yards recently? They were placed there by the girls Challenge Team at St. Francis Parish School to raise money to help fight cancer. Principal Cindy Meek contacted me to say she received an apology letter from one person who had stolen some flamingos out of a yard in Westchester. "She did not realize they were a fund raiser and she sent a cashier's check for $200 which we are donating to Relay for Life," Cindy said. "No word about the flock that was stolen off the corner of 21st Street and Spruce or the one stolen in the Bakersfield Country Club."THe Challenge Team "flocks" yards with the plastic flamingos in the home that homeowners will donate to the fight against cancer.

 * ... RADIO: Have you heard about "Californian Radio" on American General Media's 1230 AM station? Starting this week from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. you can hear columnist Lois Henry, Opinion editor Robert Price, Executive Editor John Arthur and myself five days a week. It's all part of AGM's rebranding of the station as SmartTalk1230 featuring consumer news, local news, opinion and financial news. The station will also feature Dennis Miller, Lou Dobbs, Dave Ramsey, Wall Street Journal Radio and Red Eye Radio, among others. We hope you tune in, or better yet, give us a call while we're on the air.

 * ... TRIBUTE: Received this touching note from Rick Isle on April 1: "My mother, Evelyn (Evie) Isle called me today to share that 66 years ago today, my dad Roy Isle, led a group of US Marines onto a beach on Okinawa.  A year later, September 9, 1946, he married mom here in Bakersfield. Dad passed away Jan. 11, 2000.  I bet those Marines were thinking of April Fools."

 * ... SPRING: You know it's Spring in Bakersfield if you find yourself anxious for the weekend to visit  White Forest Nursery or Bolles..

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're a Bakersfield old timer if you "remember the annual football games between Kern County Union High School and Phoenix high school in Arizona. The rivalry ended in the 1950s due to cost." Thanks to Anthony Bernal for submitting this one.