Notorious Bakersfield

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There's no denying that It's unusual for a newspaper to give a prison inmate a platform to share commentary and opinions. But that's what The Bakersfield Californian did in the early 1970s.

Management at the Californian was so impressed with Gene Herrington, an inmate at the Tehachapi Correctional Institution, that they regularly featured his writings in their newspaper.

When Herrington was paroled in 1973, he relocated to Bakersfield and then to Shafter and got a job with the County of Kern. Everything seemed like his life was on the right track. That all changed one night in 1976.

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 In 1972 a seven-year-old boy named Steven Stayner was abducted while he walked home from school in Merced, CA. His case drug on and went unsolved for so long, most people gave up any hope that Steven would ever be found alive. In 1980 Steven Stayner was found...alive. For over seven years-from age seven to the fourteen-the boy had been held captive by a child predator named Kenneth Parnell. You're probably asking yourself, Merced is over 150 miles from Bakersfield...almost a three-hour drive...why is this a Notorious Bakersfield story. This is the Bakersfield connection to that story.



If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation:
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Email: [email protected]

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Send Robert a Text!

I'm taking this week off for the holidays. I'll be back next Tuesday-next year-with a new Notorious Bakersfield episode.  Until then, here's is an earlier Notorious Bakersfield episode.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious

Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/

Email: [email protected]

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Send Robert a Text!

During Christmas 1984 through to the New Year, the faithful and curious alike flocked to an East Bakersfield home to view what some claimed to be that of an apparition of the Virgin Mary. This is the story about The Virgin Mary In Bakersfield.

If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation:
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Send Robert a Text!

In 1989, Kenneth Obney and a companion were ambushed by an assailant wearing a Santa costume in the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant in Bakersfield. 

 If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious 

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In the previous episode of the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you learned about Rudy "Cheyenne" Cadena's crimes, his rise in the ranks of the Mexican Mafia, and his assassination. For this episode, you'll learn about the 1975 double murder of two Bakersfield brothers that was in retaliation for Cheyenne's death.

If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation:
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 Edward James Olmos starred in and directed the 1992 movie American Me. The opening title card of the film says it was “inspired by a true story.” The lead character played by Olmos is named Montoya Santana. Everything written about this character claims it is based on the real-life Mexican Mafia boss Rudolpho Cadena. What many people don't know about Rudolpho Cadena, is that he was from Bakersfield when he murdered a young man here in 1959.

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 For 76 years, the last Thursday of November was the official Thanksgiving holiday...until 1939...when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed the Thursday before the last Thursday of November would be the official Thanksgiving holiday. This is the story of Franksgiving-where I look back to examine why the day was changed and to see if Bakersfield, in 1939, observed the traditional day of Thanksgiving or Franksgivin. 

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In 1971,  9-year-old Eddie Owen watched from his bedroom window as his father Everett got in his pickup truck. As soon as Everett turned the key in the ignition, the bomb detonated. Over 50 years later and this case remains unsolved. 

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In episode 22, Notorious Bakersfield brought you the story of a 5-year-old girl who was abandoned  on the side of a freeway south Bakersfield in 1969. Her name was Jody. For this episode, for the first time in 52 years, Jody recalls that harrowing experience, the events that led up to it, and her life since. 

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