They saw the smoke of the firebombs, heard the screams, felt the outrage of injustice -- and they acted on it. Janie Forsythe McKinney, a white girl then just 12, rushed water to the victims of a bus bombing targeting civil rights activists in Anniston, Ala., in 1961. Claude Liggins, a black college student then 20, was so troubled by what he saw of the incident on television that he joined the Freedom Riders, a group that stood up to racial segregation by riding buses throughout the South -- and he spent a month and a half in a Jackson, Miss., jail for his trouble.

They will share their personal stories at 2 p.m. today as part of a Harlem & Beyond oral history presentation at Beale Memorial Library.

We like to think the New Year brings an end to the gorging that annually pads our stomachs over the holidays, but there's one more big food day to get beyond before the season of gluttony has passed.

The Super Bowl is coming, and with it, a boon for food producers and the supermarkets that sell their products.

TO OUR READERS

The Californian provides free death listings using information supplied by local mortuaries. The in-depth notices that follow are paid obituaries and remembrances. These listings must be purchased by 2 p.m. To place an Obituary or In Loving Memory, call 395-7302. Full obituaries are posted at Bakersfield.com at 9 p.m. on the day before publication.

Super Bowl Sunday. An event where everyone gathers in front of the largest television they can find, snacks and beverages on hand, to watch with bated breath as one team is crowned NFL champion.

Or not.

When animal control officers in Kern County find a severely injured animal on a city street, in the wilderness or on personal property, they decide whether to pick up a syringe, draw up a dose of poison -- a controlled substance -- and end the suffering.

But a recent California Attorney General opinion questions their authority to make that call.

Animal groups across California are railing against Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed repeal of a 1998 law that required animal control agencies to hold strays for 96 hours before euthanizing them.

But scuttling the Hayden Bill, named after the author, former state Sen. Tom Hayden, wouldn't change protocol in Kern County.

Former Bakersfield Councilman Mark Salvaggio has been appointed to the Kern County Fair Board by Gov. Jerry Brown, it was announced Friday.

Salvaggio, a retired Arvin Union High School District teacher who spent 19 years on the Bakersfield City Council, was known for his dogged commitment to respond to citizen complaints about basic public services from roads to sewers.

LOS ANGELES -- Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Lance Armstrong on Friday, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the seven-time Tour de France winner and his teammates participated in a doping program.

Armstrong has steadfastly denied he doped during his unparalleled career, but the possibility of criminal charges threatened to stain his legacy as the world's greatest cyclist and could have cast a shadow over his cancer charity work.

WASHINGTON -- A key House panel late Thursday gave the back of its hand to California's embattled high-speed rail program.

In another sign of high-speed rail's political travails, the House committee writing a massive transportation bill included an amendment that prohibits new federal funds from going to California's proposed $98 billion project during the five-year life of the bill.

Bakersfield Republican Assemblywoman Shannon Grove was still unpacking the boxes in her Sacramento office when she started grabbing headlines.

Whether it was her support for Arizona-type immigration laws or her outspoken reference to the "rape" of taxpayers, the first-term assemblywoman left no doubt that she didn't intend to sit quietly on the Republican minority's back bench.

Westlands Water District is suing the federal government for $1 billion, claiming the Interior Department failed to deliver a court-ordered cleanup of salty irrigation drainage.

About a dozen years after an appellate court upheld the cleanup order, bad water trapped below the ground surface still slowly poisons west valley farmland. The swath of compromised land is two-thirds the size of Los Angeles.

Officials in Shafter are working on a multimillion-dollar project that could make the city a regional hub for rail and international trade. We asked the man in charge of that initiative to give us an update on its status.

NAME: Brent Green

Several California legislators on both sides of the political aisle hold annual "there ought to be a law" contests. They encourage constituents to submit ideas for new laws. The winning entries are introduced by legislators and certainly stand a chance of becoming new state laws.

But with more than 2,300 bills introduced by California legislators in 2011 and nearly 800 of those proposals signed into law, the numbers seem overwhelming.

The size and characteristics of Shafter's adult population changed dramatically in 2011, resulting in an older community with fewer single, Hispanic and employed adults compared to 2010. The number of retired adults increased 291 percent, while those working full- or part-time dropped 32 and 26 percent, respectively.

Most employed adults are blue collar workers; however, the number employed in specific trades declined; construction, down 90 percent; production or transportation, down 89 percent; and material moving, down 33 percent. Employment increased in farming (969 percent); personal care (94 percent); healthcare (15 percent); and sales (10 percent).

Like most parents, I'm always looking for ways to teach my kids important life lessons in a way that they can easily understand. One such lesson I work hard to impart is the importance and value of money. A good way -- actually one of the best -- to help children learn that dollars don't just grow on trees and credit cards aren't magic pieces of plastic is to start giving them an allowance at an early age.

The goal isn't to give them enough cash to buy whatever they want. Instead, use the allowance as a tool to educate them on money management. Let them have enough freedom to make small money decisions on their own now -- while they can do so with little to no risk of long-term consequences.

KINDNESS

Consider the following nugget as further testimony to the generosity of our community. According to Donna Hylton, executive director of the Kern Adult Literacy Council, one of her volunteer tutors was on the receiving end of an amazing random act of kindness. Turns out the tutor suffered from crooked teeth that her family could not afford to straighten, but an anonymous donor emerged to pay for her dental work at absolutely no charge. "The random act of kindness has changed her life forever," Hylton said. "He paid for everything, even the surgery. I just want to let you know fantastic things are happening every day in good old Bakersfield even at the Kern Adult Literacy Council." By the way, if you are interested in tutoring at the council call (661) 324-3213.

County supervisors are scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to oppose California's high-speed rail project as currently proposed.

Two competing resolutions -- either of which would be the county's first official position on the $98 billion project -- were released Thursday as part of the board's agenda packet. One of the resolutions would explicitly oppose construction of the project; the other would merely withhold the county's support until more information about its cost and environmental impacts comes forward.

A local youth group will give out a free lunch Saturday. Pleasant View Missionary Baptist Church's youth community outreach group will host a lunch giveaway from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 700 S. Haley St. The lunch will include hot dogs, chips, drinks and dessert and is open to everyone, the church said.

-- The Californian

Carriage House Estates is recruiting for a Daily Devotions Leader for the residents of its facility. Each weekday morning, residents have a time of daily devotions that includes reading the daily reading, discussing that day's topic and prayer. Volunteers must be able to read, communicate with residents and enjoy conversation and be dependable. Approximately 20 minutes per day is the time commitment requested. Volunteers can join them for breakfast at 8 a.m. prior to devotions. Call Rhonda at 663-8393 for more details.

Taft College is no longer under the watchful eye of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, college officials said Thursday, more than two years after it expressed concern over the college's ability to meet accreditation standards.

The 10-member commission warned the college in 2009 that it needed to address certain things or lose its accreditation. Those concerns were in the areas of strategic planning and program review. The commission asked Taft to also develop ethics policies and build on efforts to boost student proficiency levels.