Merle Haggard Gets His Own Street

2/12/2008 Stephen L. Betts Merle Haggard is getting his own stretch of highway tomorrow, as California's Kern County dedicates Merle Haggard Drive, a stretch of road, to one of its favorite sons on Wednesday (2/13). The ceremony, set to take place at the Bakersfield Harley Davidson, represents a change in the name of Seventh Standard Road. The event will also mark the beginning of an initiative to create a greenway adjacent to Haggard Drive, an area that would become known as Hag's Place. Merle will also attend the opening of a Ronald McDonald Family Room at the Bakersfield Memorial Hospital that afternoon and perform in the evening at the Fox Theater, according to www.bakersfield.com. Merle Haggard is one of several performers - including Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart, Ferlin Husky and Tommy Collins - who became associated with the energetic Bakersfield Sound. The city already has a Buck Owens Blvd., which runs in front of the Crystal Palce, the venue Buck opened in 1996.