Should an establishment coming to the heart of an upstanding SoCal community be allowed to call itself Bastards? Even if the name is inspired by the “Magnificent Bastards” nickname of a 2nd Battaltion 4th Marines infantry unit?

Eric Pierce, a blogger for the Downey Patriot, revisits that topic today in light of Thursday’s official statement from the city about the imminent arrival of the B-named sports bar. It would seem that this will remain a contentious issue, as Downey has decreed that it cannot force owner Nick Velez to change the shingle. Per Pierce:

This newspaper has published several letters on the subject and this week we even received a petition signed by more than 20 local residents in opposition to the Bastards name.

Perhaps Velez should take his cue from filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and deliberately misspell the word as “Basterds.” Although that could add Universal Pictures and-or The Weinstein Co. to this Downey fight.

[To read some of those angry reader letters, click here.]