"Hotel California" was playing on the Escape's CD stereo as I turned down Yosemite Avenue headed for Staples Sunday with my 16-year-old granddaughter Ashley riding shotgun.
Manteca creates neighborhoods designed for single family homes. You buy a home in such a neighborhood with the expectation that they will be used as a home for one family or an extended family. Then one day a home sells. Within a few days five different couples or individuals move in. What's going on? Some believe an investor may have bought the home and has converted it into a boarding house. In this example – ...
The increase in trafficking, violence and kidnappings along the northern Mexican border is adding new impetus to stricter immigration policies, and heightened urgency to controlling illegal movement into the United States.
"The first five minutes are critical for what happens in the next five hours in a fire. (It is the same principle as) the next five months and how they impact the next five years." – Franco Torrice, Manteca firefighter
Lathrop School is on to something. Under the leadership of Principal David Silveira, the school quietly jettisoned evening graduation ceremonies and replaced it with promotion ceremonies during the school day for those eighth graders who passed the muster to advance to high school. The low-key and inexpensive approach had several nice touches including a promotion breakfast as well as a chance for those advancing to go to lunch with their parents to celebrate before returning ...
Let's face it. Manteca Police – by the very nature of their job – encounter people who aren't exactly thrilled to see them. Criminals? They don't like seeing police officers. People getting a ticket for speeding or running stop signs? They don't like seeing police officers. People frustrated because officers take a while to get to their address because they've been on more pressing calls? They're usually not happy campers. Contrast that to firefighters. Everyone ...
Random acts of kindness and compassion come in all shapes and forms. Last Friday, students at George McParland School, for instance, demonstrated the rippling effect created by those good deeds in the form of a chain link that extended from the main site at the corner of London Avenue and Northgate Drive, to the Annex some two blocks away at 1370 London Ave. In all, nearly 1,200 kindergarten- through- eighth-grade students from both sites were ...
As much as I don't like the idea of Uncle Sam nationalizing General Motors regardless for how short of a time period it might end up being, it is tough to argue against the move.
It did in Vallejo. It could also do major damage to Manteca. The culprit? The high cost of public safety. Or, more precisely, the high cost of public safety retirement. Manteca spends 57.84 cents out of every dollar in the general fund on police and fire services including retirement benefits. That is about normal for California cities that typically range from 50 to 63 cents. Vallejo though is in excess of 80 cents ...
Too bad Gary Coleman wasn't governor. He'd have California's cash flow problem covered in just five minutes by calling CashCall.com. So what if the annual percentage rate on the payback is 99.25 percent? It obviously didn't bother the California Legislature when they have repeatedly refused efforts to impose tighter regulations on as predatory lenders who prey on the poor. Coleman – who finished eighth out of a field of 135 candidates in the infamous recall ...
A unique Central Valley gem encompassing 258 acres awaiting those venturing to the southern end of Austin Road may soon be off limits.
My senior year at Lincoln High in Lincoln in Placer County in 1974 there were 720 students in the school.
Get ready for the return of Proposition 8. The California Supreme Court decision was barely out Tuesday when Equality California indicated the move was on to repeal Proposition 8 in the 2010 election. Equality California – which bills itself as "the largest statewide lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization" in the state – actually sent out e-mails outlining the debate between returning in 2010 and 2012 but indicated it is leaning heavily toward 2010. A ...
Come this time of year, I'm usually bombarded by the traditional tune played at graduations and promotional ceremonies, "Pomp and Circumstance."
You've got to love sin taxes. They allow politicians to make "bold moves" by cutting the weak politically from the herd of taxpayers and then slowly bleeding them to death for their sins. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has sharpened his hunting skills targeting weak victims to a high art. Smokers - who the state can ill afford to have them kick the habit due to how much they are taxing them per pack – ...
Lie to the federal government and you'd better get you affairs in order.
Dear graduates:
Manteca is celebrating an anniversary this year that is one for the books.
LATHROP – And I wondered why people don't trust the government.
Ripon – the community – possesses a wealth of heart-inspiring stories in the minds of its many highly respected senior citizens.
It was the white lie of the last decade.
Shame on you, Tim Cook.
The San Joaquin Valley's blessing is its curse.
Mom didn't die.
Imagine your kid playing on an aging soccer field.
Here's a little nugget for those embroiled in the debate over gun control: Young men kill.
Almost four years ago, I wrote a column entitled "The Obama Effect" in which I described how fear and distrust of our then newly elected President created panic among our citizenry and that there were massive shortages of almost every kind of ammunition imaginable.
Is the plan PG&E proof?
The Internet.
DEAR DIDI: It hasn't been all that hot yet but I noticed when I was walking my English Bulldog the other day he refused to stay on the sidewalk. Can you tell me about temperatures for walks and what I should watch for when I take her in the car? -Worried Mommy in Manteca