A crisis, they say, brings out the best in people. True leaders rise to the occasion. Dark times call for bold and decisive moves.
It's time San Joaquin County stopped lusting for Bay Area paychecks and dropped the same-old, same-old planning for growth that produced predictable template-style policies and zoning.
Sweating is highly underrated. It sounds crazy, but to understand it you have to be a real valley boy. Going for a four-mile jog at 1 o'clock in the 100-degree heat Sunday I worked up a decent sweat. It wasn't until I got home, though, and pulled up a patio chair underneath the crab apple tree and just let it drip that I remembered what I like so much about Central Valley summers. There is ...
We bellyache a lot. But when you come down to it how bad do we really have it? Actually, this is a pretty good life most of us are leading even with job losses, a retraction of government services, large class sizes on the way and just about any economic malady you want to cite. Am I crazy? No, just thankful. Even if we're living on the proverbial edge today it's a much better place ...
President Obama's planned commencement address today at Notre Dame has re-opened wounds still festering since last November's presidential elections. There, the Catholic Church split in half (that is, with 70% of registered Catholics voting, 45% chose McCain, 54% voted for Obama.)
Manteca Unified – and much of California – took the bite out of the forbidden fruit and are paying for it big time.
Pssst. Wanna buy San Quentin Prison? Perhaps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could interest you in the Los Angeles Coliseum. The governor is turning the state's budget crisis into a B-grade horror movie with days to go before Tuesday's special election by proposing to sell off California's landmarks to raise possibly $1 billion to go toward a deficit that is now pushing $23.1 billion. The list includes everything from the Cow Palace and Cal Expo to the ...
It wasn't one of my finest moments. A reader questioned why we ran a story on the front page of Wednesday's Manteca Bulletin on the beating incident triggered by drinking and a gay-related remark the victim made to the alleged attacker. I have no problem justifying why we ran the story. More about that in a moment. The thing that bothered me was what I saw after I picked up the Bulletin in the morning ...
Does Manteca really need nine firefighters to man the 100-foot aerial platform fire truck 24/7?
Santa Barbara is burning. The water levels behind Oroville are precariously low. The nation's Appalachia Valley of the 21st century in terms of poverty – the Southern San Joaquin – reels under unemployment approaching nearly 20 percent. California – despite all of its potential and wealth both natural and economic – has gotten it all wrong. We haven't altered land development patterns that make conditions ripe for annual wildfires that wipe out thousands of homes ...
It all started when John Grogran first got the idea to publish his tales about life with a young Labrador that instantly captured the heart of America. And for those of us who grew up with a lab in our house, the pages that Grogan filled in that book became almost a verbatim recount of the things encountered with the wiry but outrageously loyal animals. But there was a darker tinge in that story – ...
Dear readers: My mother, Cynthia, recently visited from Washington State. Having recently completed 81 years, she still surprises me with her energy. Raised Christian Scientist by her parents in the Boston environment, she learned that maintaining good health requires a real balancing act. Loving the outdoors, she became early on a camp counselor. Wanting to promote the health of others, she studied physical therapy and perfected her art on the island of Guam. Knowing what ...
Shortly after I turned 18 I got my first two credit cards from Mervyn's and Chevron. They were simply for convenience although there were times I stretched my Mervyn's payments over three months. Then came the bank cards that were essential for a photography business I had on the side. They also were perfect when traveling. Then – like most people I suppose – I started using credit cards to purchase items in advance of ...
Has Manteca's crime rate gone down because some of the "right" people are losing their homes?
Weeping willows take on more water than the Titanic. They also create great wildlife habitats for birds and other creatures. If Mayor Willie Weatherford has his druthers, they'd be some 200 acres of willow trees in a floodplain on the southwest part of the city. They would literally drink up treated wastewater while at the same time recharging the water tables allowing nature – via the trees – to remove nitrates and ammonia. "Weatherford Woods" ...
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
Pundits - and editorial cartoonists - are having a field day over Congress' decision to restore funding for air traffic controllers while letting programs such as Headstart for low-income kids and Meals on Wheels for shut-in senior citizens take federal budget hits.