Archive By Section - Local Columns
State strings cost plenty of money & dilutes tax dollars
My senior year at Lincoln High in Lincoln in Placer County in 1974 there were 720 students in the school.
California needs to recognize only civil unions
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 ...
Now it’s my turn to be the proud parent
Come this time of year, I'm usually bombarded by the traditional tune played at graduations and promotional ceremonies, "Pomp and Circumstance."
Newsom finds new way to stick it to cigarette smokers
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 – ...
Foreclosures are good thing in long run for Manteca
Good times are coming to Manteca. And we owe it all to the collapse of the housing market. That may sound completely nuts with Manteca unemployment at 13.8 percent while schools are being rocked with funding cuts and declines in sales and property taxes are delivering a one-two punch to the city. Good times, though, are coming. It won't be the go-go days of the 1990s and early part of this decade. Instead, it is ...
2,000 reasons why you’d be insane to vote for Newsom
Gavin Newsom wants to be our next governor. If you think he's the man to help pull California out of the bottomless pit of debt Sacramento has managed to create, guess again. The mayor of San Francisco is boldly taking government to where even the now-defunct central Planning Committees of the old Soviet Union dared not go. Newsom on Thursday celebrated the success of spending $500,000 in city money as enticements for people to improve ...
Time to dismantle Sacramento and rebuild from the ground up
A crisis, they say, brings out the best in people. True leaders rise to the occasion. Dark times call for bold and decisive moves.
Get ready for same old mush from update on SJ General Plan
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.
It’s no sweat to stay cool in valley summer
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 ...
Let your neighbors know about your loved one’s service
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 ...
NOTRE DAME
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.)
Paying the price Tuesday for class size reduction
Manteca Unified – and much of California – took the bite out of the forbidden fruit and are paying for it big time.
It’s ‘hasta la vista’ time, California
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 ...
Admittedly it was a bad choice of words for a sensitive story
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 ...
Is $1M justified for staffing an aerial fire truck?
Does Manteca really need nine firefighters to man the 100-foot aerial platform fire truck 24/7?
Articles by Section - Local Columns
Shooting a hole in the debate over gun control
Here's a little nugget for those embroiled in the debate over gun control: Young men kill.
Ammo sales & ‘The Obama Effect’
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.
Safeguards against PG&E style file browsing at Manteca City Hall
Is the plan PG&E proof?
Tax Internet sales until virtual cops can protect us
The Internet.
Summer heat and keeping dogs safe
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
Taxes you pay go to PG&E & not Headstart
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.
The Pope and Godless capitalism
"This is called slave labor," said Pope Francis.
Cinco de Mayo is as American as you can get
People need to stop having heart palpations over Cinco de Mayo celebrations.
Meeting your Ripon neighbors at jury duty, plus an unexpected pleasure over lunch
Meeting a couple of Ripon folks, and one from Linden and another from Tracy was an unexpected pleasure in my brief two days of jury duty this week – especially when four of us just happened to go out to lunch together on Thursday.
Kentucky Derby’s horse tie to French Camp
FRENCH CAMP – It's a funny thing, this horse racing business.
Guns: Being judged by 12 instead of being carried by 6
She's a single mom in her early 30s. She lives in an old farmhouse in an almond orchard five miles east of Manteca. The closest neighbor is a quarter mile of a way but the trees make it impossible to see their home.
Want a safe environment for vacation? Then stay out of Yosemite
Yosemite National Park is not Disneyland.
Perhaps Manteca should work with Wal-Mart to create a homeless park
The aging RV was parked under a stately tree providing relief from the 90-degree midday heat.
Count your blessings that disco didn’t survive the ‘70s
Bell bottom pants. Flare-leg pants. Men's rayon tie scarves. Polyester suits.
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