Archive By Section - Local Columns
Biggest threat to Manteca Kaiser Hospital is quake safety overkill
The clock is ticking for the Manteca Kaiser Permanente Hospital. The California Hospital Facility Seismic Safety Law passed in 1983 created a do or die deadline for the Manteca Kaiser Hospital. If the existing building doesn't meet stringent new seismic standards by 2030 it will cease to exist as a hospital. The Kaiser hospital on West Yosemite Avenue is not alone. There are 480 hospitals that were granted one-time extensions of the original deadline of ...
About that fun relative named ‘pain’
Pain is relative. In my case, it is a first cousin. It is why I'm fortunate to have a high tolerance of relatives given how I have a set of bunions that scare young children, hammer toes, a shoulder I cracked at 45 mph in a downhill bicycle crash, a knee that I tried real hard to shatter in the same mishap, and a mild case of scoliosis. I can take a spill, bloody up ...
What rules? City of Manteca has no need to enforce no stinking rules
There is a private firm recycling e-waste Oct. 18-19 in the parking lot near Kohl's. I know this because the firm's representatives very nicely have placed signs in both the city and state public right-of-ways. One is in the municipally owned and maintained landscaping at Powers and Yosemite Avenue where the sign covers about a third of the area. The other is on Caltrans territory as you access Highway 99 from Yosemite Avenue. It is ...
Will CEOs of today undo what Henry Ford help create?
Henry Ford is the man. He played a pivotal role in not only making it possible for the working man to become mobile but also for them to be able to afford to buy cars. It was 100 years ago today that the world's first moving assembly line starting producing cars. The mass produced Model T literally sparked an economic, social, and cultural revolution. No longer were the rich the only ones able to afford ...
Maxwell Smart would love the wearable tech
There he was. Some Steve Jobs wannabe wearing his little watch computer as he surfed the Internet while proclaiming to a KRON-TV reporter that Google Glasses were so yesterday. I didn't catch the name of the conference KRON was covering. It was some technology startup gathering du jour in San Francisco. The guy was boldly predicting everyone would be wearing wrist computers within a year. "These make so much sense," he said. "It helps save ...
What shutdown? We have zombie government
We do not have a federal government shutdown. It isn't even a partial shutdown. What we have is a zombie government. True, "essential" services are still humming along and the government is functioning. Your income is being taxed. Warren Buffet is still taking advantage of big fat tax credits his firms lobbied to obtain. And the federal debt is still rising. Uncle Sam is simply in a catatonic state. Just like a zombie he's still ...
Uncle Sam doing its stepchild city named Stockton a big favor
Why does Uncle Sam care more about Detroit than Stockton? The Obama Administration has cobbled together a $325 million bailout of the Motor City using Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funds. The White House views the Detroit bankruptcy as "an exceptional thing happening during the Obama Administration" according to National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling. So how come Detroit is exceptional and Stockton isn't? Not only are their ills ...
They have the worst handicap of all — no heart
The late model blue Toyota Camry flipped a semi U-turn to take the parking space near the front of the Main Street SaveMart in Manteca.
Manteca Unified Future Ed: Where learning has a purpose
Jason Messer was clear on one point. Manteca Unified schools were not only going to survive but they would thrive. The district superintendent made that observation back in 2008 as the economy started its massive free-fall thanks in a large part to the popping of the unsustainable housing bubble. What was at stake was enormous. First and foremost, there was the education and the future of 22,000 young people. Then there were the 2,000-plus people ...
It’s easy to fall in love with Manteca
Editor's note: A version of this column appeared in September 2011. Wisps of dust spiraled upward from among orchards in the almond triangle formed by Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon as man and machine swept fallen nuts Saturday. Pumpkins are rolling out of Manteca for the four corners of California. The two things - almond dust and pumpkins - mean only one thing: Summer weather is finally winding down and fall is here. Fall arrived eight ...
Flushing our future, water & money down the drain
California's ultimate water war will start in your bathroom. It will be over who has rights to what you flush down your toilet, send down your sink drains and dump into the sewer system from your washing machine. The wastewater under California Water Code Section 1210 is owned by the jurisdiction operating the system that collects and treats it. The owners of treatment plants, though, may not have exclusive rights to the treated effluent or ...
The priest who proved there’s life after priesthood
Is there life after active priesthood ministry? The recent news about Father Dean McFalls' decision to give up his active ministry in the priesthood brought to mind another priest of the Stockton Diocese who went through similar circumstances in the mid-1980s. His name was Father Cornelius Peter "Case" de Groot. I knew his story because I interviewed him when he was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Ripon. Shortly after his appointment, he ...
We’re holding ACE in drive for SJ Valley employment
The real game changer for the economically challenged in the San Joaquin Valley won't by California High Speed Rail. It'll be well-run traditional rail modeled after the Altamont Corridor Express service.
Congress doing what snow, rain & gloom of ight can’t do
Waiting for the postman back in the politically incorrect time of my youth was magic. The clang of the mail slot in the front door opening followed by the distinctive plopping noise that magazines such as Newsweek and Boys' Life along with department store catalogs intermingled with bills, letters, and unadulterated junk mail made on the hardwood floor was one the great pleasures of Saturday mornings during the school year. I am no longer 8 ...
California takes from the poor to help wealthy Telsa drivers
Struggling to make your car payment? Take solace in knowing your annual $20 smog abatement fee is hard at work helping those who earn $150,000 and more to buy electric cars. State of California data show those who typically receive the $1,000 state rebate on top of the $7,500 federal tax credit when they buy an electric car make 2.5 times the median household income in California. In other words, they can afford to buy ...
Articles by Section - Local Columns
To wear a tie or not wear a tie: That is the question
Barack Obama is no Richard Nixon.
Stupid streaking stunt leads to horrific tragedy
We were bicycling over Daggett Pass when a semi-truck passed us.
A sure thing set aside to go after Great Wolf deal
How Great Wolf Resorts came knocking on Manteca's door three years ago is the result of what Manteca Mayor Willie Weatherford might describe as a blown opportunity.
The story of ‘The Good Capitalist’
Toni Raymus isn't a writer by trade.
Does growth or existing Manteca residents ‘pay their own way’?
Here's a shocker. Unless you own a home that has an assessed taxable value of $825,000 you aren't paying enough property taxes to cover the City of Manteca's cost of extending day-to-day services ranging from police and fire protection to parks and street maintenance for a household of three people.
School’s out for a week: Let the learning begin
School was out Monday. It was the start of the week-long fall break for Manteca Unified.
Want to kill a federally protected eagle? Place a wind turbine on the Altamont Pass
Want to see what green hypocrisy looks like?
Federal follies: We’re going to pay for bonus vacation time
Federal employees are different from you and I.
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