The high school matter is coming along just as well as possible. In every district in which a canvas has begun, signatures are coming easy. In fact, it is much easier than was anticipated. If there are any jealousies against Manteca, the people have forgotten them in the general good. A majority of the heads of families of Lathrop have already signed the petition. The people there, outside of a few, are strong for the high school and signed readily. They showed a fine spirit in the matter. The other districts will soon be canvassed.

The boldest holdup ever pulled off in Manteca occurred Saturday when Tom Petersen was robbed at the Southern Pacific depot about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. He was standing in the depot, waiting for a train, carrying a suitcase in which was a suit of clothes and some smaller articles of wearing apparel. Two men got into a conversation with him and one got him away from the suitcase while the other man opened the suitcase and took out the clothes.

At the annual meeting of the Manteca Telephone Company Tuesday night, Talbot Kendall of Oakland was elected president and general manager and his wife, Mrs. Sallie Kendall, was elected secretary-treasurer. The Kendalls recently purchased C. W. Forbes’ stock in that company.

Voters in Manteca will have the choice of selecting two from among four candidates for city councilman at the election to be held Tuesday, April 11. The deadline for filing nomination papers for the two city posts expired today at noon. Seeking the office are E. G. Fairbank, who has been a member of the board for 18 years and who was first appointed to the position in May, 1932, to succeed B. F. Whittam. Other candidates include Ed Dumoulin and Orrin Webb.

Congressman John J. McFall, member of the House of Representatives from the 11th District of California, has announced that he will seek re-election this year. The 42-year-old Manteca legislator began his public service as Manteca’s mayor for two years. He followed this up with six years as a California State Assemblyman and then went to Congress, where he has served for the past four years.

City councilmen were briefed Monday night on a five-year plan to increase downtown off-street parking by 310 spaces. The plan is included in a report entitled “An Offstreet Parking Program for the Central Business District”, prepared by Douglas Carmody of Modesto, a consulting traffic engineer.

Felice Rodoni has resigned as principal of East Union High School, but will remain in the Manteca Unified School District to fill the newly created position of continuation adult education principal at the same salary, $18,021. Rodoni, when contacted, said he had “no statement at this time.”

Manteca should keep two of its three fire stations - one on each side of the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks - open for firefighting purposes. The third should become an administrative center. That is the conclusion of a seven-member committee appointed by Mayor Jack Snyder in November to study the city’s fire protection services.

The governors of the U. S. Postal Service voted Tuesday to raise rates, including a nickel jump in the cost of mailing a first-class letter, but there could be as much as a year of skirmishing before any increase takes effect. “Even at 30 cents, postage is one of America’s best buys,” said Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank, noting that U. S. postage remains the lowest in the industrialized world.