Plans to rush the opening of Vine Street across the Southern Pacific and Tidewater Railroads were taken up by the city trustees last Monday night. Trustees Andrew Veach and C. E. Littlejohn showed some resentment at the long delay but City Attorney John Scott reported he had acted as rapidly as he could. A letter was read from the railroad commission stating the formal application had not been received.

At a meeting of the city council held Monday evening, a plan was adopted for oiling and graveling four semi-business streets, the county having agreed to do the work at an approximate cost of $750. The streets and avenues to be improved under this plan are Sycamore Avenue from Yosemite Avenue to Center Street, Center Street from Sycamore Avenue to Main Street, Manteca Avenue from Center to Pacific and Pacific to Yosemite Avenue.

A week from today the Spreckels Sugar Company will start the 1939 operating season and the plant is expected to continue in operation 24 hours a day for 130 days, it is announced by A. A. Norman, superintendent. The quality of this year’s crop is better and the yield is slightly heavier. Two hundred men will be employed.

The annual F. E. S. M. Holy Ghost celebration will be held this Saturday night and Sunday. There will be a fireworks display Saturday night and also free dances on Saturday and Sunday nights. This year’s queen is Jean Caetano and her maids of honor are Miss Margarite Vieira and Miss Irene Brazil.

A proposed budget of $688,824 for 1959-60 was approved by the trustees of the Elementary District at Monday night’s meeting. Neil Hafley, superintendent, said it was extremely difficult this year to obtain the type teachers he desired for the Manteca schools. He said he had contracts for 10 new teachers and needed seven more.

The city manager’s post, left vacant since April 11, will be filled August 1 by Donald G. Weidner, 33, the present assistant to the city manager of Glendale. City Clerk Nell Cornell announced Thursday morning that Weidner was hired as Manteca’s third city manager by unanimous vote of the city council during a closed-door personnel session conducted Wednesday night. Weidner was hired at a $17,808 annual salary.

The appropriate zone changes have been approved by the Manteca City Council to allow developer-merchant Ed Cardoza to go ahead with his plans for a 7.33 acre shopping center in north Manteca. In a compromise to satisfy area residents, Cardoza changed his plans which will mean less disruption of the residential area near the northwest corner of Louise Avenue and North Main Street.

The treacherous Highway 120 bypass, dubbed “Blood Alley” by those critical of its design, claimed two more victims in a double-fatality accident Tuesday afternoon. According to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol, two women were killed instantly when their 1986 Ford Taurus was broadsided by a van driven by a Modesto man.

Roger Hartman of Antioch Unified School District was named the new principal of East Union High School Monday. After interviewing four candidates, the board of education decided to offer the position, which had become vacant since Linda Frost resigned last month, to Hartman, who has been the vice-principal of Antioch High School since 1994.