Manteca, the South San Joaquin and the county lost one of its finest citizens when Benjamin A. Goodwin passed away Sunday at his home in Stockton, where he had resided since retiring from active work about 10 years ago. He had been ill for only a short time and his death was unexpected. He had been downtown Saturday and appeared to be feeling better than usual.

Members of the Manteca Luncheon Club at a meeting at Ray’s Quick Lunch last Thursday heard an interesting talk on the progress being made in the construction of this city’s new sewer system. The speaker was Councilman F. H. Whelan. The disposal plant on Union Road, which represents an investment of around $50,000, will be completed shortly after April 1, the city official said.

Manteca Mayor John McFall became an official candidate for the State Assembly last week by filing his papers on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. His only opposition to date is George Von Glahn of Escalon.

Annexation proceedings of Raylow and Mylnar Terrace along with all the rest of the unannexed territory north of 120 Highway will go along as rapidly as possible, according to action taken at Monday night’s council meeting. The request from residents along Raylow was presented to the City Council some time ago and preliminary work has been started for that area.

Caught in a financial squeeze, city councilmen have authorized a freeze on filling city employee vacancies or laying off additional personnel--a policy which has caused some public reaction. The policy will apparently stand until information becomes available showing that an anticipated near $200,000 general fund deficit for the next fiscal year can be substantially trimmed or reduced in full.

More than 200 persons attended Tuesday night’s meeting of the Manteca Unified School District Board of Trustees, many of whom were present over the step-down of East Union High School’s Phil Rodoni from his position of principal. Rodoni applied for and received appointment to the newly-created principal’s post of the adult/continuation education school, effective next  year.

Spreckels Sugar employees are among the nearly 3,000 sugar beet employee union workers statewide scheduled to strike at midnight last night. Jim Kellum, president of the Sugar Workers Union Local 177, said employees from the Affiliated Distillery and Wine Workers AFL-CIO voted to strike by a slim vote of 52.3 percent. The final votes were counted Friday night.

Manteca City Councilman Wayne Flores has asked the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office to investigate at least one threatening letter he received earlier this month. According to various sources, Flores received an anonymous letter through the mail demanding he step down as city councilman, threatening to make known damaging information if he did not.

Manteca Police patrol officers are using 21st century technology with in-car personal computers that link them digitally with department headquarters and a wealth of data from warrant and DMV data banks. Through the long-term efforts of former Sgt. Dave Thompson and Sgt. Zeb Hammonds, the Manteca Police Department has been steadily modernizing since they emplaced a computer record management system as the ultimate authority on archives in 1985. The new mobile computer terminal is currently installed in all 18 patrol cars on the force, greatly increasing the efficiency of each patrolling officer.