A historic first for Manteca occurred earlier this month — for the first time in the 40-year history of the Manteca Golf Course no one protested green fee increases that the City Council approved Dec. 19 without even a whisper from the public.To understand how monumental the occasion was at one point in the mid-1990s golf politics in Manteca stopped just short of being a contact sport. City managers were directed for years by various councils not to even bring up the subject of green fee increases no matter how justified they were to avoid raising the ire of golfers who hammered elected officials to keep them low and the ire of golf course critics who hammered that proposed green fee increases weren’t large enough.Golf course politics dominated at least five city council election cycles if not more. Some have traced it back as far as the bitter 1980s recall election that saw Mayor Trena Kelley along with then council members Bob Davis and Rick Wentworth voted out of office because some didn’t like who the late Alan Thomas — who served as golf pro for 40 years — appeared to be aligned with in the recall campaign.At one point in the late 1990s the City Council appointed a five-member citizens blue ribbon committee to look into alleged mismanagement at the course.