Jesse Ramirez is being honored at Tuesday’s 7 p.m. Manteca City Council meeting for serving 10 years as the chairperson, instructor and member of the Manteca Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
Ramirez is part of a small army of Manteca volunteers that fill the CERT ranks.
They serve on an on-call basis to help supplement emergency crews in a disaster. Manteca also enlists CERT members to look for missing children, provide traffic control at major accidents and incidents such as when bank robbers were holed up in a home near downtown for nearly 12 hours in 2011, and perform other tasks as well as community services such as helping with the downtown street fair as and parades.
The CERT movement was an outgrowth the Los Angeles Fire Department recognizing there is a need for properly trained citizens to supplement emergency crews in major disasters. During earthquakes people often offer to help but had no idea how to do so properly without putting themsleves and others in danger.
CERT members — once they are trained and certified — obtain a backpack with basic emergency equipment in it such as goggles, a multi-use tool that can be used for everything from a hammer, to smashing windows, to turning off gas valves, a hard hat, along with duct tape, first aid supplies and more that they carry with them in their vehicles at all times. Volunteers add to the equipment as they see fit.
For more information on CERT, go to the city’s website at www.ci.manteca.ca.us, click on the fire department page and then click on Join the Team and then click on Community Emergency Response Team.

Dog park opening
is being postponed
The grand opening for Manteca’s long awaited dog park scheduled for today has been postponed due to turf conditions and the weather.
Manteca Parks & Recreation staff indicated that the park will open sometime the week of Jan. 16. A grand opening ceremony will be rescheduled.
The dog park is on the northern side of the Manteca Civic Center complex immediately west of the Manteca Senior Center.
The Friends of the Manteca Parks and Recreation Foundation still has customized bricks for sale that will be installed in the dog park.
One brick is $100 while a second brick is $80. That allows you to personalize them with a dog’s name or an appropriate message. All proceeds will go to securing amenities for the dog park.
Payment is by cash or check and is being accepted at the Parks and Recreation office at 252 Magnolia Avenue. There are a limited number of bricks available on a first-come, first-served basis until they are sold out.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com