There’s a new syndicated show hosted by Jay Leno premiering in September and Manteca will get at least one mention on it.
The show’s production company reached out to the Bulletin to get an OK to use an image of a headline and story that appeared in the Bulletin more than 15 years ago.
It was first used on the Tonight Show during Leno’s headline segment.
The story was about Manteca Police searching for suspects in what they called a “Beavis and Butthead” type of meth lab operation. One of the individuals that neighbors said fled before police arrived was a man with no legs.
Hence, the headline: “Legless meth lab suspect on the run from Manteca cops”.
It was one of three headlines over the years that readers submitted to the Tonight Show that made its way to Leno’s headline segment.
One of the others was a headline on a story about a truck carrying manure from a dairy heading down West Ripon Road. The driver had lost control, veered off the roadway. and came to a stop after crashing into a porch and front wall of a house.
The headline read, “Manure truck hits house. It happens.”
The third headline irked the front desk staff at the Bulletin that fielded at least a dozen calls from readers who read the headline but failed to read the first paragraph, let alone the story, before making a call to the Bulletin.
A San Joaquin County Sheriff’s deputy was driving down McKinley Avenue south of Yosemite Avenue when he came across several pigs in the roadway.
He noticed a nearby pig pen where the gate was open.
The deputy walked up to the house to knock on the door. In doing so he passed a large picture window where dozens of marijuana plants were visible.
The deputy secured the pigs and obtained a warrant. The headline on the story: “Pigs help bust pot grow”.
Readers who called without reading the story thought the Bulletin was being disrespectful to law enforcement.
American Pickers
in Manteca area
Speaking of TV series, several readers spotted a truck from “American Pickers” — a syndicated show on the History Channel.
The show is about two antique and collectible pickers — Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz — who travel the country to buy items for resale for clients’ personal collections.
While there were several sightings, the one that likely matters are two different people who saw the American Pickers trucks parked in the yard of a home on East Louise Avenue in rural Manteca.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
