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Manteca 8th grader practices for the pitch
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Michael Frisbee, 12, dropped in to Alie’s Coffee Shack at the lobby of Doctors Hospital of Manteca Friday morning to buy a couple of caramel drinks – one for himself and the other for his grandmother in bed upstairs noting  he was very tired.  Mr. Coffee, aka Alie, of course had to know why such a big kid would be tired out at 9 a.m.
“What time did you get up,” Alie asked. 
“Just got up,” he replied.
He said he had gotten up earlier and had breakfast with his grandfather, Mike Frisbee, followed by a game of catch with a baseball. It was all practice for his big day at the Oakland A’s game next Thursday.  Michael is getting to throw out the first pitch at the start of the game against the Baltimore Orioles at 7:05 p.m. at the Oakland Coliseum.  He usually only plays football around Manteca and throwing a baseball is some what of a new experience.  His grandpa is making sure he has been through enough daily training before he goes on the field at the Oakland Coliseum.
Michael is starting eighth grade at Shasta School on Monday. He won the pitching honor through a promotion at a local Manteca pizza parlor.

He was stealing from
Manteca fire victim
I saw something that bothered me Friday morning when a big SUV stopped in the middle of the street with a couple inside looking at the burned-out house on Fremont Avenue that claimed 20 cats’ lives two weeks ago.
The driver apparently spotted what he wanted near the front door, jumped out of his car, leaving it in the middle of the street with the driver’s door open.  He ran to the front of the house and scooped up a 75-foot garden hose and stuffed it into the front seat area with a woman passenger and drove off.

Mae made great pies
The Alcohol Beverage Control license application in the front window of the shuttered Kelly Brothers Brickyard Oven Restaurant and Brewery triggered some memories when the place was the Peters family movie house with the best popcorn in town. 
There were two satellite businesses on the east and west of the façade of the El Rey Theatre with one the home of Mae’s Pie Shop.  Mae Greer made the best pies ever and served them on her counter with its five stools.  Hardware Mart employees from just across the street, ambulance drivers and members of the Manteca Rural Fire Department and even Bulletin staffers were regulars.  What was unique was how those guys would stick dollar bills to her ceiling.  And it took talent too, as they placed a quarter in the center of a folded up $1 bill with a tack pushed through the bill and threw it up to her ceiling. 
Most would stick and the coin would drop back to the floor.  Amazing!

They answered the
call — including
Frank Triglia
Manteca’s fire departments of the ‘60s and ‘70s were pretty much an all-volunteer effort. 
When there was a city fire call, the sirens that were placed strategically around the community would scream no matter the time day or night.  Firefighters would drop everything and drive or run to the fire house at the old city hall on Sycamore Avenue and a newer facility on West Center Street. 
A country fire would bring what sounded like a fog horn with volunteers responding to the firehouse in the 100 block of South Grant Avenue – what is now the southeast corner of the shuttered Kelly Brothers’ restaurant and brewery. I will never forget Frank Triglia – a senior citizen with a lot of spunk – running down Center Street to catch up with a responding engine on its way to a house fire, jumping on the rear running board and clinging to the side safety pole.

Manteca creates
more illegal
homeless shelters
A number of houses on McKinley Avenue near the 120 Bypass are being bought by the City of Manteca to eventually be razed for the construction of the McKinley Avenue interchange. They are posing a potential problem for the city. 
One woman was chased out by Manteca Police Friday morning for being a squatter in one of the houses. PG&E was called to cut the electricity from the residence to discourage future squatters.  What’s troubling is that the empty houses are a focus for other homeless individuals plagued with drug problems that could start fires and put firemen in jeopardy in the poorly lighted area surrounded by dry weeds.