If both go through with their run for mayor – after all anything can happen when filing period that opens July 12 closes on Aug. 6 – it will be their third face-off.
The first time was in 1998 when both were midway through their respective four-year terms as council members and were seeking to replace then Mayor Bill Perry who was no relation to Carlon Perry.
Perry edged out Weatherford in their first face-off in what was a two-man race. In 2002 when Weatherford was up for re-election, Perry was one of two challengers. The second time around Weatherford defeated Perry by a larger margin than he originally was defeated by Perry.
In 2006, Weatherford ran unopposed.
This time around there are at least five candidates including City Council, member Debby Moorhead, retired municipal planner Ben Cantu, and entrepreneur Samuel Anderson.
So who “profits” from Independence Day being celebrated at the Big League Dreams sports complex on Saturday, July 3?
After all, there is a $2 charge for adults and a $1 charge for those between 13 and 17 while children 12 and under are free at the event taking place from 4 to 10:30 p.m.
BLD actually has a tournament that day and will keep all admissions up to 4 p.m. At that time, the gate changes into admission to the Independence Day event that includes vendors, entertainment, games, and other activities capped with aerial fireworks after dusk.
BLD will staff the gate and the Fourth of July Committee established by the city will reimburse BLD for that expense.
The entire BLD staff works the day of the event but BLD does not charge back any of the expense to the city. BLD considers the community day important public relations to bring new people to the park. Besides, they receive considerable revenue from food and beverage sales at their two restaurants during the event. The city, by the way, gets a percentage of the sales based on their contract with BLD.
The gate receipts are used by the city committee to help offset the cost of the community celebration and aerial fireworks.
The gate question was brought up by a Manteca resident who had concerns that BLD was profiting maybe a bit too much from the community event and that it might be more appropriate to stage it somewhere else.
The girl went from the shallow end to the deep end of the pool where she went under the water and was distressed prompting a lifeguard to grab her and help her out of the pool.
Dad did not even realize his daughter was not swimming with him. After the incident she ended up playing in the small pool. There was no need to call for emergency medical services.
There were four lifeguards on duty and one head guard. During the incident there was about 25 patrons swimming and three lifeguards were on duty. Amanda Hixson performed the rescue. She is a first year lifeguard.
Recreation supervisor Toni Lundgren indicated this type of rescue is common at the pool. Between swim lessons and public swim there are several performed a week where a lifeguard might lend a hand from the deck or actually go in and help a child to shallow water.
Although staff – and the lifeguards themselves downplay such incidents, at least one Manteca resident - Cindy Goe was pretty impressed and rightfully so. Too often we only hear of things that go wrong and don’t realize a lot of people – including 16-year-olds such as Hixson who is a Sierra High student and daughter of Jeremy and Nicole Hixson - are not only competent but dedicated to doing their jobs as city employees.
