If you doubt there is a difference between Manteca and Berkeley, here it is – one can no longer hold a parade in Berkeley if you toss candy to kids.
Yes, the epicenter for political correctness has adopted rules that prevent the tossing of candy to children along a parade route as they are concerned about the safety of kids.

Manteca, on the other hand, allows wanton tossing of candy during both its Christmas (oops, that’s a no-no word in Berkeley) and the Fourth of July (Manteca actually has Marines and not Code Pink supporters marching) parades. It is a total disregard for kids who could get run over by Cub Scouts pedaling red, white and blue decked bicycles; Shriners steering mini cars; or Happy Wheelers.

The ban on candy tossing is in response to one of Berkeley’s most free-spirited undertakings – the “How Berkeley Can You Be?” parade and festival.

It was started 13 years ago to poke fun at political correctness. One of the crowd favorites was PETA – People Eating Them Animals – that does different spoofs each year including one parade where they shot Spam into the crowd from bazookas.

One wonders how they got away with that in Berkeley of all places.

What broke the straw’s back, though, appears to be good old drinking, candy tossing, and naked guys walking the parade route.

Berkeley – the home of the Naked Guy, frat parties, and tree sitters who are the epitome of safety – has made the rules so tight that the organizers have cancelled the annual event on Sept. 27 poking fun at Berkeley’s PC streak that is longer than the odds of the Cal Bears winning the national championship this year.

One of the organizers, John Solomon, was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying the “city is being very controlling. They want to turn this into the Solano Stroll."

Berkeley controlling – who is kidding who?

This is the city that allowed Code Pink to set up shop in a public parking space outside of the Marines recruiting office and turn their loudspeakers on the soldiers and potential marines.

Berkeley – which is tolerant of all people – had no choice but to bar Sea Scouts from their berth on the city’s marina because of the national Scouting origination phobia about asking adults seeking to volunteer with their group whether they are gay.

As far as naked guys walking around, one must not allow someone who is not a Cal Berkeley student to do so. Berkeley, after all, has high standards to uphold. One can’t let old guys walk down University Avenue wearing nothing but sandals but when Naked Guy strolled off campus and into the city to buy ice cream where he once had his picture snapped for worldwide distribution it is OK because he was young and a free spirit.

Berkeley – which for years seemed to have no problem with pot being openly consumed on Telegraph Avenue along with vagrants swigging from bottles of cheap booze when they weren’t busy urinating on the sidewalk – draws the line at normally law-abiding citizens walking around Berkeley during a festival or parade drinking.

Now they want drinkers to stand in roped off area supervised by police if they want to drink infuriating the “How Berkeley Can You Get? organizers.

The real question is how Berkeley could get away for years flaunting state Alcohol Beverage Control laws and insurance requirements. I forget, it’s Berkeley where they feel free to ignore state laws as they see fit.

That said, Berkeley is Berkeley and Manteca is Manteca. That’s the true beauty of local control. Each community can set their standards as long as they comply with the general laws of the state and don’t trample on individual rights. Doing so isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Is restricting toss candy at parade reasonable to do to assure public safety? Is it reasonable to allow bull horns to be blared at a legitimate place of business – even a military recruiting center?

Good questions.

That is why we have elected city councils to help set community standards while balancing it with our collective and individual rights.
Berkeley, in this case, was simply establishing community standards which definitely aren’t the same in Manteca where we can toss candy along parade routes at will and let kids fend for their own safety.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, e-mail dwyatt@mantecabulleitn.com