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City allows creation of rodent haven
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Editor, Manteca Bulletin;
It has been far too long since I have written, and things have backed up.
Should I criticize Pat Buchanan’s monthly defense of Russia, or maybe his equally as often expressed desire for the good old days of the Antebellum South?
Maybe about Brent Bozell’s embrace of polls by the Media Research Center while never fully disclosing in his columns that the Media Research Center is, basically, Brent Bozell.
How about Larry Elder defending Trumpism because...Obama! (or...Clinton!)?
Nah, let’s keep it local.
But even then too much has gotten by without comment.
Dennis Wyatt’s, not so recent anymore, column about trees being taken out by distracted drivers hit a nerve. It brought to mind his old man rant of a few months ago about bicycle riders using the sidewalks. I kind of agreed with him about downtown, because the alleyways provide access to most places there. We could walk our  bikes the couple yards to our destination without causing much  pedestrian problems.
But if you think I’m going to exit The Tidewater onto Louise Avenue and use that foot and a half bike lane, with those previously mentioned distracted drivers coming from behind at 50 mph —well, as the song goes: You got another think coming! At least those small trees provide me a little protection when I’m biking down that sidewalk.
Anyway, — I’ve decided the subject of this letter should be about another fairly recent Manteca Bulletin editorial column. It’s a column that ended with some praise for the City being proactive in denying shelter for transients.
On my bike rides I have occasion to go down Lincoln Avenue. As you know a few years ago a company bought a few acres and a few residents were told/paid to move out of a few homes.
The intention to build apartments seems to be on hold. After a year or so those abandoned abodes became hovels for the homeless. Naturally sanitation and arson problems ensued.
So the City, which you commended, got the company to raze the roofs. Ah, the balance has been restored. Except — the rubble remains. Mounds of rubble.
Along with the attending glass, rusting nails, wood shards, waste (human and otherwise), and more. So now, instead of having havens for the human homeless, we have residents for assorted rodents of various sizes, and whatever diseases they may carry. Then there are snakes preying on the rodents. And probably a breeding ground for mosquitos.  Not to mention a dumping site for furniture and large appliances.
Now I’m about the editor’s age, so I ask him to think about his childhood. Could you have resisted going to those mounds with your friends and playing war, or cowboys and indians, or king of the mountain? I don’t think so.
Yes, commendations to the City and the company!
We got a new park, a new playground, a new Family Entertainment Zone. We can call it The Rocks, Rubble, and Refuse Recreational Retreat. But shouldn’t some signs go up about playing at your own risk?
After all who will be responsible for the antibiotics and tetanus treatments?

Dennis Eggink
Manteca