June Bug is his nickname.

Since August, we’ve had two pleasant exchanges.

They were cordial and polite.

It was not a bare minimum of greetings nor was it much longer than 30 seconds at tops.

The encounters were along the Tidewater Bikeway during afternoon walks.

June Bug happened to be the first person that Manteca Police Officer Mike Kelly encountered Wednesday when he turned down Vanderbilt Circle in the Manteca Industrial Park.

They greeted each other like long-time acquaintances with genuine smiles.

June Bug is one of somewhere between 150 and 250 residents of Manteca that are homeless.

Do not misunderstand.

Calling them residents is not being woke.

This is where they live.

And based on every survey and from inquires I’ve made off and on in casual encounters over the years, there is little doubt the overwhelming majority did not just pop out of nowhere, are traveling through, or were dropped on Manteca’s doorsteps.

That’s what some neighboring police departments once did until such behavior elsewhere led to cities being sued successfully from here to kingdom come.

The homeless, for the most part, either ended up on the streets while living here, were raised here, worked here, or have relatives or friends here.

I know several homeless on the streets including one fairly well.

It doesn’t make me an expert. Far from it.

Nor does it inspire any sympathy or empathy on my part for that person for a variety of reasons.

That said, I had a bit more than a front row seat to the collateral impacts on others that behaviors that many on the streets have on the lives of others.

And I’ve also come across my share of individuals — that I’m close to being absolutely were homeless — that have displayed erratic behavior as I walked or jogged around Manteca and occasionally going into stores here and in other cities including Tracy, Livermore, and Pleasanton.

I mention those three cities only because of posting over the years on social media claiming those cities are not like Manteca and that somehow this is the only place that homeless exist so therefore it is the fault of those running the city.

I have had over the years perhaps a dozen incidents where homeless were acting more than aggressive as I jogged down sidewalks or being panhandled entering stores.

Only twice was it to the point I was uncomfortable and felt unsafe to a degree. Both times it was in Pleasanton — one of the go-to places in the fantasy grass-is-greener on the other side of the Altamont Hills world that thrives on social media.

I’d be remised not to mention that incidents of panhandling or encountering homeless that struck me as having mental health issues has dropped off substantially in recent years in Manteca.

As for the “official” homeless count, the last one in January 2025 pegged the unhoused population in Manteca at 238.

Officer Kelly expects it to be lower when the next official point-in-time count takes place next month.

All of this leads me to three points that will likely rile those that think when it comes to homeless in Manteca that they have turned the community into a cesspool, they are all raving nuts and/or criminals, and should be run out of town.

*The homeless have turned Manteca into a cesspool.

No one should accept the homeless sleeping on the streets — whether in makeshift illegal encampments, in doorways, under tucked behind landscaping — is OK.

That doesn’t mean they should have carte blanche or a 100 percent free ride. The truth, if we look beyond our nose, is the fact homelessness has been around since the first day of civilization.

The problem is not going to ever go away and it’s is wishful thinking that making homeless essentially a “crime” is somehow going to erase all traces of it from the streets of Manteca and every other city on the planet.

Manteca has taken a measured middle course.

There is no coddling.

There is no doom loop of arrest and release.

What Manteca has been doing is a middle path.

It involves empathy.

It involves building trust.

It involves persistent pressure to get them on a path of the streets via the emergency shelter.

That pressure is in the form of daily cordial outreach efforts by police and volunteers.

It is also in the form of persistent enforcement of quality-of-life laws whether it is illegal camping or hanging out in places where it is illegal for anyone, regardless of housing status, to loiter.

The city’s holistic strategy has seen a steady improvement in the homeless’ impact on the community since 2022.

*The homeless are all raving nuts.

Let’s be clear. Survey after survey done by those up and down California of those that deal with the homeless show the majority have addiction to drugs, alcohol, or both. There is typically mental health issues connected with addiction.

It is also true being on the streets for an extended period of time can lead to mental health issues.

But what might in appropriately be called full-blown “nut cases” are relatively few and far between.

They don’t represent the vast majority of the homeless.

That said, they stand out with all the subtlety of the proverbial sore thumb that has just been pounded by a sledge hammer.

They are what people remember. They leave a much deeper and lasting impression from most homeless who work at being as invisible as possible.

*The homeless should be run out of town.

And so should perennial speeders, shoplifters, those that commit fraud, and those that have more vehicles parked on their front lawns than a 7-Eleven has in its parking the hour prior to sales closing for the now $1.7 billion Powerball lottery draw.

Simply being homeless is not a crime.

Yes, a lot of things they do are “low level” crimes just like people that don’t adhere to city ordinances governing property upkeep or the 1,000 plus people ticketed each month for running red lights.

So why not the same sentiment for those that turn front yards into starter plots for dry vegetation fires of those who shoplift, even those that swipe item under $5?

Of course, if every city adopted the run-the-homeless-out-of-town approach and committed the resources to make that happen if the courts gave them the green light, it would quickly become a nonstop game of whack-a-mole on speed.

The city isn’t going to end homelessness.

But it sure can work to get as many people off the streets and manage the situation.

And that is exactly what the City of Manteca is going in a legal, ethical, humane, and fairly effective manner.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com