There is something about old traditions in families including health care remedies.  Last year when winter was approaching and I was grocery shopping in Ripon’s Save Mart, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of the old tried and true Vicks cough drops on their shelves amid countless other brands.
The pharmacist looked up his source of cold remedies and ordered me six boxes that came in the form of six cases – more than I could ever use or for all of my family for that matter.  So, last week I dropped by and chatted with pharmacist Cliff Mar who surprisingly was familiar with downtown Manteca merchants of yesteryear including the couple that owned Jee’s Juvenile and Mar’s Department Store both then in the 200 block of West Yosemite Avenue.
He told me that the word is getting around again about those cough drops and that they are probably the only store with the Vicks brand on their shelves – very popular in its day.

Doctors Hospital volunteers not wild about being in the ‘pink’
 Volunteers with the Doctors Hospital Auxiliary — sometimes dubbed “The Pink Ladies — are an active bunch with men included in the group and they are looking for more to join their ranks.  Most of the men react sharply when I call them pink guys or gentlemen. 
They are selling See’s Candy again out of their gift shop. It has been selling off the shelf this past week at the same price the See’s store charge in Stockton and Modesto.

Unique gift items for Christmas giving
I found some outstanding and unique gifts for family members this year at Tipton’s Gift and Stationery in downtown Manteca and at Striplin’s Pharmacy on Norman Drive. 
In the past I have spent hours going through the Manteca stores and Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto and it has all been literally right in my own back yard. 
I got some fantastic gifts at those two places where they were wrapped for me and shipped out via UPS. Another store, a women’s dress shop in Ripon at the center of town operated by Carol Nocetti of Stockton Speedway fame is a must for men shopping for their wives or significant others.  Carol makes it easy for you to find the right fashions

Kicked over can
of gasoline
brought Manteca’s best
It was pretty much a nothing of a fire call when someone kicked over a gallon can of gasoline inside the Manteca Ford Dealership on North Main Street Friday evening.  Owner Phil Waterford was on the lot and I got to talk to him for a few minutes. 
Waterford has offered to pick up the tab for the city placing yellow caution lights on the crosswalk at Edison Street on North Main Street in front of his business to keep another fatal pedestrian accident from happening.  So far the city’s response to his offer has been underwhelming.
He hopes and prays no other pedestrian is caught in the glare of oncoming headlights and killed by a vehicle.
Meanwhile Waterford and his staff are busy getting ready for their annual free Christmas Eve morning breakfast set for this Sunday from 8 to 11 a.m. Last year they served 1,500 people. They are in urgent needs of unwrapped, age appropriate toys for children through 12 who will see Santa before they leave.