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PERSPECTIVE
Amazing more homeless aren’t struck by vehicles
letter to editor

 I could have written a dozen traffic tickets in Manteca on Thursday if I’d been a cop – on most other days too – from people running stop signs to a definite lack of courtesy on the road.  When I was on my way home at about 10:30 p.m., I saw a homeless guy on a bike nearly get flattened twice within 30 seconds.
He was riding his bike northbound on Commerce Avenue sidewalk in the dark without lights, heading into the west to east crosswalk as an 18-wheeler was turning left into him.  He immediately pulled his bicycle back away from the huge bumper within inches of being hit and then turned to his left and shot into the other crosswalk crossing Yosemite.  As he reached the middle of the street a westbound sedan shot by the side of the turning truck and trailer on a green light nearly hitting him in the crosswalk. Again he halted his bicycle with his feet dropping to the ground as the car roared by him – obviously not seeing him or the bike being without lights and riding against a “no walk” warning sign.  The guy cheated death twice that night. I’ve witnessed many close calls on that section of East Yosemite Avenue in the dark where the homeless walk carelessly through traffic.  

Thought I was going blind with new glasses
I bought another pair of new glasses after a friend’s dog chewed up a relatively new pair.  In wore them for a couple weeks pretty much ignoring the fact I had trouble reading the paper in the morning.  I had to elevate the blended lenses so I could read through a marginal area at the bottom of the frames – as a layman it didn’t make sense until a few days ago I resurrected the chewed-up pair and could see perfectly.  Slow learner, I guess, as I took them back to my eye doctor.  
Not his fault, but that of his optical lab that apparently misread the prescription.  Back to square one using my old pair and able to see very well but for the scratching of the chewed and broken plastic ear pieces.   Working at the paper on my computer screen was quite a strain until I bought a pair of drug store reading glasses that is filling the void along with my other pair.

Ripon fireworks on Fourth
of July in need of sponsors
Ripon’s annual fourth of July fireworks extravaganza celebration is again in need of funding. Volunteers have opened a GoFundMe account in hoping the public will see the need and open their pockets to support the festivities.  The older senior citizens living around the Bethany Home campus probably enjoy the event as much as anyone.  
Hopefully the community will see the need and drop a few bucks into the hat.  A $5 bill from everyone would surely pay the freight for the shells bursting in air. The address is gofundme.com/ripon-4th-of-july-fireworks.

Something about a pet cat
& dog that makes a difference
As I have mentioned in the past I have my cat waiting for me at home since my hours do not allow for a dog any longer.  A good friend of mine has a small dog – the size of a Yorkie.  They both make me feel 10 feet tall when I’m around them.  
 When I am home or visiting across town, those two are always there in my lap wanting to play and to be loved.  Only problem if we ever had them in the same room no doubt there would be total bedlam to deal with at the drop of my hat – a chase through the house would be on and horrific.

Swimmer lost in the
Stanislaus River is so sad
During my tenure with the Bulletin dating back many years, I have seen too many swimmers lose their lives swimming in a river uncommon to them.  The most recent in Ripon in the Stanislaus River is no different except that I walked the shores with the family members looking for any clue to the lost 21-year-old Lodi farm worker.
The family – adults and children –  were so very solemn and gathered together in prayer and disbelief that their father and brother was probably lost forever after having just moved to America seeking a better life. The water current continues to be strong with the snow runoff and the water so cold that it quickly numbs the body retarding its functions.  And once a swimmer’s body is dragged along the bottom of the riverbed, it is often snagged by underwater logs and submerged tree branches.  No one deserves that kind of a death.

Memories renewed at my old
Army aviation hanger at
Stockton Metro Airport
I went to a semi-occasional meeting of the old Warbirds this week at the rear of Stockton Metro Airport reminding me where I was stationed in the early ‘60s repairing observation planes and light to medium sized helicopters.  
Our hanger is no longer there for one simple reason – it burned down in later years.  It was an interesting chapter in my life that saw us living in old World War II wooden barracks and eating chow in the Officers Club meant for pilots and, of course, the general who lived on base located on Airport Way.  
The Warbirds have been restoring old military aircraft at their site just southwest of the control tower on the airport grounds.  They provide interesting programs over some five months out of the year featuring pilots who flew on military assignments from World War II to the present day.
An aside still in my memory is of an Army private who caught a garter snake near the hanger and draped it over the doorknob of the front office in an effort to shake up the secretaries – yeah, it worked!  And, yes, the snake was dead.