A Manteca tradition for 33 years is no more.

There will be no Manteca Turkey Bowl this year at Woodward Park.

The flag football tournament has been a Thanksgiving morning staple for thousands of people oevr the years.

Pastor Jim Todd, who has organized the Turkey Bowl in the past, has taken on additional duties at Crossroads Grace Community Church.

The additional workload has made it difficult for Todd to secure officials for the annual bowl event and do what else it takes to stage it.

“Thirty-three years was a good run and something will fill its place,” Todd noted. “Play safe during your own organized games.”

Illegal fireworks &

endangering kids

The Manteca City Council suggestion that next Fourth of July if police issuing citations see children within close range of illegal fireworks being set off, that Child Protection Services be contacted wouldn’t be setting a new precedent.

Back in June 2013 when police discovered nearly 2,000 pounds of illegal fireworks at a Powers Tract home just east of the Manteca high football field, a 45-year-old man was arrested on felony charges that included child endangerment of his two teen children.

The charge of child endangerment was added to possessing destructive devices after police said they found boxes of the fireworks stacked next to the bed of his 14 year-old son. 

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com