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Friday, Feb. 06, 2009

February 6 in Merced history

February 6, 1959

MOTHERS TOLD WHY SNELLING SCHOOL RESTRICTS STUDENT TRANSPORTATION:

Snelling-Merced Falls Elementary School Board of Trustees told three mothers at their Thursday evening meeting here that the district could not transport their children home at 2 p.m.

The school has requested that parents pick up first and second graders at the 2 p.m. dismissal time.

The three mothers were present to ask why the school could not transport the first and second graders to their homes. Board members replied that it was "impossible" due to the time schedule, which requires the district bus be available at 3 p.m. to take the upper grades students to their homes.

Board Clerk T. M. Olsen said he felt the request was not asking too much. He said he felt that parents should take some responsibility for their children and not expect the school "to do everything."

February 6, 1979

BOARD MULLS FENCE TYPE AT JUVENILE HALL:

Merced County supervisors today approved a $60,000 fencing program for Juvenile Hall that might mean less danger to escapees.

Monday two supervisors said the county should not be kept from using rolled barbed wire on top of the juvenile hall fence just because it might injure teenage suspects trying to escape.

But today supervisors approved a less dangerous fence that still would try to thwart escape attempts through use of a "Y" type barbed wire arrangement.

Although some supervisors said they favored more stringent fencing, they apparently yielded to statements that California Youth Authority officials say it is against their agency's policy to use rolled barbed wire. Past escapees have been seriously injured when entangled in it, according to Brian Fisher, head of the county's probation department.

CYA can order juvenile halls closed if they do not meet CYA standards, Merced County Administrator Clark Channing said this morning.

"It's by law that they have to review the hall to meet state standards," he said. "Whether they'd require us to remove it (rolled barbed wire), I don't know."

February 6, 1984

MERCED TRANSIT GETS EARLY DELIVERY ON BUSES:

Local residents soon can climb aboard two shiny blue-and-white buses the Merced Transit System has added to its fleet.

The city took delivery a few days ago of the minibuses purchased for MTS for $71,886 from Wide One Corp. of Anaheim.

City officials were pleasantly surprised at the arrival of the vehicles which were not expected for several weeks.

Both of the 19-passenger buses are equipped with hydraulic lifts to help handicapped people board the vehicles and a special seating arrangement for those using wheelchairs. Six of the fleet's 14 buses now have the hydraulic helpers.

The buses replace two vehicles, bought in 1976, which have racked up more than 200,000 miles each on their city rounds.

Merced city used money from three sources to buy the vehicles. These include $44,490 in federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration grants, $15,000 in state gasoline tax funds and $12,396 in transit system monies.

Larnold Jones, transit system supervisor, said the buses carried 107,000 passengers from last July through December. Of that total, 18,000 people rode the buses during December alone, Jones said.