The Sun-Star has a unique feature most days of the week.
On Wednesdays, we see the food column Dutch Oven by Amanda De Jager Freidman, Fridays bring Loose Lips and Thursdays feature the Tip List by Jonah Owen Lamb.
The tips are phoned or e-mailed to Lamb. They highlight problems from the readers' viewpoint -- from potholes to eyesores to noisy neighbors. Lamb picks one each week to highlight.
He avoids tips that would probably result in a "he said-she said" dispute, as well as tips that can't be verified.
There's one pothole that has been reported several times by one man. But Lamb has driven to the spot several times, unable to locate it. He typically visits the area in question to verify each tip before reporting the problem.
I took a long drive through the city Tuesday to look at some tipsters' spots. There's good news and bad news.
Last week's Tip List highlighted election campaign signs were still in place -- all over Merced. All candidates were contacted and all said they were taking them down.
During my tour of Merced this week, I saw no election signs. And I was looking hard.
A tip last June claimed that the old Circuit City parking lot was overgrown with weeds and was becoming an eyesore. This week, I saw no weeds, but did see well-manicured bushes and trees and nicely cut grass.
The empty Albertson's grocery store on G Street showed similar results.
Another tip complained about neighbors operating flea markets on a regular basis -- in their front yards.
Mike Conway, Merced's public information officer, says there is a city ordinance that allows four garage sales per year. Each must start after 7 a.m. and can last no longer than three consecutive days.
Some folks were having perpetual garage sales -- flea markets -- some even selling "new" items.
When the Tip List reported it, readers added comments, loads of comments, like ants at a summer picnic. Some said to leave the sellers alone, citing the poor economy.
Others said there are legal ways to sell the items rather than conducting long-running garage sales.
The tipster, Florence Lambert, said she thinks the problem may be a bit better now, but is not sure the Tip List triggered it. She says it could be the weather.
An Atwater complaint pointed out the city can't operate its street sweeper due to a lack of funds. Two Atwater residents reported they don't see any difference. One said the sweeper just "moved the dirt around -- didn't actually vacuum it up."
There were three major eyesores reported that I surveyed. One was on Lobo Avenue in the Beachwood area, one was on Edwards Avenue and the third was downtown at K and 16th streets.
Unfortunately, they all still look much as described in the original stories. I discussed them with Conway and Katie Albertson, Merced County's spokeswoman.
Since the eyesores didn't involve public health, both said it could take months to rectify such problems. Albertson said it's often "a balancing act between rights of the complainants and property owners."
Albertson also said Tip List serves a useful purpose, but that the public could call the appropriate county department to get similar results. She touted the county Web site that has a "Report a Concern" page (http://www.co.merced.ca.us/index.aspx?nid=1194) that generates e-mails to appropriate agencies.
So is Tip List effective or entertainment? Or perhaps a bit of both?
Lamb knows it works -- saying smaller problems get fixed much more quickly than larger ones. He estimates that about 65 percent of the articles generate results, based on calls from satisfied customers.
And Tip List is indeed a fun column to read.
Tom Frazier writes Sun Dog and can be reached at sundog@promessage.com.
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