archives

How do shopping carts end up in the creek? They don't migrate there themselves, but sometimes get some "help" from kids bent on causing some mischief.

Beverly Crandall of Merced has some insight into the situation. She says Rivera Middle School students spot the abandoned carts in the neighborhood and push the carts into the creek because it's a fun thing to do. However, one Saturday several years ago she heard little boys laughing and went out to see what was so funny. Three boys about 10 to 12 years old were pushing shopping carts into Black Rascal Creek.

The scanner always crackles with the worst case scenarios. This morning, I heard about a train versus car. Never a good situation. A couple weeks ago I went out to a van pinned beneath a big rig on Highway 99. Again, typically not the call you want to hear.

On both occasions, a photographer/videographer and I dashed out to the scene and, fortunately, there were no injuries.

The woman at the scene of the train collision seemed a bit rattled, but OK since she dashed out of her car before the locomotive struck. When the van was hit, the driver, a mortuary worker, was simply concerned about dead bodies in the back seat.