Inspired by AFW and with an article from my newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, I present the once prosperous town of Mendota, Ca. that used to be the "Cantaloupe Center of the World" in the 1940s. Due to loss of agriculture and with unemployment at almost 40% mixed with 50% of the population living in poverty... Mendota is going under. It lost gas pumps in the 1980s due to increased regulation, fresh meat and milk in the '90s, and it's last major store- Westland Grocery just shut it's doors. The town seems deserted, is littered with trash, and drunken men routinely urinate in the streets, even in broad daylight. There's a sense of total hopelessness in Mendota. No Govt. help ever arrived and the City Council just pulled the plug. People barely survive due to dollar stores for shopping- most everything else is closed for good. The owner of Westland Grocery, Joseph Riofrio, just gave up after extending credit up to $600 per person and trying to keep his family business alive by offering various services like postal and a payment center for bills. But the people couldn't pay back their debts and the only thing selling was beer. That's when he threw in the towel and closed forever. Mendota is a dying town...

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