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• Judge postpones Lodi pollution trial

• Questions linger in wake of Hays, Donovan firing

• Former Lodi teacher Eleanor Todd, pioneer with deaf students, dies at 90

• Regional Roundup

• Lockeford residents come together to combat crime

• Hutchins Street Square to celebrate King's birthday

• San Joaquin General Hospital director dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound

November 21st, 2009

• Logbook

• Holiday drive spreads cheer to U.S. troops

• Galt High students want board to approve open-campus policy

• Poisoning victims remain hospitalized

• Expert: Half a mushroom cap can be deadly

• Tokay grad files claim over Lodi's Grape Bowl

• Lodi Middle School holds annual Turkey Trot

• Regional Roundup

• No motive or suspect in shooting

• Sacramento cop arrested for alleged kidnapping

November 20th, 2009

• Acampo woman killed

• Salvation Army Kettle Kickoff

• Advocacy groups sue East Bay Municipal Utility District over Pardee expansion

• Regional Roundup

• Galt plans to help residents with energy-efficient projects

• Stable southeast of Lodi approved

• One year after a heart attack, Lodi's Judy Mims thanks rescuers

• National Guard troops return home in time for the holidays

• Real estate market gets on more solid ground

November 19th, 2009

• Operation: Christmas

• Logbook

• Suspect arrested after hiding in fridge

• Chase ends in crash

• Galt Joint Union High School Distric hires new superintendent

• Sales tax hike yields dividends: 5 new officers join Galt Police

• Lodi Unified School District board votes to cancel summer school for 2010

• Water surges in Mokelumne River yield more salmon

• Lodi City Council will consider redevelopment next June

• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22

• Corrections

November 18th, 2009

• Regional Roundup

• Paranormal group conducts second investigation of building

• Congress allocates money for local water projects

• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react

• Lodi man finds wife's ashes during police display of stolen property

• Galt City Council rejects study on rent stabilization

November 17th, 2009

• Paying tribute to a Lodian

• Lodi Budget and Finance Committee to look into ways to save money on employee benefits

• Regional Roundup

• Decision on summer school expected at tonight's Lodi Unified School District meeting

• Clements gets free water rescue boat

• Redevelopment to be discussed by Lodi City Council again

• Court reinstates death penalty for killer of Lodi grad

• Clarification

November 16th, 2009

• Correction

• Public Meetings

• City Council 'triple-dog dared' to ditch cars, use Lodi buses

• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi

• Lodi's First Sip event showcases area wineries' latest vintages

• Three members of Lodi-area family fall ill after eating poisonous mushrooms they reportedly found at Lodi Lake

• Regional Roundup

November 14th, 2009

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

• Regional Roundup

• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

• Watchful neighbor in Lodi helped bust suspected burglars

• New Galt city manager juggles job, family

• Despite an increase in homeless students, school districts look to bolster enrollment, raise revenue

• A first look at 2009 vintages at Lodi's First Sip wine-tasting event

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• The country's mess is our fault (170)
• Obama is not a moderate (130)
• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (73)
• Public health care is a Christian option (56)
• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (50)
• The haves should help the have-nots (30)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Government-run health care is a bad idea (23)
• Young woman fatally shot at Acampo home (17)
• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi (16)

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Ignoring ski boundaries can be dangerous, costly

Three recent search-and-rescue operations at Dodge Ridge, the Central Valley's closest ski resort, involved people who skied or snowboarded into an out-of-bounds area.

One of those actions included a West High School graduate who was hospitalized for frostbite.

Snowboarders or skiers who get lost can be fined and ordered to pay restitution for the search-and-rescue missions, which can run into thousands of dollars, representatives for the sheriff's offices in Placer and Tuolumne counties said Tuesday.

It can also be dangerous, many say.

"You have to know where you're going," said Joel Fell, 23, who was hospitalized after he and a friend, Tony Maciel, 24, got lost Jan. 2 when they snowboarded off the groomed tracks and out of bounds at Dodge Ridge.

Darren Scott, who owns Board Authority, a store that sells snowboards and skateboards in Tracy, said people should not go out of bounds.

"You get lost, you can die," he said, adding that he always tells snowboarders to "ride safe."

Erica Frese, a 23-year-old clerk at Board Authority, said she cruises out of bounds -- but only in areas she is familiar with and only for a few yards, where she can cut back to the groomed tracks.

Frese signed a waiver to leave the patrolled slopes at Dodge Ridge.

Curtis Crooks, who heads the ski patrol at Squaw Valley, said beginners should never go out of bounds, and intermediates should generally not either. "It's not Disneyland," he said.

Squaw Valley does not allow out-of-bounds skiing, he said, adding that the 4,000-acre ski resort is so big there is no reason to leave the groomed areas.

Placer County sheriff's Capt. Rick Armstrong said his office cites people under state law for "knowingly skiing in an area or on a ski trail which is closed to the public and which has signs posted indicating the closure."

Ski resorts make the off-limits areas very obvious, he said.

While he could not say how many people have been cited, his office has been very busy since the beginning of the winter season.

More people are snowboarding now, he said, and many snowboarders do not realize they cannot go back uphill when they leave the trails.

"It's a pretty serious climb back up," he said.

Fell, a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service, said he has signed a waiver with Dodge Ridge to go out of bounds, and he has not heard from the sheriff's office or Dodge Ridge.

Tuolumne sheriff's Sgt. Roger Dittberner said his office has filed a report on Fell's situation with the county's district attorney's office, but a deputy district attorney in that office could not confirm receiving a report Tuesday.

A Dodge Ridge representative did not return phone calls.