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• County mosquito control crews help defend against West Nile virus

• Fifth-graders learn about mosquitos

• Right-wing condiment: Lodi native offers GOP an alternative to Heinz

• Lodi Fire Department plans on growth, new stations

• Regional Roundup

• Community reaches out to prevent teen suicide

• Local candidates file to run in November; some deadlines extended

• Lodi Hall of Fame honorees named

• Galt business owner seeks council seat

• Concilio director running for Galt City Council

• Logbook

• Levee break taking toll on water

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

February 2nd, 2010

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Jumpers across California

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

February 1st, 2010

• Find cuddly alpacas not too far from Lodi

• Public Meetings

• Patients can expect faster, better service when Lodi Memorial Hospital's new emergency room opens

• Man killed by Amtrak train in Lodi

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

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• President Obama's first year (45)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (44)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

ADVERTISEMENT

Right-wing condiment: Lodi native offers GOP an alternative to Heinz

If you have been looking for a right-wing condiment to top your Freedom Fries, look no more. The nation's first Republican ketchup has arrived -- and it has been co-created by Lodi native, Stacey Hughes.

Hughes, the daughter of former Lodi mayor Richard L. Hughes and Sharon Hughes, wasn't a big political activist growing up, but she was smart and eager. She graduated from Lodi High School in three years and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also in three years, with a degree in business and finance. She later earned her master's of business administration degree from Harvard Business School -- the same place President George Bush got his MBA.

Still, the 33-year-old Manhattan banker took little notice of the ketchup business until she attended a barbecue with some Bush-backing friends a few months ago in upstate New York.

"We were squirting Heinz on our burgers and talking about how some percentage was heading back to Teresa Heinz Kerry (the wife of Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry). We thought that there should be an alternative ketchup on the market. One that didn't do that," said Hughes, a self-described conservative.

Teresa Heinz Kerry is an heir to the ketchup giant after her husband Sen. Henry John Heinz III, R-Penn., was killed in a plane crash in 1991, although she does not have direct control over the management of the company. She owns 4 percent of the Heinz company.

Hughes and her friends Bill Zachary, Dan Oliver and Susie Oliver, wanted to make a stand. Each contributed $5,000 to start the business and enlisted the support of 10 investors to get the business off the ground.

The first line of W Ketchup was produced the Friday before the first of July -- just in time for Independence Day -- with a label that features pictures of the Minute Men, the American flag and George Washington, who, the creators insist, is the W behind W Ketchup, even though it does play up on the current president's nickname.

The finished product is similarly all-American. All of the packaging and labeling is done in the U.S. Ditto for the ketchup, which uses tomatoes from San Joaquin County. The ketchup is bottled by the Fremont Company in Ohio -- a swing state -- who also supplies the ketchup formula. And five percent of profits benefit the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships for children of service members killed in the line of duty.

But how does it taste? Conservative in flavor?

"Well, it basically has less of a harsh and vinegary taste (than Heinz ketchup)," Hughes said.

W Ketchup officially launched its product in a page ad in the June 28 issue of the National Review, which read, "You don't support Democrats. Why should your ketchup?" Interest in this product has since spiraled out of control. News about W Ketchup has been reported globally from China to Russia, Columbia to South Africa.

Hughes said she is amazed by all of the attention but she hasn't quit her day job.

"It's just fun," said Stacey's mother, Lodi resident Sharon Hughes. "So many stories aren't fun but this is light and fun. That must be why it has attracted so much attention because it is just ketchup."

Eighty thousand bottles of W Ketchup have been sold to date through its Web site. The ketchup retails at $3 per bottle, with a minimum of four bottles per order. Hughes said they hope to roll their ketchup into retail stores soon.

But will we see W ketchup after the November 2 election?

"We'll see how things go. Certainly it would be fun to keep selling it," Hughes said.

For more information or to place an order, visit www.wketchup.com or call (866) W-KETCHUP.