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• Elk Grove resident killed outside Lodi club

• Lodi-area farmer, businessman wins Horatio Alger Award

• San Joaquin Fair ends, sends most away with a smile

• Former hostage details terror, boredom

• Lodi women learn their legal rights

• Council to review reports on city's utilities

• Galt seeks to inspire teens on Napoleon Dynamite Day

February 9th, 2010

• Middle College High School rated one of the best — and a bargain, to boot

• Lodi decathlon boasts top team in county

• Man who sparked counterfeit case pleads guilty

• Local businessman will visit Haiti to look for family

• Man who claimed to be Yosemite Sam pleads guilty to meth charge

• David Harmer seeks Republican congressional nod

• Lack of evidence in case against suspect in 'drug deal' stabbing

• Regional Roundup

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

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

• 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

• Regional Roundup

February 2nd, 2010

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

• Correction

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

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Jumpers across California

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)

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Lodi women learn their legal rights

About a dozen Lodi women gathered Saturday at a "Know Your Rights" forum, where two attorneys advised them not to talk to FBI agents without a lawyer.

The forum was similar to one held earlier this month, after five Lodi men were detained in a large terrorism probe by the FBI.

"It's perfectly OK to say, 'I'm sorry, I don't feel comfortable talking to you,' and close the door," said Marwa Elzankaly, a San Jose attorney who is president of the Bay Area Muslim Lawyers Association.

She advised the women, who gathered at the Boys and Girls Club, to ask FBI agents for a business card and tell them a lawyer will contact them. That way, she said, a lawyer can set up a time, be there to make sure words don't get twisted and can limit questions to exclude things such as political beliefs.

"We live in a country where, in order to accuse you of anything, they have to have some sort of evidence," Elzankaly said as interpreters translated for Spanish and Pakistani women.

Unless agents have a search or arrest warrant, she said, law enforcement officials cannot enter a home. If agents arrive with a warrant, Elzankaly advised the women to take notes and not to lie -- as that is a crime.

Lodi father and son Umer and Hamid Hayat are both charged with making false statements to federal agents concerning possible ties to terrorist training camps in Pakistan. They remain jailed without bail, as do three other men facing administrative immigration violations.

Immigration attorney Nancy Hormachea, who practices in the Bay Area, outlined rights for non-U.S. citizens, who must carry papers showing proof that they are in the country legally.

For those detained on immigration violations, "it's so important just to try not to talk, because then the government has to prove that you're not here legally," she said.

None of the women present had been detained or questioned, but they had questions of their own for the attorneys. Some asked for business cards, and many took pamphlets provided by the Council on America-Islamic Relations, which sponsored the event.

Elzankaly told the women not to be afraid, as FBI agents are people doing their jobs -- including the ones who have been seen constantly in Lodi for several weeks.

"There's not much they can do besides follow you to the grocery store and watch you buy toilet paper," she said.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.