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• Never forget

• Year of the Dogs

• Middle College students graduate with eyes on future

• Graduation honor was a surprise to recipient

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi Academy class encouraged to reach for dreams

• Valedictorian: Orthodontics are on the horizon

• Grapevine

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 (162)
• Obama is not a moderate (130)
• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (70)
• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (48)
• The haves should help the have-nots (30)
• Public health care is a Christian option (29)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Government-run health care is a bad idea (17)
• Young woman fatally shot at Acampo home (17)
• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi (16)

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Private eye: 'I'm paid to hunt the human animal'

Twenty-two truckloads of asphalt bound for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory mysteriously went missing in the early 1990s.

Despite the high level of security that engulfs the nuclear weapons-testing lab — visitors are under the watch of machine gun-toting soldiers — no one knew exactly what happened to that shipment, which was to be used for two parking lots near the site's nuclear reactor.

Then Robert Archuleta's phone rang. It was a representative of the U.S. government who wanted the private investigator to find out where the missing asphalt went.

So Archuleta headed out to the lab from his Stockton office, scoured blueprints for the parking lots and began taking measurements of the asphalt that had been laid.

Before long the problem was clear: The design showed the lots as 350 feet long, when in reality they were twice that length.

"There was the asphalt," Archuleta said in a recent interview, releasing a staccato, wheeze-like laugh resembling that of Mutley, the cartoon dog of the classic Hanna-Barbera features.

A private eye for more than two decades, Archuleta has plied his trade to uncover crooked politicians, cheating spouses and a fair share of fraud and waste.

Much of his work is for insurance companies, which involves fact-finding missions at work-related accident scenes and automobile collisions. But he also delves into realms of embezzlement, industrial espionage and the occasional search for a murderer who has eluded police.

"I'm paid to hunt the human animal," said Archuleta, 58. "And it's fun."