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Robert Frederick Weybret and Antonio Lopez were arrested July 7 on misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace by fighting and public intoxication. Weybret is the son of Lodi News-Sentinel publisher Martin Weybret.

Lopez and Weybret were arraigned Friday, according to Lodi court records.

Police arrived at Salas at around 1:50 a.m. They were told that 30 to 50 people had been involved in the melee at the South Stockton Street park, which apparently began with words exchanged at a fast food outlet on West Kettleman Lane. Several people wound up at the hospital with minor injuries.

Lopez was arrested after hiding in tall grass, according to a police report, and he allegedly told officers that he had been chased there. Witnesses told police that someone matching his description had chased them with a hammer.

Weybret was arrested as eight to 10 vehicles were leaving the park but 10 people were still in the street. Weybret was allegedly standing by a vehicle, yelling at the driver to leave or Weybret was going to beat him up, according to the police report.

Weybret's attorney, Ralph Cingcon, said he had not seen all of the evidence in the case but said that his client was not drunk. "My client's involvement is at the end of the melee. He's not charged with being part of the melee," Cingcon said. Lopez could not immediately be reached for comment.

Electric utility credit rating upgraded

A rating agency upgraded Lodi Electric Utility's credit score Wednesday, another sign of the utility's improving financial position.

Standard and Poor's upgraded the rating from BBB+ with a negative outlook to BBB+ with a stable outlook, City Manager Blair King announced at Wednesday's City Council meeting.

"Certainly the electric utility is on the road to financial health," King said.

The improved rating gives institutional investors more confidence in the utility as an investment and makes it easier for the utility to issue bonds.

Lodi's other rating agency, Fitch Ratings, still has the utility rated BBB-, although city officials expect that rating to be upgraded soon.

Two men injured in car crash

Two Sacramento men received major injuries in a car crash after the driver lost control of his 1991 Acura Integra and it went into a field off Interstate 5.

According to a report by the California Highway Patrol, Alejandro Moreno, 22, was driving south on I-5 near Eight Mile Road when he lost control of the vehicle at around 6:43 a.m. Wednesday. Moreno was taken by helicopter to UC Davis Medical Center for head trauma and his passenger Jesus A. Moreno, 21, was taken to San Joaquin General Hospital for major cuts to his face and a broken leg.

CHP does not suspect alcohol or drugs contributed to the accident.

Stockton car seizure law challenged in court

STOCKTON — The city council voted to ask the California Supreme Court to rehear a case in which the court ruled Stockton could no longer sell vehicles seized from drug dealers and solicitors of prostitutes.

City officials said Tuesday the court's 4-3 ruling last week deprived the city of an effective crime-fighting tool. The ruling overturned the laws of more than two dozen cities from Oakland to Los Angeles, and established that only state law can determine punishment for drug and prostitution offenses.

A Stockton ordinance allows police to seize and sell the cars of people caught selling drugs or soliciting prostitutes while behind the wheel.

Stockton resident Kendra O'Connell filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the practice not because her car had been seized but because she felt the city should not have the right to take away someone's car for these relatively minor crimes, her lawyer, Mark Clausen, has said.

It is uncommon for the court to rehear a case, but state Attorney General Jerry Brown has said he will weigh in on the seizure law on the city's behalf, said City Attorney Ren Nosky.

Reader Feedback

friend of accused wrote on Aug 8, 2007 1:32 PM:

" there are lovers and there are fighters...i dont think rob would have started the fight or would be one to throw a punch, i would imagine he was there for support of his friend. He is not a physically agressive person just a loyal buddy willing to kick some butt and take some names "

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T & C wrote on Aug 3, 2007 3:50 PM:

" Nellie, get off your T&C fetish and offer some solutions of your own. Or won't your fellow council members listen to you? You're blogs are always personal attacks or blasting someone or something,as if you're the GOOBABY leader. "

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lodi citizen wrote on Aug 2, 2007 9:11 PM:

" He is just lid who dropped his guard. The real story is he goes to school full time and pays his rent and his a good kid. I applaud his dad for printing that. they are a wonderful family and robby is a fine young man. "

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Whoa Nellie! wrote on Aug 2, 2007 9:03 PM:

" Around every corner there lurks T&C with another "Good Ol' Boyz" Conspiracy Theory. If one-half of 1% of what he alludes to then this city would be dirty. But, since all of T&C's stories are only dark nightmares in his imagination the rest of us "stable" citizens can only laugh at his most recent yarn. T&C, I suggest you get professional help. It can't be good for you to get SO wound up about nothing. "

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It's a shame that the courts wrote on Aug 2, 2007 4:39 PM:

" continually pass laws that side with the criminal instead of the victims. If people are doing drugs, selling drugs, using their car to go and buy drugs, then that person shouldn't have a car, period. A person impaired on drugs is just as dangerous as a drunk and innocent people can be killed due to the addicts stupidity. Hey, quit your bellaching and just get off the junk Kendra. "

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mini wrote on Aug 2, 2007 9:40 AM:

" to Kendra O'Connell...well then get a real job...and quit whatever wrong it is you are doing! "

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T & C wrote on Aug 2, 2007 8:13 AM:

" I hope they don't fire or discipline the officers who arrested the young man. I guess he wasn't high enough on the pecking order to just get a ride home, like most dignitaries and GOB's do here in Lodi. Or the city is trying to make life miserable for this family for something they either did or didn't print. Small town dirty politics at its best here in livable, lovable LoadEye. "

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Taxpayer & Citizen wrote on Aug 2, 2007 8:09 AM:

" Last month? Oh, I forgot, it was the Lodi Globe's owners' son. Marty and Rich, you sink to a lower level each week. Where's the apology from Ms. Bohm to the family of the innocent young lady killed by that drunk driver, and then she drug her through the mud with issues of her past, which had nothing to do with a DUI killing her. How about the life story of Robert, just to be fair? "

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