Story Tools

Email this story | Print this story

Indexes

Today's Stories

Last 7 Days

Top Blogs

• Web site, education help local teachers squash plagiarism

• Delta locks up site for Galt campus

• Tree auction in Lodi

• Woodbridge family's wrongful death trial against Toyota gets under way

• New hotel planned for Kettleman Lane

• Regional Roundup

• City ponders taking first crack at fed grant money

• In the nick of swine ...

• City hires attorney to fight Tracy Press suit

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 7th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

• Lining up for flu shots in Lodi

• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks

• Daytime thieves targeting Lodi homes

• Lodi High School rally featured on 'Good Day Sacramento'

• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

• Regional Roundup

• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• Regional Roundup

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Group investigates reports of haunting

October 31st, 2009

• Area schools have no plans of closing due to H1N1 virus

• Tokay High evacuation

• Gated communities in Lodi

• Finishing touches on Hill House replica

• Regional Roundup

• In remembrance of Kyle Coumas

• Lodi-area Halloween events

• City of Lodi settles case of mistaken identity

• Lodi a reflection of Halloween's retail emergence

• Izzy Laviola and Seth Siddle-Mitchell crowned Tokay homecoming queen and king

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

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (71)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (70)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (58)
• Universal health care solves big problems (57)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (35)
• Stuck in neutral? Hardly! (27)
• Words from our forefathers (27)
• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks (20)
• Majority cannot deprive the minority (20)

ADVERTISEMENT

In the nick of swine ...

250 pound pot-bellied pig pulled from pool

Life is back to normal this week for Brocoli, the 250-pound pot-bellied pig on Ponte Mira Way.

But Saturday afternoon, the pig was in over its head in its family's backyard swimming pool — and the Tracy Fire Department had to be called in for the rescue.

Patricia Brown said she opened up the gate to a pen where Broccoli lives while she swept her backyard. The large animal bolted across the yard, in spite of her efforts to control him, and headed straight to the pool.

"Once he makes up his mind to walk somewhere, he can't be stopped," she said.

The swine fell in and quickly sank in 6 feet of cold water. Brown jumped in after him, clothes and all, and pulled him to the surface. But, after 45 minutes of struggling, she couldn't get him out of the pool.

"I got his hooves on the top of the pool, but the harder I pulled, the more he pushed back," she said.

She got out of the water, dashed inside the house and called 9-1-1.

Tracy police got the call at 1:25 p.m., and the Tracy Fire Department crew from the Grant Line Road and Parker Avenue station, including Firefighter Tony Perez, Engineer Laura Hernandez and Capt. Pat Vargas, responded two minutes later. Tracy Fire Department Division Chief Andy Kellogg said the crew found the woman and Brocoli in the water and provided help lifting Brocoli off the top step.

Brown said that once firefighter Perez got in the water with her, it took only half a minute to get Brocoli out — "but it took a lot of muscle," she said.

What happened next to the pot-bellied pig? Brown said he appeared to suffer from hypothermia after such a long time in the cold water, so she gave him a nice hog shower.

Contact reporter Bob Brownne at brownne@tracypress.com.