I heard it through the grapevine

Can McNerney serve Lodi area for another 200 years?

LONG LIFE: The News-Sentinel gets its share of wacky e-mails from people submitting items to our paper. One came from the National Republican Congressional Committee, criticizing Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, for his vote on a recent bill in the House.

The news release was quite serious, but the headline was a little off: "Will voters in California have to wait another 200 years for McNerney to act on energy?"

It would be quite an accomplishment if McNerney lives another 200 years, much less remains in office that long to "act on energy." And it would be one of the most amazing stories in News-Sentinel history.

DESCRIPTIONS OF PEOPLE: People who call police to report suspicious characters don't always have much of a description. That wasn't the case for a Tuesday caller, who described a woman as blonde, wearing a dark blue dress and having "light teeth."

In other words, be on the lookout for a light-toothed woman who was talking to herself in front of Longs Drugs on Kettleman Lane.

NO, IT ISN'T ALWAYS SMOKY HERE: Remember when the Lodi area had smoke-filled skies day after day in July? Well, it caused a woman who had recently moved to Lodi from Wisconsin to get a poor first impression of the city. While walking her young child in Downtown Lodi in early July, she asked a News-Sentinel reporter if it's always this smoky in Lodi.

She was reassured it wasn't.

HOW ABOUT TURKEYS IN LODI?: Police were called last week about a turkey preventing a South Hutchins Street resident from leaving her own apartment. The call came in about 10 minutes before animal control officers go home for the day, so they asked an officer to go shoo the turkey away.

The turkey moved along before the cop arrived, so no shooing was needed.

LOCAL CELEBRITIES: While stopped at the traffic light at Hutchins Street and Lodi Avenue recently, a News-Sentinel staffer spotted Kevin Paglia and his family cruising in their four-seat, four-wheel bike that graced the front page of the News-Sentinel on June 9.

Paglia peddled past another of Lodi's local characters: the always-enthusiastic and always-jamming dancing pickle who performs in front of Mr. Pickle's Sandwhich Shop. The pickle is probably best known for his dance-off in April against the dancing Statue of Liberty from Liberty Tax Service. In that contest, the pickle won hands-down while grooving to such hits as Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back."

As Paglia rolled past the pickle, he gave the dancing relish a honk from his bike horn, and it was one of those rare "only in Lodi" moments.

Items in Grapevine, which runs on occasional Mondays, are written by various reporters on the staff. If you have an item to contribute, e-mail news@lodinews.com with the subject line "Grapevine" or call 369-7035 and ask for the newsroom.

(Editor's Note: This story was updated at 2:49 p.m. Monday to correct a misspelling of Kevin Paglia's name.)

First published: Monday, August 18, 2008