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• A rolling endeavor

• Coastal cleanup

• County park commission tours fire-torn Woodbridge Wilderness Area

• Theft suspect fails to show for hearing

• McNerney, Andal weigh in on Wall Street crisis

• Regional Roundup

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

• 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

• Chase ends in crash

• Operation: Christmas

• Logbook

• Suspect arrested after hiding in fridge

• Galt Joint Union High School Distric hires new superintendent

• Sales tax hike yields dividends: 5 new officers join Galt Police

November 18th, 2009

• Regional Roundup

• Paranormal group conducts second investigation of building

• Congress allocates money for local water projects

• Lodi man finds wife's ashes during police display of stolen property

• Galt City Council rejects study on rent stabilization

• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react

November 17th, 2009

• Clarification

• 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

• Paying tribute to a Lodian

November 16th, 2009

• Correction

• Public Meetings

• Regional Roundup

• Three members of Lodi-area family fall ill after eating poisonous mushrooms they reportedly found at Lodi Lake

• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi

• Lodi's First Sip event showcases area wineries' latest vintages

• City Council 'triple-dog dared' to ditch cars, use Lodi buses

November 14th, 2009

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

• Regional Roundup

• A first look at 2009 vintages at Lodi's First Sip wine-tasting event

• Watchful neighbor in Lodi helped bust suspected burglars

• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

• Despite an increase in homeless students, school districts look to bolster enrollment, raise revenue

• New Galt city manager juggles job, family

November 13th, 2009

• What to expect with new homebuyer tax credit

• Lodi Muslim: Local mosque not involved

• Regional Roundup

• Mayor Larry Hansen points out Lodi's economic progress

• First phase of Lockeford park by 2011?

• Lodi veteran recounts close calls in Vietnam

• Burglary suspects are under arrest

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

• The country's mess is our fault (155)
• Obama is not a moderate (130)
• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (67)
• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise (58)
• 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 (28)
• Lodi Flames slim playoff chances vanish in setback to Tracy Bulldogs (25)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Nightmares about America's future (23)

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More churches than bars, and some amazing chicken dinners

There was a time 70 years ago that a kid with a pretty good arm could stand anywhere on the Eastside here in Lodi, throw a rock and break a church window.

There were more churches in this town than there were bars, and that's no joke. Everyone went to church. In school, when we talked about such things, it wasn't a matter of "Do you go to church?" but, "Where do you go to church?"

I can honestly say there were probably no didactic ecumenical discussions on the playground. More often than not, the kids were interested to know which church had the best softball team. (In all honesty, it was the Baptists, but without their famed pitcher, Joe Utz, they were nothing. I faced him in the batter's box for three straight years and hit zip. He had every pitch in the book, including an invisible fastball. I swear, sometimes the catcher would just thump his mitt and pretend Joe threw a pitch and the blind-as-a-bat ump would call it a strike.)

Church attendance was a given in most households in Lodi. The old Evangelical church was about the most staid and that is essentially why my dad chose it. He always said it was the church discipline that drew him there because there were churches that were pretty loud and he felt too much noise coming out of church meant they didn't have enough dignity. As a young man, he wanted to attend Lutheran seminary, but the Depression and need took precedence over tuition and college.

The other reason he chose the Evangelical church was because his sweetie's father founded the country church in Wishek, N.D., and guess where he migrated to shortly after?

My mom's parents started that church and held the services in their home. It was a big home that looked a lot like the Hill House here in Lodi. After church, a few people always stayed for the noon meal and my grandpa said to himself, "Self, if I want to get these people out of my home on Sundays, I am gonna hafta build a church or we'll be stuck with this ravenous bunch forever."

So the church was built on a lovely hilltop location and the accompanying graveyard had the best view of the entire county. It was built on the county road that was made simply enough, of dirt. On a good day after a bad rain, you could pick a rut clear back in town, never touch the steering wheel and end up in that graveyard. I meant that euphemistically, the church was right there, too. But then if you lived long enough, you could kill two birds with one stone, as it were.

My granddad was the first preacher in that home-church and his family was the choir. Everyone in the family was musical and had nice voices. Going to church in that home was a treat, to say the least.

My grandma and her daughters were fabulous cooks, so the chicken dinners after services became legend.

The chicken was truly fresh; the birds were listening to the choir one minute and providing sustenance for the singers the next.

The chickens played a deciding role regarding the building of the church. The members of the church kicked in to help pay for the wood and everything, but I don't remember hearing that anyone brought a chicken to the Sunday dinner, and it was a cinch that, if the meetings in the house were to continue longer, the chicken population would suffer extinction.

My granddad was essentially deaf. He developed otitis media in the old country swimming in a pond. When he was older and had the money, he got a hearing aid, a huge thing that had a mechanism that hung by his neck down to his mid-chest and a headset like a modern disc-jockey. It had something like six D-cell batteries, and since it was a burden, he didn't wear it all the time. I did notice the batteries sometimes failed when all the grandkids were in the house making a ton of noise. They failed at the board meetings in church sometimes, too.

He was smarter than the average papa bear.

Bob Bader is a Lodi writer and chiropractor.