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• Delta sets aside $2.8 million to buy Lodi land in future

• Galt teen killed in solo-car accident

• Johnson, seeking a second term on council, eyes financial plans for Lodi

• Another woman reports drug-related rape

• Council candidates turn in finance statements

• Regional Roundup

• Public access to wilderness area to be reviewed tonight

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 (165)
• 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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Earl Warren and Ike both asked, so how could I turn down duty as squirrel exterminator?

When I was a kid, I was involved in Squirrel War One to save the valley from flooding and the destruction that would have been associated with it; I worked with Dwight Eisenhower killing squirrels.

You may have noticed a tiny bit of self-aggrandizement there, but without Charlie and me, you people would have been up to your pudenda in water. At one point, there was a plague of ground squirrels that were digging into and compromising levees all the way from Terminous to Clements.

The chain of command stopped with Governor Earl Warren and President Eisenhower, but it started with the county, the Reclamation Board, the irrigation districts and lastly, my boss, Charlie.

Our job: Seek and destroy. Our weapons: Shovels, poison grain, tanks of carbon disulfide, damp gunny sacks, a hidden .22 rifle and an occasional kitchen match, which when used, led to a minor disaster every dang time.

Charlie was in his seventies, but don't say anything. He had lied to get the job years before by telling the people in the Reclamation District he was 35 when he was actually 44, so he shoulda been retired for at least five years by the time we met. This was in the late 1940s, so background checks, electronic fingerprinting, DNA tests and carbon dating were not yet in common use.

Heck, Charlie had a shovel that was older than I was at the time, and it wasn't registered with the government as a deadly weapon, either.

Our job: Find a squirrel condominium, check for ancillary entrances, fill same with dirt, pump sufficient carbon disulfide into the hole, cover the hole with more dirt and calmly walk away.

Sometimes the temptation was simply too great, and Charlie would light a cigarette and "accidentally" flip the lit match in the direction of the hole. What happened next depended on a lot of things, but in one instance, the ensuing explosion blew the dirt out of the hole and stampeding, flaming critters lit the field on fire.

That's when the wet gunny sacks came in mighty handy.

I had been in a college play, "The Valiant," and I played the part of the protagonist, a man who was accused of murder who was about to go to the chair.

I still had the blue shirt with the prison numbers on it and I wore it to work. One day we were out killing squirrels, and a farmer from the area meandered over and asked Charlie about me and the shirt I had on.

Charlie told him I was on loan from a prison work team and that it would be better if he didn't talk to me because I had a violent temper and had killed a guy with a shovel.

We worked alone for a long time after that.

The job took nearly all summer because of the length of the assignment, but I was certain about two things.

One: There was no way we even came close to decimating the rodent population of the San Joaquin levee system on the first pass.

Two: The survivors, being rodents and not too far removed from the reproductive diathesis of rabbits, if you know what I mean, it was my feeling we were engaged in the painting of the Bay Bridge to Rodentville, as it were.

What we really needed was a Pied Piper type to walk them little buggers into the river.

When we got to Lockeford, we were pleased because we had completely annihilated the squirrel population of the big oak grove across the highway from Lay's restaurant (Lay's was not there yet, but a little place to stop and eat our lunch was). While we were eating, a small family stopped there and their kids were frolicking in the field on our side of the road. One of the kids stopped, looked across the road and hollered to his dad, "Wow, dad, look at all the squirrels over there."

Charlie sighed, slapped me up side the head, grabbed his bucket and shovel and started back over to the killing fields.

Bob Bader is a local chiropractor and writer. His e-mail address is bobbyo@softcom.net.