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• Lodi resident who started prayer debate comes forward

• City plans $200,000 in server upgrades

• Should Downtown Lodi merchants be open Sundays?

• Lodian Robert Beadles hopes to win Jerry McNerney's Congress seat as GOP candidate

• Danville resident Elizabeth Emken seeks Republican nomination

• San Joaquin Fair officials concerned about losing horse racing

• Regional Roundup

• Galt meeting to help town's cash-strapped, unemployed residents

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

February 2nd, 2010

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Jumpers across California

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

February 1st, 2010

• Find cuddly alpacas not too far from Lodi

• Public Meetings

• Patients can expect faster, better service when Lodi Memorial Hospital's new emergency room opens

• Man killed by Amtrak train in Lodi

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

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (72)
• President Obama's first year (67)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future (60)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (49)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (37)
• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen (31)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (30)

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State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore: One politician I find impressive

Out of touch, totally disrespectful and completely arrogant. These are all things that come to mind when I think of political elitists like California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein.

A revolution is brewing and come 2010, a day of reckoning will alter the course of our future drastically.

Simply replacing the current evil (same old Democrats) with a lesser evil (Same old Republicans) will not do. It has been done before and is why corruption continues to rage-on despite shifts in power.

Finding the right people to dethrone political royalty is quite a task. But as Americans and as Californians, we don't really have a choice. Our reality leaves no room for error this time around, coming down to replacing our leaders with legitimate, respectful public servants who truly represent the people is now critical.

Enter Chuck DeVore.

The current California state assemblyman isn't just another run-of-the mill Republican.

He first declares himself a "common-sense conservative."

"What does that mean exactly?" I asked him during a recent interview.

"I'm for what's right. Common sense to me is to secure our inalienable rights," DeVore said, adding that he thinks the state and federal government needs to stop intervening in our lives. That's not what government is for, after all.

While most politicians dabble in social networking for fluffy, nonsense communication and all but ignore constituent phone calls and e-mails anymore, DeVore was recognized by the Wall Street Journal for his outstanding use of online tools to communicate and stay relevant with voters and followers alike.

Oh, and remember that big budget, nightmarish tax-raising debacle earlier this year in Sacramento when our leaders wanted for nothing more than to add another Band-Aid to our gaping financial wound? DeVore was one of three Assemblymen that spoke out against the proposed hike that taxpayers eventually sent straight to hell.

But away from the Assembly, DeVore is zeroing in on the U.S. Senate seat currently held by multi-term incumbent Barbara Boxer.

"Why Boxer?" I asked DeVore.

"She's the most liberal and least effective senator in the Senate at this time," DeVore said, citing how little she has done in her current term.

"When you look at someone who has done what she's done over the years, she needs to be challenged," he said, confident and agitated over Boxer's dismissive attitude.

"In 2010 she is going to have some explaining to do, because the economy is going to be in a bad shape," the Legislator of the Year award-winner added.

As my conversation went on with the Senate hopeful, who also served as a Reagan White House appointee in the Pentagon, I asked when politics first piqued his interest.

"I think since I was a kid I've been interested," DeVore said, thinking of his past. "Even in high school I was interested in politics and public policy. Politics is a lot more important than people think it is."

DeVore was then reminded of a quote from ancient Greek Statesman Pericles, "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you," he said.

While DeVore might be a master of the social networking scene and have an impressive political background, his voting record backs his common sense approach to politics.

I was hard pressed to ever find a "yes" vote in DeVore's past when it came to bills on spending more money on almost anything, or interfering in peoples' lives with more government.

Something I liked most of all was his strict "no" votes on wasteful cash-cow bills on the likes of global warming and renewable energy, even when it's all the rage right now.

If it raised taxes, he said "no." If it spent more, he said "no." If it was to add another set of regulations to an already complicated state to live in, he said "absolutely not."

And now the retired National Guard Lt. Colonel and former Irvine city commissioner wants to take his passion for what's right and no nonsense approach to the Senate.

"Say you did become senator, right out of the gate; what would be the first thing you'd focus on?" I asked DeVore.

Pausing for a moment, he responded: "Turning the water back on in the Central Valley. What's going on right now is a man-made drought. If it was caused by a man it can be undone by man."

Finding it very hard not to cheer DeVore over the phone at this point, I asked one final question I cringed to hear the answer to.

"If you become senator, you're not going to surprise us with any demons of the past or skeletons in the closet, are you?"

Laughing, DeVore reassured me that in order to have served in the high priority, security clearance areas he has throughout his career he lives a very boring personal life. Not to say he isn't thrilled with his wife and two daughters, he's just a little more cautious than most.

To learn more about Assemblyman Chuck DeVore's campaign for Senate to remove Barbara "call me senator" Boxer, visit www.chuckdevore.com.

Columnist Wade Heath can be reached at reachwade@lycos.com.