I can’t believe it happened again!
Last Wednesday, every patrol car in Lodi was on my street. This was a repeat of what I reported in last week’s column from two Sundays ago. Only this time, things were far more serious.
It wasn’t just some guy driving 100 miles per hour through town. It was a wellknown Lodi doctor murdered at point-blank range while standing in his doorway.
Some neighbors heard the shots. Yet with fireworks bursting in this city for the last several weeks, most assumed it was just another night in Lodi.
One retired police captain, living across the street from the crime scene, heard the sound of gunfire and witnessed the casualty lying in his foyer.
Police on the scene were tight-lipped and instructed not to discuss the situation until an official report was issued to the media. So without facts, neighbors just stared at the victim’s house and its immediate surroundings — hoping to grab onto the slightest relevant information.
Certainly, they must have thought about their own safety and that of their families. If a crime such as this could happen in what was believed to be a relatively safe neighborhood, is anyone really secure in this city?
As for my take on the situation, it’s one thing to read about faceless individuals on the second page of a local newspaper. But its quite another when it’s in your neighborhood and you know the victim.
My first reaction was shock and disbelief. He was such a friendly man and always greeted me with a smile. I just saw him that morning working in his yard.
The next thought was about his wife, three children, five grandchildren and what they must be going though. If acquaintances such as I are so deeply affected, it’s hard to imagine what it must be like for them.
A couple of hours after the shooting, I tried to put the event behind me and resume a normal routine, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Hitting the hay at the regular time would be postponed, as emotions ran on overdrive. I continually wondered who could have done such a heinous thing?
I put on my imaginary Lt. Columbo raincoat and tried to make sense of the situation. There were several possibilities to describe motives of the perpetrator — ranging from the most common to the most remote. As an amateur TV detective, my bet was on the most likely scenario, and that was he knew his assailant.
Hopefully, our detectives will gather all pertinent information and solve this crime soon — if they haven’t done so already.
As I mentioned in my last column, Lodi is not the sleepy town most of us knew from years past. Unfortunately, we can no longer say, “Oh, these kinds of problems only happen the east side” and put our heads in the sand.
It’s time to realize that our city can’t be secure with a police force smaller than what it was in 1996. Just the homeless problem alone takes up 80 percent of service calls.
Our City Council has put a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot to deal with this very issue. While no one likes to pay more taxes, this is a rather minuscule amount to prevent Lodi from becoming another Stockton — if it hasn’t become one already. It takes two-thirds of the voters to pass this initiative.
Wishful thinking that says, “They can always get the money from somewhere else” isn’t going to fly. We can complain all we want about California’s expensive pensions, but that’s the result of a oneparty state legislature. The city has no control over CalPERS retirement demands.
Stockton residents have already passed their sales tax increase. “Someplace Special” had to learn the hard way, and now their police department is stronger because voters faced reality. We can turn the measure down again, but if we do, it’s at our own peril.
I certainly hope another tragedy like this doesn’t happen in our community, but let’s face it: Most likely, it will. The next time there is a killing of a friend and neighbor, it could be just three doors down from you.