Partners help save a senior in peril
Ninety-two-year-old Leland Wright is a regular at the Village Coffee Shop. Using his walker, Leland makes his way to the restaurant for lunch, walking several blocks. But about 10 days ago Leland didn’t show up. But his absence didn’t go unnoticed by Lodi Police Partners Mary Eggers and Ron Johnstad, who visit with Leland when he comes in. The pair decided to investigate. They went to his apartment a few blocks away and peered through a slight opening between the window blinds. They saw Leland’s head sticking out of the bath tub. They knocked on the door, hard, but detected no movement. Police, fire and ambulance were called and they were able to gain entry, thanks to the apartment manager. They discovered Leland was still alive, but he had fallen in the tub the day before and laid there for hours. After a few days in the hospital Leland was discharged, banged and skinned up a little, but none the worse for wear. Leland has no family and had no way to get home from the hospital, so Eggers and Johnstad picked him up and delivered him back home. Partners Program Coordinator Chet Somera said, “If it were not for Eggers and Johnstad conducting a welfare check on Mr. Wright, he may have passed away due to his need of medical attention.”
FEEDBACK: By now you’ve probably heard about the dog-tasing incident where Lodi police were called to help corral a runaway pooch, an event that ended with the dog dying. The scene was caught on video, which was played on TVs across America. Public response was swift, and in many cases, ugly. Lodi Police Chief Sierra Brucia said the department has received quite a bit of feedback from the incident. “We are saddened by the death of Enzo and sympathize with his family’s loss,” he said. “I totally understand the emotion this incident evokes, especially as a dog owner and lover myself. Unfortunately, some responses have wished harm or death to our employees. I thank the public for their interest in this incident and ask for their patience as we investigate it fully. I also ask that they do not threaten or wish harm to our employees,” says the chief. Police dispatchers have reportedly received calls from as far away as New York, one suggesting the dispatcher go hang themselves.
COST OF CARE: The highest paid county employees for 2021 were— drumroll—county hospital physicians. The four top docs each made over $1 million in base and “other” pay, not including benefits, according to the transparentcalifornia.org website. Total compensation for the top physician that year was pegged at $1.2 million. The top 50 county hospital physicians were paid a total of $27.3 million in cash. Total compensation for the group totaled more than $31.7 million, according to the website database.
NEW HIRE: Nicole Goehring is Supervisor Steve Ding’s new chief of staff. Nicole is a Lodi native and will handle administrative duties for Ding. She was previously district director for Congressman Richard Pombo in the ‘90s. She later spent 18 years working for the Association of Builders and Contractors, NorCal chapter, in Livermore. Goehring first met Ding while working for Pombo. She says it is an “honor and privilege” to work for Ding in this capacity, saying, “I think it will be a really nice fit.”
IN THE NEWS: If you take the Vail Daily you may have noticed the picture of a skier on the front page of the paper making an impressive ski jump. Turns out the skier is none other than former Woodbridge resident Lauren Uniak, who now lives in Vail. She’s the “experience manager” at the Park Hyatt hotel in Beaver Creek, Colorado. She skis on her lunch break and someone snapped a picture of her jump, which landed on page 1 of the local paper. Her parents Steve and Sheri Uniak still live in Woodbridge and are doubtless proud of their daughter for making headline news.
SWEET SUCCESS: Monica LoBue has organized a GoFundMe fundraiser for Sweet Mel’s bakery in Lodi. The effort has raised $50 of the $50,000 requested. “With everything that has happened in the last couple of years, from Covid to rising costs of ingredients, they are in need of your support,” says LoBue. The bakery, owned by Mel and Vera Haining, has been in business for 13 years, according to LoBue. They do make a killer chocolate pie, if you were wondering.
HELPING HANDS: As floodwaters recede from the recent epic rains, folks who evacuated to the Lodi Grape Festival have been receiving assistance from Lodi area residents in the form of cash, gift cards and clothing. Lodi City Councilman Cameron Bregman has been the point-person for the Lodi Rotary Club, which has coordinated donation collection and distribution. Bregman says that $5,000 worth of gifts cards were donated within a span of 48 hours, along with a “truck load” of clothing, food, and other items. Most of the donations were made by Lodi Rotarians, Fiori’s Butcher Shoppe, Lodi Firefighters union, and others.
CLEANUP: The only Lodi school to sustain storm damage was in Acampo at the Houston\Joe Serna site, according to district spokesperson Chelsea Vongehr. She says two classrooms at the school will require some remodeling, which will take a couple weeks and up to $60,000. No other damage was reported following the storms that flooded roads and closed the school.
REMEMBRANCE: We note the recent passing of Elida (Manna) Harris, who grew up on a farm in Acampo. Her parents Chris and Elda Manna were grape farmers who taught their kids the value of hard work. Elida graduated from Lodi Union High School, left town to pursue a nursing career, but ultimately came back to Lodi. In retirement Elida volunteered at Hutchins Street Square and was one of the happy faces who greeted the public. She would also enjoy her weekly meetings at the House of Coffees in Lakewood Mall, where she met her friends over coffee to settle the affairs of the world. She will be missed.
FLASHBACK: Sixty years ago, there was no Lodi Unified School District. In fact, some people in town were deadset against the idea of unifying Lodi Union High School with the 17 elementary school districts scattered around Lodi. A county committee on school district organization torpedoed a plan for unification at their meeting in late October, 1962. Instead, the committee entertained a motion calling for a public hearing to preserve the status quo. County assistant superintendent of schools Dr. Gaylord Nelson was there to present a tentative sketch of what unification would look like. His plan called for five districts and seven trustees. Mrs. E. C. Woodruff, a member of Stockton Unified, appeared at the meeting to support the idea. “A spirited round of exchanges” followed, which focused on ending the hearings with an outright rejection of unification. Walter Tecklenburg called for a public hearing to consider the proposed unification plan. His motion got one vote. A motion to keep the status quo was carried almost unanimously. But the issue was ultimately put to voters, who in May of 1966 approved the unification of 18 local school districts into one. Unification folded Alpine, Victor, Houston, Bruella, Lockeford and Clements, Ray, Turner, Terminous, Henderson, Live Oak, Lafayette, Woods, Elkhorn, Davis, Harmony Grove, Tokay Colony and Lodi Union High School into one large district. The change became a reality on July 1, 1967, with the first classes under unification beginning that September.
Steve is a former newspaper publisher and lifelong Lodian whose column appears most Tuesdays in the News-Sentinel. Write to Steve at aboutlodi@gmail.com.