Running Trail In Zachary La

Lodi 'young gun' takes early aim at McNerney seat

STOCKTON - Election Day 2012 is still more than a year away, but a Lodi resident running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives has already begun to stake his claim.

Ricky Gill, a 24-year-old law student and Republican candidate running against Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, has purchased full-page ads in local media, including in a full-page open letter that ran in The Record on Monday.

The Tokay High School graduate touts his local bona fides while criticizing McNerney, 60, for planning to move to San Joaquin County to fall inside recently redrawn political district boundaries. "Let's call it Jerry-mandering," Gill writes in the letter.

In nearly five years representing a district that includes much of Stockton and San Joaquin County, McNerney has spent "countless hours" fighting for county interests, McNerney campaign spokeswoman Sarah Hersh said. "He knows the county well, and it is a place he cares about."

That is something recognized by local leaders, Hersh said, noting that Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston and Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani endorsed McNerney after he announced he would be moving into San Joaquin County.

The newly-redrawn congressional district holds all of Stockton - and Lodi - inside northern San Joaquin County, as well as smaller parts of Sacramento and Contra Costa counties. McNerney is currently in his third term representing a sprawling district that now includes pieces of San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties, as well as much of Stockton. The new district is more Democratic than the current one.

Addressing local issues means understanding them, and understanding them comes from living in a community, said Gill campaign spokesman Colin Hunter.

In his letter, Gill mentions growing up with grape-stained fingers during harvest time and he promises to work to open up foreign markets to local agriculture. He also accuses McNerney of waiting "an astonishing five years to take a stand on the House floor against the Peripheral Canal.

August Update from the Whites | Vision Baptist Church

Our first month back here in Bolivia has been both a busy and exciting. Only a few weeks after his arrival, even before we found a house, we had ten visitors to Grace Baptist in Zachary LA come and visit us, with Bro. Howeth Tony and his wife Stacey, who were here for our youth conference. We had a great time with the group by showing them the local sites, customs, and of course traditional food here in Cochabamba. On the eve of the conference and we all went out and spent tons of invitations for the conference.The group was a great blessing for us and we pray that the Lord could use this time to work in their lives. Our youth conference is still one of the most exciting times in our church. The difference between this and the other is that the people of the church were in charge of each part of the planning and design to the execution of the conference. All I did was show and translate. I want to say a special thank you to Tony Howeth brother and his wife to come this year to preach our youth conference for us. They are always a great blessing and encouragement and we are privileged to call our friends. We also want to thank you for praying that we would find a house. The Lord has provided a house with a large front yard and at a price we can afford. We praise the Lord that the ministry is growing here in Bolivia. Since our arrival here in the country we have been working with the Laura family. Lorenzo was pastoring a church in Arequipa Peru when the Lord began to work in his heart about coming to Bolivia as a missionary. He and his family have been working in the northern part of Bolivia in the city of Cobija. Bro. Laura recently wrote me about a new work that was being started a few hours from them in a small town called Buyuyo. I know it’s a weird name right? They had two men from the church in Cobija that moved to this city and began to invite people to come out and hear the Bible.

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