Oh ! Lord, I'm stuck in Lodi again.

For nearly a century, Pakistani-Amercians have been part of the flavor of this small agricultural community.
Umer Hayat cheerfully sold treats to children from his battered ice cream van and his son, Hamid, packed cherries grown in the surrounding orchards. And it's here that authorities say 22-year-old Hamid Hayat returned last year after training in an al-Qaeda terrorist camp, with plans to attack hospitals and supermarkets in the United States.
His father is alleged to have paid for his son's training at the clandestine Pakistani camp. Both are charged with lying to investigators, while two leaders of Lodi's Islamic community are being held on immigration complaints.
The son of one of the imams, 19-year-old Mohammad Hassan Adil, was also detained Wednesday on immigration violations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. His father, Mohammed Adil Khan, and Shabbir Ahmed had already been detained.
...
Perhaps 90 percent of Lodi's Muslims hail from Pakistan, drawn to a region where they could continue using their traditional agricultural skills, said Mumtaz Qasmi, imam of the Sacramento Mosque, the oldest mosque on the West Coast. Once established, they invited friends and relatives as well.
...
Neighbors said the elder Hayat, 47, known as "the bearded man" to the Hispanic family who rents an apartment in his home, was always friendly, laughing and talking with the children who bought his treats. He and his son are both U.S. citizens.
Les Kolb, 67, who lives across the street in the working class neighborhood of single-story homes, said he talked with Hayat a few days ago about the violence in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"Your people over there are killing each other off," Kolb recalled saying. "He said, 'I know, it's crazy.'"
The allegations have triggered distrust in both the Islamic and larger Lodi community.
...
Pamela Parvez, a spokeswoman for the Farooquia Islamic Center and Muhammed Adil Khan, one of the two imams detained on immigration charges, worries about the effect on her communities. But she also blames members of the Lodi Muslim Mosque for triggering the federal investigation because of opposition to the Islamic center, a dispute that in March brought a civil lawsuit from the mosque.
Umer Hayat's nephew, 19-year-old Usama Ismail, blames feuds brought over from Pakistani villages for stirring investigators' interest, but denies his cousin was involved in any terror training.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20050609-0006-ca-terrorarrests.html

Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed were described as polite and honest men who were raising money and drumming up support for the mosque-school complex in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
The men are imams affiliated with two mosques in Lodi, the Farooqia Islamic Center and the Lodi Muslim Mosque. They are not U.S. citizens and are being held on immigration violations.
As word of their detention — and the arrests of a Lodi father and son thought to be linked to al-Qaida — spread through Modesto's Muslim community Wednesday, many urged that the public withhold judgment until terrorist ties can be proven.
"I never thought we'd have an arrest like that around here, but I know the FBI is looking all the time," said Ghazi Rousan, former board president of the Islamic Center of Modesto, on Carpenter Avenue. "We Muslims expect to be harassed, to be asked questions all the time. We know that's the time we're living in."
Moses Saleh, who co-founded the Islamic Center in the early 1990s, said federal authorities routinely offer money to entice those in the Muslim community to ferret out members with terrorist ties. Because of this, Saleh said, Muslims tend to be skeptical about arrests that are well-publicized.
"They're arresting people on the pretext for something that has not happened," Saleh said. "I think we're supposed to be living in a country where we're innocent until found guilty. I hope that's the case here."
Saleh said he met the two men detained for questioning and speculated they might have been turned in by some who opposed construction of the Muslim school and mosque.
"It's probably revenge for something," Saleh said, "but that doesn't mean they're in al-Qaida."
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/10649683p-11435234c.html

Lodi, CA -- Athorities have detained a fifth person in connection with a terrorism investigation in the Central Valley town of Lodi.
The investigation led to the arrest of a father and son who said he trained at an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan and planned to attack hospitals and supermarkets in the U-S.
Three people are being detained on immigration violations. U-S attorney McGregor Scott stressed that investigators did not find the men in the middle of executing a specific plan.
Scott declined to answer questions about whether the Lodi men were part of an active terrorist cell or the extent of any al-Qaida activity in the region.
Hamid Hayat was interviewed by the F-B-I last Friday and at first denied any link to terror camps.
But the next day he was given a polygraph test and admitted he attended the camp in 2003 and 2004.
That's according to an affidavit by F-B-I Agent Pedro Aguilar. Hayat was born in the U-S, but his family is of Pakistani descent.
http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/kvml/1118341575

My client and his son are only charged with one thing, and that is making a false statement. Though there are very alarming statements in the complaint concerning terrorist organizations ... it's important to note that my client is not charged with being involved in terrorist acts. He has been painted with the brush of being a terrorist and he's not even charged with it. --Johnny Griffin III
Attorney representing Hamid Hayat
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2005/06/09/news/2_terror_reax_050609.txt

At the local mosque, Nawaz Shah fretted about all the commotion and called the al-Qaida connection "crazy stuff."
"We don't know what's going on, but somehow it's messing up our lives," said the 19-year-old who was born in Pakistan and raised in Lodi.
"The only thing that concerns me is I don't know where people got this idea that all Muslim people are terrorists. It doesn't make any sense to me because we are very peaceful people."
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/world/11851768.htm

Just about a year ago, I set out on the road,

Seeking my fame and fortune, looking for a pot of gold.

Things got bad, and things got worse, I guess you will know the tune.

Oh ! Lord, Stuck in Lodi again.