Morning Round-up -- 11.11.08: Profiling in Palo Alto, Sunshine in Gilroy, Showdown in San Jose...

There was a late-night San Jose update to Watch Dog last night. You can read the recap of the Showdown on Santa Clara Street here.

First North. The Palo Alto City Council officially condemned racial profiling. This issue will continue, obviously, for some time. You'll remember the Palo Alto Police Chief said some really dumb stuff recently that sounded an awful lot like she likes and encourages racial profiling. For the first time though, someone actually defended Police Chief Johnson -- Supervising DA Jay Boyarski. Remember, Watch Dog said the Chief wouldn't make it long. I stand by that...

Now we head South. All is not happy in Garlicland. At next week's Gilroy City Council meeting a second vote will take place on Councilman Perry Woodward's Sunshine Ordinance. But the real fun took place last week at a "study session" when Mayor Al Pinheiro lamented that an email he sent to a Councilman ended up in the Dispatch. Councilman Bob Dillin then suggested that since City emails were generally public information perhaps the Council should give Dispatch Reporter Chris Bone a login and password to their email server. I'm sure Mr. Bone would LOVE that. So would Watch Dog. See the whole thing for yourself at the video here.

Friends of Butch, the 150 year old desert tortoise kidnapped from his Cupertino home in September, will be happy to know the tortoise-nappers have returned him. Caretaker Chuck Carle indicated it may have been the tortoise was beginning his annual winter nap and frightened the would-be thieves into returning him.

Speaking of rambling, two-legged friends of the outdoors will get a second sneak peek of 15 miles of trails on two former ranches purchased by the Open Space Authority. This Saturday, November 15, the 865 acre Blair Ranch will be open to mountain bikers while on the following Saturday, November 22, the 702 acre Doan Ranch will be open to horseback riders. The Open Space Authority needs to go through a complex public process prior to opening these new trails to the public, so, if you're a South County hiker, enjoy your special access days when you can get them.

Los Altos, Los Gatos, Campbell, and now San Jose. Everyone is getting in on the jewel theft act, though this sounds more like A Fish Called Wanda than To Catch a Thief. Zale's at San Jose's Oakridge Mall distracted personnel while a friend broke into one of the cases with a key. A key? Perhaps less A Fish Called Wanda than the Three Stooges. These stooges made off with $50,000 in jewels -- their robbery wasn't discovered until the store manager reviewed the videotape.

San Jose Revealed looks at who funded the No on Measure B (the BART Measure) campaign. In these down times, it looks like several notable names around town have plenty of cash...Dale Warner, Margaret Okuzumi, Greg Perry -- all coughed it up...

Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio chimes in on Veterans' Day on San Jose Inside.