News Digest News Digest (February 04, 2005)

Police review board proposed

A proposal to form a new committee that would examine allegations of racial profiling by the Palo Alto Police Department will come before the City Council Monday night.

The proposal comes via a memo from Mayor Jim Burch and Councilwoman Hillary Freeman. They want members of the city's Human Relations Commission to examine how the police department is looking into allegations of racial profiling and whether they are "responding appropriately," Burch said.

The committee would report its findings back to the City Council at a future meeting.

During a retreat last Saturday, Freeman failed in an attempt to make such policing issues a citywide "Top Five" priority.

On Thursday night, City Manager Frank Benest and Police Chief Lynne Johnson will meet with members of the Human Relations Commission to discuss and formalize its role in responding to such complaints.

Allegations of racial profiling have haunted the police department in recent years. Next month, two officers will stand trial for allegedly beating a black man after they pulled him out of his parked car. Police officials have said race was not a factor in that and other high-profile incidents.

Meanwhile, a new survey points out that most Palo Altans are satisfied with the police department. Nine of out 10 residents who responded to a recent survey said police service was good or excellent.

"In some ways, the negative publicity is inversely correlated with the ratings," City Auditor Sharon Erickson, who conducted the survey of 1,200 residents. Around half of those contacted responded.

-- Bill D'Agostino

Lois Hogle to be honored for open-space gift

Lois Hogle, a resident of the hills above Palo Alto since before World War II, has signed a "conservation easement" for 11 acres of her property at the southern edge of Stanford's Dish lands.

The easement gift prevents any development of the land in perpetuity, and is valued in the millions of dollars in terms diminished resale value of her property. The easement also covers her home, built in 1940, but allows some remodeling and modernization.

It was designed by Palo Alto architects Birge and David Clark.

Hogle, a pioneer in the area's vigorous environmental movement and a principal founder of the Committee for Green Foothills, will be honored Sunday by the League of Women Voters for the gift.

On Sunday, she will be awarded the Mary and Wallace Stegner Award for Environmental Stewardship. A discussion of conservation easements will also be held at the event, scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Congregation Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills, in the lower auditorium. It is free and open to the public. For information call (650) 941-4808 or e-mail Nancy Couperus at couperus@mindspring.com.

-- Jay Thorwaldson

Body of Palo Alto woman found in Florida

The body of a Palo Alto woman who has been missing since attending a church conference in Florida in 2002 has been found in that state, and police are investigating the circumstances of her death.

Mary Anne Trojak, who was then 49, was a prayer healer who worked part time at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Palo Alto and attended a conference of Christian therapists in Jacksonville, Fla., in November 2002, at which time she disappeared.

The discovery of her body may bring some closure to her family, said her father, Emil Trojak of Palo Alto, but that will also take some time. Police in Jacksonville won't release his daughter's body for at least a month while an investigation is conducted into the cause of her death.

Trojak said his daughter had started volunteering at St. Thomas Aquinas more than 15 years ago, and started working as a part-time employee about 10 years ago as a secretary in the parish office.

Police received a tip on where to find her body from a person in Canada, Trojak said, and he noted that there were people from Canada among the almost 400 attendees at the November 2002 conference. "We're waiting on further word" of what happened, Trojak said.

Trojak said there will be a private service once his daughter's body is returned, but there may be a memorial Mass at the church as well.

-- Don Kazak

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