BOWING OUT… Squid remembers fondly the ritual of high-fiving after losing a Little League game (made more bitter when you have suction cups). If there’s an art to losing gracefully, erstwhile county supervisor candidate Marc Del Piero has yet to learn it. 


The early returns on election night showed Del Piero losing to embattled Dave Potter, and every updated count since has only widened the gap, most recently by a 2,500-vote margin. 


When Squid asked Potter if he was ready to call it a win, Potter feigned surprise, but then Squid realized it was just a word game. “He’s not conceited?” Potter said. “It seems to me it’s over. I’ve never seen that kind of a comeback.” Concession doesn’t come easy to those who would be king. 


LOVE A PARADE… While U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was on an airplane hearing he might need to find someone new to run NATO, son Jimmy Panetta, a U.S. Navy Reserve vet, was riding down Main Street Salinas in the city’s Veterans Day parade. The crowd cheered wildly for the affable prosecuting attorney, but the same can’t be said for Councilman-elect Jose Castañeda, who was riding with Assemblyman Luis Alejo. Alejo got a warm welcome, but Castañeda received dead silence, followed by a lone and lame “boo.”


Private Eye… When Squid’s got a hunch, Squid goes tentacles in and digs for the truth, which comes naturally considering Squid is trained to rummage for facts. So even though Squid does have a soft spot for glossy magazines with mostly photo spreads, Squid did a double take upon learning that 831 Magazine editor Ryan Zen Lama is in hot pursuit of the perps who broke into his Monterey HQ last week. 


Along with computers, the burglars got food writer Anita Joshi’s credit cards. Impatient for the Monterey PD, Lama and Joshi retraced the fraudulent credit card users’ steps (Target: windshield wiper fluid, yogurt; 76 gas station: $200 worth of cigarettes; Nu Art: use your imagination) to watch surveillance footage. Why wait for KION’s Manhunt Monday?


Squid is all too familiar with deadlines and understands the urgency, but Monterey Police Lt. Leslie Sonne cautions the not-so-Zen Lama posse. “I would not suggest they act on anything they find,” Sonne says. “It could put them at risk.” 


Squid couldn’t help but feel sorry for 831, especially given their earnest attempts to fight crime. But later, Squid saw The Californian’s unfortunate new tagline, which attaches to staffers’ email signatures: “Give it to me local.” With media robbers on the prowl, Squid cautions: Be careful what you wish for, or you will surely get it.