Multicolor campaign signs have begun sprouting on telephone poles and in front yards, but you really know it’s election season when colorful accusations burst onto the scene. 

That’s what’s happening in the District 3 council race. 

A letter that has sparked the fury of the campaign to re-elect Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek, was written by Marcy Li Wong, an applicant who had a project before the Zoning Adjustments Board, of which Shirek opponent James Peterson is a member. The letter targets Peterson. 

Wong, the architect working on a project proposed for 1544 Spruce St., did not return any of the Daily Planet’s six telephone calls. 

In the letter dated Thursday Sept. 28, written to members of the ZAB, Wong references the Spruce Street project, which was up for a vote that night.  

In the letter, Wong first identifies herself as the applicant for the project then states: 

“I was telephoned by ZAB member James Peterson in mid-September, 2000, following the ZAB hearing on this project, which resulted in a continuance pending mediation. He discussed this project and then informed me that he is running for the City Council. He solicited my support and told me that he would send me an envelope for a contribution.” 

In the letter, Wong goes on to say that, on reflection, she felt uncomfortable with Peterson’s request and asks Peterson to recuse himself from voting on the Spruce Street project “even though doing so may hurt my project’s chances for approval.” 

The accusatory tone of the letter angered Peterson, who tells a very different story of his conversation with Wong. 

“I may be black, but I am sophisticated and politically savvy,” he told the Daily Planet. “There is no way in the world I would behave that way. I am also devastated.” 

Peterson explained that he had recommended that the two sides in the dispute over changes to the Spruce Street property go to mediation to work out their differences. Peterson said he called Wong to find out how the mediation had gone. He was concerned that she understand that a neighbor would be heavily impacted by the project, he said. 

He further stated that it was not he who raised the question of his candidacy, but Wong. “She said, ‘Congratulations for running for council,’” he said. Then, Peterson continued, Wong told him she wanted to support him and asked him to send her a campaign contribution envelope.  

“I didn’t solicit the support,” he said, adding that, to date, the $10,000 he was using for his campaign “has come from my own pocket.” 

He added that he would be willing to resign from the board. “I’m devastated,” he said. 

Peterson went on to speculate that someone from the Shirek campaign may have been “forcing” Wong to write the letter. “The question is, is there something else going on here?” 

In response to the question of “force,” Mike Berkowitz, spokesperson for the Shirek campaign, laughed. He said, “more seriously,” that he thought Peterson’s actions could end up in court. 

But City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said the concern is of a lesser nature. 

“State law prohibits the receipt of over $250 for certain officials,” she said. That would include members of the ZAB. And Berkeley limits campaign contributions to $250, she noted. 

Wong’s contribution was less than $50, Peterson said.  

Albuquerque said the remedy would be for Peterson to recuse himself from the vote on the Spruce Street application. 

Berkowitz, however, said the question was not about the amount of money contributed. 

“It is wrong (for a public official) to solicit money for something while a case is pending,” he said, adding that the state and local fair campaign commissions would be looking into the issue. “The judgment is so questionable,” he said. 

Friday, Sept. 29

Union Demonstration at Lawrence Berkeley Lab 

Noon 

Cyclotron Road (at the top of Hearst Ave.,  

a block above Gayley) 

A rally at the entrance to the lab to protest alleged discriminatory pay patterns that have affected women, people of color, and older employees. 

More info call 841-0700 

Saturday, Sept. 30

Jim Hightower: “Election 2000: a Space Odyssey” 

8 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Sponsored by KPFA and Global Exchange 

“I am an agitator,” Hightower says. “The agitator is the centerpost in a washing machine that gets the dirt out.” 

$10 in advance/$12 at the door 

848-6767 x609 

Introduction to Permaculture 

1 - 4 p.m.  

Ecology Center  

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

As part of their “Sustainable Living” series, the center presents an afternoon discussion on the urban garden led by Claudia Eve Joseph, director of the East Bay Permaculture Exchange.  

More info: 548-2220 x233 

Tour Mission District Gardens 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

One of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance for this fall. Tour SF’s Mission District and learn about the role of gardens and open space in community planning. 

Call: 415-255-3233 to make reservations 

Dharma Publishing  

Showroom Tour 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 - 3 p.m.) 

Dharma House 

2910 San Pablo Ave. 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 p.m. -3 p.m.) 

See traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, spinning copper prayer wheels and a video of the work Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India.  

More info: 848-4238 

South Berkeley Cultural  

Landscape Walking Tour 

Led by Bill Coburn. 

Contact Berkeley Historical Society, 848-0181 

Sunday, October 1

Return of the Raptors to Marin 

Drivers: 11:45 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

Bikers: 10:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Witness the migration of birds of prey over the Marin Headlands. Includes a hawk talk and banding demonstration and lunch at Rodeo Lagoon. Bike from SF or meet at Hawk Hill. Part of Greenbelt Alliance’s series of free outings.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Open Paw Seminar 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Pauley Ballroom 

UC Berkeley 

Dr. Ian Dunbar, world renowned veterinarian and animal behaviorist presents this free seminar on the prevention and treatment of problem cat and dog behavior. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society and the Berkeley Animal Shelter, the goal is to make animals more adoptable through interaction with trained volunteers. 527-7387 

Celebrate Nigerian  

Independence Day 

5 p.m.  

El Cerrito Veterans  

Memorial Building 

6401 Stockton Ave.  

El Cerrito 

International treats, Nigerian music, dance and live entertainment, including a West African dance and drum performance by students from Malcolm X Elementary School. 234-5333 

Berkeley City Championship Golf Tournament 

11 a.m. registration 

1 p.m. shotgun start 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

This tournament will determine the city champion. The tournament is open to Berkeley residents, people who work or go to school in Berkeley only. 

Contact Michael Clark, 841-0972 

Sunday Worship Celebration 

11 a.m. 

East Bay Community Church - Berkeley 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

849-8280 

Monday, Oct. 2

“2nd annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. $115 Entry Fee. 841-0972 

“Clean Lies, Dirty War” 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship  

1924 Cedar 

This event is part of a national campaign to end sanctions on Iraq. Also, a film “Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq” starting at 6 p.m.  

(510) 528-5403 

— compiled by Chason  

Wainwright 

Magnetic Massage from Japan 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne at 644-6107 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of the city’s hiring an archeologist to study the possible mound remnants in the streets. 

Peace & Justice Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

665-6880 

Youth Commission 

6 p.m.  

MLK Jr. Youth Center 

1730 Oregon St.  

Topics to be discussed include the Berkeley High School Security Camera issue and the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Communication Youth Employment Funding. 

644-6226 

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Permit Center  

2118 Milvia St.  

644-6951 

Tuesday, Oct. 3 

Taxi Scrip Community Meeting 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Info: 644-6107 

“Comfort Baking for Brunch and Breakfast” 

6:30 p.m.  

Sur La Table 

1806 Fourth St.  

Pastry chef Letty Halloran Flatt will present favorite recipes from her book “Chocolate Snowball and other Fabulous Pastries from Deer Valley Bakery.” 

$40  

Call Michael O’Neill at Sur La Table, 849-2252 

Defending the Americans with Disabilities Act 

Noon - 1:30 p.m. 

Pauley Ballroom West 

Third Floor 

MLK Jr. Student Union 

UC Berkeley 

Coinciding with the March for Justice in Washington DC to defend the Americans with Disabilities Act against constitutional challenges posed in the Trustees of the University of Alabama vs. Garrett case, soon to be heard before the US Supreme Court, this event will feature prominent disability studies and legal scholars discussing the issues surrounding the case. Free, but seating is limited to 500 attendees.  

Call Daniel Davis, 664-3216 

Traffic Calming Workshop 

7 - 10 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Help to achieve reasonable traffic speeds and volume on local streets. 

Wednesday, Oct. 4

“An Evening With Jane Goodall” 

7 p.m. A slide show and lecture by the world-renowned chimpanzee research scientist, conservationist and humanitarian.$16 general; $12 students. Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley. (925) 935-1978 or www.wildlife-museum.org 

Prayer Gathering 

6:30 p.m. 

East Bay Community Church - Berkeley 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

849-8280 

Board of Education Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Old City Hall, Council Chambers 

Second Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Contact Dr. Jack McLaughlin, 644-6147 

Citizens Budget Review Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Contact Phil Kamalarz, 644-6480 

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Contact Phil Kamalarz, 644-6480 

Fire Safety Board Commission 

7:30 p.m.  

Fire Training Division 

997 Cedar St.  

644-6665 

Thursday, Oct. 5

3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

New Role for the UN in the New Century 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion with Rosemary van der Laan, President of the Board of Directors of the UN Association of the United States, about globalization and it’s impacts on the economic, social and political lives of the world.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Capoeira Arts Cafe & Company Perform  

Noon 

BART plaza, Downtown  

Shattuck Ave. at Center St. 

A Brazilian extravaganza of Samba, Capoeira and more. Free. 

Contact Carrie Ridgeway, 549-2230 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

7 p.m. 

2118 Milvia St., Second Floor 

Conference Room 

Contact Nabil Al-Hadithy, 705-8155 

Public Works Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

665-3440 

Housing Advisory Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Contact Oscar Sung, 665-3469 

Friday, Oct. 6

Opera: Marriage of Figaro & Schubert Songs 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

More info contact Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Circle Dancing 

7:45 p.m. - 10 p.m. 

Finnish Brotherhood Hall 

1970 Chestnut St. 

Beginners welcome; no partners needed.  

Call John Bear, 528-4253 

“Stocks, Bonds, and the Future” 

11:45 a.m.  

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Dennis Quan, Account Executive at Morgan, Stanley, Dean Witter speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Luncheon: $11  

For info and reservations, 848-3533 

Sustainable Business Alliance Networking Lunch 

Noon - 1:30 p.m. 

Saffron Caffe 

2813 Seventh St. 

The purpose of this lunch is to network with other businesses interested in sustainable business practices. The lunch is open to non-members.  

Call Terry O’Keefe, 451-4000 

Saturday, Oct. 7

Berkeley Grassroots Greening Tour 

Starts at 10:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. 

Celebrate Open Garden Day by joining this annual bicycle tour of local community and school gardens. Part of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Houses or Open Hills? 

10 a.m.  

Experience Black Diamond Mines Regional Park’s ghost towns, coal mines, spectacular views and open space on this hike by the proposed sites of 7,700 homes near Antioch. Cosponsored by Save Mount Diablo. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Redesigning Retirement”  

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

UC Berkeley (call for exact location) 

The UC Berkeley Retirement Center and the Academic Geriatric Resource Program will present retirement as a time of great potential. Participants will take part in interactive workshops dealing with the impact of technology on retirement; community involvement of older adults, among other topics. Prominent experts in the field of aging and retirement will take part in “ask the experts” sessions.  

$25. No on-site registration. Register by September 25. 

Contact: Shelly Glazer at 642-5461 

Harwood Creek Cleanup 

9 a.m. - Noon 

John Muir School  

2955 Claremont Ave. 

Help clean up and restore the creek that runs through John Muir school. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves, chippers/shredders, tools and pick-up trucks. 

Women’s Evening At the Movies 

7:30 p.m. 

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph 

A monthly night at the movies for lesbian, bi and transexual women. This months featured film is “Fried Green Tomatoes.” 

$5 donation requested 

Call 548-8283  

Free Estate Planning Seminar 

9:30 a.m. - Noon 

St. Ambrose Church 

1145 Gilman St. (at Cornell Ave.) 

Call Catholic Charities of the East Bay, 768-3109 

Sunday, Oct. 8

Surmounting Sunol Peaks  

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

Learn about local geology while enjoying the panoramic views from three Sunol peaks. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Tuesday, Oct. 10

Cal Alumni Singles 20th Anniversary Dinner 

UC Faculty Club 

Dinner scheduled for Oct. 15 

For reservations call 527-2709 by Oct. 10 

Kenya, 40 Years Ago and Today 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 for more info  

Wednesday, Oct. 11

Are Domed Cities in the future? 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom  

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion based on UC Berkeley alumnus Tim Holt’s book, “On Higher Ground.” Set 50 years in the future, part of the book takes place in an East Bay enclosed by a climate-controlled dome.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Tenant-Landlord Problems? 

12:30 - 2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Bring your concerns about repairs, harrassment and housing rights.  

Call 644-6107 

Thursday, Oct. 12

East Timor: The Road to Independence 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion of events leading up to the creation of the newest nation of the millennium and issues raised on the road to independence.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Meeting Life Changes 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With John Hammerman.  

For info: 644-6107 

Sterling Trio 

Noon  

BART Plaza, Downtown 

Shattuck Ave. at Center St. 

Members of the Berkeley Symphony performing a variety of chamber music. 

Contact Carrie Ridgeway, 549-2230 

Friday, Oct. 13

“The Evolution and Cost of Ethical Drugs” 

11:45 a.m.  

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Stanford D. Splitter, retired MD speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Luncheon: $11 

Call for reservations: 848-3533 

Saturday, Oct. 14

Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Grand Entry 1 p.m.  

Enjoy Native American foods, arts & crafts, drumming, singing and many types of native dancing. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley, this event is free.  

Civic Center Park 

Allston Way at MLK Jr. Way 

Info: 615-0603 

Traffic Calming Workshop 

1 - 4 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Help to achieve reasonable traffic speeds and volume on local streets.  

Sunday, Oct. 15

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Los Gatos Opera House 

Celebrate the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. This benefit features a variety of musical groups, local artists and samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries and microbreweries. Proceeds benefit Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person; $80 for this event and the Oct. 22 event in SF 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

Monday, Oct. 16

Private Elementary School Parent Information Panel 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

A panel of parents from six area private schools discuss the admission process and their experiences. Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network 

Admission: free to members, $5 non-members 

Call 527-6667 

Tuesday, Oct. 17

Is the West Berkeley Shellmound a landmark? 

7 p.m.  

City Council Chambers 

2134 MLK Jr. Way, 2nd floor 

Continued and final public hearing on the appeals against landmark designation of the West Berkeley Shellmound. The City Council may possibly make it’s decision at this meeting. 

Landscape Archeology and Space-Age Technologies in Epirus, Greece 

8 p.m.  

370 Dwinelle Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Professor of Archeology, Art History and Classics Dr. James Wiseman presents a slide-illustrated lecture. 

Wednesday, Oct. 18

Traffic Calming Workshop 

7 - 10 p.m. 

St. Clements Church 

2837 Clement Blvd.  

Help to achieve reasonable traffic speeds and volume on local streets.  

Thursday, Oct. 19

The Promise and Perils of Transgenic Crops 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berekeley, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Rafael Mariquez Free Solo Concert 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, South Branch 

1901 Russell St. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This Chilean folksinger and guitarist presents his original settings of selections by Latin American poets. 

Contact: 644-6860; TDD 548-1240 

Vocal Sauce 

Noon 

BART Plaza, Downtown 

Shattuck Ave. at Center St. 

The JazzSchool’s vocal jazz ensemble perform award-winning arrangements by Greg Murai.  

Contact Carrie Ridgeway, 549-2230 

Friday, Oct. 20

“The Ballot Issues” 

11:45 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Fran Packard of the League of Women Voters speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.  

Luncheon: $11 

Call 848-3533 

Saturday, Oct. 21

A Day on Mt. Tam 

9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Come play and hike in San Francisco’s beloved playground. This outing is part of a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

AHIMSA Eight Annual Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International House, Great Hall 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

The AHIMSA is a nonprofit foundation whose goal is to encourage dialogues and public forums which bridge spiritual, scientific and social issues. This years conference is titled “Science, Spirituality and Nonviolence.”  

Admission is free 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market Fall Fruit Tastings 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  

Center St. at MLK Jr. Way 

Taste a whole farmers’ market’s bounty of fall fruit varieties. 

Free. 

Info: 548-3333 

Sunday, Oct. 22

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Presidio’s Golden Gate Club 

Greenbelt Alliance brings the farm to the city in this celebration of the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. Featured are samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries, microbreweries. Also featured are live music and local artwork. The event benefits Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

An Evening with Alice Walker 

7:30 p.m.  

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St. (at Grant) 

free parking 

Join internationally loved novelist, poet and essayist Alice Walker in celebrating her new book of autobiographical stories, “The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart.” Benefits Berkeley EcoHouse and KPFA Radio, 94.1 FM.  

Tickets: $10 advance, $13 door 

Tickets available at independent bookstores 

More info: 848-6767 x609 

Take a Trip to the Oakland Ballet 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This is an outing organized by the Senior Center to see “Glass Slippers.”  

Tickets: $6 each 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Monday, Oct. 23

Berkeley Chinese Community Church Turns 100 

6 p.m. 

Nov. 4 

Silver Dragon Restaurant 

835 Webster St. 

Oakland 

Reservations: $30 per person 

More info: 548-5295 

Public Schools Parent Information Night 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St. 

Parents, principals and other administrative staff from 11 elementary schools will speak about their schools. Sponsored by Neighborhood Parents Network.  

Admission: free to members, $5 non-members 

527-6667 

Tuesday, Oct. 24

Berkeley Farmers’ Market Fall Fruit Tastings 

2 p.m. - 7 p.m.  

Derby St. at MLK Jr. Way 

Come taste a bounty of fall fruit varieties for free. 

Info: 548-3333 

Thursday, Oct. 26

East Bay Science & Arts Middle School 

Noon  

BART Plaza, Downtown 

Middle school students perform dances of folk, swing, and Cuban rueda styles. Free.  

Contact Carrie Ridgeway, 549-2230 

Friday, Oct. 27

“Transporation: What’s in Store?” 

11:45 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Larry Dahms, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Council speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon is served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Luncheon: $11 

More info and reservations: 848-3533 

Saturday, Oct. 28

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

lic and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesday and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Letter obsessed using usual tactics 

Editor: 

Richard Register’s declaration, “I am not a rabbit” (Letters, Sept. 22) will someday sound as hollow as Richard Nixon’s similar post-Watergate protestation, “I am not a crook.” 

Mr. Register is indulging in his usual obsessions (jamming 15-story buildings into Berkeley’s slim downtown) and his usual tactics (viciously attacking anyone who won’t follow him into his looking-glass world – which is pretty much everyone).  

His target this time was Carrie Olson, a fine City Council candidate in District 5. Ms. Olson simply proposes to defend our downtown’s existing, well-thought-out zoning against Mr. Register’s wild schemes, which have no basis in reality and no constituency in Berkeley. 

A day earlier, Mr. Register – or the out-of-town developers for whom he fronts – rented most of a Daily Planet page to attack two wonderful sitting Council members, plus one of the city’s most distinguished volunteer commissioners. 

As for the commissioner, Mr. Register has been crying “Off with his head!” for years, but still can’t even spell his name correctly – let alone understand his wisdom. 

Mr. Register should stop assailing good people, and get back in touch with his inner rabbit. It is time he recognized that Berkeley’s future does not lie upward, in some hubristic Gotham City of shadowy, phallic spires.  

Instead, we Deep Ecologists affirm that it lies downward: in high-density underground housing projects nestled snugly in Mother Earth’s womb.  

To paraphrase another Nixonism: Someday, Mr. Register, we shall all be rabbits. Go ask Alice. 

Morlock Chaillot 

Facilitator, Deep Ecologists’ Gaian Alliance 

Berkeley 

More southside housing would improve area 

Editor: 

The future of Berkeley’s Southside is at a critical point. The response we take today to the draft Southside Plan will determine whether the collaborative efforts of numerous neighborhood groups and the city are ever realized.  

The drafted Southside Plan discussed at the last Planning Commission meeting is the winning outcome of a collaborative working group process among neighborhood groups and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Huge amounts of time and effort by students and neighbors improved the Southside Plan from the original draft.  

The result: a consensus that the Southside needs more housing (permanently affordable and market rate) in order to improve safety, congestion, vibrancy, and diversity.  

It would be a waste if this plan does not result in the desired outcomes due to delays within the Planning Commission, barriers in the review process, and ambiguous loophole language. 

Next week’s “Transportation, Housing and the Environment” Election Forum for Berkeley City Council Candidates provides Berkeley residents with another opportunity to ensure that this successful planning effort is actually implemented.  

This forum will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, at Berkeley Community Media. How will City Council candidates ensure that the spirit of the Southside Plan is manifest in the physical environment, rather than languishing on paper? 

All the groups that effectively worked together to build a consensus around the draft Southside Plan hope not to allow vague language and ambiguous definitions to nullify Berkeley’s collaborative vision for the Southside. 

Rachel Hiatt 

Students for a Livable Southside 

Berkeley 

Ebony Museum of Arts 

The museum specializes in the art and history of Africa.  

Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.  

30 Jack London Village, Suite 209. (510) 763-0745. 

Habitot Children’s Museum 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

“Back to the Farm.”  

Ongoing 

An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more.  

Cost: $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under.  

Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

647-1111 or www.habitot.org 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St.  

549-6950 

Free 

Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” 

Through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. 

“Spring and Summer.”  

Through Nov. 4. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 

Wednesday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Open Thursdays til 9 p.m.  

“Hans Hoffmann”  

An exhibit of paintings by Hoffmann which emphasizes two experimental methods the artist employed: the introduction of slabs or rectangles of highly saturated colors and the use of large areas of black paint juxtaposed with intense oranges, greens and yellows. 

Oct. 11 - Jan. 16, 2001: Amazons in the Drawing Room: The Art of Romaine Brooks.  

The Asian Galleries  

“Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery,” open-ended.  

A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection.  

“Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. 

“Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. 

“Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

642-0808. 

UC Berkeley Museum of  

Paleontology 

Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley 

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing.  

A 20-foot tall, 40-foot long replica of the fearsome dinosaur. The replica is made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. 

“Pteranodon”  

A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22 to 23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. 

California Fossils Exhibit, ongoing. An exhibit of some of the fossils which have been excavated in California. 

Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst  

Museum of Anthropology 

Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College  

Avenue, Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29.  

This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles.  

“Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended.  

This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history, including the role of Phoebe Apperson Hearst as the museum’s patron, as well as the relationship of anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie to the museum. 

“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing. 

This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. 

$2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

643-7648 

Mills College Art Museum 

5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 

“The 100 Languages of Children,” through October.  

An exhibit of art by children from Reggio Emilia, Italy. At Carnegie Building Bender Room. 

Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. 

430-2164 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

“Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. 

“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning  

experiments. 

“Saturday Night Stargazing” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza.  

Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

$7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4 

642-5132 

Holt Planetarium  

Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. 

“Moons of the Solar System,” through Dec. 10. Take a tour of the fascinating worlds that orbit Earth and other planets out to the edge of the Solar System.  

“Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18;  

$3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Centennial Drive, University of California,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

The Oakland Museum of  

California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Helen Nestor: Personal and Political” Through Oct. 15.  

An exhibit of images documenting the Free Speech Movement, the 60s civil rights marches, and women’s issues. 

“California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle” through Oct. 1.  

An exhibit of 18 paintings and drawings by the Bay Area artist dating from 1965 to 1997. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org. 

Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery 

942 Clay St., Oakland 

625-1350 

www.lizabetholiveria.com 

Tuesday- Saturday  

10:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.. 

Franklin Williams exhibit through Sept. 30 

TRAX Gallery 

1306 3rd. St., Berkeley 

Mary Law “Altered Ceramic Pots”  

through Oct. 21 

For more information or to sign up for the workshop call 526-0279 or e-mail to cone5@aol.com 

Music 

Downtown Berkeley Association 

Lunchtime Concert Series 

Every Thursday through October 

noon - 1p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

1 hour free parking available in Center Street Garage 

Oct. 5: Brazilian music players Capoeira Arts Cafe & Company 

Oct. 12: Members of the Berkeley Symphony performing chamber music 

Oct. 19: Jazzschool’s vocal jazz ensemble Vocal Sauce 

Oct. 26: East Bay Science & Arts Middle School will perform folk, swing and Cuban rueda dances 

Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave.  

843-2473 

Oct. 4: Whiskey Brothers, 9 p.m. 

Oct. 5: Keni “El Lebrijano,” 9 p.m. 

Oct. 10: Mad & eddie Duran Jazz Duo, 9 p.m. 

Oct. 12: Keni “El Lebrijano,” 9 p.m. 

Oct. 14: pick Pocket ensemble, 9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz 

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

525-5099 

For all ages 

www.ashkenaz.com 

Sept. 28:Benefit for Bay Area Arts Collective. Features the Hip Hop group Nameless and Faceless $5, 9 p.m. 

Sept. 29: Box Set (Folk Rock), Legion of Mary (Psychedelic Rock) $11, 9p.m. 

Sept. 30: Soukous Stars (African Rumba) $11, 9:30 p.m. 

525-5099 

Oct. 3, 9 p.m., Dan, Tom and Mary, $8. 

Oct. 4, 8 p.m., Nigerian Bros. and DJ Henri-Pierre Koubaka, $10. 

Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m., Laura Allan Band, $5. 

Oct. 6, 9:30 p.m., Clan Dyken and Diane Patterson, Leonard Benalley, $9. 

Oct. 7, 9:30 p.m. ,West African Highlife Band, $11. 

Oct. 8, 9 p.m. ,Sekouba Bambino Diabate, $10. 

924 Gilman St. 

924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, member-run no alcohol, drugs, and violence club. Most shows are $5. Memberships for the year are $2. Shows start at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.  

Sept. 29: The Hellbillies, Subincision, Fracas, Union of the Dead, Monster Squad 

Sept. 30: Yaphet Koto, Pitch Black, Phantom Limbs, Sangre Amado 

Call 525-9926.  

Yoshi’s 

Oct. 2. Christian McBride Band, $16. 

Oct. 3 through Oct. 8, An Evening with Branford Marsalis, $26 to $30 general; Sunday matinee: $5 children; $10 adult with one child. 

Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or  

(510) 762-BASS. 

The Jazzschool 

2375 Shattuck Ave. 

Oct. 1, 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., Kai Eckhardt, Fareed Haque, Alan Hertz and Kit Walker.  

Oct. 8, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m., Bobbe Norris and Larry Dunlap present a vocal workshop, “Making the Song Your Own.” The workshop is $30 for Jazzschool students and $40 for others. 4:30 p.m., Norris and Dunlap perform. 8:00 p.m., Peck Allmond Group featuring Kenny Wollesen CD release performance.  

Oct. 15, 4:30 p.m., Mark Levine and The Latin Tinge.  

$12; $10 students/seniors; $6 for Jazzschool students and children under 13 

Reservations: (510) 845-5373. 

Deborah Voigt 

The Grammy award-winning soprano performs the music of Strauss, Wagner, Schoenberg and others. Voigt has appeared with leading opera companies including the San Francisco Opera and has sung opposite such artists as Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.  

Oct. 15, 3 p.m.  

Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley campus, Bancroft Avenue at Telegraph.  

$28 - $48  

642-9988 

Jupiter 

2181 Shattuck Ave. 

(510) THE-ROCK 

All acts play at 8 p.m. 

Sept. 29 : Squelch 

Sept. 30 : Noe Venable & the Ruiners  

Eli’s Mile High Club 

3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland 

(510) 655-6661 

Doors open at 8 p.m. 

Sept. 29 : J.L. Stiles 

Sept. 30, J.J. Malone 

Oct. 6, Henry Clement  

Yoshi’s 

Sept. 27 through Oct. 1, The James Carter Electric Project, $16 to $20 general; Sunday matinee: $5 children; $10 adult with one child.Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or (510) 762-BASS. 

Magnificat 

Sept. 30, 8 p.m. “The Song of Songs” includes works  

by Palestrina, Monteverdi, Grandi, Mazzocchi; $18 seniors; $12 students. First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant Streets, Berkeley. (415) 979-4500. 

Hausmusik 

Early Music at St. Alban’s 

“Musique de Table”: An evening of chamber music by composer Georg Philip Telemann along with food and historical readings about food. 

$17 general; $14 students/seniors. Advanced reservations recommended.  

Oct. 7, 8 p.m. Parish Hall, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1501 Washington St., Albany. (510) 527-9029.  

Films 

University of California,  

Berkeley Art Museum 

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

642-1412 

“Treasures from the George Eastman House” 

Various programs and a 16-film salute to little-known actresses. 

“Neo-Eiga: New Japanese Cinema” 

Oct. 7, 7 p.m. : “Wildlife” (1997), directed by Shinji Aoyama, US premiere; 9 p.m. : “Timeless Melody” (1999), directed by hiroshi Okuhara, US premiere 

Oct. 14, 7 p.m. : “Nabbie’s Love (1999), directed by Yuji Nakae, West Coast premiere; 8:55 p.m. : “Gemini” (1999), directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Bay Area premiere.  

$7 for one film; $8.50 for double bills. UC Berkeley students are $4/$5.50. Seniors and children are $4.50/6.00  

Theater 

“Uttar-Priyadarshi (The Final Beatitude)” 

Oct. 7 and Oct. 8.  

The Chorus Repertory Theater presents an epic play exploring war, personal accountability, and public power using a mixture of text, music and elaborate theatrical design.  

$24 to $48.  

Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m.  

Zellerbach Hall,  

University of California, Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley.  

(510) 642-9988. 

“The Green Bird”  

by Carlo Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

Adapted by Theatre de la Jeune Lune and directed by Dominique Serrand.  

“The Green Bird” runs through Oct. 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700 

“The Philanderer”  

by George Bernard Shaw 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Performed by the Aurora Theatre company, “The Philanderer” takes on the challenging and often humorous exploration of gender roles and the separations that exist between the sexes. 

Tickets for preview showings are sold at $26. Showtimes run Wednesday through Saturday through October 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees show at 2 p.m., plus selected Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. Admission for regular performances is $30. Student discounts are available. For tickets and information call 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. 

“MIMZABIM!” 

Climate Theatre & Subterranean Shakespeare 

La Vals Subterraniean  

1834 Euclid 

Through Oct. 14 

Thursday - Saturday, 8:00 p.m. 

$12, Students $8 

“Fanny at Chez Panisse” 

Julie Morgan Theatre 

2640 College Ave., Berkeley 

Musical based on the book with opening proceeds going to the Verde Partnership Garden in Richmond. 

Through Oct. 29 

Runs Wednesday - Sunday, 7 p.m.  

$26 - 34  

1-888-FANNY06 

“Moonlight”  

by Harold Pinter 

A Last Planet Theatre production 

Potrero Hill Playhouse 

953 De Haro 

San Francisco 

Pinter’s most recent play features a man named Andy who is dying and his wife, Bel, who can’t get their two sons to pay them a visit. A story of infidelity, sibling rivalry, marital combat and moonlight and memory.  

Runs Thursday - Saturday, Oct. 5 (preview) through Oct. 28. All shows at 8:30 p.m. No show Oct. 26.  

$20 opening night, $10-15 regular run, $5 preview 

More info and tickets: 845-2687 

Exhibits 

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St.  

527-1214 

Charles LaBelle 

Through Oct. 15 

LaBelle’s new series of large-scale color photographs highlight nighttime nature in Hollywood. He recreates trees at night using a hand-held spotlight and playing on the beam across the leaves and branches. The opening reception will be held on September 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.  

Blue Vinyl by Connie Walsh  

Through Oct. 15 

This multimedia project combines video, sound and printmaking to explore concepts of intimacy and its relation to private space.  

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-6 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. 

A.C.C.I. Gallery  

“Paperworks,” through Oct. 7.  

A group exhibit of works by Carol Brighton, Vannie Keightley, Jean Hearst. 

Opening Reception, Sept. 1, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527 

Berkeley Art Center 

“Ethnic Notions: Black Images in the White Mind,''  

Through Nov. 12. An exhibit by Janette Faulkner exploring racial stereotypes in commercial imagery. Free. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley. (510) 644-6893 

California College of Arts and Crafts  

Free. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3712 

Chi Gallery  

“Alegres Cantos en Mi Ser (Songs of Joy in My Being)” through Sept. 30.  

An exhibit of paintings depicting scenes of Afro-cuban music, by Susan Mathews. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. 912-A Clay St., Oakland. (510) 832-4244. 

!hey! Gallery 

Lori Now and Michael Pollice display recent paintings through Oct. 14. Reception Oct. 7, 7 - 9 p.m. with cellist Diane Pauson and vocalist Elisheva Herrera.  

Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 4920-b, Telegraph, Oakland. Call Richelle Valenzuela at (510) 428-2349. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

“Berkeley’s Ethnic Heritage” through March 2000. An overview of the rich cultural diversity of the city and the contribution of individuals and minority groups to it’s history and development.  

Thursday through Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m. Admission free.  

1931 Center St.  

Call 848-0181 

Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery 

Paintings by Timothy Buckwalter, Hilary Harkness, and Jerry W. King, Oct. 3 through Oct. 28. Artist reception Oct. 7, 7 - 9 p.m. 

Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.  

942 Clay St., Oakland. Call 625-1830 for more info.  

Readings 

Rhyme & Reason Poetry Series 

Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant 

Second and fourth Sundays of each month. For open reading following featured readers, sign up at 2 p.m., readings begin at 2:30 p.m. 

Rhyme and Reason Poetry Series 

Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive 

2621 Durant Ave. 

2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. 

Includes featured readers and open mike poetry. Free 

2 p.m. sign-up. Program runs from 2:30 - 4 p.m. 

Oct. 15: Professor Ron Loewinsohn (Morrison Room, UC Main Library) 

Oct. 29: Fernando Brito, Lara Dale 

234-0727 

Holloway Poetry Reading Series 

8p.m., Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall 

For more information call 653-2439 

Oct. 10: Susan Stewart and Chris Chew, books include “The Hive” and “Yellow Stars”  

Nov. 1: John Yau and Garrett Caples, books include “Forbidden Entries” and “My Symptoms” 

Nov. 7: Marie Howe and Brian Glaser, “The Good Thief” and “What the Living Do” 

Eastwind Books of Berkeley 

2066 University Ave.  

548-2350 

October 1, 3 p.m., Lawson Fusao Inada and Patricia Wakida duscuss with a slide presentation, the new Japanese American anthology “Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience” 

Oct. 7, 7p.m., Kimi Kodani Hill presents with art slides from her grandfather. “Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art on Internment” 

Lunch Poems: A Noontime Poetry Reading Series 

Morrison Room, Doe Library 

UC Berkeley 

12:10 - 12:50 p.m.  

Call 642-0137 

Under the direction of Professor Robert Hass, this is a series of events on the first Thursday of each month. Free.  

Oct. 5: Elizabeth Alexander, Nov. 2: Goh Poh Seng  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National  

Laboratory 

Scientists and engineers guide visitors through the research areas of the laboratory, demonstrating emerging technology and discussing the research’s current and potential applications. A Berkeley lab tour usually lasts two hours and includes visits to several research areas. Popular tour sites include the Advanced Light Source, The National Center for Electron Microscopy, the 88-Inch Cyclotron, The Advanced Lighting Laboratory, and The Human Genome Laboratory. Reservations required at least two weeks in advance of tour. 

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387 

Bernard Maybeck Weekend 

Oct. 14 & 15 

Sponsored by the California Preservation Foundation celebrates the buildings of the renowned architect. Saturday features a slide lecture at Swedenborgian church with historian Gray Brechin and a private tour of the Palace of Fine Arts. Sunday will focus on Berkeley, where Maybeck built most of his homes and raised his family. The tour will include six private residences and the First Church of Christ, Scientist. The weekend will end with a reception at the Chick House in the Oakland hills.  

More info call California Preservation Foundation: 763-0972. 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

Guided tours through Berkeley’s City Club, a landmark building designed by architect Julia Morgan, designer of Hearst Castle. 

$2. The fourth Sunday of every month except December, between noon to 4 p.m.  

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size, run along a half mile of track in Tilden Regional Park. The small trains are owned and maintained by a non-profit group of railroad buffs who offer rides.  

Free. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley.  

486-0623  

Oakland Historic walking tours 

Runs through October.  

The tours cover downtown Oakland and its historic waterfront. All tours begin promptly at 10 a.m. and last between an hour and an hour and a half.  

Free. Call for reservations. Oakland. (510) 238-3234. 

Tilden Regional Park  

Sept. 30, 2 p.m. “Autumn Leaf Prints,” Bring a plain T-shirt to make a colorful memory of autumn. For age 5 and older. $2. 

University of California at Berkeley Botanical Garden 

The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. 

Botanical Garden Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. Meet at the Tour Orientation Center for a free docent tour. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Botanical Garden, Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley. (510) 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/ 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours 

Sept. 30 - South Berkely Cultural Landscape led by Bill Coburn 

Oct. 15 - The 1923 North Berkeley Fire Line led by Phil Gale 

Oct. 22 - University Avenue Indian Business Community led by Kirpal & Neelum Khanna 

Nov. 5 - What’s Happening Downtown? led by Debbie Badhia 

More info call 848-0181 

Dance 

Yoshi’s 

Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or  

(510) 762-BASS 

The Berkeley High women’s water polo team lost 9-6 to DeAnza in what amounted to a scrimmage Thursday afternoon. 

The match was supposed to be the team’s first league game, but there was a shortage of qualified referees for the day and the league canceled the game. But DeAnza coach Randy Sorenson decided to bring his team to the Willard Middle School pool for the match anyway, and the teams engaged in a spirited game that Berkeley never led. 

The match started off slowly, as the teams each scored a goal in the first period. DeAnza’s defense cut off the Berkeley attack on several occasions, and the Dons’ pressure and constant fouling caused the Yellowjackets to repeatedly let the shot clock run out before getting off a shot. Despite having only two substitutes, the Dons beat their opponents to almost every loose ball, and were much faster in transition than the Yellowjackets. 

On defense, the Yellowjackets chose to lay off of DeAnza’s outside players, giving them clear shooting lanes, and goalie Amy Degenkolb was forced to make several diving saves to keep the score tied. DeAnza finally broke though in the second period, scoring four goals while allowing only one, breaking out to a 5-2 lead. Rasham Nassar was the key player for the Dons, as she controlled the offense from the outside and scored three goals in the period, including a breakaway with just seconds remaining in the half. 

The Yellowjackets looked strong coming out for the second half, and quickly scored a goal to cut the DeAnza lead to two. But the offense stalled again as they struggled to get the ball inside. DeAnza again scored at the end of the period, this time on a long shot by Kristen Cassady, and the Yellowjackets were facing a 6-3 deficit heading into the final period. 

The ‘Jackets again roared out of the gate to start the period, as Cody Keffer scored two quick goals. But with just three minutes remaining, Berkeley fell apart, allowing three goals in less than two minutes, including another breakaway for Nassar. It was her fifth goal of the match, and ended any comeback hopes for the home side. Berkeley was able to pull out one more goal before the end of the match, but ended up on the losing end of the stick. 

With the match not counting in the league standings, the Yellowjackets will kick off their league season next Thursday against Pinole Valley at 4:30 p.m. The ‘Jackets are 2-1 this season.

“Institutional expansion” or “livable neighborhood”? 

Call it a scratched LP, or a hip hop sample. It’s the same old noise in the decades-long battle for southside land use between the university and the city.  

Today’s focal point is the pavilions – or “cafeterias,” depending on whom you ask – of UC Berkeley’s Units 1 and 2.  

The massive dormitory towers were designed by renown architects John Carl Warnecke and Lawrence Halprin, and advocates claim that they “express the functionalism and the playfulness of the modern era (of American architecture).”  

One resident of Unit 1, on the other hand, who asked not to be named, said she felt that the Units are “ugly, and look like housing projects.” 

Either way, the eating centers of both units are scheduled to be ripped out to make way for more parking lots and more housing – part of the university’s “Underhill plan” to redevelop the lot between Dwight Way and Haste Street, College Avenue and Bowditch Street. With housing shortages already acute, and state demands calling for campus expansions, whatever history remains could soon be carted to the Berkeley land fill as rubble. 

That sets the stage for a showdown between the city and the university. The Berkeley Landmarks Commission designated the “pavilions” as city landmarks at their Sept. 11 meeting by a vote of 7-0 with two abstentions. 

“The commission was very careful to mention that the primary features of the landmark is landscaping and grounds. No one said that the buildings themselves were knockouts,” said Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Robert Kehlman. 

“Given the density of the area, the tree shading and the terracing make it a magical area to walk in,” added Kehlman. 

Such aesthetic considerations, however, are mostly symbolic gestures with little legal heft. City designation of university properties are not binding because the university legally falls under the jurisdiction of the state. 

“The university has no zoning regulations which we can apply to it,” said Lesley Emmington Jones, also an LPC member. “The question becomes this: Does the southside of campus become a neighborhood community based on the needs of the community or an institutional expansion zone? To rip out the pavilions and build more towers in their place takes the soul of the structure, and leaves a dark windscape in its place,” she added. 

“Many of us are unhappy with the university’s plans to develop the area,” stated Kehlman, “but our decision was not based on our displeasure with the university’s actions.” 

University officials could not be reached for comment. 

The Landmarks Preservation Committee will issue a “notice of its decision” to designate the units as Berkeley landmarks at its meeting Monday. The “notice of decision” is simply a formality to open the two-week window during which people can appeal. The meeting is at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center at 1901 Hearst Ave. 

As the Cal Bears head into their Pac-10 opener on Saturday, most of the questions concerning the offense haven’t been answered by the team’s first three games. Can Kyle Boller bring the offense together? Will any receivers distinguish themselves as starters? Will the Bears ever make a long-range field goal? 

The Bears have been remarkably consistent so far this season. They have played just badly enough to lose two of their three games, and just barely held on to beat winless Utah. The offense has been unable to take advantage of punter Nick Harris’s outstanding season, as nearly half of Cal’s drives have begun on the opponent’s half of the field.  

Boller has looked both brilliant and awful, alternately making nice touch passes with firing the ball over and around his receivers. The coaching staff seems to have finally realized that asking a sophomore to make constant adjustments at the line is too much for Boller to bear. The Bears were called for delay of game five times against Fresno State, most of them coming as Boller tried to check to a new play at the line of scrimmage. Head coach Tom Holmoe and offensive coordinator Steve Hagen will implement a simpler plan this week against the Cougars, along with an increased emphasis on the running game, as tailbacks Joe Igber and Joe Echema have established themselves as twin threats out of the backfield. 

“We’ve got to get a little bit more, more yardage, more carries, out of those guys and be able to establish a little bit more,” Holmoe said. “I don’t think there’s an identity on offense right now. There’s really not a personality.” 

The wideouts have been another story. Chase Lyman has become a favorite target for Boller, and the freshman has earned a starting role for the Washington State game. Fellow freshman Geoff McArthur has also been promoted to starter for the game and has the hands and speed to be an outstanding receiver. but must show a better understanding of the offense to have an impact. McArthur either ran the wrong route or broke off his pattern early several times against Fresno State, one of which resulted in an easy interception that killed a promising drive. 

Even on the rare occasions the offense has managed to drive down the field, they’ve struggled to score points. Part of the blame must be laid on kicker Mark Jensen, who has made just two of his five field goal attempts and hasn’t made a kick longer than 29 yards. Holmoe declined to attempt two long field goals against Fresno State, indicating his lack of confidence in Jensen. Look for freshman Tyler Fredrickson to get a shot at the field goal duties this week, as he has looked solid in practice.

Talks between the Berkeley Unified School District, Mayor Shirley Dean’s office and the Downtown Berkeley Association over a proposed food court at Berkeley High School have taken on the proportions of a Bill Clinton speech – they keep going and going and going. 

At the Sept. 6 school board meeting, the board approved $5,000 for an implementation plan for the project. Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said at the time that he hoped a week later carts piled high with delicious and nutritious food prepared by downtown merchants would be rolling into the gallery of the Berkeley Community Theater. There, he hoped to play music and create an ambiance that would keep students on campus for lunch.  

That was three weeks ago, but 3,200 students are still pouring into downtown at lunchtime. 

“We’ve pulled back and are reassessing,” said Dean. “It’s just not there yet. There’s no timetable for this.” 

The Child Nutrition Advisory Committee – a committee of parents, students and citizens appointed by the school board in 1998 after a new food policy was adopted – has to take nutrition, logistics and money into account as they work with the DBA, the police, merchants and the city to devise a plan for the food court and give it wings. 

According to Eric Weaver, chair of the committee, the High School’s food service spent $60,000 last year to serve only roughly 150 students eligible for free meals federally subsidized through the USDA. Weaver says that the number of students actually eligible at Berkeley High is close to 600. 

The problem is, he says, that more low-income kids would likely participate in a program that provided great food with a good atmosphere – the ultimate goal of everyone involved – which skews the calculation as to whether or not the food court would be economically viable. 

He explained that food services would be reimbursed $2.13 from the federal government for meals for low-income students that meet federal low-income guidelines. To meet federal requirements, it has to include milk or juice, and fruit – each of which costs roughly 60 cents. 

“So that leaves $1.53 for the entree,” he said. “If the merchants charge $2.50, it will obviously be a loss (to the district).” 

Weaver said that the idea is for food services to buy the food from the vendors, add fruit and milk, and sell it to the students. 

Initially the district asked the merchants to sell their food at half the price they sell it in their restaurants.  

Manuch Fany, the owner of Round Table Pizza at 2017 University Ave., said “no way,” along with the rest of the merchants. 

“We know that we’re going to lose money at first, but telling me to come that far below my cost is unreasonable,” he said. 

Weaver estimates that if a mix of students – some paying full fare and low-income students paying less – frequent the food court, food services could realistically ask the merchants to charge 25 percent less than they charge in their restaurants and food services would subsidize the food any more than they had last year, he said. 

“But we don’t know if the merchants would accept that,” he said. 

He added that a ticket system would probably be used to eliminate the stigma for students getting free lunches. 

Caleb Dardick, Interim Director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, said that the vendors’ committee has not proposed prices to the school district. 

“Our understanding is that they’ll study the issue and come back to us,” he said. “But every single day, 3,200 students flood the downtown, which has a huge impact on the merchants.” 

Fany said that he often has to act as a watchdog over the students, only letting a few in at a time and throwing rowdy ones out. Some businesses only let three students in their stores at a time, he said. 

Another variable in the equation is the nutrition content of the food. The district’s food policy asks for a push to organics and asks for an elimination of potentially harmful food additives and processes, such as bovine growth hormones, irradiation and genetically modified foods. 

“Asking for all the ingredients to be organic will greatly increase the price of food,” Dardick said. 

He said, however, only one of the list of nine merchants expected to participate didn’t fit into the USDA guidelines the policy employs. 

Gered Lawson of the Food Systems Project, headed by former Assembly member Tom Bates who is assisting the committee, said that they want to work with merchants to help them make the transition to organics. Merchants would not be excluded if they didn’t use organics, he said. 

Lawson added that he has also been meeting with students to find out if the food court would fly with the consumers. 

“It’s got to get off on a good start or it will never take off with the kids,” Weaver said.  

But others say that there has been ample time to put it together. 

“Let’s get this thing going,” said Jennifer Drapeau, Dean’s aide. “We want a timeline. Our concept was that it was something that could evolve.” 

Lawson said that it’s important for everyone to get involved to get it right the first time. 

“The whole idea is s complex and challenging feat to pull off,” he said. “And it’s really going to take the whole community to pull it off. It may be a little slower, but the benefits of study will be helpful.”

Cal announced today that two members of its freshmen class, defensive tackle Jonathan Giesel and running back Pana Faumuina, had suffered injuries in the last two weeks and would be lost for the season. Both are eligible to apply for medical redshirt status and are expected to return in full health next fall as redshirt-freshmen.  

Giesel suffered an injury to his tendon in his right arm, near his elbow, during the Illinois game. He attempted to play at Fresno State, but a decision was made early this week to repair the tendon surgically. That surgery is scheduled next Tuesday at Alta Bates hospital. He will undergo a three-to-five month rehabilitation period and hopes to be recovered to participate in spring drills next April.  

Giesel was a key member of Cal’s playing rotation at defensive tackle, having been credited with 2 tackles on the season. His absence will increase the playing time of redshirt-freshman Josh Beckham, who has played extensively the first three games including a starting assignment in front of Daniel Nwangwu last week. Derek Deutsch will also get a bigger opportunity at a tackle position.  

Faumuina aggravated an existing shoulder injury on Tuesday of this week during contact drills. The medical staff was already planning on correcting the shoulder instability at the end of this season, but the new injury caused the staff to move forward on the decision to surgically repair the shoulder immediately. Faumuina is expected to be back in time to participate in spring drills.  

“We believe both Jonathan and Pana have bright futures at Cal,” said head coach Tom Holmoe. “We’re sorry that they won’t be able to help us this year, but the bright side is that they’ve gotten their feet wet and they’ll be back next year with four full seasons of eligibility. That’s a big advantage for them.”  

Holmoe also indicated that sophomore tight end Terrence Dotsy will almost certainly redshirt this season. The 6-4, 280-pounder has a redshirt year to utilize and thus would return next season as a sophomore again with three full years of eligibility. He has been hampered by a hand injury most of the early-season.

Come this evening and it’ll be a scant 239 years until the world is disrupted by the Y6K problem on the Jewish calendar.  

Tonight’s services are the first in the three-day holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  

The transition into year 5761 will be celebrated by Berkeley area congregations in the traditional way: with readings from the Torah, sermons, ceremonies, feasting and pondering the big questions.  

“This is the time when we think about very important questions,” said Rabbi Ferenc Raj of Berkeley’s Temple Beth El. “This will be the last Rosh Hashanah in the 20th Century, and as we travel into the 21st Century, what will we bring with us? If it is only material wealth, you must realize how quickly that disappears. Neither property nor power will bring inner peace. If we are prepared as Jews, we are prepared as human beings, citizens of the globe.”  

A scant 10 days after Rosh Hashanah comes Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and highest of the Jewish high holidays. Put loosely, the short intermission between holy days is one’s last chance to make a good impression on God.  

“In terms of prayers we do on Rosh Hashanah, the most powerful one is Una Tana Tokes,” says Rabbi Andrea Berlin of Temple Sinai in Oakland. “The relative philosophy behind it is it’s up to us what we decide to do with our lives for the coming year. On Rosh Hashanah our fate for the year is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed. It is within our power to decide what kind of people we’re going to be in the year, in those 10 days in between.” 

The interim between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a time to undertake charitable acts and think positive thoughts.  

“Every Rosh Hashanah we do positive things and eat sweet foods. We tell each other that we should be inscribed in the book of life for a good year, a good, sweet year,” says Rabbi Yehuda Ferris of the Chabad of the East Bay. “You dip challah (sweet, fluffy bread prepared for Jewish holidays and the Sabbath) and apples in honey. You eat pomegranates, and should do as many good deeds as you have pomegranate seeds.  

“Everything you eat is a little pun,” continues Rabbi Ferris. “In Hebrew, the word for carrot (gezer) means ‘decree.’ So when you eat carrots, you’re asking God for a good decree. If you lettuce, raisins and celery, it’s ‘let-us have a raise-in celery!” 

The symbolic connections with food don’t stop there. On Sunday, congregations around the world will travel, bread in hand, to bodies of water for the ancient ceremony Tashlikh. 

“You’re supposed to do it at a place of living water, a constant source of water flowing outward,” said Rabbi Berlin, who, lacking a nearby body of water meeting the dictionary definition, will lead her Oakland congregation to Lake Merritt. “We read the same liturgy that is read during the Rosh Hashanah service. Then as we take the crumbs out of our pockets, we think of habits we want to get rid of; parts of ourselves we want to go into the new year without. You think of that and toss the crumbs into the water.” 

Rabbi Raj points out that the ceremony is derived from a literal interpretation of the Book of Micah, chapter seven verse 19: “You (God) will cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.”  

Another Rosh Hashanah tradition is the blowing of the shofar, a horn crafted from a ram’s horn. While most of the shofar-blowing worldwide will be done in temple, Chabad of the East Bay is planning a public “concert” outside Cody’s Books late Sunday afternoon, “for the coronation of The King” – and they don’t mean Elvis. 

“No, not Elvis, hopefully not,” chuckles Rabbi Ferris. “And not Don King or Larry King. Or Bruce Springsteen. They call him ‘The King,’ right?” 

Upon being informed that Springsteen’s nickname is actually “The Boss,” Ferris maintained that the ceremony was still not for Bruce.  

The tour and cruise operator, Red and White Fleet, was ordered Thursday by the state Public Utility Commission to continue running its weekday ferry service from Richmond to San Francisco. 

“We don’t have cash,” said John Clark, attorney for the Red and White Fleet, who was visibly agitated after Public Utilities Commission administrative judge Sheldon Rosenthal rendered his ruling. 

“We can’t buy gas. We can’t pay the crew,” Clark told the judge. The PUC granted the Red and White Fleet permission to operate the route last year. 

The San Francisco-based company had announced earlier this week that it would halt its ferry service from the Richmond Ferry Terminal to San Francisco after its last trip on Sept. 28. Red and White Fleet officials said not enough people are riding the ferry and that had caused losses of $1 million since the route’s inception one year ago. 

“I’m really elated,” said Karen Dorantes, 45, a Bank of America employee and a belly dancer who has performed on the ferry in a bid to attract new riders. 

Dorantes is a member of Friends of the Ferry, a group of East Bay commuters,  

who is fighting the company’s effort to shut down the ferry route. The group appeared at the emergency meeting held at the Public Utilities Commission in  

San Francisco. Dorantes said she didn’t buy Red and White’s argument that it doesn’t have the money to continue the service. 

“If you don’t have any cash, how come you still have money to operate the (Pacific) Bell ballpark runs? If you don’t have any cash, how can you keep your excursion boats and your charter business?” Dorantes asked. 

Red and White Fleet had wanted to stop running its Richmond to San Francisco  

route last month, backing out of an agreement it had with Richmond to operate until September 2001. It filed a cessation application with the PUC last  

month. 

But Red and White’s attempt to sever the route came just two weeks after the PUC told the company to continue service at least until October, when it would hold full hearings on the matter. 

These hearings are scheduled for Oct. 25. 

Red and White attorney John Clark said he did not know how his client would run its boats Friday morning. 

“I haven’t see anyone come up with taking money out of their pockets to hand to the ferry to allow the boat to operate,” he said. 

The company has said that about 50 people use its $5 dollar each-way service everyday. It had anticipated at least 200 people per day. 

Friends of the Ferry said ridership is low because the company has not properly marketed the route. The group has handed out flyers and passed out free tickets to promote the ferry runs. 

As she sat on the boat Thursday morning, Friends of the Ferry member Betty  

Lucas, 45, said more people would ride if the company would just advertise  

more aggressively. 

“It’s a slap in the face,” said Lucas. “They never did the work that they were supposed to do. People don’t want to sit in traffic. They want alternatives.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Pedestrians are more likely to get hit by a car in Sacramento County than any other place in California, according to a new study released Thursday. 

Overall, more pedestrians were injured or killed by cars in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties last year. But the likelihood that a person will be struck on any given stroll was highest in and around the capital, the nonprofit Surface Transportation Policy Project reported. 

“Traffic engineers and public works have basically turned their backs on providing safe places for pedestrians,” James Corless, co-author of the study, said of Sacramento County. “It’s a high-growth area and they’re doing a lot of stuff that’s really dangerous. If there are sidewalks, they’re very narrow and right next to lanes of traffic.” 

The study concluded that the human and economic toll – from medical bills, lost work time and quality of life costs – topped $3.9 billion last year; 688 pedestrians died and 14,346 were injured on California streets, according to the study, which analyzed California Highway Patrol data. 

Nationwide, about 6,000 pedestrians are killed every year, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported. 

The problem is particularly acute in multilane suburban sprawl like that of Sacramento County. There, a drag-strip mentality can leave pedestrians cowering. In 1999, 30 pedestrians were killed and 516 were injured in Sacramento County traffic accidents. That’s about one death or injury per 2,200 county residents. 

But the quicker pace of cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco also forces pedestrians to scramble for sidewalk safety. 

Three pedestrians have been killed in as many weeks on San Francisco streets. On Monday, a 74-year-old retired electrician was struck and killed, the 23rd pedestrian to die in the city thus far this year, police said. 

Last year, with 26 deaths and 963 injuries, one in 800 San Franciscans was involved in a traffic accident. That rate was about twice as high as the next most accident-prone area, Los Angeles County, where one of every 1,750 residents was injured or killed in 1999. 

Still, the study rated Sacramento County more dangerous because people there walk less than in San Francisco or Los Angeles counties. 

Whether Californians are rich or poor also has a direct affect on how likely they are to get struck, Corless said. And since low income families are more likely to be members of a minority, race was also a factor. 

“Latinos and African Americans, especially children and the elderly, are at the highest risk,” the report said. That’s because they are less likely to have money to own and operate a car and must walk or take the bus to move around. 

If you want to lollygag across the street without care, move to San Luis Obispo County. For the second straight year, it was ranked the safest for pedestrians. 

MARTINEZ — The night before she was last seen alive, Selina Bishop thought she had resolved an argument with her boyfriend over his “big plan” and was under the impression they were going to go away somewhere together, her diary shows. 

“Hopefully, it’s really all taken care of now,” Bishop wrote in one of her last journal entries, referring to an argument she had with Glenn Helzer on the night of Aug. 1. “I told him I wanted to go to Great America and he said he had something better planned. I don’t know. I hope we have a nice time.” 

Bishop was last seen alive Aug. 2, at a Berkeley brewpub with Helzer. 

Helzer, 30, his brother Justin Helzer, 28, and their housemate Dawn Godman, 26, are charged with the killing five people; Bishop – the 22-year-old daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop; Ivan and Annette Stineman, an elderly Concord couple; Selina Bishop’s mother, Jennifer Villarin, 45, and her friend James Gamble, 54. 

The Helzers and Godman have pleaded innocent to murder charges. They are due in court Jan. 22 for a preliminary hearing. 

The remains of Bishop and the Stinemans were recovered in nine duffel bags that surfaced the second week of August in the Mokelumne River in southern Sacramento County. The bullet-riddled bodies of Selina’s mother and Gamble were found Aug. 3 in Selina’s Marin County apartment. 

Police believe Bishop and the Stinemans were stabbed and beaten to death at the home the Helzers and Godman shared in Concord.  

There, investigators found three books on human anatomy, a bloodstained sword and several machetes, according to search warrant records released Wednesday at the request of The San Francisco Chronicle. 

Lengths of rope, duct tape, handcuffs, shackles, a hand saw, latex gloves, bloodstained clothes, human hairs also were found, the records show. And on a bedroom carpet there was an imprint of a human body. 

Prosecutors say the murders were carried out to cover up a botched plot to extort $100,000 from the Stinemans. 

In her diary, entries show Bishop was suspicious of her boyfriend and that she “did not want to be involved with his (Helzer’s) big plan,” search warrants show. 

But she also wrote affectionately about him. 

“I wish we could be together,” she wrote on Aug. 1. “Why is it so difficult?” 

SAN DIEGO — Despite the rise in home ownership across the country, blacks and Latinos were nearly twice as likely to be turned down for mortgage loans than whites, according to a study released Thursday. 

Discrimination based on ethnicity or income, known as redlining, in the mortgage industry is just bad as it has ever been, according to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. 

“The banks have said, ’The numbers are changing, there’s less discrimination than before,’ but this study shows that that’s not really the case,” Rebekah Kebede, a spokeswoman for ACORN’s Sacramento office, said in a telephone interview. 

“People need to call them on what they’re doing. People need to say ’We know that you are discriminating, we notice,”’ Kebede said. 

Nationwide in 1999, blacks were denied mortgages 54 percent of the time, while Latinos were denied 39 percent of the time and whites were denied mortgages 27 percent of the time, the study said. 

ACORN analyzed data from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council about the lending activity of more than 7,800 institutions covered under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. These lending agencies have more than $30 million in assets or make a substantial number of home loans annually. 

Overall, more loans from all ethnic groups were granted in 1999 as compared to previous years but there was no significant improvement in the number of loans to ethnic minorities, ACORN officials said. 

“About 95 percent of the increase in loans to minorities were increases in higher cost, subprime loans, or lenders giving loans to minorities with higher interest rates than conventional loans,” Kebede said. “That’s not really an improvement at all.” 

Banking industry executives said the numbers were deceiving. 

“I think there are dramatic improvements,” said James Ballentine, director of the Center for Community Development at the American Banking Association. “This is a very competitive market and lenders are reaching out more than ever to everyone.” 

Many lenders have programs to reach all potential home owners, such as educational seminars to teach people how to improve their credit in order to qualify for loans, he said. 

The ACORN study fails to recognize that with more mortgage applications being received by lenders, there will be more rejections, Ballentine said. 

Loans are generally approved based on the ratio of income to debt and the value of the property for sale, which the study did not examine, he said. 

“It’s also difficult to look at the study and determine the debt levels and credit histories of the people who applied and were denied,” Ballentine said. 

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act statistics report only the ethnicity, gender and income of those who applied for mortgages and the percentage of loans granted and denied. 

The ACORN report also noted that: 

— Upper-level income blacks were turned down for loans 2.63 times more often than upper-level whites; 

— Upper-level income Latinos were more likely to be denied loans than middle-income whites; 

— In Brockton, Mass., while blacks make up 7.3 percent of the overall population, they also were granted 5.1 percent of the loans; and 

— For Latinos in Miami, Atlanta and Memphis, their loan acceptance rates were the same or only slightly less than their percentage of the overall population. 

Asian Americans were not included because their loan acceptance rates closely resemble those of white applicants. 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation Thursday allowing independent voters to participate in primary elections, moving to salvage a wide-open process thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The “blanket” system approved by voters in 1996 and overturned in June let voters of any – or no – party choose any candidate in primaries. 

The new law permits independent voters to participate in primaries, but limits them to voting for one party’s candidates. It takes effect next year, and its impact will be felt in 2002, the year Davis and other statewide officials will be up for re-election. 

Ballots cast by independents would only be accepted by political parties that consented to do so. Both major parties signaled Thursday they are inclined to allow the independent voters to participate. 

Voters registered with a party will once again be permitted only to choose candidates affiliated with their party. 

“While this bill will not fully reinstate the open primary, it will ensure broader participation in primary elections than voters would otherwise enjoy,” the Democratic governor said. 

The Democratic and Republican parties bitterly fought the blanket primary approved in 1996, contending it violated their association rights by letting voters choose any candidate, regardless of party affiliation. 

Davis unsuccessfully sought to preserve that system, arguing in a brief filed with the court that it was healthy for democracy. 

While that position placed Davis at odds with his own party, Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres praised Davis’ move Thursday. 

Davis’ signature “now moves the state in the direction of compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, and we thank the governor for that,” Torres said. 

Davis believes the new law “lives within the constraints imposed by the high court ruling,” said spokesman Phil Trounstine. 

Independents account for 2 million of the state’s 14.6 million registered voters, and their numbers have grown steadily in the last two decades. 

With the new law, independents – officially known as “decline-to-states” — become California’s most hotly pursued bloc in primary season, along with Hispanics. 

The state’s independents appear evenly split in their political leanings. 

In a recent survey, the Public Policy Institute of California found 35 percent of “decline-to-state” voters were drawn to Democrats, 31 percent to Republicans and 30 percent to neither, said pollster Mark Baldassare. 

State GOP Chairman John McGraw has endorsed the new open primary, and the party will vote on it at a February gathering. Democrats also approve and are expected to formally allow “decline-to-state” primary votes at a December gathering. 

Davis also signed a bill that allows voters to register 15 days before an election, instead of 29 as current law requires. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Read the open primary bill, SB28, and the registration bill, AB1094, at http://www.sen.ca.gov 

SACRAMENTO — Targeting a major cause of California air pollution, state regulators approved a plan Thursday to cut soot from diesel engines 75 percent over the next decade. 

The plan imposes the toughest diesel rules in the nation, requiring state-of-the-art filters on new diesel engines sold in California and the retrofitting of most existing engines. 

The plan, approved 11-0 by the state Air Resources Board, also requires production of low-sulfur diesel fuel for engines equipped with the filters. 

The air pollution causes problems ranging from reduced visibility to respiratory illnesses and increased risk of cancer. State officials say 28,000 tons will be spewed into California’s air this year. 

“It is certainly the No. 1 airborne toxic contaminant in California,” said Jerry Martin, a board spokesman. 

The proposal’s drafters hope to equip 90 percent of the state’s 1.2 million diesel-powered engines with the filters, Martin said. 

Those that are too old, one of a kind, in poor condition or altered in such a way that it may not be possible to retrofit them will be considered on a case-by-case basis, he said. 

California is the only state with the power to adopt emissions controls. The diesel plan comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers its own set of pollution controls for diesel-powered vehicles. 

Details of the plan will be spelled out in a series of regulations that the ARB would act on over the next three years. 

There are 687,100 diesel-powered cars, trucks and buses on California roads, about 500,000 off-road diesel-run vehicles and equipment, including tractors and construction vehicles, and about 16,100 stationary diesel engines, according to the ARB. 

The staff report includes varying estimates of retrofitting costs, depending on engine type and horsepower. 

Retrofitting a 475-horsepower heavy-duty truck, for example, would cost $4,750 to $9,500. 

The cost will be borne primarily by engine owners, although there may be some government grants, Martin said. 

Stephanie Williams, director of environmental affairs for the California Trucking Association, which represents 2,500 truck owners, said her group supports retrofitting. 

But she urged the board to help lobby for legislation next year that would ease the burden on truckers by suspending the sales tax on the low-sulfur fuel until 2006 and imposing a per-truck fee to help pay for retrofitting. 

The fee would be $50 a year for California trucks and probably $15 to $20 for out-of-state trucks, depending on how many miles they travel in California per year, Williams said. 

Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents about 1,100 California growers, supported equipping new engines with the filters, but he questioned the need to retrofit tractors, bailers and other farm equipment that run on diesel. 

“How can you spend $10,000 on a tractor that only works 30 days a year?” he asked. “You have to look at it in that perspective.” 

Herbert Hunt, a farmer from Clarksburg, south of Sacramento, estimates it would cost him $15,000 to retrofit his 20-year-old tractor. 

The ARB plan is the latest development in California’s nearly 40-year effort to limit air pollution. The state already has the nation’s toughest emission requirements for gasoline-powered cars and trucks. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Read the proposal on the Air Resources Board’s Web site http://www.arb.ca.gov/homepage.htm 

WASHINGTON — Capping a bitter 12-year battle, the government on Thursday approved use of the abortion pill RU-486, a major victory for abortion-rights advocates that could dramatically alter abortion in this country. 

The long-expected decision by the Food and Drug Administration allows Americans an early-abortion method already used in France, Britain, China and 10 other countries. The action is expected to make abortion in the United States more accessible and more private. 

Coming in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, the move also is sure to renew fierce political debate. Republican candidate George W. Bush, whose father’s administration banned RU-486 imports in 1989, opposes abortion. Vice President Gore supports the pill option. 

The pill, known chemically as mifepristone and by the brand name Mifeprex, will be available to doctors within a month. 

Mifepristone, which blocks a hormone vital to sustaining pregnancy, only works during the first seven weeks of pregnancy, when an embryo is about one-fifth of an inch; that is earlier than surgical abortions often are offered. 

Two days after taking mifepristone, women take a second drug that causes cramping and bleeding as the embryo is expelled, much like a miscarriage. 

“For those who choose to have an early termination of their pregnancy, this is a reasonable medical alternative,” said FDA Commissioner Jane Henney, who approved mifepristone based on studies that found it 92 percent to 95 percent effective in causing abortion. 

Complications are rare; serious bleeding occurs in 1 percent of women. But the pill-caused abortion requires three doctor visits and, to ensure it is performed accurately, the FDA restricted its use to doctors with certain training and mandated that detailed patient-information brochures be given to every woman. 

Proponents hailed FDA’s move. Although some doctors already use a cancer drug called methotrexate to cause abortion – legal although not formally FDA-approved – they said mifepristone will increase access to the nonsurgical method. 

“At long last, science trumps anti-abortion politics and medical McCarthyism,” said Eleanor Smeal of the Feminist Majority Foundation. 

Mifepristone may “turn the tide against anti-choice intimidation,” because doctors who don’t offer surgical abortion can use the pill in private offices instead of protester-targeted clinics, added Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt. 

But anti-abortion groups, which fought mifepristone by threatening U.S. drug companies with boycotts, pledged to continue fighting. 

“Never before has the FDA approved a drug intended to kill people,” said Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who promised legislation calling for severe limits on which doctors could administer mifepristone. 

On the campaign trail, Bush called the FDA’s decision “wrong,” saying “I fear that making this abortion pill widespread will make abortions more and more common.” His campaign said if elected, Bush wouldn’t have the authority to overturn the FDA’s decision, but he would order a probe of whether the agency’s review was influenced by politics. 

Gore praised the pill’s availability. “Today’s decision is not about politics, but the health and safety of American women and a woman’s fundamental right to choose,” he said. 

Health experts note abortions did not increase when RU-486 debuted in France in 1988, or later across Europe. 

The pill’s journey to the United States began in 1994, when French manufacturer Roussel-Uclaf turned over U.S. rights to the drug to the nonprofit Population Council of New York. The council began clinical trials needed for FDA approval and created Danco Laboratories, a small company that will market mifepristone. 

On the Net: 

FDA: www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/mifepristone 

National Abortion Federation: http://www.earlyoptions.org 

National Right to Life Committee: http://www.nrlc.org 

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Marijuana is on the ballot across the West this fall, from proposals to allow its medicinal use in Colorado and Nevada to measures that would let it flourish in Alaska and the pot-growing “Emerald Triangle” of Northern California. Recent polls suggest the proposals are likely to pass in both Nevada and Colorado. In the past four years, similar medical-marijuana measures have become law in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Maine and Hawaii. 

Nevada’s Question 9 would let doctors prescribe marijuana for severe illness and pain. Nevada voters approved medical marijuana by 59 percent in 1998, but adding it to the state’s constitution requires another “yes” vote on Nov. 7. 

Nevada has strict anti-marijuana laws, yet a recent Las Vegas Review-Journal poll found 63 percent of likely voters backed the measure, with 28 percent opposed. And the state’s policy-making drug commission, which fought the measure two years ago, has been silent this year. 

“Nevada voters get it. They know this is a public health issue completely unrelated to the war on drugs,” said Dan Geary, a leader of the movement in favor of the measure. 

Colorado’s Amendment 20 would permit marijuana use for those with serious or chronic illnesses, under a doctor’s care.  

A recent Denver Rocky Mountain News poll found 71 percent of registered voters favored the measure, and 23 percent opposed it. 

It is the “the wrong message to send to our children,” said Dr. Joel Karlin, a past president of the Colorado Medical Society and spokesman of Coloradans Against Legalizing Marijuana. 

Advocates of medical marijuana use say it helps people suffering from ailments like glaucoma, nausea from chemotherapy and appetite loss from AIDS. Opponents, including the American Medical Association, say marijuana can contribute to cancer and affect eye disorders and multiple sclerosis. 

Out-of-state money is pushing both measures. Their chief backer is Americans for Medical Rights, bankrolled by three tycoons: New York financier and philanthropist George Soros, Cleveland insurance mogul Peter Lewis and University of Phoenix founder John Sperling. 

Since 1998, those supporting the Colorado and Nevada measures have reported raising at least $1.4 million. Opponents said have they raised less than $40,000. 

Not surprisingly, there is no organized opposition in California’s Mendocino County, where passage of Measure G would allow adults to grow 25 pot plants apiece as long as they are not for sale or transport. 

The Northern California area produces an illegal marijuana crop with an annual street value of around $1 billion. Last year, more than 300 pot plantations were raided in Mendocino County and $204 million worth of weed was seized. Authorities believe that for every plant they find, there are 10 more out there. 

Under the measure, the sheriff and the district attorney would make marijuana crime their lowest priority and county officials would seek an end to state and federal anti-marijuana laws. The district attorney and sheriff have refused to support the measure. 

Alaska’s ballot measure may face harder going. 

Besides making marijuana legal, the initiative would give amnesty for marijuana crimes and offer restitution for time in prison. 

Anchorage Police Chief Duane Udland warned that the measure would create “a drug culture, with all the young people sitting around stoned all the time.” 

Until 10 years ago, Alaska allowed people to have small amounts of marijuana, based on a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling. Voters banned pot completely in 1990 but later approved its medicinal use. 

Ah, the good old days when a smoker could buy a cigar for a nickel and you really could spend only a nickel or a dime in a five-and-dime store. When it came to gardening, it seemed that the grass was greener, the sweet corn was sweeter and the apples were redder – or were they? 

In fact, the sweet corn was never sweeter and apples were never redder than today. Genes in modern corn hybrids pump up sugar levels way beyond that of yesterday’s sweet corn varieties. 

And just look at the color of apples now. The skin is a richer red and is more completely covered with red than was the skin of the original, first discovered growing wild on a farm in Peru, Iowa, about 1880.  

Apples became redder because this variety is especially prone to undergoing slight genetic changes. If even one cell in a tree undergoes such a change, perhaps spontaneously, perhaps due to the effect of sunlight or temperature, all growth beyond that point will carry on that change. If those changed cells happened to produce apples with redder skins, bingo, there you have it: A redder apple. 

All that is then needed is for an observant fruit grower to pick out that one branch bearing redder apples, cut it off and propagate it to make whole new trees producing redder apples. 

Apples are so prone to making “sports,” as these desirable mutations are called, that 30 different sports of this variety were found within a half-century of discovery of the original tree. 

This type of behavior is not limited only to apples and only to red color. Sports are responsible for seedless navel orange, red Anjour pear and White Sim carnation. 

As a gardener, keep an eye out for sports of any plant. One day you might find an apple branch with redder – or tastier – fruits, a weeping cherry branch with fatter blossoms or a delphinium spire with blossoms that last a long time. If you can discount such transitory environmental influences as fertilizer or weather, call out “Hey, sport,” then start propagating your find. 

After months of emotional debate, the Swink residence was designated a “structure of merit” Tuesday by the City Council. The 8-1 vote upholding an earlier Landmarks Preservation Commission decision, ended a pitched battle between building owner Joe Cox, who opposed the designation, and residents and business owners near the 1525 Shattuck Ave. property.  

The designation means that any plans to develop the Swink House would go before the Landmarks Preservation Commission in addition to the zoning board. The commission would evaluate any plans for changes to the exterior of the building before they were approved. 

“This only establishes a process for modifications,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “It does not mean that the Swink home is frozen in time.” 

“Our charge would be to retain context and streetscape, and work with developers to retain neighborhood character,” said Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Lesley Emmington Jones. 

Cox, a Davis resident, said the decision ends his plans to transform the Swink home into a 25-room, upscale, boutique and hotel with turm-of-the-century architecture.  

“I am disappointed by the decision. I think it was a politicized decision, and we have no idea what we will do with it now,” Cox told the Daily Planet. 

Councilmember Betty Olds, the lone dissenting voice on the council, agreed. 

“The minute you get 700 signatures on a petition, councilmembers sit up and listen,” she said, referring to the petition circulated by opponents. “I think that the LPC does a great job of designating structures of merit, but this time they need to look at their motivation.  

“The majority of those 700 signatories signed not because they think the Swink house is a structure of merit, but because they don’t want a hotel there. If someone wants to put a fish tank on their property, that has nothing to do with the structure of merit designation.  

“First things first.  

The Swink House should have been judged on its architectural merit, and I don’t believe that happened,” she said. 

The decision substantially affects the value of the property and what can be done with it.  

“We can do nothing but try to update the small cottage and storefront, and that’s not economically viable,” Cox said. “My only recourse would be to go to court, but at this moment I have no plans to (fight) the decision,” he said. 

In her typically straightforward manner, Olds told the council and public, “We need to look at the fact that we’re trying to save everything, rather than save the things that are remarkable. The Swink House is bloated with additions. If you look at the storefront, it really looks like a blighted area. Why preserve that? It could actually hurt the neighborhood.” 

Others agreed that the storefront, on Shattuck and in front of the cottage, is in need of improvement, but that the designation would facilitate its upgrading rather than hinder it. 

“As it is, the Swink House is something that doesn’t live up to its potential, and the ordinance assists us to do that,” Mayor Shirley Dean said. “I hope that everyone will take a reasonable approach to make these houses more prominent and retain the character of this neighborhood.” 

Still others claimed that aside from any other development issues, that the Swink House represented the common-place architectural structure of its time, and for that reason should be considered a structure of merit. 

“If we save only the architectural masterpieces, we will fail to tell the story of the history of this city. It is these vernacular structures which tell the story of our city, our landmarks,” said LPC Commissioner Jill Korte. 

Thursday, Sept. 28

Traffic-calming workshop 

7-10 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 6th St. 

This workshop is designed for the public to share traffic-calming ideas. 

Free Introduction to Golden Shield Qi gong 

6:30 p.m.  

Assembly Hall, First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Learn the basics of this 4,000-year-old system that promotes health and strength of body, mind and spirit. 

More info: 849-2231 

Forest Action Roadshow  

Presents Darryl Cherney 

Music from the Andes 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

International House, Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Performances by Juanita Newland-Ulloa and the traditional music group, Grupo Atahualpamanta.  

Co-sponsored by Earth Mandala, an international organization for global peace.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo,  

642-9460 

Alta Bates Breast Cancer Center Benefit 

6:30 p.m. This gala event features a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception and a Fall Fashion Workshop presented by Nordstrom and image consultant Anthea Tolomei. $50.  

Claremont Resort and Spa, 41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley.  

843-3000 ext. 290 or www.claremontresort.com 

Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

One of the items on the agenda is a request to construct a 5,250 square foot addition to an existing auto sales building at 1500 San Pablo.  

Contact Mark A. Rhoades, 705-8110 

West Berkeley Project Area Meeting 

7 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Ave.  

One of the topics to be discussed will be the Berkeley Crossing/SPI Agreement for public parking and use of Second Street for temporary permit parking.  

Contact Daniel Vanderpriem,  

705-8134 

Saturday, Sept. 30

Jim Hightower: “Election 2000: a Space Odyssey” 

8 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Sponsored by KPFA and Global Exchange 

“I am an agitator,” Hightower says. “The agitator is the centerpost in a washing machine that gets the dirt out.” 

$10 in advance/$12 at the door 

848-6767 x609 

Tour Mission District Gardens 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

One of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance for this fall. Tour SF’s Mission District and learn about the role of gardens and open space in community planning. Call: 415-255-3233 to make reservations 

Dharma Publishing Showroom Tour 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 - 3 p.m.) 

Dharma House 

2910 San Pablo Ave. 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 p.m. -3 p.m.) 

See traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, spinning copper prayer wheels and a video of the work Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India.  

More info: 848-4238 

South Berkeley Cultural  

Landscape Walking Tour 

Led by Bill Coburn. 

Contact Berkeley Historical Society, 848-0181 

Sunday, Oct. 1

Return of the Raptors  

to Marin 

Drivers: 11:45 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

Bikers: 10:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Witness the migration of birds of prey over the Marin Headlands. Includes a hawk talk and banding demonstration and lunch at Rodeo Lagoon. Bike from SF or meet at Hawk Hill. Part of Greenbelt Alliance’s series of free outings.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Open Paw Seminar 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Pauley Ballroom 

UC Berkeley 

Dr. Ian Dunbar, world renowned veterinarian and animal behaviorist presents this free seminar on the prevention and treatment of problem cat and dog behavior. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society and the Berkeley Animal Shelter, the goal is to make animals more adoptable through interaction with trained volunteers.  

More info: Janet Kotlier, 527-7387 

Celebrate Nigerian  

Independence Day 

5 p.m.  

El Cerrito Veterans Memorial Building 

6401 Stockton Ave. El Cerrito 

International treats, Nigerian music, dance and live entertainment, including a West African dance and drum performance by students from Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley.  

For more info call 234-5333 

Sunday Worship Celebration 

11 a.m. 

East Bay Community Church - Berkeley 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

849-8280 

Monday, Oct. 2

“2nd annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. $115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

“Clean Lies Dirty War” 

7:30 p.m.  

Unitarian Fellowship  

1924 Cedar 

This event is part of a national campaign to end sanctions on Iraq.  

(510) 528-5403 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of the city’s hiring an archeologist to study the possible mound remnants in the streets. 

Peace & Justice Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 665-6880 

Youth Commission 

6 p.m.  

MLK Jr. Youth Center 

1730 Oregon St.  

Topics to be discussed include the Berkeley High School Security Camera issue and the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Communication Youth Employment Funding. 

644-6226 

— compiled by Chason 

Wainwright 

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Permit Center  

2118 Milvia St.  

644-6951 

Wednesday, Oct. 4

“An Evening With Jane Goodall” 

7 p.m. A slide show and lecture by the world-renowned chimpanzee research scientist, conservationist and humanitarian.$16 general; $12 students. Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley. (925) 935-1978 or www.wildlife-museum.org 

Prayer Gathering 

6:30 p.m. 

East Bay Community Church - Berkeley 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

849-8280 

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

644-6480 

Fire Safety Board Commission 

7:30 p.m.  

Fire Training Division 

997 Cedar St.  

644-6665 

Thursday, Oct. 5

3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

New Role for the UN in the New Century 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion with Rosemary van der Laan, President of the Board of Directors of the UN Association of the United States, about globalization and it’s impacts on the economic, social and political lives of the world.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 7

Berkeley Grassroots Greening Tour 

Starts at 10:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. 

Celebrate Open Garden Day by joining this annual bicycle tour of local community and school gardens. Part of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Houses or Open Hills? 

10 a.m.  

Experience Black Diamond Mines Regional Park’s ghost towns, coal mines, spectacular views and open space on this hike by the proposed sites of 7,700 homes near Antioch. Cosponsored by Save Mount Diablo. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Redesigning Retirement”  

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

UC Berkeley (call for exact location) 

The UC Berkeley Retirement Center and the Academic Geriatric Resource Program will present retirement as a time of great potential. Participants will take part in interactive workshops dealing with the impact of technology on retirement; community involvement of older adults, among other topics. Prominent experts in the field of aging and retirement will take part in “ask the experts” sessions.  

$25. No on-site registration. Register by September 25. 

Contact: Shelly Glazer at 642-5461 

Harwood Creek Cleanup 

9 a.m. - Noon 

John Muir School  

2955 Claremont Ave. 

Help clean up and restore the creek that runs through John Muir school. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves, chippers/shredders, tools and pick-up trucks.  

Sunday, Oct. 8

Surmounting Sunol Peaks  

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

Learn about local geology while enjoying the panoramic views from three Sunol peaks. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Tuesday, Oct. 10

Cal Alumni Singles 20th Anniversary Dinner 

UC Faculty Club 

Dinner scheduled for Oct. 15 

For reservations call 527-2709 by Oct. 10  

Wednesday, Oct. 11

Are Domed Cities in the future? 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom  

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion based on UC Berkeley alumnus Tim Holt’s book, “On Higher Ground.” Set 50 years in the future, part of the book takes place in an East Bay enclosed by a climate-controlled dome.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Thursday, Oct. 12

East Timor: The Road to Independence 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion of events leading up to the creation of the newest nation of the millennium and issues raised on the road to independence.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 14

Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Grand Entry 1 p.m.  

Enjoy Native American foods, arts & crafts, drumming, singing and many types of native dancing. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley, this event is free.  

Civic Center Park 

Allston Way at MLK Jr. Way 

Info: 615-0603 

Sunday, Oct. 15

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Los Gatos Opera House 

Celebrate the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. This benefit features a variety of musical groups, local artists and samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries and microbreweries. Proceeds benefit Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person; $80 for this event and the Oct. 22 event in SF 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

Tuesday, Oct. 17

Is the West Berkeley Shellmound a landmark? 

7 p.m.  

City Council Chambers 

2134 MLK Jr. Way, 2nd floor 

Continued and final public hearing on the appeals against landmark designation of the West Berkeley Shellmound. The City Council may possibly make it’s decision at this meeting. 

Landscape Archeology and Space-Age Technologies in Epirus, Greece 

8 p.m.  

370 Dwinelle Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Professor of Archeology, Art History and Classics Dr. James Wiseman presents a slide-illustrated lecture.  

Thursday, Oct. 19

The Promise and Perils of Transgenic Crops 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berekeley, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 21

A Day on Mt. Tam 

9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Come play and hike in San Francisco’s beloved playground. This outing is part of a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

AHIMSA Eight Annual Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International House, Great Hall 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

The AHIMSA is a nonprofit foundation whose goal is to encourage dialogues and public forums which bridge spiritual, scientific and social issues. This years conference is titled “Science, Spirituality and Nonviolence.”  

Admission is free 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Sunday, Oct. 22

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Presidio’s Golden Gate Club 

Greenbelt Alliance brings the farm to the city in this celebration of the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. Featured are samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries, microbreweries. Also featured are live music and local artwork. The event benefits Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

An Evening with Alice Walker 

7:30 p.m.  

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St. (at Grant) 

free parking 

Join internationally loved novelist, poet and essayist Alice Walker in celebrating her new book of autobiographical stories, “The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart.” Benefits Berkeley EcoHouse and KPFA Radio, 94.1 FM.  

Tickets: $10 advance, $13 door 

Tickets available at independent bookstores 

More info: 848-6767 x609 

Monday, Oct. 23

Berkeley Chinese Community Church Turns 100 

6 p.m. 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

To publicize an event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). Calendar items should be submitted four days in advance. Please include a daytime telephone number. 

Minimum wage must be living wage 

Editor: 

The Industrial Welfare Commission is holding hearings this month to determine whether or not to increase the state minimum wage and, if so, by how much. The minimum wage is currently $5.75 an hour – less than $12,000 per year for someone working 40 hours a week.  

Every day we hear and read stories of people losing or being unable to find housing in California. The news has been filled with the skyrocketing cost of utilities, most recently creating a crisis in San Diego. And we all know too well the impact of gasoline at $2 per gallon. 

It is imperative that the wealth of this state be more equitably distributed so that working families can survive and prosper. We need a living minimum wage of at least $12 an hour.  

Phyllis Willet 

Berkeley 

Thanks for including tragic story 

Editor: 

A week ago you printed a story about a 11 year old shot by a Modesto swat team. The boy, Alberto Sepulveda was killed and the police have tried to say it was a accident.  

No major newspaper ran half the story that you did. None of the major newscasts televised this important story. Thank you very much for informing the public on stories like this, and I hope this will be an ongoing part of your newspaper.  

My congratulations. Thank-you. 

Bob Torres 

Oakland 

UC must respect the historic district 

Editor:  

For many years I’ve lived very near the site of UC’s proposed Centralized Dining and Student Services Building. I care strongly about the character of my Southside neighborhood, and especially about what happens on Bowditch, which is one of Berkeley’s most vitally significant streets.  

Only four blocks long, and with strong terminal features at both ends, the Bowditch corridor is a distinct and distinctive townscape subarea. The street is almost lined with historic buildings, including ones by major architects like Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan. The Bowditch corridor should be officially declared as what it already in fact is: a historic district. Within it there are only a few noncontributory structures, such as UC’s tempos on the site at Bowditch and Channing.  

Surely, whatever new is built on this site, at the street’s crucial midpoint, should be highly respectful of its surroundings and should deliberately act to support and indeed strengthen the Bowditch corridor’s historic character. But the proposed CDSSB abysmally fails the test. 

When the initial CDSSD design was shown by UC to the Design Review Committee and the Landmarks Preservation Commission earlier this year, both city bodies severely criticized it. Although the new design involves moving some elements around, there is very little improvement overall. UC and its architects seem to be largely ignoring the city’s very valid and strong comments. This is appalling. 

UC has even failed to provide adequate visual simulations of its proposed design. But what I’ve seen in the latest drawings, and clumsy single photomontage, is quite bad enough.  

The graphics reveal no serious effort to truly harmonize and resonate with the project’s historic neighbors. Instead, the design seems largely to be shouting its differentness. Despite the project’s location within a special and compellingly important historic context, the architects appear largely to be doggedly and dogmatically pursuing a non-“contextual” approach.  

This contrasts oddly with some other current UC proposals, such as the College-Durant housing and the Goldman School expansion, whose design approach has been much more contextualist.  

For one example of a problem with the CDSSB, the asymmetrically curving roof which would be right next to Casa Bonita. That roof seems to willfully clash with landmarked Casa Bonita and with the landmarked Anna Head property (which is on the National Register) directly across the street, and could disrupt the stately rhythm of the Bowditch corridor in general.  

Among other related concerns are the project’s apparent palette of materials, and possible resulting colors. In particular, most of the portions closest to Bowditch would have an assertively glass-and-metal look that in itself could severely conflict with the street’s basic character.  

Another major problem is that the landmarked Fox Cottage would be eliminated. I presume that it would be demolished rather than moved to some other property, even though UC alleges that this is still undecided. Especially considering that so much of the total site area would be devoted to landscaped setbacks and a corner plaza, I’m unconvinced that this tiny cottage couldn’t be kept in place, as an attractive and humanizing element of the complex. In fact, a study 1998 study done for UC itself specifically concluded that retaining the cottage would be feasible.  

John S. English, AICP 

Berkeley 

Fire Reno for Wen Ho Lee imprisonment 

Editor: 

Given the judicial, presidential and public outcry of disgust at the prosecutorial treatment of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, in contrast to Janet Reno’s self-righteous wrong-headed view on the matter, one of the best moves Al Gore could make to win votes in November would be to publicly urge Clinton to fire the Attorney General forthwith. 

As Florida Attorney General, Reno’s partisan, injudicious gullibility regarding the tragic frameups and imprisonment, as child molesters, of Florida nursery school workers, whose convictions were later irrefutably reversed, should have made her ineligible for the federal job in the first case. After events in Texas, and the Wen Ho Lee tragedy, her tenure should certainly be terminated.  

Judith Segard Hunt 

Berkeley 

Section 8 tenants need help and housing 

Editor: 

RE: your article on Forum Advocates for Affordable Housing. 

I have lived in West Berkeley next to Section 8 neighbors. The main problem has been no recourse to the ‘absentee’ landlord and the ‘absentee’ Section 8 staff in the middle of many bad nights and weekends. 

Our Section 8 neighbors (quite marvelous people when not imbibing) had drug, alcohol and mental problems along with their much louder friends who stayed with them for weeks and sometimes months, disrespecting everyone else in the neighborhood with music blasting, screaming fights, and door knocking and talking at all hours. Our Section 8 neighbors themselves would (when coherent) try to “keep it down” – but were abused along with everyone in the neighborhood by the ‘friends.’ The police came and the police went and yes, we threatened to take the landlord to court. After four years the Section 8 people were finally gone. Thank God. 

So where are the Section 8 mediators to help both their tenants and the rest of us live together equitably and get some sleep and to see that their ‘landlords’ take some responsibility for their business of housing Section 8 tenants? The group Section 8 housing nearby on University has clear rules and is well managed. As long as these same conditions do not pertain to individual Section 8 rentals – and we, the neighbors are left to the whims of t absentee landlord, I remain, forever yours 

Sara DeWitt, NIMBY 

Berkeley 

Honor the cars, too 

Editor: 

I enjoyed your Sept. 21 article about “car-free day” and about H.H. Bliss, the first known person killed by a car. The local bicycle enthusiast who publicized the 101st anniversary of Bliss’ sad demise did a fine job of getting his message out. Just as he did in commemorating the 100th anniversary last year. (Although I have no fear that these successes will make him complacent about putting his message out again during next year’s 102nd anniversary – whatever his message is.) 

In the interest of balance, though, shouldn’t we also identify the first person whose life was saved by a motorized ambulance? After all, hitching up horse teams took a while, and they didn’t move that fast. Yet victims of heart attacks and other emergencies often need medical intervention within a few minutes if they are to survive. 

And for a more complete picture, shouldn’t we also estimate the number of lives saved since cars cleared our cities of horse poop and resulting swarms of disease-carrying flies? The “car-free” cities of the 1800s weren’t idyllic, nor were they pristine. 

In any case, after reading your article, I drove home better-informed about the whole parking-industrial-media-gasoline-prison-IMF- World Bank-anti-train, anti-fun, anti-outdoor-play conspiracy. But the next day, I read that Europeans had mostly observed the European Union’s “car-free day” by driving to work in heavy, gridlocked traffic. Maybe we really need cleaner cars and better transit, not onanistic, ineffective car-bashing? 

Tom Brown 

Berkeley 

To the Editor, 

Richard Register's declaration, "I am not a rabbit" (Letters, Sept. 22) will someday sound as hollow as Richard Nixon's similar post-Watergate protestation, "I am not a crook." 

Mr. Register is indulging in his usual obsessions (jamming 15-story buildings into Berkeley's slim downtown) and his usual tactics (viciously attacking anyone who won't follow him into his looking-glass world -- which is pretty much everyone). His target this time was Carrie Olson, a fine City Council candidate in District 5. Ms. Olson simply proposes to defend our downtown's existing, well-thought-out zoning against Mr. Register's wild schemes, which have no basis in reality and no constituency in Berkeley. 

A day earlier, Mr. Register -- or the out-of-town developers for whom he fronts -- rented most of a Daily Planet page to attack two wonderful sitting Council members, plus one of the city's most distinguished volunteer commissioners. As for the commissioner, Mr. Register has been crying "Off with his head!" for years, but still can't even spell his name correctly -- let alone understand his wisdom. 

Mr. Register should stop assailing good people, and get back in touch with his inner rabbit. It is time he recognized that Berkeley's future does not lie upward, in some hubristic Gotham City of shadowy, phallic spires. Instead, we Deep Ecologists affirm that it lies downward: in high-density underground housing projects nestled snugly in Mother Earth's womb. To paraphrase another Nixonism: Someday, Mr. Register, we shall all be rabbits. Go ask Alice. 

Thank you, 

Morlock Chaillot 

Facilitator, Deep Ecologists' Gaian Alliance 

1776 Oxford Street, lower 

Berkeley, CA 94704 

(510) 845-6717 

Editor, 

Why is there is a housing and transportation crisis in Berkeley? Perhaps it’s because the city added 10,500 new jobs since 1980, while it lost 55 housing units (source: Berkeley General Plan). 

This jobs-housing imbalance continues today, and is exacerbated by the actions of the city’s residents. For example, at a recent zoning board meeting, not a single resident complained about thedevelopment of a new office building for 200 workers (and their cars) at Fourth and Cedar streets. However, they argued vociferously against 48 units of new housing at 2700 San Pablo Avenue that might allow some of those employees to live within 2 miles of their work place. 

Berkeley’s parking, transportation and housing crisis will not be addressed unless the city approves more housing along its commercial corridors. In the spirit of compromise, the developer of the 2700 San Pablo Avenue project has offered to reduce the height of the proposed project from five stories to four stories. The resulting plan supports public transit, helps  

to revitalize vacant storefronts, and addresses the city’s housing  

crisis. Despite the complaints of neighborhood NIMBYs, the Zoning  

Adjustments Board should demonstrate leadership and approve this reasonable  

and responsible project. 

Sincerely, 

Christopher Hudson 

Berkeley 

510.527.5663 

Subject:  

AFFORDABLE - SECTION 8 HOUSING 

Date:  

Wed, 27 Sep 2000 11:48:59 -0700 

From:  

“sara dewitt”  

To:  

Editor: 

In response to the letter (8/31) from Terry Powell: 

Terry Powell from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s (LBNL) public relations department, operated for the Department of Energy (DOE), is just doing her job when she promotes the lab’s official line on the continuous dumping of radioactive waste from their National Tritiu Labeling Facility (NTLF) and Melvin Calvin Lab on the UC campus. 

The Lab’s boosters endlessly repeat the mantra “tritium emissions below the U.S. EPA’s National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Pollutants (NESHAPS).” Never do they address the many credible criticisms of their absurdly low estimate for radioactive tritium exposure, including those in the report by IFEU, made by independent scientists hired at local taxpayers’ expense by the City of Berkeley. 

Dumping in short bursts and a short stack actually located below the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) are easily understandable reasons why exposure to LHS workers and visiting children could exceed the NESHAPS standard. Just because the flawed exposure estimates concocted by LBNL remain unchallenged by the perfumed suits at the EPA and the California Department of Toxic Substances is no reason for anyone to believe them.  

All the Lab’s arguments seem like such blather when one visits the site and sees the tritium stack just 30 feet from the LHS’s fence. Common sense tells one that whatever is coming out of the stack is all over whoever is near it. In this cases it’s most of the areas children. Triatiated vapor is extremely hazardous and has been identified as a cause of leukemia, cancer, infertility and other genetic defects.  

Ms. Powell is incorrect when she states that almost all their tritium is captured and recycled. As sloppy as their records are, they do indicate large quantities missing. Even when LBNl has admittedly dumped does not support her claim.  

Also contrary to what Ms. Powell claimed, LBNL’s treatability “study” was just a scam to unload years of backlogged mixed waste without obtaining the usual permits. Mixed waste, toxic chemicals contaminated with radioactive waste, is fed into an “oxidation cell” complete with igniter plugs and exhaust vents, and can run in excess of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. Sure sounds like an incinerator to me.  

Playing games by reclassifying the NTLF as a “non-nuclear” facility and “delisting” their mixed waste does not alter the reality that large amounts of dangerous radioactive material are stored, used and dumped there. Neither the NTLF or Calvin Lab are appropriately sited in our community and should be closed and cleaned up.  

Mark McDonald 

Berkeley 

Trestin George has more experience than the average first-year starter. The St. Mary’s tailback slid into the starting role just before last year’s playoffs when senior Eddie Smith went down with an injury. George started the Panthers’ final six games, gaining more than 200 yards in three of those games. 

A junior, George is the unquestioned starter at tailback this year, and he has responded with solid performances, including a 154-yard, four touchdown effort against Oakland High. 

The Berkeley native has also taken on a leadership role for this year’s Panther team. 

“I’m really working hard this year, and I’m becoming more of a coach/athlete,” he said. “I try to encourage the guys in practice.” 

George, 17, said that while his experience from last year is valuable, his game has changed since then. He has been working with a personal trainer in Fremont and has increased his size and speed. 

“I’ve gotten bigger and faster, and I’ve had to adjust what I do,” he said. “I have yet to reach my peak, and I’m working hard to get there.” 

St. Mary’s head coach Dan Shaughnessy said George has plenty of potential. 

“He can do everything we ask of him when he gets his head in the game,” Shaughnessy said. “He’s just got to play smart.” 

George has set a goal of gaining 2,000 yards this season, along with playing solid defense when called upon to play both ways. He was mainly a cornerback until Smith’s injury, and he has seen more time there this year. 

“I’ve been playing defense a lot more this year, so I’ve had to improve my conditioning so I won’t get tired,” he said. 

George said he is looking forward to playing football in college. 

“That’s why I’m here, to get to the next level,” he said. “After being on varsity since I was a freshman, it would be a real disappointment if I didn’t end up there.”

Dr. Brian Natrass had an epiphany when University of London Professor Gordon Goodman, speaking to the leaders of the Earth Council in 1993, said that by the end of 2001 humankind would be lucky if there are 100 million people left on the planet. 

The ex-attorney said that Goodman’s research showed that the life sustaining resources, such as the oceans, forests and fossil fuels, are in a state of steady depletion, while human population is steadily growing. 

Since that day, when Natrass went into a fit of hyperventilation in front of the 21 leaders of the organization that promotes the implementation of the 1992 Earth Summit – including former President Jimmy Carter and the late Jacques Cousteau – he said he has “set out on a personal odyssey to find corporate responsibility.” 

“That information was overwhelming,” the keynote speaker told some 60 audience members at a seminar called “Improving Your Bottom Line,” a gathering at the Berkeley Yacht Club Wednesday to discuss the sustainable business model Natrass calls “The Natural Step.” 

With growing interest and concern in sustainable business practices – ones that take social and environmental issues into account – Natrass’ model and book “The Natural Step for Business,” is an aid for business people like the mother and son team of Orrel and Derek Lanter, the owners of Uncommon Grounds, Inc., a Berkeley-based specialty coffee wholesaler. 

“Since we’ve met Brian, we’ve been able to bring this out into the community as a model,” said Orrel Lanter, president of Uncommon Grounds, whom her son refers to as a “dynamo.” 

“I’m from the ’60s,” she said. “I’ve been a social activist forever, and (sustainable business) is an important movement,” she said. 

Derek Lanter, Natrass, Mayor Shirley Dean – who challenged the audience to make Berkeley the first sustainable urban community in the world – and others spoke at the meeting hosted by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, the West Berkeley Association of Industrial Companies and the Sustainable Business Alliance of Berkeley. 

“It’s the way to do business without destroying our livelihood, which is the world we live in,” Lanter said. 

Lanter added that half of Americans drink coffee, and it’s second only to oil as the largest traded commodity in the world. 

“By using organic farming methods, shade-growth techniques and fair-trade practices, we learn to be sustainable,” he said. 

Shade-grown coffee is grown under the existing rain-forest canopy. 

“Shade-grown coffee is grown in harmony with the rainforest,” said David Griswold, President of Sustainable Harvest. 

“Coffee is uniquely tied to the source of its supply. Rainforests have been denuded and clear-cut, (making organic coffee farming difficult).”  

Orrel Lanter said that coffee that is grown by small farmers is grown organically with plants shaded by forest canopy that also provides habitat for birds. Corporate-owned coffee farms have developed sun-intensive coffee strains that can grow without shade, but need lots of pesticides. Soil depletion is another problem on these corporate farms, she said. 

In some cases, farmers on small farms will receive only 20 cents per pound of coffee, which sometimes sells for $8 or $9 in the booming gourmet coffee market, Griswold said. 

However, farmers working for companies that participate in fair-trade – such as Uncommon Grounds – receive up to $1.50 per pound. 

Hillary Abell, Director of Development for the Oakland-based non-profit TransFair USA, a group that determines if a company is engaging in fair-trade practices, said that her organization places a fair-trade logo on products that adhere to authentic fair-trade practices. 

“We hope that this logo gets as much recognition as Juan Valdez,” she said. 

She added that consumer education is paramount. 

Dr. Natrass said that he is scheduled to meet with several large corporations such as Nike, Ikea and even the U.S. Marines. 

“The Marines say that they’re the first on the beach and into battle,” he said. “They want to beat the other forces into this.” 

California senior goalkeeper Maite Zabala was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for her performance at the adidas Bay Area Classic Tuesday by the conference office.  

Zabala was also named to Soccer America’s Team of the Week for Sept. 18-24 for her exploits at the tournament. 

Zabala recorded six saves as she shut out San Jose State Sept. 22, 4-0, for her school-record 22.5 shutout, breaking Karen Cook's (1993-96) previous record of 22.  

With 5.5 shutouts on the season and a 0.34 goals-against average, the next records on her radar are Cook's season record for shutouts of 11 and Noreen Paris' 1985 school record 0.45 GAA.  

While Zabala broke the school shutout record against unranked San Jose State, the following game against No. 19 Santa Clara (Sept. 24) was more indicative of why she is a two-time first team All-Pac-10 selection.  

The Bears claimed the adidas Bay Area Classic – their fourth tournament title of the season - behind a season-high nine saves by Zabala in a 1-1 tie versus the Broncos.  

The Boise, Idaho, native was named Outstanding Goalkeeper of the adidas Bay Area Classic for her efforts. She has been a huge factor in Cal remaining undefeated at 8-0-1 and earning seasons-best rankings in polls such as Soccer Buzz (No. 7), NSCAA (No. 8) and Soccer America (No. 9). 

The Bears have placed a player on Soccer America's Team of the Week for the last two weeks, as defender Tami Pivnick was honored last week.

As UC Berkeley retrofits its campus, and looks for space to house displaced students and staff, the “surge” is being felt far from the campus. 

The small nonprofit East Bay Depot for Creative Re-use rents space at the university-owned Marchant Building on San Pablo Avenue, where Berkeley, Oakland  

and Emeryville come together. The  

university has decided not to renew the  

Re-use Depot’s lease. 

In 1997, a university study deemed numerous buildings “dangerous for life safety.” Space to move departments housed in those buildings is scarce. The City Council is currently locked in battle with the university over its plan to build replacement class and office space and add parking on university-owned land at Hearst Avenue and Oxford Street. 

“We need surge space,” said Irene Hegarty, campus spokesperson, referring to the temporary quarters such retrofitting requires. 

Department migration to available surge space is threatening the Depot’s lease. 

Established in 1979, the award-winning Berkeley institution designs products from used materials, turning headboards, for example, into “raised (gardening) beds.” It provides art materials for artists and teachers and sells refurbished furniture. 

“As of Jan. 1, our lease ends,” said Depot Director Linda Rinna Levitsky. “We don’t have new housing yet.” 

Last week, Levitsky thought that she had secured a new site, and asked the City Council to guarantee rent to the prospective landlord. But the deal fell through, so Levitsky withdrew her request. 

“I’m not sure why they chose against us, but they seemed concerned about the ability of a nonprofit group to pay the monthly rent, which is why we had to go to the City Council and ask for a guarantee,” Levitsky said. 

As a last resort Levitsky delivered a letter Wednesday to the university, asking that the lease be extended for 18 months, with an option for six months during which time the Depot would pay double the current 96 cents-per-square-foot rent. The letter also said that the Depot would actively seek alternative space during this period. 

Marie Felde, campus spokesperson, said the university received the letter, and came back with a different proposal.  

“What we have offered, is to allow the Depot to keep its space on a month to month basis at market rates, which is $1.75 per square foot. Both parties would have a 90-day notice period before ending the relationship,” Felde said. 

But paying market rates is difficult for a re-use center which sells much of its recyclables to teachers, a sector of society which is not reaping the benefits of the booming California economy, Levitsky said. 

“I suppose that what would have to happen is that we could close a third of our store and go bare bones. But I really don’t know,” she said. 

“Paying market rates would totally undermine our business plan now, after five years of building this into a viable and prosperous re-use outlet. I’m watching it go into a very shaky position. All nonprofit groups are facing the same situation unless they have a 15 year lease or own their property. Prices are just skyrocketing.” said Levitsky. 

But the times have changed.  

“Limited building inventory is pressuring rents dramatically,” said Michael Caplan, downtown coordinator for the Office of Economic Development. “In Berkeley, we’ve hit capacity. There’s no space anywhere.” 

When the lease was first offered to the Re-use Depot, it was offered as a “community service,” Hegarty said. “We have been offering that space to the Depot at below market rates as a community service for the last five years now.” 

“Now, the university is tight on space, and there is quite a bit of movement around campus. The Depot space would be used to house our staff.” 

Levitsky however, said that the entire second floor of the Marchant Building is vacant, and questions the need to take over the whole building. 

“If there were offices in use by UC on the second floor, and they needed more space, I guess I’d see more of a reason for them not to renew our lease,” she said. “But there is other space that they can occupy before they occupy this building.” 

For now, the tenuous hold on space will have to suffice until a permanent home can be found. 

“We would be willing to work with anyone we can to find the depot a permanent home,” added Levitsky. 

Criminals love her, the innocent crave her attention, and the judicial system isn’t complete without her. 

She is LeeAnn Curtis, owner of Alder Creek Bail Bonds, a 7-year-old agency with offices in Berkeley and Truckee that assists suspects in posting bail through Northern California. Curtis, with long, styled blonde hair, big eyes, long lashes, and a charming, chubby-cheek smile, looks more like a soccer mom than a bonds woman.  

But, she says, she loves her job and the control it gives her. 

“I wanted to do my own thing,” Curtis said in a telephone interview from her home in Truckee. “It’s kinda like you get to a point in your life where you want to be your own boss.” 

So, in 1993, while pregnant with her first child, she quit her 9 to 5 marketing job in favor of owning her own company. And for Curtis, the bail bonds business was virtually no risk. Someone is always going to jail, she said. 

“While my kids are sleeping, I’m working,” Curtis said. “I really started it so I had something to do while I was having babies because I can go out and work at night and be a mom during the day.” 

In actuality, however, she is raising her children, a 7-year-old, 6-year-old twins and a 3-year-old, between jailhouse phone calls. 

Prime time for a bail bond agent is after midnight, but the phone rings 24-hours-a-day. 

“Basically all the calls come to me,” she said, explaining that the 27 local and one toll free number are routed to her in Truckee. “I interview clients, try to determine how stable they are and then I decide at that point if we need collateral. It’s kinda like this: if I don’t feel like the person’s a good risk, I’m not gonna write the bail I don’t really want to chase people all over creation.” 

It’s that occasional chase, despite selectively approving clients, that gives Curtis a rush. When a client she has posted bail for doesn’t show, the courts send a notice of forfeiture, and it’s up to Curtis to switch from bondsman to bounty hunter. 

“I don’t sleep when I have that going on because I don’t want to pay that bail,” she said. “If I don’t catch them I have to pay it. Many times they really don’t ever expect someone to come after them and locating them is really the hardest part. People get around.” 

She brightens up at the recollection of hunts for her fugitive clients. 

“I had this one guy call and tell me he was on the run and he kept calling me,” she said. “He wasn’t even thinking I had Caller ID, so I knew where he was the whole time – in Washington.” Curtis said she “just played along” like she wanted to help. Using her “little girl sweet voice” – a high pitched, sing-song, almost dreamy sound – she encouraged him to return. 

But with a $15,000 bond at risk, she also alerted the border patrol. 

“They forget that you’re the bail agent and they think that you’re their friend and as soon as they do that, you’ve got ’em!” 

Lulled by Curtis’ valley girl style, filled with enough “kinda like,” “cool,” and “ya’know” to make even the most apprehensive criminal feel comfortable, the Washington wanderer offered to sign his house over. Curtis then simply had to ask where to send some Federal Express documents and, “He gave me the address where he was staying and I had someone there in 15 minutes. He was here by 8-o’clock the next morning,” she said. 

For Curtis, a successful capture means a chance to retain the profit from the bond. 

“It’s about liability,” she said. “The insurance company I write for is liable to the court, I am liable to the insurance company, and the client is liable to me.” 

Charging them a fee of 10 percent of the total bail, regulated federally, her livelihood depends on clients appearing in court. If the risk of flight seems too great, Curtis just wont approve a bond without security.  

“I don’t want to be personally liable for someone,” she said. Sometimes this means retaining property titles that she would foreclose on should the client miss a court appearance. Other times, it’s the family posting the bond collateral that makes it happen. 

“Part of writing a good bond is getting a support group for the individual  

because if they have mom on the hook or their sister on the hook, or somebody they love on the hook, they are not going to mess around,” Curtis said. “I’m real careful, I make sure I always have a parent tied in.” And quite often, those parents revoke the bail when their child seems likely to disappear. 

“All the time I get parents calling in to say, ‘Well junior isn’t really behaving and he’s still doing drugs and hanging out with the wrong people. I don’t want to pay this bail, will you just pick him up? I have parents doing that all the time.” 

But despite her precautions, a client or two inevitably gets away without a trace. 

Curtis said she usually has to pay one bond a year for untraceable clients. 

Nevertheless Curtis loves her work. “Every client and every day is different,” she said. “If I get one bond, I’m happy.” 

Although she says, “It’s a job that isn’t for everyone.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal jury on Wednesday convicted a San Francisco housing executive of 30 felony counts of bribery and making false statements in connection with a scandal that netted 22 people. 

Following a yearlong FBI probe, the case against San Francisco Housing Authority executive Patricia Williams was among the final prosecutions in a scam that ensnared two city officials and 20 others seeking to falsely obtain subsidized housing. 

“The U.S. attorney’s office is gratified that the jury returned guilty verdicts in this case,” said Robert Mueller, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California. “Public officials who take bribes and make false statements ... abuse the public trust.” 

Prosecutors said Williams conspired with others, including former housing official Yolanda Jones, to sell access to public housing units and Section 8 rental vouchers for as much as $2,500.  

Williams was accused of receiving more than $34,000 in bribes from renters, all of whom would not have qualified for subsidized housing. 

Williams’ jury, after three days deliberating, failed to reach a decision on 12 other counts of accepting bribes and lying to federal authorities. Jurors found her innocent of seven related charges. 

Jury foreman Greg McGiboney said Williams wasn’t corrupt, but fell to temptation. 

Numerous witnesses testified that they either gave Williams money or saw her take money in exchange for helping secure public housing. All 20 have been convicted or pleaded guilty. 

Jones, 39, was the only other city official ensnared in the FBI investigation. Jones, who no longer works for the city, pleaded guilty to 10 felonies in connection to the scam and testified against Williams. 

Williams is a 23-year housing agency veteran who supervised the Housing Authority’s relocation office from 1996 to 1999. She is free on bail and immediately left the San Francisco courtroom with her attorney, Randy Sue Pollock. They refused to comment. 

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Legge set a Jan. 13 sentencing date for the 57-year-old woman, who potentially faces life in prison. She is on unpaid leave from her $72,400-a-year position. 

San Jose — A San Jose landlord has been ordered to spend 60 days under house arrest in one of the dilapidated buildings she owns. 

Linda Arciaga was given the house arrest sentence yesterday by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge William F. Martin for failing to obey several court orders and injunctions regarding the condition of her buildings. 

Arciaga is scheduled to begin serving her sentence in Apartment 1 of 1405 Carnelian Drive on Nov. 1, according to Deputy City Attorney Carol Overton. 

Arciaga's sentence is believed to be the first of its kind in San Jose, Overton said. An East Palo Alto landlord previously was sentenced to live in his run-down apartment building in 1991. 

Arciaga's four-plex suffered from rodent infestations, cockroach infestations and raw sewage leaking from the upper apartments into the lower ones, Overton said. She has owned the units since December 1997. 

In addition to the house arrest, Arciaga was also ordered to make repairs, pay restitution to her tenants and not retaliate against her tenants. The San Jose City Attorney's Office is scheduled to seek injunctions and penalties against absentee landlords in five additional cases on Oct. 13, Overton said. 

It was 70 degrees as George W. Bush campaigned in California on Wednesday, focusing on education. It was barely in the 50s in Wisconsin where he’ll be on Thursday, talking about fuel prices. 

With prices high and winter in sight in the upper Midwest, Bush also scheduled an energy policy speech for Saginaw, Mich., on Friday – exactly one week after the Clinton administration said it would tap the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to stabilize prices. 

Democratic rival Al Gore had urged that administration move. Bush opposed it. 

What Bush does want done will be the focus of his Friday speech. Aides said in advance that he will advocate building more refineries and natural gas pipelines, increasing energy assistance for low-income households and toughening foreign policy toward oil-producing allies. 

Bush stressed education during three days of campaign stops in the Pacific Northwest and California, seeing it as a good issue for attracting independents and wavering Democrats on the West Coast. 

Aides deny that he is changing his message as he moves around the country. But all candidates make adjustments. 

While Bush’s energy positions are intended for a national audience, “clearly the Midwest is suffering from very high energy and natural gas prices,” said spokesman Ari Fleischer. 

Also, don’t expect Bush to say much, if anything, about his proposal to give families vouchers so their children can switch out of poorly performing public schools – once a central element of his education package. 

Bush has been de-emphasizing his voucher plan in recent days because it has generated unwanted controversy. In Michigan, a ballot issue calling for a voucher system is opposed by Republican Gov. John Engler, a strong Bush supporter. 

Bush ended his three-day West Coast swing with a visit to an inner-city Catholic school. He praised the parochial school system for its “zero tolerance for classroom disruptions.” 

“We expect there to be safe schools,” Bush told an audience of students, parents and teachers at the Ascension Catholic School.  

The school is in Los Angeles’ rough South Central area, across the street from a public school where a fifth grade teacher was killed four years ago by a stray bullet. 

As part of a $47 billion ten-year education package, Bush would give extra federal money to safe-school programs. He would also protect teachers from lawsuits for enforcing “reasonable standards of discipline.” 

Politically, some Republicans questioned Bush’s investment of three campaign days on the West Coast, where he faces an uphill battle. 

But his strategists were buoyed by recent polls showing him pulling even with Gore nationally. 

Charles Black, a Bush adviser and longtime GOP consultant, said a good performance in Tuesday’s first debate could give Bush another boost in polls nationwide – and that, in turn, might make California competitive. 

“I’m going to win California,” Bush told Larry King on Tuesday night in a CNN interview. “Please don’t fall out of your chair,” he added. “I’m six points down in the polls, but who pays attention?” 

Gregory Slayton, president and chief executive officer of ClickAction, a Palo Alto-based e-mail marketing company, said, “Bush is just five points behind in California. With the electorate being as volatile as it, he still has a good chance.” 

Bush’s chances are better in Oregon and Washington — states that have recently gone Democratic but where polls show a close race. 

Republican Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington suggested there’s a 50-50 chance that Bush can win both states. Together, Washington and Oregon have 18 electoral votes — the same as Michigan. 

Back on the East Coast, Bush strategist Karl Rove said he was not a “mole” who sent a Bush debate-preparation videotape to Gore’s campaign two weeks ago. 

“No,” he replied when asked the question during a party briefing in Harrisburg, Pa. He said the material was “illicitly taken, copied and sent through the mail.” The FBI is investigating. 

Gore, asked about the subject while campaigning in Iowa, made clear he believes the source was in the Bush operation. He said of the FBI investigation: “Now they’re trying to figure out who within the Bush campaign sent it.” 

The Gore campaign turned the tape over to the FBI. 

The Associated Press 

SACRAMENTO — Californians should pay special attention to the prescription drug debate between the presidential candidates, a state Assembly member said Wednesday. 

At a press conference touting the drug plan proposed by Democratic candidate Al Gore, Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Davis, said the prescription drug plan proposed by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush would leave too many middle-class seniors without coverage. 

The high cost of living in California makes it even more difficult for seniors on fixed incomes to afford thousands of dollars in prescription drugs, she said. 

Thomson, a registered nurse who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, said she is working on a plan to help California seniors afford drug coverage, but would not give specifics. 

“Senator Jackie Speier and I have been discussing how we might address that problem here,” Thomson said.  

“I’m more concerned right now about what will happen nationally.” 

Vice President Gore wants to spend $253 billion over 10 years to provide drug coverage under Medicare. 

Bush pledged to spend $158 billion in grants to states while phasing in private-market competition for Medicare over ten years. 

“What the Gore plan does is increase government intrusion. It’s Hillary-care of prescription drug plans,” said Bush spokeswoman Lindsey Kozberg. 

The Bush plan would fully cover prescription drugs issued to low-income seniors, the people in most dire need of assistance, while implementing long-term changes to Medicare, Kozberg said. 

Critics of the plan say high drug costs also hurt middle income seniors, who are not fully covered by the Bush plan. 

Low-income seniors are defined by the Bush campaign as earning less than 135 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of two, the poverty level is about $16,900. 

SACRAMENTO — Doctors, health officials and drug companies are starting a statewide campaign Thursday warning patients and physicians not to overuse antibiotics. It is a concern Rebecca Strain-Kale knows all too well. 

At 3 weeks old, her son, Maxwell Kale, was rushed to the hospital with a 104-degree fever brought on by a stubborn form of E. coli. Doctors gave him an antibiotic, but nothing happened. 

Physicians drew a blood sample from him and tested 12 different types of antibiotics before they found one that worked.  

The Rocklin boy recovered, but soon had need for more antibiotics. 

At 1-1/2, Maxwell developed his second ear infection and went through four sets of the drugs, Strain-Kale says. She is worried the boy, now 2-1/2, is becoming resistant to all but the strongest antibiotics. 

“Who knows if he gets sick again, if an antibiotic someday won’t work on him,” said Strain-Kale, who warns friends against using antibiotics unless absolutely necessary and has signed up as a spokeswoman for the awareness campaign. 

The overuse of antibiotics, too often prescribed for viral infections or colds that they cannot fight, results in “super germs” impervious to most treatments, infectious-disease experts say. 

The Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education – AWARE – will kick off the education campaign at the Capitol to teach the public that antibiotics, when improperly used, can cause more harm than good. 

The campaign has three objectives, said Elissa Maas with the California Medical Association Foundation – to tell people not to request antibiotics for colds and viruses, to take the prescription until it runs out and not to use leftover antibiotics for other illnesses. 

All of these practices lead to antibiotic resistance, she said. 

“If you stop taking the antibiotics after a few days, you’ve only killed off the weak germs and left the strong ones to multiply,” she said. 

The $320,000 campaign was funded by grants from pharmaceutical companies and health plans, Maas said. AWARE plans to spread the word through presentations to child care organizations, Parent Teacher Association meetings and the AARP. Public service announcements are planned for next year. 

“It’s hard, when your kid is sick, I think people think an antibiotic is what makes you better,” Strain-Kale said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a viral infection or a bacterial infection. But there is a huge difference.” 

Patients aren’t the only ones who need a refresher course on use of the drugs. 

A 1997 Journal of the American Medical Association survey found that physicians treating adults with viruses prescribed antibiotics to more than half of their patients with colds and 66 percent of those diagnosed with bronchitis. 

Antibiotics simply don’t work on those types of infections, Maas said. 

The federal Centers for Disease Control estimates 20 to 50 percent of people taking antibiotics are doing so inappropriately. 

Dr. Dean Blumberg, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at University of California, Davis, Medical Center, said he has seen the results of antibiotic overuse. 

“We have seen children who ended up having resistant infections that don’t respond to antibiotics,” Blumberg said. 

Among them was an infant who had to be hospitalized to clear up an ear infection that resisted antibiotics. The child had to have surgery when the infection spread to the bone behind the ear. 

“We have seen children who ended up dying due to organisms that have mutated so much that they’re not responsive to any antibiotic available to us right now,” Blumberg said. “It puts us in a helpless situation.” 

New antibiotics are expensive and can take years to develop. The Food and Drug Administration is considering placing warning labels on prescriptions to alert the public to the danger of improper use. 

Dr. Arthur Lurvey, a Beverly Hills internist, said his regular patients trust him when he tells them they don’t need antibiotics for colds and viral infections. 

“If you talk to them, they’ll understand there is such a thing as antibiotic resistance,” Lurvey said. “We do need to keep the current antibiotics useful longer. We do have medications that used to be routine, that we can’t use now because they are useless.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

For more information on antibiotic use, see the Food and Drug Administration Web site at www.fda.gov or the federal Centers for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov 

LOS ANGELES — Defective attic furnaces have caused dozens of house fires in California in the past 10 years but the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission was forbidden by law from warning consumers, the federal agency said Wednesday. 

About 190,000 homeowners may have the furnaces made by now-bankrupt Consolidated Industries based in Indiana. The furnaces, sold only in California, were marketed under about 30 brand names from 1983 through 1994, agency spokesman Russ Rader said in a telephone call from Washington. 

Brands included: Amana, Coleman, Kenmore, Premier, Sears, and Trane. 

Homeowners may have to pay about $2,000 for inspection and replacement of a defective furnace. 

Some homeowner insurance policies may cover that cost. However, “there is no way to provide consumers with repairs or replacements” until Consolidated Industries emerges from bankruptcy, Rader said. 

The gas-fired, horizontal forced-air furnaces can be identified by steel control rods installed above the burners to meet California air quality regulations. Unfortunately, those rods can overheat, igniting combustible materials or wooden flooring in attics, where they usually are installed, Rader said. 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission began investigating in 1997. The agency is responsible for warning about defective products, but it was prohibited by law from issuing such a notification. 

“We are restricted in what we can say about an ongoing investigation. We can’t specifically discuss a company or brand name,” Rader said. “It’s Congress that imposes those restrictions on us.” 

The agency also was unable to order a recall because the company went into bankruptcy and therefore was unable to pay for it, Rader said. 

On the other hand, the bankruptcy allowed the commission to issue a public warning because “the company’s out of business,” he added. 

“We continue to work on a possible recall” if the firm re-emerges, he said. 

“The commission is always bound by its limited budget,” said attorney Rachel Weintraub of California Public Interest Research Group. “It’s always needing to balance what it can do to protect consumers and what it can afford to do.” 

Damage ranges from a 1990 blaze in North Tustin that destroyed a Ferrari and ball gowns, to a $750,000 fire in Rancho Palos Verdes in 1995, to a $300,000 blaze in Porter Ranch in 1999. All three fires prompted litigation. Two cases were settled, while the Porter Ranch case is pending against a builder and Consolidated. 

California homeowners filed a class action lawsuit in 1994 against Consolidated and four distributors: Addison Products, Bard Manufacturing, American Standard/Trane Co. and Amana Appliances. A Santa Clara Superior Court is scheduled to set a trial date in October. 

Experts say that after eight to 10 years of steady use, the units become hazardous. A class action lawsuit was filed in summer by a Bird Rock family who contractors said could have died when carbon monoxide leaked from a malfunctioning furnace. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.cpsc.gov 

LONG BEACH — Greenpeace activists unsuccessfully tried to board a tanker filled with a million barrels of crude oil Wednesday, then followed the 900-foot vessel as it made its way toward anchor. 

Five activists left Greenpeace’s ship, the Arctic Sunrise, on five small vessels to meet up with the Pecos, a tanker British Petroleum Amoco had contracted to deliver Argentine oil to its terminal in Long Beach. 

Three of the activists attempted to board the Pecos, but the deck was too high above the waterline, said Melanie Duchin, a Greenpeace climate campaigner aboard the Arctic Sunrise. 

“It was an unsuccessful boarding, but that doesn’t mean it was an unsuccessful protest,” she said. “It’s a small detail as far as we’re concerned.” 

The five Greenpeace vessels and the U.S. Coast Guard escorted the Pecos to its anchor point roughly six miles away, off the breakwater, to the Port of Long Beach. 

The Coast Guard was trying to keep the activists at least 100 yards from the tanker, said Lt. Carlos Mercado, public affairs officer of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office/Group in Los Angeles/Long Beach. 

The activists broke the law by interfering with a ship’s passage, he said. 

“We just want to ensure safety, not only of the vessel but also of the Greenpeace members,” he said, adding that the Coast Guard was trying to ensure the confrontation didn’t end with an oil spill. 

Duchin said Greenpeace attempted to board the tanker to draw attention to the role of fossil fuels in global climate change, and the role of climate change in weather disasters from storms to floods to tornadoes. 

“Big Oil has to start investing meaningful amounts of money, starting the transition away from oil”, Duchin said. “The tanker is symbolic of the stranglehold Big Oil has on U.S. policy.” 

She said Greenpeace believes BP has failed to back up its environmentally friendly talk with action. 

“BP has touted itself as ’Beyond Petroleum,”’ Duchin said, “but over the next three years it plans to spend 50 times more on oil and gas than it’s spending on solar.” The $83 million the corporation spent on alternative fuels last year is less than what it plans to spend creating and marketing its new sunburst logo, she said. 

Walter Neil, external affairs manager for BP’s Carson refinery, said Greenpeace “should be applauding us and not protesting us, I think.” 

Neil said BP is the world’s largest provider of solar energy and active in further developing solar power and cleaner burning fuels. As for oil, he said. 

“Energy is our business, and we still need to keep the business running while we search for alternative fuels.” 

BP spokesman Paul Langland said the 2-year-old Pecos is one of the more environmentally minded tankers on the seas. Unlike most tankers, it has a double hull to decrease the risk of a spill. 

The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker has an Indian crew and is owned by OMI Marine of Stamford, Conn. 

SACRAMENTO — Saying the flag salute is a worthy tradition, Gov. Gray Davis has vetoed a bill that would have allowed schools to substitute a Declaration of Independence excerpt for the Pledge of Allegiance. 

“There are inspiring passages from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States which are and should be part of the school curriculum,” Davis said Wednesday in his veto message. 

“However, ... pledging allegiance to the flag is a tradition worthy of this great nation. I see no reason to depart from that time-honored tradition.” 

Current law requires schools to hold daily patriotic exercises and says the Pledge of Allegiance satisfies that requirement. 

The vetoed bill, by Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, R-Encinitas, would have allowed schools to substitute recitation of the following passage for the flag salute: 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, depriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” 

Kaloogian said that reciting that passage would improve students’ understanding of American history and government and their rights as U.S. citizens. 

———— 

On the Net: Read the bill, AB1747, at www.assembly.ca.gov 

RIVERSIDE — Riverside County voters will say good-bye to those familiar paper ballots when they go to the polls in November, instead choosing candidates and issues by computer in the largest application of electronic voting in the nation. 

The county's 615,000 registered voters will be the first in the state to go completely electronic by using a process designed to reduce paper and speed up vote counts once polls close.  

Touch-screen computers will be placed at the county's 715 polling locations, stretching from Corona to the Arizona border, county officials said Wednesday.  

“With the touch-screen units, voting will be easier, faster, more secure and more accurate in terms of tallying election results,” Mischelle Townsend, the county's Registrar of Voters, said Wednesday.  

Secretary of State Bill Jones joined Townsend and other county officials Wednesday for a formal announcement and to unveil the system.  

Other California counties are testing the technology. In Long Angeles County, touch-screen computer voting will be available at several locations during the three weeks leading up to the election. Marin, Monterey, San Mateo, Trinity and Tulare counties also will use the computers at designated sites. 

Similar systems have been tested elsewhere in the country, including Cleveland and Beaver County, Pa.  

“There are advantages as the technology grows that make the whole election system better,” said Hal Dasinger, an elections analyst for the Secretary of State's office who is helping develop standards for touch-screen voting.  

With the electronic system, officials say compiling results on election night will take half as long as tallying paper ballots. Another advantage: Voters who change their mind midway through voting can erase their previous choice and make another selection.  

In a typical election, many paper ballots are thrown out because of mistakes such as errant pencil marks, officials said. The new system, however, will point out mistakes – such as three candidates chosen for two open school board seats – before ballots are cast, Dasinger said.  

Townsend said the machines cost Riverside County nearly $13 million, but she estimates the system will save $600,000 in printing and paper costs for this election alone.  

She said 3,000 volunteers will help introduce the system during the Nov. 7 election. The county will still offer traditional paper ballots to those who are voting by mail.  

Riverside’s new system is considered a steppingstone to Internet voting, which has already been used in one binding election. In March, Arizona Democrats used the Internet to vote in the presidential primary, although traditional polling sites also were open.  

Not everyone is sold on the idea of computerized voting, however. Some worry that hackers could manipulate such systems and alter results.  

“The technology gets to a certain point where people get suspicious of it,” said Dasinger, of the Secretary of State's office. “It becomes hard to verify things like freedom from fraud and manipulation.”

Hundreds of demonstrators swarmed through the streets Tuesday night in an action they dubbed “Reclaim the Streets” – one part protest of International Monetary Fund and World Bank policies and the other part street party, said Joe Hill, an alias used by one of the organizers.  

When demonstrators “seized” the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, the party began in earnest. The crowd began dancing to hip hop music, thrusting their signs and banners into the air, calling for “people before profits” and also for bicycle friendly-streets. 

With Center Street and Shattuck Avenue blocked off by groups of people and turned-over trash cans, an enormous fiesta ensued as hundreds danced, hoisted signs and climbed light posts.  

“These are our streets and we’re taking them back,” yelled Carwil James of the Berkeley-based human rights group Project Underground. “We need revolutionary practices and this is a good one in our home city.” 

At first it appeared as if the international day of action in solidarity with demonstrators in Prague against the IMF and World Bank would end with a party. But then the demonstrators mobilized and moved south on Shattuck Avenue. Someone broke windows at California Federal Bank at University and Shattuck avenues and someone hurled a burning carton at MacDonald’s Restaurant across the street – “targets of the anti-capitalist movement,” demonstrators said. 

A person charged with both incidents was later arrested and charged with a felony, according to City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Demonstrators marched down to Old City Hall where the City Council was meeting and set small bonfires as they went.  

Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police stood outside City Hall as a swarm of marchers advanced down Center Street before making a right on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

“We’re not going to do anything drastic,” Miller said, as the protesters lit six or seven large torches.  

“We have our crowd management force in place. We’re just monitoring them, making sure that they don’t do anything illegal. We have a bicycle patrol and adequate numbers of officers on patrol. If it stays this way, it will end this way.” 

Motorcycle and patrol vehicles, as well as officers on foot and bicycle followed the protesters as they worked their way along Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, east on University and finally south on Shattuck to their destination. 

In the meantime, a critical mass of bicyclists rode from the BART station down Shattuck, then left on Ashby Avenue to Telegraph Avenue, then back down Bancroft Way and along Shattuck again to the rendezvous point at the intersection. 

When the demonstrators passed Citibank at 2323 Shattuck Ave. two were seen breaking windows with sandwich boards.  

“Citibank was targeted because it’s a symbol of global capitalism,” said Jonah Zern of Oakland.  

Zern, who claimed to be an anarchist, said that “the most important thing is that people are taking action against a form of oppression.” 

At Ellsworth Street and Channing Way, officers in riot gear sealed off the block to prevent the group from moving to Telegraph Avenue. 

Shouts of “Victory” rained from the dwindling group after a tense standoff with over 20 police officers, who used batons to push the group back. 

The group managed to move on and reassemble on Telegraph, where some of the protesters continued the party atmosphere playing “duck duck goose.” 

For others, the protest was more serious. 

“We have an international agenda as well as a local agenda,” Hill said. 

The local agenda includes such issues as bicycle safety, the dependence of cars, evictions and rising rents and the prison/industrial complex. 

The protesters say the IMF and the World Bank promote a new form of colonialism that permits the rich, industrialized nations to steal natural resources from the developing world while requiring third world governments to adopt policies friendly to transnational corporations, according to their flyer. 

From a Bay Area perspective, housing and the gentrification of neighborhoods took center-stage. 

“We feel that gentrification equals apartheid,” said Susan B. Rodriguez of Oakland. “We need to end the apartheid upon the people.” 

Hill said the “Reclaim The Streets” approach started in England in 1995, as one part protest and the other part street party. 

“Part of it is coming out of the bike movement, in protest of cars. Streets aren’t safe anymore for kids to play in.” 

Hill added that the Berkeley RTS is one of many cells in solidarity of the protest in Prague. 

Daily Planet reporter Josh Parr contributed to this story. 

Wednesday, Sept. 27

“Improving Your Bottom Line” 

2-5 p.m. 

Berkeley Yacht Club 

1 Seawall Dr. 

Speakers include, Mayor Shirley Dean, Dr. Drian Nattrass and Mary Altomare Nattrass, authors of “The Natural Step for Business” and two of the world’s leading authorities on providing a strategic business framework promoting sustainability and profitability. 

Talking about Living, Talking about Dying 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Maffly Auditorium 

Herrick Hospital  

2001 Dwight Way 

A community forum providing an opportunity to find out about community resources and to share experiences. Moderated by Wendy Hanamura, producer of KQED’s series “Eyes Wide Open,” the forum includes a panel discussion and an audience Q & A.  

Contact Patricia Murphy, 450-8719 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Association Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St.  

Gray Bachlin, author of “Imperial San Francisco,” an analysis of environmental destruction in the Bay Area will speak about the BPWAs involvement in the design of the Berkeley hills. 

Law Center for  

Families Benefit 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

The Law Center for Families, a nonprofit professional corporation which provides family, housing and consumer law to low and moderate-income families and individuals, celebrates its first anniversary. There will be community speakers, food, drinks and live local music.  

Admission $35 per person 

RSVP by calling 451-9261 x204 

Current Topics in Federal  

Housing Policy 

noon - 1 p.m.  

Room 105, GSPP 

2607 Hearst 

Professor John Quigley will share insights into his current studies and the recent research conference, sponsored by the Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, held at Haas Business School. Bring a brown bag lunch.  

Call Heather Cameron, 642-9437 

Berkeley Gray Panthers  

Meeting 

1:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Titled “How do we get there?,” this meeting will focus on the Bay Area’s massive transportation jam, lack of public transit and the importance of Measure B. Elected officials and transportation systems’ representatives will be in attendance.  

548-9696 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Contact Mary Ann Merker-Benton, 705-8183 

Disaster Council Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar 

Contact Reginald Garcia, 644-6665 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m.  

Mental Health Clinic 

2640 MLK Jr. Way 

Contact Harvey Tureck, 644-8712 

Planning Commission Meeting 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

The Commission will be discussing the Draft Southside Plan and Southside Zoning provisions 

Contact Karen Haney-Owens, 705-8137 

Thursday, Sept. 28

Free Introduction to Golden Shield Qi Gong 

6:30 p.m.  

Assembly Hall,  

First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Learn the basics of this 4,000-year-old system that promotes health and strength of body, mind and spirit. 

More info: 849-2231 

Forest Action Roadshow  

Presents Darryl Cherney 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship 

1606 Bonita (at Cedar) 

Called “the Woody Guthrie of the North Woods” by the SF Examiner, Cherney has been an avid defender of the redwoods.  

He will present lighthearted songs and a slide show about the direct action protests he’s helped organize. 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Music from the Andes 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

International House, Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Performances by Juanita Newland-Ulloa and the traditional music group, Grupo Atahualpamanta. Co-sponsored by Earth Mandala, an international organization for global peace.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Alta Bates Breast Cancer Center Benefit 

6:30 p.m. This gala event features a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception and a Fall Fashion Workshop presented by Nordstrom and image consultant Anthea  

Tolomei. $50.  

Claremont Resort and Spa, 41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley.  

(510) 843-3000 ext. 290 or www.claremontresort.com 

Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

One of the items on the agenda is a request to construct a 5,250 square foot addition to an existing auto sales building at 1500 San Pablo.  

Contact Mark A. Rhoades, 705-8110 

West Berkeley Project Area Meeting 

7 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Ave.  

One of the topics to be discussed will be the Berkeley Crossing/SPI Agreement for public parking and use of Second Street for temporary permit parking.  

Contact Daniel Vanderpriem, 705-8134 

Kids Carpentry & Habitot 

Mondays, 2 - 5:45 p.m.  

Habitot Children’s Museum 

2065 Kittredge St.  

This after-school program for children aged five to ten allows the tikes to work together creating boats, trucks, bird feeders and other creations while emphasizing the safe use of hand tools. The first session begins Oct. 2 and runs through Oct. 30.  

$90 for members; $95 for non-members 

Call 647-1112 

Saturday, Sept. 30

Jim Hightower: “Election 2000: a Space Odyssey” 

8 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Sponsored by KPFA and Global Exchange 

“I am an agitator,” Hightower says. “The agitator is the centerpost in a washing machine that gets the dirt out.” 

$10 in advance/$12 at the door 

848-6767 x609 

Tour Mission District Gardens 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

One of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance for this fall. Tour SF’s Mission District and learn about the role of gardens and open space in community planning. 

Call: 415-255-3233 to make reservations 

Dharma Publishing Showroom Tour 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 - 3 p.m.) 

Dharma House 

2910 San Pablo Ave. 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 p.m. -3 p.m.) 

See traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, spinning copper prayer wheels and a video of the work Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India.  

More info: 848-4238 

South Berkeley Cultural Landscape Walking Tour 

Led by Bill Coburn. 

Contact Berkeley Historical Society, 848-0181 

Sunday, October 1

Return of the Raptors to Marin 

Drivers: 11:45 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

Bikers: 10:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Witness the migration of birds of prey over the Marin Headlands. Includes a hawk talk and banding demonstration and lunch at Rodeo Lagoon. Bike from SF or meet at Hawk Hill. Part of Greenbelt Alliance’s series of free outings.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Open Paw Seminar 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Pauley Ballroom 

UC Berkeley 

Dr. Ian Dunbar, world renowned veterinarian and animal behaviorist presents this free seminar on the prevention and treatment of problem cat and dog behavior. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society and the Berkeley Animal Shelter, the goal is to make animals more adoptable through interaction with trained volunteers.  

More info: Janet Kotlier, 527-7387 

Celebrate Nigerian Independence Day 

5 p.m.  

El Cerrito Veterans Memorial Building 

6401 Stockton Ave.  

El Cerrito 

International treats, Nigerian music, dance and live entertainment, including a West African dance and drum performance by students from Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley.  

For more info call 234-5333 

Sunday Worship Celebration 

11 a.m. 

East Bay Community Church - Berkeley 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

849-8280 

Monday, Oct. 2

“2nd annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. 

$115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

“Clean Lies Dirty War” 

7:30 p.m.  

Unitarian Fellowship  

1924 Cedar 

This event is part of a national campaign to end sanctions on Iraq.  

(510) 528-5403 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of the city’s hiring an archeologist to study the possible mound remnants in the streets. 

Peace & Justice Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

665-6880 

Youth Commission 

6 p.m.  

MLK Jr. Youth Center 

1730 Oregon St.  

Topics to be discussed include the Berkeley High School Security Camera issue and the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Communication Youth Employment Funding. 

644-6226 

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Permit Center  

2118 Milvia St.  

644-6951 

Wednesday, Oct. 4

“An Evening With Jane Goodall” 

7 p.m. A slide show and lecture by the world-renowned chimpanzee research scientist, conservationist and humanitarian.$16 general; $12 students. Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley. (925) 935-1978 or www.wildlife-museum.org 

Prayer Gathering 

6:30 p.m. 

East Bay Community Church - Berkeley 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

849-8280 

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

644-6480 

Fire Safety Board Commission 

7:30 p.m.  

Fire Training Division 

997 Cedar St.  

644-6665 

Thursday, Oct. 5

3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

New Role for the UN in the New Century 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion with Rosemary van der Laan, President of the Board of Directors of the UN Association of the United States, about globalization and it’s impacts on the economic, social and political lives of the world.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 7

Berkeley Grassroots Greening Tour 

Starts at 10:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. 

Celebrate Open Garden Day by joining this annual bicycle tour of local community and school gardens. Part of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Houses or Open Hills? 

10 a.m.  

Experience Black Diamond Mines Regional Park’s ghost towns, coal mines, spectacular views and open space on this hike by the proposed sites of 7,700 homes near Antioch. Cosponsored by Save Mount Diablo. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Redesigning Retirement”  

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

UC Berkeley (call for exact location) 

The UC Berkeley Retirement Center and the Academic Geriatric Resource Program will present retirement as a time of great potential. Participants will take part in interactive workshops dealing with the impact of technology on retirement; community involvement of older adults, among other topics. Prominent experts in the field of aging and retirement will take part in “ask the experts” sessions.  

$25. No on-site registration. Register by September 25. 

Contact: Shelly Glazer at 642-5461 

Harwood Creek Cleanup 

9 a.m. - Noon 

John Muir School  

2955 Claremont Ave. 

Help clean up and restore the creek that runs through John Muir school. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves, chippers/shredders, tools and pick-up trucks.  

Sunday, Oct. 8

Surmounting Sunol Peaks  

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

Learn about local geology while enjoying the panoramic views from three Sunol peaks. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Tuesday, Oct. 10

Cal Alumni Singles 20th Anniversary Dinner 

UC Faculty Club 

Dinner scheduled for Oct. 15 

For reservations call 527-2709 by Oct. 10  

Wednesday, Oct. 11

Are Domed Cities in the future? 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom  

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion based on UC Berkeley alumnus Tim Holt’s book, “On Higher Ground.” Set 50 years in the future, part of the book takes place in an East Bay enclosed by a climate-controlled dome.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Thursday, Oct. 12

East Timor: The Road to Independence 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion of events leading up to the creation of the newest nation of the millennium and issues raised on the road to independence.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 14

Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Grand Entry 1 p.m.  

Enjoy Native American foods, arts & crafts, drumming, singing and many types of native dancing. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley, this event is free.  

Civic Center Park 

Allston Way at MLK Jr. Way 

Info: 615-0603 

Sunday, Oct. 15

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Los Gatos Opera House 

Celebrate the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. This benefit features a variety of musical groups, local artists and samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries and microbreweries. Proceeds benefit Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person; $80 for this event and the Oct. 22 event in SF 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

Tuesday, Oct. 17

Is the West Berkeley Shellmound a landmark? 

7 p.m.  

City Council Chambers 

2134 MLK Jr. Way, 2nd floor 

Continued and final public hearing on the appeals against landmark designation of the West Berkeley Shellmound. The City Council may possibly make it’s decision at this meeting. 

Landscape Archeology and Space-Age Technologies in Epirus, Greece 

8 p.m.  

370 Dwinelle Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Professor of Archeology, Art History and Classics Dr. James Wiseman presents a slide-illustrated lecture.  

Thursday, Oct. 19

The Promise and Perils of Transgenic Crops 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berekeley, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 21

A Day on Mt. Tam 

9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Come play and hike in San Francisco’s beloved playground. This outing is part of a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

AHIMSA Eight Annual Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International House, Great Hall 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

The AHIMSA is a nonprofit foundation whose goal is to encourage dialogues and public forums which bridge spiritual, scientific and social issues. This years conference is titled “Science, Spirituality and Nonviolence.”  

Admission is free 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Sunday, Oct. 22

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Presidio’s Golden Gate Club 

Greenbelt Alliance brings the farm to the city in this celebration of the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. Featured are samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries, microbreweries. Also featured are live music and local artwork. The event benefits Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

An Evening with Alice Walker 

7:30 p.m.  

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St. (at Grant) 

free parking 

Join internationally loved novelist, poet and essayist Alice Walker in celebrating her new book of autobiographical stories, “The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart.” Benefits Berkeley EcoHouse and KPFA Radio, 94.1 FM.  

Tickets: $10 advance, $13 door 

Tickets available at independent bookstores 

More info: 848-6767 x609 

Monday, Oct. 23

Berkeley Chinese Community Church Turns 100 

6 p.m. 

Nov. 4 

Silver Dragon Restaurant 

835 Webster St. 

Oakland 

Reservations: $30 per person 

More info: 548-5295 

Saturday, Oct. 28

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Saturday, Nov. 4

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Saturday, Nov. 11

Moonlight on Mt. Diablo 

1 - 10:30 p.m.  

Hike up the Devil’s Mountain by daylight, catch a glorious sunset and hike back by the light of the moon. One in a series of free outing organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Sunday, Nov. 12

Views, Vines and Veggies 

9:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

Climb Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf State Park and peer down upon the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Then please your palate at the Landmark Winery and visit Oak Hill organic vegetable and flower farm. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Saturday, Nov. 18

S.F. Stairs and Peaks 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  

Begin the day with a visit to the farmer’s market, then meander up the stairways and streets of Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. Then up Russian Hill, descending to Fisherman’s Wharf for a ride back on the new historic streetcar line. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival 

11 a.m. - 1 a.m.  

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Fourteen hours of free concerts, workshops, jam sessions and to top it off a Saturday night dance. The fifth annual Folk Festival will feature Shay & Michael Black, Spectre Double Negative & the Equal Positive, Larry Hanks, Wake the Dead and many others. Sponsored by Charles Schwab and the City of Berkeley.  

More info or to volunteer: 525-5099 

Sunday, Nov. 19

Mt. Madonna & Wine  

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Hike through evergreen forests and visit the remains of a 19th century estate, then finish the day with a visit to Kruse Winery. One of many free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: (415) 255-3233 for reservations 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Fridays 

Ralph Nader for President 

7 p.m.  

Video showings to continue until November. Campaign donations are requested. Admission is free.  

Contact Jack for directions at 524-1784. 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesday and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

The national controversy about the Boy Scout policy of excluding gays has focused on the right of a private organization to decide who its members are, or on discrimination and bigotry, depending on which side of the issue you fall on. At the eye of this storm, however, is the alleged immorality of homosexuality - and neither side is saying much about that.  

“One of the saddest things about the decision by the Boy Scouts (is) they send a clear message to those who need most to learn tolerance that homophobia is acceptable, natural, even praiseworthy.”  

So wrote Anna Quindlen in a page-long Newsweek essay criticizing the  

Scouts' policy and affirming the equality of gay people. “Gay men and lesbians are more than what they do in bed,” the Newsweek headline declared, as Quindlen called for society to acknowledge the rights of gay men and lesbians to be, well, ordinary, and to live free from prejudice.  

Newsweek was far from alone in condemning the Scouts policy and speaking out for gay rights. Indeed, the public response to the Supreme Court decision allowing the Scouts to continue excluding gays has been nothing short of astounding. Countless newspaper editorials across the country have chastised the organization, and numerous corporations, organizations, and cities have pulled their support from the Scouts in protest.  

“The attitude the Boy Scout's of America embraces is becoming increasingly offensive, declared Maine's Bangor Daily News. Conservative Utah's Salt Lake Tribune called the Scout ruling “disappointing” and anti-gay discrimination “silly.” Even the Ethicist column in the New York Times Magazine entered the fray, urging readers to withdraw from Scouting and dubbing the policy “too fundamental - and too cruel - to tolerate.” 

Several cities around the country have limited the use of schools, parks, or other municipal sites for Scouting activities, and companies as diverse as Chase Manhattan Bank and Textron, Inc. have cut off hundreds of thousands of dollars in support. A dozen United Way chapters across the country have also de-funded their local Scout troops.  

This reaction is a gage of the extraordinary progress that gay people  

have made in American society. More than ever before, individuals, organizations, and public entities are taking strong public stands against the widespread discrimination that targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and they deserve applause for that. For millions of Americans who live with such prejudice every day, these changes are welcome, and necessary, and have been a long time coming. 

Still, something important is missing. The national dialogue needs to move beyond the topic of discrimination to the real matter at stake here: morality 

The Scouts argue that their mission to instill young men with values and morals would be compromised by having homosexuals as members. They require members to remain “morally straight” and “clean,” and staunchly insist that homosexuals are neither. The flip side of their claim, of course, is that by definition, homosexuals and immoral and dirty. 

There is nothing immoral about being gay, just as there is nothing immoral about being straight. Simply stated, sexual orientation and morality have nothing to do with each other. Some gay people are moral giants: my friend Darrel, who took care of his dying partner through eight months of gruesome and relentless illness, demonstrating boundless dedication and love. And some straight people are immoral skunks: the people at Firestone who knew that their defective tires were killing people in freeways accidents here and abroad, yet did nothing.  

Morality is about character; it's about being honest, respectful, and  

principled. Morality describes the landscape of a person's heart and soul; it's about who they are in the world. It's not determined by which gender (or genders) someone is emotionally and sexually attracted to. It's about each of us as individual people, and the level of integrity with which we conduct our lives. 

I want more for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people than just the right to be Boy Scout Leaders, or to be out in the military, or to marry people of the same sex. I want us to be seen as fully human, with all the spiritual, emotional, sexual, and moral strengths and weaknesses we share with the rest of humanity. But as long as morality remains shackled to heterosexuality, we will continue to be labeled immoral, dirty, and somehow outside the human family.  

It is time for us as individuals and as a community to speak up - loud and clear and often - and grant gay people the moral ground that is rightfully theirs. 

Patrick Letellier is a freelance writer and activist living in Oakland. He writes a monthly political column for The Slant, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender newspaper out of Sonoma County. He can

Even if they can’t change the fact that the federal government gives inadequate money for affordable housing, people can fight at the local level to determine where housing money is spent, Sean Heron, executive director for East Bay Housing Organizations, told some 20 people gathered Monday evening at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

“Affordable housing is necessary to preserve your community,” said Heron, whose organization is an East Bay umbrella group for various organizations which lobby and advocate for affordable housing. 

“Being able to preserve the fabric that allows your community to exist, if the market provided it, it would be simple. But it’s not,” Heron said. 

The forum was held to educate low-income housing residents on how they can become advocates for affordable housing. It was sponsored by the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project, a city-sponsored low-income housing advocacy organization.  

The discussion comes at a critical time for Berkeley’s low and fixed-income residents. Federal funds for Section 8 housing vouchers and affordable housing projects have failed to keep pace with the skyrocketing costs of land and housing in the Bay Area, said Ruth Nazario, associate management analyst for the housing department. Because of the high cost of land and construction, “they haven’t increased vouchers. They haven’t built new public housing,” she said referring to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The economic boom that’s sending housing prices sky high doesn’t affect everyone’s incomes equally. Rents increased by 40 percent in Berkeley last year, said Patrick Kehoe, a member of the city’s Housing Authority Resident Advisory Board. Rents increased by 30 percent in Oakland, Heron noted.  

At the same time, Heron said, the real income of low-wage workers with children decreased by 20 percent. 

In addition to funding, the major issue blocking low-income housing projects is community resistance, said Heron. He told the group that the “Not-In-My-Backyard” attitude must be combated with education. 

“If you don’t know what affordable housing looks like, you can’t articulate the need for affordable housing,” he said. 

Many of the fears and misconceptions of affordable housing – that it is poorly designed and crime-ridden – can be attributed to early public housing projects.  

The huge block buildings with apartments off one central hallway were too crowded, and made it hard for people to take responsibility for the building. Instead, people only took responsibility for the area starting at their front door. 

Developers have learned from these errors. Many of the worst projects have been torn down.  

Now the trend is to create smaller units, each with its own entrance, such as the 60 units of Berkeley’s scattered-site low income housing. 

A slide show of affordable housing – clean white houses with peaked roofs or salmon-colored square buildings – showed them indistinguishable from the other houses in the neighborhood. 

According to developers, affordable housing also meets neighborhood resistance, because of the stigma attached to low-income individuals.  

One audience member described her search for housing: “They didn’t want to rent to me because they thought I was going to trash the place because I’m Section 8,” she said, referring to her subsidized housing voucher. 

Heron talked about confronting these negative associations with facts.  

He listed the occupations of low-income housing residents: secretary, student, postal worker, physical therapist, interpreter, and IRS examiner, among others. 

The idea that these people receive too many subsidies from the government, approximately $26.7 billion a year, ignores the fact that homeowners receive $99.5 billion dollars in “subsidies” in tax breaks, he said.  

“You’ve made it if you’re a homeowner, but if you’re a tenant you’re a second class citizen.” 

Laurie Wonnell, of the Berkeley-based nonprofit developer Affordable Housing Associates, said a low-income housing development agency, gaining community acceptance can make a significant impact on the development process. 

When neighbors protest a development, “it can really slow down the process...where your design constantly gets reviewed,” she said. 

Construction prices can increase 10 percent in a year, so any delay means higher design and construction costs. 

“It can take a long time to get a project through. If there’s no opposition you can get more projects through,” she said. 

With increased local advocacy and education, members of the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project hope they can help move affordable housing projects more quickly through the city’s approval process.

The Ed Roberts Campus will be a good neighbor to South Berkeley  

Editor: 

Ed Roberts, one of the founders of the Independent Living/Civil Rights Movement for people with disabilities, once said, “There is nothing like building a movement on success.  

Whenever we have brought ourselves together, whenever we have joined various disabilities together, we find our strength. Our strength is in our unity.” 

When Ed died in 1995 we lost a great unifier but not our belief in the importance of individuals, organizations and agencies working together in coalition.  

As a memorial to Ed Roberts, the ERC embodies the values of the Independent Living Movement by establishing a center dedicated to fostering collaboration and improving the services and opportunities for people with disabilities locally and worldwide. 

The ERC is a nonprofit partnership of nine disability organizations that will share a home. The ERC will cluster a range of disability services in one location and provide convenient, easy access via public transportation.  

The ERC will be a state-of-the-art, universally designed, transit-oriented campus located at the Ashby BART Station in south Berkeley.  

The facility will house the offices of the nine partners.  

We hope to include a conference center, a library on the Disability Movement, a computer/media resource center, a gym/fitness center, a café, a small children’s play center, and a mix of neighborhood-serving retail and office lease space.  

All summer long, outreach to the neighborhood accelerated as ERC community liaisons traveled door-to-door introducing the project, distributing the ERC newsletter, and listening to people’s comments and concerns.  

We held several informal “kitchen chats” in neighborhood homes to share information about the ERC and to  

learn what the community would like to see along the 

Adeline corridor.  

The neighborhood has a strong residential character with an active community.  

The community is concerned about the type of development planned for the BART property, the traffic it will generate, and the impact it will have on the neighborhood especially in terms of parking.  

The ERC is committed to integrating these concerns into its plans. 

Currently, the ERC is poised to carry out the first phase of the architectural design.  

It is the level of design that enables the community to contribute valuable input that will shape the design of the ERC.  

This phase is the most creative portion of the design work, the point where the design team lays out how the facility might look, fit onto the site and connect to the neighborhood.  

On September 13th, over 70 community members met with the architects for the first of a series of design workshops to develop a vision for the site.  

At that meeting we got many comments from the community about the scale and location of the ERC.  

Please be assured that the suggestions of the community will have an important influence on the design of the ERC facility.  

The partner organizations are very interested in being good neighbors, and welcome the opportunity to share ideas and discuss options. We are also interested in finding ways that neighbors can participate in the programs offered by the ERC and welcome suggestions that could possibly be incorporated in our plans.  

We will convene another community meeting as soon as the architects have some design concepts for everyone to consider.  

We are excited by this process and welcome the community’s active participation – that’s what we mean when we say, “our strength is in our unity.” 

Joni Breves, chair, Ed Roberts Campus 

Berkeley

As the anniversary of the Oct. 20, 1991 Oakland-Berkeley hills fire approaches, area residents and firefighters watch the browning of vegetation around them and assess today’s fire danger. 

The amount of vegetation that can fuel wildfires is as high as it was in 1991, said Carroll Williams, an adjunct professor in UC Berkeley’s Environmental Sciences Department and a Berkeley hills resident. 

Still, the fire danger may be less because both cities’ fire departments are better prepared, others say. 

The threat of fire generally increases as the hot weeks of September and October dry out vegetation, and as the Diablo winds – warm, dry easterly winds that reach speeds of more than 20 miles per hour – pick up. It was these winds which blew during the 1991 fire that claimed 25 lives and destroyed over 3,000 homes and apartments. 

An abundance of Monterey pines, eucalyptus trees and dry brush, especially French broom – all highly flammable – provided the initial fuel for the 1991 fire, Williams said. 

The growth has made a tremendous comeback in the wildland areas of the hills. “We’re approximately in the same place as 1991 as far as vegetation goes,” said Williams. “Monterey pine cones remain closed until they come in contact with fire. Then they open and spread seeds. This is how it has evolved to regenerate.” 

Williams said the winter preceding the fire had an important effect on the fuel load. 

“It had a substantial influence because the trees had a lot of above-ground dead material killed by the freeze. So when it was ignited, it burned fiercely,” he said. 

Others downplay the significance of the drought. Scott Stephens, assistant professor of fire science at UC Berkeley, said the main factors are the highly flammable houses with a lot of vegetation close by. 

Although vegetation has returned in wildland areas owned by state and local agencies, including the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, East Bay Regional Parks District, the University of California, and Oakland and Berkeley, less of this vegetation is growing close to homes since the 1991 fire, Stephens said. 

According to environmental experts, fire officials and residents, state statutes specifying clearance distances around homes, inspections by local fire departments, and general awareness in residents have contributed to the improvement. 

And citizen preparedness plays a role. In Berkeley, CERT – Citizens Emergency Response Training – provides classes in fire fighting and disaster first aid, taught by retired firefighters. In Oakland, CORE – Citizens of Oakland Responding to Emergencies – is receiving similar training. 

Nevertheless, Stephan says the passage of time has affected residents’ and authorities’ willingness to consider fire safety. 

“For a few years after the 1991 fire, there was a real discussion about moderating risks in the hill areas,” Stephens said. “But after four or five years, the discussion evaporated.” 

Many residents say they are concerned that fire authorities are carrying out fewer safety inspections. 

“For the first four years, Oakland kept on top of inspections and clearing away brush. Now they really don’t,” said Cathy Wong, an Oakland hills resident who lost her home and whose husband was badly burned in the 1991 fire. 

The decline in inspections and attention to vegetation in Oakland and Berkeley is partly because funding for enhanced inspections evaporated. Voters in Oakland two years ago rejected a tax bill that provided increased funding for inspections. In Berkeley, the City Council decided not to put the tax on the ballot at all. 

“We had an assessment district area right after the 1991 fire. People paid a special tax for inspections and vegetation removal,” said Lucky Thomas, Berkeley fire marshall. “That is now dissolved. There is no longer funding for it.” 

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 218, which limited “the authority of local governments to impose taxes and property-related assessments, fees, and charges.” It required two-thirds of voters to approve special taxes such as the fire assessment district tax. 

This meant that the tax on homes in the hills was no longer legal. After Proposition 218, Berkeley did an evaluation as to whether a ballot measure to reinstate the tax would pass, according to David Orth, Berkeley assistant fire chief. It was determined that it would not pass and so it was not placed on the ballot. 

According to Ron Falstad, Berkeley assistant fire chief, inspections beyond routine ones – such as the clearing away of debris – have been dramatically scaled back due to the loss of funding.  

Remnants of the inspection programs have been maintained through shuffling of resources, but the original frequency of the inspections no longer exists. If the Berkeley or Oakland fire departments find a homeowner in violation of state fire laws, they can clear away debris and bill residents. 

The assessment districts “got voted down because people didn’t care anymore and because a lot of new people moved in,” said Carmen Guerra, an Oakland hills resident. 

Such “new people” in the area are a cause for concern for some residents. 

“New people often need to be convinced that there’s a big stake here in terms of vegetation removal,” Williams said. 

Sachin Parate has owned his house in the Oakland hills for six months. He doesn’t see a problem. “I’m not concerned. As far as I understand a lot of the problems were logistical. Now there’s a (new) fire station at the top of the hill,” he said. 

One major problem during the 1991 fire was the ability of fire departments to cope with such a blaze.  

According to Stephens, Oakland and Berkeley were essentially urban fire departments with jurisdictions in wildland areas. 

“Many of the firemen didn’t know where to start or what to do,” said Jason Carlson, an Oakland hills resident who, in 1991, was evacuated as the fire blazed. “I can’t say they were panicked. But they were definitely in a situation that they didn’t think they could handle.” 

Now the Oakland and Berkeley fire departments say they’ve learned their lesson through extensive tactical and strategic training, updated equipment, and new communication standards. 

“We’re a lot more prepared now,” said George Stevens, a battalion chief with the Oakland Fire Department. “We’ve had significant training on wildland fire fighting tactics. We’ve had drills with other jurisdictions. And we’re working together on radio communications.” 

In 1991, fire departments from other cities had trouble helping in Oakland because their hoses were incompatible with fire hydrant hook-ups. According to Stevens, the problem has been remedied. 

“We changed all hydrants to 21/2 inch outlets within four to six months of the 1991 fire,” he said. 

Hills residents agree that the fire departments are better prepared. Guerra said that the fire department’s response to small brush fires has been swift and comprehensive. And the department now stays overnight after it has put out a blaze, rather than leaving the possibly smoldering embers, as was done in 1991. 

And fire science professor Stephens added, “You now see much better, cleaner communication. Oakland and Berkeley now have some of the best expertise in the state.”

SACRAMENTO — California’s rural counties launched a major court fight Tuesday against the ambitious CalFed water accord, labeling it an effort to grab control over northern groundwater and send it to powerful southern water districts. 

The lawsuit is the most significant legal challenge to date against CalFed. 

It was filed in Sacramento Superior Court by the Regional Council of Rural Counties, a coalition whose territories include watersheds that supply 80 percent of California’s developed water. 

The lawsuit contends CalFed ultimately would exert leverage over that water – either directly or by forcing counties to tap their groundwater supplies – in order to meet what it says are unsustainable demands. 

“CalFed perpetuates the same old mistakes, including the promise of water that simply isn’t there even in robust rainfall years,” said RCRC Chairman Tom Bamert, an Amador County supervisor.  

“California can’t continue to promise more water than is available for urban growth.” 

Many of RCRC’s counties have approved local laws barring the export of groundwater.  

The coalition is joined in its suit by the Central and South Delta Water agencies and several San Joaquin farm organizations. 

CalFed spokeswoman Margaret Gidding hadn’t seen the suit, but said the complaints aren’t new. 

“We’ve worked very hard to settle these concerns that we’ve heard throughout our program,” she said.  

“We have come up with what we think is a balanced program.” 

CalFed is a consortium of state and federal officials, water experts, consultants, irrigation district executives, environmentalists, biologists and others.  

It was created five years ago to seek a compromise between warring northern counties and southern water districts. 

Its goal is to protect the environment of the Sacrament-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco while providing enough water for farmers and cities to the south. 

The suit contends CalFed’s proposals fail to follow environmental standards. 

CalFed, endorsed by Gov. Gray Davis and the Clinton administration, envisions some $8.6 billion worth of projects over the next decade, including delta protection, conservation programs, major expansions of the Shasta and Los Vaqueros reservoirs and a 15 percent increase in water pumped from the delta. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco Superior Court judge today dismissed part of a lawsuit in which the League of Women Voters and two other groups challenged a juvenile justice initiative passed by state voters. 

But Judge David Garcia also allowed the groups to amend their lawsuit, adding new arguments against Proposition 21. Proposition 21, enacted by California voters in March, requires more juvenile offenders to be tried in adult court, increases penalties for gang-related crimes and changes juvenile probation rules, among other provisions. 

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Robert Kim said the plaintiffs will pursue the remaining part of the lawsuit in Superior Court and will also appeal Garcia’s ruling to the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco. 

“This is a statewide issue,” Kim said. “We’ve always felt that a quick and decisive appellate ruling is very important so that there can be certainty about this measure.” 

The plaintiffs include the Children's Advocacy Institute and Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth. in addition to the League of Women Voters.  

They sued Gov. Gray Davis, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer and San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan. 

Garcia dismissed claims that the measure violated a state constitutional rule limiting initiatives to a single subject and violated election procedures by having a ballot summary that differed from the text circulated for voter signatures. 

Those claims, if upheld, would have resulted in invalidation of the entire measure. 

Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said, “We are pleased the court has upheld the will of the voters.” 

The judge allowed the plaintiffs to add new arguments challenging specific sections of the measure that give prosecutors rather than judges the discretion to decide whether juveniles should be tried as adults in certain cases. 

The lawsuit claims those provisions violate the separation of powers doctrine and the constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection. 

The plaintiffs originally filed their lawsuit containing the first two claims directly in the state Supreme Court last April. 

After the panel refused in May to take up t he case, the groups refiled their lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court.  

The trial court and appeals court rulings in the lawsuit can eventually be appealed back to the state Supreme Court.  

An investigation into West Coast gas prices has found oil industry practices that raise “competitive concerns” with the Federal Trade Commission, an FTC official said Tuesday. 

The investigation found that an oil industry practice known as zone pricing can lead to cases where refiners charge different wholesale gasoline prices to gas stations that are located near one another, said Richard Parker, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. 

He said investigators also found evidence that oil companies prevent independent distributors from supplying gas to stations in particular areas, a practice known as redlining. 

“Arrangements by which independent business people are prevented by agreement from competing in the marketplace raises serious questions under the antitrust laws,” Parker said in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. 

But a spokesman for British Petroleum, which brands Arco and is one of the largest gas distributors in the West, defended the practice of zone pricing, saying it is the best way to make sure that all dealers in an area are treated fairly. Paul Langland said BP does not engage in redlining. 

The FTC launched an investigation in early 1999 at the request of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to look into a spike in gas prices in California. The commission expanded the probe later in the year to include Oregon, Washington state, Arizona and Nevada. The investigation is expected to be complete before the end of the year. 

Wyden submitted his own report to the FTC. It said oil companies charge higher prices for branded gasoline as opposed to unbranded gasoline; that oil companies arbitrarily set differing gas prices in different regions of Oregon; and that oil company owned-and-operated stations sell gasoline at retail prices lower than what competing stations paid wholesale for the gasoline. 

Parker said that when the investigators complete their examination of oil industry practices, the FTC could file a lawsuit, issue a report, recommend legislation to Congress or simply close the investigation. 

He cautioned that “proving an antitrust violation is not a simple matter. Oil companies have offered spirited defenses of zone pricing and redlining, arguing that these practices are justified by legitimate business considerations.” 

Oil companies have insisted that market conditions are responsible for gasoline prices, not industry actions. 

SACRAMENTO — California’s median household income exceeds the national average, while the percentage of poor residents has declined, Census Bureau data released Tuesday shows. 

At the same time, the percentage of Californians living in poverty remains higher than the national average, indicating the state’s elite has continued getting rich while the poor struggle to catch up. 

The three-year average state median income was $42,262 – $2,605 higher than the national average. The Census Bureau data covered 1997 through ’99. 

An average of 15.3 percent of Californians were below the federal poverty line over that period, compared to a national average of 12.6 percent. 

The average poverty threshold for a family of four in 1999 was $17,029 in annual income; for a family of three, it was $13,290. 

The culprit may be an excess of high-paying technological jobs, analysts said. 

“California has become an information sector where the cutting edge needs educated workers who are getting paid more,” said Joe Magaddino, chairman of the economics department at California State University, Long Beach. 

It’s not that California has more undereducated people than other states have, but that most of the state’s job growth is in high-skill careers, Magaddino said. 

Another economist urged caution when looking at the numbers. 

Although the recent decline in the percentage of those in poverty in California and nationally is good news, it doesn’t mean the problems of the poor are solved, said Deborah Reed of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. 

Over the past three decades there has been little change in the economic status of low-income families, “and we don’t want to be overly optimistic about the growth over just the last few years,” Reed said. The numbers should inspire lawmakers to do more to get low-income residents out of poverty, such as paying more attention to welfare-to-work programs and making it easier for entrepreneurs to find success, said Naomi Bauman, a policy analyst at the Pacific Research Institute. 

“Inequity can perpetuate itself,” she said. “It’s easy for a more wealthy resident to secure that venture capital or loans to start a business.” 

FRESNO — If diesel fuel prices don’t drop significantly in the next few weeks, small-scale California farmers say they will sink deeper into debt and consumers will feel the sting of rising food prices. 

The state’s diesel prices spiked in early September at about $2.05 a gallon – roughly 70 cents higher than last year’s price and almost a dollar over 1999’s national average. 

Since then, California’s average price has dropped to about $1.90. But for farmers who regularly spend up to 20 percent of their production costs on energy, the price dip might be too little, too late. 

“It’s affecting our bottom line and consumer prices and it’s gonna kill the economy,” said Keith Nilmeier, owner of Nilmeier Farms in Fresno County, the heart of the state’s $30 billion a year agricultural economy. 

The rising fuel costs could cut deeply into farmers’ profits while simultaneously driving food prices up, many farmers believe. 

Most growers negotiated contracts months before harvest and will have to swallow the extra cost. But food prices still may increase as truckers, processors, packers and distributors begin hiking their fees to account for the fuel prices, said Nilmeier, who farms 500 acres of peaches, grapes and other fruit and runs a fleet of about 20 trucks. 

The spike in diesel prices has coincided this year with rising gasoline and natural gas prices at a time when California’s increasingly high electricity consumption has prompted regulators to warn of shortages and brownouts. 

Farmers use diesel fuel to run planting and harvesting equipment and trucks that transport crops to consumers. Natural gas and electricity is used to manufacture fertilizer and process a wide variety of crops. Electricity runs machinery to cool livestock and pumps to irrigate farmland. 

This year’s spike in energy prices means farmers’ direct fuel costs will rise 40 percent, or $2.2 billion, and will make up the largest percentage of overall farm expenses since 1986, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

The high diesel and gasoline prices are attributed to a world oil supply that’s failing to meet demand, while natural gas production in Canada and the United States also has lagged, said Susanne Garfield, a spokeswoman for the California Energy Commission. 

Natural gas prices, which peaked in August at $7 per million British thermal units, are now hovering around $4.83 per million Btu. For years, the price didn’t rise much above $3 per million Btu, Garfield said. 

“It’s gone on and on with no end in sight. With increases in petroleum prices in general, we’re not confident that this will get straightened out any time soon,” said Mark Lyftog, controller for Harris Farms, a 15,000-acre tomato and almond operation near Coalinga. 

“It would take quite a withdrawal in price for world oil prices to get back in line,” Lyftog said. 

Lyftog expects to pay roughly $300,000 this year in additional fuel costs associated with the recent price spikes. 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has added five cities – Denver; Fort Worth, Texas; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Seattle – to its list of metropolitan areas identified as at risk of overbuilding of commercial properties. 

“Overbuilding is one of the yellow caution lights in the economy and the (banking) industry that we are watching closely, and it is a caution light that is flashing more brightly” than before, FDIC Chairwoman Donna Tanoue said Tuesday. 

Tanoue and other federal regulators are worried that banks are loosening their credit standards too much as they joust for market share, and that they could be unprepared for losses if the economy stalls. 

Problem loans by nationally chartered banks to U.S. businesses have more than doubled in two years, to $100 billion, according to a survey by a Treasury Department division released last week. 

The FDIC’s action Tuesday brought to 13 the number of cities deemed at risk of excessive building. The other eight are Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Las Vegas; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; and Salt Lake City. 

California’s science education standard was graded the highest of the states in a report released Tuesday evaluating the teaching of evolution in the states. 

California got grades of A for both evolution teaching and overall science standards. The report called the California standards “very detailed and well organized.” Other states getting scores of 100 and grades of A: 

Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina and Rhode Island. 

Scored in the 90s with grades of A: South Carolina, Delaware, Hawaii, and Pennsylvania. 

Grades of B went to: Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington, Michigan, Arizona, Idaho, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and the District of Columbia. 

Grades of C went to: Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Nebraska, Louisiana and Texas. 

Unsatisfactory grades of D went to: Arkansas, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Virginia, Alaska and Illinois. 

Failing grades of F went to: Wyoming, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Florida, Alabama, North Dakota, Georgia, Mississippi, West Virginia and Tennessee. Kansas’s grade was F-minus. 

Iowa was not included because it does not have statewide standards. Each district creates its own standard. 

Warner Freeman knew when he was in the eighth grade – the same grade he taught science to for 32 years at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School – that he would someday be | 

a teacher. 

In those days, the early ’50s, Freeman, an African-American, delivered newspapers in the deeply racially-divided town of Little Rock, Ark. 

One of the people to whom he delivered the State Press – Little Rock’s black newspaper – was Civil Rights Activist Daisy Bates. She recognized Freeman’s candidness, intelligence, progressive thought and social ease, and she asked him to be a member of the group that would desegregate Little Rock’s Central High, later remembered as the Little Rock Nine. 

Though the city and Bates knew it had to come up with an integration plan after the 1951 Brown vs. the Board of Education decision that required public schools to desegregate, it didn’t happen until 1957 – three years after Freeman graduated from Dunbar High, the city’s black high school. 

Instead of integrating the high school, Freeman and five others broke ground as they tried – though unsuccessfully – in 1954 to integrate Little Rock University, now a campus in the University of Arkansas system. 

Though he was unable to integrate the university, he said he doesn’t hold a grudge. He went on to earn his degree in chemistry and biology in 1959 from Philander Smith College in Little Rock.  

“I don’t fault any education that I had,” he said. “I had great mentors and role models.” 

Perhaps it is the mentorship he had growing up in the segregated South that fostered those qualities that Daisy Bates recognized, and it’s those qualities that have made Freeman an award winning public school teacher and one of the most beloved teachers ever at King Middle School.  

Monday night, the crowd of about 50 friends, teachers and students toasted the instructor, at the Brazil Room in Tilden Park for his over three decades of dedication and his trail blazing hands-on style of teaching science. Freeman retired at the end of the last school year. 

“King Middle School has been a blessing,” said Freeman. “When I became a teacher is when I came alive. I did what I was born to do.”  

Through his travails in the Civil Rights movement, his years as a researcher at the Lawrence Hall of Science, even those smoky nights when he picked guitars with Bob Dylan and Bobby Blue Bland, he said that he knew all along he’d be a teacher. 

When Freeman arrived in Berkeley after his college graduation, he became a lab assistant and then a lab technician at UC Berkeley. After a while, he said, the researchers noticed that he had talent, and wanted him to get his doctorate. 

“I told them no,” he chuckled. “I didn’t want to go back for all that schooling.” 

So they told him that “they would fix it,” he said, and he was bestowed with official researcher status without the full amount of education that it requires.  

Only one person before him has been given such status without a doctorate at the university. 

But it was a serendipitous trip to Oakland as a tutor in the public school system that kindled the fire. 

“When I saw those faces light up when they understood what you were explaining, it was like I knew it all along,” he said.  

He quickly enrolled in a brand-new program at the university that allowed grad students to teach and take classes to become certified. He earned that certification in 1968, and started teaching at King that same year. 

Students and parents remembered Freeman for his presence as well as his instruction. 

“He was the nicest, most laid back and intelligent man with a great demeanor,” said Marlin Bayless, who joined Freeman as an assistant teacher in 1977. 

“I was on the bus the other day and about five kids started talking about how he was their favorite teacher,” said Pauline Bondonno. “‘He shakes everyone’s hand, and he can break bricks with his bare hands,’ they said. He just makes everyone feel comfortable. That’s how my kids feel about him.” 

When the tall, dignified Freeman shakes your hand, it is memorable, and the part about breaking bricks with his bare hands is true, too, he’s a practitioner of the Qi Gong martial art.  

“It’s a Chinese martial art, but there is no fighting,” he makes clear. “Just the movements.” 

To Freeman, teaching science is his real skill. 

“I was taught science from the book and by the book,” Freeman said, “That’s how I learned it and I didn’t like it. My basic philosophy is teaching the process of finding the answers. I don’t really want all the kids to become scientists, I want them all to become thinkers. When you become a thinker, then you can do anything.” 

He piloted a program called the Intermediate Science Curriculum Studies in which he co-authored the textbook that guided students through specific hands-on experiments. 

“I knew it was just what I’d wanted. It was more hands-on and adjusted to sequence and pace. Those that could go faster did. Instead of teaching a class, I was teaching individuals,” he said. 

Besides his unique style of teaching, it’s his demeanor and his rapport with the students that may be the most memorable. 

“I’d have kids that were flunking every class but his,” said Resource Specialist Terri Gerritz. “He has a way with kids that were disenfranchised with school and get them to work with him.” 

“It’s the minds talking to each other, not just student to teacher,” Freeman said. “You can teach me just like I can teach you.” 

Now that he’s retired, he’s taken up classical guitar, a far cry from the folk songs in the San Francisco hootenannies where he would play guitars with Dylan and Joan Baez and sing protest songs back in the sixties. 

“Yea, it’s the music I wake up and hear in my head every morning,” he said.  

He also loves to bowl, grow orchids and practice Shiatsu, which he explained as acupuncture without needles. 

“Instead of using needles, I use my fingers to press on the various energy portals,” he said.  

He also added that he enjoys making trips back to a much different Little Rock. 

“That’s the place that made me what I am,” he said. “I haven’t forgotten where I came from.”

Tuesday, Sept. 26

Reclaim the Streets! 

6 p.m.  

Berkeley BART station 

Bring dancing shoes, bikes, skateboards and costumes and fight globalization. Join in this street party and protest and “reclaim Berkeley from cars, corporations and the police state.”  

More Info: 594-4002 

Wednesday, Sept. 27

“Improving Your Bottom Line” 

2-5 p.m. 

Berkeley Yacht Club 

1 Seawall Dr. 

Speakers include, Mayor Shirley Dean, Dr. Drian Nattrass and Mary Altomare Natrass, authors of “The Natural Step for Business” and two of the world’s leading authorities on providing a strategic business framework promoting sustainability and profitability. 

Talking about Living, Talking about Dying 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Maffly Auditorium 

Herrick Hospital  

2001 Dwight Way 

A community forum providing an opportunity to find out about community resources and to share experiences. Moderated by Wendy Hanamura, producer of KQED’s series “Eyes Wide Open,” the forum includes a panel discussion and an audience Q & A.  

Contact Patricia Murphy, 450-8719 

Law Center for  

Families Benefit 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

The Law Center for Families, a nonprofit professional corporation which provides family, housing and consumer law to low and moderate-income families and individuals, celebrates its first anniversary. There will be community speakers, food, drinks and live local music.  

Admission $35 per person 

RSVP by calling 451-9261 x204 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Contact Mary Ann Merker-Benton, 705-8183 

Disaster Council Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar 

Contact Reginald Garcia, 644-6665 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m.  

Mental Health Clinic 

2640 MLK Jr. Way 

Contact Harvey Tureck, 644-8712 

Planning Commission Meeting 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Contact Karen Haney-Owens, 705-8137 

Thursday, Sept. 28

Free Introduction to Golden Shield Qi Gong 

6:30 p.m.  

Assembley Hall, First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Learn the basics of this 4,000-year-old system that promotes health and strength of body, mind and spirit. 849-2231 

Forest Action Roadshow  

Presents Darryl Cherney 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship 

1606 Bonita (at Cedar) 

Called “the Woody Guthrie of the North Woods” by the SF Examiner, Cherney has been an avid defender of the redwoods. He will present lighthearted songs and a slide show about the direct action protests he’s helped organize. 

Music from the Andes 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

International House, Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Performances by Juanita Newland-Ulloa and the traditional music group, Grupo Atahualpamanta. Co-sponsored by Earth Mandala, an international organization for global peace.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Alta Bates Breast Cancer Center Benefit 

6:30 p.m. This gala event features a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception and a Fall Fashion Workshop presented by Nordstrom and image consultant Anthea  

Tolomei. $50.  

Claremont Resort and Spa, 41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley.  

(510) 843-3000 ext. 290 or www.claremontresort.com 

Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Contact Mark A. Rhoades, 705-8110 

West Berkeley Project  

Area Meeting 

7 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Ave.  

Contact Daniel Vanderpriem, 705-8134 

Saturday, Sept. 30

Jim Hightower: “Election 2000: a Space Odyssey” 

8 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Sponsored by KPFA and Global Exchange 

$10 in advance/$12 at the door. 848-6767 ext. 609 

Tour Mission District Gardens 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

One of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance for this fall. Tour SF’s Mission District and learn about the role of gardens and open space in community planning. 

Call: 415-255-3233 to make reservations 

Dharma Publishing  

Showroom Tour 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 - 3 p.m.) 

Dharma House 

2910 San Pablo Ave. 

See traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, and a video of the work Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India.  

More info: 848-4238 

Sunday, October 1

Return of the Raptors to Marin 

Drivers: 11:45 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

Bikers: 10:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Witness the migration of birds of prey over the Marin Headlands. Includes a hawk talk and banding demonstration and lunch at Rodeo Lagoon. Bike from SF or meet at Hawk Hill. Part of Greenbelt Alliance’s series of free outings.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Open Paw Seminar 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Pauley Ballroom 

UC Berkeley 

Dr. Ian Dunbar, world renowned veterinarian and animal behaviorist presents this free seminar on the prevention and treatment of problem cat and dog behavior. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society and the Berkeley Animal Shelter, the goal is to make animals more adoptable through interaction with trained volunteers.  

More info: Janet Kotlier, 527-7387 

Monday, Oct. 2

“2nd annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. 

$115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

“Clean Lies Dirty War” 

7:30 p.m.  

Unitarian Fellowship  

1924 Cedar 

This event is part of a national campaign to end sanctions on Iraq.  

(510) 528-5403 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of the city’s hiring an archeologist to study the possible mound remnants in the streets.  

Thursday, October 5

3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

New Role for the UN in the New Century 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion with Rosemary van der Laan, President of the Board of Directors of the UN Association of the United States, about globalization and it’s impacts on the economic, social and political lives of the world.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 7

Berkeley Grassroots Greening Tour 

Starts at 10:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. 

Celebrate Open Garden Day by joining this annual bicycle tour of local community and school gardens. Part of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Houses or Open Hills? 

10 a.m.  

Experience Black Diamond Mines Regional Park’s ghost towns, coal mines, spectacular views and open space on this hike by the proposed sites of 7,700 homes near Antioch. Cosponsored by Save Mount Diablo. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Redesigning Retirement”  

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

UC Berkeley (call for exact location) 

The UC Berkeley Retirement Center and the Academic Geriatric Resource Program will present retirement as a time of great potential. Participants will take part in interactive workshops dealing with the impact of technology on retirement; community involvement of older adults, among other topics. Prominent experts in the field of aging and retirement will take part in “ask the experts” sessions.  

$25. No on-site registration. Register by September 25. 

Contact: Shelly Glazer at 642-5461 

Sunday, Oct. 8

Surmounting Sunol Peaks  

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

Learn about local geology while enjoying the panoramic views from three Sunol peaks. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Tuesday, Oct. 10

Cal Alumni Singles 20th Anniversary Dinner 

UC Faculty Club 

Dinner scheduled for Oct. 15 

For reservations call 527-2709 by Oct. 10  

Wednesday, Oct. 11

Are Domed Cities in the future? 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom  

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion based on UC Berkeley alumnus Tim Holt’s book, “On Higher Ground.” Set 50 years in the future, part of the book takes place in an East Bay enclosed by a climate-controlled dome.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Thursday, Oct. 12

East Timor: The Road to Independence 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion of events leading up to the creation of the newest nation of the millennium and issues raised on the road to independence.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 14

Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Grand Entry 1 p.m.  

Enjoy Native American foods, arts & crafts, drumming, singing and many types of native dancing. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley, this event is free.  

Civic Center Park 

Allston Way at MLK Jr. Way 

Info: 615-0603 

Sunday, Oct. 15

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Los Gatos Opera House 

Celebrate the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. This benefit features a variety of musical groups, local artists and samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries and microbreweries. Proceeds benefit Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person; $80 for this event and the Oct. 22 event in SF 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

Tuesday, Oct. 17

Is the West Berkeley Shellmound a landmark? 

7 p.m.  

City Council Chambers 

2134 MLK Jr. Way, 2nd floor 

Continued and final public hearing on the appeals against landmark designation of the West Berkeley Shellmound. The City Council may possibly make it’s decision at this meeting. 

Thursday, Oct. 19

The Promise and Perils of Transgenic Crops 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berekeley, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 21

A Day on Mt. Tam 

9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Come play and hike in San Francisco’s beloved playground. This outing is part of a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

AHIMSA Eight Annual Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International House, Great Hall 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

The AHIMSA is a nonprofit foundation whose goal is to encourage dialogues and public forums which bridge spiritual, scientific and social issues. This years conference is titled “Science, Spirituality and Nonviolence.”  

Admission is free 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Sunday, Oct. 22

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Presidio’s Golden Gate Club 

Greenbelt Alliance brings the farm to the city in this celebration of the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. Featured are samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries, microbreweries. Also featured are live music and local artwork. The event benefits Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

An Evening with Alice Walker 

7:30 p.m.  

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St. (at Grant) 

free parking 

Join internationally loved novelist, poet and essayist Alice Walker in celebrating her new book of autobiographical stories, “The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart.” Benefits Berkeley EcoHouse and KPFA Radio, 94.1 FM.  

Tickets: $10 advance, $13 door 

Tickets available at independent bookstores 

More info: 848-6767 x609 

Saturday, Oct. 28

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Saturday, Nov. 4

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Saturday, Nov. 11

Moonlight on Mt. Diablo 

1 - 10:30 p.m.  

Hike up the Devil’s Mountain by daylight, catch a glorious sunset and hike back by the light of the moon. One in a series of free outing organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Sunday, Nov. 12

Views, Vines and Veggies 

9:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

Climb Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf State Park and peer down upon the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Then please your palate at the Landmark Winery and visit Oak Hill organic vegetable and flower farm. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Saturday, Nov. 18

S.F. Stairs and Peaks 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  

Begin the day with a visit to the farmer’s market, then meander up the stairways and streets of Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. Then up Russian Hill, descending to Fisherman’s Wharf for a ride back on the new historic streetcar line. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 

Sunday, Nov. 19

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Mt. Madonna & Wine  

Hike through evergreen forests and visit the remains of a 19th century estate, then finish the day with a visit to Kruse Winery. One of many free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: (415) 255-3233 for reservations 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Fridays 

Ralph Nader for President 

7 p.m.  

Video showings to continue until November. Campaign donations are requested. Admission is free.  

Contact Jack for directions at 524-1784. 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesday and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

We, members of Citizens for Responsible Fire Protection, would like to respond to the article of Sept. 16, regarding the construction of a new fire station in the hills. It is unquestionable that a new fire station is needed. What we do question is whether or not the city’s plan actually meets the extraordinary demands of disasters such as wildfires and earthquakes. The voters approved the funding the city seeks to use for this project in 1992. After eight years we should all be certain that what we are accepting is the best possible solution. After all, it is our money, our homes, and our lives. 

First we would like to address the misinformation put forth by those interviewed: 

1. The City cannot hold discussions with the East Bay Municipal Utility District as to what features they want in the station because EBMUD has taken the position that the station will in no way serve the Water District. EBMUD is willing to sell the land to Berkeley provided that the city first meets certain conditions. The East Bay Regional Parks District is only being asked to house one engine and one crew there for a period of 10 to 30 days per year. 

2. The size of the station will not depend on neighborhood input as Mr. Phil Kamlarz suggests. Rather, the city’s Request for Proposal for the preparation of the Environmental Impact Report, dated June 27, 2000, specifies a 7,500 square foot building with a 2,500 square foot apron, to be built on the western portion of the site 

3. The statement as to the outcome of the validation suit (where the court rules on whether the city can use Measure G bond funds for the project) is also incorrect. The court will rule whether or not Berkeley’s plan meets the multi – jursidictional (and other) requirements of Measure G, which was passed by the voters in 1992. The court cannot change the language of Measure G to allow for a single jurisdictional facility. The city wants the court to agree that the minimal presence of the Parks District meets the Measure G requirements for a jointly funded multi – jurisdictional facility. 

4. Several statements by Councilwoman Betty Olds also contain incorrect information: 

• Station No. 7 was built in 1939, not 1920. Ms. Olds is correct when she states that this facility is in shocking condition. Why has its owner, the city of Berkeley, allowed this essential facility to deteriorate? 

• The response time to Park Hills cannot possibly be reduced by three minutes because the current response time is barely two minutes! Further, any decrease in response time to one area means an increase in response time to another area. 

• According to Mr. Steve Boeri, the head of EBMUD’s Real Estate Division, the land in question cannot be turned over to private developers. This contradicts the statement of Councilwoman Olds that developers were lining up to grab the land and build multiple homes on it if Berkeley did not use the property for the proposed fire station. 

• The property in question is nowhere near an acre in size. According to the June 27 EIR proposal request the lot occupies 19,180 square feet. That is less than one–half an acre. 

5. Hills resident Barbara Allen is incorrect when she says that this will be the only fire station east of the Hayward fault. Both the Park District and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory have facilities east of the Hayward fault. The current station No. 7 is east of the Hayward fault. 

Measure G was drafted in the summer of 1992 in the wake of the Oakland hills firestorm. At that time the city manager prepared a report, dated July 21, 1992, for the mayor and City Council outlining what was needed: 

…”a multi–jurisdictional facility” with “storage for 9–10 emergency firefighting vehicles.” The report called for the station to be sited on “property owned by the EBRPD located at Grizzly Peak, Centennial and Golf Course Road.” Such a location “would provide for quick emergency response into the wildland/urban intermix areas of Berkeley, Oakland, UC, and EBRPD.” Another city document “Report – New Hills Fire Station,” dated January 28, 1994, calls for a station “with an area of 13,000 square feet, housing a crew of 15 in any shift.” A helipad was considered “highly desirable.” 

The land is still available, there is a new administration in Oakland that should be approached along with the California Division of Forestry , the university, and the parks district. The threat of wildfires and earthquakes has not diminished. What has diminished drastically is what the city proposes to offer us as protection. We urge the city to re – examine its plans and give us the protection we voted for in Measure G – an additional multi–jurisdictional station in the hills and the repair and seismic retrofitting of Station No. 7, a facility that has met our daily needs so well for over 60 years. 

Finally, we urge our neighbors to give up somewhat selfish concerns of wanting something close to them rather than what is best for the entire hill area. 

Since losing his sister and parents to a home fire nearly one month ago, Jason Jusay is crusading for home safety in Berkeley. Appearing at last week’s City Council meeting, Jusay said, “We need more stringent and better procedural processes to inspect buildings for safety.” 

“I’d like to be involved in whatever decisions the City Council makes,” he said.  

Since then, support for fire safety has snowballed. The Associated Students of the University of California drafted a proposal to the City Council to “expand existing enforcement mechanisms to include regularly scheduled inspections of apartment buildings to insure compliance with building code regulations.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington has placed the resolution on tonight’s council agenda. The plan lacks specifics, so Worthington is asking the Housing Advisory Commission and the city manager for their input. 

The student resolution points to a number of laws already in the books to ensure fire safety. According to the resolution the problem with these, is the onus is placed on tenants to contact city officials to investigate their homes. This makes enforcement difficult. 

“I support the proposal because it’s important to address safety concerns. Some tenants have said they’re afraid to complain to their landlord about safety hazards because they’re afraid of being penalized for it, although there are laws against that,” Worthington said. 

Currently, landlords are required by law to install and maintain functioning smoke detectors on all rental property. In apartments, this means mounting detectors outside any sleeping area.  

The Fire Department inspects all Berkeley rooming houses, hotels and dormitories, which are required to have a smoke detector in every sleeping room. Single family homes like the one the Jusay family rented on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, however, are exempt from such inspections unless the Fire Department is called by the owner or tenant. 

“It’s because a man’s home is his castle,” said David Orth, assistant fire chief. “Traditionally, a home is a bastion of freedom. To look inside people’s homes requires changing current laws. I think the (American Civil Liberties Union) would be very interested in a fire safety ordinance allowing the department to enter private residences to inspect smoke detectors.” 

As things stand, the department conducts three types of fire safety inspections. 

Orth said the current fire code stipulates that “three or more units under one roof in one residential unit are inspected on an annual basis.” This includes places of assembly, institutions, businesses, industrial sites and restaurants. 

“We don’t inspect vacant lots, single-family homes or duplexes,” he continued. 

In all, the department inspects 6,500 sites in Berkeley. Inspections are conducted every year, primarily between September and May. 

“In non-residential inspections, we go onto the property, into office spaces, patient’s rooms, school classrooms, and look for fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, accumulation of combustibles, blockage of exits, window bars, that kind of thing.” 

However, in residential spaces, like apartments and dormitories, the majority of the inspection is done from the exterior.  

“We look at hallways, garages, rooftops, and we also try to contact tenants and landlords to insure that they have smoke detectors, but without permission, we don’t go into their rooms,” Orth said. 

Enforcement is also a difficult process.  

“In the homes that we do enter, for instance, on an emergency medical call, we look to see if extinguishers, detectors and sprinkler systems are installed,” Orth said.  

“If we see that there is no detector, we may just install one ourselves. But in the event that there are other hazards, like blocked exits, we could even evacuate buildings.” 

Between these two extremes are other existing methods of home safety enforcement. 

“Because we do charge for annual inspections, if we see a violation or a problem, we can issue a notice of violation, which gives 30 days to correct the problem.”  

The department then re-inspects in 30 days, for which the property owner pays a second charge.  

If there is a failure to correct the violation, then a citation is given, which consists of a monetary penalty and proof that the problem has been fixed. Lastly, the department can charge a property owner with a misdemeanor, “in worst case scenarios, where a repeat offender could end up in jail,” Orth said. 

“But that’s for situations where there are combustibles lying around, creating a dangerous situation, and the owner has not demonstrated the intention of correcting the situation despite repeat warnings,” Orth said. 

Furthermore there is a process under way to install fire extinguishers in a growing number of structures within the city’s borders. 

“Every time any property is bought or sold, it has smoke detectors installed,” he said. There is also a program which anyone can call to have detectors installed in their homes, which receives three to four calls a week. “It’s slowed down since it began,” he added. 

“Berkeley is an advanced city prevention wise,” Orth said. 

While details of the ASUC’s proposal are yet to be determined, there is still groundwork to lay before the parameters can be determined. 

“We’d have to establish a “special need” to enter people’s private property.” he said, saying that it would also have to be part of a larger, multi-faceted program that goes beyond, “firemen knocking on people’s doors looking for some smoke detectors.” 

Enforcement issues need to be figured out, as well as education and funding possibilities,” he said. If plans do go through the City Council and a comprehensive home safety plan is enacted, it would mean a heavier work load for the Fire Department. 

“There are 28,000 residences in this city,” Orth said.  

“We’re not opposed to more work, but without additional inspectors, there will be some resistance. On the other hand, if more inspectors are included in whatever plans are made, we’ll probably back it.” 

But as Jonas Jusay told the council, “something as fundamental as a smoke detector may have saved (my family’s) life.” 

To reach the Berkeley Fire Department’s smoke detector program, call 644-6158. 

Daily Planet reporter William Inman contributed to this story.

Congrats for Planet coverage of NAB protest 

Editor: 

Kudos to the Daily Planet for actually covering the protests taking place during the National Association of Broadcasters’ convention in SF. I have not seen coverage of the protests on any of the local news stations. It just goes to show that everything the protestors are saying about having no access to fair media is true. 

Independent newspapers like the Daily Planet and Public Access television stations like Berkeley Community Media are so important in our society today so people can actual say what’s on their mind and get their message out. Keep up the good work. 

Kari Shaw 

Board Chair,  

Berkeley Community Media 

Developer does not address core issues 

Editor: 

Patrick Kennedy’ºs recent letter (9/23) indicates that Panoramic Interests and its business associates are not comfortable addressing the substantive issues that actually concern the 400-plus neighborhood residents who oppose his current mega-plex, institutional design for 2700 San Pablo Avenue. 

This is not about affordable housing (only five to ten of the more than 48 proposed units would be designated as affordable).  

This is not about seniors or disabled housing. We would welcome that. This is not about “[i]mproving neighborhood retail opportunities and amenities.” There are a number of vacant storefronts in the immediate vicinity that are still awaiting commercial tenants.  

This is not about making our area safer. My experience is that Shattuck Avenue is a more dangerous thoroughfare. This is not about “[l]ess car dependency.” Any person who has taken any of the bus lines on San Pablo to downtown Oakland knows that such a trip takes longer than a BART ride from Berkeley to San Francisco.  

The well-known transit problems of this area ensure that the project will increase car dependency. This is not about improving the tax base. The skyrocketing property values in the area have taken care of that concern quite nicely, thank you. 

What this dispute is about, and what concerns many of us who live here, is that the proposal is too massive and brings with it too many adverse environmental impacts. Put simply, the local residents have asked that the project be scaled down – not eliminated – to three stories or less.  

Panoramic Interests wants five stories. The many academic arguments Mr. Kennedy makes in support of urban housing as a general concept can all be satisfied under a three-story design, a design which would also be consistent with nearly the entirety of development along San Pablo Avenue and the West BerkeleyPlan. 

The only reason I have heard from Mr. Kennedy’s representives that speaks solely to the issue of three versus five stories is that unless the structure is five stories, the project allegedly will not turn an adequate profit (they say the same for an as yet unseen four-story proposal).  

Fair enough. However, when asked to “show us the books” so that we may confirm or dispute this representation, I and others have been told that they don’t “have to” show us their numbers and that we must simply take their word for it – a clearly inappropriate response to a legitimate, if not critical, question. 

Finally, Mr. Kennedy closes his letter by concluding that “[d]evelopment like this will improve the city, and protect existing neighborhoods.”  

I respectfully suggest that he may greatly benefit from listening to the people who actually live here near his proposed development (and who also live in Berkeley).  

ºOur day-to-day collective experiences can provide a wealth of verifiable data about the needs of and solutions for the San Pablo Avenue area. 

Douglas Press 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

I enjoyed your Sept. 21 article about “car-free day” and about H.H. Bliss, the first known person killed by a car. The local bicycle enthusiast who publicized the 101st anniversary of Bliss’ sad demise did a fine job of getting his message out. Just as he did in commemorating the 100th anniversary last year. (Although I have no fear that these successes will make him complacent about putting his message out again during next year’s 102nd anniversary -- whatever his message is.) 

In the interest of balance, though, shouldn’t we also identify the first person whose life was saved by a motorized ambulance? After all, hitching up horse teams took a while, and they didn’t move that fast. Yet victims of heart attacks and other emergencies often need medical intervention within a few minutes if they are to survive. 

And for a more complete picture, shouldn’t we also estimate the number of lives saved since cars cleared our cities of horse poop and resulting swarms of disease-carrying flies? The “car-free” cities of the 1800s weren’t idyllic, nor were they pristine. 

In any case, after reading your article, I drove home better-informed about the whole parking-industrial-media-gasoline-prison-IMF- World Bank-anti-train, anti-fun, anti-outdoor-play conspiracy. But the next day, I read that Europeans had mostly observed the European Union’s “car-free day” by driving to work in heavy, gridlocked traffic. Maybe we really need cleaner cars and better transit, not onanistic, ineffective car-bashing? 

Tom Brown 

Berkeley 

To: Berkeley Daily Planet ATTN: William Inman, staff reporter 

Fr: Caleb Dardick, Project Manager, Ed Roberts Campus 

Re: Perspective piece for Daily Planet’s opinion/letters page (575 words) 

Dt: September 22, 2000 

Dear William, thanks for giving the ERC an opportunity to tell its story to the Planet’s readership and respond to your September 18th story. I hope we can see this appear in Monday’s Planet. Any questions please contact me at 510-704-0130 or email cdardick@hotmail.com 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Title: The Ed Roberts Campus will be a good neighbor to South Berkeley  

Byline: Joni Breves, chair, Ed Roberts Campus 

Ed Roberts, one of the founders of the Independent Living/Civil Rights Movement for people with disabilities, once said, “There is nothing like building a movement on success. Whenever we have brought ourselves together, whenever we have joined various disabilities together, we find our strength. Our strength is in our unity.” 

When Ed died in 1995 we lost a great unifier but not our belief in the importance of individuals, organizations and agencies working together in coalition. As a memorial to Ed Roberts, the ERC embodies the values of the Independent Living Movement by establishing a center dedicated to fostering collaboration and improving the services and opportunities for people with disabilities locally and worldwide.  

The ERC is a nonprofit partnership of nine disability organizations that will share a home. The ERC will cluster a range of disability services in one location and provide convenient, easy access via public transportation. The ERC will be a state-of-the-art, universally designed, transit-oriented campus located at the Ashby BART Station in south Berkeley. The facility will house the offices of the nine partners. We hope to include a conference center, a library on the Disability Movement, a computer/media resource center, a gym/fitness center, a café, a small children’s play center, and a mix of neighborhood-serving retail and office lease space.  

All summer long, outreach to the neighborhood accelerated as ERC community liaisons traveled door-to-door introducing the project, distributing the ERC newsletter, and listening to people’s comments and concerns. We held several informal “kitchen chats” in neighborhood homes to share information about the ERC and to learn what the community would like to see along the Adeline corridor.  

The neighborhood has a strong residential character with an active community. The community is concerned about the type of development planned for the BART property, the traffic it will generate, and the impact it will have on the neighborhood especially in terms of parking. The ERC is committed to integrating these concerns into its plans.  

Currently, the ERC is poised to carry out the first phase of the architectural design. It is the level of design that enables the community to contribute valuable input that will shape the design of the ERC. This phase is the most creative portion of the design work, the point where the design team lays out how the facility might look, fit onto the site and connect to the neighborhood. On September 13th, over 70 community members met with the architects for the first of a series of design workshops to develop a vision for the site.  

At that meeting we got many comments from the community about the scale and location of the ERC. Please be assured that the suggestions of the community will have an important influence on the design of the ERC facility. The partner organizations are very interested in being good neighbors, and welcome the opportunity to share ideas and discuss options. We are also interested in finding ways that neighbors can participate in the programs offered by the ERC and welcome suggestions that could possibly be incorporated in our plans. We will convene another community meeting as soon as the architects have some design concepts for everyone to consider. We are excited by this process and welcome the community’s active participation – that’s what we mean when we say, “our strength is in our unity.” 

For more information please call our community liaison, Priscilla Banks, at (510) 698-2039 Ext. 1452 or email us at: info@edrobertscampus.org  

(The ERC includes Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program (BORP); Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT); Center for Independent Living (CIL); Computer Technologies Program (CTP); Disability Rights Advocates (DRA); Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF); Through the Looking Glass (TLG); Whirlwind Wheelchair International (WWI); and World Institute on Disability (WID).) 

Subject:  

Kennedy Letter Misses Mark 

Date:  

Mon, 25 Sep 2000 00:40:25 -0700 

From:  

“Douglas Press”  

To:  

opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com 

Editor: 

Patrick Kennedy’s recent letter (9/23) indicates that Panoramic Interests and its business associates are not comfortable addressing the substantive issues that 

actually concern the 400-plus neighborhood residents who oppose his current mega-plex, institutional design for 2700 San Pablo Avenue. 

This is not about affordable housing (only five to ten of the more than 48 proposed units would be designated as affordable). This is not about seniors or 

disabled housing. We would welcome that. This is not about “[i]mproving neighborhood retail opportunities and amenities.” There are a number of vacant 

storefronts in the immediate vicinity that are still awaiting commercial tenants. This is not about making our area safer. My experience is that Shattuck 

Avenue is a more dangerous thoroughfare. This is not about “[l]ess car dependency.” Any person who has taken any of the bus lines on San Pablo to 

downtown Oakland knows that such a trip takes longer than a BART ride from Berkeley to San Francisco. The well-known transit problems of this area 

ensure that the project will increase car dependency. This is not about improving the tax base. The skyrocketing property values in the area have taken care of 

that concern quite nicely, thank you. 

What this dispute is about, and what concerns many of us who live here, is that the proposal is too massive and brings with it too many adverse 

environmental impacts. Put simply, the local residents have asked that the project be scaled down-- not eliminated-- to three stories or less. Panoramic 

Interests wants five (5) stories. The many academic arguments Mr. Kennedy makes in support of urban housing as a general concept can all be satisfied 

under a three-story design, a design which would also be consistent with nearly the entirety of development along San Pablo Avenue and the West Berkeley 

Plan. 

The only reason I have heard from Mr. Kennedy’s representives that speaks solely to the issue of three versus five stories is that unless the structure is five 

stories, the project allegedly will not turn an adequate profit (they say the same for an as yet unseen four story proposal). Fair enough. However, when asked 

to “show us the books” so that we may confirm or dispute this representation, I and others have been told that they don’t “have to” show us their numbers and 

that we must simply take their word for it-- a clearly inappropriate response to a legitimate, if not critical, question. 

Finally, Mr. Kennedy closes his letter by concluding that “[d]evelopment like this will improve the city, and protect existing neighborhoods.” I respectfully 

suggest that he may greatly benefit from listening to the people who actually live here near his proposed development (and who also live in Berkeley). Our 

day-to-day collective experiences can provide a wealth of verifiable data about the needs of and solutions for the San Pablo Avenue area. 

Douglas Press 

Berkeley 

--  

Subject:  

opinion piece 

Date:  

Sun, 24 Sep 2000 10:34:32 -0400 (EDT) 

From:  

Carol Denney  

To:  

opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com 

Micropower Is Here to Stay by Carol Denney 

Micropower radio refers to low power broadcasts over a small area, under 100 

watts and reaching from 1 to 5 miles from the signal, depending on the 

height of the antenna, the receiver, and the terrain. Micropower 

broadcasting is as old as radio, which is a very young medium. 

In 1979 the Federal Communications Commission banned micropower 

broadcasting. The airwaves, which by law belong to the public, were even 

then a playground for the rich, with a few small stations trying to stay 

afloat as alternative voices. 

In 1993, in response to the pro-military coverage of the Persian Gulf War, 

Stephen Dunifer and a small group of activists decided to challenge the 

rules criminalizing micropower by simply going on the air. Many across the 

nation and around the world did the same, and a micropower movement, which 

had existed for decades, caught fire. 

Federal Court Judge Claudia Wilken denied the FCC an injunction to stop Free 

Radio Berkeley’s broadcasts in January of 1995, despite the FCC’s claim that 

they would suffer “irreparable harm.” FRB went from three hour broadcasts on 

Sunday nights to a 24 hour indoor project open to anyone who wished to join. 

Hundreds more people, inspired by the court decision, went on the air to the 

FCC’s dismay. 

By the year 2000, the FCC had given up the idea of criminalization, instead 

supporting regulations which would keep the “pirates” under their thumb. The 

matter might have stopped there, but the National Association of 

Broadcasters, a group representing the wealthy owners of commercial radio 

stations, was outraged at the idea of micropower enjoying even a small 

sliver of the broadcast spectrum.  

Hundreds of people took to the streets September 23rd, 2000, to protest the 

National Association of Broadcasters’ convention in San Francisco, 

recognizing it as the lobby for the wealthy interests which have the FCC and 

the politicians in their pocket. I kept thinking to myself, while watching 

the music, the theater, and the puppets, how eight years ago what we wanted 

was to put the monopolization of media on America’s plate, and that we 

succeeded.  

In court, the FCC won the right to tell Free Radio Berkeley to go back to 

square one and get a license. Out there in the streets on September 23rd in 

the hail of pounding drums, there was no question that community radio is 

here to stay. No matter what happens now, it will be hard to go back. Too 

many people have experienced the simple practicality of micropower. 

The matter of regulation is currently stalled in congress. In the meantime, 

hundreds of micropower broadcasters go on bringing neighborhood radio to 

their neighborhoods. Some have applied for licenses, some aren’t going to 

bother. At Free Radio Berkeley we used to say, “tune in, turn on, and take 

over.” The best thing to do about crappy media is make some of your own. 

Editor: 

Aweek ago you printed a story about an 11 year old shot by a Modesto swat team.The boy, Alberto Sepulveda was killed and the police have tried to say it was a accident. No major newspaper ran half the story that you did. 

None of the major newscasts televised this important story. Thank you 

very much for informing the public on stories like this, and I hope this 

will be an ongoing part of your newspaper.My congradulations.Thank 

you. 

BOB TORRES 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis has vetoed a bill strengthening requirements that California retailers collect taxes on Internet sales, saying it would send the wrong message to a fledgling industry. 

“In order for the Internet to reach its full potential as a marketing medium and job creator, it must be given time to mature,” the governor said Monday in his veto message. 

“Imposing sales taxes on Internet transactions at this point in its young life would send the wrong signal about California’s international role as the incubator of the dot-com community.” 

But the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, said the measure was about clarifying existing law and denying an advantage to large companies that have Internet sales operations. 

“Why should some big guys get to avoid (charging taxes) and get to give the little guys a competitive disadvantage?” she asked.  

“That’s all this (bill) says, that everybody plays by the same rules.” 

Current law requires businesses that have stores in California to collect sales taxes on the taxable items they sell in the state. 

Migden’s bill would have specified that processing sales orders by fax, telephone, the Internet or some other electronic procedure would not relieve California retailers of that responsibility. 

It also would have stipulated that companies could not avoid collecting the taxes by selling the same or a similar line of products on the Internet through a subsidiary. 

Migden said a few companies with retail operations in California have set up out-of-state Internet subsidiaries to avoid collecting the taxes. 

Davis also contended that Migden’s bill would violate a 1994 state appeals court ruling involving a Colorado-based mail-order company that was purchased by another firm that had facilities in California. 

The court held that the mail-order company, Current Inc., did not have to collect California sales taxes because it did not have close ties to its parent firm and offered a substantially different line of products. 

Migden’s bill would have applied to subsidiaries that were substantially owned by the California retailer and sold the same or a substantially similar line of products. 

The state Board of Equalization estimates that the bill would have generated another $14.4 million a year in state revenue, although the legislative analyst’s office said last February that untaxed Internet sales could be costing the state as much as $200 million a year. 

California’s sales tax, which ranges from 7 1/4 to 8 1/2 percent depending on the county, is the state’s second biggest revenue source. It generates about $32.1 billion a year. 

Davis didn’t rule out the need for Migden’s bill at some point in the future. He said the subject should be reviewed in the next three to five years. 

To that end, he signed a bill by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, that will set up a commission to study sales tax policies. 

Davis also signed a bill by Assemblyman Ted Lempert, D-Redwood City, that would have added extended a moratorium on local taxes on Internet access or online computer services until 2005. 

The moratorium is scheduled to expire in 2002. 

But Lempert’s bill will not take effect because the Legislature added language to it saying it could not become law unless Migden’s bill was signed by Davis. 

On the Net: Read Migden’s bill, AB2412, Vasconcellos’ bill, SB1933, and Lempert’s bill, AB1784, at www.sen.ca.gov or www.assembly.ca.gov.

SAN FRANCISCO — Far from their image as beach-loving fitness freaks, California’s high schoolers are growing alarmingly fat and lazy on a steady diet of potato chips and video games, according to a study released Monday by the Berkeley-based Public Health Institute. 

If their habits don’t change, a third of the state’s two million teens could face “chronic and debilitating health problems” like diabetes, heart disease and cancer by their early 30s. At particular risk are Hispanic and black teens, whose chances of being overweight can be twice the rate of their white and Asian-American peers. 

The survey asked 1,200 teens to describe their eating and exercise patterns over the course of the previous day. Researchers said that though the questions covered just one day, the large number of respondents lets them generalize about broader behaviors. 

The study was released Monday to help open a two-day summit on teen health that begins Wednesday in Sacramento. 

“This is the best time of their life. It’s never going to get better than now,” said Dr. Carmen Nevarez, vice president of the institute. “We have to really do something.” 

The researchers say things are getting worse; Teen-agers are eating worse than their parents. For example, the study concluded, adolescents were twice as likely as adults to eat deep-fried foods. 

Nevarez encourages parents to set a table without junk food and schedule at least an hour of exercise each day. But that can be hard when many moms and dads subsist on french fries and puff uncontrollably after conquering a few stairs themselves. 

Diet is a major reason why minority children tend to be more overweight, said Arnell Hinkle, executive director of the California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness Program. Her Berkeley-based nonprofit agency develops nutrition and exercise programs in poorer neighborhoods. 

“It’s the environment of low-income neighborhoods, the corner stores,” Hinkle said. “It’s much easier to have access to sodas than vegetables.” 

But you don’t have to switch neighborhoods or put children on a crash diet. Simple changes, like walking instead of driving, cooking instead of eating out, and ignoring that sweet tooth, are all good first steps, the study said. 

Arellys Calderon, 22, said she doesn’t allow her 18-month-old son to eat candy, but she knows her taste for doughnuts and potato chips may rub off on him. 

Oct. 3, 5 p.m. 

Library Moses Hall, UC Berkeley Campus 

Presidential Debate Night at the Institute of Government Studies. Come watch the first of the debates between George W. Bush and Al Gore, with analysis from faculty and media experts, and munchies.  

Oct. 4 

Candidates forum hosted by the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition 

7 p.m. B-TV 

Audience can come to the B-TV studios on Martin Luther King Way at Bancroft Way on the high school campus. 

The forum, moderated by the League of Women Voters, will focus on transportation, housing and the environment.  

594-1235 

Berkeley Citizens Action has endorsed the following candidates and measures for the November ballot: 

President: 

Al Gore 

U.S. Senator: 

Medea Benjamin 

U.S. Congress District 9: 

Barbara Lee 

State Senate District 9: 

No Endorsement 

State Assembly District 14: 

Dion Louise Aroner 

Supreme Court Judge: 

David Matthew Krashna 

Berkeley City Council District 2: 

Margaret Breland 

Berkeley City Council District 3: 

Maudelle Shirek 

Berkeley City Council District 5: 

Miriam Hawley 

Berkeley School Board: 

Joaquin Rivera 

John Selawsky 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board: 

Judy Ann Alberti 

Max Anderson 

Paul Hogarth 

Matthew Siegel 

Peralta Community College District Board: 

Darryl Moore 

AC Transit Board Ward 1: 

Joe Wallace 

AC Transit Board Ward 2: 

Joyce Roy 

BART District Board Ward 3: 

Roy Nakadegawa 

BART District Board Ward 7: 

No Endorsement 

State Propositions: 

32: YES 

33: YES 

34: NO 

35: NO 

36: YES 

37: NO 

38: NO 

39: YES 

Berkeley School District Bond Measures: 

AA: YES 

BB: YES 

Alameda County Measures: 

B: YES 

C: NO 

D: YES 

Peralta Community College District Measure: 

E: YES 

City Of Berkeley Measures: 

P: Library Bond YES 

Q: Fire District Bond YES 

R: Warm Water Pool Bond YES 

S: Parks Maintenance Tax Increase YES 

T: Street Lighting Tax YES 

U: Business License Tax YES 

V: Library Tax Gann Reauthorization YES 

W: Parks Tax Gann Reauthorization YES 

X: Emergency Medical Services Tax YES 

Y: Owner Move-in Eviction Controls YES 

Z: Low Rent Housing Resolution YES 

Green Party of Alameda County 

Endorsements November 2000 Election 

P: Library Bond  

YES, with standard bond reservations 

Q: Fire District Bond 

No endorsement 

R: Warm Water Pool Bond 

YES, with standard bond reservations 

S: Parks Maintenance Tax Increase YES 

T:Street Lighting Tax  

YES, with reservations 

U:Business License Tax YES 

V: Library Tax Gann Reauthorization YES 

W: Parks Tax Gann Reauthorization YES 

X: Emergency Medical Services Tax YES (Gann Reauthorization) 

Y: Owner Move-in Eviction Controls YES 

Z: Low Rent Housing Resolution YES 

AA: School Bond No endorsement 

BB:School Maintenance Tax YES 

Rent Board Max Anderson, Judy Ann Alberti, Matt Seigel, Paul Hogarth 

School Board John Selawsky * 

City Council, District 2:  

Margaret Breland  

City Council, District 3: Maudelle Shirek District 5  

Vote for either Carrie Olson OR Tom Kelly* 

District 6 Norine Smith 

*Registered Green 

The Greens’ endorsement policy explained: 

For many of the candidates’ races, we created questionnaires for the candidates and solicited their responses.  

For others we conducted over-the-phone or in-person interviews.  

We also gathered information from Greens and others working on issues in their communities and from the public record.  

For local measures we gathered information as comprehensively as possible.  

The Green Party of Alameda County held endorsement meetings to consider all the information and make decisions.  

In cases in which we list “No endorsement” we had unresolved differences that prevented us from agreeing on a position.  

We only endorse bond measures for essential public projects that are unlikely to be funded otherwise.  

Our endorsement “Yes, with standard bond reservations” reflects our position that funding through bonds is more costly and therefore less fiscally responsible than a tax. 

Service Employees International Union Local 535 Berkeley Chapter Endorsements 

City Council Seats 

District 2 : Margaret Breland (Incumbent)  

District 5 : Miriam "Mim" Hawley (Transit Director) and Benjamin Rodefer (Art Dealer, Father)  

District 3: Maudelle Miller Shirek (Incumbent)  

District 6: Betty Olds (Incumbent)  

Rent Stabilization Board:  

Judy Ann Alberti (Legal Secretary)  

Max Anderson (Registered Nurse) 

Paul Hogarth (Student) 

Matthew Siegel (Housing Rights Attorney)  

Political Notes will run each Tuesday. Please send brief announcements of political events and endorsements to news@Berkeleydailyplanet.net

OAKLAND — Assemblywoman Dion Aroner today accused Children's Hospital in Oakland of creating a threatening workplace for some 150 hospital technicians who on Wednesday, will vote on whether or not to unionize. 

Aroner, D-Berkeley/Richmond, appeared outside of the hospital with several members of the staff who say they have been threatened by management in their attempts to organize under the Health Care Workers Union Service Employees International Union, Local 250. 

They say that their campaigns to promote unionization have led to threatening e-mails and anti-union literature from hospital management. They also say that their actions have been heavily monitored by the hospital, and that security guards have been used to intimidate them in their activities. 

Lorraine Donahue, who has been a respiratory therapist at the hospital for 21 years, said that she was taking pictures to put together a pamphlet urging workers to vote for unionization. Her actions, which she says were conducted during her free time, sparked an e-mail from the hospital threatening “disciplinary action.”  

OAKLAND — Time forgot Gene McKinney, the former Black Panther who died in relative obscurity this month. 

But to members of the party, McKinney was a legend as the man who twice saved party leader Huey Newton. 

It was McKinney, they recall, who dragged a bleeding Newton to safety after he was involved in a street shootout that left a policeman dead. And it was McKinney who later came out of hiding to testify in Newton’s defense. 

“He was a hero to us Panthers,” said former Panther chief of staff  

David Hilliard. 

Like Hilliard and Panther co-founders Newton and Bobby Seale, McKinney was born in West Oakland. Hilliard and McKinney went to McClymonds High School together, where McKinney played football and graduated in 1960. 

On the night of the shooting, Oct. 28, 1967, McKinney had been helping Hilliard with a party to raise bail for Seale. Seale was in jail after taking a gun to the state Capitol to demonstrate the Panther’s vow to resist any abuse of police authority. 

McKinney and Newton had gone to replenish party food supplies when they were pulled over by police. There was a confrontation, then shots were fired. Newton was hit in the stomach, and Officer John Frey was mortally wounded. 

McKinney got Newton away by commandeering a passing car at gunpoint, Hilliard said. Newton later was taken to the hospital for treatment, where he was arrested. McKinney went into hiding. 

Six months later, McKinney appeared at Newton’s trial for Frey’s murder. He was promptly arrested, put on the stand and asked by the defense if he had shot Frey. McKinney caused a sensation when he responded by taking the Fifth Amendment. 

“He drew suspicion to himself which at the same time raised some questions about whether Huey Newton had killed the policeman,” said Clayborne Carson, a Stanford historian and director of the university’s Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project. McKinney got six months in jail for failing to testify, but was freed after about three months by a ruling from the state Supreme Court. 

Newton was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter, a conviction that later was set aside. He was freed in 1970 and in 1974 went into self-imposed exile in Cuba. He was shot to death by a drug dealer in 1989. 

LOS ANGELES — Calling it a nationwide model, local, state and federal officials signed an agreement Monday to balance development with preservation in one of the nation’s fastest growing regions. 

The Riverside County plan provides a blueprint for the next half century for carving out new roads, erecting shopping centers and building homes while preserving rapidly disappearing habitat. 

“What’s happening in Riverside County today is emblematic of what’s happening around the country. This is ground zero of urban sprawl,” said David Hayes, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Interior. 

The Interior Department is among 10 government entities, ranging from transportation departments to wildlife agencies, that have worked together since May 1999 to assemble the development and conservation plan for the Southern California county. Squeezed between Los Angeles and Orange counties to the west and Arizona to the east, it covers an area the size of New Jersey with a population slightly smaller than Nebraska’s. 

The idea, at least, is simple: Get all the agencies to agree on where development can occur and what land needs to be preserved to avoid piecemeal planning.  

Such planning also can help avoid costly delays and legal fights over environmental conflicts. “When we complete this, you will be able to look at a map and see where you can build and where you can’t,” said Tom Mullen, chairman of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. 

Striking such an agreement between government agencies, local builders and conservationists is crucial to the future of the county, which is expected to double in population to 3 million in 20 years, he said. 

The county needs to know where it can house those people, where it can build new roads to accommodate their commutes, where it can build new shopping centers and how it can do all that without trampling rare plants and animals and adding to congestion. 

Failure to coordinate such planning already has been costly. 

The county spent $42 million over 13 years to buy habitat for the endangered Stephens kangaroo rat, a species that came to symbolize the often bitter clash between federal environmental law and local developers and farmers. 

The plan signed Monday, called the Riverside County Integrated Project, is designed to avoid such lengthy and costly confrontations. 

“This really is a first of its kind,” said California Resources Agency Secretary Mary Nichols. “We don’t have planners who understand biology or biologists who understand land-use planning, so we’re creating a whole new process.” 

One example of how the agreement is expected to help in the future: Building a new freeway into Orange County to take pressure off the 91 Freeway. 

Already one of the most congested corridors in Southern California, the 91’s traffic is expected to increase 75 percent in 10 years. Getting all parties to agree early about where a new freeway can be built and what land must be avoided can save time and money. 

“I think it gives us a chance to establish some new paradigms for how we develop, how we set aside that which needs to be protected and how we provide transportation in a place that is known for terrible congestion,” said Dan Silver, coordinator of the Endangered Habitats League, a Southern California conservation group that is part of the partnership plan. “It’s a place where solutions are desperately needed.” 

State and federal land, transportation and wildlife managers hope the Riverside County plan will serve as a model for other communities struggling with the balance of preservation and development. 

Finding money to make it work, however, is likely to be the most daunting obstacle. 

The county expects to preserve about 100,000 acres during the next two decades at a cost of more than $500 million. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently set precedents defining gray areas of technology law, but none of the three judges announced Monday to preside over the Napster Inc. case was involved in those decisions. 

The court normally decides cases with three-judge panels picked each month at random. Since last year, judges other than the three Napster panelists have supported new technology despite concerns of copyright infringement, national security and Internet-access monopolies. 

Oral arguments in the Recording Industry Association of America’s case against Napster are scheduled Oct. 2 in San Francisco.  

The Napster judges, appointees from three presidential administrations, are to decide whether Napster’s music-sharing service contributes to copyright infringement and should be shut down. 

The Napster panelists are President Reagan appointee Robert R. Beezer, 72, of Seattle; President Clinton appointee Richard A. Paez, 53, of Pasadena; and President Carter appointee Mary M. Schroeder, 59, of Phoenix. The circuit covers nine western states. 

Napster, a Silicon Valley start-up, provides a wildly popular software allowing users to share music files, which they can download from each other’s computers for free. 

Experts were unsure whether the court will legitimize the revolutionary technology allowing millions to copy and trade digital files, including illegal copies of music and other copyrighted material, over the Internet. 

And court watchers were mixed on whether the circuit’s recent groundbreaking decisions on encryption, Internet access and reverse-engineering will help or hurt the recording industry’s case. 

“Everybody has an opinion on this, but there’s no way to really know,” said Eugene Volokh, a University of California, Los Angeles, Internet copyright professor. 

The U.S. Supreme Court this year also reversed nine of the circuit’s 10 cases it reviewed. 

LOS ANGELES — Due to a high rate of loan defaults, federal Housing and Urban Development officials are expected to mandate a 90-day freeze on foreclosure proceedings against area homeowners behind on payments of government-backed mortgages, it was reported. 

Defaults are most often happening among the elderly, minorities and immigrants who may have fallen victim to underhanded lending practices. Investigators believe some lenders may have bought back defaulted properties, made cosmetic repairs to them, and then resold them at a higher price. 

“This is going to save thousands of homeowners from fraudulent foreclosures,” said HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo. “We will not allow homeowners to be victimized by unscrupulous lenders.” 

Cuomo is scheduled to outline the 90-day moratorium on Monday at HUD-sponsored forum for Los Angeles community and church leaders. 

Loan defaults are happening most frequently in 21 ZIP codes in Los Angeles southward to Gardena and Long Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported. In the “hot zone,” HUD officials found homeowners defaulting on loans or filing foreclosure claims at a rate from 7 percent to more than 15 percent. The overall Los Angeles area has a default rate of only 3.6 percent. 

The moratorium is similar to a program HUD launched in Baltimore this year. The three-month freeze is used to check out FHA-approved lenders. If there is evidence of wrongdoing, HUD will curb mortgage fees and suspend violators from making government-backed loans. It will ask lenders of FHA-backed mortgages based on inflated appraisals to restructure the loans to reflect current values. If the company declines, HUD will terminate the loan and issue the buyer another mortgage at a fair market price. 

“I think this program will help prevent some of the predatory lending that’s been happening,” said Joseph Wilson, one of six representatives from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. 

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. law intended to keep heavy polluting cars in Mexico from entering California has yet to be enforced, even though it went into effect 17 months ago. 

Federal border inspectors have not imposed a fine or denied entry to a single motorist because of confusion among the agents, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. 

Many drivers have voluntarily complied with the requirement that their vehicles pass a California smog test. But the measure’s sponsor, Rep. Brian Bilbray, said delayed enforcement means that some cars are entering the United States that should not be. 

“The grace period darn well should be over by now,” said Bilbray, R-Imperial Beach. “We should be moving from the grace period to serious enforcement.” 

The congressman planned to meet with U.S. Customs Service officials to discuss the matter. 

Mexican cars, on average, produce three times more pollution than U.S vehicles because they are older or lack emissions control equipment. 

The new federal law applies to the about 7,000 workers, students and others with cars registered in Mexico who cross regularly into San Diego County. 

All must meet the state’s smog standards and carry California license plates and insurance under the law, which went into effect with a great deal of fanfare in the spring of 1999. 

Besides hitting repeat violators with fines of up to $400 or denying them entry, the measure allows federal authorities to impound vehicles. 

Federal officials in San Diego said they have waited for months for instructions from Washington on how to enforce the sanctions. 

“It hasn’t been clarified who is supposed to impose the federal penalty,” said Ed Castorena, a Customs supervisor 

Since the law took effect, the California Highway Patrol has posted officers at the border for four to six hours on weekdays.  

Drivers in apparent violation of the smog law get written warnings. 

But because no one tracks repeat offenders, the only way to catch them is if an officer recognizes a previously warned motorist or the driver volunteers the information.

KELSEYVILLE — As many as a dozen people luxuriating in the “spiritual, healing” effervescence of Northern California’s Soda Springs may have been asphyxiated over the years by carbon dioxide that bubbled out of the hot spring’s water. 

The pool is encircled by a natural rock border, but a few years ago someone built up the wall with bricks and concrete, making it about 2 feet higher. The higher wall made the basin cozier, but it also apparently trapped the gas close to the surface of the water. 

The most recent victim was 31-year-old Stephen Kastner of Napa, who died alone in the pool July 28, said Phil Damon, an assistant field manager with the federal Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land. 

“From our documentation, and it’s minimal, we know for sure there have been three deaths and probably there have been four times that many,” Damon said last week. “I don’t have much doubt about that.” 

The earliest documented death by asphyxiation at the springs was John “Pop” O’Shea, a former Lake County coroner who died in 1878, Damon said. Another man, who was not identified, died in 1981. 

Soda Springs sits at the edge of a small island about 200 feet off the shore of Clear Lake, about 120 miles north of San Francisco. The water in the rectangular 6-by-8-foot pool smells vaguely of rotten eggs and the basin’s natural back walls are encrusted with a multicolored patina  

of chemicals. 

Carbon dioxide comes up through inactive volcanic vents, making the water bubble like a hot tub, or a bottle of soda. 

Damon said locals erected the wall to cloister the springs from the lake’s waters, which tended to lap in and cool the 90-degree pool. 

The BLM tore down the wall last week, and the springs are now off limits. Warning signs sit in the effervescent waters, strung together by a chain. 

The plan now is to reopen the springs when the BLM determines carbon dioxide levels are safe, then install a wall that can be adjusted to the changing lake levels to allow for ample circulation, Damon said. 

Without proper air flow, dangerous levels of carbon dioxide hover over the surface, said Cathy Janik, a U.S. Geological Survey geochemist. “I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t want to sit in the spring, just because there’s so much gas,” she said. 

Stephen Kastner’s father, Bill Kastner, said all mysterious deaths at Soda Springs should have been taken seriously. 

“We’ve been going there with the boys since they were 8 or 10,” said Kastner, who has a summer house nearby. “Back then there was no wall. In the past few years, someone built the wall, then the BLM knocked it down and then someone built it back up again and BLM knocked it down again.” 

Officially, the cause of Kastner’s death has not been determined and lab results are expected to take several weeks, according to Russell Perdock, Lake County’s coroner. Preliminary autopsy results showed that Kastner drowned, he said. 

SACRAMENTO — Children under the age of 6 or weighing less than 60 pounds will be required to ride in booster seats, under a bill signed by Gov. Gray Davis. 

California will be the first state to enforce the stricter requirements when the new law takes effect January 2002. Six months later, a similar Washington state law will take effect. 

The California bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Daly City, contends standard seat belts are designed for adults and fail to protect young children adequately. 

“This is going to enhance the safety of about one million 4 and 5 year olds who are riding around in cars with seatbelts designed for a 165-pound male, and which are unable to provide protection to a 40 or 50 pound child,” Speier said Monday. 

A small child can slip out of a standard seat belt in a collision and get thrown from the vehicle, or receive serious internal injuries or cuts in the throat from the belt. 

SAN QUENTIN — A convicted sex offender who scaled a razor-wire fence in a pre-dawn escape from San Quentin State Prison remained on the loose Monday after authorities – in a case of mistaken identity – arrested his brother and prematurely reported his recapture. 

“He apparently looks a lot like his brother. He was taken to jail and fingerprinted and we discovered it was not him,” said Stephen Greene, assistant secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency in Sacramento. “The other guy’s still on the loose. 

“This happens occasionally. Either the brother was there as a decoy or in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t know which one it was at this time.” 

The mix-up led officials to announce that they had recaptured Eduardo Mariscal at his girlfriend’s home in Santa Rosa, about 50 miles north of the prison and about 12 hours after he escaped. 

“We are out actively looking for him,” said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon. 

Investigators from the state Department of Correction were concentrating their search in Marin County, where the prison is located, and in neighboring Sonoma County, chasing leads that Mariscal has friends and family in the area, and that his girlfriend had recently sent him a letter breaking off their relationship, officials said. 

Mariscal, 31, was being housed in a medium-security dormitory-style cellblock with hundreds of other inmates, and somehow managed to walk out of the building unnoticed between the 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. head counts, said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon. 

About 200 feet away, near a perimeter fence that is 14 feet high and topped with razor wire, a pair of gloves and a blanket were found on the ground.  

Authorities believe Mariscal threw the blanket over the razor wire before scaling the fence. 

“It doesn’t look like he had any assistance from inside,” Crittendon said. 

Mariscal was sentenced in May 1994 for sex offenses involving minors.  

He had a tentative release date of July 2001 and scheduled to be paroled as early as May. 

The prison, which opened in 1852, is California’s oldest and houses its death row. It was designed to hold nearly 3,300 inmates but currently houses 5,850. 

Crittendon did not immediately know how many prisoners have escaped from San Quentin or exactly when the last one took place, except that it was at least three years ago.

When naked people, cheerleaders, fire breathers, motorized couches, Darth Vader and the mayor all get together it can only mean one thing: the annual How Berkeley Can You Be? parade. 

On a brilliant Sunday, around 50 floats and scores of paraders – some wearing elaborate costumes, others wearing nothing at all – began the morning procession at University Avenue and California Street and were as Berkeley as they wanted to be up University to Shattuck Avenue, then south on Center Street to Civic Center Park. 

Revelers and gawkers followed the parade into the park and grooved to the sounds of the Reggae Angels, Ray Obiedo and the Urban Latin Jazz Project and the Fez Tones.

Monday, Sept. 25

Open forum on affordable  

housing 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Sean Heron of the East Bay Housing Organizations will talk about building a campaign for affordable housing. Sponsored by the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project. 

1-800-773-2110 

Parks & Recreation Board Meeting 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Contact James Kelekian,  

644-6952 x230 

Solid Waste Management Commission 

7 p.m. 

Solid Waste Management Center 

1201 Second St. 

Contact Debra Kaufman,  

644-8891 x224 

Tuesday, Sept. 26

Reclaim the Streets! 

6 p.m.  

Berkeley BART station 

Bring dancing shoes, bikes, skateboards and costumes and fight globalization. Join in this street party and protest and “reclaim Berkeley from cars, corporations and the police state.”  

More Info: 594-4002 

Wednesday, Sept. 27

“Improving Your Bottom Line” 

2-5 p.m. 

Berkeley Yacht Club 

1 Seawall Dr. 

Speakers include, Mayor Shirley Dean, Dr. Drian Nattrass and Mary Altomare Natrass, authors of “The Natural Step for Business” and two of the world’s leading authorities on providing a strategic business framework promoting sustainability and profitability. 

Talking about Living, Talking about Dying 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Maffly Auditorium 

Herrick Hospital  

2001 Dwight Way 

A community forum providing an opportunity to find out about community resources and to share experiences. Moderated by Wendy Hanamura, producer of KQED’s series “Eyes Wide Open,” the forum includes a panel discussion and an audience Q & A.  

Contact Patricia Murphy, 450-8719 

Law Center for Families Benefit 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

The Law Center for Families, a nonprofit professional corporation which provides family, housing and consumer law to low and moderate-income families and individuals, celebrates its first anniversary.  

There will be community speakers, food, drinks and live local music.  

Admission $35 per person 

RSVP by calling 451-9261 x204 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Contact Mary Ann Merker-Benton, 705-8183 

Disaster Council Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar 

644-6665 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m.  

Mental Health Clinic 

2640 MLK Jr. Way 

Contact Harvey Tureck, 644-8712 

Planning Commission Meeting 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Contact Karen Haney-Owens, 705-8137 

Thursday, Sept. 28

Free Introduction to Golden Shield Qi Gong 

6:30 p.m.  

Assembley Hall, First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Learn the basics of this 4,000-year-old system that promotes health and strength of body, mind and spirit. 

More info: 849-2231 

Forest Action Roadshow Presents Darryl Cherney 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship 

1606 Bonita (at Cedar) 

Called “the Woody Guthrie of the North Woods” by the SF Examiner, Cherney has been an avid defender of the redwoods.  

He will present lighthearted songs and a slide show about the direct action protests he’s helped organize. 

Music from the Andes 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

International House, Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Performances by Juanita Newland-Ulloa and the traditional music group, Grupo Atahualpamanta. Co-sponsored by Earth Mandala, an international organization for global peace.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo 

642-9460 

Alta Bates Breast Cancer Center Benefit 

6:30 p.m. This gala event features a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception and a Fall Fashion Workshop presented by Nordstrom and image consultant Anthea  

Tolomei, $50 

Claremont Resort and Spa,  

41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley.  

(510) 843-3000 ext. 290 or www.claremontresort.com 

Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Contact Mark A. Rhoades, 705-8110 

West Berkeley Project Area Meeting 

7 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Ave.  

Contact Daniel Vanderpriem, 705-8134 

Saturday, Sept. 30

Jim Hightower: “Election 2000: a Space Odyssey” 

8 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Sponsored by KPFA and Global Exchange 

$10 in advance/$12 at the door 

848-6767 x609 

Tour Mission District Gardens 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

One of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance for this fall. Tour SF’s Mission District and learn about the role of gardens and open space in community planning. 

Call: 415-255-3233 to make reservations 

Dharma Publishing Showroom Tour 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 - 3 p.m.) 

Dharma House 

2910 San Pablo Ave. 

RSVP: Lunch and volunteers only (1 p.m. -3 p.m.) 

See traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, spinning copper prayer wheels and a video of the work Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India.  

More info: 848-4238 

Sunday, October 1

Return of the Raptors to Marin 

Drivers: 11:45 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

Bikers: 10:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Witness the migration of birds of prey over the Marin Headlands. Includes a hawk talk and banding demonstration and lunch at Rodeo Lagoon. Bike from SF or meet at Hawk Hill. Part of Greenbelt Alliance’s series of free outings.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Open Paw Seminar 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Pauley Ballroom 

UC Berkeley 

Dr. Ian Dunbar, world renowned veterinarian and animal behaviorist presents this free seminar on the prevention and treatment of problem cat and dog behavior. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society and the Berkeley Animal Shelter, the goal is to make animals more adoptable through interaction with trained volunteers.  

More info: Janet Kotlier, 527-7387 

Monday, Oct. 2

“2nd annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. 

$115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

“Clean Lies Dirty War” 

7:30 p.m.  

Unitarian Fellowship  

1924 Cedar 

This event is part of a national campaign to end sanctions on Iraq.  

(510) 528-5403 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of the city’s hiring an archeologist to study the possible mound remnants in the streets.  

Thursday, October 5

3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

New Role for the UN in the New Century 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion with Rosemary van der Laan, President of the Board of Directors of the UN Association of the United States, about globalization and it’s impacts on the economic, social and political lives of the world.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 7

Berkeley Grassroots Greening Tour 

Starts at 10:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. 

Celebrate Open Garden Day by joining this annual bicycle tour of local community and school gardens. Part of a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Houses or Open Hills? 

10 a.m.  

Experience Black Diamond Mines Regional Park’s ghost towns, coal mines, spectacular views and open space on this hike by the proposed sites of 7,700 homes near Antioch. Cosponsored by Save Mount Diablo. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Redesigning Retirement”  

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

UC Berkeley (call for exact location) 

The UC Berkeley Retirement Center and the Academic Geriatric Resource Program will present retirement as a time of great potential. Participants will take part in interactive workshops dealing with the impact of technology on retirement; community involvement of older adults, among other topics. Prominent experts in the field of aging and retirement will take part in “ask the experts” sessions.  

$25. No on-site registration. Register by September 25. 

Contact: Shelly Glazer at 642-5461 

Sunday, Oct. 8

Surmounting Sunol Peaks  

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

Learn about local geology while enjoying the panoramic views from three Sunol peaks. One outing in a free series organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Tuesday, Oct. 10

Cal Alumni Singles 20th Anniversary Dinner 

UC Faculty Club 

Dinner scheduled for Oct. 15 

For reservations call 527-2709 by Oct. 10  

Wednesday, Oct. 11

Are Domed Cities in the future? 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom  

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion based on UC Berkeley alumnus Tim Holt’s book, “On Higher Ground.” Set 50 years in the future, part of the book takes place in an East Bay enclosed by a climate-controlled dome.  

$3 admission  

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Thursday, Oct. 12

East Timor: The Road to Independence 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

A discussion of events leading up to the creation of the newest nation of the millennium and issues raised on the road to independence.  

$3 admission 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 14

Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow & Indian Market 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Grand Entry 1 p.m.  

Enjoy Native American foods, arts & crafts, drumming, singing and many types of native dancing. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley, this event is free.  

Civic Center Park 

Allston Way at MLK Jr. Way 

Info: 615-0603 

Sunday, Oct. 15

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Los Gatos Opera House 

Celebrate the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. This benefit features a variety of musical groups, local artists and samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries and microbreweries. Proceeds benefit Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person; $80 for this event and the Oct. 22 event in SF 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

Tuesday, Oct. 17

Is the West Berkeley Shellmound a landmark? 

7 p.m.  

City Council Chambers 

2134 MLK Jr. Way, 2nd floor 

Continued and final public hearing on the appeals against landmark designation of the West Berkeley Shellmound. The City Council may possibly make it’s decision at this meeting. 

Thursday, Oct. 19

The Promise and Perils of Transgenic Crops 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berekeley, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Saturday, Oct. 21

A Day on Mt. Tam 

9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Come play and hike in San Francisco’s beloved playground. This outing is part of a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance. 

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

AHIMSA Eight Annual Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International House, Great Hall 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

The AHIMSA is a nonprofit foundation whose goal is to encourage dialogues and public forums which bridge spiritual, scientific and social issues. This years conference is titled “Science, Spirituality and Nonviolence.”  

Admission is free 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

Sunday, Oct. 22

A Taste of the Greenbelt 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Presidio’s Golden Gate Club 

Greenbelt Alliance brings the farm to the city in this celebration of the Bay Area’s agricultural and culinary bounty. Featured are samples from over 40 local restaurants, farmers, wineries, microbreweries. Also featured are live music and local artwork. The event benefits Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing efforts to protect Bay Area farmlands and open space.  

$45 per person 

1-800-543-GREEN, www.greenbelt.org 

An Evening with Alice Walker 

7:30 p.m.  

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St. (at Grant) 

free parking 

Join internationally loved novelist, poet and essayist Alice Walker in celebrating her new book of autobiographical stories, “The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart.” Benefits Berkeley EcoHouse and KPFA Radio, 94.1 FM.  

Tickets: $10 advance, $13 door 

Tickets available at independent bookstores 

More info: 848-6767 x609 

Saturday, Oct. 28

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Saturday, Nov. 4

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Saturday, Nov. 11

Moonlight on Mt. Diablo 

1 - 10:30 p.m.  

Hike up the Devil’s Mountain by daylight, catch a glorious sunset and hike back by the light of the moon. One in a series of free outing organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Sunday, Nov. 12

Views, Vines and Veggies 

9:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

Climb Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf State Park and peer down upon the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Then please your palate at the Landmark Winery and visit Oak Hill organic vegetable and flower farm. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

To publicize an event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). Calendar items should be submitted four days in advance. Please include a daytime telephone number. 

The pollsters have already stolen this year’s presidential election. 

They are the true advance team pulling Al Gore’s and George Bush’s campaigns, always one step ahead of either candidate’s speech writers, several days ahead of their position papers, a week ahead of a candidate’s formulation of his most deeply held conviction. Pollsters keep politicians in touch with America. The argument goes: In a country as vast as ours, who else but a pollster can convey to a candidate what’s bothering Paula (white, divorced, two kids under 18) in Peoria? 

With their segmented grasp of America, pollsters have made a national political campaign nearly impossible or irrelevant. In this year’s presidential campaign, when Pennsylvania is a state too close to call for either party, and California and Texas are thought safe for the Democrats and the Republicans respectively, it’s off to Pittsburgh we go! Rather, they go. 

Maybe there is no United States of America anymore, and the pollsters are the ones who fully understand that fact. Maybe there is no need for a national conversation because we can all be dissected into niche market groups. 

The archaic electoral college system becomes strangely post-modern. Running for president is no different than looking for one of those segmented audience or market groups, the same ones retailers and magazine publishers and television networks want to find. 

After all, dollars are finite. Pollsters divine the media markets in which the candidates should concentrate advertising money. So here we are, nearing the end of September, and millions of Americans – a majority – have yet to see an ad for either presidential candidate. Even so, most media analysis of the campaign focuses upon the efficacy of ads most of us will never see. 

I suppose that’s good news for the majority of us. I pity television viewers in Illinois who are Gored and Bushed to death every time they turn on the box. But watching the campaigns from the distance of a “safe” state, it’s hard for me to regard this year’s presidential election campaign as a national affair. 

In an Illinois union hall, Vice President Gore, shirt-sleeves rolled up, plays the populist. Whereas we Californians read in the paper that, during the night, Gore has passed through to suck up dollars in Beverly Hills and Silicon Valley. 

Then there’s George Bush. Months ago, during the California primary, Bush went up and down our state – the largest in the union, and the state with the most immigrants – speaking en Espanol about immigration and global markets. 

But now it is September. When an eager and unprecedented association of ethnic newspaper and broadcasting journalists – the New California Media – offers the globalist Bush a forum to discuss America and the world, the Republican candidate is too busy discussing the cost of prescription drugs in Indiana. 

So it goes. We are long past the days when a candidate promised to visit every state in the union during a presidential campaign. (Richard Nixon was the last to try that gambit.) 

With this year’s campaign we seem to be returning to a gas-lit, cobblestone America, a disconnected nation of great distances and rumors, the country before the jet airplane, when most presidential campaigns took place east of the Mississippi. 

No coincidence is it that each of the three presidential debates will take place well to the right of the Continental Divide. To put it bluntly, Colorado does not figure in this year’s election; Kentucky matters. Florida matters! 

The latest word from the pollsters is that Florida is a toss-up. So the two campaign planes will head for Miami. Expect Bush to talk to Cuban Americans in Spanish about “little Elian.” Expect Gore, across town, at a senior citizens’ social hall, talking about making prescription drugs less expensive for seniors. 

All of us, in all fifty states, have to endure several more weeks of this pre- and post-modern campaigning. For we are now deep in the age of the pollster. 

In January, one man or another will take the oath of office. We will hear ghost-written rhetoric about our nation, indivisible. But the truth is that the nation is divisible by the pollsters. And the man with the best pollsters will become the president of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Total systematic failure. 

That’s really the only way to describe what happened to the Cal offense against Fresno State Saturday night. On the way to a discouraging 17-3 loss to the Bulldogs, the Bears had just about everything possible go wrong while in possesion of the ball. 

Sophomore Kyle Boller took a step backward on the road to becoming a reliable signal-caller, firing balls above and behind his receivers and causing several delay-of-game penalties. When he threw catchable balls, his receivers couldn’t hang on to them or ran the wrong route. The offensive line imitated a leaky dam, allowing Fresno State’s defensive front to harrass Boller and get hits on running backs in the backfield. Those running backs, while making nice moves on several gains, couldn’t manage to break the big play the team needed. And offensive coordinator Steve Hagen showed little creativity in his play calls, allowing the Bulldog defense to constantly blitz without fear of a big play. 

Both teams are 1-2 on the year. 

As usual, the Bear defense did its part, holding the opposition scoreless through most of the first half. They stuffed the Fresno State ground game, allowing just 64 yards on the ground. But soft coverage in the secondary gave Bulldog quarterback David Carr some easy first downs on three scoring drives, which was more than enough to secure victory for the home team. 

Early in the game, neither team looked capable of scoring. Cal’s James Bethea returned the opening kickoff to midfield, but the Bears managed just one first down before calling upon their best weapon, punter Nick Harris. As has been his custom this season, Harris buried the Bulldogs inside their own five-yard line. Fresno State couldn’t muster a first down on its first three possessions, but the Bears couldn’t take advantage of their outstanding field position, as kicker Mark Jensen pulled a 42-yard field goal attempt wide left. 

Cal’s receivers were all off their games Saturday, none more than freshman Geoff McArthur. Despite a team-high three catches for 73 yards on the day, McArthur ran the wrong route several times, and one instance had disastrous consequences. Boller pump-faked an out pattern, expecting McArthur to head upfield. McArthur cut the route short, however, and Boller’s lob was picked off by cornerback Dante Marsh, killing the first-quarter drive. 

Fresno State gave the ball right back, as Carr threw a shovel pass right to defensive tackle Jacob Waasdorp. The Bears ensuing drive was short-lived, with Boller fumbling a snap for an 11-yard loss on the way to another Harris punt.  

That punt and its result turned out to by symbolic of Cal’s season so far. Fresno State’s return man, wideout Charles Smith, inexplicably turned around and let the ball hit him in the back. Cal’s John Klotsche recovered the ball inside the 20.  

But Joseph Echema was stuffed for a one-yard loss, and Boller was sacked for an eight-yard loss, then threw an incomplete pass. Head coach Tom Holmoe declined a field goal try, and Boller made a great throw on fourth and 19 to freshman Chase Lyman for what could have been a crucial first down. But Lyman dropped the ball, and whatever momentum the Bears had built was wiped out. 

Carr eventually solved the Bear secondary, and his two touchdown passes, both to Smith, showed how close the Bears are to success. The first came on a simple slant pattern, and Bear cornerback Harold Pearson broke on the ball about a half-second too late, then missed the tackle. On the second touchdown, Pearson had Smith wrapped up as safety Nnamdi Asomugha came over to finish off the receiver. But Asomugha instead slammed into Pearson, knocking Smith loose to glide into the end zone, sealing Fresno State’s victory.

The agenda of this week’s City Council meeting will have an unusual item – the agenda itself, and whether meeting procedures can be improved. 

Members will also attempt to wrap up several unresolved issues Tuesday evening, including whether to designate the Swink House a “structure of merit.”  

Past meetings have run aground on scheduling problems, often caused by lack of information, which creates backlogs that could almost never be cleared. Politically motivated maneuverings contributed to the problem. 

To change all that, a new plan proposes more staff analysis of council items before a vote, tighter scheduling to ensure both more public participation and shorter meetings, and an annual limit on the number of items a council member could place on the agenda. The desired result is a more awake and “collegial” council. 

Part of the plan is to limit council members’ ability to delay voting on items by “pulling them from consent” numerous times, the proposal says. 

On other fronts, the council will decide whether to authorize a study to determine whether Berkeley police engage in racial profiling during traffic stops. While Berkeley police have taken such demographic data on a voluntary basis, the council will decide whether to approve $25,000 from the California Highway Patrol for personnel costs associated with the collection of traffic stop data. 

Other votes will decide whether all new roads must have bike and pedestrian access on both sides of the street beginning in 2003, and whether to spend $20,000 on a “Homelessness Prevention Program.” At issue there is whether to fund a database of available housing in Berkeley that would help low-income households find a roof. 

Also on the agenda is a scheduled hearing on housing safety referred by the ASUC Senate. Backed by Councilmember Kriss Worthington, the motion would refer the ASUC proposal to the Housing Advisory Committee and the city manager for further review. 

Mayor Dean will also propose that the city support an expanded definition of a prohibited machine gun to cover trigger mechanisms that can covert other weapons into machine guns. 

Also of note is a proposal that the city manager obtain a legal opinion on the university’s desire to exempt from an environmental impact assessment report its plans to add retractable lights to Memorial Stadium. 

Council Member Linda Maio is also requesting an emergency rent guarantee for the East Bay Depot of Creative Reuse, which since 197 has distributed recycled materials for at low cost to artists, teachers, and the public. The university has not renewed the Depot’s lease, which expires in February 2001, and a new landlord is requiring a rent guarantee. That could amount to $43,200, should the Depot default on its monthly rent. 

In other arenas, Stephen Barton, interim director of housing, is proposing an authorization of $59,550 for the Green Resource Center. Finally, the Berkeley Alliance – a consortium representing the city, the university, and public school – could also receive its first check for $95,701 to fund administrative support and project services dealing with issues such as the achievement gap at Berkeley High.

Oregon 29, No. 6 UCLA 10 

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — UCLA ran into a road block. 

Maurice Morris ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns as Oregon beat No. 6 UCLA 29-10 on Saturday for its 17th straight home victory and the Bruins’ seventh road loss in a row. 

“I don’t consider it an upset, just a big win,” Morris said. 

Oregon (3-1) dominated in almost every category, holding UCLA to minus-9 yards rushing in the Pac-10 opener for both teams. 

“If you’re going to win championships, you’ve got to win on the road,” UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. “We just didn’t perform.” 

UCLA was coming off a victory over then-No. 3 Michigan, and opened the season with a win over Alabama — also No. 3 at the time. 

Both Toledo and Oregon coach Mike Bellotti had talked about the importance of the crowd before the game. 

“The atmosphere here was amazing,” Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington said. “Right from the opening kickoff it was electric. I’ve been here for four years andit still gave me the chills.” 

No. 9 USC 34, San Jose St. 24 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Carson Palmer led a late Southern Cal rally Saturday as the No. 9 Trojans scored three touchdowns in the final 8:07 to beat San Jose State 34-24 on Saturday. 

Petros Papadakis bulled 5 yards up the middle for the go-ahead score with 2:34 remaining as Southern Cal (3-0) came back from a 12-point deficit. 

Palmer, who completed 22 of 38 for 338 yards and two touchdowns, threw to Matt Nickels for the 2-point conversion and a three-point pad over the Spartans (2-2). 

Papadakis added an insurance touchdown — his third TD of the game — on a 3-yard run with 57 seconds left after Chris Cash intercepted a pass at the Spartans’ 30 and returned it to the 21. 

The Trojans’ defense held San Jose State tailback Deonce Whitaker, who entered the game as the nation’s third-leading rusher, to 49 yards on 13 carries, although he did score twice. 

Oregon St. 35, San Diego St. 3 

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Ken Simonton ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns as Oregon State beat San Diego State 35-3 on Saturday. 

Simonton, who averaged 192 yards in Oregon State’s opening victories over Eastern Washington and New Mexico, sat out most of the second half. 

Oregon State will open its Pacific-10 season next weekend at Reser Stadium against No. 9 Southern California. 

Idaho 38, Washington St. 34 

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) – Quarterback John Welsh scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 40 seconds left as Idaho posted a 38-34 victory in its 83rd contest against Washington State.  

The Vandals (1-3) have won two straight against their neighboring rivals after losing 14 straight over a 25-year stretch. Idaho snapped a four-game overall losing streak dating to last season and trails this series, 17-63-3.  

The lead changed hands four times in the final quarter. Billy Newman returned an interception 10 yards for a score as the Cougars (1-2) took a 26-24 lead. But Welsh’s 13-yard TD pass to Ethan Jones with 7:14 left gave Idaho a 31-26 cushion.  

Washington State gained a 34-31 bulge with 3:01 remaining on Jason Gesser’s seven-yard TD run. However, Welsh grabbed the victory for the Vandals as his run capped a 10-play, 57-yard drive.  

The Cougars took the ball to the Idaho 36-yard line, but Gesser’s pass for Marcus Williams was incomplete as time expired.  

Arizona St. 44, Utah St. 20 

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – Freshman Jeff Krohn, unbothered by being briefly replaced by three-year starter Ryan Kealy, threw four touchdown passes as Arizona State beat Utah State 44-20 Saturday night. 

The win was Arizona State’s third in three games – its best start since since the 1996 Sun Devils won the Pac-10 title and a Rose Bowl berth with an undefeated regular season. 

Krohn, a former walk-on starting because of Kealy’s off-field problems, hit Richard Williams for scores of 72 and 70 yards in the first quarter and threw strikes of 61 and 35 yards to Donnie O’Neal in the third quarter.

Cutting the defense budget and investing in local communities is the best way to ensure that the United States remains the world’s most powerful nation, a group of national and local activists said at a public policy forum Saturday. 

Panelists at the “Redefining National Security” forum concluded that the nation’s greatest threat is not an attack by a foreign power but the growing number of Americans who lack access to health care, housing, decent jobs and a good education. 

About 100 people gathered at UC Berkeley’s Joseph Wood Krutch Theater to hear the progressive call to arms. 

“Now is the time to redefine national security in terms of how we care for the people of this nation rather than by how many weapons we can stockpile,” said Wilson Riles Jr., forum co-chair and executive director of American Friends Service Committee. “For our nation to be secure we must create jobs that pay a  

livable wage, provide a decent education and access to affordable health care." 

But federal spending priorities lie elsewhere, all eight panelists agreed. They pointed out that the House of Representatives approved $306 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2001, an increase of $18 billion over current spending.  

The bill, passed 367-58 on July 29, catapults defense spending to Cold War levels, panelists said. What’s more, the US military budget is now 2 1/2 times the total spent by Russia, China and seven other countries considered “potential threats,” according to the National Priorities Project, a non-profit research and education organization. 

“The less expensive strategy is to meet the needs of our people,” said Joseph Volk, executive director of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby group. “We need to narrow the ever-increasing gap between rich  

and poor.” 

Children, the elderly and minorities are hardest hit in California, Volk said. The number of children in California living below the poverty line increased from 947,000 in 1987 to 2.1 million in 1998, according to a report by the Census Bureau.  

“We have many of our children living in poverty and 87 percent of our schools in California needing repair to be considered in good overall condition,” said Alameda County Board of Education Superintendent Sheila Jordan. “In the year 2000, the federal government spent one dollar in K to College education for every eight dollars it gave to the Pentagon. Our government has its priorities all wrong.” 

Supporters of increased military spending – conspicuously absent from the panel – argue that the money ensures that 1.4 million active troops can fight and win two major regional conflicts around the same time. The money will also let the Pentagon procure new weapons, such as 341 F-22 jetfighters and 30 new nuclear-powered attack submarines. 

But panelists didn’t see the point. 

“We are at a moment in history when there are no peer powers or alliances which pose any significant military threat to the United States or our allies,” said retired Rear Adm. Eugene J. Carroll Jr., now deputy director of the Center for Defense Information, an independent research organization that monitors military affairs. “Using 50 percent of the entire  

discretionary federal budget to defend the country from imaginary threats is excessive and wasteful.” 

But getting Congress to cut military spending is another matter. There are few voices on Capitol Hill making such arguments, and those that do don’t wield much power.  

In the U.S. House, the 54-member Congressional Progressive Caucus – that includes 10 representatives from California – opposes increased defense spending. But political reality can dictates otherwise.  

“The Congressional Progressive Caucus say they support our efforts,” said Andy Sekana, a forum organizer and member of the San Francisco Progressive Challenge. “But in voting, it has not happened.”

Broncos gain 396 yards on the ground in 48-7 win 

Armed with a brutal ground attack, Dos Palos trampled Berkeley High into their own Astroturf Friday night, inflicting a 48-7 beating upon a school more than five times its size. Operating for most of the evening out of a two tight end set, Dos Palos amassed 408 yards of total offense, 396 of them on the ground. Junior running back Kenny James presented an especially impressive image of the Broncos’ dominance, rushing for 227 yards on 17 carries and four touchdowns.  

Berkeley was forced to contend with James’ game-breaking ability from the opening kickoff, which he returned 76 yards to the Yellowjackets’ two-yard line. A few seconds and a quick pitch later, James scored the Broncos’ first points on a sweep right, giving the Broncos a 7-0 lead only 18 seconds into the game. 

Undaunted, the ‘Jackets roared back on the ensuing kickoff, freeing wide receiver Charles West on a reverse for a 76-yard scamper of their own. Two plays later, having backed the Broncos to their own nine-yard line, Berkeley committed the first of their three turnovers when senior Joey Terry-Jones fumbled a poor pitch from quarterback Leon Ireland.  

Neither Dos Palos nor Berkeley was able to put anything together on the next three possessions, until James again stamped the game with his big-play ability. Taking over on their own 27-yard line after a Berkeley turnover on downs, Dos Palos looked to their dominant offensive line to give them room to sweep left. James eyed a gaping hole, broke a tackle and cut back to the right sideline, streaking 59 yards to the Berkeley 14-yard line. Two plays later James barreled into the endzone for his second touchdown of the evening, giving the Broncos a 14-0 lead with 4:09 remaining in the first quarter.  

The Yellow Jackets responded with their longest sustained drive of the game, a 13-play, 42-yard affair that ate up 5:52 on the clock. Sticking to the ground, Berkeley rushed for 38 yards on five carries, and completed only one of four passes for four yards. Unable to capitalize on a Dos Palos holding penalty that negated a fumble, the ‘Jackets’ drive stalled at the Broncos’ 15-yard line and Dos Palos took over on downs. 

In what was quickly becoming a hallmark of the night, Dos Palos turned to James once again, and he didn’t disappoint. Bursting through the line and over Ireland, who plays safety on the defensive side of the ball, James sprinted 36 yards to Berkeley’s 49-yard line to begin the Broncos’ longest drive of the game. The Broncos ran on eight of their next nine plays, and slowly marched into the endzone, grinding the score out to 20-0 and eating up 6:51 of the game clock.  

After the game, James noted the success of his team’s grind-it-out style: “We came out with the same old game play. We ran the ball good, the line was there opening up holes, and the game was just beautiful.” 

Hoping to spark his flagging offense, Berkeley Coach Gary Weaver inserted his starting quarterback, Muhammed Nitoto, after disciplining him for the first quarter. Dos Palos brought the blitz, hitting Nitoto hard on his first possession. Nitoto coughed up the ball, and giving the Broncos’ offense the ball 13 yards from the goal line. Three plays and one two-point conversion later, Dos Palos had increased their lead to 28-0, and gave James his third touchdown of the game.  

Berkeley tried desperately to get on the scoreboard before halftime, but a stingy Broncos’ defense and an ill-advised pass stood in the way. Facing third and two on their own 47-yard line with time ticking away, Nitoto launched a Hail Mary pass toward the endzone. James intercepted the pass, and the Broncos had the ball on their own 31-yard line with one second remaining in the half. Dos Palos called timeout, and they came up with a play that mystified the ‘Jacket defense. The Dos Palos offensive line offered a gaping hole to quarterback Leonard Davis, and he sprinted 69 yards straight down the field to give the Broncos a 35-0 halftime lead.  

One may have expected the Yellow Jackets to fold in the second half, but they did no such thing. Facing a third and four on their own 30-yard line, Nitoto reared back and aired the ball out, finding wide receiver Chavellier Patterson on the Dos Palos 35 yard-line. Patterson broke one tackle and raced down the right sideline to give ‘Jackets their only touchdown of the game. 

"I saw that we had a little cornerback on one of our taller wide receivers, and I think that our wide receivers are probably the best out there, so I had a lot of confidence that he could out-run the man, or if he needed to out-jump him, so I just threw it up to him, and he made the play," Nitoto said after the game. 

If Berkeley had planned a comeback, however, it was short-circuited by the Broncos. The Dos Palos offensive line pounded Berkeley into submission, opening hole after hole for the Broncos ballcarriers to squirt through. The Broncos tacked on two more touchdowns, eating up most of the second half with three- and four-yard carries. 

Berkeley, on the other hand, ramained out of sync, and was repeatedly paralyzed by drive-stalling penalties. The Yellow Jackets accumulated 5 penalties for 32 yards on the night, but most of these yards came when they were least needed. In a game of inches, the Berkeley offense was frequently stopped a few yards short.  

Noting the problems that the Dos Palos defense presented him with, Nitoto said: "We tried to throw them off by doing an off-set line, but they starting catching onto it after we did it so many times. They just kept the middle clogged up, and they starting putting two safeties back after the touchdown pass. So we couldn’t throw deep, but then we couldn’t throw over the middle either because they had the whole middle clogged up." 

Berkeley falls to 0-3, while Dos Palos improved their season mark to 2-1. Berkeley will travel to Livermore High this Thursday.

Kids romped and jumped on inflated trampolines, while their elders strolled about – hundreds of them – hugging neighbors, moving to music, shelling out a few greenbacks here and for the latest in African garb, or a few dollars there for barbecue, noodles or even a psychic reading. 

San Pablo Park neighbors had waited 50 years to celebrate this day: the golden anniversary of the San Pablo Park Neighborhood Council. It is the oldest neighborhood association in the city. 

Two honorees, Corinne Butler Bayliss and Esther Bell, were showered with flowers at the all-day gala Saturday. Everyone who mounted the stage in the center of the park showered them with praise as well. 

“Praise God for Mother Corinne Bayliss,” called out Rev. Mark Wilson of McGee Avenue Baptist Church from the stage. 

Naturally, those running for office got into the act, with volunteers for incumbent Councilmember Margaret Breland, and two of her challengers Betty Hicks and Carol Hughes-Willoughby actively working the crowd. Peralta Board Candidate Darryl Moore was pressing the flesh and folks supporting the parks’ taxes were passing out flyers.  

A group fighting Patrick Kennedy's proposed cafe/apartment complex at Carleton Street and San Pablo Avenue set up a table and were looking for allies, and the San Pablo area gay and lesbian club had their table nearby to let neighbors know they are part of the community. 

In his low-key way, City Manager Weldon Rucker was taking it all in with two granddaughters in tow. 

Supervisor Keith Carson, not running for office for the moment, told the crowd from the stage that he grew up not far from the park and had special thanks to give to the elders in attendance.  

“Thank you for pulling me on the ear and hitting me on the behind,” he said, recalling the days when neighbors took responsibility for all the kids on the block. 

Corrine Bayliss had her own message for the crowd, written on a button pinned to her powder-blue suit jacket: ”Pray until something happens,” it said.

Water polo upsets second-ranked Stanford 

The No. 5 ranked California men’s water polo team, led by goalie Russell Bernstein, scored a 7-4 upset victory over No. 2 ranked Stanford (4-2) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday on the Stanford campus.  

Senior Eldad Hazor led the Golden Bears with three goals, while Bernstein chalked up 11 saves.  

The Bears jumped to a 3-1 first period lead, thanks to goals by Hazor, Jerry Smith and Joe Kaiser. Cal then extended the lead to 6-2 at halftime with goals by Hazor, Adam Metzger and Smith.  

Stanford mounted a rally in the second half, cutting the Cal lead to 6-4 with 1:34 in the third period on goals by Mark Amott and Peter Hudnut.  

But Hazor’s third goal of the game (and the only goal for both teams in the fourth period), sealed the victory for Cal,which is now 4-3 overall and 1-0 in the MPSF.  

Cal comes out on top after penalty strokes 

Stanford (4-6, 3-2 NorPac) and California (5-3, 3-0 NorPac) played a grueling field hockey match that came down to penalty strokes to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 victory. Neither team was able to score during regulation or the two sudden-death overtime periods.  

Cal led off the first series of strokes and after Stanford goalkeeper Rebecca Shapiro stopped the first shot, the next three Cal strokers scored.  

Three Stanford players attempted and missed shots before the team was mathematically eliminated by a score of 3-0.  

The Cardinal out-shot the Golden Bears 23 to 11 and recorded 10 penalty corners to Cal’s two.  

Volleyball falls to No. 6 USC 

The University of California women’s volleyball team lost to No. 6 ranked USC, three games to none (15-9, 15-7, 15-7), Saturday night at the RSF Fieldhouse in Los Angeles. 

Cal had its best shot to win a game against the Trojans in game one. The Bears jumped out to a 7-2 lead with the help of blocks by freshmen Gabrielle Abernathy and Heather Diers, an ace by Abernathy, a couple of kills by Alicia Perry and a kill by Diers, but USC (9-0, 4-0) came back, won the game 15-9 and never looked back, capturing games two and three by the score of 15-7.  

Perry led Cal (5-5, 1-3) with 19 kills and 11 digs. USC was led by Katie Olsovsky and Jennifer Pahl with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. The Trojans had a .336 hitting percentage for the match.

If people judge you by the car you drive, the jury is out on Philo Northup. 

With 3-D yellow and orange flames streaming down its front, a Spanish tile roof and a guitar hanging out from the back, his “Truck in Flux” is quite a sight. 

“The feedback we get is so positive,” said the cartoonist, who drives his creation to work everyday. “It zaps (people), it hits a nerve ... just looking at a car like this in your rear-view mirror when you’ve had a bad day makes you smile.”  

Why send a message with a standardized, mass-produced car when you can attach a nine-foot Gothic cathedral or a cabin with a waving Pope John Paul II to your roof?  

Those were just two examples of the 50 exhibits of rolling art – including Northup’s – on show Saturday night at the ArtCar Bash in The Crucible Art Gallery on lower Ashby. 

The party was a fund-raiser for the four-day ArtCar Fest, a synthesis of fine art and folk art, which ended Sunday. Northup and his partner, Harrod Blank, organized the gathering, the fourth annual reunion of ArtCar creators and fans from the West Coast. 

The festival began Thursday when vehicles covered with anything from golden Buddhas to mooing plastic cows caravaned around the Bay Area.  

The event concluded Sunday with a film and fashion show, as well as an ArtCars entry in the How Berkeley Can You Be? parade. 

In between, the artists visited schools, showed their work at Jack London Square and threw the party at the warehouse-style gallery on Ashby.  

That event attracted people as flamboyant as the vehicles, who came to hear local bands,  

drink beer and admire each other’s creations. 

“It’s very avant-garde, like the Dada, like any other movement in art history,” said Arizona-based artist Kathleen Pearson. She wore a shiny orange jacket, a bonnet tied around her neck and a tapestry dress with Dutch motifs that matched the wooden clogs and windmills on her pink car. 

Not everyone who has joined the 20-year-old trend is a full-time creator. Many, like Kevin Lipps, hold day jobs and decorate cars to free themselves from the daily grind. 

“I decided to make my own Tiki lounge,” said the glass-blower from Eugene, Ore., proudly sitting next to his VW bug with a grass roof, bamboo wipers and two flaming torches. “It is a little bit of paradise when it’s raining.” 

Some people don’t see the point of the art. And that’s half the reason the artists do it. 

“People take cars so serious,” said Lipps. “To deface a car is sacrilege to them.” 

It may not be sacrilege to Ivan Ganchev, an employee at a mortgage brokerage, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to transform his Escort. 

“I don’t think I could drive to work in a car like that,” he said, looking at Blank’s “Oh my God!” VW bug. 

But work was far from the minds of most Saturday night partygoers. 

“It’s so funky, it’s almost like a playground,” said Pilar Olabarria, whose conservative dress contrasted with the rainbow-colored wigs and the buffoon hats. “A grown-ups playground ... yes, that’s it!”

SAN FRANCISCO — Guitars screeched from the rooftops and street corners across the city in protest Saturday as somber musicians inside the Downtown Rehearsal building packed up their guitars and gear, eviction notices in hand. 

Scores of musicians, from struggling bands to those as successful as Chris Isaak, got their walking papers from the city’s largest practice space last month after a sale agreement was reached with JMA Properties, a real estate firm from the heart of Silicon Valley. 

“It is a dot-com squeeze out, man. The rents are ridiculous,” Mike Kimball, a guitarist for the local hard rock band Broken, said as he coiled up amplifier cords in his rehearsal room. “I’m thinking about moving to L.A.” 

Kimball blamed technology industry newcomers to San Francisco for gobbling up once-affordable space for their high-tech offices. 

The turnover of warehouse space, like Downtown Rehearsal’s, and rising prices elsewhere have signaled the beginning of what many say is a mass exodus of local music from the city that Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead called home. 

“It’s turning into a yuppified city,” Kimball said. 

It’s also becoming a lucrative market for selling real estate. 

When Teryl Koch bought the Downtown Rehearsal building last year, he paid $6 million; Cupertino-based JMA Properties bought it from him for a reported $16 million. 

Calls to JMA Properties’ attorney were not immediately returned and it wasn’t immediately clear what JMA planned to do with the rehearsal space. 

Koch’s son, Greg, who has run Downtown Rehearsal since 1992, wouldn’t confirm the selling price, but he said his father turned down offers as high as $10 million as recently as December. He defended the sale and said he gave musicians more than he ever took away. 

“I went in there and I took a huge risk,” Greg Koch said. “I saw that San Francisco had musical rehearsal studios, but most of them, quite frankly, were dumps.” 

He built 155 rooms that housed more than 270 bands splitting monthly rents of about $500, at least $100 less than competing rehearsal spots in the city. 

To soften the blow, the Kochs have offered $500,000 for a fund to find alternative practice space for the displaced musicians, provided they all move out on time – a requirement for completion of the sale. 

Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, who has also rented space at Downtown Rehearsal, have offered to hold fund-raiser concerts to create new practice space, said Gavin Newsom, a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors who heads a committee fighting development in the city. 

Saturday afternoon, frustrated musicians took to the street in protest. From the warehouse district to Haight Street, bands like Staci Twigg, The Cubby Creatures and Jaded Internet Veterans played from rooftops and street corners and handed out fliers describing their plight. 

It isn’t just Downtown Rehearsal, said Joel Perez, 28, of The Cubby Creatures. His band shares rehearsal space with five others at Secret Studios, where management informed tenants last week it would be increasing the rent as much as 40 percent. 

Coast Recorders, a premier recording studio where Isaak has cut tracks in the South of Market district, is also closing at the end of the month. That warehouse district now has at least 500 Internet-related companies, rents exceeding $60 per square foot, and a vacancy rate at less than 1 percent. 

“The Jaded Internet Veterans, we may be partly responsible for it, but we don’t like it,” lead singer Brick Thornton said from a second story rooftop where his band played to a crowd of about 50 in the street below. The bands’ members are all dot-com employees. 

LOS ANGELES — President Clinton predicted Sunday that Democrats could win a slim majority in the House but still will have to get along with the Republicans. 

“There will be an effort for bipartisan cooperation no matter what happens in the next election, because if we win the majority it won’t be so big that we won’t have to work with them,” Clinton said. 

The president spoke at a fund-raiser for Rep. Lois Capps, a Santa Barbara Democrat targeted by the GOP this year. The event was expected to raise an estimated $200,000. 

A swing of just six seats in the Republicans’ current 222-211 majority could return the House to Democratic control for the first time since 1994. 

Clinton was making the rounds of two swing districts in California this weekend.  

The Capps stop followed a Saturday visit to San Jose to help Democratic hopeful Mike Honda raise an estimated $500,000. 

At Sunday’s event, Clinton offered only cautious hope for a Democratic majority in the Senate, where the Republican majority is 54-46. 

“We might even win the Senate back, but if we do it will just be by a seat or so,” Clinton said. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hopes to hold on to the Democratic Senate seat now occupied by retiring New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. 

The Capps fund-raiser marked the 139th time this year that Clinton has headlined campaign events for congressional Democrats – a fund-raising record for a president. 

On Saturday night, Clinton brought in an estimated $4.4 million for House Democrats at a lavish affair in the exclusive Brentwood section of Los Angeles. 

Pausing along the lucrative weekend hunt for campaign cash among Hollywood moguls and Silicon Valley dot-com wealth, Clinton also announced expansion of the federal scenic protected area around Big Sur. 

The Forest Service paid $4.5 million for 784 acres at the southern entrance to the protected forest land around Big Sur, where spectacular views of ocean ringed by towering cliffs draw millions of tourists every year. 

The parcel around San Carpoforo Creek will be added to the 1.75-million-acre Los Padres National Forest in central California. 

The new land is tiny by comparison to the vast acreage already under federal protection around Big Sur but carries large symbolic value. 

It represents one of Clinton’s last opportunities to expand his environmental legacy and an opportunity to confer further environmental and conservation bona fides to Vice President Al Gore. 

“The work we have done on conservation is among the things I’m most proud of today,” Clinton told the California chapter of the League of Conservation Voters. The national nonprofit environmental group that recently endorsed Gore for president 

Clinton said he and Gore have tried to further the conservation legacy that President Theodore Roosevelt began nearly a century ago.  

“For more than seven years now, Al Gore and I have fought to do that, most of the time with a Congress that was very hostile to our environmental objectives,” Clinton said. 

Both Gore and his GOP presidential rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, want to pocket California and its 54 electoral votes — a fifth of the 270 needed for the presidency. On Monday, Bush is to begin a five-day West Coast campaign swing that includes California. 

The money for the latest expansion comes from Clinton’s 2000 land conservation budget, a pot of about $650 million that was the subject of a long partisan struggle in Congress. 

Through two terms, Clinton has secured stronger protection for tens of millions of acres of scenic or threatened land and frequently angered Republicans in the process. 

In April, Clinton set aside 355,000 acres to protect ancient groves of giant sequoias. Clinton made the trees a protected monument under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to safeguard, without congressional approval, objects of historic and scientific interest. 

SANTA ANA — In an effort to keep its lines moving, the Department of Motor Vehicles has ignored safeguards and issued fraudulent drivers’ licenses, allowing thieves to steal identities and borrow money in the name of unsuspecting victims, investigators said. 

The fraudulent licenses result in hundreds of Californians falsely arrested each year and thousands more who have their credit ruined, the Orange County Register reported Sunday. More than 100,000 fraudulent drivers’ licenses were issued last year. 

DMV officials concerned about the agency’s reputation for long lines have refused in the past to consider routine protections such as checking photos in the computer against applicants for duplicate licenses. 

The agency’s lax policies have reportedly made the agency a magnet for criminals who can obtain a new identity merely by filling out an application and paying a $12 fee, the newspaper reported. 

A driver’s license is known as a “breeder document” for identity thieves, who use it to obtain loans and empty bank accounts. Felons use the document to “clean” their records, allowing them to purchase firearms. 

“The heart and soul of fraud starts with the DMV,” said Werner Raes, vice president of the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators and a fraud detective with the Anaheim Police Department. 

Records show widespread abuses, including duplicate licenses issued to people of different races and genders than the original licensee, and, in one case, 18 different individuals obtaining licenses in the name of the same victim. 

The agency’s fraud caseload doubled in the past year even as DMV brass fought legislative reforms and ignored the recommendations of their own investigators, according to the newspaper. 

DMV Director Steve Gourley, who was appointed in January, vowed last week to adopt reforms ensuring that the 900,000 duplicate licenses issued each year are legitimate. The agency estimates it issued 140,000 fraudulent duplicate licenses in 1998-99. 

Officials estimate implementing the photo retrieval program would cost the agency $3 million over the next two years. 

SACRAMENTO — For the first time, Gov. Gray Davis has allowed the release of a convicted murderer, a battered woman who shot her boyfriend in 1986 after he threatened to kill her, her son and her unborn child. 

Davis said there were “extraordinary and compelling circumstances” favoring the release of Rose Ann Parker, 41, but that the “gravity of her crime” persuaded him to add conditions to her parole. 

Parker was scheduled to be freed Sunday. Davis delayed her release date until Dec. 8 and modified the terms of Parker’s parole order by the Board of Prison Terms. In addition to conditions imposed by the board, Davis required her to undergo periodic tests for marijuana use and attend parenting classes. 

“Ms. Parker committed a grave crime. However, this case has all the characteristics of Battered Women’s Syndrome, a now legally recognized defense which was not available at the time of her trial,” the governor said in a written statement released Sunday morning by his office. 

That law was approved in 1992 and signed by then-Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. 

The Democratic governor agreed with the other conditions imposed by the board – that Parker submit to narcotics testing, join a drug-rehabilitation program and participate for at least six months in a domestic violence prevention program. 

Parker was convicted in San Bernardino County of second-degree murder for the March 1986 killing of Arthur Boga, her boyfriend of four years with whom she had been involved in a relationship marked by violence and abuse, according to testimony cited by the governor. 

She was sentenced to 15 years to life, and is currently being held at the California Institution for Women at Corona. 

Parker believed she was in danger of losing her life, as well as that of her 2-year-old son and her unborn child, according to court testimony and the governor’s office. Boga, learning that day that Parker had become pregnant by a former boyfriend, came to their apartment with a .38-caliber revolver and threatened to kill her and her family members, according to Davis. 

“Ms. Parker begged him to put the gun down, and when he did, she picked it up and shot him in the back,” Davis said. 

As governor, Davis has the power to reverse, affirm or modify the decisions of the board, which sets release dates for all California prisoners sentenced to life. 

In about 30 earlier cases that have come to his attention, he has either reversed the board’s decision or sent them back for a full review by the nine-member panel. His latest decision is the first time he has only modified a board ruling and allow the inmate’s parole to proceed, his office said. 

The governor also said he wanted to ensure that Parker served the minimum amount of her term, which with good-time credits is up Dec. 8. 

——— 

On the Net: 

For more on the California Board of Prison Terms, see its Web site at http://www.bpt.ca.gov/ 

WEST SACRAMENTO — Rarely a day goes by that Victoria Williams’ two children, ages 1 and 2, do not try to wriggle out of their car seats. 

“I’ll be driving down the highway and have to pull over because they are totally out of their seats,” Williams says. “They hate those things.” 

Given their disdain for the restrictive straps and hard plastic, Anthony and Brandon won’t like a bill waiting for the governor’s signature that would require them to ride in booster seats until they are 6 or weigh 60 pounds. 

If signed by Gov. Gray Davis, California would be the first state to enforce the requirement. The state’s law would take effect January 2002, followed six months later by a similar Washington state law. 

The California bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jackie Speier, a Daly City Democrat whose husband died in a car crash, contends standard seat belts are designed for adults and fail to protect young children adequately. 

A small child can slip out of a standard seat belt in a collision and get thrown from the vehicle, or receive serious internal injuries or cuts in the throat from the belt. 

Booster seats, typically about $30 to $100, raise a child so the lap belt fits over the pelvis and the shoulder strap fits across the chest, reducing the possibility  

of spinal cord and abdominal injuries. Some models include  

a head rest for whiplash protection. California currently requires the seats for children up to age 4 and 40 pounds. 

Speier aides say they are “cautiously optimistic” the governor will sign this year’s bill. Davis has not said whether he will or not. 

A measure that would have covered children up to 7 regardless of weight was pulled off his desk last year after he asked that weight limits be added. 

There is talk of legislation similar to Washington’s and California’s in at least three states, including Idaho, Texas and Colorado.  

A bill to put 7-year-olds in booster seats failed to pass New York’s Senate. 

The California bill would double the first-time fine for motorists who violate the requirement to $100. Subsequent violations would be $250. 

The measure would give part of the fine revenue to communities where the violations occurred for use in child passenger safety education programs that would loan or offer the low-cost purchase of booster seats. 

The California Highway Patrol issued more than 10,000 citations for car seat violations last year. California Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, who has a 5-year-old son, says parents should not be criminalized for making individual decisions about their children’s safety. 

“To say that I am not taking every precaution with my son is ridiculous,” Morrow said. “The laws now were based on the best scientific information and I think it is still the best standard.” 

Parents with three children under 6 have also complained about the bill, saying three booster seats cannot fit in the back seat of many vehicles. 

Washington state’s new booster seat law stemmed from the death of 4-year-old Anton Skeen, thrown from his seat belt and a sports utility vehicle in a rollover crash four years ago. 

Rescuers found the seat belt still fastened. The boy’s mother, Autumn Alexander Skeen, was also wearing a seat belt and was found strapped in the totaled vehicle. 

Skeen says she later learned a booster seat could have saved her son’s life, and that knowledge haunts her. 

“I knew the laws but I didn’t think the little booster seat would do anything,” said Skeen of Walla Walla, who pushed for the Washington law and is a spokeswoman for a national education campaign set to start in November. “I figured there would be a law about it if it was needed.” 

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for children between 5 and 12. 

Michele Willis, a Brea, Calif., mother of two, says it might be hard getting her 3-year-old daughter, Lauren, to stay in a booster seat another three years. 

“Still, she has to do what I say,” Willis says. “She’ll get used to it.” 

Read the California bill, SB567, at http://www.sen.ca.gov 

Find more on child passenger safety at: 

http://www.boostamerica.com 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web page: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/

In June, the School Board threw its weight behind a $116.5 million bond measure. And Wednesday night it detailed plans for how the district plans to spend the Measure AA funds, if the voters approve the ballot measure in November. 

District officials presented an “orange booklet” detailing expenditures for Measure AA and a school facilities maintenance tax, Measure BB. They hope to begin circulating the booklet next week. 

School officials said they hope the booklet will tell taxpayers why they should approve a second multi-million dollar bond when the district still has money in the bank from the $158 million Measure A passed in 1992. The schools have yet to spend $60 million from that bond. 

Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said that the unspent funds from Measure A are committed to projects, such as the retrofitting and upgrades to King Middle School and Franklin Elementary. 

There are many vital school facility needs that are not be covered by the 1992 bond, he said. 

In a letter to the citizens of Berkeley in the orange book, McLaughlin says that he formed a Capital Campaign Committee several years ago to investigate these needs and alternative funding sources, while other community groups – such as the Citizens’ Construction Advisory Committee – were investigating school facility needs. 

Chair of the CCAC Bruce Wicinas says that Measure A was “focused on seismic safety and rehabilitation of classrooms.” 

Further, the CCAC says that Measure A passed over many buildings and classrooms in the district, including the cafeteria – or lack of one – at Berkeley High, and several key safety and technology upgrades in all but the new buildings. 

The district proposes to spend $32 million, around 28 percent, of the $116.5 million on new classrooms. They will be built at Emerson, Franklin, John Muir and Oxford Elementary schools as part of the 1998 program to reduce class size to a 20 to one ratio in kindergarten through third grades. 

The new bond funds would also increase the number of classrooms at Berkeley High and pay for the surveillance cameras the board recently agreed to install.  

The Adult School would receive over $8 million for repair and modernization, and the childcare program would get over $6 million for new buildings at the King Child Development Center and Franklin Parent Nursery. 

The measure, however, has its detractors. Opponents say that Measure AA would require interest payments of $250 million to be repaid. They also say that the district has a history of saying one thing and doing another. 

“Just because they say that’s what they’re going to do doesn’t mean that they will,” said outspoken opponent Rosemary Vimont, who authored the rebuttal that will be in the voter pamphlet. “The orange book is not a legal document. The bond is a legal document.” 

Vimont said that during the campaign to pass Measure A, the district promised to reduce the amount of bonds it issued if it received money from outside sources. However, according to the booklet, the district has received $28 million in state, federal and local sources to supplement the bond. 

The district argues that passage of the new bond would make it eligible to receive additional funds from future state bonds to continue to improve the schools. 

Vimont and others say that the school board has broken its promise because it is still spending Measure A bonds. 

Vimont also says that the board has a “hidden agenda” and plans to build a baseball diamond on the former site of East Campus at Derby Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

District Public Information Officer Karen Sarlo said that the bond addresses matters of need, and said that when McLaughlin formed a facility finance committee to address the needs, the baseball field wasn’t in the mix. 

She conceded, however, that the funds could be spent for the baseball field, but cautioned that the city – which would have to close Derby Street for the project – would have a series of public steps to take before the baseball field project could come to the fore. 

Sarlo explained that the while the orange book details the expenditure of every penny, it is not etched in stone that the funds will be spent that way. 

“We try to follow it as best we can,” she said. “Sometimes things happen. You open up a wall and you find dry-rot. It’s an unforeseen expense, its going to take more money.” 

Measure AA has a $10 million contingency for unforeseen conditions written into the bond. 

Sarlo said that inflation also must be accounted for. The total inflation budget for the measure is $18.9 million. 

She said that the “greenbook,” which documented the expenditures for Measure A, didn’t prepare for unforeseen expenses and inflation as well as the orange book does. 

She added that the measure will not increase the annual tax rate. It finances bonds by extending the 2000 rate. The estimated annual tax levy for the owner of a $200,000 home over the next 31 years will be about $290 annually. 

Since the bond is a General Obligation Bond, it can be used only for those purposes approved by the voters. 

Associate Superintendent of Business Catherine James said she hopes to fine tune the booklet and send copies to the schools and public libraries, as well as make copies available on request by next week. 

The orange book is online at www.bcsss.com.

Cal kept pace with No. 7 UCLA for one game on Friday night, but the Bears couldn’t sustain the momentum, losing to the Bruins in four games, 8-15, 15-9, 15-4 and 15-7. 

Confidence on Cal’s bench soared as the Bears captured game one on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Leah Young. After Cal rattled off 10 straight points to end the first game, UCLA quickly bounced back and won the first six points of game two, eventually winning the game on the way to closing out the match. 

“After game one, we knew we were able to play with them physically,” Cal head coach Rich Feller said. “Being able to play with teams like that emotionally is what we still have to strive for.” 

Senior outside hitter Alicia Perry led the Bears with 13 kills and 17 digs. Freshman Gabrielle Abernathy recorded 12 kills and junior Candace McNamee 

added 26 assists. 

“We just need to pass the ball better,” Perry said. “We were all out intense in the first game, but then we might have been a little overconfident and we let down.” 

Playing a match against the No. 7 women’s volleyball team in the country is a daunting task in and of itself. Add to that the fact that UCLA is the defending Pac-10 champion, they own an 8-3 record this season and they have never lost to Cal, winning 39 straight meetings dating back to 1980. 

For all practical purposes, UCLA was probably looking past Cal and to their Sept. 23 matchup against No. 11 Stanford. 

The Bears’ aggressive defense gave the Bruins reason to focus on the game at hand.  

“They definitely played better than we had seen them play on film,” said UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski. “It was a wake up call for us here tonight.” 

Wins haven’t come easy for the 5-4 Cal team this season, especially in their last three outings. Last week, the Bears played more than six hours of volleyball in their two five-game matches against Oregon and Oregon State.  

“I don’t think we played enough tonight to have a stamina be a factor. There might have been some mental fatigue, getting beat two straight games is pretty tough,” Feller said. “I think we started losing focus.” 

The Bears host No. 5 USC Saturday night before hitting the road for five straight matches against Pac-10 teams, including an Oct. 10 meeting against Stanford.

Saturday, Sept. 23

From Capitalism to Equality 

2 p.m. 

Niebyl-Proctor Library 

6501 Telegraph Ave. at Alcatraz 

Why have the conditions of work become more difficult and the 

rewards more unequal since 1973? Join author Charles Andrews to 

discuss these issues and solutions for them. 

$5 admission includes $10 discount coupon the book, “From Capitalism to Equality” 

535-2476 

Micropower Broadcasting  

Council of War 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

New College 

777 Valencia St.  

San Francisco 

A convention of micropower broadcasters, media activists and community radio aiming to expand a national campaign for the liberation of the broadcast airwaves.  

549-0732, www.freeradio.org 

Misty Redwood 10K Fun Run 

8:30 - 10:30 a.m. 

The forth annual race benefits the Bay Area Coalition for the Headwaters Forest. The race takes place in beautiful Redwood Regional Park in Oakland. Volunteers are needed. 

$25 registration day of race  

More info: 835-6303 

ArtCar Bash 

7 p.m.  

The Crucible 

1036 Ashby (between Seventh and San Pablo) 

Join the celebration as mobile, public folk art returns to the Bay Area. Part of ArtCar Fest 2000, an event featuring over 100 ArtCars from across the United States and Canada. 

$10 admission  

843-5511 

Congressional Forum on Redefining National Security 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Clark Kerr Campus 

Joseph Wood Krutch Theater 

UC Berkeley 

Rear Admiral Eugene Carroll, Vice President for Defense Information and other local experts discuss how the Defense Department budget can be cut and the money used to meet local and national needs.  

More info: 415-221-8382 

Sunday, Sept. 24

Berkeley Hillel Dinner Welcomes Adam Weisberg 

6:30 p.m.  

Reutlinger Center 

2736 Bancroft Way 

The Berkeley Hillel, which serves Jewish students at UC Berkeley, is hosting a dinner to introduce its new executive director, Adam Weisberg, to the community.  

$75 per person 

Call Joan Ominsky, 524-5333 

“First Steps in Finding your Family History” 

Brunch 10:30 a.m., lecture 11 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Using both story-telling and generational techniques, Dr. Lois Silverstein will offer beginning steps to rediscovering family heritage and traditions.  

$4 for BRJCC members and $5 for all others 

848-0237 

5th anniversary party and film festival 

6-8 p.m. party 

film: 8:30-10:30 p.m. 

Pyramid Alehouse Outdoor Movie Theater 

1901 Gilman St. 

The event is to honor five years of BFB bike advocacy. Films will include: “Pedalphiles and Dinosaurs Against Fossil Fuels” 

Bring something to sit on. 

Free to members; $10-$20 sliding scale to non members.  

549-7433 

“How Berkeley Can You Be?” 

11 a.m. on University Avenue and California Street, culminating at Civic Center outside Berkeley High School.. 

Participating groups include the NIMBY Brigade, ArtCar Fest 2000, the Young Republicans for Heterosexuality, the Berkeley Bullfight Academy, the fashion police and more. 

Festival in the park starts at 12:30 p.m. 

849-4688 

Sign Leonard Peltier’s  

Birthday Card 

1 - 5 p.m.  

Peoples Park 

Bring drums and food for a potluck as the Peltier Action Coalition and All Nation Singers celebrate Leonard Peltier’s 56th birthday. 

More information: 464-4534 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair Clinic 

11 a.m. - noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Come learn how to fix that pesky flat tire right from one of REI’s bike technicians. Just bring your bike; tools will be provided. One in a series of bike repair clinics presented by REI.  

Call: 527-7377 

Fall Plant Sale at UC Botanical Garden 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

The Botanical Garden 

Centennial Drive, between Memorial Stadium and Lawrence Hall of Science 

Your once-a-year chance to snag rare and choice specimens for your garden. A silent auction of native flora, perennials, herbs, rhododendrons, vines, ferns, orchids, fruit trees and house plants from around the world. 

More info: 643-2755 

ArtCar Fest Film Festival & Fashion Show 

7:30 p.m.  

UC Theater 

2036 University Ave.  

Dr. Howland Owll hosts a night of ArtCar movies by ArtCar Fest co-founder Harrod Blank, wearable art by ArtCar artists and ground-breaking performances.  

$7.50 admission  

More info: 843-FILM 

Monday, Sept. 25

Open forum on affordable housing 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Sean Heron of the East Bay Housing Organizations will talk about building a campaign for affordable housing. Sponsored by the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project. 

1-800-773-2110 

Compiled by Chason Wrainwright

aSchilling hears from captive son 

Editor: 

Today at 4:15 p.m., Radio Mindanao called me up and offered me an opportunity to speak with my son, Jeffrey Schilling. 

I was able to talk with him through the talk show host over live Radio Mindanao. I am so relieved to have heard my son’s voice directly and clearly. 

He is alive and well. He told me that he loves me and I told him that I love him. 

He also asked me to take care of his wife Ivy, which I will do. 

He wants the Philippine Government to reopen negotiations.  

I am hopeful that a peaceful resolution can be found. But I understand the Philippine Government’s position at the time is to continue the military assault unless the hostages are released. Then they would reopen negotiations. I support whatever will work to bring my son home safely. 

I told Jeffrey that many people are praying for him and his well being. He says he is alive and well for now.  

I hope and pray that a resolution to this crisis will come soon. I ask Abu Sabaya to release my son, Jeffrey, unharmed.  

Carol Schilling 

Oakland 

Develop along transit corridors 

Editor: 

Your reader, Peter Teicher, postulates that, in general, the smaller and shorter the development the more desirable its “impacts” and ambience. In areas of exclusively single family homes, far from transit and commercial districts, this may be true. And the city’s zoning ordinance reflects this. But on busy commercial corridors, within walking distance to transit and jobs, the city is better served by denser development and bigger buildings. 

Denser development on transit corridors furnishes a number of social, economic, and aesthetic benefits that single-use, single story dwellings and businesses can never provide.  

These include:  

• More affordable housing. My firm has built or is building more than 50 low income residences that would never have been built, but for the densities of the buildings they are in.  

• More housing accessible to the disabled and elderly. The projects I build are also among the few fully accessible housing developments in the city. 

• Improved neighborhood retail opportunities and amenities. The additional customers and the commercial spaces provided in dense mixed-use buildings furnishes affordable space for small, neighborhood serving businesses.  

• Improve the safety and security of the area. The high level of crime in this part of Berkeley – last February, in one night there was a shooting and 

a knifing within one block of the proposed project at 2700 San Pablo – is, in part, owing to the lack of development in this area, and the attendant “eyes on the street” that help to keep a neighborhood secure. 

• Less car dependency and improved envirornmental conditions. Infill development on transit corridors relieves pressure from developing greenfields in surrounding areas, and also serves to locate housing closer to jobs, thereby reducing traffic in the immediate area.  

For these reasons and others, my developments have consistently been endorsed by The Sierra Club, Urban Ecology, Eco-City Builder, and many others.  

• Improved tax base for other city services. The construction of multi family housing on developable land in the commerical corridors adds significant property tax and sales tax revenue to the city coffers. On the property I developed at 1910 Oxford St. University Ave. the assessed value of the property went from $400,000 to $5.7 million, and net increase of $5.3 million to the city’s tax rolls.  

In short, there are significant benefits to the development of infill projects that, I believe, Mr. Teicher, chooses to ignore. The “oversized” project hecriticises – at 2700 San Pablo – is in fact within the limits of the zoning for the area – which, is not a single family neighborhood, as he avers, but rather a mix-used district allowing commercial, residential,and industrial uses.  

Development like this will improve the city, and protect existing neighborhoods.  

Patrick Kennedy 

Panoramic Interests, Berkeley 

Piedmont resident 

Build accessible housing  

Editor: 

I would like to support Dina Valicenti’s letter (September 21) advocating 2700 San Pablo Avenue as an excellent site for apartments, and her appreciation for the developers’ intention to augment the availability of affordable and wheelchair accessible housing.  

As a neighbor to the proposed project and one who must live with its potentially looming scale, I would also point out, however, that housing stock – affordable, commercial, and wheelchair accessible – can also be expanded with a building that conforms to both the letter and the spirit of the West Berkeley Area Plan and does not exceed three stories.  

The surrounding neighborhood, which continues broadly to oppose the insensitive scale and height of the developers’ proposals presented so far (designs of 4 and 5 stories), is likely to welcome warmly projects that conform to the Plan’s goals and policies, which were carefully crafted to guide the future of West Berkeley, and that contribute to the well being and quality of life of all residents, new and old – and yet to be. 

Howie Muir 

Berkeley 

Answer: build more housing 

Editor:  

In Berkeley, How do you get more housing, without building at a lower cost? 

Or how to pull rabbits out of a hat you don’t even have.  

It’s never ending the complaints about housing. There’s not enough - really? It’s actually a fairly simple issue of supply and demand. 

You got 45 people in line trying to fill out an application for a two bedroom apartment and, well, only one person is gonna get it. Where do the other 44 people go?  

Even the most Marxian followers of economics understand the issues of supply and demand. If there isn’t enough housing, well there just isn’t enough. When market forces come to bare the owner of said units will charge as much as someone is willing to pay to live there - if allowed to. Yes, this is exploitive but so what. It’s a result of one and one thing only - NOT ENOUGH HOUSING.  

We can have the most aggressive rent board in place going after those nasty landlords and trying to keep the evictions to a minimum, rents as low as possible, but does this solve the housing problem? Obviously not. If no one wants to rent a place the owner will lower the price (they have to if they want to rent it). If everyone wants to rent this place the landlord will raise the price as high as possible. 

But who cares about this. Pricing isn’t even the factor. The real issue is too many people seeking too few units. It doesn’t matter what they cost. If you want to live in this town - get in line!  

The magical answer is - abra cadabra! - build more housing. Many noted political figures in this Great-Town-of-Berkeley have advocated for more and more and more low income housing, further restrictions on rent increases, more controls on initial pricing, to some how, miraculously, create lower cost housing (as a fact, there is absolutely no information on controlling rents in ANY city in the United States that has, in any way, reduced the vacancy rate, reduced rent, or improved the housing stock for citizens of these cities. In fact, it generally has made the problem worse for poor people with limited incomes).  

We need to change zoning, improve and streamline the building process to add more housing stock to the city of Berkeley - and yes help out folks with lower incomes. Virtually all of San Pablo Avenue is one story store fronts. Solano Avenue, University, parts of Shattuck -much the same. They all have great potential for more housing with easy public transit access. This whole area could be gradually transformed into a variety of 2 to 4 story multi-use buildings, adding vitality and street life to each neighborhood including restaurants, cafes, produce stores, book stores - and hey my favorite– pubs!  

This Town and the battles that get fought are full of contradictions. More housing but no more building, but low cost housing, but tight rent control and an extremely scrutinizing Spanish-Inquisition-Style review process, where everyone’s opinion - no matter how factually based, has major impact on the final decision. This city, in many ways is very conservative, reactionary and very naive in its perceptions of what can work and add to the vitality of community.  

This commentary comes from a long-time-Berkeley-Resident who lives 3 blocks from San Pablo Avenue and can go to REI, Walgreens and Pyramid Alehouse while walking my dog!  

Steven Donaldson  

Berkeley 

Low density dwellers should not spout towers 

Dear Editor: 

Richard Register’s long-winded personal attack on Carrie Olson moves me to point out that he himself lives in a low-density neighborhood under no threat of high-rise Manhattanization. 

Density has its merits if and only if we have, among other things, a system of sensible, efficient, and affordable transportation, which is unfortunately many, many years away. When I see Richard Register on the transit frontlines (which I don’t) I’ll know he’s about something besides greed. 

I always enjoy his “highrise to open space” equations, too. I have a suggestion. Put the open space and the transit systems in downtown first, 

Mr. Register. Then we’ll talk about the highrises.  

Carol Denney 

Berkeley 

in the Berkeley Daily Planet on September 16, 2000 

We, members of Citizens for Responsible Fire Protection, would like to respond to the article of September 16, 2000, regarding the construction of a new fire station in the hills. It is unquestionable that a new fire station is needed. What we do question is whether or not the City’s plan actually meets the extraordinary demands of disasters such as wildfires and earthquakes. The voters approved the funding the City seeks to use for this project in 1992. After eight years we should all be certain that what we are accepting is the best possible solution. After all, it is our money, our homes, and our lives. 

First we would like to address the misinformation put forth by those interviewed: 

1. The City cannot hold discussions with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) as to what features they want in the station because EBMUD has taken the position that the station will in no way serve the Water District. EBMUD is willing to sell the land to Berkeley provided that the City first meets certain conditions. The Park District is only being asked to house one engine and one crew there for a period of 10 to 30 days per year. 

2. The size of the station will not depend on neighborhood input as Mr. Kamlarz suggests. Rather, the City’s Request for Proposal for the preparation of the Environmental Impact Report, dated June 27, 2000, specifies a 7,500 sq. ft. building with a 2,500 sq. ft. apron, to be built on the western portion of the site 

3. The statement as to the outcome of the validation suit is also incorrect. The court will rule whether or not Berkeley’s plan meets the multi-jursidictional (and other) requirements of Measure G, which was passed by the voters in 1992. The court cannot change the language of Measure G to allow for a single jurisdictional facility. The City wants the court to agree that the minimal presence of the Park District meets the Measure G requirements for a jointly funded multi-jurisdictional facility. 

4. Several statements by Councilwoman Betty Olds are also contain incorrect information: 

a. Station #7 was built in 1939, not 1920. Ms. Olds is correct when she states that this facility is in shocking condition. Why has its owner, the City of Berkeley, allowed this essential facility to deteriorate? 

b. The response time to Park Hills cannot possibly be reduced by three minutes because the current response time is barely two minutes! Further, any decrease in response time to one area means an increase in response time to another area. 

c. According to Mr. Steve Boeri, the head of EBMUD’s Real Estate Department, the land in question cannot be turned over to private developers. This contradicts the statement of Councilwoman Olds that developers were lining up to grab the land and build multiple homes on it if Berkeley did not use the property for the proposed fire station. 

d. The property in question is nowhere near an acre in size. According to the June 27, 2000 EIR proposal request the lot occupies 19,180 sq. ft. That is less than one-half an acre. 

5. Hills resident Barbara Allen is incorrect when she says that this will be the only fire station east of the Hayward fault. Both the Park District and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory have facilities east of the Hayward fault. The current station #7 is east of the Hayward fault. 

Measure G was drafted in the summer of 1992 in the wake of the Oakland hills firestorm. At that time the City Manager prepared a report, dated July 21, 1992, for the Mayor and City Council outlining what was needed: 

…”a multi-jurisdictional facility” with”storage for 9-10 emergency firefighting vehicles.” The report called for the station to be sited on”property owned by the EBRPD located at Grizzly Peak, Centennial and Golf Course Road.” Such a location”would provide for quick emergency response into the wildland/urban intermix areas of Berkeley, Oakland, UC, and EBRPD.” Another City document Report-New Hills Fire Station dated January 28, 1994, calls for a station”with an area of 13,000 sq. ft., housing a crew of 15 in any shift.” A helipad was considered”highly desirable.” 

The land is still available, there is a new administration in Oakland that should be approached along with the California Division of Forestry (CDF), the University, and the Park District. The threat of wildfires and earthquakes has not diminished. What has diminished drastically is what the City proposes to offer us as protection. We urge the City to re-examine its plans and give us the protection we voted for in Measure G-an additional multi-jurisdictional station in the hills and the repair and seismic retrofitting of Station #7, a facility that has met our daily needs so well for over 60 years. 

Finally, we urge our neighbors to give up somewhat selfish concerns of wanting something close to them rather than what is best for the entire hill area. 

Andrea Cukor for Citizens for Responsible Fire Protection 

Aweek ago you printed a story about a 11 year old shot by a Modesto swat 

team.The boy,Alberto Sepulveda was killed and the police have tried to 

say it was a accident.No major newspaper ran half the story that you 

did.None of the major newscasts televised this important story.Thank you 

very much for informing the public on stories like this,and I hope this 

will be an ongoing part of your newspaper.My congradulations.Thank 

you.–-BOB TORRES 

Subject:  

Thanks for covering NAB protests 

Date:  

Fri, 22 Sep 2000 11:54:37 -0700 

From:  

Kari Shaw  

To:  

“’opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com’”  

Kudos to the Daily Planet for actually covering the protests taking place 

during the NAB convention in SF. I have not seen coverage of the protests on 

any of the local news stations. It just goes to show that everything the 

protestors are saying about having no access to fair media is true. 

Independent newspapers like the Daily Planet and Public Access television 

stations like Berkeley Community Media are so important in our society today 

so people can actual say what’s on their mind and get their message out. 

Keep up the good work. 

Kari Shaw 

Board Chair 

Berkeley Community Media 

The daytime phone number where I can be reached is 415-356-2308  

Candidates from almost every local race spoke in front of a packed house at the East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club’s endorsement meeting Thursday night at the the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

“It used to be if a candidate showed up at our meetings we were like, ‘wow, we love you.’ Now people are fighting to get our support,” said openly gay City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

For the first time in its 18–year history, the lesbian/gay political group and the Metro Greater Oakland Democratic Club joined together to hear East Bay politicos on the November ballot. The two clubs, however, voted separately on endorsements. 

The lesbian/gay members were on a first name basis with many of the candidates who showed up. As in previous years, they endorsed incumbents Margaret Breland (District 2), Maudelle Shirek (District 3), and Betty Olds (District 6). They also threw their support behind Miriam Hawley (District 5). 

Joaquin Rivera, president of the school board and a member of the lesbian/gay Democratic club, handily won support for another four years on the board.  

Darryl Moore, the first openly gay African American man to seek office in the Bay Area, according to Worthington, had no problems convincing the club to endorse him for the Peralta Community College board. 

Moore said, however, that his sexual orientation is not part of his campaign platform, although it is “an important factor” for bringing diversity to the board. “As a gay black man, I can bring an insight there that may not be present,” he said. But he said he is most interested in “closing the achievement gap by giving young Latinos and blacks the chance to go to community college and open the door to a school like Cal.” 

The clubs heard from a rapid succession of candidates, who had no more than two minutes to sell themselves. While several members grilled candidates about their views on equal benefits for domestic partners, there was no one hot–button issue for the club this year. 

“The gay community is not as active as in the past because things are so comfortable here,” said Cole Powell, the group’s political action  

chairperson. He said that problems that used to galvanize gays and lesbians in the East Bay – hate crimes, job discrimination, lack of partner benefits – are no longer as widespread as they were 10 years ago. “People don’t come out to political meetings as much because they’re going to their kids’ soccer games. That is something we have to work on,” he said. 

On Thursday, however, the room was brimming with some 100 members from both clubs. 

“This is really good for our members to hear this,” said Judy Belcher, president of the Metro club. “Whenever you have a group of politically active gay and lesbian people you get a lot of sophisticated questions.” 

Worthington said that the lesbian/gay group hasn’t always attracted such a high turnout. 

The club, founded in 1982, has developed a strong political  

footing in the East Bay. “In the past we were praying they would say they wouldn’t do anything to hurt us,” Worthington said. “Nowadays we expect them not just to tolerate us, but to be active on our behalf.” 

Brenda Crawford, the club’s president, said that the lesbian/gay endorsement is an increasingly coveted one for hopeful politicians in the Bay Area. 

“Our community is growing by leaps and bounds in the East Bay,” Crawford said. “We’re really interested in voting for candidates who will fight for our needs.” 

The club also endorsed Max Anderson and Paul Hogarth for rent board, Joe Wallace for AC Transit, Wilma Chan for the Oakland-Piedmont assembly seat now occupied by Independent Audie Bock, and David Krashna for Alameda County Superior Court judge. 

In order to get the club’s endorsement, candidates had to be present and they had to be registered Democrats. 

The club gave its nod to all the Berkeley measures.

The St. Mary’s Panthers marched into De Anza on Friday night to play a Dons team that the Panthers eliminated from the NCS 2A East Bay Semifinal playoffs with a thrilling 34-26 overtime victory just a year ago. After Friday night’s 43-0 victory, the Panthers appear headed back to the playoffs, while the De Anza Dons are going back to the drawing board.  

To be fair, the Dons (1-2) lost 26 seniors from last season, no small task for first year head coach George Pye to deal with.  

Dons starting quarterback Anthony Baizley took a hard hit from St. Mary’s two time All American defensive tackle Lorenzo Alexander and was forced to leave the game for a play. Two possessions later, Baizley was blindsided by blitzing Panther inside linebacker Phil Weatheroy and had to leave the game with a concussion, and De Anza was forced to turn to second string quarterback Jonathan Gary. The substitution would not have been such a big deal if Gary didn’t also happen to be the team’s primary running back. 

With Baizley at quarterback, the Dons passed nine times and started their initial offensive possession with a no-huddle offense. After Baizley was knocked out and Gary assumed passing duties, the Dons hoisted the ball in the air just two times, and both of those attempts were picked off by St. Mary’s in the second half. One of those interceptions was returned by Panther Chris Hutchinson in the third quarter for a 21-yard touchdown that pushed the St. Mary’s lead to 34-0. 

As for the Panthers, it was business as usual. After losing a close game to El Cerrito last week, the Panthers appeared intent on proving they were back in all phases of the game.  

Tailback Trestin George busted loose for 85 rushing yards on 16 carries and racked up a 49-yard touchdown reception early in the second quarter, finishing with three touchdowns on the night. 

While traditionally a running team, the Panthers threw De Anza a curveball in the first half by letting senior quarterback Jason Washington air it out to his wide receivers. Washington’s stats might not look too impressive, as he completed just four of 13 attempts for 83 yards, but he made some great throws, and a beautiful 15-yard touchdown to receiver Omar Young came on a pretty touch pass. 

The Panthers built an early 14-0 lead behind Washington’s touchdown passes to George and Young. After scoring his touchdown, Young did his best Deion Sanders with an interception return for a score on the ensuing Don possession. Then they let their running game do the work.  

“We just had to readdress ourselves to a number of things,” noted Shaughnessy. A close loss at El Cerrito “left a bad taste in our mouths…so tonight we got it out of our mouths.”  

The Panthers host Riordan next Saturday at 1:30 pm.

A housing crisis is looming in Berkeley, especially for people whose rent is subsidized under the federal government’s Section 8 housing plan.  

At Tuesday’s Housing Authority meeting the room was packed with people fearing that they could lose their homes and also asking that their input be heard in a proposed five-year plan to set guidelines for future Section 8 housing. 

According to Stephen Barton, interim housing director, rents have gone through the roof in the last four years. The median price for a one-bedroom apartment in Berkeley is $1,050 per month, a healthy mortgage payment in most places in the United States. 

“This is bananas,” he said, shuffling through papers, as he looked up housing statistics. 

“The median price for a one bedroom apartment with rent control, is $664. New one bedrooms on the market are $1,050, meaning there was an increase of around 58 percent over the last four years.” 

“In the last year alone, new one-bedroom apartments coming on the market rose from $950 to $1,050.” 

It’s the rising market which has prompted landlords to seek the higher prices that the market offers rather than continue to rent to Section 8 recipients, whose rents are capped. 

“Landlords can get so much more on the market, that it’s hard to persuade them to keep Section 8 recipients in their rental units,” he said. In fact, many landlords are refusing to take Section 8 vouchers, preferring to rent to people who pay full market rent. So Section 8 renters do not feel secure in their rental units. 

Compounding the problem are current re-shufflings in Section 8 payment plans. 

According to Barton, the federal government delivered Section 8 - monthly rental assistance - in both “vouchers” and “certificates,” but eventually realized that it was running two separate programs. The two were merged recently, bringing together elements of both programs, but now calling both “vouchers.” 

“Unfortunately, ‘certificates’ were more favorable to tenants, and calling the new program ‘vouchers’ created misunderstandings,” Barton said. “People associate the older meaning with the new program.”  

In the old certificate system, if a landlord raised rent above the HUD- determined “Fair Market Rent” levels, tenants only had to pay up to 40 percent of their income, leaving landlords high and dry. 

Under the old vouchers, landlords would be able to raise rents as high as they wanted to, and the tenant would have to come up with the difference between the fixed value of the certificate and the actual market rate set by the landlord. 

“That’s impossible to do for people on a fixed income,” said Councilmember Dona Spring. 

The new vouchers however, adopt the older “certificate” procedures, allowing Section 8 recipients to pay a maximum of 40 percent of their total income for rent. The federal government pays the difference. 

Paying the rent will no longer be a problem for those receiving Section 8. The larger problem will be finding funds to pay for the program. 

To encourage landlords to rent to Section 8 recipients and to protect them, the Berkeley Housing Department has asked HUD to raise the Fair Market Rent values by 20 percent.  

“The real danger is that HUD has not increased the FMR sufficiently to keep up with today’s rental market. As a result, landlords are opting out of Section 8 programs to get higher rents available on the market,” says Barton. 

But raising FMR rates creates its own dangers. Currently there are 1,400 people on Section 8 rolls. There are long waiting lists, which people wait for years on. And there are people with Section 8 certificates who cannot find a landlord who will rent to them. 

Voucher money comes from a fund which the Housing Department receives from HUD. In Berkeley, this amounts to nearly $750,000 a month, or $9 million a year, Barton said. 

If the value of a voucher increases by 120 percent, as the city has requested HUD to authorize, without a concomitant increase in funds for the Berkeley Housing Department to dispense to its Section 8 program, there will be fewer vouchers available to existing Section 8 recipients.  

“With our current funds, if the FMR goes up, we could only serve 1,000 tenants. Unless HUD gets more money, we have to drop people off the list, which would create further backlogs on the waiting list, which would be terrible.” 

All at the council concurred that steps must be taken to preserve what Section 8 housing still remains in Berkeley. Councilmember Linda Maio said, “we are fighting a rear guard action to keep what affordable housing we already have.” 

Mayor Shirley Dean suggested that tax write-offs be given to landlords who do accept Section 8 recipients to assuage their loss on the market. 

“A tax break from the State of California for landlords who accept Section 8, even though they don’t get full market value, could offset some of the imminent losses in housing,” said Dean. 

Members of the public asked why lower income housing options aren’t being looked into if such cuts are imminent. 

“Why aren’t shared housing units, like boarding homes, rooming houses and dormitories being considered?” asked Duane de Witt. “We need to maximize our housing options.” 

Carroll Huff, a Section 8 resident in Berkeley, said that the poor will be unable to stay here. Vouchers should be good for dorms for low-income co-op housing. It’s unconscionable that we do not allow shared housing to be covered by Section 8.” 

The Housing Authority agreed unanimously to add a section about shared housing to the proposed five year plan, and to reconvene Oct. 24, at which time Barton will present a “next steps” proposal, and respond to the public’s input. 

“The affordable housing crisis is not just a problem in Berkeley,” Barton said. “It’s happening everywhere.” 

According to the mayor of San Jose, nearly half of all venture capital investments in the nation in 1999 were absorbed by the Bay Area, a figure estimated to be in the low billions, more than the total of many Third World GNP’s combined.  

“A wave of money like that makes the price of property to skyrocket in a small period of time. With so many people getting money at once, the housing market shot up. That money is percolating throughout the whole market and the folks on Section 8, are unfortunately on the bottom of things,” said Barton. 

“It’s a terrible situation.” 

SYDNEY, Australia – Americans Anthony Ervin and Gary Hall Jr. shared Olympic gold in the 50-meter freestyle Friday, tying in 21.98 seconds. 

Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands took bronze. 

“I don’t mind sharing the gold medal podium,” Hall said. “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, a guy I practice with all the time. It was like another day of practice.” 

Ervin represents the 13th time a Cal men’s swimmer has won an Olympic gold medal, and he is in an elite group of Bears to win an individual gold. The list includes Bengt Baron, who won a gold medal in the 100-meter back in the 1980 Olympics, Par Arvidsson, who won the gold in the 100-meter butterfly in 1980, and Matt Biondi, who won the gold medal in 1988 in the 50 and 100-meter free.  

Ervin and Hall are training partners in Arizona. Ervin, who at 19 was the youngest swimmer in the eight-man final, is the first swimmer of black heritage to make a U.S. Olympic team. 

The Americans shared a joyous hug and Ervin leaned over to tell Hall, “It couldn’t have ended up any better.” 

“The 50 was my place to shine,” Ervin said. “Thankfully, I did.” 

“We had a tie for the gold medal in the Olympics,” Ervin said. “That makes us the best in the world in no uncertain terms.”

While the council approved funding towards a youth center and spending funds for new fire engines, it put off a number of other decisions. 

The vote to allocate $243,000 from the Citizen Option for Public Safety funds for a youth center was unanimous. It is to be built in south or west Berkeley, but needs further funding. Amidst concerns about a perceived escalation in drug turf skirmishes, Police Chief Dash Butler said that such a youth center would facilitate “ground zero drug counseling.” 

Decisions over whether to designate the 1903 Swink House a “structure of merit,” thus protecting it as a Berkeley landmark, were deferred until the Sept. 26 City Council meeting, as was a decision on approving procedures to include citizen involvement in the decision over what should be done with the 170-foot-high tower at the Public Safety Building which neighbors want removed. 

Funds to buy new fire engines over the next eight years were approved. 

The council also passed a resolution to urge the federal government to label all genetically manipulated foods. 

Perhaps the strangest event of the night had the council debating whether to approve a raise in basic rates for cable television services. Whether the council adopts the resolution or not, the rates will increase in 2001 under FCC regulations, councilmembers said. 

“Why are we even debating this?” asked a perplexed Diane Woolley at 11:15 PM.

Its 10 a.m. on a recent Friday at the Berkeley public library. The computers are humming as elderly residents try to learn the skills their grandchildren already know: how to move a mouse and click, how to send an e-mail and search for information.  

Nearby, Supervising Librarian Barbara Alesandrini, is happy to answer any question, but when it comes to computers, she said, she keeps her hands behind her back. She wants her patrons to learn how to do it themselves.  

“It takes the right kind of people who are themselves eager to learn, to work in a library,” said Alesandrini, who has worked as a librarian for 35 years. 

“We all believe we are making a difference for people. My job is constantly public service.” 

It’s precisely this kind of librarian that’s getting harder and harder to find because of the Internet, said Audrey Powers, the branch services manager, who hires librarians for the Berkeley Public Library system. Just as the Internet has broadened the possibilities of library resources, it has also had a profound impact on the very people who have long sustained it: librarians 

“Dot.coms are hiring library students because they are all too aware how important it is to get information and knowledge,” Powers said. “And the people who know how to find that information are a valuable commodity.”  

And dot.coms, such as Ask Jeeves, are willing to pay big bucks for that commodity. The signing bonus alone at a dot.com can average between $2,000 to $20,000, according to InfoWorld's 2000 compensation survey. The starting salary of a librarian in the Berkeley system is about $17.80 per hour or less than $35,000 a year. Librarians with more than five years experience can earn $40,000-$50,000.  

The Berkeley system is currently advertising for one opening. The upside for the Berkeley library system is the Bay Area. Despite the high cost of living, many librarians want to stay and it’s not unusual to find Berkeley librarians who’ve been in the libraries for 20 to 40 years. Go to Los Angeles, however, and it’s a different story. Powers said that Los Angeles public library system cannot fill some 200 positions because of dot.coms.  

“This trend is definitely a concern in the profession,” said Alesandrini. “It used to be a woman could become a teacher, nurse or librarian. Now there are so many more opportunities for women. And these professions aren’t keeping pace with the others.” 

Alesandrini says she doesn’t do it for the money. She was able to raise two children with the help of her husband who is a research engineer. “I think it’s necessary to have a second income to survive,” she said. “But I know some librarians who have raised their children on this salary.” 

As Alesandrini put a Harry Potter book back on the shelf she explained the satisfaction she gets from her job. “We open up a whole new world to people,” she said. “You should see the way people light up when we help them.”

OAKLAND – It’s 9 a.m. and Virgil Luckett is taking one of his first take out orders of the day. 

“Make sure those waffles are crispy,” the customer says, as Ricki Lake’s face beams from the television set in the corner. “I can’t stand soggy waffles.” 

It’s starting off to be a typical morning at the Pretty Lady Restaurant for a not so typical waiter. As the high-tech industry continues to explode in the Bay Area, the part-time student, part-time entrepreneur and full-time father of five, wants a piece of the action. The Pretty Lady is his launching pad.  

“I’d say up to 1 percent of people in the U.S. are doing business on the Internet,” Luckett says wryly as he stares at the empty pie case. 

“That’s equal to a couple billion dollars. Think how many billions will be made when that percentage goes up.” 

To get his hands on some of those billions, Luckett left a 13-year career at UPS to invest with his mother. They bought the 20-seat diner on Peralta Street two years ago so that Luckett would have the flexibility to return to school.  

“I just wasn’t satisfied at UPS,” Luckett said. “It paid the bills, but I wanted to finish school.”  

In addition to his already packed schedule, Luckett studies law at the New College of California and works on his Internet venture, a dial-up browser that will cater to a wide range of business needs. He is working closely with Oakland’s Office of Economic Development, which provides free marketing and business strategies to aspiring entrepreneurs. Luckett is just one of many in the Bay Area. 

Few, however, are likely to have Luckett’s starting point. Luckett and his mother divide the responsibilities at the Pretty Lady. Luckett waits tables and does the accounting while his mother does most of the cooking.  

He readily admits that running a business in Oakland’s industrial district isn’t easy, especially with the major cost of living increases that have swept the bay area in the past decade. And he started off conservatively. He kept the restaurant’s original name because, he explained, “If we called it something else, we’d have to change the sign out front.” 

So far, he said, his venture is on course even if life in the restaurant business is not turning out exactly as he had thought. According to Luckett, instead of experiencing the usual mealtime rushes, the Pretty Lady gets busiest on the days people receive their paychecks. 

“It’s hard, sometimes, especially in such a low-income area,” he said.  

Regardless, the pair plans to open another diner soon. Luckett says he loves this little restaurant and sees it as a key to his future.  

“Everything we make here is good. People enjoy our food, and that makes me feel good … In the future, I know that I will be finished with school and practicing law.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Tired of years of taunts and disruptions, local AIDS professionals and activists announced they’ve decided to fight back against the activities of a radical AIDS group by boycotting its $1.6 million-a-year pot club. 

The San Francisco chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is know for its confrontational behavior and its claims that HIV does not cause AIDS, that those who think so are out to demonize gay sex, and that AIDS drugs are poison. 

The city’s director of public health and the AIDS group Project Inform also are pursuing criminal charges against ACT UP/SF members for allegedly raucous behavior at two public meetings. 

The groups proclaimed their intentions at a Thursday news conference and in full-page ads in two gay publications. 

ACT UP/SF’s recent announcement that “AIDS is over” has public health officials worried because new HIV infections among young gay men appear on the rise. 

ACT UP/SF members acknowledge their confrontational behavior, but say they are welcomed in the community. 

Fighting the group will be an uphill battle, opponents say. The district attorney’s office filed misdemeanor battery charges against ACT UP/SF members, but District Attorney Terence Hallinan has made it clear he supports the city’s pot clubs and isn’t planning a crackdown. 

The medical marijuana outlet run by ACT UP/SF has become a $100,000 a month business, with the profits going to finance the group’s political activities.

Bay City News Service 

The University of California has rejected a request by rock band Metallica to block access by UC Berkeley and UCLA students to Napster, the controversial Internet site used to download songs for free. 

Attorney Howard E. King, who is representing Metallica and rap artist Dr. Dre, asked 11 universities to block access to Napster through their campus computer servers. The universities were asked to respond by today. 

University of California officials did agree to cooperate with King, however, “when we are informed of any specific alleged activity,” according to a letter by UC General Counsel James E. Holst. 

In the letter, Holst suggested King report instances of copyright infringement to the designated agent of each campus, “who will address your concerns promptly.” 

The federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides that if an Internet service provider – such as a college campus – establishes its own agent to hear allegations of and block access to copyright infringements, it will not be held responsible for the infringements. 

San Mateo-based Napster has been the focus of controversy due to its ability to allow users to “share” music over the Internet. Members of Metallica, claiming that the service has allowed millions of copies of their songs to be illegally downloaded, are among musicians leading the charge against Napster.

SACRAMENTO – A bill designed to fight bicycle theft by allowing the registration of bikes on the Internet has been vetoed by Gov. Gray Davis, who said the measure raises privacy concerns. 

The bill, by Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, would have authorized cities and counties to allow their residents to register their bicycles and get bicycle licenses using an Internet service. 

Bill supporters said that would encourage more people to register their bicycles, which would reduce their value to thieves and make it easier for the police to track down the owners of stolen bicycles if they’re recovered. 

Less than 5 percent of recovered bicycles are returned to their owners now, largely because they aren’t registered even though about 80 percent of local governments require registration. 

Davis, however, said the bill lacked guidelines to protect bicycle owners’ privacy. He also worried that variations in cities’ databases would make it difficult for police to use the Internet to track down bike owners. 

Davis also said that he signed a bill by Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-San Fernando, that will require that local special-tax ballot measures include a statement disclosing the purpose of the tax.

SAN FRANCISCO – The long, hot summer is ending for San Diego’s electricity customers. But millions of other Californians fear they could face the same kind of misery when deregulation reaches their part of state. 

San Diego-area ratepayers were horrified to see their electricity bills triple this summer when the region became the first in California to deregulate. 

Next up is Pacific Gas and Electric Co., with 4.5 million customers from Bakersfield to the Oregon line. It wants to lift the lid on rates next spring, or even sooner. 

And Southern California Edison, which serves 4.3 million customers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, has not said when it wants to deregulate, but under state law it has to happen by 2002. 

“Everybody’s worried. But ratepayers have paid enough. They’ve overpaid, and they’re not going to pay a penny more,” said Harvey Rosenfield, a consumer advocate in Santa Monica. 

The state Public Utilities Commission, which wrote the first report seven years ago urging deregulation, said in a grim assessment that more problems loom on the horizon unless there is a “mid-course correction.” 

The summer’s woes “represent a precursor of what lies ahead for California’s economy over the next 30 months,” the PUC said. 

The PUC is investigating its options, which could include putting the brakes on deregulation. 

The 1996 deregulation law was pushed mainly by big industrial customers, who wanted lower rates. It was supported by utilities and free-market advocates. Consumer groups generally opposed it. It was overwhelmingly supported by lawmakers and signed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson. 

Under the law, utilities were forced to sell their energy-producing assets, such as dams and power plants, and buy power instead on the open market. 

The theory was that competition would drive down rates. But it didn’t work out that way. 

When San Diego Gas & Electric, with 1.2 million customers, deregulated, the average monthly residential bill there and in southern Orange County rocketed from $40 to $68 to $130 in less than three months. 

Ratepayers and politicians were so alarmed that California retreated somewhat from deregulation by rolling back San Diego rates and promising a $100 million rebate to customers there. 

Most agree that an inadequate supply of a power — combined with high demand, caused by a sweltering summer, a booming economy and a growing population — precipitated the soaring rates. 

The episode has raised concern that the deregulation law is deeply flawed and tries to accomplish too much too quickly. 

Five power plants are under construction and at least a dozen more are proposed, but none will be ready to boost supplies this year, or most of the next. None were built in recent years because investors were wary of the uncertain California market. 

In the meantime, other states are watching California and at least one — neighboring Nevada — may drop plans to deregulate. 

“Our hope is that the states that stumbled into deregulation reconsider, and that those that have not yet acted don’t even bother,” said Charlie Higgley of Public Citizen, a Washington-based consumer group. 

Wall Street is also paying close attention. Major credit-ratings agencies have lowered their fiscal outlook for several California utilities, saying the companies have been strapped by the state’s volatile deregulated electricity market. 

At least a half-dozen other states are in some phase of deregulation, including Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. None has experienced the roller-coaster rates California has. 

That’s because they did it differently, according to industry experts. In some cases they did not force the sell-off of generation facilities, or they took more time. 

PG&E spokesman Ron Low said his company is confident deregulation can work in California. 

“Currently the wholesale market is broken,” Low said. “There is an imbalance between supply and demand that is allowing these out-of-state generators to charge these enormous prices. What we want to do is work collaboratively with all parties to find a balanced solution that will fix the broken market.” 

PG&E has lost about $2.2 billion since June and SoCal Edison has been running up similar losses while they await deregulation. That’s because the utilities rates’ have been frozen during the transition period, while they sell off their power-generating assets. 

Once they sell off their assets, the utilities want to pass those costs on to their customers. That alarms consumer advocates. 

Rosenfield, who wrote a 1988 ballot proposal that cut insurance rates, said a ballot initiative to roll back electric rates is in the works. 

“There is a ratepayer rebellion,” he said. “It started in San Diego, it has spread to the Bay Area and in two years it will be everywhere in the state.”

Pitchfork murders, a teen-ager accused of decapitating his mother among grisly stories 

MERCED – A pitchfork-wielding intruder stabs two children to death in a farmhouse. A teen-ager is accused of cutting his mother’s head off with a knife. 

In less than a month, Merced County has earned a reputation as the grisly crime capital of California. 

“I know it’s taken a toll on some of my detectives,” said Assistant Sheriff Henry Strength. “The normal homicide is one thing, but these are all bizarre.” 

At a local McDonald’s restaurant, old-timers take in the stomach-turning morning news with cups of coffee. One man asks how someone could kill his own mother. Others jaw about another gruesome front-page story in the local paper about a farming accident in which a man was ground up in a corn chopper and deputies had to identify him by his feet and shoes. 

“I can’t believe what’s happening,” said Alex C. Flores, a retired construction worker. “This is supposed to happen someplace else.” 

Indeed, death has visited Merced County — derived from the Spanish phrase for Our Lady of Mercy — in a most merciless way. 

Until August, this 2,000-square-mile patch of farmland, home to 209,000 residents in the center of the state, had not recorded a single homicide this year. 

In just over three weeks, however, authorities have found themselves at grim crime scenes facing aggressive suspects. 

Jonathon David Bruce, 27, was shot after deputies said he charged them with the pitchfork after killing two kids. David Lange, 18, who was naked and covered in blood when he was found near his mother’s beheaded body, chased firefighters out of his house with a knife when they responded to an emergency call, according to investigators reports. The Delhi teen surrendered peacefully when confronted by armed officers. 

To say the killings have shocked the county is an understatement. They’ve even shaken the area’s veteran peace officers. 

“It does exact something from you, we’re all human,” said Sgt. Rick Marshall, head of the sheriff’s major crimes unit. “These are very, very heinous, bizarre things. Two of these come down, with the same people investigating, it’s not that easy.” 

All of this comes at a pivotal time for the county. A new visitor’s center was built to lure tourists heading to nearby Yosemite National Park. And the University of California plans to build a campus here. 

“Merced is not a bad place to live,” Strength said. “We’ve had some bad luck.” 

Strength traces the county’s notorious crimes to a bizarre kidnapping nearly two decades ago that put the county on the wrong kind of map and remains in its conscience. 

A Merced boy named Steven Stayner became a local hero and the subject of a book and movie when he escaped from a child molester who kidnapped him seven years earlier. Stayner rescued a 5-year-old boy who had also been abducted. His tale took a tragic turn when he died in a motorcycle accident in 1989. 

That story would not seem relevant if Stayner’s brother had not been accused of being the serial killer who stalked Yosemite last year, killing four women. 

Cary Stayner’s name is an enduring stain on the county that bills itself as “The Gateway to Yosemite.” Although he was working as a motel handyman outside the county at the time of the killings, Stayner — like Bruce and Lange — was raised in Merced County. 

Two weeks ago, the 39-year-old pleaded guilty in federal court to murdering a naturalist in the park and, under the plea, will be sentenced to life in prison. He still faces a state trial for the killings of three Yosemite sightseers and could get the death penalty in that case. 

Jerry O’Banion, chairman of the county supervisors, comes up short on solutions to what seem like isolated incidents that occurred in a close vicinity. 

“I think it is truly a tragedy that so many of these crimes are happening right now,” O’Banion said. “We’ve had crime but nothing of this magnitude. I don’t know what can be done.” 

When Bruce went on his pitchfork rampage, investigators thought they had an easy explanation: drugs. 

The Central Valley is widely known for its budding methamphetamine trade. Raids are a regular occurrence on primitive labs manufacturing the mind-altering upper known to trigger paranoia, psychosis and violence. 

Before killing 9-year-old Ashley Carpenter and her 7-year-old brother, John William, Bruce was spotted in the house naked. With little to explain the seemingly random attack, the sheriff’s department speculated that the killer was high. Strength said meth users often strip because they overheat from the drug. 

But lab tests came back negative and deputies are holding their tongues before leaping to the same conclusion about the beheading, where the common link seems to be the nudity. 

“I would have given up a year’s salary to tell you (Bruce) was on drugs,” Strength said. “I don’t even want to speculate on this guy.” 

There have been no easy answers in the murders that haunt Merced and that leaves some residents uneasy. 

As Mary Ornelas, 65, walked her dog Tuesday on the manicured lawn outside the county courthouse, she lamented that her hometown was just not the same and that fear had crept in. 

“It just makes me sick to think those things are happening in Merced,” Ornelas said. “I hate for that to happen because it’s a nice little town.”

LOS ANGELES – California should end its ban on human cloning so that researchers can realize the disease-fighting potential of growing organs, an advisory committee was told Friday. 

The cloning of human cells could bring breakthroughs in the fights against Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, diabetes, and a host of other illnesses, said Dr. Lawrence Goldstein, a professor in the University of California, San Diego’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. 

Cloning technology is still in its infancy but is rapidly advancing, with some geneticists predicting it may be possible one day to duplicate whole organs or even entire human beings. 

Such technology could aid the estimated 50,000 Americans each year who are unable to receive transplants because the demand for organs outstrips supply, Goldstein said. 

About 6,000 people died last year while awaiting transplants, he said. 

“The people who are in desperate need of transplant technology are not here to defend their interests, but I assure you, there are many of them,” he said. 

California banned replication of humans after the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep in 1997. The moratorium, which expires on Jan. 1, 2003, applies only to cloning of tissue that would result in the replication of an entire human. 

The 12-member Advisory Committee on Human Cloning, consisting of ethicists, scientists and legal scholars, was created by the Legislature to advise it on what action to take when the ban expires. 

Goldstein, arguing against extending the ban, used the comparison that a century ago, many people opposed vaccinations. 

“I don’t know what my children or grandchildren will think is ethical,” Goldstein said. 

The ban was based on the mistaken idea that the technology would produce a crop of duplicated human beings, Goldstein and University of Pennsylvania bioethic professor Dr. Glenn McGee told the committee. 

“The hullaballoo in the wake of Dolly was really overblown,” Goldstein said. 

“I don’t think there are a bunch of people beating down the door saying ’clone me, clone me,”’ McGee said. 

California is one of only three states that currently ban human cloning, McGee said. Michigan and Rhode Island are the others.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Supporters of Wen Ho Lee said Friday they are seeking a presidential pardon for the Los Alamos scientist who was freed last week in a plea agreement. 

Lee, 60, pleaded guilty Sept. 13 to one of 59 counts against him and had the other 58 dropped in a negotiated settlement of the nine-month national security prosecution that had kept him in solitary confinement. 

Meanwhile, defense attorney John Cline said Friday a scheduled government debriefing for Lee next Tuesday has been postponed. Cline said he expected the session to be rescheduled shortly. 

He declined comment on reasons for the postponement, but it was clear that the session would conflict with congressional hearings on the Lee case that were scheduled to begin the same day. 

Cecilia Chang of the Wen Ho Lee Defense Fund in Fremont, Calif., sent out a thank-you note Friday to Lee supporters expressing both joy and sadness for Lee — joy that he was finally released and sadness that he had to plead guilty and lose such citizenship rights as being able to vote. Only a presidential pardon could restore those rights. 

“So where do we go from here?” she wrote. “First and foremost, we are seeking a presidential pardon from President Clinton.” 

“There are one or two groups that are calling for a pardon,” said Victor Hwang, managing attorney of the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus. He said the groups were calling for a campaign of faxes to be sent to the White House on Lee’s behalf. 

Hwang said his group is not involved in that effort but is focused on trying to secure evidence linked to racial profiling that the defense had alleged was used against Lee before his indictment Dec. 10. The defense had won a court order for the government to turn over that evidence to U.S. District Judge James Parker, but the defense petition was withdrawn as part of the plea agreement. 

Hwang said the Asian Law Caucus hopes congressional hearings will secure the release of those materials. 

“We will try to push for the committee to subpoena the materials on racial profiling,” Hwang said. “I think we’re going to try to do this through the congressional process now.” 

If that doesn’t succeed, he said, his group and others may try to secure the release through the Freedom of Information Act. 

Cline declined comment on the pardon effort. 

Lee’s civil attorney, Brian Sun, said the scientist’s lawyers are not involved in the pardon effort but are focused on complying with terms of the plea agreement, including the now-postponed debriefing. 

With the debriefing, investigators expect to learn in detail how and why Lee downloaded nuclear data to unsecure computers and tapes and how and when he destroyed them. According to government sources, Lee has acknowledged making 10 computer tapes and another 10 backup copies.

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas dentist has admitted he provided free dental work to an IRS revenue officer in exchange for reductions of his $100,000 tax debt. 

The dentist, Thomas R. Gonzales, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to a felony charge of unlawfully giving a gratuity to a public official. Joining him in court was former Internal Revenue Service employee Donald J. Hyde, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully accepting a gratuity. 

A federal grand jury indicted both men in April on conspiracy and bribery charges. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Rukstele said the events are troublesome to the IRS, which has adopted new internal controls and new oversight procedures to ensure that this type of scheme doesn’t happen again. 

Both defendants, who remain free on their own recognizance, face up to two years in prison when they are sentenced Jan. 5. 

According to court documents, Gonzales owed more than $100,000 in taxes by the summer of 1997, and Hyde assigned himself to Gonzales’ tax file on Aug. 8, 1997. 

Court records indicate that Gonzales provided dental treatment to Hyde on 18 occasions from Aug. 11, 1997, through June 9, 1999. 

Parties in the case disagree on the value of the dental work Gonzales, 50, performed. 

Hyde, 52, admitted he prepared documentation in August and September 1997 to reduce Gonzales’ tax penalty by about $19,980. 

Hyde also admitted he met with Gonzales in November 1998 and reduced the dentist’s monthly payment to the IRS on his outstanding liability from $5,000 a month to $3,000 a month. 

Gonzales has been licensed in Nevada since March 1988. He has a dental office on the city’s east side.

NEW ORLEANS – A California man who sold marijuana over the Internet to customers in 35 states was fined $200,000 Friday and sentenced to five months in a halfway house and five months under house arrest. 

Michael David Aronov, 48, of Anaheim said he sold the marijuana for medicinal use only. He was arrested after selling the drug to undercover federal agents in Louisiana. 

Prosecutors had asked for up to two years in prison. 

Aronov started taking orders over the Internet in 1996, receiving payments by mail. Over the next three years, he mailed 994 packages of marijuana to 149 customers, receiving about $227,000 for more than 800 pounds of the drug, prosecutors said. 

He said he always demanded proof of why customers needed the marijuana and turned down suspicious offers. “The only reason I did this was to help the sick people who cannot get it,” said Aronov, a plumber and inventor. 

Federal drug agents learned of Aronov’s company last year after a Louisiana TV reporter contacted police about the Web site. 

California law allows distribution of marijuana if a doctor advises that the drug might help with conditions such as glaucoma, seizures or loss of appetite from cancer treatments or AIDS. 

Marijuana distribution is illegal in Louisiana.

NEW YORK – Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s new television show made it on the air despite advertiser boycotts and protests by gay rights groups. Now, viewer apathy may knock it off. 

With the “Dr. Laura” syndicated talk show struggling in the ratings, production has been briefly stopped for some retooling, a show spokeswoman said Friday. 

Paramount Television, which makes the show, is adding a new producer. A planned four-day break in the production schedule was moved up to this week, said Daniella Cracknell, a show spokeswoman. New shows will continue airing every weekday. 

“The show is not going off,” Cracknell said. “We’re just preparing for (ratings) sweeps.” 

The 53-year-old Schlessinger, who first gained a wide following with her radio call-in advice show, has been roundly criticized by gay activists for her comments on homosexuality, which she has termed “deviant” and “a biological error.” 

Advocates have pressured several sponsors from advertising on the show. Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s largest advertisers, pulled ads from Schlessinger’s radio program in May and dropped plans to advertise on the television show. 

Paramount and its stations have been forced to sell advertising time at discounted rates. 

The show debuted on Sept. 11. Critics pronounced it dull, perhaps because of an effort to avoid controversy. During its first week, it averaged roughly 3 million viewers, and ratings have dropped 11 percent in the second week, said Marc Berman, an analyst for Mediaweek.com. 

“It’s a major disappointment,” Berman said. 

By contrast, “Oprah” regularly draws about 11 million viewers and “The Sally Jesse Raphael Show” gets about 6 million people, he said. Schlessinger’s ratings are only slightly better than Martin Short’s show last year, which was canceled at the end of its first season. 

“It’s obvious to me that Paramount is coaching her and toning her down,” Berman said. “That’s not what she should be doing. She should be confrontational, like she’s been on the radio.” 

A spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation claimed credit for the show’s slow start. 

“Hopefully, Paramount will realize the show was in trouble the second it started airing,” said Cathy Renna of GLAAD. “There’s nothing here to retool. It’s a program they need to drop.” 

Renna said Schlessinger “has not uttered the word gay” in two weeks on the air. But she said GLAAD feared Schlessinger might begin using more extreme tactics in order to attract viewers. 

Berman said the show, which attracted good time slots in stations around the country, could be in trouble if history is any guide. He compared “Dr. Laura” to the initial poor reaction to Roseanne’s talk show in 1998. That show limped to a conclusion after two years. 

“When you launch a show, you have to get it right from the beginning,” he said. “Whoever saw the show isn’t going to come back if they didn’t like it from the beginning.”

SACRAMENTO – Sacramento Valley tomato growers parked three big rigs at a downtown park Friday and offered 75 tons of free tomatoes to the public and charities to protest the cent-per-pound price their crop is bringing in. 

“This represents the 14,000 acres that may be plowed under if we can’t find buyers,” said Jeff Merwin, a fourth-generation farmer from Clarksburg. 

The recent bankruptcy of the San Ramon-based Tri Valley Growers cooperative has left tomato farmers with a glut. 

California’s second-largest fruit and vegetable processor filed for federal bankruptcy protection in July after losing nearly $200 million in the past three years. 

Now tomato farmers say they’re getting about a cent for each pound of tomatoes and face $95 million in losses themselves this year. Before Tri Valley’s bankruptcy, they expected 2 1/2 cents per pound. 

The farmers are asking Congress to help offset their losses by providing $31 million from a farm disaster relief program. 

The farmers decided to give the tomatoes away to illustrate what they’re worth, Merwin said. 

California grows more than 90 percent of tomatoes used in tomato-based products in the United States and nearly half the tomatoes processed worldwide. Sacramento — nicknamed “Sacra-tomato” — is a production hub. 

About 100 people lined up at Cesar Chavez Park to fill boxes, bags and buckets with the free tomatoes. When the farmers on the trucks couldn’t bag the vegetables fast enough, office workers and downtown residents climbed on the trucks to help themselves. 

Members of Senior Gleaners were also planning to take advantage of the giveaway. The volunteer group of mostly retirees goes into commercial groves and picks extra produce that would otherwise go to waste. 

Elena Perez walked to the park from her office after hearing of the protest and left with a bag of tomatoes. 

“I heard they were having problems, not able to get a good price,” she said. “I didn’t know much about it.” 

Liz Easley, a Corps of Engineers employee, stocked up to make salsa. 

“I understood there was a problem, but I didn’t know it was this bad,” she said, watching a co-worker balance one foot on a parking meter to reach into the trailer. 

Tri Valley agreed to take 40 percent of the tomatoes they contracted for; the rest will probably be plowed under, Merwin said. 

Tomato processing plants in Thornton and Los Banos were idled as Tri Valley scaled back this year’s tomato production to 40 percent of what wa soriginally contracted, said Maya Pogoda, spokeswoman for the cooperative. 

Tri Valley is seeking a buyer, she said. 

Merwin said that because of the bankruptcy, more than 500,000 tons of tomatoes won’t be processed this season. 

“This has hurt us as badly as any drought or flood,” he said. “The fact that it came from a bankruptcy just means it’s coming from a different direction.”

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court Friday barred a Los Angeles anti-panhandling ordinance pending the outcome of a federal trial on whether the law violates beggars’ free-speech rights. 

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision upholds a Los Angeles federal district court’s injunction on the law. 

The ordinance, suspended by a Los Angeles federal court order since it was passed in 1997, would outlaw “aggressive” panhandling, defined as asking for money in a way that would make a reasonable person fearful, blocking the person’s path, using abusive language or approaching someone who has already said no. 

It would also forbid begging near automated teller machines. Another provision would prohibit soliciting for money in a bus or train, in or near bus stops or transit stations, or in restaurants, if someone in charge of any of those places objected. 

“Whether the ordinance in certain aspects and applications infringes upon the right to free speech raises ... serious questions,” a three-judge panel of the circuit wrote in an unusually brief opinion. 

The injunction will continue, the court wrote, until the case brought by the Los Angeles Alliance for Survival finishes a federal trial or settles. 

A growing number of other cities have anti-panhandling ordinances, with varying provisions. Arguments supporting Los Angeles in the circuit court case were filed by 77 city governments. 

Peter Eliasberg, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who handled the case for the alliance, predicted the ordinance won’t pass constitutional muster. 

“The handwriting is on the wall,” he said. 

In the same case, the circuit court asked the California Supreme Court for its opinion, and in May, the high court ruled that a city that restricts the conduct of people who ask for money and the places they can approach others is treating all solicitors equally regardless of viewpoint and is not censoring free expression. Such laws are not “constitutionally suspect,” Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote. 

With that decision and the circuit court’s decision Friday, it is now up to the lower federal court in Los Angeles to determine whether the restrictions are reasonable. Had the Supreme Court said the ordinance was censorship, it would have been overturned. 

Other laws regulating expression, not related to panhandling, have been upheld if they reasonably limit the time, place or manner of expression and leave open adequate alternative means of expression. An example are widely used municipal ordinances banning loud and noisy trucks in residential areas after certain hours. 

By contrast, laws that regulate the content of speech are almost always overturned. Two Supreme Court justices said the Los Angeles ordinance was such a law. 

“A speaker can approach someone using an ATM and ask for the time, but cannot ask for a quarter,” said Justice Joyce L. Kennard, joined in dissent by Justice Stanley Mosk. 

However, George wrote that the government can regulate solicitation of funds without engaging in “favoritism among different viewpoints.” 

Assistant City Attorney Deborah Sanchez could not be reached for immediate comment. But the city has maintained that the ordinance protects members of the public from unwarranted fear and harassment. 

The case is Los Angeles Alliance for Survival vs. City of Los Angeles, 97-56742.

A panel of experts from the growing field of death and dying addressed some 70 people Wednesday night at Herrick Hospital in an effort to stimulate public dialogue about a part of life most of us put off as long as possible. 

Patricia Murphy, of the East Bay Coalition on End of Life Care, said that her group organized the meeting as an “entreaty to people in our communities to start a conversation about the ‘last taboo’ in our society.”  

It was clear from the high turnout that many people in the Bay Area are ready to start talking. 

Emotions ran high throughout the meeting, as panelists and audience members shared their personal experiences with the loss of loved ones. 

Boyer C. August, who has AIDS, said that it is often difficult to walk the line between maintaining a positive attitude about his illness and being realistic about his chances of survival. 

“It all depends on your point of view,” he said. “I look at it this way: as soon as you’re born, you’re dying. For some of us it takes 75 years to do it, and then you’re dead. The trick is to enjoy life before you get there.”  

The discussion was led by Wendy Hanamura, producer of KQED’s “Bay Window” series and was inspired by Bill Moyer’s four-part series on PBS this month, called “On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying.” Hanamura said the Moyers’ special reflected a movement to remove dying from cold, sterile hospitals and move it into a more nurturing environment. 

The East Bay group was formed by health care professionals and community members who believe it is time to follow the path carved out by the natural childbirth movement and to accept death as an inevitable part of the life cycle. 

As one audience member remarked, the evening provided a rare opportunity to see a lawyer, a doctor, a patient, a parent, a chaplain and a social worker all seated at the same table and serving a common purpose – to share their collective expertise on living with a potentially terminal disease. 

August told the audience that contact with supportive friends and family is critical to anyone with a terminal illness. “If you keep communicating with others, you can survive,” he said, with his mother Joan Franciosa August seated beside him. “If you don’t, it breaks your heart.”  

Panelists and audience members agreed that quality medical attention is another key component in palliative care – and a rare commodity in these days of HMOs and malpractice suits. 

“We work in a culture in which the death of a patient is seen as a personal failure for a doctor,” said Dr. Jeffrey Burack, a physician at the East Bay AIDS Center. Burack said the health care system provides intensive medical interventions, but rarely the more caring and holistic services terminally ill patients need. Because of this, he said, there is often a profound mistrust of doctors, especially among minority communities and the disabled who sometimes feel the medical establishment “is only too happy to get them out of the way.”  

Lawyer Priscilla Camp warned that these fears are often an obstacle when taking control over the important legal aspects of dying, such as writing a will, or authorizing an “agent” to make health care decisions for an incapacitated patient. She said that it is best to take care of this often unpleasant paperwork “early on, before you are in discomfort and pain.”  

The central theme of the evening was the spiritual side of the dying experience. Bereavement counselor Howard Lunche and Rev. Betty Clark were on hand to discuss the importance of helping patients and their caregivers deal with “pain overload.”  

“We are so afraid of people who are dying that we forget to ask them how they are. I like to tell them ‘your spirit looks good’ – that really picks people up,” Clark said. She said that although she never forces her religious faith on anyone, she sees her job as meeting with people on their own terms, and helping them “travel whatever spiritual journey they’re on.”  

Lunche said he sees the most suffering and despair about death when people feel “dehumanized.” He views his role as an advocate for people who are dealing with a medical system “contrary to the idea of forming a relationship between the professional and the patient.”  

At the end of the panel discussion, one woman in the audience asked panelists what resources are available in the community for patients and caregivers who are without a supportive family network. 

Lunche echoed many in the room when he said that hospice care organizations, which organize a team of people to help patients and their families in their homes, provide many resources for people with a life threatening illness. 

Even those with low incomes can benefit from some hospice programs, said Bonnie Maeda, a nurse with the Mid-Peninsula Pathways organization. “We won’t turn anyone away. People just need to reach out for help and see what’s available.”  

The East Bay Coalition is currently forming smaller support groups throughout the area to encourage further discussion. For more information, contact Patricia Murphy at 450-8512. 

A small number of patients stopped taking their AIDS drug cocktails and still managed to keep the virus under control, researchers say in one of the first studies to suggest that people with HIV may not have to be on medication for the rest of their lives. 

The study involved just eight people, all of whom began taking potent AIDS drugs within six months of infection, before the virus had done too much damage. 

But the findings offer hope that the immune system can be primed to battle the virus alone. 

“At least in a select group of patients one can turn the tables so that the immune system has the upper hand rather than the virus having the upper hand over the immune system,” said Dr. Bruce Walker, a co-author of the study and director of Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

The study was published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. 

Since potent drug cocktails containing protease inhibitors were introduced in 1996, researchers held out hope that some day patients would be able to get off the medication, which must be taken according to a strict and complicated schedule and can have toxic side effects. 

But finding patients to test that strategy has been difficult and raises tricky ethical questions. Nobody could guarantee that the virus would not bounce back with a vengeance, newly resistant to the medication. 

The new study involved volunteers who were closely monitored and checked twice a week. 

The eight patients had been taking AIDS drug combinations for periods ranging from one year to three. 

Five of the eight remain off the drugs. One has been off the treatment for 11 months. Two chose to resume the regimen even though their viral levels remained relatively low. A third resumed the drugs because of a sharp increase. 

“The patients who participated deserve an enormous amount of credit for being willing to take the risks that were involved,” Walker said. “This was not a risk-free endeavor. We couldn’t guarantee that we weren’t going to make these people worse.” 

And there are no guarantees that their viral levels will not increase again. 

This is the first time results from the study have been published in a scientific journal, though preliminary findings have been discussed at several AIDS conferences over the past year. 

The key to the new study is that drug cocktail therapy started before much damage was done to the immune system, Walker said. 

More research is needed on the effects of drug interruptions on people who have been infected for more than six months, he said. Most patients do not find out about their infection until much later — after the virus has damaged the immune system. 

“While we’re confident that someday we will be able to apply these findings to treatment of chronic HIV infection, there’s a lot more we need to learn about augmenting the immune system’s response,” said Dr. Eric Rosenberg, who led the study. 

Potent drug cocktails have saved lives but cost as much as $12,000 a year and can cause severe side effects such as diabetes and osteoporosis. 

Researchers stressed that patients should not quit their medication until more studies are performed. 

Future studies will attempt to determine the optimal timing for starting the drugs, stopping them and restarting them if necessary. 

Dr. Ronald Mitsuyasu, director of the Center for Clinical AIDS Research and Education at the University of California at Los Angeles, said that while the study was small, it gives some support to the possibility that HIV could be reduced to a chronic, manageable disease. 

——— 

On the Net: Nature magazine: http://www.nature.com 

Massachusetts General Hospital: http://www.mgh.harvard.edu 

OAKLAND — An Alameda County supervisor interrupted the board's meeting today to express outrage over Gov. Gray Davis’ veto of a bill that would have given foster parents more say in the care of their children.  

“I am so angry ... this is not acceptable,” said Supervisor Gail Steele as she fumed at the meeting in Oakland.  

“They said the bill is once again overly broad.” 

Davis vetoed AB 2392 yesterday. It was the second time he has vetoed the foster care bill in as many years. 

In his veto message to the state assembly, Davis said he supports most of the provisions in the bill, but vetoed it because it “unduly expands the range of individuals who can refer a child under the jurisdiction of the court for special education assessment.” 

Under the proposed legislation, those individuals could include “adults designated by the parent or guardian or a person acting in place of a parent or person legally responsible for the child, as well as foster parents.” 

He said it would infringe upon the rights of parents and guardians to make educational decisions for their children and also imposes a reimbursable state mandate on the courts. 

Supervisor Keith Carson commiserated with Steele over the veto.  

“We have not fared well  

under his (Davis’) administration,” Carson said. “For  

some unknown reason, he  

seems to really have it in for  

county government.” 

Initiated by Alameda County, the foster care bill would have allowed foster parents, guardians or other “advocates” of the children to participate in the children's Individual Education Plan, or IEP.  

The plans are used in the educational assessment of foster children. Currently, only social workers can request and influence them. 

“They have a real problem with who these advocates are. They’re nobody to be afraid of,” Steele said. 

After the meeting, Steele did not mince words regarding her opinion of Davis’ veto.  

“Upset isn’t even the word,” she said. “I think I’m livid, because that bill was designed to help the most vulnerable of our children, our foster children.” 

Berkeley Police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred Saturday night around 8 p.m. at the Exxon gas station at 950 University Ave. 

Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes said a man entered the station and brandished a small semi-automatic handgun at the lone teller and demanded he open the register, which he did. 

The suspect then reached over the counter and grabbed an undisclosed amount of money and fled the store on foot. 

Lopes said the suspect was described as a small and thin black male, in his early 20’s, about 5 feet 7 inches, 110 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black-hooded jacket and blue jeans. 

* * * 

A man was attacked with a knife and another was knocked unconscious by what Lopes described as “skinheads” early Sunday morning around 1:20 a.m. at a party on the 2400 block of Dwight Way. 

Lopes said that four, young white men with shaved heads – one reportedly with a swastika tattoo on his arm – were being disruptive when the hosts of the party asked them to leave. 

Lopes said the host asked his friend, who is black, to help him get the men out of the house. 

When he did, one of the men punched the African American man while using a racial epithet.  

Lopes said that the four men then jumped the black man and one of them cut him on the forehead, the arms and the hand.  

The host of the party was hit and lost consciousness for a brief period of time. Neither men accepted medical treatment. 

Lopes said one of the men believed to be an assailant is in custody, but he was arrested for public intoxication and has not yet been identified as one of the assailants. 

* * * 

The San Pablo Food Mart at the corner of Cedar Street and San Pablo Avenue was robbed by a man who simulated a gun. 

Lopes said that man walked in the store on Sept. 20 around 9 p.m. and acted as if he had a gun in his right coat pocket. 

The cashier, apparently in disbelief, simply stood there, Lopes said.  

Then the suspect said, “Do you want to die?” and reached over the counter and grabbed an undisclosed amount of money from the open register. 

The suspect is described as a black male in his mid 30’s, about 5 feet 11 inches, 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a dark blue knit cap, a gray jacket and blue jeans. 

* * * 

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car store at 3001 Shattuck Ave. was robbed at gunpoint Sept. 20 around 5:30 p.m. 

Lopes said two suspects, one who brandished a small semi-automatic handgun and another who acted as a lookout, forced customers to lay face down on the floor as they robbed the store. 

Lopes said one man held up the store and forced customers to the floor .  

He is described as described as a black male in his mid 30’s, 5 feet 8 inches, about 140 pounds wearing sunglasses, blue jeans, and a blue long-sleeve shirt.  

Another man, described as a black male in his 20’s, 5 feet 7inches, 130 pounds, wearing a tan T-shirt and blue jeans, watched the door. 

Lopes said that there are no suspects. 

— compiled by William Inman

James Elliott, the former director of the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive has died. He was 76. 

Elliott, a native of Medford, Ore., was the museum’s director from 1976 to 1987.  

As director, he established the Matrix program, which reserved space for modern or experimental art. 

Elliott is credited with making the museum one of the premiere contemporary art museums in the country. 

Before coming to the university, Elliott had served as director of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Conn., and as chief curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

He presided over several major traveling exhibitions, including shows featuring the work of Juan Gris, Richard Avedon and James Lee Byars. 

Elliott is survived by his son Jakob, his daughter Arabel Elliott, two sisters and Joan Ellis and Amy Barnum.

OAKLAND – Before the sun came up, Grace Manawatao had driven more than 45 minutes to Nancy’s home in East Oakland. She donned rubber gloves almost as soon as she walked through the door, and went to work stripping the bed linens and scrubbing the floors with disinfectant. 

While Manawatao bustled around the small bungalow, Nancy, who asked that her real name not be used, sat in an armchair eating the heaping portion of sliced hotdogs and green beans Grace cooked for her the night before.  

“Mmm, Grace you sure are a good cook,” Nancy called out as she cleaned her plate. “Sometimes she even makes me Filipino noodles.” 

“They are called pansit, I told you,” Manawatao yelled from the kitchen. 

“Well, without her around I would have to eat cold peanut butter or bologna sandwiches,” Nancy said. 

At $7.82 an hour, Manawatao’s job is one of millions of minimum-wage jobs that exist at the margins of the booming economy: they’re more stable because of the tight job market, but wages have yet to rise and health benefits are still only promises. But it’s hard to imagine Nancy’s world without Manawatao. 

Nancy, 62, is disabled by arthritis in her legs and hip and has not left her house for over a year. She is diabetic, has a heart condition, and is medically obese. She said that she shuns contact with friends and family because she is so embarrassed by how she and the house look. After her adult son decided he didn’t have time to both work and look after her, Nancy has gone through a string of health care workers.  

Most only lasted only a few weeks after they realized how much dirty work was involved, she said.  

“I can’t cope by myself at all, I need someone here two times a day to change my bedding or else I have to lie in my own wet,” said Nancy, who is incontinent. “I used to cry myself to sleep at night asking for the Lord to send someone to help me.” 

Then, the county’s health care workers union sent Manawatao.  

The 49-year old said that she cares for Nancy in two daily shifts, and often calls her at the end of the day to make sure she remembered to wash and take her medicine. Twice a week she also works for an 80-year old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s. And three days and two nights every week she earns $8 an hour on call for Rapid Response, a replacement service for home health care attendants who can’t make it to work.  

If her work schedule seems tight, Karen Orlando, a union organizer for Local Service Employees International Union 616, says that Manawatao is actually one of the lucky providers of home health care.  

“There is a 50 percent turnover rate for home care workers. A lot of these people are very marginal,” Orlando said. “Grace is a very skilled and educated worker. Most of them are living on the fringes. One late check and they’re homeless.”  

Manawatao, who is single and rents an apartment in Alameda, has been working in the health care industry since she arrived in the United States from the Philippines in her late twenties. Her first job was in a convalescent home, earning $1.99 an hour to care for more than 17 patients at a time. She worked the night shift and went to school at Hayward State University during the day, studying to become a dietitian. Eventually the stress became too much, and she decided to earn 

a medical assistant certificate and devote herself to caring for the elderly and the disabled. 

“I’ve been cleaning up after other people since I was a girl, helping my mother with my nine siblings,“ she says as she dumps soiled sheets into a washing machine and folds and sorts clean clothes. “In the Philippines, there are no convalescent homes. We don’t isolate our old or sick people. My mother took care of my grandparents, and I helped her to do it,” she said. “That’s why this work is familiar to me and I enjoy it.” 

Manawatao’s only complaint is the lack of health benefits. More than 7,500 unionized home health care workers in Alameda work in the homes of an estimated 8,500 low-income patients. They have been battling the county for a benefits package and pay raise for years. Gov. Gray Davis made something of a breakthrough last month when he agreed to pay $7 million to cover a portion of the benefits long as the county came up with $1.5 million out of its own funds. 

Where this money will come from is unclear. Orlando said that the tobacco settlement is a likely source, but the union has to compete with many different kinds of health programs to get a piece of it. She does not expect any results until at least January 2001. 

Meanwhile, Manawatao, the union secretary, continues to cross her fingers and hope she doesn’t catch anything serious. 

“With our new contract I make more money than I used to, but I still can’t afford my own health insurance,” she said. “When I get sick I have to take time off work to go to Highland Hospital, and that takes all day because the lines are so long.” But despite the low pay and lack of health care, Manawatao said she would not do anything else.  

“With this kind of job, your patient tells you when you do it well. That is invaluable. There is no price for that feeling that they need me and love me. I feel like I belong here,” she said.