Members of the Coalition of Jews for Justice held a sign protesting United States aid to Israel at Bancroft Street and Telegraph Avenue yesterday. The group condemns what they say is “excessive” violence used by Israel in the current Middle East situation. 

At right, a group of pro-Israel demonstrators gathered 100 yards away from the protesters inside the UC Berkeley campus. The group carried signs that said “Pro-Israel, Pro Peace.” One pro-Israel demonstrator said he did not know the other group was present.

Friday, Nov. 17

Community Dance Party 

7:45 - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

Come learn to dance with easy instructions presented by the Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2; Adult Non-members $4 

Information: 525-3030  

Chile Cookoff 

11:30 a.m. 

Lower Sproul Plaza 

UC Berkeley 

With four judges including Mayor Shirley Dean, Alice radio DJ Sterling James, UC Berkeley ASCC President Teddy Liaw, and Daily Californian Editor Daniel Hernandez, all proceeds benefit the Dorothy Dayhouse shelter.  

All you can eat chiles: $3  

California Energy  

Re-Structuring 

Luncheon served, 11:15 a.m.  

Speaker, 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Severin Borenstein, director at the UC Energy Institute will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon 

$1 general for speaker only, Free to students  

Call 848-3533  

Strategies for Affordable  

Housing Development 

Noon  

Goldman School of Public Policy 

2607 Hearst Ave.  

Carol J. Galante, President and CEO of Bridge Housing Corporation of San Francisco, will present an informal seminar on how new capital strategies can be implemented to increase housing opportunities.  

Call Larry Rosenthal, 643-3507 

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Housing Clinic for Seniors 

3 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A housing clinic with the East Bay Community Law Center. Free  

Saturday, Nov. 18

“Beneath Our Feet” 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

James Moore Theater  

1000 Oak St. 

Oakland  

This all-day conference involves Native Americans, archeologists, anthropologists, historians, naturalists, photographers, and sound artists, joining together to evoke a sense of the people of the East Bay and the landscape they have inhabited over the past ten thousand years. 

$12 - $27, lunch ($12) optional  

Call 636-1648  

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 

Berkeley Video  

& Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educational and art video and film works. Featuring a number of local filmakers.  

$8 Call 843-3699 

Zuni Fetish Show  

10 a.m. - 6 p.m.  

Gathering Tribes  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Fresh from a trip to Zuni, Janet & Diane from Beyond Tradition will have new fetishes and jewelry. This is the last fetish show of the year for Gathering Tribes.  

Call 528-9038 

Gospel on the Hill 

6:30 p.m. 

Sequoyah Community Church 

4592 Keller St.  

Oakland 

A free gospel performance concert featuring Ronny Mills, Inspired Voices, and Modavador G N Companee. Music starts at 7:30 p.m. Light dinner and refreshments for a nominal fee. 

Call 569-5060 

Some Sick Puppets  

1:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level) 

The award-winning educational puppet troupe, Kids on the Block, present a show featuring puppets with various medical conditions and cultural backgrounds. Sponsored by Children’s Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. Free  

Call Lucy, 549-1564 

The Laughing Electric  

Blue Lady 

7:30 - 10:30 p.m. 

Whimsyum  

1414 Fourth St.  

Described as something beyond dinner and a movie, the folks at Whymsium invite you to share your interests and explore your hobbies. This evening is the festival of Katarina.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541 

Sunday, Nov. 19

Ramadhan – the Spiritual  

Mysteries of Fasting 

3 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave. 

Ramadhan, the Muslim month of fasting begins in November this year. This program, the second in a series, is an opportunity to learn about the cultural practices of Islam. The event features live Moroccan Sufi music and a reading by author Hassan Jones-Bey from “Better Than a Thousand Months.” Muslims and non-Muslims are invited. Free.  

Call 925-672-2623 

Gesture & Balance 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Bob Byrne, co-director of Dharma publishing, discusses how “Gesture & Balance” can bring the benefits of meditation into your life. Free 

Call 843-6812 

Soprano Deborah Voigt 

Cal Performances  

3 p.m.  

Voigt’s performance is a postponement from her original Oct. 15 date. The program will remain unchanged. 

$28-$48 For tickets call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Pass It On! 

10 a.m. - Noon  

First Congregational Church of Oakland  

27th & Harrison  

Nina Serrano leads this workshop on how to tell stories to children in elementary schools and how to become a senior storyteller in the schools. Sponsored by Stagebridge of Oakland. 

Free to seniors, $5 general  

444-4755  

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.  

(415) 255-3233 for reservations 

“Give Thanks and Get Thanks” 

Berkeley Community Media 

2239 MLK Jr. Way  

This six hour auction, featuring items donated by local businesses, will raise funds for BCM operations and programming projects. BCM is on Channel 25.  

Call 848-2288 

Celtic Concert 

8 p.m. 

Shambhala Booksellers 

2482 Telegraph Ave.  

Fiddler and singer Laurie Chastain, multi-instrumentalist Mark Ungar, and drummer/singer Deidre McCarthy. Free 

Call 848-8443 

“Drawing Marathon”  

Merritt College’s Art Building 

Live models, group poses.  

$12 for half a day, $20 for a full day, senior and student discounts available. No cameras or turpentine. 

523-9763 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educational and art video and film works. Featuring a number of Berkeley filmakers.  

$8 Call 843-3699 

Monday, Nov. 20

The Music of Israel 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the music of Israel, from the early pioneers of Palestine to the latest rock.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Rent Stabilization Board 

7 p.m.  

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Tuesday, Nov. 21

Fibromyalgia Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m.  

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

Call D.L. Malinousky, 601-0550 

Environmental Solutions! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose) 

Informally led by Robert Berend, former UC Extension lecturer, this group aims to have intelligent discussions on a wide range of topics. They stress that there is no religious bent to the discussions and that all viewpoints are welcome. Bring light snacks to share with group. 527-5332  

– compiled by  

Chason Williams 

UC Students deserve more  

Recreation space 

Editor: 

I work in the University of California’s Planning Office, but I am also a long-time and permanent resident of Berkeley and a constitutent of Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Mr. Worthington is wrong to focus on building housing on the Underhill block itself. This is a polemical position that is not grounded in either good planning or genuine service to his constitutents. 

From both a planning and neighborhood perspective, the best use for the majority of the Underhill block is as recreational open space for students, particuarly the thousands of students who already live on the surrounding blocks and the nearly 900 students who will live in new housing the University is planning to construct in the immediate vicinity. 

Currently, 30,000 UC Berkeley students have the use of only one recreational playing field (Kleeberger Field, north of Memorial Stadium).  

It is desparately important that students regain the large field space that used to exist on the Underhill block. This is exactly what the University is proposing. Underhill is the one site in the Southside where a large playing field can be built without without clearing land and buildings. 

When the old Underhill Field existed, it was used literally night and day by thousands of students who lived nearby and played soccer, touch football, softball, and other field sports there. 

Building a substantial amount of housing on the Underhill block would eliminate the opportunity to create a large multi-purpose field there. There are plenty of other sites in the immediate vicinity where the University, or private housing providers, can and are planning to build more student housing. 

If Mr. Worthington wants to do some tangible good for his student constitutents he should ask the City to pay some attention to student needs in its recreational and open space planning and its parks budget. 

Berkeley's “student neighborhoods” are completely underserved by city park facilities and, as far as I know, not one dollar of city funding goes to any recreation program targeted at the active young adults who are UC students. For example, Willard Park — the City-owned park that is closest to to the homes of a large number of Berkeley's student residents — is primarily designed and managed for the benefit of its non-student neighbors, with facilities for uses like young children's play and dog recreation that are least likely to be of benefit to undergraduate students. 

The City's proposed General Plan also contains no meaningful proposals for any recreational facilities or programs for UC students or new parks anywhere near the UC campus, although UC students represent perhaps one-sixth of the resident population of Berkeley, and probably a higher proportion of the city's physically active inhabitants. In fact, the General Plan goes in the other direction and demands that the University make its recreational facilities more available for non-student community use, which would create even more crowded conditions for students seeking recreation. 

I am not suggesting that the City take on all the responsibility — or even the bulk of it — for UC student recreation, but it should at least pay some attention to the recreational needs of those thousands of students who make their home in Berkeley. Support for the University's plan for a replacement recreation field on the Underhill block would be a good place to start. 

If any other resident community in Berkeley were being ignored in this way by the City, we would hear no end of protest. However, since those affected are UC students, the City is notably silent. 

Steven Finacom 

Berkeley 

Citizen’s working group improves Southside Plan 

Editor: 

UC planner David Duncan, in his letter to the Daily Planet (October 28-29), mistakenly states that the Planning Commission's current efforts to put together the Southside Plan are “... contrary to the initial agreement between the City and the University.” 

In fact the 1997 Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the University explicitly recognizes that the Southside Plan is an amendment to the City's General Plan, and that its adoption requires approval by the City Council, not the University. The MOU also states that “the Campus will acknowledge the plan as the guide for campus developments in the Southside area.” 

University staff had an unprecedented amount of involvement in preparing the first, staff draft of the Southside Plan. After that draft was made public, the Planning Commission — the agency officially charged with preparing the General Plan and all area plan amendments to the General Plan — took over. Hearing a great deal of citizen criticism of the staff draft, the Commission convened a series of “working group” meetings to evaluate and revise the staff document. 

The working group meetings were well attended by a diverse group of students, neighbors, developers, merchants, street artists, bicycle advocates and others. While the initial draft contained a lot of good background information, its policies mainly reflected UC and City staff priorities, while ignoring or failing to address adequately a number of important issues that concern Southside residents and stakeholder groups. 

Citizens were allowed to have only perfunctory involvement in the preparation of the first staff draft. At staff-run workshops, they were relegated to the role of audience members who were limited to three-minute testimonials with no opportunity for dialogue. By contrast, the working groups gave citizens the chance to get involved in detailed discussions of policies and proposed zoning changes. 

The draft Southside Plan that is now emerging from the working group process clearly improves on the first draft. It articulates a broadly supported consensus that addresses student demands for more housing close to campus, while recognizing the need to minimize traffic and other undesirable effects on neighborhoods. It calls for making housing the priority for vacant and underutilized sites. At the same time it supports the preservation of historic resources in the Southside. 

No doubt UC will not like every policy in the Southside Plan that the Planning Commission prepares and sends to the City Council. But the Planning Commission's charge is to act in the public interest, not to rubber-stamp University policy. The Commission will take UC administration concerns into account, but it will give equal consideration to the needs of students, neighbors, merchants, street artists, bicyclists, transit users and other stakeholders. 

Zelda Bronstein 

Planning Commissioner 

47-unit housing development is good for the city 

Editor: 

I am writing to correct the mistakes included in the letter from Edwin Allen Bish II regarding the Jubilee Courtyard Apartments at 2700 San Pablo Avenue. First and foremost, the proposed four-story design does not require any variances. The project is in complete conformance with the City of Berkeley’s zoning ordinance for San Pablo Avenue and the West Berkeley Plan. This is but one of the many reasons why city planning staff recommended that the project be approved. In response to Mr. Bish’s question "Why can’t Mr. Kennedy design a building that meets the current standards for this area?" We have and it does. 

Mr. Bish’s claim that the developers have said “take it or leave it” about the design of this project is simply wrong. The non-profit and for-profit project partners have met numerous times with neighborhood residents (although Mr. Bish did not attend). The developers have proposed three dramatically different design options for the site. However, we were unable to work out a compromise plan for the project due to the neighbors’ refusal to consider supporting a four-story building at the site.  

We believe that Berkeley cannot solve its housing crisis if new buildings on major commercial streets and state highways are restricted to the same height limit that applies in the city’s single-family neighborhoods. And we are not alone in this belief. 75 percent of Berkeley’s voters approved Measure D in an effort to preserve open space throughout Alameda County. The residents of this city know that if we intend to save our farms and parklands, we must provide housing for our children and grandchildren in our existing cities. The residents also know that we need to provide more affordable housing, more housing for the disabled, and more housing near transit. For all of these reasons the four-story project at 2700 San Pablo Avenue is the right thing to do.  

Jubilee Courtyard Apartments is supported by numerous groups including the Greenbelt Alliance, Urban Ecology, the Conservation Land Group, local community-serving churches, Affordable Housing Associates, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Resources for Community Development and East Bay Innovations, a non-profit that helps developmentally disabled individuals find affordable housing. 

We continue to believe that a four-story building at 2700 San Pablo Avenue is appropriate. All properties adjacent to or facing the site are zoned to allow four story buildings. The mixed-use neighborhoods to the west of the site allow three-story buildings as do the residential neighborhoods to the east.  

While it is true that 2700 San Pablo does not “respect” the vacant store fronts, abandoned gas stations and auto body shops that currently line this portion of San Pablo Avenue, it is clear that it conforms to and does not exceed the zoning and plan for the West Berkeley area.  

Christopher Hudson 

Project Manager

Coming off of two successive NIT seasons, Cal head coach Ben Braun is looking to move his team onto the next level, an NCAA Tournament bid. With just one senior on the squad, the Bears need the younger players on the team to step up and play beyond their years.  

The lone senior, power forward Sean Lampley, is one of the best players in the Pac-10 conference. If sophomores Shantay Legans, Joe Shipp and Brian Wethers can continue the maturation they showed last year, and junior center Solomon Hughes can come to play every night, the Bears could surprise some people. 

Backcourt: Shantay Legans is definitely the starting point guard. That’s about all we know about the Cal backcourt. Legans had an impressive freshman year, leading the team in assists and steals as well as being the threat behind the three-point line. The 5-10, 165-pounder should be even better as a sophomore, as the Bears look to a more up-tempo team this year. With Legans running the floor, Braun knows his offense is in good hands. 

Who will play beside Legans is a mystery. Dennis Gates and Donte Smith the main candidates, but swingman Brian Wethers looks to have improved his game since last year. All three candidates are scorers more than shooters, so Legans figures to be the main outside threat. Gates and Smith both shot less than 35 percent from the field last year, and Wethers is a better rebounder than either player. Gates is a junior, while Smith and Wethers are sophomores, so look for him to get the starting nod. 

Smith will also be the main backup at point guard, as the loss of recruit Michael Lawson will hurt the backcourt depth. Lawson left school for "personal reasons," leaving the Bears with only three true guards on scholarship. Walk-on A.J.Diggs will be on hand for emergency duty. 

Frontcourt: The small forward position looks to be a battle between Wethers and fellow sophomore Joe Shipp. If the Bears need scoring, they can go with Shipp, who averaged almost 10 points per game last season. If they want defense and rebounding, Braun can turn to Wethers, who is a rugged slasher. If Gates and Smith can’t provide an outside threat, Shipp could be the complement to Legans they aren’t. Former walk-on Ryan Forehan-Kelly will pick up any spare minutes Shipp and Wethers leave behind. 

Power forward Sean Lampley is the leader of this team, the only senior on the squad and an All-Pac-10 performer last year. The question is, are the youngsters ready to follow? Braun knows just what he’s going to get from 6-7 Lampley: a solid all-around game, good defense and the threat of scoring 25 points every night. Lampley is too quick for bigger defenders and too strong for smaller ones. He’s even improved his touch from outside, making him a threat from three-point land. 

Battling for time at center will be junior Solomon Hughes and sophomore Nick Vander Laan. Vander Laan had a strong first season last year as he learned how to use his 6-10, 250-pound body in the paint. He will be a solid, if immobile, inside presence and should improve on his 6.7 rebounds per game last year. Hughes has a bigger upside than Vander Laan, but will he ever reach his potential? He has skills uncommon in a 6-11 player, but seems to lose focus easily and drift away from the action. If he can earn Braun’s confidence, the team could use a big lineup with him at power forward and Lampley as small forward. This would allow them to match up better against the powerful frontcourts of Arizona, Stanford and USC. At worst, Hughes can provide some quality minutes at both spots. 

Newcomers: The loss of Lawson really hurts this team, which doesn’t have a lot of firepower. A superior athlete, he figured to at least be a scoring threat off the bench. The only other freshmen, Hughes’ brother Gabriel and Lithuanian import Salius Kuzminskas, are newcomers expected to make their impacts down the road. Gabriel Hughes is much like his brother: tall, thin, athletic but not dependable. Kuzminskas is more of a skilled player, and is more likely to see significant playing time this year. He does tend to get a little reckless with his passes, however, and Braun may wish to keep him on the bench. Neither player figures to redshirt, as there will be more fouls called this year, which the NCAA mandated. Kuzminskas and Gabriel Hughes will at least provide big bodies and ten more fouls if the Bears need them. 

Outlook: Well, it looks like the Bears picked a bad time to be mediocre; the Pac-10 is in a golden age of talent. Arizona, Stanford and the L.A. schools look too powerful for the Bears to pass, far too experienced and athletic for Braun’s squad to match up. Fifth place looks like a good target for Cal in its return from NCAA sanctions for the previous administration’s mistakes. It figures to be an up-and-down season, as the youngsters get comfortable and Lampley drives toward an NBA career. Unfortunately for him, he will just miss Cal best recruiting class in years next season, as the Bears have verbal commitments from three top players.

The works featured in this weekend’s Berkeley Video and Film Festival, curated by the East Bay Media Center and screening at the Fine Arts Cinema, stretch across the spectrum of taste. From precious environmentalism and precocious horror and penis envy to a pastiche of sensual, political and cinematic extremes. 

The festival screens in two marathon programs, each beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and push forward for the next ten hours. Daylong tickets allow to moviegoers to pick a flick: in-and-out privileges will be appreciated by cinephiles who occasionally get up to eat, drink or smoke. 

Until now, the grave concerns of doomsaying pundits that have received the recent shootings in American high schools have been untainted by snarky humor. Perhaps the most fitting person to take broadside pot shots at teenage killing is a teenager himself. Chris Uchiyama’s feature length “BLISS,” closing Sunday night’s program, is the story of a young sociopath offing the student body in as grisly a fashion as rubber body parts and fake blood will allow. 

Uchiyama, a recent graduate of Berkeley High, is now gearing up for film school. This film is a more ambitious expression of splatter than he showed in last year’s short “Killer Chihuahua.”  

He says he did not base “BLISS” on the events of Columbine, rather the horrific turns of events common in fairy tales. Nevertheless, the premise of “BLISS” was disturbing enough to have the production banned from the Berkeley High campus, where Uchiyama was initially permitted to shoot scenes. 

The film matches romantic erratum with bloody limbs hanging from basketball hoops. “My mom always told me if it doesn’t offend a few people it isn’t worth doing,” he said, and admitted his mother had told him that in a different context and later rescinded the remark after seeing her son’s film. 

There is another film on the bill featuring an anti-social teenager who uses a fairy tale strategy to find respite from her awkward world. The difference is the short by Kia Simon, "Neverland," screening Saturday evening, prefers escape into fantasy over axe-wielding retribution. The teenage misfit – daughter of a bulemic and herself a petty kleptomaniac – takes her role in the high school production of “Peter Pan” to its logical, if supernatural, end. 

Some pixie dust and a little faith in the medium may turn “Trillium Forest: a Walk Within,” a short screening Sunday evening, into the visual poem it wants to be. Like a scene from “A Midsummer's Night Dream” with an environmental bone to pick, this beautifully wrought video by Holiday Phelum features a trio of dancers clad as wood nymphs gliding through choreographed movements in a dreamy forest setting. Thety are occasionally interspersed with video clips of activists and scientists talking about the folly of taking nature for granted and “the goddess tradition.” 

More feverish abstraction comes in “What's in Heidi's Head,” by Nancy Ferguson and composer Mark Mothersbaugh (formerly of the band Devo), screening Saturday evening. Two pilot episodes of a short-form television “interstitial” series (spots meant to run between cartoons, like “Schoolhouse Rock”) take free-associative looks at Feet and Bugs, respectively, with wildly psychedelic video collage and barely cognizant factoids. The visual schematic is pure candy-colored razzle-dazzle, befitting its intended space on kiddie TV. 

The festival serves up nourishing cinema like “Coming to Light: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians,” a documentary about indefatigable photographer Curtis and his arduous lifelong mission to document the American Indian. And the festival can dish up junk food, too. “Life is a Sweet” is a harmless confection about a chocoholic junior executive who learns to not only curb her urge for cream-filled cupcakes but to use them to professional ends. 

What “Life is a Sweet” fails to recognize is that chocolate does, in fact, make you feel better. “Buon Gusto” understands, and it wins top prize in gluttony for pure gluttony’s sake. Stirring the same sensual pot as the recent “Woman on Top” (without the Bossa Nova beat), “Buon Gusto,” by Anita Merzel and Mark Todd, screening Saturday evening, is a television cooking show with a host whose backstage romantic problems come to the fore during a live broadcast.  

Therefore pasta plus cilantro plus Bordeaux equals a ripped bodice. But in Saturday night's closing feature documentary by Cass Paley, “WADD: the life and times of John C. Holmes,” the sexual formula is much simpler: 141/2 inches. 

In interviews with his associates in the porn industry – Holmes apparently had no friends – the legendary sex star is described as not too bright, not all that handsome, but packing mythic size. 

Due to a stern interpretation of the state’s open meeting law by the city attorney, several of Berkeley’s disabled city commissioners say they are more likely to be denied access to meetings. 

In an opinion released last June, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said commissioners and board members teleconferencing into city meetings was a violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act, unless they gave 72 hours notification and the remote location they were  

calling from was opened to  

the public.  

The city attorney’s office has remained firm despite an opinion from Arlene Mayerson, the directing attorney for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, that her opinion is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

“We would love to raise the requirements,” Deputy City Attorney Lindsey Urbina said, “But we can’t ignore the Brown Act.” 

Members of the Commission on Disability said the opinion is ridiculous and that it was never the intention of the Brown Act to reduce disabled access to public meetings. 

Last July, Karen Craig, a member of the Commission on Disability, was stranded on her way home when her wheelchair was jarred and suddenly lost power as she was getting off a BART train. 

Hours later, when she finally arrived home, she called Eric Dibner, Berkeley’s Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, telling him her wheelchair was inoperable and she would require a teleconference hook up for two scheduled subcommittee meetings the following day.  

She had used the hook-ups before, as many disabled commissioners had, and was shocked when Dibner told her the city attorney had issued an opinion prohibiting short-notice teleconferences based on the Brown Act. Both meetings were canceled because she was unable to physically attend.  

Craig filed a grievance to the mayor and City Council on Aug. 6 and said the issue remains unresolved and the city must find a way to provide a reasonable modification to city policy. 

Since that incident, another Commission on Disability meeting was canceled for lack of quorum in late September because three members were unable to attend due to health problems. 

“We had a full agenda that night and we could of easily attended the meeting via teleconference,” said Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, the chairperson for the Commission of Disability. 

According to the opinion, the Brown Act would require Craig to give the city 72 hours notice for the hook up. In addition, the location she telephoned into the meeting from, her home or even a hospital room, would, by law, become a public meeting place and would have to make available to the public. 

Rodolfo-Sioson said disabled commissioners are subject to rapid changes in health and equipment failure and should be able to access meetings by phone when emergencies arise. The commission has five members who rely on wheelchairs for mobility. 

Rodolfo-Sioson added the disabled constantly contend with health and equipment problems and as winter descends mobility becomes increasingly difficult. 

“As it gets colder we’re more susceptible to pain and our wheelchairs are more likely to break down,” she said.  

In a letter Mayerson wrote to the city attorney, she said the City of Berkeley is in violation of both the general prohibitions against discrimination as well as the program accessibility requirements of Title II of the ADA.  

Urbina was unconvinced and said the Brown Act language is very plain and it’s the goal of the city attorney’s office to try and follow both laws. 

Craig said the city provided short-notice teleconferences for years without any problems. She added the city attorney’s office isn’t doing enough to resolve the situation. “I Think they thought we’d just give up on it but they were wrong,” she said. 

By John Geluardi 

Daily Planet Staff 

Due to a stern interpretation of the state’s open meeting law by the city attorney, several of Berkeley’s disabled city commissioners say they are more likely to be denied access to meetings. 

In an opinion released last June, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said commissioners and board members teleconferencing into city meetings was a violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act, unless they gave 72 hours notification and the remote location they were  

calling from was opened to  

the public.  

The city attorney’s office has remained firm despite an opinion from Arlene Mayerson, the directing attorney for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, that her opinion is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

“We would love to raise the requirements,” Deputy City Attorney Lindsey Urbina said, “But we can’t ignore the Brown Act.” 

Members of the Commission on Disability said the opinion is ridiculous and that it was never the intention of the Brown Act to reduce disabled access to public meetings. 

Last July, Karen Craig, a member of the Commission on Disability, was stranded on her way home when her wheelchair was jarred and suddenly lost power as she was getting off a BART train. 

Hours later, when she finally arrived home, she called Eric Dibner, Berkeley’s Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, telling him her wheelchair was inoperable and she would require a teleconference hook up for two scheduled subcommittee meetings the following day.  

She had used the hook-ups before, as many disabled commissioners had, and was shocked when Dibner told her the city attorney had issued an opinion prohibiting short-notice teleconferences based on the Brown Act. Both meetings were canceled because she was unable to physically attend.  

Craig filed a grievance to the mayor and City Council on Aug. 6 and said the issue remains unresolved and the city must find a way to provide a reasonable modification to city policy. 

Since that incident, another Commission on Disability meeting was canceled for lack of quorum in late September because three members were unable to attend due to health problems. 

“We had a full agenda that night and we could of easily attended the meeting via teleconference,” said Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, the chairperson for the Commission of Disability. 

According to the opinion, the Brown Act would require Craig to give the city 72 hours notice for the hook up. In addition, the location she telephoned into the meeting from, her home or even a hospital room, would, by law, become a public meeting place and would have to make available to the public. 

Rodolfo-Sioson said disabled commissioners are subject to rapid changes in health and equipment failure and should be able to access meetings by phone when emergencies arise. The commission has five members who rely on wheelchairs for mobility. 

Rodolfo-Sioson added the disabled constantly contend with health and equipment problems and as winter descends mobility becomes increasingly difficult. 

“As it gets colder we’re more susceptible to pain and our wheelchairs are more likely to break down,” she said.  

In a letter Mayerson wrote to the city attorney, she said the City of Berkeley is in violation of both the general prohibitions against discrimination as well as the program accessibility requirements of Title II of the ADA.  

Urbina was unconvinced and said the Brown Act language is very plain and it’s the goal of the city attorney’s office to try and follow both laws. 

Craig said the city provided short-notice teleconferences for years without any problems. She added the city attorney’s office isn’t doing enough to resolve the situation. “I Think they thought we’d just give up on it but they were wrong,” she said. 

The Pac-10 has risen again in the last few years, with UCLA and Arizona both winning national championships in the recent past and Stanford busting into the top echelon of teams on a regular basis. 

The most interesting battle this year will be for the middle-of-the-pack spots, as Arizona, USC and Stanford look too good and experienced to fall far. UCLA is, as usual, talented but troubled, and could be in for a disappointing year. Cal, Oregon, Arizona State and Oregon State will battle for the conference’s final one or two spots in the NCAA Tournament, with Washington and Washington State looking up at the pack. 

1. Arizona 

The Wildcats are definitely the class of the Pac-10. The question for them is, are they the class of the entire country?  

Their starting lineup is simply unbelievable. It all starts with sophomore point guard Jason Gardner, who controls the offense and can distribute and score with equal efficiency. He is joined in the backcourt by Gilbert Arenas, an underrated scorer who had 71 steals last year. Small forward Richard Jefferson will look to regain his freshman form after struggling with a broken foot last year. Arizona coach Lute Olson calls Jefferson the most athletic player he has ever had.  

While Jefferson flies, power forward Michael Wright does the dirty work, rebounding, defending and muscling the ball into the hoop. The center of the lineup is 7-1 Loren Woods, a shot-blocker supreme who could be a lottery pick if he stays healthy. 

The bench will gain some needed power with the return of forward Eugene Edgerson, who redshirted last season to concentrate on his teaching degree. 

2. USC 

In late January, the Trojans were actually in first place in the Pac-10, remarkable considering both Arizona and Stanford ended up with No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. But injuries took them out of the race and dropped them out of the postseason. But with all five starters back and a more experienced bench, coach Henry Bibby has a good shot at his best season at USC. 

The strength of this Trojan team is scoring, with five returning players who scored more than 13 points per game last year. Senior forward Brian Scalabrine is the leading returning scorer in the conference and can score inside and outside. Shooting guard Jeff Trepagnier can score, defend and rebound and can also move into the small forward spot. Sam Clancy is a bit undersized for a power forward at 6-7, but he plays with a determination few can match. David Blumenthal rounds out the frontcourt, which lacks a true center, but he lead the team in rebounding last year and is the team’s best post-up player.  

Pint-sized point guard Brandon Granville (5-9) broke the school record for assists last season, but suffered from lack of a dependable backup and wound down at the end of the year. Bibby brought in juco transfer Robert Hutchinson to spell Granville, which should make him stronger going into the postseason. 

3. Stanford 

Stanford will have a solid squad this year, but replacing departed leaders Mark Madsen and David Moseley will be very tough. Coach Mike Montgomery will look to several players so fill the leadership void. 

When Montgomery landed the Collins twins, Jason and Jarron, four years ago, they were supposed to be the centerpieces of the program. But while Jarron, now a senior, has been a solid presence, Jason has struggled with injuries and played only one full season. If Jason can stay healthy and eat up space on the interior, it will allow Jarron to move outside more and show his skills.  

Casey Jacobsen was a revelation as a freshman last year, leading the team in scoring. But with defenses focusing on him this year instead of Madsen, will he be as effective? Point guard Mike McDonald isn’t much of an offensive threat, averaging less than five points and shooting just 36 percent from the floor. Teams may throw constant double-teams at Jacobsen and make him earn every basket.  

The bench is nondescript. Curtis Borchardt provides size and little else, forward Justin Davis is an athlete with few skills, and the guards don’t scare anyone. Look for rugged freshman Teyo Johnson to get some serious minutes as a rebounder. 

4. UCLA 

The Bruins lost talented underclassmen Jerome Moiso and Jaron Rush to the NBA Draft, and almost lost center Dan Gadzuric and wingman Jason Kapono as well. But with those two back, UCLA is still one of the most talented teams in the conference. Talent, however, doesn’t always translate into wins, as coach Steve Lavin found out last year. 

Gadzuric struggled with his conditioning last year, only playing 22 minutes per game. If he can stay on the court more, he will be a force. Kapono is an athletic wingman who averaged 16 points as a freshman last year, and point guard Earl Watson has finally grown into the floor leader the team needs, dishing out six assists per game. But the rest of the lineup is a mish-mash of inexperience and disappointments, and the Bruins will be hard-pressed to win consistently with such an unsettled bench. 

5. Cal 

See Cal preview on page 17. 

6. Oregon 

The Ducks won 22 games last year, as coach Ernie Kent made the team into a run-and-gun powerhouse. But after losing three starters, no returning player scored in double figures last year. If Kent can find two or three players to fill the basket, the Ducks could go back to the NCAA Tournament. 

The most likely candidates to do so are wingmen Frederick Jones and Anthony Norwood. Both are talented players who will see more playing time this year, so look for them to step up. The frontcourt is crowded but unproven. Center Flo Hartenstein does the dirty work, and Kent says forward Bryan Bracey should be one of the most improved players in the conference. If highly-regarded recruits Luke Jackson and Luke Ridnour can give the Ducks some firepower from the guard spots, Kent could keep the momentum going. 

7. Arizona State 

How do you replace an Eddie House? Well, you don’t. House carried the Sun Devils on his back for much of last year, including pouring in 61 points against Cal. Coach Rob Evans will have to spread the scoring around this year, as other player averaged double figures in points, and there is no go-to player on the roster. 

The frontcourt is a mixture of combo forwards (Shawn Redhage, Tommy Smith) and immobile post players (Chad Prewitt, Utah transfer Tyson Johnston). Smith has the biggest upside, but looked lost at times last season. The backcourt hopes rest on shooting guard Donnell Knight, a super athlete who came on strong at the end of last year. The point guards, senior Alton Mason and sophomore Kyle Dodd, are just guys. 

8. Oregon State 

Many experts were picking the Beavers as the surprise team in the Pac-10. But that was before highly-touted juco transfer Philip Ricci went down with a leg injury. Ricci, who will now redshirt the season, was sought by programs like Arizona and UCLA before committing to Richie McKay’s team, a major recruiting coup for the up-and-coming coach. 

The Beavers will look to point guard Deaundra Tanner for both scoring and ball distribution. The senior has become on of the top guards in the conference. Both two-guards, Josh Steinthal and Adam Masten, are three-point specialists who offer little else. The frontcourt, a strength with Ricci, is now suspect. Center Jason Heide has struggled with injuries the last two years, and talented sophomore Brian Jackson is very hot-and-cold. Three newcomers will struggle to contribute meaningful minutes. 

9. Washington 

Coach Bob Bender rebuilt the program, culminating in a Sweet Sixteen appearance three years ago. But the Huskies have come back down to the bottom of the conference. There is little talent on the roster, and the presence of five seniors only helps if they’re good players. These guys aren’t. 

Guard Michael Johnson is the closest thing Washington has to a scorer, and he didn’t even average 10 points last year. The point guards will be freshmen C.J. Massingale and Curtis Allen, not a good sign in a talented position in the conference. None of the big men showed much last year, with Will Perkins and Marlon Shelton being the best of a nondescript bunch. 

10. Washington State 

The Cougars were simply awful last year, winning just one Pac-10 game and only six overall. Their best returning player, guard Mike Bush, may be academically ineligible. The best thing about this team is that with so many new players, they can start fresh and forget about last year. 

Point guard Marcus Moore may have been the best player on last year’s team. But coach Paul Graham chose to redshirt him, saving him from the embarrassment of playing for such an awful team. If he lives up to his promise and Bush is able to play, the Cougars could improve. They will be joined by Miami (Ohio) transfer J Locklier, a 6-10 center who is a force in the paint. Senior Eddie Miller and sophomore Milton Riley will play alongside Locklier, but don’t look for much production from them. A late addition is Paulo Rower, a 7-1, 310-pound Brazilian who Graham says “has great hands and can run.”

A handful of dedicated Berkeley residents and activists braved the rain and traffic Wednesday evening to attend the regular planning commission meeting and make comments and suggestions to the most recent draft of the Southside Plan.  

Although the Southside Plan is still early in its draft stage, City planners hope to create more mixed-income housing while maintaining the character of the neighborhood just south of the University of California. Planners also want to study solutions to some of the area’s traffic woes. 

No action was taken on the plan, which was prepared by the City of Berkeley and the University of California at Berkeley.  

An immediate study was put off in part because the planning commission, which oversees the general plan as well as the Southside plan, has been operating with a skeleton staff because members have left due to health reasons or because they have been lured away to other jobs. 

“We are well within sight of completing these plans but we need staff to make that happen,” Planning Commissioner Robert Wrenn said. “We will continue to make changes to the plans and move them forward but whether we will meet our deadlines or not remains to be seen.” 

In the meantime, commissioners and residents discussed three elements that will be crucial once the study is under way – transportation, community character and design guidelines.  

The major transportation issue is whether Durant and Bancroft streets should be reverted into two way streets again, Wrenn said. 

“We need to flesh out alternatives so that we can make the correct changes to the plan and we are working toward doing that,” Wrenn said. 

Members of the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition also commented on traffic and bike paths and suggested creating a bus lane on Durant and Bancroft streets to help ensure the cyclist safety. Jonathan Cass, a southside cyclist, urged the commission to consider keeping the streets one way and to keep the current stop signs in place. Cass argued that installing traffic signals would encourage car traffic and hinder bicyclists and pedestrians. 

“Traffic signals are a way to move automobile traffic. That area is dominated by foot and cycle traffic and that should be our first concern,” Cass said. 

Sara Wikander, president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, submitted four pages of revisions her organization would like to see made to the Southside plan. She was also present to address the community character element of the plan. 

“I believe that full use permits should continue to be required for new construction in the Southside. New construction should not be isolated or jarring in design and should blend with existing buildings,” Wikander said. 

Full use permits require a public hearing and approval before any new construction or additions to existing buildings can begin. 

John English of BAHA suggested that the commission rethink the draft of the Southside “sub areas’ to better protect several distinct locales. 

“Sweeping policies should not be applied to the whole Southside. There are many sub areas that need to be protected as separate areas. Remember that the decisions you make are going to be decisions we will have to live with for a very long time.” 

The overall goal of the Southside plan is to increase housing at locations close to campus and close to transportation and protect adjacent residential neighborhoods south of Dwight Street and east of College Street, according to Robert Wrenn. 

“We want to do that by allowing less intense development near south of Dwight and College streets and more intense housing closer to the university and will be making careful considerations of all comments and suggestions.” 

All suggestions made at Wednesday’s meeting as well as past meetings will be taken under consideration by the commission, according to Karen Haney-Owen of the planning and development department  

“We’ve covered all the elements of the plan and we’ve completed phase one of the public review. All we need now is the staff so that we can begin re-working the draft.” 

Shaquala Williams and Jamie Carey. Pac-10 Player of the Year and Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Both out for the season before it even starts. Now that’s how you make a conference race interesting. 

Stanford still has center Carolyn Moos, and sophomore Lauren St. Clair shot .466 from long range last year. But who replaces point guard Milena Flores, a two-time All-Pac-10 performer? 

Oregon forward Angelina Wolvert heads a strong frontcourt. But without Williams, there’s no outside threat. 

USC was the only team to sweep Oregon last year. Guard Tiffany Elmore and forward Tashara Carter need to step up. 

Arizona returns only two starters, point guard Reshea Bristol and forward Elizabeth Pickney. They need scoring from long range shooter Julie Brase. 

UCLA’s Michelle Greco has established herself as a defensive ace; now she needs to step up her scoring. If LaCresha Flannigan can return to 1999 form, the Bruins could move up the charts. 

Arizona State returns no one who scored more than 7 ppg last year. Guard Sarah Allen is the best bet to be a go-to player, but there’s no one to hit the boards. 

Washington guard Megan Franza is joined by Loree Payne, each with 17.4 ppg last year. But there’s no defense in Seattle, as Washington gave up 75.5 ppg last year, worst in the conference. 

Oregon State guard Felicia Ragland is the only returning starter, and she doesn’t look to have much help. 

Washington State doesn’t have much firepower, can’t rebound and don’t have any players leading the team.

The Grassroots Radio Coalition pulled Pacifica Radio Network programming off 20 radio stations across the nation Thursday to protest what it calls “the on-going crisis” at the network. 

Although it was business as usual at KPFA, listeners at affiliated stations as far away as Portland, Maine, and Tampa, Fla., heard alternative programming such as Free Speech Radio News instead of regular radio shows such as Democracy Now! hosted by Amy Goodman. 

The KPFA/Pacifica Radio Network conflict arose in July 1999 after Pacifica officials did not renew a popular KPFA general manager’s contract and directed staff not to talk about the situation. Programmers and radio hosts protested leading to a lock-out at the station and a three-day protest in the streets during which, more than 50 people were arrested. Although the station re-opened later that month, there is still tension between station supporters and Pacifica. 

“All the stations are drained by this situation and we want democracy to return to Pacifica,” said Cathy Melio, one of the protest’s organizers. “We want to shine a light on this situation and that there are efforts happening to democratize (Pacifica Radio Network). It’s meaningful that we’ve taken time out of our lives to take a stand.” 

The protest is a follow-up to last year’s “Day without KPFA” in which Melio said a PNN news director was reassigned for reporting on the boycott and prompted the departure of host Verna Avery Brown from PNN. 

PNN’s Washington, D.C., headquarters was closed by the time the protest was reported, although a worker at the station said KPFA’s news room put a report on the boycott on the air. 

Still, Melio believes Pacifica has been less than responsive to its listeners and its workers since the Berkeley protest.  

“They need to be held accountable and get more boardmembers who care about Pacifica,” she said. “The corporate people don’t care and the strength of community programming is the community. It’s important for it to become a great force like it used to be.”

First-year head coach Caren Horstmeyer will have some good weapons at her disposal, but the Bears took a big hit when center Shavaki Jackson decided not to return to Cal for her senior year. The Bears will be a small, scrappy squad, and they will look to play an up-tempo game whenever possible. They should improve on last year’s 6-12 Pac-10 record, and anything better than .500 should lead to a post-season berth. 

Several key players are coming off of injuries from last year, and the three returning starters must take control of the team. An experienced backcourt will cover a lot of mistakes, but the Bears look vulnerable to teams with strong inside games. Two talented freshmen will press for playing time, but the seven seniors will set the tone. 

Backcourt: The Bears are in good shape at the guard spots with both starters returning. Senior Courtney Johnson isn’t a true point guard, but has improved at ball-handling and distribution while starting there for the past two seasons. She returns as the team leader in scoring (11.7 ppg), assists (3.1 apg) and steals (3.2 spg, 1st in Pac-10). Johnson will move over to shooting guard when either Nicole Ybarra or Latasha O’Keith comes in to run the point, letting her concentrate more on her scoring. 

Fellow senior Kenya Corley came into her own last year, averaging 10.5 ppg and showing great athleticism. A long jumper and sprinter for the Cal track team, Corley can dominate a game with her scoring, but has a tendency to let her fundamentals droop at times. If she can be more consistent this year, the Bears will be in good shape. 

Ybarra is a combo guard who suffered from an Achilles tendon injury last year. O’Keith is a freshman from Narbonne High School in Los Angeles, the No. 1 team in the country last year. She is expected to play quality minutes at both guard spots. Former walk-on Janet Franey will provide a sharpshooting presence when she’s on the court, and Becky Staubes gives Cal a big guard who can defend larger players. 

Frontcourt: The Bears will have to compensate for the loss of small forward Paige Bowie and center Shavaki Jackson, two of their leading scorers last year. The returning starter is power forward Lauren Ashbaugh, who led the team in rebounding last year (6.1 rpg) and blocked shots (22). She is a hard-nosed player who should play with more confidence in her final year at Cal. 

Genevieve Swedor and Ami Forney will battle for playing time at the center position. Swedor, a senior from Switzerland, is a more mobile player who should fit in with Cal’s running game, while Forney is more of a traditional center, providing strong rebounding. The junior started 11 games last season, but was hampered by a foot injury that cost her nine games. 

The power forward spot will be a dogfight, as sophomore Amber White will try to hold off talented freshman Kiki Williams. White was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 honoree last year, playing tough defense on some of the best scorers in the conference. But Williams, from Terra Linda High in Marin, is athletic and skilled. She can also play small forward, but look for her to get the most looks at the power spot. 

Newcomers: Williams and O’Keith are both expected to contribute right away, and they will both get plenty of opportunities to do so. Williams is very talented, but she will be taking a bigger step up in competition than O’Keith, so it may take her longer to adjust to the pace of the games. 

Outlook: The Pac-10 is up for grabs this year, with both Stanford and Oregon losing their best players to injuries. The Bears could surprise some of the top teams in conference play, especially if Johnson and Corley can mesh together and run the team. Cal doesn’t have a lot of size, so consistency on the fast break and tough defense will be the keys to victory this year. An NCAA Tournament bid wouldn’t be out of the question, but neither would finishing in the bottom half of the conference.

Dr. Paul Farmer is allergic to policy-wonk solutions to helping sick and poor people in Haiti.  

In fact, the noted founding director of Partners in Health, a nonprofit health care group, gets irritated when he hears other physicians and activists offer abstract ways to get medical attention to Haiti and other impoverished places in the world. 

"[People in Haiti] are not asking for appropriate technology, or sustainable development," Farmer told a nearly packed house at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Berkeley Wednesday night.  

People in Haiti, he said, are asking for things like clean drinking water and medication.  

Farmer and his group have been answering the call for help in central Haiti since the late 1980s.  

Partners in Health built a hospital in the middle of Cange, a village that is home to about 100,000 people, many of them peasant farmers. The hospital provides multiple services, including dental care and treatment for tuberculosis. The care is provided for a nominal fee or for free. 

Cange is some 4,000 miles away from here, but it has ties to Berkeley.  

One of its biggest links is to the Hesperian Foundation. The nonprofit organization publishes books that provide medical information and instruction for to those living in poor areas. The books include illustrations and written in clear, simple language so that a lay person can easily identify an illness and be able to treat it. 

One of its books, Where Women Have No Doctor, has been translated into 87 languages and is distributed in about 40 countries.  

The Creole edition of “Where Women Have No Doctor” came out a few months ago. The foundation recently shipped out 4,800 copies of the book to Haiti. It is being distributed by Partners in Health.  

“I think it’s a very useful tool. It’s practical on so many levels,” said Farmer. 

Pierre Labossiere, board member of the Hesperian Foundation, said that help to comes from not only non-profit organizations. It also comes from people in the greater Bay Area with blood ties to the island nation. 

“People with relatives [in Haiti] send money and medical supplies. They also travel back home with equipment,” said Labossiere, who said about 3,000 Haitians live in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Local physicians and pastors are also active in giving time and money toward health care assistance in Haiti, said Labossiere.  

One physician-in-training from the Bay Area who has worked with Farmer on the front lines is Suzette Chaumette.  

The 28-year-old woman is a pre-medical student at the University of California at San Francisco. She acted as emcee at Wednesday night’s event, which was sponsored in part by Global Exchange and the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant. 

Chaumette, who is Haitian, worked at the Cange hospital as part of a 1998 Partners in Health delegation to Haiti.  

She said it was an eye-opening experience.  

“People don’t have shoes, clothing, water, doorknobs. When I saw a couple of patients, they didn’t know how to get out of the door because they didn’t realize how to turn the knob,” she said.  

Farmer feels optimistic about the future, although he said the present health care situation in Haiti is still dire. 

“I think something new is happening. I’ve seen it more and more from inside Haiti, or inside universities,” he said.  

“People are getting tired of the seeing equality. People are worried about it.” 

To get into the event, spectators donated between $5 to $15 at the door.  

But after Farmer’s speech, about half of the crowd voluntarily rose from the pews to donate even more money out of their pockets.  

The funds will be given to support Partners in Health.

SAN JOSE — Erin Brockovich, whose long legal fight against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was celebrated in a hit movie, joined another environmental challenge against the utility company Thursday. 

Brockovich and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition called on PG&E to be more forthright about which of its facilities in the San Francisco Bay area have used PCBs – chemicals that have been linked to cancer. 

The Toxics Coalition said PCBs have been detected in the bay, and in San Jose streams in an experiment by high school students. The group complained that PG&E has not given state regulators a requested report on which of its facilities have used PCBs. The company also failed to attend an Oct. 31 meeting on the subject. 

“I appreciate their position and their frustration with PG&E,” Brockovich said in a telephone interview. “I have to giggle a bit, though, because I don’t think PG&E is going to roll over and provide information.” 

PG&E spokesman Jon Tremayne said the utility was not hiding anything. He said the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board asked less than two weeks ago for the report on which PG&E facilities have used PCBs. 

“We’re more than happy to provide it to them, and we’re in the process of putting it together right now,” he said. He said the company’s PCB expert missed the Oct. 31 meeting because he had to talk that same day with an official from another state agency. 

Production of PCBs, which were used to prevent oil from breaking down, has been illegal in the United States since 1978. Tremayne said the company does not use the chemicals anymore, though small amounts may remain in older equipment. 

In 1998, PG&E was sued by a retired employee who claimed that for 28 years, his supervisors had told him to siphon PCB-laden oil from natural gas lines into creeks. 

PG&E settled the lawsuit, and Tremayne said the company found three places where small amounts of PCBs had gotten into soil in creek beds, all near valves in pipelines and probably from small leaks, not intentional dumping. Those sites are being cleaned up, Tremayne said. 

Michael Stanley-Jones, a senior researcher for the Toxics Coalition, warned that some fish in the Bay area could be contaminated with PCBs and said the organization believes “PG&E is the largest user of PCBs, still, in the Bay area.” 

Tremayne disputed that and said many other companies used PCBs in more harmful ways. “I would argue that a small amount of PCBs in the bay, if any, could be attributed to any PG&E activity,” he said. 

Brockovich first took on PG&E as a legal researcher in the early 1990s, investigating accusations that the company contaminated the groundwater and sickened people in the Mojave Desert town of Hinkley. The resulting lawsuit and $333 million settlement was the subject of the movie in which Brockovich was portrayed by Julia Roberts. 

Brockovich next worked on a bigger case against PG&E, alleging that the utility contaminated the water in Kettleman Hills, in the Central Valley. That lawsuit is scheduled for trial next year. 

On the Net: 

Toxics Coalition: http://www.svtc.org 

PG&E: http://www.pge.com 

SAN FRANCISCO — Activists wearing biohazard suits dumped about two tons of genetically-altered corn at Environmental Protection Agency offices in San Francisco Thursday in hopes the agency will not approve the corn. 

Environmentalists say StarLink corn, produced by the biotechnology company Aventis, should be denied EPA approval because it is not fit for human consumption and may cause potential health risks including allergic reaction. 

Greenpeace spokeswoman Kimberly Wilson said Starlink is not approved for direct human consumption, only for animal intake, likely because it contains a genetically engineered plant pesticide. The corn, however, has made its way into the country's food supply and forced the recall of hundreds of food items. 

Last month, in fact, a coalition of health and environmental groups sought the recall of Safeway-brand taco shells said to contain the adulterated corn. The coalition also found the product in Taco Bell shells that were recalled by the Food and Drug Administration and the Kraft Company in September. 

Aventis, which also markets the corn, is seeking temporary approval of the feed corn for human consumption in order to curb recall losses, which have amounted to $1 billion, according to activists. 

The EPA allegedly found data indicating the corn contains a protein exhibiting characteristics of allergens that pose health risks such as nausea and anaphylactic shock, threats the groups say indicate the need for stronger government regulation over genetically engineered foods. 

Wilson, who along with about 30 activists attended the dumping today, said the EPA was “trying to do the right thing,” and while her meeting with officials inside EPAoffices was brief, they were “receptive” to the letter she delivered. 

EPA officials were not available for comment.

SAN FRANCISCO — An environmental consultant pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to unlawfully moving hundreds of endangered California Red-legged frogs from a housing construction site. 

John Zentner and employees of his company collected more than 50 of the frogs and 500 tadpoles from the site and relocated them to a shallow pond that was to be preserved.  

Zentner was fined a total of $75,000 in U.S. District Court and still faces a potential jail term of up to six months. 

Many of the relocated frogs died. 

“Deliberately modifying the habitat of threatened or endangered species in a way that upsets their essential life functions harms biological diversity and degrades our environment,” said Lois Schiffer of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. 

Court documents revealed that Zentner’s company was hired as an environmental consultant at a residential development in Concord, Calif. to ensure the project was in compliance with federal and state wetland and animal protection requirements. 

Zentner admitted to the court that he told federal authorities that none of the frogs were present at the site, but Zentner had actually moved them before the groundbreaking. 

The California Red-legged frog is found only in California and is said to have inspired Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

University of California regents on Thursday gave the go-ahead to a development at the Berkeley campus despite objections from neighbors and some students. 

The development, known as the Underhill area projects, is spread out over five blocks on the city’s south side. It would add housing for 870 students as well as parking, dining commons and offices. 

Campus officials say they need the expansion, but critics say the project is too dense. 

City and community leaders said they needed more time to review final environmental impact documents on the project. The City Council voted to ask regents to wait until January, when the regents will meet in San Francisco, meaning more people from Berkeley could attend. 

But UC officials decided to go ahead, saying they needed to meet project deadlines. 

Some Berkeley residents made the trip to the regents’ meeting in Los Angeles Thursday to speak against the project. 

Nick Papas, a member of the Berkeley campus student government, criticized the development because it includes a parking structure. 

“We could build a tremendous amount of housing on this site. Instead we’re building parking,” he said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Former White House press secretary Mike McCurry is bringing his silver tongue to the Internet start-up gold rush as CEO of Grassroots.com, a San Francisco-based political communications venture. 

McCurry, 46, has taken over for interim CEO and Grassroots.com co-founder Craig Johnson. 

Grassroots.com is a political Web site offering a range of services – from voter issue forums to a service that coordinates political action alerts for advocacy groups.  

Another service allows California lobbyists to file state-mandated disclosure forms online. 

The company was founded in September, 1999.  

McCurry joined its board of directors in July. After leaving President Clinton’s press office in 1998, he became president of Public Strategies Group, a Washington, D.C.-based communications consulting firm. 

McCurry’s first task will be to launch Grassroots.com Mobilize, one in a series of new online advocate organizing services the site plans to introduce by next spring, the company said in a statement. 

Time was, the revolving door led from government to a lobbying, consulting or academic post. McCurry, though, sees the Internet as the new direction for political strategists. 

“There is an old politics based on the conventional way of doing business in Washington, D.C. and there is an emerging new politics that is based on the savvy use of the Internet,” he said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.grassroots.com 

LOS ANGELES — Environmentalists cheered a California Coastal Commission decision Thursday to approve a truncated version of a proposed development that has been at the center of a wetlands preservation battle for three decades. 

The plan, approved 12-0, calls for 1,235 homes to be built on 65 acres of a mesa next to the Bolsa Chica wetlands near Huntington Beach. The amount is less than half the residential acreage sought by developers who claim such dense housing in the exclusive area isn’t feasible. 

The proposed Hearthside Homes Development once included a marina and 5,700 homes in and around the wetlands. 

The wetlands themselves were excluded from the proposal after state and federal agencies bought them from Hearthside for $25 million in 1997. 

But the debate over the project continues to rage on, and at Thursday’s hearing more than 300 people, most of them wetlands neighbors, jammed a hotel meeting room to overflowing. The group was sharply divided. 

“None of Bolsa Chica should be developed,” said Patricia Campbell, mayor of neighboring Seal Beach. “We are in a battle for the environment, once it is built over or paved over, it is forever lost.” 

Supporters of Hearthside said the company went to great lengths to make the development environmentally friendly, including setting aside park land, enhancing habitat and planning trails. 

Some also observed that most of the wetlands, the subject of a massive restoration proposal, is currently home to an oil field. 

Pointing to a picture of oil rigs, Brad White said, “That looks far more dangerous to me than houses that haven’t even been built yet.” 

The commission had approved Bolsa Chica developments three times before, but was forced by a state appeals court last year to take up the matter again. Hearthside supporters said the commission should have kept the elements of the most recent plan that the court did not specifically reject. 

But the commission’s executive director, Peter Douglas, said previous scenarios no longer applied after the $25 million land purchase took the wetlands issue off the table. 

Holding true to old plans would have meant Hearthside could have built not just on the uppermost part of Warner Mesa, but also on 72 acres of the mesa’s lower shelf near a grove of court-protected eucalyptus trees. 

The trees aren’t native, but were protected because birds of prey, such as hawks and white-tailed kites, use them. 

Lucy Dunn, executive vice president for Hearthside, said the density the commission proposes is not feasible. But commission staff said it is similar to the density the company proposed in a mid-1990s plan that included 2,400 homes. 

Orange County officials have joined Hearthside in opposing the commission’s changes, and the county could still send the plan back to the commission with revisions.

TORRANCE — Remedios Aquino says the $36,000 a year for 20 years she won in the California Lottery’s “Big Spin” game will feed her hobby – giving to others. 

The money she won Saturday will go entirely to charities, abused children, friends, her grandchildren’s education and a Methodist church in the Philippines, Aquino said Tuesday. 

Aquino, 64, a Wilmington child care worker and native of the Philippines, said she plans to give $100,000 to the Razon First Methodist Church in Santa Quiteria. She said it was founded by her father in a garage, and is now run by a nephew and niece. It has about 500 members and offers weekly services and Bible study classes, she told the Torrance Daily Breeze. 

The big prize came after she had spent about $100 per week on lottery tickets for years, she said. 

“I’m so happy that God has blessed me and I’m living a normal life,” she said. “It’s not like you can bring money to heaven. I’m happy and that’s it.” 

“I always gave before,” she added, describing the habit of giving as her hobby and chief pleasure. “But now I’m planning to give a little more.” 

Aquino, whose husband is an engineer for Sheraton Hotels, said she lives a comfortable, middle-class life and wouldn’t think of keeping her winnings. 

She won $1 million, payable at $36,000 a year after taxes over 20 years, in the weekly “Big Spin” game where the pool of contestants are those who had three “TV Show” symbols on one scratch-off ticket. 

The lottery estimates the odds of winning $1 million at 30 million-to-1. Contestants spin a wheel for amounts ranging from $20,000 to $1 million. 

“We’ve had a lot of people give to their churches or to various charities,” said lottery spokeswoman Cathy Doyle Johnston in Sacramento. 

But giving away all of a big lottery prize is a departure from the norm, in which winners often say they’ll buy homes or cars or take lavish vacations. 

“She’s obviously a very giving person,” Johnston said. 

The Endangered Species Act will remain mostly intact regardless of who is the next president, and that may dismay proponents of major changes, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Thursday. 

But Babbitt told a group devoted to reforming the landmark environmental law that the time is ripe for achieving some of the group’s goals, including more input from the public and state and local governments. 

The coalition, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and rural electric cooperatives, also wants compensation for landowners who help protect wildlife habitat and want decisions about endangered species based on sound science. 

“I’m quite optimistic that irrespective of who is finally declared to be president, the time is at hand” for the changes, Babbitt said at the gathering of the National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition. 

Babbitt’s appearance before the group of mostly Western business and political leaders was a bit like venturing into hostile territory. The former Arizona governor was seen as waging a “war on the West” as the administration revamped public-land policies in a region where the federal government controls huge swaths of some states. 

He joked that his staff told him he shouldn’t bother to “consort with the enemy” in his waning days in office. 

“The reason I really wanted to come is because it’s an important subject,” Babbitt said. “I’ve invested an enormous amount of my time and energy in it the last eight years.” 

He said he believes the coalition is “verging ever so carefully” toward common ground with others on the issue. 

The group had invited Babbitt to the forum thinking the president-elect would be known and a new administration’s course more predictable. 

But with the election’s outcome in limbo because of the vote count in Florida, Republican Sens. Craig Thomas of Wyoming and Mike Crapo of Idaho hedged their prognostications about the fate of the Endangered Species Act. 

Another wild card is the makeup of Congress, which will be almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Getting through even minor changes will be difficult, Crapo said. 

But Crapo and Thomas agreed Republican George W. Bush likely would support reasonable changes, while Vice President Al Gore would not because of his environmental leanings. 

He sees Gore siding with those who fear any changes will lead to the law’s overhaul. 

Babbitt, though, said change is possible as long as extremists on both sides don’t prevail. The public won’t tolerate attempts to gut the law, he said. 

“I know it has the enormous support of the American people,” Babbitt said. 

“The reason is that this act more than any other environmental legislation is about values. It’s about who we are and where we stand in relation to creation.” 

But he added some changes would improve the Endangered Species Act, including codification of some of the administration’s policies. He said a big success was habitat-preservation plans with landowners and local governments that are intended to protect an entire ecosystem rather than just one species. 

Babbitt said the law should be adjusted to formally give states and American Indian tribes a part in the process. 

And landowners who cooperate in preserving habitat should be compensated. Babbitt, however, criticized the push for “takings” legislation, which would compensate landowners not only when their property is taken but also when regulations affect the use of their property. 

“You’re on the right track,” he said, “but takings will sink the whole thing.”

William Rouverol watches the Florida ballot debacle with more than just a passing interest. After all, he designed the voting system at the center of the whole mess. 

“It's sort of a matter of pride,” the 82-year-old retired mechanical engineering professor said in a telephone interview from his home in Berkeley “We tried to consider all aspects of things to try to get the thing to be as foolproof and as tamperproof as possible.” 

Rouverol designed the Votomatic Voting System in the early 1960s with Joseph Harris, a colleague at the University of California at Berkeley. It was created to make use of IBM's porta-punch computer card system. 

When it was unveiled in 1963, then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown said it would “revolutionize the system of voting in California.” 

It did. But as we've all learned these past two weeks, nothing is foolproof. 

Officials in several Florida counties have spent days arguing over bits of paper divots called chads that may have kept the poll machines from properly counting votes. The wrangling has prevented the country from declaring its 43rd president. 

The conflict is most intense in Palm Beach County, where a specially designed “butterfly ballot” has been blamed for confusing some into voting for Reform Party nominee Patrick Buchanan instead of Democrat Al Gore. 

Rouverol and Harris, who died in 1985, had discussed the two-page format when they invented their machine. 

“We were very set on not using both sides of the page, because things that might confuse people, we felt, should have been avoided,” he said. “The butterfly ballot? No way.” 

Rouverol said a programming error in the machines that read the ballots might have caused the mix-up in Palm Beach County. He noted that the county was heavily Democratic and would have been expected to go for Gore in a big way. 

“I can see why there's a pretty good reason why the Republicans are so concerned about the hand recount,” he said. “It sounds to me that the glitch is in the programming, not the butterfly ballot. Whether it's purposeful or accidental, I'm not prepared to say.” 

County officials have maintained that the machines functioned properly, and that human error was to blame for any ballot irregularities. The company that manufactures the actual ballots is also deflecting blame. 

“I don't believe that our ballots are at the center of it,'' said Hugh Webb, general manager of California-based Sequoia-Pacific Systems Corp. “I think that the handling of and the scrutiny that's being given to them is more the attention-getter than the physical object itself.” 

Rouverol said the machine's basic design has changed little since its introduction nearly 40 years ago. The standards for manufacturing the ballots also date from the 1960s. 

Rouverol, who turns 83 next week, has gotten away from the voting industry and is focusing more these days on sculpture and improving gearing systems. 

If Harris were alive, Rouverol said he would surely try to step in and help solve the problems. He said it's probably just as well that his perfectionist friend isn't around to see what is happening to his brainchild. 

“He'd be spinning in his grave,” he said. 

Al Gore won his fight Thursday to expand manual recounts in Florida, even as advisers said he likely won’t overtake George W. Bush’s 300-vote lead before the Republican secretary of state certifies their marathon White House race Saturday. GOP lawyers asked courts to stop the counting and “the disintegration” of America’s presidential election system. 

The vice president and his team aggressively defended the hand recounts in Democratic-leaning counties, laying the groundwork for Gore’s case to continue the vote-counting if he fails to pull ahead of the Texas governor before the secretary of state’s deadline. 

“The choice really is whether the voters are going to decide this election by having every vote count or whether that process is going to be short-circuited without all the votes being examined,” Gore said in a radio interview. 

The Florida Supreme Court later handed Gore a modest victory, authorizing officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties to recount ballots by hand. The effort, which officials said will take about six days, had been stalled on order of Secretary of State Katherine Harris. 

The ruling did not say whether any votes found in the recounts can be added to Gore’s totals — the heart of a legal clash that has thrust the presidential campaign into limbo. The justices are all Democratic appointees. 

Within minutes, Palm Beach election officials decided to start recounting Thursday night. After two full days of counting in 86 of 609 precincts, Gore had gained 21 votes in Broward County on the state’s southeast coast. 

“The Florida Supreme Court has spoken, the counts can continue,” said Gore chairman William Daley. 

Bush supports the secretary of state’s weekend deadline and wants a declaration of a Florida winner after the last overseas absentee ballots are due Friday at midnight. 

“Once these votes are counted, we will know the final result of Florida’s election and the nation’s election,” Bush campaign chairman Don Evans said. “Win or lose, this election will be over.” 

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who thus far has been unable to deliver the state for his brother, agreed: “Saturday morning we’ll know who won the state,” he said. 

Democrats begged to differ. 

Gore’s attorneys asked a state judge in Tallahassee to have hand recounts rolled into the election totals, even if the vote-counting isn’t finished by Friday night. They argued that Harris, a Bush supporter, acted arbitrarily when she refused to update vote totals with the results of manual recounts after a Tuesday deadline. 

Bush looked to a federal appeals court in Atlanta to shut down the canvassing altogether, calling manual recounts inaccurate and prone to political mischief. Both sides said the case could be headed to U.S. Supreme Court. 

“Eight days after Florida’s presidential vote, the entire nation is witnessing the disintegration of a process that was designed to elect America’s president,” reads the Bush brief in the federal appeal. “The Florida manual recount process is being used to eliminate any possibility of an orderly, rational and final end to the election.” 

The federal court also agreed to consider a related case filed by three Bush supporters from Brevard County. They claim their rights are being violated because their counties are not recanvassing votes by hand. 

Some scenes were chaotic, bordering on the comical. 

Broward County sheriff’s deputies took custody of 78 tiny bits of paper after Republicans demanded that the scraps be held as evidence of potential ballot tampering. The paper, from the holes in punchout ballots, was placed by police in an envelope marked, “Crime. Found Property.” 

Joked elections supervisor Jane Carroll, herself a Republican: “Let the chads fall as they may.” 

Later, a lawyer burst into the county’s hurricane emergency center and served subpoenas on startled county election officials. “The nation is watching you,” said Republican activist William Scherer, who filed a lawsuit on behalf of fellow attorney Steven Stoll. 

About 100 protesters, from groups including the NAACP and the Sierra Club, gathered at the West Palm Beach counting station, where the canvassing board was waiting for court guidance before recounting. The crowd chanted, “Hand count” and “Every vote counts.” 

Some held signs that read, “Honk for dimples” – a reference to not-quite-perforated ballots. 

The vice president began the day 300 votes behind Bush in Florida, with about 2,600 overseas absentee ballots to be counted Friday night. Gore has hoped the additional hand recounting would vault him ahead of the Texas governor in the race for the state’s 25 electoral votes and the White House. 

Both sides believe that a majority of the overseas ballots will go to Bush. Further complicating Gore’s political situation, top advisers said Thursday the slow-going recounts were unlikely to produce enough new votes to overtake Bush by Friday at midnight. 

They blamed GOP legal tactics for delaying the hand counts. 

The prospect of trailing Bush at the deadline intensified Gore’s fight in the courts of law and public opinion. A recent poll showed that seven out of 10 Americans said a winner should be declared once the overseas ballots are added to the totals. 

The Democratic strategy: speak early and often to defend hand counting – and attack Harris. 

Vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman said voters must witness a “reasonable and just conclusion” to the election “or else this country will go into the new century divided with a president who does not have legitimacy of support.” 

Asked on an ABC radio show if the election was being stolen from him, Gore said, “I would discourage use of that word because, again, however it comes out, we’re going to come behind the winner.” He cautioned that there are “high emotions on the other side,” too. 

Lieberman said legal action would be “the American way,” refusing to rule out a last-resort lawsuit over voter irregularities. Lieberman said he was “stunned” by Harris’ decision to turn aside hand recount totals after Tuesday’s deadline. 

Bush let a deadline lapse to contest his narrow loss in Iowa, making Florida his only hope of winning 270 electoral votes and the presidency. 

Bush theoretically could have made up for the 25 lost electoral votes by winning Wisconsin (11), Oregon (7) and Iowa (7) in recounts, but that was a remote possibility. 

Hoping to claim the moral high ground, Evans said, “Governor Bush believes the time has arrived for our nation to begin the process of moving forward.” 

The Republican National Committee emptied its Washington offices of all but the most essential personnel, dispatching operatives to Florida to monitor recounts and canvass the state in case a court orders a recount in all 67 counties. 

Democratic operatives from across the country were summoned to Florida to assist the Democratic National Committee. 

For Democrats, progress was agonizingly slow in vote-counting rooms. 

• After reviewing 20,000 ballots Wednesday and adding just eight votes to Gore’s total, workers in Broward County hunkered down for another long day of vote counting. They hope to review the 588,000 ballots by Monday. A lawsuit was filed challenging the count. 

• Officials in Palm Beach County on Florida’s southeast coast planned to recount ballots until midnight Thursday and begin again Friday. 

• Election officials in Miami-Dade County refused Gore’s request for a full recount, drawing a legal challenge from the vice president. Gore’s allies, who persuaded Broward officials to reverse course and allow a full recount, may be making headway in Miami-Dade. The canvassing board is meeting Friday to reconsider Gore’s request. 

Officials in the fourth jurisdiction, Volusia County, finished their recount in time to meet a Tuesday deadline for reporting returns to the secretary of state.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego State University will keep the Aztec mascot but consider replacing the logo of a red-faced, glaring Indian with a more accurate image, the school’s president announced Thursday. 

President Stephen Weber’s decision caps a controversy over the university’s 76-year-old Aztec tradition, which American Indian and Latino student groups charged is racist and offensive. 

Weber said he consulted with students, faculty, and alumni, as well as local American Indian leaders and experts on Aztec history before concluding that use of the Aztec name is a celebration of the ancient culture, not an offense. 

“SDSU’s invocation of Aztec culture is based on the belief that the Aztec civilization exemplifies admirable qualities,” he said. The school “will proudly continue its affiliation with the Aztec culture and traditions as embodiments of strength, valor and intellectual achievement.” 

Weber called for a task force of student, alumni and faculty representatives to study Aztec history and consider whether to change the school’s logo and the human portrayal of “Monty Montezuma” — based upon the Aztec leader who ruled in the early 1500s. 

The group is to present its recommendations by May 1. 

Meanwhile, the student mascot will continue to appear at sporting events, though Weber acknowledged “it is difficult to argue that our current bare-chested, spear-throwing Monty Montezuma accurately depicts the Aztec leader.” 

Weber said Miguel Leon Portilla, a Mexican scholar whom he called “the world’s leading expert on Aztec culture,” found nothing racist or inappropriate in use of the nickname. The portrayal of Monty Montezuma, however, could be “risky” since it opens the possibility of “inappropriate behavior,” Weber said. 

Scholars contend the real Montezuma II wore finely woven royal garments more like Roman tunics than a loincloth or the glittering, colorful outfit worn by SDSU’s student mascot. 

Chicano and American Indian students opposed to use of the Aztec name shook their heads with disappointment as Weber spoke to reporters. 

Christina Quimiro, of the Chicano group MEChA, said it is wrong to use a human historical figure as a mascot. Though a vote last month showed strong support for the Aztec name, Quimiro said most SDSU students are unfamiliar with the Indian culture. 

“A lot of this comes out of ignorance,” she said. 

Manuel Lieras, president of the American Indian student group that brought the issue to the Student Council in September, said convening a task force to create a new, less offensive logo would not solve the problem. 

“As long as it’s a human representation of Monty Montezuma the struggle will continue,” he said. 

The university adopted the Aztec mascot in 1925 to reflect the “courage and fighting spirit” of the Mesoamerican tribe, according to a student newspaper account. 

In 1941, a student introduced the “Monty” character by emerging from a teepee at a homecoming game. 

The current logo of a red-faced man wearing a feathered headdress debuted in 1997 — the product of a university committee that took input from American Indian and Chicano students, according to Weber. 

Several students who shopped Thursday for university T-shirts and sweat shirts said they saw nothing wrong with the logo or nickname. 

“Offensive? No way,” said Rosa Martinez, a sophomore communications major. “I can’t see why it would be offensive.” 

“As a mascot I think it’s kind of cool,” said Jerry Lu, a senior and bookstore cashier. It’s an example of “American heritage and glorifies the race.”

LOS ANGELES — A judge declined Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the state of providing its poorest public school students with an inferior education. 

Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch of San Francisco ruled against state lawyers who sought to dismiss the action brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. 

The lawyers had claimed the class-action lawsuit was too vague and the state was not ultimately responsible for assuring equal educational opportunities for all children. 

The lawsuit claims many poor and minority students face rat-infested classrooms, substandard schools lacking textbooks or teachers with credentials. 

“This case is exclusively about the state’s system of oversight and that system’s alleged inadequacies and failures,” Busch said Wednesday. “The lawsuit is aimed at ensuring a system that will either prevent or discover and correct such deficiencies from going forward.” 

The ACLU sued in May in a case that grew to represent 64 students at nine urban districts throughout California. The lawsuit targets a 5.8 million-student school system for which the state provides most of the money, but locally elected school boards make most of the decisions. 

The lawsuit names the state of California, state school Superintendent Delaine Eastin, the state Department of Education and the state Board of Education. 

The ACLU is suing to have the state fix the schools and provide enough credentialed teachers at all schools. Attorneys also would like the state to set up an agency to monitor schools that are fixed to make sure they remain safe and clean. 

The next hearing in the case is set for Dec. 12 in San Francisco.

WESTMINSTER — Standing only a few feet from each other at a Little Saigon mall, John Lee and Doreen Ng were worlds apart when it came to their thoughts on President Clinton’s visit to Vietnam. 

The 23-year-old Ng has hopes of improved economic relations between the United States and Vietnam: “It’s about money. The economy is good and younger people go back there all the time to look for opportunities.” 

But for the 38-year-old Lee, there is lingering suspicion about any dealings with the communist government his family fled in 1979. 

“How can he go there?” said Lee, whose father was placed in a “re-education camp” in Vietnam. “Of course, I think we should help the people. They are so poor. But not this way. Not with this visit.” 

It is a divide that runs deep in Orange County’s Little Saigon, home to 300,000 Vietnamese, the largest such community outside of Vietnam. 

It is a divide that was made all the more stark Thursday as Clinton became the first American president to visit Vietnam in the 25 years since the war ended with a communist takeover of South Vietnam. 

Clinton has said he hopes his meetings with top leaders will improve relations. He has already lifted a trade embargo and restored diplomatic relations. The two nations signed a sweeping trade agreement in July. 

Political passions run so high in Little Vietnam that anyone who says something favorable about Vietnam risks being branded a communist. Last year, protesters angrily denounced a Little Saigon store owner who hung a poster of North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in his window. 

In Little Saigon, news reports about Clinton’s trip rank above the question of who will become the next president. 

Radio debates rage on the community’s two leading stations, with some saying the trip is good for the economic future of the two countries and others calling it a communist conspiracy. The debate has spilled from the airwaves into Little Saigon’s restaurants and other businesses. 

“If you think the United States should normalize relations with Vietnam, then they call you a communist. If you think they shouldn’t, they accuse you of not caring about human rights,” said Westminster Councilman Tony Lam, 64, the first Vietnamese-American elected to public office in the United States. 

Lam, who owns the Viet Dong restaurant, advocates normalizing relations with Vietnam. 

“We should turn the page of history and move away from the dark era,” he said. “I’m not forgetting the sacrifice of the U.S. soldiers and the Vietnamese people. I just feel we should not put hatred and suspicion in front of our eyes.” 

An Ngoc, a 56-year-old customer dining at the restaurant, was quick to respond. 

“I, too, want to help the people of Vietnam, but not at the price of helping the government,” he said. “They won’t help the people. They will help themselves.” 

Down the street at the Asian Garden Mall, where Lee and Ng offered their views, Cathy Tran said the real question is whether the trip will result in any benefit for the two countries. 

“People talk, talk, talk,” said Tran, owner of a music store at the mall. “The people who make the decision haven’t talked yet.” 

LOS ANGELES — Guilty verdicts against three officers in the city’s largest police corruption scandal could set the stage for further prosecutions. 

“Although these cases are difficult to prosecute, this demonstrates that we should not ignore them,” Police Chief Bernard Parks told reporters Wednesday after the officers were convicted of conspiracy and other crimes. “Our investigations have not concluded.” 

It was the first trial resulting from the scandal in which officers from an elite gang-fighting unit of the Police Department’s Rampart station are accused of framing innocent people and in some cases beating, robbing and shooting them. 

Sgts. Brian Liddy, 39, and Edward Ortiz, 44, and Officer Michael Buchanan, 30, were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice and filing false police reports. Officer Paul Harper, 33, was acquitted of all charges. 

All four still face internal police hearings on those and other charges, Parks said. Eighty cases have been brought within the department as a result of the corruption probe centered in the city’s Rampart neighborhood. Many remain to be heard. 

“There are cases we’re very interested in,” Parks said of prospects for criminal action, singling out an attempted murder charge against  

Officer Nino Durden. Durden, who is awaiting trial, is accused of shooting and paralyzing a handcuffed suspect.  

He was a former partner of Rafael Perez, the disgraced ex-officer whose allegations started the scandal last fall. 

Perez turned informant in exchange for leniency after he was caught stealing $1 million worth of cocaine from a police evidence room. 

He was expected to be the top prosecution witness until he demanded immunity from murder allegations – now recanted – made by an ex-lover. The jury was already deliberating when Sonya Flores said she made up the story about bodies buried in Tijuana, Mexico, because Perez had spurned her. 

Without Perez, prosecutors were forced to rely on gang members with credibility problems and police officers who said they knew little if anything about the charges. 

City officials have estimated it may cost as much as $125 million to settle lawsuits resulting from the scandal, which has already resulted in the dismissal of about 100 criminal cases tainted by police testimony. 

THE REPORT 

The 210-page report on the Los Angeles Police Department by the Rampart Independent Review Panel contained 72 findings and 86 recommendations. Among the findings: 

l Morale in the department is “alarmingly low because management has failed to make officers feel they are partners in fulfilling the department’s mission.” 

l The department has failed to implement an effective risk-management system to reduce the risk of officer misconduct. 

l The department compromises criminal investigations of officer-involved shootings and major use-of-force incidents. 

l The disciplinary system has generated widespread resentment among officers and adversely impacted supervision without achieving credibility with the public. 

l The department does not effectively communicate with communities it serves and is viewed by the communities as excessively hostile and confrontational. 

l Officers need more and better supervision. 

l The Police Commission’s office of inspector general – held by a civilian – is severely understaffed and impeded by the department’s lack of cooperation. 

The panel included more than 190 community leaders, attorneys, investigators, accountants, educators, retired judges, retired law enforcement officers and business executives.

SACRAMENTO — California’s air pollution fighters, looking ahead to the day when the water-tainting fuel additive MTBE is just a memory, see ethanol as a likely substitute – but only if it’s clean. 

The Air Resources Board approved regulations Thursday to ensure that ethanol – a sort of 200-proof moonshine used to boost octane and cut air emissions – is as clean burning as possible if California begins using it in 2003. 

Ethanol is an oxygenate, a chemical that adds oxygen to fuel to make it burn more cleanly. The federal government has required oxygenates in gasoline sold in smoggy areas, including most of California’s major urban areas, to protect air quality. 

Ethanol, made from corn starch, is popular in the East and Midwest. 

But in California, the oxygenate of choice is MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, a suspected carcinogen with unknown health effects in humans. MTBE accounts for about 11 percent of California’s gasoline, and it has contaminated thousands of wells and groundwater supplies across the state. 

Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature ordered MTBE banned by the end of 2002. 

But MTBE remains in widespread use, as refiners have not completed the transition to MTBE-free gasoline. 

“There is still a lot of sampling going on. The levels of MTBE that have been found in the state persist, and we still don’t have an effective treatment technology,” said Krista Clark, a regulatory affairs expert with the Association of California Water Agencies. The group’s 400-plus members supply about 95 percent of California’s water. 

Drinking water tests by the state Department of Health Services are expected to conclude by the end of 2001. 

If the federal oxygenate requirement continues – California has asked for a waiver, but there’s been no decision – the Golden State is expected to turn to ethanol. 

“We’re calling on the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) to grant that waiver,” Clark added. “We are convinced we’re going to get something.” 

The ARB’s goal is to have its ethanol rules in place by the time MTBE is phased out, regardless of whether a waiver ultimately is granted.

ATLANTA — Hosea Williams, the fiery lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. who was at the forefront of the civil rights struggle for more than three decades, died of cancer Thursday. He was 74. 

Williams died at Atlanta’s Piedmont Hospital, where he was admitted for an infection Oct. 20. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and had a cancerous kidney removed last year. 

“We were with him when he was absent with body and were present when the Lord took him,” said Williams’ daughter, Elisabeth Williams-Omilami. “He was selfless. What he did for this earth will now reveal itself because the fruit of the seeds he sowed will begin to emerge.” 

The chief organizer of King’s marches and demonstrations, Williams helped lead the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Ala., in 1965. He was also at the Memphis, Tenn., motel where King was shot in 1968. 

He recalled his anger that day during a 1993 interview with The Associated Press: “I was wishing I could pull some molecules out of the air and make me a weapon and just wipe out every white person near, because I thought they had shot Dr. King at that time.” He continued: “I said to myself, ’America, racists, economic exploiters, you sure have messed up now ... because there lies the only one among us, the main one, who has tried to keep us calm. Now you’ve killed him.”’ The shot, he said, ended King’s dream because it fragmented his lieutenants. 

Williams was born Jan. 5, 1926, in Attapulgus, Ga., the illegitimate son of a blind girl who fled a state training school when she discovered she was pregnant. He was raised by his grandfather, whom he described as a tough man who had killed at least three people, including one on church steps on a Sunday morning. 

A drifter who held odd jobs across Florida, Williams wound up in the Army, was badly wounded in Europe and returned to Georgia, where he was beaten bloody while trying to use a whites-only drinking fountain at a bus station in Americus. 

During the next five weeks in a military hospital, he recalled, he kept thinking “I’d fought on the wrong side.” 

Williams later finished high school and Morris Brown College, teaching agricultural chemistry before joining the civil rights movement. He recalled his children crying in a Savannah drug store when he told them they could not join white children spinning on soda counter stools because of segregation rules. 

He became King’s advance man throughout the South during the 1960s. 

“I, as field director, would go ahead of the others and mobilize the street people in the black communities,” he recalled. “Jesse Jackson would come in later and deal with the middle-class blacks and Andy Young would negotiate with the white power structure.” 

Williams helped lead the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. All-white Alabama state troopers and sheriff’s deputies used tear gas, nightsticks and whips to break up the march protesting the denial of voting rights to blacks. 

Two decades later, Williams led a march into virtually all-white Forsyth County north of Atlanta and was greeted by Ku Klux Klansmen and sympathizers throwing bottles and rocks. 

As he ducked the projectiles, he recalled, he was thinking of King. 

“I know that old rascal was just a-laughin’. Yeah, old King just a-layin’ there in that grave. He was just tickled to death. Old Hosea is still trying,” Williams said. 

His graying, goateed chin and raspy voice became fixtures at meetings and protests. In 1977, he was ousted as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by then-President Joseph Lowery in a power struggle. Officially, the reason was that he was not devoting full time to the job. It took a court order to get Williams to vacate his office. 

He was arrested twice on charges of trying to carry a gun aboard an airliner. One charge was dropped and Williams pleaded no contest to the other. He also had driving convictions. 

When he was jailed, which happened more than 125 times, he often waved it off as “just another attempt to silence Hosea Williams” or to stop his attacks on “the downtown power structure.” He once took a traffic conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he lost. 

Williams scorned most elected black officials, whom he accused of turning their backs on the American poor. His following was strongest among older blacks, many of whom weathered the 1960s with him. 

Williams later entered politics, serving as a state representative, Atlanta city councilman and DeKalb County commissioner before retiring from politics in 1994. He also operated a company that specialized in cleaning supplies and a bonding company. 

Williams managed to stay in the public eye through his holiday dinners for the poor, which fed thousands each year, and through ’60s-style symbolic gestures, such as jailhouse fasts or camping out atop King’s tomb. The dinners are run, for now, by his daughter. 

Williams’ wife, Juanita Williams, died Aug. 23 of a form of anemia at the age of 75. Their son, Hosea Williams II, was 43 when he died of a rare form of leukemia in 1998. 

Q: Our house sweats inside when it’s cold outside. The windows steam up terribly on winter days. Water runs down the sill to the walls and all the way to the baseboard. The house is framed with R-30 insulation in the attic. Other homes in the area have the same problem. They were all built in 1954. I know storm windows would help but they’re expensive. Do you have a cheaper solution? 

A: We’ve run into excessive humidity in the house for years now, and it appears that yours is a classic case. To cut down on humidity, an exhaust fan in the bathroom and kitchen venting damp air to the outside is necessary. 

Although storm windows might appear as an unwanted expense to you now, stack their cost against the value of your house.  

This makes them appear relatively inexpensive and they should save their cost in fuel bills in a few years. 

Condensation is caused by warm moist air coming in contact with the cold glass in your windows.  

Storms should help to keep the window glass from becoming so cold that condensation forms. This can prevent serious damage to the walls from staining, plaster damage and wood rot over a long period of time. 

Q: The stairs leading from my deck to the ground have become shaky. What causes this, and what can you suggest to make them more secure? 

A: A common cause for loosening deck stairs is frost heaving or settling, in that the earth or pad which supports the bottom of the stairs can move.  

This loosens the attachment of the stair to the deck. The first course of action is to readjust the bottom support of the stair. If your steps sit directly on the earth, shim the stringers with flat rocks or shovel new earth in place.  

If your steps rest on a masonry pad, you’ll have to lift and shim the pad. Then, reinforce the attachments at the top of the stairs by driving toenails through the stringer into the rim joist. 

Through use, the nails that hold the stringers to the stair treads can become loose. Use a long clamp to draw the stringers tight to the tread and drive new nails to hold the assembly together. 

Q: Our new wood stove smokes up the room when we open the stove door for stoking. We have a tri-level house, and the stove uses 6 feet of pipe from the stove to the ceiling, then another 6 feet of pipe through the roof topped with a rain cap.  

The salesman who sold us the stove said we needed another 2 feet of chimney for sufficient draft to stop the problem. We did this but the problem persists. 

A: There are several angles to consider when the draft does not appear adequate. Most wood stoves have recommended drafts. You can check this with a manometer that should register .05 inches of water when placed in the flue. The location of the stove in the house is also important.  

If the stove is in the lower level of a tri-level, 14 feet of chimney might not be enough. Large trees can interfere with your draft causing high-pressure areas around your chimney. Also, you could have air leaks in your house, causing air to rush out various cracks creating a lower pressure around your stove.  

Opening a window slightly sometimes helps, but it must be on the pressure side of the house. Opening and closing doors of certain rooms can sometimes affect the air pressure in a house as well. 

To submit a question, write to Popular Mechanics, Reader Service Bureau, 224 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019. The most interesting questions will be answered in a future column. 

Are you faced with the quandary of no guest room this holiday season? Or with more overnight visitors than your one guest room can accommodate? 

I’ve dealt with both situations over the years. In different houses, I’ve used a futon, a pull-down bed unit, or a convertible sleeper sofa in just about every possible location – the den, basement playroom and living room. But with the addition of a reading lamp, bedside table, lush bedding and extra pillows, my guests feel right at home. 

When space is tight, one of my favorites is to include a daybed in the study, den or sitting room. Daybeds work well because they create extra sitting and reading areas when you don’t have guests. 

Anything from a simple studio bed, converted from a single mattress and box springs on a frame, to a custom daybed with a padded headboard and foot board translates to a comfortable bed for a guest. 

And here’s another tip: shop consignment and resale shops for custom daybeds. There are some real finds in upholstered or metal headboards if you look. Or if you have a room with an alcove or nook, consider having the platform built in for a daybed. 

My secret to making a daybed comfortable is as easy as including plenty of firm, oversized pillows for reclining and relaxing. Big square pillows, known as European size, are perfect. 

Daybeds also are great in children’s rooms or nurseries. Family holidays often include young guests, and it’s a good idea to add an extra bed in your child’s room. 

Another idea in the book is to create a daybed in a child’s room by hand-painting or stenciling a headboard on the wall. 

When space is really tight, remember the futon or convertible sleeper sofa. Such a piece anchors your living or family room during the day and still welcomes overnight guests. 

Futons are manufactured with wood and metal frames at all price points. Futon mattresses also vary in construction quality and comfort. Shop for the frame finish and mattress cover fabric that works with your interior. 

Well-made futons are easy to convert and often used in family and playrooms when several guest areas are needed. Even though I have a guest room in my current house, I use a futon as my den (and extra guest space) sofa. 

In a more traditional, country or cottage style home, a convertible sofa can be the ideal substitute for the conventional living-room sofa. Buy a convertible sofa the same way you do a mattress: try it out in the store. Unfold the bed and lie down on it. Test out several sofas in different quality ranges. 

In addition to construction, note the thickness and firmness of the mattress, which determines how comfortable the bed will be. Choose other furnishings, such as the coffee table, that can moved with ease if your sofa is in fairly frequently guest use. Or substitute a lightweight wicker or wood trunk in place of a coffee table that your guest can use for storage. Include a small table and lamp for reading. 

Remember the basics and cover the mattress with a thick, quilted pad before making the bed. Guests appreciate an extra blanket, oversized pillows for reading and relaxing, and a soft coverlet or throw. 

For the ultimate instant guest room, install a pull-down bed. Such beds, which are sold alone or as part of modular units, offer guests the comforts of a standard mattress because the mattress doesn’t have to be pliable enough to fold. When the bed is stored away, tucked-in linens can be left in place. 

For decorating options, hang a print or poster above the bed. Or, if you are having custom cabinetry designed and installed, consider having narrow shelves built above or on the sides of the bed for necessities such as an alarm clock and reading lamp. 

Possible locations for a pull-down bed are a home office, a family room or playroom. The bed could be positioned between bookcases. 

If you need more than one guest room during busy holiday times, one or more fold-down beds can be a cost-effective solution to a short-term space crunch. 

Check with an architect, remodeling contractor or interior designer in your area for a local source and installer. 

When space is tight, little extras count in making your guests feel welcome.  

Include a small, empty chest that can double as a nightstand. And add an alarm clock, reading material and water carafe. If possible, make sure the designated space has a radio, small television and telephone. Purchase a hotel-style, fold-up luggage rack to store in a closet. Arrange fresh flowers in a vase at the bedside table. Emulate upscale hotels with a turndown service featuring candy or cookies on a pretty plate. 

The instant guest room is now complete. 

The thought of installing sheet-vinyl flooring can be intimidating, especially when you consider that one or two mistakes could ruin the whole sheet.  

The problem is compounded by the fact that few rooms are truly square, and they have obstacles and offsets to accommodate. 

How do professional installers keep from making costly mistakes?  

When a room is complicated, a pro will make a paper pattern of the room and transfer that pattern onto the vinyl. As such, the paper becomes a one-of-a-kind template and every wobble and bobble, every offset and obstacle is factored in before cutting. In fact, the Armstrong flooring people have come up with a goof-proof installation kit that allows you to do just that. (You can call them toll-free at 800-233-3823.) 

The first thing to decide is whether you’ll take up the existing flooring. If your floor has suffered water damage and dry rot, or could simply use a layer of underlayment to make it more uniform, then make those corrections before installing new vinyl.  

Otherwise, you can lay your new vinyl directly on top of your old. 

There are two types of vinyl for this kind of installation. One requires gluing the entire floor, the other just the perimeter.  

If your existing flooring has an embossed surface pattern, you’ll need to fill these depressions with embossing leveler. Without it, the old floor’s pattern will show through your new flooring. 

And because resilient flooring is designed to repel just about everything, you’ll also need to degrade and prep the surface with an etching solution and primer. 

Highlights of the installation begin with floor preparation. Remove the baseboard shoe molding with a small prybar. If your room is a bathroom, you’ll also need to take up the toilet. Any caulk along a tub or cabinet must be sliced away with a razor blade or blade scraper.  

Next, cut the surface glaze on the old flooring with etching liquid. Rubber gloves must be used because the liquid is very caustic.  

Once the etching has dried, apply two coats of primer. The second coat should be at right angles to the first. 

To make your paper template, lay the paper sheets around the perimeter of the room, then fill in the middle and tape all the sheets together.  

To hold the paper in place, cut 1-inch triangular slots every couple of feet and lay tape across the slots. To scribe the exact perimeter of the floor, insert the ballpoint pen into the roller disc that comes in the Armstrong kit, and trace around the room. 

Once the outline is complete, roll up the paper and lay it over the vinyl.  

Draw a cutline directly onto the vinyl. Install a hook-shaped blade in the kit’s transfer tool and then cut the vinyl by drawing the blade along the cutline.  

Apply vinyl adhesive to the floor with the kit’s notched applicator. Cover only half the room at a time. 

Lower the vinyl sheet onto the adhesive, then roll the surface smooth using a flooring roller or kitchen rolling pin. Seal around the entire perimeter of the room – and around any plumbing fixtures – with latex tub-and-tile caulk. 

When laying vinyl next to carpet, use a metal tack strip. Nail the strip onto the vinyl and bend it over the carpet. When laying vinyl next to hardwood flooring, buy a hardwood reducing strip and glue or nail it in place.

Berkeley’s homeless population will get some protection from the early cold snap: a temporary winter shelter opened in Oakland Wednesday and, thanks to a voucher program the City Council approved Tuesday, hotel space will be available for the most vulnerable. 

Prompted by night time temperatures that plunged to the mid- and low 30s this week, Mayor Shirley Dean put an emergency item on Tuesday’s City Council Agenda to provide $35,000 for hotel rooms for the city’s homeless who have children or who are physically or mentally too frail to stay at the city’s temporary winter shelter at the Oakland Army Base. The council unanimously approved the measure. 

“We don’t want to see people huddling from the cold on the street or in doorways,” Dean said. 

Theresa Traynor, community service specialist for Berkeley’s Health and Human Services Department, said the city has worked out an agreement with the YMCA and the Flamingo Hotel to provide rooms for those who qualify for the program. 

The YMCA on Allston Way will have two to 15 beds available for some homeless until April 30, by which time city officials estimate 447 of the most vulnerable people will have had access to the hotel.  

Parents with children will be given vouchers for the Flamingo Hotel on University Avenue, which will provide several double occupancy rooms over the course of the winter. The hotel will house an estimated 700 to 1200 parents and children by April 30. 

City officials estimate the rooms at the YMCA will cost approximately $17,000 and rooms at the Flamingo are expected to cost $15,000 over the next five and one-half months. The remaining $3,000 will be retained for administration costs and for damages to the hotels. 

“It’s really wonderful to have the YMCA and the Flamingo work with us again,” said Traynor. This is the third year the YMCA has participated in the program and the second year for the Flamingo. 

Disabled or ill homeless can apply for the hotel voucher program at the Berkeley Emergency Food and Housing Program, 649-4976. Parents with children can call the Women’s Daytime Drop In at 549-4392. 

The Temporary Winter Shelter 

For the second year in a row, Berkeley is working with Oakland and Alameda County to provide temporary shelter at the Oakland Army Base. The shelter has 100 beds available in a former bowling alley. There are 50 beds for homeless from Oakland and 50 beds for those who will be shuttled from three drop-in locations around Berkeley. The shelter opened Wednesday and will remain open until April 30. 

The shuttle makes two pick ups each day at 3:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. from the three locations including The Veterans Building at 1931 Center St. and the Trinity Church at 2362 Bancroft Way. Each morning the shuttle will return those who use the winter shelter to the University Lutheran Chapel on College Avenue where they will be served breakfast. 

The shelter is managed by Operation Dignity, a non-profit organization run by Alex McElree, a Viet Nam Veteran who was formerly homeless.  

“We’re all about saving lives here,” McElree said near the entrance of the shelter as the first Social Service Transport buses arrived from Oakland. “It’ll take a couple of days to get all the glitches out but everything will be fine.” 

Last year the shelter had an unusually high number of female clients who are generally unwilling to stay in shelters for safety reasons. The women’s sleeping quarters are separated from the men’s by a partition.  

“We’re not sure why were get so many women clients,” McElree said. “We have 35 beds reserved for women and they were full the entire time last year.” 

McElree said one reason might be that his organization prioritizes stopping problems before they start. “If people feel safe and secure and have something to eat they’re more likely to make better decisions.” 

Upon arriving, clients receive a hygiene kit, towel and blanket. There are portable showers available in the parking lot and a meals are served each night. There is a staff of five who are at the site during the early evening and through the night. 

McElree said the project is funded by the Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda County. He added that about 20 percent of funding comes private donations.  

Those interested in donating or volunteering to Operation Dignity can get more information at 287-8465. 

Thursday, Nov. 16

Reminiscing in Swingtime 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Library  

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

George Yoshida, author and jazz drummer, presents a multi-media program recounting the big band experience in the Japanese American internment camps. The presentation will be capped with a set of live jazz by the George Yoshida Quartet. 

Call for more info: 644-6850 

Berkeley Metaphysic  

Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Free Blood Pressure Screenings  

Health Education Center 

400 Hawthorne Ave. 

Free 

869-6737 

Water & the Shaping  

of California 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Sierra Club Book Shop 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Sue McClurg discusses the engineering feats, political decisions and popular opinion that reshaped California’s most vital resource. McClurg will present a slide-show and will be signing her book.  

658-7470 

Environmental Sampling Project Task Force  

6:30 p.m.  

First Congregational Church of Berkeley  

2345 Channing Way  

Discussions will include an update of the IFEU report by Nabil Al-Hadithy and Berkeley Lab responses to community and task force comments on 

the draft sampling plan.  

Three Little Pigs  

3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets perform.  

Tai Chi for Seniors  

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Tai Chi master Mr. Chang. Free 

Sea Kayaking in the Bay Area and Baja 

7 p.m.  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Mitch Powers of Sea Trek Ocean Kayaking Center presents slides of some of his favorite paddling destinations and gives tips on selecting gear, paddling safety and planning trips. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Native American Heritage Celebration Dinner 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

International House 

UC Berkeley  

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Chef, Zachary Runningwolf will be supervising the preparation of Indian breads, pumpkins, and more.  

At 8 p.m., a cultural night will commence featuring arts & crafts, a drumming performance, and a fashion show.  

$8 dinner, $3 cultural night & performances  

Call 642-9460  

HVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning for beginners seminar taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Transportation Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Design Review Committee 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

2 x 2 Committee Meeting 

12:30 p.m. 

Executive Conference Room, 3rd Floor 

1900 Addison St.  

Discussions will include a presentation on parking at Berkeley High and a presentation by Jim Rousey on the Computer Technology Program. 

Know Your Rights Training 

7p.m. 

Copwatch Office 

2022 Blake Street 

Learn what your rights are in dealing with the police. Learn how to 

monitor the police safely. 

Information: 548-0425 

Third Thursday Simplicity Forum 

7-8:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch Library 

2940 Benvenue 

Support for those who wish to live more simply and joyfully. First meeting of ongoing group. 

Friday, Nov. 17

Community Dance Party 

7:45 - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

Come learn to dance with easy instructions presented by the Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2; Adult Non-members $4 

Information: 525-3030  

California Energy  

Re-Structuring 

Luncheon served, 11:15 a.m.  

Speaker, 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Severin Borenstein, director at the UC Energy Institute will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon 

$1 general for speaker only, Free to students  

Call 848-3533  

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Housing Clinic for Seniors 

3 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A housing clinic with the East Bay Community Law Center. Free  

Saturday, Nov. 18 

“Beneath Our Feet” 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

James Moore Theater  

1000 Oak St. 

Oakland  

This all-day conference involves Native Americans, archeologists, anthropologists, historians, naturalists, photographers, and sound artists, joining together to evoke a sense of the people of the East Bay and the landscape they have inhabited over the past ten thousand years. 

$12 - $27, lunch ($12) optional  

Call 636-1648  

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 

Berkeley Video  

& Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educational and art video and film works. Featuring a number of local filmakers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

Zuni Fetish Show  

10 a.m. - 6 p.m.  

Gathering Tribes  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Fresh from a trip to Zuni, Janet & Diane from Beyond Tradition will have new fetishes and jewelry. This is the last fetish show of the year for Gathering Tribes.  

Call 528-9038 

Gospel on the Hill 

6:30 p.m. 

Sequoyah Community Church 

4592 Keller St.  

Oakland 

A free gospel performance concert featuring Ronny Mills, Inspired Voices, and Modavador G N Companee. Music starts at 7:30 p.m. Light dinner and refreshments for a nominal fee. 

Call 569-5060 

Some Sick Puppets  

1:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level) 

The award-winning educational puppet troupe, Kids on the Block, present a show featuring puppets with various medical conditions and cultural backgrounds. Sponsored by Children’s Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. Free Call Lucy, 549-1564 

Sunday, Nov. 19

Ramadhan – the Spiritual Mysteries of Fasting 

3 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave. 

Ramadhan, the Muslim month of fasting begins in November this year. The program, the second in a series, is an opportunity to learn abou the cultural practices of Islam. Muslims and non-Muslims are invited. The event is free. 925-672-2623 

Soprano Deborah Voigt 

Cal Performances  

3 p.m.  

Voigt’s performance is a postponment from her original Oct. 15 date. The program will remain unchanged. 

$28-$48 For tickets call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Pass It On! 

10 a.m. - Noon  

First Congregational Church of Oakland  

27th & Harrison  

Oakland 

Nina Serrano leads this workshop on how to tell stories to children in elementary schools and how to become a senior storyteller in the schools. Sponsored by Stagebridge of Oakland. 

Free to seniors, $5 general  

444-4755  

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 

“Give Thanks and Get Thanks” 

Berkeley Community Media 

2239 MLK Jr. Way  

This six hour auction, featuring items donated by local businesses, will raise funds for BCM operations and programming projects. BCM is on Channel 25.  

Call 848-2288 

“Drawing Marathon”  

Merritt College’s Art Building 

Live models, group poses.  

$12 for half a day, $20 for a full day, senior and student discounts available. No cameras or turpentine. 

523-9763 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educational and art video and film works. Featuring a number of Berkeley filmakers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

Monday, Nov. 20

The Music of Israel 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the music of Israel, from the early pioneers of Palestine to the latest rock.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Rent Stabilization Board 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Tuesday, Nov. 21

Fibromyalgia Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m.  

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium 

Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

Call D.L. Malinousky, 601-0550 

Environmental Solutions! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose) 

Informally led by Robert Berend, former UC Extension lecturer, this group aims to have intelligent discussions on a wide range of topics. They stress that there is no religious bent to the discussions and that all viewpoints are welcome. Bring light snacks to share with group.  

Call Robert Berend, 527-5332  

Thursday, Nov. 23

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

Friday, Nov. 24

“Yoga Poems”  

7:30 p.m. 

Piedmont Yoga Studio 

4125 Piedmont Ave. 

Piedmont 

Leza Lowitz will read from her new book, which contains over 60 poems inspired by different yoga poses, and do a yoga performance. Free. 

Call Miki, 558-7826 

Saturday, Nov. 25

Berkeley Artisans Holiday Open Studios 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Get map from: 

1250 Addison St. #214 

or download at: http://www.berkeleyartisans.com 

Over one hundred professional artists and craftspeople open up their studios and workspaces to the public. All styles of artistic expression are represented. Runs Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 17. 

Call 845-2612 

Papersong Grand Opening Celebration 

Noon - 5 p.m.  

Swan’s Marketplace 

936B Clay St.  

Oakland 

Featuring free musical performances by Big Brother & The Holding Co., Caravan of All Stars Revue, The Charles Dudley Band, and Jane DeCuir.  

Call 436-5131 

Sunday, Nov. 26

The Value of Meditation 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Joleen Vries, director of the Nyingma Institute in the Netherlands for over five years, will discuss how to maintain a regular meditation practice. Free 

843-6812 

Monday, Nov. 27

To Make the World Whole 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses songs of peace, protest and change from labor, feminists, peace, and environmental activists of the past 125 years, that inspired others to action. 

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Educational Philosophies Roundtable 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

At this roundtable, Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, parents will learn about the following educational philosophies: Developmental, cooperative, Montessori, bilingual, Waldorf, religious, homeschooling, and charter schools.  

Free to members; non-members, $5 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org  

Wednesday, Nov. 29

Wanderlust: Tales of Adventure and Romance 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

Jeff Greenwald and other travel writers discuss the art of writing travel literature and how to make a living doing it.  

Call 843-3533 

Berkeley Gray Panthers  

Membership Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of how the election results will affect the Gray Panthers.  

Call 548-9696 

Thursday, Nov. 30

Pro Arts Juried Show Reception 

6 - 8 p.m.  

Pro Arts 

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland 

With the work of 70 artists, this annual show features the work of emerging and mid-career artists. The show runs through December 30. See A&E calendar for details.  

Snowshoeing Basics  

7 p.m . 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional snowshoe guide Cathy Anderson-Meyers gives basic instruction on how to get out and experience Tahoe’s winter terrain on “shoes.”  

Call 527-4140 

Art for Sale 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Kala Art Institute  

1060 Heinz Ave.  

Over sixty artists affiliated with the Kala Art Institute exhibit works ranging from traditional wood block prints to works in digital media. During the reception, artists will offer 10 percent off the sale of their prints.  

549-2977 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Progressives should hang in 

Editor: 

Ghandi says: First they ignore you/ Then they laugh at you/ Then they fight you/ Then you win. In my view “they” are the Leadership of the Democratic Pary and the “you” are the progressives “they” abandoned. If you are progressive, hang in there. The fight is just beginning and we will win. 

While Demo’s are telling me that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush, the truth is, in Florida, a vote for Gore is a vote for Buchanan. Wiener says: It ain’t the winner that counts when the loser weighs as much as 1/2 the voters in the U.S. Bush and Gore are still tied, but when the losers are declared, the declared losers better agree with the outcome. 

Harry Wiener 

South Berkeley  

Count double-punched ballots  

Editor: 

Two thoughts: 

1. The pollsters were actually right. People said how they thought they had voted, and that would have given Gore the election. Technical problems with the ballots were not expected by anybody.  

2. People who were used to voting separately for president and vice president, as we all did up until a few years ago, probably thought they were voting for Lieberman with the second punch. The fair settlement in Florida would be to count the double punched ballots and give both Buchanan and Gore a vote.  

Teddy Knight 

Berkeley 

Need bonus for cultural uses 

Editor: 

The Berkeley Planning Commission has made a serious mistake by proposing to remove the cultural use height bonus from the Berkeley General Plan. 

Under current city plan, a project in downtown Berkeley can gain up to two floors of additional height, including up to ten thousand square feet of use by cultural organizations. The cultural user must be on the third floor. And although the city does not set any standard for rent to cultural users, any developer willing to build such space generally must offer below market rent in order to attract arts organizations.  

The Planning Commission has proposed eliminating this bonus just as it is beginning to be utilized. After a dearth of new construction in Berkeley during the early ‘90s, developers are now putting new projects before the city. One project already has made use of the height bonus, with two or three more projects in the works. As a result, each of those buildings will become a much needed home to an arts organization while also adding otherwise unachievable floors for housing. Tenants and artists are both winners.  

Throughout the Bay Area, artists and arts organizations are losing their spaces as rents skyrocket. In fact, San Francisco just established a $1.5 million emergency fund to subsidize artist rents.  

It is ironic that just as Berkeley is being recognized as a community that takes pride in our cultural resources, the planning commission would undermine these efforts by eliminating the only existing incentive that encourages cultural development.  

Susan Medak 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

Voters beware 

Editor: 

“Beware of the person who offers you fresh coffee in a dirty cup.” At least that’s what my father used to tell me when he came onto a suspicious situation or behavior that warranted inspection. The statement becomes very meaningful to me when it’s used in relation to this year’s Presidential Election.  

This voting incident just might be a blessing in disguise. Because it seems, we as a people may have become complacent in our present-day voting system. So complacent that nowadays, one thinks that the popularity vote is the only way to elect a President. 

Yet the true voting power is in the hands of our representatives. A lot of us may have forgotten, that it’s the electors in the U.S. that elect the President. To be exact, 538 electoral votes are needed. But does anybody know who the electors are or how the electors are chosen? Does anyone really care? 

Pointing fingers won’t solve anything; yet solving the mysterious discrepancies of the voting process that occurred throughout the whole United States is of the utmost importance. Getting rid of the Electoral Voting system is probably not the solution Increasing voting security at the polls by using state-of-of-the-art electronic voting processes might work. But I doubt it.  

I feel that the best solution for this Presidential Election is to discard all votes from all the troubled voting counties in Florida and any other place in the U.S.Then have a new election for those counties that reported problems. But until then, when someone offers you coffee in a dirty cup, take the cup. Pour out the coffee, wash the cup, and ask for a refill. Reason being, cleaning the cup ensures not getting sick later form the coffee. 

Aaron Daniels 

Berkeley 

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Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com 

Bad passing, serving doom Yellowjackets 

The Berkeley High women’s volleyball team had its season ended abruptly Tuesday night at the hands of the Bishop O’Dowd Dragons. The Dragons swept the Yellowjackets in three straight games in the North Coast Section Playoff first-round game, 15-9, 15-5, 15-12. 

The Yellowjackets looked uncomfortable the entire match, which took place in Donahue Gymnasium on the Berkeley campus. Uncharacteristic passing errors and service faults ruined any chance the ’Jackets had of advancing in the playoffs. 

“We couldn’t execute the game plan we set up,” said Berkeley coach Justin Caraway. “We had a deer-in-the-headlights look.” 

The Yellowjackets were undefeated in the ACCAL this season, and were used to running off huge point streaks to put away opponents. But Caraway’s team couldn’t do that against a disciplined O’Dowd team, and were visibly frustrated when their spikes were dug or blocked. As their passing deteriorated, setters Caitlin Everett and Danielle Larue were unable to set up the big hitters, and the ’Jackets ended up lofting free ball after free ball to the waiting Dragons. 

What little success Berkeley had came on quick sets to middle hitters Desiree Young and Vanessa Williams.  

“We’re better in the middle, and they’re stronger on the outside. We knew that going in, but we couldn’t take enough advantage of it,” Caraway said.  

The visitors countered with the strong outside hitting of junior Nikki Esposito, who had countless kills and provided good defense on Berkeley’s outside hitters, seniors Lizzi Akana and Hannah Lawler. 

“(Esposito) has been our biggest hitter and made our big kills all year, and she did that today,” O’Dowd coach Lisa Newman said. 

Caraway praised the Dragon defense, which blocked several spikes and passed to its setters very well all match long. 

“They played good defense and they served well. I actually expected them to serve more agressively, but I guess they really didn’t need to.” 

Berkeley’s Everett was visibly upset during the second game, slamming the ball to the floor twice and drawing a yellow card from the referee. She said her main concern was the terrible passing that led to the loss. 

“If the setter doesn’t get good passes, you have no offense,” she said. “It was okay sometimes, but it wasn’t there when it had to be.” 

When asked if her team would have won the game if they had played well, Everett simply nodded and rolled her eyes. She also said some of the younger players on the team (Caraway played all three freshmen and four sophomores on the roster in the match) might not appreciate the opportunity they had. 

“I don’t think they know how lucky they are to be where they are,” she said. “Then they got nervous when they realized what a big game they were playing.”

When elections take place in other countries, the U.S. government seems quick to pass judgment, lauding efficient elections as a measure of democracy. But now the champion of democracy is in the midst of electing its next president in a manner befitting a tale more surreal than orderly. It includes missing ballot boxes, a faulty ballot and an outcome dependent on returns from a state controlled by the brother of one of the candidates. 

No one is enjoying the circus more than international students and faculty members from UC Berkeley. 

“The vision that the United States always tries to sell, that they are the perfect democracy, has changed for me,” said Julio García, a doctorate environmental engineering student from Colombia. “Maybe their democracy is not so perfect.” 

This notion doesn't come as a surprise to Mina Rajagopalan, an architecture graduate student. “The U.S. claims a lot of things it is not,” said the student from India, where she says corruption and vote rigging are more socially accepted. “They are no different than any third world country, they just have a better way of covering it up.” 

She said this election has exposed the deceptive way in which the U.S. democracy operates. Hong Yung Lee, a Korean political science professor, disagrees. He thinks that although the democratic system was not prepared for the current situation, it has pulled through. 

“It shows the strength of the American democracy,” he said, “It's trying to follow procedural laws and the rule of the people. It's really remarkable.” 

As for the uncounted ballots discovered in the trunk of a car in New Mexico, Lee sees them as an unintentional mistake. 

Martin Yong, a 21 year-old from London, has a different explanation. “I reckon it's the FBI or the CIA,” he said jokingly. 

To him, the whole electoral process has been “kind of funny and ridiculous”. 

“Both parties are the same and the system is undemocratic,” he said referring to the electoral college. He thinks each state should have one vote, like in the British parliament system, whose members elect the prime minister. 

The political system and the nationality of the people do not play a role in such a close race where confusion is expected, said Matina Marneri, an environmental engineering student from Greece. She thinks public reactions would not be different if the same situation arose in her country, where the head of government is elected by a parliament. “People are the same here or there,” she said. 

Maybe not. In the Philippines voters and election officials are more likely to be corrupted than in the United States, said Irma Gofalvez, a professor from the department of South and South East Asian studies. 

“The reason goes back to the economy: people who are very poor are attracted to bribery,” she said, “It's not justifying (the problem), but that's the way it is.” 

Hampered by foul trouble and hobbled by a swollen right ankle and knee, Sean Lampley battled a powerful Mississippi State frontcourt to lead Cal to an 83-76 overtime victory in the first round of the NIT Preseason Tournament last Monday night. 

After the game, Coach Ben Braun commented on the physical play of Lampley: “What a performance with foul trouble he had, especially being banged-up. Certainly one of the guttiest performances he’s had. He didn’t leave anything out on the floor.” 

The Golden Bears faced a powerful Bulldog frontcourt, lead by junior center Robert Jackson and the 6-9, 265 pound McDonald’s All-American freshman Mario Austin. 

Mississippi State had trouble utilizing their inside game, and it was only the deadly shooting of Austin Jackson that kept them in the game, as Cal pulled out to an early 11-4 lead. In the first half Jackson made four of five three-point attempts on his way to a game-high 26 points, forcing Cal to abandon the inside double-teams and increasing the pressure on the Cal frontcourt to single-cover the Bulldog lineup. Led by Lampley, the Cal frontcourt responded, and it was only the hot hand of Jackson that kept Cal from taking a lead larger than the 35-30 halftime score.  

Commenting on the open shots Jackson had in the first half, Braun noted that: “The double team was effective early, but we got slower rotations after that. When you double-team that doesn’t mean you leave people open, and we did. It’s something we need to work on.”  

The second half began on an inauspicious note when Lampley was saddled with is third personal foul and the Mississippi State frontcourt roared back to life.  

With Lampley out of play, Bulldog guard Derrick Zimmerman promptly went down the court and dumped the ball into Austin each of the next three plays. Austin responded with a quick six points. 

Wits cool and hands hot, Cal moved their offense outside and toed the three-point arc. Foreshadowing the last moments of the game, Ryan Forehan-Kelly and Brian Wethers both popped from long range, and two Lampley baskets and a Solomon Hughes dunk gave the Golden Bears a 53-47 lead with 12:25 left in the game. 

With the game winding down, Mississippi State turned to their strength under the basket and attempted to muscle their way to victory. Austin scored six of the next eleven points to cut the Golden Bear lead to two, 60-58, and the spotlight turned to the Lampley-Austin matchup on the blocks. Lampley went to the foul stripe for two points, and Austin responded with another power basket.  

After Solomon Hughes answered a Tang Hamilton dunk to tie the score 72-72 with 15 seconds left in regulation, all eyes turned to where the battle had taken place all night: under the basket. Instead of short passes into the low post, Austin found himself forced to catch the ball farther and farther from basket. With the game on the line, Austin caught the ball 12 feet out on the corner of the floor. After his jumper clanged off the rim, the game went into overtime. 

After the game, Lampley noted the importance of getting low-post position against the dominant Bulldog frontcourt: “We were supposed to force them off the block from the get-go. They got good position and that is when they hurt us. Me and Solomon (Hughes) and Nick (Vander Laan) was told to keep them off the block, but we didn’t do a good job in the first half. In the late second half and overtime we did a good job getting in front of them.”  

After another Lampley basket, Forehan-Kelly and Joe Shipp drained another pair of three point field goals, and the Golden Bears took an 80-76 lead with 1:30 left. Mississippi State played a quick game of “how- quickly-can-we-foul,” and Cal nailed four straight foul shots to ice the game and preserve an 83-76 victory.

After a contentious exchange Tuesday, the City Council narrowly adopted a resolution to send the University of California Regents a letter calling for less parking and more housing in the Underhill Area Master Plan. They further asked the Regents to put off their decision on the project. 

The resolution, written by Councilmember Kriss Worthington, was approved by a 4-5 vote. Mayor Shirley Dean and Councilmembers Betty Olds, Polly Armstrong and Diane Woolley voted no. The resolution was sent to the UC Regents in Los Angeles Wednesday where they are currently meeting.  

The regents are expected to approve the Final Environmental Impact Report, and to approve designs for two Underhill structures today. 

The Underhill Area Master Plan is a series of structures in a five-block area just south of the UC Berkeley campus. It includes a dining center and office building, a playing field, a 1,400-space parking garage and three residence halls that will provide housing for 870 students. 

The resolution requests the regents postpone approving the plan until  

residents, businesses, students, environmentalists and city officials have an  

opportunity to thoroughly examine the FEIR and to address the regents. The resolution also asks that the plan be altered to provide less parking and more housing. 

University officials said if the plans are approved by the regents today, they expect to begin work on the dinning center and office building in January. 

Councilmember Polly Armstrong strongly disagreed with the wording of the letter and said Worthington misrepresented the project. “Mr. Worthington is the master of the half-truths and manipulation,” Armstrong said on Wednesday. “One councilmember crafts a statement and the other eight councilmembers are expected to sign it.” 

Worthington has been critical of the Underhill Plan because of a one-block area that does not have any housing planned.  

The garage is planned on the same block and Worthington said the university is putting a lower priority on student housing than parking, which he said will increase traffic in neighborhoods and encourage more people to drive rather than choose alternate modes of transportation. 

Armstrong said the university is already building housing for 870 students and to build more would concentrate students in one area. “We need to decide how to spread students around for a mix in housing,” Armstrong said on Wednesday. “It makes for more of a city and less of a student ghetto.” 

Worthington said to build student housing in other areas would be very difficult because most neighborhood groups would oppose student residence halls. Worthington said he was certain Armstrong wouldn’t volunteer her neighborhood for a student housing development. 

He added the south side already has a high percentage of student housing and students have said they support more housing in the area. “Here we have an entire city block and the surrounding area is primarily students who support more housing. Why go to another area and fight with neighbors?” 

Armstrong said to build less parking would be shortsighted and unfair. She said transportation programs would have to be in place before people would seriously consider not using their automobiles.  

“It makes you feel good to say everyone should drive less but this is not a perfect world so we have to be thoughtful,” she said. 

The City Council also voted to uphold a decision by the Zoning Adjustments Board to approve two, three-story buildings at 1608 Fourth St. The decision was being appealed by a neighborhood group who claimed the site, the former location of a aeronautic paint factory, was filled with toxins. 

AUSTIN, Texas – Maurice Evans scored 17 points and Chris Owens hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 50 seconds left as Texas beat California 57-54 on Wednesday night in the second round of the Preseason NIT. 

The Longhorns (2-0) advanced to the semifinals next week in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Texas will play the winner of Friday night’s Duke-Villanova game. 

Evans’ short jumper with 1:49 to play tied it at 53, and Owens’ basket gave Texas the lead. 

California (1-1) had a chance to tie it again from the foul line but Sean Lampley hit just one of two free throws with 27 seconds left. Texas’ Chris McColpin, an 83-percent career free-throw shooter, then hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 15 seconds left. 

Cal had one last chance to tie but Joe Shipp’s 3-point attempt over two defenders was well of the mark. 

Owens, who had a career-high 28 points in Texas’ 79-65 victory over Navy on Monday, finished with just nine points against the Golden Bears but made up for it on the defensive end. He had eight blocks, tying Texas’ single-game record set last season by Chris Mihm. 

The Longhorns also forced played tough defense on the floor, forcing 19 Cal turnovers. The Golden Bears committed just seven turnovers in an overtime win over Mississippi State on Monday. 

Ryan Forehan-Kelly led California with 13 points. 

Cal coach Ben Braun had complained that his team had to travel to Texas for the second round game after the Golden Bears drew about 3,000 more fans than Texas did in the Longhorns’ season opener. 

The Texas crowd was sparse again Wednesday night with just 6,459 in the 16,100-seat Frank Erwin Center. 

Cal raced to a 12-2 lead as the Longhorns struggle to find the basket with 1-of-12 shooting over the first six minutes. Evans broke the drought with a tip in and the Longhorns reeled off 10 straight points to tie it at 12. 

The teams played even the rest of the half, exchanging the lead 10 times before Cal took a 28-27 lead into halftime.

PHILADELPHIA — A prominent activist said he felt vindicated after prosecutors dropped charges against him for allegedly leading hundreds of demonstrators on a night of mayhem during the Republican National Convention. 

“We said all along that these charges were fraudulent,” said John Sellers, 34, director of the Berkeley-based Ruckus Society. “The city was pursuing us to silence our dissent rather than because of the activities we were engaged in.” 

Prosecutor Elizabeth Greenfield said Tuesday there was insufficient evidence to prove the case against Sellers, who initially had been held on $1 million bail and had faced 14 misdemeanor counts. His trial was to have begun Tuesday. 

Police said Sellers helped coordinate demonstrators in clashes with police and several street-blocking demonstrations on Aug. 1. A second protest leader, Terrence McGuckin, 19, of the Philadelphia Direct Action Group, was found guilty of disorderly conduct and disrupting a highway and received three months’ probation. 

“I would have liked to have seen a little more, but I think the judge was fair in her disposition of the case,” prosecutor David E. Desiderio said. 

David Rudovsky, an attorney for McGuckin, said his client was “innocent 100 percent” and planned an appeal. 

Police Commissioner John F. Timoney and Deputy Commissioner Robert Mitchell both were out of town and unavailable for comment Tuesday. 

Nearly 400 people were arrested in the demonstrations during the GOP convention. About 20 people remain charged with felonies, including three people due in court Thursday on charges they attacked Timoney while the chief was on bicycle patrol. 

On The Net: 

R2K Network: http://www.r2kphilly.org 

Philadelphia police: http://www.ppdonline.org 

California senior forward Kendall Simmonds and junior midfielder Chris Roner were named first team All-Pac-10 for their outstanding play during the 2000 season. Golden Bear senior forward Ramiro Arredondo and freshman forward Mike Hickman were selected to the second team.  

Simmonds led the Bears with 13 points (six goals, one assist) and tallied 43 shots on the year. Simmonds started all 20 matches for the Bears and had game-winning goals against UC Santa Cruz and Oregon State. 

Roner earns his second first team honor in as many seasons. He finished the 2000 campaign second on the team with 11 points (four goals, three assists), including a two goal performance and game-winner over UC Santa Barbara. In his three seasons, Roner has accumulated 11 goals and eight assists.

Early Wednesday afternoon police were called to 2547 Channing Way, where they found a body wrapped in a sleeping bag under a bay window. 

At press time, the cause of death and the victim’s identity had not been determined. University of California Police Sergeant Corey White said the deceased female appeared to be a transient and had no identification. 

The person was pronounced dead at the scene, and police sealed the area off. UC Police detectives and homicide investigators were called to the scene to investigate the death. “At this point we don’t know the cause of death. We don’t know who she is and we are proceeding as if this is a crime scene.” White said a passerby reported the body to the police department, but the agency determined that the university police had jurisdiction. The house, known as the historic Schorb house, is currently vacant. It is owned by the university.

Three years ago Jan Cecil’s life was full of stress. She was working as a systems analyst for two medical centers and was frantically driving back and forth between them. She was suffering from chronic back pain and her life was full of clutter. She wanted out. 

“One day while recuperating from a back injury I began reading a book on how to simplify your life,” Cecil said. “After that I found a Web site that led me to a simplicity circle in my area and I was on my way.” 

Now, Cecil says she is living a healthy life. She works four days a week as a senior analyst – in one location, has more fulfilling relationships with her family and friends and has time to do the things that really matter to her. 

Cecil said these changes could not have come about without the help and support of her simplicity circle.  

“I’ve been in a circle for three years and it really helps. It’s nice to have a forum and get support.” 

Simplicity circles began in 1985 as a way to help people live more fulfilling and simple lives with low environmental impact. The movement claims to help people live a richer, fuller inward life through simplifying their outward lives. The circle consists of a small group of people who foster reflection, conversation and genuine dialogue relating to ways of simplifying life with awareness that the well being of people is directly connected to the well being of the earth. 

“Many of the people involved in simplicity circles have said that the main reason they are in them is to learn to live a more simple and environmentally friendly life,” Cecil said. “It’s about learning that you don’t need 100 gadgets to make you happy. You can live a simpler life with fewer unnecessary material things.” 

The Web site, www.simpleliving.net, states that simplicity circles are loosely based on Swedish and Danish educational models, Native American  

wisdom and Quaker spiritual practices. The movement uses the book: “The Circle Of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life” by Cecile Andrews as a guideline for the circles.  

The book offers various formats for the circles and suggests that a “circle” meet 10 times for a minimum duration of success and work its way through nine suggested topics of conversation. Andrews asserts that the circles can lead to both personal and social change. 

Jan Cecil said that she has felt the change in her life. 

“I live a simpler life. It’s amazing . . .the feeling of a huge a weight being lifted from your shoulders and being able to get rid of all the things in life that are not necessary.” 

Author Cecile Andrews will speak at the Third Thursday Simplicity Forum held tonight at 7 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. The topic will be how to simplify and resist the commercialization of the holidays.

A plan to sink millions of University of California investment funds into tobacco stocks stalled Wednesday as Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante vowed to push for a smoke-free portfolio. 

“These are the same companies that we just got through suing in order to recover health costs that the state has incurred over the last 10 years and then we turn around – the UC system, a state-funded system – and we put it into tobacco stock. I think it’s just outrageous,” he said. 

As of now, UC doesn’t own any tobacco stocks. But it soon could because of a decision to buy into an index fund of which tobacco stocks comprise about one-half of 1 percent. In UC’s case that would amount to a tobacco investment of $55 million. 

Regents could not vote on the issue Wednesday because no action had been scheduled. But they did discuss it for more than an hour in a closed-door session. 

There is currently a Dec. 31 deadline for deciding whether to instruct managers to stay away from tobacco stocks, and the regents don’t meet again until January. However, Bustamante said after the closed-door session that it was made clear to managers that they shouldn’t buy tobacco stock before January. 

Bustamante, an ex-officio member of the board, said he expects the board will vote on tobacco stocks in January – “I think we’re going to see a very spirited discussion take place.” 

Others on the board say shunning tobacco stocks could cost the university money and defeat the purpose of going into an index fund, a strategy of investing in a broad variety of stocks chosen by fund managers. 

“Personally, I think I would rather not be in tobacco stock. From the standpoint of the fund we made a decision to go to an index fund and it’s very difficult if you’ve made that decision to exclude stock,” Regent Judith Hopkinson said. “From that perspective, I think our responsibility is primarily financial. I think I tend to come down on the side that we should not exclude from the index fund.” 

The tobacco stock issue stems from UC’s recent decision to begin diversifying its $52.9 billion portfolio, investing $8.3 billion in the Russell 3000 and $3.3 billion in a Morgan Stanley index fund. 

A number of UC doctors, staff and medical students as well as other health organizations wrote to the regents asking them not to buy tobacco stocks. 

“It would be a major step backwards if the UC system would now start to invest in tobacco companies,” Dr. Frederick James, president of the American Heart Association, Western States Affiliate said in a statement to the board.

SAN FRANCISCO — Californians are being warned they may face rotating power blackouts and higher natural gas bills because of the unseasonable cold snap that has enveloped much of the West. 

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said natural gas prices could rise by as much as 50 percent next month. Energy officials blame a low natural gas supply and power plant maintenance for the energy shortages and resulting higher bills. 

And the agency known as the Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid, declared Stage 2 emergencies on Monday and Tuesday because energy reserves dropped below 5 percent. That’s one step away from a Stage 3, which results in the rotating blackouts. The blackouts usually affect people throughout the state, said agency spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle. 

Power plants across the state have added to the problem by shutting down for maintenance. That’s a routine practice in November, typically a time between hot and cold months in California, McCorkle said. 

At the same time the plants are being worked on, two nuclear plants – Diablo Canyon and San Onofre – have been shut down for refueling. Both were scheduled to resume operation by Thursday, but they take about three days to reach full capacity, she said. 

The cold weather has increased demand for heat throughout the state, too. 

“There’s an early cold snap that’s hit the entire western United States, and that has limited imports from the northwest that we can usually count on at this time of the year,” McCorkle said. “It has been cut by about a third.” 

The coming winter’s cold weather should not cause problems to the same degree because the state’s power plants are expected to be back online by the end of this month, McCorkle said. 

The state was short almost 12,000 megawatts, or enough power for about 12 million homes, beause of the plant shutdowns and the high demand for heat. 

The effect also will be felt in customers’ pocketbooks, because more people are using a static supply of natural gas. 

“The strong economy has increased demand for all forms of natural gas,” said Ron Low, a spokesman for PG&E. 

While customers can expect to see their gas bills rise next month, they should not be as high next year, Low said. 

“The higher prices will encourage producers to produce more and prices should level out in the next year,” he said. 

On Wednesday, the ISO issued a Stage 1 emergency, requesting that power users conserve energy — such as turning off lights or computers when they are not being used. The weather was expected to warm up the rest of the week, with highs in the 60s in most parts of northern California. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Independent System Operator: http://www.caiso.com/ 

In agreeing to pay $53.4 million to Universal Music Group, MP3.com ended its legal dispute with the last of five major music makers and secured a licensing agreement that permits the online music service to use songs owned by the world’s largest record company. 

The deal with Universal Music Group was announced Tuesday as testimony began in the damages phase of a federal trial that had already determined MP3.com willfully violated Universal’s copyrights. 

Under the settlement, Universal will also get the right to buy a stake in MP3.com, MP3.com chief executive Michael Robertson said. 

“Our shareholders should be excited about today’s development,” Robertson said. “It gets us out of the courtroom and into the business of delivering digital music.” 

The company had earlier reached settlements with the four other major companies – Warner Music Group, BMG, EMI and Sony Music Entertainment – and had arranged licensing deals with each of them. 

The overall amount of the settlements has not been disclosed, but Robertson said it falls within the $170 million the company set aside for legal costs. 

Hadrian Katz, Universal’s lawyer, declined to comment outside court. 

In a joint statement issued by the companies, Universal President Zach Horowitz said his company had “pursued this case to send a strong message that copyrights will be protected and that copyright owners and artists need to be properly compensated for their work.” 

“It was never our intent to put MP3.com out of business with a judgment so large that it would threaten their viability as a company,” he said. “We support the development of legitimate music businesses on the Internet.” 

MP3.com was sued by the record labels over its My.MP3.com service, which allows computer users to listen to CDs over the Internet. Members must first prove they paid for the recording by briefly inserting the CD into a computer’s CD-ROM drive. 

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled in September that MP3.com had intentionally violated the copyrights of the music companies. He awarded Universal $25,000 per CD – or up to $250 million by Universal’s count. 

Under Tuesday’s settlement, Robertson said, Universal will buy warrants for the rights to buy MP3.com stock. MP3.com stock rose 63 cents, or 18 percent, to $4 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said the deal between Universal and MP3.com will “drive home the point that the marketplace for legitimate music on the Internet really works.” 

Some lawsuits with smaller labels remain to be resolved but were not expected to be a threat to MP3.com’s ability to stay in business. 

My.MP3.com differs from the wildly popular file-swapping method employed by Napster, in which users share their music over the Internet while Napster serves as the clearinghouse. 

Last month, media giant Bertelsmann said it would join with Napster in developing a membership-based music distribution system that will guarantee royalties to artists. 

Other music industry giants have sued Napster in federal court for copyright infringement and sought to have the service shut down. 

——— 

On the Net: 

MP3.com: http://www.mp3.com 

Universal: http://www.umusic.com 

LOS ANGELES — Three of four police officers accused of framing gang members were convicted Wednesday of conspiracy and other crimes in the first trial involving allegations of widespread misconduct in a Police Department anti-gang unit. 

The verdicts bolstered an ongoing probe of a police force struggling with demands for reform against a backdrop of mounting liability in lawsuits by victims of corruption. 

The Superior Court jury found Sgts. Brian Liddy and Edward Ortiz and Officer Michael Buchanan guilty of conspiracy but acquitted Officer Paul Harper. 

“There’s good cops and there’s bad cops,” jury foreman Victor Flores, 30, said outside court. “A lot of us on the jury felt that they just didn’t happen to cover themselves enough and they never thought it would come back to haunt them.” 

Ortiz, 44, said he was baffled. 

“I still believe to this day that we are innocent and that we did our job to keep the citizens of L.A., keep the streets safe from all the gangs and all the crime that’s going on out there,” he said. 

District Attorney Gil Garcetti, just defeated in a re-election bid, was jubilant. 

“The issues in this case go to the very heart of the criminal justice system. We must be able to depend on the honesty of all police officers,” said Garcetti, who was fiercely criticized when his prosecutors lost the O.J. Simpson murder case. 

The defense immediately said it will seek a retrial, claiming months of allegations of wrongdoing at the Police Department’s Rampart station prejudiced the jury. 

“There’s been so much publicity about the Rampart scandal the jury might be afraid if they came in with all not guiltys, people would think it was the O.J. jury,” said attorney Harland Braun, who represented Buchanan. 

Barry Levin, representing Ortiz, said he should have tried to move the case out of Los Angeles. 

“I was defending an officer that had already been found guilty in the minds of, not only these jurors, but the public,” Levin said. 

The jury acquitted Harper, 33, altogether and returned mixed verdicts on other counts. The convicted officers face one to four years in prison. Sentencing was set for Jan. 16. 

Liddy, 39, was convicted of one count of filing a false police report but acquitted of two other counts. Ortiz was acquitted of filing a false report on one incident but convicted of filing a false report on another. 

In addition to conspiracy, Buchanan, 30, was convicted of two perjury counts involving his claim that he was hit by a truck driven by a gang member trying to escape down an alley. Liddy’s convictions included that incident. 

The four officers sat stone still facing straight ahead as the verdicts were read. Their families, who filled two rows of the courtroom, showed no emotion. One of the women told others when the proceeding began: “Remember, no crying.” 

The trial was the first to take on the divisive issue of police corruption after a yearlong scandal triggered by disgraced ex-officer Rafael Perez as he bargained to save himself by fingering others after he was found to have stolen cocaine from an evidence room. 

Perez claimed that officers in the Rampart anti-gang squad known as CRASH had framed gang members, planted evidence, testified falsely and shot innocent victims. 

The seven-woman, five-man jury – a racially mixed panel –spent 18 hours over four days talking about the charges. 

The verdicts showed the jurors did not believe the testimony of Liddy and Buchanan about the alley confrontation. 

The jurors accepted Liddy’s story of an incident at a gang meeting in a parking lot in which he said a gang member ran, discarded a weapon, raised his arms and said, “Don’t shoot, I ain’t got no gun.” Liddy was acquitted of filing a false report and perjury. 

Both the alley and parking lot incidents were detailed in the conspiracy count. 

The convictions, while not total, were a victory for prosecutors working under Garcetti, who had been widely criticized for filing the case because it was so thin on evidence. 

The Rampart probe had forced county prosecutors who had relied on officers’ testimony in gang trials to go back to court to seek dismissal of criminal convictions tainted by allegations of police misconduct. When the dismissals topped 100, officials estimated that settlements involving those cases would likely cost the city $125 million. 

The verdicts will impact the civil suits, according to a lawyer for Javier Ovando, paralyzed victim of a police shooting that will be the basis of another Rampart trial. 

“The city needs to come to the table quickly with a realistic offer. The ante is going up,” said attorney Danilo Becerra. “Up to now the offers they have made are unrealistic.” 

Perez had been slated as the star witness against the four officers, but his own credibility problems were exacerbated on the eve of trial when an ex-girlfriend accused him of involvement in three murders. 

Authorities rushed to Tijuana, Mexico, to investigate her story of bodies buried there. None were found, but Perez demanded immunity from the allegation if he was to testify; the prosecution refused and did not call Perez. After the case went to the jury, the woman said she made up the story because she had been jilted. 

In the meantime the prosecution had relied on gang members with questionable credibility and police officers afflicted with memory problems who were accused of practicing a “code of silence” to protect their colleagues. 

The defendants took the witness stand and vowed they had done nothing wrong. 

The incidents that put the officers on trial occurred in 1996 in the Rampart area, a tough, gang-plagued area west of downtown. 

Gang members who pleaded guilty in those cases had their convictions reversed before the officers’ trial. 

During the trial the judge acquitted Buchanan of two charges on grounds there was insufficient evidence to prove prosecutors’ claims that he was actually on vacation during a gang raid on which he filed a police report. 

A former partner of Perez is awaiting trial in the next Rampart case. Suspended Officer Nino Durden is accused of shooting Ovando after he was handcuffed. Durden has pleaded innocent to attempted murder. 

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego Superior Court judge has rejected a broad legal challenge that sought to halt the collection of tobacco taxes under Propisition 10, the 1998 initiative that collects money for early childhood development programs across the state. 

A coalition of tobacco sellers had argued that the measure championed by actor-director Rob Reiner improperly linked two separate issues: tobacco taxes and children’s health. Judge Ronald Prager ruled there was a credible link between the two since children are hurt both by second-hand smoke and tobacco use by expectant mothers. The proposition has helped reduce tobacco usage, and thus benefitted children’s health, by increasing the cost of cigarrettes and by improving the public’s awareness of related health problems. Some $700 million a year generated by the tax is being distributed to a state commission and 58 county commissions to establish a range of programs benefitting children, such as improved child care facilities and educational programs. 

The judge also rejected arguments that the proposition created an illegal double tax on non-cigarette tobacco products, that state and county commissions set up to distribute the tax money were not adequately supervised, that money had been wasted, and that the tax should be considered a property tax subject to various state provisions. 

Prager noted that California voters had the opportunity in 1999 to overturn Propisition 10 with a counter measure, Propisition 28, but chose not to do so – rejecting that measure by more than 72 percent. 

“It is the duty of the court to jealously guard the power of the people,” he said. The initiative process is “one of the most precious” rights enjoyed by the voters. Thomas Hiltachk, an attorney representing the Cigarettes Cheaper! chain of stores, said the plaintiffs would appeal. 

He was not surprised by Prager’s decision, noting that trial court judges historically do not overturn voter-approved intiatives.  

He expected his side would be successful on the appellate level. 

The plaintiff’s main goal had been to “establish the fact that these county commissions and the state commission really operate outside the government and that they effectively have written the legislature, the governor and our elected representatives out of the process of spending almost a billion dollars a year and that as taxpayers that is something we should be worried about.” 

Attendees at the Underhill Area Project community open house Monday night at the Unit II Residence Hall on Haste Street were presented with an unscheduled performance protest complete with costumes, sound effects and stage blood. 

About 50 people were milling around the lower recreation room eating cookies and sipping coffee while studying the latest designs and concepts for the project when about 20 protesters, including Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, entered the room and began chanting “What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now!”  

They were soon followed by the sound of screeching brakes, twisting metal and shattering glass blasting from a large speaker on a dolly. Then a protester inside a car-shaped cardboard costume, with “Underhill Monster” written in large letters on the side, symbolically mowed down four protesters who then lay in a pool of red liquid as the a faint odor of tomato juice wafted through the room. 

Protesters contend the university’s Underhill Area Plan emphasizes parking at the expense of student housing. 

The plan includes a series of structures in a five-block area bounded by Dwight Way and Durant, Telegraph, College avenues that will include a 1,400-car parking structure, a playing field, a dining and office facility and three residence halls, which will provide housing for approximately 870 students. 

Today and Thursday in Los Angeles the UC Regents will be examining the Final Environmental Impact Report, recently released by LSA Associates, Inc. They will be asked to certify the FEIR and approve designs for the dining and office facility and one of the housing structures known as the College Durant Student Housing Project, which will house 120 students in 30 units. 

The construction of the dining hall and offices is scheduled to begin in January and work on the College Durant Housing Project is slated to begin in the spring. The remaining projects are still in the conceptual stage. 

The focus of the protest was the block bounded by College Avenue, Channing Way and Haste and Bowditch streets, in which the parking structure, playing field and dining and office facility is planned. Opponents say there is currently no housing planned for that block and it may be the last chance the university has to build student housing close to campus. 

“There is not one student bed planned in the entire block,” Worthington said. “They could easily build several levels of housing above the garage.” 

The protesters, made up of a loose association of students, members of Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition and members of the Rent Stabilization Board, said the UC Regents are missing an opportunity to provide up to 1,500 student beds in a prime location near the campus. In addition they said the disproportionate amount of parking will only encourage more people to drive, which will have an adverse effect on traffic and the environment. 

Community Relations Director Irene Hegarty said it’s inaccurate to frame the debate as parking versus housing and that it’s better framed as parking and open space versus housing. 

“We could have put more housing on top of the parking garage (where the field is planned) but this is a very dense neighborhood and at some point you have to have open space,” Hegarty said 

After the performance/protest, Worthington, calling the open house a “snow job,” demanded the UC Regents add more housing to the plan and reduce parking. He said continued indifference to student needs by university staff left opponents no choice but to stage the protest.  

“The students have attended meetings for months and have, in a more gentle way, tried to persuade the regents to add more housing, but they’ve been ignored,” he said. 

Rent Stabilization Board member Stefanie Bernay agreed. 

“The university is totally stonewalling us,” she said. “They are turning their backs on the worst student housing crisis Berkeley has ever seen.”  

Campus spokesperson Marie Felde disagreed. She said the university currently houses 5,100 students and the proposed new Underhill housing represents an increase of 17 percent. 

“We’re building nearly 900 beds I don’t think that’s turning your back on anyone,” she said. 

The protest was taken by university staff as a matter of course. Many continued talking about the project’s good points while protesters loudly voiced its shortcomings.  

“This is Berkeley and certain amount of this sort of thing is expected,” Felde said. 

Wednesday, Nov. 15

Even More Little Pigs 

3:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Library Claremont Branch 

2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets help Little Red Riding Hood get to Grandma’s house.  

Healthful Holiday Cooking 

11:30 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Natalie. Free 

Unity of Diversity in  

the Bay Area 

7:30 p.m. 

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley  

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Ramona Lucero of the United Indian Alliance will give a presentation addressing the exploration and significance of unity as a basis for the Native American community.  

Call 642-9460 

Community Action Commission & 

Berkeley Homeless Commission  

Joint Public Hearing  

7 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. (at Ashby) 

The purpose of this hearing is to allow low-income residents of Berkeley, and people who use the services to inform these agencies about what services they need.  

Call Marianne Graham, 665-3475  

Flamenco Fusion 2 

8 p.m.  

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Featuring modern dancers Mary Carbonara and Clara Sudas, jazz dancers Alison Hurly and Frances Rosario, flamenco dancers Mercedes Metal, La Mora, and Alma Del Valle.  

$15 

Call La Pena, 849-2568 

Making Additions Match 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by architect/columnist Arrol Gellner.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Citizen’s Humane Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr.) 

Review the support of a ban on leghold and body-crushing traps.  

Commission on Labor Board 

6 p.m. 

1950 Addison St., Suite 105 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

Discussion and possible approval of a resolution regarding the expiration of the electricity rate freeze.  

Human Welfare & Community Action 

7 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Report on council action on religious holidays.  

Task Force on  

Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Board of Education 

7:30 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Commission on Aging 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Thursday, Nov. 16

Reminiscing in Swingtime 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Library  

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

George Yoshida, author and jazz drummer, presents a multi-media program recounting the big band experience in the Japanese American internment camps. The presentation will be capped with a set of live jazz by the George Yoshida Quartet. 

Call for more info: 644-6850 

Berkeley Metaphysic  

Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Free Blood Pressure Screenings  

Health Education Center 

400 Hawthorne Ave. 

Free 

869-6737 

Water & the Shaping  

of California 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Sierra Club Book Shop 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Sue McClurg discusses the engineering feats, political decisions and popular opinion that reshaped California’s most vital resource. McClurg will present a slide-show and will be signing her book.  

658-7470 

Environmental Sampling  

Project Task Force  

6:30 p.m.  

First Congregational Church of Berkeley  

2345 Channing Way  

Discussions will include an update of the IFEU report by Nabil Al-Hadithy.  

Three Little Pigs  

3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets perform.  

Tai Chi for Seniors  

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Tai Chi master Mr. Chang. Free 

Sea Kayaking in the  

Bay Area and Baja 

7 p.m.  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Mitch Powers of Sea Trek Ocean Kayaking Center presents slides of some of his favorite paddling destinations and gives tips on selecting gear, paddling safety and planning trips. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Native American Heritage  

Celebration Dinner 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

International House 

UC Berkeley  

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Chef, Zachary Runningwolf will be supervising the preparation of Indian breads, pumpkins, and more. At 8 p.m., a cultural night will commence featuring arts & crafts, a drumming performance, and a fashion show.  

$8 dinner, $3 cultural night & performances  

Call 642-9460  

HVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning for beginners seminar taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Transportation Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Design Review Committee 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

2 x 2 Committee Meeting 

12:30 p.m. 

Executive Conference Room, 3rd Floor 

1900 Addison St.  

Discussions will include a presentation on parking at Berkeley High and a presentation by Jim Rousey on the Computer Technology Program. 

Friday, Nov. 17

Community Dance Party 

7:45 - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

Come learn to dance with easy instructions presented by the Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2; Adult Non-members $4 

Information: 525-3030  

California Energy Re-Structuring 

Luncheon served, 11:15 a.m.  

Speaker, 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Severin Borenstein, director at the UC Energy Institute will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon 

$1 general for speaker only, Free to students  

Call 848-3533  

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Housing Clinic for Seniors 

3 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A housing clinic with the East Bay Community Law Center. Free  

Saturday, Nov. 18

“Beneath Our Feet” 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

James Moore Theater  

1000 Oak St. 

Oakland  

This all-day conference involves Native Americans, archeologists, anthropologists, historians, naturalists, photographers, and sound artists, joining together to evoke a sense of the people of the East Bay and the landscape they have inhabited over the past ten thousand years. 

$12 - $27, lunch ($12) optional  

Call 636-1648  

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.  

Call: 415-255-3233 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educational and art video and film works. Featuring a number of local film makers. $8. Call 843-3699 

– compiled by  

Chason Wainright 

Zuni Fetish Show  

10 a.m. - 6 p.m.  

Gathering Tribes  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Fresh from a trip to Zuni, Janet & Diane from Beyond Tradition will have new fetishes and jewelry. This is the last fetish show of the year for Gathering Tribes.  

Call 528-9038 

Gospel on the Hill 

6:30 p.m. 

Sequoyah Community Church 

4592 Keller St.  

Oakland 

A free gospel performance concert featuring Ronny Mills, Inspired Voices, and Modavador G N Companee. Music starts at 7:30 p.m. Light dinner and refreshments for a nominal fee. 

Call 569-5060 

Some Sick Puppets  

1:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level) 

The award-winning educational puppet troupe, Kids on the Block, present a show featuring puppets with various medical conditions and cultural backgrounds. Sponsored by Children’s Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. Free  

Call Lucy, 549-1564 

Sunday, Nov. 19

Soprano Deborah Voigt 

Cal Performances  

3 p.m.  

Voigt’s performance is a postponment from her original Oct. 15 date. The program will remain unchanged. 

$28-$48 For tickets call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Pass It On! 

10 a.m. - Noon  

First Congregational Church of Oakland  

27th & Harrison  

Oakland 

Nina Serrano leads this workshop on how to tell stories to children in elementary schools and how to become a senior storyteller in the schools. Sponsored by Stagebridge of Oakland. 

Free to seniors, $5 general  

444-4755  

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 

“Give Thanks and Get Thanks” 

Berkeley Community Media 

2239 MLK Jr. Way  

This six hour auction, featuring items donated by local businesses, will raise funds for BCM operations and programming projects. BCM is on Channel 25.  

Call 848-2288 

“Drawing Marathon”  

Merritt College’s Art Building 

Live models, group poses.  

$12 for half a day, $20 for a full day, senior and student discounts available. No cameras or turpentine. 

523-9763 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educational and art video and film works. Featuring a number of Berkeley film makers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

Monday, Nov. 20

The Music of Israel 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the music of Israel, from the early pioneers of Palestine to the latest rock.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Rent Stabilization Board 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Next president must be caretaker of all life 

Editor: 

We, the people, have the great responsibility to be the caretakers of all life and species on this planet. 

In our lifetime, we have seen how our choices and actions effected our quality of living, not only for this generation but for generations to come.  

I’m talking about the quality of our air, water, and land. 

To whomever becomes the leader of this country, I sincerely hope that they carry the awareness for sustaining life. 

D. Fordice 

Berkeley 

Beth El proposal exceeds requirements 

Editor:  

I read with great interest your article about the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on Congregation Beth’s application to build a new synagogue, especially the part about the demands of opponents of the project related to Codornices Creek. 

The EIR acknowledges that Beth El plans to exceed all legal requirements by substantially improving the neglected banks of the creek and the planting on them, going far beyond what any other private property owners in the area have done.  

But the project’s opponents are demanding much more. They want the congregation to “daylight” the underground section of the creek, making two-thirds of the property unbuildable. 

This despite the following facts, confirmed by the EIR: The creek is twenty-seven feet deep on Beth El’s property. Some of it is above ground, and the remainder has been underground for decades and is invisible from outside the site. In addition, fish experts agree that barriers above and below Beth El’s property would prevent fish from migrating through this part of Codornices Creek, even if all dirt were removed.  

No other private institution, homeowner or business located over or near this or any other local creek has been required to take such drastic action, virtually destroying their ability to use their property.  

My question is, “Why do some people feel it is appropriate to apply this extra-legal standard only to a synagogue when no law, even in the environmentally sensitive city of Berkeley, mandates such an action?  

Patty & Peter Coffin 

Berkeley 

Bus service is just very bad news 

Editor: 

I want to report that the bus service was very bad the week of Oct. 30. Not only on the Number 7 line that I use, but on various lines.  

On Monday no bus came leaving downtown to Rockridge at 2:09 p.m.. When a rider mentioned this to the driver, he replied that his bus was going to the garage after Rockridge so there wouldn’t be another one.  

On Friday, I overheard a Number 7 rider ask the Number 43 bus driver what had happened to the Number 7 bus. She had been waiting since 1 p.m. and it was now 4 p.m.  

I went to Berkeley Bowl and decided to take the Number 6 bus to 

Claremont and Ashby instead of trying to connect with the 7. No number six bus came for 45 minutes! Now it was at 4:45 p.m.  

When I got home I was told that a Number 7 bus was left at Rockridge. No relief driver came, so the previous one left. 

My point is this: This had been happening all week. Although we experience occasional missing buses from the printed schedule, this past week was phenomenal. Where is the news coverage? 

Now the Number 51 line on College is about 4 blocks away, however many people who live on the 7 line are elderly and cannot walk up the hill, on Derby St., especially if they have packages to carry.  

Have you taken a ride on the Number 72 bus? It is very uncomfortable. The metal seats are small.  

I know that we can’t ask for comfort but this goes beyond the “whatever can I say” disaster.  

Edie Wright 

Berkeley 

Developer should respect existing limits 

Editor: 

In a meeting that lasted till 2 in the morning, the Berkeley zoning adjustments board denied the request for a variance submitted by Patrick 

Kennedy for his massive 4-plus story, 1/2 block wide monolith, a mixed-use retail and apartment building at 2700 San Pablo Avenue.  

It wasn’t for lack of the permit officials were trying to keep this proposal alive. Many members of the assembled board offered again and again and again numerous versions of extension for this variance request in a display of pampering Mr. Kennedy’s representative that, while may be common these days, still infuriated the Berkeley residents who are local to this project and could expect no such helpful coaching.  

The essential question raised by myself and other residents who will be literally in the shadow of this behemoth was, “Why must he have the variance?”  

Why can’t Mr. Kennedy design a building for this corner that meets the current standards for this area and keeps with the established building heights?  

Speaking in favor of this project, representatives of Greenbelt Alliance praised the project for its high density of occupation but they too ignored the essential question of why this must be built in violation of established norms for the neighborhood to the extent it requires a variance from the city.  

The morning after, as we in the neighborhood of the project pulled ourselves out of bed and went to work baggy-eyed after the 2 a.m. cliffhanger hearing, the question “why does he need a variance?” is still unanswered. Mr. Kennedy’s representative presented this project to Board and residents alike as a take-it-or-else deal.  

This is the project, this is how it’s got to be built, period.  

In rebuttal remarks the Kennedy representative wrote off all neighborhood concerns as either residents proclaiming “Not-In-My-Back-Yard” or painting us as blindly resisting the development for the sake of resistance.  

For me, this was the most chilling moment of the evening. The essence of his speech was “Things change and you just have to accept it,” reminding me far too much of Douglass Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide 

to the Galaxy; Arthur Dent asking “What are the alternatives?” the bulldozer supervisor Mr. Prosser shouting “There aren’t any alternatives.”  

It is expected that Mr. Kennedy will appeal this denial of variance to the City Council. My neighbors and I expect to be at that meeting too and, who knows, we might even get Kennedy to answer the original question: Why can’t he build without breaking the neighborhood standards and zoning, and how can we convince him to try. 

Edwin Allen Bish II  

Berkeley  

Cities need to unite to make university adhere to local rules 

Editor: 

These remarks, slightly edited, were presented to the Planning Commission at their Wednesday, November 8 meeting on the Draft General Plan, with specific reference to the proposals for the City of Berkeley’s position in relation to the University of California: 

“The draft [General Plan] refers to “Measure N,” passed by the voters in 1988, which states that the University of California should adhere to City laws and pay taxes. 

Each of the four actions that the draft proposes is commendable. However, the first three are essentially just a wish list. Only Action D., “Seek State legislation that would require UC to conform to local land use policies and processes,” is strong enough to result in any positive benefit to the City of Berkeley. 

As the draft acknowledges, for many years the city and its citizens have been bowing ever more deeply under the burden of the University’s inexorable growth. For more than a decade, I have been witnessing first hand the incursion of that institution into our neighborhoods as well as the downtown.  

We all know that more and more properties are being acquired, either by purchase or by lease, which properties disappear from our tax rolls. We all see our taxes increasing, due in part to the ever-greater demands for services supplied free of charge to the growing University.  

And we all walk or ride on City streets that are chewed up by the construction vehicles supplying the university without surcease. 

None of this will change simply by hoping to “share” some information and have some pleasant talks with University representatives.  

The only hope we have for change is by changing the State law itself. This must be done and the General Plan must make clear that Berkeley will join forces with other cities that are also negatively affected by the ever-greater encroachments of the university.  

You enumerate Santa Barbara and Davis as cities with which to “share” (concerns, problems, ideas). The mayor of Santa Cruz is known to have stated that concrete action must be taken.  

Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and West Los Angeles should be added to the list.  

These cities can and must eventually rally together -- and soon -- as a powerful unit with the objective of changing State law that exempts the University of California from any local oversight or responsibility. Because we are affected so directly and direly, Berkeley needs to be at the forefront and the General Plan must so state.  

Sharon Entwistle 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

Ghahndi says: First they ignore you. 

Then they laugh at you 

Then they fight you 

Then you win. 

In my view “they” are the Leadership of the Democratic Pary and the “you” are the progressives “they” abandoned. If you are progressive, hang in there. The fight is just beginning and we will win. 

While Demo’s are telling me that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush, the truth is, in Florida, a vote for Gore is a vote for Buchanan. 

Wiener says: It ain’t the winner that counts when the loser weighs as much as 1/2 the Voters in the US. Bush and Gore are still tied, but when the losers are declared, the declared losers better agree with the outcome. 

Harry Wiener 

South Berkeley  

Editor: 

Two thoughts: 

1. The pollsters were actually right. People said how they thought they had voted, and that would have given Gore the election. Technical problems with the ballots were not expected by anybody.  

2. People who were used to voting separately for president and vice president, as we all did up until a few years ago, probably thought they were voting for Lieberman with the second punch. The fair settlement in Florida would be to count the double punched ballots and give both Buchanan and Gore a vote.  

Teddy Knight 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

The Berkeley Planning Commission has made a serious mistake by proposing to remove the cultural use height bonus from the Berkeley General Plan. 

Under current city plan, a project in downtown Berkeley can gain up to two floors of additional height, including up to ten thousand square feet of use by cultural organizations. The cultural user must be on the third floor. And although the city does not set any standard for rent to cultural users, any developer willing to build such space generally must offer below market rent in order to attract arts organizations.  

The Planning Commission has proposed eliminating this bonus just as it is beginning to be utilized and the programs benefits are beginning to be felt.  

After a dearth of new construction in Berkeley during the early ‘90s, developers are now putting new projects before the city. One project already has made use of the height bonus, with two or three more projects in the works. As a result, each of those buildings will become a much needed home to an arts organization while also adding otherwise unachievable floors for housing. Tenants and artists are both winners.  

Throughout the Bay Area, artists and arts organizations are losing their spaces as rents skyrocket. In fact, San Francisco just established a $1.5 million emergency fund to subsidize artist rents.  

It is ironic that just as Berkeley is being recognized as a community that takes pride in our cultural resources, the planning commission would undermine these efforts by eliminating the only existing incentive that encourages cultural development.  

Susan Medak 

Managing Director  

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

647-2900 

Editor:  

On behalf of the 300 people who use the south pool, thanks to BUSD and to the city of Berkeley. A large number of pool users are not residents of Berkeley; the county, Oakland and other towns should contribute to the effort to make the pool functional and pleasant. 

While the pool committee has helped to improve the pool, much remains to be done. The following is a partial list: 

This last week, Oct. 23 - 29, the water in the showers was cold for several days in spite of appeals. Also, towels, tissue, and soap were not available in the male restroom near the north pool for several days, in spite of appeals.  

As an architect who has seen gym plans from decades past, I am aware that at least two water closets (toilets) and half the urinal spaces once there, have been removed. More fixtures in the new building would be good, or at least extra space for future fixtures.  

Graffiti was painted over last week, but it was not urgent, in the way that hot water, tissue, and towels are urgent, in my view. In this restroom, in years past, hasty painting has done more harm than good, damaging sinks, tile walls, urinals, and tile floors. In the meantime, several dirt-smudged doors are never washed off, a simple five minute job.  

I detect hints of low-grade urban warfare, but at the same time a third to half of the kids on campus may find that one small, neglected restroom is useful on any given school day. If the school board had to use that restroom, would it be as it is for long?  

It seems obvious that the restroom needs attention at least two times a day, with it’s use by over one thousand students. The excellent custodians, with whom the committee discussed these matters two years ago, may no longer be able to work there before mid-afternoon each school day, for a variety of reasons. More staff is needed, as is well known.  

A big puddle on the north pool room floor today, after the long rain yesterday, makes me think that perhaps water is backing up through the roof drain outlet and through the wall at the southwest corner. Yesterday, I took a snapshot of the overflowing collector box on top of the rainwater leader on the outside wall at this location.  

A number of decisions, quite important to pool users, have been made “unilaterally,” with little or no input from pool users (that I’m aware of). These may include:  

1. Newly instituted “football Thursdays,” for Vista users, which means that for several days in Sept. and Oct. the pool is not available. This is a new disruption to swim program this year.  

2. Swim hours have been removed on Sundays.  

3. The pool has been closed twice due to contractor errors. The water was interrupted a few months ago and a broken water supply line this fall let mud into the line. 

4. The pool closed twice recently due to minor equipment malfunctioning. 

5. Because of “football Fridays,” the pool has been closed five days this year. This year, it was meaningless to do so because no on-site parking was available for the bulk of football watchers. Also the teams have exclusive use rights of two full lockers and the locker rooms and showers. This constitutes virtually the entire gym’s first floor. I find this absurd, selfish, unjustifiable, and rude. 

6. Access to the lockers was taken away with virtually no discussion with pool users.  

7. The agreement to clean restrooms every afternoon, made two years ago, has gradually eroded during the last year. 

8. Small but easy cleaning chores have been ignored for years (moss on walls and dirty, kicked doors) 

9. Occasionally, some perceived resentment has been noted when suggestions and requests are made of the aquatics department. 

10. Requests for entry through the gym to pool on the weekend of Sept. 9 & 10, was approved and then canceled. One of the two ever-present lifeguards could have admitted swimmers every 20 minutes to maintain locked security at the gym perimeter. Discussions with the aquatics department seemed somewhat irrational.  

11. Parking was taken away for a number of weeks, and appeals to the city for substitute parking was tabled. Finally, we were told that no action was possible. Meanwhile, many people stopped using the pool. 

12. Ten of nineteen spaces now marked for disabled use after four p.m. need signs in place before they can be enforced by police.  

13. MOU is in the hands of BUSD to finalize, and no movement can take place until BUSD facility planning and the superintendent approve. This new lease arrangement will allow the city to oversee more repairs and maintenance.  

14. The gate was locked on Saturday, Oct. 7 so no parking was available on-site.  

15. The gate was also locked on a prior Sunday and I had to chase down someone to let us all in.  

16. The gate was locked a third time, on a Saturday, and we had to wait for security to let us in. Some people went home, assuming we had been forgotten. 

Undoubtedly, we all appreciate the letter to the editor from Mr. Rene Cardinaux published on Sept. 12, explaining alternatives to car use. The car, though, is a reliable, private, quick, convenient, cost-effective, safe, familiar method for all but a few of us to get around.  

Vans often leave people stranded in the wind and rain, waiting to get in the door or to be picked up. I took a picture of three people standing in the rain yesterday. I invited them to sit in my car. 

Many items may seem relatively trivial to highly active, normal people, who do a thousand things every day. But, over time they accumulate and loom heavily over us.  

Lacking is a sympathetic pool manager who is there each day for an hour or two to work, make adjustments, visit with pool users, and really take care of problems. We only see lifeguards who, though sympathetic, have frequently been heard remarking that the responsibilities lie elsewhere.  

Terry [Tim] Cochrell 

Architect 

Berkeley 

527-6665 

Instead of grabbing a sandwich and heading for the lawns at lunchtime on Tuesday, many of UC Berkeley’s law students took their brown bags and bottled water and headed for Booth Auditorium at Boalt Law School.  

The reason: to hear three of their professors discuss the legal issues surrounding last week’s presidential election and the Florida recount. 

The professors, Jesse Choper, John Yoo and Philip Frickey discussed topics they felt the media haven’t covered such as the laws in Florida that will shape the outcome of the recount, and how the electoral college works.  

“I liked it when they quoted the statutes because it helped me see what the law actually says about the recount and until now I haven’t really known,” said second year law student Tim Worrall. 

Choper quoted two conflicting statutes that apply to the recount in Florida neither of which, he said, have received much play in the media. 

The first states that the county canvassing board shall file results immediately after certification. If not, such returns may be ignored. This statute, 102.112, leaves up to the discretion of the Secretary of State the question of whether the 5 p.m. deadline to turn in hand counts is the final deadline. 

“He or she may ignore the counts or may certify them,” Choper said. 

The second statute stands in direct conflict with the first. It states that if the count is not received by deadline all votes shall be ignored. 

“This plays badly for those who are impatient,” Choper said. “We need to let the Florida law run it’s course.”  

The question of what happens if Florida does not certify its votes was answered by professor John Yoo. 

“I will try to be partisan, arbitrary, but be definitive,” he quipped as he took the microphone.  

If the vote of the electorate is set aside, the president will have to be elected by a majority of the House of Representatives, he said. 

If that ended with a tie, the vote would go to the senate. If there was a tie vote in the Senate, Al Gore would cast the deciding vote. And if Gore recused himself the Constitution says the statute that determines who takes office in the case of the death of the president should be followed – that would be the Speaker of the House.  

The panelists also addressed the accuracy of counting the vote. 

“We will never know who won the popular vote,” Choper said. “The media reports that the manufacturer of the vote counting machine said that there is a 10 percent error factor. We won’t have a totally accurate vote count. Not in Florida and not in the country.” 

Student Jeff Schwartz said that he doesn’t think we should ever move to abolish the electoral college. 

“I think it would be a really bad idea. It would mean that the president was elected by big cities. Regional issues would be ignored. It’s just not a good idea.” 

Choper ended by saying he thought that the winner would ultimately be decided through politics. 

“It’s politics and politics are going to decide it. All a lawyer can do is inform the court in the best way they can,” he said, concluding, “I don’t think it would be a bad idea to flip a coin.”

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — An American held hostage by Muslim rebels for 2 1/2 months in a Philippine jungle said Tuesday he is being kept in chains, has an infection in his leg, and is losing hope he will be released. 

Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim convert from Oakland, California, said in a radio interview that he was able to survive military bombings and shellings of the rebel group “by the grace of Allah.” 

Schilling, 24, said the Abu Sayyaf rebels holding him traveled at night to escape pursuing military troops. He said no doctors were available to treat his infected leg and he had no more medicines. 

“I am suffering from ulcers, fatigue and depression,” he said. “They force me to walk night and day. They keep me in chains.” 

Schilling said he was becoming “less and less optimistic every day.” 

The interview with the Radio Mindanao Network, conducted by cellular telephone, was Schilling’s first in more than a month. He said the rebels had taken him away from Jolo island, where he was seized after visiting an Abu Sayyaf rebel camp on Aug. 31, and could be in either nearby Tawi-Tawi or Basilan provinces. 

Thousands of troops attacked the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo on Sept. 16 in an attempt to rescue Schilling and 18 other hostages. Seventeen of the captives have either been rescued or escaped, leaving only Schilling and a Filipino, Roland Ulla, still in rebel hands. 

Abu Sabaya, leader of the rebel faction holding Schilling, threatened to kidnap more Americans if the U.S. government does not negotiate for Schilling’s release. 

“If the American government is interested in the release of Mr. Schilling, they should send a negotiator,” he said in the same radio interview. “Otherwise, there will be a big problem for the interests of American citizens in the Philippines because Jeffrey is just the start.” 

The U.S. State Department has said the Philippine government is responsible for negotiating Schilling’s release. 

In a telephone conversation with the U.S. Embassy more than a month ago, Schilling said the rebels were demanding $10 million for his release, officials said. 

Military spokesman Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias said the military believes the rebels are still holding Schilling on Jolo. “We have reports that Sabaya’s group and the American are still in the province,” he said. “The rebels are moving from one place to another to avoid detection by the military.” 

Ulla, the longest-held hostage, was seized in April along with 20 other tourists and workers from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan and brought to Jolo, about 950 kilometers (595 miles) south of Manila. The rebels later abducted scores of other hostages. 

The other Sipadan hostages were released in separate groups in exchange for more than $15 million in ransom, hostage negotiators said. 

The Berkeley Fire Department was called to Berkeley High School to investigate a report claiming that the someone had smelled smoke in one of the buildings At about 9:20 a.m. Tuesday, said Deputy Fire Chief Debra Pryor. 

Pryor said the origin of the smoke was determined to be a burnt piece of paper outside a second story window. She said she did not know in what building the event took place. 

Then again at about 12:20 p.m. Tuesday a “technical arson” took place at the high school. 

Lt. Russell Lopes of the Berkeley Police Department, said someone had apparently broken open a paper towel dispenser in one of the restrooms and lit the towels on fire.  

Pryor confirmed that there was a small fire and that it was started in Portable 1 near the football field. She called both incidents “insignificant.” 

The fire in Portable 1 was put out by a staff member with a fire extinguisher and called in by phone.  

According to Pryor, police reports were filed but it had not been determined whether any suspects had been questioned or whether there were witnesses at press time.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations today announced that it has arrested a 38-year-old Oakland man suspected in a string of East Bay robberies. 

Bruce J. Gebhardt, special agent in charge of the FBI office in San Francisco, said that Curtis Harvey was arrested without incident around 8:45 a.m. today at a house in Crescent Street in Oakland where he was living. 

Gebhardt says FBI agents were looking for Harvey because they suspected he had committed six robberies, which took place from mid-July to  

early October. 

Harvey allegedly robbed a California Savings and Loan in San Ramon on July 17; a West One Credit Union in Pleasanton on July 20; a Bay Cities Credit Union in San Leandro on Aug. 23; a University and State Employees Credit Union in Berkeley on Sept. 6; a World Savings Bank in Oakland on Sept. 30; and again a San Ramon California Savings and Loan on Oct. 7. 

According to Gebhardt, witnesses in the robberies said that Harvey entered the banks alone, vaulted over the counters and grabbed money from teller drawers before he fled.  

On at least one occasion, a teller was pushed aside, Gebhardt said.

Founding Director of Partners in Health, with branches in Haiti, Mexico, Cambodia, Peru, and Roxbury (Mass.), Dr. Paul Farmer will be speaking in Berkeley tonight. 

“We need to oppose this push for lower standards of care for the poor. We are physicians. Equity is the only acceptable goal,” Farmer said. 

As a medical student in the mid-1980s, Farmer witnessed the death of three young adults in central Haiti from readily treatable tuberculosis. This led him to make the disease the center of his medical expertise, and to bring the best medicine the United States has to offer to that region in Haiti.  

Farmer established a hospital in central Haiti that serves 1 million of the poorest people in the Americas. Farmer works as a doctor at the hospital eight months of the year.  

He is also head of a program in Infectious Disease and Social Change at the Harvard Medical School. Farmer, also an anthropologist, is also the chief consultant on tuberculosis in Russian prisons for the World Bank (unpaid, at his insistence). 

He is the author of Infectious Inequalities: The Modern Plagues and editor of Women, Poverty and AIDS; his other books include: The Uses of Haiti and AIDS and Accusation.  

He will be speaking today at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Donation is $5-15. For information, call 558-0371.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court considered Tuesday whether cities such as San Francisco can demand that city contractors offer health and other benefits to domestic partners of unmarried workers. 

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not indicate how it would rule during 90 minutes of oral arguments in two closely watched cases. But the cases, brought by the airline industry and an Ohio contractor, barely focused on gay and lesbian issues. 

Instead, they centered on intricate legal points such as regulation of interstate commerce and federal pre-emption. The issue boiled down to whether San Francisco, or the federal government, has the authority to tell companies what benefits they must offer to employees. 

The suits were sparked after an ordinance adopted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was implemented in 1997. It required companies that contract with the city to provide unmarried couples with the same benefits they grant to married couples. 

The ordinance affected the 28 airline carriers at San Francisco International Airport, who lease land from the city, and an untold number of contractors that perform a hodgepodge of work for the city. 

Last year, a federal judge sided largely against a suit brought by the airline industry challenging the nation’s first such ordinance. Following U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken’s ruling, the cities of Seattle and Los Angeles adopted similar measures. 

More are expected to follow if the court upholds San Francisco’s ordinance, said Jennifer C. Pizer, managing attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc. 

“Everybody’s watching this,” said Pizer, who noted that hundreds of companies across the nation offer domestic partner benefits. 

Wilken ruled that the airlines must provide the same fare discounts, family leave and bereavement leave to domestic partners as to married couples working in San Francisco. 

The judge excluded health and pension benefits, saying the federal government has jurisdiction for the airline industry.  

After an appeals court declined to block Wilken’s decision, several airlines began offering the same benefits to domestic partners as they do to married couples. They include United Airlines, U.S. Air, Federal Express and American Airlines. 

Wilken also dismissed a suit brought by electronics firm S.D. Myers of Tallmadge, Ohio, which was disqualified from a San Francisco project because it did not afford the same benefits to its domestic partner employees as it did to married ones. 

Lawyers for that firm, funded in part by televangelist Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice, stayed away from the hot-button gay rights issue. 

The company’s lawyer, Kevin Theriot, said San Francisco’s ordinance impacts interstate commerce and therefore should be nullified.  

He said the company should not have to offer the domestic-partner benefits to any of its 370-member work force in Ohio because it wants to contract work in San Francisco. 

“It has nothing to do with the performance of the contract,” he said to the three judges. 

But in a statement, Jay Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice chief counsel, said the ordinance “undermines the institution of marriage and conflicts with the moral values of most Americans.” 

In the airlines case, Brendan Dolan, who represented the Air Transport Association of America, a consortium of airlines, said the federal government can only dictate how airlines should function. 

“An ordinance which sets a lease or permit term ... is pre-empted,” Dolan told the judges. 

Judge Johnnie Rawlinson noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently expanded states rights and asked, “Is your view consistent with an emerging view of pre-emption?” 

Dennis Aftergut, chief assistant city attorney for San Francisco, dismissed Dolan’s contention and said the ordinance in question is similar to cities’ rights to limit airlines’ noise and congestion. 

“We have an interest in distancing ourselves from discrimination,” Aftergut told the judges in one of the few courtroom comments addressing morality. 

The panel did not say when it would rule. 

The cases are Air Transport Association of America vs. San Francisco, C97-01763CW, and S.D. Myers vs. San Francisco, 97-04463CW.

While Florida struggles with hand counts and “hanging chad,” several counties around the Bay area are saying easy-to-use touch-screen voting computers eliminate many Election Day problems. 

Election officials say the computers, which were used for the first time in Alameda County and San Mateo counties this year and brought back for the second and third times in Marin and Monterey counties, are easy to use.  

Furthermore, they don't allow voting mistakes like those plaguing ballot counts in Florida as the nation waits for a presidential winner to be determined. 

Approximately 6,400 voters used the touch-screen voting machines in Monterey County, where more than 20 were available at two shopping centers and some county and city offices in the weeks before the election. The terminals offered both English and Spanish. 

Elsewhere, around 3,000 voters used the touch screens at registrar offices in Alameda County in English, Spanish and Chinese. San Mateo and Marin counties offered only a few machines at registrars' offices. 

Peter Wendt, information systems coordinator for the Monterey County Elections Department, said the computers let voters know right away if they mistakenly vote for two candidates. 

“This is the third election we’ve used them,” he said, “and the public really likes them because it's a lot easier to vote. If people make a mistake, they can just correct it instead of asking for a new ballot, and they can't overvote,” he said. 

Elaine Ginnold of the Alameda County Department of Elections echoed Wendt's assessment. 

“The voters just loved it,” she said. “It certainly seems like a more modern way to do things. I voted on a touch screen in our office and it was very simple.” 

Counting the votes is equally straightforward. Results are compiled as they come in on the computer, and saved on a disk as well as on the hard drive. 

“The count was pretty easy,” Ginnold said. “At 8 o'clock, all we had to do was take the disk and upload it at the counting site. With paper ballots, just getting the ballots ready to count takes an hour.” 

The new system still has some weak points, of course. Votes still need to get from the polling place to counting sites, and some have noted that the machines don't provide paper ballots against which to check disputed results.  

The greatest drawback to the touch-screen machines, however, and the reason we probably won’t see them everywhere at the next election, is cost.  

The machines cost $3,100 a piece, according to Ginnold, and buying enough for all of Alameda County alone would cost around $13 million. 

Potentially, however, the machines could be worth the cost. 

“The initial expense is quite high, but they pay for themselves,” Wendt said. “We wouldn’t have to print ballots, and on Election Day it would save labor because you wouldn't need people to count.”

FRESNO — A handful of Central Valley farmers filed into a meeting hall Tuesday to tell state and federal agricultural officials what the nation’s farming priorities should be. 

The California Department of Food and Agriculture hosted the public meeting to hear what the state’s farmers want included in the next federal farm law. The current law is set to expire in 2002. 

The law establishes the nation’s agricultural regulations, including federal subsidies, buyout programs, loan assistance and import and export rules. 

To prepare for the next round of Congressional negotiations that will lead to the 2002 law, CDFA officials are holding nine public meetings across the state over the next four months to gauge the public’s mood on a variety of agricultural issues. 

“These meetings will help California to play a pivotal role in developing this important federal legislation,” CDFA Secretary Bill Lyons told the crowd of about 50 farmers and farm group representatives who gathered Tuesday morning at the Fresno County fairground auditorium. 

The last version of the law was signed in 1996 and was designed to phase out government support programs and ease U.S. farmers into world markets. A sharp decline in commodity prices followed in 1998. 

The price decline led Congress to approve billions in special farm assistance for three years in a row. As a result, direct government payments to farmers are expected to exceed $23 billion this year, three times the 1996 level. Farmers at the Fresno meeting focused the bulk of their comments on animal and plant health problems, farmland conservation, international and domestic markets, agricultural research, farm loan and crop insurance programs. 

“Under the last farm bill, we went into a period of globalization and free trade and what we’ve seen is a tremendous downturn in the agricultural economy,” said Joaquin Contente, a dairyman from Hanford. 

Many farmers at the meeting complained that prices for everything from alfalfa to dairy products to citrus has dropped to the lowest levels they can remember. 

The next farm law should somehow address the subsidies foreign governments pay to their farmers and should prepare the country for the next round of World Trade Organization negotiations, said Shirley Batchman, a spokeswoman for California Citrus Mutual, a growers’ group. 

Also, Congress should fully fund the nation’s pest detection and exclusion program, Batchman said. 

“(The USDA) has gotten away from what their original intent was – the protection of domestic U.S. agriculture,” she said. 

California’s agricultural officials announced at the meeting that they have joined forces with their counterparts in New Mexico, Florida, Arizona and Texas. Each state is holding similar public meetings and will establish a list of priorities the coalition, dubbed NFACT, has agreed should be included in the 2002 farm law. 

The five states hold 27 percent of Congressional representatives and account for 26 percent of total U.S. agricultural output. 

“The idea was to find areas of common interest and present them to Congress,” said CDFA spokesman Steve Lyle. 

PASADENA — A policeman claims he was illegally fired for writing a novel alleging sexual abuse and corruption within his department. 

Naum Ware filed a claim with the city last week seeking unspecified damages for wrongful termination, discrimination and emotional distress. He can pursue a lawsuit if the claim is rejected. 

The 42-year-old Ontario man said he wants his job back. 

“You took a man’s job for no reason after 23 good years. I’ve done outstanding service for the city in numerous ways ... and this is my reward,” he said. 

“At this point, we would not have anything further to say about this personnel issue,” police Cmdr. Mary Schander said Tuesday. 

City Attorney Michele Beal Bagneris said the city had not studied the claim in depth. 

Ware was fired on July 17 after self-publishing his book, “The Rose Garden,” which was billed as offering “tales of indecency, theft, spousal abuse, disrespect, promiscuity, rape” among officers. 

The book uses fictional names, except for that of Police Chief Bernard Melekian. 

It describes a force in which one officer is caught soliciting Hollywood prostitutes, another tears up traffic citations for sexual favors and a sergeant rapes a cadet at a police station. 

Melekian suspended Ware earlier this year, saying derogatory comments in the book about women and gays called into question Ware’s impartiality and professionalism. 

Ware’s written discharge said the book contained 12 slurs, including references to some female officers as “little tramps” and gays as “abnormal” people who choose “to change the course of nature.” 

One chapter is titled, “Gays of Our Lives” and says that in recent years, the “Pasadena PD looks more like the San Francisco PD.” 

Ware said he had every right to write the book. 

“It’s free speech and it’s well protected by the First Amendment,” he said. 

At the time of his suspension, Ware’s police union attorney said the officer had not shown any bias on duty. 

SACRAMENTO — Nearly two years after he took office, and days after voters approved a sweeping drug treatment initiative, Gov. Gray Davis appointed his first director of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. 

Meanwhile Tuesday, backers of the Proposition 36 initiative threatened to sue Davis if he doesn’t immediately release $60 million for drug treatment authorized by voters a week ago. 

Davis appointed Kathryn Jett to head the department and oversee implementation of the ballot measure, which requires the state to treat a projected 36,000 drug users each year instead of sending them to prison or jail. 

“He’d rather make the right choice than the hasty choice,” Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean said in explaining the delay in making the appointment. 

Jett, 47, is director of the attorney general’s Crime and Violence Prevention Center, and chairs the executive committee of the nonpartisan Crime Prevention Coalition of America. Previously she was head of the Department of Health Services’ Office of Women’s Health. 

She’ll be paid $123,255 in her new job. The appointment is subject to state Senate confirmation. 

Drug treatment providers have complained that a series of acting directors left the agency rudderless. 

“There’s no voice for drug and alcohol programs speaking for the administration,” William Demers, president of the County Alcohol and Drug Program Administrators Association of California, said before Jett’s appointment. “Without a director, we’ve gotten no answers from anybody on anything from the administration.” 

That, and a shortfall in treatment funding, helped prompt Proposition 36, said campaign manager Dave Fratello of the California Campaign for New Drug Policies. 

“His inaction or disinterest, or some combination thereof, was why we felt we needed to go through the initiative, to kick start the process,” Fratello said. 

Davis’ Health and Human Services Agency made sure the department stayed on track without a permanent director, responded McLean. 

T. Maria Caudill, a department deputy director, said Davis showed his commitment by including $18 million for drug courts and $34 million for youth treatment and drug prevention programs in this year’s budget. 

The department’s budget has grown from $376.5 million to $526.8 million over the last two years, and from $347.7 million five years ago. 

However, treatment funding has barely increased under Davis, said Chuck Deutschman, who heads Contra Costa County’s treatment programs and preceded Demers as state association president. 

“If you control for inflation, if you control for changing demographics, it was really a decrease,” Deutschman said. 

In that regard, Fratello threatened legal action if Davis does not immediately release $60 million into a new Substance Abuse Treatment Trust Fund created by Proposition 36. 

The measure specifies that the $60 million should be released “upon passage of this act,” but McLean, Caudill and a spokesman for Davis’ Finance Department said they are reviewing the proposition’s requirements as part of their preparation of Davis’ 2001-02 budget proposals, which will be unveiled in January. 

“You know how this process works –he (Davis) doesn’t just write a check,” said McLean. 

County probation departments and treatment providers need the money now, not in six weeks, as they rush to prepare for the first drug offenders who will be sentenced to treatment programs in July, said Fratello.

A consumer watchdog group has criticized Pacific Bell for taking too long to repair residential customers’ phone lines, according to a recent complaint filed with state regulators. 

The Office of Ratepayer Advocates, the watchdog arm of the California Public Utilities Commission, said Pacific Bell took an average of 38 hours last year to repair phone lines. 

The group said the delays have grown since SBC Communications of Texas took over Pacific Bell in 1997. In 1996, repairs averaged 29 hours from the time customers reported a problem to when it was fixed. 

In 1997 and 1998, the group said Pacific Bell took an average of 47 to 50 hours to complete repairs. During the first six months of 2000, the company has taken nearly 45 hours on average to fix phone lines, though company spokesman John Britton said bad weather at the start of the year make repairs take longer. 

“We are providing good customer service,” Britton said. “They are taking selective data out of context.” 

The watchdog group said state regulators should order Pacific Bell to guarantee it will provide repair service within a certain time, and give customers a credit if they miss it. The group added that regulators should fine Pacific Bell if it routinely takes too long and audit the company’s records to make sure it is fully disclosing customer complaints about service. 

A San Diego consumer group, the Utility Consumers Action Network, sued Pacific Bell in a similar complaint. 

LOS ALAMITOS — Three students accused of supplying drugs to three students who overdosed in class have been expelled from Los Alamitos Unified School District, officials said. The three students who overdosed on Soma, a prescribed muscle relaxant, also were suspended. 

“It’s something we take very seriously. Whatever decisions were made were in the best interest of the students and the school sites,” school board President Del Clark said Monday after the expulsions were announced. 

The overdoses occurred Oct. 18. One student, a 17-year-old senior, passed out in class and was hospitalized, said police Capt. Todd Mattern. Two other students displayed similar symptoms and were treated and released, he said. 

The three expelled students, ages 15 to 17, were suspected of supplying the drug.  

Police reportedly recovered hundreds of pills at the home of one of the students. 

The Orange County district attorney’s office is considering pursuing criminal charges. 

All six students, whose names were not released, were cited for violating an education code. 

RIVERSIDE — A man convicted of trying to kill the mayor, two council members and a policeman during a shooting spree at City Hall must now attempt to convince the jury he was insane when he committed the crimes. 

Joseph Neale Jr., 50, was found guilty Monday of 12 counts of premeditated attempted murder. He had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In a sanity phase beginning Wednesday, the jurors who convicted him will contemplate whether he should go to prison or to a state hospital. 

Neale, a U.S. Postal Service worker who was reportedly angry over losing his job as a part-time chess coach at a city recreation center, entered a City Hall meeting room and began shooting on Oct. 6, 1998. 

After Neale had opened fire, calls from police outside the room drew him away from where the wounded mayor and several City Council members were trapped. Police shot and wounded the gunman through a blocked door and rescued the hostages. 

Mayor Ron Loveridge, Councilman Chuck Beaty, Councilwomen Laura Pearson and now-retired police Sgt. Wally Rice, one of the rescuers, all recovered from injuries. 

Councilman Chuck Beaty, who was the most seriously injured, dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief as the verdicts were read Monday. Retired Sgt. Wally Rice also rubbed his eyes and embraced Beaty. 

Deputy Public Defender Lawrence Fait said he was “terribly disappointed” in the verdicts. 

“It’s not over yet,” Fait added, referring to the sanity phase. “I have several doctors who are convinced he was insane at the time. You never give up hope.” 

Neale showed no visible signs of emotion as the verdicts were read, and occasionally wrote on a legal pad.  

Because there were so many charges and multiple findings of fact, the reading took 35 minutes. 

Supervising Deputy District Attorney William Mitchell had argued that Neale acted like a terrorist and planned to kill everyone in the room to bring nationwide attention to his belief that America poorly educates black children. 

Fait had sought to convince jurors that there was reasonable doubt that Neale intended to kill that day. Fait has said Neale only wanted to take the city leadership hostage so they would have to listen to him. 

Neale had filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city in 1995 blaming age and race for his firing as a chess coach. Neale is black. 

Testimony in the sanity phase is expected to last about a day. If Neale is found to have been insane at the time of the shootings, he would be sent to Patton State Hospital near San Bernardino for treatment. If not, he would face as many as 14 life terms in connection with the attack, and could be sentenced early next year. 

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors on Tuesday declined to file murder charges against a woman whose freezer contained human remains and whose elderly roommate is missing, since a preliminary autopsy proved inconclusive. 

Deputy District Attorney Philip Halpin said more investigation was needed. He added that Oregon officials plan to return Karen Huster to that state on a murder warrant and that there will be “ample time to complete the investigation here.” 

Halpin, with the county district attorney’s office, also said Huster claims she dissected her 73-year-old roommate after he died of a heart attack. 

Preliminary autopsy results on body parts found in Huster’s San Fernando Valley apartment failed to determine a cause of death or the identity of the victim. 

County coroner’s investigators are set to conduct further tissue analysis and examine toxicology results on the frozen remains. 

Huster, 41, was arrested Friday after the niece of her roommate found body parts in Huster’s freezer. 

Huster was booked and held without bail on a murder warrant out of Washington County, Ore., where a grand jury indicted her for allegedly murdering her 10-year-old daughter, Elisabeth. 

A Washington County detective believes Huster panicked after her roommate died of natural causes then cut up the body so the death would go undiscovered and Huster’s whereabouts would remain unknown to Oregon authorities. 

Washington County Detective John Stratford attended the Monday autopsy. 

“She was afraid of getting arrested on our outstanding warrant,” he said. 

Huster fled her Tigard, Ore., apartment in April, a few days before a grand jury handed down a murder indictment. Elisabeth’s body has never been found. 

Stratford said there was nothing in Huster’s apartment to indicate her daughter had been there. He also found no evidence of where the girl might be. 

Michael Huster reported his daughter, Elisabeth, missing in December 1996.  

Karen Huster was arrested in February 1997 and spent two years in prison for refusing to divulge Elisabeth’s whereabouts.  

She claims her daughter is with friends and family in California.

SANTA ANA — The state Department of Motor Vehicles reportedly took eight years to catch up with a convicted felon using aliases due in part to security lapses within the agency. 

Randall Clifton King, 44, allegedly obtained 83 licenses with numerous aliases, using plastic surgery and hair dye to alter his appearance over the years, according to DMV documents and police records obtained by The Orange County Register. 

Using internal documents and interviews with DMV investigators, the newspaper reported Tuesday that as many as 100,000 fraudulent licenses are issued each year. DMV management says the number is much lower. 

The report is part of the Register’s ongoing series examining the DMV. It has found serious security lapses with the DMV driver’s license application process, triggering a Senate Transportation Committee hearing Thursday to investigate the problem. 

DMV Director Steven Gourley told The Associated Press that the Kling case is proof it is doing its job. 

“We’re trying to get a stranglehold on crime over here. This guy was active and wandering for years before I ever took office. ... I think what this case shows is the perseverance of the DMV and the fed and every other state agency to crack down on these guys,” Gourley said Tuesday after reviewing the article. 

A review of the records by the Register shows the fraudulent licenses are often used by identity thieves, illegal immigrants and minor seeking licenses that say they are 21. 

But DMV spokesman Bill Branch disputed the newspaper’s findings, saying last year 27,481 fraud cases were reported, including 2,400 identity theft cases. 

Kling was arrested Oct. 18 in Folsom and faces trial next month on 17 counts of mail fraud in federal court in connection with the alleged driver’s license scheme. King’s attorney, Mary French, declined comment on the case. 

In 1992, Kling obtained 13 fraudulent licenses, including some through identity theft, internal DMV records show. He was arrested in 1993 for those crimes and sentenced to three years in state prison. 

But four years after Kling was released from prison, he allegedly secured 70 fraudulent licenses within four months during 1999, according to DMV records. 

Investigators say he dyed his hair and used glue, even hairspray, on his hands to alter his thumbprints or make them unreadable. 

“Licenses were sent to numerous addresses throughout the state,” said U.S. Postal Inspector Vicki Nelson. “He used the licenses as identification to open up checking accounts statewide. It was a statewide scheme.” 

DMV officials said they are now checking the identification of all Californians who apply for duplicate licenses to stop identity theft. A 1995 law, amended in 1999, requires the DMV checks. 

But the Register found that clerks frequently skip the step. 

Gourley said the checks were a “policy of the department and I have absolute faith in the employees.” 

The DMV is also now checking Social Security numbers of driver’s license applicants for the first time, making it more difficult to obtain fraudulent documents. 

But authorities say the reforms would not necessarily stop schemes similar to those allegedly used by Kling. 

“We need to take a fingerprint or retinal scan or DNA sample,” said Warner Raes, vice president of the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators and an Anaheim police detective. “We need something to link the human being with the document. It’s not enough to say, ‘Fill this out and give us a birth certificate.”’ 

Gourley agreed new technology was needed, but said it wasn’t the only solution. 

“I think everybody agrees until that technology is in place the bad guys are going to try to attack the system,” he said. “The key is to use every means we have available right now to stop it. I think we’re doing that.” 

SAN DIEGO — Wireless firm Qualcomm Inc. is going on a $500 million shopping spree to acquire stakes in emerging companies that use or promote its patented technology. 

The company has created a new venture capital fund, dubbed Qualcomm Ventures, that will make investments of about $2 million to $10 million in start-ups around the world, said Jeff Jacobs, senior vice president of business development for San Diego-based Qualcomm. 

Qualcomm has invested similar amounts over the last three years in about 15 companies, including three that since have gone public, but the creation of the investment fund formalizes its role as a promoter of wireless technology, Jacobs said Tuesday. 

“We are now going to go out and market our investment capability,” he said. 

Qualcomm has set aside a total of $500 million over four years for the investments. The company will purchase stakes of no more than 20 percent and will take only an advisory role in the operations of the start-ups. 

Investments will target companies that either directly use or promote Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, technology in wireless communications and Internet applications, Jacobs said. 

Qualcomm, which had sales of $2.8 billion in fiscal year 2000, generates much of its income from the sales of chips and royalties based on CDMA technology.

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday ordered staff to come up with a plan to remove chromium 6 and other impurities from dozens of water wells. 

In a unanimous vote, the Board of Supervisors gave the Department of Public Works 30 days to report on mitigation plans and on the effects of limiting or discontinuing the use of the tainted wells. 

Recent testing of 44 county wells supplying drinking water showed levels of chromium 6 up to 88 times the suggested state limit. The tests were ordered after high levels of the suspected carcinogen were found in tap water at 110 county government facilities 

“It is vital that the public is informed on the impurities in their tap water and that agencies responsible for our water have purification programs in place,” Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who authorized the motion, said in a statement announcing the vote. 

Chromium 6 was made famous by the film “Erin Brockovich.” The state has no specific health standard for chromium 6. 

Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation last month that gives the state Department of Health Services until January 2002 to determine the threat of chromium 6 throughout the state and to issue a report to the governor and Legislature. 

On Monday, state water regulators meeting in Glendale released a list of 142 places in and near the San Fernando Valley that may be sources of chromium 6 contamination. 

They include metal plating firms, aircraft parts manufacturers, jewelry, chrome-plating and etching companies. NBC Studios in Burbank and the Los Angeles Equestrian Center also are on the list. 

Some properties were included because, in the past, they had been investigated for other forms of pollution. 

Site owners were sent a letter on Nov. 8 by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board, asking for voluntary information on how they use and dispose of the carcinogen. Another 80 to 100 companies are expected to receive the surveys later. 

The idea is to pinpoint the sources of contamination so that polluters can be ordered to clean it up. 

“It’s the first step of the process,” said H. David Hahai, board chairman. 

Next year, staff will review the surveys and determine which property owners and companies may be told to test their soil and groundwater for chromium 6, said Dennis Dickerson, the board’s executive director. 

Meanwhile, chromium 6 has been found in water found under the Mojave Desert that is being considered as a future storage space for Southern California’s drinking water. 

The level in water from the aquifer on the eastern edge of San Bernardino County is lower than the level now considered dangerous by state authorities but higher than a revised standard under consideration. 

The Metropolitan Water District, which serves six Southern California counties, wants to dig wells on desert land owned by Santa Monica-based Cadiz Inc. Surplus water from the Colorado River would be stored in the aquifer during wet years and water would be withdrawn in dry years.

California Assemblyman Abel Maldonado is among legions of politicians, campaign workers, academics and businessmen whose futures may depend on the presidential election’s outcome.  

Maldonado, who drew one of the flashiest speaking slots at the GOP convention the night of George W. Bush’s nomination and campaigned urging Latinos to vote for him – is hoping for a job in a Bush administration.  

“Everybody has got their eyes on Florida,” Maldonado said of the state whose contested results hold the key to the next president.  

Declining to discuss his job prospects, he added, “I’m the son of two Hispanic field workers. To even hear that I would be considered is an honor.”  

Even in an ordinary election year, guessing who will win Cabinet slots and about 6,700 other political appointments is an intense and unpredictable parlor game.  

But the unresolved election keeps shuffling the deck before inauguration in mid- January, making supporters of Bush and Democratic Vice President Al Gore even more reluctant to discuss the possibilities.  

“It would be rank speculation,” said Lindsey Kozberg, spokeswoman for the Bush campaign in California. “It would also be somewhat premature.”  

Hundreds of the posts require Senate confirmation. Beyond those high-profile slots are thousands of jobs – many of them deputy such-and-suches and assistant so-and-sos – that campaign loyalists would typically queue up for by now.  

But the election has postponed the flood of resumes.  

“You've got a lot of people who worked in your campaign who say, ‘I want my reward,’” said Lyn Nofziger, who arrived in Washington as political director for then-President Reagan, who brought the last big wave of Californians to the White House. “There is a sense of urgency. You really don’t have a lot of time.”  

Bush and Gore partisans expect Golden State candidates to be featured prominently in the next administration.  

“Our state is a Kentucky Derby barn full of appointments,” said Bob Mulholland, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, declining to name names.  

One of Bush’s top picks would likely be Condoleezza Rice as national security adviser. Rice, a Stanford University provost, is on leave to advise the campaign on international affairs.  

Another shoo-in would be Kathleen Shanahan, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, who grew up in Ventura County and worked in former President Bush’s White House.  

Others who signed on early with the Bush campaign and have served in earlier administrations include Stanford economists John Cogan and Michael Boskin, venture capitalist Gerald Parsky and lawyer Ann Veneman.  

Former Gov. Pete Wilson's administration could provide Veneman, a former agriculture secretary, and Eloise Anderson, former director of social services.  

Business figures include investment banker Brad Freeman, lawyer Gary Mendoza and entrepreneur Hector Barreto.  

Politicians whose names have circulated include Matt Fong, a lawyer and former state treasurer who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1998, and gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren. 

Among Democrats, President Clinton may have already chosen the top prospects, such as Commerce Secretary Norm Mineta, the first Asian-American cabinet member and a former Silicon Valley congressman.  

Other Gore prospects include Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa and state Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres.  

Another candidate is Roberta Achtenberg, senior vice president for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. She was formerly an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for President Clinton and was a San Francisco supervisor.  

Villaraigosa is running for mayor of Los Angeles, but in a crowded field where candidates might take a certain federal post rather than role the dice on an election a year away.  

Another prospect from the mayor’s race is state Controller Kathleen Connell.  

“If Gore came up with an interesting job in Washington, she might go,” said Stanley Moore, a political science professor at Pepperdine University.  

Because of the narrow majority in both houses of Congress, neither party is expected to tap that usually reliable source of talent.  

“I don't expect to see Secretary Feinstein or Secretary Boxer,” said John Pitney Jr., associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. “On both sides there are a lot of people with resumes poised and those resumes are getting sweaty.”  

THE PLAYERS 

Bush 

• Condoleezza Rice, provost of Stanford University and Bush campaign surrogate on international affairs. Seen as probable national security adviser. 

• John Cogan, economist at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and former assistant secretary of U.S. Department of Labor and associate director at the Office of Management and Budget. 

• Michael Boskin, economist at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and former chairman of the president’s Council on Economic Advisers. 

• Kathleen Shanahan, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff who grew up in Ventura County. She also served as a staff assistant at the National Security Council and White House, and on former President Bush’s campaign. 

• Gerald Parsky, Bush chairman in California, chairman of the investment firm Aurora Capital Group and former assistant secretary of Treasury under President Ford. 

• Brad Freeman, investment banker at Freeman Spogli & Co. and Bush finance chairman in California. 

• Ann Veneman, a lawyer, former secretary of the state Department of Food and Agriculture in the Wilson administration and former deputy undersecretary of the federal Department of Agriculture. 

• Eloise Anderson, a former director of the state Department of Social Services under Wilson. 

• Matt Fong, a lawyer and former state treasurer who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1998. 

Gore 

• Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the first Latino elected statewide in 120 years and California’s first Latino speaker of the Assembly. 

• State Attorney General Bill Lockyer. 

• State Controller Kathleen Connell, a former investment banker who taught at UCLA and is running for Los Angeles mayor. 

• Antonio Villaraigosa, a former Assembly speaker who is running for Los Angeles mayor. 

• Art Torres, chairman of the state Democratic Party and a former state senator and assemblyman. 

• Roberta Achtenberg, senior vice president for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. She was formerly an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and San Francisco supervisor. 

• U.S. Commerce Secretary Norm Mineta, the first Asian-American member of the cabinet and a former congressman from Silicon Valley. Appointed for the last six months of President Clinton’s term, he could be asked to stay.

LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for a convicted murderer filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to overturn the governor’s decision denying him parole. 

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claims Gov. Gray Davis made an illegal and unconstitutional decision by reversing a parole date set by the state Board of Prison Terms. 

Robert Rosenkrantz, 33, has been serving a 17 years-to-life sentence for the 1985 murder of Steven Redman, a high school classmate who told Rosenkrantz’s father that his son was gay. 

The lawsuit claims Davis has a “blanket policy that all prisoners convicted of murder should never be paroled even though they are serving a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.” 

Herbert Rosenkrantz accused Davis of using his son as a political pawn 

“We cannot and will not stand by idly as you pursue your political objective,” the father said during a news conference outside a Van Nuys courthouse. ”... You need to distinguish, governor, between people who are dangerous and people who have paid their debt to society.” 

Davis has said he has no blanket policy against paroling murderers. 

However, the governor has come under pressure from inmates’ lawyers, certain lawmakers and judges for past refusals to grant parole in such cases. He overturned 11 parole decisions for murderers last year. 

In September, Davis granted his first-ever parole for a convicted murderer in the case of Rose Ann Parker, who shot her boyfriend in 1986 after he threatened to kill her, her son and her unborn child. 

Davis said at the time that the 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.” 

On Tuesday, the governor’s office issued a brief statement in response to the Rosenkrantz lawsuit. 

“Mr. Rosenkrantz has committed a brutal crime. The governor has acted lawfully and properly,” spokeswoman Hilary McLean said. 

Advocates for Robert Rosenkrantz, who is from the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas, claim he is a model prisoner who deserves parole. 

He has earned college degrees while in prison and has become adept at using computers. He has tutored other inmates and completed therapy for his violent impulses. 

He also has reconciled with his parents and has pending job offers. 

A parole board panel scheduled Rosenkrantz for release at his first hearing in 1996, but that decision was overruled on review by the state Board of Prison Terms. Davis reversed a second parole order a year ago. 

Under pressure from the courts, the state parole board voted in June to release Rosenkrantz in 2001, but the decision was never made final by the Board of Prison Terms. 

In September, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz ordered Rosenkrantz released on grounds that he did not receive a fair parole hearing. The 2nd District Court of Appeal halted his release Sept. 15 until Davis made his decision. 

The governor rejected parole for Rosenkrantz on Oct. 28. His 12-page decision said the murder was not spontaneous, but a result of “careful preparation, rehearsal and execution.” 

Tuesday’s lawsuit was filed with Judge Stoltz by attorneys Rowan Klein of Los Angeles and Donald Specter of the San Quentin-based Prison Law Office. 

Stoltz must take some action on the lawsuit within 30 days, Klein said. 

“I expect this to go on and on,” he said. “I expect this case to go on to the appellate courts.” 

At trial, Rosenkrantz was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted of second-degree murder and use of a gun.

LOS ANGELES — Trustees of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System were to meet Tuesday to discuss possible changes to the system’s health plans. 

The move comes as CalPERS faces a projected $96 million loss in its two self-insured health plans.  

Officials are looking at lowering drug benefits and raising premiums. 

One of the proposals floated includes replacing one of the plans with a self-insured health maintenance organization. 

The last time the $117 billion pension system tried to change health benefits it ran up against strong opposition from state employees’ unions. 

CalPERS officials expect to study any changes over the next several months. 

The two health plans, PERSChoice and PERSCare, serve 22 percent of the system’s 1.2 million members.  

Both are Preferred Provider Organization plans that encourage members to choose health care services from a network of providers. 

The system is expected to finish the year with reserves of $73 million for the plans, a decrease of about 49 percent from last year. 

An increase in people participating in the plan has contributed to the decrease. Most members are state employees or retirees.

FRESNO — California dairy farmers, grappling with the lowest milk prices in 25 years, likely will ask state regulators for an emergency increase in the price they’re paid by cheese and butter makers. 

The industry group Western United Dairymen asked the California Department of Food and Agriculture last week to schedule a hearing on the farmers’ request to change the way milk prices are established in the state. 

“If you have to sell milk for less money that it takes to produce it, then you kind of wonder how long you can continue to do this,” said Bram Vantzelfde, who emigrated from Holland to operate a 1,000-cow dairy near Visalia. “How long are your suppliers willing to carry you? Two months, three months?” 

Farmers want the state to set the minimum price paid to dairies for milk used to make butter and cheese set at the higher of either the going market rate or the amount established by Congress as the national “support price,” said Western United’s chief executive officer, Michael Marsh. 

The support price is used by the federal government to buy milk during times of oversupply. It’s part of a safety net program established to protect farmers from volatility in the market by helping to drive prices upward during the industry’s periodic gluts. 

Because of the current glut, the market price is hovering around $8.40 per 100 pounds of butter and cheese milk — the lowest price farmers have endured since the mid-1970s. The federal support price is set at $9.90 and the average break-even price for California dairymen is about $11.75, Marsh said. 

“A dairyman can take that hit for a few days, but the prices this year have been very, very poor and ... our estimate for December is that it’ll go to $7.88,” Marsh said. 

California’s 2,100 dairymen, whose 1.4 million cows gave about 32 billion pounds of milk last year — almost 20 percent of total U.S milk production — fear that if the price drops to the predicted level, many of them will begin to slip into bankruptcy or be forced to sell out to larger, corporate farms. 

“We want the California pricing structure to ensure that the market price won’t slip below the safety net price,” Marsh said. 

But not everyone is happy with the proposal, and the farmers still have to convince a panel of state agricultural officials to overhaul the current pricing system. A hearing date is expected to be announced some time next week. 

Predictably, cheese and butter makers are lining up to oppose the suggestion. 

“Even though we strongly support higher milk prices for producers, it would come at the expense of the plants that produce the cheese,” said Land O’ Lakes Vice President Alan Pierson. 

“We don’t think we can go out to the market and command any higher prices,” Pierson said. 

Plus, the rest of the country doesn’t have to abide by minimum price mandates. 

“If we incorporate it, there’s a possibility that our processors will pay a higher price than other areas, and it raises some serious questions as to the competitiveness of the finished product coming out of California compared to Wisconsin or Idaho,” said CDFA’s dairy marketing chief David Ikari. 

“The cheese industry in California wouldn’t be able to survive in a market like that,” said Patricia Stroup, a spokeswoman for Hilmar Cheese Co. 

Also, Ikari points out, the federal safety net program for dairy farmers is scheduled to end after next year, as mandated by a provision of the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act that phases out government programs for many other commodities as well. 

“Right now, the government stands ready to buy all the cheese that meets a certain standard. But is the government always going to be there to buy the cheese?” Ikari said. 

“We’ve had emergencies before like this. As we move to a more market-oriented pricing structure, we’ve had very volatile pricing and right now we’ve got a low price, period. But all this can change fairly quickly based on supply and demand,” he said. 

Winter is one factor that may boost prices paid to farmers, at least in the near term. As the weather gets colder, milk cows become less productive, so there is less milk on the market and the price generally rises a bit. 

Also, America’s butter and cheese intake peaks every year between Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Super Bowl, as cheese platters and baked goodies pile up on dining room tables. It’s a feeding frenzy that usually forces milk prices up slightly. 

Still, consumers likely won’t feel the price changes until much later next year, if at all. 

Right now, people are paying about $3.99 for a pound of mild cheddar cheese in California. About 98 cents of that goes to farmers. 

If the price were to rise a few cents, processors might absorb that cost or pass it on to retailers, who likely would raise their prices as the more expensive cheese trickles in over the next several months. 

Right now, if the price increase is approved, California farmers could expect to see an extra $15 million divided up among them over the next year or so. 

“It’s going to be a gloomy holiday season,” said Frank Faria Jr., who runs his family’s 1,400-cow dairy near Escalon. 

LOS ANGELES — More than a year after civil rights groups demanded more ethnically diverse programming from major broadcast networks, blacks alone have been the beneficiary, the groups said Tuesday. 

The picture at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox remains largely black and white to the detriment of Asian-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, a coalition of the NAACP and others contend. 

“There is no progress in terms of Latino representation in the media,” Raul Yzaguirre, representing the National Latino Media Council, told a news conference. 

The NAACP, while lauding the increased hiring of blacks in acting and other behind-the-scenes jobs this season, said the coalition remains united in its effort to make TV truly inclusive. 

“We don’t want them (the networks) to think hiring African-Americans will appease the entire minority community,” said NAACP spokeswoman Debbie Liu, adding that there is still room for improvement for black representation. 

The absence of Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was noted by reporters. Liu, explaining he was in Florida because of the contested presidential election, said he remained committed to the diversity cause. 

Karen Narasaki of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium offered a dismal “report card” grading networks on their inclusion of Asian-American. 

The highest grade was a D-plus for NBC, which features a handful of actors such as Ming-Na in “ER,” to an F for CBS. ABC and Fox both received D-minuses. 

CBS, with the cancellation of “Martial Law” starring Sammo Hung, is in worse shape than last year when it comes to including Asian-Americans on screen, Narasaki said. 

She blasted the networks for missing opportunities to make the casts of shows such “Welcome to N.Y.,” which is set in a conspicuously multicultural city, more diverse. 

The lack of significant growth in the number of Asian-American writers and directors at most of the networks also was criticized. 

The coalition said it intends to keep the pressure on networks and expand its attention to smaller networks, the cable industry, advertisers and talent agencies. 

Last winter, the coalition secured agreements from the four networks to increase both the number of minorities on-screen as well as development deals with writers and producers. 

The agreements were reached in January and February through separate discussions between the coalition groups and the networks. The agreements generally were devoid of specific numbers that could provide a benchmark for progress. 

The networks opened negotiations with civil rights groups after the NAACP floated the threat of a TV boycott or legal action because of the lack of minority actors on the fall 1999 schedule of new shows. 

The networks say they are trying to change. 

“Diversity remains an important initiative for us here at ABC,” said John Rose, who is directing the network’s diversity effort. “We’ve done a lot and made significant progress, but we realize more has to be done.” 

He said the network has, among other programs, started a talent development initiative that has enlisted educators and nonprofit groups to “nurture and support writers and directors” of color. 

“CBS appreciates the ongoing concerns of the coalition and applauds its role as an agent for change in our industry,” said Josie Thomas, senior vice president of diversity for CBS Television. 

She noted there had been a 20 percent increase in the number of minorities cast in CBS’ primetime shows and a threefold increase in minority producers.

SAN DIEGO — Nine miles of waterways in Orange and San Diego counties will be designated as critical habitat for an endangered 2-inch fish, the tidewater goby, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday. 

The goby was listed as endangered in 1994 but the service did not declare critical habitat for the fish. Tuesday’s designation came in response to a U.S. District Court order in April requiring the service to do so. 

About 60 percent of the declared habitat is on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, about 40 miles north of San Diego. The critical habitat designation requires federal agencies to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on activities that may affect the territory. 

The service said it did not expect the designation to affect military training at the base. 

Capt. Patricia Restrepo, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton, declined to comment on the designation since officials had yet to review it. 

The Natural Resources Defense Council, which filed the 1998 lawsuit demanding designation of critical habitat for the goby, applauded Tuesday’s announcement but said the territory should be far larger. 

“The service has failed to designate a vast portion of habitat throughout the tidewater goby’s range,” said Andrew Wetzler, a staff attorney with the NRDC in Los Angeles. 

“The tidewater goby exists only in California. ... It can be found from the Oregon-California border all the way to Camp Pendleton,” he said. The service has designated “only a tiny percentage of the habitat in which it is actually found.” 

The NRDC plans to take legal action to force the service to expand the critical habitat “throughout the goby’s entire range, consistent with its legal obligations,” Wetzler said. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing goby populations north of Orange County from the endangered species list, said Jane Hendron, a spokeswoman for the service’s Carlsbad office. Wetzler said the NRDC would oppose any such move. The habitat designation could interfere with plans to build a six-lane toll road in Orange County, Wetzler said. But Hendron said “a whole array” of alternate routes might be found for the project. 

The grayish-brown tidewater goby is found in coastal saltwater lagoons and occasionally in freshwater from Northern California’s Del Norte County to San Diego County, the service said in a statement. 

“Despite being resilient to a variety of water quality conditions,” the statement said, “the goby has lost a significant portion of its habitat over the past 150 years to farming, development and pollution.” 

One week into America’s election limbo, the secretary of state of Florida certified George W. Bush’s fragile lead, even as thousands of disputed ballots were counted into the night at the behest of Al Gore. “When is it going to end?” asked Bush aide James A. Baker III. 

There was no answer in sight. 

Baker floated a proposal to cease the ballot-by-ballot fight for Florida’s 25 electoral votes and the White House, but Democrats said he offered nothing new — and dismissed it outright. With lawyers and judges front and center in the presidential election, nerves began to fray and adjectives failed to serve. 

“It’s like the seventh day of being held hostage,” stammered Jeb Bush, governor of Florida and the harried brother of the GOP presidential hopeful. 

Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican Bush supporter, announced Tuesday night that the Texas governor had a 300-vote lead out of 6 million votes cast – with overseas absentee ballots and ongoing recount totals pending. 

Her announcement came almost three hours after a 5 p.m. vote-counting deadline, upheld earlier by state Judge Terry Lewis. He turned aside Gore’s arguments to lift the deadline, but gave Harris the authority to accept or reject follow-up manual recount totals. 

Lewis’ decision was a setback for the vice president, who wanted a clear order erasing the Tuesday deadline. His lawyers found solace in Lewis urging Harris to consider “all appropriate facts and circumstances” when recount totals are filed. 

In another blow for Gore, Democratic-leaning Miami-Dade County refused his request for a recount and a second, Broward, also was inclined to reject Gore’s request. A third jurisdiction, Volusia County, finished its recount Tuesday with gains for Gore. A fourth county, Palm Beach, begins its recounts Wednesday and Democrats hope to cut deeply into Bush’s lead there. 

Harris said she will require counties filing late recount numbers to explain in writing by 2 p.m. Wednesday why new vote totals should be accepted. “Unless I determine, in the exercise of my discretion, that these facts and circumstances ... justify an amendment to today’s official returns” the totals will stand, she said. 

Gore decided to hold off an appeal of Lewis’ ruling and press forward with recounts in four Democratic-leaning counties. Gore’s advisers hope Harris will approve the hand-counted ballots – though they expect the worst – and are prepared to appeal if she does not. 

“If the secretary of state arbitrarily refuses to accept the amended returns based on the recount and violates what this court has ruled ... which is to accept those results unless she has good reason not to, then we will be back in court,” said a new member of Gore’s massive legal team, David Boies. 

With Harris’ announcement, the battle lines were clearly drawn: Bush’s team says the manual recounts are conducted with no set standards in Democratic-leaning counties with the sole purpose of pushing Gore ahead. The vice president’s team argues that the painstaking process is the only way to ensure that every Florida voter is heard. 

The spotlight will remain on Harris as she decides whether to accept the county recounts. Another pivot point is Friday, when overseas ballots are due and counting begins. 

The race tumbled to the courts after a statewide machine recount trimmed Bush’s lead from 1,784 votes to a few hundred, prompting Gore to push for painstaking manual recounts and Bush to fight them in courts of law and public opinion. 

Officials in two counties tabulated ballots by hand Tuesday, with action in two other jurisdictions pending. 

Shoving matches and shouting fits punctuated the action inside and outside Florida’s courtrooms. Jeb Bush said things were getting “nerve-racking” throughout his state. 

“I can’t even walk around outside now,” he said at a town hall meeting 60 miles northwest of Tallahassee. 

President Clinton weighed in from Air Force One, telling AP reporters he hopes the dispute doesn’t lead to a presidency crippled by controversy. 

“I think it’s too soon to say that bitterness and partisanship will paralyze the next president,” Clinton said as he flew from Hawaii to Brunei. “We don’t know that.” 

With the razor-thin lead in ballots counted so far, Baker said presidential candidate Bush would accept the results of manual recounts collected by close of business Tuesday and the overseas absentee ballots due in Friday. Both sides would also drop their dueling lawsuits, Baker said. 

“It would give us some degree of finality,” Baker told reporters. “When is it going to end? I ask you, when is it going to end?” 

“It truly was not a proposal,” sniffed Gore campaign chairman William Daley during a visit to Capitol Hill to calm Democrats leaders. “It was strictly, in my opinion, an inaccurate description of the laws of Florida. The laws of Florida will be determined by the courts.” 

If any Democrats were jittery about the course Gore was steering for the party, they appeared to benefit from hand-holding on Tuesday by Daley. 

“The support of the caucus is solid,” said House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, even as Democrats said privately they would reassess after final overseas ballots are counted Friday. 

Bush’s team has heard some complaints from Republicans who want him to be more aggressive in courts and in the media. 

“There’s a sense of helplessness, that we’re watching an American presidential election being stolen right out from under our nose and nothing’s being done to stop it,” said Rusty Paul, former Georgia GOP chairman. 

Both Bush and Gore were lying low. Gore called for calm on Monday but declined to field reporters’ questions. Bush monitored the legal fight from his ranch in Texas for a third straight day and expected to talk to journalists Wednesday. 

The presidents-in-waiting are trying to strike a balance between their desire to be seen as prepared — and a fear that they will appear overeager. 

Gore leads in the nationwide popular vote by just 200,000 votes out of 100 million cast, but the Electoral College tally is so close that whoever takes Florida almost certainly will win the White House. Only three times in the nation’s history has a candidate won the popular vote but lost the presidential race, the last time in 1888. 

Not counting Florida, Bush carried 29 states for 246 electoral votes. Gore counted 19 states plus the District of Columbia for 262 electoral votes, with 270 needed for victory. Gore led in New Mexico but the state remained too close to call. 

Republicans have talked about challenging Gore’s victories in close-voting states other than Florida, but the tactic would be a long shot. A new poll Tuesday said voters believe the results of the recount in Florida should determine the next president. 

The Bush campaign has said for days it would accept the results of absentee ballots and those certified by Tuesday. Baker threw in the manual counts in a further effort to portray Bush as the only candidate who wanted the issue resolved quickly. 

He said Bush was taking a risk because manual counts could erode his lead. But Republicans have closely monitored the recount process and knew there was little chance that Gore could overtake the Texan by Tuesday night. 

“That’s like offering sleeves from his vest,” Christopher cracked. 

Christopher appealed to the public’s sense of fair play. 

“I see a yearning in the country for the vote to be correctly counted, and I think we’re going down that path. That’s what I see the country most interested in,” he said. 

Shortly after Harris’ announcement, Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes told a news conference that the Gore drive “cannot possibly result in a fair and accurate count of the votes.” Gore campaign chairman William Daley replied, “The Bush campaign and secretary Harris have engaged in a variety of tactics to block or slow this (re)count. Lawsuits in federal court. Unfounded orders by the secretary of state. And now this edict” requiring counties to justify recounts. 

Legal and political operatives zipped in and out of Florida courtrooms, while ballot counters plodded into the evening. With developments coming rapidly, confusion reigned: 

— The Bush camp filed a notice of appeal in Atlanta to reserve its right to challenge a federal judge who refused on Monday to block the manual counts. 

— In Volusia County, Gore cut Bush’s lead by 98 votes after officials completed a hand count of some 184,000 ballots. 

— Election authorities in Broward County decided to add four more votes to Gore — votes that turned up during a hand count of three precincts on Monday. 

— Palm Beach election officials decided to return Wednesday morning to begin hand counting the county’s 430,000 ballots. 

—The U.S. Postal Service was expediting delivery of military overseas ballots to assure they arrive in county election departments before Friday’s deadline. 

— Far to the west, Gore had a 374-vote lead in New Mexico’s seesawing race for 5 electoral votes after officials announced they had misread absentee results. 

In Florida, numerous voters have sued separately over alleged voting irregularities in Palm Beach. Celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz represents some of them, and Gore’s team is helping collect affidavits from voters with complaints. Gore has not ruled out a lawsuit challenging ballot irregularities as a last resort in his Florida fight. 

THE RECOUNT 

Courts 

• A Florida judge ruled that state officials could cut off the vote recount at 5 p.m. EST Tuesday. Circuit Judge Terry Lewis said counties may file supplemental or corrected totals after the deadline, and Secretary of State Katherine Harris may reject them if she employs “proper exercise of discretion.” Democratic officials, who have pushed for manual recounts in several counties, said they would appeal. 

• Circuit Judge John Miller ruled that Tuesday’s deadline did not apply to Broward County and its canvassing board can conduct a manual recount if it chooses. The board, which on Monday voted not to conduct a manual recount, rescinded that vote Tuesday and said it will take a wait-and-see approach. It will decide what to do after the state Supreme Court issues its election rulings. 

• A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed in Orlando, which had sought to block counties from conducting manual recounts. Three Brevard County residents who voted for Texas Gov. George W. Bush sued election officials in four counties, saying it is unconstitutional for some counties to conduct a hand count and others not to. 

Counting 

• Palm Beach County election officials decided to return at 7 a.m. EST Wednesday to begin hand counting the county’s 430,000 ballots. They will certify all their results so far, including a machine recount and numbers compiled from a hand count of four precincts. Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga lifted an injunction issued last week that prevented the county canvassing board from certifying its results. Labarga also said the board could carry out a manual recount of the votes if it wants, but that it would be up to the secretary of state to decide whether to accept any supplemental results the board provides after the deadline for doing so. The county had delayed its hand count until officials could clarify whether it had the legal authority to proceed. 

• Gore picked up six votes after officials in Miami-Dade County completed a hand recount of 5,871 ballots in three overwhelmingly Democratic precincts. The canvassing board then voted 2-1 not to hand count the rest of the county’s ballots. Democrats wanted a countywide hand count. 

• Broward County election authorities voted to add four more votes to Al Gore. These were votes that turned up during a hand count of three precincts on Monday. 

—In Volusia County, Gore cut Bush’s statewide lead by 98 votes after officials completed a hand count of some 184,000 ballots. Even though Volusia beat Harris’ deadline, county officials still filed a motion with a state appellate court that would force her to accept the figures submitted after the deadline. 

—Democrats in Osceola County withdrew their request for a manual recount. 

—The U.S. Postal Service was expediting delivery of military overseas ballots to assure they arrive in county election departments before Friday’s deadline. “We understand the urgency of this situation and realize that the entire presidential election could rest on these ballots,” spokeswoman Enola C. Rice said. 

QUOTES: 

—“When is it going to end? I ask you, when is it going to end?” — Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III in Tallahassee, representing George W. Bush. 

— “I see a yearning in the country for the vote to be correctly counted, and I think we’re going down that path. That’s what I see the country most interested in.” — Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher in Tallahassee, representing Al Gore. 

— “I can’t even walk around outside now. It’s like the seventh day of being held hostage.” — Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. 

— “If they go forward, these Democratic counties are no longer recounting, they are reinventing.” — Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes. 

— “If the secretary of state arbitrarily refuses to accept the amended returns based on the recount and violates what this court has ruled ... which is to accept those results unless she has good reason not to, then we will be back in court.” — David Boies, a member of Gore’s legal team. 

Neighbors of an office complex proposed at Cedar and Fourth streets say the site may be contaminated and the development would increase traffic more than 12 times the current volume. 

They are appealing a July 27, 7-0-1, Zoning Adjustments Board decision to approve the project. Board member Gene Poshman abstained and Rose Pietras  

was absent.  

The ZAB based its findings on an environmental report that concluded there would be no adverse environmental impacts that would result from the proposed project. 

At tonight’s public hearing, neighbors of 1608 Fourth St., a former aeronautic paint factory, are expected to argue that the site is highly toxic and that the Planning Department has not done enough to investigate possible health risks. 

Development plans call for two buildings. One would consist of three stories of parking and one floor of offices. The other would be just three floors of office space. There would be 450 parking spaces and 95,000 square feet of office space. 

While there was an environmental study done on the site, there was no Environmental Impact Report performed. An EIR is a more thorough examination of environmental conditions of proposed developments. 

Rhiannon, a neighbor who opposes the development, said the site was “capped” by the city after underground storage tanks were removed in 1994. The city was concerned that the soil underneath the paint factory, which had operated on the site since 1920, was so toxic it was prudent to cover it with six inches of reinforced concrete. 

“Now, they’re going to be digging it all up to put in the garages,” Rhiannon said.  

She said the city is ignoring its own staff. “The Planning Department has ignored a letter from the city’s Toxics Management Division, which warned about the risks.” 

The developer for the site, Peter Meier of SPI Management of San Francisco, said the site hasn’t been used for 3-5 years and that there’s no evidence of toxins. “I believe we’ve conducted comprehensive tests and submitted that information to the city.” 

Rhiannon said neighbors are also concerned about increased traffic to the buildings. “Right now Virginia Street has a usage rate of about 200 cars a day, once the garage is built it will go up to 2,895 cars a day,” she said. 

Officials from the Planning and Development Department did not return calls from the Daily Planet.

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Trip to the Steinbeck Museum and 

Mission San Juan Bautista 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This is an outing organized by the Senior Center.  

$40 with lunch, $25 without  

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Three Little Pigs 

3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley South Branch Library 

1901 Russell St. 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets perform.  

649-3943 

More Little Pigs 

7 p.m.  

Berkeley North Branch Library 

1170 The Alameda 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets huff and puff and blow the house down.  

“A Jewel in History” 

7 p.m. 

St. Paul AME Church 

2024 Ashby Ave.  

A documentary about the Homer G. Phillips Hospital for the Colored. The hospital, despite providing superior medical care for decades, was closed in the ‘70s. Donations will be accepted.  

“The Hand of Buddha” 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck (at Rose) 

In her new book poet, columnist and travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin explores the lives of women from different ethnic backgrounds and in moments of crisis. Free 

Call 843-3533 

Quest for Justice 

6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Bade Museum 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

A reception and discussion with the artists of “Quest for Justice: The Story of Korean Comfort Women as Told Through their Art,” an exhibit on display at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.  

849-8244 

Even Seniors Get the Blues 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A holiday blues support group with Lyn Rayburn.  

Recognizing Alzheimer’s Disease 

10 - 11:30 a.m.  

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit North Pavilion 

Annexes B & C  

350 Hawthorne Ave.  

Oakland  

Susan Londerville, MD, Gerentologist, will discuss how to recognize the signs and common symptoms of Alzheimer’s and how to distinguish them from normal aging. Free 

Call Ellen Carroll, 869-6737  

Our School Open House 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Our School 

St. John’s Community Center 

2727 College Ave. (at Garber St.) 

An open house for prospective parents.  

Call Martha Knobler, 704-0701 

Wednesday, Nov. 15

Even More Little Pigs 

3:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Library Claremont Branch 

2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets help Little Red Riding Hood get to Grandma’s house.  

Healthful Holiday Cooking 

11:30 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Natalie. Free 

Unity of Diversity in the Bay Area 

7:30 p.m. 

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley  

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Ramona Lucero of the United Indian Alliance will give a presentation addressing the exploration and significance of unity as a basis for the Native American community.  

Call 642-9460 

Community Action 

Commission & Berkeley  

Homeless Commission Joint Public Hearing  

7 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. (at Ashby) 

The purpose of this hearing is to allow low-income residents of Berkeley, and people who use the services to inform these agencies about what services they need.  

Call Marianne Graham, 665-3475  

Making Additions Match 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by architect/columnist Arrol Gellner.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Citizen’s Humane Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr.) 

Review the support of a ban on leghold and body-crushing traps.  

Commission on Labor Board 

6 p.m. 

1950 Addison St., Suite 105 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

Discussion and possible approval of a resolution regarding the expiration of the electricity rate freeze.  

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Board of Education 

7:30 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Commission on Aging 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Special Planning  

Commission Meeting 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Among other items to be discussed is the draft Southside Plan. 

Thursday, Nov. 16

Reminiscing in Swingtime 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Library  

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

George Yoshida, author and jazz drummer, presents a multi-media program recounting the big band experience in the Japanese American internment camps. The presentation will be capped with a set of live jazz by the George Yoshida Quartet. 

Call for more info: 644-6850 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Free blood pressure screenings 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

free 

869-6737 

Three Little Pigs  

3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets perform.  

Tai Chi for Seniors  

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Tai Chi master Mr. Chang. Free 

Sea Kayaking in the Bay Area and Baja 

7 p.m.  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Mitch Powers of Sea Trek Ocean Kayaking Center presents slides of some of his favorite paddling destinations and gives tips on selecting gear, paddling safety and planning trips. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Native American Heritage Celebration Dinner 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

International House 

UC Berkeley  

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Chef, Zachary Runningwolf will be supervising the preparation of Indian breads, pumpkins, and more. At 8 p.m., a cultural night will commence featuring arts & crafts, a drumming performance, and a fashion show.  

$8 dinner, $3 cultural night & performances  

Call 642-9460  

HVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning for beginners seminar taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Transportation Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Discussion regarding possible campaign reporting violations. 

Design Review Committee 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Third Thursday Simplicity Forum 

7-8:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch Library 

2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Cecile Andrews, author of The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life, launches the first local meeting of an ongoing simplicity circle. This is part of a movement whereby individuals try to simplify their lives. 

Andrews will give an overview of the movement and lead a discussion on whys to simplify and resist the commercialization of the holidays. 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Friday, Nov. 17

Community Dance Party 

7:45 - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

Come learn to dance with easy instructions presented by the Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2; Adult Non-members $4 

Information: 525-3030  

California Energy Re-Structuring 

Luncheon served, 11:15 a.m.  

Speaker, 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Severin Borenstein, director at the UC Energy Institute will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon 

$1 general for speaker only, Free to students  

Call 848-3533  

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Housing Clinic for Seniors 

3 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A housing clinic with the East Bay Community Law Center. Free  

“Beneath Our Feet” 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

James Moore Theater  

1000 Oak St. 

Oakland  

This all-day conference involves Native Americans, archeologists, anthropologists, historians, naturalists, photographers, and sound artists, joining together to evoke a sense of the people of the East Bay and the landscape they have inhabited over the past ten thousand years. 

$12 - $27, lunch ($12) optional  

Call 636-1648  

Saturday, Nov. 18

“Beneath Our Feet” 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

James Moore Theater  

1000 Oak St. 

Oakland  

This all-day conference involves Native Americans, archeologists, anthropologists, historians, naturalists, photographers, and sound artists, joining together to evoke a sense of the people of the East Bay and the landscape they have inhabited over the past ten thousand years. 

$12 - $27, lunch ($12) optional  

Call 636-1648  

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 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educaitonal and art video and film works. Featuring a number of local filmakers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

Zuni Fetish Show  

10 a.m. - 6 p.m.  

Gathering Tribes  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Fresh from a trip to Zuni, Janet & Diane from Beyond Tradition will have new fetishes and jewelry. This is the last fetish show of the year for Gathering Tribes.  

Call 528-9038 

Sunday, Nov. 19

Soprano Deborah Voigt 

Cal Performances  

3 p.m.  

Voigt’s performance is a postponment from her original Oct. 15 date. The program will remain unchanged. 

$28-$48 For tickets call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

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 

“Drawing Marathon”  

Merritt College’s Art Building 

Live models, group poses.  

$12 for half a day, $20 for a full day, senior and student discounts available. No cameras or turpentine. 

523-9763 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educaitonal and art video and film works. Featuring a number of Berkeley filmakers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

Monday, Nov. 20

The Music of Israel 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the music of Israel, from the early pioneers of Palestine to the latest rock.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Rent Stabilization Board 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Tuesday, Nov. 21

Fibromyalgia Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m.  

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium 

Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

Call D.L. Malinousky, 601-0550 

Environmental Solutions! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose) 

Informally led by Robert Berend, former UC Extension lecturer, this group aims to have intelligent discussions on a wide range of topics. They stress that there is no religious bent to the discussions and that all viewpoints are welcome. Bring light snacks to share with group.  

Call Robert Berend, 527-5332  

Thursday, Nov. 23

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

Friday, Nov. 24

“Yoga Poems”  

7:30 p.m. 

Piedmont Yoga Studio 

4125 Piedmont Ave. 

Piedmont 

Leza Lowitz will read from her new book, which contains over 60 poems inspired by different yoga poses, and do a yoga performance. Free. 

Call Miki, 558-7826 

Saturday, Nov. 25

Berkeley Artisans Holiday Open Studios 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Get map from: 

1250 Addison St. #214 

or download at: http://www.berkeleyartisans.com 

Over one hundred professional artists and craftspeople open up their studios and workspaces to the public. All styles of artistic expression are represented. Runs Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 17. 

Call 845-2612 

Papersong Grand Opening Celebration 

Noon - 5 p.m.  

Swan’s Marketplace 

936B Clay St.  

Oakland 

Featuring free musical performances by Big Brother & The Holding Co., Caravan of All Stars Revue, The Charles Dudley Band, and Jane DeCuir.  

Call 436-5131 

Monday, Nov. 27

To Make the World Whole 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses songs of peace, protest and change from labor, feminists, peace, and environmental activists of the past 125 years, that inspired others to action. 

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Educational Philosophies Roundtable 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

At this roundtable, Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, parents will learn about the following educational philosophies: Developmental, cooperative, Montessori, bilingual, Waldorf, religious, homeschooling, and charter schools.  

Free to members; non-members, $5 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org  

Wednesday, Nov. 29

Wanderlust: Tales of Adventure and Romance 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

Jeff Greenwald and other travel writers discuss the art of writing travel literature and how to make a living doing it.  

Call 843-3533 

Thursday, Nov. 30

Pro Arts Juried Show Reception 

6 - 8 p.m.  

Pro Arts 

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland 

With the work of 70 artists, this annual show features the work of emerging and mid-career artists. The show runs through December 30. See A&E calendar for details.  

Snowshoeing Basics  

7 p.m . 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional snowshoe guide Cathy Anderson-Meyers gives basic instruction on how to get out and experience Tahoe’s winter terrain on “shoes.”  

Call 527-4140 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

PTA Council says ‘Thank You Berkeley!’ 

Editor: 

On November 7th, Berkeley kids won the election hands down. I believe that I speak for all of our Parents, Teachers and Children when I say, Thank you Berkeley voters; we are proud of your commitment to our schools, to our kids, and to this community. I know that many of you are parents or grandparents yourself, or your siblings may have kids in a Berkeley school, but I also know that many voters don’t have kids, or your kids are already out of school.  

Your vote says that you understand that the future and the education of our children is a community responsibility.  

Your vote has so encouraged me and countless other parent and community volunteers to renew our commitment to working in our schools and classrooms.  

Because of your generosity, we can spend more of our time working with kids, and less time raising money to keep the schools running.  

This is going to be exciting. Contact your school, your PTA, a favorite teacher, or the district to see what volunteer opportunities are there for you. 

But wait. You didn’t stop with the schools. You also voted for libraries, warm water pools, and everything else on this ballot that was so important to all of our community. And to all of the volunteers who spent thousands of hours working on the campaigns for AA, BB and all the others...  

We earned this victory! As a Berkeley parent, I promise you that our children will grow up to be great leaders, inventors, visionaries and thinkers. All because this community gave them a chance.  

Mark Coplan, Le Conte Parent 

Berkeley 

Told you so... 

Editor: 

Famous last words: “A vote for Nader is not a vote for Bush.”  

Sig Cohn  

Berkeley  

Measure B passed because its emphasis was not highways 

Editor: 

Alameda County voters can be very proud that they passed Measure B with a record margin.  

Measure B got 81 percent this time because there was a big coalition behind it. The coalition came about mostly because the Expenditure Plan shifted emphasis from highways to public transit.  

Does this mean that a substantial number of people who now get about only by  

automobile are now prepared to use buses and BART, when there’s better service? Well, not quite. There’s still a strong attachment to the private automobile. I think that many who voted for Measure B are still hoping that “other people” will flock to the nice new transit. 

Funding the buses and bike trails is one part of the solution to congestion. The other part, the part that will actually start making our roads less congested, is a lifestyle change. Somehow, a substantial number of people will make a choice to use transit, especially where the car congestion is greatest. 

Measure B actually provides funds to work on changing our lifestyle. On page 17 of the Expenditure Plan, there’s a vague little item titled “Congestion Relief Emergency Fund” -- $7.6 million over 20 years. It’s not a lot, but it could fund an ad campaign to turn people on to transit. 

If Measure B only makes more transit available, Alameda County may not see much congestion reduction. The reduction will happen only when there are fewer vehicles on the roads. This means that you and me, not just “other people” will choose transit over our cars. 

We voted the money. Now let’s spend it wisely. 

Steve Geller 

Berkeley 

Voters showed support for Berkeley parks 

Editor: 

By passing Measures S & W by an overwhelming majority, Berkeley’s voters have once again shown their solid support for our parks and playing fields, and have ensured that our park system will have adequate maintenance resources in the coming years. Because of this generosity, the partnership between the Parks Department and volunteer groups, such as Berkeley Partners for Parks and the Association of Sports Field Users, will continue to flourish. Thank-you everyone! I’m proud to live in a city where voters care about their parks, libraries, schools, and services for people with disabilities. 

Nancy Carleton 

Chair, Support Our Parks, the Committee for Measures S & W 

Filipinos also see irony in electoral impass  

Dear Editor: 

It’s not just the Mexicans who view with alarm the present US election limbo (PNS’ Martin Espinoza’s Opinion piece, Nov. 11). Filipinos (who don’t register on Americans’ consciousness as much as the Mexicans, though we almost match them in immigrant numbers) view the present presidential impasse as ironic. This is because our present political turmoil mirrors the impeachment crisis the US recently went through (a move to oust our president for financial corruption is on); also it’s often small countries like ours getting bogged down in election quagmires. 

As the US’s only colony, we inherited your form of government (including an overlong campaign period and the spending of money we can’t afford). But each person gets a vote -- our vice president can be in the opposition, as is currently true. It’s hard to see why the one person-one vote system isn’t in place in the world’s leading democracy, as it’s been 200 years since British immigrants set up a process in which supposedly “wiser men” would decide for the masses. 

Foreign apprehension over a Bush administration turning its back on international affairs is indeed valid – especially as GBW, unlike Gore, seems clueless about the rest of the world (he told the NYTimes that “…until I’m president, it’s going to be hard for me to verify that I think I’ll be more effective (on foreign policy).” Pandering to isolationist desires, he vowed the US would stop being “the world’s policeman” (while giving no assurances of bolstering the UN by, among other things, paying the US debt) . 

A new immigrant who hopes the US will not abdicate its role as leader of the free world, I want to believe Americans won’t just wallow in their cocoon of prosperity but will continue to reach out even as they solve their domestic problems -- like your past statesmen, always conscious of history, helped foster democracy on this planet. 

Isabel T. Escoda 

Berkeley 

Beth El EIR is lacking in numerous areas  

Editor: 

The Sierra Club has reviewed the Congregation Beth El Synagogue and School Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). We have also heard presentations from Congregation Beth El and Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association. On Oct. 23, 2000 we approved a resolution pointing out a number of problems with the DEIR. 

Although our resolution focuses on Codornices Creek, we also have serious concerns over the adequacy of the DEIR. Upon reviewing the DEIR, it is surprising to find it deficient in so many areas, including: Biological Resources, Geology and Soils/Hydrology and Water Quality, Traffic and Parking, Historic Resources, Aesthetics, and Alternative Analysis.  

It is unfortunate the city allowed this document to be released for public review. The purposed of a DEIR is to inform the reader of a project’s impacts. One obvious omission in this DEIR is photos showing the project superimposed on the current site. Without this basic information how is the public supposed to get a true sense of what this project is?  

Toni Loveland 

Chairperson, Sierra Club 

Berkeley 

Gray Panthers need a hand into cyberspace 

Editor: 

The Berkeley Gray Panthers are in desperate need of a computer, a PC with greater capacity that the one we have. We now have a 486 that cannot hold our database of members. We would also like to have some kind of station where our senior members could access email. 

The Berkeley Gray Panthers was founded in Berkeley in 1978, and has about 300 activist members in the East Bay. We are part of the National Gray Panthers founded in 1975 by Maggie Kuhn. Our office is at 1403 Addison Street behind Andronico's Super Market on University Avenue. We are a 501(c)3 non profit organization recognized by the State of California. 

We educate on the need for affordable housing, universal health care, improved public transportation, expanded educational opportunities and peace and justice issues. Many of our members are now plugging into the computer age; among those that have not, many are interested in training. Our members include wonderful volunteers who train seniors in the use of computers, both at our office and at the local senior centers. 

Margot Smith 

Chair, Health Committee 

Berkeley Gray Panthers

Topping tonight’s City Council meeting will be the yet-to-be completed Berkeley Skate Park. 

The park, adjacent to newly dedicated soccer fields at Fifth and Harrison streets, is tentatively scheduled to open in mid-December.  

Before the park can be used, state law and insurance carriers insist on ordinances regulating park use. Some park rules the City Council will review tonight include required use of helmets, knee pads and elbow pads and the prohibition of loud music and skating after dark.  

Regulations must be posted in prominent places within the skate park. 

“We need to have the ordinance in place or we can’t open it,” said Kate Obenour, who is a founding member of Friends of the Berkeley Skate Park. “We don’t want a finished park sitting there no can use.” 

Lisa Caronna, director of the Parks and Waterfront Department, said the cost of the skate park has soared to $100,000 above the original estimate. She said the additional costs were mostly due to an increase in standards for skate parks.  

“They’ve become more refined treatments and very detailed and sophisticated,” she said. 

In an related item, the City Council will consider banning use of skateboards, rollerblades, bicycles and scooters at outdoor public events. 

This item was put on the agenda by Mayor Shirley Dean in response to complaints from residents, merchants and visitors about potentially dangerous situations caused by skaters at events in which streets have been closed to traffic. The ordinance is designed to create a safe environment for the elderly and children. 

Councilmember Dona Spring has put an item before the council asking that all contracts with entities engaged in nuclear weapons work be examined by the Peace and Justice Commission. 

That would include contracts with the University of California. 

Currently, because of the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act, the city must issue a waiver in order for the university to enter into any such contracts. Approval of the item will allow the Peace and Justice Commission to review these waivers on an annual basis. City staff estimates there are 26 nuclear related contracts with the university. 

The council will also address: 

• Altering the elevator at Old City Hall to make it completely accessible and operable for people with disabilities. 

• Changing the appeals procedures in the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. 

• Approving a contract with the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to work on attraction of high-tech businesses to the area. 

• Approve the city’s response to the Final Environmental Impact Report for the controversial Underhill Area Plan. The plan is to build a 1400-car parking garage, office buildings and dining commons on a city block bounded by Haste Street, College Avenue, Channing Way and Bowditch Street. Opponents to the project are calling for housing to be built on the block. 

The City Council will meet in The City Council Chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at 7 p.m. The meeting will be broadcast live on KPFB Radio 89.3 and on Cable-B TV, Ch. 25. For more information call the City Clerk’s Office at (510) 644-6480.

Last December – after the Nov. 24 death of Indian immigrant Chanti Jyotsna Devi Prattipati from carbon monoxide poisoning – Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek called on her council colleagues to mandate yearly tests for presence of the deadly gas in rental units equipped with gas appliances. 

Almost one year later, the item is back before the council tonight in the form of a proposed ordinance.  

It calls for an inspection of all gas heating appliances in every rental unit in Berkeley once every three years, except new construction that would be exempt for the first five years. 

The inspection cost is an estimated $50,000 annually, or about $12 per unit for each triennial inspection. Landlords will pay the costs. 

Stephan Barton, interim director of housing, said it is difficult to know the extent to which faulty gas appliances are a problem in Berkeley. Investigators concluded that the young woman who died last year in an apartment at 2020 Bancroft Way, suffered carbon monoxide poisoning because a vent was not in working order, having been blocked after roofing work was done to the apartment. Property owner Lakireddy Bali Reddy faces unrelated charges, but has not been charged in Prattipati’s death, which was ruled accidental. 

Two weeks after Prattipati’s death, a mother and her four children were reported poisoned by carbon monoxide in their apartment in the city of San Pablo. 

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced as a result of incomplete burning of carbon-containing fuels. Exposure to CO reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen. 

Some 300 deaths occur across the United States each year due to carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the American Lung Association. Thousands of people become ill and seek medical attention. 

A class from UC Berkeley’s Department of Public Health has proposed doing a study of Berkeley homes to determine the extent to which faulty gas appliances are a problem in the city. 

A staff report on the proposed ordinance notes that at a Housing Advisory Commission hearing on the ordinance in October, the Berkeley Property Owners Association said its membership preferred scraping mandated inspections in favor of mandating that landlords supply each unit with a carbon monoxide detector. 

The commission rejected that proposal. Barton pointed out that the detectors can fall short in their objective. Some may fail to alert residents to low levels of carbon monoxide, which can cause ill effects over the long term. Others can produce false positives. 

If the council approves the ordinance, in concept, there will be a public hearing Dec. 12 on the question of instituting a fee to raise the $50,000 annually to perform the inspections.  

Phyllis (Meagan) Metal, who contributed to the Berkeley community during the many years she lived here, died Friday. She was 82 years old.  

Since 1998, Ms. Metal had been struggling with debilitating dementia caused by multiple small strokes that eventually led to her death. 

Best known for her strong and unusual ceramics, she was also a gifted painter, sculptor, mosaicist and fiber artist.  

Her one-woman painting exhibit graced the walls of the Westside Bakery and Café during the winter of 1991-92.  

In the 1960s her mosaics were frequently featured at the Richmond Arts Center where she taught with her then husband, sculptor, Martin Metal.  

In the 1970s and ’80s her fiber arts were displayed at Kasuri Dye Works and her ceramics at the Potters’ Studio.  

In any medium she chose to explore, she found some new and surprising twist, distinctively blending beauty, humor, elegance and the grotesque.  

In addition to her artistic contributions, her work as a grief and crisis counselor and as an advocate for the rights of Native Americans, women and prisoners added to her value in our community, as did her regular political columns in the “Sonoma Free Press.”  

As both artist and activist, Ms. Metal was featured in the 1987 documentary film “Acting Our Age,” still included in Women’s Studies and Gerontology curricula at universities across the country.  

Having grown up on a ranch in Wyoming, Ms. Metal wrote eloquently and poetically about her life among the Wind River Mountains and about her family.  

One of these pieces was included in the award-winning anthology, “Leaning Into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West,” about which the “Bloomsbury Review” wrote: “The variety of language, voice, and perspective makes this work addictive...”  

She is survived by her four daughters, Elizabeth Claman, Meta Metal, Maurya Metal, Mercedes Metal, and her grand daughter and great grand daughter, Rebekah and Francesca Eller.

BERKELEY — Some faculty members at the University of California, Berkeley say they were offended during a lecture by James Watson, one of the men who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. 

The Nobel Prize winner suggested there are biochemical links between skin color and sexual activity, and between thinness and ambition. 

After Watson’s talk last month, some faculty members and graduate students called the ideas racist, sexist and having no basis in science. 

When the 72-year-old Watson explained  

that there was a link between skin color and sexual activity, he said, “That’s why you have  

Latin lovers.” 

To support his idea that thin people are more ambitious, he showed a slide of unsmiling model Kate Moss, saying thin people are unhappy and thus more ambitious. 

``Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them,'' Watson said.  

Watson, who has been known to make shocking statements in public forums, declined to answer questions about the lecture. 

UC Berkeley biologist Michael Botchan, who chaired the session, said Watson was discussing a protein that helps create hormones that affect skin color, a sense of well-being and fat metabolism. 

Botchan, acknowledging the comments were crude, sexist and potentially racist, said Watson was wondering aloud why evolution had linked the hormones and whether sunlight played a role.

SAN FRANCISCO — Although the second of two measures to regulate growth in San Francisco was close to failing, as the first one did on election night, those for and against Proposition L said it sent a message that voters want change in how the city handles growth. 

The last count, taken Monday afternoon, had Proposition L trailing by 1,500 votes.  

Elections officials said they underestimated the number of votes left to be counted and there are still 10,000 ballots remaining. About 6,500 provisional ballots have been discarded due to identification problems, election officials said. 

They expect to complete the count within the next two days. 

The measure appeared to pass on election night, but absentee and provisional ballots turned the results around.  

While neither side was sure what it would do next, the issue of regulating business growth in the city will not go away. 

Proposition L was an anti-growth initiative put on the ballot by artists and activists who feel Mayor Willie Brown has done little to tame the Internet economy’s impact on the city.  

Developers backed by Brown poured in more than $2 million to defeat the proposition. 

The proposition prompted Brown to put a less-stringent growth-control measure, Proposition K, on the ballot. It overwhelmingly was defeated. 

With one proposition denied outright and the other close to failing, Brown will try to forge a compromise deal on growth, said his spokesman P.J. Johnston. 

“Mayor Brown clearly understands that the people of San Francisco are concerned about growth issues,” he said. “City leaders have to come forward with a plan that will satisfy those concerns or at least address them.” 

Johnston said the mayor would not challenge Proposition L if it passed. 

Frank Gallagher, a spokesman for the No on L campaign said Proposition L is flawed, but that filing suit against the measure would be difficult. 

“The Department of Elections has been very meticulous about this,” he said. “It certainly precludes the possibility of such an action.” 

Propositions K and L were similar, but the No on L side said that San Francisco already has stringent development codes in place and that the proposition went too far in its regulations and did not address housing needs. 

Supervisor Tom Ammiano disagreed, saying the proposition actually would save housing by discouraging further development and preventing the displacement of people. It would require developers of live/work spaces to pay into affordable housing funds and school funds, which, he said, they currently are not required to do. 

Yes on L campaign spokeswoman Debra Walker said the campaign would take legal action if Proposition L did not pass. 

“If Proposition L loses and it’s close, we will probably be challenging the Department of Elections’ invalidating almost 400-500 votes of people that voted in the wrong district,” she said. “We’ll probably look at the possibility of a recount.” 

Another option, if the proposition failed, was for the Board of Supervisors to pass a growth ordinance, Ammiano said.  

He thinks the new board will look favorably on growth-control legislation, but the majority of the board seats still need to be determined and will go to runoff elections next month. 

“It means that the Board of Supervisors needs not to sidestep this issue any longer,” he said. “I fully anticipate that I will take the lead on introducing legislation that mirrors Proposition L.” 

SAN CARLOS — Frustrated with the high cost of living in Silicon Valley, the mayor of San Carlos is quitting the City Council and moving to the Sacramento area. 

David Buckmaster, 28, said Monday that he and his wife, Kim, a first-grade teacher, cannot afford to buy a house in San Carlos, where the median home price is $780,000. They have been renting a condominium for $1,200 a month. 

Buckmaster’s main job is as manager of strategic partnerships at InsWeb Corp., an Internet insurance services company that is opening a new office near Sacramento because of the lower costs there. 

The mayor and his wife are looking at a four-bedroom home on a half-acre in suburban El Dorado Hills for around $300,000. Buckmaster estimates the same home in San Carlos would cost more than $1.2 million. 

“Even if we had over $100,000 incomes there’s no way we could afford to live here,” he said. 

Like other Silicon Valley communities, this city of 30,000 halfway between San Francisco and San Jose also is having trouble finding teachers, police officers and firefighters. Buckmaster said many have to live more than an hour away to find affordable housing. 

The Republican mayor said the state should give local municipalities a bigger chunk of property taxes. That would lower the cities’ reliance on sales taxes and large chain stores, he said, and give them an incentive to build more homes. 

Buckmaster first joined the City Council in 1995 and was scheduled to serve through 2003, though his term as mayor ends this year. 

——— 

On the Net: 

City home page: http://www.ci.san-carlos.ca.us 

For the second time in as many years, Americans are being asked to spend a penny more to mail a letter. 

First-class stamps will cost 34 stamps and other postal service rates will increase, but 20-cent postcards will remain unchanged. The price hikes are likely to take effect in early January. 

After months of hearings and deliberations, the independent Postal Rate Commission approved the new rates Monday to offset rising costs. But it rejected some of the Postal Service’s proposed higher rates — such as a penny more to send postcards and one cent more for a letter’s second ounce. 

The commission also for the first time set a one-pound Priority Mail rate of $3.50. Until now, people sending anything up to two pounds have paid the $3.20 two-pound rate. It also raised the two-pound rate to $3.95. 

“While rates will go up, they will go up not quite as much as the Postal Service proposed,” said commission Chairman Edward Gleiman. 

Beyond the penny increase, each additional ounce of first-class postage, up to 11 ounces, will be shaved from 22 cents to 21 cents. 

The Postal Service had hoped for a 6 percent increase overall in postage rates for all classes of mail to generate $2.8 billion more in revenue per year, with $1 billion of that coming from the one-cent increase for first-class stamps. But the five-member commission granted only a 4.6 percent overall increase, providing $2.5 billion. 

The biggest disagreement was over the Postal Service’s $1.7 billion request for its contingency fund, which the commission cut by $700 million, deeming the request “unreasonably large,” said commission spokesman Stephen Sharfman. But the commission voted to increase the Postal Service’s budget by $400 million in other areas, giving the agency a net $300 million less than it sought. 

By law, the Postal Service’s budget must break even each year, and the commission decided that could be done with a smaller increase. 

It is now up to the post office Board of Governors to decide when the higher rates will go into effect. That decision likely will occur at its scheduled meeting the first week of December. 

Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan declined to comment on the Postal Service’s reaction to the commission’s decisions. 

The last rate increase, adding a penny to the cost of a first-class stamp, was Jan. 10, 1999. 

Because it takes so long to print the billions of stamps needed when new rates take effect, the Postal Service already has interim stamps in the works. In the past, those changeover stamps carried letter designations, A through H, but that practice has been discontinued. 

The next first-class nondenominated stamp, which will carry a picture of the Statue of Liberty, is likely to go on sale before the end of the year to let people wanting to prepare for the change to stock up on new stamps, Brennan said. 

Other nondenominated stamps being prepared include four issues showing flowers, a postcard-rate stamp featuring a bust of George Washington, a Priority Rate stamp showing the Capitol dome and an Express Mail stamp with an image of the Washington Monument, according to the Postal Service. 

In addition to letters and postcards, the Postal Service sought significant rate increases for such things as magazines and catalogs. Magazine publishers called the requested rate jump “devastating” to their business. 

Newspaper postage will increase from 26.6 cents for a 10-ounce mailing to 28.7 cents, less than what the Postal Service had sought. 

The Newspaper Association of America applauded that action, adding that it was heartened by the commission’s rejection of a Postal Service proposal to reduce rates for heavy junk mail. 

“Time and time again, the U.S.P.S. has sought to unfairly favor advertising mailers over first class. Finally, this trend has been broken,” said John F. Sturm, the NAA’s president and chief executive officer. The commission “made the right choice by not imposing even larger increases for small newspapers and magazines, as had been proposed by the Postal Service,” he said. 

But the Virginia-based Mailers Council, a coalition of businesses, nonprofit organizations and mailing groups, was “not happy about the increase” and hopes the Postal Service will be “focusing on the need to increase productivity” to avoid another one anytime soon, said spokesman Robert McLean. 

The post office is required by law to base its rates on the cost of handling each type of mail. 

Monday’s ruling affects only domestic mail rates. The Postal Service can increase international rates on its own, and usually does so shortly after domestic rates are increased. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Postal Rate Commission: http://www.prc.gov 

Postal Service: http://www.usps.com 

California’s unemployment rate hit an eight-month low in October, an indication the state’s economy remains strong despite signs of a national slowdown. 

The state job rate last month was 4.7 percent, down from 4.8 percent in September, the Employment Development Department said Monday. 

In October 1999, the unemployment rate was 5 percent. The national jobless rate for October was 3.9 percent, the same as the month before. 

“It appears to me that things are still moving quite nicely,” said economist Tom Lieser, executive director of the quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast. 

California’s job growth continued in October, with more than 16.3 million people employed, the most in the state’s history.  

Employment was up by about 70,000 in September and 492,000 the year before. 

Lieser said there have been some signs that the national economy, enjoying the longest stretch of economic growth in U.S. history, was slowing down. 

Wholesale inflation edged up slightly in October due to higher costs for food and natural gas. 

“At this point, California doesn’t look like that. It looks like it’s really running pretty strong at this point,” he said. 

One cautionary note for California’s economy might be declining stock prices for high-tech companies, which could make it difficult for firms to raise new capital for future growth, he said. 

More than 800,000 Californians were unemployed last month, down 11,000 from September and 13,000 from the year before. More than a third of the unemployed residents had been laid off and about 9 percent left their jobs voluntarily. 

Mining and manufacturing jobs were the only two industries to show declines in jobs over the last year. About 600 mining jobs and 1,600 manufacturing jobs were lost. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://wwwedd.cahwnet.gov/pressind.htm 

SAN JOSE — Robert Downs always dreamed of becoming a professor, but Bell Labs paid better and university jobs were scarce. 

Now 60, Downs never did teach. But he and his wife Sharon have contributed to the classroom in another way – by giving $271,000 to Washington Elementary, a needy San Jose school. The unsolicited donation has funded everything from an extra 30 minutes of class time each day and smaller class sizes to new computers, software and books. 

When Downs first called the school to ask about helping, principal Albert Moreno expected a nominal gift. 

“I always joke that we thought he wanted to give an old computer away.” 

Not quite. The gift is the largest ever from an individual to the San Jose Unified School Educational Foundation. 

“I do hope to encourage other to look at adopting a school,” said Downs, a San Jose resident. Downs grew up poor in Los Angeles and attended public school. He holds two degrees in mathematics – one each from the University of California, Los Angeles and UC Berkeley. After academia, he specialized in computers, running Combinet Inc., which was bought out in 1995 by Cisco Systems Inc. 

Downs and his wife want little in return for their donation: no buildings will be renamed after the couple and the school doesn’t even need to show that the money is helping matters on campus. 

But Moreno wants to show the Downs proof that their donation is helping and wants to show them improved test scores as early as next year. 

“That’s the thing,” Moreno said. “He didn’t have any agenda for himself. He wanted to help public schools.” 

LOS ANGELES — The jury deliberating corruption charges against four Los Angeles police officers asked Monday to hear a repeat of testimony from four witnesses to a gang raid that is crucial to the case. 

The seven women and five men sent a note to the judge asking for a reading of testimony from two defendants, Sgts. Edward Ortiz and Brian Liddy, and from two police witnesses who gave accounts of what happened on the night of April 26, 1996, when officers confronted a group of gang members in a parking lot. 

Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor ordered the testimony read to the panel. 

Jurors concluded their second full day of deliberations and retired for the evening without reaching verdicts.  

Since they received the case Wednesday, they have spent 11 hours in talks and were to resume Tuesday morning. 

The judge also said she did not know of the jury reaching any partial verdicts Thursday. Sources told The Associated Press on Friday that partial verdicts were reached and placed under seal after the jury’s first day of deliberations.  

The sources stood by their accounts Monday. 

The jurors specified in their request to rehear testimony that they wanted to know whether Ortiz saw a police helicopter arrive on the scene and asked to hear an account by helicopter crew member Glen Marczinko, who watched the confrontation from above. 

They also asked to hear Liddy’s description of seeing a gang member duck behind a car, arise with his hands in the air and shout, “Don’t shoot! I ain’t got no gun.” 

Prosecutors claim the statement was never uttered and the suspect, Allan Lobos, never discarded a gun. They say the gun was planted by police officers. 

The jurors also requested all the pivotal testimony of Officer Ray Mejia, who said he found the gun hidden in the wheelwell of a car in the parking lot. But his memory was uncertain about what he did after spotting the gun. 

“I couldn’t be exact whether I picked it up or notified somebody to pick up the gun,” Mejia testified. 

He could not remember the type of the gun or whether it was loaded and he said he never heard anyone say, “Don’t shoot! I ain’t got no gun.” 

Jurors, who were permitted to submit written questions during the trial, had sent inquiries while Mejia was on the stand, asking whether he picked up the gun. He could not remember. 

Liddy and Ortiz are on trial along with Officers Paul Harper and Michael Buchanan, charged with conspiracy, perjury and writing false reports to frame gang members for crimes they didn’t commit. 

The ex-officer who triggered the corruption scandal continued to make news. Rafael Perez, a cocaine thief who alleged misconduct in the Rampart station’s anti-gang unit, was slightly injured Sunday in a fight with other jail inmates over what TV program to watch.

A vast glut of obsolete computer equipment was all but inevitable in an era in which a common cliche is that your new computer is outdated by the time you get it home. 

Now IBM Corp., one of the world’s biggest computer makers, hopes to help solve a problem some environmentalists see as one of the biggest solid waste issues to emerge in decades. 

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM on Tuesday is starting a program aimed specifically at individual consumers and small business owners, two sizable groups of computer users that up to now have struggled to find ways to rid themselves of unwanted computer hardware. 

For a fee of $29.99, IBM will accept all kinds of PC parts through its IBM PC Recycling Service. The fee includes shipping costs, so consumers need only to box the equipment and send it by United Parcel Service to Envirocycle, a Hallstead, Pa., recycling firm. Consumers can sign up for IBM’s program at the time of purchase or by contacting IBM. 

“At IBM, we recognize as well as anyone else that advances in technology have unfolded at a breathtaking pace. As a result of the advancement in technology, there has been an increase in the amount of computer equipment that is either obsolete or that no one wants,” said Wayne Balta, IBM’s director of corporate environmental affairs. 

Indeed, a recent study by the National Safety Council’s Environmental Health Center estimated that 20.6 million personal computers became obsolete in the U.S. in 1998, but only 11 percent, or 2.3 million of those PCs, were recycled. Moreover, the NSC estimates that 315 million additional computers will become outdated by 2004. 

For years, most of the unwanted personal computer equipment in this country has gathered dust in attics and garages. 

On a larger scale, the industry’s solution has been to ship much of the unwanted and environmentally dangerous parts to China, where weak environmental laws allow for a cheap but hazardous method of disposal. 

With the volume of obsolete equipment in the United States rapidly growing, environmentalists are becoming increasingly concerned that more and more of the parts – all of them laced with toxic chemicals – will accidentally wind up in public landfills not suited to the disposal of contaminated materials. Or worse, the equipment could wind up in illegal dumps. 

While the outside shell of a computer monitor and hard drive usually can be used again, most of the inner parts must be replaced either because they’re worn out or outdated. And it’s those inner parts that contain most of the hazardous materials, including lead, mercury and cadmium. 

Balta said IBM’s service will allow the equipment to either be recycled “in an environmentally responsible way,” or donated to a worthy cause if the equipment still works. 

Usable equipment will be donated to computer-needy organizations, such job training and family services centers, through a nonprofit organization called Gifts in Kind International. 

IBM is billing the plan as a ’no strings attached’ service because IBM will accept any brand of unwanted equipment, and no purchase is required. Most recycling programs operated by smaller computer retailers are conditioned on so-called trade-in policies, in which unwanted equipment is removed only if the consumer buys new equipment. 

“The disposal of ‘dead computers’ is likely to be the next big solid waste challenge that our nation will have to deal with,” said Jeremiah Baumann, environmental health advocate for U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington. 

On the Net: 

IBM: http://www.ibm.com 

Envirocycle: http://www.recycle.net/recycle/trade/envcycle.html 

U.S. Public Interest Group: http://www.pirg.org

SACRAMENTO — There’s no indication the daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop and two other persons were drugged or tortured before they were killed and their bodies dismembered, the coroner said Monday. 

“It appears they were stabbed to death, then dismembered,” said coroner’s spokeswoman Betsy Braziel. 

Three people are accused of conspiring to kill Selina Bishop, 22, and Ivan and Annette Stineman of Concord in a crime spree authorities allege grew out of a plot to extort $100,000 from the Stinemans. 

Their bodies were found last August in duffel bags in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. 

Glenn Helzer, 30, his brother Justin Helzer, 28, and their housemate Dawn Godman, 26, all of Concord, have pleaded innocent to murder charges and are due in court Jan. 22 for a preliminary hearing. 

The Stinemans were last seen alive July 30. Bishop was last seen alive Aug. 2. 

The Helzers and Godman are also suspects in the slayings of Bishop’s mother, Jennifer Villarin, 45, and her friend James Gamble, 54. 

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. 

A trace amount of methamphetamine was found on the body of 78-year-old Annette Stineman. The coroner’s office theorizes it could have been accidentally transferred there by one of the killers. 

Ivan Stineman, 85, also suffered a heart problem during the assault, the autopsy showed. 

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — The force of nature and the hand of man often have competed for control in this awe-inspiring valley of towering granite, tumbling waterfalls and pristine waters. 

On summer days, cars clutter Yosemite Valley as passengers rubberneck at rock climbers creeping up the massive walls of El Capitan, snap photos of Bridalveil Fall or park on the side of the road so they can slip into the cool green pools of the Merced River. 

In trying to strike a balance between the two, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Tuesday is scheduled to unveil a plan intended to “reduce the human footprint” in Yosemite Valley – a plan that likely will remove parking spaces, cut campsites and reduce employee housing. 

Developers and environmentalists have battled for nearly three decades over the future of Yosemite. The plan to be announced Tuesday will take more than a decade to implement. 

“They are on the verge of what I think will be a damn fine plan for Yosemite,” said Jay Watson of The Wilderness Society. “People will leave Yosemite remembering it for its waterfalls and granite, and not for gridlock and asphalt.” 

The so-called Yosemite Valley Plan, however, is not expected to make everyone a happy camper. 

The Sierra Club, for one, has concerns that the $343 million plan may be more about development and less about preservation. The environmental organization has filed a federal suit against a related plan to protect the Merced River and has said a $33 million repaving project damaged the river’s habitat. 

“Big bucks are getting in the way of the goal,” said Joyce Eden of the Sierra Club. “The will of the people is to protect Yosemite. Throwing money at it has proved to be detrimental.” 

Change will not come overnight in a land shaped over millions of years, carved by glaciers, eroded by runoff and scarred by fire. It’s taken umpteen drafts, plans and environmental assessments to reach this point, and park officials say it could take 10 to 15 years to carry out the plan that has its roots nearly three decades ago. 

In the 1970s, a draft management plan for the park was so soundly criticized for its slant toward development – it called for building a convention center, among other things – that it was rejected. 

A revised plan to reclaim priceless natural beauty, reduce traffic and crowding and promote enjoyment was adopted in 1980 and provides a guideline for the Yosemite Valley Plan, which concentrates on the 7-square-mile corridor that draws 95 percent of the 3.7 million annual visitors to the 1,169-square-mile park. 

The valley plan is not the first time the Park Service has sought to turn the clocks back to the time before white men first entered the valley in 1851. 

Over the years, a dance hall, a kiddy train and a petting zoo all have been scrapped. Rangers no longer feed the bears to entertain visitors. And a Cadillac dealership is a distant memory. 

The catalyst for the latest act of man came directly from nature itself. A powerful flood on New Year’s Day 1997 swept away cabins, destroyed campgrounds and overturned cars. 

“The flood was devastating to the park infrastructure, but was a blessing in disguise because it said camping shouldn’t be next to rivers, lodging shouldn’t be next to rivers,” said Scott Gediman, the park spokesman. “It gave us a golden opportunity to rebuild these facilities and to do it in the right way.” 

While much of the 1980 plan had languished without action, the flood brought $176 million in congressional funding that a previous lack of political will had failed to do. 

A draft of the valley plan earned a mix of criticism and praise at public forums this spring, and from more than 10,500 written comments. Park service employees said they read every comment and made changes before completing the plan. 

Some comments suggested doubling or quadrupling campsites and increasing the current 1,662 parking spaces to 5,000, said Chip Jenkins, chief of strategic planning. On the other end of the scale, some said the park’s proposed reduction to 550 parking spaces would not go far enough. 

“We had comments from people who said the only way you should see Yosemite is to walk in,” Jenkins said. 

As the public comment period was concluding this summer, Cliff Tveter wandered through one of the cherished family campgrounds to lobby other campers to oppose the plan that threatens to eliminate some of the sites. 

“This park is owned by us, not the plants and animals. It belongs to us, not the bears.” said Tveter, 59, of Walnut Creek. 

Lee Cate, 65, of Whittier, who has visited the park since 1946, was not keen to learn that his campsite could be gone next year, but he said there should be a balance between the needs of people and wilderness. 

“I do sympathize with (the Park Service’s) problems,” Cate said. “They’re damned if they do, they’re damned if they don’t.” 

One group anxious to see the plan is employees of Yosemite Concession Services, which runs the stores, restaurants and lodges. While most of the Park Service employees live in nearby El Portal, most concessions employees live in the valley. 

“I love living in a very small community with a beautiful backyard,” said Ken Wood, 32, a concessions auditor who, like so many others, moved to the park for a summer and never left. 

When Babbitt presents the final plan as one of his last acts in office, living in the shadow of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls could become a thing of the past, part of an evolution that’s happened since man first reshaped the valley. 

On the Net: 

Yosemite Valley Draft plan: www.nps.gov/yose/planning/yvp/ 

Sierra Club: www.sierraclub.org/ 

SACRAMENTO — The Davis administration is putting the final touches on a plan to assure refunds to San Diego ratepayers hit by this summer’s dramatic rise in electricity costs. 

The proposal, which requires Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval, was expected to be released at a Tuesday hearing in San Diego called by FERC. 

The hearing marks what is likely to be the final opportunity for California authorities to plead their case to the commission before it issues a much-anticipated order detailing its actions – if any – to ease California’s troubled, deregulated electricity market. 

Gov. Gray Davis plans to testify, accompanied by Loretta Lynch, chairwoman of the state Public Utilities Commission, and other officials. 

At issue is whether FERC, which earlier said that San Diego-area ratepayers paid unreasonable costs for electricity, has the authority to force the wholesalers and marketers to refund the excess charges, perhaps $1 billion worth. 

The commission has said it cannot order such refunds without congressional authorization. Davis and other California officials say that isn’t true, and they hope to persuade FERC to take action. 

They also believe that any refunds should reflect the doubling and tripling of ratepayers’ bills that took place this summer. The commission, however, has suggested excess charges before Oct. 1 likely would not be targeted by refunds, if any ultimately were ordered. 

The Davis administration’s plan will likely include some form of cost controls and a mechanism for refunds.  

Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said the administration would have an internal briefing on the proposal Monday. 

The dispute goes to the heart of California’s electricity market, deregulated under a 1996 law that sought to lower costs by adding competition to a system that was dominated by monopoly utilities limited by law as to how much they could charge their retail customers. 

The law required investor-owned utilities to sell off assets by March 2002, including power plants, and buy their power on the open market. 

San Diego Gas and Electric Co., with 1.2 million customers, was the first utility to complete the transition to deregulation. Its rate freeze was lifted and it bought power at competitive prices, then distributed it to its customers. 

Then the cost of wholesale electricity climbed sharply, and SDG&E passed those increases on to its customers. The spiraling costs prompted a political outcry, investigations and demands by consumer groups and state and local officials for cost controls. 

So far, those increases have been limited to the San Diego area. 

The state’s two largest power utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co., face a similar situation when they complete the transition to deregulation, perhaps as early as next year. 

PG&E has gone to a federal court to seek permission for such increases, and it is likely that SoCal Edison will follow. 

The Davis administration’s goal is two-fold: getting refunds for those in San Diego buffeted by the price spikes preventing comparable increases throughout the state.

LOS ANGELES — Record low temperatures in California had farmers scrambling to protect citrus and vegetable crops from potential frost while homeless shelters prepared to welcome an influx of street-people fleeing near-freezing cold. 

The National Weather Service issued pre-dawn frost and freeze warnings Monday in areas stretching from San Luis Obispo to San Diego County, which includes thousands of acres of agriculturally rich farmland. There were snow warnings for the Sacramento Valley, northern Sierra Nevada, Owens Valley and Death Valley. 

Forecasts showed inland temperatures hovering just above the mid-30s, which created anxiety for citrus growers in the San Joaquin Valley and lettuce, avocado and broccoli farmers in the Coachella and Imperial valley areas. 

“Growers are getting ready to run irrigation water or wind machines to circulate warmer air through their groves. They have to be sure the equipment works in case the weather dips into the critical range,” Bob Krauter, spokesman for California Farm Bureau Federation in Sacramento. 

The mountain resort of Idyllwild in the San Bernardino National Forest recorded a teeth-chattering 16 degrees Sunday. Its old record low for Nov. 12 was 23 degrees reached in 1985. 

The Antelope Valley area of Lancaster dropped to a record 21 degrees on Sunday, down from 23 in 1992. Santa Barbara Airport had a record low of 32, down from 36 in 1985. 

“We’re entering that fall-winter season,” said Rich Thompson, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “There’s just a really, really cold air-mass over the state from Canada and the Pacific Northwest. With no cloud cover at night, it allows temperatures to drop very fast.” 

Thompson predicted that rural valleys will see temperatures in the upper 20s to mid-30s for the rest of the week, while other areas of California will see “pretty chilly nights” on average in the mid-30s to low 40s. 

The weather service also issued frost advisories for Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Sensitive plants must be brought indoors or otherwise protected. 

Farmers have not reported crop damage yet, and the cool temperatures may actually help some crops as long as the air doesn’t drop below freezing. 

“This is the time of year when many tree and vine crops in California require chilling hours – when the temperature is below 45 degrees – to put them in dormancy for wintertime,” Krauter said. “That will give them a lot of vigor when they start producing the 2001 crop.” 

Meantime, homeless shelters in San Jose have begun offering more services during the day to lure people off the street through the cold snap. The city estimates that on any given night, as many as 1,100 people have no shelter in the city. 

In Los Angeles, emergency shelters which open only under certain weather conditions were preparing to make about 2,100 more beds available while regular shelters began filling to capacity. 

“In this weather, people living out on the street are bound to get sick. They could easily catch cold, and the worst-case scenario is they develop respiratory infections,” said Ruth Schwartz, executive director of Shelter Partnership, an agency that provides technical assistance, research and resources for homeless service providers. 

Some homeless people who are already weak or ill could also die from exposure in even moderately cold temperatures, she added. 

About 13,600 beds are available year-round in Los Angeles. The last U.S. Census count listed about 7,700 homeless in the city, but homeless advocates estimate the number is three times higher. 

The National Weather Service predicted that California’s rural valleys will see nightly temperatures in the upper 20s to mid-30s during the rest of the week, while urban areas will reach the mid-30s to low 40s. 

MARINA DEL REY — With some 20 million ”.com” Internet addresses now registered, any moderately easy-to-remember domain name is apt to be claimed by now. 

So why not try a not-com from a Pacific island? There’s .tv from Tuvalu, .to from Tonga or .cc from the Cocos Islands. Or how about an offering from a former Soviet republic, say Moldova (.md) or Turkmenistan (.tm)? 

As the Internet’s oversight body meets in Marina del Rey this week to consider adding new suffixes to the current limited selection, some small nations have already cashed in on their digital assets. 

They’ve contracted with private companies to market their surplus addresses in deals that have netted them millions of dollars – enough to fund schools, medical care, even free or subsidized Internet access via satellite to islands that cables can’t reach. 

For some countries, domain names have proven more lucrative than coconuts or vanilla. 

“This is the 21st century, and they are now exporting bits and bytes,” said David W. Manly, chief executive of .Nu Domain Ltd., which registers .nu on behalf of the Pacific isle of Niue. 

In all, 244 suffixes have been assigned regionally to countries and territories around the world, based on lists maintained by the International Organization for Standards. 

Manly and other country-code promoters believe that the likely addition of new suffixes, while creating more competition for them, will highlight the existence of alternatives. 

“People are just becoming aware of the alternatives,” said James Ross, vice president for business affairs at dotTV, which is paying Tuvalu $50 million over 10 years for the marketing rights to .tv. 

At its annual meeting, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is likely to select a handful of new suffixes later this week. They will be global suffixes like .com, .net and .org – and most will be available to anyone willing to pay a registration fee. 

By contrast, the two-letter country suffixes are meant for residents and businesses in a particular country. But no one has stopped governments from allowing them to become unofficial global suffixes. 

“God bless them if that’s what a country wants to do,” said Esther Dyson, ICANN’s chairwoman. 

Alan Ezeir, president of Web site.WS, said typical Internet users won’t know the difference. The company is marketing .ws, though it really stands for Western Samoa, a country now known as Samoa. 

Nevertheless, some clashes are possible. Ezeir’s company is discouraging ICANN from picking .web as a new code, saying it would confuse users with .ws. And a company that wants to market .bz from Belize filed a federal lawsuit last week challenging ICANN’s authority to consider .biz. 

Jonathan Weinberg, who headed an ICANN task force on new domain names, notes that country-code administrators were among critics of expansion – notwithstanding their current optimism that dot-com alternatives will help them. 

“They were pretty concerned the value of their real estate would go way down,” he said. 

Whatever names are chosen, the country codes are likely to maintain at least a niche following. 

The .tv suffix is being targeted at TV stations and video-heavy Web sites – Major League Baseball and Columbia TriStar are among clients, while .to is marketed as a jumping off point to another site with a name more difficult to remember. 

The countries that licensed their addresses, meanwhile, will continue to cash in their windfall. 

For Tuvalu, with 10,500 people and a land mass of 26 square miles, the deal gave it money to join the United Nations. 

Tuvalu can now offer free high school education beginning next year and finance trips to New Zealand for families needing emergency medical care. Plus, the country was able to spend $7 million to improve roads for its 35 or so cars. 

“We are very poor in terms of natural resources,” said Prime Minister Ionatana Ionatana. “DotTV considerably increased our capabilities.” 

Meanwhile, the eNIC Corp. has used proceeds from .cc to finance a $23,000-a-month satellite connection, and residents of the Cocos Island get access for a $5 annual fee. 

As Internet access increases worldwide, residents might one day find their most desirable domain names already claimed by foreigners. 

In fact, Moldova is now limiting foreign registrations of .md to health-related names and sites. 

But Emeline Tuita, Tonga’s consulate general in San Francisco, isn’t worried. She said she would rather see Tonga join the information revolution now — subsidized by .to sales. 

“We can’t hold back development because of a potential 10 years down the road,” she said. “Tonga is actually getting to participate in something the whole world is benefiting from.” 

On the Net: 

ICANN: http://www.icann.org 

List of country codes: http://www.iana.org

The Associated Press 

The fight for the White House tumbled into the courts Monday as a transfixed nation witnessed the historic entanglement of presidential politics and the judiciary. George W. Bush fought on two fronts to halt recounts that threatened his 388-vote lead in Florida, while Al Gore said neither man should prevail from “a few votes cast in error.” 

Amid a whirlwind of political and legal intrigue, Bush’s lawyers failed to win a court order barring manual recounts in Florida — a state whose 25 electoral votes will almost certainly determine the nation’s 43rd president. A federal judge rejected the Bush injunction request, and his team was deciding whether to appeal. 

Separately, the state’s top elections official – a Republican who campaigned for Bush – said she would end the recounting at 5 p.m. Tuesday. “The process of counting and recounting the votes cast on Election Day must end,” said Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Gore immediately appealed the ruling, making his first major legal push, and Bush joined the case on behalf of Harris. 

“The vice president basically said we should ignore the law so he can overturn the results of this election,” said Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes. 

A statewide machine recount trimmed Bush’s lead from 1,784 votes to 388, prompting Gore to push for painstaking manual recounts in four largely Democratic counties. One of those recounts is under way, a second begins Tuesday and a third county will consider the request at a hearing Tuesday. 

In a blow to Gore, officials from the fourth county – Broward, in southeast Florida – sampled three precincts Monday and found only four additional votes for the vice president. They rejected Gore’s request to count the rest of the county’s 500,000-plus ballots. 

As new vote totals dribbled in from scattered counties and recounts were under consideration in other close-voting states, Gore told reporters outside the White House, “I would not want to win the presidency by a few votes cast in error or misinterpreted or not counted, and I don’t think Governor Bush wants that either.” 

Bush made no public appearances at his Texas ranch Monday. 

“While time is important, it is even more important that every vote is counted and counted accurately,” the vice president said in his first remarks in five days on the improbably knotted race. 

“What is at stake is more important than who wins the presidency,” he said. “What is at stake is the integrity of our democracy.” 

Donald Middlebrooks, a federal judge appointed by President Clinton, spoke of the stakes when he predicted the struggle would continue past his rejection of the GOP’s recount injunction request. “I am not under an illusion I am the last word on this,” he said, “and I am rather grateful for that.” 

“The process, to sum it up, is selective, standardless, subjective, unreliable and inherently biased,” GOP lawyer Theodore Olson told the judge. 

Olson said the recount-by-hand introduced elements of chance and partisan bias to what ought to be a simple and uniform process of checking Florida’s extraordinarily close election result. 

Democratic lawyer Bruce Rogow said the hand count was – for better or worse – democracy in action. 

“Is it messy? Does it go on and on in some fashion? Yes, yes it does, but that is democracy,” he told Middlebrooks. 

Rogow and other Democratic lawyers disputed GOP claims that the hand counts could go on for weeks, saying they will almost certainly be complete by Friday. Overseas absentee ballots are due the same day, setting the stage for a potential climax to the political drama. 

A breathtaking day of activity began with a meeting between Harris and two top Gore advisers – former Secretary of State Warren Christopher and campaign chairman William Daley. Holding firm to the Tuesday deadline, Harris said state law does give her leeway for when to certify ballots in natural disasters. 

“A close election, regardless of the identity of the candidate,  

is not such a circumstance,”  

she said. 

Within the hour, one of the four counties sued in state court for the right to complete its manual recount. Gore’s lawyers joined the suit, accusing Harris of doing the bidding of Bush and his brother Jeb, the Florida governor. Bush’s legal team joined in to defend Harris. 

Christopher said Harris’ deadline “looks like a move in the direction of partisan politics and away from the nonpartisan” administration of election law. 

Such politically charged rhetoric carried the day, with both sides struggling to control public opinion. Gore and Bush have been advised that there may come a time, shortly after the absentee ballots are counted this weekend, when the trailing candidate needs to concede or risk fallout from a public growing weary of the saga. 

Ever-changing voting figures in Florida gave Bush a 388-vote margin out of some 6 million votes cast. The figure does not count the absentee ballots from Floridians living overseas – or the manual recount totals. 

Gore leads in the nationwide popular vote by about 200,000 votes, but the Electoral College tally is so close that whoever takes Florida almost certainly will win the White House. Only three times in the nation’s history has a candidate won the popular vote but lost the presidential race, the last time in 1888. 

Neither side would acknowledge actively considering a quick exit. 

If Bush fails to stop the manual recounts in court, his options would be slim. Senior political strategists have said Bush could seek recounts in some GOP-dominated Florida counties to make up for ground lost. 

However, a Republican source familiar with the Bush campaign’s legal strategy said the possibility that Bush would seek to expand voter recounts to other Florida counties was “perceived as unlikely” at this time because deadlines for requesting such recounts have expired in many counties. 

Bush’s team also has threatened to demand recounts in close-voting states won by Gore. But without Florida, Bush would have to win Oregon, Iowa and Wisconsin to claim the White House – a long shot given that Gore is leading by 5,000 or more votes in all those states. 

Gore could face a similarly tough decision if he does not pull into the lead this week, advisers said. He has not ruled out a number of legal options, including filing suit on behalf of voters in Palm Beach County who say their ballots were confusing. 

Not counting Florida, Bush carried 29 states for 246 electoral votes. Gore counted 19 states plus the District of Columbia for 262 electoral votes, with 270 needed for victory. Bush led in New Mexico but the state remained too close to call. Its five electoral votes would not be decisive. 

FLORIDA COUNTIES COUNT 

• New Polk County figures showed a 100-vote gain for Bush from recount totals originally announced by the county this weekend. 

• Volusia County, a Democratic-leaning jurisdiction, awarded Bush a net gain of 33 votes after a full day of recounts. The Deland, Fla., officials also sued in state court to extend the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline. Gore and Bush quickly joined the case as did Palm Beach County. 

• Officials in Democratic-leaning Broward County, with Fort Lauderdale as its hub, found only four additional votes for Gore after hand counting 3,892 ballots. 

• Officials in Palm Beach County, a Democratic bastion, announced that workers will begin hand counting 425,000 ballots Tuesday and expect to finish Sunday. 

• A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday in Miami-Dade County, site of what Gore hopes will be his fourth manual recount. In Osceola County, Democrats withdrew their request for a manual recount. 

• Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan said he was asking officials in the four Democratic-leaning counties to stop the recounts until his allies can get in place to monitor the action. Some Democratic voters in Palm Beach County have complained that they might have voted for Buchanan by mistake because of a confusing ballot. 

An unofficial Associated Press canvass of the presidential vote in Florida showed Bush with 2,910,299 votes and Gore with 2,909,911. Those numbers reflect the latest figures from Palm Beach County. 

On Friday, Harris said Bush had 2,910,074 votes to Gore’s 2,909,114, a difference of 960, with Palm Beach still to be recounted.

Developer will likely appeal to City Council 

The Zoning Adjustments Board voted down plans for a four-story building at 2700 San Pablo Ave. early Friday morning after the developer’s representatives refused to scale down the design. 

Developer Patrick Kennedy sought a height variance to build a 47,000 square foot building containing 47 units of housing and some commercial space. It was 1:30 a.m. when ZAB finally voted against the project by a 7-2 vote with James Peterson and Justine Staneko abstaining.  

An unconfirmed number of units in the planned building were to be set aside for affordable housing.  

“It’s not an acceptable building for west Berkeley,” said boardmember Ted Gartner, referring to the size and density of the proposed structure on Saturday. “Over 400 people signed a petition against the building and that’s too many to ignore.” 

Project Manager Christopher Hudson argued the building was appropriate for the area. He said the building would also provide much needed housing and help revitalize that section of the San Pablo Avenue corridor. 

But at least 35 neighbors of the proposed project waited past midnight to voice their objections about the size and density of the building. 

Resident Stephen Dunn said the building is simply too dense and was concerned about design features that seem to change according to the developers whims. Dunn said the number of affordable housing units have changed several times and he has been unable to get a confirmed number from the developer or city officials. “I feel like we’re being fed a steady dose of smoke and mirrors,” Dunn said. 

David Levinson, who also lives near the proposed site, said the plan “is too massive” and should be reduced to two or three stories in keeping current building and zoning codes, which allows three stories. 

Greenbelt Alliance volunteer Janet Byron addressed the board in support of the development. She said the plan is an excellent example of redevelopment on an underutilized urban site, which in turn would helps preserve the Bay Area’s open space. 

The Greenbelt Alliance generally favors dense housing in urban areas in favor of building in open space. 

Hudson said four stories is not too high for the area and that the new mixed use building would set a positive tone for the area.  

“The city says it needs housing and these 47 units are important to Berkeley,” he said. 

Several boardmembers agreed that housing was important to the area but said they could not vote for the project as it existed. 

Boardmember James Peterson said the City of Berkeley has to decide whether it wants housing or not. He urged Hudson to present designs for a smaller building at the next ZAB meeting.  

Hudson conferred with Panoramic representative Gordon Choyce for a few moments then refused the board’s offer and requested a vote they knew would not be favorable. 

Helga Alessio, who lives right next door to the site and is a founding member of Neighbors For Responsible Development, said she was relieved ZAB voted against the project but expects the developer will appeal.  

“I think a lot of this is strategy to bring the plan before the City Council and make it a political issue,” Alessio said on Saturday. 

Councilmember Linda Maio said if the developer appeals ZAB’s decision, the Council will closely consider the project, as well as neighborhood concerns and the value of the housing to the neighborhood. She said many residents in the area support neighborhood revitalization. “To have a vital commercial area you need to have housing in the immediate neighborhood,” Maio said.

Monday, Nov. 13

An Evening with Barbara  

Kingsolver 

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Barbara Kingsolver’s works include “Animal Dreams,” “High Tide in Tucson,” “The Poisonwood Bible” and “Prodigal Summer” 

free parking $10 in advance, $13 at the door 

Benefits KPFA and Urban  

Ecology. 

848-6767. 

From Rossi to Bernstein 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish  

Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the works of Jewish classical composers beginning with the sixteenth century. The first in a series of three Monday evening classes on music.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students  

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students 

Call 848-0237. 

Community Open House on  

the Underhill Area Projects  

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Unit II Residence Hall 

Lower Recreation Room 

2650 Haste St.  

Join architects, housing officials, parking and transportation officials, program representatives, key administrators and campus planners for an open house on these projects, which include a new apartment building at the southeast corner of College and Durant, and a new Central Dining and Office Facility on the east side of Bowditch between Haste and Channing.  

Call Jennifer Lawrence, Principal Planner, 642-7720. 

“Beneath Our Feet” 

(this event is Nov. 18) 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

James Moore Theater  

1000 Oak St. 

Oakland  

This all-day conference involves Native Americans, archeologists, anthropologists, historians, naturalists, photographers, and sound artists, joining together to evoke a sense of the people of the East Bay and the landscape they have inhabited over the past ten thousand years. 

$12 - $27, lunch ($12) optional  

Call 636-1648. 

Berkeley Preschool Fair 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, this fair features representatives from local preschools. The topic will be how to evaluate preschool education philosophies and make the most of the admissions process. A fair featuring many local preschools will follow panel discussion. 

$5 non-members; Free to NPN members 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org 

“Timber Framing – Ancient and Modern” 

7 - 10 p.m.  

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar led by contractor/Timber Framers Guild member Doug Eaton.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610. 

Soulforce Candlelight Vigil 

6 p.m.  

SF Chancery 

445 Church St.  

San Francisco  

In conjunction with an action by Soulforce/Dignity in Washington D.C., at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, to stop spiritual violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, local members of Soulforce will be holding a vigil to demonstrate their solidarity.  

Call SF Dignity, 415-681-2491 

Underhill Area Projects  

Community Open House 

7 to 8:30 pm 

Unit II Residence Hall lower Recreation Room 

2650 Haste Street near College Avenue 

642-7720 for more information. 

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Take a Trip to the Steinbeck Museum and 

Mission San Juan Bautista 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

$40 with lunch, $25 without  

Call Maggie or Suzanne,  

644-6107. 

Three Little Pigs 

3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley South Branch Library 

1901 Russell St. 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets perform.  

649-3943. 

More Little Pigs 

7 p.m.  

Berkeley North Branch Library 

1170 The Alameda 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets huff and puff and blow the house down.  

“A Jewel in History” 

7 p.m. 

St. Paul AME Church 

2024 Ashby Ave.  

A documentary about the Homer G. Phillips Hospital for the Colored. The hospital, despite providing superior medical care for decades, was closed in the ‘70s. Donations will be accepted.  

“The Hand of Buddha” 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck (at Rose) 

In her new book poet, columnist and travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin explores the lives of women from different ethnic backgrounds and in moments of crisis. Free 

Call 843-3533. 

Quest for Justice 

6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Bade Museum 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

A reception and discussion with the artists of “Quest for Justice: The Story of Korean Comfort Women as Told Through their Art.”  

849-8244. 

Even Seniors Get the Blues 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A holiday blues support group with Lyn Rayburn.  

Recognizing Alzheimer’s Disease 

10 - 11:30 a.m.  

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit North Pavilion 

Annexes B & C  

350 Hawthorne Ave.  

Oakland  

Susan Londerville, MD, Gerentologist, will discuss how to recognize the signs and common symptoms of Alzheimer’s and how to distinguish them from normal aging. Free 

Call Ellen Carroll, 869-6737  

Our School Open House 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Our School 

St. John’s Community Center 

2727 College Ave. (at Garber St.) 

An open house for prospective  

parents.  

Call Martha Knobler, 704-0701 

Wednesday, Nov. 15

Even More Little Pigs 

3:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Library Claremont Branch 

2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets help Little Red Riding Hood get to Grandma’s house.

For youngest voters, the issue is education and victory is sweet 

Defeated Prop 38 accidentally helps us older youth 

By Liz Gonzalez 

Pacific News Service 

On Tuesday, I eagerly cast my vote in what I knew would be a very close election — not Bush or Gore, but Proposition 38 was the important vote to me. 

As a student at Overfelt High School in east San Jose, I saw firsthand the ugly side of public schools. Many of the teachers were inadequate educators, and the supplies they used were shoddy at best. Our books were the same ones students used in the 1970s, and the maps were so old they were inaccurate. 

Sure there were computers, but there were so few, students always had to share even though the school is in the heart of Silicon Valley. 

Despite all those problems at my old school, I knew Prop. 38 was not the right solution. Avoiding a problem will only make it worse. The initiative was going to take money out of the system that desperately needs it. 

I was not just worried about high school students. I was concerned about my own education at Evergreen Community College. Prop. 38 would not only mean even less money going into already underfunded schools like Overfelt, but it also meant skimming money out of the pot that funds community colleges. 

No one for or against 38 brought up this point. Actually community colleges are always left out of the public education discussion, even though we have the same problems as high schools — if not worse given the slicing of affirmative action. 

If Prop. 38 passed it would have been a direct assault on working class people of color trying to get a higher education. With affirmative action cut, and costs of four-year universities rising, many more people I know are going to community college. 

Voters in California rejected prop 38 as a threat to the future of their youth, but they saved some of us older “youth” in the process. 

Props 36 and 38  

signal change of heart for voters 

By Russell Morse 

Pacific News Service 

I’ve spent about as much time in California’s public school system as I have in its criminal justice system, so I had both a vested interest and unusual insight into Propositions 36 and 38. 

Just the fact that these propositions were on the ballot was alarming. 

They seemed to say that people had lost faith in public schools and the criminal justice system. 

Now I saw first hand that these systems are not working. I cut school for 60 straight days in high school before the counseling office called my home. I sat warehoused in juvenile hall for nearly a year while probation officers and judges decided where I should be sent. 

I don’t blame these institutions for my poor judgment, but I was a drug addict at 15, and no one knew. 

As much as I know that the public schools are backward in their policy and curriculum (not to mention toilets that don’t flush), I know that abandoning them will solve nothing. 

What kind of a message are we sending to kids in public school when we say they’re beyond repair? Proposition 38 wanted to take money allotted for public schools, and give it to parents, so their children could attend private schools. 

This assumes that private schools can address problems that public schools cannot -- but it is the philosophy of education in this country that is flawed, not the practice. 

The same is true of our criminal justice system, with its philosophy based on punishment. People who commit crimes, for the most part, need help in anger management, drug and alcohol treatment, or psychological counseling. I needed all three. So did most of the kids I shared cells and washed dishes with. 

Last March, California voters approved Proposition 21, which included mandatory adult sentencing for violent or gang-related juvenile offenders. It also moved to strike the idea of rehabilitation from the juvenile justice system. 

If Proposition 21 had been in effect while I was in trouble, I would probably still be in jail. Instead, I’ve been clean for three years and I’m a sophomore at San Francisco State University. 

I expected the voters who passed 21 to reject 36, which mandates rehabilitation instead of jail for drug-related offenders. They didn’t any more than they condemned public schools. 

These votes reflect the fact that people are examining these systems. 

People see incarcerated felons — later found innocent — go free because they were convicted as a result of police corruption. 

When schools and jails start to look more alike, the situation gets worse. For instance, there are now police officers on duty at most public schools in California. This eases the transition from school to jail — a schoolyard fight which at one time might have resulted in a suspension, now becomes a police report. 

When this situation exists, trust leaves the school arena. Students see classmates taken to jail for tagging on lockers or setting off firecrackers and the situation becomes “us versus them.” Education is then replaced by enforcement. 

Tuesday’s vote is a sign that people are taking faith out of punishment and putting it into prevention. They’re rethinking criminal justice and saving public schools. It’s not a bad idea — after all, the majority of people who end up in jail are those who have been failed by the public school system. 

Both Liz Gonzalez and Russell Morse are contributors to YO! Youth Outlook, a monthly news magazine by and about Bay Area youth.

Women beat Latvian squad in exhibition 

The California women’s basketball team closed out its two-game exhibition slate with a 2-0 mark by defeating RTU Clondica, 80-62, Sunday at Haas Pavilion. RTU is now 0-7 on its collegiate tour. 

“Today was a good game for us because we saw a couple different things,” said Cal coach Caren Horstmeyer. “We saw a different type of athlete then what we had been seeing - tall, lanky...guards posting. We had to make some adjustments, and I thought our players handled that very well. I thought in particular Ami (Forney) and Courtney (Johnson) played very well today.  

“These two games have been good for our coaching staff because we need to see different combinations. We need to see who plays well together. Sometimes that’s hard to see in practice.”  

Senior guard Courtney Johnson led the Bears with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 from the foul line. Junior center Ami Forney posted her second collegiate double-double with 15 points and a career-best 14 boards. Senior guard Kenya Corley also added 10 points.  

Inara Jakobsone led the Lativia team with 19 points, while Zane Teilane had 13 and Anete Brice contributed 10.  

Cal jumped out to a 21-11 lead with 6:03 remaining in the first half but couldn’t build its lead beyond 10 points. The Bears entered the locker room up six at 29-23 with Johnson leading her team with six points. RTU’s Teilane led all scorers with nine points.  

RTU got off to fast start in the second half, outscoring Cal 16-9 to grab its first lead at 39-38 (14:47) since holding a 5-4 edge (18:07). A three-pointer by Agnese Bransmane with 13:43 left in the game gave RTU its last lead of the contest at 44-41. That’s when Cal dug in defensively and went on a 17-0 run to lead 58-44 with 9:55 on the clock. During that critical run, Johnson posted seven points and sophomore forward Amber White added four.  

Cal held a 45-33 rebounding edge for the game and shot 46.7 percent from the floor, while holding the visitors to only 38.9 percent. The Bears shot 64.0 percent in the second half.  

Cal opens the regular season Friday, Nov. 17, at No. 7 Rutgers. Game time is at 7:30 p.m. ET. Sunday, Nov. 19, the Bears visit Fairfield at 2 p.m. ET. Cal’s home opener is Dec. 2 against Cal State Northridge in the Oakland Tribune Classic.  

No. 4 Cal water polo holds off No. 7 Pepperdine 

The No. 4 ranked California men’s water polo team (13-8, 5-3) defeated No. 7 ranked Pepperdine (11-10, 2-6), 7-6, Sunday at Spieker Aquatics Complex.  

The Bears were led by three goals from senior driver Eldad Hazor and two goals by senior driver James Lathrop. Junior Joe Kaiser and senior Jerry Smith also scored for Cal. Pepperdine was paced by Chris Tilden’s three goals and goalie Michael Soltis had 11 saves, including seven saves in the fourth period alone.  

Hazor scored the first two goals of the match, before the Waves were able to tie the contest, 2-2, on goals by Tilden and Sean Hylton towards the end of the first period.  

The Bears were able to gain a cushion when they outscored Pepperdine, 4-2, in the second and third periods.  

But after Cal’s Lathrop scored his second goal of the match with 2:19 left in the fourth period, the Waves came storming back on two quick goals by Tilden with 1:28 and 34 seconds left.  

Pepperdine actually had the ball with eight seconds to go in the match, but Bears goalie Tim Kates was able to knock the ball away on a lob shot as time expired.  

The Bears will next host Stanford in the Big Splash, Saturday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.  

Men’s soccer ends year with loss to UCLA 

The 18th-ranked UCLA men’s soccer team came from behind to defeat California, 3-1, in the regular season finale at Frank W. Marshall Field.  

Forward Cliff McKinley scored two goals to lead the Bruins, and forward McKinley Tennyson Jr had the other goal, plus one assist.  

Chris Roner put California on the board first at 31:26. After UCLA goalkeeper DJ Countess punched out a Leo Krupnik shot on goal, Roner fired in the rebound for his fourth goal of the year.  

The Bruins answered back quickly, as McKinley fired in a 15-yard shot just two minutes later.  

McKinley scored what proved to be the game-winning goal less than two minutes into the second period on assists from Tennyson and senior midfielder Shaun Tsakiris  

Tennyson fought hard for the game’s final goal at 76:32. After receiving a pass from Tony Lawson, he shook off a defender and fired the ball into the goal area. Cal goalkeeper Marco Palmieri tried to smother it, but the ball came loose just far enough for Tennyson to make the second effort and shoot it into the empty net from three yards out.  

UCLA outshot Cal, 22-13. Palmieri made nine saves for the Golden Bears, while Countess had four.

The legal skirmishing quickened in the overtime race for the White House as Al Gore’s lawyers argued Sunday night that painstaking election recounts have been allowed “since our nation’s founding.” Republicans said the practice exposes decisive Florida to political “mischief” and human error in Democratic-controlled counties. 

Updated voting figures in Florida gave Republican George W. Bush a 288-vote margin out of some 6 million votes cast with recounts under way in four counties. The vice president leads in the nationwide popular vote but the Electoral College tally is so close that whoever takes Florida almost certainly will win the White House. 

Both parties previewed their legal strategies for a federal court hearing Monday on Bush’s request to block manual recounts. Top Bush adviser James A. Baker III, who described the five-day Florida standoff as “a black mark on our democracy and on our process,” said the GOP legal team will argue that manual recounts in only four of Florida’s 67 counties would constitute unequal treatment under the 14th Amendment. 

Baker said Florida has no uniform standard for reviewing the ballots, and suggested that Democrats who control the contested counties would play favorites. “It’s all subjective, and therefore it presents terrible problems of human error and potential for mischief,” Baker said. A statewide machine-operated recount has already narrowed Bush’s lead. 

Baker’s rival, Gore consigliere Warren Christopher, portrayed vote recounts as a routine necessity of democracy. “If at the end of the day, George Bush has more votes in Florida than we do, certainly the vice president will concede,” Christopher said, even while leaving open the prospect of court action if recounting ends with Bush still ahead. 

Democrats filed court papers Sunday night on behalf of Gore arguing that Florida’s manual ballot law is constitutional. Led by Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe, party lawyers also said Bush’s complaints threatens Florida’s right to run its own elections. 

Bush is arguing against a system that “reflects an electoral practice — the handcounting of ballots — in effect throughout the country since the nation’s founding, yet here alleged to be unconstitutional and indeed to be vulnerable to a form of judicial intervention extraordinary in our federalism,” the Gore reply says. 

The marshaling of legal forces sets the stage for one of the most dramatic periods in American political history. A climax could come at the end of this week when final overseas mail-in ballots will be counted and the trailing candidate would be forced to concede or push deeper into uncharted waters. 

“By next Friday,” said Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., “the pressure on someone is going to be enormous to accept whatever results Florida has reached.” 

Their public financing drying up, both camps are raising money to pay rafts of lawyers and political operatives sent to every corner of Florida to examine county voting records and wage a campaign-style, poll-tested public relations battle. 

The Bush team dispatched an “urgent message” by e-mail Sunday asking supporters for up to $5,000 to help finance the recount campaign. Democrats are hoping to raise $3 million, with top Gore aides moving from his headquarters in Tennessee to Democratic offices in Washington. 

Among the weekend developments: 

—Palm Beach County, Fla., election officials added three dozen additional votes to Gore early Sunday in a mechanical recount. Leaders of the Democratic stronghold then decided to manually check each of the 425,000 votes cast. One top county official said he will try to block the move. 

Officials said their manual recount of precincts representing 1 percent of the vote turned up 19 votes for Gore beyond a machine count. Carol Roberts, a county commissioner and a member of the Palm Beach County canvassing commission, argued that a manual recount of 100 percent of the precincts could potentially change as many as 1,900 additional votes — far more than the existing statewide margin between the two candidates. 

—In Deland, Fla., Volusia County officials began a marathon manual recount of all 184,018 ballots, despite Bush’s pending request to stop it. With Democratic-laden Daytona Beach included, Gore’s team hoped to pick up more votes. 

—Polk County, Fla., officials, rescanning ballots by machine for a third day, found an additional 104 votes for Bush and seven for Gore. Home to Lakeland, the county went for Bush. 

—Democrats added Osceola County to their list of hand recount requests. The Osceola canvassing board meets Monday to weigh it. Gore had a small lead over Bush in the 54,000-plus votes cast in the county just south of Orlando. Hispanic voters alleged they were required to produce two forms of identification when only one was required. 

— Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris, a Republican who has campaigned for Bush, scheduled a meeting Monday with Christopher and Gore campaign chairman William Daley as Democrats expressed concern that she might refuse to certify ballots uncovered in the manual count. 

— Bush had a 17-vote lead in New Mexico, where state police have begun impounding ballots from Tuesday’s election. Republican lawyers asked the courts to order protection for early voting and absentee ballots cast statewide. 

A Gore-requested manual recount in Broward County, Fla., another Democratic bastion with Fort Lauderdale as its hub, was to begin Monday. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Miami-Dade County, site of what Gore hopes will be a fourth manual recount. 

Bush and Gore were in seclusion with top aides Sunday — Bush at his Texas ranch, Gore at his Washington, D.C., residence. Bush has made several public appearances since Tuesday, casting himself as a man preparing for the transition to power. Gore has laid low, wary that voters might interpret his legal challenge as a grab for power. 

If Bush fails to win an injunction against the manual counts, a prospect that even GOP officials say is likely, his next step would be fateful. Senior strategists say Bush is likely to seek recounts in some GOP-dominated Florida counties if the Gore-backed recounts and overseas balloting put him in danger of losing the lead.

No. 10 Oregon St. 33, Arizona 9 

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — In a season that just keeps getting better for Oregon State, the 10th-ranked Beavers won at Arizona for the first time, keeping their Rose Bowl hopes alive with a 33-9 victory Saturday night. 

Jonathan Smith completed 17 of 31 passes for 231 yards and a touchdown and the Beavers (9-1, 6-1 Pac-10) held Arizona (5-5, 3-4) to three field goals by Sean Keel. 

The Beavers are host to sixth-ranked Oregon next Saturday in what amounts to the biggest “Civil War” game ever between the arch-rivals. But Oregon State needs help to get to Pasadena. 

Washington St. 33, USC 27 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The coach was more nervous than the young quarterback making his first college start. 

Redshirt freshman Matt Kegel threw for 242 yards and a touchdown and made no major mistakes as Washington State beat Southern California 33-27 Saturday night in a match of the Pacific-10 Conference’s worst teams. 

Kegel, the cousin of former Cougars quarterback Ryan Leaf, completed just 12 of 32 passes but connected on an 88-yard TD pass while filling in for Jason Gesser, who broke his leg last week against Oregon. 

No. 7 Washington 35, UCLA 28 

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington didn’t let UCLA knock it out of the Rose Bowl race this time. 

Freshman Rich Alexis ran for 127 yards on 21 carries and the No. 7 Huskies rallied in the third quarter to beat the Bruins 35-28 on Saturday for its sixth straight Pac-10 victory. 

The Huskies (9-1, 6-1) beat the Bruins (6-4, 3-4) for the first time in four seasons. UCLA’s victory in Los Angeles last season cost Washington a trip to the Rose Bowl. 

Stanford 29, Arizona St. 7 

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — There was no breathtaking finish for Stanford or Arizona State this week. The Cardinal knocked the breath out of the Sun Devils long before the final gun. 

Kerry Carter rushed for 103 yards and a score and also threw a touchdown pass as Stanford snapped a three-game losing streak by routing the injury-ravaged Sun Devils 29-7 Saturday. 

DeRonnie Pitts caught five passes to become the Pac-10’s second-leading career receiver as Stanford (4-6, 3-4 Pac-10), the defending conference champs who were eliminated from bowl contention last week, won for just the second time in eight weeks.

WESTPORT — Mid-day in California redwood country and the cool, misty calm is unbroken save for a whisper of wind and the gravelly rumble of an approaching logging truck. 

Suddenly, a woman carrying a battered red megaphone steps into the muddy road. With a flick of a zip she whips off her black stretch top and then advances, breasts bobbing gently, waving her arms at the big blue engine towering above her. 

The truck stops. 

The driver has just encountered La Tigresa, otherwise known as Dona Nieto, poet, performer, conservation crusader, and the new, nude thing on the eco-protest scene. 

Paul Bunyan never had to deal with this. 

“They don’t know what hit them,” says Nieto. 

Mother knows ‘breast’ 

If a tree falls in a forest and no one calls the media, as the environmental activist saying goes, nothing happened. If a bra falls in the forest, Nieto has discovered, the media will call you. 

“The traditional means were says Nieto. “We have to move rapidly and we have to move efficiently. I think that what I’ve been doing is both rapid and efficient.” 

Since she began her protests in mid-October, Nieto has been written up by several newspapers, seen on German TV, and talked about by conservative broadcasters Dr. Laura and Rush Limbaugh. 

Nieto, who sometimes protests alone, sometimes with a few other women, is going bare-breasted to represent Nature and put a human face on what is happening to the Earth. 

She is sometimes compared to another tree-minded woman, Julia “Butterfly” Hill, whose two-year treesit in a redwood named Luna caught the attention of a world largely indifferent to the day-in-day-out slog of court papers, Internet alerts and telephone campaigns that are the backbone of the environmental activist movement. 

Paul Mason of the Environmental Information Center, a watchdog of North Coast logging, sighs when he considers how hard it is to get people interested in conservation. But like the loggers she interrupts, he’s intrigued by Nieto’s approach. 

“I think that they are trying to focus on bringing attention to these serious issues in sort of a new and different and surprisingly effective manner,” he says. 

Actress Sherry Glaser, who is working with Nieto on protecting Montgomery Woods, a grove of ancient redwoods they fear is threatened by planned logging nearby, puts it more succinctly: “Breasts get attention.” 

The ‘Bare Witch Project’ 

With her broad smile and wicked chuckle, Nieto can be very funny. She calls her actions the “Striptease for the trees;” a documentary-in-the-making is going by the name the “Bare Witch Project.” 

But she’s serious about her campaign for sustainable logging. 

Among other things she’s focused on cases where, she says, newcomers have bought timberland with the promise they won’t log and then used a provision under the law that is intended to make building a home easier to clearcut as much as three acres apiece. 

Nieto also has protested the logging practices of the Mendocino Redwood Co. and is supporting a boycott against The Gap, founded by the Fisher family, the largest investors in Mendocino Redwood. Activists say the company has refused to ban clearcutting, herbicides and logging of scattered pockets of old-growth timber. Calls to the company by The Associated Press were not returned, although company officials have said in the past they are committed to conserving the land and cutting no more than 60 percent of their growth rate. 

Nieto has her critics. 

“Yes, they’re getting publicity, but I’m not sure it’s the kind of publicity that they really ultimately want to generate,” says Art Harwood, president of Harwood Products, a family-owned sawmill in Mendocino County. 

But Earth First! veteran Darryl Cherney sees Nieto’s Earth Mother approach as “putting the feminine back in the divine” — and starting some interesting conversations. “My feeling is, the destruction of the planet is so severe that we’d be fools not to attempt bold new tactics.” 

Santa Clara beats Bears 2-0 in second-round matchup 

Facing a team with more playoff experience and six national team players, the Cal women’s soccer team couldn’t shake off their postseason jitters, losing to the Santa Clara Broncos in a second-round NCAA Tournament game at Edwards Stadium on Saturday. 

Despite being the No. 8 seed in the tournament, the Bears seemed more like the underdogs heading into the game. The Broncos have been in the Final Four the past two seasons and have several players with international experience. Sweeper Danielle Slaton was the only collegiate player on the U.S. Olympic team this summer, and her savvy showed as she shut down the Bear offense time and time again. 

The Bears ended the season with a 17-3-1 record, breaking the school record for victories and finishing second in the Pac-10. The Broncos are now 15-6-1 and will face BYU this Saturday. 

The loss was the first at Edwards Stadium this year for the Bears, and the first time the team has been shut out this season. 

Santa Clara outshot the Bears 12-7, but the team were playing evenly throughout the first half. Cal midfielder Brittany Kirk had the best scoring chance for either team early in the game, as she headed a Laura Schott cross just wide of the net. 

The Broncos would score on their first good opportunity, as leading scorer Kristi Candau put away a far-post cross from midfielder Kerry Cathcart in the 43rd minute.  

“I came across, and (Cathcart) did well to hit the ball to the far post,” said Cal goalkeeper Maite Zabala, who had five saves in the game. “There’s always more you could have done, but they scored two nice goals.” 

Coming just before halftime, the goal seemed to deflate the Bears as the teams headed into the locker rooms. 

Five of Cal’s starters in the game were either freshmen or sophomores, and the young players looked overly anxious. Several nice runs by freshman midfielder Kim Yokers ended in touches that were just a bit too long, and numerous Cal passes were just inches out of reach. 

Cal head coach Kevin Boyd said many of his players looked tentative against the Broncos. 

“We carried our confidence all season long, then we got here and didn’t carry the same confidence,” Boyd said. “A lot of our players that have been dazzling people with their ball skills all year didn’t do that today. That’s a confidence that only comes with experience.” 

The one Cal player who looked relaxed and focused was sweeper Tami Pivnik. The senior was cool under pressure and made several last-ditch tackles on Santa Clara attacks. 

“Tami was one of our few players who played with confidence today, and she did some great things from the back” Boyd said. “Her ability to knock the ball around and possess it were spectacular today.” 

Pivnik allowed that despite her confidence going into the game, there are always doubts. 

“Even though I came out with the utmost confidence, it’s still in the back of my head that we haven’t won a playoff game since 1988,” she said. “I think that’s something this program has to break. I wish we could have done that today, but unfortunately it’ll have to wait until next season.” 

The Bears had a good scoring opportunity early in the second half when Schott was fouled at the top of the Santa Clara box. Schott’s free kick was stopped by a diving Crystal Gordon just inside the right post, one of just two saves the Broncos’ keeper was forced to make in the game. 

With Cal pressing forward with increasing urgency, the Broncos were able to counterattack for their second goal, as Candau was able to get off a cross from the right corner in the 73rd minute. Forward Megan Horvath was open in the box and one-timed the ball into the back of the net, effectively ending the Cal hopes for a comeback. The Broncos spent the rest of the match clearing the ball from their end to run out the clock. 

An emotional Pivnik emphasized how proud she was of her years at Cal. 

“I think this program has made tremendous strides in the shortest amount of time anyone could have imagined. It’s a tribute to Coach Boyd coming in and changing our program around,” she said. “It’s a tribute to my class coming in and all the classes that have followed. The attitude of this program has changed tremendously. We’re now a winning program, and we’re never going to be a losing program again.”  

Boyd said that despite the loss of five key seniors, including Pivnik and Zabala, the team will be strong next year. 

“We’re happy with our program and we like where we are. This was a great game that could have gone either way.”

One of Berkeley’s largest corporations recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the acquisition of 14.5 acres and the beginning of construction of a new day care facility for its employees. 

The Bayer Corporation bought the acreage located at 7th and Grayson which was formerly owned by Colgate in February and has renamed in Bayer South Property. 

The Bayer Corporation has partnered with Bright Horizons, a leading provider of employer-sponsored childcare and early education and work/life consulting services, to manage the new day care facility. 

“The Bayer Family Center has been greatly anticipated by our employees and will contribute to our goal of becoming an ‘Employer of Choice’ in the Bay Area,” Laura Lindsay of the Bayer Corporation said.  

The 9,600 square foot facility is scheduled to open in 2001 and will serve approximately 92 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 6 years old. The program will also care for 6 to 12 year olds during the “Schools’ Out!” program during holidays and summer vacations. 

According to Laura Linsday of Bayer, the facility will include a project room, kitchen, children’s garden and a multipurpose/school age room. 

“The model curriculum will include science, arts and music and the focus of the program will be to support a family approach to childcare. In other words we want to recognize parents as the most important influence in the lives of their children and want them to share in decisions affecting them.” 

Bright Horizons currently manages over 325 Family Centers for more that 250 employers worldwide. According to their website the clients include 75 Fortune 500 companies and 44 that appear on Working Mother magazine’s list of the “100 Best companies for Working Mothers. 

In addition to the Family Center, Bayer will be expanding their facilities to include a 3-story, 210,000 square foot production warehouse which will be used to manufacture production of Kogenate FS, a drug to treat hemophilia. Bayer will also construct a two-story, 120,000 square foot sterile fill facility. 

The Bayer Corporation expansion will bring increase their total acreage to 14.5 and will create 400 new jobs.  

Two teams took the field Saturday afternoon at St. Mary’s College High School, both unbeaten in the Bay Shore Athletic League. As evening set in Berkeley, only one remained. 

“We rode the horse as far as we could get,” said St. Mary’s coach Dan Shaughnessy, following the Panthers 31-7 loss that gave the Piedmont Highlanders the BSAL title. “We led the universe in mistakes and turnovers. Our mistakes just compounded themselves, it was terrible.” 

Visiting Piedmont (9-1, 5-0) knew that the Panthers’ (8-2, 4-1) offense was built around a strong running game, especially that of junior Trestin George and senior Danny Wheeler. To defeat the Panthers, Piedmont coach Pat George realized what needed to be done. 

“We had two objectives,” he said. “Shut down the power game and get them uncomfortable with different sets. If you’re going to beat St. Mary’s you’ve got to throw the ball and you’ve got to make them throw the ball,” George said. 

The Highlanders scored on their opening drive of the game when quarterback Drew Olson hit Zack Felson streaking down the right sideline. The 55-yard pass play set up a 1st-and-10 at the Panthers’ 25. St. Mary’s couldn’t stop Piedmont on 4th-and-6 as running back Chris Flores found a hole to pick up the first down. Ben Debonis later punched it in from the 1-yard-line to give the Highlanders an early 7-0 lead. 

On St. Mary’s opening drive, Jason Washington’s first pass fell incomplete and Piedmont’s Jeff Bell intercepted his second attempt. However, on the Panthers’ next series, tailback George scrambled 48 yards down the sideline off a screen pass from Washington and into the end zone. 

The score remained tied heading to halftime, then the wheels came off the St. Mary’s defense. 

“The difference between the first and second half,” Shaughnessy said, “was that there was a whole lot of Piedmont and not a lot of us in the second half.” 

Piedmont shut down the Panthers by using what coach George calls a dead set, where extra players line up on one side of the ball forcing linebackers to shift over. “That’s what you need to do to run the ball against St. Mary’s,” George said. 

“They did an excellent job on Trestin and they played really well defensively,” Shaughnessy said. “The only surprise is when they went (to an unbalanced defensive set) on us. Other than that, we pretty much knew what they were going to do, but they stopped us.” 

With 9:37 left in the third quarter, Piedmont’s Bill Betts ran 30 yards for a touchdown to put the Highlanders back on top. Following a St. Mary’s fumble less than a minute later, Piedmont went up 21-7 on wide receiver Pete Schneider’s first of two touchdown catches. After a short Piedmont field goal, St. Mary’s had the Highlanders pinned on their own 1-yard-line with 9:34 left in the game. But Piedmont controlled the clock and with 3:36 remaining, Schneider’s 8-yard touchdown reception capped a remarkable 99-yard Highlander drive. 

Since the inception of the BSAL this season, both Piedmont and St. Mary’s knew that the league title would be won in the final game of the year. 

“This is the season,” said Piedmont’s Schneider, who caught nine passes for 154 yards against St. Mary’s. “We all looked at this game since we got the schedule and knew that this was going to be the league championship game.” 

And it was. 

Each coach had been scouting the other’s team all year. When St. Mary’s was idle, you could bet that Shaughnessy wasn’t far from a Piedmont game. Likewise for George, who played for Shaughnessy more than 30 years ago. 

“I told him (Shaughnessy) after the game that the win was sweet, but the guy’s like a father to me,” George said.

John H. Reynolds, professor emeritus of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a pioneer in the isotopic dating of rocks and meteorites, died at his home in Berkeley on Saturday, Nov. 4, at the age of 77. He was recovering from pneumonia when he suffered a pulmonary embolism.  

Reynolds had been a member of the College of Letters & Science faculty at UC Berkeley since 1950, served as chair of the physics department from 1984 to 1986, and retired in 1993.  

He is best remembered for his research on isotopic and elemental measurements of the noble gases — helium, argon and xenon — which made it possible to determine the age of both terrestrial rocks and meteorites. He discovered that an excess of xenon gas trapped in stony meteorites was a decay product of an extinct isotope of iodine. 

Using sensitive mass spectrometry to measure isotopes of iodine andxenon, he was able to estimate the time between creation of the isotopes inside a star and when the meteorites — and the planetary bodies they were derived from — formed.  

These accurate measurements provided a reliable chronology for the early solar system. Among the surprises was that the Earth had formed a relatively short time — between 120 and 290 million years — after its gas and dust were produced in a nearby supernova explosion. 

His research group discovered and developed another technique, argon-argon dating, for determining the age of young rocks. The technique had much to do with the proof of the theory of continental drift and sea floor spreading. It also helped scientists interpret the origin, history, age and composition of the moon from lunar soil samples.  

“Argon-argon dating, the most important and most versatile dating method today, was discovered and pioneered in his laboratory under his direction,” said Paul Renne, former director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center and an adjunct professor of earth and planetary science at UC Berkeley. “John was a real luminary in the field of geochronology, and his death is a tremendous loss.” 

With the assistance of National Science Foundation and Fulbright-Hayes Research Awards, Reynolds established noble gas isotope laboratories at the Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal, the University of Western Australia, and the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. The latter became a center for isotopic dating used by geoscientists throughout Brazil and much of South America. 

Following retirement, Reynolds remained active at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Center for Isotopic Geochemistry and was a valuable resource to astrophysics graduate students. He was also an avid sailor.  

Born April 3, 1923, in Cambridge, Mass., he attended Harvard College as an undergraduate, and received a PhD in physics from the University of Chicago in 1950. He served with the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific during World War II.  

Reynolds received numerous distinctions in his career, including the J. Lawrence Smith Medal of the National Academy of Sciences; the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal; the Leonard Medal from the Meteoritical Society; Doctor, Honoris Causa from University of Coimbra, Portugal; the National Science Foundation Cooperative Research Award and the Berkeley Citation.  

He was a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. He was also elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1968 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986.  

He is survived by his wife, Ann Reynolds, and children Petra of San Jose, Karen Stein, Brian and Horace of Berkeley, and Amy of San Francisco.  

A memorial service will be held at UC Berkeley's Faculty Club on Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. Contributions may be sent to the Department of Physics, LeConte Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7300 and to The Visiting Nurses Association.

EUGENE, Ore. – Joey Harrington ran for two second-half touchdowns and passed for another as No. 6 Oregon clinched at least a tie for the Pac-10 title by rallying to beat California 25-17 Saturday. 

The Ducks (9-1, 7-0 Pac-10) can earn their first Rose Bowl berth since the 1994 season by beating rival Oregon State this Saturday. 

Kyle Boller completed 15 of 39 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown as Cal (3-7, 2-5) nearly pulled off a huge upset despite its usual offensive struggles. 

Harrington was 20-of-35 for 252 yards in an erratic performance, but his 29-yard scoring pass to Keenan Howry with 12:38 to play was the difference. Howry reached up and hauled the pass in with his fingertips to give the Ducks an 18-17 lead. 

Oregon added another score after the Golden Bears botched a punt, giving the Ducks the ball at the Cal 14. Five plays later, Harrington’s 1-yard run made it 25-17 lead with 4:48 to go. 

Cal got the ball back twice more, but Boller threw an interception and was unable to move the team on the last possession. 

Oregon won its 20th straight home game and 15th of 16 games overall. 

For the third straight week, however, Oregon had to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter to win. 

Geoff McArthur scored on a 63-yard pass play to put the Golden Bears ahead 17-12 with 3:36 left in the third. The teams traded punts, and Harrington began the Ducks’ first possession of the fourth quarter by hitting Marshaun Tucker in stride for a 52-yard gain. 

Two plays later, Howry gained a step on cornerback Jemeel Powell, and Harrington led him perfectly for the go-ahead score. 

Last week, Oregon scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion to tie Washington State in the fourth before winning in overtime; the week before at Arizona State, Harrington threw two touchdown passes in the final 3 1/2 minutes of regulation, and the Ducks prevailed 56-55 in two overtimes. 

Cal came in with the lowest-ranked offense in the Pac-10, but neither team could move the ball early. They combined for only 60 rushing yards on 29 carries in the first half. 

Cal took a 7-0 lead just 2:18 into the game on a 1-yard dive over the top by Joe Igber. The play was set up by a 26-yard pass from Boller over the middle to a diving Phillip Pipersburg. 

Cal started the drive at the Oregon 27 after the Ducks lost 20 yards on their opening possession, shanked a 33-yard punt and then got called for a 15-yard penalty. 

The Bears did little to build on their lead, however, gaining just 53 yards on their next five possessions of the half. 

Harrington threw long and behind his receivers the entire first half, but he got the Ducks in position for two field goals by Josh Frankel, from 34 and 43 yards.  

A 31-yard run by Harrington on third and 8 set up the latter kick to cut the lead to 7-6 at halftime. 

Harrington directed the Ducks on a 75-yard, seven-play drive, which ended with him scrambling a 2 yards to put Oregon back ahead 12-7 with 10:19 left in the third. The 2-point conversion pass failed. 

With Igber getting stuffed, Cal went to third-string tailback Saleem Muhammad, who ran three straight times for 36 yards to loosen up the Bears’ ground game. A 15-yard run by Igber moved the ball to the Oregon 21, but Cal couldn’t get closer and settled for Mark Jensen’s 38-yard field goal.

RICHMOND – Richmond officials claim the Navy has told them the risk of toxic accidents is significant at Point Molate, an area where the city had hoped to build an upscale housing community. 

Navy officials wouldn’t comment on the environmental report regarding the former military fuel depot until it is released in December, but members of the Point Molate Restoration Advisory Board say they’ve been told the draft recommends finding an alternative other than housing for the area. 

The city had high hopes for housing for Point Molate, but may have to settle for other developments if the Navy’s environmental assessment deems the region at risk because of its proximity to Chevron’s Richmond refinery and General Chemical Company 

“Everybody isn’t wedded to housing, but if we allow them to limit us to only industry, it’s going to be hard to redevelop the area,” said Richmond Mayor Rosemary Corbin. 

If housing was allowed at Point Molate, the Navy would likely have to spend more to clean the water and soil contamination than if the space designated for industrial use. Richmond City Councilman Alex Evans voted against the city’s housing reuse plan for Point Molate, arguing that the area had limited access. 

“Somebody find me a less suitable place for housing,” Evans said. “It’s the world’s longest, most dangerous cul-de-sac. It would just be a nightmare.” 

Point Molate consists of 419 acres of land on the northeast shoreline of San Pablo Bay. The property has several large underground storage tanks and was used as a naval fuel depot. There are several structures at Point Molate which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The land has remained unused since the Navy ceased operations there in 1995. Cleanup costs for the area through 2004 are estimated to cost the Navy $10 million annually. 

Point Molate is one of 29 former military facilities in the state in the process of being turned over to local governments. 

Piedmont looking to leash dogs 

PIEDMONT – The Piedmont City Council is hoping to breed a little harmony between dog walkers and park users. 

City rules are being refined to ban off-leash dog running except in designated zones of parks. The city’s public works department would post signs outlining the rules for those areas. 

Dogs using the off-leash areas would need to have proper vaccination records and a current dog license. Misbehaving pooches that don’t play well with others would be ejected from the dog run area. 

Minor quake hits Richmond 

RICHMOND – A minor earthquake rattled Richmond Saturday morning. 

The quake occurred at 9:49 a.m. and registered magnitude 2.6, according to the United States Geological Survey. 

The epicenter of the quake was about two miles north of Richmond. No damage or injuries have been reported. 

This man is  

his own island 

WALNUT CREEK – No man is an island – unless of course that man is Ellis Stephens. 

Stephens owns Quimby Island in the delta. He bought the 789-acre property in 1989 and now the self-made millionaire wants to leave the island to his grandchildren. 

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors likes the idea and last month agreed to eliminate the potential for future development on the island by rezoning it to an agricultural preserve. 

The island is home to pheasants, foxes and coyotes and Stephens, a retired military intelligence worker now dabbling in the stock market, has created wetlands and ponds to keep them all content. 

“I’m 80 years old. What am I supposed to do? Sit on my butt all day?” Stephens said.

SACRAMENTO – When state Sen. Teresa Hughes’ final term ends this month, she will leave behind a California Legislature that has no black women for the first time in a quarter-century. 

The Los Angeles Democrat also takes with her a record — the longest tenure by a woman, 25 years — that will probably never be broken because of the term limits that are causing her departure. 

The number of women has steadily increased during her 17 years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate. The new Legislature elected Tuesday has a record 35 women among its 120 members. They will be white, Latina and Asian — but not black. 

“There’s going to be a big void in our community,” said Alice Huffman, executive director of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

While the current and newly elected Legislatures have six black men, no new black female lawmakers have been elected since 1992. Huffman ran unsuccessfully for an Assembly seat in 1998 and said more recruitment of black women candidates by the political parties and legislative leadership is needed. 

Eight of the 30 black lawmakers elected since 1918 have been women, but most have gone to higher office. 

Three are currently in Congress — Reps. Maxine Waters and Juanita Millender-McDonald, both Los Angeles Democrats, and Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and one is a Los Angeles County supervisor — Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. 

Hughes arrived at the Capitol after winning a July 1975 special Assembly election. She was one of three women in the 120-member Legislature and one of seven blacks. She was the 16th woman and second black woman ever elected to the Legislature. 

“It was just a good old boys’ club and we were on the outside,” recalls Leona Egeland Siadek, one of the other two female lawmakers that year. “We broke a lot of ground.” 

When Hughes was chosen chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus, a Sacramento newspaper mistakenly ran a photo of Siadek, who is white. 

“We decided they must think all women politicians look alike,” said Siadek, who now handles government relations for The Doctors Co. of Napa. 

Hughes says she was used to such treatment at previous jobs as an assistant to the school superintendent in Queens, N.Y., and an education professor at California State University, Los Angeles. 

“I had always worked in situations in professional offices where the majority of them were ’old boys,”’ she said. “It didn’t feel any different for me.” 

Hughes, 68, said things have improved for women during her tenure. Not only are there more women, but male legislators “are learning to respect women as equals,” she said. 

“Most leaders of both houses realize they have to have women in significant leadership spots because their constituents demand it,” Hughes said. 

During her tenure, she has served as chairwoman of several committees, including the Assembly Education Committee in 1983, when the National Commission on Excellence in Education released the “A Nation At Risk” report condemning the state of U.S. public education. 

She co-authored a major education bill that year that set state graduation standards, lengthened the school day and year, raised teacher salaries and standards and required prospective teachers to pass a basic skills test. 

Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, named her as the first black member of the powerful Rules Committee, which decides whether the governor’s appointees should be confirmed. 

Burton said she always made the appointees explain “what they were doing in their departments for the treatment of women and people of color and sexual harassment.” 

Other lawmakers describe her as a warm, yet exacting mother figure, who has mentored new lawmakers by telling them they were asking good, probing questions, then imparting subtle advice. 

“She has a unique way of advising you. When she walks away, you have to say, ’Did she just tell me I screwed up?”’ Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-San Fernando, said during a tribute to Hughes at the end of the session. 

Hughes said she is “very, very concerned” that the new Legislature will have no black women and would like to see party officials encourage more women to run. 

What will her life be like without long days of legislative hearings? 

She plans to watch the Legislature on cable television and write critical “love notes” to her former colleagues. 

She and her husband of 20 years, Oakland urologist Frank Staggers, have always had a “commuter marriage,” as she spent time in Sacramento and her Los Angeles district. 

“Now it’s like I’m a brand new bride. We have to learn to live together,” she said.

Lawmakers still not reflective of state’s population; 35 women, 27 Hispanics, first openly gay member among 120 officials 

SACRAMENTO – The new California Legislature will have more women, Hispanics, Asians and gays than the 2000 version, but it will still fall short of reflecting the state’s diverse population. 

There will be 35 women, 27 Hispanics, at least three Asians and four openly gay members when the 120 lawmakers are sworn in next month, including the Senate’s first openly gay member. 

That’s an increase of four women, four Hispanics, two gays and one or two Asians, depending on the outcome of a Sacramento-Stockton area Senate race that will be decided by absentee ballots. 

The number of blacks will remain the same: six. 

The increases are more dramatic compared with 1990, when there were only 18 women, seven Hispanics, no Asians and no openly gay members. 

But all of those groups have a way to go to reflect the California population as a whole. 

Females make up about half the state’s population and will constitute a little over 29 percent of the new Legislature. 

Just over 22 percent of lawmakers will be Hispanics, but 31.5 percent of the state’s population is Hispanic, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates. 

Those numbers will drop slightly when Sen. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, leaves to take a seat in Congress in January, but her replacement is likely to be Hispanic and could be a woman. 

Asians make up just over 12 percent of California’s population, but will constitute only a fraction of one percent of the new Legislature even if Republican Alan Nakanishi, a physician and Lodi city councilman, wins a Senate race against Mike Machado of Linden, that’s still too close to call. 

But if the last decade is any indication, the numbers of women, Hispanic, gay and Asian lawmakers are likely to continue to increase. 

“At some point down the line demographics will catch up with politics,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at Claremont Graduate University. 

There are a number of reasons for the greater diversity, including the rapid growth of the state’s Latino population, efforts by advocacy groups to recruit more women and Hispanic candidates, and voters’ approval of term limits for lawmakers in 1990. 

“Without any question whatsoever the major reason is term limits,” said political analyst Tony Quinn. “Term limits ended the old boy network.” 

There’s also a greater willingness among voters to support women and minority candidates, observers say. 

“People are recognizing that the Latino agenda is synonymous with the American agenda,” said Sen. Richard Polanco, a Los Angeles Democrat and chairman of the Legislature’s Latino caucus. “There is nothing radical about our goals.” 

More women are running for office “because they realize they can run and can win,” said Iola Gold, executive director of the state Commission on the Status of Women. 

Political parties like women candidates, particularly in swing districts, because there’s a sense “they can reach across party lines,” Quinn said. 

There also a greater willingness to vote for gays, at least in major urban areas. 

“There’s still some gay baiting out there but thankfully more and more Americans are recognizing that public servants should be judged on their merits,” said Sloan Wiesen, communications director for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a national organization that helps elect gay candidates. 

The 2001 Legislature will have four openly gay members, all women: Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and Assemblywomen Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, and Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego. 

All four were active in their communities before winning legislative seats, which made them more attractive to voters, said Kuehl, who became the Legislature’s first openly gay member when she won an Assembly seat in 1994. 

“I had been active in a lot of community-based organizations, primarily in Santa Monica,” said Kuehl, a former actress who played Zelda in the old “Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” television show. “It gave me a real base of people who already knew my work.” 

She was elected to the Senate this year, making her its first openly gay member. 

Migden was a San Francisco supervisor before she won an Assembly seat in 1996. Goldberg and Kehoe, who were first elected this year, both served on city councils. 

It may be tougher for openly gay men to win legislative seats, Kuehl said. 

“People are more threatened in many ways just by a gay man’s presence,” she said. 

But gay men have won legislative and congressional races in other states. 

“I’m sure we will see gay men in the Assembly and Senate soon enough, especially in a state as diverse as California,” said Lisa Maria Belsanti, communications director for the California Alliance for Price and Equality, an advocacy group for gay, bisexual and transgender people. 

Blacks have lost seats in the Legislature in recent years, dropping from nine in 1990 to six currently. And after this month, there will be no black women in either house. Term limits are forcing the departure of Sen. Teresa Hughes, a Democrat. 

Jeffe said a relatively stagnant black population is one big reason for the decline. 

Blacks have remained at about 7 percent of California’s population since 1990, while the Hispanics’ share of the population has jumped more than 5 percentage points. 

“In 1997, for the first time, the Latino percentage of the electorate was greater than the black percentage of the electorate in Los Angeles,” she said.

GRASS RANGE, Mont. – California computer billionaire Thomas M. Siebel has angered some central Montana ranchers by tearing down two historic buildings on the N Bar Ranch he bought last June. 

Former owner and manager Tom Elliott, neighboring ranchers and historians are dismayed. 

“I think it’s a tragedy, personally. It’s so senseless,” Elliott said. 

Siebel, a San Mateo, Calif. software mogul ranked No. 105 in Forbes magazine’s latest list of the world’s richest people, is worth an estimated $4.2 billion. 

The two buildings he razed were on the National Register of Historic Places. N Bar Ranch manager Doug Groats said he had no idea the buildings has special status. 

“I wasn’t aware that they needed to be protected,” Groats said. “We have all those houses that if we just let them sit there the mice and the rats would take over.” 

Darrell Abbott, who lives a few miles west of the N Bar’s headquarters, said Siebel has torn down the cook house, a storage shed made of rock and an old homestead known as the Pike place. 

The cookhouse was built in 1885 of square-hewn logs. The rock house, built in the 1930s, housed the electrical generating equipment for the ranch complex. The structures were two of 13 buildings at the ranch headquarters listed in 1991 by the Elliotts on the National Register of Historic Places. 

A one-and-a-half story farm house built in 1930 and also listed on the register, was moved off the property. 

“We like to be notified if they’re going to move any of the buildings or tear them down,” said Kate Hampton of the Montana Historical Society. “Moved buildings lose their integrity of association.” 

But since the buildings are privately owned, the society has no say about what happens to the structures. 

Hampton said large cattle operations from the turn of the century are significant to the state’s history. Few of them are left. 

Siebel said he intends to be a good neighbor. He plan to run the N Bar as a commercial cattle operation, he said, much like the 70,000-acre Dearborn Ranch he owns near Wolf Creek. According to state officials familiar with the operation, the Dearborn’s land is conservatively managed to maintain adequate grass for cattle and wildlife. Although public hunting isn’t allowed on the ranch, some non-fee hunting by ranch employees and friends is allowed. 

“What we’re trying to do is clean it up,” Siebel said of the N Bar. “We want to improve the habitat for the wildlife, improve the riparian habitat. We want to ranch it in a responsible way.” 

Siebel said the beauty of the ranch attracted him to the place. He spent time on the McKay ranch near Red Lodge as a youngster and worked on a ranch near Bellevue, Idaho, after graduating from college, he said. 

It was during his youth at Red Lodge that he fell in love with Montana. 

“Hopefully (the N Bar) will be a showcase ranch,” Siebel said. “I think it’s just a great resource. We want to improve it so it’s one of the great ranches in the state.” 

Groats said the ranch will employ only four people to tend its 1,000 head of cattle. Such a small staff will require fewer facilities, and that’s one reason the older buildings were torn down or removed. 

“We had a gal who needed a house. We had no one to stay in the house and it needed to be taken care of,” he said of the home that was moved off the ranch.  

The rest of the buildings will be fixed up and will continue to be used.

Man dreamed of becoming a professor, gives an unsolicited donation to elementary school 

SAN JOSE – Robert Downs always dreamed of becoming a professor, but Bell Labs paid better and university jobs were scarce. 

Now 60, Downs never did teach. But he and his wife Sharon have contributed to the classroom in another way — by giving $271,000 to Washington Elementary, a needy San Jose school. 

The unsolicited donation has funded everything from an extra 30 minutes of class time each day and smaller class sizes to new computers, software and books. 

When Downs first called the school to ask about helping financially, principal Albert Moreno expected a nominal gift. 

“He was just a humble person who called and said he wanted to support a school,” Moreno said. “I always joke that we thought he wanted to give an old computer away.” 

Not quite. The gift is the largest ever from an individual to the San Jose Unified School Educational Foundation. 

“I do hope to encourage other to look at adopting a school,” said Downs, a San Jose resident. “I think it’s a great way personally to get some satisfaction and really feel good about what you’re doing. And I think it’s a very good way to help public schools.” 

Downs grew up poor in Los Angeles and attended public school. He holds two degrees in mathematics — one each from the University of California, Los Angeles and UC Berkeley.  

After academia, he specialized in computers, running Combinet Inc., which was bought out in 1995 by Cisco Systems Inc. 

Downs and his wife want little in return for their donation: no buildings will be renamed after the couple and the school doesn’t even need to show that the money is helping matters on campus. 

But Moreno wants to show the Downs proof that their donation is truly helping and wants to show them improved test scores as early as next year. 

“That’s the thing,” Moreno said. “He didn’t have any agenda for himself. He wanted to help public schools.” 

Group looking to collect almost 28,000 signatures 

SAN JOSE – A group of environmentalists and homeless advocates is trying to halt Cisco System Inc.’s $1.3 billion campus development in Coyote Valley. 

A group called People for Livable and Affordable Neighborhoods says it will try to collect 27,732 signatures by Dec. 12 to get a referendum on the ballot and kill the massive expansion project. 

“This is a huge project, and citizens should have the right to vote on it,” said environmentalist Ernest Goitein. “It shouldn’t be left to politicians, who are vulnerable to pressure.” 

If voters reject Cisco’s 688-acre project at the ballot box, the city’s approval would be nullified. 

Grass roots organizers and opponents of the Cisco campus project say it would have a devastating impact on traffic and drive up housing prices. 

A Cisco spokesman says the company is set to begin construction on the project this winter and the company’s business partners are banking on the signature drive coming up short. 

“Hopefully, there won’t be enough signatures, so that won’t be an issue,” said developer Steve Speno. 

PLAN sued San Jose earlier this week, contending the city was obstructing the petition drive by failing to give them the documents necessary to initiate the effort. The city handed over the documents, settling the case in a matter of days and extending a deadline for the petition to be turned in. 

Donors to the plan to halt the Cisco project include the Committee for Green Foothills and the Sierra Club. Zoe Kersteen-Tucker, president of the Committee for Green Foothills, said residents in outlying areas around San Jose would also be affected by Cisco’s massive expansion campus. 

“The Cisco project has far-reaching regional consequences. It will exacerbate the almost-gridlock situation we already have and open the floodgates to sprawl to the south,” Kersteen-Tucker. 

Cisco placated critics recently by donating $3 million and help raise $97 million more for open-space preservation efforts. 

The Sierra Club and Audubon Society still opposed the expansion, saying it would threaten endangered animals such as the red-legged frog and worsen air quality through increased traffic.

No one truly understands what a veteran has gone through in a war better than another vet, says Bob DeRiti, Commander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 25.  

On Friday DeRiti was out in front of the downtown Berkeley BART station, soliciting funds for the Berkeley-Emeryville-Albany chapter’s operations. His friend, Douglas Boyce was over at the post office doing the same thing. 

Usually the group comes out to ask for funds at the Berkeley Safeway on Veterans’ Day, DeRiti said. 

This year, members decided to honor the strike action against Safeway’s distribution agent, forgo the Safeway site and come downtown. “Berkeley’s a labor town,” DeRiti said. 

The Veteran’s Day solicitation brings the group more than funds, DeRiti said, just before a man came by, identified himself as a disabled vet, and exchanged phone numbers with DeRiti. 

“We picked up two (other) new members today,” DeRiti said, adding that the tabling also gives disabled vets a chance to dialogue with the general public. 

These days “Berkeley is showing respect to disabled vets,” he said. It wasn’t, of course, always that way. The unpopular Viet Nam War was hated in Berkeley. And the hatred carried over to the men who fought in it, said DeRiti, a vet from both the Viet Nam and Korean wars. “There was a big dislike for the Vietnam vet. Berkeley accepts us now,” he said. 

The Disabled American Vets do a lot of outreach to veterans, especially homeless vets. 

“We take homeless vets into our homes,” he said. One member allows people to camp out in his back yard. “So many of our Viet Nam (vet) brothers have died on the streets,” he said. Others “have made it, have become pillars of our society.” 

With different lifestyles, economic levels and political viewpoints, they all have something in common. “What we had to do haunts us for a lifetime,” he said. “It causes severe anxiety.” 

Disabled veterans can contact the Berkeley-Emeryville-Albany DAV at 549-1240. 

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 

Kitchen Design Fundamentals  

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by independent kitchen and bath designer Beverly Wilson.  

$75  

Homeowner’s Essential Course 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

The annual six-Saturday intensive with lectures, slides, and demonstrations taught by professional builder Glen Kitzenberger. Six Saturdays through Dec. 16.  

$425 per person, including textbook 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

InterPlayce Benefit 

8 p.m.  

Large Assembly 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley 

2345 Channing Way 

A benefit concert featuring the Wing It! Performance Ensemble. The project is to renovate and retrofit an 8200 square foot building to include a dance studio, visual art spaces, office and meeting rooms. Free, but donations are requested. 

Get Your Garden Ready  

for Winter 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

UC Botanical Garden  

Ted Kipping of Tree Shapers will offer advice on pruning your shrubs and trees, while Anthony Garza of Magic Gardens will suggest how to improve the health and appearance of your plants. Free, but space is limited.  

Call 287-0591 

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 

“Time Across Cultures” 

2 - 4 p.m. 

St. Clements Church 

2837 Claremont Ave.  

The annual Roselyn Yellin Memorial lecture with a slide-illustrated panel discussion. Also a tour of the “Telling Time” exhibit at the Judah L. Magnes Museum followed by a reception at the museum, 4 - 5 p.m.  

More info: 549-6950 

Buddhism & Compassion 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Psychiatrist and teacher Bobby Jones on “Healing through Compassion.” Free.  

843-6812 

“Road To Mecca” auditions 

2 p.m.  

Live Oak Theatre 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

The Actors Ensemble of Berkeley is auditioning roles for two females, 60-70 and 25-35, and one male, 60-70. Auditioners should prepare a monologue no longer than two minutes. No appointments. 

Call Debra Blondheim, 667-9827 

Solar Electricity for Your Home 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar instructed by engineer Gary Gerber of Sunlight and Power.  

$75 per person  

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Parenting Book Club 

11 a.m.  

Cody’s Books 

1730 Fourth St.  

Take part in a discussion of “The Good Enough Parent” by Bruno Bettelheim. New group members always welcome. The group meets the second Sunday of each month.  

Call 559-9500 

Carpentry Basics for Women 

9:30 - 4:30 p.m.  

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

A hands-on workshop taught by carpenter Tracy Weir. This workshop is a two-day workshop and runs Nov. 12 and 19.  

$195 per person  

“Collecting Ethnic Notions” 

2 - 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

1275 Walnut. St.  

Live Oak Park 

A book signing and reception for Jan Faulkner. 

Call 644-6893 

Monday, Nov. 13

An Evening with  

Barbara Kingsolver 

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Barbara Kingsolver’s works include “Animal Dreams,” “High Tide in Tucson,” “The Poisonwood Bible” and “Prodigal Summer” 

free parking $10 in advance, $13 at the door 

Benefits KPFA and Urban Ecology. 

848-6767 

From Rossi to Bernstein 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the works of Jewish classical composers beginning with the sixteenth century. The first in a series of three Monday evening classes on music.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students  

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students 

Call 848-0237 

Community Open House on the  

Underhill Area Projects  

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Unit II Residence Hall 

Lower Recreation Room 

2650 Haste St.  

Join architects, housing officials, parking and transportation officials, program representatives, key administrators and campus planners for an open house on these projects, which include a new apartment building at the southeast corner of College and Durant, and a new Central Dining and Office Facility on the east side of Bowditch between Haste and Channing.  

Call Jennifer Lawrence, Principal Planner, 642-7720 

Berkeley Preschool Fair 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, this fair features representatives from local preschools. The topic will be how to evaluate preschool education philosophies and make the most of the admissions process. A fair featuring many local preschools will follow panel discussion. 

$5 non-members; Free to NPN members 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org 

“Timber Framing - Ancient  

and Modern” 

7 - 10 p.m.  

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar led by contractor/Timber Framers Guild member Doug Eaton.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Soulforce Candlelight Vigil 

6 p.m.  

SF Chancery 

445 Church St.  

San Francisco  

In conjunction with an action by Soulforce/Dignity in Washington D.C., at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, to stop spiritual violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, local members of Soulforce will be holding a vigil to demonstrate their solidarity.  

Call SF Dignity, 415-681-2491 

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Take a Trip to the Steinbeck Museum and 

Mission San Juan Bautista 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This is an outing organized by the Senior Center.  

$40 with lunch, $25 without  

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Three Little Pigs 

3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley South Branch Library 

1901 Russell St. 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets perform.  

649-3943 

More Little Pigs 

7 p.m.  

Berkeley North Branch Library 

1170 The Alameda 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets huff and puff and blow the house down.  

“A Jewel in History” 

7 p.m. 

St. Paul AME Church 

2024 Ashby Ave.  

A documentary about the Homer G. Phillips Hospital for the Colored. The hospital, despite providing superior medical care for decades, was closed in the ‘70s. Donations will be accepted.  

“The Hand of Buddha” 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck (at Rose) 

In her new book poet, columnist and travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin explores the lives of women from different ethnic backgrounds and in moments of crisis. Free 

Call 843-3533 

Quest for Justice 

6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Bade Museum 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

A reception and discussion with the artists of “Quest for Justice: The Story of Korean Comfort Women as Told Through their Art,” an exhibit on display at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.  

849-8244 

Even Seniors Get the Blues 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A holiday blues support group with Lyn Rayburn.  

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Recognizing Alzheimer’s Disease 

10 - 11:30 a.m.  

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit North Pavilion 

Annexes B & C  

350 Hawthorne Ave.  

Oakland  

Susan Londerville, MD, Gerentologist, will discuss how to recognize the signs and common symptoms of Alzheimer’s and how to distinguish them from normal aging. Free 

Call Ellen Carroll, 869-6737  

Our School Open House 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Our School 

St. John’s Community Center 

2727 College Ave. (at Garber St.) 

An open house for prospective parents.  

Call Martha Knobler, 704-0701 

Wednesday, Nov. 15

Even More Little Pigs 

3:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Library Claremont Branch 

2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets help Little Red Riding Hood get to Grandma’s house.  

Healthful Holiday Cooking 

11:30 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Natalie. Free 

Unity of Diversity in the Bay Area 

7:30 p.m. 

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley  

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Ramona Lucero of the United Indian Alliance will give a presentation addressing the exploration and significance of unity as a basis for the Native American community.  

Call 642-9460 

Community Action Commission & 

Berkeley Homeless Commission  

Joint Public Hearing  

7 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. (at Ashby) 

The purpose of this hearing is to allow low-income residents of Berkeley, and people who use the services to inform these agencies about what services they need.  

Call Marianne Graham, 665-3475  

Making Additions Match 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by architect/colunist Arrol Gellner.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Citizen’s Humane Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr.) 

Review the support of a ban on leghold and body-crushing traps.  

Commission on Labor Board 

6 p.m. 

1950 Addison St., Suite 105 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

Discussion and possible approval of a resolution regarding the expiration of the electricity rate freeze.  

Human Welfare & Community Action 

7 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Board of Education 

7:30 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Commission on Aging 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Thursday, Nov. 16

Reminiscing in Swingtime 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Library  

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

George Yoshida, author and jazz drummer, presents a multi-media program recounting the big band experience in the Japanese American internment camps. The presentation will be capped with a set of live jazz by the George Yoshida Quartet. 

Call for more info: 644-6850 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Free blood pressure screenings 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

free 

869-6737 

Three Little Pigs  

3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Roger Mara and his Snapdragon Puppets perform.  

Tai Chi for Seniors  

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Tai Chi master Mr. Chang. Free 

Sea Kayaking in the Bay Area and Baja 

7 p.m.  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Mitch Powers of Sea Trek Ocean Kayaking Center presents slides of some of his favorite paddling destinations and gives tips on selecting gear, paddling safety and planning trips. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Native American Heritage Celebration Dinner 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

International House 

UC Berkeley  

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

Chef, Zachary Runningwolf will be supervising the preparation of Indian breads, pumpkins, and more. At 8 p.m., a cultural night will commence featuring arts & crafts, a drumming performance, and a fashion show.  

$8 dinner, $3 cultural night & performances  

Call 642-9460  

HVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning for beginners seminar taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35 per person 

Call Sydney, 525-7610 

Transportation Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Design Review Committee 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Friday, Nov. 17

Community Dance Party 

7:45 - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

Come learn to dance with easy instructions presented by the Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2; Adult Non-members $4 

Information: 525-3030  

California Energy Re-Structuring 

Luncheon served, 11:15 a.m.  

Speaker, 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Severin Borenstein, director at the UC Energy Institute will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon 

$1 general for speaker only, Free to students  

Call 848-3533  

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Housing Clinic for Seniors 

3 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A housing clinic with the East Bay Community Law Center. Free  

“Beneath Our Feet” 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

James Moore Theater  

1000 Oak St. 

Oakland  

This all-day conference involves Native Americans, archeologists, anthropologists, historians, naturalists, photographers, and sound artists, joining together to evoke a sense of the people of the East Bay and the landscape they have inhabited over the past ten thousand years. 

$12 - $27, lunch ($12) optional  

Call 636-1648  

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 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educaitonal and art video and film works. Featuring a number of local filmakers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

Zuni Fetish Show  

10 a.m. - 6 p.m.  

Gathering Tribes  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Fresh from a trip to Zuni, Janet & Diane from Beyond Tradition will have new fetishes and jewelry. This is the last fetish show of the year for Gathering Tribes.  

Call 528-9038 

Sunday, Nov. 19

Soprano Deborah Voigt 

Cal Performances  

3 p.m.  

Voigt’s performance is a postponment from her original Oct. 15 date. The program will remain unchanged. 

$28-$48 For tickets call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

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 

“Drawing Marathon”  

Merritt College’s Art Building 

Live models, group poses.  

$12 for half a day, $20 for a full day, senior and student discounts available. No cameras or turpentine. 

523-9763 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educaitonal and art video and film works. Featuring a number of Berkeley filmakers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

Monday, Nov. 20 

The Music of Israel 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the music of Israel, from the early pioneers of Palestine to the latest rock.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Rent Stabilization Board 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Tuesday, Nov. 21

Fibromyalgia Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m.  

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium 

Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

Call D.L. Malinousky, 601-0550 

Environmental Solutions! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose) 

Informally led by Robert Berend, former UC Extension lecturer, this group aims to have intelligent discussions on a wide range of topics. They stress that there is no religious bent to the discussions and that all viewpoints are welcome. Bring light snacks to share with group.  

Call Robert Berend, 527-5332  

Thursday, Nov. 23

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

Friday, Nov. 24

“Yoga Poems”  

7:30 p.m. 

Piedmont Yoga Studio 

4125 Piedmont Ave. 

Piedmont 

Leza Lowitz will read from her new book, which contains over 60 poems inspired by different yoga poses, and do a yoga performance. Free. 

Call Miki, 558-7826 

Saturday, Nov. 25

Berkeley Artisans Holiday Open Studios 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Get map from: 

1250 Addison St. #214 

or download at: http://www.berkeleyartisans.com 

Over one hundred professional artists and craftspeople open up their studios and workspaces to the public. All styles of artistic expression are represented. Runs Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 17. 

Call 845-2612 

Papersong Grand Opening Celebration 

Noon - 5 p.m.  

Swan’s Marketplace 

936B Clay St.  

Oakland 

Featuring free musical performances by Big Brother & The Holding Co., Caravan of All Stars Revue, The Charles Dudley Band, and Jane DeCuir.  

Call 436-5131 

Monday, Nov. 27

To Make the World Whole 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses songs of peace, protest and change from labor, feminists, peace, and environmental activists of the past 125 years, that inspired others to action. 

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Educational Philosophies Roundtable 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

At this roundtable, Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, parents will learn about the following educational philosophies: Developmental, cooperative, Montessori, bilingual, Waldorf, religious, homeschooling, and charter schools.  

Free to members; non-members, $5 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org  

Wednesday, Nov. 29

Wanderlust: Tales of Adventure and Romance 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

Jeff Greenwald and other travel writers discuss the art of writing travel literature and how to make a living doing it.  

Call 843-3533 

Thursday, Nov. 30

Pro Arts Juried Show Reception 

6 - 8 p.m.  

Pro Arts 

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland 

With the work of 70 artists, this annual show features the work of emerging and mid-career artists. The show runs through December 30. See A&E calendar for details.  

Snowshoeing Basics  

7 p.m . 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional snowshoe guide Cathy Anderson-Meyers gives basic instruction on how to get out and experience Tahoe’s winter terrain on “shoes.”  

Call 527-4140 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Middle East Children’s Alliance Director Barbara Lubin, back from a recent visit to Palestine, reveals the horror of war, the thirst for a homeland 

Barbara Lubin was one of the only passengers on the flight Friday, October 13 to Tel Aviv. After the plane landed in the rain at night, Lubin said, she caught a taxi to the West Bank city of Bethlehem. But Israeli soldiers refused to let her past the checkpoint into the city, Lubin said. So at 1 a.m. the Berkeley-based activist scrambled over 10-foot concrete blocks to enter the closed area. The taxi driver threw her suitcase after her. 

Lubin is a woman who goes to great lengths to bear witness. 

Wearing a silver pendant in the shape of the whole of British Mandate Palestine, and swinging her straight silver hair, Lubin spoke about her recent trip Wednesday night at La Pena Cultural Center on Shattuck Avenue.  

More than 250 people crammed in, with standing room only, to view slides and hear Lubin, the executive director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance. 

During 14 days in the Middle East, Lubin stayed in Bethlehem’s Dheisheh refugee camp, in a guest house built by her group. She filed daily radio reports to KPFA-radio from scenes of violence as she traveled in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. 

She said she was moved to visit as she watched on television scenes of the clashes, which were ignited Sept. 28, when Israeli leader Ariel Sharon brought 1,000 soldiers to the Muslim prayer site at Jerusalem’s Noble Sanctuary, known to Jews as the Temple Mount. The move unleashed Palestinians’ deep frustration with the peace process, after seven years of negotiations under the Oslo process brought no end in sight to the Israeli occupation. 

Lubin brought back stories and slides both intimate and political. In Dheisheh, she said, “kids were either out throwing stones or just hanging around because schools were closed.” Lubin bought them 17 computers. “The kids don’t sleep during the night. They’re wetting their beds. They’re talking to their parents about dying,” Lubin said. 

The Middle East Children’s Alliance was started by Lubin and Howard Levine in 1988 to work for peace in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. Later the mission expanded to Lebanon and Iraq. The alliance has built playgrounds, delivered medicine and food, and led delegations of Americans to visit the Middle East. “It’s looking for what we can do as Americans to change our foreign policy and really make it work for peace in Palestine and Israel,” said Lubin. 

Lubin considers her own eyewitness accounts key to conveying a picture of Middle East events to people back home. One night on this most recent trip,  

Lubin said, it was pitch black outside when a light came on from the sky.  

Israeli soldiers started shooting toward Palestinian homes from American-made Apache helicopters, she said, and 10 masked Palestinian men shot back. By day, she said, it is a different war, of Palestinian children armed with rocks fighting Israeli combat soldiers shooting live fire. One day at a demonstration, Lubin saw five Palestinian young people killed. Lubin’s slides record details beyond the reports in the U.S. media of the deaths of 193 people, almost all Palestinian. Her slides show walls in the West Bank city of Ramallah plastered with the faces of young people who died. Another slide shows tables where, Lubin said, thousands of Palestinians signed petitions calling for an international peace force to protect them. Doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers protested Israel’s shooting on medical personnel in another slide. 

“What’s a settlement? This is what a settlement looks like,” Lubin said, showing a plain tract development. “A little bit like Orinda.” She also showed photographs of bypass roads, an alternate highway network for Jews to drive safely from West Bank settlements to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Her slides create a sense of the patchwork of Palestinian-controlled and Israeli-occupied areas of the West Bank. 

Lubin was raised on right-wing Zionist Jewish values. She did not become active on Middle East issues until she was elected to the Berkeley Board of Education in 1982 and a group of students asked why she was silent on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. “I said, ‘I’m Jewish,’” recalls Lubin. “They said, ‘So what?’” 

At La Pena, Lubin, a longtime local activist, knew much of her audience by name. “It’s very important to have this kind of audience-the progressive community, the Jewish community,” said Arab activist Osama Qasem, 30, a graduate student in industrial engineering at UC Berkeley. The event raised $5,500 for the alliance. But some said the alliance should go further still.  

“It’s kind of the same story over and over. We know what’s going on. We need to bring people in power to see that,” said one woman on the Berkeley housing commission. Eyad Kishawi, 30, of the Palestinian group Al Awda, lauded Lubin’s commitment, and also said his group plans to launch a campaign for American divestment in Israel. 

“There’s a big difference between people going to visit Palestine and  

Israel-and people who actually live there,” said Noura Erakat, a Palestinian UC Berkeley junior. “When you visit, you see what you want. When you live there, it’s all brought to you,” she said. “We have tear gas we get to smell before going to sleep.” 

The Middle East Children’s alliance can be reached at 548-0542.

ACAMBARO, MEXICO -- Weeks before the U.S. elections, the Mexican press ran news agency reports about the probability of an electoral photo-finish. But few people here expected to see the world’s most powerful democracy thrown into embarrassing political turmoil. 

Indeed, the troubling events that have followed the tightest U.S. election in decades have been watched here with a certain amount of familiarity and irony. 

The controversy reminds many Mexicans of their own country’s long history of electoral fraud, a history fraught with stolen ballot boxes, computer glitches (more recently), and embarrassing recounts. It is ironic, because last July, Mexicans elected their first opposition president, in an election that was resolved at the speed of light, a little after 10 p.m. on election day. 

All of this, of course, makes Mexicans very nervous. The “democratic” election of Vicente Fox Quesada last July has not yet made true believers out of a people who, almost by nature, are political skeptics. And the general feeling here is that someone is behind the political turmoil north of the border. 

“There’s a dark hand behind what’s happening,” said Salvador Canedo Romero, an Internet entrepreneur in this small central Mexican town. “How is it that the most powerful country in the world cannot determine who won the election?” 

Many Mexicans think of the United States as a computerized factory that churns out globally consumed technology, popular culture and political schemes.  

This factory runs without stop or error, like a fine-tuned Swiss watch; what happened Nov. 6 was simply inconceivable, and, for Mexico, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. 

On Dec. 1, president-elect Fox, of the country’s center-right Party of National Action, takes control of Mexico’s presidency. 

Historically, the transition between one presidential administration to the next has been anything but smooth.  

Mexicans still recall all too well December 1994, when the country’s economy collapsed only days after President Ernesto Zedillo was sworn in. 

A political crisis in the United States is seen as a darkening storm cloud on the distant northern horizon.  

When stock markets shake a little in New York, tremors are felt in Mexico City. 

Shortly after Fox was elected, Zedillo’s administration announced it would use billions of dollars to bolster the Mexican economy so it could weather the transition. Meanwhile, several weeks ago, Zedillo refused to grant a bonus to government workers, traditionally given at the end of each six-year presidential term. 

Bureaucrats quickly responded with chaotic general strikes and street marches that brought Mexico City to a standstill for several days. End-of-year bonuses are the only disposable income for many Mexicans. 

Both Zedillo and Fox announced their opposition to the bonus, claiming that it would cut into much-needed reserves. Though the government conceded to a reduced bonus, the issue clearly shows how many here are nervous about a “transition crisis.”  

The developments in the United States haven’t helped. 

The explanations here for what’s going on in the U.S. range from electoral fraud to corporate conspiracy.  

For Mexicans who swallowed George W. Bush’s Spanish-language gestures toward America’s Latino communities, the controversy in Florida is nothing more than a fraudulent political move on the part of Democrats to keep the Republicans out of the White House. In many ways, people here were more affected by Bush’s gestures than were Latino voters in the U.S., and Bush is considered by many to be a friend of Fox. 

Others view the U.S. electoral stalemate as a corporate conspiracy, an elaborate plan by America’s wealthiest to bring on an international crisis, an economic shakedown that will leave only the strongest standing. 

“There are too many people making serious money in the U.S., and this could be a quick way for the people on top to push everyone down,” said Rodrigo Ibarra Martinez, the owner of small left-leaning newspaper. 

But these are only the most extreme theories. Most people have no idea why the world’s model democracy can’t come up with a winner. They simply shake their heads and hope the international markets keep their cool. 

Pacific News Service commentator Martin Espinoza reports from Guanajuato, Mexico. 

Most artists get pigeon-holed early in their careers. Not so Dave Alvin, whose work embraces nearly every style of American popular music. 

Alvin first received national attention as a guitarist with the Blasters, a swinging jump and rockabilly unit that began in the early 1980s.  

By the end of the decade he became a replacement guitarist in the seminal Los Angeles based punk group, X, and its more acoustic alter-ego, The Knitters. 

By the late 1980s, Alvin had begun making a name for himself as a song writer. His 1987 album, Romeo’s Escape (Epic), featured two songs that were covered by other artists.  

Dwight Yoakam made something of a hit out of "Long White Cadillac," while X created a more underground sensation with "Fourth Of July," a song which was also covered later by Texas singer and song writer Robert Earl Keen. 

Alvin has been dubbed "the King Of California," after one of his songs, for his distinctly California outlook. 

Alvin’s song writing is often more country than rock, and his visions of California have more in common with Merle Haggard than the Beach Boys.  

(Alvin recorded an entire album of Haggard covers, Tulare Dust, in 1994.) Where the Beach Boys’ version of California is all a dream filled with surf, sun and pretty women, Alvin’s perspective is more rural, rooted in the land, and distinctly working class. 

Alvin has delved deeply into these themes on his most recent of seven solo albums, Blackjack David (1998), and even more recently, Public Domain: Songs From The Wild Land (2000), both of which were issued on Oakland’s Hightone Record label. 

On Public Domain, Alvin recorded songs that for the most part live up to the promise in the title; these are songs so deeply embedded in the folk tradition that they have long since been separated from authorship or copyright.  

With his talented band, The Guilty Men, Alvin explores tracks like the standard folk ballad, “Shenandoah,” which he performs in a particularly, slow, dreamy and ethereal style on the recording. 

With a voice that might be best characterized as a cross between Johnny Cash and Gordon Lightfoot, Alvin’s choice of songs on Public Domain is hardly the stuff of the California or American Dreams.  

To the contrary, like much of the folk music tradition, Alvin’s choices are more often reflective of much darker themes in American history, such as the tale of going off to war found in “Texas Rangers,” stories of train men like “Railroad Bill,” or “The Murder Of The Lawson Family,” or others who live a “Short Life Of Trouble.” 

Such sounds are hardly unique to Alvin’s repertoire. Anyone who has studied the American folk tradition, be it through the Smithsonian collections of Harry Smith, or the trips back in time favored in the acoustic music of Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Bob Dylan or Jerry Garcia know well. 

Such themes are of course tempered with happier sounds. There is an almost jug band sound to Alvin’s versions of “Walk Right In” and "Delia,” for example. 

Dave Alvin is performing a rare series of solo acoustic concerts in support of his new record.  

Alvin brings this series to Berkeley on Saturday, November 11, at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse.

Team can’t overcome three early Husky goals, lose 4-2 

Following an emotional victory over highly-ranked Indiana last weekend, one could expect the Cal men’s soccer team to have a slight letdown. But no one could have expected the Bears (6-12-1, 2-4-1 Pac-10) to give up three easy first-half goals to the No. 21 Washington Huskies. 

But the Bears did just that, and a surge of energy in the second half couldn’ bring them back. Although they scored two goals to pull within 3-2 with 15 minutes left in the game, Washington’s Kai Carroll sealed his team’s victory with his second goal of the match in the 80th minute, making the score 4-2 and sending the Bears to their 12th defeat of the season. 

The visiting Huskies (13-5, 7-1) outshot Cal 15-8 in the game, and were never really threatened until after the intermission. Forward John Sagare kicked off the scoring with a goal in the 30th minute from an assist by Carroll. Sagare spent the rest of the half setting up his teammates for scoring opportunities, and midfielder Mark Hogenhout and Carroll took advantage of his generosity in the 36th and 40th minutes, respectively. Cal goalkeeper Brian Walker was the most active player on the field for the Bears, but he had little chance of stopping any of the scores. 

The Bears managed just one weak shot on goal in the half. 

“The first half was obviously disappointing for us,” Cal head coach Kevin Grimes said. “We just came out flat after that big win against Indiana.” 

Grimes gave his team a tounge-lashing during the break. 

“I told them they looked like the Cal of six weeks ago, not the team that’s been playing so well lately,” he said. “They got outbattled and outcompeted for the entire half.” 

The Bears came out of the locker room with more fire, and were rewarded when a rebound came off Husky goalkeeper Chad Olsen right to midfielder Omar Gusmao, who slammed the ball into the back of the net from 20 yards out. Forward Austin Ripmaster was credited with an assist on the goal. 

Grimes’ team continued to press forward, and the Huskies seemed to get a little rattled following Gusmao’s strike. They started using the Bears’ first-half tactic of clearing the ball from the back and hoping their forwards could create something by themselves. The Bears repelled the attacks and repeatedly sent the ball sailing back into the Washington side of the field. 

Cal forward Kendall Simmonds was struggling for the ball when he was clearly pulled down in the penalty box, and the referee pointed at the penalty spot. Cal midfielder Ramiro Arredondo sent Olsen the wrong way, scoring easily and pulling the Bears tantalizingly close at 3-2. But several more frantic attacks were beaten down by the Husky defense, and Olsen was solid coming out on long balls meant for Ripmaster and Simmonds. When Carroll scored his goal on a quick counterattack, there was no doubt which team would win the match. 

The Bears will wrap up their season on Sunday when they head to UCLA, whom they beat 1-0 earlier this year. Grimes said his team needs to have the energy they showed in the second half if they expect to sweep the Bruins. 

“We need to play like that for 90 minutes if we expect to be competitive with UCLA.”

Zoning Board yet to make decision 

In a packed Council Chambers, the Zoning Adjustments Board heard sharp criticism and high praise of the Final Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Beth El synagogue and school in north Berkeley. 

While the FEIR concluded that there were no environmental problems in the development of the site that could not be corrected, it will be up to the ZAB to take a position approving or turning down the document. The ZAB heard public testimony, but took no vote at the Thursday night meeting and has until mid-January to certify the document. 

Beth El members argued for certification of the report while members of Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association claimed the document was seriously flawed. 

Both sides were given 45 minutes to make comments. 

ZAB must certify the FEIR as complete and adequate prior to approving the 35,000-square-foot project proposed for a 2.2 acre site at 1301 Oxford St. 

The 660-page FEIR, prepared by Pacific Municipal Consultants of Sacramento, examined potential impacts in three categories: parking and traffic in the immediate neighborhood, possible damage to Codornices Creek and whether historical aspects of the site would be altered. 

The opposition to the project has generally focused on potential parking and traffic problems and what they say will be damage to the creek which runs through the property, partially exposed and partially through a culvert. 

Another function of the FEIR was to analyze possible alternatives to the proposed plan. Such alternatives could include different building designs, parking schemes and even other locations. 

Beth El member Martin Dodd said the report concluded the project would have no significant impact on the site and LOCCNA members did not raise any substantial arguments in opposition to the document. 

“I did not hear anything that struck me as sufficient reason for ZAB not to certify,” Dodd said. “I think Michael Issel (a ZAB board member) said it all when he asked ‘how perfect does this have to be?’” 

Environmental attorney Ray Gorman, hired by LOCCNA, disagreed. Gorman focused his comments primarily on what he described as the failure of the FEIR to adequately provide alternatives to the proposed plan. 

He said the FEIR did not consider a smaller project nor did it consider alternate locations. “This is the worst alternatives section I’ve ever seen,” Gorman told the board. 

He said the consultant should have provided analysis of possible locations in Kensington and Albany but no farther. 

Dodd said he was offended at the idea the congregation, which has been in Berkeley for 50 years, would leave the city. “Besides, we don’t have another site, we bought this one two blocks from where we’re at now.” he said. 

LOCCNA member Juliet Lamont said she was most concerned about the report’s failure to analyze the possibility of a smaller project. “The one thing people in the neighborhood have been asking for since the project was first proposed was not addressed at all,” she said. 

Dodd said that currently the synagogue and school, located at 2301 Vine St., have a variety of classes and events in addition to the temple’s religious meetings. He said while there are usually not large numbers of people in the facility at any one time, it has become difficult to schedule rooms . 

Lamont, an instructor at UC Berkeley, said they could figure out how to do with less room. “They do it all the time at the University where they have a shortage of classrooms,” Lamont said. “You just get creative and stagger, overlap and rearrange. I guarantee you if they have to do it they’ll be able to do it comfortably.” 

Landmarks Commissioner Becky O’Malley spoke to the board about the FEIR in an “uncommitted” capacity – neither as a proponent or an opponent. She said the FEIR had failed to meet California Environmental Quality Act requirements by not analyzing the site as an historical resource despite its status as a city landmark. The area was part of the 1860’s Napoleon Boneparte Byrne homestead, the first settlement in Berkeley. 

O’Malley and four other commissioners created a controversy last Monday at a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing when they refused the city attorney’s advice to disqualify themselves from commission proceedings involving the Beth El project. The city attorney said their role as directors or staff of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, which had taken a position on the Beth El Draft Environmental Report, created a conflict of interest. 

The meeting came to an abrupt end before the LPC could vote on a recommendation about the Beth El project for ZAB’s consideration. 

Dodd said he is puzzled by the brouhaha over the historical aspect of the property. He said two years ago, BAHA presented Beth El with a list of the remaining historical elements on the site, which included the west entry gates, a small shack, a retaining wall and some landscaping. 

“We recognize it has historical significance,” Dodd said. “And we’ve essentially agreed to do what they’ve asked us to do.” 

Zab chairperson, Carolyn Weinberger said the board will try to make a decision about the report’s certification by the next meeting, but she was quick to point out that the deadline for the decision is Jan. 21. 

For information about the date of the next Zoning Adjustments Board discussion on Beth El, call the Planning and Development Department at 705-8110. 

Dreams of a perfect conference record and a trip to the Rose Bowl are still alive for Oregon, but just barely.  

The seventh-ranked Ducks have won each of their last two games in overtime and will try to close things out a little earlier when they host California Saturday in a Pac-10 Conference affair.  

Oregon (8-1, 6-0 Pac-10) can secure the conference title and its first trip to the Rose Bowl since the 1994 season with wins this Saturday and next week against against archrival Oregon State.  

California (3-6, 2-4) is a team capable of providing the Ducks with another scare. Last year, Oregon jumped to a 24-19 lead and escaped with a 24-19 win when Brian Johnson intercepted a pass in the end zone in the final seconds.  

Oregon has won the last four games in the series and five of the past six, but California has a 35-26-2 overall edge.  

California gave up 524 yards of offense to Oregon State last week, but kept things close in a 38-32 defeat. Nick Harris became the first punter in NCAA history to go over 13,000 yards in his career.  

After averaging 13.8 points in its first five games, the Bears are averaging 32.5 points in the last four.  

The Ducks may be winning, but have been playing less-than-dominant football. Josh Frankel kicked a 47-yard field goal in overtime and the Ducks blocked Anousith Wilaikul’s 39-yard attempt to escape with a 27-24 victory over Washington State last week. 

The Ducks have won 19 straight home games, the second longest streak in the nation behind Florida State (34). They have not lost at Autzen Stadium since dropping a 39-31 decision to UCLA on October 11, 1997.

The alleged gang rape of a 12-year-old Berkeley girl by nine boys has left teachers, school officials and crisis management specialists scrambling for ways to deal with the aftermath of a crime that has shocked the middle school community. 

The first step in addressing students’ questions and fears will be a special violence prevention class, which teachers are preparing over the weekend, said Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Karen Sarlo. 

The curriculum is being put together by teachers working in the “The Second Step Program” that is designed to engage students in discussions around values, respect and conflict resolution. A Second Step curriculum has been taught weekly at Willard Middle School and other schools in the district for more than a year. 

“This program will be dealing with sexual abuse, sexual harassment, rape and peer pressure,” Sarlo said. “It will take place in the classrooms and there will be trained crisis workers present to answer questions.”  

The special instruction will be followed Wednesday by a grade-by-grade assembly, which will include personnel from both the Berkeley Police Youth Services and the Berkeley Mental Health Center who will field questions and offer support as well as teach skills to help students avoid dangerous situations.  

A community meeting will be held at Willard on Thursday to discuss the incident and how to better deal with the crisis. 

The alleged attack, which took place Oct. 25, reportedly began in a shed at Willard Middle School and, according to police, moved to 10 other off-campus locations over a period of several hours before the girl was released. The girl did not report the incident until two days later. After police confirmed that a crime was committed six of the nine suspects were arrested and then released to their parents. The boys have been suspended from school pending further investigation. Police are still searching for the two other suspects. 

“Clearly this is an area that is going to need a lot of support,” board of education member Pamela Doolan said. “Everyone is devastated and we need to come together as a community and deal with this very sensitive issue.” 

School Board President Joaquin Rivera said school officials are taking a pro-active stance and are committed to providing counseling and prevention programs to students. 

In a written statement, Rivera emphasized the school board is closely monitoring the situation to ensure that the students will be safe, a full investigation is completed in a timely manner and that the appropriate disciplinary action is taken. He also added that the school district is in the process of hiring an independent firm to investigate the incident in the hopes of shedding new light on the case. 

The question of why the school district and Board of Education were not notified of the alleged crime until Nov. 2 remains unanswered. 

“I know a Willard employee notified the police of the crime on Oct. 27 but we were not notified for another six days. We are still trying to find out what happened during that time,” School District Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said.  

“We won’t know for certain until we receive a copy of the police report.”  

McLaughlin said that the six male Willard students were suspended from school Oct. 27, the same day the police arrested them. The boys face possible expulsion if they are found guilty. 

“If the boys are expelled, which is a legal process involving written recommendations, a hearing and final approval by the school board, it will be our responsibility to place them in another educational institution,” McLaughlin said. 

“We want to resolve this in the best way for everyone. The whole community is watching. They want to know what happened and they want to know what to tell their kids.” 

Sarlo said parents of Willard students were notified by letter Nov. 2 and 3. 

Barbara Weaver, a mother of two Willard students, said she was disappointed with the way the district chose to notify parents about the incident. “They sent a written notice home with the students and middle school kids are not the most reliable mode to transport crucial information.” 

Weaver did not receive the information until a reporter approached her as she was dropping her two children off at school Monday. 

Weaver was also upset because repeated calls to the school principal went unanswered. 

“The notice stated that “an assault” took place after school but didn’t state the nature of it and is signed by the principal saying ‘please call me any concerns or questions.’” 

Weaver said she plans to attend the meeting and added that she has never had a safety issue with Willard. 

“My concern is not so much about the safety of my children because we have always been happy with the school. My concern is with their communication skills, that’s what this issue is about for me. 

Sarlo said it was never the district’s intention to keep anything from anybody.  

“We are still gathering information, we don’t have all the answers and we are cooperating with police. The results of our investigation will be discussed at the meeting on Thursday.” 

The parent meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Willard Middle School located at 2425 Stuart St.

The stage is finally set for the NCAA Women's College Cup second round games. No. 8 seed California entertains Santa Clara Saturday at 1 p.m. at Edwards Stadium. The Golden Bears had a first-round bye, while the Broncos defeated Cal Poly, 3-1, in the opening round Wednesday night at Buck Shaw Stadium.  

Cal and Santa Clara faced each other Sept. 24 at the Bay Area Classic with the game ending in a 1-1 tie through two overtime periods. Santa Clara jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 34:29 when midfielder Devvyn Hawkins one timed a cross from Heather Aldama from about eight-yards out.  

Down 1-0 at the half, Cal tied the score at 1-1 at 47:14 when sophomore forward Laura Schott headed in to the near post junior forward Kyla Sabo's cross.  

Cal is 17-2-1, while SCU is 14-6-1. The Bears lead the all-time series with the Broncos, 11-9-2.  

Gates open one hour before the start of the game. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for Cal or Santa Clara students with college ID, children 12 and under, senior citizens and disabled.  

***** 

California sophomore forward Laura Schott was named one of 12 finalists for Soccer Buzz’s Women’s Soccer Player of the Year honor Friday. Soccer Buzz is a Web site devoted exclusively to collegiate women’s soccer. The winner will be announced in early December after a vote of every Division I women’s soccer head coach and the Soccer Buzz staff.  

Schott, who was named a first team All-Pac-10 selection on Tuesday, has been the Golden Bears go-to player all season. She leads the Pac-10 in scoring (47), goals (23) and game-winning goals (9). Nationally, Schott ranks second for goals per game at 1.21 and eighth for points per game at 2.47.

The Internet's popularity has occasionally sparked concern that increasing reliance upon computers will cause community relationship and “real human interaction” to fade.  

Launched on November 11, 1995 at 11a.m., the Berkeley On-Line Vietnam Veterans Memorial represents months of hard work and cooperation between City Officials, local organizer Country Joe McDonald, and City Information Systems staff members. Lianne Birkhold, the city’s webmaster in 1995, describes the project as one of the most emotionally rewarding of her career. “Family members came in with pictures and stories, touched and grateful that something was being done to honor their family members.  

On the day the site was launched, they came in person to share their feelings with other families from the area. Some still send messages on the site every year.” Visitors from all over the world are able to contribute stories, remembrances, and comments to soldiers’ guestbook.  

The site serves as a growing tribute to Berkeley’s 22 fallen, and a place for families, friends, and soldiers to meet and exchange messages.  

Visit the site at: www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/vvm/.  

LOS ANGELES — A surprise recantation of murder allegations by the ex-lover of disgraced cop Rafael Perez surfaced Friday with a corruption case against four of his former colleagues already in the hands of a jury. Trial watchers said the timing couldn’t be more suspicious. 

“I don’t know the answers,” said attorney Gigi Gordon. “I just know there’s something wrong. Where did this woman come from? ... I believe there is someone out there directing this.” 

The mystery woman in the case is 23-year-old Sonia Flores, whose power to turn the corruption case on its ear was demonstrated a month ago when, on the eve of trial for four police officers, she accused the chief informant, Perez, of murder. 

Her claims sent federal authorities rushing to Mexico where earth-moving equipment was used in an effort to unearth three bodies she said were buried in a Tijuana ravine. 

No bodies were found — for good reason. Apparently there were no murders. 

When Flores failed a lie detector test this week, the Los Angeles Times reported, she broke down in tears and told federal authorities she made up her claims against Perez. 

Her lawyer said it was a simple case of a jilted lover looking for revenge. 

“She’s a woman scorned,” said attorney Marshall Bitkower. “She had everybody fooled.” 

But few of those who followed the probe of alleged corruption in an anti-gang unit at the Police Department’s Rampart station buy that explanation. 

“The timing smells,” said Loyola University Law School professor Laurie Levenson. “It seems like more than coincidence. When something like this happens it makes people  

wonder if this has been a fair and honest trial.” 

Gordon, who has represented many of the approximately 100 people who had their criminal cases dismissed due to alleged police misconduct, notes that the first headlines about Flores’ accusations broke just before the jury was selected in the officers’ trial. 

In opening statements, defense lawyers denounced Perez as evil incarnate and said he was accused of murder. 

Perez, who was convicted of stealing cocaine from an evidence locker and began talking to investigators in a deal for leniency, had been expected to appear at the trial. 

But his lawyer quickly sent word that he wanted immunity on the murder allegations if he was to testify, and prosecutors refused. Thus, the expected star witness of the Rampart trial, was never called to testify. 

“I think it’s suspicious if the reason they kept Perez off the stand was because of these allegations,” Gordon said. 

Now, with jurors deliberating the fate of the four officers, headlines proclaim that the murder allegations were untrue. 

Gordon said her suspicions do not fall on the prosecutors who struggled to prosecute the officers without much cooperation from the Los Angeles Police Department. 

“I think they have to feel they got snookered by this,” she said, suggesting that the LAPD was the moving force behind Flores’ deception. 

“This is just my opinion,” she said, “but the whole purpose of Sonia Flores was to shut Rafael Perez down and keep him off the witness stand in this and other cases.” 

She said there are many questions swirling around Flores: Why did she make her allegations five years after her relationship with Perez had ended? How did she contact the LAPD and why wasn’t the district attorney informed? Why did police take Flores’ claims to federal prosecutors first? And why did Perez deny having an affair with her? Was this the first time she was given a lie detector test? 

“I just feel like this woman didn’t come out of nowhere,” said Gordon. “This is speculation, but my guess is she gets busted for something and in exchange for not getting prosecuted she offers to tell all.... She was Perez’s snitch. If you’re an informer and you get in trouble you use what’s in your repertoire and you answer to your masters. Her masters were the LAPD.” 

District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons refused to comment on the Flores matter. And defense attorneys for the officers insisted if there was a conspiracy it certainly didn’t involve them. They believe that the prosecution never planned to put Perez on the stand to testify against Sgts. Brian Liddy and Edward Ortiz and Officers Michael Buchanan and Paul Harper. 

“We’ve been harassed by the LAPD. They searched my client’s house. And now they’re supposed to be conspiring with us?” said attorney Harland Braun who represents Buchanan. “It’s ridiculous. They’ve gone hammer and tongs against our guys.” 

Attorney Barry Levin, who heads the defense team, refuses to absolve prosecutors from blame in the Perez-Flores fiasco. 

“This is all a ruse for the district attorney’s office to explain a failed prosecution,” he said. ”... The sham is the prosecution never intended to call Perez. They didn’t want him destroyed on the witness stand.” 

He also said there has been little effort by the department to help the cops on trial. 

“I think the LAPD could care less if our guys were acquitted,” said Levin. 

He said he has prepared his client, Ortiz, for the worst — even if he is acquitted. 

“I told him no one will ever carry you out of the courtroom on their shoulders,” he said. “Don’t think you’ll ever get vindicated in this courtroom. No one will ever suggest you’re innocent.” 

Braun said the defendants understand that “We want an acquittal first and God will give them vindication.” 

SACRAMENTO — California’s veterans’ homes, subject of recent allegations of abuse and neglect, could improve the health care they provide to 2,000 veterans with more staff, training and pay, according to a task force report released Friday. 

The recommendations included: 

• Providing additional money and hiring more people to increase staffing and training, particularly at the Barstow home. 

• Giving each home a full-time chief medical officer with long-term-care experience. 

• Requiring the director of nursing at each home to have previous experience in long-term care and increasing the salary to be competitive with other facilities. 

• Requiring each home to have a separate administrator who is certified as a nursing home administrator. 

• Providing money to recruit and retain staff. 

• Paying a higher salary to nurses who have a bachelor’s or master’s degree. 

• Providing day-care and subsidized rental apartments for the children of home staff. 

• Giving new staff members a mentor or sponsor. 

“Although quality of life has not been a serious problem in surveys of the homes, there is room for improvement in some areas, such as creating a more home-like environment, increasing privacy and combating boredom,” the report said. 

It suggested providing residents with more private rooms and bathrooms and more room for hobbies. 

The report also said the homes do not reflect the state’s racial, ethnic and gender makeup. 

“Minorities who may feel disenfranchised by past practices of discrimination and segregation may not have been reached by prior efforts in the outreach and marketing areas,” the report said. 

One resident recommended to the task force putting a sign saying “Home of the Heroes” on each home.  

That and posting a biographical sketch of each resident on his or her door “would enhance respect for the residents by staff and other residents, while improving self esteem,” said the report. 

Davis’ interim veterans affairs secretary, Bruce Thiesen, said all the recommendations will be considered and many are similar to changes being made in the homes. 

For example, he said, the administration is already naming separate certified administrators for each home.  

Also, the current state budget contains $4.5 million for recruitment and retention incentives such as relocation expenses, and money to pay for 21 additional doctors and nurses. 

The state runs three homes for aging or disabled veterans: Yountville with 1,200 residents, Barstow with 400 and Chula Vista with 400. The Chula Vista home opened last May. 

The Barstow home, in particular, has been accused of patient abuse and neglect. State health officials last summer issued seven citations and fines of $74,500 for inadequate patient care, including the deaths of three residents. 

In May, state health inspectors found 26 federal violations at the Barstow home. As a result, the federal government cut off Medicare and Medi-Cal payments for at least four months at a cost of $320,000. 

Gov. Gray Davis appointed the task force in December 1999 to suggest ways to improve health care in the three homes. 

“I know there is much more work to be done,” Davis said in the letter introducing the report. 

On the Net: Read the report on the governor’s Home page: 

http://www.governor.ca.gov 

LOS ANGELES — Superior Court clerks accepted bribes of 50 cents to $1 per name to illegally conduct criminal record searches for a detective agency that performed background checks for businesses hiring new employees. 

The regular court fee to conduct a criminal record search is $5 per name. Businesses pay $4 to $21 per background check depending on how many names are given. 

Fifteen court clerks performed the illegal searches for the Malibu-based Pro Scan investigative agency, said court spokeswoman Jerrianne Hayslett. 

Disciplinary action and criminal charges were filed against eight clerks. Some of the clerks were fired, Hayslett said, offering no specifics. 

“The court is working aggressively to search out illegal activity and assist the District Attorney’s Office with its investigation,” said court executive officer John A. Clarke. Measures have been put into place to stop such activity, he said. 

Former Santa Monica Superior Court clerk Selena Douglas, 33, was arrested Thursday and pleaded innocent to one count of receiving a bribe, one count of unauthorized computer access, and one count of embezzlement of public funds. 

Her bail was not immediately determined. 

Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Koumjian alleged that Douglas, who was a clerk until October 1999, cost the court system more than $150,000 in losses. 

Pro Scan owners Alicia Lynn Martinez, 28, and Michael James Stephenson, 36, also were arrested Thursday and charged with four counts of bribing a public employee and one count of grand theft of more than $150,000. 

A call to Pro Scan in Malibu played a recording saying the office was closed. 

The married couple are scheduled to be arraigned Monday. They were being held without bail in separate facilities by the county Sheriff’s Department. 

SACRAMENTO — The state Board of Education has adopted new regulations that will require schools to give the Stanford 9 standardized test later in the school year to give students more time to prepare. 

The change could be problematic for many districts, which will be forced to rearrange schedules and find new test dates for other tests, such as the Golden State exams.  

The shift also likely will delay the release of statewide scores on the Stanford Achievement Test, 9th Edition, which currently is the only component in the state’s school accountability program. 

The board’s decision will give students an additional 18 days of class time before they take the basic skills exam.  

The new rules call for students to be in school 153 days, plus or minus 10 days, before taking the tests.  

Students previously had to be in school for about 135 days, which created a testing window that ran from mid-March to mid-May on traditional school calendars. 

It is unclear how the change will affect Los Angeles Unified and other school districts that operate year-round schools. 

The test scores are tightly linked to the Academic Performance Index, the cornerstone in an education reform effort spearheaded by Gov. Gray Davis.  

The APIs, which rank all the public schools in the state, are based solely on the standardized Stanford 9 test, but increasingly will take into account standards set by the state in English-language arts, math, history and science.  

The Stanford 9 test was given last spring to 4.4 million public school students in second through 11th grades.  

It was the second year California students took that test. 

State officials said they changed the test date to give students more time to cover the material before they took the tests. 

The new rules also narrow the testing window from 60 days to 20, so students will be exposed to the same amount of material regardless of the school they attend. 

The tests are high-stake exams for schools as well as students, since the state uses the results to reward successful schools and identify low-performing schools.

LOS ANGELES — A new era may be opening for California and Mexico, but some old problems may complicate the burgeoning relationship between Gov. Gray Davis and Mexican president-elect Vicente Fox. 

Fox’s desire to open the border for workers and expand free trade, for example, could run afoul of labor unions and groups wanting to stem the tide of illegal immigrants.  

How Davis accommodates both sides could be key to whether the relationship succeeds. 

“Whatever agreement is made between Mexico and the United States has to ensure that wages and jobs here aren’t degraded,” said Neal Sacharow, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. 

Fox, 58, concluded a two-day visit to California on Friday, hoping to foster greater cooperation between the state and Mexico.  

The relationship has been rocky in recent years, primarily because of statewide initiatives viewed as hostile to immigrants. 

Davis has said he’s committed to maintaining good relationships with Mexico and forging joint goals in areas such as education and the environment. 

Fox, who takes office Dec. 1, has met several U.S. lawmakers since he won election July 2. He is the first opposition presidential candidate ever to defeat the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has ruled Mexico since 1929. 

Long term, he envisions Mexico and the United States cooperating in a way similar to the countries making up the European Union. 

“The approach to resolve conflict is through opportunity,” Fox said.  

“We want to change the border from a place where there is sometimes conflict to a place of opportunities.” 

On his immediate agenda, Fox wants to improve the quality of education and wage an intense war on drug trafficking.  

A drug-fighting initiative, however, illustrates how difficult meeting some of his goals could be. 

Corruption in Mexico has hampered U.S. attempts to thwart cross-border traffickers. Especially troubling have been alliances between drug cartels and Mexican law enforcement. 

Past Mexican presidents have done little to eliminate such corruption, but Fox appears better situated to tackle it, said William Glade, director of the Mexican Center at the University of Texas at Austin. 

“He’s already enunciated a number of important areas of reform ... and I think he has a genuine will to try to do something about them, and an opportunity at this juncture in Mexican politics,” Glade said. 

Labor’s potential opposition to easing restrictions on immigrant workers or lowering trade barriers poses a problem for Davis but is ultimately shortsighted and unrealistic, he said. 

“I don’t know that the position of organized labor is very credible,” Glade said.  

“These things are happening, and we might as well work  

with them instead of trying to prevent them.” 

But Glade said some of Fox’s goals, such as having the two countries cooperate to improve Mexico’s infrastructure, could face opposition from politicians and a public unwilling to commit U.S. money. 

Despite the challenges, Mexican-Americans are encouraged by both leaders’ pledge to meet twice a year. As a gesture of goodwill, Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante plan to attend Fox’s inauguration. 

“We hope his visits will create better lines of communication so progress can be made in both countries,” said Mickie Luna, who heads the California League of United Latin America Citizens.

SAN DIEGO — The 25-year-old publisher of a racist Internet newsletter and another man were arrested for threats and vandalism targeted at a Jewish congressman, a Hispanic mayor and others in what federal authorities called a campaign of intimidation. 

The arrests resulted from a two-year investigation into a white supremacist cell whose members had planned racially motivated violence, federal authorities said Friday. 

Alex James Curtis, publisher of the Nationalist Observer newsletter, and Michael Brian DaSilva, 21, were indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to commit civil rights violations and obstruction of justice, said U.S. Attorney Gregory Vega. 

Curtis, who has been labeled an emerging national white supremacist leader by the Southern Poverty Law Center, led a small cell that carried out a series of racially motivated crimes in and around San Diego, according to the 10-page indictment. 

“We have absolutely zero tolerance for these types of cowardly acts,” Vega said. 

FBI agents and San Diego police arrested Curtis at his parents’ home Thursday in the San Diego suburb of Lemon Grove. DaSilva was already in custody on an unrelated weapons charge. 

Both men are to be arraigned next week. 

The indictment charges the men left stickers and a sign advocating violence against Jews outside the office of Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif. 

On another occasion, they inserted a snake skin through the mail slot of the door as an intended threat, authorities said. 

“It frightened a lot of people in my office,” Filner said. “I’m glad it was taken seriously. Sometimes these things aren’t.” 

The two also allegedly left written threats, stickers with anti-Hispanic slogans and a box containing an inactive hand grenade at the home of La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid. 

Other incidents included spray painting swastikas and other graffiti on two Jewish synagogues in San Diego County and placing racist material at the home of the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of San Diego. 

On the Net: 

Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org

JOSHUA TREE — A witness testified that the night her friend died from taking the rave party drug GHB, they were warned by the defendant not to drink too much of a mystery liquid. 

Crystal Claire testified Wednesday about the night her 15-year-old friend, Lucas Bielat, died. Claire said that murder defendant Lindley Troy Geborde had taken her, Bielat and two other people to a party and given them a jug of liquid and then warned them not to drink too much of it.  

Claire, who believed the liquid was water, said Bielat started chugging the liquid, but she didn’t know whether he heard Geborde’s warning. 

Claire testified that after she drank the liquid, she fainted. When she awoke she learned of Bielat’s fate. 

“People were telling me Lucas was dying,” she told jurors. “People were saying we need to get him to the hospital.” 

San Bernardino County Superior Court jurors are set to make a decision in a case that could set a precedent. Geborde, 30, is charged with second-degree murder in the January 1996 death of Bielat, whose body was found beside a campfire at Giant Rock, a partying spot near Landers. 

Once sold as a food supplement, gamma hydroxybutyrate, became illegal this year after health and law enforcement officials linked it to a series of deaths and medical emergencies. GHB also is known as a date rape drug because of its ability to incapacitate people, leaving them vulnerable to sexual assault. 

In his opening statement Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney David Simon told jurors the evidence will show Geborde, who made and distributed GHB, gave it to Bielat without warning him about the danger of consuming too much. 

Defense attorney Frank Peasley said Geborde, an aspiring musician, made GHB and provided it for the partying lifestyle of his high desert friends. Geborde and other people used GHB routinely because it was cheap and legal and they suffered no ill-effects. Peasley maintains Bielat died not from GHB, but from hypothermia because it was cold the night Bielat fell unconscious. 

Peasley contends that because GHB forms naturally in the blood after death, the high level found in a sample of Bielat’s blood in October 1997 may not correlate to how much he consumed.  

Bielat’s blood was tested nearly two years after his death because no GHB-testing facilities were available in the area until the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office developed them in 1997. 

Dan Anderson, a Los Angeles County toxicologist who developed the procedure, testified the GHB level in Bielat’s blood was toxic and due to consumption, not natural formation in the blood. 

In a war of nerves, George W. Bush’s camp pressed Al Gore to concede decisive Florida as the presidential race struggled through Election Day plus three. “The quicker we get this resolved the better off it is for the nation,” the Texas governor said Friday. The Democrats countered, “This election is not over.” 

Bush considered seeking an injuction to block recounts being done by hand at Gore’s request in at least three Florida counties. Gore campaign chairman William Daley left open the option of legal challenges that made even some Democrats flinch. 

“I think that people’s patience is going to be fairly limited,” said Gov. Jim Hodges of South Carolina. Other Democrats sought to carefully balance support for Gore with suggestions that his options were dwindling. 

“He needs to rise above it and say, ‘So be it.’ You deal with the hand you’re dealt,” said Paul Feleciano, longest serving Democrat in the Kansas Legislature. 

Bush clung to a razor-thin lead in Florida – the crucial White House state with its 25 electoral votes – after county officials completed a review of the 6 million ballots cast. Still to come were an unknown number of votes from Floridians living overseas and the state’s official certification, due Tuesday. 

To buy some time, Gore’s lawyers asked the state’s Republican secretary of state late Friday to defer certification of the results until the manual recounts are complete. The recounts could drag on, though canvassing board members face fines of $200 a day after Tuesday. 

The presidential election limbo rattled Wall Street for the second day in a row. Investors disappointed by poor earnings and unnerved by the election saga sent stocks sharply lower Friday with the Nasdaq composite index falling to a new closing low for the year. 

In Florida, Gore advisers cited confusing and irregular ballots to press for follow-up recounts by hand in four predominantly Democratic counties. They won approval in three – one recount began Friday, two more Saturday – and the fourth request will be heard Tuesday. 

Republicans were getting into the act: At Bush’s request, Palm Beach County officials will perform a mechanical recount Saturday of all ballots while conducting a separate recount by hand for Gore. 

“The entire effort that’s going on now in Florida is aimed at making sure that whoever takes office in January as president of the United States will do so with full legitimacy,” Gore running mate Joseph Lieberman told CBS. 

“As frustrating as this wait may be,” Daley said earlier, “what we are seeing here is democracy in action.” 

And so Republicans moved on several fronts to blunt Gore’s ballot challenges. Bush strategists considered seeking recounts in GOP areas of Florida if Democrats started having success in their recounts, a senior strategist said. 

Other responses to Gore’s tactics: 

l James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state protecting Bush’s interests in Florida, promised to “vigorously oppose” Gore’s recount petitions. He did not say how, but other Bush aides later said that Baker was considering seeking an injunction against the hand recounts. Republicans say the procedure welcomes error and fraud; the statewide recount being certified next Friday was done by machine. 

l Bush’s camp portrayed him as a man deep in planning for the presidency, victory nearly assured. “The vote on Tuesday night showed Governor Bush won Florida’s election, and a recount now confirmed his victory,” spokeswoman Karen Hughes said in a statement released at 5:30 a.m. EST, catching the first wave of the media cycle. 

l Strategists eyed other close-voting states in case Florida falls to Gore. Republicans in Wisconsin said they found ballot irregularities. And Baker, speaking of recount drives, said ominously: “That game can be played” by both sides. 

l Bush aides said Gore should concede the state and the White House if the initial recount and next week’s certification show Bush ahead. “We certainly hope that in the best interest of the country the vice president will think carefully about his talk of lawsuits and endless recounts,” Hughes said. 

An unofficial tally by The Associated Press in Florida’s 67 counties showed the Texas governor with a 327-vote lead. State officials said their recount showed Bush leading by 960 votes with one county left. That was Palm Beach County, where the AP showed a big Gore gain. 

Not counting the Sunshine State, Bush had won 29 states for 246 electoral votes. Gore, who added Oregon to his victory column Friday, had won 19 states plus the District of Columbia for 262, with 270 needed for victory. New Mexico, with five electoral votes, remained too close to call. 

Gore’s lead in New Mexico was down to about 100 Friday night. 

The incomplete national popular vote totals showed Gore with 49,191,750 votes, or 48.3 percent and Bush with 48,992,114, or 48.1 percent. 

Despite the show of confidence, Bush said it’s “a little early” for him to contact the outgoing Clinton administration about the mechanics of transition. He also tabled plans to resign as Texas governor and hand the reins to his Republican lieutenant governor during the transition; that decision will wait until after the election is resolved, aides said. 

The aides said Bush adviser Larry Lindsey was likely to be offered the job of treasury secretary or chief White House economist if Bush is elected. 

As he met with Lindsey and other advisers about the transition, two noisy groups of protesters shouted rival messages outside the Governor’s Mansion in Austin. “No Fuzzy Election” read some anti-Bush signs. The governor’s supporters chanted, “The people have spoken.” 

For his part, Gore was at the vice president’s residence in Washington, where he played touch football with his family. He talked of winning, then added with a smile: “I’m talking about the touch football game.” 

His Democratic allies were not so optimistic about the presidential race, and many were opposed to legal action. 

“I think everybody is waiting to see what happens but the general feeling is that Bush will probably win,” said Gene Bushmann, former chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party. He praised Gore’s effort, but said, “I think going to the lawsuit stage would be too much.” 

Former Arkansas Sen. Dale Bumpers said Gore should consider calling it quits after Florida’s absentee ballots are counted. 

“There might come a time when the vice president would be well served to say the country’s interest is more important than the interests of one person or political party, and go ahead and concede,” Bumpers said. 

Hodges said Gore has a right to seek recounts, but doubted that a legal challenge of confusing Palm Beach ballots would work. “Generally, most successful challenges have been on fraud,” he said. 

“I’d advise we exhaust all other remedies before we attempt any consideration of a court challenge,” said Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. 

Though still talking legal action, Gore’s team was using softer tones than a day earlier. 

The campaign’s legal experts “feel strongly” that the ballot used Election Day in Palm Beach County was unlawful, Daley said. “We’ll see what actions follow out of that.” 

DELAND, Fla. — Election workers in Volusia County were checking all of the 184,018 ballots there for write-in votes Friday as Democrats hoped for help in the still-undecided presidential election. 

Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties also were ready for the possibility of recounting hundreds of thousands of ballots by hand, while Palm Beach planned Saturday to perform a mechanical recount of all ballots at the request of Republicans. Across the state, officials were waiting for what could be thousands of overseas ballots to arrive in the mail. 

Three days after Election Day, it was clear the election was not over in Florida. 

After sifting through about a third of the ballots, Volusia County election officials had found at least two that had Vice President Al Gore’s name written in by voters who also filled in a bubble for the candidate. A machine would have discarded the ballots, reading them as two votes. Election officials counted them. The county’s election officials planned to go over the ballots again Saturday, counting each by hand to check the figures already counted twice by machine. They planned to work 14-hour days and expected to be finished by Tuesday. 

An unofficial Associated Press canvass of the presidential vote in Florida showed Republican George W. Bush with a 327-vote lead over Democrat Gore. The eventual winner will take Florida’s 25 electoral votes and become the nation’s 43rd president. 

“It’s amazing what people do to these ballots,” said Volusia County Judge Michael McDermott, the chairman of the canvassing board. “The instructions are nice and clear.” 

One voter wrote in Joseph Lieberman – Gore’s running mate. The vote was thrown out. 

On Friday, Secretary of State Katherine Harris said Bush had 2,910,074 votes to Gore’s 2,909,114, a difference of 960, with one county still to be recounted – Palm Beach County where the AP showed a big gain for Gore. The totals from the AP canvass were Bush 2,910,198, Gore 2,909,871. 

Florida election officials also said Friday that the Palm Beach County ballot did not violate state law as several lawsuits contend. Democrats say a poor ballot design in the county led some Gore supporters to inadvertently mark their ballots for Pat Buchanan. A circuit judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the county’s canvassing commission from certifying the final recount results until a hearing Tuesday. 

Elsewhere in Florida: 

• Palm Beach election officials agreed to recount ballots in three precincts by hand on Saturday. If there is a change in the count, they will then decide whether to do a recount by hand of the entire county. At the same time, officials also will perform a mechnical recount of all ballots, a recount requested by Republicans. 

• In Miami’s Dade County, elections officials will meet Tuesday to discuss a hand recount. 

• In Polk County, officials were rescanning ballots in 60 of 163 precincts to reconcile the number of ballots handed out with the number of votes cast. Election workers planned to continue work Saturday. 

— Broward election officials voted 2-1 to do a hand-recount of three precincts Monday. If there is a change, they also will consider a full hand-recount. 

Broward elections supervisor Jane Carroll cast the dissenting vote, saying, “We are setting a bad precedent.” She questioned why Democrats had asked for a manual recount only in four heavily Democratic counties rather than the entire state. 

One concern the Democrats said they had centered on the possibility that thousands of votes across the state were not counted because the tiny piece of paper punched out for a candidate did not completely dislodge. 

For example, 19,120 Palm Beach County ballots had two or more holes punched for president. And 10,582 recorded no choice for president. Officials said 6,686 ballots were not counted in Broward County because the computer did not recognize any selection. 

In all, the Gore campaign is requesting that 1.78 million of the nearly 6 million Florida ballots cast be hand counted. 

“We’re looking for a quick resolution of a full, fair, accurate count,” said Doug Hattaway, a Gore spokesman. “There’s no specific timeframe we’ve laid out.” 

Democrats and Republicans were bringing in more than 100 people each from around the country to witness the Volusia hand recount. The county was setting up 22 stations with two election workers and a Democratic and Republican witness at each. 

Still a factor in the results are the ballots cast by Floridians living overseas. An informal survey of 30 of the 67 election supervisors found that they had mailed out more than 10,000. Of those, a little less than half had been returned but no information was available on how many had been counted. 

Election supervisors must count any overseas ballots received within 10 days of the election and postmarked by Election Day. 

In Palm Beach, small groups of protesters gathered in front of the government center in downtown West Palm Beach Friday and emotions between Gore and Bush supporters was running high. 

A group of Bush supporters taunted and followed Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler outside the government center, where he was being interviewed by a television station. Sheriff’s deputies escorted him away. 

NEW YORK — Amid calls in Congress to scrap the Electoral College system, some state legislators are looking to see if they can change their state laws to better reflect the popular vote. 

The nation focused on the recount in Florida, but lawmakers on Thursday already were calling advisers and considering steps they could take to change the electoral system – now that there’s a very real chance a loser of the popular vote could end up with the presidency. 

“The inescapable reality is that it doesn’t reflect the premise upon which our country was founded – one person, one vote,” said Pennsylvania Rep. T.J. Rooney, a Democrat. “It’s an important conversation that we need to have in legislative chambers.” 

Some also worried about the possibility of so-called “faithless electors” – where an elector casts a vote for a candidate that failed to win the state’s popular vote. 

That happened in 1988 when a Michael Dukakis elector from West Virginia voted for Lloyd Bentsen, his running mate – and in 1976, when an elector for Gerald Ford in Washington state voted for Ronald Reagan. In 1968, a Richard Nixon elector chose George Wallace. 

But with Republican George W. Bush nominally the winner of the electoral vote (pending recounts in Florida) and Democrat Al Gore the apparent popular vote winner who could lose the White House, few Republicans liked the idea of change. 

“This is a system that’s worked and is an integral part of our democracy for centuries,” said South Carolina GOP House Speaker David Wilkins. “Just because there’s a close vote now I don’t think there’s any reason to turn about and change the system.” 

Abolishing the Electoral College would take a constitutional amendment, which requires approval by two-thirds of the U.S. House and Senate and ratification by 38 states. 

But each state could also change how they choose electors and divide their electoral votes.  

Though few legislative bills to do that were filed last year, phone calls on the subject were already coming into the National Conference of State Legislatures in the two days since the election. 

“It’s going to generate a great deal of heat and debate,” Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch said. 

For those looking to change, a model is already running in Maine and Nebraska, where each state allocates one elector to the winner of each congressional district and two electors for the winner of the state overall. 

So in Maine, three of its electoral votes could theoretically go to one candidate, with one vote to another. (This year, Maine’s four electoral votes go to Gore). 

Now, in a presidential election, voters cast ballots for 538 electors, not directly for the president and his vice presidential candidate.  

The electors, distributed according to each state’s number of House and Senate members, meet in December officially to complete the state-by-state electoral process. 

In 24 states and the District of Columbia, electors are not bound by any state law or regulation that they vote for their state’s popular-vote winner. 

And though others try to force electors to toe the line (it’s a felony in New Mexico to cast an errant vote), most constitutional scholars agree that those laws are unenforceable, NCSL said. 

Except for Nebraska and Maine, all states use a winner-take-all system. 

A proposed constitutional amendment in Congress would abolish the system, but Congress has considered and rejected some 700 proposals to change the system over the years. 

After George Bush won election in 1988 following eight years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, there were several failed attempts at the state level to change the system, said Ron Faucheux, editor of Campaigns & Elections magazine. 

“Because it was partisan-driven, it had limited effect,” he said. 

And while many Democrats railed that the latest results left voters disenfranchised, Republicans, and some Democrats, said the Electoral College works just fine – especially for smaller states who otherwise would be ignored. 

“I support the Electoral College,” said Rusty Hills, Michigan GOP chairman. “If you went to a popular system, these candidates would never leave Texas, New York, Florida and California.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.nara.gov/fedreg/elctcoll 

NCSL: http://www.ncsl.org

LAS VEGAS — Forget about counting votes in Florida, a British bookmaker has its money on Hillary Rodham Clinton to return to the White House as soon as 2004 – as the president. 

How the current election marathon will unfold is anybody’s guess, said Graham Sharpe, spokesman for William Hill International, a well-established London bookmaker. 

“Our feeling was the current election is stalled, so why not get on with the next one,” he said. 

And they haven’t wasted any time. 

As soon as Clinton, the only first lady ever to be elected to office, made her acceptance speech for her U.S. Senate seat, the odds for her someday being elected president improved to 5-to-1, Sharpe said. 

“It’s a very popular bet,” he said. “Certainly her winning the Senate seat helped. We’ve probably taken a couple hundred, which is quite a lot on a prospective bet.” 

The line for the 2004 elections opened Wednesday while ballots still were being counted for Al Gore and George W. Bush. 

It’s been a record season for U.S. election bets, which Sharpe attributes to the close presidential race and the Internet.  

The bookmaker has taken more than $750,000 in bets this election season, via the Internet, telephone and its betting shops in the United Kingdom, Sharpe said. 

One gambler stands to collect about $48,000 if Vice President Gore ends up in the Oval Office in January. 

About a third of the company’s bets on the election are being placed via its Caribbean Island-based Web site, with a large portion of the wagers coming from U.S. bettors. 

Due to the interest betting on the U.S. presidential race generated, Sharpe predicted the bookmaker will take some individual bets on how states will vote in the 2004 election, Hillary Clinton or not. 

Some oddsmakers think the odds on New York’s new senator are too low. 

“I would make it higher than 5-to-1,” said Joe Lupo, who sets the betting lines for the Stardust hotel-casino’s sportsbook on the Las Vegas Strip. “At least 10-to-1.” 

The odds also depend heavily on who wins this election, Lupo said. 

“If Bush wins, I think she will definitely be a candidate,” he said. 

There will be a lot of “sentimental bets” on Clinton down the road to become the first woman president, Lupo predicted, but right now it’s too far in advance to generate a lot of attention. 

Before winning Tuesday, the odds on Clinton for president were 12-to-1, down from an original 50-to-1, Sharpe said. 

While it might be a popular bet among William Hill clients, it’s not a big money one, Sharpe said. The average bet is only about 20 pounds, or about $30. 

Without knowing the outcome of this year’s election, William Hill already is betting 8-to-11 that the 2004 presidential winner will be Republican, according to Sharpe. 

“We’re betting on the party, not an individual.” 

On the Net: 

http://www.willhill.com/

WASHINGTON — For Al Gore or George W. Bush, the agony of “what ifs,” of second-guessers and hindsight await the loser in the presidential election so narrow that any of dozens of campaign calculations could have been the one that cost the White House. 

So it was for Richard M. Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey after their close defeats. 

If, for example, Nixon hadn’t worn himself out keeping an unwise pledge to campaign in all 50 states in 1960, while John F. Kennedy went where the electoral votes were. It was a mistake Nixon did not repeat when he won eight years later. 

And for Humphrey, if he had found a way as vice president to declare independence from President Johnson in 1968 to avoid being overridden when he suggested he might part, even slightly, with the administration’s war policy in Vietnam. 

Both men reflected on their defeats in their memoirs, in words that etched the pain of losing so narrowly. 

With the 2000 election hanging on a recount of the frail thread of votes by which Bush leads in Florida, where 25 electoral votes will elect a president, and with Gore narrowly leading in the national popular vote, the second guessing isn’t awaiting the outcome. 

Bush’s spokeswoman Karen Hughes, asked Wednesday whether he now wishes he had spent more time campaigning in Florida, she said, “I’m sure there is plenty of time for that.” 

In Gore’s case, the chorus of television talkers was appraising why he lost early Wednesday, before their networks decided that maybe he hadn’t lost at all, that Florida was too close not to rescind the call they already had made for Bush. 

Nixon, who defeated Humphrey in 1968, recounted some of his own second guessing in his campaign diary of 1972 – an election he won by a landslide for the term he had to resign in Watergate. 

“If we had known then as much about how to campaign, etc., as we know now, we probably would have won in 1960,” he wrote. 

In his memoirs, Nixon recounted his version of the day after Kennedy beat him by about 0.2 percent of the popular vote, of being told of “massive vote frauds in Chicago and Texas.” 

“We had made a serious mistake in not having taken precautions against such a situation and it was too late now,” he wrote. He said a full recount could have taken up to half a year. “I could not subject the country to such a situation,” he said. 

Besides, what if he lost anyhow? “Charges of sore loser would follow me through history and remove any possibility of a further political career.” 

Nixon said he had underestimated the new power of television in the 1960 campaign, complained that the national press had been slanted against him, and said that “I should have anticipated what was coming” in Kennedy campaign hard ball, which he called dirty tricks. 

“I vowed that I would never again enter an election at a disadvantage by being vulnerable to them – or anyone – on  

the level of political tactics,”  

he wrote. 

He kept that vow. The dirty tricks of 1972 were the work of his people. 

That was Nixon’s landslide year. His close call was over Humphrey, by 0.7 percent of the vote, in 1968, making it Humphrey’s turn to reflect on what almost was. 

“We have come so far so fast,” Humphrey wrote of his election day musing in his memoir, “The Education of a Public Man.” 

“No, we aren’t,” he said he’d told himself. “Stop thinking that. I am so tired again.” 

And later that day: 

“Vietnam is a mess ... Wonder why Johnson shot me down when I said that troops would be withdrawn in 1969. Ruined my credibility. Made me look like a damn fool. ...” 

Later still. “I wonder if I should have blown the whistle on Anna Chennault and Nixon.” That was the allegation that Nixon knew his allies were telling the South Vietnamese to hold tough about peace talks until after the election because they’d be in better bargaining shape with a Republican president. 

Then the vote. “We’re losing. We’re losing. It’s gone.” 

The morning after. Conceding. “Congratulations, Dick. Mr. President. ... He’s gracious. That’s about it. To lose to Nixon. Ye Gods. ... 

“We could have won it. We should have won it... There are some who didn’t produce ... Got to hide the bitterness.” 

And this wrenching self appraisal. 

“What am I going to do? There isn’t anything I wanted to do. I wanted to be president.” 

Humphrey got past it, returning in 1970 to the Senate, where he served until his death in 1978. He campaigned, futilely, for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. 

After the unyielding intensity of a presidential campaign, the scars of the loser do not soon fade. And the scars never cut deeper than when the loss is so narrow as this one will be. 

CHICAGO — With the economy booming, many employers around the country are so desperate for workers that they are going to great lengths to recruit ex-convicts, former gang members and recovering drug addicts. 

Fliers are being posted in halfway houses.  

An increasing number of employers are offering college tuition reimbursements.  

Some companies, like United Parcel Service, even have recruiting vans that roam city neighborhoods in search of applicants. 

Among the more popular methods are “second-chance” job fairs, which have been organized this year from Massachusetts, Ohio and Iowa to Texas and California. 

At a recent Chicago job fair, organized by state and private agencies, there were hundreds of applicants and more than a dozen employers, from Radisson and Hilton hotels to United HealthCare and the Army. 

“I need to stay busy – to take care of my kids and stay off the streets, because it’s getting pretty bad out there,” said Antwan Berry, a 22-year-old former drug dealer and father of three who was filling out an application with a messenger service. 

“This is my chance to change my life around,” said Berry, who is on probation and having trouble finding the fork-lift driving job he wants. 

The nation’s unemployment rate is 3.9 percent, a 30-year-low. America is going through its longest stretch of economic growth ever, nearly 10 years and counting, and employers are having trouble filling jobs. 

In addition, some experts say businesses might be more willing to hire ex-convicts because they have already had success hiring welfare-to-work applicants. 

“The overall impression is that welfare recipients are pretty good employees,” said Irene Lurie, a welfare reform researcher at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y. 

Competition for the best of the applicants is so fierce that employers are getting creative. In St. Louis, for example, Titan Tube Fabricators posts fliers in halfway houses to help fill welding and other jobs. 

“It’s definitely hard to come across good people,” said Kevin Black, a Walgreens drugstore manager who attended the Chicago fair.  

He said he and another store manager hired six people at a similar job fair two years ago and the employees are still with the company. 

Employers say they are also impressed with ex-convicts who are coming to them well-prepared – asking good questions, dressed in suits and often with resumes in hand. 

That is due in part to coaching they get the day before the job fair and in prison.  

The first rule they are taught: Be honest about your criminal record. 

“A lot of them will tell you right up front that they have a problem with money,” Black said. “So we’ll start them off as service clerks and see how they do.” 

He and other employers say they consider applicants case by case – looking at the type of offense, when it happened and length of the sentence. They also insist that anyone with drug or alcohol addictions is at least in rehab. 

Their method seems to be gaining popularity. 

Last year, at its fourth annual job conference, the Northern California Service League, a San Francisco agency that serves ex-offenders, placed more than 600 of them in jobs with wages averaging $8.40 an hour.  

This year, employment administrator Darro Jefferson said the agency is on track to place 1,000. 

Part of the key, he said, is to “turn negatives into positives.” 

He tells the story of a former drug dealer who had no other skills than, well, salesmanship. Jefferson got him a job at a San Francisco car dealership, where he is now an assistant general manager. 

Matthew Hinton, released in April after serving more than eight years in Florida for drug dealing, is working for a Clearwater tire retreading company, using skills he learned in prison. He started work nine days after he was released with the help of a program called PRIDE Enterprises. 

“Now I’m making $9.50 an hour and I’m loving it,” said Hinton, 40. “I got my freedom, my own apartment, a nice car. I feel like I can’t ask for nothing more.” 

On the Net: 

Northern California Service League: http://www.NorCalServiceLeague.org 

PRIDE Enterprises: http://www.pridefl.com 

The Sentencing Project: http://www.sentencingproject.org 

Society for Human Resource Management: http://www.shrm.org 

PHOENIX — Gov. Jane Hull is urging the state to backtrack on a deal offering subsidies to motorists who drive alternative-fuel vehicles, now that costs of the program are spiraling out of control. 

“The bottom line on this whole process is we cannot let this state hemorrhage money. We cannot let this go on,” Hull said Thursday as she called the Legislature into special session beginning Monday. 

Hull outlined a plan to revamp the program, which had offered tax credits to residents who bought vehicles using so-called clean fuels like natural gas, propane or electricity, or who converted conventional vehicles to use such fuels. 

She could not immediately say how much her proposals – designed to close loopholes in the program, which proved more popular than anyone imagined – would save. The latest estimates show the program will cost taxpayers $483 million. 

Her proposed legislation includes tax credits only for vehicles in-state as of Thursday, and reimbursements for people who cancel vehicle orders and lose deposits and similar out-of-pocket expenses. 

The program had been on the books but drew little attention until April, when lawmakers added incentives designed to encourage motorists to take part. 

Under the sweetened deal, residents were to get lump-sum tax refunds equal to about half the price of a new vehicle. Many orders were placed for expensive sport utility vehicles and large pickups. 

In September, state leaders learned the cost of the program, originally estimated as low as $3 million, was skyrocketing. The Legislature suspended it on Oct. 20, meaning vehicles bought or converted after that date were not eligible for subsidies. 

Under Hull’s plan, tax credits would be paid out with interest over 10 years – not as a lump sum – and credits based on a vehicle’s purchase price would not include televisions or other add-ons “that do not improve air quality.” 

Additionally, taxpayers claiming credits must prove that the vehicles primarily use an alternative fuel – not regular gasoline – and that the vehicle is driven chiefly in Arizona. 

Hull said her plan would slash the program’s costs, but that reliable numbers will not be available until next week. 

A total of $40 million would be set aside for reimbursements for canceled car and truck orders. 

State Attorney General Janet Napolitano said Hull’s retroactive changes would be legal because they would be made in the same tax year as the changes that made the program more generous. 

“Those people will not be able to claim anything against the state,” Napolitano said of the possibility of lawsuits by people denied the subsidies they expected. 

Chuck Coughlin, a lobbyist for alternative-fuel vehicle dealerships and conversion shops, said his clients were reviewing the plan and had no immediate comment. 

Caelen Armijo, training manager at a Toyota dealership in Phoenix, said he knows of salesmen at other shops who have not been paid for alternative-fuel vehicles they sold. 

“The sales people got the shaft on the deal, but I doubt that anyone’s going to be crying a river for them,” Armijo said. 

Hull’s plan drew immediate support from some lawmakers. 

“Finally we are seeing some decisive action,” said Senate Finance Chairman Scott Bundgaard, R-Glendale. 

Hull said the special session may take longer than a week, although Bundgaard predicted a vote by lawmakers before then. 

——— 

On the Net: 

State of Arizona: http://www.state.az.us 

CONCORD, N.H. — Brad Renfro stole a cigarette from his mother’s pocketbook when she wasn’t looking in the 1994 movie “The Client,” and some youths who watched think smoking is cool, according to a study. 

The Dartmouth Medical School study looked at 603 movies from 1988 to 1999 and gauged the level of smoking in each. Researchers then surveyed 5,500 middle schoolers in New Hampshire and Vermont to see if the movies affected their smoking habits. 

“Smoking is just one of the behaviors that kids are more likely to adopt from watching their favorite actors in movies,” said Dr. Madeline Dalton, an assistant professor of pediatrics involved in the study. 

She added, “Kids look to the media to know what is cool. If they see actors smoking, that’s all part of the package.” 

Children surveyed said some of the actors they saw smoking often in movies are Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. 

The $1.8 million study, which has been conducted over four years, was funded by the National Cancer Institute. Dalton will present some of the findings Tuesday to the American Public Health Association in Boston. 

“There’s some evidence that tobacco use in movies made for adults may have more salience in adolescents,” Dalton said. “Parents need to know it might affect their kids’ behavior.” 

The study looked at the children’s attitude and behavior toward smoking. Dartmouth researchers are seeking another grant to follow children around for four years to see if they start smoking after seeing a movie or if it only affects their amount of smoking. 

“Children viewing movies will frequently be exposed to tobacco use as normative and even glamorized behaviors,” said Dr. James Sargent, the study’s lead researcher. 

In “The Client,” Renfro starred with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. At one point in the movie, the fifth-grader shows his younger brother how to smoke. 

A spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents film studios, declined to comment Friday. 

The 30 schools that agreed to participate in the study handed out 100-question surveys in class to the children, ages 10 to 14. The schools were chosen at random from 154 in New Hampshire and Vermont that have more than 150 pupils in grades 5 through 8. 

Dalton said researchers are willing to discuss the results of the study with the movie industry at some point. 

Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, said he has found that the amount of smoking in movies has increased the last decade after declining in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. 

“The increase in smoking in the movies in the 1990s is a major factor in the increase in youth smoking,” said Glantz, who has studied the link between the two. “The tobacco industry has become more clever in its marketing.” 

Glantz said other studies have shown that if kids see their favorite actor light up, they will pick up the habit.

SAN ANTONIO — A group seeking restitution for Japanese Latin Americans detained in the United States during World War II began filming a documentary Friday on one man’s experience at an internment camp in South Texas. 

The group, the California-based Campaign for Justice, is working to bolster support for legislation that would provide $20,000 to Japanese Latin Americans forcibly brought to this country. 

The bill, which is pending in the House, also would order an apology by the U.S. government and reauthorize $45 million for an education fund to support programs and research on the internment camps. 

More than 120,000 Japanese-Americans were interned in U.S. camps during the war.  

Most of the 80,000 survivors who applied for reparations for lost property and freedom have received $20,000 each under a 1988 law. 

But because the fund wasn’t invested as required in government securities earning at least 5 percent interest, there wasn’t enough money for those who came forward later, such as the Japanese Latin Americans. 

The documentary, financed with a grant from a state of California civil-liberties education program, will focus on the experience of Art Shibayama, a 70-year-old retired gas station owner from San Jose. 

Fighting back tears at a news conference Friday, Shibayama explained how he and his family were taken from his hometown of Lima, Peru, to the camp in Crystal City, where they lived for 2 years. 

After the war, many of the internees were barred from returning to their home countries and, stripped of their passports, were considered illegal immigrants in the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO — For a look at the social impact of our always-wired, technology-driven future, researchers figured there was no place better to study than Silicon Valley. 

Anthropologists spent two years observing 14 middle-class, dual- breadwinner families in the shadow of Cisco Systems, Apple and Oracle. 

They found parents and children holding themselves together through a fragile network of cell phones, pagers, faxes and e-mails, obsessed with the same goals that drive companies throughout the region: speed, improving productivity and a constant need to upgrade. 

The downside: lives inundated by techno-gadgets, and fragmented into “chunks” of time, leading to increased stress. 

“The technology was infiltrating those other parts of life and tying them together,” said Jan English-Lueck, a San Jose State University professor who presented findings Thursday at the annual American Anthropological Association meeting. 

The researchers listened during the commute to work. They watched what was said during dinner, at neighborhood picnics, on the way to pick up kids from practices and lessons. 

Here are some of their observations: 

• Life is often viewed through work. Families use free time to network, whether at the coin-operated laundry, neighborhood picnic or soccer game. 

• People invent new social orders to manage work schedules. Rather than simply hire a nanny, often the nanny’s whole family becomes involved in child care. 

• Families manage time in “chunks.” Families use their technology to balance a non-stop schedule of meetings, school, social functions and errands. 

• Technology is pervasive. Families wonder how their children will be affected by a lifetime of Internet access, and say they feel constant pressure to “update” or “refresh” their lifestyle. 

Using technology to skip face-to-face meetings – whether at work or with family – means a loss of valuable context, English-Lueck said. 

Also, more technology does not necessary mean a quicker day. 

“They’re struggling to move but they’re not moving faster,” said fellow researcher, Prof. Charles Darrah. “They have more decisions to make, the more of these things they take into life.” 

The study, titled Interaction Between Family, Work and High Technology in the 21st Century is part of a 15-year project chronicling life Silicon Valley life. 

On the Net: 

Silicon Valley Cultures Project: www.sjsu.edu/depts/anthropology/svcp

Kara Speltz been called “objectively disordered.” And worse. 

And she’s vowed not to take it any more. A woman who identifies with the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender movement, Speltz said she won’t allow herself to be demeaned by anyone, not even the highest ranking members of her church – the Catholic Church. 

So she went to Washington, D.C., this week to tell the bishops attending the U.S. Bishops Conference that “we are God’s children too.”  

She was arrested for her trouble. But that was in the plan put together by Soul Force, a nationwide organization that protests various church teachings that disapprove of homosexuality. 

Soul Force took its protest to the Cathedral Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where Speltz said she was among 104 people arrested at about 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. Each of the arrestees posted $50 and was released, she said. 

Among those who protested at the gates of the cathedral and at the hotel where the bishops met were Rev. Phil Lawson of Easterhill Methodist Church of Richmond, Calif., a 95-year-old grandmother, in support of her gay grandson and Eileen Harrington, a bisexual student at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. 

The church not only preaches bigotry, says Speltz, whose home church is UC Berkeley’s Newman Hall on Bancroft Way, but it contributes funds to support anti-gay measures. The California Catholic Bishops gave $340,000 in the support of Proposition 22, which affirmed that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” And it can be even worse, said Harrington, a former social worker. The church teachings can cause people to feel tremendous guilt, even leading to suicide among homosexuals, particularly youth, she said. 

Harrington explained the protest this way: “We are putting the issue before the bishops, (telling them) we prayerfully disagree with you.” 

Those attending the protests in Washington D.C. will discuss the action Nov. 30 at 7 p.m., in the GTU Board Room Library, 2400 Ridge Road.

Some people will drive quite some distance to come to the Northbrae Community Church. The Rev. Ronald Sebring said he came all the way from Independence, Mo.  

Sebring, who began to serve as the minister at Northbrae Community Church Sept. 1, said he believes the church attracts people who are looking for a broad and inclusive approach to what religion is all about.  

“Searching people – people looking for something deeper in the Christian path,” he said.  

He said he sought out an application for the position as minister because he really liked the concept and approach the church took to religion.  

He said that what sets the Northbrae Community Church apart from other, more traditional, churches is that they look at the exemplary lives of individuals, rather than focusing on creeds and beliefs.  

Sebring points to the church’s stained glass windows, which depict 26 people from throughout history whom he calls the “torchbearers.” Among the people depicted are Jesus, Confucius, Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, and even Albert Einstein.  

The church was established in 1914 and has had only three long-tenured Senior Ministers in its history. Coming into the position, Sebring said he was honored and that it was a challenge. “We’re still in the process of getting to know one another. We’re taking a look at where we come from and where we want to go,” he said. 

Reverend Sebring said that the fact that the church has had long-tenured ministers is good because the church has well developed chapters in its history. He said he thinks the church is ready to begin writing a new chapter.

BERKELEY — A report by the University of California at Berkeley suggests welfare reform legislation increasing local control has inspired some flexible and innovative county-level programs in the Bay area. 

Professor Michael Austin from the School of Social Welfare said today that the results are “very positive.” 

“We thought welfare reform might create more problems than it solved, but we have been pleasantly surprised in California,'' he said. 

The study, which provides the first insight into how social services agencies are coping with the 1996 federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, looked at the approaches to welfare reform taken in nine counties around the Bay Area. 

Austin said incentive money provided in the legislation had allowed counties to address problems at the local level in areas such as transportation, family support, job programs and child care. 

Among the outstanding programs cited in the report were neighborhood job centers in Alameda County, a “Job Keeper” hotline in Santa Clara County to address employment problems, a coalition of nonprofit services in Napa County and an “Adopt-a-Family” program in San Mateo County. 

Although the report was positive about the efforts of individual counties, Austin cautioned that the report did not assess the impact of welfare-to-work reforms on individual families and children of welfare reform.  

So far, he said, that impact has been cushioned by good economic times. 

“We are very concerned about whether welfare recipients are being trapped into entry level, minimum wage jobs,” Austin said.

By Betsy M. Hunton 

Special to the Daily Planet 

Sometimes —if you work very, very hard and are willing to risk quite a lot — dreams really do come true. 

For Mukulla J. Godwin, a psychiatric nurse at San Francisco General Hospital, the dream is almost realized. To the titles and degrees she has earned (B.A. Behavoral Science, B.S.N. Nursing, M.S. Rehabilitation Counseling) she’s added the least predictable of all: “Film Producer.”  

She and award-winning director, Chike Nwoffiah, have created the remarkable documentary, “A Jewel in History: The Story of Homer G. Phillips Hospital for Colored,” to be shown at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 14th at Berkeley’s St. Paul A.M.E. Church. 

“Jewel” was first introduced to the Berkeley public at a showing Aug. 23 by the University of California’s Public Health Department as part of the university's program of community relations. Although fascinating enough from the viewpoint of the largely unknown black medical history alone, the film speaks to many other aspects of the African-American experience. Next Tuesday is the only Bay Area showing presently scheduled.  

The 53 minute film, backed by a soul-stunning soundtrack, utilizes a wealth of archival film footage, and is edited from over 100 hours of interviews with black physicians and academicians; it may well be the first pictorial documentation of a segregated black medical institution. 

Perhaps surprisingly, much of the story is of triumph, of a 600 plus bed hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, which established a national reputation for superior medical care and physician education. One surgeon who interned there says: “When I was through, I knew I had simply the best education possible.” 

Another doctor sums it up: “We knew we had to be better than the whites.” 

The impressive facility was named for the young black lawyer and activist who is credited with much of the political work and fundraising which made the hospital possible. In a remarkable political coup, the city of St. Louis put up $1.3 million toward the hospital and the Roosevelt Administration funded another $2 million. In a crime which is still unsolved, Homer G. Phillips was murdered six years before the hospital opened in 1937. 

An extremely large, beautiful building, Homer G., (as it’s still called by the people who knew it as an important part of their world), ironically enough, flourished during segregation. It was shut down in 1979 despite vehement protests from the local African-American community. 

Protesters barricaded themselves in the hospital for 17 days before the facility closed and maintained efforts to have it reopened for seven more years. 

Godwin is a nurse, an idealist, an activist, someone who sees an issue and does something about it; she has a head full of ringlets and a warm, approachable manner. She cares a lot about public health and she also cares a lot about African-American history. “There are so many elements 

of our history that are not known,” she says, with all the fervor of a dedicated teacher.  

It is not by chance that the film’s narrative begins with an African-American doctor’s assertion that “The history of our people in this country must be told over and over again, so that our young people can have something to grab onto.”  

But Godwin is motivated as much by her concern for what she sees as a public health crisis for the indigent in general as she is by her dedication to issues affecting only African-Americans. Asked which is her highest priority: African-American history, medical history or what she describes as a decline in health services to all uninsured Americans, Godwin responds “All of the above.”  

Godwin, a single mother, wasn’t looking for something to fill her time twenty some years ago when a friend who had received her own nurse’s training at Homer G. shared her grief at the closing of the hospital. Godwin’s attention was originally caught by the idea of just getting out the story of a nurse who is believed to have originated several major advances in surgical techniques: Homer G.’s Chief of Surgical Services, Ida B.Northcross, M.A.  

Over a period of years, Godwin, a San Francisco native, steeped herself in black medical history and made numerous out-of-state trips to research the Northcross' story in the archives of Washington and St. Louis Universities. She was thinking of a possible book, but says it simply was not possible to find sufficient documentation. 

What she did find, however, was the amazing history of the hospital itself, materials which she felt dictated the form of a film documentary for a story that needed to be told. With absolutely zero film-making experience and nothing but a nurse’s salary to face production costs, Godwin calmly set out to create the film which debuted last fall to a St. Louis crowd of over 600. 

It wasn’t simple, and it wasn’t fast. But this woman is smart enough to know what she does n’t know. She found an award winning film-maker, Chike Nwoffiah, and interested him in the project; Nwoffiah insisted that she take several film-making classes before he agreed to join up. She did, and he came on board. 

It’s a toss-up which of the two, the San Francisco nurse who is the film’s producer, or the ex-business man from Nigeria who is the film’s director, is the most unlikely person to end up as co-creator of this documentary about a hospital in St. Louis. 

Nwoffiah started out as a child actor on Nigerian television, and subequently attended a performing arts high school. He went on to obtain Nigerian undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business and International Economics which brought him to a corporate job in a U.S. pharmaceutical company.  

In this country, however, his lifelong love of the performing arts resurfaced. Nwoffiah left the business world for good, to establish the award-winning Oriki Theater Group in 1993. Subsequently, he went into film and directed “Attention! I am Listening.”  

Among numerous others, the film won the Black Filmmakers Award in 1997 and the CINDY International Cinema and Industry Award. He chose to work with Godwin from the many alternatives offered to him after the awards because “She had a genuine story to tell.” 

Once Godwin had completed her years of research and located the right director with the right vision, the issue of money was paramount. 

Family members could contribute a little, but the great bulk of the costs were up to Godwin herself. This is an expensive road she’s chosen to travel. In addition to the costs of the film production itself, there were endless long-distance calls, numerous trips back and forth to St. Louis, and finally a six months’ leave from her job.  

She took a deep breath and, eventually, two mortgages on her San Francisco home.  

Godwin, whose energy never seems to flag, currently works three 16-hour nursing shifts a week to give herself free time to concentrate on activities related to the film. Her focus now is on fundraising and on efforts to reach a national audience. In February, she will take the film to the convention held by the National Association of Black Journalists. And she’s garnering letters of support from such groups as the Health 

Professionals Union and the California Nurse’s Association in her approach to the National Association of Black Broadcasters, which determines material to be presented on KQED, the Public Broadcasting System.  

At this point, Godwin has become very much aware that the project needs a professional fund raiser and grant writer. 

Anyone care to bet that she won’t get one?

SAN FRANCISCO — Days after the election, seemingly promising returns for Proposition L have taken a turn for the worse, but absentee and provisional ballots could spike the numbers for the city’s failing anti-growth measure. 

Chris Daly, a proponent of the proposition, said election workers may have been counting ballots from anti-Proposition L districts and that the remaining ballots could be more in favor of it. 

“What votes did they count last night?” he said. “I think they’ll be more proportionally yes on L – although they don’t look as good as they did yesterday.” 

The measure was ahead by more than 3,000 votes a day after the election. But Friday night, it trailed by 680 votes, an increase from the morning’s seven-vote deficit. Elections workers still need to count 14,000 ballots. 

“It’s definitely too close to call,” Christiane Hayashi, communications manager for the city’s Department of Elections, said Friday. 

Elections office workers have been counting ballots around the clock, but it’s a long process, said Daniel Murphy of the Department of Elections. 

“We have to have them checked three or four times before they’re opened and then they go through three or four people’s hands,” he said. “We’ve got to sort them and stack them and line them up according to precinct, and that’s what’s taking so long.” 

Murphy said they are hoping to finish counting by Sunday night, but the department legally has 28 days after the election to finish. 

The proposition would halt dot-com and other office development in certain rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. It faced a competing measure and a $2.3 million soft-money opposition campaign by developers and business interests that paid for a blizzard of mailers and television ads. 

Proposition L was trailing with 134,662 in favor and 135,342 opposed at last count, according to the Department of Elections. 

“We’re in a big hurry to get this done,” Hayashi said. 

The remaining uncounted ballots also could affect the outcome of supervisorial races. At last count, Hayashi said, only Tom Ammiano, who easily won a majority, and Gavin Newsom, who ran unopposed, were elected outright on Tuesday.  

Eighteen other candidates for the nine remaining supervisorial seats, including Daly, appeared headed for a December runoff. 

Proposition K, a competing measure placed on the ballot by Mayor Willie Brown, was soundly defeated at the polls, receiving only 39 percent of the vote. 

“If you want to have a vibrant, cultural mixed-use type of city, you just don’t give in to the people who pay the most,” Doug Engmann, co-sponsor of Proposition L said on election night. 

Frank Gallagher, spokesman for the No on L campaign, defended the spending. 

“Well, of course there is a lot of money,” Gallagher said. “This is a very serious issue. Nothing less than the future of San Francisco is at stake here. It is worth $2.3 million and I think a heck of a lot more.”