Those who work and know her are saying if anyone can promote civil discourse on Berkeley’s City Council, it’s District 5 Councilmember elect Miriam “Mim” Hawley.  

Having morning coffee in a popular District 5 cafe, Hawley said she is concerned about the expectation that she will be able to create civil discourse on Berkeley’s sometimes contentious City Council. She said if she doesn’t have a mellowing effect on the council her election might be considered a failure.  

Co-workers and friends said she has a reputation for being level headed and fair minded and her presence on the council can only help.  

“She will bring an open mind to issues” said Anne Henderson, who has worked with Hawley at the League of Women Voters. “She really listens to people and after debates and disagreements people come away feeling as though they’ve at least been listened to and that’s important.” 

The only new addition to the council, Hawley faced four other candidates in the Nov. 7 election and took her district with 57 percent of the vote. She is considered a moderate and will be replacing Diane Woolley, a moderate who did not run for re-election. 

“District 5 is a moderate district and I will be a good representative,” Hawley said. “But I intend to work with each member of the council and vote issue by issue.”  

Hawley moved to Berkeley from Iowa in 1957 with her husband, Robert. They soon purchased a home on Hopkins Street where they continue to live. They had four children and while Hawley was primarily a stay-at-home mom she slowly worked toward her masters degree in history at San Francisco State University, which she received in 1972. 

Hawley worked part time, teaching a variety of university extension courses over a few years. Then at age 47 she plunged back into the work force by taking a job with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in Oakland. 

She worked on a five-year project that culminated in the publication “BART and the Bay Area,” of which she was the principal author. The publication was a wide-ranging document that studied regional effects BART had on travel and commute patterns, environmental impacts and development. 

“It was a very interesting five years, I learned a lot about BART and transportation,” Hawley said. 

She then worked as a transportation consultant for several years and at 59 considered retirement. “My life is a story of retiring and then changing my mind,” she said. 

Instead of retiring, Hawley just made a career change. She began working for the Contra Costa Suicide Intervention Service as a public relations representative.  

Three years later she did retire, or seemingly so. 

She became involved with the League of Women Voters and by 1993 became the president of the Berkeley-Albany-Emeryville chapter.  

In 1996 at the age of 68, Hawley ran for public office for the first time. She was elected to the AC Transit Board as a director. She will continue to serve at that post through Dec. 1. 

Now at 72, Hawley has just been elected to the Berkeley City Council and said with a smile that she doesn’t want to make any predictions about when she will retire next. 

Hawley said one of the issues she will be concerned with is traffic and parking. She said Berkeley needs a strategic parking plan and should first determine the best use of its existing garages before creating new parking. She added it’s important to have as much short-term parking as possible for shoppers.  

She is also concerned with development. South Berkeley is in need of revitalization that should include housing as well as shopping areas, she said. 

As an AC Transit director, Hawley worked on the 376 bus line in north Richmond. The bus line was designed to complement the welfare to work program in the mid 1990s which anticipated a greater need for access to job locations, education and medical facilities and shopping areas. 

She also worked with the City Council to develop the Class Pass Program, which allows all UC Berkeley students to ride AC Transit without cost, having paid a nominal fee as part of their registration fees. Some 22,000 students have taken advantage of the class pass, she said. 

Both moderate and progressive councilmembers say they are looking forward to Hawley’s arrival on board. Mayor Shirley Dean, who has worked with Hawley on transportation issues, said she expects her new council colleague to be a reasonable voice on the council. “She’s a very hard worker and a sensible individual who wants to get something accomplished,” she said. 

Progressive Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who has known and worked with Hawley for 10 years, said he has a great deal of respect for her and expects she will have a calming effect on the council. “She will attempt to be a bridge builder and that will be a dramatic improvement,” he said.

Wednesday, Nov. 22

Tai Chi Chuen with Henry  

Chang 

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne,  

644-6107 

Disaster Council Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

Making Marriage Work 

(event is 10 Wednesdays, Nov. 29 - Jan. 24) 

7:30 - 9:30 p.m. 

Jewish Family & Children’s Services 

of the East Bay, Berkeley 

2484 Shattuck Ave., Suite 210 

For Jewish and interfaith couples either considering marriages, engaged or recently married. Focusing on topics to improve the relationship and bridging religious and ethnic differences to strengthen the marriage.  

$360 per couple  

Call 704-7475 

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 

Create the City of Your  

Fantasies 

7:30 - 11 p.m. 

Whymsium  

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 features DJ’d “Candlelight Massage Circles Salon.”  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

Children’s Benefit Concert 

11 a.m. - Noon 

College Ave. Presbyterian Church  

5951 College Ave.  

Oakland  

A concert to benefit Lillian Wamalwa, who would like to go to Kenya to help her sister, who has AIDS, and her four children.  

$6 suggested donation 

Call 925-376-3543 

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. 436-5131 

Making Marriage Work 

(event is 10 Wednesdays, Nov. 29 - Jan. 24) 

7:30 - 9:30 p.m. 

Jewish Family & Children’s  

Services 

of the East Bay, Berkeley 

2484 Shattuck Ave., Suite 210 

For Jewish and interfaith couples either considering marriages, engaged or recently married. Focusing on topics to improve the relationship and bridging religious and ethnic differences to strengthen the marriage.  

$360 per couple 704-7475 

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 

Parks & Recreation Board 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Solid Waste Management  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

Solid Waste Management Center 

1201 Second St.  

Zoning Adjustment Board  

Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

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  

Tai Chi Chih with Ben Levitan  

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Tuesday, Nov. 28

Blood Pressure for Seniors 

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Read a Play Together Salon 

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.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

Lavender Lunch 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd 100 

PSR adjunct faculty member Mark Wilson and PSR alumna Lynice Pinkard will speak on “Heterosexism and Racism.” Sponsored by PSR’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry. Free 849-8206 

Making Marriage Work 

(event is 10 Wednesdays, Nov. 29 - Jan. 24) 

7:30 - 9:30 p.m. 

Jewish Family & Children’s  

Services 

of the East Bay, Berkeley 

2484 Shattuck Ave., Suite 210 

For Jewish and interfaith couples either considering marriages, engaged or recently married. Focusing on topics to improve the relationship and bridging religious and ethnic differences to strengthen the marriage.  

$360 per couple 704-7475 

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. 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 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way (at Derby) 

Challenges of Parenting Adolescents  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Jewish Family & Children’s Services 

of the East Bay 

2484 Shattuck Ave., Suite 210 

This workshop focuses on the challenges facing parents and teens. Learn how to avoid triggering and pushing each other’s buttons. Runs three consecutive Wednesdays, through Dec. 13. Led by Kathy Langsam, MA, MFT, JFCS Teen Services Coordinator.  

$60 

Call 704-7475 

Thursday, Nov. 30

Pro Arts Juried Show  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m.  

Pro Arts 

461 Ninth St.  

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.” 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 

Oakland Museum Trip for Seniors 

(trip on Dec. 8) 

A trip to the Oakland Museum to see the Imperial Palace of China Exhibit. Organized by the North Berkeley Senior Center 

Call Maggie, 644-6107 

Let Your Chi Flow Freely 

6 - 7 p.m.  

University of Creation Spirituality 

2141 Broadway Ave. 

Oakland 

Share peace and tranquillity communally and regain harmony and balance.  

Call Idris Hassan, 835-4827 x31  

Witness In Our Time 

7 p.m.  

105 North Gate Hall 

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 

Center for Photography 

Kerry Tremain moderates a conversation with Wayne Miller, Ken Light, Matt Heron and Michelle Vignes. Followed by a book signing for “Chicago’s South Side” by Wayne Miller and “Witness in Our Time” by Ken Light. 

Call 642-3383  

Friday, Dec. 1 

Spanish Book Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books  

2454 Telegraph Ave.  

A discussion of “Dona Barbara” by the Colombian writer Rumulo Gallegos. New members welcome. The group meets the first Friday of each month.  

Call 601-0454  

Taize Worship Services  

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.  

Loper Chapel  

Dana St. (between Durant & Channing) 

Call 848-3696 

Basic Electrical Theory 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Redwood Kardon, retired City of Oakland building inspector and author of the Code Check book series.  

$35 

Call 525-7610 

Saturday, Dec. 2  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Storyteller Kellmar draws from her African-American roots with stories that touch the heart and the funnybone. For childen aged 3-7. 

Call 649-3943  

Whymsium Anniversary Party 

7:30 - 11 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 annual party features a talent show, games and a dance.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

UC Botanical Holiday Plant Sale 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden  

200 Centennial Dr.  

You’ll find a selection of orchids, ferns, rhododendrons, cacti, hardy herbs, and house plants galore for yourself or gardening friends.  

Call 643-2755 

Native American Flute  

5 - 6 p.m. 

Gathering Tribes Gallery  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Celebrating the release of his CD “Spirit Within,” Berkeley resident and flutist Walter Ogi Johnson performs.  

Finding a Way In 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Learning Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Offering a safe space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender jews to express personal concerns and to find a place to belong in the Jewish community.  

$5 with pre-registraiton; $7 at door  

845-6420 

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  

Know Your Rights Training 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Copwatch Office  

2022 Blake St.  

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

Call 548-0425 

Publish Your Own Book 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Regent Press 

6020-A Adeline St. 

Mark Weiman of Regen Press presents an overview of the business of book publishing oriented towards the author considering self-publishing.  

$60 per person 

Call Mark Weiman, 547-7602 

Friends of Berkeley Youth Alternatives 

Wine Tasting  

1 - 4 p.m. 

Rosenblum Cellars 

2900 Main St.  

Alameda 

All proceeds benefit the children and families served by Berkeley Youth Alternatives. 

$25 

Call 845-9010 

Alternative Building Materials 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by architects Dan Smith and John Fordice. 

$75  

Call 525-7610 

Sunday Dec. 3 

Connecting with Nature 

1 - 3 p.m.  

Rotary Nature Center  

600 Bellevue Ave. (at Perkins) 

Oakland 

Children aged six to twelve, accompanied by a parent, are invited to explore nature with all their senses. Cathy Holt, author of “The Circle of Healing” will lead the event. Free 

Call Stephanie for reservations, 238-3739 

Transcending Limits on Knowledge  

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Lee Nichol on Tarthang Tulku’s “Time, Space, and Knowledge.” Free 

843-6812 

Richmond Holiday Arts Festival 

Noon - 4 p.m. 

Richmond Art Center 

2540 Barret Ave.  

Richmond 

A silent auction, craft sale, gifts and services auction, and hands-on art projects. Proceeds benefit the Richmond Art Center. Free  

620-6772 

Kitka’s “Wintersongs Holiday Tour” 

7 p.m. 

Lake Merritt United Methodist Church 

1330 Lakeshore Ave. 

Oakland 

In it’s first annual winter holiday concert, this women’s vocal ensemble will perform Eastern European seasonal songs.  

$15 - $20 

444-0323 

Winterfest 

Noon - 4 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

Oakland 

A celebration of winter family traditions like music, dance, craft activities, and food. Included in museum admission. 

$6 general, $4 seniors and students with ID 

Call 1-888-OAK-MUSE 

Joe Raskin & David Slusser’s  

Improv Derby 

7:48 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Joe Raskin/George Cremaschi Duo & David Slusser’s Improv Derby. Part of ACME Observatory Contemporary Music Series.  

$8 suggested donation 

Call 444-3595 

Monday, Dec. 4 

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Permit Center 

2118 Milvia St.  

First Floor Conference Room 

Youth Commission 

6 p.m. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Center 

1730 Oregon St. 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkely Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Peace and Justice Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Keeping Parents Sane 

6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Jewish Family & Children’s Services  

of the East Bay 

2484 Shattuck Ave., Suite 210 

If your child(ren) are defiant and oppositional and you don’t know what to do, try this workshop led by Liz Marton, MFT.  

$20 

Call 704-7475 

Criminalization of Youth 

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St.  

Angela Davis, educator, activist, and former political prisoner speaks at this benefit lecture for the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library.  

$5 

Call 595-7417  

Make a Wreath 

7 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Dr.  

Whether you are a beginner or a veteran wreath-maker, join Nancy Swearengen and Jerry Parsons and learn to use some unusual materials.  

$27.50, including materials 

Call 643-2755 

Furniture Making for Women 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Finish carpenter Tracy Weir teaches this hands-on, four day workshop, culminating with each attendee building her own cabinet unit with drawer and shelf. Runs through Dec. 8.  

$475  

Call 525-7610 

Tuesday, Dec. 5 

Design the Perfect School  

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  

Jewish Book Club 

7:30 - 9:15 p.m.  

Jewish Learning Center  

1414 Walnut St.  

Join in a discussion of Brian Norton’s “Starting Out in the Evening.” Free 

848-0237 x 127 

Get the Lead Out 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Center 

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Learn how to prevent lead poisoning in your home. Taught by expert staff, this course offers techniques property owners can use to safety paint and remodel their homes.  

Call 567-8280 

Make a Wreath 

7 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Dr.  

Whether you are a beginner or a veteran wreath-maker, join Nancy Swearengen and Jerry Parsons and learn to use some unusual materials.  

$27.50, including materials 

Call 643-2755 

City Council 

7 p.m. 

Old City Hall  

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Wednesday, Dec. 6  

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

1900 Addison  

Third Floor Conference Room 

Citizens Budget Review Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Board of Education 

7:30 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Council Chambers 

Fire Safety Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

Fire Department Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

Thursday, Dec. 7 

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 

Women’s Travel Book Club 

6:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books 

1730 Fourth St.  

Join a discussion of M.F.K. Fisher’s “Two Towns in Provence: Map of Another Town & A Considerable Town.” New members are always welcome. The group meets the first Thursday of each month.  

Call 482-8971 

Make a Wreath 

10 a.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Dr.  

Whether you are a beginner or a veteran wreath-maker, join Nancy Swearengen and Jerry Parsons and learn to use some unusual materials.  

$27.50, including materials 

Call 643-2755 

Prepare Meals in a Snow Kitchen  

7 p.m.  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Chuck Collingwood of the Sierra Club will present a slide lecture on how to survive overnight in the snow.  

Call Jason, 527-7377 

Let Your Chi Flow Freely 

6 - 7 p.m.  

University of Creation Spirituality 

2141 Broadway Ave. 

Oakland 

Share peace and tranquillity communally and regain harmony and balance.  

Call Idris Hassan, 835-4827 x31  

Lunch Poems Reading Series 

12:10 p.m. - 12:50 p.m.  

Morrison Room, Doe Library 

UC Berkeley  

Featuring the first three authors in the UC Press’s California Poetry Series. Featured poets will be Fanny Howe, Mark Levine, and Carol Snow. Free  

Call 642-0137  

Housing Advisory Commission 

7:30 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St.  

Public Works Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Friday, Dec. 8  

PC Users Group 

7 p.m. 

Vista College 

Room 303  

2020 Milvia St.  

A groups of PC users who help each other solve problems. They introduce their members to new software, hardware, and invited speakers and technicians from various PC related companies. Meet the second Friday of each month.  

Call Melvin Mann, 527-2177  

Trunk Show with Art Quintanna 

4 - 7 p.m.  

Gathering Tribes Gallery 

1573 Solano Ave. 

Hailing from New Mexico, Quintanna specializes in older “dead pawn” Indian jewelry.  

An Evening Under the Stars 

5 - 8 p.m. 

Courtyard at Swans Marketplace 

Ninth St. between Washington and Clay St. 

With jazz standards playing in the background, discover the work of local artists and find a unique holiday gift. Sponsored by East Bay Galleries for Art and Cultural Development.  

Call 832-4244 

WomenSing  

8 p.m. 

Valley Center for the Performing Arts 

Holy Names College 

3500 Mountain Blvd.  

Oakland 

In the first concert of their 35th anniversary season titled “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,” WomenSing perform music of Irving Berlin, Holst, and others.  

$20 general, $18 seniors/students, $10 18 and under 

Call 925-798-1300 

Saturday, Dec. 9  

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  

Class Dismissed  

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. (at Colusa Cir.)  

Kensington 

Meredith Maran discusses her book “A Year In the Life of an American High School, A Glimpse into the Heart of a Nation,” the result of her following the lives of three Berkeley High students. Free 

Call 559-9184  

Farmers’ Market Craft Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

MLK Jr. Civic Center Park  

(Center at MLK Jr. Way) 

Local craftspeople will be selling a variety of handcrafted gifts. Also live music, massage, and hot apple cider. Free 

Call 548-3333 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St.  

Interviews, musical performances and a live radio play broadcast to a hundred cities worldwide. This show features the Magniolia Sisters, Alex DiGrassi, Tata Monk and author Malachy McCourt.  

Call 415-664-9500  

Trunk Show with Art Quintanna 

10 a.m. -6 p.m.  

Gathering Tribes Gallery 

1573 Solano Ave. 

Hailing from New Mexico, Quintanna specializes in older “dead pawn” Indian jewelry.  

Sunday, Dec. 10 

Parenting Book Club 

11 a.m.  

Cody’s Books 

1730 Fourth St.  

Take part in a discussion of “Mothers Who Think” edited by Camille Peri. New group members always welcome. The group meets the second Sunday of each month.  

Call 559-9500 

LesBiGayTrans Parenting 

11 a.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. (at Colusa Cir.) 

Kensington 

These two groups meet on the second Sunday of each month. The group meeting at 11 a.m. is for prospective parents, the one at noon for parents.  

Call 559-9184 

Ancient Buddhist Tales 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Rima Tamar, storyteller and Dharma Publishing sales director, tells some classic Buddhist stories. Free  

843-6812 

TOCAR with David Frazier 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool/La Note  

2377 Shattuck Ave.  

$6 - $12  

Reservations: 845-5373 

Tibetan Nyingma Open House 

3 -5 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

A free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist culture, including a Tibetan yoga demonstration and a meditation garden tour.  

Call 843-6812  

Baroque Choral Guild  

7:30 p.m. 

First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Performing the music of Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Merulo, Giovanni Croce, and others.  

$20 general, $15 seniors and students  

Call 408-733-8110 

“From Swastikas to Jim Crow”  

10:30 a.m.  

Jewish Learning Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Donald and Lore Rasmussen of Berkeley, and Jim McWilliams of Oakland, discuss their experiences and the experiences of others who fled Nazi Germany and ended up teaching in African-American colleges in the segregated south. Admission includes brunch.  

$4 BRJCC members; $5 general  

Call 848-0237 x127 

Weird Rooms 

3 - 5 p.m.  

Berkeley History Center 

1931 Center St.  

Mal and Sandra Sharpe discuss people who collect unusual things and how their collections take over their rooms.  

Black Images in the White Mind 

6:30 p.m. 

Walden Pond Books  

3316 Grand Ave.  

Oakland  

Jan Faulkner will give a slide show presentation of about her book, “Ethnic Notions.”  

Call 832-4438 

Wednesday, Dec. 13 

Oakland Preschool Fair 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Piedmont Avenue Elementary School 

4314 Piedmont Ave.  

Oakland 

Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, this panel discussion allows parents the opportunity to speak with representatives from local preschools. 

Free to NPN members, $5 general 

Call 527-6667 

Thursday, Dec. 14  

Ultimate Alpine Climbing  

7 p.m.  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Join veteran alpine climber Kitty Calhoun in a slide presentation of her 20-year climbing career.  

Call Jason, 527-7377 

Saturday, Dec. 16 

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  

Farmers’ Market Craft Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

MLK Jr. Civic Center Park  

(Center at MLK Jr. Way) 

Local craftspeople will be selling a variety of handcrafted gifts. Also live music, massage, and hot apple cider. Free 

Call 548-3333 

Sunday, Dec. 17  

Benefits of Kum Nye and Meditation 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Miep Cooymans, Nyingma Institute meditation instructor lectures and demonstrates this gentle, self-healing system. Free 

843-6812 

The Disputation 

2 - 4:30 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Call 848-0237 

Hanukkah Happening 

8 p.m. 

Shambhala Booksellers 

2482 Telegraph Ave.  

Cantor and recording artist Richard Kaplan will lead attendees in seasonal music. 

Call 848-8443 

Tuesday, Dec. 19 

Planning for the Future 

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, Dec. 21 

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 

Saturday, Dec. 23  

Farmers’ Market Craft Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

MLK Jr. Civic Center Park  

(Center at MLK Jr. Way) 

Local craftspeople will be selling a variety of handcrafted gifts. Also live music, massage, and hot apple cider. Free 

Call 548-3333 

Friday, Jan. 5  

Zen Buddhist Sites in China 

7 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

Oakland 

Andy Ferguson, author of “Zen’s Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings,” presents a slide show of Zen holy sites in China. Ferguson will read from the book and engage the audience in a brief meditation session. Included in museum admission. 

$6 general, $4 seniors and students with ID 

Call 1-888-OAK-MUSE 

Thursday, Jan. 11 

Toni Stone and the Negro Baseball League 

1 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

Oakland 

Marcia Eymann, curator of historical photography, discusses memorabilia of Toni Stone, a woman who played in the Negro Baseball Legue in the 1940s. Free. 

Call 1-888-OAK-MUSE 

Saturday, Jan. 13 

“Dyke Open Myke!” 

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books  

398 Colusa Ave. (at Colusa Cir.) 

Kensington 

A coffeehouse-style open mic. night for emerging talent. 

Call Jessy, 655-1015  

or Boadecia’s Books, 559-9184 

Sunday, Jan. 14 

Teaching Chinese Culture in the U.S.  

2 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

Oakland 

Educators from Bay Area Chinese schools explore issues related to teaching Chinese culture and language. Included in museum admission.  

$6 general; $4 seniors and students with ID 

Call 1-888-OAK-MUSE 

LesBiGayTrans Parenting 

11 a.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. (at Colusa Cir.) 

Kensington 

These two groups meet on the second Sunday of each month. The group meeting at 11 a.m. is for prospective parents, the one at noon for parents.  

Call 559-9184 

Berkeley, 1900  

3 - 5 p.m. . 

Berkeley History Center 

1931 Center St.  

Richard Schwartz gives an oral history of Berkeley at the turn of the century.  

A-Singin’ and a Chantin’ 

8 p.m. 

Shambhala Booksellers 

2482 Telegraph Ave.  

Pagan recording artist DJ Hamouris shares some songs and chants. 

Call 848-8443 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Mondays 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Time 

10:30 a.m. 

Oct. 16 - Dec. 11 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

For children ages 6 to 36 months. Get those babies off to a good start with songs, rhymes, lap bounces, and very simple books. 

649-3943  

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Wednesdays  

10:30 a.m. 

Preschool Song and Story Time 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Music and stories for ages 3-5.  

649-3943 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

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

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesday and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

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

644-6109 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Enforce council kiss and make up rule 

Volunteers who worked on Berkeley’s election have barely caught up on their sleep and already our two most notorious politicians are at it again. Kriss Worthington characterizes the election as a referendum on the mayor. Mayor Shirley Dean, in turn, accuses him of politicizing the School Board. The two are, in the words of Councilmember Linda Maio, completely dysfunctional when they’re in the same room together (and even when they’re not). 

I propose a new policy for the next Council session: whenever either Shirley or Kriss make a snide remark about one another they will have to adhere to an tried and true, family peace-making practice: kiss and make up (including apologies). Perhaps their abhorrence for one another will keep them in line so this “punishment” will not have to be invoked. 

Come on, Shirley, Kriss. Do something productive this session instead of the two of you trying to prove who hates the other more. 

Don Homer 

Berkeley 

Group decries project 

Ed. note: the council turned down an appeal of this development Nov 7. 

The Daily Planet received a copy of this petition submitted to the City Clerk before the council decision and signed by 31 persons. 

Honorable Mayor Shirley Dean and City Council: 

We urge you to reject the proposal for 95,000 sq. ft. of office space and 450 parking spaces at 1608 4th street. As you know, 1608 4th Street is the former Courtald’s paint factory, the entire block between Cedar & Virginia, 4th street to the railroad tracks. This is a large former manufacturing site in a manufacturing district. 

From a transportation perspective, this location is not a great place for offices, and this development is basically car-oriented freeway office development. Freeway intersections in this area are already at E & F levels of service (source: Fehr and Peers, 1999). In contrast to the City’s stated “transit-first” policy, this development is “car-first”. This development, combined with the proposal for a major corporate campus on the eight acre 

American Soils/LBL/Winery site, will create gridlock in West Berkeley and access problems for the entire city. 

The toxic cleanup plan for this site is based on the former owner’s plan, which did not include an underground parking garage. The Sierra Club opposes the 1608 4th Street project due to its inadequate toxic remediation plan and its inconsistency with Berkeley’s stated “transit first” policy. 

Also, the City seems to be much more eager to create office jobs then the housing necessary for all the new jobs. Berkeley has added 16,300 new jobs since 1980 and lost 115 units of housing, according to the Draft General Plan. Over 290,000 sq. ft. of office space was approved in the ten months prior to August 10 (source: City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development). This is space for 2,000 workers. Have we provided housing for these 2,000 new workers? No, we have not. We should learn from the cities of Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo and Menlo Park, who are finally putting the brakes on more office development. They’ve learned the hard way that excessive office development out of balance with housing leads to gridlock traffic and sky-high, unaffordable housing. 

Everyone claims to love diversity in Berkeley, and yet diversity is being lost in this town. Office building in West Berkeley puts pressure on rents for low-income residents, small businesses, and artists, and creates momentum for full-scale conversion of West Berkeley to offices. Space for non-profits, artists and industries that employ a wide variety of people are being pushed out by the wholesale conversion to office space. Office workers have no shortage of jobs to choose from. Further development proposals in West Berkeley should focus on providing good paying jobs outside the office sector to existing residents. 

The current rush to remake West Berkeley like Emeryville flies in the face of the West Berkeley Plan and zoning code, which recognizes the need to maintain a diverse economic base. To approve this development, the City Council must make the finding that it is “unlikely, under reasonably foreseeable circumstances, to either induce a substantial change of use in buildings in the District from manufacturing, wholesale trade or warehousing uses.” Clearly, the Council cannot honestly make this finding. 

For these and other reasons, we urge you to reject the proposal for 1608 Fourth St. 

Rhiannon 

Stephen Swanson 

Terry Terteling 

Bruce Becker 

Christine Vida 

and 26 others 

all of Berkeley 

Thanks for S&W support 

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 

Submitted by: 

Nancy Carleton 

3044-B Halcyon Court 

Berkeley, CA 94705 

644-0172 

Take time, choose the right man for the president’s job

Editor: 

The Republicans, the party of impeachment, had no reservations in tying up the affairs of Congress, the President, and the nation for a year. They can now wait a few days or weeks, if necessary, until the true outcome of the vote in Florida is determined.  

This is not a time to be claiming victory and planning transition but a time to respect the will of certain voters in 

Florida who have had their right to vote compromised no doubt affecting the 25 electoral votes in this historic election. If leadership is one of the most important qualities of being president, then let’s hope Messrs. Bush and Gore take pause and demonstrate that there is something much more important at stake here than the brass ring. Cooler heads must prevail. 

David Olson 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

The abuse of 19,000 ballots in Palm Beach County requires a re-vote of the Presidential race in that county. The next President’s ability to govern will be greatly hindered if the election is decided by voting irregularities in Florida. 

A re-vote could be avoided if the 19,000 ballots with double votes for President were counted toward the one major candidate included in the double vote. 

Bruce Joffe 

Oakland 

Editor: 

I’d suggest the proper federal body call a run-off election by around mid December and get on with getting on.  

Most people thought, “gee, isn’t it one person one vote in this country?” Never mind! We don’t have enough time, this time, to get rid of the electoral college good and proper, so.... Do a run off under the present laws. And on with life! 

But, having gone through part of what we are going through now and many of us leery of going through the rest of it and giving it to our children, let’s also call for a Continental Congress to look eyeball to eyeball at the changes the world has gone through in our dear nation and around the planet.  

Maybe in due deliberation, around 2003. There, we would almost certainly get rid of the Electoral College. Then we might like to extend rights to animals and plants in our extended Bill of Rights, recognizing how tenuous thousands of species very existence has become, add a Bill of Responsibilities mentioning “the seventh generation” idea from our first peoples as if our descendants will have rights, and check into proper political response to other things about today’s world that are definitely way different from the good-start semi-democracy of the “Founding Fathers.”  

This time maybe we could call it the “Refounding Parents.” I’m sure other people have a few ideas for some reassessments in the face of very different times. 

Richard Register 

Berkeley 

Berkeley Daily Planet Staff Reports 

Tuesday the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, Juvenile Division, leveled new charges against five of the juveniles suspected in two separate cases of sexual assault on a 12-year-old middle school student, Berkeley police said in a news release. 

In the alleged Oct. 25 assaults at and around Willard Middle School, the DA charged an 11-year-old boy with one felony count of sexual assault. Two boys, 12, were charged with two felony counts of sexual assault and two misdemeanor counts of sexual assault. A 13-year-old was charged with two felony counts of sexual assault.  

The DA charged a 13-year-old boy involved in an alleged assault against the girl at King Middle School on Nov. 8. He was charged with three counts of sexual assault.  

Police said they arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the Willard incident. He was charged with three felony counts of sexual assault and has been released to his parents pending charges by the DA’s office. 

One unidentified suspect is being sought. 

Three suspects involved in the Willard incident remain in police custody. A 14-year-old is charged with seven counts of sexual assault, one 13-year-old is charged with 13 counts of sexual assault and another 13-year-old is charged with 14 counts of sexual assault.

The rainy weather on Tuesday washed several coats of paint off a building near University and Oxford streets and into nearby storm drains and gutters alarming nearby business owners and passersby. 

Jim Lee, manager of UC Berkeley’s Central Garage, said the roof of the building was painted white yesterday afternoon after extensive work was completed to repair several leaks. 

“We have been in the process of correcting some safety issues and the roof was the first step,” Lee said. “I guess we corrected the leaky roof but created a whole other problem.” 

The building is used to store the university’s shuttle buses and house several administrative offices.  

Emergency crews from the city’s toxics division, along with the Berkeley Fire Department and university workers threw sandbags down and began pumping up the contaminated water, but not before several hundred gallons of it emptied into two nearby storm drains. 

“There’s no way to stop it at this point,” Daniel Akagi civil engineer for the city said. “ It’s going straight into the bay.” 

According to Michael Vernon, manager of Blue’s Roofing Company, the acrylic paint is non toxic and is used for aesthetic reasons. Nabil Al Hadithy, head of the city’s toxics division, confirmed that the paint was not toxic, but noted, however, that the city has ordinances that prohibit dumping anything but water down storm drains. 

When asked if the university then would be fined for dumping, Al Hadithy explained that the university is not answerable to the city, but is under that direct control of the Bay Area Water Quality District.  

Had the district had sufficient personnel on hand, it would have overseen the clean up. Since it did not, the city stepped in, Al Hadithy explained. 

Vernon of the roofing company, explained that the paint needed 48 hours to dry and that his company had not known that it was going to rain. 

“It’s unfortunate that this happened. This is the price we pay for working in the (fall).” 

Vernon also said that the job was an “emergency type” of repair and that the university had called them at the last minute.  

Jim Lee of the Central Garage said that they had been told to make the repairs before the end this year or face a possible shut down. 

“I wish Blue’s Roofing would have used a little better judgment. They could have waited another day or two.” 

Vernon said that his company will have to re-do the roof when the weather clears and hopes that next time there won’t be any rain. “If people would take care of their roofs in the summer things like this wouldn’t happen,” he said. 

Beating the rains Tuesday morning, volunteers and Berkeley police began at about 6 a.m. to distribute roughly 250 holiday food baskets to needy families and organizations.  

The baskets, weighing in at between 35 and 40 pounds each and able to feed eight, were delivered to families nominated by beat police officers working in their neighborhoods.  

Ove Wittstock, director of the Berkeley Boosters Association, said additional baskets were also distributed to various shelters and housing organizations, mostly located in south and west Berkeley.  

Lieutenant Russell Lopes said Tuesday that money for most of the food is raised through an annual “turkey ride.” Started in 1984, the ride is a 216 mile bike trek from Berkeley to South Lake Tahoe.  

Money is raised through people pledging a given amount of money for each mile they ride. 

The turkeys were donated by well-known local chef Narsai David, food and wine editor of KCBS radio and president of the Berkeley Community Foundation. Additional donations were made by the Berkeley Rotary Club and the First Presbyterian Church. 

Over the course of 15 years, the program has distributed nearly two-hundred thousand pounds of food.  

The baskets given out Tuesday contained a turkey and all the trimmings, Lopes said. 

Identical food baskets will also be distributed about two weeks before Christmas. Anybody can ask for the baskets, which are given out according to need, Lopes said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Online music retailer EMusic.com is set to deploy a new technology to identify its songs that are being traded online by Napster users and demand that the free-for-all stop. 

EMusic announced Tuesday it will begin using “acoustic fingerprinting” to monitor the songs being shared on Napster that allegedly infringe on the rights of EMusic’s artist and label partners. 

EMusic president and CEO Gene Hoffmann said Napster balked at other solutions to stem the unauthorized trade of music, leaving the online retailer no choice but to crack down on the song sharing. 

“Over the past several months, EMusic has continually offered to work in good faith with Napster on this issue,” Hoffman said. “Napster’s unfortunate and inflexible response has been that EMusic’s only course of action is to request that offending users’ accounts be cut off completely.” 

With the new technology, Napster users caught trading songs obtained from EMusic would receive an “instant message” on their computer screens warning them of copyright infringement and giving a 24-hour grace period to stop distributing the music. 

“It seems Napster would rather shut down user accounts, than to deal directly with the problem of illegally distributed files,” Hoffman said. 

Calls by The Associated Press to Napster seeking comment were not immediately returned. 

In fact, Napster has been dealing with that very problem since its inception. Shortly after the song-sharing service launched last year, Napster was sued in federal court by major record labels for copyright infringement. That case is currently on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court. 

Napster reached a tentative deal with Bertelsmann’s BMG music division to develop what the partners characterized as a new, secure membership-based distribution system that will guarantee payments to artists. The deal hinges on Napster’s compliance to overhaul its service – a move that has yet to happen. 

Napster claims to have 38 million registered users. 

EMusic has licensing agreements with more than 600 independent record labels and popular artists such as Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls, Louis Armstrong and Kenny Rogers. EMusic allows sampling and purchases of music in the popular MP3 format. 

Online music sales such as EMusic’s are still an unproven entity. When Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to pay online music retailer Emusic.com Inc. $3 million in a cross-marketing deal, the sum exceeded the aggregate sales of all music downloads, according to Aram Sinnreich of Jupiter Research. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.emusic.com 

http://www.napster.com 

OAKLAND— A woman was found guilty Tuesday of murdering her sister to steal her identity and her money, then stuffing her dismembered body into a freezer. 

The Alameda County jury of five men and seven women spent three weeks listening to testimony and three days in deliberations before returning the verdict against Sarah Mitchell, 50, who was charged with murder with the special circumstance of financial gain. 

Deputy District Attorney Terry Wiley argued that Mitchell’s plan was to impersonate her sister to withdraw money from her trust accounts. 

The court will decide between a penalty of life in prison without parole or the death sentence starting Dec. 4. 

In the summer of 1997, Mitchell began posing as Stevie Allman, 52, an anti-drug crusader. When the home they shared burned down, Mitchell claimed they had been the victims of a firebombing and blamed it on disgruntled drug dealers. 

Mitchell originally was charged with arson, along with murder, but the arson charges were not pursued. 

But Mitchell fooled others into thinking she was Allman, and that she was the victim of arson. She received $3,600 in sympathy checks, and then-Gov. Pete Wilson offered a $50,000 reward for information in the case. 

Police soon discovered Allman was really Mitchell.  

Then, on July 16 of that year, they found Allman’s body. She had been murdered, dismembered and stuffed into a freezer sealed with duct tape in the ruins of her home.

SAN FRANCISCO — Thousands of illegal immigrants won a step toward legal residency Tuesday when an appeals court reinstated a lawsuit contending that an illegal Immigration and Naturalization Service policy barred their applications for legal status. 

The case involves the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 that made illegal immigrants eligible for amnesty, and legal residency, if they had lived in the United States since the start of 1981 without committing a serious crime. They were required to apply by May 1988 and some 2.7 million illegal immigrants were awarded residency, the first step toward U.S. citizenship. 

But an estimated 200,000 applicants were denied. 

The INS first interpreted the law to bar amnesty for anyone who had left the United States for even a brief period since 1981. Numerous amnesty applicants were turned away, and many others said they were discouraged from applying before the policy was ruled illegal in 1988 and replaced with one that allowed brief departures. 

On Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its own 1999 decision, in which it ruled that illegal immigrants who claimed they were prevented from seeking legal status in 1987-88 missed the deadline to file their legal challenge. An 11-judge panel of the circuit ruled 7-4 that a Sacramento federal judge should hear the class-action suit because the filing deadline did not expire. 

“This is a big decision. This case has been going on for 14 years,” said Robert B. Jobe, an attorney with Immigration Lawyers Association in San Francisco. 

Russell Bergeron, an INS spokesman in Washington, said the agency declined to comment until it reviewed the 43-page decision. 

The case returns to U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton in Sacramento. No hearing has been set. 

Karlton had ordered the INS to give immigrants affected by its policy another chance to apply for amnesty. Hundreds of thousands applied, but the government won an appellate order excusing the INS from considering the applications while it appealed to the circuit court. 

Even with Tuesday’s decision, however, much legal maneuvering remains. 

Illegal immigrants, who filed the proper paperwork on time but were denied amnesty because they had left the country, will likely prevail, advocates said. The INS said Tuesday that it did not know how many immigrants fell into that category. 

But the immigration fate of untold thousands more is in question. 

Immigrants were turned way by the INS because they had exited the country, and they left INS offices without filing an application. Thousands more, according to the suit, were discouraged from seeking amnesty at an INS office because they knew they would be turned away. 

These two categories of immigrants must persuade Karlton to overturn a different 1986 federal law narrowing their litigation rights. Under that law, immigrants who did not file the INS application were barred from suing for amnesty even though the INS policy to exclude those who left the country was illegal. 

The case is Catholic Social Services vs. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 98-16269. 

SANTA ANA — Just two weeks after Orange County voters passed a measure directing that the county’s tobacco funds should go mostly for health care, the Board of Supervisors has decided to consider spending this year’s allotment to pay off government debt instead. 

Supervisors previously voted to divide this year’s $28-million share of the national tobacco settlement funds, with half going toward health care programs and the remainder toward paying down the county’s bankruptcy debt. 

Because Measure H, approved by 65 percent of the county’s voters on Nov. 7, doesn’t take effect until July, board Chairman Chuck Smith said Monday it is time to consider spending as much as possible now on debt reduction. 

“We agreed to that 50-50 split long before the election, so I think – in light of that – it’s fair to reconsider it,” Smith said, noting that supervisors have one opportunity to spend the money as they choose. 

“I’m not saying how much we should spend toward debt reduction,” he added. “We could make it 80 percent... But we need to fully look at this.” 

Health care advocates, who raised nearly $1 million to support Measure H, said they were angered and surprised by the supervisors’ actions. 

“They just don’t want to listen to the will of the people,” said Michele Revelle, spokeswoman for the Orange County Medical Association.  

“This is exactly why we went forward with getting Measure H passed. They voted to give us 50 percent earlier and we didn’t like it then and now it looks like they’re going to renege on it.” 

Supervisors on Monday also scheduled a closed-door meeting for Tuesday to debate whether they should go to court to fight Measure H.  

The county will receive $28 million in tobacco settlement money this fiscal year and as much as $35 million in annual installments over the next quarter-century. 

Measure H puts at least 80 percent of the money into health care programs for the poor.  

The supervisors countered with an unsuccessful competing ballot initiative, Measure G, which would have put 60 percent of the money in various public health programs and dedicated the remainder to reducing debt and building jails.

LOS ANGELES — Food bank officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties are preparing for Thanksgiving week with donation levels they say are at an all-time low. 

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has 1.3 million pounds of food – just half the amount it had at this time last year. 

“The problem is worse than I thought,” food bank spokesman Darren Hoffman told the Los Angeles Times.  

“We can make up some with food drives this month, but it will not close the gap. We’re hurting.” 

He said the shortage might not affect Thanksgiving meals, but will cut into reserves the food bank needs for leaner months and emergencies. 

Food bank officials say a big reason for the drop-off is a decline in supermarket donations. 

Supermarket mergers mean there are fewer companies to make donations.  

In addition, improved manufacturing and handling practices have trimmed the amount of food that grocers give food banks because of mislabeling, damage or expired labels. 

Some products that have been damaged are ending up in dollar stores instead of food banks. 

“This year, several grocery stores just stopped giving for a while. Until we hear otherwise, they’ve just stopped,” said Marcella Barba, development coordinator at Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County. 

An official with the Food Marketing Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based supermarket association, said he could not immediately comment. 

Food bank officials said the problem has been exacerbated by federal Food and Drug Administration delays in distributing surplus cheese and other bulk goods. 

Second Harvest, which provides food to 350 local charities, has 650,000 pounds of food, compared with a million pounds at this time last year, Barba said. 

“This is a trend we have known about for awhile. But recently, it’s become more extreme,” she said.  

“We have been looking at alternatives, including food from restaurants and from local farms.” 

Like Second Harvest, the Community Development Council’s Orange County Food Bank has about a third less food that it did last year.  

But Director Mike Lowry said more people are in need because new welfare rules have taken people off public assistance but left them with low wages in high-rent areas. 

Second Harvest estimates that in any given month, 400,000 people are at risk of going hungry in Orange County.

LOS ANGELES — When Vijai Rajan’s parents applied six years ago to have her become an American citizen, they believed it would just be a formality. 

After all, they were citizens. So was their other child. 

But when their daughter’s application was denied because she suffers from cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, seizures and other ailments that made it impossible for her to take a meaningful oath of allegiance, her parents didn’t take no for an answer. 

They went to court. They knocked on politicians’ doors. 

Tuesday, their daughter became the first person granted U.S. citizenship under a new law that waives the oath for qualified immigrants with extreme disabilities. 

“We’re very pleased to be able to welcome Ms. Rajan as a citizen,” Thomas J. Schiltgen, director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service district office, said at a private ceremony. 

Vijai Rajan, who cannot speak and has the comprehension of a 2-year-old, clutched a small American flag and her parents accepted a certificate on her behalf. 

“Now, you are an American,” said her father, Sunder Rajan of Anaheim, a scientist and engineer with a telecommunications company. 

The 25-year-old woman, who requires 24-hour care, was born in India but has lived in the United States since she was an infant. Her parents are naturalized citizens and her sister was born in Ohio. 

“We have always treated her equally, believing she was entitled to the same things that we have,” her father said. “But she wasn’t treated the same by others. She didn’t have the same rights we did.” 

The family spent years pressing for a change in law so that she could become a citizen despite being unable to take the oath. 

The family gained national attention for their daughter when they filed a discrimination lawsuit this year to try to force the INS to grant citizenship. 

“Few Americans have to fight so hard for their citizenship, and I thank the Rajan family for never losing hope,” said Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., who sponsored legislation after hearing about the family’s plight. 

President Bill Clinton signed the law this month that will give citizenship to about 1,000 immigrants a year whose disabilities prevent them from reciting the oath but who otherwise qualify. 

Caught up in her family’s excitement during the ceremony, Vijai Rajan giggled, laughed and smiled. She held a flag pressed into one hand until her grip failed and it fell. 

“I personally believe she understands and knows more than she can tell us. Does she understand the citizenship process?  

“No. But when we go on a trip away from home, she knows what home is,” her father said. “Now, she has one.” 

Rajan’s mother, Shakunthala, and her sister, Induh Rajan, 29, clutched her hands through the ceremony. 

“If you push her over in bed, she gets back up. She will fight you. She will never cry. She has taught us that – to fight,” her mother said. “We fought for her because she taught us that.” 

Asked if he believes people in the United States taken citizenship for granted, the father said: “In my language ... we have a saying, ‘Sometimes you have to stand in the sun to appreciate the shade.”’

LOS ANGELES — Dot-com heavy San Mateo County recorded the lowest percentage of people living below the poverty level in 1997, while farming-dependent Imperial County had the worst poverty figures in the state, according to new U.S. Census Bureau figures. 

Overall, poverty among Californians declined between 1995 and 1997, but families continue to struggle in rural areas where jobs and affordable housing remain scarce. 

Income and poverty figures released Tuesday night by the Census Bureau offered poverty estimates for the nation’s 3,141 counties, including the state’s 58 counties. Imperial County had the highest poverty rate in California, with 41,065, or 30.3 percent of its population, living below the poverty level. 

In 1997, a family of four was considered poor if its annual income was below $16,400. The median family income in Imperial County was $23,359. 

Statewide, about 5.2 million people, or 16 percent of the population, lived in poverty in 1997, compared to 16.5 percent in 1995. The median family income in California was $39,595 in 1997, compared with $37,005 nationally. 

Farmers in Imperial County, east of San Diego County, have been hard hit in recent years, contributing to an unemployment rate of nearly 30 percent and consistently dropping wages, said El Centro City Councilman Jack Dunnam. 

“As a city and county we’re working as hard as we can with different agencies to get industry in here that may not be farm-related,” Dunnam said. 

City and county officials even recently lobbied the state to locate a new mental health hospital for sex offenders in Imperial County, but the bid failed and an estimated 2,000 jobs went elsewhere, said Wally Leimgruber, chairman of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors. 

“We know we have the lowest per capita income in the state and the highest unemployment,” Leimgruber said. “We’re trying to bring this to the attention of state legislators for any kind of state programs that might be available. ... We’re trying to change it around.” 

Officials in San Mateo County, located in the northern end of Silicon Valley, had mixed reactions to the poverty figures. 

“What the Census figures don’t tell you is that folks living below the poverty level in our county are now living in more and more difficult circumstances,” said Richard Gordon, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. “We have three or four families living in a house together to make ends meet. They may be living in worse conditions than people who live below the poverty level elsewhere.” 

One of the county’s top priorities is to create more affordable housing for the poor and for government and service workers, Gordon said. 

Other California counties with low estimated poverty rates in 1997 include: Marin (7 percent); Placer (7.7 percent); Napa, El Dorado (8.8 percent) and Sonoma (9.1 percent). 

Counties with high poverty rates include: Los Angeles (20.5 percent); Kern (21 percent); Yuba (25.5 percent) and Tulare (27.9) percent. 

The Census Bureau updates its estimates every few years, instead of waiting for the official census every 10 years, because the numbers are tied to federal funding. 

The last report was conducted for 1995 and showed a decrease in poverty as the state’s economy began to prosper. Each estimate is based on a three-year average, meaning the 1997 figure represents the average of 1996-1998. 

The Census Bureau produced the state and county estimates by using its March 1998 Current Population Survey with aggregate data from income tax returns, records on food stamp program participation and 1990 census figures. The median incomes were not adjusted for inflation. 

On the Net: 

U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe.html

LOS ANGELES — A woman being deported to China jumped from a jetway at Los Angeles International Airport and was badly injured, authorities said. 

The 29-year-old woman, whose name wasn’t released, suffered head injuries and was in critical condition Tuesday at UCLA Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman Roxanne Moster Yamaguchi. 

Two detention officers were escorting the woman about 12:30 p.m. Monday when she jumped from the jetway and fell about 20 feet to the pavement, said Sharon Gavin, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Los Angeles district. 

The jetway was going to be hooked up to a China Eastern Airlines plane bound for Beijing. 

The woman had failed to produce the required documents upon entering the United States in October, leading to a deportation order, Gavin said. 

“She didn’t want to go,” Gavin said. 

There has been an increase of Chinese immigrants recently attempting to enter the United States without documents, Gavin added. 

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE — Two Earth-monitoring satellites blasted into orbit on a Boeing Delta II rocket Tuesday on missions to monitor the planet’s atmosphere, forests, urban centers and oceans. 

NASA’s Earth Observing 1 and the multinational satellite SAC-C lifted off into clear skies at 10:24 a.m.  

The launch was delayed for several days because of discrepancies in preflight test documentation that turned out to be paperwork rather than system problems. 

Ninety minutes after blastoff, both satellites were in orbit and communicating with ground controllers.  

The 1,260-pound EO-1 was placed into a 438-mile polar orbit. The smaller co-payload was put in a 436-mile polar orbit. 

As part of NASA’s New Millennium Program, EO-1 will test several advanced technologies that, if successful, could be used on other missions. Among them is a land imager that is cheaper, lighter and more powerful than current equipment. 

The $193 million EO-1 will fly within two miles of the existing Landsat 7 and take the same images as the older satellite.  

Scientists will compare the pictures to determine how well the new imager is working, NASA officials said. 

The $45 million SAC-C carries 11 scientific instruments designed to study the Earth’s surface, atmosphere and magnetic field. It is a joint venture of NASA, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, France and Italy. 

One of the instruments will watch the migration of the Franca whale, which was nearly hunted to extinction early in the 20th century.  

The satellite will pick up the signals of transmitters being attached to the large ocean mammals. 

——— 

On the Net: EO-1: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/eo1/eo.html 

SAC-C: http://www.conae.gov.ar/sac-c/ 

FRESNO — In time for Thanksgiving, the United Farm Workers union ended its 16-year boycott of Californa table grapes Tuesday, saying the original goals of UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez had been largely met. 

“Cesar Chavez’s crusade to eliminate use of five of the most toxic chemicals plaguing farm workers and their families has been largely successful,” said UFW President Arturo Rodriguez. 

In recent years the UFW has not focused any energy on the boycott and the table grape industry has continued to grow. 

“I think it makes sense for them to call it off,” said Kathleen Nave, president of the California Table Grape Commission. “Of course we’re happy to not have table grapes on any official boycott list.” 

Chavez called for the boycott on June 12, 1984, as a way of focusing on the spraying of dangerous pesticides. It was the third boycott of California grapes called by the UFW. 

The first boycott ran from 1967 until 1970, when growers signed their first contracts with the UFW. The second grape boycott began in 1973 and received more widespread support than the recent one. 

A 1975 Harris poll found 17 million Americans were boycotting grapes, according to the UFW. The boycott ended two years later, after the Agricultural Labor Relations Act was passed, allowing farmworkers to organize and bargain for contracts. 

As union membership dwindled and state oversight of agribusiness dropped off, however, Chavez launched the final boycott to bring attention to what he called “The Wrath of Grapes” – the threat from pesticides. 

In the final years of his life, Chavez fought passionately for the cause that inspired the 1984 boycott. At age 61 he conducted his longest public fast – the 36-day “Fast for Life” – and continued to press the boycott until his death five years later in 1993. 

“The fast was, finally, a declaration of noncooperation with supermarkets that promote, sell and profit from California table grapes,” Chavez said at a 1989 speech in Tacoma, Wash. “They are as culpable as those who manufacture the poisons and those who use them.” 

But as the latest boycott dragged out, it failed to gain a large following. Consumer studies for the grape industry have found fewer than 5 percent of consumers were aware of the boycott, Nave said. 

Rodriguez said he thinks Chavez, his father-in-law, would have made the same decision to end the boycott. The union is now focused on the more important goal of organizing and negotiating contracts in the fields. 

In a letter to the National Farm Worker Ministry in St. Louis, which mobilized support for the boycott among religious groups, Rodriguez said it was no longer fair to ask supporters to honor the boycott. 

The end of the boycott represents a significant shift in direction for the union that rose to power and national attention through its earlier grape strikes and grape boycotts. 

Today, the UFW, which has dwindled to 27,000 members from a high of 80,000 in 1970, only has one table grape contract. 

It has branched into the mushroom and rose industry in recent years and in August it signed its first contract with Gallo – the subject of an earlier boycott – to cover 450 vineyard workers in Sonoma County. 

Although it called off the boycott, the union said that should not be seen as an endorsement to buy table grapes. 

“Table grape workers continue to suffer poverty pay, poor working conditions and mistreatment on the job,” said UFW spokesman Marc Grossman.  

“We look forward to the day where table grape workers, too, can enjoy the blessings of organized labor.” 

On the Net: 

United Farm Workers of America: http://www.ufw.org

LOS ANGELES — The City Council approved a $15 million settlement Tuesday with a man shot in the back and paralyzed by police officers who then allegedly planted a gun next to him. 

It is the largest settlement stemming from the LAPD’s ongoing corruption scandal and the largest for police misconduct in the city’s history. 

Javier Francisco Ovando, now 23, agreed to settle because it eliminates the delays and uncertainty of a jury trial, said his attorney, Gregory Moreno. 

“This gives him very good compensation,” he said. “We were looking for a reasonable amount of money for him to get on with his life and put the pieces back together.” 

The award is nearly three times the amount given to 1991 beating victim Rodney King, who was awarded $3.8 million in damages and another $1.6 million for attorneys fees. 

The council approved the Ovando settlement 13-0, bringing to nearly $30 million the amount the city has agreed to pay victims of the corruption scandal. About 70 lawsuits are pending. 

Councilman Mike Feuer said settling with Ovando was the right choice because the city stood “very little chance of prevailing” in a jury trial. 

“And the key question won’t be liability,” he said. “The key question is likely to be simply how much.” 

Mayor Richard Riordan described the settlement as a fair resolution “to a terrible miscarriage of justice. 

“Now we must put this behind us, and look forward to the future by implementing police reforms that ensure this will never happen again,” he said in a statement. Ovando’s case came to symbolize the corruption allegations that centered on the department’s Rampart Division. 

The investigation into incidents between 1995 and 1998 has led to charges being dismissed or overturned in about 100 cases and the convictions last week of three officers. It also was a catalyst for an agreement that provides federal oversight of police department reforms. 

The scandal broke publicly in September 1999 after former officer Rafael Perez’s allegations of misconduct in the Ovando case surfaced. 

Perez said he and former partner Nino Durden were staking out a vacant apartment in October 1996 when they shot Ovando, then a 19-year-old 18th Street gang member. 

Perez has said Durden planted a .22-caliber rifle on Ovando as he lay bleeding from shots to his head and chest. He said the officers had seized the weapon about two weeks earlier. 

Durden has pleaded innocent to attempted murder charges and is awaiting trial. 

Ovando had served more than two years of a 23-year prison term for assaulting a police officer when his conviction was overturned and he was freed last year. His legs remain paralyzed. 

The portion of Ovando’s lawsuit against Perez is still pending, his attorney said. A separate lawsuit on behalf of Ovando’s 3-year-old daughter, Destiny, also is pending, Moreno said. 

City officials said liability for the corruption scandal could cost the city as much as $125 million. 

The Ovando settlement is likely to be the single largest amount the city will pay to an individual victim, Chief Assistant City Attorney Thomas Hokinson said. 

“His is the only one that involves serious injuries plus confinement,” he said. 

In a potentially more serious case of police abuse, Perez called “dirty” a 1996 police shooting that left 19-year-old gang member Juan Saldana dead and two others wounded. Investigators are looking into whether officers might have planted guns. 

The lawsuit by Saldana’s family was dismissed, however, because it was filed after the statute of limitations expired. That decision is now on appeal in federal court, Hokinson said. 

He said the remaining civil suits against the city could be resolved within 18 months, although not all are likely to end in settlements. 

“There are a number of cases we anticipate we will win,” he said.

SACRAMENTO — The state may need to find more money to implement the sweeping drug treatment initiative adopted by voters this month, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton said in a letter made public Tuesday. 

The ballot measure, Proposition 36, requires that those convicted of possessing or using drugs for the first or second time be sent to treatment programs instead of prison or jail. 

However, the $120 million allocated to treatment programs by the initiative may not pay for enough treatment or monitoring of drug offenders, nor will it pay for periodic drug testing, said Burton, D-San Francisco, who supported the initiative. 

“The voters of California have delivered a historic demand for change by approving Proposition 36,” Burton said in a letter to Gov. Gray Davis. He urged the governor to consider the funding shortfalls as Davis prepares the new state budget and looks toward the 2001 legislative session. 

The governor’s staff is reviewing Burton’s letter, and the requirements of the proposition, said Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean. 

Burton also said he will create a task force of criminal justice and drug treatment experts to oversee implementation of the measure and advise the Senate.

LOS ANGELES — Advocates for the homeless have sued the city of Los Angeles, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and the commander of the police department’s Central Division to stop the department’s recent practice of strictly enforcing loitering and other laws in the skid row area. 

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court late Monday, says the Los Angeles Police Department’s practice of citing the homeless in skid row for minor offenses is unconstitutional and amounts to harassment. 

The lawsuit contends that the possessions of numerous homeless people who were stopped for questioning by officers were seized and destroyed.  

Some homeless people were threatened with arrest if they objected, the suit says. 

Since September, the commander of the Central Division, Capt. Stuart Maislin, has ordered his officers to cite the homeless for blocking the sidewalk and jaywalking. Officers have also been rousing the homeless early in the morning, asking for identification and arresting people with outstanding warrants. 

In parts of skid row, a 50-block area east and south of downtown, entire streets have been cleared of vagrants. 

A recent increase in violent crime in skid row caused Maislin to change the division’s practice of generally ignoring the homeless, the Los Angeles Times reported.  

Violent crime has decreased since then, Maislin said. 

A spokesman for the Police Department declined comment to the Times late Monday on the suit. 

Attorney Carol A. Sobel of Santa Monica, one of several civil rights lawyers who prepared the suit, said papers would be filed Tuesday in an attempt to secure a temporary restraining order.

Al Gore’s ballot-by-ballot fight for the White House was given new life Tuesday night, when the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the “will of the people” demanded that manual recounts be added in the state’s election totals. Their work approved, weary election officials plowed through ballots into the night. 

“An accurate vote count is one of the essential foundations of our democracy,” the seven justices said. 

The unanimous decision came as election workers in three counties continued their counting of 1.5 million ballots, now facing a Sunday deadline to complete their task. 

“Twenty five years ago this court commented that the will of the people, not the hyper-technical reliance upon statutory provisions, should be our guiding principle in elections,” read the court ruling. 

Bush holds a 930-vote lead in the official, but uncertified vote tallies from Election Day, with overseas absentee ballots included. Gore has slowly been eating into that lead in recent days as recounts have proceeded at his urging in three Democratic counties. 

“I think we’ll be able to meet the deadline,” said Circuit Judge Charles Burton, head of the Palm Beach elections board. Televisions in the West Palm Beach counting room showed the Supreme Court spokesman releasing the decision, but the audio was turned off. Workers continued to hand count the ballots. 

It was unclear whether the ruling set standards for country election officials to determine the validity of ballots – a key issue as Gore scrambles for each and every vote. Democrats welcomed the decision, but privately worried that Republicans would slow down the recount process to make it difficult for Gore to overtake Bush before the deadline. 

“We view tonight ruling in the Florida Supreme Court as a victory for the people,” said Gore spokesman Chris Lehane. “The hand counts will go forward and the will of the people will be reflected accurately and completely.” 

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III was expected to respond for Bush, who was in Texas when the ruling was handed down. Gore was at his residence in Washington and planned a statement. 

In advance of the ruling, Republican lawyers prepared to take an emergency appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court in case the Florida court rules against them. 

Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican and Bush ally, who had refused to accept the hand counts, was not available for comment. 

Clay Roberts, Republican-appointed director of state Division of Elections and a member of the state canvassing board, said, “Certainly we will follow the orders of the Florida Supreme Court. Of course the Secretary of State is going to abide by the ruling on the highest court of the state. 

“I haven’t read their ruling so I don’t know whether to be disappointed in it or not. It’s really not our concern whether it’s a victory for Al Gore or George Bush. The secretary of state was presented with a statute that had some conflict and she interpreted it to the best of her ability according to the law,” he said. 

Gore had picked up 266 votes in recounts by late Tuesday, which if approved by the courts and added to official state totals would shave Bush’s lead to 664 votes out of 6 million cast. Bush has held his own in at least one of the counties, raising fears among Democrats that they will not overtake the Texas governor unless every possible ballot is counted. 

Democrats want three county canvassing boards to count hundreds of punch-card ballots with no holes poked out for the presidential race, giving Gore or Bush a vote when an indentation is found next to their name. With the Texas Republican clinging to a 930-vote lead, the vice president’s advisers said they almost certainly can’t win Florida and the White House unless county officials discern the intent of voters whose ballots were not properly punched. 

In Broward County, where up to 2,000 questionable ballots were set aside for review later, officials asked the Supreme Court to set a uniform standard for validating ballots. “It is imperative that it be resolved immediately,” the brief said. 

Both sides acknowledged Tuesday that Gore stands to pick up hundreds of votes — perhaps as many as 1,500 with the most liberal approval standards. The three counties conducting recounts are predominantly Democratic, and voters from Gore’s party historically cast more faulty ballots than their GOP counterparts. 

Republicans want the manual recounts stopped and, if not, they fear a broad standard for reviewing the ballots will tilt the race to Gore. Bush’s team has an ace in the hole: Hundreds of absentee ballots from military outposts that were rejected on technicalities. 

A senior Bush adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in advance of the ruling that Republicans were likely to sue to reinstate rejected absentee ballots from military outposts if the Supreme Court allows recounts to go forward. Democrats waged a county-by-county campaign to toss out the absentee votes, a majority of which were Republican, but rolled back on their objections to the military ballots after coming under heavy criticism. 

In recounting rooms across the southeast coast of Florida, the procedure varied little Tuesday: Gore ballots went in one pile; Bush ballots in another; questionable ballots, including some with dimples, in yet a third. 

Officials on both sides said that absent a court ruling, the questionable ballots may yet settle the nation’s presidential election — hundreds of cardboard punchcards, puzzled over by officials on three county canvassing boards. 

While awaiting word on the fate of their recounts, local officials have set their own often-shifting standards. 

In the state’s largest county, Miami-Dade, election officials are following the guidance of Gore’s allies and assigning votes whenever a voter’s intent could be determined by an indentation on the ballot. With a small fraction of the precincts counted, both sides said Gore was on pace to pick up about 500 votes by the time counting ends, about Dec. 1. 

A circuit judge rejected GOP requests to set standards in Miami-Dade for ballot review and search garbage cans for chads — scraps of paper that are dislodged when a ballot is punched. “I’m not going to manage the minutiae of each ballot,” Circuit Judge David Tobin said. 

Tempers flared in the vote-counting rooms. Republican observer Grant Lally asked to have Ivy Korman, the administrator of the elections department, removed from the counting room. 

“She’s been hostile,” he told elections supervisor Lawrence King. “She snapped at me at lunch.” 

“I have a one-hour lunch break. That was it,” Korman replied. “I ignored him and read my newspaper.” 

Up the coast in Broward County, all ballots with dimpled chads or just one corner of the chad detached are set aside to be reviewed by the canvassing board after all the other ballots are counted. 

Officials finished counting ballots that were not in dispute Tuesday night, and Gore had gained 118 votes on Bush. Senior Republicans and Democrats alike said Gore could net another 500 or so votes in Broward County alone if the dimpled ballots are allowed. 

Circuit Judge Robert Rosenberg, a Republican with Democratic ties, was named to the three-person county elections board to replace Jane Carroll, who abruptly quit Monday. 

Further up the coast, Palm Beach County is the key to Gore’s recount drive. The vice president had picked up only a handful of votes with one-fifth of the precincts counted, not nearly enough to overtake Bush, according to senior Democrats. Officials there are not considering any ballots with dimpled chads or with chads detached at one corer. 

Party lawyer Dennis Newman, overseeing the Palm Beach recount for Gore, said there were 557 “dimpled” ballots for Gore and 260 for Bush that hadn’t been counted as officials completed work on 176 of the counties 531 precincts. Those figures were not disputed by senior GOP officials. 

Democratic sources say they believe there may be hundreds more dimpled ballots in Palm Beach County once all the votes are reviewed, and Bush’s team doesn’t disagree. Democrats are asking a local court to force the canvassing board to apply a broader standard for accepting votes. 

The Associated Press 

Al Gore’s ballot-by-ballot fight for the White House was given new life Tuesday night, when the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the “will of the people” demanded that manual recounts be added in the state’s election totals. Their work approved, weary election officials plowed through ballots into the night. 

“An accurate vote count is one of the essential foundations of our democracy,” the seven justices said. 

The unanimous decision came as election workers in three counties continued their counting of 1.5 million ballots, now facing a Sunday deadline to complete their task. 

“Twenty five years ago this court commented that the will of the people, not the hyper-technical reliance upon statutory provisions, should be our guiding principle in elections,” read the court ruling. 

Bush holds a 930-vote lead in the official, but uncertified vote tallies from Election Day, with overseas absentee ballots included. Gore has slowly been eating into that lead in recent days as recounts have proceeded at his urging in three Democratic counties. 

“I think we’ll be able to meet the deadline,” said Circuit Judge Charles Burton, head of the Palm Beach elections board. Televisions in the West Palm Beach counting room showed the Supreme Court spokesman releasing the decision, but the audio was turned off. Workers continued to hand count the ballots. 

It was unclear whether the ruling set standards for country election officials to determine the validity of ballots – a key issue as Gore scrambles for each and every vote. Democrats welcomed the decision, but privately worried that Republicans would slow down the recount process to make it difficult for Gore to overtake Bush before the deadline. 

“We view tonight ruling in the Florida Supreme Court as a victory for the people,” said Gore spokesman Chris Lehane. “The hand counts will go forward and the will of the people will be reflected accurately and completely.” 

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III was expected to respond for Bush, who was in Texas when the ruling was handed down. Gore was at his residence in Washington and planned a statement. 

In advance of the ruling, Republican lawyers prepared to take an emergency appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court in case the Florida court rules against them. 

Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican and Bush ally, who had refused to accept the hand counts, was not available for comment. 

Clay Roberts, Republican-appointed director of state Division of Elections and a member of the state canvassing board, said, “Certainly we will follow the orders of the Florida Supreme Court. Of course the Secretary of State is going to abide by the ruling on the highest court of the state. 

“I haven’t read their ruling so I don’t know whether to be disappointed in it or not. It’s really not our concern whether it’s a victory for Al Gore or George Bush. The secretary of state was presented with a statute that had some conflict and she interpreted it to the best of her ability according to the law,” he said. 

Gore had picked up 266 votes in recounts by late Tuesday, which if approved by the courts and added to official state totals would shave Bush’s lead to 664 votes out of 6 million cast. Bush has held his own in at least one of the counties, raising fears among Democrats that they will not overtake the Texas governor unless every possible ballot is counted. 

Democrats want three county canvassing boards to count hundreds of punch-card ballots with no holes poked out for the presidential race, giving Gore or Bush a vote when an indentation is found next to their name. With the Texas Republican clinging to a 930-vote lead, the vice president’s advisers said they almost certainly can’t win Florida and the White House unless county officials discern the intent of voters whose ballots were not properly punched. 

In Broward County, where up to 2,000 questionable ballots were set aside for review later, officials asked the Supreme Court to set a uniform standard for validating ballots. “It is imperative that it be resolved immediately,” the brief said. 

Both sides acknowledged Tuesday that Gore stands to pick up hundreds of votes — perhaps as many as 1,500 with the most liberal approval standards. The three counties conducting recounts are predominantly Democratic, and voters from Gore’s party historically cast more faulty ballots than their GOP counterparts. 

Republicans want the manual recounts stopped and, if not, they fear a broad standard for reviewing the ballots will tilt the race to Gore. Bush’s team has an ace in the hole: Hundreds of absentee ballots from military outposts that were rejected on technicalities. 

A senior Bush adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in advance of the ruling that Republicans were likely to sue to reinstate rejected absentee ballots from military outposts if the Supreme Court allows recounts to go forward. Democrats waged a county-by-county campaign to toss out the absentee votes, a majority of which were Republican, but rolled back on their objections to the military ballots after coming under heavy criticism. 

In recounting rooms across the southeast coast of Florida, the procedure varied little Tuesday: Gore ballots went in one pile; Bush ballots in another; questionable ballots, including some with dimples, in yet a third. 

Officials on both sides said that absent a court ruling, the questionable ballots may yet settle the nation’s presidential election — hundreds of cardboard punchcards, puzzled over by officials on three county canvassing boards. 

While awaiting word on the fate of their recounts, local officials have set their own often-shifting standards. 

In the state’s largest county, Miami-Dade, election officials are following the guidance of Gore’s allies and assigning votes whenever a voter’s intent could be determined by an indentation on the ballot. With a small fraction of the precincts counted, both sides said Gore was on pace to pick up about 500 votes by the time counting ends, about Dec. 1. 

A circuit judge rejected GOP requests to set standards in Miami-Dade for ballot review and search garbage cans for chads — scraps of paper that are dislodged when a ballot is punched. “I’m not going to manage the minutiae of each ballot,” Circuit Judge David Tobin said. 

Tempers flared in the vote-counting rooms. Republican observer Grant Lally asked to have Ivy Korman, the administrator of the elections department, removed from the counting room. 

“She’s been hostile,” he told elections supervisor Lawrence King. “She snapped at me at lunch.” 

“I have a one-hour lunch break. That was it,” Korman replied. “I ignored him and read my newspaper.” 

Up the coast in Broward County, all ballots with dimpled chads or just one corner of the chad detached are set aside to be reviewed by the canvassing board after all the other ballots are counted. 

Officials finished counting ballots that were not in dispute Tuesday night, and Gore had gained 118 votes on Bush. Senior Republicans and Democrats alike said Gore could net another 500 or so votes in Broward County alone if the dimpled ballots are allowed. 

Circuit Judge Robert Rosenberg, a Republican with Democratic ties, was named to the three-person county elections board to replace Jane Carroll, who abruptly quit Monday. 

Further up the coast, Palm Beach County is the key to Gore’s recount drive. The vice president had picked up only a handful of votes with one-fifth of the precincts counted, not nearly enough to overtake Bush, according to senior Democrats. Officials there are not considering any ballots with dimpled chads or with chads detached at one corer. 

Party lawyer Dennis Newman, overseeing the Palm Beach recount for Gore, said there were 557 “dimpled” ballots for Gore and 260 for Bush that hadn’t been counted as officials completed work on 176 of the counties 531 precincts. Those figures were not disputed by senior GOP officials. 

Democratic sources say they believe there may be hundreds more dimpled ballots in Palm Beach County once all the votes are reviewed, and Bush’s team doesn’t disagree. Democrats are asking a local court to force the canvassing board to apply a broader standard for accepting votes. 

º 

AT A GLANCE 

COUNTING 

• Miami-Dade County: With 135 of 614 precincts recounted through Tuesday, Al Gore had gained 157 votes over last week’s official totals. 

• Broward County: With all the 609 precincts recounted plus more than 11,700 absentee ballots, Gore had gained 106 votes. About 38,000 absentee ballots and up to 2,000 disputed ballots remain to be reviewed. 

• Palm Beach County: With 103 of 531 precincts recounted by hand, Gore had gained three votes. The county did not release results from another 384 already counted. On Tuesday alone, 1,979 ballots were set aside as questionable. 

COURTS 

• Al Gore’s presidential hopes stay alive. The Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the manual recounts in three counties can continue through Sunday or Monday. The court said that, in this disputed election, the most important issue is giving people a chance to vote. Gore now needs to find 930 votes in the recounts to wipe out the lead held by Republican George W. Bush to win Florida and the presidency. 

UPCOMING 

• A hearing is set for Wednesday in Palm Beach County on a Democratic motion to force the canvassing board to consider dimpled chads. 

One of the Bay area's most precious commodities – parking – is fast fading at Oakland International Airport this holiday season. 

But for the time being, spaces are still available, said airport duty supervisor Carolyn Anderson. 

“We still have quite a bit of parking left in our parking lot,'' she said. “Right now we still have a quarter of the space in our overflow.”  

She also warned, however, “Tomorrow, the space is gonna dwindle fast.”  

As of late afternoon Tuesday, the airport parking lot had 522 spaces available in its short-term section, 866 in its long-term section, and 747 in the economy section, Anderson said. 

“I’m sure all of this will change by noontime tomorrow,” she said.  

That’s when the real crunch begins, as the Thanksgiving celebrants begin their annual migration.

The most powerful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in the country to be devoted solely to basic research on the brain was unveiled Monday at the University of California, Berkeley.  

The new $5 million brain imaging center launches an era of extraordinary neuroscience research at UC Berkeley. It brings together scientists from many disciplines – physics, chemistry, biology, psychology and computer sciences – to study the living brain with this state-of-the-art research tool. 

The MRI scanner will be officially launched today as part of the Henry H. Wheeler Jr. Brain Imaging Center, where the14-ton scanner, manufactured by Varian, Inc., of Palo Alto, was installed earlier this year. Inauguration of the center moves forward UC Berkeley's Health Sciences Initiative, a commitment to deploy the campus's rich intellectual resources across disciplines to solve problems of human disease and unlock the mysteries of the mind.  

“We are thrilled to officially welcome this new magnetic imaging scanner and the Henry H. Wheeler Jr. Brain Imaging Center to our campus,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl.  

“Berkeley is proud to lead a new era of neuroscience research and to continue, through this important part of our Health Science Initiative, to study the brain in an unprecedented way and seek solutions to our most pressing health problems,” he said.  

Research using the new scanner will include studies of both normal and neurologically-impaired individuals, as scientists seek to understand the impact of aging on memory and attention, as well as how these functions are disturbed in people with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson's disease, and attention deficit disorder.  

“This is a very special facility, one of the few in the world which is used purely for basic research by neuroscientists, with collaboration from physical and chemical scientists who can push forward the frontiers of technology,” said Corey Goodman, who holds the Evan Rauch Chair of Neuroscience and leads UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, the parent organization of the Brain Imaging Center.  

“We want to integrate the neurosciences from one end to the other, from psychology and behavior to the nuts and bolts of genes and genomes,” said Goodman.  

Roughly three times more powerful than the 1.5 Tesla MRI scanners used for clinical purposes, this research scanner can visualize anatomical detail less than a millimeter in size.  

The smaller machines can visualize detail only in the range of a few millimeters – a major difference in terms of neural activity.  

More importantly, the machine is fast enough to support advanced work with functional MRI (fMRI), in which neuroscientists detect and display brain activity less than a second long.  

“Mental events last only a few milliseconds,” said Mark D’Esposito, M.D., UC Berkeley professor of neuroscience and psychology and director of the new Brain Imaging Center.  

“Only in the last few years have we been capable of capturing this level of brain activity, and each year our methods improve,” said D’Esposito. “The temporal and spatial resolution provided by this machine will give us a unique view of neural activity as it moves across the brain.”  

The non-invasive procedure carries no risk for the individual undergoing a scan.  

Detection of brain activity by the MRI depends on blood flow throughout the three-pound organ. Theoretically, the flow of oxygen-rich blood corresponds to changes in neural activity. Neurons use the oxygen, resulting in hemoglobin changes that are detected as radio signals by the MRI. As it turns out, deoxygenated hemoglobin has slightly different magnetic properties than oxygenated hemoglobin. Radio signals detected by the MRI can then be analyzed by computer and displayed as colored areas of the brain.  

Research already underway at UC Berkeley, using volunteers, has focused on the brain's frontal lobes, the area just behind the forehead that mediates so-called higher cortical functions such as memory, attention and concentration. This area also provides control of visual, spatial and motor activity. (See fMRI scans from a recent experiment) 

D’Esposito, a neurologist and the first of six faculty members to be hired by UC Berkeley’s neuroscience institute, has found that, during memory tasks, the frontal lobes function differently in young people (ages 18-25), compared to older people (ages 60-80).  

“Clearly, short-term memory declines with age, and we see the corresponding changes in brain activity using MRI,” he said. “We can show that the frontal lobes function differently in the two groups during a memory task. Differences in brain activity in the younger and older subjects was limited to one region of the frontal lobes. In this region, older individuals used more of the brain even though they were as accurate as the young during performance of the task.  

“This finding suggests that, for older subjects, using more of the brain in memory tasks has beneficial effects,” said D’Esposito, adding that there was a great deal of variation in performance within the group.  

“Why these differences in brain activity occur between individuals and age groups, and how this affects their performance, are clearly key questions we have to answer,” he said. “This research has only begun.”  

Other kinds of brain research with the MRI will involve subjects with certain kinds of neurological damage who have participated as volunteers in a wide variety of basic studies on visual perception, motor function, memory, language and attention. This research is being carried out by another neurologist, Robert Knight, M.D., a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley.  

Knight, who came to UC Berkeley last year, was the first neurologist in more than a century to be hired by a psychology department anywhere in the nation.  

Goodman, the neuroscience institute director, said the campus’s acquisition of the new MRI scanner “exemplifies Berkeley’s commitment to health science and to integrating basic neuroscience with medical therapy for neurological and psychiatric disorders.” Many of the researchers involved in the new brain research are from the Department of Psychology, in the College of Letters & Science.

Although KPFA did not participate in a recent nationwide boycott of parent company Pacifica News Network, workers there fully support the effort because they say the radio station’s quality is suffering. 

“They’re mainstreaming and decreasing the quality of our programming,” said Matt Martin, KPFA programming coordinator. “They’ve made it difficult to do hiring and they’ve manipulated our resources.” 

Last Thursday, 20 radio stations from as far away as Portland, Maine, boycotted Pacifica programming for what they called, “the on-going crisis,” at the network. 

“[The protest] had a ripple effect that brought this more into the eye of the public,” said Cathy Mielo, one of the protest’s organizers. 

Mielo said Pacifica’s programming quality is much lower after a KPFA lock-out and protest over staffing and control of the station’s editorial content in 1999. KPFA produces shows such as Democracy Now! that offer different viewpoints than traditional mainstream media shows. The shows are broadcast at affiliated stations across the country.  

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! host, did not return a call for comment. 

Martin said the general consensus around the station is that Pacifica is making it hard to put out quality shows. 

“Everyday we live with their poor decisions,” he said.  

The protest had little effect, said Patricia Guadelupe, news director for Pacifica Network News. 

“I haven’t paid any attention to it,” she said. She then referred all calls to Steve Yiasko, national programming director for Pacifica Network News. Yiasko did not return a call for comment. 

In the meantime, Mielo said the affiliated stations are planning additional protests .  

“In each one of these efforts there’s a synergy involved with the other efforts,” she said.  

Even though KPFA reported last week’s protest, Martin said the station did not participate because of network threats. 

“We support it, but it was organized by affiliates and KPFA was not in the discussion. In fact, we didn’t know about it until the Friday before,” he said. “Also we’ve been told that PNN is a must-carry and we’ve had threats. 

“Unfortunately we didn’t do more to show solidarity with the people showing solidarity with us.”

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  

Soulful Improv Games 

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 a “Shamanic Journeying Salon.” 

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541 

Lesbians and Gays Get  

Together 

1:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 22

Tai Chi Chuen with Henry  

Chang 

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Disaster Council Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

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 

Create the City of Your  

Fantasies 

7:30 - 11 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 features DJ’d “Candlelight Massage Circles Salon.”  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

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 

Parks & Recreation Board 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Solid Waste Management  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

Solid Waste Management Center 

1201 Second St.  

Zoning Adjustment Board  

Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

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  

Tai Chi Chih with Ben Levitan  

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Tuesday, Nov. 28

Blood Pressure for Seniors 

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Read a Play Together Salon 

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.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

Lavender Lunch 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd 100 

PSR adjunct faculty member Mark Wilson and PSR alumna Lynice Pinkard will speak on “Heterosexism and Racism.” Sponsored by PSR’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry. Free Call 849-8206 

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 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way (at Derby) 

Thursday, Nov. 30

Pro Arts Juried Show  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m.  

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St.  

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 Williams 

Oakland Museum Trip for Seniors 

(trip on Dec. 8) 

A trip to the Oakland Museum to see the Imperial Palace of China Exhibit. Organized by the North Berkeley Senior Center 

Call Maggie, 644-6107 

Let Your Chi Flow Freely 

6 - 7 p.m.  

University of Creation Spirituality 

2141 Broadway Ave. 

Oakland 

Share peace and tranquillity communally and regain harmony and balance.  

Call Idris Hassan, 835-4827 x31  

Friday, Dec. 1

Spanish Book Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books  

2454 Telegraph Ave.  

A discussion of “Dona Barbara” by the Colombian writer Rumulo Gallegos. New members welcome. The group meets the first Friday of each month.  

Call 601-0454  

Taize Worship Services  

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.  

Loper Chapel  

Dana St. (between Durant & Channing) 

Call 848-3696 

Saturday, Dec. 2

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Storyteller Kellmar draws from her African-American roots with stories that touch the heart and the funnybone. For childen aged 3-7. 

Call 649-3943  

Whymsium Anniversary Party 

7:30 - 11 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 annual party features a talent show, games and a dance.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

Finding a Way In 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Learning Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Offering a safe space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender jews to express personal concerns and to find a place to belong in the Jewish community.  

$5 with pre-registraiton; $7 at door  

845-6420 

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  

Know Your Rights Training 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Copwatch Office  

2022 Blake St.  

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

Call 548-0425 

Publish Your Own Book 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Regent Press 

6020-A Adeline St. 

Mark Weiman of Regen Press presents an overview of the business of book publishing oriented towards the author considering self-publishing.  

$60 per person 

Call Mark Weiman, 547-7602 

Friends of Berkeley Youth Alternatives 

Wine Tasting  

1 - 4 p.m. 

Rosenblum Cellars 

2900 Main St.  

Alameda 

All proceeds benefit the children and families served by Berkeley Youth Alternatives. 

$25 

Call 845-9010 

Sunday Dec. 3

Connecting with Nature 

1 - 3 p.m.  

Rotary Nature Center  

600 Bellevue Ave. (at Perkins) 

Oakland 

Children aged six to twelve, accompanied by a parent, are invited to explore nature with all their senses. Cathy Holt, author of “The Circle of Healing” will lead the event. Free 

Call Stephanie for reservations, 238-3739 

Transcending Limits on Knowledge  

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Lee Nichol on Tarthang Tulku’s “Time, Space, and Knowledge.” Free 

843-6812 

Richmond Holiday Arts Festival 

Noon - 4 p.m. 

Richmond Art Center 

2540 Barret Ave.  

Richmond 

A silent auction, craft sale, gifts and services auction, and hands-on art projects. Proceeds benefit the Richmond Art Center. Free  

620-6772 

Kitka’s “Wintersongs Holiday Tour” 

7 p.m. 

Lake Merritt United Methodist Church 

1330 Lakeshore Ave. 

Oakland 

In it’s first annual winter holiday concert, this women’s vocal ensemble will perform Eastern European seasonal songs.  

$15 - $20 

444-0323 

Winterfest 

Noon - 4 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St.  

Oakland 

A celebration of winter family traditions like music, dance, craft activities, and food. Included in museum admission. 

$6 general, $4 seniors and students with ID 

Call 1-888-OAK-MUSE 

Joe Raskin & David Slusser’s  

Improv Derby 

7:48 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Joe Raskin/George Cremaschi Duo & David Slusser’s Improv Derby. Part of ACME Observatory Contemporary Music Series.  

$8 suggested donation 

Call 444-3595 

Monday, Dec. 4

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Permit Center 

2118 Milvia St.  

First Floor Conference Room 

Youth Commission 

6 p.m. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Center 

1730 Oregon St. 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkely Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Peace and Justice Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Tuesday, Dec. 5

Design the Perfect School  

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  

Jewish Book Club 

7:30 - 9:15 p.m.  

Jewish Learning Center  

1414 Walnut St.  

Join in a discussion of Brian Norton’s “Starting Out in the Evening.” Free 

848-0237 x 127 

Get the Lead Out 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Center 

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Learn how to prevent lead poisoning in your home. Taught by expert staff, this course offers techniques property owners can use to safety paint and remodel their homes.  

Call 567-8280 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Bicyclists should follow rules of the road 

Editor: 

Jonathan Cass, a “Southside cyclist,” in arguing against traffic signals on Durant and Bancroft (“Southside Redevelopment to Focus on Traffic, Housing,” Friday, 11/17) is quoted as saying, “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.” 

It is striking to me as a resident, property owner, and former teacher not unsympathetic to student concerns, that Cass views traffic signals as exclusively designed for automobile traffic and, therefore, unrelated to his cycling on Berkeley’s streets. It helps to explain, but does not excuse, the disregard which cyclists throughout the city show for traffic regulations, and the faith they appear to have that drivers will protect them from injury by being extra alert and obeying those regulations when the cyclists do not.  

Safety is my first concern when I drive, but not just for those on foot or on cycles. I want a city where we all protect each other by obeying traffic signals, signs, crosswalk conventions, and the courteous rules of traffic coexistence. Probably Cass does too, but his apparent assumption that the burden is exclusively on drivers needs to be given some thought.  

Charles Schiller 

Berkeley 

Associated Press homogenizes news coverage 

Editor: 

Eight years ago I made the acquaintance of a French graduate student in journalism who was doing a year of study abroad. One evening I performed the melancholy task of educating him about the nature of American newspapers. I sat him down with copies of the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, and showed him how most of their 'stories' were exactly the same wire service reports, and most of their space was devoted to advertisements. So much for the American free press. He was as amused as I was dismayed. (The situation is quite different in France, where quite a wide spectrum of views are represented in the national press.) 

I am writing to express my dismay at the recent proliferation of “Associated Press” stories in the Daily Planet. These reports (or “press releases,” as they should properly be termed) are to be found in nearly identical form in every ‘major American newspaper’ locally and nationwide. There is absolutely no reason for the Daily Planet to print them too. It is particularly disheartening to witness this incipient transformation when the Daily Planet was beginning to serve a valuable role as a local source of local news and as a forum for local discussion of local issues. Filling this ‘niche,’ you offer an important service to the community. Reprinting press releases you become one more organ of the American un-free press and serve no one. Please reconsider your course of action. 

Jim Powell 

Berkeley

Free speech is alive and well at King Middle School – thanks to a civic minded seventh-grader who has taken on the task of creating the school’s first student-run newspaper. 

The fledgling publication hit the school news stand in early November and appears to be off to a running start. 

“We’ve got some contributors, people from sixth, seventh and eighth grade. We’re also working with King Gay/Straight Alliance and will publish something from them in our next issue,” said creator and Editor-in-Chief Jacob Schneider. 

Schneider, 12, said he first had the idea for the paper last year when he was in sixth grade. 

“I just noticed that we didn’t have a paper, and I thought we should so I decided to act on it,” he said. 

Schneider said he began talking to teachers and school officials to try and generate some interest. He found a staff sponsor, English/history teacher Darren Pagtakhan, and began recruiting fellow students. 

“It took shape reasonably quickly,” Schneider said. “There are a lot of good writers in this school I just had to figure out where they were.” 

The paper has been so popular that it’s staff has swelled from a mere handful of interested students to more than a dozen people in under a month. Schneider has had to act fast naming a copy editor, entertainment editor and fielding suggestions for future stories. 

“I’ve also applied for a grant to get some money to publish our next issue,” Schneider said. “My parents helped get the first issue off the ground, and it was about $500 but we definitely need some alternative to that.” 

Staff writer and recently appointed copy editor Graham Heimley, 14, said one of the biggest hurdles for the new publication was deciding what to call it. 

“We came up with so many names. The Cobra Chronicle, Venom, Viper and a slew of other names relating to snakes like The Hiss and, of course, The Bottomless Pit of Terror so ... we voted and Cobra won,” Heimley said. 

The first issue, which coincided with election week, ran articles explaining the electoral college, the issues and positions of each candidate and a first person piece on volunteering for Ralph Nader as well as a survey, crossword puzzle and comic strip. 

Entertainment editor Ellen Cushing, 12, plans on reviewing “Charlie’s Angels” and the King Middle School Winter Concert for the next issue. 

“I like to write and was really excited because the response from friends has been really good. People didn’t think it was dorky, they liked it,” Cushing said. 

Other pieces slated for the next issue include a poem, brain teaser, an article on irrational things people do to make their bodies look better, how to manage anger and another student comic strip. 

Tonya Tyree, who has a daughter at King Middle School, said she hoped they would continue their good work. 

“[ The new publication] provides a voice for the ideas and thoughts of students,” she said. 

English and History instructor Darren Pagtakhan was named faculty advisor to The Cobra and said the students “literally made it happen.” 

“This is an example of how an idea can really come to fruition,” he said. 

The popular Berkeley Guides – a walking, talking resource for anyone who works, shops or hangs out on Shattuck Avenue – will be asking the City Council for more money tonight. 

At the request of Berkeley Guides’ Executive Director Ove Wittstock, Mayor Shirley Dean will ask the City Council to come up with an additional $42,117 in the midyear budget to maintain existing services and augment guide salaries, which the mayor said is inadequate for the current job market. 

Currently, there are five guides whose pay ranges between $11 for a new guide to $14.50 for a senior supervisor with five years experience. 

The Berkeley Guides, which is managed by the Berkeley Police Department, has been funded at $171,000 since the group was founded in 1995, as part of Measure O, which was designed both to clean up Shattuck Avenue and provide more homeless services. Wittstock said the organization has been spending an average of $3,500 over its budget since July. He is also asking for the increase to become permanent part of the group’s annual budget. Guides work Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 3 p.m. to midnight. If additional funding is not approved, Wittstock said hours might be cut and the level of service may suffer. 

The guides walk along Shattuck between University Avenue and Channing Way offering assistance and information to anyone who needs it. Guides check in with merchants on their route to see if everything is OK. They hand out information booklets to the homeless telling them where they can find a hot meal, clothing and shelter. If someone is in a bad state physically or mentally, they will call the Mobil Crisis Unit to come out and do welfare check. If a traffic jam snarls the downtown area, they do what they can to unsnarl it.  

Sgt. Alec Boga said the guides have become indispensable to downtown. “If you want to know what’s going on, the first person you go to is a Berkeley Guide,” Boga said. “They know everything that’s going on down there.” 

The Downtown Berkeley Association, a merchants organization, strongly supports the guides. DBA Executive Director Deborah Badhia said the guides provide a visible presence on the street and they constantly check in with merchants making them aware of crime suspects in the area or current crime trends.  

“They are always very professional and a very effective and compassionate follow up to whatever happening on the street,” she said. 

The guides don’t carry any weapons and have a strict policy of not getting involved in potentially violent situations. If a situation does appear to be going bad they contact the police on portable radios and try and maintain calm until they arrive. 

Dean said the guides have had a good effect on Shattuck.  

“We’ve had problems with aggressive panhandlers and their presence has given people reassurance and had a calming effect,” she said. 

Wittstock said when hiring guides they look for somebody who is mature and has good public relations skills. He said one of the best guides was a 55-year-old woman who had a good rapport with the Berkeley High School kids who hang out on Shattuck Avenue during lunch and after school.  

“She would just talk to then like she was their grandmother and they loved it,” he said.

The City Council will hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. to hear public comments regarding the city attorney’s opinion that four members of the Zoning Adjustments Board should disqualify themselves certain decisions because of the appearance of a conflict of interest. 

After the public comment portion of the meeting, the City Council will go into closed session to confer with City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque. 

The city attorney wrote the opinion because the ZAB will be hearing several matters specifically related to the proposed synagogue and school the Congregation Beth El wants to build at 1301 Oxford St. The city attorney said the commissioners, who are board members or staff on the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, should disqualify themselves because BAHA wrote a letter critical of the project’s Environmental Impact Report. 

The special meeting was called because Antonio Rossman said in an interview with the Daily Planet that he would sue the city on behalf of the four commissioners if the City Council insists the commissioners disqualify themselves. Rossman, along with other attorneys, will address the City Council during the public comments segment of the meeting. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington has asked that time be allowed for public comment on the issue during the regular City Council meeting. There is a possibility the Council will vote to reject or uphold the city attorney’s opinion afterwards. 

The four commissioners, Becky O’Malley, Lesley Emmington-Jones, Doug Morse and Carrie Olson, have so far refused to step down and said they will take the issue to court if need be. 

The special meeting will be held in the third floor conference room at 1900 Addison St. at 5:30 p.m.  

Regular meeting 

The City Council will vote on a bid from McNamara and Smallman Construction, Inc. to replace or repair 8,330 linear feet of sewer lines in south Berkeley. 

The $807,000 project is part of the city’s long-term, mandated Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Program. The eight streets that will be effected are Carleton, Derby, Ward, Walker, Ellsworth and Dana streets and Walker and Telegraph avenues. If approved, the contractor plans to start work in the area within a month. 

Berkeley is complying with a Regional Quality Control Board Cease and Desist Order to eliminate sewage overflows. The sewers with the project area are old and prone to blockages and over capacity problems. 

The City Council is expected to adopt the first reading of an ordinance repealing the vintage 1950s Municipal Code regulating indoor entertainment and replace it with code. 

The current ordinance is permit oriented and cost applicants up $450 to apply. If awarded a permit the event is subject to a list of regulations such as “no obscene dancing,” and “any place if entertainment in which dancing takes place shall be kept well lighted.” 

Under the new ordinance, the permit process is eliminated and the old regulations are replaced with health and safety requirements such as fire precautions such as emergency access, placement of fire extinguishers and controlling admissions so the occupancy limit is not violated. 

The new regulations will apply to any public event in which more than 150 people are expected to attend. 

The regular City Council meeting will be held 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 Cable B-TV (channel 25).

A Berkeley volunteer organization garnered national attention and was recently bestowed with the Daily Points of Light Award by the Knights of Columbus, the Corporation for National Service and the Points of Light Foundation. 

The volunteers, who have raised more than $3.5 million for the Berkeley Public Library, were recognized for making a commitment to service in their community and for meeting critical needs of children and youth. 

“Two years ago Berkeley had no library foundation,” said Library Foundation Executive Director Glen Gilbert.  

“Now we have a core group of 18  

volunteers with an additional 30 or so part-time helpers.” 

The Berkeley Public Library Foundation members volunteer their time, energy and dollars to ensure that the now closed library will re-open in spring 2000 and have the necessary infrastructure to make it a success. The library, located on the corner of Shattuck and Kittridge streets, has been closed since October 1998. A temporary library was set up around the corner. 

“The plan has been to restore the old library and expand it,” Gilbert said. “Residents approved a $30 million bond measure to do that but it specifically states that those funds cannot be used to furnish the library.” 

The foundation was created to raise money to buy desks, tables, chairs and computer equipment for the new library. 

The new facility, which will be twice as big as the original library, will feature a 150-seat community meeting Room, an expanded children’s room, a teen room, an activity room, 100 new computers and a digital classroom. 

The Points of Light Foundation searches for programs that meet community needs and lead to long-term solutions, effort that build connections between the community and that demonstrate measurable impact, said President and CEO Robert Goodwin. 

“For demonstrating volunteer service that meets the criteria, Berkeley Public Library Foundation is truly deserving of recognition as a Daily Point of Light,” wrote Goodwin in his congratulatory letter. 

The award was presented virtually  

and can be accessed at www.pointsoflight.org/dpol/AwardWinnerShow.cmf/AwardNum=1772. 

In addition to receiving the Daily Points of Light Award, the Library Foundation was also awarded the Kresage Challenge Grant earlier this year and hopes to raise the additional $200,000 needed in order to qualify for the prize – an additional $300,000. 

“We’re getting down to the wire,” Gilbert said. “I sure hope we can make it.” 

The foundation has until December 31, 2000 to raise the necessary money to qualify for the challenge grant, according to Gilbert.  

The Library Foundation can be reached at info@bplf.org or by calling 549-2943.

There are 1.5 million Californians who need mental health services, but aren’t getting treatment, mainly because the state lacks “a clear commitment to provide mental health services to people who need assistance,” according to a report released Monday by a state commission. 

The Little Hoover Commission report examined how the state handles services to the mentally ill and concluded that the state needs to invest more money in helping communities provide housing, employment, counseling and other services to the mentally ill. 

Currently, the state “rations care to only the most severely disabled. And even then we often turn people away because adequate resources have not been budgeted,” said Richard Terzian, chairman of the commission. 

The commission, an independent oversight board made up of elected officials and private citizens, recommended that lawmakers immediately take steps to ensure anyone who needs mental health services gets treated. 

“The question is, are we going to continue to muster the political will to build the system that was promised a generation ago?” said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, the author of several bills on community-based mental health systems. 

“The history is clear. About 30 years ago when the decision was made to close the state hospitals, there was a promise to pay for the community programs where people could live with dignity. It hasn’t been done,” he said. 

Counties are responsible for providing services, but only to the extent that they have the money to pay for it. 

Until the state makes more money available, the public will “continue to be frustrated with a fragmented, crisis-driven system where cost-inefficiencies mount and fewer people recover,” said Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Davis, a former nurse. 

The state should invest more funds in community-based programs that use integrated service programs, the report recommends. Those programs, such as Project HOPE in Sacramento, provide a gateway to every service that the client needs – medical, counseling, drug rehabilitation, housing, food and clothing. 

“The goal is to have these integrated services in every county in California,” Steinberg said. “And not just the homeless. The same model of integrated services and outreach can apply to people who are living with their families.” 

Steinberg says in its first year of operation, Project HOPE and the other pilot programs in Stanislaus and Los Angeles counties cost the state $10 million, but saved $20 million by not taking the mentally ill to jail or to emergency rooms. The state is paying $55 million to expand those programs this year. 

The report also recommends that the governor establish a temporary commission that would conduct a public education campaign to overcome the stigma of mental illness, study what programs work and what is needed, and assess the costs of failing to provide appropriate care. 

Commissioners also suggest that the governor establish the California Council on Offenders with Special Needs, which would investigate approaches to treating the long-term needs of mentally ill prison inmates.

SACRAMENTO — The income of a single parent earning minimum wage falls far short of what’s needed to be self-sufficient in California, according to a report released Monday. 

Even those with jobs well above minimum wage are struggling to provide for their families, said researchers with Californians for Family Economic Self-Sufficiency.  

The report sets a “self-sufficiency standard” for each county, showing the minimum hourly wage needed to pay for the cost of living in California. 

“What the standard tells us is that lower wage jobs – even though well above the minimum wage or the official poverty level – simply do not provide enough for a family’s needs, even at a minimally adequate level,” said Diana Pearce, the report’s author. 

The self-sufficiency report recommends two strategies to close the gap between income levels and what’s needed to make ends meet – raise wages and increase state aid for necessities such as child care and housing. 

The report looked county-by-county at the costs most families have to bear – health care, housing, transportation and child care costs, said Pearce. 

For example, a single parent with two children in Sacramento needs to make about $34,000 a year to make ends meet.  

That’s more than twice the federal poverty level of $14,000 a year for a family of three. 

As expected, the highest hourly wage needed to support a family is in the Silicon Valley.  

A single parent with two children in Santa Clara County needs to earn $25.55 an hour, Pearce estimated. 

Part of the problem is that lawmakers use the federal poverty guidelines when setting policy – a guide that was established in the 1960s and isn’t based on modern costs or situations, such as the increase in single-parent families, researchers said. 

And too often, welfare case workers encourage aid recipients to take the first job offered to them, rather than complete their education or get training that will allow them to get higher paying jobs, said Pearce. 

That’s not news to Domaniquie Toney from Los Angeles, or Leilani Luia of Oakland, two single mothers who spoke at the news conference announcing the report’s release. 

On welfare since she was 15 years old, Toney, a 24-year-old mother of four, said she is now trying to finish high school so she can get a job that pays more than her current position as an office clerk. 

But case workers are pressuring her to take any job, regardless of the salary, instead of going to school, she said. 

“I really think they need to stress education, but they put it on the back burner,” she said. 

Luia, 32, said education is helping her close the gap between living on welfare and working full-time in a job that supports her family by herself.  

Luia, the mother of two, is attending college and plans to become a social worker. 

“Women who have not gotten higher education, but have gone through the programs in the county, have ended up in low-wage jobs that do not allow mobility.  

“They end up staying in poverty and staying in jobs like housekeeping, low-end clerical work like filing and phone operator, and even fast food,” she said. 

The study’s authors say lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis should use the self-sufficiency standard as a guideline to expand programs that help the working poor in California. 

They suggest additional state aid for child care, health care and tax relief – especially for those going from welfare to the job market. 

“A single dollar of support often multiplies itself in benefits to a family,” Pearce said.

LOS ANGELES — In order to rehabilitate thousands of juveniles in the state’s youth prison system, officials need to expand drug treatment, sex offender therapy and counseling programs. 

The suggestions were made by a panel of experts and were included in a 4-inch-thick volume of reform proposals presented last week for the California Youth Authority. 

But the experts say true reform of the 15-prison system, which houses about 7,4000 wards, will take strong leadership and more money. 

“These are some very troubling and troublesome young people and they need resources,” said Barry Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. “They have to be treated.” Krisberg said he believes some of the panel’s suggestions could offer immediate relief for the juveniles. 

Representatives for Robert Presley, secretary of the state Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, and Jerry L. Harper, director of the youth authority, said both men agree with the proposed measures and plan move ahead with implementation as soon as possible. 

After the Los Angeles Times reported several problems within some youth authority facilities last year, Presley convened the panel of some 100 experts, which, in turn, produced the report that became public last week. 

The Times review found that wards sometimes were ordered into special programs, such as drug rehabilitation, and then denied parole when those programs had no vacancies. 

It was also found that nearly 2,000 wards were waiting for drug rehab, while nearly 700 others could not get a bed in the special units for severe psychological disability or sexual deviance. 

The state office of the inspector general also had concerns. It discovered wards in several institutions were subjected to excessive force and received few of the programs they were promised. 

State Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, cheered the reform proposals and said he will push a budget increase for the troubled agency. 

The legislative analyst’s office has suggested that it would take $25 million more a year to provide the special treatment programs that wards have been ordered to enter. 

Gov. Gray Davis vetoed an additional $6.4 million put into this year’s budget for such services, saying that the need for the funds was “unclear.” However, some officials are confident that Davis will back more spending for the reforms in the budget he is expected to announce for the coming year. 

LOS ANGELES — A judge, bailiffs, clerks and lawyers moved out of the courtroom and into a homeless shelter Monday to hold the county’s first “homeless court.” 

In less than an hour, Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan cleared a docket filled with outstanding warrants and nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, all while working from a makeshift bench set up at the Union Rescue Mission downtown. 

“The Superior Court isn’t just here to pound people,” Tynan said before homeless court started. “We’re also here to help people out, especially because they are already helping themselves.” 

Homeless court works by knocking down legal hurdles for those trying to turn their lives around.  

Participants must be enrolled in a rehabilitation program for at least six months before they can apply to the city attorney to have their charges cleared. 

“It is really a blessing in my life,” said Johnnie Briggs, 43, after Tynan cleared seven traffic violations from his record. “It’s removed an obstacle that’s been holding me back. 

Briggs said he was homeless for six years and an alcohol and drug abuser before joining New Directions, a nonprofit organization that provides services for homeless veterans.  

He’s now looking forward to applying for a driver’s license. 

Ted Schirmer, an attorney for New Directions, said Briggs, who works as a hotel handyman, would have faced traffic fines of about $2,000 in regular court. 

“This gives them a real boost and lets them know they’re on the right path,” Schirmer said. 

The homeless court, which cleared 37 cases involving 24 defendants Monday, currently handles only infractions that have occurred in the city. The court, which hopes to operate monthly, will be expanded to outlying areas of Los Angeles County, said Judge Victor E. Chavez, presiding judge of the Superior Court. 

Officials in San Diego have been holding a monthly, mobile homeless court since October 1999. The San Diego homeless court, which grew from a program for military veterans, already has served more than 200 people and cleared more than 500 cases, said Steve Binder, a deputy public defender who founded the homeless court. 

“By going to the people who are in the shelter, you’re serving a stronger sense of justice and bringing order to society,” Binder said. “Instead of pushing the homeless further outside of society, we’re fostering their reintegration back into society.” 

A homeless court also is being considered in San Francisco, but it has been heavily criticized because it does not include defense lawyers, said Adam Arms, a staff attorney for the Coalition on Homelessness.

A transfixed nation turned its eyes to Florida’s Supreme Court, where an army of lawyers for Al Gore and George W. Bush battled Monday over whether the marathon election should drag on. Weary recount workers pecked through ballots in three Democratic-leaning counties, wondering if their labor would be for naught. 

After 13 days of suspended political animation, lawsuits and countersuits, “chads” and “pregnant chads,” the presidential election may come down to this: Seven justices, all appointed by Democratic governors, will decide if the GOP secretary of state can certify Bush’s minuscule lead without accepting votes counted by hand. 

Bush’s official lead stands at 930 votes. Gore picked up 154 votes in manual recounts by late Monday, which if counted would reduce Bush’s margin to 776. Gore advisers were frustrated by their relatively small gains and worried that they would not overtake Bush; Bush’s forces cried foul in the county where the vice president gained the most ground. 

The historic Supreme Court hearing opened with a court marshal bellowing, “God save these United States,” and the justices got right down to business —– peppering lawyers with questions of law in a case riddled with political landmines. 

Chief Justice Charles Wells pressed both sides about how long the state might wait to certify its election results without jeopardizing its 25-vote stake in the Dec. 18 roll call of the Electoral College. His questions sketched a scenario in which recounts might continue, perhaps into December. 

“Tell me when Florida’s electoral vote would be in jeopardy,” Wells said again and again. “Why wouldn’t it be in this unique circumstance a better thing to do to wait” to certify vote totals. 

Justice Barbara Pariente asked whether selective recounts were unfair to voters who live in counties where the ballots were tabulated only once – a point that Bush has made in his legal filings. 

Gore lawyer David Boies said “there is going to have to be a lot of judgment applied by the court” to set uniform standards for approving ballots by hand, but he asked the court to do just that. GOP attorneys had their turn, which they used to suggest that Democrats were twisting Florida’s law for political purposes. 

“Federal law will not allow this court or the Florida legislature to change the rules of the election after the election has taken place,” Bush lawyer Michael Carvin said. 

The proceedings were carried live on the major television networks, providing Americans with a short course in constitutional and election law. 

A number of Bush’s political advisers were unsettled by the Supreme Court’s line of questioning, and feared the justices had laid the groundwork for giving Gore the right to hand counts. Those hand counts would turn the election Gore’s way, one senior Republican fretted; others cautioned against reading too much into the two-hour arguments. 

The GOP legal team expressed private concerns about the reception before the Florida Supreme Court, and pondered options that could include an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if the recounting is permitted to continue. 

Gore’s advisers were hopeful of victory, though pragmatic enough to tell fellow Democrats they likely would urge the vice president to give up without a protracted legal fight if the state Supreme Court rejects manual recounts. 

The court’s decision is expected Tuesday or later. 

Miles from the legal wrangling, hundreds of workers in three Democratic-leaning counties continued manual recounts that have yielded Gore surprisingly few new votes. In one county, at least, Bush appeared to be holding his own. “There’s been very little change,” in the margin between the two men, said Judge Charles Burton, the head of the Palm Beach County canvassing board. 

Down the coast, Broward County elections supervisor Jane Carroll, 70, said the long recount was taking its toll on workers. 

“I feel like I’m incarcerated,” she said, hours before quitting her post, “with lunch and dinner brought into me and six attorneys sitting across from me the entire day.” She was quickly replaced so counting wouldn’t come to a screeching halt when she took her leave. 

The candidates, too, are prisoners to the stalemate in Florida, where the winner gets 25 electoral votes and keys to the White House. Aides said the presidents-in-waiting were anxious, but focused on this critical legal step – with little discussion under way about what might happen if they lose the Supreme Court fight. 

“Feeling great!” the Texas governor told reporters summoned to the Capitol in Austin to watch him head to work. 

Gore opened a satellite address to a family-policy conference with a scripted glibness. “I appreciate this chance to speak to the Florida Supreme Court,” the vice president said. 

The conference was scheduled for the summer, but Gore moved it to avoid conflict with the campaign season. “I just assumed by November 20 the election would be over with,” he said with a forced chuckle. 

Trying to defuse a growing controversy, Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Gore ally, urged counties to reconsider discarded overseas absentee ballots from military personnel and seek a “clarifying opinion” from GOP Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Democrats were criticized over the weekend for aggressively challenging ballots that had no postmarks from military outposts; Butterworth’s opinion sought to throw the dispute to Harris, who has refused to lift the state deadline for accepting Democratic recounts. 

Polls show the public is divided on whether the turmoil in Florida would eventually produce a fair and accurate outcome. Still, more than 80 percent of Americans said they would accept either Gore or Bush as the “legitimate president” in the end. 

The Supreme Court case was focused on Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, where more than 1.5 million votes were cast, a majority by Democrats. Gore needs the Supreme Court to approve the recounts and give county officials wide latitude for determining the intent of voters who cast disputed ballots. 

In Broward County, the board had been setting aside any ballots that did not have two corners poked out of the chad – the scrap of paper in a punch-card ballot. But all three board members agreed Sunday to re-evaluate ballots with a slight indentation, just one corner of the chad poked out or other questionable chads. 

Berkeley police are looking for suspects today in an attempted murder case in which a man was shot twice while he waited for a red light to turn green. 

Lt. Russ Lopes said the victim was driving westbound on Ward Street toward Sacramento Street at about 8:50 a.m. While he was waiting at a red light, another vehicle drove up and a passenger fired four rounds, Lopes said. 

One shot hit the man in the left forearm while another went from his upper back to his chest. Lopes said that none of the bullets struck vital organs and the victim was able to drive himself to Alta Bates Medical Center. He was later taken to the trauma center at Highland Hospital in Oakland, and Lopes said he is in good condition. 

Lopes said the victim did not have time to see what kind of car carried the shooter. 

“He never did see the car,” Lopes said. “It came on him pretty fast, and the impact of the second round threw him upon the steering wheel, and he was pretty much on the floor after that.” 

Lopes said police are working with several witnesses. Police also activated a community alert system, which telephoned residents near the area asking them for information about the incident. 

Now that the TV news vans have left town, now that the shock of a tragic reoccurrence of rape has begun to recede, teachers, police and parents begin the struggle to understand how it happened. 

Police and school officials have said the two incidents of rapes involving one 12-year-old girl and 10 teenage boys at two middle schools were isolated incidents and that there is no need to be concerned about student safety. 

Last Friday, the news broke that a 12-year-old girl had been raped for a second time on Nov. 9, two days after she was transferred to a Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School where she was to start over. The incident occured just 15 days after the girl was raped after school at Willard Middle School. There were hints that the victim may have made herself vulnerable to the attacks, there were calls to jail the teenage suspects and teachers and school officials wrung their hands and talked about more and better sex education programs. 

Another 13-year-old boy was arrested and released to his parents. And the media descended on the town certain there is something uniquely wrong in Berkeley’s schools. 

Professor Thomas Spencer, of San Francisco State University’s Developmental Psychology Department said that in a situation like this you have to be careful before assigning blame. “You can’t point fingers unless you’re willing to look at society at large,” Spencer said. “The poor middle school, all those kids with surging hormones in one building.” 

Spencer said puberty is more difficult now than it was in years past because of a constant bombardment of sex and violence. “How often do you turn on the TV and not see sex, violence or both? It’s permeating our whole society and much of it is focused on young people.” 

He said that TV, music, the Internet and a plethora of corporations use sex and violence to sell and that teenagers are the most susceptible to these images. 

He said blaming the teenagers in this particular incident would not do anyone any good. “The problem is much larger than a single incident,” Spencer said. “To assign blame in one incident would accomplish little because it will only happen again somewhere else.” 

Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes said there is a great deal of “high-hormonal sex play” in schools and that some of the teenagers involved don’t think they did anything wrong. “It becomes a very thin line between sex play and a sex crime,” he said.  

He added such situations can go bad quickly with the right amount of peer pressure, the right kind of victim and an opportunity. 

Stephanie Boris, who has a daughter in junior high school, said she knows about sexual horseplay at the schools but still believes they are fundamentally safe places for students. “I still drive up to the school every morning and drop my daughter off and I wouldn’t do that if I thought It was a dangerous place,” she said.  

Boris said the best place to avoid incidents like this is when children are young. “All these kids are going to get hit with a rush of hormones and the question is how they’re going react,” she said, “and it all depends on the type of example they have when they’re young.”

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.  

Soulful Improv Games 

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 a “Shamanic Journeying Salon.” 

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-554. 

Lesbians and Gay Get-Together 

1:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne,  

644-6107. 

Wednesday, Nov. 22

Tai Chi Chuen with  

Henry Chang 

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107. 

Disaster Council Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

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. 

Create the City of  

Your Fantasies 

7:30 - 11 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 features DJ’d “Candlelight Massage  

Circles Salon.”  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541.  

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. 

Parks & Recreation Board 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way). 

Solid Waste Management  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

Solid Waste Management Center 

1201 Second St.  

Zoning Adjustment Board  

Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor. 

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.  

Tai Chi Chih with Ben Levitan  

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107. 

Tuesday, Nov. 28

Blood Pressure for Seniors 

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107. 

Read a Play Together Salon 

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.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541.  

Lavender Lunch 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd 100 

PSR adjunct faculty member Mark Wilson and PSR alumna Lynice Pinkard will speak on “Heterosexism and Racism.” Sponsored by PSR’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry. Free 

Call 849-8206. 

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. 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way (at Derby). 

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.  

Call 549-2977 for information. 

Media makes its own news — Berkeley Daily Planet included 

Editor: 

Your 11/18-19 issue front page simply looks like that of a scandal sheet — three articles, all on the same subject and no other front-page articles. One of those articles is about newsies' behavior patterns. Must the news media increasingly make their own “news?” Perhaps this Berkeley Daily Planet response is a result of being scooped by the other papers on this middle-school problem. Who needs the rehash? 

As for the subject, the school system obviously acted poorly as to communication to the two schools' pupils' parents, and also it would seem that Willard has not acted alertly enough in detecting mini-gangs within its student body. I wouldn't think that task would be all that difficult at the middle-school level. 

As to all the facts in this series of events, whatever they actually are, related to incidents of certain students individually on their own — such activities arebound to occur to some degree. What is despicable about how our society deals with them is its use of inflationary, ambiguous language, both in the media and in its written laws (often only in the interest of getting a politician elected), and our newspapers steadfastly refuse to cite penal code sections, so that readers can at least try to find out the degree of offenses charged — where these mucked-up terms are used in both places. 

Often the worst abuse in a society is the abuse of language. If the Berkeley Daily Planet wants to write about the media, let it publish this letter. 

Raymond A. Chamberlin 

Berkeley 

It was a fitting end to a disappointing season. 

In the 103rd installment of the Big Game, the Cal Bears came within one or two plays of breaking the Cardinal’s current six-game winning streak. But in the end, the Bears’ inexperience and nervousness shone through, dooming them to yet another near-miss loss. 

After the Bears (3-8, 2-6 Pac-10) failed to score in their opening overtime possession, the Cardinal needed just two plays to find the end zone and end the game. Fullback Casey Moore faked a run up the middle, then broke free and took in a pass from quarterback Randy Fasani without a Cal player in sight, giving the Cardinal (5-6, 4-4) a 36-30 win and tying the longest winning streak in Big Game history. 

“When you go first and don’t score, you probably have to give them no yards or even back them up,” said Cal head coach Tom Holmoe. “It forced us to be in a risky defense, and that showed.” 

The Bears pulled off a remarkable comeback just to get the game into overtime. After making just about every offensive and special teams mistake under the sun through three quarters, Cal’s offense put up 17 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 30-30.  

“To get that close and then have the rug pulled out from under you, that makes the loss even harder,” Holmoe said. “We needed this win bad, and it makes the offseason that much harder.” 

But this was a game characterized by Bear failures far more than Stanford triumphs. 

Although sophomore quarterback Kyle Boller certainly led the way to the Bear futility with four interceptions in the game, he had a lot of help. There was wide receiver Philip Pipersburg fumbling away the ball and Cal’s momentum following the only Stanford turnover of the day; the Cal punt team allowing two blocks that led to 10 Stanford points; the offensive line being called for five false start penalties; and there was safety Dewey Hale, who watched a Stanford receiver run by him on the sideline without trying to push him out of bounds, then lost his coverage on fullback Casey Moore on the final play of the game, the easiest touchdown pass you’ll ever see. 

“You can’t expect to win the game if you turn the ball over five times,” Boller said. 

And despite all those huge mistakes, any one of which could have doomed the Bears, the game went into overtime. That’s pretty much how the entire Cal season has gone: overcoming mistakes to get within inches of a win. If these kids ever learn to cut those mistakes down a bit, they could surprise a lot of folks. But don’t count on it. 

As always, there were plenty of encouraging signs for the Bears. The defense held the Cardinal under 100 total yards until halfway through the fourth quarter. Boller looked comfortable in the pocket, and his main fault on the day was trying to do too much, throwing balls up for grabs that seemed to always come down in red and white gloves. And the one-two punch of tailbacks Saleem Muhammed and Joe Igber kept the Stanford defense on its heels for much of the game. 

But five turnovers and two blocked punts was simply too much for Tom Holmoe’s team to overcome. 

As they have in most games this year, the Bears came out and marched down the field on their opening possession, covering 76 yards in just seven plays. Boller completed all three passes he tried on the drive, and Muhammed pounded the ball into the end zone from one yard out to give the Bears a 7-0 lead. 

“When we go out there like we did on that first drive, then we can’t get anything going later, it’s real frustrating,” Boller said. 

But two three-and-outs later, Stanford safety Colin Branch came around the end to block Nick Harris’ punt and return it 20 yards for a touchdown. Cal tight end Brian Surgener bounced his first two long snaps back to Harris, and this one cost the Bears a touchdown. 

“We went ahead and changed the snapper, and it’s too bad we had to do that in the last game of the season,” Holmoe said. “It’s hard to give away those punt blocks and win the game.” 

Surgener was replaced by defensive tackle Jacob Waasdorp, but that didn’t help later in the half. Waasdorp got the snap to Harris but missed a blocking assignment, allowing Brian Gaffney to come untouched and block the punt, which linebacker Riall Johnson recovered on the Cal nine, and the Cardinal kicked a field goal to add to their lead. 

“We do everything we can during the week to prepare, but it just doesn’t come out on the field,” Harris said. “It’s pretty obvious when someone comes untouched that there’s a breakdown somewhere.” 

Boller looked strong in leading a 10-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a short touchdown pass to tailback Joe Echema at the end of the third quarter. Cal’s defense forced a punt right away, and a personal foul on Moore for hitting returner Jemeel Powell before he caught the ball gave the Bears the ball at the Stanford 37. The offense rode Joe Igber four straight plays, and he broke a draw 27 yards to pay dirt to give the Bears a 20-16 lead. Cal had outgained Stanford 271 yards to 97 at that point, and Stanford’s hopes of a sixth straight win looked bleak. 

But the dormant Stanford offense suddenly came to life, and Fasani drove his team down to the Cal two-yard line for a first-and-goal. Three straight running plays netted no yardage, however, and the Cardinal decided to go for a touchdown rather than settle for a field goal. Fasani found wideout DeRonnie Pitts for the touchdown and the 23-20 lead. The Bears answered with a Mark Jensen 27-yard field goal to tie the score with less than five minutes left. 

But that wouldn’t last long. A short pass from Fasani to Luke Powell turned into a huge play when Cal’s Harold Pearson missed the tackle on Powell. Powell tiptoed down the left sideline, and Hale let him go, thinking he had stepped out of bounds. But 75 yards later and with no whistles behind him, Powell had put the Cardinal back in the lead. 

“Everybody thought he was out,” said Cal’s Andre Carter. “When he kept going, that was a killer.” 

After Boller threw his fourth and final interception of the game, the Bears got the ball back at their own 41 with 1:49 left in regulation. A 15-yard facemask penalty on Stanford’s Matt Leonard moved the ball into Stanford territory. Boller hit freshman wideout Geoff McArthur with a lob over the middle to move the ball inside the 10, and Igber ran a draw into the end zone to tie the score and send the game into overtime. But Jensen missed a 42-yard field goal, and Moore’s catch ended a miserable Cal season. 

“We came back, and they came back. I think we just ran out of time,” Holmoe said.

According to several parents at last week’s community forum held at Willard Middle School, a Berkeley police officer, whose job it was to explain to students the nature and consequences of the recent rape of a 12-year-old girl — used explicit, graphic and inappropriate language in describing the incident. 

The officer was asked to speak at a special assembly held on Wednesday as part of a series of classes and lessons to help educate students on how to resist peer pressure, avoid sexual harassment and resist sexual assault. 

“I feel like the assembly added fuel to the incident,” parent Beverly Dimes said. “I’ve heard from my child and others that the officer used extremely inappropriate language to describe what happened to the girl and I find it unconscionable.”  

Police Captain Robert Miller admitted that inappropriate language had been used and apologized. 

“I am aware that the office in question became too explicit in his explanations and for that reason I apologize. We made a mistake by saying too much. We’re not perfect but we will learn from this process.” 

Several other parents also expressed anger at the city and school district for what they perceive as mismanagement of the incident. 

“Sex and violence are being put together in the minds of our kids not only here but throughout the country. Why after all the workshops the school has provided are kids coming away using foul language and taking sides,” parent Jenny Hearst said. 

Hearst said that her eighth-grade daughter came away from the workshops placing blame on the victim and she asked the school board why. 

“Rape is never okay. No matter what,” she shouted into the microphone as many parents clapped and shouted out. 

School therapist Pat Salaam fielded the question. Salaam explained that many times when children are faced with situations beyond their immediate control they search for a place to lay blame to ease their discomfort. Salaam urged parents to be patient and talk with their children about three things: What they think happened, Why they think it happened and how to prevent it from happening in the future. 

“Once you get past the first two questions you should begin to have a better sense of where exactly your child is coming from and hopefully be able to guide them to proper conclusions.” 

Salaam also noted that school therapists as well as many psychologists in the community have offered their services pro bono to students, parents and teachers to help resolve any tensions or problems related to this incident. 

For more information call Berkeley Mental Health Services at 644-8562 or Berkeley Unified School District at 644-6438.

Students — thin, fat, or neither — found that their life experiences belied Nobel Prize winner James Watson's theories that the thin are unhappy and more ambitious while the fat have more active sexual lives and are generally more content. 

“This guy's full of bullshit. I'm fat, I do have a good sex life, but I'm sure as heck ambitious,” said Cal student Zhaddi, eyes blazing under her black hat. 

Tall, thin Adam Windham, the angular man standing next to her, added, “She's my partner, so I'm going to have to support the sex life thing, but she's more ambitious than I am.” 

Watson, who won the Nobel for discovering DNA, made his comments last month when he gave a guest lecture at a class in Berkeley. 

Sandra, who identified herself as an overweight person and asked that her full name not be used, disagreed with other Watson statements as well. She said that when she was younger she was overweight and promiscuous. But she attributes her sexual activity to self-esteem issues and unhappiness, not to being fatter. 

Growing up half Mexican and half white, Sandra, said she's learned that feelings about weight are culturally specific. The white side of her family values the thin supermodel image; the Mexican half of her family appreciates “curvy,” “buxom” more “sensual” women. 

But, she added, Watson's research reinforces what popular culture tells Americans. “Look at Ally McBeal, she's thin and miserable and her roommate Renee is buxom, gets all the men, and seems quite pleased with herself,” she said. 

Big girls and little women alike chalked Watson's statements up to ignorance and prejudice-against people of all sizes. 

“As a country we have a tendency to split fat and thin into good and evil in a lot of ways, fat being evil,”said Judy Lightfoot, a marriage and family therapist specializing in issues surrounding weight and acceptance. “It's just another form of bigotry.”  

The thin agreed. 

“I think there's discrimination against people who are really thin,” said Iana Rogers, who works at UC Berkeley in the Writer's Project and has to eat constantly to maintain her 115 pounds. “There's this whole backlash against thin people right now because of supermodels. People feel very entitled to say whatever they think about your body.” 

In college, Rogers' professor assumed she had an eating disorder. “I found it very disrespectful,” she said, adding that the same professor equated mass with strength and theorized that the media idealizes thinness so women will lose weight and become weaker. 

Despite initial hesitation, Watson's credentials convinced some that there must be something to his theories. 

“I think it might be true with ambition, because you're so much more active,” said second-year student Vivian Lu. “I do know when I sit still I tend to eat.” 

Students racked their brains for a logical justification. 

“I have a feeling that if people have a good sex life they are certainly more relaxed and less neurotic,” said Mia Bjork Rimby, a public health student. She clenched her jaw and shook her hands, acting out neurosis as she said, “When you're neurotic you're more ambitious — you get really worked up.” 

Others were nonplussed by the Nobel Laureate. “It just means you can be a yahoo no matter how high your IQ is,” said Bettye Travis, president of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. 

George W. Bush and Al Gore marshaled their legal forces Sunday for a climactic state Supreme Court showdown, with GOP lawyers saying it would be unjust “to keep the state and the nation on hold” during interminable recounts. Democrats said the truth can’t be rushed, as jangled nerves and protests punctuated another painstaking day of south Florida vote-counting. 

With the long-count election stretching into a third agonizing week, the court strategy of both camps reached critical mass: Republicans hope to stop manual recounts that threaten Bush’s 930-vote lead out of 6 million cast; Gore wants the work to grind away, under rules most favorable to Democrats. 

The candidates kept a low profile as their lawyers prepared for a momentous two-hour court hearing Monday. Each went for a jog and to church. 

Calling these “extraordinary times,” Bush’s lawyers argued in court papers that Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris has the authority to certify election results without accepting hand counts. They also said allowing the recounts to continue in selected Democratic-leaning counties would violate the constitutional rights of voters elsewhere. 

“The selective manual recounts authorize county boards to engage in arbitrary and unequal counting of votes, and result in the disparate treatment of Florida voters based solely on where within the state they happen to reside,” Bush argued. 

In a separate brief, Harris tried to distance herself from both Bush and Gore, even as Democrats pointed to her GOP presidential campaigning as a sign of bias. All seven supreme court justices were appointed by Democratic governors. 

“It is clear, that for the Democrats and the Republicans, the object is to win, and that is understandable,” Harris’ brief said. “The stakes are very high.” 

In its paper reply, the Gore team asked the court to set a generous standard for officials to “ascertain the electorate’s will” when they punched ballots in the disputed presidential election. They said local election officials in close cases can “determine the voter’s intent.” 

Twelve days after America voted, the weekend tally of overseas absentee ballots lengthened Bush’s tiny 300-vote lead to a still-minuscule 930. 

With recounts under way in two Democratic-leaning counties and third set to begin, Gore had a net gain of 76 votes, which if allowed would cut Bush’s lead to 854. 

Gore narrowly won the national popular vote and holds a slight edge over Bush in the all-important Electoral College tally, though neither man can reach the required total of 270 electoral votes without Florida’s 25. 

The Texas governor spent the day with his family in Austin, Texas. In church, the pastor said, “We continue our prayers for the political process in this country and for those most closely governors by it. May your patience be their patience.” 

Gore canceled plans to attend a long-scheduled conference in Tennessee, the home state that deserted him for Bush on Election Day. About 100 pro-Bush protesters packed the sidewalks across from his official residence in Washington. “We want Bush!” they shouted. 

The identity of America’s 43rd president rests with the courts and in the ballot-counting rooms of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where more than 1.5 million ballots were cast, a majority from Democrats. 

“It seems to be that they’re doing everything they can to stop the recounting of votes because they’re slightly ahead and they fear that after the recounting they won’t be,” said Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, who conducted a rare tour of all five major news shows Sunday. 

Bush’s camp continued its assault on the Gore-backed recounts, depicting the process as riddled with human error and Democratic bias. “God only knows how many ballots have been altered,” Gov. Marc Racicot said on “Fox News Sunday.” He called the nation’s political standoff “a very tangled web.” 

Gore’s advisers were frustrated Sunday by small recount gains, particularly in Palm Beach County, where the election tempest first began when Democratic voters complained of a confusing ballot. 

The vice president’s team accused the local elections board of imposing a too-strict standard for approving ballots. 

In one Palm Beach precinct, Democrats said Gore picked up 11 votes in a sample recount conducted more than a week ago. When the same precinct was counted Saturday, Gore had lost 10 votes from the first tally. The board had actually counted 202 precincts, but only released totals where there were no disputed ballots. 

In Broward County, Gore’s count by midday Sunday showed a net gain more than 80. More than half the 609 precincts remain to be counted.  

Republicans accused the elections board of bowing to political pressure and reversing a decision to throw out ballots that did not have two corners poked out of the “chad” — the tiny pieces of paper in a punch-card ballot. 

“The Gore campaign now wants to lower the bar because it needs more votes,” said Ed Pozzuoli, chairman of the county GOP.

SAN FRANCISCO – Toxic mold, an unfinished apartment complex and the lure of dot-com dollars are all hampering enrollment efforts at San Francisco State University where students are struggling to find a place to live, college officials said. 

Dozens of students are said to have withdrawn from programs at the university, telling officials that affordable housing is too hard to find. Others are giving up on finding housing close to campus, relegating themselves to long commutes from surrounding communities. 

“If you don’t have car it’s even more stressful,” said broadcasting major Reagan Nolan, who commutes into the city from temporary dormitories on Treasure Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. 

From the island, it takes Nolan an hour to get to campus and just as long to travel home, an exhausting commute says Nolan who often drives. 

“Now I get home, and if I’ve been sitting in traffic for an hour, I have no desire to do anything,” she said. 

The housing crisis started last spring semester, when toxic mold was discovered at a residential building on campus. More than 650 students were forced to evacuate the building and were left scrambling for dwelling alternatives. 

Then came the stalled opening of the Village at Centennial Square on-campus complex. It was to open in late August, but remains closed and 760 beds there are on hold until at least late January. 

Besides the housing crunch, university officials say some students are being lured away to well-paying high-tech jobs in the area, further sapping enrollment numbers. 

“It’s like this roaring economy has contributed to softer enrollment,” said university spokeswoman Ligeia Polidora. “We’ve been expecting something like this. I don’t know if we expected (the enrollment drop) to be quite this large.” 

Enrollment at the university dropped from 27,701 last year to 26,826 this fall, the lowest figure in five years. More than a third of the 23 campuses in the California State University system, contrastingly, are enjoying record enrollments this year. 

The decline is also affecting programs at San Francisco State University such as the dance department. Jerry Duke, chairman of the department, says he’s lost a tenured position and seven classes due to budget cutbacks stemming from low enrollment. 

The housing outlook is bleak for the university, Duke said. “I think it’s a terrible thing. But I don’t know what can be done about it.”

SACRAMENTO – Forty percent of California’s representatives to the Electoral College would alter or even eliminate the 213-year-old institution in which they will serve. 

Electors said in a telephone survey by The Associated Press that they fear the college will choose a president — namely, George W. Bush — who lost the popular vote when they meet Dec. 18. 

Democrat Al Gore was leading in the popular vote Sunday, but Republican Bush had an edge in the Electoral College, with Florida hanging in the balance. If Bush wins, he would become the first man to lose the popular vote but win the presidency in 112 years. 

California awards all of its 54 Electoral College votes to the state’s popular vote winner. Gore led in California Friday with 53.5 percent of the vote, with more than 400,000 absentee ballots still to be counted. 

“I’ve always thought it should be whoever wins the popular vote,” said Cathedral City Councilman Gregory S. Pettis, elector from the 44th Congressional District. 

None of 50 California electors interviewed last week would consider switching their Gore vote, though 31st Congressional District elector William K. Wong of Sacramento joked he might auction his vote on the eBay Web site. 

“Nobody’s offered me an ambassadorship to the Court of St. James, and even that wouldn’t do it,” said Roberts Braden of Chico, the elector from the Second Congressional District. 

Several suggested Bush electors in other states might face pressure to support the popular vote winner when Electoral College representatives gather in each state capitol next month. 

In telephone interviews, 10 California electors favored abolishing the Electoral College; 12 wanted to change it; 18 thought the college should be retained; and 10 weren’t sure. Four electors could not be reached despite repeated attempts since Monday. 

Those who wanted to abolish the college dubbed it an anachronism. 

“It was born during a time when there was a lot of elitism in our country, and there was no faith in the common people to make an informed choice,” said elector Richard Valle of Union City in the 13th Congressional District. 

Others argued the system gives less populous states disproportionate power by awarding each state as many electors as it has U.S. senators and congressmen. 

“It magnifies their influence, and most of the larger states are where you tend to have more minority voters,” said Amy Arambula of Fresno in the 20th Congressional District. 

U.S. senators also used to be selected indirectly, but now American voters directly elect every officeholder except their president, noted R. Stephen Bollinger of Westminster in the 46th Congressional District. 

He and others, however, said they doubt smaller states would ratify a constitutional amendment eliminating the Electoral College. 

Many of the electors who supported changing the system thought California should follow the lead of Maine and Nebraska. They divide Electoral College votes based on which candidate wins a majority in each congressional district. 

Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, on Thursday said he will introduce a bill to do the same in California. 

“That shows the true split of the popular vote,” said Sunil Aghi of Anaheim, founder of the Indo-American Political Foundation and the elector from the Third Congressional District. 

The largest group of electors said the Electoral College has worked for more than 200 years and shouldn’t be changed. 

“If you had it a popular vote, it’s possible for four or five big states to control the election, and that’s not fair,” said Larry Trullinger of Fresno, from the 39th Congressional District. 

Despite weighty questions of the nation’s future, many electors said they are enjoying the newfound notoriety. 

“I’m trying to swing a book deal out of it,” joked C. Craig Roberts of San Diego, the elector from the 49th Congressional District. “It’s the first time in my lifetime that America’s paid as much attention to the Electoral College as it does to the Super Bowl or the World Series.”

A father of one of the boys who allegedly participated in the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl last month spoke out at a community forum held at Willard Middle School Thursday evening. 

The father, who asked that his name be withheld, took the microphone after several parents shouted out that the boys involved should be locked up and the key thrown away. 

“My son is 12-years-old, his life is on the line and due process must be followed,” he shouted back. 

The parent urged the crowd not to pass judgment until all the facts have been presented and said that his son “is not on vacation” as one parent in the crowd suggested. 

“My son has been suspended and out of school for nine days and may not be able to return to school. I assure you he is not on vacation,” he said. 

The father defended his child and explained to the audience that his boy was lured in by curiosity and stayed without doing anything about the incident because of peer pressure. The father also said his son had not been charged with any crime in connection with the incident. 

The father said the boy said that was across the street from the school at a computer store when he noticed a group of boys nearby and that he went to see what was happening. That is when he witnessed the girl in sex acts with some of the boys and saw one of the boys hit the girl. 

“He said ‘Daddy I was scared but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want the other boys to think I was a punk,’” he said. 

The father said that his son did not take part in any of the acts and that he was present for a short period of time. 

“My son has never had sex. He is not lying and I am here to tell you that he deserves a second chance,” he said. 

The fathers emotional speech was met with loud applause from the audience and many parents shook hands with him and offered him words of support as he made his way out of the crowded auditorium. 

Parent Mary Mitchell, whose seventh grade daughter attends Willard, said that the father’s speech came at just the right time. 

“I was really getting a sense that the crowd had taken on a lynch mob mentality and his speech brought us all back into reality,” she said. 

Mitchell also said she feels that kids that young deserve a second chance. 

“His speech really brought some big time reality to the situation and he’s right. We don’t have all the facts,” Mitchell said. 

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, who was among 11 panelists present at the meeting, said that it took a lot of courage for the father to attend the meeting. 

“And he’s right we should reserve judgment until all the facts are in. Believe me, I was a shocked as everyone else by this but I’m reserving judgment until I figure out what happened,” she said. 

Alex Palau, former manager of student services and current principal of Berkeley Alternative High School said the boy is now under a temporary suspension pending expulsion. After 30 days the boy will appear with his parents and an attorney, if they wish, in front of a panel of four school administrators who will hear the facts of the case and determine whether expulsion is necessary. The decision will then be passed up to the school board of directors for final approval. 

“If the boy is expelled it is the districts responsibility to place the boy in another educational institution. That would be Rock La Fleche in Oakland – an alternative school for troubled youth,” Palau said. 

The Willard Middle School Community Forum shed light of several areas that need improvement as outlined by Principal Gail Hojo at the conclusion of Thursday’s forum.  

They include: 

• The school needs to provide more in depth sexual education. That should include human reproduction, STD’s and sexual abuse prevention. 

• The school needs to improve lighting around campus. 

• The school needs to teach sexual education in small groups to create a sense of safety. 

• The school needs to keep the shed locked or remove it from school premises. 

• There needs to be more volunteer training for staff and parents to help deal with crisis. 

• The school gates need to be kept locked. 

• Communication between the school and parents needs to be improved. Parents need to take a more active role in education, and can do so by attending parent, teacher association meetings.

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  

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 

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.  

Call Robert Berend, 527-5332  

Soulful Improv Games 

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 a “Shamanic Journeying Salon.” 

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541 

Lesbians and Gays Get Together 

1:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 22

Tai Chi Chuen  

with Henry Chang 

2 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Disaster Council Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

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 

— Compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

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 

Create the City of Your Fantasies 

7:30 - 11 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 features DJ’d “Candlelight Massage Circles Salon.”  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

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 

Parks & Recreation Board 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Solid Waste Management Commission 

7 p.m. 

Solid Waste Management Center 

1201 Second St.  

Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

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  

Tai Chi Chih with Ben Levitan  

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Tuesday, Nov. 28

Blood Pressure for Seniors 

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Read a Play Together Salon 

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.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 

Call 595-5541  

Lavender Lunch 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd 100 

PSR adjunct faculty member Mark Wilson and PSR alumna Lynice Pinkard will speak on “Heterosexism and Racism.” Sponsored by PSR’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry. Free 

Call 849-8206 

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 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way (at Derby) 

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 

Oakland Museum Trip for Seniors 

(trip on Dec. 8) 

A trip to the Oakland Museum to see the Imperial Palace of China Exhibit. Organized by the North Berkeley Senior Center 

Call Maggie, 644-6107 

Let Your Chi Flow Freely 

6 - 7 p.m.  

University of Creation Spirituality 

2141 Broadway Ave. 

Oakland 

Share peace and tranquillity communally and regain harmony and balance.  

Call Idris Hassan, 835-4827 x31  

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Resident ventures into philanthropy in Berkeley 

In 1994, entrepreneur Michelle McGeoy decided that she wanted to “give something back” after launching her first software company and then selling it for a high profit.  

In the tradition of “venture philanthropy” which has come out of Silicon Valley, McGeoy wanted to use her resources and business skills to better society. 

Her mission became to change the demographic of the high-tech industry.  

She said she remembers when she was taking classes in computer science.  

“I saw how few women there were, and even fewer people of color,” she said.  

She was also concerned with what has since come to be known as the “digital divide,” the gap between computer-savvy people and the often poor or unskilled folks who have no access to computers.  

But she didn’t always know what she was doing. When she first spoke to Berkeley High students about career opportunities in computer science a few years ago, McGeoy remembers, “It was kind of a shock. I was standing there in front of the class and they were yelling and throwing things, paying no attention to me.”  

Suddenly a young woman shouted, “Are you a millionaire?” 

Well, yes, McGeoy admitted – she was.  

Suddenly she had their attention. 

Danielle Delane was among the students in the classroom that day. Prior to that, she had pictured herself going into cosmetology. Instead, she became one of the first youths employed at Access to Software for All People (ASAP), where local teens are paid to learn computer skills such as web and database creation, and then go on to work for actual corporate clients. Today, rather than working as a hairdresser, Delane is employed at Kaiser Permanente. 

ASAP is a unique organization — both a nonprofit and for-profit company under one roof. In its Allston Way basement office, a few blocks from Berkeley High School, local teens are paid to learn computer skills such as web and database creation, and then go on to work for actual corporate clients. ASAP’s customers include the Alameda County public health department, NeoLogic Systems, and the California Symphony. In many cases it is high school students who are actually setting up web sites or maintaining the database. 

“Our whole network systems and management is basically in the hands of 16 year olds,” said Kiarash Afcari, ASAP’s director of social ventures.  

These young computer-savvy folks attract attention. Danielle Delane’s older sister, Denisha, came to work for ASAP three years ago and is currently a marketing associate. While working a second job in Kinko’s express computer services division, she met Oliver X, CEO of the indie music Web site Dork.com. He asked where she’d learned her computer skills, and was so impressed by what he learned about ASAP that this month he is sponsoring Dorkfest, a music festival on November 30 with proceeds to benefit the nonprofit organization. 

ASAP continues to attract bigger and more high-profile clients; Andersen Consulting is discussing possible joint ventures, and ASAP is growing with increased financial support from both corporate and government sources. This year it is California’s sole recipient of an Americorps grant, for nearly half a million dollars. That money will help launch a training program in which young people ages 18 to 24 are trained in computer skills and then take their know-how into local schools and nonprofits. 

All along, McGeoy’s hope has been to establish a program that could be replicated on a national level. She thinks the Americorps grant will help boost ASAP’s visibility. At the same time, she notes, the organization is experiencing an explosion of growth. “It’s scary, and it’s also exciting,” she said, of the program’s need to maintain a balance between its nonprofit mission and the need to run an efficient and profitable business.  

But she’s pleased with the success they’ve had so far.  

“I think the core difference [between ASAP and similar youth programs] is that the kids walk in and from day one they get a paycheck,” she said. “When you give them a job, and respect, you see them really come into their own.” 

The young people who come to ASAP’s office on Allston Way every day after school show satisfaction with the setup. Instead of having to divide their time between a paying job, skills training, and socializing with friends, they can get it all here in one place. 

“I like the atmosphere – it’s strict, but fun,” said Berkeley High School junior Jennifer Aquino, as she took a break from entering data for a local bank. Aquino came to ASAP through YouthWorks, the state job placement program.  

In the past seven months, she said, “I’ve learned HTML, how to do a web site, and how to make a database. I didn’t have any interest in computers when I came here, but now I love it more and more – I can’t get away from it!” 

Jasmine Jackson, also a BHS junior, also came to ASAP through Youth Works. She said her typing speed has improved, and she has learned numerous applications – Word, Access, and DreamWeaver among them. She’s been with the program for just over a year and is the project manager for several databases. Recently she was named “Employee of the Month.”  

Her take on ASAP? 

“It’s fun, it’s laid back,” she said. “It’s training you get paid for, and it’s so convenient – right by Berkeley High!” 

While most of the training is in software, some students have found their niche in hardware. Daniel Tompos, a BHS senior, is the chief authority on maintenance and repairs around here. Sporting a South Park T-shirt and green hair under his Oakland A’s baseball cap, Tompos is shyly proud of his skills but opens up after some prodding. 

“A while ago there was a network problem,” he said. “The people here spent hours on the phone with tech support and couldn’t get it solved. I came in the next day and fixed it in fifteen minutes.” His ambition is to go into hardware engineering. The real job experience he’s gained during his year with ASAP will definitely look good on his resume. 

“To me, the digital divide is not so much about access,” said Afcari. “But we are giving young people tangible skills. Not all of them are going to go into high tech, but they’ve learned basic skills like using word processors and gathering information from the web. Access to technology is no longer a luxury; it’s sort of a necessity.” 

ASAP can be reached at 540-7457, or on the web at www.asaponline.org. For information on the November 30 Dorkfest, call ASAP or visit www.dork.com.

UC Berkeley needs satellite 

Internet classes 

Editor: 

Since UC Berkeley is about to eat up another hunk of Berkeley (the area around People’s Park and Anna Head School), I should like to make the following suggestion: Satellite campuses connected by the Internet. For example: 

UC Berkeley establishes a campus in Fresno via Internet. To apply, you do what you do in Berkeley; take and pass entrance exams, but stay in Fresno and attend lectures on your TV or laptop. Students could also attend a lecture broadcast on a giant screen on the Fresno State campus and discuss notes with fellow students.  

George Kauffman 

Berkeley 

City attorney should resign 

Editor: 

I am writing regarding Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque’s actions of the past year.  

She has persistently attempted to disqualify elected and appointed city officials from voting on any matter in which they, or any organization they belong to, have any existing opinion or position. 

She has advised city councilmembers not to discuss any matters that may come before the city and she recently, at the directive of deputy director of planning, Vivian Kahn, attempted to disqualify four Landmarks Preservation commissioners from further participation in the Beth El planning process. This was simply because they are members of BAHA, which has expressed concerns about the project.  

This is absolutely absurd. We, as  

voters, need to know the positions and values of those we choose to elect.  

By Albuquerque’s flawed legal interpretation, every United States congressman and senator would have to disqualify him or herself from every single vote related to immigration, education, abortion, defense spending, the environment, and any other issues they have previously spoken to. If they belonged to the Sierra Club, League of Women Voters, or NRA, they could not vote on any issue those groups have taken a position on. 

This is absolutely absurd. We, as voters, need to know the positions and values of those we choose to elect. Anyone involved in the community will have existing opinions on issues. We must trust our elected and appointed officials to act in a reasoned manner, being open to the continuous evolution of their positions as new information becomes available.  

Albuquerque’s actions are an embarrassment to Berkeley and a grave disservice to its citizens. She is interfering with the very core of our democratic process. Berkeley deserves much, much better.  

Albuquerque must tender her immediate resignation, and if she refuses, the city council must take immediate and decisive action to replace her. Enough is enough.  

Benjamin Rodefer 

President 

Better Berkeley Coalition 

An open letter to President  

Bill Clinton 

Editor:  

This is probably my last letter to you, Bill.  

I had hoped to see you, and that you might have seen me, waving my UN flag of course, outside Moscone Center in San Francisco recently. But you apparently sneaked in a back door, disappointing critics and friends alike.  

I was there. One photographer took a picture of me and my faithful two foot by three foot UN flag. A woman described her location over a cell phone as “next to the guy flying a blue and white flag.” I clarified for her that it was a UN flag and that Herbst Hall was where the United Nations charter was signed in 1945. She said something about learning something new every day.  

I also had the satisfaction of handing out some 70 or 80 copies of “What on earth are they talking about?” This is a marvelous pre-election questionnaire put out by Earth Action with help from the Campaign for UN Reform and the Humanitarian Group for Social Development.  

You may remember me as the guy who attended both of your inaugurations, with UN flag flying, standing among the many thousands. I even got a photo of me, with UN flag, and a quote in the SF Examiner.  

When I sent you a two foot by three foot UN flag, which had flown over my house, to reciprocate for my three foot by five foot US flag, which had flown - oh so briefly — over the capitol, I had hoped to hear from you more personally. But it wasn’t to be.  

I had received one of thousands of such US flags sent via congresspersons to deserving citizens. My 30 years delivering mail in Berkeley through various kinds of weather qualified me for such an honor. If you happen to find my gift to you as you pack to move north, you might want to join our small group of US citizens who think it’s really patriotic to fly a UN flag daily. 

On the subject of the United Nations, Bill, I confess to being truly saddened and disappointed with your eight years relating to the only global instrument of peace that we possess. I would grade your effort as between a D+ and a D-.  

Not only did you truly mount your “bully pulpit” and plead with the American public to demand prompt payment of all our UN financial obligations past, present, and future, but you did not once lend your considerable intelligence, education and energy to getting the US to rejoin the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. When you get a chance, in some brief, quiet moment between now and the 2001 inauguration, encourage our next president to do better by the UN than you did.  

I hope you find some way to be as helpful to our Earth community as Jimmy Carter did. Maybe you could barnstorm the country, encouraging citizens to join in turning our national focus from wealth and warfare in a second American Century to peace and plenty for all in a first United Nations Century. 

Anyway, God bless you and your family. Any one named Bill can’t be all bad, right?  

The next time you’re in San Francisco, you might want to visit the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial near Moscone Center. One of his thoughts you can read is as follows: “Men for years have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer the choice between violence and non-violence in this world. It’s non-violence or non-existence.”  

Bill Trampleasure 

Berkeley 

Berkeley Repertory Theater opened a strong production Wednesday of Donald Margulies’ odd and disturbing, and sometimes annoying, 2000 Pulitzer Prize winning play “Dinner with Friends.” 

“Dinner” focuses on four mid-life upper middle class suburban Connecticut friends – two married couples – who have known each other for many years. 

The friends’ world is thrown off kilter when it is revealed that one of the men has begun an affair, and that he and his wife plan to divorce. 

The play moves through seven scenes, running forward and backward in time, to examine the circumstances around this shocking turn of events. In the aftermath of the divorce, the shared lives of these two couples – who vacation together, raise kids together and weekend together – lose their structure and foundation. 

When all the play’s issues are boiled down, “Dinner with Friends” is ultimately about the conflicts in mid-life between the comforts and inertia of a conjugal pairing vs. the lure, excitement, romance and sex of a more scintillating new relationship. 

The divorcing husband and wife who venture out into new relationships become reawakened in their lives – enthused, youthful, stimulated and fulfilled – to the anxious uncertainty of their friends watching this transformation. 

The play’s big negative is the banality of these people. Largely, all four are nondescript vanilla characters, without much in the way of distinguishing characteristics. 

Initially, they come off as preposterous phonies – whining narcissistic yuppies who get together at dinner and brag about food recipes because they basically have nothing else to say. 

They seem like a quartet of types, more than flesh and blood people. The husbands are self-pitying and emotionally stunted. The wives are sexually unadventuresome. 

It is a present day version of the world of John O’Hara or John Cheever, but without distinctive markings to the characters. 

Having said that, the issue they struggle with is an interesting one that many people face, and the playwright has mustered enough skill to put the story through some twists and turns, and to create reversals of expectation. So although the characters’ narcissism is initially annoying, as the play progressed I was pulled into the story. 

Among the show’s highlights is annoying philanderer Tom (Bill Geisslinger) unsuccessfully pleading his case for new love early on to friends Karen (Lauren Lane) and Gabe (Dan Hiatt). 

Another strong scene is the fight between Tom and estranged wife Beth (Lorri Holt), in which the conflicted couple expresses the feelings they’ve held back, and this leads to love-making. 

“Dinner with Friends” is the sort of bland script in which it’s as much up to the actors as the playwright to create the characters, and Berkeley Rep’s cast of four does a good job of this under Richard Seyd’s careful direction. 

Long-time Berkeley actress Holt’s eccentric divorcing Beth is some of her best work.  

As her husband Tom, Geisslinger is aggressive, annoying and ultimately sympathetic. 

The other couple is less distinctly defined. Friend Karen is played by Lauren Lane, best known for her role as C.C. Babcock on television’s “The Nanny.” 

The Berkeley Rep’s design team does sharp work. John Iacovelli, for five seasons production designer of television's “Babylon 5,” has created seven different striking sets for seven scenes. Six of them are domestic nooks, and one is a New York bar. 

Sound designer Matthew Spiro's contributions include offstage children, a dog, and an automobile. 

Playwright Margulies teaches at Yale School of Drama. “Dinner with Friends” is the third play of his to be staged by Berkeley Rep, who also produced “Sight Unseen” in the 1993-94 season, and “Collected Stories” in the 1998-99 season. 

Although “Dinner with Friends” is a vanilla story about vanilla people with vanilla lives, it reminded me of myself and a lot of other vanilla people I know. 

Ultimately, this is a wistful story of aging in a conjugal relationship, and the gains and losses of identity that individuals experience along the way. 

“Dinner with Friends,” presented by Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison, through Jan. 5. (510) 647-2949. Student/senior half-price RUSH one half-hour before curtain. Advanced sale tickets are $15.99 for anyone under 30 with valid ID.

Carter, Harris among class without win over Stanford 

The football game between Stanford and Cal this Saturday will be the 103rd installment of the Big Game. But you can bet that the Cal seniors on the team only care about the last three. 

Stanford has beaten the Bears five straight times, meaning no one on the Cal roster has beaten Stanford. Neither has head coach Tom Holmoe, who came to Cal in 1996. In fact, not a single coach on the current staff was around in 1994, the last time the Bears won the Big Game. 

But for the 16 seniors on the squad, this is their last chance. The coaches will probably be back next year, but players like Andre Carter, Nick Harris and Chidi Iwuoma won’t. 

“For us seniors, there’s no coming back,” Iwouma said. “This is the last big game we’ll play in, ever. So we’ve got to leave everything on the field.” 

Iwouma, like many Cal players, is from southern California, and came to Cal without a real understanding of the passion that rests on the Big Game every year.  

“After the game my redshirt year, it really sunk in how important this game is to everyone connected to it,” he said. “Now that I’m a die-hard Bear, I definitely have more sense of the impact the game has.” 

The younger players on the team feel the urgency of the seniors, and they want to send them out on a winning note. 

“It would be great for our seniors to go out with a win,” said sophomore quarterback Kyle Boller, another southern California guy. “I feel we owe it to our seniors to get them a win. If I was a senior going out without a win, I’d be pretty upset.” 

But Stanford senior Emory Brock, whose class could finish without losing to Cal, said both teams have a lot on the line. 

“People will always remember you for your last game, and that’s what you’ll always remember,” the running back said. “It’s important for anyone to go out on a winning note, whether you’ve won before or not.” 

Both Holmoe and Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham said the Big Game is like no other matchup they’ve ever seen. 

“It just makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up,” Willingham said. “It generates a lot of excitement, and you keep reference to it all throughout the year.” 

“We’re really fortunate to be part of something that’s so special to so many people,” Holmoe said. “Your pride gets bare and exposed, and it means more to me than any other game we play.” 

Boller will have a huge impact on whether Carter and the other seniors get one last great memory. After missing last year’s Big Game with a shoulder injury, Boller is the key to the Cal offense. If he plays well, the offense should roll over the porous Stanford defense that gave up more than 30 points four times this season. 

Holmoe said his quarterback has to be careful not to get too overworked in the buildup to the final game of the year. 

“He gets really amped up for games, sometimes a little too much,” Holmoe said. “He just has to find that spot without going past it.” 

Stanford’s quarterback situation is more fluid. Starter Randy Fasani has been hampered all season with a knee injury, and now has picked up a case of turf toe. He will start the game, but freshman Chris Lewis will be ready if he goes down as he has several times this season. The present different problems for the Cal defense: Fasani is a traditional drop-back quarterback, while Lewis is more mobile and elusive. 

Cal linebacker Scott Fujita said the Bears are preparing for both quarterbacks. 

“It’s actually a lot like when we prepared for Washington, but that was only one guy, Marques Tuiasosopo,” he said. “We’ll have to prepare for a drop-back quarterback, but also for a guy who can scramble and run with the ball. Those are the elements we have to be ready for.” 

All strategy aside, Willingham has a very simple reason for his team’s five straight victories over their hated rival. 

“We’ve been lucky,” Willingham said. “You have to have the breaks come at the right time, and the ball has bounced our way.” 

Holmoe said his seniors don’t care about luck, they want to win their last game. 

“It means everything to them. They haven’t been to a bowl game, and the highest prize they can go for is to win the Axe back.”

Berkeley police and school officials have confirmed they are investigating a second allegation of rape involving the same 12-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by nine boys at and around a junior high school. 

Now, police are advising the school district to not allow the girl back into the school system. “If she is going to be protected there only two things you can do, home school or have somebody with her constantly anytime she leaves home,” said Berkeley police spokesperson Lt. Russell Lopes. 

Lopes said after the first rape, the victim was transferred from Willard Junior High School to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School where she was raped again on Nov. 9, two days after her arrival. 

“She was walking around the track area when the suspect approached her and she agreed to go with him to a secluded area where she was raped,” Lopes said. He said the secluded area is well known to students who want to avoid supervision. 

The victim reported the crime immediately to school officials and the 13-year-old suspect was taken into police custody and then released to his parents. He has also been indefinitely suspended. 

Three of the suspects in the first incident have been charged with 34 total counts — most of which are felonies. The suspects are still in custody. Four others were released to their parents and two are still being sought by police. All the suspects who attended Willard were suspended. 

At a press conference yesterday, Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said that despite a second incident at a different school, police and school officials have assured him there is no a public safety issue.  

He said the two incidents are isolated and other than an alleged incident in 1990 there has never been a rape in any of Berkeley’s schools.  

“Other students are not at risk,” McLaughlin said. “If they were we would be taking different steps.” 

School and police official said they are not investigating any similar cases.  

McLaughlin said student safety is a top priority and school employees are being questioned about the two incidents to see if there’s anything the school system can do to better protect all students.  

McLaughlin refused to talk specifically about the incidents.  

He did say the victim is not developmentally disabled as was earlier reported. “She does well at some classes and poorly at others just like most kids in junior high,” McLaughlin said. “She is qualified to attend Willard and King.” 

Lopes said there is some question about whether the victim is developmentally or learning disabled but he described her as “exceptionally vulnerable.”  

“There’s some type of mental capacity that allows her to be duped into these situations,” Lopes said. “She makes the same mistakes over and over again.” 

Lopes said it was unknown if the King suspect knows the suspects of the prior incident. However, he did say that most King students knew who the girl was and what had occurred on the Willard campus. 

After the initial incident at Willard on Oct. 25, it took school officials two weeks to notify parents of the alleged assault by a note sent home with students. Parents were outraged at the length of time it took and that the note was vague. 

McLaughlin said the important thing is parents were notified and he doesn’t anticipate making any changes to how schools communicate such incidents to parents.

Among the luminaries of French Nouvelle Vague-era film makers that buffs can instantly recite – Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol – there were many less popular artists informing that heady time.  

Jean Eustache is one such figure, whose work is getting a rare American retrospective at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive in the next three Saturdays. 

To even the most fervent American fan of French film, Eustache may have seemed like a one-hit wonder, his claim to fame being his 1973 “La Maman et la putain (The Mother and the Whore)” screening Nov. 25.  

Very few films of his were ever printed with English subtitles, which may be one reason for his obscurity. Another may be his films are notoriously “difficult.” 

“The reaction was really controversial. Some people hate his stuff. (They said) this stuff is ridiculous, it’s trash, it makes no sense.” said Professor Emeritus Bertrand Augst at UC Berkeley. “And other people said, ‘“The Mother and the Whore” is the greatest French film of the ’70s.’ ” 

Or more precisely, “ ‘The Mother and the Whore’ stands as the most insightful, ironic inscription of how post- 1968 gender and sexual relations were working out in Paris in the early 1970s,” Lisa Katzman wrote in the March 1999 issue of Film Comment magazine. 

A duality exists even in Eustache’s own explanations of his work.  

The filmmaker – who committed suicide in 1981 at the age of 43 – had visited the Pacific Film Archive in 1975 with a print of his “Mes petites amoureuses (My Little Loves)” that screens Nov. 18.  

He said in an interview at the time “it is necessary to render one’s personality akin to a mirror in such a way that reality reflects itself in it.”  

And later, in speaking about his film’s relationship to its audience, “It is my most difficult task to keep the spectator in his place, to make sure that he has nothing to do with the people in the film.” 

His admitted distance from the characters in his films is one reason many people don’t have as warm feelings for Eustache as, say, Truffaut and his Antoine Doinel.  

But like the influential Robert Bresson – to whom Eustache is often compared – the meticulously calculated distancing is meant to examine a metaphysical plane.  

And that plane is rooted in the physical, via a slaughtered pig (“Le Cochon”) or a toilet peephole (“Une sale Histoire”) or a Bosch painting (“Le Jardin des delices de Jerome Bosch”), all screening Dec. 2.  

“In almost all my films, my characters are socially very low, which enables the metaphysical problem to pass through the social problems of poverty and misery. They are intricately enmeshed,” Eustache again, speaking with Dan Yakir in 1977. 

His conceptual rigor is matched by his technical virtuosity.  

Particularly with sound, and making “the ears see.”  

“There is this façade of neutrality and distance and non-involvement,” said Professor Augst, "and at the same time there is this extremely feverish manipulation of the medium. There is constantly play with ideas of how to connect some sounds with other sounds.” 

Seeking the motivation for Eustache's formal discipline and choice of subjects, some critics look to Eustache's proletariat background. He came to Paris from a small village in southwestern  

France named Pessac, and, with little formal education, voraciously taught himself the art of film at the two pillars of New Wave cinema: screenings at Cinematheque Francais and heated debates at the magazine Cahiers du cinema. 

Writing in the September 2000 issue of Film Comment, Luc Moullet – himself a minor New Wave filmmaker and critic – suggested Eustache’s humble beginnings shaped his cinema sensibilities.  

“His experience of and respect for manual labor served him well when he worked as an editor, on his own films, Rivette's or mine.” 

The proof, whatever can be determined, is in the pudding, and in 1975 Eustache offered his own coda for the work he would leave behind: 

“I don’t claim to have any idea: the only intention of the film is the film itself.”

When Charles Heimler, father of two, dropped his kids off at Martin Luther King Middle School Friday at 8 a.m. he never expected to see what he described as “a total media feeding frenzy.” 

He, of course, knew of the recent rape of a 12-year-old girl at Willard Middle School and said he knew that the same girl had been subsequently transferred to MLK. He even knew, via a school letter sent out on November 15, that the girl had been allegedly sexually assaulted again, this time at MLK. Even so, he and many other parents were caught off guard Friday morning as news of the recent incident led the media to descend on their once quiet neighborhood school. 

“There were television crews and reporters sticking microphones in kids faces and shouting questions. They were on school property and . . . it was chaotic. Vans had satellite hook-ups and dishes up on poles. It was a mess.” 

As a result, Heimler decided to take the day off work and give school security a hand herding the media off school property and getting the students into school safely. 

“We positioned ourselves at all the points of entry and just tried to get the kids in as quick as possible,” he said. 

At noon on Friday, with students protected behind school walls, Heimler was still standing guard and said he planned on spending the day there. 

“I feel that the media has to show some discretion,” Heimler said. “My kids know about the situation and they know how to protect themselves. But, they’re kids and it’s hard for them to resist the cameras and crews. It’s very attractive and distracting.” 

MLK Principal Neil Smith said he and his staff quickly  

preprepared a written statement to be read in every classroom Friday morning explaining why the camera crews and news reporters were there. 

The written explanation said: 

“The news reporters are following up on stories that appeared in local newspapers. The stories said that the police have charged an MLK student with the rape of another student at King. In this case, rape is statutory rape, which means being sexual with someone under the age of 18.  

The incident in the news referred to in Mr. Smith’s letter yesterday: “Last week, two students were engaged in sexual activity in the bushes during lunch time. The staff at king is working with the families of these students and the police to handle this situation appropriately. 

The reporters are here to get more information from students and staff at King. We are forbidding the reporters from being on the school grounds or to question students or staff during the school day. After school is out, no student or staff should feel obligated to talk to the reporters.  

The law says we must protect the rights of any person who is directly involved in the incident. Rape is serious charge, and everyone charged with a crime has a right to privacy.”  

According to the letter sent home with MLK students on November 15, the girl was allegedly involved in “sexual activity” and stated that the faculty and school district were working together to “respond to the emotional effects of the disturbing incidents that occurred.” 

The students will see and discuss Kaiser Permanente’s live theater program, “Nightmare on Puberty Street,” a show that helps enforce students decision making skills, abstinence, resisting peer pressure and parent-teen communication.  

“I sure don’t want to have to talk to my kids about this,” Heimler said. But, if any one should, I guess that would be me.”

A Chinook blessing was given last Thursday at the dining commons of Berkeley’s International House in celebration of Native American Heritage month.  

“We call upon all those who have lived on this earth, our ancestors, and our friends, who dreamed the best for future generations,” the blessing began. “We call upon all that we must hold sacred, the presence and power of the Great Spirit of love and truth, which flows through all the universe to be with us – to teach us and show us the way.” 

November is Native American Heritage month, and the celebration at International House featured dishes from several tribes. Dinner was followed by traditional dances. The kitchen, under the supervision of guest chef Zachary Runningwolf, served Three Sisters buffalo stew, accompanied by Blackfoot beef and berry soup. Pawnee roast prairie chicken was served with Navajo stuffed sweet peppers. Sweet Indian pudding was served as dessert. 

The event, also sponsored by the Intertribal Student Council and UC Berkeley Native American studies, also featured a dance demonstration led by musicians and dancers from Berkeley and other places. There was also an arts and craft exposition at the International House’s Great Hall. 

“Dance is my life, it keeps me grounded,” said Aurora Mamea, a worker at the Native American Health Center in San Francisco. Mamea, who is a Blackfoot, performed a healing dance wearing a “jingle dress,” which carries many shiny metal bells that rattle when in movement. 

The dance goes beyond mere cultural preservation, Mamea said.  

“When we dance, we celebrate for life. We dance for those who can’t. For the elderly, and for our ancestors who have passed away,” she said. 

Dancer Sharilane Suke, a faculty assistant at the Haas school of business, is of mixed Iroquois, Cherokee and Irish heritage. She danced with an eagle feather handed to her by one of the elders of her family, a proof of having overcome severe personal hardship. Suke performed the turtle clan dance. 

“The are three clans in the Iroquois – wolf, bear and turtle,” she said. “But a U.S. government program in the late 1800s separated many families, and almost everybody lost track of their clan.”  

Lawrence Killsback, an environmental science student, is Northern Cheyenne. He wore eagle feathers on his back and head.  

“We’re trying to show that there’s an Native American community in the campus and in the Bay Area,” he said. “We must celebrate our survival. This is specially important in this date, since Thanksgiving, for us, is a day of mourning. We remember the things that have passed since that day.” 

Native Americans still face enormous difficulties in carving themselves a niche in society. According to Killsback, the ban of Affirmative Action has been prejudicial to Indian presence on campus. “Before, there were 30 students. Now there are four,” he said. “And most of those who succeed in higher education go to work for Silicon Valley companies and blend into the mainstream. Few ever go back to their reservations.”

On a topsy-turvy day of law and politics, the Florida Supreme Court froze the state’s presidential tally on Friday, forbidding the secretary of state from certifying results of the marathon vote count just as Republican George W. Bush was advancing his minuscule lead over Al Gore. 

With the presidential race in the balance, a federal appeals court refused to block recounts under way in two heavily Democratic counties while a third county – Miami-Dade, the state’s largest – reversed field and announced it too would begin a recount. 

The dual rulings were a major blow to Bush, his hopes of a quick certification dashed as Gore’s recount campaign grinds away. 

The count of absentee votes from overseas was the final installment in Florida’s routine vote-counting process. With returns from 63 of 67 counties, Bush picked up 894 votes and Gore 542, giving the Republican a 652-vote statewide lead – up from 300 when the day began. 

Cries of foul came from both camps as the overseas ballots were counted. More than a thousand votes were thrown out as officials from both parties analyzed registrations, postmarks and other details. 

“One of the problems with those ballots is it is so difficult under Florida and federal law that you almost have to be a rocket scientist to comply,” said Thomas Spencer, a Miami attorney working for Bush. 

In separate manual recount activities – the subject of frantic court activity – Gore picked up a a net of 41 votes in Broward County while Bush picked up a net of four votes in the closely watched tally in Palm Beach County. All this out of six million votes cast across the state. 

The winner of Florida’s 25 electoral votes will win the White House. In New Mexico, late tallies gave the state and its 5 electoral votes to Gore. He holds a 200,155 vote lead out of the 103 million ballots cast nationwide, and a slender lead in the electoral votes. 

On a day pitted with emotional highs and lows for both campaigns, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected Bush’s request to halt the recounts, returning the matter to Florida courts. 

As aides watched glumly from Texas, Bush adviser James A. Baker III said neither court has yet to address the core of the Bush’s case – that hand counts from selected counties are unfair and expose the election to mistakes and political mischief. “We remain confident ... the supreme court will find the secretary of state properly exercised her discretion” in barring manual recounts, he said. 

Republican operatives were in each of Florida’s 67 counties in case a statewide manual recount was ordered either by the courts or – as a last resort – by Bush himself. 

Bush aides had been working behind the scenes to set up a “victory” statement Saturday, followed by a news conference Sunday – plans that were put on hold by the court setbacks. 

“As we say around the office, the worm turns,” said Gore spokesman Mark Fabiani. “And now the worm is getting dizzy.” 

\Florida’s high court stopped Secretary of State Katherine Harris from certifying the results of the state’s election Saturday at the end of absentee balloting. She planned instead to release an updated count without comment. 

The one-paragraph supreme court ruling blunted a morning order from a trial court judge who upheld Harris’ right to seal the results. 

In its unanimous order, the high court said they wanted to “maintain the status quo” while lawyers made their challenges in the state that will settle the race for the presidency. Harris was told not to act “until further order.” 

In its order denying Bush’s request to halt the county recounts, the circuit court in Atlanta said, “States have the primary authority to determine the manner of appointing presidential electors and to resolve most controversies concerning the appointment of electors.” 

There was no end to the wrangling. 

“There are more attorneys than there are ballots,” said Bob Edwards, chairman of the Republican Executive Committee for Walton County, where five absentee votes were tossed out, including those of four people who had already voted. In Orange County, officials discarded 117 of 147 votes received. 

Democrats protested a number of ballots, saying they were not postmarked as required. A GOP official said Republicans might challenge the discarding of hundreds of ballots, many from military personnel. 

Gore’s presidential dreams rested with the courts and in the ballot-counting rooms of Palm Beach and Broward counties, and now Miami-Dade. Local Democratic allies lobbied county board members to reverse course and approve the recounts in Broward and Palm Beach counties. 

“I want to be clear neither Governor Bush, nor the Florida secretary of state, nor I will be the arbiter of this election,” Gore said shortly after the high court ruling. “This election is a matter that must be decided by the will of the people as expressed under the rule of law.” 

The seven high court justices set a 1 p.m. Monday hearing to consider the validity of ongoing recounts in several counties. The timetable effectively permits manual recounts to continue in the three Democratic-leaning jurisdictions where about 1.5 million ballots of the states 6 million ballots were cast. 

It was another day of tumult and tension for the candidates and their weary workers: a trial court ruling, high-fives in Bush’s camp; a high court ruling, cheers from Gore’s camp; absentee ballots counted, Election Day ballots recounted; a new controversy regarding missing postmarks and a federal court ruling. 

The deep partisan divide, certain to shadow the winner to the White House, was evident in the political makeup of Friday’s key players: Harris is a Republican who campaigned for Bush, and all seven state Supreme Court justices are appointees of Democratic governors. 

“It’s very bitter and highly partisan, and it’s really a tragedy,” said former President Carter, a Democrat who has overseen numerous elections in fledging democracies since leaving the White House. 

Another former president seemed equally philosophical. 

“There is a lesson in this and I would simply say that I think this country is totally resilient, totally strong,” said George Bush, father of the GOP candidate. “Leaving out who wins or loses, this country will be just fine.” 

Harris certified the bulk of Florida’s votes Tuesday, showing Bush with an agonizingly narrow 300-vote lead. That total did not include some 2,500 overseas absentee ballots, which had to be delivered to counties by midnight Friday and their totals reported to Harris by noon Saturday. 

Bush was in Texas, the vice president in Washington as they and their aides rode an emotional rollercoaster. 

Midway through the day, with a favorable lower court ruling in their pocket, the Bush team mulled whether to declare an outright victory Saturday, something it hasn’t been shy about asserting it deserved with every legal or political twist since Election Day. 

“We now look forward to the prompt counting and reporting of the limited number of uncounted overseas absentee ballots so that the process of achieving a final result to the election in Florida is not subject to further delays,” said Baker III, hours before the high court ruling. 

Gore’s team was on the defensive then, with top Gore lawyer Warren Christopher issuing “the plea that I have:” Don’t declare the race over yet. 

“We don’t want to have it come to an end with a rush for judgment that would leave many questions out there,” Christopher said. 

Meeting in Wesley Chapel, Fla., GOP governors offered a standing ovation when they heard of the decision. 

Gore advisers held out hope that the election spectacle could take yet another unpredictable turn in the vice president’s favor. It did. 

Pennsylvania’s Tom Ridge said the room darkened when GOP governors got the news. “They feel a sense of helplessness,” said Ridge. “I want to be hopeful, I want to be optimistic.” 

Advisers said that, with the favorable turn of events, Gore was not considering conceding to Bush. 

They say he is aware, however, that the public’s patience can run out without little warning. Some advisers, though still eager to fight Bush, have told Gore he would be a front-runner in 2004 if he is bows out gracefully. 

Not counting Florida, Gore won 20 states plus the District of Columbia for 267 electoral votes — three shy of the number needed to win the White House. Bush won 29 states for 246 electoral votes, and Florida would put him just over the top. 

LOS ANGELES — The convictions of three officers in the Rampart police corruption trial were placed in jeopardy Friday when an alternate juror came forward to accuse the jury foreman of prejudging the defendants’ guilt before testimony was heard. 

The foreman and another voting member of the jury quickly disputed her allegations and said they stand behind the verdicts. 

The judge ordered more testimony on the issue and defense attorneys said there was a likelihood the first convictions to result from the Rampart scandal will be overturned. 

Alternate juror Wendy Christiansen, 30, who did not participate in deliberations, dropped a bombshell when she told Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor that the man who became jury foreman declared the defendants guilty at the outset of the trial. 

She said that throughout the trial other jurors openly stated they thought the prosecution’s police witnesses were lying when they said they didn’t remember things. And jurors often expressed their dislike for three of the defense attorneys, she said. 

“The very first day we were selected I had lunch with one alternate and juror number three,” she said, referring to Victor Flores, who would be chosen as jury foreman. 

“A comment was made that he believed the defendants were guilty,” she said. 

After that, she said, “Every time we’d come back from being out here (in the courtroom), there were a lot of comments being made about the defense  

attorneys. They didn’t like the defense attorneys. The  

person they did like was  

(Joel) Isaacson.” 

Isaacson’s client, Officer Paul Harper, was acquitted of all charges. 

Jury foreman Flores told KNBC-TV on Friday that he “absolutely” stood by the verdicts and denied concluding the officers were guilty before deliberations. 

“No, I did not say that, that wouldn’t be something I’d even utter, because the law says they’re innocent until proven guilty,” Flores said. 

Ingrid Utke, another voting member of the jury, told The Associated Press that jurors acted appropriately during breaks. 

“We pointedly made sure we never talked about the case,” Utke said. “If someone veered toward that, we’d say, ’Anyone see a movie lately?’ so we wouldn’t talk about it.” 

Utke said she personally found defense attorneys Harland Braun and Barry Levin occasionally condescending. Isaacson, however, was jovial, while defense attorney Paul DePasquale was “respectful and professional.” 

She said their behavior, however, did not influence the jury’s deliberations, because they stuck to reviewing their instructions and the evidence. 

“Whether they like me or not I could care less,” said Levn, who represents Ortiz. “But whether you like an attorney or not you can’t take it out on the client. ... The crux of the judicial system is you’re entitled to 12 unbiased jurors.” 

On Wednesday the jury of seven women and five men convicted Sgt. Brian Liddy, Sgt. Edward Ortiz and Officer Michael Buchanan of conspiracy and other crimes involving the framing of gang members four years ago. 

They were the first members of the now-defunct Rampart station’s gang fighting unit to be tried on charges based on the allegations of ex-Officer Rafael Perez, who traded information for a lenient sentence for stealing cocaine from an evidence locker. 

More than 100 criminal convictions tainted by misconduct have been dismissed. 

Braun said that if the three convicted officers win a new trial, he would file a motion to move it out of central Los Angeles. 

“I question whether as an LAPD officer you can get a fair trial in Los Angeles,” he said. “The jurors come in with an agenda.” 

Braun and Levin said the juror’s statement of a belief in the defendants’ guilt along with discussions of testimony outside court are sufficient to warrant a new trial. 

Jurors were questioned at length during jury selection and on written questionnaires about whether they had preconceived views and all said they were unbiased. Each day, the judge instructed them not to discuss the case with each other until deliberations and then only in their deliberation room. 

The judge ordered the foreman and the other alternate identified by Christiansen to testify Nov. 22. 

Ortiz told reporters: “I was not corrupted. I gave my heart and soul to this city. ... Listening to this juror, I don’t believe we got a fair trial.” 

The judge asked Christiansen not to discuss the case outside court. The alternate, who had a vacation scheduled, asked if she was free to leave the country Saturday. 

“Yes,” said the judge. “We may want to come with you.” 

The University of California has announced it will add a total of 11,000 graduate students to its 10-campus system in an effort to grow the California economy. 

The university plans to add the thousands of students over the next decade and says they will help meet the state's work force needs. 

Senior Vice President C. Judson King said, “As a hightechnology state and innovation leader, California willrely on highly educated workers to provide acompetitive advantage in the global marketplace.” To attract and retain students, the university will increase funding to dedicated research and teaching assistants, increase fee waivers for assistants, and examine other opportunities to augment graduate student financial support. 

Officials say UC graduate enrollment has been “virtually level for decades,” compared with undergraduate enrollment that has doubled during the past 30 years. 

Students at the University of California at Berkeley are testing whether or not humans have the ability to navigate their surroundings without the use of senses like sight and hearing. 

To determine whether humans, like many animals, have the innate ability to navigate using theEarth's magnetic field, subjects are blindfolded andspun in chairs until they are disoriented. They are thenasked to determine directions such as north and south and to locate common landmarks. 

The experiment is part of “Animal Navigation: Which Way is Home?” – a freshman seminar taught byintegrative biology professor Roy Caldwell. 

The trait being tested was suggested by controversial findings from England that suggest people have an inborn ability to navigate. 

Lawyers for confessed Yosemite murderer Cary Stayner are trying to keep sealed court records they say could prejudice his pending trial in connection to three murders. 

At the request of a group of news organizations, including The Associated Press, U.S. District Court Judge Anthony W. Ishii last month ordered that all court documents in the federal case be unsealed, but delayed the release of two key items until Stayner is sentenced Nov. 30 in the slaying of a Yosemite naturalist. 

The court papers in question spell out why prosecutors sought the death penalty for Stayner. Stayner has pleaded guilty to the 1999 killing of Joie Armstrong in exchange for a life sentence. 

The documents, sealed in U.S. District Court in Fresno, had been sealed to protect Stayner’s right to a fair trial.  

With his Sept. 13 guilty plea, however, there was no longer a need to keep the papers secret, the media argued. 

Among papers lawyers are trying to keep sealed is a document prosecutors filed to prove Armstrong was killed in “an especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner,” one of the aggravating factors that support a death sentence. Armstrong, 26, who led children on nature hikes in the park, was decapitated. 

The document also includes portions of a confession Stayner gave to authorities, sources have told The AP. 

Defense lawyers said Friday that releasing the documents and a defense brief opposing the death penalty could jeopardize Stayner’s right to a fair trial in the case of three Yosemite sightseers he is also charged with killing. That case is pending in Mariposa County. 

“This could prejudice jurors in the state case,” said defense attorney Marcia A. Morrissey of Santa Monica. 

The judge is expected to rule on Morrissey’s request before Stayner’s sentencing on Nov. 30. Morrissey has also appealed Ishii’s unsealing order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Stayner is awaiting trial in connection to the February 1999 murders of Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli, 15, and their Argentine friend Silvina Pelosso, 16. 

Last month, the judge said he didn’t have the authority to keep the federal documents sealed after sentencing. Stayner was charged in federal court because Armstrong was killed in a national park. 

The Sund-Pelosso party had been staying at Cedar Lodge, a remote and rustic motel outside the park’s western gate, where Stayner, 39, lived and worked as a handyman. 

Media groups seeking the documents include The AP, The Chronicle Publishing Co., McClatchy Newspapers Inc., the Hearst Corp., and Knight Ridder Inc. 

With President Clinton’s roadless plan nearly final, the administration has one more proposal that could forever leave his imprint on national forests – a rule making it tougher for foresters to add to the 380,000-mile road system in national forests. 

Forest managers would have to conduct an analysis and an environmental study, gain approval from a regional forester and show a compelling need before a new road could be built. The proposed roads rule should become final within a month. 

The roads rule, together with the roadless plan announced last Monday and a Nov. 9 rule that elevates the importance of the environment in forest management, completes Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck’s vision for national forests. 

In his nearly four years as chief, Dombeck has tried to transform the 192 million acres of forests – once valued mostly for their timber, minerals and grazing – into areas cherished for recreation, clean water and old-growth timber. 

“Taken together these three rules ... really do thrust us into the 21st century in how we view national forests,” Dombeck said. “Our priorities have never been clearer.” 

But are the three rules a forest legacy or merely a false start? 

Michael Goergen, director of forest policy for the Society of American Foresters, a foresters’ professional group based in Bethesda, Md., sees the move away from more active management of forests as a recipe for catastrophic fires and bug infestation. 

“It absolutely redefines the Forest Service – the question is whether that’s appropriate,” Goergen said. “The legacy of the Clinton administration is going to be litigation, anger and ultimately poor management decisions.” 

The Nov. 9 rule – the only of the trio that has become final – means that forest managers will be less likely to allow logging, skiing or other activities under forest management plans if they believe those actions will permanently harm the ecosystem. 

The roadless rule, due to become final in mid-December, bans road building and restricts logging and mining in 58.5 million acres – nearly a third of national forests – that are already roadless. 

The roads rule, which applies to all forest lands and overlaps the other two regulations, makes it clear that the agency’s era of road building is over. Environmentalists believe roads increase erosion, disrupt wildlife habitat and make it easier for logging trucks and mining operators to reach public lands. 

“We’ve got 380,000 miles of roads in the national forest system. Seems like that’s almost enough,” Dombeck said. 

The trio of rules – which are being enacted through executive orders, not congressional action – are the first pro-environment national policies to come from the chief’s office in the 100-year history of the Forest Service, said Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, a Eugene, Ore., environmental group. 

The Reagan and Bush administrations thwarted the implementation of the 1976 National Forest Management Act, a law brokered by the late Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, D-Minn., that Stahl calls the last major federal law directing use of national forests. 

“It’s taken a quarter century, but we finally realized Hubert Humphrey’s promise that the national forests are more than just trees – and more than just timber,” Stahl said. 

Chris Wood, Dombeck’s aide, said the drive to more actively protect forest land began more than a decade ago and was driven by public desire. He said the drive will continue for generations to come, regardless of who is president. 

“These changes are less revolutionary than they are evolutionary,” he said. 

But is it too soon to talk of forest legacy? Each of the three rules is – or will be – targeted with lawsuits. 

“Before he (Clinton) can assume the mantel of Theodore Roosevelt, let’s see whether this stuff lasts 100 days or 100 months, let alone a hundred years,” said Mark Rey, an aide to Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. “Unlike Roosevelt, none of this was done with the cooperation of Congress.” 

Critics of the Forest Service rules believe a court will overturn the roadless plan as too broad. They contend the Nov. 9 rule violates a 1960 federal law requiring forests to have multiple uses, including timber harvests and grazing. 

“They’ve set themselves up for a legal fall,” Craig said. 

There is also a chance that George W. Bush would assume the presidency next month with narrow GOP majorities in the House and Senate. 

“The potential for a reversal of the direction that Dombeck has been taking the Forest Service is pretty frightening if Bush is elected,” said Mike Anderson, senior resource analyst of The Wilderness Society in Seattle. 

Bush could use a federal rulemaking, or sign GOP legislation, to limit the reach of one or more of the Dombeck rules, said Doug Crandall, chief of staff for the House forests and forest health subcommittee. 

The GOP does not likely have the votes to scuttle the rules outright, just as Democrats in Congress would not have had the votes to pass legislation to implement the rules, he said. 

Crandall contends that the public’s view of forest policy is sharply divided along the same lines as the electoral map in the recent presidential election. Rural voters who favored Bush want more access and use of forests, while urban voters who backed Vice President Al Gore favor more protective policies. 

Dombeck’s supporters are divided about how successful a Bush administration could be in reversing President Clinton’s forest direction. Some say public opinion and the legal difficulty of enacting new rules will hamper Bush. 

Others disagree. Marty Hayden, legislative director Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., said of the roadless policy: “If we face a Bush administration, this whole thing could be at risk.”  

On the Net: 

Forest Service: http://www.fs.fed.us/ 

ATASCADERO — A nurse who told patients worshipping at a state mental hospital that castration would set them free is being investigated after one patient removed one of his testicles. 

Atascadero State Hospital nurse Hal Tune, who worked with sexually violent predators, delivered the freedom-through-castration sermon on Oct. 28. He is now being investigated for possibly jeopardizing the health of the patients. 

Officials were also investigating whether the unauthorized church message led one of the patients to slice off one of his testicles about a week later, hospital spokeswoman Leslie Malcom said. 

Tune, who said he was not disciplined by hospital authorities but instead chose to retire last week, advocated removal of the testicles as a way to eliminate deviant sexual urges. 

More than a dozen patients walked out in the middle of Tune’s message. 

“Hal said he had a message of hope. I thought the message would be positive. But when he said ’surgical castration,’ the whole place erupted,” patient Rex McCurdy said. 

Tune said he based his speech on an essay he wrote about sexually violent predators.  

The essay “Hope for the SVP” cites biblical fragments, statistics about sex offender recidivism and details about the surgery. 

“You will be released from a sense of guilt of your sexual behavior. Your mind will no longer dwell on it. Imagine the peace of mind, never to be tempted to repeat your crime,” Tune said, reading from the essay he distributed to patients. 

Tune said he spoke to patients on his own time before his shift officially started and that he was not delivering the message in his capacity as a hospital nurse. 

Malcom said Tune wasn’t authorized to talk to patients about castration during the religious service and he didn’t get permission to speak about the controversial subject. 

Tune said from his Morro Bay home that he didn’t think he needed permission and he didn’t think there was anything improper about his lecture. 

“I wanted these folks to have some hope,” Tune said. “This way they will find happiness. That’s how I found happiness.” 

Tune said he was castrated five years ago after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Since the operation, he is no longer having sexual fantasies, he said. 

Patient Steven Cerniglia filed a complaint against Tune on Monday claiming castration recommendations from someone viewed as an authority figure can have tragic results on the mentally ill. 

“He was up there playing God and doctor,” Cerniglia said. 

Some patients claimed Tune’s speech was partially responsible for the actions of a fellow patient who mutilated his genitals with a pen. 

But Douglas Rose, the 28-year-old patient who removed one of his testicles about a week after Tune’s address, denied that the speech had anything to do with his decision to castrate himself. 

“I did it because of deep personal issues,” Rose said, noting he didn’t attend Tune’s church speech and had previously attempted to castrate himself. 

A machine the size of an office copier could one day bring heat and light to thousands of homes in the West at locations so remote they’re out of reach of electrical transmission lines. 

Fuel cells, essentially batteries that don’t go dead, run on oxygen and hydrogen and have the potential to replace wood stoves, noisy generators and kerosene lamps for those living off the grid. 

A half-century ago, the electrification of Washington was so limited that some 80 percent of the state geographically relied on alternative sources of energy, something known as distributed generation, said Greg Smith, vice president of generation for Energy Northwest, which operates the region’s only nuclear power plant, 10 miles north of here. “What goes around comes around,” he says. “The future of electricity, at least for residential customers, may be where we’re going back to.” 

Energy Northwest, a public power consortium of 13 utilities, is participating in a Bonneville Power Administration test of Bend, Ore.-based IdaTech’s fuel cells. 

The Energy Northwest fuel cell has a steady-state capacity of three kilowatts and can handle peak loads of about five kilowatts – the power demand of an average home. 

Fueled with methanol, it is supposed to last indefinitely, although that’s still to be determined. 

The first-generation fuel cell has had some reliability problems with automatic shutdowns, but “it’s very close to being a very practical device,” says Stan Davison, a resource development specialist for Energy Northwest. 

The second generation of fuel cells from IdaTech, a subsidiary of Boise-based Idacorp, are expected to be ready for testing early next year, and BPA has said it will work with utilities to place some in homes. 

At $25,000 each, these machines are not yet priced for most homeowners. But the cost per unit is expected to drop eventually to the $5,000 to $7,000 range. 

BPA, a federal power marketing agency in Portland, Ore., calls these experimental fuel cells “electricity in a box,” a clean, green form of energy with potential for residential and small commercial use. 

“BPA sees the future of generation will probably have a lot of distributed generation,” says Tom Osborn, a mechanical engineer for the agency. 

Survivalists and people with mountain homes aren’t the only likely customers. Fuel cells could provide backup power for farms, small businesses and enterprises such as hospitals, which could be thrown into chaos without electricity. 

In the power generation realm, Osborn compares the fuel cell’s place to that of cellular phones in telecommunications. While just about everyone has a land line telephone, a lot of people use cell phones as well. In China, notably, he says, people who had lived for years without phone lines to their homes went straight to cell service. 

Smith says the green aspect of fuel cells may attract some customers, even at costs 25 percent to 30 percent above big-generation rates. 

The first fuel cell was built in 1839, but serious interest in it as an electricity generator began in the 1960s with NASA’s Apollo space program. 

Fuel cells will probably never be able to make electricity cheaper than large-scale projects such as hydropower dams and even nuclear power plants. 

“Distributed generation will probably never be less expensive,” Smith says. “It’s cheaper to make it in large quantities.” 

In terms of capital investments, the fuel cell has an installed cost of $8,333 per kilowatt, compared with $3,500 per kilowatt at the Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant and $600 per kilowatt at the most efficient combined-cycle combustion turbine plants. 

Gravity hydroelectric projects are even cheaper because falling water is free. 

Fuel cells could one day help utilities minimize the installation of unsightly power lines should electricity demands stress the transmission capacity of the region. 

John Harrison, a spokesman for the Portland, Ore.-based Northwest Power Planning Council, says the region has an adequate transmission system for current electricity loads. 

“Our transmission system is OK for the near future, but as with any other question regarding power these days, there are circumstances that will cause it to be overloaded, and perhaps rather quickly,” he says. 

The most transmission stress right now occurs east to west, trying to get electricity from utilities east of the Cascades to the big population centers in western Oregon and Washington. 

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Scientists who spent more than a year studying the causes of the mysterious bacteria that shut down the beach here during the summer of 1999 have identified two prime suspects: bird waste from a nearby marsh and sewage flowing from a sanitation outfall. 

The long-awaited report is the most exhaustive examination to date of the contamination problem that kept the famous “Surf City, USA” beach off limits for months, dealing a blow to Huntington Beach’s tourist economy. 

High bacteria counts were first recorded in June 1999, and the eight-mile beach did not completely reopen until September of that year. The cause of the bacteria remained a mystery, but a group of 11 scientists on Thursday presented what they considered their best theories. 

According to the scientists, birds living in the nearby Talbert Marsh produced waste with a strong strain of bacteria that “incubated” in the marsh and eventually washed into the surf. 

Meanwhile, the report says, the Orange County Sanitation District released partially treated sewage from an underwater outfall four miles off the coast. Normally such sewage stays away from the beach, but in this case warm water from a nearby power plant drew the effluent to the surface, polluting the beach. 

The $1.5 million study was funded by the sanitation district, Orange County and the city of Huntington Beach. It was spearheaded by Stanley Grant, an engineering professor at the University of California, Irvine. 

Now more study is needed to determine how to prevent the pollution from coming back, officials said. 

Indeed, scientists pointed out that the bacteria apparently caused by bird waste at the Talbert Marsh raises questions about whether the effort to protect such marshlands conflicts with the goal of clean ocean water. 

“Marshes have always been thought to be cleansers,” Grant said. “What this study showed was, surprise, they are not. That on the contrary, the water coming out has more bacteria than when it comes in.” 

Grant said he could think of no easy answers to prevent the bird waste bacteria from mixing with the ocean water. 

Not all findings in the report were unchallenged. The Orange County Sanitation District took issue with the scientists’ theory that effluent from the agency’s outfall contributed to this beach closures. 

“We don’t find the same conclusion to be true,” district spokeswoman Lisa Lawson said. “We will be doing further studies to see if this theory is acceptable or not acceptable.” 

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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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.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — The stock of online auctioneer eBay Inc. plummeted by more than 20 percent Monday after a Wall Street analyst raised doubts about the company’s ambitious growth goals. 

The selloff, which wiped out $2.4 billion in shareholder wealth, illustrated investors’ increasing disillusionment with e-commerce stocks that enthralled them less than a year ago. 

Lehman Brothers analyst Holly Becker triggered Monday’s downturn by lowering her rating on eBay’s shares from a “buy” to a “neutral” after concluding the San Jose-based company’s collectibles business has peaked. 

Because she doesn’t believe eBay will be successful in its effort to list mass merchandise items, Becker doubts the company will be able to sustain the robust growth needed to deliver on management’s promise for $3 billion in annual revenues in 2005. 

EBay’s revenue this year is expected to range between $400 million and $450 million. As one of the world’s few profitable online businesses, eBay make its money by charging listing fees and commissions on auction sales on its site. 

“We are concerned that the company’s core business is slowing and that newer initiatives will take time and more money to build out” than previously estimated, Becker wrote in a three-page report. 

Becker’s bearish remarks rattled investors accustomed to seeing eBay’s revenues double from one quarter to the next as more people sell goods on the site. EBay’s shares dropped $8.94 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Monday to close at $34.50. 

Investors are worried most of eBay’s users are only interested in buying and selling trendy collectible products, such as Beanie babies. 

After the market closed Monday, eBay management reiterated its belief that the company will reach $3 billion in revenue in 2005. 

“We did a lot of homework before putting out that number. We still see a very robust business for us,” said Rajib Dutta, eBay’s vice president of finance. 

Ebay expects collectibles sales to account for just 15 percent of its projected $3 billion in revenue in 2005. The company said its site already accounts for the most online sales of toys, sports equipment and jewelry. EBay is aggressively branching into other big-ticket items such as automobiles and real estate. 

ABN Amro analyst Kevin Silverman said he believes eBay’s sales projections are realistic. He expects total sales of used consumer goods nationwide to hit $517 billion in 2005. If eBay’s site handles about 9 percent of that volume, Silverman estimates eBay’s 2005 revenues will be $3.7 billion. 

Silverman and other analysts characterized the Monday meltdown in eBay’s stock as a knee-jerk reaction by investors behaving as irrationally now as they did when they assigned mind-boggling market values to e-commerce stocks. 

As recently as March, eBay’s shares traded at $125, giving the company a market value of about $35 billion. The company’s market value is now below $10 billion. 

“A year ago if somebody said anything slightly positive about a stock, it would shoot up by 20 or 30 percent in a day. Now, we’re seeing just the opposite reaction with negative comments,” said Prudential Securities analyst Mark Rowen, who maintains a buy rating on eBay. 

Rowen estimated the auction site’s auction listings in the current quarter have increased by 13 percent from the previous quarter 

In her report, Becker said she was discouraged because eBay no longer shapes up as a likely acquisition candidate for two other e-commerce bellwethers, Yahoo! Inc. and America Online Inc. 

Becker said a recent flurry of stock sales by eBay insiders also raised red flags. 

During the final week of October, eBay management and directors sold about 2.5 million shares of stock at prices ranging between $50.35 and $56.55 per share, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. 

Dutta said the divestitures were part of a long-standing program designed to allow eBay’s insiders to sell a set percentage of their stock each quarter so they can diversify their holdings. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.ebay.com 

OAKLAND — California’s amusement park rides will get new regulations soon, but just how snug the new safety bar fits is central to a roller-coaster debate between ride operators and consumer advocates. 

Amusement park lawyers and ride safety advocates gathered Monday as the process approached its last hairpin turn – the release of final rules next year. 

The meeting before state Division of Occupational Safety and Health lawyers was the last public chance to lobby for changes to the new policies. Regulators expect to finalize the rules by March. 

Until this year, California inspected only rides at temporary carnivals.  

A string of recent accidents prompted state Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, to push for a new law, which took effect Jan. 1. 

The law remains largely unenforceable because the state still must adopt regulations that will outline safety standards, inspection procedures and how penalties should be assessed. 

State lawyers hammering out the law’s convoluted details also must decide when ride operators must report accidents, and that question dominated the hourlong meeting. 

Torlakson said regulators have softened his original language, allowing parks to ignore all but the most serious injuries. Those changes occurred as regulators fleshed out his original bill. 

“Obviously, this is not in keeping with what I felt is the strongest position to take,” Torlakson said in an interview after the meeting.  

“It’s more in line with what the industry wanted.” 

But that language still can be changed.  

State regulators must decide once and for all whether operators should report injuries such as whiplash – or whether mandatory reporting should be reserved for more gruesome incidents involving death and disfigurement. 

Park operators champion less stringent reporting rules, arguing that increased disclosure will not make rides safer.  

Safety advocates argue the opposite – they say reporting of all incidents would help riders, and their parents, decide what rides are safe. 

“Theme parks are under a lot of competing priorities and only one of those is safety,” said Kathy Fackler, a leading safety advocate whose son was injured in a roller coaster accident at Disneyland in March 1998.  

“It’s a political process and both sides have been lobbying heavily.” 

Boyd Jensen, a Santa Ana lawyer who represents amusement park interests, argued for language that would limit mandatory reporting to a well-defined set of conditions such as a broken bone or concussion. 

The two sides were able to find common ground on another lingering issue – training for ride inspectors.  

Both Jensen and Fackler agreed that inspectors need widely recognized training to be certified. 

On the Net: 

Division of Occupational Safety and Health: www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/ 

Ride Satefy Advocates: www.saferparks.org

SAN FRANCISCO – San Quentin death row inmate and Crips street gang co-founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams has been nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, a member of the Swiss parliament confirmed Saturday. 

Parliament member Mario Fehr nominated Williams and said the inmate changed the lives of others through his series of children’s books and international peace efforts. 

“I think he has done extraordinary work,” Fehr told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Saturday. “For these young kids that are in these street gangs, I think it is one of the only opportunities to get close to them. To get them out of the street gangs.” 

Williams was said to be surprised by the nomination. 

“He was positively stunned,” said Barbara Becnel, a journalist who edits Williams’ writings. “He was wide-eyed like a child and really excited and he was also very humbled by it.” 

She broke the news of the nomination to Williams in person on a recent prison visit. 

Williams, 46, and high school buddy Raymond Washington joined forces and created the Crips in 1971 as an alliance to combat rival gangs in east Los Angeles. 

Washington was killed by his street adversaries in 1979. Williams, “Big Took” to his gang buddies, continued his violent ways, imposing his 300-pound heft on those who dared stand in his way and transforming the Crips into a statewide urban threat. 

The lawless ways of Williams finally caught up to him in 1981 when he was convicted of killing four people. Now he spends his time behind bars authoring children’s books and coordinating an international peace effort for youths — all from the confines of his 9-by-4 cell. 

Williams dictates his writings in 15-minute phone calls to Becnel. His first book was published in 1996 and he has published seven since. 

His latest book is “Life In Prison,” a gritty first-person book targeted at sixth-graders. The work chronicles day-to-day life behind bars in San Quentin: 

— “I have been locked up nearly 20 years, and every day of my incarceration I have been homesick. ... My homesickness even makes me feel sick to my stomach.” 

— “It’s very humiliating to have guards watching us closely to make sure none of us is breaking the rules by touching, or being touched, too much.” 

Williams also created the Internet Project for Street Peace, which links at-risk California and South African youths together through e-mail and chat rooms allowing them to share their experiences and transform their lives. 

Abdulahi Mohamud uses the project in his work with Somali youths living in Switzerland. The Internet Project for Street Peace helps youths communicate with their counterparts in California who are trying to distance themselves from gang life. Mohamud applauded Williams’ efforts and was instrumental in getting him nominated for the esteemed prize. 

“He’s a great man. We are happy to nominate him,” Mohamud said. 

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela visited Williams last year and called the two hours she spent with the death row inmate the “highlight” of her trip to California. 

A five-member awards committee gives no hints and never releases the names of peace prize nominees, only the number — a record 150 this year. However, those nominating others for the award often divulge choices in advance. 

Members of national assemblies and governments, and members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union are among those persons entitled to nominate candidates. The 2001 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Dec. 10, 2001. 

Fehr said Williams’ violent past did not diminish his qualifications for the award.  

“Everyone can change his life, no matter what mistakes someone has done,” Fehr said.

WASHINGTON — Hindsight is haunting supporters of would-be presidents George W. Bush and Al Gore as the nation awaits the results of the presidential drama. 

As they watch the painstaking ballot counts and recounts in Florida, campaign activists and officials acknowledge that questions swirl through their heads about how the candidates could have widened the margin and averted the showdown. 

With such minute gaps in the vote tallies in Florida and several other states, virtually anything could have made the difference, they say. 

Questions whirling about the Bush campaign: Should the Texas governor have devoted more time to Florida earlier rather than put it in the sure-win column? Consultants and other activists widely say yes. Bush himself was known to roll his eyes at suggestions that he needed to struggle for a state governed by his brother, Jeb. 

“We could be criticized maybe for not getting off the mark as quickly as we should have, but in the end Jeb was fully engaged,” said Tom Slade, a Republican National Committee member from Florida. “He was spending an awful lot of time doing his duties as governor four and five months out. I fall in the category of Republicans who were unfortunately overconfident.” 

In addition, GOP pollster Frank Luntz said Bush should have stayed out on the campaign trail in the election’s final, precious days, rather than take a Sunday break in Texas. 

“The only advice I would have given would have been to ask Bush, nine days out, not to take a day off,” he said, referring to the day off a week and a half before the Nov. 7 election. 

Belated news of Bush’s 1976 arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol especially stands out as a distraction that might have been avoided, Republicans say. 

“It came out and stunted his surge,” Luntz added. “Momentum was moving toward Bush after the last debate. Obviously, something turned this around at the very end.” 

Some Gore supporters, meanwhile, mutter that the vice president had for too long ignored the threat of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and confronted it too late, appealing to Nader voters for the first time at a a nighttime rally in Madison, Wis., just 12 days before Election Day. 

Nader got 97,421 votes in Florida — and if even half of those had gone to Gore, the state, its 25 electoral votes and the White House might have, too. Exit polls suggested that nearly half the Nader voters would have voted for Gore if it had been a two-way race. 

Like Bush in Florida, Gore appeared to take even his own home state of Tennessee for granted. Gore lost Tennessee and its 11 electoral votes to Bush. 

And still being debated in Democratic circles was whether Gore underestimated President Clinton’s appeal, particularly in urban areas. Should he have put Clinton to better use in battleground states? Fearing the baggage of Clinton scandals, Gore studiously limited the president’s campaigning. 

“It’s an unfortunate piece of the strategy,” Rev. B. Herbert Martin of Chicago’s Progressive Community Church. “Clinton could’ve added a lot of strength here. He’s a hero to African-Americans.” 

Added Pennsylvania state Rep. T.J. Rooney, a key Gore activist: “I believe that there may have been a great role to play for the president, especially in communities where he demonstrated an uncanny ability to bring out voters — like Philadelphia and Detroit.” 

On the other hand, Gore won Rooney’s battleground state, and the legislator acknowledged that those who believe Clinton and his scandals posed a real danger to Gore had a point. 

Stuck in limbo, supporters were more eager to defend their candidates and give them the benefit of the doubt. Gore backers say they have little to complain about given his round-the-clock campaign schedule and special attention to Florida. 

“People understand how hard Al Gore worked for this,” said Democratic consultant Marla Romash, who worked on the campaign. 

Republican consultant Charlie Black, an outside adviser to Bush, denied that Bush wasted time swinging through traditionally Democratic West Coast states rather than spending it in battlegrounds like Florida. 

“It made Gore spend time and money to compete for Oregon and Washington,” Black said. 

Bush obviously should have spent more time in Florida early on, but “there is no point in nitpicking,” he added. 

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.