The Landmarks Preservation Commission was able to get through its entire agenda on Monday night, but it wasn’t pretty. 

A month after the Nov. 6 LPC meeting disintegrated without the commission hearing any of its agenda items, Monday’s meeting was successful despite confusion and frustration caused by a controversial and unresolved opinion by City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque disallowing four commissioners’ participation on certain landmarks applications because they are directors or staff of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. 

Albuquerque’s opinion said their participation would create a conflict of interest on any applications on which BAHA has taken positions. 

The four commissioners, Becky O’Malley, Carrie Olson, Lesley Emmington-Jones and Doug Morse, retained an attorney and said they would ignore Albuquerque’s instructions until there is a definitive decision from the City Council or the courts about the validity of the opinion.  

The City Council adopted a resolution Nov. 21, to retain outside counsel for a second opinion. However, Albuquerque and the commissioners’ attorney, Antonio Rossmann, are still squabbling over who will be retained as outside counsel. 

There were eight commissioners present at Monday’s meeting, including three of the four whose participation was brought into question by Albuquerque. Commissioner Morse was absent. The nine-member commission requires a quorum of five to convene and in order to adopt any motions five commissioners have to approve them. 

At the beginning of the meeting, LPC Chair Burton Edwards instructed the three commissioners he would not recognize them during discussions and city staff would not count their votes on three of the items on the evening’s agenda. 

“I’m placed in an unenviable position, but I feel obliged to follow the city attorney’s advice and not risk tonight’s action,” Burton said. 

An insurgency almost occurred when O’Malley made a motion to overrule Burton’s instructions. Emmington-Jones seconded the motion, but when it became clear there were insufficient votes to adopt the motion she withdrew it before a vote was taken.  

The three issues on Monday night’s agenda that BAHA has taken written positions on were Gorman’s Furniture Building on Telegraph Avenue, The Edwards House on Dwight Way and the controversial Beth El proposal for a synagogue and school at 1301 Oxford St. 

Both O’Malley and Emmington-Jones momentarily stepped out of their LPC roles and addressed the commission from the podium during the public comments portion of the meeting on matters related to the Final Environmental Impact Report on the Beth El project. Later in the evening the commission took no action on the Beth El FEIR. 

O’Malley later addressed the commission, again from the floor, on the Gorman Building, which was awarded landmark status by her colleagues during the meeting.  

The atmosphere was awkward when the five eligible commissioners had an animated discussion about the conditions of the Gorman landmarking, while the three ineligible commissioners sat at the table motionless and silent.  

The ban from discussing the project “was irritating and totally unnecessary and pointless,” O’Malley said Tuesday. “There was no reason why we couldn’t participate in that discussion, there was no conflict. Everybody was in agreement.” 

Edwards said he had mixed feelings about Albuquerque’s opinion, but after the Nov. 6 meeting fell apart he decided to strictly follow her advice until the issue is resolved. He said he could not risk exposing the city to litigation. “My responsibility is to the public, my fellow commissioners and the City of Berkeley,” Edwards said.  

John Coreris, of Coreris Cabinets and Construction, said he is concerned Albuquerque’s opinion banning the four commissioners from discussing his project, is going to affect his right to due process on his application to build an eight-unit development next to the Edwards House at 2526 Dwight Way. 

The four commissioners are ineligible to vote on the application because Coreris went to BAHA seeking their approval for the project, which they gave in a written letter, thereby allegedly causing a conflict of interest. 

Coreris said he’s been working with all nine LPC members since July and is concerned he may not have the support of the five remaining eligible commissioners. 

“The compromises we made with the LPC were before nine commissioners. Without their unanimity now, I have to put this project before only five commissioners and only one has to abstain or vote no,” Coreris said. “And you can’t get five people in Berkeley to agree on anything.” 

Wednesday, Dec. 6

Task Force on  

Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

1900 Addison  

Third Floor Conference Room 

Untraining White Liberal  

Racism 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Call for location  

El Cerrito 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

C.A.T. Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Over 60 Health Center 

3260 Sacramento (at Alcatraz) 

2nd Floor 

If you arrive on time, park in the basement garage off Sacramento St. and take the elevator. If you arrive late, park on the street and go to the main entrance to the center.  

Disaster Council  

7 p.m. 

Public Safety Building 

2100 MLK Jr. Way 

Second floor conference room 

Discussions will include the report on disaster preparedness at Alta Bates and the city council/disaster council joint meeting.  

Citizens Budget Review  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

BHS Jazz Lab Band &  

Combos 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater 

Allston Way  

Their first concert of the new school year.  

$8 general, $3 students  

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.  

Berkeley Communicators  

Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

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.  

Discussions will include staff reports on state rent restrictions for section eight vacancies and on the vacant unit inspection program.  

Public Works Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Berkeley Special Education Parents Group 

7 p.m. 

King Middle School  

Library 

1781 Rose St.  

A discussion of social living skills, graduation requirements, and other issues of special education in the Berkeley Unified School District.  

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

7 p.m. 

2118 Milvia St.  

Second Floor Conference Room 

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 

“The Nutcracker” 

7 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave.  

Performed by the Berkeley Ballet Theater.  

$12 - $15 843-4689  

A Time to Give  

2 & 8 p.m. 

Alice Arts Center Theater 

1428 Alice St. (at 14th St.) 

Oakland  

A benefit for the Applied Ballet Arts Foundation, the show features new choreography to Beethoven’s Sonata Pathetique, Schubert’s Sonata for arpeggione, and Max Bruch’s Schottish Fantasy for violin. $12 - $15 sliding scale  

Call 268-9000 x218  

Yiddish Conversation 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Julia Morgan Collaborating with Bernard Maybeck  

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., speaker 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Mark Wilson, realtor with Prudential Realty, will speak. Also City Commons Club annual meeting.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

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. 832-4244 

— compiled  

by Chason Wainwright 

Bridge Biker Collective Party  

8 p.m. 

6447 Regent St. (near Alcatraz) 

Celebrate the new initiative to win equal access to Bay Area bridges at a party following the monthly Berkeley critical mass ride. Free  

Call 273-9288 or visit www.bikethebridge.org 

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 

Music in the Streets 

5 - 7 p.m. 

Strolling through downtown  

Berkeley 

Los Cenzontles & Artemsia Brass Quartet 

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  

Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra 

8 p.m. 

St. Ambrose Church  

1145 Gilman St.  

Arlene Sagan conducts Gounod’s “St. Cecelia Mass,” Handel’s “Chandos Anthem no. 7,” and Mozart’s “Exsultate Jubilate.” Free  

Call 528-2145 or www.bcco.org 

“The Nutcracker” 

2 & 7 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave.  

Performed by the Berkeley Ballet Theater.  

$12 - $15  

Call 843-4689 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

Dana St. (between Channing & Durant) 

The fair features hand-crafted gifts from women’s cooperatives in Central America, Haiti, and Nepal. Most are one-of-a-kind and many are under $10.  

Call 540-5296, box three 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

Ninth Annual Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

MLK Jr. Civic Center Park  

Bay Area Steppers Drill Team 

2 - 4 p.m. 

1216 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Artists at Play Holiday Sale 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 

Call 528-0494  

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  

Loneliness as a Spiritual Crisis 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

1924 Cedar St.  

Hear about the spiritual path of Light and Sound. Also includes the ancient teachings of the saints.  

Call Unitarian Hall, 841-4824 or visit www.masterpath.org 

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 

“The Nutcracker” 

2 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave.  

Performed by the Berkeley Ballet Theater.  

$12 - $15  

Call 843-4689 

Poems on the Jewish Experience 

3 - 5 p.m. 

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church 

2837 Claremont Blvd.  

Selected from over 200 poems submitted, the winners of the fourteenth annual Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award will read their poems.  

Journey of the Soul 

7 - 9 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave.  

A public satsang and Babaji Kriya Yoga meditation with Himalayan yogi Yogiraj Sat-Gurunath.  

Call Sylvia Stanley, 845-9434  

UNtraining White Liberal Racism 

2 - 4:30 p.m. 

555 Tenth St. (at Clay) 

Oakland 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Irish Harp & Guitar 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1603 Solano Ave.  

Trish NiGabhain is one of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

Retire Campaign Debt  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Takara Sake  

708 Addison St.  

Berkeley City Council member Margaret Breland’s fundraiser with food, sake tasting, beverages and live music.  

$25 donation requested 

Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra 

4 p.m. 

St. Ambrose Church  

1145 Gilman St.  

Arlene Sagan conducts Gounod’s “St. Cecelia Mass,” Handel’s “Chandos Anthem no. 7,” and Mozart’s “Exsultate Jubilate.” Free  

Call 528-2145 or www.bcco.org 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

Dana St. (between Channing & Durant) 

The fair features hand-crafted gifts from women’s cooperatives in Central America, Haiti, and Nepal. Most are one-of-a-kind and many are under $10.  

Call 540-5296, box three 

Monday, Dec. 11 

Ask the Doctor 

10 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Dr. McGillis will discuss prevention and treatment of colds and influenza. 

Call 644-6107 

AHAP Talent Show & Raffle 

2 - 4 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Center St.  

The Affordable Housing Advocacy Project organizes the talent show and raffle to help raise funds to further develop tenant leadership through participation in conferences and networking with other tenants in regional, state and national organizations.  

Call 1-800-773-2110 

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 

Ballroom Dancing for Seniors 

9 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Waterfront Commission Meeting 

7 p.m. 

H’s Lordship Restaurant  

199 Seawall Dr.  

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Commission on Disability  

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Board of Library Trustees  

7 p.m. 

West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Homeless Commission  

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Models for the Millenium  

7 p.m. 

Ecology Center  

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

An evening of discussion with Becky Tarbotton, the Ladakh Programs Co-ordinator for the International Society of Ecology and Culture. She will speak about the connection between the destruction of Ladakhi culture and issues faced by our own communities in the West.  

Suggested donation $5  

Call 548-2220 x233 

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St.  

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 

Meeting Life Changes  

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With John Hammerman.  

Call 644-6107 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

Solano Ave. Association 

Holiday Mixer & Meeting 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

Cafe Del Sol 

1742 Solano Ave.  

With light refreshments and a silent auction, the Solano Ave. Association invites you to “meet your business neighbors.”  

Call 527-5358  

Community Health Commission 

6:45 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way  

Auditorium 

Call 665-6845 for exact location 

Zoning Adjustments Board  

7 p.m. 

Council Chamber 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Second Floor 

Friday, Dec. 15 

BHS Orchestra and Concert Band 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater  

Allston Way 

St. Paul AME X-Mas Party 

5:30 - 8 p.m. 

2024 Ashby Ave.  

For St. Paul’s annual party they ask that you bring a new toy or book for a needy child. Free 

Call 665-2164 

“The Nutcracker” 

7 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave.  

Performed by the Berkeley Ballet Theater.  

$12 - $15  

Call 843-4689 

Music in the Streets 

5 - 7 p.m. 

Strolling through downtown  

Berkeley 

Cal Jazz Choir & Oddly Enough, A Barbershop Quartet 

Dance for the Forests 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

Join the Alice Di Michele Band, Rachel Garlin, and acapella group Making Waves at this benefit concert for the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters.  

Admission is sliding scale 

835-6303 

Holiday Musical Quartet 

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., music  

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

With music arranged by Melinda McCallister, the quartet will perform popular year-end songs from around the world.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

Lesbians and Gays Get Together 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

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  

“The Nutcracker” 

2 & 7 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave.  

Performed by the Berkeley Ballet Theater.  

$12 - $15  

Call 843-4689 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

Ninth Annual Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

MLK Jr. Civic Center Park  

Berkeley Community Chamber Chorus 

2 - 4 p.m. 

Strolling along Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

Free Puppet Shows  

1:30 & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

The Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, with puppets with such conditions as cerebral palsy, blindness and Down syndrome. The shows promote acceptance of physical and mental differences. Free 

Call 549-1564 

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 

Quadraphoic Sound Explosion  

7:48 p.m. 

Tuva Space  

3192 Adeline St. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Thomas Day of San Francisco, Boris Hauf of Vienna, and Kit Clayton of San Francisco present a night of live experimental electronic music.  

$8 suggested donation 

Call 444-3595 

“The Nutcracker” 

2 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave.  

Performed by the Berkeley Ballet Theater.  

$12 - $15  

Call 843-4689 

The Disputation 

2 - 4:30 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Call 848-0237 

Guitar of Reverend Rabia 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1741 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Hanukkah Happening 

8 p.m. 

Shambhala Booksellers 

2482 Telegraph Ave.  

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

Call 848-8443 

Monday, Dec. 18 

Design Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

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  

Wednesday, Dec. 20 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

Friday, Dec. 22 

Music in the Streets 

5 - 7 p.m. 

Strolling through downtown  

Berkeley 

Berkeley Community Chamber Chorus & These “R” They Gospel Youth Choir 

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 

Royal Hawaiian Ukulele Band 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1561 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

Ninth Annual Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

MLK Jr. Civic Center Park  

Klesmeh! Festival  

8 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts  

2640 College Ave.  

A Hanukkah concert of Klesmer music and its mutations, featuring the San Francisco Klesmer experience. Hosted by Berkeley monologist/comedian Josh Kornbluth.  

$18 advance, $20 door; $16 kids and seniors  

Call 415-454-5238 

Sunday, Dec. 24  

Ancient Winds 

Noon - 4 p.m. 

1573 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Tuesday, Dec. 26  

Kwanzaa! 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Join storyteller Awele Makeba as she shares tale and a capella songs from African and African-American history, culture, and folklore which celebrate the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Included with admission to the museum.  

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Wednesday, Dec. 27 

Magic Mike 

Noon and 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Special effects, magic, juggling, ventriloquism, and outrageous comedy is what Parent’s Choice Award winner Magic Mike is all about. Included in price of museum admission.  

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Thursday, Dec. 28  

Season of Lights  

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

The Imagination Company brings to life world winter celebrations and highlights the significance of light to several culture. Included in museum admission price.  

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Friday, Dec. 29  

Earthcapades 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Join Hearty and Lissin as they blend storytelling, juggling, acrobatics, and more, to entertain and teach about saving the environment. Included in museum admission. 

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Saturday, Dec. 30  

Bats of the World  

1 & 2:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Maggie Hooper, an educator with the California Bat Conservation Fund, will show slides, introduce three live, tame, and indigenous bats, and answer your questions about these fascinating creatures. Included in admission to the museum. 

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Sunday, Dec. 31 

Light Up the Lights! 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Popular songmeister Gary Lapow performs traditional holiday music from around the world. Included in price of museum admission. 

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Wednesday, Jan. 3  

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

Friday, Jan. 12 

“Who’s Really In Charge Anyway?” 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

1924 Cedar St.  

The subject to be discussed is the guru dilemma and individual spiritual mastership. Hear about the spiritual path of light and sound and the ancient teachings of the saints.  

Call Unitarian Hall, 841-4824 or visit www.masterpath.org 

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 

Wednesday, Jan. 17  

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

Sunday, Feb. 25  

“Imperial San Francisco: 

Urban Power, Earthly Ruin” 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley History Center 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St.  

Gary Brechin speaks on the impact and legacy of the Hearsts and other powerful San Francisco families. Free 

Call 848-0181 

Sunday, March 18  

“Topaz Moon” 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley History Center 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St.  

Kimi Kodani Hill speaks on artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WW II Japanese relocation camps. Free 

Call 848-0181 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202  

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 

Prioritize new housing over more parking 

Editor: 

The city-owned Oxford lot, nested at Allston Way, at the edge of UC Berkeley’s campus and Downtown Berkeley, is an optimum space for affordable housing and a nightclub on the ground floor.  

An agenda item on the Berkeley City Council agenda for December 5 would request the Planning Commission to investigate development of the site, including a feasibility study for underground parking.  

The Berkeley Daily Planet, on Saturday, Dec. 2, reported that Councilmember Betty Olds suggested a nightclub on the ground floor and three stories of parking above, but Councilmember Dona Spring, a co-author of the measure, preferred affordable housing for very low and low-income households.  

The site is right next to campus. Campus and transit-oriented housing for students, new faculty, and staff is the responsible plan. The regional housing crisis threatens affordability and access to a UC Berkeley education, and even the institution’s diversity.  

If Berkeley does not respond by increasing the stock of affordable housing, traffic will increase even more as increasing amounts of students are priced out of the market and forced to commute.  

Design of any housing project for the Oxford lot should encourage UC Berkeley students to live in the future housing and allow low-income students to qualify as potential households.  

Based on data from the ASUC Housing Survey, apartment-style housing, without residential parking, would be the most likely development to attract students. Four out of five commuter students would give up their car to live in affordable housing near campus.  

The revenue for affordable housing also must come from somewhere.  

City policy, including proposed zoning for the Southside, accounts for this reality by helping affordable housing developers “pencil out” their projects with density bonuses or additional stories, direct subsidy, or other incentives.  

In this case, rent from a nightclub could help keep the housing above it affordable.  

A nightclub would draw demand from diverse ages, including the ever-bored -for-nighttime-recreation student community.  

It would also be consistent with Downtown Plan objectives of creating a “24-hour Downtown,” and as a cultural facility would allow for more stories of housing under downtown zoning.  

This gesture should be matched by UC Berkeley. It is time to identify the next housing project site based on the consensus-reflecting guidelines in the Draft Southside Plan.  

Most likely candidates include the Ellsworth Structure, South Anna Head across from People’s Park, or other surface parking lots in the neighborhood where the parking will be replaced by the Underhill lot.  

University Co-ops have in the recent past offered to construct affordable housing on University land, and this is the time to begin.  

The City of Berkeley has in its power the resources to make an effective improvement upon the housing situation.  

The city council and planning commission should consider the nightclub/affordable housing solution as a way to keep Berkeley affordable, reduce traffic, and generate the 24-hour downtown Berkeley has envisioned.  

This opinion piece I wrote was in my capacity of Director of the ASUC (Associated Students of UC) Commission on Housing and Student Life, or Director of the Municipal Lobby in the ASUC External Affairs Office. 

Andy Katz 

Director of the Associated Students of UC Commission on Housing and Student Life and Director of the Municipal Lobby in the ASUC External Affairs Office. 

Fix problems, restore pride in U.S. elections 

Editor: 

Our erstwhile pride in an electoral system that once showcased American democracy is tempered by the sad events in Florida.  

To the isolated incidences of administrative incompetence, we now must add the more disturbing reports of racially based disenfranchisement of African Americans (NY Times, Nov. 30).  

A few million ballots may seem a lot to tally, yet in the same America, two billion shares of stock change hands every single trading day – with nary a hitch.  

Lest we need more on our social conscience than mislaid priorities, consider the many men and women around the globe who languor in jail for daring to advocate the very voting rights we treat so cavalierly.  

There is more to restore than our pride. 

A. C. Shen 

Berkeley 

Wireless antennas proposed for the Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center on Walnut Street are causing consternation in some quarters. 

A public hearing on the antennas at the Zoning Adjustments Board will be held next week. 

The antennas were proposed as a way to pay for a pressing JCC expense. 

The JCC needs a new smokestack. The old one is corroded, and since the building is a historical structure, the smokestack has to be replaced, rather than removed. 

Because the cost of the work is prohibitive, center administrator Joel Bahevkin was looking for a way to pay for it. Enter Sprint telecommunications.  

The company was searching for a site in the area for additional antennas used to power its wireless devices. 

Sprint offered to pay for the new smokestack if the JCC would allow antennas installed on its structure. 

But not everyone thinks that’s a good deal. Jane, who asked that her real name not be used, has a child in the center’s pre-school program. 

“The antennas are controversial,” she said. “There’s not enough information to make a decision.” 

Moreover, she said, the JCC planned a parent meeting to take place only one day before the public hearing on the antennas at the city’s Zoning Adjustment Board, not giving them enough time to prepare for the hearing. 

Bahevkin said he knows the antennas are controversial. That is why the JCC hired an independent company, Sonoma-based Hammett and Edison, to study the project, he said. The independent company will make a presentation to the parent group next week. Representatives from Sprint will also attend, he said, noting that Dec. 13, the day before the public hearing, was the only day available for all the parties to come together. 

City planner Matt Le Grant said the city has little power over telecommunications antennas that are regulated by federal law. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 determines how much radiation the antennas can emit. The city cannot create its own regulations in that regard. The city’s regulatory power is limited to aesthetics. It can require the telecommunications company, for example, to hide the antennas from view. 

The Zoning Adjustment Board will hold a public hearing on the proposed JCC antennas at its Dec. 14 meeting beginning at 7 p.m.

At a regional forum titled “Safe From the Start,” sponsored by the office of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, parents, educators and health and social services professionals drew battle plans Tuesday to combat youth violence.  

Meeting at the Claremont Hotel, attendees drew up strategies for programs such as early intervention, community and parental involvement, home visits by social service representatives, and parent training courses.  

Many of the conference attendees expressed concern at what seemed to be an escalating number of incidences involving children and violence. “We’ve had instances like a 4-year-old who said: ‘Don’t make me have to hurt you,’ when he was told to pick up his toys, or a 3-year-old who said to his mother, ‘I’m going to tell dad to come over and kill you,’” Alicia Lieberman, director of the Child Trauma Research Project at the University of California San Francisco said. 

The conference sought to address what speakers identified as a “root cause” of youth violence: witnessing violence at an early age. “The way to be predisposed to violent behavior is to be exposed to such behavior early on,” noted former “All in the Family” star Rob Reiner, chair of the California Children and Families Commission. The commission is partially responsible for implementing Proposition 10, a tobacco tax earmarked for early childhood development programs.  

“To keep the schools safe, we have to realize that incidences of violence can happen anywhere and we all have to work together to lower the risk,” said Marjorie Alvord, a Malcom X High School parent who attended the conference. 

Joining her were parent Lisa Cullen and therapist Leni Siegal, who coordinates a program at Malcom X called Healthy Start, which brings mental health  

professionals, parents and students together to combat children’s exposure to violence.  

“I want to learn how to recognize and how to inform other parents about the kinds of situations that cause violence, and how to stop it from happening,” Alvord said. 

Siegal discussed a method of intervention she had been using to try to stop violence from occurring: working with students to settle long-standing feuds. “These problems can last for years. They can start in kindergarten and it’s still a problem in the fourth grade. Sometimes they can expand to older brothers or sisters who are also in the system.”  

Siegal gets the children to work out an agreement, which she writes into a document that both parties sign. Even if the agreement doesn’t stick, Siegal said she becomes a confidante whom the children turn to for help in resolving the dispute, rather than attempting to settle it violently. 

Nikki Williams, director of Berkeley Youth Alternatives, said the conference helped her affirm the importance of her organization’s strategy for bringing social service professionals directly into the home.  

“The discussion really brought home that you have to be careful it doesn’t add anxiety for the family. There is a stigma in poor communities for this kind of thing. You have to be extremely culturally sensitive and careful you don’t give the aspect of judging the family.”  

BYA Director of Development and Policy Kevin Williams said, “These families have to be able to trust you. They have to know you are going to be there when they need you the most.” 

Williams also discussed a plan to begin offering parent training courses next year, in which they will teach parents about the physical and psychological damage exposing children can have upon them, and help them set boundaries for their children. 

Barbara Staggers, director of Adolescent Medicine at the Oakland Children’s Hospital, stressed the importance of providing guidance to youth who are acting out violently. “Teenagers may look like adults, but they are not adults. They are looking to us for guidance and for love. And they are saying to us, ‘If you don’t give it to me, I’m going to go out and get attention – and you are not going to like it. It’s going to be very, very ugly.’”  

Staggers has first-hand experience in providing children who have been exposed to violence at home with role models and “community activities that can make them feel like human beings.” That can help break the negative cycle, she said.  

“Dr. Staggers gave me the tools to navigate the situations I was facing at home,” Alameda County Behavioral Health Care supervisor Kimberly McDaniel said. As a child, McDaniel was exposed to frequent episodes of violence in her home. “It saved my life to have somebody who really listened. Somebody who really cared. And seeing a black woman in a position of power and respect really captivated me. Dr. Staggers gave me the skills and resources to be resilient, and to deal with my situation so that I didn’t become violent. I played basketball instead.” She was also motivated to follow in Dr. Staggers footsteps to attend the University of California at Berkeley and, in doing so, became the first person in her family to earn a college degree. 

The Berkeley High School AIDS memorial quilts already have nearly two hundred squares.  

The project began last spring. 

The six BHS quilts hang in the Berkeley Community Theater this week along with three large sections of the world renown AIDS Memorial Quilt. The BHS quilts were put together by Teens Advocating Safer Sex, an HIV peer health education group at the high school. The quilt was the idea of one of the members of TASS whose life was touched by HIV and AIDS.  

Chayla Summers, one of the members of TASS, said the group visited classrooms and did two-day presentations.  

At the end of the presentations, each student in the classes was asked to make a square for the quilt. Students were also allowed to invite friends from outside the class to contribute squares.  

Many of the squares made by students involve safe sex and the use of condoms.  

One square says, “Before you connect, you must protect.” Another says, “It doesn’t care who you are. Don’t think it will spare you.” 

TASS does not condemn teenage sex, instead it tries to tell students that if they choose to have sex, they also need to choose to be safe, Sommers said.  

In addition to the quilt project, TASS does outreach, which includes passing out condoms on campus. 

Sonya Dublin, who has served as coordinator for HIV prevention services at Berkeley High for the past three years, said the quilt project is an opportunity for students to express their feelings about HIV and AIDS.  

Dublin said she believes the quilt helps break down stereotypes and stigmas that surround the disease. 

As coordinator for HIV prevention, Dublin oversees HIV testing on campus.  

Berkeley High began its testing program in 1996.  

Dublin cited Centers for Disease Control statistics, which indicate that 50 percent of all new infections in the United States are in people under the age of 25.  

She feels that because TASS does work such as the quilt, students are more educated and are more likely to seek out HIV-related services.  

She said she’s hopeful that all the students will get to see the quilts.  

This is the second time sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt has visited Berkeley High School. The project was started in San Francisco in 1986. 

The quilts will be on display at the Berkeley Community Theater on the Berkeley High School campus until Friday.

SAN JOSE — Santa Clara County approved an unprecedented plan Tuesday to use its share of the national tobacco settlement to provide health coverage for all uninsured children in the county. 

The county, which has more than 1.7 million residents burdened with the high cost of living in Silicon Valley, is believed to have 69,000 children without health insurance. 

“We’re sick and tired of waiting for the national and state elected officials to respond to this problem,” said James T. Beall Jr., one of the three county supervisors who unanimously approved the program.  

“It’s continually getting bigger and bigger.” 

On Jan. 2, officials will begin enrolling children in the new program, which is expected to cost $14 million a year.  

It covers families that make up to three times the federal poverty level, meaning a family of four with earnings of nearly $52,000 is eligible. 

Most state and federal programs are aimed at people making less than half that amount. But the higher limit reflects life in Santa Clara County – which has a median home price of more than $550,000 and one of the tightest apartment-rental markets in the country. 

“People are paying such exaggerated prices for rent and in home prices – if they’re able to afford to buy a home – that they’re barely surviving,” Supervisor Blanca Alvarado said.  

“Fifty-two thousand dollars for a family of four doesn’t go a long way in Silicon Valley.” 

The plan, known as the Children’s Health Initiative, calls for using $3 million of the $18.5 million the county is expecting each year for 25 years under the tobacco settlement. 

Another $2 million will come from tobacco taxes, $1.9 million from the county’s taxpayer-financed general fund and $1 million from a county-run health maintenance organization. 

San Jose, the largest city in the county, has considered using some of its $10 million share of the tobacco settlement for a similar health insurance program for children.  

The City Council is scheduled to vote next week on whether to contribute about $750,000 to the county program next year and more in subsequent years. 

That would still leave the initiative at least $5 million short of what it needs to make sure all children are covered – regardless of their immigration status.  

Officials hope to seek private funding and believe it will be easier to get donations once they can show the plan is working. 

The program is designed to let parents know what local, state and federal health insurance programs their children qualify for, and to make up for any coverage gaps left by those programs. 

“We’re going to go to schools, to churches and work through community-based organizations,” county spokeswoman Susan Fitts said.  

“It’s really a grassroots effort to find the children, rather than have a program and say, ‘Come and get it.’ ” 

Under the 1998 tobacco settlement, California and 45 other states will split $206 billion over 25 years. Four other states settled separately for an additional $40 billion. 

California and New York are the only states that are splitting the windfall with their counties, according to the National Association of Counties.  

And while several counties around the country are striving to provide universal coverage for children, the organization said Santa Clara County would be the first to achieve the goal. 

“We look at this as sort of a basic crusade we’re on,” Beall said. “And we hope this can spread like wildfire throughout the United States.” 

On the Net: 

Santa Clara County: http://claraweb.co.santa-clara.ca.us 

National Association  

of Counties: www.naco.org

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday barring six makers of popular aluminum scooters from selling models that allegedly infringe on a patent held by industry leader Razor USA. 

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real was not expected to reduce the number of scooters available to consumers during the holiday shopping season. 

Attorneys for several of the defendants in Razor USA’s lawsuit said outside court that thousands of scooters their companies have already shipped to stores can still be sold and they can easily retrofit other scooters to comply with the court’s order. 

Attorney Daniel Cislo, representing three of the manufacturers, said it would cost his clients “a buck or two” to per scooter to change the design of the rear fender brake. Cislo said he will appeal the preliminary injunction and warned that in the mean time it may cause other scooter manufacturers to dump products on the market, bringing down prices and harming Razor. 

“The children of America will have their scooters,” Cislo said. 

The injunction covers scooters made by Gen X Sports, K2, Titan, Wysco, Zenital, and Yunn Haaur Enterprises Inc. Their scooters are marketed under a variety of names. 

Razor USA’s attorney had no comment after the hearing, at which the trial was set for Jan. 30. The company’s attorneys argued Monday before Real that the defendants infringed on a Razor patent and copied distinctive features of its scooters. 

The arguments hinged on interpretations of several key definitions in the patent and charges by defendants that Razor’s lawsuit was an attempt to stifle competition during the critical holiday shopping season. 

“This is unfair,” Cislo said Monday. “Why are they entitled to a patent that is so broad, it covers everything in the world?” 

Razor USA has reached settlements with several of the original 16 defendants, which will allow them to sell their existing supplies of scooters in return for a royalty payment on the patent. After their supplies are depleted, the companies will have to redesign their rear brake and, in some cases, change the look of the scooter, including the rectangular foot pad and oval grip tape. 

“What they have acknowledged is they can redesign around the patent, which is exactly what we want them to do,” Brian Sieve, an attorney for Razor USA said Monday. “All we want them to do is stop infringing our patent.” 

Much of the argument centered around the definition of the word “connected” as used in the Razor patent. 

Attorneys for the defendants argued that when the Razor patent refers to elements of the fender brake being connected to the frame, the term should be taken to mean connected with a fastening device, such as a bolt. 

Razor USA attorneys said the term should not be defined so narrowly, a contention the judge seemed to back. 

“Are my two fingers connected?” Real asked one attorney, holding his two index fingers together in the air. “I say they’re connected and I don’t see any bolt.” 

Razor USA sued 16 makers and distributors of rival scooters in November. 

The company sells scooters made by Taiwan-based JD Corp. It was assigned a U.S. patent on Oct. 31 for the rear fender, which acts as a brake when stepped on. The next day, the company filed a patent infringement lawsuit in federal court. 

Real issued a temporary restraining order against the defendants in November. 

The stakes are high for scooters. In September, the Razor was the top-selling toy in the nation based on total sales, according to the NPD Group, which tracks toy sales. 

LOS ANGELES — A policeman who killed an actor holding a realistic fake gun at a Halloween party shot the man in the back of the head and in the back, an autopsy report showed. 

A lawyer for Anthony Dwain Lee’s family contends the findings released Monday contradict police accounts that Officer Tarriel Hopper shot Lee after he turned suddenly toward the officer and pointed the fake gun at him. Police Chief Bernard Parks disagreed. 

“The officer cannot control the movement of the person,” Parks said Tuesday morning. Hopper “did not say the person was not moving. So if the person points a gun at the officer and the officer shoots and the person moves, we have no control over where they are standing when they are struck by the weapon.” 

The coroner’s report concluded that Lee was struck from behind by four bullets. Two in the back caused his death as they tore through vital organs. 

Lee, 39, had appeared on TV shows such as “ER” and “NYPD Blue,” and had a small role in the 1997 Jim Carrey movie “Liar Liar.” He had turned from gangs years ago and become a committed Buddhist. 

Lee was killed shortly after midnight Oct. 28 at a Hollywood Hills mansion where Hopper and Officer Natalie Humphrey had arrived in response to a noise complaint. 

A security guard hired for the party met the officers in an entry area and asked them to wait while he found one of the hosts, but Hopper, 27, went outside. The officer made his way along a narrow outdoor walkway and shined his flashlight through a glass door into a back bedroom where Lee was chatting with two other men. 

Hopper fired when Lee allegedly reached into his waistband, pulled out what appeared to be a .357 Magnum semiautomatic handgun and waved it in his direction, police said. The gun was a rubber replica. 

Nine shots were fired, according to police. 

“He could not have withdrawn a gun from his waist and pointed a gun at the officer and then have been shot four times in the back. It’s impossible,” said Cameron Stewart, an attorney with the law firm of Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who was retained by Lee’s family. 

Stewart said she will file a claim with the city of Los Angeles, the first step in a wrongful-death action. She said she hopes city officials “will recognize the tragedy that has occurred and will step up to the plate and do the right thing.” 

Police are investigating the shooting, as are the district attorney’s office and Cochran’s firm. 

LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank said Monday he could not comment on the report, which also showed cocaine and alcohol were found in Lee’s system, because the department had not had a chance to read it. 

Regarding the four shots in the back, Frank said: “They can be explained.” He said the coroner’s report will be a key piece of the police investigation. 

“It should be noted there were reports early on in this investigation that Mr. Lee was struck in the back,” Frank said. 

SACRAMENTO — California hospitals have settled a 10-year-old lawsuit with the state for $350 million to cover Medi-Cal reimbursement rates that a federal court said were set too low. 

The California Healthcare Association sued the state Department of Health Services in 1990 over Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for outpatient services at hospitals, such as X-rays or emergency room treatment where the patient is not admitted. 

“We had been trying to negotiate with them for several years over the way the state calculated the reimbursement fees,” said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Association, which represents hospitals. 

The state had based the rates on “what was enough of a fee to encourage hospitals to participate” in the Medi-Cal system, Emerson said. 

In 1997, the 9th District Court of Appeals said the state was required to set rates that were “reasonably related to the hospitals’ costs,” she said. 

Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for Gov. Gray Davis, said the agreement will “provide some stability to California’s busiest hospitals.” 

California’s share of the settlement will amount to about $175 million with the rest coming from federal funds, McLean said. 

In addition to the lump-sum payment to the hospitals, Medi-Cal rates for outpatient services will be increased by 30 percent starting July 1. That increase will cost about $79.5 million, McLean said. 

The rates will then be increased by 3.3 percent each year for three years. 

Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid system, is funded jointly by state and federal governments and covers low-income families. 

Two additional lawsuits that didn’t make it to court were included in the settlement agreement. They were a class-action lawsuit representing all hospitals contracting with Medi-Cal and a lawsuit filed by eight counties. 

The California Healthcare Association will create a formula to distribute the retroactive payment to the hospitals, Emerson said. 

“It’s not going to solve hospitals’ problems, but we’re very pleased to get any kind of increase,” she said. 

The increase is the first rise in Medi-Cal rates for outpatient services since 1985. 

LOS ANGELES — MP3.com restored its beleaguered music locker service Tuesday, seven months after lawsuits from record labels and music publishers forced its shutdown. 

The My.Mp3.com service, which was once completely free, will now feature two levels of service. For no charge, members can store up to 25 CDs. That service will be advertising-supported. 

For an annual fee of $49.95, members will be able to store up to 500 CDs and enjoy more features and less advertising. 

My.Mp3.com, which allows members to store songs on the Internet and listen to them over any Web-enabled device, triggered a copyright infringement lawsuit in January by the five major record labels, music publishers and several independent labels. 

The plaintiffs argued that by allowing people to instantly listen to music they buy, or add music from their collection to a personal “locker” by briefly inserting a CD into a computer for verification, MP3.com illegally distributed music for which they did not own the rights. 

MP3.com, based in San Diego, disabled the service in May to prevent anyone from storing music produced by the major recording companies that filed the copyright lawsuit. 

Over the course of the summer, the company reached settlements with most labels, agreeing to pay a lump sum for past violations and a licensing fee for future use. Every major label settled, except for Universal Music Group, which forced the case to trial. 

In September, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled that MP3.com willfully violated record company copyrights and ordered the company to pay damages. 

Last month, MP3.com ended the lawsuit by agreeing to pay UMG $53.4 million. The company also reached a separate licensing agreement with rock star David Bowie. 

The company still faces lawsuits from several independent labels. 

Several critical issues still remain for the company, including its efforts to negotiate licenses with independent labels that represent major artists such as The Backstreet Boys and ’N Sync. 

And it remains to be seen if consumers will embrace the new service and will pay a subscription fee to listen to music they already own. 

“Nobody yet knows how popular the premium service may prove to be,” Phil Leigh, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates wrote in a report Tuesday. “To date there has been little evidence that consumers are willing to pay for content on the Web, as evidenced by the experiences of organizations like Slate and TheStreet.Com.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.mp3.com 

INDUSTRY — Conservationists have threatened a lawsuit to block the sale of a 2,533-acre wildlife corridor by the Boy Scouts of America to a city redevelopment agency. 

The city of Industry’s Urban Development Agency claims that it purchased the Firestone camp in rustic Tonner Canyon for $16.5 million to build a reservoir. The property, which is two miles outside city limits near Diamond Bar, also was sought by two environmental groups that offered $1.5 million more for the land before their proposals stalled. 

Environmentalists were hoping to purchase the 30-mile long property to preserve a wildlife corridor that stretches from northern Orange County to the hills in Whittier. 

Conservationists are considering a lawsuit claiming the city did not conduct a proper environmental review for a reservoir before buying the land. The land dispute also is being stoked by suspicion that the deal was influenced by business ties between the Boy Scouts board and the city. 

Scout officials deny any favoritism, but acknowledge that a member of the its executive board worked on the transaction on behalf of the redevelopment agency. According to documents and interviews obtained by the Los Angeles Times, John H. Semcken III, vice president of Majestic Realty Co., helped broker the $16.5 million purchase and lobbied fellow Scout board members to accept the offer.  

The newspaper reported Monday that Semcken, who is one of 25 volunteer vice chairmen for the nonprofit Los Angeles Council of the Boy Scouts of America, shared details about the property with his boss, Majestic owner Ed Roski Jr. 

Roski, who is also a developer, has built acres of industrial parks in conjunction with Industry’s redevelopment agency. 

“To me the key issue here is the city of Industry, working with Majestic, is using its influence on the Scout board to negate any deals (the conservationists) propose,” said Jeff Yann, chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Task Force of the Sierra Club. 

Yann and other environmentalists suspect that Roski will eventually build subdivisions on the land, which is at a juncture of growth from Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties. 

Industry officials say they plan to build a reservoir that will hold up to 250,000 acre-feet of water. 

“What angers me is this whole idea that Roski is going to develop this thing,” said Industry Mayor Dave Winn. “And we have no intention to develop the area either. I’d like to put that notion to rest because I’m getting tired of it.” 

Semcken confirmed his involvement in the deal, but said it didn’t pose a conflict because he worked for free and didn’t vote to accept the offer. 

Boy Scout board members voted Nov. 16 to accept Industry’s bid for the land. The Yucaipa-based Wildlands Conservancy and the Wildlife Corridor Conservation Authority made $18 million offers, but both deals fell through. 

SACRAMENTO — Polluted groundwater caused when a Sacramento County company dumped contaminants into wells and landfills can be cleaned, according to a new plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The catch: It could take 240 years. 

The plan will be subject to a public hearing on Thursday. The EPA wants to hire contractors to take water out of the ground, treat it, and then dump it into a tributary of the American River. 

“We’ve been working on this plan for a number of years,” said Charles Berry, the EPA’s manager of the Aerojet site that was placed on the Superfund cleanup list in 1983. Aerojet began making propellants for rocket engines in Rancho Cordova in 1953. Contamination from the solvents and other chemicals dumped into wells and landfills has spread at least one mile west of the Aerojet site. The pollution is 2,000 times more than what the EPA considers safe. 

Thirteen wells near the groundwater have been closed. Aerojet spend $52.7 million on the cleanup if the EPA plan is approved. 

Once work starts, the EPA expects full cleanup of the groundwater in 240 years – longer than the company predicts, said Rosemary Younts, a spokeswoman for GenCorp Inc., Aerojet’s parent company. 

Aerojet wants the EPA to approve another cleanup plan that would cost about $6.2 million less and require less construction near company property. 

SAN DIEGO — A 15-year-old student who showed off a handgun on campus and threatened to shoot a classmate escaped the attention of school officials because no one reported him, authorities said Tuesday. 

The student at Junipero Serra High School ended up accidentally shooting himself on Friday, causing minor injuries. He was booked into juvenile custody. 

But with at least one student having seen the boy with the .38-caliber pistol, authorities were concerned that no one reported him. 

“When they hear of these type of incidents where students may have a gun on campus, they should be taught by parents to tell teachers so police can check it out,” police spokesman Bill Robinson said Tuesday. 

The students were “very, very fortunate” that nothing more serious happened, he said. 

According to a police report, one student told an officer that the teen showed her the gun hours before the accidental shooting. 

“He lifted up his shirt and showed me the gun in his shorts,” she said in the report. When the girl asked the teen why he had the gun, he told her he was threatened by another student and “I’m going to shoot him after school,” the report stated. 

The girl did nothing. 

Even the boy who had allegedly been threatened by the teen failed to tell authorities. 

That does not surprise Ron Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center in Los Angeles. 

Despite the shooting deaths at Columbine High School in Colorado, “there clearly has not been a turnaround in this code of silence on campus,” Stephens told The San Diego Union-Tribune.  

“It is considered uncool to rat on your peers.” 

School officials sent a letter to students Tuesday advising them to report potential problems. 

“Each of us ... carries an individual responsibility to assure a safe environment for learning,” the letter said. “It is essential that you, the students, report dangerous incidents. Please give paramount consideration to your personal and schoolwide safety, and do not accept the false view that would label you an informant for doing so.” 

The student, who remains in juvenile custody, will automatically be recommended for expulsion, district spokesman David Smollar said. Juvenile criminal charges were pending. 

ORLANDO, Fla. — The American Medical Association approved a resolution Tuesday asking the government to consider making the “morning-after” contraceptive available over-the-counter. 

The AMA’s policy-making House of Delegates passed the recommendation without discussion during a convention in Orlando. 

“This is a wonderful decision by the AMA. This is a terrific resolution,” said Joan Coombs, senior vice president of Planned Parenthood. 

But Cathy Cleaver, a spokeswoman with the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, said proponents of the morning-after pill are misleading the public with claims that it prevents pregnancies rather than causing abortions. 

Coombs estimated that widespread use of the morning-after pill could prevent annually 1.7 million unplanned pregnancies and 800,000 abortions. 

The Vatican recently condemned the emergency contraceptive and the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, decided last year not to sell it in any of its 2,400 pharmacies. 

Coombs said that if the Food and Drug Administration moves to make the drug over-the-counter, “it will make it (the morning-after pill) more acceptable and consumers will demand it. Acceptance will be market-driven,” she said. 

Taken within three days of sexual intercourse, the morning-after pill prevents ovulation or, if it’s already occurred, blocks implantation of a fertilized egg. A report by the AMA’s Council on Medical Service suggests that women might not be able to get the pills in time to prevent a pregnancy unless they’re made available over-the-counter. 

An AMA committee debated the issue on Sunday and sent its recommendation to the full House of Delegates. 

Some of those who testified Sunday said selling the pills over-the-counter would lead to lost opportunities to counsel patients on sexually transmitted diseases. 

Though morning-after pills are not as widely opposed as the RU-486 prescription abortion pill approved by the FDA in September, foes consider them a form of abortion since an egg could have been fertilized by the time a woman takes them. 

Calling the AMA move “tragic,” Cleaver said that if the pill is widely available, teen-age girls would be able to buy it without parental involvement, even in states where parents must be notified when their daughters are having abortions. 

“They may not realize that what they’re doing is aborting their developing baby,” Cleaver said. 

But Planned Parenthood does not consider the use of the pill a form of abortion since it does not work if a fertilized egg has already implanted itself in the uterus, the scientific definition of pregnancy. 

There are two morning-after pills on the market: Preven and Plan B. They were approved for U.S. use within the past two years. 

For the FDA to make the pills available over the counter, a pharmaceutical company must apply to the FDA. The FDA then takes a number of criteria into account when making a decision, such as written instructions to patients and the product’s safety history, FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said. 

“We decide on each application on its own merits, on scientific issues,” she said. 

Cruzan said that it is not public information whether a pharmaceutical company has applied to the FDA to have its products made available over the counter. 

Morning-after pills can cause side effects, most commonly nausea and vomiting. Headaches, breast tenderness and changes in menstrual periods also have been reported, but the AMA report suggests serious side effects are rare. 

The pills are “considered safe and effective by the medical community as a whole,” the report said. It also stated that efforts are needed to improve awareness about their availability. 

——— 

On the Net: http://www.ama-assn.org 

http://www.plannedparenthood.org 

http://www.nrlc.org 

Al Gore suggested Tuesday that even a rejection of his Florida Supreme Court appeal might not drive him from the presidential race, though many Democrats said that would be the limit of their loyalty.  

George W. Bush confidently declared himself ready to “seize the moment” as the nation’s 43rd president. 

“I don’t feel anything other than optimistic,” the vice president told reporters, his tone a stark contrast from the sense of foreboding expressed by Democrats across the country. 

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, a finalist in Gore’s summertime search for a running mate, was among those warning that Gore had one last chance. 

“The Florida Supreme Court is going to rule in two or three days, and if he’s unsuccessful on that, then I think that is the end of it,” he said. 

Four weeks into America’s election limbo, the courts still held the keys to the White House: The Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal of Gore’s historic election challenge to Bush’s certified Florida victory; briefs were filed in reaction to U.S. Supreme decision; and oral arguments were heard at a federal appeals court in Atlanta. 

The flurry of activity came one day after Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls rejected Gore’s request to order hand recounts of disputed ballots and overturn Florida’s official election results. Gore appealed, and oral arguments will be heard by the Florida high court Thursday. 

The could-be presidents responded in different ways, Gore by rallying Democratic troops for his last stand and Bush by acting as if his presidency was only a matter of time. 

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” the Texas governor told reporters outside the state Capitol in Austin, Texas, promising an efficient transition to power.  

in the handling of absentee ballot applications in two Florida counties. 

“That doesn’t seem fair to me,” Gore said outside the White House. 

Democrats filed lawsuits in Seminole and Martin counties over the ballot applications. A trial in the Seminole case is scheduled for Wednesday, and Gore’s advisers said there might be a ruling by the end of the week — perhaps before the Supreme Court rules on the Sauls appeal. 

“I do think it’s likely that all of the current controversies will end up being resolved, one way or another, in the Florida Supreme Court,” Gore said. 

Gore’s remarks were the latest twist in a convoluted case: The vice president, who has argued that every vote should count, is now embracing legal action seeking to throw out thousands of absentee ballots. 

Despite the vice president’s hesitation, top Democratic aides on Capitol Hill said there will be calls for Gore to concede if the seven Florida justices — all Democratic appointees — upholds Sauls’ decision. 

Outside Washington, rank-and-file Democrats said Gore had a right to fight in the state Supreme Court but they held out little hope for a positive ruling. Many criticized Republicans or the judicial system for blocking recounts. 

Others second guessed the Gore team. 

“He’s on his last legs now. We’re at the end game,” said Ted Kaufman, a Democratic National Committee member in Delaware. “I worked for Gore, but Bush will be my president.” 

Jon Ausman, vice chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, blamed Gore’s lawyers for presenting a skimpy case to Sauls. 

“We’re cooked,” he said. “It’s possible the appeal might work, but when you call only two witnesses in Sauls’ court and the other guy calls nine, you can’t expect much. That was blunder. It was extremely stupid.” 

Democratic state Sen. Chris Cummiskey of Arizona pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday to set aside a state high court ruling allowing some recounts. 

“Unfortunately, I think this is the end for the vice president,” he said. 

Party leaders stood behind Gore out of loyalty to him and, more significantly, concern about their own futures. No Democrats wants to abandon the vice president too soon, and risk alienating minority voters and key core constituencies who have made the election a political crusade. 

Republicans were more optimistic as GOP running mate Dick Cheney visited Capitol Hill. “I expect the courts will speak again with finality,” said House Speaker Dennis Hastert. 

The fierce fight for Florida’s 25 electoral votes spawned more than 40 separate lawsuits that threaten to tie up the 2000 presidential race beyond a Dec. 12 deadline for states to assign electors and the Dec. 18 meeting of the Electoral College. 

In Atlanta, the U.S. Appeals Court heard arguments in two separate but related appeals from Bush supporters fighting recounts. The Florida Democratic Party has argued there is no need for the appeals court to rule on the matter since manual recounts are finished and Bush has been certified the winner in the state. 

“Why isn’t this case moot? Why isn’t this appeal moot?” Judge Charles Wilson, appointed by President Clinton, asked a GOP lawyer. 

“No one has won this election, as far as I know,” replied the GOP attorney, Theodore Olson. “It’s still very up in the air.” 

In Florida, Republicans squabbled over whether to call a special session to appoint a slate of electors loyal to Bush. The governor’s advisers have quietly urged restraint in the GOP-led Legislature, fearing backlash if a Bush slate is appointed before the courts resolve the dispute. 

The U.S. Supreme Court set aside a Florida high court ruling Monday that had extended the deadline for recounts, and asked the state court for more information about its decision. 

In papers filed with the Florida court Tuesday, Gore’s legal team urged the justices to reinstate its prior ruling allowing the recounts. Bush lawyers asked the court to change its mind. 

The year’s busiest shopping season is here, and online retailers and shipping services are hoping to avoid the fiasco of last December when online giants like BarnesandNoble.com and ToysRUs.com failed to deliver thousands of packages in time for Christmas. 

E-tailers and shipping services said they’ve improved their Web sites, stocked up on merchandise, and established shipping warehouses to ensure that yuletide parcels reach their destinations. FedEx has hired 4,000 temporary package handlers and couriers nationwide – they’ll be paid between $9.50 and $13 per hour. 

It is unclear if 4,000 new handlers and streamlined Web sites will be enough. Some 55 million people are expected to visit online shopping sites next month, up 67 percent form last year. In 1999, online shoppers found Web sites slow and difficult to navigate, and 5 percent received their orders after Christmas, according to a report in Newsday. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission hit seven e-tailers with $1.5 million in fines. Toys ’R Us had to pay $350,000 for making misleading claims, and several customers filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company breached its delivery contract. 

But this year, e-tailers and shipping services said they’re ready for anything. 

“I don’t think people realize that we have 660 aircraft globally,” said Sally Davenport, a FedEx spokesperson. “We are experts in terms of being able to take shipments and work around problems.” 

She said last year’s e-commerce shipping problems won’t be repeated because e-tailers have learned from past experience, and FedEx has improved communication with its dot.com clients. 

“Earlier in the year, we sat down with our customers, and talked about what they expected to be giving us,” Davenport said. “They do market forecasts …and we administer our resources accordingly.” 

A spokesperson from L.L. Bean, one of FedEx’s biggest customers, was confident that the clothing company has done its part to avoid any shipping mishaps. 

“We are well focused in e-commerce, and we have a very strong record on delivery,” said Mary Rose McKinnen, a company spokesperson. “We feel well positioned for the holidays.” 

In the East Bay, FedEx and U.S. Postal Employees said they’re also ready for the onslaught. 

“I really don’t think we will have a problem this year,” said Florencia Aceituno, a window supervisor at the Berkeley Post Office. “We’re already delivering Airborne Express packages.” 

To deal with the rush, Aceituno said the post office has already hired temporary employees. Also, the postmaster will decide if additional measures will be taken in early December. Regina, a FedEx worker at a shipping headquarters in Emeryville who declined to give her first name, said that consumers have nothing to be worried about this year. 

“Oh yeah, we’ll be ready,” she said, firmly planing her hands on her hips. “Most people think the peak season starts now, but really, it started in early October.”

SAN JOSE — Apple Computer Inc. became the latest personal computer maker to warn of disappointing earnings, saying Tuesday that first-quarter earnings will fall well short of Wall Street’s expectations because of a slowdown in sales. 

Not counting one-time gains from investments, Apple expects to report a loss of between $225 million and $250 million when results are released next month. 

••• 

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines sued its pilots’ union and 49 pilots Tuesday and said it will trim 100 to 125 flights from its schedule as it tries to manage mounting cancellations caused by pilots refusing to work overtime. 

Delta chairman and chief executive Leo Mullin said the airline was forced to seek a temporary restraining order against the pilots in federal court after it canceled 386 flights between Friday and Sunday. 

••• 

MAPLEWOOD, Minn — The losers in the sweepstakes to succeed General Electric’s Jack Welch as chairman received their consolation prizes Tuesday: top spots at 3M and Home Depot Inc. 

3M said Tuesday that W. James McNerney Jr. will become the company’s next chairman and chief executive. McNerney, 51, will succeed L.D. DeSimone on Jan. 1; DeSimone, who is reaching the company’s mandatory retirement age of 65, will remain with the company until April 1. 

••• 

WASHINGTON — It’s official: It will cost a penny more to mail a letter starting Jan. 7. The increase to 34 cents was accepted by the Postal Service’s board of governors Tuesday. It will be accompanied by changes in many other rates, including international mail. 

But the wide-ranging set of rates approved last month by the independent Postal Rate Commission fell well short of what the post office wanted, prompting the agency to adopt the new rates under protest. 

••• 

LONDON — Iraq has engaged in “urgent negotiations” with the United Nations on a pricing formula that would enable it to resume its shipments of crude oil, OPEC announced Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, crude prices continued to drop as traders bet that any prolonged stoppage would be made up for by other oil producers.

Wall Street had its first rush of euphoria in months Tuesday, with the Nasdaq composite posting its biggest one-day advance ever amid optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. Blue chip stocks also soared, carrying the Dow Jones industrials up more than 338 points. 

Some market analysts interpreted the buying spree as a signal that Wall Street might actually have reached a bottom after months of earnings-driven selling. 

“This rally will stick. The market won’t go straight up again, but I think the worst is behind us,” said Bill Barker, an investment consultant with Dain Rauscher. 

The Nasdaq rose 274.05 to 2,889.80, or 10.4 percent, according to preliminary calculations.  

Much of the day’s gains occurred after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan indicated at a banking conference that he was concerned about the nation’s slowing economic growth. 

But investors had already begun the day optimistic that the presidential deadlock was close to being resolved and pleased with news that Nokia expects strong sales and revenues next year. 

Nokia’s announcement gave investors further reason to buy following months of selling based on bad earnings reports. Nokia rose $5.50 to $49.88. 

— The Associated Press 

Stocks really surged after Greenspan expressed concern about the effects higher energy costs and tightening credit are having on businesses and consumers’ willingness to spend. 

Analysts said the chairman’s statement makes it very likely the Fed will relax its stance against cutting rates when it meets Dec. 19. That raises the possibility of an interest rate cut early next year. The Fed boosted rates half a dozen times between summer 1999 and summer 2000 because of concerns the economy was growing too rapidly and becoming vulnerable to inflation. 

“When you have a market that’s been as repressed as this, you set up this kind of coil-spring syndrome. You get some good news and that’s all it takes,” said Larry Wachtel, a market analyst with Prudential Securities. “You got clarification on the president, you had Mr. Greenspan making his speech, and that’s all you needed to snap back.” 

Indeed, after weeks of selling off stocks on earnings worries compounded by the election limbo, investors were buying with gusto Tuesday. 

Banker J.P. Morgan boosted blue chips, rising $13.13 to $151.63. Shares of Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing were up $11.63 at $116.63, an 11 percent gain, after announcing it had named W. James McNerney Jr., the head of General Electric Co.’s aircraft engines division who was passed over for GE’s top job, to be its next chairman and chief executive. 

Tech stocks, which have been among the most battered in recent weeks, also shot up. Microsoft rose $3.44 to $59.88; Sun Microsystems climbed $12.88 to $91.75, a 16 percent gain. 

But investors were still punishing stocks that warned of disappointing earnings. Shares of 3Com tumbled $3.34 to $10.01, a 25 percent drop, after the supplier of broadband equipment warned of soft quarterly results. 

Wall Street also shunned pharmaceutical and energy-related stocks, which had been viewed as safe havens during the market’s volatility. Drug maker Merck fell $2.25 to $89.75; Exelon fell $2.28 to $63.01.. 

“During the bad times, when most of the market was getting killed, drugs and utilities were on the ’high’ list,” said Wachtel, the Prudential analyst. “If I’m going to bargain hunt, I’m not going to look at these stocks.” 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners more than 2-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.38 billion shares, well ahead of the 1.1 billion reported at the same point Monday. 

The Russell 2000 index rose 20.78 to 471.17. 

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.7 percent. Germany’s DAX index rose 3.6 percent, Britain’s FT-SE 100 was up 2.3 percent, and France’s CAC-40 climbed 3.5 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com 

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com 

WASHINGTON — A Nicaraguan garment factory that supplies discounted clothing to American soldiers imposes sweatshop conditions and starvation wages on its workers, a lawsuit filed Tuesday contends. 

The lawsuit, filed by labor-rights attorneys in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, seeks punitive damages against the Chentex factory and its Taiwan-based parent, Nien Hsing. 

It contends Nien Hsing pays workers at the plant less than 20 cents for each pair of blue jeans sewn. The jeans retail for between $25 and $30, but workers receive what amounts to less than 30 cents an hour. 

At a Tuesday news conference, a sweatshop watchdog group said the jeans are sold to American military personnel through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which supplies servicemen and women. 

According to the National Labor Committee for Human Rights, the service imported 64 tons of blue jeans made at the Nicaraguan plant last July, August and September alone. 

“This factory in Nicaragua actually presents the true face of the global economy,” said Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the watchdog. “It’s one of oppression, starvation wages, mass firings, blacklisting, union busting and enormous corporate greed.” 

Pentagon officials admit to doing business with the company, but they say they found no evidence of poor working conditions when a delegation visited the Chentex plant several weeks ago. 

“We do business with them,” said Capt Eric Hilliard, public affairs officer for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. “We went down there, checked it out, and we saw that things were up to par.” 

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service is one of the world’s largest retailers, operating 1,423 stores on U.S. military bases nationwide. It had $7.3 billion in sales last year. 

Kernaghan said he uncovered the link to the Pentagon while reviewing the company’s sales documents. Several American department stores – including Kohl’s, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target and J.C. Penney – also had garment contracts with the company. 

Since last spring, the National Labor Committee has staged numerous demonstrations outside various Kohl’s stores, demanding that the company cut its ties with the Nicaraguan plant. More protests are planned elsewhere, Kernaghan said. 

Two congressional Democrats, Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Ohio Rep. Sherrod Brown, also attended the news conference. Brown traveled to Nicaragua in July and vouched for the deplorable treatment of the garment workers. 

McKinney, who in October introduced legislation that would require U.S. corporations to disclose information about their overseas operations, asked the General Accounting Office to conduct a study. 

“We have to understand these goods come to us at a tremendous human cost, and it’s not necessary,” said McKinney, who sits on the Armed Services and International Relations committees. 

Kernaghan said the Nicaraguan workers are asking for just eight cents more per garment – a raise he says would raise them from “misery to poverty.” 

“How in the world can we spent $60 billion on Star Wars and not be able to pay eight cents more for a pair of jeans?” McKinney said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Homeowners cannot sue construction companies for negligence anymore, unless building code violations or other defects cause injury or economic loss, the California Supreme Court decided Monday. 

The 5-2 decision says homeowners can recover the cost of repairing building code violations or other defects that cause damage only during the warranty time on a new home, from one to 10 years. 

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar wrote that even though building codes require that walls be built to reduce damage during an earthquake or strong wind, it doesn’t mean “any given defect is sufficiently grave to pose a realistic risk of structural failure.” 

Chief Justice Ronald M. George disagreed with part of the decision, saying the Legislature should change the law to protect homeowners from dangerous construction. 

“California is prone to earthquakes, and, tragically, the negligent construction of residential housing almost surely will result in the deaths and injury of numerous current and future residents of this state,” he wrote. 

But an attorney who represented San Diego residents in the case says the decision will ultimately hurt homeowners. 

“For all the people who are not the original owners and encounter some kind of life safety problem ... they are now disenfranchised,” said lawyer Steven M. Strauss. “They don’t have a remedy.” 

Another lawyer said the court’s decision will likely make homeowners less likely to search for defects because they cannot get reimbursed for the damages, and they will not want to disclose those defects to future buyers. 

But attorneys representing the building industry said most lawsuits are filed over minor defects that will never cause major damage. 

“Spending millions of dollars to correct technical defects ... is something of an economic waste,” said Gregory L. Dillon, a Newport Beach lawyer who defended major home builder, The William Lyon Co., in the case. 

The Supreme Court based Monday’s decision in part on a 1965 ruling limiting a manufacturer’s liability to physical injuries in a negligence lawsuit. 

The case was brought by owners of a San Diego condominium project and a single-family housing development. They wanted compensation for building code violations that included improperly connected walls and inadequate fire protection insulation. 

A trial court and a Court of Appeal had ruled the residents were barred from suing for negligence unless defects caused damage. 

In a dissent, Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk said he regretted the court did not create even a “minimal safeguard” for homeowners. 

SAN FRANCISCO — San Jose maintained its position as the No. 1 place for high-tech jobs, but other cities with high employment growth were closing the gap. 

San Jose had 252,900 high-tech jobs in the most recent statistics, according to a study released Tuesday by the Nasdaq Stock Market and the American Electronics Association, a high-tech trade association. 

But Boston was a close second with 234,800 high-tech jobs, followed by Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Dallas. Los Angeles, with 160,500 high-tech jobs, was ranked sixth in the 1998 figures. 

The “Cybercities” study named San Francisco the second-fastest growing city in high-tech employment, with 65 percent growth over a five-year period, trailing only Colorado Springs’ 77 percent growth. 

The Bay area is “starting to slow a bit relative to other markets,” said Mark Albertson, senior vice president for AeA. “There are some quality of life characteristics that may be putting the brakes on.” 

Those include factors such as affordable housing, transportation, energy and education, said Michelle Montague-Bruno, a spokeswoman for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, who nevertheless touted the attractiveness of her region. 

The average high-tech annual salary in San Jose was $85,100, putting it second behind Seattle, where workers averaged $129,300. San Francisco high-tech wages were fourth in the nation, at an average of $78,400. In some areas in the country, high-tech wages were as much as 220 percent higher than private sector wages. 

Compared to the East Coast, university research and development ventures in Silicon Valley were falling behind. 

“The Bay area lags behind in R&D, compared to many of the universities on the Eastern seaboard,” Albertson said. 

This is the first year of the study, which aims to provide a snapshot of the high-tech industry in 60 metropolitan areas. But it is missing a key element of the high-tech industry – the past two years. It uses government data from 1998. 

Some industry experts say this year’s dot-com fallout and other factors in the fast-moving tech industry make the study outdated. 

“Between two years ago and now, San Francisco could very well have been the fastest growing area,” said Marie Jones, director of business assistance at the San Francisco Partnership, a nonprofit economic development group. 

The study shows that in tech employment within the Bay area, San Francisco, at 20th, was upstaged by Oakland, ranked 17th. 

San Jose residents were the most wired in the nation, with a computer in 77 percent of households and Internet access in 66 percent. 

Jones said the study’s findings on other cities’ booming high-tech industries aren’t surprising. 

“Everyone is trying to say they’re as big as San Jose. San Jose doesn’t play that game. They know they’re the biggest,” Jones said. Even so, she added, “the idea that one city should have all the growth is kind of silly.”

As cold weather descends and natural gas costs soar, the Berkeley City Council is expected to adopt a resolution tonight continuing a program to assist vulnerable residents heat their homes. 

If approved, the State of California Department of Community Services and Development will grant Berkeley $30,000 for next year’s administration and material costs for the much needed low-income program. The overall cost of the state-funded program this year was $125,000. 

Applicants will be assigned priority according to a mathematical calculation that considers the very young, the very old and the disabled. 

Energy Officer Neal De Snoo, of the Berkeley Housing Department, said 1,200 homes took advantage of the bill-pay assistance program last year and 125 homes were weatherized. 

To apply for the program, applicants must call the city’s Energy Office on the first of the month and staff will schedule an appointment with an energy consultant. At the consultation, applicants will be assigned priority status according to need. 

Also during the consultation, applicants will learn some energy management techniques such as changing furnace filters, turning off lights when not in use and how to determine when a home is not weather tight. The application is then turned over to the State of California Department of Community Services and Development where it undergoes an approval process. 

Berkeley residents who qualify for the free weatherization program will have their homes modified to stay warmer and thereby reduce energy costs. Energy-saving modifications include, attic, water heater and pipe insulation, low-flow devices put on hot water faucets, and rubber “shoes” fastened to the bottom of doors. 

“Right now there’s more demand than resources,” said De Snoo, “and demand for the program is going up.” 

Senior Service Assistant Diane Norman, of the North Berkeley Senior Center, said the program is very important to seniors who are at higher risk of becoming ill during the winter months. “A lot of seniors don’t know about the program and I think a lot of seniors have been living without heat during the coldest months of the year,” she said. 

For more information about the low-income energy program call (510) 644-8544. 

West Berkeley Air Quality Study 

Mayor Shirley Dean will ask the council to have the city manager develop criteria for an ambient air quality study in west Berkeley.  

Another study of the area was submitted to the city last September that found the compounds acrolein and formaldehyde in amounts exceeding levels considered safe for humans. The source of the dangerous compounds possibly came from automobile exhaust on the I-80 Freeway.  

The September study was considered to be lacking in certain data. A definitive study that will better estimate health risks such as cancer and chronic disease is being requested by the mayor. 

Downtown affordable housing on Oxford Street 

The council will likely adopt a recommendation to ask the Planning Commission to come up with a set of guidelines for developers to work from while preparing proposals for a multi-use development at the site of the Oxford Street parking lot. 

The city owned site at the corner of Allston Way has been earmarked for affordable housing but until developers submit realistic cost analyses, the affordable housing is still on the wish list. 

University Avenue improvements 

The council is also expected to adopt a recommendation to have the city join forces with the University Avenue Association to apply for $2 million in state Transportation for Livable Communities funds to make University Avenue safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. 

The modifications will include improved sidewalks, pedestrian lights, public transit amenities, bicycle facilities and traffic-calming sidewalk bulbouts. The council will also consider whether to appropriate $24,500 from the parks budget to hire a landscape architect to assist staff in developing plans and preparing the application. 

The city and the UAA must act quickly to beat the February deadline for applications. 

President of the University Avenue Association, Kirpal Khanna said Berkeley’s main avenue is long overdue for a face lift and safety upgrades. “Traffic moves so fast on University,” he said. “We want to make sure it’s safe for pedestrians.” 

New Harley’s for Berkeley police  

The council will consider the city manager’s recommendation to purchase six new Harley Davidsons for the Berkeley Police Department’s Traffic Bureau at a cost not to exceed $102,900.  

Leases on six motorcycles the police now use are due to expire at the end of December. 

Lt. Stan Muller of the Traffic Bureau said the police department would like to replace the leased motorcycles with six new Harley Davidsons to add to the city’s fleet of three BMWs. The bikes would be purchased from McGuire Harley Davidson of Walnut Creek. 

Skate boards 

Mayor Shirley Dean and new Councilmember Mim Hawley have requested the council ask the city attorney to draft an ordinance prohibiting the use of skateboards, rollerblades, bicycles, scooters at special events. 

According to the mayor and Councilmember, there have been complaints about reckless behavior on the wheeled devices during crowded outdoor events such as the Solano Stroll where 150,000 people attended. 

The new ordinance would be designed to protect the elderly, infirm and very young. 

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. tonight in Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The meeting will be broadcast on KPFA-FM 94.1 and televised on Ch-25. 

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 

Untraining White Liberal  

Racism 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Call for location  

El Cerrito 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Citizens Budget Review  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

BHS Jazz Lab Band &  

Combos 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater 

Allston Way  

Their first concert of the new school year.  

$8 general, $3 students  

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.  

Berkeley Communicators  

Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available. 642-7202 

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. 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. 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 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) 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

7 p.m. 

2118 Milvia St.  

Second Floor Conference Room 

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  

Yiddish Conversation 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Julia Morgan Collaborating with Bernard Maybeck  

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., speaker 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Mark Wilson, realtor with Prudential Realty, will speak. Also City Commons Club annual meeting.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

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 

Women Sing  

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  

Bay Area Steppers Drill Team 

2 - 4 p.m. 

1216 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Artists at Play Holiday Sale 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 528-0494  

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  

— Compiled by  

Chason Williams 

Loneliness as a Spiritual Crisis 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

1924 Cedar St.  

Hear about the spiritual path of Light and Sound. Also includes the ancient teachings of the saints.  

Call Unitarian Hall, 841-4824 or visit www.masterpath.org 

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 

Poems on the Jewish Experience 

3 - 5 p.m. 

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church 

2837 Claremont Blvd.  

Selected from over 200 poems submitted, the winners of the fourteenth annual Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award will read their poems.  

Journey of the Soul 

7 - 9 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave.  

A public satsang and Babaji Kriya Yoga meditation with Himalayan yogi Yogiraj Sat-Gurunath.  

Call Sylvia Stanley, 845-9434  

UNtraining White Liberal Racism 

2 - 4:30 p.m. 

555 Tenth St. (at Clay) 

Oakland 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Irish Harp & Guitar 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1603 Solano Ave.  

Trish NiGabhain is one of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

Monday, Dec. 11

Ask the Doctor 

10 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Dr. McGillis will discuss prevention and treatment of colds and influenza. 

Call 644-6107 

AHAP Talent Show & Raffle 

2 - 4 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Center St.  

The Affordable Housing Advocacy Project organizes the talent show and raffle to help raise funds to further develop tenant leadership through participation in conferences and networking with other tenants in regional, state and national organizations.  

Call 1-800-773-2110 

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 

Ballroom Dancing for Seniors 

9 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Waterfront Commission Meeting 

7 p.m. 

H’s Lordship Restaurant  

199 Seawall Dr.  

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Commission on Disability  

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Board of Library Trustees  

7 p.m. 

West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Homeless Commission  

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St.  

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 

Meeting Life Changes  

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With John Hammerman.  

Call 644-6107 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

Solano Ave. Association 

Holiday Mixer & Meeting 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

Cafe Del Sol 

1742 Solano Ave.  

With light refreshments and a silent auction, the Solano Ave. Association invites you to “meet your business neighbors.”  

Call 527-5358  

Community Health Commission 

6:45 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way  

Auditorium 

Call 665-6845 for exact location 

Zoning Adjustments Board  

7 p.m. 

Council Chamber 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Second Floor 

Friday, Dec. 15

BHS Orchestra and Concert Band 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater  

Allston Way 

St. Paul AME X-Mas Party 

5:30 - 8 p.m. 

2024 Ashby Ave.  

For St. Paul’s annual party they ask that you bring a new toy or book for a needy child. Free 

Call 665-2164 

Dance for the Forests 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

Join the Alice Di Michele Band, Rachel Garlin, and acapella group Making Waves at this benefit concert for the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters.  

Admission is sliding scale 

835-6303 

Holiday Musical Quartet 

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., music  

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

With music arranged by Melinda McCallister, the quartet will perform popular year-end songs from around the world.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

Lesbians and Gays Get Together 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

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 

Untraining White Liberal  

Racism 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Call for location  

El Cerrito 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Citizens Budget Review  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

BHS Jazz Lab Band &  

Combos 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater 

Allston Way  

Their first concert of the new school year.  

$8 general, $3 students  

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.  

Berkeley Communicators  

Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available. 642-7202 

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. 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. 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 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) 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

7 p.m. 

2118 Milvia St.  

Second Floor Conference Room 

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  

Yiddish Conversation 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Julia Morgan Collaborating with Bernard Maybeck  

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., speaker 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Mark Wilson, realtor with Prudential Realty, will speak. Also City Commons Club annual meeting.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

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 

Women Sing  

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  

Bay Area Steppers Drill Team 

2 - 4 p.m. 

1216 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Artists at Play Holiday Sale 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 528-0494  

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  

— Compiled by  

Chason Williams 

Loneliness as a Spiritual Crisis 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

1924 Cedar St.  

Hear about the spiritual path of Light and Sound. Also includes the ancient teachings of the saints.  

Call Unitarian Hall, 841-4824 or visit www.masterpath.org 

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 

Poems on the Jewish Experience 

3 - 5 p.m. 

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church 

2837 Claremont Blvd.  

Selected from over 200 poems submitted, the winners of the fourteenth annual Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award will read their poems.  

Journey of the Soul 

7 - 9 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave.  

A public satsang and Babaji Kriya Yoga meditation with Himalayan yogi Yogiraj Sat-Gurunath.  

Call Sylvia Stanley, 845-9434  

UNtraining White Liberal Racism 

2 - 4:30 p.m. 

555 Tenth St. (at Clay) 

Oakland 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Irish Harp & Guitar 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1603 Solano Ave.  

Trish NiGabhain is one of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

Monday, Dec. 11

Ask the Doctor 

10 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Dr. McGillis will discuss prevention and treatment of colds and influenza. 

Call 644-6107 

AHAP Talent Show & Raffle 

2 - 4 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Center St.  

The Affordable Housing Advocacy Project organizes the talent show and raffle to help raise funds to further develop tenant leadership through participation in conferences and networking with other tenants in regional, state and national organizations.  

Call 1-800-773-2110 

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 

Ballroom Dancing for Seniors 

9 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Waterfront Commission Meeting 

7 p.m. 

H’s Lordship Restaurant  

199 Seawall Dr.  

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Commission on Disability  

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Board of Library Trustees  

7 p.m. 

West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Homeless Commission  

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St.  

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 

Meeting Life Changes  

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With John Hammerman.  

Call 644-6107 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

Solano Ave. Association 

Holiday Mixer & Meeting 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

Cafe Del Sol 

1742 Solano Ave.  

With light refreshments and a silent auction, the Solano Ave. Association invites you to “meet your business neighbors.”  

Call 527-5358  

Community Health Commission 

6:45 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way  

Auditorium 

Call 665-6845 for exact location 

Zoning Adjustments Board  

7 p.m. 

Council Chamber 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Second Floor 

Friday, Dec. 15

BHS Orchestra and Concert Band 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater  

Allston Way 

St. Paul AME X-Mas Party 

5:30 - 8 p.m. 

2024 Ashby Ave.  

For St. Paul’s annual party they ask that you bring a new toy or book for a needy child. Free 

Call 665-2164 

Dance for the Forests 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

Join the Alice Di Michele Band, Rachel Garlin, and acapella group Making Waves at this benefit concert for the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters.  

Admission is sliding scale 

835-6303 

Holiday Musical Quartet 

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., music  

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

With music arranged by Melinda McCallister, the quartet will perform popular year-end songs from around the world.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

Lesbians and Gays Get Together 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Reactions to Netanyahu protests 

Is it OK to stop some speech? 

Editor: 

A decade ago, David Irving, the revisionist British historian, came to Berkeley to give a lecture. When demonstrations and heckling did not stop him, a bomb threat did. Police evacuated the hall.  

I knew some protesters, Jews from the left and right, and understood their anguish. Most people supposed that the protesters had called in the bomb threat. Although the visit was canceled, there was no uproar in the media. 

David Irving was not in Berkeley to deny the Jewish holocaust. He was promoting his latest book, Churchill’s War. Still, he was known for denying that the holocaust ever happened. 

In a similar manner, I do not believe that Netanyahu was here to promote collective punishment, the enslavement of the Palestinian people or to excuse his or Israel’s crimes against humanity. I am sure that, like Mr. Irving, he is aware of the selective sensitivities of liberal Bay Area politics. 

In the end, I can only reconcile this issue by recognizing the vast difference between denying freedom of speech to a writer on a war he took no part in, and a leader who committed crimes against humanity less than a decade ago.  

If this man becomes Israel’s next Prime Minister, it will serve Israel and humanity that he should know not every American will support his actions and blame the 

victim. Not every American can be intimidated, like our shameless elected officials. 

Nabil Al Hadithy 

Berkeley 

Should listen  

to every side 

Editor: 

The intimidation and silencing of Benjamin Netanyahu in Berkeley last week was a shameful event. It is a stain on our reputation as a community ready and able to hear every side of every question.  

The leader of this attack on freedom of expression was quoted as saying that Mr. Netanyahu had a right to speak but “we also have a right to try and stop him.” The concept of a “right” to interfere with the speech of political opponents is chilling. Have the demonstrators forgotten the long, hard battle for free speech in the United States? 

And have they somehow failed to notice what life is like in countries where either mobs or governments still believe they have “the right to try and stop” the expression of speech with which they disagree? 

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” has long been a watchword for those who believe in civil liberties and a civil society. There is no excuse for abandoning this principle. 

Elmer R. Grossman, M.D. 

Berkeley 

Could have done more to protect Netanyahu’s right to speak 

The Daily Planet received the following letter from the San Francisco Anti-Defamation League addressed to Mayor Shirley Dean and Police Chief Dash Butler): 

As you might know, the Anti-Defamation League is a civil rights organization dedicated to countering division and hatred and protecting all people’s rights to fair representation and expression. Last week our office was deluged with phone calls from Berkeley residents who were upset with reports about the city’s response to the scheduled appearance of Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Berkeley Community Theatre last Tuesday.  

Media reports suggest that the city might not have done enough to protect Mr. Netanyahu’s right to speak. One report quotes Berkeley City Council Member Dona Spring as saying “I am upset we’re spending public money to provide security for this event.” According to a November 30 story in the Jerusalem Post, the Berkeley Police Department recommended that the event be canceled because demonstrators broke through police barricades and there were not enough officers to contain the crowd.  

I am sure you agree that the city has an obligation to do whatever it can to provide a safe environment in which people can express their opinions freely. By acquiescing to the protesters’ demands, we encourage others to use bullying tactics to silence opinions with which they disagree. I would appreciate your looking into this matter and informing me of how the city will respond if necessary. 

Jonathan Bernstein 

Director, Central Pacific Region ADL 

Cc: Police Chief Dashel Butler 

A mother’s appeal during  

the month of Ramadan  

As the Mother of Jeffrey Schilling, I am appealing to the Abu Sayyaf for my son’s immediate and unconditional release during the month of Ramadan.  

Holding my son against his will is causing great pain to me and to his wife Ivy.  

Keeping Jeffrey will not accomplish anything for your movement. 

It violates a basic sense of decency to hold an innocent person against his will. 

Jeffrey is not your enemy, nor am I. 

Whatever you hope to achieve will not be realized by holding my son, a fellow Muslim, one who cares deeply about the plight of the Muslim people of Mindanao.  

I would ask that you release Jeffrey at this time, and through this humanitarian act, demonstrate to the world that you are capable of treating innocent people in the same manner that your people wish to be treated.  

Jeffrey’s release will bring great credit to your movement and win you praise from everyone who is watching this matter.  

I pray that you will continue to treat Jeffrey with respect and dignity.   

Please release him unharmed.  

Carol Schiller 

Oakland 

Open Statement by  

the Willard Faculty 

We, the Willard faculty, share our community's shock and grief at the recent tragic events involving some of our students. We extend our sympathy and deepest sorrow to the children and their families, and we support all efforts to bring resolution to the case in a way that is fair and judicious. Much has been written and said on the matter, and as we struggle to carry on the work of educating our youth under the scrutiny of the media and the public eye, we believe that it is important for us to make the following points. 

First, we applaud those who caution against a rush to judgment, against those charged or implicated in the matter, against the public school system, against the victim, against popular culture. Surely if we are to improve the safety and the attitudes of our children, our sense of outrage and disbelief must be tempered by calm reflection, and a reasoned and deliberative approach is most appropriate. 

Second, we caution those who are quick to criticize our site administration here at Willard for failing to provide information to parents and the public in a prompt manner. Considering the amount of misinformation generated about this case, and the manner in which these children have become the subject of a national media event, was it not prudent of our administrators to endeavor to protect the children and to allow the police to investigate the incident? Was it not right to proceed cautiously and deliberately, especially because this was an isolated incident and did not, to the best of their knowledge, pose any apparent threat to the general student population? 

Lastly, we welcome our community's interest in helping us address some of the issues we face as middle school educators in modern America. Our schools are a mirror of our society, and our students mimic our attitudes and ethics. It will take all of us working together to understand what has happened, and we will all be required to ask some hard questions. 

This has been an extremely difficult time, but we remain hopeful that this tragedy - for that is what it is - will serve as a catalyst for a renewed commitment to our youth. It is right to be concerned, and yet we must use this opportunity to come together in partnership to create the best possible educational environment for our children. We remain committed to that goal, and we invite you to join us. 

The Willard Faculty 

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

The city will take eight of its most heavily-polluting vehicles off the streets and replace them with alternately-fueled transportation in the next six months.  

A $388,000 grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Transportation Fund for Clean Air will allow replacement of four refuse trucks, three recycling trucks and a bus for homeless transportation with vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. The old vehicles run on diesel fuel, which the California Air Resources Board has found to emit 40 toxic contaminants, 15 of which are considered to be cancer-causing.  

“The recycling trucks and the garbage trucks drive up and down every street, not just on the major truck thoroughfares,” said Matt Nichols, an environmental planner with the BAAQMD.  

“That exposes the most sensitive individuals, children and the elderly, to a significant amount of particulate matter.” 

Replacing these vehicles with a natural-gas powered fleet will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 89 tons, nearly 2,500 pounds of smog-causing pollutants and eliminate cancer-causing particulate matter, Nichols said.  

“Natural gas still emits some greenhouse gases, but for human health at the local level, it is extremely clean,” said Housing Department Energy Officer Neal De Snoo. 

Compressed natural gas vehicles are not only cleaner than diesel trucks, they are also quieter. “The residents of Berkeley are going to hear the difference,” noted Nichols.  

The grant will enable the city to expand its alternatively-fueled fleet from 17 to 23 vehicles. The city also plans to use its own funds to purchase a natural-gas powered street sweeper and an aerial truck used for streetlight service.  

The city currently has approximately 70 diesel vehicles. It hopes to replace all of them over the next ten years. “What we’re trying to do is phase out our diesel vehicles, particularly the older vehicles which emit a lot of particulate matter,” said De Snoo “These trucks are driving by schools and down residential streets. We don’t want that soot out in our neighborhoods.”  

One of the vehicles to be replaced through the grant is the Social Service Transport bus, which brings homeless people to doctors, meals, job-training programs and social service agencies. The bus has logged about 200,000 miles over its 10 years of service and is subject to frequent breakdowns. With a capacity of 19 passengers, it is in such demand that the drivers frequently have to do a second run to accommodate all the passengers, according to David Wee, mental health program supervisor for the city of Berkeley Crisis Services Program. The new bus will be able to accommodate at least 24 passengers and will expand its services to include two or three routes a week to Highland Hospital and East Oakland, a currently unserved area. It will add an additional 4,000 miles of service to its route. “This is going to tremendously help the people who use this service,” said Wee. “We’ve found that a lot of these people wouldn’t go to these programs if it weren’t for the transportation we are providing.”  

In addition, the city will lease an electric housing inspection vehicle, which will be on the streets next month.  

The city will break ground today on a new natural gas fueling station, which will make operating the vehicles more convenient for drivers, who currently have to drive to Oakland to get fuel. The new station at the intersection of Second and Gilman streets, should open in three months.  

It will also service alternative fuel vehicles from the University of California at Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District and Pacific Gas and Electric.

“Free from parental control at last. Now all you need is money. Cha-Ching.”  

And the money Visa is selling is plastic. A credit card Visa calls “the currency of fun.” But instead of using it to have fun, most students are spending the $500 starting limit to cover the rise on tuition and living costs. 

“Students are not just using credit cards to pay for incidentals. They are using them to pay for tuition,” said Shirley Dean, director of marketing at the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the East Bay. (Dean is not to be confused with the mayor of the same name.) “We have seen an increase of people in their early 20s looking for help from us.” 

On average, students get their first credit card by the age of 18 and by the time of graduation the same students has acquired at least two more, according to the Consumer Federation of America.  

Most of these credit cards charge an annual percentage rate of 18 to 19 percent. 

”I received about three applications for credit cards at home when I was 17,” said Cassady Winston, a freshman at UC Berkeley. “Now I have two credit cards on my name. I got the first one two weeks after I turned 18. I have a $1,000 debt in credit cards” 

As tuition escalated and student loans jumped sharply in the 1990s, credit card advertisements became increasingly visible on campus, according to a report by Georgetown University professor Robert Manning for the consumer federation. 

The federation also says that 70 percent of students at four-year institutions have at least one credit card. 

“From bookstore inserts to applications strategically placed in dorm corridors, classrooms and cafeterias, credit card advertising campaigns are designed to condition students to accept the use of credit cards as the social norm of college,” Manning says. 

“A particularly disturbing trend is the emerging ‘marriage of convenience’ between credit card companies and universities,” he adds. 

That trend is present at UC Berkeley as well. Credit cards advertisements go into every bag at the University’s bookstore. 

“We put the ads on the bags year long,” said Monica O’Neill, a supervisor at the student bookstore. “At least half of the students pay with credit or debit cards.” 

Heather Milne, a student who works at the Cal Student Store, says that every Friday afternoon MBNA America gives out Cal hats when students sign up for a Visa card that has a picture of the stadium on the front. 

“Most of my friends that have the card signed up to get the free hat,” Milne said. “They don’t use it, but they have other credit cards they use.” 

Nationally, tuition and fees rose by 4.4 percent at four-year public institutions last year, according to a report by the College Board.  

However, in the University of California system, tuition, fees, room and board for state residents remained at an average of $13,233 for the sixth year. At UC Berkeley the same costs are estimated at $15,000, with over $8,000 allotted for on campus housing alone. 

Although student aid has grown faster than tuition in the past decade, the increase has come in the form of student and parent loans, according to Manning’s report. 

“More students are taking out loans,” said Cheryl Resh, associate director of financial aid. “But whether the amount of money being borrowed has increased is hard to say.” 

Regardless of the increase in aid, students at UC Berkeley find they need to use credit cards to make ends meet. 

“I get most of my expenses paid for by scholarships, Pel and Cal grants,” said Narcissus Hogue, a junior at UC Berkeley. “But I still have two credit cards that are maxed out right now.” 

The problem starts when students’ debt begins to exceed 20 percent of their income, said Dean, whose organization offers free workshops on reducing credit card debt. 

“When you can only make the minimum payment or a little bit more, you are in a dangerous situation,” she added. 

Winston, the freshman who got his first credit card a few days after turning 18, has used both of his credit cards to the maximum and only makes the minimum payment. 

“I know they will eventually increase my limit,” Winston said. 

LOS ANGELES — Fourth-graders joined the fight over diesel school buses Monday, donning gas masks and urging state air regulators not to spend millions to buy the vehicles. 

About 20 youngsters from Castle Heights Elementary School joined representatives of several environmental groups at a press conference. 

“A lot of people are dying every day, breathing in diesel fuel,” 9-year-old Amanda Davis said, explaining why her class decided to demonstrate against diesel buses. 

“When I have kids,” 9-year-old Justin Rubinstein said, “I really don’t want them to breathe in diesel gas and really get hurt by asthma or lung cancer.” 

A girl held up a drawing of a school bus, with two people coughing behind a knot of black scribbles. 

The California Air Resources Board, which meets Thursday in Sacramento, will consider a staff recommendation on how to spend a $50 million state appropriation to reduce school bus pollution. 

The most contentious issue has been whether diesel fuel – which runs more than two-thirds of the school buses on California roads – can be reformed enough to keep it viable. 

The staff plan would spend $15 million on advanced, cleaner-burning diesel buses. Another $25 million would be spent on natural gas-burning buses and $10 million on retrofitting existing diesel buses with cleaner engines. 

Staff members say the proposal is intended to help both urban areas, where the need for pollution controls are most acute, and rural districts, where many of the oldest buses operate and expensive natural gas infrastructure is lacking. 

Critics contend diesel is inherently polluting and a particular threat to children. 

But Tom Trueblood, spokesman for International Truck and Engine Corp., said the latest diesel technology is much cleaner than engines in vehicles on the road today, and also the cheapest way to reduce emissions. 

The only engine that could meet the air board’s proposed standard for diesel school buses is an International model. It is still being tested and has not yet been federally or state certified – meaning it cannot be sold – but the company expects to deliver models by 2002. 

Air board spokesman Jerry Martin said buying diesel buses will help rid California of some of the dirtiest and most dangerous school buses on the road. 

About 1,900 buses, 12 percent of the total number in the state, were made before 1977 federal safety and emissions standards kicked in. 

On the Net: 

Air Resources Board: www.arb.ca.gov

Some say clinical trials showing  

cancer research is headed forward 

SAN FRANCISCO — A leukemia drug that brought cancer into remission in most patients in clinical trials is generating extraordinary excitement among cancer specialists and patients as a gentler, more effective treatment that assures researchers they’re on the right track. 

The drug, called Glivec, or STI-571, and manufactured by Novartis AG, should be available for prescription as early as June 2001, researchers said as they presented their findings at the American Society of Hematology convention on Monday. 

Meanwhile, people with advanced chronic myeloid leukemia will be allowed to get the pill immediately by joining clinical trials that are already in progress, and newly diagnosed leukemia patients can get on waiting lists for new trials, which will be gradually expanded. 

“This drug is a major breakthrough. It will change the way we treat patients with CML,” said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, who oversees one of the trials at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. 

Anyone diagnosed with leukemia should make every effort to get the new pill, rather than depend interferon, the common treatment for leukemia, said Edward Benz, president of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research. 

“I think patients ought to find out if there’s a clinical trial and if they qualify for it,” Benz said. “This is not a miracle drug,” he added, but it is a model for future cancer study because it targets the cause of the disease without damaging other cells. 

“The results support the dream that so many of us in molecular biology have – that is, if you know the genetic abnormality, you can develop a better therapy,” Benz said. 

Leukemia, caused by an abnormal protein that is the product of an abnormal chromosome, affects about 10,000 adults worldwide each year. It leads to a huge increase in the number of white blood cells, which can interfere with the functioning of other organs. 

Glivec blocks a signal that the protein sends out. That effectively prevents the abnormal growth and production of other cancerous cells. 

So far, the Glivec trials have involved almost 3,000 patients around the world who have not responded well to interferon, a natural protein which must be injected. Interferon revs up the body’s immune defense but has side effects including pain, joint inflammation and flu-like symptoms. And while it can prolong a leukemia patient’s life by up to two years, about 20 percent of patients stop using it because of its side effects. 

Bone marrow transplants are the only proven way of curing leukemia, but these procedures carry a mortality rate of up to 40 percent, and are only successful in 55 to 65 percent of cases. Other drugs are used to maintain the health of leukemia patients, but don’t decrease the number of white blood cells or help make the blood normal again. 

Results analyzed for more than 760 of these patients in different stages of the disease were presented Monday. More than 530 people in the first phase of the disease were studied and in more than 90 percent of the cases, their blood was normal after six months of treatment. 

The drug also proved effective for many people with more advanced leukemia: 91 percent of the 230 patients in the second phase of the disease responded positively; of these, 63 percent saw their blood counts return to normal. In some, the cancer-causing chromosome disappeared. 

“The main thing is that I got my life back,” said Carol Stuckey, a 50-year-old mother of two from West Linn, Ore., who was diagnosed with CML seven years ago and was close to being in the final phase of the disease, when a patient only has months to live. 

She has been on STI-571 since December 1999, and said the treatment has helped her lead a normal life. “I have energy again. Just prior to taking the medication, I was totally drained. Within two weeks of taking STI, I had wonderful energy. I went Christmas shopping.” 

Stuckey had not responded well to interferon and had been unable to find a match in bone marrow donors. She said she sometimes has leg cramps or puffy eyes since starting to take Glivec, but that those are minimal side effects compared to the lack of energy she was experiencing. 

“The whole of cancer research has been to identify the differences between cancer cells and normal cells. That’s been the goal of cancer research and here it is,” said Brian Druker, an Oregon Health Sciences University researcher who was the principal developer of the drug. “I view it as a new era of cancer therapeutics. It’s the most effective treatment we know of for CML.” 

Researchers chose CML because they knew about the abnormal chromosome and its abnormal protein. Before they transfer the model — targeting a specific abnormality with minimal effect on healthy tissue — to other cancers, they must isolate the causes. 

“All the cancers that have been studied are accumulations of genetic abnormalities,” said Benz. “The trick will just be sorting through those, and each of those is a long, drawn-out process. That doesn’t reduce the significance of this. It means in other examples we’ll have to work harder to find the target.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco International Airport will start transferring all international flights to a new $1 billion terminal. 

The 2.5 million-square-foot international terminal – five times as big as the Transamerica pyramid building in downtown San Francisco – is divided into two wings and has a total of 24 gates for arriving and departing aircraft, and twelve baggage carousels. 

The old international terminal, which had 10 gates and six carousels, opened in 1954. 

International passengers currently get off their plane and wait for their bags before officially entering the country. To speed up the process, passengers now first will pass through U.S. Immigration, then pick up their bags and pass through expanded U.S. Customs facilities. 

Also, unlike in the current international terminal, boarding areas will be open to people without tickets. 

Airport officials expect to entirely convert to the new international terminal by Sunday, but passengers may encounter some chaos during the transition. 

The new international terminal originally was scheduled to open in September, but the process was delayed several months by telecommunications glitches.

SAN DIEGO — A lawsuit seeking $682 million from tobacco companies for improperly marketing to California teen-agers has moved a step closer to class-action status with a state court’s tentative ruling. 

An estimated 1.5 million Californians who smoked as minors between April 1994 and December 1999 could be eligible to join the case against R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson, and Philip Morris. 

Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Prager issued a tentative ruling in favor of class-action status Friday. Oral arguments on the issue are to be heard next week: Norm Blumenthal, an attorney for the plaintiffs, is optimistic Prager will formalize the decision then. 

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of six San Diego area residents who began smoking when they were teens. 

The suit claims that in-store tobacco promotions are placed near candy shelves and at children’s eye level and that advertising images encourage minors to light up. 

The suit seeks the profits from sales made on the ads targeted to youth, an estimated $682 million, Blumenthal said Monday. 

It also seeks to discourage the placement of cigarettes on countertops where they can easily be stolen by teens and to stop tobacco companies from using images that appeal to minors. 

“It’s time for the (Marlboro) cowboy to ride off into the sunset with Joe Camel,” Blumenthal said. 

Michael York, an attorney for Philip Morris, said the company intended to argue against class-action certification next week. 

R.J. Reynolds said it was confident the tobacco companies would prevail. 

“There is simply a fundamental lack of merit in trying to handle tobacco-related lawsuits as class actions,” the company said in a statement. 

Even under California law, “the plaintiffs must be able to identify who is in the class and which class members have been affected by the alleged unfair business practices. There is no mechanism to do either in this case.” 

Representatives of Brown & Williamson and Lorillard Tobacco Co. did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Judge Prager in April had declined to grant class-action status to the case, noting that damages were available without the designation. But three rulings from the state Supreme Court since then — two dealing with unfair competition lawsuits and another limiting the reasons courts can deny class-action status — “changed the legal landscape and allowed us to go in for reconsideration,” Blumenthal said. 

Given California’s “unique consumer protection laws,” this case appears likely to be the first involving teens and tobacco advertising to win class-action status, he said. 

On the Net: http://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/jccp/tobacco/orders/tr001130.html

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court says the University of Washington Law School acted legally when it used race as a factor in its now-abandoned admission policy. 

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday means public schools across the circuit, which includes most western states, can continue using affirmative action programs, said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union at the University of Southern California, which supported the university in its case. 

However, the ruling will not affect admissions in Washington and California, where voters banned such affirmative action programs, he said. 

The lawsuit was brought by Katuria Smith, Angela Rock and Michael Pyle, who say they were denied admission to the region’s largest and most prestigious law school because they’re white. 

Michael Rosman, a lawyer for the Center for Individual Rights, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit agency that opposes affirmative action and represented the trio, said his clients “still want damages for having been subjected to discrimination when they were applying.” Two of the three attended different schools and paid higher tuition than they would have paid at the University of Washington, he said. 

Monday’s ruling cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1978 Bakke vs. University of California decision, in which it struck down the use of racial quotas in school admissions, but allowed schools to consider race in deciding which students to accept. 

In so doing, the 9th Circuit created a direct conflict with the 5th Circuit court, which governs Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. 

In 1996, a three-judge panel of that court ruled in favor of four white students who sued the University of Texas, saying its law school did not admit them because of their race.  

The ruling led to an injunction banning universities from using race as a factor in admission policies. 

“We are well aware of the fact that much has happened since Bakke was handed down,” said Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez, writing for the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit. “Since that time, the court has not looked upon race-based factors with much favor. Still, it has not returned to the area of university admissions.” 

Rosman said they haven’t decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. They say that while the university’s admissions policy may have been constitutional, it also may have been applied incorrectly. 

But David J. Burman, the university’s lawyer, said the students do not have much of a case. 

“We’re optimistic that, at some point, they’ll choose to drop it,” he said. 

A message was not immediately returned from the University of Washington’s attorney general’s office. 

LOS ANGELES — Animal control workers and advocates say a state law requiring pet shelters to delay euthanasia has led to overcrowding and increased dog fights in the city’s kennels, some of which date to the 1920s. 

“I primarily blame the city shelter problem on SB 1785,” said Phyllis Daugherty, Animal Issues Movement director. “The shelter should have the right to humanely euthanize those animals which pose a threat or danger to animals or to people.” 

County animal control officials and administrators at several city shelters have asked the state to reimburse the cost of caring for the animals longer. 

The Commission on State Mandates held hearings last week and is expected to make a decision on reimbursement requests in January. 

Overcrowding has forced workers to place enemy dog breeds in one kennel when they should be separated. Up to four fights break out daily. 

At a South-Central animal shelter, workers had to place an 11-year-old blind Akita into a kennel where six other dogs vied for food and water. Workers said two pit bulls recently attacked a German shepherd. 

Workers often use brooms and sticks to break up the fights. 

“It is an extreme situation for animal control workers to separate the dogs that are fighting,” said City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, chair of the council’s Public Safety Commission. 

City officials are now hoping a voter-passed Measure F will aid workers who take in more than 70,000 dogs into the 386 kennels. The measure has earmarked $154 million for expansion and construction of more animal shelters. 

State Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, sponsored legislation to delay euthanasia in an effort to reduce the number of pets killed. 

“We kill way too many lost dogs and cats, and the legislation opened a new day be extending the holding periods and creating incentives to look for the owners or work with animal welfare activists to adopt them out,” said Hayden, who will run for a City Council seat when his term expires next month.

Photos from a satellite orbiting Mars suggest the Red Planet was once a water-rich land of lakes, strengthening the theory that billions of years ago it had the conditions needed for the evolution of life. 

The photos, taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, show massive sedimentary deposits, with thick layers of rock stacked one on top of another in miles-deep formations. 

“Some of the ... images of these outcrops show hundreds and hundreds of identically thick layers, which is almost impossible to have without water,” said Michael C. Malin, first author of a study being published Friday in the journal Science. 

Malin and his co-author, Kenneth S. Edgett, both researchers at Malin Space Sciences Systems in San Diego, said the photos show clear views of horizontal deposits of rock, a characteristic of sedimentary rock, in the walls of craters and chasms cut into the surface of Mars. 

Such layered rock structures are common on Earth where there were once lakes. Sediments can settle to the lake bottom and, over geologic time, form sheets of rock, one on top the other like pancakes in a stack. 

Malin and Edgett said such layered rock can be formed by wind or volcanic activity, but the prevalence of sedimentary outcrops on Mars suggests strongly the action of water. 

J. William Schopf, head of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life, said the study gives strong support for theories that Mars billions of years ago was wetter, warmer and potentially more friendly to life. 

“This is the strongest evidence yet for what appear to be sedimentary units (rock formations) on Mars,” said Schopf. “If we saw these things from Earth orbit, we’d know” they were formed by water. 

Malin and Edgett suggested that craters, gouged out by asteroids, formed basins that collected water. With its many craters, Mars could have resembled a land of lakes. Sediment flowing into the craters could settle on the lake bottoms and eventually harden into layers of rock. 

They said the process occurred early in Mars’ history, between 4.3 billion and 3.5 billion years ago. 

If there once were lakes of water on the planet, Schopf said, “it makes it increasingly plausible” that life could have existed on Mars. He cautioned, however, that the only way to be sure is to go to Mars and return with samples. 

“You cannot have Earthlike life without having water, but the presence of water, in and of itself, doesn’t say that there was life there,” said Schopf. 

Many experts believe Mars may have been warmer and wetter billions of years ago and that some change in the planet’s atmosphere caused the open water to vaporize and disappear into space. Some have suggested Mars may still have subsurface pools of water, frozen there by the deep cold that now grips the planet. 

On the Net: NASA on the planets: http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/ 

SACRAMENTO — An experimental program to increase salaries for underpaid, part-time “freeway fliers” who teach at multiple community colleges was approved Monday by the system’s state advisory board. 

A $2 million pilot program, if approved by the Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis, would allow six colleges to hire five full-time, tenure-track instructors each. It also would let them teach courses at neighboring colleges. 

The plan is part of a larger state system proposal “to see if we can offer full-time opportunities to enable people to come off the freeways,” said Tom Nussbaum, state chancellor. 

“I think this is really very exciting,” said Chris Storer, a philosophy instructor at DeAnza College in Cupertino and executive council chairman of the California Part-Time Faculty Association. 

The state system’s proposed 2001-2002 budget, approved by the board and presented to the Democratic governor, also contains $75 million for the first year of a three-year program to bring part-time instructors’ salaries closer to those of full-time faculty. 

Most colleges and universities rely on part-time instructors, who do not have tenure rights and frequently are paid less with fewer benefits, to give them flexibility as enrollments change. 

However, the use of part-timers is particularly acute in California’s community college system, the largest in the nation. It serves 1.5 million students in 107 colleges run by 72 locally elected districts. 

About 31,000 of the statewide community college faculty, or 34 percent, are part timers. Some of them want to teach part time, but thousands want full-time jobs. Many, therefore, end up teaching courses in several nearby districts to piece together a living. They call themselves “freeway fliers” because they spend so much time commuting among colleges. 

While pay scales vary among districts, the part timers generally make much less than their full-time counterparts who do the same work. The statewide average hourly rate for full-time faculty in 1998 was $112.94, while for part timers it was $40.84, according to the chancellor’s office. 

Most part timers also did not have health benefits and were not paid for holding office hours until the Legislature provided money for that two years ago. 

“The hopes really of the entire higher education community in the United States are looking to California and what the community college system is doing,” Storer said. 

“Everybody has come finally to the recognition that something has to be done. California has a chance to be out in front,” he said. 

Students will gain from the proposals by having more contact with faculty, said Judith Michaels of the California Federation of Teachers. 

Under the pilot proposal, the six districts chosen would create new, full-time faculty positions, five for each college. Those instructors would teach not only at their home college, but also at nearby colleges. 

The instructors would get the same salary and fringe benefits as other full-time faculty. The home college and the neighboring colleges would continue to pay those instructors at their existing part-time rates, with the state making up the difference. 

The cost would be $2 million a year for four years. During that time, the state would study the program to see how well it worked. 

The California Community Colleges Board of Trustees unanimously approved the proposal Monday. 

In the past two years, faculty groups and the board have proposed money to increase part timers’ salaries, but Davis has blocked or vetoed those proposals. 

The governor has said he was waiting for a study that was included in a 1999 bill on the differences between salaries for part-time and full-time faculty. That study by the California Postsecondary Education Commission was supposed to be finished last spring, but it is not scheduled to be done until next March. 

The $75 million to increase part timers’ salaries is part of a budget proposal by the chancellor’s office. It would be $930 million higher than this year’s $2.7 billion budget. 

That increase is the largest the chancellor’s office has ever proposed, Nussbaum said. It is designed to “help us catch up for long periods of underfunding.” 

The state’s community colleges, with the nation’s lowest tuition of $330 a year, are expected to grow by an additional 400,000 students by 2005, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission. 

Davis will not release his budget proposals until Jan. 10. The Legislature will then approve its budget version next summer for the fiscal year beginning July 1. 

——— 

On the Net: The chancellor’s office is http://www.cccco.edu 

LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for the first three officers convicted in a police corruption scandal said Monday that they will seek a new trial. 

Sgts. Brian Liddy and Edward Ortiz and Officer Michael Buchanan were convicted Nov. 15 of conspiracy and perjury for framing gang members during a 1996 arrest.  

Prosecutors said the officers made false police reports claiming they were intentionally struck by a pickup truck. 

A fourth officer was acquitted. 

Defense attorneys said they will ask for a new trial next week. 

Harland Braun, representing Buchanan, said jurors wrongly relied on a computer-generated police report about the incident that said “great bodily injury” was involved – which the officers did not allege in their handwritten account. 

The police corruption investigation was sparked by statements from Rafael Perez, a former officer convicted of stealing cocaine from an evidence locker. Perez claimed that he and others in a Rampart-area anti-gang unit planted evidence, filed false reports and shot innocent people. 

Perez’s ex-lover was arraigned Monday for allegedly filing a false report with the FBI claiming Perez and another officer killed three people. 

Sonya Flores, 24, was arraigned before a federal judge. She was expected to plead guilty Tuesday and could face up to five years in prison.  

However, a 10-month sentence was being recommended, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. 

Her attorney, Marshall Bitkower, said he hoped his client would receive a lighter sentence to a halfway house. 

Flores, appearing calm during her brief appearance before U.S. Judge Carla Woehrle, made no statement to reporters. 

“I think she’s apologized already,” Bitkower said after the hearing. 

Flores’ allegations, made public in October, contributed to Perez being discounted as a witness in the corruption trial of the other officers. 

They also sent federal authorities to Tijuana, Mexico, to dig for bodies she said were buried in a ravine. None were discovered and the so-called victims were later located and interviewed by the FBI. 

On Nov. 11, Flores recanted her allegations, telling reporters that she made them because she was angry at Perez. 

“Rafael got me pregnant and started seeing other women. He promised to leave his wife and marry me. All he did was use me and throw me away,” she said. 

SACRAMENTO — The California Legislature opened its 2001 session Monday with plenty of handshakes, hugs and unanimity, but there were also signs of discord lurking around the corner. 

“Just to get out alive is our motto,” quipped Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, as lawmakers began a session that could see fights over redistricting, tax cuts, electricity deregulation and a number of other issues. 

Lawmakers met briefly to take their oaths of office, elect their leaders and begin introducing the thousands of bills they will consider over the next two years. Then they recessed until January. 

They got off to a harmonious start with the Senate and Assembly unanimously re-electing Burton and Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, to the top posts in their houses. 

Lawmakers also smoothly approved the rules under which they will operate in 2001 and 2002, including some changes designed to limit late amendments and avoid the chaos that hit on the last night of this year’s session. 

“At this moment, the eyes of our country – and, in fact, the world – are focused on examples of partisan warfare,” said Hertzberg, referring to the court fights over the presidential election. “People are wondering whether our political process really works. Today we have provided a different example.” 

But there also were reminders of some of the battles that may lie ahead. 

Assemblyman Bill Leonard, R-Rancho Cucamonga, introduced a resolution calling for a fair redrawing of legislative seats to reflect population growth revealed by this year’s federal census. 

Redistricting, as the process is called, can be one of the most highly partisan processes lawmakers engage in. Where lines for Senate, Assembly and congressional districts are placed can determine if one party will control the Legislature and even Congress for the next decade. 

Leonard is concerned because for the first time in 20 years members of one party – in this case the Democrats – will be able to dictate where those lines go because they hold the governor’s office and have majorities in both houses of the Legislature. 

That would allow Democrats to try to maximize the number of seats they hold by putting heavily Republican areas into as few districts as possible. 

Hertzberg promised to “draw fair lines, lines that reflect the true California.” 

If Republicans don’t agree they can try to get voters to overturn the new districts or challenge them in court or both. Going to the voters would not be an option if Democrats can muster enough Republican support to approve the plans by two-thirds votes. 

Other hot issues could include how to control skyrocketing electricity rates, whether to toughen gun control laws and how to use a budget surplus projected to top $10 billion. 

Democrats now hold 26 of the Senate’s 40 seats and 50 of the Assembly’s 80 seats. That’s an increase of one Senate seat and four Assembly seats. 

One Assembly seat is vacant because a Republican candidate, Jan Leja of Beaumont, agreed Friday to plead guilty to filing false campaign finance reports and not to take her seat. 

A special election will be held next year to fill that vacancy. 

Despite her absence, there are more women in the new Legislature, as well as more Hispanics, Asians and gays, including the first openly gay member of the Senate, Democrat Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica. 

Twenty-eight lawmakers – all in the Assembly – are totally new. Ten first-time senators are former members of the Assembly and three lawmakers are returning to the Assembly after stints in the Senate.

NEW YORK — A key gauge of future economic activity fell 0.2 percent in October, suggesting further slowing for the U.S. economy in the new year. 

The Conference Board said Monday that its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators declined to 105.5 in October after registering no change in September and dropping 0.1 percent in August. 

The index is watched closely because it gives an indication of where the overall U.S. economy is headed in the next three to six months. 

A related index, which measures current or coincident economic activity, fell 0.1 percent in October — the first decline since a 0.1 percent drop in September 1999, the New York-based business group said. 

Also Monday, the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes moderated in October after surging the month before, providing further evidence the economy is slowing. Americans bought new single-family homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 928,000 in October, a 2.6 percent drop from September. Some analysts were expecting a 4.9 percent decline. 

The reports prompted a retreat to blue chips on Wall Street, with technology stocks falling. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 108.44 at 10,481.98 early Monday afternoon. Broader indicators were mixed. 

Ken Goldstein, the Conference Board’s chief economist, noted that since the start of 2000, the leading indicators have declined in five months and have been been flat in four. 

“To be sure, this series has been signaling and continues to point toward a cooling of still-strong economic conditions,” Goldstein said. 

Economic growth slowed markedly in the July-September quarter, with the gross domestic product expanding at an annual rate of 2.4 percent, down from 5.6 percent in the spring quarter. GDP is a measure of the nation’s total output of goods and services. 

The slowing came after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates six times between June 1999 and May 2000 to try to keep the economy from overheating and sparking inflation. 

The Fed has aimed for a “soft landing” for the economy – slowing growth but not sending the economy into a recession. 

Bryan Jordan, an analyst at Banc One Investment Advisors in Columbus, Ohio, said the economy appears to be on target for a soft landing. 

“There’s no doubt the economy is cooling off, and these numbers are more evidence of that,” he said.  

“We don’t buy into that hard landing story. There’s still a lot of inherent strength in the economy.” 

The Conference Board report said that six of the 10 indicators that make up the leading index declined in October: manufacturers’ new orders for consumer goods, stock prices, manufacturers’ new orders for nondefense capital goods, consumer expectations, initial claims for unemployment insurance and interest rates. 

——— 

On the Net: 

www.conference-board.org 

www.census.gov 

NEW YORK — PepsiCo Inc. shares rose Monday after it sealed a deal to buy Quaker Oats Co., the maker of Cap’n Crunch cereal, Aunt Jemima pancake mix and Gatorade, for about $13.4 billion in stock. 

Adding the popular Gatorade to its fleet of non-carbonated beverages will give PepsiCo the dominant brand in the $2.5 billion sports drink category.  

The company also sells Aquafina water, Lipton teas and Tropicana juices. 

“This is one terrific moment in the history of PepsiCo and Quaker,” Roger A. Enrico, PepsiCo chairman and chief executive officer, told investors and analysts in a conference call. 

He said the deal will help PepsiCo grow faster than expected in both revenue and profits. 

PepsiCo shares, which had slid 6.6 percent on Friday amid reports it was close to a deal, were up 3.4 percent, in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Quaker shares also were higher, rising $2.31 a share. 

When the deal closes, Enrico said Steve Reinemund, PepsiCo president and chief operating officer, will succeed him as chairman and CEO. Chief financial officer Indra Nooyi will add the title of president. 

Robert Morrison, Quaker chairman and CEO, will be a vice chairman of the combined company. 

Quaker Oats can back out if PepsiCo’s stock dips below $40 a share for a period of 10 random days in the month before closing. Under this scenario, PepsiCo would have to increase the share-exchange ratio in order to keep the deal alive. 

At least two PepsiCo rivals had a similar thirst to acquire Quaker Oats: the board of Coca-Cola Co. abandoned talks to buy Quaker for a reported $15.75 billion two weeks ago and French food conglomerate Danone SA backed away from a possible bid. 

PepsiCo beat out its competitors with an offer that essentially mirrored the one rejected by Chicago-based Quaker roughly one month ago. 

“Gatorade would do even better under PepsiCo than it has under Quaker Oats because of better marketing and distribution,” said John Sicher, a veteran soft drink industry watcher who publishes Beverage Digest in New York. 

The deal could raise antitrust concerns because of PepsiCo’s ownership of All-Sport, a competing brand to Gatorade, albeit with much less market share. However, PepsiCo has agreed to get rid of All-Sport in order to keep the deal alive. 

Tom Pirko, who heads the beverage consulting firm Bevmark in Santa Barbara, Calif., said a PepsiCo-owned Gatorade would actually be good for competition. Under PepsiCo, Gatorade would benefit from a vast distribution system and over time would spur demand for more products in the sports drink category, he said. 

Pirko said the acquisition of Quaker Oats, and Gatorade in particular, would give PepsiCo a “huge psychological edge” in its competition with Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, the world’s leading soft drink manufacturer. “PepsiCo is building a formidable package of leading brands,” he said. 

While picking up Gatorade was no doubt the primary thrust of this transaction for PepsiCo, analysts were quick to point out that Quaker Oats’ food products, which include granola snack bars and rice cakes, nicely complement PepsiCo’s line of salty snacks. 

“Quaker Oats’ grain-based snacks could show real growth within the Frito-Lay marketing and distribution system,” Sicher said. “PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division is the nation’s leader in salty snacks with brands such as Lay’s, Fritos and Doritos chips. 

Quaker vast food business also includes such brands as Quaker and Life cereals, and Rice-A-Roni. 

Coca-Cola abandoned its pursuit of Quaker Oats after the soft drink company’s board rejected a deal reportedly worth $15.75 billion. Only hours after Coca Cola’s announcement, the French food conglomerate Danone issued a statement that it may be interested in making a bid for Quaker Oats. But it also dropped out of the running. 

Gatorade began in the 1960s as a drink for thirsty athletes but has become a mainstream beverage. 

Beverage Digest estimated Gatorade accounted for 84.1 percent of take-home sales of sports drinks in the first nine months of this year. Coke’s Powerade had 10.9 percent while PepsiCo’s All Sport had 2.8 percent, Beverage Digest said. 

PepsiCo’s Pepsi-Cola division is the nation’s second biggest soft drink concern with brands like Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is the soft drink leader. 

PepsiCo has been moving to expand its non-carbonated drink portfolio. It recently agreed to buy South Beach Beverage Co., which makes herbally enhanced juices and teas. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Quaker Oats: http://www.quakeroats.com 

Coca-Cola: http://www.cocacola.com 

Danone: http://www.danone.com 

PepsiCo: http://www.pepsico.com 

REDWOOD CITY — The ExciteAtHome cable modem company Monday called off a joint venture with the Dutch communications giant UnitedGlobalCom to deliver high-speed Internet access overseas. 

When the deal was announced in July, the companies said it would create the largest provider of high-speed Internet access outside North America. The venture, called Excite Chello, was to have operated in 15 countries. 

ExciteAtHome executives said “market conditions” led UnitedGlobalCom to ask for changes in the terms of the deal, and the alternative proposals would have been too complex and slowed ExciteAtHome’s international expansion. 

The company said its subscriber base is still expected to increase 25 to 30 percent this quarter, to around 3 million. 

“We do not feel any pressure to run out and do another deal,” Chief Financial Officer Mark McEachen said. 

Officials at UnitedGlobalCom did not return a call for comment. 

ExciteAtHome shares fell more than 5 percent Monday to $5.88 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, but rose as high as $6.13 in after-hours trading. 

ExciteAtHome and UnitedGlobalCom, which operates the Chello Internet service in Europe, New Zealand and Chile, were each to have contributed $93.8 million in the joint venture. Liberty Media, led by former cable industry mogul John Malone, was committed to a $187 million investment. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.excite.com 

http://www.unitedglobal.com 

Original press release: http://www.unitedglobal.com/718.htm 

Surviving with Suzie 

My 9-year-old friend Jenae came over to our house for a weekend visit.  

“What are we going to do?” she demanded.  

“Huh? What?” 

“Let’s see,” I answered. “We could practice your multiplication tables. We could read. We could check my e-mail, make dinner, clean up around here or go outside into the garden and pull weeds.” 

She looked at me as if I were crazy. “No,” she said. “I mean what are we going to do?” 

“Mmmmmmm. How about resting here on the couch?” 

“Look,” she said, ticking off activities with her fingers. “We could go bowling. We could go fishin’ or ice skating or to the movies. Or, we could make a cake.” 

“We don’t have a fishin’ pole,” I said. 

“I know,” she answered, “but we can make one. We’ll get us a stick and some string and a hook and some meat. We’ll put the meat on the hook, then we’ll go to the beach, put the hook in the water, catch a tadpole and watch it grow into a frog.” 

“You want to watch a tadpole grow into a frog?” 

“Sure, why not?” 

I thought about the options. I was not as confident as Jenae that we could make a fishing pole, catch a tadpole and watch it change into a frog. Bowling sounded awful. I knew I wouldn’t like her choice in movies having already seen, at her insistence, a remake of “The Mummy.” Making a cake would require more patience than I could possibly muster. That left only ice skating. 

“All right. We’ll go for a skate.” 

We bundled up and headed for Iceland, where a line of 13 year olds snaked around the corner. We stood between squealing girls and sullen boys, inched our way to the front of the line, bought our tickets, got our rental skates and hit the ice. Literally.  

“I thought you said you could skate,” I shouted as we picked ourselves up from the cold, hard surface. 

“I did,” said Jenae. “And I can, if you didn’t pull me down with you.” 

We brushed ourselves off and wobbled forward. We fumbled our way across the rink. By the light of a hundred pairs of the silver, gleaming braces inside our co-skaters mouths, we were able to guide ourselves through a maze of teenage bodies around the rink just once.  

“Let’s get somethin’ to eat,” said my charge, leaning unsteadily on a wall as others whipped by us. “I’m hungry.” 

“No way. Another time around, young lady.” 

“My feet hurt.” 

“Too bad. So do mine.” 

Around the rink we went, hand in hand, and then another lap and another lap after that. Jenae forgot that she was hungry and that her feet hurt. Rap music pumped loud and hard and a strobe light kept things spinning. I began to feel delirious. 

“Let’s stop,” I said, breathless. “I’m tired and hungry and my feet hurt.” 

“Okay,” said Jenae. “Just one more time around and then we’ll go bowling. I sure hope you’re a better bowler than ice skater.” She let go of my hand and glided across the ice, between the skinny girls in bellbottoms and the boys in baggy pants and backward baseball caps. Strobe lights pulsing, rap music pumping, I wished she could stay a kid forever.  

But as she came back around the rink, then did a fancy backward spin to stop, I knew she’d soon be ready to stand in the long line to Iceland without me. 

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get to the bowling alley before it closes. And tomorrow we’ll bake a cake, go to the movies, buy a fishin’ pole, catch a tadpole and watch it change into a frog. Hurry up!.” 

Susan Parker is a North Oakland resident and author of “Tumbling Down,” which will be published by Crown Books next year. Her columns will appear from time to time in the Daily Planet. You can reach her at sparker@slip.net.

They wept with Katie Lee as her songs of the flowing river brought David Brower’s spirit into the Berkeley Community Theater Saturday. 

They laughed with Ken Brower when he described his father as a man who insisted that his children traverse icy streams on foot. 

More than 1,000 of Brower’s friends and admirers at the mid-afternoon memorial evoked the essence of nature and howled with musician Paul Winter until the theater walls echoed with the sounds of wild wolves.  

The man known as the “archdruid,” died in his Berkeley home Nov. 5. He was 88 years old. 

The way to preserve the spirit of the man would be to emulate his activism, Brower’s friend Huey Johnson said.  

“We either solve the environmental problem, or the earth dies. David Brower’s ideas, capped by his CPR – conservationism, preservation, restoration — is the obvious path to achieve this,” Johnson said. 

A tape of Brower performing a piece he had written for the piano was played and environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill read a poem. U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) brought a tribute to the three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize which she had placed in the Congressional Record. Claiming Brower as its own, the Berkeley City Council voted last month to set aside July 1 as an annual David Brower Day to memorialize the lifetime Berkeley resident. 

Videographers encapsulated Brower’s life and activism: When he was eight years old, Brower’s mother lost her sight. David would lead his mother on excursions through the Berkeley hills, describing the beauty of the nature he found there. But it was Yosemite that Brower fell in love with, hiking its valleys and scaling its peaks. 

Brower joined the Sierra Club when there were just 2,000 members and helped bring it to a strength of more than 70,000.  

“If you have enjoyed this wild country, you have a duty to defend it for future generations,” he would tell others. 

In 1952, he became the club’s first paid executive director and immediately went to work fighting dam construction along the Colorado River. Uncompromising, Brower fought with the Sierra Club Board of Directors over finances and its support of a nuclear power plant which Brower opposed. He resigned as executive director in 1969 — the first of what would become numerous resignations from the club — and later established Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute. 

The organizations, he said, “(are) working to restore the environment and passing it along to the next generation.” 

“(Brower’s) spirit lives in our guts, our hearts,” Katy Lee told the rapt audience. Then she sang about the dams Brower fought to block.  

“The children will grow to be Davids among us and let the river flow. You’ll set it free. Listen to me. You’ll set it free,” she sang. 

Monday, Dec. 4

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Permit Center 

2118 Milvia St.  

First Floor Conference Room 

The Heart of the Matter  

12:15 p.m., buffet lunch 

1 p.m., speaker 

H’s Lordship Restaurant  

Berkeley Marina 

199 Seawall Dr.  

Stephen Raskin, MD will speak on “Beyond Cholesterol - The Heart of the Matter.” Sponsored by the North Oakland/Emeryville Rotary Club. 

$13 with lunch, $5 without 

Call Robyn Young, MD, 748-5363  

BHS AIDS Memorial Quilt 

Berkeley High School 

2246 Milvia  

Berkeley High will be displaying the AIDS Memorial Quilt the entire week, including 150 panels made by Berkeley High students.  

Call Sonya Dublin, 644-6838 x4 

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 

“Choosing Something Like a  

Star” 

7:30 p.m. 

PSR Chapel 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

This annual free concert will feature the PSR Chorale and the Kairos Youth Choir performing carols from many traditions.  

Call Mike Ellard, 236-3033 

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 

Untraining White Liberal  

Racism 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Call for location  

El Cerrito 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Disaster Council  

7 p.m. 

Public Safety Building 

2100 MLK Jr. Way 

Second floor conference room 

Discussions will include the report on disaster preparedness at Alta Bates and the city council/disaster council joint meeting.  

Citizens Budget Review  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

BHS Jazz Lab Band &  

Combos 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater 

Allston Way  

Their first concert of the new school year.  

$8 general, $3 students  

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.  

Berkeley Communicators  

Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

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

Netanyahu deserves  

to speak, but where do we draw the line? 

Editor: 

It’s appropriate to take a somewhat detached viewpoint on the events of last Tuesday and the wider question of free speech. Personally, as a Jew I found Netanyahu’s politics and policies abhorrent. But, I do not think it is at all helpful to prevent him from speaking. If we only allow people with whom we agree to speak how can we have a dialogue or conscensus? 

However words do have some power to do harm. I would have supressed Hitler’s right to free speech at the Nurmeburg rallies. So where do you draw the line? There isn’t any exact formula for it. You have to form a judgement about it for each case that comes up. In my mind, equating Netanyahu’s policies with the Holocaust feeds a rather unproductive mixture of hysteria and panic, masked by “righteous indignation.” This heady cocktail of unmoderated emotion typically leads to the kind of injudicious action we saw last Tuesday. 

Philip Morton 

Berkeley 

Cal led in nearly every statistical category against Florida International University on Sunday, but in a game littered with poor shot selection, missed layups and general sloppy play, the 30 percent the Bears shot from the field proved to be the difference. 

Although Cal put up more shots and outrebounded FIU, they couldn’t overcome their dismal shooting percentage as the Golden Panthers defeated Cal 57-51 at Haas Pavilion to win the 10th annual Oakland Tribune Classic. 

Cal, who advanced to the championship game by defeating Cal State Northridge on Saturday, shot just 21 percent from the field in the first half and finished the game only marginally better. 

“We missed five layups early in the game,” Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer said. “That’s hard when you miss easy shots.” 

In fact, after posting 38 first-half points againt Northridge, the Bears managed just 18 in the opening period against FIU on 7-of-33 shooting. The Golden Panthers, meanwhile, didn’t shoot much better at 36 percent, but it was enough to keep Cal out of its offensive rhythm. 

“Their game plan was to play from end line to end line,” said FIU head coach Cindy Russo. “We tried to change the tempo and we were able to do that.” 

The Bears trailed by as many as eight points in the first half before making a run early in the second. Cal grabbed a 31-30 lead with 11:50 left in the game before reserve forward Amber White went down with a possible fractured ankle. Following the game, Horstmeyer said X-rays were being taken of White’s ankle to determine the severity of the injury. 

After the teams traded buckets, FIU’s Mandy Shafer hit a three-pointer and two free throws with less than eight minutes to play to stretch the Golden Panthers’ lead to seven. 

That lead shrunk to four with 1:22 remaining on a pull-up jumper by Cal point guard Courtney Johnson. On the next possession, Cal’s defense forced FIU to take a wild shot as the 30-second clock wound down, but the Bears allowed the Golden Panthers’ Cheryl Moody to come up with the offensive rebound. Her two free throws sealed FIU’s win. 

Cal’s Johnson, who was named to the All Tournament team, carried the Bears against Northridge with 21 points and eight steals. Sunday, however, she hit just 3-of-14 shots for nine points. 

Only seven FIU players saw action against Cal and Shafer and tournament MVP Gergana Slavtcheva played from start to finish. Shafer finished with 10 points while Slavtcheva netted a game-high 18. Two other players scored in double figures for the Golden Panthers. 

“Gergana is a very emotional player,” Russo said. “In her head she’s not a success unless she scores.” 

Cal’s bright spots, meanwhile, were the play of center Ami Forney and reserve guard Latasha O’Keith. In 35 minutes, Forney finished with a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds. Off the bench, O’Keith dropped in a career high 10 points and added five rebounds. 

“Our drives and inside play was really working for us,” said Forney, who was also named to the All tournament team. “For some reason we stopped doing that and settled fo the outside shot. We stopped attacking.” 

The shorter Bears team pressured FIU throughout the game and forced 24 turnovers. But for the second game in a row, Cal’s Lauren Ashbaugh struggled. She scored just nine points in each of Cal’s two tournament games.  

The Golden Panthers were in foul trouble much of the second half as Cormisha Cotten, Ivelina Vrancheva and Moody all played the majority of the half with four personals. 

Cal visits San Francisco on Dec. 8 before returning to Haas Pavilion on Dec. 10 against Santa Clara, Horstmeyer’s former team. Cal’s Johnson, who was named to the All Tournament team, carried the Bears against Northridge with 21 points and eight steals. Sunday, however, she hit just 3-of-14 shots for nine points. 

Only seven FIU players saw action against Cal and Shafer and tournament MVP Gergana Slavtcheva played from start to finish. Shafer finished with 10 points while Slavtcheva netted a game-high 18. Two other players scored in double figures for the Golden Panthers. 

“Gergana is a very emotional player,” Russo said. “In her head she’s not a success unless she scores.” 

Cal’s bright spots, meanwhile, were the play of center Ami Forney and reserve guard Latasha O’Keith. In 35 minutes, Forney finished with a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds. Off the bench, O’Keith dropped in a career high 10 points and added five rebounds. 

“Our drives and inside play was really working for us,” said Forney, who was also named to the All tournament team. “For some reason we stopped doing that and settled fo the outside shot. We stopped attacking.” 

The shorter Bears team pressured FIU throughout the game and forced 24 turnovers. But for the second game in a row, Cal’s Lauren Ashbaugh struggled. She scored just nine points in each of Cal’s two tournament games.  

The Golden Panthers were in foul trouble much of the second half as Cormisha Cotten, Ivelina Vrancheva and Moody all played the majority of the half with four personals. 

Cal visits San Francisco on Dec. 8 before returning to Haas Pavilion on Dec. 10 against Santa Clara, Horstmeyer’s former team.

While some mall retailers flagged down shoppers the day after Thanksgiving to convince them to work over the holiday season, stores in downtown and south Berkeley reported that they had already hired for the Christmas season. 

“Finding people is not a problem,” said Kevin Hemmerich, assistant manager of Bath and Body Works. “We receive applications constantly.”  

The 4.7 percent unemployment rate in California — lower than a year ago — has not been a problem in Berkeley. 

The bath store on Telegraph and Bancroft avenues hired 15 sales people to join the eight who fill the shifts the rest of the year. Now the only thing missing, a worried Hemmerich said, is the increased flow of customers that will justify the cost.  

However, over on Fourth Street, kitchen specialty store Sur la Table has already received a heavy increase of shoppers before Thanksgiving. Sur la Table management expects those numbers to continue to rise. The store’s holiday hiring — a 50 percent increase from its regular staff — is almost done, said Assistant Manager Richard Chapman. 

“It wasn't as hard as I expected,” Chapman said, adding that it was much harder hiring employees at his former San Francisco restaurant job. 

But managers agreed that Christmas is a hard time to recruit because students leave for the holidays and stores must depend on local residents. Nevertheless, they have found a labor force willing to work for a few weeks — high school students. 

“We mostly hire people who want to make a little extra money over the holiday,” said Elf Fuller, manager of Berkeley Games on the corner of Center Street and Shattuck Avenue. 

Already this year, Fuller has hired three high school students who will mainly wrap presents and stock shelves. 

Most stores were able to hire extra help without offering special incentives aside from the usual employee discounts. But some stores offered additional discounts. Bath and Body Works, for example, added a small percentage to the 30 percent employee discount every time an employee brought in an applicant who was hired. 

Some Berkeley stores, however, lagged in hiring. Rasputin, a Telegraph Avenue music store, had little luck finding employees. “I'm still looking for people. You want a job?” asked floor manager Dennis Bishop, amidst holiday workers he did employ ringing up compact disc’s and helping customers. 

And hose who do take the job may land a full-time job offer after the holiday shopping madness ends. 

Games of Berkeley, for example, reviews all of its employees on January 1 and if their performance is better than permanent employees, Fuller said they may replace them. 

“Sounds a little harsh, but it seems to get the best out of everyone during the holiday season,” said Fuller.

AUSTIN, TX - The University of California women’s swim team, behind a phenomenal performance by freshman standout Natalie Coughlin, finished in sixth place with 367 points at the 2000 Texas Invitational.  

Coughlin captured a total of five individual titles at the Texas Invite. On Sunday, she won the 200 fly with a meet record and NCAA automatic time of 1:55.93. On Saturday, Coughlin won the 200 free with an NCAA automatic mark and school record time of 1:45.65, and captured the 100 back with an NCAA automatic mark and Texas Invitational record time of 52.79. Coughlin’s time of 1:45.65 in the 200 free topped the former Cal school record of 1:45.83 swam by Sarah Anderson in 1991. Coughlin’s time of 52.79 in the 100 back bettered the meet record time of 53.80 set by Arizona’s Beth Botsford in 1999. Coughlin actually defeated Botsford (53.30) in this year’s Texas Invite.  

On Friday, Coughlin placed first in the 100 fly (52.40) and the 200 IM (1:58.35). Coughlin’s time of 52.40 in the 100 fly equaled the Cal school record set by Marylyn Chiang in 1999.  

Other highlights for the Bears on Sunday were junior captain Alice Henriques finishing second in the 200 back (1:58.54) and Cal’s 400 free relay placing third (3:22.73 Coughlin, freshman Danielle Becks, senior Haley Cope, sophomore Michelle Harper).

Several streets in the Berkeley Marina area may soon be designated with the venerable names of three local heroes.  

Mayor Shirley Dean and Councilmember Betty Olds have recommended David Brower, Cesar Chavez and Tom Bates be honored with street names for their important work on the waterfront and in the larger community.  

This Tuesday, the City Council will consider a recommendation to pass the plan on to the Parks and Waterfront and the Planning and Transportation commissions for input and approval. 

If the plan is approved, what is currently Sewall Drive would become David Brower Way. Brower, who died in Berkeley on Nov. 5, was an internationally respected conservationist and activist. He was executive director of the Sierra Club and later founded Friends of the Earth among other environmental organizations. He also supported the Oakland-based non-profit Save San Francisco Bay. 

Councilmember Betty Olds, who has known the Brower family for 45 years, said the Brower family seems to be very happy with the renaming. “It’s nice to have a street named after your dad,” she said. 

A stretch of University Avenue west of Interstate 80 will become Tom Bates Boulevard. The former California assemblyman, who still lives in Berkeley and is married to former Mayor Loni Hancock, was instrumental in securing state funding for the East Shore Park. Without his efforts in the Assembly the park would likely of been commercially developed long ago.  

Councilmember Linda Maio remembered when the park was a dump site. “I never understood how they chose that particular area for a dump, it’s such a beautiful spot and thanks to Tom Bates, we now have a public park,” she said. 

Another stretch of University Avenue from I-80 connecting with Marina Boulevard and Spinnaker Way will become one continuous road renamed Cesar Chavez Drive. The former landfill turned park was already named for the well-known farm labor organizer but, by putting his name on the street, the city will be able to bypass a pesky Caltrans policy.  

When the park was named after Chavez, the city wanted to erect a sign on I-80 directing people to the public park. But Caltrans prohibits signs directing drivers to state and regional parks. Now with the off-ramp road named after Chavez, Caltrans must display his name prominently over the freeway at the University Avenue exits.

AUSTIN, TX - The University of California men’s swim team finished in second place (563 points) at the 2000 Texas Invitational. Cal trailed only host and No. 1 ranked Texas (751).  

On the third day of the Texas Invite, the Bears were paced by sophomore Olympic gold medalist Anthony Ervin, who won the 100 free with an NCAA automatic time of 43.48. Ervin also helped Cal place second in the 400 free relay with an NCAA automatic time of 2:55.36 (Ervin, junior Matt Burny, sophomore Trent Holsman, junior Matt Macedo).  

The Bears time in the 400 free relay, despite being second to Texas’ time of 2:55.34, surpassed the old meet record of 2:55.90 set by Arizona State in 1998.  

Other impressive finishes for Cal during the final day of the Texas Invite were junior Peter Aronsson placing fifth (2:01.91) and sophomore Daniel Kim placing eighth (2:05.89) in the 200 breast, junior Hiro Sakoda placing sixth in the 200 fly (1:48.16), junior Matt Burny placing eighth in the 100 free (45.07) and junior Matt Macedo placing seventh in the 200 back (1:48.48).  

Day two highlights for the Bears included Kim winning the 100 breast with a time of 55.14 and junior Andrew Chan placing eighth with a time of 56.64. Other top individual finishes were sophomore Joe Bruckart placing fifth(1:38.12) and Burny sixth (1:38.43) in the 200 free.

For 52 years, 60-year-old social worker Doris Mack said she has depended on faith at McGee Baptist Church to keep her going. Yesterday, she drew on the strength of those around her again during the World AIDS Day Service while remembering those who have died of the disease. 

“He had no chance, he was born with AIDS,” she said tearfully, remembering a two-year-old foster child that she had watched over. 

The boy was dying in a hospital and the family refused to accept the reason for his death, she said. 

“My religion is what helped this family, because they were in denial,” said Mack. “What I said to them is ‘He is dying of AIDS. He wants to go, let him go to God.’ In six hours, he was gone.” 

Churchmembers lit the candle of hope, honoring both the beginning of Advent and honoring World AIDS Day. Reverend Mark Wilson’s reading from Jeremiah spoke of keeping hope while waiting for a “new day” when the global epidemic will be defeated. 

“That new day is dependent upon economics and wealth,” he said, noting the complacency in wealthy nations like the United States. “That day has not come in Vietnam and Asia, that day has not come for those living with HIV/AIDS in war-torn and starving lands in Africa.” 

One in four women in South Africa suffers from AIDS and twenty percent of the population is infected, according to last week’s United Nations report on AIDS. 

Wilson seeks not only to encourage his own church to join the worldwide fight against AIDS, but to band together many black churches which, because of homophobia, are slow to join the fight. 

I’ve been waiting for hope,” Wilson said, wiping sweat from his brow. “Waiting for churches to stop condemning and to start caring, to stop loathing and to start loving, to stop hating and to start holding and healing,” he said, clapping and stomping as he delivered his sermon. 

Not content to just preach forgiveness and compassion, Wilson also roused people to talk openly about preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS among teenagers. 

“Sixty percent of new cases in Alameda County are teenagers and youth, from our families, high schools, and churches,” he said, citing a recent county study. 

“We need to be holding workshops at the church and having discussions with them about substance abuse and addiction. We need to help them understand sex and sexuality,” he said. 

But it’s not only the young who need prevention education, Wilson said.  

Senior citizens, often widowed, are still sexually active with new partners, he said.  

As single, older people remain sexually active and have new partners, Wilson said they need to learn prevention. 

“A whole lot of senior citizens need some counseling around HIV as well,” said Wilson.  

Counseling and testing are available at the church, thanks to funding from the city’s HIV/AIDS program. The church also hosts a food program and houses an AIDS information library.  

The city has partnered with McGee for three years through the Faith Project to reach out to the African-American community, which is disproportionately infected, said Leroy Blea, program director. 

The project goal is to support groups of color with strong AIDS education programs already in place, he said. That way, the message is delivered in a culturally appropriate manner, which means the message is more likely to stick. 

“Talking to kids, working it into the fabric of who the congregation is — as they push those boundaries, they make it possible for other churches to talk about this subject,” he added of McGee’s innovation. 

All the services yesterday tied in this AIDS message. From Sunday school to communion, the church taught lessons about tolerance in the community and stressed that AIDS affects everyone. 

“When you think about World AIDS Day, you can’t blame anyone,” said Reverend Frankie Moore in a Sunday school class. “You can’t turn your nose up at anybody. There’s no good reason you’re not in those shoes. And it’s by the grace of God that you’re not.” 

Newcomers to the church, were invigorated by the service’s fervor in advocacy and hope. 

“I was extremely inspired and energized by the message and commitment of this church,” said Trena Cleland, an HIV testing counselor. “It truly is a pioneering congregation.”

Senior All-American defensive end Andre Carter took home several awards, including the Bear Backer Award for the team’s Most Valuable Player, at the annual Cal Football team banquet on Sunday night.  

Carter, also was earned the Big Hit Award, for most big hits during the season, and shared the Andy Smith Award for most playing time with offensive tackle Mark Wilson, and the Brick Muller Award for most valuable lineman with offensive lineman Reed Diehl. In addition, Carter was named as one of four captains in a vote by teammates, sharing that honor with Diehl, Chidi Iwuoma and Jacob Waasdorp.  

Sophomore Tully Banta-Cain was named the team’s Most Improved Lineman and the Outstanding Player in the Big Game. Jacob Waasdorp pulled down Most Inspirational Player honors for the second consecutive season. Mark Wilson was named the team’s Most Valuable Freshman Player.  

All-America punter Nick Harris was named the team’s Most Valuable Special Teams player and the Frank Schlessinger Coaches Award for a player demonstrating oustanding athletic and academic success and community service.

A recent state supreme court ruling on employee recruitment practices in San Jose will deal a fatal blow to affirmative action in California, adversely affecting racial diversity in hiring and college admissions, a university law professor said. 

“I think it's going to mean fewer minority students in our universities, less work for minority businesses, and larger unemployment in minority communities,” said Golden Gate Law School professor David Oppenheimer. 

The ruling, which will eliminate a San Jose program aimed at recruiting minority contractors, was the first time the court had interpreted the scope of Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot initiative that prohibits state and local governments from using race or gender preferences in hiring, contracting or college admissions. 

“It's a very disappointing decision,” said Oppenheimer, a long-time opponent of the ballot initiative. “It seems that any race conscious program constitutes a preference under 209, and what that means is any program that is designed to reach out to minority students is probably going to be improper." 

The scope of the decision could possibly go as far as minority outreach programs like sending targeted mailings about job openings to minority candidates or advertising for employment heavily in minority newspapers, he said. 

Despite these restrictions, administrators say the impact on minority admissions in the UC system should be small. “I don't think this will have a major effect on our recruiting,” said Richard Black, the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Admissions and Enrollment at UC Berkeley. 

Most Berkeley programs that could affect minority recruitment are already structured to not officially constitute “affirmative action.” For example, the outreach programs that help prepare high school and elementary students to enter Berkeley do not focus on minorities directly, but instead target individual low-income students and students whose parents did not go to college. 

“I don't see any impact on our programs," said Marsh Jaeger, director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Educational Outreach. But she wasn't completely sure of the effect and added that she will review the court decision with the university's lawyers. 

It’s too early to say that no UC recruitment policies would be affected, said Kevin Nguyen, a spokesperson for UC Regent Ward Connerly.  

It is possible that UC schools have sent special mailings to minority students in the past, he said. Connerly has said that and any similar recruitment policies would be changed or eliminated. 

Doing away with affirmative action in outreach, both at UC and in general government hiring, is a positive step for race relations, said Nguyen, who also acts as the Director of the American Civil Rights Institute. Connerly chairs this group. 

California, lacking one racial majority, can't rely on preferences, Nguyen said. “That kind of race-based policy is only going to tear the state apart,” he said. “What we need is a color blind approach in this day and age.” 

But despite the efforts of Prop 209 backers, it hasn't yet come to that point, said San Francisco lawyer and UC Regent William Bagley. Any arm of the state government that receives large amounts of federal money must abide by federal affirmative action hiring guidelines. “These hiring guidelines supersede the regents guideline and (Proposition) 209,” he said. 

Bagley says he opposes the ban on affirmative action passed by the UC regents in 1995 and plans to introduce a proposal to overturn it next year. Doing so could possibly put the UC system in violation of 209, and lead to renewed battles in the state supreme court, legal experts said. 

But for now, the outlook appears bleak for the beneficiaries of affirmative action, Oppenheimer said. 

“(These programs) have been important because, in their associations, women and minority contractors tend not to be as informed about potential jobs,” he said.  

“That's a very substantial source of work for women and minorities that’s going to dry up,” he added.

IRVINE – Ben Jones scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half Saturday as UC Irvine beat California 56-52. 

Sean Jackson, who played two seasons at Cal before transferring to UCI, added 13 points for the Anteaters (3-1), including 4-of-6 3-pointers. 

Shantay Legans scored 16 points and Sean Lampley added 12 to lead the Golden Bears (1-3). 

It was Irvine’s first win against a Pac-10 school since beating Oregon State in 1994. 

UC Irvine led 26-22 at halftime and extended the lead to 48-36 with 8:25 remaining. The Golden Bears rallied, and a Legans layup with 2:49 to play pulled the Bears to within 52-51. 

The Anteaters preserved the win with two free throws each by Jerry Green and J.R. Christ down the stretch. 

Both teams shot poorly, on the night, with UC Irvine sinking only 36 percent of their field goals, and California making 38 percent.

Oakland Zoo to get a facelift 

OAKLAND – The Oakland Zoo is set to get a facelift with a final infusion of cash from bonds approved a decade ago by city voters. 

The $5.19 million recently designated for use by the East Bay Zoological Society is from the last cycle of Measure K bond issues. The money will be combined with private donations to finance improvements to animal areas, chidren’s rides and the new entrance currently under construction. 

Voters passed Measure K in 1990, which directed that $10 million go to the zoo for capital improvements. 

The zoo has budgeted about $800,000 to improve the African elephant breeding program. The bond money will also enable to the zoo to finish its tropical rain forest exhibit, install new restrooms and renovate the homes of many of its animals. 

Runoff in S.F. race, growth control loses 

SAN FRANCISCO – Final election results confirmed that there will be a run-off in the District 8 race for city supervisor, the San Francisco department of elections announced. Elections officials also declared Friday that growth control Proposition L officially lost by 1,272 votes. 

Supervisor Mark Leno fell six votes short of avoiding the runoff in District 8. He will face five other candidates again on Dec. 12. Ballots have been sent to all voters in run-off districts, the department of elections said. 

Ten the city’s 11 districts will see a runoff. Only incumbent Tom Ammiano gained more than 50 percent of the vote. He won District 9. 

Litter and graffiti officers increased  

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco will have a larger team to combat litter and graffiti. 

The Department of Public Works is boosting its squad of “environmental control officers” from 13 to 22 workers. That allocates 2 officers for each of the 11 new Board of Supervisors districts. 

The city spends about $30 million a year and dedicates 380 people for cleanup and graffiti removal. Pubic works said it receives about 4,500 phone calls each month from residents complaining about litter. 

Anesthesiologist convicted of elder abuse, gets two years 

SAN MATEO – An anesthesiologist who stole a wedding ring from the finger of one of her patients was sentenced to two years in state prison. 

Wanda Newbreast Heffernon, 42, of Richmond was convicted of felony charges of elder abuse and receiving stolen property. She must also pay $2,000 in restitution. 

Heffernon pleaded no contest to the charges. 

Heffernon was working at a Portola Valley nursing home in late 1999 when she stole a diamond wedding ring and engagement ring from a 94-year-old woman. 

Woman awakens from a coma, accuses boyfriend 

OAKLAND – An Oakland woman suddenly awoke from a coma and told hospital security she had been pistol-whipped into unconsciousness by her ex-boyfriend. 

The woman’s ex-boyfriend, Mandingo Hayes, had spent most of the year in prison for assaulting her before. He was arrested and pleaded innocent in Alameda County Superior Court to charges of assault with a deadly weapon, violating a restraining order, stalking and domestic violence. 

The woman, whose identity has not been release to protect her safety, was placed on life support after her mother visited and found her unconscious at her home. 

The woman awoke the night before Thanksgiving — a day before doctors and family had discussed removing the life support system. 

Hayes is awaiting a hearing and is being held without bail at Santa Rita jail. 

Boys Ranch to help provide vegetables 

RICHMOND – Teens at Byron Boys Ranch this week will unveil a new horticulture project that will help provide vegetables to areas of Contra Costa County that lack access to healthy foods. 

According to a Contra Costa Health Services spokeswoman, around 20 boys who are residents of rehabilitation facility have been working after school and on weekends to build planter boxes for the East-West Market Garden. 

At a job fair on Thursday, the boys will unveil the planters, which will contain the seeds of an assortment of winter vegetables like carrots, cabbage, celery and parsnips. The produce will sold at farmer’s markets in areas identified by the West Contra Costa Food Security Council as lacking access to fruits and vegetables. 

“The council did surveys that found little availability of fresh produce in several areas, especially more isolated parts of North Richmond and Richmond’s Parchester Village,” said spokeswoman Melody Steeples. “That need can be met, in part, by the East-West Market Garden. 

Mike Grimes, principal of the Byron Boys Ranch on-site high school, said volunteers have enjoyed the new project so much that the school plans to add horticulture classes to the course schedule in spring to help expand the garden. 

“For us, the whole idea of the project is to teach these guys a healthy skill that they can take home with them, and show them all the good things you can get out of a 9-by-12-foot box.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Lee Wildes can’t stand inaction when it comes to treating patients with HIV and AIDS. That’s why he has sent thousands of dollars of surplus drugs to HIV sufferers in Africa — all but ignoring federal and international guidelines against doing so. 

Despite strict regulations enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, Wildes believes the need is too great in a continent ravaged by the deadly disease. 

Wildes, a registered nurse who himself has tested positive for HIV, wants to save 100 lives in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Congo. Federal authorities have not attempted to stop his shipments. 

“Busting us would be criminal,” Wildes told the San Jose Mercury News. “They’d be killing 100 people.” 

The shelves of his apartment are lined with HIV medications. Once Wildes replaces the drugstore labels with ones reading “African AIDS Network,” he mails the pills to contacts in Africa. 

In Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, Esther Guza knows she could never afford $1,170 — the price that the HIV medications would otherwise command. Every three months she receives a package from the African AIDS Network. 

“It’s a miracle,” Guza said “Sometimes you don’t know how to express your gratitude” 

Wildes started collecting the surplus drugs in 1997 from friends and family of AIDS victims who were clearing their counters of leftover medicine bottles. As word of Wildes’ project spread, doctors and nurses throughout the nation began sending him HIV drugs that were nearing their expiration. 

His work is done on the hush, with names and institutions kept confidential. 

Local AIDS service centers in Africa, like the one that introduced Wildes to Guza, say many HIV sufferers owe their lives to the underground drug supply network. 

“We have thirty people alive today,” said Lynde Francis, founder of the center where Guza had been receiving meningitis and tuberculosis treatments. “Every single one of those thirty would be dead now if we didn’t have the medicine from Lee.” 

Not everyone approves of what Wildes, or “Saint Lee” as many of his patients call him, is doing. 

The FDA prohibits anyone from sharing their drugs and the World Health Organization tries prevent shipments of those expired medicines to developing countries, where high prices can keep them out of the hands of those in need. 

The six countries Wildes sends drugs to accounted for 878,600 AIDS -related deaths in 1999, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. 

Those who contribute to the African AIDS Network say the ravages of AIDS compels them to continue.

SAN FRANCISCO – The day Productopia.com shut down, Joanna Nissen was talking on her cellphone about being laid off as she rode the bus to the office to clear out her desk. 

Overhearing Nissen, another rider approached. 

Learning she was a computer systems administrator, the stranger asked if she’d be interested in Kinecta Corp., a privately held online content-management services company. 

Nissen gave the man her information. 

By the time she got to her old desk at Productopia 15 minutes later, Nissen already had an e-mail lining up an interview. Three days later, she had a new job, earning more than she had at Productopia. 

“It was pretty darn quick,” said the 31-year-old Nissen. 

Despite all the layoffs and dot-com closures, survivors like Nissen don’t have to do much looking. 

Most of the 60 Productopians got jobs within weeks after the company’s dissolution. Others remain unemployed by choice — fending off recruiters, refraining from posting their resumes online, enjoying the respite from the 14-hour days that define life at a startup. 

Still others are doing free-lance or contract work to buy a little time before making a more permanent decision. 

“I got a lot of calls from recruiters — I had to tell a couple of them to chill,” said Scott Love, former director of product management at Productopia. 

Public relations manager Melissa Sheridan was getting up to 10 calls a day from headhunters starting Oct. 2, the day Productopia brass told the staff that funding had been cut off. 

Sheridan weighed five offers and was back to work within a month — this time at public relations firm OutCast Communications, which works with many dot-coms but isn’t one. 

“I was focused on finding a job where it wasn’t reliant on just one technology that may or may not work,” she said. “I wanted to minimize the risk.” 

Anne Gates, Productopia’s former design director, turned down an offer from a company that admitted it had only enough money to last through January. The company told her it would have more funding by then; she told them to call back when the cash was in the bank. 

“The companies are just as desperate to get people, but employees are more critical,” said Howard Lee of Silver and Lee Associates, a recruitment firm. “They’re picking and choosing better, getting smarter and going with companies that have a better chance to succeed.” 

That doesn’t mean all dot-coms have lost their appeal. The excitement of technology startup work is what encouraged Dee Dee Anderson to abandon years of advocacy work at the National Organization for Women. 

Anderson, 29, moved in August 1998 from Washington D.C. to San Francisco with $700 in her pocket and got a job — complete with stock options — with an Internet start-up, Flycast Communications. 

She struggled initially with her conscience, feeling she had moved from a career with a good cause to one rooted in making someone “at the top, rich.” 

“Then I started paying down my bills,” she said. “And then I started empowering employees with how to get the most bang for their buck when dealing with their stock options.” 

Flycast was later acquired. Anderson did well with her stock options and has since started working at Productopia in July. 

Productopia’s closure left a bitter aftertaste with some of her former co-workers, but Anderson said the high-energy, high-risk thrill and lofty this-technology-is-going-to-change-the-world goal will lead her to “roll the dice” with yet another Internet company once she decides to go back to work. 

“The Dot-Com movement is like the youth movement of the 60s — that time was an extraordinary time of energy and hope,” said John Challenger, president of the job placement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas, Inc. “People are going to fight to hold onto that.”

SAN FRANCISCO – When e-commerce companies began to evaporate this year, Silicon Valley venture capitalists Brad Garlinghouse and Joanna Strober paid a visit to Productopia.com to deliver a pep talk to the troops. 

The investors told the employees not to fret about surviving the dot-com shakeout. Productopia was a viable company with a sound business plan, they insisted. 

Employees left the early summer meeting believing their product review Web site had received an vital vote of confidence from the very people who had already poured $22 million into the company. 

Just a few months later, however, Productopia’s once-friendly financiers decided that even if Productopia became profitable in 2001, it would never make enough money to justify an additional investment. 

So they cut the financial cord. 

Shorn of their backers’ deep pockets and unable to find a buyer, Productopia had little choice but to shut down on Oct. 2. 

The cold-hearted financial reckoning that doomed Productopia is occurring throughout the Bay area and Silicon Valley as venture capitalists turn their backs on online retailers they embraced just a few months ago. 

And the trend may well accelerate after the holiday shopping season weeds out another batch of underperforming e-commerce companies. 

Garlinghouse, a partner at CMGI in Menlo Park, and Strober, a general partner for Bessemer Venture Partners in Menlo Park, declined to be interviewed for this article. 

But other Silicon Valley venture capitalists said the two were merely doing their jobs. 

“Their allegiance is to their investors,” said Wes Raffel, a general partner at Advanced Technology Ventures in Palo Alto. “It’s naive to think they are going to keep throwing money after bad. This is about business. This isn’t about friendship.” 

Other venture capitalists say they are trying to find more humane ways to put struggling e-tailers out of their misery. 

Accel Partners, for instance, recently arranged to merge one of its unprofitable ventures, Homewarehouse.com, into Walmart.com, a larger, more stable company in its investment portfolio. 

“There are some firms that think they should pull the plug right away when they determine a company isn’t going to ever generate good returns,” said Peter Fenton, a principal at Accel. “But we don’t want to strand our companies. We figure we are on the hook to help them get to a safe harbor.” 

The cash crackdown represents a dramatic shift from a year ago, when financiers routinely invested more money into staggeringly unprofitable e-commerce businesses. In most cases, they didn’t flinch because a receptive stock market yielded lucrative jackpots for online businesses making initial public offerings. 

Today, Wall Street has virtually no interest in buying the stocks of unproven e-commerce companies. 

“Venture capital was pretty easy until recently because the stock market covered up a lot of mistakes. Now you have to bite the bullet and make the hard, tough decisions,” said Rick Kimball, a general partner with Technology Crossover Ventures. 

E-commerce and online content companies nationwide received $7.7 billion in venture capital during the three months ended Sept. 30, a 26 percent decline from the prior quarter, according to Venture Economics, an industry research firm. 

Most analysts expect an even greater decline this quarter. 

In this new get-tough era, it’s no longer enough just to show a profit. Venture capitalists want a business to prove it can produce a 10 percent profit margin on a consistent basis before they will invest more money into the company, Kimball said. 

That attitude disillusioned several of Productopia’s laid-off employees. 

Rosie Passantino, former director of product management, has vowed never to work for another company backed by CMGI or Bessemer.  

“I hold them personally responsible for misleading the workforce of Productopia,” she said. 

Others, like former Productopia associate editor Roman Loyola, are less disappointed. 

“I kind of understand that they’re in the business of making a boatload of dough and aren’t interesting in funding companies that might only make a little bit of money,” Loyola said. “They are called venture capitalists for a reason.”

TRUCKEE – Thousands of people were rudely awakened when a series of moderate earthquakes and aftershocks jolted this Sierra resort town early Saturday morning. 

No major damage or injuries were reported, but the largest quake measuring preliminary magnitude 4.8 was felt in Lake Tahoe, Reno, Nev., Sacramento and Placerville. 

The 7:34 a.m. quake, centered 14 miles northwest of Truckee, was followed over the next hour by four smaller aftershocks, including one measuring 3.2. Three small quakes hit later. 

Law enforcement authorities said the quakes caused little damage. A small bridge did collapse near Colfax and a house chimney toppled near Cisco Grove. 

“It’s fortunate that the quakes were centered near the (sparsely populated) Jackson Meadows area and away from populated areas,” said Nevada County sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Perea. 

Eric Lamoureux, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services, said the quakes occurred on a previously unknown fault. 

“The state geologist doesn’t expect a larger quake from this fault at this point,” he said. “But it’s a wakeup call to a lot of people. It’s important to know that fault lines run up and down the Sierra and that these major quakes can happen anywhere and on faults not identified.” 

Despite the quakes, it was business as usual in downtown Truckee on Saturday as no damage was evident. Many people were in bed when the 4.8 quake hit. 

“It was a good quick jolt and I could hear the timber in the house creak. It woke me up,” Carl Brawley of Donner Lake said while eating breakfast at the Squeeze Inn. “If you live in California, you have to learn to surf the earth.” 

“It was like a wrestling match was going on in our home,” added Mark Lundbeck of Truckee. “You could feel everything sliding around. It was kind of fun.” 

At Tourist Liquor down the street, clerk Aaron Johnson was surprised not to find a single bottle on the floor when he arrived at work. The 4.8 quake woke him out of a sound sleep. 

“I thought maybe a car hit the cabin next to me,” he said. “It was like my bed was doing a circular motion. It hit real quick and then it was over.” 

Perea said he and other officers felt the strongest quake during their morning briefing. 

“We felt a little small jolt and then a big one,” he said. “We thought the phones would start ringing and sure enough they did.” 

The sheriff’s department received about 100 calls, most from residents wondering if a quake had indeed just struck. 

“We sent deputies out to different areas to see if there were any problems, but there were none. It’s just another day in paradise,” Perea said. “The houses up here are built to handle a pretty good snow load. They’ll take more jolting than houses in the (San Francisco) Bay area.” 

No power outages or disruptions in telephone service were reported. 

The 4.8 quake also woke up people in Reno, South Lake Tahoe and Grass Valley. 

Lamoureux said three quakes of magnitude 5 or more have rocked the Truckee area in the last 30 years, including a 6 temblor in 1966. They caused no major damage or injuries. 

“All I know is the earthquakes keep following me and I can’t get away from them,” added Brawley, who moved to the Sierra after the October 1989 Loma Prieta quake.

SAN FRANCISCO – Rev. Jim Mitulski bid a fond farewell Sunday to his Protestant congregation at the Metropolitan Community Church, a place in the heart of the city’s predominantly gay Castro District where locals flock to hear sermons of compassion. 

Mitulski, who has built a national reputation by speaking out for tolerance and acceptance for gay and lesbian communities, says it is time for a change of pace. 

“I’m committed to continue to do AIDS work, but I need a change of scenery,” Mitulski said. “I don’t want my life to be defined by the grief I feel for having lived through those years.” 

Mitulski grieved for many of those who filled his pews and later succumbed to AIDS. Despite the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and early 1990s, the church’s congregation grew from 100 to 500. 

Mitulski himself is HIV positive. He has conducted more than 500 funerals and almost as many gay wedding celebrations in his years at the San Francisco church. 

It is those many funerals that Mitulski wants to put behind him 

“Now that we’ve moved through the difficulty of the AIDS years, I have to get away from the sad memories,” Mitulski said. 

The Metropolitan Community Church has been through tumultuous times as the San Francisco community and the nation grappled for a way to deal with bias against gays. The church was firebombed twice, but reopened its doors with the help of Mitulski and others. 

In the mid-1990s, AIDS patients could drop by the church and get marijuana which many claim helps alleviate pain. Mitulski personally handed the drug out from the altar. 

Several nonprofit groups have headquartered their operations at the church, which also provides support and counseling for gays and lesbians each day of the week. 

Mitulski will take a job as program coordinator for the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at San Francisco’s Main Library, which houses tomes of literature for gay and lesbian history. 

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano applauded Mitulski’s history of work at the church. 

“He withstood the test of time,” Ammiano, who is openly gay, said. “For gay people particularly, there has always been a large mistrust of organized religion. I’ve always found him understanding of that. He’s been very beneficial to the gay community. We’re going to miss him.” 

Mitulski gave his three final sermons Sunday.

STOCKTON – The Department of Corrections is disputing projections it will need 9,000 to 11,000 fewer beds because of a voter initiative that bars many drug users from prison. 

Prison officials say those estimates are overblown by half, and that cost savings to taxpayers are overestimated as well. 

They say they must expand their drug treatment programs despite voters’ approval of Proposition 36 last month. Once the initiative takes effect July 1, it will require that those convicted of using or possessing drugs for the first or second time be sent to community treatment programs. 

“There won’t be a precipitous drop in the number of inmates as soon as this goes into effect, but there will be a decline as more inmates are released and more inmates are diverted to drug treatment,” said department spokesman Russ Heimerich. 

The department estimates the initiative will lead to a need for about 6,270 fewer beds in five years. That compares to projections by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office that the proposition will free up at least 9,000 beds — the equivalent of two to three prisons. 

The legislative analyst predicted that will save taxpayers $200 million to $250 million annually in operating costs, plus one-time savings of $450 million to $550 million because the state won’t have to build new prisons as rapidly. 

Department officials said the savings will be less, mainly because many drug users go to dormitory-style prison camps or community correctional centers, most run under contract with private firms. It costs an average $23,000 to house an inmate in prison for a year. However, a domitory-style prison costs $15,000 to $17,000 annually. 

The projections by both the department and the legislative analyst depend in large part on guessing whether California’s 58 county prosecutors will refuse to negotiate plea bargains with drug dealers, knowing that a drug use or possession conviction will bring no prison time. 

Convictions for more serious charges will bring longer sentences. In addition, some drug users who would have gone to prison will commit new crimes while they remain free and thus wind up incarcerated for longer periods. 

Dan Carson, who wrote the legislative analyst’s report, said prison officials underestimated the benefits of treatment in keeping drug users out of prison, as well as the number of repeat offenders who will avoid extended sentences under the initiative. 

“Basically, they assumed no affect at all from drug treatment programs, which is kind of an awkward argument for the administration when they’ve asked for hundreds of millions of dollars each year for treatment, on the presumption treatment works,” Carson said. 

Three years ago, the department had just 400 drug treatment beds. It now can provide drug treatment for 5,000 inmates at a time, and this year’s budget adds 3,000 more beds. 

That’s still far short of the need, said Ernest Jarman, the department’s assistant director for substance abuse programs. 

The crimes committed by at least 70 percent of inmates have some connection to drugs, such as a burglary to support a drug habit, Jarman estimated. He projected at least 80 percent of inmates have a current or past drug problem. 

The department faces a Dec. 31 deadline to present a plan to provide treatment to every inmate who needs it by 2005. But then it’s up to the governor and Legislature whether to go ahead with the expansion. 

California has recently become a national leader in inmate drug treatment with programs like that offered at the Northern California Women’s Facility at Stockton, said professor David Deitch. 

Studies in Delaware, New York, Texas and California show intensive prison treatment programs can be “startlingly effective,” said Deitch, who heads the federally funded Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center at the University of California, San Diego. 

They can cut the re-arrest rate for hard-core addicts up to 30 percent after three years — but only if they are combined with community-based treatment programs that support the inmates once they leave prison. 

Because of budget constraints, only half of California inmates go through those post-release programs. 

The 15-month-old Stockton program is too new to have valid recidivism statistics. But a study last year of three California programs found about 25 percent of those who completed post-release programs returned to prison within two years, compared to half of those who had treatment only in prison and two-thirds of those who had no treatment. 

“I didn’t want the program, but amazingly it’s paid off for me. I have grandchildren now — I don’t need to be in prison,” inmate Linda Jones, 49, of Stockton, said during and after group therapy that ranged in tone from gripe session to revival meeting. “I never had a grandmother, and I want them to have one. 

“I’m really out for change,” said Jones, who became addicted to heroin 14 years ago. “I’m hoping SAP (the substance abuse program) can give me the change that I need.” 

The prison system’s new emphasis on treatment hasn’t been an easy sell to some prison employees, said correctional counselor Velda Dobson, who helps run the Stockton program. 

“We’re used to working on the correctional side, not the treatment side,” she said. In the beginning, employees would disparage what they termed “the hug-a-thug program,” she said, though things are getting better. 

“I’ve got skid marks down the sidewalk” from dragging some corrections officials into supporting the program, Dobson said.

Last Christmas, Father Bill O’Donnell, Councilmember Kriss Worthington and a host of labor activists donned santa hats and sat in the Berkeley Marina Radisson Hotel lobby chanting Christmas carols with pro-union lyrics. 

This holiday season, they’ll change their tune. 

Friday, Hotel Employee and Restaurant Employee Union Local 2850 negotiators put the final touches on a contract they will recommend to the Radisson workers who will vote on the contract next week. 

“The housekeepers and dishwashers will have a merry Christmas this year,” said Wei-Ling Hubert, an organizer with HERE. 

In June, after nine months of negotiations with hotel management, claims filed against the hotel with the National Labor Relations Board, and a city government boycott of the hotel, hotel management approved the workers’ demand to unionize. Contract negotiations began over the summer. 

Radisson General Manager Brij Misra also said he was happy with the proposed contract. “I’m very pleased with our negotiations that we completed today,” he said. “I look forward to working with our associates who make sure that everyone who comes here gets the best service in the East Bay.” He added that the hotel’s goal was always to support its employees.  

When told of the completed contract negotiations, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said: “It’s a victory for all the hard work of the employees who risked punishment and firing for starting up a union.” 

Before commenting on whether the city would end its boycott of the hotel, Worthington said he would first have to check with union organizers, but that he thought the city would. “It’s so exciting to have a victory like this,” he said. 

Because the workers have not yet seen the contract, Hubert said she did not want to comment on specifics of the terms that have been negotiated. However, she said gains were made in the area of health benefits, pensions and wage increases over five years. 

The elderly workers without pensions “were a huge inspiration to the other workers,” Hubert said. “The workers stayed united and would not give up.” 

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 children aged 3-7. 

Call 649-3943  

Building Blocks for Learning 

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

Clark Kerr Conference Center 

Waring & Parker Sts.  

The Institute of Human Development at UC Berkeley sponsors this second annual workshop on learning and development in young children aimed at teachers and child care workers.  

Call 643-7944 

Artists at Play Holiday Sale 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 

Call 528-0494  

The Yo-Yo Lady 

2 - 4 p.m. 

1898 Solano Ave.  

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Small Press Distribution  

Open House 

Noon - 4 p.m.  

1341 Seventh St. (off Gilman) 

Browse 8,000 literary titles and listen to readings by Bay Area authors. Readings by poet Lyn Hejinian, George Albon,  

Dan Leone, Gail Mitchell, and Sianne Ngai.  

Call 524-1668 x305 

Whymsium Anniversary Party 

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 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.  

Monitoring Police Activity 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Copwatch Office  

2022 Blake St. (west of Shattuck) 

Learn what your rights are in dealing with police and learn how to monitor police safely. Free.  

Call 548-0425 

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-registration; $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 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

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 

Fun and Science of Chocolate 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Join expert chocolate maker John Scharffenberger as he navigates throught he history of chocolate and demonstrates the science of chocolate production. Advanced reservations required.  

$30 per person, includes price of admission to LHS 

Call 642-5134 for reservations 

Lessons and Carols 

7 p.m. 

All Souls Episcopal Church  

2220 Cedar St. (at Spruce) 

Call 848-1755 

Sewing for Seniors 

9 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Grace Narimatsu. Free 

Call 644-6107 

HIV Memorial Service 

11 a.m. 

McGee Avenue Baptist Church 

1640 Stuart St.  

A special morning HIV service for members of the community.  

Call 843-1774 

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 

Berkeley High Pep Band 

4 - 6 p.m. 

1850 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

The Music Connection 

2:30 p.m. 

Resurrection Lutheran Church 

397 Euclid Ave.  

Oakland  

Several well known Bay Area musicians and composers join amateur autistic musicians to raise money and raise awareness of autism and to provide the opportunity for those living with the disease to develop their talents. 

$10 - $200 suggested donation 

Call 420-0606  

“Music on Squirrel Hill”  

4 p.m. 

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley 

One Lawson Road 

Kensington 

The San Francisco Choral artists directed by Claire Giovannetti sing traditional and less familiar classics of the season.  

$15 general, $10 students & seniors  

Call 525-0302 

Monday, Dec. 4

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Permit Center 

2118 Milvia St.  

First Floor Conference Room 

The Heart of the Matter  

12:15 p.m., buffet lunch 

1 p.m., speaker 

H’s Lordship Restaurant  

Berkeley Marina 

199 Seawall Dr.  

Stephen Raskin, MD will speak on “Beyond Cholesterol - The Heart of the Matter.” Sponsored by the North Oakland/Emeryville Rotary Club. 

$13 with lunch, $5 without 

Call Robyn Young, MD, 748-5363  

BHS AIDS Memorial Quilt 

Berkeley High School 

2246 Milvia  

Berkeley High will be displaying the AIDS Memorial Quilt the entire week, including 150 panels made by Berkeley High students.  

Call Sonya Dublin, 644-6838 x4 

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 

“Choosing Something Like a Star” 

7:30 p.m. 

PSR Chapel 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

This annual free concert will feature the PSR Chorale and the Kairos Youth Choir performing carols from many traditions.  

Call Mike Ellard, 236-3033 

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 

UNtraining White Liberal Racism 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Call for location  

El Cerrito 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Disaster Council  

7 p.m. 

Public Safety Building 

2100 MLK Jr. Way 

Second floor conference room 

Discussions will include the report on disaster preparedness at Alta Bates and the city council/disaster council joint meeting.  

Citizens Budget Review Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

BHS Jazz Lab Band & Combos 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater 

Allston Way  

Their first concert of the new school year.  

$8 general, $3 students  

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.  

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

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) 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

7 p.m. 

2118 Milvia St.  

Second Floor Conference Room 

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  

Yiddish Conversation 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Julia Morgan Collaborating with  

Bernard Maybeck  

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., speaker 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Mark Wilson, realtor with Prudential Realty, will speak. Also City Commons Club annual meeting.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

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  

Bay Area Steppers Drill Team 

2 - 4 p.m. 

1216 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Artists at Play Holiday Sale 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 

Call 528-0494  

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  

Loneliness as a Spiritual Crisis 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

1924 Cedar St.  

Hear about the spiritual path of Light and Sound. Also includes the ancient teachings of the saints.  

Call Unitarian Hall, 841-4824 or visit www.masterpath.org 

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 

Poems on the Jewish Experience 

3 - 5 p.m. 

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church 

2837 Claremont Blvd.  

Selected from over 200 poems submitted, the winners of the fourteenth annual Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award will read their poems.  

Journey of the Soul 

7 - 9 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave.  

A public satsang and Babaji Kriya Yoga meditation with Himalayan yogi Yogiraj Sat-Gurunath.  

Call Sylvia Stanley, 845-9434  

UNtraining White Liberal Racism 

2 - 4:30 p.m. 

555 Tenth St. (at Clay) 

Oakland 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Irish Harp & Guitar 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1603 Solano Ave.  

Trish NiGabhain is one of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

The phone rings almost nonstop. This one is a call from a San Francisco attorney. Like so many calls to the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, it is urgent. The attorney is doing pro bono work for a Guatemalan couple, political refugees now living in Stockton. They have just been granted asylum, so they can now apply for refugee status for their three children, 9-20 years old.  

There’s just one problem. The children are in Guatemala, and they must get to the United States before a Jan. 15 deadline. Their parents have little money and don’t know how they can finance the trip. Would the sanctuary group have any funds available? 

Anyone looking around EBSC’s office, a church basement furnished with mismatched furniture, would know that money is one thing that’s in short supply here. But that doesn’t faze Sister Maureen Duignan, the Franciscan nun who serves as refugee rights coordinator. She immediately starts to think of ways to garner support. 

“You need to go to the media,” she tells the attorney. “See if some of the major newspapers will pick up on this – it could be a nice Christmas story.”  

Duignan, a diminutive woman in her middle years with wispy strawberry-blond hair and a ready smile, is accustomed to crisis. Her early work took her to refugee camps in Honduras and Haiti. More recently, she’s worked closely with Haitian President-elect Jean-Bertrand Aristide to bring medical aide to the island-country off the Florida coast.  

Here in Berkeley, she sees a daily stream of immigrants in dire need. Many come from Central America, but they are also from Nigeria, China, Algeria and elsewhere. 

Many have suffered untold horrors in their home countries, witnessed friends and family brutalized or murdered, and often they have come to America without jobs, money, or housing. What they have is a desperate desire to live in peace and safety. 

In the basement of Trinity United Methodist Church, volunteers, including law students, interview immigrants as the first step in helping them gain legal residence. “When people come to this office, they’re really handing themselves over to Immigration,” says Duignan. “That’s why it’s so important that they be carefully screened, to see if they have a good case.” However, if a person doesn’t appear to have a legitimate case, “We don’t hand them over to the authorities,” Duignan notes pointedly. 

The sanctuary movement takes as its directive from such Biblical admonitions as Leviticus 19:33-34: “And if a stranger sojourn with you in your land, you shall not vex him; the stranger that dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself,” or Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 25) : “I was a stranger and you took me in ... Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me.” 

Sanctuary is an ecumenical movement that started in the United States in the 1980s in response to the masses of Central Americans who were fleeing violence in their home countries, especially El Salvador and Guatemala. During the Reagan era, the U.S. government, which supported right-wing governments in Central America, was unwilling to grant political asylum to most of these refugees, asserting that they were immigrating for economic reasons. In response, sanctuary members began helping fugitives to illegally cross the border and reside in the U.S. 

Over the past two decades, sanctuary groups around the country have protested U.S. policy abroad, lobbied for more lenient immigration laws, and worked to raise American awareness of foreign issues. Few if any, however, have become involved in the process of political asylum to the extent of East Bay Sanctuary. 

“We started working with detention centers,” explains Duignan. “Then it just snowballed.” At first, EBSC members raised bond to release a few immigrants from jail. Soon they were looking into the legal process of asylum for refugees, and all the attendant issues facing immigrants. Today, EBSC has an interest in some 3,000 cases overall. They range from new arrivals to immigrants who have been in the country for a decade or more, in various stages along the way to permanent residency or citizenship. The staff makes appointments to sees up to 30 visitors a day, but walk-ins are a frequent occurrence, and the office is always busy. 

Duignan points to a wall of file cabinets. Those labeled “Asylum,” she explains, are some people whose cases have been backlogged since 1993, when the courts were simply too clogged to handle them. The applicants have their work permits but they are still waiting for an asylum hearing. 

Next there is a row of cabinets labeled “Asylee,” for those who have been granted legal asylum. “This is our joyful section,” Duignan says. There are also “Proceedings” files, for those whose cases are denied or on appeal, and several file cabinets representing immigrants who entered the country under one of several temporary protective acts passed by Congress. 

The high number of asylum cases here reflects the Bay Area’s openness to immigrants, as opposed to some other parts of the country. “The Bay Area has very compassionate judges,” says Duignan. “Sometimes if we get a call from another state, for example Texas, we tell them, ‘You better get out here.’” 

Better by the numbers 

Editor: 

The Oakland postmaster has unilaterally decided to remove the numbering system from all Berkeley post offices.  

The reason given me for this move is: Berkeley is the only post office on the west coast that has such a system.  

We all know that Berkeley is unique in many ways, so it’s not too surprising that its post offices are unique too. 

Right now it’s not such a hassle to stand in line rather than sit until one’s number is called. However, as the Christmas mail rush arrives, there are sure to be long lines inside and outside all Berkeley post offices of people trying to mail packages, etc.  

If you feel as strongly as I do about the “militarization,” where everything in the system has to be uniform, of the Berkeley post offices I urge you to write or call Congresswoman Barbara Lee at 1301 Clay St., Suite 1000N, Oakland, CA., 94612.  

Her telephone number is 510-763-0370. Request that she ask the postmaster general for a more satisfactory reason than the above for the removal of the numbering system in all the Berkeley post offices.  

You may be surprised how promptly post office bureaucrats respond to such an inquiry.  

John Schonfield 

Berkeley 

City should polish the tool library jewel 

Editor: 

The Berkeley Tool Library is a jewel within the library system and a generator of tremendous goodwill.  

The thousands of us who use this south branch treasure have grown used to the help we receive from the knowledgeable staff. There is no problem we bring to Pete, Adam or Mike they aren’t willing to tackle, giving freely of advice and their fund of experience.  

They tell us where to go for information, supplies or tools if they aren’t available on site. And the new member of the staff, Candida, is being quickly brought “up to speed.” The staff know their patrons by name and always greet us in a professional, friendly manner.  

We count on them, we trust them, and some of us even bake them cookies. 

But there are some questions we have about the future: 

1. With the possible retirement of Pete McElligot, we are concerned that the Tool Library continue in its present fashion – generating goodwill and dispensing information. Pete’s retirement leaves his present position vacant and it seems to us, the users, that the most qualified person to succeed him would be Adam, who has seniority and the most experience on the job and the necessary communication skills the position requires.  

2. We would like to see another full-time position at the Tool Library and an additional part-time position, making two full-time and two part-time positions. This would move Mike to full-time and require hiring another part-time person. Over the years, the Tool Library has doubled in patrons and popularity and the lines at times are quite long and slow – due in part to the fact that we are not just picking up a tool, but wanting to know its uses, care and how to address our problem with it. We, therefore, think the added staff and time are justified. This is not a pass-the-card-through-scanner operation.  

3. We are troubled that, at times, people are working alone. This never happens in the regular library. There is just too much chance for quick theft for this to be acceptable, to say nothing of the safety of the staff. The building is essentially separate from the main building and a worker there is not within shouting distance of help in case of an emergency.  

4. Parking is also a problem. There is a bus stop on the corner and a lot of cars parked, full-time, on the east side of the street and only three spaces on site. We are not carrying away books here but 10 foot ladders and cement mixers, and some of us are little old ladies and can’t drag equipment to our cars a block away. Could AC Transit move its bus stop? Can we have 30-minute parking in front of the Tool Library and the community garden during Tool Library hours? 

5. With the passage of the bond for the branches we want to make sure the Tool Library gets its fair share. We want to know what plans there are for expanding, rebuilding or revamping and how we can become involved.  

No comments on the Tool Library would be complete without mention of another exciting feature, its Web site www.infopeople.org/bpl/tool.; a place with as many as 500 hits per month from as far away as England and Japan! Check it out and you will find articles about houses settling, earthquake preparedness, photos, artwork, and more by the Tool Library’s own Web Master, Adam.  

Questions and comments come in daily from Berkeley builders, contractors and fix-it fans. Questions come in from all over the United States asking how to start up a Tool Library.  

We are eager that his service continue and expand. Centris Computers, a Tool Library fan, set up the computer system and donated their services.  

People interested in joining us call 845-7621.  

Rosemary Vimont 

Berkeley 

Council needs to rethink vinyl phase out 

Editor: 

The Berkeley City Council will soon consider a resolution that calls for the elimination of vinyl medical products and vinyl materials used in homebuilding. Ironically, the resolution is called “To Stop Cancer Where it Starts,” but the move won't help cancer sufferers. Instead, it promotes the ban of vital, life-saving medical technologies. The resolution is driven by activists who claim that vinyl products release “dangerous” chemicals called phthalates - which are used to make vinyl both soft and strong. Leading the charge is a coalition called Health Care Without Harm. While the name sounds mainstream, its members come largely from environmental activists, such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. This group couples junkscience with a savvy media and mobilization campaign has been able trump decades of scientific research demonstrating the safety and value of vinyl.  

As activists hype risks, the science on vinyl indicates that it is not only safe and effective, it's the best product available for the functions it performs. As one doctor noted in a letter to Hospital Practice: “... other products can't match its tough performance standards-or they would have replaced vinyl by now....[W]ith the spread of new and insurgent infectious diseases, the role of disposable – many of which are made with vinyl – is critical to ensure the safety of patients and health care workers alike. 

Vinyl is one of the most cost-effective materials used by the medical profession. With health care costs a major issue for our national economy and for millions of Americans, would searching for vinyl substitutes really be the best expenditure of limited resources?” 

Vinyl is a key component of thousands of products, including household goods and children's toys. But its most important contribution is to medical devices. Health care professionals favor vinyl because it is effective, cheap, flexible, and safe. In fact, 25 per cent of all medical devices are made with vinyl because of its unique properties - it's durable, transparent, sterile, and does not kink. 

With more than 40 years of usage, vinyl has never shown any adverse effects to humans. Activists' only “science” to support their assertions is that some studies show that vinyl caused cancer in some (but not all) lab animals. Yet the World Health Organization downgraded the phthalate used in most medical devices (known by its acronym, DEHP) from “possibly carcinogenic to humans” to “not classifiable as to the carcinogenicity to humans” - the same classification it applies to Vitamin K, rubbing alcohol, and tea.  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stands by its decision to approve vinyl as safe for medical devices. Regarding HCWH's campaign, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has noted: “We would need to see substantial amounts of testing to make sure we weren't moving from a product with good characteristics to one that we didn't know much about.” 

Given that vinyl is safe for medical use, it clearly poses no threat when used as a housing material. Forcing a ban in that area will only raise housing prices, making it more difficult for lower-income and middle-income families to buy new homes. Likewise, since alternatives are also more costly, switching will contribute to spiraling health care costs. Of course any price hike in health costs always hits the poor hardest. In places like Africa, which is struggling to pay steep health care costs necessary to treat AIDS and malaria, such costs become a matter of life and death. 

Perhaps scariest of all is that there isn't even a reasonable alternative to vinyl for the storage of red blood cells. Indeed a report that HCWH itself commissioned notes: “To our knowledge, no commercially available substitutes have been identified for PVC [polyvinyl chlorine, which the technical name for this vinyl] to date in the storage of red blood cells.” 

Indeed, blood lasts twice as long in vinyl than the alternative containers. In a time of growing national blood shortages, this proposal to phase out vinyl blood bags is simply scandalous. 

Angela Logomasini  

Director of risk and domestic environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute . 

(Logomasini describes the CEI as a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the advancement of the principles of free enterprise and limited government. 

She says her articles have been published in the Boston Business Journal and the Washington Times, among other places.) 

By Tim Haran 

Daily Planet Correspondent 

A track meet broke out at the basketball game between Berkeley High and Skyline (Oakland) Friday night, and the visiting Yellowjackets escaped with a 59-54 victory over a much taller Titans team. 

Outrunning Skyline and using a pressure defense to force numerous turnovers, Berkeley captured a season-opening win under the team’s new head coach, Mike Gragnani.  

“We had a lot of guys who did a great job pressuring the ball,” said Gragnani. “It was good to get the tempo up to where we like to play.” 

The ’Jackets led most of the night, but with 1:55 left in the fourth quarter, Skyline’s towering 6-foot-8 senior Tremaine Fuqua grabbed a rebound off a Titans’ miss and scored an easy put-back from two feet out to deadlock the game at 52. 

The hoop finished a seven-minute run that saw the Titans outscore the ’Jackets 16-6. With just over a minute left in the game, Berkeley’s Ryan Davis knocked down a three-pointer with four seconds remaining on the shot clock to give his team the lead. A pair of clutch free throws by Ramone Reed and another bucket and pair of free throws by Davis clinched the victory. 

“I owe it all to the team,” Gragnani said following his first victory at Berkeley. “They played their butts off tonight.” 

Davis, who also started his first game as a ’Jacket after transferring to Berkeley from Lincoln (San Francisco), played the game with a tendon strain in his knee. Still, the injury didn’t prevent the senior from playing scrappy full-court defense and hitting key shots late in the game. 

“Coach stressed team defense at practices,” he said. “Our whole practice was on defense and I think we really stepped up our D tonight.” 

Berkeley set the pace of the game from the start. The team posted an early 9-4 lead before Skyline rebounded to take a one-point advantage after the first quarter. 

Berkeley traded leads with the Titans throughout the second quarter, but heading into the locker room the ’Jackets were up 31-27, helped by two steals and a 15-foot jumper by Davis with under a minute to go in the half. 

“We have to play fast,” Gragnani said. “We’re not very big and against a team that has a lot of size, we have to score early. When they are able to get five guys back on defense, it’s tough for us to get the ball inside.” 

Berkeley was definitely the smaller of the two teams Friday. In addition to Fuqua, the Titans had another three or four players who towered over the ’Jackets biggest players. 

Keeping Skyline’s Fuqua contained during the first half, Berkeley didn’t allow him many good looks at the basket. But the dominating senior – who, according to his mother, hasn’t visited any colleges yet but is interested in playing for San Francisco or Washington – exploded with four easy buckets in the third quarter as well as several key rebounds and a blocked shot midway through the period. 

“We didn’t want (Fuqua) to get anything easy,” Gragnani said. “We wanted to get one of our guys in front and another in back of him all the time. Overall I thought we did a pretty good job.” 

Berkeley faces Balboa in San Francisco on Tuesday before heading to the Spartan Classic at De La Salle, where Gragnani matches up against his old team, St. Ignatius (San Francisco), on Dec. 7.

In a built-up city like Berkeley, there’s not much space for new projects. So when the city offers its parking lot at Oxford Street and Allston Way for development, it’s likely to create a flurry of interest. 

The City Council already designated the lot for affordable housing, but the jury is still out on what will actually be built there. 

On Tuesday the council will consider a recommendation asking the Planning Commission to develop a process for soliciting public input and creating criteria for potential developers to draw design plans and estimate costs. 

Councilmember Dona Spring pointed out that Berkeley residents are being priced out of the housing market. “I would like to see 50 percent of the units designated for very low income tenants and the rest for low income units,” she said. 

Berkeley Housing Department Director Stephen Barton, said the definition of very low income housing is a rental rate affordable to people who earn 50 percent of the median income for the area. Low income rents would be set at a rate affordable to people who earn 80 percent of the median income.  

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has set the current median income for a family of two in the Berkeley area at $54,100. By that standard, a family of two earning $27,000 could rent, under the very low income guidelines, a one-bedroom apartment for $676 per month. The same apartment under the low income guidelines would rent for $1,082. 

Councilmember Betty Olds said building too much affordable housing is cost prohibitive. “Where are you going to find the money?” she said. “It’s always nice to have dreams but you have to have money.” 

Olds said she would like to see three stories of parking and maybe a hotel or a night club built in addition to housing. 

Councilmember Linda Maio said she agreed with the idea of creating as much low income housing as possible at the site, but she said it’s all academic until developers submit proposals with cost benefit analyses. “What this process will do is start to bring in some ideas,” she said. 

Under the current Downtown Berkeley Plan, the site is zoned for buildings of three to five stories. However, if the development includes arts space extra stories may be added. 

The executive director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, Deborah Badhia, said the DBA supports developing the site but cautioned that parking is a concern to merchants.  

“We’re very interested in seeing a mixed-use development, especially with some multicultural uses,” she said. “The site is currently a public parking lot and we would like to see all those public parking spaces built into the new development.” 

In addition to the existing 126 parking spaces, planning guidelines require additional parking be built for the residential units and commercial space. Any plan for the new development will have to include one parking space for every three residential units and 1.5 spaces for every 1,000 square feet of commercial space. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said any discussion about development downtown becomes one about parking. “There are people in this city who would be happy if that site became just a big parking garage,” he said. “We want to make sure all proposals include affordable housing.” 

Local prep star Lorenzo Alexander has made a verbal committment to attend Cal next fall, despite having the school far down his list for much of the recruiting process. 

Alexander, a senior at Berkeley’s St. Mary’s College High School, is rated as a top-10 defensive tackle by most recruiting services. His committment comes as a bit of a surprise, as Cal wasn’t in his top five choices for most of the year. In fact, Alexander was set to head to the Bears’ biggest rival, Stanford. But when Stanford refused to accept him into school despite a 3.6 grade-point average and a 1050 SAT score, he turned to Cal. 

“I was all set to go to Stanford but their admission department turned me down last week,” said Alexander, who lives in Oakland. “I had already been offered so I assumed I was cleared. I was just going to take my visit for the fun of it, but in my head, I was already a Cardinal, no doubt about it.” 

“Cal was always in the picture, but probably around sixth or seventh,” he said. “But I wanted to stay closer to home.” 

Alexander also considered Oregon, USC, UCLA, Miami (Fla.) and Georgia Tech. But Oregon doesn’t have an engineering program, USC is in transition after firing head coach Paul Hackett this week, and Alexander decided he wanted to stay on the west coast. eliminating Georgia Tech and Miami. 

Alexander, who could play end or tackle in college, could be a factor for the Bears next year, as the defensive line will lose stalwarts Andre Carter and Jacob Waasdorp, both seniors. Just three players with significant playing experience will return on the line: end Tully Banta-Cain and tackles Daniel Nwangwu and Josh Beckham. 

The 6-2, 275-pound Alexander tallied 15 sacks this season while playing on both the offensive and defensive lines for the Panthers, and even lined up a few times in the offensive backfield. 

“Wait until you see him run,” Shaughnessy said. “He’s the most athletic-looking kid you’re going to see.” 

Cal has received some other impressive commitments in the past few weeks, including Ryan Foltz from Westlake High School and linebacker Mike Wells out of Sahuaro High in Tucson, Ariz. Foltz is a speedy PrepStar All-American at safety and Wells is a 6-3, 230-pounder who runs a 4.6. Cal beat out Arizona State and Washington for Foltz, and ASU, Arizona, Colorado State, UCLA and USC recruited Wells. 

Cal’s coaching staff is not allowed to comment on high school athletes until after they sign letters of intent. The first day players can sign is Feb. 7.

This is one in a series of articles the Daily Planet will run over a year, looking at how the city is addressing the dispirit health needs of low-income minority residents.  

Many of Berkeley’s children have been struck by a silent, crippling epidemic, one that is almost entirely preventable – dental disease.  

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services calculates that dental decay is five times more common in children than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. Yet it goes mostly untreated, especially in vulnerable minority and low-income populations. According to reports provided by the city’s Health Department, in Berkeley, 50 to 60 percent of Child Health and Disability Prevention reporting forms list dental disease as the primary diagnosis. Low-income children were found to miss 12 times as many school days due to dental problems as their high-income neighbors. 

A primary cause of these problems, said Dr. Jared Fine, Alameda County’s Dental Health Administrator, is that health insurance isn’t really health insurance, since it doesn’t include dental care.  

“For every child without medical insurance, there are nearly three children without any dental insurance,” he said.  

He likens some current children’s dental programs to “what medical care was like before I was born.” 

Fine addressed the little-discussed public health crisis at a hearing Thursday in the Richmond City Council Chambers, hosted by the California Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, where Assemblymember Dion Aroner presided. In his testimony, Fine proposed both profound restructuring of the provider-reimbursment schedules for Medi-cal and Denta-cal programs and early intervention in elementary schools to screen children, seal their teeth for protection against decay and treat them if needed. 

“The state of California’s response to this issue has been notably weak,” said Dr. Laurence Platt, the opening speaker at the hearing, which was also attended by Assemblymember Gilbert Cedillo and Assemblymember-elect Wilma Chan. The pain of tooth problems, he said, “is not a mild pain, and it is experienced by over half our schoolchildren today.” 

In his testimony, Fine explained that this epidemic is almost entirely preventable. “In dentistry, a lot of medical areas, we have some real silver bullets,” he said. “We have the tools to prevent childhood dental disease.”  

Fine is trying to put some of those tools to work in Berkeley’s schools in a proposal he authored that goes before the City Council Tuesday.  

The resolution calls for a contract with the Alameda County Public Health Department for $65,000 – already in the city’s budget – to be spent on an annual oral health program in the city’s elementary schools. 

“It is just a tremendous program because it will virtually eliminate tooth decay,” said Dr. Poki Namkung, the city’s health officer. “This program goes to schools, screens all the kids using volunteer dentists and hygenists, seals their teeth and fills them if needed.” 

Fine, who has supervised a similar program in the Oakland Unified School District started in 1991, believes that bringing dental care into schools solves many of the problems – particularly lack of transportation – that keep minority and low-income children out of the dentist’s office.  

“The schools are a non-traumatic, safe place to be,” he says. 

Other experts testifying before the committee noted that due to complex reimbursement and pre-approval requirements for Denta-cal programs, even parents of children needing dental surgery have to make appointments up to four months in advance.  

“Those kids should be in the operating room today,” said Dr. Ariane Terlet of La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland’s Fruitvale District. Some of the dentists present said they had stopped accepting poor patients on Denta-cal because of frequently missed appointments and low reimbursement rates for providers. Bringing volunteer dentists into the schools, Fine believes, could eliminate many of these hurdles and eliminate perhaps 85 percent of children’s dental health problems. 

There were some raised eyebrows among the assemblymembers during the hearing. When Terlet attributed part of the crisis to a lack of dental hygenists in California, Aroner said, “I didn’t know we have a dental hygienist shortage.” Audience members and panelists responded with a chorus of groans and vigorous nods to underscore the existence and severity of the shortage.  

Another dentist, Fred Coleman of Oakland, surprised Aroner and Cedillo by telling them that a bill they’d passed to raise provider reimbursement rates across the board had not functioned as intended. He said it raised the rates for only just a few technical procedures.  

Vista College is finally going to get a permanent home.  

Ratcliff Architects, an architectural and interior design firm based in Emeryville and San Francisco, which specializes in academic building design, has been commissioned by the Peralta Community College District to design the 160,000 square foot, $35 million campus. The new school will be located on Center Street in downtown Berkeley and will be funded by Measure E, a bond passed by voters Nov. 7.  

The new campus, according to a written statement by the firm, will “provide the latest technological teaching resources within an environmentally sensitive environment.” The site will include lecture halls, wet and computer labs, a library and a general assembly space. It will also have off-site parking.  

Crodd Chin, principal-in-charge of the Vista College project said: “Flexibility is important and can vary according to community needs; therefore, facilities need to be adaptable for future educational program changes.”  

Ratcliff’s plans call for the ground floor level “to have openness and visibility and easily accessed public spaces.” 

The firm has been involved in a number of projects in the local area including those on the UC Berkeley campus and the music building at Mills College in Oakland.  

Vista College, which opened as Peralta Learning Pavilion in 1974 and later changed its name, has had a history of being a “college without walls,” according to Liz Fogarino of marketing and public relations at Vista. She said the college currently has many locations it uses for classroom space, including classrooms on the UC Berkeley campus.  

Fogarino said the new campus, which will serve nearly 5,000 students from Albany, Berkeley and Emeryville, will continue its current relationship with UC Berkeley. Most of the classes Vista offers on the Berkeley campus are liberal arts transfer courses, she said, noting that holding the classes on the campus gives Vista students the opportunity to see what it’s like to attend classes on a major university campus. She added that nearly 40 percent of Vista’s total classes are currently held at UC Berkeley.  

The new site is located near many forms of public transportation. Fogarino said that 50 to 70 percent of Vista students use public transportation or ride bicycles. 

The new campus, slated to open in late 2002 will offer a variety of programs, including business, bio-technology, English, computer technology, and much more. Vista’s main campus is currently located at 2020 Milvia St.

The public is invited to join Earth Island Institute, the Brower family, and the City of Berkeley for a David Brower Memorial Celebration from 2 to 4 p.m today at the Berkeley Community Theater, 1930 Allston Way. 

The afternoon will feature speakers, music, poetry, video, and photography in the theatre, followed by time in the adjacent East Gallery for people to exchange reminiscences while perusing memorabilia from Dave’s long, varied, and active life. Since we will not be able to hear from all of those with great Dave stories to tell in the theatre,we plan to videotape brief remembrances of Dave in the West Gallery, so bring your own stories along.  

The institute is continuing to collect many remarkable “Dave stories,” and welcomes more. Clippings from press coverage of Dave's life, as well as photos and other Dave memorabilia would be appreciated. E-mails concerning Dave Brower archival material, can be sent to Mikhail Davis at mdavis@earthisland.org, Send mail to:  

Mikhail Davis  

c/o Brower Fund  

Earth Island Institute  

300 Broadway, Suite 28  

San Francisco, CA 94133

SAN JOSE — Black and Hispanic drivers are pulled over more often than whites in San Jose, according to statistics released Friday, but the police department said that does not mean its officers target minorities. 

Police say more stops are made in higher-crime areas where nonwhites tend to live. With more officers patroling neighborhoods with more minorities, the police say, blacks and Hispanics are pulled over more often. 

“It has to do with where the highest number of calls are,” said San Jose Police Chief William Lansdowne.  

“And it is unfortunately in the minority neighborhoods.” 

Lansdowne released a summary of some 97,000 traffic stops made between June 1999 and June 2000.  

The department voluntarily launched the project after community allegations of racial profiling – also known as “driving while black.” 

Last December, San Jose became the first major U.S. city to compile traffic stop demographic data. Friday’s report coupled more comprehensive statistics with an analysis of the data. 

Friday’s study reported that: 

• Hispanics are 31 percent of the city’s population and 41 percent of drivers stopped. 

• Blacks are 4.5 percent of the population and 7 percent of drivers stopped. 

• Whites are 43 percent of the population and 32 percent of drivers stopped. 

• Asians are 21 percent of the population and 16 percent of drivers stopped. 

Civil rights groups have hailed San Jose as a pioneer in confronting the issue.  

That does not mean, however, such groups accept the judgment that profiling isn’t a problem in the city. 

“I don’t agree with the conclusion,” said Victor Garza, chairman of La Raza Round Table, a group representing Hispanics that has consulted with the department. 

“I believe that the majority of the police officers may not be involved in racial profiling. I still do feel that there are others that are.” 

Other groups were more openly skeptical. 

“The reality is that one of the downsides of being poor and a person of color in San Jose is that you are more likely to be pulled over,” said Michelle Alexander, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco. 

Lansdowne said he anticipated such concerns. 

“It’s all about building trust and understanding and openness,” Lansdowne said. “And that’s what we’ve learned we need to work on as a department.” 

He said the department’s 1,400 employees will undergo a two-hour course on “interpersonal relationships” beginning early next year. 

Alexander said no training will change a fundamental flaw in the study – that it doesn’t record how often people were searched. 

“If data is only collected when drivers are stopped, it may seem like no discrimination is happening when in fact it is rampant,” Alexander said.  

“Search data is absolutely essential” because it shows if minorities “are being viewed and treated as criminals whereas whites are not.” 

Police said they omitted search data because their computer collection system could only accommodate three new entries and the department chose race, age and gender.

SAN FRANCISCO — Union warehouse workers and truck drivers approved a new contract with Summit Logistics on Friday, ending a six-week strike marred by violence that depleted Safeway store shelves throughout the state. 

Teamsters Local 439 members voted 717-404 in favor of accepting a new contract that gives them increases in wages and benefits over the next six years. 

Under terms of the new contract, the basic warehouse rate increases $3.10 per hour over the next six years.  

Pay rates for drivers will increase by nearly 16 percent over the life of the contract. 

The new hire rate was increased by $2.50 per hour to $13.50. 

Summit Logistics also agreed to examine the activity-based pay system that held delivery drivers to strict, time-constrained schedules that the union had sought to end.  

Instead of ending the pay-per-delivery system, Summit managers and driver representatives will form a committee to look into inequities of the system. 

“In ratifying the agreement, the members understand that they have not won either of their two principal demands – the end of the activity-based pay system, and negotiation of new production standards in the warehouse,” officers of Local 439 said in a statement. 

The Tracy distribution facility run by Summit serves 245 Safeway stores in Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii. 

Management at Summit appeared ready to put the work stoppage behind them, release replacement workers Sunday and return to business. 

“We are pleased that the union’s membership voted to accept the contract agreement,” said Summit Logistics president Martin Street. 

“We look forward to having them back at work on Monday.” 

The contract approval should bring a close to a bitter six-week strike that began Oct. 18 and left eight people injured after replacement drivers were pelted with rocks and bottles. 

Summit had offered a 4.8 percent pay raise every year for the next five years, but the union rejected it.  

Summit then rejected two counteroffers from the union, including an appeal for new production standards that Street said would cost the company $60 million in the first year alone. 

With negotiations at a standstill, the strike had some impact on Safeway, leaving some stores with shortages on certain items. Safeway said the Teamsters’ efforts had a minor financial impact on the company, but stressed Safeway had no control over the negotiations. 

During the strike period, video footage of Safeway managers delivering perishables in their personal automobiles raised health and safety concerns, though the grocery chain said the deliveries were short trips and well within allowable standards.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis said Friday that utilities should be barred from selling off any more power plants and dams until California’s turbulent wholesale electricity market smooths out. 

The Democratic governor, reiterating his earlier testimony before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, also asked federal authorities to order consumer refunds, new wholesale price controls and strict conservation measures in response to the state’s skyrocketing electricity prices. 

And he said he wanted a speed-up in the state Public Utilities Commission’s investigation into electricity use, among other things. 

Davis’ long-awaited announcement provided little new information about his strategy to deal with the state’s burgeoning electricity problems. He said his plan was a work in progress largely dependent on action by state or federal authorities. 

His comments were contained in a letter to the FERC, which sought Davis’ input before issuing a final order Dec. 13 targeting California’s electricity market. 

“If you do your job of protecting consumers by rectifying wholesale markets, the steps I have to take can be transitional in nature and limited in scope,” the governor wrote FERC. 

The state has been roiled for months by price spikes and power shortages. In San Diego, ratepayers reported a doubling and tripling of their bills following deregulation of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. prices. 

Davis was in Mexico Friday attending swearing-in ceremonies for newly elected Mexican President Vicente Fox. The governor’s proposals were released by his office at a meeting that included Loretta Lynch, the head of the Public Utilities Commission. 

Davis’ letter was noteworthy for what it did not mention, including several hot-button issues that have been discussed at length within the administration. 

Those include evenly dividing the estimated $6 billion in excessive wholesale energy charges between ratepayers and utilities, establishing public ownership of California’s electrical grid and creating a new state electricity agency. 

“He hasn’t ruled it in, he hasn’t ruled it out,” said Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio, referring to the $6 billion division. “The governor is looking at many options here. There is no silver bullet. We are continuing to review ideas.” 

Maviglio said the administration wants to wait until after FERC issues its final order, and then intends to develop legislation for next year’s session of Legislature. 

But the author of a potential 2002 ballot initiative to reregulate California’s electricity industry said Davis’ announcement was “a tremendous disappointment.” 

“There is a leadership vacuum in the state of California in the face of an electricity crisis that is going to become a catastrophe. The governor is waiting for a federal agency to solve the problem,” said Harvey Rosenfield, head of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. 

Davis’ recommendation to halt the sell-off of power-generating assets could close a loophole in California’s 1996 deregulation law, said Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey. 

The law phased-in a plan to allow investor-owned utilities — San Diego Gas and Electric Co., Pacific Gas and Electric Co and Southern California Edison Co — to sell off assets and buy power on the open market by March 2002. SDG&E, with 1.2 million customers, completed its transition to a deregulated market last summer. 

PG&E and SoCal Edison both operate under a rate freeze, and both have sought to lift the limits. Spokesmen for both utilities declined to discuss Davis’ sell-off proposal. Between them, the companies have 9.7 million customers. 

A disputed section of law allows investor-owned utilities to remove their rate freeze once their power-generating facilities are sold off, or the facilities’ appraised value is approved by the PUC. 

Davis’ proposal then potentially could halt that procedure and delay possible rate hikes by PG&E and Southern California Edison. 

It would take new legislation to bar utilities from disposing of remaining power facilities, said Bowen and Lynch. 

“The way the staute is written, at least the valuation of PG&E’s hydro-electric assets could allow their transfer to a nonregulated subsidiary. So, I’m pleased to see this. I think it’s a loophole that is going to be closed,” Bowen said. 

The deregulation issue is so complex, Bowen added, that regulators, consumer groups and elected officials have to be cautious in deciding fixes. 

“It’s stort of like attempting to disarm a nuclear bomb. We really don’t want to go rushing in with a pickax and power saw. We need to be cautious. We don’t want to make things worse for people,” Bowen said. 

On the Net: Read the letter at www.governor.ca.gov. 

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego man pleaded innocent to murder on Friday for fatally shooting a 17-year-old who was videotaping friends doing skateboarding tricks as part of a drama class project. 

The murder charge against Ruben Tadepa, 44, also carried an allegation of using a gun. Tadepa was being held without bail.  

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years to life in prison. 

Tadepa is accused of shooting Ray Huffman three times on Tuesday night while Huffman’s friends performed skateboarding tricks in the neighborhood.  

Residents of the Lomita  

area say that Tadepa had complained of the skateboarding  

in the past but the teens  

weren’t troublemakers. 

Huffman’s father, Ray Lang, interrupted the arraignment by trying to give the defendant pictures of the teen. 

“I would like to present pictures of my child to this murderer and give them to him and let him remember what my son looks like so he can look at him every day of his life,” Lang said through his tears.  

Lang then apologized to the judge for the disruption. 

Tadepa remained standing, facing the judge and with his back to Lang. 

A makeshift memorial with religious figurines, flowers and cards has been set up in front of the home where Huffman died. 

His video project, “Skateboard Survivor,” was to be turned in Friday.

SACRAMENTO — California’s tough anti-smoking measures and public health campaigns have resulted in a 14 percent decrease in lung cancer over the past 10 years, the government reported Thursday. 

Other regions of the country reported only a 2.7 percent decrease over the same period, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. 

“Based on the California experience, we would hope to see similar effects in other states using similar programs,” said Dr. Terry Pechacek, CDC associate director for science and public health. 

Lung cancer develops slowly and the full benefits of quitting can take up to 15 years to be realized. However, Pechacek said, researchers can start seeing some results within five years. 

Smoking rates in California began dropping in the late 1980s, helped in part by Proposition 99 in 1988. The voter-approved measure added a 25-cent-per-pack tax on tobacco products that paid for anti-smoking and education programs. Local governments also began restricting smoking in public buildings and workplaces. 

Two years ago, voters bumped the price of cigarettes an additional 50 cents per pack, money also earmarked for education. And this year alone, the state will spend $136 million on smoking prevention, cessation and research – some $45 million of it on anti-tobacco advertising. 

“California has the most comprehensive program for protecting nonsmokers from secondhand smoke,” said Ken August, spokesman for the state health department. “Restaurants, bars and almost all indoor workplaces are smoke-free.” 

The effect of the anti-tobacco efforts has been fewer smokers and fewer deadly cases of cancer related to smoking, health officials said. August and Pechacek both said they expect the trend to continue. August said that means there will be up to 4,000 fewer lung cancer cases in California this year and about 2,000 fewer deaths. 

In its report, the CDC compared cancer registries in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, New Mexico and Utah, as well as Seattle, Atlanta and Detroit. In 1988, the lung cancer rate in California was 72 cases per 100,000 people, slightly higher than that of the other regions studied.  

By 1997, California’s rate had dropped to about 60 per 100,000. 

The CDC averages the statistics for the first two years and the last two years studied to arrive at an accurate representation, health officials said. The numbers the CDC used were 71.9 for 1988 and 70.3 for 1989, averaging to 71.1; and 62.2 for 1996 and 60.1 for 1997, averaging to 61.15. That computes to a 14 percent drop in lung cancer cases. 

While lung cancer rates for women in the other regions rose 13 percent, the rate for California women dropped 4.8 percent. Among California men, lung cancer rates dropped 23 percent, compared with a 13 percent drop among men elsewhere. 

Dr. David Burns, a volunteer with the American Lung Association in California, said: “This is an accomplishment of Proposition 99 money being invested wisely by the state to help people change their smoking behavior.” 

——— 

THE STUDY 

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta released a study of lung cancer rates in California from 1988 until 1997. The study compared cancer data in California to statistics in five states – Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, New Mexico and Utah – and three cities, Seattle, Detroit and Atlanta: 

• California saw a 14 percent drop in lung cancer cases, while other regions studied showed a 2.7 percent decrease in lung cancer rates. 

• Lung cancer rates among women increased by 13 percent in the other regions, but in California that figure dropped by 4.8 percent. 

• Among men, the rate in California dropped by 23 percent, compared to a 13 percent drop among men in other regions. 

• California will spend $136 million on smoking prevention, cessation and research this year, including $45 million for anti-tobacco television, magazine and radio ads. 

• State health officials say there will be up to 4,000 fewer lung cancer cases and about 2,000 fewer deaths this year due to the decrease in smoking in California. 

On the Net: 

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov 

California health services agency: http://www.dhs.cahwnet.gov 

SANTA ROSA — Computer networking giant Cisco Systems Inc., which already employs more than 500 people in Petaluma, is looking for another Sonoma County location for a new campus that eventually could employ up to 4,000 people. 

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat said Friday the company’s expansion plans could make it the biggest company in the county’s Telecom Valley and one of the county’s largest employers, comparable in size to Optical Coating Laboratory Inc., Medtronic-AVE and perhaps even Agilent Technologies, the county’s largest employer. 

The size of the campus will depend on finding the right property, obtaining approval from local governments and recruiting workers. Cisco has been seeking sites in the Petaluma area where up to 1 million feet of office space could be constructed in three to five years. 

At a minimum, the Cisco division based in Petaluma intends to double its size, said Derrick Meyer, a spokesman for Cisco. Cisco currently leases eight buildings in Petaluma with 270,000 square feet of space. 

“Cisco would need to approach a project of that scale very cautiously and work very extensively to get public buy-in. Anything of that magnitude in a city of this size would have a significant impact,” Petaluma City Councilman Matt Maguire said. “This may be beneficial, but it has got to be done right. As with so many things, the devil is in the details.” 

SACRAMENTO — John C. Fremont Charter School is caught in two sides of California’s education world – aloof from most state regulations as a charter, yet judged along with other public schools in Gov. Gray Davis’ ranking and rewards system. 

It’s doing well in both. The Merced school with mostly poor and minority students had its charter renewed last year and its students made the biggest gains among charter schools in Davis’ rankings this year. 

But not all California’s experimental charter schools did as well º more than a third of them did not qualify for Davis’ $677 million in rewards to be doled out in January to schools that improved their test-based rankings. 

Some actually lost ground, particularly for their minority and poor students, according to a computer-assisted analysis by the Associated Press of the state’s Academic Performance Index rankings for 80 charter schools. 

Fremont principal Greg Spicer is cautiously pleased about qualifying for the rewards. 

“We’re hoping that we’re on the right track,” said Spicer. 

All public schools, including charters, are being judged this year by the state not on how high or low their APIs are, but on whether they improved their scores between 1999 and 2000. 

Like regular public schools, charter schools have a huge range of APIs. Also like regular schools, charters’ APIs generally reflect the students they serve. Schools with mostly middle-class, suburban students have high scores, while those with poor, minority and non-English-speaking students have lower ones. 

However, when it comes to the all-important improvement, the charter schools that increased their scores the most tended to start with relatively low scores and serve mostly minority and poor students. Many of the ones that slid backward the furthest had high scores and mostly white, middle-class kids. 

Charter schools – created by a 1992 law – are public schools given freedom from most education code requirements. In exchange, they are supposed to “improve pupil learning,” particularly for “pupils who are identified as academically low-achieving.” 

The Academic Performance Index, or API, was created in 1999 by Davis and the Legislature to rank the state’s public schools. It is a score, ranging from a low of 200 to a high of 1000, that is currently based entirely on the state’s Standardized Testing and Reporting exam. 

Schools were given their first APIs based on their spring 1999 test scores. They were also given an improvement goal that was 5 percent of the difference between their API and Davis’ long-term goal of 800. 

Schools qualified for the rewards if they met their overall goal, also improved scores for subgroups within the school and tested sufficient students. 

The money will go to the schools themselves and to the teachers and other staff. The highest reward of $25,000 goes to teachers in low-performing schools that improved test scores the most. 

When the 2000 APIs were released last month, 67 percent of 6,209 public schools qualified for the rewards. 

Fifty-one of the 80 charter schools that had both 1999 and 2000 APIs, or 64 percent, qualified. 

Dave Patterson of the California Network of Educational Charters, a statewide group for charter supporters, said there are other charter schools that do not yet have 2000 APIs that have met Davis’ growth targets. 

“Charter schools are not underperforming, as far as we can tell,” says Patterson. 

Fremont, which jumped 89 points from 501 to 590, was at the top of the charter improvement list. Among regular public schools, the largest growth was 189 points. 

The gains are particularly sweet because Fremont is one of nine charter schools among the 860 public schools in Davis’ three-year improvement program aimed at schools with scores in the bottom half of the state. 

In that program, schools spend one year devising an improvement plan and two years trying to meet their goals. Those that fail face a list of sanctions as severe as closure of the school. 

Principal Spicer says being a charter school has helped Fremont — in its sixth year as a charter — in its improvement plan. The 620-student school in the Merced City Elementary District is 67 percent minority, while 77 percent of its students qualify for free- and reduced-price lunches and 28 percent are not fluent in English. 

“It helped us to focus,” he said. “It’s freed us up in how we use our money.” 

As a charter, Fremont was more quickly able to work out a partnership with Apple Computers to lease new computers needed for the school’s accelerated reading program, he said. 

Fremont also was able to require its parents to work 40 hours in the school and makes its students sign a contract to do their homework. It was able to give students art lessons two hours a week and allow teachers to use that time to work together on lesson plans, he said. 

Also posting a big gain — 80 points, from 574 to 654 — was Accelerated School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, a 265-student school that has been a charter since 1994. 

Accelerated’s students are 43 percent black and 56 percent Hispanic, 94 percent qualify for free- or reduced-price lunches and 36 percent are learning English. 

Co-director Kevin Sved said the school allows teachers to be creative, gives them extra resources for supplies, requires parents to volunteer and provides after-school and summer programs. 

“We’re really looking at children holistically. It’s really a testament that you don’t have to teach to the test to have good testing results,” he said. 

Twelve of the 29 charter schools that did not meet their growth targets had their APIs actually drop between 1999 and 2000. However, seven of the 12 started with APIs in the 700s, close to Davis’ goal of 800. 

The largest fall was 27 points by Nevada City School of the Arts, which had started at 798. That school is one of 49 schools chosen last week as California’s nominees for National Blue Ribbon Schools. 

The school has 216 students, 96 percent of them white and none qualifying for free- or reduced-price lunches or English learners. 

Principal Judi McKeehan says test results can vary in such a small school where the student body changes each year. 

“I still think our achievement is right up there,” she said. 

The school, chartered by the Twin Ridges Elementary School District in Nevada County, incorporates art into other lessons. 

——— 

On the Net: Read about charter schools at 

http://www.cde.ca.gov/charter 

Read about Davis’ school-improvement program at 

http://www.cde.ca.gov/psaa 

The Accelerated School is at http://www.accelerated.org 

Nevada City School of the Arts is at 

http://www.treds.k12.ca.us.ncsa.html 

In a surprise announcement, Cal Athletic Director John Kasser resigned from his post Thursday to become the executive director of Pac-10 Properties. 

Kasser will leave the athletic department at the end of December for the joint venture between the Pac-10 conference and Fox Sports, created four years ago to help promote the conference’s athletic departments. He will oversee all of the conference’s licensing and marketing efforts, including the new Pac-10 basketball tournaments, to begin in 2002. 

“This was not a decision that was made in the last two weeks,” Kasser said at a press conference Thursday. “This has been in the works for the past six months. I’m leaving for a position where I can help all of the Pac-10 schools.” 

Kasser leaves Cal after seven years as athletic director. He was responsible for the hiring of 14 of Cal’s 27 coaches, and helped raise more than $100 million in donations. He oversaw the construction of the Haas Pavilion, opened last year, as well as the renovation of several other facilities, including Edwards Stadium. 

“I’m leaving feeling very good about where we are in the athletic department,” he said. “I still will be a Golden Bear at heart.” 

Cal Chancellor Robert Berdahl announced that he has appointed current Associate Athletic Director Robert Driscoll as the Acting Athletic Director. Berdahl said he would begin a nationwide search for a permanent replacement immediately, although he gave no timetable for filling the position. He indicated that Driscoll would be considered for the permanent position. 

“This is a sad moment for us at Cal,” Berdahl said. “John has been a key to the department’s success, and will be looked back upon as one of the marks of pride for the athletic department.” 

Berdahl said that despite Kasser’s depiction of football head coach Tom Holmoe as “my guy” doesn’t mean Holmoe will be leaving with Kasser. 

“We’re committed to Tom Holmoe, and we’re confident we’ll have a successful program next year,” Berdahl said. 

Kasser had stated in the past that “as long as I’m at Cal, Tom Holmoe will be the football coach.” 

Berdahl also said the new athletic director, whomever the choice may be, will not have the opportunity to replace Holmoe before next season. 

“Whoever comes in will have a coaching staff in place,” he said. 

Vice Chancellor Horace Mitchell, who worked closely with Kasser, said he leaves a strong legacy. 

“John brought some tremendous energy and enthusiasm to Cal, and he brought in coaches who represent the values of Cal,” Mitchell said. “He also instilled a philosophy that is student-centered, and that’s something we strive for.” 

Mitchell joined Berdahl in his vehement support of Holmoe. 

“The committment to Tom that John expressed is an institutional committment,” he said. “It doesn’t end with John leaving.” 

Driscoll, who has been an administrator at Cal for 14 years, was enthusiastic about his new, if temporary, position. 

“Having the opportunity to lead this department for the next few months is a dream come true for me,” he said. “I’m going to continue to do the things that John set forth for us.” 

Among the projects on the department’s slate is the seismic retrofitting of Memorial Stadium. Berdahl said Kasser’s resignation would have no effect on the project’s timeframe.

While Berkeley’s efforts to reduce the number of new HIV/AIDS cases has been successful over the last six years, the city’s infection rate is still higher than that in Alameda County and California. 

Health officials say they are particularly alarmed at the increasing rate of infection in the city’s black community. 

According to the 1999 City of Berkeley Health Status Report, AIDS-related deaths dropped 90 percent from a peak in 1994 of 49 deaths to five deaths in 1998. At the same time, however, the rate of African Americans infected with the disease has increased.  

From 1989 to 1999 the proportion of African Americans diagnosed with AIDS increased from 19.5 percent to 43 percent while the rate of whites infected decreased from 71 percent to 40.5 percent. While African Americans comprise 19 percent of the population, they represent over 31 percent of the total cumulative AIDS cases reported through 1998. 

“This growing disparity is recognized as being a direct result of lack of access to the new modalities of treatment and care and the changing mode of exposure to HIV,” the city study says. 

Overall males constitute the largest proportion of reported AIDS cases at 92 percent, although the rate of HIV infection is growing among women who represent 20 percent of newly diagnosed cases between 1995 and 1997. The primary mode of infection for women is injection drug use at 47.5 percent. Heterosexual contact accounts for 42.5 percent. 

The principle mode of transmission of the disease remains sex between men which accounts for 77 percent. Injection drug use accounts for 10.3 percent.  

Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson said when the epidemic first hit, San Francisco was more organized to deal with administrative aspects of the disease, collecting statistics and identifying at-risk populations and garnering government support. “They were better prepared to lobby for funds from the Center of Disease Control, which went to education and AIDS prevention programs,” Carson said. 

He said Alameda County AIDS activists are now organized and have political support. He expects to see the infection rate in the black community to decline. 

The city is attacking the disease on several fronts. Leroy Ricardo Blea, HIV/AIDS program director said the city is taking particular aim at the disease in the black community. 

The fight takes money. “One of the things we did was compete for a grant from the state to focus attention on communities of color.” Last March Berkeley received $785,000 from the State Office of AIDS. With the funds, the Health and Human Services Department has launched several programs.  

One is the Faith Project that will use the African American church networks to connect the black community with city agencies. The goal is to bring information and access to programs to those who lack both. 

“The Faith Project will take advantage of the communities of faith, a strength in the African American community, to provide information and access to existing programs,” Blea said. 

The Faith Program will promote free, anonymous and confidential HIV testing, using a mobile clinic to bring HIV testing into the community. 

There will also be access to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides complete or partial assistance in purchasing AIDS medications for persons HIV positive or living with AIDS. This program is also available to those who may already have some form of medical insurance. 

Gay, bisexual and men questioning their sexuality are also targeted. The Men’s Project provides information and counseling especially to men who may have same sex relationships, but do not consider themselves gay. “Questioning males are a little more at risk because they tend to be isolated and that might make them more likely to engage in risky behavior,” Blea said. 

Berkeley’s Pacific Center offers access to information for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning people. 

Injection drug users are also targeted by city programs. The Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution program has officially been in effect since 1993. NEED volunteers provide clean needles as well as information and materials such as condoms, alcohol pads and bleach three times a week at various locations in Berkeley. 

Since 1993, the Berkeley City Council has declared a “Public Health State of Emergency” every two weeks in order to bypass federal, state and local laws against the distribution of drug paraphernalia. Concerned citizens operated the program illegally for three years before it became the first city-sanctioned needle exchange program in the state. 

For more information on the Faith Project, HIV testing or the Men’s Project call 665-7311. For needle exchange locations and information call 678-8663. 

City should provide drop-off space at BHS 

Editor: 

I received a summons in the mail for a “no parking sign posted” ticket.  

At first, I could not figure out how I could have received a ticket without knowing for what or when I broke the law. I was ticketed for dropping off my son at Berkeley High School on the morning of October 23 at 8:02 am.  

I now remember the incident. I pulled up behind a car and dropped off my son. There were no other cars parked on the street. I do remember seeing a Parking Enforcement Vehicle next to the car in front of me.  

I could not believe, nor did I know, I was breaking the law for dropping off my son at school. I was not even warned that what I was doing was illegal nor to move on.  

If I were doing something illegal I would expect, out of common decency or consideration, that the parking enforcement officer would let me know. I did not receive an acknowledgment or a ticket at the time, or any type of warning. 

Going back to the scene, I see that the street is marked ‘no parking’ and is not painted red. From my layman’s perspective, I was not parking but dropping off students in a safe area. Had I known I was going to receive a ticket for such I would not have done so in front of the Parking Enforcement Officer.  

Regardless, I think it only reasonable for the parking enforcement officer to warn the motorist before issuing a citation. Even the police at the San Francisco Airport give that courtesy. 

A solution might be to establish a drop off/loading zone on Milvia to safely allow parents to bring their students to school. There are hundreds of students who are dropped off and picked up daily on Milvia St. As long as the driver remains in the car it should not be illegal.  

The safety of the children should be a priority over parking violation income to the city.  

I also understand that that part of Milvia is designated a bike path. It might not be unreasonable for drop off and pick up of students between certain hours be made a priority over bike paths as a compromise solution.  

A better use of the parking enforcement officer’s time would be to cite those people at Oxford School, who leave their cars unattended during the morning drop off, or cite those crazy drivers who make u-turns in front of Oxford School. 

In closing, I strongly feel that the city council and the mayor should direct the parking enforcement officers to do their jobs with a little more compassion. A warning, instead of an instant ticket, could go a long way to make for harmony in the community. I understand a similar measure was employed last year regarding parking meters  

Terrance Jue 

Berkeley 

Let Netanyahu speak out – at the World Court 

Editor: 

Steve Wolan, formerly of the Free Speech Movement, and others who protest that B. Netanyahu should be allowed to speak publicly defending a political position and not harassed until they leave town do have a point.  

There is ample prima facie evidence that Netanyahu should be allowed to present his case, but as a defendant with expert legal counsel, before the World Court, brought up on long overdue charges of crimes against the peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes.  

The policy makers of Israel should be allowed to speak and answer questions, much as Eichmann was allowed to do in Jerusalem. If Israeli leadership is interested in peace in the Middle East it is only a peace at the service of Israeli hegemony. Thus ever has colonialism behaved. 

Peter Kleinman 

Berkeley 

Prohibiting Netanyahu speech hypocritical 

Editor:  

I see, according to an article in Wednesday’s Planet, that Berkeley, the home of the Free Speech Movement, no longer protects or even tolerates free speech.  

An unruly crowd, which broke through a police barrier tape (but had no one arrested), claimed victory after forcing the cancellation of a pre-arranged speech by an admittedly controversial speaker, Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime Minister.  

I am familiar with controversy, having spent time behind bars in the United States (federal prison for opposing the war in Vietnam), and in Poland (arrested and expelled for being a member of the Solidarity Free Union Movement). If Free Speech can’t survive here, then where? 

Councilmember Dona Spring, quoted in the article, complained that lecture organizers brought an “inflammatory” figure to town. Does she believe audiences should only 

hear boring, middle-of-the-road speakers? Her outrage that the city spent taxpayer funds on police protection is itself horrendously outrageous. Is it not one of the City’s highest duties to defend freedom of assembly and expression? 

Hatem Bazian, a UC lecturer quoted in the article, displayed similar contempt for American liberties. 

He claims a protest which silenced speech was a success, saying “Berkeley leads the way.....(as) it did in the Free Speech Movement.” Silencing others in the name of “Free Speech”? Orwell would be proud. 

I support Spring’s and Hatem’s free speech rights, but they do not reciprocate. They may even see my support for their rights as a weakness. Intense partisans, they would revoke my Constitutional, Bill of Rights freedoms, such as speech or assembly.  

In their opinion, those who fall outside the bounds of what they define as acceptable should be silenced. This is where fascism really starts. The Berkeley ACLU should make a statement deploring the forced cancellation of the Netanyahu speech due to threats from an unruly crowd. 

Lance Montauk 

Berkeley 

Setting record straight on homeless vet 

Editor: 

Happy holidays! I want to thank you for the front page story in the Planet’s Nov. 25-26 issue on homeless veteran John Christian written by Millicent Mayfield.  

As a veteran and advocate for the homeless, I am always pleased when the media humanizes the homeless. However, I would like to correct some inaccuracies made by the reporter. 

Mr. Christian and I are not Vietnam veterans. We did not represent ourselves as such to the reporter. As the story points out, Mr. Christian joined the Army in 1978, three years after the end of the Vietnam war.  

In 1978, I became an ROTC cadet at UC Berkeley and entered active duty in the Army as a lieutenant in 1980, five years after the end of the Vietnam War. Whatever “war stories” Mr. Christian and I shared, it was not about Vietnam. 

I am also disappointed that the article did not mention the “Night On the Streets Catholic Worker” ministry that I belong to. I informed the writer about this group, which goes out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights on Shattuck and Telegraph avenues to provide hot soup and fellowship to Berkeley’s homeless. It begins the first Monday after Thanksgiving and ends the week of Easter.  

I think a story about them would be fitting during the holidays to remind people that the season of Christmas is about giving and caring. If you are interested in a story about the group, contact its founder, J.C. Orton, at 841-6151. You’ll find J.C., with his rosy red cheeks, beard, ample girth and mirth, looks a lot like that other guy who like to give things away about this time. Once again, happy holidays to you.  

Modesto Fernandez 

Berkeley 

Creeks and trees need city attention 

The Daily Planet received this letter to Lisa Caronna, director of Berkeley Parks and Waterfront Department: 

Now, that the bond issues passed, I hope that certain projects which may have languished get more attention. We should be thinking in the long term. 

I think that Blackberry Creek should get attention, especially in the area of Alameda and Colusa where the creek flows through backyards, under the garages and decks of the houses fronting on Capistrano, where residents may or may not enjoy it. 

The original developer should have left that whole block open as a park. I suggest that the city buy back those residences as the current owners pass on and do just that, even if it takes a hundred years or so to do, as a gradual process. 

Along that same line, we should not be planting trees that will grow too tall on either private or public property, as they are incompatible with houses and may harm the unsuspecting users of parks who expect them to be safe and secure.  

According to Carl Wilson, Berkeley historian and retired forester, this whole area was covered with grassland and some brush, with native trees in the ravines and gullies. Most tall trees we have now were imported and planted and have little current suitability. Berkeley should have a hazardous tree law, very similar to Oakland’s.  

I was glad to see some of your employees at two annual tree failure conferences, sponsored by the UC Co-op Extension.  

I hope you require any of your employees who attend at city expense to write a written summary and/or to make a presentation to your other employees of what was discussed at the tree failure conference. I also hope you report all, or at least the major, Berkeley tree failures to their statewide report system so that epidemics can be kept track of (it should be the law).  

I recently checked the tree near 540 The Alameda, which I told you had been red-dotted long ago and then forgotten by your staff. That tree was finally taken out spontaneously by a tree-trimming crew, much to the joy of nearby residents. A neighbor, who lives near Indian Rock Park, says he has nightmares about one of the grotesque eucalyptus there falling on his house with dire results.  

I understand that several trees blew down or fell over during the last windstorm a few weeks ago, most of which your staff did not anticipate would fall. In summary, Berkeley has big problems with our trees in the parking areas, in city parks, and in backyards.  

Charles L. Smith 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

The Oakland postmaster has unilaterally decided to remove the numbering system from all Berkeley post offices.  

The reason given me for this move is: Berkeley is the only post office on the west coast that has such a system. We all know that Berkeley is unique in many ways, so it’s not too surprising that its post offices are unique too. 

Right now it’s not such a hassle to stand in line rather than sit until one’s number is called. However, as the Christmas mail rush arrives, there are sure to be long lines inside and outside all Berkeley post offices of people trying to mail packages, etc.  

If you feel as strongly as I do about the “militarization,” where everything in the system has to be uniform, of the Berkeley post offices I urge you to write or call Congresswoman Barbara Lee at 1301 Clay St., Suite 1000N, Oakland, CA., 94612. Her telephone number is 510-763-0370. Request that she ask the postmaster general for a more satisfactory reason than the above for the removal of the numbering system in all the Berkeley post offices.  

You may be surprised how promptly post office bureaucrats respond to such an inquiry.  

John Schonfield 

Berkeley 

268-8471 

Editor: 

The Berkeley Tool Library is a jewel within the library system and a generator of tremendous goodwill.  

The thousands of us who use this south branch treasure have grown used to the help we receive from the knowledgeable staff. There is no problem we bring to Pete, Adam or Mike they aren’t willing to tackle, giving freely of advice and their fund of experience.  

They tell us where to go for information, supplies or tools if they aren’t available on site. And the new member of the staff, Candida, is being quickly brought “up to speed.” The staff know their patrons by name and always greet us in a professional, friendly manner. We count on them, we trust them, and some of us even bake them cookies. 

But there are some questions we have about the future: 

1. With the possible retirement of Pete McElligot, we are concerned that the Tool Library continue in its present fashion – generating goodwill and dispensing information. Pete’s retirement leaves his present position vacant and it seems to us, the users, that the most qualified person to succeed him would be Adam, who has seniority and the most experience on the job and the necessary communication skills the position requires.  

2. We would like to see another full-time position at the Tool Library and an additional part-time position, making two full-time and two part-time positions. This would move Mike to full-time and require hiring another part-time person. Over the years, the Tool Library has doubled in patrons and popularity and the lines at times are quite long and slow – due in part to the fact that we are not just picking up a tool, but wanting to know its uses, care and how to address our problem with it. We, therefore, think the added staff and time are justified. This is not a pass-the-card-through-scanner operation.  

3. We are troubled that, at times, people are working alone. This never happens in the regular library. There is just too much chance for quick theft for this to be acceptable, to say nothing of the safety of the staff. The building is essentially separate from the main building and a worker there is not within shouting distance of help in case of an emergency.  

4. Parking is also a problem. There is a bus stop on the corner and a lot of cars parked, full-time, on the east side of the street and only three spaces on site. We are not carrying away books here but 10 foot ladders and cement mixers, and some of us are little old ladies and can’t drag equipment to our cars a block away. Could AC Transit move it’s bus stop? Can we have 30-minute parking in front of the Tool Library and the community garden during Tool Library hours? 

5. With the passage of the bond for the branches we want to make sure the Tool Library gets its fair share. We want to know what plans there are for expanding, rebuilding or revamping and how we can become involved.  

No comments on the Tool Library would be complete without mention of another exciting feature, its Web site www.infopeople.org/bpl/tool.; a place with as many as 500 hits per month from as far away as England and Japan! Check it out and you will find articles about houses settling, earthquake preparedness, photos, artwork, and more by the Tool Library’s own Web Master, Adam.  

Questions and comments come in daily from Berkeley builders, contractors and fix-it fans. Questions come in from all over the United States asking how to start up a Tool Library. We are eager that his service continue and expand. Centris Computers, a Tool Library fan, set up the computer system and donated their services.  

People interested in joining us and becoming more involved in seeing the Tool Library services continue in a smooth fashion through Pete’s retirement and replacement, and in the upcoming expenditure of library funds can call 845-7621.  

Rosemary Vimont 

Berkeley 

845-7621 

Ebony Museum of Arts 

30 Jack London Village, Suite 209  

763-0745. 

The museum specializes in the art and history of Africa.  

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

Habitot Children’s Museum 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

“Back to the Farm.”  

Ongoing 

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

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

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

647-1111 or www.habitot.org 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St.  

549-6950 

Free 

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

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” 

Through May, 2002  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. The exhibition will expand Nov 5, 2000, to encompass all four seasons and a collection of rare treasures from Jewish, Tibetan, Mexican-American, and other cultures. 

“Second Annual Richard Nagler Competition for Excellence in Jewish Photography” 

Featuring the work of Claudia Nierman, Jason Francisco, Fleming Lunsford, and others.  

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 

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

Through Jan. 16, 2001: “Amazons in the Drawing Room”: The Art of Romaine Brooks  

Predominantly a portrait artist, Brooks paintings were influenced by elements of her life and are a visual record of the changing status of women in society and her own refusal to conform to the social order of early twentieth-century Europe.  

Pacific Film Archive Theater Gallery 

2625 Durant Ave. 

Through Jan. 8, 2001: “Continuous Replay: The Photographs of Arnie Zane” 

Best known as the cofounder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Zane began his exploration of the human form through photography. 

Through Dec. 17: Wolfgang Laib/Martrix: “188 Pollen from Pine” 

Laib uses elements of nature including beeswax, milk, rice, pollen, and stone to create his art pieces.  

The Asian Galleries  

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

A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection.  

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

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

“Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. 

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

642-0808. 

UC Berkeley Museum of  

Paleontology 

Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley 

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing.  

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

“Pteranodon”  

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

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

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

642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst  

Museum of Anthropology 

Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 

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

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

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

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

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

643-7648 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

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

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

experiments. 

“In the Dark,”through Jan. 15, 2001. Plunge into darkness and see amazing creatures that inhabit worlds without light.  

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

“ChemMystery,” through Jan. 1, 2001. The LHS becomes a crime scene and a science lab to help visiting detectives to solve two different crime scenarios.  

Call 643-5134 for tickets  

“Family Holiday Programs,” Dec. 26 - 31. An entire week of song, music, dance, and other assorted entertainment that are guaranteed child-pleasers. Call LHS for details or check “out & about” close to Dec. 26.  

Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

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

642-5132 

Holt Planetarium  

Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 

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

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

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

$3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

The Oakland Museum of  

California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Secret World of the Forbidden City” Through Jan. 24, 2001. A rare glimpse of over 350 objects which illustrate the opulence and heritage of the Chinese Imperial Court Under the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 - 1911. For this exhibit: $13 general, $10 seniors and $5 for students with ID.  

For museum: $6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Many special events scheduled for November and December related to “Secret World of the Forbidden City.” Call the museum or check the Out & About calendar listings for upcoming events. 

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org. 

Music 

924 Gilman St. 

All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted 

$5; $2 for a year membership 

525-9926 

Dec. 1: Plan 9, The Kowalskis, American Heartbreak, Big Bubba, The Secretions 

Dec. 2: Spazz, The Oath, Total Fury, Iron Lung, Falling Over Drunk 

Dec. 8: Good Clean Fun, S.E.E.D., more TBA 

Dec. 9: Phobia, Grief, 16, Noothgrush, Spaceboy 

Ashkenaz  

1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 

525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com 

Dec. 1: Voz Do Brasil, Aquarela, 9:30 p.m., $12 

Dec. 2: Kotoja, West African Highlife Band, Nigerian Bros, 8:30 p.m., dance lesson with Comfort Mensah, 8 p.m., $12 

Dec. 3: Musicians for Medical Marijuana, the Cannabis Healers, Taos Hum, 8 p.m., $15 

Dec. 5: Poety of Paul Polansky, 7:30 p.m.; Edessa, Anoush, 9 p.m., $8 

Dec. 6: Jimmy Breaux with members of CCO, 9 p.m., dance lesson, 8 p.m., $10  

Freight & Salvage  

All shows begin at 8 p.m.  

548-1761 

Dec. 1: Blue Flame Stringband Reunion & CD release party 

Dec. 2: Barbara Higbie (piano, violin & vocals) 

Dec. 3: Johnny Cunningham & Susan McKeown (Scottish fiddle and Irish singing) 

Dec. 4: Paul Geremia (country blues) 

Dec. 6 & 7: Greg Brown (folk) and Garnet Rogers  

Dec. 8: Ian Tyson (classic Canadian cowboy) 

Eli’s Mile High Club 

3629 MLK Jr. Way  

Oakland 

Doors for all events, 8 p.m. 

Dec. 1: Henry Clement 

Dec. 2: Daniel Castro 

Dec. 8: Mojo Madness 

Dec. 9: Eli’s Allstars 

Dec. 15: Jimmy Mamou 

Dec. 16: Ron Thompson 

Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave. 

843-2473 

All shows begin at 9 p.m., unless noted 

Dec. 6: Whiskey Broters (bluegrass) 

Dec. 7: Keni “El Lebrijano” (flamenco guitar) 

Dec. 9: pickPocket ensemble (european cafe music) 

Dec. 12: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo 

Crowden School 

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

559-6910 

Dec. 10, 4 p.m.: 2nd Annual colin Hampton Memorial Concert featuring young artists from around the Bay Area, $10; Free for those under 18.  

Sundays, 4 p.m.: Chamber music series sponsored by the school.  

Cal Performances 

Dec. 1 & 2, 8 p.m.: Afro-Brazilian dance company Bale Folclorico da Bahia, $20 - $32.  

Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 

For tickets and info for these events call 642-9988 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Music Series 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline (at MLK Jr. Way) 

444-3595 

All shows begin at 7:45 p.m.  

Dec. 3: George Cremaschi and John Raskin, David Slusser’s Idiomatic Improv Project 

Dec. 17: Thomas Day, Boris Hauf, others TBA 

$8 suggested donation per show 

Live Oak Concert Series 

1275 Walnut St.  

644-6893 

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. 

Dec. 3: Baroque and Classical Harmonies vocal and instrumental ensemble perform works by J.S. Bach, Schubert and Arvo Part.  

Dec. 10: Minstrel Voices perform works by Jacopo Perl, Cipriano Di Rore and Josquin Des Pres. 

Dec. 17: Cellist Elaine Kreston performs suites by J.S. Bach 

$10 general, $9 students/seniors, children under 12 Free 

Jazzschool/La Note  

2377 Shattuck Ave.  

845-5373 

All events begin at 4:30 p.m. 

Dec. 3: Eddy Marshall Trio 

Dec. 10: Tocar featuring David Frazier 

Dec. 17: San Francisco Saxaphone Quartet 

$6 - $12  

“Music on Squirrel Hill”  

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley 

One Lawson Road 

Kensington 

525-0302 

The San Francisco Choral artists directed by Claire Giovannetti sing traditional and less familiar classics of the season.  

Dec. 3, 4 p.m. 

$15 general, $10 students & seniors  

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir  

Paramount Theatre 

2025 Broadway, Oakland  

465-6400 

Celebrating 15 years of Christmas celebrations, the 65 member multi-racial, interfaith choir is at the tail-end of a year that included a performance tour of Israel and reception of the 2000 Gospel Academy Award for Best Community Choir.  

Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m. 

$15 - $20. Availalble at the Paramount or Ticketmaster outlets.  

Kitka Presents “Wintersongs”  

Lake Merrit United Methodist Church 

1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland  

444-0323 

Dec. 3, 7 p.m. 

$15 - $18 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra  

St. Joseph the Worker Church 

1640 Addison 

Dec. 2, 8 p.m. Performing the work of Gounod, Handel, and Mozart.  

St. Ambrose Church  

1145 Gilman 

Dec. 9, 8 p.m. 

Dec. 10, 4 p.m. 

Call 528-2145 

Solano Holiday Performers  

Solano Ave.  

On weekend afternoons until Christmas, various artists will be performing.  

Dec. 2 - 3, 2 p.m. - 6 p.m.; Dec. 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 & 24, Noon - 6 p.m. 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra 

Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 

841-2800 

Performance dates include Jan. 31, April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m.  

Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96  

Strolling Musicians & Carolers  

Downtown Berkeley 

Sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association and co-sponsored by the Daily Planet and the City of Berkeley. 

Performances are 5 - 7 p.m. 

Dec. 1: Berkeley High Pep Band & UC Madrigals 

Dec. 8: Los Cenzontles & Artemsia Brass Quartet 

Dec. 15: Cal Jazz Choir & Oddly Enough, a Barbershop Quartet 

Dec. 22: Berkeley Community Chamber Chorus & These “R” They Gospel Youth Choir  

Baroque Choral Guild  

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way 

408-733-8110 

Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m. Performing the music of Giovanni Croce, Giovanni Bassano, Claudio Monteverdi, and others.  

$20 general, $15 senior/student 

Films 

“Rebels with a Cause”  

UC Theatre  

2036 University Ave.  

843-3456 

Focusing on student activism in the 1960s by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Produced, written and edited by Helen Garvy, an SDS participant.  

Dec. 1 - 7, 4:35, 7, 9:30 p.m.; plus Saturday and Sunday, 2:15 p.m. 

Pacific Film Archive  

2625 Durant Ave.  

642-5249 

Dec. 1: Kafi’s Story and Nuba Conversations, 7 p.m.; This is What Democracy Looks Like, 9:10 p.m. 

Dec. 2: A Dirty Story and other films by Jean Eustache, 7 p.m. 

Dec. 3: The Desert of the Tartars, 5:30 p.m.  

Dec. 4: La Promesse, 7:30 p.m. 

Dec. 5: Correspondences: David Gatten and Luis A. Recorder, 7:30 p.m. 

Dec. 6: Sea Changes: New Works from UC Berkeley’s Digital Media Program, 7:30 p.m. 

Theater 

“Dinner With Friends” 

by Donald Margulies 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St.  

Through Jan. 5, 2001 

845-4700, www.berkeleyrep.org 

“The Weir” by Conor McPherson 

Aurora Theater Company 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Through Dec. 17, Tuesday - Saturday, 8 p.m. (no performance Nov. 23); Sunday, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. 

$35 opening night 

$30 general 

Call 843-4822 

“The Crucible” by Arthur Miller 

Berkeley High Drama Dept.  

Florence Schwimley Little Theater 

Allston Way (between Milvia & MLK Jr. Way) 

Dec. 1, 2, 8 & 9, 8 p.m.  

$5 

Tickets available at the door  

“The Hard Nut” 

The Nutcracker With a Twist 

Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 

Dec. 8, 9, 14 - 16, 8 p.m.; Dec. 9 & 16, 2 p.m.; Dec. 10 & 17, 3 p.m.  

$26 - $50 

Call 642-9988 

Exhibits 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley 

644-6893 

“Against All Odds: Ingenuity, Talent and Disability,”  

Featuring the work of six disabled artists who use inventive, adaptive art-making techniques to create media ranging from prints and ceramic sculpture to computer-generated paintings and collage works. Through Dec. 16. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Free.  

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Call 528-0494  

“Artists at Play Holiday Sale” 

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 

Dec. 2 & 9, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

California College of Arts and Crafts  

Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland  

594-3712 

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Free. 

Kala Art Institute 

1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley 

549-2977 

Over sixty artists affiliated with the Kala Art Institute will show works ranging from wood block prints to digital media.  

Through Jan. 16, Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 5 p.m. 

Opening reception Nov. 30, 6 - 8 p.m.  

Berkeley Artisans Holiday “Open Studios” 

For a free map send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: 

Berkeley Artisans Map, 1250 Addison St. #214, Berkeley, CA. 94702.  

11 a.m. - 5 p.m ., Saturdays & Sundays, Through Dec. 17 

For additional info. call 845-2612 

You may also download the map at: http://www.berkeleyartisans.com  

Oakland Glass Artists Holiday Exhibit & Sale 

2680 Union St., Oakland  

832 - 8380  

Bruce Pizzichillo and Dari Gordon, who have been producing glass artwork from their studio since 1980.  

Dec. 2, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St., Berkeley 

527-1214 or www.traywick.com 

Group show by Traywick artists, Dec. 2 - 23.  

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

Nexus Gallery  

2701 Eighth St., Berkeley 

531-9229 

“The Glitter Reminder,” paintings by Michele Theberge, prints and textiles by Sharon Jue, photographs by Amy Snyder, sculpted water environments by C.R. Mitchell and Tom Mataga and textile installations by Claudia Tennyson.  

Dec. 9 - 23, Opening reception: Dec. 10, 2 - 5 p.m. 

Gallery hours: Monday - Friday, Noon - 6 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

Call 848-0181 

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

Thursday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Free.  

Pro Arts Gallery 

461 Ninth St., Oakland.  

763-9425  

2000 Juried Annual, Through Dec. 30. This years show features 79 works by 70 artists. This show is juried by Larry Rinder, curator of contemporary art at the Whitney Museum. 

Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

YWCA  

2600 Bancroft Way 

848-6370 

Benecia artist Connie Millholland’s semi-abstract images of personal pain created by the Holocaust.  

Through Dec. 15.  

East Bay Open Studios 2001 Entry  

Pick up forms or mail SASE: 

Pro Arts  

461 Ninth St., Oakland  

763-9425 

Calling East Bay artists to participate in East Bay Open Studios, June 9 - 17, 2001. Enter by Dec. 15 and save $15. Entry deadline, Jan. 25.  

Ames Gallery 

2661 Cedar St. 

845-4949 

“Left Coast Legends: California Masters of Visionary, Self-taught, and Outsider Art,” featuring the work of Dwight Mackintosh, Alex Maldonado, A.G. Rizzoli, Jon Serl, and Barry Simons, Through Dec. 2.  

Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

3023 Shattuck Ave.  

Call 548-9286 x307 

Alan Leon: Hebrew Calligraphy and Illuminations, Through Dec. 15. Tuesday - Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m.; Saturday, Noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment.  

Berkeley Potters Guild 

731 Jones St.  

524-7031 

“2001: A Spacial Oddity” 

The potters present their 29th annual holiday sale. Work displayed by 19 California clay artists.  

Dec. 2 & 3, Dec. 10 - 24, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

The Oakland Museum of California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland.  

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org 

“Our World: The Children of Oakland,” Through Jan. 14.  

Children from a majority of the 66 ethnic groups in Oakland are portrayed in approximately 40 photographs by Marianne Thomas. Free.  

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

PSR Bade Museum 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

849-8244 

“Heading East: California’s Asian Pacific Experience Traveling Photographic Exhibition.” Commemorates 150 years of Asian Pacific American History.  

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Through January  

Atelier 9 

2028 Ninth St. (at Addison)  

841-4210 

“Musee des Hommages,” Guy Colwell’s hand painted, full scale copies of master paintings by Van Eyck, Vermeer, Titian, Boucher, Ingres, Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso. Also original work by Colwell. 

Dec. 2 & 3, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. 

Readings 

Cody’s Books 

2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852  

& 1730 Fourth St., 559-9500 

Telegraph events (all begin at 7:30 p.m., unless noted): 

Boadecia’s Books  

398 Colusa Ave.  

Kensington  

559-9184 

www.boadeciasbooks.com 

All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted  

Dec. 1: Madelyn Arnold reads from “A Year of Full Moons” 

Dec. 2: Contributors to the anthology “Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” will speak 

Dec. 3, 4 p.m.: Sandy Boucher discusses “Hidden Spring: A Buddhist Woman Confronts Cancer” 

Dec. 8: “Gaymes Night” Play Pictionary, Taboo, Scattergories and eat pizza  

Lunch Poems: A Noontime Poetry Reading Series 

Morrison Room, Doe Library 

UC Berkeley 

Call 642-0137 

12:10 - 12:50 p.m.  

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

Dec. 7: Fanny Howe, Mark Levin, and Carol Snow  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

843-3533 

All events begin at 7:30 p.m. 

Dec. 12: Peter Booth Wiley discusses why architects hate the Victorians of San Francisco  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National  

Laboratory 

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

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

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

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

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

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

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

486-0623  

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden 

The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. 

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

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society 

Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series 

Berkeley Historical Center 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St.  

848-0181 

Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m.  

These are free events  

Dec. 10: Mal and Sandra Sharpe on “Weird Rooms” 

People who collect strange things and how their collections take over their rooms.  

Jan. 14: Richard Schwartz on “Berkeley 1900,” the history of Berkeley at the turn of the centry.  

City Commons Club 

Luncheon Speaker Series 

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

848-3533 

Social Hour, 11:15 a.m.  

Luncheon, 11:45 - 12:15 p.m. 

Speaker, 12:30 p.m. 

$1 - $12.25, Speeches free to students 

Dec. 1: Chana Bloch, W.M. Keck professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Mills College speaks on “Deciphering of The Song of Songs from the Old Testament”  

Dec. 8: Mark Wilson, realtor with Prudential Realty speaks on “Julia Morgan collaborating with Bernard Maybeck” 

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  

AIDS Prevention Outreach 

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Sproul Plaza  

UC Berkeley 

Safer sex kits will be distributed.  

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 

Safer Sex Kits 

4:30 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART 

Volunteers from Americorps will be distributing safer sex kits in commemoration of World AIDS Day.  

Deciphering The Song of Songs 

from the Old Testament 

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., speaker 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Chana Bloch, W.M. Keck professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Mills College will speak.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

Old and New Poetry 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Bob Randolph. Free 

Call 644-6107 

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 children aged 3-7. Call 649-3943  

Building Blocks for Learning 

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

Clark Kerr Conference Center 

Waring & Parker Sts.  

The Institute of Human Development at UC Berkeley sponsors this second annual workshop on learning and development in young children aimed at teachers and child care workers.  

Call 643-7944 

Artists at Play Holiday Sale 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 

Call 528-0494  

The Yo-Yo Lady 

2 - 4 p.m. 

1898 Solano Ave.  

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Small Press Distribution Open House 

Noon - 4 p.m.  

1341 Seventh St. (off Gilman) 

Browse 8,000 literary titles and listen to readings by Bay Area authors. Readings by poet Lyn Hejinian, George Albon, Dan Leone, Gail Mitchell, and Sianne Ngai.  

Call 524-1668 x305 

Whymsium Anniversary Party 

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 annual party features a talent show, games and a dance.  

$3 - $20 sliding scale 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.  

Monitoring Police Activity 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Copwatch Office  

2022 Blake St. (west of Shattuck) 

Learn what your rights are in dealing with police and learn how to monitor police safely. Free.  

Call 548-0425 

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-registration; $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. 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 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

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 

Fun and Science of Chocolate 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Join expert chocolate maker John Scharffenberger as he navigates throught he history of chocolate and demonstrates the science of chocolate production. Advanced reservations required.  

$30 per person, includes price of admission to LHS 

Call 642-5134 for reservations 

Lessons and Carols 

7 p.m. 

All Souls Episcopal Church  

2220 Cedar St. (at Spruce) 

Call 848-1755 

Sewing for Seniors 

9 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Grace Narimatsu. Free 

Call 644-6107 

HIV Memorial Service 

11 a.m. 

McGee Avenue Baptist Church 

1640 Stuart St.  

A special morning HIV service for members of the community.  

Call 843-1774 

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 

Berkeley High Pep Band 

4 - 6 p.m. 

1850 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

The Music Connection 

2:30 p.m. 

Resurrection Lutheran Church 

397 Euclid Ave.  

Oakland  

Several well known Bay Area musicians and composers join amateur autistic musicians to raise money and raise awareness of autism and to provide the opportunity for those living with the disease to develop their talents. 

$10 - $200 suggested donation 

Call 420-0606  

“Music on Squirrel Hill”  

4 p.m. 

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley 

One Lawson Road 

Kensington 

The San Francisco Choral artists directed by Claire Giovannetti sing traditional and less familiar classics of the season.  

$15 general, $10 students & seniors  

Call 525-0302 

Monday, Dec. 4

Personnel Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Permit Center 

2118 Milvia St.  

First Floor Conference Room 

The Heart of the Matter  

12:15 p.m., buffet lunch 

1 p.m., speaker 

H’s Lordship Restaurant  

Berkeley Marina 

199 Seawall Dr.  

Stephen Raskin, MD will speak on “Beyond Cholesterol - The Heart of the Matter.” Sponsored by the North Oakland/Emeryville Rotary Club. 

$13 with lunch, $5 without 

Call Robyn Young, MD, 748-5363  

BHS AIDS Memorial Quilt 

Berkeley High School 

2246 Milvia  

Berkeley High will be displaying the AIDS Memorial Quilt the entire week, including 150 panels made by Berkeley High students.  

Call Sonya Dublin, 644-6838 x4 

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 

“Choosing Something Like a Star” 

7:30 p.m. 

PSR Chapel 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

This annual free concert will feature the PSR Chorale and the Kairos Youth Choir performing carols from many traditions.  

Call Mike Ellard, 236-3033 

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 

UNtraining White Liberal Racism 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Call for location  

El Cerrito 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Disaster Council  

7 p.m. 

Public Safety Building 

2100 MLK Jr. Way 

Second floor conference room 

Discussions will include the report on disaster preparedness at Alta Bates and the city council/disaster council joint meeting.  

Citizens Budget Review Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

BHS Jazz Lab Band & Combos 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater 

Allston Way  

Their first concert of the new school year.  

$8 general, $3 students  

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.  

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

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) 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

7 p.m. 

2118 Milvia St.  

Second Floor Conference Room 

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  

Yiddish Conversation 

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Julia Morgan Collaborating with  

Bernard Maybeck  

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., speaker 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

Mark Wilson, realtor with Prudential Realty, will speak. Also City Commons Club annual meeting.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

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  

Bay Area Steppers Drill Team 

2 - 4 p.m. 

1216 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Artists at Play Holiday Sale 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Artists at Play Studio  

1649 Hopkins St. (at Carlotta)  

Work by the artists including original servings dishes, frames, jewelry, and other items. 

Call 528-0494  

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  

Loneliness as a Spiritual Crisis 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

1924 Cedar St.  

Hear about the spiritual path of Light and Sound. Also includes the ancient teachings of the saints.  

Call Unitarian Hall, 841-4824 or visit www.masterpath.org 

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 

Poems on the Jewish Experience 

3 - 5 p.m. 

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church 

2837 Claremont Blvd.  

Selected from over 200 poems submitted, the winners of the fourteenth annual Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award will read their poems.  

Journey of the Soul 

7 - 9 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave.  

A public satsang and Babaji Kriya Yoga meditation with Himalayan yogi Yogiraj Sat-Gurunath.  

Call Sylvia Stanley, 845-9434  

UNtraining White Liberal Racism 

2 - 4:30 p.m. 

555 Tenth St. (at Clay) 

Oakland 

Robert Horton, a white male, founded the UNtraining as a way for white people to work together on the unconscious power of white skin privilege and how it perpetuates racism. 

$10 

235-6134 

Irish Harp & Guitar 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1603 Solano Ave.  

Trish NiGabhain is one of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

Monday, Dec. 11 

Ask the Doctor 

10 a.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Dr. McGillis will discuss prevention and treatment of colds and influenza. 

Call 644-6107 

AHAP Talent Show & Raffle 

2 - 4 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Center St.  

The Affordable Housing Advocacy Project organizes the talent show and raffle to help raise funds to further develop tenant leadership through participation in conferences and networking with other tenants in regional, state and national organizations.  

Call 1-800-773-2110 

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 

Ballroom Dancing for Seniors 

9 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Waterfront Commission Meeting 

7 p.m. 

H’s Lordship Restaurant  

199 Seawall Dr.  

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Commission on Disability  

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Board of Library Trustees  

7 p.m. 

West Branch  

1125 University Ave.  

Homeless Commission  

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St.  

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 

Meeting Life Changes  

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With John Hammerman.  

Call 644-6107 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

Solano Ave. Association 

Holiday Mixer & Meeting 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

Cafe Del Sol 

1742 Solano Ave.  

With light refreshments and a silent auction, the Solano Ave. Association invites you to “meet your business neighbors.”  

Call 527-5358  

Community Health Commission 

6:45 p.m. 

2640 MLK Jr. Way  

Auditorium 

Call 665-6845 for exact location 

Zoning Adjustments Board  

7 p.m. 

Council Chamber 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

Second Floor 

Friday, Dec. 15 

BHS Orchestra and Concert Band 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High Little Theater  

Allston Way 

St. Paul AME X-Mas Party 

5:30 - 8 p.m. 

2024 Ashby Ave.  

For St. Paul’s annual party they ask that you bring a new toy or book for a needy child. Free 

Call 665-2164 

Dance for the Forests 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

Join the Alice Di Michele Band, Rachel Garlin, and acapella group Making Waves at this benefit concert for the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters.  

Admission is sliding scale 

835-6303 

Holiday Musical Quartet 

11:45 a.m., buffet lunch 

12:30 p.m., music  

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave.  

With music arranged by Melinda McCallister, the quartet will perform popular year-end songs from around the world.  

$1 with coffee, students free 

Call 848-3533 

Lesbians and Gays Get Together 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

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  

Berkeley Community Chamber Chorus 

2 - 4 p.m. 

Strolling along Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

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 

Guitar of Reverend Rabia 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1741 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Hanukkah Happening 

8 p.m. 

Shambhala Booksellers 

2482 Telegraph Ave.  

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

Call 848-8443 

Monday, Dec. 18 

Design Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

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  

Wednesday, Dec. 20 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

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 

Royal Hawaiian Ukulele Band 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

1561 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Sunday, Dec. 24  

Ancient Winds 

Noon - 4 p.m. 

1573 Solano Ave. 

One of many performers doing their stuff on Solano during the holidays. Performances every weekend afternoon till Christmas.  

Tuesday, Dec. 26  

Kwanzaa! 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Join storyteller Awele Makeba as she shares tale and a capella songs from African and African-American history, culture, and folklore which celebrate the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Included with admission to the museum.  

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Wednesday, Dec. 27 

Magic Mike 

Noon and 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Special effects, magic, juggling, ventriloquism, and outrageous comedy is what Parent’s Choice Award winner Magic Mike is all about. Included in price of museum admission.  

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Thursday, Dec. 28  

Season of Lights  

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

The Imagination Company brings to life world winter celebrations and highlights the significance of light to several culture. Included in museum admission price.  

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Friday, Dec. 29  

Earthcapades 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Join Hearty and Lissin as they blend storytelling, juggling, acrobatics, and more, to entertain and teach about saving the environment. Included in museum admission. 

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Saturday, Dec. 30  

Bats of the World  

1 & 2:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Maggie Hooper, an educator with the California Bat Conservation Fund, will show slides, introduce three live, tame, and indigenous bats, and answer your questions about these fascinating creatures. Included in admission to the museum. 

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Sunday, Dec. 31 

Light Up the Lights! 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive 

UC Berkeley 

Popular songmeister Gary Lapow performs traditional holiday music from around the world. Included in price of museum admission. 

$7 adults; $5 children 5 - 18, seniors and students; $3 children 3-4 

Call 642-5132 

Wednesday, Jan. 3  

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

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 

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 

5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202 

Friday, Jan. 12 

“Who’s Really In Charge Anyway?” 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

1924 Cedar St.  

The subject to be discussed is the guru dilemma and individual spiritual mastership. Hear about the spiritual path of light and sound and the ancient teachings of the saints.  

Call Unitarian Hall, 841-4824 or visit www.masterpath.org 

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 

Wednesday, Jan. 17  

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters 

7:15 p.m. 

Vault Restaurant  

3250 Adeline St.  

Learn to speak fluently without fear or hesitation.  

Call Howard Linnard, 527-2337 

Sunday, Feb. 25  

“Imperial San Francisco: 

Urban Power, Earthly Ruin” 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley History Center 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St.  

Gary Brechin speaks on the impact and legacy of the Hearsts and other powerful San Francisco families. Free 

Call 848-0181 

Sunday, March 18  

“Topaz Moon” 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley History Center 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St.  

Kimi Kodani Hill speaks on artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WW II Japanese relocation camps. Free 

Call 848-0181 

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, leadin

Cal head football coach Tom Holmoe announced Thursday that associate head coach and defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich has agreed to a new two-year contract.  

Setencich, who recently completed his fourth season with the Golden Bears, is regarded as one of the top defensive coaches in college football. His new agreement will carry him through the 2002 football season.  

Holmoe said he was pleased to have Setencich remain a part of the Cal football program. “Lyle is a huge part of what we are trying to accomplish here at Cal and I’m real happy that he’s going to be with us for the next two seasons and hopefully much longer,” said Holmoe. “He’s perhaps the premier defensive coordinator in the country and he is a valued counsel to me in all matters relating to our football program.”  

Setencich had turned down overtures from several schools around the country to remain at Cal. “I believe in what we’re building here at Cal and I wanted to show my commitment to the program and to Tom Holmoe,” said Setencich. “I’ve been around long enough in the coaching profession to know when there’s a solid foundation for long-term success and I think we have that here at Cal.”  

Setencich has orchestrated a turnaround in Cal’s defensive fortunes, taking a defense that ranked last in the Pac-10 in total defense in 1996, the year before he came to Cal, to the No. 1 spot in the conference in 1999.  

He has helped develop several NFL players, including first team All-Americans Deltha O’Neal in 1999 and Andre Carter this past season. During the course of Setencich’s tenure, 14 Cal defensive players have gone on to sign NFL contracts, including nine last spring.

World AIDS Day began Dec. 1, 12 years ago to increase awareness of the pandemic, generate information on how to avoid the disease and to make a plea for funding to find a cure.  

The day also memorializes those lost to AIDS, those stricken with AIDS or diagnosed HIV-positive.  

“Men Make a Difference” is the theme of World AIDS Day 2000 and targets recruiting men as partners in the war against the disease. 

The goal of this year’s activities is to motivate men and women to talk openly about sex, sexuality, drug use and HIV/AIDS; to encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families and to promote programs which respond to the needs of men and women. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 10 percent of HIV infections worldwide occur through heterosexual intercourse and another 10 percent through sex between men. Five percent takes places among intravenous drug users, four-fifths of whom are men.  

As of the end of 1999, an estimated 34.3 million people were living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.  

Although the numbers of those living with HIV/AIDS are high, the interest in prevention and testing is increasing. 

“In 1999, my first year at the (UC Berkeley Health) Center, there were no students interested in asking questions or concerned about monthly AIDS testing,” said Brian Kim, HIV Prevention Coordinator. “In 2000, more students and co-workers are now showing a great interest in the AIDS virus. We (at UC Berkeley Health Services) now have student peer groups available for counseling as well as weekly AIDS testing.” 

For information regarding anonymous AIDS testing, call UC Health 

Services at 642-7202 or City of Berkeley HIV/AIDS Program at 665-7300. 

As the post-election drama drags on, senior voters in Florida have stepped onto the center stage. Much of the re-count debate has focused on elders’ ability to figure out the ballot – and less on how they feel about the issues. 

Tuesday, some older Berkeley residents said the ballots are not the problem. They placed the blame on the American political system. Although both Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore have promised to make seniors a priority if elected president, these older voters said that it is just the usual lip service. 

“In Florida, instead of kissing babies, they were symbolically kissing us,” said Harry Siitonen, a resident at the Strawberry Creek Lodge. He is one of more than 170 residents at this west Berkeley senior housing facility, where a voting booth was stationed during the election. 

Siitonen, who worked the polls Nov. 7, said turnout in the precinct was high. “We were given 650 ballots and I would say more than 500 were used,” he said. The few people that reported having difficulties voting, he said, were told to rip up their ballots and vote again. 

Their votes were counted, but the recent hullabaloo in Florida over the vote re-count appears worrisome to some older voters, who said the neck-to-neck elections this year shed light on serious flaws in the political system. 

“I’m 92 and I was born and raised in this country. I’ve never seen any thing like this in all my years,” said Edna Breckenridge about Bush’s narrow hold over the electoral vote. 

Some people said they were disturbed by allegations that minority groups in Florida were intimidated from voting. 

“I look at the Congress and the Senate and I say, this country is still under white control,” said Frances Catlett of Strawberry Creek, who is African American. “I vote, but now I’m thinking, what’s the use? This country is a white country.” 

Maudie Pringle agreed. “I’m from the South and I remember when my grandfather was the only black man to vote in Mississippi.” Pringle said she has volunteered to register voters for many years. “A lot of folks think it don’t pay you to vote anymore. I say let the votes be counted,” she said. 

But other seniors said that they were heartened by the growing participation of minorities in American politics. Joanna On-Yong Selby, chairperson of the Alameda County Commission on Aging, said that older minorities are voting as they never have before. 

“In the past, minorities were ignored,” Selby said. But thanks to increased immigration and naturalization, she said, aging Asians and Latinos are becoming a force to be reckoned with in politics. “There is much more inclusion now. We are becoming a key vote, so things have really changed,” said Selby, a native of Korea who became a U.S. citizen in 1963. 

There will soon be even more older Americans at the polls. In Alameda county, the most recent census estimates report that the 65-and-older population makes up more than 10 percent of a population of more than 33 million. Nationwide, that group is expected to rise from 34.7 million to 70 million, a rise from 13 to 20 percent of the population in the next 30 years. 

More senior voters should translate to more political clout. And judging by the number of times both Gore and Bush campaigns brought up “senior” concerns, such as social security and prescription drug plans, that clout is already on the rise. 

But Helen Lima, also a Strawberry Creek resident, is not so sure. 

“The candidates defined the issues. They didn’t ask us what the issues were,” Lima said. 

“They certainly didn’t ask poor people what was important to them.” 

Several seniors interviewed at Strawberry Creek and the North Berkeley Senior Center said they have seen more than eight decades of elections, and that the political process has gotten weaker over the years. 

“All of us grew up during the New Deal. Our parents were great supporters of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” said Siitonen. “We had faith in the Democrats being friends of the poor. But when they started losing votes, the party shifted to the right.” He was echoed by many other seniors who said that they were angry at Gore for abandoning the basic principles of Roosevelt’s commitment to welfare and public works programs. 

Bari Wolfe, a volunteer at the North Berkeley Senior Center, said that she can’t tell the difference between the two major parties any more. 

“The sides used to be more clearly defined,” Wolfe said. “We were never even aware of the electoral system back then. It all seemed much simpler.” 

But despite their disillusionment with the state of modern politics, Henry Brady, a professor of political science at UC Berkeley, said that older voters are generally more politically active than any other age group. He called them the “civic generation,” and said that their history leads seniors to the voting booths in big numbers. 

“Folks of that generation were profoundly affected by the Great Depression and World War II. They were socialized at a time when democracy was an extremely important ideal,” Brady said. 

Not everyone is as hopeful as Selby. Charlie Betcher, the Chair of Berkeley’s Commission on Aging, said that he saw many older voters registering for the Green Party because they were disenchanted with bipartisan politics. 

“Most people feel that democracy is less now because so much money is involved,” Betcher said, referring to the exorbitant cost of running a campaign these days. “They have become rather cynical.” 

But not all seniors agree that the democratic tradition is on the decline. Sheila Kennedy said that she has been avidly watching the election developments on television and feels better informed than in the past. 

“Come on, we’re beginning to sound like a bunch of old people,” she warned a small group of residents a discussing the election at Strawberry Creek Lodge. “Not everyone thinks that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket.” 

Sunday morning the Rev. Mark Wilson will be preaching about AIDS/HIV. The sermon he’ll deliver won’t be doom and gloom, however. 

“You can’t preach homophobia or sexphobia, or look at it in terms of AIDS being punishment for people,” he said. “The preaching I do is a very hopeful message.” 

Wilson will be hosting a special service honoring World AIDS Day at 11 a.m. at McGee Avenue Baptist Church. 

He’ll be joined by Prison to Praise, a singing group of prisoners with HIV/AIDS. 

This Sunday, in honor of the day, the south Berkeley church is opening its doors to the entire community.  

The Rev. Wilson delivers his message of hope in the face of HIV/AIDS to his congregation of 250-300 people each first Sunday of the month. During these special services, about 10 percent of the parishioners come to the alter to pray for relatives or friends with HIV or AIDS, he said. 

While the church has held the monthly service since 1994, the message has spotlighted tolerance in the face of AIDS and HIV since he joined the church eight years ago.  

“It’s not a special day we’re having. We don’t just talk about HIV and AIDS for one day out of the year,” he said. 

And they don’t just talk about it only on Sundays. McGee Avenue Baptist Church has several outreach programs. One teaches prevention and another offers food services for those with HIV and AIDS. The city gave a grant to McGee Baptist three years ago, recognizing its dedication to fostering tolerance and teaching HIV prevention and education.  

A special communion will end the service. Those accepting the communion wafer are symbolically accepting a part of the body of Christ. This acceptance serves to unite those fighting the prejudices that affect those with AIDS or HIV, he said.  

“If one part of the body is suffering, then the whole body is. If one is suffering from AIDS, then all of us do. By emphasizing unity, we encourage everyone to overlook differences.” 

McGee Baptist Church is at 1640 Stuart St. Call 843-1774. 

Sharing syringes and other equipment for drug injection is a well known route of HIV transmission, yet injection drug use contributes to the epidemic’s spread far beyond the circle of those who inject.  

People who have sex with an injection drug user also are at risk for infection through the sexual transmission of HIV.  

Children born to mothers who contracted HIV through sharing needles or having sex with an IDU may become infected as well. 

Since the epidemic began, injection drug use has directly and indirectly accounted for more than one-third of AIDS cases in the United States. This disturbing trend appears to be continuing. 

Of the 46,400 new cases of AIDS reported in 1999, 13,833 (30 percent) were IDU-associated. 

Racial and ethnic minority populations in the United States are most heavily affected by IDU-associated AIDS.  

In 1999, IDUs accounted for 33 percent of all AIDS cases among African American and 35 percent among Hispanic adults and adolescents, compared with 23 percent of all cases among white adults/adolescents.  

IDU-associated AIDS accounts for a larger proportion of cases among women than among men.  

Since the epidemic began, 58 percent of all AIDS cases among women have been attributed to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs, compared with 31 percent of cases among men. 

Noninjection drugs (such as “crack” cocaine) also contribute to the spread of the epidemic when users trade sex for drugs or money, or when they engage in risky sexual behaviors that they might not engage in when sober.  

One CDC study of more than 2,000 young adults in three inner-city neighborhoods found that crack smokers were three times more likely to be infected with HIV than non-smokers.

What is HIV?  

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. This virus is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood and sexual contact. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their babies during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV have HIV infection. Most of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.  

These body fluids spread HIV: blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, other body fluids containing blood. 

What is AIDS? What causes AIDS?  

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. An HIV-infected person receives a diagnosis of AIDS after developing one of the CDC-defined AIDS indicator illnesses. An HIV-positive person who has not had any serious illnesses also can receive an AIDS diagnosis on the basis of certain blood tests.  

A positive HIV test result does not mean that a person has AIDS. A diagnosis of AIDS is made by a physician using certain clinical criteria (e.g., AIDS indicator illnesses).  

Infection with HIV can weaken the immune system to the point that it has difficulty fighting off certain infections. These types of infections are known as “opportunistic” infections because they take the opportunity a weakened immune system gives to cause illness.  

Many of the infections that cause problems or may be life-threatening for people with AIDS are usually controlled by a healthy immune system. The immune system of a person with AIDS is weakened to the point that medical intervention may be necessary to prevent or treat serious illness.  

Today there are medical treatments that can slow down the rate at which HIV weakens the immune system. There are other treatments that can prevent or cure some of the illnesses associated with AIDS. As with other diseases, early detection offers more options for treatment and preventative care.  

How long does it take for HIV to cause AIDS?  

Since 1992, scientists have estimated that about half the people with HIV develop AIDS within 10 years after becoming infected. This time varies greatly from person to person and can depend on many factors, including one’s health status and health-related behaviors.  

What are the symptoms of HIV?  

The only way to determine for sure whether one is infected is to be tested for HIV infection. People cannot rely on symptoms to know whether or not they are infected with HIV. Many people who are infected with HIV do not have any symptoms at all for many years.  

The following may be warning signs of infection with HIV: rapid weight loss, dry cough, recurring fever or profuse night sweats, profound and unexplained fatigue, swollen lymph glands in the armpits, groin, or neck; diarrhea that lasts for more than a week, white spots or unusual blemishes on the tongue, in the mouth, or in the throat, pneumonia, red, brown, pink, or purplish blotches on or under the skin or inside the mouth, nose, or eyelids; memory loss, depression, and other neurological disorders.  

However, people should not assume they are infected if they have any of these symptoms. Each of these symptoms can be related to other illnesses. Again, the only way to determine whether one is infected is to be tested for HIV infection. 

Source: Centers for Disease Control  

Similarly, you cannot rely on symptoms to establish that a person has AIDS. The symptoms of AIDS are similar to the symptoms of many other illnesses. AIDS is a medical diagnosis made by a doctor based on specific criteria 

established by the CDC.  

About drug-associated transmission 

Sharing syringes and other equipment for drug injection is a well known route of HIV transmission, yet injection drug use contributes to the epidemic’ s spread far beyond the circle of those who inject. People who have sex with an injection drug user also are at risk for infection through the sexual transmission of HIV. Children born to mothers who contracted HIV through sharing needles or having sex with an IDU may become infected as well. 

Since the epidemic began, injection drug use has directly and indirectly accounted for more than one-third of AIDS cases in the United States. This disturbing trend appears to be continuing. 

Of the 46,400 new cases of AIDS reported in 1999, 13,833 (30 percent) were IDU-associated. 

Racial and ethnic minority populations in the United States are most heavily affected by IDU-associated AIDS. In 1999, IDUs accounted for 33 percent of all AIDS cases among African American and 35 percent among Hispanic adults and adolescents, compared with 23 percent of all cases among white adults/adolescents.  

IDU-associated AIDS accounts for a larger proportion of cases among women than among men. Since the epidemic began, 58 percent of all AIDS cases among women have been attributed to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs, compared with 31 percent of cases among men. 

Noninjection drugs (such as “crack” cocaine) also contribute to the spread of the epidemic when users trade sex for drugs or money, or when they engage in risky sexual behaviors that they might not engage in when sober. One CDC study of more than 2,000 young adults in three inner-city neighborhoods found that crack smokers were three times more likely to be infected with HIV than non-smokers. 

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. — To please a gardener with a holiday gift, think useful. What can he or she do with it in the garden? 

Tools and accessories hit the spot; things like trowels, spades, pruning shears, watering cans, gloves. They’re welcome because they easily get lost or misplaced and seem always in short supply. 

Utility doesn’t necessarily mean homely. Functional can be beautiful and some items are also crafted to look nice. 

Take, for example, so rudimentary a staple as plant supports. Kinsman Company of Point Pleasant, Pa., (www.kinsmangarden.com) offers English-made, 3-foot-tall steel stakes featuring tops in the shapes of butterflies, bees, song sparrows and squirrels in durable black finish. They’re $11.95 each. 

Online shopping has made gift hunting a lot easier for people who may not be gardeners themselves but are looking for presents for relatives and friends. 

Go to www.garden.com and click your way to a page featuring 28 practical suggestions at prices ranging from below $5 to a blower vac at $89.99. Featured are aprons, shoes, gloves, pruners, kneeler seats, watering cans, tote bags with tools, electric trimmers, wheelbarrows. Click on each pictured item and you get a full description. 

Most gardening outlets have web pages today but they still mail out catalogs for people who may rather shop by mail. Looking through this year’s crop, I found gifts suitable to various budgets. 

If you’re feeling generous, you can gift-wrap a 16-piece tool kit for $75 from Brookstone’s, 17 Riverside St., Nashua, N.H., 03062 (800-351-7222; www.brookstone.com). The kit includes trowel, weeder, cultivator, transplanter, two pruners, grass shears, kneeler pad, multipattern hoze nozzle, power stream nozzle and six different hose connectors, all in a snap-tight case. 

In live plants, amaryllis has long been a welcome gift. If you want to splurge, www.whiteflowerfarm.com offers a “Connoisseur’s Collection” set of eight at $145, each potted bulb berthed in a wicker basket with Spanish moss. In plain green nursery pots the set comes at $119. The firm says each bulb is guaranteed to produce two flower stems, each with at least four blooms, and they can easily be grown on from year to year. 

Bulbs may be ordered in fewer numbers, a three-bulb set coming at $62 and a single bulb at $21. 

Indoor grow lighting maintains steady popularity for starting seeds and displaying plants. A neat little item comes at $39.95 from www.gardeners.com. It consists of a 9-watt full spectrum light that turns on and off automatically. A moisture sensor tells you when the plant needs water. The unit accommodates a plant up to 12 inches tall in a pot up to 5 1/2 inches in diameter. 

For the indoor gardener who is away from home frequently,Gardener’s Supply offers so-called plant minder trays that hold enough water to keep your plants properly moist for two weeks at a time. The principle is that they water from the bottom, moistening the roots.  

Humming bird feeders make nice gifts. A California firm named Bird Central (877-461-0903; www.birdcentral.com) offers many models in a $36-$38 price range. 

High-tech or old-fashioned instruments to attract both mind and eye come from Wind & Weather, 1200 N. Main St., Fort Bragg, Calif., 95437 (800-922-9463; www.windandweather.com).  

If money is no consideration, you might delight your gift recipient with a wireless home weather station at $990. It gives temperatures, humidity, barometric pressure, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill. 

If you prefer wind direction by weathervane, there’s a huge selection with prices ranging to $1,950 for a hand-crafted copper blue heron. A much more modest, but nostalgically familiar rooster comes at $199. 

There are also sun dials galore, starting at $198.95 with a simple old-fashioned one on a 2-foot-tall cast iron pedestal, the dial enhanced with Browning’s verse, “Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.” 

——— 

EDITOR’S NOTE: George Bria retired from the AP in 1981 after 40 years that included coverage of World War II from Italy. 

End advance for Thursday, Nov. 30 

Q: We are trying to tighten up our home for the winter and are tracking down and eliminating sources of drafts. The doors and windows were no problem, but we noticed a bad draft coming from our clothes dryer vent. What’s the best way to handle this situation? 

A: An open dryer vent leading to the outside of the house can be a significant source of drafts in winter and windy weather.  

If yours is an electric dryer, check with a heating expert about the possibility of connecting the dryer vent to the furnace return duct, thus saving the heat generated by the dryer which is otherwise wasted out the vent.  

Do not vent the dryer directly into the laundry area, as dryer air is damp and you risk an indoor condensation problem. Gas dryers should remain vented to the outdoors. 

To seal off the dryer vent permanently or for occasional use, merely disconnect the flexible dryer exhaust pipe from the wall opening and pack the opening with fiberglass insulation.  

Enclose the insulation in a small muslin sack if it is to be removed often. Remove the insulation and reconnect the pipe each time you use the dryer. 

Q: We had to trim the bottom of our hollow-core door so that it would clear new carpeting we had installed. We tried not to damage the veneer on the door as we first scored the cut line with a sharp utility knife guided by a straightedge.  

In spite of this, we did break away some of the surface. What’s the best way to fix this? 

A: To fix the splintered area of the veneer, you’ll need to first lift the broken wood away from the door with a putty knife, and then apply glue to resecure the veneer. Use a small tube of white carpenter’s glue, or buy a glue injector with a needle applicator at a wallcovering store.  

The needle applicator will let you reach well under the veneer without damaging any delicate slivers of wood. After applying the glue, clamp the area until the glue dries.  

Use a strip of wood as a clamping pad to distribute the pressure evenly, and cover the veneer with a piece of scrap plastic sheeting to prevent the wood strip from becoming glued to the door. 

When the glue has dried, remove the clamp and apply a coat of latex wood patcher. The latex patcher shrinks a bit when it dries so you may need to repeat this process once or twice to achieve a level surface.  

Avoid spreading the patcher beyond the repaired area. When the latex patcher is dry, sand with fine sandpaper. Use a sanding block to ensure that the surface stays flat. Check the job for smoothness by gently sliding your hand across the surface. 

If the door was originally stained and varnished, buy a stain that matches the original color. if you have a scrap piece of the veneer, bring it to the store to help make an accurate color match. Apply the stain and wipe it with a soft cloth to blend it with the existing finish. After the stain has dried, apply a finish coat of varnish to the area. 

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. 

Sunny, cool weather is perfect for being outside planting bulbs. What’s the perfect tool for this job? 

A bulb planter – looking like a tin can without top or bottom, with a wooden handle attached to its rim – is made for this job, but even a trowel works well in a flower bed.  

Stab the trowel into the soil full depth with the concave side facing you, then pull it towards you. Snuggle a bulb into the bottom of the hole, then push the dirt back in place over it. 

A trowel is definitely more useful than a bulb planter for planting bulbs t the base of a tree or in rocky soil.  

With the trowel, you can open up small planting slits among the roots or rocks. 

Planting bulbs for naturalizing in a grassy field is a little trickier than planting in a cultivated bed. In this case, use a bulb planter that has a long handle and a place on which to put your foot to force the tool into the soil.  

This sturdy tool can remove a plug of grass and soil. Drop a bulb in the hole, again ensuring good contact between the base of the bulb and the soil. Then replace the plug, firming it in place.  

The work is slow, but a naturalized planting needs no further care for years, perhaps decades. 

Rather than invest in one tool just for planting bulbs, you could this naturalized planting using a shovel, preferably one with a long, narrow blade.  

In this case, dig up a small flap of vegetation and fold it back wherever you want to plant.  

Then dig a hole just large enough for a bulb, cover it, and replace the flap, firming it in place with your foot. 

To plant a cluster of bulbs, use your shovel to cut out, lift, and fold back a large flap of grass. Then, in the exposed dirt, dig holes and plant. When you’re finished, replace the flap and stomp on it to firm it in place. 

The replaced flap of grass insulates the soil and delays freezing so that the bulbs can grow roots now.  

When planting in bare soil, cover the ground with some mulch to delay freezing. Depending on how thick the mulch is, it may have to be pulled back in early spring to let the growing leaves through to the light.

WASHINGTON — Aiming to overcome the scandals and infighting that have tarnished its image, U.S. Olympic Committee leaders began a four-day meeting Thursday to choose a new chairman and decide whether to keep an interim chief executive officer. 

The U.S. Olympic movement is dealing with difficulty at what otherwise would be a time of triumph, with the United States bringing home 97 medals from Summer Games in Sydney and gearing up for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. 

But the USOC has been buffeted by accusations it kept quiet about positive drug tests by American athletes and turned a blind eye to Utah organizers’ plying international Olympic officials with lavish gifts.  

Internal squabbling led to the October resignation of Norm Blake, the corporate turnaround artist hired as chief executive officer nine months before to streamline the ponderous organization. 

Blake alienated athletes with proposals such as his “money for medals” idea tying some of the funding for the 33 Olympic sport organizations to their athletes’ performance.  

And he angered many in USOC’s paid staff by bringing in his own management team and firing about 40 of the 500 employees. 

Scott Blackmun, the USOC’s former sports director and top lawyer, has been acting CEO since Blake left.  

Board members will decide this weekend whether to give Blackmun the job permanently or start a search to fill the CEO slot. 

Unlike Blake, Blackmun has strong backing from athletes and the sports associations that the USOC oversees. 

Board members also vote this weekend on a new chairman, a job that former Democratic presidential candidate and Olympian Bill Bradley turned down earlier this year.  

The favorite is Sandy Baldwin, a former president of U.S. Swimming who sells real estate in Phoenix.  

The other candidate is Boston lawyer and fellow USOC board member Paul George. 

Baldwin had touched off Blake’s resignation by sending a letter to other board members questioning Blake’s ability to run the USOC and raising concerns about spending and revenues in a 2001-2004 budget plan that approaches $500 million.  

Blake called the letter “underhanded” but said he realized that Baldwin would fire him anyway if she became chairwoman. 

Whoever heads the USOC will have just over a year to help with raising money for the Salt Lake City games from corporate sponsors still skittish over the bribery scandal.  

Two former Utah organizers go to trial next summer on bribery charges, and a former USOC official has pleaded guilty to tax evasion for his role. 

The USOC also has been dogged by questions about its role in testing athletes for drugs and performance-enhancing chemicals like steroids.  

It didn’t help when news leaked during the Sydney games that shot putter C.J. Hunter, husband of sprint superstar Marion Jones, failed four separate drug tests in Europe this summer.  

An independent agency headed by 1972 marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter took over drug testing duties from the USOC in October. 

The USOC’s former director of drug control programs is suing, claiming the body encourages doping by athletes. The USOC denies any wrongdoing. 

This weekend, the USOC also will elect a new board of directors, with candidates set to include Bradley, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund. 

On the Net: 

U.S. Olympic Committee: http://www.usoc.org

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Scientist Wen Ho Lee says he discarded 17 computer tapes full of nuclear weapons data at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a source familiar with the case. 

FBI agents are combing the muddy, snowy Los Alamos County landfill where lab trash is buried, saying the search could last weeks. 

Agents won’t confirm they’re looking for the discarded tapes in the landfill, but if the pocket-sized computer cartridges Lee downloaded in the lab’s top-secret X Division were thrown into the trash, the 50-acre dump is a likely place where they ended up. 

Agents have said for months that they want to find the tapes Lee swore he destroyed. 

A source familiar with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Lee said he disposed of the tapes in a Dumpster inside the X Division fence in January 1999. 

Lee has been undergoing closed debriefings in which he promised, as a condition of a plea agreement that won his release in September, to tell agents what happened to the tapes. The source would provide no details of Lee’s disclosures. 

The landfill search began while the debriefings were under way. An amended plea agreement filed in early November extends the debriefing period into mid-December. 

The disposal of the tape cartridges happened just days after Lee’s security clearance was revoked, according to a timetable provided last summer by federal prosecutors. They said Lee repeatedly sought access to the division after his access card was deactivated and that he gained access three times, including once in January 1999 when a fellow lab employee let him in. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidis, who prosecuted Lee, declined to comment. 

Stacy Cohen, a spokeswoman for the Lee family, has declined to comment on the landfill search. 

The San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday that Lee told agents in secret debriefing sessions that he tossed the tapes into the trash in January 1999 and that they never otherwise left the lab. The newspaper did not elaborate on its sources. 

Lee lost his security clearance in December 1998. Prosecutors have alleged he sought access to the X Division 16 times between Dec. 23, 1998, and Feb. 23, 1999 – including 3:31 a.m. Christmas Eve 1998. 

FBI agent Doug Beldon said “numerous” agents and evidence technicians expect to rake through piles of dirt and trash at the landfill daily “for quite some time.” 

The search team wears white protective clothing. The workers use bulldozers to move mounds of garbage and hand rakes to comb the debris. 

Lee, jailed without bail Dec. 10, 1999, was freed Sept. 13 after pleading guilty to one count of downloading restricted data to tape. Fifty-eight counts were dropped. 

Lee has sworn he never passed any secrets to any unauthorized person, and the government never charged him with espionage. 

The FBI initially said it was looking for seven tape cartridges and had already found three others. 

At the time of his release, Lee told investigators he also made copies of those 10 tapes but had destroyed the copies as well, FBI and Justice Department officials have said. 

If anyone found the tape cartridges — and if restricted nuclear weapons data were still encoded on them — there are several computer companies that might be able to recover such data. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Department of Energy: http://www.energy.gov 

Los Alamos National Lab: http://www.lanl.gov 

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov 

The Associated Press 

ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis surprised itself with a 22-point victory over California. 

Maurice Jeffers led a balanced attack with 18 points as the Billikens pulled away in the second half of an 88-66 final Wednesday night. 

Marque Perry had 17 points and four assists and Justin Tatum added 12 points and five rebounds for the Billikens (3-1). Chris Braun had 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting and Jeffers was 7-for-11 as Saint Louis shot 55 percent. 

“I was kind of shocked myself,” Perry said. “We thought it was going to be a real close game. We thought it was going to come down to the last few minutes.” 

Saint Louis held California (1-2) to 36 percent shooting. Sean Lampley had 22 points and 11 rebounds, but made only five of 14 shots. 

“We knew he was going to be a good player in the post,” Tatum said. “We tried to limit his catches. I just had to make him hit tough shots — nothing easy.” 

California played for the first time in two weeks since a 57-54 loss at Texas. The Golden Bears had only two baskets in the final 10:52 after cutting the gap to four points at 54-50. 

“We just didn’t execute at all,” Lampley said. “They capitalized on our mistakes and we turned the ball over too many times, including myself.” 

Ryan Forehan-Kelly finally ended a drought of 10:21 with a 3-pointer with 30.8 seconds left and Donte Smith added a layup with seven seconds left. 

“We thrive on defense,” Perry said. “We tried to bring it harder than we did the last game.” 

Saint Louis ended the half on a 10-4 run, including seven points from Jeffers, who had 13 at the break. The Billikens also scored the first four points after the break for a 43-31 lead with 18:20 to play. 

After the lead was whittled to four points, Saint Louis responded with a 16-5 run for a 70-55 lead with 5:05 left. Perry had six points in that run. 

California also was scoreless the first 5:36 of the game0. 

In Saint Louis’ first four games, four different players have led in scoring. 

“We said we’d do it as a team,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “Our guys are committed to that.”

By Robin Shulman 

Special to the Daily Planet 

It’s a kickback Friday night of pizza and homemade pie at Youth Radio on University Avenue. That is, until 10 minutes to 7 p.m., when a group of students aged 15 to 21 troops out the door and around the corner to Martin Luther King Way, where they punch in a digital code and settle into two booths in the KPFB studio. A CD is slipped on the deck. At precisely 7 p.m. Whiz puts on the headphones. “You are now listening to the Youth in Control Show,” he says. 

They’re on air. 

“I’m nervous,” says Naiva Saechao, 15, taking a seat in the DJ booth. 

“This is so scary – we don’t have time,” says Latifah Muhammad, 17, close behind her. 

But soon Latifah is moving to the beat of the song. “If you mess, I got you,” she says to Naiva. “Having your own show is just talking to yourself,” she advises. “No one’s tripping.” 

It is Naiva’s first time and Latifah’s second year as a music DJ. The girls are student and teacher in the 12-week Youth Radio training that attracts young people from all over the Bay Area to produce music shows, news and commentary on “Youth Control.” The advanced students broadcast on National Public Radio once a week on “All Things Considered,” “Marketplace,” and “Morning Edition.” 

“Once you’re on radio, you’re putting yourself out there,” says Deputy Director Beverly Mire. “They’re speaking their minds, saying what they believe in and doing it in a way that people will believe what they have to say,” Mire said. “It changes their lives, gives them the self-confidence they need.” 

That was true for Brooke Wilson, 18, now a peer teacher at Youth Radio and a journalism and Black Studies major at San Francisco State University. “Before I didn’t think I was good at anything,” Wilson said. Things changed when her first commentary, on being adopted, aired on KCBS. 

“For most girls it just takes a while to realize it. You can say what you want,” says Brooke, who now works at Youth Radio, even on the days she’s not paid. “I’m going to be a super bad DJ in less than two years.” 

“Eight years ago, we had $25,000 and a typewriter,” recalls Mire. About 800 students have passed through the program since those days, and with a budget of some $900,000, the training continues to expand. Graduates of the program continue to work at Youth Radio, peer teaching or doing Web design or sound engineering for pay. 

Youth Radio’s Internet broadcasts and radio training are expanding, and so is its network, including Atlanta, Boston, Portland, Newark and Washington, DC. The Berkeley program took the prestigious national Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award for a 1998 series “E-mails From Kosovo,” in which a 17-year-old Berkeley boy read his e-mail correspondence with a 17-year-old Kosovar girl on NPR’s Morning Edition. 

Tonight, Naiva, still nervous, bends over her song list, flipping back her straight black hair. She says she picked the songs by process of elimination. “I couldn’t find any other songs that didn’t have explicit content,” she says. 

In the news booth next door, young people off-air are needling each other over the mikes. At news time, they sit up straight and read news spots they wrote about Thanksgiving and a man who bit his dog. 

Daniel Aguayo, 16, leans against the wall, eyes closed, preparing for his spot by mouthing the words he will say. “I’m the only kid that speaks English in my family,” says Daniel, whose parents are from Mexico. Daniel’s father wants him to become a doctor or a lawyer. “Sometimes I feel bad. What I’m doing is just being myself and listening to music. But the first thing I think about when I wake up is: What can I do to make people dance? Can I say something that impacts people’s lives?” 

Back in the booth, two newscasters dissolve into giggles over their report on goose poop as a park health hazard. They will be scolded for this later by their designated peer critic. 

At this hint of mishap, everyone looks over at reigning studio authority Gerald Ward II, or Whiz, a peer teacher of four years. Whiz is now 21, a film student at San Francisco State University. A joke around the studio says that everyone at Youth Radio is related by six degrees of Whiz, and in fact several newcomers this session say Whiz introduced them to the program. 

“I think, man, we’re doing a radio show right now! We’re commanding the airwaves,” Whiz says. “Where I’m from there’s not a lot of opportunities,” says Whiz, who lives in Oakland. “I thought I found gold. I wanted to share it.” 

Find out more about youth radio at http://www.youthradio.org/ or tune in tonight 4-6 p.m. to KPFB, 89.3 FM or Friday night 7-9 p.m., also on KPFB. There’s also a Sunday morning show 7:30-8 a.m. at 95.7 FM. This Sunday Youth Radio will air its programming at 10:35 a.m., 5:53 p.m. and 10:53 p.m. on KCBS, 740 AM. 

Youth Radio is located at 1809 University Avenue and can be reached at 841-5123. 

By Robert W. Fuller 

Pacific News Service 

Polls show that education is the public’s top priority. Both political parties have ambitious plans for school reform. 

But while there is a growing consensus that something must be done, there 

is little agreement about what. 

There are good reasons for this uncertainty. Educational reforms rarely live up to their promise. Deep down we sense that none of the current proposals reaches to the nub of the matter. Before we embark on another round of reform we should figure out why so many students withhold their hearts and minds from learning.