Reddy will serve at least five years; pay $2 million fine 

The year-long criminal prosecution of Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy culminated dramatically in federal district court Wednesday when Reddy pleaded guilty to sex, tax and immigration offenses and offered a tearful apology to his family before being taken into custody by United States Marshals.  

Reddy will serve at least five years in prison and pay $2 million to four of his victims under a plea agreement with the United States Attorney’s office.  

Reddy admitted Wednesday to falsifying visa applications for teenage girls brought to the United States from India so he could have sex with them, and to tax evasion. Government lawyers told the judge that one of Reddy’s victims was only 13 years old when she entered the country in October 1993. 

“I want to apologize to you, to the court and my family for the shame I brought on them,” Reddy said, addressing himself to Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong before a packed courtroom. “I am very, very sorry,” he said. Reddy’s 31-year old son Vijay Kumar Lakireddy, who still faces related charges, wept as his father was led away by federal marshals. 

Reddy’s immediate incarceration Wednesday came as somewhat of a surprise. Lawyers for the defense and prosecution had asked the judge to allow Reddy to remain free on bail until sentencing so he could raise the $2 million cash fine required under the plea deal. But judge Armstrong denied that request Wednesday. She ruled that because Reddy was pleading guilty to a violent crime, federal law required that he be taken into custody immediately after pleading guilty.  

The judge also declined to order that Reddy be detained in a halfway house, and refused to allow him to surrender in two weeks. “The mandatory detention provision recognizes that given the seriousness of the offense, persons should be remanded into custody immediately,” she said.  

Reddy deliberated with his lawyers for more than an hour after the judge issued her ruling on that issue. He finally decided to go ahead with a guilty plea. Reddy had been free on $10 million bail since January 2000 and was living with a brother in Merced.  

Under the plea agreement, which must still be approved by the judge, Reddy will serve at least five years and three months in jail and pay $2 million to four unidentified teenage victims or their families. He must also register with the state as a sex offender upon his release from prison and surrender any assets obtained as a result of his crimes. Reddy could be sent to prison for as long as six 1/2 years if the judge imposes a sentence at the top of the range agreed to by the parties. Armstrong said she will sentence Reddy on April 10.  

Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups arrayed against Reddy were jubilant after the hearing.  

“We are very pleased,” said Jayashri Srikantiah of the ACLU, which is collaborating with a San Francisco law firm to seek civil damages on behalf of a number of alleged victims. “Mr. Reddy has been unmasked as a violent criminal offender,” she said. “For almost 15 years he has been bringing young girls into the country for illegal sex and cheap labor,” while pretending to be (only) a businessman, she said.  

San Francisco lawyer Michael Rubin, who represents some of the victims, said settlement discussions with Reddy have been ongoing for several months, but declined to say how much money he is seeking. Reddy has U.S. property holdings valued at more than $70 million. In pleading guilty to tax fraud Wednesday he also admitted he had concealed foreign bank accounts. 

Attorney Alan Sparer, who represents Reddy in the civil action, acknowledged the East Bay real estate tycoon could settle any civil actions with a cash payment before a lawsuit is even filed. “It’s a negotiation not unlike most other cases,” he said. “You try to find a number you think is fair.” 

Civil actions filed against Reddy would likely be based in part on the accidental death in November 1999 of Chanti Jyotsna Devi Prattipati, an Indian teenager who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in one of Reddy’s apartment buildings. Prattipati’s death, and the subsequent discovery that she was pregnant, led to the investigation that culminated with Reddy’s guilty pleas Wednesday. 

Previously undisclosed details of the government’s case emerged at Wednesday’s hearing as federal prosecutors summarized evidence they had gathered during an investigation that began early last year. 

Prosecutor Bharathi Venkatraman, a civil rights attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., said that since 1986 Reddy had “organized, managed and directed a conspiracy” to falsify visa petitions and passports for teenage Indian girls whom Reddy harbored and employed in his real estate and restaurant businesses. She said the girls were “wholly dependent” on Reddy for their housing, food and employment. 

“These were vulnerable victims from extremely poor families from lower castes in India who were desperate to come to the United States,” she said. 

Venkatraman said Reddy intended to have sex with girls who were under 16 when they entered the country. She said one victim was only 11 years old when Reddy falsified her visa application, but was 13 years old by the time she arrived in 1993. None of the victims was identified by name. Last Friday Judge Armstrong ruled that all victims’ names in the case would be deleted from public documents in the case. 

Reddy’s lawyer pointed out that despite the government’s claims, a number of witnesses had given testimony that contradicted what prosecutors said Reddy had done. But with Wednesday’s guilty pleas, that evidence will not be presented. 

A dozen FBI and INS investigators who worked on the case sat in the back of the courtroom during the hearing. They refused to speak with reporters afterwards. Reddy’s 47-year-old brother, Jayaprakash Lakireddy, who along with his wife pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring with Reddy to file false visa applications, also watched the proceedings. Reddy’s youngest son sat in the front row, conferring occasionally with his lawyer.  

Both of Reddy’s sons, 42-year-old Prasad Lakireddy and 31-year-old Vijay Kumar Lakireddy, had at one point indicated their willingness to plead guilty, but changed their minds late last year and will now fight charges they conspired with their father and other relatives to commit immigration fraud. 

Reddy wore a tie and suit jacket to Wednesday’s court session, dispensing for the first time in many court appearances with his customary white running shoes. When he was addressed by the judge Reddy replied softly in lilting, accented English, “Yes, your Honor,” or “No, your Honor.” Asked by the judge how he pleaded to the charges he replied each time, “Guilty, your Honor.” 

Asked to describe what he had done, Reddy told the judge, “I brought Victims 2 and 3 into the United States knowing they were minors and intending to have sex with them.” He also admitted filing a tax return stating he had no foreign bank accounts. 

As part of the plea deal between Reddy and federal prosecutors, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office agreed not to charge Reddy with any crimes. The U.S. Attorney’s office agreed as well not to call Reddy to testify against his sons. 

Thursday, March 8

Tracks in the Snow  

3:30 p.m. 

West Branch Library  

1125 University Ave.  

Writer and adventurer Lucy Jane Bledsoe will speak of her recent visit to McMurdo Station in Antarctica, where she came face to face with penguins, seals and other wildlife. Free  

Trekking Northern India  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional wilderness guide Randy Pomeroy will take you on a journey from Ladakh to Rajasthan. Free Call 527-4140 

“Fifty Years in the Making” 

Boalt Hall School of Law  

UC Berkeley 

A gathering of some of the most prominent diplomats, scholars, and legal practitioners in the field of World War II reparation and restitution claims. Free and open to the public.  

Backyard Birding & Beyond  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Bird watching with Stan Scher.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107. 

Take the Terror Out of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

California Dept.  

of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

Room 804  

Session four of six in a series of classes presented by the State Health Toastmasters, this one is called “Creating An Introduction.”  

649-7750 

“Energy, Ecology  

and Humanism” 

7 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity  

390 27th St. (at Broadway) 

George Matthews, of Community Energy Services, will discuss how energy conservation and solar power can benefit low-income and minority people. 451-5818 

HIVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt. $35 525-7610 

Friday, March 9

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Free Writing, Cashiering  

& Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. www.ajob.org 

Berkeley PC Users Group 

7 p.m. 

Vista College 

2020 Milvia St., Room 303 

Wayne Calhoon, a computer technician who operates a local specialized computer store, will assemble a computer. If you are interested in purchasing this computer, call Wayne at 848-8363.  

E-Mail: meldancing@aol.com 

Europe on a Shoestring  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Scott Mcneely, co-author of the Lonely Planet book will share slides and information on some of his favorite adventures off the beaten path. Come learn about smart budget travel. 527-4140 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets. 644-6226 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Energy Teach-In & Action Forum  

6:45 p.m. 

Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

Graham Brownstein of TURN, Charles Kalish of Citizens Power Campaign and Todd Creiten of Campaign Against Utilities Rate Hike give an update on the vital struggle for public power. Find out what you can do about your utility bill. 233-3175 

“Torture in 2001 - The Violations Continue” 

Stephens Hall, Geballe Room  

Townsend Center  

for the Humanities, UC Berkeley  

Despite nearly universal prohibition against the use of torture in laws of most nations, the incidence of torture is epidemic. Dr. Kathi Antolak, an expert on the treatment of torture victims will speak.  

Trees Forum  

12:30 p.m. 

Starr King School for Ministry Chapel  

2441 LeConte Ave.  

A discussion on “The Ecology of The Great Work: Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology,” led by Dody Donnelly. trees@gtu.edu 

Saturday, March 10

The Secrets of Sacred Cinema 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103 

Kevin Peer, a documentary film maker for the past 25 years, gives a two-day intensive for people interested in exploring documentary filmmaking. $200 per person and registration is required 486-1480 

Narratives of Public Sector Reform: A Colloquium  

10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

223 Moses Hall UC Berkeley  

Mark Bevir of the department of Political Science of UC Berkeley, will present his paper on “Decentered Theory of Governance” and Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne will present his paper, “Entering British Governance.”  

— compiled by 

Chason Wainwright 

Greece Adventure 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Linda Pearson of REI Adventures will introduce you to Greece in slides and discussion.  

Call 527-4140 

Healing Garden  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Kathi Kinney will teach how to integrate medicinal herbs into existing gardens and landscapes and how to design and maintain a practical, aromatic, easy-care herb garden.  

$10 - $15  

548-2220 x233 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St.  

Sedge’s guests this week will be Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher Boy and Emerald Germs of Ireland, a capella singers M-Pact, Naturalist Claire Peaslee and pianist Mike Greensill.  

664-9500 

Self-Care and Wellness Health Fair 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Ashby Campus, Auditorium  

2450 Ashby Ave.  

A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit. Learn the process one might go through when deciding to stay with self-help, when to seek out assistance, and how to integrate care.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

Fire Suppression Class  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Water-Wise Trees 

10 a.m.  

UC Botanical Garden  

Stew Winchester, ecologist and horticulturist, and instructor at several Bay Area community colleges will talk about some of the more outstanding choices of small trees for water conserving gardens.  

$15  

643-2755 

Sunday, March 11

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

Call 849-0217 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Open House  

3 - 5 p.m.  

Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

A public open house featuring a prayer wheel and meditation garden tour, Tibetan yoga demonstration, information on Tibetan art projects and more. Followed by chanting and a lecture by dean Sylvia Gretchen. Free  

Myths & Realities of the International House  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

Director Joe Lurie will show a video and talk about the history and the struggle to open the International House.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

Walk on the Moon  

2 & 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

A mother and daughter explore their identities as they summer in the Catskills in 1969 amidst the news of Woodstock and the first lunar landing. Peer led discussion to follow film.  

$2 suggested donation  

Energy Attack  

4 - 6 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

PUC Commissioner Carl Wood, labor journalist David Bacon and Environmentalist architect Mark Gorrell will discuss the energy crisis and how to get involved in solutions.  

549-0816 

Community Health & Wellness Fair 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way  

Review health from a holistic perspective, personally and communally. Stop by for practical health screenings and explore wellness practices such as Taoist Tai Chi, Hatha Yoga and Rosen Bodywork in introductory workshops. Free except for cholesterol screening.  

649-1383 

Art & Consciousness in Tibetan Buddhism  

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Sylvia Gretchen, dean of Nyingma Studies, will discuss how art is used in meditation and what we can learn from Tibetan art today. Free 

843-6812 

New traffic plan needed in new General Plan 

Editor, 

I am writing you in regards to the City of Berkeley’s misguided attitude towards an ever-worsening traffic situation. The current system, a series of high-traffic collector streets, coupled with traffic “calming” devises to reduce traffic on all other streets is flawed and outdated.  

This system erroneously assumes that by concentrating traffic onto a few select corridors, we will benefit by freeing up all other streets as residential havens of calmness.  

This is an unfair and highly biased strategy. As a result of the current system, residents of collector streets are suffering the disproportionate burden of excess traffic flow on their streets, while the rest of us bask in a utopia of “calmness.”  

The negative effects on those residents of collector streets are manifold. Physical detriments caused by excess noise and air pollution are very real, not to mention economic loss endure by collector street residents, as a result of diminishing property values due to heavy traffic volume. I recently attended a public hearing held by the planning commission, and was dismayed to hear that while public sentiment was firmly against the current system, (three separate speakers raised the issue), the city’s new General Plan only proposes only more of the same. We need to make a change.  

I propose that by eliminating traffic calming devices we can disperse traffic more evenly throughout the city.  

Admittedly, this approach may not solve the problem of heavy traffic flow on collector streets, but it would certainly lessen the impact and provide a sense of fairness for collector street residents.  

At very least collector street residents should be offered some sort of retribution from the city in return for the suffering they endure in the name of overall city betterment.  

As residents of Berkeley, we have inherited a legacy of fair-minded, democratic values. The current system of traffic flow outlined above is out of step with this heritage, and must be addressed. We have too many historical precedents of the “few” suffering at the expense of the “many”, to repeat this mistake.  

As we are all members of a society that benefits from the freedom of movement afforded by the automobile, we must as a group, accept the responsibility of bearing the burden of it’s negative side effects, we must all accept this responsibility. 

Mark Hoffman 

Non-collector street resident, Berkeley 

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 9: Dead and Gone, Sworn Vengeance, Punishment, Misoura, The Computer Kills; March 10: The Varukers, 46 Short, Scarred for Life, Oppressed Logic, Facedown; March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above The World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy; March 23: 18 Visions, Walls of Jericho, Time In Malta, Undying, Betray the Species; March 24: Workin’ Stiffs, The Bodies, Strychnine, East Bay Chasers, For the Alliance; March 30: Deathreat, Ahimsa, F*** God In the Face, The Black, Creation Is Crucifixion 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 8: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 10: PickPocket Ensemble; March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 8, 9 p.m.: Aquarian Minyan; March 9, 8 p.m.: Funky Nixons, Gary Gates Band, Brew Glass Jug Band; March 10, 9:30 p.m.: Tom Rigney & Flambeau, dance lesson at 8:30 p.m.; March 11, 7:30 p.m.: Flamenco Open Stage featuring Sarita Ayala and more; March 13, 9 p.m.: Creole Belles, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 14, 9 p.m.: West Coast Swing AllStars, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 15, 9 p.m.: Babatunde Olatunji; March 16, 9:30 p.m.: Samba Ngo; March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music. 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 9: Ron Hacker; March 10: Red Archibald; March 16: Little Jonny & the Giants; March 17: Sugar G; March 23: Carlos Zialcita; March 24: Daniel Castro; March 30: Craig Horton Blues Band 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 11: Stephanie Bruce Trio; March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 11: Stephen Bell, guitar, plays music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, Ponse, and Albeniz; March 18: Mark Sanders, flute, David Cheng, violin, Darcy Rindt, viola, Paul Rhodes, cello. Flute quartets of Haydn and Mozart; March 25: Horizon Wind Quartet play music of Mendelssohn, Rossini, Ravel, Ligetti and others All concerts $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances Through March 11, call for times: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; March 22, 8 p.m., March 23, 7 p.m. & March 24, 1 & 8 p.m.: “The King Stag: A Tragicomic Tale for the Theatre” by Carlo Gozzi $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 4, 3 p.m.:  

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

Canto Para Una Semilla March 9, 8 p.m. La Pena Community Chorus present an homage to Violeta Parra. This is a benefit for Berkeley High School’s CAS program. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Gwen Avery March 9, 8 p.m. A benefit concert for KPFA also featuring Making Waves, Erica Ballinger, and Arin Simonian $7 - $20 Rose Street House of Music 1839 Rose St.  

Country Joe McDonald March 9 & 10, 8 - 10 p.m. McDonald will play a solo acoustic set of old & new songs and a tribute to Woody Guthrie. $20 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck Ave. (at Berryman) www.countryjoe.com  

“Mystic Journey” March 10, 8 p.m. Suzanne Teng and Mystic Journey are a unique contemporary world music ensemble, based in Los Angeles, making their Bay Area debut. $15 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 8 & 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

Maria Marquez in Concert March 10, 8:30 p.m. A special evening of Marquez’s songs from her latest CD, “Eleven Love Stories.” $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Pharaoh’s Daughter March 10, 8 p.m. New York-based world music sextet melding Hasidic, Moroccan, Indian and Turkish melodies and rhythms $18 - $20 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Brundibar Children’s Opera March 11, 11:30 a.m. & 2 p.m. Featuring members of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, children from the Crowden School, and Ela Weissberger, a survivor and original cast member. $12 - $24 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 848-0237  

“The Mirrored Ball Benefit Concert Featuring Rebbe Soul” March 11, 6 - 9 p.m. Also to play Times 3 Proceeds from the concert go to the Derek Israel Memorial Scholarship Fund of the greater East Bay Jewish Community Foundation. $18 - $45 Redwood Gardens 2951 Derby St. Call 223-8223 or purchase tickets online: www.dims41.com 

“Treacherous Crossings” March 14, 10 a.m., March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

“Fall” by Bridget Carpenter Through March 11. $15.99 - $51. Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, www. berkeleyrep.org 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. Presented by BareStage Productions $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center UC Berkeley 642-3880  

“Glory Box” by Tim Miller March 9, 8 p.m. In this one-time performance, Miller explores the themes of same-sex marriage and binational gay/lesbian immigration rights. $15 Zellerbach Playhouse UC Berkeley 601-8932 or www.ticketweb.com  

“Little Shop of Horrors” March 9 through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Audience Is Onto Us: An Evening of F*cked-up Theatre (of Paranoid Proportions)” March 13 & 14, 8 & 10 p.m. A comedy cabaret-style show with a bizarre and wicked bent. $4 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. e-mail: laughdamnyou@hotmail.com 

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus March 14 - May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Chappy Knuckles (Semi-Regional Motorcross And) Family Fun Hour” March 19 & 20, 7 & 9 p.m. Shotgun Players’ Black Box Productions presents Old Man McGinty, who has a rubbing stone that he would love for you to touch. $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com  

“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare Through April 14, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Stanley Spenger $8 - $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. (at Hearst) 237-7415 

Films 

“Tragos” Antero Alli’s vision of a future where the desire to escape from the government and media thought-control drives people underground. March 8, 7 & 9:30 p.m. $7 Live Oak Theatre 1301 Shattuck Ave. 464-4640 

“Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win” March 18, 6 p.m. A historic documentary of the May - June 1968 General Strike in France. Directed by Paris working class filmmaker Jean Pierre Thorn. Also to be shown is “France on Strike,” on the 1995 French public workers strike by rail workers, teachers, electrical and postal workers. $7 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 849-2568  

Exhibits 

Berkeley Historical Society “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. 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

“Dorchester Days,” the photographs of Eugene Richards is a collection of pictures portraying the poverty, racial tension, crime and violence prevalent in Richards’ hometown of Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1970s. Through April 6. UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 121 North Gate Hall #5860 642-3383 

“Still Life & Landscapes” The work of Pamela Markmann Through March 24, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Red Oak Gallery 1891 Solano Ave. 527-3387 

“Unequal Funding: Photographs of Children in Schools that Get Less” An exhibit of black & white photographs by documentary photographer Chris Pilaro. Through March 16, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery 2235 Fifth St. 644-1400 

“Contemporary Photogravure” Printing from hand-inked plates etched from a film positive, a unique exhibition of photographs with luxurious tones. Through March 30, Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 5 p.m. or by appointment Kala Art Institute 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 

“Musee des Hommages,” Masterworks by Guy Colwell Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Boticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours 2028 Ninth St. (at Addison) 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Amanda Haas, New Paintings and Olivia Kuser, Recent Landscapes Through March 24, Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 

“Travels in Color” Wax crayon sketches by Pamela Markmann made over the past 35 years Through March 31, 5 - 8 p.m. daily Voulez Vouz Bistro 2930 College Ave. 548-4708 

“Chicano Art and Visions of David Tafolla” Vivid color acrylic and oil paintings with Latino imagery. March 5 - April 12, Tuesday - Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m., Saturday Noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment. Opening reception March 10, 1 - 3 p.m. Women’s Cancer Resource Center 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9272 or www.wcrc.org 

Nylan Jeung and David Lippenberger Lippenberger renders figures in acrylic and Jeung work with ink and watercolor on rice paper, using traditional eastern techniques. Through April 7, Wednesday through Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893  

Readings 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 9: Annette Madden will read from “In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah:; March 10: Dyke Open Myke! To particpate call Jessy 655-1015; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; March 24, 7 p.m.: Aliza Sherman will read and sign “Cybergrrl@Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 8: K.C. Cole explores “A Hole in the Universe”; March 12: Ken Baker will discuss “Man Made: A Memoir of My Body”; March 13: Patrick McCabe reads “Emerald Germs of Ireland”; March 14: Poetry of Murray Silverstein & Helen Wickes; March 15: Randy Shaw talks about “The Activist’s Handbook: A Primer”; March 18: Poetry of Yvonne Cannon, Lara Gularte, Richard Rocco; March 19: Jean Rouverol talks about “Refugees From Hollywood: A Journal of the Blacklist”; March 21: Poetry of James Schevill; March 25: Poetry of Beverly Matherne & A.J. Rathbun; March 28: Poetry of Craig Van Riper & Jaime Robles; April 4: Poetry of Carole Simmons Oles & Matthew McKay; April 11: Poetry of Kurt Brown & Al Young 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 8: Judy Wells; March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike March 11, 2 p.m. Featuring Sacramento poet Johnny Heart Berkeley Art Museum Conference Room 2621 Durant (at Bowditch) 527-9753 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 11: Director of Berkeley’s International House, Joe Lurie, will show a video and dicuss the history and struggle to open the I-House 70 years ago; March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag March 7, 4 p.m.: Akhil Reed Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.”; March 8, 5 p.m.: E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jefferson lecturer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, will speak on “Is There a Politics of the Common Good?” (IGS Library); March 9, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.: “Interpreting Governance: Narratives of Public Sector Reform” A one-day colloquiem with Mark Bevir of UC Berkeley, Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and many others; March 12, Noon: Catherine Hafer of Ohio State will discuss “The Political Economy of Emerging Property Rights”; March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

“Jews of Africa: Lecture with Jay Sand” March 12, 7:30 p.m. $8 - $10 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

The Lady ’Jackets didn’t bring their A game on Wednesday night. Luckily, they didn’t need it. 

With star forward Robin Roberson slowed with a hyperextended elbow, the Berkeley squad looked a little out of sorts, but they overwhelmed the Aptos Mariners just the same, 73-47. The win puts the Lady ’Jackets into the CIF Northern Section semifinals against Kennedy (Sacramento) on Friday night. 

Roberson, who injured her left elbow at Tuesday’s practice, played Wednesday’s game with her elbow taped up, and she looked to be tentative for most of the game. Nevertheless, the senior scored a game-high 26 points to go with six rebounds, three steals and three blocks.  

“I don’t know what the injury was, but it hurt her shooting,” Berkeley head coach Gene Nakamura said. “I don’t think she should have had it wrapped without practicing with it.” 

Roberson said that despite her impressive numbers (including 11-for-20 from the floor), the injury made her tentative. 

“I wasn’t aggressive enough,” she said. “I was passing too much when I had open shots.” 

Roberson got help from her post players, Sabrina Keys and Gelater Fullwood. Keys had 14 points, seven boards and three blocks, while Fullwood pitched in 12 points, six rebounds and two steals. 

Aptos came out with a full-court press, and they took a quick 4-0 lead. But after that, it was all Berkeley. Roberson hit a jumper, then guard Angelita Hutton converted a steal into an easy layup. Fullwood hit a short jumper to give her team the lead, which they would keep for the rest of the game. Roberson scored 10 points in the quarter, leading the ’Jackets to a 22-13 lead after one. 

It only got worse in the second quarter, as the Mariners went five and a half minutes without a bucket, by which time the lead was up to 33-14. Berkeley went into the locker room with a 40-18 lead, and the only question was the margin of victory. 

Aptos was yet another opponent that had no answer for Berkeley’s depth and defensive pressure, as coach Joseph Smith played only seven players for much of the game. Smith’s team committed 24 turnovers in the game and were clearly exhausted by the end. 

“That’s the power of our team, our depth,” Nakamura said. “Hopefully we’re in their faces the whole game.” 

Just four Mariners scored in the game, led by Briana Hinga’s 20, while Jena Wat and Crystal Washington scored 11 each. Washington also pulled down 13 rebounds. 

Despite the lopsided win, Nakamura said he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance. 

“We wanted to make more of a statement in this game,” he said. “We should have had a layup drill against them.” 

As they gathered in the Berkeley High School courtyard to let off steam after Wednesday’s first ever, statewide High School Exit Examination, frustrated ninth-graders were busy preparing a little quiz of their own: 

Question # 1: Why us? 

Question # 2: What’s the point? 

Question # 3: Do adults really think this is a reasonable measure of how smart we are, or how much we have learned in school? 

As the class of 2004, these freshman are the first group of students who will have to pass the exam to receive a high school diploma. Based on California Content Standards for what students ought to learn by the tenth grade, the test was at the heart of education reforms proposed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999. It’s supposed to help ensure that students graduate with the basic skills they need for college and work.  

But after taking the five-hour “English-language arts” portion of the new exam Wednesday, Berkeley freshman were skeptical at best. 

“It was a waste of my time,”said Berkeley High freshman Ella Bacon. “If you look at it you can tell it doesn’t tell if you’re smart.” 

The test was so easy “it was boring,” said ninth-grader Sade Price.  

“It’s like we’re in kindergarten,” chimed in freshman Naomi Moore. 

Many other Berkeley High freshman agreed. For one of two essays on the test students were asked to write about a movie they had seen, prompting some to wonder what relevance this has to school standards. Other students said reading comprehension questions were a poor test of reading ability because they were written in a way that gave away the answers. 

Education experts expressed some surprise at students’ reactions to the test, but also warned that any reaction to the test is premature until the results are in. 

“The fear has been that we will have a high number of kids who can’t pass it because it’s too hard,” said Stephen Goldstone, Berkeley Unified School District interim superintendent. Goldstone said the state has yet to determine what score a student will need to pass the exam, but added that a perception that the test is too easy could lead many to question its effectiveness. 

“Everything I’ve heard is that (the test) is supposed to be very challenging,” Goldstone said. “The expectation is that (the test) will raise standards.” 

“Kids may have been showing a lot of bravado,” said Adam Berman, a consultant with the California Department of Education who worked on the development of the exit exam. 

Berman said students lulled into a false sense of security by Wednesday’s test may be in for a surprise when they take the mathematics portion of the test next Tuesday.  

“I couldn’t pass it if my life depended on it,” Berman said of the math test. 

Berman visited a high school in Sacramento after Wednesday’s test and said he found students’ reactions mixed, with students who typically do well academically calling it easy and students who struggle in school calling it difficult.  

Berman emphasized that the test is really an assessment of last resort intended to make sure students don’t graduate without a certain minimum level of skills. 

“We’ve all heard the stories of the kids who graduate high school without being able to read,” Berman said. “This is a fair test for what it does.” 

Tests such as the Golden State Examinations are much more challenging because their intent is to identify top students for the purposes of college admissions, Berman said. 

Berkeley Adult School Counselor John McKewn, who proctored Wednesday’s test for five adult school students, said he expected the test to be more difficult than it was. But after years of social promotion when students have been advanced without mastering material, the exit exam is important, McKewn said. 

“This is a reading comprehension test measuring a person’s ability to comprehend what they read,” McKewn said. “That’s what schools teach.” 

“You’ve got to have at least this minimal level of literacy to have any claim on a high school diploma,” McKewn added. 

The test was very similar to a proficiency test all Berkeley High school students were required to pass until last year, McKewn said, expressing concern that a whole group of students – today’s sophomores, juniors and seniors – will graduate without a minimum proficiency test of any kind. 

“In a perfect world you might not need these kinds of tests, but we’re not living in a perfect world,” McKewn said. 

Berkeley High math teacher Phillipe Henri said there is frustration in the math department that they’re losing more instructional days to a test that “can’t measure everything that you’d like to measure in terms of achievement and growth.” 

The push for higher standards could end up hurting the very students it’s supposed to help, Henri said, pointing to the fact that all Berkeley High nint -graders are now required to take Algebra – a subject that makes up 15 percent of the exit exam’s math component – whether they’re ready for it or not. 

This is setting students up to fail, lose faith in themselves and become alienated from academics, Henri said. 

The St. Mary’s basketball team survived a scare in its first step toward a possible state championship on Tuesday, overcoming a five-point halftime deficit against Valley Christian to win 74-63. 

The first-round CIF Northern California Section game took place in a packed house at St. Mary’s, but the visiting Warriors, the lowest seed in the region, used a scorching 24-12 second quarter to stun the crowd into silence going into halftime.  

“The last couple games, we’ve had really stinky second quarters,” St. Mary’s head coach Jose Caraballo said. “But it’s a game of four quarters, and the kids know how to respond.” 

Valley Christian held the lead until halfway through the fourth quarter, but St. Mary’s quickness and stamina were just too much in the end. Panther off-guard John Sharper scored 11 of his 21 points in the final period, including a steal and layup that gave his team the lead back. St. Mary’s never gave up the lead again. Point guard DaShawn Freeman scored 20 and forward Chase Moore 17 for the Panthers. 

The game went back an forth early, as the Panthers used transition baskets to grab an early 21-14 lead after one quarter. But Valley Christian’s Steve Cotton caught fire in the second, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 15 points in the quarter just as the Panthers went cold, shooting just 5-of-17 from the floor. The Warriors used a 10-point run to grab the lead, and St. Mary’s couldn’t pull out of their slump. Their frustrations came to a head at the buzzer, as Moore’s desperation heave was rebounded by center Simon Knight, who was fouled. He headed to the charity stripe with no time on the clock, and proceeded to miss both free throws, leaving the score at 38-33. 

St. Mary’s head coach Jose Caraballo made a crucial change at halftime, pulling senior forward Jeremiah Fielder off of Valley Christian’s leading scorer, guard Marcus Martinez, and putting him on Cotton.  

“I told Jeremiah, ‘Don’t let (Cotton) get the ball.’ And he said, ‘Okay.’ He just did a great job on him in the second half,” Caraballo said. 

Fielder, who kept Martinez scoreless in the first half, limited Cotton’s second-half touches and held him to two points on 1-of-7 shooting. Cotton finished with 26 points, leading all scorers. 

“I saw that he was getting wide open, and I pride myself on my defense. So I asked to cover him at halftime,” Fielder said. 

Still, the best the Panthers could do in the third quarter was tie the game at 48-48. Martinez made up for Cotton’s disappearance, scoring eight points in the quarter, and the Warriors finished the period with a 7-2 run by breaking the St. Mary’s press for easy baskets.  

Both teams had seven team fouls heading into the fourth quarter, meaning every personal foul would send the other team to the free-throw line. The teams combined to shoot 35 freebies in the final period, and the Panthers were shaky, hitting just 10-of-21. But their relentless defensive pressure started to wear on the Warriors, who used a seven-man rotation until the final seconds. The visitors didn’t make a single field goal in the quarter, and had no counter for Sharper’s penetration. After he gave his team the lead, Sharper followed up with a three-point play. The Panthers started to pull away, taking a six-point lead with two minutes left on two Fielder free throws, and Valley Christian couldn’t come up with any good shots as time ran out. 

“My kids are strongest at the end of the game, and they know how to finish,” Caraballo said. “They have character, they persevere and they know how to win.”

Over 100 representatives from the city’s myriad commissions got pointers from the city attorney Tuesday about avoiding conflicts of interest, conducting legal public meetings and the general role of the commissions. 

“It’s really important that the commissioners understand what’s behind these laws,” City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said. “It makes things less confusing and not so esoteric.” 

As proof that Berkeley is politically active, there are 45 commissions and boards that serve the city. According to the City Manager Weldon Rucker, most cites have four or five commissions.  

All commissioners are volunteers and are appointed because of specialized knowledge or an interest in serving their community. The mayor and councilmembers are required to appoint one commissioner each to every commission. 

Many commissioners said the meeting was useful because it demystified the complexities of the state’s open meeting law and confusion caused by conflicts of interest. 

Many commissioners paid special attention to the workshop’s conflict of interest section. Since November, Albuquerque has issued a spate of opinions that said seven commissioners on three commissions had conflicts of interest with some of the issues their commissions consider.  

Three commissioners from the Landmarks Preservation Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against the city to have their full authority on the commission reinstated. Commissioner John Selawsky resigned his post and Commissioner Gordon Wozniak has refused to acknowledge Albuquerque’s opinion at all. Three commission meetings have collapsed in confusion because of the allegations of conflict of interest. 

Albuquerque pointed out that California has many laws covering several types of conflicts of interest while some states on the East Coast have fewer laws and as a result more corruption. She said many well-intentioned commissioners can have a conflict of interest and not be aware of it. 

“Common law and court decisions say everybody is a human being and good people can be influenced on a subliminal level,” she said.  

Albuquerque gave the commissioners a list of situations that should prompt them to seek additional information about conflict of interest from her office. One was economic conflict from a job or business. Another was related to city commissioners who consider city contracts that might inadvertently benefit them. And the third addressed commissioners who belong to other associations and boards. 

“In the early 1980s when Berkeley was writing its conflict of interest code, it was decided that Berkeley residents care more about their causes than they do about their financial investments,” she said. “So if you are an officer on any other organizations you have to disclose that to the city as if it were a business.” 

Another issue the commissioners were concerned about is the Ralph M. Brown Act adopted by the state in 1953 after a series of articles about secret government meetings ran in The San Francisco Chronicle. 

The law covers all public meetings from regular posted meeting to e-mail between commissioners. According to a guidebook given to the commissioners, the law has been a source of controversy and confusion since its inception. 

The guidebook further stated that many elected officials find the Brown Act unnatural claiming that “the techniques that serve so well in business - the working lunch, the private lobbying and compromises, the slow evolution of a project or decision - is no longer possible.” 

On March 20, the City Council will consider writing local laws that strengthen and clarify the Brown Act. 

Paul Hogarth who was elected to the city’s Rent Stabilization Board last November said he found the Brown Act information useful. 

“It’s nice to know what you can and can’t write about in a e-mail to a friend of yours who happens to be on the same board as you,” he said. 

Rucker addressed the relationship between the commission and city staff that act as secretaries to the commissions. There has historically been a low level tension and mistrust between the two because of what Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz called a “schizophrenic relationship.” 

“Being a commission secretary means you have to walk a fine line between the city and the commission,” said Barbara Attard, commission secretary for the Police Review Commission. “They often have competing interests and you have to be able to finesse things.” 

Some commissioners complained about secretaries taking too long to write up the minutes of meetings and delaying City Council action on recommendations by not submitting reports in a timely manner. 

Rucker said commission secretaries are responsible for writing up each meeting’s minutes, preparing written agendas and following up on correspondence in addition to their regular duties with city departments. 

Kamlarz said the commissions function well sometimes and other times not depending on the experience level of commissioners and staff. But he said the commission system is worthwhile. “The city gets experts to volunteer their time, energy and the benefit of their experience,” he said. “And that’s what the commission system is all about, community input.” 

Rucker said the annual workshops have been so popular with the commissioners that he was considering having them twice a year. “There’re good because the commissions can get isolated from city departments and a sort folklore takes over,” he said. “It’s good to see people face to face for clarification and demystification.” 

Bears finish with ASU, Wildcats 

By the time the Cal men’s basketball team leaves Haas Pavilion on Saturday, they should know their post-season fate, despite the fact that the NCAA Tournament selection committee won’t release their decisions until Sunday. The Bears need at least one victory this weekend against Arizona State or Arizona to lock in a tournament berth. 

Head coach Ben Braun’s squad will host the Sun Devils on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The Bears already own season sweeps over the other four Pac-10 weaklings, and will look to continue their domination of the lower half of the conference. The game is also their best chance to reach the 20-win plateau, as Arizona has been playing well of late and could easily overpower Braun’s boys. 

“This is a huge weekend. Our next game versus ASU is a huge game for us,” Braun said earlier this week.The Sun Devils are riding a two-game winning streak, as they swept the Oregon schools last weekend. After enduring a seven-game losing streak to start conference play (including a 82-67 loss to Cal in Tempe), they have come on strong, winning five of nine. But they have yet to beat any of the Pac-10’s top five. 

“Their confidence is up now. They’re shooting the ball better than they were earlier in the year,” Braun said. “At the beginning of league, they had a tough schedule. They’ve improved as the year’s gone on.” 

The Bears, on the other hand, are fresh off of a disastrous road trip to southern California, where they were beaten soundly by UCLA and USC. A win over either team could have sealed an NCAA bid. 

If the Bears can beat Arizona State, they can head into Saturday’s matchup with the Wildcats not needing a win. If they lose Thursday, however, they will have a tough time getting that 20th win.  

Since being upset by Oregon on Feb. 1, Lute Olson’s bunch have won seven of eight and have broken 100 points twice, including a 104-65 revenge win over the Ducks last Saturday. The ’Cats are playing as well as any team in the country, and have apparently shaken off their early-season woes.

Berkeley, home of the country’s first ethnic studies program, will soon have the nation’s first academic institute dedicated to the study of both race and gender. 

The Center for Race and Gender is scheduled to open this fall under the leadership of Evelyn Nakano Glenn, professor of ethnic studies and women’s studies. Glenn, who became founding director last month, is currently laying the groundwork needed to “bring this center into reality,” including staffing, budget, an advisory board and space. 

“It’s time to do this,” Glenn said. “It fits in with a number of real issues (facing) the university” – among them “what our faculty is going to look like in 20 years.”  

“The university is committed to leading the discussion on how issues of race and gender impact our campus and society at large,” Chancellor Berdahl said. “I am delighted that Professor Glenn has agreed to head up the center and look forward to its presence here on our campus.” 

Berdahl has committed $100,000 per year for five years in funding for the faculty-directed center, which will serve as a campuswide resource for faculty, students and visiting scholars from a broad array of fields. The center will be structured in the manner of an organized research unit and report to the executive vice chancellor. 

A committee chaired by Charles Henry, faculty equity associate and professor of African American studies, spent the 1999-00 academic year developing a proposal for the center. In its report, issued last April, the committee noted the unique role of California as the “homeland, refuge, temporary residence or workplace for people of many origins” now immersed in a global economy and as a “national testing ground for policy and for social movements.” 

Glenn notes that in the three decades since the founding of the ethnic studies program, Berkeley scholars have made important contributions to the national conversation on race and ethnicity. Examples include Michael Omi’s work on race as a social construct (as opposed to a fixed biological reality); accounts of American history as a many-stranded, multicultural story, for which Professor Ron Takaki is best known; and the pioneering work of Barbara Christian, Elaine Kim and Norma Alarcon on literature by African American, Asian American and Chicana women writers.  

From the UC Berkeley press office. 

As a continuation of that tradition, Glenn says she’s “very excited” about the Center on Race and Gender and its potential to address cutting edge themes – among them relations among various communities of color, transnational community formations, comparative multiculturalism, and intersections between race, gender and other axes of difference.

The problem for those small, high-tech investors with battered portfolios is whether in ruing the past, they will overlook the rewards of the future and the chance to get even. 

It’s an old, old story: Burned by what happened, they’ll vow never to allow a repeat performance, apply salve to their wounds, settle for less and abandon stocks, and maybe mutual funds too. 

It’s smart of them to learn from the past, since the past always has lessons for the future, no matter how hard people try to ignore them. And one of the lessons is that that technology is inherently volatile. 

In other words, technology stocks might come back before the small investor’s wounded psyche recovers. 

A study just released by J.P. Morgan Securities traces the ups and downs of its technology index for the past 15 years, a portrait of which looks like a wild range of mountains with jagged peaks and deep valleys. 

A 37.5 percent, 18-week correction that began on June 4, 1990, for example, was followed by a 106.3 percent recovery that began on October 11, 1990 and lasted for 71 weeks. It goes on like that, 131/2 ups and downs in all. 

The biggest change came in 1998, when an 11-week, 31 percent correction was followed by a 74-week, 416 percent recovery. Frightening losses, spectacular gains, some within a few-week period. 

And, as you guessed, the latest correction of all, the current one for which no sharp recovery has yet been observed, accounts for the up-down pattern to be left with a dangling 1/2. It still awaits a recovery, and quite possibly a bottom. 

Among the lessons of the past, it seems, is that it is in the nature of the animal to be inconsistent, forever on the verge of a breakthrough, real of claimed, and just as often suffering a breakdown instead. 

Nobody, of course, really knows what’s coming next, but you can read in the voluminous literature of Wall Street that many of those advisers who misguided you are itching now to begin the recovery on their terms. 

The past suggests it will come on its own terms, not Wall Street’s. But, without naming when, even some of the conservative and highly responsible market observers are convinced it will arrive. 

Jaye Morency and Vinnie Muscolino of David L. Babson & Co. write in its staff letter that they’re convinced the collapse of prices has produced bargains for investors willing to wait out the uncertainty. 

So where are the opportunities, they ask? 

The basic strategy, they contend, is to capitalize on the return to centralized computing. With hundreds of millions of hand-held electronic devices now in use and more coming, mobile computing needs to be fully connected to centralized hardware in an upgraded communications network. 

The technology sectors best positioned to exploit this need, they say, are software, enterprise hardware, data storage, communications infrastructure and specialized semiconductors. 

The best of the companies within these areas, in their view, are those with global franchises and successful long-term research and development commitments. 

All this leaves the small investor with a lot of work to do, but it also resurrects one of the clearest messages of the correction, that being to do your homework – just as would before buying a refrigerator. 

You’re on your own; have no doubt about it. Just remember that the idea is to buy low and sell high. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Buyers gave Wall Street its longest winning streak of the year, dominating major market indexes for a third straight day Wednesday despite profit warnings from JDS Uniphase and Broadcom. 

But the prospects of at least the Nasdaq composite index extending its gains were diminished when tech bellwether Yahoo! lowered its earnings forecasts and announced a management shakeup. Yahoo tumbled 11 percent in after-hours trading, while other tech stocks were mixed. 

All three indexes have moved higher this week, lifted by the first steady buying in weeks. But even before Yahoo’s announcement, which came after the close of trading, analysts were split over how long-lived the rally will be. Worries persist about the health of the economy and when corporate profits will improve. 

Wall Street spent much of the day focused on Yahoo. Soon after the session opened, the Nasdaq Stock Market halted trading in Yahoo, and the company said it would issue a 5 p.m. EST announcement. Investors expected that the news would be bad. Yahoo tumbled $1.38 to $21, a more than 6 percent decline, before trading stopped. It fell further in extended trading, dropping $2.31 to $18.69, after the company reduced its first-quarter outlook and announced a search for a new chief executive. 

“The encouraging thing was that the Nasdaq was even up today given all the bad news about earnings,” said Rafael Tamargo, director of equity research at Wilmington Trust. “Three days in a row is encouraging, even though these gains haven’t been huge.” 

Investors generally were able to tolerate other bad earnings news, punishing but not devastating those with disappointing announcements. JDS Uniphase, which reduced its quarterly forecasts on soft demand, slipped $1.06 to $26.94 in regular trading. And investors sold chip maker Broadcom, down $7.63 at $40.25, which also lowered its quarterly expectations. 

Tobacco and financial issues, areas that investors have favored in recent weeks as hedging in the uncertain economic environment, were strong.  

— The Associated Press 

Philip Morris rose $1.21 to $50.04, while J.P. Morgan Chase gained $2.29 to $50.25. 

“There’s some improvement out there, but people are not quite willing to bet the ranch,” said Brian Belski, a fundamental market strategist with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. 

Bullish comments from influential Goldman Sachs chief investment strategist Abby Joseph Cohen also encouraged investors. 

“We believe that attractive equity valuation has been restored and forecast yearend 2001 price levels of 1,650 and 13,000 for the S&P 500 and DJIA,” she said in a note to clients. 

Trading was moderate. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 1.34 billion shares, compared with 1.28 billion at the same point Tuesday. 

The Russell 2000 index rose 3.71 to 484.84. 

Overseas, trading was mixed. Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.3 percent. Germany’s DAX index was up 0.3 percent, Britain’s FT-SE 100 dropped 0.2 percent, and France’s CAC-40 gained 0.5 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

SAN FRANCISCO — Credit card companies are squeezing consumers with higher interest rates, more late fees, and other charges tucked into the fine print, according to a survey of credit card terms released Wednesday. 

The news comes as Congress prepares to pass legislation making it tougher for people to use bankruptcy to erase credit-card and other debts. The House approved legislation last week and the Senate is the next stop on the bill’s journey to a receptive White House. 

In January, San-Francisco-based Consumer Action surveyed 109 credit cards issued by 49 companies. The results, reported Wednesday, show an alarming trend toward tougher credit terms, said study author Linda Sherry. 

Interest rates, for example, jumped on average more than a quarter of a percentage point to 15.16 percent, compared with 1999 rates. Part of that increase may be attributed to increases in the prime lending rate. 

But little other than hunger for profits could account for other charges, such as late fees and cash advance fees, Sherry said. 

“Every year, when we look at credit cards, the costs just continue to rise,” she said. 

Most of the charges fall to borrowers who already suffer poor credit – those considered greater risks by credit card companies. 

But Sherry warned that such charges might soon find borrowers who now receive multiple new account offers each week and can thus play cards off each other. 

“They are going to look for a way to squeeze those people too, the savvy consumers,” Sherry said. “People are just tearing their hair out.” 

One emerging charge is the late payment fee. 

Every bank in the survey charged a late fee, with the penalty averaging $26, the survey found. Fleet Bank topped the list at $35. 

And, the survey said, banks are becoming less forgiving when asked to wipe out those fees. If it’s just a one-time slip, erasing the charge may be easy – but woe to the borrower who misses several payments in a year, even if it’s just by a day or two each time. 

“They just seem more and more ferocious in the way they’re assessing these fees,” Sherry said. 

It’s not just pay now. Nearly three in four banks will also increase a borrower’s interest rate if a payment is late. The number of banks with that policy increased by nearly 50 percent since 1999. 

Three banks charged borrowers 30 percent interest rates if they paid late, the survey said. 

Credit card companies have logged record profits in recent years. Still, they have pushed the bankruptcy reform legislation now racing through Congress. 

The House passed its bill 306-108 Thursday. The legislation’s progress has been only slightly slower in the Senate, where Democrats recently blocked a Republican effort to rush it through. 

President Bush is expected to sign the measure. 

Bill supporters say it will stem a tide of bankruptcy filings and abuse of the court system. They say bankruptcy abuse creates a hidden tax of about $400 a year on every American family through higher interest rates passed on by consumer credit businesses and other charges. 

Foes say credit card companies are partly to blame for bankruptcy filings. Total credit extended on card accounts jumped 13 percent to $2.9 trillion in the third quarter of 2000 from a year earlier, according to industry figures. 

On the Net: 

http://www.consumer-action.org 

Information on the bills, H.R. 333 and S. 220, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov

WASHINGTON — The fast-growing Hispanic population has drawn nearly even with blacks, according to preliminary Census Bureau estimates that analysts say show an America more diverse than ever. 

Hispanic population growth outpaced predictions by at least 2.5 million in the 2000 census, with much of that increase due to higher-than-expected rates of immigration, analysts said Wednesday. 

There were about 35.3 million Hispanics in America last year, an increase of 58 percent from 1990, the preliminary Census Bureau estimates show. The black population, meanwhile, ranged between 34.7 million and 36.4 million, with the exact figure uncertain because Americans, for the first time, were allowed to check off more than one race on the 2000 census form. 

“It’s a little surprising. But still, we’ve known the trends for some time,” said Hans Johnson, demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California in San Francisco. “We know eventually Hispanics will become the largest minority group in the United States.” 

Though the figures are from a Census Bureau committee report, they are not final and may change, cautioned Jorge del Pinal, a senior agency official in charge of race and ethnicity statistics. 

The bureau is scheduled to release more detailed statistics on America’s racial makeup next week, including figures for other racial categories. 

Assuming the numbers remain roughly the same, lawmakers will be dealing with the public policy implications sooner than expected, said Marisa Demeo, general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 

For instance, recent Census Bureau data showed that Hispanics had lower rates of educational achievement, and higher percentages of people living in poverty, than non-Hispanic whites. 

“Our hope is perhaps now we will finally receive the needs we should have been receiving all along,” she said. 

One earlier bureau estimate had placed the Hispanic population at 32.8 million in November 2000. The 2000 census figure is officially tied to April 1 of last year. 

The government may have done a better job than expected in counting undocumented immigrants, including newly arrived Hispanics, the Census Bureau has said. Immigrants were one of the targets of a bureau outreach campaign last year to increase participation in the national headcount. 

“It’s unfortunate that we have to grow so large before our issues our addressed, but at least maybe now they will be addressed,” Demeo said. 

“Hispanic” is considered an ethnicity, and Hispanic people can be of any race. Therefore, it is unclear yet whether Hispanics are officially the nation’s largest minority group, since data on how many blacks were specifically “non-Hispanic” are not yet available. 

A 2.9 percent discrepancy existed between the 2000 census number for Hispanics and a higher, second figure derived from a Census Bureau follow-up survey that estimated the undercount for race groups. A third figure, from a demographic analysis typically performed to measure census accuracy, was lower than the headcount. 

That discrepancy was part of the reason the Census Bureau recommended that the actual census count — and not one adjusted using statistical sampling — be used as the official numbers for political redistricting. 

Commerce Secretary Don Evans backed that recommendation Tuesday, with the first set of redistricting numbers based on unadjusted data being sent out Wednesday. 

Despite the trends, Hispanics may be a long way off still from surpassing blacks in terms of social and political clout, said University of Michigan sociology professor David Harris. For instance, blacks historically have gone to the voting booths more often than Hispanics, and are more likely to be active in civic affairs, especially in certain regions of the country, he said. 

Because of that, “the country’s historic perception of America as black and white” will still exist even if numerically, the largest groups are Hispanic and white, Harris said. 

Numbers on the black population, meanwhile, offered the first glimpse into how many people checked off more than one race on their form last year. While 34.7 million people marked only “black” on their census questionnaires, an additional 1.7 million classified themselves as black and another race. 

On the Net:http://www.census.gov/dmd/ 

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co. announced that it will drastically lower prices for two HIV-treatment drugs in developing countries. 

In a statement Wednesday, the company said it will not profit when selling the two protease-inhibitor drugs in developing countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. 

More than 25 million of the 36 million people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s most impoverished regions. Other developing countries would be evaluated for the reduced-price program on a case-by-case basis, company spokesman Greg Reaves said. 

Reaves said the company is looking in particular at “those countries where clearly the disease is most devastating, and also where economic conditions are devastating.” 

Merck makes Crixivan and Stocrin, which reduce HIV infection in the body and can be used alone or in standard AIDS cocktails. 

Crixivan will be sold in developing countries for $600 a year per patient; Stocrin will be sold for $500 per patient. The cost of the drugs in the United States was not immediately available Wednesday morning, but Reaves said he believed it was as much as five to 10 times higher. 

Whitehouse Station-based Merck and other drug companies have come under sharp criticism from various governments and relief groups, which accuse them of keeping patented lifesaving medicines beyond the reach of the world’s poor. 

“The reason we did this is we’re trying to speed the process of access to these medicines,” Reaves said. “We thought it would now spur other entities to get involved.” 

Merck said the treatments will be available at a reduced price to governments, relief agencies and others who can provide them to patients, on the condition that the drugs be used only in the countries where they are sold. 

The announcement comes amid a lawsuit in South Africa filed by a group representing many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including Merck. The lawsuit by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association seeks to overturn a law that would allow the South African government to import cheap generic medications in an emergency. 

Reaves said the lawsuit in South Africa will not affect the program announced Wednesday. 

The company also announced Wednesday that it will contribute $50 million over five years to the Botswana Comprehensive AIDS/HIV Partnership. The amount matches a contribution from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Merck: http://www.merck.com 

With a dramatic flourish, actor Derrick Lee Weeden unsheathed a stage-prop Greek sword and slashed a purple ribbon Tuesday signifying the opening of the Berkeley Repertory’s new, $20 million theater.  

The ceremony was attended by 300 people who gathered in front of the 600-seat theater on Addision Street. The new building was christened the Roda Theatre in honor of the Roda Group, a venture capital company that arranged for $3 million in donations to the project. 

One city councilmember sounded a cautionary note, saying the opening of theater is fine, but arguing that now it’s time for the city to invest in the thousands of artists being forced out of Berkeley because of skyrocketing rents for studio and living space. 

The theater will ultimately be part of what Berkeley Repertory Theatre Director Susan Medak called a “theatrical complex,” that will be made up of two theaters and a theatrical school. 

Mayor Shirley Dean, who was heralded by Medak as one of the driving forces for the completion of the project, said the ribbon cutting signaled an artistic and economic renaissance for the downtown area.  

“This new theater nourishes our souls, brings fresh vitality to our minds, delights our eyes and satisfies our hearts,” Dean said. “And let us not forget to celebrate that it also brings dollars to our cash registers.” 

The emerging downtown arts will eventually include a variety of theatrical venues on Addison Street including the Freight and Salvage Coffee House, The Jazzschool, the Capoeira Arts Café and Aurora Theater Company 

The ribbon cutting kicked off a series of celebrations for the opening of the new theater, including a March 13 gala that will include a catered dinner served in a large tent in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. Diners will be entertained with a performance by Academy Award winner and Berkeley resident Rita Moreno. 

After dinner, guests will attend the theater’s premiere performance of Act I of Aeschylus’ 2,500-year-old trilogy “The Oresteia,” which stars Weeden as Agamemnon. 

There will also be a free community open house on March 17, at the theater located at 2025 Addison St. 

The theater fund-raisers, Campaign for Expansion, have raised $17.5 million toward the final cost of the $20 million building. The city kicked off the fund with a donation of $4 million. The Ask Jeeves Foundation donated another $2 million. The rest of the funds came from corporate and individual donations and a variety of grants. 

Councilmembers Polly Armstrong, Betty Olds, Mim Hawley and Linda Maio also attended the ribbon cutting ceremony. 

A note of discord among was sounded by Councilmember Kriss Worthington, in a separate interview, who said he and Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek were concerned that the city had to borrow the $4 million it contributed to the theater and that the loan will end up costing tax payers $10 million once the interest is paid off. 

“It’s all well and good for the city to help the largest and most well off artistic institutions but the city needs to make an equal contribution to all the smaller artists who are being driven out of the city,” Worthington said. “And I can guarantee you this issue will be brought up during this next round of budget negotiations.” 

BRT Artistic Director Tony Taccone said the theater was founded in 1968 by “a group of renegade grad students who opened a theater in a storefront on College Avenue, which served an artistic touchstone.” 

According to a BRT press statement, 145,000 people attend the theater each year, and 20,000 students participate in education programs.  

Wednesday, March 7

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling Classes for  

Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or  

visit www.stagebridge.org 

Women in Interfaith  

Relationships  

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Led by Dawn Kepler, this workshop will explore interfaith relationships on many levels, in relation to culture, religion, and gender. People of all backgrounds and orientations are invited to attend.  

$10 848-0237 x127 

Tell the Children  

3:30 p.m.  

North Branch Library  

1170 The Alameda  

Berkeley resident Dora Sorell, a Holocaust survivor whose Romanian family were deported to Auschwitz, will speak and read from her memoir “Tell the Children: Letters to Miriam.” Children are specifically invited. Free 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107 

Attic Conversions  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect Andus Brandt.  

$35  

525-7610 

Keeping New People Out of Old Neighborhoods 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Graduate School of Journalism 

Main Floor  

121 North Gate Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Invited are students, industry professionals, community members and activists to join in dialogue to explore how the media and urban development issues effect each other. (415) 989-1111 

Free Writing, Cashiering  

& Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Palestinian Refugee Camp at UC Berkeley  

11 a.m. - 2 p.m.  

Near Dwinelle Hall  

UC Berkeley 

Students for Justice in Palestine will be rallying in support of Palestinian rights and demand that the UC divest from Israel.  

Thursday, March 8

Tracks in the Snow  

3:30 p.m. 

West Branch Library  

1125 University Ave.  

Writer and adventurer Lucy Jane Bledsoe will speak of her recent visit to McMurdo Station in Antarctica, where she came face to face with penguins, seals and other wildlife. Free  

Trekking Northern India  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional wilderness guide Randy Pomeroy will take you on a journey from Ladakh to Rajasthan. Free 

Call 527-4140 

“Fifty Years in the Making” 

Boalt Hall School of Law  

UC Berkeley 

A gathering of some of the most prominent diplomats, scholars, and legal practitioners in the field of World War II reparation and restitution claims. Free and open to the public.  

Backyard Birding & Beyond  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Bird watching with Stan Scher.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107 

Take the Terror Out of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

California Dept.  

of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way Room 804  

Session four of six in a series of classes presented by the State Health Toastmasters, this one is called “Creating An Introduction.”  

649-7750 

“Energy, Ecology  

and Humanism” 

7 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity  

390 27th St. (at Broadway) 

Oakland 

George Matthews, of Community Energy Services, will discuss how energy conservation and solar power can benefit low-income and minority people. 451-5818 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

HIVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35  

525-7610 

Friday, March 9

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Berkeley PC Users Group 

7 p.m. 

Vista College 

2020 Milvia St., Room 303 

Wayne Calhoon, a computer technician who operates a local specialized computer store, will assemble a computer. If you are interested in purchasing this computer, call Wayne at 848-8363.  

E-Mail: meldancing@aol.com 

Europe on a Shoestring  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Scott Mcneely, co-author of the Lonely Planet book will share slides and information on some of his favorite adventures off the beaten path. Come learn about smart budget travel.  

Call 527-4140 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Allen Stross.  

Call 644-6107 

Energy Teach-In & Action Forum  

6:45 p.m. 

Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

Graham Brownstein of TURN, Charles Kalish of Citizens Power Campaign and Todd Creiten of Campaign Against Utilities Rate Hike give an update on the vital struggle for public power. Find out what you can do about your utility bill.  

233-3175 

“Torture in 2001 - The Violations Continue” 

Stephens Hall, Geballe Room  

Townsend Center for the Humanities  

UC Berkeley  

Despite nearly universal prohibition against the use of torture in laws of most nations, the incidence of torture is epidemic. Dr. Kathi Antolak, an expert on the treatment of torture victims will speak.  

Trees Forum  

12:30 p.m. 

Starr King School for Ministry Chapel  

2441 LeConte Ave.  

A discussion on “The Ecology of The Great Work: Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology,” led by Dody Donnelly.  

trees@gtu.edu 

Saturday, March 10

The Secrets of Sacred Cinema 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103 

Kevin Peer, a documentary film maker for the past 25 years, gives a two-day intensive for people interested in exploring documentary filmmaking. No equipment or prior experience required.  

$200 per person and registration is required 

Call 486-1480 

Narratives of Public Sector Reform: A Colloquium  

10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

223 Moses Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Mark Bevir of the department of Political Science of UC Berkeley, will present his paper on “Decentered Theory of Governance” and Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne will present his paper, “Entering British Governance.” There will also be a session to discuss the broader issues their works raise.  

Greece Adventure 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Linda Pearson of REI Adventures will introduce you to Greece in slides and discussion.  

Call 527-4140 

Healing Garden  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Kathi Kinney will teach how to integrate medicinal herbs into existing gardens and landscapes and how to design and maintain a practical, aromatic, easy-care herb garden.  

$10 - $15  

548-2220 x233 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St.  

Sedge’s guests this week will be Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher Boy and Emerald Germs of Ireland, a capella singers M-Pact, Naturalist Claire Peaslee and pianist Mike Greensill.  

664-9500 

Self-Care and Wellness Health Fair 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Ashby Campus, Auditorium  

2450 Ashby Ave.  

A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit. Learn the process one might go through when deciding to stay with self-help, when to seek out assistance, and how to integrate care.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

Fire Suppression Class  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Water-Wise Trees 

10 a.m.  

UC Botanical Garden  

Stew Winchester, ecologist and horticulturist, and instructor at several Bay Area community colleges will talk about some of the more outstanding choices of small trees for water conserving gardens.  

$15  

643-2755 

Sunday, March 11 

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

Call 849-0217 

Myths & Realities of the International House  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

Director Joe Lurie will show a video and talk about the history and the struggle to open the International House.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

Walk on the Moon  

2 & 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

A mother and daughter explore their identities as they summer in the Catskills in 1969 amidst the news of Woodstock and the first lunar landing. Peer led discussion to follow film.  

$2 suggested donation  

Energy Attack  

4 - 6 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

PUC Commissioner Carl Wood, labor journalist David Bacon and Environmentalist architect Mark Gorrell will discuss the energy crisis and how to get involved in solutions.  

549-0816 

Community Health & Wellness Fair 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way  

Review health from a holistic perspective, personally and communally. Stop by for practical health screenings and explore wellness practices such as Taoist Tai Chi, Hatha Yoga and Rosen Bodywork in introductory workshops. Free except for cholesterol screening.  

649-1383 

Monday, March 12  

Weight Loss & Gain  

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

New theories about weight loss and gain with Dr. McGillis.  

Call 644-6107 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Tuesday, March 13  

Berkeley Rep. Proscenium Opening 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

2015 Addison St.  

Featuring the premiere performance of “The Oresteia” by Aeschylus. Opening gala dinner held prior to performance. Performance will be at 8 p.m. 

Call 647-2949 

“Great Decisions” - International Health Crisis 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

Reclaim the Seeds! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Bring seeds, questions, stories, and ambitions to swap. The center will be coordinating the growout of local quality seed and announcing their season-long workshops, discussions, processing parties, and advisory-consultation team. Free 

Call 923-0733 

Time & Thing Management  

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Mary Ann.  

Call 644-6107 

Real Deal Seminar  

12:45 - 1:45 p.m.  

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103  

Philip Wickeri will speak on “The New Ecumenism and/or the Real Deal on Interfaith Issues. Bring your lunch.  

849-8229 

Wednesday, March 14 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

St. Patrick’s Day Musical Celebration  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Guitar duo with Devon and Mark.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Making Additions Match  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Avoid the tacked-on look with architect/columnist/instructor Arrol Gellner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Thursday, March 15  

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library 

Claremont Branch  

2940 Benveue Ave.  

Facilitated by Cecile Andrews, author of “Circles of Simplicty,” learn about this movement whose philosophy is “the examined life richly lived.” Work less, consume less, rush less, and build community with friends and family.  

Call 549-3509 or visit www.seedsofsimplicity.org  

LGBT Catholics Group  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College)  

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This meetings discussions will center on Lenten Service.  

654-5486 

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Elanor Watson-Gove and host Mark States.  

644-0155 

Harriet Tubman Re-created 

3:30 p.m. 

South Branch Library  

1901 Russell St.  

Storyteller and musician Jamie Myrick will present an interactive musical performance which introduces a heroine and her deeds. Information about the secret codes and maps used as part of the Underground Railroad will be shared. Free 

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.  

Call 869-2547 

Cancer Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Summit Medical Center 

Markstein Cancer Education & Prevention Center 

450 30th St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Free support group for families, friends, and patients diagnosed with cancer.  

869-8833 to register  

Myanmar: The Golden Kingdom  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Philip Hassrick of Lost Frontiers will introduce you to Myanmar’s unique history and culture.  

Call 527-4140 

“Respecting Creation”  

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St.  

Winona LaDuke, Native American Indian activist, environmentalist, author, and Green Party Vice Presidential candidate will speak about the environmental situation under the Bush administration, including California’s power dilemma. A benefit for KPFA and Speak Out.  

$10 - $12  

Call 848-6767 x609 or visit www.kpfa.org 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Celtic Theology  

6:30 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room  

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd.  

Thomas O’ Loughlin, lecturer a the University of Wales, will present a lecture entitled “A Celtic Theology: The Dream, the Myth, and Some Questions for Academics.”  

649-2490 

Jazz Singers’ Collective  

8 - 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro  

1801 University Ave.  

Featuring Marya Ashworth, Rory Bakke, Vicki Burns and Kathy Freeburg with Mark Little on piano.  

Time Windows  

4 p.m. 

North Branch Library  

1170 The Alameda  

Kathryn Reiss, Oakland author of nine suspense novels for middle school and young adult readers will speak. Free 

649-3943  

Friday, March 16  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Gay & Lesbian Panel Discussion 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Everyone is welcome.  

Call 644-6107 

Saturday, March 17  

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Light Search & Rescue  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Burma Human Rights Day  

2 p.m.  

Berkeley Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

KPFA Journalist Dennis Bernstein and members of the Burmese Resistance Movement will speak. Sponsored by the Burmese American Democratic Alliance and the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists Social Action Committee.  

528-5403  

Sunday, March 18 

East Bay Men’s Chorus Rehearsal  

6:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

Calling for gay and bisexual men and their allies and friends to join this choral ensemble directed by J.R. Foust. There is no obligation to join the chorus after the first rehearsal.  

Call to RSVP 664-0260 or e-mail eastbaymenschorus@yahoo.com 

“Parenting in the Second Half of Life” 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author Roberta Maisel will discuss ways parents and their grown children can get on a positive and guilt-free path.  

848-0237  

“Hope Against Darkness”  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College) 

Richard Rohr will respond to the questions: What is the darkness? What is hope?  

848-7812  

The Bungalow - Tradition & Transformation 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect/contractor and West Berkeley bungalow restorer Barry Wagner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Monday, March 19  

Timber Framing  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Instructed by builder/timber framer Doug Eaton.  

$35  

525-7610 

Tuesday, March 20 

“Great Decisions” - Mexico Reexamined  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is death and dying in celebration of the Ides of March.  

Call 527-9772  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

Lavendar Lunch 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd Bldg., Room 103  

Unitarian-Universalist minister Sean Parker Dennison discusses his experiences as a transgender minister working in parish ministry.  

849-8206 

Rethinking Creation  

7 p.m. 

Tucson Common Room  

Church Divinity School of the Pacific 

2450 Le Conte Ave.  

Dr. Sjoerd L. Bonting will speak on “Rethinking Creation: ‘Chaos Events’ and Theology.”  

Call 848-8152 

TREES Forum  

12:30 p.m. 

Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd., Dinner Board Room  

Marty Kheel will present “Women, Animals and Nature: Eco-feminist Reflections.”  

trees@gtu.edu 

Wednesday, March 21  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Chimneys From A - Z  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by Irish Sweep Sally McKnight.  

$35  

525-7610 

Thursday, March 22  

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Anna Mae Stanley and host Louis Cuneo.  

644-0155 

Trekking in Bhutan  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Ruth Ann Kocour and Elizabeth Rassiga will share slides of their 25-day journey along the Snow Leopard Trek to the sacred mountain Chomolhari and beyond. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Basic Electrical Theory & National Electrical Code 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by author, speaker and retired City of Oakland Building Inspector Redwood Kardon. 

$35  

525-7610 

Friday, March 23 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Saturday, March 24 

Ashkenaz Dance-A-Thon 

2 p.m. - 2 a.m.  

Ashkenaz  

1370 San Pablo Ave.  

Join Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers along with African, Cajun, North African, Balkan, reggae, and Caribbean bands in this twelve hour dance music-fest. This is Ashkenaz big fundraiser for making improvements, including a new dance floor and ventilation system.  

$20 donation  

525-5054 or visit www.ashkenaz.com  

Disaster First Aid 

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

“LGBT Family Night at the Y” 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley YMCA  

2001 Allston Way  

The third annual free night for gay and lesbian families at the Y. The event will feature floor hockey, swimming, soccer, basketball and other sports, as well as arts and crafts. Free; donation requested.  

Call 848-9622 

Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease Health Clinic 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church  

2024 Ashby Ave.  

Dr. Lenore Coleman, Bayer Clinical Science specialist and certified diabetes educator and Dr. Cassandra Herbert Whitman, Alta Bates Medical Associates will be available to answer questions. Free comprehensive screenings will be given people to identify cardiovascular risk factors. Free 

848-2050 

Energy Ideas for Remodeling  

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

City Energy Officer Neal De Snoo will conduct a seminar on the options available for incorporating energy efficient fixtures and systems into residential remodeling and renovation projects. Sponsored by Truitt & White Lumber Company of Berkeley. Free 

Call 649-2674 for reservations  

Visit www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/energy for info. on energy conservation and efficiency 

Sunday, March 25 

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

Tuesday, March 27 

“Great Decisions” - European Integration  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

Wednesday, March 28 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Conversations in Commedia 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 

Mime Troupe/Reinhabitory Theatre legends Judy Goldhaft, Jane Lapiner and Peter Berg 

$6 - $8  

Call 849-2568 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Thursday, March 29  

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Georgia Popoff and host Mark States.  

644-0155 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Friday, March 30 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Saturday, March 31  

Shelter Operations Class  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Pacifica should sell KPFA/WBAI licenses 

Editor: 

I strongly urge members of the board to move forward with bylaw changes that would allow Pacifica to sell the licenses to KPFA and WBAI. 

Since the mission of the network is to provide a forum for alternative views it would seem wise to consider the sales of these assets and the purchase of less expensive transmitters to serve the immediate area. The money raised could also be used for the expansion of audio and video streaming on the internet. 

Land based broadcasting is still the most accessible form of audio communication, but this will not be the case for the indefinite future. The sale of these two transmitters to commercial corporations would allow Pacifica to create a permanent and stable fund to continue its mission. 

As a broadcast professional, public and commercial, I support Pacifica management's efforts to take the network into the 21st century by diversifying its distribution outlets and creating programming that will reach a continually growing audience. 

I fear that the network will be drowned out by mediocrity because of the “Save Pacifica” movement. Despite the public hugh and cry I think you should do the right thing and create a financial platform stable enough to serve future generations. 

Many of the people who work as volunteers and employees act as if their music, talk or news time slot is there “given right” for all time, no matter the quality of the programming or its ability to attract new listeners (and hence reach more people with a progressive message.) 

Rather than “protecting free speech” I believe their main motivation is often to “protect their job or air-time,” not to carry forward Pacifica's decades long mission. 

It is not in Pacifica's interest to use these major assets to soothe the egos of individuals who are broadcasting “college level” and “amateur” programming. 

Mel Baker  

Former NPR Producer/NBC Editor  

San Francisco 

City should repeal utility users tax 

Editor:  

There has been a lot of huffing and puffing lately by Berkeley city officials about how the high cost of gas and electricity affects low income families.  

What they never say, however, is that the city levies an additional seven and a half percent Utility User Tax on all Berkeley residents that is collected by PG&E. Thus if a family is stuck with a bill of a hundred dollars per month or more, an additional $7.50 - $8 in city tax is added on. If the bill is $200 or more, the city tax is between $15 - $20 per month. People with higher energy bills will see taxes of about $25 per month. This is clearly detrimental to working families, seniors and people with limited incomes.  

This tax was put in place sometime in the 1960’s, but it was repealed in the 1970’s by a citizen initiative, only to see the City Council quietly impose it again in the 1980’s. In times of high energy costs, this tax is especially onerous and regressive.  

The fact is that the City of Berkeley does not need the money. In the late 1970’s, the total city budget was around $75 million. Today, it is over $225 million. The tremendous increase in property values over the past twenty years has greatly increased the amount of money Berkeley receives in taxes.  

Homes that once sold for $100,000 now sell for $400,000- $500,000. The taxes are calculated on the sale price of the homes. As a member of the city’s Citizen’s Budget Review Commission from 1993 - 96, I know the city is awash in money.  

One of the best things Berkeley could do to help people through the energy crisis is to repeal the Utility User Tax. All it would take is a vote by the Council. If that doesn’t happen soon, perhaps another citizen initiative will be launched.  

Art Goldberg 

Berkeley 

Don’t give up on UC Berkeley 

Editor: 

Regarding the question of UC Berkeley building on the northeast quadrant, Councilwoman Olds ought not to give up so easily. There are people at UC who will listen, particularly if one offers reasonable alternatives. 

Perhaps UC should give hiring preference to applicants willing to use public transit or bicycles, or walk to work. 

Mr. Sharp seems not to know that federal research grants have, for some time, provided for technology transfer including the sale or licensing of patents. The practice provides societal benefits, rewards to researchers, and revenue for universities. 

John W. Bush 

Berkeley 

Stop toxic attack on Wozniak 

Editor, 

I hope the Committee on Toxic Waste stops publicly harassing Community Environmental Advisory Commissioner Gordon Wozniak, who has the misfortune to work for their foes, Lawrence Lab. It's hard to imagine how they could contrive to do more damage to their cause than with this ongoing toxic attack on someone whose long-standing contributions to public discourse in Berkeley should evoke thanks, not angst.  

If there were a Commission on Good Sense, they would have to be disqualified for conflict of interest. 

Dave Blake 

Berkeley 

Solve transit woes by making BART accessible 

Editor: 

After living in Berkeley for almost three years, I have become aware of the transportation problems here. I believe that the most pertinent problem in Berkeley is the lack of accessibility to BART for the students and the working population. 

Street sweeping, parking permits, and the lack of parking areas in Berkeley is not controlling the congestion and pollution caused by automobiles in the Bay Area. People are continuing to purchase cars regardless of the limitations imposed by the City of Berkeley. In his book “Contemporary Urban Planning,” John M. Levy states that this “increased automobile ownership (eliminates) millions of potential transit customers.”  

By eliminating the demand for transit in a congested city such as Berkeley the outcome is the exact opposite of the desired effect for such a condensed city, congestion.  

According to Anthony Downes in his essay “The Causes of Recent Increase in Traffic Congestion,” “traffic congestion is almost certain to continue worsening in fast-growing metropolitan areas unless effective remedies can be found and implemented.” 

I think that one of the remedies to traffic congestion in Berkeley is to make BART more accessible to University students as well as the working population in Berkeley. Although BART is near the campus, not very many students live within walking distance of it.  

If there was a shuttle that was specifically designed for BART that picked students up within a one or two mile radius of the campus, I think that more students would utilize BART. In order to make BART more accessible to the working population in Berkeley, the city should build free parking structures near the BART stations to make it easier to use BART. These parking structures should be modeled after the Rockridge BART parking lot, with a machine into which you enter your parking space number and insert your BART ticket. 

In recent years, John M. Levy found that “the public in large cities and metropolitan areas has generally been more favorably disposed to transit improvements than to the building of new highways.” By improving the accessibility to BART, the congestion and pollution due to the traffic in Berkeley would greatly decrease. I feel very strongly about this and I hope that you take my opinions into consideration. 

Heather Petersen 

Berkeley  

Nightmare: Parking Under Draft General Plan 

Editor: 

I think it important the citizens be aware that the Draft General Plan, essentially the constitution for land use, now under consideration for the City of Berkeley, baldly declares that no new parking or expansion of existing parking will be considered or permitted downtown or southside over the next five years while awaiting to see the results of a series of alternative policies, none of which even include augmentation or improvement of public transit (Transportation Element Policy T-36).  

More dumfounding is the intention to remove unilaterally any substantial consideration of parking from the state-mandated CEQA process, by defining any parking impact of a project to be necessarily less than significant (Transportation Element Policy T-39). Aside from the dubious legality of such a suggestion, such a policy is based on brutal reasoning: “Demand for parking is elastic and cannot be accurately measured. As parking supply increases or parking costs decrease, automobile use becomes a more attractive transportation alternative and demand for parking increases. On the other hand, as supply decreases and its price increases, demand decreases.” Particularly because it fails to link a restriction on parking to improvement of public transit, this policy will bless all residents and visitors with tighter parking and increased frustration.  

Worryingly, one result could simply be the growing disinclination to go downtown to shop, something merchants may find to be an uncomfortable corollary to the policy's assumptions. There may be a place for the stick of restricted parking, but wisdom suggests more active planting of the carrots of encouragement to change old transportation habits that developed for a host of legitimate reasons.  

If citizens don't take a peek at the Draft General Plan soon, we may find ourselves with a document reflecting the narrow and intolerant views of a few that increases the miseries of the many while in pursuit of dreams rendered unrealizable by the failure to accommodate practical reality and the real wishes of most. You can find the Plan at:http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/advance/generalplan/generalplan.htm  

Howie Muir 

Berkeley 

Berkeley, CA 94704 

opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com 

Dear Editor: 

As an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, I have now been living in the city of Berkeley for three years. In this time, I have become increasingly exposed to problems that the density of our city creates. These problems are evident in the high demand for housing in the area, the traffic and parking problems, and the slow disappearance of nature within the city. Due to the inevitable influx of students every year and the popularity of the bay area, this will prove to be a continuous problem. In his book, Contemporary Urban Planning, John M. Levy suggests that a solution to this problem is growth management, which is “defined as the regulation of the amount, timing, location, and character of development” (Levy, p. 215). He states that the reasons for implementing growth management include “ensuring that community facilities such as schools, roads, utilities, and recreation will be adequate for future needs” (Levy, p. 215), and it is becoming increasingly apparent that Berkeley is in need of such certainty. 

In theory, growth management must take place in one of two ways: controlling residential growth, or limiting commercial development. Many cities have chosen the option of limiting residential development because it “produces tight labor markets and high housing prices” (Levy, p. 221). However, this type of housing market is already established in Berkeley, yet the density continues to grow. The solution, therefore, lies in the management of large commercial growth within our city and concentrating on accommodating our current population. Many cities, including Boulder, CO and Davis, CA, are examples of successful growth management. 

Known for its environmentally conscious population, Berkeley will benefit from growth management because “fewer tress will be cut down, less ground will be covered with impervious cover, and fewer sources of air and water pollution will be present in the area” (Levy, p. 217). A professor of Landscape Architecture, Anne Whiston Spirn, states that “all cities, by virtue of density and people and buildings . . . alter the character of their original environment” (Sprin, Stein ed., p.482). As members of the city of Berkeley, I hope that we can minimize this alteration by eventually slowing the rapid commercialization of our city. 

Thank you, 

Kari Williams 

Editor, 

Gene Bernardi wishes to exclude LBNL from the city workshop on the IFEU report regarding tritium (Daily Planet 2/20/2001). Given CMTW’s oft quoted stand on the tritium issue this would be the political equivalent of a kangaroo court. CMTW appears to want LBNL to have safety problems, and they don’t want LBNL to fix them, because they want LBNL to shut down. 

The IFEU statement that has received the most press is that LBNL’s claim that a fire would not cause significant localized consequences due to tritium exposure “may be false”. The report does not provide a detailed analysis to support this charge, and in fact notes that the large volume of work and its finite resources did not “allow addressing every question in appropriate depth”. 

At issue is whether a complete abrupt release, conversion of the entire inventory of tritium into HTO (or T2O), and venting of the HTO could occur without a major fire. IFEU posited this as a possibility, and then noted that in a worst case scenario this could cause a significant dose to member of the public. 

To be dangerous the tritium has to be released as HTO. One possibility is mechanical disruption of the tritium apparatus and a fire which heats the apparatus to 660° F or above to drive off the tritium and then 

oxidizes it. A second possibility is a fire that heats the apparatus above 1100° F, as this would make the apparatus leak. To get the tritium outside the building the LBNL safety analysis document assumed 

that the fire burns a hole in the roof (the facility has no windows, and the walls are masonry), but this large a fire dilutes the exposure to an insignificant level. The IFEU report does not describe how a fire can 

be both big enough to release HTO, and small enough not to dilute it. 

For a further dose of unreality, all this supposedly happens despite the presence of an automatic sprinkler system with its own backup water supply, plus manual fire extinguishers. 

Robert Clear 

Berkeley 

Editor, 

I am writing you in regards to the City of Berkeley’s misguided attitude towards an ever-worsening traffic situation. The current system, a series of high-traffic collector streets, coupled with traffic “calming” devises to reduce traffic on all other streets is flawed and outdated. This system erroneously assumes that by concentrating traffic onto a few select corridors, we will benefit by freeing up all other streets as residential havens of calmness. This is an unfair and highly biased strategy. As a result of the current system, residents of collector streets are suffering the disproportionate burden of excess traffic flow on their streets, while the rest of us bask in a utopia of “calmness”. The negative effects on those residents of collector streets are manifold. Physical detriments caused by excess noise and air pollution are very real, not to mention economic loss endure by collector street residents, as a result of diminishing property values due to heavy traffic volume. I recently attended a public hearing held by the planning commission, and was dismayed to hear that while public sentiment was firmly against the current system, (three separate speakers raised the issue), the city’s new General Plan only proposes only more of the same. We need to make a change.  

I propose that by eliminating traffic calming devices we can disperse traffic more evenly throughout the city. Admittedly, this approach may not solve the problem of heavy traffic flow on collector streets, but it would certainly lessen the impact and provide a sense of fairness for collector street residents. At very least collector street residents should be offered some sort of retribution from the city in return for the suffering they endure in the name of overall city betterment.  

As residents of Berkeley, we have inherited a legacy of fair-minded, democratic values. The current system of traffic flow outlined above is out of step with this heritage, and must be addressed. We have too many historical precedents of the “few” suffering at the expense of the “many”, to repeat this mistake. As we are all members of a society that benefits from the freedom of movement afforded by the automobile, we must as a group, accept the responsibility of bearing the burden of it’s negative side effects, we must all accept this responsibility. 

Thank you,  

Mark Hoffman (non-collector street resident) 

Editor: Gordon Wozniak, argues that decisions regarding the enviornment and health should be exclusively “science-based”. Unfortunately science cannot explain what life is, only what it is made up of. The human organism is much  

more than a collection of cells and molecules; we have minds and imaginations. May I humbly remind Mr. Wozniak that what is considered scientific fact today often becomes tomorrow's science fiction.  

Michael Bauce 

1922 Ward Street 

Berkeley, CA 94703 

(510) 841-5420 

I am outraged that a pharmaceutical executive would tout the glories of intellectual property as millions in Africa die from AIDS (see BDP Forum Mar 2nd) . Didn't millions of Americans die in a civil war to prove that 

just because something is called a property doesn't mean that it is? Echoing the sentiments of plantation masters who claimed that they were kind to their negros, and had no incentive to grow cotton or tobacco without slave properties; he went on to say how kind they were to Africans, while at the same time faithfully declaring that without 

intellectual property there is no incentive to innovate. Well I digress, hasn't America already had this discussion. If pharmaceutical execs truly believe in these kind of property rights, then we should be asking how many people are they willing to kill to “defend” these rights? 

Sincerely 

David Christy 

San Diego 

Editor: 

In your recent article, “Transportation Panel Seeks Input,” the never-ending issue of transit spending on public transit or roadways arises. I would like to point out that while current public tendency leans toward single occupant commuting or at least transportation by way of automobile, by increased public transit spending can we improve the quality of our urban enviroment. 

John Levy (Contemporary Urban Planning) writes that “improving transit tends to decongest the streets by reducing automobile travel.” I’m sure many of the people stuck for hours on the freeways around the Bay Area between 4 and 7 would love to see decongestion of the automobile traffic based on good alternatives to cars. Futhermore, Levy writes that transit “leads to a much more compact land-use pattern that is much friendlier to pedestrians than is a city designed for automobile transportation.” Although your article mentioned concerns by those who worry about infill in the Bay Area, with the every rising number of jobs and number of people, there are very few alternatives to higher density. As Jane Jacobs would point out, high density dwellings lead to greater city diversity in any case. 

I would also like to cite Andres Duany that currently, highway engineers “want cars to be happy.” As a result, suburban residential areas feed on this car culture in their design. The environmentalists of Berkeley should recognize that a society where people need to drive from one end of a strip mall to the other can only increase pollution and reduce the quality of life. 

I urge the Transportation Planning Board to concentrate their spending on public transit for the reasons mentioned above. Thank you for your time. 

Sunaree Marshall 

Undergraduate Architecture Major 

UC Berkeley 

(510) 664-2567 

sunaree@uclink.berkeley.edu 

> 

>John Bush wrote: 

> 

> > Madam: 

> > 

> > Councilwoman Olds ought not to give up so easily. There are people at  

>UC 

> > who will listen, particularly if one offers reasonable alternatives. 

> > 

> > Perhaps UC should give hiring preference to applicants willing to use  

>public 

> > transit or bicycles, or walk to work. 

> > 

> > Mr. Sharp seems not to know that federal research grants have, for some 

> > time, provided for technology transfer including the sale or licensing  

>of 

> > patents. The practice provides societal benefits, rewards to  

>researchers, 

> > and revenue for universities. 

> > _________________________________________________________________ 

> > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com 

> 

_________________________________________________________________ 

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com 

Editor: 

I am writing to object to recent attempts by the city attorney's office to widen the definition of “conflict of interest” to the point where few citizens will meet the test of near-complete noninvolvement in the community to qualify to serve on a Berkeley commission. 

The pattern of opinions should give cause for concern to all who care about full democratic participation in our civic discourse. According to the city attorney's recent interpretations, those who serve on the boards of nonprofits, even on a purely volunteer basis, should be disqualified from many votes (recent cases include a Parks and Recreation commissioner as well as the Landmarks commissioners who have been prominent in the news). Those who work for the “wrong” employer should be excluded altogether. 

While I disagree with Commissioner Gordon Wozniak on the issue of tritium, in good conscience I must fully support his right to serve on the Community Environmental Advisory Committee (CEAC). I have worked closely with Gordon on the Parks and Recreation Commission (where he served as an effective watchdog on budgetary matters) and on two campaigns securing funding for our parks, and I know him to be an independent-minded person with genuine concern for the well-being of the people of Berkeley. Nevertheless, his unquestionable integrity and his good works in the community are not the point here. Nor is my disagreement with him on the environmental impact of tritium. At issue is the right of citizens to serve on our commissions without exclusion based on their participation in the wider community (whether through employment, nonprofit volunteerism, or advocacy on neighborhood issues). 

It is unfortunate that a community group whose position I otherwise support has chosen to use the City Attorney's flawed opinion to serve a political goal of excluding Gordon from participation on the CEAC. There are eight other commissioners on the CEAC. Those who disagree with Gordon's opinions about tritium should stick with the merits of their case and stop the unworthy campaign to silence him through public pressure and heckling (evidenced to a discouraging degree at the aborted CEAC meeting of February 22). 

Surely a city as steeped in the tradition of free speech as Berkeley can tolerate a diversity of opinions on our commissions. Surely we can understand that broadening the definition of “conflict of interest” beyond obvious financial gain will come at the expense of fewer opinions being heard and less participation in the democratic process. When free speech and full citizen participation are hindered, ultimately we all pay the price. 

Nancy Carleton 

Former Chair, Zoning Adjustments Board 

Former Vice Chair, Parks and Recreation Commission 

From: 

Nancy Carleton 

3044-B Halcyon Court 

Berkeley, CA 94705 

510-644-0172 

Dear Editor: 

In your recent article, “Transportation Panel Seeks Input,” the never-ending issue of transit spending on public transit or roadways arises. I would like to point out that while current public tendency leans toward single occupant commuting or at least transportation by way of automobile, by increased public transit spending can we improve the quality of our urban enviroment. 

John Levy (Contemporary Urban Planning) writes that “improving transit tends to decongest the streets by reducing automobile travel.” I’m sure many of the people stuck for hours on the freeways around the Bay Area between 4 and 7 would love to see decongestion of the automobile traffic based on good alternatives to cars. Futhermore, Levy writes that transit “leads to a much more compact land-use pattern that is much friendlier to pedestrians than is a city designed for automobile transportation.” Although your article mentioned concerns by those who worry about infill in the Bay Area, with the every rising number of jobs and number of people, there are very few alternatives to higher density. As Jane Jacobs would point out, high density dwellings lead to greater city diversity in any case. 

I would also like to cite Andres Duany that currently, highway engineers “want cars to be happy.” As a result, suburban residential areas feed on this car culture in their design. The environmentalists of Berkeley should recognize that a society where people need to drive from one end of a strip mall to the other can only increase pollution and reduce the quality of life. 

I urge the Transportation Planning Board to concentrate their spending on public transit for the reasons mentioned above. Thank you for your time. 

Sincerely, 

Sunaree Marshall 

Undergraduate Architecture Major 

UC Berkeley 

(510) 664-2567 

sunaree@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Editor:  

During dry years, hydro-electric power from Washington and Oregon is only sparingly available to California, and the transmission grid at Lob Banos up from the south is stated to be inadequate. Consequently, increased power generation in North and Central California is highly desirable.  

Would it not be possible for the federal government to enable windfarms to be speedily installed (by the state?) on the federally-owned headlands of San Francisco Bay in Marin County and the western Presidio and possibly Fort Funston? The Presidio National Park Trust appears to be ready to rent land for commercial building to the Lucasfilm outfit.  

The emplacement of slender propeller-like blades up on poles could surely make the prevailing winds from the Pacific as reliably remunerative as may be the nearly permanent blockbuster encampment of the digital progeny of Mickey Mouse - and at an earlier date, and to satisfy a much greater immediate need.  

Possibly, San Francisco’s Park and Recreation Department might allow installation of a small windfarm atop the escarpment of Sutro Heights. Its revenue could bridge the financial gap to complete restoration of the historic and beautiful glass conservatory of flowers in Golden Gate Park, etc.  

Judith Segard Hunt 

Berkeley 

845-1927 

Editor:  

I found the Daily Planet’s Feb. 27 front page news article on the controversy surrounding Community Environmental Advisory Commission member Dr. Gordon Wozniack ( “Chairman Won’t Quit” ) very interesting.  

As a District Eight constituent, I am puzzled as the why Dr. Wozniack apparently does not consider his employment status as a potential commission conflict of interest issue.  

According to the Feb. 27 article, Dr. Wozniack is employed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is also acting chair of the Environmental Commission and represents District Eight residents (part of the LBNL facility is located within District Eight’s boundaries).  

The Environmental Commission periodically discusses and takes action upon agenda items directly connected to LBNL. It seems to me, given this situation, that it is reasonable to expect Dr. Wozniack to rescue himself from voting on LBNL agenda items.  

Another LBNL employee, Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, has rescued herself on a half dozen occasions - to avoid potential conflict of interest - from voting on Council LBNL agenda items over the last several years. I don’t understand why Dr. Wozniack feels compelled to ignore this particular parliamentary rule policy and tradition.  

George Azar 

Berkeley 

415-531-8337 

Editor:  

As Black property owners, we have often made policy with our hearts. We are major providers of housing for blacks and other diverse tenants in Berkeley.  

The tenant and landlord role is not static, one or both roles can be parents, students, seniors, underemployed, or simply a person who needs a break. Often, the black property owners and others of good will are on the front lines of providing housing in a tight market to marginal and low-income tenants. Our rent prices were set by what people could afford. Therefore, many small black property owners did not take yearly increases simply because of hardships on tenants.  

Likewise, many elderly small property owners only had their units to cushion a lifetime of small retirement - no stocks or mutual funds. Accordingly, with yearly changes in rent control regulations, small property owners, many of them black, have a legacy of “historically low rents.” We have put our community first.  

The Black Property Owners Association has existed since 1987 and our record documents the pervasive reality of historically low rents in South and West Berkeley. Even today, our rents are not on par with other parts of the city. This fact remains so despite comparable units via size, amenities, and meeting and exceedingly implied warranties of habitability and fitness.  

The Black Property Owners Association fought to support Inez Watts as she was elected to the Rent Board in the 1980s. The Rent Board refused to let her vote as one landlord out of nine members. The BPOA and other Berkeley citizens finally overturned this gross injustice. However, this injustice spotlights the perpetual unfairness of rent control practice in Berkeley. The rental registration fees have increased from inception to present over one thousand percent.  

It is the above context that we bring to the Berkeley General Plan and more precisely the Housing Element Review.  

Since Berkeley has experienced the most severe form of rent control in California, both Berkeley tenants and landlords have suffered. We simply know too many landlords, often black, pushed out of Berkeley to bankruptcy and concurrently observed black and other tenants made homeless by failed rent control in Berkeley.  

Therefore, we formally and officially reject the inclusion of rent control as an affordable housing policy/program in the housing element of Berkeley and its General Plan.  

The Black Property Owners Association rejects the idea/programs of the City to repeal any part, any scintilla, of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. The BPOA stands against lobbying or use of city and citizens tax money to undermine the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.  

The return to policies that clearly do not work will cause new rental construction, which we badly need, to be slowed while we, as a city, claim concern for low-income black, seniors, families, disabled, and diverse others.  

The Black Property Owners Association opposes any and all references that are pro-rent control in the General Plan and Housing Element. Furthermore, we strongly know that the population of black citizens and landlords or tenants is decreasing in Berkeley and that since rent control in Berkeley in the 1970s we have witnessed the compelling evidence of a steady decline. We know pro-rent control as practiced in Berkeley is synonymous with black removal.  

The BPOA, therefore, do not want these elements as part of Berkeley’s revised General Plan or Housing Element.  

We urge the inclusion of this letter as part of the official record and we encourage you to provide copies to all Berkeley decision makers and officials connected to the adoption of the General Plan and Housing Element.  

Frank Davis, Jr. 

President, Black Property Owerns Association 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

President Bush’s report to Congress was full of promises and covered many topics, except a few important ones: Women’s’ reproductive rights were not mentioned (does he think that they have none?) and nothing was said about the administration’s foreign policy (does he have one?).  

The President was mainly concerned with returning the current surplus of funds to the tax payers. He logically claims that the tax refund would help most lower and middle class tax payers to pay for the recent increase in oil and energy prices (his own words, as reported in a front page article of the S.F. Chronicle Feb. 6). Of course, the public could be helped if the administration imposed restraints on the price of gas but Bush would not want to cut the profits of their friends in the petroleum business.  

Despite our own shortage, the oil currently recovered in Alaska is mostly sent to Japan for sale. The President now proposes to extend oil recovery to still another part of Alaska which is suspected to contain a measly supply of six months on the domestic market. I actually heard a person phoning in to a talk radio program

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 9: Dead and Gone, Sworn Vengeance, Punishment, Misoura, The Computer Kills; March 10: The Varukers, 46 Short, Scarred for Life, Oppressed Logic, Faced Down; March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Blast Rocks, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above This World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 7: Whiskey Bros.; March 8: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 10: PickPocket Ensemble; March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music. 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 9: Ron Hacker; March 10: Red Archibald 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 11: Stephanie Bruce Trio; March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 11: Stephen Bell, guitar, plays music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, Ponse, and Albeniz Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances Through March 11, call for times: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 4, 3 p.m.: Baritone Nathan Gunn sings Brahms, Wolf, and a selection of American songs $36; March 11, 3 & 7 p.m.: Burhan Ocal & The Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform traditional Turkish music $24 Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

Carol Denney, Folk This!, J.D. Nelson March 7, 8 p.m. CD release party for Denney’s “The Rich Will Never Be Poor” $16.50 Freight & Salvage 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 

Canto Para Una Semilla March 9, 8 p.m. La Pena Community Chorus present an homage to Violeta Parra. This is a benefit for Berkeley High School’s CAS program. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Country Joe McDonald March 9 & 10, 8 - 10 p.m. McDonald will play a solo acoustic set of old & new songs and a tribute to Woody Guthrie. $20 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck Ave. (at Berryman) www.countryjoe.com  

“Mystic Journey” March 10, 8 p.m. Suzanne Teng and Mystic Journey are a unique contemporary world music ensemble, based in Los Angeles, making their Bay Area debut. $15 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 8 & 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

Maria Marquez in Concert March 10, 8:30 p.m. A special evening of Marquez’s songs from her latest CD, “Eleven Love Stories.” $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

“Treacherous Crossings” March 14, 10 a.m., March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

“Fall” by Bridget Carpenter Through March 11. $15.99 - $51. Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, www. berkeleyrep.org 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center 642-3880  

“Glory Box” by Tim Miller March 9, 8 p.m. In this one-time performance, Miller explores the themes of same-sex marriage and binational gay/lesbian immigration rights. $15 Zellerbach Playhouse UC Berkeley 601-8932 or www.ticketweb.com  

“Little Shop of Horrors” March 9 through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus March 14 - May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new proscenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Tragos” Antero Alli’s vision of a future where the desire to escape from the government and media thought-control drives people underground. March 8, 7 & 9:30 p.m. $7 Live Oak Theatre 1301 Shattuck Ave. 464-4640 

“Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win” March 18, 6 p.m. A historic documentary of the May - June 1968 General Strike in France. Directed by Paris working class filmmaker Jean Pierre Thorn. Also to be shown is “France on Strike,” on the 1995 French public workers strike by rail workers, teachers, electrical and postal workers. $7 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 849-2568  

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 9: Annette Madden will read from “In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah:; March 10: Dyke Open Myke! To participate call Jessy 655-1015; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 8: K.C. Cole explores “A Hole in the Universe”; March 12: Ken Baker will discuss “Man Made: A Memoir of My Body”; March 13: Patrick McCabe reads “Emerald Germs of Ireland”; March 15: Randy Shaw talks about “The Activist’s Handbook: A Primer” 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 8: Judy Wells; March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mic March 11, 2 p.m. Featuring Sacramento poet Johnny Heart Berkeley Art Museum Conference Room 2621 Durant (at Bowditch) 527-9753 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 11: Director of Berkeley’s International House, Joe Lurie, will show a video and dicuss the history and struggle to open the I-House 70 years ago; March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag March 7, 4 p.m.: Akhil Reed Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.”; March 8, 5 p.m.: E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jefferson lecturer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, will speak on “Is There a Politics of the Common Good?” (IGS Library); March 9, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.: “Interpreting Governance: Narratives of Public Sector Reform” A one-day colloquiem with Mark Bevir of UC Berkeley, Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and many others; March 12, Noon: Catherine Hafer of Ohio State will discuss “The Political Economy of Emerging Property Rights”; March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

A barely recognizable Landmarks Preservation Commission took three actions on the proposed Beth El project months after the commission was hobbled by accusations that four of its  

members have a conflict of interest related to the proposal. 

When the LPC meeting was convened on Monday night there were five fresh faces on the dais. The four commissioners whom the city attorney has said have a conflict of interest regarding the Beth El project have been given leaves of absence by the councilmembers who appointed them. Substitutes were named in their places. A fifth substitute was appointed for Commissioner Robert Kehlmann who is on vacation. 

The commission took action on three issues related to the Beth El project. The first was not to approve the Final Environmental Report (5-2-2), the second was not to approve an alteration permit allowing the demolition of the existing structure, the former Chinese Alliance Church (6-2-1) and the third was a list of suggestions for the redesign of the project (6-0-3).  

Beth El will likely appeal the commission’s decision not to approve the alteration permit to the City Council. 

The Beth El congregation has proposed the development of a synagogue and school on a two-acre site at 1301 Oxford St. The site is registered as a local historic landmark because it was Berkeley’s first home of freed slaves, The Napoleon Byrne family. A 1985 arson fire destroyed the Byrne Mansion. 

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said in her Oct. 30 opinion that four commissioners, Becky O’Malley, Carrie Olson, Lesley Emmington-Jones and Doug Morse – all either board members or paid staff of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Alliance – had a conflict of interest because of a letter written by BAHA that criticized the Beth El project’s Environmental Impact Report. 

Since Albuquerque issued her opinion, the four commissioners refused to recuse themselves from issues related to Beth El and have been fighting one another, rather than addressing the city’s landmarks issues. 

Three of the commissioners filed suit Monday in the state Court of Appeal against the city, asking a panel of judges to reinstate them to their full powers on the commission. 

The substitute commissioners are Keith Miller, Daniella Thompson, Patricia Duncan-Hall, Patricia Dacy and Jill Johnson.  

The substitutes were required by the city to study the volumes of written documents on the issues discussed Monday night and to listen to all the tapes of hours of discussion and testimony related to the items on the agenda. 

All substitutes were asked by Planning and Development staff at the beginning of the meeting if they had familiarized themselves with all the documents and all said they had. 

But Beth El Congregation members remained skeptical of the substitutes’ ability to familiarize themselves with a complicated issue that has been working its way through city approval channels for two years. 

Beth El member Harry Pollock used the Yiddish word “misugas,” which means craziness, to describe the way the commission has functioned in the months since Albuquerque released her opinion. 

“We are the victims of this craziness,” Pollock said and then addressed the substitute commissioners whom he said were unprepared to make any decisions on the project. “What each of you needs to do is look into your own hearts and determine if you have enough information to make a decision tonight.” 

Members of the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association, which has opposed the project, disagreed with Pollock. LOCCNA member Juliet La Mont said the substitute commissioners asked very informed questions and probably were more familiar with the issue than some of the commissioners who have been on the commission all along. 

“Their position is especially interesting since Beth El had no complaints about the five new board members on the Zoning Adjustments Board since December,” she said. 

The Beth El project is also being considered by the ZAB on which five members have been replaced for various reasons at different times over the last four months. The ZAB has approved the Environmental Impact report for Beth El’s proposed project and is currently hearing details of the project in order to consider a use permit. 

Berkeley Unified School District staff presented some preliminary suggestions for cutting a projected $5 million shortfall in next year’s budget to the school board Monday night. 

The board welcomed the suggestions overall but expressed some concern about a scenario that called for increasing class sizes at higher grade levels in order to make up some of the budget deficit. 

“There is a real commitment in this community to having lower class sizes,” Board Director John Selawsky said after the meeting. Selawsky said it would take a great deal more discussion before the board would approve a plan that involved reversing long established trend of reducing class sizes in Berkeley. 

Board director Ted Schultz agreed. 

“All (the staffs’ suggestions) are pretty benign except the class-size reduction item,” Schultz said. He said the latter proposal “bares some close scrutiny” because of the potential outcry if the board moved to increase class size. 

BUSD parent Ann Aoyagi, who helped draft the 1994 Berkeley Public Schools Educational Excellence Project tax measure, aimed primarily at reducing class sizes, said larger classes would meet heavy criticism in Berkeley. 

“In surveys for the BSEP measure class size was a very high community priority,” Aoyagi said. “If class sizes shoot up there will be a lot of upset parents and a lot of upset teachers too.” 

When passed, the BSEP measure called for reducing student/teacher ratios to 25-to-1 for kindergarten through sixth grade and 27-to-1 for grades seven through 12, Aoyagi said. Due to budget pressures since 1994, the goals have been relaxed to a 26 -1 ratio and 28 -1 ratio respectively. 

Still, in recent years the BSEP Class Size Reduction Fund has been insufficient to meet even these relaxed goals due to rising teacher salaries and student enrollments.  

In kindergarten through fifth grade, no less than 32 of 201 teachers would be funded by BSEP next year, according to the school district’s First Estimate FY 2002 Budget released last month. Of the $6.2 million projected to meet these goals in next year’s budget, $880,000 would have to come from the BUSD general fund, contributing to the $5 million budget shortfall. 

Under a possible budget saving scenario presented to the board Monday, the class size reduction effort would simply have to do without this $880,000 next year. The move would mean many teachers lost through attrition at the end of the current academic year would not be replaced over the summer, according to board Director Joaquin Rivera. 

Another issue that generated some controversy Monday night was a staff suggestion that the $1.3 million of general fund money set aside for maintenance in the 2002 budget could be dropped since a tax measure passed last November will bring in $4 million annually specifically earmarked for maintenance. 

Stephanie Allan, currently on leave from her position as chair of district’s Facilities Maintenance & Security Advisory Committee, expressed concern that such a cut would jeopardize long-deferred improvements in BUSD custodial and food services. 

But BUSD Interim Superintendent Stephen Goldstone said the district needs time to set maintenance priorities and build up its maintenance staff, implying that the $4 million provided under the tax measure could be more than adequate for next year’s budget. 

“Without adequate systems in place and real accountability then just adding money for maintenance won’t achieve the results that we all want to achieve,” Goldstone told the board. 

BUSD General Services Manager Judson Owens said the district has 23 full-time maintenance staff today and probably needs twice that many employees to maintain district buildings. The maintenance tax measure should pay for these new employees, Owens said, but hiring them will take time. 

Board members said they were impressed by the other measures proposed Monday to either increase revenues or reduce expenses, calling them practical and relatively painless. 

The measures for savings included cutting district energy use by 10 percent, reducing legal expenses and overtime expenses, and saving up to $250,000 by providing more special education services in house. 

Staff suggested increasing revenues by luring more renters to use the Community Theater and by instituting policies to improve school attendance. 

State money in the BUSD general fund is allotted on the basis of student attendance, with the state paying $23.80 per student per day, if and only if the students show up. In 1999-2000 absences cost the district $1.3 million in state money. 

“It would knock off quite a lot of money if we implement all of this stuff,” Selawsky said of the proposed measures. 

But that’s a big ‘if’ Rivera said. 

“Some of these suggestions are sort of soft because they depend on other things that will hopefully materialize,” Rivera said.  

Rivera said he would like to see “concrete plans” for exactly how the district will improve attendance, or make the Community Theater more lucrative. 

A man backing out his driveway was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant Friday when he got out of the car to check a strange sound from the engine, police said.  

In the struggle the assailant succeeded in pulling the man from his car while his wife, who was in the passenger seat, got out of the car, police said. The suspect then allegedly drove off along the 2500 block of San Pablo, accelerating so rapidly that he lost control of the car and collided with a bus bench 50 yards from the victim’s home. 

A number of witnesses to the crash saw the alleged suspect flee the disabled car and immediately called police with cell phones. Based on the descriptions given by witnesses police later arrested Clarence Sparks of Oakland several blocks away, said Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes.  

Sparks is in police custody. The victim was treated for a minor stab wound to the chest on the scene and declined further medical attention, Lopes said. 

••• 

A man Berkeley police suspect of five armed robberies in the last several months struck again Friday night, getting away from the Shell Station at 1250 University Ave. with about $200 in cash. 

About 7:30 p.m. two attendants at the Shell Station minimart heard the sound of an automatic weapon being loaded and looked up to see a man with a brown paper bag demanding money, said Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes. 

“Give me all the money. This gun is real,” the man said, Lopes said. 

“We’re confident that this is the same guy,” Lopes said, referring to three recent armed robberies of gas stations along University Avenue and the robbery of a Wells Fargo Bank inside an Andronico’s Market last month. 

••• 

Two Union Pacific locomotives northbound along tracks in west Berkeley struck and killed a man sitting in the middle of the tracks Sunday night, said Union Pacific spokesman Mike Furtney. 

Furtney said two locomotives were attached to one another and traveling at about 70 miles per hour when engineers notice two men sitting in the tracks. They blew the locomotives whistle and began braking the cars, Furtney said, but they were unable to stop in time. One of the men jumped clear of the tracks but the other made no effort to escape, the spokesperson said. 

The victim had no papers or identification of any kind, and Union Pacific Police have been unable to locate his companion, Furtney said.  

The coroner’s office will try to identify the victim using fingerprints. Furtney said a number of homeless individuals are known to congregate in the area where the accident occurred. 

— Compiled by Ben Lumpkin, Daily Planet staff

The Associated Press 

SACRAMENTO — The University of California should rescind a policy that forbids admissions officers from considering factors like race and gender, state officials and students said Tuesday at a Capitol rally. 

The policy change would be largely symbolic since race-based policies are illegal under Proposition 209, a 1996 voter-approved initiative 

“But things start with symbolism,” said Assemblyman Herb Wesson, D-Culver City. 

Explicitly stating the universities would only accept most students if they have good grades and test scores sends the wrong message to minority groups, several state officials said. 

“This is not about Proposition 209. That is law. This is about taking away the unwelcome mat from the door of perhaps the most prestigious university  

system in the world,” said  

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, an ex-officio regent. 

Bustamante is a supporter of a resolution under consideration in the Legislature asking UC regents to overturn the policy. The resolution is authored by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, D-Los Angeles. 

Under current UC policy, 50 to 75 percent of applicants must be judged on academic criteria, but that doesn’t mean UC’s 10 undergraduate campuses can only consider test scores and grades, said university spokesman Brad Hayward. 

“It can also include what college prep courses were taken beyond minimum eligibility requirements, the quality of academic performance relative to the educational opportunities and it can include outstanding work in a certain area,” he said. 

The other 50 to 25 percent of applicants can be accepted if they show outstanding extracurricular accomplishments, talents or leadership, Hayward said. 

The protest comes weeks after UC President Richard Atkinson said he wanted to dump the SAT I as an application tool. The standardized test is required at most universities, but Atkinson said it does not accurately reflect a student’s likelihood of succeeding in college. 

More than 35 UC students attended the protest in shirts reading “Admission: Denied” and carrying signs that said “Equal Education, Not Segregation.” 

The students said racial tensions at UC campuses were increasing because the schools do not accurately reflect California’s population. 

“It says UC doesn’t care about diversity, doesn’t care about anything but numbers,” said Alma Hernandez, 21. 

Hernandez, a political science and rhetoric major at UC Berkeley, said students at her school have threatened to stop minority recruitment efforts later this month if UC regents do not overturn the policy. 

Regent Ward Connerly, who campaigned for Proposition 209, said the arguments against the UC policy are disingenuous at best. 

“If you listen carefully what they are doing is to try to suggest that California is restoring affirmative action, more properly known as preferences. It has nothing to do with welcoming students,” he said. 

Rescinding the emphasis on academics in admissions would not admit any more minority students to the schools because of Proposition 209, he said. 

Regent Odessa Johnson called the policy “hideous” and said it gave accepted minority students the “perceived notion that the UC climate is hostile to underrepresented students.” 

The regents’ March agenda is already set, so the earliest any decision could be made is May, said Johnson, who did not know if there are enough votes to overturn the policy. 

On the Net: 

Read Firebaugh’s ACR21: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov 

Regents’ Web page: http://www.ucop.edu/regents/regents.html

Celebrated for its jumping and protected for its scarcity, the California red-legged frog won critical habitat designation Tuesday on more than 4 million acres of the state. 

The red-legged frog already was listed as “threatened,” but the new designation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service exposes developers to greater federal scrutiny by mapping out where frog populations live or could recover. 

The final plan on 4.1 million acres was scaled back from a proposed 5.4 million acres. It does not cover the county where Mark Twain set his classic tale “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” 

That irony was not lost on federal officials. 

“We hope to work with many people in Calaveras County who have expressed to us they would like to have Mark Twain’s frog come home,” said Patricia Foulk of the Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The government had to develop the habitat plan after environmental groups successfully sued, claiming the government had to declare a critical habitat for any species protected under the Endangered Species Act. The amphibians are considered an important indicator species of the health of aquatic areas. 

Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, said they were pleased with the ruling but were disappointed parts of the Sierra Nevada – including Calaveras County – were not protected. 

The California red-legged frog is believed to be the legendary leaper of Twain’s 1865 short story about “Dan’l Webster,” a frog that could “get over more ground in one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see.” 

There were once millions of the frogs throughout the state, but now there are only four places known to have populations greater than 350, said Peter Galvin, a conservation biologist for the Center for Biological Diversity. 

Habitat has declined 70 percent and population has dropped 95 percent owing to sprawl, mining, logging, farming and predators such as fish and bullfrogs. 

Once prized as a culinary treat, the population of the largest native frog in the western United States has declined significantly since the bullfrog was introduced in 1896 as a faster breeding alternative. Since then, the red-legged frogs have been “overfrogged, sort of like overfished,” said Robert Stack of the Jumping Frog Research Institute. 

“In the end, the bullfrog doesn’t taste as good as the red-legged frog,” Stack said. “But by then, unfortunately, the red-legged frog had been outmuscled and the bullfrog took over a great deal of its habitat.” 

Stack said private landowners in Calaveras County have volunteered their property to reintroduce the species, but not everyone in the county shares a love for the red-legged frog, which hasn’t been found in the county for years. 

Since 1928, the bullfrog has taken center stage at the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee. Fair organizers and city officials in Angels Camp lobbied their congressman over concerns that designating the county as a protected area for the red-legged frog would send the bullfrog packing and kill the event credited with bringing $1 million a year to the area. 

“To establish red-legged frogs in the area they’d have to kill bullfrogs. That’s tied to our economy,” said Tim Shearer, city administrator for Angels Camp. “If they kill them, the frogs are not there for the tourists.” 

The critical habitat includes parts of 28 of the state’s 58 counties, from Tehama and Plumas counties in the north to the Mexican border. About a third of the land is public. 

The designation would affect proposed development only if it requires a federal permit. 

The agency could place restrictions on a proposed development if it is potentially valuable frog habitat — even if no frogs live on it. 

A construction industry group that commented extensively on the proposed regulations said it would review the regulations and decide whether to contest them. 

“We still have grave concerns about it,” said David Smith, general counsel for the Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation. “Because the (Fish and Wildlife) Service blurs the line and treats unoccupied habitat like occupied, land that should be free of regulation is inappropriately pulled in.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: http://www.r1.fws.gov/news 

Center for Biological Diversity: 

http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/species/rlfrog/rlfrog.html 

Jumping Frog Research Institute: http://jumpingfrog.org/ 

SANTA BARBARA — A university freshman pleaded innocent Tuesday to murder charges for allegedly running down five pedestrians with his car in Isla Vista, killing four people. 

David Attias, 18, of Santa Monica stood without comment in an orange jailhouse jumpsuit as defense attorney Bob Sanger entered the pleas on his behalf to all 11 felony counts, including four counts of murder. 

A hearing was set for March 26. 

Attias was charged with running over five pedestrians on Feb. 23 in Isla Vista, the student community next to the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

His father, television director  

Daniel Attias, and his mother attended  

Tuesday’s arraignment. 

Amateur videotape showed the younger Attias, a UCSB freshman, flailing wildly as other students in the Isla Vista neighborhood tried to subdue him after he allegedly ran down and killed the pedestrians. 

Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Burridge said Tuesday that drug and alcohol testing ordered by the California Highway Patrol was still incomplete. 

Killed were Nicholas Shaw Bourdakis and Christopher Edward Divis, both 20 and UCSB students; Ruth Dasha Golda Levy, 20, a Santa Barbara City College student; and Elie Israel, 27, of San Francisco. 

Levy’s brother, Albert Arthur Levy, 27, was in serious condition Tuesday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, spokeswoman Cathy Walker said. 

LOS ANGELES — Imagine you’re a teen-ager and one of your friends casually says he hates school, then threatens to take a gun to campus and shoot classmates. 

Do you tell a parent or school administrator and risk being labeled a snitch? Or do you laugh it off, thinking your friend can’t be serious? 

Many teens choose to stay quiet, honoring an unspoken code of silence that runs strong among adolescents. Eager to fit in, many fear they will be ostracized if they turn on their peers. 

“Kids have this unspoken agreement among them, and they are extremely reluctant to violate that,” said Cindi Carlisle, a middle school counselor and critical incidents response committee chair for the American School Counselor Association, an Alexandria, Va.-based group. 

“Until that is changed, I don’t think we are going to have access to that dangerous information that we want,” she said. 

Days before the attack at Santana High School that left two people dead and 13 wounded, suspect Charles Andrew Williams allegedly discussed his plan with friends. But they failed to report the threats because they thought he was joking and didn’t want to get him in trouble. 

Barry Gibson, 18, who was wounded in Monday’s shooting in Santee, Calif., believes there is nothing schools can do to prevent similar violence until students start coming forward. 

“It depends on kids saying something when they see something,” said Gibson, who was shot in his left thigh. “Kids shouldn’t be afraid to say something, but they are.” 

Others said school administrators, community members and parents must all play a part in breaking the silence. 

Authorities have been taking threats of violence more seriously since the 1999 Columbine shooting. In at least four cases last month, students nationwide alerted authorities to threats, heading off potential campus violence. 

Michael Pine, a consultant with the Safe Schools Center, a program of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, said students must weigh the code of silence against the high stakes that may be involved in a violent incident. 

Some parents and community members in Santee were sad and even angry to think the attack might have been prevented if students had reported the threats. 

Anna Hildt, who has a niece at a Santee middle school, was surprised when she learned that another student had heard threats from the alleged gunman days before the attack. 

”(The student) was a good friend because he was loyal. He would have been a better friend if he had gotten (the gunman) help,” Hildt said. 

To change the cycle, Stephen Wallace, national chair of Students Against Destructive Behavior, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group, said an environment must be created in which students recognize and report inappropriate behavior. 

“If we get rid of the underbrush of jokes about violence – because we all know kids talk about committing violent acts all the time – it will become much more apparent those threats of violence that need to be taken seriously,” he said. 

“Just like you can’t yell bomb in an airport, you should not be able to talk about violence in schools and chalk it up to humor.” 

Both Wallace and Carlisle say school safety committees and programs, especially peer-to-peer groups, have proven to be effective. 

Officials said parents also must communicate with their children at home. 

Pat Palma, a Santee resident, said that since Monday’s tragedy, she has had conversations with her 8-year-old son about turning in peers who threaten to hurt people. 

“I’ve had to talk to him about sex and drugs. Now I have to tell him to hit the floor if he hears gun fire,” she said. 

SAN JOSE — Blaming a dramatic fall in help-wanted ad revenue and other signs of Silicon Valley’s economic slowdown, the San Jose Mercury News said it will have to lay off some of its 1,700 workers. 

Early retirement offers may help, but “we will be unable to achieve the level of expense reduction we are seeking to achieve without layoffs,” Chairman and Publisher Jay T. Harris said in a memo to the staff Monday. 

All departments of the paper will be scrutinized as the paper decides whom to let go over the next two to three weeks, Harris said. 

“We will approach the difficult work ahead carefully, with sensitivity for those affected, and with an unshakable resolve to remain true to our most important priorities and values,” Harris said. As many companies in the area have been freezing hiring or laying people off, the newspaper saw recruitment advertising fall $2.5 million last month from February 2000, Harris said in the memo. 

“We are operating in the toughest revenue environment we have seen in several years; at the same time, newsprint prices have been climbing steadily,” said Polk Laffoon, vice president of corporate relations for Knight Ridder, which is the Mercury News’ parent company and the nation’s second-largest newspaper publisher. 

U.S. newsprint prices averaged $610 per ton in February, almost 20 percent higher than the same time last year, according to Pulp and Paper Week, an industry newsletter. 

The adverse market conditions also are forcing the Contra Costa Times, another Knight Ridder paper in the San Francisco Bay area, to trim expenses by eliminating jobs through attrition, said Publisher George Riggs. 

After falling shy of its budgeted revenues for the third consecutive month, the Walnut Creek-based paper recently laid off three workers from its payroll of 1,100 full-time employees, Riggs said, but he hopes to avoid the large-scale cutbacks under consideration at the Mercury News. 

Luther Jackson, executive officer of the San Jose Newspaper Guild, the largest of the five unions that represent Mercury News employees, disputed Harris’ contention that the newspaper has to pare inefficiencies that developed as it boomed in the last few years. 

“The Mercury News has never been overstaffed by any stretch of the imagination,” Jackson said. “It’s always been fairly lean. Don’t think you can walk around the Mercury News and find people with nothing to do.” 

President Bush warned Tuesday of an economy starting to “sputter” and defended his proposed income tax cut for the highest-earning Americans, telling traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that it would help entrepreneurs – “the backbone of the country.” 

Bush said 95 percent of entrepreneurs pay the highest income tax rates and said his proposed cut, which would drop the top rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, would free up capital for them. 

“When we cut that top rate ..., we’re sending a loud and clear message that the entrepreneurial spirit will be reinvigorated as we head into the 21st century,” Bush told hundreds of cheering traders on the exchange floor. “Small business is the backbone of the country.” 

Bush also argued that across-the-board tax cuts for all Americans would help revive the economy. “You all know that as well as anybody does. The great boom is beginning to sputter a little bit.” 

Bush received loud applause as he worked his way through a raucous crowd on a commodities floor packed with traders and clerks in their trademark mustard-yellow smocks. The traders reached over each other to shake Bush’s hand, and in the din of buying and selling, Bush had to shout in his well-wishers’ ears to be heard. 

As Bush mingled in the “pit” where securities futures were changing hands, the workers stole glances at the trading board. 

The visit comes nine years after the president’s father, the first President Bush, toured the exchange and pledged to stave off recession with his own plan. 

Bush is trying to shore up congressional support for his 10-year, $1.6 trillion tax cut and for his proposal to keep discretionary government spending from growing more than 4 percent annually. Some Democrats have questioned the proposals. 

One moderate Illinois Democrat, Rep. Bill Lipinski, met Bush in Chicago, as did House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican. White House political operatives believe Lipinski is leaning against Bush’s tax and spending proposals.  

Lipinski’s spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. 

The president was flying Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., to Chicago aboard Air Force One, and all three lawmakers were returning on the presidential aircraft. The state’s other senator, Richard Durbin, is a Democrat and was not asked to attend the event in his state, a White House aide said. 

But Bush lunched with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and brother of Al Gore’s campaign chairman. 

“I just got a lesson in Chicago politics,” Bush said. “If you run for president, make sure you get the mayor on your side.” Driven by Democratic leaders, a coalition of labor, blacks and liberals carried Gore to victory in Illinois in the November election. 

Bush called Daley one of the nation’s great mayors, and said if Daley thinks Chicago needs help, he can pick up the phone and call the White House “any time.” 

The pair discussed tax reform, but neither man talked specifically about whether Daley backed Bush’s income tax cut proposal. 

Bush went to the exchange to make the case that all Americans are deeply affected by the state of the economy and that his proposals would lift all boats. 

“One of the interesting phenomenons that have happened in the American economy in the last decade or so is this growing investor class — the surge of middle-income Americans who now invest in markets, have mutual funds or have other investments,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on the eve of Bush’s visit. 

“It’s another reminder how we all are in this together and that markets often are leading indicators, suggesting which direction the economy will grow or go,” Fleischer said. 

Agricultural futures, international currencies and stock indexes are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a frantic scene with thousands of traders. In 2000, some 231 million contracts worth more than $155 trillion changed hands at the exchange. 

The Chicago trip opens Bush’s latest foray into Middle America as he hunts for support from citizens and moderate Democratic lawmakers. 

On Thursday and Friday, he resumes the effort in North Dakota, South Dakota and Louisiana. 

Back in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering from a surgical procedure to repair a damaged artery. Bush said he did not believe Cheney should cut back on his work load. “This country needs his wisdom and judgment,” Bush said. “He’s the kind of man who listens carefully to his body, and he is not going to put himself in a position where he gets very sick.” 

President Bush warned Tuesday of an economy starting to “sputter” and defended his proposed income tax cut for the highest-earning Americans, telling traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that it would help entrepreneurs – “the backbone of the country.” 

Bush said 95 percent of entrepreneurs pay the highest income tax rates and said his proposed cut, which would drop the top rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, would free up capital for them. 

“When we cut that top rate ..., we’re sending a loud and clear message that the entrepreneurial spirit will be reinvigorated as we head into the 21st century,” Bush told hundreds of cheering traders on the exchange floor. “Small business is the backbone of the country.” 

Bush also argued that across-the-board tax cuts for all Americans would help revive the economy. “You all know that as well as anybody does. The great boom is beginning to sputter a little bit.” 

Bush received loud applause as he worked his way through a raucous crowd on a commodities floor packed with traders and clerks in their trademark mustard-yellow smocks. The traders reached over each other to shake Bush’s hand, and in the din of buying and selling, Bush had to shout in his well-wishers’ ears to be heard. 

As Bush mingled in the “pit” where securities futures were changing hands, the workers stole glances at the trading board. 

The visit comes nine years after the president’s father, the first President Bush, toured the exchange and pledged to stave off recession with his own plan. 

Bush is trying to shore up congressional support for his 10-year, $1.6 trillion tax cut and for his proposal to keep discretionary government spending from growing more than 4 percent annually. Some Democrats have questioned the proposals. 

One moderate Illinois Democrat, Rep. Bill Lipinski, met Bush in Chicago, as did House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican. White House political operatives believe Lipinski is leaning against Bush’s tax and spending proposals.  

Lipinski’s spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. 

The president was flying Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., to Chicago aboard Air Force One, and all three lawmakers were returning on the presidential aircraft. The state’s other senator, Richard Durbin, is a Democrat and was not asked to attend the event in his state, a White House aide said. 

But Bush lunched with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and brother of Al Gore’s campaign chairman. 

“I just got a lesson in Chicago politics,” Bush said. “If you run for president, make sure you get the mayor on your side.” Driven by Democratic leaders, a coalition of labor, blacks and liberals carried Gore to victory in Illinois in the November election. 

Bush called Daley one of the nation’s great mayors, and said if Daley thinks Chicago needs help, he can pick up the phone and call the White House “any time.” 

The pair discussed tax reform, but neither man talked specifically about whether Daley backed Bush’s income tax cut proposal. 

Bush went to the exchange to make the case that all Americans are deeply affected by the state of the economy and that his proposals would lift all boats. 

“One of the interesting phenomenons that have happened in the American economy in the last decade or so is this growing investor class — the surge of middle-income Americans who now invest in markets, have mutual funds or have other investments,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on the eve of Bush’s visit. 

“It’s another reminder how we all are in this together and that markets often are leading indicators, suggesting which direction the economy will grow or go,” Fleischer said. 

Agricultural futures, international currencies and stock indexes are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a frantic scene with thousands of traders. In 2000, some 231 million contracts worth more than $155 trillion changed hands at the exchange. 

The Chicago trip opens Bush’s latest foray into Middle America as he hunts for support from citizens and moderate Democratic lawmakers. 

On Thursday and Friday, he resumes the effort in North Dakota, South Dakota and Louisiana. 

Back in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering from a surgical procedure to repair a damaged artery. Bush said he did not believe Cheney should cut back on his work load. “This country needs his wisdom and judgment,” Bush said. “He’s the kind of man who listens carefully to his body, and he is not going to put himself in a position where he gets very sick.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge gave the recording industry another victory in its bid to control digital music, issuing an injunction ordering Napster Inc. to block any copyright-protected songs from its service. 

Once the record labels present Napster with lists of songs they want banned and proof that the labels own or control the rights to them, Napster has three business days to block the songs from its network, the judge said in a ruling posted Tuesday. 

If Napster does not comply, the song-swapping service that has drawn more than 50 million free-music fans could be held in contempt of court. 

The order effectively gives the recording industry control over the immediate fate of the Internet-based clearinghouse that turned music distribution on its head and cultivated a following of millions. 

Napster is fighting to stay online and retain its popularity while promising to shift over to a subscription-based service. For that, it depends on the cooperation of the very music labels that sued the company to stop song swapping. 

“I think Napster will surely make an attempt to comply,” said Phil Leigh, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates. “I think you have the self-preservation instinct at work here.” 

Hilary Rosen, president of the Record Industry Association of America, said the record labels would quickly provide such lists to Napster. Napster officials said they had no immediate comment. 

A lawyer representing heavy metal band Metallica and rapper/producer Dr. Dre in their $10 million suits against Napster praised the ruling and said his clients have been eager to get their songs off Napster for a long time. 

“If Napster complies with what this injunction says, it will be to our satisfaction,” said attorney Howard King. “It’s technologically doable. The question is, is Napster going to go to the necessary steps to do it?” 

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, issuing an injunction she reworked on the order of an appeals court, said the recording industry will have to notify Napster of the title of the song, the name of the artist and the name of the file containing the infringing material. 

Napster began trying to weed out some copyright songs Sunday night, with little success, and it remains unclear how hard the company will have to work to block song titles that are slightly misspelled or altered to avoid the screening technology. 

“We are gratified the District Court acted so promptly in issuing its injunction requiring Napster to remove infringing works from its system,” Rosen said. “We intend to provide the notifications prescribed by the Court expeditiously, and look forward to the end of Napster’s infringing activity.” 

Patel’s latest ruling does not mean the Redwood City-based Napster has to shut down or turn itself off, stressed Eric Sheirer, an analyst with Forrester Research. 

“What it does is give the record labels a great deal of power over exactly what songs are going to show up on Napster, how long they’re going to be there, and how usable Napster will be for the vast number of consumers that are on there now,” Sheirer said. 

“The record industry has the advantage now of being able to get these songs off Napster anytime they choose. But if they do it now, consumers will flee to all these other alternative services where they won’t be able to control them.” 

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that Patel’s original injunction against Napster was overbroad because it placed the entire burden on Napster of ensuring that no “copying, downloading, uploading, transmitting or distributing” of works occur. 

Now Napster shares the burden with the record labels. The labels must prove that they actually own the copyrights before Napster must begin searching its network to prevent the songs from appearing. Napster, meanwhile, has the responsibility for policing its system, and searching for song files that would reasonably be expected to violate copyrights. 

Patel’s order also requires Napster to block transmission of identified copyright works even in advance of their public release. New recordings often end up in the hands of radio stations and music reviewers before they hit record store shelves. 

Many of those songs, such as those on Madonna’s latest album, end up on Napster – which now has the additional burden of preventing those works from showing up on its system. 

“To order otherwise would allow Napster users a free ride for the length of time it would take plaintiffs to identify a specific infringing file and Napster to screen the work,” Patel wrote. 

No one knows just how much of the material being swapped by Napster users on the constantly changing network is copyright-protected, Sheirer said. 

Music industry attorney Russell Frackman last week asked Patel to force Napster to begin its screening process by blocking the Billboard Top 100 singles and Top 200 albums. 

The screening system Napster began phasing in Sunday night included various permutations and spelling of titles from Metallica and Dr. Dre. But searches of the network showed many of those songs were still appearing. 

Meanwhile, Napster’s struggles have prompted users to flock to hard-to-sue alternatives that use freely downloaded software and decentralized networks, such as Gnutella and Napster clones. 

A program called Napigator directed hundred of thousands of music fans to servers located around the world that can be tapped into using the Napster application. On Monday, more than 96 million music files being traded by more than half a million people through computer servers located as far away as Italy, New Zealand and Russia — numbers that rivaled Napster itself even as downloads peaked this weekend. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Napster, http://www.napster.com 

Recording Industry Association of America, http://www.riaa.org 

Napigator, http://www.napigator.com 

WASHINGTON — Reducing class sizes in early grades improves overall performance and narrows the achievement gap between black and white students, according to a study released Tuesday. 

The study, prepared by Princeton University economist Alan Krueger, tracked the performance of 11,600 elementary students at 79 schools in a Tennessee pilot program known as Project STAR. 

Krueger’s study, “Would Smaller Classes Help the Black White Achievement Gap?” compared those students who were randomly assigned to smaller classes with between 13 and 17 pupils to those in regular classes with between 22 and 25. It covered students through third grade, beginning with students entering kindergarten in 1985. 

Krueger said his report showed that smaller class size has a greater impact on black students than white students, who traditionally perform better on standardized tests than their black counterparts. 

For black students in smaller classes, that gap narrowed 38 percent and remained 15 percent smaller after the students moved back to a larger class. 

Black students in smaller classes also were more likely than their counterparts in larger classes to take ACT or SAT tests, increasing from 31.6 percent to 41.3 percent. That was a steeper increase than among white students where the test taking rose from 44.7 percent to 46.4 percent 

The report also noted that the teen birth rates for those white female students assigned to smaller class sizes was one-third less than for those in larger classes. The change for black females students was not statistically significant but for black males students the rate of teen fatherhood dropped by 40 percent. 

Sens. Patty Murray, D-WA, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., introduced Krueger’s report Tuesday at a news conference on Capitol Hill. Murray will offer an amendment during that hearing to include $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2002 to reduce class size to a maximum of 18 students for grades one through three.

WASHINGTON — Calling it the “most accurate census in history,” the Bush administration refused to adjust the 2000 head count in a decision eagerly awaited by states for congressional redistricting. 

Critics immediately assailed Tuesday’s move as one that could cause millions of Americans, mostly minorities, to be missed in the count. 

Commerce Secretary Don Evans said he endorsed a Census Bureau conclusion that the initial raw count offered the most accurate snapshot of the population. Those numbers will begin to be sent to states this week for lawmakers to use in redrawing political boundary lines. 

In making the decision, Evans turned aside pleas by Democrats and civil rights groups to use a second, statistically adjusted population tally that they said would compensate for an estimated 3.3 million uncounted Americans. 

“I weighed their recommendation, evaluated their report, ... and I concluded that the recommendation of the Census Bureau professionals was correct and prudent,” Evans, a longtime friend and supporter of President Bush, told a news conference. “We will send unadjusted data” for redistricting. 

The first numbers, for New Jersey and Virginia, will be sent Wednesday to the states’ governors and legislative leaders, bureau spokeswoman Laverne Collins said. But they will not be released to the public until the state officials acknowledge receiving them. 

Data for nine other states were scheduled to be sent to officials there on Thursday or Friday, Collins said: Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin. 

Evans’ decision quieted, for now, a long political debate between congressional Democrats and Republicans over whether, and how, to account for those missed in the actual national head count. 

Estimates from a survey following the 2000 census found a net undercount of 1.2 percent of the country’s 281 million people on April 1, 2000, or about 3.3 million Americans. That was down from 1.6 percent in 1990, or about 4 million of the country’s population then of 248 million. 

Democrats and civil rights groups said an adjustment using statistical sampling would protect against traditional undercounts of minorities and children that continued to exist in the 2000 count. 

This was the first census that Americans were allowed to identify themselves as being of more than one race on the form. A Census Bureau committee report estimated 36.4 million people identified themselves in 2000 as “black” or “partially black.” 

But, using adjustment methods, the bureau also estimated there could have been a 2.1 percent undercount in the category, raising the total to 37.2 million. 

Republicans countered that the Constitution does not allow for anything other than an “actual enumeration” for redistricting. They also said that adjustment would insert more errors into a 2000 census more accurate than 1990. 

GOP officials also warn that the estimates offered from the survey could change after more analysis by the Census Bureau is done. 

“At this point, we’ve given the country the best estimates that we can provide,” said acting Census Bureau Director William Barron. 

Evans agreed with a bureau recommendation that adjusted data could not be used because there were too many discrepancies with another, similar analysis bureau officials perform to measure accuracy. 

Barron said his agency had too little time to remedy those problems before the decision due on redistricting. 

Nevertheless, sampling supporters asked Evans for all numbers to be released down to the block level, the smallest level of Census Bureau geography. 

Currently, undercount percentages are available on the national level only. 

“Today, Secretary Evans stated that his Commerce Department has run an open, fair and transparent decision making process,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., a staunch sampling supporter. “Then why isn’t he releasing the data that the Census Bureau has compiled?” 

However, Rep. Dan Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee’s census panel, said it would be irresponsible to release or use “less accurate or adjusted numbers for any purpose at any time” 

“Legal and public policy problems aside, the scientific hurdle of using sampling to improve the accuracy of the census could not be met,” Miller said. 

Bureau analysts will continue to study the adjusted numbers to determine if they should be released at all, or at what point they would be made public, Evans said. The process could take months, he said. 

——— 

On the Net: Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/index.html 

Assyriologists have known for 50 years that the first named author in the history of writing was a woman, a high priestess who lived 4,000 years ago in the city of Ur, in what is now southern Iraq. 

But the words of this priestess, named Enheduanna (en-hey'-du-ana), who worshiped the goddess, Inanna, have been locked away in Sumerian texts and cuneiform tablets largely available to experts. Now, a Berkeley Jungian therapist, aided by assyriologists at the University of California, Berkeley, has created a fresh translation of Enheduanna's poetry and, for the first time, made it available to a general audience. 

These published writings, a portion of Enheduanna's work, contain long poems dedicated to Inanna. 

They are filled with struggle, agony, ecstasy and praise as they depict a goddess who was extraordinarily powerful in both good and evil directions.  

It is the earliest description, at the dawn of the written word, of what appears to be an all-encompassing female deity.  

“Enheduanna's conception of this goddess opens the door into a whole different way of viewing women.  

Nothing in our western religion even touches this,” said Betty DeShong Meador, author of the recently published “Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart.” Meador, a Jungian analyst who lives in Berkeley, spent years in study with Sumerian linguist and UC Berkeley lecturer Daniel Foxvog deriving an original translation of the poetry of Enheduanna, the highest religious authority in Mesopotamia for about 40 years around 2,300 B.C.  

Foxvog provided alternative translations of the original cuneiform Sumerian text, while Meador reconstructed the poetry in accessible English. 

From the UC Berkeley Press Office 

or also studied informally with other UC Berkeley scholars including Anne Kilmer, professor of assyriology in the Department of Near Eastern Studies. Kilmer is an authority on Mesopotamian culture and literature. 

"This is a very accurate, responsible, authoritative translation with poetic license here and there, where ambiguities exist," said Kilmer. "The work is to be admired. Meador has made a tremendous effort to be faithful to the original."  

"We have known at least since the 40s that Enheduanna was the earliest named author in all the cuneiform material," said Kilmer. "Tablets with her writings were found even earlier, in the early 20th century, but only slowly have the pieces come together."  

Kilmer said she is pleased with the university-community collaboration that this work represents. Meador began studying Enheduanna's writings almost 20 years ago at UCLA and continued the work after she moved to Berkeley.  

Enheduanna was the daughter of King Sargon, who united Sumer in the south and Akkad in the north in the earliest example of military-driven empire building. Toward the end of Sargon's 50 year rule, Enheduanna became high priestess to the moon god Nanna. While some of her hymns and poems honor Nanna, the priestess was far more preoccupied with Inanna, the daughter of Nanna, whose home was the morning and evening star, Venus.  

As rendered by Meador, the priestess's words reveal an intimate, emotional connection with the goddess, wherein the worshipper's own struggles in life are reflected in her depiction of, on one hand, a cruel and destructive deity willing to lay waste to the land and, on the other hand, a loving source of all abundance.  

It's also apparent from the text that Enheduanna takes credit for spreading Inanna's powers and influence throughout the land and grieves desperately when she feels betrayed.  

"I, I am Enheduanna," she writes in the title poem "Lady of Largest Heart," a momentous introduction. 

A few stanzas later she says, "I/ who spread over the land/ the splendid brilliance/of your divinity/you allow my flesh/to know your scourging/my sorrow and bitter trial/strike my eye as treachery..." 

In the third poem in the book, "The Exaltation of Inanna," written apparently later in Enheduanna's career, she begins:  

"Queen of all given powers/unveiled clear light/unfailing woman wearing brilliance/cherished in heaven and earth/chosen, sanctified in heaven/you/grand in your adornments/crowned with your beloved goodness/rightfully you are High Priestess/your hands seize the seven fixed powers/my queen of fundamental forces/guardian of essential cosmic sources/you lift up the elements/bind them to your hands/gather in powers/press them to your breast/vicious dragon you spew/venom poisons the land/like the storm god you howl/grain wilts on the ground/swollen flood rushing down the mountain/you are Inanna/supreme in heaven and earth..."  

"In Enheduanna's poetry, Inanna is both fierce and cruel, loving and kind," said Meador. "In our society, women are not supposed to be like that. Where I grew up in Texas, there was no room in a woman's psyche for being anything but nice."  

"But this is who we are as human beings," Meador said. "Both men and women have these violent emotions, and if you are taught to suppress the knowledge of these harsh feelings, you live in too narrow a range. That doesn't mean you have to express such feelings, but to know you have them makes you healthier." 

Meador, who struggled with each line of text and the contradictory meanings of the ancient words, said that in these verses, Inanna is "the divine in all matter, both the harsh and the beautiful. She is reality with a sacred order and meaning." 

Later patriarchal religions stripped violent, harsh power from the repertoire of female goddesses and made it totally male, said Meador. But before that time the goddess Inanna represented both light and dark sides of nature and human nature.  

"Her qualities foreshadow the powers of the Hebrew god Yahweh (the god of the Old Testament). Only the names have changed," she said.

The brother and sister-in-law of Lakireddy Bali Reddy, the wealthy Berkeley landlord at the center of an alleged scheme to smuggle Indian teenagers into the United States for sex and cheap labor, pleaded guilty Monday to participating with Reddy in a conspiracy to commit immigration fraud that federal prosecutors say dates back to 1986. 

Pursuant to a plea deal with the United States Attorney’s office, Annapurna Lakireddy, Reddy’s 47-year-old sister-in-law, will likely serve between six months and one year in prison for her part in a crime that allegedly supplied the 63-year-old Reddy with underage sex partners and workers. In a separate plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to recommend that her husband, Jayprakash Lakireddy, a 46-year-old Oakland building contractor and Reddy sibling, serve a prison sentence of between 10 and 16 months.  

Both defendants pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiring to commit immigration fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Oakland federal district court judge Saundra Brown Armstrong could still reject the plea agreement, or set sentences within the ranges agreed to in the plea deal. Armstrong said Monday she would sentence the pair on July 24. 

Shortly after entering his guilty plea, Jayprakash Lakireddy appeared subdued but unrepentant. He told the Daily Planet he was not primarily to blame for the long-running immigration offenses, which allegedly involved filing fraudulent H1-B visa applications on behalf of Indian immigrants, some of whom ended up working at Lakireddy’s construction company.  

“I am not the main person involved in this,” he said after the hearing. He said that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and that he was not aware that people hired by his construction firm had entered the country illegally. “I am just a contractor,” he said. But he acknowledged the technical accuracy of the charge. “I was in the ring,” he said in reference to the conspiracy. “Whether I am guilty or not, I was in the ring,” he said. 

Reddy, a Berkeley restaurant owner and real estate tycoon whose property holdings are valued at $70 million, also appeared in court Monday clad in his customary suit jacket and running shoes, but did not enter a guilty plea as expected after Armstrong questioned whether federal sentencing guidelines would permit her to allow Reddy to remain free on bail once he pleaded guilty. Reddy’s lawyer and United States Attorney John W. Kennedy agreed to address that issue at a hearing before Judge Armstrong this morning. Reddy is charged with importing minors for illegal sexual activity and with tax and immigration offenses. The maximum combined sentence for those crimes is 23 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.  

Two of Reddy’s sons, 31-year-old Vijay Kumar Lakireddy and 42-year-old Prasad Lakireddy, have also been charged in the case. No trial date has been set for the pair, who were originally part of a “package” plea bargain agreement with federal prosecutors but decided late last year not to enter guilty pleas after all. In the plea deal struck with Annapurna and Jayprakash Lakireddy on Monday, prosecutors agreed not to call the husband and wife to testify against Reddy’s sons.  

In a related development last Friday, Judge Armstrong granted in part a request by the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News to unseal a number of documents in the case on free speech grounds, including documents related to the plea agreements.  

But Armstrong refused to make available to the public a statement submitted in connection with an application for a search warrant in the case, as well as financial information pertaining to one defendant and materials related to the grand jury proceeding in the case. The judge wrote in her order that “sensational and inflammatory” publicity of the case, including headlines she called “lurid and incendiary,” posed a danger to the defendants’ right to a fair trial. 

Tuesday, March 6

Special City Council meeting  

on the budget 

4 p.m. 

City Council Chambers 

2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

The council will hear a report on the city’s finances and consider various requests for funding. 

Commissioner Training 

7 p.m. 

City Council Chambers 

2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Commissioners will be instructed on open meeting laws, conflict of interest laws and ADA compliance. An open “dialogue” is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. 

“Great Decisions” – U.S.  

& Iraq 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy. $5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent  

Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is health, nutrition and science; bioengineering. 527-5332  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

International Women’s Day 

11:10 a.m. 

Pacific School of Religion Chapel 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Join students, staff, and faculty in the celebration of International Women’s Day. The theme is “A Call to Place: Quilting Resistance,” highlighting women’s religious experiences and women of the world.  

649-2490 

Aquinas, Creation  

and Cosmic Evolution 

7:30 p.m. 

2400 Ridge Road 

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

Dinner Board Room  

Benedict Ashley, author, advisor to the Theological Commission of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and faculty member of the Aquinas Institute, gives the eleventh annual Aquinas lecture. Free 

883-2085 

National Nutrition Month  

Cooking Demonstration 

11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Five a Day with Natalie.  

Call 644-6107 

“Women’s Voices / Women’s History” 

6 p.m. 

YWCA Main Lounge  

UC Berkeley  

2600 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch)  

A talk with Lisa Rubens of the Regional Oral History Office. Learn about the unique challenges in studying women’s history, and get practical advice for conducting your own oral history research. Free  

848-6370 

Anti-GMO Mobilization 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Help the Ecology Center mobilize a response to the FDA’s failure to regulate the biotech industry in any meaningful way. Also to be discussed will be preparations for the Biodevastation Protest and Counter-Conference which will be taking place in San Diego in June.  

548-2220 x233 or www.ecologycenter.org 

Wednesday, March 7

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling Classes for  

Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Women in Interfaith  

Relationships  

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Led by Dawn Kepler, this workshop will explore interfaith relationships on many levels, in relation to culture, religion, and gender. People of all backgrounds and orientations are invited to attend.  

$10 

848-0237 x127 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Attic Conversions  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect Andus Brandt.  

$35 525-7610 

Keeping New People Out of Old Neighborhoods 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Graduate School of Journalism 

Main Floor  

121 North Gate Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Invited are students, industry professionals, community members and activists to join in dialogue to explore how the media and urban development issues effect each other. (415) 989-1111 

Thursday, March 8

Trekking Northern India  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional wilderness guide Randy Pomeroy will take you on a journey from Ladakh to Rajasthan. Free Call 527-4140 

“Fifty Years in the Making” 

Boalt Hall School of Law  

UC Berkeley 

A gathering of some of the most prominent diplomats, scholars, and legal practitioners in the field of World War II reparation and restitution claims. Free and open to the public.  

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Backyard Birding & Beyond  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Bird watching with Stan Scher.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Take the Terror Out of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

California Dept. of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

Room 804  

Session four of six in a series of classes presented by the State Health Toastmasters, this one is called “Creating An Introduction.”  

649-7750 

“Energy, Ecology and Humanism” 

7 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity  

390 27th St. (at Broadway) 

Oakland 

George Matthews, of Community Energy Services, will discuss how energy conservation and solar power can benefit low-income and minority people.  

451-5818 

HIVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35  

525-7610 

Friday, March 9

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Berkeley PC Users Group 

7 p.m. 

Vista College 

2020 Milvia St., Room 303 

E-Mail: meldancing@aol.com 

Europe on a Shoestring  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Scott Mcneely, co-author of the Lonely Planet book will share slides and information on some of his favorite adventures off the beaten path. Come learn about smart budget travel.  

Call 527-4140 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Allen Stross.  

Call 644-6107 

Energy Teach-In & Action Forum  

6:45 p.m. 

Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

Graham Brownstein of TURN, Charles Kalish of Citizens Power Campaign and Todd Creiten of Campaign Against Utilities Rate Hike give an update on the vital struggle for public power. Find out what you can do about your utility bill.  

233-3175 

“Torture in 2001 - The Violations Continue” 

Stephens Hall, Geballe Room  

Townsend Center for the Humanities  

UC Berkeley  

Despite nearly universal prohibition against the use of torture in laws of most nations, the incidence of torture is epidemic. Dr. Kathi Antolak, an expert on the treatment of torture victims will speak.  

Trees Forum  

12:30 p.m. 

Starr King School for Ministry Chapel  

2441 LeConte Ave.  

A discussion on “The Ecology of The Great Work: Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology,” led by Dody Donnelly.  

trees@gtu.edu 

Saturday, March 10

The Secrets of Sacred Cinema 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103 

Kevin Peer, a documentary film maker for the past 25 years, gives a two-day intensive for people interested in exploring documentary filmmaking. No equipment or prior experience required.  

$200 per person and registration is required 

Call 486-1480 

Narratives of Public Sector Reform: A Colloquium  

10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

223 Moses Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Mark Bevir of the department of Political Science of UC Berkeley, will present his paper on “Decentered Theory of Governance” and Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne will present his paper, “Entering British Governance.” There will also be a session to discuss the broader issues their works raise.  

Greece Adventure 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Linda Pearson of REI Adventures will introduce you to Greece in slides and discussion.  

Call 527-4140 

Healing Garden  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Kathi Kinney will teach how to integrate medicinal herbs into existing gardens and landscapes and how to design and maintain a practical, aromatic, easy-care herb garden.  

$10 - $15  

548-2220 x233 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St.  

Sedge’s guests this week will be Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher Boy and Emerald Germs of Ireland, a capella singers M-Pact, Naturalist Claire Peaslee and pianist Mike Greensill.  

664-9500 

Self-Care and Wellness Health Fair 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Ashby Campus, Auditorium  

2450 Ashby Ave.  

A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit. Learn the process one might go through when deciding to stay with self-help, when to seek out assistance, and how to integrate care.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

Fire Suppression Class  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Water-Wise Trees 

10 a.m.  

UC Botanical Garden  

Stew Winchester, ecologist and horticulturist, and instructor at several Bay Area community colleges will talk about some of the more outstanding choices of small trees for water conserving gardens.  

$15  

643-2755 

Sunday, March 11

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

Call 849-0217 

Myths & Realities of the International House  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

Director Joe Lurie will show a video and talk about the history and the struggle to open the International House.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

Walk on the Moon  

2 & 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

A mother and daughter explore their identities as they summer in the Catskills in 1969 amidst the news of Woodstock and the first lunar landing. Peer led discussion to follow film.  

$2 suggested donation  

Energy Attack  

4 - 6 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

PUC Commissioner Carl Wood, labor journalist David Bacon and Environmentalist architect Mark Gorrell will discuss the energy crisis and how to get involved in solutions.  

549-0816 

Community Health & Wellness Fair 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way  

Review health from a holistic perspective, personally and communally. Stop by for practical health screenings and explore wellness practices such as Taoist Tai Chi, Hatha Yoga and Rosen Bodywork in introductory workshops. Free except for cholesterol screening.  

649-1383 

LBNL job not compatible with commission post  

Editor: 

In the interest of economy of words, is calling Gordon Wozniak “Head” rather than “Deputy Head” of Berkeley Lab’s Nuclear Science Division really a “blatant misstatement”? (Letter Misstates Wozniak’s Role inLabs… 2/27/01). 

I obtained my information regarding Wozniak’s Berkeley Lab employment from the Berkeley City Attorney’s January 2, 2001, opinion which concludes “Dr. Wozniak’s employment as a physicist and Division Head at LBNL in the Nuclear Science Division is incompatible with his role [as] a CEAC commissioner”. 

Evie Wozniak refers to her husband’s place of employment at the lab as the “National” Science Division whereas the City Attorney calls it the “Nuclear” Science Division. Who’s right – Wozniak’s wife or the City Attorney? 

On a higher level, I would like to conclude with the words of Dr. John Gofman, Professor Emeritus, UCB Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, and former Associate Director of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory: 

“‘Credible assurance’ can not be obtained from anyone with a conflict of interest – like the Lab itself or DOE. It would be ridiculous for the Lab to tell the public and its state and local officials, ‘Just trust us’ …. The public always has a HUGE stake in the proper handling of hazardous wastes, both radioactive and non-radioactive.  

People who operate facilities with the POTENTIAL to pollute need the humility and goodwill to recognize that the public has every right to impose pre-emptive measures for self-defense against such poisons BEFORE they escape. 

“This is especially arguable when the potential pollutant is radioactive, since it is clear that there is NO threshold dose-level (no safe dose, no risk-free dose) of ionizing radiation.  

Thus, nuclear pollution, in the aggregate, causes premeditated random murder.” 

Gene Bernardi 

Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste 

City could better support labs 

Editor: 

I can't speak to the specifics of the 1974 California Political Reform Act and how it applies to Gordon Wozniak serving on the Berkeley Community Environmental Advisory Commission.  

I am familiar and wanted to speak in support of the environmental work being done at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

As a certified energy manager, I have been familiar with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (LBNL) work to reduce the greenhouse effect, improve indoor air quality, and save energy in buildings for more than 20 years.  

LBNL leads the world in improving building lighting, window research, reducing urban heat islands, and high performance fume hoods. 

I would like to see the Berkeley community better support and understand the pioneering environmental work being done up on One Cyclotron Road at LBNL. 

V.A. Neuman 

Albany 

One more weighs in for Wozniak 

Editor: 

As a Berkeley citizen and personal friend of Gordon Wozniak I wish to express my support for his on-going participation on the Community Environmental Advisory Commission.  

I have known Gordon for about 15 years and know him to be an exceptionally intelligent and reasonable person.  

In dealing with complex issues he is always objective and able to listen to all sides.  

He is tolerant. He has a commitment to the environment which comes from a love of nature, the purest kind of environmentalism.  

All of his 34 years in Berkeley he has been an active citizen, participating at all levels of civic life, exemplary for his dedication and hard work, in a quiet and unassuming manner.  

I see the current conflict as having the potential to do us great harm.  

Gordon is exactly the kind of person we need in public life: decent, smart and dedicated (a Bill Clinton without moral deficiencies).  

I strongly urge you to give him your support. He deserves accolades not attacks. 

Beverly Cheney 

Berkeley 

City attorney rulings blocks citizens from participation  

This letter was originally e-mailed to Mayor Shirley Dean:  

I just read the March 1 issue of the Daily Planet about the witch hunt against Gordon Wozniak.  

I don't know Mr. Wozniak or his opponents or even the issue they are fighting about.  

What I am concerned about is the growing abuse of conflict-of-interest laws by the City Attorney to stop talented Berkeley citizens from participating in city government.  

Conflict-of-interest laws are designed to prohibit those with financial conflicts from making decisions.  

In this case and in the case of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage members, the City Attorney has stretched the definition of conflict too far. 

It appears that anyone who works for a government agency, holds a scientific or technical degree or volunteers for a non-profit organization could be prohibited from participating on a city board or commission.  

This interpretation will greatly restrict the number of talented and committed Berkeley citizens who are eligible to be active in Berkeley government. 

That's a terrible direction for the city to take.  

This could have huge, negative impacts for the future of Berkeley.  

I urge you to give this issue your highest attention. 

Dave Fogarty 

Berkeley 

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 9: Dead and Gone, Sworn Vengeance, Punishment, Misoura, The Computer Kills; March 10: The Varukers, 46 Short, Scarred for Life, Oppressed Logic, Faced Down; March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Blast Rocks, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above This World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 6: PickPocket Ensemble; March 7: Whiskey Bros.; March 8: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 10: PickPocket Ensemble; March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music. 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 9: Ron Hacker; March 10: Red Archibald 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 11: Stephanie Bruce Trio; March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 11: Stephen Bell, guitar, plays music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, Ponse, and Albeniz Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances Through March 11, call for times: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 4, 3 p.m.: Baritone Nathan Gunn sings Brahms, Wolf, and a selection of American songs $36; March 11, 3 & 7 p.m.: Burhan Ocal & The Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform traditional Turkish music $24 Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

Young Emerging Artists March 6, 7 - 8 p.m. John McCarthy will direct students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Prepatory Division through a performance of works by Sov, Barber and others. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. (at Derby) 925-798-1300 

Carol Denney, Folk This!, J.D. Nelson March 7, 8 p.m. CD release party for Denney’s “The Rich Will Never Be Poor” $16.50 Freight & Salvage 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 

Canto Para Una Semilla March 9, 8 p.m. La Pena Community Chorus present an homage to Violeta Parra. This is a benefit for Berkeley High School’s CAS program. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Country Joe McDonald March 9 & 10, 8 - 10 p.m. McDonald will play a solo acoustic set of old & new songs and a tribute to Woody Guthrie. $20 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck Ave. (at Berryman) www.countryjoe.com  

“Mystic Journey” March 10, 8 p.m. Suzanne Teng and Mystic Journey are a unique contemporary world music ensemble, based in Los Angeles, making their Bay Area debut. $15 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 8 & 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

Maria Marquez in Concert March 10, 8:30 p.m. A special evening of Marquez’s songs from her latest CD, “Eleven Love Stories.” $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

“Treacherous Crossings” March 14, 10 a.m., March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

“Fall” by Bridget Carpenter Through March 11. $15.99 - $51. Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, www. berkeleyrep.org 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“Glory Box” by Tim Miller March 9, 8 p.m. In this one-time performance, Miller explores the themes of same-sex marriage and binational gay/lesbian immigration rights. $15 Zellerbach Playhouse UC Berkeley 601-8932 or www.ticketweb.com  

“Little Shop of Horrors” March 9 through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus March 14 - May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 9: Annette Madden will read from “In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah:; March 10: Dyke Open Myke! To particpate call Jessy 655-1015; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 6: Martin Waddell, in celebration of his two new picture books “A Kitten Called Moonlight” and “Tom Rabbit”; March 6: Terry Kupers talks about “Prison Masculinites.” Joining Kupers will be Christian Parenti, Susanne Paczensky, Lige Dailley, Jr. and Don Specter; March 8: K.C. Cole explores “A Hole in the Universe”; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 8: Judy Wells; March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

Class Dismissed Poetry Posse March 2, 7:30 p.m. Afro-Haitian dancers, Dance Production dancers, the BHS poetry slammers, an opening a capella number and a few surprises. A benefit for a Berkeley High school student trip to Cuba. $5 - $10 Little Theater Berkeley High School 2246 Milvia St.  

Bamboo Ridge Writers Reading March 4, 4 p.m. Five authors published in the book, “Intersecting Circles: The Voices of Hapa Women in Poetry & Prose.” Bamboo Ridge publishes literature which nurtures the voices of Hawaii and celebrates its literary tradition. Eastwind Books of Berkeley 2066 University Ave. 548-2350 

Anita Barrows March 4, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Barrows will read from her poem “A Record” inspired by an exhibit done in Theresienstadt and her translation of Rosa Luxenburg’s letters. Free Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Umi Satsang March 6, 7:30 p.m. Satsang will share his love and freedom as expressed in his new book “Footprints in the Snow” Barnes & Noble 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike March 11, 2 p.m. Featuring Sacramento poet Johnny Heart Berkeley Art Museum Conference Room 2621 Durant (at Bowditch) 527-9753 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 11: Director of Berkeley’s International House, Joe Lurie, will show a video and dicuss the history and struggle to open the I-House 70 years ago; March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag March 7, 4 p.m.: Akhil Reed Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.”; March 8, 5 p.m.: E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jefferson lecturer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, will speak on “Is There a Politics of the Common Good?” (IGS Library); March 9, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.: “Interpreting Governance: Narratives of Public Sector Reform” A one-day colloquiem with Mark Bevir of UC Berkeley, Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and many others; March 12, Noon: Catherine Hafer of Ohio State will discuss “The Political Economy of Emerging Property Rights”; March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

Thirty-nine people were arrested Monday outside Bayer Corporation’s Berkeley research and manufacturing facility in a protest over a lawsuit that AIDS activists say will affect millions of lives in South Africa.  

About 100 peaceful protesters carrying signs and chanting anti-Bayer slogans, of “Stop medical apartheid!” and “Bayer, Bayer you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side!” gathered at the front gate of the Bayer Corporation’s Center for Biotechnology.  

The protest was scheduled to coincide with the beginning of oral arguments in an intellectual property suit in Pretoria’s High Court in South Africa.  

Bayer is among 39 pharmaceutical companies that filed suit against the government of South Africa over the adoption of the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment in 1997.  

The amendment would allow generic drug manufacturers to produce and sell drugs at a reduced cost. In the case of AIDS drugs or antitiretrovirals, which are prescribed to prolong the lives of AIDS patients, the cost could be reduced to one-tenth of current prices set by pharmaceutical companies, according to Act Up East Bay. 

Protest organizers, Act Up/East Bay and Global Exchange, worked closely with police to ensure the demonstration would remain peaceful. Those arrested were respectfully escorted two at a time from the front gate of the research and manufacturing facility to a processing area where they were cited and released.  

Among those arrested were Berkeley Councilmembers Maudelle Shirek, Kriss Worthington and Linda Maio. Councilmembers Dona Spring and Margaret Breland were among the protesters but chose not to be arrested. 

Worthington, who stopped counting the times he has been arrested for protesting at 100, said Bayer Corporation is demonstrating unconscionable greed. “Berkeley fought very hard so all South Africans would have the right to vote,” said Worthington who carried a framed 1994 South African ballot from the first election in which blacks were allowed to vote.. “Berkeley will have to fight just as hard so people of all income levels have access to HIV/AIDS drugs.” 

Bayer spokesperson Mary Stutts said the protesters were being unfair to Bayer. She said the purpose of the law suit is to defend the intellectual property rights of all the drugs that have been developed by the pharmaceutical companies. “The amendment passed in South Africa impacts all drugs, not just AIDS drugs,” she said. “The amendment is not going to resolve the AIDS crisis it’s only going to make it more difficult for companies like Bayer to develop cures and treatments for diseases like AIDS.” 

Act Up organizers say an Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer has offered to provide Doctors Without Borders with the drugs for a treatment known as “triple therapy” for $350 per person per year. Pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb are known to charge as much as $11,000 for the same treatment. 

According to studies there are 4.2 million South Africans who are HIV positive. The majority of the infected are poor, some earning less than a dollar a day and cannot afford drug treatments that can cost as much as $1,100 per year. 

Three commissioners from the Landmarks Preservation Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against the city in response to an opinion by the city attorney saying they have a conflict of interest. 

At a Civic Center press conference late Monday afternoon, the commissioners, Becky O’Malley, Lesley Emmington-Jones and Carrie Olson and their attorney Antonio Rossmann, announced they had filed the suit with the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco. The suit names the city and LPC Chair Burton Edwards as respondents. 

The lawsuit is the latest development resulting from a series of opinions from City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque that describe seven commissioners on three commissions as having a conflict of interest in carrying out the duties of commissioner. Five of the commissioners were named by Albuquerque because of their affiliation with nonprofit organizations. 

O’Malley, Emmington-Jones and Olson were considered by Albuquerque to have a conflict of interest because of their affiliation with the nonprofit Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. As a result of the Oct. 30 opinion, LPC Chair Edwards would not allow the three commissioners to discuss or vote on any issues related to a proposal by the Beth El Congregation to build a synagogue and school at 1301 Oxford St. 

Albuquerque’s opinions resulted in disrupting the work of two commissions. The LPC and the Community Environmental Advisory Commission abruptly ended three meetings because of internal arguments and confusion over the opinions.  

“I’m not sure why the city attorney has issued these opinions but this is not the first time she has found phantom conflict of interest issues and tried to eliminate people who are heavily involved with civic politics,” Rossmann said. “The city needs to end this practice of ‘guilt by affiliation.’” 

Rossmann said the suit seeks a ruling by the Court of Appeal stipulating that his clients should be returned to fully functioning members of the commission and ordering the city not to disqualify other commissioners solely on the basis of their affiliation with a nonprofit. 

“A conflict of interest should be related to a financial issue, which is not the case here,” Rossmann said. 

The press conference was held at 5 p.m., too late for the Daily Planet to get a response from the city attorney’s office. 

A fourth LPC commissioner, Doug Morse, was included in Albuquerque’s opinion but has chosen not to be involved with the suit.  

According to O’Malley, Morse attempted to resolve his alleged conflict by resigning from BAHA but was told by someone in the City Attorney’s Office that he is still ineligible to serve on the LPC. 

Rossmann said he is unaware of any similar cases ever being filed in California. “This is a novel theory,” he said. “The case cited in the city attorney’s opinion is a 30-year-old case out of The District of Columbia regarding the National Organization of Women so these cases aren’t heard very often.” 

Olson said in a press release, she believes her constitutional rights to freedom of association have been violated. “I think this is an amazing turn of events, especially given that we are in the cradle of the Free Speech Movement.”

The Berkeley High campus has suffered more than its fair share of indignities over the years. First the Loma Prieta earthquake took out its cafeteria in 1989. Then a fire gutted the B Building last spring. 

Even when the B Building was sound and serving as the campus hub, with administrative offices and the school library, it was something of an embarrassment. Just six months after it was completed in 1964 contractors were called back to replace the  

windows with ones that would, um, open and close. Years later students and staff inside the building were still gasping for air. 

“The ventilation in the building was atrocious at best,” said Berkeley Unified School District General Services Manager Judson Owens. “It was hot on hot days and cold on cold days.”  

Worse, the building that was supposed to mark the center of the campus was a maze of unmarked hallways that left parents and other visitors feeling disoriented and confused. 

“It was very difficult for people not familiar with the campus to find the library,” Owens said. 

Now, with glittering new facilities in place for Cragmont and Thousand Oaks elementary schools, it’s Berkeley High’s turn to watch some new buildings rise.  

A $29 million project, which began in January, will put two new buildings running the length of Milvia Avenue between Allston Way and Bancroft Way. The buildings will house administrative offices (currently in portable trailers), a new library and media center (many of the library’s book have been in off-campus storage since last year’s fire), and a student union and cafeteria – non-existent since the Loma Prieta earthquake. It will add three classrooms to a campus infamous for its crowded classrooms, and a new gymnasium and pool at a school where many sporting activities take place away from campus due to lack of facilities. 

“It will put the entire water polo and swimming and diving programs back on campus so they don’t have to use the Willard (Middle School facilities,” said Berkeley High Athletics Director Bob Traum. “You certainly want to have activities right here on campus,” Traum said, pointing to greater scheduling flexibility for teams and a more inviting atmosphere for spectators. 

In a decade of districtwide construction – ever since the passage a $158 million bond measure in 1992 – the Milvia project will be the biggest, Owens said.  

ELS, the Berkeley architecture firm chosen to design the buildings in 1997, won a design merit award from the Coalition for Adequate School Housing last year for its work on the project. 

One of the guiding principals in designing the buildings was the idea of creating a “front door to the school,” said ELS Project Manager David Petta. Under the plan a dramatic entrance at the corner of Milvia and Allston will give the school a recognizable public face, Petta said. 

Other user-friendly touches in the new buildings include a a new box office for the community theater just off Allston Way, marked by vertical glass corner of the building that will be illuminated at night to replicate the effect of a theater marquee; hardwood floors and wood paneled walls for the student union; and lots of floor to ceiling windows to draw light into the building. 

“Their are lots of natural wood finishes inside the (student union) to make it feel warm and comfortable so people will want to spend a lot of time there,” Petta said.  

On the outside the building will have an art deco appearance calculated to conform to the appearance of the community theater next door. In fact, the new buildings along Milvia will complete a master plan for the campus that was originally drafted in 1937. 

“We want to complete this master plan so the whole campus has one aesthetic image that is associated with Berkeley High,” said ELS Project Designer Ed Noland. Even the color of the new buildings will match the color of the existing G and H buildings that line the opposite side of the campus. 

Berkeley High students stood along Milvia Monday afternoon as a giant backhoe clawed out the insides of the old campus electric plant to make way for the new buildings. For many the new buildings are coming not a moment to soon. 

“The Berkeley High Buildings are awful,” said sophomore Kayla Lewis. “There’s graffiti everywhere and trash everywhere. They try painting the walls but the stuff’s been there forever.” 

Lewis said she’s repulsed by the schools old swimming pools and has to go to public libraries off campus to do research. 

Lewis’s only complaint about the construction project is that, as a sophomore, she’s “not even going to be here for (the new buildings).” 

Berkeley High principal Frank Lynch said it will probably be the fall of 2004 before the buildings are up and running.  

Still, said Lynch, “once the buildings start going up people will have the faith that they’re going to have something.”  

Lynch himself can hardly wait. 

“The library should be the hub of your campus,” Lynch said, adding “we hardly have any classroom space available at this moment (for the school to expand).” 

There is one thing about the new buildings, however, that school administrators are not wild about: the price tag. 

The building was budgeted at between $18 and $22 million in the early 90’s. With no significant changes to the plan that price had grown to $29 million by the time the contract finally went to bid in December of last year. 

“After the building was designed it went in for extensive review by the state,” said ELS’s Petta. “During that period the economy kept booming and drove (construction prices) higher and higher.” 

FRESNO — A group of former migrant workers is suing the governments of Mexico and the United States over money they say they were never paid for working on American farms and railroads more than 50 years ago. 

Four workers, know as “braceros” in Spanish, from the World War II era filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco March 1.  

The suit accuses the U.S., the Republic of Mexico and several banks, including Wells Fargo and Banco de Mexico, of illegally withholding money from up to 300,000 foreign workers between 1942 and 1949. 

“Depending on whose estimates you believe, we could be looking at up to half-a-billion dollars or so,” said Valeriano Saucedo, a Visalia-based plaintiffs’ lawyer. 

A treaty between the U.S. and Mexico allowed an army of workers to take temporary jobs here during the labor shortages of World War II. The treaty required that 10 percent of workers’ salaries be automatically deducted and sent to Mexican banks to serve as a savings account. 

Many ex-braceros say they never got that money. 

“I think there’s a lot of interest and energy by both the U.S. and Mexico to finally resolve this issue and I hope it will be handled in a very cooperative way,” Saucedo said.  

“It’s simply a matter of tracking the funds.” 

To that end, some immigrant rights groups are holding meetings in California’s agricultural heartland to find as many braceros or their descendants as they can. 

One such meeting was a Sunday gathering at Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Delano. The organizers were called the Ex-Braceros and Beneficiaries Union of the Central Valley, a coalition of immigrant rights organizations trying to help braceros in their claims. 

Several old men attended the meeting, signing their names to a registry list. Younger men and women showed up with their children to learn whether their fathers qualified to join the class-action lawsuit. 

Everyone was told to find immigration papers and other documents to support their claims of working during the bracero years. While many guest workers returned to Mexico after the bracero program ended, others chose to immigrate legally to the United States with their families. 

“Justice will be served if the money is returned to the braceros,” said Maria Luisa Pacheco, a Delano resident whose husband, Ruben, says he is owed money. 

The four workers now included in the suit are Senorino Ramirez Cruz of Santa Rosa, Calif.; Leocadio de la Rosa of Soledad, Calif.; Liborio Santiago Perez of Mexico; and Felipe Nava, of LaGrange, Ill. 

What you can say for sure about the consumer’s state of mind is that it falls somewhere among the big C’s – confused, cautious, lacking confidence or suffering from a lost sense of control. 

It could be a bit of each, confusion being added to the mix after Tuesday’s congressional testimony by Alan Greenspan, when he indicated little urgency about the need for a quick, interim interest-rate cut. 

With consumer confidence and stock prices falling, Wall Streeters especially were surprised by the seeming complacency of Greenspan, who earlier had expressed worries that pessimism might worsen the downturn. 

Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, never did promise the quick cut so widely anticipated; hopes for it simply grew on assumptions the economy was worsening and in need of a boost, and that he would respond before the scheduled meeting of the Fed on March 20. 

When he did not come through as hoped, disappointment was heavy, and the published expressions of the hopeful indicated that the man they had viewed as the hero of the great expansion had failed and confused them. 

The chairman did have some observations that helped explain why his anxiety of January seemed to have eased in February. Deterioration, he suggested, had not worsened in recent weeks, as indicated by still fairly strong home and car sales. While exports and consumption had weakened, investments in business equipment had not fallen as badly. 

Later information seemed to support the view. The Commerce Department announced on Thursday that January incomes grew by 0.6 percent, an improvement over December. And consumer spending rose strongly. 

In all, the picture remained mixed. New claims for state jobless benefits rose late in February, but January’s jobless rate of 4.2 percent ranked as one of the best in decades. Manufacturing jobs continued to be lost in February, but construction was up. 

This and other evidence suggests that what is viewed as weakening confidence among consumers might also include a large measure of confusion and a deepening caution that three years ago wasn’t part of the picture. 

Compared with what might be called average postwar years, the economy is still not devastated, as might appear to some. For several years, people were certain that times were improving. They felt in control of their lives and futures. And they miss that feeling. 

The fear of recession can’t possibly be avoided now, since it’s the talk of the town. And if it’s forgotten for a moment, it comes crashing back in the next headline or radio or TV newscast. 

But, say the more optimistic economists, there’s still a good chance things aren’t as bad as feared. 

It’s still possible, as Standard & Poor’s economist David Wyss once suggested, that a high-flying economy can be guided down to a landing that, compared to old standards, is at several thousand feet in the air. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

SAN JOSE — A start-up called New.net began Monday to sell Web addresses based on 20 new Internet domain extensions, adding to the growing anarchy in cyberspace. 

The Pasadena-based company is the latest breakaway domain name seller to resist the status quo and dole out Web addresses under suffixes that function like the familiar ones of ”.com” or ”.net.” 

The new suffixes, which include ”.kids,” ”.sport,” ”.travel” and ”.xxx,” are not sanctioned by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization selected by the U.S. government in 1998 to oversee Internet addresses. 

Other alternative, unsanctioned Web domain registries already exist but none seem to be as ambitious as New.net, establishing 20 new suffixes and garnering plenty of media attention for its end run of the establishment. 

ICANN is an international group assigned to technically assign and coordinate domain categories, similar to maintaining a master address book for Web sites. Sanctioned domain categories, such as ”.com,” ”.org” and ”.gov,” are the building blocks over which many other domain names are constructed and are essential to popular use of the Internet. Without them, users would have to remember complicated strings of numbers to reach a Web site or send e-mail. 

ICANN, however, has been dogged by criticism that it is sluggish and caught up in political tangles. It also is clouded by allegations that its decisions are arbitrary and that its secrecy conflicts with its democratic mandate. 

After years of debate, ICANN recently approved seven new category names that will be activated later this year. 

Companies such as New.net say that’s still not enough. 

“The (ICANN) process has moved too slowly and we want to move quickly to provide domain names that people want now,” said Dave Hernand, chief executive of New.net. 

But how many people will want to pay New.net’s $25 fee for a domain name based on suffixes outside the ICANN structure remains unclear. 

Using an unsanctioned suffix requires changing some numbers in a computer’s network properties. It’s simple to do, but most people either don’t know how or don’t bother. 

As a result, millions of Internet surfers may never see the Web sites using the unsanctioned suffixes. 

New.net contends its alternative offering is different. It has partnered with Internet service providers, including Earthlink Inc., NetZero Inc. and ExciteHome Corp., to automatically route users to the new Web addresses. Like New.net, those three ISPs were boosted by investor Bill Gross of idealabs!, a Pasadena-based business incubator known for springing controversial ventures. 

New.net also says its technology involves user-friendly plug-ins to enable easy access to its domain name registry from any Web browser running on any kind of operating system. 

“It’s great,” Milton Mueller, a Syracuse University professor who is writing a book on Internet roots, said of New.net and similar rebel registries. “I like to see this kind of demonstration that we don’t have to rely on this incredibly political and centralized process that ICANN has set up to create new domain name services.” 

ICANN officials did not have any comment, spokesman Brett LaGrande said Monday. 

But in a recent interview with the Associated Press, Andrew McLaughlin, ICANN’s chief policy officer, said unsanctioned domain name services “are free to do what they want. People who pay money to those folks are surely aware that ‘alternative root’ offerings are not part of the authoritative DNS,” or domain name system. 

Supporters of alternative offerings claim the government didn’t have the authority to delegate the naming functions to ICANN to begin with. 

A House telecommunications subcommittee last month discussed the Internet domain name selection process, but took no action. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.new.net 

http://www.icann.com 

NEW YORK — Stocks moved higher Monday as investors took advantage of cheaper prices and momentarily put aside their fears about the slowing economy. 

Wall Street managed the advance despite warnings from more companies that future profits will be weak. Analysts are split over whether that means the market is poised to rally or whether investors are just temporarily bargain hunting. 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 95.99 to close at 10,562.30, according to preliminary calculations. Volume was the lightest so far this year as many traders stayed home due to the winter storm in the Northeast. 

overcame downgrades of 15 stocks including Altera by Prudential Securities, which believes the shares will bottom out in the second or third quarter. 

As companies defy bad news, the chances of a longer-lasting market rally increase, said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst for Jefferies & Co. 

“We have finally come to the point where we have a price-news divergence meaning stocks don’t go down on bad news,” Hogan said. “That is typical of a (market) bottom.” 

Not all stocks, however, were able to shake off bad news. Coca-Cola, the Dow’s biggest loser on Monday, tumbled $2.35 to $50.20 after the company announced a management reorganization plan that included the elimination of the president’s post. 

Still, a bit of optimism about the economy could be seen in other blue chip dealings. Investors bid down the safer stocks like drug issues after months of running them up when riskier tech sectors fell out of favor.  

Meanwhile, the market sent more economically sensitive blue chips higher. Consumer cyclical stocks, called by that name because they suffer when the economy slows down, led the Dow’s move up.  

— The Associated Press 

General Motors gained $1.08 at $55.38. 

However, some analysts don’t expect prices to keep going higher. They say investors are still cautious and call market advances “trading rallies” spurred only by cheaper prices. The consensus on Wall Street is that selloffs will continue to be the dominant trading pattern as the market faces more bad news about earnings and how much the economy has weakened. 

“It’s a rally in the Dow and in (consumer) cyclicals. That’s about it though,” said Gary Kaltbaum, a technical analyst for First Union Securities. “I don’t count it as much as anything. Volume is light because of the snowstorm.” 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners slightly more than 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange. Monday’s trading was the year’s lightest to date with volume of 921.46 million shares, well below 1.02 billion on Friday. The last time volume dipped below 1 billion shares was Dec. 26. 

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of smaller company stocks, fell 1.09 to 475.79. 

Stocks also rose overseas, boosting Japan’s Nikkei stock average by 0.5 percent. In Europe, Britain’s FT-SE 100 gained 1.2 percent, France’s CAC-40 rose 1.5 percent, and Germany’s DAX index advanced 0.9 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

Gentrification doesn’t have to be all bad.  

James Head of the National Economic Development and Law Center believes that controlled growth and gentrification can be positive for a community. But, he said, in order to reap the rewards of gentrification — including economic vitality and diverse communities — cities must aggressively combat the displacement of residents, small businesses and non-profit organizations.  

The Berkeley City Council took the first step to address the problems of gentrification by highlighting the issues at a community forum entilted, “Displacement and the Impacts of Gentrification,” sponsored jointly with UC Berkeley’s Institute of Urban and Regional Development. 

Displacement is not news — Berkeley residents already recognize that gentrification is bringing high rents, which in turn is forcing renters, artists and non-profit organizations out of the city. But the figures are startling. James Vann, an architect who has worked on many low-income developments, said that rent has increased 37.4 percent in the past year and that Berkeley’s median home price is $455,000. According to Vann, someone earning $136,500 per year could afford the mortgage after making a $91,000 down payment. Beyond simple costs, Vann said Berkeley’s total housing supply has actually decreased by a small percentage since 1970, rather than increasing with the growth.  

The Bay Area growth strategies are creating a special problem for business owners, said Panelist Bruce Kern of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance for Business. The area lacks affordable housing for middle-income workers. He said this creates a community of the very rich and the very poor, with no way for businesses with middle-management to locate in the area.  

People in search of living space are not the only ones suffering. Susan Brooks is a working artist and 30-year Berkeley resident who organizes the annual Artisan Holiday Open Studio.  

She has seen rent increases between 10 and 100 percent for artist spaces in Berkeley.  

“I’d like to be in a building where I knew the community I’m building can grow,” said Brooks. “The community I have is being decimated.”  

A strong stable artist community can be essential to survival, said Lucy Lytle, another working artist, because a critical mass attracts commercial business and allows for shared tools and resources. 

After enumerating the problems, panelists offered potential community solutions. Vann mentioned several possible options for curbing the displacement of low- and fixed-income residents, including declaring residential hotels landmarks, using city funds to purchase property for low-income housing and making it mandatory to develop projects with high density.  

Other panelists offered the solution of requiring the inclusion of art and community space in new office development projects as one way to ensure that space continues to exist. In addition, the city could purchase buildings specifically to rent to non-profit and arts organizations, similar to plans for low-income housing. Sue Hestor, an attorney who fought the negative impacts of gentrification in San Francisco, mentioned aggressively using zoning laws to slow down development and limit growth. 

Berkeley has been pro-active in preventing displacement and is already using some mechanisms for keeping different sectors of the diverse community stable. A Planning Commission recommendation for a moratorium on office development in West Berkeley will go before the City Council on April 17. In West Berkeley, an ordinance created to maintain the artistic community already decrees that if a working artist leaves a space, someone doing the same kind of work has to move in. Unfortunately, said Civic Arts Commissioner Susan Levine, many artists do not know about the law and do not take advantage of it.  

Other panelist recommendations are included in the new city general plan, which should be completed in December, said Rob Wrenn, chair of the Planning Commission. One major component is the plan for 6,400 new affordable housing units owned by the city. But the problems facing artists and non-profits were a wake-up call, said Zelda Bronstein, vice-chair of the Planning Commission. She said that provisions to support these sectors would need to be addressed in the general plan.  

For some, the city’s efforts will come too late. Zoning Commissioner Dave Blake recently had to move his small business out of Berkeley because he could no longer afford to rent office space. Nonetheless, he was pleased that the public event “made an issue” out of business displacement because now the city will have to address it. “For most of us there’s a million problems,” said Blake. “And you don’t always think of them as policy problems.” 

One courageous audience question expressed the tacit hopes of many long-term Bay Area residents. Now that the dot-com boom is over, shouldn’t prices settle back to normal? Panelists discouraged that quixotic dreaming. 

Dot-coms or no dot-coms, California is going to continue to grow, they said. Architect Vann noted that gentrification is a regional problem spurred by the growth of the technology sector and the change of industry base in California at large. In addition many of the housing pressures people face comes from a natural increase in population from migration and birth rates.  

“Can we stop the growth?” asked Bruce Kern of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance for Business. “The growth is us.”  

Monday, March 5

Your Legal Rights with HMOs 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

YWCA Oakland  

1515 Webster St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Presented by the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, UCSF Cancer Resource Center and the San Francisco Bar Volunteer Legal Services, this free workshop covers what your legal rights are and how to guard them.  

Call 415-885-3693 

Beginning Bicyclist Workshop  

7 - 9 p.m. 

YMCA  

2001 Allston Way  

Community Room 1, Main Floor  

Jason Meggs and Zed Lopez will teach you how to keep yourself and your bike safe and even how to use your bike for shopping. Free  

Call Jason Meggs, 549-RIDE 

“Stop Medical Apartheid” 

Noon  

Parker & Seventh St.  

Local non-violent civil disobedience in reaction to Bayer Corp. involvement in a lawsuit against the government of South Africa. Bayer and 39 other large drug companies are suing the governement to prevent them from producing generic AIDS drugs or importing them at the lowest market price. Speakers or arrestees includes Councilors Maudelle Shirek and Kriss Worthington, Father Bill O’Donnell and Rev. Mark Wilson and South African Bongane Byatai.  

Call 568-1680 

Self-Care and Wellness Health Fair Pre-Registration Deadline 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Ashby Campus, Auditorium  

2450 Ashby Ave.  

Registration deadline for the March 10 event. A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

Beginning Spanish  

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Edie Wright.  

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, March 6

“Great Decisions” - U.S. &  

Iraq 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent  

Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is health, nutrition and science; bioengineering.  

Call 527-5332  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

International Women’s Day 

11:10 a.m. 

Pacific School of Religion Chapel 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Join students, staff, and faculty in the celebration of International Women’s Day. The theme is “A Call to Place: Quilting Resistance,” highlighting women’s religious experiences and women of the world.  

649-2490 

Aquinas, Creation and Cosmic Evolution 

7:30 p.m. 

2400 Ridge Road 

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

Dinner Board Room  

Benedict Ashley, author, advisor to the Theological Commission of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and faculty member of the Aquinas Institute, gives the eleventh annual Aquinas lecture.  

883-2085 

National Nutrition Month Cooking Demonstration 

11:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Five a Day with Natalie.  

Call 644-6107 

“Women’s Voices / Women’s History” 

6 p.m. 

YWCA Main Lounge  

UC Berkeley  

2600 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch)  

A talk with Lisa Rubens of the Regional Oral History Office.  

848-6370 

Anti-GMO Mobilization 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Help the Ecology Center mobilize a response to the FDA’s failure to regulate the biotech industry in any meaningful way. Also to be discussed will be preparations for the Biodevastation Protest and Counter-Conference.  

548-2220 x233 or www.ecologycenter.org 

Wednesday, March 7

Stagebridge Free Acting & 

Storytelling Classes for  

Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St., Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Women in Interfaith  

Relationships  

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Led by Dawn Kepler, this workshop will explore interfaith relationships on many levels, in relation to culture, religion, and gender. People of all backgrounds and orientations are invited to attend.  

$10 

848-0237 x127

‘Park on the street plan’ will add to Berkeley High School teacher frustration 

Editor: 

At the last meeting of 2000, the Berkeley Unified School District administration asked the City to provide 180 daily parking permits for residential parking areas near the high school.  

Before approving this request on a 4-1 vote, the Board heard from teachers and parents who are also nearby residents at 11:30 p.m. 

As one parent testified, although he and his children already bike to school, if he drives them, he cannot return home before 5:30 p.m. as he has nowhere to park, even though he purchased a permit to park on a residential street. 

A second parent, who is a teacher, reported that she bought her Central Berkeley home so that as soon as her young child was in school, they could walk or bike to school. With no empty parking spaces in her neighborhood, a permit would be an empty promise to teachers, not a solution.  

A neighborhood resident who is an Oakland teacher carpools to her school. Transit incentives make this financially attractive and cost a public institution little or nothing.  

Another parent moved to this neighborhood so her child could walk to high school. Should she be unable to park close enough to her home to unload groceries so that a teacher can unload school supplies? There are better “solutions” than this untenable choice. 

Locating Berkeley High at a public transit hub is supposed to facilitate access. Unfortunately, the failure to encourage transit use has created a situation where BHS daily draws several hundred vehicles driven by teachers, staff and students. Over many years, BHS found spaces on campus to park these cars, further encouraging driving. In 1996 the District decided to remove cars from BHS campus but never developed a transportation program.  

Even the new buildings will have no parking although the Environmental Impact Report required it and many urged it. Instead of facing its transportation needs, historically those associated with BUSD have ignored them. 

The District could have acted on transit alternatives and planned for appropriate future parking since it knew it would have no on-campus parking by 2001. We are deeply concerned about the lack of responsibility and poor role-modeling for our children by an education system which “solves” problems only by foisting the burden on others at little impact or expense to itself. It is unfortunate that although the city and school district staff  

have had many meetings, they never consulted with neighboring residents or transit experts to address these issues. Now too little time is left for appropriate planning or development of environmental alternatives.  

Since BUSD’s only action, before making the staff permit proposal, was to spend over $80,000/year for parking garage spaces – shouldn’t BUSD spend at least that amount on transit alternatives? To his credit, Board President Terry Doran moved to provide Berkeley High’s teachers a public transit subsidy but could only get a second. The idea was referred for “study on the costs.” 

New construction at Berkeley High School eliminates the temporary teacher parking lot. This loss of available spaces moves that number of vehicles out into the already crowded surrounding commercial and neighborhood streets, displacing existing uses. 

The only “plan” BUSD proposed is to commandeer the city’s public parking spaces by asking the city to issue parking placards for teachers. This is not a “plan” for a simple reason: THERE ARE NO PARKING SPACES.  

“Permits were already issued to residents with a few remaining spaces for short-term use (less than two hours in one day). This request will displace current uses with no “plan” to address those displaced needs. The district/union argue that there are many available spaces within area C. 

Where adequate availability exists, at the outer reaches of the C area, is many blocks from the High School and as far or farther than BART or the bus. 

One purpose of controlled parking is to allow access to downtown and Civic Center by residents who come to the downtown area to go to the Y, Library, movie theaters and downtown businesses, as well as city and district offices. One of the intents of the residential parking permit program is to ensure that some parking spaces will be available to people who need short-term (less than 2 hour parking.) An increase in the number of permitted cars on our already congested streets only takes parking away from Berkeley residents without area C permits who need short-term parking downtown. 

Currently in our RPP area, three cars park in each two parking spaces. Since RPP was enacted in 1986, resident density has noticeably increased and thus the number of cars increased beyond off-street capacity. With our streets already over-parked by 30-50 percent, residents are understandably concerned by a proposal to increase the number of non-resident permits.  

So the proposed park on the street plan’ will only add to teacher frustration — a permit to use something nonexistent is only an empty promise which results in increased numbers of cars madly circling blocks, increased collisions, and more noise & air pollution. Further reduction in quality of life for teachers and residents is the most probable outcome of the BUSD “Plan.” This becomes a “crisis” unless the residents of this community, city, school district administration and staff, teachers, students and parents work together to solve the problem of how teachers, staff & students get to work/school. 

Berkeley residents overwhelmingly supported the recent bond measures because we support Berkeley schools. We support improving the schools, including school access and adequate teacher salaries. These ARE OUR SCHOOLS.  

We must not be asked by our leaders to choose between our schools and our homes. We all must struggle for ways to do both well.  

Wendy Alfsen  

Victor J. Lab  

Berkeley 

Wait a minute Mr. Postman 

Editor: 

Ms. Miller's mail problems are all too familiar; on our block of upper Shattuck, we have been fruitlessly complaining to the post office over a year. My experience is typical; among periodicals at least ten percent never arrive; of my regular mail, a similar ratio seems applicable; several times a week I get mail for my same number house, on Mendocino Street unfortunately, and occasionally for other people; daily I get from one to five or six pieces of junk mail: the average American now gets more than a dozen unsolicited credit card applications yearly, including children and many deceased; these proliferate, so they come for Mr. Hartor, as some computer has condensed “Hart or current...” into a new name. And then there's the flood of Safeway and Long's and other Postal Patron crap, unwanted, unused, and costly to produce, distribute, and recycle. 

Two reasons readily explain these problems: the Postal mentality, usually referring to violence in Postal Service (a misnomer if ever...) employees, reflects a bureaucracy stolid and insane enough to bring any Byzantine to his knees; add to this the vastly increased volume of mail in recent years, mostly due to imbalanced rate structures, so that first class fees subsidize the five- or more-fold greater number of commercial/mercantile mailings at low cost, which in turn flood and choke the system. True mass marketing (which in Europe is known as The American Disease) it represents the sad hypercommercialism rife in this country. 

Not rocket science: most European countries, and many more, have postal service with reasonable fees, not favoring business; employees who render service; and responsible governance. The smart money, however is not on improvement; carrier pigeons, anyone? 

Stephen Hart 

Berkeley

Trio of juniors leads team to Division IV title 

For the second straight season, league rivals St. Mary’s and Salesian met in the North Coast Section Division IV championship game. But unlike last year, the Panthers came out on top, the third time they have beaten the Chieftans this season. 

The Panthers survived a horrid second quarter in which they were outscored 16-2, leaning heavily on their talented trio of juniors to push them to the school’s first NCS basketball title. Point guard DaShawn Freeman scored a game-high 18 points, and got help from classmates John Sharper and Chase Moore, who scored 13 and 12, respectively, as the starters scored every point for the Panthers. 

The win was sweet redemption for Freeman, who was devastated by last season’s final loss. 

“We didn’t even want the second-place banner,” Freeman said. “If we had gotten one, we probably would have burned it.” 

Freeman came up big in the final seconds of the game, hitting four straight free throws to ice the victory. Salesian point guard John Winston banked in a leaning 3-pointer to pull his team within two with 4.2 seconds left, but Freeman made sure of his team’s title by making two free throws. 

But first St. Mary’s had to overcome a 25-18 halftime deficit. Sharper shook off a scoreless first half to score 13 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer that gave his team a 34-33 lead late in the third quarter, a lead the Panthers would never reliniquish. 

“We wanted this trophy bad, and we got it,” Sharper said. “We weren’t worried at all at halftime, we just came out and played even harder.” 

The Panthers beat Salesian easily in the teams’ regular season meeting, then mounted a comeback to win the BSAL championship game. The teams could meet again in the NorCal finals, which both teams start this week. Freeman, for one, has had enough of the Chieftans for this season. 

“We know each other too well, I think,” he said. “I’m tired of playing those guys.” 

St. Mary’s head coach Jose Caraballo said he considers his team the favorite heading into NorCal. 

“We’ve still got battles left to win,” Caraballo said. “Our goals are still the same. We’re going to work hard and make sure we have the advantage.”

Hana Goldschmidt, left, and Beth Fingerman, right, help Dorrie Swanson with her hair before the group dances at a reading of Meredith Maran’s book, ‘Class Dismissed,’ about life at Berkeley High School. The Friday performance and reading was a benefit fundraiser for Berkeley High students wanting to go on a trip to Cuba. At right, Lizzie Dodd and Swanson stretch.

By Jared Green 

Daily Planet Staff 

Ten minutes into Saturday night’s North Coast Section Division I championship game, Berkeley senior forward Robin Roberson was scoreless, having missed her first five shots, and her team was down 14-11 to Monte Vista. 

Roberson, Berkeley’s leading scorer and leader, proceeded to score the Lady ’Jackets’ next 14 points, putting her team ahead to stay at 25-20 early in the third quarter. The Arizona-bound Roberson put on a dazzling display of outside shooting and tough inside play that showed why she is one of the most feared players in California, scoring 28 points to boost her team a 67-31 victory and Berkeley’s sixth straight NCS title. 

Until Roberson caught fire, the Mustangs outplayed the favored ’Jackets, getting steals and offensive rebounds. Berkeley head coach Gene Nakamura said he wasn’t very happy in the halftime locker room. 

“I gave them a good old tongue lashing,” Nakamura said. “People weren’t hustling, and I told them so.” 

Monte Vista dressed just nine players and played only seven, and fatigue was one of the main factors in the ’Jackets’ win. Head coach Ron Hirschman’s team was clearly worn out by the fourth quarter, and Berkeley finished the game with a 20-0 run. 

“It’s tough to play them. They play 15 people all night long,” said Hirschman, whose teams have been the victims four times in Berkeley’s NCS championship streak. “They just wear you down.” 

Nakamura agreed that his team’s unrivaled depth was a key to the win. 

“They were playing seven people, and it’s hard to beat us doing that,” he said. “I’m playing 14 people, and they all can play. I’m not bringing any bad players off the bench.” 

Roberson said she never doubted that the ’Jackets would win. She said her goal is to win a state championship in her final season. 

“We’ve been working hard to get this far and further,” she said. “This is just one more stepping stone.”

Amidst all the talk of educational standards emanating from Washington, D.C., Berkeley High School freshman will get a taste of what politicians closer to home have dreamed up to improve student achievement when they take the state’s new High School Exit Examination this week. 

And if the Berkeley example is any indication, the implementation of new academic standards around the country is likely, at least for a while, to raise more questions than answers.  

High School freshman all over the state will play the role of guinea pigs Wednesday March 7 as they take first the English-language arts and again Tuesday March 13 for the mathematics sections of the new exam. 

A centerpiece of education reforms proposed by Gov. Gray Davis in 1999, the test will be administered to all sophomores beginning next year. Based on state content standards, the exam represents what a panel of experts have determined all students should know to graduate high school. 

The class of 2004 — or today’s freshman — will be the first class for which it will be required to pass the exit exam to get a high school diploma. But students who fail part of the exam as sophomores will be allowed to retake that part of the exam each subsequent year, giving them a second and a third chance to graduate on schedule.  

Wednesdays’ test has already created small waves of confusion and panic among Berkeley High students and their parents.  

“Some parents are a little unclear. They wonder if their kids don’t pass the test as a freshman does that mean they flunk (high school),” said Karen Sarlo, Berkeley Unified School District public information officer. 

As recently as last Friday, Berkeley High freshman Anjuli Martin didn’t know when the test would be.  

“Oh, it’s next week?” she said. “We haven’t talked about it like at all. I have no clue what it is and it’s like five hours long.” 

The test is supposed to voluntary, but Berkeley High Principal Frank Lynch said he expects all the school’s freshmen to take the test Wednesday. 

Adding to the confusion, perhaps, is the fact that the state legislature is still debating whether or not Wednesday’s voluntary test should be for real or just for practice. Democrats tried but failed to pass a measure to make it a practice test late last week. They are expected to try again today. 

State Democrats are afraid that, unless the whole class of 2004 takes the test at the same time under the same circumstance, the state will be exposed to lawsuits alleging unequal treatment. But Republicans who voted against last week’s measure argue that it’s unfair to students who have prepared for Wednesday’s test to make it invalid at the last minute. 

Berkeley High freshman Amelia McGowan agreed. If Berkeley High students are expected to take the test “it should at least count,” she said. 

Lynch admitted that the whole idea of the new exam makes him uneasy. 

“You name the fear and I’ve got it,” Lynch said, adding that it may not be good for students to lose two more days of instructional time to more testing. 

Since the exit exam is based on the same state standards as the STAR exam — the standardized test all students betwen grades 2 and 11 must take each spring — Lynch questions why the STAR is not used to determine who is ready to graduate.  

“Why not just use the results of the STAR test?” Lynch asked.  

Lynch said he is treating Wednesday’s exam as practice mostly for the benefit of the school, which can use the results to determine how better to prepare students for next year’s test. 

For Kristin Shepherd, co-president of the Berkeley High Parent, Teachers and Students Association (PTSA), it is the state of California that has the most to prove with the new exit exam. 

“The exam should be seen as a test of the state’s commitment to our children,” Shepherd said. “If the state provides the necessary resources for each and every child to succeed at the level of competency represented by the exam, then that is an honorable commitment. But if the state’s proposing to place a failing status on students who were never given appropriate educational opportunities, then it’s simply mean spirited.” 

State Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland), a former public school teacher, is already doubtful that the exam will help the state address its educational challenges, said spokesperson Erin Niemela. 

“He doesn’t think it’s a realistic gauge of how kids are doing,” Niemela said.  

Finally, some worry that the test will be simply to difficult and will result in a demoralizing failure rate, as has happened with new standardized tests elsewhere in the country. 

“If it’s like the SAT, no one will pass,” said Berkeley High senior Marie Waleedej. 

Instead of implementing more tests, the state should be focused on improving the overall school experience, Waleedej said. 

“School should be more about content and just like experiencing school life, social life and homework. Not like, ‘Oh my God, if I don’t pass the test I’m not going to be able to leave,” Waleedej said.

The return home of Aisha Hollans was a resounding success. 

The Southern Cal freshman, who starred at Berkeley High, scored a career high 28 points as the Trojans triumphed 91-74 triumph over California Saturday. 

Hollans made 9-of-14 from the field, hit all eight of her free throws and added team-high totals of eight rebounds and five steals. 

Southern Cal (11-15, 6-10) built a 30-point lead in the second half en route to its highest point total of the year. Hollans was the only Southern Cal player to score in double figures, though Ebony Hoffman, Jessica Cheeks and Tiffany Elmore each tallied nine. 

The victory spoiled Senior Day for the Golden Bears (12-14, 8-8), who had won six of their last eight games. 

Courtney Johnson scored 22 points, Lauren Ashbaugh added 13 and Ami Forney contributed 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for California. 

The Trojans, who play five freshmen extensively, blew the game wide open with a 16-4 run midway through the second half.

The Community Environmental Advisory Commission was finally able to take action regarding a workshop on a controversial report that says the National Tritium Labeling Facility may pose a health risk to Berkeley residents. 

On Thursday the new CEAC chair, Jami Caseber, assigned a subcommittee to begin organizing a workshop on the $30,000 report draft prepared by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg, Germany.  

But the commission sent a request back to the City Council asking for more time and money to ensure that the workshop is as effective as possible. 

The CEAC has had the tritium report workshop on its agenda for the last month but has been unable to consider it because of internal conflicts that have resulted in the abrupt end of two of its last three meetings. 

The draft report indicated that the National Tritium Labeling Facility, which is part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, may pose a danger to Berkeley residents in the event of a serious fire or natural disaster such as an earthquake. 

Tritium is a glowing radioactive isotope of hydrogen used primarily as a marker in drug research. The National Tritium Labeling Facility has special clearance to warehouse large quantities of the radioactive material. 

The report is still in the preliminary stages and the final report is not due until June, 2002.  

The workshop was originally scheduled for April 2, because the reports author, Bernd Franke, was scheduled to be in the California on unrelated business. If the workshop was held on that date the city would be able to save the cost of flying Franke from Germany. 

But both sides of the controversial issue agree that the April 2 date does not provide enough time to arrange the perimeters of the workshop or chose a panel of experts, all of whom will have to familiarize themselves with the complicated documents related to the study. 

“It is important that the community technical experts have time to research available information so they can be effective at the workshop,” said Pam Sihvola, a member of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, which has long advocated the closing of the tritium facility. 

Commissioner Gordon Wozniak, who has been a lighting rod for controversy on the commission because of his employment as a senior scientist at LBNL, agrees the workshop date should be rescheduled. 

“I share the concern that April 2 is too close and we should send it back to the Council to request more funds,” he said. 

Wozniak added that these studies must be approached carefully and thoughtfully because the presence of radiation no matter how safe, he said, “touches a deep primordial fear in people.” 

Additional funds will be required because a rescheduled workshop means a separate trip to the United States for Franke. He is under contract with the city to make the trip and report presentation for $3,500. But Franke recently stated in an e-mail to the city’s hazardous materials supervisor, Nabil Al-Hadithy, that it will now cost, “significantly more to make the trip.” Al-Hadithy said Franke did not say how much more he had in mind. 

The City Council will likely consider the request for additional funds and a delay of the workshop at its March 13 meeting.

Lampley held to 11 points in loss 

LOS ANGELES – Brandon Granville scored 22 points, including four free throws over the final 1:34, as Southern California defeated California 74-69 Saturday to keep alive its hopes of an NCAA tournament bid. 

The Trojans (19-9, 9-7) moved within a game of the Golden Bears (19-9, 10-6) for fourth place in the Pac-10 with two games remaining. 

The victory gave USC a season sweep of Cal, which lost for the first time in four years at the Sports Arena. The Bears were swept on their trip to Los Angeles, having lost to No. 12 UCLA on Thursday. 

Sam Clancy added 16 points for the Trojans, who had gone 2-4 since beating Cal 80-66 a month ago. Clancy had 25 points in that game, but had slumped to an 11.2 average over the last six games. 

USC built a 16-point lead with 6:13 remaining on the strength of a 21-7 run in which Granville hit two 3-pointers and David Bluthenthal added one. 

But the Bears came back with three 3-pointers in a 17-5 spurt that drew them within four with 2:16 to play. Brian Wethers hit two 3-pointers and finished with 18 points to lead Cal. 

Granville hit two free throws to keep USC ahead 70-64. Joe Shipp cut Cal’s deficit to four with two free throws. 

Jeff Trepagnier missed a corner jumper for USC, but Wethers was called for an offensive foul in the final minute. That gave the Trojans possession, and Granville got fouled. He made both free throws to give USC a 72-66 lead with 27 seconds left. 

Cal’s Sean Lampley, the Pac-10’s leading scorer at 20 points a game, hit a 3-pointer to make it 72-69 with 18 seconds left. He finished with 11 points. 

Shantay Legans missed a 3-pointer and Trepagnier grabbed the rebound, got fouled and made one of two free throws with 3.5 seconds left to seal the victory.

The landlord accused of smuggling teen-age girls from India for sex and cheap labor has apparently struck a deal with federal prosecutors and will plead guilty to some charges Monday. 

In court papers filed yesterday, prosecutors told a federal judge in Oakland that three of five defendants in the globe-spanning case will enter pleas. One of those men is Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy. 

The 63-year-old Reddy was arrested in January, 2000, and charged with illegally bringing three teen-age girls to the United States from his home village of Velvadam in India. 

Two of the girls have said they worked in Reddy’s Berkeley restaurant but were kept in a nearby apartment where Reddy allegedly went to have sex with them. The case broke when Chanti Prattipati, 17, was found dead in November 1999 after she suffered carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment owned by Reddy. The other two girls turned in Reddy. 

Authorities later arrested his sons, Vijay Kumar Lakireddy, 31, of Berkeley and Prasad Lakireddy, 42, of Lafayette, and the landlord’s brother, Jayaprakash Lakireddy, 47, of Oakland, and Annapurna Lakireddy, 46, Jayaprakash Lakireddy’s wife. 

They all are charged with conspiring to illegally bring immigrants from India on fraudulent work visas since 1986. All are free on bail. Prosecutors say the landlord’s wife and brother will also plead guilty. His two sons will not. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the court papers.

The Berkeley Police Department reports that a city employee was arrested for six misdemeanor theft counts on Friday for allegedly stealing recycled aluminum he planned to sell to salvage yards. 

Police say 46-year-old Melvin Ponder worked for the City of Berkeley's Solid Waste Transfer Station at Second and Harrison streets. Ponder allegedly carried recycled materials out a back door to his car, so he could transport the materials to his house. 

Police conducted a search of Ponder's house and found his carport was stacked from floor to ceiling with stolen materials such as aluminum, copper, lead and brass. Ponder is said to have rented a storage truck so he could transport the materials and sell them for a profit to salvage yards. 

Police say it took the director of Berkeley's Public Works Department and nearly 10 employees to reclaim the goods.

LOS ANGELES – California could make enormous strides in conserving energy if the state’s electricity was priced like most other commodities, efficiency experts say. 

Most consumers are charged the same price for power throughout the year, regardless of wild fluctuations in generation and transmission costs. 

Advocates favor real-time pricing that would vary the price from day to day. High prices, they argue, could encourage large industrial and commercial users to cut back when electricity is in shortest supply. Energy-intensive activities — whether making microchips or smelting ore — would be shifted to off-peak hours when prices are lower. 

“Right now, absent real-time prices, the system is at best archaic, at worst hypocritical,” said Arthur Rosenfeld, a member of the California Energy Commission, which helps set state energy policy. “We ask people to conserve, but we don’t reward them when we need them to conserve.” 

“In my view, prices have only one function: to convey to the consumer the scarcity of that commodity,” said Ahmad Faruqui, area manager for retail and power markets for EPRI, a Palo Alto, Calif., nonprofit research and development group that studies the utility industry. 

Real-time pricing might have prevented rolling blackouts that hit the state in January. 

“Two hundred megawatts was the deficit during one blackout,” Faruqui said. “It would have easily compensated for it.” 

Real-time pricing is already common in the airline industry, where ticket prices invariably soar as the day of a flight approaches and seats fill up. 

Last year, the Seattle Mariners experimented with a similar system for baseball tickets. 

Among utilities, the Georgia Power Co. runs the nation’s largest real-time pricing program. It issues price bulletins on both an hour- and day-ahead basis for more than 1,600 large consumers, including factories, churches and grocery stores. 

An insulation factory shifted production to Wednesday through Sunday to take advantage of cheap weekend power, said Michael O’Sheasy, manager of product design for the Georgia utility. 

“It’s amazing how ingenious people become when it affects their bottom line,” O’Sheasy said. 

During the summer, when the Georgia heat sparks increased use of air conditioning, the program can reduce the amount of power the utility must generate by 800 megawatts, or about 5 percent. 

Although not a large number, it’s worth as much as $1 million per hour in savings, because power is typically most expensive to generate at times of peak demand, O’Sheasy said. The cost would otherwise be passed on to consumers. 

Other utilities, such as Puget Sound Energy, are beginning to include detailed information in customers’ bills about their power use and the wholesale price of that electricity at the time it was used. 

Anecdotal evidence suggests the information has helped reduce demand by as much as 5 percent, Gary Swofford, the utility’s vice president and chief operating officer, told a San Diego energy conference last month. 

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. began experimenting with real-time pricing in the 1980s. From 1996 to 1998, the utility ran a pilot program at the San Francisco Marriott. It incorporated electricity price information in coordinating the hotel’s heating and cooling system. 

“We figured conservatively we could probably save them 10 percent to 15 percent with a rate-driven system,” said Steve Blanc, a senior research associate at the utility. 

The California Energy Commission will begin a larger experiment this summer.  

The $10 million project will equip buildings around the state with systems to automatically curtail power use by 50 megawatts at times of peak demand.

SAN FRANCISCO – Yes, his business has profited handsomely from California’s energy crisis, but Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay says he shouldn’t be a scapegoat in California’s energy crisis. 

That hasn’t swayed Gov. Gray Davis, who has skewered energy companies such as Houston-based Enron for selling expensive power to California. 

“Never again can we allow out-of-state profiteers to hold Californians hostage,” Davis warned in his State of the State address. 

More recently, however, Davis called Lay to discuss negotiations as the state looks to buy power transmission lines from troubled utilities. 

“I told him we couldn’t support it,” Lay told the San Francisco Chronicle in an interview at his Houston office. “It will lead to an even less efficient transmission grid and, longer term, it could make things worse.” 

Lay is not just any private-sector energy czar — Enron Corp. is the world’s largest energy trader and Lay is a close friend of President George Bush. Lay and his corporation have donated more than $500,000 to Bush’s various political campaigns in recent years and he offered Bush use of Enron’s private jet during the presidential race. 

But Lay said it’s economics, not politics, that matter in California’s energy crisis. And he thinks it unfair that Davis has blamed out-of-state energy brokers for the protracted problems. 

“We didn’t make the rules in California,” Lay said. “We had nothing to do with creating the problem.” 

The problem, many analysts agree, began with the state’s deregulation of the power industry in 1996. Enron encouraged deregulation, and the state’s ensuing power crisis has been lucrative for the corporation. 

Enron’s stock jumped 86 percent in 2000 and its revenues more than doubled to $101 billion. Lay, 58, was compensated accordingly — he received nearly $16 million in stock and cash beyond his $1.3 million salary last year, compared with less than $4 million in bonuses in 1999. 

Lay refused to say how much Enron has made off California’s crisis, though he conceded the profit was “not inconsequential.” 

“We benefit from the volatility,” said Lay, who took over Enron in 1985 and has helped turn the corporation into a major player in the trading of electricity as a commodity. 

But Lay rejected suggestions that Enron has manipulated prices upward by insisting California pay dearly for last-minute power that has helped keep the lights on in recent months. 

“I don’t know of any of that,” he said. “It’s so easy to conjure up conspiracy theories.”

SAN JOSE – Copyright music flowed freely on the Napster tune-swapping service Sunday afternoon as millions of users waited to see if it would fulfill a promise to block pirated songs beginning sometime this weekend. 

A search of the company’s servers showed all the top 10 songs listed on the Billboard Hot 100 list were available, including the No. 1 “Stutter” by Joe featuring Mystikal. Songs by longtime Napster foe Metallica also showed up in searches. 

The company will not comment on the plan until implementation is underway, said spokeswoman Karen DeMarco. She would not say when that would be Sunday. 

As happened previously when Napster has been threatened with closure, usage was soaring. Just one of dozens of servers the site uses showed more than 11,100 people sharing a total of 2.2 million files Sunday afternoon. 

“I am kind of watching it and trying to get my last efforts in — quickly,” said Thor Nelson, a user from St. Paul, Minn. 

During a federal court hearing Friday, Napster attorney David Boies said the service would deploy the screening system over the weekend. He did not provide a specific time. 

On its Web site, Napster said the process of screening out file names, song titles and artists won’t be easy. 

“It has in involved a significant investment of time and resources,” a statement said. “However, we believe it is superior to shutting the service down and disbanding the community during the transition period to the new membership-based service.” 

The software to be installed on Napster’s servers will block access to 1 million music files, Boies said. He and other Napster officials did not say whether that number represented distinct songs or spelling variations on a smaller list. 

Napster’s plan is a pre-emptive move against an injunction sought by the major record labels, which argue copyright holders and artists are not compensated for music traded on the service. Napster has argued that its computers do not store actual song files but rather direct people to other users’ hard drives where the music can be downloaded. 

In July, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel granted the industry’s request for a preliminary injunction and ordered Napster shut down for facilitating infringement. But last month the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the order pending its decision in the case. 

By Friday, all parties were back in court to discuss the case when Napster changed its tune and announced plans to start blocking songs. 

The change is significant, but the policy will work only if the company is diligent in policing its servers and blocking workarounds such Madonna songs where her name is spelled with one “N,” said Robert Schwartz, an attorney who specializes in copyright law. 

Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said the proposal is a promising step. 

“We think that the screening technology has the potential to be effective, but we’ll see,” she said after Friday’s hearing. 

On Sunday, RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss said the group would have no comment immediately on Napster’s implementation of file blocking “or lack thereof.”

UKIAH – Here in the Emerald Triangle, where marijuana sprouts like mushrooms from the forest floor, Mendocino County’s two top cops see themselves as a buffer between drug agents and an often-freewheeling citizenry. 

District Attorney Norman Vroman and Sheriff Tony Craver won office two years ago with campaign pledges to set up one of the nation’s first medical marijuana licensing programs. 

Their goal, they said, is to keep police from seizing legal pot gardens and hassling legitimate growers who register under a 4-year-old California law. 

Now both men are promising to enforce state and federal drug laws, in part to keep outside drug agents from stepping in after 58 percent of residents in this North Coast county voted last fall to bar police from targeting small-time marijuana growers. 

Measure G instructs county supervisors not to spend money pursuing those growing fewer than 25 marijuana plants, and directs Vroman and Craver to make enforcement and prosecution of small-time growers their lowest priority. 

No problem, they say. 

Neither the DA nor the sheriff has enough staff or money to go after those they call “mom and pop growers.” 

Not when drug cartels are importing armed workers to tend and guard thousands of marijuana plants hidden in national forests and other remote areas. 

“Twenty-five plants is a hellacious amount of marijuana. Some of the stuff they grow here, you can get two and three pounds off a plant,” Vroman says. However, “as a practical matter, nobody in the county got prosecuted for 25 plants or 30 plants.” 

The only time arrests were made for small numbers of plants was when police were called in for other reasons, for instance on a domestic violence complaint, and saw the marijuana, Vroman and Craver say. 

That policy will continue, and should stave off any crackdown by outside drug agents in the wake of Measure G, they say. 

“We still will arrest people who shove it in our face,” Vroman says. 

“I know damn well what you’d see if we made a flat refusal to do it,” Craver says. “You’d see a lot of political pressure, intervention, all kind of things going on here. No doubt about that.” 

Both men think the biggest danger from marijuana isn’t the drug itself. 

It’s “theft by people too lazy to grow their own, and wanting to make an easy buck,” Vroman says. 

Craver, who’s spent nearly 30 years working his way up through the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department, remembers a case about 15 years ago in which a local grower woke up to find thieves raiding his backyard garden. 

“This guy’s a former GI, so he puts on a military flak jacket, grabs a .44 magnum, goes out in the backyard and gets in a gunfight with these guys,” Craver recalls. “He wounded two of them, but everyone went to jail on that one. It was like the OK Corral: He’s shooting at them, they’re shooting back at him, they’re trying to get over the fence with his dope. It was quite a deal.” 

Things changed two years ago once Craver and Vroman started their medical marijuana licensing program. 

Since then, Craver’s department has issued about 500 licenses to residents who produced a doctor’s recommendation that they use marijuana to treat an ailment, or to those who grow the marijuana for them. 

Craver advises license-holders to carry the photo-ID card and post a large copy of the license near their garden so police won’t inadvertently tear up the plants. 

“We don’t want to harass an honest citizen,” Craver says. “A lot of these people really are not criminals. These are people who really want to be law-abiding citizens. They have a legal right to what they consider to be medicine. It’s not for me to question whether or not it has medicinal benefits — I’m not the doctor.” 

Vroman settled on what he acknowledges are arbitrary limits on what growers can claim for their medical needs: 12 immature plants or six immature plants and two pounds of cured pot, though users are free to argue they need more to treat their particular illness. 

“Both (Craver) and I got a lot of static from our compatriots that they thought we were crazy, but we’ve reached a spot now where they’re calling us to find out how to set up the program,” Vroman says. “So we’re vindicated to a certain extent.” 

Officials at the federal and state justice departments say they don’t object to Mendocino County setting arbitrary limits for small-time users, though the federal government takes strong issue with California’s medical marijuana law. 

“We’re not into punishing law enforcement for setting their own guidelines, so to speak,” Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Jocelyn Barnes says. 

The DEA doesn’t target users but will arrest anyone caught growing marijuana for profit or the illegal drug market, Barnes says. 

And claiming the marijuana is for medical use doesn’t fly under federal law, which holds that there are no bona fide health benefits, she says. 

B.E. Smith of Trinity County, the first to challenge federal law using California’s medical marijuana statute, wound up with a 27-month prison term in 1999 after federal prosecutors and a federal judge said U.S. law trumps California law. 

“Marijuana cultivation and distribution are crimes under federal law, and we will continue to enforce those laws,” John K. Vincent, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, said through a spokeswoman. 

California voters’ support for marijuana as medicine has pitted the state and federal governments against one another. 

Attorney General Bill Lockyer, for instance, is backing an Oakland marijuana club in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The U.S. Justice Department, however, told the high court that distribution by such clubs “threatens the government’s ability to enforce the federal drug laws.” 

Craver won’t say if he thinks marijuana should be legal, an issue he calls “a political hand-grenade” — even in Mendocino County. 

Vroman supports legalization as a member of the Libertarian Party. He won the unlikely support of both the Green Party, which supported the medical marijuana law, and the National Rifle Association, which loves Vroman’s spirited defense of Second Amendment rights. 

That sort of incongruity plays well in Mendocino County. 

“The people up here are very accepting of anybody. They don’t care who you are or what you’ve done in the past, or what your agenda is now, as long as you do it without stepping on somebody else’s rights,” Vroman says. “The attitude when I went to the DA’s convention was kind of, ’Yeah, well, that’s Mendocino County — anything can happen up there.”’

SAN FRANCISCO – Dawn Balzarano interviewed for months before leaving her job as a Red Cross youth program coordinator to join a dot-com. She gave two weeks’ notice, left for a week at the beach, and called home to find an urgent message from her new company, Alphadog. 

“They said, ’We had a layoff, and we no longer have a position for you,”’ Balzarano said. She is still searching for another job four months later. 

With nearly 12,000 people laid off nationwide from dot-coms last month, tales of termination are getting ugly. Some employees have found locked doors and notes telling them to go home; others got the bad news by e-mail or a tap on the shoulder. Some haven’t been paid for weeks of work. 

Experts say these former dot-com workers have little recourse. 

“Employees have two options: file a lawsuit in court for wages or file a complaint with the state labor commissioner,” said Dean Fryer, spokesman for the state Department of Industrial Relations. 

But if those companies have run out of funds, employees must get in line behind banks and creditors in bankruptcy court. That process can be long and fruitless. 

“I get a lot of calls,” said Kevin Mendez of Highman, Highman & Ball, a San Francisco law firm that emphasizes employment law. “They have very few remedies, really.” 

Mendez said most employees sign a contract allowing their employer to terminate their positions at will. That eliminates breach of contract lawsuits that once choked the legal system. And if wages or other money is owed upon termination, it’s difficult to retrieve from a financially ailing company. 

Unionized employees have some protection through collective bargaining agreements, but unions haven’t been the trend in the dot-com world. In November, customer service employees at etown.com became the first dot-com workers to file for union status with the National Labor Relations Board. 

But the online electronics review site folded earlier this month before employees got a chance to vote on establishing a union. 

“The locks were changed on the building and one of the guys had all his personal belongings impounded in the building. There’s no notice of when and how or if they will be paid,” said Erin Tyson Poh, representative for the Northern California Media Workers Local 39521. “We know this stuff is happening, and we know that in those instances — that when there’s a shut down — the employees fare better with a union.” 

Although many start-ups could handle layoffs better, they shouldn’t be blamed for failing, said John Challenger, of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago consulting firm that tracks dot-com layoffs. The firm reports nearly 66,000 dot-com layoffs since December 1999. 

“The dot-coms are not able to offer the kinds of programs or safety nets that people have come to expect from companies in the ’90s ... like severance, extended health insurance and outplacement,” he said. “I’m a little more forgiving of the dot-coms because start-up companies are ... struggling for their survival.” 

Still, Challenger has written a guide on how to handle employee dismissals, which includes doing it face-to-face, keeping it brief, having a written explanation of why the layoffs are occurring and a list of services and programs the company is offering. 

David Drach wishes his bosses had followed some of those pointers. 

Instead, he opened a company e-mail at 9 a.m. telling him and his co-workers to report to various conference rooms. He knew the end was near as he watched a handful of spared workers scoot out the door just before the announcement. 

“They walked by and tapped people on the shoulders and told them to go home for today and come back tomorrow. They laid everybody else off,” he said. “They may as well have gotten people together in the circle and started playing duck-duck-goose.” 

Drach, 33, of San Jose worked as a network administrator for DoDots, a digital infrastructure dot-com, until he was laid off last November. It was the third job he’d bounced to in four years — and the last. 

It took him just eight days to get a similar position at Santa Clara-based Solid Data Systems, a provider of file-caching appliances for the e-business market. Still, he remains bitter about the DoDots experience. 

“The last one hurt more than the other ones,” Drach said. “Even after I got laid off, two of my friends stayed back to help the moving company. I got to go back to the scene of the crime after the fact. You can just see the shock still in their eyes.”

“Can we have some carrots?” 

An unusual request for a second grader? Not for Malcolm X Arts & Academic Magnet School students Terra Dudley and Emma Tadlock, who like to spend their recess time planting flowers and vegetables in the school’s organic garden. 

“Look at this cabbage,” says Malcolm X Garden Coordinator Rivka Mason in mock despair. “They just come and eat the leaves.” 

The demand for fresh vegetables out of the garden is so strong that Mason has taken to demanding garbage in exchange for veggies. 

“If you can find five pieces of trash anywhere on the playground you can get a carrot,” Mason tells Dudley and Tadlock, explaining, “This is how we keep the playground clean.” 

A community coalition working to educate the public about nutrition programs in the Berkeley Unified School District hosted an afternoon of gardening and healthy snacking at Malcolm X Friday. 

Parents perused healthy recipe books and sampled fresh fruit from the Berkeley Farmers Market as students planted in the garden, made fresh squeezed lemonade and played a game designed to broaden their exposure to different kinds of edible plants. 

Thanks in part to $1 million in grants from the California Nutrition Network, BUSD has built four school gardens (including the Malcolm X garden) and hired cooking and gardening instructors to work at all the district’s elementary schools, said BUSD Garden Resource Coordinator Travis Smith. 

“We’ve found that when kids plant vegetables they will eat them,” said Beebo Turman of the Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative. “It’s an ‘if they grow it they will eat it’ kind of philosophy.” 

The basic idea behind the programs is to impress upon the students, on a daily basis, the importance of exercising and eating well – specifically, at least five servings of fruit and vegetables each day. In addition to classes, many schools have organic salad bars at lunch, afterschool physical activity programs and field trips to the Berkeley Farmer’s Market. 

“It’s going to be reinforced every day they come to school that eating healthy is going to influence the rest of their lives,” Smith said. “This will do a lot to alleviate diseases in our society like cancer and diabetes.” 

In the United States, childhood obesity has doubled in the last ten years and Type 2 diabetes in children has tripled in the last five years according to BUSD Nutrition Network Program Supervisor Erica Peng. 

But it’s not just about nutrition. 

“Not only do we see the clear health benefits, but also the significant impact that improved diet, better nutrition and adequate exercise have on students’ self-esteem, confidence and ability to learn...,” Peng said. 

In addition to teaching students how to prepare healthy meals, from the garden to the kitchen, cooking and gardening instructors work with the rest of the faculty to help reinforce lessons in culture, history and math.  

Mason plans to plant corn, squash and beans at the end of the year to deepen students’ understanding of Native American agricultural practices. She has planted beets, red onions and purple carrots in the past to help a class of third graders see how some cultures make clothing dyes from plants.  

“It’s bringing the culture into agriculture,” Mason said 

Saturday, March 3

Free Sailboat Rides  

1 - 4 p.m. 

Cal Sailing Club 

Berkeley Marina 

The Cal Sailing Club gives free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.  

Visit www.cal-sailing.org  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Central Berkeley Library  

2121 Allston Way  

Mary Miche, leader of Song Trek Music, will lead a sing-along that will send everyone home humming. Call 649-3913 

Residential Solar Electricity  

1 - 3 p.m. 

Ecology Center  

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Hal Aronson, director of the Solar Energy Education Program for Berkeley EcoHouse, will cover how solar electric cells work, different types of systems, and costs of a solar system. Participants will also produce electricity using photovoltaic panels and power a range of appliances.  

$10 - $15  

548-2220 x233  

Feathered Dinosaurs  

11 a.m.  

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley’s Dr. Kevin Padian talks about the discovery of feathered dinosaur fossils in northern China. Included with museum admission. $3 - $7 642-5132 

“Socialism & the Struggle  

for Global Justice”  

10:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

200 Wheeler Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Discussions will include “Why Socialism?”; crisis in Palestine; race, class and the fall out from the 2000 elections; and fighting misogyny and sexism.  

$5 donation 552-8236  

Emergency!: Personal  

Preparedness 

9 a.m. - 11 a.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A class sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services. Free. 

644-8736 

Community Forum on  

Displacement & the Impacts  

of Gentrification 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Rosa Parks Elementary School  

920 Allston Way  

Sponsored by the City of Berkeley and the Institute of Urban and Regional Development of UC Berkeley.  

Sunday, March 4

Free Sailboat Rides  

1 - 4 p.m. 

Cal Sailing Club 

Berkeley Marina 

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, give free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.  

Visit www.cal-sailing.org  

Salsa Lesson and Dance Party  

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Professional instructors Mati Mizrachi and Ron Louie will lead you through the steps. Israeli food will be provided by Holy Land Restaurant.  

$10 

RSVP 237-9874 

Spiritual and Social  

Transformation  

2 - 5 p.m. 

7th Heaven Yoga & Body Awareness Studio  

2820 Seventh St.  

Acarya Dada Shambhushivananda Avadhuta & Norie Huddle. 

$5 - $15 sliding scale  

231-0382  

“Time, Space, Knowledge/ 

Consciousness” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Tom Morse and Ken McKeon on “Time, Space, and Knowledge: An Invitation to Inner Healing.” Free  

843-6812 

Monday, March 5

Your Legal Rights with HMOs 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

YWCA Oakland  

1515 Webster St., Second Floor  

Presented by the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, UCSF Cancer Resource Center and the San Francisco Bar Volunteer Legal Services, this free workshop covers what your legal rights are and how to guard them. 415-885-3693 

Beginning Bicyclist Workshop  

7 - 9 p.m. 

YMCA 2001 Allston Way  

Community Room 1, Main Floor  

Jason Meggs and Zed Lopez will teach you how to keep yourself and your bike safe and even how to use your bike for shopping. Free Call 549-RIDE 

“Stop Medical Apartheid” 

Noon  

Parker & Seventh St.  

Local non-violent civil disobedience in reaction to Bayer Corp. involvement in a lawsuit against the government of South Africa. Bayer and 39 other large drug companies are suing the governement to prevent them from producing generic AIDS drugs or importing them at the lowest market price. Call 568-1680 

Self-Care and Wellness  

Health Fair 

Pre-Registration Deadline 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Registration deadline for the March 10 event. A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Beginning Spanish  

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Edie Wright.  

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, March 6

“Great Decisions” - U.S. & Iraq 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is health, nutrition and science; bioengineering.  

Call 527-5332  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

International Women’s Day 

11:10 a.m. 

Pacific School of Religion Chapel 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Join students, staff, and faculty in the celebration of International Women’s Day. The theme is “A Call to Place: Quilting Resistance,” highlighting women’s religious experiences and women of the world.  

649-2490 

Aquinas, Creation and Cosmic Evolution 

7:30 p.m. 

2400 Ridge Road 

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

Dinner Board Room  

Benedict Ashley, author, advisor to the Theological Commission of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and faculty member of the Aquinas Institute, gives the eleventh annual Aquinas lecture. Free 

883-2085 

National Nutrition Month Cooking Demonstration 

11:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Five a Day with Natalie.  

Call 644-6107 

“Women’s Voices / Women’s History” 

6 p.m. 

YWCA Main Lounge  

UC Berkeley  

2600 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch)  

A talk with Lisa Rubens of the Regional Oral History Office. Learn about the unique challenges in studying women’s history, and get practical advice for conducting your own oral history research. Free  

848-6370 

Anti-GMO Mobilization 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Help the Ecology Center mobilize a response to the FDA’s failure to regulate the biotech industry in any meaningful way. Also to be discussed will be preparations for the Biodevastation Protest and Counter-Conference which will be taking place in San Diego in June.  

548-2220 x233 or www.ecologycenter.org 

Wednesday, March 7

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Women in Interfaith Relationships  

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Led by Dawn Kepler, this workshop will explore interfaith relationships on many levels, in relation to culture, religion, and gender. People of all backgrounds and orientations are invited to attend.  

$10 

848-0237 x127 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Attic Conversions  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect Andus Brandt.  

$35  

525-7610 

Keeping New People Out of Old Neighborhoods 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Graduate School of Journalism 

Main Floor  

121 North Gate Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Invited are students, industry professionals, community members and activists to join in dialogue to explore how the media and urban development issues effect each other.  

(415) 989-1111 

Thursday, March 8

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Judy Wells and host Dale Jensen.  

644-0155 

Trekking Northern India  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional wilderness guide Randy Pomeroy will take you on a journey from Ladakh to Rajasthan. Free 

Call 527-4140 

“Fifty Years in the Making” 

Boalt Hall School of Law  

UC Berkeley 

A gathering of some of the most prominent diplomats, scholars, and legal practitioners in the field of World War II reparation and restitution claims. Free and open to the public.  

Backyard Birding & Beyond  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Bird watching with Stan Scher.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Take the Terror Out of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

California Dept. of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

Room 804  

Session four of six in a series of classes presented by the State Health Toastmasters, this one is called “Creating An Introduction.”  

649-7750 

“Energy, Ecology and Humanism” 

7 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity  

390 27th St. (at Broadway) 

Oakland 

George Matthews, of Community Energy Services, will discuss how energy conservation and solar power can benefit low-income and minority people.  

451-5818 

HIVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35  

525-7610 

Friday, March 9

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Berkeley PC Users Group 

7 p.m. 

Vista College 

2020 Milvia St., Room 303 

E-Mail: meldancing@aol.com 

Europe on a Shoestring  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Scott Mcneely, co-author of the Lonely Planet book will share slides and information on some of his favorite adventures off the beaten path. Come learn about smart budget travel.  

Call 527-4140 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Allen Stross.  

Call 644-6107 

Energy Teach-In & Action Forum  

6:45 p.m. 

Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

Graham Brownstein of TURN, Charles Kalish of Citizens Power Campaign and Todd Creiten of Campaign Against Utilities Rate Hike give an update on the vital struggle for public power. Find out what you can do about your utility bill.  

233-3175 

“Torture in 2001 - The Violations Continue” 

Stephens Hall, Geballe Room  

Townsend Center for the Humanities  

UC Berkeley  

Despite nearly universal prohibition against the use of torture in laws of most nations, the incidence of torture is epidemic. Dr. Kathi Antolak, an expert on the treatment of torture victims will speak.  

Trees Forum  

12:30 p.m. 

Starr King School for Ministry Chapel  

2441 LeConte Ave.  

A discussion on “The Ecology of The Great Work: Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology,” led by Dody Donnelly.  

trees@gtu.edu 

Rebound! Program offers needed help; still have to fix underlying BHS ills 

PCAD is on the Scene! 

In the Fall 2000 the Parents of Children of African Descent came together, not as PCAD, but as a group of concerned parents and grandparents to discuss our children’s progress reports that we had recently received in the mail. It appeared to us that most of our children’s friends had also received progress reports showing that they too were failing. We were not sure what we were going to do. We just felt strongly that something needed to be done. 

Clearly in our hearts and minds we did not believe that our children were failing because they should have been retained in the eighth grade or that they were skipping 15 or more of their classes. As parents we had basically known one another because our kids attended school together in a Berkeley middle school. Many of them played sports together, attended summer enrichment programs together, and participated in discussions about college requirements and entrance exams. 

We wanted to see if our personal concerns were valid, so we took these concerns to the principal of Berkeley High School. We were also concerned that our children would not be prepared to take the newly required state exit exam. We wrote a letter requesting statistics with exact numbers of failing ninth grade students. Upon meeting with the principal and getting data directly from his staff, our sense of urgency was confirmed when we discovered that there was a large number of African American and Latino students who were probably going to fail at least one of their core courses. 

When we asked the principal what was being done to save these struggling students, we were invited to “put something together” and bring it back to him. We also expected him and his staff to address what we as parents felt was a crisis that needed immediate intervention. During the winter break we met to discuss how we envisioned a school where all students were academic achievers. It was at that time that we began to draft the intervention plan that was presented by PCAD to the principal Jan. 4. 

Need was for more  

than an after-school program 

We compared our suggested plan with the high school’s ninth grade after-school intervention program, which was to begin Jan. 8. As parents we wanted more than this program for students, who obviously were having a difficult time being engaged in their classes during regular school hours. We wanted these students to continue onto the 10th grade in the fall of 2001; we wanted them to feel confident that they had the skills to remain on track for graduation; and we wanted them to pass their exit exam. 

Throughout the month of January we shared our draft intervention plan with the Berkeley community. We purposefully designed a website to make our plan accessible, so that members of the community could read it and respond to it with comments and/or suggestions. Recognizing that not all households have a computer and access to the Internet, we reached out to parents and held community meetings. On Jan. 15, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, we hosted a Stone Soup Luncheon and presented our draft plan to over seventy community members. 

Many of us believe that a private education may be a supportive environment for academic engagement, but many more of us believe in public education. A number of parents in PCAD are alumni of Berkeley High. We choose instead to keep our children in Berkeley High and help improve education for more than just our own. 

The academic disparity that exists at Berkeley High is well known. We as PCAD want to acknowledge and honor all the work that has gone into addressing this disparity. The amount of time and research contributed by the Diversity Project has empowered us as parents to develop this intervention plan and move it forward.  

Furthermore, we are well aware of some of the work that Ms. Issel has contributed. She has publicly announced her desire to develop strategies to address the achievement gap in Berkeley. However, we have to accept the fact that she is a school board member who has voted against the PCAD proposal. She even refused to support paying the teachers in the Rebound! Program for their work this past month. Her actions, not her words, are on the record. 

Our efforts, we feel, are generated from the place of being parents. We felt from the beginning that we need input from the educators, school administrators and community members. It has been and will continue to be our priority to work collaboratively with those individuals and entities that feel as strongly as we do about the achievement gap, in order that we may build a broad band of support for all of our children. 

PCAD’s Intervention Plan  

& The Rebound! Program 

PCAD’s total intervention program “Rebound!” has been getting a lot of attention. Although we are very proud of this program, we do wish to remind everyone that it is just one component of our overall intervention plan. 

We view the high failure rate among students of color as a symptom of a much larger underlying problem. We believe that the intervention programs already in existence at BHS are effective if accessed and applied to “this symptom” and then, only for a short term. One could even view this approach to solving failure as suppressive, meaning that improvement only occurs while the programs are being utilized. Unless the underlying problems are addressed, when students discontinue utilizing these programs, the symptoms of failure reappear.  

The Rebound! Program was developed to offer relief to a crisis. We wanted these struggling ninth grade students to have a stable, hope-filled experience, while preparing them to rejoin their classmates in the 10th grade. We know that our Rebound! students will continue to need the support of some of the other Berkeley High School intervention programs. But, Rebound! was to be a demonstration to the students, to the parents, to the Berkeley High School administration, the school district, and the community of Berkeley that by giving some stability and hope to a chaotic situation, people would begin to believe that the impossible is possible.  

PCAD believes that by taking a leadership role and encouraging parents to become involved with their children’s education, we are better able to address the underlying causes that are interfering with our children’s academic performance.  

We want to begin helping our students to achieve by doing things differently. We want long term, permanent “cures.” We believe that by addressing some of the underlying causes of students not performing well in school, we can help them get to a point where they can eventually become independent of any intervention program. 

We understand that there are wonderfully staffed intervention programs at Berkeley High. Because some of these programs are being underutilized, there is a wealth of resources available to our students. It only makes sense to connect these programs to those students who are in need of additional support. As Mary Friedman of the Berkeley Education Foundation says, “…it is time to refine and maximize all resources at the high school so that they work for kids.” 

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 2: Books Lie, Living Under Lies, Remnants, No Regrets, The Fadeaways, LWL; March 3: Dr. Know, The Dread, Hot Box, Anal Mucus; March 9: Dead and Gone, Sworn Vengence, Punishment, Misoura, The Computer Kills; March 10: The Varukers, 46 Short, Scarred for Life, Oppressed Logic, Faced Down; 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 1: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 6: PickPocket Ensemble; March 7: Whiskey Bros.; March 8: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 10: PickPocket Ensemble; March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music. 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 2: Henry Clement; March 3: J.J. Malone; March 9: Ron Hacker; March 10: Red Archibald 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 4: Ray Obiedo; March 11: Stephanie Bruce Trio; March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 4: Marie Carbone, harpsichord, plays music of Frescobaldi, Sweelinck, Froberger, and Weckmann; March 11: Stephen Bell, guitar, plays music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, Ponse, and Albeniz Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances March 2 - March 11, call for times: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 4, 3 p.m.: Baritone Nathan Gunn sings Brahms, Wolf, and a selection of American songs $36; March 11, 3 & 7 p.m.: Burhan Ocal & The Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform traditional Turkish music $24 Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

“Dido and Aeneas” March 2, 8 p.m.; March 4, 2 p.m. A tale of English Baroque opera that follows the tale of Dido, queen of Corinth, as she is courted and won by Aeneas, conqueror and future founder of Rome. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

“Aywah!” March 2, 8 p.m. An evening of music and dance from Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Balkan Roma. Featuring Aywah! Dance Company. Guest singer Eva Primack. $13 - $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Mozart Requiem Singalong March 3, 8 p.m. Bella Musica Chorus and Orchestra in their third annual presentation. Bring your own score or buy/borrow one of theirs. $10 suggested donation St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 West Addison (at McGee) Call 526-5393 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra March 3, 8 p.m. David Ramadanoff conducts the orchestra in a program featuring Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and a suite from Piston’s ballet “The Incredible Flutist” $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300  

Wildfire Compilation Concert March 3, 8 p.m. With a new CD of independent women’s music and art benefiting the Rose St. House of Music and KPFA, Berkeley this show features a few of the artists featured on the CD. Deb Pasternak, Shelly Doty, Melissa Crabtree will perform. $10 Tuva Space 3192 Adeline St.  

“In Song and Struggle” March 4, 4 - 10 p.m. Copwatch presents the second annual event bringing together some of the best women artists from around the Bay Area and beyond in commemoration of International Women’s Day. Artists include Shelley Doty, Rebecca Riots, Rachel Garlin, and many others. $8 - $15 Ashkenaz 1317 San Pablo Ave. Call Copwatch, 548-0425  

Mingus Amungus & Allstar Jazz Jam March 4, 7 - 10 p.m. A benefit concert for 65 Cuba-bound Berkeley High students. $10 - $15 Florence Schwimley Little Theater 1930 Allston Way 587-3201  

“The Magic Flute” March 3 & 4, 8 p.m. Mozart’s most famous opera adapted by International House resident Kalinka Cichon and presented by a multicultural cast. $5 International House Auditorium 2299 Piedmont Ave. (at Bancroft) e-mail for tix: kalinka@cichon.com  

Eric Glick Reiman, Tom Nunn, Toychestra March 4, 7:48 p.m. $8 donation TUVASpace 3192 Adeline (at MLK Jr.) 649-8744 

Young Emerging Artists March 6, 7 - 8 p.m. John McCarthy will direct students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Prepatory Division through a performance of works by Sov, Barber and others. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. (at Derby) 925-798-1300 

Carol Denney, Folk This!, J.D. Nelson March 7, 8 p.m. CD release party for Denney’s “The Rich Will Never Be Poor” $16.50 Freight & Salvage 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 

Canto Para Una Semilla March 9, 8 p.m. La Pena Community Chorus present an homage to Violeta Parra. This is a benefit for Berkeley High School’s CAS program. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Country Joe McDonald March 9 & 10, 8 - 10 p.m. McDonald will play a solo acoustic set of old & new songs and a tribute to Woody Guthrie. $20 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck Ave. (at Berryman) www.countryjoe.com  

“Mystic Journey” March 10, 8 p.m. Suzanne Teng and Mystic Journey are a unique contemporary world music ensemble, based in Los Angeles, making their Bay Area debut. $15 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 8 & 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

Maria Marquez in Concert March 10, 8:30 p.m. A special evening of Marquez’s songs from her latest CD, “Eleven Love Stories.” $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

“Treacherous Crossings” March 14, 10 a.m., March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

Theater 

“Fall” by Bridget Carpenter Through March 11. $15.99 - $51. Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, www. berkeleyrep.org 

“Nightingale” presented by Central Works Theater Through March 4, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 24 & Saturday, March 3, 5 p.m. $8 - $14 LaVal’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-1381 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. Presented by BareStage Productions $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center UC Berkeley 642-3880  

“Glory Box” by Tim Miller March 9, 8 p.m. In this one-time performance, Miller explores the themes of same-sex marriage and binational gay/lesbian immigration rights. $15 Zellerbach Playhouse UC Berkeley 601-8932 or www.ticketweb.com  

“Little Shop of Horrors” March 9 through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus March 14 - May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Chappy Knuckles (Semi-Regional Motorcross And) Family Fun Hour” March 19 & 20, 7 & 9 p.m. Shotgun Players’ Black Box Productions presents Old Man McGinty, who has a rubbing stone that he would love for you to touch. $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com  

“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare March 8 - April 14, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Stanley Spenger $8 - $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. (at Hearst) 237-7415 

Films 

“Magnetic North” Six programs of experimental Canadian video from the past 30 years that range from documentary to conceptual art. In all, 40 tapes from 46 artists will be shown on six Wednesday evenings. Through Feb. 28. $7. Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch) 642-1412  

“A.K.A. Dominga” A video documentary film following the personal journey of one woman uncovering her history 18 years after surviving the Rio Negro Massacre in Guatemala. March 1, 7:30 p.m. La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 x15 

“Tragos” Antero Alli’s vision of a future where the desire to escape from the government and media thought-control drives people underground. March 8, 7 & 9:30 p.m. $7 Live Oak Theatre 1301 Shattuck Ave. 464-4640 

“Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win” March 18, 6 p.m. A historic documentary of the May - June 1968 General Strike in France. Directed by Paris working class filmmaker Jean Pierre Thorn. Also to be shown is “France on Strike,” on the 1995 French public workers strike by rail workers, teachers, electrical and postal workers. $7 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 849-2568  

Women of Color Film Festival March 2, 3 & 6, 7:30 p.m. A series of shorts exploring issues of family dynamics, gender equity, empowerment, identity, and sexuality. Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412 

Exhibits 

Berkeley Historical Society “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. 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

“Dorchester Days,” the photographs of Eugene Richards is a collection of pictures portraying the poverty, racial tension, crime and violence prevalent in Richards’ hometown of Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1970s. Through April 6. UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 121 North Gate Hall #5860 642-3383 

“Still Life & Landscapes” The work of Pamela Markmann Through March 24, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Red Oak Gallery 1891 Solano Ave. 527-3387 

“Unequal Funding: Photographs of Children in Schools that Get Less” An exhibit of black & white photographs by documentary photographer Chris Pilaro. Through March 16, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery 2235 Fifth St. 644-1400 

“Contemporary Photogravure” Printing from hand-inked plates etched from a film positive, a unique exhibition of photographs with luxurious tones. Through March 30, Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 5 p.m. or by appointment Kala Art Institute 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 

“Musee des Hommages,” Masterworks by Guy Colwell Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Boticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours 2028 Ninth St. (at Addison) 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Amanda Haas, New Paintings and Olivia Kuser, Recent Landscapes Through March 24, Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 

“Travels in Color” Wax crayon sketches by Pamela Markmann made over the past 35 years Through March 31, 5 - 8 p.m. daily Voulez Vouz Bistro 2930 College Ave. 548-4708 

“Chicano Art and Visions of David Tafolla” Vivid color acrylic and oil paintings with Latino imagery. March 5 - April 12, Tuesday - Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m., Saturday Noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment. Opening reception March 10, 1 - 3 p.m. Women’s Cancer Resource Center 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9272 or www.wcrc.org 

Nylan Jeung and David Lippenberger Lippenberger renders figures in acrylic and Jeung work with ink and watercolor on rice paper, using traditional eastern techniques. March 4 through April 7, Wednesday through Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m. Opening reception March 4, 2 - 4 p.m. Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893  

Readings 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 2: Stephanie A. Brill will read from “The Queer Parents Primer: A Lesbian and Gay Families’ Guide to Navigating Through a Straight World”; March 3: Susan Stryker will read from and discuss “Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography”; March 4, 7 p.m.: Diana Rivers will read from the books in her Hadra series; March 9: Annette Madden will read from “In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah:; March 10: Dyke Open Myke! To particpate call Jessy 655-1015; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; March 24, 7 p.m.: Aliza Sherman will read and sign “Cybergrrl@Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 5: Daniel Quinn reads “After Dachau”; March 6: Martin Waddell, in celebration of his two new picture books “A Kitten Called Moonlight” and “Tom Rabbit”; March 6: Terry Kupers talks about “Prison Masculinites.” Joining Kupers will be Christian Parenti, Susanne Paczensky, Lige Dailley, Jr. and Don Specter; March 8: K.C. Cole explores “A Hole in the Universe”; March 12: Ken Baker will discuss “Man Made: A Memoir of My Body”; March 13: Patrick McCabe reads “Emerald Germs of Ireland”; March 15: Randy Shaw talks about “The Activist’s Handbook: A Primer”; March 19: Jean Rouverol talks about “Refugees From Hollywood: A Journal of the Blacklist” 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 8: Judy Wells; March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

Class Dismissed Poetry Posse March 2, 7:30 p.m. Afro-Haitian dancers, Dance Production dancers, the BHS poetry slammers, an opening a capella number and a few surprises. A benefit for a Berkeley High school student trip to Cuba. $5 - $10 Little Theater Berkeley High School 2246 Milvia St.  

Bamboo Ridge Writers Reading March 4, 4 p.m. Five authors published in the book, “Intersecting Circles: The Voices of Hapa Women in Poetry & Prose.” Bamboo Ridge publishes literature which nurtures the voices of Hawaii and celebrates its literary tradition. Eastwind Books of Berkeley 2066 University Ave. 548-2350 

Anita Barrows March 4, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Barrows will read from her poem “A Record” inspired by an exhibit done in Theresienstadt and her translation of Rosa Luxenburg’s letters. Free Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Umi Satsang March 6, 7:30 p.m. Satsang will share his love and freedom as expressed in his new book “Footprints in the Snow” Barnes & Noble 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike March 11, 2 p.m. Featuring Sacramento poet Johnny Heart Berkeley Art Museum Conference Room 2621 Durant (at Bowditch) 527-9753 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 11: Director of Berkeley’s International House, Joe Lurie, will show a video and dicuss the history and struggle to open the I-House 70 years ago; March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag March 7, 4 p.m.: Akhil Reed Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.”; March 8, 5 p.m.: E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jefferson lecturer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, will speak on “Is There a Politics of the Common Good?” (IGS Library); March 9, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.: “Interpreting Governance: Narratives of Public Sector Reform” A one-day colloquiem with Mark Bevir of UC Berkeley, Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and many others; March 12, Noon: Catherine Hafer of Ohio State will discuss “The Political Economy of Emerging Property Rights”; March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

A genuine team effort vaulted the Berkeley High girls’ basketball team over Pittsburg High Friday night and into the North Coast Section championship game, as 14 players contributed in the Lady ’Jackets 73-58 win over the visiting Pirates. 

Pittsburg kept pace with the taller Berkeley squad through much of the first quarter, trailing by two with 2:56 remaining. But the Pirates couldn’t break the ’Jackets full-court press and turned the ball over five times in just under three minutes. Led by senior forward Robin Roberson’s nine first-quarter points, Berkeley led Pittsburg 24-13 at the end of one. 

“We knew they were a smaller, quicker team than us,” Roberson said. “We let them control the game early by us not coming out hard on defense.” 

Berkeley’s momentum didn’t carry over to the second quarter as the ’Jackets were outscored 8-2 in the first three minutes of the period. Then, at the 3:06 mark, Roberson picked up her third foul and put Pittsburg’s Meghan Spurling on the line. The two free throws cut the ’Jackets lead to five, but Berkeley’s Kalyca Seabrook and Rebekah Payne each added a bucket to give the ‘Jackets a 34-26 half-time advantage. 

With just over a minute elapsed in the second half, Roberson was called for her fourth foul and was forced to the bench. Berkeley’s starting center Sabrina Keys also picked up her fourth personal midway through the third quarter. Roberson, who led the ’Jackets with 17 points, didn’t return until the 4:31 mark of the fourth quarter. 

“We wore them down and I thank my bench tonight because the way the referees were officiating the game, I needed everyone on my bench (to play),” Nakamura said. “Basically, they (officials) weren’t allowing our kids to be athletes.” 

The game was slowed by an abundance of foul calls. Berkeley converted 17-of-28 free throw attempts while Pittsburg made 17-of-26. For the Pirates, starter Akilah Hicks fouled out while Keys got called for her fifth personal with 1:37 left in the game. 

Nakamura was also upset by a lack of traveling calls and a time-out originally charged to the Pirates that was later given back to Pittsburg only after both teams had met with coaches. 

“This is supposed to be a championship series and it’s not right to have referees like that out there that don’t let you play,” Nakamura said. “I tell my kids to not get in a situation where the referees can make a difference.” 

Pirates’ guard Alexis Mack kept Pittsburg close by scoring a game-high 20 points. But after the guard recorded nine points in the opening period, the ’Jackets contained Mack by adding pressure each time she touched the ball. Berkeley’s Roberson scored eight fourth quarter points, including two 3-pointers to keep the ’Jackets on top. 

“We were right there with them the whole game,” Pittsburg coach Maureen Mattson said. “They just got a quick run and a couple of 3-pointers right there at the end of the game that hurt us.” 

In addition to Roberson’s 17, Berkeley guard Angelita Hutton scored 14 and Payne tossed in 10. Behind Mack’s 20, Pittsburg’s Courtney Warren added 10 as the only other Pirate in double figures. 

“They are a great outside shooting team,” Nakamura said of Pittsburg, adding that the relatively close win will benefit the ’Jackets as the postseason continues. 

“Coming out of our league (ACCAL) that’s not real strong, a positive is that all of our kids got a lot of playing time,” Nakamura said.  

While Roberson and Keys spent much of the second half on the bench, the Berkeley guards stepped up their intensity and maintained a comfortable cushion over the Pirates. Hutton especially, Nakamura said, played a strong game. 

“She’s my veteran in there,” he said. “She’s started three straight years and I count on her experience and court sense to keep everybody calm. I was very happy with the way she played.” 

The No. 1 seed Lady ’ Jackets face No. 3 Monte Vista in the title game Saturday night in Berkeley at 8 p.m.

The formerly bickering Community Environmental Advisory Commission conducted its meeting Thursday with the harmonious rapture of newlyweds making up after their first fight. 

CEAC was able to complete its monthly meeting without any scenes and take action on several items of business, including electing a new chair and vice chair. The success of the meeting was in stark contrast to the last two meetings, which collapsed when disgruntled commissioners abruptly left in protest over the acting chair’s refusal to recuse himself from issues related to his employer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque wrote two opinions in January saying that Acting Chair Gordon Wozniak should resign because of his employment as a senior scientist at the laboratory. Wozniak has steadfastly disagreed with Albuquerque and has refused to step down from the commission or recuse himself from lab-related issues.  

“I feel strongly I should not be made a second class citizen because of my occupation,” he said at the beginning of Thursday’s meeting. 

The opinions were issued shortly before a controversial draft report was issued by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research that claims the National Tritium Labeling Facility at LBNL may pose a danger to residents who live near the laboratory during a fire or natural disaster. 

The report polarized the commission adding to the conflict over Wozniak’s role on the commission. 

The two previous meetings on Feb. 1 and Feb. 22 ended when three commissioners abruptly walked out. In both cases, their departure left too few commissioners to legally continue. At the Feb. 1 meeting Commissioners Jami Caseber, Pam Webster and temporary Commissioner Susan Chang left the meeting when Wozniak refused the request to recuse himself from LBNL issues. 

On Feb. 22, the CEAC meeting ended for the same reason, when Caseber, Webster and new Commissioner LA Wood walked out. In both cases the commission was unable to take any action on items on its agenda. 

But on Thursday, commissioners seemed willing to forget the infighting and move forward.  

Wood said the previous meetings had been unruly. “In the last year there has been a loss of confidence in what this body does,” he said. “I hope we can go forward in a more parliamentary manner.” 

Commissioner Elmer Grossman said the usual decorum that citizens expect from a government body was not evident at recent CEAC meetings. “There was so much name calling and cat calls at the last meeting, I went home and had a stiff drink and wondered about remaining on the commission.” 

Part of the reason the commission was able to get along may have been a communication from the city attorney clarifying the commission’s role in relation to her opinion of Wozniak’s conflict of interest.  

On Feb 27, Albuquerque wrote that while she had advised that there was a conflict of interest “the implementation of this advice requires either Mr. Wozniak’s action to resign or the action of the appointing Councilmember to replace him. Thus he is on the commission until replaced.” 

Wozniak was appointed by Councilmember Polly Armstrong who is currently out of the state. Several weeks ago Armstrong told the Daily Planet that she would stand behind Wozniak, but she could not be reached more recently to respond to questions about continued support for the controversial commissioner. 

There were unconfirmed reports on Friday that Wozniak was considering resigning from the commission.  

One of the first actions the commission took Thursday was to elect a new chair and vice chair. Commissioner Caseber was approved as the new chair of the commission by a 7-0-1 vote with Wozniak abstaining.  

Caseber has served on the commission for eight years including one year as chair in 1996. Several of the commissioners said the 56-year-old Caseber was the best choice because he could bring a sense of stability to the commission. 

Caseber said he would agree to the role on the condition he would chair for only three-to-six months. Most terms last one year. 

“This job is stressful,” Caseber said. “And I promised my wife I wouldn’t do this anymore.” 

Caseber said he wants to see the board function better in the next few months “and the only way that can happen is if everybody pulls their weight and hangs together.” 

Wood, recently appointed by Councilmember Maudelle Shirek, was elected as vice chair of the commission over Grossman by a vote of 5-3.  

Shortly after Caseber was elected chair, commission members were discussing how much authority the chair actually has, when Commissioner Daniel Luten interjected an observation. “Being chair of this commission is like herding cats,” he said. 

Combine an excellent opponent, an unfamiliar court and a cold shooting day, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. All those ingredients came together on Friday night for the Berkeley boys’ basketball team, and the Yellowjackets ended their season with a 66-32 loss to defending state champion De La Salle in the North Coast Section semifinals at St. Mary’s College. 

Starting with a horrid first quarter that saw the ’Jackets hit just one of their 11 shots and ending with a 27-7 fourth quarter onslaught from the top-seeded Spartans, the game was never really in doubt. Although Berkeley managed to cut the deficit to six points at the half, they couldn’t get good shots, taking long jumpers and mad dashes into the lane.  

“We had a goal of getting the ball inside, and we weren’t able to do that,” Berkeley head coach Mike Gragnani said. “They matched up really well, and every time we got an opening, they shut it down. They made us play their game.” 

The Berkeley defense held up well until the fourth quarter, when the Spartans broke out with an 11-point run that put the game well out of reach at 50-25. After Berkeley forward Ramone Reed hit two free throws, De La Salle piled on seven more points before coach Frank Allocco removed his starters. 

The ’Jackets never got going offensively, and shot just 11-of-47 from the floor, including 0-for-14 on three-pointers. No Berkeley player scored more than eight points, and just one, center Jahi Milton, made even half of his shots. 

“They certainly didn’t make our lives any easier, but we just had an off-night,” said senior forward Louis Riordan. 

“When you’re playing the defending state champion, you can get overly pumped-up,” Gragnani said. “But the fact that we’re here this year will help us when we get back to the same point next year.” 

The Spartans, on the other hand, took quality shots and were 24-of-43 from the floor. Senior guard Joe See had 20 points, and fellow seniors Charles Brown and DeMetrius Williams had 12 and 14, respectively. 

Berkeley started the game by missing its first six shots, an ominous sign. Nearly six minutes were gone before Riordan made a layup, the ’Jackets’ lone field goal of the quarter. 

The ’Jackets came out with renewed energy in the second quarter, as Ryan Davis hit a leaner and drew a foul, followed by a Byron St. Jules drive for a layup. Reed pulled down a long rebound and found Riordan for a layup soon after, and the Spartans’ lead was cut to 12-10. But Brown came back and nailed a three, and See did the same on the next possession. Even when Davis hit a jumper at the buzzer, the ’Jackets were down 22-16 at halftime. 

Senior forward Williams made sure Berkeley would get no closer, converting a steal into an easy layup, then hitting a three to put his team up 30-20. He scored seven points in the quarter, and the Spartans had a 39-25 lead heading into the final period.  

Williams, who will be teammates with Berkeley’s Reed on the Oregon football team next year, made another three to open the fourth, then picked off another Berkeley pass and took it home for a ferocious dunk, putting an exclamation point on the Spartans’ victory. 

“They smelled the blood in the water, and they finished us off,” Gragnani said. 

The Spartans will face No. 3 Bishop O’Dowd for the NCS title on Saturday at St. Mary’s at 2 p.m. 

Overall, Berkeley’s season has to be considered a remarkable success. Returning just two players with varsity experience, the ’Jackets finished the year with a 15-game winning streak before the final loss, including a perfect 12-0 record in the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League. Gragnani, who completed his first year with Berkeley with a 22-6 overall record, said he was extremely proud of what the team accomplished. 

“It’s been a wonderful first year,” he said. “I knew I was going to like it, but I couldn’t ask for anything more.” 

Riordan, who was in his third year on the Berkeley varsity, said this season was his favorite. 

“We went through a lot, but I feel like we’re a family. We met my expectations for the season. The season was great, and I love this team.” 

Just five years ago, Terry Abeyta lived on the streets of California. Today she has a home and is coordinator and manager of the Clothing Ministry for the nonprofit Chaplaincy to the Homeless.  

Abeyta was homeless for five years. In 1996 she found her way to Haste House, a halfway house run by Chaplaincy. Seven people lived in the house and each worked at the Clothing Ministry one day a week.  

Abeyta said she put in more hours than the other residents. “They noticed I had a real interest in running this.” She voluntarily took on organizing the Clothing Ministry and became a paid employee in 1999. She moved out of Haste House, which closed last year due to budget cuts, and now lives independently in Oakland.  

The Clothing Ministry, located in the basement of Trinity United Methodist Church at 2362 Bancroft Way, provides free clothing to about 250 people each week. Each person is allowed three visits a week. They are often referred by local shelters, drop-in centers and churches.  

Despite the small space in which it is located, Abeyta and her volunteer assistant, Mary Stiver of Oakland, have organized the clothing well. Men’s and women’s garments hang on separate racks that have been donated. Shoes neatly line the walls. This makes it easy for people to come in and find what they need, Abeyta said.  

Peggy Roppel, 54, who has been homeless in Berkeley for five months, has been coming to the Clothing Ministry for four months. “The services are beautiful. It’s all organized and Terry makes sure people get what they need. Everybody comes here,” she said.  

Abeyta said she has seen at least 20 people select clothes from the Clothing Ministry in order to secure jobs.  

Abeyta has instituted some rules to keep things running smoothly. People are asked not to re-sell the clothing. Alcohol drugs, and violence are not tolerated. 

The Clothing Ministry, which is partially funded by the city, accepts donations during its operating hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Abeyta said she is currently in special need of underwear, socks, personal hygienic items and warm clothing.  

Located on Dana Street at the First Congregational Church, the 11-year-old Chaplaincy is a nonprofit. In addition to the Clothing Ministry, the Chaplaincy also provides services for homeless youth and runs a men’s shelter.  

Berkeley Observed 

Looking back, seeing ahead 

The University of California was founded in 1868, but its origins date back to 1860 when the College of California, a small, private institution then located in Oakland, purchased thirty acres of land for the “benefits of a country location.”  

On April 16, 1860, the Trustees of the College of California met at the location of Founder’s Rock to dedicate their new campus.  

Among those present were the Reverends S. H. Willey, D. B. Cheney, Henry Durant, and Frederick Billings. Billings is credited with choosing the name “Berkeley” for the college, and popular tradition has him standing on the rock when the name “Berkeley” came to him. 

In 1866 the California legislature, established the College of Agriculture, Mining, and Mechanical Arts.  

Two years later, with the passage of the Charter Act by the legislature the new state college joined with the College of California, and the University of California was formed. 

Founder's Rock, located at Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road, is a natural outcropping of unusual geologic composition which may have been thrust up by activity centuries ago on the nearby Hayward Fault.  

It was once the most prominent feature in the surrounding landscape. The plaque commemorating Founders' Rock was placed there by the graduating class of 1896.  

Susan Cerny, author of Berkeley Landmarks, writes this column in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association

SAN FRANCISCO — The district attorney’s office has completed its behavioral testing of Hera, a 113-pound dog involved in the deadly attack on a San Francisco woman in late January, a move that could clear the way for killing the dog. 

“The dog was being kept alive so certain behavioral and physical tests could be conducted,” Fred Gardner, a spokesman for District Attorney Terence Hallinan, said Friday. “Those tests were conducted last night.” 

Hera was declared “vicious and dangerous” at a hearing last week. But Hallinan got a court order to keep the dog alive, saying it might serve as evidence should charges be brought against the dogs’ owners, Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller. 

Hera was tested late Thursday to see how it reacted to a man, a woman and a child. Behaviorists were not asked to determine whether Hera had been trained to attack.  

“At this point we’re satisfied with what we’ve accomplished, but we haven’t made a final determination or decision that we’re finished,” prosecutor Kimberly Guilfoyle said Friday. “That decision has not been made yet, but when we do we will go before the court and that may be soon. It could be tomorrow, it could be two weeks from now.” 

Guilfoyle said two dog evaluators, Jean Donaldson of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Ian Dunbar of Sirius Puppy Training, observed the dog in its kennel. She refused to comment on how the dog responded. 

“All I can say is that it is a very impressive dog, a big, powerful dog. They tested the reaction with a child, with a woman, with a man,” Hallinan, who also witnessed the testing, told the San Francisco Chronicle late Thursday. 

The experts compared Hera’s reactions to those of 10 other dogs being held at the city’s Animal Care and Control facility. Police and prosecutors witnessed the testing. 

Hera has been kept in a 10-by-5-foot cage at the shelter with about 30 other dogs, some of which also are considered aggressive and being kept until their fates are decided. Others are in protective custody because they were abused. 

Handlers avoid touching Hera. They stick to a routine aimed at controlling the dog’s behavior. No one, including Noel and Knoller, is allowed in to see it. 

A call to Animal Care and Control was not immediately returned Friday, but director Carl Friedman has said he would keep Hera alive until Hallinan’s office had completed its investigation. 

Noel and Knoller lived with their two Presa Canario-mastiffs, Hera and Bane, in the upscale apartment building where 33-year-old Diane Whipple was attacked by the animals Jan. 26. 

The couple repeatedly has said the dogs were kept as house pets and were not trained to attack. They have the right to appeal the order to kill Hera.  

Calls to their office Friday were not immediately returned. 

Bane, the primary attacker, was killed immediately after the incident. 

A snapshot taken of California on a single day last year captured the most detailed look of the nation’s largest melting pot, a portrait that will help shape its future. 

The picture taken by the U.S. Census Bureau is suspected to confirm what social scientists have long believed: that the nation’s most populous state is also one of its most diverse, and growing more so every day. 

The numbers, which will be released later this month, may seem like material for policy wonks, demographers and number crunchers, but there’s a lot at stake and the figures will help chart the state’s course for the next decade. 

Details on the 33,871,648 residents counted April 1, 2000, will help determine everything from where a new congressional district is carved to how billions of federal dollars are spent, to where future roads will be paved. 

“The census is the only ballgame in town,” said Richard Rogers, a Sonoma County planner. “Aside from being all knowing and all seeing ... it’s the best and most accurate set of data. To that degree it becomes reality. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best we’ve got.” 

Although much already is known from county surveys and birth and death certificates, the census serves as the once-a-decade basis for all other measurements. 

Birth records, for example, don’t track if a mother moves soon after giving birth. And death records may mark the fatality of a tourist from out of town. 

The information to be released toward the end of March — population counts from the county level down to blocks of about 100 people, broken down by race and divided by those under age 18 and over 18 — will be used primarily to carve up political boundaries determining districts ranging from Congress down to local school boards. 

The state gained one congressional seat as the population grew by 4.1 million over the decade. 

However, the state’s hopes to gain additional federal dollars was hurt Thursday when the Census recommended to Commerce Secretary Don Evans not to use statistical sampling to reflect the number of people, mostly poor and minorities, estimated to be missed by the count. 

The use of raw numbers 10 years ago cost the state more than $2 billion and an additional seat in congress, said Hans Johnson, a research fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based think tank. 

California has a disproportionately high undercount because of a large share of migrant workers, illegal immigrants and poor who are reluctant to report. 

As the population swelled over the last 10 years, the ratio of non-Hispanic whites shrank and the new figures could confirm that California’s minority population is now the majority for the first time. The Census Bureau projected last summer that non-Hispanic whites made up less than half the population. 

In offering the most detailed racial profile of the state so far, new figures will show how cities are changing racially and which neighborhoods are most integrated. 

For the first time, the Census Bureau last year let people select more than one of six racial categories. Combined with a Hispanic ethnicity option, there are 126 possible ethnic and racial combinations, giving the best look yet at the state’s diverse population. 

“It’s going to give us a real statistical portrait of the multiracial population of the U.S. and make us all quit pretending that these categories are a fixed and accurate summary of peoples’ ancestry,” said Michael Hout, a sociology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. 

City dwellers and youths are expected to be the most diverse, but suburbanites may not be monotone, said Christopher Williams, associate professor of geography at the University of Southern California. 

Compared with the rest of the nation, the Golden State should be more diverse. 

“The coasts are much more different than the heartland, the great square states that we all fly over,” Williams said. 

In coming months, information on age, income, education and home ownership will give county and city officials the more detailed information they need to plan for the future. 

In Sonoma County, for example, Rogers is anxious to see whether coastal vacation houses are increasingly becoming year-round residences because of a healthy economy and a high demand for housing. 

Census information ultimately will dictate where state and federal dollars are spent, where construction is needed, where schools and roads are built and where to provide social services. 

By combining race with other information, such as income, researchers can see how neighborhoods such as San Francisco’s Mission District, once predominantly Hispanic, is changing and becoming more gentrified. 

It will also quantify the exodus from the cities, beyond the suburbs to the “exurbs,” communities such as Tracy in the northern San Joaquin Valley, said Johnson. 

Businesses will look at population density and concentrations of poverty and wealth for marketing decisions, and to determine whether to relocate or expand. 

As state officials, demographers and planners wait to see the numbers, they also know to expect the unexpected. Surprises probably won’t come in large numbers, but in neighborhoods where data will show smaller evolutions. 

A decade ago, social scientists were thrown by a huge jump in Santa Ana’s population due to an influx in extended Hispanic families living under one roof. 

City planners said they weren’t taken off guard by the numbers, because they had been providing social services to the community. But what came as a surprise was a trend of wealthier families moving out of the Orange County community because there weren’t enough expensive homes for sale. 

Ultimately, the census data led to more housing construction at all economic levels, said Kenneth Adams, planning manager for Santa Ana. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/index.html 

Public Policy Institute of California: http://www.ppic.org 

END Advance 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis told Wall Street analysts this week that he can’t raise electricity rates to solve California’s power crisis because voters would approve an initiative blocking them “in a heartbeat.” 

As the Davis administration continued debt-relief negotiations with the state’s two huge cash-strapped utilities Friday, his Finance Department announced the state will need another $500 million to buy electricity for their customers. 

That brings the state’s power-buying costs to some $3 billion so far. 

Davis told 25 investment officials at a private meeting in New York on Wednesday that he believes he can persuade out-of-state suppliers who have made “more money than God” selling power to California to accept less than the full amount utilities owe them. 

However, analysts said Davis did not explain how he would finance his utility debt-relief plan for Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. without raising rates for their customers. And several major power suppliers said Friday that they want the entire amounts they are owed. 

Davis was back in California after trying to assure federal officials and Wall Street that his plan will solve the state’s power problems. 

California has struggled with a tight supply and soaring wholesale power prices for months. 

Edison and PG&E say they’ve lost some $13.7 billion since early summer and are verging on bankruptcy due to soaring wholesale prices that California’s deregulation law blocks them from recovering from customers. 

Davis’ energy advisers continued negotiations Friday with Edison, PG&E and the state’s third investor-owned San Diego Gas & Electric. 

Davis’ plan centers on buying their 26,000 miles of transmission lines, getting 10-year contracts from Edison and PG&E to buy power from their remaining plants at cost and convincing Edison’s and PG&E’s parent companies to help cover their debts. 

The short-term drain on the state’s budget worsened Friday, as Davis’ Finance Department announced the state will need an additional $500 million by March 12 to buy power for Edison and PG&E customers. 

That brings the total the state has committed to costly short-term power purchases for Edison and PG&E since early January to $3.2 billion. The state so far has actually spent just over $2 billion of that, Finance spokesman Sandy Harrison said. 

The state is buying about one-third of the power used by the customers of Edison and PG&E, both denied credit by suppliers. The money will be repaid when the state issues $10 billion in revenue bonds in May, largely to finance cheaper long-term power contracts; those bonds will be repaid by utility customers. 

According to a transcript of Davis’ Wall Street meeting released Friday, the governor told analysts electricity rate increases could not be part of the solution because customers already face higher natural gas bills. 

“If we were to pass on the full cost of electricity, an initiative to eliminate deregulation would pass in a heartbeat,” he said. 

From the moment that initiative qualified until court challenges were resolved, no power plants would be built in the state, worsening the electricity shortage, Davis said. 

Several consumer groups are threatening action at the ballot box in 2002 if Davis’ power plan causes electricity rates to rise. 

Davis has insisted the plan can be accomplished within the current rates, including a 7 to 15 percent temporary increase approved by the Public Utilities Commission in December and a 10 percent rise scheduled a year from now, when a previous rate cut is to expire. 

“I think the governor’s right,” said Harvey Rosenfield of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. “We wouldn’t have to do an initiative if he would take the actions necessary to bring these profiteers and utility companies under public control.” 

Financial analysts question whether California’s crisis can be resolved without rate increases. 

“Other states seem to be able to handle the idea of a rate increases, dramatic rate increases, to avoid such things happening,” said Richard Cortright of Standard & Poor’s. 

He said he was surprised Davis failed to tell the analysts exactly how his plan would be financed, leaving it “a big mystery.” 

“If it’s politically impossible to raise rates, how is it possible to strike a working deal so all the governor’s goals will be met?” Cortright asked. 

Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., called Davis’ proposals “stopgap measures at best,” adding: “We saw no information presented which solved the main issue of rate structure reform.” 

Davis also told analysts “a couple” of electricity suppliers have volunteered to accept less than the full amounts the utilities owe them. 

Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said the governor is not disclosing the names of the suppliers or the amounts involved. 

Davis told analysts the suppliers are likely to capitulate because they want to sign lucrative long-term power contracts with the state. 

“These people didn’t fall off the turnip truck,” Davis said. 

However, several major suppliers, Duke Energy and Reliant Energy among them, said Friday that they want the full amounts the utilities owe them. 

Reliant, owed more than $300 million, would not “voluntarily offer to take partial payment” for electricity provided under legal contracts, spokesman Richard Wheatley said. 

S&P’s Cortright said he is skeptical generators would accept less than the full amounts, and wonders why Davis risks alienating them with his criticism. 

“These are the guys he really needs to stick with California to build the generating plants,” Cortright said. 

Davis spokesman Maviglio said a deal might be complete early next week to buy the San Diego utility’s transmission lines. Davis told Wall Street analysts the purchase price will probably be $700 million. 

A week ago, Davis announced a tentative agreement to buy Edison’s lines for an estimated $2.7 billion. 

It has not been as easy to persuade PG&E to part with its lines and an agreement could be several weeks away, Davis told the analysts. 

“I think their initial opposition to selling transmission lines is more emotional than financial,” Davis said. “These are not big money makers for PG&E. But they think this is their soul, their core.” 

PG&E spokesman Ron Low declined to comment on the negotiations. 

The state ended its work week as it began — with enough electricity for grid managers to avoid reviving the power alerts that have been a nearly constant part of California life for the past two months. 

——— 

On the Net: 

California Independent System Operator: www.caiso.com 

LOS ANGELES — His name is known throughout the country, and a decade after his notorious beating he remains a potent symbol of police abuse and racial unrest. 

But Rodney King never sought that role and he’s never known how to play it. 

In the years since he uttered his famous plea – “Can we all get along?” – King has seldom spoken in public, even though he has repeatedly found himself in the media spotlight. 

His life after the beating has been marked by run-ins with the law and squabbles with attorneys over the $3.8 million settlement in his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. 

He flirted with a music career and started a rap recording label, but quickly abandoned it. He earned his high school-equivalency degree, went to work for his brother’s construction company and honed his surfing skills. 

“Rodney never chose to be an icon,” said Renford Reese, a political science professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona who has counseled King and brought him in to address his classes. “He got beat one night, and all of a sudden he becomes a symbol for racial reconciliation and police reform. But he was never trained to be a change agent.” 

King, now 35, declined to be interviewed for this article. 

Renee L. Campbell, one of his attorneys, said the memory of what happened on March 3, 1991, still brings flashbacks and remains too painful to revisit. 

That night, a bystander videotaped the surreal scene as four white Los Angeles police officers beat King, who is black, after a car chase. The events captured on the tape, shown repeatedly on television, eventually forced Police Chief Daryl Gates to resign and made King a household name. 

When the four officers were acquitted a year later, the city erupted in riots. Two of the officers were later found guilty in federal court of violating King’s civil rights. 

Before the beating, King’s missteps went unnoticed. He was on probation the night of the beating, but who knew or cared that a janitor’s son and one-time Dodgers Stadium usher had been convicted of robbery? 

After the beating, King’s life has stayed under the microscope. 

“Rodney is an ordinary guy, he has the same kind of typical problems that everyone has, normal family problems, what have you,” Campbell said. “To his misfortune, because of his celebrity, whatever happens to him, be it an argument or a shouting match, it can get escalated and turned into something completely different than what it was.” 

Just two months after the beating, King was arrested on suspicion of trying to run down a police officer after officers in Hollywood allegedly saw him pick up a transvestite prostitute. No charges were filed. 

He’s been pulled over by police and convicted once of drunken driving. He also was convicted of hit-and-run driving for an incident involving his wife and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor spousal abuse in a separate incident. He’ll be on probation until 2003. 

Through it all, King has made stabs at giving his life a positive direction, handing out gift certificates on Martin Luther King Day, starting the rap label and exploring plans for a book and a youth foundation. He lives in Pasadena, spending time with his three daughters and doing construction work. 

For now, his grand plans have faded. King lost about half his settlement money in ongoing litigation with former attorneys over payment of legal bills. Those who hoped he’d emerge as a civil rights figure or a force behind police reform have been disappointed. 

“I’ve thought about what an opportunity (was) lost,” said Milton Grimes, King’s attorney between 1992 and 1994. 

Grimes later sued him over legal bills. 

“Racism and police brutality was captured on a $300 video camera. We’ve spent millions of dollars trying to prove it exists, and here we’ve captured it on tape,” Grimes said. “Had it been someone more worldly, more articulate, more insightful, the public might have benefited from it.” 

King is described as gentle and thoughtful, a person who values his privacy. Campbell said King still believes in what he said during the riots – that people need to get along. 

WASHINGTON — Black students end up in special education classes much more often than whites, setting them apart and saddling them with less-demanding work and lower expectations, new studies say. 

School officials respond that special education often is the only resource they have to help children with learning and emotional difficulties. 

“In some places, schools are confronted with kids who are not learning adequately, and they search for solutions,” said Paul Houston of the American Association of School Administrators. “Special ed is one of those solutions. ... Realistically, in many cases, schools don’t have those resources available to them, outside of the special ed system.” 

A series of studies commissioned by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University said black public school students are three times as likely as whites to be identified as “mentally retarded” and in need of special education services, which ideally include placement in smaller classes with more individual tutoring and instruction by specially certified teachers. 

In many cases, the researchers said, students in special education classes are kept apart from their peers and have teachers who are not certified in special education. The curriculum is watered down and school districts often label black students as emotionally disturbed when they have learning disabilities. 

The richer the school district, the more likely that black male students would be labeled mentally retarded, the studies said, pointing to especially high incidences in five states – Connecticut, Nebraska, South Carolina, Mississippi and North Carolina. 

“Across the board, this is a problem for minority students,” said Daniel J. Losen, a lawyer for the civil rights project. 

Losen said minority students often end up in special education programs because their parents lack both knowledge of the system and of their legal rights under federal law. 

Nationally, there were fewer Latino students proportionally in special ed classes. This did not hold true, however, in districts that had large numbers of Latino students. 

Using 1997 Education Department data, the studies found that, nationwide, black students were 2.9 times as likely as whites to be identified as having mental retardation. They were 1.9 times as likely to be identified with an emotional problem, 1.3 times as likely to be identified with a specific learning disability. 

American Indian students also were slightly more likely to be identified as mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed or with a specific learning disability. 

A spokeswoman for Education Secretary Rod Paige said the department is awaiting results of a separate study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences. The report will be issued as early as this summer, she said. 

Teachers’ unions welcomed the findings. National Education Association President Bob Chase said the NEA “has long decried the misplacement of minority students in special education programs and classrooms.” 

Alex Wohl, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers, said, “One of the things that we emphasize ... is the ability to help teachers develop better teaching skills, particularly in the early grades, because that’s where they’re overloaded.” 

Among other recommendations: 

• Graduation tests, which determine if a student receives a diploma, should be put on hold until schools can show that all students have had a “meaningful opportunity” to learn the material. 

• Schools should provide better training in special education issues and better services for children with emotional disturbances, while reducing classroom sizes. 

On the Net: 

The Civil Rights Project: http://www.law.harvard.edu/groups/civilrights/

WASHINGTON — Labor unions, struggling to block an attempted repeal of new safety rules, brought out workers to describe careers wrecked and lives ruined by workplace injuries. 

One worker said she was permanently injured when she had to lift a paralyzed, 250-pound student from a wheelchair. For their part, business groups who oppose the regulations conducted their own lobbying effort in the run-up to an expected showdown vote next week. 

“OSHA’s rush to issue an ill-conceived, expensive and unscientific ergonomics standard is irresponsible government at its worst,” said a U.S. Chamber of Commerce summary being handed out on Capitol Hill. “The rule will cost businesses billions of dollars, yet the benefits to workers – if any – are uncertain.” 

Several Democratic aides conceded privately the barring last-minute switches, the GOP likely has the votes to prevail in an attempt to overturn the regulations. 

“It’s going to be a tough battle, but we’re going to win it,” said Randy Johnson, vice president of the U.S. Chamber for labor and employee benefits. As a result, Democrats were trying to determine whether they have the option under Senate rules of filibustering the measure. 

GOP aides, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bill would be brought up quickly in the House if it passes the Senate, possibly within two or three days. 

President Bush has not said whether he would sign the measure, although Republicans say they expect he would. 

The Clinton administration issued the more than 600-pages of regulations in mid-November after a decade-long struggle by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to regulate repetitive motion injuries. 

The rules took effect Jan. 16, four days before President Bush took office. Businesses have until October to comply with the first regulation by distributing information to employees and begin the process of receiving and responding to injury reports. 

Organized labor supports the rules, which could force companies to alter work stations, redesign facilities or change tools and equipment once employees are found to have sustained work-related injuries. 

Business groups generally oppose them as too far-reaching, costly and unscientific and threatening to override existing workers’ compensation laws. Several lawsuits have been filed to block them. 

Republicans plan to bring the issue to the Senate floor as early as Tuesday under rules that require a swift vote, according to lobbyists, union leaders and GOP officials. 

“Congress has no choice but to head off the devastating side effects of the Clinton ergo rule by dismantling it,” Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said Friday. 

Stafford, a member of the United Federation of Teachers union, said she eventually fell while trying to lift the student, who toppled on top of her and caused spinal disc injuries that have delayed her pursuit of a college degree and require her to take pills daily, go to physical therapy twice a week and remain under the care of a neurologist and an orthopedist. 

“I’m a young girl, and it hurts when I wear heels,” she said, in tears. 

Unions protested this week outside a National Association of Manufacturers meeting that Vice President Dick Cheney addressed. They also have been distributing information at work sites, showcasing workers with injuries, bombarding lawmakers with e-mails and phone calls and specifically targeting freshman lawmakers and several Democratic senators who voted against the rules last year. 

The U.S. Chamber and other business groups also have been lobbying heavily and want lawmakers to move under the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that permits the House and Senate to pass legislation rejecting regulations issued by federal departments and agencies. The act would kill the regulations and prevent similar standards from being issued. 

Unions contend that would effectively kill hope for any ergonomics standards. 

OSHA estimates the rules would cost businesses about $4.5 billion in compliance costs but result in $9 billion in benefits by reducing injuries. Officials say 1.8 million workers in the United States have injuries related to ergonomics, with 600,000 missing work each year as a result. 

Business organizations put the cost of compliance much higher, at more than $90 billion a year. 

On the Net: Occupational Safety and Health Administration: http://www.osha.gov 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce on ergonomics standards: http://www.uschamber.org/—Political+Advocacy/This+Week/—Face+Off.htm 

National Association of Manufacturers on ergonomics: http://www.nam.org/tertiary.asp?TrackID&CategoryID4&DocumentID226 34 

AFL-CIO: http://www.aflcio.org/home.htm 

LOS ANGELES — As the calendar flipped over into the year 2000, the future looked promising for fledgling Internet retailer eToys. 

Sure, the company got a load of bad publicity when it failed to deliver some Christmas toys on time, and its stock had fallen 70 percent from its peak of $84 a share three months earlier. 

But it had quintupled its customer base to 2 million, and had sold more toys than rival Toys R Us during the all-important holiday season. And its recently opened British site was successful beyond all expectations. 

“We believe our largest quarterly loss is behind us,” founder and chief executive Toby Lenk wrote to shareholders last March. 

Lenk turned out to be an optimist. The losses got bigger – so much bigger, in fact, that they eventually drove eToys out of business. 

The company said Monday it will file for bankruptcy protection within days.  

Its Web site is scheduled for shutdown next week, and its stock price is measured in pennies. At the end of March its cash will run out, and shortly after that, the remaining employees will leave their Los Angeles headquarters for the last time. 

So what went wrong? 

Analysts say eToys’ swift demise was the result both of the company’s ambitious plans and a sour investing climate that began last spring and has since buried dozens of dot-com companies. 

“What they did right was create a wonderful brand name, increase sales at a phenomenal rate and become the premier online resource for people to buy toys,” said T.K. MacKay, a stock analyst with Morningstar Inc. 

“What they did wrong was to operate a business without the financial capacity to weather a downturn in the retail market. Everyone expected sales to continue to be robust last Christmas and they weren’t. Their balance sheet couldn’t handle a hiccup like that.” 

When he founded eToys in 1997, Lenk rejected the notion that an online toy store couldn’t compete with traditional outlets. That may yet be true, but for now it seems the physical presence of Toys R Us, Wal-Mart and others are too hard to overcome. 

“You need to have a healthy respect for the presence that bricks and mortar have in this business,” said Melissa Williams, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison. “Wal-Mart and Toys R Us dominate toy retailing and continue to dominate toy retailing online. It’s not just as simple as building something online and they will come.” 

Lenk declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press. Calls to three eToys board members who resigned last week were not immediately returned. 

Lenk left his job as a corporate vice president in the strategic planning group at the Walt Disney Co. to found eToys. Early investors included Intel Corp. and Sequoia Capital. 

The company raised $166 million when it went public in May 1999. On the first day of trading, its stock price on the Nasdaq Stock Market nearly quadrupled to about $76.50 a share. 

During its first holiday shopping season after going public, the site was swamped by orders, as were other online toy sites. eToys sold more than any of its competitors, but the publicity over late shipments dogged the company.  

Analysts say it also made customers wary of holiday Web shopping during the 2000 holiday season. 

After the 1999 experience, eToys embarked on an ambitious and expensive plan to increase its capacity and expand its product offerings. 

It spent $150 million to build two distribution centers – one in California and the other in Virginia. Together the facilities covered 2 million square feet. To smooth out the seasonal nature of the toy business, the company would soon introduce a Summer Store, selling such items as swimming pools, camping gear and hopscotch chalk. 

“They ramped up spending pretty aggressively,” Williams said. “They could have run the business much more modestly. But when they made those decisions, it was a much different market than what it ended up being.” 

The change was marked by the dark days of March and April 2000, when Wall Street’s no-questions-asked romance with tech companies was replaced by an impatient demands for profits. Funding for Internet companies dried up.  

Once-soaring stocks plummeted and dot-coms began announcing lower revenue and wider losses. 

In the notoriously low-margin toy industry, competitors such as Toysmart.com, Toytime.com and Redrocket.com closed their doors. The shakeout left eToys and Toys R Us as the two largest competitors online. 

Toys R Us made a smart move in late summer by partnering with Amazon.com – Amazon would host the toyseller’s Web operations and Toys R Us would provide the toys. The move allowed both companies to weather what few anticipated – a slowing economy and weak holiday sales. 

eToys had told investors to expect sales of up to $240 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2000, and an operating loss up to $67 million. With that performance, all that was needed was one more round of financing in 2001 before turning its first profit by 2002. 

But the Christmas-time sales never came. Wary shoppers passed up virtual stores and instead visited Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Target and other physical stores. 

In mid-December, the company dropped its bombshell – sales would be about half of what was expected. The operating loss turned out to be nearly $86 million, more than half of its overall revenue in the pivotal quarter. 

In January, the company laid off more than half its staff. In February, it sent layoff notices to its remaining workers and reiterated it had only enough cash to stay open until the end of March. Trading in eToys stock was halted Monday at 9 cents a share. 

“In the end, it may just have been too small a market to pursue on the grand scale they did,” Williams said. “Their management team was as good as it gets. The business model was just too aggressive and was going to take longer than they had.” 

In early December, just days before breaking the bad news, Lenk sounded optimistic in an interview published in The Wall Street Journal. 

“We’re just a little bit short of the finish line,” he said. “The only thing that doesn’t work is that I didn’t start this two or three years earlier. Then I’d be profitable by now, I believe.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster wrangled in court Friday with record industry attorneys over exactly how an injunction against the song-swapping service would work, and who should bear the heavy burden of detailing exactly what music to keep off the service. 

Attorneys for the popular file-sharing company said they are trying to comply with an upcoming injunction from a federal judge. As a show of good faith toward record labels, Napster announced it will begin a new screening technology this weekend to block access to 1 million files – as requested by several record labels and the artists Metallica and Dr. Dre. 

“Some time this weekend, we will have completed the software implementation so that those filenames will be blocked,” Napster attorney David Boies told the court. “We have a group of people at Napster working night and day to develop a system to block access to these files.” 

Attorneys for record labels suing Napster for copyright infringement urged U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel to include in her injunction instructions that Napster has to preemptively program its system to block access to a much greater number of songs from various music catalogs, even without proof that those songs had actually been or were being traded on the system. 

Otherwise, pre-released recordings such as advance copies of Madonna’s latest album sent to music reviewers could be traded via Napster and obtained illegally by music fans. 

“What’s the harm to Napster if we tell them ahead of time, two weeks, three weeks, that we’re coming out with Madonna’s album – and block it,” asked recording industry attorney Russell Frackman. 

Frackman also suggested that Napster should start by blocking the swapping of Billboard Top 100 singles and Top 200 albums and by policing its system to keep those lists current. 

Napster said that burden should be more equally shared between the two parties, and asked the judge to tailor her injunction forcing the record labels to limit their notice only to files that had actually appeared on Napster’s index of available songs 

The new screening technology would be bogged down by such voluminous requests, Boies argued. 

“If you’re talking about a large number of songs, and clearly they are, the more that is imposed on this screen, the larger the screen becomes. And the system becomes degraded,” Boies said. 

Patel recessed the three-hour hearing without issuing an injunction, but said that one would be forthcoming. 

Napster said its new technology effectively would block searches for the material identified by copyright holders, by programming the material into the screening system by song name and artist name. 

The recording industry wasn’t impressed by the technology, and said better digital watermarking and fingerprinting methods of identifying music were available, and charged that Napster was selectively deciding not to employ them. 

“They are picking the worst way to filter out these recordings,” Frackman said, suggesting Napster could more finely tune the service for better results in weeding out MP3 files. 

“It’s their system. They know what happens there,” Frackman said. 

Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said that she will take Napster on its word that it is trying to develop a method to comply with the issues raised by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ instructions for a more focused injunction. 

But she added that Napster’s latest technology was only a start. 

“We think that the screening technology has the potential to be effective, but we’ll see,” Rosen said. 

In mid-February, an appeals court ordered Patel to rewrite her July order in a way that may allow Napster to survive — albeit in a much more inhibited way. 

Napster users were downloading with a vengeance Friday morning as the court hearing began. More than 8,500 people were sharing more than 1.7 million files through just one of Napster’s more than 50 servers. 

These Napster machines could be shut down by Patel, but many others are beyond her immediate reach. As of 10 a.m., more than 164 million files were being shared by nearly 700,000 people on Napster-like servers, many of which are based in foreign countries including Italy, New Zealand and Russia, according to Napigator Web site, which tracks such computers. 

Napster’s popularity exploded in 1999 after founder Shawn Fanning released software making it easy for personal computer users to locate and trade songs stored as computer files in the MP3 format, which compresses digital recordings without sacrificing quality. 

The five largest record labels — Sony, Warner, BMG, EMI and Universal — quickly sued, saying Napster could rob them of billions of dollars in profits. But the concept of peer-to-peer song trading proved wildly popular, as millions flocked to Napster and similar services. 

Music fans downloaded 2.7 billion files in January using Napster, and research firm Webnoize said more than 96 million songs were traded on Feb. 12 — the day the appellate court said Napster likely would lose at trial. Accenture, another research firm, predicts that by 2005, the digital music market will grow to $3.2 billion, or 15 percent of overall music sales. 

Napster last week offered to settle for $1 billion — in exchange for a 40 percent cut of online music sales. The offer was soundly rejected by the recording industry, which is anticipating victory in the landmark case. 

The RIAA sent out 85 letters last month asking Internet service providers to take down OpenNap servers — homegrown personal computers set up to facilitate Napster-like activity. 

But OpenNap is just one of any number of networks where people can trade music without paying for it, and going after actual users could prompt a buyer backlash. 

“They’ll have no choice but to sue their customers and they just can’t do that,” said Phil Leigh, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates. “It would be anarchy.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.napster.com 

http://www.riaa.com 

http://www.bearshare.com 

NEW YORK — Enticed by bargain prices and heartened by the possibility of a tax cut, investors did some tentative buying Friday, limiting most of their purchases to safer blue chips. 

Comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who told Congress he favors income tax cuts to reduce federal budget surpluses, helped boost some stocks. Still, another set of profit warnings, including one from software maker Oracle, reminded the market it could be some time before earnings and the economy show signs of substantial improvement. Analysts didn’t expect any of Friday’s gains to last and they described investors as cautious.  

“Until investors have more confidence that we are not going to get blindsided every day by a new wave of companies giving us bad news, the tone of the market will stay as it is – guarded at best,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer for First Albany Corp.  

Defensive stocks – called that because they fare better in a bear market – accounted for much of the Dow’s advance. Philip Morris climbed $1.15 to $49.70, while Procter & Gamble rose $1 to $69.65.. 

Analysts saw hope in the fact that some tech stocks moved higher while others recovered some of the steep losses they incurred on profit warnings from big-name companies like Oracle. 

— The Associated Press 

“People were worried that we might get another leg down in the Nasdaq, because of yet another warning from one of the glamour tech stocks, and that just didn’t happen,” said Richard A. Dickson, a technical analyst at Scott & Stringfellow in Richmond, Va. 

Software maker Oracle, which issued a profit warning late Thursday, fell nearly 21 percent, down $4.50 at $16.88. 

Tech stocks’ mixed day came from investors being torn between the lure of lower prices and fear generated by earnings warnings, Dickson said. 

While investors are afraid the Nasdaq is going to keep sliding, Dickson said, they’re also thinking, “What if these thing have hit the bottom and I missed the boat?” 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners about 5 to 4 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was 1.48 billion shares, down slightly from 1.51 billion on Thursday. 

The Russell 2000 index gained 3.58 to close at 476.88. 

Overseas markets were mostly lower. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 3.3 percent, Britain’s FT-SE 100 lost 0.8 percent, and France’s CAC-40 declined 0.9 percent. But Germany’s DAX index gained 0.6 percent 

During a public hearing at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a Berkeley parent said one of the city’s public summer camps has a registration practice that has resulted in a “lack of diversity.” 

A camp official said the questionable registration practice for Tuolumne Family Camp was instituted as an attempt to keep the camp’s enrollment up. He said that for the first time the camp’s rolls are already full early in the year for the coming summer’s program and that the three-year-old registration practice has already been changed. 

The council held a public hearing Tuesday on raising fees for two of the city’s three summer camps, the Echo Lake Youth Camp and the Berkeley Day Camp. The council approved the fee hikes unanimously with Councilmember Polly Armstrong absent. 

Only one person, Gen Fujioka, spoke during the public hearing, which began at 11 p.m. Fujioka used the opportunity to address the council about the city’s third camp, the Tuolumne Family Camp, which was not being considered for a fee hike. 

According to camp Program Director David Poock, the TFC is attended by children and their parents. The camp, open from June 23 to Aug. 26, provides meals and organizes activities, such as hiking, swimming and festivals. Fees vary depending on Berkeley residency and the age of children. For one adult, one teenager and one child under 10, the cost per day ranges from $141 for residents to $161 for non-residents. 

The camp is located on the south fork of the Tuolumne River about 40 minutes from the valley floor of Yosemite National Park. 

All three of Berkeley’s camps have a policy of giving Berkeley residents preference in registration. According to a staff report, last year Berkeley Day Camp was attended by 90 percent Berkeley residents and Echo Lake Youth Camp had 100 percent resident attendance.  

But at the council meeting, Poock said TFC falls far short of its stated goals with only 46 percent of Berkeley residents attending. 

Fujioka attends the camp with his two children who are nine and 12 years old. He said the registration practices, while probably not discriminatory, favor insiders. 

“When you’re at the camp, there is an apparent lack of diversity,” he said. 

Fujioka said one of the reasons was the practice of allowing families who are attending the camp to sign up for the following year.  

“The camp is a very special place and families from all over the state want to attend,” Fujioka said. “But this year, 92 percent of the places were already reserved (in the summer of 2000) for the following summer. It’s a way non-residents can get around the preference policy.” 

Poock said one reason for the camp’s popularity is that families can attend the camp at the same time as extended family and friends. He said the pre-registration program was put in place to provide a place for families to spend time together with families they know. He said the policy was adopted three years ago to help keep sagging registration up. 

Poock said now that TFC has become so popular they have re-evaluated the policy and have already ended it. 

“We are thinking of having an extended registration period possibly from September to November for Berkeley residents only,” he said. “After that non-residents would be able to register.” 

Poock said the camp wants to recruit more minority families but outreach and advertising campaigns for summer camps aren’t always the best method. “The American Camping Association has done a lot of research and determined only 8 percent of camp enrollment comes from advertising and outreach programs,” He said “92 percent comes from word of mouth.” 

Poock said the more minorities who attend the camp and have a positive experience will result in more diversity attending the camp. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said camp officials have already taken steps to correct the problem. He added that the camp was more diverse 10 years ago.  

“There were things that we used to do that encouraged more diversity in the camp,” he said. “We used to do more outreach.” 

Friday, March 2

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Call 444-4755 or  

visit www.stagebridge.org 

Class Dismissed Poetry Posse 

7:30 p.m. 

Little Theater 

Berkeley High School  

2246 Milvia St.  

Afro-Haitian dancers, Dance Production dancers, the BHS poetry slammers, an opening a capella number and a few surprises. A benefit for a Berkeley High school student trip to Cuba.  

$5 - $10  

Colombia In Context  

9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Bancroft Hotel  

2680 Bancroft Way  

A conference bringing together leading experts from both Latin America and the U.S. to discuss both the roots of the current Colombian crisis, and the future effects of U.S. strategy on the region. There will be a break between Noon and 2 p.m. 

Visit www.clas.berkeley.edu/clas 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Lockdown America 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

2040 Valley Life Sciences Bldg.  

UC Berkeley  

Christian Parenti, author of “Lockdown America, on Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis” will speak. Free 552-8236 

Cosi Fan Tutte Pt. II 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

The second part of this opera will be presented.  

Call 644-6107 

Saturday, March 3

Free Sailboat Rides  

1 - 4 p.m. 

Cal Sailing Club 

Berkeley Marina 

The Cal Sailing Club gives free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult. www.cal-sailing.org  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Central Berkeley Library  

2121 Allston Way  

Mary Miche, leader of Song Trek Music, will lead a sing-along that will send everyone home humming. Call 649-3913 

Residential Solar Electricity  

1 - 3 p.m. 

Ecology Center  

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Hal Aronson, director of the Solar Energy Education Program for Berkeley EcoHouse, will cover how solar electric cells work, different types of systems, and costs of a solar system. $10 - $15  

548-2220 x233  

Feathered Dinosaurs  

11 a.m.  

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley’s Dr. Kevin Padian talks about the discovery of feathered dinosaur fossils in northern China. Included with museum admission. $3 - $7 642-5132 

“Socialism & the Struggle  

for Global Justice”  

10:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

200 Wheeler Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Discussions will include “Why Socialism?”; crisis in Palestine; race, class and the fall out from the 2000 elections; and fighting misogyny and sexism.  

$5 donation 552-8236  

Emergency!: Personal  

Preparedness 

9 a.m. - 11 a.m.  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A class sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services. Free. 644-8736 

Sunday, March 4

Free Sailboat Rides  

1 - 4 p.m. 

Cal Sailing Club 

Berkeley Marina 

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, give free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.  

Visit www.cal-sailing.org  

Salsa Lesson and Dance Party  

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Professional instructors Mati Mizrachi and Ron Louie will lead you through the steps. Irsraeli food will be provided by Holy Land Restaurant.  

$10 

RSVP 237-9874 

Spiritual and Social  

Transformation  

2 - 5 p.m. 

7th Heaven Yoga & Body Awareness Studio  

2820 Seventh St.  

Acarya Dada Shambhushivananda Avadhuta & Norie Huddle. 

$5 - $15 sliding scale  

231-0382  

“Time, Space, Knowledge/Consciousness” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Tom Morse and Ken McKeon on “Time, Space, and Knowledge: An Invitation to Inner Healing.” Free  

843-6812 

Monday, March 5

Your Legal Rights with HMOs 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

YWCA Oakland  

1515 Webster St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Presented by the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, UCSF Cancer Resource Center and the San Francisco Bar Volunteer Legal Services, this free workshop covers what your legal rights are and how to guard them.  

Call 415-885-3693 

Beginning Bicyclist Workshop  

7 - 9 p.m. 

YMCA  

2001 Allston Way  

Community Room 1, Main Floor  

Jason Meggs and Zed Lopez will teach you how to keep yourself and your bike safe and even how to use your bike for shopping. Free  

Call Jason Meggs, 549-RIDE 

“Stop Medical Apartheid” 

Noon  

Parker & Seventh St.  

Local non-violent civil disobedience in reaction to Bayer Corp. involvement in a lawsuit against the government of South Africa. Bayer and 39 other large drug companies are suing the governement to prevent them from producing generic AIDS drugs or importing them at the lowest market price. Speakers or arrestees includes Councilors Maudelle Shirek and Kriss Worthington, Father Bill O’Donnell and Rev. Mark Wilson and South African Bongane Byatai.  

Call 568-1680 

Self-Care and Wellness Health Fair 

Pre-Registration Deadline 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Ashby Campus, Auditorium  

2450 Ashby Ave.  

Registration deadline for the March 10 event. A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

Beginning Spanish  

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Edie Wright.  

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, March 6

“Great Decisions” - U.S. & Iraq 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is health, nutrition and science; bioengineering.  

Call 527-5332  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

International Women’s Day 

11:10 a.m. 

Pacific School of Religion Chapel 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Join students, staff, and faculty in the celebration of International Women’s Day. The theme is “A Call to Place: Quilting Resistance,” highlighting women’s religious experiences and women of the world.  

649-2490 

Aquinas, Creation and Cosmic Evolution 

7:30 p.m. 

2400 Ridge Road 

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

Dinner Board Room  

Benedict Ashley, author, advisor to the Theological Commission of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and faculty member of the Aquinas Institute, gives the eleventh annual Aquinas lecture. Free 

883-2085 

National Nutrition Month Cooking Demonstration 

11:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Five a Day with Natalie.  

Call 644-6107 

“Women’s Voices / Women’s History” 

6 p.m. 

YWCA Main Lounge  

UC Berkeley  

2600 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch)  

A talk with Lisa Rubens of the Regional Oral History Office. Learn about the unique challenges in studying women’s history, and get practical advice for conducting your own oral history research. Free  

848-6370 

Wednesday, March 7

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Women in Interfaith Relationships  

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Led by Dawn Kepler, this workshop will explore interfaith relationships on many levels, in relation to culture, religion, and gender. People of all backgrounds and orientations are invited to attend.  

$10 

848-0237 x127 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Attic Conversions  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect Andus Brandt.  

$35  

525-7610 

Thursday, March 8

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Judy Wells and host Dale Jensen.  

644-0155 

Trekking Northern India  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Professional wilderness guide Randy Pomeroy will take you on a journey from Ladakh to Rajasthan. Free 

Call 527-4140 

“Fifty Years in the Making” 

Boalt Hall School of Law  

UC Berkeley 

A gathering of some of the most prominent diplomats, scholars, and legal practitioners in the field of World War II reparation and restitution claims. Free and open to the public.  

Backyard Birding & Beyond  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Bird watching with Stan Scher.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Take the Terror Out of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

California Dept. of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

Room 804  

Session four of six in a series of classes presented by the State Health Toastmasters, this one is called “Creating An Introduction.”  

649-7750 

“Energy, Ecology and Humanism” 

7 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity  

390 27th St. (at Broadway) 

Oakland 

George Matthews, of Community Energy Services, will discuss how energy conservation and solar power can benefit low-income and minority people.  

451-5818 

HIVAC for Beginners 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt.  

$35  

525-7610 

Friday, March 9

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Berkeley PC Users Group 

7 p.m. 

Vista College 

2020 Milvia St., Room 303 

E-Mail: meldancing@aol.com 

Europe on a Shoestring  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Scott Mcneely, co-author of the Lonely Planet book will share slides and information on some of his favorite adventures off the beaten path. Come learn about smart budget travel.  

Call 527-4140 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Allen Stross.  

Call 644-6107 

Energy Teach-In & Action Forum  

6:45 p.m. 

Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

Graham Brownstein of TURN, Charles Kalish of Citizens Power Campaign and Todd Creiten of Campaign Against Utilities Rate Hike give an update on the vital struggle for public power. Find out what you can do about your utility bill.  

233-3175 

“Torture in 2001 - The Violations Continue” 

Stephens Hall, Geballe Room  

Townsend Center for the Humanities  

UC Berkeley  

Despite nearly universal prohibition against the use of torture in laws of most nations, the incidence of torture is epidemic. Dr. Kathi Antolak, an expert on the treatment of torture victims will speak.  

Trees Forum  

12:30 p.m. 

Starr King School for Ministry Chapel  

2441 LeConte Ave.  

A discussion on “The Ecology of The Great Work: Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology,” led by Dody Donnelly.  

trees@gtu.edu 

Saturday, March 10  

The Secrets of Sacred Cinema 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103 

Kevin Peer, a documentary film maker for the past 25 years, gives a two-day intensive for people interested in exploring documentary filmmaking. No equipment or prior experience required.  

$200 per person and registration is required 

Call 486-1480 

Narratives of Public Sector Reform: A Colloquium  

10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

223 Moses Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Mark Bevir of the department of Political Science of UC Berkeley, will present his paper on “Decentered Theory of Governance” and Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne will present his paper, “Entering British Governance.” There will also be a session to discuss the broader issues their works raise.  

Greece Adventure 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Linda Pearson of REI Adventures will introduce you to Greece in slides and discussion.  

Call 527-4140 

Healing Garden  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Kathi Kinney will teach how to integrate medicinal herbs into existing gardens and landscapes and how to design and maintain a practical, aromatic, easy-care herb garden.  

$10 - $15  

548-2220 x233 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St.  

Sedge’s guests this week will be Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher Boy and Emerald Germs of Ireland, a capella singers M-Pact, Naturalist Claire Peaslee and pianist Mike Greensill.  

664-9500 

Self-Care and Wellness Health Fair 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Ashby Campus, Auditorium  

2450 Ashby Ave.  

A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit. Learn the process one might go through when deciding to stay with self-help, when to seek out assistance, and how to integrate care.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

Fire Suppression Class  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Water-Wise Trees 

10 a.m.  

UC Botanical Garden  

Stew Winchester, ecologist and horticulturist, and instructor at several Bay Area community colleges will talk about some of the more outstanding choices of small trees for water conserving gardens.  

$15  

643-2755 

Sunday, March 11 

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

Call 849-0217 

Myths & Realities of the International House  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

Director Joe Lurie will show a video and talk about the history and the struggle to open the International House.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

Walk on the Moon  

2 & 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

A mother and daughter explore their identities as they summer in the Catskills in 1969 amidst the news of Woodstock and the first lunar landing. Peer led discussion to follow film.  

$2 suggested donation  

Energy Attack  

4 - 6 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

PUC Commissioner Carl Wood, labor journalist David Bacon and Environmentalist architect Mark Gorrell will discuss the energy crisis and how to get involved in solutions.  

549-0816 

Community Health & Wellness Fair 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way  

Review health from a holistic perspective, personally and communally. Stop by for practical health screenings and explore wellness practices such as Taoist Tai Chi, Hatha Yoga and Rosen Bodywork in introductory workshops. Free except for cholesterol screening.  

649-1383 

Monday, March 12  

Weight Loss & Gain  

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

New theories about weight loss and gain with Dr. McGillis.  

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, March 13  

Berkeley Rep. Proscenium Opening 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

2015 Addison St.  

Featuring the premiere performance of “The Oresteia” by Aeschylus. Opening gala dinner held prior to performance. Performance will be at 8 p.m. 

Call 647-2949 

“Great Decisions” - International Health Crisis 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

Reclaim the Seeds! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Bring seeds, questions, stories, and ambitions to swap. The center will be coordinating the growout of local quality seed and announcing their season-long workshops, discussions, processing parties, and advisory-consultation team. Free 

Call 923-0733 

Time & Thing Management  

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Mary Ann.  

Call 644-6107 

Wednesday, March 14 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

St. Patrick’s Day Musical Celebration  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Guitar duo with Devon and Mark.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Making Additions Match  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Avoid the tacked-on look with architect/columnist/instructor Arrol Gellner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Thursday, March 15  

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library 

Claremont Branch  

2940 Benveue Ave.  

Facilitated by Cecile Andrews, author of “Circles of Simplicty,” learn about this movement whose philosophy is “the examined life richly lived.” Work less, consume less, rush less, and build community with friends and family.  

Call 549-3509 or visit www.seedsofsimplicity.org  

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Elanor Watson-Gove and host Mark States.  

644-0155 

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.  

Call 869-2547 

Cancer Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Summit Medical Center 

Markstein Cancer Education & Prevention Center 

450 30th St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Free support group for families, friends, and patients diagnosed with cancer.  

869-8833 to register  

Myanmar: The Golden Kingdom  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Philip Hassrick of Lost Frontiers will introduce you to Myanmar’s unique history and culture.  

Call 527-4140 

“Respecting Creation”  

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St.  

Winona LaDuke, Native American Indian activist, environmentalist, author, and Green Party Vice Presidential candidate will speak about the environmental situation under the Bush administration, including California’s power dilemma. A benefit for KPFA and Speak Out.  

$10 - $12  

Call 848-6767 x609 or visit www.kpfa.org 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Celtic Theology  

6:30 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room  

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd.  

Thomas O’ Loughlin, lecturer a the University of Wales, will present a lecture entitled “A Celtic Theology: The Dream, the Myth, and Some Questions for Academics.”  

649-2490 

Jazz Singers’ Collective  

8 - 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro  

1801 University Ave.  

Featuring Marya Ashworth, Rory Bakke, Vicki Burns and Kathy Freeburg with Mark Little on piano.  

Friday, March 16  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Gay & Lesbian Panel Discussion 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Everyone is welcome.  

Call 644-6107 

Saturday, March 17  

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Light Search & Rescue  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Burma Human Rights Day  

2 p.m.  

Berkeley Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

KPFA Journalist Dennis Bernstein and members of the Burmese Resistance Movement will speak. Sponsored by the Burmese American Democratic Alliance and the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists Social Action Committee.  

528-5403  

Sunday, March 18 

East Bay Men’s Chorus Rehearsal  

6:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

Calling for gay and bisexual men and their allies and friends to join this choral ensemble directed by J.R. Foust. There is no obligation to join the chorus after the first rehearsal.  

Call to RSVP 664-0260 or e-mail eastbaymenschorus@yahoo.com 

“Parenting in the Second Half of Life” 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author Roberta Maisel will discuss ways parents and their grown children can get on a positive and guilt-free path.  

848-0237  

“Hope Against Darkness”  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College) 

Richard Rohr will respond to the questions: What is the darkness? What is hope?  

848-7812  

The Bungalow - Tradition & Transformation 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect/contractor and West Berkeley bungalow restorer Barry Wagner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Monday, March 19  

Timber Framing  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Instructed by builder/timber framer Doug Eaton.  

$35  

525-7610 

Tuesday, March 20 

“Great Decisions” - Mexico Reexamined  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is death and dying in celebration of the Ides of March.  

Call 527-9772  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

Lavendar Lunch 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd Bldg., Room 103  

Unitarian-Universalist minister Sean Parker Dennison discusses his experiences as a transgender minister working in parish ministry.  

849-8206 

Rethinking Creation  

7 p.m. 

Tucson Common Room  

Church Divinity School of the Pacific 

2450 Le Conte Ave.  

Dr. Sjoerd L. Bonting will speak on “Rethinking Creation: ‘Chaos Events’ and Theology.”  

Call 848-8152 

Wednesday, March 21  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Chimneys From A - Z  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by Irish Sweep Sally McKnight.  

$35  

525-7610 

Thursday, March 22  

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Anna Mae Stanley and host Louis Cuneo.  

644-0155 

Trekking in Bhutan  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Ruth Ann Kocour and Elizabeth Rassiga will share slides of their 25-day journey along the Snow Leopard Trek to the sacred mountain Chomolhari and beyond. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Basic Electrical Theory & National Electrical Code 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by author, speaker and retired City of Oakland Building Inspector Redwood Kardon. 

$35  

525-7610 

Friday, March 23 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Saturday, March 24 

Ashkenaz Dance-A-Thon 

2 p.m. - 2 a.m.  

Ashkenaz  

1370 San Pablo Ave.  

Join Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers along with African, Cajun, North African, Balkan, reggae, and Caribbean bands in this twelve hour dance music-fest. This is Ashkenaz big fundraiser for making improvements, including a new dance floor and ventilation system.  

$20 donation  

525-5054 or visit www.ashkenaz.com  

Disaster First Aid 

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

“LGBT Family Night at the Y” 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley YMCA  

2001 Allston Way  

The third annual free night for gay and lesbian families at the Y. The event will feature floor hockey, swimming, soccer, basketball and other sports, as well as arts and crafts. Free; donation requested.  

Call 848-9622 

Sunday, March 25 

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

Tuesday, March 27 

“Great Decisions” - European Integration  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

Wednesday, March 28 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Conversations in Commedia 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 

Mime Troupe/Reinhabitory Theatre legends Judy Goldhaft, Jane Lapiner and Peter Berg 

$6 - $8  

Call 849-2568 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Thursday, March 29  

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Georgia Popoff and host Mark States.  

644-0155 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Friday, March 30 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center

Amazed that anything from New Deal exists 

Editor: 

I was astonished to read that independent bookstores have sued Borders and Barnes & Noble under the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936 which you describe as "enacted to prevent large businesses from using their purchasing power to gain market advantage." 

How can it be that in the year 2001 there is ANY law remaining from the New Deal that the bought Republicrats have not weakened or repealed?  

I suspect that the Robinson-Patman Act will soon follow the Sherman Anti-Trust Act onto history's trash heap as the great corporations finalize their domination of our minds through their control of the mass media and Washington, D.C. 

Gray Brechin 

UC Department  

of Geography 

Every Bush thought is new 

Editor: 

To George Bush, every sentence is a new thought on a clean slate. Witness his speech (Tuesday). At one moment he said that our schools should be controlled locally, not by the Federal government. A moment later he said that if a school accepts Federal money, it must submit to annual, standardized, Federal testing. This is not a contradiction to George W. Bush.  

Every sentence is a new thought on a clean slate. 

Bruce Joffe 

Oakland

Judah L. Magnes Museum “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. “Second Annual Richard Nagler Competition for Excellence in Jewish Photography” Through February. Featuring the work of Claudia Nierman, Jason Francisco, Fleming Lunsford, and others. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

UC Berkeley Art Museum “The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered” through March 26. An exhibit of black and white photographs that capture the fears and faith of those who traveled from Marks, Mississippi to Washington, D.C. ,with mule-drawn wagons to attend the Poor People's Campaign in December, 1967; “Joe Brainard: A Retrospective,” Through May 27. The selections include 150 collages, assemblages, paintings, drawings, and book covers. Brainard’s art is characterized by its humor and exuberant color, and by its combinations of media and subject matter; Muntadas - On Translation: The Audience, Through April 29. This conceptual artist and pioneer of video, installation, and Internet art presents three installations. $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. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. 642-0808. 

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery” 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 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur 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 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. 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 “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.“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. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648  

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu  

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 2: Books Lie, Living Under Lies, Remnants, No Regrets, The Fadeaways, LWL; March 3: Dr. Know, The Dread, Hot Box, Anal Mucus; March 9: Dead and Gone, Sworn Vengence, Punishment, Misoura, The Computer Kills; March 10: The Varukers, 46 Short, Scarred for Life, Oppressed Logic, Faced Down; 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 1: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 6: PickPocket Ensemble; March 7: Whiskey Bros.; March 8: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 10: PickPocket Ensemble; March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 2: Henry Clement; March 3: J.J. Malone; March 9: Ron Hacker; March 10: Red Archibald 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 4: Ray Obiedo; March 11: Stephanie Bruce Trio; March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 4: Marie Carbone, harpsichord, plays music of Frescobaldi, Sweelinck, Froberger, and Weckmann; March 11: Stephen Bell, guitar, plays music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, Ponse, and Albeniz Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances March 2 - March 11, call for times: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 4, 3 p.m.: Baritone Nathan Gunn sings Brahms, Wolf, and a selection of American songs $36; March 11, 3 & 7 p.m.: Burhan Ocal & The Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform traditional Turkish music $24 Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

“Dido and Aeneas” March 2, 8 p.m.; March 4, 2 p.m. A tale of English Baroque opera that follows the tale of Dido, queen of Corinth, as she is courted and won by Aeneas, conqueror and future founder of Rome. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

“Aywah!” March 2, 8 p.m. An evening of music and dance from Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Balkan Roma. Featuring Aywah! Dance Company. Guest singer Eva Primack. $13 - $15 La Peña Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Mozart Requiem Singalong March 3, 8 p.m. Bella Musica Chorus and Orchestra in their third annual presentation. Bring your own score or buy/borrow one of theirs. $10 suggested donation St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 West Addison (at McGee) Call 526-5393 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra March 3, 8 p.m. David Ramadanoff conducts the orchestra in a program featuring Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and a suite from Piston’s ballet “The Incredible Flutist” $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300  

WildFire Compilation Concert March 3, 8 p.m. With a new CD of independent women’s music and art benefiting the Rose St. House of Music and KPFA, Berkeley this show features a few of the artists featured on the CD. Deb Pasternak, Shelly Doty, Melissa Crabtree will perform. $10 Tuva Space 3192 Adeline St.  

“In Song and Struggle” March 4, 4 - 10 p.m. Copwatch presents the second annual event bringing together some of the best women artists from around the Bay Area and beyond in commemoration of International Women’s Day. Artists include Shelley Doty, Rebecca Riots, Rachel Garlin, and many others. $8 - $15 Ashkenaz 1317 San Pablo Ave. Call Copwatch, 548-0425  

Mingus Amungus & Allstar Jazz Jam March 4, 7 - 10 p.m. A benefit concert for 65 Cuba-bound Berkeley High students. $10 - $15 Florence Schwimley Little Theater 1930 Allston Way 587-3201  

“The Magic Flute” March 3 & 4, 8 p.m. Mozart’s most famous opera adapted by International House resident Kalinka Cichon and presented by a multicultural cast. $5 International House Auditorium 2299 Piedmont Ave. (at Bancroft) e-mail for tix: kalinka@cichon.com  

Eric Glick Reiman, Tom Nunn, Toychestra March 4, 7:48 p.m. $8 donation TUVASpace 3192 Adeline (at MLK Jr.) 649-8744 

Young Emerging Artists March 6, 7 - 8 p.m. John McCarthy will direct students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Prepatory Division through a performance of works by Sov, Barber and others. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. (at Derby) 925-798-1300 

Carol Denney, Folk This!, J.D. Nelson March 7, 8 p.m. CD release party for Denney’s “The Rich Will Never Be Poor” $16.50 Freight & Salvage 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 

Canto Para Una Semilla March 9, 8 p.m. La Pena Community Chorus present an homage to Violeta Parra. This is a benefit for Berkeley High School’s CAS program. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Country Joe McDonald March 9 & 10, 8 - 10 p.m. McDonald will play a solo acoustic set of old & new songs and a tribute to Woody Guthrie. $20 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck Ave. (at Berryman) www.countryjoe.com  

“Mystic Journey” March 10, 8 p.m. Suzanne Teng and Mystic Journey are a unique contemporary world music ensemble, based in Los Angeles, making their Bay Area debut. $15 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 2: Stephanie A. Brill will read from “The Queer Parents Primer: A Lesbian and Gay Families’ Guide to Navigating Through a Straight World”; March 3: Susan Stryker will read from and discuss “Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography”; March 4, 7 p.m.: Diana Rivers will read from the books in her Hadra series; March 9: Annette Madden will read from “In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah:; March 10: Dyke Open Myke! To particpate call Jessy 655-1015; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; March 24, 7 p.m.: Aliza Sherman will read and sign “Cybergrrl@Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington  

559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 5: Daniel Quinn reads “After Dachau”; March 6: Martin Waddell, in celebration of his two new picture books “A Kitten Called Moonlight” and “Tom Rabbit”; March 6: Terry Kupers talks about “Prison Masculinites.” Joining Kupers will be Christian Parenti, Susanne Paczensky, Lige Dailley, Jr. and Don Specter; March 8: K.C. Cole explores “A Hole in the Universe”; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Class Dismissed Poetry Posse March 2, 7:30 p.m. Afro-Haitian dancers, Dance Production dancers, the BHS poetry slammers, an opening a capella number and a few surprises. A benefit for a Berkeley High school student trip to Cuba. $5 - $10 Little Theater Berkeley High School 2246 Milvia St.  

Bamboo Ridge Writers Reading March 4, 4 p.m. Five authors published in the book, “Intersecting Circles: The Voices of Hapa Women in Poetry & Prose.” Bamboo Ridge publishes literature which nurtures the voices of Hawaii and celebrates its literary tradition. Eastwind Books of Berkeley 2066 University Ave. 548-2350 

Anita Barrows March 4, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Barrows will read from her poem “A Record” inspired by an exhibit done in Theresienstadt and her translation of Rosa Luxenburg’s letters. Free Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Umi Satsang March 6, 7:30 p.m. Satsang will share his love and freedom as expressed in his new book “Footprints in the Snow” Barnes & Noble 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike March 11, 2 p.m. Featuring Sacramento poet Johnny Heart Berkeley Art Museum Conference Room 2621 Durant (at Bowditch) 527-9753 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 11: Director of Berkeley’s International House, Joe Lurie, will show a video and dicuss the history and struggle to open the I-House 70 years ago; March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag March 7, 4 p.m.: Akhil Reed Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.”; March 8, 5 p.m.: E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jefferson lecturer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, will speak on “Is There a Politics of the Common Good?” (IGS Library); March 9, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.: “Interpreting Governance: Narratives of Public Sector Reform” A one-day colloquiem with Mark Bevir of UC Berkeley, Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and many others; March 12, Noon: Catherine Hafer of Ohio State will discuss “The Political Economy of Emerging Property Rights”; March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

Facing a hostile road crowd and overzealous referees, the St. Mary’s boys’ basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs, beating Justin-Siena (Napa) 82-65 on Thursday night. 

The top-seeded Panthers had to travel to Napa because of NCS regulations concerning gym size. Once they got there, they proved that they are the class of the division, with or without home court advantage. 

Sparked by a 10-point first quarter run, the Panthers were in control for nearly the entire game. Although leading scorer DeShawn Freeman was plauged with foul trouble and only played 10 minutes, his backcourt partner, John Sharper, picked up the slack, scoring 23 points in the first half on his way to a game-high 29 with five steals. Sharper hit seven three-pointers, including five in the first half, and was 9-of-15 from the field. The junior said he was surprised how much room he was given on offense. 

“They scouted us for a while, so I figured they would be on me,” he said. “But they left me open for threes, so I was pretty happy.” 

St. Mary’s forward Chase Moore pitched in with 17 points and five rebounds. With Freeman a non-factor for most of the game, head coach Jose Caraballo was forced to depend on his bench for some scoring. Guard Terrence Boyd scored all seven of his points in the second half, and guard Matt Straus scored six points. 

The Braves, on the other hand, got most of their production from their bench. With leading scorer Garrett Halverson out due to suspension, the only reliable scorer left was guard Jerrad Bullock, who scored 22 points. Forwards Ryan Harrison and Brent Brockmeyer came off the bench to score 18 and 11, respectively, but no other Justin-Siena player scored more than five points. 

Sharper keyed the Panthers’ early run, hitting two three-pointers to put his team up 18-6. St. Mary’s extended the lead to 26-8 in the second quarter, but Freeman drew his third foul with 4:10 left in the half and sat down. The Panthers were called for several touch fouls, and Justin-Siena was in the bonus quickly, heading to the line 15 times in the quarter. The Braves made 12 from the charity stripe, keeping them in the game in the face of the tenacious Panther defense. 

“We’ve been in foul trouble before, but it was a little bit ridiculous,” Caraballo said. 

St. Mary’s was on the verge of pulling away again in the third quarter, but Freeman was called for his fourth foul and sat for most of the period. Upon his return in the fourth quarter, he drove the lane and was called for a charge, ending his night with just four points. 

But as Freeman left, Boyd entered and hit a three-pointer and a jumper to put the Panthers up 67-49, ending any hopes of a comeback for Justin-Siena. 

“We’re very pleased. Our starters didn’t play that much, and our bench got in a lot. We’re rested, which is what we wanted,” Caraballo said. 

The Panthers will play No. 5 Marin Catholic on Friday night, and the championship game will be on Saturday. So the Panthers will have to win three games in three days to move on to the next level, the Northern California playoffs. Caraballo feels that his team, which is the highest ranked of any Division IV team in the state, can go even farther than that. 

“I feel we can win it all, period,” he said. “If we lose, everyone will be upset and talk about me.”

An ad opposing reparations for descendants of slaves that appeared in Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Californian, the UC Berkeley student-run newspaper, outraged a group of students and faculty who have come together to protest what senior De Carlo Wilson says is a “blatantly racist” attack on people of color. 

The $1,200 full-page advertisement paid for by the Los Angeles-based Center for the Study of Popular Culture, founded by former Ramparts Magazine editor David Horowitz, makes 10 arguments against reparations. It says, for example, that the number of slave-holders was small and many whites “gave their lives to free (slaves).” It claims there is no proof that people living today suffer the effects of slavery and argues that African Americans have already received reparations in the form of welfare. 

“If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves,” according to the ad. 

Wilson says an apology printed in Thursday’s paper by Daily Cal editor Daniel Hernandez is not enough. “The (Daily Cal’s) general manager should be fired. He was derelict in his duty.” 

In addition to the front page apology, Hernandez wrote an editorial to give further apologies, but Wilson said the editor addressed “readers” in general and not those the advertisement insulted. 

In a short interview with the Daily Planet, Hernandez said he agreed that the advertisement was “inflammatory,” but he did not say it was the fault of the general manager. Rather, he contended there was a miscommunication – the advertising department thought the editorial department would pull the ad and the ad escaped the scrutiny of the editorial department, he said. 

“Printed with terrible irony on the last day of Black History Month, the ad essentially said that the black community should not complain about slavery,” Hernandez says in the editorial he calls “Holding Ourselves Accountable.” 

“The Daily Cal’s ad policy does not allow the publishing of ads with incorrect ore blatantly inflammatory content,” Hernandez writes. 

Wilson said students and faculty will be answering the ad point by point. One of Horowitz’s statements that particularly enraged him was the one which said that African Americans have already received reparations in the form of welfare. “So, are all blacks on welfare?” Wilson asked rhetorically. 

As for the notion that African Americans do not suffer the remnants of slavery today, he pointed out that “land is passed down from generation to generation.”  

Horowitz argues that blacks are better off in America than Africans are in Africa, but Wilson points out that whites earn many times more than blacks in America. “None of this is factual,” Wilson said.  

John Campbell, executive director of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, said the wording of the ad was intentionally strong to promote dialogue. In a telephone interview, he stressed that the center’s founder, David Horowitz has long-time civil rights credentials, having worked with the Black Panther Party. 

The center opposes affirmative action “which puts people into various groups based on the color of skin and not on their character,” Campbell said. 

In a letter to the Daily Cal, which Campbell e-mailed to the Daily Planet, Horowitz says pulling the ad would have been a violation of First Amendment rights to freedom of speech. 

David Nabti, a student who described the advertisement as “outrageous,” said that the only way it should have run would have been to alert opponents ahead of time and to have run a page of their comments along side the advertisement. The Daily Cal has promised to print the students’ rebuttal on Monday. 

A number of campus newspapers have refused to print the ad, the center’s John Campbell said, including the University of Washington, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Cal State Northridge. “This one sort of slipped through,” he said, laughing.  

LOS ANGELES – Matt Barnes scored 13 points, including the go-ahead basket with 1:03 remaining, as No. 12 UCLA defeated California 79-75 on Thursday night for its eighth straight win. 

The Bruins (20-6) held on to second place in the Pac-10 at 12-2 and set up a showdown for first place with No. 1 Stanford on Saturday. 

UCLA’s victory avenged a 29-point loss at Cal a month ago and snapped Cal’s four-game road winning streak. The Golden Bears (19-8, 10-5) had won 18 of their previous 22. 

Barnes’ basket snapped a tie at 74, then Cal was forced to foul Jason Kapono, who made both for a 78-74 lead with 24.8 seconds left. 

Shantay Legans made one of two free throws to draw Cal within three. Cal controlled the rebound, but Dennis Gates missed a 3-pointer and Barnes was fouled in grabbing the rebound. Barnes made one of two as UCLA used an 18-8 run to close out the game. 

Sean Lampley led the Golden Bears (19-8, 10-5) with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Legans added 16 points. 

The Bruins trailed by seven in the second half. They scored eight straight, including four by Earl Watson, to take their first lead, 69-67, since early in the half. 

It became a one-point game until Barnes’ basket off an assist by Watson put UCLA ahead for good. 

Watson led the Bruins with 20 points. Kapono and Billy Knight added 14 each. Knight had four of UCLA’s eight 3-pointers. Dan Gadzuric had 11 points and 11 rebounds, although UCLA was outrebounded 34-27. 

Cal opened the second half with a 13-4 run to take a 50-44 lead as UCLA missed its shots and Gadzuric committed two turnovers. 

UCLA coach Steve Lavin, on probation by the Pac-10 for the rest of the season because of a tirade against an official Saturday at Oregon State, was noticeably subdued. He clapped his hand over his mouth when the Bruins were called for traveling early in the game.

Berkeley landlords turned out en masse Wednesday night to protest language in a Planning Commission Draft General Plan that calls for continuation of rent control and other rent stabilization measures in Berkeley. 

Other Berkeley residents packed into the auditorium of the North Berkeley Senior Center Wednesday called for more measures to reduce traffic congestion and increase green space in the city.  

It was the commission’s last public hearing to take input for the draft plan. A statement of community priorities intended to guide public decision making, the General Plan would replace the Berkeley Master Plan of 1977. The Planning Commission has taken public comment on the various iterations of the plan for the last year-and-a-half and hopes to submit its Draft General Plan to the City Council for consideration and adoption by May. 

“Rent control in many communities has reduced the quality and quantity of available housing,” Robert Cabrera, president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association, told the commission Wednesday. “It’s regrettable that the city of Berkeley continues to promote a policy whose costs fall disproportionately on the poor.” 

Cabrera blamed rent control for a precipitous decline in rented single family homes since 1980, saying landlords opt to sell into the lucrative market for home ownership rather than rent at low rates sure to limit their profits. 

Half a dozen other property owners lambasted the draft plan for promoting rent stabilization policies such as rent control, calling the policies unfair and counterproductive. 

“Some of my tenants make more money than I’m making and I’m supporting them,” complained Berkeley landlord Colette Ford.  

“Where’s the means test?” Ford asked the commission. “Are we really providing affordable housing for those people who need it? I don’t think so.” 

Berkeley landlord Dave Myers agreed. 

“I have tenants who make more than $50,000 a year and pay less than my low income residents,” Myers said.  

Planning Commission Chair Rob Wrenn disputed the claims in an interview after the meeting. 

“There is a lot of mythology around rent control, like the myth of the affluent tenant,” Myers said. “The actual data from the census and surveys (conducted by the city) shows that the majority of tenants (in rent controlled units) are either low income or very low-income.” 

That’s not including UC Berkeley students, Wrenn added, whose low-income status is could easily be called into question. 

“Rent control has clearly allowed many low-income residents to stay in Berkeley (over the last 20 years),” Wrenn said.  

Wrenn conceded that there has been a decline of affordable rental units, in part due to landlords fleeing rent control restrictions by converting to owner-occupancy units such as condominiums.  

But citing the high costs of non-rent-controlled units in Berkeley today – an average of $1,450 for a two-bedroom apartment – Wrenn said: “I find it really kind of amazing in this particularly over-heated market that people can argue against rent controls.” 

Wrenn also dismissed the landlord argument that an end to rent control would lead to more affordable housing. The only new affordable housing being built today is subsidized housing. “That’s going to get built regardless of whether we have rent control or not,” Wrenn said. 

Landlords Wednesday also protested the Draft General Plan’s recommendation that the city advocate the repeal of – or exemption from – the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. The act allows landlords to raise rents to whatever level they want after tenants vacate rent controlled units and guarantees that all new rental construction will be exempt from rent control. 

Rent control already “exacerbates housing shortages by discouraging maintenance and construction of new housing,” said a letter signed by several Berkeley landlords and submitted to the planning commission Wednesday. If the guarantee that new housing will be exempt from rent control is lost, developers will be very reluctant to invest in “desperately needed new units,” the letter contends. 

Another vocal group of citizens Wednesday reiterated their protests from the last planning commission meeting that language in the Draft General Plan advocates increased car traffic control measures for some residential streets and not for others.  

“A guiding principle of Berkeley’s general plan should be that every residential area deserves relief from traffic-related air pollution, noise, visual impacts and safety hazards...,” said Berkeley resident Kate Nichol. 

Others went further, calling on the commission to devise more strategies to reduce, and not just control, automobile traffic. 

“We’re drowning in car traffic,” said Jason Meggs of the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition. “Traversing downtown Berkeley on a bike is much like traversing a mine field...as the tanks roll in.” 

Supporters of a so-called Ecocity Amendment to the draft general plan called for stringent, environmental-friendly requirements for all new construction. They advocated, among other things, a policy that would allow developers to build buildings with more floor area than is currently allowed if they contribute money to a fund for environmental restoration projects. 

Wrenn said the draft plan already addresses many of the concerns mentioned Wednesday. It promotes energy efficient buildings, calls for future development to be concentrated around transit centers to reduce auto traffic, and proposes an “eco-pass” where employers could buy bus and BART transit passes for their employees at discounted rates, he said.  

An “eco-pass” plan in Silicon Valley has greatly increased public transit use by employees of participating companies, Wrenn added.  

As for the idea allowing developers to build bigger buildings if they contribute to environmental restoration, Wrenn said he would like to see the idea included in the General Plan. The city has already considered plans to restore underground streams to daylight, creating new green corridors, Wrenn said. An environmental restoration fund could be used for such projects, he added. 

After a game in which her team was never close to victory, UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier sat in thought in the press room. Her team had just lost, and her young backcourt had been taken to school by Cal’s experienced guards.  

Her thoughts, however, were on her team’s development. Olivier took some comfort in having her guards play against Cal’s senior backcourt. “I definitely think they can pick some things up from them,” she said. 

Oliver thought back to a time when Cal had young guards, one in particular who has done a lot of growing in the past four years. 

“I remember when Courtney (Johnson) was a freshman in this league,” said Olivier. “She took her bumps and bruises, but she’s turned into a great leader for her team.”  

Needing to win three of their last four games to ensure a .500 record for the season, the Bears wasted little time with cellar-dwelling UCLA. Kenya Corley scored 22 points and Johnson added 17 to lead Cal to a 83-59 victory over an overmatched Bruin squad. 

The win improved the Bears to 12-13 on the season, and 8-7 in the conference. With three conference games left, the Bears are striving for a winning conference record and a possible berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. Though Arizona State was granted a berth last season with a .500 overall record, Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer still feels that talk of the postseason is premature. 

“It’s a reality, but we must keep doing what we’re supposed to do,” explained Horstmeyer. “We’re not in the position to talk about it.” 

The Bears jumped on the Bruins almost immediately, scoring the game’s first seven points and opening with a 16-6 run. Corley led the charge with five points, including a three-pointer from the right side. The senior guard was able to create for herself with her quickness and leaping ability all evening.  

“(Corley) is really quick,” said Olivier. “She has a quick first step, and her hang time is just unbelievable.” 

One of the game’s better moments came at 19:39 in the second half, when Johnson sank the second of her two free throws. The shot was Johnson’s 1,000th career point at Cal. As the fact was announced, Johnson’s teammates gave her high-fives, and the crowd gave a warm ovation.  

“The ovation I got was great,” said Johnson. “I was really excited.”  

Though the Bruins would claw back to as close as 23-15, the Bears pulled steadily away, leading by 15 at halftime. The Bears went on a 12-4 run midway through the second half, and the Bruins were firmly in the rear view mirror.  

The Bears hammered the Bruins on the boards, out-rebounding them 46-33, with Ami Forney and Lauren Ashbaugh pacing the team with eight apiece. 

The Bears have one final game at Haas Pavilion this season: Saturday afternoon at USC. A win over the Trojans would give Cal their first sweep against both Los Angeles area schools ever.  

“I think USC is a very dangerous team,” said Horstmeyer. “They pressure you into making mistakes. They’re a very good team.”

Two men and a woman allegedly kidnapped a women at gun point as she waited for her husband to pick her up on University Avenue Saturday night, police said. 

The victim told police she was repeatedly raped and sexually abused by the two men over a 12-hour period as the car drove to different parts of the city, according to Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes. 

After coming out of a late meeting, the woman called her husband in Oakland and arranged for him to pick her up at a bus stop near the intersection of University and McGee avenues, Lopes said.  

About 9 p.m. Saturday night the white Ford stopped in front of the victim and the driver began asking for directions, Lopes said. When the woman approached the car the driver produced a gun and demanded that she get into the car, he added. 

The victim reportedly told police she was released about 9 a.m. Sunday morning at another location in Berkeley and immediately called her husband. Her husband took her Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, where she was treated for razor blade cuts on her stomach and chest and released, Lopes said. 

Police describe the two men as “heavily tattooed” on their face and hands, Lopes said. They were said to be driving a white Ford four-door vehicle. 

Police have no suspects in custody, Lopes said. Anyone with information relevant to the case should call the Berkeley Police Sex Crimes Detail at 981-5735. 

••• 

A domestic dispute escalated to attempted murder Sunday morning as a woman allegedly chased down her common law husband and stabbed him twice in the back with a kitchen knife, police said. 

After a verbal argument about 8 a.m., a woman police identified as Theresa Ann Washington of who lives on the 1900 block of Fairview Street allegedly became enraged, grabbed a 3-inch kitchen knife and chased her husband through the house screaming “I’m going to kill you,” said Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes.  

Washington finally cornered the man and stabbed him twice in the upper back, Lopes said. The district attorney charged Washington with attempted murder and she is in police custody awaiting trial, Lopes said. The victim was treated for his injuries and then released, Lopes said.

SAN FRANCISCO — A health watchdog group plans to sue some manufacturers of over-the-counter anti-diarrheal drugs because it says they contain high levels of lead, and no warning of those levels on their packages. 

The Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health charges the companies are violating Proposition 65, a California law that requires manufacturers to label their products when they knowingly expose residents to certain levels of toxic chemicals, including lead. 

Lead is listed by the state as a carcinogen, and can cause reproductive damage, brain damage and behavioral problems in children. 

The group filed suit Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court against Pharmacia Corp., the maker of Kaopectate, and plans to notify at least 11 other manufacturers that it intends to sue them. 

The CEH is seeking to have the companies reduce the levels of lead in their products and label them so consumers know how much lead is in them. A judge agreed to hear a bid for a preliminary injunction the group also filed Thursday, seeking to have the companies label their products in the meantime. 

“We’re hoping they will do the right thing and come clean to consumers about the lead in their products,” said Katie Silberman of CEH. “There’s no reason there should be lead in medicine.” 

The allowable amount of lead for these medicines is 0.5 micrograms before a warning label must be put on the package. 

According to the CEH, children’s Kaopectate contains 27.9 micrograms of lead, which is more than 55 times the 0.5 level. The maximum dosage for one day is seven two-tablespoon servings, which amounts to more than 195 micrograms of lead. That’s almost 400 times the recommended limit. 

“That’s a serious amount of lead,” said CEH executive director Michael Green. 

Mary-Fran Faraji, the director of public affairs for New Jersey-based Pharmacia, said the company had not seen the complaint yet, but was confident in the safety of the product. She said the active ingredient, the mineral attapulgite, is recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration. 

“It’s safe when used as directed,” she said. “We of course are going to look very seriously at this; we just don’t have the details yet.” 

The level at which a warning about lead has to be put on the package was set by Proposition 65, which was passed in 1986. That level is based on exposures that could subject a person taking the medication to a risk of birth defects or reproductive damage. 

But the law is conservative, said Allan Hirsch, a spokesman with the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. 

“The way Proposition 65 is written, the maximum allowable daily level would have to be at a level at which even if a person were exposed to 1,000 times that, that there would be no observable effects,” he said. 

The manufacturers to receive a notice of intent to sue include Columbia Laboratories, Walgreen Company, Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, American Procurement and Logistics Co., Perrigo Co., Procter & Gamble, Kmart Corp., Longs Drug Stores, Dayton Hudson Corp., McNeil Consumer Healthcare and Safeway Inc. 

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE — NASA sent two of its space shuttles on the first leg of a trip back to Florida from California’s Mojave Desert on Thursday, each flying piggyback atop its own specially modified 747. 

After separate morning takeoffs, both shuttles landed safely after roughly four-hour flights, Columbia at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and Atlantis at Altus Air Force Base, Okla. 

Columbia had been scheduled to land at another Oklahoma base, but bad weather forced the diversion to Texas. Weather permitting, both were scheduled to continue on to Florida on Friday. 

Shuttle Columbia left California first, taking off at 11 a.m. from Palmdale, where it underwent a 17-month major overhaul and upgrade. Atlantis followed 37 minutes later, taking off from nearby Edwards Air Force Base. 

The back-to-back flights were unprecedented. Atlantis landed at Edwards on Feb. 20 after a 13-day mission to the international space station, Alpha, where the crew delivered and installed Destiny, a $1.4 billion laboratory considered the most sophisticated research module ever to fly in space. 

Each cross-country flight atop the modified Boeing 747s costs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration nearly $1 million. \Atlantis is scheduled to return to space on May 17, when it delivers a new airlock to Alpha. NASA plans to launch Columbia in late fall, either on a research mission or on a maintenance flight to the aging Hubble Space Telescope, a NASA spokesman said. 

NASA has four space-going shuttles, Atlantis, Columbia, Discovery and Endeavour.

SACRAMENTO — The Davis administration is misusing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars slated for jobs that are never filled, the Senate’s Republican leader said Thursday. 

Sen. James Brulte produced an internal e-mail from a budget manager at the Department of Transportation that he said illustrates the problem. 

The November e-mail, which Brulte provided to reporters Thursday, states that Caltrans abolishes vacant positions before the state Controller’s Office reviews vacancies every six months. Then it recreates the post later in the year, allowing the department to continue to receive the funding. 

“We abolish positions all of the time and we never lose the resources with it,” the e-mail states. 

Brulte said his office has learned that many, if not all, state departments are directing dollars budgeted for vacant posts to such uses as purchasing and travel. 

He said 30,000 government posts are unfilled statewide. 

“It goes into a bureacratic slush fund that the Legislature has no oversight responsibility on,” Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said. 

Caltrans spokesman Dennis Trujillo denied that his agency misuses its personnel funds. 

“All personnel service dollars are used for personnel service purposes. All positions, either eliminated or restored, are done through the state Controller’s Office and we have been and will continue to work with the Department of Finance to ensure the proper controls are in place,” Trujillo said. 

However, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’ Department of Finance has launched an investigation into the Caltrans e-mail and Brulte’s accusations. 

“If this department is in fact appropriating money for salaries and using it for other things, then we are concerned about that and we want to get to the bottom of it,” said Finance spokesman Sandy Harrison. 

The Finance Department has eliminated 6,600 vacant positions statewide because of similar concerns over the past two years, Harrison said. 

Sen. Dick Ackerman, R-Fullerton, vice-chairman of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, said he will propose legislation next month to return to the state’s general fund $380 million in this year’s budget for department positions that have not been filled. 

Brulte first raised the issue in 1999, when he questioned $250 million budgeted for salaries but spent for other purposes. 

Despite legislation passed and signed by Davis last year to try to remedy the problem, Brulte said Thursday the Caltrans e-mail illustrates that the “shell-game” continues. 

“We believe that it’s time to put an end to this shell game and the phantom employees that these departments insist on having,” Brulte said. 

——— 

On The Net: 

Brulte’s press release can be found at: 

http://republican.sen.ca.gov/web/31/news.asp 

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge Thursday threw out sections of a 1996 campaign finance initiative that regulated paid “slate mailers” – campaign pieces that urge voters to support a list of candidates or issues. 

Those regulations, designed to show voters that candidates and ballot measure campaigns paid to be included on the mailers, are unconstitutional because they violate the First Amendment right to political speech, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled. 

Karlton had been considering the constitutionality of Proposition 208 for several years. 

The initiative, which limited campaign donations, was only in effect for the non-election year of 1997 and a few days in 1998 before Karlton halted its enforcement. 

Voters last November approved Proposition 34, which imposed different campaign contribution limits and invalidated almost all of Proposition 208. 

One of the few things left in Proposition 208 were regulations aimed at “slate mailers,” which are brochures or cards that voters commonly receive in the mail right before elections. 

The mailers are produced by commercial firms that solicit money from campaigns to be included in their list of “recommended” candidates and issues. 

Proposition 208 required slate mailers to put three dollar signs next to the candidates and ballot measures that paid to be included.  

It also required slate mailer producers to tell voters the names of the two biggest contributors who donated more than $50,000 to pay for the mailer. 

Karlton said those requirements were unconstitutional even though the companies producing the mailers are paid. 

The regulations, he wrote, “are content-based regulations of political speech and not a form of commercial speech.” 

Tony Miller, a former chief state elections officer and a leading sponsor of Proposition 208, said he had not seen the ruling but was “disappointed, but not really surprised.” 

Jim Knox, executive director of California Common Cause, a campaign reform group that backed Proposition 208, said he hoped the ruling would be appealed. 

The Fair Political Practice Commission, the state’s political watchdog agency, will decide whether to appeal Karlton’s decision at its next meeting on March 9. 

Karlton also approved an agreement requiring the state to pay $3 million in fees to attorneys representing some of the plaintiffs that challenged 208, including the California Democratic and Republican parties.

The giant puppets on parade, the banners slung high on buildings overhead, the interlocked arms as protesters wait for their arrests at key intersections in Seattle, the rousing chants in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Prague. 

These protests did not happen in a spontaneous outpouring against the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. They were consciously planned. Their leaders were trained. 

A film, shown tonight at 9:30 p.m. on KQED, tells the story of the protests and the role the Berkeley-based Ruckus Society played in training its leaders.  

Filmmakers Sharon Tiller, Josiah Hooper and Katie Galloway look beyond the images that dominate TV screens during the various demonstrations – youth dressed in black, faces covered by bandannas, smashing windows or lighting fires.  

Instead, they peer through their lens and focus clearly on who the activists are and the purpose that underlies their activism. 

Ruckus Society Director John Sellers spent a few days in a Philadelphia jail on $1 million bond before all charges were dropped against him for allegedly orchestrating the violence at the Republican National Convention. 

He says he thought the film did a good job getting out the underlying philosophy of the Ruckus Society.  

However, he said he felt the filmmakers focused too much on the “white fairly privileged” leaders of the Ruckus Society.  

He said it should have honed in on participants of color such as the Third Eye Movement and Just Act, organizations that promote activism among youth of color. 

In the film, Sellers is quoted minimizing the role of the Ruckus Society. He is shown coming to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, after being let out of jail.  

“This isn’t a movement with a body and a head, where you take out the head and the movement will die,” he says. 

The film shows the Ruckus-Society led training camp, how activists learn to climb ropes – to place banners – civil disobedience training, and learning to deliver their message to the media in sound bites. 

It also shows how the message gets garbled when it hits the airwaves.  

“The film does a good job of grappling with the issues,” Sellers said Wednesday. It puts the demonstrations into context and “allows people to make the decision for themselves.”

With instant gratification seemingly the law of the land, it’s nice to know that decorating on the installment plan can be more satisfying than getting it all done the day after tomorrow. 

It’s not only easier on the budget, it can be more interesting. “If you do it all at once, the room lacks the richness that a room put together over time will have – it’s like a song with only one note,” says Lyn Peterson. 

Peterson is founder and president of Motif Designs, a wallpaper and fabric design firm headquartered in New Rochelle, N.Y., and has decorated innumerable homes over several decades.  

Those just starting out need to outfit a home with the basics. “These days, that’s typically defined as a bed, sofa, table, chairs, TV, decent lighting, and I would add, a computer, but most of these items can start out as hand-me-downs or as inexpensive new purchases, if that’s all the budget allows. 

“Shop at Mom’s, and find out if your town has a bulk garbage day when people put unwanted items out on the curb,” she advises. “Americans generate a lot of waste, including old TVs, sofas, unused tiles and much more that’s usable.” 

Peterson says this early period when people are making do with second-hand items is an ideal time to experiment with taste. Especially for young people who are furnishing a first home when their tastes are not set, it’s a good idea to not to rush into expensive purchases. “Instead of buying a costly dining room table, for example, why not buy a kitchen table and use it in the dining room with six side chairs?” she asks. “Later, when you can afford it and your taste is formed, you can use the kitchen table in the kitchen and buy the dining room table and new chairs.” 

When a room is furnished with number of mismatched items, either color or pattern can be the unifier. One strategy is to emphasize two colors that go well together, like red and green or blue and yellow. Make one color dominant and the other an accent. Various hues of the colors can be used. 

When furniture is not perfect – say sofa and chair hand-me-downs – patterned covers can disguise the wear and tear. Similarly, a table that has seen better days can be covered with a patterned cloth. 

When it is time to buy new pieces, try to steer clear of fads and focus on selections that represent trends. Often there’s a longer-lived version of the faddish item. For example, to Peterson the all-white room (walls, furniture, fabrics, accessories) is a fad that will wear thin, while a room that emphasizes neutrals is a trend that will continue to be fresh for a longer time. Well-made down-stuffed throw cushions are a trend, while pillows decorated with dangling crystals are a fad.  

To avoid fads, Peterson advises that you “never buy anything that is in the height of fashion. If something is not a hot fashion item, it will never get cold.” Some tips from Peterson on how to have an attractive room regardless of budget: 

• Choose comfortable, sturdy furniture in classic styles that can take abuse. Two of her favorites for comfort are sofas with low rolled arms and footstools that can be pulled up to easy chairs. 

• Even when there’s overhead lighting, include table lamps in your plan. Overhead lighting is good general illumination but not so good for tasks, and it’s harsh and unflattering. Your head casts a shadow on a book in overhead lighting. An inexpensive lighting enhancer is a dimmer switch for $10 or less that you can install yourself. 

• Even with wall-to-wall carpeting, a patterned area rug provides visual warmth and color. 

• Select paint colors carefully. Eastern and western exposures are more flexible, but be careful how you use gray and blue in rooms with northern light, which tends to make these colors feel cold. Yellow can be too intense in a room with a southern exposure. 

Several years ago, we traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, where we were amazed to find that nearly every home had a TV antenna. 

The skyline was dotted with masts of horizontal and vertical aluminum tubing – some low, some high, some crooked – a forest of manmade metal trees. They were everywhere. 

When we made this trip to the Mediterranean, we had already enjoyed cable in our own community for nearly two decades, and we had forgotten how ugly a hoard of antennas could be. Lisbon in the ’90s looked exactly like a typical ’60s American community. In fact, after seeing all the antennas, we were thankful that cable had come along when it did. 

If you have a television set, there is an excellent chance that you have cable. And if you have cable, there is a likelihood that you will want to relocate or add a cable outlet at some point. 

Relocating or adding a cable outlet pretty much involves the same basic principle. You can either run a length of cable to the new location from the termination box (on the outside of the house) or you can tie in to an existing outlet and go from there. However, in both cases you will need the same device to meet the task – a splitter. A splitter simply converts one input to two (or more) outputs. 

Splitters come ready to use, right off the shelf. 

Remove the existing cable from your television set, stereo or radio and screw that end into the splitter port marked “in.” Normally, there is only one port on the “in” side of a splitter. “In” is short for “signal in,” which is short for “this is the side of the splitter that receives the incoming signal from the cable company.” 

The opposite side of the splitter is the “out” or “signal out” side. There will be two or more outlets on the “out” side of the splitter depending upon how many new connections you intend to add. You don’t have to use all the outputs. For example: If you have three outputs on your splitter and wish only to connect to two units, simply leave one unused. Each output will provide the same amount of signal – one is no better than the other. 

With the input connected, the next thing to do is to reconnect the unit from which you got the cable (the cable box, television, radio or stereo). That’s all it takes to get your initial unit back in service again. Usually, only a very short length of cable will be needed for this task (a foot or so). 

Next, you will need to connect a second length of cable from one of the other splitter outputs. This will feed a signal to the cable that will extend to the new location. 

In every instance, you will need cables that are fitted with female connectors at each end. You can purchase cables “ready-made” in varying lengths. This is the easiest way to get the cable you need. The advantage is that no special tools are needed to attach the connectors to the cable.  

If you intend to add lengthy extension, consider the addition of an inline amplifier. The rule of thumb with cable is: The longer the cable, the poorer the signal. If you add an extension and find that the picture isn’t as good at the second location as it was at the first one, consider amplification. Sorry, but there is no distance rule of thumb when it comes to amplification. When you have a bad signal – amplify. 

An amplifier will run you about $35 and requires power from a standard 110-volt outlet. If the incoming signal from the cable company is bad to begin with, an amplifier probably won’t help. We recently complained to our cable company about a bad signal and they reran the main wire to our home and within.  

Before you extend your cable, check with your local cable company to determine which type of cable to purchase.  

Although most cables will work in most instances, various types of cables actually transmit signals differently. It doesn’t hurt to check. 

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Travelers often go to the ends of the earth to bring home colorful indigenous crafts to add distinctive notes to their homes. 

Except for missing out on the adventure of travel itself, armchair travelers can buy some of the same unusual objects. 

Crafts from faraway places can be found in home furnishings specialty stores, crafts galleries and, increasingly, via the Internet through dot-com companies and nonprofit groups. 

For example, the wares of Bangladeshi artisans were displayed to retailers shopping a gift fair in January. They are being offered through a joint venture between an American company, One Nest.com, Inc. (http://www.onenest.com) and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and include textiles, baskets, woodworking items and clothing. 

“People of Bangladesh can sell more products and use the income to educate their children, live in better conditions, and gain respect among their peers,” said Durreen Shahnaz, a Bangladesh native and CEO of One Nest. In return, Americans have access to interesting decorative objects. 

One Nest is one of a number of Web sites now putting artisans from the developing world and American retailers together for mutual benefit. Another example is http://www.viatru.com. 

There are also Web sites for consumers, such as http://www.novica.com, with a database of approximately 8,500 items made by 1,700 artisans and artists from around the world. Customers order directly from the maker. 

Logging onto http://www.peoplink.org results in access to large database of products, countries and prices. In January, there was even a sale section with serving spoons from Africa, baskets and birdhouses from the Philippines and musical instruments from various countries. 

“While many craftspeople in underdeveloped parts of the world have no electricity, those that do have access to computers and cameras to present their objects, as well as the marketing know-how to take advantage of them, and can find it helpful to sell on the Internet,” says Paola Gianturco of Mill Valley. 

Gianturco, co-author of “In Her Hands: Craftswomen Changing the World” (Monachelli Press, $60, hardcover), recently completed a five-year project in which she saw firsthand how making craft objects is helping sometimes desperately poor women raise their families’ standard of living. 

She became intrigued with the subject in 1995 and decided to take a sabbatical from her corporate consulting business to photograph and write about the phenomenon.  

She invited a former colleague, Toby Tuttle of Evergreen, Colo., to join the adventure. Before each of six trips, the women lined up interpreters knowledgeable about crafts who spoke English as well as the native language.  

Their book showcases the crafts and lives of some 90 women in 12 countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. Altogether 18 different crafts are represented, including rugs from Turkey; textiles such as applique panels, woven fabrics and knitted doll purses; pottery from Latin America; flower painted panels from Poland; straw baskets and mats from Africa; and batik work from Indonesia. 

There is a great variety in both the crafts themselves and the methods for marketing them. “Some of the handicrafts are exquisite and elegant and some are funky, some expensive and others inexpensive, some for sale locally and others internationally,” Gianturco said. 

Not all the customers for crafts are foreigners. “In Bali, women used to spend as much as a third of their day creating elaborate religious offerings of arrangements of fruit and flowers,” Gianturco said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster users enthusiastically downloaded free songs Thursday on the eve of a court hearing that could finally end its great music giveaway – and present record labels with a new set of problems. 

Napster Inc. tried to buy time with a series of legal appeals ahead of the hearing by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel. 

But it was unclear whether that would delay Patel from quickly issuing a reworked order that would effectively shut down the free service. 

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last month largely affirmed Patel’s July decision ordering the company to stop allowing music the swapping of copyrighted music. 

The judges asked Patel to rewrite the order in a way that allows Napster to survive if it can do what even its lawyers say is impossible – keep pirates off its network. 

Soon afterward, Napster offered $1 billion – in exchange for a 40 percent cut of online music sales – to the recording industry to settle the copyright infringement suit. 

The Recording Industry Association of America has soundly rejected Napster’s offer, anticipating victory in the landmark case. 

Still, breaking the habits of more than 50 million Napster users accustomed to free online content will be anything but simple. 

The RIAA sent out 85 letters on Feb. 19, asking Internet service providers to take down OpenNap servers – homegrown personal computers set up to facilitate Napster-like activity. But OpenNap is just one of any number of networks where people can trade music without paying for it, and going after actual users could prompt a buyer backlash. 

“They’ll have no choice but to sue their customers and they just can’t do that,” said Phil Leigh, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates. “It would be anarchy.” 

Already, Congress is being called upon to tweak federal law in response to the latest copyright and technology issues. Lawmakers interested in preserving online music sharing include GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, himself a musician and Napster user. In response, the RIAA has hired former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, a Republican who is close to President Bush, as a lobbyist. Racicot’s position: despite the popularity of file-sharing technology, lawmakers shouldn’t rush to weaken copyright law. 

“We are confronted with some circumstances presently that make it very complex because of the explosion of technology available to us,” Racicot said this week. “Frankly, in my judgment, you cannot mutate the property rights of others or diminish them in any way or diminish the law to conform to technology and to private demand.” 

Music fans downloaded 2.7 billion files in January using Napster, more than double September’s activity, and more than 96 million songs were traded on Feb. 12, the day an appellate court said Napster would likely lose its case at trial, according to Webnoize. Another research firm, Accenture, predicts that by 2005, the digital music market will grow to $3.2 billion, or 15 percent of overall music sales. 

Napster, now funded primarily by German media giant Bertelsmann AG, offered to pay record labels $200 million a year for five years, and work together to deliver music online. 

But the major labels – all of which are now developing their own online music distribution businesses – rejected Napster CEO Hank Barry’s offer even before he made it public. 

But that won’t solve the problems, since other ways of getting free music are sprouting up. These difficult-to-trace peer-to-peer applications have funny names such as Gnutella, LimeWire, ToadNode and BearShare, but they’re becoming easier to use with every hacker’s tweak. 

The BearShare program – software that scours a constantly expanding number of hard-drives for text, music and movie clips – has been downloaded more than 500,000 times since it was made available Dec. 4, according to its designer, Vincent Falco. 

Interest in non-Napster file-sharing programs has exploded with every headline in the RIAA’s case against Napster. PC Data Online reported that such programs had more than 90,000 visitors per day in February. 

Hilary Rosen, president of the RIAA, told other content providers at a conference in New York Thursday that the recording industry started seriously investing in online music delivery 18 months too late. 

“Don’t make the same mistake we made,” she said before flying to San Francisco, where she said she would implore the judge to deny Napster any more delays. 

“If there is a vacuum in the marketplace, it will be filled by pirates,” she warned. “Then no one makes any money, but a level of consumer expectation is developed that is hard to recapture.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.napster.com 

http://www.riaa.com 

http://www.bearshare.com 

NEW YORK — The nation’s manufacturing activity showed signs of hitting bottom in February as it extended its decline for a seventh month, a key industry group said Thursday. 

The report from the National Association of Purchasing Management supported the contention Wednesday by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that the downturn in the economy appeared to be slowing in the early months of 2001. 

Other reports issued Thursday showed improvements in personal income and construction spending, while a fourth survey charted a rise in first-time claims for unemployment insurance. 

The NAPM, an organization of corporate purchasing executives, said its index of business activity rose to 41.9 in February from 41.2 in January. 

An index above 50 signifies growth in manufacturing, while a figure below 50 means contraction. A level below 42.7 also generally indicates a contraction in the overall economy. 

The upturn in manufacturing followed a January figure that showed manufacturing at its lowest level since early 1991. 

The purchasing management group said that while the February reading means the overall economy contracted for the second consecutive month, the uptick in the index and its components might signal that the decline has reached its low point. 

However, “we must caution that it takes more than one month’s data to make that determination,” said Norbert J. Ore, who oversees the monthly survey for the NAPM. He noted that an important component of the index, new orders, showed a slower rate of decline, a more positive sign for manufacturers’ business. 

The new figure was roughly in line with analysts’ expectations and marked the seventh straight month of contraction in the manufacturing sector. Of the 20 industries in the manufacturing sector, only food and tobacco reported an improvement in business in February. 

The NAPM reading was one of four economic reports Thursday. The Commerce Department said Americans’ incomes rose sharply in January and spending shot up even more quickly as mild weather and deep discounts lured people into stores and malls. In addition, spending on construction projects in January posted the biggest increase in 10 months. With mild weather, spending rose for new homes, office buildings and highways. 

Those upbeat figures were countered by another report by the government that new claims for state unemployment insurance last week rose by 39,000 to 372,000, reflecting layoffs in automobile manufacturing and bad weather in some parts of the country. 

The economic figures did not dispel Wall Street’s gloom about the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average at early afternoon was down 159.13 at 10,336.15, while the Nasdaq composite index was down 55.60 at 2,096.23, a level not seen since December 1998. 

In his comments Wednesday, Greenspan had disappointed investors by largely dismissing the idea that the Fed might lower interest rates before its March 20 scheduled meeting. 

Economists were split in their views of the purchasing managers’ report. 

The report should not be interpreted as a sign the economy is in recovery, but it does show business is headed in a positive direction, said economist Sung Won Sohn of Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis. 

“I would view this as a ray of hope,” Sohn said. 

David H. Resler of Nomura Securities International in New York said there was no way to see the report as good news. Instead, it shows the manufacturing sector continues to struggle, he said. 

“The reality is you cannot say we’ve stopped falling. We’re just not falling as fast,” Resler said. 

SAN JOSE — Tim Koogle is stepping down as chief executive of struggling Internet bellweather Yahoo! Inc., though he will stay on as chairman. 

The company also announced Wednesday that its first-quarter operating earnings will come in at “approximately break-even,” well short of Wall Street’s expectations. Full-year results also could miss targets. 

Koogle, who will remain CEO until a replacement is found, said he felt Yahoo needed an infusion of new talent. 

The news came on the same day that trading in shares of Yahoo were halted because the company canceled an appearance at an Internet conference in New York. 

Shares dropped $1.38 to $21 before trading was halted on the Nasdaq Stock Market. After Koogle’s plans were announced, shares fell another $2.75, or 13 percent, to $18.25. 

Koogle, a former executive at Motorola Inc., became Yahoo chairman in 1999. 

“This guy has a lot of background here, been there from very early on, and has done a real good job,” Finding a replacement will be difficult, like “getting someone to step in front of an avalanche,” said John Corcoran, an analyst with CIBC World Markets Corp. 

After starting as a search engine in the mid-1990s, Santa Clara-based Yahoo grew into a full-service information and shopping portal and became the world’s most popular destination on the Internet. Yahoo also was one of the Internet’s biggest financial success stories, with revenue nearly doubling last year, to $1.1 billion, and profits of $291 million. 

But the company’s dependence on advertising – which accounted for nearly 90 percent of last year’s revenue – has proven to be problematic in the dot-com meltdown and the overall slowing of the economy. 

“It’s been a real tough quarter for Internet advertising,” said Abhishek Gami of William Blair & Co. 

SACRAMENTO — California’s scramble to insulate consumers from the soaring price of electricity may add to the state’s power problems this summer, Wall Street analysts said Tuesday. 

Gov. Gray Davis’ emphasis on buying utilities’ transmission lines and negotiating long-term power contracts to help ease their debts skirts the deep imbalance between wholesale and market rates that led to the state’s power problems in the first place, they said. 

“In the long run, it doesn’t solve anything,” said Michael Worms, an industry analyst for Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. “In the long run you need to send the right price signals to consumers, which will create its own conservation signals. Unfortunately, customers were shielded from that in California.” Davis said Monday that the state’s first contracts to buy electricity for two financially struggling utilities will provide only about two-thirds of the power needed on a typical summer day, forcing Californians to cut power use at least 10 percent to avoid blackouts. 

Since early January, the state has been buying one-third of the power Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers need. 

The two utilities, denied credit by suppliers, say they have lost nearly $14 billion due to soaring wholesale electricity prices that the state’s industry deregulation law says they cannot pass onto consumers. 

The keepers of the state power grid had enough electricity Tuesday to avoid declaring an electricity alert, but have faced an almost-daily scramble for weeks due to a tight supply and high wholesale prices. 

Several wholesale and retail rate proposals are circulating. Among them: 

— Free-market advocates such as Worms want an immediate end to the deregulation-imposed retail rate freeze on Edison and PG&E that will expire next year. 

— Davis wants a Western price cap of $100 per megawatt hour on power generators he says have been profiteering from California’s short energy supply. The Bush Administration and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are cool to that idea. 

— In December, FERC imposed a “soft cap” of $150 per megawatt hour on wholesale rates in the state and required suppliers to justify charging higher prices. 

— Consumer groups such as The Utility Reform Network (TURN) want regulated rates for residential and small business customers, but free-market rates for large industrial customers which sought deregulation in the first place. 

— TURN also advocates a tiered rate structure, with higher rates for consumers who use more than a reasonable amount of electricity each month. 

— Assembly Republicans say electricity and natural gas prices will fall naturally if the state increases supply, mainly by making it easier to build plants and pipelines. 

“Right now, you’re sort of sitting partially with regulation and part with the free market,” said Paul Fremont, an analyst with Jefferies & Co. “Both these systems work. It’s sort of that in-between system that you have in California that doesn’t appear to be working.” 

The system discourages generators from building new power plants because they aren’t guaranteed a profit, and doesn’t do enough to discourage power use by consumers because the price they pay doesn’t reflect the true cost of power, Fremont said. 

“I don’t think people here have much faith in the market, and why should they?” countered TURN’s Mindy Spatt. “I think there are probably better ways of encouraging consumers to conserve than by gouging them.” 

The governor is continuing to lobby FERC, other Western governors, California’s congressional delegation, and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham for region-wide action on the power shortage facing Western states, Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said. 

Davis insists the crisis can be resolved without raising rates for Edison and PG&E customers beyond “the existing rate structure,” though Maviglio said that will be more easily done with Edison than with PG&E because Edison’s rates already are higher. 

In January, state regulators imposed temporary rate hikes of 7 to 15 percent on Edison and PG&E customers. 

The Legislature and Davis extended the increases for up to a decade to help pay back the estimated $10 billion in power-buying the state expects to do for Edison and PG&E over the next several years, and finance its purchase of the power lines owned by the two companies and San Diego Gas & Electric. 

Rates were already scheduled to increase next year for Edison and PG&E customers. Under the 1996 deregulation law, the pair’s ratepayers saw a 10 percent rate reduction, but only until early 2002. 

That rate cut will likely expire as planned, Mavliglio has said. 

Davis wants those rates to cover not only the traditional cost of generating, transporting and distributing power, but the added cost of paying off the two utilities’ massive debt and buying their transmission lines, said Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Boulder Creek, the Assembly’s chief power negotiator. 

Yet Davis has indirectly addressed the rate imbalance by signing legislation that will let regulators raise consumer rates if necessary, Keeley said. 

The governor and lawmakers are in effect spreading out rate increases over a decade by using long-term revenue bonds to buy power for the nearly bankrupt utilities, said Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute. 

“At some point we have to deal with the reality that all of the power that we buy has to be paid for by somebody — it’s either going to come from taxpayers or it’s going to come from ratepayers,” Borenstein said. “Raising rates now would get us a lot of conservation.” 

Davis also wants financial incentives for conservation and power plant construction in time to make a difference this summer. 

“Our mouths were agape” at the rapid timetable, Keeley said. 

Legislators are rushing to pass those incentives within by month’s end, he said, allowing three months for consumers and suppliers to act before the heat of summer. 

Among bills considered Tuesday, the Senate energy committee approved legislation to accelerate the siting of power plants. It delayed action on a proposal to restructure rates for generators that use renewable energy to provide about 30 percent of the state’s electricity. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Read the bills, SB28x on plant siting and SB47x on renewable-energy rates, at www.sen.ca.gov 

Berkeley-based filmmaker Maureen Gosling’s documentary “Blossoms of Fire” takes us to a place where women have upheld a tradition of political activism, economic independence and social power.  

The film portrays what could be a progressive-liberal dreamscape, and it looks like a lot of hard work. Juchitan, Mexico, on the Tehuantepec peninsula near Oaxaca, is a place of near-mythic status. Stories have been told and songs have been song of the strong, beautiful women and their brilliantly embroidered clothes. Even Serge Eisenstein, the Russian pioneer of the cinematic art, shot footage of the these women in the Americas: “Eden lies between the Gulf of Mexico and Tehuantepec.” 

It’s been called “The Last Matriarchy,” and its social structure described as domineered by women. But that isn’t exactly true, and Gosling took a 16mm camera to Juchitan to find out what this unique society is all about. “Blossoms of Fire” screens at the UC Theater on Wednesday and Thursday. 

“It’s not as unique as one might think. There are a lot of groups in the Americas that have had this kind of social structure,” said Gosling, stressing the distinction that a matriarchy does not mean the opposite of a patriarchy. “It’s really a lot more of a complimentary relationship between the sexes, which I think is pretty cool.” 

“Blossoms of Fire” gets its name from the explosive floral patterns and joyous color combinations of the women’s embroidered clothes. Uncommon of many women in developing countries, the women of Juchitan are bold, funny, and “look you in the eye,” Gosling said. In the marketplace or at home, these women hold positions of power based not on a commanding hierarchy, but from relationships and shared labor.  

The images in “Blossoms of Fire” show women engaged in a seemingly unrelenting work ethic. When asked what is the drive in her life, an elderly woman replies, “Trabajar. Trabajar. Trabajar. (Work. Work. Work).” Most of the film footage involves women preparing sweetened plums, selling fruit juice in plastic bags, making stacks of tortillas for sale, or fish mongering. 

“One important factor as to why they have such power is that they have economic independence,” Gosling said. “They can manage if they are not married, or divorced, or widowed.” 

Gosling learned plenty from making films for 20 years with Berkeley’s intrepid independent documentary filmmaker Les Blank. Famous for his films of American rural culture, he taught Gosling the importance and vibrancy of regional music. 

“One of my favorite things to do is edit to music,” said Gosling. “I loved to tell stories with the music. Instead of having a narrator tell you something, you can have the song connect somehow with what’s going on.” 

The songs in “Blossoms of Fire” are sung in the indigenous Zapotec language, which is maintained in schools and on a regional radio station. Keeping their traditional culture alive is sometimes as carefree as the men singing Zapotec songs and the women teaching the language in schools. And sometimes it involves radical activism to stave off invading European Conquistadors or domineering Mexican political parties seeking to eradicate any pockets of social autonomy. 

The film uses archival photos and drawings to tell the story of Juchitan’s turbulent past, and it’s proud political heritage which the women have been a part of creating for hundreds of years. “Their feminist movement has been going on for centuries,” said Gosling. 

She says one of the things in the Juchitan culture that is valuable for American audiences is a respect for the feminine, to acknowledge and appreciate all that women do in society. 

“The other thing I think is valuable is that we don’t have to invent these ideas, there are living examples around the world. These people are people that are worth listening to. They’re not backward, they’re not primitive. You can’t just write them off because we live in this so-called modern world.”

SAN FRANCISCO — A Berkeley man has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for his involvement in a scheme to pass off Central American coffee as premium Kona coffee from Hawaii. 

Michael Norton admitted 87 percent of the coffee he sold as pure Kona coffee was actually grown elsewhere. Kona coffee fetches much higher prices than coffee grown in Central America. 

From 1993 to 1996, Norton purchased and sold about 3.6 million pounds of the mislabeled coffee, prosecutors said. 

Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco said Norton made $15 million from the scheme. Norton was convicted last year on charges of wire fraud and tax evasion. 

Norton also admitted he failed to pay taxes on $1.3 million he made from the sales. He is required to pay almost $1 million in restitution and back taxes, and will forfeit more than $3 million.

SAN FRANCISCO — The city is offering a sweeping plan to integrate its schools and close gaps in achievement between different races. 

The “Excellence for All” plan, released Thursday, proposes sweeping changes to San Francisco public schools. It is part of the district’s effort to tap $37 million in annual desegregation money. 

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman pitched the five-year plan as a way to ensure black and Hispanic students reach the performance levels of their white and Asian classmates. 

To that end, the plan recommends a series of changes. Chief among them is setting up magnet programs in schools with large black and Hispanic populations and expanding one elementary school’s Spanish immersion program. 

That approach has encountered resistance from U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who in 1999 ordered the district to stop using race as a factor when deciding which students should attend which schools. 

The district’s new plan would use race as one of eight factors, including family income and English proficiency, when assigning students. Race would be considered only once the district used seven other race-neutral factors to create diverse schools. 

If student assignments were then deemed segregated, the district would redo the assigning process until it achieved a suitable mix of students.

SACRAMENTO — Ninth-graders will file into gyms and classrooms around the state next Wednesday, No. 2 pencils in hand, to take the state’s new graduation test for the first time. 

That much is certain. 

What is completely uncertain — thanks to a political dispute at the state Capitol — is whether the test will count for them, or merely serve as practice. 

Gov. Gray Davis’ proposal to make this month’s first voluntary administration of the test a practice exam stalled Thursday in the Senate amid partisan bickering. 

Backers plan to try again Monday to win approval — just two days before the test. 

“It really puts us in a bad situation,” said Don Cauthron, working on the test for the Kern High School District in Bakersfield. 

His 30,000-student district tried to write a letter three times to parents to explain the high school test and ripped it up twice as lawmakers altered the bill over and over again. 

“We’re in a position where we’re having to explain to parents why we don’t know the answers to their questions,” he said. “Truthfully, it makes us look really ridiculous.” 

Davis’ 1999 law creating the test requires the class of 2004, today’s ninth-graders, to pass the new test to graduate. The law also allows freshmen to take the test voluntarily. If they do well enough, they don’t have to take it again. 

However, Davis late last year proposed making this year’s test only a practice exam for them, meaning they would have to take it again next year, when all 10th-graders must take it. 

Recent court cases on similar tests in Florida and Texas indicate it is best to have all students subject to such a high-stakes test take it at the same time, Davis education aides told lawmakers. 

Then the state can argue, if it is sued, that a complete cross-section of students answered the same questions at the same point in their school career and was subject to the same passing grade, 

Removing high-achieving ninth-graders from the pool of 10th-graders next year “would skew the validity of the test,” said Davis’ education secretary, Kerry Mazzoni. 

The Assembly approved the bill 66-0 Thursday, with Democrats and Republicans voting for it. 

But Senate Republicans refused, saying they did not want to weaken or delay a test they believe will show how well teachers are performing. The Senate vote was 20-12, short of the 27 votes needed. 

A two-thirds vote would put the measure into effect immediately after the governor signed it. 

“It’s quality control for the adults. It’s to determine if the adults in the education system are doing their job,” said Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine. 

Senate Democratic leader John Burton of San Francisco accused Republicans of trying to “stick it to the governor” by blocking the bill he wants. 

“This has nothing to do with Governor Davis,” responded Minority Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga. “Republicans believe in more testing, not less.” 

Mazzoni said after the vote that she will try to persuade Republicans to vote for the bill Monday. 

“Time is short,” she said. 

Many lawmakers are also concerned students might not be ready for the test, particularly the algebra questions. The Senate earlier had tried to postpone the entire test until the class of 2005, but the Assembly rejected that, at Davis’ urging. 

The chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, said Davis has assured him that if March test results show students are not prepared, the governor would consider postponing the test at least a year. 

In the meantime, the test goes on Wednesday, real or practice. 

All of California’s roughly 900 high schools must offer the test, but no one knows how many of the 480,000 ninth-graders will take it. 

Cauthron of Kern High School District said the final letter sent to his parents asked them to notify their schools by Monday if their freshmen would take the test. 

“To expect kids to take it seriously without knowing if it’s going to count at all is really difficult for a freshman in high school,” he said. 

At Oroville High School, 90 percent of the 300 freshman have signed up for the test, Principal Ed Loman said. 

“We’re giving it one way or another,” he said. “It will be good practice and preparation for passing the high school exam.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

Read the bill, SB84 by Sen. Jack O’Connell, D-San Luis Obispo, at http://www.sen.ca.gov 

Read more about the high school test at 

http://www.cde.ca.gov/statetests/hsee