In a surprise reversal, Stephen Goldstone, interim superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the permanent position. 

Although he praised the Berkeley school district as having “all the elements” needed to become the best in the state, Goldstone, 62, said that the changes that need to happen in the district would simply take more years to implement than he has to give. 

“The more I learned about the district and the more I understood the needs, the more I realized that it’s going to take an extended amount of time to make sure that the necessary changes really stick,” Goldstone said Tuesday. 

Goldstone estimated the next superintendent would need six to seven years to “institutionalize” changes so that the school district can meet its full potential. 

School district administrators and others expressed disappointment with the interim superintendent’s decision. Many praised him for putting students first, reaching out to teachers and parents, and taking on the tough issues in the district. 

“I’m really disappointed,” said Berkeley Board of Education Vice President Shirley Issel. “I was really looking  

forward to considering his application, along with the other candidates.” 

The school board is set to begin interviewing candidates from around the country for the superintendent position later this week. It aims to have a new permanent superintendent in place by July 1. 

“He’s been extremely helpful to us while he’s been here,” Issel said.  

“People really like working with him, and it’s a shame not to have the opportunity to continue.” 

“I feel he’s made an incredible difference in the short time that he’s been here,” said John Muir School Principal Nancy D. Waters. Waters said Goldstone has listened to principals, identified their support needs, and worked effectively with the district’s central office staff to see that those needs are met. 

“He really gave them this service-oriented directive,” Waters said. “He encouraged central office staff...to come and visit the classrooms and to be reminded why we’re in this business.” 

Oxford School Principal Kathleen Lewis said the support she received from Goldstone last week, in the aftermath of a Oxford student’s death from bacterial meningitis, was “absolutely extraordinary.” 

In his three months with the district, Goldstone has clearly demonstrated his passion for the work of educating children, Lewis said.  

“If you work in the school district, you need to feel connected to children,” she said. “Lots of superintendents are good business people and lots of superintendents can work a room, but my experience is...that (Goldstone) is good with people and that he’s an educator.” 

Many praised Goldstone for getting the district through a difficult budget season, avoiding the pitfall of having people on different sides of budget decisions become locked in confrontation. They further lauded the way he has been a positive public spokesperson for the district, even while he spoke frankly behind closed doors about how the district needs to improve. 

Issel credits Goldstone with “breaking through the denial” around the level of dysfunction in the district’s central office by hammering home the point that academic challenges cannot be met until the central office does a better job.  

The central office has been criticized in recent years for a variety of failings, including failure to hold staff accountable, failure to distribute useful information in a timely manner and failure to give teachers and principals the day to day support they require.  

“You can’t attack the achievement gap with an infrastructure gap, and he has really hammered on that particular drum loud enough for everybody to hear it banging,” Issel said. “He has a vision of a system that works and an idea of how to get there.” 

Issel and others said Tuesday, however, that they respected Goldstone’s reasons for withdrawing his name from consideration for the district’s top job. 

“I do believe these are the kinds of problems that will take five to seven years to really correct,” Issel said. “Having someone leave in the middle of that process puts the process at risk.” 

Berkeley PTA council president Mark Coplan suggested Tuesday that Goldstone could stay on for another year as interim superintendent, so he could push through tough reforms without worrying about “political fallout”. 

But board director John Selawsky said there had been no talk of such a strategy, and that indeed it would be premature to consider that option until the board interviews candidates for the permanent job. 

“It’s a nice idea, but personally I’m uncomfortable putting that out there because I think it sends kind of a mixed message” to other candidates for the position, Selawsky said. 

Goldstone, a Vallejo resident, said he would be available to help with the new superintendent’s transition over the summer. After that, he said he might consider working as a consultant, or perhaps taking an interim superintendent position with another district. 

Wednesday, May 9

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 

Buying Land 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Seminar led by real estate agent Dan Maher. $35 525-7610 

Applying for Grant Money 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 6th St. 

West Berkeley Foundation’s annual community meeting will include a presentation on the grant application process for 2001-2002 grant cycle. 898-1311 

Police Review Commission Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Will cover recruitment update report, among other topics. Open to the public. 644-6716 

Thursday, May 10

Showcase 2001 

5 - 7:30 p.m. 

H’s Lordships Restaurant  

199 Seawall Drive  

Berkeley Marina  

Showcase 2001, a tradeshow and mixer. 549-7003 

Free Smoking Cessation Class  

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  

Six Thursday classes through May 17. 644-6422  

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 643-1924 

Friday, May 11

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. 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. 644-6226 

50 Plus Fitness Class  

9:30 a.m. - Noon 

UC Berkeley (varied locations)  

A class for those 50 and over which introduces participants to an array of exercise options. Demonstration and practice will include strength training, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique, and more.  

$10 per individual session 

Pre-register: 642-5461  

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Saturday, May 12

Be Your Own Boss 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

YWCA 

1515 Webster Street, Oakland 

Two day workshop on the basics of starting up a small business, taught by local business owners. 

$50-$100 sliding scale 

Call 415-541-8580 for registration  

Cordornices Creek  

Work Party 

10 a.m. 

Meet at 10th St. south of Harrison St. 

Join Friends of Five Creeks in removing ivy and reducing erosion as part of National River Cleanup Week. Learn to create creekside trail. Bring work gloves and clippers if possible. 

848-9358 

f5creeks@aol.com  

Sunday, May 13

Mother’s Day Concert 

3 - 4 p.m. 

Environmental Education Center 

Tilden Regional Park  

Featuring Mary Mische singing children’s songs. Free 

525-2233 

Hands-On Bicycle Repair  

Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn how to adjust the brakes on your bicycle from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Tapping Into Creativity 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Based on Tarthang Tulku’s “Knowledge of Freedom”, ideas and meditations to inspire creativity. Free and open to the public. 

843-6812 

Carpentry Basics for Women 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by Tracy Weir, professional carpenter. Build your own bookshelf unit. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

Ceramic Tile Installation 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by tile-setting expert Rod Taylor. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

Monday, May 14

Seeing Into the Afterlife  

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Yossi Offenberg will discuss Judaism’s philosophy on what happens beyond this world.  

$10 848-0237 

Tuesday, May 15

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 

Young Queer Women’s Group 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).  

548-8283 www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 548-3333 

Intelligent Conversation  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion will be about the effect of the media on our lives. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free  

527-5332 

Fibromyalgia Support Group  

Noon - 2 p.m.  

Alta Bates Medical Center 

Maffly Auditorium, Herrick Campus  

2001 Dwight Way  

Dr. Kathryn Williams, former chairman for the department of rehabilitation, Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, will discuss the current understanding of fibromyalgia.  

601-0550 

Business of Seeds 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

How seeds became a commodity and their journey from the fields to the lab to wall street and a discussion of our potential role as urban seed stewards in the global system.  

548-2220 

Basic Electrical Theory and National Electric Code  

7 - 10 p.m.  

Building Education Center  

812 Page St.  

Instructed by author/retired City of Oakland building inspector Redwood Kardon.  

$35 

Wednesday, May 16

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 

— compiled by  

Sabrina Forkish 

Israel discriminates 

Editor: 

Ms. Liss (May 4, 2001) appears to be living in a world of myth. Contrary to her belief, Israeli law systematically discriminates against non–Jewish citizens 

Twenty percent of Israelis cannot “work and live where they please.” Non–Jews are only permitted to own or lease property in 7 percent of Israel. This blatant discrimination was recognized by the Israeli High Court of Justice in March 2000, when it ruled on a petition brought by an Arab Israeli couple who were barred from purchasing a home in the neighborhood they desired. Sadly, the High Court held that discrimination was permissible under unspecified “special circumstances.”  

The responsibility for repatriating the five million Palestinian refugees, who now constitute the world’s largest refugee population, is Israel’s. Under international law and United Nations Resolution 194, Palestinian refugees have the right to return to the land they were driven from. The onus is on Israel to comply.  

The purpose of bypass roads is to occupy Palestinian land, not to “avoid lynchings”. Had Ms. Liss read “Tacit Consent,” a report produced by the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, she would know that Israeli settlers routinely use the weapons provided by Israel to attack and kill unarmed Palestinians, and that the Israeli military turns a blind eye to these attacks.  

The lynchings that occur regularly in the Occupied Territories are committed by Israeli settlers, not Palestinians.  

Ms. Liss, I urge you to read for yourself the reports of every major human rights organization that document the use of excessive force against unarmed Palestinian civilians. I urge you to read the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” produced by the United States Department of State and learn about the systematic, legally sanctioned discrimination that pervades every aspect of life in Israel. Israel calls this discrimination “zionism.” South Africa called it apartheid. The Palestinian people are fighting against their apartheid oppressors, and people of conscience worldwide join them in calling for an end to the brutal Israeli occupation.  

Ameena Ahmed 

Oakland 

People first, before shopping 

Editor:  

If anyone had previously doubted Mayor Dean's pro-business, anti-neighborhood agenda, those doubts must now be laid to rest in the aftermath of her State of The City address. The $22,000,000 parking garage proposal, conceived behind closed doors, is not only a waste of taxpayer money, but an insult to the community whose needs extend far beyond finding a parking space. Picture 500 more cars swarming around Shattuck and MLK, while neighborhoods continue to crumble (unless you live in the hills) and our schools continue to be underfunded.  

The mayor has consistently sided with developers and business interests, regardless of neighborhood concerns, whether it be parking development moratoriums, building developments, or hard-ball fields in residential neighborhoods. She has, in effect, placed shopping rights over human rights; profits over people, at every turn. Along with council members Armstrong and Olds, she has attempted to block every piece of progressive legislation that has come before the Council. 

So, I am trusting that the Planning Commission, the progressive council members and community leaders realize the absurdity of making parking a priority in a city which is becoming increasingly harder to live in as a result of the mayor's actions and proposals. 

Michael Bauce 

Berkeley 

Create creekside path  

Editor: 

Of all the many ideas for opening Berkeley public creeks to the public one of the easiest to attain, in terms of minimal bother to property owners and minimal re-opening of the creek, would be a path along Codornices Creek from Live Oak to the Rose Garden and Codornices Park.  

The public path would go through the much talked about Beth El property, then through a block and a half of back yard property where the stream is already open. The path could be the width of one of the innumerable five foot wide city maintained walkways that already dot the city hills. No houses would need to be eminent domained. Two property owners on Spruce would have to have a path through their creek side backyard, as would a few property owners on Glen Avenue, where most of the backyards are enormous.  

At some point, the talk of opening the streams of Berkeley needs to go beyond the talking. Codornices creek offers a chance to open a stream to the public with minimal inconvenience to property owners along the creek, and with the added plus of connecting three of our already in place parks, Live Oak, the Rose Garden and Codornices.  

An additional plus to a Live Oak to Codornices Park corridor is that the north fork of Codornices creek ends in a beautiful canyon with a hundred foot waterfall at its far end. Years ago the city maintained a path from Codornices Park to the waterfall. Today it is only an informal and narrow dirt path that hugs the side of the rather dangerously steep canyon. After the construction of the path through the Beth El, Spruce street and Glen Avenue properties the work crews could be maintained to to construct a good path to the waterfall. What a spectacularly beautiful long walk will then await the people of Berkeley and the visitors to our city.  

As for extending the creek below Live Oak. The first block runs open through backyards, and a driveway leads down to the creek from Henry Street.  

But below Henry, extension is blocked by an enormous parking lot and buildings. Ironically, enough, the owner of the property is another religious institution, in this case Mary of Magdelin Catholic Church.  

Ted Vincent 

Berkeley  

A guy who’s just a little different 

Editor:  

This whole discussion of “bullying” may have its roots by everyone being “just a little different.” We are all unique and should take pride in it.  

The problem comes with the general tendency of others, especially teenagers, to enforce conformity. It can get out of hand, become a brutal habit that reduces the creativity of persons who are “different.”  

Every person should have a mentor, starting with the mother. Later the father and a teacher may be a personal confidant with whom this ‘different’ person can explore ideas and problems.  

The immature person who is left to flounder on his or her own, without the gentle guidance and support of a mentor, can imagine all sorts of crazy solutions to problems.  

In my case, I grew up way out on the prairie and went to a one room school. My parents saw that I would be all alone in a class if I started at the age of 6. They got special permission to start me at 5.  

The problem came later during my teenage years and made a big difference. I have spent my whole being different. Seldom having a mentor.  

Sometimes I was the mentor of new employees at my office and have been lifelong friends with those persons. Now in retirement, I enjoy being different. This is possibly my most creative period of life.  

Charles L. Smith,  

Berkeley 

Anti the anti 

Now, let me get this straight... 

North Korea fires a missile. 

We fire an anti. 

They fire an anti–anti. 

We fire an anti–anti–anti. 

Have I left something out? 

George Kauffman 

Berkeley 

The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra usually performs mainstream classics, the so-called “workhorses,” the core of the classical music tradition.  

This is fine, for that part of the repertory has already proven its drawing power for audiences and interest to the performers.  

Sometimes Arlene Sagan, director of the BCCO, likes to get bold new works in hopes that the singers are up to the unusual demands of non-standard fare, and that the listeners will trust her and show up to appreciate works they have never heard before. This is the crux of this current concert series: a premiere of “The Children's Hour” by Berkeley composer Julian White, a pair of Randall Thompson’s obscure settings of poems by Robert Frost and Ludwig van Beethoven.  

The work in question, the choral Fantasia in C major, is in fact rarely heard. There is no reason for this: it is a splendid showpiece for flashy pianistic display and a glimpse at what powers Beethoven would muster for the chorus in his Ninth Symphony. The featured pianist, Matthew Edwards, rose to the occasion and sent the required sparks out through the grand instrument.  

I am not sure whether anybody actually swooned, but I swear that several listeners were near to it. The chorus took advantage of the rich acoustics in St. Joseph the Worker Church, filling the sanctuary with a mighty sound. The spiritual text of the poem, an ode to music and harmony, was clearly understandable even in the midst of the storming volume which the singers and orchestra created. The piece is as uplifting a statement about the human spirit as the “Ode to Joy” which finishes the Ninth Symphony. (This famous Ode also finished the BCCO concert: more on that later.) I can only guess that the Fantasia is mostly ignored because its short duration makes it not seem worth the effort of assembling the required forces. It is worthy of more exposure. 

The evening opened with Thompson's setting of one of Frost's most famous poems: “The Road Less Taken.” The piece begins with a simple unison melody, which gradually splits into harmonies and accumulates appropriate counterpoint, so the listener is led gradually into the gently modern idiom which Thompson utilizes for the remainder of the work.  

Nothing is jarring; even the dissonances are sweetly bitter. The attention given to the familiar text makes the vocabulary of the composition immediately palatable: it is like new spice for familiar meat. The chorus created a nicely philosophical tone throughout, serving the poem well with crisp diction and respectful phrasing. The palate widened for “Choose Something Like a Star,” the other Thompson setting of a Frost poem on the program. The chorus managed ethereal serenity after moments of dark brooding on cosmic mysteries. I regret that they did not repeat this profound choral song, for its deep complexity invites another hearing. The final piece performed was Julian White's masterful “Children's Hour,” based on two poems by William Blake, which form the philosophical crux of the work, and five other short selections from various other sources. White illustrates his interpretations of the texts and paints his amazement and wonder at the precious world of children. The audience is coaxed into accepting dissonance as expressing the loss of innocence and the bittersweet reflection on youth. The dissonance is romantic, not post-modern, and is a crucial part of the color scheme rather than a required bow to convention.  

White extends the range of his harmonies into lush eleventh and thirteenth chords, developing rather than abandoning traditional structures. The chorus managed some rather difficult passages with sure-footed musicality. Mezzo-soprano Miriam Abramowitsch brought warmth and intelligence to her featured solos, during which we got to hear that White's melodic sense is as refined and profound as his harmonies. It was a treat to hear the world premiere of this beautiful work. At the conclusion of the work, Sagan invited the composer to the podium to conduct a reprise of the final movement.  

White managed to draw even more intense beauty from the chorus, who poured their souls into the phrase "Let me comprehend all that I see with the light of awareness," which formed a kind of tribute to the man who stood before them. The singers and instrumentalists then heartily applauded the composer and his work. 

A lovely tradition of the BCCO is to end each concert with a sing-along number, which in this case was Beethoven's “Ode to Joy.” While I cannot say that it was a world-class rendition of the Ode, it was great fun. The audience had become singers, and went away happy. 

Miko Sloper can be reached at miko@cheerful.com

The City Council accepted a federal grant for about $50,000 Tuesday that it will turn over to the nonprofit that runs the popular Youth Court in which juvenile offenders are tried by juvenile attorneys and sentenced by juvenile juries. 

The Donald P. Cullum Youth Court program began operating in Oakland in 1994 and later expanded throughout Alameda County. The program has been working with juvenile offenders from Berkeley since August and is now in the process of renewing its contract. 

“We’ve had 33 offenders from Berkeley since August,” said Youth Court Executive Director Paula Bruce. “Twelve kids have already completed the program and only four have failed.” 

Bruce said a case is considered a failure if juveniles re-offend or if they don’t complete their sentences. Bruce said she anticipates a high level of success from Berkeley’s Youth Court because of the keen interest expressed by parents and students.  

“We’ve had 92 kids fill out forms expressing interest at Longfellow Middle School and Berkeley High School,” Bruce said. “And of those, 32 have already volunteered as jurors and five more are training to be Youth Court attorneys.”  

Sergeant Steve Odom, who coordinates Berkeley’s program, estimated that he refers three or four juveniles a month to Youth Court. He said the program is a good option for first-time juvenile offenders. “It’s a restorative justice format that gives kids a chance to make things right and not have a crime go on their records,” he said.  

There has been an explosion in juvenile crime nationally in recent years and Youth Court is considered an effective alternative for first-time offenders. Since 1960, the U.S. juvenile justice system has seen its caseload more than quadruple from 400,000 cases to nearly 1.8 million in 1997, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

Local court systems have been inundated with so many cases that they prosecute repeat offenders of serious crimes, while letting first-time offenders go without punishment. 

Youth Court is a legally binding alternative to Juvenile Court for first-time offenders. If an offender does not complete his sentence, the case is referred back to juvenile court. 

According to Bruce, most offenders referred to Youth Court have committed crimes such as petty theft, vandalism tagging and simple assault. 

The attorneys, juries, court clerks are all between 12 and 17 years old. The only adult that participates in the process is the judge, who will usually have experience with some aspect of the law such as attorneys or high ranking law enforcement officers. Berkeley’s Chief Dash Butler is scheduled to serve as a judge in July. 

Youth Court is held in real courtrooms at the Alameda County Administration Building in Oakland twice a month. The court hears about 32 cases a month from all three cities.  

To be successful in Youth Court, offenders must admit responsibility for their actions. “It’s the first step in the process,” Bruce said. “Without that it’s clear offenders won’t benefit from the program.” 

The minimum sentence in Youth Court is one mandatory jury service and participation in a conflict resolution course. Beyond that, juries can sentence offenders up to 60 hours of community service as well as making them attend behavioral workshops such as anger management.  

“Juries are the toughest on shoplifters,” Bruce said. “Usually a first-time offender for shoplifting gets the full 60 hours of community service.” 

Bruce said juries assign community service in the same neighborhoods the crimes were committed in. Berkeley offenders can do service work at Sausal Creek, at Berkeley Youth Alternative or at any community organization that serves the local community. 

Other sentences include writing five-page essays about the difference between right and wrong, writing letters of apology to parents, school employees or others in the community. 

Bruce said that many of the teens who successfully finish Youth Court come back to volunteer as jurors and attorneys. “I think they get a sense that it works and they come back because they want to make a difference,” she said. 

A Berkeley City Council ordinance says 10 cannabis plants per patient is enough medicine, but some 200 protesters demonstrating outside a City Council meeting Tuesday said it’s not. 

“The City Council is attempting to (enact) the drug war on us,” said David Taylor, of the Alliance of Berkeley Patients, addressing the crowd. “The city government cannot criminalize us.” 

The Alliance is calling for the city to allow patients to possess 46 flowering plants and 96 plants in other stages of the plants’ cycle. That allows for various cultivation problems and patients’ individual needs, which advocates say can exceed the 1.5-2.5 pound limit and the 10 plant maximum. 

Inside the council chambers, medical cannabis patients addressed the council, hoping to get the public officials to reconsider the law. Linda Jackson was among them. Twenty-five years ago she was in an accident and paralyzed. A nurse gave her some medical cannabis, illegal at the time, which eased her pain and helped her begin to move. She told the council that she later became a nurse and is now working with the Berkeley Patients Group, helping others control their pain with medical cannabis. Jackson said it is unfair to call for a fixed number of plants. 

Angel McClary agreed. “We are in no way going to follow your ordinance,” she told the council, explaining what it was like without the medicine, to sit in a chair and to be unable to hug her children. “It’s about real lives, real people,” she said. 

Police Chief Dash Butler, however, said there are good reasons to limit the number of plants and the amount of cannabis permitted to each patient. When there are larger quantities and a large amount of cash, the cannabis clubs become a target for thieves. Butler pointed to “two significant robberies” last month in San Francisco. “Would you want it in your neighborhood?” he asked. “There are significant public issues.” 

In an interview Monday, Councilmember Betty Olds pointed out that the ordinance permits doctors to prescribe more cannabis than the 1.5-2.5 pounds and 10 plants the ordinance allows. But Robert Raich, an Oakland attorney and medical marijuana champion, said the clause is ineffective. If doctors recommend a specific amount of cannabis, that is interpreted as a prescription. “It violates federal law,” he said. 

The ordinance was not on the council agenda. Councilmember Kriss Worthington said it might take a citizen referendum to make the changes. 

In a related matter, the council was to have discussed an ordinance Tuesday to regulate cannabis clubs through changes in zoning regulations – something the demonstrators also oppose – but they decided to consider the matter at a future meeting. 

BRIEFLY  

City ordinance for the implementation of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, approved March 27, 2001: 

Individuals: can possess up to 1.5 pounds of dried cannabis cultivated indoors and 2.5 pounds cultivated outdoors. Each can also possess 10 cannabis plants. 

Medical Cannabis Collectives: Qualified patients can join together to cultivate and manufacture medical Cannabis for their personal medical use. Members of the collective must be patients or their primary caregivers. 

The collectives cannot possess more than the amount per individual patient allowed, that is 1.5 or 2.5 pounds of dried cannabis per patient or 10 plants per patient. 

Collectives can possess a maximum of 12.5 pounds of dried Cannabis at one time, regardless of the number of members. And it can cultivate a maximum of 50 plants.  

Cultivation: where cultivation is not visible to the naked eye from a public or private property, a collective can grow up to 50 plants. However, on an outdoor parcel that is visible, a collective is restricted to growing 10 plants. 

Flexibility: Physicians can prescribe the amount of the medicine appropriate for the individual. The law says: “While each qualified patient will have different needs regarding appropriate personal medical use, this section seeks to standardize the maximum allowable amounts of medical Cannabis that qualified patients and their primary caregivers can possess or cultivate under state law, in the absence of a medical doctor’s authorization to possess or cultivate a greater amount of Cannabis as a result of the patient’s particular illness or health condition.”

Richard C. Atkinson, president of the University of California system has announced the creation of a lecture series to honor Clark Kerr, who served as UC president from 1958 to 1967. 

The Kerr Lecture participants will lecture on the role of higher education in society at one or more of the 10 UC campuses. They will also be expected to submit manuscripts on their lectures for publication. 

Atkinson made the announcement Monday. 

Lecture recipients will be chosen every two years, beginning on the 2001-2002 academic year, and will have the opportunity to conduct a semester's worth of research at the UC Berkeley Center for Studies of Higher Education. 

The lectures will be funded by the UC Office of the President at first, but officials hope to find a permanent endowment to keep them going. Atkinson said the lecture series is meant to honor Kerr, who is 90 years old and serves as the university system's president emeritus. 

“Clark Kerr is the nation's most distinguished statesman of higher education, renowned internationally not only as a scholar and academic leader, but as an insightful researcher and writer on the role of higher education in society,” Atkinson said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Eight years after a mentally disturbed man killed eight people in a skyscraper massacre, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday focusing on whether crime victims can sue a gun’s manufacturer. 

The review stems from the nation’s first and only appellate ruling allowing a gun maker to be sued on grounds it partly was responsible for a criminal shooting.  

The case is being watched closely around the nation, where courts traditionally have insulated gun manufacturers from such suits. 

The seven justices will consider an appeal by the maker of semiautomatic pistols used to slaughter the eight people in a San Francisco high rise in 1993. 

Every state high court and federal appellate court to consider a suit against gun manufacturers has ruled that makers of legal, non-defective guns cannot be sued for their criminal misuse.  

The most recent decision came from New York’s highest court, which ruled in April that gun makers cannot be sued for alleged negligence in marketing firearms. 

But California’s 1st District Court of Appeal ruled in 1999 that families of the victims in the San Francisco shooting were entitled to a trial on their claims that Navegar Inc., the Florida manufacturer of the TEC-DC9, marketed it to appeal to criminals and should have foreseen it would be used in a massacre. 

That theme, whether gun manufacturers could have foreseen and prevented criminal violence, envelopes a host of suits against the industry nationwide. 

The California appellate court said Navegar “had substantial reason to foresee that many of those to whom it made the TEC-DC9 available would criminally misuse it to kill and injure others,” said Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline in the 2-1 ruling. 

The case could affect suits against gunmakers by Los Angeles, San Francisco and 10 other California cities and counties, claiming faulty design, manufacture and distribution of firearms. At least 16 similar suits have been filed by local governments elsewhere. 

The Navegar case dates from July 1993, when Gian Luigi Ferri, a mentally disturbed man with a grudge against lawyers, entered the 101 California St. skyscraper and opened fire in a law office with two TEC-DC9s and a revolver.  

He killed eight people and wounded six before killing himself. 

“My son wouldn’t be growing up without a father if it weren’t for that,” said Carol Kingsley, whose husband, attorney Jack Berman, was killed when a hail of bullets punctured Berman’s closed office door.  

“These guns were deisgned for mass killing and they were marketing, targeting these types of folks like Ferri.” 

Ernest Getto, a lawyer for Navegar, said there was no evidence of any connection between the manufacturer’s legal activities and Ferri’s criminal conduct. 

“The Court of Appeal is the first appellate court in the country to find that the manufacturer of a non-defective firearm owes a duty to people who were victimized when the firearm was used in a crime,” he said in an interview.  

“That’s the issue, whether this should be the law.” 

In court papers, he urged the state Supreme Court to prevent “the imposition of potentially boundless liability on those engaged in legal manufacturing, marketing and distribution activities when their products are criminally misused.” 

Dennis Henigan, legal director for the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence who will argue the case on behalf of Ferri’s victims on Wednesday, said Navegar should be sued. 

“It was their decision to sell a combat weapon to the public and promote it to the high-risk users who intend to kill,” Henigan said.  

“We would have no qualms against them if they just marketed it as a high-quality weapon.” 

Found in Ferri’s Los Angeles suburban apartment were copies of Soldier of Fortune and similar magazines, in which Navegar commonly advertised the TEC-DC9. 

The TEC-DC9, a high-capacity pistol easily converted to fully automatic fire, was one of the guns used by two students to kill 12 fellow students and a teacher in Littleton, Colo. 

A San Francisco Superior Court judge originally dismissed the suit against Navegar, saying there was no evidence that Navegar’s marketing practices had influenced Ferri or helped to cause the killings. 

But the appeals court said a jury should decide whether Navegar’s overall promotion of the TEC-DC9, its sale of the pistol to the general public and the gun’s ready use for spray fire caused deaths and injuries that otherwise would not have occurred. 

The appeals court said there was evidence that the TEC-DC9 has no legitimate civilian use and the company’s ads, including one that touted the gun as fingerprint-resistant, suggested criminals were among its intended customers. 

Justice Paul Haerle, the lone dissenter on the appeals panel, accused the majority of “judicial legislation” and said Ferri bore sole responsibility for the blood bath.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has upheld the U.S. Forest Service decision to bar natural gas exploration on the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana. 

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in a decision issued Monday that the International Petroleum Association of America lacked standing to sue the Forest Service for access to the 1.8 million acres on the Front, the area where the Rocky Mountains meet the plains south of Glacier National Park. 

“IPAA has no ’right’ to bid for leases on any Forest Service land or to compel the Forest Service to authorize leasing of its land for mineral exploration,” said the opinion by Judges Stephen Trott, David Thompson and Richard Paez. “Lacking such a right, the IPAA suffered no injury in fact as a result of the Forest Service’s decision.” 

Calls to the IPAA Monday night were not immediately returned. 

Jim Angell, an attorney with the San Francisco-based environmental law group Earthjustice, represented wilderness and backcountry groups defending the forest service’s decision. 

Former Lewis and Clark National Forest Supervisor Gloria Flora decided in 1997 to ban particular lands on the Front from oil and gas development for 10 to 15 years after public protest from nearby residents, American Indian tribes, the Sierra Club and Montana recreation companies. 

That led to a lawsuit from the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Association and the Washington D.C.-based IPAA, which argued that the Forest Service decision broke several land management laws. Members of Flora’s former staff had estimated that as much as 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas may lie beneath the Front. 

Jim Angell, an attorney with the San Francisco-based environmental law group Earthjustice, represented wilderness and backcountry groups defending the forest service’s decision. 

“It’s really some of the most pristine wildlands we’ve got in the lower 48,” Angell said. The land is habitat for grizzly bears and wolves. 

“It’s interesting because this is one of the areas the (Bush) administration has been talking about opening up to exploitation,” Angell said. 

If the Forest Service changed its mind, there’s nothing in the decision that prevents future development, Angell said. A group called Resources Management Association of Denver has also proposed drilling a well on a lease in the forest that was in place before the 1997 ban took effect. 

Skyrocketing power prices and efforts to expand the nation’s fuel reserves have renewed efforts to explore for new deposits of natural gas and oil and build new oil refineries and natural gas pipelines. 

——— 

On the Net: 

9th Circuit opinions: http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/ 

International Petroleum Association of America: http://www.ipaa.org 

Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund: http://www.earthjustice.org/ 

U.S. Forest Service: http://www.fs.fed.us 

SAN FRANCISCO — A disability rights group has sued California’s Education Department for failing to accommodate children with disabilities during the state’s newly implemented high school exit exam. 

Disability Rights Advocates filed the suit Tuesday in federal court in Oakland on behalf of three dyslexic teen-agers. It seeks class action status to represent all California public school students similarly affected. 

“Gov. (Gray) Davis and the bureaucrats in Sacramento have ignored the repeated requests by the disability community ... and others to wait and develop a fair test.  

“The politicians have instead decided to use California children as guinea pigs in an educational experiment which is destined to fail,” said Alison Aubry, a lawyer for the Oakland-based nonprofit organization that sued. 

Education Department spokesman Doug Stone said Tuesday he had not yet seen the suit and could not comment on it specifically. 

However, he said the test is new and a work group is now being formed to develop guidelines for school districts. 

“We do believe that we are trying to ensure that the locals understand what is required under state law with this exam and ensuring that for special ed kids ... appropriate accommodations are part of that,” he said. 

The High School Exit Exam, which was created after lawmakers decided in 1999 to require such an exam, tests students’ skills in English and mathematics.  

The English portion includes multiple choice and essay questions and the math portion covers arithmetic, statistics, algebra and geometry. 

The exam was developed and field tested for several months last year.  

Beginning in 2004, passing the exam will be required for graduation. 

“Regardless of how bright and talented students are, how hard they work or how high achieving they may be, students who do not pass the exam will not graduate from high school, will not receive a regular diploma and will be severely disadvantaged in applying for employment and for college admission,” according to the suit. 

Dyslexia is a learning disability that impairs one’s ability to process language. 

The suit asks the state to provide an alternate exam, if necessary, for disabled students or reasonable accommodations such as extra time, use of spell checkers, calculators or tape recorders. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The rich are getting richer in California – but so too are the poor, and they’re getting there faster. 

The gap between the two shrank during the late 1990s, though it’s still far greater in the state than the nation as a whole, according to a new study. 

Those conclusions suggest that after years of falling behind, the recent rising economic tide has lifted the poor faster than the rich.  

The study, based on 1999 income data from the Census Bureau, was released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based think tank. 

The study focused on households that earn $25,000 and $88,000 – a range above and below the state’s average $51,000 salary for a family of four.  

Researchers concluded that income grew 18 percent at the bottom, compared with 11 percent in the top. 

That’s to be expected – the poor generally gain more during good times and lose more as the economy bottoms out. But while every segment of the population has earned more since California’s economy troughed in 1994, not everyone has reached a golden state. 

“While inequality has declined in California, it remains higher than it was in previous decades, and it remains higher than in other parts of the country,” said study co-author Mary C. Daly, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. 

Indeed, upper-middle class Californians earn 3.5 times more than their lower-middle class peers.  

That compares with about three times more nationally. One reason for California’s skewed numbers: since 1969, real income fell 9 percent for those at the bottom of the income ladder, while it rose 37 percent for those at the top. 

Recent waves of immigration explain much about these trends. 

A majority of immigrants to California in the last two decades took up low-skill, low-pay jobs, the study said. Nearly 40 percent of California’s 33.9 million residents lives in a family headed by an immigrant, the Census Bureau reports. 

Will the income inequality grow as the economic surge of the last few years appears to be slackening?  

That appears likely. 

“We can expect, if we do indeed have a downturn, inequality will rise,” said study co-author Deborah Reed, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. “Hard times are harder at the bottom.” 

On the Net: 

http://www.ppic.org/ 

LOS ANGELES — Mayoral candidates James Hahn and Antonio Villaraigosa met Tuesday in the first debate of their runoff campaign, arguing over who would be better at fighting crime and boosting morale in the understaffed Police Department. 

Hahn attacked Villaraigosa for his state Assembly vote against extending a law that Hahn’s city attorney’s office wrote enhancing felony convictions for gang members. 

Villaraigosa, who has urged prevention and intervention programs in fighting gang violence, responded that the gang problem has only gotten worse during Hahn’s 15 years as city attorney. 

“For you to say that it’s worse than ever, you need to go to some of these neighborhoods that I’ve cleaned up,” Hahn said, referring to anti-gang injunctions he’s imposed. 

“I was born and raised in those neighborhoods, my friend,” replied Villaraigosa, a native of the East Side. “I don’t have to go and visit them.” 

Villaraigosa also called Hahn’s support of a three-day workweek for police officers “irresponsible” and claimed it would jeopardize public safety by taking hundreds of officers off the streets. 

Hahn argued that the police force urgently needs help in retaining officers. 

“We’re facing a crisis. This department is hemorrhaging,” he said. 

The exchange underscored that crime and policing will be major issues in the weeks leading up to the June 5 election. Hahn’s campaign has sought to portray Villaraigosa as too liberal on crime, while Villaraigosa has accused Hahn of distorting his record. 

The hourlong debate on the University of Southern California campus, moderated by KCRW-FM public radio host Warren Olney and broadcast live, allowed the candidates to present detailed positions on issues including traffic, the energy crisis and economic investment. But they continued their sparring on crime outside the debate. 

Villaraigosa emerged to announce, “It’s clear that the major distinction between us is I want to keep cops on the streets of Los Angeles and Jim Hahn wants to take  

them off.” 

“I don’t believe in taking officers off the street. I believe in putting more officers on the street,” Hahn retorted a few minutes later. He said, though, that one reason crime has emerged as a key point of contention between the two Democrats is that “we agree on a lot of issues.” 

Hahn, 50, has been city attorney since 1985 and was city controller before that. He’s a moderate who grew up in South Central Los Angeles and draws on strong support from the black community in part because his father, Kenneth Hahn, represented that area on the county Board of Supervisors for four decades. 

Villaraigosa, 48, served in the state Assembly from 1994-2000, the last two years as speaker.  

A progressive, he has been praised for his ability to build coalitions and work with Republicans. If elected he would become the city’s first Latino mayor since 1872. 

Tuesday’s debate was the first since the crowded, hard-fought and costly primary election April 10. Villaraigosa emerged from the nonpartisan primary with 30 percent of the vote and Hahn with 25 percent, forcing a runoff because no candidate got more than 50 percent. 

Mayor Richard Riordan was prevented from running again by term limits. 

LOS ANGELES — A self-described advocate for nursing home reform sued a national nursing home chain Tuesday for allegedly providing substandard care at nine facilities in California. 

Ila Swan accused Manor Care Inc. and ManorCare Health Services Inc. of failing to respond to call lights for help from patients and forcing patients to sit in their own waste. She also contended the company caused patients to develop bedsores due to unsanitary conditions, lack of movement and malnutrition. 

Swan, who says she became an advocate after watching the care her mother received at a Vacaville nursing home that was not run by ManorCare, wants a court injunction ordering the Toledo, Ohio-based company to comply with the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, an order to stop an advertising campaign she considers deceptive and restitution. 

“ManorCare nursing homes have purposely short-staffed their facilities and used our loved ones as profit units,” said Swan, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and the general public. 

“When you are dealing with human lives, you can’t put profits first. These elderly are living in pain and indignity and we must do something to stop it.” 

A spokesman for the company said Tuesday he was unaware of the lawsuit and did not have an immediate comment. The case was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. 

ManorCare runs facilities in nine California cities. Manor Care, Inc. describes itself on its Web site as the leading owner and operator of long-term care centers in the United States. The company runs more than 500 long-term care centers, assisted living facilities, outpatient rehabilitation clinics and home health care offices, according to the Web site. 

SACRAMENTO — California grid operators cut power to nearly 300,000 customers Tuesday, saying hot temperatures and scarce supplies left the state short of electricity for a second straight day. 

The convergence of high demand, hot temperatures and short supplies means California may be looking at a “long week,” said Lorie O’Donley, a spokeswoman for the Independent System Operator, which runs the power grid. 

ISO officials asked utilities statewide to cut 400 megawatts for two hours Tuesday. 

“We just have run out of supply available and (we have) high demand because of high temperatures,” O’Donley said. 

The blackouts were called off at 5:15 p.m., said Jim McIntosh, ISO’s director of operations. But ISO officials said they expected similar problems Wednesday. 

“We thought tomorrow was going to be a break,” McIntosh said. “Right now, our forecast is for very similar load conditions.” 

He didn’t expect any increase in supply until Wednesday, when a 750-megawatt plant was expected to return to service. 

San Francisco city officials said the outages affected several of the city’s most heavily trafficked streets just as rush hour started. 

“Our biggest problem is going to be gridlock when the spread of the brownouts gets to major thoroughfares,” said John Daly, of the San Francisco Office of Emergency Services. “It’ll probably take the duration of the evening to get traffic running again.” 

Daly said he was starting to treat the blackouts as a matter of course. “The people in San Francisco are starting to take it in stride, too,” he said. 

It was California’s sixth day of rolling blackouts this year. 

About an hour before the blackouts, ISO officials said they weren’t seeing enough conservation. 

Grid operators had scrambled throughout the morning to find enough power, importing more than 5,000 megawatts from the Northwest. 

By mid-afternoon, however, it became clear that wasn’t enough. 

Pacific Gas and Electric cut 151 megawatts, affecting about 143,000 customers throughout Northern and Central California in two waves of blackouts, said spokesman Ron Low. 

Sacramento Municipal Utility District spokesman Gregg Fishman said the utility cut power to 4,800 customers in south Sacramento County. 

Laura Farmer of SDG&E says the utility cut 32 megawatts Tuesday affecting 14,400 customers in San Marcos, Ramona, Chula Vista and parts of the city of San Diego. 

Southern California Edison cut 168 megawatts, affecting nearly 135,700 customers over two hours in several cities, including Long Beach, Inglewood, Arcadia, San Bernardino and Brea, said Edison spokesman Tom Boyd. Only parts of each city were expected to be affected. 

“The object is to spread the situation, not concentrate it in one spot,” he said. 

In the town of Mammoth Lakes, the blackout came and went without a complaint from residents. Police received a single call. 

“There’s not a lot we can do. We only have two stoplights,” said Michael Grossblatt, a town spokesman. “We just dealt with it.” 

Earlier in the day, utilities asked their “interruptible” customers to cut back on their power use in the early afternoon when the ISO declared a Stage 2 power alert. Those large commercial customers get a discount on their electric bills in return for cutting during power emergencies. 

But consumption increased throughout the day, which triggered the blackouts that kicked in at 3:15 p.m. 

Temperatures around California were expected to remain high through Wednesday, meaning continued demand for electricity to run air conditioners. 

“It looks like today and tomorrow are going to be the warm ones, then we’ll see cooling toward the weekend, with a return to more seasonal temperatures,” said Eric Hilgendorf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. 

By afternoon, inland temperatures around the state had soared past 90, with a high of 97 in downtown Sacramento.

SACRAMENTO — Despite dodging Republican opposition to $13.4 billion in bonds for power buys, Democratic lawmakers have opened the potential for a referendum and delays in repaying the state treasury. 

The state Assembly approved the bond measure Monday to send it to the Senate, but not by the two-thirds majority needed for the bill to take effect immediately and to shield it from a referendum. 

The Senate is scheduled to debate the bill Wednesday morning. 

But now, at least one consumer group is considering an attempt to gather the more than 400,000 signatures needed to put the measure to a public vote. 

“We see this as a black hole and we are analyzing whether it makes sense to permit the state to spend taxpayers’ money in this way, said Harvey Rosenfield, head of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. 

Meanwhile, State Treasurer Phil Angelides said Tuesday that the state’s chances of securing a $4.1 billion interim loan to help pay for power purchases have vanished. Angelides said the loan from three major banks was contingent on the state’s final authorizing of the bonds by Tuesday. 

“This week we will be reviewing what, if any, steps can be taken to stabilize the state’s fiscal condition in the short-term,” Angelides said in a written statement. 

Rosenfield and other consumer groups, angered by the rate increases, already have promised a revolt at the polls in 2002 by putting an initiative on the ballot that would roll back rate hikes if successful. That initiative would share the November ballot with Davis, who will be up for re-election. 

Now, however, Rosenfield said he thinks a referendum, which would put the bond issue itself on the ballot, could be more effective. 

Although costly and time-consuming to get on the ballot, a referendum would stop the legislation once the signatures were turned into the state and validated. 

Democrats unsuccessfully tried to pass the bond legislation Monday by the two-thirds majority needed to allow it to take effect immediately, which would also prevent the opportunity for opponents to try to take it to a public vote. 

The Assembly then passed the bill with a 49-29 vote, a plain majority that meant the law won’t go into effect for 90 days after the end of the special session. That also gave opponents 90 days in which they could organize and gather the valid signatures of 419,260 registered voters to challenge the measure. 

A referendum, unlike an initiative, asks voters whether an existing law should be kept on the books. The law is then put on hold pending the outcome of the election. 

If opponents successfully gather the signatures, the referendum could be on the March or November ballot, or the governor can call a special election earlier. 

Either way, the measure would not go into effect until long after officials say the state will run out of dollars to pay for services. 

But Joseph Fichera, Gov. Gray Davis’ financial adviser, said Davis is confident the measure will go forward. 

“He thinks he’s put forward something that’s fair and reasonable and doesn’t create an outcry,” Fichera said. 

In March 2000, voters repealed a law allowing accident victims to file bad-faith lawsuits against the at-fault parties’ insurers. 

Voters also upheld a law that approving 11 tribal-state gambling compacts, with much stricter limits, that were reached in 1998 and provides procedures for approving future compacts. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Secret power deals Gov. Gray Davis is making with power generators to buy electricity eventually could wind up costing customers more money, a newspaper reported Tuesday. 

The San Francisco Chronicle said some of the more than 40 agreements contain a clause that lets power companies increase prices as their natural gas costs rise. 

That cost would get passed on to consumers, the newspaper reported, especially as analysts predict natural gas prices will climb when power generators compete for limited supplies in coming years. 

Davis has kept the details of the contracts secret to protect future negotiations, he has said. Not much is known about them except that they are for an average of $69 per megawatt hour for about 9,000 megawatts, enough to power about 6.75 million homes. 

The state is spending more than $50 million a day to buy electricity for its struggling power utilities, and the $13 billion in bonds earmarked for more power may not be enough to cover the costs of the contracts. Some of the contracts are for 10 years. 

The negotiator for most of the contracts, S. David Freeman, told the newspaper that the clauses were a “rare exception,” but also acknowledged that a number of contracts were finished after he left the position in early March. 

Analysts say the clause isn’t unusual, as power companies often demand a provision to meet the cost of fuel in order to minimize their risk. 

LOS ANGELES — Songwriters Randy Newman, Tom Waits and members of the rock band Heart have filed a $40.5 million copyright infringement lawsuit against Internet music site MP3.com. 

The songwriters, who all own the copyrights to their music, say the San Diego-based Web site illegally gives listeners access to their songs over the My.Mp3.com service. The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. 

The suit claims that songs such as Newman’s hits, “I Love LA” and “Short People” as well as “Downtown Train” by Waits and “Barracuda” by Heart, were illegally copied onto MP3.com’s computers and made available for listening to anyone who “proved” ownership of the artist’s music by briefly inserting a compact disc into a computer. 

The songwriters claim about 270 songs are illegally available through the My.Mp3.com service and are asking for the maximum penalty of $150,000 for each song. 

“Unless the major artists band together to do this, everyone else is taken advantage of as well,” plaintiff’s attorney Henry Gradstein said Tuesday. 

A spokesman for MP3.com said Tuesday the company has not been served with the latest suit and could not comment. 

The suit is similar to one brought last year by the major record labels, which alleged infringement of the recorded performances rather than the copyrights of the songs themselves.  

Most of the labels reached settlements with MP3.com and agreed to license their music. 

Last November, MP3.com agreed to pay $53.4 million to Universal Music Group, which ended the company’s disputes with major music makers. Earlier, a federal court judge in New York ruled that MP3.com had intentionally violated the copyrights of the music companies. 

The National Music Publishers’ Association Inc. filed a separate suit and last October, MP3.com agreed to pay them $34 million to make more than 1 million musical compositions available on the site.

LOS ANGELES — A state appeals court on Tuesday ordered another lengthy delay in the attempted-murder trial of former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson. 

The 2nd District Court of Appeals told the trial judge to postpone the case until Sept. 4 – or appear before the panel next month to explain why he feels the case should proceed without delay. 

The appellate panel’s 2-1 ruling came on a defense request.  

Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler was expected to announce the ruling Wednesday, when both sides were due back for a pretrial hearing. The trial had been expected to begin within a few weeks. 

Last week, Fidler rejected a defense bid to delay the trial for five months and also questioned the rising costs of the Olson defense, which is being partially funded by public money. 

In their appeal, defense lawyers argued that they were unprepared and that starting the trial soon would have denied Olson due process and a fair trial. 

“The prosecution has had 25 years to prepare its case and the unlimited resources of the city, county, state and federal governments, (while) the defense has had very little time to prepare,” said their written argument. 

Olson, 54, is accused of attempting to murder Los Angeles police officers by planting bombs under police cars in 1975 in retaliation for the deaths of six SLA members in a fiery shootout in 1974. The bombs did not explode. 

Indicted in 1976 under her former name, Kathleen Soliah, she remained a fugitive until her 1999 capture in Minnesota, where she had taken on her new name and was living as a doctor’s wife, mother and active community member.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE — NASA successfully completed the fifth flight test of its unmanned X-40A on Tuesday, dropping the prototype reusable spacecraft from a helicopter in a 75-second fall to Earth. 

An Army helicopter dropped the X-40A at 6:50 a.m. from approximately 15,000 feet above the Mojave Desert. National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineers watched as the stubby-winged spacecraft performed several maneuvers before landing safely. 

The X-40A is an unpowered, 85 percent scale version of the X-37, an experimental re-entry vehicle that NASA plans to launch aboard space shuttles in 2003. 

The Boeing Co.-built X-40A is 22 feet long and has a 12-foot wingspan. It weighs about 2,600 pounds. 

NASA will use the data collected during seven X-40A flight and landing tests to perfect the design of the X-37 before its first flight. The sixth X-40A test has been tentatively scheduled for Friday. 

On the Net: http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Projects/X40A/home.html

CHICAGO — A 15-year study of a Head Start-style preschool program for poor children bolsters the idea that early childhood education yields big benefits later in life, reducing crime and dropout rates. 

Children who participated in the Chicago Child-Parent Center Program for one or two years were much less likely to engage in crime as teens or drop out of high school than children who attended full-day kindergarten. 

The federally funded program serves public school children in Chicago’s most poverty-stricken neighborhoods for five to six years, starting at age 3.  

The program tries to get parents involved in their youngsters’ education and emphasizes literacy. 

The study found that the preschool years made the most difference in lowering dropout and crime rates 15 years later, said Professor Arthur Reynolds of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the research. 

The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. 

The research, along with studies on similar programs, shows that it is feasible to successfully implement such programs on a more widespread basis, said Reid Lyon, chief of child development and behavior at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which helped fund the study. 

Lyon, an adviser to President Bush, said the results will help the administration in its effort to develop an early childhood education initiative. 

The researchers followed 989 children who participated in the Chicago program and 550 children who attended full-day public kindergarten in Chicago. The children were poor, mostly black and born in 1980. 

Nearly half of the children who had one or two years in the preschool program completed high school, compared with about 38 percent of the comparison group – a difference of nearly 30 percent. 

The rate of juvenile arrests was 33 percent lower among children who went through the program, 17 percent versus 25 percent; and 41 percent lower for violent crimes – 9 percent versus 15 percent for the comparison group. 

Rates of children being held back or needing special education were both significantly lower in children who were in the program. They were lowest in youngsters who participated through second or third grade. 

In an accompanying editorial, Edward Zigler and Sally Styfco of Yale University’s psychology department noted that despite the positive findings, children in the program still had relatively high crime and dropout rates. 

They also said the findings show that more time spent in the program leads to better results. 

On the Net: 

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

CHICAGO — Summer vacations are just around the corner, and once again soaring gasoline prices are driving some motorists around the bend. 

U.S. pump prices have hit record highs, topping the $2-a-gallon mark in Chicago and California and spurring talk of a possible $3 a gallon sometime after the peak driving season begins on Memorial Day. 

“This is price gouging,” complained Jacquie Van Keuren, filling up at a San Francisco gas station after paying as much as $2.64 a gallon on a weekend trip to Los Angeles. 

The odds appear to be against $3 gas, according to one industry analyst.  

That would happen “only if something goes seriously wrong” with supplies, said Adam Sieminski of Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. 

But even where prices are now, consumers are having unhappy flashbacks to last year when prices also climbed more than $2 a gallon. 

“It’s ridiculous,” Cedric Norwood said Monday as he fueled up in downtown Chicago. “The oil companies are going to suck us dry.” 

A recent Federal Trade Commission report on last summer’s price run-up found no evidence of oil industry collusion, and no blame has yet been laid for this year’s increase, which is tied to tight supplies. U.S. motorists still pay far less than their counterparts in Europe and Asia. 

Nonetheless, pump rage is in full blossom as prices hit unprecedented levels – especially in smog-prone parts of the Midwest and West which are required to use cleaner, “reformulated” gasoline in summer. Recent fires at Tosco refineries in Los Angeles and Wood River, Ill., threatened those supplies and sent prices surging. 

U.S. gas prices reached an all-time high in the past two weeks, not adjusting for inflation, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 service stations. Overall, the average price covering all grades of gasoline increased 8.58 cents to $1.76 a gallon as of May 4. 

Factoring in inflation, that’s a full dollar less than the average cost of gasoline in March 1981. 

But don’t tell that to drivers in Chicago, which has the nation’s most expensive gasoline. 

“This is crazy – $2.34 for a gallon of gas?” said Erika Trujillo, 19, who only partially filled her Nissan Stanza.  

“We can’t even afford to pump gas anymore. We’re going to have to get on our bicycles.” 

Even the White House alluded Monday to the possibility of $3-a-gallon gas.  

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush has not supported calls to repeal or cut the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal gas tax and won’t act even if prices exceed that amount. 

“Price controls will make the prices go higher and make people wait in lines,” Fleischer said. 

U.S. refineries are being pushed to the limit to try to keep up with demand, and aging infrastructure has resulted in several breakdowns – no new U.S. refinery has been built in 15 years. 

But there are hopeful signs in the most recent oil industry data, which showed gasoline supplies creeping higher. 

“The worst may already be over because refiners are getting caught up” with supplies, said Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst for Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.  

“The bad news for consumers is we don’t have one extra drop of gas to fall back on. 

“If one more refinery goes out of service, it could have an impact on consumers of as much as 75 cents a gallon.”

NEW ORLEANS — An explosive new study says some gay people can turn straight if they really want to. 

That conclusion clashes with that of major mental health organizations, which say that sexual orientation is fixed and that so-called reparative therapy may actually be harmful. 

Gay rights activists attacked the study, and an academic critic noted that many of the 200 “ex-gays” who participated were referred by religious groups that condemn homosexuality. 

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University who led the study, said he cannot estimate what percentage of highly motivated gay people can change their sexual orientation. 

But he said the research “shows some people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that.” 

He is scheduled to present his findings Wednesday in New Orleans at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, and said he plans to submit his work to a psychiatric journal for publication. 

Presentations for the meeting were chosen by a committee of the association. Selection does not imply endorsement by the association, said John Blamphin, director of public affairs for the association. 

The issue has been hotly debated in the scientific community and among religious groups, some of which contend gays can become heterosexuals through prayer and counseling. 

Major mental health groups say nobody knows what causes a person’s sexual orientation. Theories tracing homosexuality to troubled family dynamics or faulty psychological development have been discredited, the psychiatric association says.  

The American Psychological Association says most scientists think sexual orientation probably comes from a complex interaction including biological and environmental factors. 

Spitzer spearheaded the APA’s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.  

At the time, he said homosexuality does not meet the criteria for a mental disorder, and he called for more research to determine whether some people can change their sexuality. 

Spitzer, who said he does not offer reparative therapy and began his study as a skeptic, said the research was paid for out of his department’s funds. 

He conducted 45-minute telephone interviews with 200 people, 143 of them men, who claimed they had changed their orientation from gay to heterosexual. The average age of those interviewed was 43. 

They answered about 60 questions about their sexual feelings and behavior before and after their efforts to change. Those efforts had begun about 14 years before the interviews for the men and 12 years for the women. 

Most said they had used more than one strategy to change their orientation.  

About half said the most helpful step was work with a mental health professional, most commonly a psychologist. About a third cited a support group, and fewer mentioned such aids as books and mentoring by a heterosexual. 

Spitzer concluded that 66 percent of the men and 44 percent of the women had arrived at what he called good heterosexual functioning. 

That term was defined as being in a sustained, loving heterosexual relationship within the past year, getting enough satisfaction from the emotional relationship with their partner to rate at least seven on a 10-point scale, having satisfying heterosexual sex at least monthly and never or rarely thinking of somebody of the same sex during heterosexual sex. In addition, 89 percent of men and 95 percent of women said they were bothered only slightly, or not at all, by unwanted homosexual feelings.  

Only 11 percent of the men and 37 percent of the women reported a complete absence of homosexual indicators, including same-sex attraction. 

Psychologist Douglas Haldeman, who is on the clinical faculty of the University of Washington and has published evaluations of reparative therapy, said the study offers no convincing evidence of change. 

He said there is no credible scientific evidence that suggests sexual orientation can be changed, “and this study doesn’t prove that either.” 

He also said the participants appeared unusually skewed toward religious conservatives and people treated by therapists “with a strong anti-gay bias.”  

Such participants might think that being a homosexual is bad and feel pressured to claim they were no longer gay, Haldeman said. 

Some 43 percent of the sample had been referred to Spitzer by “ex-gay ministries” that offer programs to gay people who seek to change, organizations Haldeman said are chiefly sponsored by religious conservatives. An additional 23 percent were referred by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, which says most of its members consider homosexuality a developmental disorder. 

David Elliot, a spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, also criticized the study because of the main sources of its participants. “The sample is terrible, totally tainted, totally unrepresentative of the gay and lesbian community,” he said. 

Spitzer said he has no proof that participants were honest. But he said several findings suggest their statements cannot be dismissed out of hand. 

For example, he said, participants had no trouble offering detailed descriptions of their behavior. Spitzer also said the gradual nature of the change they reported indicates “it is not a simple made-up story.” 

On the Net: 

American Psychiatric Association: http://www.psych.org/public – info/dpa – fact.cfm 

American Psychological Association: http://helping.apa.org/daily/answers.html 

National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality: http://www.narth.com

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s turn to nuclear power as a long-term energy strategy will necessitate a permanent nuclear waste dump, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday. 

“Now, with the gas prices rising as dramatically as they have, nuclear power looks like a pretty good alternative from an economic standpoint, if the permitting process is manageable and if we find a way to deal with the waste question,” said Cheney, who is developing energy policy recommendations for President Bush. 

In an interview on CNN, the vice president said his recommendations would include changes meant to speed federal permits to utilities seeking to build nuclear power plants. The industry has not sought a government permit to build a new plant in more than 20 years, since before the accident at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island spread fear about nuclear power. 

Nuclear power provides 20 percent of the nation’s electric capacity today. 

As to the thorny question of nuclear waste, Cheney said: “Right now we’ve got waste piling up at reactors all over the country. Eventually, there ought to be a permanent repository. The French do this very successfully and very safely in an environmentally sound, sane manner. We need to be able to do the same thing.” 

He did not say where the government might put such a site but Nevada officials fear it would almost certainly be built in their state. 

In 1987, Congress passed a law designating Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as the nation’s only high-level nuclear waste repository. Such a site would receive waste from both nuclear power plants and from defense uses. 

Nevadans have been bitterly fighting the proposal for 14 years. 

Shedding more light on the energy policy that Bush is scheduled to unveil next week, Cheney left open the possibility that Bush will seek the so-called “power of eminent domain” to construct new electrical transmission lines. Such authority allows the government to appropriate private property for public use. The federal government already has such authority with respect to laying gas pipelines. 

“The issue is whether or not we should have the same authority on electrical transmission lines, that’s never been granted previously. That’s one of the issues we’ve looked at. We’ll have a recommendation when we release the report next week,” Cheney said. 

He defended his energy-policy work against critics who say he has focused too much on increased production — boosting coal burning and drilling for oil and natural gas. 

“You’ll find that most of the financial incentives that we recommend in the report go for conservation or renewables, for increased efficiencies. Now, we don’t have a lot of new financial incentives in here to go out and produce more oil and gas, for example, so, we believe in conservation, we believe in renewables, we believe in wind and solar and all of those other technologies,” Cheney said. 

He added renewable forms of energy provide just 2 percent of national electric generating capacity and cannot alone solve the nation’s problem of demand exceeding supply.

WASHINGTON — The Senate is considering an amendment that would give states enough money to hire 58,000 teachers next year and help schools reduce class sizes. 

The amendment, introduced by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., would give states $7.1 billion over five years, with $2.4 billion coming in 2002. 

Republicans, who favor giving states more freedom over how they spend federal funds, on Tuesday said the measure would force states to hire more teachers without necessarily training them adequately. 

“I think that’s misguided,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. 

Murray’s amendment is one of several being debated as the Senate considers reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides most of the federal money for K-12 education.  

The House Education Committee this week is considering its own version of the legislation, and expects to send it to the full House by the end of this week. 

The Senate went on record Tuesday in favor of more money for teacher training, while rejecting a Republican amendment that linked student test scores to new federal money for poor children. 

Under an amendment introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., states would receive an extra $3 billion in federal funds in 2002 and a total of $3 billion more over the following six years to train teachers and ensure that they are competent in the subjects they teach. 

Under Kennedy’s plan, schools that serve large numbers of poor children would be required to make all their teachers “highly qualified” within four years.  

States that fail to get training and certification for teachers in these schools would risk losing some federal Title I funds, which are targeted at poor children. 

Kennedy’s amendment, which merely reflects the “sense of the Senate” and is not binding, was approved on a 69-31 vote, with 19 Republicans joining the 50 Senate Democrats who have sought more education funding. 

Senators defeated an amendment, offered by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, that would have mandated that schools increase the number of students making academic progress on annual tests before they receive proposed increases in federal money.  

The vote against the amendment was 73-27. 

Also Tuesday, Democrats said GOP budget writers have ignored lawmakers’ bids for more education funding, and said the current version of the 2002 federal budget contains virtually no new money for schools. 

Referring to two pages lost by lawmakers Friday, National Education Association President Bob Chase said, “We can only hope that the missing two pages of the budget include critical investments in improving teacher quality, reducing class sizes, modernizing and ensuring safe schools and turning around low-performing schools.” 

Bush and congressional Republicans have proposed smaller increases in federal education spending. In general, the House and Senate education bills are similar, giving school districts greater flexibility in their use of federal money in exchange for improved student performance on tests. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: http://labor.senate.gov 

House Committee on Education and the Workforce: http://edworkforce.house.gov 

SAN JOSE — In the latest sign of how the New Economy has faltered, Cisco Systems Inc. on Tuesday posted the first net loss in its history, though its third-quarter results beat analysts’ reduced expectations. 

Executives at the world’s top supplier of network equipment said they remain bullish on the future of the industry overall, but offered only a foggy outlook. 

“We do see a number of positive indications that could result in a bottom in our segment of the industry being reached for capital spending in the next one to two quarters,” said chief executive John Chambers. 

Still, revenue is expected to stay flat or fall 10 percent in the fourth quarter. Chambers declined to provide specific forecasts on the prospects for fiscal 2002, which begins this summer. 

“They have no visibility,” said Robertson Stephens analyst Paul Johnson. “As a consequence, they’re not feeling in the near term particularly confident in what they can say and cannot say.” 

Cisco shares fell 63 cents to $19.74 in after-hours trading after finishing the regular session on the Nasdaq Stock Market up $1.12, or nearly 6 percent, at $20.37. 

For the three months ended April 28, Cisco lost $2.69 billion, or 37 cents per share, compared with earnings of $641 million, or 8 cents per share, in the year-ago period. 

Excluding a number of one-time items, including restructuring charges, Cisco earned 3 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call were expecting 2 cents per share. 

Quarter-to-quarter sales also dropped for the first time in Cisco’s 11-year history as a public company. Sales declined 29 percent, to $4.73 billion from the $6.7 billion Cisco recorded in its fiscal second quarter. The results also were off 4 percent from the $4.93 billion posted in the year-ago third quarter. 

“This may be the fastest deceleration any company of our size has ever experienced,” said Chambers. 

Just 14 months ago, Cisco was the world’s most valuable company and the poster child of the New Economy. But a subsequent economic slowdown has caused big companies to cut spending. 

Though other high-tech companies have been suffering in the economic downturn as well, Cisco has been hard hit in most of its businesses. 

Dot-com failures bit into sales, as defunct companies no longer needed Cisco’s equipment. Telecommunications companies also slowed planned rollouts of advanced networks, and big corporations delayed purchases. 

On April 16, the technology bellwether said it was laying off 8,500 workers and taking billions of dollars in inventory and other writedowns. 

Some of Tuesday’s results were better than expected, including a smaller-than-expected write-off for inventory. 

“We believe that the challenges we face are primarily based on macroeconomic and capital spending issues, although there is always room for improvement in our own operations,” Chambers said. 

Chambers hinted that some business segments may be bottoming out, including some areas of the U.S. enterprise market and alternative telecommunications companies. 

Later, in an interview with The Associated Press, chief strategy officer Mike Volpi said visibility remains cloudy. 

“There are some segments that have shown indications of better visibility, but overall it’s still too early to tell,” he said. 

Part of the problem may be that Cisco is a much bigger company now than it was just a year ago, said Seth Spalding, an analyst at Epoch Partners. 

“They haven’t had time to adjust in combination with a economy that has fallen off a cliff,” he said.  

“They’ve been growing up to this point and managing only for growth, and haven’t had to manage a decline.” 

Cisco also may be a victim of its own success and years of record-setting growth and market domination, said Steve Kamman, an analyst at CIBC World Markets Corp. 

“It’s not the company’s fault at all,” he said. “You can only grow as fast as your market — and by virtue of having succeeded so well (Cisco) is very much the size of the market.” 

Chambers also noted that technology — including the routers and switches sold by Cisco — has accelerated business cycles and caught many off guard. 

“The peaks of this new economy will be much higher and the valleys will be much lower, and the movements between the two much faster than almost anyone anticipated,” he said. “We are now in a valley much deeper than any of us anticipated.” 

——— 

On the Net: http://www.cisco.com 

DALLAS — The slumping personal computer business was hit by more bad news as Dell Computer Corp. executives announced another round of layoffs, this time cutting 3,000 to 4,000 jobs. 

The world’s largest PC manufacturer said Monday the latest cuts – up to 10 percent of its current work force of more than 38,000 – would occur over the next six months, and mostly in Texas. Many employees who escape layoffs will be forced to take unpaid time off, said the company based in Round Rock, Texas. 

In February, Dell announced plans to lay off 1,700. 

Job cuts were once unheard of at Dell, as double-digit gains in PC sales made it a stock market phenomenon in the late 1990s. The company expanded its work force rapidly until late last year. PC sales then went flat and never recovered. 

“The U.S. economic slowdown is larger than we and everyone else believed even a few weeks ago, and some competitors are virtually giving their products away,” Dell executives wrote in an e-mail to employees. “Reducing our employment for the second time this year is a difficult but necessary decision we didn’t anticipate having to make.” 

Most of the layoffs will be in sales and marketing, engineering and other parts of the company located in or near Round Rock, especially in management ranks and support services, Dell spokesman T.R. Reid said. 

Some manufacturing jobs also will be cut. The company said it would consolidate all notebook computer production at a plant near Nashville, Tenn., instead of dividing it between Tennessee and a plant in central Texas. 

Dell said it still expects to meet its previous financial projections of $8 billion in revenue and 17 cents of earnings per share when it reports results for the first quarter on May 17.  

Dell said it remains “cautious” about the outlook for the rest of the year. 

“Obviously, this means the business isn’t getting better,” said Daniel Niles, an analyst for Lehman Brothers. “They see it’s going to be a rough couple of quarters, and they’ve got to get their cost structure in order.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.dell.com 

Skittishness about future earnings sent financial issues lower Tuesday, while technology stocks advanced modestly in subdued trading. 

Better-than-expected earnings from tech bellwether Cisco Systems after the market closed didn’t impress investors, who sent the networking company lower in late trading. Other technology issues were also weak in the extended session. 

“On the surface, the numbers look OK, but the key is going to be Cisco’s guidance about business conditions going forward,” said Todd Clark, co-head of trading at WR Hambrecht. “It’s still unclear how the tech sector is going to perform in months ahead.” Anticipation about Cisco’s results and forecast pulled the market lower throughout the regular session because the networking company is widely viewed as a predictor of where corporate profits will head in coming months.  

— The Associated Press 

Stocks advanced strongly in April and have held most of their gains, but anxiety about the future remains strong. 

Cisco dipped 72 cents to $19.65 in late trading, despite a $1.12 gain to $20.37 during the day, as the company beat Wall Street’s reduced expectations by a penny but provided limited guidance about coming months. 

Those results didn’t help the broader sector. Rival Nortel Networks slipped 42 cents to $16.12, giving back some of its 51 cent gain in the regular session. 

Market watchers say Wall Street likely will remain cautious until May 15, when the Federal Reserve decides whether to cut interest rates again. So far, the Fed has cut rates four times this year in an attempt to revive the staggering economy. 

Tuesday’s economic data added to the tentativeness. 

The Labor Department reported that Americans’ productivity, a key measure of rising living standards, fell at a 0.1 percent rate in the first quarter, the first decline in six years. The department also reported that unit labor costs jumped by a 5.2 percent rate in the first quarter, the biggest increase since the fourth quarter of 1997, when they rose at a 5.5 percent rate. 

Labor costs are a potential inflationary pressure — a factor that could discourage the Fed from further lowering interest rates. 

“This market needs an interest rate cut catalyst. It’s certainly not going to get a catalyst from earnings,” said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist for Legg Mason of Baltimore. “What I’m concerned about is that we’re getting less maneuvering room by the Fed for such a cut because the signs of inflationary pressure appear to be increasing.” 

The Dow slipped on losses in two of its highest-profile financial components. American Express fell $1.93 to $41.30, helped by a downgrade by Morgan Stanley on worries that consumers would be less likely to spend and borrow money. J.P. Morgan Chase dropped $1.45 to $47.75 on similar concerns. 

In the technology sector, Ciena rose $6.32 to $61.60, an 11 percent gain, on news of a contract worth upward of $150 million. 

But those gains were limited by Dell’s news that it would cut another 3,000 to 4,000 jobs — up to 10 percent of its work force — and make other employees to take unpaid time off. The world’s largest PC maker still expects to meet its previous earnings forecast, but investors still sent shares down $1.08 to $24.83. 

Advancing issues led decliners 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was 1.21 billion, compared with 1.13 billion Monday. 

The Russell 2000 index rose 2.13 to 491.77. 

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average slid 1.7 percent. Germany’s DAX index fell 0.2 percent, Britain’s FT-SE 100 rose 0.3 percent, and France’s CAC-40 gained 0.3 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

BEIJING — China on Tuesday protested the resumption of U.S. surveillance flights and said it would refuse to let the United States fly out a crippled Navy spy plane. The Bush administration responded by stepping up its drive to get the plane back. 

China has told Washington that “it is impossible for the U.S. EP-3 plane to fly back” to the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told the official Xinhua news agency, without saying why Beijing opposes a flight in particular. 

China has not ruled out allowing other means to remove the damaged EP-3E Aries II aircraft held on Hainan Island since it collided with a Chinese fighter jet. The United States has considered other options — such as dismantling the plane and shipping it out in pieces. 

The matter could be properly settled if Washington takes a “pragmatic and constructive attitude,” he said. 

Sun also said that China would lodge “serious” protests in Washington over the resumption of surveillance flights, adding that the United States should “correct such wrong-doings.” 

An unarmed Air Force RC-135 flew along China’s northeastern coast Monday, Pentagon officials said, the first surveillance mission since the April 1 collision between the Navy spy plane and the Chinese jet fighter. 

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the administration had “only very recently” received China’s refusal of a flight out by the spy plane. The State Department would discuss the issue with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, he said. 

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said no option should be ruled out that would ensure the quickest return of the reconnaissance plane. 

“We are interested in the fastest return of the airplane,” Boucher said Tuesday. “We think that is in China’s interest as well as ours.” 

Rumsfeld said the U.S. assessment team that examined the Navy plane has “come to some conclusions about what would be necessary to handle the aircraft. And I have provided that information to Secretary of State Powell.” 

Rumsfeld said Powell would have further discussions with China, presumably through the foreign ministry. 

China’s response came as relatives gathered to mourn victims of NATO’s bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia two years ago. The bombing sparked mass anti-American protests nationwide. China has never accepted U.S. claims that it was a mistake caused by faulty targeting. 

“We condemn the U.S. atrocity,” shouted Guo Rongshun, uncle of Zhu Ying, a reporter who died in the embassy along with her husband, Xu Xinghu, and another woman. 

The United States should “move toward peace and stop infringing on human right issues and other countries’ affairs,” Guo told reporters at Zhu’s grave in western Beijing cemetery. 

The EP-3E has sat on a military runway on Hainan since making an emergency landing following the collision, in which the Chinese plane and its pilot were lost. The 24 U.S. crew members were held by China for 11 days. American officials believe Chinese experts gleaned secrets from the plane, although the crew apparently managed to destroy the most sensitive information. 

The U.S. technicians who inspected the plane last week said it could be air worthy, and Rumsfeld said Sunday the plane could be repaired sufficiently to fly it out. 

“We’ll know later this week,” he said on NBC television’s “Meet the Press.” 

President Bush is expected to make a final decision on whether to press China for permission to repair the Navy aircraft and fly it out. 

China wants to make it “as painful as possible” for the United States to get its plane back, said Larry Wortzel, director of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation and a former military attache to China. 

“Obviously, for domestic reasons, they would prefer not to have a dignified flyaway when they lost their own aircraft,” he said. 

If unable to fly the plane out, the United States would likely have to either remove its wings and tail sections and pack it into a gigantic C-5 Galaxy cargo plane or load it onto a large seagoing barge, Wortzel said. 

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged Tuesday that the Palestinians were knowingly endangering children in their struggle with Israel, as anguished Gazans laid to rest a 4-month-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli fire. 

With fears of an escalation mounting, Sharon angrily rejected demands for a building freeze in Jewish settlements in exchange for a truce, telling a news conference Israelis should “not have to pay in order not to be killed.” 

Some 60 miles southwest, in the Gaza Strip refugee camp Deir el-Balah, anger at Israel was at a boil as thousands of mourners laid to rest Iman Hijo, her tiny body wrapped in a white shroud and draped with flowers. Mourners chanted “Long live Palestine” as gunmen fired in the air. 

Earlier, relatives streamed to a home of the extended family, where the body of Iman – the youngest victim of more than seven months of fighting – lay on a couch. 

Her weeping father Mohammed, 21, a Palestinian policeman who has been using crutches since being injured three months ago in clashes with Israeli troops, leaned down to kiss his daughter and wept.  

“I want to spit in the face of this ugly world,” he said before the funeral cortege left to wind its way through the camp. 

The baby’s 19-year-old mother, her grandmother and three more children belonging to the extended family were all seriously injured by shrapnel when a shell crashed in the small backyard of the family’s cinderblock house in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Monday. The baby suffered massive wounds in the abdomen and the back. Israel fired shells into Khan Yunis camp after four mortars landed in Jewish settlements in Gaza, causing no injuries. 

Appearing before the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem, Sharon expressed sorrow for the killing, but accused Palestinians of firing the mortars from near the Hijo family house. 

“They do it quite often,” he said.  

“They deployed their mortars by schools ... and disappeared immediately. It happened several times (and) this is what happened this time. The soldiers, after one of our communities was hit by mortar fire, (fired at) the place where the mortar was deployed.” “Everyone understands that children should not be in the front, and armed people, armed terrorists, should not act or shoot behind children... Every country that has got some moral values understands it.” 

Sharon also blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for launching an offensive despite former premier Ehud Barak’s “very courageous” offer – which Sharon, as opposition leader, opposed – for a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, Gaza and parts of east Jerusalem. 

“The fire should be stopped, and the one who is responsible is Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. ... After calm is restored, we start negotiations.” 

However, Sharon has said he would offer the Palestinians little beyond the 40 percent of the West Bank and two-thirds of Gaza that they already control. 

Sharon said Arafat would not be targeted by Israeli commandos. “We are not taking any steps against political leaders. So if you ask if he (Arafat) is safe from our side — yes, he is safe from our side,” Sharon said. 

The two leaders — both in their 70s — have not met during Sharon’s two months in power. Arafat has boasted that over the years, Sharon has organized a dozen attempts on his life. During Israel’s 1982 Lebanon invasion, when Sharon was defense minister, Israeli warplanes were said to have targeted buildings where Arafat was believed staying. 

More recently, Palestinians have blamed Israel for the pinpointed killings of more than a dozen activists suspected of involvement in attacks on Israelis. Israel has acknowledged carrying out some of the killings. 

Sharon also said that a fishing vessel smuggling weapons from Lebanon was on its fourth run to the Gaza Strip when it was intercepted by the Israeli navy over the weekend. 

Israeli military commentators alleged that Arafat has been hoarding weapons for years and intends to escalate the struggle with Israel. “The war widens,” read a front-page headline in the Maariv daily Tuesday. 

In the West Bank, the body of a Jewish settler was found early Tuesday near the settlement of Itamar. The victim, guarding the settlement’s orchards, had been stabbed and shot to death, police said. In a phone call to the Qatar-based Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera, a Palestinian group claimed responsibility. 

Also Tuesday, a 16-year-old Palestinian died of injuries sustained last week in a clash with Israeli soldiers in Gaza. 

Since September, the fighting has claimed 437 lives on the Palestinian side and 73 on the Israeli side. 

Just after 11 p.m. Saturday Berkeley police received a flurry of calls from witnesses saying they heard a man screaming and a dog howling outside their windows. 

Police arrived on the scene, on the 2700 block of Virginia Street, to find a dog near death at the bottom of a staircase connecting two streets, and a man lying naked in the street nearby, seemingly unconscious, said Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes.  

The dog had suffered numerous stab wounds to its stomach and died shortly after police arrived, Lopes said. 

When police attempted to rouse the man in the street he allegedly leapt to his feet and battled the officers. At one point the man, who police described at 6 feet 8 inches and 180 pounds, “bear hugged” a tree to avoid being taken into custody, Lopes said.  

It took six officers to eventually detain the man and transport him to Alameda County Medical Center for drug testing and psychological evaluation, Lopes said. 

Police found a pile of blood stained clothes near the dog and a bloody knife discarded in some bushes. Lopes said police don’t know to whom the dog belongs. 

The man, a Berkeley resident with no criminal history, is being investigated for cruelty to animals and being under the influence of illegal substances.

The architectural walking tour in and around Live Oak Park on Sunday, orchestrated by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, was attended with the sort of bright, colorful, Sunday weather no walking tour should be without.  

But then, it was really the people who were bright and colorful. The weather seemed simply to agree. 

It was BAHA’s 26th annual house tour, and it received a garrulous turnout from residents of Berkeley and the Bay Area. 

Showcasing the works of such famed, local architects as Bernard Maybeck, Henry Gutterson and Julia Morgan, all the houses on this 10-house tour were designed and built in the first 15 years of the 20th century. But as BAHA staffer Lesley Emmington-Jones said, “It’s not just about the architects; it’s the story of the owners and the people of Berkeley as well.” 

It is a self-guided tour, and this was perfect. Informed by the learned yet accessible descriptions in BAHA’s tour-book, people wandered at their own pace, enjoying, in turn, the richly-carved interiors and the verdant exteriors that contrasted each other throughout the day. 

Dim, inner hallways and spacious, barely-sloping stairwells were content and crowded with visitors absorbed in admiration. Leaving these inner recesses, moving on to the next house, there was the feeling of having emerged from a movie matinee – from one attractive world into the next. 

“The houses are beautiful,” said Anne Dini, who drove in from Livermore, “but it’s also a beautiful time of the year to see the flowers and gardens.” 

In selecting the new area that will be showcased each year, the walking tour provides BAHA with a unique impetus to research and document the history of different parts of Berkeley. Tour-volunteer Tim Reynolds, who wrote one of the guidebook descriptions, expressed the kind of intimacy such a tour can offer the researcher and, by extension, the tour-goer.  

“When I actually meet the current owner and walk through the house, I’m able to see what was there originally and what was remodeled – where living spaces were changed, bathrooms removed, walls removed. It illustrates how living styles have changed in the last hundred years.” 

Keeping with the collective enthusiasm of the day, volunteers and visitors felt tremendous gratitude toward the present owners, who graciously opened up their homes and lives to other architecture-lovers of the Bay Area. 

“It’s an incredible act of generosity,” said tour volunteer Pierce MacDonald. “I’ve met some of the owners, and they seem so calm about it all. I think it’s great.” 

Evelyn Larson, one of the owners of the first house on the tour (a Swiss Chalet designed by Maybeck), was genially accessible to any visitor who wanted to chat with her.  

“It’s amazing to come home and pull up and there’s this throng of people going up and down the stairs of your house, looking around. It’s wonderful,” Larson said. “I feel that – having a house like this – I’m happy to have other people see it. We’re really into the community, and it’s nice to support it.” 

While everyone was thankful for the generosity shown by the owners, the owners seemed thankful to BAHA.  

“BAHA is a really good organization,” Larson said. “They help to preserve landmarks and educate people, and they do it for practically no money; membership costs almost nothing.” 

“BAHA keeps a conscientious watch on the preservation of the historic fabric we have here in Berkeley,” said architect and BAHA-member Richard Ehrenberger. 

As one of the founding members of BAHA, which began in 1974, Ehrenberger observed that there hasn’t always been such interest in architecture and in events like the BAHA tour. 

“In the ’60s people just didn’t have the appreciation for old buildings that they have now. Old buildings were waiting for new and better use. There’s been a great increase in the awareness and appreciation for the architecture of the immediate past.” 

Though BAHA’s house tour is usually only held annually, this year may be the year for those who need a second chance. 

“Occasionally we do it twice a year,” Emmington -Jones said. “We’re expecting to do another later this year around the creek-side and grounds of the Claremont Hotel.” 

Perhaps it will rain. But probably not. 

Tuesday, May 8

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 

Young Queer Women’s Group 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time  

548-8283  

www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 548-3333 

Religious Identity for  

Interfaith Families 

7:30 - 9:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Explore the process of choosing a religion for parents and children in interfaith families with a minister, and Rabbi Jane Litman.  

$5  

848-0237 x127 

Home Design 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second Tuesday of workshop taught by architect/contractor Barry Wagner. Continues weekly through May 22. $150 for four evenings. 525-7610 

Blackout Summer 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley’s Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Dwight) 

Bruno Henriquez is from Cuba, which experienced rolling blackouts for more than half a decade and has promoted conservation and alternative energy production. Henriquez is director of Cuba’s solar energy agency. 

548-2220 ext. 234 

Take the Burn Out of  

Heartburn 

Ashby Campus Auditorium 

2450 Ashby Ave. 

12:30 - 2 p.m. 

Learn about gastro-esophageal reflux disease and surgery to correct the condition. Free. 

869-6737 

Wednesday, May 9

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 

Buying Land 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Seminar led by real estate agent Dan Maher. $35 525-7610 

Applying for Grant Money 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 6th St. 

West Berkeley Foundation’s annual community meeting will include a presentation on the grant application process for 2001-2002 grant cycle.  

898-1311 

Police Review Commission Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Will cover recruitment update report, among other topics. Open to the public. 644-6716 

Thursday, May 10

Showcase 2001 

5 - 7:30 p.m. 

H’s Lordships Restaurant  

199 Seawall Drive  

Berkeley Marina  

Showcase 2001, a tradeshow and mixer. 549-7003 

Free Smoking Cessation Class  

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  

Six Thursday classes through May 17. Call 644-6422 to register and for location 

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 

643-1924 

Friday, May 11

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 

50 Plus Fitness Class  

9:30 a.m. - Noon 

UC Berkeley (varied locations)  

A class for those 50 and over which introduces participants to an array of exercise options. Demonstration and practice will include strength training, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique, and more.  

$10 per individual session 

Pre-register: 642-5461  

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17. $8 - $35 sliding scale per session 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Saturday, May 12

Be Your Own Boss 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

YWCA 

1515 Webster Street, Oakland 

Two day workshop on the basics of starting up a small business, taught by local business owners. 

$50-$100 sliding scale 

Call 415-541-8580 for registration  

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike 

6:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center  

1275 Walnut St.  

An ongoing open mic series featuring poet/artist Anca Hariton. Sign up at 6:30 and reading at 7 p.m. Free 

Cordornices Creek Work  

Party 

10 a.m. 

Meet at 10th St. south of Harrison St. 

Join Friends of Five Creeks in removing ivy and reducing erosion as part of National River Cleanup Week. Learn to create creekside trail. Bring work gloves and clippers if possible. 

848-9358 f5creeks@aol.com  

Sunday, May 13

Mother’s Day Concert 

3 - 4 p.m. 

Environmental Education Center 

Tilden Regional Park  

Featuring Mary Mische singing children’s songs. Free 

525-2233 

Hands-On Bicycle Repair  

Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn how to adjust the brakes on your bicycle from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Tapping Into Creativity 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Based on Tarthang Tulku’s “Knowledge of Freedom”, ideas and meditations to inspire creativity. Free and open to the public. 

843-6812 

Carpentry Basics for Women 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by Tracy Weir, professional carpenter. Build your own bookshelf unit. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

Ceramic Tile Installation 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by tile-setting expert Rod Taylor. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

— compiled by  

Sabrina Forkish 

City should have listened to people 

Editor: 

Eight street trees in planter boxes were recently destroyed near the public library despite a promise from the city that they would be “relocated.” 

Local performance artist Debbie Moore moved from planter box to planter box foiling Bauman Landscaping’s attempts to demolish what was left of the roots. City Council representative Dona Spring was quoted as calling the incident “very upsetting.” 

Public Works engineer Sam Lee, described as in charge of the Shattuck Avenue Redevelopment Project, pointed at city forester Jerry Koch as having determined that the trees’ roots had become entwined with utility lines and conduits and could not reasonably be relocated. 

But let’s back up. Long before the 1998 “Shattuck Avenue Redevelopment Project” came to the City Council for approval, a series of workshops was held to collect “public input” which included some modest public objection to any removal of the existing healthy trees downtown, including my own. The Green Party was not there. The protesters who objected to the plan after it had the council’s approval were not there.  

The consultant whose pretty drawing was ultimately adopted as the redevelopment plan explained to those present that uniformity of tree made for a better–looking downtown, and that the current crop of trees interfered with lighting and “signage.” This was considered an acceptable justification by the merchants best represented at these meetings and the City Council majority that approved the plan. 

Then came the protest. The council revisited the issue and a “compromise” was crafted between the protesters and the city which involved saving some trees, destroying others, and “relocating” others, including the trees near the library. 

But let’s back up again. The eight trees in planter boxes near the library were part of a recent improvement at public expense. Only about five years earlier the planter boxes and benches were installed as a part of the Downtown Berkeley Association’s “main street” improvements, which, like many plans, didn’t quite match the glory of the consultants’ blueprints. The lighting was then revamped, but even that didn’t satisfy critics because, you guessed it, these were the wrong trees. These trees were a healthy bunch with a natural halo of branches and leaves which blocked the new lighting as well. 

The protesters who finally showed up to object to the near clear–cutting of downtown agreed to a “compromise” which paid homage to the redevelopment plan’s original idiocy, the fallacy that downtown business will improve under the right, as opposed to the wrong, tree. The idea seems to be that people are somehow made depressed and uneasy by a variety of species and more specifically by the tulip poplar, the New Zealand pine, and the pittosporum. The logic follows that these people will buy fewer shoes, books, and lattes unless they are greeted by a calming, uniform row of identical trees. 

If the protesters hadn’t agreed to “compromise” which included a dubious “relocation” of the eight trees recently destroyed, they would be standing there today. Consultants are not paid to tell you to honor what you’ve got, they’re paid to draw up a new, exciting landscape. It is the public’s obligation to politely refuse to participate in the idiocy of tree replacement. 

As bad as the city looks reneging on its “compromise”, the protesters should accept a share of the responsibility. There should be no compromise with the life of a healthy street tree, which has withstood years of toxic insult and urban vandalism. Any tree that makes it past its first five years on the streets of Berkeley should be hailed as a warrior. 

Carol Denney,  

Berkeley 

Bush tax cut only good for rich 

Editor: 

Berkeley sociology graduate students decided that the silence among students and academics about the unfairness of the Bush tax cut must be broken. Forming a group called “Students For Fair Taxes” we invited Daniel McFadden, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in economics, to join us in a mass rally at UC Berkeley to voice our outrage at Bush’s shockingly unjust and unfair tax cut proposals, and to clarify that nothing in the compromise deal currently being struck with so–called “moderate” Democrats, including our own Senator Feinstein, makes this tax cut any more just or fair. We made our voices heard and Berkeley students and professors enthusiastically responded, writing Feinstein 125 letters in one hour demanding that she oppose the $1.35 trillion dollar transfer of wealth to the rich. 

Most people are aware that Bush’s tax cut may jeopardize Social Security and Medicare, but at least, they believe, they will have less taxes to pay. Bush is supposedly “giving us back our money.” The stunning truth is that the only group in our society that would get a meaningful tax cut are the richest of the rich, while the people who need it most will get NOTHING. According to the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, 1 out of 3 families with children get NOTHING. Over half of African–American and Hispanic families with children get NOTHING. Even a person making $60,000 a year wouldn’t be able to buy a cappuccino a day with the Bush tax cut. But the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans gets $55,000 a year, enough to pay Berkeley tuition through 2015! 

The richest families in America would receive 40 percent of the benefits from the tax cut, while the bottom 40 percent would get only 4 percent of the tax cut. Under this tax cut Bush’s family will receive an amount 40 times greater than the typical family. And what about Dick Cheney? From the repeal of the estate tax alone, Cheney’s heirs stand to benefit $25 million. 

You may be thinking that the rich are getting more, but this is fair because it’s proportionate to the amount of taxes they pay, right? Actually this is one of Bush’s most shameless lies. The tax giveaway to the rich is more than twice their tax contributions. Bush claims that his $1.6 trillion tax cut, or the $1.35 trillion being discussed in Congress, is simply giving the people back their money. But for every dollar the rich contributed to this $1.6 trillion (or $1.35 trillion) they are getting back $2! The most astounding fact about the Bush tax cut is that it redistributes money from middle and working class families to the most wealthy. Sociology graduate students formed Students For Fair Taxes in order to ask everyone else around the country on question: Is this fair? 

Ofer Sharone 

Albany 

Beth El not good neighbor 

Editor: 

Last week, you published a letter from our neighbors on Arch Street, the Wolfs. They painted a benign picture of the Temple’s impact on the immediate neighborhood. Not so! Our own experience has been one of blocked driveways, cars honking, regular double and triple parking, and dangerous K–turns on Arch Street when it is most crowded. We witnessed a bicyclist get hit by a Temple member backing out of my driveway. 

In the April 30 Daily Planet, a letter from Temple spokesman Harry Pollack appeared. This letter asserted that the Temple’s presence on Arch Street these last 50 years grandfathers it in, so to speak, in relation to any parking and traffic impacts that the Temple’s new facility may generate. What a specious argument! The fact is that the Temple in its current location had no off–street parking at all over most of those 50 years. Now it wants to move its large and growing congregation and all its traffic–generating programs to a new site where the parking is again insufficient. Should its neighbors on Oxford and Spruce endure another 50 years of the same problem we face here?  

We are not opposed to Temple Beth El’s move at all. We do feel though, that on Arch Street, the Temple and its congregation did not take sufficient account of their impact on their neighbors. Our concern is that the Temple will lack follow through when the leadership is asked to deal with the problems of noise and traffic caused by its programs at the new location. 

Kathryn Parman and Eugene Chao 

Berkeley

Ron Hansen does not shy away from controversy. 

In his 1999 novel, “Hitler’s Niece,” Hansen frames a meeting between Hitler’s niece Geli Raubal and the Jesuit Rupert Mayer, an early opponent of the Nazis. When Mayer asks Geli if she is a Nazi, she denies it.  

He tells her, “A Catholic cannot be an anti-Semite. Are you aware of that?” Although she wears swastika jewelry, she seeks redemption. 

Hansen’s complex historical novel, which documents the rise of Nazi Germany through Geli Raubal’s eyes, elicited mixed reviews and hate mail for Hansen.  

“At a community college here a woman who teaches Holocaust Studies uses it for her class, so I was gratified by that, but I’ve gotten what approaches hate mail from some people about it. Normally they’re people who haven’t really read the book but are just reacting to it,” Hansen said in a phone interview from Santa Clara University, 

Hansen is a professor in the arts and humanities. 

Hansen, whose 1996 novel “Atticus” was a finalist for the National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award, does not expect to receive hate mail for his new book, “A Stay Against Confusion: Essays on Faith and Fiction” (HarperCollins, $25). This eclectic collection includes memoirs of Hansen’s Catholic childhood in Omaha, Neb., meditations on the link between religion and literature, a memoir of his mentor John Gardner, and a powerful essay on the murder of six Jesuits in El Salvador. 

The 14 essays, which have appeared in journals like America and anthologies such as “Writers on Film: 27 Writers Celebrate 27 Memorable Movies,” will appeal to a diverse audience. 

“They’d been sitting around for a while, and finally I decided to put them all together and see what they’d look like if I put them in a book, and some got discarded right away,” Hansen said. “There was one about running in a marathon. There were lighter pieces, so I just concentrated on ones that had to do with faith or fiction. And after I got it all together it didn’t look like it was enough pages, so that’s why I did the prefatory pieces for each of the essays. I hoped it would make it seem like more of a real book.”  

He introduces each essay with a preface, often charmingly crafted to read like a short memoir. His twin brother Rob, now a real estate broker and actor in Omaha features in many of them. In the introduction to “A Nineteenth-Century Man,” Hansen writes, “ I was four when he [my grandfather] died and I have few memories of him beyond the fact that he used to delight in hiding from Rob and me when we visited, and we’d run from room to room in his house shouting ‘Where’s Grandpa?’ until we found him chuckling in a closet or crouched behind a door. We did that a few weeks after his funeral, too, and when I saw the shocked and saddened faces of my family, I finally understood what death was.” 

One of the most powerful essays in the collection, “Hearing the Cry of the Poor: The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador,” concerns the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador by Salvadoran soldiers in 1989. Hansen, who did extensive research but did not travel to write this piece, visited El Salvador for the first time over his recent spring break.  

“I had intended to go on a golf vacation, but this was good for me,” he said. “Every year Santa Clara sends 12 faculty members down, sometimes to El Salvador, sometimes to Mexico, sometimes to Guatemala. We talked to Jon Sobrino, who was the only one of the Jesuits who wasn’t killed that night, because he had flown to Taiwan. I got to see the photographs and look at the buildings; they made a rose garden where the Jesuits were killed.” 

Fifty-three-year-old Hansen admits that it’s tough to publish an essay collection without a track record.  

“It’s almost like a book of short stories. You have to have a novel or two before a book of stories gets published usually. The same thing with a collection of essays. Essays are pretty hard to get published, I think.” 

Hansen, an Omaha native now living in Cupertino, earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Creighton University, a master’s from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, and a second master’s in spirituality at Santa Clara University. It is only in the last decade that he has tasted success. 

“I didn’t have a tenure-track teaching job till 1989.Till then I was just teaching one year at a time and that involves a lot of trouble and a lot of expense moving around the country. And I couldn’t afford a house till I was 45. I was pretty poor, especially in my twenties. It’s a common story for a lot of writers, especially those who teach.” 

He loved attending the Writers Workshop in Iowa City, where he worked as a live-in babysitter for the sons of novelist John Irving, who was also one of Hansen’s teachers. 

“The Workshop was terrific for me. I’d never met another writer before I went to Iowa, so it was an introduction to how one led that life. It was comforting to have other writers around and know that they had the same struggles and problems. It provided a kind of two-year sanctuary where I got a lot of writing done.” 

In most of his novels, Hansen has interwoven faith and fiction. His 1991 novel, “Mariette in Ecstasy” (the first to earn widespread critical acclaim), tells the story of a postulant in upstate New York in 1906 who develops stigmata in the convent. And his novel, Atticus (adapted as the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Missing Pieces), is a contemporary retelling of the prodigal son parable. 

Last summer Hansen had no time to write. As chair of the fiction committee of the National Book Awards in 1999, he spent the summer reading. 

“We were sent about 220 books, and that’s just from publishers who were willing to pay $100 for books to be considered for the award. They have to send out copies to five judges. We started getting them late in June.” 

He hopes to get back to writing fiction soon. 

Ron Hansen will read at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave.

In a surprise reversal, Stephen Goldstone, interim superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the permanent position. 

Although he praised the Berkeley school district as having “all the elements” needed to become the best in the state, Goldstone, 62, said that the changes that need to happen in the district would simply take more years to implement than he has to give. 

“The more I learned about the district and the more I understood the needs, the more I realized that it’s going to take an extended amount of time to make sure that the necessary changes really stick,” Goldstone said Tuesday. 

Goldstone estimated the next superintendent would need six to seven years to “institutionalize” changes so that the school district can meet its full potential. 

School district administrators and others expressed disappointment with the interim superintendent’s decision. Many praised him for putting students first, reaching out to teachers and parents, and taking on the tough issues in the district. 

“I’m really disappointed,” said Berkeley Board of Education Vice President Shirley Issel. “I was really looking  

forward to considering his application, along with the other candidates.” 

The school board is set to begin interviewing candidates from around the country for the superintendent position later this week. It aims to have a new permanent superintendent in place by July 1. 

“He’s been extremely helpful to us while he’s been here,” Issel said.  

“People really like working with him, and it’s a shame not to have the opportunity to continue.” 

“I feel he’s made an incredible difference in the short time that he’s been here,” said John Muir School Principal Nancy D. Waters. Waters said Goldstone has listened to principals, identified their support needs, and worked effectively with the district’s central office staff to see that those needs are met. 

“He really gave them this service-oriented directive,” Waters said. “He encouraged central office staff...to come and visit the classrooms and to be reminded why we’re in this business.” 

Oxford School Principal Kathleen Lewis said the support she received from Goldstone last week, in the aftermath of a Oxford student’s death from bacterial meningitis, was “absolutely extraordinary.” 

In his three months with the district, Goldstone has clearly demonstrated his passion for the work of educating children, Lewis said.  

“If you work in the school district, you need to feel connected to children,” she said. “Lots of superintendents are good business people and lots of superintendents can work a room, but my experience is...that (Goldstone) is good with people and that he’s an educator.” 

Many praised Goldstone for getting the district through a difficult budget season, avoiding the pitfall of having people on different sides of budget decisions become locked in confrontation. They further lauded the way he has been a positive public spokesperson for the district, even while he spoke frankly behind closed doors about how the district needs to improve. 

Issel credits Goldstone with “breaking through the denial” around the level of dysfunction in the district’s central office by hammering home the point that academic challenges cannot be met until the central office does a better job.  

The central office has been criticized in recent years for a variety of failings, including failure to hold staff accountable, failure to distribute useful information in a timely manner and failure to give teachers and principals the day to day support they require.  

“You can’t attack the achievement gap with an infrastructure gap, and he has really hammered on that particular drum loud enough for everybody to hear it banging,” Issel said. “He has a vision of a system that works and an idea of how to get there.” 

Issel and others said Tuesday, however, that they respected Goldstone’s reasons for withdrawing his name from consideration for the district’s top job. 

“I do believe these are the kinds of problems that will take five to seven years to really correct,” Issel said. “Having someone leave in the middle of that process puts the process at risk.” 

Berkeley PTA council president Mark Coplan suggested Tuesday that Goldstone could stay on for another year as interim superintendent, so he could push through tough reforms without worrying about “political fallout”. 

But board director John Selawsky said there had been no talk of such a strategy, and that indeed it would be premature to consider that option until the board interviews candidates for the permanent job. 

“It’s a nice idea, but personally I’m uncomfortable putting that out there because I think it sends kind of a mixed message” to other candidates for the position, Selawsky said. 

Goldstone, a Vallejo resident, said he would be available to help with the new superintendent’s transition over the summer. After that, he said he might consider working as a consultant, or perhaps taking an interim superintendent position with another district.

For meeting or exceeding state goals for improved standardized test scores, most Berkeley schools and teachers will divvy up more than half a million dollars in award money in the weeks ahead. 

Twelve Berkeley schools will receive awards ranging from $30,000 to $95,000, depending on the number of teachers at the school. Half the money goes to staff bonuses of $591 apiece, while the other half goes directly to the school to be invested in academic programs. 

So how are the chronically underpaid teachers celebrating the windfall? 

At Jefferson, Malcolm X and Thousand Oaks elementary schools, and possibly others, most teachers plan to reject their respective $591 bonuses in protest. 

“I plan to give the money to CalCARE (a grassroots group opposed to the way standardized tests are used in the state) because I want to make the strongest possible statement against the whole system,” said Thousand Oaks third grade teacher Terry Fletcher. 

For Fletcher and many other teachers throughout the Bay Area, the California standardized testing system was offensive enough before the test results became tied to monetary awards under the 1999 Public Schools Accountability Act.  

The heavy emphasis on the test results as a measure of school success has skewed the whole teaching process, the argument goes, causing teachers to “teach to the test” and abandon other classroom activities that are more rewarding to students.  

“I’ve had to drop projects that maybe were time consuming, but are very meaningful to students,” said Fletcher. The third grade teacher said she spends hours teaching her students simply how to understand the test format, when she might have been teaching the actual concepts instead. 

Frustrated teachers also frequently point to research that suggests the tests are a better  

indicator of a student’s economic status and race than the quality of instruction from one school to the next.  

So why on earth, these teachers want to know, would the state of California institute merit pay based entirely on this one, completely suspect measure? 

“That SAT 9 is a very good test,” said Patrick Chladek, manager of the awards unit for the California Department of Education. “It measures educational achievement.” 

Chladek said the School Site Employee Performance Bonuses, as they are called up in Sacramento, are intended to award teachers for a job well done and create a general incentive for improved test scores. Nearly 70 percent of California’s 3,000 schools will benefit from the awards this year, Chladek said. 

(A one-time only program, the awards are based completely on schools’ improvement in standardized test scores between 1999 and 2000.) 

But Berkeley teachers have their own theories about the motives behind the program. 

“This is kind of an effort to buy our compliance with these tests,” Fletcher speculated Monday. 

“It’s union busting,” said Jefferson school physical education teacher Judi Doyle. “It goes against collective bargaining, which is the way we get paid...It’s pitting school against school and teacher against teacher.” 

At Malcolm X school the teachers are most upset by the suggestion that their colleagues at schools that will not receive performance awards, because their standardized test scores failed to improve sufficiently, are any less deserving than other Berkeley teachers. 

“It’s definitely an unfair and divisive practice,” said Malcolm X teacher Jennifer Adcock. 

At a recent staff meeting, Malcolm X teachers indicated overwhelmingly that they would like to see their bonuses put into a pool from which they would be redistributed equally to all Berkeley teachers, Adcock said.  

Even Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School Principal Neil Smith, who looks forward to spending half of his school’s $95,000 award to boost the reading and math programs, admits to being mystified by the legislators’ logic in designing the awards program.  

“How can so much rest upon one test?” he asked. 

Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike agreed. 

“If you want to hold teachers accountable, you do it by ongoing and constructive evaluation in the classroom,” Fike said Monday. “But that’s not happening.” 

If the $591 bonuses aren’t sufficiently egregious for some, teachers point to yet another award program under the 1999 Accountability Act, which sets aside $100 million dollars in awards for those schools whose test scores improve most dramatically from one year to the next. Berkeley’s Cragmont Primary School ranks 22 among these schools, having miraculously improved its state Academic Performance Index rating by more than 100 points (on a scale of 1 to 1,000) from 1999 to 2000.  

Cragmont teachers, administrators and counselors will likely receive bonuses of $10,000 apiece for this feat, some time before then end of the current school year. 

“It brings to clarity the absurdity of the situation,” Adcock said of these bonuses. 

Berkeley School Board President Terry Doran said he would like to see the awards go to the school district, rather than to individual teachers. 

The state’s emphasis on standardized testing may not have made Berkeley teachers teach to the test so far, Doran said, but a “race for bonuses” under the awards program could make such an outcome all but inevitable. 

“It’s hard for a teacher to resist doing that if a colleague from another school gets a $10,000 bonus and they don’t,” Doran said.

Half a world away from the streets of Shanghai and the Tibetan border, Geling Yan writes about the distant China in her memory and the experience of being an immigrant in the United States. 

“Being far away from your past or country can make it beautiful even though it is tragic,” Yan said in an interview. “There is a nostalgic and melancholy beauty there.” 

She arrived in the United States in 1989, soon after the murder of some of her fellow students in Tiananmen Square. She had already published books in China – most of them about her experience being a woman involved in the army during the Cultural Revolution – before she came to study creative fiction at Columbia College in Chicago.  

Her mentor John Schultz, professor emeritus at Columbia, said in a phone interview Yan has an intense personal point of view and good sense of story that emerge in her writing.  

“People are warped by the wars of their generation,” he said. “The Cultural Revolution was her war and it gave her strong material.” 

Yan joined a cultural troupe of the People’s Liberation Army and traveled near Tibet during the 1970s as the Cultural Revolution – an internal movement that led to political and social anarchy – wound down. Headed by Communist Party Chairman Zedong Mao, the Cultural Revolution rallied popular support for Chairman Mao by eradicating any remaining signs of capitalism in China. People were beaten, universities were closed, and homes, temples and books were destroyed.  

Yan calls the Cultural Revolution the “great hate.” At first the anger expressed by the Red Guard and other followers of Chairman Mao seemed justified and righteous, but it soon got out of control, she said.  

Pondering hate and intolerance have led her beyond her eventful past to critically examine how Chinese immigrants adjust to life in the United States.  

“Displacement is a big theme in my recent writings,” she said.  

Her first novel published in English, which came out last month, “The Lost Daughter of Happiness,” explores this theme. In the book, Fusang, a young peasant woman, is tricked into leaving China and sold into prostitution once she reaches Gold Mountain – San Francisco – in the late 1800s. 

Yan is now finishing a screenplay based on this book for a movie, directed by Joan Chen, that will debut next year. She is following in the footsteps of her 1999 film, “Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl,” which was based on a short story she wrote about a young woman who is sent to the border of Tibet during the Cultural Revolution. The film, also directed by Chen, was banned in China for political and sexual content. 

To write her recent novel, Yan said she read some 160 history books and other publications from Chinatowns across the United States, mostly focusing on San Francisco’s Chinatown. She quickly learned that Chinese people in the United States suffered severe prejudices in the 1800s and still face them today. 

Yan, who who now lives in Alameda, explained that Chinese people in San Francisco in the 19th century suffered from hard labor, low wages, frequent riots against them and restrictions on immigration – they couldn’t bring over their wives. 

“Hate is something in us that needs to be examined,” she said. “Race is often a cause of this hate. I don’t have the answers; I have all the questions.” 

Yan explained that she gets much of her material from her own life. She has lived in the United States for over a decade, but she still finds subtle and striking differences between American and Chinese people. This is also true of her marriage to a Caucasian-American.  

“When misunderstanding happens there is an absurd sense of sadness sometimes,” she said. “Everyday there is a little something missing.” 

But she also insists that there is charm in trying to understand another culture and another person. “I’m fascinated by the difference,” she said. “It makes each tiny movement and expression intriguing.” 

Like the yin and yang, the writer asserts that everyone has good and evil within them. In “The Lost Daughter of Happiness,” she explores the emotional spectrum. “We find a subject for our hatred, like we find a subject for our love,” she said. 

Constantine Tung, a professor of Chinese at State University of New York in Buffalo, who uses Yan’s stories in his class, says that her books are psychological rather than overtly political. He says Yan differs from other contemporary Chinese writers. “She has a unique ability to get into the minds of other people and explore complicated relationships.”  

Yan explained that Chinese people, especially women, do not expect peace or prosperity. “They live in the cracks between war, famine and political turmoil,” she said.  

Yan will be reading selections from her new book, The Lost Daughter of Happiness, at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave.. at 7:30 tonight.

The City Council will likely make a decision on the use permit appeal of a controversial proposal for a mixed-use building at 2700 San Pablo Ave. at its meeting tonight. 

The council held a public hearing in April on the appeal by the developers of the proposed building. The Zoning Adjustments Board denied an  

application for a use permit in November, saying that the  

four-story project was too tall and too dense.  

The developers, Panoramic Interests and the nonprofit Jubilee Restoration, appealed the decision to the City Council, which agreed to hear the appeal. Three weeks before the scheduled public hearing, the developers submitted new design plans for a project that is the same height but the number of units has been reduced from 48 to 39. Seven of the units will be reserved for low-income tenants. 

Neighbors continue to oppose the plan because of the height of the building, which they say in out of context with the one and two story homes that surround the site. 

The sudden reduction of the number of units was a surprise to some ZAB members because the developer refused to reduce the size of the project during the months the ZAB was reviewing the use permit. If the City Council supports the appeal and approves the project, it will be without the ZAB having reviewed the new design. 

Community Development Block Grants 

The council is expected to approve grants totaling $7.2 million for 80 nonprofit organizations that provide homeless, housing and health services.  

The grants are a combination of federal and city funds. 

The council held a public hearing during which it heard accounts of the value of the services the nonprofits provide the community. There were also some comments from organizations that felt they did not receive enough funding, such as the Multi-Agency Service Center, a project of the nonprofit Building Opportunities for Self-sufficiency or the Family Development Center at Rosa Parks School, which wasn’t funded at all. 

The grants were reviewed by three city commissions, which sent their recommendations to the City Manager’s Office for review. In years past, the city manager and the commissions have often disagreed about which organizations to fund and how much to grant them. This year there was very little disagreement.  

The council is expected to make some slight adjustments to the grant funding but no major changes are expected before it approves the recommendations. 

Sunshine Ordinance 

The Sunshine Ordinance is back on the agenda after being pulled from the consent calendar on March 27. The ordinance will make it easier for the public to obtain city government information. 

The recommendation, sponsored by Councilmember Kriss Worthington, would set a timeline to establish an index of city records on the web. The records would include all public records, documents and digital files including e-mails. 

The ordinance would also encourage law enforcement agencies to make police logs and records available to the public and the press. 

The recommendation was pulled from the consent calendar, where resolutions are passed unanimously and without discussion, by Councilmember Polly Armstrong, because she wanted to make sure the ordinance was needed. She said implementing the ordinance could be an expensive project and provide services that already exist. 

Taxi Scrip 

The City Council will consider suggestions tonight from the Commission on Aging on ways to salvage a faltering subsidized taxi service for the elderly and disabled.  

According to the COA and the Commission on Disability, cab drivers are increasingly refusing to pick up elderly and disabled fares. Commissioners said it’s because the city’s paratransit program doesn’t pay full fare and because elderly and disabled passengers can require more work. 

The council is expected to raise the taxi scrip fares so taxi drivers are paid their full fare rates and also arrange for the cab companies to be paid for their vouchers twice a month instead of once a month. 

Moratorium in the MULI 

Another issue will be a moratorium on new office development in west Berkeley. The Planning Commission recommended the council enact a one-year moratorium on office development in the Mixed Use-Light Industrial District, also known as the MULI, in west Berkeley. 

The staff report on the recommendation says the moratorium should remain in effect until the impact of the growing number of offices on blue-collar jobs, and on artists and artisans can be determined. 

Another concern is increased traffic congestion posed by more offices. 

The council report, approved by Planning Commission Chair Rob Wrenn, said that about 349,000 square feet of office space has been developed in the MULI in the last three years. 

City-Schools Meeting 

The City Council will meet in joint session with the Board of Education to discuss earthquake preparedness. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. 

The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The council will break at 8:30 p.m. for its meeting with the school board, then resume its regular meeting after the special meeting has ended. The meetings will be televised on Cable B-TV Ch-25 and broadcast on KPFB 89.3. 

The West Berkeley Market, an outdoor mercado designed to spark a community and economic renaissance in west Berkeley, has announced an opening day after three years of planning. 

Volunteers for the nonprofit West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation organized the eclectic outdoor market and will continue to manage and promote it. WBNDC boardmembers have asked the City Council for start up funding of $45,000 for the first year to help pay staff, advertise the market and conduct business workshops for burgeoning vendors. The council will consider referring the request to the city manager at tonight’s meeting. 

The market will be held on the north side of University Avenue near the Berkeley Amtrack Station, one block from the upscale Fourth Street shopping area. It is scheduled to run every Sunday afternoon from May 27 to Oct. 28. 

The market will consist of 45 booths , which will be reserved mostly for crafts vendors, but there will also be produce and food vendors as well as information booths for city departments such as the Health and Human Services and nonprofit organizations. 

“We would like to create some of the spirit of the large mercados in Mexico City,” said Betsy Morris, WBNDC secretary. 

WBNDC President Willie Phillips said the West Berkeley Market is envisioned to be more than a market place. He said the market would create business opportunities for low-income residents, establish a community center for the exchange of information and provide a showplace for craftspeople, artists and musicians. 

Morris said part of the requested funding would support workshops for people interested in starting small businesses. “The workshops would provide business basics such as how to register a new business with the city and ways to turn hobbies into a business,” she said.  

Morris said it would be an opportunity for residents of West Berkeley to learn the basics of running a business and create a space where they can start out.  

Mayor Shirley Dean said she is a supporter of the market but is concerned about the request for start-up funds. “I wish they could have given us some warning about this,” she said. “The budget is going to be tight this year.” 

Morris said once the market is established, WBNDC would be able to seek funds from other sources. “This market has set out goals that go beyond what a profit-oriented business would accomplish,” she said. “We want to assist the community and we need some help to get the ball rolling.” 

The market was originally planned to operate on Fifth Street, one block from its current location, but that plan fell through when Fourth Street businesses and neighbors fought the plan because of concerns about parking and traffic. Morris said that since they received the permit for the new location, they have received support from Denny Abrams of Abrams & Millikan, a construction and architectural design firm that owns much of the commercial property in the Fourth Street shopping area.  

Abrams refused to comment on the opening of the market. 

Ted Burton, project coordinator for the Economic Development Department, said this will be Berkeley’s first public market. “The concept of a public market is a place for the sale of non-franchised arts, crafts and foods,” he said. “Given a little time this market can be a real go, given the location and the business plan.” 

Medical marijuana patients and their advocates say Berkeley, usually ahead of the pack when it comes to social issues, has passed one of the worst medical marijuana ordinances in the state. 

The Alliance of Berkeley Patients is holding a demonstration this evening to call on the City Council to allow patients to possess more of the herb than the present law allows. 

March 27, the council passed an ordinance implementing Proposition 215, the state law that legalizes cannabis used for medical purposes. The council approved a measure stipulating that a patient could possess 10 plants. 

“Ten plants is inadequate,” said David Taylor of the Alliance of Berkeley Patients. To get enough of the medicine, patients need to be able to have 46 flowering plants – the medicine is in the flowering part of the plant – and 96 plants at other stages, Taylor said. 

But Councilmember Betty Olds, who voted for the ordinance and supports medical cannabis, said that protesters miss the point of the Berkeley law. Patients are allowed as many plants as they need, she said. “The Health Officer (Dr. Poki Namkung) said 10 was adequate, but a patient can have 100 if a doctor signs off on it,” she said, adding that the ordinance allows patients to grow more than 10 plants, simply on a doctor’s word – with no written prescription. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who continues to push for a law that permits a patient to grow more than 10 plants, but says he’s willing to compromise at fewer than 142, said the part of the ordinance allowing doctors to determine the number of plants a patient can grow is confusing and unenforceable. 

Berkeley police have also weighed in on limiting the number of plants to 10, arguing that patients possessing more than that number would become targets for thieves. A police spokesperson was not available for comment on this story. Taylor disagreed, saying that marijuana growers are not targets for vandals. He further pointed to mini-marts at gas stations as targets for thieves and asked whether the city should shut them down. 

The demonstration is tonight at 6 p.m. in front of the council chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

LOS ANGELES — Two lawyers defending former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson were notified Monday that they have been criminally charged with involvement in releasing addresses and phone numbers of police witnesses. 

The city attorney’s office notified Shawn Chapman and J. Tony Serra of the criminal complaint in a letter instructing them to appear for arraignment May 17. 

“Failure to appear at the date and time indicated may result in the issuance of a warrant for your arrest,” the letter stated. 

Chapman’s partner, Dean Masserman, fired back a letter to Supervising City Attorney Alan Dahle suggesting that the office was trying to interfere with a fair trial for Olson who is charged with attempted murder in a 1976 indictment alleging a bombing conspiracy linked to the radical SLA. 

“The timing of the filing of your criminal complaint is not merely suggestive, it is nefarious,” said Masserman’s letter. ”... The only conclusion that can be drawn is that your office’s action is politically motivated and designed to interfere with Ms. Olson’s defense.” 

He noted that when the letter was received the defense was preparing an appeal seeking a delay in the trial on grounds that attorneys did not have adequate time to study the voluminous trial evidence and prepare their case. 

Now, Masserman said, the criminal complaint may create a conflict of interest between Chapman and her client “which might require her withdrawal from the case.” 

He said a delay will be essential to allow Chapman to defend herself in court and she might be forced to disclose confidential attorney-client matters which would disqualify her from representing Olson. 

Masserman called the charges “baseless and spurious” and demanded that they  

be dropped. 

City attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls said the complaint charges three misdemeanor counts of disclosing the addresses and phone numbers of witnesses – once in a court motion and twice when it was posted on the Sara Olson Web site. 

Superior Court Judge James Ideman, who is no longer on the case, ruled that Olson had nothing to do with release of information. 

Prosecutors alleged that Olson and her defense team were responsible for the information about Officer John Hall and former officer James Bryan that appeared on the Web site in October before the judge ordered it removed. 

Hall and Bryan were the Los Angeles police officers whose cars were allegedly targeted in unsuccessful 1975 bombing attempts. Their addresses and phone numbers were contained in a court document posted on the Web site 

Olson’s lawyers said the information was posted inadvertently by Olson supporters without knowledge of the legal team. It was removed following complaints. 

Hall said his family has lived in fear since his address became public. 

“My wife, my children, my grandchildren live in terror,” Hall told the court. “My family are in fear of their lives, I am in fear for them and I am angry.” 

SACRAMENTO — Record temperatures in California – and the increased air conditioning they create – led power grid operators to order statewide rolling blackouts Monday, cutting enough power for about 225,000 homes. 

The California Independent System Operator, keeper of the state’s power grid, said high temperatures in California and the West and tight electricity supplies led to the blackouts.  

Grid managers ordered utilities to cut 300 megawatts between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. 

“We expected demand to peak between 3 and 4 p.m. and it didn’t,” said ISO spokeswoman Lorie O’Donley.  

“It just continued to climb.” 

The outages were expected to last about an hour, then grid managers would evaluate the state’s power supplies, she said. 

Blackouts quickly snarled rush-hour traffic in portions of the state that had gone dark.  

In Santa Monica, police dispatched officers to check on the parts of the city without power. 

“It has a significant impact on us. We have to have police units out to control intersections,” Lt. Ray Cooper said. 

In San Dimas, darkened intersections jammed traffic, but there was no immediate word of accidents, said Nicole Panzone, a law enforcement technician with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

Higher temperatures forced power demand about 2,000 megawatts higher than grid managers had forecast, said ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle. 

San Francisco reached 93 degrees, two degrees higher than the previous record set in 1987. Other Bay Area cities also reported record-breaking temperatures. 

Temperatures warmed to summerlike highs in Southern California, too, with readings ranging from the 80 in downtown Los Angeles to over 100 in the deserts. Chatsworth, in the San Fernando Valley, hit a record-tying 96. 

Grid officials had managed to stave off an earlier threat of blackouts by asking “interruptible” customers to cut back, she said.  

Those large commercial customers get cheaper electricity rates in exchange for scaling back power use during emergencies. 

“We were able to take off the interruptible, but only for so long. Then they started coming back on and the temperatures were still high,” she said. 

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. spokesman Ron Low said the utility cut 125 megawatts in Northern and Central California, affecting about 54,000 customers. 

San Diego Gas & Electric cut power to about 8,600 customers in Orange County, El Cajon and the Torrey Pines and Mira Mesa areas of San Diego. 

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District cut 18 megawatts, affecting about 4,600 customers in southern Sacramento County, while the outages affected approximately 36,000 commercial, industrial and residential customers of Southern California Edison. 

Small portions of 40 communities serviced by Edison were hit by the blackouts, including Chino Hills, Calimesa, Tulare, Long Beach, Beverly Hills, Oxnard, Barstow, Fullerton, Blythe, Santa Monica and Montclair, the company said. 

In addition to scarce imports, several key power plants were closed for pre-summer maintenance, including four nuclear power plants, O’Donley said.  

Those plants normally would provide enough power for about 9.4 million homes. 

An early heat spell and a large number of power plants off-line for pre-summer maintenance led California’s grid operators to declare a Stage Two alert Monday morning when reserves fell to 5 percent. 

At 11 a.m., grid officials were five minutes away from ordering blackouts, but saw enough response to their call for voluntary cutbacks to head off blackouts, said Jim McIntosh, ISO’s director of operations. 

ISO officials urged continued conservation through Tuesday as high temperatures were again forecast in California and the Southwest. 

Tight electricity supplies and high demand led to two days of rolling blackouts Jan. 17 and 18 in Northern California. The ISO ordered statewide blackouts March 19 and 20 due to scarce power supplies. 

WHAT’S NEXT 

• The governor meets Wednesday with the CEOs of several major energy suppliers to discuss the money they’re owed by the state’s two largest utilities, the state’s creditworthiness and how wholesalers can help the state during the energy crisis. Davis says he won’t be discussing any of the investigations into price manipulation in the wholesale market. 

• Davis’ representatives continue negotiating with Sempra, the parent company of San Diego Gas and Electric Co., to buy the utility’s transmission lines. 

On the Net: 

The California Independent System Operator: www.caiso.com 

SACRAMENTO— Calling it “the only way for the state to stay afloat,” Democratic lawmakers dodged Republican opposition Monday and authorized up to $13.4 billion in revenue bonds for state power buys. 

The state Assembly approved the measure 49-29, enough to forward it to the state Senate, but not the two-thirds needed for the measure to go into effect immediately. 

“Our objective is to start the clock running so the state is not caught without any funds,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys. 

First, Democrats tried to pass the bill by the two-thirds majority needed to allow it to take effect immediately. That failed. 

The Assembly then passed the bill with the Democrats’ simple majority, and leaders said they will end the special energy session this week to speed up the sale of the bonds. 

Any bill passed by a simple majority during an emergency session must wait 90 days after the session ends before it can take effect. 

There’s concern, however, that the delay could endanger a $4.1 billion bridge loan that would replenish the state general fund in time for budget debates in June. 

Since January, the Department of Water Resources has bought power for customers of three cash-strapped utilities. The money will be repaid by the $13.4 billion in revenue bonds expected to be issued in June. The bonds will be repaid over 15 years by customers of San Diego Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 

Assembly Republicans said the state should spends its $5 billion budget surplus on energy and issue bonds for the remaining $8 billion. 

“If you have money today, you don’t borrow against your children’s and grandchildren’s futures,” said Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks. 

Assemblywoman Lynne Leach, R-Walnut Creek, said the measure would build up debt without “a firm, long-term energy plan.” 

But during the nearly three-hour debate, during which blackouts rolled through northern and southern parts of the state, Democrats said that would drain the general fund and cut into services. 

“It’s our responsibility today to keep the government running,” said Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater. 

Gov. Gray Davis, whose plan to dig the state from the crisis included issuing the bonds, Monday accused Republicans of “obstructing the solution” to the statewide energy crisis. 

“Their decision to play partisan politics with the energy crisis seriously complicates the budget process and could ultimately threaten our economy,” Davis said in a prepared statement. 

Meanwhile, state power buyers said Monday they expect to draw another $500 million from the state general fund to buy electricity, bringing California’s power-buying tab to $6.7 billion. 

—— 

On the Web: Read SB31X at http://www.sen.ca.gov 

Drivers in Los Angeles spend an average of 56 hours a year – more than a work week – stuck in traffic and two other California cities also rank among the nation’s top 10 cities with the heaviest traffic, a report says. 

Los Angeles ranks No. 1 in California, followed by San Francisco-Oakland and San Diego coming in sixth. 

“Energy shortages have caught the attention of California, but we also face a growing and potentially longer lasting roads crisis,” Jim Earp, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs, a nonprofit working to improve transportation in Northern California, said in a statement. “We need to invest more in our roads and highways to improve the mobility of both goods and people.” 

In a report by The Road Information Program, California motor travel increased by 16 percent from 1990 to 1999, and the population rose 11 percent, while lane mileage of streets and highways increased by 1.5 percent. 

In San Francisco, residents spent an average of 42 hours a year in traffic in 1999, up from 38 hours in 1997. San Jose residents also spend 42 hours a year gridlocked. 

In Atlanta, the figure is 53 hours, double that of just seven years ago, says a report documenting America’s nagging highway congestion. 

The report says Americans spend three times as much time in traffic as they did 20 years ago. Governments aren’t building enough roads to keep pace with the new businesses and new residents moving in, and people are continuing to move and work farther and farther away from downtown. 

The Texas Transportation Institute, in its annual report on congestion in 68 urban areas, found that the average person spent 36 hours a year sitting in traffic in 1999, up 11 hours in 1982. Rush hour has grown to six hours each day, three hours each morning and three hours each evening, twice as long as 1982. 

All this congestion comes with a price: $78 billion a year in wasted time and burned gasoline, according to the institute, part of Texas A&M University, which analyzed data compiled by 11 state highway departments. The institute ranked the areas according to the additional time it took motorists to drive during congested periods as compared with the rest of the day. 

Increased congestion has also led to a rise in road rage. In December, a woman received 13 years in prison for shooting another motorist to death on a highway exit ramp in suburban Birmingham, Ala. 

Los Angeles had the worst congested highways in the country, costing residents an estimated $1,000 per person in wasted time and wasted gas as they spent 56 more hours a year on crowded freeways than they would have had to spend on the roads if traffic moved freely. 

In the nation’s most populous urban area, New York City and its suburbs, the average resident sits in traffic an extra 34 hours a year and spends an average of $595 in wasted time and burning gas. 

In the Atlanta area, where the population grew by more than one-third between 1990 and 2000, the number of hours motorists sat in traffic more than doubled from 25 in 1992 to 53 in 1999. In 1982, the average Atlantan sat in traffic for just 11 hours. 

Nashville, Tenn., which saw its population rise by a quarter over the last decade, saw its congestion follow suit. The average resident there spent 42 extra hours in traffic in 1999, up from 15 hours seven years earlier. 

Residents in and around the District of Columbia were stuck in traffic, on the average, for an extra 46 hours in 1999, as compared to 44 hours in 1997. 

Research engineer Tim Lomax, a co-author of the Texas Transportation Institute study, said motorists seem to be willing to endure traffic jams in exchange for the freedom that comes with owning a car. 

“Gas is still relatively cheap. It’s free to park in a lot of places. It’s relatively easy to buy a car,” Lomax said.  

“Owning a car means you can go where you want to go pretty much when you want to go. It may take you longer than you want, but these freedoms are apparently ones that people are willing to suffer some congestion in order to have.” 

The Surface Transportation Policy Project, a coalition of public interest and professional organizations, said many residents have no choice but to drive. There are no express bus routes nor train systems that can take them from home to work. 

“We have plenty of communities where choice is not available,” said Roy Kienitz, the group’s executive director. “Rail goes just as fast full as empty.  

That is the ultimate technological difference between trains and roads.  

When roads get full, the trip gets slower, whereas a full train is just as fast as an empty one.”  

The transportation institute said congestion grew at a slower rate in communities that aggressively built new roads, but highway construction could not solve the problem alone. Mass transit, shifting some trips away from peak travel times, changing the timing of traffic signals, and telecommuting can all help reduce rush-hour traffic, the report said. 

“Adding roads has to be an element, but it can’t be the only thing,” Lomax said.  

“It’s difficult to find the money and the public approval and the environmental clearances necessary to sustain a really big road building program.” 

Still, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association cited the report as the group called for more highway construction. 

“Common sense dictates that additional highway capacity is necessary to meet the growth in the economy and population,” said Bill Buechner, the trade association’s vice president of economics and research. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Urban Mobility Report: http://mobility.tamu.edu 

LOS ANGELES — A city ordinance taking effect Tuesday closes a loophole in a state campaign finance law that allowed political parties, unions and other groups to spend unlimited amounts in the April mayoral primary without immediate disclosure. 

The state law, Proposition 34 passed in November, helped turn the primary into a big-money contest as the state Democratic Party and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor spent large sums on behalf of former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. 

His opponent in the June 5 mayoral runoff, City Attorney James Hahn, accused Villaraigosa of benefitting from “secret contributions.” The emergency ordinance was spawned by controversy over Proposition 34’s effect on the race.  

A companion ordinance retroactively applies to spending for the primary. 

Consultants to Hahn and Villaraigosa said Monday they welcome the changes, which require parties and other groups to promptly report how much they are spending. But the chairman of the state Democratic Party, the president of United Teachers Los Angeles and the head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor – all groups that spent large sums to support Villaraigosa – said they objected to it. 

In a letter to the president pro tem of the City Council, the state party’s general counsel called the ordinance  

legally flawed. “Attempted enforcement by the city will almost certainly prompt protracted litigation,” wrote the attorney, Lance H. Olson. 

Proposition 34 exempted any organization’s “communications to members” from guidelines that apply to contributions and independent expenditures. 

That allowed the state Democratic and Republican parties to send mailers about candidates to registered Democrats and Republicans without disclosing contributions or expenditures except at unrelated reporting periods, typically quarterly or semiannually.  

Other membership organizations like unions could raise and spend money communicating with members without ever having to report it. 

Under the new law, whenever a group spends $1,000 or more on a member communication, it must disclose the expenditure within 24 hours. If a group spends $10,000 or more, it must disclose by May 29 all the contributions it received starting from when the ordinance took effect. 

The ordinance also requires that recorded phone calls and other electronic communications disclose who is paying for them and are put on file with the city Ethics Commission. Anonymous attack calls were a problem during the primary. 

“Our concern is making sure the public has the information they need,” said LeeAnn Pelham, executive director of the Ethics Commission, which proposed the emergency ordinances the City Council adopted Friday. “We don’t want Prop. 34 to gut our effective reforms in L.A. It’s as simple as that.” 

Olson said the ordinance conflicts with state law, unfairly changes rules in the middle of the election, and violates free speech and association rights. 

Pelham declined Monday to respond to those issues except to say, “Our city attorney’s office has advised us that we have the authority to do this.” 

Party officials have estimated that the Democratic Party spent $500,000 during the primary on behalf of Villaraigosa and the Republican Party spent about the same on behalf of businessman Steve Soboroff. Both parties received large donations during the weeks leading up to the primary from donors who thus skirted the city’s strict donation limits and reporting guidelines. 

Soboroff did not make it into the runoff. Hahn and Villaraigosa are both Democrats, but Villaraigosa has the state party’s endorsement. 

WASHINGTON — President Bush has no “magic wand” to wave away soaring gasoline prices, the White House said Monday, ruling out price controls and offering little hope of a reduction in the federal gas tax. 

Presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer also dismissed suggestions that high energy costs should change American lifestyles.  

“That’s a big no,” he told reporters. “It should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life.” 

The nation’s average price of gas, including all grades and taxes, increased 8.58 cents to $1.76 over the last two weeks – with the Midwest and West experiencing the biggest jumps at the pump, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 service stations. Fleischer, peppered with questions about the remote possibility of $3-a-gallon gasoline this summer, said there’s not much a president can do. 

“It’s tantamount to a tax increase on the American people,” he said, “and that’s one reason why it’s so important for the nation to have an energy policy that reflects the challenges the nation is facing.” 

But the White House energy policy, due to be released this month, deals with long-term solutions to supply shortages and won’t ease problems at the pump this summer. Fleischer said Bush is opposed to price controls and has not supported calls to repeal or cut the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax. 

“The president has not joined that chorus before,” Fleischer said. “I do not rule it out but ... that is not something the president is focused on.” He said reducing the tax would “create havoc” on national road and bridge programs that are funded by the tax. 

Senior White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bush expects pressure from Congress to reduce the gas tax, perhaps by rolling back the 4.3-cents-a-gallon increase imposed in 1993. Bush aides are telling lawmakers he doesn’t support the reduction, though they are leaving some wiggle room in case approval of the decrease is critical to passage of his broader energy plans, the officials said. 

“If any politician has a magic wand that they can wave over gas prices to lower them, the president ... would like to listen to them,” Fleischer said. 

“He has never sought a quick fix because quick fixes don’t work,” Fleischer said. “He will resist the siren song of moving from one short-term solution to another.” 

Administration officials say the energy report will include incentives for conservation and the use of alternative fuels, such as nuclear power, but Fleischer said energy policy should not disrupt the lives of Americans. 

“The American people’s use of energy is a reflection of the strength of our economy, of the way of life that the American people have come to enjoy,” he said. “The American way of life is a blessed one, and we have a bounty of resources in this country.” 

The White House has taken a similar little-we-can-do posture as California struggles with electricity shortages. Bush has been criticized in California for his position. 

White House advisers are aware that they will come under pressure if gasoline prices spike nationwide during summer vacations, and are trying to lay the groundwork for Bush’s defense. 

Fleischer said the problem is due to the lack of an energy policy during the last five to 10 years, pointing a finger not only at President Clinton but also the first Bush administration. 

“I picked those years carefully,” Fleischer said. “This is not a matter of partisan politics. This is a matter of a nation that has not had in place an energy policy to deal with the fundamental imbalances in America’s supply and demand.” 

He said Bush will address the lack of refineries and transportation infrastructure, along with conservation measures. “We’ll have a strong conservation statement,” Bush told reporters on Monday. 

But Fleischer conceded that the Bush plan won’t address short-term problems. 

“If politicians keep moving from one quick fix to the other, the nation will never get out of its energy crisis,” he said. 

NEW YORK — Stocks edged lower Monday as some investors locked in gains from last week’s rally while others took a cautious stance ahead of some key reports and next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. 

Alfred E. Goldman, director of market analysis for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis, Mo., said it was understandable for traders “to take a little time out after the rally on Friday.” 

With investors “transitioning from bearish to bullish,” he said, the market can be expected to trade “in a choppy fashion between now and the expected rate cut a week from Tuesday.” 

The market posted strong gains on Friday, boosting the Dow 154 points, as initial worries about a dismal report on unemployment gave way to growing confidence that Fed officials will lower the central bank’s lending rates for the fifth time this year when they meet next week. That decision may also be impacted by new readings on retail sales and inflation due later this week. 

Christopher Wolfe, U.S. equity strategist at J.P. Morgan Chase in New York, said there appeared to be “profit taking in some areas and anticipation of a rate cut in others.” Energy stocks were prominent on the most active lists with the announcement of two mergers. 

Williams Companies of Tulsa, Okla., said Monday it will buy natural gas producer Barrett Resources for $2.5 billion in cash and stock, topping a $2 billion hostile bid by the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Barrett’s stock rose $2.85 to $70.15, while Williams’ stock was down $2.39 at $39.28. 

Meanwhile, Valero Energy Corp. said it was buying Texas rival Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp. for about $4 billion in cash and stock in a deal that will make Valero the second-largest U.S. refiner of petroleum products. Valero’s shares dropped $2.77 to $42.70, while Ultramar’s were up $7.79 at $50.50. 

Bank shares took a hit after Prudential cut its investment rating for J.P. Morgan Chase to “sell” from “hold.” J.P. Morgan, a Dow component, was down $l.40 at $49.20. Lucent Technologies shares fell 69 cents to $10.46 after the company said its chief financial officer was replaced after just a year on the job. 

The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller companies’ stocks, was down 3.25 at 489.64. 

Declining shares outpaced advancing shares by about 5-to-4 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was 1.13 billion shares compared with 1.26 billion on Friday. 

Overseas markets were mixed on Monday. In Europe, Germany’s DAX index was off 0.26 percent and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.79 percent. The London Stock Exchange was closed Monday due to a national holiday. 

The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.74 percent to 14,529.41, the strongest close since Dec. 15. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

SANTA CLARA — Beleaguered network equipment maker 3Com Corp. plans to cut another 3,000 jobs, or nearly a third of its work force, in its quest to return to profitability, the company said Monday. 

The latest reduction comes less than three months after 3Com let go 1,200 full-time and contract workers.  

In all, the company has shed more than 40 percent of its work force this year in an effort to save $1 billion annually. 

“This announcement is a necessary step in our plan to restore profitability,” said 3Com chief executive Bruce Claflin in a statement.  

“Our cost efforts are more important than ever, given the softness we have seen in demand, both in past quarters as well as the current quarter.” 

In recent quarters, 3Com has been constantly reinventing itself amid restructuring, layoffs and red ink.  

It has not posted a profit since it spun off its Palm handheld computing division last year.  

In March, it shuttered its Internet appliance business, ending the brief lives of the Audrey Web-surfing device and Kerbango Internet radio. 

Claflin has said the company will focus on its core strengths – network gear for small and midsize offices, wireless products and infrastructure for Internet service providers. 

The company said in March it expects to return to profitability in fiscal 2002, which begins June 4. 

The job cuts announced Monday will reduce the work force to about 7,000 from 10,000 people, including full-time and contract workers.  

Most of the company’s operations will be affected, with the cuts taking place over the next several quarters. 

But there are no guarantees that this will be the last of the reductions, said 3Com spokesman Brian Johnson. 

“We can’t confirm or deny it will be the last one,” he said. “Clearly, it is our hope that this will get most of the work done.” 

3Com continues to trim other costs by reducing discretionary spending, lowering product costs and more effectively using its existing property and equipment.  

The company also has focused its business into three areas, each with its own operating unit. 

“Each independent unit will be smaller and more agile, able to better serve its customers and become more competitive,” Claflin said. 

In trading Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, 3Com closed down 38 cents to $6.52 a share.

Long before fire ravaged its maze of dead-end hallways, Berkeley High School’s B Building was wildly unpopular with teachers and students alike.  

Of course, surveying public architecture of the early ’60s, one often gets the feeling that the Marquis de Sade had a hand in overseeing the building projects.  

Erected in 1964, the B building is a prime example. A concrete box that looks more like a plane hanger than a school building, it was a tomb-like place in the best of times.  

“There’s not one classroom in there that has a window,” said Berkeley High junior Zachary Cohen one day last week, as he walked past the building which has been boarded over and closed since the fire about a year ago. 

“There’s just nothing good to say about it,” quipped Bruce Wicinas, chair of the school’s Citizen Construction Advisory Committee 

And yet, given the financial constraints faced by school districts these days, even after the fire there was talk of restoring the building rather than building anew. Until just last week there were plans to connect the building with the brand new buildings going up along Milvia Street, a project that, for many, would be like tying a three-masted sailing yacht to an oil tanker.  

To audible sighs of relief, those plans were abandoned once and for all Wednesday, when the school board voted to raze the building over the summer to make way for landscaped green space. 

“It’s long overdue,” said Board of Education President Terry Doran, a long-time teacher at Berkeley High school. “I don’t think it ever worked well.” 

The decision came quickly. Contractors working on the Milvia buildings had reached the point where they needed to know if the B building was staying or going before they could move forward, said Katherine James, Berkeley school district associate superintendent for support services. 

James met with the High Schools Citizen Construction Advisory Committee and made a presentation at a well-attended Parent, Teacher, Student Association meeting last week to gather input before the board’s decision. Parents and staff were overwhelmingly supportive of seeing the building come down, James said. 

As Doran put it Wednesday: “It would have been better to have more public input, but I can’t believe that a longer period of review would come to any other conclusion.” 

Under an insurance settlement, the school district is owed whatever it would cost to restore the B Building. James estimates that that amount could end up being more than $5 million. Of that, James estimates that only $1.5 million would be needed to raze the building and landscape the space, leaving $4 million to go toward the planned renovation of the old gym on Milvia Street.  

The only thing the high school seems to lose in the decision to raze the building is time. 

While the administrative offices and library that used to be housed in the B Building will move into the new buildings on Milvia, the health center and classrooms housed there won’t find a new home until the old gym restoration is completed. And it will likely be a full two years before that project even begins. 

Restoring the B Building would have had to wait two years as well, Wicinas said, but it might have been completed in just a year, while the gym restoration will be a longer, more complicated project. 

The more important consideration for most, however, is getting some green space on campus as soon as possible.  

“Now there’s no where to go” on the cramped campus, said Berkeley High student Rashawn Jones. “The courtyard is like a match box,” she added, referring to the concrete courtyard in front of the community theater buildings that overflows with students between classes, just looking for a place to chat with friends. 

“Many of the issues we have at Berkeley High School are the result of a very small campus in an urban setting,” said Berkeley Unified School District Interim Superintendent Stephen Goldstone at the Wednesday board meeting, referring to safety issues highlighted by a recent rash of violence. “This seems to provide a great opportunity to open up some space and to give some breathing space to kids.” 

When you look at a master plan of the school, it makes all the sense in the world to have green space located in the central space occupied by the B building, with classroom buildings around the periphery, Wicinas said. In fact, that’s what the school’s original master plan called for, he said. The B Building was just a rather shortsighted, and now fortunately short-lived, deviation from the plan. 

James said the building could be replaced with green space by as early as this September. The board is considering a number of design options, including an outdoor pavilion suggested by Board President Terry Doran. The pavilion would be used for special events or for hanging out on rainy days.

Monday, May 7

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 

Words Hurt  

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Rabbi David Ordan will discuss the seriousness of gossip and it’s effects.  

$10  

848-0237 

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit Campus  

2450 Ashby Ave. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center 

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.  

869-8833 

Rent Stabilization Board  

Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Council Chambers, 2nd floor 

Closed session “Hanerfeld v. City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board.” The rest of the meeting is open to the public. 

644-6128 

Tuesday, May 8

 

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 

 

Young Queer Women’s Group 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).  

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org 

 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

 

Religious Identity for  

Interfaith Families 

7:30 - 9:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Explore the process of choosing a religion for parents and children in interfaith families with a minister, and Rabbi Jane Litman.  

$5  

848-0237 x127 

 

Home Design 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second Tuesday of workshop taught by architect/contractor Barry Wagner. Continues weekly through May 22. $150 for four evenings. 

525-7610 

 

Blackout Summer 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley’s Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Dwight) 

Bruno Henriquez is from Cuba, which experienced rolling blackouts for more than half a decade and has promoted conservation and alternative energy production. Henriquez is director of Cuba’s solar energy agency. 

548-2220 ext. 234 

 

Take the Burn Out of  

Heartburn 

Ashby Campus Auditorium 

2450 Ashby Ave. 

12:30 - 2 p.m. 

Learn about gastro-esophageal reflux disease and surgery to correct the condition. Free. 

869-6737 

 

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Wednesday, May 9

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 

Buying Land 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Seminar led by real estate agent Dan Maher. $35 

525-7610 

Applying for Grant Money 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 6th St. 

West Berkeley Foundation’s annual community meeting will include a presentation on the grant application process for 2001-2002 grant cycle.  

898-1311 

Police Review Commission  

Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Will cover recruitment update report, among other topics. Open to the public. 

644-6716 

Thursday, May 10

Showcase 2001 

5 - 7:30 p.m. 

H’s Lordships Restaurant  

199 Seawall Drive  

Berkeley Marina  

Showcase 2001, a tradeshow and mixer.  

549-7003 

Free Smoking Cessation Class  

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  

Six Thursday classes through May 17.  

Call 644-6422 to register and for location 

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 

643-1924 

Friday, May 11

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

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 

50 Plus Fitness Class  

9:30 a.m. - Noon 

UC Berkeley (varied locations)  

A class for those 50 and over which introduces participants to an array of exercise options. Demonstration and practice will include strength training, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique, and more.  

$10 per individual session 

Pre-register: 642-5461  

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Saturday, May 12

Be Your Own Boss 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

YWCA 

1515 Webster Street, Oakland 

Two day workshop on the basics of starting up a small business, taught by local business owners. 

$50-$100 sliding scale 

Call 415-541-8580 for registration  

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. (at San Pablo)  

Adair Lara, author of “Hold Me Close, Let Me Go,” Janis Newman, author of “The Russian Word for Snow,” Wavy Gravy, and Accoustic Guitar Summit guitar quartet.  

Call 415-664-9500 for reservations 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike 

6:30 p.m. 

Berkley Art Center  

1275 Walnut St.  

An ongoing open mic series featuring poet/artist Anca Hariton. Sign up at 6:30 and reading at 7 p.m. Free 

Estimating the Cost of Labor and Materials 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar led by contractor Michael McCutcheon. $75 

525-7610 

–compiled by  

Sabrina Forkish

2-way immersion story on target 

Editor: 

As an active member of the Rosa Parks School Community & the parent of a two-way immersion second grader and incoming kindergartner there, I’d like to thank Ben Lumpkin and the Daily Planet for writing such a positive article about two-way immersion in the Berkeley School District. It is a fabulous program & has many attributes. Thanks for taking the time to write such a good piece. We appreciate it! 

Rebecca Herman 

Berkeley 

2700 San Pablo project right scale 

Editor: 

When people say the proposed four-story housing at 2700 San Pablo is “out of scale” with the surrounding neighborhood of one and two story homes, they just show that they are ignorant of urban design.  

One hundred years ago, American towns and cities towns all had main streets or neighborhood shopping streets with four-story buildings, like this one, in neighborhoods of one and two-story homes. This is precisely the scale of traditional neighborhoods.  

In fact, ever since the Renaissance, urban designers have said that height of buildings should be at least 50 percent of the size of the urban space that they face, to create a feeling of enclosure and a sense of place. San Pablo Ave, with over 80 feet from frontage to frontage, needs four-story buildings for esthetic reasons alone.  

For the last ten years, New Urbanist designers have been working in this traditional main-street scale all over the country. This is the most important movement in urban design in America today, but opponents of this project apparently have not heard the news.  

Anyone who follows urban design issues knows that two groups of people invariably turn out to comment on projects like 2700 San Pablo.  

People who back this sort of project generally have worked for years to support similar buildings. Many of them are students of urban planning or have served in environmental groups working on urban issues. They support this sort of project because they know it will provide needed housing in a way that is environmentally sound, reducing automobile dependency and urban sprawl.  

People who oppose this sort of project generally have never been active in urban design issues before. They suddenly became interested only because the project is in their own back yard, and they are afraid of change. They know little and care less care about providing housing or protecting the environment. They are motivated purely by self-interest: they want to protect their own neighborhood.  

The irony of it is that, if they knew more about urban design, they would realize that this sort of project is good for neighborhoods. If I lived near 2700 San Pablo, even if I were motivated purely by self-interest, I would back it because it will increase property values and make the neighborhood more livable by helping to change San Pablo Ave. from an auto-oriented strip to a traditional main street.  

Charles Siegel 

Berkeley 

Beth El plans not good for neighbors 

Editor:  

We have lived in Berkeley for 23 years and 34 years respectively; in our current house for 14 years. Although this section of Spruce Street is a busy street, our neighborhood is relatively quiet. We moved here because of the proximity to Cordonices Creek, the settings of the houses, the community feeling of mostly single family homes, and the lack of parked cars that would otherwise create the feeling of a more urban area. 

When Beth El first bought the property at 1801 Oxford St., they assured us they intended to be great neighbors. We think they could be great neighbors. But not with their current plans.  

Initially, we were members of the neighborhood group that met with Temple leaders. We were led to believe that the impact would be the same as in their current location but that they would have more space for parking, staging and gardens so we would feel less of an impact than their current neighbors feel. 

However, after reading their proposal, we find that they in fact intend to increase both the intensity of use and the hours of operation. Even for events that would be over by 10 p.m., we in the neighborhood would be subject to the sounds of people and cars leaving for quite some time after that. And they plan for events most days of the week. Their buildings are much larger than their current site. In addition, street parking would become intensely competitive, greatly reducing our quality of life in the neighborhood. 

We also have concerns about the Creek and the impossibility of daylighting once Beth El has completed construction. 

We have read Harry Pollack’s letter stating that they have been located just two blocks away for 50 years so they will not be creating new impacts in the neighborhood. We find this disingenuous. Their current site will be used by another group so that neighborhood will continue to feel impacts. And Beth El’s impact will be transferred to an area that currently has not felt any impact from them. It will quite clearly cause a dramatic change in our neighborhood. 

This project will have more of an impact on a residential neighborhood than any other project in Berkeley and would set a precedent for the same to happen in other R–1 neighborhoods. 

We believe that our neighborhood has raised serious, legitimate concerns about the proposal and the EIR. Beth El has simply not responded in a meaningful way. Specifically, we believe the project is too large for the site, there isn’t adequate parking, the parking that is proposed has a negative impact on Cordonices Creek, and the project creates serious ecological problems that have not been mitigated. 

Please ensure our continued neighborhood by insisting that it is possible to reach a solution that takes into account both community needs and the Congregation’s needs. 

Joyce Vollmer 

Eric Van Vliet 

Berkeley 

U.S. mustn’t meddle in Asia 

Editor:  

Two big islands hover off the coast of China: Taiwan and Japan. Good relationships between these three are of utmost importance for world peace and Asian prosperity. For the United States to create divisiveness there serves no purpose. 

The fantasy of the Pacific Rim as the new cradle of wealth generation has collapsed and fear of a Japanese or Chinese invasion of the US can only be the product of incurable paranoia.  

Even for any of these nations to aspire to be part of a global economy where all of life is dominated by the values and interests of International Capitalism makes no sense. America and Asia must learn to sleep in their own beds. 

The anit–communist crap that justified the United States to maintain a permanent war economy after the close of WWII, as if it was now involved in a “cold” war, should not be brought back to life in 2001, and the new gospel that we have to bring the blessings of U.S. democracy to an unenlightened world is too phony for words. 

The only interest of the U.S. government (all politicians depend for their election to office on corporate contributions) is to generate profits for the US corporations by US domination of markets and exploitation of cheap labor wherever they can, at home or abroad. 

Consistent with this objective the United States must simply try to maintain profitable trade relations with China, Taiwan and Japan. Unless the U.S. wants to get into another war (and I personally believe that is what it wants) the US must play it very cool and just keep its eye on the buck and not fool around with spy–planes and wars of words. 

Friendly relations between Japan and China/Taiwan will, due to past experiences of hostile occupation, be hard to establish but will be mutually beneficial. To believe that either Japan or China or Taiwan will ever trust the US is an illusion. Peaceful coexistence with an independent Asia is all the US can strive for. Hands off Taiwan. 

Jan H. Visser 

Berkeley

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins, and become little “dump” workers. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

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 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

UC Berkeley Art Museum “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 exhuberant color, and by its combinations of media and subject matter. “Ricky Swallow/Matrix 191,” Including new sculptures and drawings; Through May 27 $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; children age 12 and under free; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and Wednesday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; 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  

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “T. Rex on Trial,” Through May 28 Where was T. Rex at the time of the crime? Learn how paleontologists decipher clues to dinosaur behavior. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Computer Lab, Saturdays 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. 642-5132 

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “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. All ages. May 11: Subincision, Next to Nothing, Fracus, Thrice, The Average Joe; May 12: The Sick, Impalid, Creuvo, Tearing Down Standards. 525-9926  

Ashkenaz May 9: 9 p.m. Billy Dunn and Bluesway, 8 p.m. dance lesson; May 10: 10 p.m. Dead DJ night with Digital Dave; May 11: 9:30 p.m. The Mood Swing Orchestra, 8 p.m. dance lesson May 12: 9 p.m.The Johnny Otis Show; May 13: 9:30 p.m. Toyes, The “Smoke Two Joints” Band 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Freight & Salvage All music at 8 p.m. May 8: Duck Baker and Tim Sparks; May 9: Rosalie Sorrels and Terry Garthwaite; May 10: Richard Shindell; May 11: Steve Seskin, Angela Kaset and Don Henry; May 12, 10 a.m. - Noon: West Coast Live with authors Adair Lara and Janis Newman, and the Accoustic Guitar Summit guitar quartet; May 12: Robin Flower and Libby McClaren; 1111 Addison St. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. May 13: Michael Zilber Group 2377 Shattuck Ave. 845-5373 or visit www.jazzschool.com 

Jupiter All shows at 8 p.m. May 8: The Rum Diary; May 9: Bitches Brew; May 10: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 11: Mood Food; May 12: Post Junk Trio; May 15: Chris Shot Group; May 16: Spank; May 17: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 18: Will Bernard and Motherbug; May 19: Solomon Grundy; 2181 Shattuck Ave 843-8277  

La Pena Cultural Center May 11, 8 p.m.: Erika Luckett, Irina Rivkin & Making Waves, Gwen Avery, Shelly Doty X-tet; May 12, 10:30 a.m.: Colibri; May 13, 4 p.m.: In the Cafe La Pena - Community Juerga; May 13, 3 p.m.: Juanita Newland-Ulloa and Picante Ensemble; May 17, 8 p.m.: Tribu; May 19, 8 p.m.: Carnaval featuring Company of Prophets, Loco Bloco, Mystic, Los Delicados, DJ Sake One and DJ Namane 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org  

“The Children’s Hour” 12, 8 p.m. and May 13, 4 p.m. The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Arlene Sagan will perform Julian White’s piece along with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and selections from Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, poems of Robert Frost set to music. Free St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 Addison St. 528-2145  

“Three Tenors No Opera” May 7, 8 - 10 p.m. This Bay Area jazz septet with three-sax front line will deconstruct the tenor classics live on KPFA, 94.1 FM 

Apollo String Quartet May 10, 7:30 p.m. Composed of ninth grade students from Crowden School, quartet will perform Mozart and Bartok. Berkeley Public Library’s North Branch 1170 The Alameda 548-1240 

“MadriGALA” May 11, 7:30 p.m. The Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble presents a concert of chansons and madrigals from the 15th and 16th centuries. $5 - $10. Calvary Presbytarian Church 1940 Virginia St. (at Milvia) 237-2213 

Berkeley Opera Gala Concert May 12, 7 p.m. Berkeley Opera singers and special guest artists will be joined by Music Director, Jonathan Khuner and members of the Berkeley Opera Orchestra to provide entertainment highlighting the 2001 theme, “Opera Uncensored.” Also a silent auction, balloon raffle, champagne and more. $15 - $40 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

Juanita Newland-Ulloa & Picante Ensemble May 13, 3 p.m. Romantic songs from South America. Luncheon served at 1 p.m. at the Valparaiso Cafe. $13 - $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Mother’s Day Celebration May 13, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Albany Big Band will play from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. followed at 2 p.m. by Wine Country Brass. Picnic fare will be available fom Classic Catering, or bring food from home. Flowers for sale. 525-3005 

Tribu May 17, 8 p.m. Direct from Mexico, Tribu plays a concert of ancestral music of the Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, Zapotec, Purerpecha, Chichimec, Otomi, and Toltec. Tribu have reconstructed and rescued some of the oldest music in the Americas. $12 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Satsuki Arts Festival and Bazaar May 19, 4 - 10 p.m. & May 20, Noon - 7 p.m. A fundraiser for the Berkeley Buddhist Temple featuring musical entertainment by Julio Bravo & Orquesta Salsabor, Delta Wires, dance presentations by Kaulana Na Pua and Kariyushi Kai, food, arts & crafts, plants & seedlings, and more. Berkeley Buddhist Temple 2121 Channing Way (at Shattuck) 841-1356

Three homers power Cal past Bruins, probably into postseason 

It was a series sweep for Cal as the Bears beat UCLA, 8-6, in front of a season-high crowd of 943 at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Sunday afternoon.  

UCLA dropped to 26-23, 6-12 in Pac-10 play, while Cal improved to 30-22, finishing its Pac-10 schedule with a 14-10 record. 

The Bears were powered by home runs by Rob Meyer, Conor Jackson and Clint Hoover, and senior David Cash picked up the win with 7 2/3 innings of relief, allowing just two runs. 

UCLA’s Josh Karp had a rough return to the mound, as the junior allowed six runs in five innings of work.  

Things started out well for the Bruins, as Matt Pearl hit a solo home run in his first at-bat. It was the second straight day that Pearl hit a home run in his first at-bat. Eric Reece started the second inning with another solo home run. The Bruins scored a second run when Preston Griffin doubled, advanced to third on a Josh Canales single, and scored on an RBI single by Pearl.  

The Bears got on the board in the third. After Karp walked Conor Jackson, Rob Meyer hit a two-run home run to close the gap to 3-2. The Bears added three more runs in the fourth and another run on a Clint Hoover solo home run in the fifth.  

Ben Francisco scored a run in the fourth. After being hit by a pitch, he stole second base, and scored on a John Campanella RBI single. They added another run in the fifth, as Brandon Averill reached first on a throwing error by Cal 3B Jackson. He advanced to second on a Griffin walk, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Canales sacrifice fly. After five innings, the Bruins trailed 6-5 after the fifth inning.  

The Bears extended their lead to 8-5 in the sixth, as Jackson hit a two-run home run off of Bruin reliever Kevin Jerkens.  

The Bruins scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth, as Baron started the inning with a double, and scored on another Campanella RBI single.  

Jerkens held the Bears scoreless in the final three innings of the game, but the Bruins could only manage one hit in the final three frames against Cash.

The Latino community came together under sunny skies Sunday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, celebrating its traditions and culture with prayer, song, dance, good things to eat and, organizers proudly pointed out, no alcohol. 

It was the 18th Annual Cinco de Mayo celebration in Berkeley. 

The holiday commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla, Mexico and resistance of the Mexican/Indigenous people against invading French forces under Napoleon III who intended to follow the invasion of Mexico by uniting with the Confederacy against the Union in the American Civil War.  

The fiesta, however, has evolved into a celebration of freedom from oppression and unity of all people fighting for autonomy. “We will not accept oppression in any form,” said Elma Gameros, executive director of Berkeley-based Adelante, Inc., speaking from the stage. Adelante and the city sponsored the event. 

Mayor Shirley Dean welcomed people from the stage, noting the day is a “celebration of pride.” Touring the booths, which included hand-crafted items and information from the city’s police, recreation and health departments, Councilmember Kriss Worthington told the Daily Planet that celebrating Cinco de Mayo is important, but that even more important would be greater efforts on behalf of the city to hire and contract with Latinos and other underrepresented groups.

California put everything it had out on the field in Sunday’s Western Women’s Lacrosse League Division I Championship Final but found itself coming up just a few goals short of the title, dropping a close and hard fought battle to Stanford, 11-6, inside Memorial Stadium. The Bears finish the 2001 season second in the WWLL’s Division I standings.  

Stanford (14-5 overall, 9-0 in the WWLL) jumped out to a 1-0 lead after 1:50 of play on a goal by sophomore attacker Liz Lanese. California (12-6 overall, 5-4 in the WWLL) and Stanford would go on to trade goals before the Cardinal closed out the first half with a pair of scores to enter the break up 5-3. 

“We tried not to overload our team with a detailed game plan,” said Malko. “I thought the first half was a close game. Stanford did a good job not being hesitant. The more confidence they gained the less we played with.” 

The Cardinal opened the second half with two more goals before Cal could find its offense, eventually recording a pair of goals by junior attacker Halsey Monger and freshman attacker Emily Edwards to pull the Bears to within two, 7-5, with 20:14 remaining in the game. Freshman midfielder Noor Dawood then tossed in three goals and assisted on a fourth to push Stanford’s lead out to 11-6. Dawood finished the game with four goals and two assists for the Cardinal while Lanese led the Stanford offense with five goals on the afternoon. 

“I wanted the defense to be more patient and aware of loose balls,” said Malko. “We weren’t able to do that. The offense just needed to get the ball more. I think Alana Dunnigan had a fantastic year. She has stepped-up in every game with so much heart and confidence. Halsey Monger also created a lot of opportunities for us and really hustled out there today.” 

Sophomore goalkeeper Eden Coelho led a resilient Bears defense with 21 saves, her second-highest total of the season. Coelho finishes the year with a .596 save percentage and an 8.31 goals-against average. 

Freshman attacker Colleen O’Mara led Cal offensively with two goals while senior midfielder Alana Dunnigan added two assists. 

With the win, Stanford captured the WWLL Division I title for the fourth consecutive year. 

“It’s hard not to walk away from this game without a sense of disappointment,” said Malko, “but it’s our job as a team to take away the positives from this experience. It sets up a level of expectation for our returning players.”

In response to neighborhood and patient concerns, the City Council will likely ask the city manager to develop operational and permitting guidelines for medical marijuana cooperatives.  

The recommendation, sponsored by Councilmembers Margaret Breland, Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington, also asks the city manager to delay approval of any pending applications for the cooperatives until the guidelines are established and a citywide limit on the number of such establishments is determined.  

“We want the neighbors to be comfortable with the cooperatives and we want patients to be assured that the city has a process in place for permitting cooperatives,” Worthington said. 

Currently there is no category for medical marijuana cooperatives in the city’s Zoning Ordinance. According to Maio the four cooperatives that are operating now applied as herb retailers.  

The City Council used its authority under state Proposition 215 to approve a medical marijuana ordinance in March that details how much of the dried medicine and the number of plants a patient can possess. 

The cooperatives, also known as cannabis clubs, can legally distribute medical marijuana as long as patients have a doctor’s prescription. Studies have shown marijuana to be effective in treating symptoms of a variety of illnesses including AIDS, cancer and glaucoma.  

Worthington said some of Berkeley’s medical marijuana cooperatives have operated for months without having any problems and in some cases the neighbors didn’t know the cooperatives were there. He said, however, that some neighbors have expressed concern because people tend to associate the cooperative with illegal drug dealing.  

“This is a very different model,” Worthington said. “There’s one cooperative that’s been in operation for over a year. The police have inspected it and there have been no problems.” 

Maio said the neighborhood concerns are valid and have to be addressed. “We need to develop guidelines and operating procedures and I’m hopeful the cooperatives’ owners and managers will come into the process,” she said. 

While cannabis clubs in Berkeley and Oakland have had very few operational or neighborhood problems, the Hemp Center in the Richmond District of San Francisco was robbed at gun point twice within two weeks during April. In the first robbery on April 12, the gunman got away with $8,000 in cash and a estimated $12,000 worth of marijuana.

Virginia Beach, Va. – Cal claimed its 11th consecutive national rugby championship on Sunday, overwhelming Penn State 86-11 Sunday. 

The Bears ran in 14 tries, going from average to awesome between Saturday’s semi and the title match. 

“It was a gratifying win for our players and our team,” said head coach Jack Clark. “We certainly got off the gas against the wrong team in the semi-final. We were determined to play 80 minutes of class rugby today, and I think that’s what we accomplished.” 

Cal had squandered a large lead Saturday, eventually edging Navy, 34-27. 

With new resolve and a strong wind at their backs in the first half, Cal sailed out to a 38-6 lead by the break against the Nittany Lions. Prop Mike MacDonald opened the scoring, profiting from the first of many mauls that the Bears drove deep into Penn State’s territory. In  

his last game for the Bears, senior No. 8 Shaun Paga also scored in the first half, but wing Cameron Bunce had the biggest day, finishing four tries total for Cal while flyhalf Matt Sherman scored three. 

Turning into the wind, did not slow the Bears, who scored eight times in the second half. Bunce touched down three in a row in the space of 10 minutes, and with a growing margin, the Cal coaching staff began to make substitutions, giving seniors such as Justin Parkhurst, Kevin Vogeli, and Dan Towers a run in their last collegiate match. 

Of the starting line-up, graduating seniors included scrumhalf Andy Armstrong, fullback John Buchholz, hooker Chris Draper, lock Brian Meux, lock Brian Surgener and Paga. 

“I’m already sad that I won’t be able to coach these seniors again,” said Clark. “They’ve been an extraordinary group of leaders.” 

It was the Cal team’s 18th national championship since the title competition began in 1980. The weekend also marked the 300th collegiate victory for coach Clark, who reached the milestone with Saturday’s semi-final victory over Navy. 

In Sunday’s play-off for 3rd & 4th, Navy prevailed over Army 34-22.

There may not have been any battening down of the hatches, but plenty of jibing and tacking took place off the shores of the Berkeley Marina on Saturday. Bay area land lovers and sea farers alike gathered to take advantage of the free sailboat rides offered by the Cal Sailing Club during the first full weekend of each month.  

Extraordinary in its kind, the Cal Sailing Club is a non-profit yacht club without the costly membership dues.  

Two hours of volunteer time, $50, and a desire to learn, earns anyone a three-month membership which includes access to all club equipment and unlimited lessons in sailing and windsurfing. 

Practically all functions of the club are operated on a volunteer basis. Some people trade instruction or maintenance work for membership.  

Senior member Malu Lujan stresses that the club’s main priority is to teach and make available sailing and windsurfing for the general public. They provide hundreds of free sailboat rides and lessons to underprivileged youth as well as to community members during the weekend open houses.  

“We try to put the word out in places you wouldn’t expect, like homeless shelters,” Lujan said. “A lot of people view it as a rich white man’s sport, but it’s especially not true of our club.”  

And it’s not all hard work. Membership perks include Sunday races, occasional clinics and lectures, women’s classes and summer cruises to San Francisco. 

Established initially by a group of university students almost 60 years ago, the club relocated from Aquatic Park to Lake Merritt in its early years, then finally settled into the Berkeley Marina about 40 years ago.  

Despite its longevity in the Berkeley community, smooth sailing does not come about automatically. The club is a cooperative that thrives on the reciprocal efforts of its fluctuating 300 to 1,500 volunteers and members. While a structured curriculum may be lacking, a handful of qualified mariners are always available.  

“If you want to learn to sail here, you will, but you have to be patient,” member and Berkeley resident David Fraser said.  

The casual atmosphere amongst this amphibious group is precisely what draws in some of the club’s most loyal members. 

As Rear Commodore Jolanda de Boer explains, with each lesson it’s likely you’ll have a different teacher.  

From weathered skippers to newly certified rookies, each instructor will have new and different skills to teach.  

“Instruction is a little bit of a controlled chaos. We have formal times set up for instruction, but we don’t have formal instruction,” said four-year member Wayne Van Liere.  

Van Liere, who knew virtually nothing about sailing before his participation in the club, is now a dinghy instructor.  

“The best way to learn something is to teach someone else how to do it,” he said. 

The Cal Sailing Club allows people with an interest in sailing and windsurfing to assess whether such sports are just a simple whim or a lifelong passion before they invest in the costly equipment.  

“The rates are ridiculously low,” said James Wai, a two-year member. Wai is currently in charge of the day leader program, which is organized through the work-study program at UC Berkeley, but the club is not otherwise affiliated with the university. Day leaders represent the only paid positions within the club and act similar to lifeguards by monitoring the members’ safety in the water.  

“You can learn every aspect of having your own boat, and learn it at no risk,” Lujan said.  

Brian Herlihy, who holds the second vice commodore position on the executive committee, leads the windsurfing program. Herlihy also learned from scratch at the Cal Sailing Club. 

“I got addicted and I decided to pass the addiction along,” Herlihy said. “Besides, this is the cheapest way to start windsurfing.”  

Herlihy explained that to acquire all the essential windsurfing equipment on your own, not including lessons, would require approximately $3,000 up-front.  

Testing the waters of his whimsy, Frederick Malcalm of East Oakland has always been interested in learning more about sailing. 

“I work on the docks, I see the sailboats come and go all the time. I came (to the open house) on a whim. When I found out about the cost, I joined today,” Malcalm said.  

The club has established its own rating program in which new members, such as Malcalm, must demonstrate proficient knowledge in hands-on sailing and rigging as well as pass a written test before climbing the ladder from Junior to Senior to Cruising Skipper ratings. Beginners learn on one of about 20 dinghies. A dinghy is a smaller, capsizable sailboat. Once mastered, members can sign out various classes of equipment including one of six of the larger, more stable keel boats.  

“Our theory is that if you go out in a boat that can capsize, you will learn to hone your skills,” Lujan said.  

The Cal Sailing Club is open year-round from noon until sunset on weekdays and from 9 a.m. until sunset during the weekends.  

“If you learn here, in the San Francisco Bay, on a tiny boat, you can probably sail almost anywhere,” Fraser said.  

For more information on Cal Sailing Club membership visit the clubhouse in the Berkeley marina, call 287-5905, or go to their website, www.cal-sailing .org. Or join them at the marina for free sailboat rides from 1-4 p.m. during the first full weekend of every month. 

Relay squad sets school record, ties state best 

Re-establishing their dominance in northern California, the St. Mary’s track & field team blew away the field Saturday at the Meet of Champions in Sacramento. They won six individual events as well as both boys’ relays, and several Panthers posted personal and season bests. 

The highlight of the day was the boys’ 4x100-meter relay team tying the state’s best mark this season, as well as setting a new school record. The team of Asokah Muhammed, Courtney Brown, Chris Dunbar and Halihl Guy torched the field in 41.30 seconds, tying Taft High’s season best. The Panthers’ previous best this year was 41.78 seconds, a quantum leap from Saturday’s mark. 

“They beat their own mark by a lot,” St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said. “For them to go down that far, that’s a huge day for them.” 

But the hits just kept on coming for the relay members. Dunbar won the 400-meter dash with a personal best, Muhammed won the triple jump, and Guy won the 300-meter high hurdles with his best time of the season. The four then reunited to win the 4x400-meter relaygoing away to end the night, although Dunbar aggravated his hamstring on the anchor leg. 

“We’re peaking right now,” Guy said. “We didn’t want to peak to early and die at the end of the season, so we’re doing it at the right time. We’re all just running really well right now.” 

Guy said his team is now the fastest in the state. 

“I think that’s the best time in the state this year. Taft ran that time in the dual meet that was hand-timed. There’s no doubt that we’re the best right now,” he said. 

Less surprising but just as dominant was Kamaiya Warren, who won both the shot put and discus yet again. Ignoring the heat and her fatigue from taking the SAT that morning, Warren set personal bests in both events. 

“This is the first time Kamaiya has put together two personal bests at the same meet. She usually throws better in one or the other,” Lawson said. “It was a breakthrough for her to do well in both, that’s what she’ll need to do in the state meet.” 

Warren wasn’t surprised she won both events, as she has failed to pull the double just once this year, but said she wasn’t at the top of her game. 

“I’m the best I’ve ever been right now, but I feel that I can do better,” she said. “If I can throw that far when I’m hot and tired and just took the SAT, imagine what I can do on a really good day.” 

St. Mary’s first winner of the day was high jumper Riana Shaw, who cleared five feet, five inches. Shaw has made a huge improvement in the last few weeks, topped by her jump of five feet, eight inches last week at the Top 8 Invitational, a personal best. She attributed her sudden outburst to paying more attention at practice. 

“I finally started really listening to my coach, and that’s made a big difference,” she said. “It’s all starting to make sense.” 

But Shaw, who never jumped higher than 5 feet, two inches before this season, has even loftier goals for the end of her senior year. 

“I want to jump six feet this year. That’s what I have to keep telling myself if I want to get better,” she said. 

With BSAL finals this week and the state championship meet at the beginning of June, Lawson said his team is starting to come together. 

“This is a big meet for us going into championship season next week. Everyone’s getting tuned up, and we had a lot of personal bests today,” Lawson said. “It’s not so much the wins as that everyone’s getting faster.”

Political contributions from industry goes to both parties through many channels 

SACRAMENTO – Money from the tobacco industry may have helped put Democrat Wilma Chan in the state Assembly last year, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her campaign finance reports. 

No tobacco companies appear among her contributors, because Chan has a policy of not taking tobacco money. As an Alameda County supervisor she had an anti-tobacco voting record. 

But Chan may have received tobacco help anyway. The industry poured money into funds run by Assembly Democratic leaders and an organization called the Black Leadership Political Action Committee and all of them helped Chan. 

This passage of tobacco money through various organizations is how tobacco — a Democratic Party whipping boy for years — can seek favor and help key Democrats without the donations attracting much notice. 

Philip Morris, a conglomerate that includes the nation’s largest tobacco company, contributed $66,512 to the Black Leadership PAC, nearly a third of money raised by the group. 

Two other tobacco companies, R.J. Reynolds and Brown & Williamson, gave the PAC $5,000 and $3,000, respectively. 

The PAC then spent more than $12,000 sending mail supporting Chan to voters in her district. Democratic leaders gave her thousands more. 

Last November, Chan and the Democrats avenged an embarrassing 1999 loss to former Green Party member Audie Bock by beating Bock in a heavily Democratic Oakland area district. 

“People are very sensitive about tobacco money and so if it can be hidden by putting it through those PACs, people are more than happy to take it that way,” Bock said. 

Chan said she appreciated the mailing, which she didn’t know about until after the election. That tobacco money helped pay for it wouldn’t soften her anti-tobacco views. “I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” she said. 

Big tobacco has lost often in Sacramento in recent years, including the enactment of a ban on smoking in bars and most other indoor workplaces. But it remains a powerful and adaptable force, some of its critics say. 

“You can count the number of industries with major clout in Sacramento on the fingers of one hand, and the tobacco industry is clearly one of those forces,” said former Assemblyman Wally Knox, D-Los Angeles. 

“It has maintained its presence over generations of legislators by the enormous political contributions it has invested in its well-being.” 

Paul Knepprath, a lobbyist for the American Lung Association, also says the industry still has “considerable clout. They have a lot of access to policy makers so they are able to get their messages across.” 

Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, the Van Nuys Democrat who controlled a fund that accepted money from two Philip Morris subsidiaries, said tobacco companies “are just not part of the equation. It’s not as if this is a Southern state.” 

Despite the setbacks, tobacco has scored some victories. Last year, Knox’s bill requiring the Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System to sell off their tobacco stocks fell one vote short in an Assembly committee as a group of tobacco lobbyists looked on. 

The two pension funds divested their tobacco holdings anyway, but Knepprath said the Knox bill would have had a more lasting effect. 

The lawmaker who was chairing the public employees committee at the time, Assemblyman Lou Correa, D-Anaheim, said he abstained because he didn’t want to hamstring PERS and STRS investment managers, not because of tobacco industry opposition. 

Philip Morris, its sister corporations and the nation’s other top tobacco companies donated $1.4 million to state politicians last year, a 7 percent increase over 1998, the previous election year. Seventy-seven lawmakers reported receiving some tobacco-connected funds. 

Democrats got the most tobacco money last year for the first time since 1994, when a last-minute, $125,000 donation from Philip Morris helped Republicans win a slim majority in the Assembly. 

“Democrats were very assertive about going out looking for money in 2000,” said Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Davis, who chairs the Assembly Health Committee. 

But Hertzberg said there was no effort to bring in more tobacco money. 

Jim Knox, executive director of California Common Cause, a campaign reform group, said the switch to Democrats was likely the result of Democrat Gray Davis winning the governor’s office in 1998 and Democrats adding to their majorities in both houses last year. 

“It confirms the adage that money flows to power,” he said. “There’s really no reason for interest groups to give to Republicans because Democrats have a monopoly on decision making.” 

The shift was largely due to Philip Morris, which gave more than 58 percent of its contributions to Democrats in 2000, but Philip Morris spokesman Dave Tovar said the company doesn’t “necessarily give to one party or the other. We give to candidates and legislators who we feel can be open to listening and taking our views into account.” 

Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, the chairman of the powerful Assembly Rules Committee, topped all lawmakers with $97,500 in tobacco industry donations last year. 

Part of that money went to the Democratic Business Political Action Committee, which was controlled by Cardoza and Thomson and raised money for Democratic candidates, including Chan. 

Cardoza said the tobacco companies probably contributed to him because he has been “fair and thoughtful with regard to tobacco legislation.” 

He opposes banning smoking in bars and questions why smokers who are aware of the dangers of smoking should be able to sue tobacco companies. 

But he said the state had the right to sue the companies to recover the cost of treating smoking related illnesses. 

Like Chan and a number of other Democrats, Hertzberg doesn’t take contributions from tobacco companies. 

“He is concerned about the health issues raised by tobacco smoking,” said Hertzberg spokesman Paul Hefner. 

But like a number of other lawmakers, Hertzberg took money — in his case $40,000 — from two companies that are part of the Philip Morris conglomerate — Miller Brewing Co. and Kraft Foods. 

Hertzberg said he did not consider the companies’ link to tobacco “that significant. I am not promoting tobacco. It’s not a factor in my decisions here.” 

That’s a very fine line, Knepprath said, because “it’s all the same family, the family of Philip Morris, the big tobacco company.” 

Assemblyman Bill Leonard, R-Rancho Cucamonga, says it’s a “bit of political posturing” for some Democrats to refuse tobacco money while others accept it or take money from a non-tobacco company that’s part of a tobacco corporation. 

Often, Democratic tobacco money ended up going through leadership committees that gave money to Democrats in tough races, Leonard said. 

Proposition 34, a ballot measure approved by voters last November, put a $3,000 limit on donation transfers from one lawmaker to another. 

But Common Cause’s Jim Knox says the political parties will take over that transferring function because Proposition 34 puts no limit on the size of their donations to candidates. 

“The parties will have a filtering role and the candidates will be able to deny any link or accountability,” he said. 

Tobacco industry campaign contributions in  

California by political party from 1991 to 2000: 

YEAR DEMOCRATS REPUBLICANS 

1991 $226,656 $172,485 

1992 $472,837 $307,308 

1993 $230,055 $96,250 

1994 $274,275 $282,800 

1995 $162,400 $267,344 

1996 $572,427 $730,531 

1997 $250 $26,700 

1998 $268,945 $722,750 

1999 $203,245 $241,250 

2000 $765,956 $633,800 

There was a voter-imposed campaign fund-raising ban in effect for much of 1997.

SACRAMENTO – Democrat state lawmakers said Saturday they will sue federal energy regulators for refusing to cap the spiraling cost of electricity in the midst of California’s power crunch. 

Leaders of the state Senate and Assembly will contend that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is violating federal law. 

“They’re not following (the section) that requires just and reasonable rates,” Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, said Saturday. “Nobody thinks they’re doing that.” 

The suit will be announced Monday, he said. 

Democratic Gov. Gray Davis is not a party to the suit, but “is supportive of any effort to make sure FERC does its job,” said Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio. 

No one answered the phones at FERC’s media office Saturday, and FERC officials could not immediately be reached to comment. 

Democrats also said they will propose shutting down a special session that has occupied legislators since January. The idea, they said, is to make an end-run around Assembly Republicans who have refused to allow the state to issue up to $12.5 billion in bonds, a key part of Davis’ plan to end energy problems. 

Democratic leaders plan to try to pass the bond issue Monday with the two-thirds vote needed to allow it to take effect immediately. 

If that effort fails without Republican votes, they will try for passage using Democrats’ simple majority. They would then have to end the special session to trigger a 90-day clock until the law could take effect and the bonds could be issued. 

That strategy would mean scrapping the “bridge loans” that officials hoped would provide short-term repayment of $6.2 billion the state has shelled out since January to buy power for cash-starved utilities. And that means patching together the state budget for three months until the long-term bonds could be issued over Republicans’ opposition. 

Assembly Republicans want the state to issue no more than $8 billion in bonds and absorb about $5 billion. Democrats say that money should be saved for environmental, child care and other state programs. 

Assembly GOP Leader Dave Cox of Fair Oaks argued Saturday that the state can afford to do without the money, given the budget surplus it built during better economic times. 

“I think it shows the arrogance of the situation” that Democrats would act without Republican votes, Cox said. 

When it comes to federal regulators, however, there is bipartisan dissatisfaction. 

Last month, FERC ordered a one-year cap on electricity sold into the state during power emergencies, when power reserves fall below 7 1/2 percent. But Davis and state power regulators dismissed the cap as inadequate. 

The pending lawsuit follows months of lobbying by Davis and legislative leaders of both parties. 

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, is working on a three-state strategy to lower both electric costs and the risk of blackouts in the drought-stricken Pacific Northwest. 

Hertzberg is working with U.S. Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., on the proposal, which would require FERC approval, a legislative source said Saturday. 

Smith broke last month with the Republican Bush administration to work with Democratic congressmen and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., for a bill requiring FERC to cap wholesale electric prices across the West. 

But legislative leaders decided they needed to go to court as well, Burton said. 

He retained Bay Area Democratic attorney Joseph Cotchett to represent the state for $1 a month, but said he expects the state Senate and Assembly to each approve spending up to $75,000 for other legal costs. 

State lawyers, meanwhile, are examining whether the Legislature is the right body to sue the FERC and whether any state entity can compel the federal commission to act. 

“Why not?” said Burton. “We represent the people of the state of California.”

Cops suspect foul play in disappearance 

SAN JOSE – Detectives looking for a missing San Jose woman since April 1 now suspect foul play in her disappearance. 

Early Friday, Santa Cruz County sheriff’s detectives executed a search warrant at the Capitola home where authorities say Kelly Ann Reber, 21, was last seen. 

Reber was staying at the home of friends when she reportedly told them she was going for a walk, but she never returned. 

Santa Cruz County sheriff’s spokesman Kim Allyn said detectives might suspect harm had come to Reber, but the department continued to work hard to find her. 

Reber’s relatives also suspect foul play because many of her friends were allegedly involved in drug sales and use. 

“Because of the people involved, it’s been difficult gathering information on her,” detective Jim Johnson said. 

Racial tension eased at Aptos school 

APTOS – Aptos High School had a mellow Cinco de Mayo celebration Friday, one year after racial tensions caused 1,000 students to skip school that day. 

Only 206 students missed school Friday, which is average for that day of the week according to school officials. 

”(Students) are respecting each other’s individual rights to be proud of who they are,” she said. Gustavo Fernandez, a junior who stood with friends listening to a mariachi band. 

Students said they were embarrassed by last year’s attendance when many parents kept their children home to avoid any racial confrontations. 

10-year-old arrested for terrorists threats 

LOS ALTOS–Los Altos police arrested and charged a ten-year-old with making terrorist threats this week after he allegedly said he would get a gun  

and “bring down the whole school.” 

Sgt. Tom Connelly said police were contacted on Wednesday afternoon by authorities at Pinewood School after the fourth grade student allegedly uttered the threat in a classroom during an argument with other students. The other students were reportedly picking on him during a reading class. 

The child's teacher removed him from the class, and school authorities contacted his parents and suspended him from classes for two days pending a review of the incident.  

Police arrested and charged him the next day, and released him into his parent's custody pending action by the Juvenile Probation Department.

LOS ANGELES – Sherry Flores grew up in East Los Angeles, the daughter of Mexican immigrants who scraped by in factory jobs and struggled to learn English. 

Flores’ parents were conscious of being minorities, she said, but to the 21-year-old sophomore at California State University, Los Angeles, that term is outdated. 

“I wouldn’t say I’m a minority and I’m oppressed or something,” Flores said. “I’m a Latino, that’s about it. I usually just consider myself human.” 

In a state where there is no majority racial or ethnic population, some are asking whether there is a future for the term “minority.” 

Census figures released in March showed non-Hispanic whites made up 47 percent of California’s population — the first time whites weren’t in the majority since the census began to keep accurate numbers. 

The next-largest group, Hispanics, accounted for 32 percent of the populace. 

“You have the fact that you have no ethnic majority now, so if you have no majority, what’s minority?” said Frederick R. Lynch, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. “The classification machinery is pretty antique.” 

The San Diego City Council addressed the issue last month by voting to strike the word “minority” from official use. 

Deputy Mayor George Stevens, a longtime civil rights activist, said he brought the resolution forward after a conversation with a high school senior convinced him that students referred to as minorities are burdened with lowered expectations. 

He said he first proposed the measure two years ago, and the timing with the release of the census figures was coincidental. 

“Remember, it never referred to numbers in the first place. It referred to us as being different, as being less than,” Stevens said. “I’m not less than anybody. I haven’t used the word in a very long time.” 

But not everyone is ready to abandon the term. 

“I think passing a resolution to say that we can’t use that word, I think it’s ridiculous, personally,” said Scott Gunderson Rosa, director of communications in the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “I was a minority and that helped me get scholarships to college, and there are a lot of other positive uses for the word.” 

The literal meaning of minority is less than 50 percent. To many people, however, it implies a range of other characteristics, including underprivileged or disadvantaged, experts said. 

Lynch said the term gained currency during the civil rights and affirmative action battles of the 1960s and is therefore associated with the experiences of the baby boom generation. 

In heterogeneous California, many young people say they never use the term. 

“It hasn’t been necessarily useful,” said Marvin Hencey, a 28-year-old junior at Cal State Los Angeles who is white. “You have Asian people, and then you have Taiwanese and Chinese ... You can’t lump everything together because there are too many of each.” 

But social scientists say the term is unlikely to be discarded anytime soon. While California — along with New Mexico, Hawaii and the District of Columbia — has no majority group, the country as a whole is still predominantly white. 

To many in the country, “minority” is a neutral term to designate any person of color. 

Moreover, even in places with no majority population, whites still occupy most positions of power. Some worry that eliminating the word minority could obscure that fact. 

“There’s only one black and one Latino member on the San Diego City Council. Ninety-eight percent of economic power in the city of San Diego is in white hands,” said Jane Rhodes, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego. “It totally obscures the economic reality.” 

The council has nine members, including the mayor. 

But experts also said much of Americans’ vocabulary for race and ethnicity is outmoded. Although there’s no consensus about what word or words could replace minority, some argue for use of more specific terms when talking about racial and ethnic groups. 

“There are so many better terms than minority,” said F. Chris Garcia, a political scientist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, who said the term has been out of favor on campus for years. “Eventually we’ll probably change the language tremendously.”

SAN FRANCISCO – A blustery wind whips across the newly restored marsh and dunes on Crissy Field, previously a concrete-covered airfield built on a filled-in wetland. 

“I think it’s amazing. I haven’t been down here for a while. It’s beautiful,” says San Francisco resident Gail Greenstein, out for a late-morning walk with a friend. “It’s attracting more people, too.” 

The 20-acre wetland is the centerpiece of the $34 million restoration of 100 acres of asphalt, concrete and chemical contamination. It’s now home to native plants and animals that haven’t been seen in the marsh for a half-century. 

The Crissy Field marsh restoration is one of numerous attempts to restore wetlands around the San Francisco Bay. 

Before the area was settled by Europeans, almost 200,000 acres of marshland ringed the bay and the Crissy Field marsh stretched along two miles of the rim. 

But about 85 percent of the marshes around the bay were diked and drained, mostly for hay fields and salt ponds, according to Marc Holmes, director of wetland restoration programs for The Bay Institute, a group seeking to restore bay watershed health. 

Steps are being taken to restore tens of thousands of acres of wetlands, he says. At least 15,000 acres have been purchased for that purpose, and that’s not including about 18,000 acres of salt ponds being eyed for restoration. 

The goal of state and federal agencies is to restore 100,000 acres to their original wetland state. It’s expected to cost $88 million a year, and to accomplish that goal in 20 years would cost more than $1.7 billion, says John Steere, director of San Francisco Bay Joint Venture, a group of public and private entities seeking to restore the bay. 

Marsh restoration has wide support, but buying land in the pricey Bay Area can cause setbacks. 

“The only significant political problem is that many of these restorable wetlands are private property, so before restoration can occur it’s necessary either to acquire the property or acquire the permission of the owners to restore the property,” Holmes says. 

Part of the land being sought for restoration is now part of the South Bay’s 29,000 acres of salt ponds owned by Cargill, Inc. The last estimate on the price of 18,800 acres of the ponds is $300 million, and would be added to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, based in Newark. 

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and other politicians have sought to link the funding for the purchase of the salt ponds for restoration to approval for new runways at San Francisco International Airport that would extend into the bay. 

While the two issues are proceeding separately, the airport could contribute to the Cargill deal to help offset environmental damage to the bay caused by the runway expansion. 

The money for the Crissy Field restoration came mainly from an $18 million donation from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. and the Colleen and Robert Haas funds, and was supplemented by more than 2,000 additional donations. 

Funding for restoration can come from state and federal agencies as well, but that sometimes can be difficult to get, Holmes says. 

“What we mainly have to rely on is a case-by-case basis talking to state and federal legislators,” he says. 

When the money comes, the next step basically is punching a hole in the dikes and letting nature take its course. But sometimes, the land has compacted so much that those restoring the wetlands have to bring it back up to its former height. 

That’s where the shipping industry comes in. Materials dredged from the bay are used to raise compacted lands to the level they need to be. 

“They have clean sediments that can be brought over and put in,” says Steere, of San Francisco Bay Joint Venture. “They would otherwise need to dump those.” 

Crissy Field actually had some soil taken away, as well as 70 acres of asphalt and concrete and 87,000 tons of hazardous material. The project was conceived in 1986, and cleanup of the site began in 1997. Restoration began the next year. 

The 20-acre marsh is a bit small, says Nancy Hornor, chief of planning for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which administers Crissy Field. An ideal size is 30 acres. 

“If it’s under 30 acres, it doesn’t have the volume of water going in and out on the tide cycles,” she says. “It’s that volume of water that scours the channels and keeps it open to the bay.” 

Because it’s small, it may periodically close off from the bay, Hornor says. Then the GGNRA will reopen the connection. 

Other wetland restoration projects around the bay include the North Bay Salt Ponds, some 9,850 acres bought for $10 million in 1994 with money from the state and former oil spill litigation funds. The Bel Marin Keys in the north of the bay are 1,600 acres to be acquired from a private developer for $16 million.

SAN FRANCISCO – A member of MTV’s “Real World” cast got a taste of the real world behind bars early Saturday after he bungee jumped 150 feet from the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

The California Highway Patrol found Jamie Murray, 23, dangling and tangled in his bungee cords at about 7 a.m. high above an outcrop of land under the north end of the bridge. A spokesman said Murray was suspended for about 15 minutes before rappelling into the waiting arms of CHP officer Thomas Plume who quickly arrested him for trespassing. 

Plume said the stunt was ill advised and dangerous. 

“He could have died,” Plume said. He acknowledged that others have bungee jumped from the bridge in the past. 

A spokeswoman for MTV did not immediately return calls from The AP seeking comment. Murray said he attempted the dangerous stunt in an effort to “spread love” to members of his generation. 

“This jump is my way of drawing attention to the need for a positive movement of personal growth and social healing,” Murray said in a statement released moments before jumping. “I believe that the problems that plague our society are the problems that plague ourselves.” 

Murray, originally from Wilmette, Ill., appeared as a cast member in “Real World” episodes taped in New Orleans. 

Josh Kritzler, who accompanied Murray on the bridge for the stunt, said is friend was simply trying to send out a message to young people. 

“He really believes that the youth of America don’t have a direction to follow. He wanted to say ‘Hey, we can do something,”’ Kritzler told The AP.

Dot-com crash leads web sites to charge customers 

SAN FRANCISCO – The dot-com wipeout that obliterated stock market fortunes is now starting to chip away at consumers’ pocketbooks: Web sites are increasingly charging for information and services they once provided for free. 

A free-to-fee evolution now permeates the Internet, from regional sites like the Web edition of Rochester, Minn.’s hometown paper to heavily trafficked sites such as Yahoo!, Major League Baseball, Salon.com and online telephone directory 555-1212.com. 

Even FreeEdgar, a storehouse of financial documents filed by publicly held companies, is charging for some services. 

“Some people think everything on the Internet should be free, but those people are in for a surprise. There aren’t going to be many Web sites that aren’t charging in the future if they want to stick around,” predicted PhotoPoint.com CEO Ed Bernstein. 

San Francisco-based PhotoPoint, a digital photography site with 1.6 million members, recently began charging $19.95 to $29.95 per year to use its formerly free online service for posting and sharing photos. 

“Tens of thousands” of PhotoPoint members already have sent in money to subscribe, Bernstein said. 

Many of those subscribers received a $9.95 promotional subscription that PhotoPoint initially offered to existing members like Lori Hitchcock, a graduate student at the University of Indiana who stores digital photos on the site. 

“I was dismayed when I found out about the fee. I paid it for this year, but I probably won’t pay it again next year,” said Hitchcock, 34. “A site is going to have something that really knocks my socks off to get my money.” 

The pressure to charge Web surfers is the next logical step in a no-nonsense environment where online advertising revenue has dried up. These businesses must either show a profit or face extinction, dot-com entrepreneurs and analysts say. 

“It’s going to take some time, but it has to be done,” said online analyst Alan Alper of Gomez.com, an e-commerce research firm. 

“The biggest challenge that these sites are going to face is trying to change the consumer mindset,” he added. “It’s hard to charge for something once you have been giving it away for free.” 

Most Web sites are trying to ease visitors into paying by offering a limited amount of service for free before demanding money. San Francisco-based 555-1212.com, for instance, lets its registered users search for up to 30 phone numbers per month before imposing fees. 

“If people see they are getting value out of a service, they are more willing to pay for it,” said 555-1212.com CEO Pamela Roussos. “We are taking a risk (by charging), but it’s a calculated risk. The business model we had before was quite ludicrous.” 

For some entrepreneurs weary of the upside-down economics that prevailed in e-commerce’s early days, the fee phenomenon is a refreshing dose of financial reality. 

“Now, we are all going to have to survive on our own merits,” said Homestead.com CEO Justin Kitch. Menlo Park-based Homestead creates Web sites; it recently imposed a $29.95 monthly fee aimed at small business owners. 

For Web surfers accustomed to a free ride, the proliferation of new fee-based services will force tough decisions. 

“I’m torn. I can see why some of these sites have to charge, but I still feel like information on the Internet should be free. I have always thought of it as the world’s public library,” said Ashley Highsmith of Austin, Texas. 

Highsmith, 23, so far has resisted the Web’s fee push during her roughly 20 hours of weekly online usage. 

Persuading Web surfers to pay for once-free services will require enticements. 

Salon.com, a San Francisco-based online magazine desperate for more revenue, recently introduced a premium service that includes features unavailable on the free site, including “erotic” art and photography and a daily column on the U.S. president entitled “Bushed!”. 

Salon’s management thinks it can raise as much as $1.8 million annually from $30-a-year fees to premium subscribers. Salon has lost $57 million since March 1998; its stock is so low the company fears its shares may be delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market as early as June. 

With so much financial despair on the Web, sites should be wary of offering promotional discounts so steep that they sink into deeper financial trouble, warned Greg Ballard, CEO of MyFamily.com, which runs one of the Web’s most successful subscription services. 

“You have to have a sophisticated understanding of the subscription business to know what is working and what isn’t,” Ballard said. MyFamily.com says it has about 350,000 subscribers who pay $39.95 to $99 annually for access to the San Francisco-based company’s U.S. Census and ancestry databases. 

Only the online editions of The Wall Street Journal and Consumer Reports have more subscribers. About 574,000 subscribers pay $29 to $59 annually to read The Wall Street Journal’s online edition. Consumer Reports has about 550,000 online subscribers who pay $19 to $47.40 annually. 

Despite the success of these online publications, few traditional newspapers and magazines charge to read their Web editions, largely because so much online news coverage is available for free. So far, other news organizations’ attempts to charge subscriptions — from Slate.com to TheStreet.com — have flopped. 

That doesn’t mean subscriptions won’t work on the Web, asserts Martin Nisenholtz, CEO of New York Times Digital. 

“We believe there are many things that people are willing to pay for on the Web. The question is how you structure the offers,” Nisenholtz said. 

The paper’s online news archives and crossword have always cost money and Nisenholtz hopes to expand the Internet subscription base with a variety of premium services during the next six months. Most of the online edition will remain free to the New York Times’ 15.7 million registered users. 

The Rochester Post-Bulletin, a daily paper in Minnesota with a paid circulation of about 42,000, broke the mold beginning May 1 by imposing a $60 annual subscription on all online readers living outside its circulation area. 

Readers residing within the circulation area must subscribe to the print version to read stories on the paper’s Web site, which draws about 4,000 hits per day. 

The change triggered hundreds of e-mails protesting the change, but the paper’s management stood by the decision, reasoning that readers interested in Rochester, Minn. can’t find better a better source than the coverage provided by Post-Bulletin’s staff of 72 journalists. In the new regimen’s first three days, 25 people signed up for online-only subscriptions, said Post-Bulletin Editor and General Manager Jon Losness 

“We don’t want to keep feeding this idea that our content has no value,” said Losness. “We are going to give this a whirl because the other model just doesn’t work.”

In advance of a communitywide meeting on May 19 to consider a major overhaul in the way Berkeley High School delivers its academic programs, small groups of high school staff and parents have met weekly to ponder the question. 

At issue is whether the school could address chronic problems – truancy, violence, the achievement gap and high teacher turnover, to name a few – by dividing the school’s 3,200 students into a number of “small learning communities.” Such communities allow teachers to give students more individualized attention, the argument goes, so those with special needs are less likely to “fall through the cracks.”  

At a Thursday meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center, about 25 people, mostly Berkeley High parents and staff, listened to an informal panel describe what Berkeley High was like in the 1970s, when the school launched a dozen short-lived small learning communities with the help of a $7 million federal grant.  

Most of the panelists either studied or taught at Berkeley High in the ’70s. 

“A school as large as Berkeley High has to be broken down into smaller schools,” said panelist Arnold Perkins, a Berkeley High parent, who taught at a couple of the experimental small-learning communities in the ’70s. 

“Something different has to be done at Berkeley High,” added Perkins. “It is not working. It is actually destroying (kids’) lives.” 

Perkins said the small learning communities of the ’70s gave teachers a unique opportunity to make classroom lessons more relevant to students. Through a program known as Black House, Perkins and other teachers worked to give African-American students a broader exposure to black history than they would have found in the school’s existing history classes. 

“If you think you don’t come from any place but slavery,” then there is a limit to how much American history you want to learn, said Perkins who is African American. 

Former Berkeley High teacher Susan Groves, another panelist, said student attendance problems in the ’70s were even worse than today, with up to a third of the school’s students skipping class regularly. Groves said she and other like-minded teachers got together on their lunch breaks and formed a radical plan to re-engage students by creating a small learning community. 

Such communities give teachers the flexibility they need to respond to students’ needs, Groves said, recalling how she and other teachers in the program created individual projects for students who were missing class to draw them back in. 

“We have to develop courses that both students and teachers feel is appropriate for this period in time,” Groves said Thursday. 

It was experiments in small learning communities that forced the high school’s curriculum to expand into new areas of particular interest to students in the later half of the 20th century, Groves argued, pointing to courses in black studies, women’s studies and environmental studies that were offered for the first time in the ’70s. 

“The feeling of being in a huge school but having a small community was really fantastic,” said another panelist, a woman who studied at one of Berkeley High’s former small learning communities .  

But she added an important caveat. 

“I’m not sure it actually gave us the best education,” she said. “I think it might have been a scramble for a lot of kids when they got to college.” 

The trick, according to Perkins, is create small learning communities that give teachers the freedom to innovate, but aren’t so amorphous that less disciplined kids lose focus altogether. 

“How do you not be so liberal (that) you let them do anything they want?” Perkins asked said. 

Groves said the communities have to be held accountable. School district administrators never supported the small learning communities in the ’70s, she said, with the result that no evaluation process was ever put in place to see where they were succeeding and where they were failing. 

The school district “has never really cared very much about evaluation,” Groves said.  

“It becomes anecdotal. How can we move ahead if we don’t have some kind of formal evaluation?...We forget what has already been tried (and) keep reinventing the wheel.” 

Rick Ayers, the Berkeley High teacher who is coordinating the discussions around small learning communities, said that today, unlike in the ’70s, both the school board and the teacher’s union have shown interest small learning communities and their potential. 

Still, Berkeley High parent Jahlee Arakaki wasn’t convinced Thursday. While she conceded that the school was in “dire need” of some reform, she said it was too early to say if the small communities offered a solution to existing problems. 

What happens, she asked, if “some kids get totally immersed in (a small community) and then others feel they can’t join?” 

Berkeley High teacher Judy Bodenhausen said specialized programs already in place at Berkeley High, like the Communication Arts and Sciences program (whose limited spaces are highly coveted by students each year) have already created a two-tier system at the school.  

If small learning communities are to be implemented, Bodenhausen said, they ought to be done in such that students can participate in some of a community’s offerings regardless of whether they are fully enrolled in that community.  

Ayers said small learning communities would be “a disaster” if certain programs were identified as the elite programs while others became “default” programs. But he said Berkeley High has historically had a two-tier system, with whites and Asians dominating the higher-level course offerings. Small learning communities could undo this segregation by actively recruiting students from different backgrounds and working to unite them in a common endeavor, he said. 

All community members are invited to weigh in on small learning communities at the high school at the May 19 meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Alternative High School, 2701 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. For more information contact Rick Ayers at 644-4586. 

Saturday, May 5

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. www.cal-sailing.org  

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Tooth Man! 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Main Library  

2121 Allston Way  

Tooth Man, a.k.a. Matt Perry, returns by popular demand to fascinate children with his collection of teeth from animals large and small. 

649-3964 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. (at San Pablo)  

Author of Adam Dagliesh mysteries, P.D. James, and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. 

Call 415-664-9500 for reservations 

Free Hearing Screening 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes, A, B & C  

350 Hawthorne Ave.  

Oakland 

Health Access/LifeSpan and Self Help for the Hard of Hearing (SHHH) are co-sponsoring free hearing screenings in recognition of Better Hearing and Speech Month. Free  

869-6737  

Women’s Evening at the Movies  

7:30 - 10 p.m.  

Pacific Center  

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Jennifer Tilly stars in “Bound,” as a mob man’s mistress who becomes lovers with a sexy handywoman. Join a great group of bi, lesbian, transgender and queer women to watch the flick and munch on junk food. $5 donation requested  

548-8283  

www.pacificcenter.org 

Owner as Contractor 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Legal aspects discussed by attorney Sterling Johnson. $75. 

525-7610 

Painting 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

“Tricks of the Trade” taught by painting contractor Scott Perry. $75. 

525-7610 

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 

643-1924 

Path Wanderers 

10 a.m. 

Remillard Park 

Keeler and Poppy Streets 

Help Berkeley Path Wanderers Association weed and put new chips on Keeler Avenue Path. Bring gloves, weeding tools, shovels, wheelbarrows if you have them. 

848-9358 

International Conference 

Townsend Center 

220 Stephens Hall 

UC Berkeley 

9 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. 

“Cosmopolititanism, Human Rights and Sovereignty in the New Europe” is the topic. Alain Touraine of the University of Paris will speak at noon addressing the question, “Is it Possible to Create a European Citizenship?”. Continued from Friday. Free and open to the public. 643-5777 

Sunday, May 6

Cinco de Mayo Celebration 

10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Civic Center Park 

MLK between Center and Allston 

Featuring live latin music and dancing, food and and arts and crafts. Free. 549-9166 

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.  

849-0217 

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.  

www.cal-sailing.org  

BAHA House Tour  

1 - 5 p.m.  

Live Oak Park  

Sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Tour will include the early work of architects Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck and Henry Gutterson.  

$25 - $32  

841-2242 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Open House  

3 - 5 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

A free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist culture including a Tibetan yoga demonstration, a talk on the relevance of Buddhism in today’s world, a prayer wheel and meditation garden tour. 843-6812 

Faith, Doubt and Refuge 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

What does this mean in the Buddhist tradition? Talk by Sylvia Gretchen, dean of Nyingma Studies at the institute. Free and open to the public. 843-6812 

Rhododendron Walk 

10 a.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

See more than 200 species. $3 admission. Limited space, call for reservation. 

643-2755 

— compiled by  

Sabrina Forkish 

Monday, May 7

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 

Words Hurt  

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Rabbi David Ordan will discuss the seriousness of gossip and it’s effects.  

$10  

848-0237 

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit Campus  

2450 Ashby Ave. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center 

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.  

869-8833 

Rent Stabilization Board Meeting 

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Council Chambers, 2nd floor 

Closed session “Hanerfeld v. City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board.” The rest of the meeting is open to the public. 

644-6128 

Tuesday, May 8

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 

Young Queer Women’s Group 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).  

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Religious Identity for Interfaith Families 

7:30 - 9:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Explore the process of choosing a religion for parents and children in interfaith families with a minister, and Rabbi Jane Litman.  

$5  

848-0237 x127 

Home Design 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second Tuesday of workshop taught by architect/contractor Barry Wagner. Continues weekly through May 22. $150 for four evenings. 

525-7610 

Blackout Summer 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley’s Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Dwight) 

Bruno Henriquez is from Cuba, which experienced rolling blackouts for more than half a decade and has promoted conservation and alternative energy production. Henriquez is director of Cuba’s solar energy agency. 

548-2220 ext. 234 

Take the Burn Out of Heartburn 

Ashby Campus Auditorium 

2450 Ashby Ave. 

12:30 - 2 p.m. 

Learn about gastro-esophageal reflux disease and surgery to correct the condition. Free. 

869-6737 

Four stories on San Pablo good for community 

Editor: 

Gregory Bateson wrote a book in the 1970s called “Towards an Ecology of Mind.” It influenced Gov. Jerry Brown enough that the Gregory Bateson Building was constructed in Sacramento on his watch, featuring as many “green” features as available at the time. 

Time to be mindful again of energy issues, pollution, transit, and infill housing for people of modest income. That’s precisely what the planned development of 48 low and moderate income apartments at 2700 San Pablo is all about. 

Time to transform environmentalists who want to support a better local and global environment into ecologists, that is, into people who see the interconnection of parts in living, whole systems as fundamental to healthy ways of living in our communities and building our communities. 

Time to take the quotation marks off “progressives” who oppose density in places that support housing for the people who need it and transform them into real progressives who support such housing. 

It sounds like news from Mars to a lot of people, but urban form stands at the foundation of either a healthy or dysfunctional way of urban living. 

By urban form, we who ponder such things and try to apply ecological thinking to our communities, mean thinly scattered automobile-dependent development is too expensive in every way imaginable: for low income people forced to buy cars and gasoline, for energy reserves, for the health of native plants and animals, for global climate stability. The urban form that works best on all those counts is pedestrian/transit centers oriented development of modest density - and the proposed 4 stories of the 2700 San Pablo fits well into such a density range. 

Higher density along transit corridors is an important interim step and a parallel development strategy that goes along with centers-oriented development. It will sound like a quibble to those who have not thought about urban form very much, but centers allow even more benefits than corridors, and make it possible to contemplate means to create more open spaces in our cities, such as enough spaces to imagine opening buried creeks and expanding community gardens and parks. But by being located on one of the city’s best AC Transit corridors, 2700 San Pablo takes us a long way in that direction. 

Ecocity Builders, in supporting this project, would prefer it if the building were car-free by rental agreement and did not have the 61 parking space for 48 units. This promotion of the automobile with all its detriments is crammed down the throats of developers and the ordinance that forces this out-dated means of damaging the planet should be overturned. However, while educating about that, we need to at least address the city’s poor housing construction record and build enough apartments to make a dent on the problem. And we need to put that housing in the right place to help build up efficient transit in a time of energy crisis. 

Richard Register 

Berkeley 

Four stories ‘good,’ but not for the developers 

Editor: 

Developers everywhere try to convince City Councils, to whom they have given money, that they know better what an area needs than the people who live there.  

Gordon Choyce II takes his home owner exemption on a lovely house, situated on a quiet cul-de-sac, in the El Sobrante hills, where there isn’t a 4 story building in sight. Patrick Kennedy rides down from his hill in Piedmont, an area not known for apartments or affordable housing.  

Together, they act in a paternalistic and patronizing fashion towards the neighbors, implying they know best what San Pablo’s future should be, and calling the neighbors of their pending project NIMBYs and worse. The neighbors, on the other hand are not fighting housing, affordable or low income, but are fighting density and height. They welcome housing and are realistic about its need. I hope our council will consider the impacted neighborhood when voting on the project. 

R. Vimont 

Berkeley 

‘Special interest’: saving the neighborhood 

Editor: 

Harry Pollack’s defense (4/30/01) of the ill-conceived and outsized development project proposed for the landmarked Byrne site at 1301 Oxford St. would be just another in the long PR campaign to defend an indefensible project were it not for a remarkable assertion he makes in his opening paragraph: that considerations of the size, siting and details of the project are being driven by “special interests.” Special interests?  

We’ve always understood that to mean political players that exercise undue influence because of their power and connections. Given how easily this development project has moved through the approval process, which of the players here might qualify as a special interest?  

Is Codornices Creek a special interest? Are Alameda Creeks Alliance, Friends of Five Creeks, Urban Creeks Council, Sierra Club (San Francisco Bay Chapter), Center for Biological Diversity, International Rivers Network, Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative, Eco-City Builders, Berkeley Eco-House, California Oak Foundation, and the Golden Gate Chapter of the Audubon Society, all of which have joined the neighborhood association in appealing the Use Permit to the City Council, special interests?  

The choice is not between the synagogue’s plan and the continued neglect of the site, which has been owned by Congregation Beth El for more than three years now. Applications are currently pending for funds to acquire access to and improve this site as a resource for all Berkeley residents, far beyond what the current development proposal will do. The synagogue’s own creeks expert has criticized its proposal. And it is possible to place a religious institution on the southern portion of the Byrne site while preserving the entire riparian corridor to the north.  

Is the maintenance of the residential neighborhood character of the neighborhood surrounding the Byrne site a special interest? For the applicants to suggest that characterization underscores the take-it-or-leave-it approach of the congregation’s leaders.  

To understand what’s at issue, stand at the Oxford Street gate to the Byrne property, and take in the planned building that currently is marked off by story poles. It is approximately a football field in length. Then walk over to the Safeway on Henry St. just south of Rose. The building Beth El is seeking to build is only slightly smaller in floor area than that supermarket. It will house not only the synagogue sanctuary but offices, a day care facility, classrooms for a number of programs, a large and expandable social space and a library. It will be in use, according to synagogue leaders’ testimony, from 7 a.m. until late into the evening, and unlike the current facility, will be used for large weekend parties. 

Count the number of parking spaces in Safeway’s lot, including the underground spaces. Or in the parking lot at St. Mary Magdalene, or St. John’s on College St., or at the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley. Then compare: to accommodate the many users of this building, the applicant will provide on the Oxford Street site all of 32 parking places, leaving the balance of the cars it attracts to be absorbed by the neighborhood.  

“Balance” is the mantra used by Beth El’s leaders since they first proposed this project. Their interest in balance appears to stop at both the boundaries of the Byrne property and the limits of the congregation’s interests.  

We cannot believe this is the balance Beth El’s congregants seek. If it is, there remains no question who the true special interest is in the case of 1301 Oxford St.  

Alan S. Kay, Carole Selter Norris 

Berkeley

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins, and become little “dump” workers. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

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 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

UC Berkeley Art Museum “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. “Ricky Swallow/Matrix 191,” Including new sculptures and drawings; Through May 27 $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; children age 12 and under free; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and Wednesday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; 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. “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  

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “T. Rex on Trial,” Through May 28 Where was T. Rex at the time of the crime? Learn how paleontologists decipher clues to dinosaur behavior. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Computer Lab, Saturdays 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. 642-5132 

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “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. All ages. May 5: Shikabane, Phobia, Harum Scarum, Vulgar Pigeons, Insidious Sorrow; May 11: Subincision, Next to Nothing, Fracus, Thrice, The Average Joe; May 12: The Sick, Impalid, Creuvo, Tearing Down Standards. 525-9926  

Ashkenaz May 5: 9:30 California Cajun Orchestra, 8:30 p.m. dance lesson; May 6: 7 p.m.: Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble; May 9: 9 p.m. Billy Dunn and Bluesway, 8 p.m. dance lesson; May 10: 10 p.m. Dead DJ night with Digital Dave; May 11: 9:30 p.m. The Mood Swing Orchestra, 8 p.m. dance lesson May 12: 9 p.m.The Johnny Otis Show; May 13: 9:30 p.m. Toyes, The “Smoke Two Joints” Band 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Freight & Salvage All music at 8 p.m. May 5, 10 a.m. - Noon: West Coast Live with author P.D. James and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser; May 5: R. Crumb 7 The Cheap Suit Serenaders; May 6: Terry Riley, George Brooks & Gyan Riley; May 8: Duck Baker and Tim Sparks; May 9: Rosalie Sorrels and Terry Garthwaite; May 10: Richard Shindell; May 11: Steve Seskin, Angela Kaset and Don Henry; May 12, 10 a.m. - Noon: West Coast Live with authors Adair Lara and Janis Newman, and the acoustic Guitar Summit guitar quartet; May 12: Robin Flower and Libby McClaren; May 13, 1 p.m.: The Kathy Kallick Band; May 13, 8 p.m.: The Pine Valley Boy. 1111 Addison St. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. May 6: David Creamer Trio; May 13: Michael Zilber Group 2377 Shattuck Ave. 845-5373 or visit www.jazzschool.com 

Jupiter All shows at 8 p.m. May 5: J Dogs; May 8: The Rum Diary; May 9: Bitches Brew; May 10: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 11: Mood Food; May 12: Post Junk Trio; May 15: Chris Shot Group; May 16: Spank; May 17: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 18: Will Bernard and Motherbug; May 19: Solomon Grundy; May 22: Willy N’ Mo; May 23: Global Echo; May 24: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 25: The Mind Club; May 26: Netwerk: Electric; May 29: The Lost Trio; May 30: Zambambazo 2181 Shattuck Ave 843-8277  

La Pena Cultural Center May 5, 9 p.m.: Chicano de Mayo Celebration dance with O-Maya, Yaksi, DJ Corazon & La Viuda Negra, plus poets Leticia Hernandez and Robert Karimi; May 11, 8 p.m.: Erika Luckett, Irina Rivkin & Making Waves, Gwen Avery, Shelly Doty X-tet; May 12, 10:30 a.m.: Colibri; May 13, 4 p.m.: In the Cafe La Pena - Community Juerga; May 13, 3 p.m.: Juanita Newland-Ulloa and Picante Ensemble; May 17, 8 p.m.: Tribu; May 19, 8 p.m.: Carnaval featuring Company of Prophets, Loco Bloco, Mystic, Los Delicados, DJ Sake One and DJ Namane 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org  

Cal Performances May 5, 8 p.m.: Merce Cunningham Dance Company presents “Way Station,” “BIPED,” and “Rainforest” $20 - $42 Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley; 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Live Oak Concert May 5, 7:30 p.m. Featuring Stephanie Pan, soprano, Mirta Wymerszberg, baroque flute, Karen Ande, viola de gamba, Meg Cotner, harpsichord performing the music of Vivaldi, Bach, Boismortier, and Ortiz. $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

“The Children’s Hour” May 5 & 12, 8 p.m. and May 13, 4 p.m. The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Arlene Sagan will perform Julian White’s piece along with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and selections from Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, poems of Robert Frost set to music. Free St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 Addison St. 528-2145  

Music & Dance of Bali May 5, 8 p.m. & May 6, 2 p.m. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Bay Area 45-member ensemble, will perform music and dance from Bali under the direction of Balinese guest artists I Made Subandi and Ni Ketut Arini. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 www.juliamorgan.org 

Music of the Big Band Era May 6, 2 p.m. Featuring the music of Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Claude Thornhill, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Stan Kenton. $15 Longfellow School of the Arts 1500 Derby St. (at Sacramento) 420-4560 

Francesco Trio May 6, 4 p.m. Performing works of Haydn, Brahams and Mel Powell. $10 / under 18 free Crowden School 1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 559-6910 or visit www.thecrowdenschool.org 

Young People Chamber Orchestra May 6, 4 p.m. Celebrating the music of J.S. Bach, J. Haydn, Mozart and others. St. Johns Presbyterian Church 2727 College Ave. 595-4688 

New Monsoon and Om May 6, 9:30 p.m. World-influenced jam rock and improv groove/jazz trio respectively. $3 cover charge. Blakes Bar 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886 www.blakesbar.com 

“Three Tenors No Opera” May 7, 8 - 10 p.m. This Bay Area jazz septet with three-sax front line will deconstruct the tenor classics live on KPFA, 94.1 FM 

Apollo String Quartet May 10, 7:30 p.m. Composed of ninth grade students from Crowden School, quartet will perform Mozart and Bartok. Berkeley Public Library’s North Branch 1170 The Alameda 548-1240 

“MadriGALA” May 11, 7:30 p.m. The Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble presents a concert of chansons and madrigals from the 15th and 16th centuries. $5 - $10. Calvary Presbytarian Church 1940 Virginia St. (at Milvia) 237-2213 

Berkeley Opera Gala Concert May 12, 7 p.m. Berkeley Opera singers and special guest artists will be joined by Music Director, Jonathan Khuner and members of the Berkeley Opera Orchestra to provide entertainment highlighting the 2001 theme, “Opera Uncensored.” Also a silent auction, balloon raffle, champagne and more. $15 - $40 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

Juanita Newland-Ulloa & Picante Ensemble May 13, 3 p.m. Romantic songs from South America. Luncheon served at 1 p.m. at the Valparaiso Cafe. $13 - $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Mother’s Day Celebration May 13, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Albany Big Band will play from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. followed at 2 p.m. by Wine Country Brass. Picnic fare will be available fom Classic Catering, or bring food from home. Flowers for sale. 525-3005 

Tribu May 17, 8 p.m. Direct from Mexico, Tribu plays a concert of ancestral music of the Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, Zapotec, Purerpecha, Chichimec, Otomi, and Toltec. Tribu have reconstructed and rescued some of the oldest music in the Americas. $12 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Satsuki Arts Festival and Bazaar May 19, 4 - 10 p.m. & May 20, Noon - 7 p.m. A fundraiser for the Berkeley Buddhist Temple featuring musical entertainment by Julio Bravo & Orquesta Salsabor, Delta Wires, dance presentations by Kaulana Na Pua and Kariyushi Kai, food, arts & crafts, plants & seedlings, and more. Berkeley Buddhist Temple 2121 Channing Way (at Shattuck) 841-1356 

KALW 60th Anniversary Celebration May 20, 8 p.m. An evening of eclectic music and dance that reflects the eclectic nature of the stations’ programming. Performers include Paul Pena, Kathy Kallick & Nina Gerber, Orla & the Gas Men, and the Kennelly Irish Dancers. $19.50 - $20.50 Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 or www.thefreight.org  

Himalayan Fair May 27, 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. The only such event in the world, the fair celebrates the mountain cultures of Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Ladakh, Mustang and Bhutan. Arts, antiques and modern crafts, live music and dance. Proceeds benefit Indian, Pakistani, Tibetan, and Nepalese grassroots projects. $5 donation Live Oak Park 1300 Shattuck Ave. 869-3995 or www.himalayanfair.net  

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

Dance 

Music and Dance of Bali May 5, 8 p.m., May 6, 2 p.m. Forty-five member ensemble Gamelan Sekar Jaya presents rhythms of Balinese gamelan in an orchestra of gongs, drums, flutes and bronze metallophones accompanied by several of Bali’s skilled dancers. $8-$16 Saturday, $5-$10 Sunday Julia Morgan Theatre 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 www.juliamorgan.org 

“Dance! The Soul Behind the Art” May 11, 8 p.m. The Attitude Dance Company presents jazz, hip hop, lyrical, street funk, modern and tap dancing. $6 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300  

Theater 

“Grease” May 5, 11, 12, 8 p.m. and May 6, 2 p.m. By Berkeley High Performing Arts Department. Rock-musical set in late 1950’s explores teen issues. A classic. $6 Little Theater Allston Way between MLK and Milvia 524-9754  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus Through 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 

“Death of a Salesman” Through May 5, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m. plus Thursday, May 3, 8 p.m. The ageless story of Willy Loman presented by an African-American cast and staged by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. $10 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 528-5620 

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 

Shotgun Players “Slings and Arrows: love stories from Shakespearean tragedies” written and directed by Rebecca Goodberg and developed by the ensemble and “Blue Roses” conceptualized and directed by Christian Schneider. Discussions with the audience will follow each show. Thursday-Sunday, 7 p.m. through May 5. $10 La Val’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813  

Interplay Fest! May 5, 3:30 - 8 p.m., May 6, 3 p.m. A full weekend of performances by Wing It! Performance Ensemble, Cultural InterPlay Ensemble, and the Art of InterPlay Ensemble. Weekend Pass: $15, Individual performances, $7 - $10 First Congregational Church of Berkeley 2345 Channing Way (at Dana) 814-9584 

“Planet Janet” May 11 - June 10, Fridays and Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 7 p.m. Follows six young urbanites’ struggles in sex and dating. Impact Theatre presentation written by Bret Fetzer, directed by Sarah O’Connell. $7 - $12 La Val’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid 464-4468 www.impacttheatre.com 

“The Musical Tree of India” May 13, 2 p.m. Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre present this legend from tribal India. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

“The Misanthrope” by Moliere May 18 - June 10, Fri - Sun, 8 p.m. Berkeley-based Women in Time Productions presents this comic love story full of riotous wooing, venomous scheming and provocative dialogue. All female design and production staff. $17 - $20 Il Teatro 450 449 Powell St. San Francisco 415-433-1172 or visit www.womenintime.com 

The far side of the moon through May 5, 8 p.m. May 5, 2 p.m. and May 6, 3 p.m. A solo performance by Canadian writer, actor and director Robert Lepage with an original score by Laurie Anderson. $30 - $46 Zellerbach Playhouse Bancroft at Dana UC Berkeley 642-9988  

Films 

“A Ship with Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman” May 5: 7 p.m. Journey to the Beginning of Time, 8:35 p.m. The Treasure of Bird Island May 11: 7 p.m. Zeman Shorts, 8:55 p.m. The Fabulous World of Jules Verne May 12: 7 p.m. Baron Munchausen, 9:10 p.m. Kraba - The Sorcerer’s Apprentice May 13: 5:30 The Thousand and One Nights, 7:05 p.m. The Tale of John and Mary. Admission: $7 for one film, $8.50 for double bills. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412 

“Women’s Evening at the Movies” May 5, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Jennifer Tilly stars in “Bound,” as a mob man’s mistress who becomes lovers with a sexy handywoman. Join a great group of bi, lesbian, transgender and queer women to watch the flick and munch on junk food. $5 donation requested Pacific Center 2712 Telegraph Ave. 548-8283 or www.pacificcenter.org 

“Mirele Efros” May 13, 2 - 4:30 p.m. Jacob Gordin’s classic story set in turn-of the century Grodno. A classic study in family relations. Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 x127 

Exhibits 

“The Sands of Time” Arab/Muslim sculptures and ceramics of Khalil Bendib. Through May 5, Monday - Thursday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. or call for appointment Mussi Artworks Foundry & Gallery 719 Heintz Ave. Space 10 644-2735 

Youth Arts Festival A citywide celebration of art, music, dance and poetry by youth from the Berkeley Unified School District. Featuring paintings, drawings, sculpture and ceramics by K-8 students Through May 12, Wednesday - Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

“The Art of Meadowsweet Dairy” Objects found in nature, reworked and turned into objects of art. Through May 15, call for hours Current Gallery at the Crucible 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511  

“Scapes/Escapes” Ink, Acrylic, Mixed Media by Evelyn Glaubman Through June 1 Tuesday - Thursday, 9 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. Gallery of the Center for Psychological Studies 1398 Solano Ave. Albany 524-0291 

“Watercolors and Mixed Media” by Pamela Markmann Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. A retrospective of 30 years’ work at Markmann’s Berkeley studio. Red Oak Gallery 2983 College Ave. 526-4613  

“Elemental” The art of Linda Mieko Allen Through June 9, Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Reception: May 2, 6 - 8 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 www.traywick.com 

Berkeley Potters Guild Spring Show and Sale May 5, 6, 12, 13, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Fifteen artists open their personal studios to the public and offer pieces for sale. Berkeley Potters Guild 731 Jones St. 524-7031 www.berkeleypotters.com 

Ledger drawings of Michael and Sandra Horse. Meet the artists May 18, 19, 20 (call for times). Exhibit runs through June 18. Gathering Tribes Gallery 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038 www.gatheringtribes.com  

“Alive in Her: Icons of the Goddess” Through June 19, Tuesday - Thursday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photography, collage, and paintings by Joan Beth Clair. Opening reception May 3, 4 - 6 p.m. Pacific School of Religion 1798 Scenic Ave. 848-0528 

Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts & Paintings. Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 849-2541 

“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 

“Geographies of My Heart” Collage paintings by Jennifer Colby May 7 - August 24; Reception event May 7, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m,: Colby will give a slide-lecture using contemporary women’s art depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe to illustrate her dissertation research in Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies - Dinner Board Room; Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 

Images of Portugal Paintings by Sofia Berto Villas-Boas of her native land. Open after 5 p.m. Voulez-Vous 2930 College Ave. (at Elmwood) 

Quilt Show through May 12. M-Th, 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri-Sat, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Twenty-second annual show displays over 60 quilts. Berkeley Public Library’s North Branch. 1170 The Alameda 644-6850 

“Tropical Visions: Images of AfroCaribbean Women in the Quilt Tapestries of Cherrymae Golston” Through May 28, Tu-Th, 1-7 p.m., Sat 12-4 p.m. Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 ext 307 

Readings 

Cody’s Books 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted May 8: Geling Yan reads “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” May 10: Ron Hansen talks about “A Stay Against Confusion; May 11: Terry Pratchett reads “Thief of Time”; May 12: Ike Oguine reads “A Squatter’s Tale”; May 14: Edie Meidav reads “The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon”  

Cody’s Books 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 All events at 7 p.m., unless noted May 7: Rachel Naomi Remen reads from “My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging”; May 10: Anchee Min reads “Becoming Madame Mao”  

Boadecia’s Books 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted May 11: Suzanne Gold will read from her novel “Daddy’s Girls”; May 12: Krandall Kraus will read “Love’s Last Chance: A Nigel & Nicky Mystery”; May 18: Melinda Given Guttman will read from “The Enigma of Anna O”; May 19: Jessica Barksdale Inclan will read from “Her Daughter’s Eyes” 559-9184 or www.bookpride.com  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 843-3533 All events at 7:30 p.m. unless noted otherwise May 10: Gray Brechin talks about “Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin”; May 23: Jon Bowermaster discusses his book “Birthplace of the Winds: Adventuring in Alaska’s Islands of Fire and Ice”; May 29, 7 - 9 p.m.: Travel Photo Workshop with Joan Bobkoff. $15 registration fee  

“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. May 10: Jamie Kennedy with host Mischell Erickson; May 17: Gregory Listach Gayle with host Mark States; May 24: Stephanie Young with host Louis Cuneo; May 31: Connie Post with host Louis Cuneo Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

“New Draft Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA” May 9, 7 p.m. Take part in a discussion of this blueprint for fighting and winning a revolution in the United States. Revolution Books 2425C Channing Way 848-1196 

Paul Polansky and Voice of Roma May 10, 3 p.m. Polansky’s poetry gives voice to the Kosovo Roma and their plight in the aftermath of their plight in the aftermath of the 1999 war. Free Kroeber Hall Gifford Room Second Floor (at College and Bancroft in Anthropology Building) 981-1352 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike May 12, 6:30 p.m. An ongoing open mike series, featuring poet/artist Anca Hariton. Free Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 527-9753 

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  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour May 12: Debra Badhia will lead a tour of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Arts District; May 19: John Stansfield & Allen Stross will lead a tour of the School for the Deaf and Blind; June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181 

Lectures 

California Colloquium on Water Scholars of distinction in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, law and environmental design speak about water resources and hopefully contribute to informed decisions on water in California. May 8, 5:15 - 6:30 p.m.: “What Makes Water Wet?” Richard Saykally, professor of Chemistry, UC Berkeley (refreshments served in 410 O’Brien Hall at 4:15 p.m.) 212 O’Brien Hall, UC Berkeley 642-2666  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Free Lectures All lectures begin at 6 p.m. May 6: Sylvia Gretchen on “Faith, Doubt, and Refuge in Buddhist Practice”; May 13: Abbe Blum on “Tapping Into Creativity”; May 20: Miep Cooymans and Dan Jones on “Working with Awareness, Concentration, and Energy”; May 27: Eva Casey on “Getting Calm; Staying Clear”; June 3: Jack van der Meulen on “Healing Through Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga)”; June 10: Sylvia Gretchen on “Counteracting Negative Emotions” Tibetan Nyingma Institute 1815 Highland Place 843-6812 

“Hunting T. Rex” May 6, 2 p.m. A talk by Dr. Philip Currie, curator of dinosaurs, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. Currie asks the question: Was there social interaction amongst the Tyrannosaurs? $3 - $7 Lawrence Hall of Science UC Berkeley 642-5132 or visit www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Berkeley 1900 May 7, 7 p.m. Richard Schwartz, author of Berkeley 1900, a book about life at the turn of the 19th century, will speak at the Friends of Five Creeks’ monthly meeting. Albany Community Center (downstairs) 1249 Marin 848-9358 

Peopling of the Pacific May 11, 8 p.m. Dr. Patrick Kirch, department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, will review results of archaeological research in the Pacific Islands, providing a current overview of Oceanic prehistory. 370 Dwinelle Hall UC Berkeley 415-338-1537  

Kopmar hurt in 3-0 loss; ACCAL title up for grabs 

The Berkeley Yellowjackets had to feel confident heading into Friday’s game against Pinole Valley at Cal’s Evans Diamond. They had a 1 1/2 game lead on the second-place Spartans, and they had ace Moses Kopmar, who had three-hit Pinole Valley earlier in the year, headed for the mound. But two hours later, they had taken a 3-0 loss that puts the league title back up for grabs, and Kopmar was sitting in the dugout after leaving the game with an injury. 

The Spartans (12-4 overall, 6-2 ACCAL), on the other hand, had just avenged the earlier loss to Berkeley (16-5, 7-2) and put themselves back in the hunt with a dominating pitching performance by Kirk Koehler. Koehler went the distance, giving up just three hits while striking out eight, seven of them looking. 

“I’ve been waiting for this game,” Koehler said afterwards. “After they beat us, I just wanted to pitch against them. This is what I’ve been practicing for.” 

Koehler only allowed one runner past second base, keeping the ’Jackets off balance by mixing his fastball with three different off-speed pitches. The Berkeley hitters looked alternately baffled and frustrated, summed up by shortstop Jason Moore’s ejection in the final inning for throwing his bat after being called out on strikes for the second time. 

“We just ran into a hot pitcher we couldn’t get to,” Berkeley head coach Tim Moellering said. 

Kopmar couldn’t duplicate his dominance over the Spartans, giving up four hits, including two doubles and a home run, in just three innings of work. Outfielder Marcus Maxwell hit him in the pitching arm with a line drive in the second, but Moellering said he took Kopmar out before the fourth because the pitcher had strained his groin. 

The Spartans were on Kopmar early, hitting the ball hard three times in the first inning, but Berkeley escaped with two nice plays by Moore. But Marcus Davis started the second inning with a ringing double. One out later, Maxwell hit Kopmar, scoring Davis. Designated hitter Tom Ruelas followed with a blast over the left field wall, earning an enthusiastic greeting at home plate by his teammates. Kopmar walked the next two batters and looked to be in trouble, but got out of the jam by blowing the ball by Spartan shortstop Tim Torres. 

Kopmar made it through the next inning, but something was clearly amiss with his delivery, and he was replaced by sophomore Sean Souders to start the fourth. The Spartans had a tough time adjusting from the fireballing Kopmar to crafty lefthander Souders, and managed just one run for the remainder of the game. Even that run was of the scratch variety, as Miguel Bernard reached first on a dropped third strike, was bunted to second, got to third on a wild pitch and scored on a swinging bunt by catcher Ryan Kiss. 

But that didn’t matter, as Koehler shut down the ’Jackets for the shutout. 

“We just came out here with nothing to lose,” he said. “We want to pretend we’re in last place, working our way to the top. It makes us play harder.” 

Moellering kept a smile on his face despite the loss of both the game and his star pitcher. 

“Well, this just makes the race more exciting,” he said. “It just means we have to win the rest of our games. I always thought we would be the top two teams, and it came down to it today.”

Public power advocates spoke out Thursday evening at a forum hosted by Assemblymember Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley. 

“Many people would tell you that we’re not having an energy crisis, but a financial crisis,” Aroner told the 40 people gathered in the City Council chambers.  

Referring to the massive payments going from Pacific Gas & Electric to Texas-based power generators to purchase energy, she quipped: “There’s been a transfer of funds from California to Texas.” 

The solution? Public ownership of power. 

But not municipalization. 

Aroner is calling for a Public Utilities Commission study on the possibility of an East Bay Municipal Utility District takeover of PG&E’s power-generating facilities on the Mokelumne River in the Sierra’s. She is backing Sen. Don Perata’s SB1008 which would require the study. 

Panelists appeared to agree. Public take over of private power distribution may not be as complex as it may seem. One does not have to start at zero. 

“EBMUD’s authority (already) includes the possible sale of electricity,” said Doug Linney, a director on the water board, who represents Alameda, San Leandro and parts of Oakland. 

In fact, the approximately 80-year-old water district is already generating some of its own electricity needs at its Pardee and Commache facilities. It generates about $3-4 million of the $8 million in electricity it uses annually, said EBMUD spokesperson Charles Hardy, in a phone interview Friday. 

Panelist Cynthia Wooten, a citizen advocate for public power, also called for the water district to take over some of the generation and distribution of electric power.  

“The truth is, PG&E has betrayed us,” she said, noting that the publicly-owned utility already has a trained and unionized labor force, as well as bonding capacity. 

The water district also asserts that it can do better than PG&E. “EBMUD can provide more power at a lower price than private operators, while reducing demand in its own water and wastewater operations,” says an EBMUD brochure. “Because it does not have to share money earned from power generation with stockholders, EBMUD can pass the savings on to California alacrity consumers.” 

A resolution from the California Municipal Utilities Association is even stronger. It says, in part: “Publicly owned electric utilities are not operated on a profit basis. Their role has always been to provide reasonably-priced electricity and services valued by the communities they serve.” 

“If there’s the will, we can get this done,” panelist Wooten said.  

Call it glorified batting practice. 

St. Mary’s coach Andy Shimabukuro said that his team’s 28-0 thrashing of St. Elizabeth’s Friday afternoon in Berkeley was a warm-up game for next week’s pivotal contest against Piedmont. 

Piedmont currently leads the Bay Shore Athletic League and with Friday’s win, St. Mary’s remains in second place (8-2 BSAL, 14-9 overall). The winner of next week’s matchup gets a first-round bye in the playoffs. 

“We took out all our starters in the second inning,” Shimabukuro said. “This was a practice for us, but we want to maintain our momentum going into next week and into the playoffs.” 

St. Mary’s momentum has carried them to wins in 12 of the team’s last 14 games, after the Panthers started the season winning just two out of its first nine. 

Friday’s game was called in the fifth inning, but still took nearly two hours and 45 minutes to complete. The St. Mary’s side of the first alone took nearly an hour to play. 

Panthers catcher Marcus Johnson led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple to right-center. It took just one more hit, a single by Jeremiah Fielder, to start the St. Mary’s scoring spree. 

St. Mary’s started the game with five straight hits and scored 17 runs in the first inning, led by Joe Starkey’s two-run double and Omar Young’s three-run double.  

The Panthers left the bases loaded at the end of one, but not before recording four straight two-out singles by Johnson, Brendan Hartoy, Mike Glasshoff and Dave Lawrence. St. Mary’s sent 23 batters to the plate in the first inning outburst. 

“I hope we can keep playing like this,” said Johnson, who went 4-for-6 and drove in two runs.  

Tom Carman threw three innings of one-hit ball for the Panthers. He struck out six and walked just one. Offensively, Carman drew two walks and drove in two runs in the third inning with a double.  

Steve Drapeau relieved Carman in the fourth and allowed no hits and one walk while striking out three Mustangs. 

After the monster first inning, St. Mary’s added another four runs in the second and seven in the third. St. Elizabeth’s retired the Panthers in order in the fourth inning when Eddie Russaw replaced Larry Allen on the mound. 

St. Mary’s drubbed St. Elizabeth’s earlier this season 13-3, which until Friday’s game was the Panthers’ highest run total this season, Johnson said.  

After starting the season poorly, the Panthers caught fire when basketball season ended and two-sport athletes Fielder and Chase Moore returned to the diamond. 

“We’ve been playing well as a team since the seniors came back from basketball,” Johnson said. “This was a little workout for Piedmont next week.”

In anticipation of a major earthquake that could isolate Berkeley for up to seven days, the City Council and the Board of Education are holding a joint meeting Tuesday to discuss a preparedness plan. 

A Disaster Council report estimates the city’s needs in the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake. According to the report, an earthquake that size could render 25 percent of Berkeley residences uninhabitable leaving as many as 20,000 people without shelter.  

The Disaster Council calls for a partnership between the School Board and the city to prepare schools and neighborhoods for a major earthquake, an event most experts say could happen at any time. 

The council’s report says that the American Red Cross is woefully unprepared for a major quake. The ARC only has 10,000 cots in storage for  

the entire Bay Area, less than 

4 percent of the estimated 275,000 that will be needed.  

“The City of Berkeley is responsible for the care and shelter of its citizens following an earthquake or other disaster. We are obligated to prepare for that eventuality,” says the Disaster Council report. 

Associate Analyst of the Office of Emergency Services, Dory Ehrlich, said if there is a major quake on the Hayward fault, which runs through the UC Berkeley campus, the city will need enough tents, cots and blankets to shelter those who have lost their homes.  

The Disaster Council estimates the cost of properly preparing the city at $1.3 million. The funds have not been identified yet, but Ehrlich said the Disaster Council is hoping the city’s general fund would allocate the necessary funding for the various preparedness programs.  

The report recommends the city and School Board focus on three areas of readiness: preparing schools, stockpiling emergency supplies and citizen emergency training. 

The report suggests Berkeley stockpile emergency supplies in 20-foot-long metal storage containers. The containers would be filled with food, water, first-aid equipment as well as search and rescue supplies. The report recommends stashing the containers in schools. 

The schools have been seismically retrofitted and are expected to withstand a large earthquake. This makes them good candidates for emergency centers after an earthquake.  

Children are an especially vulnerable population in the event of a disaster and, according to the report, the city’s schools are not fully prepared. Emergency services are likely to be overwhelmed and the report suggests schools be prepared to care for students for up to seven days without outside help. 

The schools will face three tasks after a severe earthquake: sheltering and caring for children, rescue and emergency first aid, and switching to use as public shelter facilities. 

In order to accomplish these tasks, school employees will have to be trained and have access to emergency supplies. To date school employees have received very little training and only some schools have modest amounts of supplies, according to the report. 

The report suggests an increase in the Community Emergency Response Training budget of $3,750 to expand the CERT training program to Berkeley High School. The extra funding will cover the publication of 750 CERT training manuals and extra Office of Emergency Services training and support staff. 

The report warns that neighborhoods could be on their own after a major earthquake and neighborhoods should also be prepared for self sufficiency for up to seven days. 

It’s recommended the city step up its current citizen training. According to the report, 700 citizens have attended emergency training courses since August 1999. It is suggested the city continue to reach out to community groups such as Neighborhood Watch organizations and other groups to make them aware of the importance of being prepared.  

To accomplish these things the Emergency Council recommends the city hire a full-time emergency planner, a neighborhood coordinator, an emergency response trainer and office support staff. 

“The question is not whether we will suffer such an event, but when,” the report reads. “We are well on our way to being a prepared community. But now is not the time to falter, there is still much work to be done.” 

The joint City Council and Board of Education meeting will be convened on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.

Berkeley Observed 

Looking back, seeing ahead 

Prominently perched on a steep hillside overlooking Spruce Street in north Berkeley, the Dempster House is an intriguing and distinctive mixture of Berkeley brown shingle and remnants of the Victorian era.  

A polygonal tower with a steep “witches cap” roof over the entrance is a legacy of the 1880s and 1890s.  

The house, however, is a simple rectangular shape with an open-gable roof with deep sheltering eaves.  

The large entrance porch repeats the shape of the tower and is sheltered by a polygonal- shaped roof supported by square posts and exposed beams and brackets. The house gives the appearance of being wrapped in porches.  

The Dempster House was designed by its owner, Roy R. Dempster, and constructed by the firm of Kidder and McCullough in 1908.  

The Dempsters had lost their house on Lake Merritt in the 1906 earthquake, so the house was designed to withstand earthquakes.  

Large structural beams were used and the house was bolted to the foundation. There is even a fire hose and hook-up on each floor. 

Roy Dempster graduated from the University of California in 1895 and had studied physics and philosophy. He managed the family’s interests in real estate, lumber and shipping.  

Descendants of Roy Dempster still live in the house and much of the furniture is original.  

Photos displayed throughout the house show older generations of Dempster family members sitting on chairs still used in the living room today. 

This house, and several other early 20th century homes designed by Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan, and others, will be open on Sunday, May 6 for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage’s annual house tour. Call 841-2242 for information.

At age 4 Stephanie Huff’s parents were told she could possibly live until 11.  

After a valiant struggle with cystic fibrosis, Stephanie died at Stanford Hospital on March 25 at the age of 39. She had a remarkable resilience, discipline and persistence in dealing with the challenges of accessing medical care for her condition and patients’ rights in general. 

Motivation and enthusiasm for life kept her alive all these years, well beyond expectations. 

She was a member of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists where she sought a spiritual home. In 1999 she asked the Social Action Committee of the Fellowship for help in getting on the list at Stanford for a double lung transplant, having been turned down previously. The Committee brainstormed with Stephanie and petitioned Stanford in every possible way to reconsider but they declined to deal with the Committee. Then Judith Scherr of the Daily Planet wrote an excellent & touching article on Stephanie’s plight. This was followed by other media articles and likely persuaded Stanford to “reconsider,” but it may have been too late 

physically and she was turned down for the last time. But Stephanie was much more than her fight against the medical establishment and her “rage against the dying of the light.” (Dylan Thomas) Since her student days at Santa Cruz she had been involved with feminist, peace and justice and disability groups as well as Livermore Action Group and the San Francisco/Lesbian/Gay Chorus. Despite her failing strength, she remained vitally interested in her family, friends and current events. Till the end she drew inspiration from music, art and her devoted family. 

She is survived by her mother Carolyn Carpenter of Pt. Richmond, her father and stepmother in Hawaii and her brother and family in Massachusetts. 

A Life Celebration will be held Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall at 1924 Cedar St. The Hall is wheelchair accessible and all are welcome. Stephanie’s favorite Thai and Mexican food will be served after the Memorial Service. Donations can be made in Stephanie’s memory to the Richmond Art Center, 2541 Barrett Ave., Richmond, 94804. For further information call 528-5403. 

Obituary submitted by friends of Stephanie Huff at the Berkeley Fellowship.

In the 1970s, energy conservation was Jimmy Carter in a cardigan telling people to bundle up and turn down the heat. Today, it’s about using energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, computerized thermostats and motion sensors. 

To many Americans, California’s energy crisis is a problem isolated on the West Coast. Yet it has resurrected interest in conservation that hasn’t been heard since gas lines and the OPEC oil embargo more than two decades ago. 

President Bush on Thursday ordered federal agencies to cut power use in California where rolling blackouts have catapulted the debate over future energy supplies to the top of the national agenda. 

Bush’s conservation message came just days after Vice President Dick Cheney, who claims the whole nation could face blackouts like those in California unless it finds more oil, natural gas and coal, said America cannot “simply conserve or ration our way out of the situation we’re in.” 

Environmentalists maintain the Bush administration is using California’s electricity crisis – largely due to a failed attempt at electricity deregulation – to push through a broader energy plan to drill for oil and natural gas in now off-limits areas of Alaska and the West. Hardly any power plants run on oil, they note. 

And energy-conservation groups say if everybody made better use of the energy already being generated, America would not need many of the 1,300-plus power plants that Bush and Cheney say demand will require over the next 20 years. 

Nobody will have to sit in the dark, they say, if it were made easier for Americans to use less energy through more fuel efficient light bulbs, motors, automobiles, office buildings and homes. 

“In today’s world we are not asking people to not use their (air conditioning) – that is not today’s message of conservation,” said Rozanne Weissman, a spokeswoman for the Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington-based nonprofit group. “What we need to do is look at using our energy more efficiently and using today’s technologies to help do it for us.” 

According to the alliance: 

• If each household in the United States replaced four regular 100-watt bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, the output of 30 medium-sized power plants (each with a 300-megawatt capacity) would not be needed. 

• If the Bush administration’s new efficiency standards for air conditioners and heat pumps improved energy use by 30 percent instead of 20 percent, the output of 138 of these power plants would not been needed during peak use times. 

Americans could even unplug idle appliances – TVs, VCRs, cable boxes, CD players and microwaves – when they go out of town. Some of these appliances continue to consume energy when switched off. The power keeps display clocks lighted and memory chips and remote controls working. The alliance says these electric leaks cost consumers more than $3 billion a year. 

Conservation does help, according to Alexandra von Meier, director of the Environmental Technology Center at Sonoma State University in California. She told a House energy subcommittee on Thursday that residential and commercial buildings use about 35 percent of the energy – electricity and fuels – in the United States. 

“This amount of energy can be cut in half, if not more, by implementing the things we already know about how to make buildings more energy efficient and, at the same time, more comfortable,” she said, explaining how Venetian blinds hung on the outside of the technology center keeps the glass from transferring heat. 

Howard Geller, former executive director of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, told the committee about an Energy Department study in November 2000 that said increasing energy efficiency throughout the economy could cut national energy use by at least 10 percent by 2010 and by 20 percent in 2020. 

“Even though the United States is much more energy-efficient today than it was 25 years ago, there is still enormous potential for additional cost-effective energy savings,” said Geller. 

LOS ANGELES — Baja California was wrenched from mainland Mexico 6 million years ago by a series of earthquakes, starting in earnest the peninsula’s 160-mile push to the northwest, a study says. 

Geologists have long known that movement along the boundary separating the North American and Pacific plates tore Baja California from the rest of Mexico, opening up what is now known as the Gulf of California. But the timing had been a question. 

The break separating the peninsula from the mainland is the southern extension of the San Andreas fault system that runs nearly the length of California. 

But whether the movement began in a gradual process as many as 12 million years ago, or more abruptly in more recent times, remained unknown. 

Michael Oskin, a graduate student in geology at the California Institute of Technology, said he has found and matched identical volcanic rocks on opposite sides of the gulf that allowed him to pinpoint the size, timing and rate of the movement between the two plates. The results are published in the May issue of the journal Geology. 

By correlating the different tie-points – now separated by the roughly 160 miles of slip that has taken place along the fault system, but closely joined in the distant past – Oskin said the study he co-authored shows that Baja California started pulling away 12.5 million years ago, but the bulk of the the peninsula’s movement has taken place within the last 6.5 million years. 

“We have now concrete evidence that the motion history of the gulf can be very well divided around this 6.5 million-year-old time interval,” Oskin said. 

One expert in the geologic history of Baja California said the study further refines the chronology of the peninsula’s evolution. 

“This is fairly important in that it’s by far the most accurate matching point across the gulf to date, and it’s certainly the youngest that you can come up with,” said Gary Axen, an assistant professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Continental rifting probably first opened up what is now the Gulf of California more than 12 million years ago when subduction off the shore of northwest Mexico ground to a halt. 

The Gulf opened even farther apart some 6 million to 7 million years after that, when Baja California shifted onto the Pacific plate from the North American plate and the San Andreas fault system plunged farther southward. 

If it weren’t for barriers, the Gulf of California would stretch farther north, reaching the depression now occupied by California’s Salton Sea, which is well below sea level. However, the troughlike depression is blocked by the delta of the Colorado River, which has steadily poured sediments into the Gulf of California over millions of years. 

SACRAMENTO — Attorneys who argued against the state’s vehicle smog fees are unlikely to receive an $88 million fee an arbitration board once awarded them, a judge ruled Friday. 

Lawyers for the state called the decision a victory for taxpayers and said they expected the fee to eventually be cut to less than $18 million, adding at least $70 million to the state treasury. 

Representatives of the firms originally awarded the large fee by referred comment to their lawyers, who did not return calls seeking comment. 

The decision came two weeks after Sacramento Superior Court Judge Joe Gray’s tentative decision that said the three-member arbitration panel that awarded the fee exceeded its authority. 

The delay was requested by the attorneys who successfully argued that the state knowingly and unconstitutionally collected a $300 fee on out-of-state car registrations until 1999. The fee was intended to limit the entry of cars from states with less restrictive emissions policies. 

The Legislature decided to return the fee plus interest in as many as 1.7 million cases. 

Elwood Lui, a Los Angeles attorney who helped the state fight the fee, said he liked the judge’s decision but expected it to be appealed. 

In 1998, a superior court judge awarded the firms $18 million when he struck down the smog fee. But Gov. Gray Davis sought to have the fees set through binding, private arbitration, because he thought the panel would drive the fee even lower. 

Gray did not specify a fee, so the attorneys may receive the original $18 million. 

The case could be settled on appeal, another arbitration panel could be convened or the Legislature could pass a law paying the attorneys a set amount. 

The attorneys first asked for $100 million, or about 17 percent of the $665 million earmarked for the smog refunds. Instead, they were given 13.3 percent, or about $8,800 an hour. 

Another aspect of the arbitrated fee is to be decided next week. Board of Equalization chairman Dean Andal has sued to stop the award on the basis that the arbitration panel spent tax dollars, a legislative power. 

Andal’s attorney, Eric Norby, said the issue would likely be settled in higher courts, but added he was pleased with the judge’s decision Friday. 

“At this point $88 million more is going back to the general fund, meaning more money for schools, police, or to pay one day’s power at least” Norby said. 

An important part of the judge’s decision was that the five firms – Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, Weiss & Yourman, Blumenthal Ostroff & Markham, Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez & Engel, and Richard M. Pearl — should not be paid for lobbying the Legislature to order the refunds, Norby said. 

The original case, Jordan v. state Department of Motor Vehicles, ended October 1999, six months before the legislation passed. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Gray’s tentative ruling: http://www.saccourt.com/courtrooms/trulings/dept54/apr18d54.tr 

SACRAMENTO — A federal attorney is suing the Immigration and Naturalization Service over the case of an illegal immigrant whom the agency has said it might sedate before deporting to China. 

A federal public defender filed suit in Sacramento that would prevent Chinese national Bao Hua Dong from “being forcibly drugged” before an INS deportation officer puts her on a plane. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Linda Harter, the assistant public defender who filed the suit. 

Harter said in the suit that the INS has threatened to sedate Dong, who is held nearby in a Yuba County jail, before agents again try to deport her. No date has been set for her return to China. 

Last November, the INS tried to put Dong, 26, on a United Airlines flight originating in San Francisco. But a gate attendant refused to let her aboard because she was hysterical, according to court documents. 

Dong tried to enter the country illegally at San Francisco International Airport in December 1998, using a falsified passport of a 40-year-old Japanese woman. 

A lawyer representing the INS said the agency would not sedate Dong without permission from a court. 

“Sometimes it is necessary to sedate an alien, but we always obtain a court order first,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Glyndell E. Williams told a U.S. District Court judge at a hearing Tuesday. Judge William B. Shubb ruled that he did not have jurisdiction over the matter. 

INS officials would not discuss the case in detail. INS spokeswoman Sharon Rummery told the San Jose Mercury News that though she does not know of such a case, “when the person is violent or will hurt themselves or others, then under supervision of a doctor ... it would be necessary.” 

MONTEREY — Despite months of seeking solutions to the energy crisis, state officials are still preparing for blackouts this summer, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg said Friday. 

The state Office of Emergency Services will closely watch for any problems, and improved early notification programs are in the works so communities can prepare for when the lights go out, the San Fernando Valley Democrat said. 

Most importantly, the crisis is not a time for politics as usual and finger-pointing, he said. 

“This is war. This is so critically important,” he told a meeting of the California Society of Newspaper Editors and The Associated Press News Executives Council.  

“You can’t screw around with the small stuff. ... We’re trying to be problem-solvers.” 

Hertzberg pointed to how the crisis forced the Legislature to look beyond polls and focus groups for solutions. 

“We came up with a new paradigm of how we solve problems,” he said. 

When the scope of the problem became known in December, lawmakers were ill prepared, he said. Many members had been in office less than two weeks. 

The remainder feared repercussions from the deregulation law passed in earlier sessions. 

When Gov. Gray Davis called a special session, Hertzberg formed only one committee so that lawmakers could remain focused on finding solutions. 

The number of laws introduced also were limited in the first month of the special session. Joint caucuses of Democrats and Republicans worked together, he said. 

Hertzberg said lawmakers also sought the “biggest and best” experts, including lawyers and executives familiar with past cases of utility bankruptcies. 

“Away from the politics – no focus groups, no polling, none of that garbage – they told us the nature of the problem and how to solve it” he said.  

“Our job was to translate that.” 

In response to questions, Hertzberg defended the secrecy surrounding negotiations for long-term contracts.  

Enough information was disclosed to reassure the investment community, he said, adding that any more details could have affected the bidding process. 

Despite efforts to resolve the problem, it’s not clear whether the lights will stay on in California as summer nears, he said. 

The end of May and early June will be a critical time because many power stations are being shut down for maintenance and the state’s new long-term contracts have not taken effect. 

“I suspect we will have blackouts,” he said. “It’s not going to be good. None of this is good.” 

WHAT’S NEXT 

• The state Assembly could consider a bill Monday that would authorize $12.5 billion in bonds for power buys. Republican members have balked at financing that much money, suggesting that the state instead use some of its surplus to buy electricity for customers of three cash-strapped utilities. 

• Also Monday, a bill that would impose a windfall profits tax on electricity generators will be heard in a Legislative committee. 

• The governor meets Wednesday with the CEOs of several major energy suppliers to discuss the money they’re owed by the state’s two largest utilities, the state’s creditworthiness and how wholesalers can help the state during the energy crisis. Davis says he won’t be discussing any of the investigations into price manipulation in the wholesale market. 

• Davis’ representatives continue negotiating with Sempra, the parent company of San Diego Gas and Electric Co., to buy the utility’s transmission lines. 

The problem: 

High demand, high wholesale energy costs, transmission glitches and a tight supply worsened by scarce hydroelectric power in the Northwest and maintenance at aging California power plants are all factors in California’s electricity crisis. 

Edison and PG&E say they’ve lost nearly $14 billion since June to high wholesale prices the state’s electricity deregulation law bars them from passing on to consumers. PG&E, saying it hasn’t received the help it needs from regulators or state lawmakers, filed for federal bankruptcy protection April 6. 

Electricity and natural gas suppliers, scared off by the two companies’ poor credit ratings, are refusing to sell to them, leading the state in January to start buying power for the utilities’ nearly 9 million residential and business customers. The state is also buying power for a third investor-owned utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, which is in better financial shape than much larger Edison and PG&E but also struggling with high wholesale power costs. 

The Public Utilities Commission has raised rates as much as 46 percent to help finance the state’s multibillion-dollar power buys.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — State tax officials have raided the home and office of an Orange County business owner who has refused to withhold taxes from employee paychecks. 

The state Franchise Tax Board agents seized financial and employment records, coins and tax-avoidance books from George Jesson’s Huntington Beach electronics business and Fountain Valley home on Wednesday. 

According to a search warrant, Jesson is suspected of failing to withhold taxes from paychecks in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Jesson says he stopped withholding taxes only last year. 

In media interviews, he has repeatedly said there is no law requiring he withhold taxes from employee paychecks. He also recently said he is refusing to pay his own income taxes. 

“There’s nothing, absolutely no law, that applies to your personal wages,” Jesson was quoted in Friday’s Los Angeles Times. 

State officials declined to comment. 

Jesson and his No Time Delay Electronics are among two dozen businesses nationwide that publicly have defied government requirements that taxes be “paid as you go” through withholding, Social Security and other employment tax programs. 

The names of the businesses surfaced in news reports last year. Federal and state tax officials have said they are investigating a small number of the withholding cases. 

According to authorities, employers who fail to withhold taxes and turn them over may be required to pay up to double the taxes, plus interest, and can be prosecuted for felony tax evasion. 

Jesson has said he wants the case to go to court so he can “expose the corruption of the system.” He said he believes in “lawful taxes,” such as sales, property, export, import, alcohol, tobacco, firearms and utility taxes.

CORCORAN— A federal judge has ruled that the government must pay farmers in the arid Central Valley for depriving them of irrigation water to protect endangered fish. 

Growers had argued that by using water they paid for to protect chinook salmon and delta smelt, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service effectively took fields out of production and took money from farmers. 

“It was water that was bought and paid for,” said Michael Nordstrom, a lawyer for Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, which filed the suit.  

“The court has ruled they are clearly entitled to do it under the Endangered Species Act, but if they do it they have to pay for it.” 

The farmers sued in 1998, claiming the federal government took $25 million of water over a period of three years ending in 1994 by shutting down pumps that divert water south through the valley to Los Angeles from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. 

On Monday, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge John Paul Wiese in Washington, D.C., ruled the farmers are protected under the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the government from taking private property without paying for it. A hearing to determine what the government owes the farmers has not yet been scheduled. 

The ruling could have broad implications for farmers and urban water users in western states, where federal rules protecting wildlife are increasingly in conflict with water allocations. 

“For us as a grower it’s big,” said Fred Starrh, a cotton farmer in Kern County. “For the growers across the United States it’s big. If it stands, I think it could bring reasonableness to the process. We’ve just been sitting here getting hammered.” 

Interior Department lawyers were studying the opinion and planned to discuss it further next week, but do not believe it has wide implications throughout the West, said spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna. 

Starrh pays about $3 million a year to irrigate his 12,000-acre ranch. He pays the total by June for water that may never be delivered. 

This year he is idling 3,200 acres because he only expects a third of his contract. He said he will only get a partial refund for the water he doesn’t receive. 

The cost of maintaining a certain water level in the delta to protect species could easily amount to tens of millions of dollars a year for water users. In addition to water expenses, there are other factors such as lost production and lost wages – factors that hurt the state’s economy. 

“At least now they’ll have to look at what they’re doing and say it’s going to take X number of dollars to take this water,” Starrh said. 

California Trout, one of a raft of environmental groups that wrote briefs opposing the farmers, said the problem is that too much river water is allocated for other uses. 

“They’re dividing up water to the extent that they believe the water is all there and it’s not,” said Jim Edmondson, the group’s conservation director. “In their vernacular I don’t know how you get 40 pounds of potatoes in a 20-pound sack.” 

In the state’s complex water picture, divided into myriad districts by arcane rules and administered by the federal and state contracts, it was not immediately clear what impact the ruling would have on districts that supply households or those that get their water from the federal government. 

In many instances, federal water contracts may be outside the scope of the suit because users only pay for what they receive. 

“Our contracts are written in a way that allows us to short our contractors under certain circumstances,” said Jeff McCracken, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which supplies 20 percent of the water to irrigation districts and urban users in California and is the largest supplier of water in the West. 

Metropolitan Water District, which purchases half the water from the state project for 17 million users in Southern California, was not a plaintiff in the suit and did not expect to benefit from the decision. 

Steve Arakawa, manager of water resources, said the Los Angeles agency is trying to work with the state to ensure a reliable water supply while also protecting the environment. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Judge Wiese’s opinion: http://www.law.gwu.edu/fedcl/Opinions/Wiese/01/Tulare.pdf 

SACRAMENTO — The number of California voters shunning political parties has nearly doubled in 10 years, but Democratic and Republican officials say they aren’t worried. 

“Election results, that’s where the real loyalty is to Democrats in California,” said Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland. “The Democrats won big in California in 1996, 1998 and 2000. The voters left the Republican altar four years ago and haven’t been seen since.” 

Jim Camp, political director for the California Republican Party, said the GOP registered 25,000 new members in March and April and that the presence of President Bush in the White House would bring in more converts. 

“That’s one of my biggest goals, bring back the declines-to-state (a party),” Camp said. “With a president like George Bush we will bring them back.” 

The secretary of state’s office said Friday that nearly 15.6 million Californians were registered to vote in February, a record for the month and a 20 percent increase since 1991. 

Over the same 10-year period, the number of voters refusing to register with a political party jumped from 1.2 million to more than 2.2 million. 

Those so-called declines-to-state now make up 14.4 percent of California’s electorate, compared to 9 percent in 1991. The 14.4 percent is a record, said Alfie Charles, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. 

“In California, voters have consistently shown a propensity to base their decisions on individuals rather than political parties,” said Secretary of State Bill Jones, California’s top elections official.  

“These latest registration numbers help demonstrate that trend.” 

Democrats’ share of the electorate dropped from 49.5 percent in 1991 to 45.6 percent this year. Republican registration dipped from 39.3 percent to 34.8 percent in that period. 

At the same time, minor parties jumped from 2.2 percent to 4.4 percent of voters. 

Democrats had their highest share of the California electorate in 1942, when they had 60.2 percent of registered voters, Charles said. 

The highest Republican percentage — 67.9 percent — was in 1926. 

The state’s 15.6 million registered voters make up 72.19 percent of the adults who could vote if registered. The record is 96.2 percent in 1940. 

There are 1.7 million more Democrats in California than Republicans, but Republicans outnumber Democrats in 32 of the state’s 58 counties. 

The biggest Democratic counties are Alameda, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sutter, Orange and Placer counties have the highest percentage of Republicans. 

The man found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl has had a lot to say to media representatives in the day following his conviction. 

The FBI has been working to find out where Curtis Dean Anderson was when three Bay Area girls, Michaela Garecht, Amber Swartz and Nikki Campbell, disappeared more than a decade ago. 

Anderson Defense attorney Carl Spieckerman said that Anderson “has a very good alibi where he was in custody someplace” when those disappearances happened. 

But Authorities say that may not be true. 

And in a phone interview from his jail cell, Anderson, 40, told KTVU reporter Rita Williams late Thursday evening that he, in fact, was not in custody at the time Scwarz and Garecht vanished.  

However, Anderson said he did not kidnap them. 

In another interview with KRON reporter Linda Yee, Anderson threatened late Thursday that, if sent to jail, he will perpetuate pedophile crimes from behind bars. 

He said he will effectively teach other inmates, especially those ready for parole, how and where to molest children. 

“I’ll send out people yearly to do what I can’t do no longer.” 

Anderson said he started molesting children when he was 10 years old.  

Then he made a statement apparently indicative of the fact that he believes pedophilia to be something not everyone views as illegal. 

“If I did it a hundred times and have only come to police attention once,” he said, “doesn’t that say to you that maybe the other people involved don’t think of it as a crime like you in society do.” 

Following Wednesday’s conviction, Anderson claimed he kidnapped and killed a 7-year-old in a high-profile case, and said he has snatched 10 other girls off the streets in years past. 

Anderson told Fairfield Daily Republic reporter Rowena Lugtu-Shaddox that he abducted and killed 7-year-old Xiana Fairchild, who disappeared from Vallejo in December 1999.  

Her skull was found in January on a rural road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

He said Thursday he has information about the girl’s disappearance, but that he won’t give any of it to investigators unless they cut him a deal. 

“I’m the only one who knows all of what happened to Xiana,” Anderson told the newspaper. “This is gonna go down like the Zodiac.” 

Anderson was referring to a series of five murders in California in 1969 and 1970 believed to be committed by someone calling himself “Zodiac” in letters to police and newspapers. 

Anderson claims to have kidnapped and sexually assaulted 10 other girls over the past 30 years, but has provided authorities with no evidence to directly link him to other crimes. 

“I was on a good roll for 30 years, enjoying my sexual preferences,” Anderson said.  

“It was a better way of working for 30 years. This is the first time I’ve been in a courtroom (for such a crime).” 

Anderson said that many of those girls returned home after convincing him that what he had done to them was “no big deal,” he said. 

When asked Thursday evening if authorities had Xiana’s killer in jail, Anderson said, “No comment.” 

He remains a suspect in the Xiana case, authorities say, but no charges have been filed. Police say they need credible information to link Anderson to that case. 

“A lot depends on evidence. It’s not necessary to have the body. It’s not essential,” said Vallejo Police Lt. JoAnn West. “It just depends on the information.” 

Anderson’s defense attorney, Carl Spieckerman, said he had no indication his client would make the statements about other abductions, and that doing so would endanger him in prison where pedophiles are treated harshly. 

“It seems like he’s got a death wish,” Spieckerman said. 

Anderson admitted he’s worried about his 250 year jail sentence, adding that if he’s not protected in prison, he’ll be murdered.

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors filed a potential death penalty murder case Friday against a man who allegedly shot a man and tried to get away by hijacking a bus that sped through downtown until a violent collision that killed a minivan driver. 

Carlos Ray Garcia, 40, of Reseda was charged with capital murder, attempted murder, carjacking, six counts of kidnapping for carjacking, robbery, attempted carjacking and evasion of an officer resulting in death. 

Acting Head Deputy District Attorney Patrick M. Dixon also alleged a special circumstance of murder during a carjacking, kidnapping and robbery.  

The complaint also alleged that Garcia used a handgun to commit the crimes. 

Garcia was held ld without bail because it is a potential capital case, but the district attorney’s office said the decision on whether to seek the death penalty would not be made until after the preliminary hearing. 

The counts filed against Garcia did not include a hate crime. 

Police said the shooting that led to the bus chase apparently was motivated by hate because Garcia allegedly told victim Anthony Lewis, 35, that he did not like black men associating with Hispanic women.  

Lewis remained in critical condition Friday. 

Lewis was shot Wednesday afternoon in the Rampart area near the offices of the city police union.  

Police quickly gave chase as Garcia allegedly jumped aboard the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus and forced the driver to speed off at gunpoint. 

The bus, carrying four women passengers and a 4-year-old girl, raced through downtown for five minutes before broadsiding the minivan, killing Guadalupe Arrevalos, 34, of Norwalk, and crashing into a parcel delivery truck and a row of cars in a parking lot. 

Authorities said Garcia jumped out of the wrecked bus and tried to carjack an automobile before he was swarmed by police and arrested. 

Police found the handgun. 

Prosecutors said Arrevalos, a Central Library worker and mother of three, was the victim in the counts alleging murder and evading an officer.  

Lewis was the victim in the attempted-murder count. 

Bus driver Ema Gutierrez, 48, and the five bus passengers were named as victims in the counts alleging kidnapping for carjacking. 

The carjacking and robbery counts also involved the commandeering of the bus.  

The attempted-carjacking charge involved the car Garcia allegedly tried to take after the crash.

SPENCER, Ind. — In a fluorescent-lit barn 40 miles from a federal penitentiary, Glenda Breeden applies paint to 14-foot-tall papier-mache puppets of Uncle Sam and Jesus. 

Breeden and dozens of her friends plan to cart the garish puppets to the prison in Terre Haute for use in demonstrations against the May 16 execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. 

For the first federal execution in nearly four decades, Uncle Sam will wear a banner that reads: “Stop Me Before I Kill Again.” A sign on the Jesus puppet will ask: “What Would Jesus Do?” 

“It’s something visible,” Breeden said, her hands dripping with plaster. “It gets a lot of people’s attention.” 

Similar preparations are happening elsewhere across the country as demonstrators get ready to descend on the U.S. Penitentiary. On execution day, 20 prison buses will transport demonstrators from city parks to the prison grounds, where McVeigh, 33, is scheduled to die by injection. 

Tents will be put up on the grassy field outside the prison to shelter demonstrators, and straw bales will provide limited seating. Warden Harley Lappin has met with state and national anti-death penalty groups, explaining detailed rules they must follow. Breeden’s puppets won’t be permitted on the grounds – only signs that can be rolled up are allowed. 

“The folks we’ve talked with have indicated that they plan to come here and be law-abiding, peaceful protesters,” Lappin said. “We realize what we’re facing. ... It’s the execution of someone who’s very high profile in nature.” 

Some death penalty opponents say McVeigh’s notoriety is not a factor – they would be protesting any execution. 

“For most of us, it’s really about public policy and should the government be in the business of killing people,” said Abe Bonowitz, director of the national organization Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. 

Bonowitz, who plans to lead a march in Terre Haute the day before the execution, said his organization is encouraging people nationwide to hold vigils and protests in their communities. 

Demonstrators in Massachusetts will take to Boston Common the night before the execution, passing out anti-death penalty fliers and holding a vigil. Around the same time, there will be a demonstration in front of the federal building in Fresno, and an interfaith prayer service in Tucson, Ariz. Similar events are scheduled in Florida, Washington, Missouri and Nebraska. 

In Oklahoma City, a small vigil is being planned near the Oklahoma City National Memorial, but no major anti-death penalty demonstrations have been discussed, said Bud Welch, who has been an ardent death penalty opponent since his daughter, Julie, was killed in the bombing. 

“It’s just going to be low-key,” said Welch, who plans to be in Terre Haute. 

While the prison will fence off equal-sized areas for pro- and anti-death penalty advocates, Lappin said he has not heard from any pro-death penalty groups planning to attend. 

Diane Clements, president of Houston-based Justice For All, said death penalty supporters don’t need to speak out – the courts have already spoken. 

“People don’t generally go out and have public demonstrations in support of the law,” Clements said. “The execution will move forward no matter who’s standing outside the gates.” 

The April 19, 1995, blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Building killed 168 people. 

Death penalty opponents acknowledge the nature of McVeigh’s crime makes it hard for some to protest his execution. For others, the fact that it’s a federal execution makes it all the more important to speak out. 

“Because it’s federal, some people who were never that active are saying, ’I finally have to do something, I have to do something now,”’ said Jill Farlow, an activist from Indiana. “Other people say, ’This was so heinous, I just can’t do this.”’ 

Breeden’s husband, Bill Breeden, who teaches a class on the death penalty at a Unitarian church in nearby Bloomington, sums up what he believes McVeigh’s execution will accomplish: “It’s really just giving him another fuse to light. We’re giving him exactly what he wants.” 

On The Net: 

Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: http://www.cuadp.org 

Justice For All: http://www.jfa.net 

WASHINGTON — The ejection of the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Commission has infuriated lawmakers, and some are calling for withholding $650 million in payments to the United Nations. 

“This decision is ludicrous,” House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said Friday.  

“What they’ve done is thrown out the world’s oldest democracy and put a country with the world’s worst human rights record in its place, Sudan.” 

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer called the U.S. ouster from the panel “a disappointment,” but said it “will not stop this president or this country from speaking out strongly on matters of human rights.” 

The panel itself has lost prestige, Fleischer indicated, as it “may not be perceived as the most powerful advocate of human rights in the world,” given its inclusion of Sudan and Libya, two nations the panel has accused of human-rights violations, and exclusion of the United States. 

The House is scheduled to vote next week on an $8.2 billion State Department authorization bill that contains $582 million in back dues for the United Nations – long a contentious issue in Congress. The bill also includes $67 million to rejoin UNESCO 17 years after the United States left over concerns about political polarization and mismanagement. 

Now, those payments could be in jeopardy. 

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said he and other lawmakers are “very seriously considering amendments that would reflect our dramatic loss of faith in the United Nations’ structure.  

“Withholding funds is the best way to reflect such a loss of faith.” 

And there’s “a real possibility” such amendments could succeed, said Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., former chairman of the House International Relations Committee. 

“I think there’s going to be a severe reaction in the Congress,” Gilman said. In addition to cutting U.N. money, he said, “someone approached me last night on the floor (of the House) about withholding aid from countries that voted against us.” 

Even Gilman’s own endorsement of paying back dues is wavering: “I’ve been supportive of paying the delinquency, but now I’m not too sure I want to rush into it.” 

The United States had held a seat on the human rights panel since it was created in the 1940s.  

It lost that seat through a secret vote Thursday in which France, Sweden and Austria were chosen for the three spots allocated to Western countries. 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, a frequent critic of the United Nations despite being an architect of the back-dues payment agreement, said, “The absence of the United States will mean that the victims of human rights abuses will no longer have a spokesman to defend their hopes for liberty and freedom.” 

Former Secretary of State and U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said the expulsion was a reflection of “short-term anger that has long-term effects, and I think it’s very unfortunate.  

It’s a serious blow, but it’s as much a blow to the U.N., ... which has sidelined itself on human rights issues.” 

To Kim Holmes of the conservative Heritage Foundation, the ouster was “an intentional slap at the United States.”  

A number of countries, including allies, he said, “are unhappy with the Bush administration and looking for a way to signal  

their displeasure.” 

Allies have expressed distress over the Bush administration’s rejection of the Kyoto global warming treaty and its decision to move ahead on a national missile defense system despite their opposition, among other things. 

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher demurred from that view, saying, “I wouldn’t throw this into an entire critique of U.S. foreign policy by everybody in the world or anything like that.”  

Instead, Boucher blamed regional solidarities and vote swapping.  

The United States campaigned “very actively for membership” and got more than 40 assurances of support before winding up with only 29 votes, Boucher said.  

“As far as who the dozen or so were that told us they would support us and didn’t vote for us, I don’t think we know at this point.” 

The latest dispute comes at a time when the post of U.N. ambassador in New York remains vacant.  

The White House announced nearly two months ago that Bush would nominate longtime career diplomat John D. Negroponte to the post, but the nomination has yet to be submitted to the Senate. 

Some administration critics have suggested the absence of an envoy at the United Nations may have contributed to a lack of vigilance in detecting that a move was afoot to deny the United States a seat. 

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will allow a ban on road-building in much of the nation’s federal forest lands to take effect next week but will propose changes to it in June, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Friday. 

The ban, a pivotal part of former President Clinton’s environmental legacy, ropes off 58.5 million acres – about a third of the federal forest land – from developers, loggers and mining companies. These industries have been lobbying to have the measure reversed. 

Veneman did not provide details on the changes that will be offered. But she said they will seek to ensure local input on individual forest decisions. She called the plan a “commonsense approach to roadless protection.” 

“Through this action we affirm the department’s commitment to the important challenge of protecting roadless values,” she said at a news conference. 

Clinton’s policy, announced Jan. 5, was supposed to take effect in March. The Bush administration delayed implementation until May 12 while it conducted a review. 

Veneman said the review showed a need to make sure the concerns of states, communities, Indian tribes and individuals are addressed. She said the proposed amendments next month “would lay out a process for local input on local decisions for local areas.” 

Once the amendments are proposed, a public comment period will begin, Veneman said. How soon a plan is finalized will depend on how many comments are received. 

Clinton’s plan generated 1.6 million public comments. 

The vast majority of roadless federal forests are in the West, including parts of Idaho’s Bitterroot range and Alaska’s Tongass, viewed by environmentalists as North America’s rain forest. 

Smaller sections are scattered across the country from Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest and Virginia’s George Washington National Forest to New Hampshire’s White Mountains. 

The Clinton administration began creating the rules about three years ago, but did not issue them until two weeks before President Clinton left office. 

The ban was praised by environmentalists as a way to protect the nation’s most pristine forest lands from developers and preserve critical wildlife habitats. Opponents, including the timber and mining industries, said the rules needlessly place valuable resources off-limits. 

The state of Idaho and timber company Boise Cascade sued in federal court in Boise seeking to block the rule from taking effect. The Bush administration had until Friday to file a brief with the court outlining its analysis of the rule. 

Veneman said the administration planned to tell the court it does not favor an injunction blocking implementation of the ban but will work on amending the plan. In an interim decision, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge rejected a call to immediately block the Clinton policy. But he said there was “strong evidence” the rule-making process was hurried, that the Forest Service was not prepared to produce a “coherent proposal or meaningful dialogue and that the end result was predetermined.” 

Prior to Veneman’s announcement, Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, said he would be disappointed if the Bush administration kept the ban in place while a new rule was created. Such a move could put forests in the West at risk to insects, disease and fire because the roadless areas will be inaccessible, he said. 

“What has us worried is what they are going to be doing in the interim,” said West, whose Portland, Ore.-based group represents timber interests. 

Veneman said as the administration works to come up with amendments, it will seek to ensure protection against wildfires, insects and other issues that could affect communities, homes and property. 

Marty Hayden, legislative director for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said Thursday he was worried any changes would return the government to where it was three years ago — trying to maintain 380,000 miles of roads that have an $8.5 billion maintenance backlog. 

“They have chosen not to suspend it because they are feeling the heat of the public support that was behind the rule in the first place,” Hayden said. “But they are still heading down a path for undoing it.” 

WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 percent in April, reviving fears of recession as companies shed the largest number of jobs in a decade. The White House stoked that concern, suggesting that economic growth in the first quarter might be less than originally reported. 

The Labor Department’s report Friday reinforced worries that rising layoffs might cause consumers to cut back sharply on spending and tip the country into a recession. 

“How do you spell ugly? How about horrible? It doesn’t get much worse than this, I hope,” said economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors. 

Just a week ago, the government reported that the economy grew at a surprisingly strong rate of 2 percent in the first three months of this year, raising hopes that the darkest days of the slowdown had passed. 

But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday that first-quarter growth might have been slower than that, referring to projections being made by some private economists. 

“The president continues to be concerned about the strength of the economy and the slowness in the economy,” Fleischer said. “He believes that the best way to protect the economy and get it moving again is for Congress to take prompt action to pass the budget and to put his tax cut  

into place, especially on a retroactive fashion.” 

However, Wall Street investors saw a silver lining in the dismal news, believing it raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will aggressively cut interest rates and Congress will provide tax relief. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 154.59 points to finish at 10,951.24, the highest level since Feb. 6. 

Some private economists believe first-quarter growth could be revised down a bit, based on expectations of weaker business investment and consumer spending. Others, however, think growth might be a bit stronger. 

The government routinely comes out with three estimates of economic growth for a given quarter, each one based on more complete information. The next estimate of first-quarter growth will be released May 25. 

But the real concern among private economists is the performance of the economy in the current second quarter. Friday’s employment report for April provided analysts with a critical new piece of information and raised concerns that the worst of the economic slowdown is not over. 

“The April employment figures are recession-type numbers,” said First Union economist Mark Vitner. “The economy is losing momentum and ... the odds of recession have increased.” 

Last month, 223,000 people lost their jobs, the largest reduction since February 1991, when the country was still mired in its last recession. 

It was the second straight month of job losses. In March, 53,000 people were cut from payrolls, which actually was an improvement over the reduction of 86,000 the government had previously reported. 

Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo, said that the promotions, rebates and price cuts that helped to fuel consumer spending earlier this year cut into corporate profits and were now triggering layoffs. 

“The bottom line is that a profit recession is leading to a higher jobless rate,” Sohn said. 

The big loss in jobs boosted April’s unemployment rate to a 2-1/2 year high of 4.5 percent, a 0.2 percentage-point increase over March’s’ 4.3 percent rate. 

“The reaction of consumers to increased layoffs will be critical” in determining whether the country can dodge a recession, warned Lynn Reaser, chief economist for Bank of America Capital Management. 

She and other economists are still hopeful that aggressive action by the Fed will keep the economy afloat. The central bank has already cut rates four times this year and economists are looking for another half-point reduction at the Fed’s next meeting on May 15. 

April’s employment picture surprised analysts, who had forecasting a smaller 0.1 percentage increase in the unemployment rate. 

In Friday’s report, job losses were widespread, although retailers managed to hire 22,000 people, many of them at bars, restaurants and food stores. 

Manufacturing, which has been hardest hit by the slowdown, lost another 104,000 jobs last month, pushing total reductions since June to 554,000. Two-thirds of those job losses occurred in the past four months. 

Construction companies, which have been adding jobs over the last several months, cut 64,000 jobs in April, possibly reflecting the impact of heavy rains in some parts of the country. 

Employment in a variety of business services fell by 121,000 last month. Temporary employment services experienced another sharp decline of 108,000 last month, and have lost 370,000 jobs since September. 

There was some good news for workers in the report. Their paychecks continue to grow. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4 percent in April to $14.22 an hour. That matched the gain in March. The length of the average workweek in April was unchanged at 34.3 hours. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Employment report: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Six months after Florida plunged the presidential race into chaos, lawmakers approved a sweeping election overhaul Friday that will banish the hanging chads and butterfly ballots that made the state a laughingstock. 

The $32 million measure now goes to Gov. Jeb Bush, who is expected to sign it as early as next week. 

“We took advantage of the scrutiny the state got and rather than trying to relive the past, we’ve been focusing on making sure 2002 looks a lot different,” Bush said. 

Since the November recount that put Bush’s older brother in the White House, Florida has passed the most significant election reform package in the country. 

The plan, approved 120-0 by the House and 38-2 by the Senate, will establish uniform guidelines for recounts in close elections. It will also eliminate mechanical lever voting and punchcard and hand-counted paper ballots. 

Instead, every precinct will have optical-scan ballot systems for the 2002 elections. The plan earmarks $24 million for counties to buy the equipment. 

“In one word, hooray!” said Deanie Lowe, the Volusia County elections supervisor. “I am just thrilled to death over what they’ve accomplished.” 

The legislation requires a machine recount if the margin of victory in any race is half a percent or less and a manual recount of the overvotes and undervotes – ballots where voting machines pick up multiple choices or no clear choice – if the margin is one-quarter of 1 percent or less. 

The secretary of state must also draft rules on how to read ambiguous ballots. During last fall’s recounts, counties used differing standards, creating disputes over hanging, pregnant and dimpled chads. 

Also, provisional ballots will be given to people who are not on voter rolls but say they are eligible to vote. Elections officials will later determine if the ballots are valid. Last fall, some voters, many of them black, complained they were wrongly denied the right to vote. 

“Florida led the country into a disastrous election morass, but now it’s showing the way out of the morass,” said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor who is conducting a nationwide elections reform study. 

“It’s much less likely Florida will ever be in that embarrassing position again. This could serve as model legislation for other states.” 

In Georgia, lawmakers have passed a bill that requires a statewide electronic voting system in place by 2004, but they did not include money to pay for it. Maryland lawmakers have voted to require all counties to use a uniform voting system, possibly as early as next year. 

Florida’s governor was eager to change the state’s maligned election system after recounts delayed his brother’s election for 36 days and left many Democrats believing Al Gore had won. 

The punchcard ballots were blamed for tens of thousands of uncounted votes. The final tally had George W. Bush winning the state by just 537 votes out of about 6 million cast. 

“Clearly, if what they passed had been in place a year ago, Al Gore would be in the White House and George Bush would be back in Texas,” Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said Friday. 

McAuliffe has noted that manual recounts were supported by Florida Republicans after being opposed by Bush aides during the recount debacle. 

The new optical scanners read ballots on which voters fill in a bubble or complete an arrow. There will be no more recounts with elections workers squinting at chads. 

“This is a milestone piece of legislation,” said Hillsborough County elections supervisor Pam Iorio, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections. “Out of a negative situation came very positive change.” 

Palm Beach County’s Theresa LePore, a Democrat vilified by both parties for designing the butterfly ballot blamed for confusing voters, said she was disappointed lawmakers didn’t make the supervisor of elections a nonpartisan position. 

Her canvassing board’s chairman, Judge Charles Burton, praised the plan and said every state should have uniform standards for manual recounts. 

“You should not leave it up to various boards when you’re making a partisan decision,” he said during a panel discussion on election reform in Boston. “We were counting dings, spit marks and drool marks.” 

On the Net: 

Florida Legislature: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm 

WASHINGTON — Food companies reeling from recalls of biotech corn products say the government shouldn’t let genetically engineered crops go to market unless there are tests to tell those crops apart from conventional varieties. 

Last fall, the biotech industry was embarrassed when a type of genetically engineered corn that wasn’t approved for human consumption was found in taco shells.  

At the time, a sophisticated test for detecting a special protein in the corn hadn’t been developed. 

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons, that’s the bottom line,” Lisa Katic, director of scientific and nutrition policy for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, said Friday. 

“We need to know what’s in our products.” 

Officials with biotech companies say that testing methods will be made available to the government. 

Biotech soy and corn are found in foods throughout U.S. supermarkets because biotech and conventional crops are routinely mixed together. 

In a letter sent to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, the grocery manufacturers say they must be able to tell whether ingredients include gene-altered crops.  

Many overseas buyers don’t want foods made from biotech crops, and the European Union and Japan require such foods to be labeled. 

The agency is considering tightening up its approval process for biotech crops in response to consumer and food industry concerns. 

The agency has proposed a mandatory review process for new biotech products that will include posting scientific data on the Internet. FDA also proposed voluntary labeling guidelines for foods that claim either to be nonbiotech or to have special biotech ingredients. 

Genetic engineering in agriculture involves splicing a gene from one organism, such as a bacterium, into a plant or animal to confer certain traits, such as herbicide or insect resistance in plants. 

Monsanto Co. has created a herbicide-resistant wheat that may be ready as early as 2003. Biotech varieties of fruit, vegetables, fish and livestock are in various stages of development. 

“We believe that detection methods for biotech-derived food and feed that are traded globally should be available to regulatory agencies,” said Loren Wassell, a spokesman for Monsanto. 

The biotech StarLink corn that spawned the food recalls has since been removed from the market, and the Environmental Protection Agency has said it will not approve another biotech crop unless it is allowed for both animal feed and human use. 

StarLink was not approved for food because of unanswered questions about its potential to cause allergic reactions. It was supposed to be kept separate from food-grade corn, but many farmers weren’t informed about the restrictions, or else ignored them. StarLink has subsequently been found in both grain and seed supplies. 

Critics of biotech food say that while diagnostic tests are needed, FDA also should require new biotech crops to go through the more rigorous and lengthy approval process required of food additives.  

The grocery manufacturers, like the biotech companies, oppose that idea. 

“It sounds like GMA has the last half of the piece,” said Joseph Mendelson, legal director for the Center for Food Safety, an anti-biotech advocacy group. 

On the Net: FDA: http://www.fda.gov 

GMA: http://www.gmabrands.com 

ATHENS, Greece — Pope John Paul II arrived in Greece on Friday for a personal pilgrimage with much wider implications: trying to heal nearly 1,000 years of discord between the Vatican and Orthodox churches. 

John Paul is the first pope to visit Greece in nearly 13 centuries.  

His six-day trip – his first international voyage in a year – retraces the biblical journeys of the Apostle Paul through Greece, Syria and Malta. 

The pope, walking slowly off the plane, was saluted by an Air Force honor guard. No senior members of the Greek Orthodox Church turned out to welcome him – underscoring the delicate and potentially tumultuous nature of the pope’s visit. 

The pope hopes help close the deep estrangement between the Vatican and Orthodox churches. Christianity split into the two branches nearly 1,000 years ago in disputes over papal authority. 

The effort for greater contacts would receive a major boost if supported by the Greek Orthodox, one of the pillars of faith for the world’s more than 200 million Orthodox. 

The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, is expected to make a public statement demanding a formal papal apology for the Crusades that led to the fall of the Greek Byzantine Empire and other perceived misdeeds against the Orthodox Church. Such a statement by the pope could help open an important ecumenical dialogue. 

But the Greek Orthodox Church also represent a hotbed of dissent.  

Its clergymen and followers have long looked upon the Vatican with suspicion that has often spilled into open hostility. 

The ill feelings draw from potent sources: religion, ethnic pride and a perception of historical injustice. 

“It is blasphemy to the memory of our saints to allow the pope in Greece,” said Athens University theologian Giorgos Metalinos at an anti-pope gathering Wednesday of more than 1,000 people. 

Protesters – from monks to parish priests – plan more rallies during the pope’s 24-hour stay. They promise to drape monasteries in black and ring church bells in a symbol of mourning. At some churches, Greek and ancient Byzantine flags were lowered to half-staff. 

Some zealots have threatened to block the papal motorcade from reaching Areopagus hill, the judicial center of ancient Athens where Paul made his sermons in A.D. 51. 

But the opposition appeared to fizzle just hours before the pope’s arrival.  

Some former protest leaders appealed for calm – apparently bowing to pressure from the government and mainstream church leaders. 

Security forces were taking no chances, setting up roadblocks and dispatching more then 5,000 police officers across the city. 

The demonstrators represent the Greek government’s worse fears: that they will steal attention from the pope and show the world that prosperity and modernization has not fully erased the nation’s anti-Western outlook. 

“These fringe groups are not the voice of Greece,” insisted Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis.  

And at the Greek parliament, the flag of the Holy See waved alongside the Greek flag. 

Still, most Greeks are raised to be wary of Roman Catholics. More than 95 percent of Greece’s 11 million people  

are baptized into the  

Orthodox church. 

School books blame the Crusaders for the fall of the Greek Byzantine Empire in the 15th century – the prelude for what Greeks consider their ultimate humiliation: nearly 400 years of domination under the Muslim Ottoman Empire. 

But that was better than bowing to the Roman Catholic West, most Greeks are taught, and everyone knows the anti-Vatican adage: “Better the Turkish turban than the papal tiara.” 

The pope has been to mostly Orthodox countries before: Romania and Georgia.  

But the Greek backlash is more intense. Greek Orthodox clerics portray themselves as guardians of both the nation’s ethnic identity and the original spirit of Christianity. 

Many still believe the Vatican seeks to infiltrate the Orthodox heartland, stretching from the Balkans to Russia.  

They particularly condemn Eastern Rite churches, which follow many Orthodox traditions but are loyal to the Vatican. An influential Eastern Rite cleric, Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, was dropped from the papal delegation after objections from Greek Orthodox leaders. 

The Vatican, in turn, has spoken about alleged discrimination against Greece’s 50,000 native-born Roman Catholics.  

There are also about 150,000 Catholic immigrants.

SAN FRANCISCO — Computer chip designer Rambus Inc. has lost a crucial round in its legal fight to enforce patent claims that could generate $1 billion in royalties. 

A federal judge in Virginia on Friday dismissed Rambus’ allegations that German chip maker Infineon Technologies infringed on patents for chip designs that help accelerate the speed of video game consoles and personal computers. 

The ruling represented a significant setback for Los Altos-based Rambus, which is pursuing a dozen patent infringement claims against Infineon, Hyundai and Micron. The chip makers are suing Rambus for breach of contract and seeking to invalidate Rambus patents. 

Investors reacted swiftly to the news, released shortly before the stock market closed for the week. The Nasdaq Stock Market temporarily halted trading in the stock. When trading resumed, Rambus’ shares plunged $3.55, or 19.6 percent, to close at $14.60. However, they regained some of those losses in the after-hours session, rising 92 cents. 

The outcome of the patent battles will have a huge impact on Rambus’ fortunes. If Rambus prevails, the company could collect $1 billion in annual royalties from chip sales, estimated Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst Mark Edelstone, who downgraded Rambus’ stock on Friday’s news. 

Rambus is on a pace to generate about $100 million in royalties during its current fiscal year. 

The adverse ruling could force Rambus to lower the royalties charged its licensees, which include Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba and NEC. 

“If the courts rule these patents are invalid, you have to wonder how long these other companies are going to want to pay royalties,” Edelstone said. 

Rambus earned $21.1 million on revenues of $66 million during the first half of its fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Royalties accounted for 77 percent of the company’s revenues during the period. 

Rambus intends to appeal Friday’s ruling. 

“Rambus will continue to fight to protect our intellectual property,” CEO Geoff Tate said. “Though Rambus is a relatively small company, we will not be cowed by the aggressive tactics of some industry giants who would take our innovations without any compensation.” 

The company, which holds more than 100 patents worldwide, will get its next chance to prove its case against Infineon in a European trial scheduled to begin May 18. 

Several chip patents recently issued to Rambus aren’t affected by Friday’s ruling, according to the company. 

Rambus’ unusually high royalty rates helped provoke the legal confrontation. In the Virginia trial, Rambus executives disclosed that the company charges a 3.5 percent royalty for one of its memory chip designs, about three times the industry average. 

The higher royalty expense can make the difference between a profit and loss for chip makers. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.rambus.com 

Popular assumptions can create vast misimpressions, such as the one that the typical American household has become a daring investor in stocks, devouring market data and trading aggressively. 

It isn’t so, or at least a careful study suggests that to be the case. The study goes even further, using words such as “passive” and “languid” in describing investors’ behaviorr, and stating that they respond “sluggishly.” 

If the study’s authors are correct, it demolishes an impression held by a vast number of people that Americans have become masters of their financial fate, daringly creating wealth like no others in history. 

It includes even some corporate chairmen, and stock brokers, market gurus, advertisers, new-age authors and book publishers, commentators and members of the media who have declaimed about the new American investor. 

They had good reason to believe they were right. Hard numbers, the sort of thing these types profess to believe in but do not always comprehend correctly, seemed to support their opinions. 

Federal Reserve figures, for example, showed household stock holdings grew from $2.6 trillion to $12.6 trillion in the 1990s. And stocks that had been just 13 percent of household assets in 1990 jumped to  

33 percent. 

Could the Fed have been wrong? It could have been, of course, but it wasn’t. 

The explanation comes from the latest study, this one issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which explains the vast distinction between aggregate and typical, and the dangers of confusing them. 

The Fed’s statistics for the 1990s are aggregates for an economic sector, the household sector. To simply divide the aggregate numbers by the number of households misconstrues and misinforms. 

If the aggregates were the result of enormous numbers of Americans changing their behavior of many years, it would represent a social change of huge proportions. But it was not so, the authors say. 

In a study for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Joseph Tracy and Henry Schneider found behavioral change appears to have played only a moderate role, as did demographic shifts and changing pension plans. 

“Despite intensive media attention to the stock market boom of the 1990s,” they write, “most households that owned some stocks during the period did not rush to buy more. Similarly, most households that held no stocks refrained from acquiring them.” 

The average household equity share rose in the 1990s “not so much because Americans were flocking to Wall Street’s party, but because those already attending decided to stay on.” 

By staying on, a rather passive approach, these existing investors enjoyed spectacular returns, realizing what Tracy and Schneider found was “an astonishing 26.3 percent average annual return from 1996 to 1999.” In short, Americans during the soaring market were hardly the daring venturers in financial space envisioned by so many, but the same old Milquetoasts of old. 

But now a word or two about the benefits of passivity: 

“One implication of our results is that the typical household may behave in similarly languid fashion if market returns over the current decade drop below their historical average,” Tracy and Schneider said. 

“In that event, the average household equity share is likely to fall, but by less than it would if households were racing for the exits.” In that sense, languidness serves as a stabilizer, an antidote to volatility. 

John Cunniff is a business analysts for The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Stocks moved higher Friday as more dismal economic news raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will aggressively cut interest rates. 

The Labor Department reported that the nation’s unemployment rate shot up to 4.5 percent in April, the highest level in 2 1/2 years. The figures also showed that businesses slashed their payrolls by the largest amount since the recession in 1991. 

At the White House, meanwhile, press secretary Ari Fleischer said President Bush “remains very concerned about the strength of the economy.” He added that the Bush administration believes it’s “entirely possible” that the government’s recent 2 percent reading for the nation’s first-quarter economic growth will be revised downward. 

Stocks rose on expectations that the economic news will prompt Fed policy makers to cut interest rates a half a percentage point when they meet May 15. Earlier, the odds had been on a quarter-point cut. 

Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist for Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown in New York, said it was extremely rare for the White House to predict a revision in a key economic measure such as the 2 percent gross domestic product reading. He suggested the Bush administration “is positioning here for a quick passage of the tax cut” favored by the president. 

He said the employment figures “clearly indicate economic weakness is spreading to the consumer sector” and said that increased the likelihood of a half percentage point, or 50 basis point, interest rate cut by the Fed. 

Scott Marcouiller, a vice president and market analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons of St. Louis, concurred. 

“The odds of a 50 basis point cut increased dramatically in the last 48 hours,” he said. 

The size of the increase in the unemployment rate and the cut in jobs surprised many analysts. They were predicting the unemployment rate would rise to 4.4 percent and that businesses would add jobs during the month. 

— The Associated Press 

The figures worry investors because weakness in employment tends to depress consumer spending. That, in turn, could prolong the economic weakness that has been evident in the economy since late last year. 

Among those taking big hits in early trading were Wind River Systems Inc., with its shares dropping $2.47 to $23.71. The company late Thursday cut its first-quarter earnings projections to a range of 4 cents to 6 cents a share. It cited a significant slowdown in customer spending and said it will cut its work force by up to 15 percent. 

Advancing issues slightly outnumbered declining shares on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 477.98 million shares compared with 502.33 million at the same time a day earlier. 

The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller companies stocks, was down 0.42 at 485.23. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

SAN FRANCISCO — Tracking growth of the nation’s Hispanic population, the Cinco de Mayo holiday has become a bull’s-eye for businesses targeting a largely untapped market. 

Never mind that May Fifth is little hyped in Mexico, where re-enactments of a fleeting victory over French forces in 1862 are far more sober than the beer-soaked bashes that erupt in U.S. cities. 

“It’s a promotional opportunity for corporations, because basically marketers have invented Cinco de Mayo as a holiday,” said Carlos Santiago, founder of a Newport Beach-based multicultural consulting firm. 

Once the domain of food and drink suppliers, the holiday has become a shortcut for companies that seek access to America’s 35 million Hispanics. Credit card firms, retiree service groups and even corporate recruiters are joining the likes of Taco Bell and Corona beer for a chance to pitch the Hispanic market. 

Though it commemorates Mexico’s most famous military triumph, Cinco de Mayo has become both an expression of Mexican-American pride and a fiesta with crossover appeal to the entire country. This Saturday, places as far afield as Park City, Utah, and Rogers, Ark., will throw their first Cinco de Mayo festivals. 

They’re examples of how Hispanics – led by Mexican Americans – have fanned out from major immigrant states such as California, Texas and New York. Recent census data report that, nationally, the Hispanic population grew by 58 percent in the 1990s. 

Their purchasing power appears to be growing at least as fast. 

The disposable income of Hispanics jumped 118 percent during the 1990s to $452 billion in 2001, according to a study by the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth. That increase dwarfed the 68 percent rise in disposable income among non Hispanics. Nationally, the study pegged total disposable income at just over $7 trillion. 

More people with more money to spend – it excites advertisers, who are bounding toward a market that’s not yet overwhelmed by product jingles. 

Santiago estimates Hispanics should command about $16 billion of the estimated $200 billion spent on advertising each year. Instead, Santiago said, the total is around $2 billion. 

Groups such as the American Association of Retired Persons are looking to catch up. AARP spent about $100,000 paying for a performance stage and literature at Los Angeles’ Cinco de Mayo festival last Sunday. 

“I thought it was awesome,” said Nancy Franklin, the group’s director of membership development. “A lot of people are not aware of AARP in the Hispanic community.” 

Western Union will co-sponsor New York City’s Cinco de Mayo event this weekend. And Minnesota-based credit card issuer Metris Cos. plans to sponsor Cinco de Mayo festivals, part of its aggressive marketing to Hispanic customers. 

That’s not to say that traditional supporters of the holiday are beating a retreat. 

“It’s really a cornerstone of our annual marketing plan,” said Don Mann of San Antonio-based Gambrinus Co., the largest U.S. importer of Corona beers. “We’re promoting it to the general market. Some of these other companies that are new to it are focusing on the Latino market.” 

Cinco de Mayo also has become an occasion for companies to push not just their products, but their work environments as well. Federal Express set up a booth at the Cinco de Mayo festival in Fort Worth, Texas, and logged 300 job applications. 

And the schmoozing doesn’t have to take place at a street stall. 

On Wednesday evening, the Fox Entertainment Group sponsored an event at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. It attracted dozens of Hispanic professionals, who heard pitches from Fox as well as other companies such as Wells Fargo and Deloitte & Touche. 

“Right now there’s a big demand to recruit,” said Miguel Figueroa, president of the Los Angeles-area chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, which organized the event. “The company gains exposure, they also gain talent.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

Santiago & Valdes Solutions: http://www.santiagovaldessolutions.com/ 

AARP: http://www.aarp.org/ 

National Society of Hispanic MBAs: http://www.nshmba.org/ 

Fox Entertainment: http://www.fox.com 

NEW YORK — Wall Street has no doubt that the stock market and the economy will eventually regain the kind of strength they enjoyed for much of the last decade. 

The question is when. 

Investors and market observers won’t like the answer from this past week: Longer than they had thought, perhaps not even this year. 

A spike in unemployment and warnings from companies of weak second-quarter and full-year earnings bode ill for a near-term recovery. Indeed, analysts say, the economy could still be recession-bound and that stock prices might have further to fall. 

“Listen, we are in for a grind here,” said Charles White, portfolio manager at Avatar Associates in New York. “It doesn’t mean stock prices have to go materially lower, but it means that the catalyst for being off to the races is a ways off.” 

Investors were disturbed this past week by two labor reports that quelled some of their resurgent optimism and reawakened worries about recession. 

The market still managed to move sharply higher on Friday – with the Dow Jones industrials reaching a closing high not seen since early February – but only because investors believe the economy is so weak that the Federal Reserve will have no choice but to deliver a big interest rate cut when its policy makers meet May 15. 

The most troubling news about the economy came Friday when the Labor Department said the unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 percent in April, its highest level in 2 years. The report also said businesses cut their payrolls by the largest amount since the recession in 1991. 

The data followed Thursday’s news that first-time claims for jobless benefits reached a 5-year high the previous week. 

Employment reports are watched closely because consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. economy, is directly tied to whether Americans are working and feeling secure about their jobs. 

“We have known for some time that we were in a manufacturing (and technology) recession and a profits recession; now it threatens to spread to the consumer,” said Robert Stovall, market strategist for Prudential Securities. 

There’s no mistaking now, he added, that many companies have suffered as the economy has slumped. 

One example from the past week was Newell Rubbermaid, which warned of poor profits for the remainder of the year after missing first-quarter expectations. The housewares and consumer products maker also said it will slash 3,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce. 

The weak labor data and corporate warnings overshadowed a strong economic report the previous week, when the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the first quarter. 

“The GDP report was just a false cue. It seemed to be an aberration of a trend,” said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara, Calif. “The economy is pretty weakened here.” 

The White House acknowledged as much on Friday as press secretary Ari Fleischer said the Bush administration believes it’s “entirely possible” that the government’s recent 2 percent reading for the nation’s first-quarter economic growth will be revised downward. 

Friday’s rally aside, so long as there’s proof that the economy and business climate is quite weak, the market won’t be able to maintain its upward momentum, said White, the portfolio manager. 

“The market has been going up recently on the hopes and dreams of a recovery by the fourth quarter,” White said. “It was way too soon to discuss recovery.” 

If history repeats itself, however, stock prices could head higher in the second half. Traditionally, the market’s major indexes begin to show improvement six months after the Federal Reserve begins lowering interest rates. The central bank made its first cut just after New Year’s. 

History has even more to offer investors who need encouragement, said Moore of Dunvegan. 

“It’s been a bull market since the Dark Ages,” he quipped. 

Despite the continuing uncertainty, the market’s major indexes managed to end the week with healthy gains. 

The Dow finished the week up 141.19, or 1.3 percent, at 10,951.24 on a 154.59 gain Friday. That was the Dow’s highest close since it reached 10,957.42 on Feb. 6. 

The Nasdaq composite index rose 115.85, or 5.6 percent for the week. It closed Friday at 2,191.53 on a gain of 45.33. 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 ended the week up 13.56, a 1.1 percent change, after rising 18.03 to 1,266.61 Friday. 

The Russell 2000 index rose 7.24 Friday to 492.89, ending the week up 2.92 or 0.6 percent. 

The Wilshire Associates Equity Index — which represents the combined market value of all New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq issues — ended the week at $11.687 trillion, up $178 billion from the previous week. A year ago, the index was $13.385 trillion. 

When a Cal fan heads into Memorial Stadium these days, there’s not much to brag about. The football team hasn’t made a bowl game in four years, and hopes aren’t exactly high for next season. But look a little farther up Strawberry Canyon, just over the east lip of the stadium, and you’ll get a look at what excellence really is. That’s Witter Field, home of the Cal men’s rugby team. 

The nation’s top team heads for Virginia Beach, Va., this weekend to go for its 11th straight national championship. That’s right, 11 straight seasons of being the best in the country. The football program pales in comparison. Heck, no team in college athletics can match a streak like that. 

The Bears face Navy on Saturday, with the winner facing the winner of the Army-Penn State game on Sunday. The three other teams all have multiple appearances in the Final Four, but have been unsuccessful in trying to knock Cal from the top of the mountain. 

In fact, no American team has beaten the Bears since 1996, when Stanford managed to take a game from them. Before that, Clark’s teams had won 98 straight games in the U.S. That adds up to nearly one whole decade with one loss to an American team. 

Jack Clark has coached the team through this unprecedented run, and he feels like this year’s team could be at the top of not just the nation, but of his own personal pantheon of great teams. 

“We’ve first got to bring home a championship, because that, in some ways, will validate us,” Clark said. “But if we do accomplish that, I would say this is one of the best teams I’ve ever coached.” 

Considering the fact that the Bears have won 13 of a possible 17 titles under Clark, and 17 out of 21 total, that would make them one of the top teams in U.S. history.  

Clark said he usually has to shape the team’s playing style to fit his team’s strengths and weaknesses, but this year’s squad is the most complete he’s had. 

“We’ve been pretty flexible in our approach and developed a pattern of play according to what our players do well. We want to highlight what we do best and disguise what we do poorest,” he said. 

“Over last 10 years we’ve played forward-oriented rugby, and we’ve been where we’ve used every available ball to the backs out wide. For some years we had several good kickers, so we were very field-position oriented. This year we’ve got all the parts to a very good rugby team.” 

One key part of the team wasn’t with the team on Thursday and won’t be with them today. Captain Shaun Paga is at a training camp for the Minnesota Vikings, who signed him as a free agent last week. The camp runs through the weekend, but Minnesota head coach Dennis Green is allowing Paga to miss the final two days to finish his Cal rugby career. 

“Denny was kind enough to dismiss him for the weekend, and he’s been very supportive of Shaun playing with us,” Clark said. 

The move has put Clark in an unfamiliar position: leaning on a Stanford man for help. Green coached for the Cardinal before moving to the NFL. 

“I’ve just become a big Denny Green fan,” Clark said. “You let my captain come play in the Final Four and you win my applause.” 

But the fact is that even without Paga, the Bears would be a heavy favorite to take home the trophy this weekend. Clark’s team boasts five players with national team experience, and are deep enough to have dominated this year despite losing several key players to injuries. 

Four of those national team players are forwards, making a dominant pack that can bully just about any team around the field. Prop Mike McDonald, lock Brian Meux and flanker Kort Schubert have all joined Paga in representing the U.S., along with new addition John Buccholz, a versatile back who can move from center to fullback with no problem. 

“We have some stars, but we also put a pretty good supporting cast around those guys,” Clark said. “We’ve got some young guys who can be just as good in the future.” 

In other words, don’t expect the Bears to fall anytime soon. The difficulty of keeping up a strong program was underlined earlier this year, when Stanford decided to cancel their match with Cal because they couldn’t field a competitive side. But Clark doesn’t let his team get complacent, with constant competition for starting spots. 

“We haven’t won 10 straight championships by ever assuming anything,” Clark said. “This is no time for overconfidence, no time for assumption. This is the business end of the year, and if we play our best, we should bring home the trophy.” 

“But wanting to play your best and actually doing it are two different things.”

MUSEUMS: 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins, and become little “dump” workers. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

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 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

UC Berkeley Art Museum “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 exhuberant color, and by its combinations of media and subject matter. “Ricky Swallow/Matrix 191,” Including new sculptures and drawings; Through May 27 $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; children age 12 and under free; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and Wednesday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; 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.$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. 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  

Music 

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership. All ages. May 4: Plan 9, Zodiac Killers, Reverend B. Dangerous Freakshow, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads, Knockoffs; May 5: Shikabane, Phobia, Harum Scarum, Vulgar Pigeons, Insidious Sorrow; May 11: Subincision, Next to Nothing, Fracus, Thrice, The Average Joe; May 12: The Sick, Impalid, Creuvo, Tearing Down Standards. 525-9926  

Ashkenaz May 4: 9:30 p.m. Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited from Zimbabwe.; May 5: 9:30 California Cajun Orchestra, 8:30 p.m. dance lesson; May 6: 7 p.m.: Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble; May 9: 9 p.m. Billy Dunn and Bluesway, 8 p.m. dance lesson 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Freight & Salvage All music at 8 p.m. May 4: cris Williamson; May 5, 10 a.m. - Noon: West Coast Live with author P.D. James and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser; May 5: R. Crumb 7 The Cheap Suit Serenaders; May 6: Terry Riley, George Brooks & Gyan Riley; May 8: Duck Baker and Tim Sparks; May 9: Rosalie Sorrels and Terry Garthwaite; May 10: Richard Shindell; May 11: Steve Seskin, Angela Kaset and Don Henry; May 12, 10 a.m. - Noon: West Coast Live with authors Adair Lara and Janis Newman, and the Accoustic Guitar Summit guitar quartet; May 12: Robin Flower and Libby McClaren; May 13, 1 p.m.: The Kathy Kallick Band; May 13, 8 p.m.: The Pine Valley Boy. 1111 Addison St. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. May 6: David Creamer Trio; May 13: Michael Zilber Group 2377 Shattuck Ave. 845-5373 or visit www.jazzschool.com 

Jupiter All shows at 8 p.m. May 4: Stolen Bibles; May 5: J Dogs; May 8: The Rum Diary; May 9: Bitches Brew; May 10: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 11: Mood Food; May 12: Post Junk Trio; May 15: Chris Shot Group; May 16: Spank; May 17: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 18: Will Bernard and Motherbug; May 19: Solomon Grundy; May 22: Willy N’ Mo; May 23: Global Echo; May 24: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 25: The Mind Club; May 26: Netwerk: Electric; May 29: The Lost Trio; May 30: Zambambazo 2181 Shattuck Ave 843-8277  

La Pena Cultural Center May 5, 9 p.m.: Chicano de Mayo Celebration dance with O-Maya, Yaksi, DJ Corazon & La Viuda Negra, plus poets Leticia Hernandez and Robert Karimi; May 11, 8 p.m.: Erika Luckett, Irina Rivkin & Making Waves, Gwen Avery, Shelly Doty X-tet; May 12, 10:30 a.m.: Colibri; May 13, 4 p.m.: In the Cafe La Pena - Community Juerga; May 13, 3 p.m.: Juanita Newland-Ulloa and Picante Ensemble; May 17, 8 p.m.: Tribu; May 19, 8 p.m.: Carnaval featuring Company of Prophets, Loco Bloco, Mystic, Los Delicados, DJ Sake One and DJ Namane 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org  

Cal Performances May 4 & 5, 8 p.m.: Merce Cunningham Dance Company presents “Way Station,” “BIPED,” and “Rainforest” $20 - $42 Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley; 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Live Oak Concert May 5, 7:30 p.m. Featuring Stephanie Pan, soprano, Mirta Wymerszberg, baroque flute, Karen Ande, viola de gamba, Meg Cotner, harpsichord performing the music of Vivaldi, Bach, Boismortier, and Ortiz. $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

“The Children’s Hour” May 5 & 12, 8 p.m. and May 13, 4 p.m. The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Arlene Sagan will perform Julian White’s piece along with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and selections from Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, poems of Robert Frost set to music. Free St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 Addison St. 528-2145  

Music & Dance of Bali May 5, 8 p.m. & May 6, 2 p.m. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Bay Area 45-member ensemble, will perform music and dance from Bali under the direction of Balinese guest artists I Made Subandi and Ni Ketut Arini. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 www.juliamorgan.org 

Music of the Big Band Era May 6, 2 p.m. Featuring the music of Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Claude Thornhill, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Stan Kenton. $15 Longfellow School of the Arts 1500 Derby St. (at Sacramento) 420-4560 

Francesco Trio May 6, 4 p.m. Performing works of Haydn, Brahams and Mel Powell. $10 / under 18 free Crowden School 1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 559-6910 or visit www.thecrowdenschool.org 

Young People Chamber Orchestra May 6, 4 p.m. Celebrating the music of J.S. Bach, J. Haydn, Mozart and others. St. Johns Presbyterian Church 2727 College Ave. 595-4688 

New Monsoon and Om May 6, 9:30 p.m. World-influenced jam rock and improv groove/jazz trio respectively. $3 cover charge. Blakes Bar 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886 www.blakesbar.com 

“Three Tenors No Opera” May 7, 8 - 10 p.m. This Bay Area jazz septet with three-sax front line will deconstruct the tenor classics live on KPFA, 94.1 FM 

Berkeley Opera Gala Concert May 12, 7 p.m. Berkeley Opera singers and special guest artists will be joined by Music Director, Jonathan Khuner and members of the Berkeley Opera Orchestra to provide entertainment highlighting the 2001 theme, “Opera Uncensored.” Also a silent auction, balloon raffle, champagne and more. $15 - $40 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

Juanita Newland-Ulloa & Picante Ensemble May 13, 3 p.m. Romantic songs from South America. Luncheon served at 1 p.m. at the Valparaiso Cafe. $13 - $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Mother’s Day Celebration May 13, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Albany Big Band will play from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. followed at 2 p.m. by Wine Country Brass. Picnic fare will be available fom Classic Catering, or bring food from home. Flowers for sale. 525-3005 

Tribu May 17, 8 p.m. Direct from Mexico, Tribu plays a concert of ancestral music of the Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, Zapotec, Purerpecha, Chichimec, Otomi, and Toltec. Tribu have reconstructed and rescued some of the oldest music in the Americas. $12 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

Satsuki Arts Festival and Bazaar May 19, 4 - 10 p.m. & May 20, Noon - 7 p.m. A fundraiser for the Berkeley Buddhist Temple featuring musical entertainment by Julio Bravo & Orquesta Salsabor, Delta Wires, dance presentations by Kaulana Na Pua and Kariyushi Kai, food, arts & crafts, plants & seedlings, and more. Berkeley Buddhist Temple 2121 Channing Way (at Shattuck) 841-1356 

KALW 60th Anniversary Celebration May 20, 8 p.m. An evening of eclectic music and dance that reflects the eclectic nature of the stations’ programming. Performers include Paul Pena, Kathy Kallick & Nina Gerber, Orla & the Gas Men, and the Kennelly Irish Dancers. $19.50 - $20.50 Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 or www.thefreight.org  

Himalayan Fair May 27, 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. The only such event in the world, the fair celebrates the mountain cultures of Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Ladakh, Mustang and Bhutan. Arts, antiques and modern crafts, live music and dance. Proceeds benefit Indian, Pakistani, Tibetan, and Nepalese grassroots projects. $5 donation Live Oak Park 1300 Shattuck Ave. 869-3995 or www.himalayanfair.net  

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

Dance 

Music and Dance of Bali May 5, 8 p.m., May 6, 2 p.m. Forty-five member ensemble Gamelan Sekar Jaya presents rhythms of Balinese gamelan in an orchestra of gongs, drums, flutes and bronze metallophones accompanied by several of Bali’s skilled dancers. $8-$16 Saturday, $5-$10 Sunday Julia Morgan Theatre 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 www.juliamorgan.org 

“Dance! The Soul Behind the Art” May 11, 8 p.m. The Attitude Dance Company presents jazz, hip hop, lyrical, street funk, modern and tap dancing. $6 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300  

Theater 

“Grease” May 5, 11, 12, 8 p.m. and May 6, 2 p.m. By Berkeley High Performing Arts Department. Rock-musical set in late 1950’s explores teen issues. A classic. $6 Little Theater Allston Way between MLK and Milvia 524-9754  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus Through 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 

“Death of a Salesman” Through May 5, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m. plus Thursday, May 3, 8 p.m. The ageless story of Willy Loman presented by an African-American cast and staged by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. $10 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 528-5620 

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 

Shotgun Players “Slings and Arrows: love stories from Shakespearean tragedies” written and directed by Rebecca Goodberg and developed by the ensemble and “Blue Roses” conceptualized and directed by Christian Schneider. Discussions with the audience will follow each show. Thursday-Sunday, 7 p.m. through May 5. $10 La Val’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813  

Interplay Fest! May 4, 8 p.m. May 5, 3:30 - 8 p.m., May 6, 3 p.m. A full weekend of performances by Wing It! Performance Ensemble, Cultural InterPlay Ensemble, and the Art of InterPlay Ensemble. Weekend Pass: $15, Individual performances, $7 - $10 First Congregational Church of Berkeley 2345 Channing Way (at Dana) 814-9584 

“Planet Janet” May 11 - June 10, Fridays and Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 7 p.m. Follows six young urbanites’ struggles in sex and dating. Impact Theatre presentation written by Bret Fetzer, directed by Sarah O’Connell. $7 - $12 La Val’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid 464-4468 www.impacttheatre.com 

“The Musical Tree of India” May 13, 2 p.m. Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre present this legend from tribal India. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

“The Misanthrope” by Moliere May 18 - June 10, Fri - Sun, 8 p.m. Berkeley-based Women in Time Productions presents this comic love story full of riotous wooing, venomous scheming and provocative dialogue. All female design and production staff. $17 - $20 Il Teatro 450 449 Powell St. San Francisco 415-433-1172 or visit www.womenintime.com 

The far side of the moon through May 5, 8 p.m. May 5, 2 p.m. and May 6, 3 p.m. A solo performance by Canadian writer, actor and director Robert Lepage with an original score by Laurie Anderson. $30 - $46 Zellerbach Playhouse Bancroft at Dana UC Berkeley 642-9988  

Films 

“A Ship with Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman” May 4: 7 p.m. The Stolen Airship, 9:10 p.m. A Jester’s Tale May 5: 7 p.m. Journey to the Beginning of Time, 8:35 p.m. The Treasure of Bird Island May 11: 7 p.m. Zeman Shorts, 8:55 p.m. The Fabulous World of Jules Verne May 12: 7 p.m. Baron Munchausen, 9:10 p.m. Kraba - The Sorcerer’s Apprentice May 13: 5:30 The Thousand and One Nights, 7:05 p.m. The Tale of John and Mary. Admission: $7 for one film, $8.50 for double bills. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412 

“Women’s Evening at the Movies” May 5, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Jennifer Tilly stars in “Bound,” as a mob man’s mistress who becomes lovers with a sexy handywoman. Join a great group of bi, lesbian, transgender and queer women to watch the flick and munch on junk food. $5 donation requested Pacific Center 2712 Telegraph Ave. 548-8283 or www.pacificcenter.org 

“Mirele Efros” May 13, 2 - 4:30 p.m. Jacob Gordin’s classic story set in turn-of the century Grodno. A classic study in family relations. Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 x127 

Exhibits 

“The Distance Between Us” Through May 4 The photographs of Mimi Chakarova depicting South African townships, inland parishes in Jamaica and her most recent work in Cuba. Photographs about people and their incredible will to survive regardless of the circumstances. Graduate School of Journalism North Gate Hall UC Berkeley 

“The Sands of Time” Arab/Muslim sculptures and ceramics of Khalil Bendib. Through May 5, Monday - Thursday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. or call for appointment Mussi Artworks Foundry & Gallery 719 Heintz Ave. Space 10 644-2735 

Youth Arts Festival A citywide celebration of art, music, dance and poetry by youth from the Berkeley Unified School District. Featuring paintings, drawings, sculpture and ceramics by K-8 students Through May 12, Wednesday - Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

“The Art of Meadowsweet Dairy” Objects found in nature, reworked and turned into objects of art. Through May 15, call for hours Current Gallery at the Crucible 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511  

“Scapes/Escapes” Ink, Acrylic, Mixed Media by Evelyn Glaubman Through June 1 Tuesday - Thursday, 9 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. Gallery of the Center for Psychological Studies 1398 Solano Ave. Albany 524-0291 

“Watercolors and Mixed Media” by Pamela Markmann Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. A retrospective of 30 years’ work at Markmann’s Berkeley studio. Red Oak Gallery 2983 College Ave. 526-4613  

“Elemental” The art of Linda Mieko Allen Through June 9, Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Reception: May 2, 6 - 8 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 www.traywick.com 

Berkeley Potters Guild Spring Show and Sale May 5, 6, 12, 13, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Fifteen artists open their personal studios to the public and offer pieces for sale. Berkeley Potters Guild 731 Jones St. 524-7031 www.berkeleypotters.com 

Ledger drawings of Michael and Sandra Horse. Meet the artists May 18, 19, 20 (call for times). Exhibit runs through June 18. Gathering Tribes Gallery 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038 www.gatheringtribes.com  

“Alive in Her: Icons of the Goddess” Through June 19, Tuesday - Thursday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photography, collage, and paintings by Joan Beth Clair. Opening reception May 3, 4 - 6 p.m. Pacific School of Religion 1798 Scenic Ave. 848-0528 

Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts & Paintings. Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 849-2541 

“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 

“Geographies of My Heart” Collage paintings by Jennifer Colby May 7 - August 24; Reception event May 7, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m,: Colby will give a slide-lecture using contemporary women’s art depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe to illustrate her dissertation research in Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies - Dinner Board Room; Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 

Images of Portugal Paintings by Sofia Berto Villas-Boas of her native land. Open after 5 p.m. Voulez-Vous 2930 College Ave. (at Elmwood) 

Quilt Show through May 12. M-Th, 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri-Sat, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Twenty-second annual show displays over 60 quilts. Berkeley Public Library’s North Branch. 1170 The Alameda 644-6850 

“Tropical Visions: Images of AfroCaribbean Women in the Quilt Tapestries of Cherrymae Golston” Through May 28, Tu-Th, 1-7 p.m., Sat 12-4 p.m. Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 ext 307 

Readings 

Cody’s Books 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted May 4: Doris Haddock will read from “Granny D: Walking Across America in My 90th Year” about her 3,200-mile journey across the country; May 8: Geling Yan reads “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” May 10: Ron Hansen talks about “A Stay Against Confusion; May 11: Terry Pratchett reads “Thief of Time”; May 12: Ike Oguine reads “A Squatter’s Tale”; May 14: Edie Meidav reads “The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon”  

Cody’s Books 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 All events at 7 p.m., unless noted May 7: Rachel Naomi Remen reads from “My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging”; May 10: Anchee Min reads “Becoming Madame Mao”  

Boadecia’s Books 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted May 4: Sylvia Brownrigg will read from “Pages for You”; May 11: Suzanne Gold will read from her novel “Daddy’s Girls”; May 12: Krandall Kraus will read “Love’s Last Chance: A Nigel & Nicky Mystery”; May 18: Melinda Given Guttman will read from “The Enigma of Anna O”; May 19: Jessica Barksdale Inclan will read from “Her Daughter’s Eyes” 559-9184 or www.bookpride.com  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 843-3533 All events at 7:30 p.m. unless noted otherwise May 10: Gray Brechin talks about “Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin”; May 23: Jon Bowermaster discusses his book “Birthplace of the Winds: Adventuring in Alaska’s Islands of Fire and Ice”; May 29, 7 - 9 p.m.: Travel Photo Workshop with Joan Bobkoff. $15 registration fee  

“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. May 10: Jamie Kennedy with host Mischell Erickson; May 17: Gregory Listach Gayle with host Mark States; May 24: Stephanie Young with host Louis Cuneo; May 31: Connie Post with host Louis Cuneo Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

“New Draft Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA” May 9, 7 p.m. Take part in a discussion of this blueprint for fighting and winning a revolution in the United States. Revolution Books 2425C Channing Way 848-1196 

Paul Polansky and Voice of Roma May 10, 3 p.m. Polansky’s poetry gives voice to the Kosovo Roma and their plight in the aftermath of their plight in the aftermath of the 1999 war. Free Kroeber Hall Gifford Room Second Floor (at College and Bancroft in Anthropology Building) 981-1352 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike May 12, 6:30 p.m. An ongoing open mike series, featuring poet/artist Anca Hariton. Free Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 527-9753 

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  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour May 12: Debra Badhia will lead a tour of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Arts District; May 19: John Stansfield & Allen Stross will lead a tour of the School for the Deaf and Blind; June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181 

Lectures 

California Colloquium on Water Scholars of distinction in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, law and environmental design speak about water resources and hopefully contribute to informed decisions on water in California. May 8, 5:15 - 6:30 p.m.: “What Makes Water Wet?” Richard Saykally, professor of Chemistry, UC Berkeley (refreshments served in 410 O’Brien Hall at 4:15 p.m.) 212 O’Brien Hall, UC Berkeley 642-2666  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Free Lectures All lectures begin at 6 p.m. May 6: Sylvia Gretchen on “Faith, Doubt, and Refuge in Buddhist Practice”; May 13: Abbe Blum on “Tapping Into Creativity”; May 20: Miep Cooymans and Dan Jones on “Working with Awareness, Concentration, and Energy”; May 27: Eva Casey on “Getting Calm; Staying Clear”; June 3: Jack van der Meulen on “Healing Through Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga)”; June 10: Sylvia Gretchen on “Counteracting Negative Emotions” Tibetan Nyingma Institute 1815 Highland Place 843-6812 

“Hunting T. Rex” May 6, 2 p.m. A talk by Dr. Philip Currie, curator of dinosaurs, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. Currie asks the question: Was there social interaction amongst the Tyrannosaurs? $3 - $7 Lawrence Hall of Science UC Berkeley 642-5132 or visit www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Berkeley 1900 May 7, 7 p.m. Richard Schwartz, author of Berkeley 1900, a book about life at the turn of the 19th century, will speak at the Friends of Five Creeks’ monthly meeting. Albany Community Center (downstairs) 1249 Marin 848-9358 

Peopling of the Pacific May 11, 8 p.m. Dr. Patrick Kirch, department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, will review results of archaeological research in the Pacific Islands, providing a current overview of Oceanic prehistory. 370 Dwinelle Hall UC Berkeley 415-338-1537  

Rally speakers preached hate 

Editor: 

I would like to elaborate on my previous letter that has caused many to voice their opposition. While Will Youmans and Gregory Hoadley (27-4-01) try their best to excuse the anti-Semitic hatred, such talk that came from speakers over Students for Justice in Palestine’s microphone at a recent demonstration. This is inexcusable. SJP brought speakers to the rally to say what they wanted to hear: hate and anti-Semitism. The speaker didn’t call for peace and dialogue – he referred to Jews as a whole as “conniving,” while the pro-Israel protesters called for peace, dialogue and an end to the violence. 

Inconveniencing others (by sitting in at Wheeler Hall) isn’t what gives SJP its “lack of validity.” Their ignorance towards history is. SJP fails to address the background of the refugees. While many refugees were created partly because of the neighboring Arab states, the same number of Jewish refugees were created IN the Arab states, that were settled without a complaint in Israel.  

Why didn’t the Arab countries absorb their brethren into their vast land? I don’t hear the Palestinians turning to their leaders for answers; instead they choose to depend on Israel.  

Mr. Hoadley claims that Israel doesn’t acknowledge 20 percent of its citizens who aren’t Jewish. That is a lie. Every citizen in Israel is treated equal under the law, regardless of religion.  

There are fair and democratic elections (more than the Palestine Authority has) and the Arab sector is free to elect its representatives for the parliament. Every citizen can work and live where they please. Israeli Arabs have far more rights and are better off in Israel than in any other Arab state. To say that there is no racism in Israel is as realistic as saying that there isn’t racism in the United States. Although Israel plays a significant part in Judaism, Judaism isn’t the only religion recognized in Israel, where there is room for pluralism. 

Sarah Weir’s letter to the editor refers to the bypass roads in the territories. She fails to mention their purpose: So Israelis can avoid driving through Arab towns and being lynched. 

I know that the conflict will come to an end. I believe it can end peacefully if both sides negotiate. Israel was willing to make great concessions for peace, only to be slapped in the face. This is not acceptable. The Palestinians must end the violence they initiated and learn to talk. Only then will peace reign. 

Devora Liss 

Berkeley 

SPJ combats racism and two-class Israeli system 

Editor: 

The letter from David Singer (”Another side to the Palestinian/Israeli issue,” April 30) seems to hope that by pointing fingers everywhere else, no one will look at the reality of the Israeli occupation and the need to divest. 

Instead of addressing Student for Justice in Palestine’s actual message of divestment, Singer tries to raise the scepter of “anti-semitism” by singling out a two-minute excerpt from six hours of a rally, an excerpt which does not fit in with anything SJP advocates. 

In fact, SJP is against any form of racism, racism actually entrenched in Israel’s apartheid policies. Israeli law creates two classes, Jews and Palestinians, with very different rights, limiting Palestinians’ ability to buy land, get jobs, have a fair trial, and even walk on some roads. 

Instead of addressing these state policies, the finger is pointed back at the Palestinians, referring to some non-contextual “conflict,” looking away from who is, as defined by international law, the occupier and who the occupied. 

Mr. Singer is right that “any rational person who reads news reports” will think that the violence is two-sided, if that rational person only reads the mainstream American media, which portrays the situation far differently from the consistent human rights abuses and violence of occupation reported in the British, French, international, and even Israeli media, as well as countless human rights reports from everyone from the United Nations to Amnesty International. 

If one read the American media only, one would come to Singer’s conclusions of the Israeli’s offering “the most generous peace ever offered,” while the actual offer gives the Palestinian Authority only 22 percent of the land back, unlivable land dotted with Israeli settlements and access roads, and refusing any refugees rights, a peace without justice. 

Singer keeps us looking everywhere from 2000 years ago to to a sham of a peace, everywhere but at the reality of history and the apartheid and racist Israeli policies in which the United States and University of California invest in daily. 

Robert Chlala 

Berkeley 

City’s medical marijuana law unfair to patients 

Editor 

I would like to draw attention to the unreasonable, unrealistic and unsafe restrictions that Berkeley has imposed on Medical Marijuana patients. The City Council has adopted an ordinance that only allows a patient to cultivate 10 plants in total. This ordinance would put the city in the top 10 worst cities in California. Considering that the city is supposed to be at the liberal forefront, I believe that this ordinance will make Berkeley the laughing stock of California. 

At a City Council meeting in March there was a significant difference of opinion between city staff and the Community Health Commission regarding the number of plants that a qualified patient may cultivate.  

This was primarily due to confusion about the life cycle of cannabis plants and typical methods of cultivation. The life cycle of a cannabis plant can be divided into three stages: (1) the immature stage in which new cuttings root and develop their first branches, (2) the vegetative stage in which plants gain mass, and (3) the flowering stage in which female cannabis plants produce usable medication. The yield of a cannabis plant will depend on the patient’s choice of soil, fertilizer, and light sources. Of course, gardening skills play an enormous role. If some plants die or get diseased, patients in need could be left very short on their medicine. Then it is back to the streets for these patients. 

The CHC voted to recommend our ordinance based on guidelines in use in Oakland. A patient may cultivate 48 flowering plants, and two sets of 48 non-flowering plants. This arrangement allows the patient to have plants in all three stages of growth at any one time. While the guidelines allow a total of 144 plants, only 48 plants will be capable of producing medication at any one time. The other 96 plants will be growing at the two earlier stages. 

Using this system, a patient can provide his or herself with a safe, constant supply of medical cannabis. The Oakland working group that established these standards did not intend for them to be a political compromise. Instead, they represent a real effort, based on empirical research, to determine the legitimate needs of seriously ill people. 

While the city staff’s proposal of a ten-plant limit, which Berkeley has now adopted, is somewhat easier to grasp, it does not allow the average medical cannabis patient safe and affordable access to a constant supply of medication. Establishing a low limit on the number of plants will force patients to rely on the illicit market to meet their needs, placing patients in legal and personal jeopardy. 

I sincerely believe that Berkeley’s newly adopted ordinance will NOT protect patients. 

Basically, it DENIES patients safe and affordable access to their medicine. So, if a patient does cultivate more that 10 plants at one time, and if some other crime occurred at their home, they would be afraid to call the police.  

There will be a demonstration, a public show of support, at the City Council meeting of May 8t, at 6 p.m. We encourage everybody to come and voice their opinion, and show their support.  

Martin O’ Brien – Alliance of Berkeley Patients 

Berkeley 

Berkeley

Friday, May 4

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

50 Plus Fitness Class  

9:30 a.m. - Noon 

UC Berkeley (varied locations)  

A class for those 50 and over which introduces participants to an array of exercise options. Demonstration and practice will include strength training, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique, and more. Fridays through May 11.  

$10 per individual session 

Pre-register: 642-5461  

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 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration  

1 - 3 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center  

1900 Sixth St.  

Featuring Pepe Carrasco, “the man of a thousand voices,” Ruben Martin Rey De La Cancion Ranchera, Alan Sanchez Flores, Ballet Folklorico de Berkeley and more. Free  

644-6037 

International Conference 

Townsend Center 

220 Stephens Hall 

UC Berkeley 

11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

“Cosmopolititanism, Human Rights and Sovereignty in the New Europe” is the topic. Manual Castells of UC Berkeley will speak on “Identity-building as a Material Process: The Construction of the European Identity in a Global Context” at noon. Continues on Saturday. 643-5777 

Berkeley NAACP Youth Council 

African Methodist Episcopal Church 

2024 Ashby Ave. 

6 p.m. 

Fired Up! And Ready to Go! Mobilization Night. 710-0238 

Saturday, May 5  

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  

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 548-3333 

Tooth Man! 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Main Library  

2121 Allston Way  

Tooth Man, a.k.a. Matt Perry, returns by popular demand to fascinate children with his collection of teeth from animals large and small. 649-3964 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. (at San Pablo)  

Author of Adam Dagliesh mysteries, P.D. James, and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. 

Call 415-664-9500 for reservations 

Free Hearing Screening 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes, A, B & C  

350 Hawthorne Ave.  

Health Access/LifeSpan and Self Help for the Hard of Hearing (SHHH) are co-sponsoring free hearing screenings in recognition of Better Hearing and Speech Month. Free 869-6737  

Owner as Contractor 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Legal aspects discussed by attorney Sterling Johnson. $75. 525-7610 

Painting 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

“Tricks of the Trade” taught by painting contractor Scott Perry. $75. 525-7610 

Framing Carpentry 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

First day of weekend hands-on workshop. Carpenter Rodney Kooyman leads instruction on building tool sheds, playhouses, etc. $180 for weekend. 

525-7610 

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 

643-1924 

Path Wanderers 

10 a.m. 

Remillard Park 

Keeler and Poppy Streets 

Help Berkeley Path Wanderers Association weed and put new chips on Keeler Avenue Path. Bring gloves, weeding tools, shovels, wheelbarrows if you have them. 

848-9358 

International Conference 

Townsend Center 

220 Stephens Hall 

UC Berkeley 

9 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. 

“Cosmopolititanism, Human Rights and Sovereignty in the New Europe” is the topic. Alain Touraine of the University of Paris will speak at noon addressing the question, “Is it Possible to Create a European Citizenship?”. Continued from Friday. Free and open to the public. 

643-5777 

Sunday, May 6

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 

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  

BAHA House Tour  

1 - 5 p.m.  

Live Oak Park  

Sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Tour will include the early work of architects Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck and Henry Gutterson.  

$25 - $32  

841-2242 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Open House  

3 - 5 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

A free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist culture including a Tibetan yoga demonstration, a talk on the relevance of Buddhism in today’s world, a prayer wheel and meditation garden tour. Free and open to the public.  

843-6812 

Faith, Doubt and Refuge 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

What does this mean in the Buddhist tradition? Talk by Sylvia Gretchen, dean of Nyingma Studies at the institute. Free and open to the public. 

843-6812 

Framing Carpentry. 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop. Carpenter Rodney Kooyman leads instruction on building tool sheds, playhouses, etc. $180 for weekend 

525-7610 

Solar Electricity in Your Home. 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar led by Gary Gerber, engineer for Sunlight and Power. $75 

525-7610 

Rhododendron Walk 

10 a.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

See more than 200 species. $3 admission. Limited space, call for reservation. 

643-2755 

Monday, May 7

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 

Words Hurt  

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Rabbi David Ordan will discuss the seriousness of gossip and it’s effects.  

$10  

848-0237 

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit Campus  

2450 Ashby Ave. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center 

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.  

869-8833 

Tuesday, May 8

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 

Young Queer Women’s Group 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).  

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Religious Identity for Interfaith Families 

7:30 - 9:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Explore the process of choosing a religion for parents and children in interfaith families with a minister, and Rabbi Jane Litman.  

$5  

848-0237 x127 

Home Design 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second Tuesday of workshop taught by architect/contractor Barry Wagner. Continues weekly through May 22. $150 for four evenings. 

525-7610 

Blackout Summer 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley’s Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Dwight) 

Bruno Henriquez is from Cuba, which experienced rolling blackouts for more than half a decade and has promoted conservation and alternative energy production. Henriquez is director of Cuba’s solar energy agency. 

548-2220 ext. 234 

Take the Burn Out of Heartburn 

Ashby Campus Auditorium 

2450 Ashby Ave. 

12:30 - 2 p.m. 

Learn about gastro-esophageal reflux disease and surgery to correct the condition. Free. 

869-6737 

Wednesday, May 9

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 

Buying Land 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Seminar led by real estate agent Dan Maher. $35 

525-7610 

Applying for Grant Money 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 6th St. 

West Berkeley Foundation’s annual community meeting will include a presentation on the grant application process for 2001-2002 grant cycle.  

898-1311 

Thursday, May 10

5 - 7:30 p.m. 

H’s Lordships Restaurant  

199 Seawall Drive  

Berkeley Marina  

Showcase 2001, a tradeshow and mixer.  

549-7003 

Free Smoking Cessation Class  

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  

Six Thursday classes through May 17.  

Call 644-6422 to register and for location 

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 

643-1924 

Friday, May 11

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 

50 Plus Fitness Class  

9:30 a.m. - Noon 

UC Berkeley (varied locations)  

A class for those 50 and over which introduces participants to an array of exercise options. Demonstration and practice will include strength training, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique, and more.  

$10 per individual session 

Pre-register: 642-5461  

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Saturday, May 12

Be Your Own Boss 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

YWCA 

1515 Webster Street, Oakland 

Two day workshop on the basics of starting up a small business, taught by local business owners. 

$50-$100 sliding scale 

Call 415-541-8580 for registration  

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. (at San Pablo)  

Adair Lara, author of “Hold Me Close, Let Me Go,” Janis Newman, author of “The Russian Word for Snow,” Wavy Gravy, and Accoustic Guitar Summit guitar quartet.  

Call 415-664-9500 for reservations 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike 

6:30 p.m. 

Berkley Art Center  

1275 Walnut St.  

An ongoing open mic series featuring poet/artist Anca Hariton. Sign up at 6:30 and reading at 7 p.m. Free 

Estimating the Cost of Labor and Materials 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar led by contractor Michael McCutcheon. $75 

525-7610 

Carpentry Basics for Women 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

First day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by Tracy Weir, professional carpenter. Build your own bookshelf unit. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

Ceramic Tile Installation 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

First day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by tile-setting expert Rod Taylor. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

Cordornices Creek Work Party 

10 a.m. 

Meet at 10th St. south of Harrison St. 

Join Friends of Five Creeks in removing ivy and reducing erosion as part of National River Cleanup Week. Learn to create creekside trail. Bring work gloves and clippers if possible. 

848-9358 

f5creeks@aol.com  

Sunday, May 13 

Mother’s Day Concert 

3 - 4 p.m. 

Environmental Education Center 

Tilden Regional Park  

Featuring Mary Mische singing children’s songs. Free 

525-2233 

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn how to adjust the brakes on your bicycle from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Tapping Into Creativity 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Based on Tarthang Tulku’s “Knowledge of Freedom”, ideas and meditations to inspire creativity. Free and open to the public. 

843-6812 

Carpentry Basics for Women 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by Tracy Weir, professional carpenter. Build your own bookshelf unit. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

Ceramic Tile Installation 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop taught by tile-setting expert Rod Taylor. $195 for Saturday and Sunday. 

525-7610 

Monday, May 14  

Seeing Into the Afterlife  

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Yossi Offenberg will discuss Judaism’s philosophy on what happens beyond this world.  

$10  

848-0237 

Tuesday, May 15 

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 

Young Queer Women’s Group 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).  

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Intelligent Conversation  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion will be about the effect of the media on our lives. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free  

527-5332 

Fibromyalgia Support Group  

Noon - 2 p.m.  

Alta Bates Medical Center 

Maffly Auditorium, Herrick Campus  

2001 Dwight Way  

Dr. Kathryn Williams, former chairman for the department of rehabilitation, Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, will discuss the current understanding of fibromyalgia.  

601-0550 

Business of Seeds 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

How seeds became a commodity and their journey from the fields to the lab to wall street and a discussion of our potential role as urban seed stewards in the global system.  

548-2220 

Basic Electrical Theory and National Electric Code  

7 - 10 p.m.  

Building Education Center  

812 Page St.  

Instructed by author/retired City of Oakland building inspector Redwood Kardon.  

$35 

Electrical Theory and National Electrical Code 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by author and retired City of Oakland building inspector Redwood Kardon. $35. 

525-7610  

Wednesday, May 16 

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 

Thursday, May 17  

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 

“What is Queer Spirituality?” 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd Bldg., Room 100 

Bill Glenn, PSR alumni and leader of Spirit Group, will lead a panel discussion on the dynamic shape of queer spirituality today.  

849-8206 

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  

Free Smoking Cessation Class  

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  

Six Thursday classes through May 17.  

Call 644-6422 to register and for location  

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 meeting is the spring barbecue.  

654-5486 

Solving Residential Drainage Problems 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

First day of two day seminar led by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt. Continues Tuesday May 22. $70 for both days. 

525-7610 

Friday, May 18  

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 

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Saturday, May 19 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Annual strawberry tasting 

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

548-3333 

Get to Know Your Plants 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn what to look for and what and how to record it to more intimately know your plants.  

548-2220 

“Be Your Own Boss” 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

YWCA 

1515 Webster Street, Oakland 

Second Saturday of a two day workshop on starting up small businesses (see May 12). 

415-541-8580 

Community Summit on Smaller Learning Communities 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Alternative High School  

MLK Jr. Way (at Derby)  

All teachers, students, administrators, parents, and community members are encouraged to attend this meeting on smaller learning communities at Berkeley High. Translation, childcare, and food will be provided.  

540-1252 to RSVP for services 

Campaign for Equality Benefit  

7:30 - 10 p.m. 

Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club  

1650 Mountain Blvd.  

Oakland 

A comedy benefit with performances by Karen Ripley, Julia Jackson, Pippi Lovestocking, Darrick Richardson, and Nick Leonard. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the International Lesbian Gay Association Scholarship Fund for the 2001 ILGA Summit in Oakland.  

$15 - $20  

466-5050 

Finish Carpentry 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Carpenter/contractor Kevin Stamm leads workshop. $95. 

525-7610 

Earthquake Retrofitting 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by structural engineer Tony DeMascole and seismic contractor Jim Gillett. $75. 

525-7610 

How to Prevent Home Owner Nightmares 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Dispute prevention and early resolution seminar taught by contractor/mediator Ron Kelly. $75. 

525-7610  

Sunday, May 20  

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 

Working with Awareness, Concentration, Energy 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Nyingma members discuss meditative awareness in everyday life. Free and open to the public. 

843-6812 

Salsa Lesson & Dance Party  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Kick up your heels and move your hips with professional instructors Mati Mizrachi and Ron Louie. Plus Israeli food provided by the Holy Land Restaurant. Novices encouraged to attend and no partners are required.  

$12  

RSVP: 237-9874 

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 

643-1924 

Monday, May 21  

7:30 - 10 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Rabbi Yaacov Deyo, founder of L.A.’s SpeedDating will review creation from the reference point of physics and compare this to the description classical Jewish sources have given for our universe and its creation.  

$10  

848-0237 x127 

Tuesday, May 22 

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 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Strawberry tasting 

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

548-3333 

Young Queer Women’s Group 

8 - 9:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).  

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.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 

Solving Residential Drainage Problems 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of two day seminar led by contractor/engineer Eric Burtt. Continued from Thursday May 17. $70 for both days. 

525-7610 

Wednesday, May 23  

Healthful Building Materials  

7 - 10 p.m.  

Building Education Center  

812 Page St. 

Seminar conducted by environmental consultant Darrel DeBoer.  

$35 per person  

525-7610  

Thursday, May 24  

Paddling Adventures  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Dan Crandell, member of the U.S. National Kayak Surf Team and owner of Current Adventures Kayak School, will introduce attendees to all aspects of kayaking. Free  

527-4140 

A group of UC Berkeley sociology students donned traditional blues garb and took up instruments to mock a congressional agreement approving President George W. Bush’s $1.25 trillion tax cut: 

“The rich are hurting, there’s a dot-com crisis 

Got to bail them out before we’re all ignited 

Help Donald Trump! Save Bill Gates! 

They need a little boost to buy some bigger estates.” 

The Wealth-Weilding Wailers, who put their act together especially for the rally, sang to a crowd of about 200 people outside Sproul Hall at a rally organized by Students for Fair Taxes on Thursday. The SFT wanted to call attention to the compromise agreement Congress made on Wednesday to approve the tax cut that will be instituted over the next 10 years. 

Student supporters carried signs that read “Bush is screwing my grandmother” and “A latte a day keeps Medicare away.” 

The major components of the proposal call for a tax cut for all individual tax payers, a doubling of the child tax credit and the repeal of the estate tax.  

Critics of the proposal say only the wealthiest Americans will benefit from the tax cuts, leaving the working and middle classes to pick up the pieces when social programs such as Social Security and Medicare need huge infusions of cash in coming years. 

The agreement is nonbinding, but the House of Representatives and the Senate will use it as a blueprint while hammering out the details before approving it as part of the $1.98 trillion budget for 2002. 

The tentative tax cut of $1.2 trillion is much lower than the $1.6 trillion Bush originally proposed. 

“Tax cuts are not free,” said Daniel McFadden, a UC professor and Nobel Laureate in Economics who spoke at the rally. “With this tax cut, we are condemning our children to massive taxation in the future and probably the destruction of programs like Social Security and Medicare.” 

McFadden, who has been researching the economic status of the elderly for two decades, said even if this were an equitable tax cut it would still be unhealthy for the economy. “This will end up creating substantial difficulty down the road for all economic classes,” he said. 

League of Women Voters of California Government Director Doris Fine agreed. Addressing the crowd, she said the LWV has been studying taxes for a long time and the tax cut is in conflict with the organization’s longtime tax stance. “We believe that this cut will mostly benefit the wealthy while it has disastrous effects on the environment, education and health care.” 

Robb McFadden, chair of the UC Berkeley College Republicans (no relation to Professor Daniel McFadden), said he disagreed with the gloomy predictions. He said the tax cut was across the board and would benefit the wealthy as well as the those in lower tax brackets. 

He said Bush was the only presidential candidate who offered solid solutions to the problems facing Social Security and Medicare. 

“President Bush has just appointed a commission to examine the privatization of Social Security and I think the commission will come back with some good ideas,” he said. “This tax cut is coming from a surplus and is simply an attempt to return money to the people who earned it.” 

Students for Fair Taxes and their supporters milled around the Sproul Hall steps in the afternoon sun while listening to speakers and enjoying the songs and skits.  

Claudine McLaughlin, a member of Students for Fair Taxes, said she had a hard time understanding how the American people could sit still for the tax cut. “There’s a false sense that we all can get rich,” she said. “People just don’t want to see the long-term effect of this tax cut.” 

Fine said she was a bit surprised at the lack of public demonstration against the proposed tax cut. “People should begin to think about the real effects and not what Bush is trying to sell the American people,” she said. 

The Berkeley High boys’ volleyball team has had a tough year. A collection of underclassmen, some of whom never played organized volleyball before this year, the ’Jackets have yet to win a match. Thursday, ACCAL leaders El Cerrito came calling, and the outcome was fairly predictable, as the Gauchos ran off an easy 15-2, 15-12, 15-2 win. 

The match was never really in doubt, as the taller, more experienced visitors never let the ’Jackets (0-17 overall, 0-8 ACCAL) into the first game and used their second string to hold on to win the second game. With their starters back in for much of the final game, they simply overpowered Berkeley for the victory. 

“That’s pretty much what we expected,” Berkeley coach Justin Caraway said. “They’re the best team in the league, and no one comes close.” 

The Gauchos used their height advantage up front to continually spike kills, with Leland Mapp and Teddy Firestone doing most of the damage. Berkeley’s Robin Roach had five kills, the only ’Jacket with more than one. 

When El Cerrito wasn’t hitting winners, the ’Jackets usually found a way to hand them points with poor passing and errant spikes. But they managed to keep the Gauchos from huge runs, as the visitors never scored more than four points in a row before Berkeley managed a side out. 

“What we have to do is learn to string points and games together,” Caraway said. “We don’t always compete on every point like we should.” 

Roach is the only returning starter for the ’Jackets, and his teammates deferred to him constantly on Thursday, even when he was in poor position to make a play. Caraway said that while Roach is his best player, he’d like to see other players step up. 

“He’s our go-to hitter in the front row, and he sets when he’s in the back row, so it’s natural that they look to him,” he said. “But sometimes we make him work too hard, and that’s a lot of pressure for a sophomore to carry.” 

But the coach thinks the growing pains will pay off in the next two years, as his players grow both physically and tactically. Berkeley doesn’t have a JV program for them to learn slowly, and no Berkeley middle schools have volleyball teams for boys, so they’re getting on-the-job training. 

“We should be okay next year, and the year after that we should be pretty good,” he said. “We can look at some of the teams we’re losing to this year and know that we’ll beat them next year.” 

As for winning a game this year, Caraway didn’t sound too hopeful. 

“It’d be nice to win one, but we’re more concerned with whether we’re getting better as the year goes on. And we definitely are getting better.”

Berkeley Lite is an occasional column illuminating, among others, those who’d like to shine us on.  

Thanks to Mayor Shirley Dean for lightening things up – or should I say lightning up – the usually ho-hum state of the  

city address.  

Having called for unity, our mayor put forward an underground park parking plan her naysayers say will be the lightning rod that galvanizes the opposition of park neighbors, environmentalists, preservationists and wanna-be mayors. 

Apparently, the speech was Shirley’s second State of the City address this year. The first was delivered to the Chamber of Commerce. Actually, the chamber, not the mayor, billed the address as the State of the City speech. The earlier speech wasn’t the real deal, said a mayoral staffer, in the absence of Dean who, Thursday, was traveling to yet another mayor’s conference. 

And for any who may have got the wrong message – an aide to the mayor inadvertently told a few people that the speech was an invitation-only affair – the event was open to all and, if a person had received one of the 1,000 personal invitations, confirmation was not necessary. 

While e-mail trees & letters to the editor since Tuesday’s talk have been punctuated with gasps and gags concerning the mayor’s plan to put parking under the historic Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park – which most of us find easier to keep calling Provo Park – there are a number of elements of the mayor’s proposal that should be considered seriously: closing Allston Way is a beautiful idea, saving high school students from the daily near-death experience of criss-crossing it. And extending the park across MLK, with the street diving underneath, is a wonderfully creative, albeit expensive, idea. Opening up the underground creek would be really cool.  

As for more parking, well, the city hasn’t even started doing what it should to get its staff riding public transit and biking to work. And the idea of a citywide bus pass is still making the rounds through various commissions and committees. The pass, probably one of the best ideas that has come out of city hall, should be brought to fruition before a penny more is spent on proposals for new parking. 

Speaking of spending millions, how ‘bout the beautiful new Longfellow school. OOPS. No lockers. Parents are furious and the kids’ backs are beginning to ache. That’s our tax dollars at work, a real irony if one parent goes through with her threat to sue the school board over it. 

But back to the State of the City speech, and those $7,200-$8,000 drawings depicting the mayor’s vision of downtown underground parking. There are a variety of views on how the drawings came about. Public Works Director Rene Cardinaux says he was already having a draftsman draw up pictures of the civic center, following discussions with the Alameda County Superior Court and downtown businesses. At the mayor’s request, he added the concept of underground parking. The total bill to the draftsman would be about $15,000, he said, with about half of that coming from the mayor’s request for designs of the underground parking. 

When the Daily Planet asked about City Council procedures and whether a mayor or council person could ask for such expensive things, Cardinaux added that before having the drawings executed, he followed the rules and got City Manager Weldon Rucker’s okay. 

Rucker tells it differently. “He’s getting things mixed up,” he said when told what Cardinaux had said. Rucker says he ordered the entire set of drawings, following discussions with the courts, schools and downtown interests. “It did not necessarily come through the mayor,” he said, explaining: “I’m saying that I ordered (the drawings).” 

Mayoral aide Barbara Gilbert had a third recollection. She said she thought the mayor had made use of old drawings from years ago when the underground garage had been discussed. 

While the mayor was doing her thing on Tuesday, down the street – by coincidence? – Dean’s arch rival was holding court, celebrating GLBTQ (gay lesbian bisexual transgender questioning) victories for the year.  

Timing of the event aside, kudos to those who spoke, especially the cop who stood up and “came out,” as they say, to her fellow city staffers and the community. Says something for our fair (just) city and for evolving attitudes in our police department. 

Speaking of kudos, congrats go to John Geluardi, city hall reporter, for picking up an honorable mention in news reporting at the Peninsula Press Club awards event last week.  

The story of this week, however, goes to our sports desk. Figure this – the newly named head of the UC Berkeley Athletics Department not only has minimal management experience, but was on the search team for the job and was not among the finalists. Go Bears. 

••• 

On a very somber note, we at the Daily Planet offer our heartfelt condolences to the family of Nambi Phelps, the Oxford School fourth grader who died Tuesday morning. We made a conscious decision not to go to the school to interview distraught friends and teachers or to contact the grieving family. There is no greater tragedy for a parent than to lose a child. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. 

After months of discussion and hand-wringing, the Board of Education cut more than $4 million from the district’s 2001-2002 budget Wednesday. 

They also approved plans that could boost district revenues by $1.7 million. Taken together, the cuts and increased revenues would eliminate an estimated budget shortfall of $5.2 million and still leave the district a surplus of nearly $1 million to cover unanticipated expenses in the coming year. 

The vote came after more than an hour of discussion on proposed budget cuts. Board members voiced serious concerns about many of the cuts they ultimately approved. 

“I find all of the cuts distasteful,” said Board of Education Vice President Shirley Issel minutes before the vote to approve the cuts. “It’s a very troubling budget.” 

“If you go down the list, every one of the cuts has implications,” said board Director Joaquin Rivera, in an interview Thursday.  

“The easy cuts were back in the ’80s,” Rivera added. “Every cut is very painful right now.” 

Among the more controversial cuts Wednesday were: the  

elimination of one School Safety Officer at both Longfellow and Willard middle schools, for savings of $80,500; the elimination of the on-campus suspension manager at Berkeley High School, for savings of $55,000; and a reduction in Berkeley High School’s teacher staff by the equivalent of 3.6 full-time teachers, for savings of more than $200,000. 

Directors Joaquin Rivera and Ted Schultz expressed particular concern about the decision to cut BHS teaching staff, saying the move could increase class sizes at the school for years to come. 

“The fewer kids in the classroom, I think, the better the academics are going to be,” Schultz said. “I think we really need to hold the line here.” 

Furthermore, said Schultz, if district staff could come up with millions of dollars of cuts in just a few months, then they ought to be able to come up with the few hundred thousand more needed to avoid cutting teaching staff at all. 

“It bothers me to put all the burden on the high school,” Schultz said. “We did that last year (and) got lots of calls about cut classes.” 

“I strongly urge people to step back,” Schultz said. “I really think we can come up with the money.” 

On Schultz’ recommendation, the board voted 3-2 to have the staff come back to them in two weeks with suggestions for other items in the budget that might be cut to keep teaching staff and class sizes unchanged. 

But board members Shirley Issel and John Selawsky opposed the move. They emphasized that district staff has already put a lot of time and effort into coming up with the current budget scenario, and said the time had come to move forward. 

“At this point, I think we have to give people clear direction and not muddy the waters by telling them two different things,” Selawsky said, referring to the fact that high school staff have been waiting for the board decision in order to decide next year’s staffing levels and to begin planning the school’s complicated master schedule. 

Besides, said Selawsky, it is still unclear whether much of the savings expected under the budget scenario approved Wednesday will actually materialize. He cited energy conservation savings as an example. The scenario calls for saving $180,000 by reducing energy use throughout the district by 10 percent, but if energy rates were to soar next year – a distinct possibility – the savings could be erased in months, Selawsky said. 

“We’ve got a lot of uncertainties we’re still dealing with,” Selawsky said Thursday.

Friday 

Swimming – Berkeley at ACCAL Championship, 3 p.m. at Contra Costa College 

Baseball – Berkeley vs. Pinole Valley, 3:30 p.m. at Evans Diamond 

Baseball – St. Mary’s vs. St. Elizabeth, 3:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s College High School 

Softball – Berkeley vs. Pinole Valley, 3:30 p.m. at Old Grove Park 

Girls’ Lacrosse – Berkeley vs. Davis, 4 p.m. at Berkeley High School 

Saturday 

Swimming – Berkeley at ACCAL Championship, 1 p.m. at Contra Costa College 

Track & Field – Berkeley & St. Mary’s at Meet of Champions, 11 a.m. at Hughes  

Stadium, Sacramento

A suspicious looking package was discovered at an entrance of the Public Safety Building this morning prompting police to close two streets and evacuate employees to the North side of the building. 

At 8:15 a.m., the suspicious box containing a 12-inch toy car was discovered at the nighttime public entrance on the south side Safety Building. A note, that read “Adolph Hitler” was taped to the car. Police closed Martin Luther King Jr. Way from Allston Way to Addison Street and one block of Center Street to Milvia Street. 

Lt. Russell Lopes said the Berkeley Bomb Tech Squad was called in and they destroyed the package, considered a prank, using a specialized high-pressure water device.  

“The area was deemed secure by 10:15 a.m. and the roadways were reopened and everyone went back to work.” Lopes said.  

OAKLAND — A six-alarm fire whipped by 45 mph winds destroyed a four-story building under construction and damaged or destroyed 11 homes early Thursday, fire officials said. 

Four people suffered minor injuries. 

The fire was first reported at 1:11 a.m. at East Grand Avenue near Isabella in a partially completed apartment building. 

The wind rained embers over several blocks of homes in the West Oakland neighborhood, igniting old Victorian wood-frame buildings and sending a huge cloud of smoke and embers into the sky. 

“We have some really significant issues when we have wind conditions like we had tonight. The wind was a major factor in this fire,” said Oakland Fire Chief Gerald Simon, who was at the scene. 

“It was like a tornado, a twister, but it was full of red-hot embers,” said resident Anna Jackson as she stood in the street watching the battle to halt the flames. 

It took several hours to control the flames, and three homes were still reported burning at 6 a.m. A 16-block area was cordoned off. 

The Red Cross was on the scene to provide aid, setting up a shelter at De Fremery Park near the scene for some 60 people left homeless. 

There were 45 engines and 245 firefighters on the scene. Mutual aid brought help from Alameda and Contra Costa counties and other smaller departments. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Simon said damage would be in “the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

FAIRFIELD — The man convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl now claims he kidnapped and killed a 7-year-old in a high-profile case, and said he has snatched 10 other girls off the streets in years past. 

Curtis Dean Anderson, 40, said he abducted and killed 7-year-old Xiana Fairchild, who disappeared from Vallejo in December 1999. Her skull was found in January on a rural road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

“I’m the only one who knows all of what happened to Xiana,” Anderson told the newspaper. “This is gonna go down like the Zodiac.” 

Anderson was referring to a series of five murders in California in 1969 and 1970 believed to be committed by someone calling himself “Zodiac” in letters to police and newspapers. 

Anderson claims to have kidnapped and sexually assaulted 10 other girls over the past 30 years, but has provided authorities with no evidence to directly link him to other crimes. 

“I was on a good roll for 30 years, enjoying my sexual preferences,” Anderson said. “It was a better way of working for 30 years. This is the first time I’ve been in a courtroom (for such a crime).” 

Anderson said that many of those girls returned home after convincing him that what he had done to them was “no big deal,” he said. 

He remains a suspect in the Xiana case, authorities say, but no charges have been filed. Police say they need credible information to link Anderson to that case. 

“A lot depends on evidence. It’s not necessary to have the body. It’s not essential,” said Vallejo Police Lt. JoAnn West. “It just depends on the information.” 

Anderson’s defense attorney, Carl Spieckerman, said he had no indication his client would make the statements about other abductions, and that doing so would endanger him in prison where pedophiles are treated harshly. 

“It seems like he’s got a death wish,” Spieckerman said. 

Internet auction giant eBay Inc. is banning the sale of artifacts from Nazi Germany, the Ku Klux Klan and notorious criminals, in hopes of avoiding legal problems in other countries. 

EBay already had banned items that promote hate or violence, but allowed artifacts that were more than 50 years old to be listed as “collectibles.” For example, a 1921 sterling silver badge in the shape of a KKK mask was available on eBay for less than $25 Thursday. 

Users were warned not to take bids on Nazi items from people in France, Germany, Austria or Italy because of laws in those countries. Users with French- or German-language Web browsers also were blocked from searching for Nazi-related items, eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said. 

The new policy, which was announced Thursday and takes effect May 17, eliminates the historical exemption and bans the items altogether. 

As eBay expands overseas, “we are encountering different laws and different points of view as to what constitutes illegal, offensive or inappropriate items,” said Mike Jacobson, eBay’s general counsel. “Given our expansion, as well as feedback we’ve received from our users, we reviewed our policy and concluded that these changes are appropriate.” 

EBay’s move comes as fellow Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. is still trying to untangle itself from suits brought by groups in France. 

A French judge last year ordered Yahoo to block French users from seeing listings of Nazi merchandise on its auction pages and said he would fine the company $13,000 each day it failed to comply. 

Yahoo said the order was impossible to carry out, but ultimately banned auctions of Nazi merchandise when it began charging users to list items on the site.  

Still, Yahoo has asked a federal judge in San Jose to rule that French court decisions cannot be enforced on U.S. companies. 

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said his organization had been lobbying eBay to stop listing Nazi items for the past two years. Since eBay charges for auction listings and gets a cut of successful sales, the company is morally responsible for what is available on its massive site, Cooper said. 

“There’s an understanding that Wal-Mart could make money off this stuff — it chooses not to,” he said. “There’s been a change in the corporate culture, the corporate outlook at eBay.” 

EBay’s new policy also bans “personal belongings, letters or artwork” by notorious murderers and items bearing the killers’ names or images. 

The site will still allow German coins and stamps from the 1930s and 1940s and other German memorabilia that does not bear Nazi or SS markings. Historical books or movies about Nazi Germany also can be sold, even if a swastika appears on the item. 

——— 

On the Net: 

New policy: http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-offensive.html 

LOS ANGELES — Federal agents broke up a ring that smuggled hundreds of people from the Ukraine into the United States through Mexico and forced some into prostitution, authorities said Thursday. 

Eleven Ukrainian people were arrested and eight others were fugitives, two in California and six in Ukraine or elsewhere, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Saunders said. 

At least 200 people and perhaps as many as 2,000 were smuggled by the ring, he said. The ring charged $7,000 per person, but they were often forced to pay more. “Some of the aliens were young women who upon arrival were sold into prostitution,” he said. “But there were also families, men and children.” 

An affidavit said the ringleaders were Serge Mezheritsky, 35, and Tetyana Komisaruk, 49, of Los Angeles. They were among those under arrest. Komisaruk’s husband, two daughters and a son-in-law were charged as participants. The ring was uncovered by chance after a Ukrainian family accidentally dropped a video camera on a known trail used by smugglers entering the United States from Mexico. The videotape showed the family, speaking in Ukrainian, documenting their trip for a family history. “One of our uniformed agents discovered the video camera laying on the ground,” Fernando Grijalva, supervising agent of the Border Patrol in San Diego, told a press conference at the FBI’s Los Angeles headquarters. Within a short time, Grijalva said, a Mexican-American guide was arrested smuggling five Ukrainians and a special investigation was launched.  

The probe began in 1999 and involved a sting operation. 

The 11 under arrest were charged with conspiracy to smuggle, transport and harbor illegal immigrants. Under U.S. laws governing smuggling for profit, the defendants could face as much as three years in prison per smuggled immigrant, Saunders said.  

Patrick Patterson, the agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, said that at least 200 victims had been taken into custody by the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Patterson said that although the Ukrainians paid for Mexican tourist visas and knew they were being smuggled into the United States, they were considered to be victims because they were misled and forced into servitude once they arrived. 

Patterson said the immigrants typically were brought to Mexico, came across the border by foot, car or boat, then were brought to a holding location in Los Angeles from which they were flown to their ultimate destinations across the United States. 

Some were shipped to New York, Cleveland and Detroit, Saunders said. 

The immigrants were typically charged $7,000 for the smuggling fee, travel documents to Mexico, hotel accommodations and other expenses, Patterson said. But once they arrived, they were often told that the fee had been increased and they would have to pay thousands more. 

“This investigation further underscores the global nature of crime today and the threats we now realize from abroad,” said FBI Assistant Director James DeSarno. “What was a local crime just a few years ago now touches multiple countries” 

Saunders said most of those who bought passage to the United States were seeking either economic betterment or wanted to be reunified with family members already in the country. 

Those who were not forced into prostitution often were charged more but were allowed to travel to parts of the country where they had sponsors or could rejoin families, the prosecutor said. 

The Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble  

Sunday  

7 p.m.  

Ashkenaz Music and Cultural Center, 1319 San Pablo Av. $15, $10 seniors, students, free for children under 13 

Also: 

The Fourth Street Jazz  

Festival ,May 20 

The Florence Schwimley Little Theater,  

1920  

Allston Way,  

May 25 at 7:30. 

Sometimes a great season can lead to inflated expectations for the next year, and then disappointment follows.  

The Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble won several prestigious competitions and earned a flood of rave reviews last year, but then nine seniors graduated from the band.  

It was a tough act to follow, but this year's squad is proving that a winning streak is possible when there is so much talent on the team. 

Of course, many people already know the names of some of the famously successful players who are alumni of this great band: Joshua Redman, Dave Ellis, Peter Apfelbaum and Kito Gamble.  

But the big-band sound is mostly about the collective sense of swing, the feeling of playing together so that the whole is much more than a sum of the parts.  

How does this band of youngsters maintain such a high level of musicality which many more experienced players can only dream of?  

Part of the magic is in the Ensemble's prestige, which drives the students to be worthy of their heritage.  

Another factor is the simple joy of playing high-quality jazz.  

Most of the band members practice several hours each day without needing to be lectured or cajoled: This is serious fun. 

The band was almost disbanded back in 1994 during a financial crisis at Berkeley Unified School District, when the decision was reluctantly made to cancel several facets of the district's music programs.  

Support from parents and the community saved the music programs, which continue to thrive and provide important opportunities for young talents to blossom. 

Some of the charts they play are classics, while others are more daring compositions which most high school bands would not attempt. And the tradition of improvisation is well established: The music isn't all in the charts.  

This jazz is a lively spontaneous creation, as it should be. 

The music stands and swings on its own merit: this is the real thing.  

It is only a secondary attraction that the players are all young virtuosos.  

Which of these kids  

will become shining stars of the jazz world?  

I would wager that several of these youngsters are bound for successful careers in music.  

Won't it be nice someday to be able to say “I heard that kid when she was still in high school and already a monster musician!” 

All proceeds from ticket sales will support the Jazz Ensemble's summer tour through Europe. 

Miko Sloper can be reached at miko@cheerful.com

POUND RIDGE, N.Y.— Lilacs bring mixed emotions, linked in poetry to love but also death. Prized by gardeners in many lands, the flowers’ beauty and fragrance, aside from promptings of joy or sadness, proclaim Spring has fully arrived. 

T.S. Eliot perhaps struck the bluest note with his “April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire.” 

But Walt Whitman also waxed elegiac in mourning Spring’s passing in “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed.” 

To Victorians who doted on the “language of flowers,” lilacs meant “the emotions of first love,” and the poet Alfred Noyes had that in mind when he wrote, “Go down to Kew in lilac time.” 

Love also imbued the 1928 hit song, still heard occasionally, “Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time.” 

Lilacs come in many varieties, but the common lilac, Syringa vulgaris, of Balkan origin, has enjoyed immense popularity since it was introduced into western Europe from Turkey about 1550 and into America by the earliest colonists. By the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson was frequently mentioning lilacs in his garden notes and letters. 

The common lilac’s ability to survive harsh winters and summer droughts with little care – you can practically neglect it – obviously contributed to its widespread adoption.  

Cultivars of the shrub produce flowers of various colors – blue, lilac, magenta, pink, purple, violet, white and yellow – and some bear honorific names of noted men and women. 

A blue one, for example, is called “President Lincoln,” a pink one, “Montaigne,” for the 16th century French essayist, and a lilac-colored one, in French, “Christophe Colomb.” A double-flowered white lilac is named “Edith Cavell” for the British nurse executed by the Germans in World War I for helping to smuggle Allied troops from Belgium to the Dutch border. 

One minus about lilac bushes: There’s not much to attract you after the blooming season, and you could call them boring. Also, the leaves mildew easily in shade, but little if any serious harm results. 

Historians have determined that it really originated in China and was taken to Persia many centuries ago.  

It has more delicate-looking flowers than the common and I fancy that its fragrance is sweeter. This bush rises to a height of about 12 feet at a corner of my house where I can see the pink-violet blooms, in mid-May, both from the kitchen and living room, a sight that has become a longed-for springtime experience. And with Whitman I truly grieve when, each year, the flowers die. 

Most lilacs have the same soil requirements, exposure and culture, which means survival in virtually any soil, doing best in a rich loam midway between slightly acidic and slightly alkaline, or a pH of about 7. The shrubs can stand some shade but need a generous amount of sun for the blooms to thrive. The best time to plant young shrubs is early spring. However, this can be done also in the fall before the ground freezes. Fall plantings should be well watered. 

You can grow your own common lilacs from sucker growth, often abundant, that comes up at the base of established bushes. You dig out a sucker, or sprout, with its root, and plant it in a hole wide enough to accommodate the root without cramping. Fill the hole with topsoil and compost and a little bone meal, and water well for the first season.

LOS ANGELES — Dining-room chairs and statues concealed more than 200 pounds of ivory in the nation’s biggest seizure of elephant tusks since laws banning their import took effect. 

Federal officials displayed some of the ivory Thursday, a day after two Los Angeles men were indicted on charges of smuggling an endangered species product. The total seizure of nearly 260 pounds has an estimated value of $80,000 to $375,000. 

The seizure shows that 12 years after ivory was all but banned in the United States, a lingering appetite for it still motivates poachers and threatens dwindling elephant herds, said Marie E. Palladini, senior special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

“We must not allow this irreplaceable commodity to disappear,” Palladini said. 

Most of the seized ivory came from two air cargo shipments flown from Nigeria to Los Angeles International Airport. About 40 pounds were taken from the van of one of the arrested men. 

It wasn’t clear how many African elephants would have had to have been killed for so much ivory, but Craig M. Ziegler, resident in charge for the U.S. Customs Service at the airport, said the 38 whole tusks recovered represent roughly one-fourth of the seizure. 

“Some of (the tusks) were very small, 6 to 8 inches long – it was kind of sad,” Ziegler said, adding that others were as long as 3 feet. 

The seizures may be the nation’s biggest ivory bust since its importation became illegal in 1989, Ziegler said. Now people can legally import ivory only if they hunted the elephant legally or if the ivory can be proven to be more than a century old. 

Customs and Fish and Wildlife inspectors discovered the ivory April 9 and 11, when routine X-ray inspections uncovered ring-shaped objects in shipments at the Lufthansa Cargo facility. 

The first shipment was primarily wooden chairs covered with beaded fabric decorated with images of masks, camels and lions.  

They were stuffed with complete tusks and tusk cross-sections – most roughly the size of a roll of duct tape. One of the chairs had a tusk poking out of the top. 

Most of the ivory in the second shipment was stacked up in three tall, gaudy statues. Additional rings of ivory were wrapped in bead-covered fabric. 

Inspectors repacked the shipments, both of which were picked up and taken to a Hollywood storage facility April 17. Authorities said the chair shipment, with more than 180 pounds of ivory inside, was picked up by Ebrima Marigo, 36, and the statue shipment, with about 30 pounds of ivory, was picked up by Bahoreh Kabba, 38. 

Marigo was arrested April 17 at the storage facility, and Kabba was arrested the next day after getting out of a van that held yet more ivory. 

Marigo, who claims Liberian citizenship, was charged with one count of smuggling, and Kabba, who claims Gambian citizenship, was charged with two. If convicted, Margio could face five years in federal prison, and Kabba could face 10, Ziegler said. 

Customs and Fish and Wildlife officials are continuing their investigation, and more arrests are possible, he said. 

Ivory smuggling has been relatively rare in the United States, Ziegler said, adding that elephant tusks are more commonly sought in Japan, Hong Kong and China. 

Palladini said Los Angeles is the nation’s most common entry point for smuggled wildlife. Smugglers traffic in tropical fish, birds, coral, and the skins of crocodiles and caimans, among other illegal items, she said. 

“It’s a very large business — people want what they can’t have,” Palladini said. 

SCARSDALE, N.Y. — Nearly 200 eighth-graders boycotted a state science exam with their parents’ blessing Thursday in this well-to-do community of doctors, corporate executives and other high-achievers. 

The school district in this New York City suburb said 195 of its 290 eighth-graders skipped the test to protest standardized exams and the increasing amount of classroom time spent preparing for them. 

The students in one of the nation’s top-ranked school districts will not face any punishment, though they will likely be offered another chance to take the exam. 

The boycott is part of a nationwide movement against the tests and there have been boycotts in Michigan and Massachusetts. Critics say test preparation is interfering with the curriculum and costing students in-depth instruction in broader subjects.  

Teachers and principals are increasingly being evaluated on how well their students perform on the exams. 

States insist that schools need not revamp their curricula to meet the standards. But tests scores are often published in local newspapers, giving residents and prospective residents a guide to evaluate schools.  

All states now require students to take math and reading tests in at least two grades, and 38 reward or sanction schools and school districts on the basis of student performance, according to the Education Commission of the States. 

Defenders of annual testing say it gives schools valuable information about students’ strengths and weaknesses. President Bush has proposed linking federal school funding to test results. 

The parents in Scarsdale actually have the support of most school officials, who feel their community was doing fine educating its children before the tests came along in recent years. There will be eight days of exams in May and June for eighth-graders alone. 

Superintendent Michael McGill told parents recently that rather than “teaching to the tests,” Scarsdale should go back to a middle school curriculum that emphasizes projects, labs, research and discussion — even if it means lower test scores. 

State education spokesman Tom Dunn was dismayed by Thursday’s boycott. 

“It’s unfortunate that students missed the test because these tests are designed to help determine which students need extra help,” he said. 

The boycott had elements of a military operation. Since school officials had declared that any eighth-graders who were in the building would have to take the exam, parents took turns ferrying children to and from school as each class took the test. 

The windows of some cars displayed miniature “STOP” signs, an acronym for State Testing Opposed by Parents. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Education Commission of the States: http://www.ecs.org 

National Association of State Boards of Education: http://www.nasbe.org 

TRENTON, N.J. — The Senate approved a resolution Thursday urging Supreme Court Justice Peter G. Verniero to resign because he allegedly lied about racial profiling by state police. 

Acting governor and Senate leader Donald T. DiFrancesco, who called for Verniero’s resignation last month, supported the measure, which passed 37-1. The resolution is non-binding; the Senate cannot force Verniero to resign. 

“This makes it very clear. Republicans and Democrats alike feel he should not sit on  

the Supreme Court,” said the resolution’s sponsor, Sen. William L. Gormley. 

Sen. Walter Kavanaugh was the only lawmaker to vote no: “I’m not going to condemn him just because someone puts a piece of paper in front of me.” 

Verniero has repeatedly refused to step down; a telephone call to his lawyer seeking comment Thursday wasn’t immediately returned. 

Last month, DiFrancesco said he believed Verniero misled senators when he was questioned about racial profiling during his 1999 court confirmation hearings. The day before, all 11 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent DiFrancesco a letter saying Verniero should resign. 

Those committee members later sent Assembly Speaker Jack Collins six reasons Verniero should be impeached, including that he withheld information about racial profiling from federal investigators. 

Last week Collins refused to act on impeachment, saying the case against Verniero should be handled by the courts. 

Before Thursday’s vote, Assembly Democrats introduced articles of impeachment against Verniero. They plan to push for a full vote on the matter next week. If the Assembly votes to impeach, the case would be sent to the Senate for a trial. 

WASHINGTON — Federal workers in power-strapped California could be taking the stairs and sweating out the summer under an energy conservation directive signed by President Bush Thursday. 

His order came after criticism of his previous budget cuts in energy efficiency programs. 

“We’ll work to help California in any way we can. And the best way we can is to be good citizens,” Bush said after a Cabinet Room meeting with his top energy-policy advisers. 

He ordered federal facilities in California to cut power use “to the maximum extent consistent with the effective discharge of public responsibilities.” For military facilities, which use 1 percent of the state’s energy load, that means cutting peak-hour usage by one-tenth, said deputy Defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz. 

The president, who has been criticized as doing too little to address California’s energy crisis, dispatched Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to meet with California Gov. Gray Davis Thursday night in Sacramento and, on Friday, to visit an energy-efficient federal building in San Francisco. 

Even before Abraham left Washington, Davis, a Democrat, sniffed at Bush’s directive. “Surely the federal government can do more and match California’s 20 percent savings at all state buildings,” he said. 

Raising thermostats to 78 degrees, closing “nonessential space,” turning off excess lighting and switching off escalators during so-called “stage 2 alerts” are among the Energy Department’s recommended conservation measures. In California, a stage 2 alert is called when electricity reserves drop or are expected to drop below 5 percent. 

The White House, too, will do its part, Bush said: 

“We’re focused right now on California because that’s a state that’s going to suffer blackouts. But we always have to be mindful of being energy efficient. And since I’ve asked other agencies to review their policy, I’m going to ask the White House to do the same.” All federal offices have 30 days to report to Abraham on their conservation action plans. 

Bush also made federally owned backup and mobile generators available to help in emergency shortages. One idea to have nuclear-powered submarines help support the state’s electricity supplies was among what one White House aide called “wacky proposals” discarded when Cheney’s task force got down to business in February. 

Thursday’s announcement – during a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney, Abraham, Wolfowitz, White House chief of staff Andrew Card, economic adviser Larry Lindsey and others – came four days after Cheney suggested, to the environmentalists’ consternation, that conservation would not be a key part of the president’s long-term energy plan. 

“I think conservation has got to be part of making sure we have got a reasonable energy policy, but what the vice president was saying was we can’t conserve our way to energy independence,” Bush said. “We have got to do both. We’ve got to conserve, but we also have to find new sources of energy.” 

When Cheney and his energy task force report later this month, “I suspect the people will find a balanced approach,” Bush said. 

It was unclear whether Thursday’s order could make a dent in energy consumption, as Bush set no targets. 

“We’re not trying to pick a figure arbitrarily out of the sky,” said Abraham, estimating that the federal government accounts for 1.8 to 2 percent of California’s electricity consumption. 

Democrats on Capitol Hill said Bush had a good idea but it didn’t go far enough. 

“We ought to be using federal agencies that have the power now to hold down on these outrageous price increases that are going on on the West Coast and might spread throughout the whole country,” said House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt. 

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer ruled out price limits, saying they would increase shortages. 

On Capitol Hill, Abraham came under sharp criticism as he testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee, explaining his department’s budget request for the coming year. 

Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said Bush’s plan to cut millions of dollars from programs to develop energy-efficient buildings, more fuel-efficient automobiles, new appliance standards and more efficient lighting don’t make sense. 

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., cited a General Accounting Office study that concluded $7 billion in energy efficient investments produced $51 billion in energy savings. 

Except for increases for a program that helps low-income people weatherize their homes, “the department’s conservation budget frankly is a disaster,” added Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. 

Abraham defended the cuts as “very justified” and said that many of them were in areas where private companies “are in a position to pick up a greater share of energy research.” 

Later Thursday, Bush met with Mexican President Vicente Fox and, among other things, discussed how the United States, Canada and Mexico could work together to boost energy supplies. 

GENEVA — Despite perceptions that it’s healthier, there is little difference between bottled water and tap water – apart from cost – a conservation group said Thursday. 

“Bottled water may be no safer, or healthier, than tap water in many countries while selling for up to 1,000 times the price,” the World Wildlife Fund said. 

Bottled water is the fastest growing beverage industry in the world, worth up to $22 billion a year, according to the fund. 

A study commissioned by the fund found the “bottled water market is partly fueled by concerns over the safety of municipal water and by the marketing of many brands which portray them as being healthier than tap water.” 

The fund also said bottled water sales were rising because people were worried about pollution. 

“Our attitudes toward tap water are being shaped by the pollution which is choking the rivers and streams,” said the fund’s water campaign director Richard Holland. 

But the study – conducted by University of Geneva researcher Catherine Ferrier – said the only difference between some bottled water and tap water is that it is distributed in bottles rather than pipes. 

But Stephen Kay, spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association, said the fund’s criticism was misguided. 

“The goals are laudable, and we agree totally that people have a right to clean drinking water,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from Alexandria, Va. “But bottled water sales are a symptom of the problem, not the cause itself.” 

“The difference between bottled water and tap water is that bottled water’s quality is consistent,” he said. 

But according to the fund, regulatory standards for European and U.S. tap water are tougher than those applied to the bottled water industry. 

But Kay said this was not the case. 

“Bottled water standards in the United States are at least as protective as those for tap water, and the industry is making a concerted effort to develop international standards,” he said. 

While agreeing bottled water may be safer in areas where tap water may be contaminated, the fund said boiled or filtered tap water is still a better option for people on a lower income. 

Buying bottled water is “not a long term sustainable solution to securing access to healthy water. Protecting rivers will help ensure that tap water remains a service which delivers good quality drinking water for everyone at a fair price,” according to the fund. 

The group added that 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water every year. “Toxic chemicals can be released into the environment during the manufacture and disposal of bottles,” it said. 

But Kay said the industry was serious about recycling. 

“We are committed to encouraging consumers to recycle, and to making our packing even more recyclable,” he said. 

On the Net: 

World Wildlife Fund, http://www.panda.org 

International Bottled Water  

Association, http://www.bottledwater.org

UNITED NATIONS — The United States lost its seat Thursday on the top U.N. human rights body for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947. 

The 53-member U.N. Human Rights Commission, which usually meets in Geneva, makes recommendations for the protection and promotion of human rights, either on its own initiative or at the request of the General Assembly or the Security Council. 

Regional groups at the United Nations nominate candidates for the commission and the United States came in last among the four candidates nominated for three seats in its group, after France, Austria and Sweden. 

In the balloting, France got 52 votes, Austria 41 votes, Sweden 32 votes and the United States 29 votes. 

“It was an election, understandably, where we’re very disappointed,” acting U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said after the vote. “This won’t at all, of course, affect our commitment to human rights issues in and outside of the United Nations. We’ll continue to pursue them.” 

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson expressed hope the United States “will return speedily as a member of the commission,” spokesman Jose Luis Diaz said in a statement released in Geneva. 

“The United States of America has made a historic contribution to the Commission on Human Rights,” the statement said, noting that the first U.S. representative on the body, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “helped shape the commission and its vision of an International Bill of Human Rights.” 

Election to seats on U.N. bodies usually involves intense lobbying by diplomats. 

The United States has been at a diplomatic disadvantage since January with the departure of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, an appointee of former President Clinton. President Bush nominated veteran diplomat John Negroponte as U.N. ambassador in March, but his nomination has not yet been sent to the Senate. 

The United States has been in the forefront of efforts to condemn the human rights records of China, Cuba and other countries at the commission’s Geneva meetings. 

Cunningham refused to speculate on whether the U.S. ouster from the commission was the result of growing anger against the United States for taking too many unilateral positions on issues such as a national missile defense shield and pulling out of the 1997 Kyoto treaty to curb global warning. 

“We had too many candidates for too few seats,” he said. “I don’t want to speculate on what might have been the motives underlying the outcome of the election.” 

France lost its seat in 1977 and Britain was voted off in both 1977 and 1991. 

Other countries elected to the commission were Bahrain, South Korea and Pakistan from the Asia Group, and Croatia and Armenia from the Eastern Europe Group. The Latin America Group selected Chile and Mexico without a vote, and the African Group chose Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Uganda, also without a vote. 

Asked whether it was awkward for the United States to have lost when Sudan had been chosen for a commission seat, Cunningham refused to comment. 

“We’re disappointed in the outcome. We very much wanted to serve on the commission. I’ll leave it at that for the time being,” he said. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster is by no means dead, but the latest usage numbers show the revolutionary song-swapping service is a vastly reduced version of its former bad-boy self. 

An analysis by the Internet research firm Webnoize found that Napster use has plunged 41 percent since the online company added song-screening technology to comply with a federal court order. 

Users downloaded 1.59 billion songs in April, a sharp decline from 2.8 billion in February, according to Matt Bailey, an analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based Webnoize. Hank Barry, Napster’s chief executive, said the Webnoize numbers illustrate users’ loyalty despite the screening, and don’t reflect a dying company. 

“The most striking fact in the latest Webnoize study is the high number of music consumers who remain loyal to file sharing,” Barry said Wednesday. “Close to 8 million people are using Napster each day with an average of over 1 million using the service at any given time.” 

A million users would be a success for many Internet companies, but it represents a sharp decline in activity for Napster, which has hobbled itself in response to the music industry’s copyright suit. 

Napster, a dorm room experiment that revolutionized the music business, is now struggling to retain its vast user base as it employs tough new screening technology to inhibit the trading of copyright songs. 

In March, users shared 220 song files on average. By April, they shared 37 on average, a decline of more than 80 percent, according to Bailey. 

And since last week, many more songs have been blocked. Napster now screens for a wide range of variations in artist and song names that had allowed copyright music to reappear in its index. 

“That, in turn, has unfortunately caused substantial additional ’overblocking,’ the unintentional removal of otherwise authorized works, for which we apologize to our users and artists,” Napster told its fans. 

The Recording Industry Association of America, which sued Redwood City-based Napster for copyright infringement, said the report does not prove the company is fulfilling its part of the judge’s order to remove copyrighted works from its site. 

“I don’t view that as a significant change,” said Matt Oppenheim, the recording industry trade group’s senior vice president for business and legal affairs. “If those numbers are representative of the amount of downloads, it (says) there is still a substantial amount of piracy going on Napster.” 

There were indeed fewer files being traded in April, and fewer people doing it. 

In February, the zenith of Napster use in the short life-span of the company, there were nearly 1.6 million people logged on to Napster at any given time. In April, there were just more than 1 million users logged on, and they were trading a smaller selection of music, Bailey said. 

Napster is now a shell of its former self in terms of finding hit songs easily. 

Napster, with financial backing from the music industry giant Bertlesmann AG, has sought to shed its renegade image and enter into partnerships with other major music companies, with limited success. 

Now, Napster users often come up empty when they search for even slight variations in the names of many well-known artists and songs — a development that also blocks legitimate music by lesser-known artists with similar names and titles. 

Matt Plotkin, a high school senior in West Hills, Calif., said he has had to work a lot harder to find songs from his favorite artists such as rap group Black Eyed Peas and electronic music specialist DJ Tauscher. 

Users can still find the music they’re looking for “as long as you don’t type in the band name,” Plotkin said. “If you just type in the song title you might get it. Or you can leave out a word.” 

On the Net: 

http://www.napster.com 

http://www.riaa.com 

NEWARK, N.J. — Two Lucent Technologies scientists and another man – all three of them Chinese-born – were arrested by the FBI on Thursday and accused of stealing Lucent software and sharing it with a company largely run by the Chinese government. 

The three formed a joint venture with the Chinese company to market the product and boasted that the business would become “the Cisco of China,” prosecutors said. 

U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary said there are no allegations that the Chinese company, Datang Telecom Technology Co. of Beijing, was aware of the theft. 

The stolen software was for Lucent’s now-discontinued PathStar system, which enables Internet service providers to offer low-cost voice and data services. PathStar had over 90 percent of the market and generated $100 million for Lucent last year, according to court papers. 

The Chinese venture was “ready to roll out with it in September of this year,” Cleary said. “In the information age, it is difficult to imagine anything more dangerous to a company’s business interests.” 

Arrested were Yong-Qing Cheng, 37, who runs an optical networking business, and Lucent employees Hai Lin, 30, and Kai Xu, 33. 

Lin and Xu are Chinese citizens in the United States on business visas, while Cheng is a naturalized citizen, authorities said. 

All three defendants faced a court appearance Thursday and were not immediately available for commnt. They face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

The scientists were designated “distinguished members” of Lucent’s technical staff at the Murray Hill headquarters of the telecommunications giant. 

Lucent spokesman Bill Price could not immediately say what the alleged theft cost the company, or how long the scientists worked at Lucent. He said Lucent notified authorities in February that company equipment and intellectual property had been stolen. 

He also said PathStar was dropped before the theft was discovered. 

Lucent, spun off from AT&T Corp. in 1996, is among the most widely held stocks in the country. 

The case is the latest bad news for Lucent, which last month denied rumors that it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. 

It also faces class-action lawsuits by shareholders who claim they lost money last year because of company wrongdoing. Lucent lost about $80 billion in market value under chairman and chief executive Richard McGinn, who was fired in October. 

——— 

On the Net: 

U.S. attorney’s office in Newark: http://www.njusao.org/break.html 

Lucent: http://www.lucent.com 

NEW YORK — Disappointing economic and earnings news, proof that companies still face challenges in the coming months, sent stocks sharply lower Thursday. The market was also wary about the government’s employment report due out Friday. 

“There are renewed fears about weakness in the economy. We believe the economy is bottoming, but we are not there yet,” said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward Jones of St. Louis. 

The market was troubled by other labor data Thursday. The Labor Department reported that first-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose last week to a five-year high, a sign that employers’ need for workers continues to wane. 

The market’s losses were widespread, in keeping with the fact that most businesses have been hurt by the weakened economy and that many have been forced to lay off workers and slash prices. 

Computer makers suffered as analysts predicted demand would not pick up soon. Dell Computer, which was downgraded by UBS Warburg, fell $1.80 to $24.93. 

Analysts said investors chose to cash in some profits that they reaped in April after hearing companies say that the second quarter – rather than the first – will be the weakest of the year. 

“Everyone has been talking about a recovery being around the corner. But now we may have another disappointing earnings season for the second quarter, as well,” Skrainka said. 

The potential for more bad earnings news weighed on certain stocks, including Newell Rubbermaid and Papa John’s. 

Newell Rubbermaid fell $1.49 to $25.85 after announcing earnings that missed analysts’ expectations and also warning that second-quarter and yearly profits will also fall short. The housewares and consumer products maker also said it plans to cut 3,000 jobs. 

Although investors were worried about the economy, analysts were encouraged that the Dow managed to cut its losses in the last hour of trading.  

— The Associated Press 

They said the selloff moderated because investors also believe the earnings and economic data will compel the Federal Reserve to approve a bigger-than-expected rate cut — a 0.5 percentage point reduction vs. 0.25 percentage point — when it meets May 15. 

Analysts also reasoned that some pullback was expected after an April rally that was triggered by better-than-expected earnings and positive economic data. 

“Today was destined to be a hesitation day. It’s not overly bearish,” said Gregory Nie, technical analyst for First Union Securities. 

Thursday’s losses were minimal compared to the strides the market made in April. Most spectacularly, the Nasdaq has climbed about 31 percent from its closing low for the year, 1,638.80, reached April 4. 

“After a monthlong rally, the stock market is a little tired,” said Skrainka, the strategist at Edward Jones. 

Declining issues outnumbered advancers slightly more than 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.33 billion shares, below Wednesday’s 1.60 billion. 

The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller companies stocks, fell 5.99 to 485.65. 

Overseas, stocks finished lower Thursday. Germany’s DAX index fell 2.2 percent, France’s CAC-40 slipped 2.1 percent, and Britain’s FT-SE 100 lost 2.2 percent. 

Financial markets in Japan were closed Thursday. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines pilots will soon begin voting on a new contract now that their union’s leadership has endorsed a tentative agreement that could end the threat of a strike at the nation’s third-largest carrier. 

The decision late Wednesday by Delta’s master executive council, a division of the Air Line Pilots Association, sends the contract to Delta’s 9,800 pilots. 

“I believe this contract recognizes the important part our pilots play in the operations of our corporation and the unique skills, experience and expertise we bring to the cockpit,” said Charles Giambusso, chairman of ALPA’s Delta unit. 

The pilots agreed to the tentative proposal April 22, warding off a strike a week before they had threatened to leave their cockpits.  

A strike by Delta pilots could severely impact U.S. aviation at a time when air traffic is already at record levels of congestion. 

The union and Delta have been working on a contract for more than a year and a half. 

The deal calls for raises of 24 percent to 34 percent for Delta pilots between now and 2005, making them the highest-paid in the industry. It exceeds the current most lucrative contract at United Airlines. 

Delta’s pilots will vote on the contract from May 22 through June 20. 

“We are hopeful that the contract will be ratified in the coming weeks so that all of us at Delta can focus more fully on our customers,” Delta spokesman Russ Williams said. 

Despite the large raise offers, some pilots have harshly criticized the proposed contract because of its terms regarding retirement benefits, crew scheduling and the continuation of a lower-wage pay system at Delta Express. 

Also, some pilots believe the contract will allow Delta to expand the amount of flying it does with Express, a lower-cost unit based in Orlando, Fla., at the expense of the main airline. 

Delta officials maintain they need the separate wage structure to compete with other discount carriers. 

The union now will dispatch leaders to the airline’s eight largest pilot bases to answer questions and try to build support for the contract. 

Union spokesman Andy Deane, a Delta 767 pilot, said some pilots do not yet understand what is in the contract or how it differs from the previous deal in key areas. 

The council meeting started Saturday and had been planned for only three days.  

ALPA officials said the protracted meeting was necessary to analyze and understand each provision of the lengthy contract. 

“The fact that it took five days, I think, tells you that the pilots wanted to go through this thing with a fine-tooth comb,” ALPA spokesman Gregg Holm said. 

On the Net: 

Delta Air Lines: http://www.delta.com 

ALPA Delta unit: http://www.dalpa.com

Mayor Shirley Dean outlined her vision of the city’s future Tuesday, which included a citywide conversion to solar power, creating affordable housing and a controversial 500-space garage under Civic Center Park. 

In Dean’s sixth State of the City Address, she touted accomplishments over the last six-and-one-half years such as the emerging Arts District, the completion of the Public Safety Building and the refurbishing of the Civic Center building. But she also took the opportunity to note a complacency and lack of focus gripping Berkeley.  

“I remind you tonight, our work is not over, as we face a slowing economy and weave our way through another year plagued by ideology and political gamesmanship,” she said. 

Dean said one of the goals of her speech was to call for political unity. “I wanted to inspire people to come together on what’s best for the city,” she said. “We can accomplish so much if we just take a deep breath and work together.” 

In a surprise unveiling, Dean presented drawings of a plan that would transform the historic Civic Center area by constructing a 500-space garage under Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. 

The $22 million project would reroute Martin Luther King Jr. Way though a tunnel from Allston Way to Addison Street. Also Allston Way would be closed between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street. Included in the plan’s design, which was drawn up by Director of Public Works Rene Cardinaux, was the daylighting of Strawberry Creek along the southern side of the park.  

The mayor suggested funding the project through a partnership between Vista College, Alameda County Superior Court and the city. 

The plan, which is supported by the Downtown Business Association, is expected to face strong opposition from environmentalists, transit-first advocates and preservationists. In fact, despite the secrecy surrounding the plan before the speech, several audience members held up signs during the mayor’s address saying: “No Parking in our Park!!” 

Dean said energy will be one of her top priorities. She outlined an energy plan, which she and Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek brought to the City Council, to ease energy costs and reduce consumption.  

Dean challenged Berkeley residents and business owners to reduce energy use by 20 percent. “Oakland has set a conservation goal of 10 percent, San Francisco of 7 to 10 percent. Berkeley can do better,” she said. 

She also strongly promoted solar photovotaic power. Dean said she is working with local banks to provide low-interest loans to residents who convert to solar electricity. Currently the California Energy Commission is offering a $3,500 rebate for homeowners who install the systems, which cost an average of $10,000.  

“Solar technologies are projected in the next few years to reduce carbon dioxide emissions equal to the amount produced by 850,000 automobiles,” she said. “Berkeley should be the solar capital of the world.” 

Dean also addressed housing, which she said is the biggest problem Berkeley faces. She said she is committed to meeting the housing goals set for Berkeley by the Association of Bay Area Governments, which calls for the construction of 1,269 affordable housing units by 2006. 

Of those, 354 units would be for very-low-income tenants, 150 units for low income, 310 units for moderate income and 455 for “above moderate” income tenants. 

“This is why it is important to support the proposal to build housing over the air rights at the South Berkeley BART Station,” she said. “Teachers qualify as low and moderate income and should have a priority for this housing.” 

Dean indirectly addressed the homeless situation in Berkeley by referring to a letter written by a Berkeley woman who was described as a liberal, middle-income nurse who has worked with the homeless. The letter recounted an incident in Live Oak Park in which a cake, baked by a 10-year-old girl for a birthday party, was stolen from a picnic table by a person who was supposedly homeless. 

Dean quoted the letter as saying “My husband and I have to borrow money to pay the $5,000 per year property taxes to have (Berkeley) be the homeless, mentally-ill capital of California and send our daughter to a high school that looks like Beirut and has permanent substitutes.” 

Dean did not offer any specific solutions to the problem other than to refer to last year’s State of the City Address in which she said: “It’s time to create a city that provides the highest quality of life for every resident in all of our neighborhoods, a city that celebrates its diversity and efficiently, delivers a rich mix of services and activities that sets our community far above the ordinary.” 

She also discussed ongoing problems of violence at Berkeley High School. She spoke of a series of incidents in which students were beaten after cardboard boxes were put over their heads.  

She said she was in favor of increasing the number of uniformed security staff at the high school to 17 from the current 10.  

Dean also discussed other goals such as creating a “world class animal shelter,” the purchase of a hanging sculpture made from handguns confiscated by Bay Area police and the importance of retaining the Berkeley Symphony with an “one-time infusion of $120,000.” 

Thursday, May 3

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 

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 

Free Smoking Cessation Class  

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  

Six Thursday classes through  

May 17.  

Call 644-6422 to register and for location  

Disaster First Aid 

1 - 4 p.m.  

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 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 “Queer Midrash: Exploring Scripture.”  

654-5486 

Climbing Mt. Shasta 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

As a climbing ranger with the U.S. Forest Service, Dan Towner has spent nine seasons exploring Mt. Shasta. He will help to prepare for a safe and successful first climb of Shasta via the Avalanche Gulch route. Free  

527-4140 

Caregivers’ Support Group  

1 - 2:30 p.m.  

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes B & C 

350 Hawthorne Ave.  

Oakland 

Come learn about resources for caregivers of older loved ones. Free 

869-6737 

Power to the People  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley City Council Chambers 

2134 MLK Jr. Way  

A Town Hall meeting on taking control of our energy future.  

540-3660 

Small Schools, Past & Present  

7 - 9 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A panel of teachers and students from the 1970’s will discuss what small schools were like at Berkeley High, followed by questions from the audience.  

Call 644-4568 

Finding and Assessing  

Fixer-Uppers 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by contractor/fixer-upper Michael Hamman. $35, 525-7610 

Berkeley Special Education Parents Group 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Thousand Oaks School, Room 19 

1150 Virginia St. 

What to do when the school district does not comply with an IEP. Speaker Wendy Byrne, from Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund. 558-8933 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Planning and Development 

First Floor Conference Room 

2118 Milvia St. 

Among topics to be discussed is the air testing at Harrison Fields -- Chromium 6 sampling location and height question. 981-6900 

Rally Against Bush Tax-Cut 

1 p.m. 

Sproul Plaza 

UC Berkeley 

Activists, musicians, comedians. Nobel-Laureate economist Daniel McFadden will speak, among others. 

Housing Advisory Commission 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

7:30 p.m. 

Among topics to be covered, there will be discussion and action on proposed rental housing safety program requiring owner’s self-certification and city housing code and safety compliance inspections. Open to public. 981-5411 

Friday, May 4

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

50 Plus Fitness Class  

9:30 a.m. - Noon 

UC Berkeley (varied locations)  

A class for those 50 and over which introduces participants to an array of exercise options. Demonstration and practice will include strength training, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique, and more. Fridays through May 11.  

$10 per individual session 

Pre-register: 642-5461  

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 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration  

1 - 3 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center  

1900 Sixth St.  

Featuring Pepe Carrasco, “the man of a thousand voices,” Ruben Martin Rey De La Cancion Ranchera, Alan Sanchez Flores, Ballet Folklorico de Berkeley and more. Free  

644-6037 

International Conference 

Townsend Center 

220 Stephens Hall 

UC Berkeley 

11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

“Cosmopolititanism, Human Rights and Sovereignty in the New Europe” is the topic. Manual Castells of UC Berkeley will speak on “Identity-building as a Material Process: The Construction of the European Identity in a Global Context” at noon.643-5777 

Berkeley NAACP Youth Council 

African Methodist Episcopal Church 

2024 Ashby Ave. 

6 p.m. 

Fired Up! And Ready to Go! Mobilization Night. 710-0238 

Saturday, May 5

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. Visit www.cal-sailing.org  

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Tooth Man! 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Main Library  

2121 Allston Way  

Tooth Man, a.k.a. Matt Perry, returns by popular demand to fascinate children with his collection of teeth from animals large and small. 

649-3964 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. (at San Pablo)  

Author of Adam Dagliesh mysteries, P.D. James, and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. 

Call 415-664-9500 for reservations 

Free Hearing Screening 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes, A, B & C  

350 Hawthorne Ave.  

Oakland 

Health Access/LifeSpan and Self Help for the Hard of Hearing (SHHH) are co-sponsoring free hearing screenings in recognition of Better Hearing and Speech Month. Free  

869-6737  

Women’s Evening at the Movies  

7:30 - 10 p.m.  

Pacific Center  

2712 Telegraph Ave.  

Jennifer Tilly stars in “Bound,” as a mob man’s mistress who becomes lovers with a sexy handywoman. Join a great group of bi, lesbian, transgender and queer women to watch the flick and munch on junk food.  

$5 donation requested  

548-8283 or www.pacificcenter.org 

Owner as Contractor 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Legal aspects discussed by attorney Sterling Johnson. $75. 

525-7610 

Painting 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

“Tricks of the Trade” taught by painting contractor Scott Perry. $75. 

525-7610 

Framing Carpentry 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

First day of weekend hands-on workshop. Carpenter Rodney Kooyman leads instruction on building tool sheds, playhouses, etc. $180 for weekend. 

525-7610 

Mediterranean Herbs 

1:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens. 

643-1924 

Path Wanderers 

10 a.m. 

Remillard Park 

Keeler and Poppy Streets 

Help Berkeley Path Wanderers Association weed and put new chips on Keeler Avenue Path. Bring gloves, weeding tools, shovels, wheelbarrows if you have them. 

848-9358 

International Conference 

Townsend Center 

220 Stephens Hall 

UC Berkeley 

9 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. 

“Cosmopolititanism, Human Rights and Sovereignty in the New Europe” is the topic. Alain Touraine of the University of Paris will speak at noon addressing the question, “Is it Possible to Create a European Citizenship?”. Continued from Friday. Free and open to the public. 

643-5777 

Sunday, May 6

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 

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  

BAHA House Tour  

1 - 5 p.m.  

Live Oak Park  

Sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Tour will include the early work of architects Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck and Henry Gutterson.  

$25 - $32  

841-2242 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Open House  

3 - 5 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

A free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist culture including a Tibetan yoga demonstration, a talk on the relevance of Buddhism in today’s world, a prayer wheel and meditation garden tour. Free and open to the public.  

843-6812 

Faith, Doubt and Refuge 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

What does this mean in the Buddhist tradition? Talk by Sylvia Gretchen, dean of Nyingma Studies at the institute. Free and open to the public. 

843-6812 

Framing Carpentry. 

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Second day of weekend hands-on workshop. Carpenter Rodney Kooyman leads instruction on building tool sheds, playhouses, etc. $180 for weekend 

525-7610 

Solar Electricity in Your Home. 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar led by Gary Gerber, engineer for Sunlight and Power. $75 

525-7610 

Rhododendron Walk 

10 a.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

See more than 200 species. $3 admission. Limited space, call for reservation. 

643-2755 

Monday, May 7

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 

Words Hurt  

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Rabbi David Ordan will discuss the seriousness of gossip and it’s effects.  

$10  

848-0237 

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Summit Campus  

2450 Ashby Ave. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center 

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.  

869-8833 

It was a mother's worst nightmare. She went to wake her daughter to get up for school, but the child would not wake up. She was unconscious and unresponsive to her mother's panicked reaction. I happened to hear the cry of my West Berkeley neighbor and went out that morning to find out what the matter was. “My baby!” she cried. “Does anyone know CPR!” came the cry from a family immobilized by grief. 

Hearing the call, I rushed to the bedroom of the 9-year-old girl. I had taken a CPR class a decade ago and was certain I had forgotten everything I had learned. Still, I knew I had to do something. The girl was not moving or breathing. I turned her on her back and checked to see if she was choking on something. I couldn't find anything so I started blowing air into her lungs. Then I pushed my palms against her chest several times. I returned to blowing air into her lungs. 

Within minutes, a Berkeley police officer was in the room. We moved her off the mattress and onto the floor. He instructed me to continue blowing into her mouth. I did that until the paramedics arrived. 

The little girl was rushed to Children's Hospital where she died. The police told me that no one could have saved her. I had done the best I could.  

The suspected cause was meningitis. She had shown all the symptoms. Because I had been exposed to her saliva, I was at risk. I was told to go to the hospital to get treated. One of my housemates accidentally drank from my coffee cup that morning. We decided that we should both go for treatment. We were not taking any chances. 

At the hospital, we were informed that the risk of either of us getting meningitis was small. Of the two of us, I was at the greater risk. My mouth came into contact with the girl's saliva. We were reassured that we were only being treated as a precaution. The other members of our household did not need treatment. 

Nandi was a sweet, lovely girl. A couple of weeks ago, she and her sister came to my door, asking me to buy a raffle ticket to raise funds for Oxford school. Nandi attended Oxford. I bought one ticket from each of them. 

She was always kind and friendly to everyone in the neighborhood. And that is how I prefer to remember her; the energetic and always optimistic child, riding her bike down my sidewalk or running to my back yard for the ball that went over the back fence. During the hot, summer months, she had played with my daughter and cooled down over the lawn sprinkler in that same backyard. It was in that back yard that I heard the mother’s cry for help.  

Another one of my housemates is a school bus driver. She drove the Nandi to Oxford everyday. She had just returned from a field trip to Sacramento when she heard the news. She was devastated. 

Even though my attempt to save Nandi’s life was in vain, I would do it again without hesitation. It is better to take the risk and try than it is to do nothing and wonder later if that risk might have made a difference. If it had been a member of my family, I would want someone to take that risk to save a life. I hope that will never happen to anyone else's family. But it can happen, and it does. We all need to be prepared to answer the call when it does. My advice is if you have not taken a CPR class, do so. If you have CPR training, don’t be afraid to use it, no matter how long ago it was or how rusty your skills have become.  

Better yet, take a refresher course. I’m putting it on my agenda.

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership. All ages. May 4: Plan 9, Zodiac Killers, Reverend B. Dangerous Freakshow, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads, Knockoffs; May 5: Shikabane, Phobia, Harum Scarum, Vulgar Pigeons, Insidious Sorrow; May 11: Subincision, Next to Nothing, Fracus, Thrice, The Average Joe; May 12: The Sick, Impalid, Creuvo, Tearing Down Standards. 525-9926  

Ashkenaz May 3: 8:30 p.m. and May 4: 9:30 p.m. Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited from Zimbabwe.; May 5: 9:30 California Cajun Orchestra, 8:30 p.m. dance lesson; May 6: 7 p.m.: Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble; May 9: 9 p.m. Billy Dunn and Bluesway, 8 p.m. dance lesson 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Freight & Salvage All music at 8 p.m. May 3: Lorin Rowan Trio; May 4: Cris Williamson; May 5, 10 a.m. - Noon: West Coast Live with author P.D. James and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser; May 5: R. Crumb 7 The Cheap Suit Serenaders; May 6: Terry Riley, George Brooks & Gyan Riley; May 8: Duck Baker and Tim Sparks; May 9: Rosalie Sorrels and Terry Garthwaite; May 10: Richard Shindell; May 11: Steve Seskin, Angela Kaset and Don Henry; May 12, 10 a.m. - Noon: West Coast Live with authors Adair Lara and Janis Newman, and the Acoustic Guitar Summit guitar quartet 1111 Addison St. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. May 6: David Creamer Trio; May 13: Michael Zilber Group 2377 Shattuck Ave. 845-5373 or visit www.jazzschool.com 

Jupiter All shows at 8 p.m. May 3: Beatdown with DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; May 4: Stolen Bibles; May 5: J Dogs; May 8: The Rum Diary; May 9: Bitches Brew; May 10: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 11: Mood Food; May 12: Post Junk Trio; May 15: Chris Shot Group; May 16: Spank; May 17: Beatdown with DJ’s Delon, Yamu and Add1; May 18: Will Bernard and Motherbug; May 19: Solomon Grundy; May 22: Willy N’ Mo; 2181 Shattuck Ave 843-8277  

La Pena Cultural Center May 3, 8 p.m.: Third Eye Movement presents Deuce, Eclipse, Soul Sista Soul, Red Guard, Jahi, plus others; May 5, 9 p.m.: Chicano de Mayo Celebration dance with O-Maya, Yaksi, DJ Corazon & La Viuda Negra, plus poets Leticia Hernandez and Robert Karim 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org  

Cal Performances May 4 & 5, 8 p.m.: Merce Cunningham Dance Company presents “Way Station,” “BIPED,” and “Rainforest” $20 - $42 Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley; 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Live Oak Concert May 5, 7:30 p.m. Featuring Stephanie Pan, soprano, Mirta Wymerszberg, baroque flute, Karen Ande, viola de gamba, Meg Cotner, harpsichord performing the music of Vivaldi, Bach, Boismortier, and Ortiz. $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

“The Children’s Hour” May 5 & 12, 8 p.m. and May 13, 4 p.m. The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Arlene Sagan will perform Julian White’s piece along with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and selections from Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, poems of Robert Frost set to music. Free St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 Addison St. 528-2145  

Music & Dance of Bali May 5, 8 p.m. & May 6, 2 p.m. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Bay Area 45-member ensemble, will perform music and dance from Bali under the direction of Balinese guest artists I Made Subandi and Ni Ketut Arini. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 www.juliamorgan.org 

“Grease” May 5, 11, 12, 8 p.m. and May 6, 2 p.m. By Berkeley High Performing Arts Department. Rock-musical set in late 1950’s explores teen issues. A classic. $6 Little Theater Allston Way between MLK and Milvia 524-9754  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus Through 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 

“Death of a Salesman” Through May 5, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m. plus Thursday, May 3, 8 p.m. The ageless story of Willy Loman presented by an African-American cast and staged by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. $10 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 528-5620 

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 

“Slings and Arrows: love stories from Shakespearean tragedies” written and directed by Rebecca Goodberg and developed by the ensemble and “Blue Roses” conceptualized and directed by Christian Schneider. Discussions with the audience will follow each show. Thursday-Sunday, 7 p.m. through May 5. $10 La Val’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813  

Interplay Fest! May 4, 8 p.m. May 5, 3:30 - 8 p.m., May 6, 3 p.m. A full weekend of performances by Wing It! Performance Ensemble, Cultural InterPlay Ensemble, and the Art of InterPlay Ensemble. Weekend Pass: $15, Individual performances, $7 - $10 First Congregational Church of Berkeley 2345 Channing Way (at Dana) 814-9584 

The far side of the moon May 3 - 5, 8 p.m. May 5, 2 p.m. and May 6, 3 p.m. A solo performance by Canadian writer, actor and director Robert Lepage with an original score by Laurie Anderson. $30 - $46 Zellerbach Playhouse Bancroft at Dana UC Berkeley 642-9988  

San Francisco International Film Festival May 3: 7 p.m. Daresalam, 9:15 p.m. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors. All $9 Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-5249 

“A Ship with Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman” May 4: 7 p.m. The Stolen Airship, 9:10 p.m. A Jester’s Tale May 5: 7 p.m. Journey to the Beginning of Time, 8:35 p.m. The Treasure of Bird Island May 11: 7 p.m. Zeman Shorts, 8:55 p.m. The Fabulous World of Jules Verne May 12: 7 p.m. Baron Munchausen, 9:10 p.m. Kraba - The Sorcerer’s Apprentice May 13: 5:30 The Thousand and One Nights, 7:05 p.m. The Tale of John and Mary. Admission: $7 for one film, $8.50 for double bills. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412 

“Women’s Evening at the Movies” May 5, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Jennifer Tilly stars in “Bound,” as a mob man’s mistress who becomes lovers with a sexy handywoman. Join a great group of bi, lesbian, transgender and queer women to watch the flick and munch on junk food. $5 donation requested Pacific Center 2712 Telegraph Ave. 548-8283 or www.pacificcenter.org 

“Mirele Efros” May 13, 2 - 4:30 p.m. Jacob Gordin’s classic story set in turn-of the century Grodno. A classic study in family relations. Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 x127 

Cody’s Books 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted May 3: Several authors from the anthology “My Story...Life As A Teen Parent” will read; May 4: Doris Haddock will read from “Granny D: Walking Across America in My 90th Year” about her 3,200-mile journey across the country; May 8: Geling Yan reads “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” May 10: Ron Hansen talks about “A Stay Against Confusion; May 11: Terry Pratchett reads “Thief of Time”; May 12: Ike Oguine reads “A Squatter’s Tale”; May 14: Edie Meidav reads “The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon”  

‘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. May 3: Lucy Lang Day with host Dale Jensen; May 10: Jamie Kennedy with host Mischell Erickson; May 17: Gregory Listach Gayle with host Mark States; May 24: Stephanie Young with host Louis Cuneo; May 31: Connie Post with host Louis Cuneo Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

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

“New Draft Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA” May 9, 7 p.m. Take part in a discussion of this blueprint for fighting and winning a revolution in the United States. Revolution Books 2425C Channing Way 848-1196 

Paul Polansky and Voice of Roma May 10, 3 p.m. Polansky’s poetry gives voice to the Kosovo Roma and their plight in the aftermath of their plight in the aftermath of the 1999 war. Free Kroeber Hall Gifford Room Second Floor (at College and Bancroft in Anthropology Building) 981-1352 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike May 12, 6:30 p.m. An ongoing open mike series, featuring poet/artist Anca Hariton. Free Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 527-9753 

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  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour May 12: Debra Badhia will lead a tour of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Arts District; May 19: John Stansfield & Allen Stross will lead a tour of the School for the Deaf and Blind; June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181 

Lectures 

California Colloquium on Water Scholars of distinction in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, law and environmental design speak about water resources and hopefully contribute to informed decisions on water in California. May 8, 5:15 - 6:30 p.m.: “What Makes Water Wet?” Richard Saykally, professor of Chemistry, UC Berkeley (refreshments served in 410 O’Brien Hall at 4:15 p.m.) 212 O’Brien Hall, UC Berkeley 642-2666  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Free Lectures All lectures begin at 6 p.m. May 6: Sylvia Gretchen on “Faith, Doubt, and Refuge in Buddhist Practice”; May 13: Abbe Blum on “Tapping Into Creativity”; May 20: Miep Cooymans and Dan Jones on “Working with Awareness, Concentration, and Energy”; May 27: Eva Casey on “Getting Calm; Staying Clear”; June 3: Jack van der Meulen on “Healing Through Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga)”; June 10: Sylvia Gretchen on “Counteracting Negative Emotions” Tibetan Nyingma Institute 1815 Highland Place 843-6812 

“Hunting T. Rex” May 6, 2 p.m. A talk by Dr. Philip Currie, curator of dinosaurs, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. Currie asks the question: Was there social interaction amongst the Tyrannosaurs? $3 - $7 Lawrence Hall of Science UC Berkeley 642-5132 or visit www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Berkeley 1900 May 7, 7 p.m. Richard Schwartz, author of Berkeley 1900, a book about life at the turn of the 19th century, will speak at the Friends of Five Creeks’ monthly meeting. Albany Community Center (downstairs) 1249 Marin 848-9358 

Peopling of the Pacific May 11, 8 p.m. Dr. Patrick Kirch, department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, will review results of archaeological research in the Pacific Islands, providing a current overview of Oceanic prehistory. 370 Dwinelle Hall UC Berkeley 415-338-1537  

In a surprise move this week, Cal Chancellor Robert Berdahl announced he had hired crew coach Steve Gladstone to be athletics director of the university. 

The announcement came as a shock to nearly everyone other than Berdahl. Gladstone was never named as a candidate for the job, and was actually a member of the search committee that recommended interim AD Robert Driscoll for the position. 

But Berdahl said he wasn’t satisfied with the two final candidates, Driscoll and Vanderbilt associate AD Bradley Bates, who met with athletics department administrators and coaches last week. He decided to call Gladstone, who had turned down the opportunity to become a candidate early in the process. 

“In the course of our conversations, Steve talked about his vision for the athletics program,” Berdahl said. “The question arose, ‘You have such a compelling vision, why aren’t you a candidate?’” 

Gladstone was in Seattle this weekend to coach his top-ranked men’s team against Washington. Berdahl called him in his hotel room and offered him the job on the spot. He flew back on Sunday and spent the day with Berdahl before accepting the job. 

Gladstone said he changed his mind when he realized the effect he could have on the department. 

“Ultimately, what changed my mind was that significant change could be made,” he said. “Not structural changes, but attitudinal changes.” 

Most surprised, and disappointed, was Driscoll, who was considered the favorite right until the announcement. He has been with Cal for 14 years, and was former athletic director John Kasser’s No. 2 man. Driscoll left the building shortly before the announcement was made and did not attend the press conference. 

“To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement,” Driscoll said. “You compete and operate within a set of ground rules. That’s what you do, and then they don’t follow through with those rules, it’s disheartening.” 

When asked about his future with Cal, Driscoll was short. 

“I will continue to serve Cal athletics as I learn more about the chancellor’s new direction,” he said. 

Driscoll is reportedly in the running for the athletic director position at Harvard. He will continue to serve as Cal’s interim AD until Gladstone takes over on June 1. 

Berdahl said he was sorry the decision had to be painful for Driscoll. 

“He did a wonderful job as our interim athletics director, and he has served the campus well,” Berdahl said. “He has contributed so much. 

“But the decision was mine. I had to make it, and I made it. Steve is exactly the person I wanted.” 

Gladstone said he tried to contact Driscoll before the decision was announced, but was unsuccessful. He termed the events leading to his hiring as “beyond my control.” 

Gladstone’s main function will be as a fundraiser, as the renovation of Memorial Stadium will be on the top of his agenda. The funding for the project is still up in the air, but both Gladstone and Berdahl said the renovation is on schedule. Gladstone said he will continue to coach crew after taking over as AD. 

But both men mostly talked about vague “vision” and “values” for college athletics. 

“Without question, our goal is to create an environment in the department where our student-athletes can express their competitive desires and instincts in the most profound way,” Gladstone said. “There needs to be a very clear vision and support and respect in the work that the coaches are doing. I think small things make a huge difference. And when an individual, whether it be a coach, a student-athlete or an administrator, feels, for a lack of a better phrase, that empowerment, that respect, there is going to be greater effort, greater clarity in their endeavors.” 

Berdahl stressed that Gladstone’s success in his coaching career would help him on the new job. 

“Steve Gladstone is the person who can lead this very good program to the next level, to make it an exemplary championship program in every way,” Berdahl said. “He is a man who has a compelling vision of what athletic competition at the highest levels of achievement can mean in the lives of the young people we are seeking to educate. He is, at his core, an educator.” 

Berdahl also said rowing is a model for any team effort. 

“There’s probably not an athletic competition that requires more of a uniformity than crew,” he said. 

Gladstone, on the other hand, joked that he was making the move to help his teams get some respect. 

“This is the only way I will ever get more ink for crew,” he laughed. “This is my final ploy.” 

Gladstone will oversee a Cal athletics department that includes 27 Division I sports and 25 club teams. The department has a budget of $34 million with a staff of 200. 

Berdahl’s experiment has little precedent. Going from a crew coach to athletic director is unheard of at the major college level. Gladstone’s only administrative experience came at Brown, where he was acting AD for about a year.

Mayor Shirley Dean’s unveiling of a plan to construct a 500-space parking garage under Civic Center Park was barely unveiled before controversy erupted. 

No sooner had the mayor announced the plan, which had been kept tightly under wraps, than several placards denouncing the concept rose above the heads of about 100 people in the City Council Chambers Tuesday night. 

“This is a nightmarish vision for the heart of Berkeley,” said Councilmember Dona Spring on Wednesday. “I was aghast at the repeat of this whole  

scenario. This is an old idea that we dispensed with six years ago.” 

Rauly Butler, vice president of the Downtown Business Association was so inspired by the mayor’s announcement he showed his gratitude by giving her a kiss on the cheek after the speech.  

Butler said there are only three garages downtown, one will be closing and another has been deemed seismically unsafe. He said downtown businesses will suffer if no garages are built.  

“The adage that if you don’t build parking they won’t drive in. Not true,” Butler said. “If you don’t build parking, they won’t come.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he was so upset by the address overall that he began work Wednesday morning to present a People’s State of the City Address. 

“The mayor’s address is so unreflective of what’s really going on in Berkeley, I’ve decided to put together a team effort,” he said. “We’ll have representatives from the environmental, housing and disabled community who will put forth their vision for the city for the next 10 years.” 

Worthington said the $20 million proposal to build the garage under Civic Center Park was “outrageous.” 

“To divert millions and millions of dollars from important city programs to build a parking garage that will fill the coffers of downtown corporations is an unsound proposal.” 

Worthington said the People’s State of the City Address would likely be presented on May 29 or the following Tuesday, June 5. 

Support and strengthen the United Nations 

Editor: 

Mayor Brown’s rousting of undesireables from United Nations Plaza - a scant block from his office in City Hall - reminded me of the lovely day spent tabling on Earth Day in our own UN Plaza - MLK Jr Park. The sun was out for this communion of ideas and causes focused on the precarious stewardship of this limpid blue life-marble. 

The scouring of Brown’s grand promenade restored to the sight of passersby the granite emblem and dedication statement of an indispensible world body founded nearby at the Opera House, in the closing weeks of World War II. 

To put it bluntly: until that dreamy day when humanity develops an array of global institutions - the new International Criminal Court being a template - operating under a system of democratically-legislated, enforceable world laws that can assure an end to war and atrocity, the vigor of the biosphere, and restraint on other “globalities” such as the global economy and reach of multi-national corporations, the United Nations are just about the best friend Earth has.  

The current Administration isn’t, nor are its big-business palsies. 

The UN must be supported and appreciated, but also strengthened and enhanced as provided in Article 109 of the UN Charter. 

Phil Allen 

Berkeley 

Let’s clean up our own house 

Editor: 

Most of us here in Berkeley are appalled as the Bush administration caves-in to business interests, and rolls back environmental protection. Vice President Cheney throws up his hands and says conservation will never work, so we have to drill for more oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. 

Bad Bushies. But here in Berkeley, we're pure, right? 

Well, not all that pure.  

We just ripped up a bunch of trees downtown. 

We are dragging our feet about bus shelters.  

We think parking is more important than reducing congestion. It looks likely that the Oxford lot will have a huge parking garage.  

Local business interests seem to have watered down the part of the General Plan that tries to promote use of public transit, in order to reduce the need for more parking.  

Berkeley looks a lot like Bush when it comes to cutting back on car congestion.  

Our commissions and council cave-in to the business interests and call for more parking lots, instead of trying to be "transit first" (whatever happened to that resolution, anyway?) 

I’d like to see less Bush and more bus. 

Steve Geller 

Berkeley

SAN FRANCISCO – Behind outstanding pitching from freshman right-hander Brian Montalbo and a 17-hit attack, Cal powered past San Francisco, 12-1, Tuesday at Benedetti Diamond. 

The Bears improve to 27-22 overall, while the Dons, who had won 12-straight home games, fall to 24-23. 

Montalbo improved his record to 4-0 by pitching six innings with only one hit, no runs, three walks and four strikeouts. He had a no-hitter going until USF’s Jason Heise got a single on a bad-hop grounder that hit the Bears shortstop Jeff Dragicevich in the head in the sixth inning. The Dons got only three hits on the day, getting their lone run on a solo home run by Jeramy Janz in the seventh inning. 

Clint Hoover got Cal on the scoreboard with a solo home run in the second inning off of USF starter David Seccombe (3-3) and sophomore Brent Cook had a two-run homer in the eighth inning. 

Offensively, sophomore Ben Conley and senior Rob Meyer had four hits apiece. Sophomore Brad Smith went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI and junior Carson White was 1-for-2 with a two-run double and a sacrifice fly. White has now extended his hitting streak to 18-games.  

The Bears will next travel to UCLA for a three-game Pac-10 series, beginning Friday at 6 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Students sound off on taking statewide exams 

As Berkeley’s K-11 students diligently fill in bubbles on the statewide standardized test forms this week, administrators are doing what they can to ensure students stay calm and give the tests their best effort. 

“We try to create a relaxed atmosphere,” said Thousand Oaks Primary School Principal Kevin Wooldridge. “The test is enough stress as it is.” 

In general, homework is out during testing weeks and instructional games, movies, and fun stuff are in.  

“We don’t get any real school work,” said Willard Middle School eighth grader Stephanie Stephens Wednesday. 

Part of California’s Standardized Testing and Reporting (Star) Program, the tests will help determine schools’ statewide rankings. The results will also give individual school sites a breakdown of how well their students are doing in each subject area, at each grade level. 

While students’ individual results should be reported within about 20 working days from the time all the tests are handed in, scores broken down by grade level, school, district, city, county and so forth don’t have to be posted until Aug. 15.  

Individual results are confidential, but group breakdowns will be posted on the California Department of Education’s Web site.  

One of the greatest difficulties of the standardized tests, which take a total of between seven and eight hours to complete depending on the grade level, is the simple fact that students don’t know what they will be tested on in advance, Wooldridge said. 

“If a fifth-grader has a math test on Friday, then he knows exactly what he needs to study for,” Wooldridge said. 

Standardized tests are held under the strictest secrecy until the moment when a proctor plops them in front of the student clutching his No. 2 pencil. 

Berkeley Unified School District Interim Superintendent Stephen Goldstone has sent a letter home to all Berkeley parents explaining the importance of the standardized tests, but also encouraging both parents and students not to become stressed out. 

“Goldstone has really had a focus on student achievement and encouraged us not to have testing be a chore,” said John Muir Primary School Principal Nancy D. Waters. 

The district has also provided all elementary students with a complimentary organic breakfast this week – delivered right to their testing classrooms – to help boost their energy levels. 

Waters said the test can be particularly hard on the second graders, who are taking standardized tests for the first time and aren’t used to staying focused on one test for up to 55 minutes. 

“It’s really tough on those little guys,” Waters said. “We let them know that they (should) just do their best and everything will be cool.” 

Waters said John Muir teachers have helped their students practice for the tests, using practice materials that help kids become accustomed to the multiple choice format. 

Wooldridge said Wednesday that his students seem to be holding up well so far, halfway through the second day of testing. But he said the tests could begin to weigh on some before the experience is over. 

“Some kids do get stressed, and others just kind of take it in stride,” he said. “It has a lot to do with the personality of the kid.” 

Students typically test for about an hour and a half each morning, so the tests are spread out across six or seven school days. At John Muir, the staff decided to test Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for two weeks in a row.  

“Research shows that Mondays and Fridays aren’t the best test days,” Waters said. 

At a time when a number of teachers and parents say standardized tests are little more than a waste of time, Waters said the tests do provide valuable data to help her tweak her curriculum and better meet student needs. Still, she said, they are one assessment of many and should not be overemphasized. 

“It can really help us in knowing how to prepare the curriculum,” Waters said. “But at the same time it is just one measurement – and some students don’t test well.” 

Willard Middle School Principal Gail Hojo said the tests, while not ideal, are the only means for administrators to see how well their students are learning the new statewide academic standards. 

Hojo said taking standardized tests is a part of life that students need to be prepared for as early as possible. 

“Standardized tests may be considered a necessary evil right now,” Hojo said, pointing to the fact that student scores on such tests are studied carefully by college admissions offices and corporate personnel offices around the country. “Right now in our society it is a way that we use to assess if a person is qualified.”  

After they finished their first day of testing Wednesday (Tuesday’s test had to be postponed due to a shortage of proctors), Willard students expressed a mix of bravado and indifference. 

“I was expecting it to be harder,” said Willard Middle School eighth grader Melondy Bell. “They made it sound harder when they were giving instructions.” 

“I really don’t care” said Willard eighth grader Stephanie Stephens. “It doesn’t affect me getting into college or high school or anything.” 

Still, Stephens said she couldn’t blow the tests off completely, since her mom takes the results seriously. 

“She wants to see how I’m progressing,” she said. 

The California men’s soccer team was blanked by the San Jose Earthquakes, 6-0, Tuesday afternoon in an exhibition at Golden Bear Soccer Field.  

“Today’s game was a great opportunity for our players to play against some of the country’s top players,” said Cal head coach Kevin Grimes. “I told the players after the game this was the best possible training they could get to play against professional players.”  

The Golden Bears trailed only 1-0 at the half with San Jose forward Dwayne DeRosario accounting for the only goal.  

The Quakes’ Landon Donovan entered the game in the second half and proceeded to score his team’s next three goals. DeRosario capped the scoring by adding two more goals of his own.  

“There’s no shame in having two great players like Donovan and DeRosario score hat tricks against you,” said Grimes. “These two players are as good a striker as you’re going to see in MLS.” 

“After the game, our players were happy and proud of the way they played. They would love to play the Earthquakes on a continual basis.”

A 9-year-old girl who died Tuesday morning of bacterial meningitis set off a rapid community response from city health and school officials, who hoped to prevent the spread of both the disease and the rumors it engendered. 

For Tom Yamaguchi, the neighbor who unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate the child using CPR, Nambi Phelps was much more than the victim of a ruthless disease. She was “a sweet, lovely girl,” he said. 

“She was always kind and friendly to everyone in the neighborhood,” Yamaguchi wrote in a letter to the Daily Planet (see Forum, p. 4). “And that is how I prefer to remember her; the energetic and always optimistic child, riding her bike down my sidewalk or running to my back yard for the ball that went over the back fence. During the hot, summer months, she had played with my daughter and cooled down over the lawn sprinkler in that same back yard.” 

Responding to the child’s death by meningococcal meningitis, city and school district officials hosted an informational meeting for parents Wednesday evening at Oxford School, the kindergarten through fifth-grade primary school Nambi attended. And they informed the public, through the press, about the nature of the disease. 

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Interim School Superintendent Steve Goldstone also talked about what the district was doing to help Nambi’s classmates through their grieving. At the beginning of the school day on Wednesday, the students came together in an assembly where the principal explained what happened. She wanted to make sure the children understood that “school is a safe place for them,” Goldstone said.  

“During the day the children participated in making a memorial of artwork to express their love and loss,” he said. 

City officials repeated what they told the press Tuesday, explaining how difficult it is for the disease to spread. 

City Health Officer Dr. Poki Namkung stressed that transmission of the bacteria is limited to “direct contact with a person’s bodily fluids,” during activities such as drinking from the same cup, sharing utensils or kissing. “Meningitis cannot live outside the body. You can’t get it from a drinking fountain,” she said. 

Still, as Goldstone confirmed, the children at Oxford School had been given bottled water to drink on Wednesday. “The bottled water was provided by a parent,” Goldstone said. “It may not have been medically necessary.” 

Because the disease is not easily transmittable, health officials are counseling parents to have their children take a prophylactic medication, an antibiotic the school is offering, only if the child might have been in very close contact with the deceased girl. Oxford School will hold a clinic to dispense the medication on Thursday and Friday.  

Children must have parental permission to get the medication. The health officer said the district is targeting children in Nambi’s school class and after-school class. Others who request the medication will be assessed and counseled by health officials. The medication can have negative side effects and overuse of antibiotics is not recommended, Namkung said. However, no parents who want the medicine for their children will be denied, she added, 

Namkung addressed the question of two Berkeley High School students on the rowing team who had come down with meningitis within the last month. She underscored that they had viral and not bacterial meningitis and therefore the cases could not be related. “There is no direct linkage between the three cases,” she said. “The girls had viral meningitis. It’s very different.” 

Health officials are monitoring the two other children in the family, she added, asking the media not to contact the grieving family. “They are in shock,” Namkung said. 

A hotline at 981-CITY (981-2489) will be available to those with questions on Wednesday. The city’s Web site also has information at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/news/meningitisFAQ.html. 

Panthers sign letters of intent 

Two St. Mary’s track & field seniors have signed letters of intent to universities. Sprinter and triple jumper Asokah Muhammed will head to Arizona State in the fall, while runner Shameka Savage will attend Sacramento State. Hurdler Halihl Guy is expected to make his decision for next year in the coming weeks. 

Lampley looks to impress at camp 

Sean Lampley, Cal’s all-time leading scorer and the 2001 Pac-10 Player of the Year, takes what he hopes to be the next step toward an NBA career this week at the Nike Desert Classic in Phoenix.  

Lampley, a 6-7, 225-pound forward, is one of 42 NBA hopefuls participating in the weeklong sessions at Wells Fargo Arena. The players are divided into four teams and will perform in front of more than 100 scouts in both individual drills and game competition.  

Not everyone eligible for the June 27 draft will be on the court in Phoenix. Players such as Duke’s Shane Battier and Arizona’s Loren Woods, who are expected to be high first round selections, as well as college undergraduates and high school seniors who have declared for the draft, are not participating.

Are you wondering about those two men you saw plunging through the giant plate glass window of north Berkeley’s famous Cheese Board Pizza Wednesday morning? 

No, that was not the carefully choreographed violence of a Hollywood film crew.  

During the morning rush for coffee and pastries at The Cheese Board, right next-door to Cheese Board Pizza, two “mental midgets” got into a shouting match over the last free chair around the restaurant’s sidewalk tables, said Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes. 

A number of muffled obscenities later, the shouting escalated to pushing, and both men fell through the window into the Pizza Board, which was not yet open for business. 

As if borrowing one Hollywood cliché were not enough, both men walked away from the incident with nothing worse than minor cuts, Lopes said. 

“They could have been sliced to ribbons,” Lopes said.  

“All that glass up top has got to come down, (and) it comes down like a guillotine.” 

Yeshi Tenzin, a member of the collective that owns The Cheese Board and Cheese Board Pizza, estimated that the window was about 15 feet high and 10 feet wide. He said it could cost $1,500 or more to replace. 

The Cheese Board proprietors decided not to press charges against the two men. 

“They were our customers,” Tenzin said. “They just did a stupid thing.” 

Besides, said Tenzin, (Wednesday) was a beautiful day for open air dining.  

“It’s really fun to have that open,” he said. “I’m sure the customers had a good time.”

LOS ANGELES — A shooting suspect hijacked a transit bus Wednesday and held a gun to the driver’s head as police chased the bus through downtown until it crashed into a minivan. The van’s driver was killed and seven people were injured, police said. 

Officers shot at the suspect as he fled the bus and quickly took him into custody as he attempted to carjack a sedan. He was taken to a hospital but it was not immediately clear whether he was shot or injured some other way. 

The pursuit through more than a dozen city blocks ended with the bus broadsiding the minivan at an intersection and pushing it violently into a parked United Parcel Service van. The bus veered onto a sidewalk and into more than a dozen cars in a parking lot. The bus driver, the five passengers on the bus and the UPS driver were injured. The minivan driver was a woman in her 30s, police said. 

The five-minute chase began after police detectives heard gunfire and saw a man running with a gun on Eighth Street near Columbia Avenue about 4:20 p.m., said Officer Jason Lee. 

The suspect had allegedly just shot a man, said Sgt. John Pasquariello. 

Detectives attempted to arrest the man, but he got onto the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus, apparently at a bus stop, Lee said. 

Police said the suspect held a semiautomatic handgun to the driver’s head and forced her to drive. “With a gun to her head, it was clear the driver was scared. She was doing whatever she could to stay alive,” Pasquariello said. 

Two witnesses said they followed the pursuit in their car and saw the suspect with his arm clenched around the driver’s neck. “It was like they were filming a movie,” said one of the witnesses, Wilma Jackson. 

Another witness, Rolando Hernandez Gandara, 21, said he watched as the bus plowed into the parking lot and packages scattered from the rear-ended UPS truck. Packages of flour burst and left a white trail along the sidewalk. “It kept going, like an earthquake, it just kept going,” Gandara said. “There was stuff flying everywhere.” 

The bus driver, 48-year-old Ema Gutierrez of Los Angeles, was taken to County-USC Medical Center with a broken nose, a broken collarbone and possibly a broken right knee, said MTA spokesman Jose Ubaldo said. She was in serious condition. 

The UPS driver, a 32-year-old man, was in stable condition at California Hospital Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Sylvia Robledo said. He complained of a headache and abrasions.  

VALLEJO — Curtis Dean Anderson was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old Vallejo girl who testified that Anderson forced her to drink alcohol before he assaulted her last August. 

Jurors found Anderson, 40, guilty on all the counts he faced – kidnapping and 10 sex-related charges. He could face life in prison when he is sentenced July 12. 

“I hope he does himself a favor and hangs himself in jail,” the girl’s mother said after the verdict was read. 

The girl, whose name is not being used because of the nature of the crime, claimed Anderson kidnapped her on her way home from school last summer, and kept her locked inside his car for 44 hours while he repeatedly sexually assaulted her. 

The girl testified in person last week, and jurors were shown a videotaped interview with the girl made shortly after her escape. 

She said Anderson made her drink alcohol that made her feel “dizzy.” She said he told her to French kiss him, but she didn’t know what he meant. 

She also said on the tape that he made her take off her clothes so he could touch her. She said she lost count of how many times he touched her, and that he was acting mean, wasn’t talking much and was breathing heavily. 

Prosecutor Donna Stashyn pointed a finger at Anderson during her closing argument and called him a “perverse predator” who tortured the third grader. 

Anderson’s lawyer, Carl Spieckerman, asked jurors not to assume the young victim was telling the truth and pointed to a lack of fingerprints or other evidence. 

After the verdict, Spieckerman said he knew after seeing the videotape that Anderson was going to be convicted. 

“Everybody knew it was going to be a bad verdict and he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison,” he said. “There were some things that you knew happened, so there was never any question they would convict him of a lot of stuff and that was going to add up to a lot of years.” 

On Tuesday, Judge Allan P. Carter dismissed the jury foreman after an off-duty police officer reported to the prosecutor that the man had talked about the case. 

The foreman had been exercising at a health club when he told friends he had been appointed foreman and that the trial “had become a zoo,” the (Fairfield) Daily Republic reported. 

The officer is married to a district attorney investigator who has spent the past several months working closely with the young girl’s family. 

“He violated the admonition about talking about the case,” Defense attorney Carl Spieckerman said. “He didn’t say anything bad or improper, it was just the fact that he did discuss the case with someone outside the jury. That’s what the rules are, and we’ve got to stick pretty close to them.” 

The Solano County jury, made up of five women and seven men, deliberated for about two hours Monday, then for about another hour Tuesday before the foreman was dismissed. 

An alternate juror, also a man, was called to the courthouse and deliberations began again from scratch. That alternate juror sat in the courtroom during the entire trial and heard the case. 

Gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles would have to meet the same federal mileage standard as passenger cars under a bill introduced in the Senate. 

A loophole allows light trucks – including SUVs, pickups and minivans – to get lower mileage than cars. The bill introduced Tuesday by Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would require those vehicles to get 27.5 miles per gallon, 6.8 miles per gallon more than the current standard. 

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, co-sponsored the measure. 

Snowe and Feinstein say the 1975 loophole in the standards, called CAFE – for corporate average fuel economy – was created at time when light trucks were used primarily for agriculture and commerce. Last year, light trucks made up half of all vehicles sold last year. 

“Everybody talks about drilling in the Arctic. Here is a step that we could take almost immediately that would have an enormous impact over the next few years,” Snowe said. 

The car industry says modest gains in mileage are possible, but that light trucks will never match the mileage of cars because they are heavier and built to carry heavier loads. Other conservation proposals include a measure by Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that would couple higher mileage standards with increased oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and a new natural gas pipeline across Alaska. 

Snowe and Feinstein said their bill could move on its own or be folded into broader energy legislation.

It may be a bit early to announce a verdict, but today’s New Economy of computers, the Internet and telecommunications devices not even imagined a century ago may not measure up. 

Measure up to what? Well, to the very old economy, the turn-of-the-century economy of 100 years ago. Now that, according to an economic working paper, was really something. 

Economist Robert Gordon suggests that the great inventions of 1860 to 1900 had a more pronounced effect on productivity and living standards – and for many more years – than our much acclaimed New Economy of today. 

In fact, says Gordon, whose analysis is described in a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, our modern inventions pale when compared to the great inventions leading to the first New Economy. 

Those inventions – electricity, internal combustion engine,chemical and pharmaceutical industries, entertainment-information-communications industries and urban sanitation – really did change the world. 

Together, they accounted for much of the upsurge in productivity from 1913 to 1972, and they had a more personal impact on lives. 

In 1882, he points out, only 2 percent of New York City houses had water connections.  

Equally bad, many workers tolerated industrial working conditions worse than those in today’s sweatshops in underdeveloped countries.  

Accidents and disease were common, and life spans were abbreviated. 

Citing the impact of just one invention or discovery, he describes how electricity led to creative new manufacturing processes, improved working conditions and a generation of appliances that reduced manual labor. 

It led to refrigeration and reduced food spoilage, and through the development of air conditioning was catalytic in economic development of the South. And, of course, it greatly reduced stair climbing. 

For years, he says, researchers sought to explain a post-1913 surge in productivity growth, a “big wave” that lasted until the beginning of the 1970s.  

Primary attention, he writes, must be paid to the great inventions. 

By comparison, he writes, the latest surge in long-term productivity gains are incremental compared to the cluster of inventions before and after 1900. 

Moreover, he states that recent productivity gains are largely confined to durable manufacturing, including the making of computers and semiconductors, a sector that comprises just 12 percent of the economy. 

His central theme, he says, “is that computers and the Internet do not measure up to the Great Inventions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.” 

Developing the thought, he adds that in this respect, the latest inventions “do not merit the label of ’Industrial Revolution.’ ” 

Yes, say those who defend the honor and reputation of today’s new economy, but you haven’t seen anything yet. It took a century for the full effects of the earlier inventions to be felt. We’ve got a century to go. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Millions of dollars in missing grant money, shoddy bookkeeping and poor management are at the center of an FBI investigation into San Francisco schools focusing on the mishandling of federal grants and bond funds. 

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said Monday that the school district asked authorities last week to investigate whether former employees violated laws. That request came after a review of the San Francisco Unified School District’s accounting and expenditure practices. 

The review, completed by the Andersen accounting and consulting firm, reveals years of inadequate documentation in several areas, including $27 million in bond money used for unauthorized projects and salary payments. 

The review highlights a district in disarray inherited last year by Ackerman, who was hailed for her work in turning around the troubled schools in the District of Columbia. 

Ackerman has her work cut out for her once again. 

“In 32 years of experience, there were some practices that for me were absolute firsts,” Ackerman said. “Any time there are appearances of mishandling of funds that should be used for our children it’s, for me, inexcusable.” 

The review, commissioned by the city’s Board of Education, focused heavily on district practices regarding facilities and management. The findings were based on interviews with district personnel and document reviews. 

The FBI is looking at whether the district improperly requested a $48 million federal technology grant and mishandled a $32 million energy-saving contract awarded to North Carolina-based Strategic Resource Solutions in 1998. 

The review found it was unclear when the company’s computer systems were compatible with the district’s network or if the software to support such a system met with district requirements. 

Ackerman acknowledged that one troubling aspect in investigating the SRS Energy Management System grant is that many documents relating to the grant and the contract are missing. 

The application for the $48 million technology grant failed to follow standards and the financial implications were not investigated thoroughly, the review found. The grant was approved for the district by the U.S. Department of Education, but Ackerman refused to accept it. 

Other reported misdeeds involved funds regularly shifted between accounts without proper authorization, and the use of 1997 Proposition A and 1990 Proposition B funds to pay some salaries, overhead and projects unrelated to Proposition A. 

The two propositions were bond issues passed by San Francisco voters to build new schools and make health and safety improvements on existing campuses. 

The review also discovered that district staff could account for only $14.9 million of the $29 million in Leroy Greene Funds received since 1996.  

District officials don’t believe the money was stolen, only that it was so poorly accounted for that a document trail is difficult to find. 

Leroy Greene Funds are monies set aside to improve schools throughout the state. The fund is named after a former California state senator. 

“There has been a very significant lack of documentation, partially caused by the fact that in the facilities department they had a stand-alone bookkeeping system that didn’t integrate or reconcile with the accounting records that were maintained in the accounting department,” said Cathi Vogel, the district’s chief financial officer. 

Ackerman and city attorney Louise Renne, both cooperating fully with the FBI, did not rule out that there could be arrests as investigations into the work of current and former district personnel continue. 

“I think that there were suspicions early on and there are several ongoing investigations that are now in the city attorney’s office,” Ackerman said. 

Dan Kelly, vice president of the Board of Education, said he’s had grave concerns about the district’s fiscal responsibility for years.  

Many contracts were awarded without board approval, often going to less-than-qualified bidders for “whimsical and arbitrary reasons,” Kelly said. 

“I’m very saddened, but I’m not shocked or surprised. This is exactly the kind of activity that some of us thought was going on,” Kelly said. 

According to the review, many of the breakdowns in management and accounting performance came during the tenure of Bill Rojas, the superintendent Ackerman replaced. 

Rojas left San Francisco schools to serve as superintendent at the Dallas Independent School District. But he was fired after 11 months there for failing to maintain good relations with the school board in Dallas. 

Andersen recommended the district establish new policies for real estate acquisitions, clarify the existing computer network and hire new qualified staff to address many of the shortcomings listed in its review.

SAN JOSE — The NAACP asked San Jose police Monday to put video cameras in squad cars and increase sensitivity training for officers after the president of the group’s Silicon Valley chapter said he was treated rudely while being questioned. 

Rick Callender said his encounter with police on April 24 showed that some officers deal with minorities more harshly. He said his branch of the civil rights organization has received more than 20 complaints about San Jose police behavior in the last three months. 

“We don’t need another Cincinnati here,” Callender said, referring to the riots that erupted there after a white officer fatally shot a young black man last month. “We need to get a hold of all the issues before they occur. I don’t want to see someone’s insensitivity leading to anyone getting hurt.” 

Separately Monday, the city’s independent police auditor said in her annual report the department “has made significant gains in public trust and customer satisfaction.” Two-thirds of San Jose residents who have had contact with police believe the department is fair, the audit said. 

Less than 4 percent of the 895,000 people in San Jose are black, according to the 2000 census. Thirty-six percent are non-Hispanic whites, 30 percent are Hispanic and 27 percent are Asian. 

San Jose police were among the first in the country to voluntarily compile racial data about traffic stops.  

The new audit said police should expand the information they collect, to include how stopped drivers were treated and whether they were searched. 

Callender also asked police to make that change, besides putting cameras in cars and increasing sensitivity training. 

Spokesman Rubens Dalaison said the police department is increasing the capacity of its computers so more traffic-stop data can be collected.  

He said sensitivity training is such a high priority that Chief William Landsdowne teaches it himself every year. 

Dalaison also said San Jose police have experimented with cameras in squad cars and are trying to figure out whether they would be worth the cost – $3,000 to $4,000 for each of the 360 cars in the fleet. 

Callender was stopped as he and Rod Diridon Jr., a white Santa Clara city councilman, were walking to their cars after having dinner downtown. Police were looking for a black man who had stolen a wallet from a nearby apartment. 

Callender said one white officer politely explained the situation. But he said two others – one white and one Callender believes is Hispanic – were “rude and unprofessional” and “tried to be intimidating,” allegedly referring to another black man being questioned across the street as “your friend over there.” 

Callender said he got the impression he would be arrested if he asked too many questions about why he was being stopped. 

When asked whether he could confirm Callender’s account, Diridon said he would leave the details to Callender.  

But the councilman said “it was interesting to see how a skilled, well-spoken police officer can do a lot to defuse a situation, and how somebody who’s not so skilled can be pretty abrasive.” 

Callender’s complaint is being investigated, Dalaison said. 

On the Net: 

http://www.naacp.org 

http://www.sjpd.org

Power plants to work overtime this summer 

LOS ANGELES – Power plants working overtime to help the state avoid rolling blackouts this summer will deliver a blow to California’s clean-air efforts. 

The increased emissions come despite last-minute projects at several plants to install pollution-cutting equipment. 

The power crunch is sullying the nation’s worst air on several levels: Big generators are exceeding their limits; smaller “peaker plants” are adding to the haze; and emergency diesel generators are quickly rising in number and in hours of operation. Kilowatt per kilowatt, those generators are 200 times dirtier than the cleanest natural gas plants. 

After this summer, however, the power crunch ultimately could result in cleaner air. Overpolluting power companies will have to compensate with improved emission controls and pay fees that will be used to cut pollutants from other sources. 

“There will be higher (pollution) levels this summer, but they will be lower for some time to come,” said Michael Scheible, deputy executive officer for the California Air Resources Board. 

The board expects the state’s major power plants to be about a third cleaner this summer than they were a year ago. But they’ll pollute more because they’ll run more often to compensate for the loss of electricity that California normally would have imported from out of state. 

A drop in hydroelectric power from the Pacific Northwest and the faltering credit of investor-owned utilities have been blamed for the shortfall. 

The increases might not add noticeably to hazy skylines because power plants have been responsible for only about 3 percent of the oxides of nitrogen in the state’s air. Vehicles account for more than half. 

But the emissions are a setback for state and regional agencies that have prided themselves on blazing a pollution-fighting trail for the nation. 

Oxides of nitrogen are a key component of smog, which causes and aggravates breathing problems. 

Diesel engines, a major producer of that pollutant and toxic soot, are increasingly being enlisted as stopgap power-providers amid forecasts of a summer filled with temporary outages. 

The number of applications for diesel backup generators in the South Coast Air Quality Management District has roughly doubled to about 250 so far this year, district spokesman Sam Atwood said. 

But there likely are hundreds more generators popping up. Applications are required only when a generator would be near a school or power plant. 

Bob Graydon, president and chief executive officer of MQ Power, a Carson manufacturer and distributor of diesel generators, said sales of the company’s larger units — 400 kilowatts or more — are up 40 to 50 percent so far this year. 

The state also is pushing mid-size “peaker plants” as a buffer against blackouts by allowing them to be approved on a fast-track schedule. The plants will run during times of peak energy use. 

Those natural gas plants ultimately will have to use the least-polluting technology but don’t have to do so in the short term. 

“These things are horrible,” said Mike Thomas, a representative of Communities for a Better Environment who lives near San Francisco’s Portero power plant, where three 52-megawatt peaker plants are running at full capacity because of the power crisis. “These peakers, they burn like jet fuel.” 

Major power plants, meanwhile, are lowering emissions by 90 percent or more through a process called selective catalytic reduction — in which exhaust injected with ammonia is routed through a catalytic converter. 

More than half of the 24,000 megawatts California generates through large natural gas-fired plants this summer will come from plants equipped with catalytic reduction, said Scheible, of the Air Resources Board. That’s more than double the amount of lower-polluting power the state had last year, he said. 

The equipment has been available for years, but Southern California power plant operators were able to delay making the improvements under a South Coast Air Quality Management District program. Called RECLAIM, the program allows power plants and other polluters to sell “credits” — emissions capacity they don’t use — to other companies that need them. 

When the program began in 1994, credit allocations were set high enough that power plant emissions didn’t begin to approach regulators’ steadily shrinking limits until the late 1990s. Power plant pollution levels changed little from 1995 until the 1999-2000 fiscal year, when they jumped 20 percent. 

“There wasn’t the financial driver to install the controls,” said Ed Blackford, site manager for a Huntington Beach power plant owned by AES. 

He said the company planned improvements for “a time that it would become economically justified, but that period last year went by in a heartbeat.” 

When the power supply grew tighter last summer, power plant operators had to use their most polluting facilities more often, just as the supply of pollution credits for power plants started dipping below the levels the facilities had been using. 

That sent pollution credit prices from less than $1 per pound to more than $50. It also meant some power providers have greatly exceeded their emission limits. 

In the first quarter of 2001, power plants emitted more than twice as much oxides of nitrogen as they did for the same period in 2000. 

Under emergency revisions that could become permanent this month, power plants could exceed emission limits if they pay the district $7.50 per pound of extra pollution and agree to quickly install pollution controls. 

The district estimates that will bring $50 million in fees — money that will be used for other emission-reduction efforts, including a program to pay for school buses that run on natural gas.

BERKELEY — Six years after capturing the national spotlight by dropping affirmative action admissions, University of California regents are poised to revisit the contentious topic. 

At issue are new policies that would replace the 1995 resolutions that effectively dismantled UC’s old affirmative action system. 

Regents can’t reinstate affirmative action because of Proposition 209, the 1996 state ballot measure that prohibited using race or gender as factors in state hiring, contracting or education. 

But supporters say approving the new policies, scheduled for a vote later this month, would send an important message to minorities. 

“We hopefully repair our reputation worldwide,” said Regent Bill Bagley.  

“Obviously, this doesn’t effect the return of affirmative action. But it certainly tells all of the academic world and all of the qualified minorities that the board of regents of this university is no longer the sponsor of this divisive movement.” 

The 1995 resolutions forbade considering race or gender in hiring, contracting or admissions at UC.  

They also decreed that at least 50 percent of all admissions be based on grades alone – up from the previous minimum of 40 percent – and included a statement committing the university to promoting diversity by, among other things, considering students’ individual hardships. 

The diversity statement has become the basis for a multimillion-dollar program aimed at getting more California public school students interested in and qualified for UC. 

The new policies would affirm the diversity commitment, note that Proposition 209 does away with the need for a separate UC policy on race and refer the question of how many students should be admitted by grades alone to a faculty committee for review. 

After race-blind admissions went into effect in 1998, admissions of blacks and Hispanics, traditionally underrepresented at UC, fell sharply.  

At flagship Berkeley, admission of black students dropped nearly 70 percent, from 515 in fall 1997 to 157 in fall 1998. 

Since then, the numbers have increased.  

Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians comprised 18.6 percent of in-state freshman admissions at all eight undergraduate campuses this fall, compared to 18.8 percent in 1997. 

Still, underrepresented minorities have yet to reach 1997 levels at the most competitive campuses. 

Repealing the 1995 vote would “reassert UC’s commitment to welcoming students from all backgrounds,” Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, an ex-officio regent, said in remarks prepared for a speech at UC Davis last month.  

“It would remove the UC as the ’poster child’ for the anti-affirmative action movement on America’s college campuses.” 

Regent Ward Connerly, who wrote the 1995 resolutions, did not return a telephone call to The Associated Press on Friday. 

The 1995 policies passed 15-10 on hiring and contracting and 14-10 on admissions (Bagley abstained from the admissions vote in return for getting the diversity statement added as an amendment). 

Since then the political makeup of the board has changed as members finished their terms and were replaced by the state’s new Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. 

Davis’ predecessor, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, an ex-officio regent, presided over the July 1995 vote.  

Wilson made repealing affirmative action a cornerstone of his brief run at the Republican presidential nomination. 

Davis, who was the state’s lieutenant governor in 1995 and therefore also an ex-officio regent, voted against dropping affirmative action. As governor, he has said he won’t go against Proposition 209; a spokeswoman said Friday he is reviewing the new proposal.

SAN FRANCISCO — About 1.5 million California seniors covered by Medicare-contracted HMOs got a legal boost Thursday from the state’s highest court, which ruled they can sue their health maintenance organizations for damages. 

California seniors became stuck in a legal limbo in 1998, when a lower court ruled that the disabled and those 65 and older enrolled in a Medicare HMO only could pursue federal administrative claims to get the services they alleged were withheld. 

Legal experts said the 1998 decision was the nation’s only such ruling, which affected California seniors and the disabled who contracted their Medicare benefits to an HMO. 

“This brings California in line with all of the federal courts and the rest of the country,” said Carol S. Jimenez, a Los Alamitos lawyer representing the wife of a deceased Costa Mesa man whose attorneys claimed he was denied a lung transplant for cost reasons. Ruling 5-2, the court said seniors and the disabled on Medicare can sue their HMO in California courts for damages on allegations of injuries sustained because of a lack of care. Those damages could add up to millions of dollars. 

That option generally is not available to the nation’s non-Medicare patients who subscribe to employer-financed HMOs. 

“This decision from the Supreme Court is a very significant patients’ rights case for those on Medicare,” said Jeffrey Ehrlich, a Claremont attorney representing several seniors now free to pursue their damage claims against their Medicare HMOs. 

Jeff Grass, an Upland attorney defending the Southern California physicians in the case, said the decision may usher in more suits against doctors and their HMOs. 

“I don’t think that this is good,” Grass said. “The people I’ve represented have all been patient oriented. I’ve never seen any abuse.” 

The case decided Thursday, signed by Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, concerned the disabled Costa Mesa man on Medicare who sued Pacificare of California Inc. and others for denying the lung transplant. George McCall, who later died, alleged he did not receive one because of cost-cutting moves. 

Pacificare says it did not deny the transplant, but instead denied McCall his choice of hospitals, said Ben Singer, a company spokesman. 

The case is McCall v. Pacificare of California, S082236. 

OAKLAND — A man charged with smuggling two teenage girls from India into the country for a wealthy Berkeley landlord by posing as their father pleaded guilty as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, according to court documents. 

Venkateswara Vemireddy has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to bring illegal immigrants into the United States, which carries a maximum five years in prison with $250,000 in fines. In return, the prosecutors have agreed not to seek additional charges. 

Vemireddy was indicted in March 2000, two months after East Bay landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 63, was arrested on charges of illegally bringing in teen-age girls from India for sex and cheap labor. 

Most of the files in the Vemireddy case were closed to the public.  

However, at the request of the San Francisco Chronicle, U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong last Wednesday agreed to unseal some of the documents. 

The case broke when two sisters suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and were found unconscious in a Reddy-owned downtown Berkeley apartment on Nov. 24, 1999. Chanti Prattipati, 17, died, but her younger sister lived.  

The surviving sister and their third roommate told police that Reddy had smuggled them in from India and that he regularly had sex with them.