Ten days after the bacterial meningitis death of 9-year-old Nambi Phelps, Berkeley Health Officer Dr. Poki Namkung held a press conference Friday to announce a second case of the contagious disease.  

The second case has spurred the Health and Human Services Department to launch an aggressive information campaign that will include going door to door in west and south Berkeley neighborhoods.  

The city also held a screening clinic at Berkeley High School Friday and will hold two others at various locations during the weekend.  

“We are taking a very aggressive course of action because it is imperative we break the chain of transmissions,” Namkung said. 

A 19-year-old woman, who is a friend of Phelps’ family, was taken by ambulance to Alta Bates Hospital at 8 p.m. Thursday complaining of flu-like symptoms.  

The woman, who was not identified, is listed in serious condition. Doctors have made a tentative diagnosis of bacterial meningitis. Namkung said a definitive diagnosis will be made sometime today. 

Meningitis is an infection of the brain and spinal fluid.  

The germ is transmitted through saliva or droplets from the nose. Engaging in any activity where saliva is exchanged can transmit the disease.  

The infectious period is three to four days and symptoms can appear between two and 10 days of exposure. Early detection and treatment with antibiotics is key to preventing serious illness or death. 

Casual contact or simply breathing the same air as an infected person is not enough to transfer the disease.  

Symptoms include sudden fever, headache and stiff neck sometimes accompanied by nausea and vomiting. 

Despite the family connection, Namkung said she has ruled out direct transmission of the illness from Phelps to the most recent case because the incubation period of 10 days had passed. It is more likely that the two contracted the disease from two different sources. 

Namkung said a group of people, associated with Phelps’ family, has been identified as the likely source of the disease. She said there was not enough known about the group to say what the group connection is.  

“They are mostly teenagers and young adults that engage in high-risk behavior like sharing cigarettes, joints, drinks and food,” Namkung said. 

She said members of the group may be having unprotected sex and using drugs like crack cocaine, both of which can transmit the infection. 

Arrietta Chakos, the city manager’s office chief of staff, said Berkeley is in a good position to stop the spread of the disease because of the city’s Health and Human Services Department. Since it is local, Chakos said it has connections with the community.  

“Our staff knows some of these people and that will make it a lot easier to help them,” she said. 

A city hot line will be staffed by nurses who will answer questions about the infection from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. today and Sunday. The number is (510) 981-CITY (2489). 

There is also information on the city’s web site at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us.  

The screening clinics will be held at two locations at different times over the weekend. 

Saturday, May 12 at Fire Station #1 at 2442 Eighth St. at Dwight from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  

Sunday, May 13 at Francis Albrier Community Center at 2800 Park St. from 1 to 5 p.m. 

Saturday, May 12

Aquatic Park Playground (Dreamland for Kids) Work Party 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Bancroft Way at Bolivar Drive. 

Bring your wheelbarrow, shovel and garden rake. Work on the Ecology Garden. 

Kids and adults needed. Lunch will be served. 649-9874 

“Positive Knowledge” Jazz Trio 

8 p.m. 

South Branch Berkeley Public Library 

1901 Russell St. 

“Positive Knowledge,” a first-rate avant-garde jazz trio, will appear in a free two-set concert sponsored by the Friends of the Library. 644-6860 

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. 415-664-9500 for reservations 

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 

Bulbs of Southern Africa 

3 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive 

Free, reservations required. 

643-1924 

Jefferson School PTA Mayfair 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Jefferson School 

Rose and Sacramento 

Music and entertainment, carnival games, book and plant sale, food, cakewalk and prizes including drawing for Jefferson Parent Quilt. Free admission. 

558-9096 

Mother’s Day Plant Sale 

Willard Middle School 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Flowers, vegetables, bouquets. Benefit for the Willard Greening Project. 549-9121 

Yard Sale 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

University Lutheran Chapel 

2425 Collage Ave. 

“Junk and Gems” of the members of Opus Q - The East Bay Men’s Chorale. Also seeking donations. 

664-0260 www.opus-q.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 

Mother’s Day at the  

Rose Garden 

11 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Euclid at Eunice 

Bring mom to the Rose Garden to hear the Albany Big Band and Wine Country Brass. Food will be available from Classic Catering, or bring your own picnic from home. Roses should be in full bloom. 

525-3005 

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. 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 

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 

Silent Vigil Against  

Death Penalty 

8 - 9 a.m. 

Federal Building 

1301 Clay St, Oakland 

Sponsered by East Bay Women Against the Death Penalty is sponsoring a silent vigil in protest of the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the first federal execution in 38 years. Wear black, bring signs. 841-1896 

Bicycling Get Together 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Wesley Foundation 

2398 Bancroft Way 

Special presentation on bicycling in Germany. 

597-1235 

— compiled by  

Sabrina Forkish 

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 

John Muir May Fair 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

John Muir Elementary School 

2955 Claremont Ave 

Cake walk, face painting, games, food and student performances, quilt raffle. Free. 

644-6410 

Berkeley needs to clean up  

contamination 

Editor: 

2700 San Pablo Ave. remains a contaminated property from petrochemical residuals, although leaking underground gasoline storage tanks were removed in the 80s and some contaminated soil was remediated in 1994.  

There is a deed notice attesting to the contamination. Because there has been no monitoring of the contamination since soil and water samples were recorded in 1997 (monitoring wells were ordered destroyed in1998 as a condition for closure of the site) there is no way of knowing if previously extraordinarily high levels of cancer causing chemicals have degraded. MTBE is known to be particularly recalcitrant. 

The West Berkeley Plan calls for cleanup of toxic contaminated sites before development. The Federal Clean Water Act encourages local agencies to take more proactive steps in protecting our precious resource, the San Francisco Bay water basin. Allowing residual contamination to remain in the soil where it continually recharges the water table and further migrates off site is a very irresponsible way to deal with the problem and it is antithetical to the Berkeley City Council’s resolution resisting state imposed efforts to simply “contain” contaminated landsites. 

It behooves the City Council to employ the “precautionary principle” in regard to the contamination problem of 2700 San Pablo Ave. A Phase II Environmental Assessment, which would entail further water and soil sampling and analysis, must be required- before a development permit is issued, as prescribed by CEQA. A health risk assessment must be done for whatever is the actual proposed project. The project before you is not the project that was reviewed by the Zoning Adjustments Board, and previous iterations of project were not adequately reviewed for their contamination related issues. Also the toxics contamination evaluation and “modeling” should not be left up to the developer or his hired contractor or consultant. That would be an inherent conflict of interest which goes against the letter and intention of CEQA. Impacted neighbors should have a right to participate in the selection of an independent testing company and to be full participants in the review of test results. 

Berkeley has dozens of similarly contaminated potential development sites, especially in West Berkeley. It’s time for Berkeley to set a good environmental example.  

Peter Teichner 

Berkeley 

We must seek peace in the Middle East 

Editor: 

For anyone who follows events in the Middle East, the past six months have been difficult. For Jewish and Arab Americans and especially students it’s been trying to see such awful violence occurring between their peoples; only months after true peace seemed to be just footsteps away. Unaffiliated others must have trouble picking through the rhetoric thrown by both sides to decide which “truth” to believe.  

The fact is however, that there is no "truth.” In this conflict there are two sides that see the same history and view it completely differently. While one side sees “orange,” the other sees “apple.” 

So, in a sense both sides are right, and both sides are wrong. There are flagrant violations of the Oslo accords on both the Palestinian and Israeli side, and while one may see one violation as worse than another, it no longer matters. One side may say that the other “discriminates,” or that the other “teaches hatred of us in their schools,” but if we truly are ready to sit down at the negotiating table once and for all, does name calling accomplish anything? 

What matters is where we go from here. Today we must decide to accept conditions as they are right now, and use them as a springboard for true change. Today, not tomorrow, is the day to find a solution, to talk peace. 

Today we must move from asking who did what and when, to what we’re going to do now. Israel supporters can site wrongs of the Palestinians in the current conflict, and vice-versa as well, but much of this is based on perspectives and biases. The bottom line is that Israel has offered peace, the most generous peace ever offered to resolve this conflict; the Palestinian authority rejected this peace and instead turned to violence as a means of achieving what they couldn’t achieve through negotiations.  

Today the violence must stop. The "occupation" of Wheeler Hall was an uncalled for event that moved this conflict onto another level from where it had previously been. This protest turned the conflict from political to just pure hatred. Event speakers called Jews "conniving", and a Star of David was equated with a swastika. Nothing could be more offensive to Jews and rational thinking people everywhere.  

In just the past few days too many children have been lost to both sides as well. Two 14-year-old Jewish boys (one a United States citizen) were stoned to death by Palestinians while hiking near their homes. A 4-month-old Palestinian girl was killed when her house collapsed on her after Israeli return-fire hit it. Must children suffer any longer? Must anyone from either side suffer any longer?  

It’s time that Palestinians accept that what they’ve lost was lost in a war that they initiated – it’s gone forever. Israel has offered much of it back however in return for peace. They must realize that Jews have every right returning to their ancient homeland, whatever negative consequences that may or may not have had. Israelis, for their part, need to accept that the creation of their state has, unfortunately, caused the suffering of another people (the extent of which can be hotly debated). Israelis must accept that Palestinians are a distinct people who too deserve their own state. Israelis cannot control the Palestinians any longer and will need to trust that all signed peace treaties will be upheld to the utmost extent. 

Today both sides need to understand and listen to the claims of the other. Resolution of this conflict will not come through violence, protests, divestment, hate or name-calling; it will only come through face-to-face dialogue and understanding, and a genuine desire to live in peace. The time to start is now.  

Daryl Kutzstein 

San Diego 

Working people need their own  

political party 

Editor: 

Governor Gray Davis tells us that the deregulation of the electric power industry has been a colossal disaster. On the contrary, as each day we learn of new and fascinating ways by which the power industry is robbing us blind, it’s clear that deregulation has been a stupendous success – for the power industry. This demonstrates that, in reality, we do not yet have a government of, by, and for the people, but rather a government of, by, and for the wealthy. 

Under our famous two-party system, if we don’t like what the people in our office have done, we can always turn the rascals out, and vote in the other set of rascals. 

The problem is, the vote in the the legislature in favor of deregulation was unanimous.  

Since nobody in either major party is capable of standing up against the power monopoly, we’d be fools to keep on voting for them. Maybe it’s time for working people to get together and organize a political party of our own.  

Marion Syrek 

Oakland 

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 

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership. All ages. May 12: The Sick, Impalid, Creuvo, Tearing Down Standards; May 18: Ensign, All Bets Off, Playing Enemy, Association Area, Blessing the Hogs; May 19: Punk Prom and benefit for India quake victims features Pansy Division, Plus Ones, Dave Hill, Iron Ass; May 25: Controlling Hand, Wormwood, Goats Blood, American Waste, Quick to Blame; May 26: Honor System, Divit, Enemy You, Eleventeen, Tragedy Andy; June 1: Alkaline Trio, Hotrod Circuit, No Motiv, Dashboard Confessional, Bluejacket; June 2 El Dopa, Dead Bodies Everywhere, Shadow People, Ludicra, Ballast. 525-9926  

Ashkenaz May 12: 9 p.m.The Johnny Otis Show; May 13: 9:30 p.m. Toyes, The “Smoke Two Joints” Band; May 15: 8 p.m. Edessa and Cascada de Flores; May 16: 9 p.m. Creole Belles; May 17: 10 p.m. Dead DJ Night with Digital Dave; May 18: 9:30 p.m. Reggae Angels with Mystic Roots; May 19: 9:30 Kotoja; May 20: 8:30 p.m. Jude Taylor and His Burning Flames 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Freight & Salvage All music at 8 p.m. 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; May 14: Acoustic Guitar summit Quartet; May 17: The Rincon Ramblers; May 18: Todd Snider; May 19: Oak, Ash and Thorn; 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 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: Rhythm Doctors; May 29: The Lost Trio; May 30: Zambambazo 2181 Shattuck Ave 843-8277  

La Peña Cultural Center 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; May 20: 6 p.m. Venezuelan Music Recital 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org  

“The Children’s Hour” May 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  

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 

The Crowden School Annual Spring Concert May 16, 7:30 p.m. $5-$10 St. John’s Presbytarian Church at College and Garber 559-6910 

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 

Jazz Singers Collective May 17, 8 p.m. Anna’s Bistro 1801 University Ave. 849-2662 

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  

“En Mouvement/In Motion” May 18, 19 7 p.m., May 19, 20 2 p.m. Part of the Berkeley Ballet Theater Spring Showcase, this production is a collection of works by student dancers/ $15. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 843-4689  

“Grease” May 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  

“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 

“Planet Janet” Through 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 Laramie Project” May 18 - July 8, Wed. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members travelled to Laramie, Wyoming after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepard. The play is about the community and the impact Shepard’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Sister, My Sister” May 20, 5 p.m. Poetry, photography and dramatic readings which give voice to women and children cuaght in homelessness. Admission is free, donations welcome. Live Oak Park Theatre1301 Shattuck Ave. 528-8198 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive May 18: 7:30 The Cloud-Capped Star; May 19: 3:30 Starewicz Puppet Films; May 20: 5:30 The New Gulliver Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412 

“A Ship with Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman” 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 

“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 

“Drowning in a Sea of Plastics” Video and Discussion Night May 16, 7 p.m. Join the Ecology Center’s Plastic Task Force for a viewing of “Trade Secrets” and “Synthetic Sea.” Free. Ecology Center 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220 ext. 233 

Exhibits 

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.; Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 www.traywick.com 

Berkeley Potters Guild Spring Show and Sale May 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 through August 24; 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 12: Ike Oguine reads “A Squatter’s Tale”; May 14: Edie Meidav reads and signs “The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon”; May 15: Kathleen Norris discusses “The Virgin of Bennington”; May 16: Tim Flannery describes “The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples”; May 17: Lalita Tademy reads “Cane River”; May 18: Oscar London, M.D. copes with “From Voodoo to Viagra: The Magic of Medicine”; May 21: Ariel Dorfman reads “Blakes Therapy”  

Cody’s Books 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 All events at 7 p.m., unless noted May 17: Jean Shinoda Bolen talks about “Goddesses In Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty”  

Boadecia’s Books 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted 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 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 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. 

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 

Adan David Miller and JoJo Doig May 20, 7 p.m. Poetry and spoken word. Ecology Center 2530 San Pablo 548-3333 

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 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Free Lectures All lectures begin at 6 p.m. 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 

José-Luis Orozco, a long time Berkeley musician, is an expert in bilingual education through music and song.  

Ever since he was a child in Mexico City, he’s been singing for multi-cultural audiences. The second of eleven children, Jose-Luis learned old songs from his grandmother. His mother taught him to interpret the spirit of the song. 

“My mother, though not a professional, was very good at singing the feeling of the music, from a slow Bolero (love song) to Mexican polkas,” Orozco said. “I picked up the energy of the music from her, the feeling.” 

Last week, Orozco brought that musical tradition to Washington School. People in the audience were awed by the performance. 

“He had the whole audience, whole families, up dancing to children’s songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider in Spanish and English. Nobody just sat. It was amazing!” said Pat Ungern, a teacher at the school.  

At 7, he and a brother were chosen to travel with the Mexico City Children’s Choir throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. They stayed with families – both rich and poor – and performed for heads of state and a diverse range of audiences.  

Traveling gave him opportunities that he could never have had at home. He learned church music in Latin, Mexican folk music, and sang world music including American folk songs like, “Home on the Range.” While in Spain, he was given a guitar as a gift and his father taught him to play once he arrived home.  

While touring, he also learned about politics. In Venezuela, the choir was turned back because of a coup. During the Bay of Pigs invasion, he was staying with Basque families in Spain.  

The families were progressive and sat up late at night listening for news about Cuba.  

The Cuban revolution was a very big thing, Orozco said, to people who lived whole lives under dictatorships.  

When his voice changed at 13, and he could no longer be part of the children’s choir, he formed a musical group with neighbors and played at various barrio gatherings. He attended evening music classes, but also worked to help his mother support the family. Life was not easy. 

In 1968, there was a student rebellion in Mexico City similar to rebellions around the world including the civil-rights movement and the anti-war movement in the United States. It ended in the massacre of many students, some of whom he knew, three blocks from his mother’s home.  

Jose-Luis’ father called him at work and told him not to go home because the army was searching for students and taking them from the neighborhood, even if they had not been part of the rebellion. He stayed away for three days. 

The sadness of that event coincided with a friend’s urging him to come to the United States. He and his mother decided it was something he should try. He moved to San Jose and mopped floors.  

After six months, lonely for music, he bought a cheap guitar and started singing at schools in the Bay Area. 

Quickly he discovered Berkeley. He went to Laney College and transferred to UC Berkeley to complete his Bachelor of Arts.  

Oscar Lewis’s book, “The Children of Sanchez,” was written about the barrio where his parents were born and raised and inspired Orozco’s strong interest in sociology.  

The University of San Francisco offered him a scholarship and he earned an Master of Arts in multi-cultural education. 

For several years in the 70s, he worked as a community liasion in Berkeley. He married and fathered three children – Jose-Luis, Maya, and Gabriel. He also co-founded a national Hispanic university and ran summer programs for the University in Gudalajara. 

In all of this mix, his interest in music became foremost and his ability to support himself through music was accomplished by the mid-80s. His politics, he said, is connected to his daily life education. He wrote a corrido, or ballad, for Cesar Chavez and for Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Worker’s Union. He will be performing them at La Peña Cultural Center on June 9.  

Orozco loves to sing to any age group, but the demand to sing to children is always the highest.  

“The most important thing about my music is the effect it has on the education of children,” Orozco said.  

“Seeing the joy in the children and then the joy in the teachers noticing the music’s impact on the children keeps me motivated. 

“Music brings down barriers between people, barriers of prejudice and racism. Music is a non-threatening tool. It brings people together, it makes people happy. All along, since I was very young, I’ve seen that music is magic,” he said. 

When Jose-Luis Orozco sings to children he is warm, engaging, and upbeat. He presents his music in a way that values children. He makes them feel important. They know, during his time with them, that they matter. He can take a dull classroom and fill it with color and light.  

He has been recording for years. The recordings for children are done simply with just his guitar and voice – a soothing combination, he’s been told.  

“They use my music to calm fussy babies, “ he said, laughing.  

One compact disc, “De Colores,” has sold over thirty thousand copies. There is a companion book with songs in Spanish with English translations. The illustrations by Elsia Kleven are richly conceived and whimsical. One song from this collection, “Paz y libertad,” has a life of its own. People have been dancing to it at circle dance gatherings for years never knowing that José-Luis Orozco wrote it. 

His oldest son, Luis, has been managing his business for him.  

“Luis is an excellent organizer,” Orozco said, bragging. “And he has great people skills. Even when he was twelve people would ask him questions and he would explain everything to them.” 

Dual immersion programs, the best model for dual language acquisiton, are flowering in schools throughout the United States. Three of Berkeley’s schools have programs; Orozco’s youngest son, Pablo, is at Cragmont’s. And because Orozco is emerging as the foremost educator in Spanish-English music for children, he is highly sought after. He has song recently in New York City, Houston, and Miami, and, unpredictably, a dual immersion school in Anchorage, Alaska. 

At 52, Orozco is realizing that the possibilites for his music are limitless. He wants to keep on creating and letting his music provide continuity across generations.  

He feels he’s reached two generations already, his and that of his children. He’s working on his third. His daughter’s new born son is one baby he’s singing to already. 

You can hear José-Luis Orozco in a Benefit Concert for Centro Vida-Bahai, a child care, at the Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison Street on June 2 at 11:00a.m. Call 524-7300 information.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – No. 25 Cal shot a 312 in the second round of the NCAA Central Regional Friday to drop from eighth to 10th place (621) with the final round of the 21-team tournament slated for Saturday. The Bears are only one stroke back of being one of eight teams to advance to the NCAA Championship, May 23-26, in Florida.  

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane turned in the best round of the day Friday, a three-over-par 291, and moved into first place with a two-day score of 591. Led by the regional’s individual leader, Stacy Prammanasudh, with a two-day, two-under-par total of 142, the Golden Hurricane blew into a four-stroke lead over first-day leader Purdue (595). The tournament host settled for a 12-over 300 on Friday, five strokes off their first-day total.  

Prammanasudh carded a 72 Friday after a 70 Thursday to hold a one-stroke lead over Heather Zielinski of Purdue, who fired a 71 Friday after a 72 Thursday for a two-day total of 143. California sophomore Vikki Laing (72-73=145) is part of a four-way tie for third place. If the tournament ended today, Laing would be one of two individuals earning bids from non-advancing teams to the NCAA Championship.  

The Bears next best golfer is sophomore Ria Quiazon, who is tied for 38th (156) after duplicating her opening round of 78.  

Moving into third place heading into the final 18 holes was Oklahoma State (599), followed by New Mexico State (602), Texas (608), Kent State (608), Louisiana State (610), Oklahoma (620), Baylor (620) and California (621), rounding out the top 10.

The huge galaxy of volunteer committees that serve Berkeley public schools give parents a chance to bring professional expertise to bear on a baffling range of problems.  

Computer gurus keep computer labs running, botanists help maintain school gardens, artists recruit talent for school assemblies, CPAs help oversee the district’s budgeting process.  

The PTA, the mightiest committee of all, dabbles a bit in everything. 

But where would the PTA committees be without the quilters – that small group of parents that come together at the beginning of each school year to choose fabric and patterns for a school quilt to be raffled off at a spring carnival. 

At Jefferson elementary school, where the quilting tradition goes back so far that 10-year veterans can’t recall its origins, a quilt whose raw materials cost about $5 helped raise more than $5,000 for the school’s PTA last year.  

Over the years, John Muir, Thousand Oaks and Cragmont and other Berkeley Schools have adopted the tradition of raffling quilts to raise money each spring as well.  

This year Jefferson PTA President Matthew Wong expects the school’s quilt to be one of the biggest enticements – right up there with the tickets to Disneyland – for people to snatch up the schools raffle tickets. 

But more than just a fund raising mechanism, the Jefferson quilt is literally part of the fabric of the school. It is a way for parents without the time or the taste for PTA meetings to come together, share ideas and demonstrate support for their children’s school. 

“PTA meetings are not as fun as the quilting circle,” said Melissa Quilter (yes, that’s her real name), a driving force behind the Jefferson quilt for the last nine years. “It builds community, allows for connections to get built.” 

Carrie Blake, a 10-year veteran of the Jefferson quilting effort until her youngest child moved on to middle school last year, agreed. 

“It’s low key,” Blake said. “It was kind of a way for me to introduce myself that didn’t require me to be on a big committee where I had to talk a lot.” 

At Jefferson, Quilter and other experienced quilters gather the various fabric pieces for the quilt into piles and assign one student responsibility for sewing each foot-wide square – usually with the help of a parent or grand parent. Later parents gather in the evening at Jefferson to complete the careful work of hand stitching all the squares together into a quilt. These are the members of the so-called “quilting circle.” 

Parents who pick their children up at school are, Quilter said, “invited to come early and stay late and really spend time at the school. It’s a forum to discuss school issue, neighborhood issues, etc.” 

“We kind of had our own PTA,” Blake said. “We’d assess teachers, swap stories, talk about what we thought students should be doing.” 

It was a fun and welcoming environment for parents, Blake said, with more than a hint of nostalgia in her voice. One of Blake’s children is a student at Berkeley High School today, a place where Blake said she has yet to figure out how to become involved in school activities.  

“My child is totally against me setting foot on campus,” she joked.  

The Jefferson quilts are typically finished in early April, in time to be part of annual exhibition of locally made quilts at the North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library.  

For those interested in seeing the 60 quilts on display this year, today is your last chance. The quilts come down Monday. The North Branch library, located at 1170 The Alameda, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. 

But the quilts on display, to the dismay of many visitors, are not for sale. If you want a shot at winning one of the elementary school quilts, pick up a raffle ticket at the Jefferson May Fair, today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jefferson School, 1400 Ada Street; or at Cragmont’s Spring Carnival Day, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, at Cragmont School, 830 Regal Road. 

The Cal women’s tennis team heads into the postseason today with two leaders: one senior and one freshman. 

The senior is Anita Kurimay, who was named second-team All-Pac-10 this week. Kurimay overcame leg surgery early in the season to post a 10-4 singles record. The team’s lone senior, she has provided a steadying influence for the team’s five freshman, regaining her top spot after her surgery. 

The freshman is Raquel Kops-Jones, who held down the No. 1 spot during Kurimay’s six-match absence. Kops-Jones was also named to the conference’s second team, as well as taking home the freshman of the year award. She compiled a 27-14 record and made it to the finals of the Pac-10 singles tournament. 

Cal head coach Jan Brogan said she was surprised how fast Kops-Jones adapted to the top spot. 

“Raquel has really been a fast learner,” Borgan said. “She has professional aspirations, so she works very hard on her game, puts in a lot of extra time. When she came in, we knew she had a lot of talent, but was inconsistent. I've tried to bring out the consistency and mental edge she didn't have before.” 

The two leaders, old and young, teamed up with their strong doubles teammates to earn the No. 9 seed in the country, and are the top seed in their regional this weekend. Cal takes on Loyola (Maryland) today at 2 p.m. at the Hellman Tennis Courts. The regional’s other matchup will be North Carolina against Iowa at 10 a.m., with the winners meeting Sunday at 10 a.m. 

Cal’s doubles team of Catherine Lynch and Christina Fusano come into the weekend on a roll, having advanced to the final of the Pac-10 doubles tournament. And they aren’t the only Bear doubles team that has played well this year. Cal’s other duo of Kristen Case and Morisa Yang made it to the semifinal match before falling to Lynch and Fusano. 

Case and Lynch are both freshmen, and Brogan has gone through the growing pains of playing five freshmen this year, along with Fusano and Yang being sophomores. All together, the Bears are the youngest team in the Pac-10. 

“Five freshman have played for us all year,” Brogan said. “I don't think any other team in the country can say that.”

It took Griffin Dix a year to get over the initial shock that his 15-year-old son Kenzo was shot and killed by a friend with a gun that the friend’s father left loaded and unlocked.  

The friend took a full clip out of his father’s Beretta and put in an empty one. What he didn’t know was that there was a bullet left in chamber. The shot went through Kenzo’s arm and entered his heart 

Kenzo died at Oakland’s Children’s Hospital that day. That was 1994.  

“The boy was tricked by the design of the gun but also his father was able to buy a gun without getting gun safety training,” he said. “He didn’t know how to minimize the risk of bringing a gun into the home.”  

Since 1995, Dix has been on a crusade to force gun manufacturers to install better safety mechanisms and to require that all gun owners get the proper training to ensure that tragedies like Dix’s do not happen again.  

He has worked with state and local legislators to tighten gun laws and helped the San Francisco General Hospital’s Bell campaign and trauma foundation’s effort against gun violence.  

That organization recently joined forces with the Million Mom March, a national organization dedicated to preventing gun death and trauma and supporting gun trauma victims and survivors. 

Once a professor of anthropology at Santa Clara University, Dix now spends much of his time organizing efforts to require personal gun locks. He also wants gun ownership to require safety testing similar to what motorists must undergo. 

“Guns and automobiles are very dangerous. If people are going to use them, they should know how,” he said.  

Today, Dix will be making signs and preparing for a train journey to Sacramento in which members of the Million Mom March will present letters and petitions to state legislators. His group will be leaving Jack London Square in Oakland at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday. 

Last year, the million mom march brought more than 750,000 people to Washington, D.C., and Dix hopes the number will be in even greater this year. He also expects that 5,000 people will show up in Sacramento.  

Dix, who is suing the Beretta gun manufacturer to get them to allow locks and chamber loader indicators on their guns. That battle has been uphill, Dix said, because the gun industry is resistant to putting changes in. Dix filed the lawsuit in 1997. While a jury ruled against him, a judge threw out the verdict because there was an indication that there was some jury misconduct. That decision is currently being appealed by Beretta, he said.  

Dix, 57, is a walking encyclopedia of gun-related knowledge and can regurgitate stats like the percentage increase in Oakland gun deaths last year (55 percent) and the percentage of guns that are unlocked with a child in the house (43 percent). While Dix does not advocate the abolition of guns in the home or handguns, he does support proposed legislation that would enact greater control. He is also working on a book on gun violence based on his experience. And although it often takes a tragedy like the shootings at Columbine and Santana high schools to bring attention to gun violence, Dix said he has hope that things will change. 

“People’s attention wanes, but we still have loopholes in gun laws. With the Bush administration not willing to close the loopholes, people are discouraged,” he said. “But they need to realize that there’s a lot that can be done.” 

For more information on the Million Mom March call 655-6520.

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 6 California Golden Bears scored three times in the top of the seventh to break a 4-4 tie to eventually defeat the Oregon Ducks, 7-4, at Howe Field on Friday afternoon.  

With the win, the Bears snap a three-game Pac-10 skid and improve to 49-13 overall and 6-12 in the conference. The loss drops the Ducks to 28-38 overall, 1-18 in Pac-10 play.  

Cal jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by junior Candace Harper, scoring senior Pauline Dueñas from second after singling one batter earlier and moving to second on a passes ball.  

Oregon took the lead in their half of the first, 2-1. Alyssa Laux hit her first home run on the year, bringing in Lynsey Haij who singed earlier in the inning.  

The score remained 2-1 until Cal plated three runs in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. With two outs, senior Paige Bowie homered to deep right center to tie the score at two apiece. Dueñas followed with her second single of the game and scored on a Harper single and a throwing error by the Oregon right fielder. Harper moved to second on the error as well and later scored the third run in the inning when sophomore Veronica Nelson lined a single in front of the right fielder.  

The Ducks knotted the score at four, with a two spot in the sixth, but the Bears answered with three runs in the seventh highlighted by a two-RBI two-out double by sophomore Courtney Scott to right center to bring home Nelson and Harper. Bowie scored the first run in the inning on a shortstop fielder's choice who threw the ball away at the plate trying to Bowie out on the play.  

Junior Jocelyn Forest started for Cal and went the first four innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out four, before giving way to senior Nicole DiSalvio who pitched the remaining three innings of two run (one earned), four hit ball to earn the win and improve to 18-6 on the year.  

Connie McMurren went the distance for the Duck and falls to 8-18 with the loss.  

Bowie, Dueñas and Harper each had two hits on the day, while Nelson, sophomore Eryn Manahan and Scott added one hit each for a total of nine hits in the game for the Bears.  

Cal completes the regular season tomorrow with a doubleheader versus the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis, Ore. Game one is scheduled to get under way at noon.

The John Woolley House stands forlornly between a weedy empty lot and a large parking lot.  

The paint is peeling and it is somewhat hidden behind a sagging board fence.  

But this simple, dignified, Italianate Victorian house, an officially designated Berkeley Landmark, remains a visible link to the past. 

The house conveys layers of national, state and local cultural history.  

John Woolley’s life story is a record of a single individual’s pursuit of the American Dream which began in 1850 when he left his native England and went to Philadelphia where he worked as a boiler maker and blacksmith. In 1852 he sought his fortune in California.  

In California Woolley’s story is intertwined with the story of how California, the Bay Area and Berkeley developed over time.  

He worked for Southern Pacific Railroad and the Spring Water Company – both vital enterprises to the growth of California and the Bay Area.  

Woolley’s Oakland Boiler Works provided boilers for early campus buildings. After settling in Berkeley in 1876, he was involved in civic activities and in the establishment of public schools.  

The present location of the John Woolley House, facing Haste Street, (it originally faced Telegraph Avenue) reflects Berkeley’s growth in the 1890s.  

t is the story of Telegraph Avenue, the introduction of electric streetcars, the grading of streets and the general growth of the city’s population after the 1906 earthquake.  

John Woolley lived in this house until his death in 1912 at the age of 85. Members of the Woolley family lived in the house until 1943 and it remained a private home until 1993. 

The house remains a singular physical artifact in this neighborhood that links the distant past to the present; the story of how, why, and by whom a place is settled, planned, designed, and celebrated. If the house did not exist would anyone bother to tell its story?

A Berkeley inventor has started a company to harness the power in ocean waves to provide renewable energy to coastal communities. 

Mirko Previsic, chief executive officer of Sea Power and Associates, says the company's patented method uses a series of buoys that are driven up and down by the waves. That activity is then channeled through a hydraulic pump that converts the motion energy into electricity. 

Previsic says he's hopeful that each yard of coastline could power 20 homes, cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions in the process. 

Sanjay Wagle, who is chief financial officer at Sea Power, is also optimistic: “We've tested our prototype at half scale in the world's largest wave tank,” he said. “Now we're ready to put it into the ocean.” 

Their plan won top honors this weekend at the Haas Social Venture Competition, a national competition sponsored by the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. 

SAN DIEGO — Hispanics and blacks are over-represented in traffic stops, but there isn’t enough evidence to conclude racism is the cause, the police chief said Friday. 

A year-long analysis showed blacks last year made up 11.7 percent of traffic stops but 8 percent of San Diego’s population while Hispanics totaled 29 percent of stops and 20 percent of the population, Chief David Bejarano said at a news conference. 

Blacks were also subjected to 26 percent of vehicle searches following traffic stops while Hispanics made up 32.7 percent, Bejarano said. 

Whites, at nearly 59 percent of San Diego’s population, were subjected to 48 percent of the stops and 33 percent of the searches, according to the study. 

But the results, which mirror an earlier six-month study, do not prove racism because other factors, such as the city’s proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border and the high number of tourists, make it difficult to measure the ethnic breakdown of the driving population, he said. 

In addition, the new 2000 census data could change the study’s results, which were based on 1998 estimates of San Diego’s ethnic composition from a local government association. 

“There’s just too many factors we can’t explain,” Bejarano said. 

San Diego was one of the first large cities in the nation to begin collecting racial data from traffic stops and the chief deserves credit for the study, said Jimma McWilson, executive vice president of the San Diego Urban League. 

“There is a real problem here and we have to find out the reason for it,” said McWilson, who is a member of a task force appointed by the chief to advise the department on ethnic issues. 

The study noted little difference in the amount of contraband found during vehicle searches.  

Officers found something illegal in 12.7 percent of searches involving Asians; 15.9 percent for blacks; 12.6 percent for Hispanics and 17.4 percent for whites. 

The police and community groups will continue studying the issue while the department also increases racial sensitivity training for officers and new recruits, the chief said. 

But Bejarano, the city’s first Hispanic chief, said he doubts there is widespread racism among San Diego officers. 

“I truly believe that our department does not engage in racial profiling,” he said. 

The study was based on an analysis by three university professors of 168,901 vehicle stop forms filled out by officers on Bejarano’s orders in 2000.

SACRAMENTO — California’s unemployment rate jumped slightly in April, but the number of people with jobs also increased, state officials said Friday. 

The unemployment rate climbed from 4.7 percent in March to 4.8 percent in April, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. The rate was 5 percent in April 2000. 

At the same time, the number of people with jobs increased last month, according to surveys of employers and households. 

The survey of households, which includes people who are self-employed, found that a record 16.5 million Californians were working last month, up by 21,000 from March and by 379,000 from April 2000. 

There were 834,000 who were unemployed and looking for work. That total was up 16,000 from March but down 13,000 from April of last year. 

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent last month. 

Suzanne Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the department, said the growth in both employment and unemployment figures in California was caused by an increase in the number of workers. 

“Over the month we had a 37,000 increase in the labor force and 21,000 found jobs. That meant that there was an increase of 16,000 that did not find jobs,” she said. 

The department said five industry divisions – construction, wholesale and retail trade, services and government – added jobs during the month while transportation and public utilities reported no change. 

Mining, manufacturing and finance, insurance and real estate reported job losses. 

The services industry added 10,900 jobs, the biggest job gain, while manufacturing had the biggest loss, 7,000 jobs. 

—— 

On the Net: See the figures at www.edd.ca.gov 

SACRAMENTO — Republicans from the state Legislature to the White House are standing back as California’s Democratic leaders, including Gov. Gray Davis, sweat out the power crisis. 

“The last thing anybody would want to do is step onto the Titanic when it is sinking,” said California GOP strategist Mike Madrid. 

Neither President Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney has visited the nation’s largest state since taking office. State GOP lawmakers have voted against Davis’ energy proposals, but have yet to offer their own comprehensive power package. 

Even Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Jones, who has pledged to focus on energy in his campaign to unseat Davis next year, has not held a single public event since announcing his candidacy in March. 

“We intend to let (Davis) do as much as he can to unravel himself,” said Shawn Steel, chairman of the California Republican Party. 

At all levels, GOP officials seems to be adhering to Woodrow Wilson’s political advice: “Never attempt to murder a man who is committing suicide.” 

In Washington, where Congress and the White House are controlled by Republicans, GOP lawmakers are expressing concern they could become the victims of a backlash by voters angry about rising electricity prices and sporadic blackouts. 

Some Republican lawmakers have begun urging the White House to address short-term energy concerns as well as longer-term problems when the president unveils his energy plan next week. 

But Chris Arterton, dean of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, said Republicans will do as little possible to help save California and Davis — a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. 

“If you can keep him dangling on the horns of that dilemma that he is on as long as possible, it weakens him,” Arterton said. 

The Republicans are not the only ones playing politics. For their part, the Democrats have pointed out at every turn that it was Republican Gov. Pete Wilson who signed into law the 1996 electricity deregulation plan that led in part to the current crisis. 

State GOP lawmakers have focused on attacking Democratic energy proposals rather than offering their own legislation. Assembly Republicans have held several news conferences accusing Davis of waiting too long to attack the power crisis. 

This week, all but one of the 44 Republican state legislators voted against a $13.4 billion bond measure to repay the state treasury for power buys. 

The measure passed, but not by the two-thirds majority it needed to go into effect immediately, leaving Davis and Democrats plucking from the budgets of other state programs to pay for power until at least August. 

After Davis signed the bond bill, Assembly Republican Leader Dave Cox called it “a dangerous gamble for California — a gamble Republicans couldn’t support without a clear endgame.” 

Republicans have attacked Democratic energy proposals as “anti-capitalistic,” including a proposed tax on windfall profits and potential criminal charges against power generators for alleged price gouging. 

Garry South, Davis’ chief campaign adviser, calls the GOP’s hands-off approach “indefensible.” 

“This is not just some matter of political positioning. This is about the solvency and the economic future of the state of California,” South said. “To be playing games with this just to make cheap political points is a very dangerous game.” 

Davis lashed out this week at Republicans after signing the law authorizing the revenue bonds. 

“The people of California have every right to expect us to put aside this partisan affiliation and philosophy in solving this serious crisis. To date, the Republicans have miserably failed that test,” Davis said. 

Democrats also are quick to point out that President Clinton visited the state more than 60 times during his two terms, including 28 days after he first took office. 

“If the eight years of Clinton/Gore is any indication, President Gore would have established residence in California until the problems were solved,” said California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres.

SAN FRANCISCO — Like prisoners before a judge, lawyers representing farmers, manufacturers and small businesses appealed for leniency Friday as California’s top power regulators mulled who will suffer most under the largest electricity rate hike in state history. 

The higher rates are set to appear on bills June 1, but the California Public Utilities Commission will announce Monday just what kinds of users – homeowners, manufacturers, retailers – will bear the brunt of the increase. 

“We defined a bigger pie, and this is a pie that nobody wants to eat,” PUC President Loretta Lynch said in an interview. “All the groups that are here today are saying why they don’t want to eat a piece.” 

The commission is struggling to collect enough money to keep the lights on, return the state’s largest utilities to solvency and reimburse state coffers for the $5.2 billion-and-counting it has spent buying power directly from energy companies. 

On March 27, commissioners voted unanimously to raise the rates. Since then, they have grappled with how much more each kind of customer should pay. This week, Lynch proposed rate increases that would boost residential bills on average 35-40 percent. The hikes affect customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co., but not San Diego Gas and Electric Co. 

But under Lynch’s plan, as many as half of the 9 million customers of PG&E and SoCal Edison would not see their bills rise at all. And the heaviest commercial users could pay rates more than 50 percent higher than present. 

Saying they will bear a disproportionate burden, business groups trooped before the PUC on Friday, asking regulators to foist more of the rate hikes onto residential users. 

Each industry also explained why it should be spared. Mobile home parks will have difficulty implementing the proposed rate structure, which would create five tiers to encourage conservation; food processors will suffer because they only use power during the summer harvest, when rates will be jacked up; representatives of small businesses and emergency service providers told similar stories.

SACRAMENTO — With a sagging economy and billions of state dollars flowing to buy power, Gov. Gray Davis is facing tough budget choices and possible cuts for the first time since he took office. 

Davis is making final changes this weekend to his “May revise” budget, which is to be released Monday after months of building concern about the state’s financial health. 

The governor’s aides have declined to give any hints about the revised budget despite their past practice of leaking details in the days leading up to its release. 

Lawmakers and state Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill have warned that lawmakers will need to shave billions from Davis’ 2001-02 budget proposal made in January. 

“Since the early 1990s, we haven’t had to contemplate a downturn of this magnitude,” said Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, an Arleta Democrat who chairs the joint committee writing the state’s budget. “We will have to shift some dollars or, unfortunately, cut some dollars.” 

In January, Davis proposed a $104.7 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. It included $5.5 billion in new spending. 

Under Davis’ original proposal, at least part of the sales tax would be suspended for the last weekend in August this year to let consumers save up to 8 1/4 percent on clothes and computer equipment. 

He also proposed lengthening the middle school academic year and dedicating $335 million to start a three-year, $875 million effort to improve training of reading and math teachers and school principals. 

To keep the state from slipping into the red, lawmakers will be forced to trim at least $1.5 billion from the initial budget proposals made by Davis in January, said Hill, the Legislature’s budget analyst. 

The shortfall could reach nearly $6 billion in 2002-03, Hill said. 

The Senate’s Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Steve Peace, D-El Cajon, predicted an even gloomier picture and said cuts of $2 billion to $4 billion will be needed in this year’s budget. 

Once Davis releases his revised budget, a joint legislative committee will approve its own version of the budget that will be subject to approval by the full Legislature and the governor. 

Meanwhile, Davis has spent the week leading up to the revise blaming Republicans for budget uncertainty. Specifically, he criticized Republican lawmakers for opposing a $13.4 billion bond package to reimburse the state treasury for power buys. 

This week, all but one of the 44 Republican state legislators voted against the measure. It passed, but not by the two-thirds majority it needed to go into effect immediately, leaving Davis and Democrats borrowing from other state programs to pay for power until at least August. 

“We’re going to have to pare back important programs in our budget since we won’t have the cash July 1,” Davis said Thursday. “Running away and playing politics does not serve anyone’s interest, in fact it further complicates the budget and could well do damage to the economy.” 

Republicans, however, have criticized Davis’ budget. 

“The governor has given a green light to tax increases and runaway spending increases,” said Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, vice chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, during a press conference Tuesday. 

IRVINE — Kia Motors America on Friday voluntarily recalled 9,461 Optima mid-sized sedans built this year because of problems with wire harnesses that might prevent air bags from working properly. 

Customers were being notified by mail, Kia spokesman Geno Effler said. 

Driver’s side air bags might be damaged by the seat adjustment mechanism, Effler said.  

If harnesses are not repaired, driver’s side air bags might fail to deploy in a crash or deploy without a crash. 

Effler said the defect was discovered during a routine assessment. He did not know why these particular Optimas had the harness problem and others did not. 

Owners were being asked to take their cars to a Kia dealership for the correction. 

ASTORIA, Ore. — Fingers moved frantically through 35 feet of nylon netting, seeking the wild spring chinook salmon trapped inside. 

Vince Tarabochia got there first, but rather than violently pulling the webbing from around the mouth of the 20-pound fish, he tore several strands of the $500 net to free it. 

As gently as a doctor treating a patient, fish biologist Jeff Whisler lowered the salmon into a box of cool, circulating river water and watched as it oriented itself and began swimming softly into the artificial current. 

Within minutes, Whisler was dropping the fish back into the Columbia River. One whip of its strong tail and the salmon dove out of sight, to resume its upriver journey. 

“Wow,” said Whisler, a biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “This really does work.” 

It had better. The future of 550 lower Columbia River gill-netters in Oregon and Washington is riding on the success of Tarabochia and 19 other research teams. 

The new net that Tarabochia and his brother Brian are testing is designed to allow commercial gill-netters to catch and release wild salmon. If the experiment works, it would allow an industry that has jeopardized endangered salmon to improve its practices. 

Call it environmental gill-netting, a paradox to critics of traditional commercial fishing that transfers salmon from the river to the market. 

“This is absolutely the way we’re going to have to operate from now on,” said Brian Tarabochia, 33, a fourth-generation fisherman from Astoria. 

The states of Oregon and Washington, with funds from the Bonneville Power Administration, are experimenting with tangle-netting, a new commercial fishing technique developed in British Columbia to aid beleaguered fish runs on the Fraser River. 

Instead of using nets with larger mesh to catch salmon by the gills, suffocating them, the mesh of the experimental nets is much smaller. It tangles in the fish’s teeth and around its mouth, snaring the salmon without mortal injuries. 

Participating fishermen buy one net of their own and add to it one of a slightly different size bought with BPA money.  

The efficiency of the nets will be compared to find the ideal mesh.  

Designed for the gills of much smaller fish, each net typically lasts only a few trips. 

Tangled fish are brought aboard, where those with all fins intact are placed into the water of the recovery box. Salmon missing their adipose fins — a small, unused flap in front of the tail that is clipped before young hatchery fish are released — are kept and sold. 

Twenty commercial boats, selected by lottery from among 50 applicants, are participating in the research this season. 

Farther upriver, near Bonneville Dam, two gill-net boats are catching, tagging and releasing salmon to determine how many of the revived fish die after being released. 

Carl Schreck, an Oregon State University fisheries professor, said little is known about what damage is done by removing scales or the salmon’s protective coating of slime. 

“It would become more problematic as the water warms up,” he said. “I think it would be OK, though, in these temperatures. Those fish are pretty doggone hardy right now.” 

Steve King, Oregon’s salmon manager, said the research is critical to the survival of the nontribal commercial fishery. “Beginning next year, in 2002, they aren’t going to be allowed to keep unclipped fish,” King said. 

The Columbia’s tribal fishermen will send observers to Astoria to view the process, but a spokesman said they were not interested in participating, nor required to. 

“We don’t advocate for any catch and release,” said Charles Hudson, a spokesman for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. “The salmon comes back to either give itself up or to spawn. To judge a fish by the mutilation of a clipped fin is not in keeping with the tribal view of the completion of a life cycle. It’s at the heart of the spiritual question.” 

John Skidmore, a biologist for the BPA who is handling much of the salmon-recovery funding, said the $356,794 tangle-net experiment is one of the ways the agency is trying to help endangered salmon. “We have to attack the problem on all fronts,” he said. 

On the boat, Brian Tarabochia said not all Oregon and Washington gill-netters are likely to participate. “Some of them think it’s being rammed down their throats,” he said. “But we’re not going to fish without this.” 

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On the Net: 

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ 

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission: http://www.critfc.org/ 

PHOENIX — With the first significant number of wild-born pups expected this spring, scientists say a program aimed at restoring the Mexican gray wolf to its native Southwest is at a turning point. 

An independent preliminary report by three biologists concluded that the 3-year-old effort needs changes to ensure the pups survive and the project succeeds. Federal wildlife officials agree. 

“What’s really going to make the program succeed in the long run is having animals born in the wild,” said Brian Kelly, head of the program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The challenge is to switch the program’s direction from reintroduction to minimizing the endangered wolves’ contact with humans, including people who have shot them, campers who feed them and rangers who have had to recapture them too often. 

The Mexican gray wolf, a German shepherd-sized predator that once roamed throughout the U.S. Southwest and central Mexico, was hunted to near extinction in the 1950s.  

The only surviving animals lived in zoos or wildlife sanctuaries. 

Federal officials began working to change that in 1998, when they released 11 wolves in eastern Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. 

They wanted the animals to learn to hunt and mate again in the wild. Their goal was to have a population of 100 wild wolves in the forest area within 10 years. 

The program got off to a rough start, however, as ranchers began complaining that the wolves would kill livestock. Other problems followed. 

Five wolves were shot and the rest had to be recaptured, some because they were coming too close to people and livestock, that there were no wolves left in the wilderness at one point during the first year, said Kelly. 

Today, there are at least 26 wolves in the wild and they’re showing signs of adapting to life without humans.  

They’re eating elk and deer and, most importantly, they’re forming pairs, conceiving and nursing pups on their own. 

“They’re beginning to do what we were helping them to do,” said Kelley, though he added it will be years before the wolf is removed from the endangered species list. 

Since scientists expect six wild-born litters this spring and an average litter consists of four to six pups, the Mexican wolf’s population could conceivably double if most of the pups survive. 

The biologists’ report, which will be completed and released next month, said that requires leaving them alone more because too many recaptures disrupt their adaptation to the wild. 

Wolves are recaptured primarily when they stray from their recovery area or when they attack cattle.  

So the study suggests they might be allowed to roam in larger areas and not be captured if they scavenge livestock carcasses. The study even suggests that wolves only be removed if they threaten humans. 

But some ranchers who opposed the program from the beginning said that the rules are already so restrictive that the wolves can’t even be shot for attacking pets. 

“How much more are they going to inflict on everything and everybody?” said Barbara Marks, an Alpine rancher and a spokeswoman for the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association. “I couldn’t stand there and watch a wolf kill one of my dogs. We’ve no need for another predator.” 

Biologists and environmentalists say the Southwest needs wolves to maintain a natural balance. 

“Wolves are efficient landscape managers,” said Defenders of Wildlife spokesman Craig Miller. He said wolves help keep elk populations in check, which in turns reduces grazing and improves air and water quality. 

Kelly said learning to live with wolves also signals a new policy toward endangered species. 

“Our resolve to do something so controversial reflects that we’ve the wherewithal to live with something that competes with us humans,” Kelly said. 

The scientists’ report will be released next month and the Fish and Wildlife Service plans to hold public meetings in Arizona and New Mexico to discuss it. 

Members of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission will study the preliminary report at their monthly meeting Saturday. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Mexican Wolf Reintroduction: http://ifw2es.fws.gov/MexicanWolf/ 

WASHINGTON — Over the past decade, the government paid a total of $4.1 million to cover future medical costs for patients who had already died, government inspectors said Friday. 

The Health Care Financing Administration made the payments to health maintenance organizations on patients’ behalf even though Medicare listed the beneficiaries as dead, the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General said. 

The Medicare agency paid premiums for roughly 200 people who had died between 1991 and 1999, the report said. 

The main Medicare database listed the patients as dead, but a smaller HHS database of HMO participants didn’t always square the deaths with the master Medicare database, the report said. 

The report said $3.2 million of the misdirected funds are still outstanding, but officials at the Health Care Financing Administration said they have recovered $4 million to date. 

And the agency has improved its matching of records, officials said. 

“The most recent monthly run of our utility shows no payments made for deceased beneficiaries,” Michael McMullan, acting deputy administrator of HCFA, told the inspector general’s office. 

Officials said they also expect to recover money paid for patients who had died but were not listed in the report. 

Medicare provides health insurance for 40 million elderly and disabled Americans. Most payments are reimbursements made to doctors and hospitals for Medicare’s share of approved patient services. 

In a program designed to attract HMOs to the program, Medicare pays the health plans a set monthly rate per person to deliver medical services.  

About 5.6 million seniors are served by more than 170 health plans nationwide, HCFA officials said. 

The report studied the four states, Arizona, California, Colorado and Florida, with the highest market saturation; 43 percent of the seniors served by HMOs getting such payments live in those states. 

The report said an unidentified plan in California received $330,957 from 1991 through October 2000 for dead beneficiaries. 

Inspectors say the discrepancies were noticed in routine regional checks on the HMO program. The report does not assign any blame to the HMOs that receive payments from Medicare. 

Health plan officials said they support efforts to make sure payments are accurate and adequate. 

“To that end this report highlights why regulatory reform and reform of HCFA should be an integral part of any Medicare modernization effort,” said Phil Blando, a spokesman for the American Association of Health Plans. 

Last month, investigations by HHS and Congress showed that felons and fugitives received millions of dollars in Medicare benefits, despite federal laws prohibiting most of them from receiving the health benefit. 

—— 

On the Net: 

Health Care Financing Administration: http://www.hcfa.gov/ 

Health and Human Services Inspector General: http://www.dhhs.gov/progorg/oig/ 

WASHINGTON — With the Nigerian president and the United Nations secretary-general at his side, President Bush on Friday pledged $200 million – and promised more money later – for fighting AIDS and other diseases ravaging Africa. 

The U.S. pledge is seed money for a $7 billion to $10 billion fund that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan hopes the world’s richest nations and private philanthropists will establish to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Annan also is trying to drum up support for an international action plan to be adopted at a June 25-27 special session of the U.N. General Assembly. 

“Across the world at this moment there are people in true desperation and we must help,” Bush said during a Rose Garden ceremony. 

Activists sniffed at Bush’s promise for future funding and called the $200 million a pittance. A hodgepodge of protesters milled in front of the White House gate, chanting, “Billions for Star Wars, chump change for AIDS,” a reference to the missile defense system Bush has said he wants. 

“In the face of what will soon be the worst plague in human history, it’s tragic that the richest country in human history is unwilling to contribute its fair share to finance the solution,” said Salih Booker, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Africa Action. 

Even Annan and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo gently prodded for more. 

“As we declare global war on AIDS, we will need a war chest to fight it,” Annan said. “We need a response that matches the challenge.” 

Obasanjo estimated that $7 billion to $8 billion will be needed each year “to make an impression” on the epidemic. “But, with this beginning, and just the beginning, I thank you on behalf of all AIDS sufferers in the world, but particularly on behalf of all AIDS sufferers in Africa,” he told Bush. 

Harvard University economist Jeffrey Sachs said the size of the initial donation was not as important as the fact that it represents a new approach to fighting AIDS. 

“There is no doubt in my mind that the $200 million is not sufficient. And there is no doubt in my mind that there will be more money to come,” Sachs said, adding that the global fund will “raise the magnitude of the battle in a very important way.” 

Bush said the funds were “a founding contribution” outside of $760 million the United States was spending this year on international AIDS efforts, and billions devoted to AIDS research. He said the United States would give more “as we learn where our support can be most effective.” Bush noted that 11 million African children have lost their parents to AIDS. 

“In a part of the world where so many have suffered from war and want and famine, these latest tribulations are the cruelest of fates,” Bush said. “Only through sustained and focused international cooperation can we address problems so grave, and suffering so great.” 

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., cheered Bush’s announcement but encouraged the president to put sufficient federal resources into fighting AIDS immediately. America “has an obligation to lead this effort, we have the resources and now we must muster the will to devote them to this problem,” he said. 

Since the vast majority of people suffering from infectious diseases who cannot afford treatment are in Africa, the continent is expected to get a large share of the funds. Of 36 million people around the world infected with HIV, roughly 26 million live in Africa. 

Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel to Africa on May 22 to see the AIDS problem firsthand. He was to stop in Mali, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. 

Friday’s announcement came while Bush, by greeting Obasanjo, held his first meeting with an African president. Bush said they discussed Nigeria’s plans to increase oil production, a move called “positive news for U.S. consumers” expecting to be squeezed by exorbitant fuel prices this summer. 

They also talked about U.S. support for Nigeria’s efforts on peacekeeping and conflict resolution in places such as Angola, Congo and Sierra Leone. “The short of it is that Nigeria is a friend of America, and the president is a friend of mine,” Bush said. 

“I now can feel that if there is any need to call on President Bush, he knows what I look like,” Obasanjo said. 

——— 

On the Net: State Department background on Nigeria: http://www.state.gov/www/background—notes/nigeria—0008—bgn.html 

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency settled a case Friday in a Detroit federal court requiring seven petroleum refineries to reduce smokestack pollutants by more than 23,000 tons per year. 

Under the settlement, Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC, of Findlay, Ohio, must spend an estimated $265 million to install pollution control equipment aimed at reducing emissions from smokestacks, wastewater vents, leaky valves and flares at its refineries which account for more than 5 percent of the total refining capacity in the United States. 

Those refineries are located in Robinson, Ill.; Garyville, La.; Texas City, Texas; Catlettsburg, Ky.; Detroit; Canton, Ohio; and St. Paul Park, Minn. 

The new equipment is intended to help ease respiratory problems like childhood asthma by cutting pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate emissions, carbon monoxide, benzene and volatile organic compounds. 

Two states, Louisiana and Minnesota, and Wayne County, Mich., joined the consent decree filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit and announced by the EPA and the Justice Department. 

Marathon Ashland also will pay a $3.8 million civil penalty under the Clean Air Act and spend about $6.5 million for environmental projects in communities near the refineries. Minnesota and Louisiana each will receive $50,000 of the penalty under the agreement. 

Attorney General John Ashcroft called it “a victory for the environment.” 

The case is part of EPA’s national effort to reduce harmful air pollution released from refineries, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said. 

In March, the government reached similar agreements with Motiva Enterprises, Equilon Enterprises, and Deer Park Refining Limited Partnership, which will reduce air pollution at nine refineries across the nation. 

“The settlement also is expected to facilitate efficiency upgrades and increased production of gasoline over the next eight years,” Whitman said. 

Also Friday, the EPA and Justice Department announced it had reached a separate settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Benton, Ill., requiring Marathon Ashland to reduce benzene emissions at its refinery in Robinson, Ill. 

Marathon Ashland will pay a $1.67 million civil penalty under the Clean Air Act and spend another $125,000 on an emergency response project there. 

——— 

On the Net: 

EPA air quality site: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/uatw 

WASHINGTON — For an agency still reeling from the discovery of an alleged spy in its ranks, the last thing the FBI needed was the disclosure that it withheld evidence from lawyers representing the man convicted of the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. 

Timothy McVeigh was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Now his lawyers are weighing whether to seek a stay of the execution, which would have been the first federal death sentence carried out since 1963. 

Attorney General John Ashcroft put off the execution until June 11 to allow McVeigh’s attorneys to review the evidence and ordered an investigation into the FBI’s failure to turn over thousands of pages to McVeigh’s defense team. 

“I know many Americans will question why the execution of someone who is so clearly guilty of such a heinous crime should be delayed,” Ashcroft said. He said he made his decision so that there would be no lingering questions over the case that “would cast a permanent cloud over justice.” 

The mishap comes a little more than a week after FBI Director Louis Freeh said he plans to retire in June – two years short of his 10-year term. Law enforcement officials familiar with the case said there was no connection between Freeh’s decision to retire and the problem with the McVeigh documents. 

The revelation shook the law enforcement establishment – and people waiting to see closure more than six years after a bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168, including many women and children. 

“I’m appalled,” said Kathleen Treanor, who lost her 4-year-old daughter and her in-laws in the bombing.  

“The FBI knew from the very beginning that this was a huge case. How could they have possibly made a mistake this huge?” 

The documents mishap also follows the arrest in February of Robert Philip Hanssen, a 20-year veteran agent accused of selling national secrets to Moscow. 

Hanssen, a counterintelligence agent with access to highly sensitive information, carried on his alleged spying activities for 15 years without being detected by his bosses.  

Investigations are underway to figure out how. 

Other controversies, from a crime-lab scandal in the 1990s to the botched investigation last year of former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, have dogged the FBI in recent years. 

The revelation that some 3,135 investigation materials – including interview reports and physical evidence such as photographs, letters and tapes – were inadvertently withheld from McVeigh’s attorneys is another embarrassment for the FBI. 

Law enforcement officials familiar with the documents mishap, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said the mistake resulted from an antiquated records system. The FBI was in the routine process of gathering all documents from the Oklahoma City bombing investigation – numbering more than 1 million – from its bureaus when officials discovered that some pages had never been shared with defense lawyers. 

“One thing that’s overlooked here is that there were thousands and thousands of these statements that have to be stored and catalogued,” said Andrew Cohen, a legal analyst who has followed the case.  

“Certainly you don’t want to encourage the government to lose this sort of thing, but in some ways it’s a bit understandable.” 

As soon as the mistake was discovered, the bureau acted quickly to turn the documents over, the sources said.  

The Justice Department received the documents Wednesday and sent McVeigh’s attorneys copies of everything. 

The department says none of the documents creates any doubt about McVeigh’s conviction or sentence.  

McVeigh’s lawyers could still ask for a stay of execution so they can examine the materials. 

“I think the FBI has given McVeigh the chance to delay his own execution,” said Cohen. 

Paul Heath, who was injured in the bombing, said he was taking a wait-and-see approach to the news. 

“I’m convinced it wouldn’t make any difference to Mr. McVeigh,” Heath said. 

“It does not upset me.” 

Last year the FBI was stung by the case of Wen Ho Lee, a former Los Alamos scientist indicted on 59 criminal counts of mishandling nuclear weapons secrets. He spent nine months in solitary confinement in a New Mexico jail. All but one count was eventually dropped. 

The FBI also suffered through an embarrassing investigation by its parent, the Justice Department, of its world-renowned crime lab in the mid-1990s. 

Spurred by allegations from Frederic Whitehurst, an FBI lab chemist, Justice Inspector General Michael Bromwich investigated the facility for 18 months. He subsequently blasted the FBI facility for flawed scientific work and inaccurate, pro-prosecution testimony in major cases, including the Oklahoma City bombing. 

The catastrophe at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in which 80 people were killed, and a shoot-out with white separatists in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, have also dogged the FBI. 

McVeigh has said he carried out the Oklahoma City bombing to avenge the deaths at Waco and Ruby Ridge.

Is a caterpillar a butterfly? Yes and no: Although a caterpillar has no wings, it is only a different life stage of the same animal.  

A successful butterfly garden caters to both life stages, the adult that sips nectar from flowers and the caterpillar which eats leaves.  

Although many people think flowers are important in a butterfly garden, the adults don’t eat all that much and many butterflies are just as happy to get their moisture from dead meat, dung, rotting fruit or mud.  

They will be thankful for the chance to visit flowers of Lantana, Jupiter’s Beard or Butterfly Bush, but they will be forever grateful to find the larval (caterpillar) food plant, because their offspring are ravenously hungry and rather fussy eaters.  

The spiky orange and black gulf fritillary caterpillars, for instance, will only eat passion vine. If you have room for only one butterfly plant in your garden, make it blue crown passion flower, also known as Passiflora caerulea.  

The butterflies, which are orange with silver spots on their under wings, tend to stay near this plant all day, making any yard look like a butterfly garden.  

Cabbage whites, a white butterfly with small black spots, also tend to stay near their host (caterpillar food) plant all day.  

As their name indicates, they lay their eggs on cabbages. They also lay on nasturtiums, which have orange and yellow flowers and are easy to grow from seed.  

Cabbage whites are rather plain looking compared to the stunning yellow and black anise swallowtails, which lay their eggs on fennel, a common weed in the western states.  

When properly maintained, fennel has a soft ferny texture. Cut back a section at a time over several months, it can provide fresh foliage for caterpillars all summer as it resprouts.  

Fennel, like most butterfly plants, needs no water once established. However, the caterpillars depend upon the plant for both solid and liquid nutrition and the butterflies only choose lush plants on which to lay their eggs, so regular water is a must. 

Oak trees, an exception to this rule, are prone to root rot if watered. They are home to California sister butterflies whose name is derived from the black and white coloration. 

Most nuns don’t have the orange spots that sisters have, though.  

The red admiral is another black and white butterfly with orange markings.  

The caterpillars eat another weed, pellitory, which can be found growing in shaded spots all over Berkeley.  

Although the plant prefers shade, the butterflies prefer sun, so it must be in the sun at least part of the day to attract butterflies.  

Growing about knee high with tiny white flowers, it can bring a texture of green to dark corners.  

Hollyhocks, on the other hand, have big bright flowers in many colors.  

Painted ladies are not interested in the flowers, however, and don’t care whether they are single are double since they lay their eggs on the leaves.  

After the caterpillars hatch, they protect themselves from predators with a bit of webbing.  

Buckeye caterpillars protect themselves by feeding at night on snapdragons and kenilworth ivy.  

They also eat plantain, a lawn weed that grows alongside the grasses as long as no herbicides are used.  

Butterflies and pesticides are incompatible because pesticides kill butterflies just as surely as they kill the pests.  

Milkweed, for instance, sometimes has an aphid problem, but killing the aphids could kill the monarch caterpillars, too.  

It is worth it to endure a few aphids to get a chance to see the exquisite orange and black butterfly.  

Compared to monarchs, skippers are small and drab, but they are delightful because they will grace a grassy garden whenever the sun is out.  

They lay its eggs on most grasses, including bamboo. Caterpillars eat almost every sort of garden plant: weeds, trees, vines, vegetables, turf and flowers, so it makes sense to integrate them into the entire garden.  

A comfortable seat is an important part of the plan, so the humans can watch the butterflies court, fight and lay eggs.  

These beauties of the insect world are easy to attract and endlessly fascinating.

WASHINGTON — When computer users install the next generation of Microsoft’s Windows operating system this fall, they will get an Internet chat program automatically. Plus a new security program, a DVD player and software to make personal CDs. 

Rivals and some state attorneys general are complaining that with its Windows XP system, Microsoft is engaging in the same sort of product bundling that gave rise to the current federal antitrust case involving the company’s Internet Explorer browser. 

AOL Time Warner, the world’s largest Internet provider and the maker of two competing Internet messaging programs, was so upset that it provided a private briefing in March to the attorneys general of the states that sued Microsoft in the case now before a federal appeals court. AOL officials outlined what they believe are new anticompetitive practices. 

“This is a movie that many people have seen before. The direction Windows XP, .NET and Hailstorm all go in is to continue Microsoft’s desktop monopoly and we think that’s bad for consumers,” said John Buckley, AOL vice president. 

Microsoft .NET is the company’s plan to develop Internet technology that works with most other computing devices, encouraging consumers to keep their data on Microsoft Internet servers.  

Hailstorm is Microsoft’s code name for some of the services that will run on .NET. 

Microsoft counters that it is simply trying to improve its product with new features that consumers demand, and that its rivals are trying to do the same thing: expand into new markets. 

“We must continue to add new features and functionality, or else no one is going to want our product,” Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said. “You have to remain nimble and remain focused on delivering value to your customers.” 

The tensions between Microsoft and AOL come even as the two giants work together to resolve common issues, such as a single instant messaging standard. 

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who has coordinated the states’ legal strategy in the antitrust case, said Microsoft’s behavior amounted to “history repeating itself.” 

“There are certainly some concerns about them continuing dominance,” Miller said. 

The strategy to continue product bundling comes as an appeals court in Washington weighs a trial judge’s order that Microsoft be split into two companies. 

“Without any court restrictions, Microsoft has remained free to continue its previous course with respect to integrating the browser and anything else, and it has acted consistently with its previously expressed views,” Howard University law professor Andy Gavil said. “The snowballing of added features, however, surely will complicate any future remedy if a violation is upheld.” 

Windows XP, which will be sold in stores in October, is the first Windows version designed for both home users and businesses. It promises to be far more stable for consumers, and includes more extras than ever. 

Among them: MSN Messenger, an instant-messaging program; the new Internet Explorer 6 browser; a computer security program known as a firewall; a new media player only available with XP that will play DVDs as well as streaming Internet music and video; and a remote access program that will let a more savvy user troubleshoot someone else’s computer across the Internet. 

For the first time, MSN Messenger installs and loads automatically every time XP is run. 

Several companies already sell security, multimedia and remote access programs. Once Microsoft has these features integrated with Windows, consumer advocates say, there is little reason to go elsewhere for them. 

“At first blush it looks like ease and convenience and simplicity for the user, but in the long run it sets off alarm systems of stifling competition and higher prices,” said Gene Kimmelman of the Consumers Union. 

Competitors are hoping that consumers will see that their products are better than Microsoft’s bundled ones. 

“The firewall in (XP) is very rudimentary,” said Sarah Hicks, a vice president of Symantec Corp., which makes a competing security program. 

RealNetworks general manager Steve Banfield said that Windows Media Player was “not the best product.” 

Microsoft’s Cullinan maintains that first, the company has to convince consumers to upgrade to XP. 

“If people don’t find those features compelling enough to upgrade,” Cullinan said, “they can keep whatever the heck they want. They’re not forced to upgrade.” 

David Farber, a former Federal Communications Commission technologist who testified against Microsoft in the antitrust trial, thinks consumers will resign themselves to using even more Microsoft products. 

“It’s the same game that they played with (Internet) Explorer,” Farber said. “If it’s sitting there and it’s built in and you have to put a lot of work in to use another product, you don’t do it.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/ 

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Three popular allergy medications are safe enough to be sold without prescription, a federal advisory panel ruled Friday in an unprecedented case that could save the health insurance industry billions of dollars but increase costs for many consumers. 

Acting on a petition by WellPoint Health Networks of Thousand Oaks, the Food and Drug Administration panel recommended that Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec be made available over the counter, without supervision by a doctor. 

The vote was 19-4 each for Claritin and Zyrtec, and 18-5 for Allegra. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of the panel, but usually does so. 

Dr. John Jenkins of the FDA said he did not have a timeframe for a decision in the “very unusual” case. Traditionally drug companies, not insurance companies, ask for a change, he said. 

WellPoint, which could save $45 million a year, had argued that the allergy medications were safe. 

“There is no clinical reason for Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec to be maintained as prescription drugs,” Robert Seidman, a company vice president, told the 23-member panel. “They have side effects similar to a sugar pill.” 

Drug companies countered that the move would force consumers into a “risky trial-and-error gamble with their health, their quality of life and their money.” People will self-diagnose and treat conditions that need the attention of a doctor, company executives said. 

“Insurance companies see a physician visit as a cost item,” said Dr. Robert J. Spiegel, vice president of Schering-Plough, maker of Claritin. “We see it as an essential part of health care. Now is not the time to drive patients farther away from their physicians.” 

The company said later in a statement that an FDA change without pharmaceutical makers’ support would be a reversal of past agency policy and could create legal questions. 

The financial implications of the FDA’s decision will be huge for the insurance industry, drug manufacturers and consumers. 

Consumers with insurance would have to pay the full cost. Those without insurance may pay less if the drug companies lower prices to meet competition, which some experts expect. 

Last year, the three drugs generated about $4.7 billion in sales. 

The drugs can sell for more than $2 a pill. With a prescription, a patient with insurance can get a month’s supply at the personal cost of a copay charge, perhaps as little as $5. The insurance company then has to pay the balance, $50 to $60. 

If the drugs are reclassified as over the counter, insurance companies would no longer have to pay for them. 

Mike Bernstein, a Washington-based food and drug attorney, said if there is a change, the three drug companies could be forced to compete with other over-the-counter cold, flu and allergy medications, most of which are cheaper than prescription drugs. 

In Canada, Claritin can be purchased at stores without prescriptions for significantly less than the U.S. price. Seidman said the cost there is about $11 a month and that the companies should also have competitive prices in America. 

Jenkins said the FDA cannot force the companies to continue selling the drugs. 

Inappropriate self-treatment could have serious medical consequences, said Dr. Francois Nader, vice president of Aventis Pharma AG, maker of Allegra. 

“Consumers would face a risky trial and error gamble with their health, their quality of life and with their money,” he said. 

Manufacturers pointed to asthma, a serious respiratory condition, as a disease that patients might try to treat without seeing a doctor. 

Nader said WellPoint is pushing for declassification because it does not pay for over-the-counter drugs and the change could save the company millions of dollars. But he predicted that “the short term gain to the insurers would increase the health care burden” on society. 

Pfizer Incorporated, maker of Zyrtec, did not make a presentation at the meeting. 

The allergy drugs are known as second generation antihistamines because they dry up allergy symptoms without causing drowsiness so common with first generation over-the-counter drugs. 

Claritin was approved in 1993, Zyrtec in 1995 and Allegra in 1996. 

In response to the decision, shares of Schering-Plough finished trading on the New York Stock Exchange up $1.20 to $38.20. Shares of Aventis fell $1.22 to $75.53, while Pfizer was off 74 cents to $43.00. 

Dr. Robert Meyer, of the FDA, told the panel that there have been only a few instances of heart and kidney problems and seizures among patients taking the drugs, but there is no clear indication that these adverse events were directly caused by the medication. 

In his presentation, Seidman said that second generation antihistamines are now on sale without a prescription in 17 countries. He said U.S. consumers could save money they now spend for doctors visits to get prescriptions. 

——— 

On the Net: Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov 

WASHINGTON — Timothy McVeigh’s countdown to execution was suddenly interrupted Friday, five days before he was to die, as Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered an investigation into the FBI’s bungling of records in the Oklahoma City bombing. 

President Bush said he was sure of McVeigh’s guilt but did not want the government “rushing his fate.” 

McVeigh, on death row in Terre Haute, Ind., is now scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 11. 

Attorney Rob Nigh described his client as frustrated and possibly reconsidering his earlier decision against challenging the execution order. 

“He’s distressed about this in that he knows the impact that it has upon his family and those who care about him,” Nigh said outside the federal prison where he consulted with McVeigh. 

Some victims said they were sickened, others resigned, after the dramatic turn of events in what is to be the first federal execution since 1963. 

“It’s like a big old clamp squeezing my gut,” said Dan McKinney, whose wife was among the 168 people killed in the 1995 bombing to which McVeigh has confessed. “We have to wait 30 more days for something we have waited six years.” 

McVeigh’s defense team was handed 3,135 documents that the FBI should have provided more than three years ago during trial. 

Retired FBI agent Danny Coulson, who worked on the case, told The Associated Press that all of the documents involved were generated from interviews on the day of the explosion and the day after – when field offices were chasing leads all over the world about a possible “John Doe No. 2” suspect. 

McVeigh lawyer Nathan Chambers said he was informed by the U.S. attorney of the documents’ existence on Tuesday. Bush and Ashcroft both said they were not told of the problem until Thursday. 

Complaining that 30 days was not enough time to study the mountain of paper, Nigh said McVeigh was now “keeping all of his options open.” 

“He has indicated in the past that he did not want to delay. He’s willing to take a fresh look and evaluate the information,” Nigh said. 

Separately, Michael Tigar, lawyer for convicted conspirator Terry Nichols, who is serving a life sentence, told CNN he would file a new appeal for Nichols with the Supreme Court. 

Ashcroft, his back to the ticking mantle clock in a Justice Department conference room, said government attorneys studied the newly disclosed documents and concluded they did not contradict the 11 guilty verdicts returned against McVeigh for murder, conspiracy and using a weapon of mass destruction. 

The attorney general, who decided last month to telecast McVeigh’s execution for victims, said he was now postponing the date “in order to assure the American people that they have a right to have confidence in our processes.” 

“If any questions or doubts remain about this case, it would cast a permanent cloud over justice,” Ashcroft said. 

McVeigh attorney Chambers called Ashcroft’s decision a public-relations attempt to restore public trust in the federal justice system. 

“Regardless of the content of materials recently released, the most recent episode demonstrates in dramatic fashion why trust and confidence should be reserved,” said Chambers. 

McVeigh has said he bombed the Oklahoma City federal building to avenge the deadly FBI standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. 

Bush, in a White House news conference, dismissed the notion that McVeigh might take the FBI foul-up in his case as justification for his anti-government rage. 

“He should say he’s lucky to be in America; that’s what he ought to say,” Bush said. “This is a country that will bend over backwards to make sure that his constitutional rights are guaranteed as opposed to rushing his fate.” 

In Pendleton, N.Y., Bill McVeigh watched Ashcroft’s announcement with a local television crew and confessed mixed emotions, saying he had been bracing all week for his son’s execution on Wednesday. 

“Now this,” Bill McVeigh said. “It’s like starting over.” 

FBI special agent Danny Defenbaugh, who led the Oklahoma City investigation, said that 28,000 interviews were conducted, and 23,290 pieces of evidence and 238,000 photos gathered over the course of the inquiry. Defenbaugh said the problem came to light when the documents — drawn from 45 FBI offices in the United States and one in Paris — were being archived in December. 

Ashcroft said he was instructing the inspector general of the Justice Department to conduct “a careful study” into what went wrong. 

“We are going beyond the requirements of the law,” he said. 

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the panel will hold hearings on “the FBI’s inability to comply with basic legal procedures.” He said the hearings would follow the investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general. 

The failure to turn over the documents is one several “colossal mistakes” by the bureau, said Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. 

Coulson blamed a computer-filing glitch, saying the documents were keyed into FBI computers by field offices but not flagged or cross-referenced to the bombing case. “I’m sure there’s nothing there that changes the outcome of the case, but it makes the FBI look bad,” Coulson said. 

Nigh urged a moratorium on all federal executions. 

But Bush, who was governor of Texas while 152 inmates were put to death, reaffirmed his faith in the death penalty Friday. 

“Today is an example of the system being fair,” Bush said. 

“There is never going to be an end to the twists and turns,” sighed Jim Denny, whose two children were injured in the 1995 blast. “As long as justice comes in the end.” 

WASHINGTON — President Bush criticized the House vote to withhold some overdue payments to the United Nations in a display of anger over the ouster of the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Commission. 

“I think we have made an agreement with the United Nations, an agreement that had been negotiated in good faith, and I think we ought to pay our dues,” Bush told a news conference several hours after meeting in the White House with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. 

The House voted 252-165 Thursday to pay $582 million in back dues but to withhold an additional $244 million until the United States is restored to the human rights panel. An initial $100 million back-dues payment occurred last year. 

Bush also criticized the U.S. ejection from the seat it has held since the panel’s creation in 1947, calling it “an outrageous decision.” 

“To me, it undermines the whole credibility of this commission to kick the United States off, one of the great bastions of human rights, and allow Sudan to be on,” he said. “And I think most reasonable people in the world see it that way.” 

Annan, back at U.N. headquarters in New York, said it was clear that both Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was also at the White House meeting, “are very supportive of the U.N.” 

“I had a chance to exchange some ideas about the U.N. dues and the decision in Congress to attach an amendment to the $244 million,” Annan said. “The president did indicate to me that he would also want to see the dues paid without any withholding.” 

The provision was written by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the International Relations Committee, and the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Tom Lantos of California, to forestall even tougher amendments aimed at blocking all the dues money. 

It was attached to the bill authorizing State Department programs for the 2002 and 2003 fiscal years.  

A House vote is expected next week. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is still writing its version. 

Powell urged lawmakers Thursday to show “a little more restraint,” telling a House subcommittee that “we should not now try to find a way to punish the U.N.” 

But that word never got to Hyde or Lantos, Hyde said after the vote. 

“The administration did not contact us on this bill,” he said. “It may be that they don’t have personnel in place, or maybe they didn’t care that much. I don’t know.” 

Hyde said the provision could change as the White House makes its opinion known during Senate action and the House-Senate conference resolving differences between the two chambers’ bills. 

“Passage by one house is the beginning of a long journey,” he said. 

On Thursday, Annan predicted the United States would get back its seat on the Human Rights Commission next year, “and I hope in the meantime they will work with other member states to get back on.” 

Despite the Bush administration’s opposition, GOP leaders championed the fight to punish the United Nations. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, implored his colleagues to “send the world a message: America cares and America dares to stand up for any lost soul beleaguered and tortured in any part of this world at any time.” 

The most visible backers of the White House position were Democrats. 

“How can we expect the United Nations to improve its performance or to respect us if we go back on our word and refuse to pay our bills?” asked Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. 

After the vote, White House spokesman Sean McCormack said: “Our position is we’re committed to paying our arrears. To do otherwise now would undermine what we’re doing at the U.N. and our credibility as a negotiating partner.” 

In other amendments Thursday, the House: 

—Showed it was not opposed to all things United Nations by voting 225-193 to support a return to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and pay it $65 million. The United States left UNESCO in 1984, upset by management problems and what was perceived to be an anti-American bent. 

—Voted 282-137 to keep the United States out of the proposed International Criminal Court. Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, contended it could be used against U.S. military personnel overseas and, by endorsing the court, “we would be abandoning the sacred covenant between the Congress and our men and women in uniform.” 

Asked about that provision, Annan said: “I think that we know the position of Washington but I hope it is not immutable.” 

José-Luis Orozco, a long time Berkeley musician, is an expert in bilingual education through music and song.  

Ever since he was a child in Mexico City, he’s been singing for multi-cultural audiences. The second of eleven children, Jose-Luis learned old songs from his grandmother. His mother taught him to interpret the spirit of the song. 

“My mother, though not a professional, was very good at singing the feeling of the music, from a slow Bolero (love song) to Mexican polkas,” Orozco said. “I picked up the energy of the music from her, the feeling.” 

Last week, Orozco brought that musical tradition to Washington School. People in the audience were awed by the performance. 

“He had the whole audience, whole families, up dancing to children’s songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider in Spanish and English. Nobody just sat. It was amazing!” said Pat Ungern, a teacher at the school.  

At 7, he and a brother were chosen to travel with the Mexico City Children’s Choir throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. They stayed with families – both rich and poor – and performed for heads of state and a diverse range of audiences.  

Traveling gave him opportunities that he could never have had at home. He learned church music in Latin, Mexican folk music, and sang world music including American folk songs like, “Home on the Range.” While in Spain, he was given a guitar as a gift and his father taught him to play once he arrived home.  

While touring, he also learned about politics. In Venezuela, the choir was turned back because of a coup. During the Bay of Pigs invasion, he was staying with Basque families in Spain.  

The families were progressive and sat up late at night listening for news about Cuba.  

The Cuban revolution was a very big thing, Orozco said, to people who lived whole lives under dictatorships.  

When his voice changed at 13, and he could no longer be part of the children’s choir, he formed a musical group with neighbors and played at various barrio gatherings. He attended evening music classes, but also worked to help his mother support the family. Life was not easy. 

In 1968, there was a student rebellion in Mexico City similar to rebellions around the world including the civil-rights movement and the anti-war movement in the United States. It ended in the massacre of many students, some of whom he knew, three blocks from his mother’s home.  

Jose-Luis’ father called him at work and told him not to go home because the army was searching for students and taking them from the neighborhood, even if they had not been part of the rebellion. He stayed away for three days. 

The sadness of that event coincided with a friend’s urging him to come to the United States. He and his mother decided it was something he should try. He moved to San Jose and mopped floors.  

After six months, lonely for music, he bought a cheap guitar and started singing at schools in the Bay Area. 

Quickly he discovered Berkeley. He went to Laney College and transferred to UC Berkeley to complete his Bachelor of Arts.  

Oscar Lewis’s book, “The Children of Sanchez,” was written about the barrio where his parents were born and raised and inspired Orozco’s strong interest in sociology.  

The University of San Francisco offered him a scholarship and he earned an Master of Arts in multi-cultural education. 

For several years in the 70s, he worked as a community liasion in Berkeley. He married and fathered three children – Jose-Luis, Maya, and Gabriel. He also co-founded a national Hispanic university and ran summer programs for the University in Gudalajara. 

In all of this mix, his interest in music became foremost and his ability to support himself through music was accomplished by the mid-80s. His politics, he said, is connected to his daily life education. He wrote a corrido, or ballad, for Cesar Chavez and for Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Worker’s Union. He will be performing them at La Peña Cultural Center on June 9.  

Orozco loves to sing to any age group, but the demand to sing to children is always the highest.  

“The most important thing about my music is the effect it has on the education of children,” Orozco said.  

“Seeing the joy in the children and then the joy in the teachers noticing the music’s impact on the children keeps me motivated. 

“Music brings down barriers between people, barriers of prejudice and racism. Music is a non-threatening tool. It brings people together, it makes people happy. All along, since I was very young, I’ve seen that music is magic,” he said. 

When Jose-Luis Orozco sings to children he is warm, engaging, and upbeat. He presents his music in a way that values children. He makes them feel important. They know, during his time with them, that they matter. He can take a dull classroom and fill it with color and light.  

He has been recording for years. The recordings for children are done simply with just his guitar and voice – a soothing combination, he’s been told.  

“They use my music to calm fussy babies, “ he said, laughing.  

One compact disc, “De Colores,” has sold over thirty thousand copies. There is a companion book with songs in Spanish with English translations. The illustrations by Elsia Kleven are richly conceived and whimsical. One song from this collection, “Paz y libertad,” has a life of its own. People have been dancing to it at circle dance gatherings for years never knowing that José-Luis Orozco wrote it. 

His oldest son, Luis, has been managing his business for him.  

“Luis is an excellent organizer,” Orozco said, bragging. “And he has great people skills. Even when he was twelve people would ask him questions and he would explain everything to them.” 

Dual immersion programs, the best model for dual language acquisiton, are flowering in schools throughout the United States. Three of Berkeley’s schools have programs; Orozco’s youngest son, Pablo, is at Cragmont’s. And because Orozco is emerging as the foremost educator in Spanish-English music for children, he is highly sought after. He has song recently in New York City, Houston, and Miami, and, unpredictably, a dual immersion school in Anchorage, Alaska. 

At 52, Orozco is realizing that the possibilites for his music are limitless. He wants to keep on creating and letting his music provide continuity across generations.  

He feels he’s reached two generations already, his and that of his children. He’s working on his third. His daughter’s new born son is one baby he’s singing to already. 

You can hear José-Luis Orozco in a Benefit Concert for Centro Vida-Bahai, a child care, at the Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison Street on June 2 at 11:00a.m. Call 524-7300 information.

If Americans appear to be not fully sold on the idea of saving for their retirement, the explanation might lie in two very broad and different possibilities: 

1. They feel they can’t maintain a modern lifestyle and afford to save. 

2. Deep down, they feel that some outside force will take care of the matter and provide the wherewithal when the time comes. 

Whichever the reason, fewer workers than a year ago are saving for retirement, according to a report by two research organizations. Moreover, they say, confidence in a future comfortable retirement is down. 

Supporting the first possibility is the concern that whatever small amount workers save could be wiped out by illness or other forces beyond their control, such as rising prescription and utility bills. 

It is a fatalistic attitude, but understandable when you consider the overwhelming anxiety that grips some families when they match their incomes against the demands, such as for tuitions and mortgage payments. 

And perhaps taxes, too. Americans in recent years have been paying more in taxes than for food, clothing and shelter, the traditional essentials. The alternative is to stop saving rather than lower living standards. 

Worse, they sense that taxes might very well take an ever bigger bite in future years despite loudly sought tax cuts. 

The possibility of taxes taking an even larger budget share is raised by the Tax Foundation, whose documented but controversial Tax Freedom Day, has been pushed back to May 3 this year. It was April 18 in 1992. 

It means,the Foundation says, that taxpayers must work until then simply to meet federal, state and local tax bills. And, it adds, another week will be added to the grind by 2011, the result of the tax code’s built-in tendency to absorb a larger fraction of the nation’s income. 

While those angry at the tendency have a tendency of their own to blame an avaricious government, much of the tax growth has, in effect, been sought or acquiesced to by voters approving more government services. 

That brings up the second possibility – that some people harbor the notion that government will bail them out. How, they ask, can it not do so? And, if not the government, then possibly the stock market. 

More than one survey has shown, for example, that American investors believe a stock market that can scalp their portfolios one year can replenish it the next.  

The idea of easy fortunes has not been eliminated. 

The decline in savings for retirement comes at a time when publicity about the need to do the very opposite - that is, raise savings rates – is so loud that few worker-taxpayers have failed to hear it. 

But savings declines are what’s been found by the independent researchers – the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the American Savings Education Council – and it presents serious issues of public policy. 

Obviously, there’s evidence of a fundamental contradiction: that you can have the benefits, but avoid the risk and the pain. 

Relying on government rather than oneself to pay for retirement means higher taxes and maybe lower living standards now.  

Depending on the stock market means assuming the risks and perhaps facing a miserable retirement. 

It’s a painful choice for those who face it, but it is a choice – an alternative rather than a dictate. 

John Cunniff is a business  

analyst for The Associated Press

SANTA BARBARA — A co-founder of EarthLink, one of the nation’s largest Internet service providers, could face claims of $600 million or more for alleged investment fraud that netted Internet moguls, Santa Barbara socialites, venture capitalists and Hollywood producers. 

Emotions ran high Thursday as 90 investors met with attorneys representing company co-founder Reed E. Slatkin at the Santa Barbara office of U.S. bankruptcy trustee Brian Fittipaldi, who said claims could range as high as $600 million. Some attorneys have estimated the amount could go higher. 

Slatkin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors last week and remains in control of all accounts and assets under U.S. bankruptcy code. Slatkin has less than $21 million, most of it invested in shares of EarthLink. 

“I thought he was a hero because he made all his money without hurting anyone, but he made his money by hurting everyone,” said investor Patrick Siefe, a Santa Barbara computer consultant. 

Slatkin was not present to answer allegations he mismanaged money given by 500 investors. His attorneys said they advised their client not to attend. 

Bankruptcy trustees called the meeting to organize a seven-member creditors’ committee to represent investors’ interests in court. The committee’s first move was to agree to file a motion Friday asking a bankruptcy judge to freeze all of Slatkin’s accounts and assets, a move that will go uncontested. 

“It’s a very serious, staggering amount of money that’s at stake, and I don’t believe personally we’re going to find (it) stashed overseas,” said attorney Richard Wynne, who represents the committee. 

Another group of investors on Thursday filed a motion asking that a trustee be appointed to wrest control of EarthLink’s assets from Slatkin, 52, who resigned last month from EarthLink’s board of directors. 

More than 1 million documents and three computer hard drives that Slatkin turned over to his attorneys and an independent auditor show about $100 million of investor funds have been funneled into limited partnerships and real estate transactions, said Slatkin attorney Richard Pachulski. 

“Some people have suggested that this was a Ponzi scheme,” where new investors’ money is illegally passed as payment to prior investors, Pachulski said. “We don’t know one way or another what it was.” 

Pachulski said more than $140 million was distributed to investors in the past two years and that one group of investors got $120 million more than they invested, while another group gave $240 million more than they got out. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating alleged investment fraud. Slatkin also is being sued by three investors who claim he pocketed more than $35 million. Slatkin owes the Internal Revenue Service about $6 million. 

For the past 18 months, Slatkin has fallen under SEC scrutiny for failing to register as an investment adviser as mandated by federal securities law. 

NEW YORK — With the stock market appearing its firmest in months, investors looking for the best bets for profitability when the economy and corporate profits begin improving will find little consensus among analysts. 

As trading this week illustrated, the overall market appears to be in a holding pattern. 

Investors hesitated to take any strong positions, instead alternating between technology and blue chips. Although the three major stock indexes slipped for the week, their losses were expected after April’s strong advances. 

In addition, trading volume was light all week, especially Friday when the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market recorded one of their slowest days of the year. 

“Back in 1999 and 2000, we had technology to move stocks higher. Part of the problem we are having in this market is you haven’t had consistent sector leadership in sectors strong enough to take the market up,” said Richard Dickson, a technical analyst at Hilliard Lyons. “You have to make some type of coherence or you end up jumping from sector to sector and going nowhere.” 

That’s not to say some sectors aren’t doing better than others. Retail and semiconductor stocks, which historically been among the earliest performers in recovering markets, are reporting higher rates of return than the broader market. 

The Philadelphia Semiconductor and Standard & Poor’s Retail indexes are up nearly 7.0 and 6.2 percent respectively for the year, compared with the broader S&P 500, which is down about 5.6 percent. 

“The pattern is that retail stocks outperform early in a slowdown and then they underperform for a significant time and shortly before the slowdown is over, they outperform,” said Linda Kristiansen, a retail analyst at UBS Warburg, who expects to see healthy December sales but isn’t sure the momentum will last. “I think we’re still in the middle of the correction.” 

Daniel Barry, Merrill Lynch’s senior retailing analyst, is more bullish, predicting strong performance ahead for the sector. 

“I think retail is going up and it’s going to outperform the market for the balance of the year,” he said. “The average cycle for retail stocks is about 18 months. We’re in the eighth month right now, so we should have another 10 months of performance.” 

Opinions vary even more widely when it comes to technology issues. 

In a research note issued this week, Morgan Stanley upgraded several semiconductor stocks noting “we expect the next cyclical upswing to begin in September or October as the year-over-year growth rate for chip industry revenues begins to reaccelerate.” 

The idea behind this theory is that the Federal Reserve’s lowering of interest rates will spark consumer spending, which should coincide with more orders for semiconductors, the computer chips that form the building blocks of a lot of consumer goods like TVs and computers. 

The skeptics, though, are vocal and numerous. Unlike retail stocks, which have been around for decades and have a longer track record, technology stocks’ behavior is less well known. It wasn’t so long ago that analysts were talking about the “New Paradigm” – the idea that technology was so important to businesses and the economy that it wouldn’t be vulnerable to downturns. 

“With the semiconductors, the only thing that’s changed is the psychology. People are buying now with the expectation that a turnaround won’t happen until next year, but they’d rather be early than late,” said Phil Dow, director of equity strategy at Dain Rauscher Wessels. “I wouldn’t read anything else into this.” 

Meanwhile, interest rates are another variable. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates for the fifth time this year next week, how much, or whether the Fed may be nearing the end of its rate-cutting cycle, remains a topic of much speculation. 

Inflation also remains a potential issue, although most economists say data doesn’t indicate pricing is a problem right now. 

The bottom line for investors, say most analysts, is to keep focused on longer-term returns and realize that the market’s recovery may take awhile. 

“If you’re going to buy stocks, you should be very, very selective,” said Dickson, the Hilliard Lyons analyst. “Use market pullbacks, not rallies, to build a position in technology. I’d also be looking at financial and health care stocks. They tend to be more stable, even in times of weakness.” 

The Dow finished the week down 129.93, or 1.2 percent, at 10,821.31 on a 89.13 loss Friday. 

The Nasdaq composite index fell 84.10, or 3.8 percent for the week. It closed Friday at 2,107.43 on a drop of 21.43. 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 ended the week off 20.94, a 1.7 percent change, after slipping 9.51 to 1,245.67 Friday. 

The Russell 2000 index dropped 3.22 Friday to 487.36, ending the week off 5.53 or 1.1 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 $11.491 trillion, down $196 billion from the previous week. A year ago, the index was $13.151 trillion. 

End advance for weekend editions, May 12-13 

Alameda gets 16 hits, rolls over Berkeley 

By Jared Green 

Daily Planet Staff 

If it looks like a slump, smells like a slump and walks like a slump, it’s probably a slump. And that’s just what the Berkeley High baseball team is in right now, at just the wrong time in the season. 

The ’Jackets (16-6 overall, 7-3 ACCAL) lost their second straight game Wednesday, falling 11-5 to the Alameda Hornets at San Pablo Park in Berkeley. This is the first time they have lost two straight all season, and the loss put them firmly in second place behind Pinole Valley, the team they lost to on Friday. 

The Hornets (5-4 ACCAL) rapped out 16 hits on Wednesday, the most the ’Jackets have given up this season. Toss in four Berkeley errors and some poor baserunning, and it was clear Alameda was in the driver’s seat. 

Berkeley starter Cole Stipovich hadn’t pitched for nearly two weeks before taking the mound Wednesday, but looked strong to start the game, giving up just one unearned run in the first two innings. But when third baseman Robert Williams made his second error of the game to start the third, the roof caved in.  

Stipovich walked the next batter, then gave up an infield single to leadoff hitter Dave Burson, loading the bases for the heart of the Alameda lineup. Jeff Soskin opened the floodgates, lining a bases-clearing double into left-center. Cody Nelson bunted his way on, and Conor Patterson brought in Soskin with a single. Nelson stole third base, then scored on Matt McBride’s double-play grounder. Stipovich gave up two more singles before getting out of the inning after five runs and six hits, and Berkeley was down 6-3. 

“We’ve been spoiled all year by our pitchers, but they can’t always have good outings,” Moellering said. “I’d rather we had three games a week so we could get them all work, but sometimes it’s hard to keep them all fresh.” 

But Stipovich wasn’t helped any by his defense, which was weakened by the absence of regular shortstop Jason Moore, who was suspended for the game after being ejected from Friday’s loss. 

“Cole’s a ground ball pitcher, and we didn’t take care of some grounders today,” Moellering said. “Jason’s a key to our defense, and we had to move some people around today.” 

The ’Jackets had been hitting Alameda starter McBride hard in the first two innings, and designated hitter Matt Toma started the third with a double. The Alameda coaches, obviously thrilled to have taken such a sudden lead, quickly went to their ace to protect the lead, calling in centerfielder Patterson to put out the fire. Although Noah Roper hit an RBI single, Patterson got out of the inning without any further damage. 

The ’Jackets managed nine hits on the day, including three doubles. But second baseman DeAndre Miller was doubled off of second base in the first on a routine fly ball, and Toma was caught between second and third on a grounder to the Alameda third baseman in the third. Both plays killed Berkeley rallies, and the ’Jackets just couldn’t string together hits the way Alameda did. Patterson went the rest of the way, striking out five to earn the win. 

Moellering yanked Stipovich and looked to Sean Souders in the fourth. But the Hornets scored run on a single, wild pitch and another single in the fourth. Souders managed to hold them off for the next two innings, and Berkeley managed to pull a run back in the sixth for a 7-4 deficit heading into the seventh. 

Once again, however, the wheels came off as Alameda strung together a series of base hits. The first four batters in the seventh all hit singles, scoring two runs. Souders struck out the next two Hornets, but Mark Gillman came up with a two-out single to bring in another run. Souders then hit Burson on the foot, and Soskin hit a single that scored Alex Rosko before Dave Ballarini was gunned down at the plate by the relay throw. Patterson, who had struggled through the past two innings, set down the ’Jackets in order in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory. 

Berkeley now has one more loss than Pinole Valley. If the Spartans win their remaining games and finish in first place to claim the league’s lone NCS spot, the ’Jackets will be at the mercy of the at-large selection committee.

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  

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery” A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection. “Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. “Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. “Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology “Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended. This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history.“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing.This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. $2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648  

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu  

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership. 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 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 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 13: Michael Zilber Group 2377 Shattuck Ave. 845-5373 or visit www.jazzschool.com 

Jupiter All shows at 8 p.m. 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 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” May 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  

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 from 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! 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  

“Grease” May 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  

“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 

“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 

“A Ship with Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman” 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 

“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 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”;  

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. 

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 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Free Lectures All lectures begin at 6 p.m. 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 

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  

By Lt. Governor Cruz M. Bustamante 

Power producers are robbing our state of its economic future.  

That is why I have filed a lawsuit on behalf of California’s taxpayers against the “big five” out-of-state energy producers. They have violated our state’s antitrust and unlawful business practices laws by manipulating the energy market through price-fixing schemes. It is time they are held accountable for ransacking our state and forced to return their illegally collected fortunes. 

This cartel of five out-of-state corporations, Duke, Mirant, Reliant, Williams and Dynegy control the critical 19 gas-fired electric generation plants, located in 11 California counties, that provide critical amounts of electricity to the state’s consumers. The cartel appears to have engaged in unlawful trading practices to manipulate the market, and gained unrestrained monopoly power over electricity prices in California.  

The numbers are staggering. 

The price of power has increased ten-fold in just two years – from $7 billion in 1999 to a projected $70 billion this year. The Independent System Operator (ISO) estimates that California has been overcharged by billions of dollars. Even the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which has been appallingly negligent on California’s behalf in this crisis, stated that the cartel has overcharged Californians by tens of millions of dollars. 

As published reports show, the big-five companies unlawfully acted like a monopoly 98 percent of the time they sold power to California’s consumers. They increased prices by jamming the electric transmission lines with excess electricity, and also engaged in a “withhold-and-bid” scheme designed to create false shortages of supply at crucial periods.  

These are funds that should be invested in our schools and children instead of lining the pockets of this energy cartel. 

Billions of dollars that could have gone to textbooks, uninsured children, police, teachers, after schools programs, economic development, affordable housing and other needs in our state are instead being siphoned out-of-state, bankrupting our businesses and burdening working families. 

It is critical that we ensure that these power generators are stopped from looting California taxpayers in the future. One way to do this is by criminalizing this type of behavior. 

I have sponsored legislation, which would make it a felony for energy suppliers to manipulate the market at the expense of our taxpayers. This measure is prospective -- targeting future abuses. 

Specifically, the legislation would put those who collude or conspire to manipulate the market behind bars. It would levy a fine of up to 10 percent of their corporate assets, create a whistleblower provision to protect individuals who provide information to authorities, and create a bounty hunter provision with a reward of $1 million for information which leads to an actual conviction. 

I am confident that once their illicit practices are exposed in a court of law, these companies will be forced to release California from our current energy-hostage situation and deal fairly with our state’s taxpayers. 

We must act now! If we do not, the cost is too high; seniors on fixed incomes will have to choose between air conditioning and food or medicine, small business owners will continue to struggle paying their bills and families will have to work that much harder. 

While the lawsuit and legislation will not solve all of our state's energy problems, they will stop the abusive behavior and get our money back. 

We’ve tried to reason, tried to deal, and tried to negotiate. We’ve had enough!  

We want our money back now! 

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

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 

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 

The City Council approved a recommendation Tuesday asking the city manager to develop procedures for issuing permits and licenses to Medical Marijuana cooperatives.  

The council approved the recommendation by a vote of 8-0-1 with Councilmember Betty Olds abstaining.  

The recommendation, put on the agenda by Councilmembers Margaret Breland, Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington, also asked the city attorney to draw up language for an urgency moratorium on any new medical marijuana dispensaries until specific zoning regulations can be approved. 

A moratorium would have to be approved by seven of the nine councilmembers if there is no public hearing prior to the vote. If a moratorium is adopted, it would be in effect for only 45 days at which point it could not be extended without a public hearing. 

The council adopted a Medical Marijuana Ordinance in March, which allows doctor-approved patients to possess up to 10 marijuana plants and up to 2.5 pounds of dried marijuana. The ordinance also allows  

cooperatives to grow up to 50 plants and have up to 12 pounds of dried marijuana at any one time.  

However, shortly after the ordinance was approved, it became clear that the city’s zoning ordinance does not provide guidelines for regulating medical marijuana cooperatives and outlets.  

“We kind of backed into this trying to do the right thing,” said City Manager Weldon Rucker. “If we’re not careful we’re going to legitimize something we can’t legitimize and soon it could be ‘anything goes.’” 

While California Proposition 215 allows marijuana use for medical reasons it provides no guidelines for the cultivation, distribution and transportation of the drug. Such logistics are left up to counties and municipalities to work out.  

This situation creates legal quandaries for local law makers because federal law still prohibits the use of marijuana under any circumstance. The contradiction has left law makers struggling to find ways to help patients who need medical marijuana while trying to dodge state and federal legal snags. 

Currently the Supreme Court is considering a law suit involving Oakland’s Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative that tests the scope of Proposition 215. The cooperative was sued, along with six others, by the U.S. Justice Department shortly after Proposition 215 was passed in 1996.  

The Supreme Court is considering arguments and is expected to make a decision on the case by August. 

One question that the city manager will try to answer is, which city department will oversee the inspection and permitting of the cooperatives. Councilmember Linda Maio said she would like the Health and Human Services Department to supervise the cooperatives.  

But Health and Human Services Department Director Fred Medrano said the responsibility would mean a significant work increase for the already taxed health department, and more importantly, his staff might be reluctant to take on the job.  

“Essentially it would be asking a city department to carry out an illegal activity,” he said. “There would be a great deal of concern on staff’s part, especially physicians who are subject to medical license review.” 

Another thorny issue for the city manager to work through is what parts of town are appropriate for the collectives. According to the Planning and Development Department, there are as many as five cooperatives the city knows about.  

A cooperative that recently opened on San Pablo Avenue near Addison Street has raised neighbors’ concerns. They say they were not informed beforehand that the club would locate there and they question the professionalism the club’s management. 

Laurie Polster, who lives near the cooperative, said the collective brings an element of uncertainty to the neighborhood. She said after the business opened up, she went to another cooperative in Berkeley and was impressed with the clinic-like atmosphere of the place.  

She said the clinic that opened in her neighborhood is in a dilapidated building and the only sign outside the cooperative reads “knock hard.” 

Polster said she supports medical marijuana but is worried about the cooperative being the target of robberies. “These places have lots of cash and drugs around,” she said. 

The person who started the club at San Pablo and Addison, who asked to be identified only as Michael, countered that the club had been operating only for two weeks. He said another person, one with experience, was taking over its management. “Poor people need the medicine,” he said, arguing for its location in the low-income area. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said one of the goals of the council recommendation was to put both patients and neighbors at ease about the cooperatives. 

“We care about the concerns of the patients and neighbors alike.” he said. “The cooperatives want to be sure the police are not going to raid them and the neighbors want to be sure the cooperatives will be run in a reasonable, safe way.” 

The City Council could consider the urgency moratorium as early as next week.  

After nearly firing a pick-off attempt into left field and sustaining some heckling from the St. Mary’s bench, Piedmont catcher Drew Olson assured the Panthers that he wouldn’t throw the ball away. 

He kept his word. 

Olson kept St. Mary’s baserunners honest all game by routinely throwing behind runners at first, second and third base.  

He didn’t pick off any runners through six innings. 

But in the bottom of the seventh, with St. Mary’s trailing by a run with runners on first and second and no outs, Panthers’ shortstop and relief pitcher Jeremiah Fielder tried to steal third base. Olson, who is also Piedmont’s star quarterback, gunned down Fielder and stopped the Panthers’ rally dead in its tracks. 

Piedmont’s 7-6, come-from-behind victory on Wednesday kept them in first place in the Bay Shore Athletic League. The Highlanders finished the regular season 15-6 overall and 9-1 in the BSAL. St. Mary’s, meanwhile, finished with a 14-10 overall record, 8-2 in league play. Piedmont awaits the outcome of Salesian’s final two games to see who wins the league. 

Piedmont struck first with Olson’s no-out first inning single to left that drove in Peter Schneider. Panthers’ pitcher Anthony Miyawaki struck out the next batter and forced two pop-ups to get out of the inning. 

St. Mary’s bats got hot in the bottom of the first, as Omar Young rocked Piedmont pitcher Mac Conn with a lead-off home run. A single by Joe Storno drove in two more runs, and Chase Moore’s two-out single drove in another pair. 

That was before the Highlanders brought in Brett Webster to pitch. The senior effectively shut down the St. Mary’s offense, allowing just five hits and one run in six innings of work.  

“We just wanted to get a lead and then give it to Jeremiah to finish,” St. Mary’s coach Andy Shimabukuro said. “Webster did a great job and we didn’t make the necessary adjustments at the plate.” 

While the Panthers bats cooled from fire to ice, the Highlanders chipped away at St. Mary’s lead. Piedmont scored three runs in the second on a double down the left field line by Schneider and Justin Lindenmayer’s double to right. Lindenmayer was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple, but not before another run crossed the plate. 

Piedmont’s Pete Boyle tied the game at five on a single that drove in Olson. The score remained tied heading into the bottom of the fifth when St. Mary’s Storno drove in Mike Glasshoff for a 6-5 lead. 

St. Mary’s Fielder moved from shortstop to the mound with two outs in the fifth inning and struck out three of the first four batters he faced. But the Highlanders found the holes in the top of the seventh and scored two runs that proved the difference in the game. 

“I just didn’t hit my spots,” Fielder said of his pitching. “I threw the right pitches, they just weren’t in the right places.” 

Fielder, who struck out five batters in 2 1/3 innings, led off the St. Mary’s half of the seventh inning with a stand up double before being thrown out trying to steal third. 

“We just didn’t execute,” Shimabukuro said. “We were trying to do too much.” 

The loss came on the heels of St. Mary’s 28-0 thrashing of St. Elizabeth’s last week. It also came against a Piedmont team that the Panthers beat 13-3 earlier this season, giving the Highlanders their only league loss. 

“I knew they were a good team,” Shimabukuro said. “We knew that we weren’t going to get another game like last week.” 

With the win, Piedmont secured a first-round bye in the playoffs while St. Mary’s will likely face Albany or St. Joseph’s in the first round. 

“I bet we’ll get to see them (St. Mary’s) again,” Piedmont coach Mike Humphries said. “It’s nice to get a bye so we don’t have to burn a pitcher and we get to play on our home field.” 

Fielder also said the two teams would meet again in the playoffs. 

“We’re going to do our part,” he said. “We’ll see them again unless they get knocked out.”

A loss all of us can feel 

Editor: 

To the family of Nandi Phelps, 

I extend the heartfelt sympathy of all of the PTA Presidents in the Berkeley District, and of each and every Parent as well. I know that my heart screamed out with your pain when I heard that shocking news report that another child’s life had been taken, and that this time that child was one of our own. How easily that report could have been talking about my own son. Or one of his classmates at Le Conte. I look at their faces and can’t think  

of one of them that we could live without tomorrow. I don’t think that I will ever look at them the same again. In that I can understand how deeply the Oxford community suffers with you. Why fate reached out and dealt your family this horrible, horrible blow, we will probably never know. I can assure you that there isn’t a parent in Berkeley, or anywhere else who has heard about your Sister, your Daughter... your Angel, who hasn’t then reached out to hold their own child, and in doing so are embracing your Nandi. And like those parents, my tears at this moment are for you and all that you’ve lost.  

There is not much that we can do except to give you our love and our prayers, but know that all of our community is there for you. I don’t imagine that the shock of your loss will ever wear off, but as you begin to see a clearer picture of the road ahead; please let me know what we can do. 

Mark Coplan, President 

Berkeley PTA Council 

Coplan further encourages the community to help the family with funeral expenses. Please see the funeral announcement on p. 6 – editor. 

Thanks to Temple Beth El 

Editor: 

I am writing to commend Congregation Beth-El for the wonderful volunteer effort that its Social Action Committee mounted to support our efforts at Chaparral House, a not-for-profit skilled nursing facility on Allston Way.  

As part of the “Rebuilding Together” national spring event, Beth-El’s “Sukkot-in-April” brought over 30 volunteers to Chaparral for the last two weekends in April. These volunteers planned and organized then painted our dining room a bright cheery white which increased the light capacity of the room a good 25 percent. Besides saving us the expense their efforts help to make the space more livable for our elder, disabled residents, many of whom have diminished vision.  

The highlight of the last weekend was a wonderful community barbecue in Strawberry Creek Park which brought together the volunteers from our neighbor, the Berkeley Youth Alternatives, our residents, family, and staff, and the volunteers from Beth-El.  

This endeavor is just one more example of the community contributions which the Beth-El congregation makes to Berkeley. 

Jim Johnson 

Administrator of Chaparral Foundation 

Peace with justice for kids too 

Editor: 

The Bay Brief from Associated Press headlined “10-year-old arrested for terrorist threats” left something out, as such stories usually do. 

This fourth grade terrorist hopeful was removed from class, suspended, arrested, and charged by the police. What, pray tell, was done about “The other students” with whom he was arguing at the time of his alleged offense, who “were reportedly picking on him during a reading class?” 

It’s my impression from accounts of other incidents that children who attack people in schools have often been the object of harassment or torment by their fellows before they lash out. Certainly kids cannot with impunity harm their schoolmates or, in these days, even threaten them with violence, but the news stories always seem to leave the original offenders – the ones who were “picking on” the would-be terrorist before he earned his stripes – pretty much out of the picture, or at least only on the very edge of it. 

Recently I was heartened by some stories in the news from which I inferred that at least some schools, communities, and “authorities” are beginning to make the connection between the harassment (usually but not always of boys) that leads to violence or threats of violence and the sexual harassment (usually but not always of girls) that leads to the suffering and deprivation of the victims.  

In the latter case, society is finally beginning to take action, long overdue, but in the former case society – or is it only the media? – which seems to be focused almost exclusively on the victim of the harassment who lashes out when no “authority” acts to protect him. 

In both cases, it seems to me, the maxim holds good: if you want peace, work for justice. 

Kenneth M. Sanderson 

Berkeley 

No need for Dems wrapped in Republican skins 

Editor, 

A $ 1,300 billion tax cut that benefits the very rich is bad for the country, and it is bad for the Democrats. It does not pay down Regan’s national debt. It does not shore up Social Security. 

It does institutionalize the privilege of a permanent upper class. 

We need leaders who can mount successful opposition to this policy. 

We do not need Democrats who are but tepid Republicans. 

Bruce Joffe 

Oakland

About 100 Berkeley High School students turned out over the course of Wednesday morning to hear a panel of prosecutors and student representatives discuss the impact of Proposition 21. 

Approved by 62 percent of California voters last year, Proposition 21 made it easier for prosecutors to try juvenile offenders (youth under the age of 18) in adult court. If convicted as adults, youth can face the whole range of adult sentences, up to life in prison. 

The proposition also made it possible for youth as young as 16 to be incarcerated in the same prisons as adults, a practice which Amnesty International has denounced, claiming it greatly increases the chance that youth will face assault or rape while in prison – and makes youth prisoners up to eight times more likely to commit suicide. 

Berkeley school board student director Niles Xi’an Lichtenstein moderated part of the forum, which was sponsored by the Berkeley Youth Commission. He told the audience the forum was intended both to educate youth about the potential consequences of breaking the law; and to give Alameda County prosecutors a chance to hear youth concerns around Proposition 21. 

A number of teens said the proposition has contributed to the criminalization of youth in the public eye, making police that much more likely to intimidate and harass youth. 

Berkeley sophomore Nick Sandevski said he has seen Berkeley police use the threat of Proposition 21 to intimidate youth, by saying things like “Prop. 21 isn’t a joke.” 

Some youth expressed anger that Proposition 21, something that impacts youth so directly, was passed by adult voters, without any consultation with young people. Others said there hasn’t been enough of an effort to explain the new law to youth so they know what they’re up against. 

“It’s like, whoah, where did that come from,” said Berkeley High sophomore Christien Liong. Liong said she attended the forum Wednesday to “learn her rights” under Proposition 21. 

There is a general feeling among youth that “there is more of a push towards enforcement rather than service-based solutions,” Lichtenstein said Wednesday.  

Marcellis Ashley, who works with youth at the James Kenney Recreation Center, agreed. She said there is too much emphasis on making it easier to channel youth into the prisons when the state ought to be spending its money on intervention programs that help keep kids out of trouble.  

“Give kids something to do, somewhere to go and people who care about them,” Ashley said. 

But the prosecutors on the panel said that Proposition 21 has had very little impact on the way youthful offenders are handled by the criminal justice system. 

“I can’t say concretely that I’ve seen any change (under Proposition 21),” said Trina Stanley, a commissioner with the Alameda County Juvenile Court. 

Stanley said youth offenders are treated on a case by case basis, with prosecutors opting to divert youth into intervention programs as often as possible.  

“It’s a judgment call between the police officer, the parent and the probation officer,” Stanley said. “Depending on the gravity (of the crime), it might not get to court at all.” 

Only in the most serious cases would a prosecutor recommend that youth be tried as adults, according to Walter Jackson, an Alameda County assistant DA. 

“Prop. 21 allows prosecutors to treat grafitti as a felony,” Jackson said. “But the reality is, prosecutors aren’t going to do that” except for in cases where the graffiti leads to extreme property damage. 

Youth Commission member Nick Rizzo said he was encouraged by the prosecutors’ statements. 

“From what I’ve seen, it seems like things haven’t changed very much, which is cool,” Rizzo said. 

But others weren’t so sure. 

Theresa Miller, who graduated from Berkeley High last year and volunteers in a youth after school program in Berkeley, said Proposition 21 increased the likelihood that youth offenders will face punishments far beyond what they deserve. 

“Some don’t deserve to be put in prison,” Miller said. “They really don’t know any better. It’s what they’ve been brought up around.” 

Eric and Erica Bachman’s three children seem to represent the indecision of their interfaith marriage. One child had a baptism. One had a bris. And for one child they held no ceremony at all.  

The problem is that both members of the Oakland couple know they should decide what their in-house religious policy should be – and quickly, because their oldest daughter is almost 6 years old. 

A totally Christian lifestyle is out of the question, but so is a totally Jewish one. “If the parents are confused, the kids are confused,” said Erica Bachman.  

“You want the kids to have a religious identity.” 

To help them decide, they attended an intimate outreach program called “Religious Identity for Interfaith Families” sponsored by the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center on Tuesday. About 20 Jews and non-Jews participated.  

The Bachmans are just one couple out of hundreds of thousands that must deal with this dilemma. The 1990 National Jewish Population Survey reported that 52 percent of Jews who married between 1985 and 1990 married outside of the Jewish faith. Of all married Jews, 28 percent are married to a non-Jew.  

Program facilitator, Dawn Kepler, said that interfaith marriages have been rapidly increasing in the last few decades. Kepler said it’s easier to resolve religious differences between a husband and a wife, but when you add kids, the question becomes: “What do you want to give to our child?” 

Outreach programs like this are designed to support couples with these decisions, she said. 

Rabbi Jane Litman of Berkeley’s Congregation Beth El and Dave Sauer, pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in San Leandro, came to offer their perspectives. 

“The greatest danger is if the couple does not do anything,” Sauer said to the group. “The child has no spiritual roots and they’re not going to get it from the culture.” 

Both Litman and Sauer agreed that parents should actively form religious guidelines for their families. Allowing indecision and uncertainty to prevail may do the most damage of all.  

“Adult children of interfaith families who did not choose, often come to me in a great deal of distress,” says Litman, who has been working with interfaith issues for over 20 years.  

She said that in most cases, it’s better to choose a tradition and have respect for the other faith. “It’s generally better to have clarity.” 

However, clarity is difficult to achieve, especially when couples don’t exactly know what they believe or why.  

“Most people have a 13 or 16 year old’s understanding of their faith,” said Kepler. It’s important that the couples discover what makes their faith special in order to pass that down to their children, she said. Kepler suggested that couples take introductory courses in their partner’s faith so that they can appreciate the significance of each belief. 

One worry for partners is that their faith can be so dogmatic that it is difficult to explain to their husband or wife, why retaining customs is important and why their children should be exposed to them.  

“I believe what I believe because I was told to believe it,” said Erica Bachman, who was raised in a Presbyterian household. “Sometimes I think we can do Jewish, but part of me doesn’t want to give up what was so important to me.” 

But at the same time, a family cannot practice Christianity and Judaism equally. On the other extreme, partners don’t want to convert one way or the other. Couples don’t know how much they are willing to sacrifice.  

Litman said she always emphasizes the same standards for interfaith couples. She said that for these relationships to work, the couples must stress open communication, have mutual respect and always put the children first and let go of “ego concerns.” 

For Jews she advised, “Build a Sukkah instead of arguing about a Christmas tree. Don’t get caught up about not having a good time at Christmas.” 

Because as Pastor Sauer reminded them, “Who’s well-being are we looking out for?”  

Answer: the children.  

Lisa Fernandez and her husband, Bob Gammon, wanted to know what elements of religious compromise works with kids, and “What are the elements that totally screw the kids up so they write a book ‘How my parents screwed me up?’” 

For the most part, said Litman, the relationship can work as long as religion does not become a battlefield where holidays and customs are “chalked up and counted.” Or else, the child ends up hating both faiths, she said.  

Interfaith families must be flexible, creative and understanding. For some, that means raising the children Jewish, but with a few concessions like a Christmas tree or wreath. For others, that means practicing Christianity, but visiting grandparents to celebrate a proper Passover.  

Before they finally decide, the Bachmans, like many families stuck in the middle, have been celebrating both. They’ve been taking classes and talking with each other. There’s no real answer. In the meantime, their kids know that they’re “half and half.”  

Kepler will be leading a workshop on “Grandparenting in an interfaith world,” at 7:30 p.m. May 29 at Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit St. For information, call 208-5554. 

Answering an invitation from students, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno delivered the keynote address at UC Berkeley’s 2001 Commencement Convocation Wednesday.  

Reno, the nation’s first female attorney general, was among the most requested commencement speakers in last summer’s survey of more than 9,000 UC Berkeley seniors-to-be. 

Reno’s address in the Greek Theatre, capped off a well-attended ceremony full of nostalgia, good cheer, the requisite talk of endings and beginnings, possibilities and responsibilities and university pride.  

“This is your day,” she began, “and this is a wonderful day for the country.”  

Reno recalled her own early adulthood, and a dawning duty of “trying very simply to make the world a better place.” She referred to a visit she’d made to the concentration camp at Dachau, after which, “I resolved that I would never stand by, that I would try with all my heart and soul to look at what was wrong, and try to correct it and never give up.”  

She went on to describe the rewards and disappointments of her life in public service, lessons learned there and from her parents – a mother who taught herself to build a house, and did so without “cutting any corners,” and a father who taught himself English and thrived as a newspaper reporter.  

The audience loudly approved Reno’s mention of her imitated and actual appearance on Saturday Night Live. “It is so important to laugh at yourself every now and then,” she said. “Laughter is the great leveler. It puts attorneys general and Will Ferrell on the same level,” she added, referring to the actor who had portrayed her on the popular satirical program. 

And, indulging the prerogative of every graduation speaker, Reno dispensed advice. “Fill the spaces of your life with poetry and music and... kayaking, and other good things,” she said to a chorus of approving chuckles. “Make your word your bond. When you say something, mean it. If you lose, pick yourself up and move ahead. Don’t duck. Accept responsibility. Stand and take it.” 

Reno challenged the graduates to engage in public service. “I’ve challenged lawyers to stop talking and start doing,” she said. “You people who are headed for law school, help me. We have a nation to serve, and a world to serve, and all its people.” She said she assumed that many in the audience shared her determination to improve American public education, including raising teachers’ salaries and ending “the culture of violence.”  

In fact, Reno’s advice, and advocacy, gradually began to sound something like a campaign speech, delivered to an enthusiastic group of political supporters. Most of the audience applauded what she called her decision “to return a little boy to his father,” citing the Elian Gonzalez affair, and, with the exception of two students holding a white banner bearing the words “Remember Waco” between them, the crowd made clear its support.  

She follows other notable and sometimes controversial speakers, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, actor Bill Cosby, author Terry McMillan and Silicon Valley legend Steve Wozniak. 

Diplomas will be distributed at various departmental graduations throughout this month.

BERKELEY — University of California regents appear ready to withdraw their much-protested, and moot, 1995 vote banning affirmative action. 

The move got the surprise endorsement Wednesday of Regent Ward Connerly, who wrote the 1995 policies and had firmly opposed the idea of revisiting them. 

The vote, which comes in the form of a new resolution eliminating the 1995 policies, won’t bring back the old affirmative action programs. UC’s nine campuses will continue to be governed by Proposition 209. That 1996 state ballot measure bans considering race and gender in public hiring, contracting or education. 

But supporters say the new resolution, on the agenda for next week’s meeting in San Francisco, would be a significant gesture. 

“We shouldn’t have led the cause. We did, and now we are trying to withdraw from the cause,” said Regent Bill Bagley, who has long campaigned to overturn the 1995 vote. 

The new resolution replaces two policies passed in 1995, one forbidding consideration of race and gender in hiring and contracting and the second doing the same for admissions. 

The 1995 resolutions also decreed that at least 50 percent of all admissions be based on grades alone – up from the previous minimum of 40 percent. It also 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 “outreach” program aimed at getting more California public school students interested in and qualified for UC. 

The new resolution notes that Proposition 209 is law, and affirms the commitment to diversity. It refers the question of how many students should be admitted by grades alone to the Academic Senate. The senate, which also is considering a request by UC President Richard Atkinson to consider dropping the SAT 1 college entrance exam, another closely watched UC admissions issue, would then report back to the board for further action. 

After race-blind admissions went into effect for undergraduates 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 – “underrepresented minorities” – comprised 18.6 percent of in-state freshman admissions at all eight undergraduate campuses this fall, compared to 18.8 percent in 1997.  

However, underrepresented minorities have yet to reach 1997 levels at the most competitive campuses. 

Regent Judith Hopkinson, who is sponsoring the new resolution, said in a statement that many had formed a perception that they were unwelcome at UC following the 1995 vote. 

“I believe now is the time for the regents to seek common ground to dispel this perception,” she said. 

Connerly had opposed the idea of revisiting the 1995 vote, saying UC’s new outreach programs, which includes developing partnerships with public high schools, are working. 

On Wednesday, Connerly said he still would prefer to leave the 1995 vote alone, but considers the Hopkinson resolution to be a satisfactory compromise because it acknowledges the authority of Proposition 209. 

Supporters of repeal have said they believe they have enough votes on the 26-member board to win. Connerly saw it as more of a stalemate and said he wanted to avoid that kind of battle. 

“It would be foolish for me to dig my heels in the sand,” he said. 

SAN JOSE — At least 53 people intentionally have killed themselves on Caltrain tracks since 1992, and another man died Tuesday night. Now, the commuter train system hopes to make life along the rails safer by installing more than 400 signs seeking to deter potential suicides. 

“There is Help,” the signs read. The signs also contain an image of two clasped hands and a toll-free phone number for the Suicide Prevention Hotline. 

“This is an all-out effort by Caltrain to end the deaths along the railways,” said San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin. “If we save one life, those signs are worth our efforts.” 

In San Bruno, Richard McAllister, 35, was seen lying on the Caltrain tracks moments before being fatally struck at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.  

McAllister was the 99th person killed by a train along the tracks since 1992. 

His death comes one week after a man committed suicide along the same train route – the 53rd confirmed suicide along the tracks since 1992. 

Nevin came up with the idea in an effort to cut down on the mounting number of deaths along the tracks that have been ruled suicides. 

Last year, trains killed 17 people along Caltrain tracks and seven of those deaths were ruled suicides. There have been three suicides by train so far this year. 

Caltrain officials are hoping that anyone considering suicide along the tracks will change his mind after seeing the signs reminding him that “somebody in the world cares,” Nevin said. 

Golden Gate Bridge officials post similar signs to deter jumpers. 

Bob Atchison, a Caltrain engineer, has been operating trains for nearly 30 years and has experienced the helplessness of hitting someone bent on suicide.  

By the time a train engineer sees the despondent person, it’s too late, Atchison said. 

“You blow the whistle, you go into emergency brakes, and then you just pray,” Atchison said. “You can’t stop. It’s a foregone conclusion unless they decide to get out of your way.” 

LOS ANGELES — Flush with a new appreciation for the beauty of Earth and weightless sleep, space tourist Dennis Tito arrived home Wednesday on a flight from Moscow, completing the last leg of his round trip to the international space station. 

“I’ve met my dream,” a jubilant Tito said after being greeted at Los Angeles International Airport by Mayor Richard Riordan, who clasped the spacefaring tycoon’s hand and declared “Astronaut Dennis Tito Day” in the city. 

“I think I have a sense of appreciation of what a privilege I had to be able to experience Earth from 240 miles up,” Tito said. “We have a beautiful planet.” 

Tito’s sons Brad and Michael, and girlfriend Dawn Abraham were also on hand. 

Tito, 60, landed back on Earth on Sunday, ending his eight-day stay in space. He reportedly paid the Russians up to $20 million for the privilege, which included six days spent aboard the orbiting station. 

The trip angered officials from the four nations that are partners with Russia in the station. The officials, including National Aeronautics and Space Administration chief Daniel Goldin, had feared that Tito would jeopardize work aboard the station. 

NASA may yet bill Russia for any disruptions caused by his visit, which was overshadowed by a series of unrelated, but far more crippling, computer problems, said Debra Rahn, a spokeswoman for the agency. 

“I think it was actually quite a deal,” said Tito, who compared the cost to the estimated $500 million price tag for each space shuttle mission. 

Tito, wearing a black leather jacket, encouraged NASA to reserve a private seat on the space shuttle for individuals “who represent creative aspects of our culture: poets, philosophers, reporters and teachers.” 

“I found that eight days in space was the most unique experience a human being could have and I am surprised that many of the people who have been to space have not expressed it this way,” said Tito, who described the professional astronauts aboard the space station as cordial and straight-laced. 

He said he helped choose food for the astronauts, took pictures and video of Earth while listening to opera and went through about 30 rolls of film. 

Tito said he spent a lot of time asleep and never slept better. 

“I would go back to space to sleep,” Tito joked. 

Tito was no stranger to space. He has a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and a master’s in engineering science, and joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1964, where he worked on designing the flight paths for spacecraft flybys of Mars and Venus. 

“It’s not like he doesn’t know what a rocket is,” said Norm Haynes, a retired JPL engineer who worked with Tito. 

Tito later helped found Wilshire Associates in 1972. The investment firm now manages more than $10 billion in assets and advises on $1 trillion in assets. 

Riordan appointed him in 1993 to serve on the city’s board of water and power commissioners. Tito resigned from the board in 1996. 

The Pacific Palisades resident may not be the last tourist to station Alpha: Officials are now drafting criteria that would guide how future amateur astronauts would be selected, trained and certified before flying to the orbiting outpost. The document could be signed by July, NASA’s Rahn said. 

“Bureaucracies don’t like to change and this clearly forced a change and it’s going to have it’s impact,” said Tito, who plans to write a book about his experience. 

SACRAMENTO — In the past five years, 28 California hospitals have closed and mounting financial pressure could cause many more to follow suit, according to a study released Wednesday. 

The study, conducted by University of California, Berkeley researchers, found that most of the hospitals that closed were for-profit hospitals and 65 percent were in Southern California. 

Attorney General Bill Lockyer asked for the study after two hospital closures in Southern California sparked public outcry. Despite all the attention hospital closures received, the report found that public objection was recorded in only seven cases. 

“We found in the study a significant number of closings, and given the seismic upgrade that is mandated, there will be mounting pressure on more hospitals to close,” said Richard Scheffler, one of the researchers from UC Berkeley’s Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare. 

The study found that the number of closures were accelerating, doubling in the second half of the period. 

Lockyer said though the study found most of the closed facilities were for-profit, that trend “raises concerns for non profit hospitals operations and the potential impact on charity health care.” 

The number of hospital closures between 1995 and 2000 could be as high as 34, said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Association. 

“The reality is California’s health care system is in a financial meltdown,” Emerson said. “Two of every three hospitals in the state are losing money.” 

Scheffler said that California’s hospital closures follow national trends, but he was concerned because the loss of facilities was at a time when the population was growing. 

“There is, on the other hand, some notion that hospitals that close are inefficient, and may need to be pruned from the system, so that other hospitals are more healthy,” he said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Read the report at the attorney general’s Web site: 

http://caag.state.ca.us 

LOS ANGELES — The state Department of Education has filed a civil suit against a Hispanic immigrants rights group alleging that it failed to account for $7 million in federal funds intended for citizenship and English classes for immigrants. 

The lawsuit filed Tuesday against Los Angeles-based Hermandad Mexicana Nacional also seeks $10 million in punitive damages for failing to properly account for grants received between 1994 and 1998, when the state stopped funding. 

“After three years of going around and around with Hermandad, it became obvious that the only way we are going to get what we need from Hermandad is through legal action,” said education department spokesman Doug Stone. 

Hermandad officials denied any wrongdoing. 

“They are grasping at straws,” said Nativo Lopez, who heads a splinter group based in Santa Ana that was formed after the January death of Hermandad founder Bert Corona. 

Angelina Casillas, the widow of Corona, runs the original organization and its Los Angeles offices. 

The lawsuit names Hermandad, Lopez, the Santa Ana group and possibly 50 other unnamed parties as defendants. 

“We are all in that mix,” Lopez, a member of the Santa Ana Unified school board, told the Los Angeles Times in Wednesday’s newspaper. “It is not clear. All that is going to have be cleared. ... The executive director (Corona) passed away, and they are grasping at whomever they can.” 

Emily Durkee, a San Diego attorney representing Hermandad, declined to comment saying she had not yet seen  

the lawsuit. 

The lawsuit is the latest action involving Hermandad and other nonprofit groups that received federal funds to provide English and civics lessons to immigrants seeking citizenship. 

Federal officials have said a separate federal probe is continuing. 

The state alleges that Hermandad did not properly account for the federal funds it received and accused the group’s officials of defrauding the state with incomplete or fraudulent documentation of expenses. 

Allegations that community-based organizations misused federal adult education funds first surfaced in 1998. 

Hermandad was among 10 community organizations probed by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general for their handling of nearly $15 million in federal grants. 

The state Department of Education in February also filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Templo Calvario Legalization and Education Center in Rancho Cucamonga seeking reimbursement of nearly $3 million. The case is still pending. 

SAN FRANCISCO — California Supreme Court justices peppered the makers of an assault pistol Wednesday, calling the weapon “socially useless” and demanding to know why the gun was fingerprint resistant. 

The questioning came during an hour of oral arguments in a closely watched case focusing on whether a gun manufacturer can be sued on grounds it partly was responsible for a criminal shooting – in this case the massacre of eight and wounding of six in a San Francisco law office. 

No state’s high court or federal appeals court nationwide has allowed such a case to proceed. 

The seven California Supreme Court justices did not indicate whether they would uphold the nation’s only state appellate court ruling allowing victims to sue a gun manufacturer for the criminal acts of somebody else. Instead, the justices appeared to ask questions that could support either of two outcomes. 

The victims allege Florida-based Navegar Inc.’s marketing tactics and weapon design caused a disgruntled and crazed man to storm the high rise at 101 California St. in 1993, an allegation the gun maker staunchly denies. 

Chief Justice Ronald M. George wanted to know whether Navegar marketed to criminals its TEC-DC9, the weapon used in the killing spree. 

“What about the marketing here that this weapon was  

resistant to fingerprints?” George said. 

Navegar attorney Ernest Getto said such resistance is to prevent rust from being caused by perspiration. 

“It’s almost impossible to associate that with anything but corrosion,” Getto said. 

George later asked the victims’ attorney: “What is there in the advertising ... that leads a person to commit a criminal act?” 

Victims’ attorney Dennis Henigan said, “This isn’t just a negligent marketing case. This is a much more clear case of irresponsibility.” 

Justice Marvin R. Baxter was perplexed why Navegar marketed to the general public a semiautomatic pistol that could spray dozens of bullets in seconds. 

“I would like to hear from you what legitimate purposes this weapon was used for,” Baxter said. 

Getto replied that it was “conceivable” that any weapon could be used for criminal purposes, but said the weapon in question is used at shooting ranges and during competitions. 

Baxter later asked Henigan if a maker of a fast car should be held liable for a traffic accident resulting from speeding. 

“Do you see any distinction between that hypothetical and the case we have here today?” he asked. 

At one point during Wednesday’s argument, Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar told Getto that the TEC-DC9 was “socially useless.”  

But then she told the victims’ lawyer that she was confused with their “theory of liability.” 

The California Supreme Court is considered one of the nation’s most influential courts, and the outcome of the case could have broad national implications.  

The case could affect suits against gun makers by Los Angeles, San Francisco and 10 other California cities and counties, claiming faulty design, manufacture and distribution of firearms.  

Dozens of similar suits have been filed by local governments elsewhere. 

So far, 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. 

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 marketed the TEC-DC9 to appeal to criminals and should have foreseen it would be used in a massacre. 

The California appellate court, ruling 2-1, 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.”  

The dissenting judge said the majority was engaged in “judicial legislation” and that the shooter, not the gun maker, was responsible for the blood bath. 

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. 

Stephen Sposato, whose wife, Jody, was killed in the incident, told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing that Navegar should be held accountable. 

“They say they didn’t pull the trigger. My answer is they may as well have,” he said. 

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.

SAN FRANCISCO — Customers of California’s two largest utilities who use the most electricity will pay much more to run canneries, tumble laundry or water crops under a tiered rate plan implementing record hikes approved in March. 

The rate plan proposed Wednesday by Loretta Lynch, president of the state Public Utilities Commission, suggests how the record rate hikes should be allocated among residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural customers. 

Residential customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. who use the most electricity would face average rate hikes of 35-40 percent, said Paul Clanon, director of the PUC’s energy division. The increases do not affect customers of San Diego Gas and Electric Co. 

And industrial users, such as factories and food processors, could face hikes of 50 percent or more as the state desperately tries to start recouping the $5.2 billion it already has paid to buy power for customers of those financially ailing utilities. 

But, under Lynch’s plan, as many as half of the 9 million customers of PG&E and SoCal Edison would not see their bills rise at all. 

“I thought it should be spread so each kind of customer class shares the burden, rather than by usage, which weighs against large (commercial, agricultural and industrial) users,” Lynch said. 

“The simple reality for at least 50 percent of residential consumers is that their bills are going up,” countered Mindy Spatt, spokeswoman for The Utility Reform Network, after the news conference. 

Lynch also called for a study on creating a real-time pricing pilot program for large customers and federal agencies. Proponents of real-time pricing say that charging customers the full price of electricity during hours of high demand will prompt them to shift their use to cheaper times of the day. 

“For those who want those kinds of theories to be tested, why not let them test them?” Lynch said. Though it would be great, Lynch said, if shifting demand brought down record wholesale power prices, “I don’t think it’s possible.” 

Spokesmen from both utilities said they had yet to see the official proposal and were not ready to comment. Many groups involved in the proceedings said the delay left less time to meet Thursday’s deadline for written remarks on the proposals. 

An attorney with the California Farm Bureau Federation said it’s unfair that residential customers are shielded from rate increases for a portion of their use, while farmers would be charged more for every kilowatt. 

“I think it’s clear people are going to be impacted tremendously by these rate increases,” said Ron Liebert.  

“Even if you only got 30 percent, that’s still on top of the 1 cent (increase) that went in effect in January.” 

Lynch’s plan is the culmination of weeks of discussion among customers, state officials, consumer activists and the utilities about how best to allocate the record rate hikes approved in late March by the PUC. 

Those rate hikes will affect all classes of customers, from small families to the huge Silicon Valley facilities powering the Internet, but not all will face the same magnitude of rate increases. 

And, even within those classes, customers will pay more depending on when they use the electricity. Those who use power during times of highest demand – generally, during daylight hours – will pay the most. 

Lynch said her plan “recognizes that energy is expensive at every hour of every day by every customer,” but penalizes those who do not cut back on energy use or try to shift to different times of the day. 

Under Lynch’s proposal, agricultural customers could face rate hikes ranging from 23-30 percent, with increases capped at 30 percent. Industrial users face average increases of 50 percent or more, and commercial users average 34-45 percent hikes. 

Her proposal, Lynch said, designs rates to encourage conservation and provides $5 billion over the next year to help pay the state Department of Water Resources for the billions it has spent providing electricity for customers of PG&E and Edison. 

Lynch left the door open for future rate hikes, noting that the state provides its electricity-buying expenses to the commission only on a monthly basis, while wholesale electricity prices continue to soar. 

Lynch’s proposal, and a largely similar proposal from PUC administrative law judge Christine Walwyn, will be reviewed in public hearings throughout the state the rest of this week, though that leaves little time between their input and the PUC vote. 

Parties to the distribution plan – including large industrial power users, consumer watchdog groups and the California Energy Commission – will have the chance to speak about the two proposals Friday in San Francisco. 

The PUC then will meet Monday to approve a rate design that will start appearing on customers’ bills as early as June 1. The PUC initially approved the rate increases March 27, and power used during the six-week interim period will be subject to the new rate design and charged to customers over the next 12 months. 

Since late March, the PUC has reviewed dozens of proposals for how it should allocate those record rate hikes. 

Lynch’s system divides California utility customers into five different tiers based on how much electricity they use. Under state law, customers face no rate increase for electricity they use that is up to 130 percent of their baseline amount. 

Baseline is an average amount of usage based on climate, geography and season. Utilities use this average, set by the PUC, to fairly bill customers so that customers are not penalized for living in the desert rather than in more temperate climes. 

Low-income customers within 175 percent of federal poverty levels also are exempt from rate hikes. 

Those are the first two tiers. Each of the three higher tiers for residential customers are based on how much power is used, with higher rates charged as usage increases. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov 

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors said Wednesday they will challenge an appeals court order delaying the trial of former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson until Sept. 4, but her attorneys argued they can’t proceed because they now face charges. 

Olson’s trial on a 1976 indictment alleging she attempted to murder police officers had been expected to begin in a few weeks, after pretrial hearings. 

Defense attorneys Shawn Chapman and J. Tony Serra sought the delay order before learning this week that the city attorney’s office had charged them with misdemeanor crimes involving release of addresses and phone numbers of two police witnesses. 

Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler said during a hearing that filing charges against lawyers with a trial imminent is unusual. “There is very little law in this particular area,” he said. 

Chapman said the charges have “chilled” their ability to effectively represent Olson due to a conflict created by having to defend themselves. 

“This is an extraordinary situation,” said Chapman.  

“I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Olson, who attended the hearing with one of her daughters, told reporters she was “surprised and worried” when she heard about the charges against her lawyers. 

Chapman suggested that Olson’s trial cannot proceed until the misdemeanor case against the lawyers is resolved. 

Fidler said he believes the felony charges against Olson take precedence. He scheduled a status hearing for May 18, the day after the attorneys are to be arraigned. 

Olson, 54, is accused of 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 was 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. 

Defense attorneys won a stay of the trial Tuesday from the 2nd District Court of Appeals. The attorneys had argued that they needed more time to analyze extensive evidence in the case, while prosecutors contended they have had enough time. 

Deputy District Attorneys Michael Latin and Eleanor Hunter immediately filed notice that they will challenge the stay. A hearing is set before the appeals court June 22. 

Meanwhile, the prosecutors asked Fidler to order immediate videotaped testimony taken from three elderly witnesses in the Sacramento area who are in poor health and may not be able to attend the trial.  

They witnessed bank robberies allegedly committed by the SLA. 

Fidler said he believes the appeals court stay prevents him from ruling on any pretrial motions for the time being. 

Outside court, Chapman alleged authorities were trying to interfere with Olson’s defense by prosecuting the attorneys. 

“I suppose they see we are effectively representing her and they are pulling out all the stops,” Chapman said. 

District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons called the allegations “absurd” and said county prosecutors were unaware of the city attorney’s action until after the charges were filed. 

“Why would we do this?” she said. “Why would we want to complicate a case that we are ready to take to trial?” 

She said if the city attorney had asked, the trial prosecutors would have told them to hold off on filing charges against the lawyers. 

DAVIS — Federal investigators have been called in to investigate a suspected hate crime directed at a Jewish organization near the University of California, Davis campus. 

Someone ignited a Star of David flag hanging under the eaves of the small, white frame Hillel House between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. Wednesday, said Davis Police Sgt. Colleen Turay. The fire spread to some shingles and a corner of the home, causing minor damage, she said. 

An object also was thrown through a front window, knocking over a Jewish sign, Turay said. “Apparently there was some indication this might happen, or some time of incident might happen,” Turay said. Police were investigating the nature of the threat, she said. 

Davis police called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms because it appears to be a hate crime, she said. 

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region denounced what it called a “despicable act of hatred.” The group’s chairman, Marc Carrel, compared it to arsons at three Sacramento-area synagogues three years ago; two defendants are jailed awaiting trial on charges stemming from those arsons. “There’s always rumors of activities – nothing specific,” said Raphael Moore, president of Hillel House’s board. “We have had no incidents that I can remember in years, certainly nothing like this.” 

The house was empty after Hebrew classes concluded about 9 p.m. Tuesday, he said. An earlier weekly discussion of Israeli politics brought its usual spirited debate, he said, but no confrontations. 

The Davis campus has had several racially motivated incidents over the last few months, but most involved Asian students – “nothing related to us,” Moore said. “I want to believe that this is an isolated event, (though) nothing to be taken lightly.” 

The house already had installed a security system that was triggered during the incident, and will go about its business serving about 2,500 Jewish students from UC Davis and Sacramento State University, Moore said.  

Hillel House — named after an ancient Jewish rabbi — hosts about 500 religious and cultural events a year. 

“We’re not going to hide,” Moore said. “Tonight a new flag will be put up in (the burned flag’s) place.” 

WASHINGTON — President Bush’s high-priority legislation to improve public schools sailed through a House committee Wednesday as Republicans and Democrats alike backed a plan that includes annual testing for millions of elementary and junior high school students. 

The vote by the Education Committee was 41-7, and set the stage for a debate as early as next week in the full House. 

“This is the beginning of a process, not the end of a process,” said GOP Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the committee chairman. And even as the committee vote was announced, the White House and House GOP leaders pledged to seek changes sought by disgruntled conservatives. 

Even so, the vote marked a clear triumph for the White House, which has sought bipartisan backing for the legislation atop the president’s agenda. 

“The bill we approved today is a good bill,” said Rep. George Miller of California, the senior Democrat on the committee. “It represents significant agreement between Democrats and Republicans to improve education for all children in our country regardless of their economic, social or racial background.” 

Boehner said the measure would “empower parents and improve education for every child in America. It’s an unmistakable signal that after three and a half decades of increasing education spending, Washington is finally beginning to demand some results for our children.” 

The measure would require states to conduct annual reading and math tests for all public school students in grades 3-8. Students in schools that failed to show significant improvement would become eligible to use federal funds for private tutoring or transportation to another public school. Failing schools would receive additional federal aid to help them improve. 

In addition, the bill would grant local school districts flexibility in their use of federal funds, a provision that supporters say would enable local officials to target money to their greatest needs – teacher training or technology, for example. 

The measure no longer contains some of the provisions Bush initially proposed, though, including one to allow federal funds to be used for private school tuition in the case of students in failing schools. 

And despite a last-minute attempt by the White House and GOP leaders to ease the concerns of the bill’s critics, six of the seven votes against the measure were cast by conservative Republicans. 

“I think it’s a sad day when Republicans pass a bill that’s to the left of Ted Kennedy,” said Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Colo., referring to the liberal Democratic senator from Massachusetts. Bush said the bill contained “monumental reforms,” and called the vote “a first step toward reforming America’s education system and making sure no child is left behind.” 

Education Secretary Rod Paige issued a statement saying the bill “reflects each of the four pillars of President Bush’s education reform plan – accountability, flexibility and local control, research-based reform and expanded parental options.” 

The committee debate was delayed for two hours, in part so Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders could meet with committee opponents of the measure. 

Several officials said the leaders and White House chief of staff Andy Card, who participated via telephone conference call, pledged to support major changes when the bill reaches the House floor. These include an amendment to restore the president’s private school voucher programs, as well as greater flexibility for some school districts and states. Ironically, a companion bill in the Senate, which Kennedy and Republicans agreed to, includes flexibility language that the House conservatives like. 

The mail elements of the House bill itself was negotiated several weeks ago by Boehner, Miller and a small group of lawmakers in both parties, with White House participation. 

The committee met last week and after lawmakers quickly voted against private school vouchers and in favor of annual testing, the way seemed clear for passage. 

Conservative leaders and organizations, James Dobson, for example, and the National Association of Christian Teachers, registered their objections, however, as did a small but vocal group of committee Republicans led by Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Schaffer. 

“At the end of the day, we are left with federally mandated testing with a federal audit, new reading, math and science programs and a 22 percent increase in spending in the first year,” said a paper circulated by conservative Republican lawmakers. 

The White House weighed in earlier in the week, issuing a set of “talking points” to all GOP lawmakers that made clear the administration supported the bill, and detailing several provisions that the president had won. 

Bush called Miller on Tuesday, and the Californian said in an interview the president “wanted to know what we could do to get this bill passed.” Miller said he told the president “you have to enforce the agreement we have.” 

No date has yet been set for the measure to come to the House floor, but officials said during the day they hoped for debate as soon as next week. 

The Senate has been debating its version of the bill fitfully for more than a week. There, as in the House, conservatives have been growing restless with the results, particularly as Democrats advance a series of amendments to add spending. 

BOSTON — A natural bone-building hormone appears to be the most effective treatment ever for osteoporosis, the brittle bone disease that afflicts millions of older Americans. 

The manufacturer hopes the medicine, called Forteo (for-TAY-oh), will be available by prescription by the end of the year. If so, it is likely to be recommended for victims of moderate to severe osteoporosis, a condition blamed for more than 1.5 million fractures annually in the United States. 

The drug is based on the parathyroid hormone, which is ordinarily secreted by tiny glands in the neck. When given to volunteers with osteoporosis, it doubles their normal rate of bone formation. 

A study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine shows that it dramatically reduces the risk of broken bones. The risk of spinal fractures, a hallmark of osteoporosis, fell by two-thirds in women getting the medicine. 

Other osteoporosis drugs on the market, such as Fosamax, work by slowing the body’s loss of bone. Forteo is the only treatment that actually prompts the body to make new bone. 

But unlike the other medicines, Forteo has a major drawback: It can be administered only by daily injections. Still, doctors say patients quickly master this process, which is similar to insulin injections, and no serious side effects were seen. 

“It’s the first demonstration of the concept that stimulating bone formation is going to be an effective way to treat osteoporosis in humans,” said Dr. Robert M. Neer of Massachusetts General Hospital, the study’s director. 

The medicine, known generically as teriparatide, is being developed by Eli Lilly, which financed the study. 

Dr. Felicia Cosman of Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw, N.Y., clinical director of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, estimated that 25 percent to 30 percent of osteoporosis patients might be considered for treatment with the new drug. 

“It represents a lot of hope for the future for women with severe osteoporosis, especially those who are on the best drugs and still having fractures,” she said. 

The foundation estimates that 10 million Americans – 80 percent of them female – have osteoporosis. Broken vertebrae, hips and wrists are especially common. 

The latest study was conducted on 1,637 postmenopausal women who had suffered at least one fracture because of osteoporosis.  

They were randomly assigned to take either 20 or 40 micrograms of the hormone or dummy shots.  

After 18 months of treatment, women taking the higher dose of drug had 13 percent more bone in their spines than did those on the placebo. 

Forteo has not been compared directly to other drugs, so doctors cannot say for sure that it is truly better. However, the results of this and other studies with the new medicine are more impressive than those typically seen with other drugs. For instance, the researchers said the largest increase in bone seen with other drugs was 9 percent. 

Forteo reduced the occurrence of new vertebral fractures by 65 percent or 69 percent, depending on whether women got the high or low dose. Neer said no other drug has reduced it by more than 40 percent to 50 percent. 

The new drug reduced the risk of multiple spinal fractures by 77 percent or 86 percent, and it lowered the risk of fractures elsewhere in the body by just over half. 

The study was stopped early because of a cancer scare resulting from other Lilly research in which scientists found that rats developed bone cancer when given high lifelong doses of the drug. 

However, researchers eventually decided that the results do not suggest a higher cancer risk in people.  

Among other things, people with naturally high levels of the hormone as a result of overactive parathyroid glands are not especially prone to bone cancer, and none of the women in this or earlier studies of the hormone has developed the cancer. 

The entire parathyroid hormone contains 84 amino acids. Forteo is a 34-amino acid portion of this. Experts believe it does the same job as the full hormone. 

On the Net: 

Journal: http://www.nejm.org

WASHINGTON — Forty years ago, John Lewis and other civil rights activists boarded a bus for Montgomery, Ala., and prepared for the worst. Before leaving they called their families and said goodbye, worried they might never see them again. 

When they arrived to protest segregation they were attacked by a mob of whites. Lewis was hit in the head with a wooden crate and his friend Jim Zwerg was knocked unconscious, all of his teeth fractured and three vertebrae cracked. 

This weekend Lewis and other survivors will embark on another bus trip to mark the 40th anniversary of the “Freedom Rides,” a seminal event in the civil rights movement that helped focus the nation’s attention on discrimination and violence against blacks in the South. 

This time, the bus riders will be welcomed in Montgomery and other stops. 

“To go down those roads, to get on a Greyhound bus, just to relive this whole thing for a weekend is going to be very moving,” said Lewis, now a Democratic congressman from Georgia. 

Events marking the anniversary begin Thursday with a news conference by Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta in Washington. They conclude Saturday with a re-enactment of the Atlanta-to-Montgomery bus trip. 

Unlike other chapters in the struggle for civil rights, the Freedom Rides weren’t about changing laws. They were about getting a region to acknowledge that laws already had changed. 

In 1960 the Supreme Court ruled in Boynton vs. Virginia that segregation in interstate bus and rail travel was unconstitutional.  

Despite that, blacks in many Southern areas still faced discrimination when they traveled. 

To draw attention to the situation, 13 freedom riders – blacks and whites – left Washington on May 4, 1961, aboard a Greyhound bus. Their 13-day itinerary of stops through the South included nonviolent protests at bus stations. By the end of the three weeks of rides, some 300 protesters had joined the crusade. 

The riders were not subjected to violence as they traveled through the Carolinas and Georgia. But upon entering Alabama, the trip became bloody. 

A mob of 200 whites set the bus on fire when it arrived in Anniston. The trip continued in another bus to Birmingham, where the riders were met by a mob that assaulted them with stones, baseball bats, lead pipes and chains. 

Birmingham police arrested the riders, including Lewis, then dropped them off late at night across the Tennessee border. 

The riders reorganized themselves and continued on to Montgomery, where they were met by the most violent opposition. 

“I was kicked in the spine, thrown forward and felt a foot come down on my face,” said Zwerg, a retired white minister for United Church of Christ.  

“That’s basically the last thing I remember until I woke up in a vehicle. I thought I was getting taken out to get lynched.” 

The riders continued on to Mississippi where they were sentenced to 60 days in jail. The never reached their destination of New Orleans, but they achieved their objective. Later that year, Attorney General Robert Kennedy ordered the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the Supreme Court ruling. 

Catherine Burks Brooks, one of the riders who now is a teacher in Birmingham, is proud of the result but concerned the message of the Freedom Rides has been lost on today’s young people. 

“I think we all thought that by now everything would just be going smoothly, that this would be over,” Brooks said. “By now, I didn’t think there would be a need for any type of movement, that we all could just be people. But that’s not true.” 

Saturday’s bus trip will start at Clark Atlanta University and include stops at the Greyhound terminal in Birmingham and the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the freedom riders. 

Greyhound Lines Inc. is sponsoring the festivities, and during the Atlanta events a replica of the 1954 bus from the original Freedom Rides will be on display. 

On the Net: 

Lewis: www.house.gov/johnlewis 

The Congress of Racial Equality: www.core-online.org/History/history.htm

WASHINGTON — Federal employees who complain about discrimination or report fraud at their agencies routinely suffer reprisals and continued abuse from their supervisors, the NAACP’s president told lawmakers Wednesday. 

Among the examples cited by Kweisi Mfume at a House Judiciary Committee hearing: A Federal Aviation Administration employee’s car was vandalized after she complained about a Confederate flag display and references to slavery at the agency; at the Agriculture Department, someone scribbled on the wall that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People stood for “Now Apes Are Called People”; a hanging noose was found at a black employee’s desk at an Army Corps of Engineers district office in Massachusetts. 

No one was ever prosecuted for any of those actions, Mfume said. 

“Discrimination and retaliation against people who complain about it and their supporters, is rampant in federal departments and agencies across the nation,” he said. 

The committee chairman, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, are again pushing the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act, or No FEAR bill, after introducing it last year. 

Sensenbrenner said agencies should have to pay for settlements or judgments against them in whistle-blower and discrimination cases, rather than tapping a government-wide general fund. 

“This will make the agency more accountable for its actions,” he said. 

The bill also would require agencies to inform employees of their options under anti-discrimination laws and to notify Congress how many discrimination cases have been filed against them and the outcome. 

J. Christopher Mihm of the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said that for government to work well, “allegations of discrimination and reprisal for whistle-blowing in the federal workplace must be dealt with.” 

Mfume said an NAACP survey found 92 percent of the employees questioned at a Bureau of Printing and Engraving facility in Fort Worth, Texas, said they had been discriminated against.  

An investigation by an NAACP task force found similar problems in other agencies, he said. 

Also testifying at the hearing was Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, who won a $300,000 judgment in a discrimination lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. 

She contended in a lawsuit that she was denied promotion on two occasions while white men in similar positions were not.  

She said she was the target of racial slurs and suffered retaliation after she complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

“I wish I could tell you that my situation is unusual, but it is all too common,” she said. 

The jury awarded her $600,000 in compensatory damages. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly subsequently cut the award in half and EPA Administrator Christie Whitman has asked to drop the appeals against the award. 

On the Net: 

Information on the bill, H.R. 169, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov 

House Judiciary Committee: http://www.house.gov/judiciary 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: http://www.naacp.org

WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman is preparing a series of civil rights initiatives for her agency, including mandatory two-day training for 1,600 supervisors and managers nationwide. 

The EPA has contracted with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to conduct the course. Whitman opened her tenure as chief environmental officer for the Bush administration by trying to end an EPA discrimination suit. 

Whitman also said that she has set a two-year target for wiping out a backlog of 80 cases of alleged discrimination involving individuals or recipients of federal funds from the EPA. 

She made her pledge while testifying at a hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the EPA’s budget. 

The agency “has had sort of a sordid background on civil rights,” Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Fla., told Whitman, referring to several discrimination lawsuits filed against the agency by employees. 

Whitman said she was taking the steps to create a better work environment at her agency. “I’m absolutely committed to it,” she said. 

The House Science Committee last year investigated allegations of intolerance at EPA including charges that blacks and disabled people were discriminated against and harassed and that whistle-blowers suffered retaliation for talking to members of Congress. 

Two weeks after being sworn in on Jan. 31 as EPA administrator, Whitman sent a memo to employees about her anti-discrimination initiatives and pledged in a second memo on May 3 “to personally monitor our progress in these areas.” 

One of Whitman’s first acts at the helm of the EPA was to drop the agency’s legal battle against a black employee who won a $300,000 judgment in a discrimination lawsuit. 

The plaintiff in the case, Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a senior adviser to the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxic Substances, had called Whitman’s decision a healthy start toward better relations between the EPA and its employees. 

An April 30 report prepared for EPA by the Covington & Burling law firm says that despite public concern over the Coleman-Adebayo case, EPA’s Office of International Activities where she formerly worked “does not suffer from any systemic diversity or fairness problem or any pattern of discrimination. 

The report says the firm reached that conclusion after interviewing about three-quarters of the OIA staff. 

It is not the first time Whitman has dealt with racially charged issues. 

During her last two years as New Jersey governor, Whitman’s administration was accused of responding slowly to charges of racial profiling by New Jersey State Police officers when they made stops for traffic violations and vehicle searches. Last year the controversy deepened when a 1996 picture was published of Whitman frisking a black youth during a police tour in Camden, N.J. 

Whitman’s EPA initiatives come as the House is considering legislation aimed at curbing alleged reprisals against federal employees who complain about discrimination or fraud . 

“Discrimination and retaliation against people who complain about it and their supporters is rampant in federal departments and agencies across the nation,” Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, testified Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee. 

——— 

On the Net: 

EPA: http://www.epa.gov 

House Judiciary Committee: http://www.house.gov/judiciary 

NAACP: http://www.naacp.org 

WASHINGTON — The cellular phone: The newest terror on the highways, or a minor distraction that has saved lives? 

It all depended on who was talking Wednesday at a congressional hearing long on anecdotal evidence and short on supporting statistics. 

Lacking numbers, members of a House Transportation subcommittee and witnesses traded tales of drivers weaving from lane to lane while reading a newspaper, or running stop signs while talking on the phone. 

About the only certainty that came out of the hearing was the reality that Congress is neither ready nor inclined to restrict drivers from using cell phones or other electronic devices. 

“I’m not certain we can legislate this behavior,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, even as she told the story of a friend who died in a car crash while talking on a cell phone. 

Patricia Pena, her voice cracking, told a hushed committee room of the death of her 2-year-old daughter, killed in an automobile accident involving a driver who ran a stop sign while talking on a cell phone. 

“We waited and we prayed. Then the doctors walked in the room,” said Pena, unable to hold back her tears. 

“The industry will try to say there are so many other distractions in vehicles,” said Pena, a Pennsylvania resident, who founded Advocates for Cell Phone Safety after her daughter’s death. “Cellular telephone use is a more complex and demanding task. There are simply not comparable distractions.” 

Last month, model Niki Taylor was severely injured when a car she was riding in crashed into a utility pole. The driver said he looked down to answer his cell phone before the car ran off the road. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that a driver’s inattention causes 20 percent to 30 percent of accidents. That amounts to about 1.6 million of the 6.3 million crashes last year, or around 4,300 accidents a day. 

“Who among us hasn’t been behind a car that is weaving or speeding up or slowing down for no apparent reason, only to find that the driver is more interested in reading the paper than watching the road,” said Rep. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., chairman of the highways and transit subcommittee, which held the hearing. 

“My children have to be high on that list in terms of distractions,” said Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., father of three, aged 11, 8 and 4. The cellular industry’s top lobbyist, Tom Wheeler, offered some stories of his own: The family members who helped catch a kidnapper because they called police on their cell phone after spotting the suspect’s van on a highway.  

The 8-year-old who used his uncle’s cell phone to call for help after a boating accident. The medical technician who received help over his cell phone while treating a 10-year-old boy lying unconscious after being hit by a car. 

“The wireless phone is the greatest safety tool since the development of 911,” said Wheeler, president and chief executive officer of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the industry’s trade group. 

Twenty-seven states are looking at passing their own laws and three – California, Florida and Massachusetts – have minor restrictions on using cell phones in cars, NHTSA said. In addition, about a dozen municipalities have their own cell phone laws. On Monday, the Nassau County, N.Y., legislature voted to ban motorists from using hand-held cell phones while driving.  

Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., suggested the federal government help look at ways to make electronic equipment easier to use, the way compact disc players are now part of car radios.  

Built-in phones that can automatically dial a phone number when a driver asks could help reduce any distractions, he said. 

“We all have anecdotal tales,” Simmons said. “But we are people who want to communicate. And we have the resources to make it safer.” 

On the Net: 

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee: http://www.house.gov/transportation 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov

WASHINGTON — President Bush nominated 11 lawyers to federal appeals courts Wednesday, urging the Senate to “rise above the bitterness of the past” and rapidly confirm his diverse, mostly conservative first slate of judicial candidates. 

“I now submit these nominations in good faith, trusting the good faith will also be extended by the United States Senate,” Bush said. 

After taking care to mollify Democrats with two nominees previously tapped by former President Clinton, Bush asked the evenly divided Senate “to provide a prompt vote to every nominee ... I ask for the return of civility and dignity to the confirmation process.” 

Even before Bush spoke, Democrats announced that Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., could block the nomination of one of the picks, Terrence Boyle of North Carolina. Bush had withheld planned nominations of at least four conservatives to avoid Democratic objections. 

Controversy and contention has surrounded the judicial confirmation process throughout the nation’s history, but the acrimony reached new levels when Democrats scuttled the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork in the 1980s. Republicans, in turn, blocked several Clinton nominees to lower court seats. 

Bush’s nominees are little known outside judicial circles, but their selection offers a first glimpse of his resolve to add conservatives to the federal judiciary and the eagerness of Democrats to stop him. 

Bush portrayed his picks as models of “experience and character” and said he will seek always to nominate judges who don’t “legislate from the bench.” 

All eleven nominees were present, along with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. — the ranking members of the Judiciary Committee. 

“We are pleased that the White House has chosen to work with us on the first group of nominations,” Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said. 

Though a review of their legal records suggests Bush’s first judicial nominees are mostly conservative, he took pains to offer a diverse slate by appointing three women, two blacks and one Hispanic. 

Seven of the 11 candidates are sitting judges. 

Many owe previous judicial selections to Republican presidents. 

None is known as an ideologue or as especially partisan, although it is hard to gauge the prospects for confirmation when the Senate is split 50-50. 

Democrats have threatened to hold up the president’s nominees, partly in revenge for the delays that met some of Clinton’s judicial picks. 

One of the more conservative selections, Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada, has a long list of admirers who call him one of the smartest and ethically rigorous lawyers they know. He is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the firm that represented Bush at the Supreme Court during the postelection legal fight. 

Estrada came to the United States from Honduras as a teen-ager and took the SAT in English two years later. He got into Harvard and graduated near the top of his class. 

Estrada favors gun control, but believes in the conservative judicial model of reading the “plain language” of a law or of the Constitution. The best-known proponent of this philosophy is probably Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. 

The White House informally advised lawmakers last week that Bush intended to nominate 15 judges, pending final reviews. Candidates drawing objections from Democrats were pulled from the list, including a GOP congressman from California, as Bush sought a controversy-free first slate. 

Bush hopes to nominate the withheld candidates at a later date — but not for a least a couple of weeks — after further consultation with Congress, the White House official said. 

Republican Rep. Chris Cox was the most prominent candidate tabled, along with Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and Peter Keisler for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va. 

In addition to Estrada, the source said Bush also intends to nominate: 

—Roger Gregory to the 4th Circuit in Virginia. Clinton nominated him to the post originally. Bush hopes the pick is cast as a show of bipartisanship. 

—U.S. District Judge Edith Brown Clement to the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans. She is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, whose members have had a hand in shaping Bush’s judicial choices. She was named to the federal bench in Louisiana by President George Bush in 1991. 

—Boyle to the 4th Circuit in North Carolina. He was nominated for the appeals court by Bush’s father but never confirmed. 

—John G. Roberts to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. Also nominated by Bush’s father, Roberts is a popular member of the bar who is considered a politically well-connected moderate. A specialist in making oral arguments before the Supreme Court, he is considered among the two or three most effective lawyers there. 

—Jeffrey S. Sutton to the 6th Circuit in Ohio. He is a Supreme Court specialist with a winning record. 

—Barrington D. Parker, appointed to the bench by Clinton, to the 2nd Circuit in Connecticut. He has 30 years experience as a judge, litigator and law clerk. 

—Deborah Cook to the 6th Circuit in Ohio. She was elected twice to the Ohio Supreme Court. 

—Dennis Shedd to the 4th Circuit. The South Carolina resident was appointed to the federal district court by Bush’s father. 

—Priscilla Owen to the 5th Circuit in Texas. Elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1994, she is the second woman ever to sit on the state’s high court. 

—Michael McConnell to the 10th Circuit in Denver. He is another well-respected Supreme Court specialist, a professor at the University of Utah College of Law. 

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 

 

---

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.”

SAN JOSE— A San Jose middle school student is hospitalized after being diagnosed with what doctors say is probably meningococcal meningitis. 

The seventh grade boy is a student at Castillero Middle School. A letter was sent home with students Thursday afternoon informing parents of the situation – and Thursday night, Santa Clara County Health Department officials were at the school to answer parents’ questions. 

“The good news about meningococcal meningitis is that it’s not that easy to transmit,” said Dr. Sara Cody, a health department official. She told parents that the disease is only spread through contact with an infected person’s saliva or mucous. 

Health officials said there is no evidence of transmission at the middle school at this time and reassured parents that the risk to the general student population is very low.  

They urged parents not to panic and promised that this latest case is under control and not likely to affect other students. 

The infected student is on a course of antibiotics and is said to be doing well. His family and students who may have come in contact with him are also being treated with antibiotics as a precaution, officials say. 

Concerns about the disease have been heightened in recent weeks following the meningitis deaths of Michael Gordon, a Livermore high school student, and Nandi Phelps, a Berkeley elementary student. 

Symptoms of the disease include sever headache, fever and stiff neck.

Funeral services will be held Friday for Nandi Phelps, the 9 year old Oxford School student who was stricken by bacterial meningitis and died last week. 

Services are at 11 a.m. at Bethany Baptist Church, 5400 Adeline Street in Oakland. 

A quiet hour will be held this evening at 7 p.m., at McNary, Morgan, Engel & Jackson 

Mortuary, 3630 Telegraph Avenue, in Oakland. 

Donations to help with funeral expenses can be sent to: “McNary, Morgan, Engel and Jackson Mortuary,” with a notation in the memo line of “Nandi Phelps.”

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.