In early October, Keith “Kiki” Bell, a junior at Berkeley High School, found out that two of his friends are HIV positive. The news was devastating. 

But now, through the Berkeley High School Peer Health Education Program, Bell is working to prevent the further spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, among young people. 

“I wanted to get out there and inform other teens so they wouldn’t get HIV,” Bell said. 

Bell is one of a diverse group of 15 students who participate in the peer education program, also known as Teens Advocating Safer Sex. 

The students, or peer educators, split their time among three primary activities – making presentations at BHS and local middle and alternative schools, passing out condoms and safer sex information on the street to young people and organizing special events. 

Today, the group will sponsor an HIV assembly at BHS, and Thursday, the students will run an AIDS poetry slam at the high school, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in room G210. The reading is open to the public, and a $2 donation is recommended. 

This week’s events are in anticipation of World AIDS Day on Saturday, Dec. 1 – a global, annual event, dating back to 1988, which memorializes AIDS victims and stirs up activism surrounding HIV issues. 

Sonya Dublin, who works out of the BHS Health Center as the coordinator of HIV Prevention Services, says the peer-to-peer program is effective because kids are the primary messengers. 

“Where do teens get 90 percent of their values and information? From each other,” she said. “The more we can plant the seeds of accurate information and teach them good clear values and skills, the better.” 

Mayor Shirley Dean said it is this emphasis on peer outreach that has built support for the program in the local halls of government. “Young people really do listen to young people, and that’s why it’s effective,” she said. 

The program functions, primarily, on a $25,000 annual grant by the city, supplemented by grant money that raises the yearly budget to somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000. This money funds Dublin’s salary, the stipends of four part-time staffers and the 15 peer educators.  

Both Dean and City Councilmember Kriss Worthington said they hope the program will survive the looming recession. 

“There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the state, federal and city budget,” Worthington said. “I think it’s going to take a lot of work to keep these kinds of inventive, frontline services. But, they are what makes Berkeley special.” 

On Tuesday, the frontline was in a ninth grade identity and ethnic studies class, where Dublin teamed up with peer trainer Talia Reich, 15, to educate a small class on safer sex. 

Dublin and Reich began with a game, which called on students to examine their stereotypes of HIV. The educators asked the ninth graders whether they would choose to have unprotected sex with a homeless teenager, a homecoming king or queen, a drug dealer, an athlete, a “player,” an honor student, or a friend. 

At the end of the exercise, they told the story of each of the seven figures, emphasizing that anyone can have a sexually transmitted disease, and that most teens do not bother getting tested. 

Donald Ross, 14, a student in the class, was affected. “You can really get it,” he said of HIV. “If you’re going to be with a partner, you should know their background and they should know yours.” 

The class concluded with a step-by-step demonstration for making proper use of a condom, performed on a plastic penis. 

After the bell sounded, Reich, who has friends with HIV, told a reporter that she felt a responsibility to educate the public about AIDS. But she also expressed enthusiasm about what she has taken from the program. 

“I get experience, I’m meeting people, and I’m doing something productive with my time,” she said. “I don’t play on a sports team, I don’t belong to a club, but I feel like I’m devoted to this...I’ve made some really good friends here.” 

Later in the day, Keith Bell and Lauren Ross, 15, a sophomore at BHS, headed for Shattuck Avenue at lunchtime where they passed out packets with condoms, lubricant and safer sex information. 

“There’s an epidemic going on and it’s awful,” said Ross. “I just want to make things better. People don’t need to die because of one mistake.” 

For more information call the BHS Health Center at 644-6838 ex. 4. 

In a rematch of last year’s hard-fought Northern California Regional championship game, the Berkeley Yellowjackets used their inside power to beat Oakland, 64-50. 

Berkeley (2-0) was led by senior power forward Sabrina Keys, who scored 19 points in the second half on 9-for-9 shooting from the field to take her team from a six-point lead at halftime to a dominating victory. 

“I just needed to get warm,” said Keys of her hot half. “We don’t have a heater in our gym anymore, so I need time to get warm.” 

Keys, who scored 27 points to go with 10 rebounds in the game, has a new partner in crime down low this season, 6-foot-3 freshman center Devanei Hampton. Hampton’s presence allows Keys to finally play her normal forward spot instead of manning the center, and the Purdue signee is clearly enjoying the freedom to move outside on occasion. 

“I love to have the help down low, because I’ll be playing (power forward) in college,” Keys said. “We just have to go high-low to get points in our offense.” 

The pair did just that against the undersized Wildcats, as Keys found Hampton in the low post three times for easy buckets, and showed her own range with several short jumpers. Hampton finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals in just her second high school game. 

Berkeley co-head coach Gene Nakamura knows he needs a big year from Keys to help replace the scoring of the departed Robin Roberson, who dominated the team last year with her outstanding shooting. Roberson averaged 21.5 points per game last season, and Keys is the most likely candidate to fill the leading scorer’s role. 

“Sabrina’s done a great job as a role player the last few years, but now it’s time for her to step up,” Nakamura said. “She’s doing what I expect her to do. There’s a reason Purdue and those other schools wanted her.” 

The ’Jackets started slowly against Oakland, committing eight turnovers in the first quarter and falling behind 9-2. But Keys got two buckets inside, then Hampton got her own rebound and made an old-fashioned three-point play. Berkeley senior Natasha Bailey made a free throw with 4.6 seconds left in the quarter to tie the game at 11-11. 

Berkeley’s trademark defense rallied the team to a lead at the start of the second quarter as the Wildcats were held scoreless for more than four minutes. The ’Jackets built up a 20-11 lead before Oakland star Ebony Young hit a 3-pointer to break the drought.  

It looked as if Berkeley would take a big lead into halftime, but some sloppy ball-handling nearly gave it all away. Oakland’s Kathy Hill hit a three with less than 30 seconds left, and Berkeley turned the ball over right into the hands of Young, who hit another three to cut the Berkeley lead to 29-23. It could have been even worse, as Young caused yet another turnover, but she missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. 

But Keys wasn’t about to let the score get any closer. She made all seven of her shots in the third quarter as the ’Jackets raced out to a 52-38 lead, then kept a close eye on Young when the Wildcats pulled to within 10 with three minutes left in the game. 

In fact, Young scored just 13 points in the game, a low total for the Santa Barbara signee. She had 17 points and 11 rebounds in the NorCal final last season, but managed just two rebounds against the new and improved Berkeley frontcourt. 

“We were just ready for Ebony tonight,” Keys said. “I expected them to hit more threes, but we played really good defense.” 

Nakamura was happy with his team’s performance, considering the fact he just got his full squad back this week. Several Berkeley players have been nursing injuries for much of the pre-season, a tough break for a team with four freshmen trying to learn a new system. 

“We played much smarter than in the first game (a win over El Molino), which is good to see,” Nakamura said. “We do need to feed the post more, because that’s where our strength is.”

Wednesday, Nov. 28

An Exclusive Report: Pacifica Radio & The Corporation for Public Broadcasting 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Take Back KPFA co-founders Jeffrey Blankfort and KPFA Local Advisory Board member and former KPFA programmer and development director Maria Gilardin present “never before heard evidence” of the collaboration between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Pacifica Foundation management to destroy the nation's only listener-sponsored radio network. Discussion will follow. $5 - $20. 415-255-9182 

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article – a community 

writers’ group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

Toddler Storytime 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Library 

1125 University Ave. 

For families with children 3 years or younger, a program to expose the youngest readers to multicultural stories, songs and finger plays. The last Storytime in the series.  

Stories of Your Amazing Body 

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

For children aged three to ten years old, escape to the magical realm of health, fun, and excitement of this ongoing storytelling series. 549-1564  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

What really happened at the UN Conference on Racism or what the press left out. 548-9696, graypanthers@hotmail.com 

Emeryville Lights of Life Day  

5 - 7 p.m. 

Emeryville Child Development Center 

1220 53rd St., Emeryville 

Community event to honor loved ones and in tribute to the helping 

and caring professions, featuring children's chorus, candle-lighting, guest speaker Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright with a tribute to New York firefighters, and a visit from the fire truck. 450-8795 

Police Review Commission  

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 644-6716, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/prg/ 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 705-8101, planning@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Thursday, Nov. 29

Small Schools Community Action Committee 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Longfellow Middle School Auditorium 

1500 Derby St. 

The Small Schools Community Action Committee is sponsoring an informational meeting geared to middle school parents. All interested community members are invited. 486-1014, http://berkeleysmallschools.org. 

Day of Action for Justice in Palestine 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

Sproul Plaza  

Students will stage a rally and demonstration on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Followed by a teach-in with Prof. Asad Abukhalil of CSU Stanislaus, 7 p.m., 60 Evans Hall. 496-1269, justiceinpalestine@ yahoo.com. 

The Nuclear Waste Problem  

and the Yucca Mountain Project 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

AIDS Poetry Slam 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High School 

Room G210 

Berkeley High’s Peer Health Education Program will sponsor a poetry reading focused on HIV/AIDS. 644-6838, extension 4. 

Campaign to End the Death Penalty – Fundraiser  

8 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall 

390 27th St., Oakland  

Three bands and a very good cause. $5-$10. 985-2805, emterzakis@aol.com. 

Ferry Expansion Hearings 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Open House Senior Center 

6500 Stockton St., El Cerrito 

The San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (WTA) is holding public scoping sessions to identify environmental issues that should be studied before expanding ferry service on the Bay. www.bluewaternetwork.org. 

What’s Going On? Debt and Aids in Africa 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Friends Church 

1600 Sacramento St. 

Town Hall meeting and panel discussion with John Iverson, East Bay ACT UP; Nunu Kidane on Debt and AIDS, and an update on how to become involved locally. 415-565-0201 x12, www.aaaw.org. 

A Mayoral Vision 

11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Radisson Hotel 

Berkeley Marina 

Don't miss this opportunity to share your visionary thoughts 

with Mayor Dean. Q & A will follow the presentation. $30, includes lunch. 549-7000, www.berkeleychamber.com.  

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Winter Backcountry Travel:  

Safety and Survival Tips 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Leader of the National Ski Patrol’s Northern California search and rescue team, Mike Kelly, shares his expertise on how to plan a safe adventure in the snow. Free. 527-4140 

Discussion for Women 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Katheryn Gardella, RN., discuss mobility Issues and Feling Good in this part of a series of discussions for women. 644-6107 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Attic Conversions 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by architect Andus Brandt, $35. 525-7610 

Friday, Nov. 30

World Aids Day March 

noon 

Roche Diagnostics 

2929 7th St. 

Protest for affordable medications for all nations. March five blocks to Bayer. 841-4339 

Black Filmmakers Hall of  

Fame 12th Annual Black  

Filmworks 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California  

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Maangamizi: The Ancient One.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has accepted Maangamizi as the official entry from Tanzania for nomination consideration for the upcoming 74h Annual Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Award category. This is the first time ever that an entry from Tanzania has been considered and presented to the screening committee. 465-0804, www.blackfilmmakershall.org. 

Benefit for a Peace House in  

Chiapas, Mexico 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita streets 

The peace house will serve as an educational center on indigenous rights, neoliberal economics, and human rights observation for the international community. Live music, documentary film ‘Zapatista,’ and a traditional Mexican dinner. $25. 652-3512, cbossen@mindspring.com 

Still Stronger Women: Arts, Literature, Movies weekly 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst, at MLK Jr. 

The life and legacy of Amelia Earhart, plus film. Free. 232-1351 

Dunsmuir Historic Estate  

Holiday Season 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 

Volunteers have transformed the 50-acre estate and the 1899 mansion into a holiday event. 925-275-9595, www.dunsmuir.org. 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Nat Goldhaber, entrepreneur, presents “Running for Vice-President in a Spiritual Age.” $1 admission; 11:45 a.m. lunch, $12.25. 848-3533 

Editor: 

Barbara Lee and our City Council majority are accused of being unpatriotic. Isn’t desire to protect one’s nation patriotic? Isn’t it protective of the United States system of political democracy to urge our government to exercise restraint in the face of attack by violent fanatics?  

When under attack a democracy that does not pause to reflect can self-destruct. In a rage its leaders could echo the barbarism they oppose, as Rumsfeld did in his comment on Kunduz that all but endorsed execution of prisoners.  

In desperation, governmental form could mirror the tyranny opposed, as in the Bush decree invoking that key prop of dictatorships, military courts that are outside the standard criminal justice system.  

Let us be thankful that Congresswoman Lee and our City Council majority raised questions about the direction taken in our war on terrorism.  

Lee did not oppose the war, she merely questioned the wisdom of granting the president a blank check to conduct the war. The Council did not oppose the war, it merely suggested that the quicker the bombing ended the quicker all involved can get down to answering difficult political questions.  

Lee and the Council majority are threatened and called names, primarily because they interrupt the Afgan blood sport with a reminder to the public that it is at just such times that principles of justice must be scrupulously upheld.  

Ted Vincent  

Berkeley  

MUSIC 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; Dec. 21: Kepi, Bonfire Madigan, Kevin Seconds; Dec. 22: The Lab Rats, Onetime Angels, A great Divide, Last Great Liar, Gabriel’s Ratchet; Dec. 23: 5 p.m., Over My Dead Body, Panic, Breaker Breaker, Some Still Believe; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz. com 

Blake’s Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley. edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

¡Viva el Carnival! ; Nov. 30: 8 p.m., $12-$14. Chilean dance ensemble Araucaria, Andean music troupe Viento, Venezuelan Music Project; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena. org 

¡Viva el Carnival! ; Dec. 1: 8 p.m., $12-$14. Peruvian coastal dance and music with De Rompe y Raja, Francophone dance and music with Ras Mo, Brazilian dance and music with Fogo Na Roupa; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena. org  

Jupiter Dec. 1: Will Bernard Trio; Dec. 5: J Dogs; Dec. 6: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 7: AVI Bortnick Group; Dec. 8: Harvey Wainapel Quartet; Dec. 12: Mushroom; Dec. 13: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 14: Broun Fellini’s; Dec. 15: Norah Jones and Jim Campilongo; Dec. 19: Spectraphonic; Dec. 20: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 21: Crater; Dec. 22: Post Junk Trio; Dec. 27: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 29: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Kirk Tamura Trio; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

“Music on Telegraph” Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@ yahoo.com. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

Mat Callahan, Robert Temple and Yvonne Moore Dec.: 5 - 8:30 p.m., $10 cover. Powerful guitars and soul vocals with a Swiss flavor; Hotel Utah, 500 4th St., San Francisco 510-654-2329 templetime@jps.net 

John Calloway & Diaspora; Dec. 7: 8:30 p.m., $12. Afro-Cuban dance band and Jazz; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Dr. Loco’s Rocking Jalapeño Band; Dec. 8: 9:30 p.m., $10. Saucy musica latina, cumbias enchilada, caliente cha-chas, Chicano rumbas and roots rock; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Rumba music jam session; Dec. 9: 3:30 p.m, Free. Café Domingo de Rumba; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Trio Altamira Reunion Concert; Dec. 9: 7:30 p.m., $12--$14. Latin-American music; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Holly Near; Dec. 14: 8 p.m., $15--$17. On tour with her new release, Edge, Holly Near will perform old favorites and new songs. One of the founding mothers of women’s music, Holly Near ’s been a voice for world peace for 29 years; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Benefit Concert and Birthday Party Dec. 14 & 15: 7:30 p.m., Shelly Doty and grassroots community of women singers and song writers; Rose Street House, 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Flamenca Community Juerga; Dec. 16: 5 p.m, Free. In the Café; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Modupue & UpSurge; Dec. 16: 7 p.m, $8. Pan-African music infused with jazz influences and jazz poetry performed by Ned Turner; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Rumba music jam session; Dec. 23: 3:30 p.m, Free. Café Domingo de Rumba; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Annual “Dykelah Escape-from-you-know-what-day Musical Extravaganza!” Dec. 25: 3 p.m., Lisa Cohen and grassroots community of women singers and song writers; Rose Street House, 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

Theater 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822 www.auroratheatre.org 

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305 www.transparenttheater.org 

“Much Ado About Nothing” Through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Exhibits  

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960s and 1970s” Through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Coffee With A Beat - Word Beat reading series: Dec. 1: Adam David Miller, Dennis Richards; Dec. 8: Jeanne Powell, Kelly Kraatz; Dec. 15: Norm Milstein, Barbara Minton; Dec. 22: Debra Grace Khattab, Jesy Goldhammer; Dec. 29: Steve Arntson, Michelle Erickson, Clare Lewis; All readings are free and begin at 7 p.m., 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat. 

The Humanist Fellowship Hall Dec. 5: 7 p.m., “Our Wings Are Pregnant Seesaws” a play by H. D. Moe. A reading performance by the theatre workshop. 390 27th St., Oakland, 528-8713 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.org 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. 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  

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

UC Berkeley student Andy Katz, perhaps the first student ever appointed to the Zoning Adjustments Board, took a seat on one of the city’s most influential governing bodies Monday. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who has assigned more than 30 students to commissions and boards during his five years on the council, gave Katz the nod after 14-year member Gene Poschman retired from the ZAB earlier this month. 

“I’ve been trying for my entire time in office to bring diversity to city government,” Worthington said. “And that includes racial diversity, gender diversity and age diversity.” 

Katz, 21, is a senior in the university’s political science department. As far as City Clerk Sherry Kelly is aware of, Katz is the first student assigned to ZAB. He has served as a substitute on the ZAB and Housing Advisory Commission.  

On campus, Katz is a director on the City Affairs Lobby and Housing Commission of the Associated Students of the University of California. 

“I would like to bring to the board a different perspective,” Katz said. “I have concerns about the environmental review process, concerns about neighborhoods and I would like to help bring more affordable housing to Berkeley.” 

ZAB Chair Carolyn Weinberger said she is looking forward to Katz’ participation on the board. “Andrew brings diversity to the board and a fresh perspective,” she said. “It will be interesting and helpful.” 

ASUC Vice President Josh Fryday said Katz’ appointment is a step in the right direction. 

“We’re very excited to have Andy serving on the Zoning Adjustments Board,” said Josh Fryday, vice president of external affairs for the Associated Students of the University of California. “Andy has the passion and the ability to not only serve adequately but with the utmost competence.” 

The ASUC submitted a redistricting plan to the city in August whose goal, supporters said, was to increase student participation in government. The City Council declined to consider the option, after the city attorney said the City Charter disallowed the proposed configuration. 

The ZAB is considered one of the most important of the city’s boards and commissions because of the broad influence it exerts over issues related to property rights. Some of the ZAB’s responsibilities include overseeing the creation of new housing stock, finding a balance between development and environmental resources and resolving conflicts between residents and business interests. 

“ZAB issues can be very complex because that is where the nuts and bolts of development projects are reconciled with the intricacies of the zoning ordinance,” said 10-year ZAB member David Blake. “The best board members will have some experience with architecture, good math skills and the ability to assimilate lots of details into a big picture.” 

The ZAB also is known to have the toughest schedule of the city’s 49 commissions and boards. Because of the volume and complexity of proposals the ZAB considers, it regularly meets twice each month, while other boards and commissions meet once a month.  

According to a ZAB schedule, the board is currently considering 26 projects and has another 47 in the wings. The projects range from a residential basement conversion to the development of a five-story mixed-use building with 88 residential units and 42 parking spaces. 

According to ZAB Chair Carolyn Weinberger, in addition to the two meetings a week there is usually anywhere from five to eight hours of preparation that goes into each meeting. “Between site inspections, analyzing staff reports and checking the Zoning Ordinance, the hours add up,” she said. 

After his first meeting as an official ZAB member, Katz said it was clear being a board member would be a great deal of work. “I really enjoy the work and believe my commitment to the ZAB is doable,” he said. 

Worthington said currently he has appointed 14 students to boards and commissions. The majority of his student appointments have excelled at their posts, he said, pointing to Devra Bachrach, who was elected by her fellow commissioners to serve as chair of the Energy Commission, Jackie Torres who has earned the respect of the Labor Commission and Marco Barrantes on the Parks and Recreation Commission. 

“When I first started appointing students, people gave me a hard time saying that the city would be better served by grown-ups,” said Worthington who is known for requiring hard work from his appointees. “Most of the students I’ve appointed have shown me they can do a very good-to-outstanding job.” 

Editor: 

Berkeley residents are becoming aware of increases in burglaries and violent crimes in our neighborhoods. I have even received a “safety alert” advertising a community meeting with my local City Council representative. 

Will she please take the following actions?  

• Act to keep population density along major corridors like University Avenue low. Do not allow scarce parking lots to be developed into population dense crime attracting housing projects. Vote to stop such projects.  

Every community should do its share to help the poor, but subsidized housing should not be disproportionately concentrated in anyone’s back yard.  

• No Berkeley neighborhood should house a disproportionate number of homeless, mentally disturbed, or drug addicted people.  

In my neighborhood, subsidies are currently concentrating homeless people in the Flamingo Hotel on University Avenue.  

Money to help these people would be better used buying them one way transportation to another state where housing is less expensive, employment opportunities are greater, and more people are needed.  

For more severely afflicted individuals who cannot support themselves anywhere, money would be better used for institutionalizing them at a remote location that will not be detrimental to neighborhoods. Mentally ill homeless drug abusers should not be in anyone’s back yard.  

• Vigorously oppose and in particular do not vote for subsidies to the Affordable Housing Associates projects. 

In spite of protests by neighbors, the one adjacent to the Flamingo Hotel on University Avenue has already destroyed the much needed parking lot adjacent to what used to be the Kelly Moore Paint store. It has also destroyed the Kelly Moore Paint store itself.  

It now threatens to bring in “special needs” people with a history of mental illness, drug abuse, and dependency on government subsidy.  

If it is too late to stop this project, at least minimize its size and make sure that its occupants have minimal detrimental influence on our community.  

Instead of people with a history of mental illness and drug abuse, perhaps this project could house seniors who would have access to the nearby senior citizen center two blocks away at the corner of Hearst and Grove (Martin Luther King).  

Seniors would be a lesser crime magnet and would be less detrimental than dually diagnosed schizophrenic and drug addicted homeless people.  

• Neighborhood watch with “eyes and ears on the street,” crime bulletin boards, neighbor alert e-mail and phone networks, and more beat cops on bicycles might help slightly, but the single most important step my City Council person should take is to prevent rather than encourage high population density in Berkeley.  

In particular, Berkeley simply does not need more subsidy dependent people with problems.  

Berkeley should be a medium density moderately affluent university town where residents can drive their cars, park without too much difficulty, and enjoy shopping and a movie. Berkeley cannot do this if the city government continues to subsidize population density increases of people with the greatest risk of problems.  

Berkeley need not become a high subsidized housing, low income, crime and drug infested, urban ghetto.  

Will my city council representative vote for some gentrification please?  

Walter Wood  

Berkeley 

OAKLAND – Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing in federal court for brothers Vijay and Prasad Lakireddy centered on one disputed point: does the defense have the right to subpoena documents that would show how much time a certain translator/ interviewer spent with the witnesses to the Lakireddys’ alleged misdeeds? 

After much debate, Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong delayed ruling on the question of whether to quash the subpoenas, asking both sides to submit further written arguments. 

The pair, adult sons of Lakireddy Bali Reddy – a wealthy Berkeley landlord now serving an eight-year jail sentence for immigration fraud, transporting minors for sex and submitting a false tax return – face charges of helping their father perpetrate his crimes. 

In the courtroom Tuesday, arguments flew back and forth between attorneys for the plaintiffs and defense, the latter of whom wanted the plaintiffs – the U.S. government – and other entities, to turn over documents related to the work of translator/ interviewer Uma Rao, hired by the government and also by other organizations involved in the case. 

Rao’s job was to interview non-English-speaking witnesses in Telugu and to translate for the government, police and victim advocates. But she did more. All parties agreed the translator became personally involved and persuaded witnesses to embellish their stories. 

What the defense lawyers want, is for the government and several organizations to give them documentation on how many times and for how long groups used the translator’s services. The groups include Narika, a Berkeley agency that supports South Asian women, which advocated for the victim/ witnesses, and the Berkeley Police Department, which interviewed the witnesses. 

Attorneys for the Lakireddy brothers are hoping to eventually show a jury that part of the weakness in the government’s case is related to the extent to which translator Rao spent time with the witnesses.  

Further, they say that the government’s work on the case can be shown to be inadequate because the government allowed an interviewer access to “impressionable, vulnerable witnesses” when it should have been able to find more responsible people to fulfill this function. The government gave “massive access to witnesses,” Cotsirilos said. “(Rao was) somebody who counseled these witnesses to lie.” 

“This is the stuff of a slipshod investigation,” Cotsirilos said. “You cannot trust this investigation.” 

Part of the plaintiffs’ argument rests on the assumption that the witnesses were under tight government control. “These witnesses are in INS control and custody. I would not expect time and time again for somebody to tell them to lie.” 

Hammering his point home, Cotsirilos repeated his point. “It is incumbent on the government to (use) a person who is professional and trained. You can’t let them be interviewed by any old person.” 

Judge Armstrong appeared to grow weary of the argument. “You keep saying that over and over,” she said. “I wonder if you don’t think it’s (convincing.)” She added that she didn’t think the court had a list of Telugu interpreters. 

The notion that the witnesses were under government control – even when they were interviewed by Rao acting under the auspices of a different agency – is particularly important to the plaintiffs. “That makes third party subpoenas relevant,” Cotsirilos said. 

Arguing for the groups who received subpoenas, ACLU attorney L. Jay Kuo was equally combative, characterizing Cotsirilos’ request for information “a fishing expedition.” He reminded the court that the government had already obtained permission to reinterview the witnesses. 

He further challenged the plaintiff’s contention that the witnesses were under continuous government scrutiny, arguing rather, that they had been placed in “safe houses” where every person who goes in and out was not examined. 

“The question is whether the subpoena is necessary,” Armstrong Brown said. Attorneys will file additional briefs with the court by Dec. 4 and the judge will rule on whether to quash the subpoenas some time after that. 

The Daily Planet received the following letter to the president. (Spelling has not been edited.) 

Dear Bush the President, 

What you are doing is very disrespectful to most of the people in Afghanistan who are very poor and minding just there own business and trying there best to stay alive while your just going ahead and boming them for nothing. 

Look I now how you feel. Upset right.  

If people from a differnt contry that I didn’t know or even if I new them were crashing or landing planes on really importen bildings of my contry, state, or city I’d be not only be upset but really mad.  

But I wouldn’t just start boming a hole contry or I wouldent even start trying to kill the people who did it. I would call the people who I think did it to the world court. 

Molly Levy 

Berkeley  

8 years old 

SAN FRANCISCO — An investment real estate agent accused of bilking more than $20 million from four Bay Area banks has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison by a judge in Israel. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco announced the sentencing on Monday. 

Zev Ben-Simon, 57, former owner of Taldan Investment Company, was convicted in September by a Tel Aviv court after being indicted in August 1993 by a federal grand jury in San Francisco. 

Ben-Simon fled to Israel prior to the indictment, and U.S. officials were unable to extradite him because it was not authorized by Israeli law at that time. 

Authorities in Israel conducted their own investigation and found him guilty of defrauding First Deposit National Bank, Bay View Federal Bank, World Saving & Loan and United Savings Bank. He has been ordered to pay about $1 million and to repay $250,000 to the government in Israel. 

The judge in Israel found Ben-Simon guilty of committing fraud connected with large commercial loans the banks made to purchase or refinance commercial properties in San Francisco. 

The district court in Tel Aviv began hearing the case in July 1997. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A 20-year-old San Bernardino man has been arrested and charged with threatening three people by sending them letters he claimed were laced with anthrax. 

Antonio M. Flores was arrested Tuesday and faces federal charges of mailing threatening communications and threatening to transfer a biological agent for use as a weapon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Flores allegedly mailed three letters on Oct. 25 to people in Eureka, Arcata and Kneeland. All three envelopes had “anthrax” written on them and two contained a powdery substance, which Flores says was talcum powder or powder from tetracycline antibiotic capsules, according to court documents. 

Flores served about a month in the Humboldt County jail for being in possession of stolen property. He said he sent two of the letters to people he stole from and the third was sent as a favor to a fellow inmate who wanted to threaten the man who had turned him in to authorities, according to court documents. 

If convicted, Flores could face a life sentence. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Now may be the time to buy for those who have always wanted to own a house in the San Francisco Bay area. The cost of mid-priced homes fell in October to less than a year earlier, marking the first time since 1995, but that trend didn’t hold true in Southern California, a real estate firm reported. 

A mid-range home in the Bay Area sold for $366,000 in October, down 0.8 percent from $369,000 at the same time last year, DataQuick Information Systems reported Monday. The figures are based on sales of new and existing homes, as well as condominiums. 

Last month’s price dip came during the throes of a prolonged sales slump. Bay Area home sales through the first 10 months of this year are running 17.3 percent below last year’s volume, DataQuick said. 

Another report based on the sales of existing houses is scheduled to be released Tuesday by the California Association of Realtors, an industry trade group. 

Although the year-to-year decline registered in DataQuick’s statistics is small, it nevertheless signals a significant swing in the Bay Area’s housing market, where homeowners reveled in steadily rising property values throughout the last half of the 1990s. 

It marked the first year-to-year decline in the Bay Area’s residential property since September 1995, when a mid-priced home in the region sold for $221,000, down 0.9 percent from $223,000 in the prior year. After falling into that trough, Bay Area home values began an ascent that peaked at a median price of $386,000 in March of this year, DataQuick said. 

Even as Bay Area home prices fell from the March high, the values still remained above the levels of last year’s comparable periods until October’s shift. 

Last month’s downturn doesn’t necessarily herald the beginning of a long slide in Bay Area home prices, said DataQuick President Mike Ela. 

“We expect the Bay Area market to stay on an even keel through the rest of the year and on into 2002,” Ela said. 

Meanwhile, the Southern California home market remained robust during October as buyers enticed by the lowest mortgage rates in a generation swarmed into the market to drive up prices. 

Boosted by the region’s highest October sales volume in 12 years, mid-range homes in Southern California sold for $233,000, an 8.9 percent increase from $214,000 at the same time last year, DataQuick said. 

Riverside County and San Diego County were particularly hot markets, with home values rising by 16.6 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively, from the previous year, according to DataQuick. 

The contrasting numbers in the Bay Area and Southern California illuminates the divergent fortunes of the two biggest regions in the nation’s most populous state. Average housing rents in the Bay Area and Southern California also moved in opposite directions during the summer, according to a study by RealFacts. 

With nearly one-third of its non-farm payroll tied to the high-tech industry, the Bay Area is still suffering from the crash of the dot-com economy that enriched the region during the late 1990s. 

High-tech accounts for less than 10 percent of Southern California’s non-farm payroll, helping the region’s economy hold up much better than the Bay Area during the current recession. 

The Bay Area’s tech-driven hangover is causing even greater pain in the luxury market consisting of homes worth at least $1 million. 

Bay Area luxury homes sold for an average of $2.21 million during the three months ended in September, a 7.5 percent decline from the second quarter, according to a report to be released Tuesday by First Republic Bank, a San Francisco lender that caters to wealthy households throughout the state. 

It marked the first quarter-to-quarter drop in the Bay Area’s luxury home market since the first three months of 1999. Luxury home prices could plunge by another 20 percent to 30 percent before the Bay Area market bottoms out in the spring of next year, predicted Scott Dancer, a Coldwell Banker real estate broker in Woodside, one of the Bay Area’s most affluent neighborhoods. 

Meanwhile, luxury homes in Los Angeles gained 2.4 percent in the third quarter to $1.31 million — the highest average since 1992, according to First Republic. Luxury homes in San Diego climbed 6.2 percent in the third quarter to an average of $1.39 million. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.dataquick.com 

MARTINEZ — A trio accused of killing five people, including the daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, wanted to bring truth to the world through a self-awareness program, prosecutors say. 

The days surrounding the brutal slayings and dismemberments in August 2000 were outlined in Contra Costa County court Monday by Deputy District Attorney Harold Jewett. 

The remains of an elderly Concord couple and Selina Bishop were found in nine duffel bags in the Mokelumne River. 

Two brothers and a friend also face murder charges in the shooting deaths of Selina Bishop’s mother and the mother’s boyfriend in Marin County. 

Glenn Helzer, 31, his brother, Justin, 29, and housemate Dawn Godman, 27, also are charged with extorting $100,000 from Ivan and Annette Stineman, the elderly Concord couple. Selina Bishop was Glenn Helzer’s girlfriend. 

In addition to five counts of murder, the trio faces charges of conspiracy, extortion, false imprisonment and drug possession. They have pleaded innocent to all charges. 

A preliminary hearing, where a judge decides whether there’s enough evidence to support the charges, is scheduled to begin next Monday. 

Glenn Helzer was an instructor in a self-awareness program called Harmony, and wanted to bring truth to the world by directing his own group, according to court documents. He planned to use drug dealing, an escort service and extortion to finance it. 

The $100,000 extorted from the Stinemans was to be the seed money for the escort service, which would provide enough cash to start Helzer’s program, according to court documents. 

At Monday’s hearing, defense attorneys asked the judge to close the preliminary hearing to prevent publicity from biasing potential jurors. Judge Douglas Cunningham will rule Wednesday on that motion. 

Prosecutors say Glenn Helzer’s plan started to come together in May 2000 when the brothers and Godman moved into a rental home in east Concord. They began buying equipment: ski masks, handcuffs and leg irons, a saw, a plastic tarp and duffel bags. Justin Helzer, a former military police officer, bought a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic. 

To launder the Stinemans’ money, Glenn Helzer turned to Bishop, a 22-year-old woman who knew him as “Jordan.” He asked her to deposit a large inheritance to keep it away from his estranged wife. 

On Aug. 1, 2000, Godman deposited two checks written on the Stinemans’ account into Bishop’s bank account. That same day, Bishop spent the evening with her mother, Jennifer Villarin. Bishop was last seen Aug. 2 at a Berkeley bar with “Jordan.” 

Villarin and her boyfriend, James Gamble, spent the night at Bishop’s apartment. Early Aug. 3, both were shot to death, authorities said. 

That same day, the Stinemans’ daughter reported her parents missing and a surveillance camera recorded a vehicle similar to Justin Helzer’s crossing the Antioch bridge towing a personal watercraft. That was when the three dumped the duffel bags in the river, the prosecutor said. 

By Aug. 7, investigators traced the mysterious “Jordan” to the Helzers’ Concord address. They arrested the trio on suspicion of drug possession and began to piece together evidence they say linked them to the five killings. 

The defendants have been jailed in Martinez without bail. 

LOS ANGELES — An attorney for former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson says he was partly to blame for his client pleading guilty to attempting to blow up police cars when she is really innocent. 

In documents filed in Superior Court on Monday, attorney J. Tony Serra characterized Olson as being in “a psychological condition of coercion” when she pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to explode destructive devices with intent to murder. 

Olson is accused of placing bombs under two police cars in 1975 in what prosecutors say was revenge for a deadly shootout with Los Angeles police the previous year in which six members of the radical SLA were killed. The bombs failed to explode. 

“At no time has Ms. Olson ever conceded to me her factual guilt with respect to any of the charges; in fact, she has always asserted the contrary — that she is innocent of the charges,” Serra wrote. 

Olson has asked Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler to allow her to withdraw her guilty plea and go to trial. Fidler has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 3. 

Serra’s filing on Monday characterized Olson as being in “a psychological condition of coercion” when she pleaded guilty. 

He added that his client pleaded guilty at his urging because he believed Olson couldn’t get a fair trial in the patriotic climate created by the Sept. 11 attacks and because of the prosecution’s intent to depict the SLA and Olson as domestic terrorists. 

“I, in part, take responsibility for creating conditions in her mind that amounted to psychological duress, in regard to pleading guilty,” Serra wrote. 

Olson had signed an agreement on the pleas before entering them in court on Oct. 31. After she told reporters outside court she was really innocent, Fidler ordered her to explain herself. On Nov. 6 she reaffirmed the pleas, but a week later she changed her mind and asked to withdraw them. 

Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said Serra’s declaration appeared to be an attempt to give the court some basis for dismissing the pleas. 

“He’s falling a little bit on his sword to try to give her better grounds for her motion,” Levenson said. 

“It may be too little, too late,” she added. 

Olson’s signed agreement with prosecutors calls for two consecutive terms of 10 years to life, effectively making it a sentence of 20 years to life with possibility of parole in 5 1/4 years. 

Olson, whose given name was Kathleen Soliah, was a fugitive in the case for more than two decades until her capture in Minnesota in 1999. 

LOS ANGELES — A breakaway San Fernando Valley city would own nothing except streets and would have to buy parks, libraries and other assets from Los Angeles, according to a legal opinion for the agency overseeing possible secession. 

County Counsel Lloyd W. Pellman’s opinion means that if City Hall refuses to give away assets in negotiations, a San Fernando Valley city would have to buy them at fair market value or pay Los Angeles to provide police and fire protection and other services. 

If the Local Agency Formation Commission abides by the legal opinion, it would weaken the position of secessionists because taxes may have to be raised to pay for the assets unless a deal is worked out. 

“We shouldn’t have to pay for assets that we already co-own,” said Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment. “It’s like in a marriage, if a judge divides up the assets but then tells one spouse they have to pay for their share of the assets. It’s inconsistent and we don’t believe it’s state law.” 

The commission is trying to meet a series of deadlines to put the secession proposal on the November 2002 ballot. The legal opinion, issued Monday, may add to the commission’s burden if it is determined that city property in the valley must be appraised before it can create a compensation package for Los Angeles. 

LOS ANGELES — A memorial to California journalists who died while pursuing news stories was given a new home and an 18th name on Tuesday at California State University, Northridge. 

The Fallen Journalists Memorial plaque bearing names of reporters and photojournalists killed in World War II, the Jonestown massacre, helicopter crashes and coverage of other conflicts at home and abroad, carries the additional name of James Bertken. 

Bertken was a reporter for the Daily News of Los Angeles when he was swept off a boat while covering a sport-fishing story off the California coast in 1995. He was an alumnus of the journalism program at CSUN. 

The wood and bronze plaque was created by the Los Angeles Press Club in 1979, one year after three California journalists were killed in an ambush in Jonestown, Guyana. It was displayed at City Hall, and had been in storage during a lengthy earthquake retrofit project at City Hall since 1994. 

Its new location is in Manzanita Hall, home of the Department of Journalism at the Northridge campus. 

Those honored on the plaque include reporters and photographers killed in France and the Philippines in 1944, in Iran in 1979 and Honduras in 1983 — and Francis Gary Powers. The U-2 spy plane pilot who was captured in Russia in 1960 later became a Los Angeles helicopter reporter, and died in a crash in 1977. 

Bertken’s widow, Louise Yarnall, and their two sons, attended the ceremony Tuesday along with several other relatives and former colleagues of those honored. 

“It reminds us of how in the course of doing our jobs, we are often in situations of risk,” said Daily News Sports Editor Michael Anastasi, who was Bertken’s supervisor when the reporter died. “It wasn’t someone killed in wartime. But a huge number of people who enjoyed his outdoor columns told us how much they shared our loss.” 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis plans to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox in Mexico City next week in an effort to boost the slumping economies of California and its southern neighbor. 

Davis is to meet Monday with Fox and leaders of the Mexican Senate at Los Pinos — Mexico’s presidential residence — to discuss tourism and trade initiatives and economic security, aides announced Tuesday. 

The leaders also likely will address border security and other issues related to the fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, aides said. 

“They are going to talk about issues of mutual concern,” said Davis spokesman Roger Salazar. 

Already-weak economies in California and Mexico have suffered more because security concerns and long waits to cross the border have deterred travelers since Sept. 11. 

Davis’ two-day trip will be the second official meeting between the leaders since Fox took office a year ago. Fox visited California in March, discussing the statewide power crisis with Davis and legislative leaders and opening a Mexican trade center in Santa Ana. 

Davis and Fox pledged to meet twice a year to improve relations, which were strained when California voted in 1994 to bar most state services to illegal immigrants. Then-Gov. Pete Wilson made that issue a centerpiece of his successful re-election campaign the same year, angering Mexican leaders. 

Since he was elected in 1998, Davis has worked to build a relationship with Fox and his predecessor, Ernesto Zedillo. 

Mexico is California’s largest trading partner and export market, and the state’s Hispanic population has climbed to more than 10 million. “We need to do everything we can to foster that relationship,” Salazar said. 

The trip also is politically strategic for Davis, who is wooing the state’s fast growing group of Hispanic voters as he prepares to seek re-election next year, one political scientist said. 

“That’s part of what this is, to be the antithesis of Pete Wilson,” said Steven Erie, a University of California, San Diego, political science professor who studies California-Mexico relations. 

During the visit, Davis also is to sign a memorandum of understanding with Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walther to establish cooperation between the two neighboring states. 

Then on Tuesday, Davis is scheduled to address the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City.  

California legislative leaders and Cabinet members also are scheduled to go on the trip and meet with their counterparts. 

——— 

On the Net: For information on President Fox, click on English at http://www.presidencia.gob.mx 

SAN SIMEON— In a dressing room in the remote recesses of Hearst Castle, Diane Marchetti glanced at a mirror, and had to like what she saw. Her evening gown shimmered like silver and sheathed her slender figure like a second skin. She tucked her hair beneath a curly blond wig and checked the mirror again. 

This was a special occasion. On this night, she would be part of a small assembly of dinner guests at the home of William Randolph Hearst himself. 

This moment did not occur 70 years ago, when Hearst and his castle were at their zenith. It occurred this very year, on a night when Marchetti, who by day teaches eighth-grade math in nearby Atascadero, was joining several other docents to lend an undercurrent of realism to an evening tour of the opulent hilltop mansion. 

The evening tours, instituted a dozen years ago but offered only during slack tourist periods, have been extremely popular, according to a spokesman for the state park system, which administers the property. And it’s not difficult to see why. They provide a glimpse of the castle as it would have been in its 1930s glory, when Hearst routinely entertained select groups of guests for the weekend. 

For those who have taken the main daytime tour with dozens of other visitors, the evening tour, limited to three groups of 18 visitors each, offers a much different sense of the place. 

“I hope you brought your imagination,” guide Bill Coleman said as he greeted his group of visitors one brisk evening. “You’re going to see it as it was when Hearst was entertaining guests in the evening.” 

And indeed, after we climbed a staircase to the Neptune Pool, elegantly dressed guests were milling about, conversing quietly in small groups and sipping cocktails. A maid happened by, bearing an armful of towels. 

They are all volunteers who participate in Hearst Castle’s Living History Program, and they take it seriously. They don’t want a visitor’s experience to be marred by the brief flash of a Calvin Klein logo. 

Coleman addressed us as if we had been included on the guest list — though all of it, of course, was make-believe. 

“You may have noticed a tray of drinks,” he said. Remember that Mr. Hearst has no tolerance for drunkenness. If you got drunk, you’d probably be sent home — and probably not invited back.” (Actually, tour visitors have no chance to get drunk: No food or drink is served.) 

We were ushered into the kitchen, where a docent in chef’s attire was busily working. When asked about the evening’s menu, he said, “It’s all set. Roast beef, rare, just like the Chief likes it; he won’t have it any other way. I’ve got some chickens on the spit from that ranch you passed on the way up the hill. Four different kinds of bread. Vegetables. And five desserts, including homemade vanilla ice cream — the Chief’s favorite. That’s probably why he’s 280 pounds. And I think it’s the only thing he doesn’t put ketchup on.” 

The illusion was maintained throughout the tour — almost two hours — with only a couple of minor lapses. 

Hearst Castle has differing effects on its visitors. Some consider it a lavish treasure, others a ghastly testament to a man who fancied art, had more money than he knew what to do with and created an absurd hodgepodge in his attempt to marry the two. Was this art collection or simple accumulation? 

It probably doesn’t matter now. In visiting this castle on a hill — especially when it is dressed for the evening — visitors can gain a strong sense of the manifestations and indulgences of sudden wealth in the early 20th century. 

After we left the seductively lit Roman pool, scuffing our heels over the inlaid 22-karat gold in the deck tiles, the passengers on the bus were silent on the way down the hill. Maybe this group of tourists was toying with the same fantasy. 

Far down the road, a glimpse of the receding castle was visible through a gap in the trees, the twin bell towers gleaming against the night sky. 

Maybe it is a garish monstrosity, a monument to avarice, but on this night Hearst Castle seemed magical.

FRESNO — State Sen. Jim Costa, a longtime politician who has served 23 years in the Legislature and cannot seek re-election because of term limits, said Tuesday he is leaving public office and will not run for Congress. 

Costa, 49, D-Fresno, had said he would run for the 18th Congressional District if Rep. Gary Condit decided to step down. But his decision was not necessarily a sign that Condit will run for re-election. 

Costa’s chief of staff, Larry Sheingold, said it was too late for Costa to form a campaign committee and begin raising money even if Condit calls it quits. 

“He ran out of time,” Sheingold said. “Even at this time if Gary decided not to run, he doesn’t have his committee up, he doesn’t have a nickel. It would be too hard to start from a standing start.” 

Condit filed papers Monday to waive a fee to put his name on the ballot, but his chief of staff said the Ceres Democrat has not announced whether he will seek an eighth term. 

Sheingold said the race for Condit’s seat would have been a bruising battle for Costa. 

Costa, who served 16 years in the state Assembly and seven years in the Senate, also abandoned plans for a possible run for the newly formed 21st Congressional District in Tulare and Fresno counties. 

That seat was carved for a Republican candidate, with 48 percent GOP voters and 38 percent Democrats. 

Costa has not decided what he will do when his term ends next year, but Sheingold said it will be in the private sector. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Sen. Jim Costa: http://www.sen.ca.gov/costa/ 

MEMPHIS, Tenn.— Harvard molecular biologist Don Wiley was last seen leaving a banquet in Memphis just before midnight on Nov. 15. His rental car was found a few hours later, abandoned on a Mississippi River bridge with the keys in the ignition and the tank full of gas. 

His family does not believe he committed suicide and police say there is no evidence that the 57-year-old married father of four with no known financial or domestic problems was kidnapped or killed. 

But the disappearance in this time of war and anthrax attacks has attracted the attention of the FBI. Wiley is an expert on how the human immune system fights off infections and had recently investigated such dangerous viruses as AIDS, Ebola, herpes and influenza. 

Investigators are reviewing all possibilities to what might have happened, from Wiley jumping from the bridge to him being a target of some kind of terrorist-backed kidnapping because of his research. 

“Right now nothing is pointing at anything, except he is missing,” police Lt. Walter Norris said Tuesday. 

Wiley’s wife, Katrin Valgeirsdottir, said “suicide is everybody’s first reaction” but she doesn’t believe her husband would have killed himself. 

She said “there is no connection to terrorist activity. None.” 

“We don’t know what happened. We can speculate until the cows come home but we don’t know,” she said in a telephone interview from Cambridge, Mass. 

Wiley is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics in Harvard University’s molecular and cellular biology department. He and another Harvard professor, Dr. Jack Strominger, have won honors for their work on how the human immune system works, including the Japan Prize two years ago. 

Wiley was in Memphis to attend a two-day annual meeting of the scientific advisory board of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a board Wiley has served on for about 10 years. 

Dr. William Evans, the hospital’s deputy director, said Wiley seemed “in a great frame of mind” and was looking forward to time with his family when he left a Nov. 15 dinner at the Peabody Hotel about midnight. 

Four hours later, police found Wiley’s abandoned Mitsubishi Galant a few miles from the hotel, in a lane of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge that rises 100 feet above the Mississippi River between Memphis and Arkansas. 

Norris said police have no clues as to Wiley’s whereabouts during those four hours. He said patrol boats and helicopters have been checking the river, but divers wouldn’t be helpful because the current is too swift. 

Valgeirsdottir reported her husband missing Nov. 16, the day she and their two children had planned to meet him in Memphis. She said Wiley had been staying with his father in a Memphis suburb. 

She said she could think of no reason he would have driven toward Arkansas after the hotel dinner. 

Wiley’s 85-year-old father, retired chemist Bill Wiley, said his son knew his way around the city from years of visits and attending the hospital meetings. 

“We can’t accept the suicide theory,” Bill Wiley said. 

Police Inspector Jerry King said there was nothing to support theories that Wiley was a victim of a crime or he disappeared because of a domestic or financial situation. Investigators have been dusting the rental car for fingerprints and performing other tests, but nothing has turned up so far. 

William Woerner of the FBI’s office in Memphis said the agency was not conducting an investigation into Wiley’s disappearance. 

He said the agency was interested in the case because Wiley is a prominent scientist but there was no evidence the disappearance is related to his profession. 

FBI spokesman George Bolds said the FBI would assist Memphis police if needed, but the disappearance is a missing persons case for now. 

“There are many possibilities and theories as to what could have happened,” Bolds said. “There is not a whole lot the FBI can add right now.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov 

Harvard: http://golgi.harvard.edu/Faculty/Wiley.html 

Memphis: http://www.ci.memphis.tn.us 

NEW YORK — Most major airlines plan to maintain a fuel surcharge of $20 on each one-way ticket even though the price of jet fuel has dropped by half during the past year. 

The industry’s reluctance to drop the charge contrasts with the nation’s major hotel chains, which have eliminated the additional fees they put in place to help cover skyrocketing energy prices. 

“Regardless of what fuel prices do, our costs continue to rise and, especially in today’s market, we need every nickel we can get because we are still losing about $10 million a day,” said John Hotard, a spokesman for American Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier, said Tuesday. 

Industrywide losses are projected at $10 billion for the year because of drastically lower demand attributable to the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks. 

While airlines have cut fares to try to spur demand, they have stubbornly held on to the fuel surcharges, which now make up roughly 15 percent of the average domestic ticket price. 

Most of the nation’s largest airlines introduced a surcharge of $10 each way in February 2000 and then doubled the amount nine months later. 

, when crude oil was more than $30 a barrel. Oil prices are now below $19. 

A gallon of jet fuel costs roughly 52 cents today, compared with $1.06 a year ago. 

The only major airline without a fuel surcharge is Dallas-based Southwest. For its part, Delta Air Lines said it has maintained a fuel surcharge of just $10 on each one-way ticket. 

The surcharge is not necessarily apparent to travelers because it does not appear on airfare receipts. 

Major hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton have gradually dropped energy surcharges of $1.50 to $5 per night that were imposed earlier this year. 

The words came to Ann Travers as she watched her husband sleep that night: “He’s going to make an excellent father.” 

And there it was, the answer she’d been searching for — her personal response to tragedy after walking out of Manhattan and turning to watch the World Trade Center collapse. 

Little more than 10 days later, she was pregnant. Not long after, so was Stacey Stapleton, who made the decision with husband Paul to have a child as fighter jets flew over their Manhattan apartment. Anthony Andreano and wife Tamara, who live on Staten Island, also have started trying to conceive a Christmas “surprise” for their families. 

While the trend may be strongest in New York, doctors say people nationwide seem to be shunning talk of a world gone wrong and pursuing pregnancy not just in spite of, but because of, the Sept. 11 attacks. 

“It’s the ’carpe diem’ mode,” says Dr. Michael Silverstein, an obstetrician and gynecologist at NYU Medical Center in Manhattan. “They’re saying, ’Life’s too short — who knows what’s down the road.”’ 

Dr. Steven Brody says Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego has received roughly 25 percent more calls from new patients wanting to learn about overcoming infertility since the attacks. 

“The concept is not (just) having a baby, it’s building a family,” says Brody, medical director of the hospital’s reproductive endocrinology unit. “I think that’s the priority that this disaster has made apparent to people.” 

Right after the attacks, Dr. Matan Yemini, co-director of the Diamond Institute for Infertility and Menopause in Millburn, N.J., says some patients put plans on hold. But recent weeks have seen a surge in interest — and an unprecedented willingness in patients to talk frankly about their fertility problems. 

“In a way, it’s opened people,” Yemini says. 

Dr. Kenneth Johnson in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says many potential mothers he’s seen recently are asking more about the role of exercise and nutrition in pregnancy. 

“Lately, I sense a lot of interest in getting it right,” says Johnson, director of the Women’s Health Center at the Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. 

But business has not been booming for everyone. Maureen Rayburn, a certified nurse and midwife in Manhattan, says several of her pregnant clients left New York after Sept. 11. And another, who before the attacks planned to have her baby without the father’s help or blessing, decided to get an abortion. 

“With all the chaos, it’s hard for people who aren’t getting adequate support to take on that challenge,” Rayburn says, though she adds that the patient who sought an abortion was the “exception,” not the rule. 

One population expert says major crises often cause people to procreate in attempt to “return to normalcy.” But he’s not convinced there will be a baby boom this time, since the sagging economy may cause some people to postpone pregnancy. 

“It could go either way,” says Douglas Bachtel, a demographer with the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences. 

For Travers, it wasn’t economics that was holding her back before Sept. 11. Mostly, it was fear. 

“Fear that we would lose our youth, the quality time we’re used to spending together, our freedom to come and go as we please,” she says of herself and husband John Medford, who had been talking for years about wanting to be a father. 

Then, after the planes hit, Travers says she realized the time for a child had arrived, as she believes it did for many women. 

Stapleton, also a 31-year-old mother-to-be, agrees. 

“Before, my whole life was about what I could and couldn’t afford,” says Stapleton, whose husband works three blocks from Ground Zero. “Now, really, the only thing that’s important is that I have my husband and that I’m able to have a family.” 

Travers decided to tell her husband she was ready as they walked on a Long Island beach on Sept. 15, the day before their first anniversary. 

“He didn’t say a word,” she says. “His eyes welled up, and he gave me a hug and a kiss.” 

She knows there are some who question bringing a child into a war-torn world. 

“But bad things will always happen,” she says. “And good things will always come out of them.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Chronicle announced plans Tuesday to cut 220 jobs, adding Northern California’s largest newspaper to the list of media companies jettisoning workers to offset steep advertising losses. 

The cuts, representing 8.5 percent of the Chronicle’s 2,600 employees, will involve a combination of layoffs and voluntary buyouts. 

Management told labor leaders the newspaper will fire 114 workers and entice slightly more than 100 other employees to voluntarily leave by offering up to two years pay and up to one year of medical benefits, said Carl Hall, a longtime Chronicle staff writer and president of the Northern California Media Workers Guild. 

“The need to reduce our work force was one we hoped to avoid,” Chronicle Publisher John Oppedahl said in an internal memo to employees. “However the long-term health of our company requires us to go beyond the cost-saving efforts we have taken so far this year.” 

Besides the staff cuts, the Chronicle is suspending management bonuses next year, Oppedahl said. 

The layoffs will be limited to Chronicle employees hired after July 27, 2000 — the date the Hearst Corp. bought the paper for $660 million. In November of last year, Hearst relinquished control of the Chronicle’s rival, the San Francisco Examiner, to a local publisher and merged the staffs, promising not to lay off any worker hired before the purchase. 

“They are going right up to the edge, but I can’t accuse management of abrogating on that guarantee,” Hall said. 

The buyout packages won’t be offered to all workers. The ineligible departments include the writers and editors in the Chronicle’s business section, which covered the Silicon Valley boom and bust that resulted in Tuesday’s decision to cut jobs. 

In his memo, Oppedahl cited the steep slump in the high-tech industry as a primary reason for the cutbacks. With funding for free-spending dot-com companies gone, the Chronicle’s ad revenue has plunged by 20 percent this year, Oppedahl said. The ads in the help-wanted section are down by more than 50 percent, reflecting the mass layoffs that have hit the Silicon Valley and tourism-driven industries. 

Less-severe advertising downturns prompted a large number of newspapers, magazines and broadcasters across the country to trim their staffs months ago. The Chronicle had been a notable holdout, even though the San Francisco Bay Area market has suffered some of the most dramatic losses. 

“Things are bad pretty much everywhere, but it’s worse in San Francisco,” said John Morton, a newspaper analyst. 

Two of the Chronicle’s biggest rivals, the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, offered voluntary buyouts to pare their staffs by nearly 10 percent earlier this year. Those cuts were mandated by Knight Ridder, a publicly held newspaper group that faced pressure from Wall Street to boost profits. 

As a privately held company, Hearst had more leeway to accept lower earnings this year to avoid staff cuts, Morton said. 

But the Chronicle purchase saddled Hearst with additional costs in the Bay Area. To complete the takeover, Hearst agreed to pay the Examiner’s new owners, the Fang family, $66 million during a three-year period ending in November 2003. 

Based on trends since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Chronicle management concluded “current economic conditions will continue to deteriorate,” Oppedahl said in his memo. 

The Chronicle began handing out pink slips Tuesday. The layoffs will affect 85 workers represented by unions and 29 management employees, according to Hall, who was among the labor leaders briefed by Chronicle management. 

The newspaper’s executives did not provide details about who specifically will be laid off, but Hall said at least one reporter, one photographer and several copy editors are on the list. 

Even as it struggled financially this year, the Chronicle boosted its readership, largely by introducing an afternoon edition after Hearst abandoned the Examiner. The Chronicle reported average weekday circulation of 512,042 for the six months ending Sept. 30, a 12 percent increase from the previous year. 

Although the “increase in circulation is an important component to the long-term success” of the paper, it wasn’t enough to offset the advertising losses, Oppedahl said. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.sfgate.com 

Media news site: http://www.poynter.org/medianews/ 

MONTEBELLO — Once a week, Tim Moynahan makes a half-hour drive from the San Fernando Valley to a small dairy east of Los Angeles. 

It seems a long way to go for a milk run, but to Moynahan the trip is worth the trouble. 

“It just smells like fresh milk,” Moynahan, 32, said as he carried off a crate of four half-gallon glass bottles of milk. 

In the age of paper or plastic, milk in clear glass bottles has become a novelty like the uniformed milkman. 

But the few California dairies that remain committed to glass have transformed the once-common container into a high-end product, creating a tiny but lucrative niche that is only a fraction of 1 percent of the state’s $3.7 billion dairy industry. 

“Just try it out of a glass bottle. It tastes better,” said Ray Broguiere Jr., who operates Broguiere’s Farm Fresh Dairy in Montebello. “Glass is pure and simple. It doesn’t pick up any of the odor of plastic or the paper.” 

The family business, one of about three dairies in California that still pumps milk into glass containers, began as a farm in 1920 under Broguiere’s French immigrant grandfather, Ernest, and once had a herd of 150 cows. 

When Ernest’s son, Ray Broguiere Sr., took over in 1965, the dairy switched from producing to processing as profits fell and the cost of caring for a herd increased. 

“We process about 4,500 gallons of milk a week,” Ray Broguiere Jr. said. “We pasteurize, homogenize and bottle it.” 

There are good reasons why so few dairies still put milk in traditional glass bottles, according to Rachel Kaldor, executive director of the Dairy Institute of California. 

”(Glass-bottled milk processing) is expensive and fraught with liability, and a vast majority of consumers are not interested,” she said. “Those that do have preserved something in a fast-changing industry.” 

Returnable glass bottles, introduced in the 1880s, began to lose ground to disposable paper and plastic cartons in the 1960s and ’70s as consumers’ habits switched from home delivery to convenient bulk buying at supermarkets, Kaldor said. 

“It was a lifestyle change. There were fewer people waiting at home for the milkman to deliver and collect the bottles because they’re at work,” she said. 

Glass containers are also more difficult to handle than paper and plastic. They are heavy, easily shattered and must be collected and sanitized before they are reused, while paper or plastic cartons are light and easily recycled. 

These factors have reduced glass-bottled milk to a specialty item, usually found only at organic food stores and high-end supermarkets, where customers are willing to pay the hefty $1 deposit per bottle, Kaldor said. 

At Broguiere’s drive-through counter, milk in plastic jugs outsells glass 2-to-1. A half-gallon in plastic sells for $1.80 while a half-gallon in glass sells for $1.59, with a $1.50 deposit on the bottle. 

“(Glass) is pretty much a niche thing geared towards the upper-end market,” Broguiere said. “Most people like a one-way container like plastic or paper. There’s less to deal with.” 

Kaldor attributes the choice of glass to “personal preference” and characterizes the chance of packaging changing the flavor of milk as very small, usually less than 1 percent with plastic. 

But those who prefer milk from a glass bottle believer there is more to it. 

“Just go to a supermarket and open up a carton of milk. It just smells sour,” Moynahan said. “This stuff tastes a lot better.” 

Then there are the bottle collectors: Behind the dairy’s red cow logo, Broguiere occasionally prints special designs, from a bald eagle commemorating Operation Desert Storm to encouragements to buy U.S. savings bonds. 

“On eBay, I saw them ranging from $4.49 to $9.99,” he said. “I’ve heard the (Desert Storm) bottle going for 20 bucks back East.” 

SAN JOSE — A leading maker of diabetes monitors has agreed to pay $45 million to diabetics across the country to settle a class-action suit that alleged its products were dangerously defective. 

Lifescan Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which was reached Monday just before jury selection was about to begin. A federal judge indicated he likely will approve the settlement. 

The company, based in Milpitas, also had to pay $60 million last year after pleading guilty to charges it knew about two defects in its SureStep glucose meter but failed to disclose the problems before putting the device on the market in 1996. 

Federal investigators said one defect caused SureStep to sometimes display an error message instead of a warning that blood glucose levels were dangerously high.  

The other defect caused the meter to display readings that were well below the actual level. 

Court documents in last year’s case indicated that at least 61 customers became ill or had to be hospitalized. 

The suit settled this week applies to as many as 400,000 diabetics who bought SureStep meters before August 1997, when the company fixed the problem. 

The City Council will consider a recommendation at its meeting tonight to monitor Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s cutting, chipping and shipping of eucalyptus trees that a local group says are contaminated with the radioactive material, tritium. 

“We don’t want to be alarmists but we do want to be cautious,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who sponsored the recommendation at the request of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, a group of laboratory neighbors. 

Worthington said that if the recommendation is adopted by the council, he is uncertain what types of measures would be put into place to monitor the lab’s tree-cutting practices.  

Ron Kolb, LBNL spokesperson, said there is a substantial amount of reliable data that shows the trees contain insignificant amounts of tritium and that cutting them down poses no health risks to anyone. 

The recommendation also calls for the laboratory to stop shipping the tree cuttings to Japanese and Korean paper mills. 

Kolb said the lab is not involved in shipping tree cuttings anywhere. “We don’t ship the trees to Korea or Japan,” he said. “We contract that work out to landscaping companies and we have no idea what they do with the cuttings.” 

Kolb quickly added that no trees with measurable contamination have been taken off the site since 1997. He said that about 20 trees that were cut down last July as part of a fire management program were cut up in a wood chipper and left on site.  

The source of the alleged tree contamination is the National Tritium Labeling Facility, a four-room facility at LBNL whose work for the last 18 years has been to attach the radioactive isotope tritium to pharmaceuticals and other medical compounds.  

As part of the labeling process, low levels of tritium are released into the air through 119 stacks that are deployed at various locations on the LBNL property. Opponents of the facility claim the released tritium has been absorbed by nearby trees. 

Last July LBNL officials announced the facility would close in December due to a lack of contracts for tritium-related medical studies. 

The U.S. Environmental Protections Agency has set the maximum allowable tritium in drinking water to be 20,000 picocuries per liter.  

For a number of years, there has been a disagreement over the levels of tritium in vegetation near the facility. Opponents to the facility are fond of using data from a 1996 report by a former LBNL employee, L.B. Menchaca, who reported a grove of trees near the Lawrence Hall of Science, which hosts over a 100,000 children every year, as being contaminated with high levels of tritium. 

According to Menchaca’s report, the tritiated water levels in vegetation, mostly the eucalyptus trees, near the facility was as high as 128,000 picocuries per liter, more than six times higher than EPA drinking water standards allow. 

Kolb disputed those numbers and referred to a study done by Bernd Franke, with the Energy and Environmental Research Institute in Heidelberg, Germany. Franke’s Aug. 23 report, commissioned by the city, reported that the trees near the laboratory contained levels of contamination much lower than the EPA standards. 

“The preponderance of evidence shows that the amount of tritium in those trees is insignificant and the city’s consultant agreed,” Kolb said.  

LBNL cleared some 20 eucalyptus trees last July amid protests by the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, a group of residents who live near the laboratory.  

The Lab has said that the clearing is part of a fire management program that requires cutting and pruning of trees near the laboratory. 

But Community Environmental Advisory Commissioner LA Wood, said the removed trees were the same ones that Menchaca used for her study. 

“Those were the same trees that she sampled in 1996,” Wood said. “That’s what makes the whole thing smell.” 

Wood added that if those trees were contaminated, cutting them up in a wood chipper, upwind from the Lawrence Hall of Science, was “outrageous.” 

Kolb denied that anyone was put at risk by chopping up the trees. “We’re comfortable that we have plenty of data on those trees,” Kolb said. “We’re comfortable that no one was put risk.” 

Kolb added that no trees are scheduled to cut or trimmed under the fire management program and didn’t expect any more until next summer.

Tuesday, Nov. 27 

The U.S. and Mexico: Redefining the Relationship 

4 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

220 Stephens Hall, Geballe Room 

Andres Rozental is Ambassador at Large and Special Presidential Envoy for  

President Vicente Fox: “US-Mexico Relations: A Post-September 11 Scenario” 642-2088, www.clas. berkeley.edu/clas. 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Experimental Mid-life  

Workshop 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Miriam Chaya presents the third of three workshops rooted in modern psychology and Jewish traditional sources designed to provide participants with the skills and tools necessary to meet the challenges they will face in the second half of their lives. $35, $25 members. 848-0237 ext. 127 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

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

531-8664 

Holistic Health 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Elizabeth Forrest discusses Creative Aging in the second of two Holiday Holistic Health talks. 644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 28 

Pacifica Radio & the Corporation for Public Broadcasting 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Take Back KPFA co-founders Jeffrey Blankfort and KPFA Local Advisory Board member and former KPFA programmer and development director Maria Gilardin present “never before heard evidence” of the collaboration between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Pacifica Foundation management. Discussion will follow. $5 - $20.  

415-255-9182 

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article - a community 

writers’ group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

Toddler Storytime 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Library 

1125 University Ave 

For families with children 3 years or younger, a program to expose the youngest readers to multicultural stories, songs and finger plays. The last Storytime in the series.  

Stories of Your Amazing Body 

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

For children aged 3 to 10 years old, escape to the magical realm of health, fun, and excitement of this ongoing storytelling series. 549-1564  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

What really happened at the UN Conference on Racism or what the press left out. 548-9696, graypanthers@hotmail.com 

Emeryville Lights of Life Day  

5 - 7 p.m. 

Emeryville Child Development Center 

1220 53rd St., Emeryville 

Community event to honor loved ones and in tribute to the helping and caring professions, featuring children’s chorus, candle-lighting, guest speaker Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright with a tribute to New York firefighters, and a visit from the fire truck. 450-8795 

Police Review Commission  

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 644-6716, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/prg/ 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 705-8101, planning@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Thursday, Nov. 29 

Small Schools Community Action Committee 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Longfellow Middle School Auditorium 

1500 Derby St. 

The Small Schools Community Action Committee is sponsoring an informational meeting geared to middle school parents. All interested community members are invited. 486-1014, http://berkeleysmallschools.org. 

Day of Action for Justice in Palestine 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

Sproul Plaza  

Students will stage a rally and demonstration on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Followed by a teach-in with Prof. Asad Abukhalil of CSU Stanislaus, 7 p.m., 60 Evans Hall. 496-1269, justiceinpalestine@ yahoo.com. 

The Nuclear Waste Problem  

and the Yucca Mountain Project 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

Campaign to End the Death Penalty – Fund raiser  

8 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall 

390 27th St., Oakland  

Three bands and a very good cause. $5-$10. 985-2805, emterzakis@aol.com. 

Ferry Expansion Hearings 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Open House Senior Center 

6500 Stockton St., El Cerrito 

The San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (WTA) is holding public scoping sessions to identify environmental issues that should be studied before expanding ferry service on the Bay. www.bluewaternetwork.org. 

What’s Going On? Debt and AIDS in Africa 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Friends Church 

1600 Sacramento St. 

Town Hall meeting and panel discussion with John Iverson, East Bay ACT UP; Nunu Kidane on Debt and AIDS, and an update on how to become involved locally. 415-565-0201 x12, www.aaaw. org. 

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Winter Backcountry Travel:  

Safety and Survival Tips 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Leader of the National Ski Patrol’s Northern California search and rescue team, Mike Kelly, shares his expertise on how to plan a safe adventure in the snow. Free. 527-4140 

Discussion for Women 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Katheryn Gardella, RN., discuss mobility Issues and Feling Good in this part of a series of discussions for women. 644-6107 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Attic Conversions 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by architect Andus Brandt, $35.  

525-7610 

– Compiled by Guy Poole 

Friday, Nov. 30 

World Aids Day March 

noon 

Roche Diagnostics 

2929 7th St. 

Protest for affordable medications for all nations. March five blocks to Bayer. 841-4339 

Black Filmmakers Hall of  

Fame 12th Annual Black  

Filmworks 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California  

1000 Oak Street, Oakland 

“Maangamizi: The Ancient One.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has accepted Maangamizi as the official entry from Tanzania for nomination consideration for the upcoming 74h Annual Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Award category. This is the first time ever that an entry from Tanzania has been considered and presented to the screening committee. 465-0804, www.blackfilmmakershall.org. 

Benefit for a Peace House in  

Chiapas, Mexico 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita St. 

The peace house will serve as an educational center on indigenous rights, neoliberal economics, and human rights observation for the international community. Live music, documentary film ‘Zapatista,’ and a traditional Mexican dinner. $25. 652-3512, cbossen@mindspring.com 

Still Stronger Women: Arts, Literature, Movies weekly 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst, at MLK Jr. 

The life and legacy of Amelia Earhart, plus film. Free. 232-1351 

Dunsmuir Historic Estate  

Holiday Season 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 

Volunteers have transformed the 50-acre estate and the 1899 mansion into a holiday event. 925-275-9595, www.dunsmuir.org. 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Nat Goldhaber, entrepreneur, presents “Running for Vice-President in a Spiritual Age.” $1 admission; 11:45 a.m. lunch, $12.25. 848-3533 

Governor Davis’ cuts from the state budget for 2002 include $150 million gained by postponing the expansion of the Healthy Families health insurance program to cover low income parents as well as their children. 

If you are among those blessed with good health insurance, you may feel this cut has nothing to do with you. Wrong. Uninsured families are those who rely on the Emergency Room for care when they need it – which is often after they have delayed as long as possible. Their costs then wind up being clandestinely shifted to those who are insured. 

The ER is a unique institution in our society. It is the great leveller. When you enter those doors, it doesn’t matter if you are rich and famous, you will be subject to triage. Meaning doctors and nurses will put you on the list in order of urgency. You may be Julia Roberts or Michael Jackson. You may be head of a Fortune 500 company. Doesn’t matter. Those who need to have their hearts restarted, no matter how poor, take precedence. 

In this life-and-death respect, the ER is as far from market values as we get in the United States. Makes you wonder why the Bush administration tolerates it at all. Why hasn’t Tommy Thompson our secretary of Health and Human Services proposed a new VIP ER plan that jumps CEOs, Republican campaign contributors, members of Congress, and of course cabinet secretaries to the head of the triage list? 

As it is, the only thing remotely like entering the ER is being aboard a hi-jacked airplanes where first class suffers the same fate as the economy. Which raises a timely point. If we are destined to experience more terrorism, biological, nuclear, or plain old explosive, the ER is our first line of defense. Regardless of your social status, the only thing that insures prompt care is if your local ER is well-staffed and well-equipped. Otherwise you will wait ... and wait. 

Last month I escorted a neighbor to the ER at Alta Bates, which is one of the best. She had a broken arm and was hurting bad. She had health insurance; she was from the Berkeley Hills; she was solid upper-middle class. Made no difference. She waited a good long time until those laid out on gurneys could be cared for. At Highland Hospital, she might have waited longer. Highland ER, so a doctor tells me, is so overcrowded it now tracks admissions by the day not the hour! 

Money for Healthy Families, like all health care money, doesn’t go to those eligible. It is an infusion of funds into the overburdened health care system we all share. It pays doctors who might be able to head off a trip to the ER by people who would otherwise be ahead of you on the list. Or if those patients do need ER care, it pays for that care so the ER can afford to treat you more efficiently. 

Cutting Healthy Families while bioterrorism is in our midst is penny wise and pound foolish, though you may not think about that until you wake up in the ER. People can afford to wait for almost anything. They can even afford to wait for better schools, though they shouldn’t have to. But nobody can afford to wait to stop the bleeding. 

Theodore Roszak’s most recent book is “Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders,” Berkeley Hills Books. 

MUSIC 

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 26: Renegade Sidemen w/ Calvin Keyes; Nov. 27: Jason Martineau and David Sayen; Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 26: 6:30 p.m., Vista College; Nov. 27: 8 p.m., Creole Belles, $8; Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Blake’s Nov. 26: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, $4; Nov. 27: PC Munoz and the Amen Corner, Froggy, $3; Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley. edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 26: Ellen Robinson; Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

“Music on Telegraph” Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

THEATER 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822 www.auroratheatre. org 

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305 www.transparenttheater.org 

“Much Ado About Nothing” Through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

FILMS 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

EXHIBITS 

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960s and 1970s” Through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

READINGS 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.org 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. 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  

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694. 

Tigers, by a long shot, are the most popular animals in the zoo. 

That’s according to Watson Berreman, a first grader at LeConte Elementary School, who recently polled his classmates on the matter and poured the results into a classroom computer. The result: a colorful graph hanging neatly on the wall clearly demonstrating the popularity of tigers over lions, monkeys and elephants. 

Berreman’s computerized poll is just one indication of the growing use of technology in the Berkeley schools and at LeConte in particular – one of four district schools benefiting from a new, three-year, nearly $3 million magnet grant from the U.S. Department of Education. 

The grant allows LeConte, Thousand Oaks, Washington and City of Franklin Micro-Society schools to choose a particular area of focus, such as science or the arts, and build around it. The goal is to play upon students’ natural interests, generating greater interest in education as a whole. 

LeConte has chosen science as its focus, and with the help of the grant money, it is attempting to make technology a powerful tool in the children’s scientific inquiries. 

Students in teacher Bessie Citrin’s fourth grade class, for instance, are entering data from an experiment on living and non-living matter into a program called “the Cruncher,” and producing graphs to support their conclusions. 

In the coming months, fifth graders will use computers and digital cameras to develop a field guide for the school’s on-site gardens. 

Jennifer Smallwood, a fourth and fifth grade science teacher at LeConte, says computers can help some students understand material they might not otherwise comprehend. 

“We all have different modes of learning,” she said. “You can look at something and learn it. You can experience something and learn it. (Technology) is one more medium.” 

But the school is not yet making maximum use of its technological tools, say parents and staff.  

“There are some computers that exist in some classrooms that are not used as much as we would wish,” said Pierre Thiery, a computer instructor at City College of San Francisco, and parent of a LeConte fourth grader, who volunteers frequently at the school. “I think the challenge is to integrate (the computers) into the curriculum and make them useful, and I think there is a lot of work to be done there.” 

Andrea Dunn, LeConte’s science and technology resource teacher for the magnet program, and Marilyn Littles, the school’s magnet coordinator, envision similar challenges. Working together, the two administrators are trying to enhance the use of computers, digital cameras and other tools by developing guidelines for the integration of technology into all components of the school’s curriculum. 

Dunn and Littles are also providing computer-shy teachers with in-house training, and Dunn says the school may use part of its grant money to fund instruction by outside professionals. 

“We feel we have to set the standard,” said Dunn, discussing the importance of teachers boning up on the latest technology. “If we’re asking the children to do a certain thing, we’re going to set the standard ourselves.” 

Dunn said one of her top goals is to create a computer-savvy faculty so that, if the grant money dries up in three years, the technology program will still be strong.  

Proper equipment is also vital if the technology initiative is to succeed, said Dunn. LeConte has already sunk a significant chunk of its grant money, which will total $530,000 over three years, into upgrading the school’s machinery.  

The administration has placed an order for a new set of thirty “Alpha Smarts,” small, relatively inexpensive word processors that some students are already using at their desks. In addition, LeConte has ordered enough computers to fill a media center in the school library. The center should be up and running by the first of the year. 

School officials hope that the technology program, when fully implemented, will not only provide students with a greater understanding for the subject matter in the curriculum, but endow them with the technological skills they will need to operate in today’s world. 

Students must be able to create spreadsheets, comb the Internet and use design programs if they hope to land quality jobs when they grow older, school officials say. 

“I think (the technology program) will provide students with an additional life skill to go out in the world and be competitive,” said Patricia Saddler, principal at the LeConte School. 

In other words, it’s a zoo out there. And it’s better to be a tiger than a monkey.  

Editor: 

I agree with Steve Geller in his Nov. 24 letter that most people want to reduce congestion. The problem is that government subsidizes congestion with “freeways.” They really are not “free,” because it costs much to build highways, and the congestion imposes a social cost on commuters. The effective remedy is toll charges high enough to eliminate the crowding. Also, finance mass transit with assessments based on land values, making BART and buses free to users. You will then see a massive shift from cars to public transit, a demand which will then warrant better service. 

Fred Foldvary 

Berkeley 

At tonight’s meeting, the council will examine its options in light of a successful petition drive to repeal the recently-approved council districts.  

Citizens for Fair Representation collected 7,985 signatures, far more than the 4,000 valid signatures required to challenge the city. 

The council can choose to have the newly-approved redistricting ordinance put on the March 5 ballot, which would cost the city about $100,000 or simply repeal the ordinance and start the redistricting process anew.  

If the council chooses to start over, the Dec. 31 state-imposed deadline for approving new districts would be pushed back to April 1. 

Royal line of succession 

After the events of Sept. 11, the city is getting all of its emergency procedural ducks in a row. As part of the process, the council is being asked to assign an official line of succession in case the director of emergency services is unavailable.  

“Director of emergency services” is one of the many hats worn by City Manager Weldon Rucker. The state requires all cities to name a line of succession so the city is not without leadership during an emergency.  

If the council approves the recommendation, and if Rucker is unable to take the reins during a crisis, the line of succession follows as: Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque and finally Chief of Police Dash Butler. 

Free bus rides 

The council will consider a recommendation for free Saturday bus rides for shoppers during the holiday season. The recommendation asks the city manager to work with AC Transit and the Downtown Merchants Association to provide free transit fares.  

The recommendation also asks that the city provide free transit passes any time there is a city program that provides free parking at meters. 

The cost of the average AC Transit fare is 65 cents. The cost to the city will depend on an agreement among AC Transit, the city and the merchants. 

Parking rate hike 

The city manager is recommending the council raise the evening flat rate parking charges at the Center Street Garage from $4 to $5. Prior to approving the rate hike, the council will hold a public hearing.  

The council raised the flat rate for evening parking at the garage from $2 to $4 on Oct. 30. The council also moved the beginning of the evening parking rates back from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

The staff report recommends against the rate hike, arguing that the new $5 rate is above the current evening average cost of parking and will likely decrease use of the parking garage. 

The council will also consider: 

• An informational report from Planning and Development Director Carol Barrett on downtown transit options. 

• Giving police cadets a cost of living wage increase. The total cost to the city will be $255,000 over a six year period. 

• Councilmember Polly Armstrong will ask the city manager to submit a report on the status of the city’s parking meters. Armstrong said that over a third of the meters on College Avenue are not working. 

The Housing Authority 

The Berkeley Housing Authority, which consists of the City Council and two resident appointees, will hold a meeting just prior to the regular City Council meeting. 

The authority will likely approve an $80-per-meeting stipend for the Public Housing and the Section 8 commissions and consider holding a public hearing on the authority’s annual plan for fiscal year 2002-2003.  

Some of the new proposals in the updated annual plan are shared housing for Section 8 tenants and a Section 8 homeownership program. 

The authority will meet in the Council Chambers at 6:30 p.m. 

Special council meeting on energy policy 

The City Council will hold a a study session at 5 p.m. to review the city’s energy program. The session is designed to educate the council prior to its Dec. 7 approval of $400,000 for energy conservation projects. 

In addition the council will hear presentations from the Commission of Energy and Berkeley Energy Technical Advisory Group which will detail the status of the energy crisis 

The City Council meeting will be held tonight at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The meeting will also be broadcast live on the KPFA Radio, 89.3 and Cable B-TV, Channel 25 

Editor: 

In you weekend edition, you had a letter and two stories related to Berkeley’s transportation problems. The letter of Steve Geller suggest that the issue is black or white, with no grays whatsoever, ie, it’s either buses or parking. One should definitely promote public transportation, but they are not the whole solution. Berkeley has rightly encouraged public transportation, but we still have large buses, that are inefficient, run mostly empty, spew large amounts of diesel fumes into the air, run infrequently, are expensive, and slow traffic. Moreover, as pointed out on page 5 of the same paper as Geller’s letter appears, the headline “Berkeley’s bus riders, city getting left out in the rain,” regarding the lack of bus shelters. Maybe people don’t want to stand in the rain or cold waiting 30 minutes or more for a bus. 

Geller sarcastically suggests that people who come to the YMCA for exercise are “too delicate to get on a bus.” Maybe it could be that some may be women concerned for their safety, who do not want to walk to, eait for, or take public transportation at night. Or maybe its a hardy, non delicate parent with several children,who just wants to take his kids for a family swim. 

Geller also suggests that the only people who want adequate parking are “people who run downtown enterprises (who) see a dwindling number of customers,” i.e., greedy businessmen. What about the school teachers at Berkeley High, Vista, etc., or those that work for the city, including the police, and city council (all of whom have reserved parking spaces available to them), and what about the employees that work in the library, restaurants, stores. We now have a situation were many people can not afford to live in Berkeley due to the high rents and cost of real estate. Some are forced to live in areas were taking buses to work would be a major inconvenience in both time and money. 

Finally, the third story was “Holiday shoppers flock to Fourth St.” The story states shoppers from around the Bay Area “chose Berkeley’s Fourth Street shopping district as their primary destination.” If that’s so, the question is why would shoppers go to Fourth Street and not to downtown Berkeley which has a BART station, and many more buses? Perhaps the answer appears in the same story.  

“The area’s free parking lot was filled to capacity around noon, with several cars queued up and ready to pounce on any space that became available. The nearby Spenger’s lot, which charges by the hour, was doing brisk business.” Perhaps the idea of carrying multiple heavy bags filled with Xmas presents to a bus stop, waiting, perhaps in the rain, until a bus arrives, holding them on your lap for one or more bus rides, and then carrying them to their home, did not appeal to everyone. Maybe some of the people need to drive because they are elderly, sick, or disabled. 

The city can’t stick its head in the sand and pretend that the automobile will disappear. We all want better mass transportation, fewer and cleaner cars and diesel buses, and cleaner air. But forcing people to drive around looking for parking isn’t going to force them to use the mass transportation that we have now and will have for the forseeable future. 

David M. Weitzman 

Berkeley 

OAKLAND — The body of a missing photographer for the San Jose Mercury News was found Sunday outside a cemetery, police said. 

Luci S. Houston, 43, had been missing for nearly a week. Police said they believe she was murdered, but wouldn’t disclose the cause of death. Houston’s body was found in her car, covered by a tarp, about a mile from her home, police said. 

The Alameda County coroner had not positively identified the body and on Monday referred all calls to police, who did not immediately return calls. 

Police questioned Houston’s estranged husband, but have no suspects, Sgt. Tim Nolan said Sunday. 

“There are obviously a lot of strange things about this case,” he said. “It appears the body was there for a few days.” 

Family members and friends said they had not seen or heard from Houston since Tuesday. She had planned to pick up a friend from Oakland International Airport on Wednesday and to attend a Thanksgiving get-together Thursday, they said. 

Houston was known to be punctual, and friends said she would call people she was assigned to photograph if she was running even five minutes late. 

The Washington, D.C., native worked as a staff photographer at the Mercury News since 1993, and had previously been a staff photographer for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. 

Houston’s co-workers spent the first part of Sunday handing out fliers with her picture and a description of the car she had been driving. 

When Jim Gensheimer, a fellow Mercury News photographer, handed a flier to an Oakland police officer, the officer told him that a body had been found near Evergreen Cemetery. Co-workers gathered at the cemetery. 

“It’s just very weird,” Gensheimer said. “I’ve covered a lot of things like this. You never expect it to be a co-worker.” 

Gensheimer had a camera slung around his neck and said he was both mourning and working. 

“I ended up taking some pictures, because I didn’t know what else to do,” he said. 

Gensheimer remembered Houston as someone who frequently sang in the workplace and made sure everyone said “hello” to her. 

SANTA BARBARA — Picture it: a flood roaring down from foothills above this scenic coastal town, carrying room-sized boulders hurtling at 50 mph. 

One of the largest such debris flows in Southern California history may have done just that only a few thousand years ago, according to researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Geology professor Ed Keller and graduate student Amy Selting say they have found evidence of the flow in Rattlesnake Canyon above the site of the Santa Barbara Mission. 

The flood dumped about 10 million cubic yards of boulders and mud, or about 300,000 truckloads along a two-mile route, they estimate. It left deposits 30 feet deep in places. 

The debris flow was about a thousand times bigger than those that have followed wildfires in the area during the last century, Keller said. 

“It would have been terrible — a snapping of trees and breaking of rocks bouncing off each other. It would have sounded like a thousand thunders,” Keller said. “If such an event were to occur again today, many homes and buildings ... would be destroyed, and the loss of life would be catastrophic.” 

And one really wet year, a big earthquake or a soil-baring wildfire might be all it takes to send another one roaring down from a canyon onto the town 80 miles north of Los Angeles. 

“It’s scary because this flow covered a third of a square mile of Santa Barbara. That’s a large space that got inundated with water, boulders and sediment,” Selting said. 

“You need to be aware that these things happen and have some plans about what you would do,” Keller said. 

Their findings were presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Boston. 

The researchers used computerized topographic maps of downtown and mapped the deposits to estimate the volume of mud, water and rock that hurtled downstream. 

Radiocarbon dating will be used to pin down the age of the flood next month, but the boulders are relatively unweathered, pointing to a young geographical age, the researchers said.

SAN DIEGO — Despite a brief decline after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Customs Service seized a record 244 tons of narcotics along the U.S.-Mexico border in California over the past year. 

The total for the state’s two border counties was 19 percent higher by weight compared to the previous year, said Customs spokesman Vince Bond. 

Agents confiscated 488,606 pounds of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in the border region during fiscal year 2001, which ended Sept. 30. The drugs were seized both at border crossings and in special air and sea operations. 

Marijuana accounted for the bulk of the confiscated drugs at 419,292 pounds, followed by cocaine at 67,799 pounds. Authorities don’t know the reason for the year-to-year increase. It could be caused by increased flows of illegal drugs, better enforcement or a combination, Bond said. 

During the two weeks after the attacks, drug seizures plummeted more than 80 percent at California border crossings as agents searched every car entering the United States. Authorities speculated that smugglers were temporarily delaying shipments to avoid heightened security. 

“Without the events of Sept. 11, it may have been over 500,000 pounds,” Bond said of the year’s total. 

The 244 tons does not include drugs seized by the Border Patrol between the ports of entry along the border or seizures by the Drug Enforcement Administration, local police or other agencies. 

Along the entire U.S-Mexico border, seizures of illegal drugs increased by 19 percent to more than 1.3 million pounds. Nationwide, the agency confiscated 1.7 million pounds during the fiscal year. 

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Coast Guard unveiled a new port security program Monday that trains reservists to board cruise ships and commercial vessels on the high seas in search of terrorists. 

The program is part of an extensive effort by the Coast Guard to stretch its resources and protect the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which combined are the nation’s largest, handling $170 billion of commerce each year. 

The so-called “sea marshal” security teams are also in action in San Diego and San Francisco as pilot programs for possible use in other parts of the nation. 

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Coast Guard has taken the lead among a number of agencies and started boarding all cruise ships several miles off the coast of California. 

Armed officers make sure the crew is in control of the ship and check passenger lists for suspected terrorists. 

“Cruise ships are a target,” said Lt. Carlos Mercado of the Coast Guard’s marine safety office in Los Angeles. “We try to think like terrorists. If you hit, you want the most bang for your buck, and inside the harbor is where you’d get it.” 

The marshals also conduct random checks on what the Coast Guard considers “high interest vessels,” those flying flags from nations such as Libya, Iran and China. 

More than 5,500 commercial vessels and several hundred cruise ships a year dock at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, making the new security measures labor intensive. 

The Coast Guard has engaged the help of more than half a dozen other agencies ranging from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Department of Fish and Game. 

On Monday, some of the 80 Coast Guard reservists called up since Sept. 11 completed their final training to become sea marshals, practicing their boarding techniques on an old Navy vessel. 

In addition to trying to head off disaster before it reaches port, the Coast Guard is working with divers from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Port Police to inspect the hulls of random ships inside the harbor for bombs. 

During Monday’s exercise, divers checked the hulls of two cruise ships — the Serenade and the Ecstasy — in the port of Los Angeles while vessels from the Coast Guard cordoned off the area. 

With visibility in the polluted and silt-filled harbor restricted to less than 10 feet, it can take nearly two hours to sweep a hull, said Capt. Ralph Tracy of the Port of Los Angeles Police Department. 

“It’s like diving in an ink well,” he said. 

One scenario officials are concerned about is a cell of terrorists storing explosives under a peer and then transferring them to a cruise ship once it has docked nearby. 

“If this cruise ship blew up right now, we’d have to close down this port for days,” Mercado said. “You’re talking millions, billions of dollars of loses.” 

The sea marshals and other new security measures are likely to continue indefinitely. 

“We’re looking at the new normal,” said Capt. John Holmes, commanding officer of the Coast Guard marine safety office in Los Angeles. 

But the added responsibilities are starting to take their toll. Coast Guard staff members routinely work 14 hours a day, and regular duties are being off-loaded onto other agencies. 

Los Angeles Bay Watch lifeguards, for instance, are picking up much of the Coast Guard’s search and rescue efforts. 

“Our crews are fatigued,” Mercado said. “We’re trying to do more with less and it’s hard.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Beleaguered credit card issuer Providian Financial Corp. hired industry veteran Joseph Saunders as its new CEO Monday, ending a six-week search for a new leader to repair the company’s ailing loan portfolio and battered reputation. 

Saunders, 56, replaces Providian’s longtime CEO, Shailesh Mehta, who decided to step down last month after revealing his formula for giving credit cards to high-risk borrowers had hurled the company into a rising tide of problem loans. 

Saunders joins San Francisco-based Providian after running the credit card business of FleetBoston Financial Corp. since 1997. With $15 billion in loans, Fleet’s credit card business is less than half the size of Providian’s $32 billion portfolio. 

Before working at Fleet, Saunders worked for 12 years as a high-ranking executive at Household International Inc., another major credit card lender. His resume also includes a stint as chairman of Mastercard International. 

“This is a good catch for Providian,” said industry analyst Matthew Park of Thomas Weisel Partners. 

Investors seemed to agree. After weeks of mostly steady decline, Providian’s shares gained 51 cents, or 15.5 percent, Monday to close at $3.80 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s stock remains down by 93 percent for the year. 

Despite Saunders’ credentials, industry analysts remain skeptical about Providian’s prospects. Unless the company can get a better handle on its loan losses, Providian might have to sell its business at a sharp discount or, in a worst case scenario, be taken over by federal regulators, analysts warn. 

With $15.9 billion in federally insured deposits, Providian remained in good standing with regulators as of Sept. 30. 

Saunders “is very well qualified, but that’s not the issue here. The horse may already be out of the barn for this company,” said industry analyst Charlotte Chamberlain of Jefferies & Co. 

Despite its troubles, “Providian has a great core franchise to turn around,” Saunders said during an interview Monday. “I am really energized by the opportunity to create a whole new Providian.” 

Saunders said he plans to build upon a turnaround plan that Providian management outlined last month. The company plans to curtail its business high-risk borrowers and focus more on middle-income households — a market that Saunders targeted during his time at Fleet and Household. 

Providian also may fire more workers beyond the 700 employees who will lose their jobs next month when the company will close a Henderson, Nev. office. “I think there are opportunities for Providian to become more efficient,” Saunders said. 

The company employed just over 13,000 employees as of Sept. 30. 

Although Providian didn’t disclose details of its new CEO’s compensation package, Saunders said it’s heavily weighted with stock options that will pay off only if he can engineer a turnaround that wins Wall Street’s approval. Saunders predicted it would take “a good part” of next year before Providian’s progress becomes evident. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.providian.com 

NEW YORK — Economists officially declare a recession exists, you might say, months after ordinary folks have sensed it coming, experienced it, and if able to, taken action to deal with it. 

As a consequence, economists become the butt of jokes by stand-up comics who couldn’t define industrial production or other seismological terms used by economists in measuring the tremors of the economy. 

It’s unfair, of course. Consumers standing on the surface feel changes quickly — in their job security, paychecks, stock portfolios. They mix in the latest news, rumors, hopes and fears, and act accordingly. 

It’s all subjective, perhaps misinformed too, but it becomes the basis for what consumers do or don’t do in the marketplace. 

And what they do or don’t do is a major factor in determining where the economy is headed. 

In short, the consumer “knows” a recession is in the offing by the way her or she feels, and the way they feel becomes a factor in what happens, whereas the economists have to wait until the facts are in. 

Sometimes the consumers are right, sometimes not. Sometimes they befuddle the best minds of academe and government, as in their recent insistence on not spending tax rebates that were meant to be spent in order to avert or moderate a recession. 

University of Michigan researchers found only 22 percent of rebate recipients spent or planned to spend the money, contradicting not just past behavior but the expectations of government economists. 

In 1995, by comparison, a large percentage of consumers spent the extra cash resulting from a 1992 executive order revising income tax withholding rates that increased monthly incomes by about $29. 

As a result of this quirk in 2001 spending behavior, the Michigan researchers suggest that the tax rebate will end up having provided a very limited stimulus to aggregate demand — in effect, that fiscal policy failed. 

Such failures to anticipate economic performance don’t prove economists are ill-informed and don’t provide support for the typical consumer boast that anyone could see that a recession had set in. 

Consumers feel the surface vibrations; the professionals dig into a substrata that includes industrial production, employment and wholesale and retail trade — deep down, where the vibrations originate. 

In so doing, they gain an understanding of various factors often hidden from the consumer, such as the eventual intensity of the recession and its duration. 

In that regard they are one up on the consumer: They are sometimes in a position to forecast the onset of the new economic expansion, months ahead of the consumer who can only wait to feel it when it comes.

SAN JOSE — Two former Cisco Systems Inc. accountants were sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison Monday for illegally transferring $7.9 million in Cisco stock to themselves. 

Geoffrey Osowski and Wilson Tang also were ordered to pay a total of $7.9 million in restitution to Cisco. Both men, who pleaded guilty to computer fraud in August, declined to make statements at their sentencing hearings in U.S. District Court in San Jose. 

Osowski and Tang forged documents and gained an unauthorized amount of access to Cisco’s internal computer system to order that 230,550 shares of stock be transferred to brokerage accounts in their names. 

The government has seized a Mercedes-Benz, diamond rings, Rolex watches and other luxuries the men bought with money they made on the scheme, prosecutor Joseph Sullivan said. It unraveled after a clearinghouse that handles stock-option transactions for Cisco got suspicious and alerted the Internet equipment company, Sullivan said. 

SAN JOSE — A resolution appears unlikely any time soon in the closely watched case of a Russian computer programmer charged with violating copyrights on Adobe Systems Inc. software. 

At a hearing in federal court Monday, prosecutors and attorneys for Dmitry Sklyarov, 27, agreed to file motions in coming months, with pretrial hearings scheduled to begin March 4. 

In the first criminal prosecution under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Sklyarov and his employer, ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. of Moscow, are charged with releasing a program that let readers disable restrictions on Adobe’s electronic-book software. The program is legal in Russia. 

Sklyarov was arrested after speaking at a hacking convention in Las Vegas on July 16. He could face up to five years in prison for each of the five counts against him; he and the company could be fined $500,000. 

Sklyarov’s attorney, John Keker, said he plans to challenge aspects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and whether prosecutors here have jurisdiction over Sklyarov and the Russian company. 

Sklyarov is free on $50,000 bail but must remain in Northern California until the case is resolved. He is living with his wife and two young children in an apartment in San Mateo and continuing work on his doctorate in computer science, Keker said. 

SALEM, Mass. — Once upon a time, there was money, and there were S&H Green Stamps. 

Green Stamps were the alternative currency of the booming postwar consumer society of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Millions of American families received them with every grocery store or gas station purchase. They faithfully pasted the stamps into booklets and, when they had enough of them, redeemed them for appliances, furniture and other merchandise. 

At their peak, Green Stamps were in 60 percent of American households and were the nation’s largest supplier of durable consumer goods. Communities pooled them to buy school buses, firetrucks, even a gorilla and an elephant for a zoo. They even inspired an Andy Warhol painting. 

Now, the stamps have given way to swipe-through digital cards, offered by the latest incarnation of the company, S&H Greenpoints. But S&H Greenpoints is struggling to gain its footing at a time when credit card companies, airlines and other businesses are all offering the digital equivalent of trading stamps. 

Green Stamps began fading in the 1970s, just as the Arab oil embargo wiped out the lucrative gas station business for S&H and dozens of lesser-known stamp competitors. The company had more than $1 billion in revenue but was past its prime when it was sold in 1981. 

The old stamp business never quite died, and in 1999, Walter Beinecke, the great-grandson of founder Thomas Sperry (the “S” in “S&H”) bought back the company, hoping to rebuild it with a digital kick. 

The company set up a Web site where people could buy from merchants, track their accounts and page through the Greenpoints rewards catalog. But the Web site never drew a big crowd. S&H Greenpoints has since reworked its Internet operation to make it more convenient to participate. 

Customers earn points instead of stamps for purchases made on- or offline. They can redeem the points at a store or over the Internet. 

The core business involves three grocery chains — in North Carolina, Michigan and the mid-Atlantic — encompassing 180 stores. 

That is a far cry from the 20 percent of U.S. grocery stores that once handed out Green Stamps. But the company says it has passed 1 million accounts and will be profitable by the end of next year or early 2003. 

The company still does about $1 million of business a year with a few scattered stores that still use the old stamps. But most people just won’t lick and stick anymore. 

The catalogs are still packed with consumer goods. Toasters were the most popular Green Stamp redemption item. Today it is George Foreman grills, which cost 40,800 points, or $4,080 worth of groceries at the going rate of 10 points to the dollar. 

The biggest change is the competition: Credit card companies and other businesses are running their own loyalty programs, and the new alternative currency is frequent-flier miles, which can be bought, sold and traded. 

But S&H Greenpoints chief executive Rod Parker, a former executive at Time Warner, said the premise still holds: “Getting rewarded for everyday stuff is meaningful, and it really adds up.”

SEATTLE — Boeing Co. laid off 2,900 workers Monday as part of the company’s already announced plan to trim as many as 30,000 workers by the end of 2002. 

About 1,900 workers in the Puget Sound area and 1,000 workers elsewhere in the country received the 60-day notices, spokesman Tom Ryan said. All those affected will lose their jobs by Jan. 25. 

The majority of the layoffs are in the company’s commercial airplane division, which has been hard hit by Sept. 11. 

Boeing will release its next round of layoff notices Dec. 21, Ryan said. 

In October, Boeing announced a first round of about 12,000 job cuts to be completed by Dec. 14. 

“We knew it’d be a significant number so I guess I could say there’s no surprise, but it’s still very disturbing that that many people will all be without a job in 60 days,” said Mark Blondin, president of Boeing’s Machinsts Union. “It’s not an easy time for them.” 

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The bodies of four journalists were brought out of Afghanistan on Nov. 21, two days after the group was ambushed by gunmen on the road to Kabul. 

Anti-Taliban militiamen recovered the bodies Nov. 20. They were held overnight in a hospital in Jalalabad, and transported the next day on a Red Cross convoy into Pakistan. 

The journalists were attacked Nov. 19 as they traveled in a group of about eight cars from Jalalabad to Kabul. An anti-Taliban leader in the area said the attackers were bandits, but witnesses said they shouted pro-Taliban slogans. 

Militiamen loyal to the new administration in Jalalabad retrieved the bodies without encountering resistance. They brought the bodies to a Jalalabad hospital, where colleagues identified them. 

The journalists were Australian television cameraman Harry Burton and Azizullah Haidari, an Afghan photographer born in Kabul, both of the Reuters news agency; Maria Grazia Cutuli of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera; and Julio Fuentes of the Spanish daily El Mundo. 

Cutuli and Fuentes filed reports Nov. 19 about finding what they believed were capsules of deadly sarin nerve gas at an abandoned al-Qaida camp near Jalalabad. 

Fuentes’ story said he discovered a cardboard box with Russian labeling that said SARIN/V-Gas. His report said the box contained 300 vials of a yellowish liquid. 

A Japanese terrorist organization used sarin in March 1995 in the Tokyo subway killing 12 people. 

The Pentagon said the U.S. military had no information on the reports. 

The area of the ambush had recently came under control of anti-Taliban forces. However, some Taliban stragglers and Arab fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden were believed to be in the area. 

Haji Shershah, an anti-Taliban commander in Jalalabad, said villagers reported numerous other attacks involving gunfire on vehicles on the same road during the day. 

A French journalist was robbed in the area the day before, and hours after the assault on the journalists, an Afghan car arrived in Jalalabad with two bullet holes after being attacked. 

Shershah said the attackers were bandits, not Taliban or his own fighters. 

On Nov. 24 in Catania, thousands of mourners packed the cathedral for the funeral of the 39-year-old Cutuli, who came from the Sicilian city. 

“She went as far as Afghanistan because she had the courage of a lion,” said Erminda Franci, an elderly woman in the crowd of 5,000. “We can’t help but admire her strength and her spirit of sacrifice.” 

“You fell in a sacrificial trench,” Archbishop Luigi Bommarito said in his homily. “You wanted to see close up in order to write truthful things.” 

Cutuli’s brother, Mario, said the next day an autopsy had shown she had four gunshots in the back and an earlobe had been slashed off with a blade. 

“Those wild beasts didn’t have the courage to look you in the face, to look at your charming eyes,” Bommarito said at the funeral. 

+++++ In Islamabad, coalition partners get out message on war 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition launched an effort Nov. 20 to get its message on the war in Afghanistan out to a foreign audience. It conceded that the move came a bit late, 1 1/2 months after the bombing began. 

The new Coalition Information Service opened phone lines to answer questions from the news media and held a news conference in Islamabad — the first of what it said would be daily briefings. 

Spokesman Kenton Keith, a former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, conceded that the inauguration of the operation — after coalition bombing had already helped drive the Taliban from most of Afghanistan — should have happened long ago. 

“To a certain extent, we dropped the ball,” he said. 

Images of civilians killed in coalition bombing caused many to turn against the war. And the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, had given regular briefings in Islamabad until Pakistan’s government ordered a halt. 

Meanwhile, aside from a few interviews U.S. officials gave to the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera, the U.S.-led coalition had little media presence outside the United States and Britain. 

President Bush recognized that, announcing on Oct. 31 that he would send media officials to Britain and Pakistan to explain the anti-terrorism fight to foreign audiences. 

“It’s important that the coalition be able to speak to the media,” said British Lt. Col. Robin Hodges, a spokesman for the Coalition Information Service. 

He said the Islamabad news conferences, along with others already in place in Washington and London, would allow the coalition to get out its point of view throughout the 24-hour cycle of international news. 

In a packed room of journalists with a long row of television cameras, Keith appeared in a black pinstriped suit, calmly fielding questions from foreign and Pakistani journalists. 

One reporter asked him to respond to Taliban claims of widespread civilian casualties from the bombing. 

“We deeply regret any civilian casualties,” Keith said. “We have no numbers on civilian casualties but we assume they are smaller in number than reports by the Taliban.” 

The Taliban had begun to issue those reports on Oct. 7. 

+++++ 

MORE 

National Guard major general calls Berkeley his home 

Major General Paul D. Monroe, head of the California National Guard, has no time for Berkeley-bashers. 

“I get all these e-mails from people I’ve served with in the past, trashing Berkeley,” he said over breakfast Saturday. “These people say, ‘Why don’t you move out of there?’” 

“I tell them, “Because it’s my home!’” 

With his 44 years of service in the armed forces, Monroe has so many former colleagues that defending the city from their barbs could nearly be a full-time job.  

But when Gov. Gray Davis appointed him Adjutant General in April 1999, he said, he stopped replying. He’s busy enough as it is, especially in the last few months. 

He was able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at home, however, and on Saturday he met with the Daily Planet to praise the city where he was born and has lived most of his life, to talk about the Guard’s current activities. He remembered what he called “the Guard’s darkest day” – May 20, 1969, when he was present as a Guard helicopter rained tear gas onto demonstrators in Sproul Plaza. 

It was a generous gesture, as Monroe has very little free time to spare these days. 

As Adjutant General, he commands more than 23,000 Californian citizen-soldiers – around 19,000 U.S. Army reservists and around 4,000 that are affiliated with the Air Force. Monroe is the first African American commander of the California National Guard. He reports to Davis, the Guard’s commander-in-chief, and works with the regular military when they call up – or “federalize” – his troops. 

Since Sept. 11, of course, Monroe has been scrambling around the state, deploying troops to guard airports and bridges. He has sent 1,400 of his air reservists to the Air Force, which commands the air defense patrols around the state. 

All this is in addition to the Guard’s normal workload. On Friday, the air division conducted a search-and-rescue operation for a small airplane that crashed in a remote corner of northeastern California. The plane was found, but all five people on board had died in the crash. 

“I don’t know whether I’m coming or going these days,” Monroe said. 

People’s Park 

Monroe joined the California National Guard after a stint in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After leaving the Corps, he had sent his resume out to several private firms. But few firms were interested in hiring an African American engineer in 1961, Monroe said, and eventually he followed a friend’s suggestion and joined the Guard. 

His first post was at the Presidio, where he worked as a clerk. He later took a job with the Guard’s General Services Administration in Sacramento, where he could pursue additional studies. 

By 1969, he was a captain and assistant operations officer in the 159th Infantry Division, which Gov. Ronald Reagan called into Berkeley during the confrontation over People’s Park. 

On May 20, Monroe said he was stationed on the university campus, where demonstrators were rallying at Sproul Plaza. He said he heard over the tactical radio system that the helicopter would drop tear gas onto the crowd to disperse it. Guardsmen and police were ordered to block exits from the plaza, a decision that baffled and angered Monroe. 

When the gas was dropped, no one could escape.  

“We violated all the tenets of crowd control when we did that,” he said. 

Monroe said that normally, during crowd-control operations, the first thing that is done is to issue a warning to the crowd. The next step is a show of force – police or military line up and get out their batons. Force should only be used if those methods are unsuccessful. 

And there should always be definite escape routes, Monroe said. 

“What we should have done is warn the crowd,” he said. “We should have told them that that helicopter up there is going to drop tear gas on them if they don’t disperse. 

“Some of us knew it was a mistake to begin with, but right after it happened everyone knew it was a mistake.” 

Monroe said that the tear gas spread all over campus, up into restaurants in the Student Union building. His wife, who at the time was a teacher at nearby Emerson Elementary, told him later that the gas had drifted over to their school. 

The aftermath of that day is still felt in the Guard and in Berkeley, according to Monroe. 

“To this day, the Berkeley Police Department can’t get a helicopter, because citizens remember how we used ours that day,” he said. 

Berkeley people are ‘delightful’ 

There is a clause in the deed on Monroe’s house in northeast Berkeley, he said, that stipulates that the house shall never be sold to “Negros, Orientals or Mexicans.” When he bought the place in the ’60s, he knew that he could be taken to court and forced to surrender his home at any time. 

But that never happened. Instead, he said, the neighbors showed up to welcome him into the community and invite him and his family to the weekly neighborhood volleyball game and barbecue. 

“You take the good with the bad, and in Berkeley it’s always been mostly good,” he said. “The people here are delightful.” 

His faith isn’t shaken by things like the City Council’s recent stance on the war in Afghanistan. 

“When I first heard about that, I reacted the same way everyone else did,” he said. “But then I found out that [the resolution] just said that the city was asking for the war to be ended as soon as possible. 

“I don’t disagree with that. I don’t like war either. 

“One thing that people don’t realize is that Berkeley city employees who are mobilized as members of the Guard get their full salary for a year. The city doesn’t have to do that. Bigger cities aren’t doing it.” 

Monroe’s son, Paul D. Monroe III, is one of the beneficiaries of this policy. The younger Monroe, the information technology manager for the Berkeley Unified School District, is also a Guardsman. He was “federalized” several weeks ago, and is currently serving at an army base in Southern California. 

“I saw [Mayor] Shirley Dean at a conference with Gov. Davis,” Monroe said. “She told me that she was just sorry that [the salary] couldn’t be more.” 

It was just one simple gesture, Monroe said, but for him it was a reminder of the warmth he felt for his home town. 

“I love it here,” he said. “I don’t say that to people very often, because I want to keep it a secret. I don’t want everyone else in the state moving here.” 

Monday, Nov. 26

Race, Immigration and  

American Politics Speakers  

Series 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

119 Moses Hall 

Chris Rudolph Center for International Studies, USC, “Security, Sovereignty, and International Migration.” 642-4608 www.igs.berkeley.edu 

Quilt Show 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

East Bay Heritage Quilters present their work, including art quilts, traditional bed quilts, wall hangings, group quilts, and clothing. $3 non-members. 834-3706 

Monthly meeting of the  

Oakland East Bay Chapter of  

NOW - the National 

Organization for Women  

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore & Coffee House  

6536 Telegraph 

Everyone welcome. 287-8948 

Constructing Autonomy in  

Chiapas 

6 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship 

Cedar @ Bonita 

Sendoff event for Pastors for Peace caravan that will deliver emergency aid and build housing in Chiapas. $5 - $10, including dinner. 869-2577 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Tuesday, Nov. 27

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Experimental Mid-life  

Workshop 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Street 

Miriam Chaya presents the third of three workshops rooted in modern psychology and Jewish traditional sources designed to provide participants with the skills and tools necessary to meet the challenges they will face in the second half of their lives. $35, $25 members. 848-0237 ext. 127 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

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

531-8664 

Holistic Health 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Elizabeth Forrest discusses Creative Aging in the second of two Holiday Holistic Health talks. 644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 28

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article - a community 

writers' group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

Toddler Storytime 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Library 

1125 University Ave 

For families with children three years or younger, a program to expose the youngest readers to multicultural stories, songs and finger plays. The last Storytime in the series.  

Stories of Your Amazing Body 

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

For children aged three to ten years old, escape to the magical realm of health, fun, and excitement of this ongoing storytelling series. 549-1564  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

What really happened at the UN Conference on Racism or what the press left out. 548-9696, graypanthers@hotmail.com 

Emeryville Lights of Life Day  

5 - 7 p.m. 

Emeryville Child Development Center 

1220 53rd St., Emeryville 

Community event to honor loved ones and in tribute to the helping 

and caring professions, featuring children's chorus, candle-lighting, guest 

speaker Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright with a tribute to New York 

firefighters, and a visit from the fire truck. 450-8795 

"The Nuclear Waste Problem  

and the Yucca Mountain  

Project" 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. Dr. Gudmundur (Bo) S. Bodvarsson is the Earth Sciences Division Director and the Acting Nuclear Waste Program Manager at the LBNL. Sponsored by the Berkeley Student Section of the American Nuclear Society. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

Thursday, Nov. 29

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Winter Backcountry Travel:  

Safety and Survival Tips 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Leader of the National Ski Patrol’s Northern California search and rescue team, Mike Kelly, shares his expertise on how to plan a safe adventure in the snow. Free. 527-4140 

Discussion for Women 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Katheryn Gardella, RN., discuss mobility Issues and Feling Good in this part of a series of discussions for women. 644-6107 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Attic Conversions 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by architect Andus Brandt, $35. 525-7610 

Compiled by Guy Poole

Editor: 

Sometimes we in Berkeley can get caught up in local issues and squabbles while forgetting the catastrophe taking place in Africa as 10,000 die daily worldwide of AIDS. We are in a very privileged position in the Bay Area – very few lack access to medications or other necessities. Imagine the worst days of the epidemic here in the late 1980s being multiplied by 1,000 and you have the reality of Africa today. We must start using our positions, combined with our consciousness and love to change the course of the World AIDS cataclysm. This year more than ever we must put the WORLD in World AIDS Day. 

This is a call and invitation to all Daily Planet readers concerned about AIDS to march with us on World AIDS Day Eve, Noon, November 30, beginning at Roche, 2929 Seventh St. (at Ashby), Berkeley. Roche is one of three major pharmaceutical companies aggessively seeking patents in Africa to stop importation of cheap generic treatments from India. At Roche we will hear speakers from Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sri Lanka to give us an international perspective on AIDS. 

Then we will march five blocks to Bayer to link the unmitigated greed of the pharmaceutical companies (most profitable Fortune 500 industry for the last 20 years) to lack of affordable medications. Even with the Federal government’s forced price reduction on the anthrax treatment CIPRO, Bayer’s profit on CIPRO is 65 percent according to the New York Times. Doxycyciline, another anthrax treatment, is available at 3 percent the price of CIPRO. Yet the government and leaders of the pharmaceutical industry struck a deal to protect Bayer’s 16 year monopoly on anthrax treatments. 

Presently there are 71 million Americans without prescription coverage. 

This could be you in the future as a good portion are senior citizens on Medicare. Drug prices in Canada and Europe average 60 percent of US prices. 

Prices here could be lowered and the difference made up in increased sales volume. We demand an end to patent abuse which will soon include 20 year patent monopolies worldwide, and demand cheap generic alternatives in public health emergencies such as AIDS, cancer or anthrax. 

There’s a difference between a decent rate of return and obscene profit margins — it’s increased human suffering and death. Big Pharma spends three times as much on marketing and administration than research (37-12 percent) and profits last year were 18 percent overall, with prescription drugs like CIPRO and all AIDS drugs bringing in much more. 

Think globally, act locally. Join ACT UP/East Bay, Global Exchange, California Nurses Association, Berkeley Gray Panthers, Elders for Survival, East Bay Community Law Center, Ecology Center, Vote Health, Middle East Childrens Alliance, HealthGAP, GRI Charitable Foundation, Lesbian and Gay Insurrection and Berkeley Councilmembers Maudelle Shirek and Kriss Worthington in demanding “Affordable Medications for All Nations.” Info: 510-841-4339. 

John Iversen 

Berkeley 

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 26: Renegade Sidemen w/ Calvin Keyes; Nov. 27: Jason Martineau and David Sayen; Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 26: 6:30 p.m., Vista College; Nov. 27: 8 p.m., Creole Belles, $8; Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Blake’s Nov. 26: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, $4; Nov. 27: PC Munoz and the Amen Corner, Froggy, $3; Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 26: Ellen Robinson; Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

“Music on Telegraph” Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822  

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305  

“Much Ado About Nothing” Through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Exhibits  

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960s and 1970s” Through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.org 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. 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  

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

St. Mary’s High senior Bridget Duffy captured her second straight CIF Division IV cross country state championship on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno, running through a heavy rain to take the lead during the race’s second mile and winning with a time of 18:33. 

Duffy is only the 13th female runner to win multiple state titles. She finished nearly 70 yards ahead of the second place finisher, Bishop O’Dowd’s Danila Musante. Musante also finished second behind Duffy at the North Coast Section finals. 

“I just tried to take control with one mile to go. I tried to surge every corner and hold them off,” Duffy said. 

The St. Mary’s girls finished 10th in the Division IV race. Freshman Gabi Rios-Sotelo finished 16th in a time of 19:28. 

Duffy said she actually liked running in the harsh conditions, which was a new experience for her. 

“Actually, I was hoping it would rain when (the race) started, so I was happy when it did,” Duffy said. “I’ve never run a cross country race in the rain. I think the worse the conditions, the better I can run.” 

Duffy’s time was 18 seconds slower than her winning pace last season, when the conditions were considerably better at the same course. 

St. Mary’s Rudy Vasquez finished fourth in the boys Division IV race in a time of 16:07, with Taft High’s Billy Nelson winning the race. Vasquez finished 10th at the event last season.

Prior to approving the Draft General Plan, the City Council will begin a fine tuning process Tuesday on some of the document’s housing, transportation and environmental management policies. 

The Planning Commission has spent the last two-and-a-half years shepherding the document through 12 commissions, seven outside agencies and countless hours of workshops that included input from hundreds of businesses, organizations and individuals.  

Once adopted the document will guide city policies and ordinances on a host of issues including environmental policy, development and transportation for the next 20 years. 

On Nov. 6, the council closed the final public hearing on the draft plan and has since submitted specific questions on some of the document’s 600 policies. Those questions will be the basis of a discussion list of unresolved issues that the council will consider over its next three regularly scheduled meetings and possibly a fourth special meeting.  

The council has set a goal of resolving those issues and adopting the plan by Dec. 18 even though state law only requires the council adopt the housing element before the end of the year. 

Among the issues the council will be discussing is the development of affordable housing. 

The plan has set an ambitious goal of developing 6,400 units of affordable housing during the next 20 years.  

Councilmember Maudelle Shirek and Linda Maio have asked that at least one policy be modified to help attain that goal. An Open Space policy calls for a 14 block stretch of city-owned land in west Berkeley known as the Santa Fe Right of Way be considered primarily for open space and urban gardens.  

Both Shirek and Maio asked that affordable housing be given equal priority for the property.  

Editor: 

While going through the writings of the recently deceased peace activist, Alice Hamburg, I found an article she wrote in 1952, which made me realize how long Berkeley has had a tradition of visionary political leadership. In 1952 Paul Robeson was invited to sing in Berkeley and the city was faced with the question whether the newly-built Berkeley Community Theater could be used for the concert. I was amazed at the parallels between the controversy over that question and the current one over the City’s resolution on the events of Sept. 11.  

In 1952, then Mayor Laurence Cross led the 3-2 majority that approved the controversial use of the Community Theater. The decision created a city-wide furor with hundreds of letters to the press supporting the majority decision, but also with attacks on the decision from “patriotic” organizations. Mayor Cross was not intimidated by critics who warned that the “yes” vote could be interpreted as giving support to communism. When former District Attorney Frank Coakley urged that the decision be rescinded and cautioned that a riot might take place if Robeson were allowed to sing, Mayor Cross responded that Coakley’s letter was “an inciting to riot” and that constitutional rights should not be abridged for political purposes.  

Today we have a controversial issue, the city’s resolution on Sept. 11, and a city-wide furor with an overwhelming number of supportive letters in the press. All we lack is a mayor with vision, courage, and principle.  

Unlike Mayor Cross, Mayor Dean believes that dissent is not permitted in time of national crises and, instead of standing up for the city and responding to its critics with powerful truths, she has been busy fueling the critics with false fears she has created about an alleged boycott that is no more real than was the “riot” in 1952.  

We are entitled to better leadership from our mayor — leadership that reflects the political courage of Berkeley residents. Maybe we need a new Laurence Cross for mayor! 

Jerrie Meadows 

Berkeley

Cardinal earn spot in NCAA  

championship 

tanford (20-1) defeated Cinderella California (15-7), 7-5, to claim the MPSF Tournament Championship. The Cardinal receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship.  

Even though Stanford never trailed, Cal took the Cardinal down to the final minute, with senior Spencer Dornin scoring with 21 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to a single goal. Attempting to retrieve the ball, Golden Bear head coach Peter Asch sent an extra man into the pool with eight seconds remaining, drawing a four-meter penalty shot. Stanford freshman Tony Azevedo tossed the ball into the net, effectively deciding the game.  

Dornin once again led the Bears, scoring two of his three goals in the fourth quarter. Russell Bernstein faced a slew of shots, and saved 10 out of 17.  

For the Cardinal, freshman Tony Azevedo met his three goals per game pace, one of which came just 22 seconds after the Bears had scored two straight. The Cardinal netminder, Nick Ellis, was solid, stopping five shots.  

The scoring was light early, with the game reaching halftime showing a Stanford 2-1 lead. In the third period, the Cardinal heated up, notching three goals to Cal’s one. Jeff Nesmith got things going for Stanford, flipping one past Bernstein with 1:40 gone in the frame.  

With less than three minutes to go in the match and the scoreboard showing Stanford up 5-2, Chris Lathrop kick started the Bears with a score, and Dornin followed that up with another just 50 seconds later, leaving Cal down by one. However, Azevedo got open at the Bears’ end, and put one into the corner of the net.  

Cal upset No. 2 UCLA and third-seeded USC to reach the final.

John Boss said he heard the crack around 8:00 a.m.  

Rushing outside, he saw his beautiful Ford Ranger – “not a blemish on it,” he later said – crushed by the massive, 100-year old cypress that had stood in his front yard. 

Many residents were inconvenienced by the 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts that swept through Berkeley Saturday morning. Some lost electrical service for a time, other people’s trees fell and some suffered damage to their property.  

Thankfully, though, not too many had to deal with a catastrophe on the scale that befell Boss. Not only was his truck totaled, but he lost a beautiful old tree he remembered walking past when he was a child. 

One person standing around on the street, looking at the ruins of Boss’ truck, asked him if insurance would cover it. 

“Well, we’re going to find out,” he said. 

Lt. Eric Gustafson of the Berkeley Police Department said that the police responded to numerous calls from all around the city early Saturday morning. 

“This usually happens with the first good storm of the season,” he said. “Trees come down, streets flood, the power goes out. Then, when the power comes back on, home alarms start to go off. 

“It’s always a very busy day.” 

Editor: 

I would like to respond to Yolanda Huang’s letter (“Learn S.F. lessons”) published on Nov. 20. Clearly Huang misunderstood my comments, so, for her benefit and the benefit of the community that read the misrepresentation of the facts in her letter, I would like to set the record straight. 

At the last Berkeley Unified School District board meeting I commented on the poor quality of the reports we have received from the maintenance department during the past few years. Very often we have received documents, hundreds of pages long, listing deficiencies and projects that needed to be done. Never did these reports contain appropriate levels of staff analysis, prioritization, recommended course of action, budget or proposed timelines for completing the tasks. Despite my requests in the past for this information, it was never provided to the board. At the meeting Huang refers to, I complimented staff on its summary of Measure BB expenditures, but what Huang fails to mention is that I also called to light the absence of necessary information included in the reports we regularly receive and demanded that in the future we are provided this information — information that is necessary to ensure the proper spending of BB funds. 

The school board and Superintendent Michelle Lawrence are deeply committed to spending tax dollars wisely. Any suggestion otherwise is an unfortunate misrepresentation of the facts. 

Joaquín J. Rivera 

Director, Berkeley Unified School District

The University of California women’s volleyball team defeated Auburn, 3-0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-15), Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.  

Cal (10-17) had an impressive .396 team hitting percentage and were led by 12 kills by junior Reena Pardiwala and 10 kills by junior Leah Young. The Bears also had 12 service aces, led by a career-high six service aces by senior setter/outside hitter Candace McNamee.  

Cal was down in the first game, 15-7, but behind McNamee’s four service aces, got within 15-14. The Bears got hot after that point, going on a 16-2 run to win 30-19. From there, Cal pretty much control the match, winning game two, 30-21 and game three, 30-15. McNamee, a four-year starter for the Bears, will conclude her collegiate career Sunday against Arizona State. She finished the Auburn (1-26) match with five kills and no errors in 10 attempts, had 39 assists, six service aces, seven digs and three block assists.  

Cal will finish the 2001 season hosting Arizona State, Sunday, Nov. 25 at 3 p.m. at Haas Pavilion.

OAKLAND – An Oakland airport terminal was evacuated Saturday after it was determined that passengers aboard a Southwest Airlines flight arriving from Seattle had passed through a broken metal detector. 

The problem was identified after the plane had already taken off, said Oakland International Airport spokesman George Turner. 

An unknown number of people crossed through the north security checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, operated by Alaska Airlines, before the malfunction was detected by a National Guardsman, said airport spokesman Bob Parker. 

The Oakland-bound plane landed without incident, but as part of the airport’s post Sept. 11 security plan, all travelers in that terminal were evacuated until passengers aboard the plane could be rescreened and allowed to reboard connecting flights, Turner said. 

He was unsure how many people were on the plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Hundreds of people were forced to stand outside in high winds and drizzling rains before being sent back inside to go through the check-in process again. The incident created delays and long lines that wrapped around part of the airport. Some passengers were yanked off airplanes they had already boarded and forced to stand in line again. 

“To my knowledge, that’s the first time the new procedure has been used,” Turner said. “Fortunately, it’s today and not tomorrow. It’s a fairly light travel day today.” 

Meanwhile, at Seattle-Tacoma, travelers were forced to evacuate all concourses and passenger flights were delayed at least three hours because of the broken metal detector.

A psychologist from the University of California at Berkeley suggests that the best methods for waging the war against drugs are often overlooked, caught somewhere in the middle of the rhetoric of legalization and “zero-tolerance’’ plans. 

In “Drug War Heresies,’’ a book released earlier this month, Robert MacCoun, a UC Berkeley professor of public policy and law, and Peter Reuter, who teaches criminology and public affairs at the University of Maryland at College Park, say neither zero-tolerance policies nor blanket legalization are answers to reducing drug use and drug-related problems. 

The book, which details a comprehensive study of legalization, offers an objective analysis of the alternative of complete prohibition of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. 

“I don’t think we’ll ever have a drug-free society,’’ MacCoun says. “It’s not a war that you win. It’s a problem that you manage.’’ 

The book is the culmination of 10 years of research, which investigated drug policies both in this country and abroad.  

MacCoun says that at the beginning of their research, he and his partner were “agnostic’’ on the issue and tried to look at both sides, and claim that their goal was to “elevate and inform’’ a debate that is traditionally mired by posturing. 

“In this country, we don’t really have a serious debate,’’ MacCoun says.  

“Politicians act tough out of timidity -- they are afraid to be seen as soft on drugs,’’ he added. “And intellectuals are quick to find fault with the war on drugs, but they haven’t been very serious about thinking through on the alternatives.’’ 

The book agrees that legalization proponents are, for the most part, correct in their claim that making drugs illegal is a major source of the drug-related harms, including crime, violence, and frequent overdoses. 

Angry airport security screeners at Oakland International Airport today rallied in protest of a clause in the new federal aviation security law that requires that the workers be U.S. citizens. 

The Oakland Airport employees — as well security screeners at San Francisco International Airport — fear that their jobs are in jeopardy as approximately 50 of the East Bay workers are legal permanent residents, but not U.S. citizens. 

Approximately 20 of the workers picketed outside an Oakland Airport terminal this afternoon, some of whom left their shift to join the protest. 

“These workers are very, very angry,’’ Andrea Dehlendorf, spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union Local 1817, said. “They’re being denied the opportunity to continue a job they having been doing for years.’’ 

“While the Aviation Security Act makes many positive improvements to strengthen airport security, the citizenship requirement will result in the displacement of thousands of existing airport security screeners around the country and approximately half of the workforce at Oakland International Airport,’’ Dehlendorf said.  

Union members say requiring that all security workers are U.S. citizens is an unfair and discriminatory requirement that will create “a terrible precedent against hardworking, tax-paying legal immigrant workers.’’ 

They say, “Citizenship is not required for members of the U.S. armed forces, the National Guard, pilots, flight attendants or other airport workers’’ who are working together to tighten security at airports across that nation in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

Security screeners at San Francisco International Airport cancelled a “sick-out’’ scheduled for today, which was planned to protest the same issues surrounding the U.S. citizenship requirement. 

No one from the chapter of the union that represents that SFO employees, SEIU Local 790, was available to comment today, however airport spokesman Ron Wilson said last week that “about 25 to 60 of (the SFO) screeners are non-citizens.’’ 

“But they’re doing good job. They’re friendly. We don’t get a lot of complaints about them,’’ Wilson said last Monday, the day President Bush signed the federal aviation security act into law. 

Airport security screeners at Los Angeles International Airport are staging a similar protect at LAX this afternoon. 

Public transit extensions, solar power among issues 

SAN FRANCISCO – Organizers of the San Francisco Bay area’s campaign to host the 2012 Olympics say they’ll make the event green and clean if selected. 

Promises of extended public transportation and solar power would establish the Bay Area as the most environmentally conscious Olympics in history should San Francisco get the nod, organizers claim. 

“It’s the right thing to do. It’s the practical thing to do,” said Mark Jordan of the bay Area Sports Organizing Committee. “Having the Olympics here will make the Bay Area a better place afterward.” 

Jordan’s group of political, sports and business leaders is spearheading the move to get the games held in San Francisco and 11 other surrounding cities. 

The eco-friendly commitments would include wide spread public transportation instead of parking access to all venues as far north as Sacramento and extending south to Monterey. 

Swimming pool chlorine for the events would be replaced with a high-tech ozone treatment solution. Housing for athletes and coaches would be powered by solar energy. 

Sewage and wastewater from the Olympic Village would be treated and recycled for irrigation use. 

The Sierra Club, Audubon Society and Greenbelt Alliance have all been consulted for their input on hosting an environmentally friendly Olympics. 

The U.S. Olympic Committee will name the winner of the 2012 bid next November. 

San Francisco is one of four finalists, along with New York, Houston and Washington, D.C.

SAN FRANCISCO – A runaway Muni bus took out six cars, an electric pole and a fire hydrant early Saturday morning. 

No one was seriously injured in the incident, but the San Francisco bus was out of control for two blocks on Clay Street before coming to a halt. 

The driver apparently lost control of the bus due to wet roads from Saturday’s stormy weather. 

CARMEL – Local authorities were unable to revive a man they pulled from the ocean Saturday afternoon after a witness called 911 to report the man had disappeared beneath the waves. 

Sgt. John DiCarlo of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department said various local dive and rescue groups headed to Carmel’s Ocean Beach after the call came just before 1 p.m. 

“Someone called 911 and said a man wearing a wetsuit was in the ocean and was seen going under water and did not come back to the surface for over 5 minutes,” DiCarlo said. The man had not yet been identified by the Monterey County Coroner’s office Saturday night. 

Authorities spotted the man near some kelp about 100 yards from shore. California State Parks lifeguards swam out and brought the man back to shore by 1:15 p.m., found no vital signs and tried to resuscitate the man, DiCarlo said. 

The man was pronounced dead at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula shortly thereafter.  

DiCarlo said surf conditions were rough Saturday and recommended that beachgoers keep to the shore for the duration of the stormy weather. 

RICHMOND – Police officers fatally shot a man after he holed up inside a studio and threatened to kill his twin daughters. 

Police say Michael Anthony Valdez barricaded himself inside a studio he shared with his girlfriend. He then started threatening the couple’s 18-month daughters. 

Police say two officers were able to push through a door blocked by furniture and found Valdez holding one of the babies. 

Richmond police Sergeant Enos Johnson says Valdez was unarmed and he was shot Friday because the officers believed he was going to hurt or kill the child. 

Neighbors say Valdez had been threatening to suffocate the babies. Both were unharmed but taken to a nearby hospital for a checkup. 

Two motorcycle officers collided while en route to Valdez’ house. Neither were seriously injured. 

OAKLAND – A staff photographer with the San Jose Mercury News has been missing for nearly a week, police said Saturday. 

Family members and friends said they have not seen or heard from Luci S. Houston, 43, since Tuesday. Houston had planned to pick up a friend at from Oakland International Airport on Wednesday and to attend a Thanksgiving get-together Thursday, they said. 

Friends said Houston would call people she was assigned to photograph if she was running even five minutes late. 

The Washington, D.C., native has worked as a staff photographer at the Mercury News since 1993, and previously was a staff photographer for the Plain Dealer in Cleveland. 

“We hope that anyone with information about her disappearance will immediately contact the authorities,” said Joe Natoli, president and publisher of the Mercury News. 

The Oakland resident last was seen driving a 1999 black Chevrolet Malibu, with a California license 4ETX017. 

Houston is black, about 5 feet 2 inches tall and 140 pounds with a medium build. She has dark, short, braided hair, a slight gap between her two front teeth and dark brown eyes. 

Oakland police have asked for anyone who has seen Houston to call the Missing Person hotline at (510) 238-3352 or Sgt. Tim Nolan at (510) 238-3821 to help.

SACRAMENTO – In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Don Detrich is on a mission to keep airline travel a little safer. 

Detrich has focused his frustration over air travel safety into the formation of the Flight Watch Hijacking Resistance League. It’s a fledgling organization with the goal of getting potential airplane hostages to fight back. 

Detrich wants to train special corps of passengers to serve as a skyborne militia that would attack their attackers and perhaps prevent planes from becoming lethal tools of destruction like those flown into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11. 

“People are not going to ride in their seats to their deaths again,” Detrich said. “Passengers are going to do something. The objective is to make sure it’s appropriate and effective.” 

Detrich’s idea has received mixed reviews, though a pilots’ organization has offered its support. 

Ron Lovas, a spokesman for the 67,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, says his members support Detrich’s efforts. 

“They firmly believe that security is everybody’s business,” Lovas said. “They say, ’Hey, there are a lot of passengers behind me, and if they can be used as a resource, I’m all for it.’ ” 

However, Dawn Deeks, an official with the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants, called Detrich’s would-be league of in-flight fighters a dangerous idea. 

“It’s a very risky proposition,” Deeks said. “I realize passengers are going to act out, especially knowing what they know now. But we should concentrate on training the flight crews first.” 

At first blush, one wouldn’t pick the skinny, 6-foot-2 Detrich to head any charge against menacing terrorists. He has no expertise in security or self-defense. A stint as a volunteer firefighter in Mendocino County is the closest he’s come to emergency training. 

“I initially did it as sort of a lark,” Detrich told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But the response galvanized me to take it more seriously.” 

Detrich recommends using ballpoint pens, large pieces of luggage and food carts to rush people trying to commandeer an airliner. 

“Move quickly and aggressively to disarm and confine the hijackers. You MUST subdue the hijackers BEFORE they gain control of the cockpit,” Detrich suggests on his Web site. 

Ron Lovas, a spokesman for the 67,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, says his members support Detrich’s efforts. 

“They firmly believe that security is everybody’s business,” Lovas said. “They say, ’Hey, there are a lot of passengers behind me, and if they can be used as a resource, I’m all for it.’ ” 

Detrich said he wants to create a training course, employ professional security staffers and market his idea to companies with employees who fly frequently. 

The Federal Aviation Administration officially has taken no position on passenger resistance, according to spokesman Jerry Snyder.

Accidents abound on highways as harsh weather makes travel difficult 

SACRAMENTO – Thousands of California homes remained without power Sunday morning after a Saturday storm that blew down power lines, trees and light poles all over the state. 

The storm delivered rain, snow and wind that triggered hundreds of highway collisions around the state, but the weather was expected to be milder Sunday. 

About half a million Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers lost power at some point Saturday, and about 63,000 of them remained dark early Sunday morning, utility spokesman Jonathan Franks said. 

The outages, concentrated in the San Francisco area and Santa Cruz County, were expected to be mostly corrected by later Sunday morning, but some remote areas might have to wait until Monday to get power restored, Franks said. 

Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also reported storm-related outages, but lacked information on how many customers were affected. 

Heavy winds in the Antelope Valley knocked down a light pole that fractured the skull of a 10-year-old girl in a Palmdale supermarket parking lot. The girl was reported in critical condition early Sunday morning after undergoing surgery at Antelope Valley Hospital. 

The storm temporarily closed northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Redding and sent hundreds of cars skidding into fender benders. 

“We’ve got a lot of tree limbs down and flooding. It’s a mess out there,” said Al Franklin, a communications operator with the California Highway Patrol in Sacramento. 

The CHP’s Southern California division logged 430 accidents between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., said Officer Spencer Ammons. Last week during the same period, but under dry conditions, there were 146 accidents, he said. 

In Beverly Hills, an Old Navy department store had to close due to flooding. A roof collapsed at a Kmart discount store in El Monte, but no one was hurt. 

Weather officials Saturday expected better weather for people returning home Sunday from the Thanksgiving holiday, 

“In general, if you’re not going into the mountains it should be relatively nice,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Baruffaldi in Sacramento. “If you are traveling in the higher elevations of the mountains, you’ll probably have to contend with some snow conditions and possible lingering chain requirements, depending on where you’re traveling.” 

Saturday’s storm hurled 60 mph winds and more than 1 inch of rain in parts of California; More than 2 inches fell in some parts of the Sierra Nevada and some Los Angeles County mountain areas. 

Redding saw 1.74 inches of rain, which broke the old record for the date by more than seven-tenths of an inch. Daily precipitation records also were set Saturday in Stockton, Torrance and Cuyama. 

Temperatures in the Bay Area were expected to drop and showers were expected throughout the weekend, with thunderstorms likely. 

Wind gusts recorded at San Francisco International Airport Saturday were more than 50 mph, while 61 mph gusts in Sacramento fell short of 1953’s record-setting 70 mph. 

The weather service issued high wind warnings for parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties until early Sunday, especially in the mountains and deserts. 

Gusts over 60 mph were predicted for the mountains and valleys, and a wind gust of 92 mph was clocked in Burns Canyon in San Bernardino County. 

Drivers on Interstate 80 and Highway 50 experienced slowdowns in snow and heavy rain, said CHP officials in Truckee. Westbound traffic backed up for miles on both routes Saturday afternoon as holiday travelers headed for home. Southern California travelers using I-5 over Tejon Pass were buffeted by wind gusts. 

Baruffaldi said snow levels could briefly drop to 4,000 feet Sunday morning at Tejon Pass. Otherwise, he said Sunday’s traveling forecast calls for decreasing clouds and intermittent snow and rain. 

Sierra ski resorts reported several inches of fresh snow near Lake Tahoe. 

The coldest brunt of the storm landed on California’s northern counties, where jackknifed trucks closed the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 for six hours Saturday between Fawndale Road north of Redding and Mt. Shasta. 

Caltrans reopened its northern stretch of I-5 shortly after 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The CHP then began escorting traffic north, said Sgt. Doug Pappas. 

Pappas couldn’t estimate how many vehicles were held up by the temporary closure, but said, “There’s a long line behind me.”

SACRAMENTO — The group that promoted California’s medical marijuana initiative in 1996 wants to set up a showdown with the federal government with a ballot measure that would set up a state-controlled network to distribute the drug to patients. 

Santa Monica-based Americans for Medical Rights wants the initiative on the November 2002 ballot in Arizona, Oregon or Washington, three states that also have medical marijuana laws. 

California has been ruled out because it would be too expensive to conduct a campaign there, said Bill Zimmerman, leader of the group. 

The measure, which would formalize a state government-controlled network to distribute medical marijuana, would set up an almost certain U.S. Supreme Court battle over states’ rights. 

Eight states including California have legalized marijuana for medical use, but the narcotic remains illegal for cultivation, sales and use of any sort under federal law. 

In California, home of the nation’s first medical marijuana law, an uneasy detente had reigned between federal officials and cannabis clubs until a Supreme Court ruling in May rolled back provisions of Proposition 215 that addressed the distribution of the marijuana that patients use. 

Recently federal agents have shut down a West Hollywood cannabis club endorsed by city officials, raided a Ventura County garden operated by patients and seized medical records from a prominent medical marijuana doctor in Northern California. 

Sue North, chief of staff for state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, said the actions of federal officials are hurting patients who use marijuana to ease pain or to help with nausea caused by chemotherapy or AIDS. 

“The target here isn’t dope dealers on the school grounds,” North said. “This is about stopping people with serious medical conditions from getting access to something that helps them.” 

U.S. Justice Department officials did not respond to requests for comment, but DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said agents are required to enforce drug laws. 

Americans for Medical Rights has pushed medical marijuana initiatives in several states over the last decade. It is financed largely by George Soros, a billionaire New York financier, and several other wealthy benefactors.

Company says new equipment will use less power 

SAN JOSE – In another step toward faster computers, Intel Corp. has developed two new technologies that will help the tiny transistors inside microprocessors run cooler, use less power and operate more efficiently. 

The new designs should complement several recent breakthroughs in building minuscule transistors that form the basis of all modern-day computing as they switch on and off billions of times a second. 

But as switches become tinier they use more power and release more heat. Unchecked, that would lead to short battery lives and computers too hot to be useable. 

“If we continue along that trend, we’re looking at ridiculous power levels – like a nuclear reactor or a rocket nozzle,” said Gerald Marcyk, director of Intel’s Components Research Lab. “We want to avoid that.” 

Intel researchers will present the two technologies Monday during the International Electron Device Meeting in Washington. 

It turns out that as transistors are made smaller, electrical current leaks from their microscopic components. That means more heat-generating power is needed for them to function. 

In one solution, transistors are built in a thin layer of silicon on top of an embedded layer of insulator. The “depleted substrate” transistor has 100 times lower leakage than current solutions, Marcyk said. 

The other solution involves the use of a new material – high k gate dieletric – that replaces silicon dioxide between the gate and active area of a transistor. The new material reduces leakage by more than 10,000 times. 

“What I’m looking for is 25 times more transistors, 10 times the speed and no power increase,” Marcyk said. 

Earlier this year, Intel unveiled transistors just 20 nanometers wide. (A nanometer is about 10,000 times narrower than a human hair.) Today’s Pentium 4 has 42 million transistors, each about 180 nanometers. 

The number of transistors in a microprocessor is expected to be in the billions within a few years. But few consumers would be interested if their computers raised electric bills or required a refrigeration system. 

The new technology is expected to be incorporated into Intel’s product lines as early as 2005, when microprocessors will be as adept at handling sounds and images as today’s chips are at crunching numbers.

American flags, firefighters used to attract customers, encourage spending 

LOS ANGELES – California retailers pitched patriotism along with product as they kicked off what was predicted to be a sluggish holiday shopping season. 

There were star-spangled gift bags at one mall and New York firefighters flipped the switch on decorations along Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive. At Sacramento’s Downtown Plaza, shops were awash with patriotic displays: flags, posters and signs saying “God Bless America” and “United We Stand.” 

“I’m definitely shopping this year to help the country,” Michelle Smith of San Francisco said Friday as she awaited her daughter’s return from a search for a fleece jacket at San Francisco Centre shopping mall. 

American themes were largely evident on the day after Thanksgiving on ornaments, 2002 calendars and other items as malls enticed customers to dig deeper despite recent layoffs and gloomy economic forecasts. 

San Jose resident Rhonda Wall said she’s between jobs and it’s affecting her shopping habits. 

“I am more conservative in shopping this year, but I will shop,” Wall said. “This year’s really special. I’m spending more time with family and I’m doing more things at home. It’s important because of what happened.” 

At tourist-oriented Destination Sacramento, flag-bedecked T-shirts and sweat shirts sold briskly. Store manager Marnie Stiles said a mix of patriotism and Christmas looks good for business. 

Among the specials Friday: a free “America the Beautiful” T-shirt with a $50 purchase from the store. 

The Washington-based National Retail Federation predicts total holiday retail sales, excluding restaurant and auto sales, will rise in the range of 2.5 percent to 3 percent, to roughly $206 billion. That would make it the country’s worst retail performance since 1990, when sales were basically unchanged. 

Many shoppers said they would do what they could for the economy, but were working within much tighter budgets this year. 

At San Diego’s Fashion Valley Mall, Ann Brannon, 54, of Carlsbad, N.M., had a shopping bag filled with tennis shoes, books and a Harry Potter calendar, but said she planned to be more conservative with her spending. 

“I just don’t feel the need to spend more. I’ve gotta keep more in the pillowcase back home,” she joked. 

Her brother, Robert Michelson, 51, who works maintenance at a potash mine in Carlsbad, N.M., said layoffs at his company have him watching his wallet very closely. “I’m worried about my job, worried about the economy. ... I’m spending less this year.” 

The pair have considered making some patriotic buys, however. They’re looking for a car flag for their drive back home on Saturday. 

Even in posh Beverly Hills, shoppers were passing by the 50 percent off signs and weighing purchases more carefully. 

“There are more parking spaces around here than I’ve ever seen before,” said David Diltz, who, with his wife, Eileen, was window shopping on Rodeo Drive. 

Colleen Kareti said she spent the tax check she received as part of President Bush’s economic stimulus package on a new television. She and her son Kris walked by a Versace store on Rodeo Drive on Friday but didn’t plan to buy anything. 

“It’s just a browsing day,” Kris Kareti said.

Toll roads are holding back freeway work 

SANTA ANA – It seemed like a good idea at the time, but critics say state guarantees designed to help toll roads survive are now hampering anti-gridlock efforts. 

Toll road owners can veto public highway improvements such as new lanes if they would take away customers. They successfully blocked expansion of the Riverside Freeway, one of the most congested in the state. Potentially, they could prevent the widening of a third of the 222 miles of freeway in Orange County. 

The county has 61 miles of toll road, more than anywhere else in California, operated by the $3.7-billion Transportation Corridor Agencies. 

“Toll roads are an evil necessity,” said Tim Keenan, a board member of the Orange County Transportation Authority. “They were an innovative solution to build freeways, but the burden of their success should not fall on all the drivers in Orange County.” 

The clauses were deemed a good idea back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when California lacked money to build or expand freeways and the population of some regions was soaring. 

Pay-as-you-go roads could handle some of the traffic. The agreements were designed to give investors and bond-buyers confidence that the roads would be a success. 

“These highways would have never been built or never built in the time frame we built them in,” said Walter D. Kreutzen, chief executive of the Transportation Corridor Agencies. “There is still a shortage of state funds for highways.” 

But state Attorney General Bill Lockyer argues restricting freeway construction to help the tollways was a mistake. 

“What we now have is a two-tiered system: a road system for the wealthy and a deteriorating one for the rest of us,” he said. “The toll road is just a polite form of highway robbery.” 

One success story is the privately owned 91 Express Lanes, which run on the Riverside County Freeway median for 10 miles from Anaheim to the Riverside County line. The four lanes opened in 1995 and are packed during rush hours. Commuters pay more than $8 a day for a round trip. 

Under an agreement with the California Department of Transportation, the toll road owners can currently veto highway improvements along 30 miles of the freeway if they would take away customers. The protection ends in 2030 when the lanes will become public. 

In the meantime, tollway owners went to court in the late 1990s to prevent Caltrans from widening the freeway. Under a settlement, Caltrans can add new lanes only when volume increases 37 percent from the current figure, which could take as long as 15 years at current projections. 

The settlement prompted burgeoning Riverside County to sue the tollway owners and Caltrans last year. The city of Corona sued the agency several months ago. 

“The agreement has allowed a private company to put a stranglehold on the Riverside Freeway,” said Jeffrey V. Dunn, an attorney for Riverside County. “You can’t put a company’s profit above public welfare.” 

In Irvine, transportation officials are trying to determine whether plans to widen offramps and bridges and otherwise ease congestion at five “chokepoints” on the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways would violate a toll road agreement. 

The San Joaquin Hills Tollway could lose motorists, said James D. Brown, director of engineering and environmental planning for the toll road operator. 

“We are not here to stop projects,” Brown said, “but we need a safety net.”

SANTA ANA – A Nebraska man who travels around to gun shows trying to sell his how-to book on germ warfare was banned from an exhibit this weekend at the Orange County Fairgrounds. 

Bob Templeton, owner of the Crossroads of the West Gun Show, said he was surprised Timothy W. Tobiason was trying to sell his self-published book “Advanced Biological Weapons Design and Manufacture” at the shows. 

The 250-page book, which includes a recipe for anthrax, was being sold under the table at a Crossroads show in Salt Lake City last weekend, Templeton said, adding that he won’t be allowed any of his future exhibits. 

“He is clearly a very troubled person,” Templeton said. “We don’t tolerate any literature that’s racist or advocates the violent overthrow of the government.” 

Tobiason, a 45-year-old agricultural-chemicals entrepreneur, said he sells about 2,000 copies of his book a year and moves from gun show to gun show across America. 

Crossroads shows are held almost every weekend and move among California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado.

Protests come fast and furious from religious and political groups 

BOSTON – A research company reported Sunday it had cloned the first human embryo, a development it said was aimed at producing genetically matched replacement cells for patients with a wide range of diseases. 

But the news from Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, Mass., drew swift protests from religious and political leaders who saw it as a step toward cloning human beings. 

Several states, including California, have banned human cloning, and Congress is considering such a ban. But company officials insisted their work is the first step in providing hope for people with spinal injuries, heart disease and other ailments. 

“These are exciting preliminary results,” said Dr. Robert P. Lanza, one of the researchers at Advanced Cell Technology. “This work sets the stage for human therapeutic cloning as a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine.” 

Lanza and the company’s top executive Michael West said they had no interest in transplanting such early embryos into a woman’s womb to give birth to a cloned human being, nor was it clear that their embryo would be capable of that. 

But the Washington D.C.-based National Right to Life Committee wasted little time Sunday denouncing the announcement. 

“This corporation is creating human embryos for the sole purpose of killing them and harvesting their cells,” said the group’s legislative director Douglas Johnson. “Unless Congress acts quickly, this corporation and others will be opening human embryo farms.” 

And a critic of the company who used to sit on ACT’s ethics board said Advanced Cell’s announcement was premature and would serve only to encourage such harsh reaction against cloning. 

Glenn McGee, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist who resigned from Advanced Cell Technology’s ethics advisory board, called the announcement “nothing but hype.” He said the company’s report lacks any significant details, including what cells company scientists actually grew from the cloned embryo. The paper doesn’t say if Advanced Cell was able to derive any human embryonic stem cells from its cloning effort. 

“They are doing science by press release,” he said. 

In findings published Sunday by The Journal of Regenerative Medicine and described online in Scientific American, the scientists said they had grown a six-cell human embryo. 

They said they created the early embryo by injecting a very small cell with its genetic material into a woman’s donated egg. In such cloning, the injected DNA often comes from a skin cell, but the researchers this time used a cumulus cell, which nurtures a developing egg. 

This technique could produce replacement cells only for a woman of childbearing age, since the injected DNA comes from a woman’s reproductive system. However, the scientists have been experimenting with injecting adult skin cells into the eggs as well. 

In a separate experiment, the scientists showed they could push the development of human egg cells even further with a technique known as parthenogenesis. In that process, they said, six eggs reprogrammed themselves to develop into early embryos. 

Such eggs would be largely compatible with the genetics of the egg donor. 

The scientists described all the work as preliminary. Neither experiment has yet produced the coveted stems cells, master cells which grow into all kinds of body tissues. 

Other research groups in this country and abroad have plunged into efforts to clone human beings for either reproductive or therapeutic purposes — that is, using genetically matched cells for treating disease. 

And last September, a report from the National Academy of Sciences — an independent, congressionally chartered organization — said therapeutic cloning should be pursued. 

Dr. Norman Fost, director of the bioethics program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he believes a “slippery slope” argument for banning therapeutic cloning is a poor approach. 

One could have made such a case against test-tube fertilization, which has turned out to be beneficial, and which also can be seen as a step toward cloning humans, he said Sunday. 

The announcement by the Massachusetts researchers, he said, is “a basic part of making stem cell research useful for human beings.” That, he said is “a path which the huge majority of the American people favor.” 

The researchers described their work as an important step toward producing stem cells to generate replacement cells as treatments for diabetes, heart disease, spinal injuries, and many other ailments. 

“We think we’ve shown that it’s going to be possible, in the lifetime of many of us, to take a cell from our body and, by using cloning technology ... to take a patient’s cell back in time using the egg cells, sort of a little time machine, and then making these cells that we’ve heard so much over the last few months, the embryonic stem cell, to make your own embryonic stem cells, young cells,” said Michael West, president of Advanced Cell Technology. 

But using human embryos for such work faces huge hurdles in Congress, which has talked about an outright ban on cloning. 

Asked about the research on “Fox News Sunday,” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said while he only had sketchy details, he was worried about reproductive cloning. He called the reports “disconcerting.” 

“I think it’s going in the wrong direction,” he said. 

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Richard Shelby, D-Ala., said “I believe it will be perhaps a big debate, but at the end of the day I don’t believe that we’re going to let the cloning of human embryos go on.” 

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told CNN’s “Late Edition” that “the Senate should be deliberative.” 

“We really ought to take it on the basis of much more thorough understanding than this first report,” he said. 

Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, predicted that Congress will ultimately allow human cloning for therapeutic purposes. “Therapeutic cloning as been gaining allies as its applications are understood,” he said.

OXFORD, Conn. – Less than a day after investigators swabbed Immanuel Lutheran Church for any signs of anthrax, about 250 people gathered there Saturday to remember the 94-year-old woman who is the nation’s fifth anthrax victim. 

Ottilie Wilke Lundgren was described by friends and family as a loving woman who took joy in collecting owl knickknacks – her initials were O.W.L. – and had an occasional Manhattan with dinner. 

Her pastor, the Rev. Richard Miesel, recalled a phrase Lundgren used to say when she left church: “I’m an old lady, but it has its advantages. I can say anything I want.” 

Miesel told mourners that while Lundgren’s death has caused fear, people should take comfort in the belief that God is a protector of his people. 

“The world is often a dangerous place, and yet we have a champion who fights on our side with a weapon of the spirit,” Miesel said after the service. 

Lundgren died Nov. 21 of inhalation anthrax, five days after being admitted to Griffin Hospital in Derby with pneumonia-like symptoms. 

Hope for a relatively simple explanation to her infection dimmed Friday when preliminary testing of Lundgren’s home found no signs of the deadly bacteria. 

“Testing was focused on the so-called mail trail,” Gov. John G. Rowland said. “Samples were taken from the house, the garbage, the mail box; all samples have tested negative for anthrax.” 

Federal and state investigators also tested samples from the two post offices that deliver mail to Oxford. 

All tests except one at the Seymour post office came back negative. The outstanding test needed to be reviewed, but Rowland said Friday investigators did not believe the test would come back positive. 

Testing continued Saturday, with investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fanning out into this rural town of about 9,800 people. 

Agents in plain clothes collected samples at the church and conducted interviews at a nearby bank. 

No further results were expected before Monday, said William Gerrish, a spokesman for the state Health Department. 

“As to now, nothing has been reported positive, which is good news, but from the investigation’s point of view, I guess it’s not good news because it doesn’t help point the investigation,” Gerrish said. 

Lundgren seldom left her home except to visit the library, the beauty parlor, doctors’ offices and her church. 

Oxford First Selectwoman Kathy Johnson said some who attended Saturday’s private service didn’t know Lundgren, but came anyway to pay their respects. 

“This is probably the most peaceful hours I’ve spent in the last four days — in this church. There was a lot of love for this woman in there,” Johnson said. 

A public memorial was planned for Sunday night at the same church. 

Testing has shown that the strain of anthrax that killed her was similar to strains found in other recent cases. It was a “naturally occurring” strain and susceptible to antibiotics, said CDC spokeswoman Nicole Coffin. 

The strain’s natural origin does not reduce the likelihood that it had been manufactured. Only 18 cases of natural inhalation anthrax have been recorded in the last 100 years, said Lisa Swenarski, a CDC spokeswoman in Atlanta, so the Oxford case is “most likely the result of a criminal act.”

Those who have worked with Dr. Rebecca Wheat would have to say she embodies the title of her new book “The Spirited Principal.” Becky Wheat’s spirit is indomitable. 

Wheat began her career in Berkeley in 1968 as an Early Childhood teacher. Each foggy morning, she performed lively puppet shows on the asphalt yard of the West Berkeley Children’s Center. When she moved on to classroom teaching, she was a much beloved first grade teacher at LeConte School. Upon completing her doctorate at UC Berkeley in Educational Psychology, Wheat was tapped to be principal at Arts Magnet School. And from there she went on to become principal for the entire Early Childhood Program.  

Her next appointment was as principal at Rosa Parks School, the rebuilt and renamed “Columbus” on Allston Way and Seventh Street, where her colleagues said she took on the job with vigor and competence.  

Since she’s a woman who rarely slows down, she visited classrooms daily and quickly learned the names of all the families. She was adept at delegating responsibility and made staff and parents see that necessary things could get done, and with consensus. Wheat helped the K-5 school create a cohesive school community.  

She retired from Berkeley Unified Schools a little more than year ago, but she has already been hired back to work as a support coach and mentor for new principals.  

By observing support programs offered to new teachers, it became obvious that ample support retains new teachers in the profession. Getting and keeping competent principals is a difficult task, Wheat said. Principals, she added, need the same kind of support new teachers need. The principal not only must bring a deep understanding of how children learn to do the job, but also must set the tone for the entire school.  

In the past, when the principal’s word was “the word,” teachers often moved from their low-salaried positions into principal jobs. But as the discrepancy between teacher salaries and principal salaries diminished, and the responsibilities of the principal’s job increased, fewer teachers have been interested in stepping up to this particular challenge.  

Wheat’s coaching model provides practical ideas and on-the-job training to principals drowning in the daily flood of requests and demands.  

A principal is a middle person, a real “heart attack” position, Wheat said. They must respond to the parents and staff at their site and to the directives from the administration. They must also stay mindful of the children’s needs. At the same time, a principal must be conversant with laws, policies, procedures, must be a grant writer and a fund-raiser and must often take responsibility for additional programs at her site beyond the school day.  

Staying involved in the classroom, Wheat asserts, is one of the saving graces for a principal. It is the exciting part of the day, watching teachers and children work together. There is a tendency for principals to become isolated in their offices responding to piles of paper work, but stepping out of the office and into the classroom renews a principal’s spirit.  

Wheat’s book is full of practical advice and strategies for today’s principals. She begins her analysis of the job by stressing the importance of building and maintaining trust with staff, children and parents. Even the slightest grumbling in front of staff or parents can undermine this trust, she points out. Principals should have a sounding board of friends off site to share concerns with and therefore keep trust lines open at work. 

A strategy Wheat calls Mega Tuesdays handles the numerous committee meetings mandated by funding sources. One Tuesday a month all the committees meet at different hours throughout the afternoon and evening. There is a reporting out period and all the requirements are fulfilled with just one night out. This keeps parents and staff home with their families the rest of the evenings. Setting boundaries though easily said, is hard to do. Mega Tuesdays helps with the exhaustion generated by seemingly unending hours at work. 

Wheat’s book is an easy read and refreshing. There’s an edge of humor and a depth of experience that any new principal could learn from. It’s the kind of book that could even bring new recruits into principal training programs.  

Her coaching and mentoring will do the same. Because Berkeley schools are “full of creative, energetic people who are committed to looking at the needs of all the children,” Wheat enjoys working here.  

It’s no surprise that, in retirement, Becky Wheat has several other jobs she attends to including supervising principals for UC Berkeley Principal’s Institute and teaching at San Francisco State University. She and her husband Solomon Wheat, an Oakland teacher, have two grown children, Derek and Caitlyn, and one grandchild, Sean who has inherited the family’s energy and enormous appeal. Wheat delights in the time she spends with her family now that she “is retired.” 

Dr. Rebecca Wheat’s book The Spirited Principal: Strategies that Work is published by Pro-Active Publications of Lancaster, Pa and is available through the publisher at 717-290-1660 and www.proactivepublications.com 

Mary Barrett is a Berkeley teacher and freelance writer. 

Saturday, Nov. 24

Celebrate Music on Telegraph 

2 - 4 p.m. 

The Village 

2556 Telegraph Ave. 

Shoppers and visitors to the cultural heart and soul of Berkeley will be treated to the joyful sound of music throughout the holiday season. Joe Chellman Quartet performs, sponsored by the Telegraph Business Improvement District and the Telegraph Area Association. 486-2366 

Santa's Solstice Bazaar 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Metaversal Lightcraft 

1708 University Ave. 

Come shop while kids visit with Santa for free. Fine arts, crafts, 

clothing and gift booths in a magical and colorful scene. 644-2032, www.lightcraft.org. 

Open Center 

10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

The Center is open for exercise and lunch. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will be shown at 1 p.m. 644-6107 

Teddy Bear Festival 

1 p.m., 3 p.m. 

Pacific Film Archive Theater 

2575 Bancroft Way 

Children get to march their teddy bears through the theater, and then watch animated teddy bear films. $3.50. 642-1412 

Sunday, Nov. 25

Celebrate Music on Telegraph 

2 - 4 p.m.  

Greg’s Pizza 

2311 Telegraph Ave. 

Shoppers and visitors to the cultural heart and soul of Berkeley will be treated to the joyful sound of music throughout the holiday season. Downtown Uproar performs, sponsored by the Telegraph Business Improvement District and the Telegraph Area Association. 486-2366 

United Genders of the  

Universe 

7 p.m. 

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave. 

An all ages genderqueer group for anyone who views gender as having more than 2 options. 548-8283  

Teddy Bear Festival 

1 p.m., 3 p.m. 

Pacific Film Archive Theater 

2575 Bancroft Way 

Children get to march their teddy bears through the theater, and then watch animated teddy bear films. $3.50. 642-1412 

Wild Life or Dinner 

noon 

The Fellowship of Humanity 

411 28th St., Oakland 

Eric Mills, coordinator for Action for Animals, speaks out against live-animal food markets in Oakland. 451-5818, humanisthall@ yahoo.com 

Monday, Nov. 26

Race, Immigration and American Politics Speakers Series 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

119 Moses Hall 

Chris Rudolph Center for International Studies, USC, “Security, Sovereignty, and International Migration.” 642-4608 www.igs.berkeley.edu 

Quilt Show 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

East Bay Heritage Quilters present their work, including art quilts, traditional bed quilts, wall hangings, group quilts, and clothing. $3 non-members. 834-3706 

Monthly meeting of the Oakland East Bay Chapter of NOW - the National Organization for Women.  

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore & Coffee House  

6536 Telegraph Ave. 

Everyone welcome. 287-8948 

Constructing Autonomy in Chiapas 

6 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship 

Cedar @ Bonita 

Sendoff event for Pastors for Peace caravan that will deliver emergency aid and build housing in Chiapas. $5 - $10, including dinner. 869-2577 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new elementary and middle school campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Tuesday, Nov. 27

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Experimental Mid-life Workshop 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Miriam Chaya presents the third of three workshops rooted in modern psychology and Jewish traditional sources designed to provide participants with the skills and tools necessary to meet the challenges they will face in the second half of their lives. $35, $25 members. 848-0237 ext. 127 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

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

531-8664 

Holistic Health 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Elizabeth Forrest discusses Creative Aging in the second of two Holiday Holistic Health talks. 644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 28

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article - a community 

writers' group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

– Compiled by Guy Poole 

The Vine Street Pumping Plant is a modest, unobtrusive building, set quietly back from the street. It was built in 1930 by the East Bay Municipal Water District (EBMUD) and is part of a larger story about water rights, the commerce of water, water monopolies, and finally, the creation of the publicly owned East Bay Municipal Utility District in 1923. 

Before the creation of the public water district, property owners got their water either from their own wells, often pumped by windmills, or from private water companies.  

The biggest local water baron was Anthony Chabot whose Contra Costa Water Company had complete control of water in Oakland between 1858 and 1893.  

By 1906 the Contra Costa Water Company, now called the Peoples Water Company, had merged with other water companies and controlled all the water from Richmond to San Leandro. Although the public was not entirely happy with the quality or consistency of its water, the voters and Legislature did not approve the acquisition of the private water company until 1923 after many ballot measures had failed.  

With approval, the voters also mandated that a new source of water be found.  

The Mokelumne River was identified, and in 1924 bonds were approved to build a dam. The Pardee Dam and Mokelumne Aqueduct were complete in 1929. The pipeline carrying water to the East Bay is 94 miles long and tunnels carry water from Lafayette Reservoir through the hills to Berkeley.  

The Vine Street Pumping Plant was the first, and most elaborate, of the pumping stations built for the water coming from the Sierra.  

The East Bay finally had reliable and pure water, but no sewage treatment plant. EBMUD did not want the job of disposing of the sewage and it wasn’t until 1951 that the sewage treatment plant, located near the approach to the Bay Bridge, was operating. Before 1951 all sewage, both domestic and industrial, went directly into the Bay. The dumping of sewage into the Bay caused a horrible smell near the tidelands at low tide. Often called the “big stink,” the smelly tidelands took decades to clear.  

Susan Cerny is author of “Berkeley Landmarks” and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

Editor: 

There is a lot of unhappiness with the Transportation Element of the General Plan, specifically policy T-35, which would improve access to downtown Berkeley for working and shopping by making better use of available parking and public transportation. 

Public transportation enthusiasts like me see a salutary shift from cars to buses, resulting in less traffic congestion and air pollution. But people who run downtown enterprises see a dwindling number of customers, because there won’t be enough parking. 

At a recent City Council meeting, there was a long parade of public comment, calling for more parking. It wasn’t all store owners: nearly the entire staff of the downtown YMCA turned out. Customers, Y members, visitors to Habitot and patrons of the arts are said to be turning away from downtown for lack of a parking space. 

Well, what about the bus? I’d have thought that people who come to the Y for exercise would not be too delicate to get on a bus, or walk from the bus stop. 

Not so. Judging from the comments, a large number of people who come downtown are either old, or encumbered with young children or freight. Most of the able and unencumbered remainder feel public transit is inconvenient, takes too long or doesn’t serve where they live. So they want to drive. 

Well, if this is the way things are, maybe I’ve been wrong to promote public transit. My assumption has been that most people want to reduce congestion. I’ve gotten that idea from reading about several polls that put congestion as the number one urban problem. 

But if all these people really aren’t willing to use public transit, really want to drive and park, then maybe congestion is really not such a problem after all. Given this revelation, here’s a different public policy: 

Public transit should be provided, but only enough to satisfy the demand from people who are transit-dependent or who choose not to drive. 

Transportation policy should focus on improving roads and providing plenty of parking. The next time there’s a poll that complains about congestion, it can be ignored. As long as they can drive, as long as there is parking, most people can hang tough with any amount of congestion and air pollution. 

Well, that’s a relief. If AC Transit wants to focus on the high-ridership corridors, then that’s the way to go. Maybe one or two people might switch from driving a car to riding those Bus Rapid Transit vehicles. But the main job of public transit will be moving the poor and other transit-dependent part of the population. Everyone else will be free to drive and fill the streets and parking lots. 

If we make the truly informed choice to put up with congestion as the price of unlimited car use, then that’s freedom. 

There’s no point in wasting tax money on transit if only so many are ever going to use it. 

Something may have to be done when the Environmental Protection Agency comes down on our region for excess air pollution, but the Bush Administration may find some clever political solution to that. 

So maybe I’ll forget about promoting bus riding, and join the call for the elimination of policy T-35. Let freedom ring; let there be plenty of parking, minimal bus service and let everyone stop worrying and learn to love congestion. 

Steve Geller 

Berkeley 

Berkeley Rep opened a stylish and visually rich production of William Shakespeare’s dark sex comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” on Tuesday in the company’s new Roda Theater performance space on Addison Street. 

“Much Ado” features Shakespeare’s classic bickering couple, Beatrice and Benedick. These are two young people who can’t stand each other. They spend their time together trading insults – only to discover in the end that they are passionately in love. 

“Much Ado” sets itself a tough assignment. It compares the human passion for war with the human passion for love, and looks for some kind of scale on which these two polar behaviors can be measured and evaluated. 

In the basic set-up, soldiers returning home from battle seek out the women they are interested in. Director Brian Kulick has set the play during World War I, Italy, and, with scenic designer Mark Wendland, has given the production a powerful visual identity. 

At the top of the play, for example, a steeply angled white platform with stylized red roses growing from it rakes sharply upstage away from the audience. This creates a white hillside spotted with flowers on which the returning soldiers lounge to gather their bearings before plunging back into gentle society and the art of lovemaking. 

At the same time, a large, elegant, stone mansion, presumably the house in which much of the play’s action unfolds, hangs in the air over the back of the stage. This is a reminder of domestic values, versus military values. At times the house descends to stage level where it can be rolled around as a backdrop for other scenes. On one occasion, the house opens. 

Elsewhere, returning soldiers in their skivvies splash from waist up in a pool of water set below stage level. On several occasions, rows of leafless white trees, either silhouetted against a bright backdrop, or descending from the flyspace above, comment on the human effort to organize nature. 

In one particularly striking scene, the players upend several baskets of oranges, rolling them onto the large white performance area, where the oranges sit randomly for several scenes as the actors walk around and through them. 

“Much Ado” is a play that meditates on the conflict between yin and yang. Its resolution, Elizabethan-style, requires wit, compassion, awareness and humility. “Nothing” of the play’s title is a pun on an Elizabethan slang word for female genitalia. 

As Beatrice and Benedick trash-talk their way through the play’s "merry war," several bitter malcontents try to wreck the world of romance with insidious counterplots. 

Shakespeare fills his story with many double-meanings and juxtapositions of paradox. Such paradoxes reflect the contradictions that seem inherent in the conflict between the passion for love and the passion for war. 

If there’s a minus to this production, it’s that the stylish visual spectacle threatens to overwhelm the actors and the human part of the production. The story of Beatrice (a subdued Francesca Faridany) and Benedick (a hesitant Sterling Brown), in particular, seems to get lost at times in the large, extravagant staging. 

Likewise, the aborted wedding of Hero (Noel True) and Claudio (Nathan Darrow) feels at times generic on the striking, visually-oriented, white set, rather than personal and human. 

But the performances themselves are generally proficient. Charles Shaw Robinson is smooth and effective as the understated prince Don Pedro, his quick judgments that work well in the battlefield bringing havoc to the peacetime landscape. 

Elijah Alexander is a disturbing presence as the prince’s villainous, slightly pigeon-toed brother Don John, scheming to ruin the lives of others. Julian Lopez-Morillas brings a wide band of emotion to Leonato, father of the bride – joyous, preoccupied, stuffy, indignant, humiliated, and compassionate. 

Former Pickle Circus and Cirque de Soleil clown Geoff Hoyle is an amusing Dogberry, the unhinged, crackpot cop who speaks in his own wacky language of malapropisms. Andy Murray is sinister henchman Borachio, brought to justice finally by Dogberry and his motley crew. 

“Much Ado about Nothing” is a dark story that tries to understand the complicated human relationship between the passions of war and the passions of love. Berkeley Rep has mounted a stylish, thoughtful and visually striking staging of this difficult play.

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 24: Tilt, Missing Link, Cry Baby Cry; Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Nov. 24: Tipsy House Irish Band; Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 24: Carl Garrett Jazz Quartet; Nov. 25: Acoustic Soul; Nov. 26: Renegade Sidemen w/ Calvin Keyes; Nov. 27: Jason Martineau and David Sayen; Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 24: 9:30 p.m., Lavay Smith And Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, $11; Nov. 25: 9 p.m., The King of Calypso Mighty Sparrow, $15; Nov. 26: 6:30 p.m., Vista College; Nov. 27: 8 p.m., Creole Belles, $8; Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Blake’s Nov. 19: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, $4; Nov. 20: Mr. Q, View From Here, $3; Nov. 21: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 22: Ascension, $5; Nov. 23: Solemite, TBA, $5; Nov. 24: Dank Man Shank, Locale AM, $5; Nov. 25: Out of The Ashes, Wonderland Ave., $3; Nov. 26: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, $4; Nov. 27: PC Munoz and the Amen Corner, Froggy, $3; Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 21: Raun Fables and Noe Venable; Nov. 23 & 24: Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum and Todd Sickafoose; Nov. 25: Sylvia Herold; Nov. 26: Ellen Robinson; Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

Jupiter Nov. 21: Starchild; All shows 8 p.m. and free. 2821 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625/ www.jupiter.com 

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

“Music on Telegraph” Nov. 25: Downtown Uproar, Greg’s Pizza, 2311 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

Theater 

Splash Circus Nov. 23, 24, 25: 2 p.m., “Odyssey,” an outer space circus adventure featuring circus performers ages 10 - 14 years old. $14 adults, $7 kids under 14. Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave. 655-1265, www.splashcircus.com. 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822 www.auroratheatre.org 

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305 www.transparenttheater.org 

“Much Ado About Nothing” Nov. 20 through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 21: 7 :30 p.m., Macbeth; Nov. 23: 7:30 p.m., The Bank Dick; 9:05 p.m., Unfaithfull Yours; Nov. 24: 7 p.m., Touch of Evil; 9:05 p.m., The Narrow Margin; Nov. 25: 5:30 p.m., Grand Illusion; 7:45 p.m., Harvest; Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Exhibits  

“In Through the Outdoors” Through Nov. 24: Featuring seven artists who work in photography and related media including sculpture and video, this exhibit addresses the shift in values and contemporary concerns about the natural world that surrounds us. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traywick Gallery, 1316 Tenth St. www.traywick.com 

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960s and 1970s” Through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.org 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. 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  

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — California avoided its first winless season since 1897 and gave outgoing coach Tom Holmoe a going-away present by beating Rutgers 20-10 on Friday. 

Freshman Terrell Williams ran for a career-best 185 yards and a touchdown, and Kyle Boller threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to LaShaun Ward as the Golden Bears (1-10) ended a school-record 13-game losing streak. 

Mark Jensen added field goals of 22 and 37 yards as California won for the first time since beating Southern California 28-16 on Oct. 28, 2000. 

Holmoe, who announced his resignation Nov. 4, was doused with a bucket of some kind of liquid with 30 seconds left in the game. He then hugged a few players and coaches before walking off the field with only his 16th win in 55 games over five seasons at California. 

Ryan Cubit threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end L.J. Smith, and Ryan Sands kicked a 25-yard field goal for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights (2-9) ended coach Greg Schiano’s rookie season with a four-game losing streak. 

The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 15, but was rescheduled after the attacks on the World Trade Center. 

California, which came into the final game having allowed a school-record 421 points, limited Rutgers to 189 yards. Defensive end Tully Banta-Cain, who had four sacks all season, had four more Friday. 

The Golden Bears’ last winless season was in 1897 when they went 0-3-2. The 10 losses were the most in school history. 

California, which had only led once at the half this season, took a 17-3 lead to the locker room. 

Williams put the Golden Bears with a 37-yard touchdown run off right tackle with 5:55 left in the first quarter. Williams also started the two-play, 55-yard drive with an 18-yard run. 

The lead increased to 14-0 the next time California got the ball. Boller ended the six-play 58-yard drive hitting three consecutive passes, the last one a 40-yard post pattern to Ward on a fourth and 2 with 1:21 left in the first quarter. 

Boller finished 15-of-26 for 193 yards and an interception. 

Each team had one second-quarter drive that ended with a field goal. 

Cubit hit consecutive 24-yard passes to Delrico Fletcher and Aaron Martin to set up Sands’ 25-yard field goal with 9:04 left in the quarter. 

Ward caught a 33-yard pass and ran 15 yards on a reverse to set up Jensen’s 22-yard field goal with 3:40 left in the half. 

The Cubit-to-Smith TD pass in the third quarter got Rutgers to 17-10, but Cal iced the game with 6:48 to play when Jensen kicked a 37-yard field goal after a 21-yard punt by Rutgers’ Mike Barr.

Shoppers from around the Bay Area made the traditional post-Thanksgiving pilgrimage to the region’s retail outlets on Friday, and more than a few of them chose Berkeley’s Fourth Street shopping district as their primary destination. 

Many came, but was it enough? Specialty retailers, like those found on Fourth Street, often depend on Christmas sales to get them through the year, and this season there are plenty of reasons for them to worry. 

The National Bureau of Economic Research appeared, on Friday, to be on the verge of officially declaring that the country’s economy is in recession, as has long been suspected.  

The Conference Board, another economic research group, recently reported that shoppers in the Pacific states planned to spend about 17-percent less on Christmas gifts than the average U.S. resident. Last month, the same organization reported that consumers’ confidence in the economy plummeted between September and October. 

And for Berkeley retailers, there looms the vague and still mostly unsubstantiated threat of a boycott on city businesses following the City Council’s highly publicized stance on the war in Afghanistan. 

Still, Fourth Street’s sidewalks were bustling Friday morning, with shoppers, street performers and representatives from local charities – all hoping to make the most of a rare, four-day weekend. 

The area’s free parking lot was filled to capacity around noon, with several cars queued up and ready to pounce on any space that became available. The nearby Spenger’s lot, which charges by the hour, was doing brisk business. 

Penny Cozad, a resident of Alameda, rested on a bench while a friend shopped in a clothing store. Several bags displaying the logos of prominent Fourth Street businesses sat by her feet. 

Cozad said she and her friend decided to come to Fourth Street for the area’s unique shops.  

“We came mostly for Cody’s, Builders Booksource and the Discovery Channel Store, but we got drawn into Restoration Hardware by the magnetic dartboards,” she said. 

She said that she and her friend expected to spend between $300 and $400 in Berkeley that day, and that she was not dissuaded by calls to boycott the city. 

“(The boycott) is totally stupid,” she said. “What Berkeley’s doing about the war is just fine with me.” 

Cozad said that foot traffic in the popular shopping district was not quite as bad as she had expected it would be. 

“It’s not so nuts down here,” she said. “Usually during the Christmas season it’s nose to armpit with people.” 

Derek Woo of Oakland, a former UC Berkeley student said that he had heard something about the boycott, and it “made him smile.” 

“There’s a time for protest and a time for solidarity,” he said. “I was wondering when Berkeley’s actions were going to catch up with it.” 

But Woo said that he would not refrain from shopping in Berkeley himself. There were certain “essential things,” he said, that could only be found in the city – “biscuit cutters” from Sur La Table, Sweet Potatoes’ children’s clothes. 

Sarah von Furstenberg, who was restocking shelves at The Ark, a toy store, said that business was booming. 

“Obviously, it was really slow over the summer because of the economy,” she said. “Then it was slow in September and October because everyone was shocked.” 

“We figured it was going to be busy today, because that’s the hype you always hear. And it has been.” 

Representatives of nonprofit organizations – including the Support the Children Foundation, the New Bridge Foundation and the Boy Scouts – sought to stake their claims on the holiday tradition of sharing. 

Deanna Bernard was selling raffle tickets for the New Bridge Foundation. She was able to sell a couple of books of tickets to her former co-workers at the Ginger Island restaurant, but had managed to make only about $3 on the street. 

“It’s not as busy as I thought it would be,” she said. 

Bernard said that she noticed a slump in business over the last few months when she worked at Ginger Island. 

“Business there has been down for the last six or eight months,” she said. “Last year, you had to wait an hour for a table. Now, it’s like ten minutes.” 

Martin McDonald and Peter Shaw, members of Boy Scout Troop 24, were selling Christmas wreaths and candle arrangements outside Builders Booksource. They had sold only one by mid-morning. 

“Last year, we sold most of them,” said McDonald.

Editor,  

Is UC Berkeley going to fall behind Stanford in the Clean Energy Revolution? Solar energy & Greenpeace has just claimed an amazing victory in San Francisco with the passing of Propositions B & H. We are now looking for our next win on the campuses of Berkeley and Stanford by mobilizing students to demand clean renewable energy.  

Global warming is happening and college students of this generation will experience many of the worst impacts of global warming in their lifetimes, unless action is taken today to reduce energy use and promote clean energy sources like solar power and wind power.  

An international scientific consensus has arisen about the escalating danger of global climate change. Last year, 179 faculty members signed on to a statement of support in favor of lowering the university’s greenhouse gas emissions at least to the Kyoto Protocol standard – 7 percent lower than 1990 levels. In the spring of 2001, the Associated Students of the University of California passed a referendum asking for a campus-wide environmental audit, as well as the control and monitor of emissions. In addition, countless students have been involved both within groups and as individuals, in the fight for climate justice and a sustainable future.  

We are now taking it to the next level by demanding a set of clean renewable standards for the campus to adhear to where ultimately by 2020, 50 percent of Berkeley’s energy would be clean and renewable such as solar, wind, and sources like Green Mountain energy. Let’s all support the University of California at Berkeley in becoming a leader in clean energy. 

Stephanie Bonin 

Greenpeace field organizer 

San Francisco 

Once upon a time, long before the San Francisco SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) had the resources it has today, it had a special small fund reserved for the most pathetic of cases.  

The Cinderella Fund, as it was known, provided for former pets who had been abandoned and weren’t likely to be cared for by a human owner ever again, because the animals were too unmanageable, too sick, and/or too old.  

According Berkeley resident, Paul M. Glassner, editor of “Cinderella Dogs: Real-life Fairy-tail Adoptions from The San Francisco SPCA,” just out from Kinship Communications, animals that had been abandoned for being too ugly didn’t usually qualify for the Cinderella Fund…. Because if they were ugly enough, someone somewhere would consider them cute, and then they’d have a chance at finding a home. 

Each of the 16 dogs surrendered to the SF/SPCA and featured in Cinderella Dogs might well have been judged “unadoptable” by the intake workers at the average animal shelter. “Unadoptable” pets, of course, don’t usually live long in Animal Care and Control departments largely supported by taxpayer funds.  

Rejected animals can face the same fate in charity-based shelters. It can cost more than $40 a day to house a healthy, abandoned animal who needs no special attention.  

In contrast, Cinderella Dog’s cover dog, Daisy, had been left at the SPCA shelter at the age of 9 with four serious medical conditions.  

The quality of writing and photography in Cinderella Dogs is evocative, elegant, technically astute and truly artistic.  

Editor Paul M. Glassner, who has guided the SF/SPCA membership magazine, “Our Animals,” for 12 years, is largely responsible for that magazine having won more than 100 awards, most at the national level. His stewardship is a major contributing factor to the SF/SPCA’s success at garnering widespread community support and substantial donations.  

Contributing writers describe each animal’s condition and personality, then talk about the rehabilitation procedures that helped the animal into his or her new life.  

The photographs of dogs and humans together are equally engaging. My 11- year-old especially liked the photos taken by Albany photographer, Evan Pilchuk, of Skippy, a 10-year-old Chihuahua who is shown with some cute Chihuahua-loving kids.  

Even the chapter names pull at your heart strings: “From Hopeless to Hopelessly in Love.”  

Every word in Cinderella Dogs could make you want to weep. One dog is described as a “Gentle Giant.” An adopter says, about her pet: “To tell you that I love her is an understatement. I believe my goal in life is to be worthy of her.” 

These stories of near-unadoptable pets and the humans who come through for them make compelling reading, as seductive as any soap opera. There’s not only drama, pathos and the terror of abandonment… one even gets romance. A newlywed couple starts thinking about adopting a pet, but the husband doesn’t even want to go into the shelter to look: he hates the idea of choosing one dog over another.  

“You go in and tell me about it,” he says to his wife.  

So the wife goes in and she picks out Tobago, a defensive and extremely difficult Akita mix, a dominant dog who’s not particularly receptive to strangers, whether canine or human….and the newlywed husband goes for the adoption, sight unseen.  

You can guess what happens next. According to Cinderella Dogs, some fairy tales come true. With training from behavior counselors and volunteers, Tobago does fine. The newlyweds adore him. He sleeps in their bed.

STANFORD – Playing in the postseason for the first time in five years, California lost a hard-fought battle to Santa Clara, 1-0, with just over two minutes remaining in the third overtime period Friday evening at Maloney Field.  

The Golden Bears (10-9-1) dominated regulation but couldn't convert on any of their 12 shots to the Broncos (12-8-0) three.  

“In regulation, it was a hard-fought match, but I really thought we created the better chances to score," said Cal second-year head coach Kevin Grimes. 

“Even though I thought it was an even game end to end, I thought we created more goal scoring chances and more opportunities (in regulation). I was really proud of the effort we gave.  

“Santa Clara took over a little bit in overtime. They seemed to get a little bit more of a territorial advantage. As the game creeps that late into overtime, both sides are fatiguing, and it's really tough for these guys to make their best decisions when their legs are so heavy. I thought both teams played outstanding. Any time you go into sudden victory overtime, it’s one chance that ends it, and they got their chance and put it away.”  

Cal senior forward Austin Ripmaster was the most dangerous player for the Bears in the game. He was the only Bear who could consistently get behind the Bronco defense. He came up with several one-on-one opportunities throughout the game with the best being with eight seconds left in regulation. 

Senior midfielder Chris Roner freed Ripmaster with a through ball, and SCU goalkeeper Steve Cronin came out to challenge the play. Ripmaster dribbled around Cronin and had an empty net ahead of him, but his shot sailed over the cross bar.  

“There's not really much to say," said Ripmaster about his final shot of regulation. “It was a great ball through from Chris. I got on the end of it and touched it around their keeper. The ball was kind of bouncing and slipped off of my foot a little bit. I really couldn't believe it, but no excuses; I missed a good chance to end it there.”  

Each team had their chances in overtime, but SCU held a 12-2 advantage in shots in the extra minutes.  

In the 98th minute, the eventual hero of the game Anthony Chimienti had his own empty net chance, but his shot rolled wide of the net.  

In the 117th minute, Santa Clara had a goal waved off due to a handball in the box.  

The Bears’ defense played outstanding for the entire match, but couldn't make the one clearance it needed to in the 133rd minute. SCU's Burke Ewers took a free kick from about 30-yards out. After a Cal defender’s initial attempt to head the ball out of danger, two Cal defenders tried to clear the ball about five-yards out to the left of the goal, but Chimienti pounced on the ball and drove it towards the far post for his fourth-straight game-winning shot.  

Chimienti's shot gave the Broncos a 15-14 shot advantage for the game.  

Earlier this season, Cal defeated SCU, 1-0, in double overtime in Berkeley on a goal from freshman Michael Munoz.  

Cal has reason to believe that more trips to the NCAA Tournament are on its horizon. Six members of the Bears starting 11 today were freshmen. Meanwhile, Santa Clara faces third-seeded Stanford Sunday in the second round of the playoffs.

Recent rains have been a harsh reminder to local public transit users that 125 promised bus shelters are apparently bogged down in the city’s permitting process. It has been nearly a year since the city approved an agreement for their installation. 

“I’m absolutely undone we don’t have these shelters,” Mayor Shirley Dean said. “They’re up in Hayward and San Leandro, why aren’t they up in Berkeley?” 

Officials in the Advanced Planning Division of the Planning Department did not return calls on the question Wednesday. 

Last January the City Council unanimously approved a deal with Lamar Outdoor Advertising of Alameda County to install the shelters at no charge to the city in exchange for advertising rights on each shelter’s two-sided, 4-by-6-foot, fluorescent panels. As part of the agreement, Lamar would also be responsible for the maintenance of the shelters, which cost $8,000 each.  

Berkeley’s agreement with Lamar was one element of an umbrella contract between AC Transit and Lamar to install bus shelters in seven cities, including Emeryville and Albany. 

But now that winter is setting in and there are still no shelters, transit users are beginning to complain. After receiving several dozen phone calls, Dean and Councilmember Miriam Hawley have placed a recommendation on Tuesday’s agenda asking the city manager to investigate the shelters’ status. 

“Bus riders are getting very impatient because the rain is here now,” Hawley said. “Apparently there was a hold up because of merchant concerns about the locations of the shelters, but that has been cleared up and now the shelters are awaiting permits.” 

Hawley said she was told by city staff that the shelters had arrived and would be installed once they received permits from Advanced Planning. 

Lamar spokesperson Cordell Davenport said Operations Manager Tom Darnel recently met with city officials to discuss the shelters.  

“Lamar management is very anxious to get going on the Berkeley bus shelters,” he said. “We are reasonably sure there will be some movement soon.” 

The Commission on Aging and the Commission on Disability signed onto the agreement with Lamar late last year. Both commissions worked with the advertising agency to select the most advantageous locations for the shelters. 

The council approved the agreement with Lamar on Jan. 16 after seeking assurances from Operations Manager Brendan Marcum about the type 

of advertising that would be displayed on the shelters and the frequency of shelter maintenance. 

Councilmember Dona Spring wanted a guarantee that Lamar would not display advertising for alcohol, tobacco or firearms. Marcum said Lamar would conform to city regulations on advertising subject matter.  

Councilmember Polly Armstrong was concerned that the shelters would fall into neglect and might become a blight on city streets. 

Marcum said the contract with AC Transit specifically requires the shelters to be washed every two weeks with an all-purpose detergent and cleaned with a high-pressure spray once a month. In addition Lamar guaranteed that any graffiti that appeared on the shelters would be cleaned as soon as possible. 

Dean and Hawley will also ask the city manager for a installment schedule and ideas about how to get the installation of the shelters on the fast track because “bus riders in Berkeley are standing in the rain or huddling under the inadequate shelter of doorways and overhangs in buildings near bus stops,” the recommendation reads. 

Editor: 

Your recent page 1 article (Nov. 22-23) about the lecture by Ms. Ann “bombs are illegal” Ginger was a real hoot. She asserts that our American constitutional civil liberties are somehow derived from the Charter of United Nations. Wrong. Our constitutionally-protected civil liberties date back over 200 years to the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The first 10 amendments, aka, The Bill of Rights, were added to the United States Constitution in 1791, over 200 years ago. Our American rights are also derived in part from English common law, which in turn dates back to the Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215.  

The United Nations was created by the United States and England in World War II as an umbrella to unite the forces fighting the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. The term “United Nations” sounded better than “the two biggest English-speaking imperialist powers” to the peoples of rest of the world. The Charter of the United Nations was formalized in 1945 in San Francisco. 

Having been an anti-Vietnam war protester in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, I believe that I have some perspective on the present situation of international terrorism. However, I don’t believe that the current Berkeley pacifist anti-war movement has much wisdom to offer us. It seems that the Berkeley pacifist anti-war movements have had pretty thin pickings in the last decade or so. First they put themselves in the odd position of supporting the invasion of Kuwait by the brutal Iraqi dictator. Now they have seemingly put themselves in the position of supporting the insane Osama bin Laden, his al-Qaeda terrorist network and his Taliban supporters. Waving Tibetan peace flags and chanting “Om” in Berkeley will not stop terrorism across the world. 

One cannot “take them (the terrorists) to court” as Ms. Ginger suggests, if they laughingly ignore a court subpoena. Just recently the Taliban spokesmen have again said that they “do not know where bin Laden is.” 

Of course the Taliban, brutalizers of women, men, and children and destroyers of unique and priceless monuments of cultural history, have a habit of continually lying. The Taliban suggested that we “forget about the events of September 11 (the destruction of the World Trade Center).”  

Funny, Ms. Ginger doesn’t seem to say a thing against the Taliban’s severe oppression of women. Not a word about the cheers of the people of Kabul, the dancing in the street, the playing of music and the flying of kites after the Taliban and their “Religious Police” fled the city last week. It must be painfully galling for Ms. Ginger to realize that our military assault on the al-Qaeda and the Taliban is paying off. The bombing in Afghanistan will stop when the al-Qaeda terrorists and their Taliban supporters are defeated and destroyed as viable political forces. 

It is a very good thing that Ms. Ginger and her pacifist buddies were not in control when we fought and won our Revolutionary War in 1776, when we fought and won the Civil War and when we fought and won World War II against the Axis powers.  

James K. Sayre

DALLAS — Video-rental giant Blockbuster Inc. has canceled its annual awards show because it was uncertain how many viewers would watch in the post-Sept. 11 climate. 

The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards had been scheduled for next spring in Los Angeles. 

The Dallas-based company would have had to make significant financial commitments soon to book the auditorium and gear up for in-store voting on the awards by millions of customers, spokeswoman Liz Greene said. 

Blockbuster did not disclose how much it had planned to spend on the show. 

“Due to the uncertainty of the times, we were unable to predict consumer response to an awards show — what people’s viewing habits are going to be,” Greene said. 

Greene said Blockbuster’s decision to cancel was based partly on the experience of television’s Emmy Awards, which were postponed twice after Sept. 11 before taking place this month in Los Angeles. 

“We wouldn’t want to have to cancel the show, and the issue of celebrities in attendance is also an issue,” Greene said. 

Television officials had worried that terrorists could target the star-studded Emmys. The show’s TV ratings fell 22 percent from last year, as more people watched the final game of the World Series. 

This year’s Blockbuster awards, taped and broadcast during prime time in April by Fox, featured such stars as Warren Beatty and Drew Barrymore. The video-rental company has produced an awards show, with such unusual categories as best villain, favorite action team and favorite video game, the past seven years. 

About 4.5 million households tuned in to the awards show the past couple of years, down from about 6.5 million in 1999. 

Greene said no decision has been made whether to bring the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards back in 2003. 

The East Bay Sanctuary Covenant has been doing its good works for more than two decades – seeking asylum for refugees and planting trees in Haiti are among its projects. 

In part, the covenant’s work is supported by an annual crafts fair, which, this year, is being held today and tomorrow at the First Congregational Church at Dana Street and Channing Way.  

The fair not only helps support the EBSC, says Sister Maureen Duignan, OSF, director of the refugee project for the program, but also helps support the craft persons, such as a widows collective in Guatamala whose woven goods will be sold at the fair. 

Sister Duignan calls the EBSC’s asylum work, “the jewel of our program.” The actual work gets carried out by some 40 volunteers from the Central American Refugee Clinic of Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley’s law school. 

Duignan says this work not only benefits those seeking asylum, it is a transforming experience for the students, who learn about the lives of the refugees. 

“A very painful aspect of our work,” says Sister Duignan, “is that the people who came here (in the 1980s) are still in limbo.” They have work permits, social security cards, pay taxes, have raised their children here, but are not residents, and “they can’t go home to visit their relatives.” 

The EBSC, which is made up of a number of religious congregations, also supports a tree-planting project in Haiti. The project aims at erosion prevention. The covenant also helps to support students at a law school in Haiti, whose goal is to rebuild the country’s legal system. 

Crafts fair hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a presentation on Haiti at 11 a.m. on Saturday. For general information on the EBSC call 540-5296. 

LONDON — Three people have been arrested on suspicion of cheating on the British version of the TV game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” 

Maj. Charles Ingram and his wife, Diana, were arrested at their home west of London. Detectives interviewed them, released them on bail Thursday and ordered them to return to a central London police station in December. 

A 51-year-old man, arrested Thursday in Cardiff, Wales, was released on bail to return for questioning in February. He was not identified. 

None of the three has been charged, a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said Friday. They were questioned over an allegation of conspiracy to defraud and their homes were searched, she added. 

Ingram, 38, told reporters at his home that he could not comment. 

“All I can say is that this is the first opportunity we’ve had to put our side of the story over. The time will come when we can talk freely,” he said. 

A police inquiry began in September into an episode of the popular show in which Ingram won 1 million pounds, or $1.41 million. 

The episode was not broadcast, and Ingram’s check was withheld because of the suspected cheating. News reports suggested that someone in the audience relayed to him correct answers to questions by coughing. 

Diana Ingram, 37, and the major’s brother-in-law, Adrian Pollock, had both previously won 32,000 pounds, or $45,000, on the game show. She later wrote a book titled “Win a Million,” based on a theory she and her brother had used to succeed. 

After the inquiry was announced, Ingram held a news conference and denied wrongdoing. 

“He is stunned, bewildered and devastated at the action that has been taken and feels that the effects leave his career in the Army and livelihood in tatters,” said a statement released at the time by his lawyers. 

Celador Productions, which makes the show for Independent Television, said the company did not wish to comment on the arrests. 

“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” was created in Britain and became an instant evening television hit. Versions of the show have spread to several countries, including the United States, where Regis Philbin is the host. A U.S. theme park also is in the works. 

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s historical Ferry Building siren has recently been saved from being thrown in the dump. The siren was, in its heyday, the biggest and loudest horn in the world. 

Crews working on the $80 million renovations on the Ferry Building came across the 8-foot-long, 1 ton iron siren last month. Not knowing what to do with it, crews took sledgehammers to it and busted it into pieces. They put the debris in trash bins that were on their way to the dump. 

But when the son of the siren’s inventor drove by the building last month, he noticed his father’s masterpiece was missing. Seventy-four-year-old Harry W. Heath, his brother, Wally, and The San Francisco Chronicle started calling the Port of San Francisco and City Hall. After the crews realized that had thrown away a piece of history, they scrambled to the trash bins and recovered the main pieces of the siren. Now, parts of it may end up in a museum. 

OAKLAND — The National Audubon Society is working to preserve some 100,000 acres of wetlands in the Bay Area, even though some local groups haven’t been too welcoming. 

The society hopes to turn the area into the Everglades of the West Coast. It wants to invest $2 billion for the first phase and work for a 20-year period on the project. 

While some environmentalists are happy to have such a heavyweight on their side, others fear the group will take credit for some 40-years worth of fighting to preserve the area. 

“There’s no question we’re trying to make the size of the pie bigger,” said Nadine Hitchcock, program manager for the Coastal Conservancy’s San Francisco Bay Program. “But right now, given the financial situation, the reality of making the pie bigger is basically zilch.” 

The Packard Foundation gave the Audubon Society $800,000 in seed money for the project. 

Local groups said the plan came to them as a surprise and in a whirlwind fashion. 

Audubon officials have since contacted local environmental groups, asking for their support. 

“That was the success of the Everglades,” said Debbie Drake, the Audubon’s San Francisco Bay restoration program director. “You had (Audubon members) in Michigan and Ohio writing to their congressmen saying fund this.” 

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Pollio Italian Cheese Co. announced a recall of certain Polly-O ricotta cheese packages and some foodservice ricotta products because of potential contamination from Salmonella bacteria. 

The cheese, in 15-ounce and 3-pound sizes, had the code date DEC-10 and was distributed through retail grocery stores and foodservice distributors primarily in 18 states. 

The recall also applies to 3-pound foodservice products with the code date DEC-10 PD1, distributed in the same states. 

The states involved are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. 

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. No illnesses have been reported in connection with the products to date. 

In a statement, Pollio said the recall came after the Department of Defense contacted the company and the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets when a sample of 15-ounce Polly-O Ricotta Cheese with the code date DEC-10 PD1 tested positive for the bacteria. 

The company is recalling all products made on the same day on the same production line.

LOS ANGELES — O.C. Smith, best known for singing a Grammy Award-winning rendition of “Little Green Apples, died Friday. He was 65. 

A minister at the City of Angels Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles since 1985, Smith was considered in good health. He presided over an hourlong Thanksgiving Day service, where he told jokes and appeared in good spirits, a church member said. 

Smith was preparing to go for his morning walk when he suffered a heart attack, said a family member, who did not give her name. 

“He was a very lovable, very nice person,” said Pearl Wirrie, a parishioner who works two days a week at the church. “He was in good spirits (Thursday). He was talking about his wife cooking — she hadn’t cooked in a long time.” 

Smith, who was born June 21, 1936, in Louisiana, began his musical career as a jazz vocalist and later worked in country and rhythm and blues. 

Smith replaced Joe Williams as the lead singer for the Count Basie band in the early 1960s and had a hit with the country song “Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp.” 

Smith’s biggest hit was “Little Green Apples,” which he recorded with Roger Miller and Patti Page. The song won Grammys in 1968 for song of the year and best country song and was No. 2 on the pop and R&B charts in 1968. 

Smith’s other big R&B single was “Daddy’s Little Man” in 1969, which reached No. 9. 

He continued to perform over the years and released an album just a year ago entitled “Beach Music Classics and Love Songs.” 

Information on survivors and funeral arrangements was not immediately available.

About 15 years ago, our company offices were located in a building that our grandfather built at the turn of the century. We first rented a small space in the rear and later, as our business grew, we moved to the front where we occupied several offices. 

A fellow named Gordon Fisk tackled the restoration head-on, and not only saved all the original woodwork, but ensured that every detail down to the carpet and wallpaper were period matches. 

The wallpaper in our office was gorgeous — swirled patterns of paisley and flowers. When we decided to install our new phone system, we were forced to make holes in two of the walls. What a mess. Back then we didn’t know how to repair wallpaper, so we called in a local expert — Mr. Russo. His advice was that we repair the walls by making them perfectly smooth. He said to keep the patch area as small as possible, and he would come back later to perform the wallpaper repair. 

We completed the wall patch, and then called him to begin his task. First, he cut a patch out of a matching piece of wallpaper that had been in the attic. He made it slightly larger than the area to be repaired, and placed the patch over the damaged area. Once he had aligned the pattern in the patch with the pattern on the wall, he used masking tape to hold the patch in place. He then used a brand-new razor blade to cut a wavy, squiggly shape around the perimeter of the damaged area, but inside the area of the patch itself. He pressed the blade firmly, and cut through both the patch material and the wallpaper on the wall. We learned later that the technique he used was called “double cutting” — cutting through two layers at once. Both layers ended up being cut to precisely the same size and shape. 

We learned that for larger patches, cutting wavy lines helps to hide the cut. For smaller patches, square and rectangular shapes work just as well. He then removed the paper on the wall (between the patch and the cut). Adhesive then was applied to the patch and to the wall. Once the glue had softened the patch, it was applied to the wall and gently squeegeed. A moment or two later, he cleaned the area with a damp sponge and went on to repair the second patch in exactly the same way. 

None of us could believe his eyes. The patch was invisible. We have since used Russo’s technique on dozens of occasions. And it works every time. 

Loose seams and bubbles are even easier to repair as long as you remember the most important secret — soften the wallpaper in and around the area of the repair first. This is tricky because if the paper is not wet enough, it will split or rip as you work with it, and if it gets too wet, it will easily tear. We recommend patience here. Once you’ve made one or two repairs, you will become an expert yourself. 

To repair a curling seam you will need the following tools: A sponge, seam roller, tiny paintbrush or a cue tip and a small container of wallpaper adhesive. 

Use the sponge and warm water to soften the wallpaper. Apply the adhesive to the wall side of the wallpaper and to the wall, using a small artist’s paintbrush or a cue tip. Let the adhesive absorb into the surfaces for a few minutes, and then use a seam roller to reaffix the wallpaper to the wall. After about 10 or 12 minutes, use the sponge again to clean excess adhesive from the surface. 

A bubble repair is easy. Use a razor to slice open the center of the bubble. Then inject a small amount of adhesive with a construction syringe. You can pick one up at a paint store for about $5. Use a damp sponge to soften the paper, and then use a seam roller to reaffix the paper to the wall. 

For more home-improvement tips and information, visit our Web site at www.onthehouse.com.

Q. Olivia asks: What can I do to repair a small hole next to my hot water handle in my fiberglass shower? 

A. There are companies that will come to your home and make such a repair for as little as $50. It sounds like a lot, but consider the cost of replacement as a comparison. You can make a patch on your own with a fiberglass patching compound, but chances are the homemade repair will be pretty obvious and might become an eyesore. Isn’t $50 worth an invisible repair? Look in the Yellow Pages under plumbing fixtures, repairs. 

Q. Samantha asks: We recently rented a home with a fiberglass bathtub in it. The problem is that the shower portion or the wall above the bath is thicker than the rim of the tub and creates an inverted shelf that the water runs into. I’m not sure if the installer used the wrong type of caulking or if it’s just because of the design of the bath, but the caulking everywhere is rotting and is especially bad under that shelf. We only have one bath so we have to use it. 

I clean and scrub a layer away and a couple of days later it’s all the same. I feel like my shower is rotting around me. Help! What can I do to remedy the situation short of ripping the whole thing out? Oh, also the aluminum on the sliding doors is rusting and the drain is beginning to clog and I’ve tried chemicals, and even to remove the plug to try to stick an auger down, but it’s one of those that you turn to plug and turn the other way to open and I can’t figure out how to remove it. I believe it’s getting clogged up from all the decayed caulking from cleaning. Any advice would be so appreciated. 

A. It really doesn’t make any difference how the connection occurs between the tub and the shower walls as long as the joint is properly caulked. Having said that, the big deal is getting rid of the old mildewed caulk and properly applying a new layer. Use caulk solvent to get the old stuff out. Then clean the connection with a scrub brush and lots of chlorine bleach. Rinse with water and use a hairdryer to completely dry everything out. Wait 24 hours and apply a new coat of silicone caulk to the joint. Wait the full 24 hours even if it means renting a hotel room to take a shower. Caulk will not bond to a wet surface or where water vapors are present. 

The next time you clean your shower walls, make sure that they are perfectly spotless, then apply a coat of car wax. The wax reduces surface tension and makes cleaning easier. Some folks use pure lemon oil instead of the wax, but we like the wax. 

Since you just moved in, you should call a plumber to deal with your clogged drains. Let him or her show you how to access all drains, show you where clean-outs are and help you establish a maintenance procedure. You’ll only have to pay the plumber once. Learning to do things right the first time will make you feel good about establishing (and following) a sound maintenance routine.

Here’s a great moneymaking scheme: advertise and sell a solar-powered shredder that is nonpolluting and low maintenance for the cost of a mere $75. This product would surely appeal to every gardener confronted this time of year with masses of old tomato and squash vines, corn stalks, and marigold plants needing to be reduced to a manageable size for composting. 

This solar-powered shredder is nothing more than a machete, which you could buy for just a few dollars. Humans are the power behind machetes, and we get our energy by eating plants, or by eating animals, which get their energy from plants. Either way, plants provide the power driving a machete, and plants get their energy from the sun. So any machete is, in fact, solar-powered. 

Seriously, a machete is an excellent tool for shredding plants. As you clear your garden of spent plants, heap them on the compost pile about a foot thick at a time, then use a machete to attack each layer. 

After only a minute of chopping, the layer is reduced to a couple of inches in thickness, leaving room to pile on more old plants. In contrast to the machine-gun roar of a gasoline-powered shredder, or the whine of an electric shredder, the only sounds from using the machete are the whooshing of the blade through the air, the crunch of vegetation, and your occasional grunts. 

The machete itself is elegant in its simplicity. Occasional sharpening is the only maintenance required, and there is only one part to break — and that with difficulty. (Machetes are cheap; just buy another one if it breaks.) It needs only 3-feet-by-3-inches-by-a-half-inch of storage space, against a wall. And a machete is not a single-purpose tool. It’s also useful for chopping down corn stalks and clearing brush. 

True, a machete will not outperform a power shredder. The power shredder is more thorough and also shreds leaves and branches. But leaves can go unshredded beneath trees and shrubs, and branches can be either burned or taken for recycling. More thorough shredding does speed composting, but what’s the rush? Machete-chopped compost can be ready to use in a couple of months in warm weather. 

For its effectiveness and simplicity, give a machete a place of honor in your garage along with the hoe, grass rake, and other “solar-powered” tools.

RENO, Nev. — Sierra ski resorts used a little snow and a lot of snowmaking to open a handful of runs in time for the holiday weekend as they anticipated the week’s second storm on Saturday. 

Heavenly became the second resort to open, offering its Patsy run on Friday. Spokeswoman Kristen Aggers said snowmaking was underway on three other runs. 

Kirkwood Mountain Resort was among the areas scheduled to open on Saturday with three lifts and 6-15 inches of snow. 

“If the forecast is correct, projecting perhaps two feet or more by Sunday, we could have most, if not the entire mountain open in the next few days,” said President Tim Cohee. 

The National Weather Service posted a winter storm warning in the Sierra for Saturday. 

Early rain was expected to change to snow between 6,000 and 6,500 feet with falling temperatures in the afternoon. Up to a foot of snow was forecast for Saturday with another foot possible Saturday night above 6,000 feet before tapering off on Sunday. 

The chance of 1-3 inches of snow in the western valleys from Reno south to Minden could make getting to the resorts a challenge. 

Another downside of the storm for the ski areas was a forecast of nasty winds in the 40-50 mph range at the higher — and snowier — elevations. 

Squaw Valley planned to open five lifts on Saturday and Alpine Meadows will offer one lift with a 12-18-inch base of natural and machine-made snow. 

Sugar Bowl Ski Resort on Donner Summit will have two runs for skiers and snowboarders on Sunday. 

All resorts are offering reduced prices in the $25-$30 range for adults. 

Sierra-at-Tahoe, Soda Springs, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Royal Gorge and Sugar Bowl also were looking at opening this weekend. 

WASHINGTON — Unless someone really has to go, most drivers zip past interstate rest areas without a second thought. Why stop if there’s no gas, no burgers, no sweet icy drinks? 

Federal law now prohibits commercial activity at interstate rest stops. But acting at the request of California transportation officials, a congressman is pushing a pilot program that would allow gas stations and burger joints to open at a handful of rest areas in California. 

“Many of California’s rest stops are in such disrepair that drivers avoid them as unsanitary and unsafe,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif. “I believe the state should do what it can to fix this problem, and this pilot program should show whether it is feasible to turn these duties over to private vendors in exchange for doing some business there.” 

Lewis’ proposal would open up to 10 rest areas to commercial development for 10 years. It would also require clean, well-lit and safe restrooms at no charge to the public, according to a letter to Lewis from California Assembly Speaker Robert M. Hertzberg, who backs the project. 

That rankles truck stop owner Jim Caldwell, who wants to keep competition off the interstates. He recently pumped $5.5 million into his Giant Truck Stops business on Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles. He offers Internet access, showers and Popeye’s chicken in addition to gas and diesel fuel to lure travelers to his operation. 

“It will be hard to compete against a state-picked business that would have a monopoly at favorable rates,” he said. 

The National Association of Truck Stop Owners, which represents more than 1,100 businesses, has mobilized to keep the nation’s interstates gas- and burger-free. 

Association President W. Dewey Clower pointed to a University of Maryland study showing businesses at interchanges would lose two-thirds of sales if they faced competition from such “ultraconvenient” rest areas. 

The nation’s interstate system, conceived during the Eisenhower administration, is a network of toll-free roads built with federal money. Except on older roads incorporated into the system, services are confined to exits. 

On turnpikes and other toll roads, different rules apply. On holiday weekends, cars, trucks and buses jam the limited roadside food and gas outlets at rest stops that thrive on what is essentially a captive audience. 

“There’s no competition. You’ve got one choice,” said Rep. JoAnn Emerson, R-Mo., who opposes the proposal by Lewis. 

Emerson fears rural communities that depend on business from travelers who exit interstates for services would be hurt by commercialized rest areas. Even a pilot program in California “is a threat to those communities’ economic stability” because it would open the door to similar development in other states, she said. 

Lewis, a high-ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, is trying to add his proposal as a rider to the annual transportation appropriations bill. 

Jim Specht, a spokesman for Lewis, said the congressman generally opposes policy riders on spending bills, a procedure that technically violates House rules. But the appropriations bill is the only transportation legislation expected for some time, and Lewis felt it was important to address the rest stop issue as soon as possible, Specht said. 

Lewis stressed that he would choose rest areas in the most remote areas, far away from existing businesses. 

“In no case are there plans to create a competitor with private truck stops, which offer a wide range of amenities not available at the usual gas station or fast food outlet,” Lewis said. 

——— 

Associated Press Writer Eugene Tong in Los Angeles contributed to this report. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Caltrans rest areas: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/ra/ 

ALTURAS, Calif. (AP) — All five people aboard a light plane owned by an East Wenatchee, Wash., aviation company were found dead Friday when the plane’s wreckage was located in the rugged Warner Mountain Range of northeast California. 

The plane, a twin-engine Aero Commander owned by Commander Northwest, left Reno, Nev., on Wednesday morning en route to Wenatchee. It was spotted by air traffic control radar later that morning southeast of Alturas. 

Modoc County Sheriff Bruce Mix said air searchers located the plane Friday morning about 170 miles northeast of Sacramento. 

Dave Weintraub, chief pilot for Commander Northwest, said from Wenatchee that company personnel were among those who reached the site and contacted him with news that no one had survived. The company provides planes and pilots for hire, he said. 

Weintraub said the plane was carrying Tom Blaesing, owner of Commander Northwest; Brian White, the company’s maintenance director; White’s wife, Jody White; John Peters, co-owner of a Wenatchee area restaurant, and John Topkok, a Commander Northwest pilot who lived in Vancouver, Wash. 

Other than Topkok, the victims lived in the Wenatchee area. 

Weintraub said the five were part of a group that went to Reno on a trip put on by the company for its employees. He said he was flying a second plane that also left Reno on Wednesday but safely reached its destination. 

“It was kind of an end-of-season promotion put on by the company for the employees,” Weintraub said, explaining that the company’s busiest times are in the spring, summer and fall. 

Commander Northwest had five aircraft. It primarily does contract work, such as fire spotting for the U.S. Forest Service and wildlife studies, The Wenatchee World reported. 

Peters was originally from California. He owned a municipal brokerage firm there until he and his wife, Inga, bought the Horan House in 1990. 

He was a frequent community volunteer. 

Brian and Jody White have two children and were expecting a third, according to a family member who asked not to be identified. 

Authorities at first thought the missing plane might have landed at another strip and only contacted the Civil Air Patrol after that theory was discounted, said Lt. Col. Thomas Traver, a patrol spokesman based in Portland, Ore. Search crews did not start looking Thursday because of bad weather. 

Traver said the pilot made no contact indicating trouble. An emergency transmitter that is supposed to send a homing signal following an accident was not activated.

WOODBURN — An old woman in peasant clothes and a kerchief around her head stands in front of a Russian church that’s topped by gilded cupolas. The scene could be out of a century in the distant past — if it weren’t for a Ford pickup parked nearby and a TV antenna sprouting from a house. 

This is “the village,” a row of houses and churches that is the heart of the Russian Old Believer community in Oregon. It is where 17th century Russian traditions meet rural America. 

The Russian Old Believers have survived persecution from the czars, decades in exile and other hardships. 

They follow strict rules contained in religious books dating back to medieval times in Russia. They can’t eat meat on Wednesdays or Fridays, they wear peasant-style clothing with a belt, they can’t marry people outside the faith — among other restrictions. 

“We have always been in a hostile society. From day one in the 17th century,” said Father Ambrose, an Old Believer monk and curator of a Russian museum at the Mount Angel Abby. 

The 10,000 Old Believers in Oregon are the largest concentration of members living in the United States. They are managing to keep their customs and traditions alive, but not without difficulty. Compromises are necessary. 

Many refuse to eat at restaurants because of a religious ban on using the same dishes as heretics. But all drive cars and most these days watch television. 

Old Believers have to observe 40 religious holidays every year. That makes employment with businesses outside the faith all but impossible. 

About half of the Old Believers are farmers — one of the few occupations that meshes with their lifestyle. But farming becomes harder each year because of competition from imported produce. 

Many Old Believer families don’t believe in education past eighth grade, and send their children into their fields to work or into jobs with friends’ and relatives’ construction businesses. 

Those teen-agers who go to high school are often prohibited from dating non-Old Believers. 

—— 

Yavhori Cam, the founder of the Old Believers’ village in Oregon, sliced the subdivision from verdant farmland about 30 miles south of Portland in the 1960s. 

On a recent Sunday service inside Pokrov Church, men in dark robes chanted a deep-voiced a capella choir as women crossed themselves and genuflected before icons illuminated by candles. 

The journey to America for most of the residents in the village began in northern Turkey, where an Old Believer community had fled to escape czarist persecution more than 200 years ago. 

That group decided to relocate to Oregon because the number of marriageable young people had fallen to a low level that could no longer sustain the community, according to accounts in the village. A mere 42 families remained. 

They came to Oregon through the intervention of then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1963. They joined two other Old Believer groups that had migrated to the United States by way of Manchuria, Hong Kong and Brazil after Russia’s 1917 revolution. Those groups were helped to Oregon by charities with a Cold War-era agenda of helping Christians migrate from communist countries. 

—— 

Forty years on, Old Believers still get their fashion sense at baptism. Eight-day-old infants are dressed in an embroidered shirt, or rubashka, a homemade belt called a poyas, and a cross. They are expected to wear the same thing for the rest of their lives. 

Mara Cherepanov, 17, a senior at Woodburn High School, admitted she sometimes eyes with envy other girls’ store-bought clothes. 

The problem is not purchasing clothes, she said. The problem is that Gucci or Gap don’t make lines for teen-agers that meet Old Believer standards. 

A dress, or platya, must be tied with the belt. It must be flowing rather than shear and extend to the ankles. After a Sunday church service, girls and boys scampered out onto Bethlehem Road in pink and red embroidered clothes, with kerchiefs and leather boots and belts, giving the quaint impression of an Old World peasant festival. 

—— 

Ulita Seleznev, a teacher at Heritage Elementary School, said she sees more and more Old Believers making compromises. 

“Ten or 15 years ago people were more worried about the outside. Now you hear less about the outside” because Old Believers are becoming more a part of it, she said. 

Old Believer rules forbid eating off the same dish as someone who’s not of the faith. Many keep special dishes in their houses for non-Old Believer guests when they come to dinner. 

The only restaurants Seleznev frequents are fast-food joints — where meals come in disposable plastic and paper containers. 

Some Old Believers rationalize they can “use the drive-thru because nobody has touched the dishes. Everything is throw away. I see more people doing that,” she said. 

“But before Lent they will repent and do their Hail Marys.” 

“We’re still closely knit, but not reclusive as before,” she said. “The kids are more American growing up than when I grew up.” 

—— 

Filip Ayhan, 25, a cousin of Kalin Ayhan, grew up in the village, spoke only Russian until first grade, and vows he will stay and raise his children in the same fashion. 

Like many Old Believers, he quit school after seventh grade. Ayhan began working as a painter with family members or other Russians who are contractors. 

Old Believers have the highest dropout rate at the Woodburn School District, said Sherrilynn Rawson, a program analyst with the district. Old Believers account for about 20 percent of dropouts but 15 percent of the school population. 

She added cheerfully: “It’s not nearly what it was 20 years ago. (Russian) kids didn’t drop out of high school because they didn’t go.” 

Interviewed standing beside his Chevrolet truck on Bethlehem Road, Ayhan fondly recalled Easter and other holidays in the village. The Old Believers eat homemade dumplings and drink braga, a home brew of raisins, berries, yeast and spices. 

Another favorite pastime was firing the “potato shooter.” 

This was a length of plastic pipe plugged at one end and filled with explosive fumes from cans of hair spray or WD-40. He would jam a potato in one side and apply a match to a small hole in the other. That sent a potato mortar shell sailing toward the greenhouse of a non-Russian neighbor. 

“Oh boy, we had lots of fun,” he said. 

——— 

In the early 1970s some Old Believers decided to leave Oregon’s Willamette Valley because of unwanted modern influences. 

Twenty-four families left the Woodburn site and moved to 240 acres they bought on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. They created the log village of Nikolayevsk, where peasant-clad Old Believers are the only residents. 

In a letter to the Kenai Borough government at that time, the group explained they were leaving Oregon to “protect the integrity of our faith and to raise our children with a minimum of risk of contamination from modern temptations.” Families there set up halibut fishing companies. 

For Old Believers who remained in Oregon, it’s becoming harder every year to make a living with farming. 

Josef Cam, a grandson of the founder of the village, said next year he’s “getting out of farming.” 

He said he failed to sell a bumper crop of strawberries this summer after imports from Mexico flooded the market. By the end of the June harvest, about 100,000 pounds of berries were rotting in the summer heat on his 12-acre patch outside a yellow farmhouse. 

——— 

At Mount Angel Abby on a crisp fall night, Father Ambrose sat in his room lined with leather-bound books with Cyrillic writing on the spines. The walls were hung with tapestries and icons depicting saints and martyrs in yellow and ocher tones. 

The windows of his residence overlook the Willamette Valley and the twinkling lights of farmhouses below in Old Believer country. 

“It’s never been easy to be an Old Believer,” he said. 

LOS ANGELES — From red, white and blue gift bags at one mall to New York firefighters lighting decorations on Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive, stores made patriotic pitches Friday to jump start what is expected to be a slow holiday shopping season. 

Stores were stocked with ornaments, calendars and other items with American themes and malls enticed customers to dig deeper despite dicey economic forecasts and recent layoffs. 

“I’m definitely shopping this year to help the country,” said Michelle Smith of San Francisco as she awaited her daughter’s return from a search for a fleece jacket at San Francisco Centre. 

San Jose resident Rhonda Wall said she’s between jobs and it’s affecting her shopping habits. 

“I am more conservative in shopping this year, but I will shop,” to be patriotic, Wall said. “This year’s really special. I’m spending more time with family and I’m doing more things at home. It’s important because of what happened.” 

At Sacramento’s Downtown Plaza, shops were awash with patriotic displays: flags, posters and signs saying “God Bless America” and “United We Stand.” 

At tourist-oriented Destination Sacramento, flag-bedecked T-shirts and sweat shirts sold briskly. Store manager Marnie Stiles said a mix of patriotism and Christmas looks good for business. 

Among the specials Friday: a free “America the Beautiful” T-shirt with a $50 purchase. 

The Washington-based National Retail Federation predicts total holiday retail sales, excluding restaurant and auto sales, will rise in the range of 2.5 percent to 3 percent, to roughly $206 billion. That would make it the worst retail performance since 1990, when sales were basically unchanged. 

Many shoppers said they would do what they could for the economy, but were working within much tighter budgets this year. 

At San Diego’s Fashion Valley Mall, Ann Brannon, 54, of Carlsbad, N.M., had a shopping bag filled with tennis shoes, books and a Harry Potter calendar by 11 a.m., but said despite appearances, she planned to be more conservative with her spending this year. 

“I just don’t feel the need to spend more. I’ve gotta keep more in the pillowcase back home,” she joked. 

Her brother, Robert Michelson, 51, who works maintenance at a potash mine in Carlsbad, N.M., said layoffs at his company have him watching his wallet very closely. “I’m worried about my job, worried about the economy.... I’m spending less this year.” 

The pair have considered making some patriotic buys, however. They’re looking for a car flag for their car trip back home on Saturday. 

Even in posh Beverly Hills, shoppers were passing by the 50 percent off signs and weighing purchases more carefully. 

“There are more parking spaces around here than I’ve ever seen before,” said David Diltz, who, with his wife Eileen, was window shopping on Rodeo Drive. 

Colleen Karetti said she spent the tax check she received as part of President Bush’s economic stimulus package on a new television. She and her daughter Kris walked by a Versace store on Rodeo Drive, but didn’t plan to buy anything today. 

“It’s just a browsing day,” Kris Karetti said. 

At San Diego’s Fashion Valley Mall, patriotism as a sales pitch was only going so far. 

“They’re not expensive so we don’t know what is going on,” said vendor Lara Murillo, 25, of the hand-painted American flag ornaments hanging amid ceramic gingerbread men and angels at her booth, Santa’s Pins. 

The $9.95 flags have been on sale for several weeks but although four or five people ask her about them each day, very few buy them. “It’s not how we thought they were going to be selling,” she said. 

SACRAMENTO —They were abandoned buildings in a forlorn part of downtown Santa Ana. Now they’re lively monuments to a shakeup in state investment strategy. 

State Treasurer Phil Angelides says it’s all about making money while turning around decaying corners of California. 

“We turned an old abandoned church into a theater and performance center and brought 1,000 young people of diverse backgrounds back into this urban corridor,” Angelides says. 

The former developer, a Democrat who touts more development in existing cities, calls it a “double bottom line.” Since taking office in 1999, he says he’s steered up to $12 billion in state money and pension fund investments to bypassed corners of California. 

For example, a $20 million state loan prodded the Orange County High School of the Arts to restore three empty buildings in Santa Ana, rather than build a new campus in Newport Beach or Anaheim. 

“When I started as treasurer I began looking at all our foreign investments, investments in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, where we were, as a pension fund, committing billions of dollars to unstable markets,” says Angelides. “At the same time we had our own emerging markets here at home that had needs, but also opportunities.” 

As treasurer and as a manager of “probably the largest aggregation of capital in the world,” he’s trying to invest more in east Los Angeles, south central Los Angeles and the Central Valley. 

“You know, for all its problems, the San Joaquin Valley doesn’t need a CIA report to underwrite its stability,” he says. “It is inherently part of the fifth largest economy in the world. And we’ve been looking past our own market places of opportunity.” 

Carol Whiteside, who has called the Valley a western “Appalachia” as director of the Modesto-based Great Valley Center, says it’s “not only a good investment decision, but keeps the economy of the state robust.” 

Many believe the fast-growing Valley threatens California’s long-term prosperity with its impoverished rural towns and high unemployment. 

Angelides says he’s steered capital from California’s $300 billion pension funds for state employees and teachers into Korean-American banks in Los Angeles that made more small business loans than bigger banks. Statewide, he says, pension funds have deposited $3 billion with Chinese-American, black and Hispanic-owned banks and local banks that invest in central cities. 

The state also has invested in retail chains that opened stores in low-income neighborhoods. It’s offered special home loans to teachers who work in low-performing schools. The treasurer’s office also steers state infrastructure funds to development projects near transit lines and within walking distance of schools — central cities get priority. 

The Orange County arts school is an example. 

It brought new life to a “ghost town,” says arts school president Ralph Opacic. 

“If you were able to see the transformation in just a year and a half, you’d realize for both the city and the treasurer, the idea of using the high school of the arts as a tool for urban redevelopment has been very effective,” Opacic says. 

Angelides says it’s not about “shoveling money out the door,” but “spending it in ways that promote good growth patterns for California. It’s a pretty simple notion,” he says, “but not one that’s imbued in our culture.” 

The treasurer insists these investments earn the same returns as traditional strategies. 

Some growth watchers liken Angelides’ philosophy to that of Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, who steers state funds to strategic growth areas. 

“Phil has done a lot with a more limited set of tools that a governor would have,” says Steve Sanders, a California growth and land use consultant. 

“I don’t make any assertions here that we’re changing the world,” Angelides says. “Rather I hope that by the way we’re looking at the financial resources that we control that we can set some models for others to follow.” 

———— 

On the Net: 

Read more at www.treasurer.ca.gov. 

Get this car some coffee! 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

I have a 1992 Buick Century with more than 60,000 miles that is very difficult to start, but just in the morning. It must be cranked several times before the car will finally start. Once it has been started, no problems are encountered for the rest of the day. I have replaced sensors, spark plugs, batteries, a starter and a fuel filter, but with no success. A Buick dealer hooked the car up to his computer and found no problems. Thinking I might be at fault, I've had other people start my car in the morning, with the same result. What could possibly be causing this car so much trouble waking up in the morning? – Margaret 

RAY: Good question, Margaret. Maybe it's the same thing that gives my brother so much trouble getting up in the morning: work. 

TOM: I'm going to suggest a few possibilities, Margaret. One is a weak fuel pump. If the fuel pump is weak, it would take awhile for enough fuel to get from the gas tank to the engine, especially when the car's been sitting for a while. 

RAY: The car could still start fine for the rest of the day because once the car is started, the fuel pump maintains "rest pressure" in the fuel line. That keeps enough gasoline in the line for quick subsequent starts. 

TOM: So you can ask your mechanic to test your fuel-pump pressure and your rest pressure. And if either are lower than they're supposed to be, go ahead and replace the pump. 

RAY: Another possibility is a faulty fuel-pump relay that is acting "lazy" when the car is cold. That would keep the fuel pump from being activated until the relay kicked in. 

TOM: So that's something else your mechanic can investigate. 

RAY: And one other possibility is the oft-overlooked coolant-temperature sensor, assuming you haven't replaced that yet. The "coolant temp sensor" reads the temperature of the coolant to determine whether the engine is hot or cold. 

TOM: And if the sensor is malfunctioning, it could be telling the computer that the engine is hot when it's really ice-cold. And that would lead the computer to set the fuel mixture incorrectly for a cold start, also leading to slow starting. 

RAY: If none of those suggestions help you solve the problem, Margaret, you can always try the approach I use on my brother to get him going in the morning: a swift kick. Good luck.  

How to limit  

allergens inside your car 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

Do car interior-air-filtration systems actually succeed at cleaning interior air? I've been searching all over the Web for credible info on this, but I can't zero in on any. Clearly, I'm desperate at this point. I have a 1987 Honda Accord LXI with 320,000 miles on it. It's in great shape and is a lot of fun to drive. I don't really want to give it up, but I am having problems with allergies. If interior-air-filtration systems work, I might actually break down and get a new car. Thanks. – Eric 

RAY: Some do work, Eric. It depends on the car. And it's not easy information to get. 

TOM: The key is knowing what you're allergic to and the size of its particles. For instance, I'm allergic to my brother. And even a heap like yours has a filter that will keep him out. It's called “door locks.” 

RAY: Actually, we did some research. We called a couple of allergists, and for 150 bucks an hour, they told us that the most problematic particles for people who suffer from allergies are around 5 microns in size. Some are bigger. Ragweed, for instance, is about 17 microns. 

TOM: For those without a scientific background, a micron is “very, very, very small.” The current Honda Accord's filtration system will only stop stuff bigger than 8 microns. So that might not help you if you're allergic to 5-micron particles. 

RAY: On the other hand, the Ford Focus' system gets stuff bigger than 3 microns. So that probably would do the trick. 

TOM: But what if you're allergic to something like dust-mite debris, which can be as small as 0.5 micron in size? Then the Focus is out, and you have to either launch yourself into space or save up for a 2002 Saab 9-5. Saab says its filters can catch some particles as small as 0.25 microns. 

RAY: So start by calling your allergist and getting as much information as you can. Then when you narrow down the list of cars that interest you, your best bet is probably to call the company's toll-free customer-service number. This is not something that dealers typically keep on the tips of their tongues. And besides, they might tell you anything to get you to buy their car. 

TOM: And before anybody writes to ask, anthrax is about 1 micron in size, and viruses, like small pox, are a fraction of a micron. So living in your car for the next 40 years is not a practical solution to bioterrorism. 

RAY: But it could ease the housing crunch!  

Is he being taken for a ride? 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

How can you tell if your tie rods are loose and need to be replaced? I got a lifetime alignment, and when I went back to get the car realigned, the mechanic said I needed to replace my tie rods before I did an alignment. Of course, he didn't "show" me anything. He just expects me to believe him. How can I tell for sure, so I know that I'm not being taken for a ride? – Basir 

TOM: Well, he's GOT to take you for a ride, Basir. He's going out of business on all those stupid lifetime alignments he sold. 

RAY: Unfortunately, a second opinion is your only real option here, Basir. 

TOM: There's no way to tell from how the car rides or handles that the tie rods are bad, because they wear out so slowly and gradually. It's like my brother's face. He doesn't notice how bad it's getting, because he sees it in the mirror every day. But whenever a long-lost relative sees him, she screams. 

RAY: The mechanic can tell if your tie rods are bad by jacking up the car and getting an assistant to shake the wheel from side to side. While the wheel is being shaken, he'll watch the tie rod's ball-and-socket joint. If he sees vertical movement in addition to the expected horizontal movement, he knows that the tie rod is worn out. And that's not something you can determine, since you don't know what a good one or a bad one should look like. 

TOM: So if you're suspicious of this guy, tell him that you don't have time today and you'll come back in a week or two. Then have another mechanic check the tie rods. And if they're bad, you should replace them right away, because if they break, your heirs could be reading this explanation. 

RAY: And, by the way, what he said makes sense. Bad tie rods could prevent him from aligning the car.  

Explaining markups; how to stop mildew 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

I discovered recently that the parts used by my local repair shop are marked up by 33 percent. I take this to mean that if I went to the dealer and bought the same part, it would have been a lot cheaper. My garage says this is a standard practice. Are they giving me a song and dance? -- John 

TOM: Yes, they are, John. Most repair shops don't mark up parts by 33 percent. Most mark them up by between 50 percent and 100 percent. 

RAY: But your assumption about the dealer price is wrong. The dealer sells parts to your garage at a special discount -- a discount the garage won't give you. So when your garage marks a part up by 33 percent, that probably brings it back up to the retail price, or thereabouts. 

TOM: In other words, if YOU went to the dealership's parts window and bought the part (or if you had the car serviced at the dealership), you would be charged the "list price," or about what your local garage charged you. Probably. 

RAY: Right. Some garages might make exorbitant markups, because there are unscrupulous people in every business. I mean, look at my brother. 

TOM: If you're curious, take your repair slip, pick a part and call your local dealership. Ask the mechanic how much the part would cost you if you walked in off the street. My guess is that it'll be close to what your garage is charging. 

RAY: And there's nothing underhanded about the practice of marking up the cost of your individual components, John. It's how business works. You charge for a combination of your expertise and the parts you know are required. Your plumber, electrician and local pizza shop do exactly the same thing.  

Dear Tom and Ray: 

I live in Florida and own a car with a vinyl top. How do I keep the top from mildewing? The car is parked outside all the time. – Arthur 

TOM: Mildew is not a topic we're overly familiar with, Arthur, living in the great frozen North as we do. Up here, those people with vinyl tops tend to be concerned about things like ice dams. 

RAY: But we have a few ideas for you. I would stay away from bleach, even diluted in water. Aside from discoloration, bleach can, apparently, cause vinyl to dry and crack by removing its natural oils. 

TOM: If the mildew is still mild (i.e., still basically two-dimensional), you might start by trying a common all-purpose cleaner such as Fantastik or 409. If that doesn't work, there are some vinyl-specific cleaners on the market, but you might not find them very easily. 

RAY: One we know of is called Meguiar's #39 Heavy Duty Vinyl Cleaner. It's a specialty product available at auto-body supply houses. If you call Meguiar's at (800) 347-5700, they can tell you where to find it in your area, or they can sell it to you mail-order. 

TOM: Whatever you use, it should be done a couple of times a year to keep the mildew under control. And it makes sense to follow it up with a vinyl conditioner of some sort. Meguiar's makes one called #40, or you should be able to find any number of them in your local auto-parts store or the auto-parts section of your favorite discount megastore. Good luck, Arthur.  

Got a question about cars? Write to Click and Clack in care of this newspaper, or e-mail them by visiting the Car Talk section of cars.com on the World Wide Web.

Parents pitched in Wednesday to serve some 60 Emerson School first graders a Thanksgiving feast.  

Before digging in, the children celebrated the day in song, one about an immigrant coming to America. “And the land was sweet and good and I did what I could,” the children sang.  

And they knew what they were thankful for: Michelle said she was thankful for the food. “Thank-you for my mommy,” said Victoria. Anya was thankful for “all living things,” and Tyler D. was thankful for her friends. Like Victoria, Ebony said she was thankful “for my mom.”

Thursday, Nov. 22

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Friday, Nov. 23

Kwanzaa Gift Show 

12 - 8 p.m. 

Oakland Marriott Hotel 

1001 Broadway, Oakland 

Three-day cultural gift show offers goods and services as well as retail seminars, business workshops, job recruitment, product samples, business opportunities, and entertainment. 

Saturday, Nov. 24

Celebrate Music on Telegraph 

2 - 4 p.m. 

The Village 

2556 Telegraph Ave. 

Shoppers and visitors to the cultural heart and soul of Berkeley will be treated to the joyful sound of music throughout the holiday season. Joe Chellman Quartet performs, sponsored by the Telegraph Business Improvement District and the Telegraph Area Association. 486-2366 

Santa's Solstice Bazaar 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Metaversal Lightcraft 

1708 University Ave. 

Come shop while kids visit with Santa for free. Fine arts, crafts, 

clothing and gift booths in a magical and colorful scene. 644-2032, www.lightcraft.org. 

Open Center 

10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

The Center is open for exercise and lunch. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will be shown at 1 p.m. 644-6107 

Teddy Bear Festival 

1 p.m., 3 p.m. 

Pacific Film Archive Theater 

2575 Bancroft Way 

Children get to march their teddy bears through the theater, and then watch animated teddy bear films. $3.50. 642-1412 

Sunday, Nov. 25

Celebrate Music on Telegraph 

2 - 4 p.m.  

Greg’s Pizza 

2311 Telegraph Ave. 

Shoppers and visitors to the cultural heart and soul of Berkeley will be treated to the joyful sound of music throughout the holiday season. Downtown Uproar performs, sponsored by the Telegraph Business Improvement District and the Telegraph Area Association. 486-2366 

United Genders of the  

Universe 

7 p.m. 

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave. 

An all ages genderqueer group for anyone who views gender as having more than 2 options. 548-8283  

Teddy Bear Festival 

1 p.m., 3 p.m. 

Pacific Film Archive Theater 

2575 Bancroft Way 

Children get to march their teddy bears through the theater, and then watch animated teddy bear films. $3.50. 642-1412 

Wild Life or Dinner 

noon 

The Fellowship of Humanity 

411 28th St., Oakland 

Eric Mills, coordinator for Action for Animals, speaks out against live-animal food markets in Oakland. 451-5818, humanisthall@ yahoo.com 

Monday, Nov. 26

Race, Immigration and American Politics Speakers Series 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

119 Moses Hall 

Chris Rudolph Center for International Studies, USC, “Security, Sovereignty, and International Migration.” 642-4608 www.igs. berkeley.edu 

Quilt Show 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

East Bay Heritage Quilters present their work, including art quilts, traditional bed quilts, wall hangings, group quilts, and clothing. $3 non-members. 834-3706 

Monthly meeting of the Oakland East Bay Chapter of NOW – the National Organization for Women 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore & Coffee House  

6536 Telegraph Ave. 

Everyone welcome. 287-8948 

Constructing Autonomy in Chiapas 

6 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship 

Cedar @ Bonita 

Sendoff event for Pastors for Peace caravan that will deliver emergency aid and build housing in Chiapas. $5 - $10, including dinner. 869-2577 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Tuesday, Nov. 27

 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

 

Experimental Mid-life Workshop 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Miriam Chaya presents the third of three workshops rooted in modern psychology and Jewish traditional sources designed to provide participants with the skills and tools necessary to meet the challenges they will face in the second half of their lives. $35, $25 members. 848-0237 ext. 127 

 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

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

531-8664 

 

Holistic Health 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Elizabeth Forrest discusses Creative Aging in the second of two Holiday Holistic Health talks. 644-6107 

 

 

---

Wednesday, Nov. 28

“Long Night's Journey Into Day” 

7 p.m. 

Ellen Driscoll Hall 

325 Highland, Piedmont 

Piedmont's Appreciating Diversity Committee, DiversityWorks and Piedmont's League of Women Voters will sponsor the free screening of “Long Night's Journey Into Day,” winner of the Grand Prize for Best Documentary at the 2000 Sundance Festival. 655-5552, www.diversityworks.org 

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article – a community 

writers' group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

Toddler Storytime 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Library 

1125 University Ave 

For families with children three years or younger, a program to expose the youngest readers to multicultural stories, songs and finger plays. The last Storytime in the series.  

Stories of Your Amazing Body 

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

For children aged three to ten years old, escape to the magical realm of health, fun, and excitement of this ongoing storytelling series. 549-1564  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

What really happened at the UN Conference on Racism or what the press left out. 548-9696, graypanthers@hotmail.com 

Emeryville Lights of Life Day  

5 - 7 p.m. 

Emeryville Child Development Center 

1220 53rd St., Emeryville 

Community event to honor loved ones and in tribute to the helping 

and caring professions, featuring children's chorus, candle-lighting, guest 

speaker Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright with a tribute to New York 

firefighters, and a visit from the fire truck. 450-8795 

"The Nuclear Waste Problem and the Yucca Mountain Project" 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. Dr. Gudmundur (Bo) S. Bodvarsson is the Earth Sciences Division Director and the Acting Nuclear Waste Program Manager at the LBNL. Sponsored by the Berkeley Student Section of the American Nuclear Society. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

Many of us will contribute turkeys, canned goods, gift certificates and volunteer time to help prevent hunger among low-income families this Thanksgiving holiday. To achieve an end to hunger for these same families in the weeks and months ahead, we propose a supplement to this traditional menu of charitable giving. In the spirit of strong families, healthy children, and successful communities this holiday season California Food Policy Advocates recommends that the public and state policy makers choose at least one option from the following menu of opportunities to reduce hunger. 

For the children:  

a healthy breakfast at school  

Hungry minds should start the day with breakfast; research has shown that kids who eat school breakfast do better on standardized tests and are less disruptive in the classroom. Too many of California’s schools do not serve breakfast, including many low performing schools that have a special responsibility to give children the tools they need to succeed. This year, California should require that all schools failing under the state’s School Accountability Act serve breakfast. This will give thousands of low-income children a healthy start to their day, and a start to a successful life. For more information on this menu item, visit www.cfpa.net/breakfastbill.htm 

For our seniors:  

food stamps for seniors on fixed incomes  

California is the only state where elderly seniors and disabled people on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can’t get food stamps. This means that a low-income senior living alone has to stretch $712 each month to cover rent, medical expenses and other necessities. Too frequently, these seniors don’t have enough money left over for food. California’s current policy for SSI and food stamps helps families that have both SSI and non-SSI recipients – for example, a family with a disabled child. But this policy hurts seniors who live alone and struggle to get by on $712 a month. Therefore CFPA proposes keeping current policy in place for the families that it helps, but ending it for those who are hurting: live-alone SSI recipients. We propose that these live-alone seniors be able to keep their $712 and still be eligible for federal food stamp help. See www.cfpa.net/seniorbill.htm 

For working Californians: red tape reduction.  

Working folks in California trying to supplement their wages with food stamps face endless red tape, chief among these problems is monthly reporting. With monthly reporting food stamp recipients must turn in a statement of income, assets and other information each month or immediately lose benefits. This means 650,000 households are turning in these monthly reports even when there are no changes from month to month and when millions are spent by administrators to process these forms. Over 40 others states have recognized the need to reduce this red tape for hard working folks and have ended monthly reporting. We recommend that policymakers end monthly reporting and choose one the alternatives already used in other states. This would reduce hassles for hungry folks and save the state $22.5 million. See: www.cfpa.net/redtape.html 

California Food Policy Advocates, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of low-income Californians by increasing their access to nutritious and affordable food, can be reached at 415-777-4422

It’s a historical drama without period costumes. An underworld crime story with nary a gunfight. A car salesman’s tale without any car chases. It is a tight little civic mystery thriller that’s too polite to raise its voice. 

“Birddog,” opening for a week-long run at the Fine Arts Cinema on Friday, is an independent film made on an independent’s shoestring budget, which unleashes a tempest of corporate grudges and city destruction with the production muscle of a teapot. 

Harv Beckman is an earnest used car salesman (a “pot lot,” nothing more than $1,000) who gives his customers a fair shake. He is an honest but failing businessman reading a dog-eared Upton Sinclair paperback, and on the side he’s a writer who has published two books, both of which sold badly. (A writer’s group admirer asks breathlessly, “What’s it like, being published?” She is as disappointed by the answer as he is.) 

He checks himself when his temper flares.  

When his slow-witted assistant bids on a pristine 1948 Kaiser at an auction, his slipping fortunes takes a fast downhill slide. While Harv tries to get the $35K to pay off the auction house, the car gets stolen. Out of cash and out of collateral the only bargaining chip he has is a novelist’s erratic instinct and his good standing with the local Kiwanis Club.  

The intrepid do-gooders at the community-service Kiwanis add up to a lot as Harv’s small-business troubles drift into dangerous open waters. 

This is a working-class story with working-class style. Portland-based writer-director Kelley Baker used to run with Portland’s golden boy Gus Van Sant (who made River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves into P-Town street hustlers in “My Own Private Idaho”). A self-proclaimed angry filmmaker (check out his industry rants at www.angryfilmmaker.com), Baker has gone on record with his fervent dislike of Portland as a filmmaking town. He told the Oregonian, “I am a filmmaker who lives in Portland. I will never be a Portland filmmaker.” 

Although Baker worked on Van Sant’s last several pictures his debut feature shows none of Van Sant’s art house-cum-Hollywood flair. There is a pronounced preponderance of medium-frame shots, the sky is evenly-lit overcast, and the story moves at a clock-puncher’s pace.  

Slow and steady, the story does indeed keep moving. Those troubles with the car escalate into uncovering a tragic disaster. It seems during WWII a temporary city was built between Portland and Vancouver, called Vanport, which housed the mostly black and lower-class shipbuilders for the war effort. This is all true. Shortly after the war a flood destroyed Vanport. Harv wonders if the flood wasn’t intentional. 

He doggedly pursues the stolen car and the obscure historical catastrophe. The scenes are calm and determined. The plot progresses slowly and sure-footed as the evidence and events neatly stack up; it’s a solid, if a bit sedate, piece of work. The script gets a bit creaky when it pivots on a couple somewhat tentative plot turns – Harv’s out-of-the-blue instinct to connect the missing car with Vanport, and his uncanny ability to recall a car owner’s history. But chalk those up as whimsical zing on an otherwise concrete writing job. 

For all Baker’s ire and spite he projects as the card-carrying Angry Filmmaker, his film is essentially kind-hearted. It’s centered on the nearly angelic Harv, who does have a weakness but even his vices are virtuous: he’s a sucker for the Kiwanis Club and their well-intentioned rummage sales. His commitment to charity – sometimes forcibly committed – threatens to sidetrack his efforts to save his own business. This film has a subtle sense of humor for non-profit fundraising drives, its subtext, if such a thing can be read, is flagrant propaganda for community service nonprofits. 

Indeed, the character’s most tellingly weird quirk – and the thing that becomes his saving grace – is that he’s nice to his neighbors. In the middle of the storm of deceit and duplicity Harv takes the time to have a cup of coffee with a helpful woman. Nice guys might finish last, but the central character Baker has created here is a guy you’ll want to buy your next used car from. 

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 23: The Stitches, Starvations, Neon King Kong, Kill Devil Hills, Problem; Nov. 24: Tilt, Missing Link, Cry Baby Cry; Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Nov. 22: Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Nov. 24: Tipsy House Irish Band; Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 19: Renegade Sidemen w/ Calvin Keyes; Nov. 20: Jimmy Ryan Jazz Quartet; Nov. 21: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 23: Sally Hanna-Rhine and David Tapham; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; Nov. 24: Carl Garrett Jazz Quartet; Nov. 25: Acoustic Soul; Nov. 26: Renegade Sidemen w/ Calvin Keyes; Nov. 27: Jason Martineau and David Sayen; Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 19: 6:30 p.m., Vista College; Nov. 20: 8 p.m., Tamazgha, $8; Nov. 21: 8 p.m., Tom Rigney & Flambeau, $8; Nov. 22: 6 - 9 p.m., Annual Food Not Bombs Thanksgiving Feast, Free; 10 p.m., Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 23: 9 p.m., Ras Michael and Sons of Negus with DJ Tony Moses, $10; Nov. 24: 9:30 p.m., Lavay Smith And Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, $11; Nov. 25: 9 p.m., The King of Calypso Mighty Sparrow, $15; Nov. 26: 6:30 p.m., Vista College; Nov. 27: 8 p.m., Creole Belles, $8; Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz. com 

Blake’s Nov. 22: Ascension, $5; Nov. 23: Solemite, TBA, $5; Nov. 24: Dank Man Shank, Locale AM, $5; Nov. 25: Out of The Ashes, Wonderland Ave., $3; Nov. 26: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, $4; Nov. 27: PC Munoz and the Amen Corner, Froggy, $3; Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs. berkeley.edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 23 & 24: Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum and Todd Sickafoose; Nov. 25: Sylvia Herold; Nov. 26: Ellen Robinson; Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

Jupiter Nov. 21: Starchild; All shows 8 p.m. and free. 2821 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625/ www.jupiter. com 

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

“Music on Telegraph” Nov. 25: Downtown Uproar, Greg’s Pizza, 2311 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo. com. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

Theater 

Splash Circus Nov. 23, 24, 25: 2 p.m., “Odyssey,” an outer space circus adventure featuring circus performers ages 10 - 14 years old. $14 adults, $7 kids under 14. Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave. 655-1265, www.splashcircus.com. 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822 www.auroratheatre.org 

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305 www.transparenttheater.org 

“Much Ado About Nothing” Nov. 20 through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 21: 7 :30 p.m., Macbeth; Nov. 23: 7:30 p.m., The Bank Dick; 9:05 p.m., Unfaithfull Yours; Nov. 24: 7 p.m., Touch of Evil; 9:05 p.m., The Narrow Margin; Nov. 25: 5:30 p.m., Grand Illusion; 7:45 p.m., Harvest; Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Exhibits  

“In Through the Outdoors” Through Nov. 24: Featuring seven artists who work in photography and related media including sculpture and video, this exhibit addresses the shift in values and contemporary concerns about the natural world that surrounds us. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traywick Gallery, 1316 Tenth St. www.traywick.com 

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960s and 1970s” Through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623  

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.org 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. 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  

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

The Berkeley High girls’ volleyball team had their season rudely ended on Tuesday night, falling in straight games, 15-11, 15-9, 15-5, to the San Benito (Hollister) Haybalers in the first round of the CIF state tournament. 

San Benito, the fourth-seeded team in the Northern California section, won by dominating the net despite the presence of Berkeley’s 6-foot-5 middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young. Outside hitter Jacky Denton led the Haybalers with 13 kills and Kim Dabo pitched in with 11 kills and two blocks.  

Guilliard-Young, on the other hand, only had 12 attempts all night as her teammates had trouble setting her up. The Baylor-bound senior finished with 3 kills and 3 blocks, far below her usual totals. She was even outpointed by San Benito middle blocker Lindsey Davis. Davis, who isn’t even a starter, had 4 kills and 4 blocks, including two on Guilliard-Young spikes. 

“There’s no possible way for us to win when that happens,” Berkeley coach Justin Caraway said of his star’s quiet match. 

San Benito coach Larry Nabzeska said his strategy was to avoid Guilliard-Young as much as possible, which included making it hard for Berkeley to get easy passes. 

“We heard about the big girl, and we wanted to stay away from her,” Nabzeska said. “We wanted to take the middle away from them by serving as hard as we could.” 

Nabzeska had the luxury of using three jump-servers to make Berkeley’s return game difficult. Dabo and Denton, two of the jump-servers, combined for just four aces, but their tricky serves kept the ’Jackets off-balance all night. 

“We just looked tentative and scared out there,” Caraway said. “I can only say ‘get your butt down and get under the ball’ so many times.” 

Berkeley’s poor passing made it a rough night for setter Danielle Larue, who found herself running for the ball rather than setting it for much of the match. As a result, the ’Jackets’ big hitters, outsides Vanessa Williams and Amalia Jarvis along with Guilliard-Young, had just 12 kills combined. 

The first game of the match was tied 4-4 when the Haybalers started to dominate the net. Guilliard-Young was blocked twice, first by Dabo, then by Davis, and followed that up with a hitting error that gave San Benito a 6-4 lead.  

“I didn’t think we’d be able to block (Guilliard-Young), but we did,” said Nabzeska, whose team had 12 kills blocks in the match. 

Guilliard-Young redeemed herself with a block to get serve back, but Dabo answered with a six-point service streak, including two aces and two kills by Denton, to make the score 12-4. Berkeley fought back to 12-9, but were too far behind to make up the entire deficit. 

The pivotal game of the match was the second. The ’Jackets took a 6-3 lead and stayed with San Benito to 9-9, but Dabo had three kills late in the game, including the final point on which her spike clipped the net and fell between three Berkeley defenders. 

Berkeley again took a quick lead in the final game and had a tie at 5-5, but then San Benito simply overpowered the ’Jackets for the rest of the match. Denton served out the rest of the match, starting with two aces. The next four points were painful for Caraway as he watched his team pass horribly, resulting in desperation back-row hits that found the net for easy San Benito points. 

“Calling a time-out at that point just would have put off the inevitable,” Caraway said. 

The last four points went quickly, requiring little effort on the Haybalers’ part other than letting Denton serve. 

Despite the anguish of the season-ending loss, Caraway expressed pride in what his team accomplished this season. The first Berkeley team to make the state tournament in more than a decade, the ’Jackets finished off their second straight undefeated ACCAL season and finally beat nemesis Bishop O’Dowd in the North Coast Section final. 

“We had an outstanding year, and I had a great time,” Caraway said. “Most of my players are significantly better than they were in September, and that’s all I can ask for.” 

The Berkeley coach was especially effusive in his praise for Guilliard-Young, whom he has coached for all of his four seasons with the school. She finished her career as the school-record holder in both single-season and career marks for kills and blocks. 

“I doubt I’ll ever have another player in the program who makes the impact that she did,” Caraway said.

Ann Fagan Ginger, executive director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute and former member of the city’s Peace and Justice Commission, issued an activist’s impassioned call to arms Tuesday night. 

Stop the bombing, she said. Dismantle the FBI. Have the United Nations undertake military operations in Afghanistan. Try suspected terrorists at the International Court of Justice. Inform elected officials that bombs are illegal. 

Ginger’s speech was the latest in a series of “InfoSessions on World Crisis Issues” held at the South Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1901 Russell St.  

A crowd of about 60 appreciative listeners was there to hear Ginger make her case. 

“If someone shoots you, you don’t shoot them back,” Ginger said. “That would be uncivilized. 

“You take them to court!” 

Ginger began her talk, “Civil Liberties, the War and the Constitution,” by urging all those present to make an end to the bombing in Afghanistan their first priority in political activity.  

She said she realized that the work she had previously done – for conscientious objectors and promotion of the United Nations – now came “after the semicolon.”  

Ending the war, she said, was now her first priority, and she hoped that everyone listening would somehow incorporate that message in their political work. 

“We have to find a way – across the generations and through our lives – to stop the bombing,” she said. 

With that, Ginger unfolded her argument. She made the case that civil liberties are derived not only from the U.S. Constitution, but from the charter of the United Nations and various other international treaties which the United States and most other countries have signed. 

These humanitarian treaties, she said, are part of the “supreme law of the land,” no less so than NAFTA and other free-trade agreements. 

For instance, she said, international law has long deemed illegal, weapons such as cluster bombs, that are not precise enough to hit military targets rather than civilian populations. This clause is incorporated in numerous international weapons’ treaties, and has been upheld by the International Court of Justice, Ginger said. 

“So each bomb we drop – every one – is illegal,” she said. 

Ginger argued that all U.S. policy directed against the government of Afghanistan and terrorist organizations should be approved, and, if possible, carried out by the United Nations. 

She said that the U.S. government had no business being in Afghanistan. A more prudent course of action, she believes, would be to take the matter to the United Nations Security Council. There, she said, the military chiefs of staff of each of the five members of the council could hash out a common strategy and share the burdens of the operation. 

To illustrate her point, Ginger asked if any member of the audience knew how to solve the homeless problem in Oakland. No hands went up. So, she asked, how can any one nation expect to solve the much more difficult problems in Afghanistan? 

Ginger also delivered a defense of the International Court of Justice, where she believes members of al-Qaida should be tried. 

She said that the goals of what she hoped would become a new movement against war and for civil liberties would be difficult, but not impossible, to attain. 

“In the 30s, we won the right to organize, strike and picket,” she said. “We won Social Security, equal pay for women and unemployment benefits. We changed the economy of this country.” 

“If we could do this in the 30s, we can do it in the year 2001.” 

One member of the audience asked a critical question. A woman said that while she agreed with almost everything Ginger said, she believed that having a federal crime agency was a good idea. How can citizens work to reform the FBI? 

Ginger pointed out that there was not always an FBI, and that before 1908, the country did just fine without one. She said that she didn’t see why the country needed one now. 

But, the woman inquired, who would investigate the recent anthrax attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Florida? 

“The best defense is to build a society in which no one wants to bomb us,” Ginger replied. 

After the presentation, Ginger asked the crowd to form a circle, hold hands and sing “We Shall Overcome.”

Editor: 

I realize that the letter by the two 8-year-old Berkeley girls were probably well-intended. However, both adults and children need to be reminded that the people in the World Trade Center were “minding their business” when two planes, overtaken by terrorists whose only intention was to kill Americans, crashed into the towers and exploded. So, the president is definitely “minding our business” to see to it that these terrorists (and their associated regimes) are brought to justice. 

True, innocent Afghan civilians have lost their lives, but we should remember that innocent Americans have given and will give their lives to protect the freedoms we cherish in this country.  

Also, considering how cold-blooded these terrorists have proven themselves to be, I doubt seriously that they will stop bombing or hurting us if we stop bombing them. We are not dealing with reasonable folk here; these people are unreasonable, irrational murderers, and should be dealt with accordingly. 

Frank M. Rivers 

Oakland 

The University of California women’s volleyball program has signed local product Alicia Powers and Texas’ Jenna Brown to a National Letters of Intent, it was announced Wednesday by Golden Bear head coach Rich Feller.  

Powers is a 6-1 middle blocker from Clayton. She attends Carondelet High School in Concord where, this fall, she was first team All-Bay Valley League. As a junior in 2000, she was also named first team all-league and second team All-East Bay in the Contra Costa Times.  

Powers, who also plays volleyball for the Golden Bear Volleyball club team and competed in high school basketball and track, selected Cal over UCLA and Duke.  

“Alicia is a huge recruit for us. She is one of the top players in northern California,” said Feller. “We believe she will make a big impact in our program. Alicia is a middle blocker who is as good in the back row as she is in the front row."  

Brown is a 5-11 left-handed outside hitter from Clear Brook High School in Friendswood, TX. This fall she was named all-district Co-MVP, all-district first team, all-greater Houston first team and Houston Chronicle Sept. 12 Athlete of the Week. Brown was first in the greater Houston area with 482 digs and was second with 489 kills. She selected Cal over LSU and Texas A&M.  

“We are extremely excited about having Jenna join our program," said Feller.”She is one of the top three volleyball players in the city of Houston and is a left-handed hitter who has exceptional backcourt skills and an outstanding feel for blocking."

Community outcry and concern from neighboring cities about diminished fire service, has caused the Oakland City Council to rethink tearing down Fire Station No. 8 in north Oakland while a new station is built. 

On Dec. 6, the council will consider an alternate plan to delay demolition for three years and not reduce fire service. 

Because of the station’s proximity to south Berkeley, the Berkeley City Council asked city staff on Oct. 30 to investigate what Oakland’s fire service reduction would mean for emergency response. Berkeley has a Mutual Aid Agreement with Oakland, which requires each city to provide assistance to the other when emergency response resources are over taxed. 

“I’m really concerned how this closure will affect mutual aid,” Mayor Shirley Dean said. “Right now, with the rains, the fire risk is not so great, but next summer mutual aid will be critical.” 

According to an Oct. 30 report made by Dean, the closure of the Oakland station would remove two fire response vehicles from service. The removal means emergency equipment such as a 100-foot aerial ladder for high-rise rescue and a jaws of life would not be available for up to 18 months. 

The Berkeley Fire Department was not immediately able to say how many times a year the Oakland Fire Department responds to emergencies in Berkeley under the Mutual Aid Agreement. 

However, Fire Chief Reginald Garcia said that he did not anticipate any significant impact on Berkeley fire services while Station No. 8 is closed. 

The Oakland City Council approved $4.1 million to rebuild the station at 52nd Street and Telegraph Avenue last May. But, according to Vice Mayor Jane Brunner, the approval soon raised the concern of north Oakland residents who said the closure would reduce Oakland’s regular 141 fire-fighting force by eight. 

“That’s a reduction of 5 percent of the city’s fire service and it’s north Oakland that is bearing the entire brunt of that reduction,” Brunner said.  

In addition, Brunner said claims by the fire department that Piedmont and Emeryville had agreed to provide fire service to north Oakland during the estimated 10 to 18 months the station would be closed turned out to be inaccurate. Upon reading the fine print of a Nov. 15 report by Oakland’s Fire Chief Gerald Simon, it became clear that neither city had entered into an agreement with the Oakland Fire Department, she said.  

The lack of an agreement raised questions about the who would take up the slack for Fire Station No. 8, which responds to an average of 43 emergencies a month. Nearly 80 percent of those are for medical emergencies, which often require speedy response times especially for heart attack victims. 

Steve Splendorio, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 55 proposed an alternate plan during a Community Advisory Meeting on Nov. 3. Splendorio presented his plan again at a neighborhood meeting on Tuesday, attended by Mayor Jerry Brown and City Manager Robert Robb. 

Splendorio’s plan would delay rebuilding the station for three years during which time, the fire department could continue the current level of fire service. At the end of three years, Oakland will have hired enough new fire fighters to be deployed at stations near Fire Station No. 8 to cover the loss of those emergency service.  

North Oakland resident Ruth Finnerty said she would prefer delaying the new fire station. “I really want to see a new station but I would prefer if the people of north Oakland could at least maintain the current level of fire and emergency service while it’s being rebuilt,” she said.  

The Public Safety Committee, a sub-committee of the Oakland City Council, will consider the alternate plan on Nov. 27 and then two weeks later on Dec. 6, the City Council will decide whether to delay the demolition of Fire Station No. 8.

Editor: 

It’s a great public service you perform at the Berkeley Planet by printing letters from other planets. I enjoyed the recent (11/13) perspective piece you printed from the “Dona Spring” who appears to be a city council member in a parallel universe, where there are “conservative” and “right-wing” members of the council. Here on planet Earth, of course, all the members of the Berkeley City Council occupy a tiny little ledge somewhere to the left of center, where they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to consolidate their own personal power and push the other members off the ledge. Maybe in the parallel universe, if there are any real philosophical differences between the council members, they actually spend time on meaningful policy choices, rather than the endless, meaningless, debilitating, and pathetic political infighting that seems to be the best our council has to offer. Or, of course, maybe there is no parallel universe and the letter from Dona is just another example of the how ludicrous our own council has become. Either way, thanks to the Berkeley Planet for staying on top of intergalactic opinion! 

Tom McHenry 

Berkeley 

Cal overcame a woeful shooting performance from three-point range and held on to beat Santa Clara, 67-60, Tuesday night in Haas Pavilion. With the win, the Bears are now 3-0 for the first time since 1995.  

Cal opened the game by missing its first 16 shots from behind the arc and finished the half just 3-for-20. It didn’t get any better after the break, as the Bears were only 1-for-10 dring the final 20 minutes to finish 4-for-32 (12.5 percent).  

“I really believe we can shoot the ball better,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “I thought some of the shots we missed were good looks, but a lot of the others were ill-advised.”  

However, Cal prevailed with another strong defensive effort and has held all three of its opponents this year to 60 points or less. Santa Clara (0-2) shot just 36.7 percent from the floor. The Bears out-rebounded the Broncos, 40-36, and blocked seven shots to SCU’s none.  

Still, five players scored in double figures, led by 13 from junior guard Shantay Legans and 12 each from Ryan Forehan-Kelly and Brian Wethers. Joe Shipp and Solomon Hughes chipped in with 11 points apiece.  

Santa Clara built an 8-4 lead five minutes into the game before Cal finally tied it at 10-10 at the 11:40 mark. The Bears trailed by as many as five points, but battled back to own a 34-31 edge at the half.  

“I really think Santa Clara was hungry in the beginning of the game and we weren’t until the second half,” Braun said. “That’s when we got our intensity back.”  

Cal came out of intermission on a 12-4 run to go up, 46-35, on a breakaway dunk by Dennis Gates. The lead ballooned to 16 on an 8-0 spurt, capped by another dunk by Wethers, and Cal led, 60-44, with 5:49 remaining in the contest.  

SCU cut its deficit to 60-54 with 1:07 left, but Wethers and Legans combined to make 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch.

Edward Treuting sat inside Point Richmond’s Hidden City Cafe, dipping a homemade sausage patty into his over-easy eggs and talked about his vision for the Emeryville stretch of San Pablo Avenue.  

The Emeryville planning commissioner said his city needs to think about developing the area with small, independently-owned shops. 

“I’m not one of those people who are absolutely anti-chain, no matter what, but I’d like to see independents in Emeryville,” Treuting said. “The buzzword that has come out is ‘reinventing.’” 

“Reinventing” San Pablo Avenue would not only mean developing smaller stores, but it would also include gathering places and making the area pedestrian friendly. 

Glancing up from his stack of maple syrup-covered pancakes, Treuting talked about how a group of neighbors have launched a campaign to bring smaller businesses to the Promenade, the 11,500 square-foot retail project – complete with a Longs Drug Store – and with 110 townhomes now being built on San Pablo Avenue between Park Avenue and 45th Street.  

The project is being developed by Park Emery Associates Limited Partnership – in conjunction with Walnut Creek-based C & H Development – which purchased the property in 1997 after Kaiser Permanente Medical Center dropped out of an agreement with Emeryville to develop the site as part of an 18-acre hospital. 

The residents have met some huge obstacles, however. C & H Development signed a controversial lease with the International House of Pancakes in September. They have also proposed a Panda Express and Quizno’s Subs at the Promenade.  

Tuesday’s Emeryville City Council meeting renewed the neighbors’ hopes that smaller businesses may move into the project. Council members voted 4-1 to have the city lease the remaining Promenade retail space from the developer, and pick their own tenants. They also approved a $50,000 loan to help a Richmond couple open a Coffee Beanery coffeeshop. Developers from C & H, however, had been negotiating with Starbucks Coffee. 

“I’d rather not build the development than to have that happen,” Councilmember Dick Kassis said of a new influx to Emeryville of huge, national chains. 

The project is supposed to consist of “neighborhood-serving” shops, according to city development plans. 

“At all of the meetings neighbors said they wanted locally-owned businesses. And we got IHOP,” Emeryville resident John Fricke said last month.  

On Tuesday night, Fricke was more optimistic. After the meeting, he sent out a mass e-mail to community members titled, “City Council Saves Us From Fast Food Alley!” 

Rather then merely complaining about the impending chain-invasion, Fricke has organized a letter-writing campaign to 38 locally-owned businesses in the area.  

“If we had a restaurant within walking distance, we would go there every week,” he wrote to the owners of San Francisco’s Caffe Delle Stelle. 

The City Council has hired Craig Semmelmeyer, a business recruiter from Main Street Retail Services in Lafayette, to help hunt for businesses.  

“We’re very hot and heavy,” Semmelmeyer said of the local business hunt. “There’s a lot of balls in the air. And there isn’t a signed lease, but I think the program is very effective.” 

Semmelmeyer, residents and councilmembers recently learned that IHOP and the developer had in their lease agreement that the Promenade would not include businesses they consider competitive.  

Much of the debate centers around who gets to decide the development’s fate.  

Bruce Fairty, vice president of Park Emery Associates Limited Partnership, said that developers cannot discriminate against big boxes just because they are not trendy. He also said nobody in Emeryville told his company about their anti-chain feelings until recently, when it was too late.  

“Three-fourths of the way into the project, the issue arises. It was never talked about before,” Fairty told council in September. “There was a lot of talk about what types of tenants, but there was no mention whatsoever of local versus non-local.” 

He described anti-chain discrimination as “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” 

Fairty said the “IHOPs of the world” are a lower-risk investment than funky, independent shops. He said many small Rockridge shops, for example, are built in older buildings, and were less expensive for developers to renovate than building from nothing. He said Rockridge is “charming,” but an unrealistic goal for Emeryville. 

“People are speaking about the project like it’s a public amenity,” Fairty told council at a meeting earlier in the fall. “But there’s $6 million we have spent that say it’s too late for that.” 

Even if Emeryville decides eventually it wants to model its stretch of San Pablo after funky Berkeley shops, it may have a tough time legally trying to keep chains out of the Promenade. Assistant City Attorney Lynn Tracy Nerland said that in last year’s Friends of Davis v. City of Davis case, the court ruled that Davis couldn’t turn away a Borders Books from a location simply because it is a chain store. 

“The council was well aware of the case, and we’ll leave it at that,” Nerland said, when asked if there was concern about lawsuits over The Promenade.  

Mayor Nora Davis, the lone vote against the city taking on the job of tenanting the project, said snubbing chains is a luxury that Emeryville can’t afford. She said only allowing local businesses would make the city economically vulnerable. 

“When we started redevelopment 13 years ago, Emeryville was considered a decaying, industrial town loaded with toxics and brownfields,” Davis said. “We have a broad base of revenues now, and have to as a matter of survival. We had all our eggs in one basket at one time, and that turned out to be disastrous for this city.” 

At this week’s council meeting Davis said leasing the property could lead to major expenditures for the city. 

“I think we are opening a Pandora’s box into a world of hurt for this city,” Davis said. 

Councilmember Spring, you were so very quick to “condemn” the actions of the Untied States government after the terrorist attacks that murdered 5,000 innocent civilians during the normal conduct of their daily lives. 

Now, the Taliban have murdered news reporters . . . not by mistake, not because a stray shot, these news reporters were knowingly and intentionally murdered ! 

What have you got to say now, Councilmember Spring ? 

Remember, Councilmember Spring, you were elected by a small number of voters in a small district of a small city to help to run that small city, not to direct the foreign policy of the United States. 

Clearly, federal foreign policy is not your area of expertise. Unfortunately, you and your city-council bully-majority of “left-wing loonies” have not even done a good job of what you were elected to do.  

Anne Marselis 

Berkeley 

A mid-day fire at 2721 Garber St. on Tuesday caused about $75,000 in property damage, according to Deputy Fire Chief Debra Pryor. 

“We’re still investigating the cause,” Pryor said. However, fire officials believe that it looked like it started on or near a floor furnace in the living room. 

“The occupants were not home,” Pryor said. They were renters “in the process of moving out.” 

Fifteen firefighters fought the one-alarm blaze, during which one firefighter was treated for a minor injury. 

Firefighters believe the fire moved from the ground floor of the two-story building to the second floor, by going out a window and burning shingles on the exterior of the house.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District Wednesday adopted amendments that would reduce the number of smog-forming particles that are emitted by industrial paints. 

The district says paint and coatings for bathrooms, kitchen fixtures, concrete forms, fire escapes and curbs emit more than 24 tons of volatile organic emissions, which are a common element in ground-level pollution. 

Wednesday’s rule will decrease the amount of emissions of the volatile organic emissions by nearly 4 tons per day by limiting the solvent content used in the paints, according to the district. 

“Reformulating these paints to reduce air pollution is the Air District’s first step in implementing the 2001 Clean Air Plan,” said Deputy Air Pollution Office Peter Hess. “Full implementation of the plan will result in a 20 percent reduction in pollution in Bay Area by the year 2006.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco schools chief Arlene Ackerman said she plans job cuts in response to findings that voter-approved school repair and modernization funds were misspent and mismanaged. 

An investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle found that for years the San Francisco Unified School District used millions of dollars in voter-approved bond and tax funds meant for facility repairs and upgrades to pay nonteacher salaries and benefits. 

Ackerman on Tuesday declined to say how many jobs would be trimmed, but said any staff reductions would entail negotiations with unions representing district workers. 

There are 720 full-time employees in the district’s facilities department. The department is in charge of transportation, student nutrition, custodial services, buildings and grounds, design and construction and real estate. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A man who helped draft California’s Proposition 215, which allows certain patients to possess marijuana, was arrested by police last week in Cedar City, Utah, for smoking a joint in his motel room. 

Dennis Pero is facing a felony charge of possessing marijuana for distribution. 

Peron said he and fellow Bay Area marijuana activist John Entwistle had been heading for Zion National Park with a friend last Wednesday and decided to sample the marijuana they brought along. 

A maid picked up the scent in the hall, and the motel owner called police. Officers searched the room and found nearly a pound of marijuana and concluded the three were dealers. 

Peron said it was only a few ounces, to be used for medical purposes as allowed by Proposition. 215. 

He and Entwistle both have doctors’ recommendations to take marijuana as part of their therapy for alcoholism, he said. 

Police impounded the cars and all their cash. The cars were returned, but prosecutor Scott Burns said the money would be held as evidence until the end of the case. 

——— 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sega has an estimated 230,000 unsold Dreamcast video game consoles in the U.S. — and it wants to clear them off the shelves. 

The company announced Wednesday in San Francisco that the 128-bit machine will be selling for $49.95 in time for the holiday season. That’s down $30 from its current price tag. 

On Tuesday, Sega of America’s parent company in Japan reported a 169 million dollar loss for the first half of the fiscal year. 

Earlier this year, Sega announced it would no longer produce the Dreamcast system, which never caught on in its battle with Sony’s PlayStation 2. Instead, Sega is creating games for other console makers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. 

There are about 200 games available for the Dreamcast system, which features the ability to play against other gamers online. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Pity the Thanksgiving turkey, selectively bred so fat for so long that simply walking can be a problem and sex is no longer possible. 

For at least 50 years, farmers have single-mindedly plucked the fattest and fastest growing turkeys from their flock and bred them together to yield the most sumptuous breast meat. The result: this year most of the 267 million turkeys that will be commercially sold in the U.S. have breasts so large that the males are physically unable to mate. 

Instead, fat female turkeys are artificially inseminated by man. 

The commercial turkey industry is unapologetic. Turkey breeders say they’re giving us what we want for Thanksgiving. 

“The U.S. consumer wants white meat,” said Sherrie Rosenblatt, a spokeswoman with the National Turkey Federation in Washington D.C. “And it goes far beyond Thanksgiving. The sandwich you ordered at lunch is white meat.” 

Breeders are able to grow turkeys bigger and faster than ever through a vitamin-laden diet and technological improvements in genetics. 

The turkeys aren’t genetically engineered, Rosenblatt said. In laboratories and in the field, breeders weed out turkeys with unwanted genes while funneling coveted ones into mass production. Female turkeys take 14 weeks to grow to 15 pounds while male turkeys — “toms” — take 18 weeks to plump to 35 pounds. 

Much of the genetic breeding process, though, is still done by sight. Workers watch turkeys walk down and aisle and cull the lame and weak. 

“They pick the animals that eat the most before they are satisfied,” said Joy Mench, a University of California, Davis professor who specializes in poultry. 

White-feathered turkeys are also selected for breeding while their darker colored relatives are culled from the flock. Dark-feathered turkeys leave unsightly blemishes on the skin. 

Not all livestock experts appreciate the lengths the turkey industry has gone to provide the nation with an abundance of white meat. 

“They’ve bred animals that grow so fat and fast that their hearts and lungs can’t support the growth,” said Gene Bauston, co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, which aims to prevent farm animal cruelty and promotes a vegan diet. “The birds are so heavy that their feet and legs can’t support their bodies.” 

Bauston said he fears industry research will lead to even more efficiently grown fat turkeys, all with nearly identical genes. 

“As a result, the odds increase that the turkeys will be wiped out by a single disease or virus,” Bauston said. 

Bauston said he will dine on “tofurkey,” a turkey-shaped slab of tofu, and vegetables on Thursday. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Dungeness crab season should be in full swing along the California coast, but most fishermen’s boats are docked as they protest the prices they have been offered for their catches. 

Wholesalers and distributors are getting their crab from American Indian fishermen in the Pacific Northwest, who have worked out agreements to begin fishing for crab a month before the official season starts. 

California fishermen are asking for $2.25 a pound for their crab, but they’re being offered $1.75 a pound by distributors and wholesalers. California fisherman got $2.25 a pound at the start of last season. 

“What we produce is the very best you can get, and they pay us less for it,” said David Capp, who has been fishing for crab for the past 30 years. 

But wholesalers say with the economic downturn, they can’t sell the crab for enough to cover the price the fishermen are asking. 

Most of the crab caught around the San Francisco Bay area is shipped live or cooked locally, said Duncan MacLean, a crab fisherman and president of the Half Moon Bay Fishermen’s Marketing Association. 

Consumers are already being affected. There’s still crab available, but it comes from Oregon and Washington. 

“It makes a shortage of crab, and the price of what crab is available is high,” said Rick Geraldi, manager of Fisherman’s Grotto No. 9 on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, which is selling Washington state crab for $8.75 a pound. 

Still, customers are buying, he said. 

“It’s Thanksgiving. Everybody wants crab,” Geraldi said. 

Thanksgiving is a busy time for crab fishermen, and early indications showed that this season should be normal to slightly above average, MacLean said. 

“We sell directly to the public now, and in the past, that’s helped keep the buyers a little bit honest,” he said. “There’s a little too much produce to sell to the public and still get a good price.” 

The season around the Bay Area started Nov. 15, and it opens for fishermen north of Point Arena in Mendocino County on Dec. 1. It’s unclear whether the Northern California fishermen will join in the strike. The season ends in June. 

In Washington, crab season begins Dec. 1, but Indian tribes can begin fishing Nov. 1, giving California crab fishermen a run for their money. 

One crab fisherman has broken ranks, and fished from Half Moon Bay. John Dooley caught 15,000 pounds and got $2.60 a pound. But for that, he said he found the lines of 400 of his more than 900 crab pots cut. 

The Dungeness crab industry brought in $13.5 million last year, with about 8 million pounds landed annually in California. The crabs get shipped all over the country and as far away as Japan. 

Capp said if he had been fishing since the start of the season, he could have made between $10,000 and $40,000, depending on how the crab are doing, he said. 

Capp’s business is one of the smaller ones. He has about 225 traps, while larger operations have 700 to 1,000. He has instead been spending his time doing maintenance on his boat and traps. 

He said he has paid his bills and will wait out the strike. 

“The crabs are still out there,” he said. “And they’re getting fatter every day.” 

The Alameda County Housing and Community Development Department announced today that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $12 million in grants to county programs that help the homeless. 

The grants will help to keep 26 county programs that help homeless people in the county find permanent and transitional housing.  

They will also help launch a new program, the Russell Street Residence of the Berkeley Emergency Food and Housing Project, which will create 18 new housing units for mentally disabled residents. 

The awards sum is more than $200,000 from what the HUD gave Alameda County last year. The amount places Alameda County behind only Los Angeles County as the jurisdiction that received the most money. 

Grants include a total of $2.1 million for Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency, a community group that will use the money to operate five programs to help house people with mental disabilities, AIDS and drug problems. 

The group Jobs for the Homeless Consortium received more than $2.5 million that will allow it to provide intensive job training and employment services to more than 1,000 homeless people. 

The HUD also renewed the grants of four collaborative projects. 

Those include the Homeless Families Support Network, which is led by the city of Oakland and provides 54 units of affordable housing; the Alameda County Homeless Youth Collaborative, which provides housing for young homeless people in Oakland and Berkeley; the Alameda Point Collaborative, which provides housing and support for some 700 homeless who live in the former Alameda Naval Air station; and the Southern Alameda County Housing/Job Linkages Program, which provides subsidies for temporary housing, job preparation and placement services for homeless families in the middle, southern and eastern areas of Alameda County. 

Commenting on the grant announcement, Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty said: “This award today reminds us all that in this time of national crisis, we must not forget to continue to support programs that serve those in need in our communities.”

BERKELEY – Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley say they are working to patent a design for aircraft wings that could dramatically cut the strength of wake turbulence. 

The researchers say that the innovation, which adds triangular flaps to wings, would make wake turbulence, the force that may have played a role in the deadly crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York last week, harmless. 

“The wing we designed could make substantial differences in flight safety and airport capacity,” says UC Berkeley mechanical engineering professor Omer Savas.  

Aviation officials have said that they believe that the tail fin of the A300 jet tore off the plane after pilots hit the wake turbulence, or tornado-like wind patterns, left by a Japan-bound Boeing 747 that had taken off two minutes earlier. 

Wake turbulence is created by the mismatch of speed, direction and pressure of the air that moves above and underneath a plane. The differences govern the lift that is generated during flight. 

Depending on weather conditions, and the plane's speed and size, the wake vortices are generally stable and can stretch a distance of hundreds of wingspans, or three to five miles for commercial aircraft. 

Savas said while wake turbulence alone is not the likely cause of Flight 587’s crash, the turbulence added to a damaged tail fin “could be devastating.” 

Savas, along with former graduate students Jason Ortega and Robert  

Bristol, came up with the wing design that adds a triangular flap to the  

wings, to create a shape similar than that of a bat's wing. 

The flaps create additional vortices that rotate in opposite  

directions and run into each other. 

"It's like two tornadoes shredding each other,'' Savas said. "One  

is spinning clockwise, the other counterclockwise, so each one counteracts  

the other.'' 

Savas said the flaps would allow planes to take off and land  

within closer time frames without compromising safety. 

The idea of getting rid of wake vortices is not a new one, and  

wing designs in the past have included small pulsing jets mounted at the  

wingtips, spars and oscillating spoilers. 

Most of the designs, however, proved themselves to be infective or  

impractical, while others required too many moving parts that needed too much  

maintenance. 

UC Berkeley filed a provisional patent application for the wing  

design on Friday. 

JoseALopez0545p11/21/01 

CONTACT: Sarah Yang, UC Berkeley (510) 643-7741 

Omer Savas (510) 642-5705 

Copyright © 2001 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse 

without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. 

/www/bcn/general/11/newsclip.01.11.21.17.44.08.5.txt 

SAN FRANCISCO — A six-month state probe of San Francisco’s November 2000 election has found “very unusual” ballot-counting discrepancies in a limited sample that could suggest a problem “large enough to affect the results of several contests,” Secretary of State Bill Jones said Wednesday. 

In response, San Francisco Department of Elections Director Tammy Haygood called for a recanvass of all ballots from that election. 

Jones’ review of 21 randomly selected precincts found an average 8.8 percent difference between the number of ballots the city reported and the number found during the state’s probe. 

In one precinct, the city logged 569 votes, but Jones’ review counted 768 ballots. 

San Francisco has 647 precincts, and Jones said he does not have enough evidence to conclude whether the discrepancies resulted from fraud or gross error. 

Still, he said “the size of the number of discrepancies is very concerning and highly unusual.” 

Haygood said the city will recanvass the November 2000 election and the December runoff. 

“In an effort to gain credibility back at the Department of Elections, I feel this is a task we must undertake,” Haygood said. 

A recanvass involves reviewing the number of ballots cast, which differs from a recount. It does not tally how many votes each candidate received. Instead, the recanvass will simply report how many total ballots were undercounted or overcounted, Jones said. 

Haygood estimated it will take about a month for the recanvass and said her department would fund it. She did not have a cost estimate. 

City Attorney Louise Renne has said the recanvass will not change the results of the election. However, the issue isn’t necessarily dead. 

Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano said some candidates could file lawsuits, claiming they won their races. 

“The scenario could be a very troublesome one and a very, very expensive one,” Ammiano said. 

In addition to the recanvass, Jones said voter confidence can be restored by creating a statewide committee of elections officials to help San Francisco. 

The city has a history of troubled elections. Since taking office in 1995, Jones said his office has intervened or provided assistance to the city’s Department of Elections in six of the past seven years. 

The investigation of the Nov. 2000 election began after former acting elections chief Phillip Paris accused the department of miscounting votes and misusing up to $1 million on salaries. Paris was relieved of his duties after he alleged misconduct by two other department officials who have since left the department. 

City officials criticized this month’s election after absentee ballots mailed on Election Day were taken to an alternative site to eliminate concerns of anthrax contamination. Jones said Haygood made the right decision, and the election should boost voter confidence. 

But regardless of what changes are made, Ammiano said the damage is done. He’s pleased about a ballot measure passed this month, which puts an independent commission in charge of the department. 

“Right now, the confidence is in the toilet,” he said. 

Supervisor Tony Hall, who won his seat last December in a runoff after three recounts, said he’s not buying Jones’ probe or the need for a recanvass. 

“I think this is just more San Francisco theater,” Hall said. “We’ve spent enough of the taxpayers’ money on this foolishness. In my opinion, San Francisco has not had fair, independent elections in 25 years.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Before computer whiz Steven E. Brenner accepted his tenure-track research post at the University of California-Berkeley last year, he demanded that the school’s intellectual property police leave him alone. 

Brenner prevailed. He’s now one of the few experts in the emerging field of bioinformatics with the freedom to distribute his work, software used in gene research. 

“It’s vital to what we do,” says Brenner, who supports a movement to force universities to allow “open source” publishing of gene research software code. 

It’s a somewhat quixotic movement, since universities’ 2,000 yearly patents now provide 10 percent of their budgets, about $5 billion. With government funding on the decline, schools say they need to profit from faculty research. 

The movement also runs counter to U.S. laws that permit publicly funded schools to enter into exclusive licensing agreements with private companies. 

Unlike scientists who keep research secret until it is published in a peer-review journal, some software developers — who get little credit when their code leads to a genetic breakthrough — want to share their work as soon as it leaves their keyboards. 

It’s an old debate in the world of computing — and a new culture clash in bioinformatics, the practice of using computers to search genetic material for potential cures that has caused such excitement in the medical community. 

The problem with not sharing the software code of bioinformatics programs, say researchers like Brenner, is that bugs can go unnoticed, hindering scientific advances. 

With collaboration, open-source advocates say, the quality of bioinformatics software will improve. 

But universities — and some programmers — oppose the open source movement, fearful valuable trade secrets could be lost. 

Private corporations that increasingly fund academic research are no different. 

Berkeley, for instance, is in the middle of a five-year, $25 million deal with Swiss-based agriculture giant Syngenta, a Novartis Corp. spinoff that funds research in Berkeley’s department of plant and microbial biology. 

For $5 million a year, Syngenta gets to license whatever is invented by most of the department’s scientists. Researchers who accept Syngenta’s money are barred from showing their software outside of the university without permission. 

Open source advocates object to such private agreements, along with universities using federal grants to create private intellectual property. 

“If taxpayer money is used to create the software, then it should be publicly available for free,” said Harry Mangalam, of tacg Informatics in Irvine, Calif. “The public is being billed twice right now.” 

Mangalam is one of three bioinformatics developers circulating a petition calling on the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation to require that bioinformatics scientists who receive federal grants make their code freely available for peer review. 

The request runs counter to the Bayh-Dole Act, which three decades ago allowed federally funded universities to enter into exclusive licensing agreements with private companies and profit from patented research. 

“I think the Bayh-Dole Act is one of the great economic success stories in the nation,” said Terry Young, executive director of the Texas A&M Technology Licensing Office. He says the law should remain untouched. 

But the petitioners have a sympathizer in Gary Strong, the acting executive officer for computer science at the National Science Foundation. 

Strong thinks the NSF and other government agencies could make publicly posting bioinformatic code a requirement in their grant specifications.  

Whether this will happen is up to Bush administration appointees yet to be named. 

Even the petitioners concede that Bayh-Dole is untouchable. They’re hoping for a minor rule change or other legislation that could carve out an exception for software. 

“This can be very difficult to deal with when universities believe that every patent they hold is a winning lottery ticket,” said Karin Lohman, a Democratic staff member with the U.S. House Science Committee. “Only a very few patents bring in significant revenues.” 

One of the few bioinformatics experts who has made money for his university is Phil Green. His patented, widely used code generates about $10,000 per license for the University of Washington. But he says the money isn’t the issue — it’s respect. Open source publishing devalues what they do, he said. 

“I don’t think computer programmers should be treated any differently than other scientists,” Green said. “It sort of diminishes the stature of the science.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

Open source site:http://www.open-bio.org 

Petition site: http://www.openinformatics.org 

National Institutes of Health: http://www.nih.gov 

National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov 

SAN FRANCISCO — A judge denied a request to reduce bail for the man who kept two dogs that mauled a San Francisco woman to death, saying Wednesday he considers Robert Noel a flight risk based on alleged connections with the Aryan Brotherhood gang. 

News of a death contract allegedly put out on one of the prosecutors in the case also surfaced Wednesday. Security for assistant district attorney Kimberly Guilfoyle has been increased, her office confirmed. 

Noel’s attorney asked that his client’s bail be reduced from $1 million to $20,000. Superior Court Judge James Warren said he was concerned Noel and his wife Marjorie Knoller could receive money and refuge from members of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist group with a history of violence. 

The couple earlier this year adopted Paul “Cornfed” Schneider, owner of the deadly dogs and, according to prison officials, a member of the gang. 

Noel and Knoller both face involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Diane Whipple. Knoller also faces a second-degree murder charge after two dogs they were taking care of attacked Whipple in the hallway of the San Francisco apartment building they shared. 

The judge mentioned the alleged death threat on Guilfoyle. Warren said he had learned of “a contract of death on one of the district attorneys” through press reports and rumors, adding that it raised safety concerns. 

The judge said the reports were unconfirmed, but the district attorney’s office took them seriously. 

“There was a threat that came through on Kimberly Guilfoyle,” said Dan Addario, chief of investigations for the district attorney’s office. “We do have steps that we’re taking that involve security.” 

Addario would not say where the threat came from. Guilfoyle was in court for Wednesday’s hearing, but declined comment. 

San Francisco Police Lt. Henry Hunter said police, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department and state Department of Corrections were investigating the reported threat. 

“We don’t know how credible this is, but because of the characters involved we have to treat it seriously,” Hunter said. 

Hunter said he was referring to Schneider, who remains jailed in Sacramento County on various racketeering and conspiracy charges from a separate case. 

“He’s doing life without parole for a very good reason,” Hunter said. 

Warren also issued an interim order to keep alive Hera, the remaining dog from the attack, until the defense could present a plan for having a specialist determine whether the dog could be rehabilitated. A police hearing officer has determined that Hera is a vicious and dangerous animal and should be destroyed.

SAN FRANCISCO — Security screeners at San Francisco International airport are unhappy about the new airport security law, and they’re thinking of walking off the job during the year’s busiest travel weekend. 

The new federal law requires that airport security workers be U.S. citizens. But 60 to 80 percent of the 1,200 screeners at SFO are legal residents, not citizens, according to Daz Lamparas, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 790. 

He said there was “strong sentiment” to take action among the workers who are not citizens. 

“They have nothing to lose anyway because they will be laid off in the next three to six months,” he said. “They are really upset. The morale of the workers is really very low.” 

The union met late Wednesday and planned to meet again during the holiday weekend, Lamparas said. They could walk out as early as Sunday, a huge travel day as people return home after Thanksgiving. 

Lamparas said the union opposes the walk out. 

If many screeners call in sick on Sunday, it could shut the airport down, according to SFO spokesman Ron Wilson. 

“It would be tremendously disruptive,” he said. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors considered Wednesday whether to appeal a federal judge’s ruling dismissing insider trading charges against a former chief executive of now-defunct Granny Goose Foods, Inc. 

Keith Kim attended a 1999 Colorado retreat hosted by the Young President’s Club, an exclusive organization for the nation’s top young executives. He found out there that Meridian Data was about to merge with Quantum Corp., but according to club rules, business discussions are to remain confidential. 

Even so, Kim bought stock in Meridian on the information and made $832,000 when the merger closed two months later. 

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Kim did not engage in insider trading and dismissed the bulk of the government’s case. 

“While members of a club may feel a special bond, there is nothing so special about their relationship ... that it gives rise to a legal duty not to trade on confidential information,” Breyer wrote late Tuesday. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued new regulations last year prohibiting trading based on information that the investor had agreed to keep confidential. The change does not apply retroactively to Kim, Breyer wrote, and strengthens the argument that his conduct was legal at the time. 

Federal prosecutors may ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review Breyer’s decision. 

SACRAMENTO — In a flash this fall, California’s power woes fizzled and a budget crunch took hold as the new crisis — and with that change came a new political challenge for Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. 

After sailing through his first two years in office with massive state surpluses and firm voter support, Davis has faced one crisis after another the past year. 

Now, a year before he seeks a second term, Davis is trying to steer the state out of a fiscal nightmare while running a re-election campaign. 

“The way the governor handles the budget deficit could very well be the key to his re-election next year,” said Mark Baldassare, a pollster for the Public Policy Institute of California. 

Davis is not the only governor facing re-election and budget troubles. From Florida to Ohio, Republican and Democratic governors seeking new terms are trying to close budget gaps in the face of an already weak economy and the fiscal fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

The difference is that Davis has spent the past year dealing with a power crisis that brought six days of rolling blackouts and his lowest-ever popularity ratings. 

Now, California faces its steepest revenue decline since World War II and a $12.4 billion deficit this budget year and next, according to analyst reports. 

Davis will convene an emergency session of the Legislature in January to deal with the fiscal crisis. He already froze $2.24 billion in spending he proposes to cut from the current budget and imposed an immediate statewide hiring freeze. 

So far, Davis’ aides have said he is not considering tax hikes. Former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson was forced to raise taxes to deal with a $14 billion budget shortfall in the recession of the early 1990s. 

“Obviously in a re-election year, it’ll be fraught with politics all the way through,” said Gale Kaufman, a Sacramento-based Democratic political consultant. 

In the midst of the power crisis in the late spring and summer, Davis’ approval rating dipped to its lowest point. However, a recent statewide poll by Baldassare showed Davis’ popularity has climbed since the terrorist strikes, and that voters’ top concerns had shifted from electricity to the economy and security. 

Meanwhile, Republicans already have started to shape a message they will hammer until next November. They say Davis has increased government spending by more than a third since he took office and has little to show for it. 

“He’s not going to be able to escape having to explain that,” said Rob Stutzman, a consultant for the California Republican Party. 

Three candidates for the Republican nomination to challenge Davis next year have joined Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte, of Rancho Cucamonga, and repeatedly accused Davis of failing to act soon enough. Some Democrats fear that a Republican-led standoff in the Legislature next summer could force Davis to sign a late budget in the months before voters go to the polls. 

Although Democrats dominate the Legislature, Republican votes are needed to approve a state budget by the required two-thirds margin. This year, Davis signed the budget a month late after GOP lawmakers held back their votes over a quarter-cent sales tax increase. 

Davis supporters say the governor has seized on the economic good times to funnel money into schools and social services. They say he has increased school spending by around a third, focused on one-time spending to avoid long-term obligations and this year built a $2.6 billion reserve into the budget. 

“This is not someone who the Republicans are going to be able to caricature as an overspending liberal Democrat who got us into this mess,” said Garry South, Davis’ senior campaign adviser. 

While South conceded the budget cuts will be painful, he said analysts predict the economy may rebound in the second half of next year. 

“Unlike what the Republicans fervently hope, I’m not sure we are going to be in an economic downturn by the time Election Day 2002 finally rolls around,” South said. 

No matter how Republicans paint the past three years, voters — and key supporters from workers’ unions to business giants — will best remember how Davis handles the next 11 months, political observers said. 

“Instead of being able to provide more money for people’s favorite issues,” Baldassare said, “politically he’s in the more vulnerable position of having to take away things that matter to people.” 

——— 

On the Net: See http://www.ncsl.org for a report on state fiscal conditions. 

LOS ANGELES — Filming bans at four city-owned airports since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are causing entertainment industry job losses that some in Hollywood fear could lead to more runaway production. 

Citing security concerns, Los Angeles World Airports banned television and movie filming at Los Angeles, Van Nuys, Ontario and Palmdale airports shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The policy was reinforced in a Nov. 5 memorandum. 

“Effective immediately, no commercial photography or commercial movie/filming related activities of any nature will be permitted within the airfield operations area at any LAWA facility,” executive director Lydia Kennard wrote airport managers. 

The ban is in effect indefinitely. 

“It certainly has negative effects,” said Cody Cluff, president of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., which promotes film production in Los Angeles. “In particular, LAX has been one of the most heavily filmed airports in the world. 

“They’ve always been very receptive and open to filming. The loss of it as a location cuts out one of our most frequently filmed facilities.” 

The San Fernando Valley’s airport in Van Nuys has also been a popular Hollywood location for filmmakers. Last year, 40 filming permits were issued for Van Nuys Airport and generated $182,266 in airport revenues. Through September of this year, LAX issued 144 permits for revenue of $267,995. 

The revenue covers the cost of providing airport staff and security, however, because it is the city’s policy not to earn a profit on movie permits at the airport. 

Helicopter pilot Rick Shuster and his crew, who have worked on such films as “Independence Day” and “Jurassic Park 3,” said the filming ban cost him a job in early December that would have netted $36,000. 

“This impacts everyone from the security guards on the set to the caterers,” Shuster said. 

“We just hope it’s going to be a short, temporary measure,” said Barbara Cesar, owner of the firm EPS at Van Nuys Airport that has rented its hangar for use in movies such as “True Lies” and “Air Force One.” 

There is also concern productions will flee California. 

“It might indeed make some people think about filming in (other) locations if you need a large airport,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “Certainly the people in Denver or Phoenix would be very happy to see a film crew coming.” 

There are several reasons for the airport filming ban. LAWA spokeswoman Nancy Castles said the airport staff is stretched thin with additional security concerns and cannot provide the technical help and escorts around airport property that are required for film crews. There are also tighter restrictions on airport access by non-employees. 

“Los Angeles World Airports is aware of its role in the commercial film industry, in terms of providing aviation facilities,” Castles said. “However, we hope that the commercial film industry understands that our priority is the safety and security of passengers and employees at our four airports. Our primary goal is to operate a safe and secure airport.” 

Turkeys, cranberry sauce and automatic weapons. 

The Thanksgiving recipe was two parts charity and one part frayed nerves on Wednesday as Californians began the first major travel holiday since the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks. 

Police, security guards and rifle-toting National Guard troops searched cars at airports and closely watched the long lines of passengers at terminals. 

Los Angeles International Airport officials warned travelers to expect delays even though the 690,000 passengers projected to go through LAX over five days would be a 25 percent drop from last year’s record. 

“It’s going to be a long wait, but it makes me feel secure,” said Los Angeles psychiatrist Chip McDaniel, 32, who was heading to Las Vegas. 

“I think recent events demand it,” he said of the tight security. “I hope public officials don’t let that wane and the public doesn’t forget.” 

Sean Wolfson, 25, was going to Chicago on his first flight since the attacks. 

“It’s no sweat,” he said. “I don’t feel the doom hanging over my head.” 

Employees with bullhorns managed the crowds. 

“Everybody’s gonna make your flight. Everybody’s gonna have a great Thanksgiving, and that’s an order,” one joked. 

Traditional free meals were delivered by the thousands to the homeless and poor — some of them by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and a potential Republican challenger, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. 

“We celebrate the sense we are all Americans, we are all God’s children, and we are all in this together,” Davis said as he passed out frozen turkeys to needy families in South Central Los Angeles. 

“It’s going to be the most meaningful Thanksgiving in decades,” state Sen. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, added as she handed out cans of corn. “During this tragic time, we have to share with each other. We have to have a sense of solidarity.” 

“It’s a shame that bad things had to happen to bring people together,” said Shalaina McLaurin, 25, as she received the supplies. 

“I think it’s wonderful to be here, to see so many Californians showing the willingness to give,” an aproned Riordan said as he set down plates of turkey, mashed potatoes and trimmings at the Los Angeles Mission on Skid Row. 

Melissa Joan Hart, John Tesh and other celebrities helped dish out the food to the beat of live salsa, jazz and gospel music. 

“We here in Los Angeles feel like we don’t have a chance to help anybody,” Tesh said as scooped cranberry sauce. “This is just a great opportunity.” 

It took about a week to fill 350 spots for volunteer cooks and servers this year. Normally it takes a month, said Keisha Chinn, the mission’s volunteer coordinator. 

Charity was tinged with patriotism. The Boston Market buffet chain planned to supply free turkey meals on Thursday to National Guard troops assigned to California airports. 

In the San Diego area, a record number of families signed up to “adopt-a-serviceman” who couldn’t be home for Thanksgiving — so many that dozens of families were to be turned away for lack of Marines and sailors. 

“People jokingly try to bribe me,” said Cindy Farless of the Armed Services YMCA in downtown San Diego. “They’re like, ’How much is it gonna take for me to get a couple of sailors?”’ 

But some of the needy found less generosity as givers directed their dollars to victims of the terrorism. 

“Since the bombing, charity has ceased,” Ryan Reynolus, a homeless man, said as he rolled his wheelchair down Market Street in San Francisco. “A Christian church this past Sunday gave us jackets and turkey dinners — that’s the first act of charity I’ve seen in months.” 

“Some panhandlers I know used to make $30 to $40 a day, and now they’re making like $2 a day,” he said. “Money has gotten really tight and it’s hurting.” 

But hope remained. 

“Sept. 11th gave the world what it needed to make it more safe. Fear begets motivation,” said Chris Callahan as he sat near a subway entrance, begging for change. “Hopefully it’ll bring us closer, too.” 

——— 

Editor’s Note: Eugene Tong in Los Angeles and Ritu Bhatnagar in San Francisco contributed to this report. 

LOS ANGELES — If it weren’t for the intervention of local sheriff’s deputies, Tim Moore figures Indian security officers would have kicked him out of his Colorado River home years ago. 

Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies have had to step in more than once to diffuse disputes in a long battle over who owns or has lease rights to a stretch of riverfront properties on the California-Arizona line. 

Moore and other critics said Indian officers are concerned only about tribal members and tribal needs and are overzealous when it comes to trying to police non-Indians. 

Under a bill before the state Legislature, such tribal security officers on reservations across California could gain full police powers, just like other state, county and city law enforcement officers. They would have the authority to arrest and jail non-Indians. 

Critics fear tribes would misuse their power and put tribal interests above the law while remaining untouchable in the courts because their reservations are sovereign entities. 

“It would be an absolute disaster. We would be up the proverbial crick without a paddle,” Moore said. “I’m fearful that bias would creep into tribal police policies, and we don’t have the ability to bring them before a judge.” 

Moore is not alone in his opposition to the bill written by state Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-San Fernando, a longtime friend to California’s tribes and recipient of their political contributions. Activists, prosecutors and law enforcement officials all have pointed out the legislation’s potential risks. 

Alarcon introduced the two-year bill in February and hopes to bring it before the full Senate next year, but it has attracted little mainstream attention. Questions regarding liability in cases of potential police misconduct and accidents remain among the most contentious of the unresolved issues. 

“You have to exercise accountability and responsibility,” said Cheryl Schmit of Stand Up for California, a group that fought the legalization of Indian gambling. “People don’t invite other people into their homes without providing for their safety.” 

Some tribes already require their security officers to meet the same standards required of other law enforcement officers across the state. In its current form, the bill would give those officers the full powers and duties of California peace officers, with access to criminal databases and the authority to enforce state and tribal laws on the reservation. In certain instances, they also would have jurisdiction off the reservation. 

Supporters of the measure said it’s long overdue, saying the need for tribal law enforcement has increased with the growth in Indian gambling and other ventures. More than 40 of the state’s 108 tribes lure non-Indians onto reservations with casinos and other enterprises, such as outlet malls and hotels. 

California’s tribes have suffered from a historic lack of law enforcement that experts said took a turn for the worse in 1953. 

That year, Congress passed a law giving state and local governments, instead of the federal government, criminal jurisdiction on reservations in California and a handful of other states, including Wisconsin and most of Minnesota. It failed to provide adequate funding, however. 

The law left many California tribes with little or no law enforcement and negligible financial support to develop justice systems such as those formed by tribes elsewhere in the country. 

To this day, even local authorities are sometimes unclear about who is responsible for policing reservations. Many tribes have their own tribal security forces, but those officers have authority only over Indians on reservations. Many tribes are in remote corners of the state and are difficult for local law enforcement agencies to reach. 

Tribal officers can make a citizens’ arrests of suspects and turn them over to local authorities, who direct their cases to local courts. 

Supporters and opponents of the legislation alike seem to agree that something needs to be done to see that reservations and everyone on them has police protection. They disagree over how to do it. 

Some opponents of the Alarcon bill said any move to hand criminal jurisdiction of non-Indians over to tribes is a risk that just can’t be taken. 

“It is purely from my perspective a way to enhance Indian power ... and I don’t like it,” said Alan Turner, Alpine County’s district attorney. 

Because tribes are sovereign governments, non-Indians can’t sue the tribe if, for example, they are the victim of a rogue cop or are injured by an officer in an accident. 

For that matter, many patrons of tribal casinos might not know that their legal rights and potential recourse on reservations are not the same as they are off reservation. 

Supporters of the measure have offered to waive a certain amount of tribes’ sovereign immunity. Tribes that want to create fully empowered police forces would carry enough insurance to pay up to $5 million in liability coverage per incident. The bill requires a minimum of $1 million liability coverage. 

“The rest of the agencies don’t have caps,” Turner said. “This is not an acceptable thing in terms of everyone being on a level playing field.” 

Alarcon’s legislation notes other law enforcement options for tribes, such as contracting with an established police or sheriff’s department. Supporters, however, say tribes still should have the right to complete self-governance. 

Mark Nichols, the chief executive officer of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and the bill’s biggest supporter, said tribes have an inherent right to protect their reservations 

That means they should have the same powers and access to databases as other police officers and authority over both Indians and non-Indians, he said. 

“The notion that you would subdivide communities by race or gender and limit authority over those jurisdictions by race or gender is an untenable proposition from an ethical standpoint,” he said. 

Sgt. Ronald Karr, an officer with the Cabazon police force, said his officers need full state police powers if they are going to properly police the Southern California reservation, which is home to the Fantasy Springs casino east of Palm Springs. 

His officers haven’t been able to pursue suspects off reservation or conduct investigations off reservation. They sometimes have found themselves handicapped because they don’t have access to the state criminal database, he said. 

“People around here know our boundaries,” said Karr, a Mississippi Choctaw who is the only Indian on the force. “In the past, they’ve been able to get away.” 

Despite such arguments, the bill’s opponents see it as unnecessary and potentially dangerous. 

“The checks and balances are absent in this scenario,” said Moore, the Colorado River home owner. “I don’t understand why it’s needed.” 

LOS ANGELES — Ralph Burns, who won Academy Awards, an Emmy and a Tony as a music arranger after making a name for himself in jazz as a piano player in the Woody Herman band, died Wednesday. He was 79. 

Burns collected his first Academy Award for adapting the musical score for the 1972 movie “Cabaret” the first film he worked on. He won another for adapting the musical score for “All That Jazz,” an Emmy for television’s “Baryshnikov on Broadway” and a Tony in 1999 for the Broadway musical “Fosse.” 

Other film credits included “Lenny,” “In The Mood,” “Urban Cowboy,” “Annie,” “My Favorite Year” and “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” 

He also collaborated with Jule Styne on “Funny Girl” and Richard Rodgers on “No Strings.” 

The Massachusetts native, who took up piano as a child, was playing in dance bands in Boston when he was 12, graduating to jazz orchestras by his teens. 

He studied briefly at the New England Conservatory of Music, but said he learned orchestration by listening to the recordings of jazz greats Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Count Basie and transcribing their works note by note. 

He worked with Herman band’s for 15 years as both a writer and piano player, composing some of the group’s biggest hits. Among them were “Apple Honey,” “Bijou” and the three-part “Summer Sequence.” 

“Early Autumn,” written later as a fourth movement for “Summer Sequence,” became a hit with singers after Johnny Mercer supplied words for it. 

Later, Burns worked in the studio with such popular singers as Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole. 

He also continued to work on music for the stage, orchestrating a production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” for the La Jolla Playhouse just last year. 

NEW YORK — A California company partly funded by the CIA has discontinued a free service that allowed Internet users to bypass Web censorship by governments and corporations. 

SafeWeb, for now, is focusing its efforts on revenue-generating security applications for businesses. 

Jon Chun, president and co-founder of SafeWeb, said the company is expected to decide soon whether to restore the privacy and anti-censorship service on a subscription basis. 

“We did not want to launch the paid service until we were committed to supporting it in the long term,” Chun said Wednesday. “We are analyzing the interest and the financials on that.” 

The suspension, which occurred this past week, follows a decision last month by Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. to end a separate service for anonymously using the Net. 

Zero-Knowledge said it could not get enough paying customers, and like SafeWeb it is now focusing more on security applications. 

Formed in April 2000, SafeWeb initially offered ways for Internet users to browse Web pages anonymously and bypass censorship efforts. 

For example, if Chinese users or U.S. employees could not access a site because filtering software installed by a government or company was blocking it, they could visit the site through SafeWeb. 

After government and corporate networks began adding SafeWeb to block lists, the company developed Triangle Boy, a network of hundreds of computers maintained by volunteers worldwide. 

A Chinese or corporate user who found SafeWeb blocked would go to a Triangle Boy computer, which then relayed requests to SafeWeb. 

In a continuing cat-and-mouse game, new Triangle Boy computers were added as the Chinese government tried to block individual computers. 

The SafeWeb services were free. Last year, the Emeryville, Calif., company received $1 million in funding from the U.S. Central Intelligence Angecy’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel. 

Now, SafeWeb will focus on an online security package designed to bring together firewalls, virtual private networking and other services normally available separately. The package is undergoing testing. 

The shift does not affect a three-month pilot with Voice of America to set up a network of Triangle Boy computers that could help Chinese users bypass government censors. The service will be free to Chinese users, and VOA will cover costs. 

HELENA, Mont. — The Christmas tree harvest at the Hardy Plantation near Creston is over for the season, and Janet Hardy figures there won’t be many more. 

Growing Christmas trees is a declining industry in Montana. Like others who have already left the business, Hardy says she and her husband expect to get out within a few years and raise only landscape stock. 

“It’s a lot of work in a small amount of time. It’s cold, it’s exhausting,” she said. “It’s not that lucrative.” 

This year, the Hardys cut 1,200 trees and got $8 to $9 a tree — about $10,000 total. 

If there was a heyday for the state’s Christmas tree industry, it was when people wanted their living rooms decked out with Scotch pines, which grow nicely in the state, the Montana Christmas Tree Association says. But now the demand is for softer, fragrant firs, which are less likely to do well in the state’s growing conditions. 

“There are true firs that we can grow, but it’s kind of limited,” said Dave Leeman of Eureka, secretary for the association, which has seen membership dwindle to eight from a high of 55 a decade ago. “They’re growing them by Heron and Noxon, and the demand is huge.” 

“People still want a heavy, bushy tree,” Leeman added. “But they want it to have tips rather than a real rounded shape.” 

Industry numbers are hard to come by. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent Christmas tree survey was in 1997 and found Montana with 74 farms, about as many as in Arkansas and Rhode Island. The nation’s leading grower, Oregon, had 1,626 farms. Wyoming placed last, with two. 

Leeman said he doesn’t know for sure how many growers remain in Montana. 

Perhaps 30 operate tree plantations and another 50 people cut wild trees for retail sale, he guessed. 

“It’s an industry that had a lot of hope in one species (Scotch pine), and that kind of faded,” said Bob Logan of the Montana State University Extension Service. He studied the Christmas tree business a few years ago, but knows of no one who tracks its annual statistics. 

“We all wish some of these cottage industries could be more dominant in Montana, but because of our growing conditions, it’s not easy to compete,” Logan said. 

Growers Ray and Tressa Brandewie of Bigfork, in the business since 1971, augment their Christmas tree operation with enterprises that include barbecue sauce sold in gift shops. They pulled out of Scotch pine and now raise firs on about 30 acres. 

“It’s taken care of us over the years,” Tressa Brandewie said. But continuing drought has been a hardship and there are plans for an irrigation system next year, she said. 

Ted Murray of Boulder said nearly all the trees he sells at his lots in Great Falls and Helena each year come from northwestern Montana. He buys 800-1,000 trees from commercial growers and cuts about as many wild ones, usually on private land where owners want their trees thinned. 

“As a general rule, if you don’t get a tree grown in Montana, it hasn’t frozen,” Murray said. An imported tree that freezes once it gets here is likely to lose needles, he said. 

That apparently isn’t a problem for Cornerstone Academy, a private Helena school that sells Oregon trees as a yearly fund-raiser and will charge $65 this season for Noble firs standing 7-8 feet. 

“We have repeat customers who will pay that because the trees are so nice,” school secretary Jodi Therriault said. 

In Montana, the northwestern area of the state is the heart of the business. From there, trees often travel a long way. 

Some of the Hardy Plantation’s trees go to Colorado. Leeman, in the business for 22 years, sells to retailers in Utah and Wyoming as well as Montana, and even ships some trees to Oklahoma. 

“I got started when I had a Forest Service thinning contract and there was Christmas-tree salvage on it,” he said. “My partners and I and our wives salvaged the trees. At that time, we thought it was fun.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

National Christmas Tree Association: http://www.realchristmastrees.org 

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Gas & Electric Co. can raise electricity rates to recoup the $2 million cost of upgrading lines to Mexico, federal regulators said Wednesday. 

But regulators said the utility must provide more information to resolve concerns expressed by California’s power regulators. 

SDG&E can bill its 1.2 million customers for the expense plus a 13 percent return over 10 years, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled. 

FERC said the order “helps protect consumers in the Western United States from supply disruptions and unreasonable rate increases by relieving transmission constraints.” 

The money would be used to upgrade existing transmission lines linking California’s Imperial Valley with the La Rosita plant near Mexicali, Mexico. 

SDG&E said the upgrade would allow the utility to import up to 900 megawatts of power across the border, up from its present capacity of 408 megawatts. A megawatt is enough power for 750 to 1,000 homes. 

The utility proposed the upgrade shortly before the onset of California’s electricity crisis last year, but SDG&E accelerated its work on the project to help alleviate shortages of power. 

The California Public Utilities Commission raised several concerns in a filing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has jurisdiction over electric transmission lines. 

The CPUC said SDG&E had not adequately documented the $2 million cost and may be overcharging customers for the costs of the transmission lines. 

In its order, FERC demanded SDG&E provide further documentation within 15 days to explain its project costs and resulting charges. 

RIALTO — Jealousy may have prompted two Siberian huskies to maul an infant girl to death in her bassinet, authorities speculated. 

Josie Simone Hearon died during surgery at a hospital several hours after Tuesday morning’s attack. She was 25 days old. 

The mother, whose name was not released, left the baby in the living room while she stepped onto the porch and briefly talked to a pest control worker about a beehive, authorities said. 

She returned to find that the 4-year-old dogs had bitten the infant on her head, chest and abdomen, police Sgt. Sarah King said. 

Although an investigation continued, there did not appear to be any negligence on the mother’s part, officials said. 

It was “a horrible accident,” King said. 

It was not clear what would happen to the dogs, which were quarantined at an animal shelter. A court order would be needed to have them destroyed, Detective Mary Ortiz said. 

King said the owner must decide what to do with them. 

Neighbors said the dogs had not appeared to be violent. 

Ortiz said the dogs may have been jealous of the infant.

Californians frequently spend more than 30 percent of their incomes for home mortgages or rent. The following is a look at Census Bureau estimates of California cities with a population over 250,000 people. The first column is the city; the second column is the percentage of city residents with a home mortgage who spend more than 30 percent of their take-home income on the mortgage; the third column is the percentage of renters in the city who pay more than 30 percent of their take-home income on rent. 

Anaheim; 32; 50 

Fresno; 36; 51 

Long Beach; 34; 47 

Los Angeles; 46; 50 

Oakland; 41; 42 

Riverside; 31; 43 

Sacramento; 32; 40 

San Diego; 41; 43 

San Francisco; 41; 35 

San Jose; 40; 44 

Santa Ana; 52; 43 

California; 37; 45 

United States; 26; 37 

Source: Census Bureau 

LOS ANGELES — Some of the nation’s biggest car rental companies are selling wrecked vehicles without making the proper disclosures, endangering the public and harming consumers, according to lawsuits filed in California in recent months. 

The late-model automobiles carry hefty price tags despite a broad range of major problems, from bent frames to compromised suspension systems, trial lawyers and consumer activists charge. 

Although the suits, which seek class action status, allege that the salvaged vehicles are unsafe, there are no documented cases of deaths or injuries pinned to the practice. 

In California alone, thousands of badly damaged vehicles make their way back onto the streets each year through a network of rental agencies, salvage vehicle auctioneers and secondary-market repair shops, say consumer safety advocates. 

“The car rental companies take this twisted piece of metal and send it to the auction yards, and they go along without branding the titles as salvaged,” said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. 

Under state law, the owners of badly damaged cars must notify the Department of Motor Vehicles to retitle the cars as salvage if it is not economically feasible to completely repair them. 

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co., the largest rental company in the country, routinely puts badly damaged vehicles up for auction in the salvage market without informing the DMV, according to a suit filed in Fresno earlier this month. 

The plaintiffs, David and Gloria Martinez of Los Banos, claim they were specifically told the 2000 Pontiac Grand Am they purchased had never been in an accident. But a few days after buying it, they found it had a number of problems, even though it only had been driven 15,386 miles. 

Sarah Bustamante, an Enterprise spokeswoman, said the company had not been notified of the suit, but would “investigate these claims fully.” 

Similar legal action was launched last summer against Alamo Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental. Officials at ANC Rental Corp., which owns both companies, declined to comment.

LOS ANGELES — A man who was believed to be unhappy with his seat assignment was taken into custody Wednesday for kicking an airliner’s emergency exit door during a flight from South Korea to Los Angeles, authorities said. 

Young Kun Kim, 62, of El Cajon, was taken into custody after his Asiana Airlines flight from Incho, South Korea, landed at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday morning. Flight attendants had kept him handcuffed to a seat during much of the flight. 

“Apparently, he was unhappy where he was sitting, became unruly and began kicking at the door,” said FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura. She said other passengers told airline officials Kim appeared to be intoxicated when he got on the plane. 

He was taken to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles after the plane landed at 9:26 a.m. He was expected to face federal charges on Monday, Mimura said.

Anne Hus Brower (1913-2001) 

By Mikhail Davis 

Director 

The Brower Fund  

On Nov. 14, we lost another giant in the Earth Island Family, Anne Brower. She died at the age of 88 at the Brower home in the Berkeley hills after a long illness. Our prayers are with her and the Brower family who have lost both David and Anne in the space of just more than one year. Anne is remembered as a devoted mother of four and grandmother of three, an expert and sharp-witted editor and interviewer, a beloved member of the University of California, Berkeley staff for many decades across many departments (including the UC Press, where she met David, and the Anthropology Department, where she got David interested in Native Americans), an impossibly patient wife for more than 57 years, and the secret voice behind many of David Brower’s best one-liners. Any time we applaud David Brower and his amazing legacy, we should also remember and thank Anne Brower, his partner in all of his work. Rest in Peace 

Anne, you will be missed.  

There are no plans at this time for a public memorial service.  

Special thanks are due to Maina, Anne’s primary caretaker at the Brower House these past four years and to the many others whose devotion made Anne’s last years more peaceful.  

On-line tributes to Anne can be seen on Brower Web: http://www.earthisland.org/ brower/sub_gallery_archives.cfm.

SAN DIEGO — A Southern California Marine Corps unit trained in special operations led the first wave of a ground campaign designed to root out Osama bin Laden and his terror network in Afghanistan. 

Members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton were the first of about 500 Marines to land in southern Afghanistan Sunday night near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. They seized an airstrip and encountered no resistance. 

Lt. Col. Christopher Bourne led the Camp Pendleton Marines in the deployment, dubbed Operation Swift Freedom. 

“They started this fight and you are going to finish it,” Bourne, 41, told his troops before boarding a helicopter aboard the San Diego-based USS Peleliu, the lead ship of the attack force. 

The arrival of the Marines marked a new level of engagement in the campaign, which had been dominated by bombing runs against Taliban and Al Qaida targets and special operations troops on the ground. 

President Bush said the Marines would assist in hunting down terrorists linked to the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States. But Bush cautioned Monday that as the war enters a new phase, “America must be prepared for loss of life.” 

The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, about 40 miles north of San Diego, is trained to handle a variety of missions, including mountain warfare, special operations, peacekeeping and counterterrorism. 

The unit’s motto is “anytime, anyplace.” 

“As far as our thoughts here at Camp Pendleton, Marines always train at a high state of readiness. It’s our job to always be ready,” said Lt. Mamie Ward, 26, of Crystal City, Mo., a spokeswoman for the base. 

Members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a similar unit based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., were also sent in to Afghanistan. 

About 1,000 Marines were expected to take part in establishing the initial ground base at the Kandahar airfield. 

The 15th MEU is comprised of 2,200 Marines and sailors, anchored by a battalion of 1,150 Marine infantry troops. The infantry is supported by groups of attack and transport helicopters with an aviation squadron from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, nicknamed “Evil Eyes.” 

Last month, the unit took part in the recovery of a downed Army Black Hawk helicopter along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to an account provided by the Marines. 

The Marines came under fire during a refueling stop at an air base in Pakistan. They were in the back of a helicopter eating when they heard “a whistling and cracking sound,” Sgt. Anthony D. Ritacco, crew chief of a transport helicopter, said in the account. 

The Marines returned fire out the windows of the helicopter with M-16s and a .50-caliber machine gun. No Marines were injured in the fighting. 

“All the training the Marine Corps has provided us paid off at that moment,” Ritacco recalled. “There was no time to get scared. Things just kicked in automatically. We did what we’ve been taught.” 

They were forced to leave without the Black Hawk, but the unit returned later with a security force and completed the recovery mission. 

This month, Marines with the 15th MEU flew Harrier attack jets from the 820-foot flight deck of the USS Peleliu and dropped 500-pound bombs on Taliban and Al Qaida targets over Afghanistan, according to the Marines. 

The expeditionary unit left Camp Pendleton in August for a routine six-month deployment to the Western Pacific, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Since Sept. 28, the Marines have been waiting in the Arabian Sea south of Pakistan on the USS Peleliu and its support ships. 

They are scheduled to return to San Diego in February.

Oakland is expected to become the latest Bay Area city to require that companies it does business with provide benefits for the domestic partners of their employees. 

The Oakland City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to vote on an Equal Benefits Ordinance, which would require that city contractors give same-sex couples the same benefits that they give to married ones. 

The ordinance applies to businesses that have contracts with the city worth $25,000 or more. Businesses with property contracts and contracts that are worth less than $25,000 are excluded from the ordinance. 

The city of Oakland already provides benefits for the domestic partners of its employees. 

Domestic partners are defined under state law as two unmarried adults of the same sex who share a common residence and are jointly responsible for each other's living expenses. 

A council committee unanimously approved the ordinance earlier this month. If approved Tuesday, the ordinance would require a second reading to be officially written into the city's charter. 

The city of San Francisco passed a similar ordinance four years ago, although it applies to businesses with contracts of $5,000 or more. 

The ordinance was promptly challenged by United Airlines, which claimed the city was trying to preempt federal regulation, and by an Ohio electric company. 

In September, a federal appeals court rejected the court challenges, marking the second time that the law withstood attack.  

In a recent fourth anniversary report, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission said the airline's challenge could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court if a petition by the Air Transport Association to have the decision reheard is denied.

CAMARILLO — An Amtrak Surfliner train crashed into a tractor, killing the farm vehicle’s driver and causing minor injuries to 12 rail passengers Friday, authorities said. 

The northbound train struck the tractor shortly after 2 p.m. as it was pulling a device to prepare fields for planting, said Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Joe Luna. 

The tractor was dragged in flames 400 yards. The lead passenger car of the train, which was being pushed by a locomotive at the rear, was heavily charred and ended up with its front wheels off the track. 

The tractor driver was identified as a 65-year-old man but his name was not immediately released. 

The crash occurred about 50 miles west of Los Angeles at an unguarded crossing at 5th Street and Pleasant Valley Road, Luna said. Twelve passengers were evaluated by paramedics and five opted to be taken to hospitals, Luna said. 

The injuries included minor shock and anxiety, he said. 

The eight-car Surfliner, carrying 150 passengers, began its run in San Diego. Its final destination was Santa Barbara. Passengers were being taken the rest of the way by bus. 

A call for comment to an Amtrak representative wasn’t immediately returned. Luna said Amtrak would determine how fast the train was going and any further details on the crash investigation.

PHILADELPHIA — A surplus of coins caused in part by fewer cash purchases in the softening economy has led the U.S. Mint to begin layoffs. 

Instead of 23 billion new pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters next year, mint officials now believe they’ll need only 15 billion, mint spokesman Michael White said Wednesday. 

The drop in demand for new coins is staggering, said James Benfield, executive director of the Coin Coalition, a Washington lobbying group. 

“What we’re seeing now is a mega-dip here,” Benfield said. 

The mint has begun laying off 357 workers nationwide, mostly seasonal workers at the major coin-production plants in Philadelphia and Denver. Its other plants in San Francisco and West Point, N.Y., make commemorative coins and coins from gold, silver and platinum. 

The San Francisco plant will lose 101 workers and the Philadelphia branch will lose 104 employees, White said. Most of the employees being laid off are seasonal or temporary workers. 

Some have speculated that the coin glut is being compounded by many coins coming back into circulation after months or years on dresser tops and in shoe boxes. But a spokeswoman for Coinstar, a company that operates 9,300 coin-changing machines in supermarkets, said the company is not seeing an increase in usage of its machines. 

The Coinstar machines, which count a shopper’s coins and exchange them for cash or groceries, took in $1.2 billion last year and are expected to take in the same amount this year, Coinstar spokeswoman Michelle Avila said. 

For the mint, lower production means lower profits because it charges the Federal Reserve for the full face value of a coin, though it costs less to manufacture.  

For example, it costs 4.5 cents to make a quarter, but the mint charges 25 cents, White said. A penny costs just under a cent to make; a nickel costs 3.16 cents; a dime costs 1.92 cents. The balance goes to the U.S. Treasury to pay for other government operations. 

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On the Net: 

U.S. Mint: http://www.usmint.gov  

SAN DIEGO — A state appeals court on Wednesday threw out a challenge to an anti-airport initiative at the former Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro. 

The measure, if passed by Orange County voters March 5, would essentially bar construction of a civilian airport at the site. 

Previously, the Fourth District Court of Appeals allowed the Orange County Registrar of Voters to verify petition signatures to qualify the zoning initiative for the ballot. 

Airport proponents, however, challenged the petition in Superior Court, claiming the measure’s wording would mislead voters about the initiative’s impact. An Orange County Superior Court judge agreed and invalidated the gathered petitions. 

On Wednesday, the Fourth District Court of Appeals threw out the Superior Court order. 

Airport foes, who hope to ask voters to replace airport zoning at the base with plans for a park and university complex, expressed satisfaction with the ruling. 

Voters should have the right to decide whether they want the airport, said Roger Faubel, a consultant hired by the group El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. 

A spokesman for the two pro-airport groups, Citizens for Jobs and the Economy and the Airport Working Group of Orange County, could not be located for comment Wednesday. 

Last month, Orange County supervisors voted 3-2 to build the commercial airport, which they said would serve as many as 18.8 million passengers a year. 

LAS VEGAS — While the glittering Las Vegas Strip may not be as crowded over the four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend as last year, those who do come are expected to spend more money, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reports. 

“Visitors are simply spending more money on nongaming activities like entertainment, restaurants and shopping,” said Kevin Bagger, the LVCVA’s senior researcher. 

The estimated 265,000 visitors is a 2 percent decline from last year, but weekend’s nongaming economic impact is projected at $177.4 million. That’s up 12.3 percent from $158 million last year, Bagger said. 

And the city’s 125,581 hotel rooms are expected to be about 92 percent full. While that’s down 2 percent compared with last year, the city has 1.7 percent more rooms to fill now, Bagger said. 

“We have recovered, especially on weekends, compared to other destinations,” Bagger said, referring to the tourism slump that hit Las Vegas and other leisure destinations dependent on air traffic after Sept. 11. 

Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport fell 40 percent in the week after the terrorist attacks, but has since rebounded to about 90 percent of normal, airport spokeswoman Debbie Millett said. Nearly half of Las Vegas’ visitors arrive by air. 

McCarran officials projected 90,000 arriving and departing passengers each day during the Thanksgiving holiday, traditionally the busiest travel time of the year, Millett said. 

Last year’s passenger count was around 100,000 a day. 

A number of Strip hotel-casinos including the Venetian and the Aladdin reported that they are sold out or nearly sold out Friday night. 

Bargains can be found, but some resorts are charging the same rates as last Thanksgiving. 

“Our $399 Friday night rate is comparable to last year’s rates,” said the upscale Venetian resort’s spokesman Kurt Ouchida. 

Down the street, room rates for Park Place Entertainment Corp. resorts range from $70 at the Flamingo Hilton to $339 at Caesars Palace, said spokeswoman Debbie Munch. 

“We’re experiencing strong call volume for this weekend,” she said. “We’re anticipating a strong weekend in our restaurants.” 

For those looking for reduced room rates, Munch added that the holiday season has traditionally been when the best deals can be found as the conventions wind down. 

“In general, we see a pause before the convention business restarts in January,” she said. “But there are some attractive rates this year compared to last year as we continue to work through this period of travel industry recovery.” 

For example, on Tuesday MGM Mirage’s upscale Bellagio was quoting a weekend night rate of $259, well below the $399 the resort has charged for past holiday weekends. Rooms could be had at MGM Grand for $119 and Mirage for $129, unusually low rates for a Saturday night.

PARK CITY, Utah — It’s Thanksgiving week and the American flags on Park Avenue flutter in a quiet breeze, the sun hangs in a sapphire sky and a few gauzy clouds trail over the Wasatch Mountains. 

It’s supposed to be snowing. The Olympics are coming, yet here the mountains around prime competition venues were brown and furry-looking, like a lion’s dry, dusty back. 

Only Payday, Park City Ski Area’s showboat ski trail, seemed to have enough snow on it for a top-to-bottom run, thanks to the snowmaking guns. The run just east of Payday, King’s Crown, was a ribbon of bare dirt. 

Not to worry, said Ski Utah spokesman Nathan Rafferty. Snow’s coming. 

“Most people don’t know we get 500 inches a year. And in the horrible years, we get a meager 400 to 450 inches,” he said. “The Olympics are in February. I guarantee that the worry is that there is going to be too much snow rather than too little.” 

Don’t expect weather experts to make such a promise, however. Steve Dunn, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, flatly refused to forecast February conditions in November. 

If snow doesn’t fall during the Winter Games, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee is ready with snowmaking machines at all the venues, said Grant Thomas, SLOC’s manager of venues. 

“We have full course coverage. All we really need is cold weather,” Thomas said. The optimum temperature for snowmaking is 25 degrees, but it’s possible to make snow at 30 or 31 degrees. 

“Too much snow is probably more of a problem,” Thomas said. “You have to continue grooming it, and continue to make the course race-ready. Man-made snow is actually better, so it’s used to finish off the preparations.” 

Only one Utah ski resort — Brian Head, 218 miles south of Salt Lake City in southern Utah — planned to open on Thanksgiving with man-made snow. The other ski areas were waiting for their first winter storms. 

At Snowbasin, only the highest peaks had a powdered-sugar dusting. But Snowbasin, an Olympic venue, has the most advanced snowmaking equipment of any Utah resort, with 547 computerized snowmaking guns covering 22 miles of ski trails, including the men’s and women’s Olympic downhill, super-G and combined race courses. 

The guns are linked by 106 weather stations that snowmaking manager Justin Rowland will monitor and adjust individually; the computers will check the guns’ temperature probes every 15 minutes and continually fine-tune the snow spewing onto the courses. 

The weather, however, has yet to cooperate. “It has to snow, or it has to get cold, and it hasn’t done either,” Rowland said. 

The National Weather Service forecast a series of storms would advance across the West during the long holiday weekend. The first was supposed to bring 4 to 6 inches of snow. Each successive storm will be colder. 

By the end of the weekend, the snow in the Cottonwood canyons will be measured in feet. “Even Park City will do well,” forecaster Dunn predicted. 

Snowbasin’s Rowland scoffed at Dunn’s report. Four to 6 inches, “that’s nothing. You get 2 feet of Utah powder and it packs to about this,” Rowland said, holding his thumb and index finger 2 inches apart. 

Last February, World Cup ski races at Snowbasin were canceled because a three-day blizzard buried the course. The year before, Snowbasin lost the premier event to Colorado, which had snow, unlike Utah. 

All this points to the futility of hand-wringing over the weather. 

“It’s like being a farmer,” said Alta Mayor Bill Leavitt, who has watched the Utah skies for more than a half-century from the deck of the Alta Lodge, his family’s ski hotel. “Every five years you get a drought. So you become philosophic.” 

Or you can tease the snow gods, like Mike Berliner did by wearing rubber flip-flops on his otherwise bare feet on a November morning. “Until it snows, I wear sandals,” said Berliner, a vacation time-share salesman for the Marriott Corp. in Park City. “Last year, we were skiing in October.” 

Jim Smith, co-owner of The Shirt Off My Back, a souvenir shop on Park City’s Main Street, was clad in shorts and a polo shirt; he was not underdressed. Smith shrugged off concerns about a snow-free holiday. “Thanksgiving is kind of hit-or-miss,” he said. “This is just normal.”