UC scientist spends spare time trying to stop outbreaks 

Jan Washburn spends his days studying insects at UC Berkeley’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. He sits at a microscope or computer pondering the physiology of caterpillars, say, or the reasons why certain bacteria cause their stomachs to explode. 

Once a month, though, Washburn wears a different hat. He drives down to Hayward to sit on the board of Alameda County’s least-known governmental agency. 

For the last nine years, Washburn has been Berkeley’s representative on the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District’s board of trustees. He’s the man you can blame, if you are partial to the habit, when a bite from a female Diptera spoils an otherwise lovely evening. 

The Mosquito Abatement District is an odd entity. Like the East Bay Regional Park District or AC Transit, the MAD is an independent district which doesn’t answer to the county Board of Supervisors or the state. 

It has one purpose and one purpose only – to address all mosquito-related problems in the district. Members of its board of trustees are appointed by the city councils of each city in Alameda County. 

“So long as we do our job, no one knows we exist,” Washburn says. 

Mosquito districts appeared in California in 1915, when the state legislature passed the Mosquito Abatement Act. The act came at a time when malaria was endemic in vast regions of California, principally in the Central Valley, and was killing people and livestock alike. 

Washburn says that before mosquito abatement, few settlers braved the dangers of the Central Valley. 

“People don’t realize it, but mosquitos have played an important role in the spatial colonization of our state,” he says. 

Today, the Alameda County MAD has a full-time staff of 13 and an annual budget of around $1.4 million, which is raised through a small property tax assessment. 

The MAD’s primary function is to control the population of mosquitos and to monitor outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases like encephalitis. The district runs a number of programs designed to limit the mosquito population. It does outreach to local schools. It gives free mosquito-eating fish to people with ponds. 

Every spring, district employees plant chickens around the county to serve as disease monitors. They draw the chickens’ blood every few weeks and send it off to a lab to be screened for mosquito-related illnesses. 

Given that malaria has been all but eradicated and other mosquito-borne diseases are incredibly uncommon, some may wonder whether the district is obsolete. 

John Rusmisel, MAD general manager, disputes the notion. 

Rusmisel says that the district is currently facing two major challenges – the Asian Tiger Mosquito invasion and preparation for the West Nile Virus, which both he and Washburn say will almost certainly hit California eventually. 

The Asian Tiger Mosquito has been hitching a ride across the Pacific on shipments of “lucky bamboo,” a newly popular houseplant coveted by practitioners of feng shui. Interior decorators adept at the ancient art-cum-religion hold that lucky bamboo brings its caretaker good fortune and prosperity. 

Ever since the Asian Tiger – a “universal vector” renown for its nasty bite, according to Washburn – was found to infest the plant, extra controls were placed on its importation. 

“It was only because of on-the-ball mosquito district workers that we realized this was a problem,” says Washburn. 

The West Nile virus, which causes a particularly deadly form of encephalitis, could be an even greater threat. In the last few years, the disease has established itself in the Northeastern United States, where it has killed several elderly people. 

Washburn says that the virus, which is carried by mosquitos and birds, will likely appear in California within the next few years. Birds from the East Coast and the West Coast spend their winters together in Central America – it’s just a matter of time, he thinks, before the virus hops over to our birds. 

Rusmisel says that the district has been preparing for the arrival of the virus, and has drawn up rudimentary plans to combat it. And that, he says, shows the importance of mosquito abatement districts. 

Not all areas, not even all urban areas, are covered by MADs. If you want to see what a city with no MAD looks like, says Rusmisel, you have but to look across the Bay to San Francisco. 

“When West Nile comes, it’s going look just like New York City over there,” he says. “We’ll help them out, but we have to take care of ourselves first.  

“It would be nice if they showed a little incentive.” 

Washburn, too, gives the impression that areas without a MAD are little more than banes for those of us with one.  

“Mosquitos don’t respect district borders,” he says. 

He recalled an incident that took place a few years ago, when Rusmisel’s then-counterpart, Chuck Beesley of the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, suddenly found himself in the middle of a plague of Aedes squamiger, the winter salt marsh mosquito. 

Hundreds of irate citizens called Beesley’s office, demanding that he deal with the problem. The only difficulty, Washburn said, was that these squamigers were breeding up in the North Bay and migrating inland to attack suburban Contra Costans. 

“Boy, when that hit, Chuck was hurtin’,” Washburn laughs. 

Washburn says he enjoys being involved in the district because it gets him out of the lab and allows him to “see how things are actually done.” 

More than that, though, Washburn sees his nine years of mosquito-related public service as no more than his duty. 

“It sounds corny, but I think I’m a good citizen,” he says. “I have some training that is useful to the district, so I employ it.”

Friday, Dec. 28 

World Rhythms

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Japanese taiko, African marimba and djembe, Middle Eastern dumbek, Afro-Cuban chekere, and conga drums celebrate musical traditions from around the world. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Bay Area Women in Black  

Vigil 

noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft and Telegraph Ave. 

Part of over 70 vigils worldwide in solidarity with Israeli Women in Black to protest the Israeli occupation. Please wear black, everyone welcome. 486-2744, BayAreaWomeninBlack@earthlink.net. 

Saturday, Dec. 29

Annual Kwanzaa Celebration  

at the Berkeley Public Library 

2 p.m. 

South Branch 

1901 Russell St. 

Storyteller Marijo and the 4th Day of Kwanzaa. All ages welcome. 981-6260. 

Magic Show 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Jay Alexander performs his magical mixture of comedy and illusion with special effects that will entertain visitors of all ages. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Sunday, Dec. 30

Music and Storytelling 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales come to life in musical stories by children’s performer Dennis Hysom. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Monday, Dec. 31

New Year’s Eve Party 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

A daytime holiday party for kids featuring lots of hands-on activities. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org  

Wednesday, Jan. 2

Puppet Art Theater Company  

with Art Grueneberger 

10:30 a.m. show at Public Library, South Branch 

1901 Russell St. 

3 p.m. show at Public Library, Claremont Branch 

2940 Benvenue Ave. 

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/. 

Peace Walk and Vigil 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART Station 

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. www.globalexchange.org. 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Rotary International President Speaks at Berkeley Rotary 

noon 

H’s Lordships Restaurant 

199 Seawall Dr. 

Richard King will speak about the importance of Rotary and the impact Rotary has on the community and the world. Everyone welcome. 549-4524.  

Thursday, Jan. 3

California Desert Hikes 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Steve Tabor will share slides and information on his favorite day hikes in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego and the Mojave. 527-4140

Editor: 

I really must respond to Michael Steinberg’s letter of December 24, in which he mocks the anti-bombing feelings of many of Berkeley’s citizens. While I might take issue with his questionable and certainly wishful list of benefits, I will restrict myself to a single one of his words – ‘direct’ – as in his ‘benefits’ being the ‘direct’ result of the bombings. Mr. Steinberg, I must correct you. Your wish list items are the indirect benefits of our country’s zealous pursuit of bin Laden. If the Taliban, when we made our demands of them, had handed over bin Laden and his people, and then perhaps had expressed a willingness to let Bush’s Texas cronies build a pipeline across their lands, we would now have photos of George standing alongside one-eyed Omar on the White House lawn, and the corporate press would be full of comments on ‘constructive engagement’ in place of their outrage over the plight of Afghan women. The Afghans were merely in the way; if any good comes to them from this war, it will be no more than an accident of our policy. 

Now that I’m going, I should point out that, technically, what Barbara Lee refused to support was the granting to Bush of what she understood to be war-making powers constitutionally granted to the Congress. I believe that what you are thinking of is the Berkeley City Council vote which asked for a timely end to the bombing, which to my mind looks as wise now as it did then (a belated thanks to my own Councilwoman Linda Maio). The concern of those of us who find the bombing appalling are the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Afghan civilians, who were on the verge of starvation even before the war. The food and the trucks were ready to deliver what they needed to see them through the winter. Our ‘campaign’ disrupted that. A week into it, non-governmental organizations (Oxfam for example) were asking us to stop bombing so that they could get the food in; a month into it, the United Nations began making noises; while we were throwing our last bombs on Tora Bora, the Europeans were talking security forces to allow food to be delivered. But, other than our yellow-packaged propaganda, any humanitarian impulses we might have felt have been second to, and dependent on, the success of our military mission. 

By starting this attack in the fall – rather than, say, in the spring – we wagered the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent Afghans, betting that we could pull this off and still get food to them. And those chips are still on the table. Maybe peace has come; maybe not. Maybe the Taliban will hold off on a guerrilla war; maybe the Northern Alliance warlords will keep from each other’s throats. Maybe the Afghan civilians will keep cheering this adventure. Or maybe not. But we won’t really know the result of our little gamble until the spring comes and the snows melt and the roads to inaccessible areas open again. Michael, I hope that you can gloat then, because the alternative is really neither thinkable nor excusable. 

Steen Jensen 

Berkeley 

African celebration now in 35th year 

LOS ANGELES – Black communities around the world began a celebration of their African heritage Wednesday by lighting candles for unity – the first of seven principles honored during the week-long Kwanzaa festival. 

Dancers and drummers in suburban Inglewood performed traditional African music to kick off the 35th annual observance of the holiday, which celebrates family, community and culture. Female dancers swayed in beaded tops, while men walked beside them playing drums with their hands. 

“I think unity has a lot of significance to the world today, particularly with nine-eleven and the terrorist events that are going on,” said Kenneth Moore, owner of Inglewood’s Howling Monk Coffee House, which hosted the opening ceremony performed by the group Kwanzaa People of Color. 

“I think it has a very, very powerful significance this year, along with the other values of Kwanzaa that will be celebrated through these seven days.” 

More observances were to follow, including weekend parades and festivals, and a Dec. 31 feast. 

Kwanzaa is an African-American and pan-African holiday which derives from the first harvest celebrations of Africa and was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, chairman of the Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. The word Kwanzaa is taken from a Swahili phrase meaning “first fruits.” 

The holiday is now believed to be celebrated by 28 million people around the world, said Tulivu Jadi, assistant director of the African-American Cultural Center in Los Angeles. He stressed it is a cultural holiday that can be observed by people of any faith. 

“It speaks to the best of what it means to be African-American and human in the fullest sense,” Jadi said. 

Each day of Kwanzaa, participants celebrate a new principle. After unity come self-determination; collective work and responsibility; cooperative economics; purpose; creativity; and faith. 

A candle is lighted each day in a candleholder called a Kinara. The final day, Jan. 1, is reserved for meditation and reflection. 

Observers of Kwanzaa say they appreciate the contrast with more commercialized celebrations of Christmas, where spiritual reflection often seems to take a back seat to gift-giving. 

“I think Kwanzaa is one of those kinds of celebrations that makes you focus more on principles and coming together,” said Kinikia Gardner, 26, as she watched the opening festivities in Inglewood. 

Along with the seven principles, participants concentrate on five activities central to continental African “first fruit” celebrations: gathering of people to reaffirm bonds between them; reverence for the creator; commemoration of the past; recommitment to cultural ideals; and celebration of the good of life and existence. 

“Kwanzaa is a celebration of our reality and identity,” said Brother Akile, chairman of Kwanzaa People of Color.

924 Gilman Dec. 28: What Happens Next, Rambo, Lie, Youth Riot, Lugosi; Dec. 29: Defiance, The P.A.W.N.S., Panty Raid, Sexy, Gluk; Jan. 4: Champion, Carry On, Stay Gold, The First Step, The Damage Done; Jan. 5: Iron Lung, B.G., Crucial Attack, Blown To Bits; Jan. 11: Bananas, Numbers, Lowdown, Doozers, Iron Ass; Jan. 12: Plan 9, The Sick, The Hellbillies, Oppressed Logic, Deltaforce; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Ashkenaz Dec. 28: 9:30 p.m., Mood Swing Orchestra, $11; Dec. 29: 9:30 p.m., Caribbean All Stars, $11; Dec. 30: 8 p.m., Marimba Pacific, $8; Dec. 31: 8 p.m., Balkan New Year’s Eve with Edessa and Anoush, $15; 1317 San Pablo Ave., 525-5054, www.ashkenaz.com.  

Blake’s Dec. 29: 11 p.m., Jack West & Curvature, $5; Dec. 31: Planting Seeds, $12; Jan. 2: Hebro; Jan. 3: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; Jan. 4: Funk Monsters, $5; Jan. 5: King Harvest, Jomo, $5; Jan. 6: Lunar Heights, $3; Jan. 8: Operation Interstellar, $ 3; Jan. 9: Kid Glove Entertainment Presents, Hebro; Jan. 10: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; Jan. 11: Five Point Plan, SFunk, $5; Jan. 12: Lavish Green, Stone Cutters, $5; Jan. 13: Alex Dolan & 22 Fillmore, $3; Jan. 14: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band & Mz. Dee, $4; Jan. 15: View From Here, $3; Jan. 16: Zion Rock, Hebro, $3; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club JJang-Ga Dec. 29: Deducted Value, 3rd Rail, Noiz, Un Sed; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, (925) 833-7820, savageproductionssl@yahoo.com. 

Cal Performances Jan. 18 and 19: 8 p.m., The National Acrobats of Taiwan, R.O.C.; Jan. 20: 3 p.m., Midori and Robert McDonald. $28 -$48. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph. 642-9988 

Roda Theatre Jan. 22 and 23: both at 8 p.m., The Berkeley Symphony, Music Director Kent Nagano, continues its 31st season with two performances of Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. $21, $32, $45, $10 students. 2015 Addison St. 841-2800, www.berkeleysymphony.org 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs  

Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Jan. 5: The Bluegrass Intentions CD Release Party; Jan. 6: Allette Brooks; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. 548-1761, www.freightandsalvage.org.  

Julia Morgan Theatre Dec. 31: 8 p.m., New Year’s Eve Gala Concert, Program of classical favorites of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra; Jan 11: 8 p.m. San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, classical party music; Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.org. 

Jupiter Dec. 28: Ben Krames & Candlelight Dub; Dec. 29: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Kirk Tamura Trio; Jan. 2: Skye Dee Miles w/Universal Sound; Jan. 3: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 4: Diggsville; Jan. 5 Blue & Tan; Jan.9: Ezra Gale Quartet; Jan. 10: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 11: Hydeus Kiatta Trio; Jan. 12: Barefoot Bride; Jan. 16: Realistic; Jan. 17: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 18: Bigfoot In Paris Trio; Jan. 19: Netwerk: Electric; Jan. 23: Mitch Marcus Quintet; Jan. 24: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 25: The Sardonics; Jan. 26: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Fourtet; Jan. 30: Joel Harrison Quartet; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

Rose Street House Jan. 17: 7:30 p.m., Allette Brooks. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Yoshi’s Jazz House Through Dec. 31: New Year’s Fiesta, The Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters; Jan. 2 - 6: Charles Lloyd; Jan. 13: Jacqui Naylor Quartet; All shows at 8 p.m., and 10 p.m., unless noted. 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakland. Check for prices and Sunday Matinees, 238-9200, www.yoshis.com. 

Paragon Dec. 28: 9 p.m., DJ’s Delon and Yamu, free; Claremont Resort, 41 Tunnel Rd., www.claremontresort.com/paragonmenu.htm. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley Jan. 6: 3 p.m., Stephen Genz in his West Coast debut; 2345 Channing Way, 527-8175, www.geocities.com/mostlybrahms. 

Berkeley Piano Club Jan.11: 8 p.m., Kate Steinbeck and Renee Witon; Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St., (510) 531-1487. 

Trinity Chapel Jan. 19: 8 p.m., Janine Johnson, harpsichord, Bach, Buxtehude and Pachelbel. 2320 Dana St., 549-3864. 

Organ Music Jan. 27: 5 p.m., Ron McKean performs Ferscobaldi, Froberger and Bach. $15 - $18. MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, 528-1685. 

Dance 

“Una Noche de Tango ...a media luz” Jan. 1: 8 - 11 p.m., Allegro Ballroom, $15. 5855 Christie Ave., Emeryville. 415-777-3910, info@tangoamedialuz.com. 

Julia Morgan Theatre Jan. 12: 8 p.m., “Club Dance,” Teens come together to express their individual personalities and gifts as dancers. $10, Students and Seniors $6, Children ages 5 and under $6. Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.org. 

Berkeley High School Dance Production Jan. 11, 12, 18 &19: 7:30 p.m., Diverse mix of classical and modern ballet to hard-core hip-hop. $5. Florence Schwimley Little Theatre, Allston way and MLK., 644-6120 

Theater 

“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 

“Every Inch a King” Jan. 11 through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.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 

Film 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 3: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Unfinished Song; Jan. 4: 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m., Going By; Jan. 5: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Under the Moonlight; Jan. 6: 1p.m., 3 p.m., Paper Airplanes, 5:30 Shrapnels in Peace; Jan.10: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., ABC Africa; Jan.11: 7:30 p.m., The Girl at the Monceau Bakery and Suzanne’s Career, 9:05 p.m. The Sign of the Lion with Place de l’Etoile; Jan. 12: 7p.m., La Collectionneuse, 8:50 p.m., My Night at Maud’s; Jan.13: 1p.m., 3p.m., Oscar’s Magic Adventure, 5:30 p.m., ABC Africa; 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412. 

Exhibits  

“Images of Innocence and Beauty” Through Jan. 8: An exhibit featuring Kathleen Flannigan’s drawing and furniture - boxes, tables, and mirrors, all embellished with images of the beauty and innocence of the natural world. Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison St. 

“From With These Walls” Jan. 5: Educational studio opening celebration gallery show of student works in steel, bronze, aluminum, cast iron, glass, neon, ceramic, stone and paper; jewelry. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby St. (Entrance is one block south on Murray St.) 843-5511, fran@thecrucible.org. 

“The First Five Years” Through Jan.11: Exhibit represents a selection of drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture created by students during their 7th & 8th grade years. 7a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon-Fri, 5:30- 9:30 p.m. Sat., Bucci’s Restaurant, 6121 Hollis St., Emeryville, 547-4725, www.bucci.com. 

“Carving, Canvas, Color: Art of Julio Garcia and Wilbert Griffith” Through Jan.12: Brightly colored wooden figures and colorfully detailed paintings. Gallery is open by appointment and chance, most weekdays 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.; The Ames Gallery, 2661 Cedar St., 845-4949, amesgal@home.com. 

“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. 

“Analogous Biology: Balance and Use,” Mark J. Leavitt, Dec. 20 through Jan. 19; Tue. - Sat., 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland. 836-0831, www.artolio.com. 

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. 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: An exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and  

regional artists. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“Water Media” Jan. 10 through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

Traywick Gallery: “New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Jan. 5 through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture explores memory as the building block of consciousness, learning and experience. Steve Brisco’s paintings on paper address issues of identity through evocative combinations of text and imagery. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., 1316 10th St. 527-1214. 

“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 Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Jan. 2 through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Reception for artist, Jan. 12: 6 - 8 p.m., Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography. Wed, Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

“Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado” Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: Over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. $4 - $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Jan. 11 through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“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, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Jan. 8: Theodore Hamm discusses “Rebel and a Cause: Caryl Chessman and the Politics of the Death Penalty”; Jan. 10: Joan Frank reads from her new book, “Boys Keep Being Born”; Jan. 11: Christopher Hitchens, “Letters to a Youn Contrarian”; Jan. 14: Pamela Logan talks about “Tibetan Rescue: A Woman’s Quest to Save the Fabulous Art Treasures of Pewar Monastery”; All events are free and start at 7:30 p.m. unless noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Coffee With A Beat - Word Beat reading series 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 Jan. 9: 7 p.m., “Our Wings Are Pregnant Seesaws,” Reading performance of a play by H. D. Moe. 390 27th St., Oakland, 528-8713. 

Sierra Club books Jan. 5: 3 - 5 p.m., Author/ Photographer Keith S. Walklet will be signing his book, “Yosemite - An Enduring Treasure.” 6014 college Ave., 658-7470, info@sierraclubbookstore.com. 

Jewish Community Center Jan. 14: 7:30-9 p.m., Emily Rose interweaves the family chronicle of her ancestors with the political and social events of the 18th and 19th centuries; Jan. 16: 7:30-8:30 p.m., Elizabeth Rosner will read from her debut novel “The Speed of of Light.” 1414 Walnut St. 

Tours 

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

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. 

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; $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 “Kwanzaa Community Celebration” Dec. 30: 12-4 p.m., Nia Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that honors black family history; 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, children under 5 free. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m.; 1000 Oak St., Oakland, 238-2200, 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. - 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 and Pacific Film Archive “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. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.; 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

Lawrence Hall of Science Dec. 28: 1 p.m., Rhythmix; Dec. 29: 1 p.m., Magic with Jay Alexander; Dec. 30: 1 p.m., Music and Storytelling with Dennis Hysom; Dec. 31: 1 p.m., New Year’s Eve Party, special daytime holiday party for kids; Dec. 26 through 31: Free Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulb; 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; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 

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, www.lhs.berkeley.edu. 

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

Ami Forney is the brightest light in what has been an up-and-down season for the California women’s basketball team. 

The Golden Bears quiet co-captain led her team to a strong 4-0 start with fine individual play. But they have lost all five games since then, including losses to Arizona and Arizona State last weekend in the Bears’ opening Pac-10 trip. Forney scored 23 against the Wildcats and had her ninth career double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds against the Sun Devils.  

After producing a strong junior season – in which she scored 10 points per game, grabbed 7.9 rebounds per game – the 6-foot-2 post player is following up with a pretty good senior one. So far, the Newark product leads the Golden Bears in scoring, with 15.3 points per game, and rebounding, with 6.2 boards per game.  

“Her season is going very well,” Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer says. “She has really stepped up her offensive output and offensive intensity. Maybe the most beneficial thing to our team this year is she wants the ball. When she gets it, she’s going to score it. She’s been very tough to stop.  

Normally a leader by example, Forney has had to be a bit more vocal now that she’s a co-captain and a senior.  

“Ami was very, very quiet when she first got here,” teammate and fellow senior Janet Franey says. “She’s had to work on speaking with us. She has to motivate and encourage us, tell us things the coaches want us to know, which is hard sometimes. This year she’s much better at letting us know what we should be doing and pumping us up at halftime. I’m impressed she’s come out of her own shell.”  

“Because a lot of people in my class aren’t here, that really forced me to step up a little bit more,” Forney says. “As far as my scoring goes, I’ve done a lot better. Freshman year, I was timid and always looked to pass. Scoring goes more with being more aggressive.”  

One reason Forney gets most of the shots in the post is that Shavaki Jackson is no longer with the team. Jackson, a skilled center who came to Cal in the same recruiting class as Forney during the Marianne Stanley era, left the program when Caren Horstmeyer took over as head coach before last season. Forney and Franey are the only players left from their freshman class and are the only seniors on the current squad. Cal has nine newcomers, including freshman starters Kristin Iwanaga and Leigh Gregory, and the growing pains have been evident in the team’s recent play. 

Forney hasn’t been discouraged by her team’s struggles of late, which have come in part because all the players are still getting used to each other.  

“I’m real proud of our freshman, who’ve played big minutes and practice hard,” she says. “Some teams come to Cal thinking it’ll be an easy victory because we have lots of young people. Even though we’ve lost [five] in a row, the baskets will start falling and we’ll win, because of their hard work. They’re all willing to learn and all learning very quickly.”  

“We’re encouraged by her leadership and play on the court,” Horstmeyer says of Forney. “Teams more talented than we are but don’t necessarily play as well as a team as we do.”  

Cal has proven to be a strong rebounding and defensive team – the Bears have outrebounded six of nine opponents this year – but has to improve offensively, scoring just 59.9 ppg as a team so far. Of their five losses, the first four were by six points or less. Cal could have won each of those four but didn’t, partly because few players outside of Forney wanted the ball in crunch time. Gregory is Cal’s second-leading scorer with 10.9 ppg, but she missed the Arizona games with an injury sustained last week.  

When Forney does get the ball late in games, opposing teams often double-team her, which raises the need for better outside shooting. Cal hopes freshman guard Jackie Lord, a good shooter who played in the Arizona games after sitting out the previous seven with an injury, should help alleviate defensive pressure on Forney. 

“We need the guards to start hitting from outside,” says Franey, herself a 3-point specialist. “We feel bad people do that [double-team Forney] now. They know we’re going to her. We can’t just rely on her to do all our scoring.”  

When she wants to get away from hoops, Forney turns to her other passion – photography. The sociology major is an aspiring portrait photographer who has taken photos of her teammates and of other Cal athletes. Forney put together a calendar of Cal men’s athletes for a project in a visual studies class. The calendar, of Cal ‘hot bodies,’ features bare-chested athletes including Brian Wethers, Charon Arnold, Dennis Gates and former Bear Sean Lampley. Forney received an A for the project.  

“It’s a talent she has,” Horstmeyer says. “She knows how to get people to pose in the right position, to ultimately be a great picture.”  

Of the calendar Horstmeyer says, “All I can tell you is it’s pretty good.” Horstmeyer is prouder of Forney’s play on the court. Cal’s second-year coach feels that Forney is proving that she can play professionally in the WNBA next year.  

“I think that’s going to be whether Ami wants to do that or doesn’t want to do that,” Horstmeyer says. “That’s probably going to be Ami’s choice. I think she is [a pro prospect] because of her athleticism, her size. She’s a late developer in terms of the college game. The last couple years she’s been strong.”

North Berkeley residents continue to march during holiday season 

They have encountered rain, hecklers and the scheduling nightmare of the holiday season. But for eight straight weeks, every Wednesday evening, a small group of North Berkeley neighbors opposed to the war in Afghanistan, has led a march for peace through the city’s streets. 

“I firmly believe that war doesn’t solve the problem,” said Don Najita, a Berkeley resident and organizer of the weekly vigils. “Violence breeds violence.” 

Organizers say they have drawn between 12 and 25 marchers in the past, although there were only seven in tow this week. The Christmas holiday may have been to blame for the low turnout, they said. 

The group does not have a name or affiliation with a larger organization. “It’s just grassroots,” said Najita, “a bunch of residents who decided we wanted to do something public and express our discontent.” 

The group has spread the word about its weekly vigils through posters, press advisories and postings on activist Web sites like www.indymedia.org and www.protest.net. 

Organizers have also coordinated with other local peace groups, such as Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace, or LMNOP, an Oakland group that conducts vigils of its own on Sunday afternoons.  

Ken Knudsen, an LMNOP member and long-time peace activist, attended this week’s Berkeley march. He said the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 are the result of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly the periodic bombing of Iraq in the wake of the Gulf War. 

“We’re into this mess because of the bombing of Iraq,” he said, “and bombing Afghanistan isn’t going to help matters.” 

Patrick Weseman, a veteran of the Gulf War who served as a yeoman with the United States Navy, focused on American foreign policy as well.  

“I think the U.S. support of Israel is at the root of it,” Weseman said, discussing the causes of terrorism, “and the Persian Gulf War didn’t win us any friends.”  

Protesters, who walked with candles and carried signs reading “war: your tax dollars at work” and “not my president/not my war,” received a warm response from most passers-by. Several drivers tooted their horns in support, and a number of pedestrians flashed the peace sign or offered words of encouragement. 

Janet Cambra was walking along Sacramento Street when she encountered the group. An Oakland resident who works for Empower, a Berkeley-based company that raises money for progressive causes, Cambra was supportive of the march. 

“I like it,” Cambra said, “but I wish there were more people.” 

Oakland resident Andy Worthington passed the group on Shattuck Avenue and said he wasn’t surprised at the small number of marchers. 

“I think it’s a sign of the times,” he said. “Berkeley, known for its activism, can only get about 10 people out.” 

Some passers-by said they disagreed with the protesters and supported the war in Afghanistan. Worthington, for instance, said he is generally opposed to conflict, but feels it is necessary under the current circumstances. 

Thomas Watkins, another Oakland resident on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley Wednesday night, said he sympathized with the protesters’ concerns around civilian deaths in Afghanistan, but thought they were unavoidable.  

Najita said the protesters have encountered quite a few opponents during their vigils. Some have shouted obscenities, he said, some have bumped into protesters, and others, like Worthington, have simply said that marchers are wrong. 

“Some people say we are preaching to the converted,” Najita said, referring to Berkeley’s reputation for anti-war liberalism, “but there are no converts out there now. It’s a different town.” 

Karla Meek, another organizer of the weekly vigils, said the United States should have responded to the Sept. 11 attacks by gathering evidence against the perpetrators, and making a case in the international courts. 

Meek admitted that the delays inherent in such a lengthy procedure might have created openings for further terrorism, but she said the United States can never hope to bring an end to terrorism. 

“I think we can try to do as much as we can, but there will always be terrorists,” she said. 

Najita emphasized that the pursuit of legal action, rather than war, is particularly important for a country like the United States that promotes the courts as a proper way to resolve conflict. 

Najita said his group will continue to hold Wednesday night vigils for the foreseeable future. “That’s the point of a vigil,” he said, “to stick with it.” 

The group meets at the North Berkeley BART station each Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Editor: 

Michael Steinberg’s letter makes some interesting points about some apparently positive results from the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan. In the short term, it may have been beneficial. The long-term effects remain to be seen. The situation there is complex and while the U.S. policy of demonstrating military might and prowess may lead to peace and prosperity, that is by no means certain. 

To attack Barbara Lee because of her stance is not constructive. To stand against the mass stampede of Congress was an extraordinary act of civic courage on Ms. Lee’s part and I applaud it. Our country would be well served by a large number of people who dare to think independently. 

Philip Morton 

Berkeley

“Black Hawk Down” – Producer Jerry Bruckheimer redeems himself for this year’s drippy debacle “Pearl Harbor.” And he can thank director Ridley Scott for that. The gritty, in-your-face film, based on the botched U.S. military mission in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, has all the scope and enormity of Bruckheimer’s earlier war extravaganza, but it plays like a documentary of disaster. Scott is relentless here; 90 minutes of the nearly 2 1/2-hour movie are nonstop gunfire. But the movie’s action is so compelling, it’s impossible not to be drawn in and emotionally drained. Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, William Fichtner and Sam Shepard lead the ensemble cast. R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language. 143 min. 

“Charlotte Gray” – Director Gillian Armstrong seems to have taken her heroine’s surname to heart. An austere, neutral-tinted drama, “Charlotte Gray” has an ashen texture that rarely allows viewers to connect emotionally with the characters. In the title role, Cate Blanchett gives a fine technical performance yet is unable to light a flame in Charlotte, a Scotswoman who signs on as a spy in Vichy France during World War II. Likewise, co-star Billy Crudup is mostly inanimate as a French resistance fighter. What a shame to squander such talent; Blanchett’s subtle sensuality and Crudup’s charisma seem ideal for the adaptation of Sebastian Faulk’s espionage romance. PG-13 for some war-related violence, sensuality and brief strong language. 121 min. 

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer 

“I Am Sam” – A shameless weepy that aims for Oscar when it should have been a made-for-TV movie on the Lifetime channel. This story of a mentally retarded father fighting for custody of his 7-year-old daughter has its heart in the right place, but the approach is heavy-handed. Sean Penn immerses himself in the title role and is totally convincing – so much so that his manic energy becomes overbearing by the end. And as the high-strung lawyer helping in his custody battle, Michelle Pfeiffer is even more over-the-top. Director and co-writer Jessie Nelson has a major hanky scene for nearly every character, but is too politically correct to address the possibility that Sam’s daughter might be better off with a loving suburban foster mom, played by Laura Dern. PG-13 for language. 132 min. 

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer 

“Kate & Leopold” – If nothing else, this century-spanning love story simulates time travel quite effectively – you’ll feel like you saw it before you entered the theater. Which you did, sort of, because it conjures memories of past fish-out-of-water comedies where the hero discovers exciting new inventions like cars, toilets and television for the first time. Hugh Jackman plays Leopold, a charming English duke from 1876 who ends up in present-day Manhattan and falls for Kate (Meg Ryan), a high-strung marketing consultant. For a while it feels like Jackman is gifted and engaging enough to save the movie, but the timeworn plot and Ryan’s phoned-in performance make this a tough picture to like. You keep wishing Leopold would find a better woman – and a better movie. PG-13 for brief strong language. 117 min. 

– Tim Molloy, AP Writer 

“Monster’s Ball” – The characters in this movie are poor, alcoholic, racist, self-destructive. And just when you think their situations couldn’t possibly get worse, they do; the troubles pile up and become so ridiculously bleak, they’re almost comical. It’s all as overbearing as it sounds. But the performances from Billy Bob Thornton, as a Georgia death-row prison guard, and Halle Berry, as the widow of a man he’s executed, transcend the material. Berry does the best work of her career, though her much-discussed sex scene with Thornton is a bit too artsy. Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle and Sean Combs – as rapper “P. Diddy” likes to be known when he’s a Serious Actor – co-star. R for strong sexual content, language and violence. 108 min. 

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer 

“The Shipping News” – Lasse Hallstrom’s third literary adaptation in as many years follows the pattern of “The Cider House Rules” and “Chocolat,” presenting another overly bowdlerized yet fairly pleasing screen version of the source novel. Kevin Spacey stars as Quoyle, the passive loser of E. Annie Proulx’s beloved book, who ventures to his ancestral Newfoundland and uncovers secrets and finds inspiration that nudges him toward a proactive life and happiness. Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett co-star. While Hallstrom captures some of the book’s sense of repressed longing, much is lost in his oversimplified interpretation, which too often replaces subtlety with punch lines to impart a sunnier mood. R for some language, sensuality and disturbing images. 111 min. 

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer

“Black Hawk Down” – Producer Jerry Bruckheimer redeems himself for this year’s drippy debacle “Pearl Harbor.” And he can thank director Ridley Scott for that. The gritty, in-your-face film, based on the botched U.S. military mission in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, has all the scope and enormity of Bruckheimer’s earlier war extravaganza, but it plays like a documentary of disaster. Scott is relentless here; 90 minutes of the nearly 2 1/2-hour movie are nonstop gunfire. But the movie’s action is so compelling, it’s impossible not to be drawn in and emotionally drained. Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, William Fichtner and Sam Shepard lead the ensemble cast. R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language. 143 min. 

“Charlotte Gray” – Director Gillian Armstrong seems to have taken her heroine’s surname to heart. An austere, neutral-tinted drama, “Charlotte Gray” has an ashen texture that rarely allows viewers to connect emotionally with the characters. In the title role, Cate Blanchett gives a fine technical performance yet is unable to light a flame in Charlotte, a Scotswoman who signs on as a spy in Vichy France during World War II. Likewise, co-star Billy Crudup is mostly inanimate as a French resistance fighter. What a shame to squander such talent; Blanchett’s subtle sensuality and Crudup’s charisma seem ideal for the adaptation of Sebastian Faulk’s espionage romance. PG-13 for some war-related violence, sensuality and brief strong language. 121 min. 

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer 

“I Am Sam” – A shameless weepy that aims for Oscar when it should have been a made-for-TV movie on the Lifetime channel. This story of a mentally retarded father fighting for custody of his 7-year-old daughter has its heart in the right place, but the approach is heavy-handed. Sean Penn immerses himself in the title role and is totally convincing – so much so that his manic energy becomes overbearing by the end. And as the high-strung lawyer helping in his custody battle, Michelle Pfeiffer is even more over-the-top. Director and co-writer Jessie Nelson has a major hanky scene for nearly every character, but is too politically correct to address the possibility that Sam’s daughter might be better off with a loving suburban foster mom, played by Laura Dern. PG-13 for language. 132 min. 

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer 

“Kate & Leopold” – If nothing else, this century-spanning love story simulates time travel quite effectively – you’ll feel like you saw it before you entered the theater. Which you did, sort of, because it conjures memories of past fish-out-of-water comedies where the hero discovers exciting new inventions like cars, toilets and television for the first time. Hugh Jackman plays Leopold, a charming English duke from 1876 who ends up in present-day Manhattan and falls for Kate (Meg Ryan), a high-strung marketing consultant. For a while it feels like Jackman is gifted and engaging enough to save the movie, but the timeworn plot and Ryan’s phoned-in performance make this a tough picture to like. You keep wishing Leopold would find a better woman – and a better movie. PG-13 for brief strong language. 117 min. 

– Tim Molloy, AP Writer 

“Monster’s Ball” – The characters in this movie are poor, alcoholic, racist, self-destructive. And just when you think their situations couldn’t possibly get worse, they do; the troubles pile up and become so ridiculously bleak, they’re almost comical. It’s all as overbearing as it sounds. But the performances from Billy Bob Thornton, as a Georgia death-row prison guard, and Halle Berry, as the widow of a man he’s executed, transcend the material. Berry does the best work of her career, though her much-discussed sex scene with Thornton is a bit too artsy. Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle and Sean Combs – as rapper “P. Diddy” likes to be known when he’s a Serious Actor – co-star. R for strong sexual content, language and violence. 108 min. 

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer 

“The Shipping News” – Lasse Hallstrom’s third literary adaptation in as many years follows the pattern of “The Cider House Rules” and “Chocolat,” presenting another overly bowdlerized yet fairly pleasing screen version of the source novel. Kevin Spacey stars as Quoyle, the passive loser of E. Annie Proulx’s beloved book, who ventures to his ancestral Newfoundland and uncovers secrets and finds inspiration that nudges him toward a proactive life and happiness. Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett co-star. While Hallstrom captures some of the book’s sense of repressed longing, much is lost in his oversimplified interpretation, which too often replaces subtlety with punch lines to impart a sunnier mood. R for some language, sensuality and disturbing images. 111 min. 

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer

On April 6, when the city is scheduled to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated, 70-year-old Central Library, the project will be 17 months late and an estimated $5 million over budget. 

Berkeley Public Library Director Jackie Griffin and Manager of Capital Projects John Rosenbrock said there are fairly reasonable explanations for the some of the added costs, which will be repaid, in part, by interest earned from the voter-approved bond that funded the renovation. 

But they said other costs related to the long delay are primarily the responsibility of Arntz Builders, the project contractor. Citing poor management and under-staffing of the library construction site at 2090 Kittredge St., library officials said Arntz has been working on the project months past an October 2000 projected completion date. 

“It’s not unusual to have projects of this size go beyond their completion dates,” Rosenbrock said. “But no one plans for this amount of delay. I would describe this as unusual.” 

Rosenbrock quickly pointed out that the 17-month delay is not entirely Arntz’s fault. He said some of the delay was due to the library expanding the project after bids had been submitted and the discovery of a serious problem with the foundation of the building adjacent to the structure. Also, asbestos found in the library building had to be removed. 

Rosenbrock said library representatives allowed for those delays and moved the completion date forward nine months to July 2001. 

When Arntz was unable to complete the project by the July date, the library exercised a clause in the contract that allowed for withholding money for “liquidated damages.” 

In fact, the library has been withholding $90,000 a month from the contractor since July. These funds help pay for the rent on the temporary Central Library on Allston Way, temporary administrative offices on Kittredge Street and the storage of furniture, books and other equipment at various facilities. Currently the overall monthly project costs, including rental of alternate facilities, is estimated at $120,000. 

Griffin said that after the project is completed, Arntz and the city will have to sit down and negotiate how much of the liquidated damages withholdings the library will be able to keep. 

“The way it usually goes is that we will argue the delays are the contractors’ fault and the contractor will dispute that and say we caused the problem by changing the project plans,” Rosenbrock said. 

Arntz Builders, which also won the bid for a $36 million Berkeley High School project known as the “Milvia Buildings” – a project that is currently two months behind schedule – did not return calls from the Daily Planet on Thursday. 

Measure S 

In 1996 voters narrowly approved Measure S, which provided a $49 million bond that will be paid with city property taxes. Thirty million dollars of the bond was designated for the Central Library project and the remainder was to help fund the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center renovation project and downtown streetscape improvements. 

However, from the time the bond was approved to the time the actual library renovation bids began coming in two years later, the Bay Area was in the midst of a construction boom as a result of a strong economy. The result was a renovation budget that began to increase. 

“The construction market was highly competitive,” Rosenbrock said. “Contractors were overbidding because they had more work then they really needed.” 

The city was bound by the charter to accept the “lowest and most responsible bid,” which happened to be from Arntz Builders. 

When the city awarded the contract to Arntz in April 1999, the cost had risen to $33 million from increased construction costs and library project additions such as refurbishing of the stenciled ceilings in the history room and the creation of light fixtures based interior photographs taken in 1931. 

The budget was further expanded by the unexpected weakness of the foundation of the building adjacent to the library. “It had a brick foundation which is much less stable,” Rosenbrock said. “That had to be reinforced, which was delayed because of unusually rough winter weather.” 

City Budget Manager Paul Navazio said the good news about the project cost is that the $30 million bond generated $2.2 million in interest, which will go back into the project budget.  

In addition the City Council approved a loan of $1.2 million to the project to help fill funding gaps. 

According to Board of Library Trustees member Kevin James the loan will be paid back from the library’s annual budget, which comes from a special property tax approved by voters in 1980. Currently the tax raises about $8.5 million annually.  

“That money could have gone to other library projects,” James said. “Is it going to hurt us? The answer is yes.” 

The new Central Library 

When the Central Library reopens in April, it will have been expanded from 50,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet. In addition to being seismically upgraded, the library will have three times more space for the children’s section, an a expanded arts and music section, new meeting rooms and a new history room. 

In addition, the library will have much of its original interior work and furnishings, all of which have been repainted, refinished and refurbished. 

On Thursday all of the frustrations from delays and cost overruns seemed to melt away for Griffin as she walked through the building gingerly stepping around power tools, stacked slabs of concrete flooring and workers busily putting the finishing touches on the building interior. 

“Now, every time I come over here it’s like Christmas because another project is completed,” she said from under a white hard hat with her title emblazoned across the front. “We have even begun to bring some of the books out of storage and put them on shelves.”

Editor: 

Michael Steinberg’s use of the lowest form of humor, sarcasm, rather pathetically fails (letters,12/24). First, we have reinstalled the Northern Alliance to power, the same group of thugs who misruled that country from 1992-96 and killed 100,000 people. They were responsible for bringing the Taliban wackos to power in the first place. So it’s premature to be celebrating anyone’s liberation, much less any rebirth of Afghan art, etc. Secondly, according to Professor Mark Herrold of the University of New Hampshire, we have killed at least 4,000 Afghans through our bombing, more than perished at the WTC atrocity. There is no end in sight on this war, there are elements in the Bush Administration who favor extending this to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan and other countries. I am a libertarian who would not vote for Barbara Lee for dogcatcher but I do salute her on this one vote. Normally libertarian Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is on the losing side of 420-1 votes in the House. Don’t worry too much about civil liberties, Mr. Steinberg, if this war continues there will be few to worry about. 

Michael P. Hardesty 

Oakland

The California Coastal Commission has announced its fourth annual Amateur Photography Competition for 2002.  

The contest is to pay tribute to the resources the commission is mandated to protect - California’s 1,100 mile coastline. 

The California Coastal Commission was established by voter initiative in 1972 (Proposition 20) and made permanent by State Legislature in 1976 with the California Coastal Act. 

Entrants are encouraged to submit photos in the following categories: the scenic coast, ways people use the coast, and coastal wildlife. Photographs that document coastal resources protected by Coastal Commission action, including public beaches, public accessways to beaches, agricultural land, or wetlands are especially encouraged. The photographs must be in color and taken from a public place. 

Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2002. For complete guidelines and entry forms go to www.coastal.ca.gov, or call 800-262-7848.

Editor: 

I hope the City Council and the people of Berkeley have enjoyed their Christmas.  

I’ve seen the resolution of the council that condemns our action in Afghanistan and now I read where your fair city is going to give help to anyone who wishes to avoid the draft, if it’s started.  

Today thousands of men and women of our armed services are putting their lives on the line, so that all of us may enjoy our freedom to have a Merry Christmas.  

I have to ask myself though, what kind of people are you? You are so willing to let others go out and die to provide you with the freedom that you take so much for granted.  

I have to ask, how can some of you can look in the mirror each morning knowing that you are willing to let other people die for your freedom and not care. In fact you protest the very actions that are keeping you free. If you find nothing you are willing to fight for. Nothing that you care about, then your own safety. Yet you are willing to let better men and women die for your freedom, then you are a miserable lot that will NEVER be free. Yet you wonder why other people in the USA hold the city of Berkeley in such contempt.  

Bob Tanguay,  

Brandenburg, Kentucky  

Editor’s note: the resolution in fact does not condemn the bombings but calls for the cessation of bombing as soon as possible.

SAN JOSE – Doctors scrambled to stabilize about a dozen patients after power went off Thursday evening at a San Jose hospital. 

The lights went out at Good Samaritan Hospital shortly before 7 p.m. when a backup generator failed after it kicked on because the surrounding area had already gone black, according to Pacific Gas and Electric. 

Doctors and nurses struggled to help two patients in operating rooms — including one woman who was having a Caesarean section — and about another 10 in the intensive care unit, said fire department Sgt. Mark Mooney. 

“It was pretty bad for a moment,” Mooney said. 

The hospital prepared ambulances to transport patients to nearby hospitals, but fire officials were able to target emergency backup power to critical areas of the hospital, Mooney said. 

No one was moved and none of the patients suffered, he said. In fact, a girl was born under emergency lights firefighters had wheeled in. 

By 8 p.m., power was restored to the hospital, though not to 2,200 customers in the area southwest of downtown San Jose, PG&E spokeswoman Maureen Bogues said. The cause of the outage was not immediately known.

SAN FRANCISCO – In California, where the car is king, the roads are hardly fit for royalty. 

The state ranks last in the nation in per capita spending to fix its roads, which rank first in the nation for being the most dilapidated, according to a study by a transportation advocacy group released Thursday. 

More than a third of the state’s 168,000 miles of road are rated “poor” by the state, according to the report by The Road Information Program, which it completed for another transportation advocacy group, Transportation California. 

The TRIP analysis of 2000 information from the Federal Highway Administration found that 37 percent of California’s roads were rated poor. By comparison, none of the roads in top-ranked Georgia had that rating. 

While the Federal Highway Administration doesn’t break down per capita spending on roads, TRIP said its analysis of data found that California spent only $82 per person on maintenance. According to the report, the bottom five also included Illinois, which spent $94 per capita; Michigan, which spent $106; Minnesota, which spent $108; and Ohio, which spent $109. 

TRIP would not release the entire state breakdown of per capita spending, saying states were sensitive about the information. 

The report looks at interstates, freeways, major state roads and arterial roads, which are the major roads of a community, said TRIP research director Frank Moretti. 

Some government transportation officials were skeptical about the analysis, but Moretti said the study used data gathered by states using the same model. 

Larry Fisher, executive director of Transportation California, said a decades-long trend of underfunding road maintenance needs to be reversed to accommodate the predicted explosion in the number of drivers on California’s roads. 

“We have a once-great system that has just worn out because we haven’t made the investment to maintain it,” he said. “This takes a terrible toll on motorists.” 

But Dennis Trujillo, of the state Department of Transportation, said the state is turning that around, dedicating about $1 billion a year to maintenance and repairs. Cities and counties received an additional $400 million last year for maintenance as part of the state’s Congestion Relief Program. The state currently has $6 billion in general road improvements under way. 

“This governor has reversed a trend of 16 years of disinvestment in transportation,” he said. “I believe our system is second to none, but there’s room for improvement.” 

Of the 168,000 miles of road the study looked at in California, the state Department of Transportation owns and maintains about 48,000. The rest are owned and maintained by cities and counties. 

The study said that the miles traveled on California’s roads increased 97 percent from 156 billion to 307 billion miles between 1980 and 2000, and that is expected to increase by another 63 percent by 2025. 

Proponents of Proposition 42, which is slated for the March 5 ballot and which would use sales tax from gasoline sales for road maintenance, used the study to bolster their position. The study recommends passage of the measure to pay for repairs. 

Currently, repairs for local roads are paid using money from state and federal gas taxes, which are different from the gas sales tax. Repairs for state roads also are paid through the state gas tax. Money from the gas sales tax currently goes into the state’s general fund, where it is divvied up for various purposes. 

The report said that if the state puts off improving roads, it will just cost more in the long run — for motorists and government. According to the report, drivers in the state pay an average of $558 per person each year to fix damage caused by driving on bad roads. If the state fixed just 20 percent of roads rated poor and mediocre, it could save motorists $215 each year, the study said. 

The report also found that three of every 10 bridges in the state is structurally deficient, which means they have significant wear but aren’t in any immediate danger of collapse, Moretti said.

Some groups overlap in duties as coordination forms slowly 

SACRAMENTO – What’s CATIC? 

The officer at OES’ CJIC didn’t know; neither did his boss. 

DOJ’s spokeswoman wasn’t familiar with CJIC, but was certain it wasn’t the same thing as CATIC. 

CATIC is the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center. It’s run by the DOJ – the California Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who set it up after Sept. 11 to gather intelligence and assess terrorism threats. 

CJIC has a similar name: the California Joint Information Center. But it’s run by OES – Gov. Gray Davis’ Office of Emergency Services. It’s supposed to be a “one-stop shop” for reporters looking for information from 14 different agencies on terrorist incidents. 

OES’ S-TAC has some of the same mission as CATIC. The State Threat Assessment Committee also is supposed to gauge terrorist threats and the state’s response. It’s a subgroup of SSCOTT, the State Strategic Committee on Terrorism, set up by Davis in 1999. 

Got all that? 

Other states set up anti-terrorism task forces after the Sept. 11 attacks, but nothing like the “alphabet soup” in California, said Larry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism chief and now a private counterterrorism consultant. 

“It’s important to be prepared to deal with an attack, but now we’re going into terrorism overkill,” Johnson said. Politicians and bureaucrats have discovered that attaching the word “terrorism” to anything is like the old E.F. Hutton commercials, Johnson said: “People stop and listen.” 

There also is a California Emergency Organization (CEO) and a California Emergency Council (CEC) that approved the California Terrorism Response Plan (CTRP) that in turn is part of the California State Emergency Plan (CSEP) within the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS). They replaced the Nuclear Emergency/Terrorism Response Plan of 1991 and are designed to be used with the Local Planning Guidance On Terrorism Response and Hazardous Materials Incident Contingency Plan. 

The California Emergency Organization “is not a familiar phrase to me, and I’ve been with OES a year,” confessed one employee. “SSCOT and S-TAC – I kind of get those confused sometimes.” 

Davis’ new special security adviser, 23-year FBI veteran George Vinson, said he was hired in part to filter all the information that was flowing to the governor from CATIC, OES, CHP (the California Highway Patrol), the National Guard and other state, local and federal agencies. 

“The fact is each of them has a role to play,” Vinson said. “They don’t overlap each other, but there is some redundancy and that can be a good thing. Down the road there may be a need to combine a few functions. 

“We’re kind of defining this as we go along. We’re going to probably streamline some and broaden others, but that’s one of the things I was brought on board to do further down the line.” 

Lockyer has already spent as much as $5 million to operate CATIC, and estimates it would cost $12 million a year to keep a fully functioning center running, said spokeswoman Hallye Jordan. 

He’s using money shifted within his own budget while seeking federal and state funding in addition to $350,000 CATIC already received from the governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning, she said. 

CATIC currently has 50 DOJ employees in the center, plus 16 analysts and investigators from allied agencies like the CHP, OES, National Guard, Department of Corrections, U.S. Coast Guard and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. 

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Department of Transportation, California Department of Motor Vehicles, FBI, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also expect to send liaisons, Jordan said. 

In addition, there are six CATIC task forces based in Sacramento, San Francisco, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Fresno, each with one supervisor, two agents and two analysts from the Justice Department, one CHP officer, and a varying number of local and federal law enforcement officers. 

CATIC headquarters has a 10-person “group analysis unit” to track and investigate specific international and domestic terrorist groups – not only religious or anti-government groups, but anti-abortion or animal liberation extremists as well, Jordan said. Many of those groups were already under investigation before Sept. 11, she said. 

CATIC also has a “situation unit” made up of eight Justice Department and six representatives from allied agencies who can provide instant support for investigators and regional task forces, Jordan said. 

SSCOT and S-TAC are “sort of virtual organizations,” said OES spokeswoman Sheryl Tankersley. The 40 core members of SSCOT are drawn from the FBI, CHP, DOJ, OES and National Guard; they and the smaller S-TAC group generally consult over a secure conference call when there is a threat, with other officials added as needed, depending on the nature of the threat. 

SSCOT, augmented by dozens of local state and federal law enforcement, fire, health and other officials, was given a higher profile role by Davis after Sept. 11. He asked the group to make recommendations on improving the state’s terrorism response, and has since instructed the group to oversee some of those changes. 

The groups have no specific budget and draw staff from other agencies, drawing what money they need mostly from a $666,000 annual grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tankersley said. About half the grant goes to their needs, the other half to terrorism training classes offered to emergency workers through the California Specialized Training Institute.

CATIC: California Anti-Terrorism Information Center. Set up by Attorney General Bill Lockyer Sept. 25. Intelligence gathering and threat assessment. 

CJIC: California Joint Information Center. Opened immediately after Sept. 11 by Gov. Gray Davis’ Office of Emergency Services. “One-stop shop” for terrorism information. 

SSCOTT: State Strategic Committee on Terrorism. Set up by Davis in 1999. 

S-TAC: State Threat Assessment Committee. A subgroup of SSCOTT.

Good lighting for your home: Let it shineL 

This time of year, when sunlight is at a premium, it’s important to have good interior lighting. While meeting special situations, such as highlighting an art collection, it’s wise to be savvy in covering the basics, too. 

Mix sources for living and family rooms. For relaxing or watching TV, general lighting from indirect sources -- wall washers, uplights and recessed fixtures – is best. For hobbies, reading and homework, task or local lighting – downlights, spotlights and table or floor lamps – work well. Fixed spotlights can emphasize art over the mantel. 

Give dining rooms flexibility. In addition to over-table light from a chandelier or other ceiling lights, add a cozy glow by placing other accent lights around the room. Dimmer switches can soften the mood of a too-bright chandelier. Highlight artwork with a picture light, tuck a floor canister behind a plant in a corner, or brighten built-in shelves or a hutch with a plug-in shelf light from a home center. 

Light kitchens for efficiency. In addition to general light usually provided by ceiling or track lights, place task lights to beam where you work, such as under cabinets and above cooking centers. 

Add task lights to bedrooms and baths. A dimmer switch for mood control works well in the bedroom. In nurseries and young children’s rooms, avoid halogen lights, which produce heat. Remember, too, that ceiling or wall fixtures are safer than table lamps around youngsters. 

Use creative accent lighting. It can give a whole new look to your artwork, furniture groupings, or an interesting architectural detail. Rule of thumb: Lighting that’s meant to accent objects should be at least three times brighter than the room’s general lighting. 

To spotlight your favorites, try these tips: 

• Experiment first. Use clamp-on lights fitted with spotlight bulbs, and try them in different locations to find the best spot. 

• Limit your costs. Strip lights to enhance groupings of books or collectibles cost less than $20 at many home centers. 

• Corral the cords. For safety and appearance, run cords along the baseboards or behind furniture. 

• Choose the right directions. Light groups from the front or above. With picture lights, for example, angle the light toward the picture, not down on it, to minimize glare. 

• Be flexible and creative. A desk lamp with pivoting head can spotlight when it’s not being used for a homework project. Or, for mood lighting, plug table lamps into a dimmer switch.

This do-it-yourself project is pretty easy to do and can actually make your home safer a lot safer. We were once paid $55,000 to partially rebuild a fire-damaged condominium that had exploded into flames when a short circuit occurred in a frayed lamp cord. Fortunately, the owner was away at the time and was not injured. But, she lost just about everything she owned, family photos, personal records, memorabilia, her wardrobe, furniture, clothing everything. 

Ensuring that electrical appliances are in good condition is important. And, repairing a frayed appliance cord is a good way of doing your share to ensure home safety. On the other hand, when it comes to working on electrical appliances, there can be dangers especially if you aren’t careful. For example: If you replace a lamp cord with undersized wire, overheating can occur and a fire can result. 

Other simple mistakes can be disastrous too. As you make the electrical repairs that we suggest, be sure that all connections are tight and snug. A loose electrical connection can promote arcing and a fire can result. Lack of proper insulation between the electrical contacts and the surrounding metal socket housing can result in a short circuit that can ultimately cause a fire. 

Doing these kinds of repairs are important, but you should be acutely aware of the importance of being extremely careful when working with electric appliances. It’s easy to prevent an electrical repair from backfiring once you realize what things can go wrong. So, read on and learn another trick or two. 

With a lamp there are two parts that are known to wear out occasionally and which must occasionally be replaced: the cord and the light bulb socket. 

Replacing a light bulb socket and switch is easy. Don’t try to repair just the switch. You won’t save any money, and it may even cost more. Also, it doesn’t make any difference which style switch you select. There are three basic types to choose from: pull chain, push-push, and twist. 

Keep in mind that a switch is a switch is a switch and when it comes to “which type,” we suggest that you be the judge. There is, however, another consideration when selecting a switch. That is whether it simply goes on and off or provides low and high intensity on positions. Some folks call it a “three-way switch,” probably because it has three positions: off, on low and full on. The wires are connected in exactly the same way regardless of which switch you choose. But, the three-way is a little more expensive than the standard type. Also, if you select the three-way switch you guessed it you also will have to provide the more expensive three-way bulbs. 

Once you have decided on which switch you will use, the hardest part of the job is over. Now it’s time to begin disassembling the lamp. Most lamps are built pretty much the same way. Quarter-inch threaded tubing travels from the base of the light socket to the bottom of the lamp. The tubing screws into the socket at the top end of the lamp and relies on a nut and washer at the bottom end to hold the entire lamp together kind of like a multi-piece totem pole. Often, a layer of felt conceals the connection at the bottom of the lamp. During the repair don’t discard the felt. It not only conceals the connection, but also prevents the lamp base from scratching your table. 

There can sometimes be several pieces between the socket and the bottom of the lamp. We sometimes see lamps in as many as a dozen pieces. Although there are usually only one or two sections, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to photograph your lamp before you take it apart just in case. 

Caution: Don’t begin until the lamp has been unplugged and the bulb and lampshade have been removed. 

If you intend to replace the cord as well, carefully remove the felt cover from the base of the lamp. Use a razor blade to help peel it off. This will expose a threaded tube with a nut on the end through which the lamp cord travels. If you do not intend on replacing the cord please skip the previous step. 

To replace the socket, remove the setscrew at its base. Then, use a screwdriver to pry the socket shell from the base cap. Simply wedge the screwdriver into the seam between the two pieces and gently pry. With the outer shell out of the way remove the cardboard insulation sleeve to expose the two electrical connections. One will be copper colored (the darker of the two) and one will be silver colored (the lighter of the two). Loosen both screws and release both wires.  

You can now unscrew the base cap from the threaded rod. At this point, if you are replacing the cord, pull it out of the lamp. Disassembly is now complete. 

To make the repair, all you have to do is reverse the disassembly process. Keep in mind that the wire lamp cord must be carefully reconnected. The wire that attaches to the silver post is the neutral side of the connection. The neutral wire on a lamp cord is identified along its entire length, usually by ribs, indentations or square corners on the insulating jacket. And, that’s all there is to it.

ALBANY, Ga. – Poinsettias, the traditional Christmas plants, are changing to meet designer tastes. 

Red, white and pink varieties simply aren’t enough anymore. Greenhouses are coming out with a palette of new colors, many developed in Southern California and bearing names such as Plum Pudding, Strawberry and Cream, and Cortez Burgundy. 

University of Florida poinsettia specialist Jim Barrett says he is increasingly seeing buyers who want poinsettias with a different look to coordinate with the home decor. 

“Breeders have come up with many different colors and forms,” Barrett said. “Now we can take consumers into a greenhouse and they can see a lot of variation in the way poinsettias look. Most of the excitement now is with the new and different stuff.” 

The colorful “flowers” of the poinsettia are not really flowers at all. They are bracts — modified leaves that change from green to other colors. The actual poinsettia flowers resemble small yellow balls in the center of the bracts. 

A variety known as “Plum Pudding,” available to retailers for the first time this year, has been a huge success, Barrett said. It has purple bracts to blend with the growing use of purple and silver in Christmas decorations. 

In the “Strawberry and Cream” variety, the first bracts are strawberry pink and later ones have streaks of cream color. 

One of the popular new varieties, available commercially for the first time this year, is the “Winter Rose,” with red bracts that curl into the shape of rose petals. 

Vickie Collins, owner of the Lawn Barber Nursery near Albany, said she stocked a few of the rose variety this season and they quickly sold out. 

“We expect to do more next year,” said Collins, the leading poinsettia grower in the Albany area. Collins grew 8,000 poinsettias this year for churches, businesses and homeowners, and had only 300 left a few days before Christmas. 

Barrett said consumers rate the new colors and varieties very highly in surveys. 

The University of Florida is the nation’s main test site for poinsettia varieties and recently hosted a variety trial demonstration that featured 115 types. 

Many of the new varieties have been developed by the Paul Ecke Ranch of Encinitas, Calif., north of San Diego. The 75-year-old company is one of five major poinsettia breeders in the world — two in the United States and three in Germany. 

The ranch has produced more than 65 varieties that are sold to growers throughout North America. The Ecke poinsettias range in color from dark red to purple to champagne. 

It was the Ecke family that successfully promoted poinsettias as Christmas flowers by featuring them on the sets of popular televised Christmas specials in the 1960s and 1970s, and by promoting them in consumer and gardening magazines. 

“By the mid-1970s, poinsettias were pretty well looked upon by the general public as being a Christmas plant,” Barrett said. “It was their marketing effort that did it.” 

U.S. growers produce 75 to 80 million poinsettias a year, worth about $250 million. Poinsettias are the favorite flower for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s celebrations and the nation’s top-selling potted flower. 

“Early demand was greater than normal this year,” Barrett said. “With the economy slow, we believe retailers were trying to create a shopping atmosphere. Retailers were trying to foster that good feeling on the part of their customers.”

Stone gardens inspire meditation, evoke nostalgia, and can be aesthetically pleasing 

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – Mention of a rock garden evokes images of plants against a background of stones. But stones also have a dramatic mystique and beauty suited for solo performances of their own. 

Contrast the emphasis on the flower in Wordsworth’s, “A violet by a mossy stone half-hidden from the eye,” to James Merrill’s perception that it was useless to try to name the many “forms numbed in one small rock.” 

The Japanese are renowned for creating rock gardens, even tiny ones made of just a stone or two and gravel. A touch of moss, perhaps, to bring in some sense of life. Either way, they inspire meditation. 

In New York and New England, what once was a backbreaking farmer’s hell of stones has now become a paradise of stone fences enhancing the landscape. Anyone owning a little land is likely to boast a fence, or part of one, maybe dating back to colonial times. 

In her fine book “Sermons in Stone,” (W.W. Norton & Co., 1990) Susan Allport cites a 19th century estimate that in New York alone a staggering 95,364 miles of fences were made of stone, more miles than in the entire U.S. coastline. Similar astonishing figures were cited for New England. 

The oldest fences, built of the sweat of men and oxen to create arable soil and also to pen cattle, crisscrossed a land that had been bared of trees. Now that the farms have gone, the forest has come back and the once-utilitarian fences play cosmetic roles, especially as they become visible in winter. In summer, they’re hidden in the green but are thrilling to come upon suddenly when walking in the woods. 

They evoke nostalgia and thoughts of the timelessness of stone. 

They’re valuable, too, and preyed upon by poachers looking for stones for various purposes – for chimneys, or fireplaces or to build other fences. Local news reports often tell of looted fences. 

These old fences are easy to plunder because they’re free-standing, built stone upon stone with no mortar to hold them together. Over time, some stones become dislodged and fall to the ground, making them easier to carry away. 

Some owners of fences bordering the road have brought in skilled labor to mortar the stones together to create a smoother, tidier effect. But are the rebuilt fences pleasanter to the eye than the weather-beaten old-timers? 

On my grounds a barn dating from pre-Revolutionary days is fronted by what used to be a sheep pen made entirely of many-sized rocks. Some of them are so large you can imagine hearing the long-ago grunts of men and beast straining to haul them there. It’s a thing of beauty in itself, but we also have created beds of plants and flowers along it. 

Within one’s own property, individual stones taken from a fence serve to create stone paths or rock gardens featuring both the stones and plants. In a sunny spot, junipers, creeping thyme and phlox will thrive among the stones. Ground covers like myrtle and ajuga prosper in shadier areas. Rocks also make nice-looking retaining walls for raised beds. 

Big, flat boulders make attractive, long-enduring doorsteps. 

Fifty years ago I had a big stone moved by tractor to make my front doorstep. It shows no wear at all from the decades of footsteps that have trod upon it. Later on, in a Japanese mood, I hauled a sizeable round boulder to sit atop a flat one on a lawn. It has no practical use, but I like the geometry and haven’t tired of it.

SACRAMENTO – The Bush administration announced support Thursday for a Clinton-era management plan that gives a new environmental tilt to managing 11.5 million acres of national forests in the Sierra Nevada. 

U.S. Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, upheld a decision last month that rejected appeals by loggers, ski resorts and off-road groups hoping to kill the plan. 

Rey’s action formally upheld a plan that took the Forest Service nine years and $12 million to craft, beginning in 1992 as an effort to protect to endangered spotted owl. 

“The plan is a final agency decisions, which is now being implemented,” Rey said to a room lined with logging officials and environmentalists. 

The news immediately cheered environmentalists and disappointed resource groups hoping a Republican Bush appointee and former timber lobbyist would throw out the plan for 11 national forests in California and Nevada. Rey called it his decision alone, despite advice within the Bush administration. 

Environmentalists contended the plan was legally “airtight,” giving Rey no option but to uphold it. But Rey disputed that claim. 

The management vision, formally called the Sierra Nevada Framework, shifts the Forest Service’s emphasis from logging old-growth forests to offering them greater protection. It also adds safeguards for endangered species and bans logging on most trees larger than 20 inches in diameter. Environmentalists said the management plan should limit logging in a 460-mile stretch of mountain terrain to levels one-tenth those reached during the Reagan administration in the 1980s. 

California Forestry Association President David Bischel called Rey’s ruling the “worst decision they could have made” and one that will “add to the risk of catastrophic wildfire.” 

He said forestry groups may eventually take their cases to court. 

Rey said he made his decision with “considerable optimism,” but also “trepidation” about seeing the plan challenged in court. 

“I’m pessimistic that the court system is the best place to decide these things,” he said. 

Rey asked both sides to hold off legal action until seeing results of a few revisions to be announced within days by Pacific Southwest Forester Jack Blackwell. Forest Service officials said they are now writing an “action plan” aiming to better prevent destructive wildfires that frequently rage in the nation’s longest unbroken mountain range. Some of revisions incorporate points made by plan opponents, they said. 

Environmentalists said they fear those might be a backdoor way to accomplish more logging. They, too, promised to sue if that happens. 

But spokesmen for environmental organizations had mostly praise for Rey’s decision not to throw out the Clinton-era management plan. 

“Today the sun is shining on California’s Range of Light,” said Jay Watson, regional director the Wilderness Society, borrowing 19th Century conservationist John Muir’s description of the mountain range. 

Craig Thomas, spokesman for the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, lauded the decision and the Forest Service, saying, “I think California is leading the way in terms of this agency bringing its credibility back.” 

Bob Roberts, director of California Snow, a group of Sierra Nevada ski resorts, said Rey should have scrapped the plan. 

Ski resorts won’t be able to add new lifts if they can’t remove trees larger than 20 inches in diameter, Roberts said, which makes him “feel recreations has been a casualty of the process.”

LOS ANGELES – Insurance policy holders who were victims of the 1994 Northridge earthquake have until Dec. 31 to reopen claims. 

Under state law, policy holders who did not receive adequate compensation for property damage were given another chance to have their claims reviewed despite the one-year statute of limitation on their quake policies. 

“Many property owners found earthquake-related damage after the original claims period had expired. SB 1899 was signed into law to assist those that were denied benefits under their policy,” attorney Brian Kabateck, who helped draft the bill that took effect in January 2001, said Thursday. 

The bill grew out of a probe of settlements negotiated by former insurance commissioner Chuck Quackenbush with insurance companies. Quackenbush resigned in July 2000 and is still under investigation by the state. 

Under the bill, policy holders who contacted their insurance company before Jan. 1, 2000, about possible damage can still re-open a claim. Those who received an attorney-aided settlement from the insurance companies or court settlement cannot refile. 

“Policy holders must act now before it’s too late,” Kabateck said. 

The Jan. 27, 1994, Northridge quake measured magnitude-6.7. The epicenter was one mile south of Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. It caused more than 70 deaths and about $15.3 billion in insured losses. About 114,000 homes and buildings were damaged.

SAN FRANCISCO – A California judicial watchdog agency is charging a Fresno County judge with misconduct in connection with his alleged link to a fraudulent investment scandal. 

The charges, made public Wednesday, accuse James I. Aaron of “willful misconduct in office, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.” 

The allegations from the Commission on Judicial Performance could result in Aaron’s removal from office, but likely will have little impact since he is not seeking a new term when his four-year term expires at the end of 2002. 

According to the commission, the judge, working with three people who were later convicted of investment fraud, induced investors to commit “substantial sums of money” while promising safety and extremely large profits. 

The allegations charge that Aaron knew, or should have known, that the Ponzi scheme was fraudulent while he profited from it and investors lost money. 

The judge’s attorney, Jerome Sapiro Jr., said his client was also a victim of the Ponzi scheme. He said Aaron didn’t know he was touting fraudulent investments. 

“He did not know whether it was legitimate or not,” Sapiro said, adding that the judge told investors to “make up their own minds.” 

The commission also alleged that he solicited $50,000 from a Fresno attorney hearing a case before him. The commission said that, in 1998, the judge summoned a lawyer into his chambers and asked him to invest. 

The judge continued to hear cases involving the attorney, David Mugridge. But Aaron did not disclose on the record to opposing counsel that he was soliciting investments from Mugridge, according to the commission. 

Mugridge did not return phone calls. 

The watchdog agency said that the judge was working with Fresno businessman Kenneth L. Roper, who was sentenced this year to four years imprisonment; Chicago lawyer James M. Baczynski, sentenced to three years, and Debbie S. Alliji, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., woman sentenced to three years. 

Aaron first was implicated in the scandal last year when the trio were on trial for investment fraud. 

U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, who presided over the trio’s trial, declared the fraudulent activity a “classic Ponzi scheme.” Even so, no criminal charges have been levied against Aaron. 

Aaron’s legal troubles began in 1997, when Fresno County sued him for allegedly failing to pay his property taxes. 

Aaron, 59, originally took the bench in 1979. He is required to reply to the charges by Jan. 7.

‘People’s Republic’ in Santa Monica considering code 

SANTA MONICA – The push to increase the mobility of disabled people could hit home under a proposal that may require new houses or those undergoing major renovation in the city to be built with accessibility features for the handicapped. 

If adopted, it would be the first such mandatory building code in the nation covering privately built homes, and would burnish a reputation for socially conscious lawmaking that long ago earned the city the moniker “People’s Republic of Santa Monica.” 

Opponents criticize the idea as another intrusion into the private domain and an additional expense that would further push home prices out of more people’s range. 

Advocates see it as progressive and pragmatic in a nation of aging baby boomers. 

“In a forward thinking society, it would be nice for someone to be able to ask everyone into their home, or still be able to live there comfortably despite having suffered a debilitative disease or accident,” said Alan Toy, 51, who had polio as a child and uses a wheelchair or crutches. 

The measure may include such requirements for homes as a no-step entrance in the front or rear of a house, hallways that are at least 36 inches wide, wheelchair accessible routes through first floors, and doorways at least 32 inches wide. 

It could also go further and include provisions such as installing electrical controls and thermostats to be placed at wheelchair-accessible heights. 

The proposal is still in the formative stage. The City Council has approved paying $75,000 for a consulting firm to study the feasibility of such a law. The main objective is to define how much disabled access the codes should require and how “major” a remodeling project has to be before it would fall under the law. 

“What comes out of it remains to be seen, but ultimately the council will decide how the ordinance will be drafted,” said Tim McCormick, a city building official. 

Councilman Herb Katz cast the sole vote against funding the study. 

“I don’t see a real need for it,” he said. “I understand it commercially, but privately I don’t see a need for a disabled building code. It’ll never fly.” 

The consultant’s report is due by May and the council plans to hold public meetings in the spring to collect opinions from among the city’s 84,000 residents. 

The potential impact of a such a law on the city is unclear. A recent community profile published by the Santa Monica-based Rand think-tank describes the seaside Los Angeles suburb as fully built up and likely to have a stable or slightly declining population barring a substantial growth in new housing. 

But Santa Monica’s direction on access for the disabled could have broader influence. 

Toy, a university researcher and part-time actor, believes the issue will increasingly be at the forefront of city and state agendas as the population ages. 

“They’re going to start demanding, as a generation, that these kinds of policies get implemented throughout society,” said Toy, an activist, university researcher and part-time actor. 

Incorporating accessibility features during the construction change would come at minimal cost, a maximum of $600, he said. 

Builders disagree with that estimate. The cost could run into the thousands of dollars, according to the National Association of Home Builders. 

“Every time you add costs to a home, you edge someone else out of the (housing) market,” NAHB spokeswoman Donna Reichle said. 

“It means that person will have to save a few more years for a down payment ... or have to wait longer to take advantage of the tax benefits of owning a home.” 

Instead, Reichle said, consumers should set the pace for disabled access features in the housing industry. 

“Builders have a lot of experience in responding to market needs,” she said. “If there’s a demand, then they’re going to start fulfilling it.”

PASADENA – A San Marino family is suing Northwest Airlines for Grinch-like behavior, charging that the company destroyed Christmas last year by holding it prisoner on the tarmac at a Southern California airport. 

Jeffrey Sheldon, his wife and two teen-age daughters claim that they were illegally and falsely imprisoned for more than seven hours on Dec. 25, 2000, after bad weather in Los Angeles caused Northwest to divert the flight from Honolulu to Ontario International Airport, 57 miles east of Los Angeles. 

They charge they suffered severe emotional distress, humiliation and mental anguish — claims the Eagan, Minn.-based airline disputes. 

“We’re going to be asking for millions of dollars in punitive damages,” said Joseph Lisoni, a lawyer for the family. 

The Sheldons initially asked the airline for about $5,000 compensation, before filing their case in San Bernardino County Superior Court in October. 

At a press conference Thursday, the Sheldons and their lawyers complained that Northwest, which handled 58 million passengers last year, was blatantly unprepared to handle the diversion and that the airline prevented the family from getting off the plane between 1 a.m. and sometime after 7 a.m. Christmas morning. 

“It was claustrophobic,” said Pamela Sheldon. 

Her 14 year-old daughter, Samantha, said the delay spoiled traditional plans of visiting family because they spent much of the day sleeping after being awake all night. 

“All I remember was pretty much being confused and not knowing what was going on,” Samantha said. 

“If Santa Claus was on that plane, he would have missed Christmas,” Lisoni said. “They were not given food. There was no Christmas music piped in to them over the system.” 

Northwest Airlines said the delay lasted only 4 1/2 hours. Initially the crew intended to hold until fog cleared in Los Angeles, said Kathleen Peach, a Northwest spokeswoman. 

When the crew realized the weather wasn’t going to improve, it began plans to let people off the plane, but there was further delay because the airport lacked the necessary equipment for the large DC-10, which Northwest didn’t regularly fly into Ontario, she said. 

Northwest sent each passenger a letter of apology from its chief executive as well as vouchers ranging between $25 and $100 for future travel on the airline. In addition, it reimbursed the Sheldons for a car rental and extra parking charges, Peach said. 

Last April, Northwest agreed to pay $7.2 million to 3,700 passengers trapped on 30 planes in Detroit during a blizzard in January 1999. Planes ran out of food and water and toilets overflowed as travelers sat in their seats on the tarmac for hours. 

“Unfortunately, they didn’t learn from that experience,” Lisoni said. 

But Northwest said the circumstances in Detroit nearly a year earlier were very different. 

“That was a much more egregious situation,” Peach said. 

The average $1,300 payment made to each passenger trapped in Detroit is not a new standard travelers can expect for every delay, she said. 

Sheldon, a patent lawyer who flies frequently, said his family’s case should not be thought of as trivial in light of the recent losses families have suffered from terrorism in the skies. People are willing to cut airlines slack for extraordinary circumstances, but not for events within their control, he said. 

“I don’t think you can use Sept. 11 as an excuse for bad customer service,” he said.

SANTA ANA – A man was arrested Thursday for allegedly trying to break his girlfriend’s neck and then pushing her off a cliff, police said. 

Bryan John Klein, 32, of Riverside County was arrested for investigation of attempted murder and was held without bail at the Orange County Jail. 

Klein is suspected of attacking Wendy Mason, 33, who was spotted Wednesday morning pinned in tree branches halfway down a steep ravine in Limestone Canyon Park, east of Irvine. 

Mason was trapped for about four hours. She remained in guarded condition Thursday at Western Medical Center. 

Mason told police her boyfriend, Klein, attacked her. Klein has a criminal history of violence, and a restraining order was in place between them at the time of the crime, the Sheriff’s Department said.

At least 537 Internet companies out of business or bankrupt 

SAN FRANCISCO – The dot-com death toll doubled this year, with at least 537 Internet companies either going out of business or seeking refuge in bankruptcy court, according to statistics released Thursday. 

This year’s casualties joined 225 dot-coms that perished during 2000, said Webmergers.com, a San Francisco-based deal maker that has tracked the rise and fall of the Internet economy. 

But the worst may be over. 

Only 21 Internet companies have failed in each of the past two months, the lowest mortality rate since 10 dot-coms failed in August 2000. 

The recent dropoff has prompted some observers to conclude that most dot-coms have already been wiped out, but Webmergers said that perception is wrong. 

The site estimates that 7,000 to 10,000 Internet companies remain in operation. That means the financial devastation of the past two years claimed no more than 10 percent of the sector, leaving behind a stronger – and possibly wiser – group of survivors. 

“To say that the decline in shutdowns is because there are no dot-coms left is a bit like saying a decline in rabies rates is due to the fact that all the dogs are dead,” Webmergers said in its analysis. 

The dot-com wipeout triggered a tidal wave of layoffs, including cuts made by Internet companies trying to weather the storm by pruning expenses. 

Through November, dot-com companies had announced a total of 98,522 layoffs, more than doubling the 41,515 firings that were made in 2000, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a job-locating firm in Chicago. The firm plans to announce year-end totals Monday. 

Dot-com layoffs also are tapering off. In November, Internet companies announced 2,901 job cuts, down dramatically from the peak of 17,554 layoffs announced in April. 

California, home to the technology-rich Silicon Valley, sustained the most dot-com damage in the past year. Since January 2000, 227 Internet companies based in California have closed or filed for bankruptcy, accounting for 30 percent of the nationwide total during that period, Webmergers said. New York, home to Silicon Alley, ranked next with 75 dot-com failures during the past two years.

SACRAMENTO – California shoppers will start paying more at the register when a quarter-cent sales tax increase kicks in Tuesday. 

Officials estimate the increase will cost a family of four an average $120 a year. And it has prompted intense debate for months, including a new wave of Republican-sponsored radio ads blasting Gov. Gray Davis’ handling of the state budget. 

The California Republican Party’s ads hit the airwaves Thursday in some of the state’s major markets, signaling the official start of a political ad season that likely will focus heavily on Davis, taxes and the state’s fiscal condition. 

The quarter-cent sales tax increase will kick in automatically Tuesday — the first day of 2002 — because of falling state revenues and a shrinking emergency reserve. 

Republicans blame Davis, saying he failed to build a large enough reserve into the budget and planned poorly for a slumping economy. Key GOP lawmakers held back their votes for the budget this summer over the sales-tax trigger, forcing an impasse in the Legislature and causing Davis to sign the state’s spending plan nearly a month late. 

But Davis and other Democrats say the sales-tax trigger, signed into law by Republican former Gov. Pete Wilson and supported by Republican lawmakers, is meant to funnel dollars back to taxpayers when the economy soars and help fill the state treasury when times are tough. 

Davis supporters also say he signed into law $3 billion in tax relief in his first two years in office and that he isn’t responsible for the economic downturn and dwindling revenues. 

“Governor Davis has been a fiscally prudent governor,” said Roger Salazar, spokesman for Davis’ re-election campaign. 

The state is one of many facing revenue shortfalls from an already-weak economy and the fiscal fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Analysts estimate California faces a $12 billion budget deficit in the coming fiscal year. 

But Republican party consultant Rob Stutzman said the party thinks it’s fair to blame Davis for lacking “the foresight to plan well when times were good.” 

The new ads feature two elves discussing the tax increase, with jingling holiday bells in the background, and blaming Davis. The ads, which will cost the state GOP about $75,000, are scheduled to air through New Year’s Eve and possibly New Year’s Day in Los Angeles, Sacramento and the Central Valley. 

The ad is the first of many in the final two months before the statewide primaries when three Republicans will battle for the nomination to challenge Davis in November. Advisers for all three Republicans and Davis have said their ads will start airing in January.

It was three days after the Sept. 11 attacks, and Angela Porter, a Berkeley grantwriter, was on her way to a candlelight vigil in Petaluma. 

“I was very upset and angry, like a lot of people were, and I felt a very strong need to do something,” said Porter. “I was in the car ... and something inside me said: ‘Walk across the country for peace.’” 

Porter quickly pushed the notion to the back of her mind. But the next morning, something remarkable happened. Lisa Porter, Angela’s twin sister, called to announce that she and her partner, Roya Arasteh, were contemplating the same idea. 

Today, Arasteh and the Porter twins, all Berkeley residents, are gearing up for an eight-month cross-country walk, called “Peace-by-Peace,” which will begin Jan. 21, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park, and end on Sept. 11, 2002 at Lafayette Park in Washington D.C.  

Two other women have signed up for the walk, and Padraig MacRauiri, a friend in San Francisco, will drive a support vehicle and prepare meals for the first half of the journey. 

The organizers, who are not affiliated with any group, say the walk will make a statement about the importance of peace. They emphasize that the true focus of the journey is discovery. 

“It’s not a statement, but a question – what is peace?” said Lisa, a counselor at Rock LaFleche Community Day Center, a continuation high school in North Oakland. “What does it mean to walk in peace and stay in peace, even when you enter strange places?” 

“Our hope for the walk is that it inspires people to examine their lives,” added Angela, “as it has called on us to examine our own lives.” 

The organizers have already raised $1,000 for their trip and hope to raise $10,000 by the time they leave. They will attempt to raise another $10,000 on the road. 

Peace-by-Peace organizers will hold a fund-raiser and send-off party Jan. 5 at the Black Box Theatre in Oakland, 1928 Telegraph Ave., from 5 p.m. to midnight. The event will include music and poetry by a number of local artists. 

Local residents and peace groups, such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in Berkeley and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization whose western regional headquarters is in San Francisco, have offered various forms of assistance – everything from help with media outreach, to advice on the type of rain gear to carry on the trip. 

But the organizers said they have purposely avoided becoming affiliated with any particular group. 

“Organizations tend to have certain agendas and expectations,” said Angela Porter, “and we didn’t want the purpose or intention of this walk to get caught up in an organization’s agenda.” 

“This is just a group of people,” added Lisa Porter, “individuals responding to something, rather than agencies.” 

Arasteh, who works at the Berkeley Public Library, said the walkers have not yet ironed out many of the trip’s details, especially for the latter half of the journey. But, she said the unplanned nature of the walk is one reason for its appeal. 

“There’s only so much organizing that we can do,” said Arasteh. “One purpose is to walk out into the openness and see what we can discover.” 

Arasteh said she was particularly interested to learn how polling figures, demonstrating widespread support for the war in Afghanistan, match up with the thoughts of real people, across the country. 

Walkers will begin by moving through the Central Valley, down to Joshua Tree National Park in southeast California and into Arizona. Peace-by-Peace will then walk through the South, visiting historic sites along the way, such as the Memphis, Tennessee site of the Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. 

Along the way, walkers plan to meet with various local peace groups, and attend special events, such as a peace fair that friends are planning in Nashville, Tennessee. 

The Jan. 5 fundraiser at the Black Box Theatre will include performances by: Youth Speaks, a Bay Area poetry group, Water Brother, a Petaluma band, Pear Michaels, a Concord singer-songwriter, Obey Jah, a Bay Area reggae group, R. Nat. Turner and Upsurge, a Berkeley jazz poetry group, Green, a San Francisco rock group, Mary Web, a Berkeley poet, and Vukani Mawethu Choir, a Berkeley-based group that sings songs from South Africa.  

Peace-by-Peace can be reached at 644-9260. 

The Berkeley High boys’ basketball team mounted a dramatic comeback Wednesday night only to come up short in the final seconds, falling 58-55 to the Acalanes Dons in their opening-round game of the Leo LaRocca Sand Dunes Classic at Saint Ignatius Prep in San Francisco. 

After trailing by nine points with less than three minutes to play, the Yellowjackets went on a 12-2 run, finally taking the lead 55-54 on a Dontae Hall floater with 20 seconds remaining in the game. But that was the end of Berkeley's scoring, and Acalanes center Mark Ricksen soon regained the lead for the Dons with a driving layup, an acrobatic play on which he was also fouled. 

Ricksen failed to convert the three-point play, but Acalanes came away with the rebound. Berkeley had fouls to give and, after a pair of non-shooting, fouls wound the clock down to four seconds, Acalanes junior forward Zach Clark was sent to the line for a crucial one-and-one. Clark buried both free throws, and the Yellowjackets hopes for victory along with them. 

“Tonight we just waited too long to start playing basketball,” Gragnani said. “Right now we're finding new ways to show our inexperience each time out.” 

Berkeley began showing signs of life halfway through the fourth quarter, scraping together a six-point run. After a questionable foul that raised the eyebrows of several Acalanes players, Acalanes head coach Robert Collins instructed his players to keep their heads in the game. 

“Don't make faces, just play! Who cares what he calls?” shouted Collins, whose booming voice reverberated in the Saint Ignatius’ tiny Cowell Pavilion throughout the contest. 

After the ‘Jackets pulled to within three points, 46-43, Acalanes junior forward J.D. Dudum seemed to respond to Collins’ coaching, instantly erasing Berkeley's six-point run with back-to-back three pointers. 

Dudum torched the Yellowjackets for 16 points in the second half, leading all players with 22 points total. 

“We've seen him before,” Gragnani said of the 6-foot-3 Dudum. He’s a good player. Tonight we just lost vision of him from time to time, and he picked up several easy buckets.” 

Berkeley’s Robert Hunter-Ford answered Dudum with his own three-pointer, sparking the Yellowjackets' late run. Hunter-Ford led Berkeley with 14 points on the night, 10 of which came in the second half. 

The Yellowjackets now face the loser of the late game between Vallejo High and Oakland's Fremont High in a consolation bracket game Friday at Cowell Pavilion, while the Dons move on to the more spacious McCullough Gym to face the winner of the same game. 

“The way you learn is to be in that situation,” Berkeley head coach Mike Gragnani said. “We learned the hard way tonight.”

Thursday, Dec. 27

Slapstick with Derique 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Ham Bone body drumming, physical comedy, and circus arts are sure to stimulate your “funny bone” as New Vaudeville artist Derique lets you into his hip style of circus arts. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Friday, Dec. 28

World Rhythms 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Japanese taiko, African marimba and djembe, Middle Eastern dumbek, Afro-Cuban chekere, and conga drums celebrate musical traditions from around the world. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Bay Area Women in Black  

Vigil 

noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft and Telegraph Ave. 

Part of over 70 vigils worldwide in solidarity with Israeli Women in Black to protest the Israeli occupation. Please wear black, everyone welcome. 486-2744, BayAreaWomeninBlack@earthlink.net. 

Saturday, Dec. 29

Annual Kwanzaa Celebration at the Berkeley Public Library 

2 p.m. 

South Branch 

1901 Russell St. 

Storyteller Marijo and the 4th Day of Kwanzaa. All ages welcome. 981-6260. 

Magic Show 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Jay Alexander performs his magical mixture of comedy and illusion with special effects that will entertain visitors of all ages. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Sunday, Dec. 30

Music and Storytelling 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales come to life in musical stories by children’s performer Dennis Hysom. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Monday, Dec. 31

New Year’s Eve Party 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

A daytime holiday party for kids featuring lots of hands-on activities. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Wednesday, Jan. 2

Puppet Art Theater Company with Art Grueneberger 

10:30 a.m. 

Public Library, South Branch 

1901 Russell St. 

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/. 

Puppet Art Theater Company with Art Grueneberger 

3 p.m. 

Public Library, Claremont Branch 

2940 Benvenue Ave. 

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/. 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Rotary International President to Speak at Berkeley Rotary 

noon 

H’s Lordships Restaurant 

199 Seawall Dr. 

Richard King will speak about the importance of Rotary and the impact Rotary has on the community and the world. Everyone welcome. 549-4524.  

Thursday, Jan. 3

California Desert Hikes 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Steve Tabor will share slides and information on his favorite day hikes in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego and the Mojave. 527-4140 

Puppet Art Theater Company with Art Grueneberger 

11 a.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/. 

Puppet Art Theater Company with Art Grueneberger 

3 p.m. 

Public Library, North Branch 

1170 The Alameda 

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/. 

Editor: 

Regarding the question of a penalty for “hitting” vs. not “hitting” a pedestrian legally in a crosswalk, I note, in the Daily Planet 12-21-01, that Lt. Agnew is claimed to have said that “a ticket” (read: the statutory criminal penalty) in each of the above two alternative cases is the same. Solely from reading the California Vehicle Code, I would conclude otherwise when there is any sort of injury to the pedestrian. The cited article and that in The S. F. Chronicle describe minor injuries, albeit quite slight, in the 12-12-01 auto-pedestrian accident at Russell St. and Claremont Ave, as a result of which the victim was taken to a hospital in an ambulance.  

I would conclude that the motorist in the reported accident should have been cited additionally under VC 21971, which invokes VC 42001.18, which in turn, stipulates a $220 fine for a first violation where a subject pedestrian suffers injury – whereas VC 42001(a)(1) limits a first-offense fine to $100.  

Raymond A. Chamberlin 

Berkeley 

924 Gilman Dec. 28: What Happens Next, Rambo, Lie, Youth Riot, Lugosi; Dec. 29: Defiance, The P.A.W.N.S., Panty Raid, Sexy, Gluk; Jan. 4: Champion, Carry On, Stay Gold, The First Step, The Damage Done; Jan. 5: Iron Lung, B.G., Crucial Attack, Blown To Bits; Jan. 11: Bananas, Numbers, Lowdown, Doozers, Iron Ass; Jan. 12: Plan 9, The Sick, The Hellbillies, Oppressed Logic, Deltaforce; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Ashkenaz Dec. 27: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Dec. 28: 9:30 p.m., Mood Swing Orchestra, $11; Dec. 29: 9:30 p.m., Caribbean All Stars, $11; Dec. 30: 8 p.m., Marimba Pacific, $8; Dec. 31: 8 p.m., Balkan New Year’s Eve with Edessa and Anoush, $15; 1317 San Pablo Ave., 525-5054, www.ashkenaz.com.  

Blake’s Dec. 29: 11 p.m., Jack West & Curvature, $5; Dec. 31: Planting Seeds, $12; Jan. 2: Hebro; Jan. 3: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; Jan. 4: Funk Monsters, $5; Jan. 5: King Harvest, Jomo, $5; Jan. 6: Lunar Heights, $3; Jan. 8: Operation Interstellar, $ 3; Jan. 9: Kid Glove Entertainment Presents, Hebro; Jan. 10: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; Jan. 11: Five Point Plan, SFunk, $5; Jan. 12: Lavish Green, Stone Cutters, $5; Jan. 13: Alex Dolan & 22 Fillmore, $3; Jan. 14: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band & Mz. Dee, $4; Jan. 15: View From Here, $3; Jan. 16: Zion Rock, Hebro, $3; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club JJang-Ga Dec. 29: Deducted Value, 3rd Rail, Noiz, Un Sed; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, (925) 833-7820, savageproductionssl@ yahoo.com. 

Cal Performances Jan. 18 and 19: both at 8 p.m., The National Acrobats of Taiwan, R.O.C. illustrates extraordinary examples of traditional Chinese folk art; Jan. 20: 3 p.m., Midori and Robert McDonald. $28 -$48. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph. 642-9988 

Roda Theatre Jan. 22 and 23: both at 8 p.m., The Berkeley Symphony, under the direction of internationally acclaimed Music Director Kent Nagano, will continue its 31st season with two performances by Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. $21, $32, $45, $10 students. Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. 841-2800, www.berkeleysymphony.org 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Jan. 5: The Bluegrass Intentions CD Release Party; Jan. 6: Allette Brooks; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. 548-1761, www.freightandsalvage.org.  

Julia Morgan Theatre Dec. 31: 8 p.m., New Year’s Eve Gala Concert, Program of classical favorites of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra; Jan 11: 8 p.m. San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, classical party music; Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.org. 

Jupiter Dec. 27: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 28: Ben Krames & Candlelight Dub; Dec. 29: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Kirk Tamura Trio; Jan. 2: Skye Dee Miles w/Universal Sound; Jan. 3: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 4: Diggsville; Jan. 5 Blue & Tan; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

Yoshi’s Jazz House Dec. 26 - 31: New Year’s Fiesta, The Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters; Jan. 2 - 6: Charles Lloyd; Jan. 13: Jacqui Naylor Quartet; All shows at 8 p.m., and 10 p.m., unless noted. 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakland. Check for prices and Sunday Matinees, 238-9200, www.yoshis.com. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley Jan. 6: 3 p.m., Stephen Genz in his West Coast debut; 2345 Channing Way, 527-8175, www.geocities.com/mostlybrahms. 

Berkeley Piano Club Jan.11: 8 p.m., Kate Steinbeck and Renee Witon; Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St., (510) 531-1487. 

Trinity Chapel Jan. 19: 8 p.m., Janine Johnson, harpsichord, will be playing the music of Bach, Buxtehude and Pachelbel. Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., 549-3864 

“Una Noche de Tango ...a media luz” Jan. 1: 8 - 11 p.m., Allegro Ballroom, $15. 5855 Christie Ave., Emeryville. 415-777-3910, info@tangoamedialuz.com. 

Julia Morgan Theatre Jan. 12: 8 p.m., “Club Dance,” Teens come together to express their individual personalities and gifts as dancers. $10, Students and Seniors $6, Children ages 5 and under $6. Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.org. 

Berkeley High School Dance Production Jan. 11, 12, 18 &19: 7:30 p.m., Diverse mix of classical and modern ballet to hard-core hip-hop. $5. Florence Schwimley Little Theatre, Allston way and MLK., 644-6120 

“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 

“Every Inch a King” Jan. 11 through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.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 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 3: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Unfinished Song; Jan. 4: 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m., Going By; Jan. 5: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Under the Moonlight; Jan. 6: 1p.m., 3 p.m., Paper Airplanes, 5:30 Shrapnels in Peace; Jan.10: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., ABC Africa; Jan.11: 7:30 p.m., The Girl at the Monceau Bakery and Suzanne’s Career, 9:05 p.m. The Sign of the Lion with Place de l’Etoile; Jan. 12: 7p.m., La Collectionneuse, 8:50 p.m., My Night at Maud’s; Jan.13: 1p.m., 3p.m., Os 

“Images of Innocence and Beauty” Through Jan. 8: An exhibit featuring Kathleen Flannigan’s drawing and furniture - boxes, tables, and mirrors, all embellished with images of the beauty and innocence of the natural world. Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison St. 

“From With These Walls” Jan. 5: Educational studio opening celebration gallery show of student works in steel, bronze, aluminum, cast iron, glass, neon, ceramic, stone and paper; jewelry. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby St. (Entrance is one block south on Murray St.) 843-5511, fran@thecrucible.org. 

“The First Five Years” Through Jan.11: Exhibit represents a selection of drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture created by students during their 7th & 8th grade years. 7a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon-Fri, 5:30- 9:30 p.m. Sat., Bucci’s Restaurant, 6121 Hollis St., Emeryville, 547-4725, www.bucci.com 

“Carving, Canvas, Color: Art of Julio Garcia and Wilbert Griffith” Through Jan.12: Brightly colored wooden figures and colorfully detailed paintings. Gallery is open by appointment and chance, most weekdays 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.; The Ames Gallery, 2661 Cedar St., 845-4949, amesgal@home.com 

“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 

“Analogous Biology: Balance and Use,” Mark J. Leavitt, Dec. 20 through Jan. 19; Tue. - Sat., 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland. 836-0831, www.artolio.com. 

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 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: An exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and  

regional artists. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“Water Media” Jan. 10 through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

Traywick Gallery: “New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Jan. 5 through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture explores memory as the building block of consciousness, learning and experience. Steve Brisco’s paintings on paper address issues of identity through evocative combinations of text and imagery. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., 1316 10th St. 527-1214 

“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 Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Jan. 2 through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Reception for artist, Jan. 12: 6 - 8 p.m., Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography. Wed, Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado” Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: Over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. $4 - $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Jan. 11 through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“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, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Jan. 8: Theodore Hamm discusses “Rebel and a Cause: Caryl Chessman and the Politics of the Death Penalty”; Jan. 10: Joan Frank reads from her new book, “Boys Keep Being Born”; Jan. 11: Christopher Hitchens, “Letters to a Youn Contrarian”; Jan. 14: Pamela Logan talks about “Tibetan Rescue: A Woman’s Quest to Save the Fabulous Art Treasures of Pewar Monastery”; All events are free and start at 7:30 p.m. unless noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Coffee With A Beat - Word Beat reading series 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 Jan. 9: 7 p.m., “Our Wings Are Pregnant Seesaws,” Reading performance of a play by H. D. Moe. 390 27th St., Oakland, 528-8713. 

Sierra Club books Jan. 5: 3 - 5 p.m., Author/ Photographer Keith S. Walklet will be signing his book, “Yosemite - An Enduring Treasure.” 6014 college Ave., 658-7470, info@sierraclubbookstore.com. 

Jewish Community Center Jan. 14: 7:30-9 p.m., Emily Rose interweaves the family chronicle of her ancestors with the political and social events of the 18th and 19th centuries; Jan. 16: 7:30-8:30 p.m., Elizabeth Rosner will read from her compelling debut novel “The Speed of of Light.” Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

Tours 

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

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 

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; $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 “Kwanzaa Community Celebration” Dec. 30: 12-4 p.m.,Nia Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that honors black family history; 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 Dec. 26: 1 p.m., Professor Smart’s Fun with Physics Show; Dec. 27: 1 p.m., Slapstick with Derique; Dec. 28: 1 p.m., Rhythmix; Dec. 29: 1 p.m., Magic with Jay Alexander; Dec. 30: 1 p.m., Music and Storytelling with Dennis Hysom; Dec. 31: 1 p.m., New Year’s Eve Party, special daytime holiday party for kids; Dec. 26 through 31: Free Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulb; 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; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 642-5132. 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion “The Works of Alexander Nepote.” Nepote’s medium is a process of lyered painting of torn pieces of watercolor paper, fused together in images that speak of the spirit that underlies and is embodied in the landscape he views. Jan. 4 through Mar. 29 

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.

City officials are keeping a close eye on a local medical marijuana club that has been robbed at gunpoint twice during the last two months. 

The most recent incident occurred Dec. 13, at about 6 p.m., when armed robbers allegedly entered Berkeley Medical Herbs located at 1672 University Ave. and stole an undisclosed amount of marijuana and cash.  

A friend of club owner Ken Estes told police that the robbers carried automatic, Uzi-like weapons. 

Just two months earlier, the club was robbed at about the same time of day. In that incident, the robbers made off with a significant amount of cash and marijuana and escaped in a car owned by one of the club’s employees. 

The Berkeley Police Department said it would not release additional information on the latest robbery while the investigation is pending. 

Meanwhile, Councilmember Linda Maio, representatives of the Berkeley Police Department and staff from the city manager’s office have met with Estes, and have been attempting to formulate a response if problems at the beleaguered club continue. 

Arrietta Chakos, the city manager’s chief of staff, said in response to a City Council request, her office is watching the club and preparing a report on security at all the medical marijuana clubs in Berkeley. 

“We want to make sure that we keep an eye on this,” she said. “Our main concern is to maintain public safety.” 

Maio said her office has been spearheading attempts to place safety concerns about the club closer to the top of the city’s agenda. “This being the second time this has happened, we have to get a lot serious a lot faster,” she said. 

Maio said she had held a neighborhood meeting on crime in her district shortly after the first robbery occurred. The meeting had been scheduled many months in advance of the robbery and was meant to address home burglaries and street stick-ups, but she found that many of the people who attended were very concerned about the robbery at the club. 

“This is clearly not what we desire at all,” she said. “It’s unhealthy for everyone. It’s not good for the neighborhood, and it’s not good for the people that go there.” 

While the club is not technically in Maio’s district – it’s in Councilmember Dona Spring’s jurisdiction – it does lie directly across University Avenue from it. 

Maio said that she had gone by the club after the community meeting to see what was happening there. At one point she said she saw several “young-looking” people hanging around outside and on another occasion she saw a couple of large men with baggy jackets standing in front of the club facing University Avenue. She surmised that these men were part of the security operations put in place after the first robbery. 

Dorrit Geshuri, executive director of the Alliance of Berkeley Patients, defended Berkeley Medical Herbs and Estes last week, and said that the city bears some responsibility for the latest robbery there.  

According to Geshuri, the BPD had told the club to remove the “security” in front of the club on the day before most recent robbery. 

“If they had asked the club to remove security, they should have increased the police presence in that neighborhood,” she said. 

BPD Chief Dash Butler said last week that the department had suggested that the club hire a professional security service, rather than the apparently ad-hoc duo the club had employed. 

Geshuri said, though, that in the wake of the most recent robbery, Estes has planned to take additional steps to deter criminals. He will install a metal gate on the front door, so that people who wish to enter will have to be buzzed in, she said. 

He also told Geshun that he will install closed-circuit security cameras throughout the building and around its perimeter, and will change the business hours of operation so that it is only open when it is light outside. 

“We felt like this club has had a lot of problems, but we feel like it is addressable,” she said. “What we’re focusing on is making sure this doesn’t happen again.” 

Maio said that if problems at the club continue, the city could consider taking the matter before the Zoning Adjustments Board, which could declare it a public nuisance. 

“There’s a certain amount of reluctance to go in that direction, because the BPD is looking at more of a law enforcement issue,” she said. 

But the problem facing the city, said Maio, is how to take action against a problematic club without unfairly penalizing other clubs. 

“My aim is to enable people who need medical marijuana to get it, but not to take advantage of our compassion,” she said. “This is the only club we’re having problems with right now.” 

Editor:  

The Downtown Berkeley Association says it supports a balanced approach for transit and parking. However, for years parking advocates have claimed a need for balance based on demand and we built more parking.  

At what point of time in our auto oriented era have we had a balanced approach? Why do we have all of the growing congestion? Do we want more people accessing downtown with more autos and generating more congestion? What do people mean by a balanced approach? 

For balance, we need to expand our perspective and look to the future. We should look at what other cities with lots of congestion are doing. San Francisco has so much congestion and pedestrian accidents that they are considering reducing parking requirements.  

Meanwhile, more and more people are attending the many cultural, sport and entertainment events using transit in San Francisco having limited parking.  

Most cities outside the United States have little or no parking in central city areas are getting by with closely controlled and administered parking. Many of these cities inform drivers where there is available parking when entering these areas. Supplementing their limited parking, they get by because they have good transit. Better enforcement, control and charging a market rate for parking raises revenue that could supplement additional transit service.  

For Berkeley’s current situation, people evidently are accessing downtown, the university, YMCA, and city offices, encountering some congestion but are managing.  

The problem of urban living becomes evident when more and more autos are used generating more congestion and pedestrian hazards. So again where is the balance?  

While acknowledging that some people need to drive, I firmly believe there are a greater number who need not drive to downtown and use transit. UC Berkeley’s Class Pass has substantially increased use of transit and reduced the demand for parking.  

The City’s Eco Pass program should also reduce auto trips and parking. What about Downtown Berkeley Association and the YMCA instituting or encouraging similar programs? There are cities that control parking where the city gains revenues to support transit. Orlando, Fla. allows only limited private parking within the building complex and controls all public parking and from the revenues operates a convenient free exclusive way bus system serving city center.  

Vancouver, British Colombia imposes a special tax on private parking and its collected revenue supplements transit. With more revenue from parking programs as mentioned above and with more people using transit, generating more revenue, in combination this will make transit more convenient with increased frequency. So, one should not judge transit and parking at current usage.  

Therefore, I favor the Transportation Demand Study’s proposal to provide an opportunity for the city to institute programs as mentioned.  

Roy Nakadegawa P.E.,  

BART Director, District 3 

Berkeley 

Three weeks ago, when a janitorial company’s supervisor called Adalberto Mendoza, it wasn’t to extend the best wishes of the season to the janitor’s wife and four children. 

Instead, it was to let him know that he and the two other janitors employed at a Center Street building were being laid off as of Jan. 1. 

“It was very bad news for me,” said Mendoza, whose children range in age from 15 years old to seven months. “It was this job that gave us health insurance. Now there will be nothing in case the children get sick.” 

Every day for the last three-and-a-half years, Mendoza has finished work at his day job roasting coffee in Emeryville and headed to 1947 Center St. where he is paid $10 an hour to clean the six-story building from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.  

But three weeks ago, Universal Building Sevices, a unionized company that had the janitorial contract for the building for the last 13 years, informed its janitorial staff that the building’s property management company, San Francisco-based Gershon Baker and Associates, decided not to renew their contract in favor of California Janitorial, a non-union company. 

Mendoza works with janitors Maria and Leon Munoz, who will also be laid off after working at the building for 13 years.  

All three belong to Service Employees International Union, Local 1877. 

As building employees – most who work for the city, state or UC Berkeley – were leaving the site on Wednesday, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, SEIU Organizer Alvaro Gomez, Mendoza and Maria Munoz distributed fliers at the entrance to the six-story building. 

“We made our best effort to clean this building everyday,” said Munoz, who spoke through an interpreter. “It’s not fair for the property manager to make this decision overnight.” 

Many of the workers knew Mendoza and Munoz and promised to call the property management company to protest the contract cancellation. 

Karen Redman, who works in the building for the California Department of Health Services, said she knew of at least three other people in her office who had called to support the workers. 

“These guys do a great job on that building,” she said. “This is clearly about greed and not about quality of work.” 

Lori Samuel, who manages the building for Gershon Baker, did not return Daily Planet phone calls on Wednesday. According to a $2.5 million lease the city recently signed for office space in the building, the property owner is listed as 1947 Center Street Associates. However there is no telephone listing under that name in the greater Bay Area. 

The lease, renewed for five years last January, is for 18,000-square-feet of office space currently occupied by Public Works and Department of Parks and Waterfront offices.  

Worthington said the lease should be carefully reviewed. “The city should look into the possibility of breaking that lease,” he said, “especially with office rents coming down throughout the city.” 

Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz said the lease gave the city no control over the janitorial service. “In some of the buildings the city leases, we provide our own maintenance service but in this case the property manager has control over that,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because the city certainly supports the right of people to organize.” 

Gomez said union representatives had already contacted UBS to ask that the three janitors be hired at another location.  

“We are also hoping that if enough of the people who work in the building call the property manager will realize that this is unfair and will change their minds,” he said.

Arms are an instrument of evil, 

No measure for thoughtful men 

Until there fail all other choice 

But sad acceptance of it. 

Triumph is not beautiful. 

The death of a multitude is cause for mourning: 

Conduct your triumph as a funeral. 

– Lao Tzu, c 6th century BCE 

(Translator: Witter Bynner) 

Janet Foldvary 

Berkeley 

School board passes  

conscientious objection  

resolution 

Last week, the Board of Education voted to distribute written notices to Berkeley High School teachers and counselors, advising them that students who ask about conscientious objection to war can get further information from the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, an Oakland group. 

But the school board refused a request by the Peace and Justice Commission, a commission jointly appointed by the school board and City Council, to provide Central Committee literature at BHS, arguing that it did not have an opportunity to review the text. 

Steve Freedkin, a member of the Peace and Justice Commission, said he was not troubled by the school board’s decision on the literature. 

“My main concern is that students know there are counseling options available for conscientious objectors,” he said, arguing that BHS would be doing enough if it just notified pupils of the Central Committee’s existence and provided contact information. 

School board approves union contract 

The Board of Education voted unanimously last week to approve a union contract for the 2001-2002 year with the Public Employees Union, Local 1, which represents all classified staff in the school district. 

Classified staff includes any employee, from bus driver to instructional aide, who is not a teacher or administrator. 

The contract includes a 5.94 percent salary increase. “For the school district this year, that’s a very fair increase,” said Charles Egbert, general manager for the union. 

School board Director John Selawsky agreed, and called for greater state and federal aid to boost salaries even further. 

The new contract also calls for the district to confer with the union in developing each year’s school calendar. Egbert said the issue is an important one because many in Local 1 are paid by the day, unlike teachers and administrators who are on salary. Therefore, school vacation schedules affect union members’ incomes. 

Egbert said negotiations were business-like, and Selawsky said they were conducted in “good faith.” 

E-mail David Scharfenberg at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net with school news for “Class Notes,”appearing every Thursday.

Editor: 

A bill now in the House seeks “to preserve the cooperative, peaceful uses of space for the benefit of all humankind.” One hundred thirty-eight countries signed a similar bill in the United Nations a few years ago. Only the United States and Israel abstained.  

On Dec. 12 President Bush publicly exulted in our “victory” over the Taliban. He said Afghanistan was a “proving ground “ for the type of operations he plans against other “rogue nations.” Sounding almost jaunty, he said the anti ballistic missile treaty is “opening up” and the space weapons program is going forward. Our president has made it clear we do not need treaties, even domestic ones like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  

Rather, we need supremacy, grown in stages, from air to ground to space. We're almost there. We already have the technology to read a license plate from space or target a bird's eye. While the people of Afghanistan are dealing with radiation, land mines and unexploded cluster bombs on the ground, for us, the sky is the limit. If need be, we can retire there to a gated community. With less oxygen we'll have even fewer thoughts and memories. Peace on earth will be words to a forgotten song. 

For information about Preservation of Space, www.peaceinspace.com or call Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Ohio 202-225-5871. 

Gael Alcock 

Berkeley, CA 

PETALUMA — An unmanned aircraft somehow broke from its moorings as its owner worked on the engine and took to the air Wednesday afternoon in rural Sonoma County. 

Authorities weren’t sure where the Aeronaca Champion, a small two-seat plane from the 1950s, was headed, nor how it took off without a pilot. 

The owner “was working on the engine I guess and it got away from him,” said Sonoma County sheriff’s spokesman Phil Coughlin. 

The office said it was dispatched helicopters to search for wreckage east of Petaluma. The plane had less than 15 gallons of fuel, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and would not likely have been able to stay in the air for too long. 

Authorities gave conflicting reports about when and where the plane took off. Coughlin said it left from a small, rural airstrip in the county’s southwest around 4:30 p.m.; an FAA spokesman said it left from Petaluma around 3:45 p.m. 

Editor: 

It was reported that Berkeley's parking meters are being jammed in order to park cars longer. That can be remedied with electronic parking meters that enable the city to charge for parking the way cars are now charged in the automatic bay bridge tolls.  

Cars would have devices that record the charges. That way, drivers could park as long as they wished, with no time limit. The meter charge would vary according to the amount of crowding typical for the time of day. The meter charge should be just high enough so that a driver can usually find parking within a block.  

So besides not worrying about the time, the flexible times and charges would eliminate parking congestion. Meters could also have parking meters for such charging. Let's move away from obsolete 20th century coin parking with fixed times and rates, to 21st century flexible electronic meter charging. 

Fred Foldvary 

Berkeley

SACRAMENTO — One of the state’s most notorious serial killers, serving a life sentence for the murders he said he committed at the command of voices in his head, is set to come up for parole for the ninth time on Thursday. 

Herbert W. Mullin said he killed 13 people before his arrest in February 1973. He was convicted of 11 of the killings in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. 

Mullin, who claimed insanity, testified that he killed on telepathic orders from his father and that he did so to prevent a major earthquake predicted for January 1973. 

“He couldn’t understand why he was being prosecuted, even,” said Dr. Donald T. Lunde, the psychiatrist who testified in Mullin’s defense. 

There was no death penalty at the time, and Mullin was sentenced to life in prison, which meant a minimum of seven years. He has been denied parole eight times. 

Edmund Kemper, who killed and dismembered his mother and seven other women between May 1972 and April 1973, was kept in a cell next to Mullin in the county jail. 

“Herbie was just a cold-blooded killer ... killing everyone he saw for no good reason,” Kemper said. “A creep with no class.” 

Mullin said he killed a drifter with a baseball bat and stabbed a hitchhiking student, but he was never tried for those. He was convicted of stabbing a priest in his confessional, shooting four camping teens, and killing a drug dealer, his wife and the wife and small children of another drug dealer. 

Mullin has since blamed many others, including his family, for making him commit the murders, even one time saying he had been under a curse when he killed. 

Opinions vary as to whether to let Mullin out. Lunde said it would be cheaper to put him up in a home and give him psychiatric treatment. But Chris Cottle, who prosecuted the case, said no. 

“I can’t imagine the authorities would ever let somebody like that out,” Cottle said. 

STOCKTON — A Stockton man accused of going on a shooting spree on Christmas, shooting his father, the mother of his 7-month-old son and then fatally shooting her mother was booked Wednesday on murder charges, officials said. 

Ramiro Gonzalez Jr., 23, was also charged with four counts of attempted murder, said Nelida Stone, a spokeswoman for the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department. His girlfriend, Jeanette Molina, 20, was charged on identical counts, plus charges that she was an accessory to the crimes, Stone said. 

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report around 2 p.m. Tuesday that a man had shot his father in the head, Stone said. Ramiro Gonzalez Sr., 51, was transported to an area hospital. 

“The father is in critical condition and on life support,” Stone said. 

The shooter fled the scene of the attack, went about eight blocks away and allegedly kicked in the door to a residence where the mother of his child, Mona Lisa Espinoza, 21, held their 7-month-old son, Stone said. 

The alleged shooter fired and wounded Espinoza then turned and shot and killed Espinoza’s mother Maria Alicia Espinoza, 42. The daughter was treated and released, Stone said. 

Gonzalez then reportedly barricaded himself in at the residence until a Stockton S.W.A.T. team member talked him into surrendering at 8:20 p.m. after a tense stand-off. More than 50 police officers and sheriff’s deputies were at the scene as it unfolded. 

Gonzalez and Molina were at that point taken into custody without incident, Stone said. 

Molina was charged investigators believe “she was with him when he shot his dad and she was also with him and apparently was the driver when he went to the other address,” Stone said. 

Both are expected to be arraigned in court Friday, she said. 

Detectives were still searching for the weapons used and the vehicle the suspects were driving, she said.

SACRAMENTO — Grapes and wine from Chile. Tomatoes, carrots and broccoli from Mexico. Apple juice from Hungary. Orange juice from Brazil. 

The global economy is bringing more foreign-grown produce to American tables and blurring the borders for nations and multinational corporations. Much of that produce first lands on American shores in California, itself the nation’s fruit and vegetable basket. 

Yet all produce is not created equal. 

For instance, illegal pesticide residue regularly shows up 3 1/2 times as often on produce from Mexico as on produce grown in California, according to the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation. 

“It appears to us the disparity is getting worse rather rapidly,” particularly in the last four or five years, said Charles Benbrook, a national pesticide expert and Consumers Union consultant. 

That realization is sparking new debate from San Francisco, where a United Nations human rights investigator heard complaints this month about U.S. pesticide exports, to Washington, D.C., where it helped rekindle congressional support for “country of origin” labeling requirements in the pending farm bill. 

Developing countries generally have few controls on pesticide use, which results in more residue on produce imported by the United States, said Colorado State University sociology professor Douglas Murray, an expert on pesticide hazard reduction. 

Mexican tomatoes, for instance, had a “toxicity index” more than four times higher than California tomatoes, according to a February Consumers Union report based on 1998 data, the most recent available. 

“The U.S. produce is much cleaner than Mexico,” Benbrook said. “I would say overall, California probably produces the cleanest produce in the world.” 

California not only has what Benbrook called the world’s most restrictive regulations on pesticide use, safety and application, but its dry Mediterranean climate means growers need to use less pesticide than in more humid areas. 

That helps makes it cleaner even than produce grown elsewhere in the United States, Benbrook said. For instance, he co-authored a 1999 Consumers Union report that found higher pesticide residue on U.S. crops like peaches, winter squash, green beans, apples and pears than was on similar foreign-grown produce. 

The California Farm Bureau and Western Growers Association said they are more likely to point out the overall safety of produce than they are to play up a disparity between producers, admittedly out of reluctance to discourage consumers. 

“We certainly promote the fact that our produce is grown under these very strict and rigorous standards,” said farm bureau spokesman Bob Krauter. 

“In 97 percent of Mexican produce there was no pesticide detected whatsoever, and in 99 percent of California produce there was no pesticide detected whatsoever,” said Hank Giclas, Western Growers’ vice president for science and technical affairs. 

Critics take a different view. 

“If you magnify that out to the marketplace, that’s a lot of produce,” said Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group that has offices in Oakland and Washington, D.C. “This is indicative of the pesticide that’s out there.” 

Though foreign produce tests higher for pesticide residue, “we’re still talking about very low levels” that have resulted in no reported illnesses, said Glenn Brank, spokesman for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. It may have more residue in part to protect it because it is being shipped long distances, he said. 

The state’s pesticide program is designed to intercept contaminated produce by sampling a small percentage at packing houses and produce terminals, then tracking problem shipments back to the grower, whose entire crop would then be suspect. 

But foreign shipments are often more difficult to trace to their source, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-funded study last year. In addition, produce from several different growers and packers may be commingled in the same shipment. 

Brank said California is working particularly hard to address that problem with Mexico because of the volume of Mexican produce, but hasn’t found a solution. 

“More and more, Mexico has to obey all the standards of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement). I don’t think there is much of a difference in standards,” said Bernardo Mendez, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco. “Maybe in some past years there has been some problem in enforcement, but that is getting better.” 

Eighty-seven state and national farm groups are backing a country-of-origin labeling requirement in Congress’ pending farm bill, already approved by the House of Representatives, in part because of the pesticide issue. 

“You know where your clothes come from, but you don’t know where your food comes from,” said Laura Johnston of the National Farmers Union. “It kind of makes a mockery of the strict regulations we have here when we import food from other countries that don’t have those regulations.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

www.cdpr.ca.gov 

PASADENA — A judge says next week’s Rose Bowl game isn’t a judicial emergency and the courthouse will stay open, despite predictions that a crush of fans will clog city streets during the first-ever non-holiday football contest. 

Private businesses and some local government agencies want to send employees home early Jan. 3. But courthouse officials rejected a suggestion by the city to close at noon and send the building’s 100 workers home early. 

“A football game doesn’t really qualify as a judicial emergency,” Presiding Superior Court Judge Mary Thornton House said. 

Normally the Rose Bowl follows the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day, or Jan. 2 if New Year’s falls on Sunday. But under the recently enacted rotating college football playoff format, the championship game will be played at the Rose Bowl this year, two days after the parade. 

The Miami-Nebraska game kicks off at 5 p.m. Thursday, with opening ceremonies set for 4:30 p.m. Police have urged fans to arrive by 3 p.m. because of anticipated traffic jams. 

“People really need to arrive early and people who don’t need to be in that area can avoid the traffic,” Cmdr. Mary Schander said. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A man died and his wife was rescued from the San Francisco Bay after their Jeep Cherokee careened into the chilly waters Tuesday afternoon. 

Abdel Laarif, 37, of San Francisco was pronounced dead at the scene near the St. Francis Yacht Club along the waterfront, according to the city medical examiner’s office. The cause of his death had not been determined. 

Laarif’s wife survived the crash, pulled to safety by passers-by, according to the medical examiner’s office. She was transported to a hospital and was being treated for hypothermia late Tuesday. 

The accident occurred at about 2:45 p.m. Witnesses say the car seemed to behave normally until it suddenly sped toward the wall lining the yacht club parking lot. 

“The car was going maybe five miles an hour and the next thing you know it was accelerating at 20 miles an hour and lurched up and over the curb and down over the brick wall, which was 12 feet to the ocean,” said Michael Keenan, one of three people who dove into the water to pull the couple out. 

San Francisco police Sgt. Paul Morse called the quick actions that saved the woman’s life heroic. 

Morse said emergency crews would have to wait until low tide to pull the battered car out of the water. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Prompted by rolling blackouts and some of the nation’s highest energy bills, California residents and businesses used rebates to buy record numbers of energy-efficient appliances and solar panels in 2001. 

Three major California utilities and the California Energy Commission say hundreds of thousands of Californians took advantage of dozens of rebate programs for everything from insulation to light bulbs as they tried to cut their long-term energy use and tame unruly utility bills. 

“We have never seen anything like it,” said Gil Alexander, spokesman for Southern California Edison. “Apparently, responsiveness to calls for conservation plus the desire to reduce consumption because of rising electricity rates prompted many more consumers to take advantage of programs that are offered each year.” 

Many Californians looked to their roofs for savings, cashing in rebates that cut the cost of installing pricey rooftop solar panel systems by as much as half. 

Marwan Masri, manager of the renewable energy program at the state energy commission, said the state has received and approved nearly 2,000 rebates this year for solar systems. 

“That’s huge. That’s something like maybe five times what we were receiving before the energy crisis hit,” Masri said. 

The increased demand could help spur more innovation and competition in the solar industry, which in turn could help lower costs for future customers, Masri said. 

Edison has taken more than 1 million phone calls this year from customers hoping to save on energy-efficient washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances, up from 200,000 calls the previous year, Alexander said. The utility has given out more than 70,000 rebates at a cost of roughly $15 million. 

In the San Diego area, SDG&E handed out at least 5,000 washing machine rebates and 20,000 refrigerator rebates. That’s up from 2,000 and 4,400, respectively, the previous year, said Jennifer Andrews, an SDG&E spokeswoman. 

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers hauled home more than 150,000 energy-saving lamps, dishwashers, refrigerators and other qualifying appliances totaling $17 million in rebates, said Brian Swanson, a PG&E spokesman. 

Ratepayers pay for appliance rebates, low-income power bill discounts and other programs with a small percentage of each month’s payment. Lawmakers also kicked in several million extra for each utility earlier this year after energy costs soared. 

High demand, high wholesale energy costs, transmission glitches and a tight supply worsened by scarce hydroelectric power in the Northwest and maintenance at aging California power plants contributed to driving California energy prices skyward earlier this year. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.energy.ca.gov 

http://www.sce.com 

http://www.pge.com 

http://www.sdge.com 

Town crier wins  

championship 

MARTINEZ — The city’s only town crier is also believed to be the first one west of the Mississippi — and the nation’s only county crier after his appointment by Contra Costa County officials. 

Redmond O’Colonies, 51 — whose real surname is O’Connell — won the American Guild of Town Criers championship in September and finished fifth in the world championships in August. 

His duties in his home town of Martinez include appearing at ceremonies and spreading good will. One cry he’s used at local events goes something like this: 

“Oyez. Oyez. Oyez. A warm welcome awaits visitors to Martinez, California. We are home to the largest bocce ball federation in the world, the mischievous martini, the model of modesty Mr. Joe DiMaggio and the magnificent marching master Mr. John Muir.” 

O’Colonies, originally from Lancashire, England, has been working with the city since 1991 and said his job is a great way to make a living. 

Party broken up by six police departments 

VACAVILLE — Thirty officers from six police agencies were needed to quell a Christmas party that turned into a near-riot. 

A woman was shot in the arm at dawn Wednesday during the brawl involving some of the more than 1,000 people who showed up Tuesday night for the festivities at the Spitfire Bar and Grill. 

Officers responding to the report early Wednesday morning were met by a hostile crowd in the parking lot. The partygoers refused to let the officers approach the injured woman and began throwing beer bottles and rocks at the officers and their cars. 

At that point — the police donned riot gear and called for help. 

Officers from the Solano County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, and the Fairfield, Dixon and Vallejo police departments showed up. 

Police Sergeant Jim Mayoral says the owner of the bar rented it out for a private hip-hop party and apparently was told it would be far smaller. The violence started when the owner began turning people away after the facility had reached its legal capacity. 

Police later halted an SUV after a witness reported seeing a man with a gun enter the vehicle. He was booked for investigation of brandishing a handgun and carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle.  

It’s not clear if he fired the shot that injured the woman. 

She was treated at Vaca Valley Hospital and released. 

Officers say it took about two hours to control the situation. 

WASHINGTON — No suspects. No telltale clues. Not even a trace of Chandra Levy has surfaced in the baffling case of the missing federal intern. 

Nearly eight months after the 24-year-old disappeared in Washington, police are no closer to finding her, despite the avalanche of publicity the case has received because of Levy’s link to Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, Calif. 

“No new developments to report, let’s put it that way,” Sgt. Joe Gentile, a police spokesman, said last week. 

Two police detectives and an FBI agent who specializes in difficult cases remain assigned to the investigation, considerably less manpower than the scores of officers pressed into service last summer to scour Washington parks and buildings. 

Levy’s parents, Dr. Robert and Susan Levy of Modesto, Calif., asked as far back as June that police treat the disappearance as a crime, which might have allowed police to be more aggressive in questioning people and their search for clues. Gentile, however, said the case remains a missing person investigation because there is no evidence of a crime. 

“We know they’re still working on it and we hope they’ll be able to help us solve it, to find Chandra, hopefully alive,” Levy’s father said in a telephone interview. “Or if not, to find out what happened.” 

Susan Levy described the mystery as “a living hell.” 

Billy Martin, the Levys’ Washington lawyer, said Levy most likely was the victim of a “well-planned kidnapping and removal.” 

Had Levy been the victim of a random attack, Martin believes and police agree, her body probably would have been found by now. Police also probably would have found some physical evidence — blood, for instance — in or near her apartment. 

“It’s highly unusual for no evidence of Chandra or her whereabouts to turn up, which leads us to conclude that Chandra has met with some professional or professionals who have removed every trace of her,” said Martin, a former federal prosecutor. 

Levy lost her job as an intern in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in late April. She was last seen April 30 at a gym near her apartment. Police believe she spent the morning of May 1 surfing the Internet. Her parents received an e-mail from her that day that discussed airplane fares for her planned trip home to receive a graduate degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. 

Her trail ends there, and interviews with friends, neighbors, co-workers, employees at the gym she frequented and Condit have shed little light on what might have happened to her. 

Several days elapsed before Levy’s parents called police and Condit, their congressman, to say she was missing. When police searched her apartment a few days later, they found her wallet, computer and luggage. Only her keys were missing. 

They also stopped by Condit’s apartment around the same time for the first of four interviews with the congressman. 

Condit failed to tell investigators he was having an affair with Levy until his third interview, more than two months after Levy vanished, a police source says. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance and police say he is not a suspect. 

Martin said police could have done more early in the investigation, when leads and memories were fresher. 

“There were numerous leads, surveillance photos from apartment buildings in the immediate area, several things that could have been done that were not done,” Martin said. “But I can’t be critical of the police because they did not feel at that time that a crime had been committed.” 

Martin had stronger criticism for Condit, who Martin said was neither candid nor cooperative with investigators in the days after Levy disappeared. 

Condit has said no one in Washington “has been more cooperative” than he, although police expressed exasperation that they needed several interviews to get what they considered a complete picture of Condit’s relationship with Levy as well as his reconstruction of her comings and goings in late April. 

While the investigation continues, the media coverage has waned since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Gone are the news cameras that were a fixture at locations in California and Washington, including Levy’s apartment. There, the only visible reminder of Levy is a weathered yellow ribbon that hugs a tree near the building’s entrance. 

The building manager says he can’t bring himself to take it down. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Condit: http://www.house.gov/gcondit 

Washington police: http://www.mpdc.org 

NEWPORT, Ore. — Christian Longo, the father of the boy and girl found dead in Waldport last week, has a history of fraud and was recently charged with theft in Lincoln County. 

Christian Michael Longo, 27, was charged Dec. 11 with a crime that occurred Sept. 12. It is one of the few details that emerged Tuesday about the parents of Zachary Michael Longo, 5, and Sadie Ann Longo, 3, whose deaths have been ruled homicides. 

The whereabouts of Christian Longo; his wife, Mary Jane Longo, 35; and their youngest child, Madison Longo, 2, remained unknown Tuesday. 

Zachary’s body was discovered Wednesday floating about two feet from shore near the mouth of Lint Slough, which empties into Alsea Bay. 

Divers searching for evidence Saturday recovered Sadie’s body submerged in water about 150 yards from where her brother was found. 

Police spent Christmas Day following about a dozen leads called in since Monday, Lincoln County District Attorney Bernice Barnett said. Autopsies of the children have been completed, but the results are being withheld by the medical examiner. 

The family moved to Oregon from Michigan in the past few months. It is not known why the family relocated. 

Before their move to Oregon, the Longos spent at least seven years in Michigan. 

In 1997, the Longos bought a brick ranch-style house. In 2000, the house had a market value of roughly $80,000. Using his new home as a base, Christian Longo opened a construction cleaning firm in February 2000. 

In October, Longo was placed on three-year probation for forgery and writing bad checks in Washtenaw County. Those charges stemmed from June 2000, according to Department of Corrections records. 

Two months later, Longo was charged with larceny. The outcome of that charge is unclear. The Washtenaw County Circuit Court recently issued a warrant on Longo for a probation violation. 

In May, the Longos sold the house to Aretha Evans and her husband. Evans said she quickly began repairing the ailing house. 

Several times, Evans came home to find court papers addressed to Christian Longo pinned to the door. 

People claiming to be Longo’s former clients also began showing up, complaining about the job he had — or hadn’t — done. 

One day, a sheriff’s deputy appeared on her doorstep with one of Longo’s clients. 

“I thought, ‘Oh gosh, why did we buy this house?”’ said Evans, 50. 

Barnett, the Lincoln County district attorney, said she had no information about Christian Longo’s recent theft charge. Lincoln County Circuit Judge Robert J. Huckleberry on Dec. 17 denied a motion to issue a warrant for Longo’s arrest. 

Barnett refused to divulge if police think the Longo parents were victims themselves or were somehow involved in their children’s deaths. Barnett said investigators might release photos of the Longos on Wednesday, so the public can help police find them.  

CARSON CITY, Nev.— A drive into the Sierra Nevada can seem like a retreat from time, a return to landscapes unmolested by the 20th century. 

But the mountain range dividing Nevada and California, while largely undeveloped, is far from unaltered. George E. Gruell has the photographs to prove it. 

The 74-year-old retired federal wildlife biologist hiked and occasionally helicoptered his way to dozens of mountain spots recorded in photographs taken in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

He hunted for the same peaks and boulders, the same vantage points. And when he found them, he took another photo. 

In a just-published book, Gruell matches the new and old images, showing how much the landscapes have changed. In scene after scene, the contemporary photographs document dense forest and lush growth. Their historical twins show leaner country in which the trees were fewer, the ground more open, the meadows more abundant. 

The face of the Sierra has filled in — and Gruell says that’s not good for wildlife, the forest and the future of the range“s ecosystems. 

He says factors that caused the growth include heavy livestock grazing a century ago that bared soil for tree seedlings to take root; logging that cleared the way for new growth; and a wet climate cycle in the 1900s. 

Most of all, Gruell argues that decades of anti-fire policies reduced wildfires, and they need to be brought back to return the Sierra to what it was. 

Gruell’s work, partly reimbursed by logging interests, touches on an impassioned debate about the Sierra Nevada’s vast forest land. Logging levels, the role of fire and the decline in wildlife have been the subject of fierce political and environmental battles for years. 

Gruell advocates prescribed burns — controlled, deliberate fires that many environmentalists favor as a way of clearing dense undergrowth. 

But he also says logging limits imposed on federal land in the last decade are too restrictive and that in many places, stands need to be thinned before periodic prescribed burns can be started. 

Gruell is well aware that his work, “Fire in Sierra Nevada Forests: A Photographic Interpretation of Ecological Change Since 1849,” is more than just a picture book. 

“This publicly advocates forest management, which involves disturbing the landscape. And there are a great many people out there who don’t want any disturbance in the landscape,” he said. 

After retiring from the U.S. Forest Service in 1987, the Carson City, Nev., resident started lecturing and consulting on fire ecology and fire’s effect on wildlife habitat. 

In 1992, the California Forestry Association, a timber industry group, offered him a contract to conduct a repeat photographic study of the Sierra Nevada. He produced a brochure of about 20 photographs and wanted to do more. So he pursued the work on his own, poring over thousands of old photographs in historical libraries. 

Gruell said he had been rejected by several publishers and was waiting to hear from another when he showed his manuscript to the Forest Foundation, a nonprofit group affiliated with the California Forest Products Commission, funded by industry companies. 

The foundation was interested in his work and paid him a fee that covered his expenses in developing the book. Gruell said the foundation also arranged to get copies of his book at cost from Mountain Press Publishing Co. in Missoula, Mont., which issued it last month. 

Gruell said he that had no reservations about taking a fee from the foundation and that it exerted no influence on his work. “It’s an objective look at the landscape and what has happened,” Gruell said. 

He snapped his first repeat photographs with a 35-millimeter camera borrowed from his aunt in the 1950s. When he joined the Forest Service in 1962, he started using large-format cameras belonging to the service. 

Again and again, his photographs showed that the landscape had been more open a century ago. Along with others, Gruell began to question the forest service policy of fighting fires and suppressing the natural fire cycle. 

He says that without nature’s cycle of frequent fire to clean out undergrowth, the forest has become so dense that fire now can reach catastrophic intensity. 

Gruell says the tree canopy has become so thick that desirable plants beneath have declined — and in places, the Sierra resembles a jungle. 

GILLETTE, Wyo. — Looking through an office window across the expansive grasslands of his family’s South African ranch, Craig Knight could spot kudu, impala and warthogs foraging across the range land his family used to raise beefmaster cattle. 

He came to the United States in 1988 and began to seek out knowledge from American ranchers about the beef industry he could take home. 

Traveling from West Lafayette, Ind., Knight made his way from ranch to ranch learning as much as he could. 

Then he arrived in Wyoming. Something about the Powder River Basin’s wide-open grasslands reminded him of South Africa. 

Looking across the mineral-rich basin, Knight saw more than cows, antelope and ranches; he saw opportunity. 

Coal mines were increasing production and environmental reclamation and the natural gas industry was just getting started. 

Mineral companies needed skilled mappers to plot and locate facilities, drainages and help plan development. 

So, he ended up staying and undertook a new career in computer-aided drafting and geographical mapping. He now has his own company, Knight Technologies Inc., which he runs with his wife. 

Now, looking out the window of his office in Gillette, Knight has the privileged perspective of seeing those early opportunities realized, even beyond what he expected. 

“I knew coal-bed methane was going to take off, but I had no idea it would take off as it has,” he said. “I don’t even think the operators knew.” 

“For this mapping business, the goal was the coal mining, to develop site mine plans and do reclamation work,” Knight said. 

While coal mines are the mainstay of the business — Knight Technologies has all but two of the basin’s coal mines for clients — work in the coal-bed methane industry is what is allowing it to grow. 

Knight Technologies is looking to double its staff to six, with an administrative assistant, an engineer and a computer-aided design and geographic information systems specialist. 

It has grown out of the cozy 1,500 square-foot office and is preparing to move into a 2,600 square-foot office space nearby. 

New development is the key to Knight Technologies’ coal-bed methane business. For every new coal-bed methane project targeting federal minerals, operators must submit a water management plan that details the location of the wells, pipelines, roads, water discharge points and reservoirs. 

Surveyors send Knight e-mail attachments or computer disks full of unformatted data x, y and z coordinate points, relating with near pinpoint precision longitude, latitude and elevation of the land, wells, pipelines and roads. 

Knight Technologies takes that information and, depending on the desired output, maps or plots the raw data on a grid, topographic map or aerial satellite photograph. 

John Dolinar is an engineer with William H. Smith, a surveyor company from Green River, who has been in Gillette on a temporary coal-bed methane job for the past year and expects to be here another year. 

The company has used Knight Technologies for the last year to map and plot all the projects that its draftsmen can’t handle. 

“Primarily we use them because we need additional help. They assist us in preparing maps by placing the data we generate,” he said. “I think they’re the only ones in the area doing that. The rest are engineering consultants that work in Gillette ... They have a better way to integrate with different systems than most of us do.” 

Pennaco Energy has started making more use of not only the mapping capabilities of Knight Technologies, but also its database management skills, as well. 

“This is the only company that I have seen in the area that make databases talk to each other and they are probably one of the better ones,” said John Kawcak, Pennaco’s drilling and construction manager. 

Knight has just completed a project that allows Pennaco’s GIS “smart maps” to automatically update weekly, inserting nested data into the map, like layers in a cake. 

With data from local conservation districts and independent soil scientists, “smart maps” also can nest information on soil chemistry and susceptibility to erosion. 

Methane companies can use these maps to help determine where to discharge water and where not to, Knight said. 

But it is not just the mineral industry that have found the services useful. 

Knight has been approached by ranchers and landowners who are interested in doing an inventory of their lands before methane wells start producing. 

Knight uses infrared satellite images taken from space to map vegetation and drainages that can be used as a baseline measurement once methane development begins. 

While coal-bed methane activity has allowed Knight Technologies to expand, recent price drops and volatility in the natural gas market don’t have Knight too worried. 

“I don’t think that the price is going to affect growth, because we’re all targeting the long term and diversifying,” he said. 

Five years ago, they said it would last five years, and now they’re saying it will last another five to 10 years still, he said Knight said his plan is to stick around and grow. 

“I love it out here, it is a small town with wide open spaces and very similar to parts of South Africa, except for the winters.” 

End ADV for Dec. 29-30 

EUGENE, Ore. — Think of a city known for coffee experts and Seattle, perhaps Portland, come to mind. But Eugene also is home to people who know a few things about whipping up a perfect double skinny latte. 

Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup has made a place for itself in the nation’s specialty coffee industry with a blend of training videos, instruction manuals and advice for entrepreneurs and corporations wanting to cash in on America’s coffee craze. 

Many baristas have learned the intricacies of making espresso-based coffee drinks by watching Bellissimo’s first video, “Espresso 101,” and a companion, “Espresso 501.” 

“We feel fortunate to be the education company for this industry,” owner Bruce Milletto said. 

Karen Foley, editor of the Portland-based trade magazine Fresh Cup, said Milletto’s statement is more fact than braggadocio. 

An ever-growing number of fancy coffee drinks are being poured each day, but many are not properly made, she said. 

“There are a lot of people out there who can use enlightenment and education on how to prepare a cup of coffee, and Bruce is definitely trying to reach those people,” Foley said. 

Bellissimo’s story is tied to the nation’s growing fondness for espresso-based drinks, a trend that has made coffee bars and drive-through stands a common sight. 

About 29 million Americans drink premium coffee each day, up from 7 million just five years ago, according to the National Coffee Association. 

Milletto, who first became interested in coffee more than a decade ago as an importer and then as a retailer, said the beverage itself is only partly responsible for the trend. 

Starbucks Corp. has grown to more than 4,700 outlets by creating a place where people like to gather, Milletto said. 

“We need a place that is as comfortable as our home or office,” he said. “We need that third place.” 

Milletto helps entrepreneurs create that place. 

Milletto has just three employees, but he hires coffee experts, authors, designers, artists, video crews, musicians and others, depending on whether he is designing a coffee bar, writing a how-to-business book or making a video. 

One of his main consultants is former partner Ed Arvidson of Bend. Milletto and Arvidson started Bellissimo as a coffee cart business in Lake Oswego in 1991 before adding video-making and consulting a few years later. 

Milletto may not be well-known in Eugene, but his customers have included such major companies as Borders Books & Music, Sarah Lee, Mrs. Fields Cookies, R. Torre & Co. (the maker of Torani syrup), Gino Rossi (an espresso machine manufacturer), plus hundreds of other firms and individuals. 

Tom Kaspar of Eugene and his partners hired Bellissimo earlier this year to help them start Coffee Zone, which opened last July in the Autzen Stadium area. 

For about $1,300, Bellissimo gave advice on recipes, menu, pricing and design of the coffee bar, Kaspar said. 

Among other menu suggestions, the consultants urged Kaspar to sell more than coffee, namely fruit smoothies and ice-based coffee drinks known as granitas. 

Bellissimo is different from many of its competitors, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America in Long Beach, Calif. 

“It’s easy to find a consultant to help you learn about roasting, or how to put together a business plan,” said association spokesman Mike Ferguson. “But it’s very unique to find someone who can do all those things and who is publishing books and producing videos.” 

After moving to Eugene, Milletto and his wife, Jan, started a coffee bar near the University of Oregon. They later opened an espresso cart in Eugene. 

Bruce Milletto and Arvidson, a restaurant veteran who had owned the Baja Cafe in downtown Eugene, teamed up to start Bellissimo as a Lake Oswego coffee cart. 

The idea for the “Espresso 101” video came a couple of years later because the partners needed to create a more efficient way to train their employees, Arvidson said. 

Said Milletto: “There were volumes of books about wine, but there was hardly anything about coffee.” 

“So the light bulb came on” to create a training video that could be sold, Arvidson said. 

Within a couple of years, demand for “Espresso 101” and Bellissimo’s second video, “Spilling the Beans,” had grown to the point that the partners decided to sell their espresso outlets and concentrate on media products and consulting. 

“People were calling us saying, ’Do you do consulting?’ ” Milletto said. 

In 1998, Arvidson sold his interest in Bellissimo to Milletto to go into business in the Caribbean. Arvidson returned to Oregon about a year later when that did not work out, and he has been an independent consultant with Bellissimo ever since. 

Milletto declined to disclose his company’s sales, but he said they are less than $1 million a year and growing. About half of the firm’s revenue comes from consulting and the other half from media products. 

To make his most recent video, “The Passionate Harvest,” Milletto and his film crew traveled to Ethiopia, Guatemala, Brazil and Hawaii. Kenneth Davids, a San Francisco-based author and coffee expert, wrote the script and spoke in the documentary, along with other experts. 

“The Passionate Harvest” has won numerous awards, including one of 16 platinum awards at Houston World Fest earlier this year. 

Most of the $125,000 production cost was funded by corporate sponsors that included Whole Foods Market and the Brazil Specialty Coffee. 

With the subsidies, Milletto said he expects to start making a profit on the video, which sells for $80, sometime next year. 

Making videos and being known as an industry expert helps Bellissimo. 

“They do an excellent job of marketing themselves across the country,” said Foley, editor of Fresh Cup magazine. 

Similar to other young industries that grow rapidly, the gourmet coffee business is going through a shakeout, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America. 

Between 1995 and 1999, the number of retail outlets, including drive-through stands, ballooned from 5,000 to 12,000, the organization said. Now, many weaker operators are going out of business, so the number of outlets is expected to fall to 10,000 by the end of 2003, said Mike Ferguson, the SCAA spokesman. 

But stronger operators will survive and thrive after the shakeout runs its course, he said. With specialty coffee sales growing about 8 percent a year, Ferguson said, the number of retail establishments selling fancy coffee will start to grow again, and is expected to grow to 15,000 by the end of the decade. 

Milletto said Bellissimo will profit from the trend, partly through its extensive list of media products and services, including Web site design. 

Last year, the firm published a book on coffee drive-through stands, and Milletto is finishing revisions to the nearly 700-page “Bean Business Basics,” which will go into a second printing in January. 

End ADV for Monday, Dec. 31 

LOS ANGELES — El Salvador’s savage civil war drove Roberto and Margarita Herrador north to the United States in search of a safe haven for their family. They found it in a country that, after 15 years, still won’t accept them. 

The Herradors and their three daughters are among tens of thousands of Salvadoran and Guatemalan war refugees whose applications for permanent residency, the first step toward citizenship, are languishing in INS files though their eligibility was guaranteed by an act of Congress. 

A peculiarity in Immigration and Naturalization Service procedures is creating a large and growing backlog of applications, and agency officials estimate it will take 20 years to get through them. 

That’s an eternity for families like the Herradors, who have spent years seeking their promised residency under first one program, then another. 

“There are a lot of people whose lives are on hold because of these delays,” said Robert J. Foss, legal director of the Central American Resource Center. “The INS is failing in a very big way around a group of people who have already been through the wringer more than once.” 

The people affected have been in this country for more than a decade, and most came to escape civil war. Their lives are burdened in countless ways because they don’t have green cards, the proof of permanent residency. 

“It’s created this sort of double standard for us. We have to do double the work to get anything done than the average citizen,” said Ingrid Herrador, 25, in an interview in the family’s small apartment in Mar Vista, a working class community just behind Venice Beach. “And even though we do all of that and could be really good for this society we have all these obstacles that make it almost impossible.” 

Ingrid was accepted by the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1995 but couldn’t go because she was ineligible for in-state tuition and student aid. 

The family’s legal status prevented Margarita from returning to El Salvador when her mother and then her sister died. 

Daughter Claudia, 28, must put off her dream of joining the Peace Corps until her case is resolved. 

Roberto, a trained accountant, has worked as a cashier at the same gas station for over a decade and now makes $8 an hour. Career advancement is difficult for a nonresident with only a yearly work permit. 

In El Salvador, Margarita and Roberto saw fellow activists in the Catholic church brutally murdered by death squads and the military, and feared for their own lives. Their daughters remember cowering inside as gun battles raged, and finding scattered body parts while playing near their house. Sudden noises still make Ingrid cringe. 

“We were forced to come, because we were suffering many things. We had no choice,” Margarita said, speaking in Spanish. “But we didn’t want to be in the situation we are in now.” 

The Herrador family is eligible for permanent residency under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, known as Nacara, passed by Congress in 1997. A different provision of the act applied to Nicaraguans and Cubans; their application process is much less stringent and most of their cases have been resolved. 

Those eligible had to, among other things, arrive in this country before 1990, live here continuously for seven years and demonstrate good moral character. 

There are millions of Salvadorans and Guatemalans living in the United States. Roughly 300,000 are eligible under Nacara and about 100,000 have filed applications. 

The delay in processing Nacara claims comes down to a quirk of INS bureaucracy. 

Nacara applications are processed by the INS Asylum Division, which handles three other types of cases — asylum seekers, new arrivals to the United States who have a credible fear of returning home and refugees overseas. The INS is required by law to process some of these cases quickly, and classifies them as a higher priority than the Nacara cases. 

Asylum and refugee cases are processed first. This fiscal year, that will take about 95 percent of the agency’s time and manpower, leaving just 5 percent to handle Nacara cases, according to agency estimates. 

With the asylum and refugee workload growing, only 6,000 Nacara cases a year are expected to be completed from now on. At that pace, it will take approximately 20 years to adjudicate all the cases, according to INS documents obtained by The Associated Press. 

Immigration officials acknowledge Nacara applicants are in an unfortunate predicament. 

“We completely understand the frustration of the Nacara applicants in terms of waiting for the adjudication,” INS spokesman Dan Kane said. “They deserve to have their applications adjudicated in a timely manner. However, we are doing the best we can with the very limited resources that we have at this time.” 

Lawmakers are aware of the Nacara delays. Immigration reform to address the problem failed to pass in Congress in 2001 despite support from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and some Democrats. 

More reform efforts were planned this session, but after Sept. 11, prospects for addressing Nacara look dim, said U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, the only member of Congress who is of Central American descent. 

“It is not going to go away,” said Solis, whose mother is Nicaraguan and father is Mexican. “Whether it gets addressed immediately or not remains to be seen.” 

Margarita Herrador has nearly given up hope of residency for herself and her husband. But she will continue to pray nightly for her daughters to one day become U.S. citizens. 

“We have been here so long, begging them. One door opens, and another closes,” Margarita said. “When we came my daughters were little girls. Now they’re grown, and we’re in the same situation, and nothing has happened.”

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In what may be among the most intense, well-funded investigations ever undertaken into a single species, scientists launched more than 150 studies this year to find out why the Steller sea lion population crashed and remains low. 

Over the past four decades, the population plunged more than 80 percent in Western Alaska from almost 180,000 animals in the late 1960s to fewer than 30,000. The official listing of this western stock as endangered has threatened Alaska’s $1 billion ground-fishing industry. 

That conflict, as much as the biological implications of a species sliding toward extinction, has spurred Congress to act. 

Last month, Congress appropriated $40 million for Steller studies in 2002, boosting federal funding to more than $80 million in just two years. 

The flood of money has generated laboratory experiments and field studies by hundreds of scientists spread among 25 government agencies, academic institutions and groups. 

“I don’t think there’s anything really to compare it to,” said Bob Small, director of the state’s marine mammal program and head of the 20-member recovery team formed under the federal Endangered Species Act. “As for putting money toward a specific species and its specific interactions, it’s pretty unprecedented.” 

Veteran fisheries biologist Lowell Fritz, assigned by the National Marine Fisheries Service to oversee funding and keep track of the projects, said the spending has ramped up from just under $5 million for Steller sea lion study last year. 

The sheer amount of money has astonished some scientists. 

During the early November meeting of the federal Marine Mammal Commission in Anchorage, chairman John Reynolds, a manatee specialist from Florida, used terms like “staggering” and “breathtaking” to describe the 2001 funding level of $43 million. That appropriation had been pushed by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. 

“It’s probably equal to all the U.S. funding spent on all the other species combined,” Reynolds said at the time. 

Within a few weeks, Stevens had secured an additional $40 million for sea lion research through a spending bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments. 

Stevens has made clear his hope that better knowledge of sea lions will help keep the valuable commercial fishery alive. 

“Last year’s research funds are already paying dividends, and new research continues to disprove the link between fishing and the decline in sea lion populations,” he said in a written statement. 

But several biologists say the research so far hasn’t proved much except that sea lion biology is extremely complex. The things that affect sea lion survival — ocean conditions, food supply, predators — have changed over the decades, so the causes and effects are complicated. 

“It’s an unprecedented enigma,” marine mammal biologist Lloyd Lowry told the Marine Mammal Commission in November. “Steller sea lion assessment is particularly problematic because there is no smoking gun.” 

The scope of the new research is daunting. At least 115 principal investigators have recruited 300 to 400 helpers to test six general hypotheses — competition with commercial fishing, environmental change in the ocean, predation by killer whales and sharks, diseases, contaminants and mortality caused by people. 

The new studies will build on previous sea lion research and take years to sort out, Fritz said. 

Some of the most intriguing studies will look at the role played by small, silvery forage fish like capelin, eulachon and sand lance, Fritz said. 

“We’re finding that they’re a very important component of the food web, not only for fish that we like to eat, like halibut and pollock and cod, but they’re also an important part of the diet for sea lions,” Fritz said. 

One of the most controversial issues has centered on how commercial fishing affects sea lion health. One experiment off the east coast of Kodiak Island will control the level of commercial fishing in certain areas and then measure what happens to sea lions in the vicinity over time, Small said. 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico cotton farmers have declared war on a small pest that can wipe out an entire crop. 

Boll weevil eradication programs have recently been put in place throughout the entire state, according to New Mexico State University. 

“We’re actively working on eradication right now,” said Joe Friesen, the program director for the South-central New Mexico Cotton Boll Weevil Control Committee. 

“We’ve just completed our third full season of eradication. We’ve pretty much got the infestation localized to the Las Cruces area.” 

Boll weevils are insects that feed on the pollen of cotton plants, causing decreased yield and quality. They were first discovered in New Mexico in 1991. 

“It can be devastating,” Friesen said. “They’re very prolific. The boll weevil has to be gotten rid of or there won’t be cotton.” 

Friesen said his program has spent more than $2 million since 1998 in the eradication effort. 

“The weevil was clearly on its way to getting established here,” he said. 

But now a number of agencies and organizations, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state Department of Agriculture, various farmers’ associations and NMSU have joined forces to fight the boll weevil. 

Eradication programs usually involve tracking, detecting and spraying fields where the weevils are found. 

“We identify every cotton field there is and we place boll weevil traps on those fields,” Friesen said. “When we catch a weevil in the trap, we go ahead and spray. The next week we check it again.” 

NMSU entomologist Jane Pierce says a number of factors, including changes in the timing of planting and clearing of certain weeds, have also been found to help keep boll weevils from settling in fields. 

These techniques have also proven useful in keeping populations low in fields where boll weevils are already established, she said. 

New Mexico and Texas are among the seven states that have established eradication programs because of boll weevil infestation. 

Such programs have already helped eliminate the boll weevil in Arizona, California, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. 

——— 

On the Net: 

New Mexico State University College of Agriculture and Home Economics: http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu 

Jake Fuchs has recently published his second mystery novel in the Nursery School Murders series: “The Death of a Prof.”  

Set in Berkeley, it features a nursery school teacher who is thrust into the roles of both sleuth and conscience for a gaggle of dangerous, self-involved characters.  

Coincidentally, Fuchs’ wife is a nursery school teacher, and Fuchs himself has the brashness and bushy eyebrows of Maren’s fictional husband, Aaron. But this is an invented story and Fuchs, a retired English Professor from California State University at Hayward, who wrote literary criticism throughout his career, is delighted “to be old enough to do what (he) wants” and finally focus on fiction. 

Fuchs grew up in Los Angeles, son of Hollywood screenplay writer, Daniel Fuchs. His mother collaborated closely with his father; Fuchs remembers he and his brother having to remain silent while their parents sequestered themselves in their home, deeply engaged in writing.  

A movie poster on Fuchs’ living room wall advertises one of Daniel Fuchs’ films, “Criss Cross”, a film noir that starred Burt Lancaster. 

Jake Fuchs came to Berkeley for college in 1957 and met his wife Freya at UC Berkeley right after he’d had a bout of pneumonia. Caught in the rain without an umbrella, he asked an attractive coed to let him into her apartment since he’d just been sick. She brought him in and there was her roommate Freya. They’ve been married for 39 years, have three adult children and live in North Berkeley. 

“Death of a Prof” is not of the “cozy” mystery genre, the type with innocuous crimes and quiet librarian sleuths. It is too peculiar for that. This book has horrific aspects, a shocking murder and an even grizzlier, albeit surreal, ending.  

But the main characters have depth and are handled with great consideration.  

Reading Fuchs’ book is not a skip-skip-skip across the surface from plot event to plot event to plot event. It is more often like reading a long short story with oddball twists. 

Death of a Prof spoofs Berkeley: “The common denominator for the whole town was a deeply serious, soul-involving desire for the best cooking to be had. And damn the expense.”  

Nonetheless, profound statements are made about teaching and children. Adult problems are constantly swirling around the children, jealousies, tempers and egos, and the nursery school teachers make astute observations regarding the effects of parents’ problems on their children.  

“People told (teachers)... not to worry about this child because children are resilient. But they’re not. Teachers know. Children are good at surviving, yes, but they don’t just snap back into shape,” he said. 

Fuchs feels that teachers in general, and nursery school teachers in particular, are rarely respected for the incredibly important work they do; instead they are “treated like menials.” 

Fuchs created Maren as an homage, in part, to teachers. 

Maren is a woman who prefers the company of children to adults. She is a teacher “capable of very decisive action to keep the world safe and stable for the children she teaches.” 

The book’s observations about teaching are particularly wonderful to read. Fuchs has captured intimate details of daily teaching life that few outside the profession would ever know.  

This reader especially loved the description of the school’s neighbor The playfulness Fuchs uses in describing one boy named Moby who would one day discover he’d been named for a whale is charming. Maren’s teacher voice observing that, after a child fell and started crying lustily it was safe to say the child was all right, the crying proved, it is the ultimate teacher truth. 

The marriage in the mystery between Maren and Aaron, Fuchs says, is one of people “who love each other very much but don’t seem to understand what the other wants. They keep blundering into each other’s blind spots. He pops off and is resentful and she is a little bit angry herself.” Fuchs feels that women have a tendency to think that men are less aware than they are of what is happening around them, but asserts that even his thickest character, Aaron, is more aware than his wife understands. He says one cannot draw a direct correlation to his own life from this fictional character he’s created, but one certainly wants to tease out the real-life folks from the characters. In Aaron he has portrayed a man who would never let down someone who is counting on him, especially not his wife, Fuchs says and clearly Fuchs identifies with that quality in Aaron. 

There will be other Nursery School Murders, but right now Fuchs is working on a piece about a relationship of distance between father and son.  

Fuchs can often be seen out jogging, and talking aloud to himself, an Aaron trait, that probably is just the author giving himself critical feedback. 

“Death of a Prof” is available in Bay Area book stores or through the publisher Creative Arts Book company, Berkeley (800-848-7789).  

Wednesday, Dec. 26

Professor Smart’s Fun with  

Physics Show 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Professor Smart shrinks his head, has toilet paper flying, juggles and has the audience’s hair standing on end all the while demonstrating the principles of physics. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Thursday, Dec. 27

 

 

Slapstick with Derique 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Ham Bone body drumming, physical comedy, and circus arts are sure to stimulate your “funny bone” as New Vaudeville artist Derique lets you into his hip style of circus arts. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

 

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Friday, Dec. 28

World Rhythms 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Japanese taiko, African marimba and djembe, Middle Eastern dumbek, Afro-Cuban chekere, and conga drums celebrate musical traditions from around the world. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Bay Area Women in Black  

Vigil 

noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft and Telegraph Ave. 

Part of over 70 vigils worldwide in solidarity with Israeli Women in Black to protest the Israeli occupation. Please wear black, everyone welcome. 486-2744, BayAreaWomeninBlack@earthlink.net. 

Saturday, Dec. 29

Magic Show 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Jay Alexander performs his magical mixture of comedy and illusion with special effects that will entertain visitors of all ages. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Sunday, Dec. 30

Music and Storytelling 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales come to life in musical stories by children’s performer Dennis Hysom. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Monday, Dec. 31

New Year’s Eve Party 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

A daytime holiday party for kids featuring lots of hands-on activities. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Ongoing Events

Sundays

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346  

Tuesdays

Easy Tilden Trails  

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.co 

m/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565. 

Thursdays

Free Anonymous HIV Testing 5:15 - 7:15 p.m. 

Check in 5 - 7 p.m. 

University Health Services 

Tang Center  

2222 Bancroft Way 

Drop-in services and limited space is available.  

Call 642-7202  

Fridays

Living Philosophers Series 

10 a.m. - 12 Noon 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Series with H.D. Moe discussing Jacob Needleman, Jean Francois Revel, and Hilary Putnam, among others. Free. 548-3333  

Saturdays

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

Free Sailboat Rides  

1 - 4 p.m. 

Cal Sailing Club 

Berkeley Marina 

The Cal Sailing Club, a nonprofit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, gives free rides on a first come, first served basis. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and accompanied by an adult. 208-5460, www.cal-sailing.org. 

2002: Jan.6; Feb. 3; March 3; April 14, 27; May 12, 26; June 9, 23; July 4, 14; Aug. 4, 18; Sept. 8,22; Oct. 6; Nov. 10; Dec. 8; 

The Daily Planet received a copy of the following statement delivered to the Board of Education Dec. 19. 

With an exceptionally high turnout of 162 Berkeley High School teachers recently, 80 voted to support moving ahead with the Small Schools policy developed by the Parent/Teacher Small Schools Coalition, 56 voted to pursue another vision of Small Schools that may or may not include all BHS students attending Small Schools, and 26 teachers voted to organize Berkeley High around a large traditional urban high school mode, phasing out existing small schools. 

Where does the vote leave us? Berkeley High is at a critical moment in its history, a potential turning point, an opportunity for real structural reform. This kind of moment is precious. There is a sense of urgency one has when these moments arise before us and it is our responsibility – those of us in leadership positions – to state a position and justify it. A decision a few weeks from now is not too late, but this moment will not be with us months from now. 

In a sense you now find yourselves in the role of architects remodeling this high school - a figurative remodeling project neglected for quite some time. We are one huge extended family, the Berkeley Unified community, turning to you as the architects of this remodeling project, asking for a blueprint that is feasible, a framework that incorporates our needs, a structure that results in a finished project which functions effectively. 

We already have a strong foundation - the teachers, support staff, administrators, students, and parents. We already have contractors ready for direction from you. In fact, our new superintendent is already moving to address the contractor type tasks that administration is responsible for: fixing the the attendance record-keeping system, making the schedule and class selection system work for students and teachers, maintaining high standards for all.  

However the blueprint design for all of this is up to you. It is a common dilemma for an architect working with a large family with diverse opinions to come up with a design that pleases everyone. Keep in mind though, that there is indeed a large consensus within this family, advocating for an authentic remodeling - not just a few repairs. Most agree that the current structure with assorted small schools housed alongside a large school was never designed in a cohesive way. It crept up in an anarchic way. There is concern that a continuance of such a structure, with an undefined number of small schools added on or separated away from the large traditional school, may end up looking more like a “Winchester Mystery House” than a functioning school. There is a concern that Berkeley High’s current schizophrenic design and structure creates such a schizophrenic design that it may, in the long run, contribute to, rather than alleviate, the huge problems all agree must be tackled: truancy, violence, anonymity, lack of accountability, the achievement gap.  

I can almost hear a collective sigh coming from the board. Don’t despair, architects have structural engineers to assist. Your superintendent has already begun to contact school researchers, superintendents, principals in communities where school-wide small schools exist. I applaud you for taking steps to investigate this thoroughly and for establishing tough criteria that this school-wide small schools draft proposal must meet.  

However, it would be highly disingenuous, hypocritical, and cowardly of you to then turn around and adopt a hybrid small schools proposal of your own, such as you presented at the board workshop last month, without forcing it to meet the very same criteria. If this is the direction you are leaning in, then you absolutely must apply the same research and criteria to communities where such hybrid models are in place. This question before us is simply too monumental for you to simply give an ay or nay to one draft proposal. There is no default button on this one. 

Barry Fike 

Berkeley Federation of  

Teachers president 

924 Gilman Dec. 28: What Happens Next, Rambo, Lie, Youth Riot, Lugosi; Dec. 29: Defiance, The P.A.W.N.S., Panty Raid, Sexy, Gluk; Jan. 4: Champion, Carry On, Stay Gold, The First Step, The Damage Done; Jan. 5: Iron Lung, B.G., Crucial Attack, Blown To Bits; Jan. 11: Bananas, Numbers, Lowdown, Doozers, Iron Ass; Jan. 12: Plan 9, The Sick, The Hellbillies, Oppressed Logic, Deltaforce; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Ashkenaz Dec. 25: 10 p.m., Lickshot, DJ Tony Moses, $5; Dec. 26: 10 p.m., Zulu Spear, Fireproof, $5; Dec. 27: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Dec. 28: 9:30 p.m., Mood Swing Orchestra, $11; Dec. 29: 9:30 p.m., Caribbean All Stars, $11; Dec. 30: 8 p.m., Marimba Pacific, $8; Dec. 31: 8 p.m., Balkan New Year’s Eve with Edessa and Anoush, $15; 1317 San Pablo Ave., 525-5054, www.ashkenaz.com.  

Blake’s Dec. 29: 11 p.m., Jack West & Curvature, $5; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club JJang-Ga Dec. 29: Deducted Value, 3rd Rail, Noiz, Un Sed; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, (925) 833-7820, savageproductionssl@ yahoo.com. 

Cal Performances Jan. 20: 3 p.m., Midori and Robert McDonald. $28 -$48. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph. 642-9988 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Jan. 5: The Bluegrass Intentions CD Release Party; Jan. 6: Allette Brooks; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. 548-1761, www.freightandsalvage.org.  

Julia Morgan Theatre Dec. 31: 8 p.m., New Year’s Eve Gala Concert, Program of classical favorites of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra; Jan 11: 8 p.m. San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, sizzling program of classical party music; Jan. 12: 8:p.m., “Club Dance,” Teens come together to express their individual personalities and gifts as dancers. $10, Students and Seniors $6, Children ages 5 and under $6. Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.org. 

Jupiter Dec. 27: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 28: Ben Krames & Candlelight Dub; 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. 

Rose Street House Dec. 25: 3 p.m., Annual “Dykelah Escape-from-you-know-what-day Musical Extravaganza!”; Jan.17: 7:30 p.m., Allette Brooks. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@ yahoo.com. 

Yoshi’s Jazz House Dec. 26 - 31: New Year’s Fiesta, The Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters; Jan. 2 - 6: Charles Lloyd; Jan. 13: Jacqui Naylor Quartet; All shows at 8 p.m., and 10 p.m., unless noted. 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakland. Check for prices and Sunday Matinees, 238-9200, www.yoshis.com. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley Jan. 6: 3 p.m., Stephen Genz in his West Coast debut; 2345 Channing Way, 527-8175, www.geocities.com/mostlybrahms. 

Berkeley Piano Club Jan.11: 8 p.m., Kate Steinbeck and Renee Witon; Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St., (510) 531-1487. 

Berkeley High School Dance Production Jan. 11, 12, 18 &19: 7:30 p.m., Diverse mix of classical and modern ballet to hard-core hip-hop. $5. Florence Schwimley Little Theatre, Allston way and MLK., 644-6120 

“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 

“Every Inch a King” Jan. 11 through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.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 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 3: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Unfinished Song; Jan. 4: 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m., Going By; Jan. 5: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Under the Moonlight; Jan. 6: 1p.m., 3 p.m., Paper Airplanes, 5:30 Shrapnels in Peace; Jan.10: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., ABC Africa; Jan.11: 7:30 p.m., The Girl at the Monceau Bakery and Suzanne’s Career, 9:05 p.m. The Sign of the Lion with Place de l’Etoile; Jan. 12: 7p.m., La Collectionneuse, 8:50 p.m., My Night at Maud’s; Jan.13: 1p.m., 3p.m., Os 

“Images of Innocence and Beauty” Through Jan. 8: An exhibit featuring Kathleen Flannigan’s drawing and furniture - boxes, tables, and mirrors, all embellished with images of the beauty and innocence of the natural world. Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison St. 

“From With These Walls” Jan. 5: Educational studio opening celebration gallery show of student works in steel, bronze, aluminum, cast iron, glass, neon, ceramic, stone and paper; jewelry. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby St. (Entrance is one block south on Murray St.) 843-5511, fran@thecrucible.org. 

“The First Five Years” Through Jan.11: Exhibit represents a selection of drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture created by students during their 7th & 8th grade years. 7a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon-Fri, 5:30- 9:30 p.m. Sat., Bucci’s Restaurant, 6121 Hollis St., Emeryville, 547-4725, www.bucci.com 

“Carving, Canvas, Color: Art of Julio Garcia and Wilbert Griffith” Through Jan.12: Brightly colored wooden figures and colorfully detailed paintings. Gallery is open by appointment and chance, most weekdays 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.; The Ames Gallery, 2661 Cedar St., 845-4949, amesgal@home.com 

“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 

“Analogous Biology: Balance and Use,” Mark J. Leavitt, Dec. 20 through Jan. 19; Tue. - Sat., 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland. 836-0831, www.artolio.com. 

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 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: An exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and  

regional artists. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“Water Media” Jan. 10 through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

Traywick Gallery: “New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Jan. 5 through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture explores memory as the building block of consciousness, learning and experience. Steve Brisco’s paintings on paper address issues of identity through evocative combinations of text and imagery. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., 1316 10th St. 527-1214 

“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 Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Jan. 2 through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Reception for artist, Jan. 12: 6 - 8 p.m., Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography. Wed, Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado” Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: Over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. $4 - $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Jan. 11 through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“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, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Jan. 8: Theodore Hamm discusses “Rebel and a Cause: Caryl Chessman and the Politics of the Death Penalty”; Jan. 10: Joan Frank reads from her new book, “Boys Keep Being Born”; Jan. 11: Christopher Hitchens, “Letters to a Youn Contrarian”; Jan. 14: Pamela Logan talks about “Tibetan Rescue: A Woman’s Quest to Save the Fabulous Art Treasures of Pewar Monastery”; All events are free and start at 7:30 p.m. unless noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Coffee With A Beat - Word Beat reading series 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 Jan. 9: 7 p.m., “Our Wings Are Pregnant Seesaws,” Reading performance of a play by H. D. Moe. 390 27th St., Oakland, 528-8713. 

Tours 

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

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 

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; $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 “Kwanzaa Community Celebration” Dec. 30: 12-4 p.m.,Nia Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that honors black family history; 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 Dec. 26: 1 p.m., Professor Smart’s Fun with Physics Show; Dec. 27: 1 p.m., Slapstick with Derique; Dec. 28: 1 p.m., Rhythmix; Dec. 29: 1 p.m., Magic with Jay Alexander; Dec. 30: 1 p.m., Music and Storytelling with Dennis Hysom; Dec. 31: 1 p.m., New Year’s Eve Party, special daytime holiday party for kids; Dec. 26 through 31: Free Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulb; 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; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 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.

It was a meeting of the minds. And these days, the minds tend to meet on the sticky question of small schools. 

Thursday afternoon, during a regular conference of top city and school district officials, known as the “2 X 2 Committee Meeting,” the conversation focused on the simmering controversy on whether to divide Berkeley High School into a series of small, relatively autonomous learning communities. 

Katrina Scott George, leader of the Coalition for Excellence and Equity, a community group calling for the establishment of small schools by the fall of 2003, was the catalyst. Scott George said this debate has reached a critical, new stage.  

“Only a battle remains,” she said, speaking of a “chasm” between coalition leaders, the superintendent and several members of the Board of Education, who have called for a more gradual adoption of small schools. “Things will get worse before they get better.” 

Coalition leaders argue that the creation of more intimate learning environments at BHS will engage failing students and help close the “achievement gap” between white and minority pupils. Scott George said the so-called gap is actually an “abyss,” and the school board has failed to recognize the urgency of this problem. 

Shirley Issel, president of the school board, said the coalition’s concerns have not fallen on deaf ears.  

“I think you have been, Katrina... much more successful than you know in getting across the importance of the district taking a credible approach to addressing the achievement gap,” she said. 

“I think the coalition has been immensely successful in shining a spotlight on how we need to better support our existing small schools,” she added, referring to the three schools-within-a-school already in existence at BHS. 

Mayor Shirley Dean, also in attendance at the meeting, suggested that Superintendent Michele Lawrence establish a working committee with leaders of the coalition to open lines of communication. The committee would meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. 

“It can work if you bring people to the table and leave your anger outside,” Dean said. “I really want to avoid a mess. It doesn’t help this city.” 

Lawrence endorsed the idea. “I see the anger, I see the focus,” she said, referring to coalition members. “But I also see this tremendous energy that I don’t want to lose.” 

Scott George dismissed the proposal after the meeting. “I think people are not listening at all to what I am saying,” she said, arguing that parents need to be more than “passive advisors” at this juncture. 

Kalima Rose, another coalition leader, said in an interview with the Daily Planet after the meeting, that the proposed committee would only be productive if it included all the players, teachers and administrators included. 

School and city leaders also discussed ongoing concerns with community access to playgrounds and other portions of seven schools in Berkeley that, by agreement between the city and district, are supposed to be open to neighborhood use after school and on the weekends. 

Neighborhood groups have long complained that the district has failed to unlock gates, at various schools, at the appropriate times, while school and city officials have raised concerns about community access to secluded areas, like the inner courtyard at Rosa Parks School, and the possibility of vandalism. 

Terry Doran, school board member, said it may be time to rehash the agreement between the city and district on the issue. He said after-school programs are going later and later, leading to overlaps with designated community time on school grounds, and creating confusion. 

Meeting participants agreed that the city and the district may have to modify the agreement in the near future. 

“I think it was clear that there will have to be a revisiting done,” said Dean, after the conference.  

Editor: 

I wish Andy Katz the best of luck in his appointment to the Zoning Adjustments Board. (Daily Planet, Nov. 28) But replacing ZAB Boardmember Poschman can’t be done by appointment alone. 

To watch Dr. Poschman work at the ZAB, was to realize the world was not going to be run for the smooth convenience of developers and city staff. He could be a stick in the eye of councilmembers too, who might fight like tigresses to prevent slight incursions in their own district – but would only be too happy to see an asbestos stamping plant, or a heliport in yours, if it meant more tax revenue for Berkeley. (And if it was a towering lifestyle live-work in the far end of their own district...oh,what the heck.)  

Like a good professor, he would make big-time developers – or even people with the drawings in hand to do the Hollywood job on a tiny bungalow – defend their thesis. Of course, every man – and woman – with a plan seethed. After all, city staff told them they could do it, political contributions had been made, they’d sue, didn’t he know there was a housing shortage, how else could it pencil out? The smooth ones just waited to get to the council for an overturn – which they often got (if they perhaps took just a little bit off the top). Or a remand to the ZAB, with an order for boardmembers to throw out their reasoning, and come up with a more pleasing verdict. Or applicants could put together the few dollars necessary to file a suit (though courts have long held that cities have the right to control development), then watch a court-shy legal department come up with points and authorities why the city should buckle.  

Dr. Poschman was – and will continue to be, I hope – the Seventh Samurai, willing to take up the lance for aggrieved citizens and neighbors not versed in every jot and tittle of zoning or planning regulation, fighting against inappropriate or outsized projects. In his gentlemanly, and often humorous way, he was quite happy popping over-inflated balloons, plans that on a grand scale, or only in a micro-neighborhood, reduced the charm and liveability that people in Berkeley have at least some small right to.  

Wherever rents are dear and money cheap, developers will never be in short supply. If one should implode in bankruptcy, there will always be a man with a plan who turns up at the ZAB, proposing their vision of Berkeley as the New Calcutta, nests and warrens of tiny rooms above street level, with a worthy Mother Theresa renting cheap on the ground. Neither will we run short of city planners to shepherd projects through, and to realize they are part of the evolution of a city.  

Yes, it’s tough here. But in spite of the Daily Planet article reporting on a difficulty in recruiting planners to Berkeley, if the economy keeps sliding, anyone with a city job will realize their good fortune. (And there are exceptions – but on the grand scale, what sort of a challenge is it to “plan” in places like Emeryville, or San Francisco? Just leave your rubber stamp on the desk; developers and expediters will handle the rest.)  

I do worry that there’s a limited supply of people like Gene Poschman though. If Andy Katz is one of them, we will be lucky. There’s no rent stream out of this deal, no capital gain, no back scratching by politicians, no city legal staff anxious to pave the way, and no city pension at the end of the day. There is an amazing amount of tsouris, aggro, consumption of paper, expenditure of shoe leather, and late hours. You could end up needing an operation.  

I wish Dr. Poschman a successful medical procedure (mark the correct hip with a felt pen), followed by a speedy recovery. Then I hope he does a Michael Jordan. He’s simply too valuable to be absent from the evolution of our city. 

Bob Howard 

Berkeley 

For residents who can’t get enough of watching city politics in action, Berkeley Community Media is expanding its cable access service to Channel 78 beginning Jan. 1.  

On Channel 78, viewers can expect more civic announcements, an expanded community bulletin board and, eventually, additional city meetings. 

Berkeley Community Media has aired live coverage of City Council, Board of Education and Rent Stabilization Board meetings on Channel 25 since 1994. Now BCM, a nonprofit funded predominantly by the city, is expanding to accommodate more educational and local programming currently competing for air time on Channel 25. 

“We are very excited about the program flexibility we will have with the new channel,” said Berkeley Community Media Executive Director Brian Scott. “Now we will be able to expand city government coverage on Channel 78 and present more consistent public programming on Channel 25.” 

In addition to the public meetings BCM now airs, Channel 78 will carry more public service announcements, meeting agendas and Berkeley job announcements.  

in case of a disaster much quicker than before because of a new Web-based electronic messaging system that will allow emergency information to be typed directly onto the broadcast image. 

“With this new system city officials sitting in their offices can reach viewers immediately,” he said. “Before it could take up to an hour or longer from the time the station collected the information from the city, formatted it and aired it.” 

The city is currently negotiating with BCM to arrange for additional city meetings to be aired on Channel 78.  

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he would like to see expanded coverage of commission and board meetings. “It would be great to air as many meetings as we can afford to,” he said. “A lot of people have expressed an interest in seeing the Zoning Adjustment Board and Planning Commission meetings.” 

Scott said he is working to include the Californian Channel, which covers the state legislature, to Channel 78’s programming. 

“I think it’s really important to have access to the California Channel for people who want to keep up with state government,” said Worthington, who said he now watches it on Channel 26. Worthington added that Channel 26 programming is in flux, and it would be important for Channel 78 to take over the California Channel programming if Channel 26 drops the coverage. 

Berkeley Communications Manager Stephanie Lopez said the city is looking forward to increased opportunity to share city information with the public, for example, the city will be able to have more time to let the public know about its information line – 981-CITY.She said city’s information line has been an excellent feature to help the public navigate through the various city departments. 

“It has been a very popular information source without much advertising,” she said. “We get over 4,000 calls a month for all kinds information from where to pay parking tickets to how to seismically retrofit your home.” 

Scott said Channel 25 will continue to air popular community shows such as the music program “Sound Gallery,” the talk show “What’s This” and the movie review program “Trailer Trash.” 

For more information about Berkeley Community Media programming or how to get video projects aired on Channel 25 call 848-2288 or visit www.betv.org.  

SAN FRANCISCO — Travelers shuffling through airport security lines during this busy travel time are being serenaded by mariachi bands and wowed by magicians as airports attempt to ease impatience and stress. 

Lines grew even longer after a man allegedly tried to set off explosives in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight Saturday.  

Other travelers have been forced to slip off their shoes, as the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to step up scrutiny for explosives. 

Some airports responded by jazzing up what, for many, became an increasingly complex trip to the airport.  

Passengers have been waiting three hours or longer at some San Francisco Bay Area airports. 

“We had a whole program of entertainment, including music, a masseuse and a magician. We went to different community groups and asked them if they would like to come to the airport,” said Cheryl Demetriff, deputy director for marketing and public relations for Sacramento International Airport. 

“Everybody loved it. People were applauding and singing along,” Demetriff said. 

At Los Angeles International Airport, holiday carolers from local high schools sang and two Santa Clauses strolled through the crowds, handing out gifts to children, said Harold Johnson, an airport spokesman 

At Oakland International Airport, a mariachi band, face painters and a guitarist entertained travelers on the busiest weekend of flying since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Jo Murray, airport spokeswoman. 

Not every airport could afford such festivities. 

A deficit of more than $100 million this fiscal year at San Francisco International Airport meant foregoing Christmas trees and carolers or else possibly having to lay off one or more workers, said airport spokesman Ron Wilson.

Century-old sycamores sick in Livermore 

LIVERMORE — Trees at Sycamore Grove Park are sick. 

Consultants say the 90 to 100 year-old sycamores in the state’s third-largest sycamore grove are suffering from anthracnose, a debilitating fungal disease caused by excessive soil moisture. 

The tree population, which covers about 185 acres of the 750-acre park, has been declining for nearly 15 years. 

The Livermore Area Recreation and Park District is spending $30,000 to study the cause of the moisture that prevents the sycamore trees from having a normal dry cycle in the summer. Experts believe the moisture may be due to water releases from Del Valle dam above the park. 

Man arrested for robbing taxis 

SAN FRANCISCO — Police shot and arrested a man after he allegedly robbed and stabbed a taxicab driver in the city’s Bernal Heights neighborhood early Sunday morning. 

Carleris Menendez, 22, of San Francisco, has allegedly robbed 10 cab drivers, all in the Bernal Heights district, police said. 

“Today he robbed his unlucky 11th,” Lt. Bruce Marovich said. 

Robbery detectives were staking out certain areas of the city Sunday, waiting for the robber to strike again. 

At 3:45 a.m., police say a cab driver they were following yelled for help and shouted that he had been stabbed. An officer shot a fleeing man in the leg. 

Menendez is suspected of stealing $3,000 from cab drivers, police said. “We call him the Bernal Heights bandit,” Marovich said. “But at least he didn’t kill anybody.” 

Injuries to Menendez and the cab driver were not life-threatening. 

Baseball losing out to soccer on  

Peninsula 

PALO ALTO — The city is so short of soccer fields that one parks and recreation commissioner has proposed to convert baseball fields into soccer fields. 

The suggestion is to transform the Baylands Athletic Center, a city-owned baseball diamond built in 1969, into two, possibly three, soccer fields for the American Youth Soccer Organization. 

Rick Beckwith, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission, aired his proposal at a commission meeting last month. The proposal not only creates a clash with coaches competing for fields, but a Babe Ruth Baseball official believes it could threaten his league’s viability. 

About 150 children, ages 13 to 15, play in the local Babe Ruth league. The league practices, plays and hosts tournaments at Baylands, which boasts a lighted baseball diamond with a 500-seat grandstand. 

Beckwith said 2,500 children participate in AYSO, which doesn’t have enough soccer fields to go around. 

“There’s enough field space between Paly and Gunn for them to play all their games on those two fields,” Beckwith said, referring to Palo Alto’s high schools. 

LAS VEGAS — The story of American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh has stirred memories for a Las Vegas man who earned a Bronze Star investigating a treason case during the Korean War. 

Unlike Lindh, who is said to have been driven by a commitment to Islamic fundamentalism, the man John O’Connell helped catch appeared to be selling U.S. military secrets to North Korea for money. 

O’Connell called Lindh “a misled American.” 

“I think he fell for the Taliban’s claims that they were getting back to the fundamentals of Islam,” O’Connell told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I don’t think when he joined up with them he ever had the slightest idea that he would be fighting against the U.S. military.” 

Lindh, the 20-year-old captured by U.S. forces after a prison uprising in northern Afghanistan this month, could face charges such as providing support to terrorists, which carries a 15-year sentence, or treason, which carries a maximum sentence of death. 

O’Connell, 82, has a home display case with various medals and the Bronze Star he got in 1953 as an investigator with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, or OSI. 

Maj. Mike Richmond of the Air Force OSI at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland verified that a John O’Connell was with the OSI in Korea during the war. Richmond said an investigator received a Bronze Star in 1953. No additional information was available. 

O’Connell, who has written an unpublished manuscript about his life, showed the Review-Journal a document citing the actions that earned him the Bronze Star. 

It says he was “instrumental in the investigation, apprehension and conviction of an individual engaged in black-marketing and seditious acts.” The man’s name was not provided. 

O’Connell, a 27-year Air Force veteran who had been a lawyer in civilian life, was a lieutenant colonel in Japan when he was assigned to investigate a black marketing scheme. 

He said the postal service noticed an Air Force tech sergeant in Seoul, South Korea, was sending unusual amounts of U.S. cash to America. 

O’Connell said soldiers at the time used military script, so any movement of cash could mean someone was selling items like American cigarettes on the black market. 

“You could buy a carton of cigarettes for a dollar from the military exchange and sell it for $14 or $15,” O’Connell said. “They could make a killing whether they smoked or not.” 

O’Connell said a pilot reported that the sergeant wanted to be flown back and forth between Korea and Japan, and the pilot agreed to cooperate with the investigation. 

O’Connell and OSI investigators followed the sergeant to Tokyo and watched him and the pilot meet with a young airman. 

The pilot and tech sergeant then returned to Seoul, where O’Connell learned that the sergeant was going to another meeting at an abandoned hut outside the city. 

When the pilot gave a signal, O’Connell said he and other OSI investigators and South Korea intelligence agents stormed the hut and found the tech sergeant with two North Korean agents. 

The sergeant had a confidential document detailing air operations of the Fifth Air Force. The North Koreans had U.S. cash. 

O’Connell said that without a word, the South Korean intelligence officers led the two North Korean agents outside and shot them. O’Connell said he was stunned. 

O’Connell said he and the pilot testified at a Tokyo court martial in which the sergeant was sentenced to 20 years in a military prison.

NEW YORK — The American who was captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan once met with Osama bin Laden while living in a terrorist training camp near Kandahar, a published report said. 

In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, John Walker Lindh, 20, was given the choice between training for terrorist instruction or fighting as an al-Qaida soldier against the northern alliance, Newsweek magazine reported, citing unnamed sources. 

A Justice Department official told Newsweek that Lindh chose to fight — an issue now at the center of discussions about Lindh’s fate. 

“There’s still a lot of missing pieces,” an official working on the case told the magazine. “We’re trying to figure out exactly what he did.” 

Lindh could face charges such as providing support to terrorists, which carries a 15-year sentence, or life imprisonment, if his support resulted in a death. 

Lindh could also be charged with treason, which carries a maximum sentence of death. 

Bush administration officials told Newsweek that some authorities may want to delay charging Lindh if he has information that could help prosecute bin Laden or other al-Qaida leaders. 

Lindh was captured by U.S. forces after a prison uprising at a fortress in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif this month. 

WALDPORT, Ore. — The two children found dead here in recent days were probably brother and sister, and their deaths were not accidental, authorities said Sunday. 

Divers found the body of a young girl in a coastal inlet over the weekend, a few hundred yards from where a boy’s body had drifted ashore on Wednesday. Investigators have not identified either child. 

“It’s bad enough to have one child found dead,” said Lt. Ed Stallard of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. “But now (we) have two, and then apparently some parents that cannot or will not report the children missing.” 

Police have accounted for all local children. They have notified police agencies across the West Coast, and the FBI is searching national databases of missing children. 

The boy’s body came ashore in a small coastal inlet that feeds Alsea Bay. It appeared to have been in the water for about 10 hours, meaning it entered the water shortly after midnight. An autopsy found no obvious signs of trauma. 

Divers searching the bay Saturday found the young girl. Police believe she died at about the same time as the boy. 

The boy was between 4 and 6 years old, with light brown hair and brown eyes. The girl was about 3 years old, with shoulder-length blond hair. 

“The physical characteristics are similar” between the boy and the girl, Stallard said. “The facial features are similar. The fact that they were both found in the same body of water within a couple of feet of each other all that’s consistent with other evidence that we’ve been obtaining in our investigation.” 

The investigation has focused on a white Mitsubishi Eclipse with California license plates that was parked for hours near Waldport. 

Neighbors near the small coastal community had reported the car on the day the boy’s body drifted to shore. It was parked in an out-of-the-way private drive. The driver seemed asleep behind the wheel, then got out and stood by the car. 

He seemed to look down a forested canyon beside the road, Stallard said. Detectives looked there Friday but turned up no clues. 

A highway runs past Alsea Bay, and police have considered the possibility that a car ran off the road and sank. But Stallard said police have not found skid marks or an oil slick on the water, and divers have found no evidence of a sunken car. 

Residents in the small coastal town prepared Monday for a memorial for the two children. 

A stream of cars passed over the Highway 34 bridge Sunday, near the spot where the bodies were found. A small memorial wall emerged as people stopped to pay their respects. 

Some cried as they knelt in prayer. Others quickly placed flowers and left with hollow looks of sadness. 

“It’s terrible. This time of year it shouldn’t be like this,” said Gary Bessette, one of the mourners. “Those little kids should be running around anticipating what they’re going to get for Christmas.” 

A line of stuffed animals, teddy bears, balloons, flowers and candles were placed near the memorial. A card read: “We didn’t know you, but you touched our heart.” Another said: “Angel among us! You are loved.”

TAHOE CITY— Feet and feet of early season snow are helping to boost the winter ski season in Tahoe, which had gotten off to a slow start. 

Now, hotels bookings are on pace with last December, and some tourist industry officials are predicting that this season could exceed last year’s. 

“Everybody in the ski industry was concerned about the implosion of the dot-com industry in the Bay Area and the effects of Sept. 11,” said Greg Murtha, marketing director for Sugar Bowl Resort. “Now, we’re optimistic it’s going to be a great year.” 

Hotel bookings had slumped in October and November, but the new snow has helped turn things around.  

Cal Neva Resort on the stateline saw a drop in business, including their big draw, weddings.  

But now, all its rooms are booked for New Year’s, and it is offering special deals to attract people after the holiday. 

“People are more comfortable traveling, and the snow is terrific,” said Cal Neva spokesman Rick Talbot. “I think this is going to be a be a good year for everybody up here.” 

A series of storms have blanketed the region, and even forced the closure of Interstate 80. Chains often have been required throughout the Sierra Nevada, and the journey from San Francisco to Tahoe doubled to a seven-hour drive. 

Squaw Valley reports its snow is nearly twice as deep as it usually is at this time. 

“We’ve had 8 feet, almost 9 feet on the upper mountain,” said Eric Brandt, Squaw’s marketing director. “That’s huge for this time of year.” 

Skiers and snowboarders are making the most of the thick snow. 

“I really wanted to come,” said Nancy Rogers, during a short break at Squaw. “I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.” 

No weather event such as El Nino is causing all the snow, said Mike Pechner, staff meteorologist for KCBS radio. 

“It’s a normal weather pattern,” he said. “It just happened earlier than usual.”

FORT ORD — A dispute over air pollution and endangered species has left the U.S. Army unable to continue cleaning up this decommissioned military base, where rockets, grenades, mortars, bullets and other potentially lethal scrap lie unexploded in the brush. 

The Army is hoping to use controlled burns to clear the dense brush so it can then go in and remove the explosives. But the area is home to endangered, threatened and rare plant species, such as the Monterey sand gilia, Monterey spine flower and Seaside bird’s beak, and the California tiger salamander. 

The public also is leery about controlled burns at the base. In 1997, one burn turned into a wildfire that consumed 700 acres of land and shrouded the peninsula in thick smoke. 

“People living in cities 20 miles away had to drive with their headlights on,” said Douglas Quetin, the air pollution control officer for the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District. 

Fires, accidental and prescribed, have been frequent at the post, where explosions could be heard for miles. 

The Army was ordered to clean up the 28,000-acre site, which was declared a Superfund site largely due to the ordnance left after 77 years as an infantry training post. The area where the ammunition is concentrated is fenced off by 12 miles of concertina wire. 

The Army doesn’t own all the land anymore, having transferred 7,200 acres of it to the federal Bureau of Land Management, which has turned it into a recreational area. About 6,000 acres are slated for development by surrounding communities. And since 1995, the post, which closed in 1994, has become the campus for California State University, Monterey Bay. 

The cleanup of Fort Ord includes removing the ordnance and remedying soil and water contamination. It has cost $250 million to date and is expected to take 10 to 15 years and cost another $75 million to finish. 

The Army estimates it already has removed 42,000 pieces of the ammunition and 350 tons of lead and bullet parts from firing ranges. 

The Army is planning to publish an interim plan listing several alternatives to complete the ordnance cleanup in March. 

While the environmental review continues, explosives technicians scour the brush. They bury the unexploded ordnance to muffle the sound when they detonate it. 

Biologist Bill Collins, the environmental monitor for the removal project, says the controlled burns that would clear the chaparral would also help many of the plants there germinate. 

“If we were to go in and only use cutting as a method of clearing that chaparral, the seeding plants that require fire to germinate would disappear over time, so the habitat would change,” he said. 

It’s taken four and a half years of dogged activism, but Beebo Turman is finally “cautiously optimistic” about the state of recycling in Berkeley’s public schools. 

“I think there’s a ‘can-do’ attitude in the district now,” said Turman, a local activist who has worked as the recycling coordinator for Berkeley schools since 1997. “The first couple of years it was, ‘Don’t bother me.’” 

Recycling began in 1995, with just one school, King Middle. Today, city officials who oversee recycling at the schools said every school in the system recycles “mixed-paper,” a term referring to paper of any color. Nine of 12 elementary schools recycle aluminum lunch trays. Oxford School recycles milk cartons and cuts down on waste by using real plates and silverware.  

Individual teachers, custodians and parent volunteers at various schools collect bottles and cans and compost garden materials on a more haphazard basis, officials said. City of Franklin Microsociety Magnet School will begin recycling milk cartons shortly, they added. 

Turman worked as recycling coordinator for three years under a grant from the Alameda County Waste Management Authority. She is now a part-time employee of Berkeley’s Department of Public Works and said it was a struggle to get this far — particularly at the high school. 

“There has been very low morale with the high school custodians,” said Turman, who trains students and custodians and occasionally pays for supplies out of her own pocket. “They didn’t want to work on recycling. They saw it as another task to add to their workload.” 

Judson Owens, general services manager for the school district, said that a heavy workload and a lack of custodial crew training have slowed the high school’s recycling progress. He said short-staffing has also played a role. Janitors are often out with injuries or simply don’t show up to work. 

“Absenteeism is a real problem,” Owens said. “Out of 11 individuals, we’re lucky if we have eight or nine on a given day.” 

Last year, the city hired a part-time employee through the

Going into Saturday night’s game against highly-ranked Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco), the ’Jackets knew the Crusaders had two big weapons, forwards Marquis Kately and John Tofi. But Riordan showed that it is more than the big duo, as two of the supporting cast had big nights to help their team to a 58-39 win in Berkeley. 

With Tofi in foul trouble early, senior forward Ryan Bruno snuck through the Berkeley defense for 17 points and 8 rebounds, and point guard Josh Vergara pitched in 15 points to support Kately’s game-high 18-point effort. The Crusaders were simply too overpowering for the ’Jackets to have much of a chance. 

“Ryan plays his butt off every game, and he’s always around the basket,” Riordan head coach Rich Forslund said. “He’s a good, smart player with a very good shooting touch. He showed what he could do tonight. This was his best game of the season.” 

With the 6-foot-8 Tofi, 6-foot-5 Kately and 6-foot-4 Bruno, Riordan’s front line towered over the ’Jackets. Senior forward Damien Burns was the only Berkeley player who could find any room inside, but even he had two shots swatted away by the Riordan players. Tofi, Kately and Bruno combined for 28 rebounds, out-boarding the entire Berkeley squad. 

Burns ended up with 8 points, six rebounds and 3 steals, and Rodney Jones led the ’Jackets with 9 points, but the crowd seemed most excited when Kately was in the open court. The high-flying senior, who has signed a letter of intent with Cal, had several opportunities for highlight-reel dunks, but twice his feet slipped out from under him, and Berkeley’s hustle kept him from lifting off on two other occasions. 

“I think I was just too anxious,” Kately said of his difficulties. “We played pretty good as a team, but I’d say I only played so-so as an individual.” 

With 9 rebounds and 3 steals to go with his scoring efforts, Kately’s “so-so” night was clearly more than the ’Jackets could handle. With the score tied 4-4 halfway through the first quarter, Kately picked off a Berkeley pass and headed the other way, making a layup while drawing a foul. Tofi picked up his second foul moments later and headed to the bench, but Kately dropped in two more buckets in the quarter and Bruno scored on two putbacks. Jones hit a 3-pointer with a minute left to draw the ’Jackets within a point at 9-8, but those were the last points Berkeley would score for nearly six minutes of action. Kately finished the quarter by diving out of bounds to save a teammate’s errant pass, then came back in to hit a short jumper to give his team a 13-9 lead at the break. 

Riordan extended their lead to 27-8 before Nate Simmons finally broke Berkeley’s scoring drought with two free throws. Madiou Diouf would make a 3-pointer near the end of the half, but that was his team’s only field goal of the quarter, and when Kately got a tip-in at the buzzer, Riordan had a 32-16 advantage going into the break, a lead Berkeley would never threaten in the second half. 

“Berkeley came out hard, and they double team so much that it’s hard to run an offense against them,” Forslund said. “But with them scrambling around, we got a lot of open looks around the basket.” 

Bruno was the main recipient of those easy baskets, shooting a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor. Vergara, on the other hand, kept lurking around the perimeter, getting the ball to his big men inside and waiting for a kick-out pass. He hit two 3-pointers and slashed to the basket for two layups on his way to a season-high in points. 

The young ’Jackets did show flashes of potential, including an aggressive effort by sophomore Khion Tate. Tate scored 7 points and struggled from the outside, missing three shots from behind the arc, but showed good athleticism driving to the basket and used every inch of his 6-foot-3 frame to block a Vergara jumper and come down with the loose ball. But overall the ’Jackets just didn’t look comfortable on offense as the Riordan big men recorded 7 blocked shots in the game. 

Although Kately did manage two acrobatic layups, he never quite gave the crowd the rim-rattling jam it was waiting for. Tofi, however, managed to wow the spectators in the final seconds of the game, gathering an offensive rebound and flying over two ’Jackets for a power dunk. 

“I don’t really feel pressure to put on a show,” Kately said of his reputation as a crowd-pleaser. “But if I get the chance, I don’t mind giving the fans some entertainment.

Monday, Dec. 24

Midnight Mass 

11:45 p.m. 

St. Augustine Church 

400 Alcatraz 

Prelude music begins at 11:15 p.m., mass begins at 11:30 p.m. 653-8631 

18th Annual Telegraph Ave.  

Holiday Street Fair  

11 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Telegraph Ave. 

Between Dwight Way and Bancroft 

Telegraph Avenue presents a mix of free music, good food, festive lights, colorful decorations. More than 300 artists will display handmade crafts. 

Tuesday, Dec. 25

Guided Tours of Jewish Art and History 

12 - 4 p.m. 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St. 

Family Day at the Museum. The tours will present over 250 objects from the Museum’s permanent collections on display in the major exhibition “Telling Time: To Everything There is a Season.” 549-6950 www.magnesmuseum.org 

Puppets and Puppet Making 

1 p.m. and 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

141 Walnut St. 

Jennifer Levine presents “Princess Moxie Rules!” a 30 minute puppet show followed by a puppet-making project. 848-0237, www.brjcc.org. 

Gerry Tenney & California  

Klezmer Jewish Music 

2 p.m. & 3 p.m. 

2911 Russell St. 

Hands-on Art Projects. 848-0237, www.brjcc.org. 

Wednesday, Dec. 26

Professor Smart’s Fun with  

Physics Show 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Professor Smart shrinks his head, has toilet paper flying, juggles and has the audience’s hair standing on end all the while demonstrating the principles of physics. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Thursday, Dec. 27

Slapstick with Derique 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Ham Bone body drumming, physical comedy, and circus arts are sure to stimulate your “funny bone” as New Vaudeville artist Derique lets you into his hip style of circus arts. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Friday, Dec. 28

World Rhythms 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Japanese taiko, African marimba and djembe, Middle Eastern dumbek, Afro-Cuban chekere, and conga drums celebrate musical traditions from around the world. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Bay Area Women in Black  

Vigil 

noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft and Telegraph Ave. 

Part of over 70 vigils worldwide in solidarity with Israeli Women in Black to protest the Israeli occupation. Please wear black, everyone welcome. 486-2744, BayAreaWomeninBlack@earthlink.net. 

Saturday, Dec. 29

Magic Show 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Jay Alexander performs his magical mixture of comedy and illusion with special effects that will entertain visitors of all ages. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Sunday, Dec. 30

Music and Storytelling 

1 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive, above UC Berkeley Campus 

Familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales come to life in musical stories by children’s performer Dennis Hysom. $3 - $7. 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org

Editor: 

I’d like to join the endless repetitive chorus of those applauding the wisdom and courage of Representative Barbara Lee, who refused to support the American bombing and war effort in Afghanistan. Thanks, Barbara for refusing to support the series of atrocious bombings which do seem to have resulted in: 

1. Perpetuating the cycle of violence by pretty much ending the war. 

2. The liberation of an oppressed and abused Afghan people. 

3. The tenuous first stages of the liberation of Afghan women. 

4. The coming rebirth of Afghan public education. 

5. The clear collapse of an obviously unpopular Taliban regime which was largely supported and often run by non-Afghans. 

6. The legalization and rebirth of Afghan art, music, poetry, sports and politics. 

All of these, a direct result of the American bombing and war effort, were thankfully opposed by the courage and wisdom of Representative Barbara Lee.  

May we the voters in her district truly reflect the wisdom of her choices. 

I hope that many of those who opposed the Afghan war effort will be willing to admit at least the possibility of their not being completely correct.  

Certainly it would be easier to hear their other concerns about civil liberties here at home (which I share) if they could publicly acknowledge the perhaps surprising good that seems to have come from the war.  

Michael Steinberg 

Berkeley 

924 Gilman Dec. 28: What Happens Next, Rambo, Lie, Youth Riot, Lugosi; Dec. 29: Defiance, The P.A.W.N.S., Panty Raid, Sexy, Gluk; Jan. 4: Champion, Carry On, Stay Gold, The First Step, The Damage Done; Jan. 5: Iron Lung, B.G., Crucial Attack, Blown To Bits; Jan. 11: Bananas, Numbers, Lowdown, Doozers, Iron Ass; Jan. 12: Plan 9, The Sick, The Hellbillies, Oppressed Logic, Deltaforce; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Ashkenaz Dec. 25: 10 p.m., Lickshot, DJ Tony Moses, $5; Dec. 26: 10 p.m., Zulu Spear, Fireproof, $5; Dec. 27: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Dec. 28: 9:30 p.m., Mood Swing Orchestra, $11; Dec. 29: 9:30 p.m., Caribbean All Stars, $11; Dec. 30: 8 p.m., Marimba Pacific, $8; Dec. 31: 8 p.m., Balkan New Year’s Eve with Edessa and Anoush, $15; 1317 San Pablo Ave., 525-5054, www.ashkenaz.com.  

Blake’sDec. 29: 11 p.m., Jack West & Curvature, $5; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club JJang-Ga Dec. 29: Deducted Value, 3rd Rail, Noiz, Un Sed; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, (925) 833-7820, savageproductionssl@yahoo.com. 

Cal Performances Jan. 20: 3 p.m., Midori and Robert McDonald. $28 -$48. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph. 642-9988 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Jan. 5: The Bluegrass Intentions CD Release Party; Jan. 6: Allette Brooks; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. 548-1761, www.freightandsalvage.org.  

Julia Morgan Theatre Dec. 31: 8 p.m., New Year’s Eve Gala Concert, Program of classical favorites of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra; Jan 11: 8 p.m. San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, sizzling program of classical party music; Jan. 12: 8:p.m., “Club Dance,” Teens come together to express their individual personalities and gifts as dancers. $10, Students and Seniors $6, Children ages 5 and under $6. Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.org. 

Jupiter Dec. 27: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 28: Ben Krames & Candlelight Dub; 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. 

Rose Street House Dec. 25: 3 p.m., Annual “Dykelah Escape-from-you-know-what-day Musical Extravaganza!”; Jan.17: 7:30 p.m., Allette Brooks. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Yoshi’s Jazz House Dec. 26 - 31: New Year’s Fiesta, The Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters; Jan. 2 - 6: Charles Lloyd; Jan. 13: Jacqui Naylor Quartet; All shows at 8 p.m., and 10 p.m., unless noted. 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakland. Check for prices and Sunday Matinees, 238-9200, www.yoshis.com. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley Jan. 6: 3 p.m., Stephen Genz in his West Coast debut; 2345 Channing Way, 527-8175, www.geocities.com/mostlybrahms. 

Berkeley Piano Club Jan.11: 8 p.m., Kate Steinbeck and Renee Witon; Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St., (510) 531-1487. 

Berkeley High School Dance Production Jan. 11, 12, 18 &19: 7:30 p.m., Diverse mix of classical and modern ballet to hard-core hip-hop. $5. Florence Schwimley Little Theatre, Allston way and MLK., 644-6120 

“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 

“Every Inch a King” Jan. 11 through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.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 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 3: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Unfinished Song; Jan. 4: 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m., Going By; Jan. 5: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., Under the Moonlight; Jan. 6: 1p.m., 3 p.m., Paper Airplanes, 5:30 Shrapnels in Peace; Jan.10: 7 p.m., 9 p.m., ABC Africa; Jan.11: 7:30 p.m., The Girl at the Monceau Bakery and Suzanne’s Career, 9:05 p.m. The Sign of the Lion with Place de l’Etoile; Jan. 12: 7p.m., La Collectionneuse, 8:50 p.m., My Night at Maud’s; Jan.13: 1p.m., 3p.m., Os 

“Images of Innocence and Beauty” Through Jan. 8: An exhibit featuring Kathleen Flannigan’s drawing and furniture - boxes, tables, and mirrors, all embellished with images of the beauty and innocence of the natural world. Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison St. 

“From With These Walls” Jan. 5: Educational studio opening celebration gallery show of student works in steel, bronze, aluminum, cast iron, glass, neon, ceramic, stone and paper; jewelry. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby St. (Entrance is one block south on Murray St.) 843-5511, fran@thecrucible.org. 

“The First Five Years” Through Jan.11: Exhibit represents a selection of drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture created by students during their 7th & 8th grade years. 7a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon-Fri, 5:30- 9:30 p.m. Sat., Bucci’s Restaurant, 6121 Hollis St., Emeryville, 547-4725, www.bucci.com 

“Carving, Canvas, Color: Art of Julio Garcia and Wilbert Griffith” Through Jan.12: Brightly colored wooden figures and colorfully detailed paintings. Gallery is open by appointment and chance, most weekdays 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.; The Ames Gallery, 2661 Cedar St., 845-4949, amesgal@home.com 

“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 

“Analogous Biology: Balance and Use,” Mark J. Leavitt, Dec. 20 through Jan. 19; Tue. - Sat., 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland. 836-0831, www.artolio.com. 

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 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: An exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and  

regional artists. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“Water Media” Jan. 10 through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

Traywick Gallery: “New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Jan. 5 through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture explores memory as the building block of consciousness, learning and experience. Steve Brisco’s paintings on paper address issues of identity through evocative combinations of text and imagery. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., 1316 10th St. 527-1214 

“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 Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Jan. 2 through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Reception for artist, Jan. 12: 6 - 8 p.m., Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography. Wed, Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado” Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: Over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. $4 - $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Jan. 11 through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“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, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Jan. 8: Theodore Hamm discusses “Rebel and a Cause: Caryl Chessman and the Politics of the Death Penalty”; Jan. 10: Joan Frank reads from her new book, “Boys Keep Being Born”; Jan. 11: Christopher Hitchens, “Letters to a Youn Contrarian”; Jan. 14: Pamela Logan talks about “Tibetan Rescue: A Woman’s Quest to Save the Fabulous Art Treasures of Pewar Monastery”; All events are free and start at 7:30 p.m. unless noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Coffee With A Beat - Word Beat reading series 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 Jan. 9: 7 p.m., “Our Wings Are Pregnant Seesaws,” Reading performance of a play by H. D. Moe. 390 27th St., Oakland, 528-8713. 

Tours 

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

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 

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; $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 “Kwanzaa Community Celebration” Dec. 30: 12-4 p.m.,Nia Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that honors black family history; 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 Dec. 26: 1 p.m., Professor Smart’s Fun with Physics Show; Dec. 27: 1 p.m., Slapstick with Derique; Dec. 28: 1 p.m., Rhythmix; Dec. 29: 1 p.m., Magic with Jay Alexander; Dec. 30: 1 p.m., Music and Storytelling with Dennis Hysom; Dec. 31: 1 p.m., New Year’s Eve Party, special daytime holiday party for kids; Dec. 26 through 31: Free Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulb; 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; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 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.

Berkeley is in the midst of an unusual crime wave and city officials have so far been helpless to stop the culprits who are robbing $1 million from city coffers one coin at a time.  

The city manager’s office released a report on Tuesday that claims vandals are jamming small objects into parking meter coin slots. The damage is occurring at such a rapid pace that city maintenance crews can’t keep up with repairs despite the recent hiring of two additional meter maintenance workers. 

City officials say the vandals are damaging the meters for a variety of reasons. But most often it’s so they can park their cars for longer periods of time than the meters would allow without the threat of getting a ticket. 

“It may not seem like much to the people who are jamming the meters but the cumulative impact in pretty significant on city services,” Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz. “A million bucks is a lot of money that could be spent on much needed city programs.” 

According to the report, the neighborhoods hardest hit were around the UC campus where the 813 meters in the area were vandalized over 5,000 times during a six month period ending last November. That is four times the rate of the downtown, where 732 meters were jammed 1,250 times. The 145 meters in the Elmwood District were jammed least at 40 times during the same six months.  

UC Director of Community Relations Irene Hegarty said it would be rash to assume that that students are responsible because the majority of the vandalism is near the university. 

TEMPE, Ariz. – Senior center Ami Forney posted 20 points and 11 rebounds but it wasn’t enough to prevent Cal from losing to Arizona State 63-49 Sunday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.  

The Golden Bears fifth straight loss dropped their record to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in Pac-10 play. The Sun Devils improved to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in league play. It was the Bears’ first loss this season by more than six points.  

“We struggled to score in stretches, but our players didn’t give up,” said Cal coach Caren Horstmeyer. “Our defense was fairly good. I was trying to make sure the team didn’t put their heads down. We did stop Melody Johnson (7 points). A lot of credit goes to Ami Forney.”  

Forney posted her second double-double of the season and ninth of her career. Cal’s next leading scorer was sophomore guard LaTasha O’Keith with 9. While Forney was the only Bear in double figures, four Sun Devils had at least 10 points. Amanda Levens led the way with 16 points, followed by Betsy Boardman, Cian Carvalho and Carrie Buckner with 12 apiece.  

Cal stayed within 10 points of Arizona State for the entire first half and even led by as many as four points. Then the Sun Devils went on a 9-0 run to pull ahead 17-12 , and built their biggest lead of the first half at 28-19 before Cal freshman Jackie Lord nailed a three-pointer, her first career points, to bring the Bears within 28-22 with just under three minutes. ASU led 31-22 at the half.  

Horstmeyer was unhappy with the lack of fouls being called in the first half and was whistled for her first technical foul of the season with 18.6 seconds left in the half. The Bears and Sun Devils were each only 1-of-2 from the charity stripe in the first half. For the game, Cal was 3-of-7 and ASU was 5-of-9.  

Two and a half minutes into the second half, ASU wasted little time building its then-biggest lead of the game at 42-26. But the resilient Bears quickly put a 7-0 run (42-33) on the Sun Devils to close to within nine at 15:58. That was as close as Cal would get the rest of the game as their offense stalled. After ASU pulled away by 19, Cal clawed to within 13 following a layup by Olga Volkova.  

The Bears were hurt by 27 turnovers, including 17 in the first half.

Editor: 

The experimental mixed waste treatability study should not be restarted because:  

1. This is a dangerous experimental study using a very amateur apparatus done by macho cowboys who have already caused an accident. The accident which caused the shutdown of the Treatability Study a year ago, demonstrates what is already known, that pilot studies by amateurs are always dangerous.  

2. This study was stopped by a state agency because dangerous practices resulted in a dangerous accident and risk to the public. 12,000 Curies of tritium are stored a few feet from pure oxygen and an explosion chamber at high temperature used in the apparatus. This could blow up at any time spreading thousands of Curies of radiation everywhere.  

3. Mixed waste is a problem at all DOE and radiation facilities because they have not found an answer to the disposal problem. The other facilities are storing the mixed waste on-site until a solution is found. Other facilities — not located in an urban setting — are better places to do experimental studies.  

4. Treating the mixed waste on site does not make it safer to transport. This process has increased the amount of mixed waste because the process did not successfully separate the waste — the waste stream was still contaminated with both radioactive and chemical waste after treatment.  

This treatment is creating more mixed waste. It will be just as hazardous to transport and there will be twice as much. It is a DOE/LBNL lie that it is safer to treat it onsite and makes it safer to transport.  

The State of California shut it down because it was not safe. California has led the nation in environmental laws. The U.S. government adopted California’s environmental laws for the nation because they were more stringent and better crafted than any others. 

DOE and the U.S. government have blatantly lied for decades at their radiation and research facilities about the health hazards of radioactive materials. This is just another lie to keep the money flowing into the coffers of LBNL so that three or four people don’t lose their jobs.  

I ask you, how much is a life in Berkeley worth?  

Leuren Moret 

Berkeley 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

Pity the person who must find a way to make a 2000-year-old story sing. One would think that every approach, every once-novel spin on the tale, had been tried and abandoned centuries ago. 

Still, Father George Abegadan, who was installed at Gilman Street’s beautiful, old-world St. Ambrose Catholic Church in October, knows how to get the Christmas message across to his congregation. 

“The good sermon has to appeal to the heart and to the intellect,” he says. “That’s why stories are so powerful. They appeal to the whole person.” 

“When children go back to their homes and repeat a story to their parents, you have succeeded,” he says.  

Father Abegadan says that he will speak for only 10 minutes or so at each of the two Christmas sermons he will give this year.  

“The sermon used to be very long, and would preach at the people,” he says – a method he thinks is no longer effective in the modern world.  

This Christmas, Father Abegadan will tell the tale of the birth of the baby Jesus, as he does every year, and he’ll tell another story – one with a related theme, but one that his parishioners should find more accessible. 

“I love stories, and Christmas is a time for stories,” he says. “The challenge is to connect the Christmas story to our story, to the problems and aspirations of our lives.” 

Editor: 

In the Friday Dec. 14, 2001 issue you printed a picture of the grand opening of the Gaia Building. Developer Patrick Kennedy of Panoramic Interests used the event as a fundraiser for the Berkeley Emergency Food and Housing Project, another clear indication that this agency, which serves homeless and formerly homeless Berkeley residents, is gaining the support of the mainstream business community. Thank you to all who came and contributed. The event raised $4,600 for our programs. (Special thanks to Skates and Café de La Paz for their wonderful food.)  

The Gaia opening marked the beginning of a partnership between BEFHP and Panoramic Interests to provide permanent, affordable housing for our clients. The Gaia Building has more than a dozen units available at low-cost to those in need. It is the first new project by a private developer to accept Section 8 certificate holders.  

Patrick Kennedy has stepped up to the plate and is now in the planning stage of developing more housing that would include many more units dedicated to low-income residents. This plan will also eventually provide offices to our administrative staff, allowing us to expand the space currently being used for offices at our North County Women’s Center to house more women and children.  

Permanent housing is the best solution to homelessness and the problematic street behaviors that arise as the economy and housing crises add pressure on our already disenfranchised and desperate brothers and sisters on the street. This is something obviously important to the merchants of Shattuck and Telegraph avenues, as well as advocates dedicated to ending the trauma of homelessness. Add to this the advantage of housing formerly homeless individuals in mainstream housing developments and the consequential socializing that occurs for all parties involved, and everybody wins. 

Across the nation communities are reeling from the disaster of Sept. 11 and pulling in the purse strings in response to the recession. Berkeley doesn’t hoard her riches or stockpile goods in fear of deprivation. Instead, the larders are emptied and the wallets are opened and presents for the kids, food for the table, and cash to pay PG&E are all contributed.  

What a better example embodying the spirit of this season! 

Marci Jordan, Executive Director 

Berkeley Emergency Food and Housing Project 

The graduate school of journalism of the University of California at Berkeley has announced that Jay T. Harris, former chairman and publisher of the San Jose Mercury News, has been appointed as the Robert C. Maynard Fellow. 

Harris will teach classes, participate in school events and deliver Maynard Lectures on the state of American Media. At the Maynard Institute in Oakland, Harris will lecture and write a regular column for the institute’s Web site. 

Harris, 53, resigned from the Mercury News in March due to his disagreement with the business strategy and company values of the paper’s parent company, Knight Ridder. 

He spent seven years at the Mercury News, which was ranked as one of the 10 best newspapers in the country by the Columbia Journalism Review, and was responsible for expanding the paper’s business and technology coverage. 

Harris also attempted to expand the newspaper to speakers of Spanish and Vietnamese, by creating weekly newspapers in those languages. 

While at the Mercury News, Harris was able to create an ethnically diverse news team, which was made up of 30 percent minority staff.  

Harris began his career in journalism in 1970 at the Wilmington News-Journal papers in Delaware.  

Five years later he joined the faculty at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he launched the American Society of Newspaper Editor’s annual national census of minority employment in daily newspapers. 

The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education trains journalists of color and helps the nation’s news media reflect diversity in its staff, content and business operations.

Editor: 

Let me be the first to burst your misguided bubble in regard to the political goings on at the NEA. 

Not only has your tabloid staff writer not shown any basis for the assertion that there is serious consideration of this as some sort of quashing of political speech, he has clearly missed the more likely fact that this merely a publicity stunt. 

Yours in dismay at the lack of any decent Berkeley(the home of free speech) newspaper. 

John Herbert 

Berkeley 

P.S. The mere fact that the director of the play uses the phrase “very unique” should be reason enough to withhold funding for the piece, regardless of the quality of its content.

Emeryville police are seeking the public’s help in tracking down a suspect who they say shot a man at about midnight Saturday on the 5500 block of Shellmound Street. 

Police said the male victim and his girlfriend were getting out of their car at 11:59 p.m. when the suspect drove up and shot the man in the head. 

The victim is listed in critical condition at an area hospital, officials said, adding that his girlfriend was not injured. 

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call (510) 596-3774. 

SAN FRANCISCO – The green, circular kiosk-style restrooms that sit on San Francisco’s streets cost only a quarter to use, but officials have recently found many toilets may be getting more than just a flush.  

In San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, notorious for its X-rated movie theaters and high drug activity, police listened closely after people dropped their 25 cents into the slot and stepped inside. 

“Not one flush,” said Supervisor Gavin Newsom. “The police watched for weeks, and nobody inside that toilet at night used it for the purpose it was designed for.” 

Instead, homeless people camped out inside, heroin and crack cocaine was sold and used there, and prostitutes brought a whole new meaning to the term “john.” 

Newsom has proposed a measure that would close four of the most crime-ridden commodes from 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. during a six-month trial period. 

Toilet manufacturer JCDecaux says the self-cleaning lavatories are in 550 cities worldwide, and that they are not to blame for drug and prostitution problems that existed long before the restrooms were added. 

But San Francisco police Cmdr. Greg Suhr said officers monitored eight toilets for three weeks in November. None of those commodes had more than three flushes during that time. He noted that even a homeless man told officers he “would rather go behind a tree than use one of those toilets,” Suhr said. “If a person who’s down on their luck is worried about health hazards associated with using a facility designed for the disenfranchised, that means the toilets are missing their mark.” 

But Jake Szeto, a project manager for San Francisco’s Public Works Department, said 3 million people have used the city’s 25 public toilets, which are only a problem in certain neighborhoods. He said the toilet at the corner of 6th and Mission streets will be moved because of the patrons it attracts. 

But Zine said he welcomes the new toilets as a way to reduce public urination and defecation. 

“You go in some alleys in the downtown area, the stench of urine is so overwhelming it’s ridiculous,” Zine said. “It’s a health hazard. We’ve got to do something about it.”

City boards reflecting Asian populations 

FREMONT – Asian-Americans’ representation on city boards throughout the Bay Area is beginning to reflect their cities’ diversity. 

Nearly 40 percent of Fremont’s population is Asian-American, but their representation on city boards has lagged. Now, about one-third of commissioners are Asian-American. 

The same is true for Cupertino, where about 44 percent of the population is Asian-American. About 22 percent of Cupertino’s commissioners are Asian-American, a 50 percent increase from two years ago. 

Steve Cho, Fremont’s first Chinese-American City Council member, says the increase is also a reflection of Asian-Americans’ increased willingness to get involved. 

Delta body ID’d, drowning named as cause of death 

OAKLEY – The body pulled from the Delta Friday was identified as that of boater Mike Valin, and the coroner’s office has determined that the 15-year-old died by drowning. His body was found nearly three weeks after he disappeared. 

Valin and his classmate Mark Osborn, 17, were on a duck-hunting trip with Mark’s father Kent Osborn, when strong waves dumped the boaters into the water. 

Kent Osborn said his son died of hypothermia in his arms in the water. His body has not been recovered. 

Kent Osborn said he drifted in the 50-degree water for about eight hours before being rescued by a passing boater. 

Masters’ students can’t get their transcripts 

SUNNYVALE – More than 150 Masters Institute students who saw their school close with little warning earlier this year can’t get their transcripts. 

The transcripts of 158 students are being held in a Sunnyvale storage yard, which will not release the records until someone pays the school’s bill. 

The bill was about $4,000 in April, when the state tried to retrieve the records. It’s estimated to be around $10,000 today. 

The school never reopened or filed for bankruptcy, and it’s broke now, according to a financial consultant who has handled Masters’ affairs since it closed.

SAN FRANCISCO – In crisp December, the Golden Gate Bridge soars above a sun-spangled San Francisco Bay, sinewy metal shoulders holding up a cerulean sky. 

Tourists pause to snap pictures; surfers tumble in the gray-green waters boiling below. And strolling along its wide sidewalks, National Guard Sgt. Maximilliano Vignoli is spending his son’s 7th birthday away from home, on the lookout for enemies foreign or domestic. 

Three months after the terrorist attacks, life goes on in California — but differently. 

“I can’t say that there’s been anything that has affected so many people ... like this event has,” says pollster Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California. “For Californians, we’re talking about something that occurred on the other side of the continent that affected profoundly not only how they feel about their own safety but how they feel about their lives, their government, the people around them. It’s really pretty amazing.” 

**** 

A year ago, the big threat to the Golden Gate Bridge was that the energy crisis would zap the necklace of amber lights strung along its elegant curves. 

After Sept. 11, the burnt-orange span glowed like a bull’s-eye. 

Two words — credible threat — brought the east coast tragedy home to California with a heart-pounding rush when Gov. Gray Davis announced that terrorists might be planning rush-hour attacks against sites such as the Golden Gate and Bay bridges in San Francisco, the Vincent Thomas Bridge at the Port of Los Angeles and San Diego’s Coronado Bridge. 

It turned out the warning wasn’t that credible and the major threat appeared to be to Davis’ political career; he was scathingly criticized for going public. 

But at year’s end, troops continued to patrol the Golden Gate as well as nearly three dozen airports, at a cost of at least $2.2 million a month. 

There were other changes, some more visible than others: lines at airport security checkpoints grew longer, and lines at Disneyland got shorter as tourism and travel took a hit. 

Pacifist Berkeley voted to oppose the bombing of Afghanistan; gun-shy Hollywood pulled the Arnold Schwarzenegger terrorism film “Collateral Damage,” and put the Emmys on hold, twice. 

Concrete symbols of a suddenly frightened state sprung up overnight, including barriers around Los Angeles City Hall, the soaring landmark that flickered in living rooms of the ’50s as the shadowy building outlined on “Dragnet” Sgt. Joe Friday’s badge No. 714. 

Federal authorities threw their own dragnet around San Diego, where two of the hijackers lived, and Oakland, where one of the hijackers briefly studied flying. 

A poll taken by the PPIC in December found that more than one in three residents were at least somewhat worried that they or someone in their family would be the victim of a terrorist attack. Seven in 10 said they felt more patriotic. 

In mid-December about 1,200 mourners gathered at a grassy hilltop cemetery in Bakersfield to remember Staff Sgt. Brian Prosser, killed when a U.S. bomb missed its target in Afghanistan. 

“He was a true soldier’s soldier,” said commanding officer Capt. Jeff Leopold. 

Many puzzled over the saga of another Californian in Afghanistan, John Walker Lindh, the young man from proudly tolerant Marin County found fighting with the proudly intolerant Taliban. 

“I imagine he lost himself there. Or found himself,” said Neil Lavin, a Marin County musician. 

**** 

Change came suddenly to California. Three hours behind the east coast, many woke up to a world transformed on Sept. 11. 

Vignoli, a forklift operator in Stockton, remembers turning the TV on and staring into chaos. 

“I ... right away called to our state headquarters. I told them, ’If you need me go ahead and give me a call.” 

All four of the hijacked planes were bound for California; among those killed in the air was David Angell, co-creator and producer of TV’s “Frasier.” 

Northern California businessman Tom Burnett Jr., aboard United Airlines Flight 93, called his wife Deena on his cell phone four times, piecing together what was happening and telling her, “a group of us are getting ready to do something.” Shortly thereafter, an apparent passenger revolt brought the plane down in a Pennsylvania field, killing all aboard short of the hijacker’s intended target. 

Alice Hoglan, a United Airlines flight attendant in Saratoga, also got a call from Flight 93. It was her son, Mark Bingham, a 31-year-old rugby player and a gay man who had twice got the better of street muggers. They were cut off after a few sentences. Hoglan is sure he was part of the resistance. 

Since Sept. 11, Hoglan has become a self-taught activist, finally learning to use the computer Mark gave her as she lobbies for stricter airport safety measures, puts out a newsletter for Flight 93 families and joins the push to let families hear the black box cockpit recording. 

Before, she says, “I was aware of general terrorist threats and was complacent and not vocal and my son has lost his life because of complacency and I feel terrible about it.” 

Now, she tries to channel her energy. “It helps me to deal with my grief a little better ... if I sit more than five minutes, I  

get kind of weepy.” 

**** 

As 2002 neared, a somewhat subdued California celebrated the holidays in its usual casually polytheistic fashion — Hannukah, Ramadan, Christmas, Kwanzaa, with a nod to the Druids and a sturdy underpinning of secular Santa-ism. 

National guardsman Vignoli was scheduled to work the bridge Christmas Eve. 

It is “pretty good duty.” Grateful civilians have dropped off fried chicken, pizza, even plates of cookies. On a recent day, a yellow school bus drove slowly by, a row of small hands sticking out of the windows in a friendly wave. 

Vignoli couldn’t get home the day son Luciano turned seven. And he didn’t have time to look further than the bridge gift shop for a present. 

It turned out all right, though. 

The day before his birthday, Luciano got to see his dad and open his presents, a cap and a shirt that read, “Somebody who loves me very much went to San Francisco and got me this T-shirt.”

SACRAMENTO – Just as Californians make their New Year’s resolutions, they will start seeing a barrage of television advertisements featuring candidates making pledges of their own. 

More money was spent on political ads last year in California than any other state, and analysts predict a record-shattering blitz in the coming statewide election year. 

Two wealthy Republican gubernatorial primary contenders are prepared to pour tens of millions of dollars into beaming their message into voters’ homes. And incumbent Gov. Gray Davis will roll out ads in January, though he won’t face a challenger at the polls for 11 months. 

“The average Californian will have an easier time avoiding Regis Philbin than any of the candidates for governor next year,” said Republican campaign consultant Dan Schnur. 

Television spots form the backbone of America’s political campaign. In California, ads are seen as critical to reach voters in its diverse and sprawling communities. 

Candidates, political parties and interest groups spent an estimated $1 billion on ads in the United States in 2000 — more than quadruple that spent in 1980, said Paul Taylor, founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Better Campaigns. 

Some 1.2 million political commercials ran on 484 local television stations nationwide in 2000, according to the Virginia-based Campaign Media Analysis Group. 

In California in 2000, an estimated $127 million was spent on 119,492 political ads — by far the most of any other state, according to the group. New York ranked second — with about $91 million spent on 74,698 ads. 

“There’s no other state like California, it is far and away the most expensive media state in the country,” Taylor said. 

Critics say the proliferation of television-based campaigns favors the wealthy or those backed by special interests. Others argue ads are an efficient way to deliver a candidate’s message because it is difficult to compete for space in newspapers and on news broadcasts. 

The nation’s most populous state — stretching hundreds of miles from Oregon to Mexico — poses a unique challenge for political candidates. From its coastal enclaves, college towns and ski villages to its farms, technology centers and Hollywood — the voters are as diverse as the geography. 

But television touches the entire state, and “there’s no way to meet 32 million people one-at-a-time, so the only way to reach them is over the airwaves,” said Schnur, the consultant who worked on former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan’s campaign earlier this year. 

To do that, however, a campaign must spend millions of dollars to cover the state’s five major media markets. They include pricey Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area and Sacramento, San Diego and Fresno. Also, there are dozens of smaller-but-critical markets, including key pockets of voters in the inland valleys. 

Airing a commercial to reach all of the major markets for a week can cost between $1 million and $2 million. 

For two of the Republicans seeking the party’s nomination for governor, ads will start in January, campaign advisers said. Riordan and investor Bill Simon are both multimillionaire businessman with campaign treasuries plump with political contributions. 

The third, Secretary of State Bill Jones, has struggled to raise money and will be unable to match his opponents in a televised ad war. 

And then there is Davis. 

The Democrat spent $25 million on television, radio and cable advertising to win in 1998, including $4.5 million in the 10 days before the general election. Of his 2002 campaign, strategist Garry South said, “I assume we’ll spend more, this will be a more expensive campaign.” 

Davis will have “a full media campaign,” including television ads, starting in January, although he has no primary opponent, South said. 

Davis anticipates the three Republicans will spend much of their time attacking Davis, South said. Already, Jones, Riordan and Simon have criticized Davis on a number of fronts. 

They “apparently want to make their mark in the primary by using the governor as a punching bag,” South said. 

Davis’ early response doesn’t surprise many political strategists. The governor has weathered a tough 2001 dominated by a statewide energy crisis and a looming $12 billion shortfall. 

His popularity dipped to an all-time low in the summer and has yet to recover, even when lawmakers across the country are enjoying boosts since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

During the summer, a group funded by energy companies and headed by a Republican political operative, the Washington, D.C.-based American Taxpayer Alliance, ran television ads attacking Davis’ energy policy and ending with the phrase “Grayouts from Gray Davis.” 

Davis countered with a string of radio ads detailing what he was doing to try to pull the state out of the crisis. 

For California voters, the summer volley of ads was only the beginning. Bruce Newman, a professor at Chicago’s DePaul University who has written several books on political marketing, said voters need to wade through the spots for substance. 

“They are targeted toward people’s emotions and the personality of the candidate and tend to gloss over the issues,” he said. “Scrutinize the source and be careful to listen to all sides.”

SANTA ANA – Orange County officials will make a controversial step by becoming the first in the state to use global positioning satellites to track released sex offenders. 

Starting next year, officials will require some sex offenders on parole and probation to wear wristbands linked to the satellite tracking system. 

Currently, there are about 400 convicted sex offenders on probation or parole in the county. Those whom the Orange County Probation Department considers the most likely to commit more sex crimes will end up wearing wristbands equipped with electronic transmitters, said Bill Daniel, director of special operations for the department. 

If one of those sex offenders nears a school or other location off-limits to them under state law, probation officers could swoop in and detain him, he said. 

But some critics say it seems like a violation to track people — even those convicted of sexual molestation— wherever they go. 

Officials at the Los Angeles County Probation Department said they have problems with the idea and have no plans to implement a similar program. 

“I’m not a fan of that,” said David Davies, chief of adult field services for the department. “I’m a firm believer if you need to put somebody on GPS, that person doesn’t need to be on the street. I’d really question why you’d use something like that.” 

Orange County also recently started giving periodic lie detector tests to released offenders, another controversial issue. 

Authorities said both the tracking and lie detector tests represent powerful deterrents for offenders and could also tip off police to crimes the probationers might commit. 

Only about a dozen or so counties nationwide use the GPS system to track sex offenders. Authorities in Texas came under attack earlier this year when it was learned that GPS monitoring had failed to prevent the alleged sexual molestation of a 6-year-old boy by a parolee wearing a tracking bracelet.

LOS ANGELES – Police on Saturday identified a motorist killed by the plunging body of a suicidal killer. 

Sandra Dwyer, 34, died Friday morning when the body of Osmin Bonilla hurtled about 80 feet from a Century Freeway overpass and smashed through the roof of her car on the Harbor Freeway. 

Passenger Terry Gray, Dwyer’s boyfriend of seven years and father of their 5-year-old son, sustained cuts and bruises. 

“All of a sudden, something just hit us on top of the head,” said Gray, who had a bandaged forehead. “The windshield came in on me.” 

Gray saw Dwyer bent over and the body of a man in the car. Gray managed to take control of the car and pulled it over a half-mile later.

SAN FRANCISCO – While other merchants cash in on the busiest shopping season of the year, the Gap Inc. is trying to dig itself out of a hole. 

Just how badly San Francisco-based Gap fared in the pivotal holiday shopping season won’t be disclosed until Jan. 10, but analysts are bracing for horrendous results. 

The low expectations come after a 25 percent drop in November sales at Gap stores open for at least a year. It marked the 19th consecutive month of declining comparable-store sales for Gap, which runs Old Navy and Banana Republic stores in addition to its flagship chain. 

The company already has warned it will sustain a major loss in its fiscal fourth quarter — a retailing rarity. 

Even in recessions, the fourth quarter typically heralds the most prosperous time of the year for retailers. But the Gap’s results this year have grown progressively worse since the company registered a first-quarter profit of $115 million. 

“It looks ominous for the Gap,” said industry analyst Joseph Teklits of Wachovia Securities. “If they can’t make money now, it’s kind of hard to believe that they will be able to make money in the first and second quarters of next year either.” 

If the losses mount, analysts fear the company might fall from the good graces of its lenders, a development that could trigger a liquidity crisis. Reversing the losses may require the traditionally hard-charging Gap to close dozens of stores next year, analysts predict. 

Gap declined to comment, preferring to let the company’s remarks in a Dec. 6 sales update speak for its position. In that phone call, the company said it’s “reasonable” to expect its November slide to continue through January. 

Without providing specifics, the Gap warned its fourth-quarter loss will exceed an operating loss of $48 million in the third quarter. Industry analyst Jennifer Black of Wells Fargo Van Kasper projects the Gap will lose about $135 million, a far cry from the company’s $272 million profit at the same time in the prior year. 

The Gap’s bleak outlook serves as a grim reminder of how far the company has fallen from its fashion-setting heyday in the late 1990s. 

Propelled by hip commercials touting khaki pants and a positive buzz by its then-new Old Navy stores, the Gap emerged as one of the industry’s biggest money makers during the last of the 1990s, surging to a profit of $1.1 billion on sales of $11.6 billion in its fiscal year ending in January 2000. 

Emboldened by its success, the Gap aggressively expanded, swelling from 1,854 stores five years ago to 4,176 stores today. 

But the company isn’t getting much of a return from the new stores. The company’s sales per square foot of store space is roughly the same as it was in 1995, Teklits said. 

The expansion continued even as Gap alienated many of its customers by emphasizing more trendy clothes popular among fickle teen-agers. 

As it lost shoppers, the Gap turned off investors, too. Since peaking at $53.75 in February 2000, the Gap’s stock has plummet by about 75 percent, wiping out $34 billion in shareholder wealth along the way. 

The retailer’s troubles were evident during a recent visit to one of its Old Navy stores in downtown San Francisco. With a week to go before Christmas, Old Navy had slashed some prices by as much as 75 percent. Despite the heavy discounting, racks and racks of unsold merchandise remained in the four-story store. 

Even shoppers who did buy some clothes said they weren’t impressed with Old Navy’s selection. 

“It seems like they have gotten away from the preppy stuff and gone more toward ’Euro-trash’ styles,” said Lydia Russell, 19, of Orinda, Calif. 

Marla Harrity and friends Mendy Spurgeon and Katherine Aronson-Lasigen said they almost always found something they liked at Old Navy a couple of years ago. Now, Harrity says, “It just seems like we’ve outgrown this place.” Harrity is 13 years old. 

Old Navy’s selection is meeting such resistance that the chain will have to slash prices even more drastically to clear the shelves after Christmas, Black said. 

While making space for more appealing clothes will help, Black and other industry analysts say that won’t be enough to solve the Gap’s deepening problems. Store closures are considered likely, particularly at Old Navy, a discount chain that has turned into the company’s biggest headache.

LOS ANGELES – California farmers say they are struggling with the after-effects of September’s terrorists attacks as major customers in the travel, hospitality and leisure industries cut their orders. 

The agriculture industry, already plagued for some time by falling prices and rising production costs, could hardly afford to lose business in the best of times. 

Combined with the overall economic slump, this latest blow has left many farmers struggling to break even. 

“It’s been a one-two punch, and a lot of growers are still reeling from it,” said Paul Betancourt, a cotton farmer in Kerman and president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. 

The price of fresh vegetables dropped 24 percent on average in October and November, compared with the same period last year, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation. 

Similarly, the state’s beef industry has faced a 15 percent reduction in market-ready cattle prices since mid-September. 

As consumers opt to stay home and eat in, restaurants, hotels, airlines and amusement parks aren’t buying in the quantities they used to, triggering oversupply and lower revenues for a variety of growers, farmers say. 

“I think people are eating at home more, and they are looking in their refrigerators to see what they have before running out to the supermarket,” said Christopher Deardorff, who grows vegetables, tomatoes and strawberries in Ventura and San Diego counties. 

Deardorff has been harvesting vegetables for nearly two months and said prices on many days barely cover the cost of labor and packaging. 

Edgar Terry, who farms about 1,300 acres of row crops from Ventura to Piru, said prices on his crops of celery and peppers have actually fallen below break-even on some days. 

“Our industry was hurt badly following the events of Sept. 11,” said Bruce Berven, executive director of the Pleasanton-based California Cattlemen’s Association. “Even though now three months have passed, and people’s psyches may be starting to change a little bit, I think we are still seeing the lingering effects of that.” 

But some experts in the industry question whether the impact of the terrorist attacks is as big as some farmers say. 

University of California, Davis agricultural economist Daniel A. Sumner says that while food-service industry demand may have dropped in recent months, there has likely been an increase in demand from supermarkets and other retailers, as consumers eat at home more. 

“Just because I don’t go out to McDonald’s doesn’t mean I don’t eat that day,” said Sumner, director of the campus Agricultural Issues Center. “My guess is we’ve been hurt a little bit, but not that much.” 

Farmers, however, say most home shoppers don’t buy the same volume or the same high quality cuts as restaurants and others in the hospitality industry.

SAN FRANCISCO – The explosion of the Hispanic and Chinese populations in the United States during the past decade has been a boon for ethnic media that cater to people with limited English. 

But the growth – particularly among Spanish-language media – is upsetting Chinese immigrants in the San Francisco Bay area, where the nation’s largest Spanish-language network, Univision, is expanding with plans to buy the city’s primary Mandarin-language station, KPST, Channel 66. 

That affects people like Cheuk-Wah Chan, an elderly immigrant from Hong Kong who lives in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She could soon be left with just one option, the primarily Cantonese-language KTSF, Channel 26, to get her information. 

“With the language factor, she would have a hard time watching English news,” said her son-in-law, Albert Wang, a Fremont physician who came to the United States from Taiwan in 1972. 

Several San Francisco-based community groups and politicians have asked the Federal Communications Commission to require Univision to maintain the daily 4 1/2 hours of Chinese programming, which includes news, variety shows and soap operas. 

“There is a very strong dependence on those programs for news and information about everything ranging from the current war to more local issues,” said Diane Chin, executive director of San Francisco-based Chinese for Affirmative Action. 

Spanish-speaking immigrants, who share a common language, appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of the boom in ethnic media: Univision and Telemundo Communications Group, Inc. – the top two Hispanic networks – are growing exponentially, and their viewership has quadrupled since 1990, according to analysts. 

To a lesser extent, Chinese have also benefited. The number of Asian media outlets has grown an estimated 250 percent since 1990, to about 600 across the country, according to Jimmy Lee of Los Angeles-based Imada Wong Communications Group. 

“It’s clear that this long-ignored segment of the news media is coming into its own,” said Sandy Close, executive director of New California Media, a network of ethnic news organizations. “There are easily 2,500 ethnic news organizations in the state. The two biggest segments are Asian and Hispanic.” 

But when it comes to network television, language has contributed to the growth of Spanish-language programming, and prevented such cohesion in the Chinese market. 

“There’s no language that unifies the whole market,” said Sergio Benedixen, of Benedixen and Associates, a Miami-based polling and political consulting firm. “Language is the most important element of media. Therefore their markets are very limited,” as well as the capital they can raise, he said. 

The Chinese immigrant community is separated by language. People from Beijing and Taiwan speak Mandarin, and those from Hong Kong and southern China largely speak Cantonese. Though many are capable in both languages, it’s not enough to create a network to serve them. 

By contrast, there is no end to the prospects for Spanish-language television channels, which can reach immigrants from Peru to Mexico with equal effectiveness. 

Univision, which says it reaches 93 percent of Hispanic households in the United States, announced plans earlier this year to buy KPST and more than a dozen other stations in an effort to launch another Spanish-language network, Telefutura. 

Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicate KPST, in the nation’s 5th largest television market, is one of the stations Univision might use to build the new network. 

Frances Palacios, a spokeswoman for Univision in San Francisco, declined to comment about the station, or whether the network plans to convert it to Spanish programming. 

In one of the most striking signs yet of the industry’s growth, NBC announced plans in October to buy Telemundo for about $2 billion in cash and stock. 

Analysts said those competitive pressures are behind Univision’s purchase of KPST. 

“The growth has been close to unbelievable,” Benedixen said. His firm is conducting a study on the reach of ethnic media in California, due out in early 2002. “Univision and Telemundo together are easily getting more than two-thirds of all Hispanic viewers.” 

Population growth is a main factor behind the explosion in ethnic media, Benedixen said. 

Nationally, the Hispanic population grew 58 percent between 1990 and 2000, and the Asian population grew 38 percent, according to U.S. Census data. 

In the Bay Area, the Hispanic population has grown 9 percent since 1990 and now represents 14 percent of San Francisco’s population. The Chinese population has increased 20 percent and now represents a fifth of the city’s residents. 

An increasing number of first-generation immigrants also has fueled demand for non-English sources of news and entertainment, analysts said. 

The 2000 census found 10 percent of the U.S. population is foreign born. Fifty-one percent were born in Latin America, and 26 percent were born in Asia. In the San Francisco area, Asians make up more than half of the foreign-born population, according to a 1997 survey by the census. It’s the most recent data available. 

It’s unclear how many people are watching KPST. Lee said reliable numbers are hard to come by because Chinese stations aren’t rated by Nielsen Media Research. Viewership estimates range from 50,000 to 400,000 viewers. 

The FCC has received more than 3,000 public comments on the matter, but could not provide details on how many wanted restrictions placed on the sale. Letters provided by the FCC, and details of some letters posted on the FCC Web site, all objected to the sale. 

Some analysts say if KPST ends Chinese programming, the demand will certainly be met elsewhere. 

“I don’t see this as a Darwinian competition among ethnic media,” said Close. “One way or another they’re going to find a way to do it because the need is just so great.”

BART & MUNI gear up for New Year’s Eve

SAN FRANCISCO – BART and the Municipal Railway are gearing up to whisk funseekers on New Year’s Eve from venue to venue. 

BART will expand its service and is offering a $5 New Year’s Eve “Flash Pass” that allows unlimited rides on BART from 6 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 3 a.m. New Year’s Day. Passengers with a Flash Pass can simply show it to a BART station agent and then pass through the swinging gates. 

Muni will extend subway service until 4 a.m. and offer free rides on all routes from 8 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 6 a.m. New Year’s Day. 

Police Chief Fred Lau said but he hasn’t received any terrorist-related security warnings about New Year’s Eve and will put 1,000 officers on the streets. 

‘Racist’ window display causing furor

RICHMOND – Store owner Bill Knudsen just wanted to have an original window display. But furious neighbors are describing his decoration as racist. 

On one side, the Golden Gate Western Gear store depicts a Wild West prison cell holding one occupant: a bearded, turban-clad Arab sitting on straw, facing a hangman’s noose. Wearing dark sunglasses, the mannequin’s hands and feet are bound, a tarantula crawling on his shoulder, a rat nibbling at his fingers. 

The other side features marshals John Wayne and Matt Dillon calmly guarding the prisoner. 

Critics regard the display as a bigoted attack on Arab-Americans, intended to incite racial animosity toward a community already confronting waves of intolerance. 

Knudsen contends the Arab in chains represents an appropriate statement against America’s public enemy No. 1: Osama bin Laden. 

Critics are the racists, Knudsen said, because they equate his character with all Arabs. 

“We’re showing a patriotic scene of western judgment against someone who killed thousands of people,” Knudsen said. “How can it be construed as being against all Arabs? That’s a moronic leap.” 

The East Richmond Neighborhood Council sent Knudsen a letter asking him to reconsider the display. The scene could fuel negative feelings of people predisposed to seek out a target for retribution, said council President Nick Despota. 

Since Knudsen refused the neighborhood group’s request, there’s not much more it can do, Despota said. 

“He has a right to free speech,” Despota said. “As far as I’m concerned, this is a situation where people have to agree to disagree.” 

South Bay serial killer denied parole again

IONE – One of the state’s most notorious serial killers was denied parole Thursday for the ninth consecutive time and will continue serving a life sentence for the murders he said he committed at the command of voices in his head. 

Herbert W. Mullin said he killed 13 people before his arrest in February 1973. He was convicted of 11 killings in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. 

After a two-hour hearing, the California Board of Prison Terms determined Mullin was unsuitable for parole at this time and denied it for four years, said Sean McCray, employee relations officer at Mule Creek State Prison, where Mullin now is kept. 

In a written release, Santa Cruz County Assistant District Attorney Ariadne Symons said Mullin never should be released from prison “due to the number and magnitude of his crimes, their senseless and horrific nature, and the risk he would pose to the community if he were released.” 

Mullin, who claimed insanity, testified that he killed on telepathic orders from his father and that he did so to prevent a major earthquake predicted for January 1973. 

“He couldn’t understand why he was being prosecuted, even,” said Dr. Donald T. Lunde, a psychiatrist who in the past has testified in Mullin’s defense. 

There was no death penalty at the time of his trial, and Mullin was sentenced to life in prison, which meant a minimum of seven years. 

Edmund Kemper, who killed and dismembered his mother and seven other women between May 1972 and April 1973, was kept in a cell next to Mullin in the county jail. 

“Herbie was just a cold-blooded killer ... killing everyone he saw for no good reason,” Kemper said. “A creep with no class.” 

Mullin said he killed a drifter with a baseball bat and stabbed a hitchhiking student, but he was never tried for those slayings. He was convicted of stabbing a priest in his confessional, shooting four camping teens, and killing a drug dealer, his wife and the wife and small children of another drug dealer. 

S.F. increasing parking fines for new year

SAN FRANCISCO – Starting Jan. 1, the city is increasing more than a dozen parking fines for everything from parking illegally in yellow and red zones to meter violations downtown. 

The biggest jump – from $25 to $100 – is for driving with a missing license plate. 

In many cases, parking fines will double. For example, parking on a sidewalk will cost scofflaws $50, up from the current $25. Over the next three years, the fine will increase to $100. 

Pedestrian activists, tired of cars blocking their path, had lobbied for even higher fines, but the Board of Supervisors balked. 

Fred Hamdun, director of the Department of Parking and Traffic, said the goal is to improve public safety and help the Municipal Railway and trucks move more easily through the congested streets. 

Hamdun dismissed the idea that the fines are going up to generate more revenue for the city’s struggling budget. He said that if that had been the goal, the city would be raising fines for some of his department’s biggest cash fines: parking illegally in street cleaning zones and meter violations in neighborhood commercial corridors are two of the biggest.

SAN JOSE — Increased airport security has been difficult for parents, but for children, the waiting in long lines can be interminable. 

And as thousands of families stand in the hours-long lines caused by the increased security at airports, children become more and more restless, and parents, more and more frustrated. 

But there are a few survival tools parents can pack to make family trips during the busy season less of a hassle. 

“Ply them with food and games,” said Kiki Kapany of Menlo Park. She recently flew out of San Jose’s airport with a number of children. She and two other adult relatives took turns standing in line and taking the children to the bathroom and for walks around the airport. 

Amanda Prail of Livermore traveled with her husband Andrew Means and their 1-year-old daughter Briallen Means and nearly missed a recent flight to San Diego because of the increased security. To keep Briallen amused, they attempted stunts with her stroller. 

While mother Kimberly Johnson of Pleasanton gritted her teeth in the long lines, her 10-year-old daughter Jaina kept from complaining.  

But other parents weren’t so lucky, as babies cried and children whined at San Jose’s airport. 

Sue Chimsky, a San Jose travel consultant, has organized holiday trips for a number of Bay Area families, and the airport lines and ensuing boredom are their biggest dread, she said. 

“Some people are opting to just rent cars for the long weekend,” she told the San Jose Mercury News. 

That could also be stressful as more people taking the same option clog highways. But traffic seems to be small potatoes compared to airport challenges. 

“It’s very inconvenient,” Johnson said. 

To make waiting for a flight smoother, the Mercury News suggests making sure all ticket information is updated before arriving at the airport; premixing baby formula to prevent any anthrax scares; packing only what’s necessary and avoiding sharp objects; and bringing coloring books, crayons, a favorite toy, snacks and a drink for kids.

SAN FRANCISCO — Online help-wanted site HotJobs.com Monday gave Monster.com’s owner 72 hours to top a $436 million takeover bid from Yahoo! Inc., setting the stage for a bidding war between rival suitors that run two of the Web’s most popular destinations. 

New York-based HotJobs told Monster.com’s parent, TMP Worldwide Inc., that it will call off their six-month-old merger agreement unless TMP can beat an unsolicited $10.50-per-share bid made by Sunnyvale-based Yahoo less than two weeks ago. 

HotJobs set a 9 a.m. EST Thursday deadline for TMP to improve its all-stock offer, which was valued at $9.11 per share based on TMP’s closing price Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

If TMP doesn’t sweeten the pot, HotJobs said it will enter into formal negotiations with Yahoo. Jilting TMP would cost HotJobs $17 million to cover a merger termination fee and other expenses during the six-month courtship. 

TMP will respond to HotJobs’ ultimatum “at an appropriate time,” spokesman David Rosa said. 

Industry analysts have anticipated a bidding war for HotJobs since Yahoo unexpectedly entered the fray with its Dec. 12 bid. 

Investors are betting that HotJobs will be sold for more than Yahoo’s stock-and-cash offer of $10.50 per share. HotJobs’ shares gained 26 cents to close at $10.73 Monday on the Nasdaq. TMP climbed 40 cents to close at $41.50 and Yahoo fell 27 cents to close at $16.65. 

Yahoo’s pursuit of HotJobs caught some analysts off guard because the site ranks a distant second to Monster.com in the online recruitment market. HotJobs has a database of about 5 million resumes while Monster.com has 14 million resumes. 

The HotJobs bid is part of Yahoo’s effort to rebound from a yearlong financial slump through the addition more revenue-generating features at its popular Web portal. 

HotJobs charges employers and recruiters to list job openings and collects fees for access to its resume database. The company also sells human resources software. 

Like many other dot-coms, HotJobs remains unprofitable. Through the first nine months of the year, HotJobs lost $21.2 million on revenue of $92.6 million. 

Yahoo runs the third most popular Web site behind AOL and Microsoft, according to Jupiter Media Metrix. Monster.com ranked 39th in the Jupiter Media Metrix’s latest rating. 

Although it’s not as well known as Yahoo, TMP Worldwide is the larger company with $1.1 billion in revenue through the first nine months of the year. Yahoo generated $528.5 million in revenue during the same period. 

As of Sept. 30, Yahoo had $346.1 million in cash versus TMP’s $317.6 million. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.hotjobs.com 

http://www.yahoo.com 

http://www.monster.com 

http://www.tmp.com 

SAN FRANCISCO – Ever wanted to stay in a fancy hotel or take a ride on this city’s famous cable cars? Well, now is the time because end-of-year deals abound and crowds do not. 

The slowing economy and terrorist attacks have shut off the valve of tourists who typically stream into one of America’s most-loved places to visit. 

“There’s definitely more elbow room in the city these days,” said Laurie Armstrong of the city’s Convention & Visitors Bureau. “It’s a little bit calmer, which is nice.” 

But visitors are coming back – slowly. Hotel occupancy averaged 59 percent in September, which was off a third of the rate a year ago. In November, occupancy was down by about 10 percent, Armstrong said. 

Hotels are throwing in perks such as free parking and tickets to shows like “The Nutcracker” to entice tourists during the winter months, which are typically slow. 

The city also is boasting new attractions to help bring back repeat visitors. 

The Chinese American National Museum and Learning Center recently opened in the renovated Julia Morgan Chinatown YMCA. It houses more than 50,000 pieces of Chinese art and artifacts. 

In his State of the City address in October, Mayor Willie Brown said tourism, which is the city’s bread and butter, will be aided by an outreach plan. Brown said it will go as far as calling potential visitors on the phone and personally inviting them to the city. 

San Francisco discounted holiday packages include “Holiday Magic: San Francisco Style,” which offers deals from 35 hotels through the end of the year. The other is “Romance: San Francisco Style,” which includes 22 offers from January through March. 

“We’re going to be especially happy to see visitors from the rest of California,” Armstrong said. “I think they’ll notice the spirit of welcome, of community, of heightened hospitality, if you will.”