Berkeley native Kenneth Cardwell and Oakland native Myron Collins, professors at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, are among the 12 Lasallian brothers, a group of Catholic priests, still surrounded by Israeli troops at Bethlehem University. 

They have been restricted to their residence on the campus since 2:30 a.m. Monday. 

Cardwell, whose parents still live in Berkeley, earned a Ph.D from UC Berkeley in 1986. He has been able to stay in contact with friends and relatives through telephone calls and e-mail. 

“They are locked in, but surviving. They’ve got light, heat, telephone and food,” said Mary Cardwell, Kenneth’s mother. She said she was glad to be able to keep in such close contact by “virtue of e-mail.” 

Brother Ronald Gallagher, a professor at St. Mary’s and former president of Bethlehem University for four years, has been speaking continually with the brothers. He spoke to the Daily Planet on Thursday just an hour after Cardwell’s last call.  

“Their house was searched again today,” he said.  

He thought it was ridiculous, saying, “Israeli troops went through their closets and drawers looking for terrorists.” 

He laughed dryly. 

“But I guess they found none.” 

Although the brothers have been unable to move from their house, they can pick up the phone or use e-mail whenever they want. 

But Gallager said he did not know whether their calls were monitored.  

“My calls were monitored when I was there. They were routed through the Isreaeli Governor’s Office,” he said. 

Gallagher said that, based on conversations with his friends in Bethlehem, he thinks there are about 100 troops are using the university as a staging ground for the half-mile between the university and the Church of the Nativity.  

“The brothers are not in immediate danger because it is an Israeli-occupied camp. They’re not going to bomb their own soldiers,” said Gallagher. 

Nevertheless, he said, “We are very concerned.” 

Gallagher said that because the soldiers arrived while the students were on Easter Break, no students are confined on-campus. But the students, who are all Palestinians from the Jerusalem and Bethlehem area, have been confined to their homes. 

Brother Raphael Patton said he was not surprised that the university was targeted. “If I were the Israeli Army, that’s what I’d do, too,” said Patton. “You want to get the Europeans and the Americans out of there, because once they’re gone, the international press will leave, too. And then the Israeli Army can do what it wants.” 

Cardwell, who is now 55, lived in Berkeley until he was 20. He went off to college at St. Mary’s College and also did graduate work at the University of Washington and Oxford University. When he came back to Cal, he was already a mature student. 

That made him stand out to Professor Emeritus Thomas Sloane, who worked with him on his dissertation, “Francis Bacon and the Interrogation of Nature.” 

“He was a very bright guy. And he brought to learning a certain understanding from his maturity,” said Sloane. 

Sloane said he was not aware that Cardwell had any interest in the Middle East. When Sloane was working with Cardwell, the student was focusing on “the intersection of rhetoric, science and religion.” 

Cardwell has been on the St. Mary’s faculty since the mid-1980s, said Gallagher. Two years ago, he went to Bethlehem to help the university with its English language program and also to advise its administrators. 

“He went to the Middle East because he wanted to know more about the Middle East, because he had studied Arabic,” said Mary. 

But their son’s knowledge about the area did not necessarily ease his parents’ fears. 

“Of course we’re worried,” she said.

Editor: 

I find Eric Meyerson's characterization of the April 2nd peace march as a “revolting display of civil disorder” to be completely without merrit. I attended Tuesdays march and many others in the past and this was one of the most peaceful and non-confrontational I have witnessed.  

Remember the Free KPFA protests and “Camp KPFA” in the middle of MLK for days? The Gulf War protests? Seattle?  

The march down University to the freeway is standard issue and this one went off almost without incident.  

The closest thing to a “revolting display” I saw was the police pepper spraying a few nonviolent protesters. 

If the “stand off” had not lasted as long as it as it did I doubt we would have received the media coverage we had. The idea that these “ridiculous actions” (slowing the Tuesday night traffic) will undermine peace in the Middle East is itself so ridiculous as to almost not deserve comment, almost. I thank the Daily Planet for its coverage and also Mr. Meyerson for his comments. I invite him to join us in finding more effective ways to reach the public. 

Everyone’s input is welcome. 

Tom Wandall 

Berkeley

Friday, April 5

City Commons Club 

12:30 p.m. 

2315 Durant Ave.  

“Reporting from Berkeley” Charles Burres, staff reporter, San Francisco Chronicle. $1. 848-3533. 

Oakland Museum Teacher Open House 

“First Friday Teacher Features” Try your hand at Gold Panning, and find out about our popular Gold Rush Program. Free for Teachers. 

4-6 p.m. 

10th & Oak streets, Oakland 

238-3818 to register 

Oakland Museum Artist Gallery Talks 

Free with Museum Admission 

Jamie Brunson, Milton Komisar and Amy Evans McClure, artists in the exhibition “Being There: 45 Oakland Artists”, discuss their works in the gallery 

7 p.m. 

10th & Oak streets, Oakland 

238-2200, www. museumca.org 

Berkeley Women in Black 

noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft Way and Telegraph Ave. 

Stand in solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian women to urge an end  

to the occupation, which will give greater hope for an end to the  

violence. 548-6310, wibberkeley.org. 

Saturday, April 6

Library Grand Opening 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library 

The celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, a keynote speech by Alice Walker, musical guests, and building tours. 548-7102 

Graduate Theological Union presents Suavecito — The Politics and Poetics of Asian American Soul Music in he 1970s. 

5 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Krutch Theater, 

Clark Kerr Campus 

2601 Warring Street in Berkeley 

A panel discussion and musical offering explore the interplay between soul music and community politics. 

For more information, call 849-8244. 

Noche Latina in Berkeley 

7-11 p.m. 

The Bay Area Hispanic Institute for Advancement (Bahia, Inc.)is holding its second annual Noche Latina event. This fund raiser will feature food catered by Cafe de la Paz, music and a silent auction. Bahia is an after-school program for children ages 5-10. This year's event will be held at the Law Offices of Duran, Ochoa & Icaza, which are located at 1035 Carleton Avenue.  

For more information, contact Estrella Fichter at 510.549.3506 or 

estrella.fichter@earthlink.net 

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 - 11 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

A class in basic personal preparedness for emergency situations. 981-5605 

3rd Annual Mad Scientist Sale 

and Open House 

noon - 6 p.m. 

The Crucible 

1036 Murray St. 

Industrial-grade materials and machines that have been appropriated for a second life as materials for art. Demonstrations in welding, neon, blacksmithing and ceramics. 843-5511, www.thecrucible.com.  

Sunday, April 7

Peace it Together 

1 - 5 p.m.  

2218 Acton St. 

Fundraising festival hosted by Minding the Body, Inc. Participatory Booths, Jugglers, Storytellers, Performance Art, Co-creation of Music, Poetry and Art and a Vegetarian Potluck. mindingthebody.org.  

3rd Annual Mad Scientist Sale 

and Open House 

noon - 6 p.m. 

The Crucible 

1036 Murray St. 

Industrial-grade materials and machines that have been appropriated for a second life as materials for art. Demonstrations in welding, neon, blacksmithing and ceramics. 843-5511, www.thecrucible.com.  

“Remedios” — Benefit for Poet Aurora Levins Morales  

11-2 p.m. 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Weekly Peace Walk around Lake Merritt 

7-3 p.m. 

Oakland 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Mission 911: Bay Area Poets for Peace 

2-5 pm  

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Oakland Museum Curator’s Talk 

Gallery Talk by Curator Harvey Jones, discusses the exhibition Scene in Oakland, 1852 to 2002. Artworks celebrating the city’s 150th anniversary 

3 p.m. 

Free with Museum Admission 

10th & Oak Streets, Oakland 

238-2200, www. museumca.org 

Monday, April 8

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Tuesday, April 9

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part two of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

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. 525-3565. 

Spring Travel Writer’s Workshop 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave.  

The Fire Escape is Locked For Your Safety 

On the Road in the former Soviet Union 

Compiled by Guy Poole 

The advent of DVD technology for home theaters has made the concept of “director’s cut” nearly obsolete. With so much “alternative” footage and running commentary for most movies packed onto those little discs, there is very little thunder left to merit a theatrical re-release of a film. 

“Amadeus: The Director’s Cut” proves the exception, if only for the soundtrack. The return of the 1984 fictionalized account of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which swept the Oscars by winning eight statuettes, delivers Mozart’s music sweetly, at times languid, at times bombastic. If you tell the projectionist not to be shy with the volume knob, the big theatrical sound comes close to doing justice to the genius at the center of the film. 

There are also 20 added minutes, bringing the running time up to just more than three hours, including one drawing room scene which had been completely excised from the original that featured some clever sound design: while attempting to audition as a potential tutor for the daughter of a rich dog-lover, Mozart’s harpsichord is drowned out by howling hounds. The baying dogs are as irritating to the audience as they would have been to Mozart’s ear. 

The scene is useful to illustrate Mozart’s underappreciated gift; a musical muse the film’s narrator, contemporaneous rival Antonio Salieri (Oscar recipient F. Murray Abraham) contemplates as a divine mystery. How could a merciful God speak through the music of a crass, vulgar young man like Mozart while leaving the chaste, petty, career-oriented Salieri with a desire to compose holiness that was far greater than his mediocre talents could produce? 

The soundtrack is not the only thing at play. It is reined in to support this central question of divine grace bestowed or eluded, and the hubris of a man cheated by God. The real Salieri may or may not have plotted to kill Mozart, as he reportedly ranted in his old age, but the facts and the rumors and the fictions assembled by playwright and screenwriter Sir Paul Shaffer make for a ripping good murder mystery backed with some tasty theological doubting. 

Now that we’ve been a lot of computer-generated bells and whistles in movies – meteors and dinosaurs, etc, that look impressive but nevertheless fake — “Amadeus” has a unique quality to the construction of its fiction: truth. From the buildings to the furniture to the wigs, “it was all authentic,” said the film’s producer Saul Zaentz, owner of the Saul Zaentz Film Center in West Berkeley. 

The film was principally shot in Czechoslovakia, where you can turn a camera 360 degrees and never leave the 18th century. Zaentz and director Milos Forman were also able to get the Tyl Theater as a shooting set, the oldest all-wood theater in Prague and a carefully preserved treasure. The performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” was shot there almost 300 years after Mozart himself conducted it’s premiere in the same theater. Czech firemen patrolling their national treasure nervously watched the film crew replace the electric chandeliers with 6,000 candles imported from Germany. 

“It’s always a search for the truth, if you can get it,” said Zaentz. “Pre-production is more important than post-production, and almost as important as shooting, when the actors come in and it’s better than they imagined.” 

Zaentz said he was under constant surveillance for three months in Czechoslovakia, and not for putting their Tyl in danger. “The government didn’t want us there because they thought we were spies,” he said.  

A man in a leather coat and leather hat “out of bad casting” was posted outside his rented apartment. It was hardly a secret. They waved to each other every morning. "The idea of a totalitarian government, either left of right, is to instill paranoia," reasoned Zaentz. He said they bugged his phone then later advised him what not to say to colleagues. 

Back in Berkeley, Zaentz owns the somewhat less grandiose Fantasy Building on 10th and Parker streets. Although the boxy, squat building boasting seven floors of 60’s tiered architecture does not inspire awe among passersby, inside is a filmmakers paradise. Affordable office space has been rented to an array of award-winning filmmakers and documentarians: currently Francis Reid and Deborah Hoffman ("Long Night’s Journey Into Day") and Gail Dolgin ("Daughter From Danang") are based there, among many others. The Alan Spelt sound mix theater on the third floor has attracted big Hollywood productions. 

Zaentz said he tried to build a film community inside his building, and often offers facilities and post-production staff for no charge to tight-budget tenants making promising films. "We get it back if they sell it," Zaentz said, applying a businessman’s acumen to the projects of shoestring filmmakers. "They always believe in it, but we have to believe in it, too." 

The facilities can be available to tenants if they are not being used for "cash projects," i.e. big-money film productions. Which is happening more often as directors and producers venture north from the Hollywood enclave. Many filmmakers, like Gus Van Zant and John Waters, are repeat customers. "They find they guys here more sympathetic," said Zaentz, "much more so than people in L.A." 

924 Gilman Apr. 5: The Frisk, The Tantrums, Last Great Liar, Intrepid A.A.F., I Decline; Apr. 6: All Bets Off, Time in Malta, Animosity, Breath In, For the Crown; Apr. 12: Missing 23rd, Himsa, Bleeding Through, Belvedere; Apr. 13: Labrats, Damage Done; Apr. 19: Ludicra, Sbitch, Watch Them Die, Beware, Hate Mail Killer; Apr. 20: The Sick, All Bets Off, Vitamin X, Sharp Knife, Dead in the End; Apr. 21: Harum Scarum; Fleshies, Iowaska, Disobedience; Apr. 26: The Lawrence Arms, Taking Back Sunday, Before The Fall; Apr. 27: Pitch Black, Fall Silent, The Cause, The 86ers, As I; All shows begin a 8 p.m., most cost $5. 924 Gillman St., 525-9926 

The Albatross Apr. 9: Mad & Eddie Duran; Apr. 10: Farms in Berkeley; Apr. 13: 9:30 p.m., The Fourtet Jazz Group; Apr. 16: Carla Kaufman & Larry Scala; All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless noted. 822 San Pablo Ave., 843-2473, albatrosspub@mindspring.com. 

Anna’s Bistro Apr. 5: Anna de Leon & Ellen Hoffman, 10 p.m., Hideo Date; Apr. 6: Renegade Sidemen; Apr. 7: Danubius; Apr. 8: Renegade Sidemen; Apr: 9: Singers open mic; Apr. 10: Jimmy Ryan Jazz Quartet; Apr. 11: Hanif and The Sound Voagers; Apr. 12: Anna de Leon, 10 p.m., Hideo Date; Apr. 13: Ed Reed, 10 p.m., Ducksan Distones Jazz Sextet; Apr. 14: Choro Time; Apr. 15: Renegade Sidemen; Music starts at 8 p.m. unless noted, 1801 University Ave., 849-2662. 

Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center Apr. 5: Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, $11; Apr. 6: Kotoja, $12; Apr. 7: Wadi Gad, Sister I-Live & The Songbirds w/ the 48th Street Band, $10; Apr. 9: Tim Rigney w/ Flambeau, $8; Apr. 10: Red Archibald & The Internationals, $8; Apr. 11: Alan Winston & The Mosoco Ceilidh Band, $8; Apr. 12: Drums of Passion, $15; Apr. 13: Gator Beat, $11; Check venue for showtimes, 1317 San Pablo Ave., 548-0425. 

Blake’s Apr. 5: Orixa, American Rebus, $7; Apr. 6: Felonious, Psychokinetics; Apr. 7: Forcing Bloom, $3; Apr. 8: The Steve Gannon Band & Mz. Dee; $4; Apr. 9: Filibuster, Mr. Q, $3; Apr. 10: Hebro, free; Apr. 11: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; Apr. 12: Kofy Brown, Subterraneanz, $7; Stonecutters, $5, Apr. 14: Ted Ekman; Apr. 15: Steve Gannon Band & Mz. Dee, $4; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Cal Performances Apr. 7: 3 p.m., Murray Perahia, classical pianist, $28 - $48; Apr. 28: 3 p.m., The Silk Road Esemble presents music from China and Central Asia, $34; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, 642-9988 

Cato’s Ale House Apr. 7: Mo’ Fone; Apr. 10: Irish Session; Apr. 14: Stiff Dead Cat; Apr. 17: Go Van Gogh; Apr. 21: The Backyard Party Band; Apr. 24: Vince Wallace Trio; Apr. 28: The Lost Trio; All shows 6 - 9 p.m., free. 3891 Piedmont Ave., Oakland, 655-3349, www.mrcato.com. 

Dotha’s Juke Joint at Everett and Jones Barbeque Apr. 5, 12, 19, 26: Gwen Avery and The Blues Sistahs, $12, 8 and 10 p.m., 126 Broadway, Oakland, 663-7668. 

Downtown Apr. 5: Danny Caron; Apr. 6: Michael Bluestein Trio; Apr. 7: Gary Rowe; Apr. 9: Aaron Greenblatt; Apr. 10: Dave Mathews; Apr. 12: The Hot Club of San Francisco; Apr. 13: Walter Earl; Apr. 14: Gary Rowe; Apr. 16: Mimi Fox; Apr. 17: Dred Scott; Apr. 19 and 20: Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut; Apr. 21: Gary Rowe; Apr. 23: Aaron Greenblatt; Apr. 24: Dave Mathews; Apr. 26: Joshi Marshall; Apr. 27: Danny Caron; Apr. 30: The Ned Boynton Combo; 2102 Shattuck Ave., 649-3810. 

Fellowship Cafe Apr. 19: 7:30 p.m., open mic, $5-$10. Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar, 540-0898. 

Freight & Salvage Apr. 5: Peter Kessler & Gail Fratar, Rick Shea & Brantley Kearns, Apr. 6: Greg Brown; Apr. 7: Dervish; Apr. 10: Martin Carthy; Apr. 11: Bryan Bowers; Apr. 12: Fiddlers 4, Michael Doucet, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky & Rushad Eggleston; Apr. 13: Scheryl Wheeler; Apr. 14: John Gorka; Apr. 15: Bob Paisley & The Southern Grass; $15.50 - $19.50, 1111 Addison St., 548-1761, folk@freightandsalvage.org 

The Starry Plough Apr. 5: 9:30 p.m., Dave Gleason’s Wasted Days, Bellyahcers, The Mother Truckers, $6; Apr. 6: 9:30 p.m., 86, Warm Wires, Sonny Smith, $5; Apr. 7: 8 p.m., The Starry Irish Music Session; Apr. 8: 7 p.m., Dance Class and Ceili (traditional Irish music), free; Apr. 9: 9 p.m., Bonnie Price Billy, RainYwood, $12; Apr. 10: 8:30 p.m., Poetry Slam, $7; Apr. 11: Jessica Lurie Ensemble, Will Bernard Trio, $6; Apr. 14: 8 p.m., The Starry Irish Music Session; Apr. 15: 7 p.m., Dance Class and Ceili (traditional Irish music), free; Apr. 16: open mic, free; Apr. 17: 8:30 p.m., Poetry Slam, $7; Apr. 18: 9:30 p.m., Dallas Wayne, Amy Rigby, $6; Apr. 19: 9:30 p.m., Tempest, Brazen Hussey, $10; 3101 Shattuck Ave., 841-2082. 

Borealis Wind Quintet Apr. 13: 7:30 p.m., $25 - $35, Scottish Rite Auditorium, Oakland, 451-0775, www.ticketweb.com. 

The Texas Twisters Blues Band Apr. 20: 9 p.m., Rountree’s, 2618 San Pablo Ave., 663-0440. 

Dance 

“Compania Espanola De Antonio Marquez” Mar. 13 & 14: 8 p.m., Artistic Director Antonio Marquez showcases his dazzling and dynamic program of flamenco. $24 - $36. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, 642-9988 

Theater 

“A Fairy’s Tail” through Apr. 7: 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 5 p.m. Sun., The Shotgun Players present Adam Bock’s story of a girl and her odyssey of revenge and personal transformation after a giant smashes her house with her family inside. Directed by Patrick Dooley. $10 - $25. Mar. 16 - 31:Thrust Stage at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St.; Apr. 4 - 7: UC Theatre on University Ave.; 704-8210, www.shotgunplayers.org. 

“Merrily We Roll Along” Apr. 5 through Apr. 21: Fri. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. or 7 p.m., BareStage Productions presents a musical comedy told in reverse tracing a famous songwriter and film producer back though his career to his youthful beginnings as a struggling artist. $8 - $10. UC Berkeley Choral Rehearsal Hall, 72 Cesar Chavez Center, 642-3880. 

“Pericles, Prince of Tyre” Through May 4: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m., William Shakespeare’s tale of lost hopes and love regained. Directed by Jon Wai-keung Lowe. $14. La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, 234-6046. 

“Long Day’s Journey Into Night” Apr. 12 through May 11: Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Actors Ensemble of Berkeley presents Eugene O’Neill’s story of the Tyrone family. Directed by Jean-Marie Apostolides. $10. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck Ave., 528-5620, www.actorsensembleofberkeley.com.  

“Homebody/Kabul” Apr. 24 - June 23: Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents Tony Kushner’s play about a women who disappears in Afghanistan and the husband and daughter’s attempts to find her. $38-$54. Call ahead for times, 647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org.  

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

Film 

Pacific Film Archive Apr. 5: 7:30 p.m., Journey to the Sun; Apr. 6: 7:30 p.m., If Only I, My Dinner with Weegee, Culture; Apr. 7: 2 p.m., La Commune; Apr. 8: 3 p.m., Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 7 p.m., In the Realm of the Senses; Apr. 9: 7:30 p.m., Cul de Sac: A Suburban War Story; Apr. 10: 3 p.m., Weekend, 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 5; Apr. 12: 7:30 p.m., Untitled; 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412 

Exhibits  

“Domestic Bliss” Through Apr. 4: Collection of abstract paintings and mixed medium by Amy St. George. Albany Community Center Foyer Gallery, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany, 524-9283. 

“Portraits of the Afghan People: 1984 - 1992” Through Apr. 6: An exhibit of black and white photographs by Bay Area photographer Patricia Monaco. Free. Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400 

“The Zoom of the Souls” Mar. 23 through Apr. 13: An exhibit of oil paintings by Mark P. Fisher. Sat. 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. Bay Area Music Foundation, 462 Elwood Ave. #9, Oakland, 836-5223 

“Sibila Savage & Sylvia Sussman” Through Apr. 13: Photographer, Sibila Savage presents photographs documenting the lives of her immigrant grandparents, and Painter, Sylvia Sussman displays her abstract landscapes on unstretched canvas. Free. Wed. - Sun. 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 64-6893, www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“Trillium Press: Past, Present and Future” Through April 13: Works created at Trillium Press by 28 artists. Tues. - Fri. noon - 5:30 p.m., Sat. noon - 4:30 p.m.; Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave., 549-2977, www.kala.org.  

“Art is Education” Through Apr. 19th: A group exhibition of over 50 individual artworks created by Oakland Unified School District students, Kindergarten through 12th grade. Mon. - Fri. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Craft and Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Office Building Atrium, 1515 Clay St., Oakland, 238-6952, www.oaklandculturalarts.org 

“Expressions of Time and Space” Through April 17: Calligraphy by Ronald Y. Nakasone. Julien Designs 1798 Shattuck Ave., 540-7634, RyNakasone@aol.com.  

“The Legacy of Social Protest: The Disability Rights Movement” Through April 30: The first exhibition in a series dealing with Free Speech, Civil Rights, and Social Protest Movements of the 60s and 70s in California. Photograghs by: Cathy Cade, HolLynn D’Lil, Howard Petrick, Ken Stein. The Free Speech Cafe, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, University of California-Berkeley, hjadler@yahoo.com.  

“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. 

“Errata” through May 4: An exhibition of the photographic work by Marco Breuer, focusing on the gaps, mistakes and marginal events that occur in daily life. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Traywick Gallery, 1316 10th St., 527-1214 

“Open: Objects” through May 4: An exhibition featuring sculptural objects by Los Angeles artist Karen Kimmel. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Traywick Gallery, 1316 10th St., 527-1214 

“Urban Re-Visions” Apr. 4 through May. 4: A two-person exhibition featuring the colorful anthropomorphic sculptures of Tim Burns and the figurative/narrative paintings of Dan Way Harper. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland, 836-0831, gallery709@aol.com 

“Quilted Paintings” Through May 4: Contemporary wall quilts by Roberta Renee Baker, landscapes, abstracts, altars and story quilts. Free. The Coffee Mill, 3363 Grand Ave., Oakland 465-4224 

“Jurassic Park: The Life and Death of Dinosaurs” Through May 12: An exhibit displaying models of the sets and dinosaur sculptures used in the Jurassic Park films, as well as a video presentation and a dig pit where visitors can dig for specially buried dinosaur bones. $8 adults, $6, youth and seniors. Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Dr., above the UC Berkeley campus, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

“Masterworks of Chinese Painting” Through May 26: An exhibition of distinguished works representing virtually every period and phase of Chinese painting over the last 900 years, including figure paintings and a selection of botanical and animal subjects. Prices vary. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-4889, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Marion Brenner: The Subtle Life of Plants and People” Through May 26: An exhibition of approximately 60 long-exposure black-and-white photograys of plants and people. $3 - $6. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film 

“The Image of Evil in Art” Through May 31: An exhibit exploring the varying depictions of the devil in art. Call ahead for hours. The Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd., 649-2541. 

“The Pottery of Ocumichu” Through May 31: A case exhibit of the imaginative Mexican pottery made in the village of Ocumichu, Michoacan. Known particularly for its playful devil figures, Ocumichu pottery also presents fanciful everyday scenes as well as religious topics. Call ahead for hours. The Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd., 649-2540 

“Being There” Through May 12: An exhibit of paintings, sculpture, photography and mixed media works by 45 contemporary artists who live and/or work in Oakland. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. 12 - 5 p.m. $6, adults, $4 children. The Oakland Museum of California, Oak and 10th St., 238-2200, www.museumca.org 

“East Bay Open Studios” Apr. 24 through Jun. 9: An exhibition of local artists’ work in connection with East Bay Open Studios. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland, 763-9425, www.proartsgallery 

“Scene in Oakland, 1852 to 2002” Through Aug. 25: An exhibit that includes 66 paintings, drawings, watercolors and photographs dating from 1852 to the present, featuring views of Oakland by 48 prominent California artists. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. 12 - 5 p.m. $6, adults, $4 children. The Oakland Museum of California, Oak and 10th St., 238-2200, www.museumca.org 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Apr. 4: Helen Caldicott reads from her new book “The New Nuclear Danger”; Apr. 5: Adair Lara reads from “Hold Me Close, Let Me Go: A Mother, a Daughter, and an Adolescence Survived”; Apr. 6: Sue Mingus reads from her memoir “Tonight At Noon”; Apr. 9: David Davidow reads from “The House of Blue Mangoes”; All events begin at 7:30 p.m. unless noted and ask a $2 donation. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852, www.codysbooks.com.  

Eastwind Books Apr. 20: Noël Alumit reads from “Letters to Montgomery Clift”; 2066 University Ave., 548-2350.  

Poetry 

Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Playreaders Apr. 13: 2 p.m., A multilingual poetry reading in honor of National Poetry Month. Free and recommended for age 10 and older. North Branch, 1170 The Alameda, 981-6250, www.infopeople.org.bpl.  

Poetry Flash @ Cody’s Apr. 3: Jerry Ratch, Richard Grossinger; Apr. 10: Brandon Brown, Brian Glaser; Apr. 17: Marilyn Chin, Morton Marcus; Apr. 24: Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Kurt Brown, Sandy Diamond; Apr. 28: 3 p.m., National Poetry Month Celebration featuring Gerald Stern, Willis Barnstone, Kazuko Shiraishi, $5; All events begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted, $2 donation. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852, www.codysbooks.com.  

Poetry Reading Apr. 13: Bay Area Poets Coalition is holding an open reading. 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. Free. Claremont Library, 2940 Benvenue, 527-9905, poetalk@aol.com. 

PoetrySquish Apr. 25: 8 p.m., spoken word, poetry, prose and voice event. Club Muse, 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Call for Poems: Apr. 20 deadline: one poem, 21 lines or less, with name and address, Celestial Arts, PO Box 1140, Talent, OR 97540 or enter online, www.freecontest.com. 

Call for Spiritual Poems: Apr. 15 deadline: one poem, 20 lines or less, Free Poetry Contest, 3412 - A, Moonlight Ave., El Paso Texas 79904 or enter online, www.freecontest.com.  

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. 

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. 

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. 

Lawrence Hall of Science Mar. 16: 1 - 4 p.m., Moviemaking for children 8 years old and up; Mar. 20: Spring Equinox; “Jurassic Park: Dinosaur Auditions Live Science Demonstrations” A directed activity in which children “audtion” to be a dinosaur in an upcoming movie. They’ll learn about the variety of dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park exhibit as well as dress up, act, and roar like a dinosaur. Through May 12: Mon. - Fri. 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m.; Sat. - Sun. 12 p.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. 3 p.m. $8 adults, $6 children. Centenial Dr. just above the UC campus and just below Grizzly Peak Blvd. 642-5132 

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

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

Tully throws five-inning shutout, strikes out eight to end St. Mary’s losing streak 

The St. Mary’s baseball team went into Thursday’s game against Redwood Christian at the low point of their season. The Panthers had lost all three games at the San Marin Tournament earlier in the week, and most of the players were hurting in some fashion. 

But nothing cures a team’s ills like a blowout win, and that’s just what St. Mary’s got, a 14-0 whipping of the visiting Wildcats. Even more importantly, the Panthers may have found a little pitching help. 

Freshman Scott Tully, fresh from the junior varsity roster, threw five scoreless innings for the win, giving up just one hit and two walks while striking out eight. While Redwood Christian isn’t quite at the level of future BSAL opponents, Tully showed the ability to throw strikes, field his position and take some pressure off of the woefully thin pitching staff. 

“(Tully) was pretty good today,” St. Mary’s head coach Andy Shimabukuro said. “He’s going to stay up with us. If he just shows a little better command, he should be fine at the varsity level.” 

Shimabukuro left the door open to making Tully his second starter, behind workhorse Joe Storno, but the freshman will likely pitch in relief for the time being. With two pitchers likely out for the year and little varsity experience left on the staff, Tully could be an important cog in the team’s success. 

Tully showed poise on the mound and wasn’t afraid to let the Wildcats hit the ball, experiencing just one rough inning, loading the bases with one out in the third on two walks and a hit batsman. But he bore down and struck out the next batter, then got Ryan Dole to ground out to end the inning. 

“I felt pretty comfortable. It’s nice to play with better defense behind you because you have more confidence,” Tully said. “Hopefully I can continue to pitch well and help the team.” 

If the Panthers continue to hit like they did on Thursday, it won’t take much to get the pitching staff some more victories. St. Mary’s batted around in each of the first three innings, scoring 12 runs before Shimabukuro began removing his weary starters. Tom Carmen did the most damage with two bases-loaded blasts, the first a double in the second inning followed by a triple in the third, for six RBIs on the day. Chris Morocco, hitting in the leadoff spot, chimed in with three hits, including two doubles, and three runs. Storno had a two-run double in the first inning and two sacrifice flies, totalling four RBIs. All this production was even more pleasing because it came with regular cleanup hitter Chris Alfert on the bench with a shoulder injury. Alfert, along with centerfielder Chase Moore, had been carrying the team with their bats for much of the early season. 

“I think we have a really good lineup all the way through,” Carman said. “Once we get everyone going, we’ll put up some big numbers.” 

Thursday’s win also continued the Panthers’ strong play at home, upping their record to 6-2 on their own field, including their first two BSAL games, both wins. They are just 1-7 on the road, however, including their three losses at San Marin.  

“We just seem to swing the bat better here,” Shimabukuro said. “I can’t explain it.” 

The Panthers will try to shake their road woes on Wednesday when they travel to BSAL favorite Salesian. With Storno on the mound and a week of rest, that game will be their only regular-season shot at the Chieftans. 

“We’re just getting ready for Salesian, and this was a good way to finish the week,” Carman said.

Some students concerned with decline in minority admissions 

Compared to last year, UC Berkeley has accepted fewer minority students and fewer students overall, while the statewide University of California system has accepted more minority students and more students overall, according to admissions figures released Thursday. 

Overall admissions for next year’s UC Berkeley freshman class are down 2.5 percent, while admissions for “underrepresented” student groups – African-Americans, Chicano/Latinos and Native Americans – are down 2.2 percent. White admissions are down 1.7 percent. 

System-wide, UC admissions are up 4.9 overall, and 7.6 percent for underrepresented groups. 

Some UC Berkeley students are concerned about the decline in minority admissions, no matter how small. 

“Any decline is not a good thing,” said student Senator Sajid Khan. “California is a majority-minority state and it’s time to make our campuses more reflective of that.” 

UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore noted that admissions are down in all ethnic groups, including the 1.7 percent decline for whites. She added that the university will work hard to convince students of all backgrounds to attend. 

“We greatly value diversity on this campus,” Gilmore said. 

Hanan Eisenman, spokesman for the larger UC system, said it is difficult to determine the reasons for increased application and acceptance rates for minorities, and all students, at UC universities state-wide. But he suggested that a combination of three university programs may have had an effect.  

Prior to this year, Eisenman noted, UC accepted 50 percent of students on grades alone and examined the rest through a “comprehensive review” process, which includes an assessment of both academics and qualities like leadership and motivation. This year, UC moved to comprehensive review for all students.  

Eisenman said this policy shift may have allowed for greater acceptance of minority students, but emphasized that the university put it in place to get a broader picture of all applicants. 

Second, Eisenman said, for the second straight year, UC has guaranteed admission to the top four percent of students at every California high school for the second straight year, broadening the university’s net. 

Finally, Eisenman said, a $180 million outreach program to high school students may have had an effect.  

But Wally Adeyemo, UC Berkeley’s student body president said these efforts are too scattered, and that a more focused plan is required to boost minority enrollment. 

“I don’t feel that we have a comprehensive, strategic plan for increasing minority enrollment in the UC system,” said Adeyemo, who is African-American. 

In a statement, UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor of Admissions and Enrollment Richard Black said the university reduced overall acceptances by about 100 students this year because more students have been accepting UC Berkeley offers of admission, and the university wants to hold steady on freshman enrollment. 

Black said the university is committed to a 15-year agreement with the city, signed in 1990, that places a cap on UC Berkeley enrollment. 

Gilmore said the university has not yet completed calculations for next year, but expects to be in compliance with the enrollment cap. 

Editor: 

I am very pleased at our Zoning Boards decision to add mixed housing units to downtown. Andy Katz has been a vocal advocate for Close Affordable and Livable (CAL) Housing, fighting to improve the lives of students and fighting to improve our beautiful downtown.  

The newly approved project on the corner of University and Shattuck is yet another great addition to rejuvenating our downtown. Adding more pedestrians and more housing is the right thing to do.  

We should continue to support such projects, especially when they give our community members options for low and very low income, and disabled residents.  

With projects like this we really are creating an inclusive and vibrant Berkeley.  

Hats off. 

Victor Pineda 

Berkeley

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The publisher almost pulled the plug on Michael Moore’s latest book, fearing a backlash because of its bare-knuckle attacks on President Bush. 

So now that “Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation” is atop the New York Times best seller list, Moore is feeling a bit more charitable toward his No. 1 target — right? 

Nah. 

“This 80 percent approval rating — this is not about 80 percent of the country approves or loves George W. Bush,” Moore said Monday during a stop on his promotional tour. “This is more like love the one you’re with. This is who we’re stuck with.” 

Moore, known for a wicked humor that skewers conservatives and corporations such as General Motors, was true to form in a speech at Northwestern Michigan College. A capacity crowd of about 400 packed Milliken Auditorium, and hundreds watched through closed-circuit television in another campus building. 

By turns jocular and indignant, Moore hammered Bush, Enron and the administration’s handling of the war on terrorism. He also provided a sneak preview of his coming film, “Bowling for Columbine,” which pokes fun at the gun culture and features interviews with members of the Michigan Militia. 

The first chapter of his book describes the 2000 presidential election as “a very American coup.” As far as Moore is concerned, Al Gore is the rightful president of the United States 

“People say, ‘Get over it.’ Well, I’ll never get over it,” he said. “There’s nothing more basic in a democracy than the right to vote, and if you don’t stand up for that — if someone tries to rig it or steal it and we sit silent, what message do we send?” 

He also called for a special prosecutor to investigate the Enron scandal and ties between the company and government officials. 

“If they could waste our time for four years with a special prosecutor looking at a stain on a blue dress, they could certainly dig out the criminals involved in this mess,” Moore shouted over the crowd’s roar. 

Dressed casually in his trademark baseball cap, jeans and tennis shoes, Moore drew laughter by recounting his discussions with HarperCollins executives who feared the nation’s post-Sept. 11 mood would sink his book — especially with chapter titles such as “Kill Whitey” and “Idiot Nation.” 

If people in the audience were offended by his no-holds-barred brand of politics, they kept it to themselves. 

“He’s wonderful,” said Traverse City Mayor Margaret Dodd. “He cares about the things America is supposed to care about, and he has the courage to do something.” 

Erin Chamberlain, an organizer of the newly formed campus Green Party, said Moore was a role model. Shannon Hemingway, a volunteer with the college radio station, praised him for presenting complex issues in simple terms. 

“He’s genuine,” Hemingway said. 

Cope wins at Worlds 

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Former Cal swimmer Haley Cope, the 2000 Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year, won the 100-meter backstroke Thursday at the Short Course World Championships in Moscow, Russia.  

Cope, who competed for the Bears from 1998-01, won the 100-meter back in a time of 59.01. This past summer, she was the world champion in the 50-meter back (28.51) at the Long Course World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.  

Current Cal junior Staciana Stitts qualified for the semifinals of the 50-meter breaststroke.  

Lord to transfer from Cal  

Freshman women’s basketball player Jackie Lord has decided to transfer from Cal, head coach Caren Horstmeyer announced Thursday. Lord, who hails from Brea, has yet to determine where she will transfer but intends to return to the Los Angeles area.  

The 5-foot-8 guard averaged 14.6 minutes per game in 21 contests off the bench in 2001-02 for the Golden Bears. Lord posted 2.1 points and 1.0 rebounds per game. She missed the first seven games of the year while she rehabilitated an ACL injury.  

Shipp voted MVP  

Junior forward Joe Shipp, who led Cal with in scoring with 14.8 points per game, was named the Golden Bears’ Most Valuable Player at the team’s annual banquet Thursday night at Haas Pavilion.  

During the 2001-02 season, the 6-foot-5 Shipp reach double figures 26 times in 32 games, including a career-high 31 points vs. Fresno State when he also set a school record with nine 3-pointers. An honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection, Shipp ranked second on the squad in rebounding (4.7 rpg) and third in blocked shots (18). In March, he became the 31st player in school history to pass the 1,000-point barrier, and he will enter his senior season next fall with 1,034 points.

E-mails, faxes sent to  

leaders calling for an end to Middle East violence 

Since Friday, more than 134,000 people from the Bay Area and around the world have used a Berkeley Web site to send e-mails and faxes to American, Israeli and Palestinian leaders calling for an end to Middle Eastern violence. 

“It’s really picking up a lot of steam,” said Steve Freedkin, who operates the site, www.progressiveportal.org, and serves as a member of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission. 

The Web site, launched in May 2001, serves as a vehicle for citizens to contact decision-makers on a wide range of issues. Progressive Portal’s most prominent campaign was a one-million-letter effort to dislodge members of the Pacifica Radio board last year. 

The Middle East message calls for an end to Israeli military action in Palestinian-controlled areas. The letter also advocates an end to suicide bombings, carried out by Palestinian radicals, against Israeli citizens. Visitors to the site, if they choose, can edit the message. 

Freedkin said he has no illusions that this week’s e-mails and faxes, alone, will bring peace to the Middle East.  

But he suggests that they may play some small role in easing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has escalated in recent weeks. 

“Maybe we can, in some small way, contribute to the larger effort of governments and citizens and action groups around the world to step back from the brink of chaos in the Middle East,” he said. 

Freedkin said that quick, e-mail activism also helps people feel more involved. He said he hopes this sense of involvement leads to greater activism.  

Norma Harrison, a Berkeley real estate agent who used the service, said she is already a busy activist. But Harrison added that she does appreciate the convenience of www.progressiveportal.org and other similar sites. 

“This is one of the easier things to do,” she said. “I do this as much as possible.” 

“I really just want to do something,” added Annie Smiley, a UC Berkeley senior who used the site after seeing a link on jerusalem.indymedia.org. 

Freedkin said people from Japan, Turkey, Italy, Canada and several other countries have joined local activists in making use of the site.  

Freedkin said the e-mails and faxes only targeted American and Israeli leaders until Saturday night, when he added Palestinian leaders to the list. 

The problem, he said, was that Israeli attacks on the Palestinian stronghold of Ramallah disabled several web sites and made it difficult to find contact information for the appropriate leaders. 

Now, he said, those who send messages through the web site reach the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Negotiations Affairs Department. Freedkin said he will add Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi to the list shortly. 

Freedkin said most of the faxes and e-mails have reached their destinations. But, he added, fax machines at the State Department and White House have been busy at times and the Israeli Deputy Defense Minister’s e-mail account has been full, and unable to accept new messages, on several occasions. 

Thus far one recipient, a member of the Israeli Knesset, Uri Ariel, has responded to a Progressive Portal message calling for an end to military action. The response: “Thank you for writting (sic) me, but that won’t be possible, we have to protect our lives here.”

Editor: 

I was in the demonstration against Israel's attempt to be both David and Goliath at the same time by declaring the Palestinians to be "N's" (the usual meaning, as well as Nobodies, Nonpersons).  

Sadly, the usual reason for conflict in our species as well as many others is territory. I am writing to dispute not your reporting but the tactics or lack of by some participants.  

The march was peaceful and the police helpful in deflecting traffic until we got to 6th Street. I could see no reason for conflict with the police.  

Closing I-80 at rush hour could only serve to antagonize drivers, who until that point had been uniformly supportive, honking and waving.  

People who, tired and hungry, want to get home and/or call for their children, etc., etc., will be justifiably angry and unsympathetic to any group or cause which makes them very late. Please, people, next time think about the results of your tactics. 

On a related subject, maybe your paper or a radio station could interview the proverbial "self-loathing Jew". ("I am such a despicable person I shouldn't be allowed to occupy space. I disgust myself........") 

I know and am related to many people of Jewish ancestry, and while many could be described as injustice-hating people, none could be remotely described as self-hating. Maybe, if he or she exists, he or she would contact the media for an interview.  

Otherwise, I hope we've heard the last of this ridiculous construct. 

Ruth Bird 

Berkeley 

LAS VEGAS — Nevada Power Co. said it will ask the state Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its order that rejected almost half of the $922 million rate increase the utility sought to recover the cost of buying power last year. 

Nevada Power’s parent company, Sierra Pacific Resources of Reno, also announced it intends to delay transmission line projects in southern and northern Nevada to save $125 million. 

State Consumer Advocate Tim Hay called delaying the Centennial transmission line project in the south and Falcon-Gonder transmission project in the north “regulatory blackmail.” 

Sonya Headen, Nevada Power spokeswoman, said Thursday that the utility will file its appeal by April 15. 

In a statement outlining both moves, Sierra Pacific Resources chairman Walter Higgins said the PUC’s decision “erred in excluding evidence that the company’s power purchase costs were prudently incurred.” 

He said granting just $485 million of the $922 million rate increase didn’t “fulfill” a state law passed last year to protect the company “as we took risks to protect our consumers from the meltdown of western energy power markets.” 

He referred to the company’s decisions to lock into long-term contracts to buy power while prices were high and neighboring California was experiencing shortages and rolling blackouts. 

Paul Heagan, a Sierra Pacific vice president and spokesman for Nevada Power, said that among other cost-cutting measures, the company is looking at whether it can continue to hook up new customers. 

“Our first obligation has got to be the customers we have today,” he said. 

The utility has not laid off any of its 1,800 full-time employees, but is considering reducing the number of contract workers and interns. 

The company also has not said whether it will reduce its quarterly stockholder divided of 20 cents per share or file for bankruptcy protection. 

Hay said cutting dividends should take priority to cutting necessary projects. 

He said Sierra Pacific was punishing large customers that opposed the state-record $922 million rate increase. 

Fred Schmidt, a lawyer representing the utility’s largest customer, the Southern Nevada Water District, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the plan to curb transmission projects “shows disrespect for the customers, and unmitigated arrogance.” 

However, Joyce Newman, president of the Utility Shareholders Association of Nevada, said the utility might have no choice but to cut back on capital projects. 

The PUC will have 40 days to respond to a Sierra Pacific appeal. 

Nevada Power and Reno-based Sierra Pacific Power Co., which serves northern Nevada, would have to obtain PUC approval before delaying the transmission line projects. 

The 180-mile, 345-kilovolt Falcon-Gonder transmission line is planned to run from the Falcon substation near Carlin to a location north of Ely. 

The Centennial project would provide transmission lines to move electricity produced at several planned power projects at the Apex Industrial Park north of Las Vegas to Nevada customers and to other western states. 

Hay said independent power plants will need the $300 million Centennial project to ship their electricity to market. 

Heagan agreed with Hay that the transmission line project is critical. 

“They have to have a way to get their power to market, and there is no way to do it without Centennial,” the power company official said.

On Thursday morning at 2 a.m. , two Orthodox Jews were reportedly attacked within one block of the Clark Kerr neighborhood. Witnesses say they believe the crime was just another bloody example of increased anti-Semitism. 

Shnear Zalman Stern, a 40-year-old University of California at Berkeley student and Yossi Serris — son of one of the top clergy of the Berkeley Chabad, Rabbi Serris — were beaten by two unidentified assailants very much near the Serris’ residence. 

Stern sustained such severe injuries in the attack that he was held overnight at Alta Bates for treatment. 

Tomer Altman, a student activist at the Hillel Center, says there has been a notable increase in anti-Semitism on campus since 9-11 and particularly since the increased violence in the Middle East. 

“In this academic year, there has already been several attacks,” Altman said. “Two students were beaten up last semester and the Hillel Center was vandalized. On the front of the building, they wrote fuck the Jews.” 

Altman said that many Jewish students feel as if they are under attack and that it has become unsafe to walk on campus.  

“After 9-11 in the campus plaza there were several statements made about the attack and amongst the statements there were anti-Semitic statements saying ‘It’s the Jews. Blame the Jews, l’ ” Altman said. “Students are getting to the point that they don’t feel safe walking around campus alone, and it’s a shame that they are beginning to not feel safe at the Hillel center as well. 

Some students are even beginning to talk about organizing escorts so that Jews don’t have to walk alone.” 

At this point the Berkeley Police Department has not decided whether or not they will pursue this attack as a hate crime but the family of both victims as well as Altman stated that the community will be pushing for it to be declared a hate crime. 

If this attack was declared a hate crime, the assault would then be a federal offense and carry a significantly larger sentence. 

There were four witnesses to the attack and they say that they too believe the victims were targeted because they are Jewish.  

“We believe they were targeted because they were Orthodox Jews and very identifiable. Also, there was no money or anything taken. They were just attacked for being there,” Altman said. 

“I was already asleep, and I heard a very loud banging on the door. My girl cousins locked the door because they were scared,” said Shmuel Plotke, whose house Serris ran into directly after the attack. “And then we see it’s Yossi, and that his face is covered in blood. He says ‘there beating up Zalman,’ and he told us to run and hide because he said they were running after him.” 

But Stern himself says that he can only say that maybe he was attacked because he was Jewish. Stern says he cannot be sure because the suspects never made any derogatory statement about Jews during the attack. 

“They were across the street then they made a b-line towards us and asked Yossi for a cigarette. As soon as Yossi reached for the cigarette the one guy began pummeling him, like a punching bag” said Zalman Stern. “Yossi was stumbling back trying to defend himself but totally ineffectively. And eventually I stepped in and Yossi was able to wiggle away from him, and I was pummeled.” 

Stern says he was treated for shock and blunt trauma to the face. 

There are no suspects in custody. 

Editor: 

My daughter is on the novice women's crew team at BHS. I think it is absurd to even CONSIDER not giving P.E. credit for this sport. These girls get up at 4:30 a.m. every weekday to go to Lake Merritt and practice for two hours. 

They get themselves back to school on time for class. This sport is intense and the practices are year-round and grueling! Crew is very well-organized, well-coached and very educational.  

Being on the team requires conditioning, nutrition awareness, self-discipline, teamwork, and extreme dedication. I can't imagine any P.E. class requiring this degree of effort or imparting this degree of education.  

The team is diverse. Scholarships are available. No one is excluded and a great deal of effort goes into recruiting from the public middle schools. I am extremely proud of my daughter, the whole team, and the organization.  

Not only are they out there representing Berkeley High School throughout the state, and being excellent ambassadors for our high school and community, they are terrific examples of what can be accomplished at the high school level by women athletes!  

When something works this well it makes sense to nurture it-- not to do it harm.  

Cynthia Papermaster 

Berkeley 

WASHINGTON — FBI agents and Director Louis Freeh denied imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier a fair chance at clemency and parole when they publicly protested against him in 2000, a lawsuit filed Thursday alleged. 

The FBI has said the agents were off-duty at the time and had a constitutional right to protest the possibility of Peltier’s gaining freedom after being convicted in the death of two agents. 

The action, filed in federal court in Washington, charges Freeh and the agents “engaged in a systematic, and officially sanctioned campaign of misinformation and disinformation designed to prevent” Peltier’s clemency request from receiving fair consideration. Freeh retired from the FBI last summer. 

The FBI on Thursday dismissed the allegation, saying employees’ comments are protected free speech. 

“FBI employees, like other federal workers and citizens, have the right to express their views on issues they feel passionate about — in this case the brutal killing of two FBI agents,” Assistant Director John Collingwood said. 

“They were reminding the American public of the consistently upheld murder conviction of Leonard Peltier, and they were doing so on their own time,” he said. 

The suit requests the court to order the agents’ silence on the issue and to pay $1 million in damages. 

“I have a problem with them speaking at all if they are active agents,” Peltier’s lawyer, Bernard V. Kleinman, said Thursday. 

The agents should be ordered not to protest because “there may still be individuals that could still be affected by the case,” Kleinman added. “If that’s the case then I don’t understand why they’re able to speak at all.” 

Just before leaving office, President Clinton considered granting Peltier clemency for his convictions in the 1975 killings of the two FBI agents. 

Ultimately, Clinton denied clemency. Kleinman says that’s because the president may have been swayed by the march of more than 500 FBI agents and families outside the White House. 

Peltier was convicted in the June 26, 1975, murders of agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota as they were searching for robbery suspects, according to FBI officials. Both were shot in the head at point-blank range after they were injured. The bodies were left on a dirt road. 

Peltier was charged with taking part in the slayings, but whether he fired the fatal shots was never proved. After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, he was convicted and sentenced in 1977, despite defense claims that evidence against him had been falsified. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Peltier defense: http://www.freepeltier.org 

Clemency opponents: http://www.noparolepeltier.com 

Today is Friday, April 5, the 95th day of 2002. There are 270 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death following their conviction in New York on charges of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union; co-defendant Morton Sobell was sentenced to 30 years in prison (he was released in 1969). 

On this date: 

In 1614, American Indian princess Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia. 

In 1621, the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, Mass., on a return trip to England. 

In 1649, Elihu Yale, the English philanthropist for whom Yale University is named, was born. 

In 1792, George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states. 

In 1887, British historian Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 

In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who’d accused the writer of homosexual practices. 

In 1964, Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur died in Washington at age 84. 

In 1975, nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek died at age 87. 

In 1976, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 72. 

In 1987, Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime-time TV debut by airing the premiere episodes of “Married ... With Children” and “The Tracey Ullman Show” three times each. 

Ten years ago: Medical student Suada Dilberovic became the first fatality of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina as Serb nationalists began forcibly opposing the republic’s secession from Yugoslavia. In Washington, D.C., a crowd estimated by authorities at half a million marched in support of abortion rights. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton died in Little Rock, Ark., at age 74. 

Five years ago: Allen Ginsberg, the counterculture guru who’d shattered conventions as poet laureate of the Beat Generation, died in New York City at age 70. 

One year ago: The United States and China intensified negotiations for the release of an American spy plane’s crew; President Bush, in a conciliatory gesture, expressed regret over the plane’s in-flight collision with a Chinese fighter that triggered the tense standoff. Dutch driver Perry Wacker was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in prison in the deaths of 58 Chinese immigrants who suffocated in his truck in Dover, England. Wang Zhizhi became the first Chinese player to play in the NBA when he took the court for Dallas against Atlanta. (Wang scored six points and grabbed three rebounds as the Mavericks beat the Hawks 108-to-94.) 

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Gregory Peck is 86. Novelist Arthur Hailey is 82. Actress Gale Storm is 80. Movie producer Roger Corman is 76. Country music producer Cowboy Jack Clement is 71. Impressionist-actor Frank Gorshin is 69. Secretary of State Colin Powell is 65. Country singer Tommy Cash is 62. Actor Michael Moriarty is 61. Writer-director Peter Greenaway is 60. Actor Max Gail is 59. Actress Jane Asher is 56. Singer Agnetha Faltskog (ABBA) is 52. Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 37. Country singer Troy Gentry is 35. Singer Paula Cole is 34. Country singer Pat Green is 30.

SAN FRANCISCO — New HIV infections are on the rise in the San Francisco Bay area, in part, because a small proportion of gay men who are having unprotected sex, a new study shows. 

The study said despite years promoting condom use to prevent HIV infection, some gay men are actively seeking out partners who will have unprotected sex with them. 

“What it says is that, in this group, other needs supersede prevention of HIV transmission,” said Gordon Mansergh, lead author of the study and a behavioral scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. 

“Our conclusion was that we need to develop new prevention interventions differently. People are decidedly not using a condom. The old way is not working,” he said. 

The study by researchers at the CDC and San Francisco’s Department of Public Health is the first serious analysis of the practice of “barebacking,” in which gay or bisexual men intentionally engage in sex without a condom with someone other than their primary partner. 

Seventy percent of the 554 gay men contacted for the survey said they were familiar with barebacking, and of those, 14 percent said they had engaged in the practice within the past two years. Twenty-two percent of HIV-positive men had done so, compared with 10 percent of HIV-negative men. 

Participants in the survey were recruited at bars, dance clubs and community organizations in San Francisco and Oakland, and the study was conducted between July 2000 and February 2001. 

The practice of barebacking has grown at the same time that rates of HIV infection have begun to rebound in San Francisco. City health experts estimate that there will be 700 to 800 new HIV infections in San Francisco this year, numbers rivaling the early years of the AIDS epidemic.

SANTA CLARA — Silicon Valley firms are worried about the increasing violence in Israel, a major hub of the world’s high-tech industry. 

Some of the San Francisco Bay area’s biggest companies, including Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems, have offices, labs or factories there, employing thousands of Israelis. 

Chipmaker Intel runs a chip design and development center at Haifa, site of one of the grisliest suicide bombings in recent weeks. 

And as attacks increase against Israeli citizens, some fear the bloodshed could make American companies and investors hesitate to sink more money into the region. 

“I’m sure there are some people staying awake at night worrying about this,” said Risto Puhakka, a high-tech analyst at VLSI Research. “My gut feeling is that they’ll just hold tight. However, you wouldn’t make any decisions (to build new plants) in Israel right now. That would be foolish.” 

Venture capital investment in Israeli technology companies dropped in 2001, falling from $1.5 billion in 2000 to $843.6 million last year, according to the VentureOne research firm.  

Several analysts cautioned, however, the decline could be the result of the worldwide technology spending slump rather than the Palestinian uprising.

Salmonella poisoning causes FDA warning on cheese 

SAN JOSE — More than 50 reported cases of salmonella poisoning since January have prompted state health officials to warn consumers to avoid an illegally produced cheese popular among Latinos. 

Many of the cases linked to the soft white cheese — queso fresco — occurred in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties. 

Of the 36 cases studied so far by health officials, 14 were hospitalized, including seven children, according to epidemiologist Dr. Michele Cheung, who is overseeing the investigation. 

Officials have been unable to identify the maker or distributor of the contaminated cheese. The strain of salmonella bacteria causing the outbreak, called Newport, worries epidemiologists because it is known to be resistant to certain antibiotics. 

The cheese is available at grocery stores, but also can be purchased from street vendors and homemakers in the Bay Area. Much of it is produced legally, using pasteurized milk, but some is made with unpasteurized milk that can contain salmonella and other bacteria. 

Symptoms in the recent outbreak include severe vomiting, bloody diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain, Cheung said. 

New bridge across Bay on I-238 could cost $8.2 billion  

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Skyrocketing cost estimates are making plans to build a new Southern Crossing span across the San Francisco Bay look more like fiction than fact. 

The cost of a new toll bridge between Interstate 238 in San Lorenzo and Interstate 380 in San Bruno is estimated at $8.2 billion, according to a report released to a regional panel studying the project. 

Two other potential projects also were given high price tags, according to the report prepared by Korve Engineering of Oakland. A proposed second transbay tube for Bay Area Rapid Transit is estimated at $10.3 billion, and a rail tunnel to handle commuter trains and high-speed rail is estimated at $11.8 billion. 

The transbay tunnel would swoop south of the Bay Bridge and end up in West Oakland, while the rail tunnel would begin at the Transbay Terminal, following the same route under the bay into West Oakland. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission also is studying less expensive alternatives, including a $2 billion expansion of the San Mateo Bridge or a $286 million project restoring the old Dumbarton railroad bridge and running Caltrain and Altamont Commuter Express trains across it. 

Woman dies in crash hours after getting marriage proposal  

SANTA CRUZ — A Modesto man faces a manslaughter charge for the death of his girlfriend in a car crash hours after he proposed to her. 

Shawn Bridgen Bruntmyer, 21, pleaded innocent Wednesday and was released on his own recognizance. 

Shannon Bartoni, 17, of Modesto was killed March 28 after a car driven by Bruntmyer drove into a 45-foot ravine in Santa Cruz. Bruntmyer suffered serious head and face injuries. Neither was wearing a seat belt. 

Police say Bruntmyer was under the influence of marijuana when the accident occurred. Several bags of the drug were found in the car, and Bruntmyer told officials he intended to take the drugs back to Modesto to sell, said prosecutor Ellen Campos. 

He also told investigators he had asked Bartoni to marry him just before the crash. The girl’s mother said her daughter never called to share the news before the accident. She said the two had been dating about two months. 

Bruntmyer was ordered to stay with his mother in Riverbank, northeast of Modesto. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 22. 

SACRAMENTO — More than $25 billion in education bonds to help fix up deteriorating schools was approved by the state Senate Thursday, sending the issue to Gov. Gray Davis. 

The Senate voted 27-11 for the bill, which authorizes the placement of two bond measures before voters this November and in 2004. It passed in the Assembly in March by a 71-6 vote. 

A $13 billion bond proposal will go on the November 2002 ballot and would be followed in 2004 with a $12.3 billion bond issue. 

They combine for a bond package worth almost three times as much as the $9.2 billion deal approved by voters in 1998. 

Davis hopes to sign the bill soon, said spokeswoman Hilary McLean. “He hopes that it (the bill) will be passed by the voters (in November and 2004) and will benefit a whole generation of California students.” 

Money from the bonds will help low-performing and overcrowded schools, design upgrades and expand buildings at community colleges, and campuses of the California State University and the University of California. 

The deal encountered early opposition from Republicans, but two early opponents, Republican Sens. Dick Monteith of Modesto and Maurice Johannessen of Redding, changed their votes and backed the bonds. 

Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, said the plan unfairly gives some districts more money than they deserve. He said Los Angeles Unified School District’s proposed 40 percent share of the $4.1 billion allocated for critically overcrowded schools, is too high. 

The Long Beach Unified School District would receive $200 million, Oakland receives $124 million and the San Diego Unified School District would get $118 million. 

Even $25 billion isn’t enough to fix everything, said Sen. Dede Alpert, D-Coronado. “We have more need than there is room in this bond.” 

If voters approve the bonds in November, $4.8 billion will become immediately available to schools that have already applied for construction projects, Alpert said. 

“This is a historic bond,” Alpert said. “It’s a bond every school district deserves to have access to.” 

The Office of Public School Construction estimates that more than $21.1 billion in state bonds are needed in the next four years for K-12 school construction alone. 

Three out of every four schools are more than 25 years old. The state estimates that 12,775 additional classrooms and 331 new schools will need to be built over the next five years. 

Alpert said the bond deal would also set aside $1.7 billion for critically overcrowded schools, as well as help districts pay for land on which to build schools. 

“By placing these bonds on the ballot now, California can take advantage of historically low interest rates,” said Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz. “It is important that we give voters an opportunity to decide if these bonds are necessary for California’s future.”

SAN DIEGO — Scientists said Thursday they have discovered at least a half-dozen new species of insect in Southern California, some of them in the midst of the nation’s seventh-largest city. 

The newly identified insects, still unnamed scientifically, are for the most part varieties of Jerusalem cricket, a six-legged, wingless bug marked by its heft. The others include new species of silk-spinning cricket and millipede. 

Some specimens of the newly found Jerusalem cricket species reach lengths of 3 inches or more and resemble bloated ants. 

“This is the largest insect by mass in Southern California and it was undescribed” scientifically, said Robert Fisher, a zoologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in San Diego. 

Previously, scientists believed all the Jerusalem crickets in California represented a single species. But specimens collected in the field, including by David Weissman of the California Academy of Sciences, revealed that there are different species, each of varying size and aspect. 

Planned genetic work could show there may be 20 or more species of the insect living in California, scientists said. Such work would also allow scientists to chart the extent of their respective habitats. 

“You suddenly have a lot of things that everyone thought was the same thing,” said Fisher, who showed off three of the insects during a briefing on biodiversity at the University of California, San Diego. 

The finding is an unusual one given how densely urbanized Southern California is and how that threatens many species already known to science. 

“There are more listed species, more threatened species here than any place else,” UCSD biologist David Woodruff said of the San Diego region. 

Several specimens of the new crickets were found within the San Diego city limits, where they were trapped as part of a survey of the region’s reptiles and amphibians. The bugs had eluded detection because some appear to be active only during certain seasons of the year. 

The insects are thought to play an important role in the ecosystem, both as a food source for animals such as coyotes and as a host for a parasite that calls the crickets home for a portion of its life. 

DENVER — Colorado rafting groups, battling a lawsuit aimed at restricting passage through private property, will try to put an initiative on the ballot guaranteeing access rights. 

Colorado is the largest destination river rafting state in the nation. 

“We have tried to work out these issues in a discussion forum, however, recent events point to the need for these policy decisions to be in the hands of the citizens of Colorado,” said Kevin Schneider, chairman of the Colorado River Outfitters Association. 

He said a small Lake City-based rafting company, Cannibal Outdoors, was forced to close its operation this week because of the cost of defending its right to raft the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. 

Four other outfitters will still float the Lake Fork while their appeal continues of a court decision declaring their activities to be trespassing. 

“Floating and fishing rivers is a part of our frontier history, quality of life and vital tourism economy,” Schneider said. Most other states west of the Mississippi River guarantee access to public waterways. 

Commercial river rafting in Colorado represented an economic impact of more than $125 million in 2001, according to a recently released report by the association. It represents more than 55 commercial river outfitters who work the state’s 13 world class river systems. 

Rafting supporters helped persuade the state Senate to kill a bill this session that would have outlawed float-fishing on waterways adjacent to private land without the landowner’s permission. 

A lawsuit seeking to block the rafters from floating the Lake Fork remains in court. A judge has rejected the rafters’ claim that the law guarantees them to right to float rivers. 

John Hill, the lawyer representing the landowners, said a ballot initiative guaranteeing the right to float private property would be unconstitutional unless landowners were compensated. 

Cannibal Outdoors was sued by landowners who wanted to stop it from floating the Lake Fork. Earlier this week Cannibal Outdoors sold its river rafting equipment and other company assets in an attempt to reorganize its business, which also offers jeep tours and hiking in the nearby San Juan mountains. 

Since June 1, 2001, when the lawsuit was filed, Cannibal Outdoors gained additional support from American Whitewater and the Colorado White Water Association. America Outdoors and the Colorado River Outfitters Association jointly filed a motion in support of Cannibal Outdoors. 

Day-to-day maintenance isn’t gender-specific. Nowhere is it written that leaking faucets are a “guy thing” or wallpaper is “women’s work.” 

Nowhere is this truer than among a fast-growing segment of homeownership: single women. As women find out all too quickly when something goes wrong at home, their options are to hire the work out or do it themselves. Apparently, more opt to roll up their sleeves and dive in. 

“We talk to a lot more women who want to know how to do their own repairs and projects around their house,” says Beth Boyd, a marketing manager for Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse. “They want the tools, they want the know-how, and they want a degree of self-sufficiency.” 

The learning curve for how-to skills is shorter than you might think, says Boyd. She advises first-timers to try their hand at routine tasks before inevitable repairs or emergencies arise. 

This may be as simple as tightening screws on cabinet doors, hammering in exposed deck nails, filling nail holes in walls with spackle or oiling squeaky hinges. 

As skills — and can-do confidence — grow, the decisions about personally making repairs or hiring professionals can be made on a case-by-case basis. “Unless its something that needs immediate attention, take the time to see if it matches your skill-sets and abilities,” says Boyd. True emergencies, such as electrical, heating and cooling breakdowns are best left to specialists. 

For most single homeowners, it all starts with basic tools for basic tasks. Boyd’s short list of equipment for women includes: 

—Tape measure 

—Cordless rechargeable screwdriver (with Phillips and flat heads) 

—Extension cord and work light 

—Hammer 

—Pliers, plain and locking type 

—Cordless drill and assorted drill bits 

—Work gloves 

—C-clamps in various sizes 

The best advice, however, might be that, when in doubt, ask for help. Boyd says women should check their qualms and misgivings at the door the moment they walk into a home-improvement store. She says that the mindset of stores now is that there are no questions that are too basic. There are plenty of store associates to answer questions and how-to brochures, books, and instant help available. “There’s no embarrassment in asking for help,” she says. 

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Lowe’s is a national chain of nearly 750 home improvement, appliance and gardening stores in 42 states.

A truly ripe peach is one that makes you jut your head forward with each bite to keep yourself from being showered with juice. You rarely can buy such a fruit, but you can grow it. Get it off to a good start with correct planting. 

Peach trees usually are sold bare-root; that is, they are dug when dormant, and shipped wit hout soil. Unwrap the roots, then soak them in water for a few hours. 

Your tree needs pruning before planting. Trim back frayed or excessively long roots. If your tree is branched, select three or four robust branches to become permanent limbs — the lowest 2 feet from the ground and successive ones a few inches apart and arranged in a spiral up the trunk. Cut away all other branches and the trunk just above the top branch.  

Shorten saved branches to a few inches in length. If your tree is not branched, cut the trunk back to 3 feet and select permanent branches as the tree grows. 

If a soil test indicates a need for lime or phosphorus, mix these materials into the ground where you’ll dig the planting hole. Farther out, sprinkle these materials on top of the soil to work their way downward by the time roots spread. 

Dig a cone-shaped planting hole two times the spread of the roots and just deep enough to get the roots in the ground. Rough up the soil at the sides of the hole to help roots penetrate the surrounding soil. 

Put enough soil back in the hole to create a mound on which to set the spread-out roots. While holding the trunk, push soil back into the hole, working it in among the roots with your fingers.  

Once the tree is self-supporting, shovel in additional soil, tamping it gently with your fingers or a stick as you work. 

After you have filled the hole, create a catch basin for water by building up a low dike of soil around the base of your tree 2 feet out from the trunk. Spread compost, then straw, wood chips or leaves as mulch over the ground. Slowly pour enough water into the catch basin to thoroughly drench the soil and settle the tree in place. 

Don’t turn your back on your tree and forget about it. Keep weeds at bay and water regularly the first season, and you should taste your first peaches within a couple of years.

If you regularly read our column you know that we are third-generation contractors. You also might recall that we grew up in a home built by our grandfather at the turn of the 20th century. The home was Mediterranean-style construction, plaster in and out, with spacious rooms and high ceilings. Not only were the ceilings high, in some rooms they were coved at the perimeter and had decorative cornice or picture mold. Other rooms, such as the living room and dining room, had intricate plaster moldings that bordered the ceiling and ornate ceiling medallions used as foils for chandeliers. 

Artisans have been affixing plaster decorations to walls and ceilings for centuries — mostly in imitation of Greek and Roman bas-relief. In modern times, the practice peaked in the early 19th century when Greek Revival architecture reawakened an interest in classical ornamentation. 

Today, plaster moldings again are popular — either to give authenticity to a restoration or just add interest to an otherwise flat wall or ceiling. The designs offered range from chaste Greek-key borders to Baroque ceiling medallions. 

Although plaster ornamentation still can be had — during a recent trip to Europe we witnessed local artisans create it on site — wood and plastic alternatives now can be readily found at lumberyards, home centers and hardware stores. We prefer the plastic material because it is lightweight and easy to work with. They are constructed of a foam or urethane core and vinyl-like finish that takes paint beautifully. When finished, the plastic medallion can’t be distinguished from the real thing. 

For dressing up a ceiling, decorative medallions are very popular. We believe this is because they are reasonably priced, easy to install and are so attractive. Ceiling medallions come in various shapes and sizes. They are round, square, oval, rectangular and triangular. You can have a hexagon, octagon or even a star. And although a decorative ceiling medallion is often used as a “rosette” or foil for a chandelier, it is equally popular as a focal point of a room’s ceiling. In either case, you will be amazed at just how easy it is to install one. 

When installing a ceiling medallion where a light fixture exists, the fixture must be removed and reinstalled after the medallion installation is completed. Begin by turning off the power to the light fixture at the breaker panel or fuse box. Don’t rely on the light switch since the power for light might originate at the fixture rather than the switch. We learned that lesson the hard way. 

With the power off, carefully remove the light fixture — usually held into place with a couple of screws and-or a nut on a short length of threaded tubing. Lower the fixture canopy and carefully disconnect the wires. Use the opportunity while the fixture is down to give it a good cleaning and polishing. 

Place the ceiling medallion upside down and cut a hole in the center, using a drill or fine-tooth saw. The hole should be large enough to allow wiring and one or more threaded bolts to pass through, yet small enough to be completely covered by the fixture canopy. Next, apply a minimum of a 1-half-inch bead of adhesive along the outside edge on the underside of the ceiling medallion. Place the medallion into position on the ceiling immediately after applying adhesive. Use four 1-and-5-eighths-inch paneling nails equally spaced on the medallion to hold it in place while the adhesive sets up. Later, countersink the nails using a nail punch, and conceal the nail heads with spackle. 

Instead of paneling nails, the medallion can be fastened to the ceiling using construction screws. As you would with paneling nails, countersink the construction screws and conceal with a patching compound. 

Apply a bead of caulk at the perimeter of the medallion and smooth, using your finger or a damp sponge. Once the caulk has dried, the medallion is ready for paint. For best results, prime the medallion with an oil-base primer and finish with one or more coats of latex in the color of your choice. 

Complete the job by reinstalling the light fixture. Reverse the steps used to remove it. Due to the added ceiling thickness, longer screws and-or threaded tubing might be needed to properly anchor the light fixture. Reconnect the wires using approved wire connectors, reinstall the canopy and turn on the power. 

Step back, admire your work, and ponder what room you next will enhance with a ceiling medallion. 

Tip of the week:  

Removing grease stains from concrete 

If your concrete driveway, carport or garage floor looks like an Indy 500 pit stop, we have a cleaning recipe for you. First, soak up the grease with some cat litter. Cover the area with a generous amount and grind it in with the soles of your shoes. Sweep it up and properly dispose of the soiled material. Next, saturate the area with a cola beverage, working it into the concrete with a stiff bristle broom — but not allowing it to dry. Once the cola has stopped fizzing, flush the area with clean fresh water. Whiten the gray stain that remains with a solution of 1 cup of powdered laundry detergent and 1 cup of liquid chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of very hot water. Finish the job with a final rinse. 

Questions and Answers 

Q. Chris asks: The paint on my outside wall is peeling. What is the best way to remove it before I put on a new coat of paint? 

A. Paint removal by a do-it-yourselfer is most easily accomplished with a pressure washer. Although pressure washers are available for rent, if you are a homeowner we suggest you seriously consider buying one. The uses around the house are endless. But you need to be careful. If you aren’t, you could damage the siding below. Pressure-washing takes patience, attention to the matter at hand and a careful touch. 

Once you have finished pressure-washing, you might want to touch things up with a paint scraper. Also, sand areas where the pressure washer lifted the wood grain. Next, use sandpaper to feather in all the edges between the remaining paint and any bare wood. Finally, apply a coat of high-quality, oil-base primer and then your finish coat. We suggest high-quality acrylic latex. 

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Q. Joe asks: I have two questions. I have cracks in my concrete basement floor from which I believe radon gas is creeping in. What is the best way to seal those cracks? How can I decide what type of heavy-duty snow shovel to buy? I want one that doesn’t get its edges rolled up by snow and ice? 

A. Before you do anything about that cracked floor, test for radon. Better yet, have a professional make the test for you. Another reason for contacting a professional: you might need to install a system to exhaust the vapors if radon is present in a dangerous concentration. The concentration of radon should be checked both before and after the concrete is sealed. 

Sealing the cracks in the floor of your basement might be all that you need to do. Then again, perhaps more work will be needed. We hope you will not have to install the exhaust system we mentioned. In any event, use a polyurethane concrete caulk. You are dealing with simple, old-fashioned gas vapors. There doesn’t seem to be much pressure associated with radon vapors, so most concrete caulks will do. We have recommended the type that bonds the best and that holds up the longest. 

As far as snow shovels are concerned, we suggest you contact someone at your local tool rental store for unbiased advice. The brand that they buy will be the one that probably holds up the best and will, more than likely, have been purchased locally. It, therefore, should be readily available to you, as well. 

LIVERMORE — The golf nut wants to go to Monterey. The wine lover lobbies for Napa. Yet, they agree on one thing: They want a magic carpet to drop them in the middle of some fun without having to wait behind lines of cars or people. 

So, abracadabra, they’re off to Livermore. Just 35 miles east of San Francisco, the Livermore Valley is a great place to get away from it all without really going anywhere. 

The golf doesn’t rival Pebble Beach, but it beats just about everything else in the Bay Area, with three well-groomed courses. 

The 21 vineyards offer a similarly wide mix, with mom-and-pop operations like Retzlaff neighboring bigger producers like Concannon, and a few new boutique wineries like White Crane. 

And though the restaurant and lodging lists are short, it’s a relief not to have to dig deep into the wallet for a meal or a bed. 

Hubby Marc and I, both of us golf nuts and wine lovers, set out on a dreary Sunday for the Purple Orchid Inn and Spa. 

Ten years ago, visitors had to settle for day trips to the Livermore Valley or stay in one of the hotels near the freeway. But then nurse Karen Hughes got lost delivering a prescription to a home-care patient and came across the property where the Purple Orchid now stands. While she was admiring the scenery, a pickup truck pulled up and a man asked her if she wanted to buy the place. Then and there, they wrote up a contract on the back of her home-care notes. 

Hughes built an upscale log cabin with six comfortable rooms and two suites, and worked touches like hand-carved doors into the theme of each room. Last year Hughes moved the spa into its own building and added two rooms and a conference center. 

A stay at the Purple Orchid includes a full breakfast and a wine-and-cheese cocktail hour plus spa discounts. 

After a serene drive into the golden vineyards our day began with brunch at the Wente Vineyards Restaurant. 

It’s difficult to spend less than $100 here on lunch or dinner for two with wine — Wente wines are marked up to two and three times what they cost next door in the tasting room. At lunchtime, Stony Ridge Winery offers the best deal in town, with a taste of Italy in the form of antipasti, soups and sandwiches in the $3-$7 range. 

But brunch seemed a sensible way to indulge at Wente — even with mimosas that cost $9.95. The coffee is plenty good, and the breakfast pastry basket alone is worth the trip, with an assortment of melt-in-your-mouth crumpets, croissants and scones for $8.50. We took our leftovers with us and found them every bit as good the next morning on the golf course. 

Tasting is always pleasant at Wente, where there are plenty of choices for both the white and red wine lover, and the shop surely has that wine-glass-covered tie you’ve been wanting. But we were eager to try something a little different, so our pourer suggested we head to Livermore Valley Cellars. 

LVC is a funky place; you get out of the car and pass Beverly Hill, a small garden alongside the tasting room, which has an inviting hammock propped in the front yard. Only 1,600 cases or so of wine are produced here each year, and principals Jim Denham and Tim Sauer seem to want you to try all of them. Our pourer, Eileen, didn’t ask if we were fans of any particular varietal, she just started pouring generously, right down the line of about a dozen bottles. 

“The philosophy here is that wine is supposed to be fun,” she said. 

We bought three bottles of wine before happily heading off to the former Ivan Tamas, now known as Tamas Estates. Here, Denise was the generous pourer, and our taste buds weren’t yet too shot to appreciate the Steven Kent Merrilee, Tamas’ premium label. 

Denise sent us to family-owned Cedar Mountain, selected one of America’s great Cabernet Sauvignon producers by the Wine Enthusiast. We arrived to a barrel tasting, with a nice spread, souvenir glass, live music and fine company for only $10. 

There was no dining out that evening, just an in-room pizza delivery as we slipped into our Purple Orchid robes, delved into the video collection and dipped into the hot tub to prepare for the next day’s golf. 

Breakfast at the Purple Orchid is hearty; we took ours in our suite because it has a table looking out into the olive groves. 

Truth be told, we would rather play at Wente than almost anywhere else. Just about every hole is memorable, and the tee times are spaced to create the sense that it’s just you and the golf course. But for about half the money, Poppy Ridge is a great alternative; like Wente, it has lots of vineyards and no houses around it, and the maintenance is top-notch. 

Even more affordable is Las Positas, but that course is near the freeway, on the way home, and weren’t quite ready to head that way yet. When we did, we enjoyed another of Livermore’s perks: The 40-minute drive home wasn’t long enough or congested enough to sweep away the vacation vibes, and we were content to know that we can easily return. 

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SAN FRANCISCO — It was April 5, 2001, and Gov. Gray Davis was assuring millions of Californians watching the evening news that the state was coming to grips with its energy crisis. 

The next morning, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. filed for bankruptcy, rejecting the governor’s closed-door efforts to use state money to keep the lights on while paying off the ballooning debts of California’s largest utilities. 

PG&E preferred the shelter of bankruptcy court, where it has asked a federal judge to approve a corporate restructuring that would free it from the state oversight it blames for reducing the 97-year-old utility’s credit to junk status. 

Southern California Edison announced a different path to solvency days later — a deal secretly negotiated with the Davis administration that ultimately passed its billions in debts on to ratepayers and shareholders. 

A year later, it’s still not clear which utility’s choice was wiser when it comes to their long-term health. In the short term, both utilities remain months away from regaining good credit, but their parent companies seem healthy — Edison International earned $1 billion in 2001 and PG&E Corp. reported earnings of $1.1 billion, bouncing back from major losses the year before. 

But Wall Street analysts say PG&E’s strategy still makes good business sense, given California’s continuing confusion over how to emerge from its failed experiment in energy deregulation, which plunged the state into rolling blackouts and left a $6.1 billion hole in the state’s general fund. 

California lawmakers and regulators have made so many missteps that Standard & Poor’s said the farther PG&E can get from state oversight, the speedier it will regain its good credit, said Richard Cortright, a utility analyst with the credit rating agency. 

Although SoCal Edison paid most of its creditors in February and is on course to regain its good credit, its future remains tied to what Cortright calls the state’s “harsh” regulatory environment. 

And though Edison International’s stock price has recovered from a low of near $7 to more than $16, PG&E has fared better on Wall Street — PG&E Corp. shares were trading at $22 Thursday, up from a low of $6 the day it filed for bankruptcy. 

PG&E has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali to let it redesign the entire structure of its operation, a process described in a reorganization plan the size of a phone book and defended by a team of $475-an-hour attorneys. 

The utility wants to shift most of its California operations into three new companies regulated only by federal agencies, which have been far less aggressive when it comes to protecting consumers. Pipelines and power lines would move under the umbrella of its parent company, PG&E Corp., along with the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, dozens of hydroelectric dams and surrounding land in the Sierra Nevada. 

Under federal regulation, the company could more easily charge market rates for its services, borrow more money to pay its $13.5 billion in debts, and resume buying electricity directly for its customers — all, it claims, without a rate increase. 

The Utility Reform Network, a consumer watchdog group, counters that PG&E’s plan actually would cost consumers a total of $20 billion more for electricity over the next 12 years, or about $100 more a year for a typical residential customer. 

First, PG&E must convince an already skeptical Montali that federal bankruptcy code allows it to disregard dozens of state laws and regulations, including a California law that bars the sale or transfer of power plants until 2006. 

“We continue to believe that we have the only feasible solution,” said Ron Low, PG&E spokesman, adding that the California Chamber of Commerce and California Taxpayer Association both back the utility’s reorganization plan. 

Like Edison, PG&E would settle its debts. Unlike Edison, it no longer would have to wrangle with state regulators over how much it can earn from the electricity it churns at its power plants, and its parent company would gain more freedom to parlay assets into billions of dollars in cash. 

Most large creditors have supported PG&E’s plan in court, while opponents include consumer groups, state officials and the Public Utilities Commission, which will soon offer its own reorganization plan that would maintain state oversight. 

Montali hasn’t ruled out PG&E’s approach, but he put the burden on the utility to prove that public health and safety won’t be harmed if it disregards state laws. After all, he noted, a bankrupt liquor store could not expect the court to let it sell liquor to minors to escape debt. 

If the judge settles on some other way of paying off PG&E’s debts, the utility will have spent $150 million on lawyers and be stuck with the stigma of having been the fifth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. 

Severin Borenstein, an energy expert at the University of California, Berkeley, doubts Montali, who has had to rapidly absorb the scope of California’s energy woes while deftly juggling the bankruptcy case, will approve PG&E’s entire wish list. 

“Whether it’s good public policy or not, I think the bankruptcy judge is going to be more inclined to take smaller steps than going to something that could be a fairly major change,” Borenstein said. 

Whatever the resolution, ratepayers have the least to gain. Montali’s first duty is to ensure creditors get paid, not worry about higher power bills for Californians. 

“They shot for the moon and anything they get short of that will make them pretty happy,” said Nettie Hoge, TURN’s executive director. “It’s just so discouraging ... Deregulation has just been a failure on so many levels.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.pge.com 

http://www.canb.uscourts.gov 

http://www.sce.com 

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov 

It’s the holy grail of handheld computing: A technology that makes it just as easy to enter information into a mobile device as it is to type into a desktop personal computer. 

Existing solutions don’t cut it. Plastic folding keyboards are bulky compared to the handhelds. Thumb keypads are difficult to master. And Palm’s Graffiti system of drawing squiggly lines is unbearably slow. 

Logitech Inc. has jumped into the fray with a variation on portable keyboards. Its new KeyCase is made of fabric and is so flexible it can do double duty as a protective cover. 

It’s a terrific idea in theory but disappoints in real-world tests. It only works with the latest Palm handhelds and the keys are frustratingly small. And it doesn’t solve a vexing problem of all keyboards for handhelds: many programs require switching between stylus and keypad. 

Owners of Pocket PCs, Handsprings, older Palms and mobile phones are out of luck. The KeyCase only works with the Palm Universal Connector, which is found in the Palm m125, m130, m500, m505, m515 and i705 Series. 

The pad, which sells for $99.95 and is available only online and in catalogs, is made of a lightweight gray fabric that feels like canvas on the outside. The keyboard side is slightly softer but durable. The lightweight fabric, called ElekTex, consists of conductive fibers combined with traditional textiles. It can sense when a key is pressed and how hard. 

Setup is easy. After installing the proper drivers using Palm’s desktop software on either a PC or Mac, the handheld snaps to the cloth keyboard via a mount that holds the Palm upright while typing. 

The keyboard is just the right size to wrap around a handheld with an attached elastic band to keep it in place, but this limits the real estate necessary for full-size keys. 

Unfolded, the KeyCase is about the size of a laptop keyboard, but the keys are smaller and closer together, particularly in the top two rows of numbers or shortcut keys. 

The keyboard’s sensitivity can be adjusted through a Palm program, though this didn’t improve my accuracy. I often launched the Memo program when I meant to hit “Backspace.” 

Perhaps smaller hands work better. 

The KeyCase’s feel reminded me a lot of the flat, membrane keyboard of my first computer, the Atari 400. In both cases, two-finger typing worked better than using all 10 digits. 

The KeyCase seems useful for punching in a quick note or updating a calendar listing, but the coolness of having a cloth keyboard wears off quickly while entering anything longer than a few sentences. 

Another bonus is that the fabric repels liquids. I dumped beverages on the keypad (luckily avoiding the Palm) and even tried typing after eating potato chips. It still worked. 

Logitech also added some interface improvements, which are supposed to minimize switching between the keyboard and tapping the screen with a finger or stylus. 

On startup, a scrollable list appears of all available programs. The KeyCase’s scroll buttons can be used to navigate the list, and “Enter” launches the selected program. 

The top row of keys is devoted to shortcuts for common tasks such as selecting, cutting, copying and pasting as well as launching various programs. 

But once a program has launched, be prepared to pull out the stylus. Though the KeyCase has an “OK” button, it does not work unless “OK” is a specific option on the screen. It doesn’t work for logically similar buttons such as “Done” or “Yes.” 

AvantGo, a popular program for browsing downloaded content, does not support using the tab key to move through links, unlike most desktop PC Web browsers. The only option is tap the screen with a finger or stylus. 

The building had been destroyed three times before. Each time, Palestinian refugees in the Dheisheh camp in the West Bank rebuilt it with the help of Berkeley’s Middle East Children’s Alliance.  

This time will be no different. 

The Ibdaa Cultural Center, whose name means “something out of nothing” in Arabic, was attacked two weeks ago by the Israeli Army. The building that housed a children’s library and a computer center was destroyed, but the guest house is still standing, though the roof was used as a sniper’s nest by the army. 

Barbara Lubin, Executive Director of MECA, said that MECA has worked in the refugee camp for 14 years and is not about to give up now. She left Dheisheh two days before the cultural center was taken over.  

“Getting the building back together will probably cost us $50,000, but we will do it,” she said. 

She said there was no way to take precautions against the Israeli army, but felt that MECA had to keep trying. 

“There’s not much for kids to do in Dheisheh. So it’s important to the heart of the community.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington praised MECA’s efforts to get Berkeleyans involved in international issues. 

“The wonderful thing about Berkeley is that people are willing to get involved in human rights and peace issues all over the world,” said Worthington. 

Ziad Abbas, Ibdaa’s director, said that he and other refugees that grew up in Dheisheh vowed in 1994 that the next generation of Palestinian refugees would be better educated and better connected to the wider world. They set to work on a building that used to be a health clinic and transformed it into a cultural center through the MECA partnership. 

“I learned to throw stones before I learned to read or write. They should learn to read and write and use computers before they learn how to throw stones,” said Abbas, who is currently in San Francisco. 

“We built the cultural center as a challenge and if they destroy it, we will build it again,” he said. 

Abbas and 16-year-old Kayan Alsaify had come to the U.S. to attend the Academy Awards presentation in Los Angeles because Alsaify is in the Oscar-nominated film “Promises.” 

“Since the Israeli incursion, it’s extremely dangerous, if not impossible to go back,” said Alsaify, through a translator. “We called our families and they said the army was shooting everyone, even international people and journalists. They said we would most likely get killed.” 

But Alsaify said she hopes to make the most of her extended stay in America. “I came here for the Oscars, but my main goal is to bring the message about the reality of life in the camp.” 

“What we see is killing and blood,” she explained. “What we hear is guns, shooting and Apache helicopters. What we smell is the tear gas they throw in the camp.” 

The confinement that limits their everyday movements and continuing, disheartening violence make the Ibdaa Cultural Center so much more important to them, she said.  

“It’s the only outlet for us in which we are exposed to the outside world, where we’re exposed to other children in the world we live. It allows us to travel, meet other children, perform in other parts of the world. It opens up our personalities and gives us hope and strength,” said Alsaify. 

Alsaify had first come here three years ago on a MECA-sponsored dance tour of the U.S. to raise money for their cultural center’s activities. She was most recently in Berkeley on Friday and Saturday, talking to KPFA and visiting Lubin. 

“I’m pleased to be in the U.S. to talk to the media and to get my voice and my people’s heard,” she said. “I hope we can join hearts with the people in the U.S. and put pressure on the U.S. government to stop the Israeli violence.” 

NOVATO - It’s called the San Marin Tournament, but they might want to rename it the ’Jacket Classic. 

The Berkeley High baseball team claimed their second San Marin Tournament title in as many years on Wednesday with a 6-3 win over the host Mustangs. Junior Sean Souders settled down after a rough two first innings to get the win on the blustery afternoon, running his record to 3-1. 

Berkeley scored five runs in the second inning. Souders hit into a fielder’s choice to score Jason Moore, then Lee Franklin lined a triple to right-center to plate two more runs. After DeAndre Miller was hit by a pitch and stole second base, Clinton Calhoun singled home Franklin and Miller for a 6-3 lead. Calhoun had three RBIs in the game, driving in Miller following a triple in the first inning. 

That was enough for Souders. After adjusting to the sandy mound at San Marin, he bounced back from four walks in the first two innings, which led to all three unearned Mustang runs, with no more free passes and just three hits in the final five innings. 

“There was a big hole where I plant my foot,” Souders said of the mound. “My delivery just wasn’t right. But once I found a good place to plant I started to throw strikes.” 

Berkeley head coach Tim Moellering said he was a little worried that Souders might not go the distance after throwing more than 30 pitches through two innings. Playing their third game in three days, the ’Jackets’ bullpen was thin. 

“I was concerned that I might have to use my bullpen early,” Moellering said. “I told Sean he was on a pitch count of 100, and he finished the game at 99.” 

Berkeley did suffer a blow when cleanup hitter Matt Toma pulled up lame while running out a ground ball in the third inning. He pulled his left hamstring and stayed down for several minutes before being helped to the bench. He will likely be limited to designated-hitter duty next week, when the ’Jackets play games on three straight days, including two ACCAL games. 

“We’ve got another injury to deal with, but we’ve got some good players to fill in,” Moellering said. “We’ll be cautious with Matt.” 

Toma’s injury leaves the ’Jackets with just one healthy catcher, junior Sam Geaney. Senior Jeremy Riesenfeld, who is working back from two surgeries on his throwing arm, was hurt in an off-the-field incident last weekend and may not be available next week. 

Berkeley’s bats were relatively quiet on Wednesday as they struggled to figure out San Marin starter Darrell Fisherbaugh’s multiple arm angles and off-speed stuff. Fisherbaugh didn’t give up a hit after the second inning, allowing just two baserunners on hit batsmen. After scoring in double figures in five of their previous six games, scoring six runs was a meager output for the ’Jackets. 

“We wanted to come out and put up some runs, but the weather kind of held us back,” said Franklin, who was voted tournament MVP. “But six runs was all we needed. Once Sean settled down, they couldn’t touch him.”

Editor: 

The protesters expressing their anger over the Israeli occupation of the West Bank should be ashamed of themselves for their revolting display of civil disorder April 2. After their march ended at the University Avenue overpass, they spilled out in the street and blocked the major driving artery in and out of Berkeley for no good practical reason. 

Few people or businesses reside near the intersection with 4th Street. What use is a political demonstration where the only witnesses are rush-hour drivers who miss dinner or are kept from their families by those very protesters? Is this productive in changing the policy of a foreign government? 

In spite of their very worthy cause — peace in the Middle East — these disorganized protesters undermined it with their ridiculous actions. 

It’s a shame police didn’t arrest more of them for illegally blocking the streets and disrupting the lives of those who live and work in Berkeley. 

Eric Meyerson 

Berkeley

Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson challenging each other with progressively intense guitar licks. 

Van Morrison high-kicking into the air. 

Neil Young staring openmouthed and awe-struck at Bob Dylan. 

Moments like these are why critics and music fans consider 1978’s “The Last Waltz” one of the great rock documentaries. 

Now, the film capturing the Band’s 1976 farewell concert is being rereleased in a limited theatrical run beginning Friday in San Francisco. The soundtrack has been remixed by Robertson, the Band’s lead songwriter and guitarist, who now works as a creative adviser for DreamWorks Records. A CD is due April 16 and a DVD May 7. 

“The main job here is to pass the baton — pass this on to other generations,” Robertson said in an interview from Austin, Texas, where he was promoting the project. 

The idea of “The Last Waltz” started humbly enough. Members of the Band, known for such songs as “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” besides backing Dylan in 1965-66 and 1974, decided to give a farewell concert on Nov. 25, 1976, at San Francisco’s Winterland after 16 years on the road. 

To help them bow out, friends were invited to join them on stage. As the list grew to include the likes of Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Clapton, Morrison and Young, Robertson said he thought the event should be chronicled. 

The Band sought out director Martin Scorsese, who had helped work on director Michael Wadleigh’s “Woodstock” seven years earlier. 

“‘Woodstock’ was about the crowd,” Robertson said. “This movie’s about the music. We are never, ever going to see these kind of people all together at one time again.” 

The concert as envisioned by the Band, Scorsese and his crew, which included Hollywood production designer Boris Leven, had a dramatic flair unusual at that point in a rock film. 

The 38-piece Berkeley Promenade Orchestra provided background music during a turkey dinner for the 5,000 fans who paid $25 a piece to attend. Sets from the San Francisco Opera’s “La Traviata” were rented as a stage backdrop. Three chandeliers designed for “Gone with the Wind” hung above the stage and several classical statues were borrowed from the prop department at 20th Century Fox. 

Rock promoter Bill Graham, who produced the show, referred to it as “rock and roll’s last supper” in his autobiography. 

“It was stunning because we were used to the Winterland being a pretty sparse and funky arena once used for ice skating shows,” said music journalist Ben Fong-Torres, who covered the concert for Rolling Stone. 

The crowd responded to the swanky surroundings, Fong-Torres said. 

“There were some tuxedos among the crowd,” he said. “This was like prom night.” 

The Band hit the stage shortly after 9 p.m., and the concert ended more than five hours later. The music included blues, folk, rock and country. 

“It’s one of the pleasures of my life to be on the stage with these people,” an almost giddy Young says at one point. 

One of the highlights is seeing Morrison, known as a mercurial and temperamental performer, end an emotional singing of “Caravan” by repeatedly kicking into the air. 

“He was just so exuberant. He just had a ball,” Fong-Torres said. “And his outfit — it was almost like a circus outfit, like a trapeze artist.” 

Dylan, in an outlandish feathered white fedora, closes the show by leading the reassembled guests in “I Shall Be Released.” 

And interspersed throughout the film are interviews with members of the Band, talking about life on the road. 

After “The Last Waltz,” the group never toured with Robertson again. Remaining members — pianist Richard Manuel, organist Garth Hudson, bassist Rick Danko and drummer Levon Helm — did regroup and tour together beginning in 1983. 

Three years later, Manuel hanged himself in a Winter Park, Fla., hotel room. In 1999, Danko died in his sleep, overweight and with an admitted drug habit. 

Robertson has no regrets about quitting the road when he did. 

“As far as what my instincts were telling me, it was a choice that needed to be made,” Robertson said. “I always loved playing music with those guys. I always loved making records. But it just ran its course.”

Thursday, April 4

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15-8:00 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave. 

On-going meetings 1st & 3rd Thursdays, emphasizing metaphysical topics. Free. 848-6510. 

Graduate Theological Union presents liberation philosopher Enrique Dussel 

noon- 2 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 

2400 Ridge Road 

Enrique Dussel, pioneering scholar of the philosophy of liberation and a leading figure in Latin American liberation theology will present his recent work in “Modernity, coloniality and Capitalism in the World System.” 649-2464 

Freedom From Tobacco 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

University Health Services Tang Center 

2222 Bancroft Way 

A quit smoking class free to Berkeley and Albany students, residents and employees. Five consecutive Thursday evenings. 644-6422, quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Friday, April 5

City Commons Club 

12:30 p.m. 

2315 Durant Ave.  

“Reporting from Berkeley” Charles Burres, staff reporter, San Francisco Chronicle. $1.  

848-3533. 

Oakland Museum Teacher Open House 

“First Friday Teacher Features” Try your hand at Gold Panning, and find out about our popular Gold Rush Program. Free for Teachers. 

4-6 p.m. 

10th & Oak Streets, Oakland 

238-3818 to register 

Oakland Museum Artist Gallery Talks 

Free with Museum Admission 

Jamie Brunson, Milton Komisar and Amy Evans McClure, artists in the exhibition “Being There: 45 Oakland Artists,” discuss their works in the gallery 

7 p.m. 

10th & Oak streets, Oakland 

238-2200, www. museumca.org 

Berkeley Women in Black 

noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft Way and Telegraph Ave. 

Stand in solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian women to urge an end to the occupation, which will give greater hope for an end to the violence. 548-6310, wibberkeley.org. 

Saturday, April 6

Library Grand Opening 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library 

The celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, a keynote speech by Alice Walker, musical guests, and building tours. 548-7102 

Graduate Theological Union presents Suavecito — The Politics and Poetics of Asian American Soul Music in he 1970s. 

5 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Krutch Theater, 

Clark Kerr Campus 

2601 Warring Street in Berkeley 

A panel discussion and musical offering explore the interplay between soul music and community politics. 

For more information, call  

849-8244. 

Noche Latina in Berkeley 

7-11 p.m. 

The Bay Area Hispanic Institute for Advancement (Bahia, Inc.)is holding its second annual Noche Latina event. This fundraiser will feature food catered by Cafe de la Paz, music and a silent auction. Bahia is an after-school program for children ages 5-10. This year's event will be held at the Law Offices of Duran, Ochoa & Icaza, which are located at 1035 Carleton Avenue.  

For more information, contact Estrella Fichter at 510.549.3506 or 

estrella.fichter@earthlink.net 

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 - 11 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

A class in basic personal preparedness for emergency situations. 981-5605 

Sunday, April 7

Peace it Together 

1 - 5 p.m.  

2218 Acton St. 

Fundraising festival hosted by Minding the Body, Inc. Participatory Booths, Jugglers, Storytellers, Performance Art, Co-creation of Music, Poetry and Art and a Vegetarian Potluck. www.mindingthebody.org.  

“Remedios” — Benefit for Poet Aurora Levins Morales  

11-2 p.m. 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Weekly Peace Walk around Lake Merritt 

7-3 p.m. 

Oakland 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Mission 911: Bay Area Poets for Peace 

2-5 pm  

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Oakland Museum Curator’s Talk 

Gallery Talk by Curator Harvey Jones, discusses the exhibition Scene in Oakland, 1852 to 2002. Artworks celebrating the city’s 150th anniversary 

3 p.m. 

Free with Museum Admission 

10th & Oak Streets, Oakland 

238-2200, www. museumca.org 

Monday, April 8

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Tuesday, April 9

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part two of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer.  

768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

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. 525-3565. 

Center for Middle Eastern Studies 

340 Stephen’s Hall, University of California at Berkeley 

9-5:30 p.m. 

Sultan Room 

Center for Jewish Studies and the UC Berkeley welcomes Robert Alter, on rhetoric in Deuteronomy and collective memory; Galit Hasan-Rokem, on midrash between experience and myth; Ron Hendel on memory and the Hebrew bible; Dina Stein on rabbinic discourse and the destruction of the temple and Yair Zakovitch on post-traumatic memory. 

649-2482. 

Spring Travel Writer’s Workshop 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Wednesday, April 10

Toastmasters on Campus Club 

6:15-7:30pm 

2515 Hillegass Ave. 

Berkeley  

Free, on-going meetings 2nd and 4th Wednesdays.  

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

Linda Watanabe McFerrin (Award-winning poet, travel writer, author of Namako: Sea Cucumber and The Hand of Buddha) 

Topic: Mechanics of Travel Writing 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

For more information 843-6725 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil  

6:30 p.m. 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Thursday, April 11

Bicycle Maintenance 101 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Rodian Magri will teach participants how to perform basic adjustments on their bikes to keep them in good working condition. 527-7377  

Witnessing War 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

Boalt Hall 

A speaking event co-sponsored by Doctors without Borders and UC Berkeley, International Human Rights Law Clinic, Boalt Hall School of Law. 643-7654. 

Scratching the Surface:  

Impressions of Planet Earth,  

from Hollywood to Shiraz 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. 

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar. 843-3533 

Grandparent support Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

Malcolm X School Arts and Academics School 

1731 Prince St. 

Room 105A 

For Grandparents/Relatives raising their grandchildren and other relatives. A place to express their concerns and needs and receive support, information and referrals for Kinship Care. 644-6517. 

Oakland Museum Lecture 

“Publishing in the Bay Area and Other Facinating Subjects”, behind the scenes in the publishing world with Malcolm Margolin, publisher of Heyday Books 

Free 

1 p.m. 

10th & Oak Streets, Oakland 

238-2200, www. museumca.org 

Friday, April 12

City Commons Club 

12:30 p.m. 

2315 Durant Ave.  

“Myths About Aging,” Susan V. Mullen, D.C. Chiropractor. $1. 848-3533. 

Berkeley Women in Black 

noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft and Telegraph Ave. 

Stand in solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian women to urge an end to the occupation, which will give greater hope for an end to the violence. 548-6310, wibberkeley.org. 

Saturday, April 13

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 a.m. - 1 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

981-5605 

10th Annual Chinese Masters in Martial Arts Series 

8:30 a.m. 

UC Berkeley 

Haas Pavilion  

Day-long event will include competition in contemporary, traditional and internal styles of wushu. The Masters demonstration will begin at 8:00 p.m. 841-1486.  

Rescheduled BPWA Path Walk 

"Boundary Walk" 

10 a.m.- noon, rain or shine 

Join naturalist, Paul Grunland, as he leads an exploration of the Berkeley 

Paths on the Berkeley Kensington Boundary. Meet at Grizzly Peak/Spruce, the reservoir. 

Building Education Center- Free Lecture 

“What You Need To Know Before You Build or Remodel” 

10 a.m.- noon 

Preview of the Homeowner’s Essential Course, presented by builder Glen Kitzenberger - learn to solder pipe and more!  

812 Page 

525-7610 

The Berkeley Unified School District administration has scaled back plans to cut the music program next year, recommending fewer teacher layoffs than it proposed earlier this year. But some teachers and parents still have concerns about the layoffs and the larger class sizes that will result. 

“It doesn’t seem like there’s going to be very much of a learning process going on,” said Madeline Prager, who teaches strings in district elementary schools. 

Members of the Board of Education, who must approve the plan, and cut a total of $5.4 million to balance next year’s budget, said they support the administration’s recommendations. 

“Given our budget situation, I think the cuts are minimal.” said board member Terry Doran, one of two reached by the Daily Planet. “We are going to have a music program. It isn’t decimated.”  

“I think the thing to do is go ahead with it and see how it goes,” added board member Ted Schultz, noting that the district could make adjustments as needed.  

Earlier this year the district recommended cutting 2.4 of 11.5 full-time teaching positions and issuing a layoff notice to Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator Suzanne McCulloch, who runs the music program. 

The new proposal, laid out in the packet for next week’s Board of Education meeting, recommends cutting 1.7 teaching positions for an estimated savings of $82,560, and keeping in place McCulloch’s position, just created in the fall. 

About half of McCulloch’s salary comes from the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project, a special local lax, a quarter from state grants and a quarter from private grants. 

One of those private grants, a $10,000 award from the East Bay Community Foundation, will not be renewed next year, and district administrators have raised concerns about picking up the tab. 

But under the new proposal, the administration would seek funding from Berkeley Public Education Foundation, on top of Berkeley Schools Excellence Project and state money. McCulloch said the district is reasonably certain that it will be able to secure foundation funding and keep her position alive. 

Some teachers were pleased that McCulloch will apparently remain in place. 

“We really need someone to coordinate with all the schools and take care of all our concerns so that everything can run smoothly,” said chorus teacher Mabel Dong. 

“We’ve got a million bucks worth of instruments,” added Michael Kelley, co-chair of the Music Curriculum Committee, which advises the board. Kelley said McCulloch has been vital in tracking those instruments and developing curriculum. 

But Kelley, while acknowledging that the district is in dire financial straights, had concerns about cutting 1.7 teaching positions. 

“That’s a 15 percent cut in staffing,” he said. “We’re (already) operating on a shoestring.” 

Under the new model, the district would assign two to three, rather than three to four teachers, to a given elementary school, raising class sizes from a current average of 10, according to district figures, to a range of 18-25. 

“I think it’s a recipe for a less-than-successful music program,” said Prager, noting that tuning instruments and fixing broken strings already takes up a significant portion of class time, and arguing that class size increases will only exacerbate the problem. 

Prager added that music instruction often requires individualized attention, worrying that teachers will be able to provide less of that attention with larger classes. 

The district’s new music plan also includes an expansion of instruction to the third grade. Currently, students in grades four through 12 take music classes through the district’s official program. Some elementary schools, according to McCulloch, have used funds from Parent-Teacher Associations or the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project, a special local tax, to fund their own, indivdual K-3 programs. 

The new approach, McCulloch said, would create district-wide equity, ensuring that all students are equally prepared for the fourth-grade music program. 

But Dong has concerns that the district will now be “squeezing” fewer teachers into more class time with the expansion to third grade. 

In the end, McCulloch said, the music program will adjust. “I think it’s a workable solution,” she said, commenting on the whole package. 

District administration was out of the office for spring break and could not be reached for this article.  

NOVATO – The St. Mary’s Panthers pulled off another huge comeback against El Cerrito on Wednesday, but this time they couldn’t hold on for the win as the Gauchos mounted a comeback of their own to win, 10-9, in extra innings at the San Marin Tournament. Jacob Lucas’s single scored Randy Minix in the bottom of the eighth inning to end the game and send the Panthers home winless in three tries in the tournament. 

Going into the fifth inning down 5-2, the Panthers scored three runs to tie the game. Although El Cerrito pushed across a run in the sixth, St. Mary’s answered right back with four more runs in the seventh to grab a 9-6 lead.  

Panther starter Joe Storno was clearly exhausted by that point, but St. Mary’s thin pitching staff left head coach Andy Shimabukuro little choice but to send him back out to the mound. He got Jamonte Cox on a strikeout to start the inning, but Lucas knocked a double to left to get things going. After a walk, passed ball and a flyball out, pinch hitter James Cannon hit a two-run single up the middle. Storno hit Josh Harvey with the next pitch, and Ryan De La Rosa hit a slow grounder to short for an infield single, with Cannon coming all the way around to score on Manny Mejia’s late throw to first to tie the game again. Storno got Greg Murray to fly out to end the inning, but the momentum was clearly back in El Cerrito’s favor. 

Tom Carman pitched the eighth for the Panthers, facing just three batters before taking the loss. Carman pitched on Monday, and was further hampered by a sore elbow after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning on Wednesday. 

The game was sloppily-played in the early going, with each team committing five errors in the first five innings. The Gauchos took advantage early, hitting just one ball out of the infield but scoring three runs in the opening frame. Harvey got things going with a double to lead off, and De La Rosa followed with a single. St. Mary’s third baseman Chris Morocco muffed a groundball by Murray to load the bases, and Minix drove in the game’s first run with a flare that fell in front of centerfielder Chase Moore, although Moore got a force at third. Lucas then hit a grounder to second base that Marcus Johnson couldn’t handle, and Dave Greenstein walked to force in another run. 

“We have to get a better defensive effort,” Shimabukuro said. “We’re still giving away way too many outs.” 

The Gauchos were nearly as bad on defense. Just one of St. Mary’s first five runs was earned, and El Cerrito finished the game with six errors. 

The Panthers’ grueling schedule calls for their fourth game in as many days today against Redwood Christian, and Shimabukuro has few options left for pitching. He plans to call up a junior varsity pitcher for today’s game, but with a 5-9 overall record, the St. Mary’s coach knows his team must win the BSAL title to have a shot at post-season play. 

“I know we’re really thin right now, but the only thing that matters now is to get out and win our league games,” he said.

Editor: 

I commend Patrick Kennedy for his insight and vision in creating beautiful mixed use “ACCESSIBLE” space. The New Arts Theater will be another contribution to create more “Berkeley Space.” Berkeley space is cultural space, artistic space, space for low income residents, and accessible and livable space for the disability community. 

As a disabled resident it gives me great pleasure to see an active developer like Patrick Kennedy creating space for low-income/disabled students and residents to find Close, Affordable, and Livable Housing. His work is VITAL for me and others, 20 percent of his units are set aside for low-income and disabled residents. 

Graduating from Cal, and trying to join the community is not easy. Finding accessible housing in Berkeley is very difficult, finding livable accessible apartment near campus is next to impossible. The spaces that Panoramic interests have created are award winning designs that have taken access seriously. 

We can not overlook that quality of life starts with the home. And it is this quality of life that Kennedy brings to our disabled community members. 

We should all support the creation of this space because for some of us this space did not exist before. 

Victor Pineda  

Cal Grad, Former Student Senator 

and Berkeley Resident 

Church is good for you, according to a new Bay Area study, which will be published in today’s edition of the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine.  

The study, conducted by UC Berkeley in conjunction with the California Department of Health and the Public Health Institute, a local nonprofit, adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that regular church attendance is linked to longer, healthier lives. 

The study, which draws on an Alameda County survey conducted during the course of 31 years, found that people who attended religious services less than once a week or never had a 21 percent greater risk of dying from circulatory diseases and a 21 percent greater overall risk of dying, even when controlling for other factors like age and exercise patterns. 

“Because of religious faith, frequent attendees may have greater access to what is called ‘religious coping mechanisms,’” said Doug Oman, a lecturer at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and co-author of the study. 

Oman said religious people may subscribe to the notion that “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” allowing them to quickly recover equilibrium after a stressful event and avoid circulatory and other diseases. 

The study also suggested that regular attendees have lower mortality rates from respiratory and digestive diseases. Those who attended church less than weekly had a 66 percent greater risk of dying from respiratory and 99 percent greater chance of dying from digestive diseases. 

Oman warns that the sample size for these diseases were smaller, which may have distorted the figures. But the trend, he said, is unmistakable. 

The new study, which found no significant differences between regular churchgoers and the population at large when it came to cancer, mirrors the results of a national study conducted by University of Texas researchers in 1999. 

Other studies have suggested that Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists live longer, healthier lives because their religions encourage abstention from smoking, high-fat diets and other risk factors. 

Oman said his study still leaves several questions unanswered. 

“It will be interesting to find out about people who describe themselves as spiritual and not religious,” said Oman, noting that the “spiritual” category has only showed up on recent surveys, and that long-term studies will therefore take time to unfold.

Editor: 

Way back in 1967 when Paul McCartney sweetly crooned, “when I get older losing my hair, many years from now,” in “When I’m 64,” a sentimental little Beatles’ ditty predicting a time when he would be puttering around the garden with grandchildren on his knee, who could have dared predicted that 35 years later he would be rocking The Oakland Arena as he did on Monday night, resembling the thin short-haired strutting rocker in his famous photos of the pre-fame Beatles onstage at Germany’s noted Star Club in 1962? 

While his current music from the fine “Driving Rain” CD may seem irrelevant to many of today’s teen-aged music buyers, the Beatles’ classics McCartney passionately performed like “Back In The U.S.S.R.,” “Carry That Weight,” and “Blackbird,” (a song he introduced as being about the civil rights struggle of the late 60’s) will endure long after Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys will be living out their golden years. Thank you Sir Paul McCartney for enriching our lives with your wonderful music and indomitable spirit. 

Elliot Stephen Cohen 

Berkeley

Today is Thursday, April 4, the 94th day of 2002. There are 271 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death in Memphis, Tenn. 

On this date: 

In 1818, Congress decided the flag of the United States would consist of 13 red-and-white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state of the Union. 

In 1841, President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office. 

In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated. 

In 1887, Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American community — Argonia, Kan. 

In 1902, 100 years ago, British financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will to provide scholarships for Americans at Oxford University. 

In 1945, during World War II, U.S. forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany. 

In 1949, 12 nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty. 

In 1975, more than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashed shortly after take-off from Saigon. 

In 1981, Henry Cisneros became the first Mexican-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city — San Antonio, Texas. 

In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage. 

Ten years ago: His campaign acknowledged that Bill Clinton had received an induction notice in April 1969 while attending college in Oxford, England; Clinton said the notice arrived after he was due to report, and that his local draft board had told him he could complete the school term. 

Five years ago: Space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral on what was supposed to have been a 16-day mission; however, a defective power generator forced the shuttle’s return four days later. 

One year ago: Chinese President Jiang Zemin demanded the United States apologize for the collision between a U.S. Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet; the Bush administration offered a chorus of regrets, but no apology.  

Today’s Birthdays: Singer-actress Frances Langford is 88. Composer Elmer Bernstein is 80. Actress Elizabeth Wilson is 77. Author-poet Maya Angelou is 74. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., is 70. Recording executive Clive Davis is 70. Actor Michael Parks is 64. Bandleader Hugh Masekela is 63. Author Kitty Kelley is 60. Actor Craig T. Nelson is 58. Actor Walter Charles is 57. Actress Caroline McWilliams is 57. Actress Christine Lahti is 52. Country singer Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers) is 51. Writer-producer David E. Kelley is 46. Actor Phil Morris is 43. 

\Actress Lorraine Toussaint is 42. Rock musician Craig Adams (The Cult) is 40. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 37. Actress Nancy McKeon is 36. Actor Barry Pepper is 32. Country singer Clay Davidson is 31. Singer Jill Scott is 30. Rock musician Magnus Sveningsson (The Cardigans) is 30. Magician David Blaine is 29. Singer Kelly Price is 29. Rhythm-and-blues singer Andre Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 28. Actor Heath Ledger is 23. Actress Natasha Lyonne is 23. 

Thought for Today: “A man is only as good as what he loves.” — Saul Bellow, American author. 

For release Thursday, April 4 

Editor: 

Your recent Forum article, “Getting beyond the fear of change to a thriving community” (The Daily Planet, March 30) was shocking and depressing. It seems that the local League of Women Voters (LWV) has morphed itself into the League of Women Developers (LWD).  

They say that we should just roll over, play dead and allow 44,000 more people to move into Alameda and Contra Costa Counties over the next 20 years. 

It seems that all of these additional residents have special needs which can only be met by cramming them into massive high-rise apartments in our bayside communities.  

Somehow, the LWD suggests that cramming additional thousands of people locally is going to make our neighborhoods more livable… Oh, sure. 

Frankly the East Bay is thriving enough as it is.  

The last thing that we need is thousands of more cars and apartments, with shopping malls to match. What ever happened to the notion of Zero Population Growth (ZPG) or even better, Negative Population Growth (NPG)? The earth is finite. The East Bay is finite. It's time to stop reproducing and inviting in ever more immigrants. 

Let ‘em stay home.  

We are suffering from fear of insane development, evermore crowding the Bay Area until the livability index approaches zero. Let’s think about our residential needs, not those of hypothetical immigrants.  

This land is our land, not their land.  

James K. Sayre 

Oakland

A pizza reward for fire safety 

HUDSON, N.H. — If your smoke detector works, your next pizza in this town could be free. 

As part of program intended to boost fire safety, firefighters will accompany pizza deliverers to people’s homes. If residents have functioning smoke detectors, the pizza is free courtesy of the pizza shop and the fire department. 

If the detector doesn’t work, the department will offer batteries or free detectors. 

The department hopes to be the first in New Hampshire to kick off a “Did You Check?” program geared at public education about the importance of detectors and their proper maintenance. 

A malfunctioning detector will mean the pizza must be paid for, but the department will leave a coupon for a future pizza. 

Firefighters also will give residents information about fire safety as part of the program, which the department hopes to start by mid-April. 

Fire Marshal Charles Chalk said the department got the idea after learning about a similar program in Watertown, N.Y. The Hudson program will be funded through donations, Chalk said. 

University professors hold a bake sale 

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Professors at the University of Iowa have a secret weapon in their fight to help the school rebound after losing millions of dollars in state budget cuts. 

They want to hold a bake sale. 

“Obviously, it is unlikely that a bake sale will raise the approximately $40 million in lost funding,” said engineering professor Wilfrid Nixon. But “there’s clearly a public relations aspect to this.” 

The Iowa Faculty Senate approved a resolution by a 15-10 vote Tuesday to hold the sale. 

“It is better to bake a brownie than curse the cuts,” said Nixon, who proposed the resolution. The plan now goes to the faculty council. 

All money will go to help students, such as through scholarships. 

Not all senators found the idea palatable. Some said it would send the wrong message: that faculty members had enough time to bake. 

“I think this could backfire on us,” said Charles Lynch, a professor in the College of Public Health. 

Sheldon Kurtz, a law professor, joked that critics could turn around and say to the faculty, “Let them eat cake.” 

JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) — Alexander Brueggeman is a junior at the University of Memphis who hopes one day to get a doctorate in plant molecular genetics from Harvard or MIT. 

But first he has to enter his teens. Alexander is only 12. 

On Monday, he got word that he was the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater scholarship. At first, he thought it was a joke. 

“I was thinking, ’Cool,”’ he said. “But it was April 1, so I thought maybe it was an April Fools’ joke.” 

Brueggeman’s parents quickly realized there was something different about their child when they began to educate him at home. 

“When he was 6 years old, we started with first grade, but Alex needed more,” said Gay McCarter, Brueggeman’s mother. “He did four years of work — tests and homework — in less than seven months.” 

Brueggeman was at the high school level by age 8 and was attending classes at Jackson State Community College and Lambuth University a year later. 

——— 

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A man suspected of bungling a bank robbery in Richmond should have stopped when he was behind. 

Police said Robert Mustafa Farook Muhammad, 43, is facing a handful of charges after following a botched attempt at knocking off a bank here with another failed attempt in Hanover. 

In Richmond, police said a suspect demanded and received a bag of money from a teller shortly after 9:15 a.m. Monday, but dropped it in his haste to flee the building. 

Empty-handed, he knocked a woman down as she was trying to get in her car in the parking lot, stole the vehicle and drove off, unable to get the alarm to stop blaring. 

About 15 minutes later, Hanover police said a man walked into another bank and gave a teller a note demanding money. She complied, but the robber again fouled his departure. While rushing out the bank’s back door, he knocked over a male patron, who then began chasing him, joined by an off-duty correctional officer and another man. 

The three caught the suspect and held him until a deputy sheriff arrived. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Insurance costs for the Golden Gate Bridge will more than double as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the new policy will not include any coverage in case of future terrorism. 

“It was obvious that a number of insurers were withdrawing from the market,” said Chris Ewers, the bridge’s insurance broker. “We told the bridge district that this was going to be a problem.” 

Ewers was preparing to negotiate with carriers over a new policy in November, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday. Gov. Gray Davis said he was tightening security statewide because of a credible threat to one of four suspension bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Davis revealed last month a second threat to the Golden Gate Bridge surfaced a few days after the first, but it was not widely publicized because it did not seem as credible. 

“My underwriters typically pick up on these kinds of things,” Ewers said. “It didn’t help the negotiations.” 

He approached nearly two dozen insurance companies about taking on the bridge’s policy, which expires Monday. Many were interested, but only if acts of terrorism were specifically exempt from coverage. 

The bridge’s board of directors voted last month to stick with its present insurer, ACE USA, but to bow to the carrier’s demands for substantially higher fees and drastically reduced coverage. 

The bridge district now pays about $500,000 per year for $125 million in coverage, including terrorist attacks. 

As of next week, the bridge district will pay twice as much in premiums, $1.1 million, for a fraction of the coverage — $25 million in physical damage to the span and $25 million in loss of toll revenue. 

Worse, by exploiting a loophole in state regulations, ACE has managed to skirt terrorism coverage. The new one-year policy includes no coverage in the event of an attack. 

ACE spokeswoman Lisa Fleishman-Hicks said company policy forbids her from discussing details of individual policies. 

But bridge directors were quick to voice their frustration when they swallowed hard and approved the new contract on March 22. 

The Golden Gate Bridge District is an independent state entity whose board is made up of officials from San Francisco Bay area counties. 

The bridge presently operates on a $116 million annual budget. 

In a switch of votes after three role call votes were completed on Tuesday night, the Zoning Adjustments Board finally decided 5-3 to continue discussion of the renovation plans for the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.  

The ZAB will take up the project again April 25, which is also the last day for the group to act on the use permit according to the Permit Streamlining Act. Continuance was given for the hospital and the neighbors to work out the remaining traffic circulation issues. 

“Usually a project is shuttled through in one to two meetings,” said ZAB member Andy Katz, who made the initial motion to continue the discussion. “But this one hasn’t come to a resolution in that time. It would be great if we could have a resolution.” 

The neighbors had submitted a last-minute proposal that the cul-de-sac on Colby Street be moved northward to create more of a buffer between hospital traffic and the neighborhood. Alta Bates officials and neighbors had talked about the proposal about a week ago, but it was not part of the proposal before the ZAB on Tuesday. 

“We’re very pleased because this is what we were asking for,” said Debbie Leveen, of the Interneighborhood Hospital Review Committee. 

“I think the ZAB was heartened by the element of compromise in the plan. They thought we could reach an agreement, so they gave us time to reach an agreement.” 

“We’re very disappointed because we’ve taken every step we’ve been required to take to get approval on this process,” said Debbie Pitts, spokesperson for Alta Bates.  

Pitts said that attempting to incorporate the cul-de-sac into their current plans, which were approved by the Design Review Committee in January, will set them back months. They will have to create new site plans for the driveways as well as initiate another process for “street vacation.”  

Because Colby Street is a city-owned street, the decision to change it would have to go through other city departments such as Public Works. 

The hospital now has to scramble to re-submit the plan for the April 18 DRC meeting. Though the deadline for submitting materials for that meeting was yesterday, said Margaret Kavanaugh-Lynch, Senior Planner for the city of Berkeley, the deadline has been waived. 

“It’s going to be really tight turnaround, but we’re doing what we can,” said Kavanaugh-Lynch.  

Alta Bates and the city will have one day to incorporate the DRC input in order to meet the April 19 deadline for submissions to the April 25 ZAB packet is April 19. 

“I don’t know how we’re going to do it,” said Pitts. 

She suggested that if the city allows the hospital to get started on the first phase of their renovation, then they could work on the street vacation in the mean time. 

“It will take at least nine months for us to do our radiology department, which will have no external impacts. I’m told that the street vacation could take six to nine months,” said Pitts. 

Kavanaugh-Lynch, whose job it is to bring both sides to the table, said she is going to coordinate one or two meetings in the next week. 

Because there was no majority in any of the role call votes, the motion would have been tabled by the chair. But some members, who are allowed to change their votes afterwards, changed them in order to carry a motion. 

Leveen said she is looking forward to further discussions with the hospital because there are still two other issues that the neighborhood would like to see addressed: the confusing access to the emergency department for people in private cars and the overall circulation in the Webster-Colby area. 

But, she added, “I’ll be glad when this is over.” 

Contact reporter Jia-Rui Chong at: chong@berkeleydailyplanet.net.

SAN FRANCISCO — Marking the end of a five-year lawsuit, Dow Chemical Co. announced plans Wednesday to contribute $3 million for San Francisco Bay protection while using new technology to clean up groundwater contamination at its nearby Pittsburg chemical facility. 

The deal — struck between environmental group San Francisco BayKeeper and Dow — lets the company back out of a previous agreement to build a groundwater pumping plant to clean up the contamination, which could have cost the company up to $100 million. 

Instead, Dow says it will use bioremediation cleanup technology in which nutrients are pumped 100 feet into the ground, stimulating naturally occurring microbes that will eat away at the contaminants. 

“Dow figured out a better mouse trap,” BayKeeper spokesman Jonathan Kaplan said. 

The cheaper alternative will cost the company $15 million to $20 million to build and $1 million to $2 million per year for upkeep, according to Dow spokesman Randy Fischback. 

In exchange, BayKeeper wanted some of the savings passed on to them. Dow has agreed to contribute $3 million to BayKeeper, the Coastal Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited, Inc. to purchase or restore wetlands at Bel Marin Keys in Marin County, and in Sonoma, Solano and Napa counties. 

BayKeeper sued Dow in 1997, alleging that the Pittsburg plant — which now produces latex and agricultural chemicals — unlawfully discharged waste that contaminated groundwater and eventually ran into San Francisco Bay. 

In 1999, the two organizations agreed that Dow would build a plant to pump the water out of the ground, clean it up and return it. But that solution turned out to be costly, labor intensive and would have left waste to be disposed of somewhere else. Dow was fined nearly $200,000 by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board when it failed to follow through with those plans. 

The company already has started to build “bio-walls” that will circulate nutrients — sodium formate, sodium lactate and possibly even molasses — in the groundwater. The nutrients will stimulate the one-celled bacteria that already exist at the site to consume the contaminants faster. The process could take from a couple of years to decades. 

The technology, typically used to clean spilled petroleum, has been successful at other sites throughout the nation but rarely has been attempted on such a large scale, Fischback said. The Pittsburg plant, 35 miles east of San Francisco, takes up nearly 1,000 acres. 

The relatively new technology, however, leaves questions unanswered. Once the microbes have finished their work and exhausted their food supply, they could die — and it’s unclear what effect that would have on the surrounding environment. 

“We realize it’s cutting-edge technology and that there’s some level of risk,” Kaplan said. “We feel it’s an acceptable tradeoff.”

SAN FRANCISCO — An elderly neighbor frantically called police as Diane Whipple was fatally mauled outside her apartment door, saying she was too afraid to intervene, according to a tape of her 911 calls. 

The 10-minute tape was not used in the trial of Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, the dogs’ caretakers, who were convicted on all five counts they faced in the mauling. Jurors didn’t hear the tape, released by police Tuesday, because it was deemed inadmissable hearsay. 

The recording begins with Esther Birkmaier’s first call on Jan. 26, 2001, about seven minutes after the dogs Bane and Hera began attacking Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach. 

“Yes, I’m just a wreck,” the 75-year-old woman said. “Please send police ... We have two dogs rampaging out in the hall up on the sixth floor and I think they have — their — even their owner cannot control them. They are huge.” 

“OK, the owner knows that the dogs are in the hallway?” the dispatcher asked. 

“I think they’re attacking the owner too, I reckon — she’s screaming right now, and I don’t dare open the door ’cause the dogs are huge.” 

“Please hurry!” she continued. “I hear her screaming and I don’t dare open the door, these dogs are ferocious.” 

The dispatcher then reports not an attack, but that the dogs are out of control. 

A second 911 call was made by David Kuenzi of New York, staying with a friend in the building. He said he heard a woman screaming and a dog barking and feared someone was under attack. 

“I’m going to go up and see what the hell is going on,” Kuenzi said. 

“I wouldn’t — I wouldn’t go up there because you never know what you might get into,” the dispatcher replied, promising help was on the way. 

Still, the police had not yet arrived and the attack had been going on for a dozen minutes. Trapped behind her chained door, Birkmaier called 911 again. 

“I called five minutes ago, we have two ferocious dogs on the loose at 2398 Pacific,” she frantically said. 

“So you’ve already called us?” 

“Yes.” 

“We’re on our way ma’am, you just have to be patient. You only called five minutes ago.” 

Thirty seconds later, at 4:12 p.m., seven minutes after Birkmaier’s first call, the first two officers arrived. They urgently called for an ambulance and animal control officers. 

It was too late for Whipple, who died that night. 

Knoller, who was with the dogs during the attack, could get 15 years to life for second-degree murder. She and Noel could get four years in prison on the other charges, including manslaughter and keeping a mischievous dog that killed someone. Their sentencing is May 10. 

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The first in a series of safety projects to improve the narrow canyon stretch of the Redwood Highway that winds above the Smith River in Northern California has been put out for bid, officials say. 

The first project on U.S. 199, set for this summer, is a barrier rail that will be installed around the perimeter of the turnout near California milepost 8.3 along the main link between southern Oregon to the Northern California coast. 

The rail will replace a few boulders that now are the only thing between the highway turnout and the steep slope leading down to the river. 

The California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, is planning seven projects over the next four years on U.S. 199, but officials say only the first project has been approved. The rest are still being developed and public comments are being solicited. 

Next Wednesday, Caltrans officials will hold a workshop in Crescent City, Calif., to present information on the first project and the other proposals. The workshop will feature displays including a full-size model of the “see-through” barrier rail set for installation at the turnout. 

Another project, a curve realignment near milepost 7.5 about a mile north of Hiouchi, Calif., is now in the environmental review phase and is tentatively set to be built during the summer of 2003. 

Other projects being proposed include restoring and improving highway shoulders near milepost 8.7 and milepost 8.2, possibly during the summer of 2004 and 2005. Also, a highway realignment project near milepost 23.6 including a retaining wall or viaduct is being considered for the summer of 2005. 

The Hardscrabble Creek Bridge, located near milepost 11, is tentatively planned to be replaced during the summer of 2006. 

“What we’re trying to do is address all spot locations where we have a collision history,” said Gary Banducci, project manager for Caltrans.

SACRAMENTO — The rate of teen births in California dropped 31.3 percent since 1990, Gov. Gray Davis announced Wednesday. 

California also saw a 4.2 percent drop in the rate of teen-agers having babies from 1999 to 2000. 

“The good news demonstrates that California’s prevention programs and initiatives work,” Davis said in a release. “The rate decrease means that 1,200 fewer teen births occurred in 1999 than in the previous year.” 

More than 30 of the state’s 58 counties saw a decrease in the teen birth rate, with the greatest percentage drops occurring in Siskiyou, Calaveras, San Benito and Shasta counties. The survey uses statistics from teens ages 15 to 19. 

During 2000, California saw 56,268 births to mothers under 20 years of age.

SANTA ANA — Federal immigration officials say there is no evidence that hundreds of Afghan women and children, including orphans, have been brought to the United States. 

Officials began investigating earlier this week when hundreds of California families said they applied to be foster parents to the orphaned children after receiving an e-mail from an aid agency. The e-mail said there were 529 Afghan women and children who were fleeing the fighting in Afghanistan. 

“The whole story that’s been presented so far defies logic,” Bill Strassberger, an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman, told The Orange County Register for Wednesday’s paper. “We’ve checked and can find nothing that would verify claims regarding 529 Afghan women and children coming to the United States.” 

More than 350 people attended meetings in Los Angeles, San Jose and Garden Grove this weekend to sign up for foster care licenses.  

A Los Angeles-based Muslim social group that helped sponsor the meetings, NISWA, said it has been overwhelmed by the number of calls from prospective parents.  

The group is setting up additional meetings in San Francisco, San Diego and Arizona. 

But U.S. officials say there is no evidence any Afghan women or children were brought into the United States. Even NISWA officials said they have been unable to confirm the report. 

There has been no indication that families have been asked for money in exchange for custody of the children. 

The group that allegedly brought the group from Afghanistan, International Resources, has not returned telephone calls seeking comment. The California Department of Social Services said the organization is not a licensed adoption agency or a recognized adoption facilitator. 

But during a meeting last month, a woman who identified herself as Julie Fahrer said the organization had been working with military officials to bring children to the United States. She claimed some of the children were flown to Los Angeles at night and taken to a church. Some were later placed in homes, she said. 

Strassberger said the U.S. has admitted 200 Afghan refugees in the past six months.  

He said adoptions of foreign children nearly always requires arrangements to be made before children can enter the country.

SEATTLE — The company that owns the tanker Exxon Valdez argued before a federal appeals court Wednesday that the ship should be allowed to return to Alaska’s Prince William Sound, where it spilled 11 million gallons of oil in 1989. 

The Exxon Valdez, which now sails between the Middle East and Asia, has been barred from the sound since 1990, when Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act. The act prohibited any tanker that has spilled more than 1 million gallons since March 22, 1989, from entering Prince William Sound. 

Lawyer E. Edward Bruce, who represents Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary SeaRiver Maritime Inc., told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the law is unconstitutional because it singles out SeaRiver for punishment. 

It’s the job of the courts, not Congress, to impose punishments; thus, the Oil Pollution Act violates the separation of powers assigned to the branches of government, he said. 

“This (law) was designed to exclude the Exxon Valdez from Alaska because of the hostility of Alaskans to the vessel,” Bruce told the court. 

Bruce said Congress clearly wanted to punish the Exxon Valdez when it set the date in the law as March 22, 1989. The ship ran aground the next day. 

Justice Department lawyer Mark Stern responded that the law is constitutional. It doesn’t single out SeaRiver, he said, but includes any ship that spilled more than 1 million gallons after March 22, 1989. 

Around the world, dozens of other tankers have spilled that much oil since then, and none of those would be allowed to enter Prince William Sound under the law, he said. 

Congress had every right to set a date that would bar the Exxon Valdez from the sound, Stern said, as long as it did not limit the ban to that particular ship. 

Stern said the law was designed to protect an ecologically sensitive area, not to punish anyone. 

“There is nothing constitutionally suspect about it,” he said. 

The case reached the 9th Circuit on appeal from U.S. District Court in Alaska. That court sided with the government and upheld the law last July; SeaRiver appealed. 

The Exxon Valdez spill was the nation’s worst. It devastated fish and wildlife and smeared oil across approximately 1,500 miles of coastline. 

Exxon Mobil says it has already paid more than $3 billion in cleanup costs and compensation. In November, a panel of the 9th Circuit threw out a $5 billion judgment against the company as excessive. 

The appeals court ordered a lower court judge to reduce the amount.

BOISE, Idaho — Wide swaths of the Southwest and a patchwork of forests along the East Coast are at the highest risk for wildfire this summer, National Interagency Fire Center officials said Wednesday. 

In the Southwest, drought and the amount of moisture in plants has reached a critically low level, said Rick Ochoa, the national fire weather program coordinator. 

Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have already had some spring wildfires. Ochoa said some trees and shrubs were burned to white ash — an indication of fire intensity due to bone dry conditions. 

“The southwest might be the epicenter of the fire season this year,” Ochoa said. 

The western drought extends from Southern California northeast to southwestern Montana. Plant moisture content in Southern California’s Inyo National Forest is at historic lows and reflects conditions normally associated with mid-autumn, Ochoa said. Rainfall in the southern Rocky Mountains is as little as 30 percent of normal. 

In Flagstaff, Ariz., about an hour’s drive south of the Grand Canyon, U.S. Forest Service officials have already hired one hotshot firefighting crew and plan to hire more as quickly as the federal government can finance the positions, said Raquel Poturalski, spokeswoman for Coconino National Forest. 

“Our fuel moistures are similar to what they were in 1996, and that was our worst fire season ever. We’re looking at a really similar season this year,” she said. 

On the East Coast, forest officials are concerned about several years of scant rainfall. A drought has left parched forests from Georgia to northern Maine and into Canada. 

“Spring is our busy time of the year,” said Jim Downie, spokesman for the Maine Forest Service. “The ground is extremely dry. We have had five fires in January burn down under the snow and then resurface.” 

In eastern hardwood forests, leaf litter builds up to a thickness of several feet on the forest floor. When the material dries, it become extremely flammable, Downie said. 

Although New England has had some additional moisture in recent weeks, officials are getting ready for a tougher season. 

The U.S. Forest Service has positioned an additional large fire bomber in Vermont, Downie said. And officials are dusting off a cooperative agreement that will allow aircraft to be called in from Canadian provinces to fight forest fires. 

“We’re going to see the true effect of the drought over the last couple of years,” Downie said. 

It is a completely different story in the Northwest, where fires last year in Oregon and Washington burned thousands of acres. This year, except for southeastern Oregon, the Northwest has an abundance of rain. Western Washington is especially wet. 

Last year, 89,079 fires burned 3.57 million acres across the nation. That is far less than the historic season of 2000, when 123,000 fires destroyed 8.4 million acres of range and forest and cost taxpayers $1.3 billion to fight. 

This year, the federal government has set aside $2.29 million to fight wildfires. 

——— 

On the Net: 

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov 

SACRAMENTO — Legislation that would forever ban Ventura County from approving houses on 2,800 acres surrounding an old nuclear meltdown site suffered a temporary setback Wednesday. 

The Senate Local Government Committee balked at the idea, part of a larger bill on contamination cleanup standards proposed by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. Kuehl promised to return with changes, addressing concerns that the idea is too restrictive and affects too much land. 

Kuehl wants the state to block Ventura County’s land-use authority on the site of a 1959 partial nuclear meltdown, and that of other cities and counties on future meltdown sites. She cited the state’s similar land-use authority over properties fronting San Francisco Bay, the Lake Tahoe Basin and the 1,100 mile California coastline. 

“Local zoning isn’t capable of dealing with something like a nuclear meltdown,” Kuehl said. 

The site is still contaminated with radiation and undergoing cleanup. 

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory near the Ventura and Los Angeles County lines, ran 10 nuclear reactors from the 1950s to the 1980s for Atomics International, Rocketdyne International Corp. and Boeing Corp. Though a Ventura County voter initiative blocks development on the site before 2020 and the county’s general plan calls for open space, current zoning allows homes on five-acre lots. 

Kuehl fears growth pressures could local officials to approve housing, schools and day care centers on the site. Boeing Controller Jack Bradley said the company is restoring the land to federal residential standards in hopes of selling it. 

“Our concern is the flexibility of the property,” Bradley said. “We want to clean it up for the highest and best use.” He also criticized a ban on thousands of surrounding acres, far from the actual meltdown site. 

Attorney Richard Locke of PG&E said the bill could block the company from developing 14,000 acres around its 750-acre Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. 

Ventura County issued no position on the bill. But a letter from County Supervisor Judy Mikels expressed concerns about the state usurping local decision-making. 

——————— 

On the Net: 

Read S.B 1444 at www.senate.ca.gov. 

SAN JOSE — While most of the high-tech world perpetually focuses on the next new thing, a familiar device quietly has gotten so good as to be almost stunning: the printer. 

Galleries and frame stores can download artwork from the Internet and make richly colored prints directly on fine paper or canvas within minutes. 

Big laser printers and digital presses allow corporations to make customized glossy publications in-house and in short runs, without the expense of shipping them to specialty printing houses. 

Inexpensive photo printers let consumers instantly develop sharp-looking shots from digital cameras, skipping not only the traditional trip to a photofinishing store but also a time-consuming upload onto a personal computer. 

“These things keep improving in quality while coming down in price,” said Keith Kratzberg, director of photo imaging for Epson America Inc. “We have totally refined the way these things are designed and manufactured.” 

New inks fuse to paper much easier and in smaller particles, permitting greater resolution and sharper images with more subtle hues. 

Other refinements make printing faster. 

The iGen3 digital press expected soon from Xerox Corp. should help graphic arts companies and corporations do their own publishing. Forty feet in length and about $500,000 in cost, the press can crank out 100 pages per minute. 

For the rest of us, even a 17-page-per-minute desktop printer can be had for around $150. 

One company built almost entirely on the recent advances in printing is Brightcube Inc. Its high-end ink jets let art galleries and frame stores make posters and high-quality prints on demand, reducing the need to keep costly inventory around. 

One painting of a Mediterranean-style cottage and a garden, downloaded from Brightcube, emerged on a large canvas alive with sharp reds and yellows. The brush strokes of the original also stood out on the digitally made copy. 

“Sometimes customers want to come in and order a specific piece, and rather than order it, we’ll just print it,” said Scott Gilsinger, owner of the Framing Loft in Sun City, Ariz., who uses the Brightcube service to make 20 to 30 prints per month. “It’s excellent quality.” 

For now, El Segundo, Calif.-based Brightcube has only 40 employees, about 100 customers and a somewhat limited supply of art and photography available to download. 

But its potential is intriguing. Brightcube’s technology keeps track of which works are downloaded and printed, so artists can collect proper royalties. 

Beyond artwork, Brightcube hopes retailers will want to download official logos and designs from their parent companies’ headquarters and customize advertisements for individual stores. 

Combining the Internet with new high-end printing technology is also a goal at Hewlett-Packard Co., which recently closed a deal worth as much as $800 million to acquire Indigo NV, a Dutch company that makes digital presses. 

Digital presses let big companies, advertising agencies and printing houses create fancy color newsletters, brochures and ads quickly, in relatively small batches — and with customized content. 

For example, HP and a European airline are exploring ways to use a digital press and Web-based customer-service platform to make personalized in-flight magazines for first- and business-class passengers. 

“You’d find seat 12-K, and with the magazines sitting there, on the top is one geared to you and your flight, welcoming you on board, giving you a summary of your frequent flier miles, saying here’s your menu, here’s your videos you asked for, and here’s the articles you might like to read,” said Bill McGlynn, an HP digital publishing vice president. 

Eyeing similar opportunities, Xerox expects its iGen3 digital press to bring in $15 billion in revenue in the next decade. 

But despite their flexibility, digital presses likely will supplement the equipment large printing companies already have, rather than steal their business altogether, said Mike Croke, who consults with companies on big printing tasks and farms the work out to specialty houses. 

“It will start to take a toll on some of the mom and pop shops, some of the medium-sized shops. But it’s not going to knock the large printers down,” Croke said. “I don’t see a large insurance company going back into the printing business.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.brightcube.com 

http://www.xerox.com 

http://www.epson.com 

http://www.hp.com 

http://www.croke-printing.com 

END Advance 

SACRAMENTO — Enron executives have been cooperating with a Senate committee investigating the state’s energy crisis, under threat of a Senate vote to find them in contempt of a legislative subpoena, the committee’s chairman said Wednesday. 

Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, said Senate investigators have gone to Houston to review documents there, and plan a trip to Enron’s Portland, Ore., office, which is the energy trader’s west coast hub. 

Investigators have unearthed evidence that energy companies, which pushed deregulation as way to lower consumers’ costs, knew the state’s experiment with deregulation would result in a volatile electricity market, Dunn said. 

The now-bankrupt energy giant led the push for the state to deregulate its energy market in 1996, which was “perhaps the greatest fraud ever perpetrated against consumers,” Dunn said. 

He spoke at a Capitol news conference with consumers groups who called on state and federal lawmaker to tighten regulations to prevent future business failures such as Enron’s. 

Energy companies wouldn’t have pushed for deregulation, Dunn said, unless it would benefit their profits and “that instead of competition driving prices down, there was no real competition and prices would go up.” 

Dunn’s committee has readied subpoenas for three former Enron employees, including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Those subpoenas have not been served, Dunn’s staff said, because they are working with the former employees to arrange voluntary testimony. 

The Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation in the Wholesale Energy Market delayed Wednesday’s deposition of Jeff Dasavich, a former governmental affairs employee who worked in Enron’s San Francisco office. Dunn said he was still gathering documents for that deposition and expected it to take place within two weeks. 

The committee also plans to depose former executive vice president Steven Kean. 

The committee, convinced that Enron has destroyed financial documents under legislative subpoena, voted in February to seek criminal charges against the company for concealing evidence and conspiracy. 

Committee members also voted then to ask the full Senate to find Enron in contempt of two legislative subpoenas — one issued in June seeking documents related to California’s energy market and the other for testimony about destruction of documents. 

Since then, the energy company’s officials have been cooperating with investigators, Dunn said. 

Dunn said he was in talks with Skilling’s attorney and expected to depose the former CEO in Texas. The committee could complete its investigation in two months, he said. 

What began as a march for peace in Palestine on Tuesday at approximately 5:00 p.m. ended in an ugly standoff between protesters and the Berkeley Police Department at Fourth Street and University Ave some five hours later. 

About 600 protesters participated in the march, which caused the closure of University Ave between San Pablo Avenue and Fourth Street near the onramp to I-80.  

“We’re marching because there is no military solution to the Middle East conflict,” said Amir Terkel of Jewish Voice for Peace.  

“The only way for there to be peace is for Israel to stop its 35-year occupation of Palestinian land.” 

David McClure of Students for Justice in Palestine said both sides of the conflict should want a peaceful solution. 

“This isn’t a Jewish vs. Arab or Jewish vs. Christian issue. It’s a U.S. foreign policy issue,” he said. 

He said that March has been the deadliest month for Palestinians and that 1,200 Palestinians and Israelis have been killed since the Second Intifada. 

“It’s our job, because it’s our money,” said McClure. 

Penny Rosenwasser of the Middle East Children’s Alliance agreed. “We have to tell them where we want our tax dollars to go,” she said.  

“Lots of American people feel that it’s important that the U.S. get involved, send monitors, get them to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza. We want to make this visible,” she said. 

The event began with a rally at the Downtown Berkeley BART station. As the protesters marched down University Ave, people out walking their dogs and riding bikes joined the procession. Drivers in their cars honked and gave the marchers thumbs up.  

The protesters were allowed to proceed down University until they reached Sixth Street at about 6:30 p.m. Up until this time, there had only been a handful of bicycle cops onhand to control the crowd. Their ranks, however, multiplied drastically by backup BPD and the California Highway Patrol dispatched to the site for crowd control and forming a line across University Ave to block the procession. 

Around 8:00 p.m. every on-duty officer for the BPD waspresent to maintain that line at Fourth Street, according to Capt. William Pittman. Pittman was the officer in charge. 

During the maintaining of the line, tensions between the officers and the protesters apparently peaked and resulted in one woman’s arrest for battery on a police officer. 

But 28-year-old Xochitl Johnson, of Berkeley, said the only physical contact she had with the police occurred while her arms were locked with three other women, and she was shoved in the chest with a baton by BPD officer Lindenaugh. After being pushed, she said she fell forward and at this point was taken down by several officers. 

Several protesters, interviewed independently of each other, reported a very similar situation. 

Don Najita, also of Berkeley, said he was standing within four feet of Johnson moments before her arrest. 

“I saw several officers being very aggressive,” Najita said. “They were shoving the crowd back away from the line. One officer shoved her with the baton, she fell back, then forward and they arrested her. Then the crowd went crazy.” 

“Within 15 minutes, they let her go,” Najita added. 

Johnson said while she was sitting in the back of the police car she heard officers saying they did not have the numbers to control the crowd. 

“One woman cop said to me, ‘If we let you go, will you promise to go home? And I said ‘no.’”  

It was unclear last night where the protesters wanted to end the march, or why the holding pattern lasted so long. 

Several protesters reported that they were displeased with the aggressive nature of the police department, but they also stated that the march was pretty disorganized and that they too were unsure why the standoff on Fourth Street continued. 

“I’m protesting in solidarity for the people of Palestine, I’m staying until the police disperses,” said one protester. 

“We’re angry,” said another, adding that some agreement had been made that the crowd would disperse if Johnson was let go and were angered because there was an assumption that she would not be charged. 

Pittman said he was not aware of any agreement between BPD and protesters. 

“There was no agreement — that’s just what happens — you are charged, then released.” 

Our priority is to maintain this line safely, he added. 

Johnson said the continued presence was in solidarity with the people of Palestine. 

“People are out here for Palestine not me — look at what is happening in Palestine. There are walls stained with the blood of children,” Johnson said. “That’s why I’m still here because I can’t stomach it anymore.” 

“I’m hoping that people on Ramallah in the West Bank can see this. I know they probably can’t because they’ve cut most of their electricity. But I wish they could see that we held the streets tonight,” she added. 

However, she also said that she welcomed everyone to show up at her April 23rd court date at 2120 Martin Luther King Way in Berkeley to protest her what she considered a bogus charge. 

No protesters were interviewed by the police department last night regarding the battery charge. 

Pittman said it was customary to take the accounts of witnesses if there was an opportunity. 

“This is not a situation that presents that opportunity. The protesters will not even engage in conversation with us,” Pittman added. 

The order to disperse came in shortly before 10 p.m. and at that point both protesters and officers left the scene without further incident. 

Berkeley High continued its offensive barrage on Tuesday, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to beat El Cerrito 12-2 in five innings at the San Marin Tournament in Novato. 

Every Berkeley starter reached base at least once and all but one scored at least one run against the Gauchos, while southpaw Cole Stipovich settled down after a rocky start for an abbreviated win. The ’Jackets face the winner of the San Marin-Windsor game today at 1:30 for a shot at their second tournament title in as many years. 

The ’Jackets have scored at least 10 runs in five of their last six games, getting contributions from every spot in the order and even some good production off the bench. 

“We’re hitting everywhere, all the way through the lineup,” Berkeley head coach Tim Moellering said. “Everybody’s hitting right now. It doesn’t matter who I put out there.” 

Tuesday’s new additions were rightfielder Raymond Pinkston and designated hitter Chris Wilson, who combined go 3-for-3 with a run and three RBIs at the bottom of the order. Pinkston walked twice and singled home two runs during the ’Jackets’ five-run third inning, while Wilson continued a hot streak he started with two hits against Pinole Valley last week. With Jon Smith and Kory Hong also vying for playing time in the outfield and Wilson backing up Lee Franklin and DeAndre Miller on the infield, Moellering has the pleasant dilemma of getting all of his hitters enough at-bats. 

Other highlights included a 3-for-4 day by cleanup hitter Matt Toma, who ended the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a bases-loaded double that put Berkeley up by the final score, and a two-hit, two-run day by Miller. Clinton Calhoun was the only ’Jacket not to get a hit, but even he walked twice and scored a run. 

Toma said the Gauchos got a little too loud after scoring two scratch runs off of Stipovich in the first inning, giving the ’Jackets some extra motivation playing against a team they’ll face twice in the ACCAL season. 

“They put up two runs early and started to get loud and rowdy,” Toma said. “That gave us a little extra reason to shut them up.” 

Stipovich quieted the El Cerrito bats, not letting a runner past second base for the next four innings while his teammates pounded four different Gaucho hurlers. Although he wasn’t his sharpest, Stipovich got the outs when he needed them, stranding seven runners. 

“I was kind of tired today, but I managed to throw strikes at good times,” said the senior, who faced El Cerrito twice last season. “I was worried they would see me and know what was coming, but they didn’t hurt me too much.” 

El Cerrito starter James Cannon lasted into the third inning, giving up five runs, and his bullpen wasn’t any better. Both teams rested their aces on Tuesday, not wanting to tip their hands before the two games that count in the league standings. Berkeley’s Sean Souders will pitch today in the championship game. 

“We followed the game plan we wanted,” Moellering said. “We made it to the championship without having to use Sean or even use our bullpen too much.” 

Moellering said he would prefer not to face ACCAL teams outside of league play, but Stipovich is hoping Tuesday’s pounding will provide some extra confidence when the ’Jackets see El Cerrito later in the season. 

“Hopefully this will be a forecast of things to come,” he said with a grin. 

Berkeley will play in the championship game at 1:30 p.m. today.

Editor, 

While I appreciate the school board’s effort to cut costs and balance the budget, cutting funding and P.E. credit for interscholastic athletics isn’t the right approach. I concede the fact that the Crew team and other JV teams could look to the parents and the community for more financial support, but to deprive the students of P.E. credit only deflates participation and forces more students into the school’s Physical Ed. program. Instead of trying to reduce the amount of students getting P.E. credit, BHS should extend PE credit to any student participating in any organized, supervised extra-curricular sports like rugby, mountain biking, martial arts, etc. This would allow the school to save money on an already poor quality Phys. Ed. Department. 

Jim Sinai 

Berkeley 

Wednesday, April 3

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

Don George (Travel Editor Lonely Planet Publications) 

Topic: Finding the story, exploring the experience 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

For more information 843-6725 

North Berkeley Senior Center Advisory Council 

10 a.m. 

Monthly birthday party will feature The Dixieland jazz Band, Gasteswingers and refreshments. 

1901 Hearts 

Berkeley 

For more information, call 981-5190. 

Melody Ermachild Chavis: "Reporting from Recent Trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan 

5:30-8:30 pm 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

6:30 pm 

Berkeley 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Thursday, April 4

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15-8:00 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave. 

On-going meetings 1st & 3rd Thursdays, emphasizing metaphysical topics. Free. 848-6510. 

Graduate Theological Union presents liberation philosopher Enrique Dussel 

noon- 2 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 

2400 Ridge Road 

Enrique Dussel, pioneering scholar of the philosophy of liberation and a leading figure in Latin American liberation theology will present his recent work in “Modernity, coloniality and Capitalism in the World System.” 649-2464 

Freedom From Tobacco 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

University Health Services Tang Center 

2222 Bancroft Way 

A quit smoking class free to Berkeley and Albany students, residents and employees. Five consecutive Thursday evenings. 644-6422, quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Friday, April 5

City Commons Club 

12:30 p.m. 

2315 Durant Ave.  

“Reporting from Berkeley” Charles Burres, staff reporter, San Francisco Chronicle. $1. 848-3533. 

Saturday, April 6

Library Grand Opening 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library 

The celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, a keynote speech by Alice Walker, musical guests, and building tours. 548-7102 

Graduate Theological Union presents Suavecito — The Politics and Poetics of Asian American Soul Music in he 1970’s. 

5 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Krutch Theater, 

Clark Kerr Campus 

2601 Warring Street in Berkeley 

A panel discussion and musical offering explore the interplay between soul music and community politics. 

849-8244. 

East Bay Regional Parks District, special events 

10-4 p.m. 

Gathering of the Scottish clans,  

Ardenwood Historic Farm 

34600 Ardenwood Boulevard, Fremont 

796-0663 

Noche Latina in Berkeley 

7-11 p.m. 

The Bay Area Hispanic Institute for Advancement (Bahia, Inc.)is holding its second annual Noche Latina event. This fund raiser will feature food catered by Cafe de la Paz, music and a silent auction. Bahia is an after-school program for children ages 5-10. This year's event will be held at the Law Offices of Duran, Ochoa & Icaza, which are located at 1035 Carleton Ave.  

For more information, contact Estrella Fichter at 510.549.3506 or estrella.fichter@earthlink.net 

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 - 11 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

A class in basic personal preparedness for emergency situations. 981-5605 

Sunday, April 7

Peace it Together 

1 - 5 p.m.  

2218 Acton St. 

Fundraising festival hosted by Minding the Body, Inc. Participatory Booths, Jugglers, Storytellers, Performance Art, Co-creation of Music, Poetry and Art and a Vegetarian Potluck. mindingthebody.org.  

“Remedios” — Benefit for Poet Aurora Levins Morales  

11-2 p.m. 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Weekly Peace Walk around Lake Merritt 

7-3 p.m. 

Oakland 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Mission 911: Bay Area Poets for Peace 

2-5 pm  

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Monday, April 8

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

The University of California has pulled the plug on its study abroad program in Israel, citing concerns about escalating violence in the Middle East. 

“Safety is the number one priority,” said UC spokesman Hanan Eisenman. 

Eisenman said the decision will affect 27 students, including eight UC Berkeley students, studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of Tel Aviv, and Ben Gurion University in the southern city of Be’er Sheva.  

Twenty-eight other students have already voluntarily returned to the United States this year, according to the university. 

UC has also decided to put its fall 2002 program on hold, pending improvements in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Eisenman said the university plans to continue the program at a later date. 

“We’re not abandoning this program at all,” he said. 

UC is leaving staff and program infrastructure in place to prepare for the eventual return of students. 

Eisenman said the university cannot force students to return, but is strongly recommending the move and will provide financial and transportation support as needed. 

Those who stay will not have access to the Israeli universities. But, like those who return, they will be able to finish their courses through an “independent study” program and receive full credit. 

“Both ways, we’re going to work as hard as we can to facilitate this,” Eisenman said. 

UC has suspended study abroad programs before. In recent years, the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, the Gulf War in the Middle East and the 1999 civil uprisings in Indonesia have all temporarily halted UC study abroad programs. 

This year, UC did not permit students to study in India during the spring semester because of increasing hostilities between India and Pakistan. 

According to a UC statement, the University of Washington and the University of Colorado have already recalled their students from Israel this year.

The Cal men’s basketball team, already hurting for size with the probable departure of freshman Jamal Sampson, got even smaller on Tuesday when sophomore center Gabriel Hughes received a release from his scholarship. 

“It came down to playing time,” Hughes said. “This year wasn’t fully what I expected it to be. Hopefully, I’ll get that opportunity at another school.” 

Hughes, a 6-foot-10, 215-pounder from Carson, played in 21 games for the Bears this season, averaging 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds. He is the second post player to transfer away from Cal in the last two years. Center Nick Vander Laan transferred following the 2000-01 season. 

The brother of departing senior Solomon Hughes, Gabriel said he plans to take several recruiting trips over the next few weeks but doesn’t have a specific school in mind. 

Without Hughes and Sampson, who declared for the draft two weeks ago and has since withdrawn from Cal, the Bears will be left with just one big man veteran next season, freshman Amit Tamir. Tamir is more of a perimeter player, however, and recruit David Paris could be forced into playing immediately. 

Cal head coach Ben Braun was disappointed with Hughes’ decision, but released the player from his scholarship obligations at his request. 

“I knew Gabe was particularly frustrated with his lack of playing time, which was understandable,” Braun said. “I felt that Gabe had made tremendous progress over the past two years, but he has expressed an interest in pursuing other opportunities with another program.”

Editor:  

Kudos to John Burton for threatening to kill the proposed forced DNA testing of inmates. While the current political climate may support this invasive bill; many of us recognize it as the first step in gutting our civil rights in the name of law and order. Perhaps some Republican senator may soon propose the forced DNA testing of all Americans to substantially increase the database. More prisons can be built to house the thousands more that may need to be incarcerated; others could be disposed of more quickly. Given the unreliablity of medical testing today, we would, in effect, all become possible casualties of this latest misguided war on people. 

Michael Bauce 

Berkeley

Parking vandals, beware. 

Very soon, plainclothes policemen are going to be watching parking meters near the UC Berkeley campus and the downtown area. 

If someone puts in anything besides a coin in the e-PARK meter that person will be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. This could result in fines up to $1,000 and six months of jail time. 

Parking vandalism is a problem again,the Berkeley Police Department said in a press release Monday. While three years ago the problem was chopping off whole meter heads, for the past two years it has been coin slots clogged with metal slugs, coins wrapped in paper, paper clips or gum.  

“We think they’re doing it because they’re looking for free parking all day long,” Lt. Bruce Agnew of the Traffic Bureau said Tuesday. 

In the last six months of 2001, said Agnew, 6,515 meters in the city had to be cleared. 5,116 of the repairs were made on the greater UC campus area and 1,256 in the downtown area. 

To step-up enforcement, officers who have otherwise been involved in traffic enforcement or other units, will be posted in the two problem areas periodically to do surveillance, according to Agnew. One officer might follow the parker to see where he/she is going while another officer checks the meter. Officers will also be time cars parked at broken meters, issuing citations when the maximum time limit for that spot is exceeded. 

This is not going to entail extra hours by police officers or more staff, but will be part of being on-duty, said Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz. If a more important call comes in, of course, police will answer those first. 

Parking meter vandalism has been an expensive problem for the city, said Kamlarz. He estimated that the city will lose $800,000 and $1 million of meter revenue by the end of this fiscal year. And this cost to the city does not count the 1,000 to 1,200 hours of staff time spent fixing the meters or the parts. 

“25 cents is no big deal, but this is a million-dollar problem,” said Kamlarz. “It’s going to have an impact on services. If it doesn’t change, we’re going to have to cut back our services by $1 million.” 

But Kamlarz said that upping enforcement is only one approach the city hopes to employ to solve the vandalism problem. His office has also proposed to City Council that the police be allowed to issue more than one citation for a car that parks illegally for an entire day. Because the city can only issue one citation – if any at all are issued – people are willing to gamble on the ticket instead of seeking a parking garage or feeding the meter, said Kamlarz. 

The city is also looking to work with the businesses on Telegraph Avenue, the worst hit part of the city, on a pilot project in which certain zones will be designated as one- or two-hour parking areas. 

“The good news for auto drivers is that, in this pilot program, parking is free. But if they overextend their stay, then there’s a double fine,” said Kathy Berger, Executive Director of the Telegraph Area Association. 

There has been a problem with commuters coming into Berkeley and staying in at spots with broken meters all day, said Berger. But businesses would prefer a higher turnover. 

“The hoped-for result is more short-term parkers who want to do business in our area,” she said. 

“Those people who stay there all day long, do you think they’re really shopping in our district?” 

UC Police Captain Bill Cooper said that the university hasn’t had a problem with meter vandalism because the university does not own that many, nor does it enforce the parking at meters near its campus. He did say that parking permit dispensing machines at their lots have sometimes been vandalized. 

“We have occasional problems, but nothing lately,” said Cooper. 

The St. Mary’s High baseball team is taking their lumps in the San Marin Tournament, following a 4-2 loss to Windsor on Monday with a 13-0 thumping by BSAL rival Salesian on Tuesday. 

St. Mary’s managed just three hits off of Salesian starter Derek Yow, and the Panthers’ two inexperienced pitchers combined to walk nine in just four innings. Marcus Johnson took the loss, giving up 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings. 

St. Mary’s has just one experienced pitcher currently available, senior Joe Storno. St. MAry’s head coach Andy Shimabukuro said he didn’t want to throw Storno against the Chieftans and give them an early look at the pitcher who will have to carry the Panthers through the BSAL season. 

“We’ve played three games in three days before,” Shimabukuro said. “You’ve just got to go with what you’ve got.” 

Yow had four RBIs in the game, including a bases-loaded triple in the third inning during which the Chieftans sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring seven runs. 

The Panthers will face El Cerrito at 10:30 a.m. today in the losers’ bracket finale.

Dear Chancellor Berdahl, 

On behalf of 622 petitioners, I ask you to not convert the six UC tennis courts on top of the Lower Hearst Parking Structure into 138 new parking spaces. The courts are a UC and community resource that benefits many people all day. The parked cars claim space and often benefit only one driver per car.  

By agreement with the city and under the California Environmental Quality Act, it is promised that all the courts will be replaced. Such replacement is superior to what occurred when a total of ten courts were removed at the Tang Center and Strawberry Canyon, with just two replacement courts at Clark Kerr. 

However, we think the Scenic courts should stay intact in the first place because: 

a. The six courts are in walking distance for the dorm residents of Foothill, Stern, and the Co-ops, the future La Loma residence and the LBNL and the Northside community. If the Scenic courts go, the wait time for the three La Loma courts will prevent many students from using them for recreation. 

b. Since the Tang and Strawberry courts have never been at all properly replaced, the Scenic courts should stay in place. The additional placement of new courts at Smyth Fernwalk would be a good thing to begin to take care of the recreational needs of a growing student population, especially when the 6 Bancroft and the 9 Channing courts also go, as is projected. 

UC has many other options that would allow them to deal with the continuing problem of too few parking spaces for a constantly growing population of drivers. 

a. A free Class/Eco pass for faculty and staff following the renewed UCLA project that is subsidized through one million dollars in parking permit revenues. This could include a “free ride-home” provision. 

b. Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition is eager for creation of a North-South bike trail. This echoes the historical plan for an underground North-South campus passage. Mopeds and Vespas use could be encouraged with special parking permits and space. 

c. Special space and permits for carpool parking could be encouraged, particularly at the Lower Hearst structure where the recreational space is at risk. If even 1/3 of each of the existing three levels were reserved for parking of cars with two or more passengers, the courts could be saved quite painlessly. 

d. If these measures were done, it would be much easier for persons dropping off students to get to the University, not to mention the reduced pressure of fewer cars on the city of Berkeley and the environment. 

e. Plans like those mentioned would be more fitting in a post-Sept. 11 world where the acceptability of any continued foreign oil dependency is coming into question, where the patriotism of using less gas and oil could well be a more important goal as the next years pass by. Isn’t it appropriate for a University where leading scientists attend international conferences on Kyoto Accords and Greenhouse Warming, to use all its talent and intelligence to be a leader in planning for the coming transportation changes that may be necessary in this century. 

By leaving the six Scenic tennis courts intact, perhaps by building more student housing near campus and striving to maintain good community relations by providing recreational space for students and town, UC will improve the quality of life in and around the campus. The press of cars on the streets of Berkeley as far away from the campus as two and three miles in the residential areas of the city is a constant source of bad will in Berkeley. A long term plan to reduce UC traffic would do a lot to heal some of the negative impact of this great, university in our midst. 

You yourself, Chancellor Berdahl, during Charter Day ceremonies used the phrase “our university’s most cherished values of improving the world and improving people’s lives.” We agree, and hope you will start the improvement by helping relieve the relentless pressure of university-related traffic on Berkeley’s streets and continuing to sponsor recreation space for your students and larger university and general community. 

Thank you for your time.  

Sincerely, 

Senta Pugh Chamberlain 

RECENT ARTICLES ON THIS SUBJECT: 

Daily Cal, 2/26/02: "Berkeley should not accommodate polluting cars" 

Berkeley Daily Planet 

3/2-3/02:  

"U.C.’s contradictory transit policy shows disregard for Berkeley" 

3/06/02: 

"U.C. transit critic just doesn’t understand"  

3/11/02:  

"Restore transit before building more garages to increase traffic" 

3/11/02: 

"Cal could coordinate with city in providing transit passes" 

3/13/02:  

"U.C. must implement alternative transportation" 

3/16/02:  

"All commuters are not equal" 

3/23-24/02 "Fewer cars would mean more happy drivers" 

"Give transit a chance and show just how different Berkeley is." 

3/27/02:  

"Face facts about parking garage" 

Today is Wednesday, April 3, the 93rd day of 2002. There are 272 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On April 3, 1860, the legendary Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif. 

On this date: 

In 1865, Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. 

In 1882, outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of James’ gang. 

In 1936, Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh infant. 

In 1946, Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed outside Manila. 

In 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries. 

In 1968, the day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “mountaintop” speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers. 

In 1968, North Vietnam agreed to meet with U.S. representatives to set up preliminary peace talks. 

In 1982, Britain dispatched a naval task force to the south Atlantic to reclaim the disputed Falkland Islands from Argentina. 

In 1996, an Air Force jetliner carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and American business executives crashed in Croatia, killing all 35 people aboard. 

In 1996, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested. 

Ten years ago: President Bush, speaking in Philadelphia, said members of Congress should shorten their annual sessions and retire after 12 years, calling for changes in “a failed status quo”; Democratic leaders accused Bush of “scapegoating.” 

Five years ago: About 2,000 youngsters in California and Georgia lined up for shots to protect them against hepatitis from a contaminated shipment of frozen strawberries. 

One year ago: President Bush warned China it risked damaging relations with the United States unless it quickly released the American crew of a damaged Navy spy plane. (The plane had made an emergency landing in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter.) 

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Marlon Brando is 78. Actress-singer Doris Day is 78. Actress Miyoshi Umeki is 73. Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is 72. Country singer Don Gibson is 70. Jazz musician Jimmy McGriff is 66. Actor William Gaunt is 65. Singer Jan Berry (Jan and Dean) is 61. Actress Marsha Mason is 60. Singer Wayne Newton is 60. Singer Billy Joe Royal is 60. Singer Tony Orlando is 58. Singer Richard Thompson is 53. Country musician Curtis Stone (Highway 101) is 52. Rock musician Mel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad) is 51. Rock musician Mick Mars (Motley Crue) is 46. Actor Alec Baldwin is 44. Actor David Hyde Pierce is 43. Comedian-actor Eddie Murphy is 41. Rock singer-musician Mike Ness (Social Distortion) is 40. Rock singer Sebastian Bach is 34. Actress Jennie Garth is 30. Actress Amanda Bynes is 16.

A panel of experts dissected the Enron fiasco, and poked holes in the pension and accounting reform proposals that have emerged in the wake of the energy company’s scandal, at a UC Berkeley seminar Tuesday. 

“I don’t think the legislation that is proposed so far is going to do much,” said John Menke, president of Menke & Associates, a San Francisco firm, which designs and administers employee stock ownership plans. 

Menke was particularly critical of pension reform legislation offered by Rep. George Miller, D-California, who represents portions of Contra Costa and Solano counties.  

Many employers, like Enron, provide contributions to employee retirement plans in the form of company stock. Miller has proposed legislation that would allow employees to dump company stock after a year of participation in a retirement plan and diversify their holdings. 

Miller says, if his legislation passes, employees’ retirement plans would no longer be bound to the fortunes of companies like Enron. 

But Menke objected to Miller’s “Employee Pension Freedom Act” Tuesday, arguing that the employer contribution is a bonus offered by the company, and the company should have control over how it is invested, at least for a reasonable period of time. 

Menke, acknowledging that some reform is inevitable, threw lukewarm support behind alternative legislation offered by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, which allows for diversification after three years. 

Clancy Houghton, an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and former partner with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, attacked legislative proposals requiring companies to rotate auditing firms periodically. 

“It takes awhile to get to know a client,” Houghton said, arguing that rotations would lead to a decline in the quality of audits. 

But current legislation was not the only topic of conversation. Panelists also suggested several reasons Enron and other companies are doctoring their books, and told investors how they can avoid losing money in similar meltdowns in the future. 

Brett Trueman, UC Berkeley professor of accounting, said managerial compensation packages laden with stock options, and a growing number of “momentum investors” who hop into the market and penalize companies for falling short of earnings projections, encourage executives to hide losses. 

Trueman also suggested that accounting firms who have large consulting contracts with clients, on top of auditing contracts, may be more willing to accept doctored financial statements and please the client. 

Increasingly complex business transactions, and accounting standards that have not kept pace, Trueman said, only add to the problem. 

Trueman suggested that investors look at the fine print of financial statements and calculate items, like long-term leases, that do not appear on typical balance sheets. 

Bala Dharan, a professor of management at Rice University in Houston, Texas, walked through the early signs of Enron’s collapse last year, including the Oct. 16 announcement of $618 million in losses and the Security and Exchange Commission’s Oct. 22 announcement of a probe into Enron. 

“Whenever the SEC announces a probe, settle,” Dharan advised a packed house at UC Berkeley’s Wood Krutch Theatre. 

Dharan seemed to enjoy the attention. 

“Usually, we accountants never get invited to anything,” he joked. “All of a sudden, we’re almost like rock stars.” 

Contact reporter David Scharfenberg at:  

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net.

SAN FRANCISCO — Police are investigating the death of a premature infant found discarded in a financial district building’s restroom. 

A janitor found the baby wrapped in plastic in a women’s restroom trash can on the 16th floor of an office building around 8:30 p.m. Monday. 

Medical inspectors say the infant was a 27-week-old female, weighed two pounds and was 13 inches long. A full-term pregnancy lasts around 37 weeks. 

The San Francisco Police Department’s homicide unit has launched a criminal investigation into the baby’s death and are still looking for a parent of the child. 

“We would strongly encourage the mom to come forward,” homicide inspector Maureen D’Amico told KPIX-TV. “This is a very sad, sensitive, delicate situation and we would like to give her the support — emotional and medical — that is needed. And we would like to give the baby a proper resting place.” 

On Tuesday, medical examiners conducted an autopsy on the fetus, Ackerson said. Investigators won’t know whether the mother of the infant went through a miscarriage, an abortion or what killed the infant until they get the results of the autopsy. 

Several law firms, a music company and a media company share the floor where the infant was found.  

Investigators interviewed workers on Tuesday, but would not say whether they believe the mother is an employee at the building.  

The restroom is unlocked and open to the public. 

The building is under reasonably tight security. Employees use ID cards to get into their workplaces and must sign in at the front desk after hours.

VIP parking tightened at Oakland airport 

OAKLAND — Oakland International Airport officials say they plan to tighten the rules for a free VIP parking lot next to the terminals. 

Officials have said they were embarrassed by a recent report by the Oakland Tribune pointing out the large number of free parking permits handed out to former politicians and airport officials, judges, private business executives and even dead people. 

Most airport travelers pay as much as $30 a day to park at the airport. 

Aviation Director Steve Grossman suggested revoking parking privileges after four years and cutting down a list of 656 people who can park at the airport for free. 

Some port commissioners criticized the plan for not going far enough. 

Port Commission President Phil Tagami called for a plan barring politicians, business and community leaders, city officials and airline employees from parking in the lot for free. He said airport volunteers, employees and vendors, however, would continue to have the privilege. 

El Cerrito mourns festive man 

EL CERRITO — El Cerrito is mourning the man who was known for creating elaborate Christmas displays, which in the past attracted up to 70,000 tourists from as far away as Sacramento and San Jose. 

Sundar Shadi died Friday at the age of 101. 

From 1949 until failing eyesight forced him to retire in 1996, Shadi built Nativity displays on his sprawling hillside yard every Christmas. He created other displays as well, including an annual Halloween display and Thanksgiving exhibit. 

When asked why he went to all the trouble, Shadi replied: “Everyone has a duty to do something for their fellow beings ... I was enjoying my life, nice wife, nice house, nice children. So I felt I ought to do something for the community.” 

Born in 1900 near Sargodha, which is now part of Pakistan, Shadi came to the United States in 1921. He married UC Berkeley professor Dorothy Clarke. 

The El Cerrito Soroptimists Club is working to preserve what’s left of Shadi’s sculptures, including the farm scene and the Christmas Nativity scene. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Seven flights were diverted and others were delayed Tuesday after construction began on a major runway at San Jose’s international airport, one of three San Francisco Bay area airports renovating runways this summer. 

Twenty-three arriving flights were delayed Tuesday because of fog, according to Noelle Knell, a spokeswoman for the San Jose airport. 

Simultaneous projects at the area’s three major airports mean some passengers could be sitting on their planes longer this summer, or even finding themselves landing at a different airport. 

“This is the best time to complete this work,” said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jerry Snyder. “Just because you are going to have delays doesn’t mean you don’t do the necessary repairs and renovations.” 

In late May, a runway used mainly for private planes at Oakland International Airport will be closed for three to six weeks as it gets a new overlay. San Francisco International Airport is currently repaving its longest runway for 75 days during evenings and some weekends. 

Until Tuesday, the San Jose flights would have been able to land in the fog on runway 30 Left, which is outfitted with a system to ease such landings. But that runway was closed at midnight Monday for a six-month-long project to reconstruct the old asphalt surface with concrete. All flights will now arrive and land on the same runway. 

“People who have been on that runway may note it was a little bit of a bumpy ride, so this will improve that,” Knell said. “They’ll definitely notice the difference.” 

Knell said such diversions were infrequent, the most recent being a few months ago. Before that, a San Jose-bound flight hadn’t been diverted for at least a year. She said some of the flights Tuesday were sent to Sacramento and Oakland. One landed at San Francisco International Airport, according to spokesman Ron Wilson. 

“When you start diverting airplanes that’s pretty serious,” said Rich Burton, San Jose representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. 

Controllers had asked the FAA to put off construction at San Jose because aircraft on the runway can’t be seen from the tower. That wasn’t a problem when all arrivals landed on one runway and departures left from another, according to Burton. But he said both arrivals and departures on the same runway are difficult to manage. 

The FAA last Friday said the work could go ahead. 

“I think a lot of people will be inconvenienced by the shortsightedness of the FAA and the airport,” Burton said. 

Aviation officials called Tuesday’s diversions just part of the system used when weather closes an airport, and said more diversions could be in the cards for the summer if the weather gets bad. 

“It’s unusual for San Jose, but not unusual under the circumstances,” Snyder said. “You deal with it and manage it as best you can.” 

At San Francisco International Airport, passengers likely won’t notice that airport’s construction, Wilson said. The project is scheduled for off hours, and a taxiway is being outfitted as a runway to accommodate smaller planes. 

But Wilson said San Jose’s construction could spill over and affect San Francisco travelers, especially during the airport’s foggy and busy summer season. 

“San Jose will be prone to diverting aircraft because one runway is down,” Wilson said. “If San Jose has problems, that could mean flights are diverted to San Francisco, which could put additional burden on us, and could lead to additional delays.” 

“There’s no good time to close a runway,” Wilson said. 

HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii — Park rangers on horseback found a California woman and her 3 year-old-daughter Tuesday morning near a cabin in the crater of a dormant volcano on Maui, where they had spent the night after losing their way while hiking the day before. 

Julie Reinganum of Mill Valley, Calif., and her daughter, Maya, were found near Holua cabin in the crater of Haleakala, said Karen Newton, chief ranger at Haleakala National Park. They had spent the night at another cabin, Kapalaoa cabin, Newton said. 

Park operations chief Ron Martin spotted the two with binoculars Tuesday morning, and a ground crew was sent in on horseback to meet them, Newton said. 

They were escorted from the park unharmed, park officials said. 

The pair had been missing since Monday morning, when they got separated from a companion, Nadine Newlight of Maui, during a rainstorm. 

Park visitors found Newlight on Monday night on the Sliding Sands trail, so cold that she had difficulty communicating. She was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center suffering from hypothermia. 

The two women and the child had spent Sunday night at the Kapalaoa cabin, before setting off early Monday morning on the Halemanu’u trail, about 8,000 feet up on Haleakala’s west slope, Newton said. 

During a rest stop they were caught in a heavy rain shower, and Reinganum took the child in search of shelter toward the Sliding Sands trail, which is at a higher elevation. 

The women became separated when Newlight paused to collect her belongings, Newton said. She tried to catch up to Reinganum but got lost, she said. 

Park rangers, who did not learn of the incident until after sundown Monday, spent two hours hiking into the area where it seemed likely Reinganum would end up.

OAKLAND — Paul McCartney has nothing left to prove. 

He’s a Beatle. He’s a knight. He’s an honorary American. He’s been everywhere, done everything. 

But in Oakland Monday night, he showed up simply “to rock ’n’ roll.” And after a 2 1/2-hourlong feast for the eyes and ears, McCartney had done his job. He left a sell-out crowd of 15,000 satisfied. 

With a non-stop set dominated by Beatles tunes from “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Yesterday” to “The End” and “Getting Better,” which McCartney claimed had never before been performed in concert, he rocked, he rolled, he paid tribute to John Lennon and George Harrison, but, mostly, he brought the Beatles back to life. And the audience, dominated by gray-haired, 50-somethings who grew up with the Fab Four, loved him for it. 

McCartney, who turns 60 in June, hit all the high points of his Beatles, Wings and solo years — a career that now spans more than four decades. 

He’s one of the best-selling songwriters and recording artists of all time. McCartney’s 1970s band, Wings, scored seven No. 1 albums. In 1999, he was named the Greatest Composer of the Last 1,000 Years in a BBC poll, beating Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. 

He’s kept an especially high profile recently, showing up at the Academy Awards, the Superbowl and the Concert for New York City. 

Monday was the opening night of his “Driving USA” tour, which will land in 19 cities through May 18. 

A parade of costumed characters, from court jesters carrying balloons to contortionists to a man on stilts and a woman walking on a gigantic rolling ball, began the evening’s entertainment. They frolicked in the audience and on stage until McCartney appeared in sillouette on a screen holding his famous violin-shaped Hofner bass guitar high in the air. 

He was backed by a group of tight, well-rehearsed Los Angeles musicians, several of whom performed on McCartney’s latest release, “Driving Rain.” 

McCartney was the consummate entertainer. He strained to hit a few high notes, he messed up some lyrics and his voice sounded a bit hoarse at times, but his energy was infectious. 

Women screamed when, after a few songs, McCartney stripped off his charcoal jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his gray shirt. 

He sang “All My Loving,” against a bank of video screens that played black-and-white Beatles footage. He told the story of “Blackbird” and how it was meant to tell about the Civil Rights-era struggle of a young black girl. 

The stripped-down, acoustic set, which McCartney says is the first time he’s ever played guitar onstage without accompaniment, also featured “We Can Work it Out,” “Mother Nature’s Son,” and “Carry That Weight,” during which he was forced to improvise: “This is the part where I don’t remember the words. Maybe I’ll remember them by the end of the tour,” he sang. 

No one seemed to mind. The mistakes made him human, made the crowd love him even more. By the time he got to “Hey Jude,” it was a full-fledged love-fest, with ear-to-ear grins and waving arms filling the auditorium. 

He indulged the crowd with two encores, wrapping things up with “Sgt. Pepper” and fittingly, “The End.”

LOS ANGELES — Executives of Gemstar-TV Guide International tried to calm nervous investors Tuesday as worries over its accounting practices sent its shares tumbling more than 37 percent. 

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Monday, Gemstar said it recorded $107.6 million in revenue over the past 29 months from one company even though none of that money has been paid. 

Gemstar said the revenue is owed by Scientific Atlanta, which makes cable television set-top boxes. The companies are locked in a patent dispute that is expected to drag on another three months after a judge with the International Trade Commission delayed his decision, expected last week, until June. 

A separate disclosure that $20 million in advertising revenue from Gemstar’s interactive program guide was non-cash caused two analysts to question Gemstar’s assumptions about how fast revenue from its critically important IPG business is growing. 

That news, combined with concerns over an abrupt management change announced last week, sent shares tumbling $5.35 to close at $9.01 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

The two accounting procedures were approved by auditors and do not alter the company’s business model or expectations, Gemstar chief executive officer Henry Yuen told analysts in a conference call. 

“We do not have any accounting practice issues at all here,” Yuen said. “Our financials were filed with a clean opinion from our auditors and therefore, in our opinion and theirs, the recognition of revenues are reasonable and fair and appropriate.” 

Yuen emphasized that Gemstar is signing up new advertisers for its guide, including major broadcast and cable networks. 

Last week, the company reported that advertising revenue increased 339 percent in 2001, from $23.1 million to $101.4 million. Tuesday, Yuen said that reducing that amount by $20 million, which came in the form of bartered advertising time, does not alter the company’s outlook. 

“Even if that amount is taken out, there is still huge growth,” Yuen said. “We actually wanted to build a real new media and we did that. The viability of this new media is absolutely not in question.” 

Earlier Tuesday, analysts questioned Gemstar’s “aggressive accounting,” although John Corcoran, who follows the company for CIBC World Markets, said Gemstar did not violate accounting rules. Still, he questioned the wisdom of the company’s decisions. 

“The additional disclosure ... reveals accounting treatment that could have significant implications for the company going forward,” Corcoran said in a note he issued Tuesday. 

Corcoran downgraded the stock Tuesday and lowered his earnings estimates, citing the stock’s volatility. Jessica Reif Cohen at Merrill Lynch maintained her “strong buy” rating, saying Tuesday’s stock slide was “overblown.” 

Scientific Atlanta allowed its license agreement with Gemstar to expire in 1999. Gemstar subsequently sued the company for continuing to ship boxes that contained an interactive programming guide Gemstar claims is based on its patents. 

Gemstar said it decided to continue to log revenue on its books based on its expectation that it will win its lawsuit and Scientific Atlanta will have to pay those amounts. 

WASHINGTON — Microsoft Corp. is using a potentially risky strategy to avoid tough antitrust penalties, legal experts say. The company is portraying states that want the penalties as tools of its competitors. 

San Francisco antitrust lawyer Dana Hayter said Microsoft has to prove more than a close relationship exists between the states and the technology companies that compete with Microsoft, the world’s largest software company. The company also has to show that the penalties the states are seeking won’t benefit consumers. 

“The only reason helping competitors is bad is if it helps competitors but not customers,” Hayter said. “But if it helps customers by helping competitors, that’s the point of antitrust.” 

Over the past two weeks of penalty hearings before a federal judge, Microsoft has argued that its largest rivals are using the nine states that refused to accept the federal settlement with Microsoft to pummel the company for their own marketplace losses. 

For their part, the states say the tough antitrust penalties they’re seeking are the product of listening to both sides in the debate and reaching their own conclusions. 

Only the opinion of U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly counts, and it remains unclear how she will react to Microsoft’s strategy in deciding the company’s punishment for breaking antitrust law and cutting back on consumer choices. 

The nine states want Kollar-Kotelly to force Microsoft to create a stripped-down version of its flagship Windows software that could incorporate competitors’ features. The states also want Microsoft to divulge the blueprints for its Internet Explorer browser. 

In questioning the states’ witnesses, Microsoft lawyers have tried to show that its rivals hope to get from the court what they couldn’t pry away from Microsoft in the marketplace. Those rivals, the lawyers argued, fed ideas to the states and even shaped their proposed penalties. 

“You do personally harbor an intense dislike for my client, Microsoft,” lawyer Dan Webb asked former Intel executive Steven McGeady last week. 

McGeady acknowledged calling Microsoft an “evil corporation” and referring to its lawyers as “bozos.” McGeady testified during the liability phase of the trial, and said he was angered that Intel shut down his pet program at Microsoft’s insistence. 

Later, Microsoft confronted Novell chief technology officer Carl Ledbetter with an agenda for a meeting between Novell and Microsoft representatives. In it, Novell planned to “discuss how Novell could help Microsoft in its current legal discussions” if Microsoft agreed to make a Novell product work better with Windows. 

A Microsoft attendee wrote that Ledbetter “made clear that if we did this deal with Novell, he would talk with the (Justice Department) and certain senators,” according to Microsoft lawyer Michael Lacovera. 

“I think I said it was clear they could go either way,” Ledbetter said. 

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller dismissed Microsoft’s strategy as “both silly and a diversion.” He said hearing from the competitors is the only way the states could decide what antitrust penalties to seek, particularly in such a technology-heavy case. 

“The whole idea in our situation is to get both sides of the story,” Miller said. “We’ve told the Microsoft competitors ‘no’ more often than we’ve told them ‘yes.”’ 

Microsoft will get a chance this week to question witnesses from two more rivals, Sun Microsystems and AOL Time Warner. 

Microsoft attacked archrival AOL on the first day of the hearings, producing an AOL document outlining antitrust remedies that later turned up in the states’ proposal. Microsoft released a similar e-mail from handheld computer leader Palm in which it proposed changes that later appeared verbatim in the states’ remedies. 

“If the touchstone of an antitrust remedy is supposed to be consumer welfare and not competitor welfare,” Webb told the court, “then the nonsettling states’ remedy, designed to benefit our competitors without regard to the impact on consumers, is wrong, and it shouldn’t happen.” 

Mitchell Kertzman, head of the interactive television software firm Liberate Technologies, testified Tuesday. Kertzman said strong remedies are needed to protect Liberate and other nascent competitors from Microsoft’s dominance. 

Microsoft’s interactive television program is struggling compared to Liberate, though the firm has made significant investment in cable companies. 

Microsoft lawyer Webb accused Kertzman of trading his public position in the antitrust case in return for a deal that would have had Liberate purchase Microsoft’s interactive television business. The deal did not occur. 

Kertzman said he changed his opinion on whether Microsoft should be broken in two for his own reasons, not to entice Microsoft to make the deal. 

——— 

On the Net: Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com 

National Association of Attorneys General on Microsoft case: http://www.naag.org/features/microsoft/law/index.cfm 

NEW YORK — The stock of PeopleSoft Inc. dropped sharply Tuesday after the maker of business software warned that first-quarter revenue would be well below Wall Street’s expectations. 

The Pleasanton, Calif., company said new software licenses would be $130 million to $135 million in its first quarter, or more than 20 percent below the mean estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call. The company expects to post quarterly earnings from recurring operations of 14 cents a share, below the 15-cent consensus estimate. 

Analysts were surprised by the magnitude of the license revenue miss. Several bulls, including Goldman Sachs & Co. and Credit Suisse First Boston, rushed to downgrade their ratings on the popular business-software maker. Some fear an 18-month-old product upgrade is winding down and its cross-selling of new products has slowed. 

In trading Tuesday, shares of PeopleSoft fell $12.21, or 33 percent, to $25.16 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

Some of the company’s supporters highlighted the fact that the projected earnings miss was minimal, despite the license revenue shortfall. They also noted that maintenance and consulting revenue appear to be in line with expectations. 

“We see this miss more as evidence of the difficult spending climate than an indication of a serious misexecution problem,” said Jim Mendelson, analyst at SoundView Technology Group, who kept his strong buy rating. 

PeopleSoft executives told analysts that no one product or geography accounted for the shortfall. Lower activity across the board caused the delay of both large and small contracts, rather than competitive losses, executives told analysts. The company did not hold a conference call and will release final results April 25. 

Critics, however, see more problems ahead for the company. PeopleSoft’s results were buoyed by the introduction of a new version of its flagship product, PeopleSoft 8, in August 2000 and that upgrade is losing steam. Sales of a customer relationship management product launched last June have also slowed, the critics say. 

PeopleSoft’s shortfall, which follows similarly disappointing results from rival Oracle Corp. in its February quarter, reignited a debate on Wall Street about whether investors’ expectations for the software sector remain too optimistic. 

Matt Toma is a home run king. Last spring as a junior, Toma led his Berkeley High School Yellowjackets squad in long balls. He is not without some measure of pride when he says this. 

Toma tells me about his 2001 home run crown, conjuring images of recently departed Jason Giambi leading his Oakland Athletics last year with 38 bombs, and of Barry Bonds (of course) leading his San Francisco Giants (and the rest of the planet) with a staggering 73. Bonds, Giambi, Toma — the big boppers of the Bay Area. 

But Toma is uncharacteristically sheepish when asked how many dingers it took to lead his team last season. 

That’s because the number is two. 

Berkeley coach Tim Moellering laughs when told this story. 

“Well, he is smart,” says Moellering. “But to his credit, he could have had more. He hit a couple long balls at places without fences.” 

Those must have been some deep drives. Doubles, triples - couldn’t Toma have beaten any of the relay throws all the way around the bases for inside-the-park home runs? 

“No,” says Moellering. 

Toma is a catcher. A first baseman. A cleanup hitter. Draw your own conclusions about Toma’s speed but at 6-foot and 210 pounds, Toma is also an offensive guard – he started there for the Yellowjackets this fall, and filled in at defensive tackle as well. Next fall Toma will attend a Division II or III school, where he will likely play both sports.  

“I could probably play a higher level baseball,” says Toma, “but my size restricts me from playing offensive guard at that level. I’m being pretty heavily recruited for baseball at Pomona College and Amherst College, and I’m also looking at a small college in southern Wisconsin — Beloit — and at UC San Diego.” 

Toma’s girlfriend, Berkeley High second baseman Emily Friedman, will be heading to the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a softball scholarship. 

Toma, an excellent student, intends to pursue political science, government, or pre-law. Moellering thinks that Toma’s decision on a lower-level college is a wise one. 

“I think he could be a Division I hitter,” says Moellering. “But choosing somewhere that he'll be able to play, and that is also a good academic institution, is a very intelligent and mature decision on his part. I think he’ll be able to play football and baseball at any one of them.” 

Toma, who was a unanimous first-team all-leaguer in football this year, and third-team All-East Bay, wants to keep playing football but says that baseball is still his favorite sport – “by far.” 

During last season’s playoffs, Berkeley faced Deer Valley’s Dan Denham in the first round, giving Toma his toughest test to date. Denham, who became the 15th overall pick in the major league draft in June, has a 94-mph fastball and is now a top pitching prospect in the Cleveland Indians ball club. Denham bulldozed the Yellowjackets, 4-0, but Toma was one for three with a line-drive single to right field – an at-bat he treasures as a highlight of his prep career. 

“It was fun facing somebody at that level,” says Toma. “It was amazing to learn that I could hit against somebody like that.” 

Yes - Toma can hit. He hit .400 on the nose last year, with a Giambi-esque .493 on-base percentage. And perhaps most impressively, he struck out in league exactly as often as he went deep – only twice. 

“It’s pretty rare to find a power hitter who doesn't strike out very often,” says Moellering. “He can spray the ball all over the diamond, and has power the opposite way. He doesn’t have a weak spot.” 

Toma hopes that his production in the cleanup spot will help boost the ‘Jackets to a league title. 

“It's just a matter of playing to our full potential,” says Toma. We should be able to beat any team we play - whether or not we do is up to the baseball gods.” 

Hopefully the baseball gods will keep smiling on Matt Toma. If they do, Barry Bonds might want to look over his shoulder. Toma is at two – and counting.

Editor: 

The League of Women Voters is a venerable organization noted for its commitment to fair and candid dialogue about public affairs. It was thus disappointing to read the letter from the officers of the League’s local chapter that appeared in the Planet’s Easter weekend edition (March 30-31). 

That letter accuses the City Council, the Planning Commission and the Hearst-Curtis-Delaware Neighborhood Association of succumbing to “fear of change,” manifest in the recent downzoning of the 1100 block of Hearst Avenue from R-3 to R-2A. The downzoning, the LWV contends, betrays the principles of the Housing and Land Use Elements of the city’s newly updated General Plan, approved first by the Commission and then by the Council in the latter part of 2001. According to the League, “Those policies and those documents are meaningless, and all those years of study and public input are wasted, if they can be set aside so soon after their adoption.” 

In fact, the downzoning of the 1100 block of Hearst is in keeping with both the letter and the spirit of the revised General Plan. As the League observes, the Plan calls for increased housing to be built along transit corridors. But the League then goes on to contend that: “[s]urely, the concept of increasing apartment development along transportation corridors also includes encouraging or at least permitting such development in appropriately zoned areas very close to transit corridors.” On the contrary: the new General Plan nowhere encourages or permits new construction on areas “very close to transit corridors.” As even a brief visit to the area makes clear, there is a marked difference between San Pablo Avenue and the adjacent 1100 block of Hearst Avenue. The Plan formally recognizes that difference by designating San Pablo as a Major Street and the 1100 block of Hearst Avenue as a Local Street. 

The League also fails to note that the first goal of the Land Use Element is “to maintain the character of Berkeley.” Policy LU-3, dealing with in-fill development, states: “Encourage sensitively designed, thoughtfully planned in-fill development that is compatible with neighboring land uses and architectural design and scale.” Policy LU-7, treating neighborhood quality of life, reads: “Preserve and protect the quality of life in Berkeley’s residential areas through careful land use decisions.” And the first goal of the entire General Plan is to “[p]reserve Berkeley’s unique character and quality of life.” 

2. The League seems to think that the policies informing the General Plan are perfectly consistent with one another. That is not the case. The goal of increasing housing — especially affordable housing — is in tension with the goal of preserving and protecting the special character of Berkeley, and the distinctive quality of residential neighborhoods in particular. In our dense, built-out city, this tension is not going to disappear; it can only be carefully negotiated, project by project, site by site, through the city's discretionary zoning process.  

When it approved the Planning Commission's unanimous recommendation to downzone the 1100 block of Hearst, the City Council successfully conducted just such a negotiation. It balanced the competing goals of new housing construction and neighborhood preservation. The League would have us believe that the newly applied R-2A category forecloses any further development on this block. But the R-2A zoning actually permits an additional 22 housing units to be added to the 45 existing units, for a total of 67 units--an increase of about fifty percent. In other words, it allows for a moderate amount of change that will respect the medium-density character of the neighborhood. 

A final note: it has become commonplace for advocates of “the sky’s the limit” development to accuse their critics of fearing change. What a simplistic charge! Are we really expected to believe that all change is for the better?  

The new General Plan provides a conceptual framework for judicious decision-making that evaluates proposals for development in accordance with the complex, nuanced character of Berkeley's settlement and life. 

Zelda Bronstein, 

Chair 

Planning Commission 

Tuesday, April 2

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part two of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

The Enron Debacle: What Happened and What’s Next? 

9-noon 

Clark Kerr conference Center 

Wood Krutch Theater 

2601 Warring Street in Berkeley 

keynote speaker Bala Dharan, J. Howar Creekmore Professor of Management at the Jesse H. Jones graduate school of management at Rice University will explore the complex issues surrounding the demise of Enron, implications for the accounting profession and its widespread implications for the stock market and its supporting institutions. The event is organized by the Center for Financial Reporting and Management at UC Berkeley. 

For more information call 642-0324. 

Wednesday, April 3

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

Don George (Travel Editor Lonely Planet Publications 

Topic: Finding the story, exploring the experience 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

For more information 843-6725 

North Berkeley Senior Center Advisory Council 

10 a.m. 

Monthly birthday party will feature The Dixieland jazz Band, asteswingers and refreshments. 

1901 Hearst St. 

For more information, 981-5190. 

Melody Ermachild Chavis: “Reporting from Recent Trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan” 

5:30-8:30 pm 

For more information, 415-285-9734 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

6:30 pm 

Berkeley 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Thursday, April 4

The Huston Smith Series on Religion: Why Religion Matters 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Universalist Church 

1187 Franklin St. in San Francisco  

World renowned expert on Islam, Dr. Seyyed Nasr, to speak on Why Islam Matters 

For more information, 415-575-6175 

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15-8:00 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave. 

Free, on-going meetings 1st & 3rd Thursdays, emphasizing metaphysical topics. (510) 848-6510. 

Graduate Theological Union presents liberation philosopher Enrique Dussel 

noon- 2 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 

2400 Ridge Road 

Enrique Dussel, pioneering scholar of the philosophy of liberation and a leading figure in Latin American liberation theology will present his recent work in “Modernity, coloniality and Capitalism in the World System.” 

For more information, call 649-2464 

Stop Sweatshops! Teach-in  

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley 

Stop Sweatshops! Teach-in 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

War in Colombia: A Panel Discussion 

7 p.m.  

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Saturday, April 6

Library Grand Opening 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library 

The celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, a keynote speech by Alice Walker, musical guests, and building tours. 548-7102 

Graduate Theological Union presents Suavecito — The Politics and Poetics of Asian American Soul Music in he 1970s. 

5 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Krutch Theater, 

Clark Kerr Campus 

2601 Warring St. 

A panel discussion and musical offering explore the interplay between soul music and community politics. 

For more information, call 849-8244. 

East Bay Regional Parks District, special events 

10-4 p.m. 

Gathering of the Scottish clans,  

Ardenwood Historic Farm 

34600 Ardenwood Boulevard, Fremont 

Fore more information, call 796-0663 

Noche Latina in Berkeley 

7-11 p.m. 

The Bay Area Hispanic Institute for Advancement (Bahia, Inc.)is holding its second annual Noche Latina event. This fund raiser will feature food catered by Cafe de la Paz, music and a silent auction. Bahia is an after-school program for children ages 5-10. This year’s event will be held at the Law Offices of Duran, Ochoa & Icaza, which are located at 1035 Carleton Ave.  

For more information, contact Estrella Fichter at 510.549.3506 or 

estrella.fichter@earthlink.net 

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 - 11 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

A class in basic personal preparedness for emergency situations. 981-5605 

Sunday, Apr. 7

Minding the Body, Inc, a nonprofit corporation, is hosting a Fundraising Festival called Peace it Together 

1-5 p.m.  

2218 Acton St. between Bancroft and Allston streets. Proceeds will help send an emissary from the Bay Area (Elise Peeples—mediator, author and activist) to exchange peacemaking skills with people from all over the world at the 10th Annual International Conference on Conflict Resolution in St. Petersburg, Russia in May. 

There will be: Participatory Booths, Jugglers, Storytellers, Performance Art, Co-creation of Music, Poetry and Art and a Vegetarian Potluck 

This event is wheelchair accessible. 

For more information, please visit our web site at MindingTheBody.org or e-mail elise@mindingthebody.org. 

“Remedios” — Benefit for Poet Aurora Levins Morales  

11-2 p.m. 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Weekly Peace Walk around Lake Merritt 

7-3 p.m. 

Oakland 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Mission 911: Bay Area Poets for Peace 

2-5 pm  

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Monday, April 8

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, the only hospital that provides emergency services in Berkeley, may finally get to work on renovating its emergency department, if the Zoning Adjustments Board approves its plan at tonight’s meeting.  

It’s a project 10 years in the making that keeps changing all along the way. The proposal now on the table – which dates back to 1999 – asks for a use permit to renovate the inside of the hospital’s emergency department and reconfigure its parking area and driveways. 

The largest external change would be to create a second door and driveway for ambulances. Currently, one door serves as the gateway for ambulances and private cars so that gurneys compete for space with people who have less serious injuries. 

“We’re not changing the footprint,” said Debbie Pitts, an Alta Bates spokesperson. 

The ZAB decides today whether to approve the plan as is, approve with conditions, deny or continue the process. The public hearing closed March 14, so tonight’s meeting will only consist of board member discussion and questions directed to staff. 

Alta Bates neighbors, who have had a rocky 20-year relationship with the hospital, are generally pleased with the proposal. 

Debbie Leveen, co-chair of the Interneighborhood Hospital Review Committee, said that the only major point of contention is the circulation pattern on Colby Street. 

The new driveway for ambulances is too close to a tot park and residences, she said. Currently, vehicles only travel halfway down the block. But the new plan routes vehicles down to the cul-de-sac to turn around and pull into the hospital. 

“We need just a bit more of a buffer between the hospital traffic and the neighborhood,” she said. IHRC would like the cul-de-sac to be moved 30 to 50 feet northward and the space between the new cul-de-sac and the park to be landscaped. 

She said the cost could be paid by the hospital in exchange for the city’s sale of the sidewalk on the east side of the driveway that they need to widen the space for ambulances. 

“We say moving the cul-de-sac could be part of buying the sidewalk because they have to provide some benefit to the city for getting it,” said Leveen. 

She said the city may also pitch in if the cost is too high for the hospital. 

But Leveen acknowledged that the IHRC proposal may not be practical because it is already very late in the game. Although the group met with hospitals officials a week ago Friday, she does not think their plan can be incorporated, reviewed and approved by April 25. The Permit Streamlining Act requires the ZAB take final action on this project on or before that date. 

She said that if the plan were approved as is, the neighbors would probably appeal the decision to the City Council. They will not be able to speak, but they will probably carry signs that say “Continue the progress,” asking the ZAB to extend the permit review so that their suggestion can be incorporated. 

Public Relations Director Carolyn Kemp emphasized the urgency of the renovation project. “The emergency department was built in the 60s for 12,000 patients. Today, we see over 45,000 patients a year in space that it’s not designed for,” said Kemp. 

Without expanding beyond the current walls, the hospital plans to create wider, more efficient spaces. 

“We’ve got issues of confidentiality and dignity when there are people going through triage and being asked personal questions in front of the security guard and the person behind them,” said Kemp. 

Warren White, a dialysis patient who came to the emergency department on Friday after his head started swelling from a kidney failure, confirmed the uncomfortable conditions. 

“I didn’t have too much privacy,” he said Monday while he was taking a break in front of the hospital. 

“There were lots of people standing around when I was talking to the triage nurse.” 

Although he said he saw a sign that said “If you don’t have enough privacy, tell the nurse,” he said he did not pipe up about it because he was too sick to say much of anything. 

Leveen said that the neighbors have tried to be sensitive to the hospital’s concerns and put behind them past grievances. “We’ve had an unfortunate history with Alta Bates. They’ve been less than forthright with us in the past. But we know people are suffering and we know there are tremendous financial problems. We’re willing to be reasonable,” she said. 

But they have wanted to be extra watchful because of the hospital’s recent mergers and takeover. 

“We wanted to make sure there was a careful public review because now it’s part of Sutter Hospital,” said Leveen. Sutter Health took over Alta Bates after Alta Bates merged with Summit Hospital in 1999. Sutter oversees 33 hospitals in Northern California. 

“We kind of imagine that the decisions here might be made by an outside entity that would do what it wants and not what Berkeley wants,” she said.  

But IHRC also recognizes that Alta Bates supplies the only emergency services in Berkeley. 

“We’re very concerned that there still be an emergency department in Berkeley,” Leveen said.  

But if the city stymies the needed renovation, Kemp cautioned, the hospital would have to think about moving its emergency department elsewhere.  

“If it grows increasingly difficult to do what we feel we have to do, then we will have to consider alternatives,” she said. 

Leveen wishes the city could make the emergency department a condition of approval, but knows that it cannot because of a 1997 court settlement between Alta Bates and the city. 

The judge in 1997 gave the hospital an unusual use permit that allowed the hospital itself to determine how its space would be used because a city might not know how best to design a hospital. Most use permits specify the kinds of units a developer can build and to what use they will be put.  

A condition of this special use permit, however, was that the hospital abide by city-ordained regulations for minimizing traffic and parking impacts. 

“It’s as if there’s a wall around the Ashby campus and the city is monitoring from the outside,” said Margaret Kavanaugh-Lynch, the city’s senior planner in charge of the project. 

The hospital would be subject to January reviews. If it is found to be creating impacts of over five percent, the city has developed a schedule of remedy and review. The ZAB is authorized to impose remediation strategies, including “decanting,” which means that the hospital would have to shift services to another campus. 

Leveen said that the neighborhood is especially pleased that the ZAB has some teeth in enforcing violations. She thinks it is one area in which neighborhood participation has really made a difference. 

Indeed, Alta Bates wants to work with residents, said Pitts. Although it has the right to build a six-story building to be called the “East Building” because of a 1983 permit, she said, the hospital scrapped plans for the new building. 

“We want to be good neighbors,” said Pitts.

Editor: 

The Postal Service is facing a financial crisis. They are looking anywhere and everywhere trying to cut costs. They incurred a $1.68 billion deficit in fiscal 2001 and this year does not look any better.  

The only answer to this problem has been cut, cut & cut. They have cut enough and service is suffering. It is now time for Postal managers, supervisors and employees to come up with some creative ideas to help save funds. Clearly, with the additional 911 losses, the postal service has to rethink the way they view their assets. 

One of their most overlooked assets is in the form of their real estate holdings. The Postal Service owns thousands of large buildings free and clear. By taking equity out of the buildings and putting it into their core operations they can give this cash strapped organization the infusion of cash it so desperately needs.  

One way to accomplish this is through a sale -leaseback. The Postal Service would sale hundreds of the buildings they occupy and lease them back from the new owner. 

There are three primary advantages. First, the Postal Service keeps the building that fits its needs. Second, the infusion of funds can have a positive effect on the bottom line. Third, they can stabilize the price of stamps for years which would end the constant rate hikes. 

Orchestrating a successful sale-leaseback transaction requires a thorough knowledge of the real estate and investment markets, as well as the ability to evaluate tenant credit worthiness. They can work with workers within the service or this service can be contracted out. 

Look at one example. The Marina Process and Distribution Center sits in a prime location on about 20 acres in Inglewood, California. The 228,000 square foot building could fetch around $100 million dollars. There are dozens of corporations and institutional investors who would love to have an interest in this prime location. The third most profitable Home Depot in America, located across the street, has expressed interest in the land. Many real estate experts feel the acres are under utilized. They utilize about 228,000-sq. feet. They have over 900,000-sq. feet.  

The plan is to take advantage of the real estate situation and better leverage these assets so they can continue to build on their core services. They could sell the building and land for $100 Million.  

Roughly 60% or $60 Million will come up front in net proceeds. The remaining $40 Million balance can be paid at a negotiated date. This move would improve our cash position immediately and help us with our bottom line. Keep in mind that everything in a lease is negotiable. They could negotiate a 10-year $250,000 (top end) month lease with another 10-year option and still come out ahead. They could start the lease at $200,000/month and top out at $250,000 in the final years. Ten years (120/months) at $250,000 every month is only $30 Million. They raised $60 Million up front with the sale. They need funds now! The Postal Service can raise capital by monetizing the value of their real estate assets today. 

There are thousands of properties all over the country owned free and clear that can be sold and leased-back.  

In short, the Postal Service is better off putting their capital to work in their core business rather than tying it up in real estate. There are creative options that can be used to bring in funds today.  

They must remind themselves, if they don’t become creative and use their options today, they may not have a tomorrow. 

Dr. Mickey Frazier Sr.  

Community members and Berkeley High School administrators are questioning athletic cuts already approved by the Board of Education, and debating further cuts suggested by district administration. 

One proposal in particular – demoting boys’ and girls’ crew to club status – is generating strong controversy. 

The school board, which faces a roughly $5.4 million deficit next year, approved an initial wave of $3.8 million in cuts Feb. 27. Those cuts included the elimination of one team for any sport fielding three – freshman, junior varsity and varsity.  

The move, expected to save the district $34,500, would affect seven sports, according to BHS Athletic Director Robert Traum – football, baseball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ basketball and girls’ volleyball. 

Traum said the move makes sense, in tight times, since physical education classes incorporate all the skills involved in those sports. 

But some coaches and athletes are upset by the cuts. 

“This will have a dramatic effect,” said Vincent Trahan, head coach for the BHS boys’ junior varsity basketball team, arguing that freshman and junior varsity squads serve as important training grounds for varsity teams. 

“If they’re not playing basketball and football, kids will be out getting into gangs and fights,” added Ottis Gaskin, a BHS senior and lacrosse player.  

BHS Co-principal Laura Leventer said high school administrators have similar concerns. As a result, the school’s “shared governance team,” which includes teachers and administrators, voted last week to recommend a shift in board policy. 

The team will ask the board to withdraw the cuts in freshman and junior varsity athletics, and charge each of Berkeley High’s 1,000 student-athletes a $75 transportation fee to generate revenue.  

Low-income students would be eligible for fee reductions through the Berkeley Athletic Fund, a private fundraising group.  

School board members reached by the Planet cautioned that they would need to see a financial analysis before making a decision, but said the idea was an interesting one. 

“I’m open to that,” said board member Terry Doran. 

The athletic department developed the transportation fee proposal and the controversial crew recommendation earlier this year, according to Traum, and both appeared as items for “further analysis” in a budget document issued by Superintendent Michele Lawrence in February. The board has not yet formally considered, or voted upon either proposal.  

BHS crew, the only public school squad in California, is not quite a “full sport.” Like rugby or frisbee, crew is not recognized by the California Interscholastic Federation, a statewide body that governs high school sports. As a result, the program does not have to abide by the CIF rules that apply for full sports like basketball or volleyball. Crew athletes, for instance, can train year-round while basketball players cannot. 

But, like a full sport, the crew program receives district funding for coaches and transportation, and physical education credit for its athletes. 

If the board officially made crew a club sport, the district would cut off about $12,000 in funding, leaving rowers and parents, who already raise significant sums to supplement coaches’ salaries and pay for equipment, to shoulder the full cost of the program. 

The move would also strip rowers of credit for physical education classes. 

Traum said the shift is only fair. Other sports that he equates with crew – club sports like frisbee, mountain biking and rugby – do not receive funding and physical education credit. 

“It’s hard to have a double-standard,” Traum said. “How do you tell mountain biking, how do you tell rugby, that they can’t get p.e. credit?” 

Traum attributes crew’s status to a “powerful parent lobby,” intent on maintaining physical education credit, and freeing up space in their children’s school schedules for other classes. He predicts that the board would have a difficult time bucking that lobby. 

But David Biale, parent of a student on the girls crew team, said there are valid reasons for crew’s status. 

“Our daughters have seven workouts a week during the Spring season – five in the very early morning, two in the afternoon,” Biale said, adding that rowers condition in the fall as well. “There’s an enormous time commitment these girls are making...It’s certainly appropriate for them to get p.e. credit.” 

School board members Ted Schultz and Doran said it only seemed fair that rowers, like other athletes, should get physical education credit. Doran said that, even if the district withdraws funding, it should make an exception for crew and continue to provide p.e. credit. 

Molly Brannigan, coach of the girls’ crew team, said demoting the squad to club status would be a blow to the rowers’ pride. 

“Berkeley High School is the only public high school in California with a crew team,” she said, noting that the rowers square off against club teams in the area that pluck the cream of the crop from dozens of high schools. “We’re proud that we’re a school team.” 

On Friday, 25-year-old Raymond Smith and 54-year-old Dwight Leeray both died at Highland Hospital from unrelated assaults, effectively doubling Berkeley’s homicide rate for the year. 

Last year there was only one homicide in the city, and it occurred in late December. Twenty-one-year-old Lazarus Ortega was arrested in connection with the murder of his mother, Charlotte Ortega, a teacher at Hawthorne Elementary School in Oakland. 

On Jan. 22 two men were shot in the head on 64th Street while sitting in their car. Rammar Johnson, 28, died at Highland Hospital that evening and Noel Turner, Jr., 29, died a few days later. Both men were residents of Oakland. 

Only Leeray was a Berkeley resident. He was attacked at 1:20 a.m. Feb. 24 during the course of a strong-arm robbery that occurred in the area of Telegraph Avenue and Webster Street. The victim was allegedly sitting on a bus bench when two men approached him from behind to rob him. One suspect allegedly held Leeray while the other went through his pockets, according to a police report. 

Bryant Davis, a 37-year-old Oakland resident and Michael Porter, a 32-year-old Berkeley resident are both beind held at the Santa Rita jail.  

According to Berkeley Police Chief Dash Butler because this assault occurred during the course of a robbery it could present a special circumstance and the two suspects, if convicted could possibly be facing the death penalty. 

Smith, a resident of San Pablo, was shot to death on March 23 at approximately 11:30 p.m. in the area of Russel and McGee. Accoridng to Lt. Cynthia Harris, the suspect and victim had been gambling before the shooting borke out. There is no suspect in custody in this case. 

And as of the double homicide in January, those suspects too are still at-large. 

The police department has posted a reward in connection with the January shootings but still no one has come forward. 

“No one has responded to the announcement of a reward,” said Harris. “And there were no prints left on the scene.” 

Harris said she believes there are in fact witnesses out in the community who are just afraid to come forward, and she urges them to do so. 

Though officials of the Berkeley Police Department say they have not been receiving more phone calls from the community about safety in the neighborhood or increased pressure from the city, they have stepped up their patrols in South Berkeley. 

“We have increased patrol in South Berkely because we’re concerned,” Harris said. “ Weknew we were going to have to address this. So at this point we are addressing it by an increased pressence.” 

Harris said the extra patrol cars will be scouting out any and all criminal activity. 

She called the police department’s effort a combination of community policing and strictly-enforcement. 

“I think the residents will welcome our added presence, but the criminal element I don’t think they will,” Harris added. 

Coincidentally, around the same time of the most recent homicide residents in South Berkeley held their monthly neighborhood meeting and ivited Chief Butler, Mayor Shirley Dean, City Manager Weldon Rucker and others to receive an update from the city about increased violence and drug activity in the negibhorhood. 

Piror to January several telephone calls had been made by community members into city hall as well as the police department about increased violence in South Berkeley.

Today is Tuesday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2002. There are 273 days left in the year. 

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” 

On this date: 

In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. 

In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint. 

In 1805, storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark. 

In 1860, the first Italian Parliament met at Turin. 

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. 

In 1872, Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, died in New York. 

In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and Dr. John F. Condon turned over $50,000 in ransom to an unidentified man in a Bronx, N.Y., cemetery in exchange for Lindbergh’s kidnapped son. (The child, however, was not returned, and was found dead the following month.) 

In 1942, Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded “American Patrol” at the RCA Victor studios in Hollywood. 

In 1974, French President Georges Pompidou died in Paris. 

In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.) 

Ten years ago: Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life in prison. French Premier Edith Cresson, who had served 10 turbulent months as France’s first woman prime minister, resigned after election setbacks for the ruling Socialists. The space shuttle Atlantis returned from a nine-day mission. 

Five years ago: The White House released documents showing how eager it had been to exploit the money-drawing powers of President Clinton and Vice President Gore during the 1996 campaign while coordinating with the Democratic Party’s fund-raising machine. 

One year ago: President Bush demanded that China promptly return a U.S. spy plane and its crew members. (The plane had made an emergency landing in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter.) Duke won its third national men’s basketball championship with an 82-to-72 victory over Arizona. 

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Buddy Ebsen is 94. Actor Dabbs Greer is 85. Actress Sharon Acker is 67. Singer Leon Russell is 61. Jazz musician Larry Coryell is 59. Actress Linda Hunt is 57. Singer Emmylou Harris is 55. Actress Pamela Reed is 53. Actress Debralee Scott is 49. Actor Ron Palillo is 48. Actor Chris Meloni is 41. Singer Keren Woodward (Bananarama) is 41. Country singer Billy Dean is 40. Actor Isaiah Washington is 39. Rock musician Greg Camp (Smash Mouth) is 35. Rock musician Tony Fredianelli (Third Eye Blind) is 33. Actor Jeremy Garrett is 26.

A tardy note from the Department of Transportation 

PITTSBURGH — Slackers and sleepyheads now have a new excuse for getting to work late, courtesy of the state of Pennsylvania. 

The state Department of Transportation is offering Pittsburgh residents ready-made excuse cards on the Internet allowing them to blame their tardiness on the Fort Pitt Tunnel and bridge construction project. 

A PennDOT Web site — www.epenndot.com — devoted to the three-year, $60 million repair project allows the city’s 75,000 daily commuters to click on “Excuse Me!” and fill out a form explaining their untimeliness. 

The forms have blanks for users to type in their bosses’ names, their names and one of five excuses for being late. The reasons range from construction on the tunnels to “the sun in my eyes on the way to work.” 

There’s even the old classic, “because my puppy chewed up my assignment.” 

The excuses are signed by PennDOT spokesman Dick Skrinjar and have the agency’s official logo. 

“We felt obligated to create a valid excuse card for motorists to use during the closing of the Fort Pitt Bridge and Tunnel. We now have a way for those affected by the closure and slackers,” Skrinjar joked. 

The Fort Pitt Tunnel connects the city’s two largest arteries — Interstates 376 and 279, known locally as the Parkway East and West — which carry about 145,000 vehicles a day.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Prosecutors acknowledged Monday they do not have evidence that John Walker Lindh killed Americans in Afghanistan. But a federal judge said that would not be necessary to prove Lindh joined a conspiracy to murder Americans as a Taliban fighter. 

When District Judge T.S. Ellis III asked whether the government’s case included alleged attempts by Lindh to kill American citizens, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kelly replied, “At the moment, I am not aware of it.” 

Another prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Davis, added that “there’s no allegation of personal involvement” by Lindh in the killing of Johnny Micheal Spann, a CIA agent who was slain during a prison uprising in Afghanistan at which Lindh was present. 

Ellis said that as the government framed the broad conspiracy case, “You are not required to show that he shot at Americans.” Later, the judge denied a defense motion for more details on the charges, saying, “I don’t read the indictment as pointing to a specific murder,” but rather as one of Lindh allegedly joining a broad conspiracy by al-Qaida and the Taliban to kill Americans around the world. 

During the hearing on defense motions for numerous government documents and interviews, however, the judge repeatedly admonished prosecutors to give Lindh’s lawyers any information they turn up that is favorable to the defendant. 

Kelly said Lindh did allegedly join forces with al-Qaida and the Taliban, making preparations “for an expected onslaught” by U.S. forces after the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Lindh is charged with conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, providing support and services to foreign terrorist organizations and using firearms and destructive devices during crimes of violence. Three of the 10 charges carry a maximum life sentence; the other seven have prison terms of up to 90 years. He was brought back to the United States by military escort on Jan. 23 and has been kept in jail since then. 

Lindh, 21, wore a green prison jumpsuit and sat at the defense table. He conferred with his attorneys as they made their arguments at the hearing, one of a series of pretrial sessions concerned with legal issues. Lindh’s parents, Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker, sat in the second row for the proceedings, as they had for all previous court appearances. 

Defense attorney James Brosnahan, in an interview with The Associated Press outside the courthouse, said he was heartened by the prosecutors’ statements. 

“I thought it was interesting that the government admitted it had absolutely no evidence that Mr. Lindh did anything against any American,” Brosnahan said. “I think fair-minded people would wonder just what is the government’s case.” 

In the courtroom, Brosnahan argued for a more detailed complaint, saying that prosecutors should have to specify whom Lindh allegedly planned to murder and the people he allegedly conspired with to kill Americans. 

“We don’t know who was supposed to be murdered,” Brosnahan said. But Davis said the victims were “anyone and everyone. To pretend that a specific human being must be identified, that is absurd.” 

Davis also said that Lindh fought against U.S. forces after Sept. 11 in Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. “How more illegal can you get?” he asked. 

Ellis ruled that many of the defense requests for information were too broad. “I would assume not everyone Mr. Lindh grunted at falls into that category” of a government official or U.S. soldier who should be made available to his attorneys, he said. 

When defense attorney George Harris argued that Lindh’s lawyers needed documents to show whether camps where Lindh trained in Afghanistan were for the purpose of terrorist or military activities, prosecutors said it didn’t matter because Lindh joined a terrorist organization. 

The judge then asked, “What was he doing over there?” Ellis quickly said his remark was improper and withdrew the question. 

Ellis told prosecutors that they must ask U.S. civilian and military officials, al-Qaida detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and others whether they would be willing to submit to interviews by defense lawyers. 

The judge set May 31 for a hearing to determine who could be interviewed and said the defense could subpoena anyone who refused. Ellis said he would determine whether the interviews would actually take place. 

He denied a defense request for access to some 30 e-mails that apparently were exchanged by Justice Department officials, ruling that the documents contained no information that would be helpful to Lindh’s case. 

Ellis refused Monday to permit arguments on one issue that had been considered likely to come up: the argument by defense counsel that statements Lindh made to U.S. authorities while in custody in Afghanistan, allegedly under duress, not be admitted into evidence. 

Lindh’s lawyers have said their client was held under horrific conditions after his capture in Afghanistan. In papers filed last week, the government denied this, saying his food and medical care equaled that of U.S. soldiers. 

Despite the judge’s decision not to allow arguments on Lindh’s treatment, the defense submitted to the court a picture showing the defendant strapped to a stretcher and blindfolded.

SAN FRANCISCO — Abalone season opened in Northern California on Monday, but divers used to bringing home 100 of the meaty mollusks a year will now be limited to 24, thanks to poachers, overfishing and potential disease. 

The state Fish and Game Commission also dropped the daily limit in December from four to three as a safeguard to help preserve one of the world’s richest remaining wild sources of red abalone, which cling to ocean reefs. 

“Abalone in California is precious,” said Chamois Anderson, spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Game. “Only one species left in the entire family is at a level where we can even take it, and if we don’t manage it carefully, it will fall on the list of extinction with the others. If it did that, it would be a real sad day.” 

Over the past decade, abalone take has increased 27 percent in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, the most popular abalone diving areas. Businesses there fear the lowered limits will have a drastic effect. Nearly 40,000 abalone licenses are issued annually for the estimated $20 million industry, which dozens of bed and breakfasts, restaurants and specialty shops depend on for survival. 

“I think a lot of people felt like that was a little extreme,” Charlie Lorenz of Subsurface Progression dive shop in Fort Bragg said of the limit changes. “For a business that revolves around diving, it’s most likely going to have some impact, and it’s probably going to be negative to the overall economy.” 

Diving was closed off to all of the state south of San Francisco in 1997 after a disease called withering foot syndrome decimated much of the black abalone population there. The bacteria that causes the disease was recently found on the North Coast in the red abalone population, but biologists say there is no indication it’s spreading. 

The disease has forced thousands, who are no longer permitted to dive in the south, to come north. It also has driven black market abalone prices up to $80 apiece or $200 if smuggled to Japan, Andersen said. The mollusks, easily identified by their iridescent spiral shells, are eaten as a delicacy and used as an aphrodisiac. 

A special abalone operations unit now uses high-tech equipment to track poachers who often dive with prohibited scuba gear. The team of game wardens sometimes spends months gathering enough evidence to bring down complex abalone rings. Penalties for poaching range up to $40,000 in fines and three years in prison. 

“It’s right up there with the drug trade. These are criminals that are stealing a resource that you and I own,” Andersen said.

•Abalone season runs from April 1 to June 30 and Aug. 1 to Nov. 30 off the California coast north of San Francisco. Diving is restricted to 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset. 

• Free divers are allowed to take three red abalone a day and 24 a year. That’s down from the previous four a day and 100 a year. 

• Abalone must be at least 7 inches across the widest part of the shell. All animals must be brought on shore still inside the shell. 

• Scuba gear is prohibited when diving for abalone. 

• All divers must buy an annual state sport fishing license for $30.45 and an abalone report card for $12. The card must be carried by the diver and a hole must be punched to record the date, time and location for the abalone taken. The report card must be returned to the California Department of Fish and Game within 30 days after the season closes. 

Abalone is for personal consumption only and may not be sold. Violators face fines up to $40,000 and a year in jail for misdemeanor charges and fines up to $10,000 and three years in state prison for felony conspiracy charges. 

Source: The California Department of Fish and Game

DENVER — California authorities planned to visit Littleton this week to continue their investigation into Tuesday’s apparent double homicide-suicide near a Santa Cruz beach. 

Authorities said it appears that two 19-year-old women sat quietly as their male companion shot each of them in the back of the head with a pump shotgun. 

Autopsy results disclosed Friday show Melinda Leippe and her best friend Brenda White were shot point-blank. There were no signs of struggle, said forensic pathologist Richard T. Mason. 

David Arthur Bachman, 26, then killed himself with the same shotgun, authorities said. The trio grew up in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., but more recently lived in Littleton. 

The women were found on a bluff above Bonny Doon Beach, dressed in sweaters and cutoff jeans. Bachman was seated behind them. 

“It looks like they were cooperating,” Santa Cruz sheriff’s Detective Alan Burt said Sunday. 

Burt said California authorities will travel to Colorado this week to interview family and friends. 

Investigators hope further interviews will reveal a motive. Friends have rejected the suggestion of a suicide pact. 

White’s former Littleton roommate, Terra Tritschler, said she can’t believe the deaths were the result of a suicide pact. “She’s not that type of person,” she said. “She had plans.” 

Mason said deaths are not uncommon along the scenic coast, where he said people hope to commune with nature while they end their lives. 

OAKLAND — Take 40,000 baseball fans, add an ex-Beatle, a jazz crooner and a Latin pop sensation, then top it off with a dose of holiday airport traffic, and what do you get? 

Chaos. 

As Athletics fans geared up for the team’s first game of the season and Beatles fans prepared for Paul McCartney’s first stop on his U.S. tour, transportation officials warned them all to get ready for gridlock Monday night. 

“There’s only so much capacity on the freeway,” said Caltrans spokesman Colin Jones, pointing out that Oakland International Airport is one exit away from the Coliseum and that Monday was the end of a weekend that included Easter and Cesar E. Chavez Day, a state holiday. 

It all shaped up as a traffic nightmare, with the ballgame and the McCartney concert scheduled side by side and the other two concerts — featuring crooner Harry Connick Jr. and Latin pop singer Enrique Iglesias — happening just up the highway. 

More than 40,000 people were expected to attend the A’s opener against the Texas Rangers at the Coliseum at 7:05 p.m. Next door at the Oakland Arena, McCartney was expected to draw 15,000 people to his sold-out show starting at 8 p.m. 

Caltrans suspended all work on Interstate 880 and had crews on standby in case of problems, but said there was little else that could be done to ease congestion, other than to encourage people to car pool, use public transit or take alternate routes. 

“It’s not like we can go out there and add more lanes,” Jones said. 

In downtown Oakland, about five miles north on Interstate 880, Connick was playing back-to-back sold-out shows at jazz club Yoshi’s and the Paramount Theater was expecting a sold-out crowd of more than 3,000 for Iglesias. 

“That’s a lot of people,” said Leslee Stewart, general manager of the Paramount. 

Stewart said the theater encouraged people to arrive early and travel light, especially with increased security at the doors. She expected many concertgoers to take public transportation. 

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system added nine trains and kept long trains out after the commute to deal with the crowds at the Coliseum and Arena, according to spokesman Mike Healey. 

Healey said thousands more riders were expected to flood onto the system, which normally carries 311,000 riders a day. 

“When you have two events like that and there’s simply not adequate parking at the Coliseum, we’ll usually have 18,000 to 20,000 additional trips,” Healey said. 

Sgt. Tom Hogenmiller of the Oakland Police Department said the big night presented no more of a problem than a Raiders’ Monday night football game at the Coliseum. Such a game would draw more than the 59,000 combined audience at the baseball game and McCartney concert. 

“It’s not that big a deal,” said Hogenmiller, who added that 24 traffic officers will be deployed around the Coliseum area. “There will be, obviously, backups. Those can’t be avoided.”

SAN JOSE — Police are investigating a bizarre family disturbance that ended after an 11-hour standoff involving a woman found lying shot in the head on the family’s front lawn. 

Police arrested her husband on charges of delaying a police investigation, but was unclear Sunday who shot the woman, said San Jose police spokesman Joseph Deras. 

The standoff started shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday, after police received a phone call from the 58-year-old husband saying his wife had shot herself. Officers arrived to find the woman lying in front of the house with a gunshot wound to her head. A weapon was nearby. 

Deras said police also found a firearm inside the house after the husband barricaded himself inside and refused to cooperate with police negotiators. 

About 30 officers surrounded the home during the standoff, but the neighborhood was not evacuated. 

“At one point, he actually called us here at the 911 center and demanded to speak with a female, which we were able to provide him with,” Deras said. “Then he wanted to speak to a captain. We had a number of captains on hand but none of them were female. His demands were kind of unusual and difficult to provide.” 

The 55-year-old woman was taken to San Jose Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition Sunday afternoon, said Leslie Kelsay, hospital assistant administrator. 

The couple’s son also was at the house during the incident. He told police his mother tried to kill herself. The woman, who was still coherent after the shooting, also told police she was trying to commit suicide. 

“We don’t know how accurate that is,” Deras said. “We are still looking at what happened. Did she shoot herself or did someone else shoot her?” 

Police have not released names of the man and woman involved.

SAN FRANCISCO — Vietnam veterans suffering from diabetes and prostate cancer after being exposed to Agent Orange won a round Monday in their battle against the federal government. 

A federal appeals court ruled that the Department of Veterans Affairs must pay retroactive disability payments to thousands of Vietnam vets. The disability payments must date to when veterans initially applied for benefits under a law that allowed them to do so beginning Sept. 25, 1985. 

Because of a complicated rule-making procedure, the government said the prostate cancer victims could not receive benefits until Nov. 7, 1996, if they filed a claim after Jan. 4, 1994. The appeals court nullified that government interpretation, which affects an estimated 1,200 veterans, said Barton F. Stichman, executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program. 

Also undermined by the ruling was the government’s position that veterans suffering from adult onset diabetes could not get benefits until July 9, 2001, if they filed a claim between Jan. 4, 1994, and July 9, 2001, Stichman said. 

“All I can tell you is for the last 20 years the VA has dragged its feet on the Agent Orange issue. They try every way they can to come up with theories to why they shouldn’t give benefits,” Stichman said. 

He estimated that 30,000 Vietnam veterans with adult onset diabetes were denied full benefits. 

His suit on behalf of Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange first was filed in 1986. Three years later, the government recognized Agent Orange could cause the skin condition chloracne. 

Over the years, the government has added a host of diseases associated with Agent Orange entitling veterans to disability benefits. Those include several cancers, including cancer to the lung, larynx and trachea. Last year, the government recognized adult onset diabetes. 

Monday’s ruling puts prostate cancer and adult onset diabetes in line with the other diseases acknowledged by the government to have links to Agent Orange, meaning disability benefits would be paid from when a claim was first filed. 

Clifford Nash, a Vietnam Army veteran with prostate cancer, said the court’s decision will allow him to keep about $11,000 in benefits that he may have had to return had the court ruled the other way. 

For many Vietnam veterans, the government has been paying the retroactive benefits while litigation continued. The government reserved the right to take back the benefits if it won the lawsuit. 

“I’ve heard some veterans say we fought there and now we got to fight for what’s right and ours,” said the 71-year-old Nash, of West Enfield, Maine. “Everything seems to be taking a turn for the better.” 

Phil Budahn, a Veterans Affairs spokesman, said the government had not seen the decision and could not immediately comment. 

Veterans’ disability benefits pay up to $26,000 per year. 

Between 1962 and 1971, the United States sprayed 19 million gallons of herbicides over southern Vietnam to destroy jungle cover for communist troops. About 55 percent of that, or nearly 10.5 million gallons, was Agent Orange. 

The case is Nehmer v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 01-15325. 

VENTURA — Although their business is sweeter than that of out-of-state competitors, California’s beekeepers are worried they’re about to get financially stung. 

Hives in the state made 28 million pounds of honey in 2001 to re-establish California as the nation’s top producer, beating out longtime rival North Dakota. 

Even so, California’s production was the lowest in years, and the industry faces troubles ranging from foreign imports to pests to an ongoing dry spell. 

“I wouldn’t paint too rosy a picture, because it’s not,” said Red Bennett, a 60-year-old former NASA engineer who years ago gave up his interest in space flight for a honeybee farm north of Moorpark. “Beekeeping is pretty tough, and it has become quite difficult to stay in business. And right now, it’s looking pretty bleak.” 

With good weather and lots of pollen, California has been the most productive honey state in seven of the last nine years. Nearly half a million colonies produced last year’s crop, which was valued at $18.5 million, and the bees help farmers pollinate crops from almonds to summer squash. 

But the state’s beekeepers ranks have dropped about 25 percent to perhaps as few as 350 over the last decade, and the nation’s production has fallen about 20 percent over the same period. 

Prices have risen, in part because of tariffs recently levied against foreign exporters, but many U.S. producers say they’re still struggling to break even. 

“Beekeeping has changed so much in the last 20 years, and the industry has really shrunken,” said Lyle Johnston, a third-generation Colorado beekeeper and president of the 900-member American Honey Producers Association. “I think all you’ll find anymore are the die-hards working at it.” 

Eric Mussen, a honeybee expert at the University of California, Davis, said few younger beekeepers are waiting to take the place of the rugged individuals who have long made beekeeping their lives. 

“But it’s not too different from what you see in farming overall,” Mussen said. “I think there are a lot of (beekeepers) who would be more than happy to turn the reins over to somebody else. The question becomes, who — if anybody — is going to take over?” 

Max Eggman learned the profession from his father and older brother and has been beekeeping since 1967, but the 72-year-old Tulare County man said his children aren’t following in his footsteps. 

“It’s a dwindling industry, no question,” Eggman said. “I don’t see it being a dead end. I just think it will be harder and harder to be prosperous.” 

Some beekeepers, including Brian Cox of Ojai, rent out their hives to stay afloat. Farmers pay good money for help pollinating almonds in the San Joaquin Valley, avocados in Ventura County and other crops. 

“It’s the biggest deal for beekeepers; it’s basically what has kept beekeeping alive,” Cox said. 

OLYMPIA — Less than four years ago, Washington state’s attorney general helped win billions of dollars from the tobacco industry for 46 states — money she saw as a bonanza for smoking-prevention programs and other health measures. 

Now she is watching in dismay as states around the country — including her own — borrow heavily against their shares of the settlement to plug holes in their budgets. 

States are not just spending the yearly checks on something else; they are spending decades of settlement payments all at once. 

“This was the single biggest opportunity in the history of public health to address the most preventable cause of death in America,” Attorney General Christine Gregoire said. “I sure hope I don’t look back and say it was the biggest lost opportunity.” 

Since the settlement dollars started flowing in, anti-tobacco forces have battled with lawmakers about how the money should be spent, and have mostly lost. 

Only five states meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation that 20 percent to 25 percent of the settlement be spent to fight tobacco use, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. 

Even in Washington state, where Gregoire’s influence had helped keep the money earmarked for tobacco and public health programs until now, anti-smoking spending did not meet the CDC benchmark. 

Elsewhere, moral claims on the settlement ran up against the cold statehouse fact that money is just money when it is time to balance the budget. 

Compared to raising taxes or cutting spending, borrowing against the settlement — known as “tobacco securitization” — is easy money politically. 

Washington plans to sell off the rights to about 20 percent of its settlement payments for the next 20 years to cover $450 million of its $1.6 billion budget shortfall. 

In California, Gov. Gray Davis has proposed selling off 40 percent of his state’s settlement share to raise $2.4 billion to help close a gap of $12.4 billion. Similar proposals are in play in other states, including New Jersey and Rhode Island. 

In Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott McCallum and GOP lawmakers are set to go whole hog: The entire settlement for the next two decades could soon be sold for about $1.3 billion, compared with the $5.9 billion the state expected to receive in payments over 25 years. All or nearly all of the proceeds would go toward balancing the current budget. 

Critics — most vocally Gregoire and other anti-tobacco forces — liken the practice to taking out a second mortgage to buy groceries. The move costs the states interest and fees, and saddles them with debt payments that will long outlast the balanced budgets they helped achieve. 

But budget-writers say they have few choices. 

In Washington, Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Lisa Brown turned to tobacco as the least offensive of three unpleasant options. 

“In this case, the alternative is $500 million in additional cuts or in general tax increases,” said Brown, a Democrat. 

At least 17 states or counties, including Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, and counties in New York and California, have already sold off parts of their settlements. 

At first, it was done mostly to pay for building projects, a widely accepted use of such borrowing. Alaska was among the first, selling off part of its settlement share in 2000 to replace and repair crumbling schools. 

But as budget problems worsened, states began to see tobacco settlement money as a way to balance the books. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Washington Legislature: http://www.leg.wa.gov 

Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/ 

Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire: http://www.wa.gov/ago 

Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/ 

IRVINE — A woman who claimed she was sexually abused by priests more than 20 years ago will receive a $1.2 million settlement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the parties said Monday. 

Lori Capobianco Haigh claimed in a December lawsuit that an Orange diocese priest first sexually assaulted her in 1979 when she was 14, and impregnated her at age 16. 

Haigh, who told a press conference that the priest, the Rev. John Lenihan, paid for her to have an abortion, said she was surprised at how quickly her lawsuit was settled. 

“I was prepared for years. It says that they know,” said Haigh, 37, who now lives in the San Francisco Bay area. 

Most of the settlement will be paid by the Orange diocese. The Los Angeles archdiocese said its investigation could not confirm alleged abuse by an unidentified priest in its jurisdiction and it settled only because of the cost of defending itself. 

Bishop Tod D. Brown, head of the Orange diocese, issued a statement Monday in which he apologized to the woman and other victims of sexual abuse. 

“I am deeply sorry for the hurt caused,” Brown said. 

“The very painful reality of the injury caused by attacks on the innocent and vulnerable by a few priests have profoundly affected us all,” he said. “The Church should be a safe place.” 

Haigh recounted her allegations at the office of her attorney Katherine Freberg. 

“When I was 16 years old, Father John got me pregnant. When I told him about the pregnancy he told me that I had to get an abortion,” Haigh said. 

She said the priest, who she met when he was assigned to St. Norbert Church in Orange, paid for an abortion at Planned Parenthood. 

The Los Angeles archdiocese will pay $240,000, or 20 percent, of the settlement, archdiocesan spokesman Tod M. Tamberg said in a news release. 

“In two paragraphs of the 143-paragraph complaint, Ms. Haigh alleged that an unidentified priest of the Los Angeles archdiocese engaged in sexual contact with her that occurred around 20 years ago,” the release said. 

An investigation “did not yield specific enough information to identify this person or confirm whether the events described by Ms. Haigh ever occurred,” the release said. The allegations were reported to Los Angeles police nonetheless, he said. 

“The archdiocese settled (this) case based on the estimated cost of defending against (Haigh’s) lawsuit, not on the merits of the allegations regarding the unidentified priest,” Tamberg said. 

Lenihan, 56, formerly of St. Edward Church in Dana Point, resigned last year after admitting sexual relationships over the years with several women and teen-age girls. 

He has agreed to ask Pope John Paul II to be removed from the priesthood. 

Lenihan told church officials in 1991 that he sexually abused a teen-age girl in the 1970s. The Diocese of Orange settled a lawsuit that year for $25,000. The victim, Mary Grant, now 38, attended Haigh’s press conference on the latest settlement. 

Freberg previously represented a man who said he was molested in 1991 at age 17 by Monsignor Michael Harris, principal of Santa Margarita Catholic High School in the Orange diocese. 

Last August, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange settled the Harris case for $5.2 million. Harris, 56, denied the allegations but agreed to leave the priesthood. He has been on inactive leave from the church since 1994. 

The mother of another alleged victim of Harris reported the alleged abuse in 1993 to a priest of the Los Angeles archdiocese. 

Another priest of the Orange diocese, Michael Pecharich, 56, was forced to resign in March as head of Santa Margarita after admitting he molested a boy in 1983. His case had been known to church officials since 1996. 

The U.S. Catholic church has been rocked by a clergy abuse scandal that started when Boston priest John Geoghan was accused of abusing more than 100 children while being shuffled from parish to parish. He was convicted of indecent assault and battery and sentenced to nine to 10 years for fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1991.

BOSTON — With little to celebrate lately, businesses in the $25 billion data-storage industry are looking for some gains from the confusion over the planned merger between Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. 

Compaq and HP have pointed to data storage as a key area for providing “one-stop shopping,” blending HP’s high-end storage products with Compaq’s mid-range and so-called Storage Area Networks. 

But rival EMC Corp., hit hard by the business-spending slump, insists it will be the real beneficiary. 

At a recent industry conference, EMC Executive Chairman Mike Ruettgers predicted the merger would tie the two companies in knots for months, if not years. He said frustrated customers who had been looking for cheaper deals would return to the EMC fold. 

For smaller companies, there are worries that a merged HP and Compaq could further crowd them out in the long run. 

But in the short term, the merger, coupled with thousands of recent layoffs at EMC, could cripple the big companies’ customer service, making room for the smaller businesses. 

“There’s always room for somebody who gives the right kind of hug to the customer,” said John McArthur, a vice president at research company IDC, based in Framingham, Mass. 

McArthur said he has recently heard from customers who have been happy with smaller companies, like privately held XIOtech, based in Eden Prairie, Minn. In lean times, McArthur said, customers “will basically take anybody who can solve their storage problems.” 

The data-storage industry provides the hardware and software used in such data-heavy systems as airline reservation and insurance. 

Its phenomenal growth in the 1990s led to a flurry of research and development and a broader focus: products that not only store information but also manage, organize and exchange it with other systems. 

But the last two years have been rough. IDC projects a 1.7 percent decline this year in total storage spending, before the industry picks up with a 5.2 percent increase in 2003 to $26.3 billion. 

EMC, after more than a decade of consistent profitability, has lost money in two consecutive quarters and laid off 4,000 workers last year. Its stock, which traded at more than $100 a share in 2000, is trading at about $11. 

The company hopes to return to profitability this year, but some analysts believe that will require further layoffs, and several have cut their earnings outlooks in recent weeks. 

Getting a snapshot of the industry is difficult because the companies disagree over which statistics matter most. 

Compaq prefers IDC’s measurements for total storage revenues, where it leads. But because EMC doesn’t make PCs or servers, it focuses on markets where it competes. EMC led the external-storage device market in 2001, and a combined HP and Compaq would still be smaller than EMC. 

Compaq shareholders overwhelmingly approved a $19 billion buyout by HP last month. 

HP has claimed that a preliminary tally showed the deal had been approved by a “slim but sufficient margin.” But director Walter Hewlett has filed a lawsuit accusing HP of improperly enticing a big investor to back the merger. 

The merger, if it goes through, could shake up the data storage landscape. 

“I do think companies like the concept of one-stop shopping for storage,” said Mike Winkler, Compaq’s executive vice president. “Therefore breadth of offering is important, and the strength of your offerings is vital.” 

EMC insists any gains for the merged HP and Compaq will be canceled out by the integration costs of the merger. 

“You can guarantee if you use both of those companies, you’re going to be obsoleted on some of the products you use,” Ruettgers said last month at the TechTarget Storage Management Conference in Chicago. 

Ken Steinhardt, EMC’s director of technology analysis, said the effects are already being felt. 

“We’re seeing customers now that have historically that have been dyed-in-the-wool Compaq customers or dyed-in-the-wool HP customers that are now looking broadly for (other) technologies,” he said. 

Small companies — at least those that have survived the recession — say customers are also antsy about the merger. 

“Customers bring it up with us. They’re a little concerned, they don’t know what’s going to happen, and they’re afraid to make new commitments,” said Scott Robinson, chief technology officer at Datalink in Chanhassen, Minn. 

Datalink doesn’t make its own hardware and software, but puts other systems together and gives advice. The last few years have been tough, Robinson said, and he is worried about the long-term effects of a merged HP and Compaq. 

But for now, he’s pleased. “Short term we see it as an opportunity, because there is certainly going to be some confusion,” he said. 

But Compaq’s Winkler insists his customers have been, and will be, loyal. 

“We’ve published a lot of the wins that we’ve had since the announcement of the merger,” he said. “The business has been as strong as it has ever been.” 

SAN JOSE — Hewlett-Packard Co.’s board axed an olive branch to dissident director Walter Hewlett on Monday, reversing a plan to renominate him after he sued to try to stop the merger with Compaq Computer Corp. 

Though Hewlett no longer will sit on the board, the move is unlikely to end or quiet the feud between company officials and the co-founder’s son over the $19 billion union of computer giants. 

After HP chief executive Carly Fiorina claimed a slim victory in the fight for shareholder approval, board members met with Hewlett “to develop a constructive working relationship,” HP said. 

The full board met with Hewlett on Wednesday and unanimously decided to renominate him. He then filed suit to stop the merger, which has yet to be officially approved. 

“My fellow board members and I were ... shocked when just hours later Walter Hewlett filed a spurious lawsuit against the company,” said Sam Ginn, chairman of the nominating and governance committee. 

In the suit filed last Thursday in Delaware, Hewlett alleged the investment arm of Deutsche Bank switched its vote at the last minute after HP threatened to take future business away. 

Hewlett also said HP misled investors about the progress of plans to integrate its massive organization with Compaq’s. He said HP executives lied about their ability to achieve the deal’s financial targets without exceeding their prediction of 15,000 job cuts. 

The suit, which HP calls baseless, seeks to invalidate the vote by HP shareholders and declare the merger defeated or order a new election. HP and Compaq are incorporated in Delaware. 

Hewlett, who has said he will work to support the integration if the deal closes, issued a statement Monday regretting the board’s decision. 

“It is unfortunate that the HP board has seemingly missed what the company’s stockholders have clearly recognized: that dissent is not disloyalty, that healthy boards need not agree on every issue,” he said. 

David Katz, president of Matrix Asset Advisors and a merger opponent, said the decision comes at a time when investors are looking for independence on corporate boards. 

“Here’s a strong comment by a board who says, ’We love you as long as you’re with us. If you’re against us we’re not going to have you there,”’ he said. 

In a rare news conference after the March 19 shareholder meeting, Hewlett, who has served on the board for 15 years, said he would like to remain active with the company. 

That was despite months of sometimes personal attacks from both sides, including a company advertisement belittling Hewlett as being a musician and academic with no real business experience. 

On Monday, the company’s statement cited concerns about his “lack of candor and issues of trust.” 

John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor who advised the board after the lawsuit, said the directors were surprised Hewlett had not mentioned his planned suit during their talks preceding the filing. 

“They were free to consider ... whether their current relationship with Mr. Hewlett would render the board a less cohesive, less congenial body in which candor and confidentiality would become problematic,” he said. 

Though HP’s corporate bylaws allow for write-in board candidates, the deadline passed in November, company spokeswoman Rebeca Robboy said. 

Shareholders will vote on nominations to the board at HP’s annual meeting set for April 26 at the Flint Center in Cupertino. 

Pending final closure of the deal, the nominees are current HP Board members Philip M. Condit, Patricia C. Dunn, Fiorina, Ginn, Richard A. Hackborn, George A. Keyworth II and Robert E. Knowling Jr. as well as Compaq board members Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr., Michael D. Capellas, Sanford M. Litvack, Thomas J. Perkins and Lucille S. Salhany. 

If the merger transaction with Compaq has not closed prior to the annual meeting, HP’s shareowners will vote on Condit, Dunn, Fiorina, Ginn, Hackborn, Keyworth, Knowling and Robert P. Wayman. 

Shares of HP closed down 4 cents to $17.90 in trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, while Compaq shares were down 3 cents at $10.42. 

——— 

On the Net: 

HP: http://www.hp.com 

Compaq: http://www.compaq.com 

Hewlett’s opposition site: http://www.votenohpcompaq.com 

BOSTON — Silicon Valley still rules, but an annual survey of America’s most Internet-savvy cities found that Boston and Salt Lake City made huge strides over the past year. 

Boston jumped 12 places to No. 4 in this year’s survey, published in the May edition of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine. Salt Lake City jumped 23 places to sixth, though the magazine said it could be a one-time spike caused by the recent Winter Olympics. 

San Francisco, San Jose, and Austin, Texas, stayed in the top three spots, which they’ve held in all but one of the five surveys. 

Don Wilmott, the magazine’s technology editor, said the biggest news may be the fact that numbers were up almost everywhere, despite the recession. It took a score of 36 out of 40 to win this year, up from 33.3. 

“Everyone’s getting better,” Wilmott said. 

The magazine uses a formula that measures more than just Internet use and high-tech jobs to get a sense of which communities make the most of the Web. Wilmott said that analysis includes basic stats, the extent to which businesses are online and how sophisticated the users are. 

“We measure that by how often they shop and how many have gotten fast access,” he said. 

The formula also includes an evaluation of content available in the area, including a ranking of how well local government uses the Net. That helped give Boston a boost. 

“It really is one of the best city Web sites,” said Wilmott of cityofboston.gov. 

Top-ranked San Francisco has the highest percentage of households using the Net (78.8), is No. 2 in online spending per user ($356) and in domains per 1,000 firms (4,163), and sixth in broadband use and interest (54.9 percent).  

The data is compiled from Forrester Research and Matthew Zook of the Internet Geography Project. 

The magazine ranks 86 metropolitan areas. Seven of the top 21 areas are in California. The bottom three this year were Tulsa, Okla., Scranton, Pa. and Gary, Ind. 

——— 

On the Net: 

City of Boston, http://www.cityofboston.gov 

As the Middle East peace process reeled from a week of heavy fighting in the West Bank, about 250 Berkeley residents packed a Unitarian church yesterday to renew their hope for an end to the violence. 

Leading the calls for reconciliation was keynote speaker Tamir Sorec, one of more than 300 Israeli army reservists who has told his government he will not perpetuate the violence and fight for his country in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sorec, a sociologist, comes to Berkeley to rally support for a peaceful resolution to the Mideast conflict. “The Israelis and the Palestinians are going to destroy each other,” he said to the standing-room-only crowd at the Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, at Cedar Street and Bonita Avenue. “The way to prevent them from doing this is to support us [objectors] and say [to the Israeli government] you don’t have soldiers for this war.” 

Sorec’s avowal not to fight comes just two days after Israel began calling up thousands of army reserve officers in response to attacks by Palestinian militants that left dozens of Israelis dead last week. The Associated Press reported Friday that 20,000 Israeli reservists could soon be mobilized, marking the largest call-up since the Gulf War. 

Sunday’s second speaker Marcia Freedman, an Israeli peace activist who spent the last five months in Israel, was also quick to condemn the recent military escalation.  

“[Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon is extremely shrewd and extremely brutal,” Freedman said. “Israelis today don’t really know what’s going on... I really believe that if the people got to see this, the government would be operating in a different way.” 

Just hours before the Berkeley crowed assembled to soberly address Middle East violence, residents had gathered at the Unitarian church to celebrate Easter Sunday. 

In Israel, the Jewish holiday of Passover passed uneasily. Schools were closed last week to children, but opened for registering army reservists for active military duty. 

As a reservist, Sorec told the Berkeley audience that it was his moral obligation to resist military duty in the occupied territories. He said military operations thwarted the peace process and served only to abuse and humiliate Palestinians. 

“The situation in which 3.5 million people live under military control and without civil rights is out of the question,” he stated.  

Israeli soldiers in the West Bank are killing innocent civilians, conducting unlawful searches of Palestinian homes, and denying residents access to their friends and family, Sorec explained. 

He said that 800 Palestinian civilians had been killed in the last year and a half of fighting, while about 350 Israeli civilians have died. 

As of yesterday, 383 conscientious objectors, including Sorec, had signed the widely-publicized declaration to refuse military service in the occupied territories. The protest is dubbed Courage to Refuse. 

While Berkeley residents showed mostly admiration for the objectors, the dissidence has not been without its critics. 

One member of the audience yesterday charged that the Berkeley forum was unfairly stacked with anti-Israeli proponents, claiming the two presenters had “warmth and love” for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. 

In Israel, government officials have also condemned the objectors, portraying them as fanatics going against the rule of the majority. Two reservists have been jailed for their protest, according to Freedman. 

Israeli policy dictates that nearly all citizens serve in their military when they turn 18. Women generally serve until age 20, and men until age 21 — and in the reserves until age 45. 

In 1996, Sorec explained that his opposition to Israeli military policy was born. Though, it wasn’t until January of this year that he made his sentiment public.  

“We came to the conclusion that if we keep our objection silent and quiet we will never be able to change the political situation,’’ he said. 

And according to Freedman, Israeli civilians are now wanting to see the situation resolved. She said Prime Minister Sharon’s approval rating had dropped from 57 percent in December to 35 percent in March because of the recent military campaign. 

“Israeli has never known such a right-wing government,” Freedman said. She feared that continued Israeli force in the occupied territories would prompt a backlash by the Arab world and launch the entire region into war. 

She praised the activism of Sorec as a means of helping temper the conflict. 

Most Berkeley residents, including audience member Myrna Sokolinsky, showed support for Sorec as well. 

“I admire him and the other conscientious objectors who are making a sacrifice and risking going to jail,” Sokolinsky said. “They understand the oppression of the Palestinians.” 

“I’m sympathetic to people trying to get a fair peace... The only real solution is for Israel to pull out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and stop harassing and killing Palestinians,” said Charlie Shain, a Berkeleyan. Sunday’s event was sponsored by Bay Area Women in Black, a group of Jewish feminists and supporters. 

To the Editor: 

Your recent Forum article, “Getting beyond the fear of change to a thriving community” (The Daily Planet, March 30) was shocking and depressing. It seems that the local League of Women Voters (LWV) has morphed itself into the League of Women Developers (LWD).  

They say that we should just roll over, play dead and allow 44,000 more people to move into Alameda and Contra Costa Counties over the next 20 years. 

It seems that all of these additional residents have special needs which can only be met by cramming them into massive high-rise apartments in our bayside communities.  

Somehow, the LWD suggests that cramming additional thousands of people locally is going to make our neighborhoods more livable… Oh, sure. 

Frankly the East Bay is thriving enough as it is.  

The last thing that we need is thousands of more cars and apartments, with shopping malls to match. What ever happened to the notion of Zero Population Growth (ZPG) or even better, Negative Population Growth (NPG)? The earth is finite. The East Bay is finite. It's time to stop reproducing and inviting in ever more immigrants. 

Let 'em stay home.  

We are suffering from fear of insane development, evermore crowding the Bay Area until the livability index approaches zero. Let's think about our residential needs, not those of hypothetical immigrants.  

This land is our land, not their land.  

James K. Sayre 

Oakland

Monday, April 1

Race, Gender, & the “War on Terrorism”  

7-9 p.m. 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Graduate Theological Union presents The Image of Evil in Art 

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 

2400 Ridge Road,  

Berkeley 

Runs through Friday, May 31 

An exhibit depicting the many faces of the evil, from the fearful and loathsome creatures of medieval art to the seductive satanic figures of the 19th century and the monstrous human and animal forms of a 20th century artist like Francis Bacon. By contrasts, the devils of Latin American folk art are often caper and dance. 

For more information, call 649-2541 

Graduate Theological Union presents Figuras Fastasticas! The Pottery of Ocumicho 

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 

2400 Ridge Road,  

Berkeley 

Runs through Friday, May 31 Complementing the image of evil exhibit is a library case exhibit of the imaginative pottery made in he village of Ocumicho, Michoacan, known particularly for its playful devil figures the pottery presents everyday scenes as well as religious topics. 

For more information, call 649- 2540 

Graduate Theological Union presents History and Memory in Biblical and Rabbinic Literature 

9-5:30 p.m. 

Sultan Room 

Center for Middle Eastern Studies 

340 Stephen’s Hall, University of California at Berkeley 

Center for Jewish Studies and the UC Berkeley welcomes Robert Alter, on rhetoric in Deuteronomy and collective memory; Galit Hasan-Rokem, on midrash between experience and myth; Ron Hendel on memory and the Hebrew bible; Dina Stein on rabbinic discourse and the destruction of the temple and Yair Zakovitch on post-traumatic memory. 

For more information, call 649-2482. 

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Renewable Energy Lecture 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School 

University and Bonar St. 

Peter Asmus discusses the viability of renewable energy resources and how they can be used in Berkeley. 981-5435 

Winter Lectures on Energy 

What About Renewable Energy 

Find out how to make the sun’s energy work for you 

Berkeley Adult School 

University Ave and Bonar Streets 

For more information 981-5435 

Tuesday, April 2

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part two of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

The Enron Debacle: What Happened and What’s Next? 

9-noon 

Clark Kerr conference Center 

Wood Krutch Theater 

2601 Warring Street in Berkeley 

keynote speaker Bala Dharan, J. Howar Creekmore Professor of Management at the Jesse H. Jones graduate school of management at Rice University will explore the complex issues surrounding the demise of Enron, implications for the accounting profession and its widespread implications for the stock market and its supporting institutions. The event is organized by the Center for Financial Reporting and Management at UC Berkeley. 

For more information call 642-0324. 

Wednesday, April 3

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

Don George (Travel Editor Lonely Planet Publications 

Topic: Finding the story, exploring the experience 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

For more information 843-6725 

North Berkeley Senior Center Advisory Council 

10 a.m. 

Monthly birthday party will feature The Dixieland jazz Band, Gasteswingers and refreshments. 

1901 Hearts 

Berkeley 

For more information, call 981-5190. 

Melody Ermachild Chavis:  

Reporting from Recent Trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan 

5:30-8:30 pm 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

6:30 pm 

Berkeley 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Thursday, April 4

The Huston Smith Series on Religion:  

Why Religion Matters 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Universalist Church 

1187 Franklin St. in San Francisco  

World renowned expert on Islam, Dr. Seyyed Nasr, to speak on Why Islam Matters 

For more information, call 415-575-6175 

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15-8:00 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave. 

Berkeley 

Free, on-going meetings 1st & 3rd Thursdays, emphasizing metaphysical topics. (510) 848-6510. 

Graduate Theological Union presents liberation philosopher Enrique Dussel 

Noon- 2 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 

2400 Ridge Road 

Berkeley 

Enrique Dussel, pioneering scholar of the philosophy of liberation and a leading figure in Latin American liberation theology will present his recent work in “Modernity, coloniality and Capitalism in the World System.” 

For more information, call 649-2464 

Stop Sweatshops! Teach-in  

7:30 pm 

Berkeley 

Stop Sweatshops! Teach-in 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

War in Colombia: A Panel Discussion 

7 pm - Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Saturday, April 6

Library Grand Opening 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library 

The celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, a keynote speech by Alice Walker, musical guests, and building tours. 548-7102 

Graduate Theological Union presents Suavecito  

The Politics and Poetics of Asian American Soul Music in he 1970’s. 

5 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Krutch Theater, 

Clark Kerr Campus 

2601 Warring Street in Berkeley 

A panel discussion and musical offering explore the interplay between soul music and community politics. 

For more information, call 849-8244. 

East Bay Regional Parks District, special events 

10-4 p.m. 

Gathering of the Scottish clans,  

Ardenwood Historic Farm 

34600 Ardenwood Boulevard, Fremont 

Fore more information, call 796-0663 

Noche Latina in Berkeley 

7-11 p.m. 

The Bay Area Hispanic Institute for Advancement (Bahia, Inc.)is holding its 

second annual Noche Latina event. This fundraiser will feature food catered by Cafe de la Paz, music and a silent auction. Bahia is an after-school 

program for children ages 5-10. This year's event will be held at the Law 

Offices of Duran, Ochoa & Icaza, which are located at 1035 Carleton Avenue.  

For more information, contact Estrella Fichter at 510.549.3506 or 

estrella.fichter@earthlink.net 

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 - 11 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

A class in basic personal preparedness for emergency situations. 981-5605 

Sunday, Apr. 7

Minding the Body, Inc. fundraiser 

Peace it Together Fundraiser and Festival 

1-5 PM  

2218 Acton Street between Bancroft and Allston Streets Berkeley 

Proceeds will help send an emissary from the Bay Area to exchange peace-making skills with people from all over the world at the 10th Annual International Conference on Conflict Resolution in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

There will be booths, jugglers, storytellers, performance art, Music, poetry, art — most events welcoming participation — and a Vegetarian Potluck 

For more information, visit MindingTheBody.org or e-mail elise@mindingthebody.org. 

“Remedios”  

Benefit for Poet Aurora Levins Morales  

11-2 p.m. 

Berkeley 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Weekly Peace Walk around Lake Merritt 

7-3 p.m. 

Oakland 

For more information, contact: 415-285-9734 

Mission 911:  

Bay Area Poets for Peace 

2-5 pm  

Berkeley 

Contact: 415-285-9734 

Last year, the St. Mary’s High boys were the strength of the track & field program, winning a North Coast Section title and finishing third at the state championship meet. But by the looks of it, the boys may take a back seat to their female counterparts this year. 

Tiffany Johnson and Danielle Stokes both set personal records in their individual events and gave the Panthers a big boost in the relays at the Stanford Invitational this weekend. Johnson won the long jump with a top leap of 18’3” and finished third in the 100-meter dash, and Stokes took second in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing second to James Logan’s Talia Stewart, who put up the state’s top time this season.  

The pair then teamed up with Chastity Harper and freshman Willa Porter to set a school record in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 47.5 seconds for surprising third-place finish in the event. Holy Names High of Oakland won the event with the state’s fastest time of the season. 

“That’s a huge time for us,” St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said of the relay team. “Our girls are doing great. They’re stepping up and not fearing anyone.” 

Stokes and Porter also helped the Panthers’ girls set a new state-best in the distance relay. Along with distance runners Bridget Duffy and Gabriella Rios-Sotelo, they finished the event in 12:05.9 on Friday night.  

“This is the first time I’ve run outdoors against really good competition, so I’m very happy with how I ran,” Stokes said. 

Unfortunately, the 1,200-meter leg by Duffy left the senior worn out for the mile on Saturday. After leading for the first two laps of the race, she fell back to finish seventh in 5:03, nearly 15 seconds off her personal best. 

“I think Bridget just isn’t conditioned well enough yet to go back-to-back,” Lawson said. 

Kamaiya Warren completed the girls’ impressive effort with second- and third-place finishes in the shotput and discus, respectively. Bakersfield’s Rachel Varner won both events in a continuing duel with the St. Mary’s senior, who took a narrow loss in New York last month but beat Varner at a meet two weeks ago. Warren set a personal and school best in the shotput, for which she has had more practice time so far this season after finishing third in the state last season. 

“Kamaiya’s improving by leaps and bounds every week in the shotput,” Lawson said. “She’ll show more improvement in the discus with more practice.” 

The St. Mary’s boys, on the other hand, appear to need more practice in a few events. Although Solomon Welch put in a nice performance on Saturday, winning the triple jump by more than two feet and finishing fifth in the 110-meter hurdles at his future home stadium, the rest of the boys disappointed for the most part. Their highest finish other than Welch was a fourth-place finish by Jason Bolden-Anderson in the 110-meter hurdles (Anderson also finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles. Omarr Flood and Courtney Brown finished 17th and 20th, respectively, in the 400-meter race, and the 4x400 relay team finished 11th. 

The biggest disappointment was the anxious feet of junior Steve Murphy. After missing most of last season with pneumonia, Murphy has been jittery so far in his return to the track, a trend that continued at Stanford. He false-started in the 100-meter dash on Friday night, then did the same as the first leg of the 4x100 relay on Saturday, disqualifying the Panthers from one of their stronger events. Murphy will likely be removed from the relay team for at least a week, but Lawson knows he needs Murphy to settle down if the boys are to repeat last year’s strong efforts. 

“In my mind, there’s no excuse for the fast start in the relay, especially after talking all night about it after he did it on Friday,” Lawson said. “You can chalk some of it up to a lack of experience, but it’s more a lack of focus, which is something only he can fix.” 

The Panthers are still looking for a leader to replace departed stars Halihl Guy and Asokah Muhammed, both of whom consistently put up great finishes last season as well as anchoring the relays. Welch seems to have the consistency, but the other runners don’t seem to be following his lead. Senior Chris Dunbar is another likely candidate, but he has battled hamstring injuries the past two seasons and is just now getting healthy. 

“Our boys need to get tougher mentally if they want to have a decent season,” Lawson said. “Someone has to step up into a leadership role.”

Goliath has officially cried uncle. 

The 26-month-old strike against Pacifica Network by many of its news staff is over.  

And now with two of the most visible protesters against the network, former news director Dan Caughlin and former anchor Verna Avery Brown nestled comfortably into the helm of Executive Director and Deputy Director of the network, journalist say it is time to revive the financially-strapped network and move on.. 

“This all began in January of 2000 when Dan Caughlin ran a 30 second story about the protest and he was basically fired, and we all walked out in support,” said Vanessa Tait, unpaid news staff for KPFA, a Pacifica owned radio station here in Berkeley. “ 

Tait said the protest and strike that began with 40 grew to 150 and many Pacifica affiliates pulled out on the network. 

“Now we’re not on strike — so we are trying to keep this great grass roots program on the air,” she added speaking of the Free Speech Radio Network, a news program founded by the journalist during the strike.  

FSRN has effectively replaced the Pacifica Network News which was cut about a month ago for budgetary reasons. 

But some might ask how does one go about reviving a beast that took more than two years to slay and has bled more than $5 million worth of debt — largely contributed to the former board of the network. 

According to Tait the support has already started to come in from member stations, like KPFA, who have been pleased with FSRN as a decentralized grass roots alternative to PNN. 

One of the early issues that arose at Pacifica was the more mainstream approach of PNN. During the strike the radio journalist were in fact reportedly replaced by Feature Stories News and the same reports going out on air were being broadcast on FOX and ABC. 

“KPFA has been very supportive. They are basically fund raising for us — and it’s been great because the popularity of Free Speech Radio helps them to raise funds,” Tait said. 

According to a prepared statement released by Pacifica, the network has agreed to recognize the journalists as being a vital part of the success of the network and they have also pledged to never censor news reports again. “Censorship, firings and bannings had become a way of life at a network nicknamed ‘the voice of the voiceless,’ ” the report stated. 

“With all of the problems with Pacifica Network News, we found FSRN the only real option in terms of a progressive national newscast,” said Denise Manzari, news director at Pacifica affiliate WPKN in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 

“When the Pacifica freelancers went on strike, we were afraid their voices would be silenced. But with FSRN came the opportunity to air these reporters again, and we’ve been really happy to carry it.” 

The financial strives of Pacifica may take a while to put a dent into the $5 million debt but according to Tait there has already been a great amount of improvement in the quality of the news broadcast — but she admits that she is not the most objective judge. 

“I think we’re doing a pretty good job,” Tait said. “It’s just so much better and the reason it is so much better is that we are going more extensive in-depth grass roots coverage of peace and justice issues around the world.” 

To the Editor: 

I think we should be ashamed that the Berkeley Speakers Lecture Series has  

had to be moved to Oakland.  

Whether the Series President or the City Manager's Office was acting unreasonably is basically irrelevant.  

The fault lies with Berkeley's activist demonstrators who intimidate attendees and shout down speakers with whom they disagree; and with the apparent majority attitude toward those rowdy activists, which ranges from acceptance to encouragement. 

Berkeley is so arrogant and self righteous about its climate of tolerance and free speech, when in fact that climate applies only to those with approved opinions.  

Councilmember Spring believes the Netanyahu incident was the Lecture Series' fault for not scheduling adequate private security and notifying Berkeley Police sooner. But the real issue is why it is necessary in Berkeley to have heavy security for those who wish only to exercise first amendment rights. 

Baird Whaley 

Berkeley 

STANFORD – Eighth-ranked Cal (35-11, 2-1 Pac-10) was shut out, 6-0, by No. 3 Stanford (28-5, 1-2 Pac-10) in the first game of a double header, but came back to defeat the cross-bay rivals, 7-6, in the rubber match of the weekend series, Saturday afternoon in front of a Stanford softball record crowd of 962 at the Smith Family Stadium.  

In the opener, Stanford scored four runs in the second inning and never looked back. After retiring the first batter in the home half of the second inning, freshman pitcher Kelly Anderson was pulled in favor of Jen Deering. The junior didn’t last long as she hit the first batter she faced followed by a wild pitch that scored Maureen LeCocq from third. Jessica Mendoza and Sarah Beeson followed with walks bringing in another run.  

Freshman Cassie Bobrow came on in relief of Deering, pitching the rest of the way. The Cardinal added two more runs in the fourth inning for the final margin.  

Stanford pitcher LeCocq went the distance scattering four hits and recording her first shutout of the season to improve to 10-2. Anderson took the loss for Cal, dropping to 5-3 on the year.  

The offense woke up just in time for the second game of the afternoon. Freshman Kaleo Eldredge led off the game with an infield single. Kristen Morley bunted Eldredge over to second and then scored on senior Candace Harper’s deep double to the gap in left center. Junior Veronica Nelson followed with a single to left field and Courtney Scott slapped a RBI single to bring in Harper.  

Cal went at it again in the second inning, bringing in three runs. With two outs in the inning, Eldredge reached on a fielder’s choice. Morley walked and Harper was hit by a pitch to set up the table for Nelson, who singled again to left field for a RBI. Scott tallied her second and third RBI of the afternoon and her team-leading 31st and 32nd RBIs of the season when she placed a base hit into left center.  

The Cardinal made a late surge to keep the game close as they used three hits to bring in two runs in the sixth inning and a two run homer by Jessica Mendoza, her 10th of the year, in the seventh. Sarah Beeson struck out and Kira Ching grounded to Chelsea Spencer at short to end the game.  

The win for the Bears was its first at Stanford and the first series win over their rival since the 1999 season. Forest struck out three batters in her 19th complete game and her 90th career win, which is two shy of the No. 2 spot all-time at Cal held by Leslie Partch (1979-82).

When the credits roll on the last day of June, Berkeley cinéastes will have to bid adieu to the Fine Arts Cinema on Shattuck Avenue — but only temporarily. 

Developer Patrick Kennedy of Panoramic Interests, who is considered by many growth-conscientious Berkeleyans a bit controversial, plans to replace the cinema's current building and the two next to it on the southeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Haste Street with a new Fine Arts Building.  

The 85,000-square-foot complex will keep a cinema-theme on the ground floor — combining a 300-seat state-of-the-art theater with a café and space designated for the Cinema Preservation Society.  

The five-story building will also have apartments and parking spaces.  

It has been designed in a “reminiscent art-deco” style by San Francisco architect Dan Solomon and should open in early 2004, according to Project Manager Chris Hudson. 

During construction, the Fine Arts Cinema intends to take its show on the road. Details have not been finalized yet, said Keith Arnold, one of the cinema's operators. But they are planning an al fresco patio series at La Note restaurant and events at the Castro Theatre, the Red Vic and the Parkway Speakeasy Theater. 

Arnold said he wanted to reassure loyal Fine Arts Cinema customers that they can still get their fix, though they may have to travel slightly farther to get it.  

“It will still be classic Fine Arts Cinema: silent films, live music, highly-thematic double-bills,” Arnold said. 

Unlike many of Kennedy’s projects, this appears to be coming to fruition without detractors or opposition. The planning and design process has been going smoothly since Panoramic Interests bought the property in 2000. In the past few months, both the Design Review Committee and the Landmarks Preservation Commission — which had to OK the demolition of some of the buildings which were over 40-years-old — gave the go-ahead. “I think most people have high hopes it is going to be a good project. i don’t know anyone who opposes it,” said Becky O’Malley of the Landmark Preservation Commission. “To tell you the truth I don’t know anyone who is against it.”  

O’Malley pointed to two other Kennedy projects that have won the unanimous favor of neighbors and city hall. 

City Councilmember Polly Armstrong, who has not even seen the plans, said she too was very pleased that something would be done with the buildings. 

“I haven’t seen the plans. I don’t know the size, but I’m delighted he’s going to save the theater,” said City Councilmember Polly Armstrong. “Patrick has a good ear for knowing what people in Berkeley want to preserve.”  

The project will come before the Zoning Adjustments Board in April. 

Councilmember Dona Spring, who represents the downtown business district, said she thought the new building would be a fine addition to the area. 

“It's a prime location for a mixed-used project,” said Spring. “There are places in Berkeley where it's appropriate to increase residential development.” 

In fact, this is one case where increasing density has not created strong neighborhood opposition.  

“The building is going to stretch pedestrian activity down another block, so it will help the city achieve its dream of a pedestrian-oriented downtown,” Hudson said. 

The new plans will allow the cinema to improve its technology, create better sight lines and add more seating and a balcony, Arnold said. 

The new building will also finally give the CPS, which is currently headquartered in one of the board member's homes, space to show films that even independent movie theaters have to pass up for fiscal reasons. Arnold is optimistic about the project.  

“It'll be an improved environment. We expect a level of density that this part of town has never had. Increased foot traffic will have a positive effect on any storefront business,” he said. 

David Wheelan, who has been going to the Fine Arts Cinema since it first opened, was relieved that the cinema was not disappearing completely. 

“I think it is one of the best art cinema programs in the Bay area and was mourning its pre-mature death, presumably but now incorrectly at the hands of a developer,” he said. 

“Its terrific that a developer can appreciate the needs of the community and respond so well.” 

Panoramic Interests has not yet sealed the contract with the Fine Arts Cinema, however. But Arnold is confident about the cinema's fate. Although they will have to pay higher rent in the new building, said Arnold, “It looks do-able. I have faith in this project and that he [Kennedy] will deal with us honestly for the long-term future. But would I like more commitment? Yeah.” 

Hudson said that Panoramic Interests intends to negotiate a long-term contract with the Fine Arts Cinema.  

“There's no final agreement yet, but we are going to be paying for the improvements and signing a long-term lease. 

We intend to have them there as long as they have the energy to operate it. It's not a money-making venture.”  

However, Youth Radio located in the storefront next to the Fine Arts Cinema as a supplement to their main space in the Kennedy-owned University Lofts, will not be coming back there in 2004.  

“Youth Radio is a temporary tenant. We negotiated this sweetheart deal with them where they could use the building [next to the Fine Arts Cinema] as overflow space,” said Hudson. “We are looking for other space that may be suitable for them.” 

Friends of the Fine Arts Cinema who want more information about on-the-road engagements should sign up for the mailing list at the theater itself or the web site www.fineartscinema.com. 

The Alameda County Office of Education announced this week that schools throughout the county now have direct access to the Internet, including access to resources from the University of California and the California State University systems. 

The gain is part of the Digital California Project, proposed by Gov. Gray Davis two years ago. The program provides $27 million a year to set up networking systems within school districts to benefit students. 

Using the network, students will be able to access resources that were once only available at university libraries.  

“Because of the Digital California Project, Alameda (County) students are combining education with interactive technology skill-sets that will prepare them for success in college and our technology-based real world,'” said county Superintendent Sheila Jordan. 

To the Editor: 

In their open letter (Daily Planet, 3/30-31), Nancy Bickel and other officers of the League of Women Voters claim that the City Council voted to rezone the 1100 block of Hearst Street from R-3 to R-2A because they were “moved by objections to a proposed apartment building”. 

There is no evidence to support this contention. In fact, the Council voted, with only one “no” vote, to rezone after receiving a unanimous recommendation from the Planning Commission. This recommendation had nothing to do with any proposed apartment building. 

It is a matter of public record that the Planning Commission based its recommendation on the following: First, the R-3 zoning was anomalous. The 1100 block of Hearst was the only residentially-zoned block north of Hearst and west of Martin Luther King Way to be zoned R-3. Dozens of other essentially similar blocks in the area were zoned for less density than permitted by R-3 zoning. 

Secondly, R-2A zoning is a better fit for the 1100 block than R-3. It allows additional housing development without permitting development that would be out of scale with the neighborhood. Staff analysis showed that the block, which currently includes 45 housing units, could hold 67.5 units with R-2A development standards. Thus, R-2A zoning permits additional units should property owners be interested in adding additional housing units on their properties. Testimony at public hearings made clear that additional units consistent with R-2A zoning standards had in fact been added in recent decades. It was also clear that residents of these blocks had been supportive of appropriately-scaled new housing development. 

Third, and contrary to the assertion made in the League leaders' letter, rezoning is entirely consistent with policies in the recently adopted General Plan land use, housing and transportation elements. The General Plan encourages infill housing development in the Downtown, in the Southside close to the UC campus, and on transit/commercial corridors such as University, South Shattuck and San Pablo. The General Plan does not contemplate or advocate substantial increases in density in residentially-zoned areas.  

The reason for this is not hard to understand. Berkeley is a built-out city and there are only relatively few vacant, undeveloped lots in residential areas. By contrast, there are many more suitable opportunity sites for housing in commercially-zoned areas. These are precisely the areas where new housing is currently being built. There was a net gain of 1140 housing units in Berkeley between 1990 and 2000 and there are numerous projects totalling hundreds of units in various stages of the development process now. Most of these are happening in precisely the kind of locations called for in the General Plan. 

What is most objectionable in their letter is their use of the term “nay-sayers” to describe the many citizens who have taken the time to attend Planning Commission and City Council meetings. The residents of the 1100 Hearst area and the many residents from all over the city who attended the dozens of General Plan public meetings are to be commended for taking time from their families to participate in civic affairs. Residents have a right to voice their opinion about things that have an impact on them and on their families and neighborhoods. 

More housing, especially affordable housing, is needed in Berkeley. There are many appropriate locations for this housing. Hopefully, the League will actively support the City Council's recent decisions in favor of affordable housing development on the City's Oxford parking lot downtown and on the Ashby BART station air rights. Both these projects directly address the League's concern that more housing is needed for people who work here but can't afford to live here. 

Rob Wrenn, member, Berkeley Planning Commission 

LOS ANGELES – The Cal baseball team lost an 8-6 lead by giving up six runs in the sixth inning and went on to fall to USC, 13-9, in the third and final game at Dedeaux Field. The Bears were swept in the series and are 19-14 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-10. The Trojans improve to 15-13 (3-0), winning 11-3 Thursday and 9-1 Friday.  

Freshman reliever Brent Hale suffered the loss as Hale and Jesse Ingram gave up five of the six runs in the sixth inning, including the go ahead two-run homer by Joey Metropoulos. The winning pitcher for USC was receiver Cory Campo and Jordan Olson earned his first save of the season.  

Cal scored a run in the top of the first on an RBI ground out by Carson White and scored twice in the second on bases loaded walks by Ben Conley and Conor Jackson. The Bears did battle back after being down 6-3 going into the fourth inning by scoring three times in the fourth and twice in the fifth for its 8-6 lead. In the fourth the Bears scored on an RBI single by Conley, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly by Noah Jackson. In the fifth, Conley had another RBI single and Conor Jackson had an RBI double. Cal's other run came on a throwing error by USC shortstop Michael Moon in the seventh inning on a potential double play ball.  

Conley (2-for-4, three RBI), Brian Horwitz (2-for-3, double) and Jeff Dragicevich (2-for-4, double) had two hits apiece for the Bears. Conor Jackson finished the series 6-for-8 with two doubles, two home runs and five RBI.  

Cal next hosts Santa Clara on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Evans Diamond before hosting UCLA in a three-game conference series beginning Friday at 2 p.m. at Evans Diamond.

BRITISH COLUMBIA, Vancouver - In the second match of the two game home-and-away series versus British Columbia, Cal (14-0) traveled to Vancouver and came out on top 28-17 over the Thunderbirds. Senior Dave Guest scored a team-high 13 points in the win.  

For the first time this season, the Bears went into halftime without the lead, down 12-6. UBC got things started with a try in the seventh minute to put them up 5-0. Guest would answer ten minutes later, at the 17-minute mark, by hitting a penalty goal to bring Cal within two, 5-3. The Thunderbirds extended their lead at the 35-minute mark, scoring a try to make the score 12-3. At the 40-minute mark, Guest would hit the second of his three penalty goals to bring Cal within six going into the break, 12-6.  

British Columbia started strong in the second stanza, scoring another try just four minutes into the half. Down 19-6, the Bears would go on to rattle off 22 unanswered points to come from behind and claim the victory, 28-19. Guest hit his third penalty goal at the 72-minute mark to put the Bears up for good, 21-19. Tony Vontz scored a try during injury time to extend the Bears’ lead to nine.  

“We had to dig down a bit in the second half but I was happy to see that we had enough in reserve,” said head coach Jack Clark. “Full marks to UBC, we expected them to play well at home and they didn’t disappoint us.”  

The Bears face UC-Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Santa Barbara, Cal’s last regular season match.

Happy April Fool’s Day! 

On April 1, 1945, American forces invaded Okinawa during World War II. 

On this date 

In 1789, the U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting, in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House Speaker. 

In 1873, composer Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in Novgorod Province, Russia. 

In 1918, the Royal Air Force was established in Britain. 

In 1933, Nazi Germany began persecuting Jews with a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses. 

In 1946, tidal waves struck the Hawaiian islands, resulting in more than 170 deaths. 

In 1947, Greece’s King George II died. 

In 1970, President Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television, to take effect after Jan. 1, 1971. 

In 1977, the U.S. Senate followed the example of the House by adopting a stringent code of ethics requiring full financial disclosure and limits on outside income. 

In 1987, in his first major speech on the AIDS epidemic, President Reagan told doctors in Philadelphia, “We’ve declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1.” 

Ten years ago 

President Bush pledged the United States would help finance a $24 billion international aid fund for the former Soviet Union. The House ethics committee publicly identified 22 current and former lawmakers as the worst offenders in the House bank overdraft controversy. 

One year ago 

A U.S. Navy surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea, then made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan island. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on corruption charges after a 26-hour armed standoff with the police at his Belgrade villa. Notre Dame won its first national championship in women’s basketball, defeating Purdue, 66-64. 

Bankrobber needs tip about discretionary spending 

SALEM, Ore. — A man suspected of robbing a bank gave himself away when he tipped a waiter $100 in order to get a seat away from the window. 

Chris Ronemus was thrilled to receive the large gratuity on a slow day at DaVinci Ristorante, but he wasn’t allowed to keep the money. 

Scott Michael Farrow, a 33-year-old unemployed painter from California, allegedly threatened a Wells Fargo teller and fled with an undisclosed amount of money Wednesday. 

Police canvassing the neighborhood entered the restaurant and asked if anyone had seen someone matching suspect’s description. An employee pointed out a man at a table inside, and mentioned the $100 tip. 

No barefoot reading, please 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A public library isn’t trampling on a patron’s constitutional rights by requiring him to wear shoes inside the building, a judge has ruled. 

The judge threw out Robert Neinast’s freedom of expression lawsuit Wednesday, and agreed with the library that the barefoot ban protects patrons from exposure to broken glass, blood and other bodily fluids that have been found on its floors. 

“We think the rules are reasonable and are for the good of all customers,” said library Director Larry Black. 

Neinast, who had been asked to leave the downtown library for being barefoot several times from 1997 to 2001, said he sued the Columbus Metropolitan Library for blocking his healthy lifestyle and First Amendment rights. 

“If any bureaucrat can make a rule regarding health and safety, state parks could make everyone wear sunscreen,” Neinast said.

SAN JOSE — The man recently convicted along with his wife in the dog-mauling death of their neighbor last year said he is not surprised by his conviction, but accused the prosecutors and judge of political maneuvering 

Robert Noel also told the San Jose Mercury News in an interview from San Francisco Jail Friday that expressing remorse would not have made a difference in his or his wife’s convictions. Noel and his wife, Marjorie Knoller, have also been criticized for appearing insensitive to the death of Diane Whipple. 

“I saw where the jurors said, ’They didn’t show any remorse,’ but by definition remorse is an admission of guilt,” Noel told the Mercury News. “Besides, what could I possibly say to this woman’s family? That their daughter had just died in a horrible fashion? What relevance would there be to any words I could say?” 

Noel also said he and his wife fear prison officials may try to have them killed. The couple, who are lawyers, have filed many lawsuits on behalf of inmates and have criticized California prison officials. 

The couple’s two large Presa Canarios fatally mauled 33-year-old Whipple in her apartment building nearly 14 months ago. Knoller and Noel, who kept the dogs for two California prison inmates, claimed they had no idea the dogs would turn into killers. 

Knoller, who was present when the dogs attacked, was convicted of second degree murder. She was also found guilty, along with Noel, who was not there during the attack, of the lesser charges of manslaughter and having a mischievous dog that killed someone. 

Noel, 60, has been in jail for a year since the attack. He faces four years in prison. 

WINDSOR — An elderly man shot and killed his teen-age grandson before taking his own life Sunday, according to a Sonoma County sheriff’s spokesman. 

Windsor police and the sheriff’s department evacuated Royal Manor Court Trailer Park shortly after a midmorning call from Carl Donohue, who said he had shot and killed his 18-year-old grandson Jesse, according to Lt. Matt McCaffrey. 

Police had spent more than five hours outside the doublewide trailer when they heard a gunshot and saw smoke coming from the home. Firefighters contained the fire shortly afterward, but did not say what caused the fire. 

When police entered the trailer around 4 p.m., they found the bodies of both men, McCaffrey said. It appeared they both had been shot to death. 

SACRAMENTO – David Phillips grows grapes, Zinfandel grapes. And one of his wine labels seems to describe best the way people feel about a wine that may finally be getting some respect. 

“It’s called the Seven Deadly Zins,” said Phillips, who co-owns the Michael-David Phillips Vineyards in Lodi. “Zinfandel people are different. We’re kinda wacky.” 

They’re also wild about their wine and the grape it comes from. Last year, more than 10,000 people attended the annual Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) conference in San Francisco. A University of California, Davis researcher spent more than seven years tracking the grape’s origins to the coast of Croatia. 

And now, with a group of school children leading the way, the Zinfandel grape may become California’s state fruit. That would help cap a revival of the grape previously best known as the source of the wine oenophiles love to hate — white Zinfandel. 

Fourth graders from James McKee Elementary School in Elk Grove, on the edge of the state’s Zinfandel belt, lobbied their local assemblyman, Republican Anthony Pescetti of Rancho Cordova, to write a bill proposing the Zinfandel grape as the state fruit. 

The students and Zinfandel boosters point to the grape’s 12 percent price increase last year, to $520 a ton, and the amount of land devoted to Zinfandel cultivation, 50,200 acres in California (second only to the Cabernet with 70,000), as more reasons why it’s a perfect candidate for the state fruit. 

Those fourth graders found that the Zinfandel is the most widely planted red grape in California; it was first planted in the state during the 1800s; some vines in the Sierra Nevada foothills are at least 125 years old and still producing grapes; and they were an important part of the agricultural growth in the west during the Gold Rush. 

“Zinfandel people are very passionate,” said Rebecca Robinson, executive director of ZAP. “I like to say it captures our pioneering spirit in a bottle. There’s something different and fun and exuberant about the wine and the people who choose to grow it and drink it.” 

It’s this different and fun image that often has wine aficionados turning up their noses at Zinfandel, which crushes into white and red wines. The white wine is actually pink, because at the crush the grape’s skin is quickly separated from the juice, leaving a slightly sweet taste and rosy pink color. 

The red wine has an older, spicier, more brash taste. 

Until recently, white Zinfandel has had a history of being cheap, said Bruce Boring, owner of the California Wine Club, because it’s a quick cash crop. It’s made almost instantly, able to be bottled within 12 months of harvest. Wine critics say it is often used as an alternative to beer. 

“There’s a lot of inexperienced wine drinkers, so white zin is a good starting point,” said Boring. “It’s a pleasant wine.” 

But John Brecher, a Wall Street Journal wine columnist, said white Zinfandel is finally getting more respect, because people realize it’s very food friendly. 

“It can be a very good wine,” Brecher said. “It’s a nice, fun wine to drink that people don’t have to feel intimidated about. And what’s so wrong with that?” 

It’s also become unbelievably popular. White Zinfandel is estimated to have sold about 16.3 million cases in 2000, up from 9.3 million cases in 1996. 

The Red Zinfandel market grew to 3.1 million cases in 2000 compared with 2.1 million cases in 1996. 

Altogether, wines made from Zinfandel grapes represented 21 percent of the California premium table wine shipped in 2000, according to Gomberg-Fredrikson & Associates, which follows the wine table closely. 

At the farm gate level, which is the amount the producer is selling their product for, the Zinfandel was worth $171,892,000 in 2000, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture. 

While that shows Zinfandel is becoming bigger, honoring it as the state fruit is “kind of an off the wall idea,” said Dave Parker, director of Canadian and United States merchandising for the California Tree Fruit Agreement, a Fresno-based organization representing fruits like nectarines, peaches and plums. 

Also, said Dominique Hansen of the California Strawberry Commission, strawberries bring in more money than Zinfandel grapes. Last year, 87 million trays of strawberries were shipped from the 26,000 acres of strawberry fields in California last year. Their farm gate level was $767,360,000. 

All told, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture Department, agriculture brings about $27 billion to the state economy. 

The students behind the pro-Zinfandel bill said they took all this into consideration but still backed the grape, pointing out that it’s not just for wine, but jam and pasta sauce, too. 

Plus, pushing the bill is “a really good feeling,” said fourth grader Nadine Small. “It’s like being a part of history.” 

Boring agreed, saying, “You can’t find a friendlier wine.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Sport divers who revel in finding abalone clinging to reefs will be bagging less of the meaty mollusks this season thanks to poachers, over fishing and potential diseases. 

Abalone season opens in Northern California on Monday, but free divers used to bringing home 100 animals a year will now be limited to 24. The state Fish and Game Commission also dropped the daily limit in December from four to three as a safeguard to help preserve one of the world’s richest remaining wild sources of red abalone. 

“Abalone in California is precious,” said Chamois Anderson, spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Game. “Only one species left in the entire family is at a level where we can even take it, and if we don’t manage it carefully, it will fall on the list of extinction with the others. If it did that, it would be a real sad day.” 

Over the past decade, abalone take has increased 27 percent in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, the most popular abalone diving areas. Businesses there fear the lowered limits will have a drastic effect on their bottom lines. Nearly 40,000 abalone licenses are issued annually for the estimated $20 million industry, which dozens of bed and breakfasts, restaurants and specialty shops depend on for survival. 

“I think a lot of people felt like that was a little extreme,” Charlie Lorenz of Subsurface Progression dive shop in Fort Bragg said of the limit changes. “For a business that resolves around diving, it’s most likely going to have some impact, and it’s probably going to be negative to the overall economy.” 

Diving was closed off to all of the state south of San Francisco in 1997 after a disease called withering foot syndrome decimated much of the black abalone population there. The bacteria that causes the disease was recently found on the North Coast in the red abalone population, but biologists say there is no indication it’s spreading. 

The disease has forced thousands, who are no longer permitted to dive in the south, to come north. It also has driven black market abalone prices up to $80 apiece or $200 if smuggled to Japan, Andersen said. The mollusks, easily identified by their iridescent spiral shells, are eaten as a delicacy and used as an aphrodisiac. 

A special abalone operations unit now uses high-tech equipment to track poachers who often dive with prohibited scuba gear. The team of game wardens sometimes spends months gathering enough evidence to bring down complex abalone rings. Wardens estimate illegal fishing accounts for about 12 percent of the annual take, which is less than half of what’s harvested legally. 

The penalties for poaching range up to $40,000 in fines and three years in prison. 

“It’s right up there with the drug trade. These are criminals that are stealing a resource that you and I own,” Andersen said. “It’s tragic.” 

Marine biologists say that the lowered take, in effect until the 2004 season, was also implemented because abalone reproduction has been poor over the past few years. Abalone can live up to 35 years and reproduce well into its later years, but ocean conditions and events like El Nino make predicting population size impossible. Abalone also grows slower in cold water than in warmer areas. 

Konstantin Karpov, senior fish and game biologist based in Fort Bragg, said about 2 million pounds of red abalone is taken during the seven-month season, and it takes about 14 years for an abalone to reach 7 inches, the minimum size for sport divers to take. 

“There are not as many young coming in. We’re taking more than can replace themselves,” Karpov said. “Areas are getting fished down, and then people are moving on to the next location. It’s almost like island hopping.”

Rape trial shocks community 

HEALDSBURG – In this bucolic Northern California town, where the Roman Catholic Church stands a few blocks from a grassy square bordered by wine and antique shops, parishioners are reeling from a 20-year-old sex scandal. 

The Rev. Don Kimball, who worked at St. John the Baptist Church in the early 1980s, has been on trial for rape and lewd conduct. He is being tried now, more than two decades after the alleged crimes, because of recent changes in state law that extended the statute of limitations for sex crimes involving children under 14. 

Kimball’s trial is part of a nationwide purge of decades-old abuse. Pastors in some parts of the country are stepping to the pulpit and vowing the church no longer will brush aside its problem priests, or quietly transfer them to unsuspecting parishes as the Santa Rosa diocese did with Kimball. 

The Santa Rosa diocese, in an effort to allay members’ concerns, prepared a written pledge for distribution on Easter Sunday. The diocese pledged to strictly enforce a policy of no tolerance of sexual misconduct by a priest or any church worker. 

“We state unequivocally that this diocese is committed to a prompt and decisive course of action in response to any and all such allegations,” the three-page statement said. 

But for some parishioners, it’s too little, too late. 

“Most intelligent people don’t want the priest or the pope making decisions about how to proceed,” lifelong parishioner Richard Catelli said. “You go to the police immediately. You don’t ask permission from the bishop. You don’t go to Rome. All these procedures are baloney.” 

Catelli, 65, is still giving money to St. John’s, but the scandals have made him stop and think. 

“It’s hard to give any money because it’s not going where it should go,” he said outside St. John’s before Good Friday services. 

Former Santa Rosa bishop John Steinbock testified during Kimball’s trial that he offered Kimball an assignment in a jail or hospital after Kimball admitted fondling six teen-agers. Kimball was suspended when he refused reassignment. He remains a priest, but does not administer the sacraments. 

The Rev. Thomas Devereaux, current pastor at St. John’s, says church secrecy and attempts to solve problems internally are things of the past. 

“This is an awful thing to have happen in a church,” he said Friday from his parish office. “This is not how clergy should behave. This is not how to build trust.” 

Devereaux said he’s been open and honest with his 1,400 parish families since the sex scandals erupted. 

“I didn’t hide behind anyone or anything,” he said, adding that he has addressed the topic during his sermons and held meetings after Mass. A few weeks ago, he talked to the parents of his First Communicants about it. 

The diocese, which covers six Northern California counties and has spent $7.4 million settling sex abuse claims, has struggled with revelations of priest misconduct that led to one priest’s suicide and imprisonment of another priest who founded a church camp. 

In 1999, Catholics were stunned by the resignation of Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann, who admitted having an affair with a former Ukiah priest. In response, a five-member Sensitive Issues Committee was set up and charged with reviewing any new allegation of priest misconduct. No such allegations have surfaced since Ziemann’s resignation. 

Devereaux says he’s seen Sunday Mass attendance drop as people become less trusting and more suspicious. 

“I’m a little bit leery,” said Tricia Shindledecker, 39, a Healdsburg attorney. “I was brought up Catholic, though, and there’s still a feeling, especially on Good Friday, of healing. Sex abuse is a systemic problem, but it doesn’t push you away from being Catholic, because being Catholic is so much more than that.” 

Nearly every churchgoer stopped outside St. John’s on Good Friday believed priests should be allowed to marry. 

“They have needs like everybody else,” said 89-year-old Marge Montaldo. “Temptation is terrible. They’re held to a higher standard, but they’re only human. They’re not some alien creatures down here.” 

A Gallup Poll released Wednesday found that 72 percent of Catholics believe the church has done a poor job dealing with sex abuse cases. It also found that almost three-fourths of Catholics believe the hierarchy is more concerned with protecting the church’s image than solving the problems of sexual misconduct. 

Nevertheless, Jon Jones, a pastoral associate at St. John’s, believes upheaval within the church could have positive effects. 

“We have a congregation that’s demanding accountability,” he said. “It helps the congregation achieve a sense of ownership that they are the church. In light of the scandals, we’re all in this together.”

Son’s alleged cocaine ring under scrutiny 

LOS ANGELES – A retired Police Department deputy chief is under investigation for real estate transactions that authorities believe may have laundered money from a cocaine ring headed by his son, it was reported Sunday. 

Police officials have been looking into allegations against 66-year-old Maurice Moore for more than a year, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

A 40-year LAPD veteran, Moore retired in January as investigators from the Police Department and FBI probed his financial ties to his son, Kevin Moore, a convicted cocaine trafficker. 

Authorities are looking at two real estate transactions connected with Maurice Moore to determine whether he attempted to hide assets generated by his son’s Detroit-based cocaine dealing, the Times said, citing public documents and interviews with witnesses. 

Both transactions occurred in 1992, while Kevin Moore was in federal prison for smuggling about a half ton of cocaine into the country. His drug dealing continued in prison, according to court records and sources, the Times said. 

In one of the transactions, the elder Moore purchased an apartment building in Los Angeles in 1992. Seven years later, as Kevin Moore was about to plead guilty to money laundering, he claimed the apartment building belonged to him. 

The other deal involves a house in Cheviot Hills that was transferred into Maurice Moore’s name on July 7, 1992. The house was deeded to him by Cheryl Frazier, whose sister, Anna Moore, was married to Kevin Moore and participated in his drug and money-laundering enterprises. 

In a 1999 plea agreement to money laundering in connection with prison orchestrated drug dealing, Kevin Moore agreed to turn over $1 million in drug profits to the government, and in return, prosecutors agreed not to seize the two properties. 

However, records indicate that neither of those properties was his, the Times said. That was significant because federal law gives authorities the ability to seize property purchased with drug proceeds or used to facilitate drug transactions. 

Maurice Moore, through his attorney, denied any wrongdoing but declined to comment further. His lawyer also declined to discuss the matter in detail. 

The Times said LAPD detectives recently traveled to Detroit to meet with investigators who worked on the Kevin Moore cocaine case, as well as interviewing several potential witnesses in the Los Angeles area. 

The allegations came as Moore concluded a long career with the LAPD. Moore joined the department in 1961 as black officers were being integrated into the force. He worked his way up through the ranks, and was promoted to deputy chief by Chief Bernard Parks in December 1998. He is a friend of Parks and also served as Parks’ special assistant.

MONTEREY — Long before Sept. 11 and last year’s virus-like attacks over the Internet, the U.S. government announced plans to train an elite corps of computer security experts to guard against cyberterrorism. 

Officials warned it would be only a matter of time before terrorists learned to exploit vulnerabilities in major systems, from air traffic and banking to spacecraft navigation and defense. 

Now, more than three years later, the first students have been awarded scholarships to study computer security in return for working at least two years at a federal agency after graduation. 

But is it too little, too late? 

“In terms of solving our cybersecurity problems, it doesn’t have a chance,” said Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research at the consulting firm Computer Economics and author of books on cyberwarfare. 

Only about 180 students over four years will get scholarships from the first round of federal grants awarded last May to six universities. More schools will be added this year, increasing the corps by 120 students. 

Though President Bush has asked for $19.3 million more for the cybercorps this fiscal year in an emergency $27.1 billion supplemental appropriations request, he has proposed only about $11 million for fiscal 2003 — the same amount Congress has granted the past two years. 

“Eleven million dollars just doesn’t buy you a lot,” Erbschloe said. 

Organizers acknowledge the numbers are small, but they believe even a few well-trained experts can make a difference and demonstrate the wisdom of more spending in security education. 

Graduates are expected to become more well-rounded than most network specialists, who receive training merely on specific systems, or even computer science graduates whose academic programs often ignore security altogether. 

The aim is to create experts who know enough about security to make decisions on buying equipment and software for government and to anticipate vulnerabilities. 

“It might be nice to have 39,000 people, but the fact that we can have 100 is a lot better than having zero,” said Andy Bernat, program director of Federal Cyber Service at the National Science Foundation, which is overseeing the program along with five other federal agencies. 

At the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, about a dozen civilians are participating in the cybercorps and taking the same computer security classes as military students. 

After two years, the students will have a master’s degree in computer science with an emphasis in information security — along with practical experience. 

In one exercise, each student will try to secure a system that will be targeted by hackers from the National Security Agency, Air Force and Army. 

Other classes focus on hackers’ techniques and security theories. 

“We cannot ahead of time predict all the things someone might do to a system,” said George Dinolt, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. “That’s part of the problem with the approach people are taking to try to solve the security problem.” 

The cybercorps schools’ emphasis on security differs from most college computer science programs, which tend to focus on programming and other basics rather than making systems all but impenetrable. 

That is likely to change, given not only recent reports of serious vulnerabilities but also the realization that terrorists can and will exploit weak points — whether in airline security or computer networks. 

LOS ANGELES — Not since the early days of Viagra has a lifestyle drug garnered so much attention as Botox. 

Botox has erased early wrinkles on young women, flattened the furrowed brows of middle-aged TV anchormen, removed sweat stains under the arms of runway models, and even erased gamblers’ unwanted facial expressions. 

In the process, the muscle-paralyzing substance has become one of the most profitable products for Allergan Inc., which first branded the drug more than a decade ago for treating crossed eyes. 

Botox is a laboratory refined strain of botulinum toxin — one of the most poisonous substances on earth — that’s given in extremely small therapeutic doses. Botulinum toxin causes botulism and is a favored tool of bioterrorists. The cult Aum Shinrikyo dispersed a strain of it in aerosol form in several failed attacks in Japan in the early 1990s. Botox already has regulatory approval to treat certain spasmic disorders. But it’s the drug’s wrinkle-busting properties that have created a national buzz. 

“I am getting to the point where the lines are a little more noticeable. (Botox) is an easy way to soften that change,” said Lisa J. Davis, a 30-something Los Angeles TV producer. 

Men and women of all ages have made Botox injections the most popular cosmetic medical procedure in the nation since 2000, even though the procedure may produce side effects such as swelling or numbness. The Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the drug for cosmetic use, but the agency doesn’t prevent doctors from using it in this way. 

Si, se puede! 

The United Farm Workers’ chant – Yes, it can be done! – rang out over the waterfront Friday as schoolchildren, teachers, local officials, musicians and Berkeley residents celebrated Cesar Chavez Commemoration Day. 

The Chavez Circle of Service Partnership, a group of East Bay organizations that encourage community service as a means of honoring the legacy of the labor and environmental activist, organized the event to coincide with Friday’s state holiday. 

In the main presentation, students from Thousand Oaks School, Rosa Parks School, Cragmont School and the East Bay Conservation Corps Charter School honored Chavez’s virtues of non-violence, determination, courage and hope.  

But it was also a learning day for the children: volunteers from the Lawrence Hall of Science also showed them how to tell time by the sun, important in telling farmers when to plant and harvest before they had today’s technology. 

Mayor Shirley Dean read an official proclamation that made March 29, 2002 Cesar Chavez Commemoration Day and praised Chavez’s work for better wages, living conditions, health care and the environment. 

“Each of you can have that kind of voice,” Dean said to the students. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence, Councilmember Linda Maio and Cesar’s nephew Frederico Chavez also addressed the audience, praising the UFW founder for his inspirational fight for justice. 

Fourth-grade teacher Tim Howeth said that EBCC Charter School’s emphasis on “service-learning,” in which classroom learning is paired with community service, made it particularly important to participate in honoring a man who made his ideas a reality. 

“It’s important for kids to see who served in the past and made an impact on the lives of others,” Howeth said. 

Indeed, Frederico Chavez hoped that his uncle left a larger legacy than just another holiday. 

Thanking the crowd on behalf of the family, Frederico went on to say that he hoped the day would teach things to help children maximize their potential. 

“I hope that this can be about more than just giving state employees a day off,” said Frederico. 

Salvador Murillo, a Berkeley resident who worked with Cesar in the early ‘70s, agreed. 

“The No. 1 priority has to be getting your education. It’s not like you name a street and forget about it,” said Murillo. 

Murillo helped establish Cesar Chavez Park and is proud of Chavez’s connections to Berkeley. 

“He loved Berkeley. When things were tight, he came here for retreat, to renew his energy,” he said. 

One of Cesar’s favorite places would be an appropriate site for a major memorial, said Santiago Casal, who organized the commemoration for the Chavez Circle. 

“Berkeley is one of those communities in which struggles for social justice are very conspicuous. There are always protests around there and there is tremendous sympathy for the civil rights leader,” said Casal. 

This celebration was part of a larger effort to create a memorial for Chavez in Berkeley, said Casal, since there are no significant memorials to Latinos in the United States. Casal estimated hopefully that a memorial can be a reality in three years with a budget of $75,000. 

At their last meeting, City Council approved the installation of a temporary solar calendar, which could become part of a permanent memorial.  

But Councilmember Kriss Worthington hoped that more could be done by the Berkeley city government to honor Chavez. He had harsh words for politicians who he felt were doing only lip service to Chavez’s memory. 

“If people really cared about Cesar Chavez, they should hire and appoint Latinos,” Worthington said. 

On March 21, 1907 the Berkeley Reporter announced “Poet Keeler Gets First Honor. Literature and art are to be highly honored and especially Berkeley writers and artists, in the naming of streets in the new Cragmont tract. ... The poet Charles Keeler will have the first street in the new tract named after him. This is particularly appropriate, as Keeler is one of the most ardent admirers of Berkeley and has never let a chance slip by when he could sing her praises.” 

The developers, Francis Ferrier and Charles Brock, claimed that this would be “the only tract of its kind in the United States ... being wholly devoted to literature and the arts.”  

Charles Keeler was a naturalist, a poet and writer, and one-time manager of the Chamber of Commerce. He was also Berkeley’s most vocal advocate of building homes in harmony with nature and is responsible for the founding of the Hillside Club in 1898.  

Keeler was born in Milwaukee, Wis., but arrived in Berkeley at the age of 16 in 1887. According to Berkeley Historical Society member Ed Herny, Keeler was unable to complete his studies of natural history and evolution at the university and took a job at the Academy of Sciences in 1891.  

By 1893 he had completed his first book Evolution of the Colors of North American Land Birds. Later volumes included Bird's Afield (1899), San Francisco and Thereabouts (1902) and Sequoia Sonnets (1919) a collection of his poems. 

Keeler’s most influential and often quoted book is The Simple Home of 1904. It sets forth the design and aesthetic ideals of building homes which blended with the beauty of Berkeley’s natural environment.  

Keeler was influenced by the English Arts and Crafts Movement inspired by naturalist John Ruskin and designer William Morris. His own house was designed by Bernard Maybeck in 1895 and the studio next door in 1904. Both buildings are representative of what Keeler envisioned as a “simple home.”  

Other streets in Cragmont named for writers, poets or artists include Miller Avenue(novelist Joaquin Miller), Twain (Mark Twain), Sterling Avenue(poet George Sterling), Keith Avenue (painter William Keith), Stevenson (Robert Louis Stevenson), and Muir Way (naturalist/writer John Muir).  

Susan Cerny is author of Berkeley Landmarks and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

Editor: 

Take a few minutes to channel surf. Ah, the choices they give us, our corporate controlled media. Lets see, Channel X has the regular news talk show, covering our “War against Terror.” They inform us of how many troops we are sending, how many warships, air strikes and “collateral damage” to stop this spread of terror. Not one show ever questions the increased military spending, or how more weapons and troops can stop suicidal maniacs. Not one show focuses on why today’s “most wanted” were yesterday’s “most favored” (and financed) allies- or the futility of a multi-billion dollar missile defense shield. My streetwise grandfather said it best: “things are never what they seem!” The enemy of my enemy should not necessarily by my friend. 

Whatayasay we switch channels now? Let’s see, Channel Y has the televangelist network. Just in time, too, as the preacher is telling us what Jesus stood for and what his parables meant. Yet, though Jesus castigated the Pharisees for their riches and their hypocrisy, these preachers never take that road to salvation. They never quote Jesus’: “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven!” In between the requests for donations and more donations, the sale of videos and pilgrimage bookings, one never hears mention about the polarizing wealth in the hands of the few, to the detriment of the many. 

Let’s see what's on Channel Z. Oh, right on, it's the sports center show. All day, all night, we can get up to the minute scores and highlights. Its so important to know, over and over again, who won last night, who scored how much, and of course, who signed what new contract for how many millions.  

Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. average family of four, with Mom and Dad both working full time, cannot afford the $200 needed to attend a professional game. That cash is better spent (and better be spent) paying off the too often used (lately) credit card. While on the topic of commercial ventures, how about that NCAA tournament? I call it the National Commercial Advertisement Association. Wasn’t it great to see a little basketball in between those commercials? 

So there you have it. Under the “spell” of the boob tube, to be patriotic is to follow the “pied pipers” of the airwaves. They direct us to wave our flags, support any war, (undeclared or not), give up the Bill of Rights and agree to suspensions of civil liberties. They want us to occupy our free time with prime time miracles and sports, sports, sports. Follow them we must, like lemmings into a sea of turmoil. 

Well, I’ll tell ya who the true patriots were. Men like Mark Twain, who said the purpose of government was “to protect us from the crooks and scoundrels” (hear that Kenny Lay?). Another patriot was “muckraker” George Seldes. He called apathy “the disease of civilization.” Seldes questioned government and corporate leaders so much that he was censored out of a mainstream career. 

Remember the founders of this republic? Those Patriots investigated many sources (censored or not) and compiled as many facts as possible. Then they questioned authority before it ended up questioning them! As for me, I’m gonna catch that channel with the black and white film noir, especially the one about the “Pods” taking over. 

Philip Farruggio 

Port Orange, FL 

Philip Farruggio, son of a longshoreman, is “Blue Collar Brooklyn” born, raised and educated (Brooklyn College, Class of '74). A former progressive talk show host, Philip runs a mfg. rep. business and writes for many publications. You can contact Mr. Farruggio at e-mail: brooklynphilly@ aol.com.

Jim Brown began a six-month jail sentence this month for bashing his wife’s car windows with a shovel in 1999. 

You’ll hear a little bit about that in Spike Lee’s documentary “Jim Brown: All-American.” But you won’t gain an understanding of the volatility and rage that drove Brown to such destruction. 

Lee paints an unabashedly flattering portrait of one of the greatest running backs in football history, who turned his athletic fame into a film career, followed by social activism. 

The director mixes highlights from the football field and the silver screen with interviews from former teammates, sports journalists and co-stars, all of whom sing his praises. And they should; at 66, Brown’s been a charismatic, revolutionary cultural figure for nearly half a century. 

But he touches only briefly on the ugly parts of Brown’s personality — including a history of violence against women and a detachment from his children — without delving into their origins. 

Lee begins with Brown’s childhood as one of the few blacks in Manhasset, N.Y., where he moved at age 8 when his mother took a job there as a domestic. 

Even as a sophomore at Manhasset High School in 1951, Brown obviously was going to be one of the best athletes the school had even seen, according to his football coach, Ed Walsh. 

While Brown also excelled at basketball, golf and tennis, his strongest sport was lacrosse, which he played along with football at Syracuse University. 

Walsh recalls an early example of the racism Brown endured: The Syracuse football coach was reluctant to take Brown because he didn’t want any more blacks on the team, and agreed to accept him only if Walsh would help him enforce 10 rules, one of which barred Brown from dating white girls. 

As would become his style, Brown did what he wanted to do. He ended up at Syracuse, where he proudly flaunted his white girlfriend at practice. 

(Lee’s method for recounting this time in Brown’s life is awkward and contrived, having him meet his aging former lacrosse teammates on the Syracuse field to toss the ball around.) 

Easily, the most exciting parts of the movie are the highlights from Brown’s nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns, from 1957-65. When he retired, no player had run for as many yards (12,312) or scored more touchdowns (126) or rushing touchdowns (106), which put him in the Hall of Fame. 

Over and over, he floats across the field for touchdowns — four or five defenders can’t take him down. Even though he was big for a running back at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, he made it look effortless. 

In a briskly paced sequence, Brown demonstrates how he used his left arm as a club to fight off would-be tacklers, and describes how he wasn’t shy about showing off for the competition. 

“I might stride a little bit in front of them,” he says with a smile, “let ’em see what they gotta look out for.” 

That attitude drew the attention of a Hollywood agent, who thought he’d be perfect for action films. Brown was a revolutionary presence on the screen — a virile, almost threatening black man, in contrast to the sophisticated characters Sidney Poitier played. And in movies like the 1969 Western ”100 Rifles,” he did something previously unheard of — an interracial love scene (with Raquel Welch). 

Having already helped other blacks start businesses, Brown established the Amer-I-Can Foundation in 1988 to help troubled young people, and he met with gang members after the Los Angeles riots, hoping to foster peace. 

But during these years, he also was arrested repeatedly on suspicion of assaulting women; in 1985, O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran defended him against a rape accusation. 

One of the most infamous incidents involved a girlfriend, Eva Marie Bohn-Chin, whom he may have pushed off a second-floor balcony in 1968 — or she may have jumped, depending on whom you ask. Lee’s he said-she said account offers no concrete answers. 

After gathering raves from Welch and Oliver Stone, Art Modell and Hank Aaron, Lee provides the only remotely negative comments toward the end of the movie, from Brown’s adult children. 

Kevin Brown, a recovering drug addict, says his father never embraced him as a child, and hugged him for the first time only recently. Daughter Kim says her dad never had time to attend her ballet recitals, but she understood because he was so busy. And Jim Brown Jr. describes the pressure of carrying his father’s name — which he says pushed him away from football and toward basketball. 

Perhaps we’re supposed to surmise that he was distant because of his experience with his own parents; he and his father had what he called a “verbal pact,” that his father wouldn’t be part of his life, and his mother kicked him out of the house in high school when he disapproved of her dating. 

Despite the glossy treatment, Lee proves again that he’s a talented storyteller, cramming nearly 50 years of momentous moments into a documentary that, at over two hours, feels neither rushed nor slight. 

“Jim Brown: All-American,” an HBO Sports release, is not rated. Running time: 130 minutes. Three stars (out of four). 

Saturday, March 30

Keep Kids Street Safe 

1:30 - 4 p.m. 

YWCA 

1515 Franklin St., Oakland 

A national campaign helping keep children safe and healthy. Highlights include food, prizes and music. 530-1319, compeace@concentric.net 

Sunday, March 31

GAIA Arts and Cultural Center 

Patrice Wynne and Maria Teresa Valenzuela 

Art, Healing and the Creative Process 

Presentation, exhibit and sale open house 

4-8 p.m. 

For more information, call 848-4242 

Monday, April 1

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Renewable Energy Lecture 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School 

University and Bonar St. 

Peter Asmus discusses the viability of renewable energy resources and how they can be used in Berkeley. 981-5435 

Winter Lectures on Energy 

What About Renewable Energy 

Find out how to make the sun’s energy work for you 

Berkeley Adult School 

University Ave and Bonar Streets 

For more information 981-5435 

Tuesday, April 2

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part two of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Wednesday, April 3

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

Don George (Travel Editor Lonely Planet Publications 

Topic: Finding the story, exploring the experience 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 843-6725 

Saturday, April 6

Library Grand Opening 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library 

The celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, a keynote speech by Alice Walker, musical guests, and building tours. 548-7102 

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 - 11 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

A class in basic personal preparedness for emergency situations. 981-5605 

Monday, April 8

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Tuesday, April 9

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part two of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Spring Travel Writer’s Workshop 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave.  

The Fire Escape is Locked For Your Safety 

Wednesday, April 10

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

Linda Watanabe McFerrin (Award-winning poet, travel writer, author of Namako: Sea Cucumber and The Hand of Buddha) 

Topic: Mechanics of Travel Writing 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 843-6725 

Thursday, April 11

Bicycle Maintenance 101 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Rodian Magri will teach participants how to perform basic adjustments on their bikes to keep them in good working condition. 527-7377  

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

7:30 p.m. 

Scratching the Surface: Impressions of Planet Earth, from Hollywood to Shiraz 

Easy Going Travel Shop $ Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. 

843-3533 

Saturday, April 13

Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 a.m. - 1 a.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St. 

A class disaster mental health. 981-5605 

Monday, April 15

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part one of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Tuesday, April 16

Respite Caregiver Volunteer Training 

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Catholic Charities 

433 Jefferson St., Oakland 

Part two of a two day training for anyone interested in becoming a respite care volunteer. 768-3147, betty@cceb.org 

Spring Travel Writer’s Seminar 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. 

Packing Demonstration 

How to pack for three weeks, two climates in one manageable carry-on bag For more information call 843-3533 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center 

Brown Bag Career Talk 

Frank Vargas of the city of Berkeley will speak on the process of gaining employment in the many aspects of city government 

2600 Bancroft Way 

12 -1 p.m. 

$3 

Compiled by Guy Poole 

Berkeley High explodes for 20 hits against thin Spartan pitching staff 

What was expected to be a tight matchup between two ACCAL contenders turned into a laugher on Friday as the Berkeley Yellowjackets pounded out 20 hits and scored in every inning of a 16-2 shellacking of host Pinole Valley. 

Eight different Berkeley players had at least two hits, including three-hit days from Matt Toma and Bennie Goldenberg, and DeAndre Miller and Chris Wilson each drove in three runs to spearhead the ’Jacket outburst as the visitors set new season highs in hits and runs. 

“Today was a pleasant surprise, but we’ve been hitting for last two weeks,” Berkeley head coach Tim Moellering said. “Ever since we played Bishop O’Dowd (an 11-5 win) our bats have been on fire. It doesn’t matter who we face right now.” 

That might be true, but the ’Jackets (5-3, 2-0 ACCAL) got a scheduling break in their first matchup with the Spartans (5-1-1, 1-1). Pinole Valley ace Kurt Koehler, who hasn’t lost a game in two years, pitched on Wednesday against Encinal, leaving the Spartans in the shaky hands of Jeff Molina on Friday. Molina lasted just three innings, giving up four runs on six hits. The bullpen wasn’t any better, as three more pitchers combined to give up nine more runs on the way to their first loss of the season. 

Berkeley, on the other hand, has the deepest staff in the league. With any easy game against Richmond on Wednesday, Moellering had the option of resting lefty Sean Souders for Friday’s game. The junior responded with a sparking outing, allowing just one run on a Scott Scoefield homer in the second inning. Souders responded by setting down the next 13 batters in a row before giving up an infield single to Miguel Bernard, and gave up just three hits in his six innings of work for his second win of the season. 

“Most teams in our league have to get by with one good starter, and that’s tough if you have two tough games in a week,” Moellering said. “But for us it doesn’t matter, because we have the luxury of having two experienced starters as well as several solid options in the bullpen.” 

The last time the ’Jackets faced Pinole Valley, the Spartans won to send Berkeley into a tailspin that nearly knocked them out of the playoff picture. Souders said he came into Friday’s game wanting to prove a point. 

“They put us into a losing streak last year, so I wanted to come out and show them who’s the team to beat this season,” he said. 

The ’Jackets scored five runs in the sixth inning for a 13-1 lead, which would usually signal the end of the game thanks to the “slaughter rule.” But the teams’ coaches said before the game that they wouldn’t stop the game early, although Moellering said he didn’t think either team considered such a large deficit a possibility. 

Pinole Valley head coach Frank Fruzza, on the other hand, considered his team to be on shaky ground without Koehler on the mound. Fruzza said he was “auditioning” for the second starter’s spot as late as Tuesday. 

“I didn’t expect to lose like that, though,” Fruzza said. “We didn’t play a very good game from the get-go. When you get down five or six runs, the wheels can just come off, and that’s what happened today.” 

The ’Jackets should expect to see Koehler in the rematch on May 1, as the Fruzza knows he doesn’t want to see anything resembling Friday’s disaster again. 

“We’re not nearly this bad a team,” he said. “I don’t expect to see that again.” 

Souders said he was anticipating a pitching duel with Koehler. 

“I was disappointed I didn’t get to go against him today,” Souders said. “Hopefully we can go head-to-head in the next game.” 

But the Berkeley hitters didn’t seem too depressed about facing the weak end of the Spartan rotation. 

“We were expecting a much tougher game, and we know we caught a break not facing Koehler” Toma said. “But it’s always fun to come in and just bomb someone.”

The Berkeley Speakers Lecture Series, which has brought luminaries from documentary filmmaker Ken Burns to former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit to town, is packing up and heading for Oakland, citing frustration with the city manager’s office and the Berkeley Police Department. 

But some Berkleyans are happy to see the organization go. “There won’t be any hearts broken,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. 

The Speakers Series, part of a larger company called MPSF, Inc. which also sponsors events in San Mateo and San Rafael, is funded by 2,500 East Bay subscribers, and 4,000 subscribers total in the other two areas. The rift between the series and the city dates back to November 2000 

when the organization attempted to bring in controversial former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak at Berkeley High School’s Community Theater. 

Hundreds of protesters flooded the area, series subscribers had trouble getting into the building, and Netanyahu did not speak. 

City Councilmember Dona Spring said the series is to blame for providing inadequate private security and providing the police department with late notice of Netanyahu’s appearance. 

“They really hadn’t done the proper preparation,” she said. 

Series president Bruce Vogel acknowledged the late notice, but said the police could have done a better job of crowd control. 

“I think their policies are pro-demonstrator,” Vogel said. “I think their approach is a palm tree approach – just bend.” 

The police department referred all questions to the city manager’s office. 

Arrietta Chakos, chief of staff for City Manager Weldon Rucker, said construction on the Berkeley High School campus made it difficult to handle the crowd properly. But, she also defended the department’s handling of the situation. 

“They wanted to be sure we protected the First Amendment rights of the speaker and the demonstrators,” she said. 

Mayor Shirley Dean said Vogel’s critique of the police department was unwarranted. But, she mourned the loss of the Speakers Series, and ultimately blamed the protesters for blocking the Netanyahu speech. 

“There’s something called civic engagement,” she said. “In a community that values the exchange of ideas, you let the other guy speak.” 

Spring defended the protesters, arguing that they had acted peacefully and should not be blamed. 

Last year, tensions escalated when Vogel’s frustrations over preparations for a November 2001 speech by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright led him to move the event from Berkeley to Oakland Paramount Theatre, in downtown Oakland, where the series will hold its entire program next season. 

According to Vogel, the speakers series meticulously planned for the Albright visit – setting up three meetings with city officials, hiring three security companies and commissioning a lawyer to lay out all the legal rights and responsibilities of the company when it came to crowd control. Vogel said the company spent $15,000 preparing for the event, when it normally spends about $1,000 for a similar engagement. 

Vogel said the City Manager’s office and police department were not helpful in coordinating security. In an October meeting, he said, the department told him that it would send officers to the event, but was prepared to pull out during the speech if something else came up. 

Vogel said police departments in other cities, by contrast, have been “eager” to lend support. 

Chakos, who sat in on one of the three meetings with Vogel, said the city was fully prepared to work with the speakers series within guidelines established by the City Council. But, she added that the department cannot be expected to dedicate too many officers to a private speaking engagement. 

“We have a city to take care of,” she said. “We can’t focus on one site.” 

“That’s probably the concern of every city we deal with,” Vogel responded. “Each of those cities, it’s a non-event.” 

In a March 27 letter to the company’s 2,500 East Bay subscribers, announcing the move to Oakland, Vogel put his concerns on paper. 

“Working with the Berkeley Police Department and the City Manager’s Office,” he wrote, “has been a hugely frustrating and unnecessarily expensive experience.” 

At least one Berkeley subscriber to the speakers series is turned off by the move. 

“I don’t plan on renewing,” said Jason Alderman, a Berkeley resident and PG&E employee. “I don’t think I want to support a series that repudiates my own town.” 

Editor: 

Fear of change stands like a great boulder in the path of open discussion about the development of our community. Whether we like it or not, all the statistics point to a population growth of 400,000 in Alameda and Contra Costa counties over the next 20 years. Many of these new residents are our children. Many are those who work in Berkeley schools, in health care, in shops, restaurants, theaters and in ll the other services that make our city livable. 

Where are they to find the housing they need? Will they have to commute to the Central Valley? Will they join others who are forced to the outside of the amoeba-like growth of the Bay Area, who must then jam our roads and pollute our air in order to get tow work each day? 

Over the past 30 years, Berkeley’s population had declined substantially, so the added auto congestion doesn’t result from more people living here. To a large extent, it results from people who work and go to school here but who can not find affordable housing that suits their needs. 

The League of Women Voters recently completed an intensive study of housing in Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. On the basis of that effort, we recommend that “...the city should expand its housing stock to meet its share of the region’s growth projections, using such measures as the following: ...Identify and limit constraints on new housing construction,... review the zoning code and consider revisions that would promote production of needed housing, while maintaining health and safety standards and environmental protection.” 

After many years of study and public input, the City Council approved new Housing an Land Use Elements for its updated General Plan. It endorsed increased apartment development along transportation corridors. This is essential for adding residents while minimizing auto congestion. Additional low and moderate income housing will also increase the number of people using public transit and thus improve public transport. Yet, recently, the City Council down-zoned a group of parcels very near two transit corridors — University and San Pablo avenues — moved by objections to a proposed apartment building. Surely, the concept of increasing apartment development along transportation corridors also includes encouraging or at least permitting such development in appropriately zoned areas very close to transit corridors. 

We must ask: what did the City Council think it was adopting in the new Land Use and Housing Elements if not a set of policies to guide future land use and housing decisions throughout the city? If the Planning Commission and the City Council hear only the nay-sayers, they are undermining their own adopted policies. Those policies an those documents are meaningless, and all those years of study and public input are wasted, if they can be set aside so soon after their adoption. We urge the City Council to enforce both the letter and the spirit of the new Land Use and Housing Elements and to do so with the good of the City as a whole in mind. 

We must move beyond fear of change, capture a vision of a sensibly changing city, one in which more residents add up to a better life for all of us. A moderate expansion of housing along and near transportation corridors, and particularly of housing for people with low and moderate incomes, will also permit the city to continue to embrace residents with a wide range of economic circumstances, ages and racial and ethnic backgrounds. 

We invite fellow citizens who wish to welcome newcomers and maintain diversity to tell your own council member and the City Council as a whole that you support thoughtful growth of housing and of population in Berkeley. Don’t slam the door in the faces of our own children and all the people we rely on in our schools, homes, shops and offices. If you feel as the League of Women Voters does, you can reach us at 834-8824, by e-mail at lwvbae@pacbell.net or through our Web site: home.pacbell.net/lwvbae. 

Nancy Bickel, President 

Lois Brubeck,  

Action Vice President 

Jean Safir, Housing Action Chair

NEW YORK — Broadway has given back a bit of what it got from the City of New York to help the theater after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center — and the money will go to other needy arts organizations. 

This week, the League of American Theatres and Producers returned $1 million of a $2.5 million stipend given last fall by the city to purchase tickets to 11 Broadway shows that were facing the prospect of a bleak winter. 

“This is a good example of the way things should work,” league president Jed Bernstein said Monday. “The private sector (Broadway) helped itself first — then sought out the support of the city to assist in stimulating an economic recovery for the tourism industry as a whole, using Broadway as a lynchpin.” 

Those tickets purchased were given to the Twin Towers Fund and to support a special program from the city’s tourist bureau, NYC & Company, designed also to help restaurants, hotels and retail businesses hit by the tourist slump. 

Tickets were purchased to such long-running shows as “Les Miserables” and “The Phantom of the Opera” as well as newer productions such as “Proof,” “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” and “Contact.” 

Yet winter-season sales were better than anticipated, due to several factors including mild weather, special discounts and other promotions and an increase in theatergoers from the New York metropolitan area, up 16 percent from the previous year, Bernstein said. 

The league reported that winter grosses were off by only 5.4 percent and attendance by 9.8 percent from the previous year, which had been a record year. By the end of the winter, many of the shows in the program had had profitable weeks, resulting in the return of the money. 

The $1 million will go to a variety of service organizations including the Center for Arts Education, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the American Music Center and the Alliance of Resident Theaters/New York. 

Forest comes out on top of aces’ duel 

Freshman Chelsea Spencer hit a one out double to bring in three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give No. 8 Cal (34-10, 1-0 Pac-10) a 3-2 win over No. 3 Stanford (27-4, 0-1 Pac-10) in the teams’ conference opener Friday afternoon at Levine-Fricke Field.  

The Cardinal, who have scored at least one run in the first inning 13 of the last 14 games, wasted no time getting on the scoreboard once again as senior Jessica Mendoza hit a solo homer deep over the center field fence. Neither team made any noise for the next four innings as senior pitcher Jocelyn Forest and Stanford ace Tori Nyberg dueled in a much-hyped matchup.  

In Cal’s half of the sixth inning, junior Kristen Morley led off with a walk and senior Candace Harper singled to right field. Junior Veronica Nelson, the NCAA career walk leader with 244, was intentionally walked to load the bases. After Courtney Scott struck out swinging, Spencer’s double went under the glove of Cardinal shortstop Robin Walker and past center fielder Mendoza, all the way to the fence at left center, for RBIs No. 21, 22 and 23 for the native of San Leandro.  

Stanford threatened in the top of the seventh as Jessica Allister led off the inning with a double to right center. Junior Cassi Brangham followed with a double of her own, bringing in pinch runner Heather Shook to narrow the Bears’ lead to just one.  

From there, it was all Jocelyn Forest. The preseason All-American struck out the next three batters in order to quell the threat and end the game. She finished the contest with 12 strikeouts, five hits and just one walk as she completed her 18th game of the year.  

Nyberg, who’s only other loss of the season was to Nebraska Feb. 23, 2-0, also went the distance, striking out six batters on five hits and three base on balls.  

Morley went 2-for-2 on the afternoon, while Spencer went 1-for-2 with three RBI. The two teams square off again Saturday as Stanford hosts a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. at the Smith Family Stadium.

The ongoing battle between Claremont Spa workers and management of the KSL Recreation corporation came to a head on Friday after months of failed negotiations and the well-intentioned interventions of both Berkeley and Oakland’s city councils. 

Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Local 2850, AFL-CIO and Claremont Spa workers launched “KSLwatch.org Web site and held an Easter Bunny demonstration on Friday outside the Claremont Resort and Spa, on Ashby at Claremont Ave. in Oakland.  

After Friday’s protest the two appeared to be no closer to reaching an agreement on whether spa workers will be able to vote on unionization by card check or by a standard vote, which spa workers and union representatives say is a process that allows for an environment of corporate intimidation. 

“It seems pretty clear to me that KSL does not plan on allowing for a card check,” said Oakland Vice Mayor Jane Brunner. “And I know from past experience that it is very difficult for an individual to negotiate with a corporation like KSL.”  

Brunner, in addition to serving on the Oakland City Council is also a labor attorney in the city, and coincidentally happened to represent a group of Claremont workers in a civil suit against management several years ago. Shortly after Claremont was originally purchased by the KSL Recreation Corp. several workers, many older than 50 years of age were fired. Brunner represented those workers in an age discrimination suit against KSL. The workers were awarded punitive damages but in most cases were not allowed to return to work. 

On Feb. 5, the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution supporting Claremont Spa workers efforts to unionize with a union card check as opposed to going through the process of a vote-in procedure. Since then, two of the four workers allegedly laid off due to their efforts to unionize have actually been allowed to return to work. On Tuesday, March 23 Oakland’s council passed a similar resolution — reaffirming the union’s claim that a card check method would help insure that workers are not intimidated and discouraged from joining the union that already represents the majority of the staff at Claremont. 

According to Liz Oakley, a union representative for Local 2850, there was great hopes that this move would be the straw that broke the camel’s back considering that Claremont is actually located in Oakland. This is not, however, Oakland’s first effort to intervene at Claremont. Brunner has approximately 800 names and addresses of people who live around Claremont and “most likely use their services” and keeps them abreast of the ensuing negotiations between management and workers. 

“We have political power, that’s all,” Brunner said, adding that the city of Oakland, or Berkeley for that matter, cannot force the hand of KSL. “But many of the people who live around there are people who would go to the Spa. But they are also very progressive. We have politically conscious community members in Berkeley and here in Oakland, and we will continue to keep them aware of the manner that KSL treats their workers.” 

But other than political pressure Brunner and Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean both concede there is nothing that either city can do to further the cause of spa workers 

Stephanie Ruby, Local 2850, said that despite the limitations of powers that the two cities have their interventions have been helping the cause. 

“Since Berkeley passed its resolution two workers have been asked to return to work. So it does help. And we think it’s just tremendous that Oakland has chosen unanimously to support us as well.” 

But the last week has not proven to be fruitful for either sides. 

In response to the Oakland resolution, KSL released a statement contesting the legality of the resolution passed by Council.  

At Friday’s protest, unlike demonstration’s in the past, KSL management refused to comment on the ongoing negotiations and would not confirm or deny whether communications have entirely broken down. 

Leslie Fitzgerald, a massage therapist at Claremont Resort for nearly eight years was suspended from work along with three other co-workers for handing out leaflets to Claremont hotel guests. The leaflets informed hotel guests about the working conditions for spa workers and their efforts to union organize, according to Ruby. But statements released by KSL have stated that the leaflets contained “union propaganda,” according to a KSL spokes person.  

At this point, as Local 2850 takes an even more aggressive stance with launching a full-service Web site capable of disseminating information to a much broader audience then hotel guest or the 800 neighbors living around the spa, KSL remains silent. They still, however, contend they will not allow card-check to replace a vote-in procedure, and the two remaining workers suspended for alleged union organizing have not been called back to work. 

“They are the outsider in all this,” Ruby said. “The community is clearly saying: ‘You can’t pay people poverty wages. You can’t walk all over other people’s rights to free speech and right to organize.’ ” 

At this point negotiations would seemingly have to get better to avoid a full-scale strike, said Brunner, adding that she has no inside knowledge on what the union’s or management’s intentions are. 

“I have worked with them in the past, and I know how they operate. I think if they were interested in having a card check it would have happened. The people who are making the decisions for KSL are not here and are not necessarily being inconvenienced,” Brunner said, adding that she does not know how long it will take, from past experience, for management to begin to feel the heat. 

“This is the exact reason that unions are so important to the individual because it’s only a beginning when it comes to leveling the playing field,” she added. But Brunner said she hopes everyone thinks long and hard before making any decisions on a strike because of the added risk it will pose for the employees and their families. 

David Fincher is entirely too pleased with himself. 

The director who made his name with stylish, seemingly endless tracking shots in “Fight Club” is at it again with “Panic Room.” The camera careens effortlessly through windows and stair banisters, across countertops, and inside garden hoses and light bulbs. 

Fincher probably should have eased up on the technique just a tad; he uses it so many times, he’s clearly just showing off. But the breathtaking visuals are just enough to distract from the flawed script from David Koepp (“Mission: Impossible,” “Stir of Echoes”). It begins with a weak premise and collapses into an unbelievably ridiculous series of twists. 

Having said that, the virtuoso camerawork makes “Panic Room” worth seeing, as does Jodie Foster’s characteristically confident, controlled performance. 

Foster — who took the role after Nicole Kidman got injured — stars as Meg Altman, who’s recently divorced from her wealthy husband. Meg must’ve gotten a huge settlement, because she and her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart), can afford to move into a 4,200-square-foot, four-story brownstone on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, just steps from Central Park. 

The place has six fireplaces, hardwood floors throughout, an elevator, and — we’re told ominously — a panic room, an impenetrable chamber off the master bedroom for hiding in case of a burglary. 

Who knew panic rooms even existed? Are they just for the rich? Or Dick Cheney? Except at the White House, they call it the Situation Room. (The film’s production notes say panic rooms are a variation of a castle keep, a bomb or storm shelter — and the White House Situation Room.) 

Meg and Sarah find they need the room sooner than they think — too soon, really; we should have been lulled a little longer into the contentment of their new life. Three bad guys break in on their first night there. 

Junior (Jared Leto), Burnham (Forest Whitaker) and Raoul (Dwight Yoakam) show up to steal millions of dollars they believe the previous owner stashed in the hidden room. 

Meg spies on them through surveillance cameras that are mounted throughout the home, then rouses her sleeping daughter, and the two scurry into the room just in time. It’s a given that they’ll make it inside — that’s the whole point of the movie — but the sequence in which the bad guys chase them in there is shot and edited so flawlessly, it’s suspenseful anyway. 

The rest of the movie consists of Meg and the burglars trying to outsmart each other, with a wall of steel and stone between them. Impetuous Junior wants to bust his way into the room using a sledgehammer. Quiet Raoul wants to gas them out with a propane tank and a garden hose. But Burnham — the criminal with a heart of gold — wants to talk them out peacefully. 

We don’t know much about Meg’s background — like what she does for a living, for example — but somehow, inside the tiny room that initially paralyzes her with claustrophobia, she cultivates a MacGyver-esque resourcefulness than enables her to counter their every attack. 

Although we’re asked to suspend disbelief, we always know in the back of our minds that Meg and Sarah will get out alive; if they didn’t, it would be an independent film. 

And when they do, they’re forced to fight for their lives in an unnecessarily violent attack that’s too cartoonish to be climactic. 

“Panic Room,” a Columbia Pictures release, is rated R for violence and language. Running time: 110 minutes. Two and a half stars (out of four).

Oakland facility criticized for lack of space, parking, disabled access, poor ventilation  

The Alameda County morgue in Oakland is “shockingly unsatisfactory and in serious crisis,” according to a report issued Tuesday by an Alameda grand jury.  

This is the second year in a row a grand jury has criticized the facility for being substandard, antiquated and overcrowded. 

Specifically criticized were the lack of access for disabled people, inadequate parking, limited movement for employees and visitors because of narrow staircases, poor ventilation, body-receiving docks in open view, lack of private interview space for family members and lack of space in the event of a mass casualty disaster. 

The report suggested that the coroner’s office be relocated or else use portable buildings in the parking lost east of the present building.  

Lt. Cynthia Harris, Berkeley Police Department spokesperson, said the BPD has not had any problems with the coroner’s office, though they deal with the office all the time. 

“Our relationship with them is fine. I haven’t heard any complaints from homicide,” said Harris. 

But Lt. Jim Knudsen, spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the coroner’s office, said that Sheriff Charles Plummer is aware of the problem. 

“The sheriff is very concerned. He has said repeatedly it needs to be replaced,” Knudsen said. 

Staff in the Sheriff’s Office are currently analyzing the report to see what can be done. 

Knudsen said that he already knows some of the suggestions that the Grand Jury made are not practical. 

“Putting a portable building in the parking lot takes parking and storage from other facilities. That puts a burden on those other facilities,” said Knudsen. 

Renting other space may not be practical either, he added. 

“There are special autopsy tables that we use that are hard to move. We could get new ones for the interim, but that might not be the best value for the tax dollar,” said Knudsen. 

The Grand Jury’s report called for immediate action, but a solution will probably not happen any time soon. 

Supervisor Keith Carson, who chairs the budget committee, said that the county is currently strapped for cash. The state’s $18 billion deficit means that the county’s budget will likely be even tighter this year. 

“The coroner’s office does need a new office. Nobody’s saying it doesn’t, but we have to evaluate the capital needs of the county,” said Carson. 

In addition to the need for facilities such as a new public hospital and Juvenile Hall, Carson said the county must also consider how to maintain the social services currently available. 

Although the amount of available funds has gone down, said Carson, “What hasn’t gone down is the number of people using county services. That’s actually gone up. The number of people needing health insurance, unemployment – all of these people use the county safety net.” 

That is, the sheriff’s facility is one building on a list of concerns for the county, and it isn’t at the top. 

But Knudsen hopes that the problem can be solved in the not-too-distant future. He said the Sheriff’s Office is hopeful that a new facility in San Leandro can be built in a couple of years.

LONDON — More than 1,700 years after it was completed by an enigmatic Indian scribe, the “Kamasutra” is among the most famous Hindu books ever written — and, many believe, the most misunderstood. 

Most who have encountered the book recall it as a do-it-yourself sex manual, an eye-opening encyclopedia of acrobatic positions. 

Academics hope a frank new translation will help the “Kamasutra” — which means “a treatise on desire” — shake its saucy reputation and regain its status as a literary classic. 

“It’s by far the most complete and interesting work about sexual psychology that has been written — a cross between ‘The Joy of Sex’ and ‘Lady Chatterly’s Lover,”’ said Wendy Doniger, who translated the book from the original Sanskrit with psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar. 

“The great misconception is that it is about the positions, which is the silliest part of the book, and a very short part of the book,” she added. 

“Kamasutra” was released today in Britain and Oxford University Press will hit bookstores in the United States in June. 

Written probably in 3rd-century Northern India by Vatsyayana Mallanaga, “Kamasutra” catalogs sexual positions, enumerates the varieties of kissing and expounds on the amorous role of scratching and biting. 

But it also tells readers how to flirt, conduct a lovers’ quarrel, seduce someone else’s spouse and blend potions to stimulate a sagging libido. 

It even advises a woman on ways to dump an unwanted lover: “She talks about things he does not know about. She shows no amazement, but only contempt, for the things he does know about. She punctures his pride.” 

With its aphoristic advice on attracting, satisfying, keeping and shedding a partner, the book is often more “Sex in the City” than sex manual. 

“It is always said to be a book about man’s manipulation of women, but a great deal of it is about women’s manipulation of men,” Doniger says. “It’s really about power, politics and sex.” 

Doniger, who teaches the history of religion at the University of Chicago, says the “Kamasutra” has been ill-served by its best-known English translation, completed in 1883 by British writer-explorer Sir Richard Burton. 

Doniger says Burton’s language is “Victorian and flowery,” while the original Sanskrit is direct and robust. 

“The Kamasutra is punchy, Hemingwayesque — ’he touches her here, she bites him there,”’ Doniger said. 

“Burton uses the Hindu words ‘lingam’ and ’yoni’ to refer to the sexual organs. These words are not in the original text. ... Burton takes all the ambiguity out, and makes it sound like some weird ‘Orientalist’ thing, whereas the book is about us.” 

The new Oxford Classics edition is noticeably more direct than its Victorian predecessor. What Burton calls “supported congress,” the new book terms “sex standing up.” 

The two editions agree, however, on the “lotus” position and the gymnastic embrace called “splitting the bamboo.” 

That kind of exotic eroticism has made “Kamasutra” the bane of generations of parents and teachers, and the book remains controversial. Indian-born director Mira Nair’s 1996 film, “Kamasutra — a Tale of Love,” loosely based on the book, was stalled for more than a year by Indian censors before finally being screened. 

Doniger says the book’s reputation has obscured its value as a work of literature. She says it can be read as a play in seven acts, following its male and female protagonists from seduction through separation, and as an idealized portrait of a sophisticated, monied society. 

“No one in this book ever goes to the shop, no one ever goes to see his mother. All you do all day is plan for the night and get ready for it,” she said. “Its like a Playboy Mansion life. 

“Training parrots and mynah birds to talk and going to cockfights, what sort of food and liquor to serve at a party — the life of pleasure is beautifully evoked. But a lot of it is about men and women in ways that have not changed. 

“It’s an enormously complicated book on the psychology of sex, the psychology of erotic arousal.” 

And those illustrations — they were added much later. 

“They’re an afterthought,” Doniger said. “A very famous afterthought.”

Saturday, March 30th is the 89th day of 2002. There are 276 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer. 

On this date: 

In 1822, Florida became a U.S. territory. 

In 1842, Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Ga., first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation. 

In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as “Seward’s Folly.” 

In 1870, the 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect. 

In 1870, Texas was readmitted to the Union. 

In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II. 

In 1964, John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for U.S. Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall. 

In 1970, the musical “Applause” opened on Broadway. 

In 1973, Ellsworth Bunker resigned as U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, and was succeeded by Graham A. Martin. 

In 1986, actor James Cagney died at his farm in Stanfordville, N.Y., at age 86. 

Ten years ago: “The Silence of the Lambs” won five top Oscars at the 64th annual Academy Awards, including best picture, best actress for Jodie Foster and best actor for Anthony Hopkins. 

Five years ago: The reigning champion Lady Vols of Tennessee won their fifth NCAA women’s basketball title by defeating Old Dominion, 68-59. 

One year ago: Top environment officials from North, Central and South America ended two days of talks in Montreal without a consensus agreement on global warming. (A statement signed by 26 ministers from Latin American and Caribbean countries faulted a decision by the United States to reject the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.) 

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Frankie Laine is 89. Former CIA Director Richard Helms is 89. Actor Richard Dysart is 73. Actor John Astin is 72. Game show host Peter Marshall is 72. Actor-director Warren Beatty is 65. Rock musician Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues) is 61. Rock musician Eric Clapton is 57. Actor Robbie Coltrane is 52. Actor Paul Reiser is 45. Rap artist MC Hammer is 39. Singer Tracy Chapman is 38. Actor Ian Ziering is 38. Singer Celine Dion is 34. Singer-musician Scott Moffatt (The Moffatts) is 19. 

DETROIT — Her young son stood in the department store, hands stuffed in his pockets. He was just 9 years old, but Jean Alicia Elster feared that because of the color of his skin, and the way he was standing, people would think her son was stealing. 

“I felt bad because I kind of had to break his childhood bubble. But at a certain point, young, African-American males are no longer viewed as cute little boys ... they’re viewed as potential thieves,” Elster said. 

It was this experience that inspired the plot for her first published children’s book, “Just Call Me Joe Joe.” 

The book, geared toward black, urban children ages 6-10, is the first in a series about 10-year-old Joe Joe Rawlings. It came out in October. 

In it, Joe Joe is accused by Mr. Booth, a white storeowner, of trashing his store, when it was really a local gang that did it. Joe Joe is crushed that Mr. Booth would confuse him with gang members: 

“Joe Joe looked up in shock. It was Mr. Booth yelling at him. His face was red, and his eyes were bulging with anger. He shouted at Joe Joe again. ‘I said, get out!”’ 

Elster said she wanted to address racial stereotyping because it is an experience that not only black parents have to battle, but Hispanic and Arab American parents as well. She also hopes that white parents use the book to help their children understand that “life isn’t always fair and they may view certain people of color in a certain way that’s not fair.” 

The 48-year-old author lives in Detroit with her husband, William, and their two children: Elizabeth, 14, and Isaac, 12. Elster uses Negro League star James “Cool Papa” Bell, to inspire Joe Joe to work things out with the storeowner. Joe Joe reads about Bell in a book recommended by librarian Mrs. Morgan. 

Bell’s story teaches the child that even though he is treated unfairly because of his race, it doesn’t change who he is. 

At the start of each story in the series, Mrs. Morgan will give Joe Joe a new book about a figure in black history. Later topics will include the Tuskegee Airmen and Ralph Bunche, the American diplomat who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. 

Doreen Loury, a professor of sociology at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa., said it is encouraging to see books written for black children, “so that young people, when they hear the book and when they see the images in the book, they see themselves.” 

She said that helps black children gain a sense of identity and self-confidence. 

“People don’t have to do what I had to do in the ’60s and search for stuff,” Loury said. She said when her now-grown daughter was young, she drove miles to find toys and books specifically for black children. 

“There’s nothing wrong with looking at all kinds of literature, but when all you’re looking at is Dick and Jane, and Dick and Jane didn’t get an African-American neighbor until the ’70s,” it is limiting, Loury said. 

Kathleen Odean, children’s editor at Book magazine, said there are numerous books geared toward black children coming out now. But she said because children’s books have such staying power, the recent boon isn’t enough. 

“For so many years, nobody was doing books about black kids. And in that sense there’s a ways to go,” she said. 

Elster said it is important for children today to have positive characters in books, especially if they don’t have a lot of role models in their lives. 

When she was young, she was fortunate to have many good influences around her. Her parents were educators, and many of her neighbors were professionals. “Everyone around me was African American and very successful at what they did,” said Elster, who knew when she was 6 years old that she wanted to be a writer. 

“I would write in this little notebook. And I just remember thinking to myself, ‘This is what I want to do. I just want to write.’ I was just this little kid. I knew that this was my calling,” she said. 

Her love for words is partly influenced by her grandmother, whom she used to watch write letters using an inkwell and a fountain pen. 

But after graduating from the University of Michigan with an English degree, Elster strayed a bit from writing: She went to law school at the University of Detroit and practiced law for about five years. 

“It was strictly a financial decision. ... I thought, ‘Well, I can practice law and write on the side,”’ she said. “I still pay my bar dues. It’s like my insurance.” 

Then, she and her husband, a historian at Wayne State University, started a family, and Elster left work to raise the children. In the early 1990s, she got back to her first love, writing an essay for World Vision, and then for Ms. magazine. She began writing and editing full time in 1994. 

Judson Press, the publishing arm of the American Baptist Churches in the USA, knew her from the work she did editing two books for the publisher, and asked her to submit an idea for a children’s story about an urban black boy. She submitted four ideas. 

James A. Cox, editor in chief of Midwest Book Review, called Elster an excellent writer. 

“Basically, the hook was right where it should be, right up front. ... She managed to keep a high interest level from first page to last,” Cox said. 

In a review, Cox said the book was a “highly recommended and strong story of moral conviction and justice for young readers.” 

Mark Wiragh, Judson Press marketing manager, said it was the first time the publisher has done a black children’s book. 

“It’s exceeded our expectations,” Wiragh said. He said 10,000 copies have sold and the book is now in a second printing. 

The Joe Joe series will be four books in all. The next one, “I Have a Dream, Too!,” is due out in April. The third installment comes out in October, and the fourth will be published in April 2003. 

Elster hopes to continue the Joe Joe series, with books for a slightly older audience. She also is working on a novel for adults. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Judson Press, http://www.judsonpress.com 

End Adv for March 7-10 and Thereafter 

OAKLAND — The Oakland police department plans to put extra officer on the streets this weekend to crack down on “sideshows,” loosely organized events where fast cars spin doughnuts in parking lots as young onlookers stand dangerously nearby. 

The extra police officers are part of a new mandatory overtime program initiated to prevent the dangerous, late night activity. the overnight hours. Sixty-five officers will focus on finding and stopping sideshows Saturday night. Oakland Police Lieutenant Mike Yoell said the department would put officers in strategic locations throughout the city and have them citing and towing “as many violators possible.” 

A 22-year-old woman died in February when the car she was riding in was broadsided by a Buick that moments before had been spinning “doughnuts,” police said. Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown said he wants the state to enact emergency laws giving police the power to impound any car involved in sideshows. 

WASHINGTON — American-born Taliban John Walker Lindh received the same food and medical care as U.S. soldiers while in custody in Afghanistan, and even slept on a stretcher while his physician made do on a concrete floor, U.S. prosecutors said Friday. 

The government’s written court filing responded to repeated claims by Lindh’s lawyers that their client was all but tortured while in U.S. military custody. 

The defense had argued that incriminating statements Lindh made to interrogators should be thrown out, in part because he was interviewed after being confined in a freezing metal container, bound with circulation-cutting handcuffs and blindfolded. 

The government did acknowledge that conditions in a U.S. military camp in Afghanistan weren’t ideal for anyone. 

However, the United States “had not plucked John Walker Lindh out of the California suburb where he used to live and dropped him into a metal container in the middle of Afghanistan,” the court filing said. 

Lindh entered that country, sought out training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan, learned to use shoulder-fired weapons and grenades and swore allegiance to jihad, or holy war, it said. 

Lindh, 21, of a Marin County suburb just north of San Francisco, is charged with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, providing support and services to foreign terrorist organizations and using firearms and destructive devices during crimes of violence. Three of the 10 charges carry a maximum life sentence, and the other seven have maximum prison terms of 90 years. 

Wounded in the leg, Lindh was given “the very same medical treatment provided to wounded United States military personnel,” the filing said. He was fed with the same Meals Ready To Eat as U.S. forces, in the same quantities, and was given warm comforters. 

“While the Navy physician who was treating him had to sleep on a concrete floor in a sleeping bag in a room with a hole in the wall and a hole in the ceiling, Lindh slept on a stretcher in a container that protected him from the elements,” the filing said. 

After he was taken aboard a U.S. military ship, Lindh had a bullet removed by a senior surgeon, received a second haircut when he complained about an earlier one, had his mustache trimmed and was advised of the direction of Mecca so he could say his Muslim prayers, the government contended. 

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III has scheduled a hearing on the defense document requests Monday. The case is in Alexandria, Va., and the filing was released in Washington by the Justice Department. 

ANAHEIM — A Palestinian refugee who gained national attention three years ago for his hunger strike protesting INS treatment has been charged with assaulting a federal immigration agent. 

A complaint filed this week alleges that Mohammad Mahmoud Bachir, 43, kicked an agent, screamed he was a terrorist and threatened to bring down the airplane when agents tried to move him from California to New York on a commercial flight. 

Bachir denied the allegations, telling The Associated Press it was Immigration and Naturalization Service agents who assaulted him. 

“I would never say this. There is no sane person who would say this after Sept. 11,” he said Friday in a telephone interview from Kern County Jail where he was placed earlier this week. He is scheduled to be arraigned April 15. 

INS officials did not immediately return a call for comment. 

The assault allegation is the latest in a string of clashes between the INS and the former Anaheim tax accountant dating back to the mid-1990s. 

Bachir’s problems began with a custody dispute with his ex-wife that resulted in his being charged with abduction for taking the couple’s son to Lebanon. The child was eventually returned and Bachir served a two-year sentence. 

The INS sought to deport Bachir, who was born in a Lebanese refugee camp, but court records show Lebanon refused to accept him and he was listed as stateless. 

Meanwhile, Bachir protested his detention with hunger strikes, in numerous media interviews and through the filing of human rights complaints against INS officials. 

In 1999, he helped lead 16 detainees in a hunger strike at Hillsborough County Jail in Manchester, N.H. The group alleged they were physically and verbally abused at the jail, which also was used as an INS detention center. 

Bachir was released from custody in April after a federal judge ruled the INS could not hold immigrants indefinitely. He was detained again in early February for failing to check in with authorities and for violating a restraining order by placing a call to his ex-wife. 

Bachir said he was in constant contact with the INS but missed an in-person appointment because he was being treated at Anaheim General Hospital for a kidney infection. The hospital would not confirm or deny his story, citing patient confidentiality. 

Bachir and his supporters believe his most recent detention stems from animosity over authorities being ordered to release him last year. 

“He has a history of agitating against the INS,” said Mac Scott of the Coalition of Human Rights for Immigrants. “He’s embarrassed the INS with his actions. I think they have carried a grudge against him ever since.” 

Federal authorities have denied any efforts at retaliation. 

“He’s violated a couple of conditions of his release,” David Venturella, a top INS administrator, told The Orange County Register. “Any one of them would have been good enough for us to arrest him.” 

Venturella said Bachir’s penchant for disruptive protests was one of the reason INS officials wanted to move him from Southern California to a more secure facility in Buffalo, N.Y. 

The latest complaint charges Bachir with kicking the INS officer during a scuffle when agents tried to put him on a Northwest flight at Los Angeles International Airport. 

According to the complaint, Bachir kicked the agent and screamed, “I’m a terrorist and I’m going to blow up this plane,” prompting Northwest employees to ask that he be removed from the flight. 

Bachir said his hands and feet were shackled and that agents injured him when they dragged him onto the plane. He acknowledged he didn’t want to be moved to New York because his son and other family members are in Orange County. 

“I wanted to be near my family. I told them this,” he said. 

LOS ANGELES — Publicity about sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests has prompted 20 to 30 calls to police from people who claim they were victimized years or decades ago, authorities said Friday. 

“We’re not getting any information that there are any children that are currently being physically or sexually abused,” said Lt. Daniel Mulrenin, head of the Police Department Juvenile Division’s sexually exploited child unit. 

“We’re getting calls from adults, 30 or 40 years old, saying they were ... abused as children,” he said. 

The calls are being reviewed and some may prompt formal investigations, he said, noting that there could still be charges filed even in old cases. 

The handling of clergy sexual abuse cases by the U.S. Catholic church has come under renewed scrutiny since January, when it was revealed that a former Boston priest had been moved from parish to parish after accusations of sexual abuse. 

As for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, “we have a very good relationship with them,” Mulrenin said. “We want to maintain that and they’ve indicated that they’re going to fully cooperate.” 

Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the archdiocese, has said some priests recently were dismissed, some for abuse that occurred decades ago. But he has not said how many priests were dismissed and he has not released their names. 

Mahony has not commented on a Los Angeles Times report that the dismissals involved six to 12 priests. 

The report led Police Chief Bernard Parks to send Mahony a letter asking for the names of the dismissed priests. In correspondence released Thursday, Mahony told Parks that those cases which occurred in Los Angeles police jurisdiction were reported there and those priests were prosecuted and served probation many years ago. 

“These cases are a matter of public record and known to your detectives,” the cardinal wrote. 

The issue of the dismissed priests’ identities became unclear late Thursday when the Police Department issued a press release that noted the reports of the dismissals and said detectives had met with the archdiocesan legal adviser on Wednesday. 

“Detectives were given names of priests and are currently checking department records,” the press release said. 

On Friday, an archdiocesan spokesman and a police official said that the names of the dismissed priests were not involved. 

“The discussions (Wednesday) did not involve turning over the names of the recently released priests because the LAPD detectives acknowledge that they already have them,” said archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg. 

Police Cmdr. Gary Brennand said the archdiocese turned over names of priests who have only recently been accused of long-ago molestation by people calling a special church hotline. 

Police will review those names to determine whether the priests were previously accused or convicted of abusing other victims, he said. 

“We don’t know how many priests the diocese has dismissed,” he said. “We don’t know how many that they have dismissed are within our jurisdiction. We have been given names by the diocese of priests who have just recently come to their attention and just recently been accused of abuse, but the accusations are for incidents that occurred years ago.” 

CALEXICO — An earthquake rattled Baja California early Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. 

The magnitude-3.1 quake struck just before 6:02 p.m. about 19 miles southeast of Calexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey. 

The quake apparently was related to a magnitude-5.7 quake that rattled Calexico on Feb. 22 but it was not immediately clear whether it was a direct aftershock, said Kate Hutton, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. 

A magnitude-4.7 quake was reported in Baja California on Wednesday, which followed a magnitude-4.4 quake on Tuesday. 

Also Tuesday, a magnitude-3.0 temblor hit an area about 12 miles north-northwest of Calexico. 

SANTA ROSA — Sonoma County musician Doug Bowes will remember this Easter season as the one where he happened upon the Easter Bunny, and it attacked him. 

Bowes was walking near his home at about 11 a.m. Wednesday when the attack occurred. A small, gray jack rabbit bounded toward him from a nearby fence. 

“I thought, ’Gosh, this is somebody’s pet,’ ” Bowes said. He put his hand down in a friendly gesture and the bunny lunged and bit him. 

Bowes began to walk home, nursing a sore hand with broken skin, but the rabbit followed him. A short time later, a nearby neighbor had to retreat up a hill after another aggressive jack rabbit forced her back. 

Bowes had to get rabies shots and faces five additional vaccinations, though area health officials say it would be rare if the animal had rabies. 

“If it were (rabid) it would make history,” said David Yong, director of laboratory services for the county public health division. No rabbit has tested positive for rabies in Sonoma County in the past 16 years, Yang said.

SACRAMENTO — A school bus safety program projected to cost no more than $1 million each year is instead costing California $67 million annually, according to a new audit. 

Through this year, schools will have claimed $290 million since the program’s inception — 48 times its expected cost. 

The cost is so much higher than anticipated that legislators passed a new law last year halting any reimbursements to local school districts until the state audit was completed Thursday. 

The Legislature had expected annual costs wouldn’t top $1 million a year when it adopted new school bus safety rules between 1994 and 1997 in response to a fatal accident involving a student who was crossing the street after a school bus dropped him off. 

Even the revised estimate is questionable because schools varied greatly in claiming reimbursement from the state, based mainly on which private consulting firm they employed, state auditors found. 

Four of the six consultants reviewed by the auditors were conservative in their reimbursement recommendations. Their highest claim was for $41,155, or $14.72 per bus rider. A fifth was much higher only because of a unique condition related to a single school district that skewed the results. 

The sixth consultant, however, was the adviser for 78 percent of the 787 reimbursement claims filed for the 1999-2000 school year. Claims filed with the advice of Rancho Cordova-based Mandated Cost Systems Inc. accounted for $58 million of the $59 million sought by school districts statewide that year. 

Mandated Cost Systems “took a more aggressive approach,” seeking reimbursement for all associated transportation costs, State Auditor Elaine Howle said — including those its client districts were incurring before the new state safety mandate. 

One client, Elk Grove Unified School District near Sacramento, claimed $1.8 million from the state — or $198.84 per rider, 13 times higher than the per-rider claim by the next highest representative district. Mandated Cost System’s per-rider cost for all its client districts averaged $97.91. 

Auditors also found most school districts they sampled lacked sufficient data to back up their reimbursement claims. 

Yet Howle blamed neither the consultant nor the school districts for the unexpectedly high reimbursement claims. 

Rather, she blamed the state’s Commission on State Mandates for failing to set clear reimbursement guidelines. That, she said, opened the door for broad interpretations both in what districts claim and in how they document their claims. 

The commission specifically “chose to use the ’broadest, most comprehensive’ language it could to ensure that large and small school districts would be covered for any activities they have in their transportation safety plans,” Howle said. 

Problems caused by the lack of clarity were aggravated because the commission had delays totaling more than 14 months before it decided in 1997 that school districts’ compliance costs were reimbursable by the state, she said. 

Commission Executive Director Paula Higashi said in her response that commissioners act as a quasi-judicial body and can only consider evidence and testimony put before them. In this case, state agencies never complained about the commission’s guidelines, so the commission never considered making them clearer. 

However, Howle noted the commission failed to ask the California Department of Education for its opinion “because of an oversight by commission staff.” Commission officials declined to comment Friday beyond their written response. 

Mandated Cost Systems’ owner Steve Smith said his lawyers were the only ones to ask questions during the commission’s hearings. 

“We could kind of see this coming three years ago,” Smith said. “Essentially, they confirmed our interpretation was consistent with what they anticipated.” 

Smith said most school districts resigned themselves to not being paid their full claims by the state once they saw that claims were far exceeding legislators’ expectations. 

Howle concluded lawmakers should enact yet another law, this one setting out reimbursement guidelines in line with what legislators originally intended the state to pay when they first enacted the safety laws between 1994 and 1997. 

The commission — made up of the elected state controller, treasurer and five governor’s appointees — agreed. 

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration acted Friday to repudiate a report by government biologists that concluded drilling for oil in an Alaskan wildlife refuge would pose substantial risks to the Porcupine caribou herd and other wildlife. 

Charles Groat, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, which issued the report, wrote Interior Secretary Gale Norton that he was asking scientists to re-evaluate their conclusions using drilling plans the administration contends would be less damaging to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

“We’re not looking at what the USGS studied,” said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who was with President Bush in Texas on Friday. “We are talking about exploring a very small part of ANWR.” 

Groat told Norton he ordered biologists to report back within 10 days on what drilling proponents say is a scaled-back scenario from those studied by the Geological Survey’s office in the Interior Department. 

Interior officials also pointed to the report’s conclusions that risks to wildlife — including musk oxen, polar bears and migrating birds — could be reduced by restricting and closely managing oil exploration and production. 

“The report bolsters the administration’s mandate that ANWR production must require the most stringent environmental protections ever imposed. It demonstrates that with new technology, tough regulations and common sense management, we can protect wildlife and produce energy,” said department spokesman Mark Pfeifle. 

In their report Friday, the biologists make no recommendation whether the refuge should be developed, but they said the region’s wildlife are vulnerable to disturbances like those from oil drilling. 

The Porcupine caribou herd, which uses the coastal plain for calving each summer, “may be particularly sensitive to development” because it has little quality habitat elsewhere, and the survival of calves is linked to the animals’ ability to move freely, the report said. 

Groat acknowledged that adverse risks to the Porcupine caribou “would depend on the type of development and where the development occurred.” 

The 78-page report is based on an examination of 12 years of research into wildlife activities and the ecology of the Arctic refuge’s 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, which may contain about 11.4 billion barrels of oil.  

Preparing for exploitation of the reserves would take 10 years. 

Ending Congress’ long-standing ban on oil exploration in the wildlife refuge was a major plank in both Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000 and his administration’s energy plan announced a year ago. 

The Republican-controlled House voted last year to allow drilling in the Alaska refuge. Supporters have been reluctant to bring it up in the Senate, but a Senate vote could come as early as the second week of April. 

“Once again the administration has released a report undermining its own case,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. He said the findings confirm “the environmental destruction that would occur” if oil drilling is allowed in the refuge. 

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said every time biologists study drilling in the refuge, they find it would have a serious impact on wildlife. 

“There’s no new scenario in the (House) bill,” Pope said. “The entire area would be open for drilling. The new science still does not enable you to develop the refuge without destroying its habitat.” 

As with the case of the caribou, the study found that development of the refuge’s coastal plain may pose risks to other wildlife: 

—Musk oxen were described as particularly “vulnerable to disturbances” from oil and gas exploration because they live in the region year-round, including winter when oil exploration would be most intense. 

—Snow geese, among millions of migratory birds on the coastal plain, could be displaced because of increased activity. It cannot be assumed the geese would find adequate feeding areas elsewhere, the study said. 

—Denning polar bears also might be adversely affected, the assessment said. It said, however, that “aggressive and proactive management” could minimize or even eliminate most of the problem. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: http://www.r7.fws.gov/nwr/arctic/arctic.html 

Arctic Power: http://www.anwr.org/ 

Alaska Wilderness League: http://www.alaskawild.org/ 

Energy Department map of area: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/reps/states/maps/ak.html 

USGS report: http://alaska.usgs.gov/BSR-2002/usgs-brd-bsr-2002-001.html 

DETROIT — The FBI said Friday it will refer its findings in the nearly 27-year-old disappearance of former Teamsters President James R. Hoffa to local prosecutors for possible state charges. 

No federal charges will be filed for now, though they may if more information is uncovered, said Special Agent Dawn Clenney of the FBI’s Detroit office. 

“The FBI will continue the investigation of the Hoffa case. We will run down every lead as we have in the past,” Clenney said. “We think there is a possibility that the state can pursue charges.” 

FBI agents hope to meet with Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca to review the case and discuss whether state charges apply, Clenney said. 

Gorcyca did not immediately return messages seeking comment, but he told The Detroit News he must review every criminal case “whether the person’s last name is Hoffa or Jones.” 

Gorcyca said he couldn’t speculate on the likelihood that his office would bring charges. 

On Thursday, John Bell, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit bureau, told The Detroit News the federal case was stymied because of the time elapsed since Hoffa disappeared from a restaurant parking lot July 30, 1975. 

Clenney, who spoke Friday on Bell’s behalf, declined to elaborate. 

Bell’s comments followed the FBI release of 1,330 pages from its investigative file to the News. Clenney said the timing of the release and the comments on federal charges were coincidental. 

The released documents showed the case still was active as of January, when investigators were pursuing leads in Baltimore and Indianapolis. 

The FBI turned over the entire 3,432 pages from its file to U.S. District Judge Victoria A. Roberts in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The judge will decide what other material, if any, should be released to the public. 

The case returned to the limelight in September, when the News reported DNA evidence placed Hoffa in a car that investigators had long suspected, but were never able to prove, was used in the disappearance. 

The DNA from Hoffa’s hair matched that of a strand of hair found in a borrowed 1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham driven by longtime Hoffa friend Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien the last day Hoffa was seen alive, the report said. 

O’Brien told investigators in 1975 he borrowed the car, owned by the son of reputed Mafia figure Anthony Giacalone, to deliver a frozen salmon to Robert Holmes, then president of Teamsters Local 337. 

The delivery was near the restaurant where Hoffa was supposed to meet with Giacalone and New Jersey Teamsters boss and underworld associate Anthony Provenzano. Neither showed up. Both said no meeting was scheduled. 

O’Brien has denied having anything to do with Hoffa’s disappearance. 

Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, the late union leader’s son, declined comment, a union spokesman said. 

Hoffa’s daughter, Barbara Ann Crancer, a municipal judge in St. Louis, said the FBI volunteered to mail her a copy of the newly released documents. 

“I don’t see this as an ending. I see this as the FBI washing their hands of the situation,” Crancer said Friday. “I plan a wait-and-see attitude until I’ve been able to see the FBI report and analyze what it contains.” 

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Department of Correctional Services has discontinued its annual inmate art show and banned the sale of art produced in prisons amid an uproar over a serial killer who profited from his works. 

Corrections spokesman James Flateau confirmed Friday that the “Corrections on Canvas” show, held for 35 years in the Legislative Office Building in Albany, has been eliminated. 

At the same time, Corrections Commissioner Glenn Goord ordered, effective immediately, that the state’s 67,000-plus inmates are not allowed to profit from their art or handicraft, though they can still produce it. 

Inmates, who buy their own art supplies, had been allowed to keep half the proceeds from their sales in the nine-day show, with the other half going to the state Crime Victims Board. 

Last year, $5,395 went to the Crime Victims Board, bringing the total over the past 16 years to more than $45,000, Flateau said. 

“It was designed to allow inmates to show that during incarceration, they were finding positive ways to use their time in a manner that was felt contributed to rehabilitation,” Flateau said. “In more recent years, the show has been perceived by some as the state providing a forum for inmates to profit from their crimes.” 

Last year, a portrait of the late Princess Diana was among 10 sketches and paintings by convicted serial killer Arthur Shawcross selling for up to $540 each. 

Relatives of Shawcross’ victims were outraged. Shawcross, 56, is serving a 250-year sentence for killing 11 Rochester-area women a decade ago. 

Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, called the ban a “blow to the rehabilitative process, at least for those inmates who produce attractive art.” 

Gangi said most inmate artists are not predatory or dangerous, and selling their art helped rehabilitating inmates “increase their sense of themselves.” 

After the uproar over Shawcross, Gov. George Pataki directed Goord to review the rules to disallow participation by notorious violent criminals.  

Goord took the directive one step further and barred it for all inmates.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Nearly 70 sets of skeletal remains have been found at the construction site of the state Transportation Cabinet complex in the three weeks since the first bones were spotted in a dump truck. 

David Pollack, an archaeologist with the Kentucky Heritage Council, which is overseeing the recovery, said the body count of 66 is much higher than had been expected after the first week of digging. 

Officials at first thought the site could have been a cemetery used by the old state penitentiary, which was torn down following the flood of 1937. However, several more children’s skeletal remains were found Wednesday, “which makes me think this may not be an old prison cemetery,” Pollack said. “But we haven’t discounted anything.” 

Archaeologists believe the people may have been buried between 1800 and 1850. Along with the human bones, archaeologists have found rings, coins and brass coffin handles in the excavation area, which is about the size of a football field. 

The bodies will be taken to an archaeology lab at the University of Kentucky, where the bones will be cleaned and analyzed to determine gender and age. 

“We’ll look for pathologies, diseases and any evidence of trauma they may have had,” Pollack said.  

It has not been determined where the bodies will be taken for reburial. 

A worker first saw bones in a dump truck at a dumpsite March 11. Franklin County coroner Mike Harrod and the state medical examiner’s office determined the truck came from the government construction site. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/khc/khchome.htm 

PHILADELPHIA — When visitors walk through the brand-new $9 million pavilion housing one of the nation’s most enduring icons of freedom, they will tread above the spot where the first president kept his slaves. 

But even before the Liberty Bell Center opens in 2003, a debate is brewing over how best to treat the place where slavery and freedom co-existed. 

Some historians say building the center’s entrance just beyond the site of George Washington’s slave quarters is tantamount to burying history — both literally and symbolically. The National Park Service argues the underground structure, yards from where the bell that became a symbol of the abolitionist movement, has to be covered over to be preserved. 

“If it’s not going to be destroyed, the best preservation is to leave it in place — that’s standard practice and one of the tenets of archaeology,” National Park Service spokesman Phil Sheridan said. “Excavating it can mean you have to destroy it.” 

However, critics say it appears that the government is avoiding the obvious contradiction of freedom and servitude. They want the National Park Service to halt construction and perform an extensive archaeological evaluation, though they say there are no plans to force the issue with a lawsuit. 

“Our historical memory is often managed and manipulated (but) it’s downright being murdered in Philadelphia,” said Gary B. Nash, a history professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and a scholar of the American Revolution. 

The Park Service says it already has done excavation work and recovered thousands of artifacts. The slave quarters were untouched. 

“The excavation was very thorough ... we looked at everything we could have looked at,” added Rebecca Yamin of John Milner Associates, which performed the work. 

The Liberty Bell Center is part of a $300 million redesign of Independence Mall that includes the new Independence Visitor’s Center and the under-construction National Constitution Center. 

The new center is just steps from where the Liberty Bell has been displayed in a glass pavilion since 1976. It attracts 1.6 million visitors a year. 

At the very least, The Independence Hall Association, a watchdog group, wants a memorial, perhaps an outline marking the house where Washington once lived. 

City officials also want some sort of commemoration, said Frank Keel, spokesman for Mayor John F. Street, adding that it was “too early to determine whether excavation can or cannot happen.” 

Washington’s house was a red-brick mansion at Sixth and Market (then called High) streets, where the founding father conducted the nation’s business. It’s also where he brought eight slaves from Mount Vernon, including his cook, Hercules, and Martha Washington’s personal servant, Oney Judge, who eventually fled those now-buried slave quarters and gained their own freedom. 

Washington’s successor, John Adams, also used the home during Philadelphia’s time as the national capital, from 1790 to 1800, before moving to Washington, D.C. 

In 1951, the remains of the house were demolished to make way for Independence Mall. Public toilets now occupy the spot. 

“This is the sort of stuff people would love to hear about, but it does get to the serious matter of how liberty and slavery coexisted,” Nash said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Independence National Historical Park, http://www.nps.gov/inde/liberty-bell.html 

Independence Hall Association, http://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/index.htm 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Even if he was a little out of breath from his morning workout, Tom Christerson still stopped a hospital employee Friday to shake his hand. 

“See you tomorrow!” said Christerson, who has lived the longest — nearly 6 1/2 months — with the AbioCor self-contained artificial heart. 

The training session at a Jewish Hospital rehab center is a daily routine for Christerson, 71, who says he is looking forward to a short trip home to western Kentucky in the next couple of weeks. Last week, he moved out of his hospital room and into an adjacent hotel. 

“I think about home very seriously all the time,” he told The Associated Press after the short workout. “And I’m hoping that they’ll let us go either this weekend or next weekend. But I know I’m not ready to be discharged completely.” 

The AbioCor, a plastic and titanium pump, was implanted Sept. 13. He was the second person, behind Robert Tools of Franklin, Ky., to get the heart. Tools died Nov. 30 after living about five months. 

Christerson’s daughter, Pat Pryor, said her dad was so weak before the surgery, walking four or five steps was a struggle. Pryor said her dad was never someone who exercised a lot, but he has a different mindset now. 

“Now he sees it as a means to the end, so he’s going to do whatever it takes,” Pryor said, as she watched her dad take laps around the room. “He’s getting stronger and stronger every day. He’ll be turning cartwheels next time you see him.” 

His workout included walking laps with weights wrapped around his ankles, leg raises and walking along a red stripe on the floor. 

At one point, Christerson’s physical therapist asked him how the walk along the stripe felt. Christerson said OK, so he lined the patient up for another march, this time backward. 

Christerson jokingly protested. “I said that last thing was easy and he overheard it.” 

Christerson repeatedly credits his two University of Louisville surgeons, Drs. Robert Dowling and Laman Gray, for his recovery. Christerson and Dowling are scheduled to throw out the first pitch at an exhibition baseball game Saturday. 

Christerson, a popular figure in his hometown, said he’s already made arrangements for his return home. Recently, some friends visited him and he gave them a special request. 

“I said you get that damn fire truck ready, I want a ride on it, with the sirens going full blast,” he said. “They said they’d do that for me, so I’m anxious to get on that fire truck.” 

PITTSBURGH — As cheaper foreign steel imports are being hit with new tariffs, U.S. mills are raising prices to meet increased demand for domestic steel. 

Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel and other companies say they are not taking advantage of the pressure on foreign mills created by the Bush administration’s tariffs, but reacting to the market, where supplies are limited as the improving economy increases demand. 

Average prices, which had sunk to 20-year lows, remain far below what they were in years past, they say. 

According to Purchasing Magazine, which tracks steel prices, the average for hot-rolled steel has risen to $260 a ton, compared with $210 a ton three months ago. In 1980, the average price was $361 a ton. 

“We’re trying to basically recover some of the pricing that’s been lost,” said Michael R. Dixon, a U.S. Steel spokesman. 

A weak economy last year caused steel users to dip into inventories rather than buy new steel, said Charles Bradford, an analyst with Bradford Research in New York. 

With reserves depleted, steel users now find themselves forced to buy at higher prices. 

“There’s suddenly a lot less supply of steel available,” Bradford said. 

And fewer companies making it. When LTV Corp. idled mills in December, it reduced capacity by about 6 million tons a year. A total of 15 million tons in annual capacity have been lost in a recent wave of bankruptcies; about 30 mills have gone under since 1998. 

Michael Siegal, chairman of Olympic Steel, an Ohio company that gets steel from mills to manufacturers, said he has also heard reports of companies rationing steel to buyers, though he hasn’t encountered it. 

He said he’s had no trouble finding steel for customers — as long as they’re willing to pay more. 

“I was taught a long time ago, there’s never a shortage of steel to buy, only a shortage of steel to buy at the price you want,” Siegal said. 

U.S. Steel said it is not rationing steel to customers, but Elizabeth Kovach, a spokeswoman for Bethlehem Steel, acknowledged that customers are being told it will take about twice as long to fill some orders as this time last year. 

“That’s rationing to me,” Bradford said, which prompts customers to order more steel than they need. 

“It’s a very bad situation because everybody loses,” Bradford said. 

It remains to be seen how much of the higher price users will pass on to customers. 

Some analysts believe the higher domestic costs and reduced availability of foreign steel could drive manufacturers out of the United States and into countries exempt from the tariffs, like Mexico and Canada. 

Robert Crandall, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, a liberal Washington think-tank, said he doesn’t expect big automotive or appliance manufacturers to leave, however. 

“Those people don’t pick up and move overnight,” he said. 

Crandall predicted that increased prices and reduced foreign competition would lead to more so-called minimills, which operate by melting scrap steel rather than producing the metal from iron ore and tend to use nonunion labor. 

Minimills, he said, can be built for less and can make steel cheaper than companies such as U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel and LTV. 

“They can build a plant and produce sheet steel for about $200 a ton in about two years,” he said. He added that half of steel production is from minimills. 

“The big guys are dying,” he said. 

DENVER — Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold showed signs of depression and violent fantasies two years before their suicidal rampage at Columbine High School, according to an upcoming TV documentary. 

Bullying at school prompted sadness and resentment, and violent images in film and video games helped push Harris and Klebold into anger and depression, researchers say in the “Investigative Reports” program airing on the cable network A&E on April 15. 

Klebold and Harris killed 13 people and wounded 23 before killing themselves inside the school in 1999. 

One classmate, who is not identified in the documentary, said Harris told his psychology class of a recurring dream in which he awakes, comes to school and starts shooting students and teachers and then blows up the school. 

Students also said the gunmen made a video for a classroom assignment called “Hitmen for Hire.” 

“There were three people in the video, and I think Dylan and Eric were the hit men,” student Jon Behunin said. 

Nate Dykeman, another classmate who was a friend of both teens, said Harris’ parents found a pipe bomb when they searched their son’s room. 

“They were furious about it and then kept it in their room because they didn’t know what to do with it,” he said. 

In their lawsuits, victims’ families have alleged that deputies were aware that Harris’ father, Wayne Harris, found a pipe bomb made by his son and exploded it in a vacant field. Wayne Harris has denied that he found such a bomb. 

The show follows psychiatrists and a former FBI agent on the Newport, Calif.-based Threat Assessment Group, which sought to develop “psychiatric autopsies” of Harris and Klebold. The team’s conclusions will not be released until the documentary airs. 

None of the group’s findings uncovered new information, Jefferson County School District spokesman Rick Kaufman said. 

He also said teachers and administrators reacted appropriately to warning signs cited in the documentary such as writings and Internet postings in which Harris and Klebold telegraphed their meticulously planned attack. 

In a letter to the documentary’s producers, district Superintendent Jane Hammond questioned the timing of the show. 

“We believe the project will do very little in the way of unveiling any new information or insights into the tragedy,” she wrote. “It does, however, have the potential to unleash more harm and heartache to a school and community that have suffered enough.” 

County District Attorney Dave Thomas asked the group in 1999 to help determine what motivated the gunmen. Team members spent a week in the Littleton area in September, interviewing about 50 people, including friends and teachers. They also reviewed police reports, physical evidence, and some video tapes and writings made by Harris and Klebold. 

Psychiatrist Park Dietz, who worked on the Unabomber case and evaluated a Houston woman recently sentenced to life in prison for drowning her five children, said Harris and Klebold reinforced each other’s “bad ideas” and immersed themselves in violent media. 

“Once you have a person who is very angry and also suicidal, all it takes to create mass murder is the model of mass murder as the way to go,” Dietz said. 

The team explored possible motives and settled on several they considered likely: anger, revenge, suicide and fame. 

“They did it for power and respect and control and revenge,” Dietz said. “They did it out of anger. They did it as a flashy form of suicide. They did it to gain infamy ... And they did it to call attention to the problem of bullying.”

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Navy confirmed on Good Friday that an ex-priest accused of sexually abusing four Nebraska boys in 1978 was later convicted of lewd conduct involving boys as a military chaplain. 

Robert Hrdlicka, who became a Navy chaplain in 1986, was court martialed for seven counts of acts unbecoming an officer, Navy spokesman Lt. Jon Spiers said. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1993 and released in 1999. His whereabouts are unknown; a telephone listed under the same name in nearby Crete rang unanswered Friday. 

The case — among many to rock the Roman Catholic church across the country — has been revived in the Lincoln Diocese, which said this week that the four brothers, now adults, are demanding $2 million to keep quiet about their alleged abuse at the hands of Hrdlicka. 

“I’m not going to say it’s blackmail,” said attorney Rocky Weber, who represents the diocese. “They demanded this payment and threatened to go public if the bishop didn’t accommodate them. There is no intention of paying.” 

As Easter weekend approached, sex abuse scandals that have troubled the Roman Catholic Church continued to come to light in cities across the country. 

In Boston, police arrested a man who tried to confront the priest he had accused of sexually abusing him 23 years ago. Garry Garland, 38, who was arrested Thursday at the home of Monsignor Frederick Ryan, is charged with driving offenses and disorderly conduct and was expected to remain under psychiatric care. 

St. Louis school officials defended the district for hiring a defrocked priest as an elementary school counselor, saying the church secretly settled sex-abuse lawsuits against him. The comments came a day after the former priest, James Beine, was accused of exposing himself to boys at the grade school. 

In Detroit, a county prosecutor subpoenaed a bishop for information in an investigation into a sexual misconduct charge leveled against a priest by a woman. 

In the Navy case, Hrdlicka was relieved of duty after an investigation began into reports of molestation while he was stationed at the Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy in 1988. Investigators said there were two incidents in Italy and five in Beaufort, S.C., involving boys ages 7 to 11. 

Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz said there was no record of any accusations against Hrdlicka when he took over as bishop in 1992. 

He said he suspended Hrdlicka, who was still affiliated with the diocese, in 1993 after learning of his troubles in the Navy. Bruskewitz said he then launched an inquiry and eventually learned of the allegations made by the four brothers. 

He said the brothers and their representatives did not ask for compensation at that time and were concerned only that the priest “was no longer functioning as a priest.” 

In Omaha, Archbishop Elden Curtiss is under fire for transferring a priest accused of viewing child pornography from a school in Norfolk and allowing him to continue teaching in the Omaha area. 

CHICAGO — Talk show host Oprah Winfrey declined President Bush’s offer to join an official U.S. delegation to tour Afghanistan’s schools, saying she didn’t have the time. 

The trip was to celebrate young girls’ return to school after the fall of the Taliban regime. 

“She was invited and she respectfully declined,” a spokeswoman for Winfrey’s Chicago-based company said Friday. “Due to her responsibilities to the show, she is not adding anything to her calendar.” 

Without Winfrey on board, the White House postponed the trip that also was to feature some of the administration’s top women, including Bush adviser Karen Hughes and possibly National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday. 

Aides told the paper it was unclear whether another celebrity who shares Winfrey’s credibility and popularity could be substituted. 

The White House did not immediately respond to questions Friday about the trip or any role Winfrey might have played. 

The Winfrey strategy was devised to dampen images of global violence as Bush’s political advisers become increasingly worried that key voting groups might be growing weary of the constant talk of death and brutality in the war on terrorism, the Tribune said. 

Winfrey is very protective of her reputation and image. Her shows are seen in over 100 countries and her “O” magazine has a paid circulation of 2.5 million. 

Her Web site has a page with listings of organizations that offer assistance to women in Afghanistan.

Get through the dirty, invasive as stressful time of remodeling with communication and understanding 

Anyone who’s lived through chaos created by home remodeling can relate to this truism: remodeling is dirty, invasive, and stressful. 

If it’s a kitchen job, you shuttle the family from diner to diner, spending megabucks on three square meals a day. 

If it’s a bathroom makeover, kiss your privacy goodbye. And couch potatoes take notice: your cable may be cut while your den is updated. 

But there’s no need to star in your own remake of “The Money Pit.” According to a seasoned contractor who orchestrates rehabs and re-dos, you can mitigate the impact on family life with preplanning and common sense. 

“A lot of it gets back to communication,” says Mike Turner, vice president of Contractor Networks for The Home Service Store, a company that manages home projects for consumers. “You really need to understand what’s about to happen and address those issues in advance.” 

Turner identifies “points of chaos” that homeowners should recognize before construction ever starts: 

Strangers will be in your home for an extended period; your family and social life will be disrupted; a general lack of privacy may grate on nerves; services may be severed — television, plumbing, utilities, etc.; there will be dust, lots of dust. 

Turner advises homeowners to host a pre-construction conference with workers, including subcontractors, to establish verbally and in writing what he calls the “rules of order.” 

Discussion items include your expectations for daily cleanup, work start and stop times, rooms the family can use, work schedule changes to accommodate in-home social functions, how to control dust, no smoking, work schedules and who has access to the house and when. 

This last point, security, should be of significant concern to homeowners. 

Turner says contractors should conduct criminal background checks on workers and subcontractors. One home entry key should be kept in a lock box with access limited to key staff. Valuables, jewelry and guns should be removed from the home. 

Then there is ongoing communication. In most two-wage-earner homes, no one is around during the day to answer inevitable questions. Turner suggests a dry erase board or cell phone — even a custom e-mail address per job — to create daily give-and-take between homeowner and contractors. 

Convene a sit-down with the contractor once a month. Don’t talk about work in progress but how the family — children, too — is holding up under the strain. “This usually causes a big sigh of relief,” says Turner. “It keeps everyone up to speed on what’s going on. It’s an eye-opener.” 

How to contain dust sits atop most agendas. Negative draft methods use exhaust fans to pull dust from work areas. Simple-to-install zippered devices called “dust doors” affixed to doors and entries allow movement from room to room with minimal dust transfer. 

Plastic sheets segregate dusty rooms from habitable areas. 

“It’s important to get agreements on all the chaos points before you lift a finger on the job,” says Turner. “Any remodeling job puts a stress on homeowners, kids, pets and the contractors. But in the long run, communication takes as much of the stress out of things as possible.”

Q. Scott asks: Urgent! What is it meant by the term “grade of abrasive paper” and what is meant by the term “raising the grain”? 

A. The “grade” (or grit) of abrasive paper (sandpaper) refers to the size of the abrasive particles in the sandpaper. Given the same number of passes and the same amount of pressure, paper with larger particles sands deeper (and rougher) than paper with smaller ones. A lower number indicates that the grade of the paper is used for rough sanding where a high number indicates the sandpaper is meant for finish sanding. 

Generally speaking, 30-grit and 60-grit papers are used for rough sanding, 100-grit to 150-grit sandpaper is for medium sanding and 220-grit sandpaper is used for finish sanding. 

Of course, this changes with the type of wood and whether the sanding is done by hand or with a machine. Sanding a soft wood with rough sandpaper could possibly tear the wood fibers (the grain). Sanding perpendicular to the wood fibers also could tear them. When the fibers tear they raise from the surface. Another way of causing the grain to raise is to over-wet wood. 

The best way to determine what grit to use is to test-sand. Keep in mind that rough grits of sandpaper leave deep scratches, so start with the finer grits (150 to 220) and slowly work up to the rougher grades. Raising the grain is what painters must contend with after the first coat of paint is applied. At this point, and once the paint or varnish has dried, the first coat and the raised surface must be smoothed. The second coat of finish usually will not raise the grain. This is because the wood is protected from absorbing moisture by the previous coat. 

Q. Bill asks: What is the best way to seal the garage door? 

A. We assume you are referring to a sectional garage door rather than the tilt-type. Generally speaking, a high-quality sectional garage door that has been properly installed is reasonably weatherproof. But even the best doors can begin to leak after long use. 

A simple fix would be to apply a 1-inch-wide strip of rubber to the inside surface of the door at each horizontal section joint — all the way from one side of the door to the other. Apply the strip to the upper section centered between it and the section below. A special rubber bottom can be purchased to fit the base of just about any garage door. For the sides of the opening — on the outside trim — attach old-fashioned weather-stripping for a conventional door. It’s the type with the round vinyl bead attached to a flat metal strip. If the door is wood, use staples or nails to attach your windproofing. If the door is a metal one, use half-inch, self-tapping screws. Once you have all the materials, you should be able to do the entire job in an afternoon. 

When you plan a spot for visitors, pretend you are the guest. What would you need to feel comfortable? 

It’s OK if you can’t provide a separate space as a guest room. Put a futon, daybed or convertible sleeper sofa to work when guests visit you. It can be in your family room, den, library or home office. If space is really tight, look into the concept of a fold-down bed, based on the old idea called Murphy beds. 

It’s amazing how a reading lamp, comfortable bedding and a bowl of fruit or bottled water can create an instant welcoming spot. 

If you do have a separate guest room, have fun decorating it. Consider your visitors. Soft neutrals or pale pastels can help soothe weary travelers. A small chest can double as a nightstand, and swing-arm lamps mounted on the wall by the bed can serve as reading lamps without taking up lots of space. 

Think carefully when choosing blinds. Privacy is a major concern, and light-blocking shades might be good, depending on the side of the house. 

If you have to work during part of your guests’ visit, offer house keys, directions, maps and brochures to shopping spots or area attractions. Perhaps they could meet you for lunch or visit your work site for a short tour. 

For your guests: 

• Pamper them with items of comfort: Water carafe. Place a carafe and glass on the bedside table or on a chest. Bottled water is a special touch. 

• Alarm clock. If guests have an early appointment or a plane to catch, this is helpful. 

• Padded hangers. Stock your guest closet with padded hangers. Wooden or plastic hangers are other options. 

• Luggage rack. It’s a nice “hotel” touch, available at furnishings stores and in catalogs. 

• Small television, books and current magazines. 

• Treats, such as wrapped cookies and fresh fruit. Fresh flowers. 

——— 

Better Homes and Gardens Bed & Bath Decorating Ideas & Projects (Meredith Books, $14.95 softcover) and Better Homes and Gardens Making a Home (Meredith Books, $29.95).

If a new or remodeled kitchen is in your future, be prepared for myriad choices to show off your personal style. Abandon any rules you think “must” be followed in kitchen planning. The sky’s the limit. 

Can’t decide between the wood look and white cabinets? These days it’s OK to have both. Wall cabinets in one finish and base cabinets in another provide visual interest. 

Can’t afford maintenance-free granite countertops everywhere? Just put them in one work area and mix the look with another material — laminate, ceramic tile, solid-surface materials, stainless steel, concrete or butcher block. Splurge in one area and conserve in another. Consider a marble slab for pastry-making, placing heat-resistant granite near the oven and a butcher block for slicing and chopping. 

But before you shop around, take a quiz to determine your needs: How much time do you spend in the kitchen? What do you do there — eat, read, relax, work on projects, talk on the phone or work on a computer? Does your family message center or bill-paying area need to be in the kitchen? Who’s there with you — children, friends or colleagues? Do you cook alone or with others? What do you cook — elaborate dishes or simple meals? What large and small appliances are essential for you? Where do you store them? Consider the room size, floor plan and window placement. Think about storage and trash — areas you deal with daily. What’s your style — sleek, traditional, uncluttered or an eclectic mix of items and looks? 

Start a kitchen file of ideas. When you see a brochure at a home center, a color swatch at a paint store or a photo in a magazine that sparks interest, tuck it away. What you like will start surfacing. 

When it comes to remodeling, even if you have a small kitchen, perhaps you can take advantage of adjoining spaces. Maybe a passthrough or opening up one wall would make the whole area work as a multipurpose cooking-dining-family room. 

One trend is the unfitted kitchen, featuring freestanding, furniture-like cabinetry to create a personal look. A mix of materials, colors and counter heights all work for an eclectic feel. 

Other areas of choice involve flooring, lighting, range and oven styles, sink styles and materials and the ever-growing number of faucet choices. And after the contractor is gone, you’ll have decisions to make about paint color, window treatments and adding accessories to your new space. 

If you’re having trouble balancing your dreams with your bank account, here are ways to cut the budget a bit: Mix and match materials. Splurge one place and cut back another. Create an island from an old table or a pantry from an armoire. 

If you can, do some of the work yourself to cut costs. Shop carefully. If you buy direct, your materials costs might be significantly lower. 

Let those who bid on your project know which materials you plan to purchase. Pay for expertise. An architect or kitchen designer can keep you from making mistakes that cost more than their fees. Compromise intelligently. Choose good labor over expensive materials. A good cabinetmaker, carpenter or decorative painter can make even mundane materials look great. 

———  

Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen Planner (Meredith Books, $14.95 softcover). 

SAN FRANCISCO — Douglas fir logs cut from the Sierra Nevada in the 1800s are about to complete a round trip that has taken more than a century. 

The logs served as ballast for ships that carried gold, coal and iron ores from California refineries back to South Africa, where they had been mined. They had been shipped to California between 1865 and 1890 because South Africa did not have the facilities to refine them. 

The logs that piled up from the ships were used in South Africa for construction, mainly as support for warehouse roofs in Durban. But those warehouses are coming down, and the wood is being exported for use in furniture. 

Douglas fir once was considered throwaway wood in South Africa, but has since become highly prized. 

The Wooden Duck, a Berkeley furniture manufacturer specializing in using recycled wood, is expecting a shipment in May. 

“We know immediately when we look at the grain that’s Douglas fir from California,” said Eric Gellerman of The Wooden Duck. “That age period doesn’t exist in South Africa.” 

LOS ANGELES — Not since the early days of Viagra has a lifestyle drug garnered so much attention as Botox. 

Botox has erased early wrinkles on young women, flattened the furrowed brows of middle-aged TV anchormen, removed sweat stains under the arms of runway models, and even erased gamblers’ unwanted facial expressions. 

In the process, the muscle-paralyzing substance has become one of the most profitable products for Allergan Inc., which first branded the drug more than a decade ago for treating crossed eyes. 

Botox is a laboratory refined strain of botulinum toxin — one of the most poisonous substances on earth — that’s given in extremely small therapeutic doses. Botulinum toxin causes botulism and is a favored tool of bioterrorists. The cult Aum Shinrikyo dispersed a strain of it in aerosol form in several failed attacks in Japan in the early 1990s. 

Botox already has regulatory approval to treat certain spasmic disorders. But it’s the drug’s wrinkle-busting properties that have created a national buzz. 

“I am getting to the point where the lines are a little more noticeable. (Botox) is an easy way to soften that change,” said Lisa J. Davis, a Los Angeles TV producer in her early 30s who smoothed her brow with her first treatment last week. 

Men and women of all ages have made Botox injections the most popular cosmetic medical procedure in the nation since 2000, even though the procedure falls in a gray area and may produce side effects such as swelling or numbness. 

The Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the drug for cosmetic use, but the agency doesn’t prevent doctors from using it in this way. 

This kind of “off-label” use could change soon. Allergan submitted clinical trials of cosmetic Botox last year to the FDA, which is now in the final stages of its review process. 

The Irvine, Calif., health care firm is restricted from discussing Botox or its plans for the drug while the regulatory process continues. But analysts say Allergan already has a multimillion-dollar ad campaign ready to launch soon after winning approval. 

The company will pitch Botox with ads in magazines and newspapers using the tag line, “It’s not magic. It’s Botox,” according to Gregg Gilbert, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. 

In a cosmetic treatment, a doctor injects Botox into the facial muscles that cause wrinkling. The drug blocks a substance called acetylcholine that transmits signals from the brain to the muscle, paralyzing the muscle. The effects normally last about three months, which keeps most patients returning on a regular basis for treatments that average about $400. 

The recurring costs are just one reason analysts say Botox will boost Allergan’s profits. They estimate it costs the company $40 to produce a vial of Botox. The firm sells it to doctors for $400. 

With aging baby boomers reluctant to part with their youth, no serious competition on the market, and only 10 percent of the U.S. market estimated to have been tapped so far, Wall Street sees plenty of upside. 

“Botox absolutely has potential to become a billion-dollar drug for Allergan,” Gilbert said. 

Botox did about $300 million in worldwide sales last year, of which as much as half related to cosmetic use, according to analysts’ estimates. 

In cities such as New York and Los Angeles, Botox is already the talk of beauty parlors and cocktail parties. 

“It’s an in-vogue product,” said Tim Chiang, an analyst with Banc of America Securities LLC. “It’s like having a fashion designer bag, a Louis Vuitton.” 

But in other parts of the country, Botox is still catching on. 

“Everybody knows about Botox on the two coast lines,” said Donald Ellis, an analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners LLC. “In between, it’s not as common knowledge.” 

Last year, the Midwest accounted for nearly 10 percent of procedures, the West Coast 36 percent and the north Atlantic coast, including New York, 32 percent, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. 

The procedure was most popular among the 35-40 crowd, which accounted for just over half of all patients using Botox for cosmetic purposes in 2001. 

Paul Nassif, a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Beverly Hills, expects a slight increase in business if the FDA approves the process. He said he has already performed a few thousand Botox procedures and interest has been growing in the past few months. 

He recently began arranging bimonthly Botox parties at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Guests talk about what’s new in plastic surgery and receive their Botox together, along with champagne, Perrier and a light massage. The sessions also give prospective patients a chance to see how the treatment is done. 

Bachelorette parties are a big market to tap in Las Vegas, Nassif said. 

The treatments do not come without side effects, which can include bruising or nausea. Critics complain Botox also erases facial expression. 

But Nassif insists that’s not the case if Botox is injected properly and used in modest amounts to remove frown lines or eye wrinkles. In less than one percent of cases though, a patient may get a droopy eyebrow or eye lid for a few weeks, he said. 

Nassif and other doctors are finding secondary benefits from Botox, such as relief from neck pain and certain types of headaches. The drug also prevents excessive sweating on palms or under armpits. 

“Botox is still in its infancy,” said Chiang. “It can help anything muscle-related, and your whole body is covered in muscles.” 

Allergan wants to expand Botox sales in other markets, too. The firm is spending $50 million a year on research and development of Botox, Gilbert said. 

The company is also currently seeking FDA clearance to market the drug to treat tension headaches and migraines. 

Though Anne Brower was often overshadowed by her husband David, Berkeley will be honoring the woman who was a worthy environmentalist in her own right by dedicating a path in her name on Stevenson Avenue on Saturday. 

Councilmember Betty Olds, who has been working on the project since Anne’s death in November 2001, will be hosting the ceremony at 11 am at the entryway of the block-long path that runs down to Miller Avenue. 

Ken Brower, who is Anne and David’s son, said that he was happy his mother is getting some well-deserved recognition. 

“She was the conscience and editor of my father and played a big unknown role in the environmental movement,” Brower said.  

Brower, a nonfiction writer who lives in Oakland, will be attending the ceremony with his sister Barbara Brower, a geographer at Portland State University. 

The Brower’s have not been very involved with the path project, but Ken said that he knows his mother loved the walk. 

“As the wife of a mountaineer, she loved paths. She could walk from our home to the UC campus [where she worked] on trails and never went on streets except to cross them,” he said. 

Jackie Ensign of the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association, one of the groups spearheading the effort, said that the Anne Brower Path was part of Anne’s daily jaunt.  

“It was in her neighborhood, and it was one she used a long time. We wanted to honor her with something that was very important to how she lived her life,” Ensign said. 

The BPWA has been maintaining, surveying and familiarizing people with Berkeley’s path network for four years. As they were developing a map of the network, they discovered that this stretch had not yet been named. They knew that Olds was interested in honoring Anne’s legacy and suggested the idea to Olds. 

The Anne Brower Path will be Path 70 on the city’s index of pathways and appear on the map that the BPWA hopes to make available next month. 

But it’s not a new path, said Ensign. “We were looking at old maps and saw that the path had been named Twain Path, which became Twin Path. It’s been used by the neighbors a long time.” 

Local Boy Scouts also played a major part in improving the grounds. Eagle Scouts put down railroad ties and gravel to make the steep hill a little friendlier. 

“The city has $50,000 a year to help maintain the paths, but that’s not enough,” Olds said. 

“The Path Wanderers and the Boy Scouts have done an amazing amount of work. It shows you what positive things Berkeley residents can do instead of just protesting something,” she added.

SAN FRANCISCO— In an effort to save the threatened red-legged frog, a group of environmentalists has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The Center for Biological Diversity accuses the EPA of ignoring the Endangered Species Act by allowing certain pesticides to remain on the market even though they are known to kill or deform the frog, according to the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. 

The suit claims the EPA is breaking the law by not consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on how the EPA’s pesticide registration program affects threatened or endangered species. 

“Ample evidence exists that pesticides are a contributing factor in the decline of the species, yet even the basic requirements of federal endangered species law have been ignored by the EPA,” said Brent Plater, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. 

The EPA denies the allegations. 

“The EPA always considers endangered species when registering pesticides,” said Leo Kay, a spokesman for the EPA’s office in San Francisco. “We take the steps necessary to ensure that sensitive animals such as red-legged frogs receive an added protection from potential exposure to chemicals.” 

The red-legged frog, beloved in California thanks to Mark Twain’s tale “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” is listed as threatened under federal law. Only 10 percent of the original population remains, and only four regions have populations with more than 350 frogs. 

The environmental group said it hoped to pressure the EPA to start consulting with the Fish and Wildlife Service, stop the sale of pesticides that harm the frog and promote conservation programs.

SAN RAFAEL — The patriarch of a 13-child family, and three of the four women he lived with, pleaded innocent Tuesday to charges they let one young child starve to death and severely neglected the other 12 children. 

Also on Tuesday, a Marin County judge said jury selection for their trial will begin Oct. 28. 

Prosecutors allege the five defendants ran a house in which ill-fed children were beaten and neglected, culminating in the death of the 19-month-old boy. 

Winnfred Wright and three women — Mary Campbell, Kali Polk-Matthews and Deirdre Wilson — pleaded innocent. The fourth woman, Carol Bremner, was in the hospital for leukemia treatment and is scheduled to enter a plea May 13, health permitting. 

Defense lawyers suggested they may seek to move the trial from Marin County, where the family moved several years ago from San Francisco, though Wilson’s lawyer said she wants to be tried here. 

“This is clearly a complex case,” said attorney Nanci Clarence. “Rarely do we find a case where the defendants’ lives have been subject to such scrutiny.” 

Attorneys for the defendants argued for more time to prepare for trial, but the judge stuck with a tight schedule. Any motions, including a motion to dismiss the case, must be filed by June 3. 

Douglas Horngrad, Wilson’s co-counsel, said one motion to be considered was a “motion with respect to the composition of the grand jury.” He said he could not explain because of the gag order imposed by Judge Terrence Boren. 

“If there’s anything left to this case, perhaps we can get ready for trial by fall,” Bremner’s attorney, Jack Rauch, told the court. 

Prosecutor Ed Berberian said the case is unusual in that it likely will involve a lot of expert testimony. But, he added, “we would not have filed the case if we didn’t think we had a case we could prove.” 

The judge also ruled that attorneys can be present when the five give handwriting samples requested by the prosecution. Berberian said the gag order prevented him from commenting on why the prosecution had requested the samples. 

The judge did not rule, however, on whether to appoint the same attorneys that represented the children in a previous dependency hearing to represent the children in the trial. The prosecution claimed there could be conflicts with using the same attorneys, while the defense said not using the same attorneys would add another layer of bureaucracy. 

A grand jury indicted Wright, 45, Bremner, 44, Wilson, 37, and Campbell, 37, the dead child’s mother, in February on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and child neglect. Polk-Matthews, who has posted $100,000 bail, was indicted on charges of manslaughter and child neglect. 

Authorities began investigating the cult-like family when 19-month-old Ndigo Campisi-Nyah-Wright was brought dead to a local hospital in November. A coroner concluded the baby died of malnutrition and neglect. 

The children allegedly lived in a home where they were lashed and force-fed chili peppers if they misbehaved, according to papers filed with the court. They also reportedly were deprived of sunlight and suffering from rickets, a bone-softening disease caused by a lack of vitamin D. The dozen surviving children have been placed in protective custody.

Easter egg hunters would have had to look 65 million years ago to find this prize. 

The Lawrence Hall of Science is displaying an orange-sized dinosaur egg as part of its “Jurassic Park” exhibit, which contrasts how dinosaurs are presented in movies with what scientists have learned from research. 

“It’s cool for people to see something so tiny that was going to end up the size of a school bus,” said Don Lessem, who heads the Jurassic Foundation, a charity that sponsored the exhibit. 

The segnosaur egg was one of five found by a farmer in China’s Henan Province. Beetles which crept into the egg devoured the unborn dinosaur’s flesh, but left the bones uneaten. The skeleton and yolk hardened into a fossil, which British Researcher Terence Manning values at $1 million. 

Manning spent a year cleaning the egg with soap bubbles he applied through an eye dropper. 

The exhibit also features replicas of the dinosaur creations used in the “Jurassic Park” films.

LONDON — The Queen Mother Elizabeth, a symbol of courage and dignity during a tumultuous century of war, social upheaval and royal scandal, died in her sleep Saturday died at Royal Lodge, Windsor, outside London. She was 101 years old. 

She was best known to younger generations as the mother of Queen Elizabeth II and grandmother of Prince Charles. But those who were young when German bombs rained down on London in 1940 remembered her as the queen who endured the blitz with them and visited their shattered homes. The queen mother might have been expected to retire from public life when her husband, King George VI, died in 1952. 

But after their eldest daughter’s succession to the throne, she took a new title, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and a full load of royal duties. She carried them into her 90s, and delighted in meeting people from all walks of life. 

Who has the most horses? 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — It appears Lexington has some competition for the title “Horse Capital of the World,” even though it has spent about $8,000 to post 40 signs proclaiming itself as such. 

A horse-breeding community in central Florida said the name is legally theirs. The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association says it obtained a trademark on that title for Ocala and Marion County, Fla., and would mount a court challenge to stop others from using it, according to the organization’s vice president, Richard Hancock. 

“No one else can use that term. It belongs to the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders,” said Maria Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington. 

Hancock said he applied for the trademark three years ago after hearing that Lexington had proposed adopting the phrase and getting a trademark on it. It was granted in June. 

“We beat them to the punch,” Hancock said. 

Kentucky produces nearly 30 percent of all U.S. thoroughbreds and has dozens of top stallions, including Storm Cat, one of the most valuable with a stud fee of $500,000. 

Quite a miscount 

HONOLULU — Auditors looking at the city’s finances recently found that two sewer valve repair kits valued at $290 each were mistakenly counted nearly 10,000 times each over the past three years. 

The discrepancy caused the sewer fund’s inventory balance to be inflated by about $5.8 million. 

City officials said an antiquated inventory system was to blame for counting 19,998 kits instead of two, and a new accounting system is being installed. 

Auditors had to go through some 1,800 sheets of entries to find the problem, said Tim Steinberger, city director of environmental services. 

“We should not run into this problem again,” he said. 

PriceWaterhouseCoopers discovered the error during the annual audit for the city’s federal financial assistance programs. 

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A public library isn’t trampling on a patron’s constitutional rights by requiring him to wear shoes inside the building, a judge has ruled. 

The judge threw out Robert Neinast’s freedom of expression lawsuit Wednesday, and agreed with the library that the barefoot ban protects patrons from exposure to broken glass, blood and other bodily fluids that have been found on its floors. 

“We think the rules are reasonable and are for the good of all customers,” said library Director Larry Black. 

Neinast, who had been asked to leave the downtown library for being barefoot several times from 1997 to 2001, said he sued the Columbus Metropolitan Library for blocking his healthy lifestyle and First Amendment rights. 

“If any bureaucrat can make a rule regarding health and safety, state parks could make everyone wear sunscreen,” Neinast said. 

The software writer, who represented himself in the case, said he did not know if he would appeal. 

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SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A man suspected of robbing a bank gave himself away when he tipped a waiter $100 in order to get a seat away from the window. 

Chris Ronemus was thrilled to receive the large gratuity on a slow day at DaVinci Ristorante, but he wasn’t allowed to keep the money. 

Scott Michael Farrow, a 33-year-old unemployed painter from California, allegedly threatened a Wells Fargo teller and fled with an undisclosed amount of money Wednesday. 

Police canvassing the neighborhood entered the restaurant and asked if anyone had seen someone matching suspect’s description. An employee pointed out a man at a table inside, and mentioned the $100 tip. 

WASHINGTON — A group representing entertainment industry workers said it will file a complaint with the federal government seeking duties on Canadian-made productions sent to the United States for editing or distribution. 

The Film and Television Action Committee alleges that Canada unfairly subsidizes TV and film productions through wage-based incentives that can reduce labor expenses by 35 percent. 

The committee, which says it represents 200,000 workers, has been gathering facts and figures about the entertainment industry and signatures from Hollywood workers for the complaint, chairman Brent Swift said. 

The complaint is being prepared for submission to the Commerce Department and U.S. International Trade Commission by William Fennell, a Washington-based lawyer whose firm specializes in trade cases. 

FTAC, which includes production crews, carpenters and other workers, withdrew an initial complaint earlier this year, saying it was improperly drafted. 

“The substance has not changed,” Fennell said. “The issue is the subsidized labor in Canada acting as a draw.” 

Nearly 26 percent of theatrical movies shot in North America and released in 2000 were filmed in Canada, up from 13 percent in 1999, according to a report prepared last year by the Center for Entertainment Industry Data and Research. 

Filming in other countries cost the U.S. economy $2.8 billion in 1998, according to a report prepared for the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America in 1999. 

That figure jumped to $10.3 billion when money that would have been spent at restaurants, hotels and other businesses, and tax revenue that would have been generated, were included, the report said. 

The Motion Picture Association of America, the Directors Guild, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and other unions oppose duties on Canadian-made productions. 

They would rather see the U.S. and state governments match the Canadian tax breaks. California Gov. Gray Davis and members of Congress have proposed such incentives. 

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On the Net: 

Screen Actors Guild: http://www.sag.org 

Film and Television Action Committee: http://www.ftac.net 

SAN FRANCISCO — PG&E Corp. won approval to repay $790 million to a group of Pacific Gas and Electric creditors, overcoming objections that the deal is designed to sway an upcoming vote on how the utility will emerge from bankruptcy. 

In a Wednesday ruling, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali approved payments to 18 fund managers after PG&E dropped a condition that would have required the creditors to vote in favor of the San Francisco-based company’s reorganization plan. 

PG&E is trying to convince creditors that its plan is preferable to an alternative drawn up by the state Public Utilities Commission. 

U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Linda Stanley said the repayments could still influence the vote because the affected creditors might fear they won’t get the money already promised them if the PUC plan prevails. Stanley tried to convince Montali that PG&E repayments are highly unusual and unwarranted. 

Montali initially rejected the repayment plan, but reversed course after PG&E agreed to allow creditors to vote for the PUC plan. 

In another development, Pacific Gas and Electric said it won’t interfere with the California’s plans to issue $12.5 billion in bonds to recover government money spent buying electricity on behalf of PG&E and other troubled utilities. 

It had been feared PG&E would file a lawsuit seeking to block the state from charging the utility’s customers for the power, a move that would have further delayed California’s planned bond sale. Gordon Smith, Pacific Gas and Electric’s president, said the utility won’t sue, despite its misgivings, in a letter to state Treasurer Phil Angelides. 

California is trying to recoup an electricity bill of more than $6 billion. Although he hailed PG&E’s commitment as a significant development, Angelides said it’s unlikely California will sell the bonds before July 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year. 

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On The Net: 

http://www.pgecorp.com