According to Census 2000 data released Tuesday, Berkeley is fifth among Bay Area cities when it comes to using mass transit to get to and from work, passing neighboring Oakland and coming in behind other neighbors Emeryville, Albany and El Cerrito. 

The city that uses mass transit the most in the Bay Area is San Francisco, according to census data. 

“San Francisco remains the flagship when it comes to using mass transit,” said Chuck Purvis. “But what is most important about this data is how each city compares with previous numbers; that’s where you see the trends. For instance, Berkeley has improved in the last 10 years. And Oakland has gone down in numbers in the last 10 years.” 

Purvis went onto to say that there is only a limited amount of analytical data available because the statistics lack a certain historical perspective. 

In addition, when it came to Bay Area cities where residents walk to work, Berkeley ranked no. 4 — behind Stanford, Elmire and Angwin.  

“Alone it may not say much that Berkeley showed that 18.6 percent using mass transit, but you also have to look at how many residents are using other alternative ways of getting to work such as walking.” 

According to Purvis, Berkeley’s overall numbers were very good as it ranked well in the number of residents who are using mass transit and in the numbers of residents who are walking to work.  

In addition, Berkeley ranked no. 5 among cities where residents have no car available to them. And it did not rank at all among Bay Area cities where commuters are driving alone to work. 

“All in all this cannot show how Berkeley is changing over the last 100 years, but it does indicate what’s happening over the last 10 or 20. More people are beginning to use mass transit.” 

This would seemingly come as good news to advocates of smart growth — who have been pushing for more housing along transportation corridors to coincide with a community that is willing to use mass transit as a means to get to and from work centers. The data could be used analytically to get more government dollars for development along the transportation corridor. Consequently this information probably does not bode well for those who oppose smart growth. 

Martha Nicoloff, a Berkeley neighborhood activist, former planning commissioner and author of a proposed height restriction ordinance, says she opposes smart growth and opposes increased development in any targeted areas. 

“We are for just-right growth,” Nicoloff said. “Smart growth wants to put high-density, high-rise apartments in low-income neighborhoods to revitalize them. But the low-income neighborhoods don’t agree with it, and certainly don’t necessarily want it. 

“Berkeley is already quite dense in comparison to other communities. And we it has already satisfied the ABAG housing requirement where other r cities have not. The objection to smart growth is that it is discriminating and it designates all development in certain neighborhoods.” 

NEW YORK — ABC has pulled the plug on “Politically Incorrect,” which battled sinking ratings and, after Sept. 11, advertising erosion because of host Bill Maher’s reference to past U.S. military action as “cowardly.” 

The topical late-night talk show will be replaced in its 12:05 a.m. time slot with an entertainment show led by Comedy Central’s Jimmy Kimmel. 

In Los Angeles, Maher disputed ABC’s contention that ratings were to blame for cancellation of his show. 

Asked if he thought the network action was related to controversy over his post-Sept. 11 remark, he said “without a doubt.” 

ABC signaled its intention to get more entertainment in late-night earlier this spring when it tried to persuade David Letterman to jump from CBS to replace Ted Koppel’s “Nightline.” 

Letterman decided to stay put, and ABC gave “Nightline” a two-year commitment. But the network is still interested in building a late-night entertainment franchise to reach younger viewers. 

Koppel took a public jab at his parent company’s executives on Tuesday during the presentation of ABC’s fall schedule to advertisers at Disney’s New Amsterdam Theatre, home of “The Lion King.” 

Koppel made a joke about Kimmel, saying he had been talking to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who “told me he was sending one of his kids over here to do a show after ‘Nightline’ and I thought he was pulling my leg.” 

He also talked about some programs “Nightline” was doing on the Middle East and concluded by saying, “our new slogan at ‘Nightline’ is: ‘More relevant than ever.”’ 

It was a pointed reference to a March story in The New York Times, which quoted an unidentified executive of ABC’s parent Walt Disney Co. as explaining the interest in Letterman by saying “Nightline” was losing relevance. 

Koppel’s audience included Disney’s chief executive, Michael Eisner, and its president, Robert Iger. 

Looking unhappy, Eisner walked out of the Broadway theater shortly after the remark. 

“Politically Incorrect” was believed to be in trouble ever since Maher, immediately after the terrorist attacks, referred to the U.S. military as “cowardly” in lobbing missiles at enemies. 

“Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly,”’ he said on the air. 

FedEx and Sears immediately pulled their commercials from his show. Maher later explained that he believed that politicians and not servicemen were cowardly, but he defended his right to offer dissent. 

Maher said his audience stayed essentially the same but ad revenue from his show had declined, which he blamed in part on a lack of network support and ABC’s overall poor ratings performance. 

However, Maher struck a philosophical note. 

“It was time to move on. ... I do feel bad the network felt they had to act like they didn’t know me,” he said. 

He also acknowledged the climate might not be the same for his brand of political satire given national sensitivities after the terrorist attack. But he was confident he would find another network home. 

ABC Chairman Lloyd Braun said Maher’s comments had nothing to do with the cancellation. 

To the Editor: 

During my campaign for school board (Nov., 1998) I became acutely aware of achievement gaps that exist in our schools between poor and minority students and white and Asian students. To me, this outcome was unacceptable, divisive and poorly understood. Everyone seemed to have a theory about the gap and a remedy as well, but few had facts to back them up. After the election, I began digging into the literature, attending conferences and asking questions. Having spent my professional career as a psychotherapist, mine was the business of change and I was determined to find solutions that worked! 

In the winter of 1999 I attended an Education Trust conference focused on closing achievement gaps in our high schools. I was particularly interested in this topic because I knew that reform in the elementary grades is easier to effect than reforms targeted at older students. During the conference I attended a workshop on the Writers' Room, a high school-based program that brings trained volunteers into the classroom to provide one-on-one coaching in revision-based writing. I left the Writers' Room workshop with literature, a video and the certainty that this powerful intervention could address class size issues, improve student achievement, and close achievement gaps. Thanks to its talented director, responsive teachers and enthusiastic volunteers, this program is now being successfully implemented at Berkeley High and pilot programs are now being developed for our middle schools. Rigorous assessments at BHS reveal that this program works! 

Because it is a matter of great urgency to find solutions that work, and learn from them, I want to make an attempt to identify and characterize the program's essential elements. 

1. The intervention is standards-based. It focuses on bringing students to grade level proficiency as measured by the California Language Arts Standards. [The Education Trust: “Dispelling the Myth: High Poverty Schools Exceeding Expectations” —www.edtrust.org] 

2. The intervention is classroom-based and therefore has an immediate impact upon teaching and learning. (I hate to tell you how many thousands of hours in standards based work that never made it into the classroom.) 

3. The intervention includes professional development that is designed to bring standards into practice. Writers' Room teachers receive training in designing standards based writing assignments that are compatible with the Writers' Room revision based coaching approach. The result is improved teacher effectiveness. [Education Trust: “Good Teaching Matters” and “Standards in Practice” — www.edtrust.org] 

4. The program is data-driven. The use of standards-based assessments to evaluate the program insures that enthusiasm and confidence are grounded in actual accomplishment. 

5. The program supports learning for all students in all classrooms where writing is done. No student, teacher or department is stigmatized as underachieving or “at risk.” Because it is for everyone, everyone is for it! [“Thin Ice: 'Stereotype Threat and Black College Students” Claude M. Steele. — www.theatlantic.com/issues/99aug/9908stereotype.htm] 

6. The Writer's Room supports volunteer and parent involvement that directly impacts student achievement. We have all heard that parent and community involvement are correlated with student achievement, but what exactly does that mean? Current research tells us that strategies which permit interactive homework that allow youngsters to show, share, and demonstrate what they are learning in class is the most powerful way to impact student learning. (“How Parents Can Support Learning” Rebecca Jones. American School Board Journal/ September 2001 — http://www.asbj.com/2001/09/0901coverstory.html) 

This summer, Writers’ Room coaches will begin working with eighth-grade graduates attending our promising Summer Bridge program at Berkeley High. I urge parents and community members who are committed to improving student achievement and closing achievement gaps to volunteer some time towards this effective and personally rewarding program. 

- Shirley Issel  

Berkeley School Board President  

Friday, May 17

The Berkeley Women in Black 

A Vigil every Friday from Noon to 1 p.m. 

Corner of Bancroft and Telegraph in Berkeley 

Everyone Welcome 

841-4143 

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

James Irvine Foundation Conference Center on Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Saturday, May 18

The Edible Schoolyard Plant Sale 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Buy flowers, fruits and vegetables from the Edible Schoolyard kitchen and garden 

Bring a container for free municipal compost 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School 

1781 Rose St. at Grant St. 

Berkeley 

Strawberry Tasting & World Harmony Chorus 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Writer as Publisher: Independent Publishing Seminar 

Learn how at this all day seminar. 

9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Asian Cultural Center 

Pacific Renaissance Plaza 

388 Ninth Street 

Oakland 

510-839-1248 or www.writeraspublisher.com 

League of Woman Voters 

Call to annual meeting 

10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Please call to reserve a lunch ($11) and/or request a ride. 

843-8824 

3rd Annual Satsuki Arts Festival and Bazaar 

The Berkeley Buddhist Temple 

Featuring Bay Area and National Taiko drumming ensembles and Kenny Endo from Hawaii 

Sunday, May 19

Jazz On 4th 

6th Annual jazz on Forth, a benefit for Berkeley High School Performing Arts. Balloons, Raffle, Face Painting. Free Live Performances by The Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble & Combo, Big Belly Blues Band, Jenna Mammina Quartet, Jesus Diaz with Sabor A Cuba. 

12:30 to 4:30 p.m. 

Forth Street Between Hearst and Virginia 

For more information 510-526-6294 

Free 

Flamenco Fiesta 

David Serva, Miguel Funi, Clara Mora, Jose Torres de Moron 

5 to 5:45 Spanish wines & snacks from The Spanish Table, Supper served at 7:30.  

Montero's 

1401 University Ave. 

Reservations 526-3467 

$35 

Monday, May 20 

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

Home owners meeting. Chuck Durrett of Co-Housing tells about his program. All welcome. 

3 p.m. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers office 

1403 Addison St. (behind Andronico's on University) 

548-9696 

Tuesday, May 21

Strawberry Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Arthritis Month Special 

Herbal alternatives & drug interactions for Fibromyalgia. Dr. Anita Marshall, Pharm.D., l.Ac 

12 to 2 p.m. 

Alta Bates Medical Center 

Maffly Auditorium- Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

for more info: 644-3273 

Wednesday, May 22

Healthful Building materials 

Seminar by Darrel DeBoer 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St., Berkeley 

$35 

Thursday, May 23

Senior Men's Afternoon 

Gay senior men discussion group, 2nd & 4th Thursdays. 

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave. 

510-548-8283  

Free 

Fishbowl: "Everything you always wanted to know about the opposite sex but were afraid to ask" An opportunity to ask anonymous questions in a confidential and supportive environment. 

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

510-848-0237 X 127 

$8-$10 

Saturday, May 25

6th Annual Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival 

Everyone's welcome to participate in covering Solono's sidewalks with chalk art. Featuring refreshments and entertainment. Artist's chalk and a Polaroid of the finished work are available for a fee. To encourage early registration, a raffle for merchandise by local business will be held for the artists at noon.  

Registration at Peralta Park, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., 1561 Solano Ave. Berkeley. 

For more information: 510-527-5358, www.solanoave.org. 

Free 

Saturday & Sunday, May 25 & 26

19th Annual Himalayan Fair 

Outdoor celebration of the great Mountain Cultures! Authentic Himalayan Art, craft, Music & Dance, exotic food & stage entertainment. Benefits Himalayan Grassroots projects. 

Sat. 10-7, Sun. 10-5:30 

Live Oak Park 

Shattuck & Berryman 

$5-$7 Donation 

Saturday - Monday, May 25-27

Chocolate & Chalk Art Festival 

Chocolate Festival begins by picking up a chocolate menu from business on Solano Avenue flying a festival banner.  

The entire length of Solano Avenue, Berkeley & Albany

It’s rare that a high school coach blames a loss on the officiating. Coaches usually choose to gloss over blown calls, concentrating on their team’s mistakes that made a difference. But on Wednesday, there was little doubt about what decided the Berkeley-El Cerrito baseball game and perhaps the ACCAL championship. 

“(The umpires) certainly did cost us this game,” Berkeley High head coach Tim Moellering said after his team’s 4-3 loss at San Pablo Park. “The calls they made speak for themselves.” 

Moellering had two crucial calls in mind. In the bottom of the first, Berkeley’s Lee Franklin was caught in a rundown between third base and home plate after a missed squeeze bunt by Clinton Calhoun. Franklin evaded the tag long enough to take a throw in the back, then bump into El Cerrito pitcher Kenny Salyer within the baseline. While everyone expected an interference call on Salyer that would have scored Franklin automatically, the umpires called Franklin out, saying he intentionally blocked the throw that hit him between the numbers even though he never left the baseline. 

The second controversial call that changed the game came in the top of the sixth. With the Gauchos up 3-2, designated hitter Kevin Stewart hit a Sean Souders pitch deep to leftfield. The ball went over Jon Smith’s head and certainly appeared to bounce over the fence for a ground-rule double. But the umpires looked at each other, then signalled a home run for Stewart, bringing Moellering charging onto the field for the second time. 

“As far as I could tell, the only two people out here who didn’t see the ball bounce over the fence happened to be the guys in blue,” Moellering said. 

Smith said the ball landed at least 15 feet in front of the fence before bouncing over. 

Even El Cerrito head coach Brian Nichols, who was farther away from the play than either official, admitted to seeing the ball bounce over the fence, but he certainly wasn’t about to point out the mistake to the umpires. 

“It was a tough call, but from my angle I could see it bounce over,” Nichols said. “But sometimes you get the breaks and sometimes you don’t.” 

When Moellering’s arguing came to an end, the Gauchos were up 4-2. The phantom round-tripper took on an even greater importance when Berkeley scored a run in the bottom of the inning on one of El Cerrito’s six errors to get within a run. 

The ’Jackets had an excellent shot at tying or winning the game in their final at-bat. Franklin got a second life when El Cerrito catcher Ryan DeLaRosa dropped a foul popup, and took advantage with a double down the rightfield line. Salyer, who was past 100 pitch by then, walked DeAndre Miller on four pitches to put men on first and second, but Calhoun again couldn’t get a sacrifice bunt down and ended up striking out. Matt Toma flew out to shallow center and Benny Goldenberg hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game. 

“That’s the hard part,” Franklin said of the aborted rally. “When we’ve got first and second with no outs, we have to tie or win the game. We just didn’t execute.” 

To make the pain of a one-run loss with the umpires taking away a Berkeley run and handing a run to their opposition even worse, Wednesday’s game was a chance for the ’Jackets (17-6 overall, 10-3 ACCAL) to clinch the league title. Instead, they must now hope third-place Encinal (10-3 ACCAL) can beat the Gauchos (17-6, 10-3) on Friday while Berkeley must beat De Anza, a team that has already beaten the ’Jackets once this season. If El Cerrito wins on Friday, they will be the champions due to a tiebreaker determined before the season began. If Encinal wins and Berkeley loses on Friday, the Jets will take the league title. 

The ’Jackets are in a painfully familiar spot. They had a two-game lead with four to play last season and lost all four along with the league title. This year, they had a two-game lead with three to play, and have lost two in a row to drop into a three-way tie and no longer control their own fate. Although the ’Jackets are almost assured of a North Coast Section playoff spot even without the automatic bid an ACCAL championship would bring, things aren’t resting easy in the Berkeley dugout. 

“We just had to take what the umps gave us today,” Franklin said. “I’ve played three sports this year, and in each sport you get some bad calls. You hate to see it come down to that, but we can’t do anything about it.” 

Moellering said this year’s late-season slide has a better feel to it than last year’s, however, and expects his team to bounce back. 

“We’re playing much better than we were last year at this time,” he said. “We just need to win Friday and we’ll end up tied with somebody at the top.”

East Bay Municipal Utility District representatives met with Berkeley leaders this week to share their curiosity about becoming a power provider. 

Promises of cheaper electricity and a more reliable flow have the drinking water-oriented utility studying the possibility of taking over PG&E’s role in the local energy market, and EBMUD officials want customers to weigh in on the idea. 

While news of California’s power crisis has moved to the back pages of papers, questions about Enron’s power prices are now making headlines, and Berkeley leaders are showing they haven’t shaken concerns about electricity. City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night urging EBMUD to move forward with public power studies. 

“We need to know how much this is going to cost and the feasibility study will tell us,” said Councilmember Linda Maio. “We may have to make a big commitment in the short run, but it’s likely to be worth it.” 

The prospect of public power surfaced in the summer of 2000 when power rates surged and local consumers took their horror to EBMUD, whose charter grants it the authority to provide other utilities besides water. 

A $50,000 study completed earlier this year by consultants R.W. Beck bolstered the notion that EBMUD could undersell PG&E by as much as 5 percent, EBMUD officials said. 

“Public power makes so much more economic sense,” affirmed Berkeley resident and founder of the public-power coalition East Bay Power. “Other public utility districts across the country have rates 20 to 30 percent less.” 

Another public power advocate, Oakland Alliance for Community Energy, agrees. 

“With a privately-held utility, interests of the consumer are at odds with the shareholders’ interests... Efficient electricity production is not always in line with making money for shareholders,” explained Alliance co-founder Graham Brownstein. 

PG&E, though, says the logic doesn’t add up. “There’s a very real chance that rates will increase,” said PG&E spokesperson Jason Alderman. 

If EBMUD takes over as a retail electricity provider, they would have to assume a transmission and distribution infrastructure which, if bought from PG&E, would cost more than $1 billion, estimates show. 

EBMUD’s ability to procure a qualified staff and maintain appropriate safety controls has also been questioned by critics. 

PG&E has made it clear that they will fight vigorously against EBMUD efforts to take over the power market. 

But this will not discourage public-power advocates, said Councilmember Maio, at least in their pursuit of more information. 

Two other types of involvement, beyond a full-fledged takeover of the electricity market, are being studied by the EBMUD. These have received the blessing of PG&E. 

In the first scenario, EBMUD would serve as an aggregator, meaning brokering electricity between wholesalers and consumers, and still using PG&E’s infrastructure. 

The second scenario would merely charge EBMUD with the mission of encouraging and facilitating more renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar. 

Brownstein suggested the two scenarios are not mutually exclusive with the plan for a complete takeover, and said the two could be implemented in the short term while more rigorous control could be assumed in the long term. 

The two shorter-term proposals, Brownstein said, would not only mean better power rates for consumers but would bring more environmentally-friendly generation. 

“We’ve had no renewable energy sources brought on line by PG&E in at least 13 years, at least nothing major,” said Brownstein. “That’s pitiful for a state that brought forth the technology.” 

EBMUD’s board of directors, having heard a variety of opinions on public power over the past year, has not committed to the idea. In fact, one of the seven board members and several staff members have raised strong objections. 

“We just want more information right now,” said Board President Katy Foulkes, who said she needs a lot more data before she makes up her mind on public power. 

Foulkes noted EBMUD’s solid reputation for administering drinking water, and added that the district already generates a small amount of electricity, but was cautious about saying the district could assume the responsibility of handling energy. 

EBMUD serves 1.3 million customers in 22 cities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. 

Having so far spent about $200,000 on public power studies, according to EBMUD officials, the board is now deciding whether to enter the next phase of their studies which could cost up to $1 million. 

Implementation of any plan is still years away, officials said.

CANNES, France — The diminutive figure of Woody Allen cast an imposing shadow over Cannes on Wednesday as the world’s top film festival gratefully welcomed the reclusive director to kick off its annual confab of glitz, art, dealmaking and partying. 

“I’m suppressing panic,” the 66-year-old filmmaker quipped when asked how he felt about climbing the famous red-carpeted steps later that evening. 

A few hours later, he stood fidgeting on the stage of Cannes’ grand Lumiere Theater as the black-tie crowd gave him a prolonged standing ovation and he was awarded the “Palm of Palms” — a special achievement award given only once in the past, to Ingmar Bergman. 

Allen has long been revered in Europe and especially in France, but despite annual requests, he’s never attended Cannes, preferring to stay home and let others promote his films. 

Accepting his award, Allen joked about France’s fondness for him, saying the French have two misconceptions: “that I’m an intellectual, because I wear these glasses, and that I’m an artist, because my films lose money all the time. 

“Neither of those things are true,” he said to the laughing audience, which included director David Lynch, the jury president, and fellow jurors Sharon Stone and Michelle Yeoh. Then he left before the screening of his film, “Hollywood Ending” — “because I don’t like to watch my films.” 

Allen says he finally came to Cannes because it was time to thank the French public for years of support. Also, he felt that “Hollywood Ending,” showing out of competition, seemed perfect — because it jokes about the very fact that Allen is better received in France than at home. 

Organizers heralded his arrival with glee. “I’m in the clouds,” said the normally terse Gilles Jacob, the festival president, who presented Allen with the lifetime award. 

After years of self-imposed isolation from Hollywood and glitzy film festivals, Allen has emerged blinking in the sunlight this year — first making a surprise appearance at the Oscars in March to support New York City, and now Cannes. But he insists it’s just a coincidence. 

“I know it looks like I’ve had some kind of religious conversion, but I’ll be back in the house in a few hours,” he joked. 

Coincidence or not, Allen’s appearances are accompanied by a decline in his box office, and perhaps a need to promote his films more aggressively. “Hollywood Ending” opened May 3 in the United States to disappointing results. Opening at Cannes will be a boost to the film’s prospects in Europe. 

The film tells the story of an aging movie director, Val Waxman, whose career has flamed out so badly that he’s filming a deodorant commercial in the snowy wilds of Canada. 

Suddenly he gets a big chance, but it comes with a price: His ex-wife, Ellie (Tea Leoni), now a movie executive, is pushing for him to make a comeback. She has a pet project that she wants him to direct. The problem: heading the studio is Hal (Treat Williams), Ellie’s new lover, the man who stole her from Val. 

Val takes the job, but on the eve of shooting he suffers psychosomatic trauma: suddenly he’s blind. He decides to keep his condition secret and keep shooting. 

While some reviewers found the slapstick physical humor cloying — Allen doesn’t really know how to act blind — many appreciated some of the Hollywood-mocking humor, such as the moment when Ellie tells her assistant to send Haley Joel Osment a note and flowers in congratulation for his lifetime achievement award. 

In the end, the movie is made — and it’s a dud that leaves critics and the public scratching their heads. But there’s a happy ending: France loves the film. Allen rushes off to Paris to revel in his success with Ellie — who he’s won back, of course, from the slippery Hal. 

“I thought the Cannes audience would get particular enjoyment out of that,” Allen said. 

France’s fondness for Woody Allen began long ago, with “Bananas” and “Take the Money and Run.” 

“I think we in the U.S. find it amusing and endearing about the French that they discover our artists before we do,” he said, mentioning Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner as other examples. 

When Allen appeared in “Everyone Says I Love You” in 1996, walking across a bridge over the Seine River with a baguette in his hand and a beret on his head, French audiences roared. Clearly, they knew the affection was mutual. 

For Allen’s pre-screening news conference Wednesday, the normal press room was shunned for an auditorium. In the circus-like atmosphere, one journalist asked Allen to analyze the French tradition of eating snails and frogs. 

“It’s like in relationships,” Allen replied, attempting a thoughtful response. “Whatever works.”

Dear Editor: 

As someone who attended the May 4 Mayoral Convention, I was dismayed to read the May 6 article stating that Tom Bates was chosen by “acclamation.” 

The dictionary defines acclamation as “an enthusiastic oral vote of approval taken without a formal ballot.” Although nearly everyone who attended the convention is pleased with the choice of Tom Bates, the choice was made by a formal written ballot, and three other candidates also received votes. 

As one of the people who voted, I do not appreciate being disenfranchised. I am pleased that Bates has stepped forward and received overwhelming support, but that does not change the fact that when I pick up a newspaper I prefer the story be based on facts, rather than imagination, enthusiasm or bias. 

- Judy Clancy 

Berkeley

Staff Report 

The Berkeley High boys’ lacrosse team will face University High (San Francisco) in a Northern California semifinal today at 4 p.m. The match is set for Paul Goode Field in the Presidio in San Francisco. 

The Shoreline Lacrosse League champion Yellowjackets also had eight players named to the All-League team, along with three honorable mentions, the most players from any team in the league.  

The all-league honorees were attackers Jesse Cohen and Eric Lindeman, midfielders Nick Schooler, Sam Geller and Demetrius Sommers, defenders Chris May and Owen Goldstrom and goalie Marc Bloch.  

Joaquin Palomino, Julian Coffman and Ed Hill were honorable mention winners for Berkeley.

The chief U.S. representative for the Palestine Liberation Organization said the Palestinian Authority will pursue democratic reform at a UC Berkeley appearance Wednesday afternoon. 

“We want democracy,” said Hasan Rahman. “We need accountability.” 

Rahman’s comments came a day after PLO Chairman and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat pledged reform during a speech in Ramallah. Critics have argued that Arafat is dictatorial and say they doubt his latest promises. 

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has warned that he will not engage in peace talks with the Palestinians until the Palestinian Authority changes. 

But Rahman said the Authority is pursuing reform on its own initiative. He also warned that Israel should not use the issue to stall negotiations on Palestinian statehood, the fate of refugees and other pressing concerns. 

“The reform shouldn’t be used as a pretext by Israel not to deal with the issues,” he said. “Whether we have Arafat or do not have Arafat, these issues will not disappear.” 

Rahman also praised the Bush administration for recognizing, in recent months, the need for third-party intervention. But he argued that, while U.S. involvement is essential, it is not impartial. 

“The United States is not an honest broker,” Rahman said, citing U.S. support for Israel in its refusal to allow an investigation of military action in Jenin. “It is an indispensable broker.” 

Randy Barnes, a UC Berkeley student and member of the Israel Action Committee, asked Rahman if he would favor compensation over repatriation for Palestinian refugees. 

Rahman said there are some situations, such as the reunification of families, that demand repatriation. But he said the PLO would not push for a solution that would substantially change the “demography” of Israel. 

Will Youmans, a leader of campus group Students for Justice in Palestine, took a different position. 

“We believe in the right of return,” he said, arguing that refugees has a right to go back to their former homes. 

Youmans said Arafat’s government, the Palestinian Authority, takes a more moderate position because it is too wrapped up in the political process. 

“Their legitimacy is based on the fact that they’re negotiating with Israel,” he said. 

Chris Silver, an Israel Action Committee member who attended Rahman’s speech, said he was impressed with the representative’s approach. 

“He seemed much more interested in peace than groups like SJP,” Silver said, arguing that Students for Justice in Palestine is intent on the “destruction of Israel.” 

“It’s a gross distortion of everything we stand for,” Youmans replied. “What we advocate is the complete equality of Palestinians under the law.” 

Equality, he said, would transform Israel from an “ethnocracy” to a democracy. 

Rahman also called on American Jews to speak out against Sharon’s tactics, accusing the Israeli Prime Minister of war crimes. 

“I think he’s doing his best given the circumstances,” said Silver, discussing Sharon. “It would be a lot easier for American Jewry if Palestinian- and Arab-Americans stood up against suicide bombings.”

Today is Thursday, May 16, the 136th day of 2002. There are 229 days left in the year. 

Highlight: 

On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The movie “Wings” won “best production” while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress. 

On this date: 

In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15. 

In 1866, Congress authorized minting of the five-cent piece. 

In 1868, the Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment against him. 

In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome. 

In 1946, the musical “Annie Get Your Gun” opened on Broadway. 

In 1960, a Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the United States in the wake of the U-2 incident. 

In 1965, the musical play “The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd” opened on Broadway. 

In 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 

In 1977, five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling atop the Pan Am Building in midtown Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying. 

In 1991, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress. 

Ten years ago:  

The space shuttle Endeavour completed its maiden voyage with a safe landing in the California desert. Actress Marlene Dietrich, who had died in Paris at age 90, was buried in Berlin. America3 (“America Cubed”), skippered by Bill Koch, won the 28th defense of the America’s Cup. 

Five years ago:  

President Clinton publicly apologized for the notorious Tuskegee experiment, in which government scientists deliberately allowed black men to weaken and die of treatable syphilis. The space shuttle Atlantis docked with Russia’s Mir station. In Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko ended 32 years of autocratic rule, giving control of the country to rebel forces. 

One year ago:  

Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was indicted on charges of spying for Moscow. (Hanssen later pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.) Nathaniel Brazill, a 14-year-old boy who shot his English teacher to death on the last day of the school year, was convicted of second-degree murder in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Brazill was later sentenced to 28 years in prison.) 

Today’s Birthdays:  

Author Studs Terkel is 90. Actor George Gaynes is 85. Actor Harry Carey Jr. is 81. Jazz musician Billy Cobham is 58. Actor Pierce Brosnan is 49. Actress Debra Winger is 47. Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut is 47. Actress Mare Winningham is 43. Singer Janet Jackson is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ralph Tresvant (New Edition) is 34. Actress Tracey Gold is 33. Tennis player Gabriela Sabatini is 32. Country singer Rick Trevino is 31. Actor David Boreanaz is 31. Musician Simon Katz (Jamiroquai) is 31. Actress Tori Spelling is 29. 

To the Editor: 

As an alumna of Pacific School of Religion at the GTU, I was pleased to see your article on love and relationship issues for those in ministry. However, please be aware that all three of the students whom you interviewed and referred to as members of the “Church of Christ,” are in fact members of the “United Church of Christ.” You referred to the UCC once, but thereafter misidentified the students. 

There is a great difference between these two denominations in theology and practice. The UCC has long been in the forefront of dialogue and work for social and political justice. PSR is a multi-denominational seminary of the United Church of Christ with historic ties to the United Methodist Church and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), but no official connection to the Church of Christ, a much more conservative tradition. PSR President Bill McKinney is himself ordained in the UCC. Berkeley’s 1st Congregational Church to which you refer is a UCC congregation. I doubt that the students interviewed, two of whom I know extremely well, would identify as Church of Christ ministry students.  

- Carol J. Barriger 

Berkeley

Five Cal softball players were named to the All-Pac-10 squad for the 2002 season. On the first team, senior pitcher Jocelyn Forest was the lone selection, while four players - freshman Kaleo Eldredge, senior Candace Harper, junior Veronica Nelson and junior Courtney Scott - made the second team.  

The Golden Bears had the second-most players named to the first or second team, as 2002 Pac-10 champion UCLA tallied six first and second team all-conference honors.  

Forest (21-12) became just the second pitcher in Cal history to win 20 or more games in each of her four years. She is second in almost all Cal pitching categories to four-time All-American Michele Granger, including strikeouts, wins, games and innings pitched.  

Eldredge and Washington’s Kristen Rivera are the only first-year athletes to be named to the all-conference squad. Eldredge leads the Bears in hits with 72 and stolen bases, totaling nine.  

The five selections are the most first or second team picks for Cal since 1993, when six Bears were selected to the all-conference squad. 

Charges against two FBI special agents were dropped Wednesday in the Earth First v. FBI and Oakland Police Department trial in an attempt to narrow the scope of the case accusing the FBI and OPD of mishandling the 1990 car bombing of environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney.  

Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that charges against FBI Special Agents Walter Hemje and John Conway would not be considered by the jury, expected to begin deliberations on Monday. Wilken claimed the agents acted on the periphery of the case and were not critical members of the investigation.  

Attorneys in the case wrangled long into the afternoon over courtroom technicalities, including the wording of jury instructions, proposed dismissal of defendants and the admission of evidence. Closing arguments were postponed by Wilken until Thursday. 

Attorneys disputed the wording of instructions for the jury regarding several key issues in the case including probable cause and qualified immunity. 

Defense attorney Robert Sher disputed the language of probable cause, maintaining that the defendants acted legally in devising search warrants during the investigation. 

Sher argued that the wording involving the defendant’s search of the residences of Bari and Cherney was incorrect and misleading. Sher objected to the plaintiffs’ proposal that the wording of the instructions should indicate that the defendants investigated the residences in 'good faith,' stating that the defendants were not obligated to act in 'good faith.'  

“This argument is shocking, that they (the defendants) can act without good faith,” said Dennis Cunningham, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, as the attorneys disputed the language. 

The actions and judgments of the defendants in developing the search warrant is a critical piece of the plaintiff's case accusing the FBI agents and OPD officers of violating the civil rights of Bari, Cherney and their supporters. 

Counsel for Oakland police argued that the issue of a high bail should not be allowed as evidence in the case, indicating that issuing a high bail is not a violation and claiming that it was no longer an issue in the case. Wilken, however, determined that the issue would stay. 

Cunningham objected to the language of the defendant’s qualified immunity in the case. Specifically, he disputed the wording of instructions concerning “whether the defendant is liable if another reasonable officer had determined probable cause existed.”  

The wording of the statement was modified to “liable if he believed his conduct was lawful under the circumstances,” despite continued objections by Cunningham, claiming, “We're getting smeared here. We're getting wiped out on the question of qualified immunity.” 

Defendants in the case have maintained that their actions in the case were the result of decisions made to the best of their ability considering the constraint of time. 

Following Cunningham’s continued disputes on the point, Wilken threatened to waive the plaintiffs remaining objections. 

Attorneys for both sides also questioned language on the topic of search and seizure and the issue of conspiracy in the case. 

An “eco-defense” book was not admitted as evidence in the trial as defendants had hoped, as attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the book represented an unfair connection between the Earth First! movement and environmental terrorism. 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs initially decided not to include nominal damage instructions to the jury, allowing for the possibility that the plaintiffs would not be awarded attorney fees. After some disagreement among the plaintiffs, Wilken ruled that she would include the instructions for the jury. 

Wilken also ruled Wednesday that newspapers and fliers were not to be left in sight of jurors as news of the trial would influence the members of the jury. 

Closing arguments, delayed by the last-minute maneuvering on each side, will begin Thursday with the presentation of the plaintiff’s arguments. Defendants will present their closing arguments Friday, followed by a rebuttal from the plaintiffs and jury instructions given by Wilken.

United offers $5 flights 

CHICAGO — For some travelers, it’s going to cost more to get to the airport than to fly. 

For about 45 minutes on Tuesday, United Airlines customers were able to buy roundtrip tickets to U.S. cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles for as little as $5 because of an error by a computer that distributes fares for major airlines. 

United will honor the tickets but did not yet know how many were bought or the destinations, spokeswoman Chris Nardella said Wednesday. 

“We discovered the problem and we fixed it, but there was a 45-minute window when customers were able to book these tickets,” she said. 

The incorrect prices were posted when Airline Tariff Publishing Co., a clearinghouse for all airlines’ fares, was loading new sale fares onto United’s site, Nardella said. 

The site stopped giving customers a promised $5 discount for booking online, and when workers tried to fix it, it began selling flights for as low as $5 instead, she said. 

It wasn’t the first time United sold tickets cheap via the Internet. 

In January, 142 passengers bought tickets to international destinations for as little as $25. United first said it would not honor those fares but later agreed to do so. 

And in August, 120 customers booked trips to Bombay from Chicago for $140 or $180. 

Scary marketing 

LOGAN, Utah — A car dealership that wanted to drum up a little publicity managed to succeed. 

Kevin Day Mitsubishi mailed 10,000 plastic bottles as a promotion, setting off a panic among residents suspicious of anthrax attacks and mailbox bombs. 

The bottles were labeled, “Hurry open this right away to receive your message in a bottle.” They contained an invitation for car buyers to try to win a $5,000 discount by matching a marble inside the bottle with one at the dealership. 

“What it’s designed to do is get people’s attention,” said John Sandifer, general manager of the dealership. “I’m just beginning to wonder how good it worked.” 

Residents flooded police with calls when the bottles started turning up Tuesday in mailboxes. 

“It’s completely ridiculous that they would be doing something like this after this big scare with mail bombs all over the country,” Cache County sheriff’s Lt. Dave Bennett said. 

Logan Postmaster Kim Taylor said mailing an innocent package is not illegal. 

Freeze-dried trees 

SANTA FE, N.M. — From the drought-stricken Southwest city that brought you painted grass comes another agricultural oddity: freeze-dried trees. 

Furniture store owner Chip Livingston said several people honked at him or rolled their eyes in disapproval as he put in 18 of the 2-foot, Christmas tree-shaped trees along Santa Fe’s major business thoroughfare. 

“We want everybody to know they’re fake,” Livingston said. 

Well, not quite. 

Lynn Olmen, a buyer for the business, said the trees are grown in California, cut after eight years of careful trimming, then freeze-dried in a “highly technical but nontoxic process” that ensures they will hold their shape for up to 10 years. 

Santa Fe has been under water restrictions since April that ban the planting of grass and limit the watering of trees to once a week. 

The store’s manager, Mary Thomas, decided dried trees would be a better choice than flowers while Santa Fe struggles with water shortages.

Cal junior catcher John Baker has been selected as one of 10 finalists for Johnny Bench Award, it was announced May 15 by The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission.  

Baker joins three other catchers from Bay Area schools who are among the 10 finalists - senior Steve Booth from San Francisco, junior Ryan Garko from Stanford and senior Adam Shorsher from San Jose State.  

Three finalists for the Johnny Bench Award will be announced in June at the College World Series. A final vote will occur at the end of the College World Series.  

Baker finished the 2002 season batting a team-leading .383 with 12 doubles, a triple, five home runs and 29 RBI, despite missing three weeks with a broken right hand when he was hit by a pitch.

Parents at Willard Middle School are concerned about the Board of Education’s decision last week to layoff one of the school’s two safety officers next year, and transfer him to another school. 

“We have six hundred some-odd students and you’re looking at one security officer – let’s get real,” said Joanie Hamasaki, president of the Willard Parent-Teacher Association. 

“I, as a board member, expect the same standard of student safety to be held to at that site,” said school board President Shirley Issel. “It’s going to take the cooperation of all the adults on site to make that happen and that’s what I expect to see.” 

Board member John Selawsky said the district gave middle school administrators the option of laying off either a vice principal or a security officer as part of a district-wide effort to eliminate an estimated $5.4 million deficit next year. 

“Obviously, in an ideal situation, we’d fully fund both,” he said. “(But) necessary things are going to have to be cut.” 

Selawsky said the laid-off security officer, Rickey Brantley, may be transferred to Berkeley High School. Selawsky was unsure if Brantley would bump an officer with lesser seniority out of a job, or serve as an addition to the BHS force.  

Brantley said seniority rules may give him a right to choose which school he transfers to next year. Superintendent Michele Lawrence did not return calls for clarification. 

Brantley has worked with Willard’s other officer, John Williams, for 14 years. 

“Those two are a team and they work like a well-oiled machine,” said Willard parent Mark Coplan, branch manager for Burns International security in Fremont. “Breaking up that team would be a big loss.” 

“It’s a job that takes a minimum of two,” said Williams, arguing that the school will be unsafe next year not only for the children, but for the one officer who remains. 

Williams, who has worked at Willard for 19 years, said he will not stay at the middle school if Brantley is transferred. 

Brantley said the school, which lost a third safety officer and a Berkeley police officer assigned to the school in the last two years, cannot take another cut. 

“No one is considering the safety of the kids,” he said. 

Jennifer Drapeau, chief of staff for Mayor Shirley Dean, said the mayor will talk to chief of police Dash Butler about restoring a police officer to Willard. 

“She considers this a priority that there be a safe learning environment at Willard,” Drapeau said, while acknowledging that the city’s budget difficulties could get in the way. 

The police department did not return calls for comment. 

Both Brantley and Williams are critical of the Willard administration for its apparent role in Brantley’s reassignment. 

“If Mr. Brantley’s job is to be saved here, I think the person with the most influence is the principal,” said Williams. “And I don’t think she’s doing it.” 

Willard principal Michele Patterson and vice-principal Greg John did not return calls for comment. 

Lee Berry, a Willard parent, raised concerns not only about the Brantley transfer, but about the school’s decision to assign security officers to an in-house suspension program. 

“They’re not free to roam around the campus,” Berry said. 

“It’s definitely taking away from the job,” Brantley said. “We’re not as mobile as we could be.”  

LOS ANGELES — A long time ago, the most avid “Star Wars” fans began lining up for the new chapter of George Lucas’ space saga, with some groups camping out in shifts for weeks. 

Their patience paid off as theaters around the country prepared to open their doors for midnight screenings of “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.” 

“I’m here to make sure I see the first show,” said Eric Putz, 28, of Los Angeles, who stayed in line for two days to catch the first screening at Hollywood’s historic Grauman’s Chinese Theater. “Even if the movie is horrible, it’s worth it just to see the light sabers lighting up.” 

“If I didn’t get to see the first show, I would be agonizing until I saw it,” said 25-year-old Brian Monroe of Los Angeles. He’s been in line at the Chinese Theater off and on since April. 

The lines are noticeably thinner than they were for “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” in 1999. 

But as the first “Star Wars” film in 16 years, “Phantom Menace” had greater pent-up demand among fans. And the growing use of advance ticket sales over the Internet probably reduced the number of fans who would have waited in line outside theaters. 

Those who have stood in line said it was more for the experience of hanging with fellow “Star Wars” travelers. 

“A lot of people say they wouldn’t be waiting in line if not for the camaraderie,” Monroe said. 

Many theaters have taken to throwing open their doors for major movie releases at 12:01 a.m., the earliest time they can begin screening the films on the day of release. Theaters are braced for the big “Star Wars” rush later in the day Thursday, as the film plays on about 6,000 screens in 3,161 theaters domestically. 

Lucas said he does not expect “Attack of the Clones” to approach the box-office debut of “Spider-Man” two weeks ago. Playing on about 1,500 more screens than “Attack of the Clones,” “Spider-Man” took in a record-smashing $114.8 million in its first three days. 

“Attack of the Clones” opened on fewer screens because Lucas was choosy about locations, insisting on top-of-the-line theaters with digital sound. 

Crowds waiting outside theaters for “Episode II” ranged from people who saw the original “Star Wars” in 1977 to those who weren’t even born then. 

“We’re a generation that grew up on ‘Star Wars,’ ” said J.R. Barbee, a youth pastor at a Hollywood church who said he incorporates “Star Wars” into his classes for middle and high school students. “I was 6 years old when ‘Star Wars’ came out in 1977, and I remember seeing Luke Skywalker. He was my hero. Lucas has taken a generation on a journey.” 

Daniel Hernandez, 20, and his brothers, Robert, 16, and Andrew, 22, drove from Hesperia, Calif., to wait outside the Chinese Theater, wielding homemade light sabers of metal and wood. 

“Over here, no one makes fun of us,” Daniel Hernandez said. “We were all raised on ‘Star Wars.’ ”

OAKLAND — A report released by an environmental research group in Oakland Wednesday says that dirty air accounts for more deaths in California than traffic accidents, homicides and AIDS combined. 

The Environmental Working Group says its analysis of state data found respiratory illnesses caused or aggravated by particulate matter — microscopic particles of soot and dust in the air — are responsible for more than 9,300 death, 16,000 hospital visits, 600,000 asthma attacks, and 5 million lost work days in California each year. 

“There's an overwhelming scientific consensus that particulate pollution kills people,'' said Renee Sharp, one of the report's authors. “Cleaning up the air is as important to public health and safety as wearing seatbelts.’’ 

The Environmental Working Group says that particulate air pollution in California is most severe in the San Joaquin Valley and in the greater Los Angeles area. 

The most significant source of particulates in the San Joaquin Valley is the agriculture industry, the group reports; however, most agricultural activities are exempt from state and federal air pollution rules. 

An Environmental Working Group spokesman said state scientists have proposed tougher standards, but they face strong opposition from a coalition of oil companies and automakers. 

The Air Resources Board, appointed by Gov. Gray Davis, plans to vote on the proposed standards next month, he said. 

Statewide, 55 of 58 counties have average annual particulate levels that exceed the proposed standards, according to the group. If these standards were approved and enacted, it says, it could save California $500 million a year, reduce particulate matter-deaths by at least 69 percent, and cut the number of asthma attacks suffered by 57 percent.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco cycling enthusiasts are congregating in the South of Market neighborhood today to celebrate new bike lanes on half of busy Howard Street -- painted just in time for Bike to Work Day on Thursday. 

The gathering and news conference are slated for the Community Garden on Howard, between Seventh and Eighth streets, with district Supervisor Chris Daly on hand for the festivities. 

According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the striping along Howard between Fifth and 11th streets was completed last week. 

The advocates are part way through completing an ambitious plan to create a viable and safe network of bicycle lanes between Market Street and the wharf. SoMa committee members for the bicycle coalition report on the group's Web site they have already seen Folsom Street marked off for biking between 11th and the Embarcadero and hope that the rest of Howard Street will eventually be similarly set up for biking commuter traffic. 

They note that the Board of Supervisors voted in January in favor of the partial striping of Howard and will consider further proposals for that part of town in the coming weeks and months.

SAN FRANCISCO — At its peak, Napster boasted some 60 million users and seemed at once to symbolize both the excitement of the digital revolution and the worst nightmares of the established recording industry. 

That was two years ago. The Internet file-swapping service now says it may have to file for bankruptcy protection. 

It wasn’t just the legal full-court press by a music industry bent on curbing music piracy that appears to be sealing Napster’s fate. There was also acrimonious company infighting. 

All of this before Napster ever got a chance to generate revenue. 

On Tuesday, there was an exodus of several key executives from the Redwood City-based company, including co-founder Shawn Fanning and CEO Konrad Hilbers. 

Napster’s board of directors had recently rejected a buyout offer of approximately $15 million from Bertelsmann AG, the small company’s deep-pocketed backer that had poured $85 million into Napster to keep it afloat and provided Hilbers to oversee it. 

Some analysts say it was chiefly the recording industry’s lawsuit that buried Napster, the threat of millions of dollars in damages from the copyright infringement suit bringing ruin. 

“Although Napster’s board was directly responsible for rejecting the Bertelsmann buy-out offer, the record label litigants are the ones truly responsible, for refusing to relent from their demands for potentially crushing damages,” said Aram Sinnreich, a senior analyst with Jupiter Research. 

Born in 1999 in a college dorm room at Northeastern University, Napster was concocted as the easiest way to transmit and share MP3 digital music files over a network. College freshman Shawn Fanning and the program’s co-creator, Sean Parker, developed a system in which networked users using the same software application could search each other’s hard drives for MP3 songs and transfer them directly. 

Another Napster co-founder enlisted by Fanning was Jordan Ritter. The two met as part of the ad hoc software security group called “w00w00.” 

Ritter said Fanning was single-minded in his first attempts to make Napster functional. 

“Shawn is the kind of guy who stays up 50 hours straight just to make something work and prove someone wrong,” Ritter said Wednesday, as he reflected on Napster’s beginnings. 

Once Fanning’s uncle, John, came on board and incorporated the company, Ritter said he became increasingly disillusioned with the prospect that Napster would succeed. 

“Never at any point in time did that company have a management team in place that could turn the company into a business,” Ritter said. 

Ritter moved to California with Fanning to set up Napster and served as the company’s lead engineer. He left the day Bertelsmann signed an agreement to infuse Napster with cash, for reasons Ritter described as the “continued misdirection of the company.” 

The trouble came when Napster started distributing the program for free and millions of users began trading copyright music with abandon, developing digital music troves on their hard drives. 

The record industry saw the activity as lost profit and moved quickly to shut Napster down. 

Some top artists, including rapper Chuck D. and the rock band Limp Bizkit, attempted to rally around the service, and Napster partnered with them to sponsor music tours and launch other Internet music Web sites. 

But the heavy metal band Metallica led the charge against Napster, hand delivering boxes full of Napster user names to the company’s front door and demanding the music fans be blocked from downloading the band’s songs. 

Napster attempted to comply with demands from bands and federal judges to change its system and allow only authorized music to be traded. But it failed and the company eventually went offline last year as it attempted to retool for a fee-based relaunch. 

Deals to license material from all five major labels never materialized and, to date, even BMG Entertainment, Bertelsmann’s music arm, remains a plaintiff in the suit against Napster. 

Napster board member John Fanning filed suit to unseat two other board members, venture capitalist John Hummer and former Napster CEO Hank Barry. 

But on Tuesday, a chancery court in Delaware ruled against the elder Fanning. 

Sources close to the failed sale negotiations between Napster and Bertelsmann said one reason for the eventual impasse is that Napster’s original investor, venture capital firm Hummer Winblad, sought immunity from any damages that Napster might incur if it lost the copyright infringement suit. 

Shawn Fanning was not speaking to the media about the company’s downfall, a Napster spokeswoman said Wednesday. 

Napster said in a statement released Tuesday that it would seek to cut expenses in the coming days. Employees filed out with boxes of personal belongings Tuesday, frustrated with having not seen the new subscription Napster service to completion. 

“We deeply regret that we have not yet been able to find a funding solution that would allow Napster to launch a service to benefit artists and consumers alike,” the company said. 

Other file-sharing programs and networks such as Kazaa and Gnutella have stepped in to fill the gap and offer services similar to Napster. They, too, have drawn the ire of entertainment companies, which have turned to the courts for resolution. 

Redshift Research reported that Kazaa had an average of 1.4 million users logged on to the system during April. Gnutella had roughly 280,000 users online at any given time last month, the firm reported. 

Ritter said in a telephone interview that the future of Napster-like business models is murky at best. 

“Is there a clear laid-out future for the marriage of technology and business? No,” he said.

LOS ANGELES — A nationwide postcard campaign aimed at winning legal rights for illegal immigrants, was launched Wednesday in 30 American cities by a coalition of immigrant groups, labor unions and church officials. 

Called “A Million Voices for Legalization, the groups hope to deliver a million red, white and blue postcards to President Bush before the midterm elections in November. 

Kicking off the campaign in Los Angeles, United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez said illegal and undocumented workers are barred by law from obtaining Social Security cards, drivers licenses and bank accounts. 

“They need to be respected in the same way as other working Americans,” he said. “We want President Bush to hear the voices of millions of Americans who want legalization.” 

Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Los Angeles, said a meeting last year between Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox had put immigrant rights in the national spotlight, but the attention shifted after Sept. 11. 

“We hope to revive that,” Solis said, following a kickoff rally in Washington, D.C. “It makes good economic sense to do so.” 

She said a program to reunite families is among the goals of the task force, which is drafting proposals to end the legal jeopardy for millions of immigrants from many nations. 

“I would like to see these people who are here, playing by the rules, receive legal status,” said Solis. 

The postcards are to be distributed at churches, community meetings and union halls. 

The message printed in languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Tagalog, Polish and French Creole says in part: “Everyday, immigrant workers make vital contributions to our economy, our communities and our nation. Nearly 50,000 members of America’s armed forces are immigrant soldiers. ... Unfortunately, our outdated immigration laws force many immigrants ... to live in fear for simply going to work each day.” 

Obtaining legal documents like drivers licenses and social security cards can help lift immigrants out of poverty, said Msgr. David O’Connell.

SACRAMENTO — State police will replace National Guard troops who began patrolling three major California bridges after last fall’s terrorist attacks, Gov. Gray Davis said Wednesday. 

Uniformed troops armed with automatic weapons will continue their watch over San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Davis said, because it is a national treasure. He said that decision was made after talking with the Golden Gate Bridge Authority, but will be reevaluated this summer. 

By month’s end, the troops will be gone from San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, the Vincent Thomas Bridge at the Port of Los Angeles and San Diego’s Coronado Bridge. 

They will be replaced by increased patrols by California Highway Patrol officers working in coordination with local police, surveillance from boats and aircraft, as well as 24-hour electronic monitoring of key parts of the bridges. 

The U.S. Coast Guard, FBI and Federal Aviation Administration, will continue helping, along with local agencies including the San Diego Harbor Police and Los Angeles Terrorist Task Force, he said. 

Davis said the decision was made after “dozens” of meetings between state and local law enforcement officials. He described the guard as having played “an important transitional security role” in safeguarding the bridges. Major General Paul D. Monroe, who heads the guard, also praised the troops. 

But Davis’ announcement came less than a month after four National Guard troops patrolling San Francisco Bay area bridges complained their equipment was outdated and poorly maintained, they had inadequate security training for dealing with civilians, and that they’d been told they were stationed at the bridges “just for show.” 

Monroe immediately gave the troops new Humvee vehicles and weapons-cleaning kits. 

At the same time, former U.S. Drug Czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey described the Guard as “the wrong organization to address these new security challenges,” during a visit to San Francisco to discuss the war on terrorism. McCaffrey has a daughter who is a major in the Guard. He said military police should be used, but Monroe said those units had all been deployed elsewhere. 

Davis’ November decision to post troops at the bridges was sharply criticized from the outset. 

He acted after federal agencies warned of a potential terrorist threat to unnamed Western bridges, a warning the FBI had asked not be publicized because of its questionable nature. The FBI later said the threat was made up by a person who walked into an overseas embassy, though Davis said he had no choice but to take it seriously at the time. 

The National Guard left most of the state’s major airports Friday after local police took over their jobs there as well.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sen. Jackie Speier has been trying for two years to pass financial privacy legislation in the California Legislature. 

But the bill has encountered a “wall of blue suits,” she said, as multitudes of lobbyists from banks, insurance companies, investor services and other businesses swarm into Sacramento to kill it. 

“The battleground for financial privacy in this nation is happening here in California,” said Speier, a Democrat from Daly City. “We are ground zero. It’s not just a wall of blue suits from California. They’re importing them from across the country.” 

California legislators, along with consumer and environmental groups, have become unhappy with the pace of action in Congress, turning the Capitol into a battleground for national issues. 

What happens in California spreads to other states, said Carl Kurtz, director of state services for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “What California does gets a lot more notice because of the size.” 

So far this legislative session, committees in California’s Legislature have approved bills limiting carbon dioxide emissions from cars, tightening regulations on accountants and increased financial privacy for consumers. All are expected to produce major battles in the full Assembly and Senate. 

Nearly one-third of money spent lobbying state lawmakers nationwide was spent in California, according to a recent report by the Center for Public Integrity. 

In 2000, special interests seeking to influence California lawmakers and elected officials spent more than $180.5 million, almost three times as much the next-highest state, New York, with $66.3 million. 

“For reformers, the state of California is critical,” said Jerry Flanagan, spokesman for the California Public Interest Research Group, “because of the size of the markets and the buying power that California consumers represent.” 

Unlike Washington, where a Republican president and Republican-controlled House of Representatives can stop what are considered liberal bills, Democrats control the Assembly, Senate and the governor’s office. 

That hasn’t escaped corporate interests, who are working to either kill or seriously amend several of those bills moving through the Legislature. 

At the top of their list is a bill by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, that seeks to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from autos. 

Carmakers oppose the bill because “we don’t see it giving any benefit for the customer, and it creates an island for the market, which is the largest in the country with 10 percent of sales,” said Peter Welch, a lobbyist for the California Motor Car Dealers Association. 

After Congress rejected a bill to require carmakers to increase fuel mileage for their fleets, national environmental groups “started coming to California in numbers we haven’t ever seen before,” Welch said. That’s because Pavley’s bill gives them “a back door to increase fuel economy by regulating carbon dioxide.” 

For years, California has led the nation in creating tougher emissions standards, once getting a federal Clean Air Act exemption to let the state set more stringent rules. 

Eventually, the federal government adopted California’s standards, so automakers make engines that conform to all states’ rules, Welch said. “So everyone in the country is paying more for them, not just California.” 

Senate Leader John Burton, a San Francisco Democrat who supports Pavley’s bill, said carmakers are “pulling out every stop they can” to kill it, because “it’s an issue that if we could pass it, Congress would pass it.” 

Assemblyman Lou Correa, D-Anaheim, said he’s also experiencing a “full-court press” from lobbyists opposing his bill to prohibit auditors from also offering consulting services to their clients. 

Other states would follow a change in California, Correa said, so the industry wants to kill his bill now. Other states are also considering changes after the collapse of energy giant Enron amid alleged accounting fraud. 

“That’s the case in a lot of issues,” he said. “We are the fifth largest economy.” 

Correa said he’s resisting attempts by industry lobbyists to “gut and amend” his bill with language that mimics a federal bill pending in Congress. 

Those changes would no nothing to reform auditing practices, said Flanagan, whose group support Correa’s bill and two others. “The Big 5 accounting firms are trying to derail investor protections and replace it with the status quo.” 

Council bans sexually-explicit shows before midnight 

Tuesday evening City Council paved the way for what some are touting as the most stringent television-regulation policy in the nation and others say is needed protection from pornography. 

In a 7-1 vote councilmembers approved a proposal that forces “adult” and “sexually explicit” programs to air only after 12 midnight and before 6 a.m. on the community’s two public television stations. 

Currently, most stations adhere to a 10 p.m. Federal Communications Commission guideline for so-called “implicit” programming — a guideline that First Amendment challenges have shown optional. But Berkeley leaders say, with the new ordinance, the courts are on their side. 

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, at Tuesday’s meeting, said that it was the will of the Supreme Court to safeguard children from sex on television. The city could legally enforce “time-segragation” rules, she affirmed. 

Since free-speech laws prevent the city’s public stations, run by Berkeley Community Media, from pre-screening programs for content, Berkeley’s new ordinance sets up a review process and staff member to provide “oversight” and “ultimate authority” over programming. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington represented the only vote against the ordinance. 

“The last thing our city needs is to be involved in the censorship of public access,” he said Monday night, labeling the ordinance a “needless threat to free speech.” 

At least one community member has already threatened a lawsuit against the city, on grounds that his First Amendment rights will be violated. 

But Councilmember Miriam Hawley insisted the new ordinance was “not censorship,” just “rescheduling.” She added that the city of Seattle has adopted a similar ordinance which has had no legal challenges. 

The television-rescheduling ordinance must be heard by councilmembers at another meeting before it takes effect.

To The Editor, 

Stephen Dunifer's May 6 letter (“Dont Believe the Hype”), critical of Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring’s council record contained so many misrepresentations and errors that I am compelled to respond. 

As a former Central Council member of the Green Party of Alameda County, I can state that Mr. Dunifer's claim that Councilmember Spring's record is “anathema” to what the Green Party's political platform “stands for” is not only a regrettable, misinformed statement, but absolutely stands reality on its head. 

In accordance with the Green Party's “Ten Key Values” platform, Councilmember Spring has authored, co-authored, or voted for more city social justice, environmental and affordable housing measures/ordinances than perhaps any sitting Berkeley City Council member with the possible exception of Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek.  

Over the last decade, Councilmember Spring's list of accomplishments would take up an entire newspaper page to publish. The following are just a few of her most significant achievements since joining the City Council:  

— Creation of at least 1,400 units of new, acquired or rehabilitated affordable housing in Berkeley, including hundreds of sustainable, mixed-use in-fill units along transit corridors. 

— Obtaining AC Transit “eco-passes” for UC Berkeley's 30,000 students (and, in the future, for all Berkeley city employees). 

— Closing UC Berkeley's LBNL radioactive tritium facility (in conjunction with neighborhood environmental activists). 

— Passage of a measure to create a future public power entity/district in Berkeley. 

— Prohibition of styrofoam cups and containers in Berkeley. 

— Passage of dozens of measures in support of organized labor and/or local unionizing efforts. 

— Strong endorsement of — and actively campaigning for — every affordable housing Rent Stabilization Board election slate (affordable housing slates have won every election since 1994 helping to ensure stable, affordable rents for Berkeley's 19,000 rent-controlled households). 

— Co-author of a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and harm to innocent civilians. This resolution provoked a series of death threats against Councilmember Spring and other coucilmembers at the time. 

— Working closely with the city's disabled community, campaigning on behalf of a ballot measure establishing a free, “universal” emergency assistance service for Berkeley's disabled population. 

Although space prevents me from rebutting in detail each of Mr. Dunifer's misrepresentations, his one claim that Councilmember Spring purportedly supported “poor law” proposals directed at the city's homeless community is absolutely false.  

Mr. Dunifer is apparently referring to Berkeley ballot Measure “O” in the mid-1990s which concerned alleged public space behavior by homeless individuals. At the time, this issue was an orchestrated political effort spearheaded by the centrist/conservative majority that controlled the City Council during those years. 

Councilmember Spring publically opposed Measure “O” and sought vigorously to defeat it at the time. 

Councilmember Spring’s public service record on behalf of her District 4 Berkeley constituents and the Green Party has always been exceptional and speaks for itself. Her District 4 voters have re-elected Councilmember Spring four times by overwhelming margins. Along with California’s other 49 elected Green Party officials statewide, Councilmember Spring remains one of the party’s most respected and stalwart members.  

- Chris Kavanagh 

Berkeley

Sitcoms even less diverse than last year; children’s hour has fewest minorities 

LOS ANGELES — Network television has made scant progress toward ethnic diversity in programming and even lost ground when it comes to the shows favored by young viewers, a new study says. 

A 1999 vow by the major networks to include more minorities in prime-time series has largely gone unfulfilled, according to an analysis of the current season by Children Now, a research and advocacy group. 

The networks are telling “essentially the same old tale,” the report said, in which younger white males predominate, ethnic actors are relegated to supporting roles and female characters are often stereotypes. 

Reality, variety and wrestling programs had “a fair amount” of diversity, said Children Now researchers, who looked at those genres for the first time. 

“Fall Colors 2001-02,” the group’s third annual study of prime-time programming, examined the first two episodes of each evening series airing last fall on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, UPN and WB. 

Children Now began the studies after broadcasters, under pressure from the NAACP and other civil rights groups, agreed to work toward more inclusive programming. 

Calls seeking network comment were not immediately returned Tuesday. 

The latest report found shows in the 8 p.m. hour to be the most segregated on prime-time TV. Young viewers do most of their prime-time viewing during that sitcom-dominated hour, according to Nielsen Media Research data cited by the report. 

Ethnically mixed casts tend to be concentrated in later-evening dramas such as “ER” and “The Practice,” with the 10 p.m. series offering nearly four times the diversity of 8 p.m. programs. 

There was a substantial drop insitcom diversity. Only 7 percent of comedies had ethnically diverse starring casts, compared to 14 percent last season. 

The study found subtle differences in how whites and minorities are portrayed. A majority of young white characters are shown interacting with their parents, compared with a fourth of Hispanic youths. 

Black families are almost exclusively shown as the focus of comedies, and black households headed by professionals are portrayed as more affluent than white ones, the study found. 

Minorities are much more likely than whites to be portrayed as service workers, unskilled laborers and criminals. 

The picture is somewhat different for gay and lesbian characters, who have gained increased visibility on network TV. So did characters with disabilities, the study found. In both instances, however, most such roles go to whites. 

Native Americans are largely ignored and Native American women are nonexistent on network TV, the study found. 

The Children Now report is another in a long line citing the same problems, said Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. 

“We need to make these reports part of a bigger puzzle,” he said. “We need to find the underlying reasons this is going on and that no one is addressing. Is it racism, is it economics and what specifics can be done to remedy the situation quickly?” 

California legislators are considering a bill that would go “right to the root” of the problem by authorizing a study of hiring practices and patterns in the entertainment industry, Nogales said. 

The bill, AB 1904, would ask the University of California to study the topic and report to the Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis by January 2004.

Playoff win sets up rematch with University 

The Berkeley High boys’ lacrosse team advanced to the semifinals of the Northern California Postseason Tournament with a 12-3 thrashing of Marin Catholic on Tuesday in Berkeley. 

The Yellowjackets had been getting balanced scoring during the regular season, but got most of their goals from five players against the Wildcats. Nick Schooler led the way for Berkeley with two goals and two assists, while Cameran Sampson had two goals and one assist. Julian Coffman, Dan Vilar and Sam Geller each scored two goals for Berkeley as well. 

The third-seeded Yellowjackets overcame a sloppy start to beat the Wildcats, who they defeated 6-1 in the regular season. The first six minutes of the game were filled with Berkeley turnovers and poor coverage, uncharacteristic errors for the ’Jackets. 

“We definitely had some pregame jitters,” Schooler said. “We don’t have anyone with playoff experience (Berkeley hasn’t made the playoffs in four years), and that showed early in the game.” 

Luckily for the ’Jackets, Marin Catholic couldn’t take advantage of the early miscues and Berkeley struck first. Julian Coffman got the first goal for the ’Jackets, taking a feed from Jesse Cohen at the top of the box and whipping a shot into the net. Schooler keyed the next goal, picking up a loose ball in traffic near midfield and finding Noah Flessell in the clear for a breakaway. Schooler then scored off of a rebound just before the end of the first quarter, and Berkeley was in control with a 3-0 lead. 

The Wildcats struck back just after the break, as defenseman Lachlan McLean took the ball the length of the field before dumping it off to Jake Bourne, who spun past a Berkeley defender and put a shot through goalie Marc Bloch’s legs. 

The game was scoreless for the next seven minutes, but Berkeley would score the next four goals to open a big margin. Sampson rushed the Marin Catholic net unchecked after entering on the fly, with Cohen finding him for an easy score. Vilar and Schooler both scored in the final two minutes before halftime for a 6-1 lead, and Coffman scored again after halftime before Marin Catholic could get another goal. 

When the Wildcats did score, however, it was on a spectacular solo effort from Kelly Stephen, who bulled his way through a triple team to get to the net. Stephen would score another great goal late in the game, but the ’Jackets were up 10-2 by that point and had the game locked up. 

The win sets up a likely rematch with University (San Francisco) on Thursday in San Francisco. The Red Devils edged Berkeley, 7-6, on a last-minute goal on a sloping, bumpy field with high grass in March, a far cry from the even, hard Astroturf of the ’Jackets’ home field. The second-seeded Devils will again have home-field advantage on Thursday, although most likely on a more playable field, along with the postseason experience that comes with being one of the regions top programs. 

“If we go in there like we’ve got our heads cut off like we did today, it’s going to be a very long day,” Berkeley head coach Jon Rubin said. “We can’t play University like that. Every kid they have has playoff experience.” 

The ’Jackets have sometimes played tentatively on the road, especially against good teams. Rubin thinks if his team can overcome that tendency and plays to its potential, Berkeley could come out with a win. 

“If we play a great game, I’m confident we’ll be the better team,” he said. “They’re more experienced and poised, but if we play as well as we can, we should win.”

The chair of the UC Berkeley English Department said her office has received a stream of hate mail from Israeli partisans in recent days for sponsoring a fall, 2002 course called “The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance.”  

“We’ve gotten some letters of support and some very thoughtful letters of opposition,” said department chair Janet Edelman. “(But) we’ve gotten some quite irrational and virulent hate mail as well.”  

The course received national attention this week because the instructor, graduate student Snehal Shingavi, a leader of Students for Justice in Palestine, included a sentence at the end of the official course description stating that “conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections.” 

University officials said the line violated the Faculty Code of Conduct, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of political beliefs. Shingavi has removed the sentence at the university’s request. 

“I would be disappointed to hear that pro-Israeli supporters would not be engaging in a constructive dialogue with the university,” said Randy Barnes, a UC Berkeley student and member of Israel Action Committee, discussing the hate mail. “There are real concerns that should be reasonably and politely discussed...That he would be so arrogant as to put ‘conservative thinkers need not apply’ shows where this class is coming from.” 

Edelman, who declined to release the text of the hate mail, said in the past the department has allowed instructors to craft their own course descriptions without oversight. She said the practice was a “mistake” and that faculty will review every description in the future. 

The university has not touched the bulk of the description, which includes language describing “the brutal Israeli military occupation of Palestine,” an occupation that “has systematically displaced, killed, and maimed millions of Palestinian people.” 

Roger Kimball, managing editor of a magazine called “The New Criterion,” and author of an editorial in the “Wall Street Journal” criticizing the class, said the course is “political activism masquerading as academic study” and is inappropriate. 

Kimball said the university’s decision to simply remove the final line from the course description is inadequate. 

“It’s just a kind of bureaucratic window dressing to preserve appearances,” he said, arguing that leftist, overly political courses are rife at UC Berkeley and throughout academia. 

But Edelman said Shingavi’s class is a “great course.” She said she is working with the instructor to ensure that there is an open dialogue in the classroom. 

Will Youmans, a leader of Students for Justice in Palestine, said maintaining the course is a matter of academic freedom and inclusion. 

“It’s taking an important step in recognizing Palestinian history and Palestinian culture in a way you don’t see happening on college campuses,” he said. 

Shingavi could not be reached for comment.

To the Editor:  

Kevin Zwick of Affordable Housing Associates (AHA) does not understand why the residents on Sacramento Street do not want a four-story building nearby. This lack of understanding is the only reason the City Council is currently reviewing the project. If the project is delayed one more year, AHA can only look to themselves for answers.  

AHA needs to understand why the residences of Berkeley neighborhoods oppose their projects. We are frustrated with AHA and ZAB not listening to our frustrations and concerns.  

While Sacramento is a major artery in Berkeley, it is also a residential street with small pockets of commercial development. Maybe AHA needs to locate the affordable housing in more appropriate neighborhoods within Berkeley, if four stories are necessary. 

I support more housing in Berkeley. I believe that seniors, the disabled, and low-income families deserve a chance to live in decent housing within the Berkeley city limits and I would like to see them have that housing on Sacramento Street.  

What Kevin Zwick of AHA does not understand is that he needs to conform to the existing structure of the neighborhood. Sacramento Street should not be spotted with large four-story buildings standing out in contrast to the small commercial buildings and residential housing (the majority of which are single-story detached homes). When are the ZAB and the Design Review Committee going to recognize the need for some architectural consistency? 

I also question the AHA need for the fourth story on this building. Will these penthouses be available to seniors, the disabled, and low-income families? Or will they be available to the highest-bidders? 

- Angela Canepa 

Berkeley

SAN FRANCISCO — Chinese speakers nationwide have a new late-night talk show host to turn to with the syndication of a nightly Mandarin-language call-in show. 

The half-hour “China Crosstalk” will air nightly at 11 p.m. PDT starting Monday on cable’s International Channel. 

The show, which started as a radio program at a 1 kilowatt station in San Francisco in 1997, focuses on news affecting Chinese Americans, according to host and co-founder Jay Stone Shih. 

“What’s happening in Asia? What’s happening in the U.S.? How does that affect the Chinese community?” Shih said, comparing his show’s format to CNN’s Larry King and himself to a Chinese-speaking Charlie Rose. “It’s really news-driven.” 

Shih brought the program to television in 2000, and has been co-producing the show with Brisbane-based KTSF ever since. 

“We deal with issues for the Chinese community that are national and international in scope,” said Michael Sherman, general manager of KTSF. “The show has had such legs here in the Bay Area that there’s no reason not to take it to a broader scale.” 

International Channel Networks, based in Centennial, Colo., delivers news, drama and movies from around the world in 20 languages, according to spokeswoman Teresa Wiedel.

St. Mary’s golfer wins North Coast title 

St. Mary’s High senior Brian Haller won the North Coast Section Tournament of Champions individual title on Monday, shooting a two-under par 70 at the Baywood Golf and Country Club in Arcata. 

Haller, who will play at St. Mary’s College next year, edged California High’s Jong Yoon by one shot with an eagle on his final hole, the 16th. 

Haller and Yoon advance to the Northern California Championship at Monarch Bay in San Leandro on Monday, along with Alameda High’s Keith Lial and Brian Rasmussen of Eureka. 

De La Salle High won the team title with a total of 304, and Bishop O’Dowd also qualified as a team. 

Jackson a semifinalist for Howser Trophy  

Cal sophomore first baseman Conor Jackson, who already this season has been a Pac-10 Player of the Week and selected to participate in the 2002 USA Baseball National Team Trials, is now a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate baseball player.  

Jackson is currently batting .384 and leads the Pac-10 in hits (83), home runs (16), RBI (61) and total bases (150). Last week in the Bears sweep of Oregon State at Evans Diamond, he was 7-for-13 with three runs, three walks, two doubles and two RBI. Twice this season Jackson has hit home runs in four consecutive games. 

Cal’s McKeever wins national award  

Cal head women’s swimming coach, Teri McKeever, will be presented the National Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy at the 42nd annual CSCAA NCAA and NAIA Awards Banquet May 22 in Tampa Bay, Florida. 

McKeever has twice been named Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year and has coached the past four Pac-10 Swimmers of the Year.  

In the past six seasons, McKeever has led the Bears to ninth, eighth, fifth, fourth, seventh and eighth-place NCAA finishes, while amassing a 57-16 dual meet record and coaching eight different national champions. This past summer, she saw two of her swimmers, Haley Cope and Natalie Coughlin, win gold medals at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, and was a member of the United States’ coaching staff at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia.

African-American Studies chair calls for “healing” in school community 

Robert McKnight, candidate for the Board of Education, wants to heal. 

“We need to create a process of healing between the community and the board because there’s been a lot of pain that has been inflicted,” said McKnight, who is currently a discipline dean and chair of the African-American Studies Department at Berkeley High School as well as a pastor at the Rock of Truth Baptist Church in Oakland. 

McKnight declared last week that he will run for the board, making him now one of six candidates who will compete for three slots in November. Incumbents Shirley Issel and Terry Doran, activists Derick Miller and Nancy Riddle, and BHS senior Sean Dugar all say they will run. Nutrition activist Joy Moore is also weighing a candidacy. 

McKnight said the board, which faces a $5.4 million deficit next year, has resorted to “crisis communication,” rather than “real listening and exchange” with the community. 

“He has a legitimate point that the amount of dialogue and discussion hasn’t been ideal,” said Doran. 

But Doran pointed out that the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, a state body that has been advising the district on financial matters since the fall, did not provide the board with the first deficit figures until January.  

Doran said a shortened timeline forced the board, which has already passed over $3.8 million in cuts, to move quickly with less public input than it would like. He said the normal budget process, with heavier community participation, will return next year. 

Issel said the compressed timeline limited public input. But, she argued that the district took seriously the testimony it did receive. 

“Much of what was said was taken in and responded to by staff, with revisions to the final recommendations,” she said. 

But McKnight said the communication problem runs deeper than the budget process. He said minority communities, in particular, feel they do not have access to the board. 

“There’s been a disconnect with the board since I’ve been in Berkeley,” said McKnight supporter Rev. Marvis Peoples of Liberty Hill Baptist Church in West Berkeley. 

But Peoples emphasized that the disconnect has been in place for all communities, not just minorities, and that board members must reach out to everyone. He said McKnight has the ability to speak to all of Berkeley. 

McKnight himself said it is important to move beyond the rhetoric of the “achievement gap” separating white and Asian-American students from African-Americans and Latinos. As a board member, he said, he would focus on raising achievement for all students. 

Vikki Davis, a member of Parents of Children of African Descent, a leading advocacy group, said PCAD has not yet taken a position on any candidates, but is scheduling meetings with McKnight and Moore and may put forth a candidate of its own. 

PCAD has been a leading voice in the movement to transform BHS into a series of compact, themed schools, arguing that the shift would help address the achievement gap. The high school currently has three small schools in place, but PCAD is pushing for wall-to-wall small schools. 

McKnight said small schools may play a role in raising achievement for all students, but he said Berkeley should retain the traditional high school model with a few compact schools within. 

“I think there will always be a need for the traditional model,” he said. “You always need something to come back to.” 

“That’s a huge factor,” said Davis, suggesting that McKnight’s position on small schools will play a significant role in PCAD’s decision about whether to endorse him. 

McKnight has also raised concerns about the board’s decision, in February, to move from a seven- to a six-period day at the high school next year. District officials acknowledge the shift will cut into the double-period science program and lead to reductions in electives, but the extent of those reductions is unclear. 

“We have a richness here that did not come about overnight,” said McKnight, discussing his concerns with the shift.  

As a board member, McKnight said, he would survey the community next year on the six-period day and push for changes if necessary. 

McKnight’s concern about the six-period day is one of several issues that put him in line with Miller. Both candidates say they have had discussions about forming an alliance and campaigning together as election day approaches. 

“We’ve been talking for a number of months and we’re pretty much of the same mind on the issues facing the district,” Miller said. 

If McKnight were elected, he would have to resign as a district employee. He said that reality is a concern, but will not deter him from running.  

Contact reporter: 

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Seldom are we treated to such a display of truly poor quality thinking. Or could it be the authors of the proposed Berkeley height ordinance are not confused, but instead trying to confuse others in their attempts to freeze Berkeley in splendid isolation? 

Let’s start with bad statistics. These folks have claimed repeatedly that Berkeley is the third densest city in Northern California. San Francisco is number one and guess what’s number two? Daily City! You gotta be kidding! To the passing observer of Northern California, you’d swear dozens of blocks in Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento are way more dense than even the densest dozen in Berkeley. Daily City? Even more dense?  

City areas, in the crudest way of calculating, can include lots of open space — even large bodies of water — in some cities and very little in the case of others. Tilden Park is well-used by Berkeley and it is big, but it’s in Oakland’s legal boundaries so that makes Berkeley look more dense and Oakland less. Why use statistics like that that are obviously misleading? To mislead, obviously. 

Let’s add to bad statistics, internal contradiction. The height ordinance reads, “WHEREAS Berkeley is one of the most densely populated, traffic congested cities in Northern California, with diverse neighborhoods featuring mainly low-rise houses and apartments....”  

I hope most people are bright enough to catch that one, and all within a single sentence. How can it be so frightfully "densely populated" and yet be "mainly low-rise"? You got it — it can’t. "Mainly" is a real understatement too - Berkeley has 1,275 blocks and how many of them do you really think are "dense"? If you said 75 you’d be stretching it by any definition but those of abject sprawl. And 1,200 blocks of low-density development is not just "mainly," it’s 94 percent. It’s almost all low-density, and not the frighteningly crowded city they portray. 

Now it is true that Berkeley is frequently crowded with cars, but if the crew promoting the height ordinance ever looked outside our city limits and were honest about it, they would be yet more horrified — because in many dozens of towns any of us can visit a situation that is truly Dante-esque. Traffic is not just hell out there, but the lower levels of it. Bad as it is, we are absolutely not one of the most car-clogged communities in Northern California. 

Wind tunnels between taller buildings, they claim? Simplistic thinking in the extreme. If the buildings are tall and the streets are narrow, wind is reduced. If the buildings are tall and the streets wide, wind is increased. If the streets are straight and oriented toward the prevailing wind, expect higher wind speed. If the streets are diagonal to the prevailing wind, curving or change direction jogging this way and that, then taller buildings slow the wind. If the climate is decidedly wimpy like Berkeley’s, so are the people who think modestly taller buildings are some kind of climatological nightmare. Relative to the need for housing, efficient transit and environmental solutions, this micro-inconvenience — if it exists at all! — is practically nothing. 

Solar energy wrecked by higher density development? Solar’s just fine but you gain 10 times the efficiency if you move from an all-solar house in the ‘burbs into any town where you can sell the car and walk to most of your needs, 10 times over! Peter Calthorpe was the first to demonstrate this in the 1970s and the figures are almost identical today. 

Traffic congestion? Are they the last to learn on the whole planet? Higher densities, not lower, solves most traffic congestion problems, empowering transit and bicycles. Strain the infrastructure? Though on any given land area higher density means more infrastructure in total quantity, it means far less per person than in the same area of low-density development. 

Earth quake hazards of taller buildings is another repeatedly-used scare tactic of the height ordinance boosters, and this is close to irrelevant too since the strength and design of the building is the essential component for safety. I have photographs of a mosque in Turkey taken after a recent earthquake with a standing six-story dome surrounded by delicate-looking minarets that must be 12 stories high and all around there are three- and four- story buildings, some standing and some completely flattened. Surprise to the height ordinance authors: the weak ones fell and the strong ones stood up. 

The fallacious logic is relentless in the height ordinance and the most unconscionable thing about it is that it never begins to consider the rest of the world that Berkeley is part of and our responsibility for relating to it in a socially and environmentally healthy manner. Providing housing for those who need it? Working to save energy, prevent pollution, stop climate change, sustain other species? Underlying their logic is the simple ethic that it’s OK to ignore all that and freeze in place exactly what they enjoy now. That’s not enough for a healthy future. 

In sum, the proposed Berkeley height ordinance is one of the most thoroughly deplorable pretenses at reasoning I have ever seen. 

- Richard Register 

Berkeley 

Today is Wednesday, May 15, the 135th day of 2002. There are 230 days left in the year. 

Highlight: 

On May 15, 1942, gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles. 

On this date: 

In 1602, Cape Cod was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold. 

In 1886, poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Mass. 

In 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Co., ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. 

In 1918, U.S. airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York. 

In 1930, Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyo. 

In 1940, nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the United States. 

In 1963, U.S. astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard Faith 7 on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program. 

In 1970, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests. 

In 1972, George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, Md., for the Democratic presidential nomination. 

In 1991, French President Francois Mitterrand appointed Edith Cresson to be France’s first female premier. 

Ten years ago:  

A judge in Los Angeles ordered police officer Laurence Powell retried on a charge of excessive force in the beating of Rodney King (however, the charge was eventually dropped). 

Five years ago:  

Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia’s orbiting Mir station. Attorney General Janet Reno requested the death penalty for Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski. (However, under an arrangement in which he admitted his guilt, Kaczynski later agreed to be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.) 

One year ago:  

Tens of thousands of Palestinians packed town squares in the West Bank town of Ramallah as they marked what they called the day of “catastrophe” in 1948, when they were uprooted and the state of Israel created. A celebratory mood took hold of Japan after the palace formally announced that Crown Princess Masako was pregnant. A runaway freight train rolled about 70 miles through Ohio with no one aboard before a railroad employee jumped onto the locomotive and brought it to a stop. 

Today’s Birthdays:  

Actress Constance Cummings is 92. Singer Eddy Arnold is 84. Actor Joseph Wiseman is 84. Playwright Sir Peter Shaffer (“Equus”) is 76. Playwright Paul Zindel is 66. Actress-singer Anna Maria Alberghetti is 66. Counterculture icon Wavy Gravy is 66. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is 65. Singer Trini Lopez is 65. Singer Lenny Welch is 64. Actress-singer Lainie Kazan is 62. Actor-director Paul Rudd (“Knots Landing”) is 62. Country singer K.T. Oslin is 60. Singer-songwriter Brian Eno is 54. Actor Nicholas Hammond (“The Sound of Music”) is 52. Actor Chazz Palminteri is 51. Baseball Hall-of-Famer George Brett is 49. Actor Lee Horsley is 47. Singer-rapper Prince Be (PM Dawn) is 32. Actor Brad Rowe is 32. Actor David Charvet is 30. Rock musician Ahmet Zappa is 28. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Amy Chow is 24. Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler (“The Sopranos”) is 21. 

Senior Prank Has Town Buzzing 

DELAND, Fla. — DeLand High School was buzzing with activity earlier this week, but it had nothing to do with excitement about the soon-to-end school year. 

A principal says students released 80,000 bees on campus in an apparent prank on Monday. Students were sent home early after eight beehives were glued down on school grounds and the swarms escaped, said principal Mitch Moyer. No one was stung, he said. 

“We’ve contended with various senior pranks over the years, but this one could have been dangerous,” said Moyer, who is allergic to bee stings. 

The Volusia County Sheriff’s office was investigating the incident. 

If the pranksters are students, they could be barred from the school’s graduation ceremony, officials said. 

“It’s the best prank ever. It canceled school,” said Emary Frederick, 18, who along with 530 seniors finishes high school Thursday. 

The beehives were marked as property of Horace Bell Honey, a 40-year-old DeLand-based wholesale apiary. Beekeeper Luella Bell estimates her business will lose $800 due to the prank. 

She said the stolen hives contained younger bees, which are not as likely to sting as older, more aggressive bees. 

Jury duty goes upscale in Orange County  

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Receiving a jury summons may not be such bad news anymore for people living in Orange County. 

Court officials unveiled a new jury assembly room designed to appease potential jurors. Faux leather couches and ergonomically designed chairs replaced bench and floor seating. 

There are two dozen workspaces equipped with modem connections so prospective jurors can keep themselves busy. A network of seven large-screen televisions and a video projection system also have been installed to make the waiting game less grueling. 

“The best thing is that people can get work done when they’re waiting,” said jury candidate Lillian French, 42, of Santa Ana. 

The upgrades to the state’s largest jury assembly room cost more than $1.5 million. The room can hold as many as 600 people.  

Minnesota grocers  

may wrestle ... again  

MINNEAPOLIS — A grocery store chain, accused of ripping off a competitor’s advertisements, tried to laugh off a lawsuit by repeating a decade-old publicity stunt. 

Rainbow Foods on Monday suggested a wrestling match between one of its executives and a leader of rival Cub Foods, which filed a lawsuit against Rainbow last week. 

Cub, a unit of Eden Prairie-based SuperValu Inc., accused Rainbow, a unit of Fleming Cos., of stealing Cub’s newspaper inserts prior to publication and using them to undercut its prices. 

Rainbow has several weeks to file a legal response to the lawsuit. Executives asked a Minneapolis public relations firm to craft a response in the meantime. They came up with the wrestling idea, complete with a “Rainbow Rumble” logo. 

The match gained enormous publicity for both companies and has been mentioned in several books since. 

Cub rejected Rainbow’s wrestling proposal, saying it “trivializes what we believe are legitimate and serious allegations, which will be appropriately addressed in a court of law, not in the wrestling ring.” 

Utility district officials deny charges of mishandling asbestos 

One of two reservoirs found to pose a “serious” health risk to employees of the East Bay Municipal Utility District was the Claremont Reservoir, a covered reserve of 8.1 million gallons of drinking water off Claremont Avenue. 

Alleging that carcinogenic asbestos dust could have splintered from the transite roof of the reservoir and harmed workers on site, the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health stuck EBMUD managers with six citations last week, ranging from failure to survey asbestos locations to a lack of hazard assessment effort. 

The most severe allegation, classified as “serious” because it could lead to physical harm or death of employees, according to Cal-OSHA officials, was failure to promptly clean up hazardous material once it was discovered. 

EBMUD managers are responding to the charges with dismay. 

District spokesperson Charles Hardy said the district has been monitoring air quality at the reservoir, since receiving concerns about airborne asbestos from employees, and contends that the employees were never put in any danger.  

“At no time did we come close to the limit Cal-OSHA sets for health hazards,” he said. “In most cases, we were 10 times below that limit.” 

The district will appeal the “serious” citation and perhaps others, Hardy said. It’s not because of the $3,350 they are being forced to pay, it’s because of principal, he noted. 

“We are confident that our employees have been safe,” Hardy said. “ What’s more important now, though, is not dealing with Cal-OSHA but dealing with our employees.” 

The 22 gardeners that work for EBMUD are responsible for cleaning the asbestos-laden roofs of the district’s more than 150 storage reservoirs, and their union representative was who first took up issue with the asbestos. 

Long-standing issues between employees and management have strained recent labor relations, but Hardy said that managers have been sensitive to this and have responded diligently to the gardeners’ asbestos complaints. 

The employees have not been directed to work at the sites in question, and management has brought in health professionals to assess the sites, he said. 

Employee representatives did not return phone calls before press time. 

Cal-OSHA spokesperson Dean Fryer said penalties for the citations are due by June 10 and EBMUD is required to correct the situation by this time as well. 

In addition to the Claremont Reservoir, the larger Central Reservoir in Oakland is also cited in the six citations given to EBMUD. Other district reservoirs are under investigation too. 

“We don’t hand these citations out frequently,” Fryer said. 

Contact reporter at: 

kurtis@berkeleydailyplanet.net

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Out-of-state students may have to pay hundreds of dollars more for tuition this fall at California State University under a proposal by the 23-campus system. 

CSU trustees were set Wednesday to vote on the proposal, which would increase fees up to 15 percent for out-of-state students. 

It was expected to easily pass, making it the first increase in CSU fees in 10 years. The fee hike would still require approval by the Legislature. 

“We believe it’s necessary,” said CSU spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler. 

The CSU estimates the fee increase would generate an additional $11.8 million, money needed because of the state’s current budget crisis, officials said. 

California faces an estimated $23.6 billion budget shortfall brought on by sagging state revenues, the collapse of the high-tech industry and financial woes related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

Gov. Gray Davis’ budget released Tuesday did not call for tuition increases, although it does call for all parts of state government, including higher education, to cut spending. 

The proposed tuition increase would affect about 10,800 student, said Richard West, system executive vice chancellor and chief financial officer. 

Under the proposal, out-of-state students next year would pay $282 per semester unit — up from $246 per unit — and $188 per quarter unit, up from $146 this year. Full-time students would pay $8,460. 

“The trustees are trying to bring the fees more in line with what it costs to educate a student,” Bentley-Adler said. 

She said it costs about $10,500 per year to educate a student. 

California resident fees are subsidized by the state. In-state students pay less than $2,000 a year. 

West said the board doesn’t anticipate another increase for out-of-state students and that in-state tuition would not go up. 

Dry, arid Imperial Valley appears miles removed from the bucolic green pastures where happy cows are seen frolicking in those popular California milk ads. 

But the stretch of desert just north of the Mexican border is hoping to emerge as the home of happy dairy farmers. It touts itself as one of the few places left in California that can fit in the state’s prosperous milk industry, which has grown steadily at about 4 percent a year. 

“We have more than 450,000 acres of cultivatable land,” said Jim Kuhn, a milk farmer and partner at the local Swiss cheese plant in El Centro, about 110 miles east of San Diego. “It’s just inevitable that they come here. There’s no way they can’t.” 

Unless they move out of state, which some dairy farmers are threatening to do in the face of a legal battle that has stalled 127 dairy expansion and construction proposals in central California’s four San Joaquin Valley counties. 

“They have to look at whether it’s better to spend the money fighting litigation that for all intents and purposes doesn’t seem to have an end, or spend the money to relocate and try to get on with your life,” said Michael Marsh, chief executive of Western United Dairymen, a trade group representing half the state’s dairy farmers. 

The San Francisco-based Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment and the Sierra Club have been suing local governments and dairies for the past four years on behalf of residents in Kern, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties, said center attorney Brent Newell. 

The lawsuits accuse officials of violating the California Environmental Quality Act by allowing dairies to grow without filing environmental impact reports in a region with some of the nation’s most polluted air. 

“It’s really unacceptable for one of these factory farm dairymen to insist upon the public to bear the cost of the pollution while they profit,” Newell said. “I’m talking about asthma in the San Joaquin Valley and higher health care costs.” 

The litigation has halted the issuing of permits for dairy projects that would have brought an estimated 75,000 cows to the area. 

Amid threats of an exodus, Imperial County has touted itself as an alternative to California’s dairying stronghold, said David Ritter, a projects coordinator at the county’s agriculture commissioner’s office. 

“We don’t have the same concentration of dairies that they do in San Joaquin,” he said. “We have a low population density. We’ve identified properties that would have the lowest impact on the environment.” 

With no ground water to pollute and 60 percent of the state’s alfalfa, the remote border region can support dairies if they can withstand a summer heat that often tops 100 degrees, said Jim Kuhn, who owns the area’s only large-scale dairy with more than 1,000 cows. 

“Cooling costs approximately $300 to $700 per cow,” Kuhn said. 

At least a dozen milk farms have inquired about moving to Imperial, and one dairyman has applied for a permit for a 3,000-cow facility, Ritter said. 

Newell remains skeptical that moving the dairies south will solve pollution problems, however. 

“It’s the way of polluting industries to relocate to places that have looser regulatory rules,” he said. “When counties take the first step to provide information to the public, and take the second step to mitigate those impacts, then you’ll see lawful compliance from counties.” 

Meanwhile, Hanford dairyman George Longfellow said some farmers are considering giving up on California entirely and taking some of its $3.7 billion-a-year milk and cream industry out of state. 

Longfellow, who is uncertain whether he should pursue plans to increase his herd by 900 cows, said an environmental impact report would cost him $100,000, with no guarantee he could ever get the project approved. 

“There have been some folks leaving the state just to avoid being put through the multimillion-dollar litigation from doing business in California,” he said. “They’ve gone to New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho ... some have even gone back east to Wisconsin.”

SACRAMENTO — Legislative committees advanced twin bills Tuesday repealing a provision in state law that shields gunmakers from lawsuits over their marketing of firearms. 

The bills are in response to a state Supreme Court decision last year based on current law. 

Gun control advocates said manufacturers should be held responsible if they market firearms in a way that may make them attractive to criminals. 

“California gives special protection for this grossly negligent behavior, protection that no other industry enjoys,” Marilyn Merrill, a survivor of a 1993 shooting in San Francisco, told the Assembly Judiciary Committee. 

Opponents, including the National Rifle Association and California Rifle and Pistol Association, argued repealing the protection could be used to bankrupt not only firearms manufacturers, but makers of other products like skateboards and skydiving equipment that are inherently dangerous even if used as intended. 

Merrill and other survivors filed the suit that hinged on the Supreme Court decision after a 1993 San Francisco law firm shooting known as the 101 California Street massacre. She and five others were injured, and eight people died along with the gunman, who killed himself. 

They argued that two of the guns the killer used had no legitimate sporting or self-defense purpose. 

The Assembly committee and its Senate counterpart each advanced the bills to votes in their respective chambers. 

In addition to repealing the immunity language, the measures would specifically add language that manufacturers could be held liable for negligence in the design, distribution and marketing of firearms and ammunition.

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster’s chief executive resigned Tuesday, after founders of the troubled song-swap company refused to be bought out by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. 

Further cost-cutting moves were also announced. The company is rapidly running out of cash and may soon file for bankruptcy protection, according to a source close to Napster who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

The resignation of Konrad Hilbers, a Bertelsmann veteran, comes amid a long hiatus for Napster, which has vowed to come back online as a subscription-based music download service. 

Napster has been offline since last summer, after it failed to meet guidelines handed down by a federal judge requiring it to keep all copyright music from being freely traded over its network. 

Since Napster’s service went dark last year, the five major record labels suing Napster — BMG, EMI, AOL Time Warner, Sony and Universal — all launched subscription services in response to the demand for music downloads that Napster created. 

Sony and Universal now offer fee-based downloads from their service pressplay. BMG, EMI and AOL Time Warner formed the joint venture Musicnet to offer a similar service in Napster’s absence. 

The five major labels have refused to settle their ongoing copyright infringement case against Napster and each of them — including Bertelsmann’s BMG Entertainment — remain plaintiffs in the case. 

Napster has had difficulty complying with U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel’s order to rid its network of pirated music. But the company, operating on a dwindling budget, has looked forward to relaunching its service. 

Hilbers took the helm of Napster last year. Napster’s future now appears in question as Hilbers’ departure represents a loss in confidence in the leadership of the Redwood City-based company. It turned down the buyout offer from Bertelsmann earlier this year. 

The German media conglomerate has extended about $85 million in loans to Napster, but the company has failed to generate revenue or launch a paid service. 

To further complicate matters for Napster, the company’s original investor, venture capital firm Hummer Winblad, and the uncle of Napster founder Shawn Fanning remain locked in a legal dispute over the division of funds from the sale of the company. 

In an internal memo to Napster employees sent by Hilbers and provided to The Associated Press by sources close to both companies, the chief executive bashed Napster’s board for refusing Bertelsmann’s offer. 

“I am convinced that not pursuing the offer is a mistake and it will lead the company to a place where I don’t want to lead it,” Hilbers said in the memo. 

Tuesday, Bertelsmann took another shot at Napster’s board for turning down the deal. 

“We regret that the Napster shareholders were unable to reach an agreement regarding the offer from Bertelsmann, however, we continue to believe in the value of peer-to-peer technology,” the company said. “We are hopeful that Napster’s brand and technology will be able to realize its potential as a compelling consumer proposition.” 

Napster said it would cut costs, but did not say how. The company laid off 30 employees on April 10. 

“We deeply regret that we have not yet been able to find a funding solution that would allow Napster to launch a service to benefit artists and consumers alike,” a Napster statement said. “We will be looking at additional steps in the coming week to further reduce expenses.” 

Analysts agreed Napster had potential, but several management miscues led the company down a path to failure. 

“It should have taken the deal from Bertelsmann, in hindsight,” said Sean Badding, an analyst from The Carmel Group. He said Napster’s brand name recognition still holds value and could be leveraged for profit by a future business. 

“If this does happen and Napster does file for bankruptcy, I think it would be one of the most compelling technologies to capture the American culture in recent times and then go on to failure,” Badding said. “From boom to bust, it had the most potential.” 

Phil Leigh, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates, said Napster’s rejection of the buyout came after Napster’s original investors sought immunity from damages in the record labels’ copyright infringement suit as part of the deal. 

Those were terms Bertelsmann would not go along with, Leigh said. 

“It looks like Napster is as dead as General Custer,” he added.

xSAN FRANCISCO — Napster’s chief executive resigned Tuesday, after founders of the troubled song-swap company refused to be bought out by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. 

Further cost-cutting moves were also announced. The company is rapidly running out of cash and may soon file for bankruptcy protection, according to a source close to Napster who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

The resignation of Konrad Hilbers, a Bertelsmann veteran, comes amid a long hiatus for Napster, which has vowed to come back online as a subscription-based music download service. 

Napster has been offline since last summer, after it failed to meet guidelines handed down by a federal judge requiring it to keep all copyright music from being freely traded over its network. 

Since Napster’s service went dark last year, the five major record labels suing Napster — BMG, EMI, AOL Time Warner, Sony and Universal — all launched subscription services in response to the demand for music downloads that Napster created. 

Sony and Universal now offer fee-based downloads from their service pressplay. BMG, EMI and AOL Time Warner formed the joint venture Musicnet to offer a similar service in Napster’s absence. 

The five major labels have refused to settle their ongoing copyright infringement case against Napster and each of them — including Bertelsmann’s BMG Entertainment — remain plaintiffs in the case. 

Napster has had difficulty complying with U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel’s order to rid its network of pirated music. But the company, operating on a dwindling budget, has looked forward to relaunching its service. 

Hilbers took the helm of Napster last year. Napster’s future now appears in question as Hilbers’ departure represents a loss in confidence in the leadership of the Redwood City-based company. It turned down the buyout offer from Bertelsmann earlier this year. 

The German media conglomerate has extended about $85 million in loans to Napster, but the company has failed to generate revenue or launch a paid service. 

To further complicate matters for Napster, the company’s original investor, venture capital firm Hummer Winblad, and the uncle of Napster founder Shawn Fanning remain locked in a legal dispute over the division of funds from the sale of the company. 

In an internal memo to Napster employees sent by Hilbers and provided to The Associated Press by sources close to both companies, the chief executive bashed Napster’s board for refusing Bertelsmann’s offer. 

“I am convinced that not pursuing the offer is a mistake and it will lead the company to a place where I don’t want to lead it,” Hilbers said in the memo. 

Tuesday, Bertelsmann took another shot at Napster’s board for turning down the deal. 

“We regret that the Napster shareholders were unable to reach an agreement regarding the offer from Bertelsmann, however, we continue to believe in the value of peer-to-peer technology,” the company said. “We are hopeful that Napster’s brand and technology will be able to realize its potential as a compelling consumer proposition.” 

Napster said it would cut costs, but did not say how. The company laid off 30 employees on April 10. 

“We deeply regret that we have not yet been able to find a funding solution that would allow Napster to launch a service to benefit artists and consumers alike,” a Napster statement said. “We will be looking at additional steps in the coming week to further reduce expenses.” 

Analysts agreed Napster had potential, but several management miscues led the company down a path to failure. 

“It should have taken the deal from Bertelsmann, in hindsight,” said Sean Badding, an analyst from The Carmel Group. He said Napster’s brand name recognition still holds value and could be leveraged for profit by a future business. 

“If this does happen and Napster does file for bankruptcy, I think it would be one of the most compelling technologies to capture the American culture in recent times and then go on to failure,” Badding said. “From boom to bust, it had the most potential.” 

Phil Leigh, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates, said Napster’s rejection of the buyout came after Napster’s original investors sought immunity from damages in the record labels’ copyright infringement suit as part of the deal. 

Those were terms Bertelsmann would not go along with, Leigh said. 

“It looks like Napster is as dead as General Custer,” he added.

Wednesday, May 15

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

Hayward Arts Council's Green Shutter Gallery 

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Join the Campaign against Media Disinformation 

Report on community progress (or not) in meetings with Oakland Tribune editor. Entertainment- The Xplicit Players skit: Mass- Media vs. Personal Immedia. 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Universalists, upstairs 

SW corner, Cedar & Bonita Streets 

Free 

Thursday, May 16

BOSS- Berkeley, Oakland Support Services, Building Opportunities for Self-sufficiency 30th Anniversary Gala & Award Ceremony,  

Launch of Ursula Sherman Village 

6 to 8 p.m. and beyond 

Radisson Hotel, Berkeley Marina 

649-1930 

Tickets $100 ($75 tax deductible) 

Friday, May 17

The Berkeley Women in Black 

A Vigil every Friday from Noon to 1 p.m. 

Corner of Bancroft and Telegraph in Berkeley 

Everyone Welcome 

841-4143 

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

James Irvine Foundation Conference Center on Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Saturday, May 18

The Edible Schoolyard Plant Sale 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Buy flowers, fruits and vegetables from the Edible Schoolyard kitchen and garden 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School 

1781 Rose St. at Grant St. 

Berkeley 

Word Beat Reading Series 

Featuring readers Dancing Bear and C. J. Sage 

7-9 p.m. 

458 Perkins at Grand, Oakland 

For more information: 510-526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat 

Free 

Strawberry Tasting & World Harmony Chorus 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Writer as Publisher: Independent Publishing Seminar 

Learn how at this all day seminar. 

9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Asian Cultural Center 

Pacific Renaissance Plaza 

388 Ninth Street 

Oakland 

510-839-1248 or www.writeraspublisher.com 

Music Fair & Special Family Concert 

A delightful day of free performances, demonstrations, contests and entertainment! Oakland Youth Chorus, Purple bamboo Orchestra, Skyline High School Jazz Combo, Tim Cain, Instrument Petting Zoo & More.  

Family Concert 2 p.m.  

Calvin Simmons Theatre 

Music Fair Noon-5 p.m. 

Henry J Kaiser Convention Center Arena 

Oakland  

510-444-0801, www.oebs.org 

Concert $7 adults, $5 under 18, music fair- Free 

League of Woman Voters 

Call to annual meeting 

10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Please call to reserve a lunch ($11) and/or request a ride. 

843-8824 

3rd Annual Satsuki Arts Festival and Bazaar 

The Berkeley Buddhist Temple 

Featuring Bay Area and National Taiko drumming ensembles and Kenny Endo from Hawaii 

Monday, May 20 

Poetry Express - The Poet J.C. 

7-9 p.m. 

A community open mike welcoming all artists 

Berkeley Bakery & Cafe 

1561 Solano Avenue 

Free 

Build Your Dream-House for a Song 

(and own it free & clear in 5 years), author David Cook. 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St., Berkeley 

$35 

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

Home owners meeting. Chuck Durrett of Co-Housing tells about his program. All welcome. 

3 p.m. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers office 

1403 Addison St. (behind Andronico's on University) 

548-9696 

Tuesday, May 21

The Art of Practice with Tom Heimberg 

Violinist with the SF Opera, Tom offers an overview that applies to all instruments. 

Musicians Union Local 6 

116 Ninth St. at Mission 

San Francisco 

415-575-0777 

$10 and free to local 6 members 

Strawberry Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK, Jr. Way  

Free 

Arthritis Month Special 

Herbal alternatives & drug interactions for Fibromyalgia. Dr. Anita Marshall, Pharm.D., l.Ac 

12 to 2 p.m. 

Alta Bates Medical Center 

Maffly Auditorium- Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

for more info: 644-3273 

Wednesday, May 22

Healthful Building materials 

Seminar by Darrel DeBoer 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St., Berkeley 

$35 

Thursday, May 23

Senior Men's Afternoon 

Gay senior men discussion group, 2nd & 4th Thursdays. 

Pacific Center 

2712 Telegraph Ave. 

510-548-8283  

Free 

Fishbowl: "Everything you always wanted to know about the opposite sex but were afraid to ask" An opportunity to ask anonymous questions in a confidential and supportive environment. 

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

510-848-0237 X 127 

$8-$10 

Attic Conversions 

Seminar by architect Andus Brandt 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St., Berkeley 

$35 

Saturday, May 25

6th Annual Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival 

Everyone's welcome to participate in covering Solono's sidewalks with chalk art. Featuring refreshments and entertainment. Artist's chalk and a Polaroid of the finished work are available for a fee. To encourage early registration, a raffle for merchandise by local business will be held for the artists at noon.  

Registration at Peralta Park, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., 1561 Solano Ave. Berkeley. 

For more information: 510-527-5358, www.solanoave.org. 

Free 

Saturday & Sunday, May 25 & 26

19th Annual Himalayan Fair 

Outdoor celebration of the great Mountain Cultures! Authentic Himalayan Art, craft, Music & Dance, exotic food & stage entertainment. Benefits Himalayan Grassroots projects. 

Sat. 10-7, Sun. 10-5:30 

Live Oak Park 

Shattuck & Berryman 

$5-$7 Donation

NEW YORK — Better-than-expected April retail sales sent stocks sharply higher Tuesday, extending Wall Street’s winning streak to two sessions, as investors grew more confident about consumer spending. The Dow Jones industrials surged nearly 190 points, its third triple-digit finish in five trading days. 

Volume was also heavy, suggesting that investors were feeling more confident about stocks. But analysts were reluctant to predict the gains would last — noting recent rallies have faded. 

“We’re getting a nice follow-through from Monday, and it’s good to see tech stocks doing well,” said Ralph Acampora, director of technical research, Prudential Securities. “I’d love to say this is the beginning of something big, but that would be premature. This is a good short-term move.” 

The Dow finished up 188.48, or 1.9 percent, at 10,298.14, adding to a 169-point gain from Monday. It was also the highest close since April 16, a month ago, when average stood at 10,301.32. 

Buying in technology stocks helped lift the Nasdaq composite index 66.51, or 4.0 percent, to 1,719.05. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 22.72, or 2.1 percent, at 1,097.28. Both indexes last closed higher on April 23. On Monday, the Nasdaq rallied 51, the S&P gained 19. 

The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.2 percent in April, the biggest increase in six months and a stronger showing than many analysts predicted. The data was the latest indication that consumer spending — which accounts for two-thirds of the economy — remains vigorous. 

Investors were also pleased by better-than-expected quarterly results from two big retailers. Wal-Mart rose $2.35 to $57.39 on first-quarter earnings that rose 19.4 percent from a year ago. Higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings also boosted J.C. Penney up $1.69 to $24.89. 

Home improvement retailer Home Depot rose $2.36 to $47.98. 

Technology stocks also fared well. Intel surged $1.63 to $30.15 after an analyst at Robertson Stephens upgraded the chipmaker. 

But WorldCom fell 20 cents to $1.24 on word it was being removed from the S&P 500. 

Pharmaceutical and tobacco stocks, two areas viewed as less risky but less lucrative investments, also struggled as investors shifted money into technology and other sectors. Johnson & Johnson slipped 80 cents to $61.04, while Philip Morris dropped 83 cents to $54.91. 

Although the indexes have managed three significant rallies in the past week, skepticism remains. Much of the recent buying has been bargain hunting in response to weeks of selling, including the drop that followed a 305-point gain in the Dow and 122-point advance in the Nasdaq last Wednesday. 

That particular rally was sparked by better-than-anticipated profits from Cisco Systems, and investor sentiment remains closely tied to individual company news. 

Applied Materials shares rose sharply on Monday and Tuesday in anticipation of strong earnings, and Wall Street wasn’t disappointed. After the closing bell Tuesday, the semiconductor equipment maker reported second-quarter results ahead of expectations and expressed cautious optimism about the future. Applied Materials advanced $1.07 to $27.71 in extended trading, adding to a regular-session gain of $1.06. 

A recovery in the semiconductor sector is seen a necessary precursor for a broader turnaround, so Applied Material’s results were a possible catalyst for further gains. Although analysts cautioned against getting too excited, they said Tuesday’s performance did suggest that conditions were improving. 

“We’re starting to see broader evidence of strength. Last week it was Cisco, Monday we got encouraging news from the chip sector and today it was retail sales,” said Todd Clark, head of listed equity trading at Wells Fargo Securities. “If this hold, I think it’s important and suggests that we could add to these gains.” 

Advancing issues led decliners more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 1.71 billion shares, compared with 1.33 billion shares Monday. 

The Russell 2000 index rose 12.00, or 2.4 percent, to 511.72. 

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average advanced 0.2 percent. In Europe, Germany’s DAX index gained 1.3 percent, Britain’s FTSE rose 0.7 percent, and France’s CAC-40 increased 1.6 percent.

LOS ANGELES — An attorney who has taken the American Dental Association to court in several states over the amount of mercury used in fillings was the target of a defamation lawsuit filed Tuesday by the organization. 

Shawn Khorrami is involved in lawsuits in California, Ohio, Maryland and Georgia against the ADA, its state affiliates and others for allegedly endorsing amalgam filling material with a high content of mercury compounds. 

The Chicago-based ADA, with 141,000 members, is accusing him of conducting an “orchestrated campaign of lies and distortion to promote himself and his law firm.” 

The organization wants Khorrami to stop the action as well as pay punitive and compensatory damages. 

Khorrami called the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, “a desperate attempt on the part of the ADA to further conceal the truth from the public.” 

“We stand firmly by the allegations made in our lawsuits: The ADA has withheld information about the dangers of mercury dental fillings from the American public. Our cases brought this issue to light and now the ADA is responding with this baseless complaint. This is similar to the smear tactics used by the tobacco industry when they were challenged,” Khorrami said in a statement. 

Dental activists say what are commonly called silver fillings actually contain about 25 percent silver by weight and about 50 percent mercury. Mercury exposure can cause cancer, birth defects and nerve damage. But scientific studies on the effects of mercury in amalgam — the term referring to alloys of mercury — have been largely inconclusive. 

Amalgam fillings cost about half as much as other fillings, including plastic and porcelain, and last longer. 

The most recent lawsuit handled by Khorrami, filed in Georgia last month, seeks damages that could exceed $100 million. It claims mercury from dental fillings, vaccine preservatives and power plants with emissions that contain mercury caused or worsened the conditions of nine autistic children. 

A television-oversight policy being entertained by city leaders would make city officials the “moral conscience” of the community, according to Berkeley Community Media Executive Director Brian Scott. 

The recommendation, which City Council is scheduled to consider Tuesday night, calls for adult-oriented programs on Berkeley’s two community TV stations to air only after midnight, and directs the city to provide “oversight and ultimate authority” over local programming. 

The proposal comes amid recent concerns about the hotly-contested “Dr. Susan Block Show.” Airing at 10:30 p.m. on Friday evenings, the program features a lingerie-clad sex therapist whose live guests have included women masturbating and provocatively touching one another. 

“Many people feel that these shows are on too early,” said Councilmember Miriam Hawley, who is joined by councilmembers Polly Armstrong and Betty Olds in sponsoring the proposed city ordinance. “The goal is to protect children from pornography.” 

At present, legally-termed “indecent” programming is scheduled to run between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., a loose guideline offered by the Federal Communications Commission. The proposed Berkeley ordinance would raise the bar for oversight, moving the airing time of “indecent” materials up two hours and establishing a city-run review process to assure compliance. 

The problem, critics say, is censorship. Because of First Amendment rights upheld by the Supreme Court, public access television stations cannot censor “indecent” programing and are required to air all locally submitted and sponsored material. The only exception is “obscene” material, which legal experts say is nearly impossible to brand. 

The current 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. window for indecent programing, called a “safe harbor’ by insiders, is merely voluntary, according to BCM staff. 

While sympathetic to existing “safe harbor” times, Berkeley television producer and sponsor of the Dr. Block show Frank Moore said that pushing the time beyond the current national guideline was a violation of free-speech laws. 

“Why does Berkeley have to have a different standard?” he challenged. “I don’t think this censorship will play in Berkeley.” 

Moore said he is considering filing a lawsuit against the city, should the ordinance pass. In addition to the Dr. Block show, Moore stands to lose a programming slot for his own, sometimes sexually-explicit, program “Frank Moore’s Unlimited Possibilities.” 

BCM’s Scott confirmed that the station has received a number of complaints about adult-oriented programming, but said his hands are tied. Censoring the programs and their times is a legal liability his station is not willing to take on. 

“More stations have been sued for censoring materials than for airing obscene materials,” he said. 

“The proposed ordinance puts the onus on the city,” Scott added. 

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque says the city is not afraid to take on the task of regulating public television programming. 

“The city may, consistent with the First Amendment, impose time-segregation rules for indecent programming on BTV for the purposes of protecting children from lewd programming,” Albuquerque said in a written statement to City Council members. 

Under the proposed ordinance, Councilmember Hawley affirmed that the city would have the final authority to prevent a “truly unsuitable” program from airing. 

Though, to assure fair assessment of controversial programs, Hawley said the newly-found review process would kick in. 

Currently, programs aired after 10 p.m. are done so only at the suggestion of the producer or sponsor. None of the material is reviewed by BCM officials prior to its airing.

St. Mary’s High sprinting and hurdling standout Danielle Stokes has an impressive track resume. Literally. She has it available by fax. 

Stokes’ “Track and Field Resume” chronicles the 17-year-old’s already remarkable track career: 

1996 Oakland PALS: Runner of the year. 

1998 Youth National Intermediate Girls 100-meter hurdles: Champion. 

1999 ACCAL 100-meter hurdles: Champion. 

2000 ACCAL 100-meter hurdles, 2001 BSAL 100-meter hurdles, 2001 BSAL 300-meter hurdles: Champion. Champion. Champion. 

And so forth. It goes on for a while. 

The purpose of the resume is not to brag. Created at the recommendation of Officer Margaret Dixon, head coach of the PALS track team and Stokes’ mentor since she first joined the PALS at age nine, the resume is intended to help focus her budding track career.  

The stated objective? 

“To attend California State University at Northridge… and continue to compete at an elite level in track and field.” 

Objective accomplished – with a partial scholarship to boot. Stokes will attend CSU Northridge in the fall, where she intends to study kinesiology; the study of the body in movement. It couldn’t be more fitting for someone so adept at moving her own. 

“I know I want to do something related to track or athletic training,” says Stokes. “I’ve always had a passion for that.” 

A lifelong passion – but along the way there have been coaches stoking Stokes’ fire. It’s especially hard to overstate the impact that a program like PALS can have on a young athlete. Officer Dixon, along with PALS hurdling coach Maurice Valentine of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s office, have been a guiding light in not only Stokes’ athletic career but also her life. 

“As young ladies get older,” says Dixon, “It’s harder to keep them in athletic programs because of peer pressure. Other kids are going to movies and dating – track becomes unattractive. It’s hard to keep them motivated.” 

Indeed, Dixon says that it has been a battle to keep even someone as talented as Stokes involved. She speaks of an annual ritual wherein Stokes would quit, yet again, and Dixon would coax her back. 

“I’d almost have to trick her every year,” says Dixon. “I’d tell her that I really needed her help with the little kids. ‘Danielle, if you’d just come back and lead the exercises for me,’ I’d tell her. But once I had her on the track I knew I had her.” 

The commitment to give back to the program is something Dixon instilled in Stokes, as she does with all her athletes, from the very beginning. 

“My one requirement is that you come back and give,” says Dixon. “Come back and give to the program, the way we gave to you.” 

Stokes is more than happy to comply. At the end of every track season Stokes is right back out alongside Dixon, coaching kids – now including Stokes’ 9- and 10-year-old cousins, who are just being introduced to the sport. 

“She’s a social butterfly,” says Stokes’ mother, Sandra. “She gets out at track meets and gets to socialize… it’s had a big impact on who she is and what she is. Track is Danielle’s life basically. It has opened her eyes – and opened her horizons.” 

Next on Danielle’s horizon is the Junior National Championships. 

“I’m hoping to compete in Junior Nationals,” says Danielle, “and hoping to make the Junior World team and go to Jamaica. But I’ll have to make a certain mark to go. I’d have to be in the top three at Junior Nationals.” 

Stokes estimates that it would take something on the order of 13.6 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles in order to crack the top three. Her lifetime best: 14.28 seconds at the Stanford Invitational, with a wind-aided 14.13 seconds at the 2002 Meet of Champions in Sacramento two weeks ago. 

How hard is it to shave half a second off of an already blistering 100-meter pace? At an elite level of track and field, half a second can be the difference between first place and last – the difference between Jamaica and Manteca. 

But for a 17-year old prodigy peeling hundredths of a second off of her own best times on a regular basis, anything can happen. 

“It’s doable,” says Stokes. 

Just like the CSU Northridge goal was doable. Looks like it’s time to update that objective – Danielle Stokes has new hurdles to overcome.

Today is Tuesday, May 14, the 134th day of 2002. There are 231 days left in the year. 

Highlight: 

On May 14, 1948 (by the current-era calendar), the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv. 

On this date: 

In 1643, Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. 

In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis. 

In 1904, the first Olympic games to be held in the United States opened in St. Louis. 

In 1942, Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” was first performed, by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. 

In 1942, the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was established. 

In 1955, representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. 

In 1973, the United States launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station. 

In 1975, U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in the military operation. 

In 1980, President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services. 

In 1998, singer-actor Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82. 

Ten years ago:  

Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev addressed members of the U.S. Congress, appealing to them to pass a bill aiding the people of the former Soviet Union. Former football player Lyle Alzado died in Portland, Ore., at age 43. 

Five years ago:  

Jurors at the Timothy McVeigh trial in Denver saw chilling black-and-white surveillance pictures of a Ryder truck moving toward the Oklahoma City federal building minutes before a bomb blew the place apart. 

One year ago:  

The Supreme Court ruled 8-to-0 that there is no exception in federal law for people to use marijuana to ease their pain from cancer, AIDS or other illnesses. Promising to be a “determined adversary” toward gun violence, President Bush announced plans to mobilize federal and local prosecutors who would focus exclusively on gun-related crimes. 

Today’s Birthdays:  

Opera singer Patrice Munsel is 77. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is 60. Rock singer-musician Jack Bruce (Cream) is 59. Movie producer George Lucas is 58. Actress Meg Foster is 54. Actress Season Hubley is 51. Rock singer David Byrne is 50. Movie director Robert Zemeckis is 50. Actor Tim Roth is 41. Rock singer Ian Astbury (The Cult) is 40. Rock musician Cecil DeVille is 40. Rock musician Mike Inez (Alice In Chains) is 36. Fabrice Morvan (ex-Milli Vanilli) is 36. Actress Cate Blanchett is 33. Singer Danny Wood (New Kids on the Block) is 33. Singer Natalie Appleton (All Saints) is 29. Singer Shanice is 29. 

- The Associated Press

To the Editor: 

Using lots of money to get their point across? Telling lies to convince you that where they stand is where you should stand? Making statements that seem to make sense except for what they don’t tell you? Big Tobacco? No. Big Sierra Club and Citizens for an Eastshore State Park (CESP). 

It’s a disappointment, no question. To have other community groups, and very moneyed and powerful ones at that, take such a hard line, “me and only me” approach to what should be a cooperative community effort in building a great Eastshore State Park. 

We provide recreation opportunities to over 12,000 children and about half as many adults. We like birds. We like mudflats. We would love them, really, to restore Codornices Creek between our recently built playing fields in Berkeley so the children could see frogs and trout without having to go on a car ride followed by a forced march. This could also be happening at Eastshore State Park. Kids can look at birds many of them have never seen. They can walk a path down to the Albany Bulb and see some artwork and where land ends. Or maybe someone can just find a place to play. 

We think mud flats, birds, marshes, creeks and playing fields can co-exist to the benefit of the community. The Sierra Club and CESP think differently – fine, they are entitled to their opinion. But knowingly providing the community with false information to sell their idea is not okay. 

“Playing fields with their herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides would wipe out the habitat value of the (Albany) Plateau and threaten the fragile ecology of the mudflats.” This statement made in the April issue of the Sierra Club newsletter is factually incorrect. That was bad enough. But even after the Association of Sports Field Users met with the leaders of CESP and the Sierra Club several weeks ago in an effort to start a dialogue and to let them know they were mistaken about our use of chemicals, the CESP May newsletter continues to make this knowingly false assertion to advance their planning agenda 

For the past eight years our organization has maintained a number of playing fields from Richmond to Berkeley. We’ve never used pesticides. Our soccer fields in Berkeley and Albany are among the best maintained in the Bay Area. We’ve never used herbicides on our turf. We’ve told both the Sierra Club and CESP that we support the banning of the use of pesticides and herbicides on sports fields in Eastshore State Park. 

The Sierra Club never even made an effort to find out the facts and accused another community group, in public, of being environmentally insensitive. Perhaps the Sierra Club was ill informed but CESP followed suit, after they were told of the facts. In short, CESP lied to this community in an effort to advance their political agenda. 

The Sierra Club and CESP also try to make the case that there are lots of places to put playing fields. “We have also urged Berkeley to acquire the American Soil Products property…would include structured sports fields.” What CESP and the Sierra Club do not tell you are that the asking price for these eight acres is well in excess of $20,000,000. That works out to $5,000,000 land costs per field! If the Sierra Club has an extra twenty million, by all means buy the property. If they don’t, should taxpayers be asked to spend these kinds of sums when there is public land across the street that can be used for the same purpose? The sports community understands that this location isn’t ideal. Nor was the location of Harrison Park. But it’s a better alternative than no playing fields. 

These environmental groups have offices, paid staff, expensive brochures, and a seemingly endless supply of money for mass mailings. Those of us who volunteer our time and put our money into maintaining playing fields, providing kids with something to do after school, buying equipment and giving scholarships to kids deserve better treatment than this. 

Eastshore State Park is a very big place. It stretches from the Bay Bridge to Richmond. The Sierra Club and CESP position might be a little more understandable if this was pristine wilderness. It’s not. It is a concrete and rebar landfill. We could better comprehend their position if the bulk of the park was being developed. It is not. For the most part the place is going to be left in its current state, just as they want. The Sierra Club and CESP have really taken a “mine all mine” approach to a piece of property that was paid for by all of us and needs to serve the diverse interests of the 645,000 people who ring the park — some of whom want something other than a place to watch birds. 

But what the environmental groups have done here goes far beyond Eastshore State Park. If groups, such as CESP and the Sierra Club, are spreading false tales of eco-disaster on such black and white issues as whether or not playing fields require pesticides, how much credibility should we be giving them as we listen to their claims of doom and gloom in other areas? Is the short road extension along the Albany neck being requested by the wind surfers really going to create the problem the environmental groups claim or is this just another example of their need to manipulate the end result by manipulating the information? To the extent these eco-bullies are a primary source of information on the environmental consequences of how different activities will affect the environment, they have corrupted the process. 

We need these environmental groups to provide us with reliable information to counter the claims of industry and agribusiness. When they start knowingly providing misleading information we should all be concerned, not just those of us who have an interest in Eastshore State Park. 

I am sure this letter will generate a number of responses. The response I would like to see published is from the Director of CESP and the Director of the Sierra Club, who was quick to point out to a local journalist that “he should get his facts straight”. At least we understood the journalist was writing an opinion piece. 

- Doug Fielding 

Berkeley

Tuesday, May 14

Open Mike for Singers, with Ellen Hoffman Trio 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro 

1901 University Ave. 

Berkeley 

510-849- ANNA 

Open Mic - Northern California Songwriters Association 

Doors 7:30, show 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

510-548-1761 

Wednesday, May 15

Live Music - Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet 

8 p.m., second show 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro 

1901 University Ave. 

Berkeley 

510-849-ANNA 

Kane's River plus Don't Look Back 

Bluegrass double-bill 

Doors 7:30, show 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

510-548-1761 

$15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door 

Thursday, May 16

Ben Bonham Farewell Party 

Leading lap & pedal steel guitarist says bye to the Bay Area. 

Doors 7:30, show 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

510-548-1761 

$15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door 

Just Friends Jazz Quartet 

8 p.m., second show 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro 

1901 University Ave. 

Berkeley 

510-849-ANNA 

Poet Piri Thomas and drummer Owen Davis featured for an evening of poetry, music and spoken word with Open Mike. 

7:30 - 10 p.m. 

Fellowship Hall Cafe 

1924 Cedar St. 

Berkeley 

$5 - $10 requested 

Anna De Leon & Ellen Hoffman- Jazz Standards, 2nd show: Bluesman Hideo Date, guitarist 

8 p.m., second show 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro 

1901 University Ave. 

Berkeley 

510-849-ANNA 

Tom Rush 

Classic Folk 

Doors 7:30, show 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

510-548-1761 

$18.50 advance, $19.50 at the door 

“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. 

“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 photographs of plants and people. $3 - $6. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“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. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd., 649-2540 

“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 

“Solos: The Contemporary Monoprint” Apr. 26 through Jun. 15: An exhibition of two modern masters, Nathan Oliveira and Matt Phillips, as well as monoprints from other artists. Call for times. Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave., 549-2977, kala@kala.org 

“Komar and Melamid’s Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project” Through May 26: An exhibition of paintings by elephants under the tutelage of Russian-born conceptual artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid. $3 - $6. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Perpetual Objects” Through Jul. 10: An exhibition of seven large-scale sculptures and two collage drawings by Dennis Leon. Mon. - Fri. 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. Gallery 555 City Center, 12th and Clay, Oakland.

Tuesday, May 14

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

3 p.m. 

Dublin Civic Center  

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Wednesday, May 15

Join the Campaign against Media Disinformation 

Report on community progress (or not) in meetings with Oakland Tribune editor. Entertainment- The Xplicit Players skit: Mass- Media vs. Personal Immedia. 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Universalists, upstairs 

SW corner, Cedar & Bonita Streets 

Free 

Thursday, May 16

BOSS- Berkeley, Oakland Support Services, Building Opportunities for Self-sufficiency 30th Anniversary Gala & Award Ceremony,  

Launch of Ursula Sherman Village 

6 to 8 p.m. and beyond 

Radisson Hotel, Berkeley Marina 

649-1930 

Tickets $100 ($75 tax deductible) 

Friday, May 17

The Berkeley Women in Black 

A Vigil every Friday from Noon to 1 p.m. 

Corner of Bancroft and Telegraph in Berkeley 

Everyone Welcome 

841-4143 

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

James Irvine Foundation Conference Center on Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Saturday, May 18

The Edible Schoolyard Plant Sale 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Buy flowers, fruits and vegetables from the Edible Schoolyard kitchen and garden 

Bring a container for free municipal compost 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School 

1781 Rose St. at Grant St. 

Berkeley 

Word Beat Reading Series 

Featuring readers Dancing Bear and C. J. Sage 

7-9 p.m. 

458 Perkins at Grand, Oakland 

For more information: 526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat 

Free 

Strawberry Tasting & World Harmony Chorus 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Children's Movies 

Fern Gully (in English) 

Shows at noon & 2 p.m. 

The Actor's Studio 

3521 Maybelle Ave. 

Oakland 

530-0551 

$3 

Writer as Publisher: Independent Publishing Seminar 

Learn how at this all day seminar. 

9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Asian Cultural Center 

Pacific Renaissance Plaza 

388 Ninth Street 

Oakland 

839-1248 or www.writeraspublisher.com 

The Oakland East Bay Gay Men's Chorus third annual spring concert, "Turn the World Around" Celebration of spring and welcome to summer with love songs and traditional favorites. 

May 18, 8 p.m., Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland and 

May 19, 7 p.m., Crowden School, 1475 Rose St.  

Suggested donation is $15 at the door; $12 in advance. 239-2239, ext. 2576, www.oebgmc.org.

In the annual “State of the City” address Monday night, Mayor Shirley Dean lauded Berkeley’s progress over the tough economic and political times of the past year and said recent momentum was assurance of an even brighter future. 

Dean laid out an ambitious and politically-broad plan for the upcoming year that ranged from taking a tougher stance on crime to boosting the use of solar energy at city facilities. Calls for restoration of the city’s historic train station and expanding parking facilities in the downtown were also warmly received by the more than 100 residents who packed a standing-room only Old City Hall. 

The mayor’s aplomb at the speaker’s stand was grounded in a host of projects she touted as “real progress,” which included completion of a pedestrian-bicycle overpass on Interstate 80 and the 91-unit residential and cultural GAIA Building downtown. 

“I remain vigorous in seeking a better life for all of our residents,” Dean said. 

The mayor’s message of accomplishment and forward motion, many insiders say, comes at a critical time. This is an election year and the two-term mayor will face what is arguably the biggest challenge yet to her office — candidate Tom Bates, a popular veteran in state politics. 

No mention of the political race was made during Dean’s 60-minute speech, but afterwards, in the lobby, supporters confidently chanted “four more years.” 

One of the few references to political partisanship made by the mayor Monday night came when she broached the issue of moving the city’s utilities underground. 

“Undergrounding is expensive. It makes sense, however, to eliminate the poles that will topple into the street and upon homes in the event of a major earthquake,” she said. 

“The Council has been sharply divided on the issue,” the mayor noted. Because of the division, the city has missed opportunities to move forward with the work, she said. 

Dean made repeated pleas for collaboration, among city leaders and residents alike, suggesting that successes would be the result of team efforts. 

“Together we can and will work through the rough spots,” she stated. 

Her commitment to increasing the city’s law enforcement resources admittedly stemmed from recent monetary issues. 

“It has been difficult to achieve a satisfactory level of staffing, particularly in the police department,” Dean said. “Throughout this city, residents are crying out that they don’t feel safe where they live.” 

She pledged that there would soon be more officers on the streets, and in addition, noted that City Council was looking to boost police resources for addressing hate crimes, which have increased amid the recent Middle East conflict. 

Her environmental goals, also an affirmed priority, include reducing the city’s overall demand for non-renewable energy sources, promoting the use of public transit, and finding the Audubon Society a home in Berkeley. 

The mayor also promised more playing fields for youth athletes. 

The goals that the mayor set for herself for the upcoming year, while numerous, were not beyond her means, her supporters said after the speech. 

“I think she has some good plans, and I think she’ll accomplish them,” claimed Berkeley resident Miriam Ng. 

Contact reporter at: 

kurtis@berkeleydailyplanet.net

Parking on the 

honor system 

HONOLULU — A guilty conscience apparently got the better of one parking offender. 

State officials said they recently received a $5 bill in the mail from someone who admitted overstaying the time on a parking meter at historic Iolani Palace. 

The bill was accompanied by an anonymous letter postmarked from Lansing, Mich. 

The letter had no name or return address but the sender apparently wanted to make sure the cash reached Hawaii by attaching a second 34-cent stamp. 

“It’s the first time that I received something like this,” said Harold Sonomura, who heads the state’s Automotive Management division. “I’m kind of surprised anybody would do this.” 

SF student gives up hot dogs for baseball 

SAN FRANCISCO — Khamis Zananiri is relishing his new role in the University of San Francisco starting lineup. 

A few weeks ago, the freshman was the hot dog chef at Benedetti Diamond, but now is the starting third baseman for the Dons and the second-leading hitter, with a .320 average. 

Injuries to other players gave Zananiri a chance to shine, though he did plenty to earn the respect of the coaches during tryouts. 

When the team showed up for practice, he helped unload equipment, rake the infield and stayed late to water the grass. 

“When he would finish all of his work, then he’d go to the batting cage and work some more,” said coach Nino Giarratano, noting Zananiri was usually the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave. 

“There’s a reason why you have your dreams,” Zananiri said. “So don’t give up on them.” 

Police hand out leashes 

PARK CITY, Utah — Police are handing out leashes — not citations — when they catch dog owners letting their animals run loose. 

“We’re always trying to look for the more friendly solution up here,” said Myles C. Rademan, public affairs director for Park City. 

City Police Chief Lloyd Evans has purchased 400 inexpensive leashes and asked his officers to carry a few while on patrol. When they spot someone allowing their dog to run free in an inappropriate area, the owner is given a leash and brochure explaining the city’s dog policy.

To the editor: 

I was dismayed to find in the May 9 crossword puzzle a racial slur directed at lower- class whites. Although I was later told by staff that the crossword puzzle is not actually put together at the Daily Planet but is received over the wire from AP, I found its inclusion disturbing. The words, found at 16 across (“hayseed” and its cousin “hick”) are at one level funny descriptions of the naivete found in traditionally non-urban culture. But a deeper meaning cannot be ignored. As with all racist language, these words, when used to classify a type of person or people, are demeaning and reprehensible. Indeed, to make light of this sort of language and assume objectively, outside of communal understanding, (in the AP crossword puzzle!) that it will be understood as mere humor is in itself naivete (and ignorance) at its height. 

I suggest that instead of rushing to get a paper together in the name of community that you edit what its contents are first, risking the possibility that its features may be excluded. Please understand that including each person’s perspective is more important than the gain found in publishing a daily. 

- Jason Osborne Badgley 

Berkeley

Local 1, the Martinez-based union that has represented employees of the Berkeley Unified School District for years, is on the ropes. 

Last week, maintenance workers, custodians, storekeepers, bus drivers and food service employees, who make up the Local 1 “operations unit,” voted 70-42 to replace Local 1 with Local 39, an AFL-CIO affiliate with offices in San Francisco. 

In the next two weeks, employees in the paraprofessional and clerical units will decide whether to drop Local 1 in favor of the Council of Classified Employees, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers. 

Local 39 proponents argue that Local 1 is not providing adequate service to union members – failing to return calls and file grievances in a timely manner. CCE activists make similar claims. 

“I’m real confident,” said Frank Oppedisano, a CCE organizer, arguing that the Local 39 victory has provided his union with momentum. “I think people realize, now, that it’s time for a change.” 

But Charles Egbert, general manager for Local 1, said he believes the paraprofessional and clerical units will rebuff a union with ties to the American Federation of Teachers. 

“We think that people will reject the idea that teachers can represent them fairly,” he said, arguing that teachers often compete with other employees for a piece of the district pie and file complaints against classified staff. 

Oppedisano said the American Federation of Teachers provides CCE with support services. But he said the union is largely independent of its parent organization. 

“It’s not a teacher’s union,” he said of CCE. “We represent classified employees.” 

Walter Mitchell, a Berkeley High School instructional aide who favors CCE, said independence is a campaign ploy, not a legitimate issue. 

“They got creamed by Local 39 and they’re trying to hold onto what little they’ve got,” Mitchell said. 

Stephanie Allan, business representative for Local 39, said the service issue is what made the difference in last week’s vote to replace Local 1. 

“If Local 1 had been doing its job, this never would have happened,” she said. “People don’t make this kind of change unless they are highly motivated.” 

But Egbert said Local 1 has provided solid service. He said business representatives return calls within one day 85 to 90 percent of the time. 

Pat Robertson, a district storekeeper and president of the operations unit, said local union officials provide much of the day-to-day support for members anyhow. Robertson said he has worked tirelessly to provide that support. 

“People were represented well,” he said, dismissing claims that the service issue played a role in the election results. 

Robertson said the crucial factor was Local 39’s promotion of its training program for union members. 

“It’s a difference,” Robertson acknowledged, noting that a long-discussed Local 1 apprenticeship program never got off the ground. 

Samuel Scott, a general maintenance worker who voted for Local 39, said training was a key issue for his colleagues. But service, he added, also played an important role. 

“I believe now we’ll get some representation and the training that we deserve and need to get our department working right,” Scott said. 

Robertson said he was saddened by Local 1’s defeat and troubled by the AFL-CIO’s efforts to “raid” existing unions. He said Local 39 and CCE should focus on organizing the unorganized instead. 

“Our objective is to provide service for classified employees,” Oppedisano replied. “If they’re not getting the service they need and they want to look at other options, that’s their right.”

The Earth First! v. FBI and Oakland Police Department trial moved one step closer to closing arguments and jury deliberation Monday. Attorneys for both sides questioned the last few witnesses in the case that accuses the FBI and OPD of mishandling the 1990 car bombing of environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. 

Defense attorneys called witness Dr. Alberto Delarti Bolanos, an orthopedic surgeon from San Mateo, as their first witness Monday. 

Bolanos testified that the injuries suffered by Bari, who died of cancer in 1997, could not have been the result of a bomb placed under the front seat of the car as the plaintiffs claim but instead resulted from a blast from behind the front seat. 

Attorneys for the defense claim the bomb was knowingly carried in the back of Bari's '81 Subaru when it exploded as the two activists were traveling through Oakland. 

Robert Bloom, attorney for the plaintiffs, argued that Bolanos did not have a complete record of documents or a record of x-rays and photographs when he concluded that Bari's injuries resulted from a bomb blast from behind the front seat. Despite this, Bolanos maintained under questioning that he was able to accurately determine the location of the bomb without further information. 

Bloom also determined that Bolanos had not previously been an advisor on matters of bomb injuries. 

Attorneys for each side also questioned defense witness Thomas J. Orloff, Special Agent with the FBI, regarding Orloff's aid in developing the search warrant affidavit. Orloff denied accusations of “judge-shopping,” or pursuing a more favorable judge to approve matters in the initial 1990 case. 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs claim investigators bypassed the initial judge in order to have their warrant approved, allowing them to search both Bari and Cherney's Redwood Valley residences and the Seeds of Peace house in Berkeley. 

In response, Orloff claimed that Judge Corrigan, though not the initial judge in line for the case, "is a very bright, thorough and experienced judge. She scrutinized the warrant while some judges would just rubber stamp a warrant." 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs continued to question how and why witnesses from the FBI pursued certain pieces of evidence and formed judgments in the case. 

Witnesses, including Orloff, however, did not recall specific details of discussions in the case, many of which took place almost 12 years ago.  

Orloff, as with other witnesses and defendants from the FBI and OPD, claimed that he pursued evidence and made judgments in the case as accurately as possible given time constraints early in the investigation. 

In response to Bloom's questions of whether or not it was important to be complete and honest in his investigation, Orloff responded, "as complete as possible at the time, as certain as possible at the time." Orloff continued that it was always important to be honest. 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs questioned Orloff about the need to search the residences of Bari and Cherney and the Seeds of Peace house for bomb material without evidence that the residents had a prior history of making or keeping bombs at their houses. 

Paul Price, a structure blast expert, was also called as a witness by the defense on Monday. Price testified that he believed from his initial assessment of pictures of the blasted car that the bomb must have been placed toward the rear of the front seat. 

When asked by Dennis Cunningham, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, whether he had looked at the actual car later when he had the opportunity, Price responded that he felt "the car wouldn't represent what it actually was 10 years later. I didn't need to go because the conditions of the car could have changed." 

James Flanigan, Special Agent and explosives specialist with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, testified that he believed the bomb in Bari's car was set off when Bari took a sharp turn onto Park Boulevard in Oakland, triggering the initiation device on the bomb.  

Flanigan also testified that he believed the bomb was placed in the back of the car under a guitar case in the back seat. When asked whether or not it would be a strange occurrence for individuals to knowingly drive around with an activated, timed bomb in the back of their car, Flanigan admitted it would ordinarily be a strange occurrence. 

Attorneys for both the defense and plaintiffs questioned Flanigan regarding his prior knowledge of Earth First. Flanigan reported that he had heard, through newspaper articles, that Earth First! was an environmental activist group that had participated in “tree spikings” in the past. Flanigan did not recall, however, other history or reports of sabotage involving the group prior to the day of the bombing. 

The final witness Monday was Patrick J. Webb, a former supervisor with the FBI. Webb was also of the opinion that the bomb had been placed in the back of the car at the time it exploded.  

According to Webb, Special Agent Doyle with the FBI did not influence his ability to evaluate evidence at the crime scene, as attorneys for the plaintiffs have claimed. 

"He's an independent guy and I'm an independent guy. He's going to say what he's going to say and I'm going to say what I'm going to say. He's probably not going to influence me," said Webb. 

On Tuesday, Webb and one additional defense witness will testify followed by two rebuttal witnesses called by the plaintiffs. Closing arguments are expected for either Tuesday or Wednesday followed by jury deliberation. 

SACRAMENTO — The Assembly on Monday defeated a bill that would have allowed motorcyclists age 21 and older to ride without helmets. 

Cyclists would have to carry with them proof of $1 million in health insurance to legally ride without helmets, under the defeated legislation. That was an attempt by the author, Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, to moot opponents’ argument that society has a right to require helmets because taxpayers often help pay for injured motorcyclists’ treatment. 

Opponents weren’t convinced, defeating the bill 34-32, short of the 41 votes needed for passage. However, Mountjoy could bring the bill up for another vote. 

“We don’t tell skydivers they can jump out of airplanes without parachutes” even if they want to, said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. “This is the most troubling bill I have seen on the floor this session. Why in the world would we give people the right to kill themselves? ... If this bill becomes law, we are sentencing people to die.” 

Despite Mountjoy’s insurance requirement, the California Highway Patrol estimated the bill would cost taxpayers $1.93 million a year. The CHP said that would include $616,000 for training, $136,000 to enforce the insurance requirement, $605,000 because of a projected increase in fatalities, and $575,000 for additional emergency services. 

Those monetary projections can’t account for the loss of a loved one or breadwinner to survivors, opponents said. 

“He’s made that choice for himself,” if the rider chooses to ride without a helmet and is injured or dies, Mountjoy said. 

Supporters said wearing a helmet can increase the chance of neck and back injuries, impedes peripheral vision and hearing, and tire the wearer. 

Among conflicting studies and statistics offered by supporters and opponents is a study by the University of Southern California concluding that helmet use was the most important factor determining survival in motorcycle collisions. 

Those on both sides said the measure confronts a fundamental question of where individuals’ freedom stops and society’s control begins. 

“Do you believe in individual rights and individual freedoms, or do you believe in a nanny government?” asked Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks. “It’s an individual person’s right whether to wear a helmet or not wear a helmet.” 

California was one of three holdouts among states despite the federal government’s threats to withhold highway funding from states without helmet laws. Though the federal legislation was passed in 1966, California didn’t come into full compliance until 1991. 

The federal mandate was repealed in 1995, however. Now, 27 states have laws requiring helmets for at least some riders, usually those under age 18. Three states have no helmet requirement. 

The Assembly passed bills repealing the helmet requirement in 1996 and 1997, but the measures were defeated in Senate committees.

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — A San Francisco bicyclist collapsed and died Monday on the first day of a charity long-distance bike ride. 

Tom Gilder, 57, was pronounced dead at 2:45 p.m., according to AIDS/LifeCycle. 

He had completed approximately 58 miles of the ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles when he stopped pedaling and collapsed along Highway One, the organization said. 

Gilder was treated on an ambulance, but was pronounced dead before he could be transported to a hospital, said Gustavo Suarez, a spokesman for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which co-sponsored the ride. 

The San Mateo County coroner could not be reached for comment, and Half Moon Bay police said they had no information on the death. 

The cause of death has not been determined, Suarez said.

SACRAMENTO — The lobbyist who passed a $25,000 check to a Davis administration aide just days after his client negotiated a state contract also represents a company that funneled $40,000 to Gov. Gray Davis’ re-election campaign last month while lobbying a state agency. 

Network Management Group is represented by Ravi Mehta, the former top state elections cop who worked for Oracle Corp. last year when it signed a $95 million, no-bid contract to provide the state with database software. 

Network Management supplies proposition players, a sort of substitute dealer, for card rooms, and the state Gambling Control Commission, appointed by Davis, is in the midst of drafting rules to regulate and license those players. 

The Monterey Park-based company has been lobbying the commission on those regulations, which Peter Melnicoe, the commission’s chief attorney, describes as “controversial in some respects.” 

Neither Mehta nor Network Management’s chief executive officer, John Park, returned telephone calls on Friday and Monday from an Associated Press reporter seeking comment. 

According to state campaign finance records, Network Management Group gave Davis’ campaign $15,000 on April 5 and $25,000 on April 8. 

A spokesman for Davis, Roger Salazar, said the money won’t have any impact on the commission’s decisions. 

“We don’t connect contributions to policy, he said. “Never have, never will.” 

Mehta, a former chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, passed the Oracle campaign contribution to a Davis aide over drinks at a Sacramento bar a few days after the state signed the software deal. 

The contract was initially touted as a way for the state to save at least $16 million through volume purchases of database software. But the state auditor says the deal could actually cost the state up to $41 million more than if it had kept its previous software supply arrangements. 

Both Davis and Oracle deny any link between the donation and the contract. Oracle officials say the timing was coincidental. 

But timing campaign donations to try to increase their impact is “inherent in the process” at the Capitol, said Jim Knox, executive director of California Common Cause, a campaign reform group. 

“It works both ways,” he said. “The donors tend to make contributions when it’s going to maximize their influence, and legislators (and sometimes statewide officials) tend to leverage contributions at the time ... when lobbyists are most vulnerable.” 

Mehta was once at the other end of the process, overseeing campaign disclosure and ethics requirements as head of the FPPC. His stint as chairman from 1995 to 1997 was a stormy one. 

“I think there was near unanimity among the commissioners that he was not a credit to the institution,” said former Commissioner Deborah Seiler. 

There were complaints that Mehta charged the state for a golfing trip and lobbied legislators on bills without consulting the rest of the commission. 

Mehta, an attorney, was also criticized for doing legal affairs work for Bob White, then-Gov. Pete Wilson’s chief of staff, while the FPPC was investigating a member of Wilson’s Cabinet. 

“The FPPC chair is a place where you should be pretty much beyond reproach,” said another former commissioner, Jim Rushford. “There were some of the things Ravi did that that didn’t seem consistent with that standard.” 

In 1996 the commission voted to strip Mehta of most of his powers as chairman. 

Mehta, who blamed his problems at the FPPC on his efforts to make the agency’s enforcement more aggressive, resigned from the commission in 1997, in the middle of his four-year term. 

He left after telling a group of lobbyists that parts of Proposition 208, a 1996 campaign donation limitation initiative, were unconstitutional. The FPPC was defending the proposition in court at the time. 

Mehta also had a stormy relationship with the city of Anaheim, which hired him in September 1997 as an independent prosecutor to investigate alleged campaign violations by the city’s mayor and others. 

He was fired by the Anaheim City Council in March 1998 after the bills for his investigation sparked a public outcry. Altogether, Mehta charged the city over $302,000, including more than $12,000 in court costs to fight his dismissal. 

Anaheim ended up paying $249,959, said John Nicoletti, a spokesman for the city. 

A judge threw out the misdemeanor charges filed by Mehta against the mayor and three other members or former members of the city council, calling the investigation a “colossal waste of taxpayer money and a blatant abuse of the judicial process for naked political gain.” 

Last year Mehta and a campaign committee were fined $23,000 by a Superior Court judge for violating campaign laws, including spending $7,000 to paint Mehta’s Porsche. 

Mehta was treasurer of the committee, which ran an independent campaign supporting Dan Lungren, Davis’ Republican opponent in 1998.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The nation’s largest public pension fund can once again invest in Filipino stocks after the ambassador of that nation convinced financial analysts that his country’s economy is solid. 

The California Public Employees Retirement System board — which manages the $150 billion fund — unanimously decided Monday to return the Philippines to its permissible country list. 

“CalPERS is a bellwether for investors the world over and has enormous impact on the marketplace,” said Albert del Rosario, Philippine ambassador to the United States. 

CalPERS decided in February to pull $15.2 million out of Filipino stocks after the board adopted a new policy to only invest in international stocks in countries that met strict criteria for political stability, financial transparency and labor standards. As a result, Hungary and Poland were added to the permissible list, while Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand were deleted. 

The move prompted several Asian finance ministers, fearing the move would prompt others to pull out as well, to head to CalPERS last month to beg for their financial future. 

During meetings last month, Philippines finance officials, along with the ambassador, convinced CalPERS to put them back on the list. Specifically, the Filipino representatives were able to prove that they settle stock exchange transactions within three days of the trade date, not significantly longer as the earlier analysis had indicated, said CalPERS chief investment officer Mark Anson. 

Philippines Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho said Monday that the return to the approved list affirms that his nation’s economic plan is on track and that they are making progress in their efforts to rebuild their economy. 

In 1998, the Philippine economy — based mostly on farming, light industry, and support services — began to crash under pressure from the Asian financial crisis and a bout of bad weather. The government enacted economic reforms that included an overhaul of the tax system and moving toward further deregulation and privatization of the economy. 

Camacho said CalPERS’ decision is a “recognition that we have established political and economic stability and we have been successful in reining in inflation and managing our fiscal deficit.”

Long before Hallmark cornered the market on greeting cards, Julia Ward Howe, author of the famous poem, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation. That was 1870. 

Yesterday, the recently-formed Berkeley Interfaith Women for Peace, held a peace pilgrimage to honor Howe’s original anti-war declaration of Mother’s Day.  

“Mother’s Day was born as a mother’s and women’s movement for peace and disarmament,” said 33-year-old Kristi Laughlin, coordinator for Interfaith, formed in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “We thought it was typical that history was co-opted and forgotten. It was originally about powerful women coming together to say no to war.” 

Laughlin said she and other Interfaith women were lamenting that women’s voices are virtually absent from public debate concerning U.S. foreign policy, and the formation of their group was a direct response. 

“All you were seeing on TV were men, Pentagon officials and business men determining how we were going to respond,” she said. 

Laughlin contends that women have a different approach to conflict than men. They’re more likely to be cooperative and understanding of one another —to listen to where people are coming from by nurturing a common bond, she said. 

“Women have a real appreciation for how sacred life is. Not that men don’t, but women are more resourceful in conflict resolution. We’re less inclined for violent behavior and action,” she added. 

With understanding in mind, Interfaith sought to create a space where women of different faiths can share their perspective which is predominantly absent from the public sphere. 

A wide spectrum of women from various religious backgrounds and political organizations spoke to the crowd listening intently on the Civic Center’s sun-drenched grass, yesterday. 

Some of those addressing the gathered participants were Medea Benjamin, founding director of Global Exchange, Barbara Lubin, director of Middle East Children’s Alliance and Katherine Chesire, founder and director of The Touch of the Earth Foundation. Numerous prayers for peace were also administered by women of the Muslim, Quaker, Jewish, Universalist, Catholic and Hopi faiths. 

Before the peace pilgrimage hit the streets, Laughlin and fellow Interfaith organizer Tracey Weaver recited Howe’s proclamation with the standing audience. It’s opening stanzas read, “Arise, then, women of this day!/ Arise all women who have hearts!/ Whether your baptism be that of water or tears, say firmly:/ We will not have great questions/ decided by irrelevant agencies.” 

The peace pilgrimage snaked through Berkeley’s streets, first stopping at the Berkeley Police Station and ending at Martin Luther Kind Jr. Park. This route was chosen to make a connection between the role city institutions play in helping or hurting local and foreign women — to explore the links of militarization and globalization on women and children in Berkeley and around the world. 

One scheduled stop was in front of McDonald’s, where 29 year-old Christine Ahn of Food First, an institute promoting food access and development policy, would speak in regard to how world trade affects people’s access to food and their ability to feed themselves. 

The youngest of ten children, Ahn said she was fittingly the last of her siblings to call her mother in Washington D.C., and that she was pleased to be participating in her first political Mother’s Day. 

“Mother’s Day is all about birth, creation and food. The earth is like our mother, it provides us sustenance,” said Ahn. “This year is more political than ever. We’re at a tipping point. People need to take responsibility for their actions. There is a collective consciousness and frustration, so the more people stick their necks out, the more possibility there is for change.” 

In a display of solidarity with women’s peace movements around the world, Interfaith will send out Mother’s Day peace cards to mothers in Israel, Palestine, Columbia, Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Liesa Lietzke, an artist in Santa Cruz, said she had no idea Mother’s Day originated from a movement for peace and disarmament. It wasn’t until she made plans with her mother that she learned about the holiday’s true meaning. 

“I told my mother I’d take her out on a day anywhere, and she chose here,” said Lietzke. “For me, I’m looking around and thinking I don’t want to take this for granted. Here peace is crossing religious lines — it’s inspiring. I’m not an activist, I’m just happy to witness this.” 

While men were greatly outnumbered at Sunday’s event, father of two Danny Kennedy said having children has helped him become more focused on the kind of world his children will live in. This has caused him to further question the United States’ present leadership.  

“We need to follow women and mothers instead of boys and brothers. Barbara Bush has failed us,” said Kennedy, noting that he remembered to call his mother in Australia, and that his first political Mother’s Day will not be his last. “This is a much better form of reflection on motherhood.”

To the Editor: 

“Let It Be!” applauds Berkeley City Council for listening to the overwhelming voice of the people currently using the Albany waterfront for recreationaluses such as off-leash dog walking, art creation and installation, bird watching, fishing, hiking and bike riding. Council called for leaving the Albany Plateau and Bulb exactly as they are currently and building playing fields in 

Berkeley instead. Reinforcing this position in a separate vote, the City Council voted against building playing fields on the Albany Plateau as called for in the current park plan. 

The Albany Waterfront is a model of a successful multi-use open space. The people who use the park act like caretakers instead of simply 

visitors. It’s an urban wildness. Wheelchairs share trails with dogsand bikes, fishermen sit alongside birdwatchers and artists carry on a rich tradition of public art. We commend the City of Berkeley for 

recognizing that this rare experience is worthy of preservation, just as it is. 

Over 1,300 signatures were gathered on petitions in a few weeks in support of leaving the Albany waterfront undeveloped and allowing its present forms of recreational use. “Let It Be!” continues to gather 

signatures and support for its position and the numbers grow daily. 

-Sasha Futran , Jill Posener 

El Cerrito 

Monday, May 13

Jai Uttal with Bhima-Karma 

A Celebration of Devotion: An Evening of Chanting and Dialogue 

7:00 p.m. 

California Institute of Integral Studies 

1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 

For questions and tickets: 415-575-6150 

www.ciis.edu 

or e-mail info@ciis.edu 

$20 

Parkinson's Support Group 

Monthly Meetings, guest speaker, physical therapist, Q & A. 

10 a.m. to noon 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst @ MLK Jr. Way 

527-9075 

Caregivers and Family Welcome 

Jewish Partisans: The Unknown Story 

Thousands of Jews escaped the ghettos and work camps and took up arms against the Nazi War machine. 

3 to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

510-848-0237 X 127 

Free 

Crossing the Bridge- positive ways to face change & transition. Reflective & energizing workshop rooted in Jewish and cross cultural stories with Ariel Abramsky. 

May 13, 20 & June 3

7:00 to 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

510-848-0237 X 127 

$45 

Book Discussion Group Forming 

Sponsored by the Friends of the Library 

7:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch, Berkeley Public Library 

2940 Benvenue St. 

Free 

Buying Land 

seminar by real estate agent Dan Maher 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St., Berkeley 

$35 

An evening with Woodcarver Miles Karpilow 

Carver of the Berkeley Public Library new local history room gates. 

7 p.m. 

2090 Kittredge St. at Shattuck 

Community Room 

Free 

Business After-hours Mixer 

Sponsored by Emeryville Chamber of Commerce & Industries Association 

5:30 to 7:30 p.m. 

Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto 

1919 Forth St., Berkeley 

ECCIA members $10, Prospective members $20 

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

6 p.m.  

Fremont Cultural Arts Council 

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Free Poetry Contest Open to Berkeley- Area Poets 

A $1000 Grand Prize is offered in a religious poetry contest sponsored by the New Jersey Rainbow Poets. Free to anyone. To enter send one poem only, 21 lines or less. Free Poetry Contest, 103 N. Wood Ave., PMB 70, Linden NJ 07036. Or enter on-line www.rainbowpoets.com 

Tuesday, May 14

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

3 p.m. 

Dublin Civic Center  

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Wednesday, May 15

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

Hayward Arts Council's Green Shutter Gallery 

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Join the Campaign against Media Disinformation 

Report on community progress (or not) in meetings with Oakland Tribune editor. Entertainment- The Xplicit Players skit: Mass- Media vs. Personal Immedia. 

7:30 p.m. 

Unitarian Universalists, upstairs 

SW corner, Cedar & Bonita Streets 

Free 

Thursday, May 16

BOSS- Berkeley, Oakland Support Services, Building Opportunities for Self-sufficiency 30th Anniversary Gala & Award Ceremony,  

Launch of Ursula Sherman Village 

6 to 8 p.m. and beyond 

Radisson Hotel, Berkeley Marina 

649-1930 

Tickets $100 ($75 tax deductible) 

Friday, May 17

The Berkeley Women in Black 

Every Friday from Noon to 1 p.m. 

Corner of Bancroft and Telegraph in Berkeley 

Everyone Welcome 

841-4143 

County Grant for the Arts Workshop 

The Art Commission will host four free workshops to assist organizations seeking grant funding. First-ever applicant must attend a workshop to be eligible to apply for and Artsfund grant. Reservations are required 

James Irvine Foundation Conference Center on Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 

For reservations: 208-9646, shuss@co.alameda.ca.us 

Saturday, May 18

The Edible Schoolyard Plant Sale 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Buy flowers, fruits and vegetables from the Edible Schoolyard kitchen and garden. Bring a container for free municipal compost 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School 

1781 Rose St. at Grant St., Berkeley 

Word Beat Reading Series 

Featuring readers Dancing Bear and C. J. Sage 

7-9 p.m. 

458 Perkins at Grand, Oakland 

For more information: 510-526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat 

Free 

Strawberry Tasting & World Harmony Chorus 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Children's Movies 

Fern Gully (in English) 

Shows at noon & 2 p.m. 

The Actor's Studio 

3521 Maybelle Ave., Oakland 

510-530-0551 

$3 

Writer as Publisher: Independent Publishing Seminar 

Learn how at this all day seminar. 

9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Asian Cultural Center 

Pacific Renaissance Plaza 

388 Ninth Street, Oakland 

510-839-1248 

The Oakland East Bay Gay Men's Chorus third annual spring concert, "Turn the World Around" Celebration of spring and welcome to summer with love songs and traditional favorites. 

May 18, 8 p.m., Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland and 

May 19, 7 p.m., Crowden School, 1475 Rose St.  

Suggested donation is $15 at the door; $12 in advance. (510) 239-2239, ext. 2576,

St. Mary’s boys claim 16th straight league title, while girls take sixth in a row as Panthers avoid mistakes 

In a result that surprised no one, the St. Mary’s track & field team swept the Bay Shore Athletic League championship meet on Saturday, winning 18 of the 26 events at Piedmont High. 

St. Mary’s scored 226 points on the boys’ side, with Piedmont finishing a distant second with 67 points. The Panther girls scored 213 points, again beating Piedmont with 145. Every St. Mary’s athlete with hopes of advancing to next weekend’s North Coast Section Bayshore meet at James Logan High in Union City did so, with a few surprises mixed in. 

The Panthers also managed to avoid any unexpected disasters. Last year, thrower Kamaiya Warren fouled on every attempt in the discus despite being one of the state’s best in that event, keeping her out of competition for the rest of the postseason. Warren made her first throw on Saturday flat-footed to be sure of qualifying, then aired it out on the rest of her throws, winning with a toss of 150’10 1/2”. 

“I really feel a lot better now,” said the senior, who also won the shotput on Thursday. “I was really nervous this morning. I woke up and thought ‘please don’t let me foul out.’” 

Warren was just one of many St. Mary’s athletes to win multiple events. Leon Drummer duplicated her wins in the throwing events, while Solomon Welch won the long and triple jumps along with finishing second in the 110-meter hurdles. Danielle Stokes won the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, with the latter a rousing victory over upstart challenger Dana Barbieri of Piedmont. Barbieri had a better time in trials on Thursday, but Stokes pulled away halfway through Saturday’s final to win with a time of 43.97 seconds, nearly five seconds ahead of the Piedmont runner. Stokes also finished second in the long jump. 

“I ran in fear of (Barbieri) coming to get me,” Stokes said of the 300 race. “It’s a big deal to me to win every time I go out there.” 

Bridget Duffy continued her utter dominance of the BSAL distance events, winning both the 1,600 and 3,200 by huge margins. Courtney Brown won the 100 and 200, with teammate Steve Murphy finishing second in both events. While the two teamed up to help the Panthers win the 4x100 relay to start the day, there was some healthy competition between them in the individual events. 

“I was running to qualify (for the Bayshore meet), but Steve pushed me in both races,” Brown said. “I had to put in a kick. He wouldn’t let me rest.” 

Other multiple winners for the Panthers included Jason Bolden-Anderson (both hurdles) and Tiffany Johnson (100, triple and long jump). Johnson was particularly impressive, beating a tough field for the 100-meter dash win in 12.05 seconds, then setting a personal best with a long jump of 18’9 1/2”.  

St. Mary’s also qualified in all four relays, with the boys winning the 4x100 and 4x400 and the girls coming second to Holy Names in both races. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the meet was the performance of St. Mary’s basketball star DaShawn Freeman. Despite never competing in track in his life, Freeman qualified for the Bayshore meet in the long jump and high jump, finishing second and fourth, respectively. Other surprise qualifiers were Natasha Matteson in the 800, freshman Natty Fripp in the high jump and Tino Rodriguez in the 1,600 and 800. Freshman Willa Porter won the 400 and finished second in the 200, both times edging out runners from Holy Names. 

“We had a lot of young athletes who haven’t been in a situation where one loss puts you out for the season,” St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said. “We wanted them to come in and perform under pressure, and almost all of them did that.” 

Lawson couldn’t help but be pleased with his team’s performance in the championship meet. It was the 16th straight league championship for the boys and sixth straight for the girls program, which has only been in existence for seven years. Lawson was especially impressed by his male athletes, many of whom have struggled with injuries this season. 

“Each week our guys have gotten better and better,” he said. “Most of our girls were just running to get through, but our boys needed to have a great performance to get their confidence.” 

While Lawson’s teams have been challenging for state honors in the past few seasons, he said this season the Panthers have to take it one step at a time. 

“Right now we’re just looking towards the Bayshore meet,” he said. “We’ll go down there and compete with Logan and Bishop O’Dowd. We’ll be hard-pressed to beat those teams.”

Amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, dozens of incidents meant to hurt or harass Berkeley’s Jewish community have been reported over the past two months. 

During one week in April, every Jewish temple in Berkeley received a bomb threat, according to the Berkeley Police Department. 

In addition, police reports indicate that two Orthodox Jews, traditionally-dressed, were assaulted on Claremont Avenue on April 4. A brick was hurled through a window of the Berkeley Hillel on March 28. A telephone message saying “Jews should be Holocausted” was received at Temple Beth El. The list goes on. 

“Hate crimes are like a disease. There are people out there who have it and are spreading it,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “It needs to be stopped.” 

So, in a city that has long extolled the virtue of tolerance, Berkeley leaders are fixing limits on just how much intolerance they’ll take, and they are firming up their no-tolerance stance on hate. 

This week, the Berkeley Police Department is expected to receive directive to ramp up their pursuit of perpetrators of racially- and religiously-aimed violence. 

The question, expected to go before City Council Tuesday night, is just how exactly the department should go about gearing up for the pursuit. 

A proposal authored by Mayor Shirley Dean, in addition to urging a number of diversity awareness programs, calls for certain police personnel to be trained on how to identify and respond to hate crimes. 

The specially-trained officers would be directed to make hate crimes their top investigative priority, but the proposal stops short of what some other councilmembers are pushing for — a unit devoted exclusively to hate crime. 

“The department doesn’t have the number of officers that would enable them to create a special unit,” said Dean. She added that after conversations with Police Chief Daschel Butler, her plan appears to be the most effective way to marshal existing police resources against hate. 

Councilmember Worthington has a similar, but slightly different proposal on the table at tomorrow night’s council meeting. His proposal was intended for consideration earlier in the year, he said, but did not previously make the council’s crowded agendas. 

Worthington’s plan, though similarly aimed at reducing hate crimes, calls for the creation of an exclusive hate crime unit within the Berkeley Police Department, for “prevention, pro-active education, and criminal investigation.” 

The councilmember said that nothing short of this would adequately address the growing problem of hate in Berkeley, and said that he wouldn’t be inclined to accept a “watered-down” version of his proposal. 

“Other cities have found a way to create hate crime units. So can we,” Worthington said. 

“Over 100 e-mails have come in to city councilmembers to request a hate crime unit,” he added.  

Larger cities like Oakland and San Francisco have created the specialized unit within their police forces, but the unit is uncommon in smaller cities. The cost of having a unit in Berkeley has not yet been discussed. 

In addition to the recent violence against Jews, Hispanics were the target of several derogatory letters containing an intimidating, though non-toxic, white power on March 11 in Berkeley, according to police. 

Police reports also document recent incidents of graffiti articulating slurs against Arabs. 

“The problem just seems to be escalating,” said Dean. 

Contact reporter at kurtis@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor:  

I fully support the use of State Park space for creating playing fields for soccer and baseball. There are more children who want to play sports than there are fields in Berkeley. Sports is the healthiest alternative to sitting in front of a TV, a computer, going to the Mall, or hanging out on the streets (studies have shown that sports deters juvenile delinquency). 

I've spent my evenings since my oldest was 7 years old (now 19) and my youngest was 7 (now 10) being a soccer mom, attending softball games, little league games, keeping my children involved with sports because public schools could never afford to sponsor sports programs.  

Often, parents have to opt out of sports for their young children because there may not be enough field space, or the space available is too far to travel for children that young. Berkeley doesn't offer a quality sports venue to attract other teams for tournament play, or to attract top-notch coaching. Local teams could raise money sponsoring tournament play if only Berkeley had a true "field of dreams" which would help our local teams be more competitive, as well as recreational, in soccer, baseball, softball, or basketball. 

While I don't have the time to attend City Council meetings, I'm hoping that the City Council is aware that they represent more than those who come to every Council meeting with the loudest and squeakiest of wheels. So, in conclusion, I hope their decision will consider the future of Berkeley as being a city supportive of those of us raising families, supportive of its small businesses, and supporting the growth of its youth – their minds and bodies.  

-Jahlee Arakaki  

Berkeley

Fifth-ranked Cal swept No. 15 Oregon State in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader to conclude its regular season schedule.  

The Golden Bears (48-19, 12-9 Pac-10) defeated the Beavers (38-22, 7-14 Pac-10), 6-1 and 10-7, to finish the conference with a winning record for the first time since 1996.  

In the first game, Cal scored one or more runs in all but the first and third innings. The Bears went out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning as freshman Kristen Bayless singled up the middle, scoring Jessica Pamanian from second.  

Oregon State tied the game in the top of the third. Leading off the third inning, Steph Adams was hit by a pitch. Kelly Petersen laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Adams to second. Michelle Chariton then singled to left field to bring in Adams.  

Cal scored a run in the fourth and two runs, each, in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth frame, senior Candace Harper reached on an error followed by a free pass to junior Veronica Nelson. Oregon State turned a double play as Cal junior Courtney Scott lined out to third baseman Shelly Prochaska, who gunned down pinch runner Roni Rodrigues at first.  

The Bears managed to score however, as Pamanian singled up the middle, bringing across Harper. Pamanian, who advanced to second on the play, also scored as freshman Chelsea Spencer followed with a single to left.  

In the home half of the sixth inning, Cal loaded the bases with no outs. Bayless was hit by a pitch, while both Kaleo Eldredge and Kristen Morley reached safely on infield singles. Harper, playing in her last home date of her career, hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Bayless. Prochaska snagged a laser hit by Nelson, but was unable to make a play on the next batter, Scott, committing an error, which scored Eldredge.  

Senior Jocelyn Forest, pitching in her last home game, struck out six batters, while scattering four hits in collecting her 21st win of the season.  

In the late afternoon game, all of OSU's runs were unearned. Cal fell behind early, as the Beavers scored three quick runs in the first frame. The Bears didn't take long to answer back as Cal scored three of its own in the home half of the first.  

In the bottom of the second, the Bears blew things open with five runs. Mikella Pedretti led off the inning with a walk. Bayless laid down a sacrifice bunt and Eldredge reached on a catcher's interference. After Morley's pop up, Harper singled to left to bring in Pedretti. Nelson kept the inning alive, hitting a hard grounder to short where OSU's Petersen mishandled the ball, allowing Eldredge to score all the way from second.  

An inning that should have been over with Nelson's ground ball, the Bears made the Beavers pay for their mistake as the next batter, Scott, belted a shot over the left field fence, her third of the year, to put three more on the scoreboard.  

OSU made a last ditched effort in the top of the seventh, scoring four runs. Steph Adams highlighted the rally attempt with a three-run homer, but freshman pitcher Cassie Bobrow, who was relieved in the first inning in favor of Jen Deering, came back in the contest to retire Traci Feldt and Dani Jodoin.  

The 12-9 Pac-10 record gives Cal its best winning percentage (.571) since 1991 when the Bears went 14-6 (.700).

By Neil G. Greene 

Special to the Daily Planet 

Poetry as dark as ink and as light as day, flooded the Berkeley Community Media Center Sunday, where dozens of East Bay poets participated in the Fourth Annual Berkeley Poetry Festival. 

“Poetry is a live beast that takes on its own life as you write it,” said open mike co-hostess Tsahai Ungar. “The writing here helps us celebrate everything.” 

Founded by local poet and photographer Louis Cuneo, the poetry festival celebrates Berkeley’s community of poets, while providing a forum to share their art live on Berkeley’s cable TV Channel 25. 

A variety of styles filled the stage and the live studio audience. Poems ranged from militant political rants, beautiful verse, sexual innuendo, and the confessional form. 

Sunday’s festival was birthed from Cuneo’s television show Touch of the Poet Series, which began ten years ago in the Berkeley Art Museum. The festival, said Cuneo, is where poetry in Berkeley has evolved to —it’s more accessible, has an increased budget, is supported by the city, community and various arts organizations. 

“Poetry is the greatest benefit to the community because it brings forth creativity and understanding. It brings about the imagination. This event is conducive to the community and the city supports it,” said Cuneo.  

“If you don’t have that creative expression, you die,” he said. “A lot of men and women have a lot of material things, but they’re dead.”  

The following haiku, said Cuneo, expresses the simplicity and innocence of a child a play, without excessive intellectualization: Godzilla attacks a truck/ Than it falls,/ Boy at play. 

Marcia Poole, festival organizer and graphic designer, said Berkeley stands out as one of the United State’s poetic nexuses.  

“Berkeley is the capital of literature and poetry on the West Coast,” said Poole. “We have more poets, more activities , more writers, and more literary events.” 

San Francisco, she said, is more of an elitist writer’s community. There are select groups which keep burgeoning writers from having a place to share their verse or break through the literary glass ceiling. 

“Berkeley is welcoming to other poets and writers, we’re kind to one another here, there’s more of an equalization — that makes us the hub of literature and poetics,” she added. 

Sunday’s event was divided into four categories: the intimate Open Mike Private Reading, the rowdier Slam, Bay Area poet’s exchange table where writers can sell and trade their books and CDs, and the Touch of a Poet Series Open Mike.  

The more theatrical Slam was the first in the line-up of events. Hosted by poets Charles Ellik and Nazelah Jamison, five judges were chosen at random to rate the poet’s recitation on a scale of one to ten. 

Poets were limited to three minutes, encouraged to use any style, and be as kinky and sexy as they see fit — as long as they adhere to the Slam’s number one rule — to have fun. 

Virtually every reader gave a piece of their heart to the audience, casting a slight shadow upon the Slam’s rating system. 

Halfway through the Slam, 37 year-old Karen Dereise Ladson, was ahead of the pack with a score of 27.6 out of a possible 30. 

“For me, Slam poetry is cathartic. I hope to encourage other people to find their voice,” she said.  

A self described confessional poet, Ladson said sharing her poetry has freed herself from some of the burdens life has cast upon her and opened up a world of love.  

Yesterday she recited her poem, Heavy (or the unbearable lightness of eating). The second stanza reads: my fat demands weekly/ protection money/ to keep it flush in Bit o’ Honey/ Peanut M & M’s/ and other horny candy/ eaten to keep the randy beast at bay/ because you see/ thinness does not agree with me/ it lead me down dangerous paths. 

Unlike the majority of poet’s at the festival, Ladson makes her living solely by writing and teaching poetry. She is currently involved with several nonprofits in the East Bay, including Bay Area Scores, Youth Speaks, and the Youth Power Project based out of the Black Box in Oakland. The Black Box is an afterschool program which encourages kids to have world awareness through art, dance, music and poetry. 

To the Editor: 

Affordable Housing Associates wants to thank the City Council for allowing us the opportunity to develop housing for the City of Berkeley's most at-risk populations, including seniors, the disabled, and low-income families. Over the years, the City Council has shown support for several of our projects, from the acquisition and rehabilitation of buildings neglected for years by slumlords, to our recent 27 unit, Universally Designed, affordable building at 1719 University Avenue, the University Neighborhood Apartments. 

AHA wished to express our frustration with delaying the vote on this project, and our frustration that this design, which has had the appropriate public hearings at the Zoning Adjustment Board, could be changed at the Council level. I did not mean to say, as indicated in the May 9 Berkeley Daily Planet article “Senior housing postponed,” that we believed the council had "thrown the project out" at this meeting. Clearly, this was not the case, and my next quote states the point that we understand the vote on the project is merely delayed two weeks to give us an opportunity to meet with the opponents to see if compromises can be made on the height and parking associated with the building. 

AHA is willing to meet with opponents of the project in a city-facilitated mediation before the next City Council hearing on May 21st. If a decision is made on the 21st, then our application for Tax Credit financing in the summer will not be jeopardized. If, though, the project is remanded back to ZAB and Design Review Committee, or delayed indefinitely, then it would be impossible to meet this deadline, and the project will be stalled another year.  

Yet, AHA must take issue with comments from neighbors who state the fourth floor did not have a public hearing or that they did not have the opportunity to comment on this design. This is simply not true. On February 14, 2002, the ZAB did hold a hearing on this design. We agree with the ZAB's vote and conclusion, that decided that a penthouse-style fourth-story designed in this fashion, set back from Sacramento Street and our neighbors, so that its shadows only land on our building, is the best way to balance the competing interests of housing our lowest-income seniors, and those of our neighbors who feel a four-story building is out of context in this neighborhood. 

I also must respectfully disagree with Howie Muir and the other neighbors who question why we care about five units of housing from this project. This is not a trivial proposition. Losing these five units would not only render this project infeasible, without making up the difference with a greater subsidy from the City of Berkeley's Housing Trust Funds, it also means taking away the opportunity to shelter that many more seniors. It is heart wrenching to hear the real-life experiences of our lowest-income seniors, and the difficulty they have in paying for housing they cannot currently afford, or who have been evicted, or at-risk of being evicted, and have nowhere else to go.  

We believe these five units, with its dual goal of housing more low-income seniors and leveraging the city's contribution in the most cost-effective fashion, are clearly worth preserving. We look forward to meeting with opponents of the project, and look forward to the continued hearing, and eventual vote on the project at the May 21st City Council meeting. 

-Kevin Zwick 

Affordable Housing Associates, Berkeley 

Tuesday 

Boys Lacrosse – Berkeley vs. TBA (NorCal playoff), TBA  

at Berkeley High 

Wednesday 

Baseball – Berkeley vs. El Cerrito, 3:30 p.m. at San Pablo Park 

Softball – Berkeley vs. El Cerrito, 3:30 p.m. at Old Grove Park 

Thursday 

Baseball – St. Mary’s vs. TBA (BSAL playoff), 3:30 p.m.  

at St. Mary’s College High 

Friday 

Baseball – Berkeley vs. De Anza, 3:30 p.m. at De Anza High 

Softball – Berkeley vs. De Anza, 3:30 p.m. at De Anza High

Today is Monday, May 13, the 133th day of 2002. There are 232 days left in the year. 

Highlight: 

On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca. 

On this date: 

In 1607, the English colony at Jamestown, Va., was settled.  

In 1842, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, who collaborated with Sir William Gilbert in writing 14 comic operas, was born in London. 

In 1846, the United States declared that a state of war already existed against Mexico. 

In 1917, three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary. 

In 1918, the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of an airplane, were introduced. (On some of the stamps, the airplane was printed upside-down, making them collector’s items.) 

In 1940, in his first speech as prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill told the House of Commons, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” 

In 1954, President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act. 

In 1954, the musical play “The Pajama Game” opened on Broadway. 

In 1958, Vice President Nixon’s limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela. 

“So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of money?”  

— Ayn Rand, Russian-born author 

(1905-1982). 

In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped an explosive onto the group’s headquarters; 11 people died in the resulting fire. 

Ten years ago: 

A trio of astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavour captured a wayward Intelsat-6 communications satellite during the first-ever three-person spacewalk. President Bush announced a $600 million loan package to help rebuild riot-scarred Los Angeles. 

Five years ago: 

At the Oklahoma City bombing trial, prosecutors showed jurors the key to the Ryder truck used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building, alleging Timothy McVeigh left it behind in the same alley he’d picked to stash his getaway car. 

Today’s Birthdays: 

Actress Beatrice Arthur is 76. Critic Clive Barnes is 75. Actor Harvey Keitel is 63. Actor Franklin Ajaye is 53. Singer Stevie Wonder is 52. Basketball player Dennis Rodman is 41. Country singer Lari White is 37. Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 36. 

Mother’s Day flowers take long trail to U.S. homes 

ATLANTA — If you’re telling Mom you love her with flowers, that message arrives courtesy of a small army of people, deployed from South America to Miami. 

Most of the roses, carnations, mums and other flora en route to American mothers this week are grown in Colombia and Ecuador, refrigerated, trucked to planes, flown to South Florida and distributed through an elaborate network designed to deliver flowers thousands of miles before they begin to wilt. 

“They can get from the farm to the distributor in Miami in as little as 18 hours,” said Tom O’Malley, vice president of Latin American air cargo for UPS Air Cargo, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. 

UPS has moved into the forefront of the flower-flying trade with its acquisition of Miami-based Challenge Air Cargo. The company, since renamed UPS Air Cargo, flies a 14-jet fleet among 16 Latin American countries and the U.S., bringing 110 million pounds of flowers to the U.S. each year. 

Perishables, mostly flowers and vegetables, comprise 80 percent of the company’s import cargo. 

Its two daily flights from Ecuador are partially loaded with flowers year-round, O’Malley said. But in the crunch times — February and the first week of May — UPS Air Cargo’s freighters from Colombia and Ecuador are filled to the brim with flowers to meet the demand. 

Nixon’s daughters quarrel 

over control of library  

YORBA LINDA — The daughters of former President Richard Nixon have always pulled together in the darkest of times, from the Watergate investigation to their father’s 1974 resignation. 

They’ve also been inseparable through happier moments, serving as maids of honor in each other’s weddings and working to promote their father’s legacy. 

But a legal fight over a $19 million gift to the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation, the only presidential library that does not receive federal funding, has set the daughters against each other and brought into question the stewardship of the library. 

Published reports have painted it as a feud, saying Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon Cox had cut off communication. But in interviews with The Associated Press, the two women denied such claims and characterized the dispute as a disagreement they were working to solve. 

“First of all, we were never not speaking. It’s gotten so blown out of proportion. It was a very straightforward difference of opinion,” Eisenhower said. “I think because we were so private and refused to talk about it, these stories just got out of control.” 

Cox agreed, and said the two even continued exchanging birthday cards and letters. 

“I’ve always loved my sister and I always will. We’ve worked together in the past for the things that we believe, and we are going to continue to do that,” she said. 

The disagreement stems from a trust left by longtime Nixon friend Charles “Bebe” Rebozo, who died in 1998. It specified the money go to the library foundation but that expenditures be overseen by a three-person board consisting of the two sisters and family friend Robert Abplanalp. A call to Abplanalp was not immediately returned. 

PALO ALTO — Five people were arrested this weekend in raids on three health centers police said were part of a prostitution ring. 

Officers said they found small rooms fitted with red light bulbs and mattresses when they searched the Japanese Acupuncture Center, the Hong Kong Health Center and Oriental Health Center. 

“Each location was bringing in up to $15,000 a week,” said Palo Alto police Sgt. Lacey Burt, who led the investigation. 

Police also found about 20 customers as they searched the centers on Saturday. 

“Let’s just say they became very cooperative witnesses for us,” Burt said. The customers would not be charged. 

The investigation began in February after a routine city inspection at the Alma Street acupuncture center. 

Police arrested the owners of the massage parlors: Sheng Chen, 33, of Los Altos; Peterson Chen, 57, of San Francisco, who is no relation; Hong Liu, 39, and her husband, Konrad Sy, 33, both of San Jose. They also arrested Chung Ling, 27, an employee. 

Police said most of the women who worked at the centers were Chinese immigrants with student visas. They were not cooperating with the investigation, Burt said. 

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Likud party voted early Monday to reject the creation of a Palestinian state, a major defeat for Sharon that he feared would increase international pressure on Israel and tie his hands in potential negotiations. 

On Sunday, some Israeli reservists pulled back from the Gaza Strip after the government said it had postponed an expected offensive in the Palestinian territory. In Bethlehem, nearly 1,000 people attended the first Sunday services in the Church of the Nativity since the end of a five-week standoff there. 

Sharon had strongly opposed the resolution on an eventual Palestinian state and had tried to prevent the vote, but his efforts were rejected and the Likud Central Committee overwhelmingly approved the proposal by a show of hands. 

Though the party body does not have the power to remove Sharon from office, the vote showed his political weakness in his own camp, which could limit his effectiveness and provided an ominous sign for his future leadership of the party ahead of the next election, scheduled for November 2003. 

Behind the confrontation with Sharon was ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who has announced his plans to challenge Sharon for party leadership and eventually, prime minister. 

Only a handful of delegates voted against the Netanyahu-backed resolution, which read, “No Palestinian state will be created west of the Jordan (River),” referring to the area including the West Bank, Israel and the Gaza Strip. 

Opposition to a Palestinian state has been the traditional position of the Likud, but Sharon has said that under stringent conditions, he would agree to creation of such a state, at one point calling it “inevitable.” 

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the vote “unmasked many things. This just shows that the war being waged by Israel against the Palestinians is not a war against what they call terror, it’s really their war to maintain the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.” He told The Associated Press that the vote was “a real slap in the face” for President Bush, who has spoken in favor of setting up a Palestinian state. 

In Washington, the Bush administration was studying the development and had no immediate, official response. 

But a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while the party’s vote was a setback for Sharon, it should not be seen as a broader setback for the peace process. The official noted that Israel is run by a coalition government, not Likud alone. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The premise of the latest Star Wars film doesn’t surprise Andy Mecca, president of the California Mentor Foundation. 

He has his own theory about why young Anakin Skywalker eventually becomes the evil Darth Vader: His mentor disappears. 

Debuting as a charity fund-raiser Sunday, “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones,” will rake in $400,000 for Mecca’s foundation and thousands more for charities that help children in 11 cities nationwide, including Boston, Chicago and Dallas. 

At the San Francisco event, nearly 800 people paid $500 a ticket to see the movie days before its opening Thursday. 

“Mentors are very important to the Jedi program,” said series creator George Lucas, referring to the order of knights portrayed in the films. 

He spoke before the San Francisco showing as characters such as storm troopers and a hairy Chewbacca paraded outside the theater. 

Lucas said his father and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola had been his mentors. 

“I think mentoring is a very important part of bringing our youth into the future,” he said. “They need someone to help them through their formative years.” 

Mecca’s group provides grants for mentoring organizations throughout California. He said millions of children have no mentors, making them more likely to join gangs, have unwanted pregnancies or abuse drugs. 

Mecca said he believes the story of Anakin — a poor young slave boy with high ambitions and a single mother — will resonate with 150 at-risk youth in the San Francisco Bay Area who attended the special preview. 

Shahid Minapara, 14, of San Francisco, attended the showing with 11 others from a city youth group. 

”From what I hear, there are more relationships and love in this episode so I’m not sure it will be the best one,” he said. “But George Lucas sometimes has tricks up his sleeve, so we’ll see.” 

CHICAGO — Longtime tea-drinking may strengthen bones, researchers in Taiwan have found. 

The benefits occurred in people who drank an average of nearly two cups daily of black, green or oolong tea for at least six years, said the researchers from National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Tainan, Taiwan. 

Their results are published in the May 13 edition of Archives of Internal Medicine. 

The findings could have broad public health implications, because fractures associated with bone-thinning osteoporosis and low bone density are a global problem expected to worsen with the predicted increase in the number of older people worldwide. 

Some estimates suggest nearly half the U.S. population aged 50 and older is affected by osteoporosis or low bone mass. Tea contains fluoride and chemical compounds known as flavenoids that include estrogen-like plant derivatives — both of which may enhance bone strength, the authors said. 

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. — Firefighters started to gain the upper-hand Sunday against a 4,000-acre wildfire fueled by stiff winds and dry, hot conditions, fire officials said. 

The fire raging in a forest north of Los Angeles was 60 percent contained by 6 p.m. and no homes were threatened, said Gary Wise, supervising fire dispatcher for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Mild winds and a drop in temperature to 80 degrees Sunday afternoon helped firefighters gain control of the blaze. 

“By tomorrow night, we expect to have it 80 percent contained,” Wise said. 

Automobile and home rate hikes could cost average Californian hundreds of dollars next year 

LOS ANGELES – After several years of steady or even declining insurance costs, Californians now face rate increases that could cost them hundred of dollars a year for car and homeowners coverage. 

The rate hikes have triggered bad memories of soaring auto insurance rates in the 1980s that led to statewide reforms as well as the insurance crisis that hit homeowners in the wake of the 1994 Northridge earthquake. 

“I don’t believe they’re doing it for legitimate reasons,” said Larry Cole, 65, a Glendale biochemist who said he saved about $1,000 a year by going to an out-of-state company for car insurance. “They’re the one institution I probably trust the least.” 

However, California insurance regulators, who must approve most rate hikes, say their reviews generally show the insurance industry has kept prices stable for several years while costs have jumped. 

“Auto rates have been pretty flat since about 1995,” state Insurance Commissioner Harry Low said. “The factors we use to review rates are indicating that the requests for increases have generally been justified or partly justified.” 

Across the nation, tornados, toxic mold and stock market losses are being blamed by insurance companies for higher rates and, in some cases, decisions to stop writing money-losing polices altogether. 

— In New York, 34 insurers offering homeowner policies have filed for rate increases in the past 16 months. 

— In Arizona, 23 companies have sought approval this year to raise homeowner rates, while more than 50 auto insurers have done the same. 

— In Hawaii, State Farm recently raised auto insurance rates for the first time in 10 years. 

In California, insurers are raising rates and in some cases becoming more selective. State Farm has refused to write new homeowner policies in the state. 

The hikes come at a time when the median price of a single-family home in the state has broken the $300,000 mark, making protection even more critical. 

Homeowners are also facing tighter underwriting requirements concerning homes likely to suffer water damage. 

“The bottom line will be a more expensive product covering less,” said James Joseph, co-owner of Century 21 Grisham-Joseph in Whittier. 

Some insurers are even refusing coverage to people who own certain breeds of aggressive dogs in the wake of a recent highly publicized dog mauling case in San Francisco. 

It’s a situation that has residents and consumer activists afraid that insurers may use current conditions as an excuse to raise rates even higher. 

“This is just the beginning,” said Harvey Rosenfield, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumers Rights. “Inevitably, they provoke public anger, which they seek to deflect by finding some scapegoat.” 

Stock market gains by insurance companies in the late 1990s helped keep rates low even as the cost of claims increased, industry officials say. Repair and health care costs associated with car accidents, as well as nationwide homeowner claims stemming from ice storms, tornados and other natural disasters, were offset by insurance company investments. 

But starting in 2000, stock market losses and dropping interest rates vastly reduced company reserves. 

About the same time, courts began to award millions to homeowners suing insurance firms for mishandling toxic mold claims. A June, 2001 Texas verdict for $32 million was upheld on appeal. 

Since then, people from Erin Brockovich to Ed McMahon have said their homes and their health suffered when water leaks produced mold. McMahon sued his insurance company, claiming mold led to the death of his dog. 

In Texas, toxic mold claims filed against Farmers Insurance Group rocketed from 12 in 1999 to more than 8,000 in 2001. 

The combination of investment losses and increased claims led State Farm Insurance Co. to report a loss of $5 billion in 2001. 

Last month, State Farm said it would stop writing new homeowners policy in California, where it has a 20 percent market share. 

Commissioner Low doesn’t think State Farm’s decision will lead to the kind of crisis the state experienced after the Northridge earthquake, when insurers withdrew from the market after facing payments of billions of dollars in damages. 

“There are enough healthy companies with good earnings that are going to be competing for this business,” Low said. “There may be out-of-state companies that will step into this market, particularly if they can write a cap on certain coverages or might exclude some coverages that create higher risk of loss.” 

SACRAMENTO – An obscure state agency charged with planning for California’s growth is showing signs of renewed life after years of snoozing as the state added millions of new residents. 

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, which pioneered a California vision of city-centered development 20 years before the advent of “smart growth,” recently introduced its first land-use bill in nearly two decades. 

The breakthrough prompted Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, head of the Senate Local Government Committee, to proclaim it “somewhat shocking, if not historic that OPR is the sponsor of this bill, that OPR is alive and OPR is doing something after 14, 15 years of not having much going on.” 

Given a go-ahead by Gov. Gray Davis, the OPR bill proposes a model development guide by January 2004 encouraging more infill development, new growth near transit and a wider variety of housing options for 35 million Californians. In a state growing by 600,000 new residents a year amid severe housing shortages and some of the nation’s worst traffic and longest commutes, the OPR bill, SB1521, also proposes financial rewards to local governments that follow the model. 

The agency, which began in 1970 under Gov. Ronald Reagan and reached its zenith under Gov. Jerry Brown, is also working on a legally required statewide planning vision. The last one dates to 1978, when California’s population was 22 million. 

By law, OPR must do an updated growth plan — called an environmental goals and policy report — every four years. 

Yet Brown’s was the last. 

Though OPR long helped California’s urban and rural planners, Brown-like notions of topdown statewide planning languished under 16 years of Republican governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. 

Brown, now mayor of Oakland, says, “All the insights available in the early 1970s were totally forgotten in the 1980s and 1990s and that’s been a tragedy for California.” 

Brown’s 1978 version of the required OPR growth plan, “An Urban Strategy for California,” promoted a vision of containing the suburban growth that has since exploded across the state. It called for filling in existing cities, renewing older neighborhoods and keeping necessary outward growth to the very edge of existing urban areas. 

An executive order required state agencies to follow the “Urban Strategy,” but it’s long forgotten. And OPR never produced another plan. 

Vivian Kahn, an Oakland planning consultant who worked in Brown’s OPR, says the long slumbers comes because “Republican administrations often tend to feel that the state should not be imposing that level of control.” 

Indeed, Republican Sen. Bob Margett of Arcadia voted recently against OPR’s model growth bill in a committee hearing, saying, “It’s just too much of a heavy hand, in my opinion.” 

City council members and county supervisors, who decide where to locate shopping centers and subdivisions, and frequently get campaign contributions from developers, are also wary of state intervention. 

Yet as OPR cautiously treads back into statewide planning under Democrat Davis — Brown’s chief of staff during the 1970s — legislators from regions stressed by growth are also prodding the agency to wake up. 

Among them, Democratic Assemblywoman Pat Wiggins, who chairs the Assembly Local Government Committee and the Legislature’s Smart Growth Caucus, complains, “We’re putting things on local government as far as planning, but the state’s basically a rudderless ship.” 

Wiggins, a former Santa Rosa mayor, and others say state agencies that help conserve farmland, build highways and locate universities are working off uncoordinated visions of the state’s future. While OPR has multiple roles, one of its principal missions is to tell California where it’s heading and how to cope with it. 

A Wiggins bill, AB857, would make OPR prepare such a 20-year growth vision for California by next summer. 

Scott Farris, senior policy adviser with OPR, says the agency aims to present its first draft of a statewide growth report by January. 

Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz, is also pushing a bill, SB1808, requiring OPR to report yearly on how it’s implementing such a vision. 

“I think we’re overdue, and this is trying to light a fire under the department and say, ’Come on, let’s get with it,”’ McPherson says. 

To today’s legislative hand-wringing over OPR, Bill Press, its chief under Brown, says — in a nutshell — I told you so. 

In the 1970s, Press, former host of CNN’s “Crossfire,” and now a political contributor to CNN, assembled a team of young planners, many of whom still influence how California and the nation grows. The team produced Brown’s “Urban Strategy” to contain what people now call sprawl. 

“This many years later, I would argue it makes more sense than ever. It is more relevant and pressing today than it was in 1978,” argues Press. 

“The fact is,” he says, “We’re still losing some of our best agricultural land. We’re still promoting urban sprawl in many areas. We’re still not filling in the important parcels inside existing cities or rebuilding and renovating urban areas.” 

Two years ago, the failure of OPR to produce a statewide growth vision since 1978 raised alarms among state auditors. Audit teams, during a routine study on California wildlife habitat, recommended that OPR begin assuming its 30-year-old mission. Otherwise, the Bureau of Audits reported, “state entities have no clear central vision of goals and objectives to follow for the use of land.” 

At the time, OPR’s interim director, Steve Nissen, agreed. Last September, he announced the agency’s attempt to comply by next January, despite having to start from scratch in many areas, staff shortages and time lost due to the state’s energy crisis. 

Meanwhile, the agency’s model growth guide continues its path through the Senate. Torlakson, despite his initial shock, says of a revived OPR, “The governor has given a green light to be more proactive. This is positive news and long overdue.” 

Indeed, inside his ornate committee room, having noted aloud the agency’s years of shortcomings, Torlakson turned to OPR’s newest interim chief Tal Finney and said, “We’re happy to see you here.”

Governor to reveal his plan to close $20 billion budget gap on Tuesday 

SACRAMENTO – “Smoking gun” memos that show energy giant Enron manipulated California’s power market help validate Gov. Gray Davis’ persistent claims that greedy, out-of-state power firms fueled last year’s energy crisis. 

But Davis has little time to bask in the bliss of vindication. 

Tuesday, the Democratic governor facing re-election in November must reveal his plan to close a more than $20 billion budget gap. He also is coping with an investigation into a costly state contract with the Oracle Corp. amid questions whether he has mingled state business with his thirst for campaign contributions. 

Still, the most recent Enron revelations signify a major victory for Davis, whose approval ratings plunged to an all-time low in the middle of the statewide energy crisis last year. 

“If it turns out the electricity crisis was in part created by outsiders, or at least can be blamed on outsiders, that’s one tremendous big eraser to clean up his record,” said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow of government studies at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. 

While conducting “I told you so” interviews with national media on Enron, Davis is struggling to cut billions from state spending without raising taxes six months before Election Day. 

Davis also has been dogged by a controversy surrounding a $95 million, no-bid contract signed between the state and Oracle last year to provide the state with database software. The deal was initially touted as a way for the state to save at least $16 million through volume purchases. 

But a state audit says the contract could actually waste up to $41 million. 

The agreement has also come under fire because Oracle gave Davis a $25,000 contribution a few days after the contract was signed last year. 

Davis’ GOP challenger Bill Simon has held near-daily press briefings to call for federal probes into the Oracle deal and to blast Davis’ handling of the budget. 

“I encourage the governor to apply the same standard of scrutiny to himself and to his administration that he is applying to Enron,” Simon said Thursday during a press conference in Monterey. 

Davis already has countered the Simon attacks by referring to the political newcomer, who once called himself “an oil and gas man going way back,” as a partner in the Enron debacle. Simon is a major investor and former board member of Houston-based Hanover Compressor Co., which entered one of Enron’s complicated partnership deals while Simon was on the board. 

Davis also is seeking to tie the Enron situation to Bush, who helped Simon raise $4.5 million during a two-day fund-raising swing earlier this month. A Simon victory over Davis in November could help Bush — who lost California to Al Gore by 12 percentage points in 2000 — in his re-election efforts in 2004. 

“I think we can envision a fall campaign where we are going to have dueling charges, the Oracle scandal versus the Enron scandal,” said Bruce Cain, a political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. 

As for the budget, Cain said, Simon and California Republicans have to tread lightly when criticizing Davis for the surplus-turned-deficit under his watch. 

“Bush is stepping on Simon’s message because George Bush is running huge deficits at the national level,” he said. “If Simon thinks that Gray Davis is fiscally irresponsible, does he think that George Bush is fiscally irresponsible for running deficits as well?” 

Still, GOP lawmakers have the power to withhold their votes — which are needed to pass a budget by the required two-thirds majority — and force a drawn-out deadlock. 

Lengthy budget showdowns “don’t bring positive evaluations for the Legislature or the Governor,” Cain said. “People tend to get disgusted and impatient.”

Pet lovers plan to take complaints to Board of Supervisors’ meeting 

SAN FRANCISCO – Dog walkers are upset about a plan to make leash laws and fenced-in pooch areas more strict at city parks, and they plan to take up the issue Monday with the Board of Supervisors. 

The city’s Recreation and Park Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to begin creating pens bordered by chain-link fences or hedges, as part of general park redesigns. 

Enforcement of leash laws has been lax in the past at city parks, but many dog-free visitors have complained about canines being a nuisance. 

“You have to show responsibility,” said George Scott, who often takes his grandchildren to area parks. “If I see a really big, aggressive dog off-leash, I won’t even go in the park.” 

The new policy considers all parks as on-leash areas, unless residents request separate off-leash areas be created. Dog owners think the new fenced-in areas will cramp their freedom. 

“The policy still offers fenced pens as the only option for off-leash recreation in 195 of San Francisco’s 220 parks,” the San Francisco Dog Owners group posted on its Web site. “There’s no room in this plan for real community input or oversight.” 

Many dog owners are still walking their dogs off leashes in parks and have not yet been ticketed — but that could soon change. 

The issue is expected to be addressed Monday before the Board of Supervisors. Some representatives said they’ve been approached by people from both sides seeking a solution. 

“All of us would rather not deal with it,” said Supervisor Leland Yee. “It’s not going to be an easy issue. Whatever you do, you’re going to be upsetting some people.” 

Numerous parks in San Francisco and the Bay Area have fenced-in, off-leash areas. A nonprofit organization, dogpark.com, estimates that there are more than 600 fenced-in pooch parks nationwide. 

Many cities charge dog owners an annual fee to use the fenced-in areas, where dogs can run free and meet other pooches. While that concept is popular in other cities, it is not sitting well with some in San Francisco. 

“It’s a shame that in a city named after St. Francis, the patron saint of animals, that we have to criminalize dogs and dog walkers,” said David Spero, who was walking his dog in Dolores Park.

SAN FRANCISCO – An endangered garter snake has stalled construction on the Bay Area Rapid Transit extension to San Francisco International Airport for the second time. 

State wildlife officials ordered work stopped Thursday after a worker found a dead snake. Another snake was found dead last fall. It stopped construction for 18 days and cost BART $1.07 million. 

The snake’s death was investigated Friday, but officials from BART and the state Department of Fish and Game said they did not anticipate a long halt in construction. 

“We are working with BART to make sure they are sensitive to issues concerning the garter snake,” said Robert Floerke, regional manager for the department. 

The garter snake lives in wetlands and grasslands near water that support large frog populations. The largest remaining population lives near the airport. The snake has red, black and yellow stripes. Its belly is green and blue. 

Because the snake is endangered, snake trappers caught as many of the reptiles as they could find. Special fences were then built to keep other snakes out of harm’s way. Biological monitors also were hired to watch out for the snakes. 

After the first snake was found dead, workers were given special training to recognize the reptile. A 5 mph speed limit also was posted and workers were required to check under vehicles for the snakes if they had been parked more than five minutes. 

“While the snake is brilliant blue, it doesn’t look brilliant blue sitting on the road,” said Molly MacArthur, project spokeswoman. “It can look like a stick.”

city will ticket cars parked too long at broken meters, starting June 15 

Berkeley residents will soon be forced to think at least twice about where and how long they park their cars, as Berkeley is changing its parking enforcement policy. 

The policy, passed by the City Council last month, will allow parking enforcement authorities to issue more than one ticket to cars that overstay the allotted time at broken and vandalized meters. 

The new policy is a part of a “multi-pronged approach toward parking enforcement,” said Phil Kamlarz, Berkeley deputy city manager. 

According to Kamlarz, an increase in parking meter vandalism has allowed many residents to park in broken meter spots all day, causing the city to lose up to $1 million in parking revenue. 

The city has currently embarked on a campaign to educate drivers on the consequences of overstaying at these spots by passing out flyers informing residents of the new policy. 

“The purpose of the new policy is to encourage more turnover parking,” said Kamlarz. 

The city, working in cooperation with UC Berkeley, hopes to allow residents sufficient time to adjust their parking habits before the policy goes into effect on June 15. 

“I think it makes good sense and is a good approach,” said Nad Permaul, Director of the Office of Parking and Transportation at UC Berkeley. 

Permaul adds that while the policy is needed, parking options in the city are already limited and that long-term parking garages in Berkeley can be very expensive. 

Permaul also added that the University has worked with the city to get the message out about the new policy and hopefully change the behavior of many who have become accustom to overstaying the maximum time at broken meter spots. 

Along with the extra parking tickets, the city has created a surveillance team to catch meter vandals. 

“Some people think it's okay to vandalize a meter without realizing the consequences. We want them to know it's a serious offense,” said Kamlarz.  

According to Kamlarz, police surveillance teams will watch for meter crimes in high vandalism areas such as near the UC campus.  

“Certain areas will be targeted for high vandalism. Some of the students think it's cool to do this. We need to change part of this culture,” said Kamlarz.  

Kamlarz cited similar programs near Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts where student diplomas have been withheld for vandalism. 

If arrested, vandals could face six months in jail and up to $1000 in fines. 

Reaction to the new policy was decidedly mixed among residents. Many expressed concern over current parking conditions and feel increased enforcement will only make conditions worse while others conceded that the city does need to collect parking funds to run the city.  

According to Shayan Bayat, a student at Vista Community College and El Cerrito resident, the bags, boxes and tape placed on broken meters can be deceiving.  

“I've parked in spots where there's been a bag on the meter so I thought I didn't have to pay and still gotten a ticket,” says Bayat. “This just confuses everyone.” 

Bayat said that he spends up to 45 minutes looking for a spot to park in Berkeley, sometimes parking half an hour away. “It's one of the biggest problems in Berkeley, except for rent,” said Bayat. 

Bayat also emphasized the need for a transportation pass for Vista students similar to the one used by UC Berkeley students on AC Transit, citing the high cost of both BART and other transportation options. 

“As long as it's broken, I see it as a free spot,” said Berkeley driver Tim Ware. 

After learning of the new policy, however, Ware commented that he may think twice about parking all day in spaces with broken meters. 

“It makes me nervous,” said Ware. “Sure there's an argument for it, the city has to run.” 

Not all Berkeley residents felt the policy was unfair. According to Edward Lavender there seems to be an overly hostile attitude in Berkeley toward parking enforcement. 

“I don't think you should get away with not paying just because you broke a meter,” said Lavender.  

Other residents say the policy is fair as long as they are not ticketed for parking at broken meters before the maximum time has elapsed. 

Bernard Balan, a UC Berkeley student, says the new policy will probably force a lot of drivers to park in public lots. According to Balan, the city should fix the vandalized meters and not issue tickets at those spots. 

“I don't think the city should do that. I think the city should fix the meter or not hand out a ticket,” said Balan.

The history of garbage disposal is an interesting and rather shocking one. Our current concern for the protection of the environment was not shared by our forebears. When garbage was out of sight it was considered adequately deposed of; the land, sea and sky were believed able to absorb all the “bad things”. 

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries most of the garbage generated by Berkeley and Oakland was taken by boat and dumped into the ocean. People also burned part of their garbage in stoves, fireplaces, or outdoor incinerators. With the rapid growth of Berkeley after the 1906 earthquake and fire it became necessary to dispose of garbage in a more reliable way. 

A municipal incinerator was considered the best “modern” method of disposing of garbage, and in 1909 one was constructed by an Oakland firm. But after only one trial burn it was discovered that the plant did not operate properly and it was shut down amid some scandal.  

In 1914 a new incinerator was constructed by the San Francisco firm of Griscom-Russell Co. whose design was based on an English model. It is the building pictured here and it once included a smoke stack 150 feet high, which has been removed. The building is unusual because of its ornamental use of concrete and curved Mission Revival-style roof line. It is a distinctive industrial structure, without windows, and marks the location of the city’s northwest boundary. 

The incineration of garbage coexisted with dumping at sea and refuse not completely burned in the incinerator was dumped at the edge of the bay. In 1924 the landfill method of disposal was introduced, and in 1930 the incinerator was closed. Gradually the marsh to the west of the building was filled with garbage. And the filled land became a small municipal airstrip between 1926 and 1936, before the freeway was built.  

During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the roadbed for the Eastshore Freeway and created Aquatic Park in the process. To the west of the freeway the Berkeley Marina began taking shape as the landfill garbage-disposal method continued.  

The former Municipal Incinerator had a second use between 1936 and 1980 as a slaughterhouse for the Lewis and McDermott’s meat packing plant. The area around the incinerator was used for hay and feed storage. The use of the windowless incinerator building as a slaughterhouse in this section of Berkeley was a very discreet operation. It is now the centerpiece for a self-storage business and a city landmark.  

Susan Cerny is author of Berkeley Landmarks and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

To the Editor: 

We are writing to collectively express our dismay and dissatisfaction with the lack of independent police oversight at the University of California at Berkeley. Without the active presence of an independent police review board we fear that our campus’s police officers are not being held accountable. As students and members of the community patrolled by those officers, we appeal to the duties of your office to address this 

critical situation. 

Officer conduct at demonstrations and in other recent incidents, both on campus and in the surrounding community, brings this issue of accountability to the forefront. 

The current PRB lacks even the simplest tools necessary to deal with the aforementioned incidents. With no budget, no office nor even a telephone, it is not reasonable to expect the PRB to operate effectively (even the police department's internal affairs has a budget). Without the freedom to investigate complaints against officers concurrent to any police investigation, the PRB cannot be truly independent. Without public hearings, there is no hope of accountability. The PRB, with only a single community member, fails to accurately represent the constituency served by this University's police force. The presence of a former UC officer on the PRB runs counter to the notion of independence. How is it that our University, renowned for its high academic standards and a unique liberal atmosphere, has a police review body that is so transparently impotent? 

The following changes are needed: 

— The establishment of a truly independent civilian review board that meets common sense guidelines for effective oversight (such as those enumerated by the ACLU).  

— The establishment of a “Right to Watch” policy that instructs officer to “put the least possible restrictions upon civilian observation of the police,” similar to the City of Berkeley’s policy. 

— The prohibition of the use of the choke-holds and pepper spray against demonstrators. 

These issues demand immediate attention. Officer misconduct not only undermines the public’s confidence in the department, it makes it that much harder for well-meaning officers to do their jobs.  

- Copwatch 

Berkeley

Saturday, May 11

Low-cost Hatha Yoga Class 

6:30 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center 

1720 8th St. 

$6 per class. 981-6651 

3-on-3 Basketball Tournament 

Fun for everyone, whether competing or watching. At the New Gym at Albany High in Albany. Hosted by and benefiting Athletics at Albany High School. Players sign up today to play in one of four divisions. 64 teams compete for $500 First Prize & $250 Second Prize in each division with final game to be played Sunday, May 12 

510-525-2716 

Children's Movies 

Beauty & the Beast (in English) 

Shows at noon & 2 p.m. 

The Actor's Studio 

3521 Maybelle Ave. 

Oakland 

510-530-0551 

$3 

Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) Events 

Get ready for Mother's Day with the Klutz "Tissue Paper Flower" kit and learn to make tissue paper flowers. Age 8 and up.  

LHS Film- Happy Birthday, Mr. Feynman 

Film Plays Continuously from 12:00 to 3:30 p.m. 

To celebrate the birthday of Nobel laureate, maverick physicist, author, and teacher extraordinaire Richard Feynman, 

LHS presents the film, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. This fifty-minute film presents Feynman telling fascinating 

stories from his life and research. Produced by Christopher Sykes. 

LHS- The Idea Lab 

Opens May 11 

See what LHS is developing as new hands-on exhibits. Test out exhibit prototypes of activities and give your opinion of them. Testing and experimenting is the idea behind the Idea Lab. This new permanent exhibit begins with explorations of magnetism.  

10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

$8 for adults; $6 for youth 5-18, seniors, and disabled; $4 for children 3-4. 

Free for children under 3, LHS Members and full-time UC Berkeley students. 

LHS is on Centennial Drive- 

above the UC Berkeley campus 

Parking is 50¢/hour. 

LHS is accessible by AC Transit 

and the UC Berkeley Shuttle. 

33rd Annual California Wildflower Show 

Exhibit with 150 species of freshly gathered native flowers 

Saturday, 10 a.m. -5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1-888-OAK-MUSE 

$6 general admission, $4 senior and students with ID, free for five and under.  

Jurassic Park: Dinosaur Auditions 

Live Science Demonstrations 

In this directed activity, children "audition" to be a dinosaur in an upcoming dinosaur movie. They learn about the variety of dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park exhibit as well as dress up, act, and roar like a dinosaur. These demonstrations explore recent discoveries, fossils, and how scientists know what they know about dinosaurs 

Monday-Friday at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. 

Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays at 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m. 

$8 for adults; $6 for youth 5-18, seniors, and disabled; $4 for children 3-4. 

Free for children under 3, LHS Members and full-time UC Berkeley students. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive-above the UC Berkeley campus 

Parking is 50¢/hour. 

LHS is accessible by AC Transit 

and the UC Berkeley Shuttle. 

Low-cost Hatha Yoga Class 

6:30 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center 

1720 8th St. 

$6 per class. 981-6651 

Travel back in time and land in the front row of a Cockettes performance with David Weissman (co-director/producer) and Bill Weber's (co-director/editor) documentary, “The Cockettes,” about the revolutionary drag troupe of the 1960s and ‘70s. 

First-time feature documentary filmmakers, Weissman and Weber combine interviews with live performances to produce a work that will inform and entertain audiences of all stripes and genders. 

Weissman has worked on a number of independent short films that have made their way through the film festival circuit, including “Complaints” and “Song from an Angel”. Weber has spent most of his career as an editor, working on commercials, music videos, and other independent films. Some of his former clients include: Sting, Alanis Morissette, The Grateful Dead, Industrial Light & Magic, Coca Cola, and AT&T. 

Although the two only met in the early ‘90s, they share an affinity through their mutual admiration for The Cockettes that began in the late 1960s, when they were teenagers. Weissman describes this homage as “really good — the movie is told from an experiential point of view from people who were in it.” Weber believes that “it's such a great story that captures so much of a time and place that I liked a lot. And that is a lot of the impetus for me to tell this story. And not so much being a huge influence on other people.” He readily admits that The Cockettes had a major impact on his life. 

Weber and Weissman were not the only ones who were intrigued by The Cockettes phenomenon, Weissman recalls a certain glam rocker who took an interest: 

“One Cockette remembered hearing (David) Bowie on the radio, the first time Bowie came to San Francisco (1970). And the interviewer said to Bowie, 'well, what do you really want to do while you are in San Francisco?' And he said 'well, I want to go see The Cockettes'. 

Weissman wouldn’t mind inspiring new generations with The Cockettes’ story: “We really hope that the movie can reclaim San Francisco's place as being a really vital cultural center of the twentieth century. That's part of San Francisco's history because it was at that time (late 1960s and early 1970s). I mean, the world looked to San Francisco for the newest, the wildest, the freakiest, the most idealistic aspects of youth culture.” 

On a more earthly note, Weissman faced the same challenges many other documentary filmmakers confront, starting with fundraising. 

“Raising money for a doc is just really, really hard.” 

Weissman and Weber started their fundraising efforts with an eight-minute promotional trailer. They were able to raise about half of their money from foundation and corporate grants and the other half from individuals. One San Francisco man who was moved by The Cockettes when he was 15 donated $100,000, a gift that Weissman says made this project possible and earned the donor a producer credit. Other individual grants ranged from $5 to $10,000 and came from a diverse group of donors. The Wells Fargo Foundation gave $50,000 due to a bold internal champion, Tim Hanlen, who recognized the value of the project. They also received a lot of equipment support from a couple of local Bay Area companies: Western Images and Varitel Video. 

Once the money was gathered, a film still had to be made: 

“There is the creative challenge of how do you tell a story. You are not working from a script. You are not working from something that pre-exists as a story. You are taking disparate material and trying to make it into a story. And the lucky thing for us was that we sort of knew very early on what the story was that we wanted to tell. And I don't think that changed very much and with many documentaries that is not the case. I think this is very much thanks to the work that Martin Worman had done (a number of audio tapes) because Martin really gave us a history in a very compelling way. It was incomplete, but it was a very compelling contextualization of The Cockettes story that really served as a template for us.” 

Weissman clearly loves his craft, yet his advice for new filmmakers isn’t entirely upbeat: “It's very hard to be an independent filmmaker. I think you need to have passion, particularly if you are a documentarian. You need to have passion and incredible perseverance and good friends, and a sense of humor.” 

Weissman hopes “The Cockettes” inspires people to think about how they can find more creativity and joy in their own lives. “We hope that it gives people a richer appreciation of that period of time. I think that the Media has really reduced that era to some really wimpy clichés and our hope is that this movie captures some of the richness of the counter culture in San Francisco.” 

He does not want this film to be solely a nostalgic trip. He hopes that viewing this film will relay the message that “this is what happened once, see what you can come up with” today. 

The filmmakers admit they are uncertain what the future holds in store for them, once the two recover from the promotion and distribution of “The Cockettes.” Weber expressed interest in telling the story of a San Francisco hospice founder with a colorful past. Weissman joked that he dreams about snorkeling — but what filmmaker doesn't during the recent aftermath of completing a film? 

And who wouldn’t want to spend a wild night out with The Cockettes? 

“The Cockettes” opened May 10 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and the Camera in San Jose. It film opens May 17 at the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley; and at the Nickelodeon and the Rialto in Santa Cruz.

xThe Berkeley High boys’ lacrosse team wrapped up their regular season with a dominating 19-3 win over Piedmont on Friday, as 13 different Yellowjackets scored at least one goal. 

Berkeley will play its first-round Northern California regional playoff game on Tuesday and are almost assured of a home game, so Friday’s game was little more than a formality. The ’Jackets improved to 13-3 overall and 7-1 in the Shoreline Lacrosse League, while the Highlanders dropped to 5-9. 

Berkeley took over the game quickly, taking a 4-0 lead after less than five minutes. Although they allowed two goals in the first half, the ’Jackets scored 12 straight goals before the Highlanders would score again with five minutes left in the game. By that time, Berkeley head coach Jon Rubin had ordered his players to stop shooting, and the clock was left running for most of the second half due to league rules. 

Jesse Cohen and Cameran Sampson led the ’Jackets with three goals apiece, with Nick Schooler and Jonah Hill pitching in with two goals each. Even the defensemen got into the attack for Berkeley, with Demetrius Sommers scoring a goal to finish the third quarter and Chris May just missing a shot in the fourth. 

Midfielder Crosby Freeman scored two of Piedmont’s three goals. 

Berkeley’s likely opponent in the first round will be Marin Catholic, a team it beat 6-1 on March 28. If the ’Jackets get past Marin Catholic, they would probably face University in the semifinal, with either Bishop O’Dowd or top-ranked St. Ignatius waiting in the championship game. Berkeley’s only losses this season have come to those three teams, although the ’Jackets did beat O’Dowd earlier in the season. 

“I’m nervous because we’re going to have to face at least two of the teams who have beaten us,” Schooler said. “We’re going to have to get through them if we want to win the championship.” 

Schooler and his teammates should have an easy time with Marin Catholic on their home AstroTurf, where they lost just one game this season (to St. Ignatius). But if University wins its first-round game, the ’Jackets would have to hit the road, which has not been kind to them this season. 

“We’re so dominant on our turf, I think we get intimidated by other fields,” Rubin said. “My biggest fear is going to play on grass and my guys being out of it.” 

Rubin thinks his players lose some intensity on the road, and he’s not sure he knows what to do about it. 

“When we’ve lost away games, I think it’s because we weren’t as intense (as the opponent),” he said. “The difference in the playoffs will be blue-collar-type play. The key to the playoffs for us will be how we do on groundballs.”

Neighbors battling the American Baptist Seminary of the West’s plans to demolish two buildings and expand its campus were given a last chance to voice their concerns at Thursday’s Zoning Adjustment Board meeting, and they spoke in one cohesive voice — asking the board to stop the church. 

On the dividing line of Dwight and Benvenue avenues — where the UC Berkeley campus meets a typical Berkeley residential neighborhood — are two cottages that neighbors want to preserve and that the Landmark Preservation Commission has deemed worthy as “structures of merit.” But church officials say the buildings are being used as an excuse to stop them from expanding their campus. 

In addition, the seminary argued that the city could not landmark its grounds without its consent, but also that the two houses were not worthy of protected status. 

Last night the Zoning Adjustment Board cleared the way for the seminary to demolish the cottages and move closer to its expansion plans. 

Recently City Attorney Manuela Alberquerque also quesitoned the authority of the city to landmark the cottages without the owners’ consent. 

“The city has no right to landmark the buildings,” said David Levy, the seminary’s lawyer. “The code says that a non-commercial property owned by a religiously affiliated association or nonprofit organization cannot be landmarked if the owner objects.” 

Seminary President Ken Russell said his organization has tried to be sensitive to the residents’ concerns and also to properties they consider worthy of landmark status. 

“When we had part of our campus landmarked two years ago [by the city], it was done with the understanding that the corner of the property where these cottages are located wouldn’t be landmarked,” he said. 

“We don’t believe that these have enough historical significance and we need space for expansion on our own campus.” 

This previous agreement, said Levy, is another reason the city does not have the right to interfere. 

“The point of the agreement was to exclude the property now at issue to allow the Seminary to use the property. You know what property is like in Berkeley. They have to make use of what they have,” he added in a previous interview. 

But the neighbors have vowed to continue to fight the expansion of the campus because the buioding is simply not right for the neighborhood. 

Some have even stated that the difficulty they’ve faced in thisd process is indicative of how pro-development the city planning staff and attorney’s office are. 

“[Berkeley city planning staff] decide who needs an environmental impact report or who can get around it with a negative declaration waiver. There are ways to push things through and the city planners make those ways available to developer,” said Sharon Hudson, a vocal oponent of seminary expansion plans. “And some of the legal decisions of the city attorney have led many in the community to call her incompetent. People say that all the time, that she’s incompetent.” 

Hudson said that the city attorney has on several occasions provided bad advice to the various commissions and boards, which have influenced “these civilains into voting on the side of a developer and against the neighbors.” 

City planner Mark Rhoads did not return phone calls for a comment. 

But officials at the seminary have alleged that community resistance is less about the buildings than it is about race. 

Seminary President Russell underscored this complaint and added that the seminary has consistently tried to be good neighbors. 

“We’ve been here since the early 1900s providing a safe, stable space for theneighborhood,” he said.  

Stopping short of calling the neighbors racist, Russell said he is absolutely perplexed by the amount of animosity. Pointing to the school’s racial and cultural diversity, small size and landscaped grounds, he said the seminary should be a neighborhood asset everyone can agree on. 

“I’m just wondering out loud why there’s such resistance to a small, primarily black institution that is an anchor for the neighborhood,” he aaded. 

The Zoning Adjustment Board’s decision to allow the demolition of two cottages in question was not well received by the neighbors. But they have vowed to continue to fight the project.

To the Editor: 

It has been reported that Mayor Dean may propose that the city subsidize an artist warehouse co-op. This announcement should not fool anyone into thinking that the mayor is a patron of Berkeley’s artists and artisans. The reality is just the opposite. 

The idea of a city-subsidized artist and artisan warehouse coop was actually proposed last year by Councilmember Linda Maio. She is the one who has taken the lead in protecting our artists and artisans through the West Berkeley Plan, which Mayor Dean has always opposed. It is only thanks to the West Berkeley Plan that our city still has a substantial sector of artists and craftspeople. I am not talking about the upscale downtown Arts District, but the real center of working artists and craftspeople, in industrial West Berkeley. 

The main threat to artists and craftspeople remaining in Berkeley is office development, which drives up studio rents to levels that artists and artisans cannot afford. Unless office expansion is controlled in West Berkeley through zoning, it will drive out working artists and artisans. This is precisely what happened in San Francisco during the dot.com boom. The only reason it hasn’t happened in Berkeley is due to the 1993 West Berkeley Plan, which protects arts and crafts uses by limiting office proliferation. 

However, the West Berkeley Plan has never been adequately implemented by the city, so Berkeley’s artists and artisans remain at risk today. Our artists recently presented a petition with over 200 signatures from the arts and crafts community supporting a temporarily moratorium on new office uses in West Berkeley’s Mixed Use/Light Industrial (MULI) district (the center of artistic/artisanal activity in the city), while the Planning Commission investigates the effects of office expansion and the state of the West Berkeley Plan. Mayor Dean was opposed. On April 29, 2002, the City Council voted 5-4 to approve these interim controls. Dean voted against. 

Dean has been a vociferous supporter of rampant office development in West Berkeley, and an antagonist to industrial retention. In a New York Times article (10/23/99) she derided the West Berkeley Plan: “‘They’re stuck in the 60s,’ Mayor Shirley Dean said of those who stand firm on the city’s manufacturing friendly policies.” 

Industrial neighborhoods have always been home to artists. If we get rid of our manufacturing district, we also get rid of our artists’ and crafts studios. Berkeley’s dynamism rests on our social, cultural and economic diversity. Industrial retention is key to maintaining that diversity, and to making our city prosper. Destroying industrial West Berkeley would greatly accelerate the gentrification spiral, which threatens to transform and sterilize our city into a mere upscale bedroom community. 

Other forward-looking metropolitan cities have come to the same realization. Portland and Chicago now protect their manufacturing bases. Boston has initiated an ambitious industrial retention program, focused on creating the conditions in which industries (and arts and crafts) can grow and prosper. 

Berkeley needs a mayor who appreciates the unique contributions of its working artists and artisans, a mayor who fights to enforce, not to undermine, the laws that help them remain in Berkeley. Shirley Dean is not that mayor. 

Berkeley needs a mayor who appreciates the unique contributions of its working artists and artisans, a mayor who fights to enforce, not to undermine, the laws that help them remain in Berkeley. Shirley Dean is not that mayor. 

- John Curl 

Berkeley 

It was less a contest than a coronation. 

The St. Joseph’s High boys’ volleyball team won the Bay Shore Athletic League title in convincing fashion Friday afternoon, posting a 15-8, 15-6, 15-6 sweep of St. Mary’s High before a raucous home court crowd in Alameda. 

Led by skywalking senior David Gordon and sophomore setter John Dinh, the Pilots (12-4) brushed aside an early challenge from the Panthers, trailing for only two serves after midway through the first game to bring home the championship banner. 

Senior Nic Konnefklatt, sophomore Jonathan Alberti and lanky junior Liam Nohr-Forrester also also contributed key blocks and kills for the champions in an all-around team performance that coach Annie Hansen credited for the win. 

“I was a little bit worried that my guys would come out complacent,” Hansen said, noting that the Pilots, the No. 2 seed, were a perfect 4-0 against the Panthers this year. “But they were all right. We really play our best matches when everybody on the team pitches in.” 

For St. Mary’s (7-9), a dream playoff run ended in a flurry of St. Joseph aces, blocks and kills. Coach Trudi Huber said her squad, which reached the title match after a dramatic, come-from-behind upset of top seed Salesian on Wednesday, felt satisfied simply to have reached the season’s final contest. 

“Well, that was fun, huh?” she said after her team’s humbling performance. “Really, just the fact that we made the game was pretty exciting.” 

For the first 10 points of the game, it looked as though St. Mary’s just might have a chance to stun the Pilots in front of their boisterous home fans. Gaining serve after two Pilot aces, St. Mary’s James Yang reeled off seven straight points to give the Panthers a 7-2 lead. 

After the teams traded service, however, Konnefklatt, Dinh and Gordon settled the Pilots down, responding with 12 unanswered points to put the first game away. The Panthers, left scrambling to get the ball over the net past the tough St. Joe’s front line, looked simply overmatched against a deeper, taller, and more athletic team. 

Down 2-0, the Panthers tried valiantly to mount a third-game comeback in the fashion of their victory over Salesian, as Greg Lai served the team to an early 5-3 advantage. But once again the court vision of Dinh and the aerial acrobatics of Gordon were too much for St. Mary’s to handle, as the Pilots stormed back to a 13-5 lead. Freshman Nick Quintell then closed out the championship to a standing ovation from a cheering throng of parents and fellow students. 

“We just never let up,” Gordon said of his team’s character. “We’ve been down two games and come back, so we know to never let up.” 

The St. Mary’s coach agreed. 

“We went in hoping to pull one off, but there was just no chance against St. Joe’s,” Huber said. “They were just too tough.”

Sean Dugar had been thinking about running for the Board of Education for some time. But last weekend, he checked in for one last time with his closest advisers – his parents. 

They were quite supportive. 

“I’m very proud of our son,” said Toni Dugar, mother of the 17-year-old Berkeley High School senior. “He’s very involved. He knows what he’s doing.” 

Dugar, who formally declared his candidacy at the school board meeting Wednesday night, has joined a growing field of candidates for three slots on the board. Incumbents Shirley Issel and Terry Doran, and activists Derick Miller and Nancy Riddle have also declared their candidacies.  

BHS discipline dean and long-time chair of the African-American Studies Department Robert McKnight said he will almost certainly run in November, and nutrition activist Joy Moore has declared her interest.  

Incumbent Ted Schultz has announced he will retire at the end of this term. Board members John Selawsky and Joaquin Rivera are not up for re-election this year. 

Dugar, one of two representatives from the senior class who serves on the BHS student leadership team, has made several appearances at school board meetings this year, criticizing Superintendent Michele Lawrence and members of the board for budget cuts. On March 6, he helped lead 200 students in a walk-out to protest the shift from a seven- to a six-period day next year.  

Lawrence has argued that the move will lead to longer classes and more instructional time over the course of the year, while saving the financially-strapped district some money. But activists, including Dugar, have raised concerns about the reductions in double-period science and electives that will result. 

Dugar said the major theme of his campaign will be increasing the student voice in district decision-making. 

“Education is all about students,” said Dugar. “I just think students should have input on any decisions made about us.” 

As a board member, Dugar said, he would push for an advisory committee composed entirely of students, and would work to place students on all of the other advisory committees. 

“That idea would be very helpful,” said Doran, who welcomed Dugar into the race. “I think it’s fantastic that a student is that committed and thinks he can do the job.” 

“I think Sean’s a great guy and he has a lot of enthusiasm,” said Miller.  

“A lot of candidates entering the race early is a good thing,” he continued, arguing that it will lead to “substantive dialogue” about the issues. 

Dugar said closing the “achievement gap” that separates white and Asian-American students from African-Americans and Latinos would be a chief concern. He said he would boost African-American, Chicano/Latino and other ethnic studies programs to address the problem. 

Dugar said he had mixed views about the movement to divide Berkeley High into a series of themed, small schools – a measure, proponents say, that would help close the achievement gap. 

“I think small schools are a good idea, but there are questions about small schools that haven’t been answered,” he said, raising particular concerns about whether they would lead to racial segregation of BHS students by small school. 

Dugar turns 18 in June, making him eligible to run for the board. He has deferred admission to Johnson & Wales University, a culinary school in Providence, Rhode Island, until the winter. If he wins, Dugars says, he will stay in Berkeley and plans to attend City College of San Francisco. 

To the Editor: 

The recent anti Semitic activities that have taken place in the bay area are forcing old Jews such as myself to speak up or find a secondary tattoo on our forearms. 

I am not the most pious of Jews. In fact, some of my more conservative friends view me as ultra left: I see no problem with eating pork, having a cheeseburger, or accepting gay men and women in our religion. What I do have a problem with are these mad men grabbing the mantel of Judaism way from the vast majority of the Jewish community. 

I see a few Jews lambasting Israel left and right when I walk to get my morning paper. Nazi Joseph Goebbels could not have done a better job at turning Zionism into a “racist” campaign. Jews conservative and liberal alike should be defending Israel in these tumultuous times. When a reporter cries about gunfire from Israel my friends around my neighborhood take great pains to point Israel’s actions out to me. 

This does not bother me, though; I merely scoff and recount the numerous Hamas bombings, suicide and car, that have been leveled against Israel. The problem is not that Israelis are taking actions to defend themselves, but the emphasis that is being put upon Israel's actions as opposed to those of Muslim fundamentalists. If the anti-Israel media outlets would put attacks on the Jews on page one and not 19, the tide of anti-Semitism in the Bay Area and abroad would be greatly curbed.  

In the United States people tend to blame themselves for any misfortune that falls upon them. In the case of the events of Sept. 11, Jews and gentiles from all over the country are blaming U.S. foreign policy. People from all over the country are trying to demonize Israel, and Zionist Jews. This is exactly what Osama Bin Laden wants — pogroms arising because people feel guilt, although unjustified, about Sept. 11. 

Anti-Semites from all over the world are using this time of distress to come out of the anti-Semitic closet. They do not care about Israel; they are merely anti-Semites seizing the day, or self-hating Jews, using this opportunity to don the hair shirt.  

- Jospeh Moskowitz 

Berkeley

ACCAL race tightens up with one week left; Berkeley can clinch title with win over El Cerrito on Wednesday 

By Jared Green 

Daily Planet Staff 

The Berkeley Yellowjackets had a chance to eliminate one of their toughest foes on Friday, but instead they find themselves right back in the thick of a pennant race. 

Eugene Smith’s seventh-inning RBI single gave Encinal High a 6-5 win over the ’Jackets, keeping his team alive in the ACCAL title race. Berkeley dropped to 10-2 in league play (17-5 overall), while the Jets are now 9-3 in the ACCAL (11-11 overall). Both teams have two games left in the regular season. El Cerrito is also 9-3 and faces both teams next week, so the Gauchos will have a large say in who walks away with the title. 

Friday’s game started ominously for the ’Jackets, as starting pitcher Cole Stipovich was touched for two homers in the first inning. Encinal’s Willie Stargell Field is flush with the Bay, and the fierce wind blowing out to right field, combined with a short 326-foot porch, spelled trouble for Stipovich. Nick Loy led off with a high fly over the fence, and Smith followed with a shot off of the wall for a double. Up stepped mammoth lefty Cory Dunlap, who after fouling off three two-strike pitches hammered a monster blast over the wall and onto an adjacent apartment building for a quick 3-0 lead. 

“I think I blocked out the other times I pitched here,” Stipovich said. “But that was just reality crashing down on top of my head. Watching a pop fly go out was a little discouraging.” 

Stipovich settled down, using some defensive help to get through the next two innings without any runs. But Dunlap was looking overpowering on the mound, blowing the ball by the Berkeley hitters. Jason Moore got a run back in the second with a homer to right, his second in as many games, but it took some fielding pratfalls by the Jets to get Berkeley back in the game. 

With one out in the fourth, Encinal shortstop Tony Ellis started the Keystone Kops routine when his throw drew first baseman Scott Tennell off the bag. Even worse, it put Tennell right in the baseline in front of Berkeley’s Matt Toma. The 6-foot, 210-pound Toma, a lineman for Berkeley’s football team, lowered his sizable shoulder into the lanky Tennell, and predictably the ball shook loose. 

Bennie Goldenberg followed with a single that leftfielder Jordan Indalecio played into a double as Toma came around to score. When Moore hit another single, centerfielder DeAndre Green committed the double sin of booting the ball and then throwing it to an unoccupied first base, with Goldenberg crossing the plate and Moore going all the way to third. 

Jeremy LeBeau was up next, and an attempted squeeze bunt clearly went off the batter’s leg into fair territory. But both umpires missed the deflection, and Dunlap held the ball while Moore scored and LeBeau reached first. LeBeau proceeded to score on a stolen base, error and passed ball for a 5-3 Berkeley lead. 

Berkeley head coach Tim Moellering knew his team was fortunate to benefit from the Encinal errors, but wanted to see more offense from his club. 

“I thought we needed to get more runs,” Moellering said. “We took advantage of some mistakes, but I knew the top of their order was explosive, especially in their own ballpark.” 

Even more than the lost lead, Encinal head coach Jim Saunders was concerned with his pitcher’s mental state. Dunlap has displayed a short fuse in the past, and he spent much of the Berkeley rally stomping around the field. But rather than blow up, Dunlap channeled his energy into his pitching, giving up just two more hits the rest of the way. 

“(Dunlap) was close (to blowing up),” Saunders said. “There’s something that clicks with him that I can’t stop. Luckily, he stopped it on his own.” 

Encinal got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on an Indalecio RBI single, but Moellering went for the kill, bringing in ace Sean Souders for the final three innings. The junior lefthander breezed through the fifth, but the Jets tied the game in the sixth when Mike Jones doubled home Green. They needed just two batters to end the game in the seventh, as Loy led off with a single, and Berkeley leftfielder Jon Smith booted the ball to send him to second. Smith’s single ended the game, setting off a team celebration. 

Berkeley can win the league title outright by beating El Cerrito on Wednesday, as they hold a tie-breaker over Encinal. The Gauchos, on the other hand, can win the league if they beat both Berkeley and Encinal. Encinal would win the title if they win on Wednesday and Friday and El Cerrito wins on Wednesday. 

Berkeley’s Jason Moore was confident Friday’s loss wouldn’t start a slide similar to last season, when the ’Jackets lost their last four games and nearly missed the North Coast Section playoffs. 

“It’s no problem,” Moore said. “We’ll just come back against El Cerrito. As long as we win on Wednesday, we still got it.”

‘Star Wars’ isn’t just a movie: 

Activists from around the world have gathered this weekend in Berkeley for the annual meeting of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space conference, giving both the public and various group affiliates from around the globe the chance to convene and share information, perspectives, and strategies on preventing the further militarization of space. 

According to the U.S. Space Command’s “Vision for 20/20” report, the Star Wars defense system will consist of 24 orbiting lasers, with the first functional laser platform going up in 2012. The Star Wars program has so far cost the U.S. an estimated $60 billion, and is slated for an additional $8.3 billion this year alone.  

“Space is currently a weapons-free zone, but the launching of a laser platform for missile defense would set the precedent for weapon-ization. It is so much easier to prevent weapon-ization from happening in the first place then to try and dismantle it afterwards,” said Regina Hagen, member of the German-based International Network of Engineers & Scientists Against Proliferation and one of today’s plenary speakers. “This would lead to a possible arms race with China and Russia,” she said. 

The United States withdrawal from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which prohibited the deployment of a missile-defense system, sparked protests from the European Union, Russia and China, and officials from over 20 countries criticized the U.S. during an international disarmament conference held in Beijing on April 4.  

“The world is very concerned over this issue. It is not just a few activists. It is the General Assembly of the UN, and the majority in Geneva, who wish to discuss prevention of an arms race in outer space, but the U.S. often prevents a consensus from being reached,” Hagen said. 

The Global Network conference kicked off yesterday with a rally at Lockheed Martin’s Sunnyvale campus, where the company is purportedly developing space-based laser and other theater missile defense technologies. An estimated 150 demonstrators gathered before company grounds, listening to spontaneous concerts and speeches.  

“We have a very spirited crowd of students and protesters from over 12 countries,” said Bill Sulzman, a protest participant. “This is a very symbolic place to hold a protest — very apropos to addressing the profit-motive behind defense spending.” 

Informational presentations, workshops, and strategy planning sessions have been scheduled for today and Sunday here in Berkeley. Conference registration began 8 a.m. this morning at the Valley Life Sciences Building Auditorium, UCB campus. 

“Saturday’s conference will be an equal amount people talking about what’s wrong with the current picture and what we can do to make it right,” Sulzman said. 

Speakers flew in from all over the States, the UK, India, Japan, Germany, Australia and the Philippines to participate in the conference, and represent varied groups opposed to space-based and nuclear weapons proliferation. Over 20 workshops are being held today on issues ranging from global perspectives, military weapons, spy capabilities, and the environmental impact of star wars programs after keynote speeches by journalist Karl Grossman and activists Stacey Fritz and Kathy Kelly.  

“What’s actually going on is a strong push for missile defense, which most people don’t equate with weapons in space,” said Fritch, head of the Alaska-based No Nukes North. “But ‘missile defense’ is the weapon-ization of space,” she says.  

Fritch’s organization has been lobbying against the U.S. military’s use of Alaska for ABM test and shield sites. Pentagon officials have said they hope to open the first missile shield site in Alaska by 2004. 

Sunday’s strategy session will focus on steps the Global Network can take over the next year to activate people for protests, engage the public and media, and to organize a global appeal to stop missile defense testing, according to Hagen.  

NEW YORK — Folk singer Suzanne Vega lived near the World Trade Center for 10 years and has long been part of a loose group of local artists — the Greenwich Village Songwriter’s Exchange — who meet weekly to share music. 

So her latest project is a very personal one: collecting folk songs written by members of the group in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, and issuing them as a CD, “Vigil.” 

“These were my neighbors. This was my back yard,” says Vega, 42, best known for the songs “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner” from her 1987 album “Solitude Standing.” 

Members of the exchange — including its leader, Jack Hardy, who lost a brother at the World Trade Center — began writing songs about the attack soon after Sept. 11. About the same time, Vega was giving interviews to promote “Songs in Red and Gray,” her first studio release in five years. 

“So I was aware of these songs being written and at the same time talking to a lot of journalists who were asking me about what was happening in New York,” she said. “And so I thought, well, the natural thing to do is to compile the songs into a collection.” 

Just as she was beginning to promote “Vigil,” Vega suffered a personal loss when her brother Tim died on April 29. Tim Vega, a 36-year-old artist, worked at the World Trade Center but called in sick on Sept. 11 — only to die in his sleep from causes his sister declined to specify. 

“There’s a lot of irony in the whole situation,” she said, speaking by telephone from her apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. 

“Vigil” includes 20 works by 15 artists, and is the first release of a new label, Conscious Music, started by Vega’s manager, Nancy Jeffries. 

It includes one song by Vega, “It Hit Home”; the other artists are not as well-known. 

Vega chose songs that represented a range of responses to the attacks. 

“The Firehouse,” by Christine Lavin, captures the city’s mood in those first weeks when photos of the missing were posted everywhere. 

“Maybe next year the pain won’t be as sharp/ as it is today,” Lavin writes, “though it will never completely go away/ and we will talk in terms of/ ’before’ and ’after’ the attack/ and wish more than anything/ we could bring those brave men back.” 

In “Spoonfed,” Andy Germak adopts the point of view of people in Afghanistan when the U.S. government dropped both bombs and food on their country. 

“I didn’t ask to be dependent,” he writes. “I didn’t ask to be a hungry baby. I didn’t ask to be spoonfed.” 

Other songs evoke the terrible sight of bodies falling from the twin towers, and the incongruity of terrorists using boxcutters to attack a superpower. 

Production is minimal; mostly just voice and acoustic guitar. Some songs were recorded in the artists’ apartments. 

“It’s about as indie as you can possibly be,” Vega said. 

“Vigil” is available only on Amazon.com. “Eventually, maybe if someone picks it up and distributes it, maybe it will be in stores, but at this point that hasn’t happened,” Vega said. 

“I didn’t want to go to a record company and have to negotiate a deal with them and argue with them about how to present the songs or whether it was a good idea. We just wanted to put it out and put it out quickly and so we decided to do it this way.” 

Proceeds will be donated to Windows of Hope, a charity that benefits the families of restaurant workers who died at the trade center.

Cal women’s tennis moves on to Regional Final 

The 12th-ranked Cal women’s tennis team (13-9) advanced to the NCAA Tournament Regional Final today, defeating No. 45 Brigham Young University (10-14), 4-0 in an afternoon match at Hellman Tennis Center in Berkeley. Earlier in the day, No. 25 Fresno State University took down No. 27 Washington State, 4-0.  

Cal’s Raquel Kops-Jones and Christina Fusano, playing for the first time since winning the Pac-10 championship two weeks ago, got things started for the Bears, defeating Dominique Reynolds and Brooke Beverley, 8-4. After Carla Arguelles and Nicole Havlicek clinched the point for Cal, the Bears moved onto singles, winning all three of its completed matches in straight sets. 

Cal and Fresno State will face off Saturday at 11 a.m. at Hellman Tennis Center.  

Bears come back to beat Ducks  

After spotting Oregon (23-29, 1-18 Pac-10) a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, No. 5 Cal (46-19, 10-9 Pac-10) came back, scoring all three of its runs in the fourth inning to hold on for a 3-2 win Friday afternoon at Levine-Fricke Field.  

Senior Candace Harper ignited Cal’s comeback trail. The third baseman led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer, her eighth of the year, to right center field. After Veronica Nelson’s pop up, junior Courtney Scott smacked a sharp liner up the middle. Freshman Jessica Pamanian, then blasted the eventual game-winning hit, her third homerun of the year, over the left field fence to give the Bears the 3-2 edge.  

Cal baseball snaps seven-game skid with 13-7 win  

The Cal baseball team broke a seven-game losing streak with a 13-7 victory over Oregon State Friday at Evans Diamond. The Bears pounded out 11 hits, including a three-run homer by David Weiner and a grand slam by John Baker, to improve to 27-26 overall and 9-13 in the Pac-10, while the Beavers fall to 30-16 and 9-7 in conference.  

The Bears took control of the contest by scoring two runs in the fourth on an RBI ground out by Nick Medrano and a fielding error by Beaver first baseman Andy Jarvis.In the bottom of the sixth the Bears tacked on four more runs on junior catcher John Baker’s first career grand slam.

Today is Saturday, May 11, the 131st day of 2002. There are 234 days left in the year. 

Highlight: 

On May 11, 1946, the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France. 

On this date: 

In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union. 

In 1888, songwriter Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline in Temun, Russia. 

In 1910, Glacier National Park in Montana was established. 

In 1943, during World War II, U.S. forces landed on the Aleutian island of Attu, which was held by the Japanese; the Americans took the island 19 days later. 

In 1949, Israel was admitted to the United Nations as the world body’s 59th member. 

In 1949, Siam changed its named to Thailand. 

In 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the “Pentagon Papers” case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct. 

In 1981, reggae artist Bob Marley, 36, died in a Miami hospital. 

In 1985, more than 50 people died when a flash fire swept a jam-packed soccer stadium in Bradford, England. 

In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board. 

Ten years ago: Twelve European countries recalled their ambassadors from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia to protest Serb involvement in Bosnia’s ethnic war. 

Five years ago:  

The “Deep Blue” IBM computer demolished an overwhelmed Garry Kasparov and won the six-game chess match between man and machine in New York. 

One year ago:  

Attorney General John Ashcroft delayed Timothy McVeigh’s execution from May 16 to June 11 because of FBI mishandling of documents. A jury in Pittsburgh sentenced Richard Baumhammers to death for killing five people in a racially motivated shooting rampage. Miss Puerto Rico Denise Quinones August was crowned Miss Universe. Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” died in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 49. 

Today’s Birthdays:  

Comedian Mort Sahl is 75. Rock singer Eric Burdon (The Animals; War) is 61. Actress Frances Fisher is 50. Actor Boyd Gaines is 49. Country musician Mark Herndon (Alabama) is 47. Actress Martha Quinn is 43. Actress Natasha Richardson is 39. Country singer-musician Tim Raybon (The Raybon Brothers) is 39. Actor Coby Bell (“Third Watch”) is 27. Actor Austin O’Brien is 22. Actor Jonathan Jackson is 20. 

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Veteran Mexican musician Juan Gabriel won four awards, including top songwriter, and Ricky Martin received special recognition for his charitable works at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. 

Gabriel, who earned five nominations, thanked “everyone for their 30 years of support” and accepted honors for track of the year and airplay track of the year for his hit “Abrazame Muy Fuerte” (Hold Me Tightly). 

The awards presented Thursday night at the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts honored the most popular albums, songs and performers in Latin music as determined by sales and radio airplay data published on Billboard’s weekly charts. 

Gabriel also won track of the year for a vocal duo for his duet with Nydia Rojas entitled “No Vale la Pena” (It’s Not Worth It). Gabriel performed a bolero with the upstart group Los Tri-O. 

Martin, among the top Latin performers to cross over to the English-language pop arena, received the special Spirit of Hope award for his charitable works. Past winners of the award include Olga Tanon, Willy Chirino and Los Tigres Del Norte. 

El Gran Combo also won a special honor at Thursday’s ceremony, taped for broadcast Sunday on Spanish-language television network Telemundo. 

Regulars on the salsa scene for four decades, El Gran Combo received the Lifetime Achievement Award. The 13-member group with one of the most renowned horn sections in Latin music released another album this year entitled “El Nuevo milenio — el mismo sabor” (New millennium — the same flavor). 

The awards honored the most popular albums, songs and performers in Latin music as determined by sales and radio airplay data published on Billboard’s weekly charts. 

Cristian won Latin track artist of the year, and Marc Anthony won the artist of the year award for top albums. Anthony’s “Libre” (Free) earned him the prize for male tropical/salsa album of the year. 

Canada’s Celine Dion sang a Spanish song, “Aun Existe Amor” (Love Still Exists), and received a special award for her hit “My Heart Will Go On,” which was the first English-language song to top Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks chart. 

Velasquez and pop stars Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Estefan were among the female nominees. Velasquez’s “Mi Corazon” (My Heart) won for female pop album of the year and Lopez took home the award for dance single of the year. 

Colombian star Shakira, another crossover success, won the debut Viewer’s Choice Award, while Tanon netted the female tropical/salsa album of the year award.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to designate 2.5 million acres of public land in California as wilderness, including national forest areas that the Bush administration has proposed for oil drilling and logging. 

Boxer intends to introduce legislation next week targeting 77 areas across the state. It would be the first statewide wilderness bill since 1984, she said Friday. 

The legislation would halt U.S. Forest Service proposals to drill for oil in portions of the Los Padres National Forest and to do logging in the Duncan Canyon area of the Tahoe National Forest. 

The bill also would expand the Ansel Adams Wilderness area east of Yosemite National Park. 

Boxer expects logging and mining interests as well as off-road recreation enthusiasts to oppose the wilderness designations. 

“Opponents will say this bill will add to public lands. It doesn’t. It just gives them a higher level of protection,” said Boxer, who plans to kick off a campaign for the bill Saturday at the Presidio in San Francisco. 

Boxer has no support at the moment among California’s 20 Republicans in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. 

But Boxer, who plans to seek re-election in 2004, said the process will take time. 

“This bill will be put into law bit by bit, year by year,” she said. 

Donors stuffed envelopes with a record $25,000 for the Berkeley Public Education Foundation Friday afternoon at the organization’s 16th Annual Spring Luncheon.  

The foundation, which poured almost $700,000 and 46,000 hours of volunteer time into the Berkeley schools last year, collected over $100,000 prior to the event in ticket sales, sponsorships and in-kind donations for the lunch. 

The event, held at H’s Lordship’s Restaurant at the Berkeley Marina, drew dozens of business leaders, school officials, city officials and parent activists. 

“This was a wonderful event,” said Mary Friedman, executive director of the foundation. “It’s an opportunity for people from many different parts of the community...to really come together and re-dedicate themselves to a strong public school system and a just society.” 

The foundation offered three awards during the event, including a “distinguished educator” award for Carol Olson, who has taught in the Berkeley schools for 33 years. 

“Carol Olson has sustained my family’s hope in the education system,” said Kate Ulansky, a former Olson student, during introductory remarks. 

Ulansky praised Olson for aggressively pushing her students to succeed. 

“Mrs. Olson was Al Capone and I was one of her lieutenants,” Ulansky said, drawing laughs from the crowd. 

“I don’t know if it could get any better than this,” said Olson, who will retire at the end of the year.  

“I’ve survived nine superintendents and 11 site administrators...Apparently, however, there haven’t been enough business managers or financial geniuses around,” she joked, making reference to the district’s financial woes. 

Olson, who has made use of numerous Education Fund grants throughout her career, was quick to put in a word for the foundation. 

“In today’s test-driven society...it’s this group that stands out, saying, ‘go ahead – dream, teach,’” she said. 

Every year, the foundation doles out dozens of grants to Berkeley teachers for special projects, sponsors specialized fundraising campaigns initiated by community groups, teachers or the foundation itself, and orchestrates the Berkeley School Volunteers program. 

The foundation also honored a group of Fourth Street merchants Friday for organizing an annual event to benefit the Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble. That event, a fair including live music, will take place May 19 on Fourth Street from noon to 5 p.m. this year. 

Six students in the BHS Jazz Ensemble, part of a larger group called the San Francisco All-Star Band, set out Friday for a national high school competition in New York City focused on Duke Ellington’s music. 

The band was one of 15 chosen from 149 entries to participate in the “Essentially Ellington” contest at the Lincoln Center. The groups will compete for $11,000 in prizes for school jazz programs. 

The foundation also honored the Hills Project, an arts program that targets at-risk youth. The program, which began in San Francisco, expanded to Malcolm X Elementary School and Longfellow Middle School four years ago.

BERKELEY — Friday, officials at the University of California at Berkeley blamed the English Department for the listing of a course in which the instructor, an active supporter of Palestinians on campus, suggested that “conservative thinkers” should consider another course. 

The reading and comprehension course is titled “The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance.”  

It is taught by UC Berkeley graduate student Snehal Shingavi, an organizer with the group Students for Justice in Palestine, which was recently admonished by university officials for taking over a school building in April. 

UC Berkeley officials said the course description was a failure of oversight by the English Department in reviewing course descriptions. 

Officials vowed to make sure that, in the future, courses do not discourage qualified students from applying.

SAN FRANCISCO — E-Trade Group Inc. Chairman Christos Cotsakos agreed Friday to relinquish his salary for the next two years and surrender other rich benefits in an effort to quell outrage over a compensation package that made him the brokerage industry’s top-paid executive. 

Cotsakos, E-Trade’s chief executive since 1996, agreed to a more modest contract 10 days after the Menlo Park-based company disclosed that it gave him a 2001 pay package valued at about $80 million. 

E-Trade rewarded Cotsakos against the backdrop of a painful stock market downturn that has battered much of the brokerage industry. Cotsakos has helped insulate E-Trade from the fallout by expanding the online brokerage into banking and other financial services. 

E-Trade still lost $241 million last year and another $276 million during the first three months of this year, a setback the company blamed on special accounting charges. 

E-Trade said it made an operating profit throughout last year, a performance that it credited largely to Cotsakos’ leadership. The company’s 2001 revenue totaled $1.28 billion, up from $73 million annually when Cotsakos first arrived. 

Other brokers trimmed their executives’ paychecks during last year’s market turbulence. 

Last year, Charles Schwab Corp. — the largest online stock brokerage — suspended the bonuses of its co-CEOs, Charles Schwab and David Pottruck. The two men each received $8.1 million bonuses in the prior year. Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch also reduced the pay of their CEOs last year. 

Shareholders still aren’t convinced Cotsakos ranks as the most valuable executive in the brokerage industry. 

Investors expressed their frustration with E-Trade by punishing the company’s stock. The company’s shares dropped by 28 percent in the first few days after E-Trade disclosed Cotsakos’ pay package. 

The stock regained some ground earlier this week, but remains below its price before the indignation over Cotsakos’ contract. E-Trade’s shares fell 17 cents to $5.95 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. E-Trade’s shares peaked at a split-adjusted $36 a little over three years ago. 

“There were some very egregious parts of the arrangement (with Cotsakos) that obviously had to be addressed,” said Judith Fischer, managing director of Executive Compensation Advisory Services, a compensation consultant in Alexandria, Va. 

“But E-Trade should have figured that out before they went public with the details last week.” 

Cotsakos, 53, will face shareholders May 24 at E-Trade’s annual meeting. 

“I have listened to shareowner concerns and want to dispel any doubt that my commitment to the success of this company is unwavering,” Cotsakos said. “I am eager to eliminate the distraction of the compensation discussion so that we can focus on the business.” 

Under his new contract expiring in May 2004, Cotsakos will forgo his salary for the next two years and will receive a bonus “based exclusively on the company’s performance,” E-Trade said. Last year, E-Trade paid Cotsakos a $798,000 salary and a $4.1 million bonus. 

Several other features of last year’s pay package enraged shareholders. 

E-Trade forgave a $15 million loan to Cotsakos, gave him $17.9 million to cover income taxes, contributed $9.9 million to his retirement plan and doled out 4.67 million shares of restricted stock valued at $29.3 million. 

Cotsakos also received stock options with an estimated value ranging between $2.2 million and $5.6 million. 

The new contract requires Cotsakos to return $6 million of his retirement contributions and give back 2 million shares of the restricted stock. 

E-Trade also will pay Cotsakos dramatically less if he loses his job in a takeover. Under the old contract, Cotsakos could have received a $125 million severance package. The new agreement caps his severance pay at $4 million, according to a copy of the contract filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Cotsakos is widely credited for establishing E-Trade as a well-known brand in a short time.

Workers from Latin America decry conditions at Gap factories 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After promising better results to shareholders, Gap Inc. management adjourned the company’s annual meeting Friday amid tight security before addressing a small group of workers complaining about conditions in factories outside the United States. 

Representatives of the San Francisco-based clothing retailer took questions from factory workers from Guatemala, El Salvador and South Africa who criticized working conditions at factories from which Gap buys clothes. 

The factory workers, who introduced themselves as shareholders, complained about employee abuse, poor working conditions and very low pay. 

“I’m very proud to sew pants for Gap, but the board of directors should not be proud of what is happening to us,” said worker Maria Luz Panameno, speaking in Spanish. “Gap has abandoned us.” 

The plant where she worked in El Salvador has closed, she said. The plant was not owned by Gap, but produced clothes for the company. 

“It seems like the Gap is punishing us for standing up for our rights,” Panameno said. 

Lauri Shanahan, a senior vice president for Gap, told the workers Gap wants to work with them to resolve issues. Discussing the El Salvador plant, Shanahan said Gap officials “share your concerns and have worked tirelessly about two years with this factory.” 

“We don’t own these factories,” Shanahan said, saying such factories produce clothes for other companies in addition to Gap. 

Gap has compliance teams that monitor such factories, she said. A team was monitoring that factory, and the factory decided to pull out of El Salvador, she said. 

Earlier, Gap management promised shareholders to do better after reporting a 17 percent yearly decline in sales. The company on Thursday reported sales of $962 million for the four-week period that ended May 4, compared with sales of $1.2 billion for the same period last year. 

“Our results for 2001 are particularly disappointing,” said Heidi Kunz, chief financial officer for the San Francisco-based company. 

Millard Drexler, Gap’s chief executive officer, said the company is making management changes such as strengthening merchandising leadership and separating the company’s U.S. and international businesses to allow more focus on each. 

“We’ve come off of the most difficult year in our company’s history, and we’ve learned a lot,” Drexler said. 

Gap also is returning to the products that made it famous — khaki and denim, Drexler said. 

Kunz said Gap could not keep up with store growth over the last few years. 

“We shut off the new store pipeline a few months ago,” she said, adding it will not reopen until the company regains momentum. 

SACRAMENTO — Small wine importers fear a bill that would limit distribution of wine into California, backed by a British beverage conglomerate and the wine industry’s trade group, could monopolize the state’s wine market and wipe out their businesses. 

Pushed by Diageo, the multinational corporation that owns Guinness, Seagram, Sterling and Beaulieu Vineyards as well as Burger King, AB 1922 would let only an importer designated by the winemaker bring its brands of wine into California. Diageo also has import rights for hundreds of French wine brands. 

Called a “primary source” law, the proposal would benefit consumers by allowing greater quality control for wine, said a representative from the Wine Institute, an industry trade group. 

Marketing experts and owners of small wine shops disagree, however. Instead of looking out for consumers, Diageo and its allies want to lock up a greater share of California’s huge wine market. 

Diageo is angling to create trade barriers to boost the prices they can get for their brands, said Ira Kalb, a Santa Monica-based marketing consultant. 

“They haven’t been able to create enough identity (in California) and are looking for the government to do it for them,” Kalb said. 

With its purchase of Seagram’s brands last year, Diageo can now claim the No. 1 or No. 2 make in each category of world’s biggest spirits market, the United States. But financial analysts say Diageo paid a premium for those brands and must look for ways to improve its revenues. 

So far, the bill by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, D-Los Angeles, has attracted the support of the biggest players in the state’s wine industry. Along with Diageo, the bill is backed by giant wholesalers, such as Young’s Market and Southern Wine and Spirits. 

It is also supported by the Wine Institute, which represents more than 600 small wineries in California. Top Diageo executives are members of the Wine Institute’s board of directors. 

Diageo officials did not return repeated calls for comment from The Associated Press. 

Wholesalers and Diageo have donated thousands of dollars to Firebaugh and other members of the Assembly, including House Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, and Assemblyman Jerome Horton, a Los Angeles Democrat whose committee approved the bill April 15. 

According to state campaign finance records, these wholesalers have donated more than $80,000 to Wesson and funds he controls, $15,000 to a fund controlled by former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, $2,000 to Firebaugh and about $6,500 to Horton. 

Also, state lobbying records show, Diageo’s United Distillers and Vineyards division has spent more than $100,000 on lobbying expenses during this legislative session. 

Opposing them is the recently created California Fine Wine Alliance, a coalition of small wine importers. They said the bill would cost more than $100 million in retail wine sales each year, and California would lose $10 million in sales taxes. 

The bill would expand California’s primary source law to include wine, meaning importers would need to pay taxes on all wines they bring into the state. 

The law now applies only to distilled spirits, which can only be brought into the state by wholesalers authorized by the alcohol maker. California is one of the few states that does not have a primary source law for wine, said Mike Falasco, a legislative analyst for the Wine Institute. The bill would just make California comply with the rest of the country, he said. 

Thirty-two states have primary source laws for wine, said Bob Frohling, an analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

The bill, Falasco said, would also let wineries better determine who is selling their products and give wineries more control over quality. 

If a customer is dissatisfied with wine, Falasco said, the winemaker wants to know why. “Maybe it’s a bad batch or a bad cork” caused by wine importers storing wine improperly in hot warehouses. 

That’s ridiculous, said Todd Zucker, president of K&L Wine Merchants in Redwood City, a small wine importer. 

Importers take great care in importing wine, storing it in refrigerated boxes and warehouses, Zucker said. Even the $6 and $10 bottles are cared for, because “we can alienate more customers by not taking care of inexpensive bottles.” 

“We would not be able to keep our brands strong if we were constantly selling products that were coming back to us,” Zucker said. 

Firebaugh said the bill is about preserving a brand’s integrity, and small importers could still import wine if they sign an agreement with the wine maker. 

The agreement, Firebaugh said, would require that the product be safeguarded against tampering. This way, the manufacturer would always know who’s selling their wine and where. 

Importers, however, said reaching such agreements would be difficult, because they often import just one bottle from many wineries. 

Assemblyman Dick Dickerson, R-Redding, the only one to vote against AB 1922 during its first hearing in the Governmental Operations Committee last week, said the bill “would hurt small wholesale businesses and small wineries if they had to live under these regulations.” The bill is set to be heard by the Appropriations Committee May 8. 

The bill was approved by the Committee on Governmental Organization with an 18-1 vote. Horton, however, rushed through opponents because the meeting was running late. He did, however, allow the proponents to speak on the bill’s behalf, while the long line of opponents was left to only state their name and affiliation.

A first glance at the photographs hanging in the entrance hallway of Photolab in West Berkeley could cause some confusion. The well-executed pictures carefully hung along the long, narrow passage are a seemingly random collection of moments and memories with titles like “After the Rain, Old Quebec (Quebec, 1984)” and “Adria at Ebbets Field (Brooklyn, NY, 1950)” and “Cow, Point Reyes National Seashore (Marin, CA, 1995)”.  

The simple and curiously strong compositions come from Stephen A. Fisher, a self-taught Berkeley photographer who, for the last 50 years, has been taking photos of his family, his travels, and the sudden chance inspirations visiting his keen eye. Individually, the quality of the mostly color photos are several notches above the work of an exuberant shutterbug; these are thoughtfully composed portraits and landscapes with a deft sense of energy in the design of a subject placed compellingly in its environment. 

Together, these seemingly random photos represent an exercise in form described succinctly by the show’s title: “Stephen A. Fisher: Images In Juxtaposition.” The hallway of photos, which stretch behind Photolab’s cashier counter and around its printing machine, are presenting pictures in pairs to highlight the similarities of Fisher’s composition techniques.  

Upon entering the building from the sidewalk, the first set of photos begins with “Train to Kuranda (Queensland, Australia, 1997)” wherein Fisher, seated inside a train car moving along a track cut into the side of a mountain, took a photo of the train ahead as it glides dramatically to the left. Next to that picture is another of his wife, Susan, wearing a sundress circa 1965, standing in a patio overlooking Laguna Beach, the seashore sweeping dramatically to the right. The inspiration, Fisher writes in the show’s program notes, comes from an obscure French film called “That Man From Rio” (with “Breathless” star Jean-Paul Belmondo), a farce which had Belmondo hanging from a hotel balcony above the dramatic sweep of Copacabana Beach. 

The clever mix-and-match conceit of the show gets some weight as it reveals expressive nuance from Fisher’s bag of tricks. Three photos of ponds and puddles reflecting the color of the sky create a collage effect in the striking color contrast as a piece of the sky is laid into the land. Nearby on the gallery wall is “Children in the Rearview Mirror (Near Sonoma Coast, 1973)”, a shot of the landscape taken through the window of a moving car, in the middle of which is a mirror reflecting the kids in the back seat. Fisher uses the disjunctive image in the mirror to produce a similar collage effect, contrasting the expanse of land outside with the small confines of the travelers inside. 

Some of these techniques Fisher has been utilizing repeatedly in his amateur photography over the last 50 years. But revisiting his portfolio to put this show together – his first – held some surprises. “It’s really been a revelation to me,” he said. “Sometimes it’s totally unconscious.” Two of his pictures, taken 35 years apart, both show a person, alone, in an environment blanketed in white: fog in one case, snow in another. The feeling is similar, however the artist admits he didn’t realize just how similar until the photos were laid side by side. 

There are two photos of the World Trade Center – both taken out a window from the restaurant on the 107th floor. Both are juxtaposed with other photos to highlight the vertical lines (of trees, of window panes, of the Twin Towers’ shadows) and the contrast of foreground and background. These are the most telling case of how the show’s formalist aim does not allow any one photo to stand on its own. The pairing of the pictures leads the viewer away from any profundity a picture’s subject might provoke in favor of the show’s overarching compare-and-contrast structure.  

A small card is hung among the photos – it isn’t obvious, you have to look for it – describing the nature of juxtaposition. Written by Fisher’s son Jacob Fisher, who has a Ph.D., in rhetoric, it cites culture philosopher Michel Foucault: ‘Space is the metaphor of the possibility that things can be juxtaposed.” 

When asked what that means in laymen’s terms, the father Fisher said, “juxtaposition happens in space, and space itself is a trope. Space is a medium in which you could move things around.” 

The experience happens not just in the somewhat cramped space of Photolab but in the mind of the viewer: the energy frozen in the photos – the soft lighting and rich red color of a hallway in “Pat, St. Francis Hotel” or the physical joy of diving in “Karin, Albany Pool” – vibrate in the mind’s eye when seen together. 

Professionally, Fisher is a psychiatrist, working most of his life in community mental health institutions. His career and his hobby came together in a documentary he made, “Veterans Home, Yountville,” about a state facility in Napa Valley, and once hoped to make a film about the history, evolution and demise of the psychiatric institution as a community. The film would have been called “Town in the Fog.” Fog, said Fisher, is a metaphor of a confused mental state, but it can also be a great comfort, a protection. 

“All of my pictures with people show people in relationship to their environment,” said Fisher, “there’s a harmony between people and environment.” 

This insight sheds a different light on the photos of blanketed whiteness. What might seem to be two men, 35 years apart, stranded in a featureless, colorless isolation could invoke a mental peace, and denote a world wherein its people enjoy a blissful calm, albeit alone. Any one photo might not be able to communicate that. 

Stephen A. Fisher’s “Images In Juxtaposition” is on display until June 8 at Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644 1400.

On cleaning tubs and showers 

You were about to take a shower, but after closer observation of the fiberglass pan, decided it needed cleaning more than you did. You scrubbed and rubbed, but nothing would clean it. Here’s a concoction that should help: Mix two tablespoons of turpentine into a half cup of table salt, scrub with a nylon bristle brush, and be prepared for a shine. Don’t rinse this solution down the drain. Instead, wipe it up with a paper towel. That way you don’t introduce dangerous chemicals into the waste system. After the paper towels have air-dried, they’re safe to discard in the normal fashion. 

LOWELL, Ore. — They’re still here, on plywood platforms and under blue tarps, watching the forest from the treetops and waiting for word that their efforts have paid off. 

Four years ago two young men climbed 180 feet up an old-growth Douglas fir in the Willamette National Forest to block plans to log 96 acres of timber. Protesters say they’ve been there every day since, making it the longest continuous tree-sit against old-growth logging in the Northwest. 

“It really tells you something about the commitment of these guys to protect what’s left of mature and old-growth forests on public lands,” said James Johnston of the Cascadia Wildlands Project, a Eugene-based environmental group. “I know they’ll be out here another four years, if that’s what it takes.” 

The battle, already marked by blockades, arrests and lawsuits, is expected to rage on. 

The U.S. Forest Service has set aside 70 percent of the Clark sale area to protect habitat for the red tree vole — a nocturnal, fir needle-munching rodent that lives in the upper reaches of old Douglas fir trees and is a staple of the northern spotted owl’s diet. 

Still, activists say they’re nowhere near ready to abandon their perches and roadblocks. 

“We want of course to defend this until the sale is canceled,” one of the tree-sitters said. 

Timber industry leaders say they hope to see just the opposite at Clark and other delayed timber sales in the Northwest. 

They’re waiting to see if Bush administration officials will loosen the grip on logging in public forests and restore the original timber volume promised under President Clinton’s much-criticized Northwest Forest Plan. 

Across the region, the forest plan was to provide 20 percent of the historic harvest levels, but instead it has resulted in just 4 percent while the Forest Service surveys for wildlife and the courts consider ongoing legal battles. 

The Clark sale is “exactly the kind of timber sale that scientists thought should go ahead under the Northwest Forest Plan,” said Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, a Portland-based industry group. 

“It’s an isolated block of mature forest, and because of its small size, it doesn’t have as much importance as other stands that they protected in the plan. That’s why it was proposed for harvest,” West said. 

The timber was sold to Zip-O-Log Mills Inc. of Eugene in early 1998, but the company hasn’t been able to start cutting. It’s now negotiating with Willamette forest officials over the logging cutbacks. 

“The sale has changed substantially because of the numbers of red tree vole nests,” said Rick Scott, the Middle Fork District ranger. “The question is, is it still an economically viable sale?” 

If Zip-O-Log accepts the modified sale, the company could log 29 acres as soon as this year, Scott said. Or the sale could be canceled, if the company and the agency agree it has changed too much. 

“I don’t think this was what they intended when they passed the Northwest Forest Plan back in 1994,” said Jim Hallstrom, president of Zip-O-Log. “It was supposed to smooth things out and speed things up and give the industry some kind of volume that they could count on. And it just hasn’t done that.” 

Last year, timber harvested on the Willamette totaled 17 million board feet — far less than the 138 million board feet promised under the regional forest plan or the revised target of 111 million board feet adopted after the Willamette mapped creekside setbacks and special habitat reserves. 

Forest Service officials in Washington, D.C., are now reviewing which plants and animals they should continue to survey and protect before allowing ground-disturbing projects to move forward on agency lands. 

Environmentalists say they worry that industry pressure could lead the Forest Service to drop the tree vole from the required survey list, possibly returning the Clark timber sale to its original size. 

“The whole process is taking place behind closed doors,” said Leeanne Siart, a biologist in the Eugene office of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, which is at the forefront of environmental challenges in the state. 

Unsure what will happen — or when — the protesters plan to hold their ground in the Fall Creek watershed about 25 miles east of Eugene. 

In the first year, the Clark sale and the protest it spawned led to repeated confrontations between activists and Forest Service officers. In the last couple of years, officials mostly have left them alone. But the activists are still ready for a showdown. 

Approaching the area, visitors encounter crude roadblocks along the twisting spur roads leading to the stands marked for logging. Activists built them from rocks and branches, hoping to slow down anyone who drives in to try to remove them or dismantle their camps. 

Up one tree in a dense stand of old growth, a woman played the flute. On a steep slope in a younger stand of trees, a young man calling himself “Ta” offered to share some of the food he prepared more than 100 feet up the trunk of a fir. 

Fruit Fly, a soft-spoken man with a thick, dark beard, pointed to a tree in the stand that supports a tree vole nest. The Forest Service labeled the nest inactive, which doesn’t prompt a protective buffer, but he believes otherwise. 

Either way, it shows that much is left to be learned about where the animal lives and what it needs to survive, he said. 

“Every inactive nest could very well become active, so what’s the reason to cut it?” he said. 

Fruit Fly, in the base camp this day, also has taken his turn on the doughnut-shaped platforms suspended by ropes high up in the trees. It’s lonely duty, and the wind and rain and cold can make it bleak. 

But he also finds it refreshing and rewarding. 

“Things move a lot slower and you’re kind of living in accordance with the trees and nature and the animals and observing that rather than observing traffic lights and horns and cars and lights and stuff,” he said. “In the upper canopy itself, there’s a whole different type of ecosystem.” 

On the platforms, movement is limited. 

“That’s why it’s probably not good to spend forever in the tree,” Fruit Fly said. “For human beings, we’re not necessarily meant to live in trees like that. Our habitat is different I guess. But it’s a fun habitat to hang out in.” 

It’s also dangerous. A 22-year-old Portland woman died April 12 after falling 150 feet from a platform at the Eagle Creek timber sale protest in the Mount Hood National Forest near Estacada. That timber sale had been canceled three days before the protester’s death. 

Siart said the accident has hit the activist community hard and is still sinking in. Tree-sitters know and accept the risks, but they also are taught to follow strict safety guidelines, such as making sure people use safety lines when they move from one platform to another. 

As part of the Clark protest’s recent four-year anniversary, activists offered training in skills such as tree-scaling basics and safety protocols. 

For now, there appears to be no quick conclusion to the standoff. 

The timber industry has filed suit in federal court in Eugene challenging the legality of the Forest Service’s wildlife survey and management program. Environmentalists have filed their own lawsuit in Seattle, where decisions have tended to favor their causes. 

“I’m disappointed that our political leaders haven’t fixed this problem,” said Johnston of the Cascadia Wildlands Project, “but I’m not surprised the public is still willing to clearly put their lives on the line to protect places like this.”

LOS ANGELES — An Orange County doctor jailed in Israel on suspicion of terrorism began a hunger strike Friday to protest his detention without formal charges, his brother said. 

Riad Abdelkarim, 34, is being held at the Petach Tikva Detention Center outside Tel Aviv. He was detained Sunday following a 10-day trip to assess medical needs in the Palestinian territories for the Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps. 

His brother, Basim Abdelkarim, said he learned of the hunger strike from Israeli human rights lawyer Leah Tsemel. 

“It’s to protest his detention,” he said, adding he does not know if the jailed doctor is consuming liquid. He said a candlelight vigil is planned for Saturday outside City Hall in Orange, where Abdelkarim lives with his wife and four children. 

Relatives and friends of Abdelkarim have expressed frustration over his arrest. 

“They have made all these accusations. It’s outrageous that they can get away with it,” his brother said. “If they had any evidence they would have charged him.” 

David Douek, a spokesman for the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, has said officials in Israel won’t reveal the evidence against Abdelkarim because of security concerns. 

A U.S. State Department memo released this week said a judge issued a ruling Monday ordering that Abdelkarim be held for eight days on suspicion of “membership in a terrorist organization and attempting to fund terrorist organizations.” 

Abdelkarim, born in California to Palestinian parents, is a frequent commentator on Middle East issues who has taken positions against Arab extremism and Israeli army abuses. He was questioned by the FBI after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and wrote an opinion piece in which he condemned being singled out because of his ethnicity and political beliefs. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Concluding an eight-month operation that involved about 800 troops and cost the state about $40 million, the last of the National Guard units that provided added security at 30 California airports headed back home Friday. 

“Our job there was to protect the public from any untoward activities that might occur and to provide a presence that connoted a trained, armed and disciplined force,” said National Guard Lt. Col. Dick Loesch. 

Gov. Gray Davis ordered the guardsmen into airports around the state to boost security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. At a cost of up to $5.5 million a month for payroll and operations costs, Loesch said the overall cost was about $40 million. 

The departure marked the end of insomnia for David Young, Brett Brendix and the rest of the Moon Dogs, a troop of reservists who worked from midnight to noon at San Francisco Interational Airport. 

“We’re ready to go,” said Brendix, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the 12 soldiers on the night shift. 

Brendix said he hasn’t slept well during the day, and is looking forward to being closer to his family in Sacramento. 

“My wife told me she can’t wait until I can be home to help with family responsibilities again,” said Brendix, a father of two. “She’s had to be both mom and dad, and it’s been pretty tough on her.” 

On their last day at San Francisco’s airport, National Guard soldiers reflecting on their months of duty said that one passenger stood out — the naked woman who tried to stroll through an airport checkpoint. 

“A woman got out of the taxi, stripped down to her skin and tried to walk through this checkpoint naked,” said Chief Warrant Officer David Young, pointing to a United Airlines checkpoint. 

The woman was arrested, and the soldiers returned to their mundane routine. 

The soldiers, who wore camouflage uniforms and carried assault rifles, will be replaced with armed police officers. Federal transportation officials hope to hire at least 60,000 screeners to replace private employees at the nation’s 429 commercial airports by Nov. 19. 

At Sacramento International Airport, 50 members of the National Guard who have been staffing security checkpoints since Oct. 12 were feted at a ceremony to thank them early Friday morning. 

“It was a successful mission and the soldiers and airmen were proud to serve,” said National Guard spokeswoman Denise Varner. “But they are happy to go back to their lives.” 

At 4:30 a.m. Friday, the guardsmen were replaced by local sheriff’s deputies from the Sacramento area. About 34 officers will provide security in two different overtime shifts, at 10 hours apiece. 

Although the soldiers are leaving the airports, officials said there is no plan to remove the 100 soldiers who now patrol four bridges from San Diego to San Francisco. 

The troops were deployed in November after Davis said there was evidence of possible terrorist threats on the bridges. 

“The threat is still there,” said National Guard Col. Terry Knight. “Has anyone done anything yet? No.” 

Troops began pulling out of Los Angeles International Airport and other Southern California commercial airports on April 30. By Friday, not a soldier was in sight at the Los Angeles airport, where passenger Robert Wilson said he didn’t believe the troops had a big impact on security. 

“They served as a visual deterrent for would-be troublemakers, but they didn’t make me feel any safer about flying,” he said. 

Guardswoman Alexsandra Serda, 19, said travelers weren’t always pleased with the presence of armed guards standing watch with guns. She said on her first day on the job at the San Francisco airport, an elderly woman shoved a soldier after airport staff took away her two butter knives. 

“A lot of the old ladies tend to get rowdy,” she said. 

Guards said the job was sometimes boring as they stood watching and waiting with their M-16s in hand. Defusing tempers of frustrated passengers was the most common action they saw. But some San Francisco passengers said Friday they will miss the guards. 

“I hate to see them leave,” said Hugh McCullough of Cincinnati, returning from a cruise with his wife, Donna. “I feel more comfortable with them than with the rent-a-cops they will be getting.”

We recently attended the 21st annual Kitchen & Bath Show in Chicago, where — along with 40,000 other industry professionals — we were dazzled by new and exciting products for the two most important rooms in the home. 

Consumers today demand more convenience, style and luxury, and manufacturers have responded with more high-end glamour, personal pampering and make-sense innovations than ever before. The kitchen still is the focal point of the home. If you are in doubt of that, just note where everyone gathers the next time you throw a party. 

Today’s kitchen has evolved into a marvel of a workspace. Nestled amid fine furniture-quality cabinetry and glistening stretches of eye-catching countertop are impressive electronics and appliances. 

The gleaming stainless-steel look still dominates appliances. However, a growing segment of the high-end market now also is offering a spectrum of vibrant bold colors to intrigue buyers and stimulate design imagination. It is indeed stunning to see deep blues, fiery reds and brilliant yellows in designs. 

Electronics, such as high-tech television sets, self-diagnostics and computer-Internet capabilities have made major inroads in the kitchen as well. Energy-efficiency — especially in refrigerators — remains a major industry goal. 

One surprising new trend: kitchens are moving outdoors. Full backyard kitchens — with elaborate grills, refrigerators, warming drawers, wet sinks and dishwashers — now are offered by numerous manufacturers, especially in sunbelt climates. Next time you’re cruising the appliance department, see what companies like Viking, Coleman, Jenn-Air, Thermador, Dacor and Wolf are up to. 

Remember the new space-age concept oven we recently wrote about that keeps food cold all day and then switches over to cook mode? Well, they’re here. Whirlpool has just introduced the industry’s first refrigerated range. It both cools and cooks on preprogrammed command, and will have delicious piping hot home-cooked meals ready and waiting for you when you get home. For more info visit www.whirlpool.com or call (800)-253-1301. The only thing yet to be made available is the remote-control capability for refrigerated ovens being pioneered by Tonight’s Menu — www.cyberovens.com or (440)-838-5135. 

Turning from dream kitchens to spectacular bathrooms, we can sum things up in two words: “luxury” and “beauty.” 

One striking new trend is glass-vessel sink bowls that rest on countertops or atop thick glass with exposed plumbing. Bowl designs are many, ranging from gleaming steel or glass to hand-painted antique porcelain. When coupled with today’s dramatic faucet technologies, the result is an eye magnet. 

There were more European-styled luxury influences, as well. Wall-mounted “off-floor” toilet systems — with the recessed water tank hidden between wall studs — are gaining in popularity. Water-saving toilets with gravity-fed, anti-clog quiet flush mechanisms now are widely featured. Comfort is also a feature with varied heights, sizes and configurations. Kohler now offers a heated toilet seat. 

Bathing keeps getting better and better. Still No. 1 on the American homeowner’s wish list is the soothing bubbling whirlpool tub. And the innovations and variations keep on coming. One interesting adaptation is the combination of vintage Victorian claw-foot tub styling with all the bells and whistles of new high-tech models made with lightweight, easy-care materials and built-in whirlpool jets. For more info on the Caspian Victorian whirlpool tub by American Bath Factory visit www.americanbathfactory.com or call (800)-454-BATH. 

Another new bathing experience is the Sok Bath (pronounced “soak”) with Chromatherapy by Kohler. The tub has a fully lighted interior surface with eight colors that slowly change underwater. Just dim the lights, and “color” yourself soothed and relaxed. For more info visit www.kohler.com or call (800)-456-4537. 

Overall, there were more commonsense innovations and products than ever before — small touches, that provide convenience and personal luxury. Towel warmers, once a snooty European import, now are cropping up in more upscale American bathrooms, as are floor-warming systems. Another product that is becoming popular is the hotel-style combination shelf and towel bar. Other nifty accessories we liked include the Hy-Da-Plunge recessed bathroom wall cabinet — to keep plunger, toilet brush and cleaner handy, yet out of sight — by Helber Industries — www.hydaplunge.com or (950)-523-6935. And the Never-MT (“empty” — get it?) soap dispenser conversion kit (by Hy-Lite Products) that attaches to your kitchen-sink dispenser pump and draws liquid soap directly from a big family-size soap container in the base cabinet. For info visit www.hy-lite.com pr call (800)-827-3691. 

For more home improvement tips and information visit our Web site at www.onthehouse.com. 

Readers can mail questions to: On the House, APNewsFeatures, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020, or e-mail Careybro@onthehouse.com. To receive a copy of On the House booklets on plumbing, painting, heating/cooling or decks/patios, send a check or money order payable to The Associated Press for $6.95 per booklet and mail to: On the House, P.O. Box 1562, New York, NY 10016-1562, or through these online sites: www.onthehouse.com or apbookstore.com. osdf

The take-home message at an impassioned citizens’ forum Wednesday night was that police brutality exists in Berkeley and there’s little that residents can do about it. 

A crowd of nearly 50 UC students and Berkeley residents shared repeated testimony of violent choke-holds and misuse of pepper spray by the UC Police Department, and said that oversight of the controversial conduct was negligible. 

“You and I have no say in how we’re policed,” said Andrea Prichett, a volunteer of the citizen oversight group Copwatch and featured speaker at Wednesday’s gathering. “You try to tell someone you don’t like the way you’re policed, it will fall upon deaf ears.” 

Critics at the jointly-sponsored forum, sponsored by Copwatch and the university’s Student Advocate Office, acknowledged that the campus police department has a board to review citizen concerns but charged that the board is only symbolic, with no intention or power to critique police action. 

UC police, though declining an invitation to attend the forum, disagreed with this assessment. 

“We’ve always thought our review process was adequate,” said Captain Bill Cooper prior to Wednesday’s forum. “I don’t know what has caused the need for this [gathering].” 

Cooper explained that his department has recently enacted a number of “self-analysis” policies. Among them are requiring police to testify before the review board, which was initially optional, and adding a community member to the board. The new policies are slated for review and improvement in 2003, Copper said. 

But critics claim the police board still falls short of its mission. 

“The police review board does not have an office. They do not have a phone number. They do not have a place where complaints can be filed,” explained student Alex Kipnis, a member of the university’s Student Advocate Office and featured speaker. 

“I wish there was a review board, something real, not this Mickey Mouse act,” stated audience member and Berkeley resident Michael Diehl. 

UC’s Cooper conceded that the current police review board is not in full working order, noting that the board has no chairperson to lead it and lacks certain resources. 

Cooper passed responsibility for staffing the board and bringing it up to speed, though, to the university’s chancellor’s office. 

Vice Chancellor Horace Mitchell, who oversees campus police and was invited to speak at Wednesday’s forum, was out of town this week and not available for comment. 

“I know they’re working on getting a chair [for the review board],” Cooper noted. 

But critics say the university has moved too slow and, this week, drafted a letter urging Mitchell to take more immediate action. The letter demands that the police review board be given greater muscle, that citizens observing police action not be unduly restricted, and that choke-holds and pepper spray be prohibited. 

The letter comes as community demonstrations are on the rise in Berkeley given the Middle East conflict, and with it, the possibility of questionable police intervention. 

The April 9 demonstration at the university’s Wheeler Hall resulted in 79 arrests and numerous concerns about excessive force, buckling the radar of activist groups. 

“While Berkeley’s municipal police department and even the California Highway Patrol have discontinued the use of chokeholds, the UC Police Department continues to employee this dubious practice,” the letter to Mitchell states. 

Likewise, UC police continue to use pepper spray though city police are not prevented from doing so, the letter adds. 

Wednesday’s forum ended with a pledge among the attendees to remain united and committed to their demands of the university. 

“I hope this is going to turn into something,” said Berkeley resident Aimee Durfee, who said she has lost her faith in police accountability. 

Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, also present at Wednesday’s forum, vowed his support for civilian rights and sympathized with the group’s demands on police. 

“It’s shocking that they have to ask for this,” he said.

To the Editor: 

A recent announcement from the office of City Councilmember Dona Spring calls for citizen participation in a convention to select a “progressive” candidate to run against current Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean. (The convention took place Saturday, May 4.) This announcement proudly asserts that the last time such an event  

occurred it resulted in the election of two-term Mayor Loni Hancock. 

Given that Dona Spring, who deserves to be known as the Green Party's brown thumb, is the source for this call, this should make the whole process suspect from the beginning. 

Loni Hancock was an unmitigated disaster for Berkeley. 

Her hand-picked choice for city manger, Michael Brown, militarized the Berkeley Police. He embarked on a campaign against dissent in Berkeley and created the police unit known as “The Crowd Management Team.” During that time, supposed progressive City Council members voted for the use of crowd control munitions (rubber and wooden bullets) by BPD. 

These had been used on crowds protesting construction of volley ball courts on People’s Park. At the City Council meeting where the deciding votes were cast, City Manager Brown stood on the stage of the Berkeley Community Theatre and pointed out community activists to be dragged out and arrested, some notable activists such as Carol Denney were hog-tied like farm animals.  

The progressive City Council and Mayor Hancock did nothing to intervene in this gross violation of civil rights and liberties. Loni Hancock pushed through legislation that allowed the most notorious developer in Berkeley, UCB, to ok its own Environmental Impact Report findings, giving up the city's right to review them. 

The City Council committed a clear violation of the voters’ will when it passed Measure N in the mid ‘80s. This ballot measure commanded city officials to take every possible measure to ensure UCB's compliance with existing zoning laws and the General Plan. So far, not one city official has made any effort to enforce the will of the voters expressed in Measure N. 

Mayor Hancock was totally complicit in the university's construction of volleyball courts on People's Park and lied about her involvement repeatedly. A public records request revealed letters from the mayor to the UC Chancellor that detailed cooperative planning efforts between the city and UCB for the construction of the volleyball courts. 

Ms Spring’s record is total anathema to what the Green platform is supposed to stand for.  

Unfortunately, the local Green Party is nothing more than a reelection vehicle for Dona Spring and will not do anything to hold her accountable to the Green Party platform. Ms. Spring was on the committee that drafted the "poor law" proposals used to further legitimize and codify Berkeley's war against the homeless. Further, Ms. Spring, at the behest of local merchants who complained about homeless folks camping out on a bench on Shattuck Avenue, personally ordered city workers to remove the offending piece of outdoor furniture. She voted for the privatization of the city parking garages, depriving union workers of jobs. To avoid offending downtown merchants she voted against HUD money to be used to create low income housing in downtown Berkeley. 

In many critical votes on progressive issues where it came down to her as the swing vote she waffled by abstaining, thus allowing items to defeated by council “moderates.” 

When it comes down to walking the talk, Berkeley “progressives” remain hobbled at the starting line by their own self-serving tendency to compromise at the first hint of opposition and timorous fear of being portrayed as being too radical rather than standing on principle. Not one supposed “progressive” on the City Council has denounced the illegal labor practices employed by certain city of Berkeley departments. Part-time employees of the city do not receive benefits and are limited to fewer than 30 hours per week, the break point between part-time and full-time.  

If a part-time employee works more than 30 hours, they are ordered to carry the extra time over to next week’s time card so they will not move up to full time status and thus become eligible for benefits. Nor have any “progressive” City Council members called for the firing of City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque who, among her many notable endeavors, has done her best to legally justify city actions against the homeless and the undermining of the Brown Act (open meeting laws) by city departments and commissions. 

Anyone who plans to attend this convention should be aware of the hypocritical history of the “progressive left” in Berkeley and how they have attacked, marginalized, and silenced community activists who were  

working for a truly just social agenda and vision. This whole process may be nothing more than an attempt by Ms. Spring to position herself to be selected as the “progressive” candidate for mayor or create a “mandate” for a late entry candidate such as Tom Bates. Ultimately this campaign may be doomed to failure due to the lack of a truly viable candidate, its late start, and the machine-like efficiency of the Shirley Dean campaign to raise funds and consolidate its base of support. Tom Bates would continue the legacy of the Bates/Dellums  

machine which dominated and controlled Berkeley “progressive” politics for the last 15 years. 

- Stephen Dunifer 

Berkeley 

Friday, May 10

New Sculpture & Paintings by Jody Sears & Michele Ramirez 

Opening reception: Saturday May 11, 5 to 8 p.m. 

Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Ardency Gallery 

709 Broadway 

Oakland 

836-0831, e-mail: gallery709@aol.com 

Free 

Saturday, May 11

Low-cost Hatha Yoga Class 

6:30 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center 

1720 8th St. 

$6 per class. 981-6651 

3-on-3 Basketball Tournament 

Fun for everyone, whether competing or watching. At the New Gym at Albany High in Albany. Hosted by and benefiting Athletics at Albany High School. Players sign up today to play in one of four divisions. 64 teams compete for $500 First Prize & $250 Second Prize in each division with final game to be played Sunday, May 12 

525-2716 

Children's Movies 

Beauty & the Beast (in English) 

Shows at noon & 2 p.m. 

The Actor's Studio 

3521 Maybelle Ave. 

Oakland 

530-0551 

$3 

Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) Events 

Paper Flower Making 

Get ready for Mother's Day with the Klutz "Tissue Paper Flower" kit and learn to make tissue paper flowers. Age 8 and up.  

LHS Film- Happy Birthday, Mr. Feynman 

Film Plays Continuously from 12:00 to 3:30 p.m. 

To celebrate the birthday of Nobel laureate, maverick physicist, author, and teacher extraordinaire Richard Feynman, 

LHS presents the film, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. This fifty-minute film presents Feynman telling fascinating 

stories from his life and research. Produced by Christopher Sykes. 

LHS- The Idea Lab 

Opens May 11 

See what LHS is developing as new hands-on exhibits. Test out exhibit prototypes of activities and give your opinion of them. Testing and experimenting is the idea behind the Idea Lab. This new permanent exhibit begins with explorations of magnetism.  

10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

$8 for adults; $6 for youth 5-18, seniors, and disabled; $4 for children 3-4. 

Free for children under 3, LHS Members and full-time UC Berkeley students. 

LHS is on Centennial Drive- 

above the UC Berkeley campus 

Parking is 50¢/hour. 

LHS is accessible by AC Transit 

and the UC Berkeley Shuttle. 

33rd Annual California Wildflower Show 

Exhibit with 150 species of freshly gathered native flowers 

Saturday, 10 a.m. -5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California 

1-888-OAK-MUSE 

$6 general admission, $4 senior and students with ID, free for five and under.  

Jurassic Park: Dinosaur Auditions 

Live Science Demonstrations 

In this directed activity, children "audition" to be a dinosaur in an upcoming dinosaur movie. They learn about the variety of dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park exhibit as well as dress up, act, and roar like a dinosaur. These demonstrations explore recent discoveries, fossils, and how scientists know what they know about dinosaurs 

Monday-Friday at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. 

Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays at 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m. 

$8 for adults; $6 for youth 5-18, seniors, and disabled; $4 for children 3-4. 

Free for children under 3, LHS Members and full-time UC Berkeley students. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Drive-above the UC Berkeley campus 

Parking is 50¢/hour. 

LHS is accessible by AC Transit 

and the UC Berkeley Shuttle. 

Sunday, May 12

Children's Movies 

Beauty & the Beast (in Spanish) 

Shows at 1 & 3 p.m. 

The Actor's Studio 

3521 Maybelle Ave. 

Oakland 

530-0551 

$3 

Kathy Kallick Mother's Day Concert 

1 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 

$6.50 kids, $7.50 adults 

The Bungalow - Tradition & Transformation 

seminar by Barry Wagner 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St., Berkeley 

$35 

Monday, May 13

Jai Uttal with Bhima-Karma 

A Celebration of Devotion: An Evening of Chanting and Dialogue 

7:00 p.m. 

California Institute of Integral Studies 

1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 

For questions and tickets: 415-575-6150 

www.ciis.edu 

or e-mail info@ciis.edu 

$20 

Jewish Partisans: The Unknown Story 

Thousands of Jews escaped the ghettos and work camps and took up arms against the Nazi War machine. 

3 to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

848-0237 X 127 

Free 

Crossing the Bridge- positive ways to face change & transition. Reflective & energizing workshop rooted in Jewish and cross cultural stories with Ariel Abramsky facilitating. 

May 13, 20 & June 3 

7:00 to 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

848-0237 X 127 

$45 

Book Discussion Group Forming 

Sponsored by the Friends of the Library 

7:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch, Berkeley Public Library 

2940 Benvenue St. 

Free 

Buying Land 

seminar by real estate agent Dan Maher 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St., Berkeley 

$35 

Friday, May 10 

Live Music - Pete Englehart / Doug Brown Jazz Duo 

Second show: Bluesman Hideo Date 

8 p.m., second show 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro 

1901 University Ave. 

Berkeley 

510-849-ANNA 

The Waybacks 

Acoustic mayhem, album release celebration 

Doors 7:30, show 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

510-548-1761 

$16.50 advance, $17.50 at the door 

Saturday, May 11 

W. Hazaiah Williams Memorial Concert, “The Art of the Spiritual” 

Featuring African-American Spirituals sung by mezzo soprano Vanessa Ayers, tenors Samual McKelton and William Brown, Baritone Autris Paige and bass-baritone Benjamin Matthews, and pianist Dennis Helmrich. 

7:30 p.m. 

Calvin Simmons Theater 

10 Tenth Street 

Oakland 

For tickets: SASE to PO Box 507, Berkeley, 94701, or e-mail: fourseasonsconcerts@juno.com with your name, address & phone number to have tickets held at the box office or call 510-451-0775  

Free - Reserved Seating Required 

Robin Flower & Libby McLaren 

Doors 7:30, show 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

510-548-1761 

$16.50 advance, $17.50 at the door 

Live Music - Classic Jazz Singer Robin Gregory with Bliss Rodriguez on piano 

2nd show: Ducksan Distones Jazz Sextet 

8 p.m., second show 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro 

1901 University Ave. 

Berkeley 

510-849-ANNA 

Due West 

Dynamic traditional bluegrass 

Doors 7:30, show 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St. 

510-548-1761 

$15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door 

Live Music- Choro Time, Vintage Brazilian Music (20’s), Ron Galen & Group 

8 p.m., second show 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro 

1901 University Ave. 

Berkeley 

510-849-ANNA 

Saturday, May 11 

Word Beat Reading Series 

Entertainers of all kinds come together . Featuring readers Rita Flores Bogaert and Ann Hunkins 

7-9 p.m. 

458 Perkins at Grand, Oakland 

For more information: 510-526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat 

Free 

English Song Recital  

featuring Kirk Eichelberger, bass, with Christopher Luthi, piano  

7:00 p.m.  

Valley Christian High School, 100 Skyway Drive, San Jose.  

Tickets are available for a $100 tax-deductible donation.  

All proceeds benefit the Discovery Center's educational therapy program. 

“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. 

“Re: Figuration” May 10 through Jun. 8: A two-person exhibition by Jody Sears and Michele Ramirez. S ears presents sculpture made from wood, and Ramirez showcases her paintings of Oakland, its streets, people and geography. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland, 836-0831 

“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 photographs of plants and people. $3 - $6. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“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 

“Solos: The Contemporary Monoprint” Apr. 26 through Jun. 15: An exhibition of two modern masters, Nathan Oliveira and Matt Phillips, as well as monoprints from other artists. Call for times. Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave., 549-2977, ala@kala.org 

“Komar and Melamid’s Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project” Through May 26: An exhibition of paintings by elephants under the tutelage of Russian-born conceptual artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid. $3 - $6. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Perpetual Objects” Through Jul. 10: An exhibition of seven large-scale sculptures and two collage drawings by Dennis Leon. Mon. - Fri. 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. Gallery 555 City Center, 12th and Clay, Oakland. 

“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 

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.

Repeat performance means end of line for ’Jackets 

The Berkeley High boys’ tennis team went into Thursday’s North Coast Section matchup with De La Salle with a pretty good idea of what they were facing. Unfortunately, the ’Jackets couldn’t figure out how to change history. 

After losing 4-3 to the Spartans two weeks ago in a tuneup for the playoffs, fifth-seeded Berkeley (12-4) fell by the same score on Thursday at Club Sport Valley Vista in Walnut Creek, ending their season. The distribution of wins and losses was identical, with fourth-seeded De La Salle (21-2) claiming victory in the No. 1 and 2 singles and doubles and Berkeley cleaning up with wins from their No. 3 and 4 singles and No. 3 doubles team. 

The outcome of the match was decided early, as the Spartans won four of the first five completed matchups. Jim Pucetti was the first to claim a win, beating Jonah Schrogin 6-0, 6-3 in the No. 2 singles spot.  

Next to fall for Berkeley was top solo Nicky Baum, beaten by Mike Reiser 6-2, 7-5. Baum had taken Reiser to a third set in their first meeting, but just couldn’t get going on Thursday. Each player started the match by breaking their opponent twice, but Baum tailed off as Reiser got stronger. 

“I think I could have won either match, but it just didn’t happen for me today,” Baum said. “I broke him a few times, but he just happened to break me right back.” 

The top doubles match was the next to end, with De La Salle’s Ian Hardey and Nick Campbell beating Berkeley’s Ben Chambers and Quincy Moore 7-5, 6-2. The Berkeley side had a good shot at winning the first set, going up 5-4 and holding serve, but some untimely errors gave the Spartan team the next three games for the set. 

“We had a big opportunity there, but I just couldn’t get my serve in,” Moore said. “After that we just lost focus and went down.” 

Breaking the monotony of Spartan victories was the Berkeley No. 3 doubles team of Tak Katsuura and Nick Larsson, who downed Steven Jones and John Voluntine 6-4, 6-4. But just moments later, Ryan Cousins and Pat Tool finished off any hopes for a Berkeley comeback with a 6-4, 6-4 win of their own over Adam Akullian and Shahaub Roudbari in the No. 2 doubles slot, assuring the Spartans of victory. De La Salle will face top-seeded San Ramon Valley, which knocked off University (San Francisco) 6-1. 

“We match up pretty well with San Ramon, although they’re a little deeper than us,” said De La Salle head coach Lenny Lucero. “It won’t be an easy match for them.” 

This is Lucero’s first venture into NCS territory with De La Salle after five years with the program. He said the preview match with Berkeley gave him a pretty good idea what to expect on Thursday. 

“I knew our one and two singles were pretty much sure things, and I was pretty confident in our doubles teams,” he said. “But we barely beat ‘em.” 

The team score was made closer by the final two matches of the day. Both Nate Simmons and Peter Logan knew their team had no chance to win as they entered their third sets, but both had something extra on the line: neither player had a loss on their record this season. 

“It crossed my mind, but I tried not to think about it,” Simmons said of his perfect season. “I just wanted to win to make the score more respectable for my team.” 

Logan finished off James Bloomburgh in a tiebreak, 9-7, beating an opponent who had played at Berkeley High for two years before transferring to De La Salle before his junior year. Logan, however, is a sophomore and never played with Bloomburgh. 

The Simmons-Kevin Schweigert match was the marathon of the day, taking nearly 2 1/2 hours to finish. Their final set didn’t even start until every match but Logan’s was completed. After losing a tiebreak in the second set, Simmons used his conditioning and athleticism to take the third 6-3. 

“I feel like we played well, but (De La Salle) just played a little better,” Berkeley head coach Dan Seguin said. “We were close and I felt like we had some opportunities in the doubles matches, but we just didn’t execute.” 

Berkeley should have a strong team again next season, with Baum, Simmons and Logan all returning, along with the team of Katsuura and Larsson. Seguin said the experience of getting to the second round of the NCS for the first time in several years should help the returning players, and he hopes to provide some better competition next season. 

“Other good teams have a big advantage over us since they play in stronger leagues,” Seguin said. “The ACCAL is all screwed up. Some teams can’t even fill their lineups. I think we do a great job competing with schools like De La Salle when we don’t have the kind of facilities or competition that they do.”

Two new candidates declare for school board 

The Berkeley Unified School District will not pursue a second round of layoffs in August – contrary to reports earlier this week – Superintendent Michele Lawrence said at an eventful Board of Education meeting Wednesday night. 

In other developments, the Board voted unanimously to cut the hours of food service employees despite the pleas of several workers; and two new candidates declared for the November school board race. 

Berkeley High School discipline dean and long-time chair of the African-American Studies Department Robert McKnight said he will run. Seventeen-year-old BHS senior Sean Dugar also threw his hat into the ring. 

Layoffs 

The issue of August layoffs is tied to a Tuesday decision by administrative law judge Jonathan Lew.  

Lew sided with several Berkeley teachers who claimed that the district had improperly calculated their seniority and as a result issued improper layoff notices in March.  

Associate Superintendent of Administrative Services David Gomez told the Planet Tuesday that the ruling had thrown a wrench in the district’s plan to cut $5.4 million and balance next year’s budget. Lew’s finding, he said, had prompted the district to consider a second round of layoffs in August. 

Berkeley Federation of Teachers president Barry Fike criticized the district Wednesday for considering August layoffs, arguing that it could lead teachers worried about job security to leave. But Lawrence said definitively that the district will not pursue further layoffs this summer. 

“There is not going to be an August layoff,” she said. 

After the meeting, Gomez said his Tuesday comments on the potential for August layoffs had been misinterpreted. 

Layoff update 

In March, the district issued layoff notices to 91 temporary teachers and 82 probationary teachers. Temporary instructors are generally new teachers, often on an emergency credential. Probationary teachers are generally first- or second-year teachers with a preliminary or full credential.  

The district started rescinding many of the layoff notices for probationary teachers in April. Some of those who still held pink slips challenged the district in layoff hearings April 18-19, and the Lew decision affects those teachers. 

Lawrence said the district would restore sixteen of the teachers affected by Lew’s ruling. She said her “gut feeling” is that the district will be able to restore all the probationary teachers who have received layoff notices and still balance the budget.  

But the union plans to go to court over layoff notices for as many as 40 temporary teachers in the near future.  

Board candidates 

McKnight, in a surprise announcement Wednesday night, said he will run for the school board in November. 

“We have moved beyond the era of protest to the era of process,” he said, declaring that it was time to become more directly involved in the district’s decision-making process. 

In an interview after the meeting, McKnight said he will focus on boosting student achievement if elected to the board. He said the board’s decision this year to cut into double-period science was worrisome and could harm student achievement. 

McKnight said he has deep roots in Berkeley and has received strong support from various African-American community groups.  

Dugar, one of two representatives from the senior class on the high school’s leadership team, said he is running to give students a greater voice. 

“Student empowerment is the solution to the attendance problem, the achievement gap and many other issues facing the district,” said Dugar, who has been sharply critical of Lawrence and the board this year. 

Incumbents Shirley Issel and Terry Doran are up for election this fall. Board member Ted Schultz, who would also be up for re-election in November, will retire at the end of his term, leaving a vacant seat. 

Activists Derick Miller and Nancy Riddle have also declared their candidacies, and nutrition advocate Joy Moore has indicated that she is interested. 

Food workers 

Union representatives and food service workers vigorously protested cuts in workers’ hours Wednesday night, arguing that salary and benefit cuts would be too painful and that workers wouldn’t be able to complete all their tasks with less time on the job. 

“You can’t cut the hours,” said Debra Smith, a food service worker at Thousand Oaks Elementary School. “It’s physically not possible to do the work we need to do.” 

Althea Trotter, who works at Jefferson elementary, said a cut from seven to three-and-a-half hours per day would hit her hard in the pocketbook. 

“The three-and-a-half hours can’t pay my rent,” she said. 

Workers and union representatives called on the district to eliminate a new administrative position in the department and reduce the pay of food services director Karen Candito rather than cut back on workers’ hours. Several directly criticized Candito for the hour reduction plan. 

But Lawrence and members of the board vigorously defended Candito’s management. 

“I think our food services director has done an incredibly wonderful job,” said Lawrence, crediting Candito with skillfully handling several hits to the food services budget this year. 

Lawrence said the cuts approved Wednesday were necessary to balance the district’s cafeteria fund. But she acknowledged the effects on employees. 

“I want to continue to tell our community and our employees how very much I regret the budget crisis we’re in,” she said. 

The district will have to negotiate the affects of the cuts with the workers’ new union representatives from Local 39. The new union took control of a portion of Local 1’s Berkeley membership after an election that drew to a close this week. 

One of the chief concerns raised by the employees was that cuts in hours would lead to only partial coverage of benefits. Lawrence suggested that the district and union might explore combining two part-time jobs into one full-time job to ensure full benefits. The draw-back, she said, is that less people would have jobs.

To the Editor: 

Many of us are wondering why the news media seems so biased against Israel and as anti-semitic incidents are on the rise here in Berkeley it is especially disheartening for all of us to see the media continually portray Israel in such a negative light. 

Therefore, it is important to point out that it is known that Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud owns over a billion dollars worth of stock in Disney and AOL-Time Warner (which owns CNN, AOL and Time Magazine, to name a few of its entities). He also owns large stakes in Italy's Mediaset, Germany's Kirch Media, Arab Radio and Television and Australia's News Corp. In addition, most of us think of the BBC as being impartial but apparently in Britain it's an open secret that BBC's main reporter in Israel is married to a Palestinian. So much for neutral reporting! 

So next time you hear a Suicide Bomber called a Palestinian "activist" or see the Saudi's slick public relations ads on CNN, the bias won't seem so odd. Please, carefully scrutinize any and all public relations ads and news reports from anywhere in the world. 

Rachel Schorr 

Berkeley, CA 

To listen to filmmaker Kevin Epps, the director of “Straight Outta Hunter’s Point,” is to watch him move. He paces, glides, leans and lunges while fielding questions with sometimes elliptical, sometimes impressionistic answers. 

The 33-year-old filmmaker grew up with the players and hustlers on the streets of Hunter’s Point, where communication is based as much on a rapper’s jive and prattle as it is on the way one stands, stares, and moves hands to conceal or infer. Life on the street can be a dance or a hunt, and Epps says he can’t stay away from it. 

The small section of San Francisco usually notable for its toxic Superfund site and its disturbing homicide rate is the home of rivals gangs – West Mob and Big Block – battling for turf and rap status. Epps’s film shows rap music is both the glue and the fuse for the young people living in HP. 

Epps was able to move among and between the two gangs with his camera. He said it was hard, but he is one of them. Or was. When asked how far he has been involved in the “business” of the streets, he kicks his feet behind him, like a cat burying its own mess. Since he was 13 years old he’s been running on the streets of Hunter’s Point, he said, and he still hangs on the block to feel the energy and danger. But he’s a filmmaker, he insists, and not a thug.  

He got into filmmaking through the Film Arts Foundation, a non-profit San Francisco-based film and video makers’ support organization. There he learned the basics of video production, and through determination and serendipitous networking got “Straight Outta Hunter’s Point” completed. 

The video documentary has been shown around the Bay Area at various venues, and this weekend it begins a week-long run at the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley. The film documents the troubles and the vitality of the often-overlooked black community isolated on a spit of land jutting into the bay, across 3rd Street from San Francisco.  

“Some of these people have never crossed 3rd Street,” said Epps, adding that without jobs or prospects they don’t have much to live for. Nevertheless, the film shows it is still a community. Among the crack cocaine, handguns, and “thug business” are families rooted for generations, businesses, and ambition. Some of the ambition is for crime and a singular drive to make money; others, like Epps, aspire to improve life where they are living. 

The film lays out both the shame and the dignity of Hunter’s Point, from the Pacific Gas and Electric plant polluting the area and the nearby shipyards officially decreed a Toxic Superfund site, to the rappers and hustlers on the street signaling their hometown pride for the camera. 

The streets, Epps said, are a place where anything can happen. His handheld camera is a frenetic eye and ear roaming the housing projects and the corner liquor stores looking for the gesture and the word to describe the fear, injustice, humor, and exuberance of Hunter’s Point. A young man threatens to do ultimate harm on another man if he ever crosses his path again. On a hot summer day a few HP denizens stalk the streets armed for bear with Super Soakers – the bazooka of water guns – ready for a satisfying water fight. Epps delivers a sequence of cars peeling out and turning hot rod donuts through intersections and parking lots. 

And the images are bumped along by a soundtrack, featuring such HP rappers as RBL Posse and Baby Finsta.  

Initially completed last fall, the version of “Straight Outta Hunter’s Point” that will be screened at the Fine Arts Cinema has been re-edited. The film is slightly longer (by seven minutes) and now includes more historical footage of the naval shipyards and accounts of a significant riot in the ‘60s when the citizens rose up against the police. Epps said he wanted to show that the plight of Hunter’s Point hasn’t changed much in 40 years. 

The historical photographs and interviews with journalists and activists fighting for the community anchor the film’s message with thoughtful commentary, whereas the emotion and vitality come from the sometimes incoherent raps and slurs outside. Epps said he included interviews with old winos spending their time watching life from bus stop benches. You can’t watch the street for 50 years, said Epps, and not know something. 

Amid the excitement of the film is a sense of waste, of lives without direction and squandered energy. An inter-title says that during the production of “Straight Outta Hunter’s Point” there were 100 shootings, one of which was captured by Epps’s camera. One of the central tragedies of the film is that Epps’s friend and crew member, Bumper Joe, was killed during production. His funeral is the final act of the film. 

The film has been screened at the Bay View Opera House – the neighborhood theater in Hunter’s Point – and Epps said members of the rival gangs showed up. There was no trouble, he said, as he convinced both sides that the film is about the whole community and “You ain’t got to bow down.” 

He hopes people watching the film will pay attention to gentrification, and wake up to the way blacks are being displaced so that maybe Hunter’s Point will survive Hunter’s Point. 

“Straight out of Hunter’s Point” plays at the Fine Arts Cinema at 2451 Shattuck Ave. May 10 through May 17.

Want a ride to work? 

That is the question being put to all city employees as part of an effort to throttle traffic and parking problems downtown. 

At City Hall Thursday, police officers, finance experts, and solid waste managers showed up at a public transportation rally, seduced by the prospect of a free, all-you-can-ride bus pass. 

“It’s convenient to have, and I can use it as a back-up in case my car breaks down,” said city employee Matthew Shiu, who commutes from Oakland every day. 

City transportation planners are proceeding with a trial policy of handing out AC Transit passes to employees, in the hope that the recipients will leave their cars at home. The giveaway, which has attracted 615 employees since it began in December, is part of a year-long experiment to see what role public transit can play in civic life. 

AC Transit is tracking ridership of the employees, via the magnetic strip on the back of each free pass, and will assess the popularity and effectiveness of the program at the end of the year. 

The city of Berkeley, in similar fashion, will determine whether the number of applications for parking permits drops. 

“Everyone who has the pass has been consistently happy,” said Nichele Ayers, senior marketing representative for AC Transit, noting success with the program so far. But Ayers said that having the pass is one thing and using it is another. 

“Our goal now is to get more people to take it out of their wallet and put it in the fare box,” she said. 

Employees lining up for passes Thursday shared the usual list of public transit grievances, and said why they might be disinclined to use the bus system. Topping the list were long rides and infrequent service. 

AC Transit Manager of Public Affairs Victoria Wake was on hand at City Hall to listen to complaints and assure the commuters that public services were improving. 

“We take your suggestions seriously,” she said. 

The city is paying $60 per year for each transit pass given out plus administrative fees, with a cap of $100,000 on the amount that can be paid to AC Transit annually. The face value for each pass is $90 per month. 

City Transportation Planner Cherry Chaicharn said the program is a worthy investment. 

“It’s a good incentive to get people to start realizing their transportation options,” said Chaicharn, noting long-term benefits to traffic, parking, and the environment. 

The transit pass, known as the Eco Pass, is modeled in name and concept after a similar pass originating in Denver, Colo., AC Transit officials said.

Millions of moviegoers across the country cued up last weekend to see Spiderman crawl up buildings and swing through New York City on a strand of webbing. What they did not see, what the filmmakers took great pains to make sure they did not see, was the World Trade Center. Eight months after the Twin Towers fell, who wants to see them? Last fall the media was flooded with horrific images of our nation under terrorist siege; now director Sam Raimi and the studio powers-that-be can hardly be blamed for editing footage of the NYC skyline out of their light entertainment. 

Jay Rosenblatt and Caveh Zahedi, however, are asking viewers to re-experience the arc of the national grieving process in their compendium of short films, plotting the initial shock and subsequent personal, spiritual, and political aftermath. 

Two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, San Francisco-based filmmakers Rosenblatt and Zahedi put a call out to experimental filmmakers across the country to create a one- to 10-minute film or video. The artists’ reactions range from crippling sadness to anger and bewilderment to blame, and an array of associated emotions. Rosenblatt and Zahedi compiled select entries into “Underground Zero,” two 70-minute programs, both of which will be screened for a week-long run at the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley beginning Friday May 10. 

When major motion picture companies were fretting about how to remove the Twin Towers from their movies, Rosenblatt and Zahedi were preparing to look at them straight-on, this time without the hysteria of news media. “Underground Zero” is not without its own agenda – both Rosenblatt and Zahedi said they have not seen an acknowledgment of America’s responsibility for the attacks in its involvement in foreign countries – and the programs express a need to complicate patriotism and reclaim the power of images. 

“I think after Sept. 11 firemen, fire trucks, policemen, everything has taken on new meaning,” said Rosenblatt in his San Francisco living room. Innocent images of a young child’s birthday party in a park is infected with dread when the partygoers get a tour of a fire engine. The context of Dan Weir’s “Fear Itself” is enough to render the fire engine an icon of martyrdom, and the soundtrack of a flight attendant reciting emergency disaster drills drives the feeling home. 

“New York” by Chel White is a gentle meditation on urban stillness. The gorgeously photographed skylines at dusk are quiet and motionless, save for an occasional speck of airplane moving across the sky in the distance. “After Sept. 11,” said Rosenblatt, “you couldn’t look at buildings and airplanes – especially in the same frame – ever again in the same way.” 

“New York” opens the second program. The two programs differ by their difficulty and accessibility. The selections in the first directly address the attack or the following war on terrorism. The one that does this the most powerfully is “Voice Of The Prophet,” an interview with army veteran Colonel Rick Rescola, filmed in 1998 on the 44th floor of the World Trade Center when he worked as head of security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. After recalling his days in Vietnam combat, he predicts future wars will be terrorist in nature, and warns “we can’t be the world’s top cop.” The tragedy comes at the end via a title card announcing Rescola died on Sept. 11. 

The films of the second “Underground Zero” program point their focus away from Manhattan for a more impressionistic expression of feelings toward buildings, airplanes, television news, and the innocence and vulnerability of children. There are films like Marcel Jarmel’s “Collateral Damage,” wherein she compares the escalating tension in Afghanistan with the growth of her own children; and “End of an Era,” Lucas Saben’s NASA airplane crash-tests overlayed with jubilant, goofball songs by 14 year-old musicians Frankie and Jordan, who sing “Ralphy My Invisible Friend” and “Tongue For A Thumb” (“…everything is A-OK!”). 

“There’s something antithetical between war or violence, and kids,” said Zahedi about the child-oriented films coming out of the terrorist attack. “The juxtaposition of destruction and a child’s consciousness – and, really, beauty of soul – said something about what was going on.” 

Many of the experimental filmmakers – a group of people who are generally politically left-leaning – took on the tricky question of patriotism in a time of crisis. "Strange Mourning" briefly documents an impromptu pro-America demonstration at a Los Angeles intersection three days after the attacks; the cheerleading and "Born In The USA" blaring from a car stereo turned the display of national pride into something akin to a high school pep rally. 

"We saw more patriotism than I expected," said Zahedi about the films submitted, "but we generally didn’t like them. The ones we tended to prefer didn’t have that mainstream, knee-jerk reaction." 

Zahedi’s own piece in the program, "The World Is A Classroom," is a critical look at America’s unapologetic attitude for its own forieng policy crimes. The video documents a class he taught at the San Francisco Art Institute which came to a halt due to a dissenting student. The disruption was appeased by an apology from Zahedi himself. "My film is an allegory for what should be done," explained Zahedi. "I feel there needs to be a respect for and a responsibility taken toward these other people. My film is an attempt to speak out about the lack of that happening." 

Rosenblatt also has a film in the program suggesting a need for more understanding between Americans and Muslims. “Prayer” uses Rosenblatt’s signature technique of manipulating found footage to draw out and impregnate nuances of gesture and expression. Images of Muslim’s at prayer are intercut with those of Western schoolchildren doing the same. “I was trying to find something to have faith in and assuage how I was feeling,” said Rosenblatt. “It’s a film about faith and fear, and there’s a fine line between the two.” 

Although the call for entries went across the country, Rosenblatt said most of the submission came from the Bay Area. The fact of which does not show so much the health of the local experimental film community as it does the inability of New York filmmakers to take up the challenge. Most of the NYC filmmakers felt they did not have the distance from the subject to be able to adequately create something of it, said Rosenblatt. 

Eva Ilona Brezsky’s “China Diary” has the filmmaker suffering from too much distance. The New Yorker was in China the day of the attacks and tried to cut her vacation short to be able to return to Manhattan and ground zero. Rosenblatt could relate. “I’m from New York, myself. There was a feeling of ‘those are my people there.’” 

After 8 months, remembering the single most devastating attack to our national safety since the Civil War might remind us why we might want to step into “Spiderman” to forget about it once in a while. Rosenblatt says, however, there was a range of mixed emotions. 

“Momentarily, it brought the country together. There was actually a nice feeling of collectivity and community. I don’t think it lasted, but it was there initially.” 

The short montage of simple water imagery that makes up Nancy Kates “Vale Of Tears,” is preceded by a quote from Aeschylus which seems to defend the entire program: “…the pain of pain remembered comes again. So does ripeness.” 

“Underground Zero” plays at the Fine Arts Cinema at 2451 Shattuck Ave. May 10 through May 17.

Today is Friday, May 10, the 130th day of 2002. There are 235 days left in the year. 

Highlight: 

On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. 

On this date: 

In 1774, Louis XVI ascended the throne of France. 

In 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, N.Y. 

In 1865, Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Irwinville, Ga. 

In 1899, movie musical star Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Neb. 

In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was given the job of FBI director. 

In 1933, the Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany. 

In 1940, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government. 

In 1968, preliminary Vietnam peace talks began in Paris. 

In 1977, actress Joan Crawford died in New York. 

In 1994, the state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys. 

Ten years ago: 

Astronaut Pierre Thuot tried but failed to snag a wayward satellite during a spacewalk outside the shuttle Endeavour (however, three astronauts succeeded in capturing the Intelsat-6 three days later). 

Five years ago: 

President Clinton signed modest drug-fighting and trade agreements with Caribbean leaders in Barbados. Lebanese of all faiths welcomed Pope John Paul II on his first visit to their country. A powerful earthquake in northeastern Iran claimed at least 2,400 lives. 

One year ago: 

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to withhold some back U.N. dues until the United States was reinstated on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The Justice Department handed over thousands of documents it said should have been provided to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s attorneys; because of the blunder, McVeigh’s execution, set for May 16, was postponed. Boeing chose Chicago as the site for its new headquarters, replacing Seattle. The World Wrestling Federation announced it would fold the upstart XFL football league. 

Today’s Birthdays: 

Sportscaster Pat Summerall is 72. TV and radio personality Gary Owens is 66. Rhythm-and-blues singer Henry Fambrough (The Spinners) is 64. Writer-producer-director Jim Abrahams is 58. Singer Donovan is 56. Singer Dave Mason is 56. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ron Banks (The Dramatics) is 51. Rock singer Bono (U2) is 42. Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is 39. Model Linda Evangelista is 37. Rock musician Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) is 37. Rapper Young MC is 35. Actor Erik Palladino is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jason Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 22. Singer Ashley Poole (Dream) is 17.

“Thoroughly Modern Millie” leads with 11 nominations; “Urinetown” and “Into the Wo ods” receive 10 each 

NEW YORK — Big musicals, as usual, collected the most 2002 Tony nominations Monday, with “Thoroughly Modern Millie” receiving 11, followed by “Urinetown” and the revival of “Into the Woods” both with 10. 

Yet it’s a competitive, wide-open race for both best play and best musical on Broadway. And the nominations for best play couldn’t be more diverse. 

“Topdog/Underdog,” Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a murderous sibling rivalry, goes against “Metamorphoses,” Mary Zimmerman’s evocative retelling of the myths of Ovid; “Fortune’s Fool,” an adaptation by Mike Poulton of a comedy by 19th century Russian playwright Ivan Turgenev, and Edward Albee’s “The Goat,” a disturbing yet often funny look at a most unusual love affair. 

“It’s like comparing apples and oranges,” Albee said Monday, musing about best-play nominations. “And since all awards are comparative, how do you do pick one? I think they should nominate the four most interesting and leave it at that.” 

Winners will be announced June 2. 

For best musical, “Millie,” the saga of a fresh-faced Kansas girl trying to make it in 1920s New York, faces “Urinetown,” the sardonic spoof about paying to use bathroom facilities; the ABBA-inspired London hit “Mamma Mia!” and “Sweet Smell of Success,” a dark tale of a vindictive New York gossip columnist. 

Both “Millie” and “Sweet Smell” are based on well-known films, while “Mamma Mia!” found its inspiration in the pop hits of Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, both of whom received Tony nominations for best orchestrations. 

Unlike “The Producers,” last year’s record winner, none of this year’s musical nominees got unanimously favorable reviews, so taking the top musical prize would boost their fortunes. Only “Mamma Mia!” — the story of a young woman’s search for her real father — has proved to be a hot ticket in New York and on the road. 

Competition will be fierce in the best-actor category, too. Alan Bates, who scored with a riotous drunk scene in “Fortune’s Fool,” was nominated along with Billy Crudup, who plays the touching title character in “The Elephant Man; Liam Neeson, an honorable Pilgrim farmer in “The Crucible”; Alan Rickman, a bored yet deeply in love sophisticate in “Private Lives” and Jeffrey Wright, one of the two brothers in “Topdog/Underdog.” 

Kate Burton received two Tony nominations — one in the actress category (for playing “Hedda Gabler” in a revival of the Ibsen classic) and a second in featured-actress slot (for portraying a sympathetic English actress in “The Elephant Man”). 

Burton also has an interest this year in another Tony — the prize given to best regional theater, which will go to the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. Her husband, Michael Ritchie, runs it. 

“It was a good morning in our household,” Burton said with a laugh. 

Burton’s competition for best actress: Lindsay Duncan, “Private Lives”; Laura Linney, “The Crucible”; Helen Mirren, “Dance of Death”; and Mercedes Ruehl, “The Goat.” 

“Morning’s at Seven,” which received nine nominations, previously won the revival award in 1980. The gentle Paul Osborn comedy, first seen on Broadway in 1939, could do so again. The other revival nominees are “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller’s drama about the Salem witch trials; the British farce “Noises Off,” and Noel Coward’s “Private Lives.” 

The musical-revival category is sparse, with only the Trevor Nunn-directed production of “Oklahoma!” and “Into the Woods,” the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical in competition. 

Vanessa Williams, who plays a glamorous witch in “Into the Woods,” received a best actress-musical nomination, her first. The others in the category: Sutton Foster, an ambitious flapper in “Thoroughly Modern Millie”; Louise Pitre, the iconoclastic mother in “Mamma Mia!”, and two stars of “Urinetown,” Nancy Opel and Jennifer Laura Thompson. 

John Cullum, who already has two Tonys, is up for a third for his role as the villain in “Urinetown.” Also nominated in the actor-musical category: Gavin Creel, “Thoroughly Modern Millie”; John Lithgow, “Sweet Smell of Success”; John McMartin, “Into the Woods”; and Patrick Wilson, “Oklahoma!” 

Among those passed over for nominations were Kathleen Turner and the rest of the cast of the much-maligned stage version of “The Graduate,” Andrew Lloyd Webber and his little musical “By Jeeves,” and such critically lauded performers as Ian McKellen and Bill Pullman. 

The Broadway season began disastrously last September after the attacks on the World Trade Center. An aggressive marketing campaign by the League of American Theatres and Producers helped revive business as Broadway got ready for a busy spring. Yet business has not rebounded as buoyantly as expected; so the New York theater looked for another hit as big as “The Producers” — and none arrived.

Students play with their food 

TUCSON, Ariz. — University of Arizona students who would rather toss tortillas than their mortarboards during graduation are being urged to leave the edible disks at home. 

University President Peter Likins has asked students not to bring the tortillas to fling into the air at Saturday’s ceremonies because he said it’s a waste of food and is culturally offensive to some people. 

Patti Ota, the school’s vice president for executive operations, will try to talk students out of their tortillas at the door, using food bank boxes to play on their guilt. 

Tortillas emerged at commencement ceremonies during the late 90s, university officials said. 

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was greeted with flying tortillas as she addressed the class of 1999. Later she told graduates at Georgetown University about her Arizona experience. 

“There, the solemn tradition is to throw tortillas around like Frisbees during the commencement speech. It’s a little unusual, but it does keep you alert,” she said. 

Candidate can’t spell ‘accountability’ 

BOSTON — It wasn’t quite Dan Quayle misspelling “potato,” but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shannon O’Brien made her own spelling goof last week. 

O’Brien, the state treasurer, was at a debate when another candidate, Steve Grossman, said most city politicians are so out of touch with voters they don’t even know how to spell the word “accountability.” 

The comment wasn’t specifically directed at O’Brien, but she took the bait to prove she could spell it — and got it wrong. 

O’Brien, a former state lawmaker whose husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have all worked at the Statehouse, left out the second “i” in accountability. 

Later in the day, O’Brien admitted her mistake. 

“I am so embarrassed,” she said. “I just hope that my sixth grade teacher doesn’t read about this, because I was a star speller in his class.”

BERKELEY — It’s an event that may have “the cool of scratched LPs, plaid polyester pants or schnauzer-shaped salt and pepper shakers,” frets organizer Pat Schwieterman. 

Still, the read-aloud “Beowulf” marathon is an epic gathering, especially this year as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, more or less (hey, things got a little fuzzy in the ’60s), at the University of California, Berkeley. 

“Part of what’s so entertaining about the ’Beowulf’ marathon is exactly the fact that there’s nothing traditionally entertaining about it — just a bunch of people reading in a language none of them can really understand ... for hours,” says Schwieterman, a graduate student in English. 

First, a primer for those who don’t have “The Medievalist’s Handbook” on their night stands. 

“Beowulf” is the first known major poem written in a European vernacular language, Old English to be precise. It was spoken long before that, so it’s not clear exactly when it was composed. The only known manuscript is a 1,000-year-old battered relic at the British Library that was licked by the flames of a 1731 fire. 

The story follows the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from a man-eating monster named Grendel and from Grendel’s even more unpleasant mother. The warrior becomes a leader and then, at the end of his life, musters his strength for one last stand against a fierce, gold-guarding dragon. His allies turn tail, save for Wiglaf, the valiant youngster who helps Beowulf win his last battle. 

“It’s a poem about heroism that takes the hero seriously but also it’s not ironic, which is such a relief in the 21st century,” says Michael Drout, a “Beowulf” fan and assistant professor of English at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. 

Drout, partly inspired by the Berkeley event, helped organize a read-aloud “Beowulf” event at the International Congress on Medieval Studies held at Western Michigan University this month. Drout wasn’t too sure what reception he would get but found himself “absolutely swamped with e-mail.” 

The No. 1 query: “Can I bring mead?” 

“It’s a stereotype, but an accurate stereotype of the Anglo-Saxonist,” Drout says cheerfully. 

Schwieterman, who doesn’t drink, will admit to no more than a “certain conviviality” at the Berkeley event. 

These “Beowulf” readings can get rather loopy. 

One professor who “was apparently quite a ham,” would act out portions of the story as the reading progressed, complete with props. “He would have little packets of ketchup ready that he would pop at the right moment when someone had just taken an ax blow and just fall flat to the floor.” 

Melodrama can be tricky, though, especially for those with an imperfect grasp of Old English. 

A few years ago, a participant who read with more style than comprehension thought he was reading Beowulf’s big moment, “so he delivered it in this booming, stentorian voice. After, everyone was chuckling and it was, ’What? What?”’ 

The poor fellow had been reading the part of the Danish queen. 

Chuckles are allowed at the marathon; smirks are frowned on. “I won’t say that nobody has ever smirked but it’s certainly not encouraged,” says Schwieterman. “The marathon is a thoroughly democratic event.” 

Some marathons have crossed over to anarchy. 

One year, the event fell on May 5 — the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo — so in recognition, organizers started the reading in Spanish. 

“Then other people insisted on reading in French and Italian and German languages. So we had the famous multilingual ’Beowulf’ that year. After a few hundred lines, all but one stubborn participant settled down and read the Old English. One person persisted in reading in French ’til the end.” 

This year’s event starts Friday at 6:30 p.m., and is expected to take the usual four hours. 

It’s the 50th anniversary, based on accounts of a 1952 event, but it may not be the 50th marathon — it has been said that anyone who remembers the 1960s wasn’t there and that appears to be true for “Beowulf” marathon history. No one seems to know much about whether the marathon was a regular event during the 1960s, a time when students were campaigning for Free Speech and against the Vietnam War in thoroughly modern English. 

Schwieterman is hanging his hat on the 1952 event. Beyond that, he says, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” 

Attendance has swelled in recent years, particularly after a recent translation by Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney cracked the best-seller lists. 

In the mid-1990s, as few as five people showed up. Last year, there were close to 50. This year, Schwieterman is thinking about rationing the poem’s 3,182 lines; the usual system is to have people sit in a circle and read until they get tired. 

The secret to the poem’s appeal is that “frankly, it’s a masterpiece of literature,” says Schwieterman. “It really is brilliant. There’s a musicality to the language, a vigor in the alliterative lines that you just don’t have in modern English language poetry. That’s one of the things that reading the poem out loud brings out — this rugged music the poem has.” 

Beautiful, but strange.

SACRAMENTO — California’s Little Hoover Commission added itself Wednesday to a chorus of voices vilifying California’s shortage of housing that average residents can afford. 

The commission, concluding a year-long study, criticized state government for failing “to seize every opportunity to spur the development of homes, particularly for low income-Californians.” 

In doing so, the commission joins groups such Housing California, the League of California Cities and the Building Industry Association of California in growing alarm over conditions afflicting millions of residents. 

While acknowledging the effects of economic prosperity in driving up housing costs, the commission — an independent state oversight agency — put most blame for the housing shortage on “mounting consequences of failed policies.” 

Commission Chairman Michael E. Alpert, a retired San Diego securities lawyer, noted, “It is not too late and the problem is not insurmountable.” The Little Hoover Commission calls for a state crackdown on cities that don’t accept their share of housing, recommends more housing on former industrial sites known as “brownfields” and urges smarter use of federal and state subsidies. 

“The state can no longer simply encourage and hope that more than 500 local jurisdictions collectively do what is in the best interest of California and some of its most vulnerable citizens,” the report states. State government, it adds, “must assume a far more assertive stance than it has in the past.” 

State housing officials say California, second only to Hawaii in housing costs, is falling nearly 100,000 units short of annual demand. The shortage is greatest in apartments and condominiums for lower-income renters, forcing more than two-thirds to pay more than half their income for rent. Nearly all spend more than 30 percent of their monthly paychecks for housing. 

Among options, the commission points to a bill pushed by Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, to withhold state funds from cities that block affordable housing. The bill, SB910, passed the Senate last year, but has been stalled for months in the Assembly. 

Dan Hancock, retired president of the Bay Area building firm, Shapell Industries of Northern California, acknowledged opposition to the bill by cities and counties intent on controlling how they grow. But he said the economic downside of unaffordable housing for millions of California workers is equally critical. 

The commission cited the Bay Area city of Emeryville as a role model for putting new housing on old industrial sites.

LOS ANGELES — Family, friends and coworkers know Riad Abdelkarim as a dedicated doctor and father of four who eats too much fast food, roots for the Anaheim Angels and has a caring bedside manner with patients. 

His name also carries a new connotation: suspected terrorist. Abdelkarim remains detained in Israel after his arrest following a 10-day visit to a decimated Palestinian refugee camp. 

Israeli officials won’t reveal the evidence against the Orange County doctor, citing security concerns. But a judge’s statement recorded in a U.S. State Department memo said Abdelkarim is “being accused of membership in a terrorist organization and attempting to fund terrorist organizations.” 

Those who know him are perplexed and angered by the accusation, but his past provides some clues as to why Israeli authorities may have taken an interest in the 34-year-old doctor of internal medicine. 

Abdelkarim is a frequent commentator on Middle East issues who was questioned by the FBI after the terrorist attacks and wrote an opinion piece in which he condemned being singled out because of his ethnicity or political beliefs. 

He also is a former board member of the Holy Land Foundation, which had its assets frozen in December after the Bush administration charged it as being a front for the militant group Hamas. The group is responsible for the Tuesday suicide bombing that killed 15 at a pool hall in a Tel Aviv suburb. 

Dr. Basim Abdelkarim of Torrance does not believe his brother’s past affiliation with the group is cause for his arrest in Israel. He said U.S. authorities have not arrested any members of Holy Land, the largest Islamic charity in the United States. 

“I think that’s an excuse,” he said. “He was a board member for the group for one year. He stepped out of that organization ... My brother was not there to represent this group.” 

Rather, supporters said Abdelkarim was on a mission to assess medical needs in the Palestinian territories for the Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps and his own recently founded children’s charity, Kinder USA. 

They say the trip was consistent with a lifetime of civic responsibility for the former high school valedictorian who graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles before attending medical school at UC San Diego. 

After medical school, he completed his residency and internship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in his hometown of Torrance. 

In September 2000 he became a partner in the Southern California Permanente Medical Group in Anaheim. 

His brother said Abdelkarim keeps so busy he survives on a diet of In-N-Out burgers and chicken nuggets, but he still finds time to attend Angels baseball games and go to the movies with his family. 

“Other people would rather be on the golf course,” said Khalid Turaani, 36, of Washington, D.C., who sits with Abdelkarim on the board of the group American Muslims for Jerusalem. “I see him as a humanist. He has his own career. He writes. He is verbal about his concerns. He writes about other issues besides the Palestinian issue.” 

In correspondence home, Abdelkarim said his visit to the Jenin refugee camp, where Israeli forces last month killed at least 52 people, had a profound effect on him. He described “a horrible, foul, spine-tingling odor,” as well as and a sense of shame. 

“I feel an uncomfortable mixture of sadness, grief, anger and shame. I also feel guilt,” he wrote in an e-mail sent to family and colleagues. “My tax dollars helped pay for those bullets... When I tell camp survivors that I’m from the United States, I am ashamed. I, too, am responsible for this.” 

Nobody could have witnessed the destruction without having a strong reaction, said Rushdi Cader, a San Luis Obispo doctor who invited Abdelkarim to accompany him on the fact-finding mission for the medical organization. 

Cader also was detained at Ben Gurion International Airport on Sunday but was freed after six hours. 

“When we went to Jenin, all I can say is that place is like Ground Zero. They bulldozed buildings with people still inside them. When you go through there, you smell rotting corpses,” he said. “I am an emergency room doctor. When I went through that camp, I could not go through without crying.” 

Cader rejects the suggestion that the emotional experience may have pushed Abdelkarim from activism to terrorism. 

Instead, he believes Israel may have wanted to suppress the information the doctors gathered — including detailed accounts of casualties — at a time when U.N. investigators were prevented from conducting a probe. 

Susan Cassidy, 47, a registered nurse who has worked with Abdelkarim the past two years, called him an exemplary doctor who travels to the Middle East to help despite the risks. 

“He spends a lot of time with each patient that he sees. A lot of physicians don’t do that,” she said. 

She spoke out to show “there are other people who believe in him and are concerned about him besides Middle Easterners.” 

His four children, ages 12, 9, 5 and 3, had blown up balloons for their father’s welcome home party Sunday and were waiting for their mother, Wijdan, to pick up a cake when Israeli authorities called to say he had been arrested. 

Since then, family friend Kathy Mostafaie has pitched in to try to ease tensions. 

“His 5-year-old, Ali, is constantly asking me, ’Why is my dad not home?,” she said. “His 12-year-old daughter needs help with her homework. ... They are frightened; they need their dad.”

LOS ANGELES — Changes in census forms between 1990 and 2000 led to huge undercounts of several Hispanic nationalities, a study released Thursday estimates. 

Without the changes, more than 1 million Salvadorans, Dominicans, Guatemalans and people of other nationalities would not have identified themselves in Census 2000 simply as “other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino,” according to the study by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Latino think tank. 

In greater Los Angeles, the number of people of Central American ancestry is nearly 50 percent higher than Census 2000 reported, the study found. 

“We knew all along there were a lot more of us than the census counted,” said Carlos H. Vaquerano, executive director of the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund in Los Angeles. 

Representatives of some Hispanic ethnic groups have said that their lower-than-expected Census figures could have implications in areas including public funding, political representation and immigration policy. 

Census 2000 surprised many observers because nearly 18 percent of Latino respondents put themselves in the generic “other” Latino category. In other government surveys, only about 10 percent of Hispanics identified themselves that way. 

The study said the reason for the difference was likely a change in the way the census asked the question of Hispanic origin. 

In both 1990 and 2000, Hispanics who were not Cuban, Mexican or Puerto Rican had to write down their ancestry — instead of just making a check mark — for their national origin to be counted. 

But in 1990, the write-in space was accompanied by these instructions: “Print one group, for example, Argentinian, Colombian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Spaniard, and so on.” In 2000, the space simply read, “Print group.”

SACRAMENTO — The state Assembly approved a bill Thursday that would suspend rules requiring California’s two largest telephone companies to share part of their profits with their customers. 

The California Public Utilities Commission opposes the bill, by Assemblyman Rod Wright, D-Los Angeles, saying it would restrict its ability to regulate SBC Pacific Bell and Verizon. 

“The Legislature is getting itself involved in ratemaking” which is the job of the PUC under the state Constitution, said Commissioner Jeff Brown. 

The bill would freeze until 2007 a regulatory framework that’s currently in place for Verizon and Pac Bell, the companies that provide phone service for most Californians. It would turn into law a 1998 PUC decision to suspend the profit-sharing rule for one time. 

But the PUC and other opponents say the bill would suspend a tool regulators can use if they find the companies have made too much money off ratepayers. 

Wright said the PUC won’t be powerless to rein in telephone rates because it can still review the companies’ finances and use that information to set rates. 

“As the Legislature, we should say what the policy is, and it’s the job of the PUC to implement that policy,” Wright said. 

Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Boulder Creek, also supported the measure, because he said the bill shifts the risk to shareholders and away from ratepayers if a company doesn’t perform financially. 

The measure was sent to the Senate on a 64-1 vote. 

Brown said Wright’s bill would take authority away from the commission “and places it in the hands of the Legislature, which is not a rate-setting, rate-designing body.” 

But a former PUC commissioner who helped design the new framework in the late 1980s said it was a radical departure from the earlier cost-of-service rate system, and was meant to evolve. 

“It was clear from the outset that sharing was a temporary thing until we got a handle on how things were going to work in practice,” said Mitch Wilk, a PUC commissioner appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1986. 

The new framework was designed to protect ratepayers from any losses by the phone companies, Wilk said. 

“As soon as you reintroduce sharing into something like this, you put ratepayers right back on the hook for the risk,” he said. 

Every three years, the PUC audits the companies and makes changes to the framework. In its latest triennial audit of Pac Bell, the PUC found the company had understated their 1997-1999 earnings by nearly $2 billion and should refund $350 million to its customers. 

The Office of Ratepayers Advocates, the independent arm of the PUC that represents consumers, has pushed to reinstate the profit-sharing rule because of those audit results. 

Pac Bell disputed the audit’s finding, and said the framework has benefited California customers.

DETROIT — Connecting employees to each other is one of the most important factors in making a business competitive, Scott McNealy, chairman and chief executive of Sun Microsystems Inc., said Thursday in a speech peppered with jabs at the software company’s rival, Microsoft Corp. 

McNealy, who outlined his plan for competing with Microsoft by creating a more flexible office network, gave a keynote speech at the Michigan IT Summit in Detroit. 

He also offered his vision for an office with a virtual, downloadable desktop accessible anytime, anywhere. 

“I have access to 100 percent of what I need to run Sun from a Java browser,” he said. “I love it because I get a lot more work out of employees.” 

The advantage over Microsoft’s network, he said, is that employees would be able to access it with multiple interfaces — not just Microsoft programs, the way Microsoft’s office network is set up. 

“They have a secret handshake for every piece,” he said. 

A message seeking comment was placed Thursday with Microsoft. 

McNealy has been a vocal critic of Microsoft. Earlier this year, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun filed a lawsuit against the software giant, claiming it was using a monopoly position to damage Sun’s Java programming language. 

McNealy also stressed the importance of building an online directory of customers. 

“Every company needs to beat its competitors into getting all the rich and/or smart folks into that directory,” McNealy said. “If you can react faster, you’re going to win.” 

Sun, which makes high-end networking computers and software, was hard hit as dot-coms collapsed, telecommunications companies slowed spending and competition increased. 

“I’m kind of happy the bubble’s over,” McNealy said. “There was a something-dot-com for everything.” 

McNealy said part of the dot-com collapse was companies’ failures to build customer directories properly, by beginning with their own employees. 

“The big mistake is that everybody wanted to go sell something online,” he said. “The employees are the most important.” 

The company expects to return to profitability in the current quarter. 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

My wife owns a 2001 Lexus RX300. Recently, we received a letter from Lexus on the subject of “engine oil gelling.” The following is an exact quote from the letter: “Engine oil gelling occurs when old, dirty oil becomes thick and no longer adequately lubricates the engine. If not properly maintained, it can lead to severe engine damage. Oil gelling is solely a maintenance issue, and we are not aware of any situation in which a properly maintained vehicle has experienced mechanical problems associated with this condition.” I have never heard of “engine oil gelling.” I am wondering whether this is a smokescreen for Lexus dealers who have used a higher-viscosity oil than is recommended by the manufacturer? What is your opinion on “engine oil gelling”? -- Reinhold 

RAY: What's our opinion on engine oil gelling? We're in favor of it! Hey, we've got boat payments to make, too. 

TOM: This is not a smokescreen for Lexus dealers, Reinhold. It's a smokescreen for the Toyota Corporation (makers of Lexus), which seems to be having a problem with its most popular engines. 

RAY: What it's tastefully calling “engine oil gelling,” other people are calling “sludge.” The facts are in dispute. As you state, Toyota says “Sludge Happens” -- and that it only happens to people who don't change their oil and who do a lot of stop-and-go driving.  

TOM: But other independent engineers claim that there is a design problem that causes some Toyota engines (mostly 3.0-liter V6s) to sludge more frequently than other manufacturers' engines. And furthermore, it shouldn't happen on low-mileage engines. What happens is that the oil turns into a paste, and the engine dies due to lack of lubrication.  

RAY: We haven't done any engineering analysis ourselves, so everything we say about this is simply our opinion (are you Toyota lawyers happy now??), but it certainly looks like -- whatever the cause -- Toyota handled it poorly by trying to blame it on its customers. 

TOM: Well, the customers didn't like that, and they kept on complaining. Eventually, Toyota decided that the bad PR it was getting from all the noise about its sludgy engines wasn't worth what it would pay to fix the engines, so it changed its policy.  

RAY: Now Toyota says that, even though it's STILL your fault, it'll fix any sludged engine for free for eight years if you attest that you've changed the oil on time.  

TOM: Toyota has also announced that it's making a manufacturing change to the V6 engine at the factory to help prevent its customers from ruining future engines. Not that there was any problem with the engine. It's just fixing it anyway. 

RAY: The vehicles covered are any Toyota or Lexus from model years 1997 to 2002 that use the 3.0-liter V6 engine, and any Toyota from 1997 to 2001 that uses the 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine. 

TOM: It's worth keeping in mind that, at least so far, Toyota reports about 3,400 sludgy engines out of about 3.3 million sold. So these are still excellent cars, in our opinion, and we'll continue to recommend them.  

RAY: Still, Toyota should have come out right away and said: “We're sorry. You bought a Toyota because you thought it would be worry-free. This is an unusual problem on a new car, and it shouldn't have happened. We'll fix it.” It took Toyota too long to do that.  

TOM: We don't expect car makers to be infallible. We just expect them to own up to their mistakes. Hey, how hard can that be? We have to do it every week!  

Dear Tom and Ray: 

I have a solution to the tailgating problem. I've heard that you can make flames shoot out of your exhaust pipe by drilling a hole and putting a spark plug a few inches from the end. Then, by connecting it to the battery and a switch, you could make a sort of flamethrower. I would just like to know if this is a bunch of baloney or not, without having to ruin my exhaust to find out. -- Kwong 

TOM: It's an interesting idea, Kwong, but unfortunately, it's a bunch of baloney. 

RAY: There are two problems. One is that, on modern, fuel-injected cars, by the time the exhaust gets to the end of the tailpipe, there's nothing in it to burn anymore. Cars are so efficient these days that all of the hydrocarbons have long been burned up by then. 

TOM: And the second problem is that, even if there was gasoline to burn in the exhaust, the battery wouldn’t provide enough power to fire a spark plug. You need about 20,000 volts, which normally come from the coil. 

RAY: So I suppose if you really wanted to make this work, you could tap another spark-plug wire off the coil and run it back there.  

TOM: And a fuel line, too! 

RAY: Unfortunately, Kwong, this really doesn’t make sense. So if you really want a flamethrower, skip the auto-parts emporium and drive right to the army-surplus store.. 

Got a question about cars? Write to Click and Clack in care of this newspaper, or e-mail them by visiting the Car Talk section of cars.com on the World Wide Web. 

(c) 2002 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman

Q: Marty asks: My well pump does not hold pressure unless the water is in use. The well is about 25 feet from the pump and that line is laying (running) flat on the ground about four inches below the grass. The pump and the tank are new. What is making it not hold pressure? 

A: When a pump system isn’t holding pressure it usually means there is a leak or the foot valve is clogged or faulty. All it takes is a pinhole-sized leak to bring your system down. Your local well company can pressure-check the system for holes and usually make the proper repair in a few hours. If all or part of the system is new, it probably is still under warranty. Most warranty repairs are free. That your supply line is four inches beneath the surface alarms us. It should have been laid at least 18 inches below grade. Shallow pipes often are damaged during annual and semiannual cultivation. 

Q: Jeff asks: I have stripped the paint from and sanded the woodwork in my bathroom. I am having a problem with a small amount of paint bleeding through the stain. It was not visible before I applied the stain, but appears as the stain dries. How can I solve this problem? 

A: You are now a bona fide wood refinisher. You have learned how difficult it is to completely remove all the paint from wood. Fact is, two to three coats of paint stripper must be applied and brass-brushed away after you are certain that you’ve removed all the paint. This is because narrow strips of paint always remain beneath the surface and between the wood fibers. 

ST. GEORGE REEF, Calif. — First, the fog delayed the volunteers trying to restore a 110-year-old lighthouse by carrying a 5-ton lantern by helicopter over the cascading Pacific Ocean. 

Then came the rain, and the plan to move the lantern which had been shattered two years earlier during a similar effort was put off again. Volunteers were left to wonder when they would have another chance. 

But the next morning, Guy Towers and the rest of his restoration team saw the rain weaken. They made their move, and soon the helicopter hovered in the drizzle, picked up the lantern room and carried it to St. George Reef Lighthouse as about 100 spectators huddled in the Crescent City harbor. 

For fans of a lighthouse that has seen plenty of disasters, it was what they hoped was more than a break in the weather. They hoped it would signal the revival of a lighthouse that once steered seafarers away from the ship-eating reef. 

If successful, the restoration by the St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society could create a tourist attraction in a forgotten corner of California whose logging and fishing industries have long faded. 

Sitting six miles off the far northwestern coast, the 150-foot lighthouse cost $704,000 to build and started operating in 1892. Named after the dragon-slaying St. George, it sits surrounded by the “dragon rocks” that tore the bottom from the steamer Brother Jonathan in 1865 and killed 166 passengers and crew. 

The lighthouse built to tame the rocks was the most expensive built by the federal government. The deadliest, too. 

Between then and 1975, when it was replaced by a buoy, the lighthouse saw five of its workers die, including three U.S. Coast Guardsmen killed in 1951 when their boat capsized as they left the rock. 

Replacing the 16-sided, 12-foot-high lighthouse dome has bedeviled Towers and the other volunteers. Bad weather kept them from making the helicopter trip; no one wanted to risk $60,000 for the cost of the dome and the helicopter for a failure. 

When it’s done, the society will have turned the St. George Reef Lighthouse into the only one of three offshore lighthouses in the world that will be open to the public. Once there, visitors will learn more about its turbulent history. 

Crescent City’s other lighthouse, the Battery Point Lighthouse, still lights the harbor. It’s an easy walk to the museum there, but it’s only accessible at low tide. 

The only way to the St. George Reef Lighthouse is by a six-minute helicopter ride low over the ocean. 

The iron railings that once surrounded the deck of the lighthouse have rusted into the sea, leaving an ideal landing pad for the helicopter. 

There are seven levels from the basement where the original coal-fired engines ran the lighthouse to the lantern at the top that housed the rotating lens. 

Inside, the old paint peels in large patches from the damp ceilings and cement walls. Much of it was lead-based, so the workers have to be careful while removing the paint, volunteer Terry McNamara said. 

The upper deck just below the lantern room is more than 130 feet above the rocks, encircled by bands of rust that 110 years ago were scrolling cast-iron railings. 

Lightbulbs are run off a gas generator. When they sputter, Towers or one of the volunteers who happen to be on hand race down the 90 narrow, spiraling stone steps to refill the fuel. If the lights go out, the steep stairwell goes as dark as a mine. 

A retired social worker, Towers first became interested in lighthouses in the early 1980s when he discovered the Punta Gorda lighthouse in Humboldt County. He then embarked on a two-decade obsession, in which he once spent three years cataloging the world’s lighthouses. 

In 1986, after he had moved to Crescent City, he learned the government readied to sell the lighthouse as scrap. Towers and several friends formed the nonprofit preservation society and then spent 10 years getting government approvals to take jurisdiction over the lighthouse. 

He worked closely with Bob Bolen, a retired airline mechanic who was instrumental in removing and transporting the lighthouse’s giant Fresnel lens in 1983. The 18-foot rotating lens now sits in the Del Norte County Museum. 

Bolen, who gets around in a wheelchair these days, paid the $24,000 the society needed to finish the restoration work on the dome and hire a helicopter to bring it back to the lighthouse. 

For that, he got the best view of the lantern room’s return — the front seat of the chase helicopter trailing the sky-crane. 

It was the second time the dome was transported in the past two years. 

In April 2000, a donated helicopter lifted the lantern room from the lighthouse and carried it to shore. But as the sky-crane lowered the dome, the helicopter came in too low, dragging the iron and glass room along the beach in Crescent City harbor. 

“It was a crumpled mess,” said Alice Towers, Guy’s wife. 

But that disaster turned into a blessing, Towers said, as the publicity led to more donations. Also, the room had broken in the right places. 

Its top survived, and the rest of the room was rebuilt with stainless steel, not cast iron, and polycarbonate, not glass. That saved about 5,000 pounds, Towers said, although it still weighs a hefty 10,000 pounds. 

As the helicopter lifted the lantern room for its second flight, Towers and a half-dozen volunteers waited on the rock at the top of the lighthouse for the sky-crane to hover, then lower the dome. Cables trailed from the room that would be threaded through holes in the ledge to guide it to its proper position. 

Towers grabbed the first line and wrapped it around his arm. The helicopter rose, taking Towers with it. 

“It was like I was ringing a bell, riding the bell up and down.” 

The 32 bolt holes lined up perfectly. “The sweetest sound I’ve ever heard was when that lantern room set and it made that ’clunk,”’ he said. 

After the lift, Bolen was helped out of the helicopter, all smiles. 

He and other volunteers will start raising money to replace the rusting railings in time for a planned opening this fall. 

Wildlife officials restrict travel to the lighthouse between June 15 and Oct. 15 when sea lions are mating so tours will be offered in the spring and fall. Towers hopes to eventually have a helicopter stationed in Crescent City to take visitors for day trips. 

The time and money to revive the lighthouse will be worth it, Bolen said. 

“To me, they’re monuments to our forefathers who came to our country and to the men who didn’t make it,” Bolen said. “They didn’t make it because they didn’t have lighthouses.” 

On the Net: 

St. George Reef Lighthouse: http://www.northerncalifornia.net/culture/lighthouses/sgrlps/

Tulips often disappoint after their first show of blooms. That first show reflects the skill of the commercial bulb grower because the flower buds form the season before blooms open. 

After that first season, you have to provide conditions for good repeat bloom. The healthier the leaves and the longer they can do their work, the better the blossoms will be the following season. 

Tulip leaves have a relatively short time in which to do their job. Anything that prolongs the time they remain green will help pump more energy into the bulbs. This is why so many bulbs are grown in Holland, where springs are long, cool, and moist. Over on this side of the Atlantic, a good site will keep the leaves healthy and productive. The best site is sunny, with soil that is well-drained and reasonably fertile. 

Following bloom, allow the foliage to naturally yellow and wither. The leaves will look unsightly, so some gardeners plant annuals to hide the aging bulb foliage from sight, or bind the bulbs’ leaves into a compact, unobtrusive bundle with rubber bands. However, both these techniques sacrifice to some degree next spring’s blooms because the leaves no longer are bathed in maximum sunlight. The only way to avoid the sight of the yellowing leaves without harming next year’s blossoms is to dig up each bulb with a good ball of earth and replant temporarily in an out-of-the-way, sunny spot. 

Even under the best of conditions, tulip flowers still will diminish with time as daughter bulbs that form around each mother bulb begin to crowd each other. Garden tulips are so prone to fizzling out after a season that many gardeners grow them as annuals, replanting new ones each autumn. (This also solves the problem of unsightly foliage — just cut off the leaves after the bulbs finish flowering.) 

Overcrowded bulbs can be revitalized by dividing them. When the foliage has just about disappeared, dig up the bulbs, separate them and store them dry for replanting in autumn. Undersized bulbs will not flower for a couple of years growth, so are best planted in a nursery row. 

An alternative is to plant tulips that more reliably bloom year after year without fuss. “Species” tulips are famous for their capacity to bloom year after year. Even among “garden” tulips, certain varieties, such as Clara Butt, William Copeland, and Reverend Ewbank, bloom for many years without division — if growing conditions are good.

NEW YORK — The Rolling Stones staged an eye-popping spectacle that drew fans and media from around the globe — and they haven’t even gone on tour yet. 

The rockers, whose tours have been among the top-grossing concerts ever, announced another jaunt around the world in grandiose fashion Tuesday, circling New York’s sprawling Van Cortlandt Park in a yellow blimp emblazoned with their red tongue trademark. 

“We had a very interesting first-time experience on the airship,” Mick Jagger said after emerging from the blimp. “We had a really good time on it.” 

The tour, their first since their top-grossing 1999 tour, will mark the band’s 40th anniversary. It will kick off on Sept. 5 in Boston. 

When asked why the band was heading out once again — they haven’t even begun working on new material for the album — Jagger joked: “Either we stay at home and become pillars of the community, or we go out and tour. We couldn’t really find any communities that still needed pillars.” 

The tour is expected to rake in millions of dollars. The Stones already hold the record for the highest-grossing concert tour ever with their 1994 tour, which brought in $121.2 million, according to Gary Bongiovanni of Pollstar, a concert trade magazine. 

“Any year that they have toured, they have produced the biggest tour of that year,” said Bongiovanni. 

This time around, the band will play clubs as well as stadiums and arenas. 

Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood looked as if they were having plenty of fun even before the news conference began. The foursome boarded the blimp at the park and circled the area for about 15 minutes before landing. 

They had even more fun at the news conference, cracking jokes as reporters asked questions. 

When one asked if they would do any songs from the past, Richards said: “The set list is a bit down the road. It just depends if we can remember them.”

Deep cuts to health programs proposed by Gov. Gray Davis to help fill a $23.6 billion budget hole unfairly target those who need state help the most, California health care officials and advocates for the poor said Wednesday. 

If approved by the Legislature, the governor’s 2002-03 budget proposal would amount to $1.1 billion in cuts to the California Health and Human Services Agency. 

“Even before these cuts were announced, California’s health care system was beginning to unravel,” said Dr. Jack Lewin, chief executive officer of the California Medical Association. “This insult is particularly devastating to the hospitals, the emergency rooms and the physicians who are trying to keep it all going.” 

Davis proposed Tuesday a $98.9 billion budget that uses tax increases, borrowing and $7.6 billion in program cuts to fill the expected shortfall. Health programs would bear the largest brunt of the cuts. 

The plan would slice more than $750 million in state payments for Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, and postpone a plan to expand to parents the state’s Healthy Families insurance program for poor children. Cutting Medi-Cal also will cost $350 million in lost matching funds from the federal government, health experts said. 

California Health and Human Services Secretary Grantland Johnson called the cuts “painful” but defended the plan, saying Davis spared programs that insure poor children, even funding expected enrollment increases for children in Healthy Families and Medi-Cal. 

“He took a surgical approach, frankly, and really kept the core fundamentals of those programs in place,” Johnson said. 

But health care experts and patients said doctors may refuse to take Medi-Cal patients because the average reimbursement rate for treating them will dip from $20 per office visit to $16, the same rate as 1985. Plus, they said, already crowded emergency rooms will be filled with patients who can’t find a primary care doctor or specialist who accepts Medi-Cal. 

“We are regressing,” said Dr. Dinesh Ghiya, a pediatrician in Whittier, who said he may have to stop seeing Medi-Cal patients. “Patients will be left without treatment and there is no commitment here for the poor.” 

In Los Angeles County, the proposed cuts will take $17 million from the health department that runs six hospitals and about 30 clinics, according to John Wallace, director of intergovernmental relations at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. 

“This means that our already serious fiscal situation is worse,” Wallace said. “More people in L.A. County will be uninsured. You’re not just looking at people waiting longer, some people won’t get seen.” 

One in four people in Los Angeles County, or 2.5 million, don’t have health care, Wallace said. 

“It’s going to make access to health care difficult,” said Beryl Kendrick, a nurse at Compton Clinic, which is going to close at the end of June because of budget deficits within the Los Angeles County’s Department of Health Services. “We’re a county clinic; we serve people who have no insurance of any sort. During time of immunization, this place is packed.” 

Juana Leon, 45, a patient at the Compton Clinic who said she has eight children, is one of those patients. 

“It would be difficult, I would have to work for the insurance and I can’t because of the problems of finding a baby sitter,” Leon said. 

Compton Clinic is one of five clinics that have been cut because the health department was already suffering a $365 million shortfall before the proposed state cuts. 

“It’s hard, all these private hospitals don’t want to take Medi-Cal as it is,” said Dolores White, a Compton resident. 

The Davis plan also would: 

— Eliminate dental, chiropractic, podiatry and acupuncture services for adult Medi-Cal recipients and cut the number of dental visits for children from twice to once per year. 

— Increases the income requirement for two-parent families with children enrolled in Medicaid. 

— Postpones a program that was to begin July 1 to allow school districts to automatically enroll students who are on free and reduced lunch programs into Medi-cal. 

— Reinstates a requirement that Medi-Cal recipients fill out forms quarterly, instead of the current once a year, to remain eligible for the program. 

Associated Press writer Sandy Yang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

GILROY, Calif. — A moderate earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay area, rattling the stands at hockey and baseball games, sending frightened customers running from businesses and briefly tying up phone lines. 

There were no reports of injuries or significant damage from the quake, which was centered 35 miles south of San Jose just outside Gilroy, the self-proclaimed “Garlic Capital of the World.” However, authorities Tuesday were investigating whether the quake may have ruptured a gas line, sparking a fire that destroyed a home in San Jose. 

The quake struck at 10 p.m. Monday with a magnitude 4.9, according to the U.S. Geological Service. The magnitude was revised from a preliminary magnitude 5.2. Of several aftershocks, the largest was a magnitude 3.2. 

A day later, two minor earthquakes struck Northern California. At about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, a magnitude 3.5 quake hit 12 miles east of Cloverdale, about 160 miles north of the epicenter of Monday’s quake. Just over an hour later, a magnitude 3.3quake hit in the same area near Cloverdale. 

There were no reports of damage or injuries. David Schwartz, a geologist for the USGS, said the area experiences frequent earthquakes of that size, and said Tuesday’s quakes were not related to the Gilroy quake. 

Monday’s quake felt like a sharp jolt to Danny Sharma, a manager at Rodeway Inn in Gilroy. He said the motel shook violently and knocked coffee pots and glasses off room counters. 

“It was the worst one I’ve ever felt,” Sharma said. “The whole building was shaking and there was just this rumbling sound. It was a bad quake.” 

A water pipe supplying fire sprinklers broke over the menswear section at the Gilroy Wal-Mart, which was an hour from closing when the quake hit. Customers quickly left the store and more than a dozen ceiling tiles were knocked out. No one was hurt. 

About a quarter inch of water covered about half the store and dozens of workers worked into the night to mop up the water and salvage merchandise. 

Particularly hard hit were the mouthwash and laundry detergent aisles, where broken containers created a mess. 

Kevin Hackworth, the store’s loss prevention supervisor, said it was still too early to tell how much the store had lost and how much repairs would cost. 

Other parts of Gilroy, best known for an annual garlic festival that attracts 125,000 visitors, seemed mostly undisturbed. At a Lenox china outlet store, most items were still intact Monday, though several broken plates littered the floor and a few porcelain figurines in a window display had fallen. 

At a 7-Eleven, a light fixture became dismounted and a few bottles of cola bounced on the floor. 

Joseph Alderete, who works at a general store next to a Shell Station close to the epicenter, said only a few things fell off the shelves, and a rack of postcards fell. 

“This was the largest one I felt in a while,” Alderete said. 

While customers in nearby businesses ran outside for protection, no one appeared to be injured, witnesses said. Police in Gilroy said the quake didn’t appear to cause any fires and they had no preliminary word of damage. 

Phone service was back to normal across the Bay Area about half an hour after the quake. 

“We experienced network congestion and delayed dial tone in some areas from 10 p.m. to 10:25 p.m.,” said Pacific Bell spokesman John Britton. “We don’t have any infrastructure damage.” 

As a precaution, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system slowed trains and checked the tracks for damage. 

The USGS said weak to light trembling was measured for almost 200 miles north to south, from Carmel on the Pacific Coast up to Guerneville, a small town along the Russian River 148 miles north of the quake’s epicenter. The quake also was felt to the east, with weak shaking measured in Modesto and Turlock, and a slightly stronger shock measured about 80 miles east in Merced. 

The quake was centered about 4.7 miles below the Earth’s surface, and it could cause as many as 20 aftershocks in the next week. There is about a 10 percent chance one of those aftershocks will be a magnitude of 5 or higher, the USGS said. 

A low rumbling was felt in San Francisco, where it seemed to last for several seconds and get stronger as it went along.  

In Watsonville, about 9 miles from the epicenter, a couple of pitchers of beer slid off a table at Mountain Mike’s Pizza. 

“It was a pretty good swing,” said a phone operator at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco who was flooded with calls from guests worried about the shaking. “One guy on the 15th floor said his room just started swaying.” 

Play between the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche didn’t stop at the Compaq Center in San Jose, where the stands shook as the game with nine minutes to go in the third period. The lights on an upper level catwalk kept shaking after the stadium settled down. 

“I looked around, I said something wrong is going on here. Everything was shaking,” said Michel Goulet, vice president of player personnel for the Avalanche.

BERKELEY A scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and chemistry professor at the University of California at Berkeley has been named to a society that includes such notable names as Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. 

The Royal Society of London -- the oldest scientific academy in the world -- announced today that Alexander Pines has been chosen as a foreign member of the academy. 

Pines, 56, was recognized for his contributions in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which allows scientists to study the molecular composition of materials. 

Considered on of the pioneers in the field, Pines helped to establish the foundations for much of the conceptual framework and practice of modern multidimensional NMR spectroscopy. 

Pines completed his undergraduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and earned his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. 

He then joined the Berkeley national laboratory, where he currently holds the position of faculty senior scientist in the Materials Science Division. He also began teaching at UC Berkeley, where he is a Glenn T. Seaborg professor of chemistry. 

The academy, also known as the Royal Society, names 42 fellows from the United Kingdom and up to six foreign members from other countries each year. A formal induction ceremony will be held in July.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ken Yoshida was 19 years old when he was ordered to go to war by the government that had herded him to an internment camp. He refused and was sent to prison where he was ostracized by his community and branded a traitor by the powerful Japanese American Citizens League. 

In 1947, President Truman pardoned the 300 or so Japanese-Americans such as Yoshida who refused to fight in World War II on Constitutional grounds. The league planned to apologize Saturday. 

“What we’re saying is we shouldn’t be condemning or trashing people who took a stand for our community’s civil rights,” said Andy Noguchi, co-chair of the Recognition and Reconciliation Ceremony. “These were a group of 300 young men who stood up for the community’s civil rights.” 

Fifty-eight years after the fact, those are words Yoshida needs to hear. 

“I want to be recognized — what I went through. Why we resisted the draft. All that,” he said. 

That the ceremony comes at a time when a new group of immigrants has felt the sting of suspicion in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks is not lost on organizers. 

“The same type of threats and prejudice that Japanese-Americans faced back in the 1940s is something that Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans are facing today and that’s why it’s important to recognize those who stand up for their rights ... and back them up,” Noguchi said. 

Sixty years ago, it was panic over the attack on Pearl Harbor that triggered the order to round up 120,000 Japanese-Americans and send them to internment camps on grounds they threatened the West Coast. However, in Hawaii, where Japanese-Americans were crucial to the work force, there was no large-scale roundup even though it was much closer to Japan. 

Some Japanese-Americans fought relocation and other restrictions forced on them. Later, when internees were asked if they would serve in the Army and forswear loyalty to the Japanese emperor, some answered “No” to both, earning the nickname “No-no boys.” 

The draft question came in 1944. 

JACL leaders endorsed the idea in hopes of showing the rest of the country that Japanese-Americans were loyal. 

Many joined, fighting bravely. The combined units of the Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team were among the bravest in U.S. military history, receiving more than 18,000 honors. 

But a few, like Yoshida, said it was unconstitutional for the United States to strip them of their rights and then draft them. Most were imprisoned. JACL leaders called them “cowards, traitors and subversives.” 

The veterans came home heroes. The resisters came home to a wall of silence. 

Old resentments die hard. Saturday’s ceremony was bitterly opposed by some veterans’ groups. 

“There should be no apology,” says Loren Ishii, commander of Sacramento Nisei VFW Post 8985. 

Ishii and other veterans see the apology as the work of Sansei and Yonsei (third- and fourth-generation Japanese-Americans) born after World War II. 

“They’re angry at the government for the injustices ... and they’re also angry at their parents and grandparents for not standing up,” said Ishii, a Sansei and a veteran. “Over the years we’ve come to accept what the resisters did for whatever reason they did but don’t glamorize them, don’t make it look like they were treated unfairly. 

Muller thinks the JACL does have something to apologize for. His research showed its leaders worked with the government to jail the resisters. 

But he says it’s a mistake to label veterans or resisters as heroes. 

“The reality is, as always, somewhere in between. Not every veteran who was drafted out of the camps marched off into the military brimming with patriotism and not every person who resisted the draft did so purely on civil rights grounds.” 

Both sides, he said, have something in common. “They were all victimized by the same horrific government, race-based wrongdoing.” 

Naked burglar arrested 

EUGENE, Ore. — A naked burglar was arrested after his driver’s license was discovered in the pants he left at the scene of the crime, police said. 

The man sneaked into an apartment last Saturday, stripped off his clothes and crept into a sleeping woman’s bedroom, said Eugene police Sgt. Scott McKee. 

The woman awoke, saw the man and screamed, prompting her boyfriend to jump out of bed and give chase. 

The man got away, but police had the evidence they needed. 

“Thankfully it had his current address,” McKee said. 

David Spencer Clark Jr., 20, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree burglary. 

Mr. Potato Head honored  

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Islanders may soon have a chance to honor their hometown spud with license plates featuring Mr. Potato Head. 

The state Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday to issue the plates in honor of the toy’s 50th birthday. Mr. Potato Head was created in 1952 by Pawtucket, R.I., toy maker Hasbro Inc. 

The plates would be available for two years only for an extra fee of $40. Half of the fee would go to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. 

Other states have issued special license plates to raise funds for groups such as scouts and cancer awareness, or to honor college alumni or football teams, according to a Senate note on the bill. 

“This is a nice combination of recognizing an icon unique to this state while raising money for a worthy local cause,” said Senate Majority Leader William Irons. 

Chicken bone handcuffs  

VENTURA, Calif. — Spencer Moss is as slippery as his name, according to deputies at the Ventura County Jail. 

The inmate has made handcuff keys out of chicken bones, tin foil and pieces of cloth, and concealed the contraband in his ears and his shoes before getting the opportunity to tackle the locks, they say. In two years, Moss has had 58 jail security violations. 

The jailhouse Houdini faces up to 12 years in prison for allegedly escaping his cell in the jail’s most secure section and locking two deputies inside it. The Jan. 24 episode was caught on videotape. He’s also charged with using a tightly wound piece of toilet paper to unlock his handcuffs and leg shackles while in court. 

Moss, 36, was captured before making it out of the jailhouse. 

His Superior Court trial on two counts of attempted escape and one count of battery on jail personnel started Wednesday, with Moss acting as his own attorney. 

Moss, handcuffed and shackled, decided against delivering an opening statement. 

The Planning Commission continued to methodically digest the Southside Plan at its Wednesday night meeting, ruminating over several amendments aimed at liberalizing zoning rules and discussing the just- releasedstaff review of the plan’s impacts on land use and housing. 

The plan will set guidelines for development, safety, traffic and transportation in a roughly 30-block area immediately south of the UC Berkeley campus, bounded by Bancroft and Dwight ways and Prospect and Fulton streets. The area is home to about 12,500 residents, most of whom are UC Berkeley students. 

The preliminary staff review raised as many questions as it tried to answer. The report, which was not released to the public, estimates that implementation of the plan would increase the area’s housing stock by roughly 3,000 units. 

However, several commissioners questioned the report’s methodology. The planner based his estimate on a “scorched earth” scenario, in which the entire area would have been rebuilt under the proposed zoning laws. 

Since this scenario is unlikely, commissioners questioned whether the projections were too optimistic. 

“It’s an odd way of calculating development,” said Commissioner Gordon Wozniak, who cited that existing development and the protections granted to historic buildings could limit opportunities to increase the housing stock. 

One amendment approved Wednesday could help to alleviate the student housing shortage.  

The commission voted unanimously to drop language requiring no more than one person for every 350 sq. ft. in group living arrangements, such as student co-ops, fraternity houses, and boarding houses. 

Faith Stein, UC Berkeley ASUC Tenants Rights Director agreed with the decision citing that in such arrangements, the residents do not need so much space, since they share a common kitchen and living area. 

The deleted requirement had blocked the construction of proposed student housing developments, according to Andy Katz, ASUC Director, City Affairs Lobby and Housing Commission. 

The commission also agreed to relax zoning rules regarding soft story buildings. These complexes, built above parking garages to accommodate drivers, are considered more earthquake-prone than other structures.  

The amended plan will be designed to permit property owners to retrofit or rebuild structures to their existing heights, even if the buildings are in a zone that only permits three-story buildings. 

“We don’t want to demolish existing housing,” said Commissioner Wrenn, “but we need to find a way of allowing owners of these buildings to rebuild the existing number of units to existing heights so there is no disincentive to deal with seismic problems.” 

To satisfy the concerns of various residents, the Plan establishes a “step down” approach towards zoning in which the several areas immediately south of the UC Berkeley campus, and along Telegraph Avenue would be targeted as high-density areas, zoned to permit five-story buildings, while the neighborhoods closer to Dwight Way would require smaller buildings and less intensive development. 

“The plan strongly wants to encourage the development of additional housing for students and university workers near the campus and on Telegraph,” said Wrenn. 

To facilitate this in designated high density areas, the plan includes removing parking requirements for new buildings, changing the set-back rules, allowing buildings to be located closer to the curb and to one another, and utilizing a state incentive program whereby developers that designate an specified portion of a building’s floor space for residential use and a specified percentage of residential units for low-income housing, will be permitted to exceed the current four story 

height limit and build a fifth floor. 

There is still a long road ahead before the plan’s ultimate approval.  

Before a finalized plan can go before the City Council, it must undergo an independent environmental impact report, followed by a new round of public hearings. 

Commissioner Wrenn had hoped that the commission would finish the plan by September, but due to repeated staffing turnover, he acknowledged it probably wouldn’t be ready for the environmental report until October, and wouldn’t reach City Council until early 2002. 

The Planning Commission will resume discussion on May 15, tackling some of the plan’s unresolved transportation issues.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — When a group of New England explorers set sail more than 200 years ago, they brought back souvenirs from the indigenous people they encountered, hoping to inspire later generations. 

Founded in 1799, the East India Marine Society had gathered so many baskets, masks, blankets, headdresses, weapons and other American Indian items that they established a museum in Salem, Mass., 26 years later just to keep it all. 

The Peabody Essex Museum now has more than 20,000 pieces in its Indian collection, and can display only a fraction of them — one of several injustices curators of a new exhibit at Stanford University are hoping to counteract. 

A hundred items collected from the indigenous peoples of North and South America are included in “Uncommon Legacies: Native American Art From the Peabody Essex Museum,” on view through Aug. 11 at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. 

Rarely seen treasures from the 17th through 20th centuries include headdresses of blue and red macaw plumes worn by Brazilian chiefs, and a Chilkat goat wool blanket depicting clan symbols that initially could only be made or worn by wealthy Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest. 

The show also tries to erase stereotypes and ethnocentric viewpoints by depicting the everyday lives of Indians a centuries ago, said Tom Haukaas, a Lakota artist from the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota who consulted on the show. 

Marine Society members collected pipes, clubs and other symbols of warfare. However, for this exhibit, Haukass and other Indian consultants made a point of including such items as hats, baskets, food ladles and a baby carrier made by Plains tribes in 1850s. 

“We were trying to de-romanticize, to show the breadth of our cultures and still present pieces of great aesthetic appeal,” Haukass said. “Reality is sitting at home.” 

Early marine society members, on the other hand, apparently saw themselves as bold adventurers exploring dark corners of the globe. 

One of several early American maritime groups, the society had a unique purpose: form a museum of natural artifacts from beyond the Cape of Good Hope of South Africa and Cape Horn of South America. To be a member, marine men had to sail around both continents. 

The seafarers met inhabitants of the Amazon forests while trading for rubber in South America. Guano and silver trades brought them to Peru, and a need for lumber drew them into northern New England and Canada. The fur trade — particularly sea otter pelts in demand in China — was the attraction in the Pacific Northwest. 

The indigenous people soon saw a way to make money off the visitors, creating items solely to be traded, such as human face masks and black argillite smoking pipes made by the Haida, said curator John Grimes at the Peabody Essex. 

The marine men kept detailed records, although they more often recorded their own feelings than the customs they encountered, said those who have studied their journals. 

Society members often documented their collections in their journals, recording dates, places and the tribe involved. 

Many other American Indian collections of the time lack such documentation, said Manuel Jordan, a curator at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center. 

Thanks to the record keeping, at least one tribe, the Mohegan in Connecticut, have requested four items for repatriation, including a historic picture box. 

Under the 1990 Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, museums that receive public money are required to release a list of their holdings to Indian tribes. The museums are also obligated to negotiate with tribes if they have sacred religious objects, items used for the ongoing practice of religion, or items important to a nation’s identity. 

In 1997, the Peabody Essex returned a round picture box that represented one of the few surviving written language records of the Mohegan. The box, made of elm, is carved with designs that document the migration of the tribe’s members to Oneida, N.Y. 

Besides the Mohegan, native Hawaiians and Cayuga in New York are the only tribes to request items from the Peabody Essex since museums made their holdings public in 1992, Grimes said. 

Grimes understands this exhibit may stimulate conversations about repatriating some objects, and he said museums should be proactive about sharing their collections with native communities. “We’re open to that and welcome it,” he said. 

The same kind of thinking prompted the curators to include American Indian input for this exhibit, he said. 

“There is no reason that a museum at this date and time should be presuming to speak for native communities and interpreting native art without the interpretation of native artist and scholars and curators,” Grimes said.