Berkeley will see more of those bright purple Bicycle Boulevard signs soon if a resolution is passed by the City Council Tuesday night. 

The resolution, recommended by the office of the city manager, is a part of the Berkeley Bicycle Plan, a program adopted in April 2000 to make the city safer for cyclists. 

“It’s a small step forward but the signs are an essential component to changing the atmosphere and attitudes on the streets,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington.  

Cyclists in Berkeley have long complained that the city has not done enough to support a bike-friendly environment. 

Currently, signs are posted on only one of the city’s seven designated Bicycle Boulevards, Hillegass Avenue in south Berkeley. If the resolution is passed, as is expected, signs will be installed on the remaining streets, including Ninth Street, California and King streets, Milvia Street, Virginia Street, Channing Way and Russell Street. 

The Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition and the Pedestrian Safety Task Force say the signs are a start but that more work needs to be done. The groups argue that additional traffic-calming measures such as adding traffic circles need to be taken.  

“There is a great desire to have the Bicycle Boulevards expanded and for changing the cycling environment in the city,” said Peter Hillier, assistant city manager for transportation.  

Hillier says that installing the signs and adding additional markings to the boulevards are the highest priorities of the office under the Bicycle Plan. In addition to the signs, plans are under way to add arrows and stencil work to the pavement of the boulevards, directing and informing cyclists and drivers alike. 

While the signs indicate a step forward in the process of making the city safer for cyclists, Hillier realizes that signs alone will not satisfy bike advocates.  

“Our next question is how to introduce other traffic-calming elements to enhance the cycling environment,” he said. Ironically, the most effective method of slowing motorists down – speed bumps – is banned in Berkeley.  

Members of Berkeley’s disabled community argue that speed bumps are dangerous and can cause pain to elderly and disabled people when they ride over the bumps. 

The moratorium on speed bumps, however, has led officials to consider traffic circles placed in the middle of intersections that would force motorists to slow as they drove the circle. According to Hillier, one such traffic circle at the intersection of Ellsworth and Derby Streets has been a success so far in south Berkeley.  

Officials have also considered bulb-outs, which extend a sidewalk or plaza in a bulb-like shape into the street. Bulb-outs create a shorter distance for pedestrians to travel when crossing the street and cause traffic to move more slowly. 

Most local residents expressed at least some concern related to bike safety.  

“I try to avoid certain streets like Telegraph and just take the side streets. But I don’t see a big need for safety measures right now,” said Daniel, a Berkeley resident who did not want to give his last name. 

According to UC Berkeley student Erica Holt, more bike lanes and signals for bike riders would be an improvement. “If they made some changes I’d feel more comfortable riding my bike as a form of transportation. Right now I’m scared to ride my bike in Berkeley,” she said. 

Supporters of the Bicycle Plan hope to eventually provide cyclists with a way to travel from north to south and east to west through the city on a path separate from cars. 

Efforts have been made to discuss bicycle safety issues with the Berkeley Police Department, says Worthington. According to the BPD, pamphlets have been produced and workshops have been held in the past on bicycle safety. 

Though the total cost of the sign project is estimated at $51,450, the city has received grants of $17,150 from the Bay Area Air Quality Management Fund and $17,150 from the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency Fund. 

Berkeley, unlike newer cities, was designed during the heyday of the electric streetcar, before going places meant driving a car. Berkeley's hilly residential subdivisions were designed during the first decade of the 20th century when the convenience of nearby streetcar service was an important amenity. In these hillside locations the standard grid pattern of blocks and streets was abandoned for winding roads that complimented and enhanced the undulating hillsides. To make a trip to the streetcar lines more direct, a network of pedestrian pathways, some with stairs, was created.  

The pathways remain today although many are almost hidden from view by overhanging foliage or lack of signage, and some remain unimproved and overgrown. A group of Berkeley residents interested in maintaining and improving the pathways created the Berkeley Path Wanders Association several years ago. The association has just published a map of Berkeley's 136 paths, steps and walkways and it is available in stores for $3.95. The association also sponsors walking tours and they have a web site (www.berkeleypaths.org) where this information is available.  

A favorite walk for a late summer afternoon, especially as the sun begins to set, starts at Rose Walk and ends at the Rose Garden. Take the # 65 bus from downtown out Euclid Avenue to the bus stop at Rose Walk.  

Rose Walk is Berkeley's most beautiful pedestrian pathway. Although there are other classically designed walkways in Berkeley (Bancroft Steps and Orchard Lane, for example) no other walk achieves the great aesthetic success of Rose Walk. It is the only pedestrian pathway where the buildings were designed to create an ensemble, which integrates the walk with a planned development. 

Rose Walk was designed by Bernard Maybeck and completed in 1913 by donations from the neighbors. After the 1923 fire the property bordering the walk was purchased and developed by Dr. and Mrs. Frank Gray, who hired architect Henry Gutterson to design houses, duplexes, and cottages on lots adjacent to, and bordering on, Rose Walk. The complex was built between 1924 and 1936. The walk and cottages are Berkeley Landmarks.  

Beginning at Euclid and Rose Walk climb the steps and walkway connecting Euclid with Le Roy Avenue. At Le Roy turn left and continue around the corner to the intersections of LeRoy, Rose Street and Tamalpais. Continue north on Tamalpais Road about 1/4 mile until it makes a sharp turn up hill. This is an area that did not burn in the 1923 fire and there are many brown shingle houses. On the left are Tamalpais Steps, indicated by a sign, which will take you steeply downhill where you will come out at Codornices Park. On the west side of the park is the only pedestrian tunnel in Berkeley. After going through the tunnel you will come out at the Berkeley Rose Garden where views of the setting sun are spectacular.  

Susan Cerny is author of Berkeley Landmarks and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. 

To the Editor: 

I read your story on Reddy Real Estate with great interest. I was able to locate some information from the Media Alliance web site regarding the Reddy holdings. The article, titled “The Worst Slumlords in the Bay Area”, was posted over a year and a half ago, before the Reddys bought many other Berkeley apartment houses which now suffer from these same issues. The article is as follows: 

“Lakireddy Bali Reddy’s name hit the front page of Bay Area newspapers late last year when he and his son were indicted for trafficking two teenagers from India for sex. But Reddy’s outrageous conduct is not limited to enslaving young women. His record as a landlord is equally atrocious. 

Reddy is the largest landlord in Berkeley, with real estate holdings valued at $60 million or more. He owns more than 50 residential and commercial buildings in Berkeley--more than twice as many rental units as any other landlord in Berkeley--and his family-run real estate firm, Reddy Realty, owns or controls more than 1,100 apartments throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. He also owns two Bay Area restaurants: Pasand Madras Indian Cuisine in Berkeley and Pasand Indian Cuisine in Santa Clara. 

Reddy’s history as a problem landlord in Berkeley has long attracted the attention of tenant attorneys, the Berkeley Rent Board, and others: Last February, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to further investigate alleged violations of housing and rent-control laws in buildings owned by Reddy; Reddy generates nearly four times as many complaints as any other landlord in Berkeley; over the past 15 years, the Reddy family has faced 50 lawsuits and small claims court actions, ranging from allegations of unfair rent charges and bogus owner move-ins to unsafe living conditions; Reddy tenants have complained to Berkeley rent board staff that Reddy does not return security deposits, especially to foreign students (many of his tenants are students at UC Berkeley), overcharges them, and provides poor or no building maintenance; and Reddy Realty makes more than five times as many errors on official forms than any other landlord in Berkeley. In Fall of 1999, the Rent Board sent mailings to all Reddy tenants informing them of their tenant rights.” 

There is another egregious problem regarding the City of Berkeley and Reddy Real Estate. One former Berkeley building inspector, Sam Derting, wrote a letter to the Judge who was presiding over Jayaprakash and Annapurna Lakireddy's criminal case and praised the Lakireddy family's closeness to God and personal hard work ethic & proudly extolled his friendship with Jayaprakash. When the Berkeley City Manager was advised about this and a request was made for a review of all past cases involving Mr. Derting's inspections of Reddy Real Estate holdings due to a conflict of interest, he refused. He stated that Mr. Derting no longer worked for the City and the City did not have the staff available to investigate possible overlooked violations. Mark one up for the Reddy Real Estate empire again. 

Marcia Poole 

Berkeley 

Simple software tools can
create fine art images 

SAN FRANCISCO — Joe Sparks is a minor celebrity to a subculture of college students and cubicle-dwellers who follow his “Radiskull and Devil Doll” toons from as far away as Japan. 

From an apartment full of music mixers and computers, he blends software animation tools with traditional programming, storytelling and music to create shows in the genre of “The Simpsons,” only these “webisodes” are native to the Internet. 

The dot-com bubble may have burst, but multimedia art like Sparks’ still thrives online. 

With simple tools, such as Flash from Macromedia Inc., programmer-artists can create original cartoons, build fine art images or design games, like “Pound Osama bin Laden in a boxing ring.” 

“Some little broke artist with a computer can dabble with art, music and movies now,” said Sparks, who in the past designed video games and played punk rock. 

The same type of software is also giving sizzle to corporate Web sites and powering so many e-commerce applications that people, perhaps without realizing it, frequently see demonstrations of Flash as they surf the Web. The creations have appeared in online greeting cards, music videos, art museum installations, even the intro to the Rosie O’Donnell TV show. 

Programmer Jonathan Gay began developing Flash in 1993 and sold his company, FutureWave, to Macromedia in 1996, where he still works. 

It’s easy to create original art online with a little time and patience, though the more complex projects, like cartoons, can take hours, he said. 

For struggling artists, the Internet has obvious appeal. 

“You can be a Vincent van Gogh of the Web and actually be known in your lifetime,” said Stewart McBride, president and founder of United Digital Artists, a New York company that trains artists to use the software. 

“Unlike being an unpublished novelist or underground painter,” he said, “you can distribute your work to millions.” 

Sparks’ success with “Radiskull and Devil Doll” is a prime example. 

He was working with the entertainment site AtomShockwave.com at the time, before he was laid off last summer, when he whipped up the story as a demo and put the rock ’n’ roll toon — which he wrote, narrated, animated and composed — on a Web site, telling a few colleagues to check it out. 

Word spread and his story line, based on the sophomoric foibles of a pair of lovable demons, was on its way to becoming an Internet hit. Sparks now gets about 50 e-mails a day from fans, some of whom send him photos of their Radiskull tattoos. 

“I never got quite a visceral first reaction to anything I have ever done,” said Sparks, who created the breakthrough CD-ROM video games “Total Distortion” and “Spaceship Warlock” in the 1990s. 

He said he doesn’t quite understand the appeal of his toons. 

“Joe has become kind of a cult hero for a lot of people,” said Scott Roesch, a vice president at AtomShockwave.com, which owns Sparks’s Radiskull cartoon and uses them to generate ad revenues. 

“We have this kind of coffee break phenomenon where people take a break, watch a movie or animation and then go back to work,” Roesch said. 

Sparks made eight episodes of Radiskull, but because AtomShockwave still owns the franchise, he’s moving on. 

The next project: “Dickey and Jackie,” a toon exploring a simply drawn world of preschoolers against a backdrop of rock music. 

People may hate it — he won’t know until he puts it online. But then again, popular appeal isn’t necessarily the point. 

“Hundreds of years ago, only kings could dabble in music and art,” Sparks said. “Now, there’s a lot of opportunity for people like me who are loners and like to chisel stuff out and share it with others.” 

Friday, July 5 

Free Early Music Group 

Singers needed for small group of 15th and 16th century music every Friday 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst at MLK Way. 

Contact Ann at 665-8863 

Saturday, July 13 

Barbara Dane 75th Birthday Concert 

7:30 p.m. 

Frieght and Salvage coffee house, 1111 Addison St. 

Jazz, blues, American folk from around the world 

548-1761 for ticket information 

Sunday, July 14 

Hal Stein Quartet  

4:30 p.m.  

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison Street € Berkeley 

845-5373, www.jazzschool.com 

$6-12  

Troy Lampkins Group 

4:30 p.m.  

Jazzschool 2087 Addison Street € Berkeley 

Groove-filled, groove-intense music 

845-5373, swing@jazzschool.com 

$6-12  

July 25 

Midsummer Motzart  

Festival Orchestra 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Divertimento in D, Piano concerto #17, Symphony #38 “Prague” 

(415) 292-9624 for tickets 

$25-50 

Saturday, August 3 

Bata Ketu 

8 p.m.  

Alice Arts Center, 1428 Alice St. 

Oakland. 

Interplay of Cuban and Brazilian  

music and dance  

www.lapena.org 

$20 

“Red Rivers Run Through Us”  

Until Aug. 11,  

Wed. - Sun.  

Noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center,  

1275 Walnut St. 

Art and writing from Maxine Hong Kingston's veterans' writing group 

Reception, 2 to 4 p.m.  

644-6893 

From the Attic: Preserving  

and Sharing our Past 

Until July 26, Thur.-Sat. 1 to 4 p.m. 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St. 

Exhibit shows the 'inside' of museum work 

848-0181 

Free 

The Creation of People’s Park 

Through Aug. 31, Mon.-Thur. 9 to 9 p.m., Fri. 9 to 5 p.m., Sat. 1 to 5 p.m. Sun. 3 to 7 p.m. 

The Free Movement Speech Cafe  

UC Berkeley campus 

A photo exhibition, curated  

by Harold Adler 

hjadler@yahoo.com 

Free 

Jan Wurm: Paintings and Drawings 

Mon. and Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tues.-Thurs. 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Flora Hewlett Library at the Graduate Theological Union 

2400 Ridge Road 

649-1417 

Thursday, July 11 

“New Visions: Introductions 

'02” Reception 

Works from emerging Californian artists 

Reception, 6 to 8 p.m. Display up from July 3 to Aug. 10 

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St. Oakland 

763-4361 

Free 

Saturday, July 20 

“First Anniversary  

Group Show”  

July 18 to Aug. 17 

Ardency Gallery, Aki Lot, 8th Street 

Reception, 5 to 8 p.m. 

13 local artists display work ranging from sculpture to mixed media 

836-0831 

Antony and Cleopatra 

Directed by Joy Meads 

June 15 to July 20,  

Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m. 

La Vals Subterranean Theater  

1834 Euclid 

234-6046 for reservations 

$14 general, $10 student 

Abingdon Square  

Previews 16,18,19 at 8 p.m. Runs June 21 to July 6, Thurs. to Sat. 8 p.m. Sundays 7 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. 

The Shotgun Players,  

directed by Shana Cooper 

704-8210 www.shotgunplayers.org 

$18 regular, $12 students, previews and Mondays - pay what you can. Opening Night $25\ 

Grease 

July 5-Aug. 10, Sunday matinees  

July 14,21,28 Aug. 4 

Contra Costa Civic Theater,  

951 Pomona Ave. El Cerrito 

Directed by Andrew Gabel 

524-9132 for reservations 

$17 general, $10 for under 16 and under 

Don Pasquale Opera 

July 13, 15, 17, 19 at 8 p.m.  

July 21 at 2 p.m. 

Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek 

From the Festival Opera  

Association, a comedy by  

Gaetano Donizetti about an arranged marriage 

www.festivalopera.com 

Benefactors 

July 18 to Aug. 18, Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m. Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. 

Previews: July 12-14 and 17 

Michael Frayn's comedy of two neighboring couple's interactions 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org  

for reservations. $26 - $35  

The Shape of Things 

Sept. 13 to Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company,  

2081 Addison St. 

Neil LaBute's love story  

about two students 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 - $35  

The Heidi Chronicles 

July 12 to Aug. 10 Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m. 

Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley present Wendy Wasserstein’s play about change. 

528-5620 

$10 

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights 

July 12 to Sept. 28, Fri.-Sun. 8 p.m. Sun. 4 p.m. 

Forest Meadows Outdoor Amphitheater, Grand Avenue at the Dominican University, San Raphael 

Marin Shakespeare Company’s presents this classic story with original Arabic music. 

(415) 499-4488 for tickets 

$12, youth; $20 senior; $22 general 

Alarms and Excursions 

Nov. 15 to Dec. 22 

Aurora Theatre Company,  

2081 Addison St. 

Michael Frayn's comedy about the irony of modern technology 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 - $35  

Poetry Diversified 

1st and 3rd Tuesdays,  

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

World Ground Cafe,  

3726 Mac Arthur Blvd., Oakland 

Open mic and featured readers 

Boas Writing Group 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Stefani Barber, Jean Lieske  

and many more 

845-7852 

$2 

Saturday, July 6 

Bay Area Arts Coalition  

Poetry Reading 

3 to 5 p.m. 

West Berkeley Branch Library  

1125 University Ave. 

527-99055 

Wednesday, July 10 

Carmen Gimenez-Rosello,  

Dawn Trook 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852 

$2 

Sunday, July 14 

M.L. Liebler and  

Country Joe McDonald 

Poetry and Music 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852 

$2 

Wednesday, July 17 

Hannah Stein and Kevin Clark 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Authors of “Earthlight and In the Evening of No Warning.” 

845-7852 

$2 

Open Mike and Featured Poet 

7 to 9 P.M. First Thursdays and second Wednesdays each month  

Albany Library 1247 Marin Ave 

Thursday, July 11: Poets Tenesha Smith-Douglas and Judith Annenbaum. 

Second Wednesdays are a monthly Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Alison Seevak.  

526-3720 Ext. 19 

Free 

Friday and Saturday, July 5 and 6 

Brainwash Movie Festival 

9 p.m. 

Alliance for West Oakland Development Parking Lot, 1357 5th St. Across from W. Oakland BART 

Weird and unique short films and video festival 

(415) 273-1545 

$10 

Friday, July 5 

“Remember the Night”  

and “The Good Fairy” 

7:30 p.m. and 9:25 p.m., respectively. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft  

Preston Sturges' classic films 

Saturday, July 6 

“The Great McGinty” and  

“Christmas in July” 

McGinty at 4:30 and 8:30 p.m.; Christmas at 7 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft  

Preston Sturges' classic films 

Saturday, July 6

Capoeira Batizado 

2 to6 p.m.  

Capoeira Arts Cafe 

2026 Addison, Berkeley 

A celebration of Capoeira with performances by local arts organization. 

For information: 666-1255, www.capoeiraarts.com 

Free 

The Great Rummage Sale 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth Street (at Carleton) in Berkeley 

Warehouse full of household items, books, records, clothing, furniture, and lots more at great prices. All proceeds go to support of our shelter. 

845-7735 

Monday, July 8

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting  

Monday, July 8th, 2002 at 3 p.m.  

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office,1403 Addison Street-behind University Avenue Andronico’s Super Market. 

Laurie Capitelli of Red Oak Realty runs down the options of selling homes 

All Welcome 

548-9696 or 486-8010 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Tuesday, July 9

Mother’s Morning Out 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Upaya Center for Wellbeing 

478 Santa Clara Ave. 

Craniosacral Therapy for Infants and Children 

www.upayacenter.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 11

Great Sierra Backpacking  

Destinations 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo  

Karen Najarian of Sierra Wilderness Seminars presents slides from her more that 20 years exploring the Sierra Backcountry. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

What Do You Believe? Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers 

6:30 to 8:00 p.m. 

Ellen Driscoll Playhouse 

325 Highland Avenue, Piedmont  

Film presented by Piedmont diversity groups; discussion with filmmaker, Sarah Feinbloom.  

655-5552, or maudep@aol.com 

Free 

Friday, July 12

Celebration of Emma Goldman's Birthday  

8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall  

390 27th St  

An all-ages, alcohol-free party with live music, DJ, and dance lessons 

http://www.ebcaw.org  

$5 to $10 sliding scale  

Saturday, July 13

Peach / Stone Fruit Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

15th Anniversary Derby  

Street Farmers Market 

Live music and & stone-fruit and peach tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Festival of New Versions  

of Classic Asian Games 

Noon to 5 p.m 

Dr. Comics and Mr. Games,  

4014 Piedmont Ave., Oakland  

Dr Comics and Mr Games Hosts Game a festival featuring two new versions of classic Asian board games 

601-7800 

Sunday, July 14

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m.to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic bike repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Family Health Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Explore health concerns in a family oriented environment 

Free 

Tuesday, July 16

Berkeley Camera  

Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

525-3565 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Wedneday, July 17

Doctors Without Borders 

Until July 18 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley, Springer Gateway, West Entrance Crescent 

Interactive exhibit expalining medicines for people in developing countries; Film screenings 

www.doctorswithoutborders.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 18

Mystique of the Widerness 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Phil Arnot presents slides from over 50 years of exploring such places as Alaska, New Zealand, the Sierra and the Rockies. 

For information: 527-4140 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

3 to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Saturday, July 20

Emergency Preparedness  

Classes in Berkeley 

Earthquake Retrofitting: Learn how to strengthen your wood frame home. 

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

981-5605 

Free 

Thursday, July 2

California Landscapes:  

A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slideshw on such amazing places as the Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges the Great Valley and Cascades 

For information: 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Preston Sandusky of Kestrel, a premier manufacturer of high-end, carbon-fiber road and mountain bikes, intrduces their latest design. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

"Neon: The Living Flame" 

7:00 p.m.  

Alameda Museum  

2324 Alameda Ave.  

The Alameda Museum presents Michael Crowe, author, and neon artist Karl Hauser 

lecture by Michael Crowe 

748-0796 or 841-8489.  

Members free, nonmembers $5  

Sunday, July 28

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m. to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike techician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31

Mountain Adventure Seminars:  

Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 to 9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Last .400 hitter dies after long battle with
strokes and congestive heart failure 

CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. – Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox revered and sometimes reviled “Splendid Splinter” and baseball’s last .400 hitter, died Friday at age 83. 

Williams, who suffered a series of strokes and congestive heart failure in recent years, was taken Friday to Citrus County Memorial Hospital in Inverness where he was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at 8:49 a.m., said hospital spokeswoman Rebecca Martin. 

He underwent open-heart surgery in January 2001 and had a pacemaker inserted in November 2000. 

“With the passing of Ted Williams, America has lost a baseball legend,” said President Bush, a former baseball owner. “Whether serving the country in the armed forces or excelling on the baseball diamond, Ted Williams demonstrated unique talent and love of country. 

“He inspired young ballplayers across the nation for decades and we will always remember his persistence on the field and his courage off the field. Ted gave baseball some of its best seasons – and he gave his own best seasons to his country. He will be greatly missed.” 

The Hall of Famer always wanted to be known as the greatest hitter ever, and his stats backed up the claim. 

He had 145 RBIs as a Red Sox rookie in 1939 and closed out his career – fittingly – by hitting a home run at Fenway Park in his final major league at-bat in 1960. 

Williams was a two-time MVP who twice won the Triple Crown. He hit .344 lifetime with 521 home runs – despite twice interrupting his career to serve as a Marine Corps pilot in World War II and the Korean War. 

“Ted was an American legend,” baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. “Besides being one of baseball’s all-time greats, he was a genuine war hero, having served as a Marine flyer in World War II and in the Korean conflict. 

“When Ted was a young man, he often said it was his goal that people would say of him: ‘There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.’ Ted fulfilled that dream.” 

Williams’ greatest achievement came in 1941 when he batted .406, getting six hits in a doubleheader on the final day of the season. 

“He is the premier measuring stick for all hitters,” said longtime major league slugger and coach Frank Howard, who played for Williams on the Washington Senators. “He’s light years ahead of anybody as far as hitting a baseball. 

“The country lost a great American today,” Howard said. 

Williams contended his eyesight was so keen he could pick up individual stitches on a pitched ball and could see the exact moment his bat connected with it. 

He also asserted he could smell the burning wood of his bat when he fouled a ball straight back, just missing solid contact. 

“I think he was the best hitter that baseball has had,” said Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr, who played with Williams for 10 seasons. 

“He wanted to be the greatest hitter of all time, and he worked hard at that, but he was also a great teammate. He patted everyone on the back,” Doerr said from Junction City, Ore. 

Williams was a perfectionist who worked tirelessly at his craft and had no tolerance for those less dedicated. He was single-minded and stubborn, a player who reduced the game to its simplest elements: batter vs. pitcher, one trying to outsmart the other. In those instances, he usually won. 

“I am truly heartbroken,” Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto said. “We have lost another great ballplayer, another great person.” 

“And when I was just a rookie in 1941, he took me under his wing. After he hit a double one day, he called timeout and told me, ’Kid, you’ve got a chance to play for the Yankees for a long time, so bear down.’ He was a credit to the game and did so much for so many people,” he said. 

Tall and thin, gaunt almost, Williams hardly possessed the traditional profile of a slugger. Yet he was probably the best hitter of his time – and one with a chip on his shoulder. 

Often involved in feuds both public and private during his career, Williams mellowed later in life. 

The best example came in his reaction to an emotional ovation from the crowd at the 1999 All-Star game at Fenway Park, Williams’ longtime playground. 

After a roster of Hall of Famers was introduced, Williams rode a golf cart to the pitcher’s mound, where he threw out the first ball. Suddenly, he was surrounded by a panorama of stars, past and present, who reacted like a bunch of youngsters crowding their idol for an autograph. 

For a long time, they just hovered around him, many with tears in their eyes. 

Then, San Diego’s Tony Gwynn gently helped a misty-eyed Williams to his feet and steadied him as Williams threw to Carlton Fisk, another Boston star. 

The crowd roared. 

“Wasn’t it great!” Williams said. “I can only describe it as great. It didn’t surprise me all that much because I know how these fans are here in Boston. They love this game as much as any players and Boston’s lucky to have the faithful Red Sox fans. They’re the best.” 

It wasn’t always that way for Williams. Revered as a slugger, he also was remembered for snubbing Fenway fans, refusing to tip his hat when he hit the ultimate walk-off home run in his final at-bat at age 42. 

“Gods do not answer letters,” John Updike once wrote in a profile of Williams, who sealed that image in 1941 with an 11th-hour show of courage. 

Going into the final day of the season, Williams was batting .3996. Rounded off, that would be .400, and Red Sox manager Joe Cronin suggested he sit out the day’s doubleheader to clinch that golden number. 

Williams refused. Instead, he played both games, went 6-for-8 and lifted his season average to .406. No one has approached .400 since. 

“He killed the ball, just killed it,” said Pete Suder, who played shortstop for the Philadelphia Athletics that day. “He hit one into the loudspeaker horns. He hit another one over the fence.” 

That year, Williams also led the league with 37 homers, 145 bases on balls and a .735 slugging percentage. Despite all those gaudy statistics, the American League MVP award went to Joe DiMaggio, who had a record 56-game hitting streak. 

The next year, Williams won the Triple Crown, leading the league with 36 home runs, 137 RBIs and a .356 average. But the MVP award went to Yankees second baseman Joe Gordon (.322, 18, 103). 

The same thing happened in 1947, when Williams won his second Triple Crown by hitting .343 with 32 homers and 114 RBIs, but lost the MVP vote again to DiMaggio (.315, 20, 97). 

By then, Williams’ relationship with the writers, particularly in Boston, had deteriorated badly. One writer left him off the MVP ballot entirely in 1947, costing him the award. 

Williams and DiMaggio were fierce competitors. Once in the fog of a cocktail party, they were nearly traded for each other so that the lefty-swinging Williams could benefit from the cozy right-field stands at Yankee Stadium and the right-handed DiMaggio could target the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The next morning, clearer heads prevailed and the deal was called off. 

“He was the best pure hitter I ever saw. He was feared,” DiMaggio said in 1991, the 50th anniversary of Williams’ .406 season and DiMaggio’s hitting streak. 

When DiMaggio died, in March 1999, Williams said there was no one he “admired, respected and envied more than Joe DiMaggio.” 

Williams led the league in hitting six times, the last in 1958, when, at age 40, he became the oldest batting champ in major league history. 

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1966, his first year of eligibility. 

Although considered a born hitter by many, Williams worked countless hours to improve throughout his career. He often said hitting a baseball was “the hardest thing to do in sports.” 

“A round ball, a round bat, curves, sliders, knuckleballs, upside down and a ball coming in at 90 to 100 miles an hour, it’s a pretty lethal thing,” he said. 

He once ordered postal scales for the Boston clubhouse so he could be sure of the weight of his bats. In the on-deck circle, he would massage the handle of his bat with olive oil and resin, producing a squeal that disconcerted many pitchers. 

“In order to hit a baseball properly,” he once explained, “a man has got to devote every ounce of his concentration to it.” 

Williams was only 20 when he joined the Red Sox in 1939, beginning a tempestuous, colorful career. He had several nicknames: Thumpin’ Ted, Teddy Ballgame and The Kid. But none stuck like “The Splendid Splinter,” a reference to his skinny, 6-foot-3 physique. 

He was brash and outspoken from the start. In 1940, Williams made headlines when he told a writer: “That’s the life, being a fireman. It sure beats being a ballplayer. I’d rather be a fireman.” 

A few years after retiring, he was quoted as saying: “I’m so grateful for baseball – and so grateful I’m the hell out of it.” 

But he didn’t really stay away. He managed the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers in 1969-72 and maintained lifetime connections with the Red Sox. In 1984, the team retired his number 9. 

Theodore Samuel Williams was born Aug. 30, 1918, in San Diego. Out of high school, he signed a Pacific Coast League contract with his hometown team. 

He played 1 1/2 seasons with San Diego, then was obtained by the Red Sox in 1937 for the then-outrageous sum of $25,000 and five players. After a year in Minneapolis, he came to the majors in 1939. 

With a dependent mother, Williams received a military deferment from his draft board in 1942. When that season ended, though, he enlisted, becoming a Marine flier. In 1946, he returned to lead the Red Sox to the pennant and his first MVP award. 

As a member of the Marine Reserves, was called up as a jet pilot in 1952. After combat service as a fighter pilot in Korea, he rejoined the Red Sox late in the 1953 season. 

After his 1960 retirement, Williams became an avid fisherman and outdoorsman. But he returned to baseball in 1969 as manager of the Washington Senators. 

He managed three years in Washington and one more when the club moved to Texas as the Rangers in 1972. Although he was respected by his peers, Williams’ teams went 273-364, a .429 mark. 

Williams returned to the Red Sox as a vice president, then was a consultant and spring training hitting instructor. But the strokes, especially a particularly severe one in February 1994, limited his vision and mobility. 

He still did occasional public appearances in his wheelchair, and remained quick-witted and an avid fan. Commenting on the 1998 home run duel between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, he said: “The McGwire-Sosa thing was so super-great. McGwire is the closest thing to gargantuan at the plate.” 

In 1995, Boston dedicated a $2.3 billion harbor tunnel bearing Williams’ name. At the ceremony, he made it clear he didn’t consider it a memorial. 

“Every place I go, they’re waving at me, sending out a cheer, sending letters and notes,” he said. “And I thought, I’ve only seen it happen to somebody who looks like they’re going to die. ... I’m a long ways from that.” 

Married three times, he had three children: Bobbie Jo, Claudia and John Henry Williams.

Rule is in response to Cal OSHA citations given to city food program 

Berkeley came to an agreement with the California Occupational Safety & Health Administration Wednesday on two safety violations in its Meals on Wheels program for seniors. 

Cal OSHA issued two citations June 20, one for failing to properly secure food containers in vehicles and another for keeping inadequate records on employee safety training. 

Under the July 3 agreement, the city placed straps in the vehicles to hold down containers and Cal OSHA withdrew the corresponding citation, replacing it with a less punitive “notice.” 

Cal OSHA kept the record-keeping citation in place, fining the city $185.  

Fred Medrano, director of health and human services, said that record keeping was not the only problem – the program did not have a safety program to track. 

Now, he said, the city has initiated a training program and agreed to improve record-keeping. 

“I think the staff have taken the initiative to address the problem and we agreed with the Cal OSHA folks in terms of the remedy,” he said. 

Cal OSHA spokesperson Susan Gard praised the city for its efforts. 

“We had a very cordial relationship,” she said. “The employer was quite cooperative.” 

One Meals on Wheels employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said five drivers were injured in recent months, before the straps were put in place. But Medrano said he knew of only one worker’s compensation claim. He said the city, as a precaution, has placed a limit on the amount of weight the driver in question can lift. 

Medrano said there was never any danger of the food containers flying toward the drivers. He said the drivers’ main concern was that they would have to reach back to steady the shifting containers and could be injured in the process. 

Still, the employee said the straps do not solve the problem, arguing that Meals on Wheels should invest in vehicles specifically designed to store food in the rear. 

The program supplies over 240 seniors with meals it deliveres to their homes. The city asks participants to make a small donation, if they can afford it, to help subsidize the program. 

The employee who raised concerns about safety also said the city needs to make temporary Meals on Wheels positions permanent to reduce turnover and ensure stability. Medrano said the city is working to move the program’s three drivers, currently temporary employees, to career status. 

He said the city is also working to reduce its reliance on volunteer drivers, who supplement the city employees. 

“When you rely on volunteers, sometimes they don’t feel as obligated to be on the job as consistently,” Medrano said. “You can’t build a program around that.”

To the Editor: 

I’d like to correct an inaccuracy in your recent article about bond measures on the ballot in November (June 28). Your reporter wrote that the bond measure for a new animal shelter would cost the taxpayers of Berkeley $12 per year for ‘an undetermined time’. Like other bond measures this one will run it’s course in 30 years. 

Berkeley is one of only two cities in the greater Bay Area which does not yet have a new animal shelter or a plan in place to build one. 

Those of us working to bring about the construction of a clean, safe shelter which meets new humane standards of care mandated by state law, were delighted to see the breadth of support for this measure at City Council.  

Interesting that our furry friends could momentarily heal the familiar rift in our Council chambers! 

Jill Posener 

Chairperson, Gimme  

Shelter/Committee To Build a New Berkeley Animal Shelter 

‘Berzerkeley’ Slam 

I’ll admit: until this past Wednesday, I was a slam virgin. Oh, I’d seen spoken word performers, poets, open mic performances centered on music. But never the excitement of a “competition” measured out in exact three-minute intervals, in which every performer is given an equal chance to reach the audience and judges in 180 seconds. So it was down to the Starry Plough on Shattuck, home of the Berzerkeley Slam, to see what this was all about, and also to catch members of Team Berkeley who are preparing for next week’s “Battle of the Bay” on their way to the National Slam Championships in Minneapolis Aug. 14-17. 

It is the seeming randomness of the slam that appeals to many: because the judges are picked by lot from the audience, there are no “experts.” Five judges score on a 1-10 scale, high and low scores are discarded. Local events like Berzerkeley Slam offer minimal prize money, whereas the Western Regionals will offer $1,000 and the Nationals $3,000.  

Audience participation is one of the goals of a slam, and heckling is encouraged. 

“Slam is a gimmick,” says Berkeley Slam Master Charles Ellik. “It's a device used to break down the barrier between audiences and poets, a form used to push poets to new levels they never thought they'd achieve.” 

Berkeley’s five poets (four plus one alternate) will take part in the Battle of the Bay, which really serves more as a fund-raiser and practice for the poets than a fierce win-at-all-costs battle (in fact, I was to discover that “competing” isn’t really cool, or what slam is all about, at least in Berkeley). Teams from San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento meet with Team Berkeley at the Black Box in Oakland next Thursday, July 11. Each local team hosts its own event, and there is a sixth called “Tourettes without Regrets.” All proceeds are shared among the teams for traveling expenses and the like. 

Slams are competitions with rules. Each poet performs one original poem which must be shorter than three minutes. Penalties are applied to those who perform too long. Slammers can sing but are not allowed to wear a costume.  

Kenny Mostern, an organizer for the Battle of the Bay, says that all the events are friendly, bonding experiences for the slammers. Mostern, who has participated in slam for seven years, including stints with two semifinalist teams at the national championships, breaks down the genre: “Slam is a very specific spoken-word format. Critics question whether it’s good for the art form, because it introduces competition and a time limit. I think it’s (a formula) like the pop song, or the sonnet. I love pop songs, and I love slam,” he says. Bay Area teams have done well at prior championships: San Francisco and San Jose shared the national title in 1999, with Oakland coming in third.  

Berkeley’s team is coached by Ellik, a slam veteran who moved to the Bay Area in 1997 and was soon the San Francisco Slam Master. “There really wasn’t much happening here, and I helped build up the scene,” says Ellik.  

He decided to focus his activities on the East Bay, where he lives, and now ekes out a living as the host of the Starry Plough’s raucous Wednesday evening slams, which he calls “one of the most competitive in the world.” In fact, people drive from as far as Santa Rosa and Reno to take part in the standing-room only event. This past Wednesday was a special “Amazon Slam,” in which women only were supposed to be involved in the competition. However, since only two women signed up initially, the competition was opened to everyone, and once the judges were chosen, the event began in earnest. (Ellik helps newcomers with a “Tips for Poetry Slams” handout, explaining the intricacies and mores of the art form/competition).  

If the standings from Wednesday’s competition are any indicator, Berkeley’s team looks strong going into Regional and Nationals. Karen Ladson and Rupert E. finished in the top three, and both lost points for going over the time limit (the judges and participants both got more exuberant and enthusiastic for the second round, fueled by poetic inspiration, nicotine and alcohol, perhaps). Ladson had an amusing standoff with a barfly who wouldn’t shut up, but she finally silenced him with an icy stare and continued. 

Kenny Monstren says scenes like this are part of the slam’s charm. “As a performer, you have to have the random appeal that you’d have in any bar. 

And that can change from the Starry Plough to the Black Box to the Justice League in San Francisco," he says.  

As DJ Tek Neek spun tunes ranging from Al Green to Nenah Cherry to the Guess Who, performers shuffled on and off stage, to much love and support from the audience. Some read from notebooks, others strode up to the mic like they owned it and spewed out memorized streams of consciousness; in any case, the quality of all was, to this newbie slam attendee, rather amazing. Although the scores were all relatively high this evening, sometimes Mcs have been known to play up hostilities between audience and judges, adding to the evening’s tension. Amazingly, a woman named Jennifer won the first prize, in only her second slam competition.  

The slam as we know it today coalesced in Chicago in the late 80's, under the creative guidance of a construction worker named Marc Smith, according to slam history. The idea spread across the country, evolving along the way. Every slam has its own traditions and aesthetic. In 1990, the first-ever National Slam was held in San Francisco, beginning a process of establishing "National Rules" and a network of communication that has made it possible for poets to tour the continent like one-person punk rock bands.  

Ellik has high hopes for Team Berkeley, which in last year’s nationals finished 12th out of 54 teams. 

Although he has his own aspirations, he’s keeping them in check for a higher purpose: "I’m a poet and I’d like to compete," he says. "But after the results of last year, lots of people asked me to coach again, and I felt really fulfilled, appreciated and wanted." Probably the same could be said of the performers on Wednesday, for "slam" is a competition in word only, mutual support and respect being the watchwords in this growing national phenomena.  

On the strength of an NCAA championship in softball, Cal placed 20th in the final Sears Director’s Cup standings - the Golden Bears’ third consecutive finish in the Top 20.  

Cal was 12th in the Sears Cup race last year and 15th in 2000. Other Top 20 finishes came in 1994 (17th), 1995 (13th) and 1998 (19th).  

The Sears Cup measures a school’s overall level of success based on performances of teams in 20 selected sports and ranks all 323 NCAA Division I institutions.  

In addition to softball this year, which claimed the first NCAA team championship in school history, Cal also earned third-place finishes in women’s crew and men’s gymnastics, sixth place in men’s swimming and eighth in women’s swimming.  

However, Cal’s finish could have been even higher except that four teams that finished among the top five in the nation did not contribute to the standings. Both rugby and men’s crew defended their national titles, but neither sport competes under the NCAA umbrella. In addition, men’s water polo was ranked second in the final poll and women’s water polo was fifth, but the Bears were not among the four teams invited to their respective NCAA championship tournaments, and thus received no Sears Cup points.

After 19 years as executive director of Berkeley’s Public Education Foundation, Mary Friedman is calling it quits. Friedman will retire Aug. 1 and pass the reins to Trina Ostrander, the foundation’s current associate director. Ostrander will now guide the organization that started with $4,000 in donations in 1983 and distributed $700,000 throughout Berkeley public schools last year. 

“In the beginning, our ambition was to ask an ever-widening circle of friends to contribute the private funds that would give our teachers the basic resources – books, crayons, petri dishes – that suddenly there was no budget for,” Friedman said. 

“But before we knew it, we were being asked to provide all kinds of support, and a dedicated community of contributors was forming that enabled us to keep working harder and setting our sights higher.” 

The foundation’s accomplishments include a founding role in the Berkeley High School Health Center in the early 1990s, a $300,000 rescue of the district’s elementary school music program in the mid 1990s and a $1.3 million contribution to help construct the new Columbus Elementary School, now called Rosa Parks.  

Community leaders say Friedman will be missed. 

“She’s been such a pillar of support for public education,” said Terry Doran, school board member. But, he added that Ostrander will be an able leader of the foundation. 

“It’s in good hands,” Doran said. “I think Ostrander’s vision of what the organization can accomplish is as enlightened as Mary’s. At the same time, they’ll be hard shoes to fill.” 

Ostrander said Friedman, who will continue to serve as Executive Director Emerita, is leaving behind a formidable organization. More importantly, she said, Friedman is leaving the city with a belief in the power of public education. 

“The whole community, largely because of Mary’s tenacity and vision, feels we can make our schools work,” Ostrander said. 

Friedman said a group of Berkeley education leaders, including then-school board President Steve Lustig, launched the foundation in 1983 in response to the voters’ passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, which capped property taxes and reduced education funding, and a series of elementary school closings in Berkeley in the early 1980s. 

Friedman got involved in 1984 and soon took the leading role in the small organization. She does not recall exactly when she became executive director. But, Friedman says, with a laugh, she probably assumed the title when the foundation printed its first stationary and had to affix a title to her name. 

“At the point in time when she became our executive director, we’d had a good start, but things had slowed down,” said Allan C. Miller, outgoing chairman of the foundation’s board. “Mary just picked up the energy and everything the foundation has become is a result of her leadership.” 

The organization’s signature program in its early years was its Classroom Grants to Teachers effort. That program is still a hallmark of the foundation today. Last year, the group gave $160,000 to individual teachers to support field trips, literacy projects, school gardens and more. 

Friedman said a belief in the power of teachers has animated the grants program. 

“There are so many reasons why children don’t succeed. But I really believe a great teacher can overcome many of these obstacles,” she said. “I think teachers are the heroes of our society.” 

In 1991, the foundation launched the Berkeley School Volunteers program, hiring director Barbara Bowman in 1992. Last year, that initiative produced 46,000 hours of volunteer time in the schools. 

At the same time, the foundation raised some $50,000 in construction funds for the high school health center. 

“That was our first project that took us beyond the classroom,” Friedman said. 

The foundation followed that effort with a $1.3 million campaign that resulted in an additional pre-school room, a science lab, a family resource center and improved athletic facilities at Columbus Elementary School. 

The foundation also raised $300,000 to pay for the elementary school music program in 1994-1995. Funding cuts would have eliminated the program that year without the stop-gap funding. The Berkeley Schools Excellence Project - - a special local tax - - began paying for the program the following year. 

As the new executive director, Ostrander said she will work to maintain the strong classroom grants and volunteer programs, while focusing on large scale programs. 

Ostrander said landscaping projects, library supplies, support for the district’s early literacy push and a teacher training fund, named in Friedman’s honor, are all possibilities. She emphasized that she wants to talk to teachers and administrators to see where the foundation might best concentrate its efforts. 

Friedman said the foundation’s large projects mark some of her proudest moments. But she has taken particular pleasure in providing small grants to programs that have grown, like the garden program throughout the district and the Parent Resource Center at the high school. 

“The way the foundation has been most successful is through small grants, giving great ideas the time to germinate,” Friedman said.  

To the Editor: 

Local control of tobacco sales to youths is threatened by AB 1666, which is on the governor's desk for signature. If this becomes law it will be a disaster to the already beleaguered tobacco control programs of Berkeley as well as every county in California. At a time when budgets are being cut in half, programs are being eliminated and staff is being laid off, the fight against big tobacco can ill-afford yet another assault on what is left in the arsenals of county tobacco programs. 

Tobacco lobbyists claim AB 1666 is designed to “monitor retail tobacco sales and to insure compliance with tobacco tax and control laws." But the legislation actually has the potential to preempt all local youth access tobacco laws as well as the enforcement of existing local tobacco retail license laws. This is the latest attempt by the tobacco industry and their allies in the Legislature to undermine the remarkable success of California’s highly effective tobacco prevention program. 

Anyone interested in protecting teens and others from big tobacco's youth-targeted marketing campaigns should phone or fax the governor immediately. We must not stand by and allow AB 1666 to protect the cynical multi-billion dollar tobacco interests, devastate public health programs and escalate long-term stateand local health care expenditures even more. 

Paul Fletcher 

Communications Director American Lung Assn. of the East Bay

At least one council race in the November election will likely be amicable. Current City Councilmember Dona Spring, District 4, and environmental activist LA Wood are espousing nothing but words of admiration for each other. 

“We really don’t disagree on that much,” said Spring of Wood. “I think he’s a bit more of a perfectionist than I am. But he’s certainly done good work.” 

Wood echoed her dismay about having to run against an ally. 

“Yes, it’s really too bad that I live in this district,” Woods. “But this is something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time now.” 

Politically speaking, Spring and Wood are both deeply rooted in environmental activism.  

Wood has led a battle against building the Harrison Playfields on Sixth Street due to poor air quality in the area. In addition, he was a key player in the effort to stop nuclear testing in Berkeley. Wood has been a watchdog against the UC Berkeley laboratory since 1993. He also helped set the groundwater standard for the city. 

As a member of Berkeley City Council, Spring has admittedly taken a different role in many environmental battles, but she says that she is still a member of the Green Party and an advocate of the environment’s. 

Spring refers back to Woods’ effort against the playing fields as an example of how she can at times, for better or for worse, be more willing to compromise than he is. 

“I know he thinks I compromise too much, but that’s a part of the job of being on City Council,” Spring said. “There are so many points of view and many perspectives and people involved, that sometimes it’s better to compromise.”  

The playing fields, for instance. “Sometimes you have so many parents involved and the fact that there are no fitting places in the city for the children to play, you compromise and settle for things like the Harrison Playfields because you don’t have the ideal choice laying before you.” 

But, in the next breath, Spring conceded that the fields have evoked numerous concerns about air quality and that Wood’s commitment brought the issue forward. 

“It would have been better if [City Council] had more information,” she said. “It was one of those situations where the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. And I have to give LA credit for banging the drum on that one.” 

According to Spring, city staff had access to air quality information that Council members did not. That caused Council to outweigh the desire of parents to have access to recreational areas for the children over the concerns of environmentalists. 

After Wood brought to light the air quality conditions, the city conducted tests and concluded that because it was near the freeway, the air quality at the playing fields was worse than in other areas. The city has since monitored the air and is trying to fix the problem. 

The Bay Area Green Party will host a panel discussion in September at which it will endorse one of the two candidates. 

Mister Softee beats up man 

who doesn’t like his music 

HARTFORD, Conn. — The driver of a Mister Softee truck is facing assault and breach of peace charges for allegedly attacking a frequent critic of the music coming from the truck’s loudspeakers, police said. 

Luis Amaro, 51, is accused of charging out of his truck Saturday and swinging a bat at Wilbur Troutman. 

“Mister Softee tried to kill me!” Troutman, 64, said Tuesday as he recovered from arm bruises and a graze to the head. 

Amaro could not be reached for comment. But Felix Rios, who owns the Mister Softee franchise in East Hartford, said Troutman is at least partially to blame for harassing his drivers for the last several weeks. 

Troutman, 64, has been following the Mister Softee trucks throughout his neighborhood, taking pictures and recording the music from the trucks in a campaign to get them banned from city streets, Rios said. 

“I’m not saying what our driver did was right or wrong because I wasn’t there. But I know this driver, and I know he wouldn’t lose his temper without a good reason,” Rios said. 

Official utilizes
a public service 

SPRING LAKE, Mich. — A Michigan lawmaker has come clean about his trash and acknowledged that he put refuse from his farm in a bin at a Spring Lake school then lied about it to a sheriff’s deputy. 

State Sen. Leon Stille said he cut corners while cleaning his farm for his daughter’s wedding because he was running around “like a chicken with his head cut off.” 

Police were called to Jeffers Elementary School after a custodian said someone dumped tires, cans of paint, buckets of unknown material and boxes of trash in the school’s bin. 

Some materials had Stille’s name on them, and the custodian noted the license plate of a vehicle registered to Stille. 

An Ottawa County sheriff’s deputy contacted Stille, who denied dumping the trash. Later, a Sheriff Doug Nowak stopped at Stille’s home, and the lawmaker confessed. 

“He indicated that he did not want any bad press as a result of this, so he did not want to take the initial blame,” Nowak said. 

It’s not your plate 

VALRICO, Fla. — A couple wanted to express pride in their Italian heritage with the license plate ”2 Dagos,” but were told to return the plate to the state because some people feel it’s an ethnic slur. 

Phil and Fran Lascola said they are fighting the request, saying they don’t consider the term insulting. 

“How in the world could they say this is obscene?” said Phil Lascola. “We’re Italians, we’re not slamming anybody.” 

Florida issued the license plate 18 months ago for the couple’s BMW, but reconsidered its decision when it received a recent complaint. 

The state says it has the right to withdraw or refuse to issue tags that are vulgar or objectionable. 

Controversial plates have included “Atheist,” “Mutiny,” “H-8” (meaning hate), and variations of the “f” word. After a fight, the Gainesville man with the “Atheist” tag was allowed to keep it. 

A Save the Manatee specialty tag that read “EAT UMM” was taken away from a Tallahassee driver. 

Phil Lascola said he received a letter Saturday from the state telling the couple to return their plate. The couple is considering hiring an attorney to handle the dispute. 

For the past seven years Russell Bates — The Human Bumper Sticker — has been a fixture on Telegraph Avenue.  

On three tables between Bancroft and Durant avenues, Bates sells an array of poignant, humorous and often controversial bumper stickers.  

Some of the stickers advocate earth-friendly or peaceful messages such as “Non-Judgement Day is Near.” Others use irony to urge consciousness, like “HMO Phobic.” Bates’ favorites are “Don’t Believe Everything You Think,” and “Bush, The Only Dope Worth Shooting.” 

Many of Bates’ stickers carry controversial messages, something Bates is entirely comfortable with despite opposition. 

He says since he’s come out in support of Palestine amid the conflict in the Middle East, and has gotten death threats, hate mail and verbal abuse for it. 

“At first I took the threats seriously,” Bates said. “But most of the time it’s people shooting off their mouths.” 

One group offended by the pro-Palestinian stickers was the Zionists who organized boycotts of Bates’ stand. At first, sales went down because of it. But not for long. 

“People will always find something to harass me about,” he said. 

Despite his often unpopular stance on the Middle East, Bates says his position remains firm.  

“I’ve made my stand, these people realize it,” he said. “And I’m not going to change my mind.” 

A “Free Palestine” sticker and a Palestinian flag hang on Bates’ table.  

“One guy asked me if I support terrorist governments,” Bates said. “I said ‘No, I don’t support the Israeli government at all.’ ”  

Though he encounters a good amount of opposition, not all of his encounters end with verbal abuse aimed at him. 

He often has intelligent, civil conversations with Israelis and supporters of the Israeli government who take offense to the words on his stickers. 

Many of the Israeli supporters who approach him “sound like they’re coming straight from the embassy,” Bates said. “The mainstream media is the only way people get their information, and that results in a high chance that certain facts are overlooked.”  

A Berkeley resident since 1973, Bates sold the stickers for 18 years with a partner before setting up his own stand. 

Though Bates himself designs some of his stickers, most are manufactured and sent from a company with branches in the East coast, Midwest and Arcada California. Bates sells them for two dollars each, or three for five dollars.  

Bates sees Berkeley as an ideal place for his work.  

“It could work on the East coast,” Bates said, “but patriotism has run amok out there, and I’m no patriot.”

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis said he reaffirmed California’s solidarity with Israel Friday in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. 

After the phone call, Davis joined Pres. Bush in calling for a new and different Palestinian leadership. 

“We can no longer have cease-fires where one side ceases and the other side fires,” Davis said in a press release. “I would hope that the next Palestinian leader will focus on developing his own nation, instead of destroying another.” 

In April, Davis asked Democratic governors to sign a Declaration of Principles stating their full support for Israel through the crisis. New York Gov. George Pataki joined the effort by requesting the same of Republican governors. 

Davis told CNN Friday that he also offered Sharon condolences after the fatal shooting of two Israeli-born victims in the Fourth of July attack at Los Angeles International Airport. Davis said Sharon did not say whether he agrees with Israeli officials who have said they consider the shooting a terror attack. 

City officials and residents will discuss a controversial radio tower installed on the roof of Berkeley’s downtown Public Safety Building at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. 

Some residents think it’s an eyesore and furthermore fear that it may be emitting dangerous microwaves. Residents who say a past study of the tower’s risks and alternatives was not good enough want the city to take another look. 

On Tuesday City Council will consider a second study. 

“There’s a definite concern,” said City Councilmember Dona Spring. “There are health concerns with the electromagnetic radiation and the tower being so close to schools and residences.” 

Despite such fears, members of Berkeley’s Public Works Department say the claims are unfounded.  

“It’s simply not true. It’s not possible for the tower to emit microwave rays. It’s on a totally different frequency,” said Rene Cardinaux, director of Public Works. 

Though Cardinaux says that Public Works has provided expert testimony on the safety of the tower, critics say the testimony is biased. 

Berkeley Planning Commissioner and retired UC Berkeley Research Scientist Gordon Wozniak isn’t afraid to live near the radio tower. Similar structures that have been around since the 1930s have not been known to cause health problems, he said.  

Radio towers and TV towers emit radiowaves and microwaves, but not at radioactive or dangerous levels. 

Ionizing radiation, which is found at health care facilities, research institutions and nuclear reactors, is what has causes damage to the environment, and is a health risk. According to Wozniak, ionizing radiation can change the chemical form of matter but microwaves cannot. Microwaves are only capable of heating things up a little. 

Wozniak said he thought the main concern with the radio tower was one of aesthetics.By Chris Nichols 

Daily Planet Staff 

City officials and residents will discuss a controversial radio tower installed on the roof of Berkeley’s downtown Public Safety Building at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. 

Some residents think it’s an eyesore and furthermore fear that it may be emitting dangerous microwaves. Residents who say a past study of the tower’s risks and alternatives was not good enough want the city to take another look. 

On Tuesday City Council will consider a second study. 

“There’s a definite concern,” said City Councilmember Dona Spring. “There are health concerns with the electromagnetic radiation and the tower being so close to schools and residences.” 

Despite such fears, members of Berkeley’s Public Works Department say the claims are unfounded.  

“It’s simply not true. It’s not possible for the tower to emit microwave rays. It’s on a totally different frequency,” said Rene Cardinaux, director of Public Works. 

Though Cardinaux says that Public Works has provided expert testimony on the safety of the tower, critics say the testimony is biased. 

Berkeley Planning Commissioner and retired UC Berkeley Research Scientist Gordon Wozniak isn’t afraid to live near the radio tower. Similar structures that have been around since the 1930s have not been known to cause health problems, he said.  

Radio towers and TV towers emit radiowaves and microwaves, but not at radioactive or dangerous levels. 

Ionizing radiation, which is found at health care facilities, research institutions and nuclear reactors, is what has causes damage to the environment, and is a health risk. According to Wozniak, ionizing radiation can change the chemical form of matter but microwaves cannot. Microwaves are only capable of heating things up a little. 

Wozniak said he thought the main concern with the radio tower was one of aesthetics.

LOS ANGELES — On the same day this week, news about two major mergers broke, bookends marking the extremes of the merger and acquisitions frenzy that has clearly run its course. 

Monday, defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. announced it would buy TRW Inc. for $7.8 billion in stock. The deal was old-school, combining two solid companies in a growth industry. 

A continent away, Vivendi Universal, the result of a heralded merger in 2000, was spiraling toward self destruction. Its flashy chairman, Jean-Marie Messier, was forced to resign as his dream of a cutting-edge media empire vanished under a mountain of debt and red ink. 

The stock market’s reaction to both developments says a lot about the skepticism and fear that has crept into financial markets over high profile mergers. 

The Northrop Grumman-TRW deal, though praised, didn’t cause a ripple in the market. In fact, shares of TRW, which would have been expected to rise on the news, actually fell 40 cents cents Monday. 

The Vivendi Universal woes, the latest in a series of troubles experienced by mega-mergers such as AOL Time Warner and WorldCom, sent investors scurrying. 

“People are very suspicious, they are not enthusiastic about the market, so they are not willing to view things in the way the same merger would have been viewed three or four years ago,” said Lou Altfest, a certified financial planner with L.J. Altfest & Co. in New York City. 

Merger and acquisition activity is in a slump. 

In the first six months of the year, only $200 billion worth of M&A transactions in the United States were announced, according to Thomson Financial. That’s down 45 percent from the same period last year and down 77 percent from the $886.7 billion announced in the first half of 2000. 

Executives are reluctant to pull the trigger on anything but the safest deals, with immediate benefits instead of pie-in-the-sky projections of future profits. 

“People are being more risk averse than they were in the past,” said Steve Baronoff, global head of mergers and acquisitions for Merrill Lynch & Co. “They are more likely to do deals within their industry when they are risk averse.” 

Combinations in sectors less sensitive to recession, such as the defense industry or, as with Nestle SA and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc., in the consumer products sector, are more likely to be done than the kind of grand strategy mergers such as Vivendi Universal, experts say. 

Complicating matters is growing doubt over the reliability of corporate financial statements and questions of honesty on the part of CEOs. 

“Corporate executives’ collective confidence in doing mergers and acquisitions has been badly bruised for more than a year,” said Judy Radler Cohen, editor of Mergers & Acquisition Report. “So the recent spate of bad boy/girl CEO news has only further damaged an already skittish corporate America when it comes to doing deals.” 

The difficulties experienced by companies in recent months cast a cloud over all mergers and have considerably shortened the time investors are willing to wait for a deal to work out. 

“Many high-profile mergers in recent years have failed to deliver the promised benefits,” Frederick W. Green, president of The Merger Fund, wrote to shareholders in a recent letter. 

“Not only must senior managers convince themselves that a deal makes sense, but they also must be able to sell the transaction to Wall Street, which is no longer willing to give would-be acquirers a free pass.” 

Green cites the Hewlett Packard purchase of Compaq Computer, which was sold to investors based on its long-term benefits, but which was opposed because of its near-term effects on the company’s earnings and the distractions often caused when two companies integrate. 

“CEOs are under increasing pressure from all sides to get it right when they undertake a significant merger or acquisition, and the crisis of confidence that pervades many executive suites has not been good for our business,” Green wrote. 

Experts say the current slump will probably last a few more quarters, after which pent-up demand will trigger more deals, though probably not the kind of overambitious deals seen in recent years. 

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — President Bush, in a videotaped long-distance speech on Friday, told former East Bloc countries that hope to join NATO that the United States will work “arm in arm” with them to build a free and united Europe. 

“Our nations share a common vision of a new Europe, where free European states are united with each other and with the United States through cooperation, partnership and alliance,” Bush told delegates from the so-called “Vilnius Ten” nations who met Friday in Riga, Latvia. The 10 are making a final collective bid to join NATO ahead of a November summit in Prague. 

Bush said new members will improve NATO’s capability in fighting and defeating terrorism around the globe. 

“We seek a new Europe that has buried its historic tensions and is prepared to meet global challenges beyond Europe’s borders. America will continue to work arm in arm with Europe on fulfilling this vision,” the president said. 

Bush, who was vacationing with his family in Maine, recorded the address earlier in the week.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Burning Man festival, an annual celebration of art and self-expression in the Nevada desert, is suing a video company for allegedly filming naked women at the festival surreptitiously and selling the videos. 

Festival sponsors filed suit Monday in federal court in San Francisco, accusing Voyeur Video Inc. of ignoring rules printed on each ticket that prohibit commercial use of photos from the festival without organizers’ consent. 

The suit also accuses the company of trespassing, invading the women’s privacy and violating Burning Man’s trademark. It seeks damages and an injunction against further sale or display of the pictures. 

Clothes are optional for participants at Burning Man, which started in 1986 and is held each Labor Day weekend on a dry lake bed in the Black Rock Desert, about 120 miles north of Reno, Nev.

PALO ALTO — A Tennessee man led police on a 100-mph chase along San Francisco Bay area highways Friday morning before forcing a four-hour standoff that closed the southbound lanes of U.S. 101. 

Robert B. Sidicane of Nashville, Tenn., was booked at San Mateo County jail for reckless driving, felony evading arrest and resisting arrest, police said. 

Sidicane, 41, might be mentally ill, California Highway Patrol spokesman Fritz Eberly said. 

When asked by officers why he fled, Sidicane responded, “I had important things to do,” police said. 

“The non-responsiveness and his evasiveness indicate a potential this is someone who is mentally unstable,” Eberly said. 

Sidicane was taken to Stanford Medical Center for evaluation and then transported to county jail. 

The incident shut down one of two major highways between San Francisco and San Jose. 

Officers ended the standoff by filling the car with firefighting foam and water — Sidicane doused himself and the car with gasoline. Pictures from helicopters above the scene showed a stain of liquid coming from the front of the car and spreading across the pavement. 

Officials had said throughout the morning that there was a passenger in the car, but confirmed at a news conference that only Sidicane was inside. 

Three of the car’s four tires were blown out by a spike strip, and the vehicle sat alone in the second of four southbound lanes starting around 5:30 a.m. The car, a red Oldsmobile with Tennessee license plates, was near the exit to Palo Alto and Stanford University. 

The chase started when an officer stopped to assist the driver of a disabled vehicle in Livermore, about a 40-mile drive from Palo Alto, California Highway Patrol spokesman Richard Franklin said. The driver sped off as the officer approached, heading westbound on Interstate 580 and then crossing the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and heading south on U.S. 101. 

The incident closed U.S. 101 southbound for hours, though northbound traffic was moving fine. It came during the morning rush hour, though traffic was light owing to the holiday weekend. 

It was the second major morning rush-hour traffic problem in three days in the San Francisco Bay area. 

On Wednesday, police shot a man suspected of kidnapping his estranged wife and holding her at gunpoint on a freeway overpass near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, a situation that forced officials to close all but one of the freeways approaching the bridge from the east. 

SACRAMENTO — The state budget stalemate has delayed much-needed funding to California’s programs for the elderly. 

The Older Americans Act called for the distribution of about $10 million in federal funds on July 1, but the programs will not see that money until the Legislature passes the state budget. 

Gary Burris, fiscal officer for the California Department of Aging, said that the state budget provides state funds and has the authority to spend the federal funds. 

His department notified all 33 area agencies of the delay in funding. The area agencies distribute the funds to nonprofit community agencies that provide the elderly with in-home care, hot meals, transportation and respite services for caregivers. 

One of the agencies, the Personalized Homecare and Homemaker Agency of Sacramento, needs $30,000 this month to provide in-home care to 350 seniors and pay the salaries of 70 employees. 

“Within a couple weeks, we’re in a position of having to fund this out of personal funds,” said agency administrator Robert Howe.

Functional rooms are fitted with wall-hung cupboards and storage areas.Still, there’s plenty to be said for junking the wood-veneer boxes attached to your walls. The rewards of starting from scratch with a few attractive, functional dressers, tables and freestanding cabinets are worth it. 

Space you didn’t know you had is the most notable benefit of this design concept. According to British interior designer Johnny Grey, who focuses mainly on kitchen design, “An illusion of spaciousness (is) achieved by leaving space around each piece of furniture, rather than fitting cupboards from wall to wall.” This now-exposed wall area can host well-placed shelves and hooks for extra storage and display. Your room will be tailored to your specific needs and tastes in a way rooms full of factory-made storage spaces can’t. 

Home designers and those in the cabinet industry have gotten wise to this idea and have begun designing and manufacturing storage units that have the look of furniture and the ease of predesigned cabinets. The bath shown here features attractive vanity cupboards; dresser legs replace the flat-front toe space usually seen where the storage units meet the floors in baths and kitchens. Atop a matching set of drawers and cabinets is a tall, open-faced shelf secured to the wall, which reveals its contents — towels, photos and art — without shame.  

High-quality family time takes on new form with every generation, but there are some constants that modern design can accommodate quite nicely. For example, the age-old activity of cooking with mom (or dad), although usually more of an ideal than a norm in our hectic lives, has influenced the size and splendor of many modern kitchens. Dual sinks, large islands, snack bars, passthroughs and built-in desks create enough space for helpers, snackers, storytellers and bill-payers — bringing everyone together in a common space. 

Passthrough bars are especially useful in facilitating family-together time. By joining the kitchen to other areas of the home, passthroughs allow family members to remain close while pursuing different activities. They create subtle room divisions without blocking the sound of laughter or the sight of children at play. And, of course, passthroughs are ideal for serving buffet-style meals at larger gatherings.

Q. How do I replace a window? The current window is double-hung with sash weights, and I want to replace it with a new vinyl window. 

A. Replacing double-hung wood windows with vinyl ones is about the simplest and most cost-effective of all window replacements. That is the case, that is, as long as the main frame of the existing window is in good condition and can be reused. Here’s how it happens. First, all the trim is removed from the four inside faces of the main frame. You dont have to remove the ropes and weights. They can be left in the hollow sides of the window frame. However, we do suggest spraying expansive foam into the balance of the void to improve energy-efficiency. 

After the trim is removed, it becomes apparent that the main frame has an offset in it that goes all the way around. The inside half of the frame is slightly smaller than the outside half of the frame. The replacement window comes in its own frame, and is set in place from the outside fitting into the larger opening. It butts up against the face of the smaller portion of the frame. 

If the main frame doesn’t have a jog, wood trim is added to create one. Trim is used to cover the caulked joint between the frame of the new window and the old one. Our first double-hung window replacement job took about 60 minutes per opening — soup to nuts — removal, installation, caulking, trim and paint touchup. This a legitimate do-it-yourself project. 

LOS ANGELES — The heavily armed Egyptian immigrant who fatally shot two people at the ticket counter of Israel’s national airline went to the Los Angeles airport to kill, the FBI said Friday. 

“Why he did that is what we are still trying to determine,” FBI special agent Richard Garcia said. 

Hesham Mohamed Hadayet was the fourth person in line at the El Al counter when he opened fire, authorities said. He fired 10 or 11 bullets before he was fatally shot himself by an airline security guard, as hundreds of people dived for cover. 

Three other people were wounded, including a guard who was stabbed by Hadayet as he fought with the wounded gunman. A fourth bystander suffered heart trouble after the attack. 

In his pockets, authorities found an extra magazine for each gun, FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin said. “I think it’s safe to say he planned to reload his guns and didn’t get the chance to do it,” McLaughlin said. 

Hadayet was identified by tracing the weapons he used, a law enforcement source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Hadayet had owned one of the guns “for years” and purchased the other a couple of months ago, the source said. 

The shooting could have been a random act of violence or a hate crime, Garcia said. He said authorities also had not ruled out a number of potential motives, including terrorism, though Hadayet, 41, was not on any FBI or federal aviation “watch” lists. 

Israeli officials said they would consider the attack an act of terror unless it was proven otherwise. A source close to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Peres’ granddaughter was in the terminal at the time of the attack. 

Hadayet was armed with a .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, a 9 mm handgun and a 6-inch knife, authorities said. The FBI said it wasn’t clear whether he acted alone or why he had drivers’ licenses with two last names — Hadayet and Ali. 

Abdul Zahav, a man who said he worked for Hadayet until he was fired two years ago, said Hadayet once told him he hated all Israelis. 

“He kept all his anger inside him. So he can’t hold it anymore, he can’t hold it anymore,” Zahav said. 

Hadayet’s California licenses also had two birth dates, July 4, 1961 and April 7, 1961. Authorities believe the discrepancy was caused when he filled out his application and wrote 4-7-61 instead of 7-4-61. 

Relatives said Hadayet was a Cairo-born accountant who ran a limousine company out of his Irvine apartment. Hassan Mostafa Mahfouz, who is married to Hadayet’s aunt, said Hadayet had studied commerce at Ain Shams University in Cairo, and had worked as an accountant in a bank before he left for the United States in 1992.

REDWOOD CITY — A woman who pleaded guilty to killing her 13-year-old son was sentenced to 37 years to life in prison Friday in San Mateo County Superior Court. 

Donna Anderson, 49, will have to serve the full 37 years before becoming eligible for parole, Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. 

The former obstetrician, who is from Minnesota, pleaded guilty on June 7 to fatally stabbing her son Stephen Burns on Feb. 24 while he was visiting his father, Frank Burns, in Burlingame. She was also convicted of stabbing Frank Burns, her ex-husband, in the leg as he tried to restrain her. 

“The one question we did not get answered is why,” Wagstaffe said. “She refused to answer, and that will be forever unknown.” 

After being declared competent to stand trial, Anderson dismissed her lawyer and acted as her own counsel. 

Anderson read from a lengthy, typewritten statement at her sentencing, Wagstaffe said, telling the court she expressed regret for her crime by pleading guilty and accepting her life in prison. 

“She is easily the most brilliant defendant I have prosecuted in my 25 years,” Wagstaffe said. 

A wrongful death suit filed by the Burns family against Anderson will likely be brought to court this fall. 

TRIMMER — Soaked by 58-degree snow melt, the rafters share a group high-five, then slap their paddles in unison in the Kings River. 

No one has gone into the drink in their run through the river’s most challenging rapid, Banzai. 

Such moments explain why people pay more than $100 to spend a few hours on the river. Whitewater rafting is a thriving business on this river that descends unimpeded from the Sierra Nevada. 

Less than two hours from Fresno, this section of the Kings is among the state’s more popular rafting destinations. It supports three outfitters during a season that lasts from early spring to midsummer in average years. 

Plans that have been studied off and on for 40 years would stop the rafting excursions. A proposed dam would flood the river canyon and turn the rapids to a placid lake that could hold 228 billion gallons of water to supply farms and households, and generate power. 

Legislation recently introduced in Congress by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., would protect the 11-mile stretch of the Kings and 21 other California rivers from dams and other developments. The bill also would give “wilderness” designation to 2.4 million acres of California land, restricting mining and logging. 

William McGinnis, owner of one of the Kings River outfitters, mixes his advocacy for protecting the river with instructions to the three paddlers in the raft he is guiding. 

“Why would you ever want to destroy this?” McGinnis says, pointing out a large granite outcropping high above the river. 

McGinnis, 55, has run Whitewater Voyages for 27 years. He lives in the Bay Area, but eagerly agrees to make the trip to take an Associated Press reporter on a tour of the river. 

Upstream, as it courses through Kings Canyon National Park, the river gained “wild and scenic” status in 1987. Downstream is Pine Flat Dam, built nearly 50 years ago to generate power and regulate water supplies in the Central Valley. Pine Flat Lake, the reservoir created by the dam, also is alive with recreational boaters on a recent hot, sunny weekend. 

But the portion of the river used by whitewater rafters was not protected because of the possibility of building a dam at Rodgers Crossing, a couple of miles north of where the outfitters have campgrounds and parking areas for their customers. 

A compromise reached 15 years ago ultimately would require Congress to approve building the dam, which would cost around $600 million, according to current estimates. 

The compromise provides ample protection, say Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, and David Orth, general manager of the Kings River Conservation District. 

“It is unlikely that you ever will build the project on the Kings River,” said Dooley, who opposes including the Kings River in the legislation. “But in legislation that would preclude it in perpetuity, the harm is that you then have totally precluded any option in the future to really revisit this.” 

Orth, who said he had a lot of fun on his two outings on the river, said the water district has no plans to build the dam at the moment. During last year’s energy crisis, staff did rough calculations on the costs of generating electricity at the proposed dam, then concluded the benefits were too small, he said. 

Orth estimated it would take at least 15 years to get necessary go-aheads from state and federal regulators. 

“I think we recognize today’s political reality, but we’re not willing to accept that it’s the reality for ever more,” Orth said. “I was reminded by board members that at one time, Pine Flat Dam was thought to be politically infeasible.” 

That kind of talk motivates McGinnis and other members of California’s Wild Heritage Campaign. While there are a handful of active logging and mining proposals in California forests, Boxer’s bill mainly is an effort to kill tomorrow’s development plans in the state’s forests and on its rivers. 

Both sides cite California’s projected population growth. Boxer wants to preserve recreation; opponents want to be able to supply water and power when more than 50 million people live in California in the next 20 years. 

The prospects for her legislation and two companion bills in the House of Representatives are dim this year. Boxer hopes merely to have a hearing on the legislation by the end of the year in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Corey Brown, a Boxer spokeswoman, said. 

Boxer has said she plans to reintroduce the bill in the next Congress, which begins in January, and attempt to pass it in pieces. 

She has yet to secure the support of her fellow California Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is seeking input from interested parties around the state, spokesman Howard Gantman said. 

McGinnis’ company tries to capitalize on the thrills of the river trip to get clients to offer Feinstein their views. 

His raft is one of seven being used by emergency room workers who have driven more than seven hours from San Diego for an overnight stay that includes two trips down the river and meals. 

Just before the final rapid, Rooster Tail, the boats draw near along the river bank, the group grateful for the sliver of shade beneath a narrow bridge. 

McGinnis launches into his talk about protecting the river for all time. “For those of you who want to do something about it, you’re in luck. We have pens and paper for you to write a letter to Sen. Feinstein telling her you want to protect the river,” McGinnis says. 

The brief lecture complete, McGinnis guides his boat through the rousing finale, which must be what it feels like to take a quick trip through a washing machine — wash, rinse and spin all in one.

55 bands at the
Indy Jazz Fest 

INDIANAPOLIS — Classic rockers — and musicians who have just started their careers — will perform at the first Indy Summer Stages. 

Organizers have billed the music festival, which begins Friday, as “Three days, three stages, 55 bands and you.” And like last month’s Indy Jazz Fest, the festival’s lineup isn’t limited by genre or style. 

Ted Nugent, Foreigner and Blondie will play alongside bands such as Widespread Panic, G. Love and Special Sauce, and Johnny Socko. 

Even Rockfour from Israel will take the stage for an afternoon. 

“That’s the spice of life right there,” said John Bell, guitar player and singer for Widespread Panic, which will perform two sets on Saturday night. 

“If we’re all approaching things the same way, I think that would be pretty redundant. Fifty-five times redundant,” Bell said. 

Organizers plan to make Indy Summer Stages an annual event, but Tasker Day, executive director of Indy Jazz Fest Inc., doesn’t anticipate competition for talent and sponsorship. Different music will bring a different crowd, he said. 

“Their target market, and the demographics that they’re going after are so different that, as it turns out, I don’t think it’s going to affect either one of us,” Day said. “They’re after a very different dollar.” 

Stone Cold confused in NH  

CONCORD, N.H. — A worldwide producer of wrestling programs and specialty products is throwing its weight behind a trademark complaint against a New Hampshire businessman. 

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. of Stamford, Conn., said it has first dibs on use of the name “Stone Cold,” and a small music label producer in Portsmouth called Stone Cold Records is confusing its customers. 

The group said a “cloud will be placed” over its products if the music producer is allowed to keep the name. In a complaint filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, it seeks to have Stone Cold Records’ trademark canceled. 

At issue is whether concurrent use of the names is confusing to customers, whether the name is being used to sell similar products, and who had rights to the name first. No hearings have been scheduled. 

Stone Cold also has been used as a nickname for WWE wrestler Steve Austin, who has been suspended because he did not show up for two performances. Austin has often promoted Stone Cold products. 

“I have put so much time and effort and money into the label itself that I’m not going to give up,” Dexter Durant, owner of Stone Cold Records, said recently. “I believe in freedom. Being in New Hampshire, it just makes me want to stand up and say, ‘Who the heck do they think they are?”’ 

WWE spokesman Gary Davis said the group may be willing to compromise, though he didn’t give specifics. 

“We are moving forward and are having discussions with Stone Cold Records to see if we can work this out amicably,” Davis said. 

Czech-owned collection
may be claimed  

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The Czech government decided against sending a state-owned collection of paintings to an exhibit in France, because of possible restitution claims by the children of the collection’s former owner. 

The Vincenc Kramar collection, which is worth more than $500 million, had been set to travel to Paris, where it was to have been displayed as part of a festival of Czech culture that opened last month and runs until December. 

Culture Minister Pavel Dostal said Wednesday authorities decided against sending the paintings because they fear that the children of the collection’s original owner, Vincenc Kramar, could file restitution claims abroad. 

The collection includes several early paintings by Pablo Picasso, a Picasso self-portrait and paintings by Georges Braque, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Paul Gauguin. 

Kramar’s heirs claim their father was under pressure by the communist regime when he donated the collection to the Czech National Gallery in 1960. Czech courts have rejected their claim. 

“The government decision is very wise,” said Milan Knizak, the director of the National Gallery.

PHILADELPHIA — Bellowing out “Oyez! Oyez!” and “hear ye, hear ye,” town criers from the United States and Canada unfurled their ornate scrolls Friday in the North American Town Criers Competition. 

“Come one, come all, come hear my call. My message’s clear, for every year,” boomed Bruce Bedell, of London, Canada. 

Dressed in Revolutionary War-era garb — brocade waistcoats, knee-britches and velvet jackets with lace frills at the neck and wrists — about 20 criers clanged their bells through three rounds of competition. 

The first call was a greeting, a rhyming cry of no more than 125 words delivered in rolling, singsong voice. The middle cry was a response to the Declaration of Independence and the last a thank you. 

“The biggest thing is you want people to remember what you said and they remember it if it’s humorous,” said defending 2000 champion Chris Whyman, 41, of Kingston, Ontario. 

A panel of six judges ranked criers on sustained volume, deportment, content and the use of the attention-getting devices, like bells. 

First-place honors went to John Webster of Markham, Ontario, who has previously won three world trophies in the Bermuda International Competition. 

Criers say the job dates back to ancient Greece, but Friday’s display was closer to 1700s criers who delivered news to townspeople, many of whom were illiterate. 

“Town criers are basically what newscasters are today,” said host Rich LaLena, 45, wearing a gold waistcoat and dark, three-cornered hat. “The only difference is we don’t do that editorializing.”

MALABAR, Fla. — Sitting together in the home of their adoptive parents, the six children seem unshaken as they describe seven years of beatings and other abuse at the hands of their foster family. 

The Roe children — Jesse, 15; twins Jordan and Joseph, 14; Toby, 12; and twins Suzanna and Robbie, 9 — realize they are finally safe. 

“We stuck together,” Jordan said in a recent interview. “We depended on Jesse. He kept track of us, kept us in line.” 

“I didn’t know I had that responsibility,” said Jesse, who now plays basketball, is learning to drive and dreams of becoming a Navy Seal. “I didn’t know what a normal life was.” 

The children’s harrowing years with foster parents Jackie and Frank Lynch — and the role the Department of Children & Families played in the disturbing story — have come to illustrate Florida’s troubled child welfare system. 

The agency has been under intense criticism for failing for 15 months to notice the disappearance of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson, a Miami girl under its supervision. That case has drawn national attention and become an issue in the governor’s race. 

In May, the agency agreed to a $5 million settlement of a lawsuit stemming from the Roe children’s abuse. Documents filed under the 1999 lawsuit suggested the agency “ignored clear signs of danger” by licensing the Lynch home for foster care. 

Records also showed Jackie Lynch’s daughter from a prior marriage was removed from her care in 1987 for sexual and emotional abuse. Frank Lynch had an arrest record for obstruction of justice and owed $16,000 in child support, and Jackie’s son Michael was arrested as a teen-ager after he allegedly videotaped himself having sex with a 14-year-old. 

The Roe children lived with the Lynches from 1990 to 1997. They say their foster parents locked them in a room, beat them regularly and fed them a diet of Nyquil and cereal soaked in Kool-Aid. The children attended school erratically and rarely left one small room. 

“We were always getting hit a lot by Jackie, Frank and Michael for no reason,” said Jordan, a poised young teen-ager. 

The children say Michael Lynch son used to be beat them and that he allegedly would shove Jordan or Joseph inside a plastic crate, tape it shut and toss it into the swimming pool. 

“I used to think — I’m going to die,” Jordan said. 

Efforts to reach the Lynches, who moved to Alabama in 2000, were unsuccessful. Telephone numbers in their names have been disconnected. In 1997, Jackie Lynch plead guilty to one count of child negligence and paid a $140 fine after an undisclosed plea bargain. 

The siblings were removed from the Lynch home in 1997 “because of the pervasive abuse they suffered,” according to court records. 

Their adoptive parents, Rod and Kathy Rodrigues, said it was a struggle to help the children overcome the years of abuse. 

On their first night as a family, the couple put the children to bed in separate rooms. The next morning, they found all six asleep in a clump on the floor, much as the they were forced to do during their years in the Lynch home. 

The siblings dismantled a bedroom dresser and made a fort of the panels. They lit fires, flooded bathrooms, slammed into walls and cut their own foreheads with scissors. 

“It took two years before we decided to hang on to them,” said Rod Rodrigues, 47. 

Jordan and Joseph were slightly cone-headed from constantly banging their heads against walls. 

“You could mark their growth based on the holes in the walls,” 37-year-old Kathy Rodrigues said. 

There were also medical and developmental problems. The siblings arrived malnourished and emaciated. The Lynches allegedly routinely sedated them with adult-strength Nyquil, likely the cause of the liver damage that showed up on medical tests, according to Kathy Rodrigues.

President turns 56 Saturday 

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — President Bush shuttered the White House to business Friday and escaped — with a gaggle of daughters, nieces, nephews, brothers and wayward pets — for a long birthday weekend at the seaside compound where his family has summered for more than 100 years. 

First up: a spin in his father’s speed boat with daughter Jenna. No driving privileges for the birthday boy, though; it was the former president at the wheel when the boat zipped into a cove, and the current president called out to neighbors that he felt great. 

The president, who turns 56 on Saturday, flew to his parents’ home on the rocky Maine coast after a quick morning phone call to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Beyond that and his daily intelligence briefings, Bush planned little more taxing than some golf and fishing before his Monday afternoon return to work in Washington. 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that a law barring sexual relations between people of the same gender was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. 

The Legislature passed the law in 1977, and it apparently has never been used to prosecute anyone. 

The seven plaintiffs challenged the law, though, because they don’t want their conduct to be considered illegal, according to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented them. 

“We agree that the police power may not be used to enforce a majority morality on persons whose conduct does not harm others,” the court said in the ruling. 

“A fundamental right to privacy is implicit in the Arkansas constitution” and the state has a tradition of protecting that right, the court wrote. 

A judge had ruled in 2001 that the law was unconstitutional, but the state appealed. The attorney general’s office argued the Legislature should be allowed to consider moral judgments when creating laws. 

A dissenting opinion by two justices said the court should not act because there was no criminal case brought under the law. The plaintiffs failed to show an actual threat of prosecution or harm from the law’s existence, the dissent said. 

The law carried a penalty of a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. 

Arkansas was one of six states that criminalized gay and lesbian sexual conduct involving consenting adults. The others are Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. 

Sanctions could range
from a written reprimand
to license revocations 

NEW YORK — Two pilots were charged Friday with reckless endangerment for flying through restricted airspace around New York City, spurring fears of a July Fourth terrorist attack. 

The two planes flew just 25 feet over a swimming area, well below the required 1,000-feet minimum, federal authorities said. The pilots had been returning to their New Jersey base from Massachusetts, where they towed advertising banners above holiday beachgoers. 

Pilots Andre Morais and Daniel Oliveria, both of Miami, each face up to seven years in prison if convicted of reckless endangerment and violating air traffic rules. 

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said they flew dangerously low Thursday evening while cruising past Rockaway Beach. 

“Their alleged aggressive and reckless actions put many lives in danger, including their own, and showed extremely poor judgment during a heightened state of security, especially on our nation’s birthday,” Brown said. 

Three helicopters followed the planes along the New Jersey coast to the airfield in Wall, N.J., about 40 miles south of Manhattan, where the pilots landed. 

Neither pilot had their radio or transponder on, officials said. 

The FBI questioned the men for several hours, determined they posed no terror risk and released them. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said the pilots could face flight sanctions ranging from a written reprimand to revocation of their licenses. 

Arrest warrants were issued Friday in New York for the men, according to the prosecutor’s office. 

The planes are owned by Aerial Sign Corp. in Hollywood, Fla. The company’s chief executive officer, Jim Butler, dismissed the charges as “grandstanding.” 

“Until I receive the tapes from the air traffic control facility, I cannot reach the conclusion that these people did this,” Butler said.

DENVER — Firefighting crews laid straw on charred hillsides and placed concrete barriers along roads Friday to prevent floods in areas stripped bare by wildfires. 

A tenth of an inch could send water and debris down Mitchell Creek toward homes in Glenwood Springs, said Guy Meyer of Garfield County Emergency Management. About 200 homes were evacuated for a few hours Thursday because of the threat of flooding. 

Dozens of trucks and front-end loaders were used to install concrete blocks to convert roads into a diversion channel that would move rainwater away from a subdivision toward the Colorado River. 

“We’re going to probably leave this up there for at least two years until that area is vegetated and the threat of mudslides dissipates,” Meyer said. 

Crews also put down hay and straw, kept in place with netting, to absorb rain. 

“We all pretty much knew that there was a part two to this and that the fire in and of itself wasn’t the end of it,” Meyer said. 

The wildfire burned 138,000 acres, destroyed 29 homes and crept to within a few miles of Denver’s southern suburbs before it was contained Tuesday. Thunderstorms were forecast through Saturday for Glenwood Springs and other burned areas. 

Near Durango, firefighters were gaining the upper hand on a 73,145-acre wildfire that was 75 percent contained. Four ranches and 34 homes remained evacuated. 

Wildfires also burned Friday in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. 

In northeastern Arizona, officials tallied the damage from the state’s largest-ever wildfire, which burned 469,000 acres during the last two weeks. It was 90 percent contained Friday. 

Officials said the blaze caused at least $28 million in damage and destroyed 467 homes. No homes have been lost in recent days, but the figure rose because fire departments were able to reach secluded homes that weren’t counted initially.

GLOUCESTER CITY, N.J. — Investigators may never learn what started the blaze that killed three little girls and three of the firefighters who tried to save them, an official said Friday. 

The utter destruction of the twin wood homes Thursday will make it more difficult to determine the fire’s cause, said Mark Chait, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Philadelphia. 

Authorities said, however, that there was no evidence the fire was set. 

The blaze turned Thursday’s holiday into a mourning day for the Philadelphia suburb of 11,500. 

One of the men who died, Thomas G. Stewart III, had used a fire truck’s loudspeaker system to propose to Danielle Ruggiero in front of a cheering crowd gathered at a high school football stadium to watch fireworks Wednesday night. 

About 12 hours later, Stewart was called to the fire in a 2 1/2-story duplex where 3-year-old twins, Claudia and Colletta Slack, and their 5-year-old sister, Alexandra, were trapped. 

Before rescuers could reach the girls, the roof collapsed. A neighbor said the cave-in looked like a falling deck of cards. 

The little girls were killed, along with Stewart, Mount Ephraim Fire Chief James E. Sylvester and Deputy Chief John D. West. Five other firefighters were pulled out alive and suffered only minor injuries. 

Neighbors said their mother, Katia Williamson, 24, rushed back into the house to try to save them. She was listed in critical but stable condition Friday at a Chester, Pa., hospital. 

Their father, Frank Slack, 27, was treated for smoke inhalation, said Greg Reinert, a spokesman for the Camden County prosecutor’s office. 

The ATF doesn’t normally investigate residential fires. Chait said the agency joined the probe partly because of the three firefighters’ deaths, and because of a personal connection:

SAN FRANCISCO – Berkeley artist Aimeé Baldwin took first place in the Chalk Art Contest at the annual North Beach Festival. 

The prize-winning drawing of a picnic, which contained many foods plus an open copy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s book Howl, employed shading and perspective to great advantage so that when viewed from the sidewalk it appeared three-dimensional.  

Aimeé’s art is familiar to many Berkeley residents. Her giant papier maché rabbit greets customers at The Phoenix Pastificio on Shattuck Avenue, where diners enjoy their meals beside a mural painted by her and friend Anandami Arnold depicting porticos that look out onto an Italian landscape. 

To the Editor: 

The city’s elected officials and staff members, as well as its commissions, boards and agencies, conduct the people’s business. The people do not cede to these individuals and entities the right to decide what their constituents should know about the operations of local government. 

That’s what the San Francisco Sunshine ordinance says. And the same goes for Berkeley. Government business is our business, and it invariably works better and more equitably when its operations are open to public view. 

Yet many of us – reporters, commissioners and other citizens – have been thwarted when we’ve tried to gather information from, and gain timely access to, the city government and school administration. The Berkeley Citizens Sunshine Coalition wants to know if you’re getting all the information you need to fulfill your role in government, or if your attempts to gain access have been stymied ... and if so, how. We invite your specific suggestions for better communication to and from government. We also want to know where Berkeley is doing a good job in keeping its citizens informed on and involved in the operations of government. 

So please fill out this questionnaire and return it to us at Berkeley Citizens Sunshine Coalition, 2887 College Ave. #338, Berkeley, CA 94705-2154; or e-mail your comments to our open "bulletin board" at B–Sunshine@yahoogroups.com or our more private mailbox at Berkeleysunshine@yahoo.com. Read the comments at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/B-Sunshine/ 

(Please answer any questions that are germane to your experiences.) 

What issues have you addressed for which you needed information from the city government? (No more than two sentences please.) 

Could you get timely access to all the documents and records you needed, and if not, what was the nature of the documents you couldn’t get? 

What departments did you deal with, and at what level were they unresponsive? 

Were you aware of all council/board/commission discussions of the issue you were addressing, and if not, how do you think you should have been able to get the notification you needed? 

Did the general public and the press have the access they needed to assess the issues you have dealt with, and if not, what or where were the barriers? What procedures would you suggest to remove the barriers or generally improve the efficiency of the process? 

Have you been satisfied with the lines of communication when you wished to address public officials, such as during public comment periods at meetings? Has enough space been available to accommodate large crowds? 

Have officials been able to meet with you? (That is, has any official been formally barred from meeting with you?) 

Can you think of any realistic measures that would enhance or better organize public participation at meetings? 

Are you satisfied that meetings are held with adequate public notice and that what is to be discussed is clearly stated, with sufficient background material available in a timely enough manner for the public to make informed judgments? 

On the issues you’ve dealt with, do you believe council members and commissioners have had adequate access to the background material before voting and time to read the  

This questionnaire was prepared by the Berkeley Citizens Sunshine Coalition, a newly formed group of journalists, elected and appointed officials and other citizens working for a more open Berkeley government. Please contact us at the address above and come to our next meeting, which will be devoted to soliciting public input on Berkeley citizens’ information and access needs. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on July 18 in Meeting Room A, Central Library. 

Peter Sussman and Judith Scherr 

For Berkeley Citizens  

Sunshine Coalition 

Easy Living
The Great McGinty
Sullivan’s Travels 

During the height of summer, when the heat and the bounty of the season beckon Berkeleyans to taste its pleasures, spiritual discipline might suffer. Who wants to visit church or temple when the sun is shining and the ice-cream truck is chiming? Those wanting in religious rigor might consider a secular facsimile, and attend weekly movie screenings. Beginning this weekend and continuing every Saturday in July the Pacific Film Archive will be showing romantic comedies by the genre’s greatest writer-director, Preston Sturges. You would have to look hard to find Divine messages in these films, but their divinity is plentiful and – why not? – regular attendance resembles weekly mass. 

Made during Hollywood’s Golden Age – the fabled, Edenic 1940s when America had just kicked Hitler’s butt and the studio system was churning out sparkling comedies and brooding noir – the films of Preston Sturges were the cream of an already impressively creamy crop, smart-laced slapstick with wit to burn. In a world of "Men In Black II" and "Reign Of Fire," these bon-bons of black and white charm truly are "Christmas In July." 

The 1940 film from which the Pacific Film Archive series gets its title (screening July 6) has signature Sturges elements: fat cat capitalists amazed by how much money they throw away, scrappy lower-class characters riding a tsunami of circumstance into ill-gotten riches, and chaos in the streets (in this case the usual pie-in-the-eye fight is escalated to throwing fresh fish across a crowded avenue). When a lowly number-cruncher in an anonymous pool of number-crunchers is distracted by the possibility of winning a slogan contest at Maxford House Coffee ("Grand To The Last Gulp") his supervisor delivers a pep talk about the respectability of the lower-middle class work ethic. Success is not measured in money, he says, but self-worth. But that lowly dreamer believes he has won the jackpot and everyone around him picks up his self-confident cue, believing he is winner because he acts like a winner. The unexpected present of virtual credit blows over his entire tenement as he and his fiancé buy half a toy store for the neighborhood kids. 

The pattern becomes a familiar one. In "Easy Living" (1937, written by Sturges, directed by Mitchell Leisen, screening Sunday, July 7) Jean Arthur plays a struggling young single woman. She is working at a magazine with the improbably pious title "A Boy’s Constant Companion." Fortune literally falls upon her in the way of a mink coat hurled out the high window of a wealthy banker (Edward Arnold) in fit of rage over his wife’s spendthrift habits. Although the coat causes her to lose favor and lose employment with the magazine’s uptight matronly clucks, she unexpectedly enters high society through a series of absurd coincidences connected with the expensive fur (and, once again, a food fight). 

And then again in "The Great McGinty," when a bum in a bread line (Brian Donlevy) falls in with a corrupt political machine and, lacking charm or smarts but with unlimited backing of an underworld boss, winds up the governor. Perhaps two years ago, these films and their lessons of success that favors the lucky or the clever would have been reaffirming to those caught up in the internet-economy bubble that was backed by unlimited venture capital. Now the frothy screwball stories, in which riches and power come to those who merely think they’ve got it, strike a sour note in the spleens of those of us with obsolete skills and spotty experience who did not make a mint during the boom times. 

"Sullivan’s Travels," (July 27) reverses the pattern, but the message is all the same and so are the players. The denizens of the so-called Sturges Stock Company are a stable of flawlessly comic character actors, including the sledgehammer style of William Demarest, whose vociferous, one-note curmudgeon would eventually be softened by the small screen to the housekeeper on "My Three Sons." In “Sullivan’s Travels,” a Hollywood director (Joel McCrea) is on an undercover research mission exploring poverty to make a socially-conscious film "O Brother Where Art Thou," which eventually puts him in the doldrums of poverty, for real. This is the film from which the Coen Brothers titled their hobo odyssey, although the two films have nothing in common save jumping, moving boxcars.  

Before going out on the trains, Sullivan’s stately butler (stock company regular Robert Greig) warns him in a Sturges-esque speech against patronizing the poor. Echoing similar speeches from "McGinty," and "Easy Living," Sturges repeatedly makes the point that there is no shame in the lower class, and that the poor, for the most part, don’t want sentimentalized help from the rich. ("Did you ever think they wanted to be left alone?" Governor McGinty asks his do-gooder wife of an arranged marriage.) Sullivan, however, doesn’t heed the hired help’s warning ("He get’s kind of gruesome sometimes, doesn’t he?") and goes meddling in the Hoovervilles. Eventually he is pulled out of a swampy prison work detail (having been accused of a murder) by a publicity stunt and returns to his rightful place of privilege in Hollywood. 

As a summery, religious substitute Sturges’ films fall shy of preaching the humble lifestyle. His telegraphed moralizing affirms that the meek shall inherit the earth, but while eking our sympathies for the luckless underdog caught in an unexpected windfall, his plots celebrate sleight-of-hand, power of suggestion and the luck of the gambler. For all the buoyant hijinks Sturges weaves about the quiet nobility of the lower class, in the end it is better to be rich and laugh all the way to the bank.

Friday, July 5 

Free Early Music Group 

Singers needed for small group of 15th and 16th century music every Friday 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst at MLK Way. 

Contact Ann at 665-8863 

Saturday, July 13 

Barbara Dane 75th Birthday Concert 

7:30 p.m. 

Frieght and Salvage coffee house, 1111 Addison St. 

Jazz, blues, American folk from around the world 

548-1761 for ticket information 

Sunday, July 14 

Hal Stein Quartet  

4:30 p.m.  

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison Street € Berkeley 

845-5373, www.jazzschool.com 

$6-12  

Troy Lampkins Group 

4:30 p.m.  

Jazzschool 2087 Addison Street € Berkeley 

Groove-filled, groove-intense music 

845-5373, swing@jazzschool.com 

$6-12  

July 25 

Midsummer Motzart  

Festival Orchestra 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Divertimento in D, Piano concerto #17, Symphony #38 “Prague” 

(415) 292-9624 for tickets 

$25-50 

Saturday, August 3 

Bata Ketu 

8 p.m.  

Alice Arts Center, 1428 Alice St. 

Oakland. 

Interplay of Cuban and Brazilian  

music and dance  

www.lapena.org 

$20 

“Red Rivers Run Through Us”  

Until Aug. 11,  

Wed. - Sun.  

Noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center,  

1275 Walnut St. 

Art and writing from Maxine Hong Kingston's veterans' writing group 

Reception, 2 to 4 p.m.  

644-6893 

From the Attic: Preserving  

and Sharing our Past 

Until July 26, Thur.-Sat. 1 to 4 p.m. 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St. 

Exhibit shows the 'inside' of museum work 

848-0181 

Free 

The Creation of People’s Park 

Through Aug. 31, Mon.-Thur. 9 to 9 p.m., Fri. 9 to 5 p.m., Sat. 1 to 5 p.m. Sun. 3 to 7 p.m. 

The Free Movement Speech Cafe  

UC Berkeley campus 

A photo exhibition, curated  

by Harold Adler 

hjadler@yahoo.com 

Free 

Jan Wurm: Paintings and Drawings 

Mon. and Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tues.-Thurs. 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Flora Hewlett Library at the Graduate Theological Union 

2400 Ridge Road 

649-1417 

Thursday, July 11 

“New Visions: Introductions 

'02” Reception 

Works from emerging Californian artists 

Reception, 6 to 8 p.m. Display up from July 3 to Aug. 10 

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St. Oakland 

763-4361 

Free 

Saturday, July 20 

“First Anniversary  

Group Show”  

July 18 to Aug. 17 

Ardency Gallery, Aki Lot, 8th Street 

Reception, 5 to 8 p.m. 

13 local artists display work ranging from sculpture to mixed media 

836-0831 

Antony and Cleopatra 

Directed by Joy Meads 

June 15 to July 20,  

Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m. 

La Vals Subterranean Theater  

1834 Euclid 

234-6046 for reservations 

$14 general, $10 student 

Abingdon Square  

Previews 16,18,19 at 8 p.m. Runs June 21 to July 6, Thurs. to Sat. 8 p.m. Sundays 7 p.m.  

Julia Morgan Theater for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. 

The Shotgun Players,  

directed by Shana Cooper 

704-8210 www.shotgunplayers.org 

$18 regular, $12 students, previews and Mondays - pay what you can. Opening Night $25\ 

Grease 

July 5-Aug. 10, Sunday matinees  

July 14,21,28 Aug. 4 

Contra Costa Civic Theater,  

951 Pomona Ave. El Cerrito 

Directed by Andrew Gabel 

524-9132 for reservations 

$17 general, $10 for under 16 and under 

Don Pasquale Opera 

July 13, 15, 17, 19 at 8 p.m.  

July 21 at 2 p.m. 

Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek 

From the Festival Opera  

Association, a comedy by  

Gaetano Donizetti about an arranged marriage 

www.festivalopera.com 

Benefactors 

July 18 to Aug. 18, Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m. Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. 

Previews: July 12-14 and 17 

Michael Frayn's comedy of two neighboring couple's interactions 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org  

for reservations. $26 - $35  

The Shape of Things 

Sept. 13 to Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company,  

2081 Addison St. 

Neil LaBute's love story  

about two students 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 - $35  

The Heidi Chronicles 

July 12 to Aug. 10 Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m. 

Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley present Wendy Wasserstein’s play about change. 

528-5620 

$10 

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights 

July 12 to Sept. 28, Fri.-Sun. 8 p.m. Sun. 4 p.m. 

Forest Meadows Outdoor Amphitheater, Grand Avenue at the Dominican University, San Raphael 

Marin Shakespeare Company’s presents this classic story with original Arabic music. 

(415) 499-4488 for tickets 

$12, youth; $20 senior; $22 general 

Alarms and Excursions 

Nov. 15 to Dec. 22 

Aurora Theatre Company,  

2081 Addison St. 

Michael Frayn's comedy about the irony of modern technology 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 - $35  

Poetry Diversified 

1st and 3rd Tuesdays,  

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

World Ground Cafe,  

3726 Mac Arthur Blvd., Oakland 

Open mic and featured readers 

Boas Writing Group 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Stefani Barber, Jean Lieske  

and many more 

845-7852 

$2 

Saturday, July 6 

Bay Area Arts Coalition  

Poetry Reading 

3 to 5 p.m. 

West Berkeley Branch Library  

1125 University Ave. 

527-99055 

Wednesday, July 10 

Carmen Gimenez-Rosello,  

Dawn Trook 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852 

$2 

Sunday, July 14 

M.L. Liebler and  

Country Joe McDonald 

Poetry and Music 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852 

$2 

Wednesday, July 17 

Hannah Stein and Kevin Clark 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody's, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Authors of “Earthlight and In the Evening of No Warning.” 

845-7852 

$2 

Open Mike and Featured Poet 

7 to 9 P.M. First Thursdays and second Wednesdays each month  

Albany Library 1247 Marin Ave 

Thursday, July 11: Poets Tenesha Smith-Douglas and Judith Annenbaum. 

Second Wednesdays are a monthly Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Alison Seevak.  

526-3720 Ext. 19 

Free 

Friday and Saturday, July 5 and 6 

Brainwash Movie Festival 

9 p.m. 

Alliance for West Oakland Development Parking Lot, 1357 5th St. Across from W. Oakland BART 

Weird and unique short films and video festival 

(415) 273-1545 

$10 

Friday, July 5 

“Remember the Night”  

and “The Good Fairy” 

7:30 p.m. and 9:25 p.m., respectively. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft  

Preston Sturges' classic films 

Saturday, July 6 

“The Great McGinty” and  

“Christmas in July” 

McGinty at 4:30 and 8:30 p.m.; Christmas at 7 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft  

Preston Sturges' classic films 

Saturday, July 6

Capoeira Batizado 

2 to6 p.m.  

Capoeira Arts Cafe 

2026 Addison, Berkeley 

A celebration of Capoeira with performances by local arts organization. 

For information: 666-1255, www.capoeiraarts.com 

Free 

The Great Rummage Sale 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth Street (at Carleton) in Berkeley 

Warehouse full of household items, books, records, clothing, furniture, and lots more at great prices. All proceeds go to support of our shelter. 

845-7735 

Monday, July 8

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting  

Monday, July 8th, 2002 at 3 p.m.  

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office,1403 Addison Street-behind University Avenue Andronico’s Super Market. 

Laurie Capitelli of Red Oak Realty runs down the options of selling homes 

All Welcome 

548-9696 or 486-8010 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Mother’s Morning Out 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Upaya Center for Wellbeing 

478 Santa Clara Ave. 

Craniosacral Therapy for Infants and Children 

www.upayacenter.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 11

Great Sierra Backpacking  

Destinations 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo  

Karen Najarian of Sierra Wilderness Seminars presents slides from her more that 20 years exploring the Sierra Backcountry. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

What Do You Believe? Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers 

6:30 to 8:00 p.m. 

Ellen Driscoll Playhouse 

325 Highland Avenue, Piedmont  

Film presented by Piedmont diversity groups; discussion with filmmaker, Sarah Feinbloom.  

655-5552, or maudep@aol.com 

Free 

Friday, July 12

Celebration of Emma Goldman's Birthday  

8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall  

390 27th St  

An all-ages, alcohol-free party with live music, DJ, and dance lessons 

http://www.ebcaw.org  

$5 to $10 sliding scale  

Saturday, July 13

Peach / Stone Fruit Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

15th Anniversary Derby  

Street Farmers Market 

Live music and & stone-fruit and peach tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Festival of New Versions  

of Classic Asian Games 

Noon to 5 p.m 

Dr. Comics and Mr. Games,  

4014 Piedmont Ave., Oakland  

Dr Comics and Mr Games Hosts Game a festival featuring two new versions of classic Asian board games 

601-7800 

Sunday, July 14

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m.to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic bike repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Family Health Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Explore health concerns in a family oriented environment 

Free 

Tuesday, July 16

Berkeley Camera  

Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

525-3565 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Wedneday, July 17

Doctors Without Borders 

Until July 18 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley, Springer Gateway, West Entrance Crescent 

Interactive exhibit expalining medicines for people in developing countries; Film screenings 

www.doctorswithoutborders.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 18

Mystique of the Widerness 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Phil Arnot presents slides from over 50 years of exploring such places as Alaska, New Zealand, the Sierra and the Rockies. 

For information: 527-4140 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

3 to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Saturday, July 20

Emergency Preparedness  

Classes in Berkeley 

Earthquake Retrofitting: Learn how to strengthen your wood frame home. 

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

981-5605 

Free 

Thursday, July 25

California Landscapes:  

A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slideshw on such amazing places as the Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges the Great Valley and Cascades 

For information: 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Preston Sandusky of Kestrel, a premier manufacturer of high-end, carbon-fiber road and mountain bikes, intrduces their latest design. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

"Neon: The Living Flame" 

7:00 p.m.  

Alameda Museum  

2324 Alameda Ave.  

The Alameda Museum presents Michael Crowe, author, and neon artist Karl Hauser 

lecture by Michael Crowe 

748-0796 or 841-8489.  

Members free, nonmembers $5  

Sunday, July 28

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m. to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike techician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31

Mountain Adventure Seminars:  

Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 to 9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

“Hi, I’m Jamal Sampson, your 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year.” 

That’s the thing that must have flashed through former Cal freshman and current Milwaukee Bucks second-round, second-thought Jamal Sampson’s head when he made the most momentous decision of his young life: to enter the NBA Draft after just one year of college. 

Who can really blame him? A 19-year-old kid who has known nothing but adulation and fame since he was the tallest boy scout on the block. A kid who fully admitted he “didn’t have to practice hard in high school, didn’t even have to play hard most of the time.” A kid who won the MVP in the first college tournament he played in. 

With all that behind him, how could he think anything bad could happen? He was compared to the wunderkind of last year’s draft, high schools stars who were three of the top four picks and are now making millions. So what if all three spent most of last season carrying bags and listening to their new coaches explain everything they didn’t know about the game? At least they were living The Life, right? Escalades, ice and the more, ahem, adult perks of the big leagues. 

Sampson, on the other hand, had to go to classes every day and even pay attention. He had to travel to Pullman, Wash., and Corvallis, Ore., instead of New York and Chicago. And above all, he had to watch those other guys on SportsCenter on a nightly basis when he just knew he belonged alongside them. 

Only he didn’t. Those who watched Sampson play on a regular basis saw a physically gifted player who had almost no offensive game against players his own size, a skinny kid who was abused by any post player over 250 pounds. Anyone who was paying attention could have told him that he wasn’t ready for the NBA, not even close. 

That’s the most amazing thing, thinking about the geniuses who gave Sampson the advice, “Of course you’re ready. Get thee to the next level.” Did they actually see him play? He hired an agent, cutting off any chance of a return to college ball, where he could have developed his game. Did that agent actually tell him he would be a first-round pick, the only way to guarantee a contract? 

You hear a lot of college players say they can’t live on what schools give them. Let’s see: free tuition and books, free housing, two training table meals a day, and a little bit of pocket money. I remember my college days, and they certainly didn’t include any of those perks. I was happy when dinner consisted of more than a package of Top Ramen and a soda. The most exciting day of the year was when the school bookstore bought my books back, meaning enough money in my pocket for Burger King and a few cold ones at the friendly neighborhood pub. 

So now Sampson finds himself stuck in beautiful Milwaukee, the NBA’s answer to Bakersfield. And that’s if he’s lucky enough to sign with the Bucks, who will plop him at the end of the bench and use him for practice fodder. If he doesn’t, he ends up playing for the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs for a little more than minimum wage, or if he’s feeling adventurous, somewhere in Eastern Europe, where they throw coins at the visiting players and it’s mighty hard to find a decent hamburger.  

Think American Studies 101 is looking so boring now?

The Berkeley Police Department says that reports of hate crime have continued since May when city leaders first pledged to address the growing problem of racially- and religiously-motivated crime. 

Amid post Sept. 11 unrest, the first four months of 2002 brought an unprecedented number of hate crimes to Berkeley, ranging from broken windows at Jewish temples to anthrax threats aimed at Latino organizations.  

By the end of April, a number of anti-violence demonstrations had begun in the city, calling upon leaders to take action against the discomforting trend. 

Two months and nearly a half dozen hate crimes later, the city manager has developed a plan. He needs only the support of City Council to move forward with it. 

Among several propositions outlined in the four-page “Hate Crime Response” proposal are calls for specialized training of police officers, creation of a hotline to report hate crimes and rewards of up to $5,000 to people who provide information about hate crime perpetrators. 

While a lot of debate has ensued about how to craft the city’s hate crime policy, the holiday-week release of the proposal has not yet generated much reaction. 

Today is the official release date of the document, and Berkeley’s City Council is expected to weigh in on the plan at their regularly-scheduled meeting next Tuesday. 

“It’s really necessary that a city like Berkeley, which is usually a leader in civil rights and progressive thought, take action,” said Federico Chavez, member of the Latinos Unidos of Berkeley. Chavez has not yet seen the city’s proposal but was thrilled about its arrival. “Without this action, the ugly head of xenophobia will continue to rear itself,” he said. 

The proposed hate crime plan, funded through a restructuring of city resources and without additional moneys, also calls for the distribution of brochures about hate and the immediate eradication of hate graffiti. 

And in addition to training for police, the plan proposes hate crime training for safety dispatchers and employees of the city’s Department of Health and Human Services. 

Responding to concerns that the hate crime plan might favor certain ethnic or religious groups, the city manager’s proposal explicitly states that representatives from several ethnic groups will play a role in the plan’s execution. 

“Members of all affected communities will be consulted in creating training components,” the proposal reads. 

Furthermore, the city will convene a town hall meeting this fall to gather additional input from residents concerned about hate, according to the city manager’s Chief of Staff Arrietta Chakos. 

As part of the proposed police training, two homicide detectives will be sent to a one-week hate crimes training class, put on by the statewide Peace Officer Standards Training. 

The training falls short of establishing a separate police unit to address hate crime, like in Oakland and San Francisco and like many Berkeley residents had urged. But according to city officials, it’s the best way to deal with the issue given limited resources. 

The city manager’s plan was developed by a 10-person team consisting of employees from the city manager’s office, the police department, the city attorney’s office, the city’s Neighborhood Services department and the Department of Health and Human Services. Proposals submitted from City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Mayor Shirley Dean provided the basis for the team’s deliberations. 

“We’ve been waiting for this [city manager plan], and can expect a thoughtful, meaningful response,” said Dean. 

Worthington, though, has been critical of Dean and certain councilmembers for not voting for hate crime plans he proposed in April. 

“We’ve missed many opportunities,” he said.

To the Editor: 

Thanks for printing Steve Geller's off-the-wall, ongoing pronouncement that local enviornmentalists are hysterical and that tritium carries absolutley no risk to health. 

On this day, like all other days, most of us have accumulated dangerous levels of radiation merely by living in the modern world. Because radiation is cumulative, it makes absolutely no sense to continously debate whether the radiation levels of tritium or any other substance are safe or not; this is scientific mumbo-jumbo at best. The evidence that this type of reasoning is absurd is reflected in the continued rise of cancer, despite assurances from our government that radioactive substances are OK at low levels. Perhaps an X-ray or two was harmless when you went for a dental check-up, but multiply that times 100 and you'll understand why so many suffer from toxic conditions, regardless of how many times we visit the doc. 

So, in the end, what is not so hysterical is the death of loved ones from unknown causes. 

Michael Bauce 

Berkeley

Big Brother 2 contestant
says network should not
have televised her assailant 

NEW ORLEANS – A contestant who had a knife held to her throat on the TV reality series “Big Brother 2” is suing CBS, alleging the network never should have allowed the assailant on the show because of his past arrests. 

During the show, fellow contestant Justin Sebik put a knife to Krista Stegall’s throat while kissing her and asked if she would be mad if he killed her. Sebik maintained he was joking but was kicked off the show. 

Sebik, a bartender from New Jersey, had been arrested on assault charges in 1996 and was charged with assault and theft in 1997, according to the lawsuit. He also had shown signs of aggression toward other people on the show before the knife incident, the lawsuit alleges. 

“I don’t think there’s any doubt (CBS) made a huge mistake letting him in and keeping him in,” said Stegall’s attorney, Clayton Burgess. 

Stegall, a former waitress from Opelousas, La., and now a morning radio personality in nearby Lafayette, filed the lawsuit last week in New Orleans seeking unspecified damages from the company. Several production companies and their insurers are also listed as defendants. 

“We think there is no merit to this lawsuit and we are prepared to defend it vigorously,” CBS spokeswoman Nancy Carr said. 

The contestants in “Big Brother 2” lived together in a house and were cut off from the outside world. They plotted to have each other evicted by a vote of fellow house guests each week; the last remaining contestant won $500,000. 

CBS is working on a third “Big Brother” series for the fall.

From simple clerical errors to half-truths and long-forgotten lies, some coaches and athletic administrators aren’t always what they say they are. 

College degrees were worked on but not completed. Letters claimed to be earned in a sport were never received. Awards are made to sound better than they really were. 

“I hope most of them are just honest mistakes, not an ethical problem,” said Wally Groff, the athletic director at Texas A&M. “I’d like to believe that.” 

Last December, George O’Leary left Notre Dame in disgrace after admitting he’d lied about his academic and athletic credentials. Since then, resumes and biographical sketches have been scrutinized as never before, and at least a half-dozen coaches and athletic directors — even the president of the U.S. Olympic Committee — have lost their jobs. 

Everyone is suspect. Athletic directors as well as graduate assistants. And at universities around the country, the once-informal process of updating existing bios now often comes with official forms to be kept on file. 

“I guess we just have to appreciate it comes with the territory,” said John Heisler, associate athletic director at Notre Dame. “You would have to have your head in the sand to not understand why there are questions being asked.” 

In athletics, practical experience has always mattered more than fancy credentials. A resume was something to be passed around at the introductory news conference and then forgotten. 

“We’ve gone on the honor system that, ‘Yes, you looked at this and yes, it’s accurate,”’ said Pete Moore, associate director of athletic communications at Syracuse and the president of the College Sports Information Directors of America. 

“What has happened has caused all of us to re-evaluate and take a look at how we acquire and maintain that information.” 

The challenge now for schools and organizations is avoiding becoming the next headline. At the annual convention of sports information directors earlier this week, one seminar was called “The Resume Crisis.” 

Most schools now have coaches sign forms acknowledging they’ve read their biographical sketches and that the information was accurate. 

Within days of being hired as Notre Dame’s head coach, O’Leary admitted he’d lied on his resume. He’d never lettered in football at New Hampshire as he claimed, and he didn’t earn a master’s degree from New York University. 

If it had happened at any other school, it might not have sparked such a furor. But this was Notre Dame, where the spotlight is bright and far reaching. 

While newspapers throughout the country scrambled to examine the resumes of the coaches they cover, many athletic directors told their coaches and staffs to reread their bios — and this time, do it closely. 

Still, major inaccuracies kept coming. In May, USOC president Sandy Baldwin was forced to resign after admitting she’d lied about the academic credentials on her resume. 

The head football coach at tiny Allegheny College was forced out. Charles Harris stepped down the day before he was to be introduced as Dartmouth’s new athletic director after questions were raised about his resume. Last week, an assistant at Richmond was fired, reportedly because of an inaccurate bio. 

“Even though there’s been these high-profile cases, it’s really amazing to me there hasn’t been a stop,” Moore said. 

As the embarrassments mounted, so did the schools’ wariness. Tom Collen was hired as Vanderbilt’s women’s basketball coach May 1 after a successful stint at Colorado State that included a 129-33 record and four trips to the NCAA tournament in five years. 

When Vanderbilt checked his credentials, records at Miami of Ohio listed one master’s degree with two majors. Collen gave Vanderbilt athletic director Todd Turner a resume with only one master’s degree, and said he’d never presented his credentials differently. 

But then the resume Collen gave Colorado State in 1997 was found — showing two master’s degrees. Vanderbilt gave him the choice to resign or be fired. He quit May 2. 

“He portrayed it in such a way here that his resume had always been accurate,” Turner said at the time. “That really was a difficult thing for us to deal with.” 

A month later, Miami discovered a mistake in its records. Collen had, in fact, earned two master’s degrees. 

Two months after the debacle, Collen is still without a job. 

“It’s just going to take some time to sort it all out,” he said from his home in Fort Collins, Colo. “That’s about the only statement I’d like to make right now.”

Low morale at the nearly 30-year-old Berkeley City Ballet has prompted up to 15 of it 85 students to put away their dancing shoes in protest of the dismissal of one of their favorite teachers. 

Andrea Gaudet was terminated from BCB over artistic differences and a personality conflict with artistic director Elizabeth Godfrey. 

But the agency’s staff and board say the separation was not simply a fight, according to Tom Maier, president of the board of directors for BCB. 

“I’m concerned that people will try to portray it as two grown-up, strong-willed women getting into a fight, and there were far more nuances involved in it than that,” Maier said. “I think that often in the arts community personality differences and artistic vision blend together. And sometimes you will have a situation where one person says ‘I think we are going the wrong direction’ and another will say ‘No, I think we are going the right direction.’ ”  

At the heart of the differences between Godfrey and Gaudet was the way the school was being run and the way some ballets were being staged, Maier said. 

“Andy is a great teacher and a great friend,” Maier said. “It was very difficult and sad to say ‘maybe we should part ways.’ ”  

Maier also said that BCB may try to work with Gaudet through an occupation mediator to seek a situation in which Gaudet would return to BCB. 

“We’ve listened to the concerns of parents and many of the students here and decided that maybe there was something we could do to restore this relationship, but sometimes those relationship cannot be restored,” Maier said. “But this was a horrible gut-wrenching decision to make.” 

Gaudet too said she was sorry to part with BCB, but that it had to be done. 

Gaudet was unavailable to comment any further on the separation between her and the school. She would also not commit to whether she would take the school’s proposition to work with a mediator.  

The staffing situation with Maier has damaged the school, but it is not the first time. Maier concedes that some of these personnel changes have been unsettling to students.  

“Those staffing changes, however, were to be expected as the school often hires teachers who are still professional dancers, and often those teachers will choose to leave to perform,” Maier said. 

After Gaudet was let go, approximately 10 to 15 of the 85 students who attend BCB dropped their classes and quit the school, all apparently in protest of Gaudet’s dismissal. The fewer number of students has hurt BCB’s budget but the school has been able to compensate for that with more than projected revenue coming in from grants and loans, according to Maier. 

Maier would not discuss details about the separation between BCB and Gaudet.

Mag TV will acclimate
viewers to video-on-demand 

NEW YORK — You’ve put in a hard day. Now you’re ready to chill in front of the TV and watch some basket-weaving. Or maybe you’ve got a taste for motorcycles. Or outer space. Or Shakespeare. 

What are the odds you could click to a show devoted to that interest whenever you get the urge? 

It’s a slam-dunk thanks to a new cable-TV service called Mag Rack, which, although available so far to just a tiny audience, is a reminder to the rest of us that video-on-demand (VOD) is a reality, after years of delays and disappointments. 

The concept for Mag Rack is pretty simple. Navigate to the Mag Rack channel. Choose from more than two dozen narrowly defined topics (narrow for TV, anyway) including bird watching, wedding tips, “Wine World” and “The Bible and You.” 

Then, within each of these “magazines,” the viewer can select any of several stories, all available as video-on-demand — which means you can select the program, then pause, rewind and fast-forward it at will, all through your set-top cable box. 

Ready? “Welcome to ‘Maximum Science,”’ an announcer intones — “bringing you the latest in science when YOU want to see it.” And on your TV screen you see a menu of stories (or would that be a table of contents?) with a scientific bent. 

Each subject area is replenished by a new “issue” of Mag Rack-produced programming (an hour or more, “chapterized” into blocks) each month, while past “issues” are archived along with the current fare on the cable operator’s computer server. 

In short, Mag Rack seems to be a pretty faithful video equivalent of the newsstand-browsing experience combined with the sporadic way most people like to read their magazines — with the added advantage that Mag Rack is typically packaged with the subscriber’s premium service at no extra charge. 

“We thought there were large constituencies of viewers who were very passionate about certain subjects, but were being underserved by television, even in the 500-channel universe,” says Matthew Strauss, Mag Rack’s general manager. 

While it might not warrant “a 24/7 digital network,” he adds, “each of those micro-niches might be perfect for a VOD service.” 

Currently the 9-month-old Mag Rack is seen only by Long Island, N.Y., subscribers of Cablevision (parent of Mag Rack as well as the Bravo and American Movie Classics networks), which has announced that in the next few months Mag Rack will also come to areas served by Insight Communications, focused in the Midwest. 

Video-on-demand-enabled digital subscribers are a tiny fragment of the nation’s 100-plus million TV household. But it’s growing: An estimated total of 6 million by the end of 2002 is expected to double a year later. 

A recent headline in Electronic Media magazine raised the question, “Is VOD cable’s satellite killer?” 

In any case, digitally upgrading their systems is one way the cable industry is fighting against rivals like DirecTV, whose services are often bundled with Tivo-like recorders for the customer’s home that can store satellite-delivered programming for future playback. 

Direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) systems also offer pay-per-view programming at frequent intervals. But full on-demand capability isn’t possible so far. 

On cable, most video-on-demand consists of movies and other programming (like HBO) already available on other channels. That redundancy factor sets Mag Rack apart, says Strauss — “We are producing content for this new VOD technology and only for VOD.” 

Industry observers are voicing early approval for Mag Rack. 

“It’s another weapon cable operators can use to fight off the entrenchment of DBS and market themselves as a leading-edge provider,” says Sean Badding of the Carmel Group. 

“It’s not a killer application, but it’s one more way of differentiating themselves from satellite,” agrees Adi Kishore, an analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston. 

Whether viewers who can get Mag Rack will watch it is another matter. Kishore cited figures from late 2001 indicating that of five customers with a VOD system, only one of them tried it. 

“You’ve got to educate the viewers on video-on-demand,” he said, “and with Mag Rack there’s an additional teaching step.” 

Strauss argues that Mag Rack is a made-to-order way to explain to newcomers the possibilities of VOD. 

“We want them to perceive it as more than just a mechanism — taking programming and sticking it on a server — but as a branded, editorial service that becomes synonymous with VOD,” he says. 

Now, ready for your parenting, car-buying or yoga TV?

The Landmark Preservation Commission on Monday gave landmark status to the Corporation Yard and the Radcliffe building, effectively stopping the city from demolishing the building and redeveloping the area. 

This may be the last battle for some centralwest Berkeley residents who have been fighting to preserve this belt of green space. One resident, in fact, says he’s battled the city for more than a decade to have the Corporation Yard removed. 

LA Wood foresees the landmarking phase as, in a sense, the beginning of yet another battle: attaining more green space. 

Berkeley has outgrown the Radcliffe building and would need to demolish and replace it to accommodate the growing number of municipal employees. 

Consequently, landmarking the building and much of the site may force the city’s hand, and in turn it could choose to relocate the Corporation Yard. The Department of Public Works director has in the past said that the Corporation Yard is not in the best location, but that the city can simply not afford to purchase additional land. 

In the end, Wood says he hopes it will turn the yard into a park. 

“The scheme was the district should have two-acres per thousand, and it doesn’t,” Wood says.  

“In other words, this area has somewhat less green space than what you might see in other areas of the city,” he said about District 2 where the corporation yard is located. “So it’s only natural that part of this courtyard return to being some sort of park. It probably should happened in the ’80’s but our priorities were different.”  

The Corporation Yard is saddled between Strawberry Creek Park and the city of Berkeley Lawn Bowling Greens. 

“Historically, if you look back at public documents, they have been saying move the yard. It is the largest nonconforming land use in Berkeley,” Wood said. “It could have been moved years ago but there was never a champion on Council and they’ve never looked at the corporation yard and how nonconforming it is, and how it impacts the surrounding neighborhood.” 

“Now there is an opportunity for a park to happen,” Woods added. 

Woods and others, however, concede that in the current climate of the city that some of the Corporation Yard may have to go to other uses. 

Woods, in fact, has been campaigning to get Building Opportunities for Self-sufficiency (BOSS) to develop on part of the site. The nonprofit is currently trying to build near the Harrison Playfields.

Some cool pigs in Mich. 

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The Murray family’s three little pigs have a new way to beat the heat. 

Isaac Murray, an electrical field technician, has installed a shower in his pigpen so his swine will have no reason to whine during a heat wave that has sent temperatures into the 90s. 

“When he told me he wanted to build a shower for the pigs, I thought, ’You’re kidding me,”’ Judith Murray, Isaac’s wife, said Wednesday. “I thought the kids should just go out and spray them a couple times a day; that’s what 4-H says to do.” 

But when Isaac Murray designed and set up the plumbing apparatus, the family agreed it was a great invention. 

It runs automatically for two minutes every two hours, all day long. 

“The pigs love getting in it, and it’s good for them,” Judith Murray said. “Pigs can only cool off through their noses, and so they need to be cooled down with water.” 

The Murrays’ pigs are now trained to shower every time the device starts running. 

“They have a pecking order,” Judith Murray said. “The little one has to wait until the other two are done before it can go in.” 

Unusual vehicle used in
jewelry heist attempt 

BEATRICE, Neb. — A man with an appetite for the finer things has been charged with shoplifting after reportedly swallowing a gold ring he came across at a local jewelry store. 

John Walker, 42, was arrested Tuesday after police were called to Leo’s Jewelry. A clerk said Walker was handling two rings, pushed his chair away from a counter and fell to the floor. The clerk said when he got up one of the rings was missing. 

Walker allowed police to pat-search him, but during a conversation a bright object was seen in his mouth, police said. When asked what it was, Walker swallowed. 

Police then requested a search warrant to have an X-ray taken. The ring, valued at $629, was spotted in Walker’s stomach, Capt. William Fitzgerald said. 

Police also found that Walker was wanted on a Lancaster County theft warrant. He was being held in the county jail in Lincoln. 

Stray dog recruited by
US customs agent 

MILWAUKEE — Drugs. Danger. Doggy treats. 

That’s what might be in store for a stray dog suddenly thrust from scrounging his next meal to protecting the nation’s borders. 

An animal control officer found the black Labrador, now named Kevin, roaming the streets. Kevin ended up at the Wisconsin Humane Society, where he caught U.S. Customs Agent Paul Paulson’s eye. 

Paulson thought Kevin might make a good candidate for the agency’s canine enforcement corps, which sniffs out drugs and currency in cars and freight and on people. 

The Customs Service has been adopting dogs from shelters across the eastern United States for more than 20 years. Paulson said agents mainly look for sporting breeds such as Labrador retrievers and German shorthair pointers because of their natural drive to repeatedly retrieve objects. 

But Humane Society officials were skeptical about exposing Kevin to the dog-eat-dog border patrol world. 

“We were a little worried about Kevin,” said Barry Ashenfelter, the Humane Society’s community relations director. “He has so much energy, it would have taken a professional dog trainer to get him under control.” 

That’s exactly what Kevin is going to get. 

The Customs Service adopted him Monday. Now he’s on his way to Front Royal, Va., where he’ll be enrolled in a canine enforcement training program. 

High marks go to Oakland
Parks and Recreation 

OAKLAND — The Alameda County civil grand jury has released its final report of the year, which gives high marks to Oakland Parks and Recreation Director Harry Edwards, but finds problems in the Port of Oakland and the Alameda County Office of Education. Edwards, who was hired in May 2000 to head the Office of Parks and Recreation and was given a record $57 million to work with, is credited in the report with turning around a decline in services by overhauling a weak central management structure. 

Seeing that the office had become a personnel”dumping ground,” Edwards fired some 100 employees, reassigned others and even brought in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office to investigate two cases of suspected embezzlement. 

The report concludes that Edwards “has made progress in restoring (Oakland) Parks and Recreation to acceptable service levels and has established integrity within the department increasing staff morale and accountability.” 

The report recommends that Edwards be kept as director and that the city of Oakland continue to place a high priority on the parks and recreation office in its budget. The grand jury was also asked to look into a disputed security contract at Oakland International Airport after receiving a complaint that alleged that ABC Security Inc. received the contract using improper political considerations and illegal means. 

Ultimately, although the grand jury found that the selection process was flawed, it found nothing to substantiate the allegations of wrongdoing. 

However, in investigating the Port of Oakland, the grand jury also found a tense working relationship between the board of commissioners and airport staff. The problem is characterized as of a more serious nature and endemic to the current structure of governance. 

According to the report, the grand jury investigation found that the commissioners — who are appointed by the Oakland mayor and confirmed by the City Council — appear to believe that the staffers work for them.  

In a particular case, the report says, a commissioner referred to a staff member as non-responsive, burnt out, entrenched and civil service protected. 

The staff members on the other hand, consider the commissioners as political appointees concerned only with political matters. 

“These respective allegations reveal a work atmosphere that is antagonistic and not functioning in the best interest of the citizens of Alameda County,”the report states. 

The report recommends that the Port of Oakland adopt and publicize a clear mission statement outlining the responsibilities of commissioners and staff and establishing a clear line of authority. 

According to Port spokesman Harold Jones, the port is pleased that the grand jury found no wrongdoing in the awarding of the contract.  

Addressing the alleged problem, Jones said that the airport contract allowed the port to see that there was”room for improvement”in dealing with the relationship between staff and the commission. 

Jones said that the port has already made the necessary adjustments and that there is no need for the mission statement, because there is already a clear notion of what the responsibilities are for commissioners and the staff. 

The grand jury's harshest criticism was heaped upon the Alameda County Office of Education, marking this the second year in a row that the grand jury has targeted the institution in its report. 

Last year, the grand jury found a strained relationship between the Board of Education and the superintendent, suggesting that either the superintendent be appointed by the board, or that the board be eliminated completely. 

This year, the grand jury found that the relationship between the superintendent and the board remains adversarial. 

“An apparent unwillingness to collaborate and/or compromise to establish an effective working relationship is hampering the work of the (Alameda County Office of Education),” the report says. 

The grand jury also found that most of the elected board members do not have a clear understanding of the budget or the budget process, which impairs the board's budget responsibilities. 

According to Superintendent Sheila Jordan, most of the grand jury's concerns were settled at the last election, when she was re-elected to her seat and several board members lost their bids. 

Their departure, Jordan said, has led to the beginnings of a reorganization that will result in a more productive Office of Education and have the board working alongside the superintendent. 

Should the grand jurors take another look at the Office of Education next, Jordan predicted, their report will be different. 

“I think they're going to see a hard-working majority,” Jordan said.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture said it has discovered a number of unlicensed cheese manufacturing operations in the state, including one in Napa County. 

The CDFA said it found 30 pounds of illegally produced soft cheese in Napa County. One person was issued a citation. 

The illegally produced cheese, sometimes called "bathtub cheese,'' poses a health threat because unlicensed producers often use raw milk, the CDFA said. 

Four people were arrested in Corona, two for offering 30 gallons of raw milk for sale, and two for selling unlicensed soft cheese, the CDFA said. 

The CDFA is testing the milk and cheese for potentially harmful bacteria. 

CDFA investigators also found six cattle for sale in Napa County lacked proper documentation. 

Unlicensed products are often sold door-to-door, at flea markets and swap meets and may contain listeria, E.coli or salmonella.

Searching for information about Asian immigration to the United States just got easier thanks to a web site created by UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and the federal government’s National Archives and Records Administration. 

The Early Arrivals Records Search database – available on-line at http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/iber/casefiles – facilitates records searches on people who immigrated to San Francisco and Honolulu, Hawaii, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

The database allows the user to determine whether the National Archives has a case file for a particular individual. It provides a case number and displays basic information on the individual’s immigration. 

Citizens and researchers still must travel to the National Archives’ San Bruno office to obtain the full file. 

“Those interested in seeing a file still need to drive to San Bruno to do so, but they can save themselves many steps by using the database first,” said Robert Barde, academic coordinator at the Haas School’s Institute of Business & Economics Research. 

Millions of Asian Americans passed through immigration stations in San Francisco and Honolulu between 1882 and 1955, and many were subject to extensive investigation under the Chinese Exclusion Act, which severely limited legal Chinese immigration. 

The National Archives’ San Bruno office maintains some 250,000 case records on investigations conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. 

A typical case file includes biographical information, family history and other documents. Some files include coaching materials used by “paper sons” – those who posed as the children of already-admitted immigrants to gain entry to the United States. 

Maps of homes and villages in China, marriage certificates and family photos are also included in some files.  

OAKLAND – A proposed settlement would allow more than 500 farmers to escape $350 million in potential damages linked to the bankruptcy of canned fruit and tomato processor Tri Valley Growers. 

The deal, made public Wednesday, comes after negotiations between unsecured creditors and the growers. 

The proposal calls for the unsecured creditors, who filed the suit in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland, to pay the attorneys fees the growers incurred in defending the suit. The growers would then move forward with their suit against former Tri Valley Chief Executive Officer Joe Famalette, the board of directors and Deloitte & Touche, the co-op’s accounting firm. 

The unsecured creditors would then receive 70 percent of any money awarded to the growers, after attorney fees and court costs are paid. 

The unsecured creditors also would obtain the right to sue the same parties for activities that occurred in 1998 and after. 

The growers would also abandon claims for money owed for crops delivered to the co-op after it filed for bankruptcy. 

“Once the growers read and understand the settlement, I’m confident they’ll approve,” said Roger Schrimp, a Modesto attorney representing some growers in the lawsuit. “The growers have been sued for such an enormous amount of money that the cost of defending themselves would be horrendous.” 

Growers have until July 24 to object to the settlement, which was filed June 26 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. 

Attorneys representing the hundreds of unsecured creditors could not be reached Wednesday. 

Tri Valley Growers is one of the nation’s biggest canned fruit and tomato processors. The collapse of the 68-year-old co-op, which had been losing millions of dollars for the past three years, left tomatoes rotting in fields this summer and forced some farmers to bulldoze their fruit trees to cut their losses. 

An Aug. 7 hearing has been scheduled before Judge Edward D. Jellen. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal court cleared the way for the National Park Service to develop a conference center and retreat at Fort Baker, a former military post near the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Federal magistrate Elizabeth Laporte rejected the nearby city of Sausalito’s challenge to the development of the Civil War-era fort. 

Sausalito took the matter to U.S. District Court in San Francisco saying the plan for the facility violated the intent of the legislation that created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. That legislation includes maintaining “unique and spectacular sites,” and not building on the land, the city says. 

But Laporte noted that the development would be modest, in keeping with the town’s desires. 

The park service has selected a team of developers from San Francisco to negotiate a lease for the center, which is to be a self-supporting project. The land is being transferred from the U.S. Department of Defense to the park service. 

The Retreat at Fort Baker would have 156 guest rooms using existing buildings and 11 new ones. The original plan called for a 350-room maximum.

MALIBU — In the canyons of Malibu and Topanga, where a tree-shrouded retreat just inland from the jagged lips of the Pacific Ocean starts around $500,000 and spikes up from there, fire is a fact of life. 

Up here, arson watch volunteers patrol for signs of smoke. Deputies enforce brush removal requirements around houses. And people spend the dry months between June and December watching nervously for fire trucks. 

Topanga resident Tony Morris isn’t content to watch and worry. He’s launched what may be a Quixotic crusade to talk his wealthy neighbors into spending $50 million for two state-of-the-art water dumping bombers known as Super Scoopers. 

A documentary filmmaker and journalist, Morris fled the 1993 Topanga/Malibu wildfire with his family, a few documents and his son’s bunny. He spent two days thinking his was one of the 350 houses destroyed by that blaze, which also killed three people. 

His house survived, but Morris was reborn as a fervent believer in the fixed-wing CL 415s used extensively in Canada and Southern Europe to douse wildfires but are rare in the United States. 

His evangelism has won him some local disciples, but so far he hasn’t converted Los Angeles County fire officials or cash-strapped county supervisors. So Morris is going where the money is — to the millionaires and billionaires who call these canyons home. 

“The houses in the path of fire out here are owned by the wealthiest people in the world,” Morris said. “We think these people will open their pocketbooks.” 

According to Forbes Magazine, the Topanga/Malibu area is the 11th wealthiest community in the United States. The median price for a house in Topanga Canyon is $635,000, said Karen Dannenbaum, who manages a local real estate office. In Malibu, a tiny fixer-upper is $500,000 and from there, she says, “the sky’s the limit.” 

Two major fires in Malibu and Topanga in the 1990s destroyed hundreds of homes, and led to devastating mudslides. The canyon brush is born to burn, Morris said, but with thousands of high-priced houses and thousands more people living in the rugged canyons, nature can no longer be allowed to take its course. 

That’s where the Super Scoopers come in, Morris said. 

He and other locals spent $7,000 last year making a documentary heralding the planes as a fire-season savior. He is in the process of launching a nonprofit corporation, Aerial Fire Protection Association, and hopes to start picking up checks in several months.

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles airport was jammed with holiday travelers Thursday when May Park entered the international terminal. 

Park, of Miami, was standing near the ticket counter for Israel’s El Al Airlines when he heard three shots — “just bang, bang, bang, in a row.” 

Three people fell to the ground. Then, stunned silence. And then, panic. 

Some travelers ran for the doors, some dove behind ticket counters, some took refuge in airline offices. 

“This is impossible,” Park said. “I couldn’t believe it.” 

The late morning attack left three people dead, including the gunman, who was killed by an El Al security guard. The FBI said the man appeared to be acting alone, and that there was no immediate indication of a terrorist link. 

Hakin Hasidh, 43, of Dusseldorf, Germany, was standing in a line adjacent to the El Al counter when he heard shots. He said he turned to see the gunman, who quickly was tackled by three men who looked to Hasidh like passengers. The shots appeared to be random, he said. 

“It’s really hard to tell whether he was aiming at the counter, at people behind the counter or at people in line,” Hasidh said. 

Richard Whittington, of Austin, Texas, traveling with his 79-year-old mother, Letta Lou, said he froze for long moments after the shots. ’“We were waiting for something else to happen, a bomb or something,” he said. 

Police quickly cleared the international terminal and closed the road running in front of it, causing a huge traffic jam on highways already busy with July 4 travelers. 

The airport’s domestic terminals, housed in several buildings separate from the international terminal, remained open, though traffic was slow. 

But at least 20 international departures and 15 international arrivals were delayed or canceled as the terminal was shut for more than four hours. The delays affected 6,000 passengers, according to airport officials. 

Hundreds of people milled outside the terminal, some hoping to make flights, others to meet them. Information was scarce. 

Los Angeles resident Alma Rodriguez, described the frustrating wait for her mother-in-law, arriving from Guadalajara, Mexico. “The airline told her plane landed. But she can’t come out, and we can’t go in,” she said. 

For passengers, the disruption and the uncertainty over the gunman’s motive intensified fears of traveling on July 4 — fears heightened before the shooting by government warnings of possible terrorist attacks. 

Sugi Faiz, who was waiting with her 9-year-old daughter for an El Al flight, panicked when she heard the shots. “We ran and ran,” she said. 

Her daughter clung to her, and “is very, very scared,” Faiz said.

SACRAMENTO — Californians aren’t shy about taking to the open road, and the balance between automotive freedom and environmental stewardship is strong in the nation’s largest car market. 

In a place where the car culture is as embedded as surfing, automakers are watching warily to see if other states will follow California’s lead in a mandate to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in cars and light trucks by 2009. 

The bill, already approved by the state Legislature, is sitting on the desk of Gov. Gray Davis, who said it’s likely he’ll sign it. 

“Most Americans believe that we can have the choice of the auto or truck we want and still do a better job with the cleaning up the environment around us,” Davis said during an interview with San Francisco’s KGO radio. “I believe this bill strikes the appropriate balance, and that’s why I’m strongly inclined to sign it.” 

The bill, if signed, would be the nation’s first to target carbon dioxide emissions and the state’s strongest push in years to make cars run cleaner. 

But there is sizable opposition from the automotive industry, which has threatened to go to court to fight it. 

While the state has set trends embraced by the industry, they’ve also bedeviled it by pushing for tougher consumer regulations, primarily the nation’s first “lemon law,” and for legislation requiring carmakers to cut exhaust emissions and increase fuel efficiency. 

Industry analysts say the California law will set a national trend. 

Because more than 2 million cars were sold in California last year, whatever transpires there ripples through the entire industry, said Jim Motavalli, editor of the Norwalk, Conn.-based E: The Environmental Magazine. 

“Manufacturers can’t not sell cars there, so they have to go by California’s standards,” he said. “Whatever California does, they (other states) do, too.” 

That’s one reason the industry fights so hard in California, said Kris Kiser, vice president of state affairs for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The industry employs 463,000 people in the state and sells $100 billion worth of cars a year, he said. 

Unlike other automotive-centered states, California’s industry centers more on research and design, and lack manufacturing facilities that are dominated by strong labor unions. That, Kiser said, means California is an easier target for environmental and consumer legislation the automotive industry might be opposed to. 

“If people want to buy SUVs, let them. People should decide what they drive, not bureaucrats,” he said. 

Automakers claim the carbon dioxide emissions bill will dictate what Californians will be able to drive because there is no existing technology to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming. That, industry proponents said, means building smaller cars that don’t use as much gasoline as SUVs or trucks. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Under a tentative settlement with state regulators, SBC Pacific Bell has agreed to pay what would be a record $27 million fine for billing tens of thousands of customers for high-speed Internet service they never requested. 

Pacific Bell initially downplayed the problems, but on Wednesday recognized them and promised to improve its DSL billing practices and promptly credit any customers who are billed improperly. 

Since 1999, about 800 customers have complained to the state Public Utilities Commission that Pac Bell billed them — sometimes twice — for DSL services they didn’t order, didn’t receive or wanted to drop. Under the settlement, the company acknowledged incorrectly billing between 30,000 and 70,000 customers. 

DSL, which stands for digital subscriber line, is a high-speed Internet service that works over ordinary telephone lines but is many times faster than standard dial-up connections. 

“They lied to the public, they lied to the press, and they lied to the commission,” said Regina Costa of The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco-based consumer group. 

One customer said that a month after inquiring about DSL service, she received a bill charging her $99.95 for activation and a monthly service fee. 

“I didn’t even have a computer at the time,” said Bobby Schaefer of San Diego. “I was gathering information.” 

If approved by the commission and an administrative judge, the $27 million fine will go to the state’s general fund. It would be the largest ever levied by state utility regulators, surpassing the $25.6 million Pac Bell was fined last year for misleading marketing tactics. 

Pacific Bell CEO Chuck Smith said the company is pleased with the agreement. 

“We faced a tremendous challenge in pioneering the delivery of new technology to California consumers, and it is disappointing that along the way we experienced customer-service issues,” he said in a statement. “We identified those issues, and we dedicated significant resources to correct them.” 

Pacific Bell, a unit of San Antonio-based SBC Communications, has about 800,000 DSL customers. The company said it has created a new DSL billing center with 100 staff.

EUREKA, S.D. — When the founder of USA Today visits the rural town where he was born, he often spends time at the Luncheonette Cafe, chatting with old friends about everything from their arthritis to world affairs. 

“It’s sort of a reality check,” said Al Neuharth, who retired in 1989 as chairman of the newspaper’s parent, the Gannett Co. “It’s that sort of earthy talk — whether it’s about politics or sports or health — just what people in small towns are interested in.” 

The tough businessman, who oversaw the rise of USA Today and still writes a weekly column for the newspaper, also founded the Freedom Forum, a group that promotes freedom of the press. 

He’s taking advantage of his retirement to travel, including about four trips a year to the town where he was born 78 years ago. 

Neuharth recently left his home in Cocoa Beach, Fla., to make a trip to Eureka in the Freedom Forum’s big bus with four of his six adopted children: Alexis, 11; Karina, 5; and twins Andre and Ariana, 4. (Two-year-old twins Aliandro and Rafaelina stayed home with his wife, Rachel, because they’re too young for such a trip.) 

Neuharth wanted to show them life in a small town on the northern Plains, where cars don’t have to be locked, children can ride bikes without fear of traffic and everyone knows each other. 

Neuharth had plans to show his kids sites all around the state. But he particularly wanted them to see his hometown, a tidy city of 1,200 founded by German immigrants. 

Neuharth said he was so busy working when his now-grown son and daughter were young that he always had to figure out how to get them off his lap so he could get back to work. 

“With these kids, I try to keep them around as much as I can. It’s a whole different approach for me as a father,” he said. 

Neuharth’s hometown sometimes comes up in his column, which he has used a couple of times to praise the Luncheonette Cafe. Bob Jung, owner of the restaurant, said the retired newspaperman knows a lot of people in Eureka. 

“He’s just an old hometown guy. He talks to everybody,” Jung said. 

Mayor Ron Cooper said Neuharth fits right in with morning coffee drinkers when he sits at the counter. The mayor said Neuharth also helped build an information center for visitors, and the Freedom Forum donated money to build a playground near the swimming lake on the edge of town. 

“I know the community really, really appreciates him. Every time we’ve asked, he’s helped,” Cooper said. 

Neuharth was born in Eureka in 1924. His father died when Neuharth was 2. When he was 10, his mother moved the family to another small town, Alpena, to be near her parents. He became a newspaper carrier at age 11 and later worked for the weekly Alpena Journal. 

After serving in World War II and graduating from the University of South Dakota, Neuharth worked for The Associated Press for two years. He and a friend then launched SoDak Sports, a weekly tabloid that covered South Dakota sports. In 1954, after two years, the venture failed. 

Neuharth worked as a reporter and editor for The Miami Herald and Detroit Free Press before joining Gannett as general manager of its two newspapers in Rochester, N.Y., in 1963. He started a newspaper in 1966 that would become what is now Florida Today. 

Neuharth became Gannett’s CEO in 1973 and the company’s chairman in 1979. Gannett became the nation’s largest newspaper company, and USA Today, which he launched in 1982, eventually became the country’s most widely read newspaper. 

In Eureka, Neuharth’s presence tends to draw attention. Heads turned when he drove through downtown in a white Mercedes station wagon with Florida license plates. 

Neuharth’s one-story house in Eureka — which he bought for $15,000 last year, 66 years after his mother sold it for $1,700 — also draws some stares. On the front porch is a locked newspaper vending machine containing one paper — the first edition of USA Today, dated Sept. 15, 1982.

MALIBU — In the canyons of Malibu and Topanga, where a tree-shrouded retreat just inland from the jagged lips of the Pacific Ocean starts around $500,000 and spikes up from there, fire is a fact of life. 

Up here, arson watch volunteers patrol for signs of smoke. Deputies enforce brush removal requirements around houses. And people spend the dry months between June and December watching nervously for fire trucks. 

Topanga resident Tony Morris isn’t content to watch and worry. He’s launched what may be a Quixotic crusade to talk his wealthy neighbors into spending $50 million for two state-of-the-art water dumping bombers known as Super Scoopers. 

A documentary filmmaker and journalist, Morris fled the 1993 Topanga/Malibu wildfire with his family, a few documents and his son’s bunny. He spent two days thinking his was one of the 350 houses destroyed by that blaze, which also killed three people. 

His house survived, but Morris was reborn as a fervent believer in the fixed-wing CL 415s used extensively in Canada and Southern Europe to douse wildfires but are rare in the United States. 

His evangelism has won him some local disciples, but so far he hasn’t converted Los Angeles County fire officials or cash-strapped county supervisors. So Morris is going where the money is — to the millionaires and billionaires who call these canyons home. 

“The houses in the path of fire out here are owned by the wealthiest people in the world,” Morris said. “We think these people will open their pocketbooks.” 

According to Forbes Magazine, the Topanga/Malibu area is the 11th wealthiest community in the United States. The median price for a house in Topanga Canyon is $635,000, said Karen Dannenbaum, who manages a local real estate office. In Malibu, a tiny fixer-upper is $500,000 and from there, she says, “the sky’s the limit.” 

Two major fires in Malibu and Topanga in the 1990s destroyed hundreds of homes, and led to devastating mudslides. The canyon brush is born to burn, Morris said, but with thousands of high-priced houses and thousands more people living in the rugged canyons, nature can no longer be allowed to take its course. 

That’s where the Super Scoopers come in, Morris said. 

He and other locals spent $7,000 last year making a documentary heralding the planes as a fire-season savior. He is in the process of launching a nonprofit corporation, Aerial Fire Protection Association, and hopes to start picking up checks in several months.

YUBA CITY — Resort developers have joined an American Indian tribal group to announce plans to develop a casino-hotel on a site that Yuba County officials had hoped would host a racetrack. 

Officials at Chicago-based Forsythe Racing Inc. say they are still committed to developing the racetrack. On Tuesday, however, they also announced plans for an approximately $90 million casino resort to be built in partnership with a 500-member Oroville tribal group known as the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe. 

The casino proposal got a cool reception from Yuba County supervisors, who wanted to see a racetrack on the site five miles south of Marysville. They hoped the racetrack would generate an estimated $120 million a year with fans packing into a 45,000-seat grandstand to watch Indy-style events. 

But the $100 million racetrack venture, which was supported by 86 percent of local voters, never got off the ground. 

Tribal representatives said the casino-hotel project would create as many as 2,000 jobs and infuse the local economy with millions of dollars. 

A Yuba County supervisors committee is studying the new plans. 

The announcer introduced the program as “On The House” and then us as “The Carey Brothers,” and soon the fate of our new Saturday morning home-improvement radio talk show would be on the line. 

We were new at broadcasting, but eager. We wanted to help. An early caller wanted to know how to install a doorknob. “Why did you bother calling us?” we said, “Anyone can change a doorknob!” Although the caller had been unfairly chastised for his good question, he did finally get an answer. We still rib each other about the stupid things that we did in our early radio days. 

How, you ask, could our history about talk radio have anything to do with a home-improvement newspaper column? Well, we decided to pick up where we left off 16 years ago, kick it up a notch and talk about selecting a doorknob. There’s a lot to know. 

Besides the old-fashioned deadbolt, there are four basic types of doorknobs:  

Passage hardware is primarily used where a lock is not needed. This could be on a hall door, the door between the kitchen and dining area or a secondary bedroom where it would be dangerous for a child to be locked in.  

Privacy hardware is the opposite of passage. It has a lock built in. We commonly see privacy hardware on the master bedroom door, on a bathroom door and on the side door of the garage. A privacy lock is designed to be unlocked from the inside of the room it protects, but also can be unlocked from outside the room with a small screwdriver.  

Keyed hardware is like privacy hardware except that it can only be unlocked from the outside with a key. Although we commonly see keyed doorknobs on exterior doors, they often are used on sheds and gates for added security, or on the inside of the home, on a closet for example, to prevent access to firearms and the like. Dummy hardware is the kind we personally use. Dummy hardware is there for looks. It doesn’t do anything. When you have double doors, chances are good the “inactive” door has a dummy on it to match the latch side. Dummy knobs also are used on doors where a latch exists at some location other than at the knob. 

All door hardware is bright and shiny when new. However, with less expensive doorknobs the finish doesn’t last. The key-lock system in cheaper locks can be opened by an adolescent with a hairpin. Key-lock systems are available in 5- and 6-pin configurations. A 6-pin lock is harder to pick than a 5-pin lock. Why make it easy for crooks? 

The building code requires deadbolts (with a 1-inch throw) at all exterior doors. Our uncle and aunt added a Florida room (glassed-in room addition) to their home. Uncle Omar added a deadbolt which operated with a key on both sides (double-cylinder deadbolt). He figured that even if someone broke the glass in the door they wouldn’t be able to get the door opened. When we last visited their home, we made sure that they knew that double-cylinder deadbolts have a disadvantage, too. We told them that a person could not escape with the bolt locked — without a key in hand. Then we posed the question. “Ever try putting a key into a lock with a fire raging behind you?” We also live by the philosophy that locks are for honest people. If a thief wants to get in, a glass door won’t keep him out. When is a double-cylinder lock safe? We don’t know. 

By the way, the answer to the question 16 years ago was: remove the two screws that hold in the latch bolt. Next, remove the two screws that hold the knobs together. Pull the knobs apart and then remove the latch-bolt assembly. Replace the new hardware in reverse order. The strike-plate (the metal plate on the door frame) can be reused or can be replaced by removing an additional pair of screws, replacing the plate and reinserting the removed screws. This process is the same for about 75 percent of doorknobs in the United States — regardless of whether the hardware has a knob or a lever. 

Note: When installing lever hardware, one must often lower the handle in order to easily access the screw to the inside of the door. 

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(at)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. 

No decorative surface is more colorful or interesting than ceramic tile. Unfortunately, we can’t recommend tile grout as an easy-to-clean surface. Although grout cleaners are available at your local tile store, you’ll find it easier and less expensive to use common household products to do the job. For colored grout, vinegar works wonders — either straight or in strong solution. How often is it that someone recommends any kind of a cleaner to you that you can gargle — although you’d need to be a big vinegar lover to do so. For white grout, you have a choice. Bleach or hydrogen peroxide. Peroxide is slightly more expensive than bleach, but it’s safer to use.

Parade featured fire truck from WTC wreckage 

RANCHO CUCAMONGA — As unsettling events swirled around them, Californians gathered for Fourth of July celebrations with a sense of anxiety and renewed purpose. 

Hundreds lined the main street of Rancho Cucamonga, 40 miles east of Los Angeles for a parade that featured girders and a fire truck retrieved from the wreckage of the World Trade Center in New York City. 

But word spread quickly through the flag-waving crowd that a gunman opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport and a small plane crashed into a crowd celebrating Independence Day in the Los Angeles suburb of San Dimas. 

“It’s scary because you don’t know where it’s going to be safe,” said Donna Gutierrez, 41, of Upland. “It’s hitting close to home now.” A terrorist attack, Gutierrez said, “could happen to any of us here.” 

A flatbed truck bearing the twisted mass of girders that had once supported one of the world’s tallest buildings rolled silently past the solemn crowd. 

Tammy Wiles admitted that the news of the airport shooting and the plane crash left her with a heightened sense of anxiety, but said she would not give into the fear. 

“It’s a little scary but you can’t let it keep you inside the house,” said Wiles, 44, of Fontana. 

Parade spectators like Miregi Huma saw a chance to send a message with the simplest of acts, like waving a flag on Independence Day. 

“The main thing is to make sure they (terrorists) don’t get what they want from you: the fear of not being able to do what we want to do on a regular basis,” said Huma, 28, of Studio City. 

Across California, many found deeper meaning in the Fourth of July. Jeffrey Orth, known to San Francisco commuters as the Flag Man, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge waving an American flag for the last time Thursday morning. 

Orth, a 52-year-old real estate agent, began his four-mile walks carrying an American flag on Nov. 2, shortly after seeing a television report that the landmark might become the next target of terrorists. Commuters applauded, honk their horns and waved flags and signs that read “Thank you Flag Man” in show of support. 

“I think that sense of celebration of the American spirit will continue without my daily reminder,” Orth said. “Hopefully all of America will reflect for a moment on the freedoms we enjoy and take for granted.” 

For others in San Francisco, concerns about security outweighed their desire to celebrate en masse. 

“We’ll stay at home and have dinner with a glass of wine and watch the fireworks on TV,” said Lilian Martinez. “People have to celebrate this day, but with all this about terrorists we’re afraid that something might happen.” 

Retired Los Angeles County firefighter Tom Talbott attended Rancho Cucamonga’s Fourth of July parade to view the girders of the World Trade Center and pay respects to those who gave their lives to save others in the collapse of the Twin Towers. 

“It’s a time for us to reflect on what we have, what we want to keep, and what’s important to us. The thing that’s important is our freedom, our ability to be who we want to be and who we are,” he said. 

MIAMI — America West is firing the two pilots charged with trying to fly a jetliner to Phoenix while drunk, a company spokesman said Wednesday. 

Pilot Thomas Porter Cloyd and co-pilot Christopher Hughes “have been sent a letter notifying them that our intention is to terminate their employment,” said spokeswoman Janice Monahan. 

She said the letters were delivered Tuesday. The pilots can appeal through their union contract if they choose, she said. 

The airline has worked closely with Miami-Dade police, who provided information the airline needed to proceed with the firing, Monahan said. She didn’t elaborate. 

Cloyd, 44, and Hughes, 41, were charged Monday by Miami-Dade County police with operating an aircraft under the influence and operating a motor vehicle under the influence. 

Both had blood-alcohol levels above the legal limit of 0.08 when they were ordered to return their Phoenix-bound plane, carrying 124 passengers, back to the gate Monday morning because a screener had noticed they smelled of alcohol. Hughes initially told police it was “merely mouthwash,” according to police reports. 

Meanwhile, Arizona police records show that Cloyd has been arrested twice for alleged alcohol-related offenses while at his home in Arizona. 

Two years ago, Cloyd was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct after allegedly harassing his downstairs neighbor. He told police he had been “drinking a lot” before he shouted obscenities, pounded on her door and stomped on his floor, records show. 

He was sentenced to two years’ probation. 

In 1998, Cloyd had been drinking when he was arrested for misdemeanor domestic assault at his home in Chandler, Ariz., near Phoenix. He admitted he spit on his then-wife and shoved her into a refrigerator with his chest. 

Prosecutors dropped the domestic assault charge after Cloyd took an anger-management class, said Carla Boatner, administrator for Chandler Municipal Court. 

A spokesman for the Cloyd’s family, Steve Hicks said, “We’re saddened by the occurrences and the allegations made against them.” 

Hughes declined to comment Tuesday. 

Federal Aviation Administration policy requires pilots to report if they have been charged with certain alcohol-related offenses, such as driving under the influence. Their pilot’s certificate is suspended after a third offense, said FAA spokesman Christopher White.The Asscociated Press 

MIAMI — America West is firing the two pilots charged with trying to fly a jetliner to Phoenix while drunk, a company spokesman said Wednesday. 

Pilot Thomas Porter Cloyd and co-pilot Christopher Hughes “have been sent a letter notifying them that our intention is to terminate their employment,” said spokeswoman Janice Monahan. 

She said the letters were delivered Tuesday. The pilots can appeal through their union contract if they choose, she said. 

The airline has worked closely with Miami-Dade police, who provided information the airline needed to proceed with the firing, Monahan said. She didn’t elaborate. 

Cloyd, 44, and Hughes, 41, were charged Monday by Miami-Dade County police with operating an aircraft under the influence and operating a motor vehicle under the influence. 

Both had blood-alcohol levels above the legal limit of 0.08 when they were ordered to return their Phoenix-bound plane, carrying 124 passengers, back to the gate Monday morning because a screener had noticed they smelled of alcohol. Hughes initially told police it was “merely mouthwash,” according to police reports. 

Meanwhile, Arizona police records show that Cloyd has been arrested twice for alleged alcohol-related offenses while at his home in Arizona. 

Two years ago, Cloyd was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct after allegedly harassing his downstairs neighbor. He told police he had been “drinking a lot” before he shouted obscenities, pounded on her door and stomped on his floor, records show. 

He was sentenced to two years’ probation. 

In 1998, Cloyd had been drinking when he was arrested for misdemeanor domestic assault at his home in Chandler, Ariz., near Phoenix. He admitted he spit on his then-wife and shoved her into a refrigerator with his chest. 

Prosecutors dropped the domestic assault charge after Cloyd took an anger-management class, said Carla Boatner, administrator for Chandler Municipal Court. 

A spokesman for the Cloyd’s family, Steve Hicks said, “We’re saddened by the occurrences and the allegations made against them.” 

Hughes declined to comment Tuesday. 

Federal Aviation Administration policy requires pilots to report if they have been charged with certain alcohol-related offenses, such as driving under the influence. Their pilot’s certificate is suspended after a third offense, said FAA spokesman Christopher White.

Accident killed 3, injured 13 

SAN DIMAS — A small private plane struggling to gain altitude after takeoff crashed into a Fourth of July crowd at a public park, killing the pilot and two other people and injuring 13, some of them children picnicking with their families. 

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the crash “sounds completely like an accident” and Gov. Gray Davis said the pilot issued two mayday distress calls after takeoff from Brackett Field, a small airport near the park. 

“The wings clipped on the trees. It went nose first. Bodies flying all over the place,” said witness Javier Franco. He said two girls were trapped under the plane. 

“Other people took the bodies out of the plane. I can’t forget seeing the bodies on the ground,” he said. 

The pilot and a 12-year-old girl who was trapped beneath a wing of the plane died at hospitals, and one adult died at the crash site, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Brian Jordan. 

Several of the injured were in critical condition, including children, and about half the victims had minor injuries, said fire Capt. Mark Savage. 

A passenger on the plane survived, said FAA spokesman Jerry Johnston. Firefighters said they were not sure how many people were on the four-seat plane. 

Scuba divers searched the lake to make sure there were no other victims, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy William Spear. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board also are investigating the crash. 

The twin-engine Cessna 310 crashed near Puddingstone Reservoir at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, where hundreds of people were barbecuing and celebrating the Fourth of July. The park is about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. 

People were setting up tents on the grassy area where the plane came down, said Frine Flores, who was picnicking about 300 feet away. She watched the plane crash between a picnic table and a red hammock that had been stretched between two trees. 

“It was just like a big roar before it crashed and then, I can’t even explain the sound at impact. It was like crunching of metal,” said Flores, 32, of Pasadena. “Everyone was just crying, as if it was their family that was traumatized.” 

By early afternoon, the scene was strewn with both the plane’s wreckage and the remains of holiday parties. Paper plates and cups were scattered across the ground. A child’s push scooter was propped next to a picnic table a few feet from the wreckage, and an airplane engine rested on a crumpled green lawn chair. 

The Associated Press 

SAN FRANCISCO — The endangered California red-legged frog has lost nearly 4 million acres of protected land after federal wildlife officials agreed to reassess the economic impact on areas that are slated for development. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the critical habitat designation in March 2001 following a 70 percent decline in habitat and a 90 percent drop in the frog’s population. But the Home Builders Association of Northern California and two other groups challenged the protected acres, and on Tuesday a judge in Washington D.C. approved a deal under which the government will redraw the boundaries by 2005. 

“It didn’t pass the straight-face test — the service saw that and that’s why they agreed so readily to go back and redo the process,” Paul Campos, a lawyer for the San Ramon-based home builders association said Thursday. “We hope they will take their time to do a proper analysis and determine where the red-legged frog actually exists.” 

The acreage had included parts of 28 of the state’s 58 counties, from Tehama and Plumas counties in the north to the Mexican border. About a third of the land is public. 

The home builders association sued last year, saying Fish and Wildlife officials did not prove the entire acreage was vital to the frog’s survival. The groups also argued that the agency had inadequately analyzed the economic effect on areas that are mostly foothill and suburban land ripe for development. 

Environmentalists were upset that they weren’t part of settlement negotiations. The judge signed the consent decree 10 days before a deadline for the groups to submit comments on the settlement. 

“It’s really bad news for the frog,” said Michael Sherwood, an attorney at Earthjustice, the law firm representing the Sierra Club and other groups. 

Under the settlement, two protected areas totaling 199,000 acres will remain intact. They are near Jordan Creek in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties and in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles. 

The frog is believed to be the star of Mark Twain’s short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” 

The U.S. Department of the Interior said the decision to settle was influenced by a recent federal appeals court ruling that eliminated protections for the southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered bird. The decision came after the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association filed a suit claiming the agency did not properly consider the economic consequences of the designation. 

“Fish and Wildlife agrees that a more robust economic analysis is required,” said Interior Department spokesman Hugh Vickery. “The designation is going to be done. It just means it will be redone with a more stringent analysis.” 

In addition to the red-legged frog and the southwestern willow flycatcher, 19 West Coast species of salmon and steelhead along with the pygmy owl have lost habitat protections in the past year. 

STATELINE, Nev. — Firefighters on land and in the air edged toward victory Thursday over a blaze that hit this tourism destination on the July Fourth weekend, burning some 672 wooded acres between a California ski resort and Nevada casinos at Lake Tahoe’s south shore. 

“We really did throw everything at it as quick as we could,” said Laura Williams, spokeswoman for the Sierra Front Fire Dispatch Center in Minden, Nev. 

The assault paid off as some 657 firefighters, aided by calmer winds and higher humidity, succeeded in cutting a line around 60 percent of the burn area less than 24 hours after the fire broke out. 

“The fire behavior is real low,” Forest Service spokesman Rex Norman said. 

After an initial assault that included air tankers and helicopters, he said only helicopters were being used on Thursday as the fire died down. 

Full containment was forecast for Sunday, although Norman said it could come sooner. Control was expected by Wednesday. 

And the annual July Fourth fireworks display remained on schedule. The fireworks explode over the lake north of the fire. 

While flames licked within a few yards of exclusive homes and condominiums perched above the lake, no structures were damaged. Several thousand people voluntarily left their homes as the fire approached. 

Dan Garrison, general manager of The Ridge Tahoe said some 1,500 guests either were asked to leave or were turned away when they tried to return. Parts of the resort were coated with a fire-retardant mud as the flames neared. 

“I feel pretty good today. I wouldn’t have said the same thing last night,” he said on Thursday. 

The fire broke out just after noon on Wednesday under a gondola on the California side of the line that carries wintertime skiers and summertime sightseers up the scenic mountain at Heavenly ski area. 

Whipped by gusty winds, the flames pushed northeast into Nevada, threatening the homes and closing the twisting road that links the Minden-Gardnerville area in the Carson Valley with the lake. 

The winds died down at dusk, giving hand crews a chance to start building a line around the fire, Norman said. Humidity from the lake also helped retard the fire’s growth. 

The size of the fire was estimated at 200 acres Wednesday night. Norman said Thursday’s 672-acre estimate didn’t reflect expansion, but more accurate measuring. 

The fire was burning in a heavily wooded area that is off limits to skiers. Dead and dying trees are scattered among the living pines as a result of drought and bark beetle infestations, fire officials said. 

Robert O’Donald, a contractor whose home lay within the area targeted for evacuation, had been working on a remodeling job in Turlock when he heard about the fire. 

“I thought it was gone. It’s a relief to see it’s still here,” he said on Thursday. 

But as he packed some personal items, he added, “It’s not over yet. It’s a nightmare.” 

——— 

Associated Press writer Tom Gardner contributed to this report. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The company best known for its boxed wine is hoping its purchase of Concannon Vineyard in Livermore Valley will continue its move into the fine-wine arena. 

The Wine Group, based in San Francisco and known for its Franzia brand wine-in-a-box, recently bought the Glen Ellen and MG Vallejo brands from wine and spirits conglomerate Diaggeo. 

The price of Concannon Vineyard wasn’t disclosed, and the purchase is expected to close by the end of July. 

The purchase, which includes the winery, 170 acres of vineyard and all the winery’s inventories, is seen as a validation of the Livermore Valley as a wine region. 

“This is a really good thing for Concannon and the valley as a whole,” said Concannon’s director of marketing Laura Kirk Lee. “It adds credibility to the area as a viticultural area.” 

Concannon is known for its petite sirah, and its wines range in price from $9 to $24 a bottle. 

The winery was founded in 1883 by James Concannon, an Irish immigrant, and it stayed in his family for 97 years. Concannon, a registered historical landmark, switched hands numerous times between 1980 and 1992, when eight investors bought it. One of the investors was Eric Wente of nearby Wente Vineyards. 

Concannon and Wente are the only large-volume producers in the Livermore Valley, although there are many small wineries. Concannon produces 60,000 cases a year. 

The Wine Group also markets Corbett Canyon, Foxhorn, Austin Vale from Australia, Costa Vera from Chile, Altamonte from Argentina, Mistrane from France and Mogen David from New York. 

RENO, Nev. — As the boating and beach season kicks off at Lake Tahoe, there’s lots of beach but a little less boating. 

The lake’s water level is the lowest it’s been in years — 6,225.06 feet above sea level, more than a foot below water levels recorded at the same time last year. By November, the lake is expected to drop below its natural rim of 6,223 feet for the first time since 1994. 

While that means more sandy beaches for sunbathers, it means more rocks and other shallow-water obstructions that can ruin a boater’s day. 

“People need to be careful,” said Chief Jim DeVane of Lake Tahoe’s U.S. Coast Guard station. 

In Tahoe City, Calif., Paul Niwano of Tahoe Water Adventures has the evidence stacked up on his counter — costly boat propellers dinged and shredded from hitting rocks. 

Low water levels also are plaguing boaters in places such as Washoe Lake State Park, where the main boat ramp is closed. 

“It’s very shallow. It just isn’t recommended to launch boats, even small ones,” said park aide Albert Lea. Boat ramps are open at Stampede Reservoir near Truckee, Calif., but water is low. 

The situation is far better at some other popular boating lakes such as Boca Reservoir, where higher water levels are expected to be maintained most of the summer for boaters, according to federal Water Master Garry Stone. 

Lahontan Reservoir is also in good shape as the holiday approaches, with both boat ramps open and boating activity picking up. 

John Packer of Zephyr Cove has lived at Lake Tahoe for nearly 30 years and has seen low lake levels before, particularly a decade ago when Tahoe dropped below its natural rim several years in a row during eight years of drought. 

“Its nothing like that yet,” Packer said. “The lake at this point looks pretty good.” 

But Packer said he’s glad his speedboat is moored to a buoy fairly far offshore. He also plans to keep a wary eye out for rocks and other obstacles while cruising the lake this summer. 

“You’ve just got to be careful,” Packer said. “You’ve got to be cognizant of the fact the lake is lower.” 

LAKE ISABELLA — The death toll in a family drowning tragedy grew to five with the discovery of another body in Lake Isabella. 

The Kern County Coroner’s office on Thursday identified the parents as Martin and Charlotte Skaggs, both 45, and the girls as Melanie, 10, April, 8, and Lindsey, 7. 

A 5-year-old boy remained hospitalized on life support. 

The family members drowned on Tuesday in the 11,000-acre reservoir in the Kern River Valley. The body of the third child was not recovered until Wednesday evening. 

They family reportedly had been living out of a car and staying with friends in the area. 

“There is a lot of speculation of what happened, but based on interviews with witnesses, we do not feel this is anything more than a tragic accident at this point,” Kern County sheriff’s Cmdr. Marty Williamson said. 

“I’ve been here 26 years and I can’t remember such a tragic event with so many deaths,” he said. 

The six family members apparently were playing on a sandbar in chest-deep water about 100 feet from shore when one of the girls slipped into deep water. The girl may have been pushed from the shoreline by the wind when she came up, and “everybody panicked,” Sheriff Carl Sparks said. 

A camper, who was parking his Jet Ski on shore, saw the family splashing in the water and asked if they were OK, but no one answered. When the camper turned around and saw no one, he got on his Jet Ski and found the mother and her son, Williamson said. 

Charlotte Skaggs was taken by helicopter to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. 

Authorities found the father in about 30 feet of water. Two of the girls were recovered from about 10 feet of water. 

The parents had previous drug convictions, but investigators had no indication alcohol or drugs were used. Routine toxicology tests will be done on the bodies of the two adults, Williamson said. 

Two other boys in the family, ages 12 and 14, had been placed in foster care. The boys were at a friend’s house when the drowning occurred. 

The children were known to be good students, and friends described the family as close-knit. 

Lake Isabella is about 153 miles northeast of Los Angeles, about 30 miles northeast of Bakersfield. 

RUNNING AC IN OFF-SEASON WON'T HELP CONDENSER 

I just got the sad news that my air-conditioning condenser is gone, and it's going to cost me $900 to replace. When I told my husband, he said that I should have known that car air conditioners have to be run at least once a month throughout the year to keep the seals in good shape. Well, I DIDN'T know that! I did an informal poll at work, and no one else knew it, either. Is it true? – Jane 

TOM: Well, it's sort of like what the Jewish grandmother says about chicken soup: "It couldn't hurt." 

RAY: But it wouldn't have helped you, Jane. The reason you run the AC every so often in the off-season is so the moving parts of the compressor don't seize and so the seals stay soft and pliant. 

TOM: But your compressor didn't fail, Jane. Your condenser did. And there's nothing in the condenser that moves. The condenser is located in front of the radiator, and it simply cools and condenses the AC's refrigerant. My guess is that some sort of roadway debris hit it and knocked a hole in it, or it just rotted out. And running the AC in the winter would have done nothing to prevent that. 

RAY: Many cars automatically turn on the AC when you use the front-window defroster. And in those cars, you obviously never have to think about it, because you'll inevitably use the AC all year round. But some cars don't have that feature. And on those cars, it can't hurt to turn on the AC once a month or so during the winter. 

TOM: And don't worry about freezing. You can turn the heat up full blast with the AC on. That doesn't cause any problems at all. And it'll keep you from suffering from "heiniethermia."  

Used cars can be a great bargain, and reliable, too! Find out why by ordering Tom and Ray's pamphlet "How to Buy a Great Used Car: Things That Detroit and Tokyo Don't Want You to Know." Send $3 (check or money order) and a stamped (57 cents), self-addressed, No. 10 envelope to Used Car, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. 

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.

Found to be enrolled in same flight school as one  

of Sept. 11 hijackers 

MIAMI – Saddam Hussein’s stepson has been arrested on immigration charges after enrolling in a flight school that had been used by one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, federal authorities said. 

Mohammed Nour al-Din Saffi, a citizen of New Zealand who has worked as a commercial airline pilot, planned to attend classes at Aeroservice Aviation Center, said James Goldman, an INS assistant director for investigations. 

FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said one of the Sept. 11 hijackers trained at the flight school. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel identified the hijacker as Zaid Jarrah, who is belived to have been one of the organizers and pilots of the attacks along with Mohamed Atta. 

According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Iraqi leader’s stepson was traveling as a tourist and had not applied for a student visa that would have allowed him to take courses. 

There was no evidence that Saffi was connected to any terrorist group. 

Goldman said Saffi was seeking recertification training at the flight school. The FBI said he is employed by an airline in New Zealand. 

Saffi, 36, also failed to tell customs agents of his intent to take courses when he arrived Tuesday in Los Angeles on a flight from New Zealand, Goldman said. 

Phone calls to Aeroservice Aviation Center seeking comment were not answered Wednesday. 

Orihuela, the FBI spokeswoman, said Saffi was tracked Wednesday as he flew from Los Angeles to Miami International Airport. He was taken into custody at a motel shortly after he arrived. 

Saffi was at Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County and is being processed for deportation to New Zealand, Goldman said. 

The Weekend Herald, a newspaper in New Zealand, reported in December that Saffi was employed by Air New Zealand as an engineer and had lived in the country six years. 

They said officials in New Zealand had investigated Saffi after Sept. 11 when they learned he was Saddam’s stepson. No action was taken, the paper said. 

Saffi had declined to discuss his relationship with the Iraqi leader when asked by the paper. The Miami Herald reported that Saffi denied any family tie to the Iraqi leader and denied it to federal agents. 

Saffi’s home telephone in Auckland was repeatedly busy Friday. 

Air New Zealand declined comment, citing privacy concerns. 

Mohammed Saffi is the eldest son of Samira al-Shahbandar, Saddam’s second wife. His father is Nour al-Din Saffi, an aviation engineer and former head of the Iraqi Airways. 

According to well-placed sources in Baghdad and in Iraqi exile circles, Saddam forced Nour al-Din Saffi to divorce al-Shahbandar in the late 1970s before Saddam married her. He has since married again.

High startup costs and unknown effectiveness on voter turnout a turnoff 

After the newest trend in election procedures was spurned by Berkeley leaders last month, critics of the city’s stance are now foreseeing bad things for Berkeley voters. 

Known as instant runoff voting, the novel polling procedure requires voters to rank all of the candidates in order of preference instead of choosing just one candidate in a single-seat election. This way, if no one candidate gets the required percentage of votes to win, an instant runoff can be conducted among the top vote-getters using the second choices of losing candidates. A subsequent runoff election is thus avoided. 

The new procedure may seem like a technicality.  

But champions of the process say without it, Berkeley residents are losing a number of benefits including cost-savings, fairer representation and less negative political campaigning. 

San Francisco and San Ramon have recently adopted instant runoff voting, and officials with the Center for Voting and Democracy cite the Fourth of July as a ripe time to challenge Berkeley leaders who oppose the system. 

On June 11, City Council decided not to leave the instant runoff voting question up to voters in the November election. 

“We were just assuming City Council would put this on the ballot so advocates weren’t mobilizing,” said Steven Hill, western regional director of the Center for Voting. 

Mayor Shirley Dean, who voted to dismiss the new procedure, said the evidence wasn’t there to justify a complete overhaul of the city’s election procedures. 

“The technical questions have not been answered,” she said. “Instead of inventing the wheel, let’s watch someone else do it first and work off their experience and information.” 

High startup costs to prepare for the new voting procedure and a lack of proof about whether voter turnout will increase were issues cited by Dean. 

“If the voting process becomes more complicated with instant runoff voting, will voter turnout really go up?” she asked. 

Advocates of instant runoff voting argue that runoff elections – which for November races are often rescheduled during inconvenient holiday times – are never well attended, and the new procedure would surely solve that problem. 

A further advantage would be the cost savings of not having to hold a second election, estimated at $200,000, according to David Green, the East Bay chairperson for the Center for Voting. 

Green also explained that instant runoff voting would force candidates to appeal to voters not just as their top candidate but as a second or third choice as well. Such an appeal would curtail candidates’ criticism of one another during the campaign period, he said. 

The League of Women Voters has recently come out in favor of instant runoff voting as well. 

“When we compared the advantages and disadvantages, it was pretty obvious to us it was a desirable thing,” said Jim Lindsay, a member of the league. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who voted in favor of putting the question of instant runoff voting on the November ballot, said he was disappointed that the city hadn’t moved forward with a procedure that he said “expands democratic participation.” 

Berkeley’s current law requires candidates in a single-seat election to get 45 percent of the vote to win. The percentage was dropped from 50 percent to make it easier to pronounce a winner without a cumbersome runoff election. Instant runoff voting would allow the majority rule to be reinstated, advocates say. 

The preferred means and technology to implement instant runoff voting, though, remain a subject of debate. It is uncertain whether cities that have adopted the procedure, like San Francisco, will be able to implement it for this year’s elections. 

To the Editor: 

Local control of tobacco sales to youths is threatened by AB 1666, which is on the governor's desk for signature. If this becomes law it will be a disaster to the already beleaguered tobacco control programs of Berkeley as well as every county in California. At a time when budgets are being cut in half, programs are being eliminated and staff is being laid off, the fight against big tobacco can ill-afford yet another assault on what is left in the arsenals of county tobacco programs. 

Tobacco lobbyists claim AB 1666 is designed to “monitor retail tobacco sales and to insure compliance with tobacco tax and control laws." But the legislation actually has the potential to preempt all local youth access tobacco laws as well as the enforcement of existing local tobacco retail license laws.  

This is the latest attempt by the tobacco industry and their allies in the Legislature to undermine the remarkable success of California’s highly effective tobacco prevention program. 

Anyone interested in protecting teens and others from big tobacco's youth-targeted marketing campaigns should phone or fax the governor immediately. We must not stand by and allow AB 1666 to protect the cynical multi-billion dollar tobacco interests, devastate public health programs and escalate long-term state and local health care expenditures even more. 

Paul Fletcher 

Berkeley

It’s easy to understand the appeal of the Powerpuff Girls — just look at their eyes. 

These animated superheroines see the world with planet-sized orbs capable of expressing glee, frustration, curiosity, anger, surprise and Zen calm. They narrow to slits and get so wide they look like they might pop out of their oblong skulls. And when the girls are in action, their eyes shoot lasers — very cool. 

It’s no wonder the girls are drawn without noses or fingers — with peepers like that, they don’t need them. 

Unfortunately, the eyes are about the only remarkable thing about “The Powerpuff Girls Movie,” a labored adaptation of the Cartoon Network series that gets stuck between trying to satisfy fans and trying to explain everything to the unfamiliar. 

What the movie purports to tell is not as much a story as a back story — how the Powerpuff Girls were created and how they went from freakish outcasts to the saviors and protectors of the city of Townsville. All of this is certainly familiar to the girls’ fan base, if not in such detail, and director and lead writer Craig McCracken could dash off a two-minute prologue to bring the rest of the world up to speed. 

Instead, he decides to build the entire movie around how the Powerpuff Girls got started. It’s a bit like the “Star Wars” prequels in its unnecessary backtracking and obvious destination. 

The girls are the brainchildren of the naive Professor Utonium, who hopes to create the perfect girls out of the prescribed ingredients — sugar, spice and everything nice. But the professor’s lab assistant, a monkey named Jojo, drops “Chemical X” into the mix, giving the girls their superpowers — speed, flight and those fabulous laser eyes. At the same time, Jojo mutates into the evil, super-intelligent Mojo Jojo, the girls’ eventual archnemesis. 

Not knowing what to do with his flock of adorable mutants — bossy Blossom, giddy Bubbles and gruff Buttercup — the professor enrolls them in kindergarten, where all goes well until they’re introduced to the game of tag, which is a lot more fun if you have superpowers. 

In a thrilling if occasionally disquieting sequence, the girls turn themselves loose on Townsville, leaving destruction in their wake. When it’s over, the girls are vilified in the media. (One newspaper headline reads: “Freaky Bug-Eyed Weirdo Girls Broke Everything.”) 

Unfortunately, the movie never reaches this level of hyperkinetic excitement again. Shunned, the girls fall into the clutches of the devious Mojo Jojo, who enlists their unwitting aid in his evil world-domination scheme by insisting that if they help him, the town will embrace them for their powers. 

“The Powerpuff Girls Movie” adheres religiously to the superhero story template — a misfit discovers he has special powers, and after a few blunders learns how to harness them for the greater good. (Of course, these heroes are female, for which McCracken should be applauded, but he follows everything else to the letter.) 

“Spider-Man” has demonstrated anew the potency of this formula, but one would hope for something loonier from such quirky source material. As the plot steamrolls along, there’s no room for whimsical asides or inventive flights of fancy. Even Disney’s animated movies get sidetracked more often than this, and the diversions are usually the good parts. 

It’s a shame, because the girls are delightful, and the movie is skillfully made. Because of the show’s tight production schedule, the animation, drawn in Korea, is stylized but crude; there’s often very little motion in the frame. But the movie makes up for its fast-and-cheap look with aggressive editing, stringing the frames together to create something often spirited and occasionally magical. 

Still, the movie is just not fun enough. “The Powerpuff Girls Movie” lumbers to its conclusion when it should be light on its feet. 

McCracken should follow the lead of the girls, and glide. 

“The Powerpuff Girls Movie,” released by Warner Bros. Pictures, is rated PG for nonstop frenetic animated action. Running time: 87 minutes. Two stars out of four.

Thursday, July 4

Volunteers Needed for  

East Bay Habitat for Humanity  

Independence Day Build-A-Thon: July 4-7 

is seeking volunteers for the ! We will be framing 6 homes in 4 days over the Fourth of July weekend.  

251-6304.  

Pancake Breakfast 

9 to 11 a.m. 

The Berkshire, 2235 Sacramento St. 

Red, white and blue pancakes. 

841-4844 

Donations to local food back appreciated 

Saturday, July 6

Capoeira Batizado 

2 to6 p.m.  

Capoeira Arts Cafe 

2026 Addison, Berkeley 

A celebration of Capoeira with performances by local arts organization. 

For information: 666-1255, www.capoeiraarts.com 

Free 

The Great Rummage Sale 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth Street (at Carleton) in Berkeley 

Warehouse full of household items, books, records, clothing, furniture, and lots more at great prices. All proceeds go to support of our shelter. 

845-7735 

Monday, July 8

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting  

Monday, July 8th, 2002 at 3 p.m.  

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office,1403 Addison Street-behind University Avenue Andronico’s Super Market. 

Laurie Capitelli of Red Oak Realty runs down the options of selling homes 

All Welcome 

548-9696 or 486-8010 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Tuesday, July 9

Mother’s Morning Out 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Upaya Center for Wellbeing 

478 Santa Clara Ave. 

Craniosacral Therapy for Infants and Children 

www.upayacenter.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 11

Great Sierra Backpacking  

Destinations 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo  

Karen Najarian of Sierra Wilderness Seminars presents slides from her more that 20 years exploring the Sierra Backcountry. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

What Do You Believe? Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers 

6:30 to 8:00 p.m. 

Ellen Driscoll Playhouse 

325 Highland Avenue, Piedmont  

Film presented by Piedmont diversity groups; discussion with filmmaker, Sarah Feinbloom.  

655-5552, or maudep@aol.com 

Free 

Friday, July 12

Celebration of Emma Goldman's Birthday  

8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall  

390 27th St  

An all-ages, alcohol-free party with live music, DJ, and dance lessons 

http://www.ebcaw.org  

$5 to $10 sliding scale  

Saturday, July 13

Peach / Stone Fruit Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

15th Anniversary Derby  

Street Farmers Market 

Live music and & stone-fruit and peach tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Festival of New Versions  

of Classic Asian Games 

Noon to 5 p.m 

Dr. Comics and Mr. Games,  

4014 Piedmont Ave., Oakland  

Dr Comics and Mr Games Hosts Game a festival featuring two new versions of classic Asian board games 

601-7800 

Sunday, July 14

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m.to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic bike repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Family Health Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Explore health concerns in a family oriented environment 

Free 

Tuesday, July 16

Berkeley Camera  

Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

525-3565 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Wedneday, July 17

Doctors Without Borders 

Until July 18 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley, Springer Gateway, West Entrance Crescent 

Interactive exhibit expalining medicines for people in developing countries; Film screenings 

www.doctorswithoutborders.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 18

Mystique of the Widerness 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Phil Arnot presents slides from over 50 years of exploring such places as Alaska, New Zealand, the Sierra and the Rockies. 

For information: 527-4140 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

3 to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Saturday, July 20

Emergency Preparedness  

Classes in Berkeley 

Earthquake Retrofitting: Learn how to strengthen your wood frame home. 

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

981-5605 

Free 

Thursday, July 25

California Landscapes:  

A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slideshw on such amazing places as the Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges the Great Valley and Cascades 

For information: 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Preston Sandusky of Kestrel, a premier manufacturer of high-end, carbon-fiber road and mountain bikes, intrduces their latest design. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

"Neon: The Living Flame" 

7:00 p.m.  

Alameda Museum  

2324 Alameda Ave.  

The Alameda Museum presents Michael Crowe, author, and neon artist Karl Hauser 

lecture by Michael Crowe 

748-0796 or 841-8489.  

Members free, nonmembers $5  

Sunday, July 28

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m. to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike techician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31

Mountain Adventure Seminars:  

Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 to 9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Former Cal star rising through the Padres’ minor-league system 

When Cal alumnus Xavier Nady signed with the San Diego Padres after the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft, expectations were high. He was a highly sought-after college baseball player who experts projected would be producing at the major league level sooner rather than later. Two years later, Nady is on the brink of proving the experts right. 

Earlier this year, in May, he was promoted to the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate, the Portland Beavers, just one rung on the ladder away from the major leagues.  

In 1997 the St. Louis Cardinals thought highly enough of Nady’s talent to make him a fourth-round draft choice out of Salinas High School. Nady chose instead to accept a scholarship from Cal.  

“(Choosing Cal) was an easy decision,” Nady said. “I felt going to college would make me a a better player. My days at Cal were the best time of my life.”  

Nady chose Cal over Pepperdine, the only other college that recruited him. He stepped in and right away drew national attention while leading the nation’s freshmen in a number of offensive categories, including home runs.  

“I felt welcomed by [then head coach] Bob Milano,” he said. “He put me in the third or fourth hole every game. I felt like I belonged there. Everything fell into place. I had a blast.”  

At the end of the year, he was named National Freshman of the Year by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. 

He left Cal as the school’s all-time leader in home runs (57), RBI’s (191) and total bases (479). He was a three-time All-Pac-10 selection and a two-time All American. His all-time slugging percentage (.729) is the highest in Pac-10 history, besting the .718 Mark McGwire chalked up at USC between 1982-1984.  

Before the 2000 season, Baseball America projected Nady as the top overall draft choice. He responded to the pressure with another All-Pac-10 season, but he slid to the second round. Some teams were rumored to have passed on him up in fear of dealing with his agent, notoriously tough negotiator Scott Boras.  

Considered an advanced hitting prospect similar to current major league stars Pat Burrell and Troy Glaus before him, Nady skipped two minor league levels, taking his first assignment with Lake Elsinore in the California League. Not many prospects can stay afloat at that level without prior experience, but for Nady it was easy. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year after leading the league in many offensive categories while making the move to first base.  

His performance earned him the distinction as best power prospect in the California League and second best overall prospect, trailing only teammate Dennis Tankersley, a pitcher who made seven starts for the Padres this year before being demoted to Double-A Mobile. 

This offseason Nady underwent Tommy John surgery, a ligament transplant to his throwing arm that prevented him from playing third base in the minors. A full recovery from the surgery typically takes nine to 12 months. Nady was prohibited from throwing a baseball to start the year.  

Nady began this year at Lake Elsinore again, this time as the team’s designated hitter. Over the course of the first couple of months he picked up where he left off, hitting .278 with 13 home runs and 37 RBI’s with plenty of walks, while playing DH while his arm healed.  

In May Nady was rewarded with another organizational jump, this time skipping Double-A Mobile and going straight to the Portland Beavers, the team’s Triple-A affiliate, just one step from the majors.  

“I heard that might happen over the winter. I was excited to skip Mobile,” Nady said. In the two months at that level Nady has not matched the numbers he put up at Lake Elsinore, as he continues to adjust to the new level of competition and recover from the surgery. He only has one home run in his first 137 at-bats.  

“The guys are a little older and they know how to pitch,” Nady said. 

His adjustments to the higher level of competition has been compounded by another position change, this time to left field. Since his freshman year in college, Nady has logged time at second, shortstop, third, first base and now the outfield. Nady is happy to play anywhere as long as it means getting some action on defense. 

“It’s much better to be running out there than DHing,” Nady said of playing left field. “I’m getting use to left field. I enjoyed first base last year. As long as you’re playing (on the field).” 

The Padres continue to be cautious with Nady. At Portland he is playing one of every three days on the field, then as DH another day and off the next, but he should be back to playing full time soon.  

The Padres have a glut of talent throughout the organization in the position that Nady played during most of his Cal career, third base. At the start of this season, the Padres moved Phil Nevin to first base and put Ryan Klesko in left field to make room for another top prospect, Sean Burroughs. On top of that, the Padres are stockpiling the best college hitters, regardless of position, for the past few years. The Padres have selected three high-round college third-basemen since 2000: Nady, former University of San Francisco player Tag Bozied and Tulane University’s Jake Gautreau.  

Nady has found that the best way to keep himself on the fast track to the major leagues is to continue producing the numbers that were expected from the former Cal star when he was drafted. At the very least, Nady is on track for another call-up this September.

Patricia Jameson said she noticed the new, bright pink building at 1600 University Ave. on her way to work a few days ago. But it was the name emblazoned on the side of the building – Magic Johnson – that drew her in. 

“I’m a fan,” said Jameson, an Oakland resident who works in Berkeley. 

The building is the Out of the Closet thrift shop, which held its grand opening Wednesday and will raise money for the Magic Johnson Clinic AIDS Healthcare Center on 30th Street in Oakland. 

The clinic is one of eleven health care centers operated by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in California. The foundation, which also operates clinics in Florida and New York, provides free HIV care and medicines to 11,000 patients nationwide, about half of them in California. 

Basketball star Magic Johnson, who has HIV, has lent his name to the organization and the foundation places that name on thrift stores and clinics in neighborhoods with substantial African-American populations. 

“He wanted to lend his name to help get African-Americans into care,” said Ian Killips, the foundation’s director of national marketing, noting that African-Americans are disproportionately affected by the virus. 

The thrift shop is the newest of 18 “Out of the Closet” stores in the state, and is the first in Northern California. 

“It’s a wonderful addition to the neighborhood,” said City Councilmember Dona Spring, who attended the grand opening. “It goes for a wonderful cause, to help people with a very serious illness.” 

Spring said the store also encourages locals to resell their clothing and appliances, rather than adding to landfills, which benefits the environment. 

“It’s everything Berkeley is about,” she said. 

General manager John Nieto said the foundation is looking to open another shop in Berkeley, possibly closer to the university, and a higher-end facility on Market Street in San Francisco. 

The University Avenue shop received a boost with a number of donations from the entertainment industry. The X-Files, a Fox TV series, donated a couch, dresser, computer desk and coffee table from its set, and a pool table from director Ron Howard is on the way. 

Killips said the foundation’s thrift shops account for $6 million to $7 million of the organization’s annual $70 million budget. 

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation also engages in political advocacy focused on HIV patients with limited political clout, Killips said. Gay men, people of color, immigrants and the incarcerated are some of the group’s primary constituencies, he said.

To the Editor: 

I'm glad to read that Gene Bernardi (letter June 2) was annoyed by my May 27 letter. The Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste (CMTW), like many Berkeley pressure groups, raise its probability of being heard at City Council by stuffing the system with speaker cards. 

I don't “blindly trust the Department of Energy,” but I'm sure not going to accept the CMTW propaganda instead. The CMTW, judging by what Bernardi and others say, is truly clueless about physics. 

Tritium is a low level source of radioactivity. It is a beta emitter, not a gamma emitter like plutonium. tritium is used as a radioactive tracer precisely because it is so low level. Tritium does not “dissolve in water” – it is water, a hydrogen atom in H2O. Tritium is not “a threat to public health for more than 100 years.” It has a half-life of about 12 years. It does not occur naturally, but must be generated in anaccelerator. 

The CMTW hysteria rises to a crescendo with statements like this (fromB ernardi): “... it is clear that there is NO threshold dose-level (no safe dose, so risk-free dose) of ionizing radiation. Thus, nuclear pollution, in the aggregate, causes premeditated random murder.” 

We all live with danger. One can get cancer from the sun, from air pollution, additives in our food. Rational citizens understand the concept of acceptable risk, and do not stay home hiding under the bed. 

Tritium, in the small amounts that might leak from LBNL, is much less of a risk than being run over in a crosswalk by a speeding driver – and we accept that kind of risk every day. 

Steve Geller 

Berkeley  

LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas hotel is rebuffing requests from guests who want to book the room where The Who bass guitarist John Entwistle died last week. 

“We would prefer that the room number never get publicly identified, out of respect for John Entwistle and the band,” Don Marrandino, Hard Rock president and chief operating officer, said in a statement released Tuesday. 

Entwistle was found dead Thursday of an apparent heart attack. Clark County Coroner Ron Flud has said it could take weeks before a cause of death is known. 

The Hard Rock left the room vacant over the weekend before making it available for occupancy Monday. 

“We wanted to treat it with dignity and respect,” Marrandino told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We’re not going to put a plaque up there or anything else. I think a room a guy dies in is not a positive marketing opportunity.” 

The Hard Rock, known for its collection of rock ’n’ roll memorabilia, might create a permanent onsite memorial to Entwistle if bandmates approve. 

Executives also are debating whether to distribute, destroy or auction several thousand commemorative gambling chips that were to have been issued before Friday’s concert at the Hard Rock.

Thanks to donations from residents nearby and as far away as Tahoe a summer bicycle program for underprivileged kids is back on track. 

“There’s been an overwhelming community response from the entire Bay Area and even people from as far away as Tahoe and Chico,” said Kathy Corliss, program director for the Berkeley Boosters Police Activity League. 

Less than a week ago, all 25 of the Berkeley Booster’s bicycles were reported missing from a storage space near Allston Way and Shattuck Avenue.  

It appeared that plans for a summer bike ride and whitewater rafting trip would be canceled.  

But people who read about the crime reacted quickly. Now – other than just a few minor adjustments – the 125-mile ride to Coloma and a week of camping and rafting will happen this month as planned. 

By Chris Nichols 

Daily Planet Staff 

Thanks to donations from residents nearby and as far away as Tahoe a summer bicycle program for underprivileged kids is back on track. 

“There’s been an overwhelming community response from the entire Bay Area and even people from as far away as Tahoe and Chico,” said Kathy Corliss, program director for the Berkeley Boosters Police Activity League. 

Less than a week ago, all 25 of the Berkeley Booster’s bicycles were reported missing from a storage space near Allston Way and Shattuck Avenue.  

It appeared that plans for a summer bike ride and whitewater rafting trip would be canceled.  

But people who read about the crime reacted quickly. Now – other than just a few minor adjustments – the 125-mile ride to Coloma and a week of camping and rafting will happen this month as planned. 

A number of local organizations contributed, including the Bayer Corporation which donated $500 to the Boosters, and Clif Bar which donated 5 new bikes and food products to the program. 

Several local community members also made significant donations. Checks of $3,500 and $2,500 were received from two anonymous donors. 

“This has all been very encouraging,” said Ove Wittstock, former executive director of the boosters club and current director of the Berkeley Guides. “It’s nice to have a good story every once in a while. People have been asking me all week ‘how can I help, what can I do?’” 

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, Rep. Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, and the local Rotary Club also offered to help. 

“We’ve had to turn down some bikes because we just can’t take them all,” Wittstock said. He encouraged donors to help with other programs including the booster’s backpacking program, which is expensive to staff and equip. 

Support for the booster’s summer program has been so great that the boosters no longer need replacement bikes according to David Manson, executive director of the Berkeley Boosters. But, Manson said, contributions can be made to the booster’s many other programs, including a youth sailing program and the Berkeley Guides. 

“We would like to thank the entire Bay Area community for their tremendous outpouring of support. You have truly made an impact on our kids. They truly understand that they are important and that people do care,” Manson said on voicemail message Wednesday. 

The Berkeley Boosters Association, formed in 1983 as a nonprofit organization, aims to build bridges between the police department and the community.  

According to Mayor Dean, the contributions made to the boosters are especially important in light of the work the nonprofit does with kids. The boosters joined the California Police Activities League in 1987 and organizes basketball, softball, soccer, golf, tae kwan do, boxing tournaments and deep sea fishing excursions for kids.

To the Editor: 

Like Carol Denney (July 2), I too was disappointed that Rep. Barbara Lee did not vote against the congressional condemnation of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the pledge of allegiance, but I can’t say that I was entirely surprised. 

Just before this year’s primary election, Rep. Lee sent her constituents a voting guide that sat on the fence on a number of important races (e.g., she endorsed two candidates in the State Assembly District 14 race), and failed to make any endorsement in the critical insurance commissioner’s race. I found her failure to endorse in the latter race especially troubling given the fact that her district lives under the constant threat of earthquake and fire, and has been poorly served by previous insurance commissioners. 

Our nation needs the leadership that Rep. Lee demonstrated last September. I hope that we will see more of it from her in the future. 

John Dynis 

Berkeley

LOS ANGELES — The number of movie and television roles for Screen Actors Guild members dropped 9.3 percent last year, with supporting actors among the hardest hit, the guild said. 

So-called runaway production, in which projects are filmed outside the United States, was one reason for the decline, SAG said. 

Guild members tend to be used only in principal roles abroad, said spokeswoman Ilyanne Kichaven. SAG believes U.S.-based productions would be more likely to use union actors in supporting roles as well, she said Tuesday. 

The rise of reality TV programs and a drop in production that followed SAG and Writers Guild of America contract negotiations in 2001 also contributed to the decrease, Kichaven said. 

For 2001, according to the report released Monday, 48,167 roles were cast under guild contracts, compared to 53,134 in 2000. 

“It is disappointing to see the total number of roles for SAG members declining,” SAG President Melissa Gilbert said. “SAG is actively seeking remedies to bring more opportunities to our members.” 

Kichaven said SAG’s “Global Rule One” drive could have an impact on the plight of supporting actors. On May 1, the union increased enforcement of its requirement that members work under SAG contracts for foreign-filmed projects intended for U.S. distribution. 

The SAG report, released Monday, also showed a decline in guild roles for minority actors. In 2001, a total of 22.1 percent of all roles went to minority performers, compared to 22.9 percent in 2000. 

Black actors received 14.4 percent of the contract roles cast in 2001, a drop from 14.8 percent the year before. There was a slight year-to-year drop for Hispanic actors, to 4.8 percent from 4.9 percent, and for Asian and Pacific Islanders (to 2.5 percent from 2.6 percent). 

An upward bump was recorded for American Indian actors, from 0.2 percent in 2000 to 0.37 percent in 2001. Given the small numbers, American Indian casting in a single project such as the recent film “Windtalkers” could account for the change, Kichaven said. 

Men received 62 percent of the roles cast in 2001 — a finding similar to previous years — and men worked nearly twice as many days as women in TV and movies roles, SAG said. 

The information is based on all TV and movie productions reported to the guild through a casting data report. Guild contracts do not include daytime TV, game or reality shows. 

Walkers: Sleeping is not a crime 

The upcoming week marks the final leg of the “Right to Sleep” walk, a statewide rally for homeless rights organized by the California Homeless Civil Rights Coalition (CHCROP). 

Seventeen walkers began June 7 in San Diego and will end July 10 on the north steps of the state Capitol building in Sacramento where a rally is scheduled 2 to 5 p.m. A sleep-inn on the lawn might also occur following the rally. 

The impetus for the walk is the criminilization of the right to sleep and antihomeless sleeping bans. 

“Sleeping is a basic necessity of any animal, and to criminalize that is abhorrent,” said Nancy McCradie in People's Park, where the walk made a stop and left again Wednesday afternoon. 

McCradie has been a Santa Barbara activist for 22 years, and is the co-director of Santa Barbara based Homes on Wheels. 

Accompanying the walkers is a white support vehicle dubbed the “white buffalo.” The large white truck has been parked on Dwight Street against People's Park, and is covered in posters advertising the walk and advocating the basic rights that are at the foundation of the walk. 

Michael Diehl works with Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS). Diehl explained that police have been using trespassing laws to ticket and arrest the homeless in Berkeley. “We've been successful recently in fighting this, but people are still getting arrested for their basic right to sleep,” Diehl said. 

The fight centers around a law against public lodging which includes RVs. Currently it is not a high priority for Berkeley police, but it is still being used against the homeless. 

“It's unfortunate, folks that are living in their vehicles aren't doing it for their pleasure,” said April Davis, a benefits advocate with the Homeless Action Center in Berkeley. 

“Local municipalities are dusting off old laws, or passing new ones that make the act [of sleeping] that any human being has to do to survive, illegal” said Chance Martin, project coordinator with San Francisco-based Coalition on Homelessness. “The police are selectively applying laws on the homeless people.”  

Martin explained that there is a sleeping ban in San Francisco, but said “if there's a man in business attire sleeping on a checkered cloth in Golden Gate Park it isn't a problem.” He added, “a homeless person doing the same thing is seen as a threat to civility.” 

McCradie and Diehl both feel strong about the need to decriminalize sleeping bans. 

“If you criminalize these actions, where can they go?” McCradie said.  

McCradie is confident that with decriminalized sleeping laws, the city would be much better equipped to help with the homeless problem. “Once people lose the tools for criminalizing, [the city] can go to work to help them” McCradie said. 

The organizers of the Right to Sleep Walk are realistic about the walk’s outcome. 

“They're not going to set off balloons for us on the Capitol lawn,” McCradie said, “but we won't quit even if the walk doesn't bring us glory.” The walk is the start of a civil rights movement, and a way to plant a seed, Mccradie said. 

Despite the low number of participants, the organizers remain hopeful and count on a large amount of local support once they reach Sacramento.  

“This will give people courage, knowing that someone is fighting for their rights,” said Paula Lomazzi, an activist with the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee.  

“It's that hope and courage that can cut through the despair,” Diehl added. 

Diehl hopes to turn winter shelters into year-round housing for the homeless, and is in favor of setting up legal encampments for those living in RVs. 

“The solutions to homelessness are completely black and white,” McCradie said. “If you want people off the street, you have to put them somewhere they can relate to.” 

She added, “there are a lot of people in this city that are willing to face this challenge.” 

McCradie plans to set up a speaker's bureau in January to inform college students about the issues plaguing the homeless community. 

“It's a revolution through education,” said Lomazzi. 

To the Editor: 

The San Francisco court was right. Requiring school children to say the pledge is requiring them into religious worship. Why force others to pledge alegience to God, if they do not believe or prefere thier own method of worship. 

I'm sure that this issue is causing all of the framers and supporters of the constitution and especially the division if religion and State to feel much shame as to how thier hard won freedoms are being squandered by their decendents. 

George Leavitt 

Berkeley 

Couple to sprint  

down the aisle 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky couple has decided to forgo the traditional walk down the aisle for a sprint down Main Street. 

Tim Bailey and Wendy Cegielski planned to get married Thursday at a downtown park during a short ceremony about 45 minutes into a 10k race. 

The newlyweds — clad in modified nuptial attire — will then finish the 26th Bluegrass 10,000 arm-in-arm before departing on their honeymoon — at a Costa Rican adventure camp. 

“I always thought traditional weddings were stuffy and too expensive anyway,” said Cegielski, 26, a high school teacher. “I wanted something I could remember.” 

Bailey, 44, is a teacher and cross-country coach who has run in every Bluegrass 10,000 — the last seven dressed as a superhero. 

He competed as The Silver Surfer last year and has donned Captain America, Spider-Man and Space Ghost costumes in previous years. In fact, it’s the costumes that led Cegielski to notice him. 

“I saw this guy dressed up as Spider-Man, and I thought, ’Who is that crazy guy, and why is he dressed up?”’ she said. “When I met him, I thought it was ironic that he was the guy I remembered.” 

“We started running together, and one thing led to another,” Bailey said. 

Don’t bring your kids  

to work, dad  

SOUTH FORK, Pa. — A 29-year-old man is accused of bringing his two young sons along while he tried to steal a cash box from a neighbor’s house. 

Shawn E. Popish was charged with burglary, criminal trespass and corruption of minors. 

Popish was seen June 25 trying to pilfer the box from the house, about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh, authorities said. 

The homeowner, Robert Fresch, told authorities he came home and found Popish’s sons — ages 4 and 6 — waiting for their father, said borough police Officer Michael H. Popma. 

Popish said he was stopping a burglary, not committing one. 

“He said he observed an individual go into the house and he was trying to be a good neighbor,” Popma told The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown. “It’s very unlikely.” 

Popish was jailed on $25,000 bond. The boys were turned over to their mother. 

Goat is a natural born  

marketing agent  

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 4-month-old goat with a curious birthmark has fans of the late racing star Dale Earnhardt flocking to a north Florida farm. 

The brown Nubian goat, named Lil’ Dale, was born with a distinctive white three — Earnhardt’s number — on her right side. 

“It’s weird,” said her owner, Jerry Pierson. “I’ve seen people take pictures and get tears in their eyes.” 

“One woman said, ‘Man, she gives me chills,”’ Pierson said. 

Although she was born on a meat and dairy farm in Interlachen, about 50 miles south of Jacksonville, Pierson says Lil’ Dale likely has a career in advertising. 

“How couldn’t she be something to NASCAR or auto racing?” Pierson asked. “All you have to do is put an oilcan in front of her and it’ll sell.” 

Utility blasts family movie, saying it provides a dangerous example to kids 

Pacific Gas & Electric is warning children not to emulate rapper-turned movie star Bow Wow who grabs a pair of sneakers draped over a power line, gets shocked and emerges with serious basketball skills in “Like Mike,” a new family film that opened yesterday. 

“This is a horrible message to send to kids,” said PG&E spokesman Jason Alderman, who appeared at a series of East Bay press conferences Wednesday. “It’s not going to get you into the NBA, it’s going to get you in the morgue.” 

In the film 15 year-old Bow Wow, formerly Lil’ Bow Wow, climbs a roof to grab an old pair of sneakers that reportedly belonged to basketball legend Michael Jordan.  

Just as he reaches the sneakers lightning strikes a nearby pole, sending a jolt of electricity down the line and providing Bow Wow’s character, Calvin, with super-powered shoes. 

Calvin, using the shoes, turns into the NBA’s first child star. 

Alderman said a group of California utilities asked the film’s distributor, 20th Century Fox, to include a disclaimer, but the company has balked. 

“We tried to resolve this behind the scenes,” he said. “When 20th Century refused, we had no other recourse than to go to our customers directly.”  

A studio spokesperson had no comment on the disclaimer issue, but said the film was not promoting dangerous behavior. 

“ ‘Like Mike’ is a fantasy about magic shoes.  

The scene is clearly not meant to be real,” said Florence Grace, 20th Century Fox vice president of corporate communications. “The film in no way advocates taking dangerous risks of any kind, including touching power lines.” 

But Alderman said the film could have an effect on children. 

“There’s no doubt there’s a direct link between what Hollywood says and what kids do,” he said. 

PG&E is not alone. A number of utilities across the country, from Arizona to Florida, have issued statements in recent days condemning the scene. 

Alderman said there are 12,000 volts of electricity coursing through a typical power line in Berkeley. Touching lines could be lethal, he said. 

“The best case scenario is serious burns,” he said. “The worst case scenario, and most likely case scenario, is death.” 

PG&E does not insulate its lines because heavy electricity use heats the lines significantly and any insulation would simply melt away, Alderman said, dripping hot plastic on passersby.  

The regional agencies charged with solving the Bay Area’s traffic problems and eliminating its housing crunch has begun shuffling its ranks, and the city of Berkeley is ready to get involved. 

“We need to address things like why Berkeley is increasing its density by 20 percent when suburban cities haven’t even looked at the issue,” Mayor Shirley Dean said. 

Berkeley should weigh in on the operations of regional planners, said Dean, who is urging councilmembers to oppose a state bill that calls for the merging of two heavyweight planning boards: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which focuses solely on transportation and the Association of Bay Area Governments, which looks broadly at regional issues like housing and open space.  

The bill says the merger is an attempt to streamline regional planning efforts 

Dean’s is not opposed to the merger itself, but to the structure of the proposed agency because it would shrink Berkeley’s political muscle, she said. 

Senate Bill 1243, authored by Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, makes MTC the lead agency in the proposed merger calling for the MTC to “assume land use responsibilities of the Association of Bay Area Governments” and to rename itself the Bay Area Land Use and Transportation Commission. 

Dean opposes MTC’s dominant position. 

“Just look at the numbers on MTC’s board. They don’t fairly represent the inner core cities in Alameda County,” she said. 

A 19-member panel sets MTC policy. Each of the Bay Area’s nine counties gets two representatives with the exception of the smaller counties of Marin, Sonoma, and Napa, which have one representative. The two additional members represent regional agencies – ABAG and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. 

Larger counties like Alameda and Santa Clara stand to lose with a set number of panel appointments rather than having representation based on population. For this reason, the Alameda County Conference of Mayors and the city of San Jose have expressed opposition to SB 1243. 

“The structure and past actions of MTC do not adequately reflect and meet the needs of the Bay Area’s older dense cities,” Dean noted in a written report.  

A spokesperson from Senator Torlakson’s office said that the senator remains flexible about the new agency’s governing board structure. Torlakson was meeting this week with members of MTC and ABAG to work out a mutually acceptable union, the spokesman said. 

Staff at ABAG have also come out against the proposed structure of a new joint agency, which would take effect in 2004. 

The MTC is an effective funding agency for transportation, it has resisted prior attempts for it to assume broader planning functions for which it lacks expertise or experience, read an opposition statement from ABAG. The statement noted ABAG’s expertise with land use, environmental protection, economic development and a host of other regional issues. 

An additional concern is the difference in agenda between MTC and ABAG. MTC is a state sponsored body whereas ABAG is the creation of Bay Area governments. 

Last week, MTC’s panel came out against SB 1243 as well, saying they would support the merger once issues were worked out between ABAG and Torlakson. 

Like Mayor Dean, both MTC and ABAG support the merger in concept, just not as proposed. 

Calls to unite MTC and ABAG come amid gripes that the agencies are too bureaucratic and too isolated to develop effective, integrated policies. 

For years, promises by local leaders to work with neighboring governments to solve regional problems have been met only with a diminished housing supplies, worse traffic and longer job commutes. 

Dean plans to ask City Council to join her in her opposing SB 1243 next week.

According a National Low Income Housing Coaliton's 2001 report, rent for a one-bedroom occupancy in Alameda County is $991. Assuming that rent is no more than 30 percent of a person’s living costs, at minimum wage, a person would have to work 122 hours a week to pay rent. To make rent in 40 hours, a person must earn $19 an hour. 

With the homeless shelters full, and people being ticketed for sleeping outside, said Michael Diehl of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS). “There's just no place anymore.”  

The misconceptions surrounding the homeless also contribute to the problem, McCradie said. She urges people not to label the homeless. “I can't see anything positive about 'cattle-izing' a group of people, and further separating the homeless from society,” said activist Nancy McCradie. 

The media often portrays the homeless as outlaws, said Chance Martin, project coordinator with San Francisco-based Coalition on Homelessness, and said that this unfair depiction only creates more hardship. The media presents the lowest, most destitute, and most visible group of people, he said, and fails to mention that 40 percent of the homeless in San Francisco shelters have jobs. “Most homeless people I know are not different than you and me, they just don't have a home,” Martin said. 

Employers suspicious that dock workers might  

intentionally slow down 

SAN FRANCISCO — Work continues at the nation’s 29 major Pacific ports, but billions of dollars in trade could grind to a halt if shipping lines conclude the dock workers they employ are staging a deliberate work slowdown. 

Both sides are negotiating a new contract, and the longshoremen’s union has promised not to strike. The shipping lines have said they’ll only lock out the 10,500 workers who staff docks at the ports if they show up but don’t do their jobs as efficiently as normal. 

The contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association expired Monday, though both sides approved a 24-hour extension both Monday and Tuesday. The deal covers ports from San Diego to Seattle that last year handled $260 billion in cargo, according to the association. 

The union hasn’t circulated word of a slowdown, and an association spokesman said Tuesday he didn’t expect any such labor disruption as long as the two sides kept talking. But the Labor Department was watching the situation closely. 

“Slowdowns severely disrupt the transportation system,” said Joseph Miniace, president and chief executive officer of the maritime association. “If the union strikes with pay by staging slowdowns at the terminals, the PMA will be forced to consider a defensive shutdown.” 

Shipping lines say longshoremen staged slowdowns just after the last two contracts expired — in 1996 and 1999 — while both sides remained at the table, cutting productivity in half at some port terminals. 

The union denies that charge. 

“They worked the way they were supposed to work,” said union spokesman Steve Stallone. “They just didn’t bust their butts overtime. And that is what the PMA described as a slowdown.” 

This time is different, however, because both sides appear committed to renewing the contract every 24 hours. 

“As long as contract remains in place, there won’t be an effort to organize a slowdown,” said Robin Lanier of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, which represents shippers and transportation providers. “Even though people are popping Pepto-Bismol by the gallon, the day-to-day extension actually is viewed as a positive development.” 

An unexpected slowdown could hurt businesses as much as a strike or lockout. Companies tend to warehouse as few supplies as possible, so any interruption in the flow of goods could be costly. 

“You save on inventory costs, but if anything interrupts the supply line, bingo, your revenue is cut and the interest on your line of credit keeps mounting,” said Ernest Howard, chairman of the California Society of CPAs. 

Studies commissioned by the maritime association have put the cost to the national economy of a 20-day port shut down at $48.6 billion. 

With so much at stake, the White House has said it’s watching, and federal lawmakers have petitioned both sides to keep the ports open. 

Even were one side to quit negotiations, under federal law President Bush can block a strike and impose an 80-day cooling-off period. 

Negotiations have stalled over benefits and how to bring new cargo-handling technology to the ports, according to both sides. 

Shipping lines say they need to automate the ports to compete more efficiently in the global economy. 

Union leaders say they’re not against modernization — as long as new technology doesn’t mean jobs are shifted outside the union. 

West Coast docks saw strikes in 1934, 1936-37, 1948 and 1971. The two sides are negotiating in San Francisco, where both are based. 

Just in time for your July Fourth outing, a study concludes that insect repellents containing the chemical called DEET provide the best protection against mosquito bites. 

Bug sprays and lotions that rely on plant oils or another chemical don’t last as long and might require several applications, according to the report in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. Three repellent wristbands tested didn’t work at all. 

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using alternatives and I don’t think DEET is a perfect repellent. But it is still more effective and very safe,” said one of the researchers, dermatologist Dr. Mark Fradin of Chapel Hill, N.C. 

DEET has been on the market since 1957 and a 1998 review by the Environmental Protection Agency deemed normal use safe. Yet many consumers are reluctant to use DEET and seek out alternatives, the researchers said. 

Knowing which repellent works best is important when used to protect against mosquito-transmitted diseases such as West Nile virus, they said. 

Fradin worked with Jonathan Day of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach to test the effectiveness of 16 products. 

Each was tested three times on 15 workers at the University of Florida lab using a design Day said was devised for a student’s ninth-grade science fair project. The student said she’s sensitive to bug bites and sought out Day’s help for a smaller test of repellents. 

For the study, each worker applied repellent, put their arm into a cage with 10 mosquitoes for a minute and reinserted it at intervals until the first bite. 

The DEET-based products offered complete protection for the longest time, and higher concentrations worked best, the researchers said. The highest concentration tested, about 24 percent in OFF! Deep Woods, lasted for five hours on average. Sawyer Controlled Release, with 20 percent DEET, worked for about four hours. 

A soybean repellent worked for about 1 1/2 hours while other plant-derived repellents, including citronella, lasted less than 20 minutes. Three wristbands — two with DEET and one with citronella — provided no protection. 

After the study was completed, repellents using oil of eucalyptus were introduced in the United States. In a preliminary test, a eucalyptus repellent worked for about two hours. 

Included in the study were four Avon products, including a moisturizer that some people claim wards off bugs and Avon’s Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Plus with a chemical called IR3535. 

The moisturizer, Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil, worked for less than 10 minutes and the Bug Guard Plus protected for an average of about 23 minutes, according to the study. 

Janice Teal, chief scientific officer for Avon Products Inc., noted that the moisturizer isn’t sold as a repellent and questioned doing such a study in a lab. In a field test, she said, the Avon repellent worked as well as a DEET-based repellent, protecting against mosquito bites for four hours. 

“We feel that in a real-world condition our product clearly works,” she said.

HOUSTON — The first shipment of Russian oil to the United States arrived on Wednesday, and U.S. officials hailed the delivery as a step toward reducing dependence on Middle East oil. 

Mikhail Brudno, first vice president of the Russian oil company that made the shipment, said it would be the first of five or six to the United States this year. The 200,000-metric-ton shipment arrived in the Port of Houston aboard the supertanker Astro Lupus. 

Brudno said the shipment from Yukos, Russia’s No. 2 oil producer, had been purchased by Exxon Mobil Corp. and another buyer, whom he declined to identify. 

Yukos announced that it would begin shipments to the United States following a summit meeting in May at which President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an energy cooperation statement.

OAKLAND — Police shot a man holding his estranged wife at gunpoint on a San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge freeway overpass Wednesday morning, ending a situation that had forced officials to close most of the freeways approaching the bridge from the east. 

The highway closures caused a huge rush-hour traffic jam despite the fact that traffic was light on the day before the July Fourth holiday. 

Police investigators said the situation began Tuesday night when Clay Cael, 48, kidnapped his estranged wife, Bridgette Holt, 35, from a safe house in San Francisco at gunpoint. Police went to Cael’s home looking for him and instead found an 85-year-old woman who had been shot to death. 

Police said Cael and the homicide victim knew each other, although they were not related. 

Oakland Police spotted Cael and Holt in a white Honda at 4:40 a.m. The car was stopped — but Cael dragged Holt onto a freeway approach overpass at gunpoint. 

Authorities quickly closed the approaches to the bridge as they tried talking Cael into surrendering. Finally, they used a stun device and then shot Cael, taking him into custody at about 6:10 a.m. 

Cael was in stable condition at Highland Hospital in Oakland. Holt was taken to a hospital for observation. 

After Cael was captured, authorities began reopening the freeways. 

The San Francisco Police Department said Cael will be charged with murder and kidnapping.

SAN FRANCISCO — The appeals court judge who stunned the nation by declaring the Pledge of Allegiance an unconstitutional endorsement of religion says he was following Supreme Court precedents. 

Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he and concurring Judge Stephen Reinhardt believe the 2-1 decision last week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was consistent with a long line of church-school rulings from the nation’s highest court. 

Most say if the case reaches the Supreme Court, it is unlikely to be upheld. 

Goodwin said the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which calls for the separation of church and state, has been used by the Supreme Court to bar a host of religious activity in schools — including clergy-led prayers at graduations and student-led prayers at school sporting events. 

“The strongest cases were what the Supreme Court has been saying about school prayers, including at athletic events,” Goodwin said in a telephone interview from his home in Sisters, Ore. “This indicated that the Supreme Court was reading the Establishment Clause rather broadly. We felt we were consistent with those opinions.”

SAN FRANCISCO — A prosecutor said Wednesday he will appeal a judge’s decision to toss out Marjorie Knoller’s second-degree murder conviction in last year’s fatal dog mauling. 

District Attorney Terence Hallinan had planned to ask Judge James Warren to reconsider his June 17 decision, but instead will avoid further legal wrangling with Warren and go directly to the state appeals court. 

“We thought the reconsideration was not going to be successful,” Hallinan said. “It would be a lot of effort that would be better spent in other areas ... We also feel it’s important not to take the reversal of the murder conviction lying down.” 

Knoller faces a maximum four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter when she goes back to court July 15. Her husband, Robert Noel, also convicted of involuntary manslaughter, received a four-year sentence last month. 

Knoller, 46, could have gotten 15 years to life in prison for murder. Though Warren said Knoller and Noel are “the most despised couple in this city,” the judge said the evidence did not support a murder conviction because Knoller had no way of knowing her dogs would kill someone when she left her apartment that day in January 2001.

SACRAMENTO — Californians will see extra police aircraft in the sky, more Coast Guard boats in the water and more patrolmen on the highways during Independence Day weekend as a result of last fall’s terrorist attacks. 

But there are no specific threats nor any indication California is being targeted by terrorists during the holiday, officials said Tuesday. 

All 30 highway patrol aircraft will be in the air virtually around the clock starting Wednesday, monitoring aqueducts, bridges, highways and areas where large groups are expected to gather, said California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick. 

There will be extra sea and air surveillance of major bridges and ferries in the San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego areas. 

A 60-member “special operations team” trained in riot control will be stationed near Hollister, where 60,000 motorcyclists expected to attend the Hollister Independence Rally south of San Francisco. Another team will be on duty in Southern California. Both also could respond to other emergencies such as a terror attack, Helmick said. 

Patrol cars scattered around the state will be carrying radiation detection equipment, Helmick said, but they did that even before Sept. 11. 

The California National Guard will not be on any special alert, and no military air patrols are planned over major cities, as was the case immediately after Sept. 11, officials said. 

LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood buzz this week is whether Barry Diller will reprise his role as media mogul if Vivendi Universal decides to sell its U.S. entertainment assets. 

Diller already serves as chief executive of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, the company formed in December after Vivendi Universal bought the entertainment assets of Diller’s USA Entertainment for $10.3 billion. The unit includes Universal Studios, which runs theme parks, and Universal Pictures, one of the more successful movie and television studios. 

Diller also serves as head of USA Interactive, a collection of Internet properties including Ticketmaster and Expedia. 

Whether his role will broaden depends in part on how Vivendi Universal decides to reduce its considerable debt load after the ouster of its flamboyant chairman, Jean-Marie Messier. Vivendi’s board will meet Wednesday to appoint an interim chairman and formally dismiss Messier. 

French newspapers and analysts speculated that Vivendi may be split into more manageable parts. Messier’s grand vision of a global media empire would be reversed if Vivendi opted to sell off the movie studio it acquired when it bought Seagram for $30 billion in 2000. 

In an internal e-mail sent Tuesday to VUE employees and obtained by The Associated Press, Diller said workers should not be distracted by Messier’s departure or speculation about the future of the division. 

“It is reasonable to be upset, saddened or simply confused and weary by the turmoil of the last period and the resultant change in leadership,” Diller wrote. “But it’s more important right now to view this change as the end of an increasingly distracting and tumultuous time and the beginning of a clear-eyed, long term and stable strategy.” 

Since taking the helm of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, Diller has led the unit with a light hand, concentrating more on his interactive assets, as he had said he would. Despite concern over Diller micromanaging Universal Pictures, key executives there have all agreed to serve for another five years. 

“His passion is with the interactive assets. That still makes a lot of sense to me,” said SG Cowen entertainment analyst Peter Mirsky. “Most of his compensation comes from the interactive side.” 

Diller would be the logical choice to lead the studio again should the unit either be spun off with the backing of the Bronfman family, which sold Universal to Vivendi, or if he mounted his own purchase of the assets.

LOS ANGELES — Sharon Osbourne, wife of British rocker Ozzy Osbourne and star of the MTV reality show “The Osbournes,” underwent surgery Wednesday for a treatable cancer, a family publicist said. 

Spokeswoman Lisa Vega would not identify what type of cancer Osbourne has or where the surgery would take place, but said it would be completed by early evening. 

“The Osbournes,” the highest-rated program in MTV’s history, chronicles the unorthodox home life of Ozzy, Sharon, and two of their three children — 17-year-old daughter Kelly and 16-year-old son Jack. Thursday is the couple’s 20-year wedding anniversary. 

Vegas said the entire family, including daughter Aimee, 18, who does not appear on the show, were at the hospital with her. 

“Everyone is in good spirits because the prognosis is very positive,” Vega said. “The doctors have told them all she’s expected to make a full recovery. Obviously, they’re concerned for their mother and are by her side, but they’re all looking forward to a positive outcome.” 

Osbourne was scheduled to be hospitalized overnight, and Vega said she was not sure if the stay would last any longer. 

“We know Sharon will conquer this with the same tenacity and vibrancy she approaches everything else in her life,” the MTV network said in a written statement. “Our thoughts are with Sharon and the entire Osbourne family and we send her our love and support for a complete recovery.” 

Because of the surgery, the first two dates of Osbourne’s Ozzfest 2002 summer music tour, in Bristol, Va., and Pittsburgh, have been postponed.

Local trail map made by
volunteers is selling out  

The mission of the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association has been to create a usable map of pedestrian pathways in Berkeley and the surrounding communities for public use and enjoyment.  

Mission accomplished. 

Now that local bookstores have sold out of their orders for the maps and the group prepares to have more copies made, it is becoming clear that these little links of Berkeley’s past are ready to be discovered by the public. 

Since its printing two months ago, the initial run of 2000 maps has sold out. Some local bookstores tested buyer response cautiously, buying only a small number of copies, but they quickly ordered more copies when their stock sold out.  

Black Oak Books on Shattuck Avenue has sold out of their supply of the maps, with most of the customers noticing the map as they shopped at the store.  

“Now people are requesting it, especially in the last week,” said Rose Katz, a representative of the bookstore. “They've got a winner.” 

The map committee members of the BPWA volunteered for more than a year on the project, well-aware that their only reward would be the satisfaction of helping others find their way along the paths with greater ease, efficiency and enjoyment. 

It was not an easy task. 

The map, a thorough representation of the city and surrounding areas, effectively shows 136 paths, in passable or impassable form, in addition to several trails that run through Tilden Regional Park. Numerous public parks and creeks in the Berkeley vicinity are also shown.  

Paul Grunland recalls that there were times when he might have wanted to “throw in the towel” because of the long list of things he and the others had to do: check existing pathway maps with city maps from the 1920s, verify the passability of the paths and make the myriad of decisions regarding the actual production of the map - colors, information, legends, display of streets and so on. 

It was the benefit of a pathways map as a public resource that kept he and the other five map committee members of the BPWA going.  

Funding for the project came from a few different sources, primarily through member contributions and a grant from the city to publish the map. Upcoming editions of the map will be made possible with “revenue from the sale of the current map,” according to Jacques Ensign, a member of the map committee. 

Grunland leads walks along various pathways each month, and gives an excellent narrative given his broad knowledge of the history of the area.  

When describing the paths, he tells of a city during the first decade of the century, when Berkeley was uncluttered with automobile traffic, and developers and architects were more visionaries than urban constructors.  

“It was a different world,” Grunland said. “The paths were really the result of good planning - by developers who wanted the city to be beautiful. These were really altruistic kinds of people.” 

The functionality and beauty of the paths that remain serve as reminders of a period during the area’s unique development.  

With regard to the association’s ability to generate public awareness for path reparation and appreciation, District 6 Councilwoman Betty Olds remarked, “They have accomplished something that the city hasn't been able to do in fifty years.”  

Olds went on to say that the paths provide an excellent escape route during a disaster like earthquake or fire - events during which a knowledge of the easiest and quickest way to safety would be of great importance. 

Lisa Frieden, who joined the group in 1999, was enthusiastic when asked about the process of creating the map. “It was incredible,” she said. “A group of independent people coming together to do a volunteer thing - here we are a year and a half later, and we have this really cool map.” 

The proceeds of the map are going to be used to improve existing paths as well as to regain and reclaim the paths for the public. Frieden said that the citizens of Berkeley will now have a reliable resource to lead them through all the parts of the city with ease.  

Grunland is pleased that with the map, the efforts are becoming a “high-profile thing.” He said that the association has met one of its main goals.  

“The mission is to protect the paths through public knowledge and reverence. . .it’s becoming an enormously effective force,” he said. 

As the city puts up pathway signage, and local Boy Scout troops helping with labor, paths that were once defunct are now safe for pedestrians who require handrails and secure steps.  

The association’s map committee is already working on revisions for the next edition. At a meeting Saturday, updates to be considered will include the possibility of marking wheelchair access as well as the lesser issues of spelling and layout.  

“Minor tweaking,” Grunland said, proud that the first edition came out so well.  

Map committee member Ensign said that the second edition will be ready in about six weeks, just in time for the Solano Stroll.  

For those who enjoy walking for recreation, transportation, or even for exercise, getting their own copy of the pathways map will be worth the wait.  

To the Editor: 

Regarding street safety, an alternate fix presented itself with the recent sewer replacement work in our neighborhood. While our streets were sand and gravel there was considerably less traffic, and those who tried to speed mostly just redistributed gravel instead of accelerated. As a bicyclist riding on skinny tires, it was inconvenient for me – especially in the sand traps – but pedestrians were real safe. 

I don't know the maintenance costs of gravel roads or the runoff problems, but gravel inserts in intersections would slow traffic exactly where pedestrians are supposed to interact with vehicles. 

Barbara Judd 

Berkeley

LOS ANGELES — When Clifford Holland died of exhaustion during building of the tunnel linking lower Manhattan and New Jersey, a newspaper in 1924 extolled him as the “martyr engineer.” 

Ask people today where the Holland Tunnel got its name and odds are they’re more likely to credit the city’s Dutch roots than the dedicated scientist. 

That’s the estimation, at least, of Kenneth Mandel and Daniel B. Polin, filmmakers who give Holland and other should-be famous engineers their due in “Great Projects: The Building of America.” 

The four-part PBS documentary pays tribute to their enduring and often graceful work: the roadway, water and utility systems that make up the vast American infrastructure. 

Want to appreciate anew marvels that have stood for decades? Watch dramatic footage of the 1940 wind-whipped death of Washington state’s Tacoma Narrows Bridge, an engineering failure that torqued itself apart. 

Architects have boosters as lofty as Ayn (“The Fountainhead”) Rand to gush over them; engineers are akin to accountants, ignored until the paper hits the shredder. Mandel, a former engineer, and Polin were intent on showing the sweep and social impact of engineering, and even its romance. 

“Great Projects,” airing on consecutive Wednesdays beginning this week (check local listings for times), also focuses on the role that politics played, and play, in the development of the nation. 

Narrated by actor Stacy Keach, the documentary begins with “A Tale of Two Rivers” and the projects that tamed the powerful Mississippi and Colorado. A scientist-turned-politician had a hand in both efforts: Herbert Hoover, the rare engineer to serve as U.S. president and for whom Hoover Dam is named. 

In “Electric Nation,” airing July 10, the limelight shines on Thomas Edison and his longtime assistant Samuel Insull and on David Lilienthal, who through his work with the Tennessee Valley Authority became a champion of public financing and control of utilities. 

“Bridging New York,” on July 17, focuses on two engineers, Gustav Lindenthal and Othmar Ammann, who helped link New York’s terrain over a six-decade period with, among others, the Williamsburg Bridge and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Holland’s tunnel, one of the few projects to carry an engineer’s moniker, also is featured. 

The series concludes July 24 with “The Big Dig,” the nickname for a contemporary highway project in Boston that’s attempting to correct what previous builders got wrong by taking a 1950s elevated freeway underground. (The $14 billion project is far above budget and prompted a cost-overrun investigation.) 

The Big Dig is in sharp contrast to the past, when America tackled ambitious projects with vigor and, often, disregard for those opposed to them. “Mitigation,” the film says, is the key word for rare new projects like the Big Dig — meeting the objections of residents, environmentalists and others. 

Has America, as one newspaper columnist wrote concerning a proposed Southern California mountain tunnel, simply lost the will to move large amounts of dirt? 

“I think there’s a fear to embark on major projects, partly because we’ve made it so difficult to build them,” Mandel said in an interview. 

As with all the best documentaries, “Great Projects” is rich in historical sights and sounds, including 35mm film of the building of Hoover Dam that was shot by a construction firm and discovered in a university library. 

The documentary also is filled with intriguing interviews and reminisces, including one that improbably pairs Donald Trump with the memory of engineer Ammann. 

As a youth, Trump attended the 1964 opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and heard politicians and others bask in congratulations while Ammann drew a tip of the hat but wasn’t mentioned by name. 

That may have inspired the decision to emblazon his identity on Trump Tower to guard his legacy, the modest developer muses. 

Engineers, in contrast, generally emerge as unsung heroes who fail to insist on their place in history. 

“I once asked Milton Brumer, one of the engineers who worked for Ammann on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, if he ever thought about how much he was contributing, about how important these bridges were to the future of New York City and America,” said Mandel. 

“He looked at me like I was crazy. He said, ’No, we were into production, not reflection,”’ the filmmaker recounted. “I couldn’t think of anything that better sums up the attitudes of engineers. They just do the job.” 

Some would welcome a little understanding, if not glory, as Mandel learned after showing “The Big Dig” episode to project employees. 

“One of the young guys comes up to me and says, ’I was crying for the whole 60 minutes. I finally can tell my mother what I’m doing in life.”’ 

Wednesday, July 3

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

6:30 p.m. 

BART Station, Shattuck & Center 

Weekly candle-lit vigil and  

peace walk to raise 

awareness and gather support for opposition to the 'war on terrorism' 

vigil4peace@yahoo.com, 528-9217 

Thursday, July 4

Volunteers Needed for  

East Bay Habitat for Humanity  

Independence Day Build-A-Thon: July 4-7 

is seeking volunteers for the ! We will be framing 6 homes in 4 days over the Fourth of July weekend.  

251-6304.  

Pancake Breakfast 

9 to 11 a.m. 

The Berkshire, 2235 Sacramento St. 

Red, white and blue pancakes. 

841-4844 

Donations to local food back appreciated 

Saturday, July 6

Capoeira Batizado 

2 to6 p.m.  

Capoeira Arts Cafe 

2026 Addison, Berkeley 

A celebration of Capoeira with performances by local arts organization. 

For information: 666-1255, www.capoeiraarts.com 

Free 

The Great Rummage Sale 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth Street (at Carleton) in Berkeley 

Warehouse full of household items, books, records, clothing, furniture, and lots more at great prices. All proceeds go to support of our shelter. 

845-7735 

Monday, July 8

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting  

Monday, July 8th, 2002 at 3 p.m.  

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office,1403 Addison Street-behind University Avenue Andronico’s Super Market. 

Laurie Capitelli of Red Oak Realty runs down the options of selling homes 

All Welcome 

548-9696 or 486-8010 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Tuesday, July 9

Mother’s Morning Out 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Upaya Center for Wellbeing 

478 Santa Clara Ave. 

Craniosacral Therapy for Infants and Children 

www.upayacenter.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 11

Great Sierra Backpacking  

Destinations 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo  

Karen Najarian of Sierra Wilderness Seminars presents slides from her more that 20 years exploring the Sierra Backcountry. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

What Do You Believe? Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers 

6:30 to 8:00 p.m. 

Ellen Driscoll Playhouse 

325 Highland Avenue, Piedmont  

Film presented by Piedmont diversity groups; discussion with filmmaker, Sarah Feinbloom.  

655-5552, or maudep@aol.com 

Free 

Friday, July 12

Celebration of Emma Goldman's Birthday  

8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall  

390 27th St  

An all-ages, alcohol-free party with live music, DJ, and dance lessons 

http://www.ebcaw.org  

$5 to $10 sliding scale  

Saturday, July 13

Peach / Stone Fruit Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

15th Anniversary Derby  

Street Farmers Market 

Live music and & stone-fruit and peach tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Festival of New Versions  

of Classic Asian Games 

Noon to 5 p.m 

Dr. Comics and Mr. Games,  

4014 Piedmont Ave., Oakland  

Dr Comics and Mr Games Hosts Game a festival featuring two new versions of classic Asian board games 

601-7800 

Sunday, July 14

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m.to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic bike repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Family Health Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Explore health concerns in a family oriented environment 

Free 

Tuesday, July 16

Berkeley Camera  

Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

525-3565 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Wedneday, July 17

Doctors Without Borders 

Until July 18 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley, Springer Gateway, West Entrance Crescent 

Interactive exhibit expalining medicines for people in developing countries; Film screenings 

www.doctorswithoutborders.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 18

Mystique of the Widerness 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Phil Arnot presents slides from over 50 years of exploring such places as Alaska, New Zealand, the Sierra and the Rockies. 

For information: 527-4140 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

3 to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Saturday, July 20

Emergency Preparedness  

Classes in Berkeley 

Earthquake Retrofitting: Learn how to strengthen your wood frame home. 

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

981-5605 

Free 

Thursday, July 25

California Landscapes:  

A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slideshw on such amazing places as the Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges the Great Valley and Cascades 

For information: 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Preston Sandusky of Kestrel, a premier manufacturer of high-end, carbon-fiber road and mountain bikes, intrduces their latest design. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

"Neon: The Living Flame" 

7:00 p.m.  

Alameda Museum  

2324 Alameda Ave.  

The Alameda Museum presents Michael Crowe, author, and neon artist Karl Hauser 

lecture by Michael Crowe 

748-0796 or 841-8489.  

Members free, nonmembers $5  

vSunday, July 28

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m. to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike techician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31

Mountain Adventure Seminars:  

Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 to 9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Nodar will try to continue Panthers’
recent boys’ basketball success 

St. Mary’s High completed a whirlwind search for a new boys’ head basketball coach on Monday, announcing the hiring of Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) assistant Manuel Nodar. 

Nodar, 32, was a coach at Sacred Heart for nine years, including the last two as an assistant on the boys’ varsity squad. He will also teach Spanish at St. Mary’s, the same job held by former coach Jose Caraballo. 

“I’m very excited,” Nodar said. “(St. Mary’s) is an excellent program, and I’m looking forward to coaching the program.” 

Athletic Director Jay Lawson said Nodar’s interview was the key factor in choosing him from the final four candidates. 

“I like the kind of person he is. I was impressed with his interview,” Lawson said. “He’s young and enthusiastic, and we hope that will rub off on the kids.” 

The search for a new coach began just two weeks ago, following the surprising resignation of Caraballo, the coach who helped make the Panthers into a state power the past two seasons. 

St. Mary’s qualified for North Coast Section play in each of Caraballo’s seven seasons, compiling a 147-67 record. The Panthers won the last two Bay Shore Athletic League titles, going undefeated in league play both years with a 59-8 overall record, and won the Division IV state title in 2001. 

“(Caraballo) did something no other coach has done here. He will be missed,” Lawson said. 

But Caraballo apparently felt he wasn’t given adequate support as a coach or teacher, and his resignation came at an inopportune time. Assistant Mark Olivier had already decided to accept the head coach job at Hercules High, and most high schools already had their staffs in place. Olivier threw his hat back in the ring for a time and was among the final choices, but the St. Mary’s administration ultimately decided on Nodar, whose experience at Sacred Heart should give him a head start. Both St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart are Lasallian schools, run by the Christian Brothers and the Daughters of Charity. 

“He fits everything we’re trying to do,” Lawson said of Nodar. “He’s a gem of a coach who we hope will stay with us for a very long time.” 

Sacred Heart Cathedral won 49 games over the last two seasons, were co-champions of the West Catholic Athletic League last season and won the Central Coast Section crown before falling to league rival and eventual state champion Archbishop Riordan in the Northern California finals. 

Lawson said Nodar will continue to use the Panthers’ all-out style of play, although they could struggle after the graduation of star guards John Sharper and DeShawn Freeman, both of whom will play at Division I colleges next season. 

“We feel he’s a real good man,” St. Mary’s athletic director Jay Lawson said. “He believes in everything we’re trying to teach our student-athletes and he’ll fit in real well. He runs an up-tempo, pressing style we like. He’s real positive in his teaching, very organized and has a lot of energy.” 

Lawson also said the administration met with most of the returning players and all of the students intend to stay at St. Mary’s despite the departure of Caraballo.

Landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy may have pleaded guilty to various felonies including tax evasion and the importation of minors for illegal sexual activity but his holdings in the city of Berkeley and his net worth have apparently not been marred by his transgressions. 

“They may have convicted him but they did not take away his property,” said Michael Caplan of Neighborhood Services for Berkeley. “The two issues are unrelated. It’s my guess that he owns a fair percentage of all the available housing in the entire city, and that he is still worth upwards of $50 million.” 

An inconclusive search with property records showed that Reddy currently has at least 20 properties in the city of Berkeley, some individually assessed at $665,000. It is believed, however, that the Reddy family owns far more than what has come up in this property records search.  

The realty company works with various property managers that often serve as liaisons between the family and renters, according to Caplan. 

Last year, the Rent Stabilization Board sent letters to various Reddy Realty tenants, making them aware of their rights. 

“He’s the not the worst slum lord in the city, but he has a pretty bad history,” said Paul Hogarth of the Rent Stabilization Board. “So the rent board sent out letters to all Reddy’s tenants informing them of their rights because Reddy has had such a problem with the habitability of his properties.” 

Hogarth went on to say that cynically, one could probably guess how many properties were owned by Reddy just by looking. 

“It’s very easy to find out which properties are Reddy properties. They’re the ones that are painted pink,” said Paul Hogarth of the Rent Stabilization Board. 

Officially, however, the city appears to be able to divulge very little about the current property holdings of Reddy Realty. 

“We are very limited as to how much information we can release,” said a spokesperson of Berkeley’s property records division. “Not that much of this information is open to the public.” 

Reddy, a 63-year-old multimillionaire property owner pleaded guilty on March, 7, 2001 to various charges after a young female tenant of one of his apartment units died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty heating unit. 

A subsequent investigation into the woman’s death opened Reddy up to tax evasion, immigration fraud and importation of minors into the United States for illegal sexual activity convictions. 

Though various victims in the case say that Reddy was also guilty of rape and statutory rape charges in this case, he was not convicted on these charges. 

Reddy’s attorney George Cotsirilos was unavailable yesterday for a comment. 

To the Editor: 

It's fine that Bush called for the Palestinians to democratically elect new leaders, but what if Arafat made the same demand on the United States? The hypocrisy of a president who was selected, even though he had half a million fewer votes than his opponent, is not lost on the rest of the world. We need election reform in our own country; eliminate the electoral college. Each person's vote should count equally.  

Bruce Joffe  

Piedmont

Assuring increased exposure for its men’s basketball program, the University of California has reached a one-year agreement with KFRC Radio (610 AM, San Francisco) to provide live coverage of the team’s games during the 2002-03 season.  

The joint announcement was made by Bob Rose, Executive Associate Athletic Director, Communications at Cal, and Earnest L. James, Vice President and General Manager of KFRC.  

“We are extremely pleased to finalize this agreement,” said Rose. “KFRC is a legendary station in the Bay Area with a signal that will increase our audience considerably. Cal basketball fans as far north as Sacramento and as far south as Monterey now will be able to tune in to our broadcasts. Considering the steady ascent of Ben Braun’s basketball program in recent years, we believe this partnership with KFRC could not have come at a better time.”  

“KFRC is truly excited to enter into this association with one of this country’s great universities,” said James. “We have been very impressed with the new Cal athletic administration and feel that both parties will benefit greatly in this new partnership. We look forward to carrying these games to the many Golden Bear sports fans in Northern California.”  

Under the agreement, KFRC will air 28 regular-season games and all possible postseason contests this season. In addition, each broadcast will feature 20-minute pre-game and post-game shows.  

The station will also provide additional promotion for Cal basketball during the season. As part of the deal, KFRC will air weekly promotional spots, a special “Cal Bears Replay of the Game” feature on the station’s next “J.D. and Cammy Morning Show,” and a Cal coach’s show each Tuesday.  

“KFRC is undoubtedly a powerful marketing vehicle,” added Rose. “Earnest James and I believe we can both grow our audiences with this new association. Needless to say, we are absolutely delighted to welcome KFRC into the Cal athletic family.”  

The Bears, who open the 2002-03 regular season at New Mexico Nov. 23, return three starters from last year’s 23-9 club, which advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Start practicing your “oohs” and “ahhs.” 

About 1,000 shells of pyrotechnics are ready to be shot into the sky at the Berkeley Marina where more than 40,000 people are expected to gather tomorrow. The $10,000, 25-minute firework display comes as the pinnacle of the city’s seven-year tradition of food, games and celestial explosions on the Fourth of July. 

This year’s celebration, though, is bound to be a little different in light of the current international climate, Berkeley residents say. 

“This is our first chance to celebrate our country since Sept. 11 and people are looking for a good way to do it,” said assistant fire Chief David Orth. “I think we’re seeing a lot more patriotism.” 

Other Berkeley leaders said the same. 

“I’ve been invited to more barbecues this year and I think it’s because people want to pull closer together,” said Kriss Worthington, a city councilmember. 

One thing that the rapidly changing because of politics is Berkeley’s fireworks display, which has run for more than 20 years. The show is put on by Rialto-based Pyro Spectaculars Souza, producer of the world’s largest Macy’s show in New York City, as well as the neighboring San Francisco fireworks show, and hailed by pyrotechnics as the best west of the Mississippi River. 

Unlike the larger shows, the Berkeley show is hand-fired, meaning it has a more homespun approach, said Pyro Spectacular show manager Jeff Thomas. Instead shooting the fireworks automatically from a queue, a person will light each of almost 1,000 shells. 

The perilous job of lighting the shells and then standing back to let them blow out of a firing tube is performed only by experts, Thomas assured. 

Sounding more like a gardener than a pyrotechnician, Thomas described various segments of the show. Palm tree shells fire a branching stream of light. Peonies shoot a simple but colorful stream of fire. And chrysanthemums are one of the most elegant explosions of all. 

Thomas said his favorite firework is called the Brocade Kamuro shell. It’s a big, lingering, umbrella-like explosion he called the “crown jewel of the show.” 

A clear sky is important to the success of the show, Berkeley’s Waterfront Manager Cliff Marchetti said while sounding a little nervous because of the recent fog over San Francisco Bay. 

“I haven’t had a bad firework display in at least six years,” he said. “You could always see the show.” 

Before the fireworks start, among the day’s performers are the nine-member Troupe Tangiers belly dancers who will perform a variety of North African dances. One dance will involve balancing a 12-pound brass tray on each of their heads. Another will enlist water jugs. All dances showcase the rhythmic rolling of the stomach. 

Lessard said that her ability to perform tomorrow reminds her that she is free in this country to express her culture. 

Along with the belly dancers will be musical acts, puppet shows, free boat rides and more than 100 food and art vendors. Events start at noon. 

“It’s a celebration of a very diverse community,” said event organizer Lisa Bullwinkel. “It’s truly representative of what America is all about.” 

Berkeley police and firefighters are taking recent FBI warnings about terrorism seriously and will stage a presence at the Berkeley event. 

In addition, police will screen for fireworks and alcoholic beverages at checkpoints at entrances to the Berkeley Marina. 

“In past years, it’s been relatively quiet in Berkeley,” said Assistant Fire Chief Orth. “However, there is usually at least one house fire in the East Bay because of rockets landing on wood roofs.” 

Contact reporter at kurtis@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Yes, it’s one of those dirty little secrets: Section 8 units and buildings are not subject to routine inspections and Section 8 tenants haven’t been able to get consideration of their requests for inspections. Furthermore, not all tenant-based Section 8 units and buildings are “city-funded,” i.e. administered by the local housing authority. Some are project-based, operated by corporations. This is a matter that needs to be taken to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Helen Rippier Wheeler 

Former Berkeley Housing  

Authority board member 

Ninemire, assistants named National
Coaching Staff of the Year 

COLUMBIA, MO – Cal head coach Diane Ninemire, assistant coaches John Reeves and Kim Maher, and student assistant Pauline Duenas have been named the 2002 Speedline/NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year.  

Ninemire and her staff guided California to its first-ever national championship as the Golden Bears defeated defending champion Arizona 6-0 in the title game of the Women’s College World Series. The Golden Bears compiled an 8-0 record in post-season play, posting wins over Fresno State, Stanford and Cal State Fullerton at the Fresno Regional, then sweeping through the WCWS with wins over Oklahoma, Florida State, Arizona State and Arizona. California became the first Pac-10 team other than Arizona or UCLA to win the Women’s College World Series.  

The California staff was selected by its peers as the Speedline Division I Pacific Region Coaching Staff of the Year and was then placed on the national coaching staff of the year ballot. They will be recognized as the 2002 Speedline/NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year at the NFCA National Convention in St. Petersburg, Florida, in December.  

Cal assistant Miller named to USA
staff for World Championships  

California assistant coach Ed Miller was named a United States assistant coach for the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Athletics Aug. 22-31, in Paris, France.  

Miller, one of seven individuals selected to head men’s coach Bubba Thornton’s staff, will coach the throws and the multi-events.  

In 1989, Miller served as the Olympic Festival team coach in Norman, Okla., and he is currently a member of the USATF’s Men’s Track and Field and Men’s Development Committees.  

The former Golden Bear recently completed his 19th season as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He has coached a number of outstanding athletes at Cal, including 1996 and 2000 Olympian Chris Huffins and 1996 Olympian Ramon Jimenez-Gaona. 

Minnesota gets probation, avoids shutdown  

MINNEAPOLIS – The NCAA hit Minnesota with two more years of probation on Tuesday, for rule-breaking in the women’s basketball program, but spared the school harsher penalties. 

The women’s basketball team will forfeit a scholarship in each of the two seasons, and recruiting will be trimmed back. The NCAA declined to shut down the program for two years, which was a possibility under the NCAA’s repeat violator rule, and didn’t ban the Gophers from postseason play. 

Minnesota already was serving four years’ probation for academic cheating uncovered in the men’s program in 1999. Tuesday’s action extends the probation until October 2006.

The Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association resolved a tense, four-month fight over electing a new leadership team Monday night, appointing retired San Jose State professor Joan Edelstein to the vacant president’s post and naming several other high-level officers. 

The source of the tension is not Edelstein, who receives widespread praise, but PTSA auditor and school board candidate Cynthia Papermaster.  

“She makes everybody’s life miserable,” said one PTSA member, who asked to remain anonymous. “I think it would be a disaster if she were at the level of the school board.” 

But Papermaster says the critics are all longtime members of the organization who are just upset because she worked to shake up the PTSA leadership, creating a diverse team that would attract the entire school community. 

“I have bumped into people who want to hold fast to tradition,” she said. “Sometimes change is hard.” 

The conflict began in April. Papermaster, who also serves as parliamentarian for the districtwide PTA Council, an umbrella group for all PTAs, pushed Berkeley High PTSA to hold elections for next year’s officers this spring, in accordance with its bylaws, rather than wait for the fall, as it has done in recent years. 

Some PTSA members argue that Papermaster was too aggressive in pushing for spring elections. 

“She came in inappropriately,” said former PTSA President Cindy Cohen. “It was simply, ‘this is what you should do.’ She wasn’t even willing to have a dialogue about doing it any other way.” 

“Did I alienate some people? Yes,” said Papermaster. “But that was a byproduct of my desire to help the PTA function properly.” 

“Cynthia is a well-meaning person and not one time did she say anything that is untrue,” said Lee Berry, who was named PTSA Executive Vice President Monday night. “I have no knock on Cynthia. I love Cynthia to death.” 

Papermaster pushed for an official nominating committee, which sought out candidates in May, and the PTSA held elections June 4. At that meeting, the group elected parent activist Virgus Streets president, but he subsequently declined the election. 

Streets’s resignation made necessary the Monday night meeting and the Edelstein appointment. 

Papermaster said her work on the nominating committee helped bring in a larger, more diverse group of leaders, including Berry and another black member of the PTSA board. 

“I’m coming from a position of supporting and helping the PTAs to function so they are strong and inclusive and diverse,” she said. 

Even some critics credit Papermaster with increasing PTSA diversity.  

But detractors say Papermaster has a habit of stirring up unnecessary controversy – a habit, they say, that would not serve her well on the board.  

“Everywhere I go, she’s been driving people crazy,” said one PTSA member. 

“There are gadflies who are healthy,” said another PTSA member. “But Cynthia seems to need to be at the center of a storm, for reasons I can’t understand.” 

Papermaster said she only attracts criticism because she is “an agent of change.” 

In the end, she said, the PTSA has emerged with a committed, diverse leadership. Her critics agree. 

“I could not be more happy,” said Cohen, praising the entire board, and especially Edelstein. “She’s very skilled.” 

“We’ve all agreed to put aside any personal differences in order to work for the good of the parents, students and teachers,” Edelstein said.

To the Editor, 

The media frenzy regarding the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance has been an embarrassment. Where is the sober reporting of facts and informed commentary that viewers so desperately need, especially in the midst of a controversy? 

Within hours of the court ruling the U.S. Senate condemned the decision, the President declared it “ridiculous,” and the members of the House defiantly recited the pledge in front of hoards of news cameras. 

Meanwhile, news commentators were voicing their opinions and pollers were pounding the pavement. Are we to believe that all those who are sworn to represent the people and report the hard facts had actually read and digested the 32-page decision and were informed enough to make these decisions in so short a time? 

Upon closer review of the court’s actual decision, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is not declared illegal. However, the California statute requiring teachers to lead the compulsory recitation each day is. For those who believe this is unprecedented, it is important to note that the court reached a similar decision in 1943, declaring the compulsory recitation a violation of the First Amendment. 

Unlike the oaths taken in courtrooms across the country, there is no alternate pledge in schools without the words “under God.” And though the U.S. currency contains the words “In God we Trust” – which does seem out of place on money, of all things – no one is forced to pledge those words every time he or she receives or spends money. And if any member of Congress feels that his or her rights are being violated by having to recite a prayer before each session – which has always seemed out of place to me in a supposedly secular government – then he or she has the right to take the issue up at the next session.  

What is at issue here is not only the separation of church and state, but the freedom of conscience. A state cannot force its citizens to say or do anything that goes against his or her conscience. Freedom of conscience is at the heart of all our most precious freedoms. If only our fearless and overzealous leaders had taken the time to read the court’s decision, perhaps they would have realized this. But they forgot that leading doesn’t always mean speaking or taking action before anyone else. Sometimes it requires actually thinking first.  

Tora Chung 

San Francisco

Sprinklets for hire 

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A stay-at-home mom is responding to the recent water restrictions in her community by offering her services — and those of her three children — as “human sprinklers.” 

For about $15 an hour, Jinni Hoggard and her children — ages 12, 11 and 8 — will hand-water lawns, gardens or anything else in need of a drink. 

City officials in Greensboro, which is suffering from a four-year drought, have declared it illegal for residents to use sprinklers, but not hand-held hoses. 

Hoggard believes some people may be too busy to spend hours personally watering their lawns. 

“I thought, ‘Ooh, I could be a human sprinkler, and I could make my children sprinklets,”’ she said. 

Last week, Hoggard bought a classified newspaper ad to tout her services. She hasn’t received any gigs yet, but she thinks people will call as their gardens falter. 

No more peddling here  

SHALLOTTE, N.C. — The town of Shallotte has given roadside peddlers the boot, saying they clutter the town’s aesthetics and compete unfairly with permanent retailers. 

Sunday was the last day for sellers of everything from shrimp and peanuts to old clothing after the town council passed an ordinance banning peddlers. 

At least one peddler got around the ban. Peanut salesman Charles Williams had his brother, who owns the gas station where Williams’ stand is located, buy the peanut business. 

Shrimp dealer Richard Todd, who has peddled seafood for 16 years in the same location, said he would explore selling his operation to the owner of the lot where his stand is located. 

The ban came just as peddlers were gearing up for the busy July 4 holiday, when summer traffic gets busier in the coastal town. 

Home of the flag  

ANDOVER, Kan. — Mario and Cassie Aberle won’t need to hang an American flag outside their home for July 4th. That’s because their home is the flag. 

The couple wanted to do something big to show their patriotism following Sept. 11. 

They noticed they had 13 siding strips on their house, just the right number for the stripes on a flag. So, the couple painted the side of their home to look like Old Glory. 

Hundreds of people have stopped by to see the giant flag and snap photos. The Aberles say eventually they’ll have to repaint their house — but it will be at least another year before they do. 

A proposal to develop community gardens and a nonprofit plant nursery in the San Pablo Park neighborhood is expected to be submitted to the Berkeley City Council in time for possible consideration July 9. 

The proposal asks City Council to start negotiating a lease with Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency’s Urban Garden Institute, which wants to use two vacant parcels in the southwest flatlands near the intersection of Sacramento and Oregon streets.  

The undeveloped lots are part of the old Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way. 

This partnership between the Urban Gardening Institute (BUGI) and Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) was recently awarded a $300,000 Community Food Projects Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand local programs.  

The USDA grant, which can be used through September 2003, would cover $50,000 in initial costs for fencing, developing the garden, an electrical line, irrigation and miscellaneous expenses. Two other federal grants totaling $83,900 would cover staff expenses.  

BOSS also expects to generate revenues from plant sales. 

Final approval will require posting notices in the neighborhood for a public hearing. Approvals and permits for the project are needed from the City Council, Zoning Board of Adjustment and Planning Commission, before BOSS can convert the grassy parcels to community gardens and a seedling nursery for the public and Bay Area farmers. 

The proposal was skimmed through and discussed for one hour on June 27, before receiving the endorsement of the San Pablo Neighborhood Council. A total of 444 nearby residents have signed petitions in support of creating community gardens, which have been forwarded to the City Council. 

Other groups supporting the plan include the Russell Oregon California Streets Neighborhood Association, West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corp., The Ecology Center, Berkeley Food Policy Council and the Alameda County Community Food Bank, said Daniel Miller, project director at the BOSS Urban Gardening Institute.  

“I think this is going to be a slam dunk,” said Linda Maio, councilmember representing District 1. Maio had been considering the feasibility of using one of the parcels to build affordable housing, but changed her mind after meeting with representatives of BOSS. 

“I’m probably one of the biggest supporters of the project now,” added Maio. “I’m a big gardening advocate, particularly when it’s linked to jobs and economic survival.” 

BUGI provides vocational job training in horticulture for people in transition from homelessness and drug abuse. Participants learn how to grow food and how to find or create their own employment. The group already grows organic foods distributed free to homeless shelters and low-income residents. Free job training classes and a computer lab are offered at the organization’s offices at 2880 Sacramento St. 

BUGI wants more space to expand job-training programs and raise money through sales of native plants and herbs. BOSS offers about 18 free classes annually. “We don’t have enough space to do what we want to do,” Miller said. 

Project plans include an outdoor classroom, greenhouse, shade-house, water gardens, a small orchard, benches and a pathway connecting Oregon Street with Sojourner Court for a possible future bicycle path. The gardens would be fenced and gated for security with daytime staff seven days a week and kept locked at night, Miller said. 

BOSS now provides social services for more than 3,500 people annually at 27 locations in Alameda County. In 2001, BOSS traded 12,873 lettuce, tomato and celery seedlings in exchange for food served at shelters. Firme Farms of Justine, Calif. benefited because it didn’t have to lay out cash for plantings prior to harvest. 

BUGI presently maintains two community gardens in Berkeley. One grows adjacent to the tool library on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, between Russell and Oregon streets. A second garden called the Harrison House Shelter Garden is situated near the corner of Fourth Street at 711 Harrison St. 

Two other community gardens are managed by the BOSS partnership in Oakland, the 59th Garden between Market and Adeline streets and the California Hotel Community Garden, behind 3501 San Pablo Ave.

Listeners of KPFA are raising money to help pay for an emergency, vision-saving procedure for the station’s longtime producer and contributor Mary Berg.  

Last week Berg was told she needed an expensive eye surgery, but was without health insurance. Members of the radio community came to her side and to make the procedure possible by temporarily footing the bill. 

“It is heartwarming that the KPFA community stepped up on such short notice, so generously and decisively,” said Phil Osegueda, KPFA’s assistant general manager. Now the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica has started raising funds to pay that bill. 

Two weeks ago Berg was experiencing some difficulty with her vision. She was seeing random, bright flashes and obstructive floating bodies.  

She went to see a doctor last Tuesday, and was diagnosed with a detached retina. The doctor said she would need to undergo a sclera bucket surgery immediately if she were to continue to see.  

Because she did not having health insurance she had to pay $14,000 before the hospital would go forward with the surgery.  

The KPFA community came to her rescue.  

“I was really lucky,” Berg said. “I had friends and KPFA came to my support.”  

The fund to help Berg is being conducted through the Agape Foundation. A benefit is planned July 21. 

Berg has been working at KPFA since the late 70s. KPFA listeners know her as the host and producer of “A Musical Offering,” a radio show that airs early on Sundays, 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. KPFA advisory board member Lewis Sawyer said Berg is a tireless worker and that her involvement with the station is unmatched.  

At KPFA Berg is a volunteer. She supports herself while working as a sound and editing free-lancer.  

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimates that 4.5 million California residents younger than 64 are uninsured. 

DONATIONS 

To help pay for Mary Berg’s eye surgery money can be sent to the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica (CdP), PO Box 2813, Berkeley, 94702 

SAN FRANCISCO – Federal prosecutors announced today that a San Francisco man has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for selling baseball bats he claimed had been used in major league games by All-Star shortstops Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra. 

Herbert Derungs, 32, pleaded guilty to six counts of mail and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to sell baseball bats on eBay between April and December 2001 that he claimed had been used by the two sluggers. He also admitted to fraudulently obtaining the bats from The Original Maple Bat Co. based in Ottawa by claiming to be Jeter and Garciaparra. 

In addition to the prison term imposed Monday, U.S. District Court Judge James Ware prohibited Derungs from coming within 1,000 feet of Pacific Bell Park upon his release in connection with a threatening e-mail he had sent to a ballpark employee. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Nadel said Derungs obtained 64 bats from The Original Maple Bat Co. and sold 22 of them for more than $23,000. 

Nadel, head of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office, said authorities are devoting more resources than ever to fighting high technology-related crime. 

Companies or individuals who believe they may be victims of high-tech crime are encouraged to contact Nadel at (408) 535-5035.

Billions of dollars in trade
>are at stake; lockout would
cut flow of goods across nation 

SAN FRANCISCO — Shipping companies and dock workers agreed that goods will continue to move through West Coast ports for now after deciding to extend their contract on a “day-to-day” basis, giving federal officials and businesses across the country a brief reprieve from fear of the economic impact of a strike or lockout. 

Both sides negotiated through a Monday contract expiration deadline, and both sides promised not to force an immediate labor disruption. 

Billions of dollars in trade are at stake, and a strike or lockout would cut off the flow of goods that enter the nation’s 29 major Pacific ports and move to store shelves across the nation. 

The union representing 10,500 longshoremen who work the docks has not voted to authorize a strike. The shippers’ association, meanwhile, has promised not to lock out the dock workers — unless they stage a work slowdown. 

“We have an enormous responsibility to negotiate an agreement without any work interruption on the waterfront,” said Joseph Miniace, president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Maritime Association. 

The contract expired at 5 p.m. Monday — 10 minutes before that deadline, the two sides reconvened at their San Francisco bargaining table for the first time since Saturday. 

Both sides concluded the evening by agreeing to extend the contract on a “day-to-day” basis and to resume talks Tuesday at 2 p.m. PDT, according to a statement from the association. 

A union spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment. 

During the last round of negotiations in 1999, the deadline came and went, longshoremen kept working, and two weeks later the two sides settled. 

The three-year contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the shippers’ association covers all America’s major Pacific ports, from San Diego to Seattle. Last year, longshoremen handled $260 billion in cargo, according to the association. 

With the association expecting that value to double as trade with Asia surges over the next decade, West Coast ports are a linchpin of the nation’s economic prosperity. A shutdown would send a shiver through the economy, especially since many holiday-time products are imported over the summer and ever-leaner U.S. firms have slimmed inventories to keep costs down. 

“Can you imagine what would happen to America if there were no stuff in the malls?” asked Stephen Cohen, a University of California, Berkeley professor of regional planning who studied the economic impact of a port closure for the shippers’ association. “They should stick these guys at Camp David or Guantanamo Bay and settle it.” 

Cohen cited numbers that a port shut down of five days would cost the economy about $4.7 billion, while a 20-day shut down would cost $48.6 billion. 

“Hopefully, they realize the national implications of the dispute,” said Lawrence Fineran, a vice president at the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers, which has sent letters of concern to the White House and several cabinet departments. 

With so much at stake, the White House has said it’s watching, and federal lawmakers have petitioned both sides to keep the ports open. 

Even were one side to quit negotiations, under federal law President Bush can block a strike and impose an 80-day cooling-off period. The Labor Department, which has a representative monitoring the discussions, declined comment Monday. 

The union spent Monday preparing a counter proposal to shippers’ Saturday offer, a package that a union spokesman described as “an offer that was designed to be rejected.” 

“First they offered us nothing but cutbacks” in benefits and pensions, said union spokesman Steve Stallone. “Now they’re offering us peanuts. That’s how much it’s moved.” 

association spokesman said Monday night that 

Negotiations have stalled over benefits and how to bring new cargo-handling technology to the ports, according to both sides. 

Shippers say they need to automate the ports to compete more efficiently in the global economy. 

Union leaders say they’re not against modernization — as long as new technology doesn’t take the place of manpower. 

“Ever since computers were brought to the docks, they’ve tried to outsource our jobs,” said spokesman Steve Stallone. 

Shippers promise that modernization isn’t a code word for layoffs and promise that no union job will be lost. 

Union officials also say shippers are trying to cut their health benefits and gut the grievance process. Shippers say their offers keep the union’s health package the envy of the working class. 

Wages are also at issue. A longshoreman’s $80,000 average annual salary for full-time dock work rises to a $167,000 average for the most experienced foremen. 

West Coast docks saw strikes in 1934, 1936-37, 1948 and 1971.

LOS ANGELES — After nearly four years of acquisitions that propelled Northrop Grumman Corp. from an endangered company in 1998 to the nation’s second-largest defense contractor, the company may be done growing — at least for now. 

After four months of wrangling, Northrop on Monday announced its deal to buy TRW Inc. for $7.8 billion in stock. Northrop also will assume about $4 billion in TRW debt. 

Government regulators wounded Northrop 1998 when regulators rejected a proposed merger with Lockheed Martin Corp. Instead of breaking itself up, it regrouped and transformed itself from an aircraft company into a diversified defense giant, specializing in high-tech computer warfare and surveillance systems. 

With its purchase of Litton Industries in 2001 and last year’s acquisition of Newport News Shipbuilding, it also became the nation’s largest shipbuilder. 

“I think they are probably pretty satisfied with where they are at this point,” said Paul Nisbet, an analyst with JSA Research. “I would have said after the first shipbuilding company that they would rest for a while and they’ve done two or three things since.” 

With TRW, the company becomes a major maker of high-tech unmanned surveillance vehicles, spy satellites, computer software and other equipment central to America’s war on terrorism. 

The company, which will maintain its Los Angeles headquarters, now makes Global Hawk unmanned surveillance planes, which have been used in Afghanistan, as well as the kind of database management systems vital to linking information housed on the computers of various intelligence agencies.

Demands U.S. review  

guides for launching raids 

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — In an unprecedented statement, the Afghan government demanded Tuesday that the United States take “all necessary measures” to avoid civilian casualties following an air attack in which scores of villagers died. 

U.S. troops who inspected the hospital in Kandahar where some of the wounded had been taken came under fire late Tuesday as they were returning to the American base outside the city, U.S. military spokesman Col. Roger King said. One soldier was wounded in the foot, he added. 

In Kabul, the government said President Hamid Karzai “called officials and commanders of the United States forces to his office and strongly advised them of the grave concern and sorrow” over Monday’s attack in Uruzgan province, in which the Afghans say 40 civilians were killed and 100 were wounded. 

The statement said Karzai, who relied on U.S. support for his rise to power, insisted that coalition forces “take all necessary measures to ensure that military activities to capture terrorist groups do not harm innocent Afghan civilians.” 

Circumstances of the attack remain unclear; a joint U.S.-Afghan team was unable to reach the site Tuesday. 

U.S. officials insist American forces were attacking a legitimate target using a B-52 bomber and an AC-130 gunship. Pentagon officials said it appeared gunfire, rather than an errant bomb dropped by the United States, was responsible for the deaths. An AC-130 can fire Gatling guns, cannons and 105 mm howitzers. 

At the Pentagon, Gen. Peter Pace said Tuesday a U.S. AC-130 gunship in the vicinity fired on “six individual locations that were spread over many kilometers.” Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said it was too early to determine what happened. 

Despite the uncertainty, Afghan officials were convinced the United States was to blame for what they believe is the latest in a series of “friendly fire” mishaps. It was the first time Afghan authorities at the national level have issued such a strong statement after such an incident. 

Neither Afghan nor U.S. authorities have calculated Afghanistan’s civilian death toll in the war. Although estimates have placed the civilian dead in the thousands, a review earlier this year by The Associated Press suggests the toll may be in the mid-hundreds, a figure reached by examining hospital records, visiting bomb sites and interviewing witnesses and officials. 

In the capital, Foreign Minister Abdullah said coalition military operations against al-Qaida and Taliban should continue but the rules for launching attacks “should be reviewed to avoid such incidents.” 

Abdullah said four villages were attacked early Monday around the hamlet of Kakarak about 175 miles southwest of Kabul. He said 40 civilians were killed — including all 25 members of one family — and 100 people were injured, including celebrants at a wedding. 

“Strong measures have to be taken to avoid such further incidents,” he said. 

Karzai met in Kabul on Tuesday with the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill. Afterward, McNeill said he and Karzai had differing accounts of what had happened, but he would not elaborate. 

“It is not part of the parameters of this coalition to attack innocents,” McNeill said at Bagram air base north of Kabul. 

In London, Amnesty International called on the United States to release the findings of any investigation, saying: “U.S.-led forces should take sufficient precautions to protect civilians in selecting military objectives.” 

The strong reaction by the Afghan government reflects the pressure on Karzai from his fellow Pashtuns who live in areas where U.S. military operations are continuing more than six months after the defeat of the Taliban regime. 

However, Abdullah, the foreign minister, said the government had “no doubts” that U.S. forces were “targeting terrorists” and had received information that al-Qaida forces were in the area. Afghan officials say Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of the Taliban, may be hiding in the area. 

However, some survivors said they were looking to Karzai to prevent them from getting caught in the cross fire. 

“Karzai himself should take charge of the investigation,” said Shawali, whose wife Shabibi was wounded Monday. 

He spoke at this southern hospital where many of the wounded were brought for treatment. Five U.S. medical officers visited the hospital Tuesday to determine whether they could treat the casualties. After leaving the hospital, the Americans were fired on about 1 1/2 miles outside the city. 

Afghan military escorts returned fire but it was not known if the attackers suffered any casualties. 

——— 

EDITOR’S NOTE — Associated Press Writers Amir Shah and Dusan Stojanovic in Kabul and Regan Morris in Bagram contributed to this report. 

KALGOORLIE, Australia — American adventurer Steve Fossett drifted into aviation history Tuesday, becoming the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world. 

Flying through the darkness 27,000 feet above the ocean south of Australia in his silvery Spirit of Freedom balloon, Fossett crossed east of 117 degrees longitude, the line from which he set off two weeks ago. 

The 58-year-old Chicago investment millionaire covered 19,428.6 miles by the time he crossed the finish line, according to his Web site, finally succeeding in his sixth attempt at the record. 

“It is a wonderful time for me,” Fossett, sounding calm, said over satellite telephone. “Finally after six flights I have succeeded and it is a very satisfying experience.” 

Fossett doesn’t plan to call it quits. He says his next possible adventure will be to fly a glider into the stratosphere to above 60,000 feet. He didn’t discuss the details of that mission. 

With weather largely on his side throughout this trip, Fossett finally completed the nonstop feat after five previous, crash-plagued attempts spread over more than six years, conquering one of aviation’s last barriers.KALGOORLIE, Australia — American adventurer Steve Fossett drifted into aviation history Tuesday, becoming the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world. 

Flying through the darkness 27,000 feet above the ocean south of Australia in his silvery Spirit of Freedom balloon, Fossett crossed east of 117 degrees longitude, the line from which he set off two weeks ago. 

The 58-year-old Chicago investment millionaire covered 19,428.6 miles by the time he crossed the finish line, according to his Web site, finally succeeding in his sixth attempt at the record. 

“It is a wonderful time for me,” Fossett, sounding calm, said over satellite telephone. “Finally after six flights I have succeeded and it is a very satisfying experience.” 

Fossett doesn’t plan to call it quits. He says his next possible adventure will be to fly a glider into the stratosphere to above 60,000 feet. He didn’t discuss the details of that mission. 

With weather largely on his side throughout this trip, Fossett finally completed the nonstop feat after five previous, crash-plagued attempts spread over more than six years, conquering one of aviation’s last barriers.

NEW YORK— A longtime organizer of cultural events in Lower Manhattan was appointed Tuesday to oversee creation of a memorial to victims of the World Trade Center attack. 

Anita Contini, 58, a vice president for global sponsorships and events marketing for Merrill Lynch, will be vice president and director of memorial, cultural and civic programs for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the city-state agency charged with rebuilding the area. 

The size and location of the monument to the more than 2,800 victims of the Sept. 11 attack has been a contentious issue, with some relatives wanting the entire 16-acre site to become a memorial. On Saturday, Gov. George Pataki promised there would be no commercial development on the one-acre patches each tower occupied. 

“I know that there are many viewpoints and different views,” Contini said. 

Before joining Merrill Lynch in 1999, Contini directed the arts and events program at the World Financial Center since 1986. In 1973, she founded Creative Time Inc., a nonprofit arts organization,

The Board of Education unanimously approved the 2002-2003 budget despite fears that the county will reject the district’s financial plan for a second straight year. 

“I find it very difficult to vote for this budget,” said board member Ted Schultz during the board’s meeting last week. 

Earlier this year, the board approved heavy layoffs and chopped millions of dollars from the system. But the final budget still includes a $2.8 million shortfall. 

Last week the board approved the broad outlines of a fiscal recovery plan for next year that it hopes will close the gap. The plan includes solvency for a troubled cafeteria fund, the possibility of further staff reductions and, as a last resort, the sale of district property. 

The county has 45 days to accept the budget and the fiscal recovery plan. 

Alameda County Superintendent Sheila Jordan, who will have final say, at the meeting last Wednesday praised the district for making difficult cuts earlier this year. She commended officials for working closely with the county and with the state-run Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team [FCMAT], an agency the board appointed after last year’s budget was rejected.  

Jordan is optimistic that the county office of education will approve the 2002-2003 budget. 

“My hope is that we’ll be able to pass it with a list of what needs to happen,” she said. “If it’s not passed, it’s not necessarily a terrible thing either.” 

If Jordan rejects the budget, the district will have 45 days to address the county’s concerns. 

Jordan said that while the county has not yet reviewed the final budget, its two primary concerns are the $2.8 million deficit and a recovery plan that is too general. 

If the county rejects the budget, Jordan said, it will likely ask for a more detailed recovery plan and could require the district to make additional cuts within the 45-day window. 

Schultz praised the staff for producing a budget during difficult circumstances, but said he had trouble approving the document because it provided a poor estimate of state and federal funding for the district and was difficult to decipher. 

“It’s really lacking in the clarity area,” Schultz said. “I wish the county luck in figuring it out.” 

Joel Montero, FCMAT deputy executive director, acknowledged the shortcomings identified by Schultz, but said the staff had done an admirable job considering that FCMAT, which started working in the district in October, asked the district to change its entire budgeting process in a matter of months. 

Health inspector could pay with jail time for free meals 

HACKENSACK, N.J. — There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Vincent Strignile found out the hard way. 

Eight years of allegedly eating free meals could land him in prison for 10 years if he’s convicted of official misconduct charges. 

Strignile, 53, a part-time health inspector in Saddle Brook, allegedly ate free meals at more than a dozen restaurants that he was responsible for inspecting. 

Ike Gavzy, an assistant county prosecutor, said Strignile allegedly accepted the meals from January 1993 until he was arrested in March 2001. 

Authorities began investigating Strignile when a restaurant owner complained that the inspector had refused to pay his bill and conducted inspections that were “cursory at best,” Gavzy said. After Strignile was arrested, authorities received several more complaints. 

“On many occasions, he would say, ‘I’m the health inspector; I don’t pay,”’ Gavzy said last week. 

Whiz bag grosses out court 

PACIFIC, Wash. — There was no way to maintain order in the court when testimony turned to the Whizzinator, an artificial body part worn in an effort to pass urine drug tests. 

Snickering arose Thursday as community corrections officer Nadine Wallace told Judge Stephen L. Rochon about confiscating the contraption, which is designed to be worn as an undergarment and includes a hidden bag for holding drug-free urine. 

“Occasionally the court needs a little comic relief, but this is just unbelievable,” Rochon said. 

Wallace said she also seized illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia June 14 when Jason Smith, 24, was arrested at his home in Auburn. 

Smith, who pleaded guilty last year to possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license, was accused of failing to meet probation requirements, including drug treatment and random drug tests. 

When he read a promise that the device is reusable, Rochon said, “It just simply grosses the court out.” 

One nation under dog 

SARASOTA, Fla. — The newest candidate challenging Secretary of State Katherine Harris in her bid for Congress is truly an underdog: a border collie mix. 

Percy the dog is running as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary, said his owner and campaign manager, Wayne Genthner. 

Genthner is offering up his canine candidate as both satire and as a protest against the political establishment. 

“No one has a realistic expectation that a dog can get elected,” Genthner said last week. “But plenty of people will be willing to vote for a dog to represent their discontent with the political system.”

To the Editor: 

Since your June 25 article on the District 8 city council race interviewed only two of the three candidates, but not the best one, please let me give your readers some good reasons to support Gordon Wozniak.  

Gordon has extensive experience on three different and crucial city commissions. He has managed to transcend the usual boundaries in Berkeley politics in order to find creative solutions to difficult problems. He tackled the budget as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission and was able to work out a new approach. It saved the Parks budget and increased the funding for our local parks without increasing the tax rate, by requiring that Measure A funds could only be spent on parks. He brought science and logic to the often emotional arguments of the Community Environmental Advisory Commission and won the respect of many of his fellow commissioners, moving up to the rank of vice chairman. He is currently a member of the Planning Commission and is successfully balancing the need for more affordable housing with protection of existing neighborhoods. Gordon is committed to working on the city’s and District 8’s toughest issues: traffic and pedestrian safety, parks and open space, housing and improving our roads and sewers. He would bring an intelligent, calm and independent voice to the City Council. It is time for Berkeley to move beyond the old politics that have paralyzed the city for 30 years. Gordon Wozniak could help open a new era of cooperative and independent thinking in Berkeley politics. 

Linda Schacht Gage  

Berkeley 

Monday, July 1

“Children of AIDS” film 

6:30 p.m.  

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffee house, 6536 Telegraph Avenue  

Presented by the National  

Organization for Women  

549-2970, 287-8948  

Free 

What You Need to Know  

Before you Remodel 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Discussion by builder  

Glen Kitzenberger 

525-7610 

Free 

Tuesday, July 2

Adopt A Special Kid (AASK) 

7 to 9 p.m. 

7700 Edgewater Drive, Suite 320, Oakland 

A workshop for singles or couples, gay and lesbian, experienced or older parents, interested in adoption. 

533-1747, Ext. 12, or www.adoptaspecialkid.org 

Free 

Wednesday, July 3

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

6:30 p.m. 

BART Station, Shattuck & Center 

Weekly candle-lit vigil and  

peace walk to raise 

awareness and gather support for opposition to the 'war on terrorism' 

vigil4peace@yahoo.com, 528-9217 

Thursday, July 4

Volunteers Needed for  

East Bay Habitat for Humanity  

Independence Day Build-A-Thon: July 4-7 

is seeking volunteers for the ! We will be framing 6 homes in 4 days over the Fourth of July weekend.  

251-6304.  

Pancake Breakfast 

9 to 11 a.m. 

The Berkshire, 2235 Sacramento St. 

Red, white and blue pancakes. 

841-4844 

Donations to local food back appreciated 

Saturday, July 6 

Capoeira Batizado 

2 to6 p.m.  

Capoeira Arts Cafe 

2026 Addison, Berkeley 

A celebration of Capoeira with performances by local arts organization. 

For information: 666-1255, www.capoeiraarts.com 

Free 

The Great Rummage Sale 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth Street (at Carleton) in Berkeley 

Warehouse full of household items, books, records, clothing, furniture, and lots more at great prices. All proceeds go to support of our shelter. 

845-7735 

Monday, July 8

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting  

Monday, July 8th, 2002 at 3 p.m.  

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office,1403 Addison Street-behind University Avenue Andronico’s Super Market. 

Laurie Capitelli of Red Oak Realty runs down the options of selling homes 

All Welcome 

548-9696 or 486-8010 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Tuesday, July 9

Mother’s Morning Out 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Upaya Center for Wellbeing 

478 Santa Clara Ave. 

Craniosacral Therapy for Infants and Children 

www.upayacenter.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 11

Great Sierra Backpacking  

Destinations 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo  

Karen Najarian of Sierra Wilderness Seminars presents slides from her more that 20 years exploring the Sierra Backcountry. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

What Do You Believe? Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers 

6:30 to 8:00 p.m. 

Ellen Driscoll Playhouse 

325 Highland Avenue, Piedmont  

Film presented by Piedmont diversity groups; discussion with filmmaker, Sarah Feinbloom.  

655-5552, or maudep@aol.com 

Free 

Friday, July 12

Celebration of Emma Goldman's Birthday  

8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall  

390 27th St  

An all-ages, alcohol-free party with live music, DJ, and dance lessons 

http://www.ebcaw.org  

$5 to $10 sliding scale  

Saturday, July 13 

Peach / Stone Fruit Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

15th Anniversary Derby  

Street Farmers Market 

Live music and & stone-fruit and peach tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Festival of New Versions  

of Classic Asian Games 

Noon to 5 p.m 

Dr. Comics and Mr. Games,  

4014 Piedmont Ave., Oakland  

Dr Comics and Mr Games Hosts Game a festival featuring two new versions of classic Asian board games 

601-7800 

Sunday, July 14

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m.to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic bike repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Family Health Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Explore health concerns in a family oriented environment 

Free 

Tuesday, July 16

Berkeley Camera  

Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

525-3565 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Wedneday, July 17

Doctors Without Borders 

Until July 18 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley, Springer Gateway, West Entrance Crescent 

Interactive exhibit expalining medicines for people in developing countries; Film screenings 

www.doctorswithoutborders.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 18

Mystique of the Widerness 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Phil Arnot presents slides from over 50 years of exploring such places as Alaska, New Zealand, the Sierra and the Rockies. 

For information: 527-4140 

Introduction to Accessible  

Software and Hardware  

3 to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121. Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Saturday, July 20

Emergency Preparedness  

Classes in Berkeley 

Earthquake Retrofitting: Learn how to strengthen your wood frame home. 

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

981-5605 

Free 

Thursday, July 25

California Landscapes:  

A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slideshw on such amazing places as the Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges the Great Valley and Cascades 

For information: 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Preston Sandusky of Kestrel, a premier manufacturer of high-end, carbon-fiber road and mountain bikes, intrduces their latest design. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

"Neon: The Living Flame" 

7:00 p.m.  

Alameda Museum  

2324 Alameda Ave.  

The Alameda Museum presents Michael Crowe, author, and neon artist Karl Hauser 

lecture by Michael Crowe 

748-0796 or 841-8489.  

Members free, nonmembers $5  

Sunday, July 28

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m. to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike techician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31

Mountain Adventure Seminars:  

Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 to 9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Saturday, August 3

Mountain Adventure Seminars:  

Introduction to Rock Climbing 

8 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Saturday, August 10

Tomato Tastings 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Tastings and cooking demonstrations  

Free 

Sunday, August 11

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m. to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-4140 

Free 

West Berkeley arts Festival 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Explore the many resident artists located in Berkeley 

Free. 

Tuesday, August 13

Tomato Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Berkeley Camera Club  

Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

525-3565 

Free 

Sunday, August 18

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m. to noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic repairs such as braqke adjustment and fixing a flat. 

For information: 527-7470 

Saturday, August 24

Cajun & More 

Four Live Bands, crafts fair, Cajun food, dance lessons, micro-brewery beer & dance floor. 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Saturday, September 8

Watershed Environmental  

Poetry Festival 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, September 15

Heritage Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

International BBQ and beer festival 

Free 

Saturday, October 12

Indigenous People's Day Pow Wow, Indian Market & Fall Fruit Tasting 

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Tuesday, October 15

Fall Fruit Tasting 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Saturday, October 26

Pumpkin Carving & Costume Making 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, October 27

Spirit Day 

11 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

4th and University 

Construct altars in a day of reflection 

Free 

Saturday December 7, 14, 21

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Saturday December 14 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Saturday December 21 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

DENVER — Jeff Kent hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning as the San Francisco Giants rallied for an 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night. 

Colorado led 6-5 after eight innings, but closer Jose Jimenez (2-5) hit leadoff hitter David Bell and Ramon Martinez followed with a single. 

Kent then hit Jimenez’s first pitch to left field for his 14th of the season. 

Kent had three hits and is 13-for-24 with 15 RBIs since moving from cleanup to the third spot in the lineup five days ago. 

Colorado has lost six of seven after winning five straight. The Giants have won four of six. 

Felix Rodriguez (3-4) didn’t allow a hit in one inning to pick up the victory. Robb Nen worked a perfect ninth to earn his 22nd save. 

Reggie Sanders, who stranded six runners in the Giants’ 7-0 loss to Oakland Sunday, had a two-run triple in the first after Colorado’s Terry Shumpert took a bad angle on a line drive to left. 

Larry Walker answered with a three-run homer in the bottom half, a 455-foot shot to the second deck in rigrun on second with none out in the seventh, but Justin Speier struck out Barry Bonds and got a pair of fly outs to right. 

Bonds finished 0-for-4 and walked once. 

Colorado’s Juan Pierre had three hits to end a 2-for-24 slump. 

Colorado starter Shawn Chacon allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. Chacon also had a single and scored a run. 

San Francisco starter Kirk Rueter allowed six runs — four earned — on eight hits in six innings. He is 1-4 since winning six straight and hasn’t won since June 4. Notes: Giants 1B J.T. Snow, who missed two games with turf toe, was a defensive replacement in the ninth. ... Walker is 11-for-26 in his career against Rueter.... Bonds was walked intentionally for the 38th time this season in the fifth inning. The major league record is 45, set by Willie McCovey in 1969. ... Sanders is 1-for-7 this season after Bonds walked intentionally. ... Colorado’s Todd Zeile ground into a double play in the seventh and leads the majors with 20. 

his previous eight starts. In interleague play, he improved to 3-0 this season and 8-1 overall. He walked three and struck out one. 

“We just started playing pretty good baseball about the start of interleague play,” Hudson said. “We have a lot of guys on the team with all-star caliber talent and hopefully we can carry that momentum to the American League.” 

Hudson, who retired 14 of 15 during one stretch, also recorded his eighth career complete game. 

“You have to give Hudson credit for throwing the shutout,” said Giants manager Dusty Baker. “We had opportunities early, but we couldn’t capitalize.” 

Russ Ortiz (6-5), who was 2-0 in his previous five starts, lasted five-plus innings. He allowed six runs on nine hits, walked four — including three in the second inning — and struck out four. 

“I was throwing hard, but my location was off today,” Ortiz said. 

The A’s finished interleague play with a major league-best 16-2 mark. Their only losses came to the Giants, who won three of their previous four games. The A’s are 66-38 in interleague play, best in the majors. 

“I hope we can look back on it and say that’s the reason we got into postseason,” A’s manager Art Howe said. “Everything fell into place for us.” 

Oakland scored twice in the third as four of the first five batters reached. Mark Ellis and Hatteberg each singled and Tejada drove in a run with a single. One out later, Eric Chavez added a run-scoring single. 

Hatteberg added an RBI single during a three-run rally in the sixth. 

Jeff Kent continued to flourish in the No. 3 spot for the Giants. He was 2-for-4 and is 10-for-19 with 12 RBIs since flip-flopping with Bonds in the lineup four days ago. He has hit safely in 17 of his past 18 games.

Three weeks after Berkeley leaders urged city residents to boycott the high society Claremont Resort and Spa, hotel managers are calling the boycott a failure. 

The city’s stance is a protest to the hotel’s unresponsiveness to organized labor. 

In a letter to the Daily Planet, Claremont managers said that the recommended sanctions undermine employees’ interests. 

“If there are fewer guests, there is less work, and that would directly and negatively affect the people that work here at the hotel,” the statement read. “It just doesn’t make sense to us.” 

City Council’s June 11 boycott came amid a three-month standoff between hotel managers and union leaders over what process employees must go through to join a union. 

While 250 of the hotel’s food and beverage employees are currently represented by Local 2850 of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, many of the hotel’s 140 nonunion workers lack the health benefits of their co-workers. Most of them are part time employees in the hotel spa and have begun an effort to unionize. 

Local 2850 leaders, with support from the city, insist that the employees ought to have the opportunity to unionize through a card count. In a card count a union automatically forms if a majority of employees sign up. Hotel managers, though, demand a more formal election process before they recognize non-union employees as unionized. 

Nearly a month into the city-backed boycott, hotel managers remain committed to their demands, adding that the boycott has had little, if any, economic impact on the hotel. 

“The union’s efforts in this regard have had no negative effect on our business,” the hotel’s statement read. “In fact, business is up at the Claremont and our guests continue to come here.” 

The hotel’s report is in stark contrast to the city’s belief that the boycott is making a difference. 

Mayor Shirley Dean said that she was recently visited by the Claremont’s president, the general manager and their attorney. The management team was unsuccessful in an attempt to win the support of city leaders and expressed anger about the boycott, Dean noted. 

“I think they were pretty ticked off by it,” she said. “I come to the conclusion that we’re having an impact.” 

Warren Mar, labor policy specialist at the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, in time the boycott may have an impact on the hotel’s operation. 

Most business at the Claremont is convention-driven, Mar said, so a residential boycott will not likely have a direct effect. However, news of the boycott could eventually influence convention organizers, he said. 

“Businesses will respect the boycott, not because they’re necessarily pro-union, but because they don’t want a hassle during their visit,” Mar said. The university is among the Claremont’s clients. 

Mar is hoping that the boycott might cause speakers or entertainers sympathize with the union and cancel scheduled appearances at the hotel. 

City leaders who are trying to have a say in the labor dispute have history on their side. 

Two years ago, employees at Berkeley’s Raddison Hotel won a union contract nine months after City Council adopted a similar resolution that urged a boycott. 

Both hotel managers and union leaders said that they will continue to meet. But the stalemate continues.

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States.” 

On this date: 

In 1881, President Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September. 

In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act. 

In 1926, the U.S. Army Air Corps was created. 

In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator. 

In 1961, author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. 

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress. 

In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual. 

In 1990, more than 1,400 Muslim pilgrims were killed in a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. 

In 1994, a US Air DC-9 crashed in poor weather at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, killing 37 of the 57 people aboard. 

In 2000, opposition candidate Vicente Fox won Mexico’s presidential elections, ending the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 71-year reign. 

Ten years ago: The Labor Department reported that the nation’s unemployment rate the previous month had risen to an 8-year high of 7.8 percent, compared to 7.5 percent in May. President George H.W. Bush vetoed the so-called “motor-voter” registration bill. (President Clinton later signed a revised version into law). 

Five years ago: Actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 89. 

One year ago: Robert Tools received the world’s first self-contained artificial heart in Louisville, Ky. (He lived 151 days with the device.) Vice President Dick Cheney returned to work, flashing an “OK” sign to reporters two days after receiving a new pacemaker. A year to the day after his stunning election victory, President Vicente Fox surprised Mexico again by marrying his spokeswoman and longtime love, Martha Sahagun. 

Today’s Birthdays: Country singer Marvin Rainwater is 77. Actor Brock Peters is 75. Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is 73. Jazz musician Ahmad Jamal is 72. Actor Robert Ito is 71. Actress Polly Holliday is 65. Former White House chief of staff John Sununu is 63. Actor Ron Silver is 56. Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon Johnson, is 55. Actor Saul Rubinek is 54. Rock musician Roy Bittan (Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band) is 53. Actress-model Jerry Hall is 46. Actor Jimmy McNichol is 41. Rock musician Dave Parsons (Bush) is 37. Actress Yancy Butler is 32. Singer Michelle Branch is 19. Actress Vanessa Lee Chester is 18. Actress Lindsay Lohan is 16. 

To the Editor: 

Steve Geller (in a letter) writes, “The label, ‘in God we trust’ doesn't harm our money.” 

Until 1957, dollar bills bore no reference to God. They were silver certificates. Each bore a promise that the bearer could exchange it for silver. A new Chevrolet sedan cost $2,100. 

Silver certificates were replaced by Federal Reserve notes. Under the new standard, bearers were advised, “In God we trust.” 

Since then, the dollar has plummeted in purchasing power. A comparable new Chevrolet to day costs $21,000. 

Hmmm. 

Robert R. Piper 

Berkeley  

Approximately 30 residents of west Berkeley met with police and city officials Monday night to request the city’s assistance in dealing with an increase in speeding, crime and drug dealing in the neighborhood. 

“The best way to keep a kid away from criminal activity, in my opinion, is to give them a job,” Berkeley Youth Alternatives Development and Policy Director Kevin Williams said. 

Event organizer Rachel Crossman said that drug dealing in west Berkeley has increased dramatically in the last few months. Residents have noticed heightened attention from the Berkeley Police Department, but what neighbors want more of are activities for at-risk kids, said Crossman and other people in the room. 

“If the kids are in trouble, there needs to be more activities for them,” said Sydney Vilen, a six-year resident of The Strawberry Creek Lodge in the 1300 block of Addison.  

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, Neighborhood Services’ Michael Caplan, Berkeley Police Department’s west Berkeley Area Coordinator Erick Upson and Executive Director of the Police Activities League David Manson were also at the meeting. 

Vilen said that senior citizens living at the lodge have been mugged, which is unsettling. But her chief worry is the city’s decision to close down Berkeley Adult School pool six months each year. 

Several other residents agreed, adding their concern over several underutilized parks and facilities where youth could congregate in structured environments. Rosa Parks Elementary School is not accessible to the public often enough, either, residents said. 

“Rosa Parks after it was renovated was closed off to the kids n the neighborhood. It’s beautiful now but now the kids can’t use it,” Crossman said. “What do we have to offer these kids in terms of constructive, supervised activities.” 

In turn, Dean said that she would make sure that the park became more available to the community. 

“I will unlock the gate myself. Then I will lose the lock and the key,” Dean said. “We want your neighborhood to look like, feel like and be like everyone — you and the city — cares about it.”  

Dean spoke frankly with the group about the violent crime surges in various sections of Berkeley. She said the police department currently faces several challenges, and that she is hoping the new personnel would not lose sight of the department’s history of effective community policing. 

“Crime is up and we need to deal with that. We’re not Oakland yet, but the point is we don’t want to be,” Dean said. 

In addition to an increase in crime, the community wanted to know why there are not more city sponsored, supervised alternatives for at-risk youth. One resident even commented that she would like to see creative sentencing proposed for juvenile crime. For example, a youth might be forced to take part in Berkeley Youth Alternatives if caught stealing a car. 

BYA is a nonprofit group that tries to connect at-risk youth with employment. It is working in coordination with the Police Activities League in attaining a gang prevention grant.  

Dean and Caplan offered a city web site that could serve as a clearinghouse for summer activities for youth. They also offered there support as the community moved forward with making concrete demands from the city that ranged from traffic calming devices to better outdoor lighting of recreational areas. 

To the Editor: 

I am not an atheist. And, in fact, my life is devoted to religious and spiritual pursuits. However, I applaud the court for the courage it took to rule that “under God” should not be a part of the Pledge. It is upon these kinds of freedoms that our country was founded. We must not allow ourselves to fall into narrow-minded opinion of any kind. 

Ann Rogers 

Middletown

With “Men in Black II,” as with its predecessor, clothes make the movie. 

Both films work passably well not so much for their overload of creature effects but for those dark suits and sunglasses, suitable uniforms for the cool comic charisma of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. 

The story is no great shakes, the jokes certainly aren’t out of this world, and the visuals are nothing beyond what you’ll find in umpteen other effects-driven flicks. 

So it’s got to be the duds and the dudes. 

The aura of “Men in Black” is akin to that of “The Blues Brothers,” which owed its success not to the world’s biggest car crashes but the idea of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd running around in black suits and glasses and copping an attitude. 

The computer effects, alien puppets and other visual trappings are bigger and better in “Men in Black II” than in the original, but the film still lives and dies in the relationship between the wiseacre Agent Jay (Smith) and the surly Agent Kay (Jones). 

Director Barry Sonnenfeld, returning for the sequel, does not mess with that winning combination, so count on an enjoyable dose of more of the same from Smith and Jones (with the added attraction of Jones going postal in a mailman’s dorky shirt and shorts for his early scenes, an image almost worth the price of admission by itself). 

The movie picks up five years after the original, with Jay now the hotshot agent in the secret government unit that polices alien life on Earth. Kay, his memory obliterated after his retirement in the first movie, grumpily supervises a rural postal facility, unaware of his past career as an alien buster. 

But MIB boss Zed (Rip Torn), realizing one of Kay’s past close encounters holds the key to a new alien menace, dispatches Jay to bring back his old partner and restore his memory. 

The danger comes from Serleena, a shape-shifting beastie that comes to Earth disguised as a Victoria’s Secret model (Lara Flynn Boyle) to hunt for an alien artifact she can use to destroy a rival planet. 

The story never gels much beyond that, but no matter. This is a film of gags hanging along a loose narrative thread, so it doesn’t really hurt that the plot is undercooked. 

What fun there is to be had comes in watching Jay and Kay go through the old motions, zapping things with their elephantine ray guns, wiping memories with their little “neuralizers,” and hamming it up with old associates. Tony Shalhoub returns as Jeebs, the pawnshop owner with the renewable head, while the filmmakers wisely expand the presence of the amusing alien Worm Guys and especially Frank the talking pug (voiced by Tim Blaney), who steals every scene he’s in. 

Newcomers are led by Rosario Dawson as Laura Vasquez, a witness to Serleena’s shenanigans who proves so charming and attractive that the lovelorn Jay cannot bring himself to follow protocol and neuralize her memory. 

Dawson, who has quietly built up a list of impressive credits in mediocre studio films (“Josie and the Pussycats”) and little-seen independent projects (“Chelsea Walls”), holds her own against Smith and Jones in her first chance to shine in a really big film for a really big audience. With good dramatic credits behind her and an endearing comic touch here, Dawson is one to watch down the road. 

Craig Harmon’s journey across the nation will end in San Francisco on July 4. But on Monday, the history buff made one last stop in Berkeley to pay tribute to a local writer who helped inspire his trip. 

Harmon, founder of the Lincoln Highway National Museum and Archives in Galion, Ohio, has been traveling the nation in an old fire truck since July 2000, drawing attention to the historic thoroughfare that stars in his museum back home. 

The Lincoln Highway dates back to 1913, when a group of motor enthusiasts and governors created the first transcontinental highway. They named the patchwork of connected roads from New York City to San Francisco after Civil War-era president Abraham Lincoln. 

The highway route originally included Foothill Boulevard in Oakland, but in 1928 shifted to San Pablo Avenue and University Avenue in Berkeley. It made its way to the Berkeley Pier where cross-country travelers could take a boat to their final destination of San Francisco. 

Harmon, who credits the Lincoln Highway founders with spurring the modern-day system of interstate highways, told the West Berkeley Lions Club Monday that a Depression-era Berkeley resident, David R. Lane, helped inspire his trip. 

Lane, once an Associated Press reporter, wrote a 1935 history of the thoroughfare titled “The Lincoln Highway: The Story of a Crusade That Made Transportation History.” 

In a 1998 trip to the Bay Area, while researching the highway, Harmon stumbled across an old copy of the book and found an engraving from Lane. 

Until then, the authorship of the book was in dispute. But Harmon tracked down Lane’s daughters, Phyllis Lane of Alameda and Edith Lane Turner of Berkeley, and found further evidence that the former AP reporter had penned the history. 

Inspired by the trip, he returned to Ohio, started the museum, and began to plan his cross-country journey. 

“If it wasn’t for Edith and Phyllis,” he said, “I wouldn’t be standing here today.” 

Turner is pleased with Harmon’s work. 

“I had all my father’s papers in the attic and I was beginning to wonder what I would do with them,” she said. 

Harmon is hoping to organize several celebrations in the coming years as the 2009 bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth approaches. Included is a re-enactment of the 1913 “sacred fire of liberty” ceremony, in which 300 communities along the highway lit bonfires to commemorate Lincoln. 

But Lincoln is not the only focus of Harmon’s trip. The curator, traveling in a 1964 Maxim fire truck, has spent much of his time the last two years in firehouses. After the Sept. 11 attacks, which claimed so many firefighters’ lives, Harmon took on another cause. 

“You couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen,” he said.  

Harmon began collecting helmets signed by firefighters across the country, and plans to present them to the New York Fire Department on the one-year anniversary of the attacks. 

But first, on Thursday, Harmon will celebrate the conclusion of his two-year journey with an event at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco – the official ending point of an old highway reaching for a place in history.  

To the Editor: 

Too bad Congresswoman Barbara Lee's “inner voice” didn't mention the separation of church and state. Her refusal to vote against the congressional condemnation of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance was in no way “heroic.” 

Carol Denney 

Berkeley

LOS ANGELES – While progress has been made by the music, movie and video game industries in curtailing the marketing of violent content to teens, the Federal Trade Commission found more could be done. 

In the third follow-up to a 2000 report on violence in entertainment, the agency said Friday industry leaders could further refrain from advertising for violent movies and explicit-content music recordings in magazines and on television programs popular with teens. 

The commission found that film studios are doing a good job of complying with voluntary guidelines restricting the advertising of R-rated films before family movies in theaters. Hollywood is also better explaining to audiences why movies have been given restricted ratings. 

The industry has also, for the most part, complied with guidelines restricting the advertising of R-rated films in media where children under 17 make up more than 35 percent of the audience, the report found. 

But restricted movies are still being advertised on television shows and in magazines that appeal to a predominantly teen-age audience. 

For instance, the report found the R-rated “Resident Evil” was advertised during episodes of “Moesha,” “The Simpsons,” and “The Real World.” 

Similarly, ads for the R-rated “Training Day” aired during episodes of “Jamie Foxx” and “Family Guy.” 

The music industry got mixed reviews from the FTC. 

More ads for records containing explicit lyrics contained a parental advisory label, the commission found. 

But the industry continues to place ads for such records in media popular with teens, saying that unlike movie ratings, parental advisory warnings are not and should not be age-based. 

The video game industry similarly received praise for clearly marking games unsuitable for children with detailed warning labels. 

But the report faulted the industry for not going far enough to restrict ads in media popular with teens. 

Congress ordered the report in 2000 after becoming concerned about violent entertainment being marketed directly to young children and teens. But Congress has stopped short of calling for federal action that might curtail the entertainment industry’s First Amendment rights. 

In response to the FTC’s first report and congressional hearings, the entertainment industry adopted voluntary guidelines to disclose more information to parents and restrict marketing and advertising campaigns.

Parents protest proposed changes to bilingual program 

For the second consecutive week, parents of children in the programs taught in Spanish and English argued against combining third- and fourth-grade classes, or fourth- and fifth-grade classes to cut costs. 

Parents said the move would threaten the integrity of a program that works. 

“I understand you’re in this time of budget crisis,” Esfandiar Imani said at the school board meeting last week. “We need to focus on programs that have been successful and this is one.” 

The program exists at Rosa Parks, Cragmont and LeConte elementary schools. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence said that no final decision has been made about the class combinations, but that the district is leaning toward third-fourth and fourth-fifth grade classes at Rosa Parks and Cragmont. There would be no class combinations at LeConte, she said. 

Officials are weighing the move. They say the bilingual classes are less cost efficient because the fourth and fifth grades have fewer students than regular education classes. 

Program supporters lamented the move but said it may be necessary. Board member Terry Doran said that he had failed in the early years of the program to foresee the budgetary dilemma emerged and the disruption that resulted. 

- David Scharfenberg 

Teachers gain time for planning 

at Willard Middle School 

The board endorsed a plan to lengthen class time at Willard Middle School on four days of the week next year while ending the school day early one day – Wednesday, so teachers can spend time on collaborative planning and staff development. 

“For me, it warms my heart, because staff has been trying to do this for 10 years, unsuccessfully,” said Doran, praising Willard principal Michele Patterson and the district administration for pulling the plan together. 

Lawrence said Willard will serve as a model for other schools in the district, particularly Berkeley High School, as it makes the transition to small schools in the fall of 2003. Collaborative teacher planning is a hallmark of the small schools model. 

- David Scharfenberg 

Oakland skipper dies after  

falling overboard in Sydney  

SYDNEY, Australia — The American skipper of a small yacht died of an apparent heart attack after falling into Sydney Harbor during a race, the sailing club in charge of the event said Monday. 

Peter Campbell of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said Gary McPike, a 55-year-old from Oakland, Calif., who lived with his wife in Sydney, died Sunday after falling from his yacht, Joyride. 

Two crew members from another yacht dived into the harbor and hauled McPike, an experienced yachtsman, out of the water but they were unable to revive him. 

He was transferred to a water police boat and taken to shore, where an ambulance was waiting. He was pronounced dead a short time later. 

McPike was an authority on yachting rules and had been a national judge and umpire in the United States before moving to Sydney, Campbell said. 

McPike recently umpired at the Congressional Cup, one of the biggest yachting events in the United States, and had applied for status as an international judge and umpire. 

To the Editor: 

Unfortunately there are still a lot of people in the Western world who blame U.S. foreign policy for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It is important to understand that U.S. policy toward Islamic regimes is a consequence of Islamist ideology in Arab countries, and certainly not its cause. 95 percent of current conflicts on earth involve Islamists (e.g. Kosovo, Algeria, Philippines, etc). 

We should not consider ourselves responsible for the behavior of Islamic fundamentalists. The terrorist attacks on the U.S. soil didn't occur because of our own behavior but because of theirs, their education, indoctrination, fanatism, education, obscurantism, lack of human freedom, lack of freedom and justice for women, lack of pluralism, and lack of respect for other cultures and religions. The Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamyan in Afganistan, not because of U.S. policy, but because of their deficit of respect for other cultures and religions. 

We have been hit because we do not believe in such restricted values that limit in a tremendous way human freedoms, and especially women’s rights. A camel is more valuable for Islamists than a woman whose only role is to deliver babies. How many women were killed because they went into a hairdresser or school, or even worse because they had been raped. We also need to understand the differences between Islam and Islamism. Islamism is a set of ideologies in Islam that apply the laws of Islam (Sharia) to its full extent. Fortunately most Muslims do not comply or accept this extreme practice of Islam. 

Will we stop believing in democracy, respecting pluralism and other religions, listening to music and watching movies, drinking alcohol, having sex, or enjoying our freedom just to please Islamist fundamentalists that apply the Sharria as delineated by the Koran? Should American men grow long beards and women wear a tchador to please them? Politics are an essential objective of Islam, the extension of which can only be done via territorial conquest. It is an 

obligation for Islam to conquer non islamic lands (Djihad) and to let non-Muslims decide between conversion or extermination. What a program. Or rather, what a pogrom... 

We should face the truth, not deny it, and each nation should back Israel and the United States in their fight against Islamic terrorism. A murderer who kills dozen of civilians in a bus, a restaurant, ian ice-cream parlor or a night club should not be compared to his innocent victims. He died because he is a murderer and it's morally wrong to consider him as a victim of his own crime. Fanatism and indoctrination made him become a homicide bomber, not despair. Plenty of desperate people all over the world, who also claim for for a state and for independence are not involved in such ignoble criminal acts (e.g. in Tibet and Kurdistan). 

Howard Oggman 

Berkeley

LOS ANGELES — Public pension funds across the country were stung by millions of dollars in losses from the recent debacles at Worldcom, Enron and other companies, but their managers say they have no immediate plans to change strategies. 

Those losses, while huge, represent a tiny portion of most funds’ well-diversified assets. But they show how even professional money managers were caught unaware of the fundamental problems underlying these once high-flying companies. 

Pension fund officials say there was no way they could have known that WorldCom, the nation’s second-largest long-distance telephone company, was hiding nearly $4 billion in expenses from the investing public. 

“We’re scrutinizing things closer than we might have,” said Gary Bruebaker, chief investment officer of the Washington State Investment Board. “The trouble is, all we can use is publicly available information.” 

Some experts argue that institutional investors must scrutinize more closely the information companies provide to them, as well as intensify their own research. 

“A good analyst has to go beyond what a company feeds them,” said Beth Young, a pension fund consultant in Takoma Park, Md. 

Professional money managers also need to be skeptical about “too good to be true” stories, she said. 

The California Public Employees Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, said it has lost $235 million on WorldCom shares and about $330 million on WorldCom bonds — paper losses for now, since the shares haven’t been cashed in. That represents about 0.4 percent of the fund’s total assets of $150 billion. 

New York state’s pension fund, the nation’s second largest with assets of about $112 billion, suffered its biggest single loss in history through its WorldCom investment. The fund lost about $300 million on its holdings in the telecom giant, aides to state Comptroller H. Carl McCall said. 

The nation’s third largest pension fund, the California State Teachers Retirement System, estimates that it is looking at $99.4 million in losses on WorldCom stock and $9.2 million in losses on WorldCom bonds. 

That’s a fraction of the fund’s $100 billion portfolio. But it follows losses last fall on Enron investments of $47.5 million. 

The Florida State Board of Administration, which invests the state’s pension fund, said its losses in WorldCom are between $85 million and $90 million, about 0.1 percent of the $90 billion fund. It had taken a $300 million hit on Enron. 

The Washington State Investment Board, which manages $53 billion in assets, has lost $75 million in WorldCom bonds and stands to lose at least another $8.5 million in WorldCom stock, Bruebaker said. That’s on top of a $97.5 million loss on Enron stocks and bonds. 

From Oregon to South Carolina, fund officials say none of the losses will affect their ability to pay pensions. But that hasn’t stopped a flurry of calls from members who worry what impact WorldCom, Enron, Global Crossing and other disastrous investments will have on their benefits.

LOS ANGELES — For years, consumers and electronics manufacturers have had an unwritten agreement. 

Shoppers keep spending billions of dollars to upgrade their gadgetry, knowing their investments will quickly become outdated. 

In return, the makers of computers, TV accessories and audio devices keep innovating, bringing consumers greater value and selection. 

But widespread piracy in the music and film industries is threatening to short-circuit that arrangement. 

In an aggressive effort to protect their content, film studios and record labels have helped draft legislation that would require electronic equipment makers to build products that limit online distribution while preventing consumers from making multiple versions of copyrighted material. 

The technology industry is resisting Hollywood’s effort, which would likely result in a new generation of DVD players, computers and other products that would not work with some existing content or equipment. 

“If all of a sudden they pull a U-turn, it could be disastrous,” said Ravi Krishnaney, a San Francisco entrepreneur who has spent between $15,000 and $20,000 on his home entertainment system and has a library of about 200 movies on DVD.

SACRAMENTO — Another fiscal year, another California budget deadlock. 

The state began a new fiscal year Monday without a budget in place, the 14th time that has happened in the last 25 years. 

A new spending plan fell five votes short Sunday night in the Assembly as Republicans warned about a looming “fiscal train wreck” and Democrats accused the GOP of holding up the budget to try to defeat Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in November. 

“That’s what all this has been about: embarrassing the governor,” said Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles. “Holding up this budget is not about fiscal policy; it’s not about protecting taxpayers.” 

Davis, at a news conference after the vote, echoed Goldberg, accusing Republicans of proposing “totally bogus” budget cuts that wouldn’t be allowed by federal law and holding up the budget for political reasons. 

“They have no plan. They have no end game. They have no direction. Their only goal is to stall,” he said. 

The budget needed at least 54 votes, a two-thirds majority, to pass the 80-seat house. It got 49, all from Democrats. Twenty-six lawmakers, all Republicans, opposed it. 

The budget and a $3.6 billion tax increase needed to help balance it were approved by the 40-seat Senate on Saturday night as a lone Republican, Sen. Maurice Johannessen of Redding, joined all 26 Senate Democrats to vote for the bills. 

But Assembly Republicans refused to budge, complaining bitterly about the tax increases and contending that the state could erase a $23.6 billion budget deficit with more cuts. 

“You Democrats have had your imperial way with this state the last 3 1/2 years,” said Assemblyman Rod Pacheco, R-Riverside. “In exchange for citizens giving you this great unchecked control over their lives you repay them with this worthless trash.” 

Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, compared the state’s finances to the Titanic. “It’s not a revenue problem; it’s a spending problem,” he said, adding, “We’re on a sinking ship.” 

But Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, said the budget contained cuts for every program except education and reminded Republicans that a number of them voted for budgets that raised spending during Davis’ first years in office. 

“Republicans suggest additional cuts,” said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. “Where are you going to cut? Education? Cut corrections? The Republicans have offered no creditable proposals for cuts of the magnitude you’re talking about.” 

State officials said there would be no immediate impact if a budget wasn’t in place by Monday, but a long budget deadlock could delay some spending, including payments to the businesses that supply the state with goods and services. 

Last year the budget wasn’t passed until July 22 and lawmakers have gone as late as Aug. 29 in recent years before passing a budget. 

The tax measure, which didn’t come up in the Assembly, would help erase the deficit in part by boosting vehicle license fees and cigarette taxes. 

Vehicle fees would more than double for one year, raising an extra $1.3 billion. For example, the license fee for a 2002 vehicle purchased for $33,000 would jump from $215 to $497. 

The measure would raise the cigarette tax, currently 87 cents a pack, to $1.50, generating an additional $650 million for the state treasury in the new fiscal year. 

Other provisions of the bill would suspend the teacher tax credit for a year, limit deductions large banks and other financial institutions can take to cover bad debts and suspend for two years the ability of businesses to deduct net operating losses.

SAN FRANCISCO — California joined most of the nation’s other states Monday in reporting new cases of HIV infection, an effort officials hope will help identify which demographic groups are suffering most from the virus. 

California’s system will differ from the 33 states that track HIV by reporting patients’ names. Instead, the system is similar to coding methods used in Maryland, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Vermont and Puerto Rico. 

California’s system, authorized by the Legislature in 2000, requires doctors and labs to report the last four digits of the patient’s Social Security number, their gender and date of birth. That information will be combined with sexual history and ethnicity and added to the statistics compiled by state health officials. 

Those tested anonymously at clinics will not be reported until they enter the health care system. 

California had been reluctant to track HIV infections because of privacy issues. Until Monday, full-blown AIDS cases were the only numbers reported, and names are used in that tracking. 

SAN DIEGO — A funny thing happens when you put an animal in a more natural setting. It acts naturally. 

When the San Diego Zoo used this advertising campaign a few years back to promote a new tiger exhibit, they led a nationwide zoo trend. 

Only now though, are zoos around the country are receiving the time, money and space to complete the projects that began more than 25 years ago. 

And San Diego is once again adding to the trend with another habitat, this time for the monkeys. They plan to finish the project by 2003, thanks to some recent grants and private donations. 

“Zoos in places like Baltimore and of course San Diego are putting mixed species in natural habitats,” said Jane Ballentine, spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. “No longer are people seeing a jaguar in an iron cage. Now zoos show that he can climb trees and sleep up there.” 

In the last couple years, zoos in El Paso, Texas, Denver and San Francisco have received millions of dollars from voter-approved bond measures. Officials said this money is going toward placing their animals in natural habitats. 

“In 1995 we opened a new Asian section,” said El Paso Zoo spokesman Hector Montes. “This new bond issue will help build a section for African animals and will approximately double the size of the zoo.” A new marine mammal exhibit is also underway. 

Denver Zoo spokeswoman Angela Baier said a $62.5 million bond was passed in 1999, helping the zoo to raise part of a $125 million plan to start work on natural habitats. 

“We have many natural habitat exhibits already but we plan to revitalize all the exhibits and make them more lush and more naturalistic,” Baier said. “The exhibits will look like predator and prey are together, but they will actually be separated” by moats and walls and glass. 

Richard Lattis, the senior vice president at the Bronx Zoo in New York, said his zoo is always looking for ways to evolve. Tiger Mountain will open in 2003. 

“When we opened (in the late 1800s), there weren’t natural habitat exhibits,” said Lattis, who also is the director of living institutions for the Wildlife Conservation Society that oversees the zoos and aquarium in New York. “But over the years we have been moving toward fewer species in more natural settings. Most zoos are.” 

The move toward more natural habitats for zoo animals actually started in the late 1970s after researchers such as Jane Goodall discovered that chimpanzees and other animals live as families, not alone as researchers once believed. 

And where it was once thought that being able to hose down cement cells was best for the animal, researchers found it healthier for them to be placed in settings that simulated the African savannah, mountains and jungles. 

Alan Sironen, a mammal curator at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, said the Internet has also spurred this change. 

“People can search (the Internet) about these animals and see an animal at a watering hole in Africa,” he said. “So they want to see that at zoos, too. They don’t want to see them in cages.” 

San Diego Zoo spokesman Ted Molter agreed, adding that when he was growing up, his classmates made fun of him for knowing the 19 different kinds of penguins. 

“These days though, it’s not surprising that kids would know something like that,” Molter said, strolling proudly through the zoo. “With the Internet, kids can really make that connection. So it’s important that we are helping to educate even further at the zoo.” 

The move into natural habitats is also helping animals to reproduce and decrease boredom, said Patrick Janikowski, a Seattle architect who helped design Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and the Los Angeles Zoo. 

“There has been a decrease in pacing,” Janikowski said. “And a mixed species environment adds to the enrichment of the animal’s life. Every zoo would like to do natural habitats. It’s money that is the problem.” 

Jon Coe, a zoo architect in Philadelphia who worked on natural habitats at zoos in Philadelphia, Detroit, and South Carolina, said he has seen the habitats change animal behavior. 

“The gorillas in the exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo had chronic diarrhea but once they were moved, that went away and their coats got better,” Coe said. 

Zoo experts acknowledge some drawbacks to natural habitats. For example, the more foliage, rocks and caves in exhibits, the more places there are for animals to hide. 

“The other is that tigers really like playing with balls. So do you give them a ball after you have spent all this money on their natural environment?” Lattis said. “But really, we are just looking at whatever we can do for the animal.” So zoos have compromised with the animals, designing toys that look like logs and rocks. 

Molter agreed, as he watched families scramble to spot two tiger cubs hiding behind a rock. 

“Sometimes, the animals want to get away and that’s good for them,” he said, his voice drowned out by the sound of waterfalls from a nearby exhibit. “They feel safe this way and that’s better for their mental and physical being.” 

In the meantime, a cub popped his head above the rock and the crowd laughed and cheered. 

“I think they know how good they have it,” Molter said. 

But it wasn’t clear if he was talking about the animals, or the people.

Police steal show at SF’s
27th annual Gay Parade 

With thunderous applause, police upstaged transvestites, Dykes on Bikes, patriotic bodybuilders, leather folks, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Grand Marshall Sir Ian McKellen and thousands of others marching in Sunday’s Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco. 

One police officer walked holding hands with a buff shirtless companion, as men and women in uniforms clearly proved to be the darlings of the day. 

More than one million spectators were estimated in attendance at the 27th annual parade, which was followed by a festival at San Francisco’s Civic Center, featuring live entertainment, dancing, arts and crafts and food vendors. The official theme: Be yourself, change the world.  

Less than a generation ago, police were often targets of scorn during gay pride celebrations, as marchers condemned police discrimination and violence. Not this year. 

The Bay Area’s gay community commemorated Officer Jon Cook, who two weeks ago became San Francisco’s first openly gay cop to die in the line of duty. Cook was killed in car crash while chasing a domestic violence suspect. 

A blaring police car siren following police officers whipped crowds into a cheering and clapping frenzy.  

No other group received as much applause as the cops, except maybe sheriff deputies and firefighters, though this may have been residual applause, as they marched directly behind the police contingent. 

In front of police, marchers advocating medical marijuana and legalization of marijuana hardly raised an eyebrow. The crowd barely reacted to the marijuana marchers, including those from Berkeley. 

This year’s marchers seemed more in the mood to celebrate than fight for equal rights compared to the vocal expressions of passion and angry protest signs characteristic of marches in the 1980s and 1990s. Though there were muffled cheers for groups advocating for civil union rights or same-sex marriage. 

As the parade has become more mainstream in recent years with corporate sponsors promoting the likes of alcohol and breath mints, public displays of nudity, bare breasts and bare-chest men have been less common sights. 

Mayor Brown said the parade and related events promoting diversity and sexual freedom is economically beneficial, generating more than $150 million in business for the city. 

Despite the abundant sunshine and balmy temperatures the mostly 20- and 30-something men and women mostly kept their shirts on, which surely disappointed voyeurs. 

Among the best dressed in the parade were colorfully-costumed gay Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and a handful of marching bands. Only about half the marchers dressed in parade costumes while politicians, political activists, AIDS groups wore regular street clothes. A few floats passed with dancers wearing nothing but Speedos, and one passed with buff bodies covered by skimpy shorts with American flag patterns, accompanied by red, white and blue tassels adorning their muscular legs. 

The biggest display of naughtiness marching in the parade this year was a giant two-headed penis, which stretched the length of about six cars and was held aloft by nine people. Other naughty revelers included a naked man seen parading past 555 Market St. and a few female marchers with the Extra Action Marching Band wearing dildos strapped over their costumes. 

To the Editor: 

The city’s elected officials and staff members, as well as its commissions, boards and agencies, conduct the people’s business. The people do not cede to these individuals and entities the right to decide what their constituents should know about the operations of local government. 

That’s what the San Francisco Sunshine ordinance says. And the same goes for Berkeley. Government business is our business, and it invariably works better and more equitably when its operations are open to public view. 

Yet many of us – reporters, commissioners and other citizens – have been thwarted when we’ve tried to gather information from, and gain timely access to, the city government and school administration. The Berkeley Citizens Sunshine Coalition wants to know if you’re getting all the information you need to fulfill your role in government, or if your attempts to gain access have been stymied... and if so, how. We invite your specific suggestions for better communication to and from government. We also want to know where Berkeley is doing a good job in keeping its citizens informed on and involved in the operations of government. 

Please visit us at Berkeley Citizens Sunshine Coalition, 2887 College Ave. #338, Berkeley, CA 94705-2154; or e-mail your comments to our open “bulletin board” at B–Sunshine@yahoogroups.com or our more private mailbox at Berkeleysunshine@yahoo. 

com. 

Berkeley Citizens 

Sunshine Coalition

Monday, July 1

“Children of AIDS” film 

6:30 p.m.  

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffee house, 6536 Telegraph Avenue  

Presented by the National Organization for Women  

549-2970, 287-8948  

Free 

What You Need to Know Before you Remodel 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Building Education Center, 812 Page St. 

Discussion by builder Glen Kitzenberger 

525-7610 

Free 

Tuesday, July 2

Adopt A Special Kid (AASK) 

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

7700 Edgewater Drive, suite 320, Oakland 

A workshop for singles or couples, gay and lesbian, experienced or older parents, interested in adoption. 

(510) 533-1747, ext. 12, or www.adoptaspecialkid.org 

Free 

Wednesday, July 3

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

6:30 p.m. 

BART Station, Shattuck & Center 

Weekly candle-lit vigil and peace walk to raise 

awareness and gather support for opposition to the 'war on terrorism' 

vigil4peace@yahoo.com, (510) 528-9217 

Thursday, July 4

Volunteers Needed for East Bay Habitat for Humanity  

Independence Day Build-A-Thon: July 4-7 

is seeking volunteers for the ! We will be framing 6 homes in 4 days over the Fourth of July weekend.  

251-6304.  

Pancake Breakfast 

9 to 11 a.m. 

The Berkshire, 2235 Sacramento St. 

Red, white and blue pancakes. 

841-4844 

Donations to local food back appreciated 

Saturday, July 6

Capoeira Batizado 

2-6 p.m.  

Capoeira Arts Cafe, 2026 Addison, Berkeley 

A celebration of Capoeira with performances by local arts organization. 

For more information: (510) 666-1255, www.capoeiraarts.com 

Free 

The Great Rummage Sale 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth Street (at Carleton) in Berkeley 

Warehouse full of household items, books, records, clothing, furniture, and lots more at great prices. All proceeds go to support of our shelter. 

845-7735 

Saturday, July 6- Sunday, July 21

Marin Classic Theatre presents "Born Yesterday" 

8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sunday matinees; 7 p.m. Sundays 

A bittersweet comedy by Garson Kanin. 

For more information: (415) 892-8551, www.MCTheatre.com 

$18 evening performances, $15 matinees 

Monday, July 8

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting Monday, July 8th, 2002 at 

3 p.m.  

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office,1403 Addison Street-behind University Avenue Andronico’s Super Market. 

Laurie Capitelli of Red Oak Realty runs down the options of selling homes 

548-9696 or 486-8010 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Tuesday, July 9

Mother’s Morning Out 

10:30 to12 p.m. 

Upaya Center for Wellbeing, 478 Santa Clara Ave. 

Craniosacral Therapy for Infants and Children 

www.upayacenter.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 11

Great Sierra Backpacking Destinations 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo  

Karen Najarian of Sierra Wilderness Seminars presents slides from her more that 20 years exploring the Sierra Backcountry. 

For more information: (510) 527-4140 

Free 

What Do You Believe? Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers 

6:30 to 8:00 p.m. 

Ellen Driscoll Playhouse, 325 Highland Avenue, Piedmont  

Film presented by Piedmont diversity groups; discussion with filmmaker, Sarah Feinbloom.  

655-5552, or maudep@aol.com 

Free 

Friday, July 12

Celebration of Emma Goldman's Birthday  

8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall, 390 27th St  

An all-ages, alcohol-free party with live music, DJ, and dance lessons 

http://www.ebcaw.org  

$5?$10 sliding scale  

Saturday, July 13

Peach / Stone Fruit Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

15th Anniversary Derby Street Farmers Market 

Live music and & stone-fruit and peach tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Festival of New Versions of Classic Asian Games 

noon to 5 p.m 

Dr  

Comics and Mr Games, 4014 Piedmont Ave. in Oakland  

Dr Comics and Mr Games Hosts Game a festival featuring two new versions of classic Asian board games 

(510) 601-7800 

Sunday, July 14

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic bike repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For more information: (510) 527-4140 

Free 

Family Health Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

4th and University Ave. 

Explore health concerns in a family oriented environment 

Free 

Tuesday, July 16

Berkeley Camera Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

(510) 525-3565 

Free 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Wedneday, July 17

Doctors Without Borders 

(Through July 18) 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley, Springer Gateway, West Entrance Crescent 

Interactive exhibit expalining medicines for people in developing countries; Film screenings 

www.doctorswithoutborders.org 

Free 

Thursday, July 18

Mystique of the Widerness 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Phil Arnot presents slides from over 50 years of exploring such places as Alaska, New Zealand, the Sierra and the Rockies. 

For more information: (510) 527-4140 

Introduction to Accessible Software and Hardware  

3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library Electronic Classroom, 2090 Kittredge Street 

RSVP to 981-6121- Alan Bern, Special Services Coordinator 

Saturday, July 20

Emergency Preparedness Classes in Berkeley 

Earthquake Retrofitting: Learn how to strengthen your wood frame home. 

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

812 Page Street 

981-5605 

Free 

Thursday, July 25

California Landscapes: A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slideshw on such amazing places as the Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges the Great Valley and Cascades 

For more information: (510) 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m.-1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Preston Sandusky of Kestrel, a premier manufacturer of high-end, carbon-fiber road and mountain bikes, intrduces their latest design. 

For more information: (510) 527-4140 

Free 

"Neon: The Living Flame" 

7:00 p.m.  

Alameda Museum, 2324 Alameda Ave  

The Alameda Museum presents Michael Crowe, author, and neon artist Karl Hauser; Lecture by Michael Crowe 

748-0796 or 841-8489.  

Members free, non-members $5  

Sunday, July 28 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike techician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For more information: (510) 527-4140 

Free 

ednesday, July 31

Mountain Adventure Seminars: Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 p.m.-9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Saturday, August 3

Mountain Adventure Seminars: Introduction to Rock Climbing 

8 a.m.-3 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rockclimbing including knot tieing, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Saturday, August 10

Tomato Tastings 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Tastings and cooking demonstrations  

Free 

Sunday, August 11

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic repairs such as brake adjustments and fixing a flat. 

For more information: (510) 527-4140 

Free 

West Berkeley arts Festival 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

4th and University Ave. 

Explore the many resident artists located in Berkeley 

Free. 

Tuesday, August 13

Tomato Tasting 

Tasting & cooking demonstrations 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Berkeley Camera Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers 

(510) 525-3565 

Free 

Sunday, August 18

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

Learn from an REI bike technician basic repairs such as braqke adjustment and fixing a flat. 

For more information: (510) 527-7470

Superstar scores twice to tie Pele’s mark,
erase bad memories of ‘98 Final loss 

YOKOHAMA, Japan – The World Cup of upsets and upstarts ended with a fitting champion and a rejuvenated superstar. 

Ronaldo scored both goals to lead Brazil to a 2-0 victory over Germany on Sunday for the team’s record fifth title, capping a superb tournament that helped erase bad memories of his knee injuries and the team’s 1998 World Cup final. 

“Today we lived a beautiful dream,” he said. 

The Brazilians won with a style and artistry reminiscent of their past champions and overcame the cool efficiency of the Germans, who were undone by a blunder from the world’s best goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn. 

Brazil, just months ago considered one of the weakest teams ever from the country, went 7-0 in the world’s most popular sporting event, playing in the final for the third straight time. 

Appropriately, the greatest of all Brazilian players, Pele, handed over the golden World Cup trophy to captain Cafu as fireworks and streamers flew from a stage on the field and teammates bounced up and down in a sea of silver confetti. 

Pele then hugged and kissed Ronaldo, who tied his national record of 12 goals by scoring eight times in this tournament — the most in a World Cup since 1970. 

Thousands of flashbulbs went off as the first World Cup in Asia ended in a much more satisfying way for Brazil and Ronaldo than in ’98, when he was ill before the game and played poorly in a 3-0 loss to host France. 

“Everything changes,” Ronaldo said through tears. “People said Brazilian soccer was decadent and in crisis. But this will prove that Brazil’s soccer is alive.” 

Alive and beautiful, as it was for the champions of 1958, ’62, ’70 and ’94. This team wasn’t supposed to be as strong or graceful or cunning as those. But it was every bit as successful in its first World Cup meeting with Germany. 

And Brazil certainly celebrated in classic Brazilian style. 

At the final whistle, every Brazilian player ran onto the field carrying a flag or draped in one. Goalkeeper Marcos, who outplayed Kahn, kneeled in the net, his body covered with his country’s green, blue and gold flag, as coach Luiz Felipe Scolari ran to hug him. 

With a sign in Portuguese saying, “People of Brazil, thank you for the affection,” players paraded before an ecstatic crowd that chanted “Penatcampeao” (five-time champion) while it did the samba in the stands. 

Each member of the Brazilian contingent held hands and gathered in a circle in the middle of the field just before Cafu accepted the trophy. 

“We did not have a debt, but we are free now of the weight on our consciences,” Ronaldo said. 

That weight now might fall on Kahn, the best goalkeeper of the tournament until he made an egregious error in the 67th minute.The Germans actually were controlling play, looking as adventurous as Brazil, until Ronaldo struck. 

He stole the ball from Dietmar Hamann and fed his attacking partner, Rivaldo. The hard left-footed shot was stopped by Kahn, who was impenetrable for nearly the entire month, allowing just one previous goal. 

But the ball ricocheted off Kahn’s arms directly to Ronaldo, who touched it home with his right foot. 

“Of course, it’s bitter when you make a mistake in the final,” Kahn said. “I think it was the only mistake in the tournament, and it was bitterly punished — it’s 10 times as bitter. 

“There’s no consolation, but we have to go on.” 

Ronaldo got another goal 12 minutes after his first, one featuring that special Brazilian magic. Rivaldo cleverly allowed Kleberson’s pass to roll through his legs directly to Ronaldo just inside the penalty area. He right-footed a low shot that a sprawling Kahn could not reach. 

“Today God reserved this for me and the Brazilian team,” Ronaldo said. “I’m very happy and proud. I dedicate these goals to my family and to Dr. Gerard Saillant.” 

Saillant is the French doctor who performed surgery on his knee, saving the career of the 25-year-old striker. 

The victory set off wild celebrations in Brazil, where the sounds of car horns, plastic trumpets and fireworks filled the air. Thousands of beach-goers danced in their bathing suits and yellow Brazil jerseys to the music of Samba drums before a giant-screen TV up on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach. 

Many fans in Germany were devastated. They hoped this team, which no one expected much from before the tournament, could end its surprising run with a fourth World Cup championship. 

In Berlin, as a crowd of 3,000 filed away from Potsdamer Platz, many fans remained in front of a large screen TV, holding their faces and crying after the final whistle blew. 

During a tournament highlighted by upsets from the very beginning, when Senegal beat defending champion France in the opener, the Brazilians never faltered. 

While such favorites as France, Argentina and Portugal went home early, and South Korea, Turkey — even the United States — was making its mark, Brazil ignored it all. 

“They have these incredible individual skills,” Germany coach Rudi Voeller said. “They are so strong one-on-one. 

“They are worthy world champions. They showed it today and in other games as well.” 

They showed it with flair, particularly from the “Three Rs,” with midfielder Ronaldinho returning from suspension to spice the attack that Ronaldo finished off. 

They did it with defense, particularly from Edmilson, who made a brilliant block of Jens Jeremies’ header early in the second half. 

They did it with Marcos, who had four shutouts and was unbeatable. His best work Sunday came on Oliver Neuville’s blistering free kick he barely tipped off the goalpost and out of play. 

And they did it for Brazil. 

“The secret is enthusiasm, friendship, union and sacrifice,” Scolari said. “We had to revive the image of a victorious Brazil.”

The scene was reminiscent of the final out of the World Series or the last seconds of the Super Bowl. Not that anyone mistook the San Francisco Fog Rugby Club for the Yankees or the Raiders, but the pride and exhilaration shared by players and fans Saturday at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco were genuinely big league. 

When the final whistle blew, ending the inaugural Mark Bingham Invitational Rugby Tournament, the victorious Fog embraced each other in triumph. 

They were a battered band, sporting black eyes and bloody noses, and one of seven predominantly gay rugby teams from the United States and England participating in the weekend play. 

When the cameras stopped flashing, the players, called ruggers, hobbled around on bruised legs and took turns hoisting and drinking Guinness from the freshly minted Mark Bingham Cup. 

The San Francisco Fog, one of five American Gay Rugby Clubs, was Mark Bingham’s last team, and in many ways, they and the tournament they held in his honor are a living testament to him. 

On Sept. 11, Bingham was a passenger aboard United Flight 93. The plane was hijacked by terrorists and crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Many believe Bingham was one of the passengers who fought the terrorists, ultimately preventing the passenger jet from hitting an intentional target. 

Bingham, owned a San Francisco public relations firm. He was working on opening a New York City office, which was why he was on the flight from Newark, NJ to San Francisco. 

Bingham’s teammates remember him as a kindhearted, gregarious man. But, to anyone who watched Saturday’s tournament, it was Bingham’s passion for Rugby, starting on three collegiate national championship teams at UC Berkeley, which will be his greatest legacy.  

Rugby is barely a blip on the U.S. sports scene. Most sports fans know it only as a rugged foreign game, in which combatants, usually endowed with 20-inch necks and tree-trunk size legs barrel into each other at full speed without the slightest bit of padding. 

But for Bingham, the competition and the camaraderie on the Rugby field, called a pitch, gave him confidence and comfort to be himself.  

When his friend, Derrick Mickle formed the Fog in 2000, Bingham withdrew from his more competitive team to work with the new club, the majority of whose members had never played Rugby or any other team sport before. 

The Fog now has more than 70 members, and since the publicity surrounding Bingham’s death last September, three new gay Rugby teams have formed, in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. Across the country, gay ruggers are finding in rugby the same joy and sense of belonging that Bingham cherished. 

“Gay men have always wanted to be athletes, but they never felt welcome. These teams allow them to be comfortable as athletes and gay men,” said Mickle. 

For Jason Rosado, who has been with the Fog for about a year, his rugby experience has been inspiring. “I’ve never been with a greater group of guys,” he said. “The sense of camaraderie we have is amazing. I’ve never experienced it in any other sport.” 

For experienced players, the gay-friendly teams have encouraged them to return to competitive play, or like Bingham, leave their straight club. 

“A lot of us felt we could never truly be ourselves on straight teams,”said Scott Glassgen, founder of the New York club. “I played for straight teams, but I could never say to them ‘this is my boyfriend.’”  

Russell Jaszewski, a rugger for the Manchester Spartans, which along with the Kings Cross Steelers traveled from England for the tournament, says the situation is identical across the Atlantic. “There’s a huge difference,” said Jaszewski, who recently joined the Spartans after playing for a traditional team in Scotland. “It’s so much nicer to be yourself on a gay team.” 

Gay people aren’t the only ones who have felt welcome on the clubs. All of the seven teams in the tournament had some straight members, who prefer the cooperative spirit that thrives on the teams.  

The Fog’s, Derrick Kundargi, is straight and played rugby in high school and college, but said he got burnt out on the “macho stuff.” “It wasn’t the vibe I wanted,” he said. “The Fog is more about support than putting someone down to win.”  

In the United States, each geographical region has a rugby league. The Fog play in the Northern California Rugby Football Union, and like the other predominantly gay teams, their opponents are all straight teams within their region. 

To a man, the ruggers attest that the togetherness they enjoy on their clubs has been matched by the acceptance they have received from the their opponents. 

“I don’t know why it is that rugby has a unique culture, but as soon as it’s all over we’re mates,” said Cameron Geddes, the Fog’s captain and graduate student at UC Berkeley. 

Part of rugby’s culture includes a tradition that home team takes the guests to the pub of their choice for drinks and singing rugby songs. According to Brian Stansberry of the Washington Renegades, the first U.S. gay rugby team, the postgame partying has resulted in amusing and positive experiences for everybody involved. 

“Washington DC is still a fairly conservative town, so for a lot guys, we’re taking them to their first gay bar. On the flip side, they take us to places we probably wouldn’t ever go on our own, but it’s always a great time.” 

For the ruggers that played in the Bingham tournament, the camaraderie and sense of belonging they have gained from the game is important, but it is their competitive drive that motivates them, as evidenced in the Fog’s final huddle before their championship match against the Kings Cross Steelers of London Saturday. 

“This is the world cup final. Nothing matters but the next forty minutes,” shouted Gettes.  

The Fog went out and played like champions, dominating play, and outscoring their opponents five tries to one.  

When the game was over, the players’ focus shifted back to their teammate. They celebrated with Bingham’s mother Alice Hoglin, lifting her onto their shoulders, and chanting her name.  

“Mark was such an inspiration for the guys on this team,” Mickle said. 

Hoglin was touched by the outporing of emotion for her and Mark. 

“I’m so proud that my son was the inspiration for this,” she said. “I really think Mark’s spirit is here today.” 

To the Editor: 

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Americans should applaud this responsible decision. The court found that the reciting of the pledge by teachers and students “amounts to a government endorsement of religion,” going so far as to compare the phrase “under God” with “under Zeus.”  

Bravo.  

The reaction to this ruling is further proof that we need to end prejudice of all types in this country. Offending pantheists or atheists, while not seen or heard much, still have their rights. While the court continues to make good rulings, extremists, yes extremist come in all color/sizes/religions, try to deny the rights of all. 

Time to mean what we say in the Constitution. 

Barry Hoffman 

San Francisco

Garden party honors
late environmentalist 

If Berkeley native David Brower’s message was to reclaim the earth through common action, then the late conservationist’s soul was appeased on Saturday. 

At a day-long event honoring Brower’s legacy, two community gardens on Sacramento Street in southwest Berkeley became gathering places for residents of all ages to have a healthy lunch, get their faces painted, learn how bees make honey, and most importantly, plant a crop of vegetables that will find its way to local dinner tables this fall. 

Billed as the 2nd Annual Brower Day by the Brower-formed Earth Island Institute, the day’s co-sponsor was Strong Roots, a decade-old organization that encourages youth to get their hands dirty– in the garden.  

Brower died in October of 2000 at the age of 88, and with the exception of his granddaughter Rosemary, who was helping local beekeeper Khaled Almaghafi sell some honey Saturday, not many at the event knew the man. Most, though, had heard of him, and some, like Sherri Crighton of Martinez, came quite a distance to pay tribute. Along with her 20-month-old son, Nolan, Crighton was watering a new row of tomato plants that had been planted just that morning. 

Representing Brower’s generation was Berkeley Vice-Mayor Maudelle Shirek, 91, long-time activist and political representative in southwest Berkeley. However, Shirek refused to speak as a politician on this day. Donning a simple straw hat, Shirek told the Daily Planet, “I’m just a farmer.” 

She proceeded to talk at some length about her childhood growing up on an Arkansas farm, and smiled when recounting the vegetables and fruits that were raised by her family: peas, butter beans, peaches, apples, plums, berries and the like. 

“It’s very helpful (for these children) to be connected to the earth. That’s what’s missing now,” she said.  

Reinforcing Shirek’s statements about the positive impact of the garden on the locals, Strong Roots’ Shyaam Shabaka said, “before we started here, this land had two and a half tons of glass and garbage on it. Today we are planting tomatoes, peppers, corn, mustard and collard greens, turnips. The house just across the street a few years ago was the worst crack house in the neighborhood, where two people got killed and one person was shot 10 times.” 

The land was donated to Strong Roots by local resident Bill Beasley. 

Shabaka says the garden has helped “turn the community around” and that one of the young people who once worked with Strong Roots now has a civil engineering degree from UCLA. 

The fruits of the first harvest will go to a willing audience. “Most of what we grow here will be donated to the New Light Senior Center and other senior centers, who can appreciate fresh organic vegetables,” said Shabaka. Shabaka is working on developing a similar project with the Earth Island Institute in Richmond. 

Neighbors Michele Morgan and Joseph Camacho, who moved to Woolsey 

Street just three years ago, lent their hands at making home-made ice cream. They, too, noted the impact of Strong Roots youth team on the once-vacant lot. 

“It’s fascinating to do this in honor of a ‘conservation celebrity,” said Morgan. “There was nothing here before.” 

A strong sun shone on plants and planters alike as the day progressed. Lunch plates were put down and the bending, digging, planting and watering began in earnest. 

Oakland resident Raul Garcia, who came to Strong Roots via the East Bay Conservation Corps, forced a smile and said, “It will be a long hot summer, but it’s worth it. It’s fun and I enjoy doing it.” 

If David Brower was looking down on the day’s events, no doubt he was smiling, too.