City officials are considering dismantling the city’s 170-foot public safety communications tower at 2100 Martin Luther King Way and moving its communications components to the top of the nearby Civic Center. Neighbors say the tower is too big, too ugly and a possible health hazard. 

The communications tower, built in 2000 and activated in February, supports radio communication for all of Berkeley’s emergency services. The new tower, behind the new Public Safety Building, was built to withstand a major earthquake after concerns arose about the strength of the old antenna at the same site. 

The City Council voted Tuesday to increase funding from $50,000 to $93,000 to study two possible alternatives to the 170-foot, three-legged tower that neighbors have nicknamed the “oil rig.” If council elects to proceed with either alternative, city officials estimate the action could cost as much as $500,000. 

One alternative is to disassemble the tower, which is festooned with 14 separate antennas, and move the antennas to the roof of the Civic Center. The second possibility is to split the tower into two, 110-foot “flag pole-style” towers. 

According to the Director of Public Works Renee Cardinaux, if the 14 antennas are moved to the Civic Center’s roof each would likely be 20- to 30-feet tall. 

Council voted 6-2-1 to increase funding to study the alternatives, with Councilmembers Polly Armstrong and Betty Olds voting against it and Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek abstaining. 

Mayor Shirley Dean said she supports the study but is not yet convinced that moving the tower is a good idea.  

“I voted to increase the money for the study but before the tower is moved, I will have to be sure the new design is as functional and secure as the existing one,” she said.  

The feasibility study will be performed by Marco Corporation, which is scheduled to complete the study before the end of the year. 

“The study will show if the alternatives make sense,” Cardinaux said. “The new tower has been in use for several months and it’s doing a great job. Everybody is happy with it.” 

Cardinaux said the Civic Center’s roof may pose a problem because it is close to several tall buildings that could interfere with radio signals. The study will consideration this. 

Councilmember Dona Spring, who represents the district in which the tower sits, said she is glad the city is looking at alternatives. 

“I’m very pleased the city manager is now working with neighbors to try and find a resolution,” she said. 

Councilmember Polly Armstrong, who voted against the tower study, said the money could be better spent on programs other than moving a tower that works.  

“It’s a question of resources,” she said. “You could house three families in new apartments for that kind of money.”  

Shortly after the tower was built in 2000, a six-member committee called Citizen’s Committee on the Public Safety Building Communications Tower was formed to work with city staff to address criticism of the tower. 

The committee argued that the tower blocked views and blighted the Civic Center Park area. It also raised concerns about the electromagnetic waves the tower radiates, believing the emissions could be a health hazard. 

According to city staff, the radio emissions are well below federal safety standards.

About this homeless problem. The poor we have always had with us, and also a certain number of free souls who love fresh air and actually prefer to sleep out in the open, under the stars, at least in summer. But homelessness didn't get to be a major social problem until some time in the 1980s, when the greed of the landlords in raising rents coincided with the greed of employers in holding down wages, and more and more people were caught in the gap between. 

The obvious solution is to close the gap. For starters, we could roll back all rents by 10 percent, and increase all wages by 10 percent. And also, to make sure there are enough jobs for those who want them, let's reduce the workweek by 10 percent, with no reduction in pay and all overtime to be strictly voluntary. The only other essential measure would be to provide adequate medical care for everyone. 

Marion Syrek 

Oakland

’ve dropped by Tuna, Texas, a half dozen times in the past two decades, and on each visit Patsy Cline is still on the radio, Aunt Pearl Burras is still snuffing dogs with strychnine-laced "bitter pills," and Hank Bumiller is still sighting UFOs shaped like giant chalupas after too many drinks down by the bridge. 

And Judge Buckner’s lifeless body is discovered in a Dale Evans swim suit. 

What is Tuna? For those who’ve been blind to theatrical phenomena for the past 20 years, it’s the "third smallest town" in the Lone Star State, though you won’t find it on any map because its dusty streets and off-the-wall denizens spring to life only on stage. 

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Greater Tuna is resting easy at the Curran Theater in San Francisco right now. 

All its inhabitants are played by just two actors, Joe Sears and Jaston Williams. Tuna’s cozy corner of quirky conservatism was invented in 1981 by Sears, Williams and Ed Howard for a small cabaret in Austin, Texas. They called their show Greater Tuna, because its imaginary radio station, OKKK, broadcasts “to the greater Tuna area.” Not surprisingly, that station features public service announcements from the local Klan branch, as well ads for Didi Snavely’s Used Weapon Shop, where every weapon is “guaranteed to kill.” As chain-smoking Didi puts it between cigarettes, “If one of my guns won’t finish it off, it’s immortal.” 

A satire of small town Texas attitudes, Greater Tuna remains hilariously bright and fresh due largely to Sears and Williams’ relaxed, tongue-in-cheek acting. The pair has brought their invention to life more than 3,000 times, yet the 20 or so characters they inhabit – from screechy teens to bullying cops to whining dogs – don’t feel stale. They include the slow-talking radio guys, Thurston Wheelis and Arvis Struvie, who’re never quite sure if they’re on the air. Then there’s the dysfunctional Bumiller clan, headed by Bertha Bumiller [Joe Sears in a lime-green pants suit], whose daughter Charlene [Jaston Williams, sporting pink pompons in a blonde wig] longs to become high school cheerleader next year, even though she’s a senior. We meet animal lover, Petey Fisk, who hopes a deaf person will adopt "a small, shrill dog," and lumbering Aunt Pearl, who crows over a corpse in a coffin, “I said I’d sing over your dead body, and I feel a song coming on!” 

Tuna’s enlightened township features a “Committee for Fewer Blacks in Literature,” and “The Smut Snatchers Society,” which seeks to ban words like “clap,” “knocker,” and “nuts” from dictionaries. Kids at Tuna camp study “Christian biology,” and the annual school essay award winner is, “Human Rights: Why Bother?” 

Could the inventors of Greater Tuna have guessed 20 years ago that it would become a national institution? Evidence that it has strutted the theater lobby opening night, where a cowboy-hatted fan bragged that he’d seen the show 47 times. That may be a tad too many for most people, but you ought to stop by at least once. As Arlis Struvie says at the end of the show, “If you can’t find something you like about Tuna, move!” 

Thursday, July 25 

Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way 

Divertimento in D, Piano concerto No.17, Symphony No. 38 “Prague” 

(415) 292-9624 for tickets 

$25 to 50 

Reorchestra 

8 p.m.  

Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. 

Bringing you live jazz/funk/hip-hop/ecclectic  

grooves to move your body on the dance floor 

Friday, July 26 

Baroque Concert 

Trevor Stephenson; Harpsichord, Elaine Kreston, Cello; Isabelle Metwalli, Soprano 

7 p.m. 

Albany United Methodist Church 

527-6202 or CelloChat@mindspring.com 

$15 for adults, $10 for students, $5 for children 

Ear2theground Punx Presents 

7 p.m. 

Burnt Ramen Studios, Richmond 

Catheter, Brainoil, Municipal Waste, Born/Dead and more. All Ages. 

$5  

Jill Olson 

9:30 p.m.  

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Album release party for "My Best Yesterday" 

841-2082 

$6 

Ward Churchill CD Release Party 

7 p.m. 

AK Press Warehouse 674-A 23rd St., Oakland 

Come party with Ward and listen to his latest ruminations on Native America, COINTELPRO (the new and old one), Surveillance and The Prison Industrial Complex.  

Free 

Saturday, July 27 

Hope Briggs In Concert 

Accompanied by the Combined Choirs of St. Paul 

4 p.m. 

St. Paul AMEC, 2024 Ashby Ave. 

Free 

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 

Atomic Mint 

9 to midnight  

Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

21+ 

Sunday, August 4 

Paula West 

4:30 p.m.  

Jazzschool 2087 Addison St. 

San Francisco's own delightful diva with the Ken Muir Quartet  

845-5373 for reservations  

swing@jazzschool.com or www.jazzschool.com 

$6 to $12 

Sunday, August 11 

Robert Helps Memorial Marathon Concert 

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center St. 

A dozen of the best pianists of the Bay join in a marathon tribute to Robert Helps, who died last year. 

665-9099 

Virginia Mayhew 

4:30 p.m.  

Jazzschool 2087 Addison St. 

New York-based saxophonist-featuring Ingrid Jensen, Harvie Swartz-Allison Miller 

845-5373 for reservations  

swing@jazzschool.com or www.jazzschool.com 

$6 to $12 

Wednesday, August 14 

John Sanborn: Film Premiere with Sarah Cahill: Piano Concert 

8 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center St. 

West Coast premiere of Sanborn film, "MMI," with performances on piano by Sarah Cahill. 

665-9496 

"First Anniversary Group Show"  

Reception, 5 to 8 p.m.  

Through Aug. 17  

13 local artists display work ranging from sculpture to mixed media 

Ardency Gallery, Aki Lot, Eighth Street 

836-0831 

"Before and After"  

Reception 4 to 6 p.m.  

Through Sept. 19  

Albany Community Center and Library Galley 1249 Marin Ave. 

Jim Hair's photographs of the San Diego Hells Angels motorcycle chapter from the 1970s  

524-9283  

Thursday, July 25 

Freedom! Now! 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery & Headquarters 2055 Center St. 

Reception 6 to 8 p.m. 

July 25 to Aug. 25, Tues. - Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Commemorates the work of those who struggled for justice and freedom from government/state repression. 

841-2793 

Ongoing 

First Year Anniversary Group Exhibition 

Through Aug. 17 

Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland 

New works from various artists. 

836-0831 

Images of Love and Courtship 

Through Sept. 15 

Gathering Tribes, 1573 Solano Ave. 

Ledger paintings by Michael Horse 

528-9038 

Free 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St. in Oakland City Center 

Oakland's 'Third Thursday' art night features Ann Weber's works made of cardboard. 

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free 

From the Attic: Preserving  

and Sharing our Past 

Through 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. through Thurs., 9 a.m. 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, with curator Harold Adler 

hjadler@yahoo.com 

Free 

"Red Rivers Run Through Us"  

Through Aug. 11, Wed. through Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St.  

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

644-6893 

Jan Wurm: Paintings and Drawings 

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

Flora Hewlett Library at the Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Road 

649-1417 

"New Work: Part 1, The 2001 Kala  

Fellowship Exhibition"  

Through July 31 

Kala Art Institute,  

1060 Heinz Ave. 

Featuring 8 Kala Fellowship winners, printmaking 

Reception 

549-2977 

"New Visions: Introductions '02"  

Works from emerging Californian artists 

Through Aug. 10 

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 

763-4361 

Free 

Saturday, July 27 

SF Improv 

8 p.m. 

Café Eclectica 1309 Solano Ave.  

“Tales and Tribulations” an improvised show. Come down for an evening of improvised comedy and drama, created on the spot using your suggestion. 

www.sfimprov.com or 527-2344 

Tuesday, July 30 

"Fighting for Clarity" 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 

Retro Poll, a survey research organization to challenge the corporate media, presents a night of comedy. 

848-3826 

$20 

Friday, August 9 

Once Upon a Mattress 

7:30 p.m. [5 p.m. Sat. & Sun. Aug. 10 and 11] 

Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave.  

A hilarious retelling of "The Princess and the Pea," presented by Stage Door Conservatory, by students grades 5 through 9. 

527-5939 

$8 to $12 

Grease 

Through Aug. 10, Sunday matinees July 28 and 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 

Abingdon Square  

Through July 6, Thur. to Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. at 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 

Benefactors 

Through Aug. 18, Wed. though Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 

2 and 7 p.m. 

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

Aurora Theatre Company,  

2081 Addison St. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org  

for reservations.  

$26 to $35  

The Heidi Chronicles 

Through 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 

Through Sept. 28, Fri. through 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 

Cloud Nine 

July 26, 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2025 Addison St. 

Caryl Churchill's topsy-turvy play about race, class, history and sex. 

647-2949 [Box Office] 

The Shape of Things 

Sept. 13 through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 

Neil LaBute's love story about two students 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 to $35  

Alarms and Excursions 

Nov. 15 through 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 to $35  

Saturday, July 27 

Rhythm & Muse, Maxine Hong Kingston’s Veterans writing class 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 

Open mic sign-up is 6:30 p.m., readings at 7 p.m. 

352-6643 

Free 

Ongoing 

Open Mike and Featured Poet 

7 to 9 p.m. First Thurs. and second Wed. each month  

Albany Library 1247 Marin Ave. 

526-3720, Ext. 19 

Free 

Poetry Diversified 

First and third Tuesdays,  

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

World Ground Cafe,  

3726 Mac Arthur Blvd., Oakland 

Open mic and featured readers 

Thursday, July 25 

A Place Named Destiny  

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

A documentary about Oakland youth from filmmaker Paul Ginnocchio followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and youth from the film 

597-1619, infor@destinyarts.org, www.destinyarts.org.  

$5 to $15, sliding scale 

Saturday, July 27 

"Hysteria" 

9 p.m. 

TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline St. 

Film by Antero Alli [Best Cult Filmmaker, 2002 - "SF Weekly"] 

$7 

Saturday, August 3 

Jewish Film Festival 

Through Aug. 8 

Wheeler Auditorium 

925-866-9559

Thursday, July 25 

Combat Medic: World War II 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Memoir presentation by San Francisco physician John Kerner, describing experiences as a combat medic in World War II.  

843-3533 

Free 

California Landscapes: A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

For more information: 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27 

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m.-1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

Free 

Graywater Workshop  

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave 

Learn the ins and outs of reusing water with the Guerrilla Graywater Girls 

548-2220 x233  

$10 members, $15 non ( no one turned away for lack of funds) 

Santa Fe Right of Way Path Walk 

10 a.m. 

Meet at the Ohlone Greenway at Cedar St, in Cedar Rose Park. 

A new path opportunity, recently funded by the City Council. 

649-9874, or http://www.internettime.com/path 

"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  

Grand Summer Rummage Sale 

9 a.m. to 4 p.m 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Cedar and Bonita Streets 

A benefit for ANSWER- Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. Donations and volunteers are needed 

(415) 821-6545. 

Sunday, July 28 

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. 

(510) 527-4140 Free 

Tuesday, July 30 

The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Reading and discussion of Cathleen Miller's personal account of moving from San Francisco to Amish Pennsylvania to restore an old house. 

843-3533 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31 

Twilight Tours at UC Botanical Gardens 

(through August 28) 5:30 p.m.  

200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA.  

Tour the garden at twilight with an expert horticulturist every Wednesday. 

643-2755  

Free with garden admission.  

Mountain Adventure Seminars: Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 p.m.-9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Thursday, August 1 

Putting it Together 

7:00 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave. 

Middle school students of Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp perform dance techniques, spoken word, theater. 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan New National Historic Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Senior Center, 2525 Macdonald Ave. 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Nutrition Career Open House 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Institute of Educational Therapy, 706 Gilman St. 

Become a Nutrition Educator or Nutrition Consultant. 

558-1711 for reservations 

Free 

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 rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

10th Annual Stroll for Epilepsy 

Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo 

The public is invited to join the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California at Six Flags Marine World for a 5K walk/fundraiser. 

1-800-632-3532 for registration 

Storytelling at the Berkeley  

Public Library 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Storyteller Joel Ben Izzy will present a variety of stories filled with warmth, humor, drama in the Children's Story Room. 

981-6223 

Sick Plant Clinic 

9 a.m. to Noon  

200 Centennial Drive 

UC Botanical Garden; First Saturday of every month. UC plant pathology and entomology experts will diagnose what ails your plant. 

643 - 2755. 

Not Down With the Lockdown 

Noon to 4 p.m. 

Frank Ogawa Plaza, Broadway and 14th, Oakland 

Hip hop concert, DJs, spoken word and art to protest and resist proposed new Alameda County Juvenile Hall. 

430-9887 

Free 

Sunday, August 4 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Monday, August 5 

National Organization for Women East Bay Chapter monthly  

meeting 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 

Discussion of harassment of females employed by the City of Oakland Fire Department 

Monthly meeting: NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN Oakland 

549-2970, 287-8948  

Arts Education Department Open House 

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. 

Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave, Richmond 

Meet teachers, see studios/galleries, info about classes in the arts. 

620-6772 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan a New National Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Public Library, Whittlesey Room 

325 Civic Center Plaza (near Macdonald Ave. and 25th St.) 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Saturday, August 10 

Poetry in the Plaza 

2:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge 

Quarter hour readings by well-known poets, dedicated to June Jordan. 

981-6100 

Free 

Tomato Tasting 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Tasting and cooking demonstrations  

Free 

Tea Bag Folding 

2 to 4 p.m.  

Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave, Albany 

Drop-in crafts program for ages 5 to adult.  

526-3720 ext 19. 

Tree Stories 

2 to 4 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo, Berkeley 

Come join us as author Warren David Jacobs reads from his book "Tree Stories." 

For more information call: 548-2220 x233 

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. 

Monday, August 12 

The First East Bay Senior Games 

10:30 a.m. clinic, 12:30 p.m. tee-off (approximate times) 

Mira Vista Golf and Country Club 

7901 Cutting Blvd. El Cerrito 

A golfing event for the 50+ crowd, in association with the California and National Senior Games Association. 

891-8033 (registration deadline July 29) 

Varying entry fees. 

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 

Saturday, August 17 

Author Reading and Signing: Haunani-Kay Trask 

3 p.m.  

Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave., Berkeley 

Meet Hawaiian author Haunani-Kay Trask. 

548-2350 

Free 

Cajun & More 

Four Live Bands, crafts fair, Cajun food, dance lessons, micro-brewery beer & dance floor. 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, August 18 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

For more information: (510) 527-7470 

Thursday, August 22 

Film: "Ralph Ellison: An American Journey" 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Berkeley filmmaker Avon Kirkland's stirring documentary about the great American author, Ralph Ellison. 

981-6205 

Free 

Friday, August 23 

Teen Playreaders present Bizarre Shorts 

(through August 24) 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - North Branch 

1170 The Alameda 

Playreaders present 20 short, bizarre plays, contemporary and classic. 

644-6850 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

Roller Derby & Big Time Wrestling 

6:30 p.m. 

Richmond Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza 

Roller Derby: Bay Bombers vs. Brooklyn Red Devils, Big Time Wrestling superstars 

636-9300 

$10 Advance, $20 Door 

Monday, September 2 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter  

6:30 PM.  

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley  

Chapter’s monthly meeting. Speaker: multicultural historian, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, received 

the prestigious Valitutti Award for non fiction.  

549-2970 

Free 

Sunday, September 8 

Lifelong Medical Care First Annual 5K Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser 

9 a.m. to noon 

West Berkeley 

Individual and team participation, a health fair, food, prizes, live music, free insurance eligibility screening - fun for all ages. 

704-6010 

The Slam ‘N Jam AAU basketball program returns to Berkeley with the Elite 8 Tournament this weekend, welcoming teams from all over North America to Cal’s Recreation Sports Facility and fans to watch five courts of high-flying action. 

While the hype may not live up to last year, when future NBA superstar LeBron James played with the Slam ‘N Jam Soldiers and wowed coaches and fans alike, the overall field should be just as good. All-star teams from Michigan, Houston and Baltimore should bring superb talent to the tournament, while the Canada Kings will be the first team from north of the border to participate. 

“Teams are just dying to get into our tournament,” said Slam ‘N Jam organizer and coach Mark Olivier. “It’s becoming like Las Vegas (where the top West Coast tournament is held each year). A lot of people want to see how basketball is played in other areas, and they can see teams from all over the country.” 

Several teams from Northern California will also take part, including Bay Area Ballers, SSA and Inland. 

Cal fans can get a glimpse of one possible future just by watching the Soldiers. Marquis Kately has committed to the Golden Bears but will spend next year at a prep school to get his academics straight, and point guard Ayinde Ubaka is one of Cal’s top recruiting targets. Throw in Leon Powe, the Oakland Tech star who verbally committed to Cal this week, sitting on the sidelines while he recovers from knee surgery, and three possible future Bears will be on or around the court when the Soldiers play their first game at 6 p.m. on Saturday. 

Part of the excitement attached to any AAU tournament is checking out which college coaches come calling. But new NCAA rules on college coach interaction with players and their families and coaches has created an atmosphere of hesitance. At the Elite 8, college coaches will be seated in a separate area from the rest of the fans as organizers try to avoid any violations, mirroring the arrangements at most of this summer’s tournaments. 

“We have to partition off the coaches from the public,” Olivier said. “As a fan, you can’t sit next to (Kentucky coach) Tubby Smith this year like you could in the past. We don’t want anybody getting in trouble.” 

A new wrinkle this year is the inclusion of an eighth-grade bracket, mostly to give Slam ‘N Jam’s new developmental squad some tough games. 

The Slam ‘N Jam Elite 8 Tournament will be held Saturday through Monday at Cal’s Recreation Sports Facility, with games running from early afternoon until approximately 10 p.m. Admission is $5.

A 1999 agreement between Gov. Gray Davis and the University of California, providing funding for the university in exchange for progress toward 22 goals, does not allow for true accountability, according to a report issued Thursday by the California State Auditor. 

The report asserts that only nine of the 22 objectives laid out in the four-year “partnership agreement” include quantifiable benchmarks that the governor and legislature can reference in making funding decisions. 

The audit also notes that, while the university’s primary mission is to teach and conduct research, only 44 percent of its salary increases between 1997 and 2001 went to academic salaries, while 56 percent went to support staff salaries. 

Furthermore, the report finds that 13 percent of the courses used to evaluate faculty workloads include two or fewer students, while an additional 15 percent of the courses have enrollments of only three to five students. Increasing faculty workloads is one of the goals in the partnership agreement. 

UC officials said they will re-examine the issue of small classes and will remove from their calculations any courses that should not be counted as full courses. 

“We very much take that recommendation to heart,” said university spokesperson Paul Schwartz. 

Schwartz said the emphasis on staff salaries rather than faculty salaries was due, in part, to a legislative mandate that the university focus on building its outreach efforts to high schools. Outreach, he noted, requires new staff hires rather than new faculty hires. 

Schwartz said a strategic decision to build the university’s information technology and fiscal services staff also played a role in the disparity. 

Former Gov. Pete Wilson in 1995 formed the first partnership agreement with the university in an effort to ensure funding stability and academic quality. 

In 1999, when the Wilson partnership expired, Davis agreed to support the new agreement as long as it included quantifiable measurements. 

Some of the goals laid out in the 1999 agreement include increasing faculty-teaching loads, boosting engineering and computer science enrollments, providing competitive faculty salaries and enhancing outreach programs.  

The agreement does not carry the weight of law, but the legislature and governor have used it to guide multibillion dollar funding decisions.  

In fiscal year 2000-2001, the legislature provided the university with $3.4 billion of its $12.7 billion in revenues. 

While the Davis Administration called for defining benchmarks, the auditor’s report suggests that the goals of the agreement are not clear enough. 

For instance, the agreement calls on the university to increase enrollment from low-performing high schools, but does not identify a specific percentage or timeline.  

A spokesperson for the Davis Administration said the governor had not reviewed the audit and had no comment. 

Schwartz said the university accepts the report’s recommendations, which suggest that future partnerships include clear, measurable objectives. 

But he argued that while the university’s progress on the 22 objectives in the agreement may not be easily measurable, the university has still made important strides. 

“We understand that we may not satisfy certain criteria for auditability,” said Schwartz. “That doesn’t mean we haven’t made progress.” 

The university said it has reached three of the nine quantifiable objectives laid out in the audit – ensuring admittance for all eligible applicants, increasing faculty-teaching loads and boosting engineering and computer science enrollments. 

The university said it did not reach two of the nine objectives – improving teacher education programs and increasing community college transfers to UC by 6 percent annually – due to factors beyond its control. 

In the case of community college transfers, for instance, the number of “transfer-ready” students declined by 10 percent in 1999-2000 from the prior year. 

The other four of the nine quantifiable objectives have future deadlines, so university progress cannot yet be measured. 

I was stunned to read in Thursday's paper that Berkeley plans to build 6,700 new housing units in the next 40 years.  

When I stop to try and picture that, I think about the downtown Gaia Building [91 units] and imagine another 73 or 74 buildings of that size added within the borders of Berkeley. Try to imagine that. No wonder the Height Initiative is on the November ballot.  

Of course, even if the buildings are smaller and more plentiful, think of how tremendously overcrowded Berkeley will be – it will resemble downtown San Francisco.  

Michael Goldberg 

Berkeley

BEDFORD, N.Y. — She’s not a movie star or a musician. Yet Genevieve Gorder stands surrounded by six teen-age girls, each thrusting bits of paper toward her to sign. 

A designer, Gorder is taking a break from splashing “coffee-toned” paints on the walls and ceiling of a suburban bedroom for The Learning Channel program “Trading Spaces.” 

“It’s the only thing I watch obsessively,” said Jess Netro, 17, who hung out with her friends in a driveway across the street from a home being invaded by the cable show’s cameras. 

Netro’s not alone in her devotion to a program about interior design. “Trading Spaces” has become a sensation that has set ratings records for TLC, developed its own heartthrob (hunky carpenter Ty Pennington) and spawned a spinoff bound to create marital discord. 

“Trading Spaces” got an Emmy nomination Thursday, and even has its own lingo: The “reveal” is the moment when participants discover — to their delight or horror — what their neighbor hath wrought on their home. 

A mix of a reality and game show, “Trading Spaces” takes neighbors who agree, with a professional designer’s help, to make over a room in the other’s home. They have two days to work and a $1,000 spending limit. 

“We’re the ultimate neighborhood gossip show,” said Denise Cramsey, executive producer of “Trading Spaces” for Banyan Productions. “Everyone wonders what’s going on in their neighbors’ house. Now we’re in the neighbors’ house and we’re creating what’s going on.” 

TLC didn’t expect much when it got the rights to a British show, “Changing Rooms,” to remake for an American audience. But it caught on quickly after its premiere in September 2000, and the network moved it from a weekday afternoon time slot to Saturday nights. 

As is customary for many cable networks when a hit blossoms, the show is rerun relentlessly throughout the week. 

“I’ve lost count,” said TLC executive Stephen Schwartz, laughing, when asked how many times a week it airs. 

Three episodes that ran during TLC’s Memorial Day “Trading Spaces” marathon rank among the highest-rated prime-time shows in the channel’s history. 

Earlier this month, TLC also drew strong numbers when it premiered a new series, “While You Were Out,” about one-half of a couple that remakes a room while their spouse is out of town. 

Cramsey sees success in more than the ratings. She gets 300 applications each day from neighbors who want to trade spaces; it used to be 50. When Schwartz’s wife wore a “Trading Spaces” cap on vacation this month, strangers approached her to ask how to be on the show. 

The Bedford neighbors, Amy Suffredini and Amy Minasian, coaxed their husbands to participate. They’re both friends and relatives — Amy Suffredini and Phil Minasian are cousins — who bought homes on the same street in the past few years. 

They’ve renovated extensively, but neither had done much with their master bedrooms. 

Of the two couples, Amy Minasian is the show’s biggest fan. 

“I like the before and after,” she said. “I like the idea of doing it for only $1,000 and seeing how much of a dramatic change can be made.” 

She, her husband and Gorder were tearing up the wall-to-wall carpeting in the Suffredini’s bedroom, in an old farmhouse built in 1790, to expose the wood floor. They were building a new headboard with a built-in desk to fit a computer. For art, they were blowing up to poster size a picture Amy Suffredini had taken during a trip to Ireland. 

Theoretically, the design was a partnership between Gorder and the Minasians. In the first hours of work, Gorder became miffed when one of her ideas was questioned. 

Aside from the fact that it’s made her a mini-celebrity, the designer said she likes the show because it lets her quickly realize a vision for a room with little burden from second-guessing clients. 

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, people say, ‘I want my house to look like Pottery Barn,”’ Gorder said. “And that can be pretty boring.”

ANAHEIM – Second baseman Ray Durham, the subject of recent trade rumors, was finally dealt by the Chicago White Sox on Thursday to the Oakland Athletics for Triple-A pitcher Jon Adkins. 

The trade, completed after the White Sox agreed to send cash to pay part of Durham’s salary, was announced following Oakland’s 5-4 loss to the Anaheim Angels. 

Durham, an All-Star in 1998 and 2000, will join the Athletics in Texas for Friday night’s game. The A’s are in the middle of the AL West and wild card races while Chicago is way behind in the AL Central. 

“He’s a talent, this kid,” Oakland manager Art Howe said. “It’s nice to inject that kind of bat into our lineup. He’s a switch-hitter with speed, he’s got a lot of tools.” 

Durham, 30, was hitting .299 with nine homers and 48 RBIs. He also stole 20 bases and scored 71 runs. 

Atlanta, Los Angeles and Boston were also said to have been interested in Durham, who’s in the final season of a four-year contract extension. Baseball’s deadline for making trades without waivers is July 31. 

“One of the things about this deal was that we creatively worked with the White Sox,” Athletics general manager Billy Beane said. “We had little to no payroll flexibility. We’re very limited to what we can do at this time.” 

Adkins, who turns 25 on Aug. 30, was 7-6 with a 6.03 ERA at Triple-A Sacramento. The right-hander was a ninth-round draft choice in 1998. 

“The decision to trade Ray was not an easy one. Ray has been part of our family since 1990,” White Sox general manager Ken Williams said. “In Adkins, we are getting a young pitcher with a live, quick, power arm.” 

The A’s are 59-43 and Howe said they will benefit from Durham’s versatility. 

“He (Beane) had told me that he was working on trying to get him here. He’s going to play some second, he’s going to DH and get some playing time. We may even look at him in the outfield and see if he can play some outfield,” Howe said. 

“He’s hit from one, two, three, he’s done well in any one of those spots. So we’ll take a look and see what the best fit is for us right now. Just the bat is what I like. He’s an offensive impact player,” he said. 

Oakland has mostly used Mark Ellis, Frank Menechino and Randy Velarde at second base this season. Ellis has started as the Athletics’ leadoff hitter in 38 games — Jeremy Giambi did it 39 times before being traded to Philadelphia. 

Mainly as a leadoff man, Durham has scored more than 100 runs in each of the past five years. He hit a career-high 22 homers last season, and is the only White Sox second baseman with lifetime totals of more than 100 home runs and 100 steals. 

“He gets on base close to a .390 clip, that’s first and foremost what we’re trying to achieve,” Beane said. “He steals bases, which we haven’t done much of this year. And he’s a guy with surprising pop sometimes.” 

“Given our position in the standings, we hope it’ll even further motivate Ray,” he said. 

Durham has reached the postseason only once, in 2000 when the White Sox were swept by Seattle in the first round of the AL playoffs. 

Durham began his major league career in 1995 with the White Sox. He is a .278 lifetime hitter with 106 homers, 484 RBIs and 219 steals. 

“It’s a surprising trade. I didn’t know anything about it until a few minutes ago,” A’s pitcher Cory Lidle said. “But Billy has a pretty good idea of what he’s doing, so it should help us out.” 

“We haven’t been scoring a whole lot lately, so maybe that will boost our guys a little bit. That’s the way Billy is. He looks forward to the last week before the trade deadline, so I’m sure he’s still thinking about what else he can do.” 

The White Sox were off Thursday. They are a disappointing 47-56 and 14 games behind division-leading Minnesota.

Berkeley Daily Planet co-founders Arnold Lee and Ed Carse have promoted Kurtis Alexander to the position of editor in chief of the Berkeley Daily Planet. 

Alexander has been working as weekend editor and news reporter at the Daily Planet since April and is now assuming command of the paper’s editorial department. 

Alexander comes to the position with a background in community journalism, having worked most recently for the San Mateo-based Independent Newspaper Group, the San Francisco Examiner and The Fresno Bee.“My focus will be delving deeper into some of the local issues and broadening our coverage, while at the same time sharpening the writing and reporting in our newsroom,” he said. 

“Berkeley is blessed with an abundance of cultural and intellectual activism. It deserves a first-rate community paper,” he added. 

Lee expects Alexander’s promotion at the three-year old newspaper to enhance the quality and quantity of coverage and continue providing in-depth local news to the paper’s growing readership. 

“Kurtis, since joining us earlier this year as our weekend editor, has already demonstrated strong leadership, editing, and reporting skills,” Lee said. “He also has been successful as a reporter and editor with other newspapers.”

The members of Neighbors for Fire Safety wish to give public thanks to the Berkeley City Council for its 6-0 vote on July 16 in support of the new Hills Fire Station at 3000 Shasta Road.  

Mayor Shirley Dean, Vice Mayor Shirek and councilmembers Breland, Hawley, Maio and Olds voted to uphold the Zoning Adjustments Board ruling on the variances and use permit for construction of the station. We applaud them for helping Berkeley to achieve this important life/safety goal.  

At the meeting, a broad consensus of grassroots support was evident with many residents representing different Berkeley neighborhoods speaking in favor of the Fire Station. Compare that with the handful of comments from opponents.  

In addition, hundreds of concerned residents had signed letters written to the Mayor and City Council indicating overwhelming community support for the project.  

We hope that the next steps in the process can be achieved expeditiously so that construction can begin before another fire season is upon us.  

Collin Murphy, Barbara Allen, Juliann Beckendorf, Trudy Washburn, and 23 other members of Neighbors for Fire Safety 

Berkeley

I met Chuck Palahniuk, author of “Fight Club” at one of San Francisco’s upscale hotels where chipper mid-20s bellhops and fine-dining waiters hustle for tips and walk on their heels to please. The irony is all too present with Palahniuk. Here is the man who wrote the book that would become the most subversive movie Hollywood has ever made. Now the waiters and waitresses who rise up against society in the novel and movie are turning down his bed and serving him meals as he tours the Bay Area reading from his latest paperback “Choke”. 

There is nothing, however, about Palahniuk’s demeanor, presence, or personality that would make him a target of another’s dissatisfaction. He still lives in the same pre-fame rural home, has the same friends and writes on the same desk as he did before success as a writer ever found him. Clean shaven with gym-thick arms, a chiseled face and dark hair and eyes, the soft spoken Palahniuk greatly contrasts all aspects of the personalities his maniacally humorous writing explores – except for the fact that he gave the characters life. 

Tonight Palahniuk will read from his novel “Choke” at Cody’s Books on Telegraph at 7:30. “Choke” is Palahniuk’s fourth published novel. It will be followed by the release of “Lullaby” in September and a work in progress due next year called “Period Revival.” 

Born in Washington and now a resident of Portland, Ore., Palahniuk finished his first published novel “Fight Club” in three months.  

While working by day as a mechanic, Palahniuk found himself getting in frequent fist fights. After one particularly rough thrashing, Palahniuk returned to work battered and bruised. Not one co-worker acknowledged how roughed-up he looked, and it was then that Palahniuk realized that if a person looked like they’d been through hell, no one would question why they looked so bad. They didn’t want to get involved. They didn’t want to know. Then and there he began writing Fight Club. 

Palahniuk’s first novel “Invisible Monsters” was rejected with long explanatory “Nos” from publishing houses claiming it was too dark and unsettling. Angered by the rejections, he wrote the gnarliest book he could – “Fight Club.” His attempt to spite the publishers not only caught their attention, but inspired the feature film starring Ed Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. The movie also inspired a cult following that leaves Palahniuk loyalists standing shoulder to shoulder at readings.  

“Choke,” is another dark comedy. This time Palahniuk’s dark literary chasm, once filled to the brim with violence, is now teeming with sex. It’s about medical-school dropout and antihero Victor Mancini, who spends much of his time cruising Sexaholic Anonymous meetings to find partners. He also pretends to choke in restaurants. After unsuspecting good Samaritans “save” Mancini with the Heimlich maneuver, he gets a free meal from the restaurant and scams his rescuer for money. It’s another kind of maniacal expose on modern-man’s identity crisis, and on the world in general. For Palahniuk, the exploration of the dark side of life through his novels is a product of his craft. 

The following was a conversation between Chuck Palahniuk and Daily Planet correspondent Neil G. Greene on July 24, 2002. 

Daily Planet: In “Fight Club” you drew a lot from personal experiences. Do you do this in your new books or is it completely from the imagination? 

Palahniuk: First of all I don’t think anything is completely from the imagination. But I think you run out of your own personal experience, so you’ve got to be like this roving drift net I call the “two-mile wall of death.” It’s constantly going through the world looking for people’s stories, looking for sensory details, looking for little bits of evidence you can put together to make a story out of. It listens to what people talk about, what they’re concerned about, it looks for patterns. If enough people mention something then I know it’s something that is in the culture and it’s probably a good place to go. 

Daily Planet: Where do you go to gather information? 

Palahniuk: Support groups, and going out with friends and listening to what people talk about. Road trips are excellent for that, it’s like life in fast forward. People are always telling me weird things that are such incredible metaphors. A guy yesterday was telling me they’ve identified five types of core weight lifts – like bench presses, squats, and power cleans. Each one corresponds with a different personality type. He was telling me this whole thing that correlates with Jungian psychology and Jungian archetypes, but presented it in an entirely new different way. It’s fascinating I can’t wait to go research that, and talk to people about that. People are always bringing you these gifts, and all I have to do is sit back and people will just lay these gifts down. 

Daily Planet: And then you take what you’ve gathered and kind of put it in a big bowl, stir it up and write it out? 

Palahniuk: It’s kind of evil. I’ll go to parties and throw it out like it’s an innocent topic of conversation. People will just grab it and they’ll all start offering anecdotes that develop and flush the idea out. 

Daily Planet: Do you record the information in your mind? 

Palahniuk: Until I can get into the bathroom and write it down on Kleenex or something from the trash. I put it in my sock and I take it home because I know I can’t relax until I’ve written it down in some way. 

Daily Planet: Do you keep those scraps of paper? 

Palahniuk: I think I threw them away, but then I come across them. I’m still coming across grease stained pieces of Fight Club on gum wrappers. My dad said I should always keep them, but I don’t, it’s like keeping the scaffolding on a cathedral after it’s done. As soon as I find them I throw them away. 

Daily Planet: Is there a unifying thread in all your books? 

Palahniuk: The unifying thread is finding a way to get people to laugh at something they’re really frightened of. Because unless you can laugh at terminal illness or violence, or even sex, than you have no freedom around it and you’re completely used by it. If you get people laughing then they’re shocked, they hear themselves laughing and they say, ‘Oh my god I’m laughing at mutilation,’ at something so horrible, but that’s really the biggest theme. 

Daily Planet: Is that where you find the line is drawn – between people who can enjoy you’re writing and people who are unable to laugh at it? 

Palahniuk: Yeah, because in a way they can’t see past the surface of things, or so few people who’ve actually read it haven’t like it at this point which is nice. I think people tend to judge it before they even read it. The other thing is, this is something that happened to my dad. My dad dreamed his whole life that if he could put together enough to get a mountain and cabin away from everybody he’d be happy. Then he got that, and he spent all his time in his cabin phoning people saying ‘please come up and join me I’m so lonely.’ It is really the American myth that if we can move into that castle on the beach or that penthouse and we can get away from everybody then we’re going to be happy. So all of the books are about somebody who’s achieved this isolation that’s supposed to make us happy. And then, for whatever reason, circumstances bring them back into community with people. They find more happiness in the turmoil of being with people then they did in blissful isolation. So all of the books, all five books are about that isolation to community. 

Daily Planet: Who are your main inspirations? 

Palahniuk: The people who really got me excited about writing, Michael Chabon’s “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”, Thom Jones’ “The Pugilist at Rest”, Mark Richard’s “Ice at the Bottom of the World”, and everything by Amy Hempel. Amy Hempel is just extraordinary. She only does short story collections, they’re really the finest minimalist writing there is. Everything I do is just completely ripped off of her. I almost don’t even want to recommend her, because when you read her stuff, you fall into a depression because some part of you knows you will never write as well as Amy Hempel. 

Daily Planet: Some of your beginning books were turned down, what kept you going? What made you keep at it? 

Palahniuk: I was really really angry that people were just never going to publish anything I wrote. They weren’t going to publish it because it was too dark and too upsetting and I felt like I had the choice of making it less dark or never getting published. So I just figured I’d never be published, and in a way that’s why the parts in “Fight Club” I don’t like are still in there because I figured it would never be published. 

Daily Planet: So not caring helped take a weight off your back? 

Palahniuk: Oh yeah, suddenly you’re just writing for fun. You’re writing for the whole reason why you wanted to write, before you started to think about money or recognition. You just wanted to write because it was fun. 

Daily Planet: Do you think the book or movie would have been well received after Sept. 11. 

Palahniuk: Sept. 11 is the death date of the transgressive fiction. So many transgressive fiction books like “Monkey Wrench Gang,” “Trainspotting” or “American Psycho,” books just like that will not be published, there were contracts already signed, advances paid out, but after Sept. 11, those sort of civil disobedience books will not come out. 

Daily Planet: What fills that space? Is a new way of transferring the information emerging? 

Palahniuk: We do what we did in the 50s, we get charming and clever and seductive, and we do our social commentary through horror, science fiction and fantasy. So you can say things about the culture, and say, ‘No, no, no, no, that’s not about the Nazis, it’s just about elves. It’s not about the rise of fascism, it’s just animals in a barnyard.’ We can pretend that it’s not a threatening thing. We can get away with questioning the culture. That’s not a bad thing. I think we’ve been on the soap box way too long. It’s time for us to be seductive and clever. 

Daily Planet: Are you still getting in fist fights? 

Palahniuk: No, I sort of completed that part of myself. Each book is about completing some part of myself. “Invisible Monsters” was about realizing I wasn’t going to be a young person for ever and ever, and that I’d better find another source of power other than just youth. 

Daily Planet: Do you think your best piece is still ahead of you? Leading you like the donkey’s carrot? 

Palahniuk: Yeah, I can still surprise myself. I look at parts of “Fight Club” and they’re totally wrong and they’re an embarrassment to read. And I can still pop out seven pages that I’m just in love with. I totally think it’s just going to get better. For a few more years, god knows if not forever. But eventually I think you stop and you start teaching. I turn 40 in Feb., and this is going to be ten years of writing and playing the game and having a good time, but once I turn 50 it’s going to be time to give it all back.

ANAHEIM – Garret Anderson’s game-winning hit was nothing to brag about – an opposite-field blooper to left. 

The Anaheim Angels’ cleanup hitter was able to chuckle about it afterward because it gave his team an important victory. 

Anderson’s two-out single off Oakland closer Billy Koch drove in Darin Erstad with the go-ahead run Thursday as the Angels beat the Athletics 5-4. 

“He’s a tough pitcher, he can make the ball move a couple different directions. I don’t ever remember getting a good part of the bat on the ball,” Anderson said, smiling. “I just got lucky. The ball dropped where nobody was playing. He got me to pop up, he got his job done. 

“When you face a guy like that with overpowering stuff, I’m just trying to put the ball in play. I’ll take it. I know there’s a lot of them I’ve hit that have been caught.” 

David Eckstein singled with one out for his fourth hit of the game, equaling a career high. Erstad forced Eckstein and took second on a wild pitch before Jim Mecir (3-3) walked Tim Salmon. 

Koch relieved and Anderson came through on a 1-0 pitch with his third hit of the game and 77th RBI of the year. 

“He’s always tough on us,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Koch, who’s 6-1 with 25 saves in 30 chances. “Even though Garret didn’t hit it very hard, he found a hole.” 

The Angels rallied from a 3-0 deficit and scored all their runs with two outs. 

Scot Shields (3-1) pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings to earn the victory and Ben Weber worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save in seven chances. 

The Angels, contending with Oakland and Seattle in the AL West, have played their last eight games against the A’s and Mariners, winning six. They open a three-game series in Seattle on Friday night. 

The A’s, who lost for just the fifth time in 15 games, fell two games behind the Angels. 

The A’s took a 3-0 lead off Ramon Ortiz in the fifth on an RBI single by Miguel Tejada and a two-run single by Eric Chavez. 

The Angels drew within one run off Cory Lidle in their half when Salmon snapped an 0-for-11 drought by hitting a two-out, two-run single. 

The A’s made it 4-2 in the sixth when Shields threw a two-out, bases-loaded wild pitch, enabling Olmedo Saenz to score. 

But the Angels tied it in the bottom half on two-out, RBI singles by pinch-hitter Jorge Fabregas and Eckstein off Chad Bradford. Mecir fanned Salmon with the bases loaded to end the inning. 

Ortiz, who has given up a big league-leading 28 homers, allowed eight hits — all singles — and four runs in 5 1-3 innings. 

Lidle, who pitched a one-hit shutout against Texas last Saturday, gave up seven hits and four runs in 5 2-3 innings. 

“It’s always frustrating when you have the lead and give it up, but they’re a good team,” Lidle said. “They know how to win and they’re playing good ball right now.” 

The A’s ran themselves out of a potential rally in the first. Terrence Long hit a one-out single but was thrown out stealing. Tejada singled and Chavez walked before Angels catcher Jose Molina picked Tejada off second. 

Notes: There were 22 hits in the game — all singles. ... Anaheim’s Troy Glaus, mired in a 4-for-31 slump, wasn’t in the starting lineup. He entered the game in the eighth and struck out in his only at bat. ... Tejeda has hit in 14 straight games. He hit in a career-high 15 straight earlier this season,

Four months after its proposal, the idea of reducing speed limits to 20 mph in Berkeley’s residential neighborhoods is now being reviewed by the city manager. The city manager’s assessment could pave the way for City Council to adopt some of the lowest residential speed limits in the state. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington came up with the proposal in March that would reduce speeds from the current state-designated 25 mph to 20 mph in neighborhoods that are willing to adopt the change. The proposal would also lower speeds to 15 mph near schools. The state recommended speeds of 25 mph in school areas.The proposal comes amid a rising number of pedestrian-vehicle accidents in Berkeley. 

The city manager and the city’s Transportation Commission will decide which streets are best suited for lower speeds, the costs involved with lowering speed limits, and if there are any additional safety issues, Worthington said.  

Some neighbors have expressed enthusiasm about lower speed limits. 

“I'm eternally telling people to drive slower, and if we could make lower speed limits work, I think it would be great,” said Kary Sprague, a member of the McKinley, Addison, Allston, Grant Neighborhood Association. 

MAAGNA has not taken an official position on Worthington's idea, but the neighborhood association is focused on getting the city to slow traffic in their neighborhood. 

Critics of the speed limit reduction plan say that it will be too difficult to enforce, and that other traffic impediments such as barricades, narrow intersections and traffic circles are effective, and don’t require costly policing. 

Peter Hillier, assistant city manager for transportation, said that the city’s review could take six months. The earliest an assessment would be presented is September, when the City Council reconvenes after its recess, Hillier said.

Thank you so much for your thorough July 23 article on the ferry study that was before the Berkeley City Council this week. It has been inspirational to see Berkeley come together on what is probably the most important public transportation issue of the next decade. 

With an almost unanimous vote [seven for and one abstaining], the City Council expressed their support for studying an environmentally friendly, economically sound ferry line from Berkeley to San Francisco. This was after receiving unanimous recommendations from seven city commissions to implement city transportation policy regarding ferries and to study the possibility of a new ferry terminal on the Berkeley/Albany waterfront. In addition to many local groups such as Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition, East Bay Bicycle Coalition, the Gray Panthers, and others who came to speak in favor of ferries, former Mayor Loni Hancock, Albany Vice Mayor Alan Maris, and AC Transit Director Rebecca Kaplan also urged the Council to support a ferry in Berkeley. 

The reason ferries are so popular can be summed up in Loni Hancock's letter to the Berkeley City Council, “During the days of the Berkeley Ferry, I frequently rode the ferry to my job in downtown San Francisco. It was a wonderful way to start and end the day, and to experience the natural world en route to the office.” Not to mention the fact that ferries get lots of people out of cars, improve air quality, increase disaster-preparedness, and facilitate recreational access to the Bay.  

Berkeley Ferry Committee

t took the work of 150 animators and digital artists more than three years to complete the sequel to “Stuart Little.” 

It shows: “Stuart Little 2” looks fantastic. 

The digital animation, impressively lifelike the first time, is even better now. Every single white hair on Stuart’s mousey head looks real, his facial expressions are natural, and the light glistens off his tiny whiskers. 

Rob Minkoff, who also directed the 1999 original (based on E.B. White’s book about a talking mouse who lives with a New York family), wisely staged several opportunities to show off the visual effects: when the wind is blowing as Stuart drives his little red convertible, when he’s zooming around the Littles’ impeccably detailed Fifth Avenue brownstone in a model plane. 

The most minute details, crafted with loving care, give the film its real charm — from the tiny pajamas Stuart wears when he crawls into his tiny bed at night, to the Tinkertoy pulley system he uses to lower himself to the floor in the morning. 

And kids will enjoy watching Stuart doing tricks on his skateboard in the birdbath (wearing the required headgear, naturally), and running down the soccer field with the big boys. 

But “Stuart Little 2” lacks the childlike sense of fun that gave the original film its buoyancy. It its place, screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (an Oscar winner for 1991’s “Ghost”) has injected more action sequences, which have a palpable sense of desperation. The movie tries too hard to thrill, but the result is loud and overbearing. 

Still, if you liked the original, which grossed more than $300 million worldwide, you’ll be happy to know that most of the cast is back, including Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart — and Fox is so incredibly likable, he makes even the most hokey lines bearable. 

Nathan Lane also is back as the voice of Snowbell, the Littles’ pampered, neurotic cat, and it’s a joy to hear him even when some of his jokes fall flat. 

Stuart still lives with the insufferably perky Mr. and Mrs. Little (Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie) and their bespectacled son, George (Jonathan Lipnicki). He’s a little older now — he drives his car to school and plays on the soccer team — but when he tries to hang out with George and his buddies, they often give him the brush off. 

Right on cue, Stuart makes a friend of his own: an injured bird named Margalo (voiced by Melanie Griffith in her usual breathy, girlie monotone). Stuart saves Margalo from the clutches of the menacing Falcon (voiced by James Woods), who chases her around the city. 

Or does he? After Margalo moves in with the Littles, and Stuart helps her mend her broken wing, it seems she’s not exactly the friend she appeared to be. When she disappears, though — along with Mrs. Little’s two-carat diamond wedding ring — he assumes some horrible fate must have befallen her and enlists Snowbell’s help in finding her. 

This sets up an overlong chase through the skies over Central Park, and the requisite happy ending with its messages of friendship and loyalty. But what comes at the end will make you long for more of what you saw in the beginning. 

Let’s hope the filmmakers get everything right if and when “Stuart Little 3” scampers into theaters. 

“Stuart Little 2,” a Columbia Pictures release, is rated PG for brief mild language. Running time: 72 minutes. Two stars (out of four). 

OAKLAND – The Golden State Warriors’ youth movement will extend to their coaching staff next season. 

The Warriors will make Atlanta Hawks assistant Eric Musselman the NBA’s youngest head coach on Friday, according to two team and league sources. 

Musselman, the 37-year-old son of former Minnesota coach Bill Musselman, will sign a three-year contract to take over the Warriors, who haven’t made the playoffs or had a winning season since 1994. 

Plenty already have failed where Musselman hopes to succeed. He will be Golden State’s eighth coach in slightly more than seven seasons since owner Chris Cohan gained control of one of the NBA’s original franchises. 

Warriors general manager Garry St. Jean and Musselman didn’t return phone calls on Thursday, but the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Musselman’s hiring. 

The Warriors, who went 21-61 last season, have been without a permanent head coach since Dave Cowens was fired last December. Golden State waited three months to decide the fate of interim coach Brian Winters, who went 13-46 while finishing out the season. 

Winters participated in Golden State’s draft preparations and summer league play as the Warriors interviewed applicants for his job. He might even be part of Musselman’s staff, since Winters is still under contract to Golden State for next season along with assistants Phil Hubbard, Mark Osowski and Clifford Ray. 

That’s the way things work in Oakland under St. Jean, who coached the team himself after firing P.J. Carlesimo midway through the 1999-00 season. Every fall, St. Jean unveils a new plan to rebuild his team — and every spring, the Warriors change plans. 

But Golden State might be ready to turn a corner, given the impressive young talent it has stockpiled. The Warriors have chosen six players among the top 30 picks in the last two drafts, including top-five selections Jason Richardson and Mike Dunleavy. 

“Whoever they choose, whether it’s Brian or somebody else, he should be a guy who works well with young players,” star forward Antawn Jamison said last month. “We need a guy who can motivate us, but who also knows how to relate to us.” 

Musselman has been an assistant to Lon Kruger in Atlanta for two seasons. He joined the Hawks from Orlando, where he was an assistant coach and a scout. Musselman also coached in the CBA for seven years, compiling a 270-122 record. 

Known for an intense work ethic and an animated presence on the sideline during his CBA days — just like his father — Musselman apparently wowed the Warriors’ front office brass during an interview in Long Beach earlier this month. 

It’s thought that Golden State planned to hire a coach who would work for a low salary — something around $1.5 million per year — since the Warriors still owe money to Cowens and Carlesimo. As a career assistant with no previous NBA experience in a head job, Musselman likely fit the bill. 

Golden State also interviewed New Jersey assistant Eddie Jordan and former Phoenix coach John MacLeod for the job. Jordan withdrew from consideration last week. 

Former Lakers, Bucks and Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy was thought to be a possibility, particularly after the Warriors drafted his son last month. But the elder Mike Dunleavy said last week he wasn’t a candidate.

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and mayoral candidate Tom Bates urged the University of California to meet its clerical workers’ contract demands. 

“I studied economics in college, but I didn’t need to spend all those tens of thousands of dollars to understand that what UC is offering its employees is bad management and bad treatment,” said Worthington. 

The Coalition of University Employees, an 18,000-member union with 2,200 members at UC Berkeley, and the office of the university president in Oakland, is calling for a 15 percent raise over the course of a two-year contract, with additional 4.5 percent raises for employees who advance a step on the pay scale. 

The university is offering a 2 percent raise in the first year of the contract and a 1.5 percent raise in the second year. University spokesperson Paul Schwartz said state funding cuts have placed limits on what UC can offer. 

The union alleges that UC has a $2.3 billion unrestricted reserve it could tap to fund salary increases. The university asserts that, while the reserve may be technically “unrestricted,” it is in fact tied up in various legal and fiduciary obligations. 

The union is also asking the university to commit to testing every work station to ensure employees’ safety and guard against repetitive stress injuries. 

The university says it takes the issue seriously and is working to negotiate the details. 

“The university needs to respect you, needs to honor you and needs to negotiate in good faith,” said Bates, pledging that he would come to the union’s aid as mayor. 

“I support the clericals in their request (for wage increases),” said Mayor Shirley Dean, in an interview after the rally. “I’m sure that the university’s budget is tight, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pay the clerical workers.” 

Dean said she will write a letter to the UC Board of Regents supporting the union.  

Worthington signed a pledge of solidarity with the union at the rally and said he intends to get the rest of the City Council members’ signatures. 

He said the City Council will consider a strongly-worded rebuke of the university at its Sept.. 10 meeting if no agreement is reached before then. 

In the course of negotiations, which began in May 2001, the union filed an “unfair labor practice” charge against the university, alleging that it has fired more than 200 temporary workers, in violation of the union contract, just before they attain “career” status. 

The university maintains that it is complying with contract language. But, UC officials have placed a four-month moratorium on termination of temporary employees while they discuss the issue with the union at the bargaining table. 

Last month, UC Berkeley clericals voted to authorize a strike of up to three days. No strike date has been set.

LOS ANGELES — The movie industry is hunting down people who swap digital films online and demanding that their Internet service be cut off — all part of an effort to stamp out piracy and avoid the online trading frenzy that has plagued the music business. 

The Motion Picture Association of America uses a special search engine to scour the Web for copyright movies, which circulate on the same peer-to-peer software networks as MP3 music files. 

Since 2001, more than 100,000 customers have been ordered to stop their activities through cease-and-desist letters sent from their Internet service providers, the MPAA said. 

In a newer initiative, AOL Time Warner’s broadband division has begun trying to identify and stop customers who upload huge amounts of data — which in almost all cases means people trading bulky video or music files. 

“We are not blocking the use of any applications or access to any Web sites,” said Mark Harrad, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable. “But we are doing various things to manage bandwidth better and to interfere with people who are in violation of (their) service agreements.” 

Harrad declined to elaborate on interference techniques. But he denied the effort was specifically targeted at people swapping music and movie files, saying the issue is bandwidth hogs, not piracy. 

AOL Time Warner owns one of the seven major studios, Warner Brothers, a member of the MPAA. It also owns Warner Music Group, one of the five major record companies. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Howard Berman, D.-Calif., is preparing legislation that would allow entertainment companies to obstruct the peer-to-peer networks with a variety of invasive electronic techniques, including software that blocks file transfers, redirects users to other sites or confuses users with fake files. 

Privately, music industry officials already admit to frustrating file traders by putting up bogus files. Individuals trying to download unauthorized tracks from Eminem’s latest CD last month, for example, occasionally got files containing only a single verse repeated continuously, rather than a complete song. 

Such acts by companies could, however, be illegal today under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. 

Current rules allow people to duplicate copyright material for their own use. But the distribution power of the Internet, which allows someone to share a personal copy with millions, has left the concept of “fair use” unclear. 

Movie files are harder to share over peer-to-peer networks because they are significantly larger than music files. At more than 600 megabytes, a full length movie can easily take six hours to download over broadband. By contrast, an average music file of six megabytes takes a few minutes. 

But Hollywood studios worry that the rising number of broadband connections and improved video compression techniques will open the door to runaway piracy. 

Between 400,000 and 600,000 copies of movies are downloaded illegally each day, according to the consulting firm Viant. Though far fewer than the 3 billion daily music downloads off the now-defunct music swapping site Napster at its peak, it’s enough to spook the movie industry. 

“Our industry could be damaged as much as the music industry,” said Ken Jacobsen, senior vice president of worldwide antipiracy at the MPAA. 

The MPAA uses special monitoring software from San Diego-based Ranger Online Inc. The automated software provides the Internet address of the file-swapper, which the MPAA forwards to the relevant Internet provider. 

The MPAA then asks the provider to contact the user with an ultimatum: Remove the copyright files from your computer or have your service disconnected. 

Almost everyone served with a cease-and-desist letter by their Internet provider complies, Jacobsen said. The group said it does not keep records of how many users have actually been disconnected, though at least one recipient has fought back. 

InternetMovies.com, a Hawaii-based Web site, filed suit against the MPAA for causing a business disruption after it was tagged for illegal file-swapping and had its Internet service disconnected. Jacobsen said the MPAA will wage a vigorous defense. 

Some critics of the MPAA’s initiative question how long Internet providers will continue to assist the hunt against their own customers. 

It’s just too expensive for the providers to lose those customers, said Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group representing defendants in copyright infringement suits. 

“Hollywood is pressuring intermediaries to do their police work. That was never the intention of copyright law,” von Lohmann said. 

But the MPAA says Internet providers have many reasons to cooperate: They don’t want illegal activity on their networks, they don’t want to be exposed to litigation and they don’t want users eating up extra bandwidth by trading large movie files. 

Q: I recently moved into a two-bedroom apartment. I received the owner’s permission to move in, but pay rent to my roommate, who has lived here for four years. She originally signed the lease with someone who moved out after a year, so she has had the place to herself for a few years now. She acts like she owns the place, saying I can’t use the living room because she’s writing her “great American novel” there, and has papers all over the place. She further threatens that since I’m not on the lease she has the right to kick me out if I don’t obey her every command. What are my rights? 

A: It doesn’t matter that your name is not on the lease, because you are as much a tenant as your roommate, and you are protected by the Rent Ordinance in that you can be evicted only for one of the good causes listed in the ordinance. You are a subtenant and she is your landlord, but have the same right to occupy the apartment as she does. 

Your roommate’s ability to exclude you from the living room is governed by your original agreement with her. If you agreed to share the living room, or reasonably assumed this was the case, then you have a right to use that space. [This is a good reason to put a subtenancy agreement in writing.] But if it was clear when you moved in that the living room was her space, then you probably can’t insist on being able to use it. 

In any case, your rent cannot exceed an amount proportional to the space you occupy. In other words, if your roommate pays the owner $1,100 for the entire apartment and you occupy half of it – say, you each have exclusive use of a similarly-sized bedroom and share the rest of the space – your rent should not exceed $550. If your roommate has exclusive use of the living room, then your rent should be less than $550, reflecting her greater share of the unit. You should try to negotiate a lower rent if you think you’re paying more than your fair share, but if you cannot work out your differences, you may file a petition with the Rent Board. If it is determined that your roommate either reduced the space originally available to you, or is charging more than your proportionate share of rent, your rent will be reduced. 

Q: My tenant moved out and left a bunch of things in the apartment and in the yard. Some of it is obviously garbage, but he also left behind things of some value, like furniture and electronic equipment. Can I assume he doesn’t want it and throw it out? Can I charge him for storage costs by deducting it from his security deposit? 

A: Your responsibility under California law is to act reasonably to ascertain whether or not the tenant would like his possessions back or whether the property has been abandoned. In any case, you should safely store the property where it cannot be damaged or stolen because you could be liable for losses caused by your negligence. You must give the former tenant an opportunity to reclaim his possessions by written notice to him that sets a deadline [at least 15 days after the notice is personally delivered, or 18 days if mailed] after which he can no longer claim the property. You may demand storage costs incurred as a condition of returning the property, if you include your intent to charge these costs in the notice. [You could instead deduct the charges from his security deposit, but an accounting of deductions and return of any remaining deposit must, under state law, be made within three weeks after the tenant vacates.]  

Specific steps to follow regarding property left behind, including the wording of the notice, how to determine whom the owner is when there is more than one tenant, and separate rules for tenants who have been evicted, are outlined in the California Department of Consumer Affairs legal guide, “Options for a Landlord: When a Tenant’s Personal Property Has Been Left in the Rental Unit.” You can access this guide from the Rent Board website under “Other Sources.” 

You can e-mail the City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board at rent@ci.berkeley.ca.us for individual questions, or you can call or visit the office at 2125 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 (northeast corner of Milvia/Center Streets) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4:45 p.m., and on Wednesday between 12:00 noon and 6:30 p.m. Our telephone number is (510) 644-6128. Our website address is www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent. 

OAKLAND – Voters in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties will be asked in November to decided if they want to pay more than $1 billion for a seismic retrofit project designed to keep the transportation systems running after a major earthquake. 

At their meeting in Oakland this morning, the BART board of directors moved to place a $1.05 billion general bond on the upcoming ballot, saying that securing BART against earthquakes cannot wait.  

According to the directors, the consequences of having the transit system unavailable after a temblor would have repercussions throughout the Bay Area. 

Especially essential is the transbay tube, which stretches underwater across the bay on a gravel-filled trench. Earlier this year, a report concluded that the tube could be affected by liquefaction during a major earthquake. 

The proposed bond would go first and foremost toward upgrading the system's core, which is defined as the area between the Berkeley Hills tunnel and Daly City. The remaining money would go to pay for safety retrofits throughout the entire system. 

If voters approve the BART bond, property owners would pay $23 per year for each $100,000 that their property is assessed. Building would begin in 2004 and last an estimated ten years. 

The adopted bond proposal is smaller than other options that BART officials had considered. One proposal asked for $1.5 billion to completely retrofit the entire original system.  

Directors had also considered asking for an additional $200 million for post-Sept. 11 security measures such as security cameras and detectors for biological or chemical weapons. 

To be successful, the bond needs approval from two-thirds of the voters in the three counties. 

One San Francisco group that is supporting an affordable housing bond initiative on the same ballot urged the BART directors not to move forward. 

Marco Montenegro, spokesman of the group Homes for the City, said that having the BART bond proposal on the same ballot might dissuade some San Franciscans from voting for the $250 million housing bond. 

"As the economy continues to slide, gathering a two-thirds vote will be a difficult task to say the least,'' Montenegro said. "Please avoid putting another bond measure on the November ballot at this late a date.'' 

BART Director Joel Keller, however, said that the transit system's seismic safety needs to be addressed immediately. 

“There are always going to be competing interests when you've got a bond issue,” Keller said. “But I have no question that we have to move forward today.'”

SACRAMENTO — California pension funds should divest their $752 million investment in companies that have moved their headquarters to tax havens such as Bermuda or the Cayman Islands, and should halt future investments in those corporations, state Treasurer Phil Angelides said Thursday. 

Angelides proposed a blacklist of 22 companies that have moved to avoid paying taxes, as part of his effort to use the power of institutional investors to influence corporate behavior. 

Foreign tax shelters are a growing trend, Angelides said Thursday. 

“You have companies here that are setting up sham offshore mailboxes just to avoid paying taxes,” he said. “It’s not clear that Congress is going to close the loopholes this year.” 

Shareholders’ rights are weakened when companies move to offshore locations, Angelides said, because the companies’ operations are less visible. It’s more difficult for shareholders to sue if the company is in a tax haven. 

“This kind of conduct is part of a pattern of behavior, how to bend the rules, game the system for short-term gains,” he said. “It’s the same kind of thinking that led to accounting tricks at Enron and WorldCom.” 

Angelides has proposed other measures to reform corporate behavior by strategic investments, but said he’s finding a wider audience for his message after several high-profile bankruptcies that stemmed from accounting irregularities. 

“I think people are learning that companies who violate environmental laws or exploit its workers are the same companies that wouldn’t think twice of sticking it to their shareholders,” Angelides said. 

Pension funds and mutual funds own 42 percent of American companies’ stocks, he said, and can use that as leverage to encourage better corporate behavior. 

Angelides sits on the boards of both the California Public Employees Retirement System, which is the nation’s largest public pension fund with $150 billion in investments, and the California State Teachers Retirement Fund, which controls a $100 billion investment portfolio. 

CalPERS spokeswoman Pat Macht said the board would discuss the policy at the August meeting, but probably wouldn’t take action until September. 

“CalPERS has been voting proxies against companies that have done this,” she said, “but we’ve never had a policy discussion on the issue.” 

In the last seven years, the board has voted only once to divest and that was with tobacco stocks, Macht said. 

CalSTRS spokeswoman Sherry Reser said Angelides’ proposal would be discussed at the next board meeting in October. 

In addition to the CalPERS and CalSTRS proposal, Angelides also announced a new policy for the funds his office oversees. That policy bars the treasurer’s office, which controls the state’s $45 billion investment account, from investing in “expatriate” corporations. 

Citing that policy, Angelides removed Ingersoll-Rand from the list of approved companies for the state’s $42 billion pooled investment account. The company recently reincorporated in Bermuda, though its U.S. offices are still in New Jersey, estimating that it will save between $40 million to $60 million in taxes for 2002. 

“Ingersoll-Rand was on the approved list. Now they’re removed,” Angelides said. “They’re not an American company.” 

Ingersoll-Rand spokesman Paul Dickard said 89 percent of the company’s shareholders approved the move, which could save the corporation up to $60 million in 2002. 

“We would be glad to address any concerns the state of California has with respect to our reincorporation before it unilaterally denies itself and the people of California the opportunity to invest in our company or to benefit from the good work of Ingersoll-Rand employees,” Dickard said. 

The company is also on the list of 23 companies that would be barred from CalPERS and CalSTRS investments. 

That threat should get some response from the business community, said Sol Price, the founder of Price Club. 

“Would the thought of losing a customer the size of CalPERS scare me? You’re damn right,” Price said. 

Angelides and other fund managers have the resources to research corporate governance in companies in which they invest — and smaller investors can follow their lead, Price said. 

“He’s doing what he should be doing — he’s becoming vocal, as all large investors should,” he said. 

NEW MARKET,Va. — Brush up against the wrong characters while working in your garden and it could cost you a lot of scratch. 

You think city streets are tough? You may have a murderer’s row hiding quietly among your vegetables or climbing the trellis with your morning glories. 

The perpetrators are poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac and they can be found everywhere in the United States except Alaska, Hawaii and portions of Nevada. 

The most frequent contact comes during the searing heat of summer, when an estimated 10 - to 50 million Americans develop the redness, swelling, blisters and maddening itch characterizing the allergic rash, the Harvard Medical School says. 

But the urushiol (oo-ROO’-she-all) oil in the poison ivy, oak and sumac sap can get under your skin any time of year and remains potent for long periods, especially if whatever was contaminated is kept in a dry place. That could include boots, balls, shovels, firewood or hunting gear. Secondary sources also could rub you the wrong way. You can easily acquire the rash from dogs and cats when they sidle up to you after frolicking among the plants in your yard. 

“Where you really see it is on the forest’s edge, where you might be trying to put in a garden,” says Tony DiTommaso, a professor of weed science at Cornell University. “It’s a real transport corridor for pets, which can carry the resin in.” 

An allergic reaction from the plants can be more than a temporary irritant. Infections can last from 10 days to three weeks. 

Scratching won’t spread it or make it contagious, dermatologists say, but it can cause an infection. 

There are a few things you can do to reduce the odds of acquiring the rash, but the best remedy is prevention. Rule No. 1: Know your enemy. 

“I love gardening, but I’m surprised at how many people don’t know what the (poisonous) plants look like or misidentify them,” DiTommaso says. 

“The one they usually confuse it with is Virginia Creeper. I walk around with a book and show it (ivy, oak, sumac) to my students. That wouldn’t be a bad idea for anyone in poison ivy habitat.” 

Avoid the plants if you can. But if you can’t, wear long pants, gloves (with plastic covers) and long-sleeved shirts when you go out. 

“If I go out into the woods and come across it (ivy), I head back home and take a shower,” says Glen Juergens, a U.S. Forest Service silviculturist with the Monongahela National Forest office at Marlinton, W.Va. 

Getting the poisonous oils off your body is one thing. Ridding it from around your garden is quite another. 

“It’s a tough plant, with a deep root system,” Cornell’s DiTommaso says. “Herbicides will work, but they’re nonselective and have a tendency to kill other perennials around them anything green. Digging it up doesn’t do it. The plants come back, and contaminate your shovels and everything.” 

And don’t, please, try burning any dead plants: Urushiol can spread in the smoke and cause big-time lung infections. 

“I was working with a bunch of scouts and scoutmasters who built a big bonfire after picking up around up a Civil War battlefield several years ago,” says Ronnie Zerkel, a hardware store owner from Mount Jackson, Va.. “The litter included some poison ivy plants. The whole bunch came down with a rash, about 200 of us.

So you finally found the ideal general contractor for your major home improvement or repair job. The interviews went well. The background checks checked out. You really trust this person. 

But what’s with these new faces on the job you haven’t seen before? 

They’re probably subcontractors, specialists hired by the general contractor to perform specific jobs. According to an expert who shepherds home improvement tasks for a living, homeowners should understand their relationship and responsibilities to subcontractors. 

“Subcontractors don’t work so much for the homeowner as they do for the general contractor,” says Michael Turner of the Home Service Store. “Some homeowners assume the general contractor performs all the work and are surprised when other workers show up at the front door.” 

The role of the general contractor is to coordinate the project. Dozens of tasks, such as drywall, plumbing, wiring and roofing are farmed out to specialists who are usually independent contractors. Homeowners usually have no role in the selection of subcontractors. However, homeowners who have heard from friends and neighbors about the good work of a subcontractor can suggest names to the general contractor. 

Turner says general contractors “should be very clear with homeowners about the jobs and work schedules of subcontractors. Homeowners need to insist upon a work calendar that shows approximate time frames when subcontractors will be on the job. That’s the only way everyone stays on the same page and the job stays on track.” 

Subcontractors, or subs, are paid by the general contractor. The payments often are drawn against an amount of money the homeowner provides to the general contractor to pay for project costs. “Homeowners would do well not to make the advance payment one large, lump sum,” says Turner. “Instead, they should add money to the fund only when certain jobs involving subcontractors are performed.” 

Although subcontractors are not paid directly by the homeowner, it is the homeowner’s responsibility to make certain the general contractor makes payments on time. Turner says payments are due when the subcontractor is at a point when critical materials are needed or when the job is done. 

If the general contractor does not make payments, subcontractors can take action against the homeowner. These actions, often filed as liens, place the financial burden squarely on homeowner shoulders. If liens aren’t taken care of quickly, work on the project can stop. 

“Worse still,” says Turner, “liens may show up years later when the home goes up for sale. No sale can be completed until past liens are resolved.” 

The working relationship with subcontractors is the general contractor’s job. He or she makes sure the quality of workmanship and materials by subcontractors is in line with project plans or homeowner expectations. 

The general contractor makes certain subcontractors have the necessary licenses and insurance. 

The homeowner can exercise some clout on subcontractor performance. Turner says “a cost of delay clause should be inserted into the contract with the general contractor. If the subcontractor doesn’t show for work, the general contractor can be held financially responsible.” 

If the homeowner believes subcontractor work is shoddy, Turner advises the homeowner to first bring the problem to the attention of the general contractor. If that does not yield results, the homeowner can seek arbitration between the parties. The last resort is litigation. 

In extreme cases, subcontractors can be removed from the job for failure to perform, argumentativeness or drug and alcohol abuse. 

LOS ANGELES — California residential real estate prices continued their skyward climb in June, with the median price of an existing, single-family detached home rising 21.3 percent to $324,370 from a year earlier, according to industry figures released Thursday. 

But in an early sign that activity might be cooling down, the number of homes bought and sold declined by the largest month-to-month amount this year, decreasing nearly 14 percent from May, the California Association of Realtors said. 

Some real estate agents say a lot of potential buyers are now waiting longer than before to purchase. 

“I think the market is slowing down, but I don’t know by how much,” said Linda Zimmerman, an agent with Prudential California Realty, who sells mid-range houses in San Fernando Valley, Hollywood Hills and West Hollywood. 

Zimmerman said she’s been less busy in recent weeks than at any time in the last 12 months. 

But even with the drop off in activity, experts say the market remains robust. 

“Although the sales pace decreased compared to the previous month, we’re still seeing volume that exceeds our 2001 levels,” said Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist of CAR. 

Year over year, sales activity increased 1.4 percent in June, CAR reported. 

Tight housing supply and continued low mortgage interest rates keep bringing buyers into the market and driving up prices. 

Since the beginning of the year, the average existing house price has increased by $38,510, or 13.5 percent, according to CAR figures. 

The rapid appreciation of the housing market stands in stark contrast to plunging stock market values. The S&P 500 Index declined 7.2 percent in June. Between the start of June and Thursday’s close, it tumbled 21.4 percent. 

Analysts expect the gyrations of the stock market to have a mixed effect on residential real estate in California. 

To the Editor: 

Mr. Mark McDonald of the anti-Lawrence Lab faction has commented on my July 12 letter, attacking both my character and the accuracy of my statements. May I respond to the most egregious distortions and inaccuracies? 

1. I had noted that seven studies have shown that the tritium lab has never posed a health risk to Berkeley. Mr. Mc Donald claimed these studies have been "debunked", but he provided no information to support his assertion. Where are the studies that allegedly refute the findings of independent risk analysis scientists, the state department of health, the National Institutes of Health, and the U. S. Public Health Service? He said the work of these scientists is "laughable" because they "just quote LBNL numbers… " In fact, the data in these studies include measurements by independent testing laboratories, East Bay Municipal Utility District, the state’s cancer surveillance department, and the Environmental Protection Agency, not just LBNL itself.  

Last Friday, the EPA announced that tritium levels at LBNL were not a health risk. Their report confirms what each prior study had indicated – tritium levels in the air and ground around LBNL have been and continue to be far below hazardous concentrations. 

2. I stated that the Straume and Franke studies, both done by scientists chosen by Mr. McDonald’s group, had failed to support their contention that the tritium lab was hazardous. Mr. McDonald did not contest this statement but claimed that "the city-funded Straume report notes higher levels of cancer in affected neighborhoods…" In fact, Dr. Straume made no measurements of cancer incidence. He came to the same conclusion that all the other risk analyses reached – that the possible additional risk of getting cancer from the tritium lab was so small as to be hardly measurable. As he said, the risk of death from tritium-induced cancer for a resident living just adjacent to the lab was about one-half as likely as dying from the bite of a venomous animal. (The average lifetime risk of getting cancer is about 400,000 out of one million people. For people working 30 years at the Lawrence Hall of Science, exposure to tritium from the lab might theoretically increase their risk by 0.05 to 2.5 chances per million. As the scientists from the Senes Center for Risk Analysis reported, "no additional cases of cancer would be expected due to exposure to tritium releases from the NTLF (the tritium lab)." 

3. Nor does Mr. McDonald contest the conclusions of the Franke report. He criticizes Franke’s study on the grounds that the "tritium work was drastically reduced" during the two years on which Franke concentrated. In fact, the lab decreased its work load from its previous average of about 100 tritiations a year during a revamping of the lab in 1997; they resumed active work in 1998, reaching an average of 60 a year in the years before the lab was closed. This was taken into account by Franke. Those who heard Mr. Franke when he gave his 2001 report may recall him agreeing with another independent risk analyst that they had never seen a situation with so much concern over so small a risk. 

Mr. McDonald describes the Lawrence Hall of Science as a "radioactive museum". Franke stated that if he lived in Berkeley he would have no hesitation taking his children there.  

A telling example of Mr. McDonald’s cavalier approach to the truth is his statement "Also stated [ by Franke ] was that the LBNL itself had 119 mostly unmonitored stacks dumping radioactive poisons into the air." In fact, what Franke stated was this: "In 1999, there were 119 potential locations at LBNL where radioactive materials are present and could be released to the environment. This is hardly the same as "dumping radioactive poisons into the air." Nowhere in Franke’s report is there any basis for Mr. McDonald’s fearsome statement. 

5. Now that the tritium lab is inactive, Mr. McDonald and his friends have begun attacking LBNL on other fronts, claiming that LBNL is circumventing normal processes in dismantling the Bevatron. Had they bothered to telephone the lab for information, they would have learned that the demolition is proceeding exactly as required by law. Mr. McDonald referred to "thousands of truckloads of hazardous and radioactive debris"; in fact, most of the debris is neither. Only non-radioactive material will go to regional landfills, and radioactive material will be sent to appropriate disposal sites.  

It is not easy to understand the consistent pattern of disregard for facts that characterizes the anti-lab group. No matter how often their charges are shown to be fallacious, they return with new allegations and with increasingly personal attacks on those who disagree with them. Insults are not an adequate substitute for thoughtful examination of public issues; the CMTW and their allies are debasing the democratic process in Berkeley. 

Elmer R. Grossman, M.D. 

Berkeley

There is a youth program in Oakland that shows results, and there is a documentary film that showcases the program. “A Place Named Destiny” is a feature-length video about the Destiny Arts Center in west Oakland where young people, mostly from nearby McClymonds High School, are taught martial arts and dance. In the process, they learn how to pursue personal transformation and social activism. 

The film had its premiere at McClymonds this spring. It will be screened in Berkeley 7:30 tonight at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

The centerpiece of Destiny, and the film’s subject, is art center’s performance troupe. The Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company auditions hopeful dancers from the neighborhood and beyond to work up an annual performance at McClymonds. 

The film shows the students doing not only the hard work of creating and performing a show, but also the “heart-work” of meditation and group encounter meetings to promote community strength and spiritual growth under the guidance of Sarah Crowell, the performance company director. 

Crowell starts every dance practice with meditation. The filmmaker, Paul Ginocchio, said that Crowell believes her work at Destiny is of body, mind, and spirit. Some of the students – eager to dance – only grudgingly submitts to meditation exercises, at least at first, but by the end of the journey the payoff of personal triumph and group cohesion seems to make it worthwhile. 

Oakland-based Ginocchio spent years as a producer for KRON-TV news. He was burning out on reporting about crime and poverty in the Bay Area when he decided to focus on positive things. “That’s where me and news clashed,” Ginocchio said. He found the Destiny Arts Center to be hope inside a ghetto. “We need more positive media images of young people to counter the stereotypes that young people are violent, unambitious, and unthinking.” 

Most of the young people in the program, however, are misfits in neighborhoods patrolled by gangs and thugs. Racially mixed, some are too white or not black enough. Chanel, one of Ginocchio’s main subjects, is a lesbian in a place where homosexuals are often beat up. One teenager says she’s outcast as being too smart, and another speaks with a proper diction that sets her apart from street slang. These are not kids who aspire to life on the streets. 

“It’s really hard to get them,” Ginocchio said of the young people entrenched in street life. “When you go into an impoverished area, there’s a real strong energy.” But channeling that energy is difficult. “They are normalized to dysfunction.” 

The young people of Destiny put amazing energy into their dancing, which is the film’s greatest appeal. Their playfulness and enthusiasm, sweat and determination, are edited alongside anger and tears. Ginocchio filmed the long process of working up a dance show, but he did not take his cameras to the student’s homes. Through cameras Ginocchio gave to two of his principle characters, viewers get a glimpse into their lifestyles. Chanel Baty used hers to interview students and faculty about homosexuality at her school. Sam Mende-Wong took a camera home to the upscale Piedmont area when he received his acceptance letter to Bard College. 

A longtime Destiny dancer, Mende-Wong also acts as a youth leader. In the film he talks about violence prevention and community building. Like every earnest inner-city activist, he warns that, "violence beget violence. It is just a cycle and we need to stop the cycle." 

Whether the cycle will ever be broken – whether or not poverty will ever be divorced from violence – is a battle that social workers will always be fighting. But if it can happen in small pockets around Oakland, Ginocchio’s film shows that it can happen in places like Destiny. 

WHO: Destiny Art Center 

WHAT: “A Place Named Destiny” 

WHEN: 7:30 tonight 

WHERE: 3105 Shattuck. Ave. 

COST: $5 to $15 

INFORMATION: 849-2568 

For many in the Bay Area, basketball is more than just a sport. It’s a way of life. On a typical summer afternoon, local parks are filled with players of all abilities, all shapes and all sizes. Games are played not just for an hour or two but all day long. 

Opinions on the best spots to play pick-up basketball are as diverse as the locals that play the game. While some swear by the 5-on-5 games played at their neighborhood park, others take a more adventurous approach, travelling far and wide in search of top competition. 

A look at five local spots, from Albany to Oakland, shows that the game that so many love to play has its own rules and its own flair from court to court. 

People’s Park 

Starting in the heart of Berkeley at People’s Park on a recent Saturday afternoon, dozens of ballers gathered for a day of competition. Just off of Telegraph Avenue, the park, with its bathroom walls covered by ‘60s-era murals and peace signs, is a living piece of Berkeley history. Games at the park are competitive though many complain that because of the park’s single court, not enough games can be played.  

“People’s Park is pretty good as far as competition,” said Vishu Shuhakar, a UC Berkeley senior. “But sometimes it’s overcrowded and hard to get a pick-up game because there’s so many people there.” 

Unique to the park is the number of spectators that gather for a glimpse of the fast-paced action. 

“No other court pulls me like this one. There’s an energy and a camaraderie and a history. There’s lots of drama too, most of it good,” commented Jonathan Taylor, a Berkeley resident and photographer who frequently captures images at the park. According to Taylor, who has been interested in visual art since childhood, the park is an ideal location to shoot still photography. 

Though the occasional fight does break out during a game at People’s, Ray Kuhn of East Oakland said the park is better and safer than most. Kuhn also said the park provides local kids with a positive activity to focus on. 

“The atmosphere out here is pretty cool, pretty laid back. No one really bothers you or thinks you’re selling drugs when you come out here like at some parks,” Kuhn said. “It’s good because it keeps a lot of kids off the streets. If they had something like this in Oakland I wouldn’t have to come all the way out here.” 

Cal Recreational Sports Facility 

Fans of indoor basketball often opt for the clean and spacious facilities of the Recreational Sports Facility at UC Berkeley. Although players do have to compete with the occasional volleyball game or practice at the RSF courts, many feel the three gyms at the facility provide the surest bet for a pick-up game. 

“You can’t always depend on a game at other spots like you  

can here,” said UC Berkeley junior Greg Huynh. 

Games at the RSF are generally faster, as the regulation-size courts are larger and wider than many of area’s outdoor courts. As such, the variations in the size of the court often dictate the style of play. Smaller parks, tending toward half-court games of 3-on-3 instead of 5-on-5, can be slower but are often more physical.  

Adjustments must constantly be made not only when travelling from court to court, but from continent to continent as well, says Oscar Perea, who recently arrived from Spain and was playing at RSF on Monday. According to Perea, a UC Berkeley professor of medieval history, games in Europe are a bit slower but have more of a team emphasis. 

“The games there are slower but we use the pass more. Sometimes we pass between four or five or six times. Here the games are all 1-on-1. The difference is the individual versus the team,” noted Perea. 

Marin Elementary 

One local spot that does believe in a team-oriented game is the court at Marin Elementary. Located on Marin and Santa Fe Avenues just over the Berkeley border in Albany, the court stands out from the rest with both its own rules and a uniquely friendly atmosphere. Because the courts at the elementary school are smaller than most, no game is played with more than four to a team. Also, all games go to 12 points except the last of the day which goes to 16.  

“This is a really friendly court,” said Jason Stafford, an Albany native. “A lot of kids play here. Everybody’s welcome here. The best part about this place is we don’t care who plays here. The people here just want to be happy and have a good time.” 

According to Stafford, who met his current roommates through pick-up games at the court, the spot is probably different than most because regulars at the court look out for the younger, elementary school-age kids. 

“People argue here, the games get physical. But there are always regulars here to break it up. People don’t deal drugs here because they realize there are a lot of kids,” Stafford said. 

Grove Street Park 

Across town at Grove Street Park, locals gather for high-intensity games and a south Berkeley brand of basketball. Located at Russell Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way (formerly Grove Street), the courts are often divided between players and spectators as many watch and provide commentary on games from a set of bleachers on the south end of the court.  

For Berkeley High senior Dezz Grant, a small forward on the BHS basketball team, the courts are a distinct part of the neighborhood and provide a high-level of competition.  

“There are usually pretty good games here. It’s always a challenge to come out here,” Grant said. 

Female basketball players, a more common sight recently, often play at the courts on MLK, Jr. Way. According to locals at the park, there are some girls that have more game than the guys. 

“A few of the girls shoot better than the guys,” said Tyree Shelton of West Oakland. “I’d like to see a girl make it to the men’s league. There’s some in the WNBA that the Warriors should take a look at.” 

Danesha Wright, a sophomore on the varsity girl’s Berkeley High basketball team, says playing ball with the guys isn’t that strange. Asked about any changes she makes against guys, Wright said succinctly, “I just play.” 

Mosswood Playground 

While competition at the south Berkeley courts can be fierce, Mosswood Playground, just over the Berkeley border in North Oakland, is widely considered the best spot in the area to play ball. 

“It’s not even close,” said Shelton. “The competition is way higher there.” 

Attracting players from all around the Bay Area, Mosswood is known as a legends court by many. Current and former NBA stars like Bill Russell, Gary Payton and Isaiah Rider have all stepped foot on the hallowed grounds.  

“It’s history down here. They can’t compete with that,” said Phil Bluefield, an Oakland native. 

Located on West MacArthur Boulevard and Webster Street, the playground is a step above other local spots not just because of history but also because of the talent the park attracts. In addition, many consider the history and level of competition at north Berkeley’s Live Oak Park to be among the best in the area. 

Players at Mosswood Playground, however, place the north Oakland courts on par with storied Rucker Park, located in New York City’s Central Park. 

“People have been talkin’ about the games at People’s Park. People’s Park is garbage compared to Mosswood. We’ll go to People’s and blow them out of the water,” Bluefield said. 

The pressure is on a Berkeley waterfront restaurant, Skates by the Bay, to pay its employees more money. 

City Council for the first time has decided to enforce a city ordinance that requires private employers on city property to pay their hourly workers a “living wage” of up to $11.37. The state’s minimum wage is $6.75. The city’s higher wage minimum is an attempt to make the area’s high cost of living more bearable. 

Skates is not complying with the living wage laws, according to city council members. On Tuesday City Council requested that the city manager’s office tell Skates, which sits on city-owned property at the Berkeley Marina, that it has breached its lease, and if it does not adhere to city regulations it could be forced to close. 

The decision came as Skates is appealing its failed attempt to oust the city’s living wage ordinance in court. 

Skate’s managers could not be reached for comment. 

Berkeley's Living Wage Ordinance, passed in June 2000, requires any employers who hold leases or contracts with the city to pay their workers $9.75 plus $1.62 in benefits, or $11.37 per hour with no benefits. 

The ordinance was amended in September of 2000 to include only businesses at the marina that employ more than six people and generate more than $350,000 annually. 

Councilmember Chris Worthington, who authored the 2000 ordinance and sponsored Tuesday’s decision to enforce it, said that the council intends to stand by its ordinance. 

“We want to be reasonable and give Skates appropriate legal notice and sufficient time,” he said. “But it has taken many months for the city to up the pressure on them and start to say, ‘Hey, this law has been on the books for more than year. It is about time you start paying living wage.’ ” 

In March a district court dismissed Skates’ 2001 lawsuit filed against the city in opposition to the living wage ordinance. The court claimed the restaurant had no legal basis to defy the city’s ordinance and should be required to pay the higher wages. 

The lawsuit, though, suggested that higher wages were unfair. 

Wages could cause “increased prices, consolidation of jobs, elimination of reduction of part-time employment, elimination of non-mandated benefits, reduced hours of operation or potentially closing of the restaurant depending on the total impact,” the suit stated. 

Skates, which is owned by multimillion dollar Restaurants Unlimited Corp. based in Seattle, also said the ordinance illegally changed the terms of its lease with the city. The wages could hurt their business, the restaurant owners added. 

Employees of Skates and an intervening union say that council's recent decision will be powerful. 

“Skates has done everything to avoid paying as long as they can, and now the City Council has taken this very strong move to finally get them to do it," said Martha Benitez of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE). 

With council’s action Tuesday, the city has legal authority to file a lawsuit against the restaurant or send a formal notice to terminate its lease. 

EBASE has already filed a suit against Skates, although the organization says that city intervention will have a greater impact on restaurant managers. 

In addition to raising wages, both the city and EBASE expect Skates to pay past wage differences owed to current and former employees. Skates' managers are holding the past wage difference in a separate bank account and are prepared to pay if they have to, according to Benitez. 

Skates’ employees were blocked from suing the restaurant over the ordinance because of the restaurant’s ongoing legal battle with city.  

“Skates took advantage of the fact that they have money and are not paying their employees during the lawsuit,” said City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque. “They sued as a practical matter because they knew while the constitutionality [of the ordinance] was being litigated, employees couldn't sue.” 

While a lawsuit would allow Skates to continue delaying payments to employees, city intervention will force the restaurant to address the issue, Albuquerque said. 

The City Council voted to oppose an initiative that would further limit the size of buildings, angering a number of Berkeley citizens that say Berkeley’s buildings are too tall and too dense. 

The height initiative, which will be on the city’s November ballot, calls for restricting building heights to three stories in residential neighborhoods and five stories downtown. Currently, buildings can be as tall as five stories in residential neighborhoods and seven downtown. 

The petition-driven initiative, which was written by Berkeley Party members Howie Muir and Martha Nicoloff, recently made the ballot. 

According to the initiative, buildings higher than three stories in residential neighborhoods block sunlight and views, increase traffic and overburden the city’s already decrepit sewer system. 

Opponents of the restricting initiative, though, say it would undermine the city’s goal to help ease the regional housing shortage.  

The city hopes to build 6,700 new housing units during the next 40 years. But according to a Department of Planning and Development report, if voters pass the initiative, the city’s potential for new housing could be reduced by as much as 66 percent. 

The council voted 8-0, with Councilmember Dona Spring abstaining, to approve a resolution opposing the height initiative. Councilmember Maudelle Shirek authored the resolution. 

About 20 height initiative supporters raised yellow placards during the council meeting Tuesday that read “We vote,” and “Hear the appeals,” referring to appeals filed against three proposed multi-unit developments that council was deliberating. [See story on this page.] 

Councilmember Linda Maio opposed the appeals and the height initiative because Berkeley needs more housing, she said. 

“I’m opposing this initiative because it’s too restrictive,” Maio said. “When I first moved to Berkeley [in 1970], there were more people living here than there are now. We need to build more affordable housing for working people like librarians, teachers and clerical staff.” 

Muir was on vacation and unavailable for comment and Nicoloff could not be reached Wednesday. 

Initiative supporters are also concerned that developers are getting incentives to build taller buildings from city planners, City Council and the Zoning Adjustments Board. The incentives, they claim, are not consistent with the city’s General Plan or the California Environmental Quality Act. 

Berkeley resident Douglas Press said the city public process is unfair. He unsuccessfully appealed the approval of a four-story, 35-unit development at 2700 San Pablo Ave. at Tuesday’s meeting. 

“Planning staff issued their analysis of our appeal on Friday and we were not even allowed to respond to their findings in writing,” he said. “It’s this type of summary approval by the Zoning Adjustments Board and the City Council that is creating support for the Height Initiative.” 

Mayor Shirley Dean sympathized with neighbors who feel that their neighborhoods are being over-developed, but agreed that the height initiative is “too blunt of a tool.” 

“Voting for housing is a difficult thing to do when people don’t want it in their neighborhood,” she said. “I hope that we will use this opportunity to discuss our [planning] process.” 

City Manager Weldon Rucker said the city’s unclear development guidelines often result in city staff being unfairly blamed for confusion in the process by angry neighbors and anti-growth factions. 

“Berkeley is a very challenging place to work,” Rucker said, gesturing toward a 4,500-page stack of reports that city staff prepared for Tuesday’s meeting. “Staff ends up becoming scapegoats because we are not dealing with this issue as a community.” 

He suggested that it’s time “to take a little time out” and figure exactly what type of development is needed and how to regulate it. 

To the Editor: 

Tom Bates says he's not a leftist, yet he is surrounded by leftists from every corner of town, all hoping against hope that he can unseat Shirley Dean. Tom Bates laments about the loss of rent control, a most important issue to leftists. Just what does Bates mean?  

Passage of Costa Hawkins (vacancy decontrol) does not mean that rent control has ended in Berkeley; it has just been modified from the draconian environment that prevailed under the leadership of former mayor Loni Hancock. Thousands of tenants throughout Berkeley enjoy low rents and eviction controls virtually unprecedented in any American city, yet Tom Bates says rent control is a thing of the past. 

Tom Bates says he can work with both sides to solve disputes. Does he mean he'll convince leftist councilmembers like Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington to change their minds on important issues like housing, development, and sensible conversion of warehouse space? What specifically are the disputes that Mr. Bates hopes to resolve? 

Just what is Tom Bates up to? Is he temporarily disassociating himself from the left, very conveniently, to give us the impression that he is a moderate? Sounds like Berkeley voters are in for a slick campaign of deception from Mr. Bates. 

Leon Mayeri 

Berkeley

If you've been itching to push your acoustical music boundaries look no further than the Freight and Salvage Coffee House tonight. With their three-part harmonies grounded in pop-folk sensibility, the Bluehouse, a trio of female musicians from Australia, is sure to expand your horizons. 

Critics compare the Bluehouse to the likes of wistful kd lang and the harmonic Indigo Girls, but with the added benefit of humor. And, it's a tad more hard-driving, yet is soulful, sultry and fun. 

“To give a description of our music is the 64 thousand dollar question,” said bass player Jacqueline Walter while on a stop-over at Lake Tahoe.  

“We try to push the boundaries of where you can go acoustically. We're all influenced by different musicians, such as Suzanne Vega, Michelle Shocked and Chrissie Hynde. But I also like mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.” 

The other members of the band include Samantha Harley on guitar and Bernadette Carroll also on guitar. All have done the varied odd-jobs before coming together as a group. Walter pierced bodies, Harley taught school, and Carroll at one point was a synchronized swimmer.  

The three met in a pub in Melbourne in 1995. The name Bluehouse, said Walter, was the best they could come up with at the time. 

“This is a true story,” said Walter. “We had an hour to go before our first show and we had no name. So we all put three random words and three random colors into a hat and picked. Bluehouse was the best out of all three. I mean, we couldn't really have gone with Green Giraffe or Orange Toaster. Well, I suppose we could have.” 

The three musicians come from parts of Australia. Walter was born in Melbourne. Harley and Carroll were both born in Sydney. Scheduled stops on their tour include the New Glasgow Jubillee in Nova Scotia, and the Mountain Stage Newsong Festival in Charlestown, W. Va. They have released four albums on various, independent labels. Their latest album is called “6 Minutes of Breathable Air.” 

For more information visit the band’s web site at: www.bluehouse.net/ 

WHO: The Bluehouse 

WHAT: acoustical music 

WHEN: 8 tonight 

WHERE: Freight and Salvage  

Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. 

COST: $15.50 in advance/ $16.50  

at the door 

INFORMATION: 548-1761 

info@freightandsalvage.org 

Oakland Tech High senior Leon Powe verbally committed to Cal Wednesday, providing the cornerstone of what could be head coach Ben Braun’s best recruiting class ever. 

Powe, who is at the Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas with the Slam ‘N Jam Soldiers this week, is widely considered one of the top 10 seniors in the nation. The 6-foot-7 power forward, who averaged 27 points per game for Oakland Tech last season, isn’t playing at the tournament, as he tore his ACL in May and is currently rehabilitating following surgery. He said the recovery is going smoothly and expects to be at full strength for the high school season. 

Recruits aren’t allowed to sign official letters of intent until November, and Powe indicated he committed early in hopes of encouraging other top players to join him in Berkeley. 

“I know that if I commit today, there’s a good chance more players will want to come play with me,” he said. “I figured I was going to commit (to Cal) anyway, so now we can probably get some great players.” 

Braun already has verbal commitments from Seattle wingman Wesley Washington and small forward Dominic McGuire of San Diego, but neither is as highly-rated as Powe. Also, fellow Soldier Marquis Kately, a Riordan High (San Francisco) graduate, has committed to Cal but needs at least a year at a prep school to qualify academically, which means he could be part of Powe’s freshman class.  

The Bears have a maximum of five scholarships to give for the 2003 freshman class, so if Powe, Washington, McGuire and Kately all qualify and attend Cal, only one more spot is available. The Golden Bears are pursuing Oakland High point guard Ayinde Ubaka, who also plays for Slam ‘n Jam, and Powe said he might give his AAU teammate and Oakland Athletic League rival a friendly push in the right direction. 

“I’ll be talking to Ayinde all summer,” Powe said. “I want three of us to play together. I know I can count on them. Soldiers don’t back down from nobody. In the heat of battle, they won’t run from anybody.” 

Powe also dismissed the possibility of heading straight to the NBA from high school, especially after suffering a serious knee injury that has wiped out his summer season. 

Powe’s short list of schools included Duke, Maryland, Kansas and North Carolina along with Cal. Duke was considered the front-runner until the Blue Devils got a commitment from forward Kris Humphries of Minnesota, who plays the same position as Powe, in May. 

Cal has been recruiting Powe since he was a freshman at Oakland Tech, and the player has attended Golden Bear games for the past two seasons. Powe cited his relationship with Braun as a factor in his decision, as well as the chance to play where his family and friends can watch him. Family has become a bigger concern since the death of Powe’s mother, Connie Landry, in March. 

“I think it’ll help my family a lot to have me here,” Powe said. “My little brothers and sisters need a role model, and I know they look up to me.” 

Powe said he has taken the SAT twice and hasn’t achieved a qualifying score, but he hasn’t taken any prep classes and is confident he’ll qualify. 

A group of Oakland parents, working with Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, has extended the life of an Oakland childcare center that was slated to close its doors next month. 

In April the Oakland-based Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, fiscal sponsor for the Olam Yeladim childcare center, announced that it would not renew the program’s lease when it expires Aug. 31. 

But last week, three months of intense fund raising, strategic planning and advocacy, by parents and program administrators, culminated into a one-year extension of the lease. 

“I’m very excited,” said Josh Kramer, who runs the center that sits on the Oakland-Piedmont border. “It would have been a shame if the programs had disappeared.” 

Now parents and administrators say the long-term health of Olam Yeladim depends upon the center’s ability to raise funds and recruit participants for a program that many thought was dead. 

“We’re on a heightened state of alert and we are enrolling people as fast as we can,” said Henry Epstein, one of the parents involved in the drive.  

Marianne Smith, another parent, said she is confident that enrollment goals will be met and cited fund raising as the key to building a viable long-term program. The parent group has already secured $16,000 in pledges and is looking to raise more. 

Olam Yeladim serves about 95 children from the East Bay, Jewish and non-Jewish. The program, which serves preschool- through elementary school-age children, provides foreign language training, sports, arts and sewing, among other activities.  

The story of the center’s demise, and resurgence, is a complicated one involving three separate agencies – Oakland’s Jewish Community Services, which operates the child care center, the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay and the Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, based in Berkeley.  

In April, the federation cited declining enrollment and an estimated $70,000 budget deficit at the child care center when it decided to shut down the program. 

Stacey Simon, the federation’s director of marketing and public relations, said a lack of parental involvement at the center also played a role. 

“There had been some concern that there wasn’t active community participation,” Simon said. 

But parents say the real problem was a lack of communication between the federation and the community. They were caught off-guard by the April announcement. 

“There was a lot of miscommunication,” Smith said. “We didn’t know what was going on. But as soon as we found out, we were upset.” 

After the April announcement, parents worked to develop a business plan and negotiate the lease extension. One parent even agreed to serve as a guarantor should the program run a deficit next year. 

Throughout the process, the parents worked with the Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, which was assigned by the federation in April to oversee the program. 

Last week the parents and Berkeley-Richmond center secured a one-year lease extension with an option to bail out early if Olam Yeladim does not prove financially viable. 

But Michele Schwartz, president of the Berkeley-Richmond center board, said she is confident in the financial plan. 

“I feel very good about it,” she said. “I think it’s a very solid plan for the coming year.” 

Smith credited the federation, which is supporting the move through the Berkeley-Richmond center, for reconsidering its April decision. 

“They listened and they were willing to reconsider,” Smith said. 

Simon, of the federation, said the parents’ surge in involvement was the key to shifting the federation’s approach. 

“The federation has committed itself to partnering with the community to provide services,” she said. “You see the support and you work with it.” 

PASADENA — An asteroid more than a mile across could strike the Earth in 2019 but further observations will likely show it will turn out to provide no more than a close shave, astronomers said Wednesday . 

There is a slight chance the asteroid, dubbed 2002 NT7, could smack the Earth on Feb. 1, 2019, causing a global catastrophe, astronomers said. 

However, they stress the odds of such an encounter are about 1-in-250,000 — and shrinking. 

“One way or another, this thing is coming off the risk page,” said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA’s near-Earth object program office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

Astronomers with the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Project used a New Mexico telescope to discover the space rock on July 9, when it was about 84 million miles from Earth. 

More than 100 follow-up observations have allowed astronomers to calculate six other potential impact dates in 2044, 2053, 2060 and 2078. 

The asteroid will remain in the sights of astronomers for another year at least, allowing them to further refine their estimates of its trajectory on its 837-day orbit around the sun. 

“At that point, if it’s still a threat, I’d start to get a little concerned, but not before then,” said Gareth Williams, associate director of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass. 

In other cases where potentially Earth-crossing asteroids have been discovered, it has typically taken just days or weeks to determine they pose no threat. This asteroid, however, is larger than most and has attracted more interest. 

Were the paths of 2002 NT7 and the Earth to cross, the object would cause widespread devastation. It would enter the atmosphere at nearly 64,000 mph and strike with the explosive energy of 1.2 million megatons of TNT, according to JPL estimates. 

“We really wouldn’t want this object to fall on us,” Williams said. 

The odds of the asteroid doing so remain slim. The 2019 date ranks a one on the zero-to-10 Torino scale, meaning the chances of a collision are about the same as a random object of the same size hitting the Earth in the next few decades. 

Last month, an asteroid the size of a soccer field missed the Earth by 75,000 miles — less than one-third of the distance to the moon in one of the closest known approaches by objects of its size. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The judge presiding over the Cary Stayner murder trial wrongly excluded the public and media from the courtroom earlier this month, a California appeals court ruled Wednesday. 

To make room for potential panelists during jury selection on July 15, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thomas C. Hastings briefly emptied the San Jose courtroom and continued court proceedings in the absence of public witnesses. 

The case was brought by The Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News. The media argued that Hastings violated the public’s right to access court proceedings. 

The San Jose-based 6th District Court of Appeal agreed, and ordered transcripts of the proceeding to become available within five days. 

Stayner, a former motel handyman, faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering Carole Sund, 42, her daughter, Juli, 15, of Eureka, and their Argentine friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, in February 1999 near Yosemite National Park. 

Stayner, 40, already is serving a life sentence without chance of parole after pleading guilty in federal court to killing Yosemite National Park nature guide Joie Armstrong. 

The highly publicized trial was moved to San Jose from Mariposa County. 

Meanwhile, Hastings on Thursday is expected to hold a hearing requested by several media outlets who are challenging the judge’s decision to bar media interviews inside the courthouse and immediately outside the building. The media, including the Fresno Bee and Santa Rosa Press Democrat, contend that Hastings’ order violates reporters’ constitutionally protected rights of speech. 

OAKLAND – City Council moved Tuesday night to enter into an exclusive arrangement with a developer to build on what has been deemed as the most appropriate site for a new baseball-only stadium without including the Oakland A's in the deal. 

But the council members made it clear that the exclusive negotiating agreement with Forest City Residential West to try to draw a mixed housing and retail development plan for the 800-acre site that has been called the “uptown” is not a snub to the city's baseball team, as some had maintained. 

To show that they plan to continue talking to the A's in earnest about a new ballpark, the City Council OK'd a seven-year lease extension at Network Associates Coliseum and unveiled two nearby site options where a stadium could go. 

But even those preliminary sites are useless, council members and city officials said, until the team steps forward and makes clear what its long-term goals are. 

“Nothing can happen with a new stadium until we hear from the team itself,” said City Manager Robert Bobb, as he presented a report on the efforts of the city to scout for a new ballpark to the council. “At the end of the day, it's really up to the A's.” 

City officials have repeatedly noted that even though there has been a lot of talk about a baseball stadium in the uptown area -- located north of City Hall along Telegraph Avenue -- the team has not publicly announced where it would like a new stadium to go. 

At a news conference earlier this month in which officials announced the tentative lease extension that the council approved today, team co-owner Steve Schott dodged questions about the team's preference for a new home.  

City officials say that even if the A's decide that they want to move forward on the uptown site, the exclusive negotiating agreement does not preclude the team from going to Forest City and trying to work a plan with them. 

For his part, Forest City president Bill Kin said he is ready to entertain a reasonable proposal for the A's. 

Although many A's fans spoke in favor of building a baseball stadium in Oakland to secure the team, others were worried about the financial implications of such a move. 

Oakland resident Joel Kurtz, for one, said he was opposed to any public funding for the ballpark. 

“If the A's would like to pay for this stadium, as the Giants have done, I say fine, put it wherever you want,” said Kurtz. 

RICHMOND – Richmond police and U.S. Coast Guard officials are hoping to get word out to the public about a coalition of public safety agencies joining forces to protect the Bay Area from maritime and terrorist acts. 

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Marc Warren said the marine and air units of two dozen law enforcement departments and the Coast Guard that formed the “Neptune Coalition” in February have been meeting each month to coordinate their efforts. 

Member agencies have been taking turns hosting the meeting.  

Richmond police Sgt. Enos Johnson said that although the group was formed in response to the Sept. 11 airliner hijackings, it's still in the “forming stages.” 

Johnson said the group pools resources of member agencies including the state Department of Fish and Game, Highway Patrol and Office of Emergency Services, federal agencies like the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Department of Transportation and Customs Service with those of several Bay Area police and sheriff's departments. 

He said that in addition to preparing for and protecting against terrorism on San Francisco Bay waters, the Neptune Coalition is also helping to coordinate law enforcement for public events like Fleet Week and this year's Independence Day holiday period, when members combined efforts to provide nearly 24-hour patrols logging 400 patrol hours during the five day period. 

OAKLAND – The agency that provides communal cars for Bay Area residents is teaming up with BART in its efforts to expand services. 

Representatives from City CarShare announced today that their cars are now available at the Rockridge and Lake Merritt BART stations in Oakland, as well as at the Glen Park Station in San Francisco. 

The hope is that having the CarShare vehicles at major transportation hubs will entice commuters to give up their own cars regardless of where they live. 

The program already offers services within walking distance of nine other BART stations. 

"This brings us even closer to being the regional transportation network that we want to become,'' said the nonprofit's East Bay director, Daryl C. Norcott. 

The service began operating last march with 50 members. It now boasts a membership of 1,600 people who share 60 cars in Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley and Palo Alto. 

With little ceremony, the City Council dismissed three development appeals Tuesday night, clearing the way for 179 new units of housing in Berkeley. 

The council voted on the appeals after approving a controversial resolution opposing a ballot initiative that would put new height limits on future developments. Councilmembers said the height initiative’s restrictions would hinder the construction of much-needed housing. 

The Zoning Adjustments Board had previously approved use permits for the three housing projects discussed. All projects were proposed by Berkeley-based Panoramic Interests.  

The projects include a 44-unit project with 3,000 square feet of commercial space at 2119 University Ave. near Shattuck Avenue; a 100-unit project with 8,500 square feet of commercial space at 2471 Shattuck Ave. near Haste Street; and a 35-unit project with 5,200 square feet of commercial space at 2700 San Pablo Ave. near Derby Street. 

Based on staff reports that found little basis for the appeals, the council upheld the ZAB’s approvals.  

The appeals had cited too little parking, too dense of development and a lack of conformity to the neighborhood aesthetics regarding height and design. 

One appellant, Douglas Press, who lives near the San Pablo Avenue project, was shocked that City Council dismissed the appeals without input from the neighbors. 

“We submitted this appeal with over 400 signatures and the council chose not to hear those people,” he said. 

Panoramic Interests Project Manager Chris Hudson said he wasn’t surprised by council’s decision. 

“These are all very reasonable projects,” he said. “We hope to begin building them in March.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Educational toy maker LeapFrog Enterprise Inc. jumped into the turbulent stock market Wednesday with an initial public offering at $13 per share. 

The IPO, priced at the low end of the company’s targeted range of $13 to $16 per share, raised $111.9 million before expenses. 

LeapFrog sold 8.61 million shares and stockholders sold another 390,000 shares. The Emeryville-based company is best known for a hot-selling high-tech toy called LeapPad that helps teach preschool children how to read. 

The offering delivered another windfall for two of the country’s wealthiest and most provocative businessmen — software mogul Larry Ellison and fallen financier Michael Milken. 

Ellison, Oracle Corp.’s flamboyant chief executive officer, and Milken, convicted of securities fraud in perhaps the biggest stock market scandal of the 1980s, control 82.8 percent of LeapFrog’s voting stock through a limited liability corporation called Knowledge Universe. 

The two men own Knowledge Universe with Milken’s brother Lowell, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Knowledge Universe’s 33.2 million shares of LeapFrog stock were worth $431.6 million after Wednesday’s IPO. The company’s shares are expected to begin trading Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “LF.” 

LeapFrog forged ahead with its IPO amid dicey market conditions that scared away several other companies. 

All four of the other companies that had planned to go public this week indefinitely postponed their offerings until the market settles down, according to Kyle Huske, an analyst with IPO.com 

Theater chain Cinemark and airline Republic Airways were among the companies to delay their IPOs, Huske said. 

LeapFrog’s unique blend of rapid revenue growth and a recent history of profits apparently helped reassure investors in the jittery market. 

Bolstered by the success of its LeapPad reading tool, the company’s sales have soared from $71.9 million in 1999 to $313.2 million last year. After several years of losses, LeapFrog posted a $9.7 million profit last year, according to its SEC filings. 

The company’s LeapPad product line accounted for 54 percent of LeapFrog’s 2001 sales. The company made 78 percent of its sales through four retailers — Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Kmart and Target. 

LeapFrog has written off $6.4 million of the $11 million that bankrupt Kmart owes the company, according to SEC documents. 

LeapFrog’s sales through the first half of the year continued to grow at a rapid rate, based on preliminary data that LeapFrog included in its most recent SEC filing. 

Through June 30, the company estimated its revenue this year at $100.9 million, more than doubling its sales of $48.3 million at the same time last year. LeapFrog estimated it lost $12.5 million during the first half of this year, down from a $15.9 million loss at the same time last year. 

Like most toy makers, LeapFrog generates most of its sales and virtually all of its profit during the final half of the year. 

LeapFrog CEO Michael Wood, a former lawyer specializing in venture capital, founded the company in 1995 after he became frustrated with the lack of educational toys for his son, then a preschooler. 

In 1997, Wood sold the company to Knowledge Universe, which turned the CEO duties over to Thomas Kalinske, who had run video game maker Sega of America for six years. Kalinske relinquished LeapFrog’s CEO duties to Wood four months ago, but remains the company’s chairman. 

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Handspring Inc. has stopped shipping two models of its new Treo handheld devices after discovering some of them won’t light up. 

A defective component in the backlight assembly has caused the screens of some Treo 90 and Treo 270 models to go dark over time, making them unreadable, company spokesman Allen Bush said Wednesday. 

The Mountain View-based company expects to begin shipping the products again, after replacing the faulty part, within two to three weeks. Customers with defective models will get free replacements. 

Company officials would not disclose how many units were affected but said tests showed only a “small amount” of them malfunctioned, and that most Treo 90 and 270 models should not experience the problem. 

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge ordered over 4 million acres to remain as critical habitat for the California red-legged frog Wednesday until a ruling can be made on a dispute between developers and conservationists. 

The two parties have been fighting over rights to the land since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated it as a critical habitat in March 2001. The 4 million acres cover parts of 28 of the state’s 58 counties, from Tehama and Plumas counties in the north to the Mexican border. 

Conservationists have long fought to preserve the area for the frog, which has already been listed as “threatened” and therefore covered under the Endangered Species Act. They’ve fought developers who want to build on the land. 

Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., approved a proposed settlement to eliminate the frog’s habitat protections in the 4 million acres. That order followed a lawsuit by a developers group that claimed the economic analysis that led to the original designation was flawed. 

But Leon reinstated protections temporarily Wednesday after conservation groups complained they weren’t part of the negotiations for the previous settlement. 

“All we really wanted was a fair shot to get our opinions heard by the court,” said Richard Stack of the Jumping Frog Research Institute. 

Paul Campos, a lawyer for the Home Builders Association of Northern California, said the developers group, which includes his client, had expected the order. 

Builders realized Leon had signed the settlement they had proposed before hearing responses from the opposition. 

The order signed Wednesday allows the time for both sides to file responses before the judge makes a final ruling on the future of the land. 

Despite the setback, his group remains confident that the court will eventually rule in their favor, Campos said. 

Encouraged by the order, Peter Galvin of the Oakland-based Center for Biological Diversity said the conservationist group remains “guardedly optimistic.” 

LOS ANGELES — A Superior Court jury awarded $14.9 million to a talent agency that claimed The Walt Disney Co. underpaid commissions to the creator of the show “Home Improvement.” 

After a two-week trial, the jury found by a vote of 11-1 that Disney failed to pay agreed-upon commissions after the show, which starred Tim Allen, became a hit on the ABC Television network. 

The Agency for the Performing Arts represented the show’s creator, Matt Williams. The show aired on ABC from 1991 to 1999. 

Disney said it is considering an appeal. 

“We are disappointed by the verdict, particularly since we had prevailed on the vast majority of the claims in this case,” Disney said in a statement. “We believe we had satisfied our obligation to APA. However, the jury disagreed with our interpretation of the definition of base license fee. There are solid grounds for appeal.” 

Larry Feldman, an attorney for the agency, argued that Disney agreed to pay a commission on the “base license fee” that it received from ABC for each episode. In 1991, that fee was $410,000. 

Feldman said the deal with Disney called for the commission to rise, assuming that the base license fee would rise at a rate of 4 percent per year. 

By the end of the series, ABC was paying Disney $3 million per episode, but Disney was paying APA a commission only on the original fee, plus the 4 percent growth rate. 

BEVERLY HILLS — Colombian folk singer Carlos Vives collected a leading six Latin Grammy nominations Wednesday, including album, record and song of the year. 

Vives, who won a mainstream Grammy this year for best traditional tropical Latin album, was recognized again by the separate Latin Recording Academy for his album and song “Dejame Entrar,” which translates to “Let Me In.” 

He also had nominations for contemporary tropical album, tropical song and music video. Vives, a former television actor, performs in the style of Vallenato, the traditional music of Colombia’s northern plains, which is known for its simple lyrics about village life. 

“Me and my people are very happy,” Vives said through a translator. “This shows that tradition music and rhythms that come from the heart can have appeal no matter the language.” 

Salsa singer Celia Cruz, a two-time Latin Grammy winner, had four nominations that included album and record of the year, best salsa album and best music video for her album and song “La Negra Tiene Tumbao.” 

Other top album nominees were “Sereno” by Miguel Bose, “Jobiniando” by Ivan Lins and “MTV Unplugged” by Alejandro Sanz. Record of the year nominees included Sanz’s “Y Solo Se Me Ocurre Amarte,” La Ley’s “Mentira” and “Se Me Olvido” by Gian Marco. 

Colombian rocker Juanes, who won best new artist, rock solo vocal album and rock song last year, was nominated this time for song of the year, rock song and music video for “A Dios Le Pido.” 

“It’s like a miracle. It’s crazy,” he said after the nomination ceremony. 

The third annual Latin Grammys are planned for Sept. 18 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, which is also the new home of the Academy Awards. It will be televised live on CBS. 

The nearly 4,000-member Latin Recording Academy added two new categories this year, best contemporary tropical album and best Christian album, bringing the total to 40. 

The Latin Grammy’s sophomore ceremony, scheduled for Sept. 11, was canceled last year after the terrorist attacks. The awards were later announced at a small news conference. 

The event had been scheduled in Miami, but was abruptly moved to Los Angeles less than a month before the ceremony. The move occurred after academy and local officials could not agree on where anti-Castro protesters would be permitted to picket the show. 

“This year, the academy voters recognized excellence from Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Brazil and beyond,” said Enrique Fernandez, executive director of the Latin Recording Academy. “This shows how the nomination process truly salutes excellence in music regardless of where it is produced.” 

An ongoing air study at the popular Harrison soccer fields in west Berkeley continues to show elevated levels of particulate matter, which some say can aggravate respiratory problems. 

Particulate matter is pollution, small airborne pieces of liquid or solid that originate from a variety of sources. It is most often associated with exhaust from automobiles, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management Web site. 

The findings come despite the installation of a long-planned dust suppression system that promised to improve safety standards for employees at the Berkeley Transfer Station. City officials had hoped the system would also reduce particulate levels at Harrison Field. 

The study revealed that each month since April the airborne matter exceeded state Environmental Protection Agency standards by nine to 15 times. 

And according to city Hazardous Materials Supervisor Nabil Al-Hadithy, the tests show that air at Harrison Field is twice as concentrated with the particulate matter as downtown San Jose, and three times as high as downtown San Francisco.  

Despite the findings, Al-Hadithy said there is no hard evidence that a significant health risk exists. 

“City staff is not going to make any assessments about possible health risks until further analysis is completed,” Al-Hadithy said.  

The field is used heavily by the Alameda-Contra Costa Soccer League, which consists mostly of players between the ages of 6 and 18. Despite the lack of specific information about health risks, the city posted a sign at the field warning users about possible risks from particulate matter. 

Particulate matter can be hazardous to children and the elderly who are more sensitive to respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis, according to the BAAQMD.  

Particulate Matter 10, which is responsible for the high levels at Harrison Field, consists of particles about 10 micrograms in size. PM 10 is not as dangerous as Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM 2.5), which is much smaller and embeds deeper in the lung’s membrane. Data from the last four months of the air study shows PM 2.5 has not exceeded state standards, although 25 days of data are missing from the May and June reports.  

The field is adjacent to the Berkeley Transfer Station, where large amounts of dust are kicked up when waste is moved from trucks to hauling containers. In May, the city installed a $60,000 dust suppression system. As a byproduct of the installation, city officials had hoped the system would lower the level of PM 10 at Harrison Field. 

However, the results show PM 10 exceeded state EPA standards at a greater rate after the system was installed. In March, before the system was put in, the air at the field had elevated PM 10 levels on nine days. During May and June there were 11 elevated days in each month. 

Air quality could be a consideration in a recent proposal to build the Ursula Sherman Village, a transition home for 132 adults and children who are struggling to get off the streets. Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency is developing plans for the home, which would provide a variety of services including education, job training and an on-site health center. The project is proposed at the southwest edge of the field.  

Community Environmental Advisory Commissioner L A Wood, who is also a candidate for Council District 4, said the study ought to change its focus. 

“I would like the city to take their blinders off and look at the industry around the park instead of just the freeway and transfer station,” Wood said.

To the Editor: 

It is ironic that stories suggesting Colin Powell is in line to be the next vice-president are appearing the very time that President Bush is going to force the Secretary of State and his department to eat a healthy dose of crow.  

Unless the President has an abrupt change of heart, he will very soon order Mr. Powell or one of his close aides to announce that the U.S. is permanently blocking all funds for the United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA] family planning programs. 

Last year, it was Secretary Powell who told Congress how important UNFPA's work was and how the administration supported international family planning for the well-being of women and children. At his urging, the President asked for $25 million for UNFPA and a bipartisan majority of both houses of Congress approved $34 million in a bill signed by President Bush last December. In January, the President inexplicably announced a "hold" on these funds pending a review of UNFPA's work in China [which more than 60 foreign diplomatic delegations had already reviewed and reported as exemplary and which no U.S. funding goes to, anyway.] The President's hand-picked team went to China and reported that UNFPA was doing good work and was helping China move away from its coercive population policies [that from "sources" since the White House has refused to release the report.] 

If the president is withholding the UNFPA funds only to appease his more vocal domestic supporters, it's hardly surprising. He owes his job, in some part, to those people. If withholding these funds only kept the UNFPA from saving the lives of 4,700 women and 77,000 children under the age of five or from preventing 800,000 abortions but served some larger foreign policy initiative, I would have been troubled, but perhaps understood that there is some “bigger picture.” 

But Bush's decision to withhold UNFPA funds is not only bad for women and children in the developing world, it is terrible foreign policy. This decision puts us at odds with our most important allies [The United Kingdom, Japan, Germany] and is counter to our strategic interests everywhere in the world. 

So Mr. Powell will eat his crow, the domestic radical right ideologues will brag of a victory, and our friends in the international community will wonder what has happened to America. Meanwhile, thousands of women and children who could have been saved will die, and and an outstanding Secretary of State will be left to ponder whether his job is to conduct foreign policy or to do the bidding of Mr. Bush's radical right. 

Peter H. Kostmayer 

President 

Population Connection 

Washington, DC

Wednesday, July 24 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Pharmacist Fred Mayer prescriptions and their costs, etc. 

548-9696  

Free 

Getting Help When You Need It 

7:30 to 9 p.m.  

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annex A 

350 Hawthorne Ave. Oakland 

Free interactive workshop to help caregivers obtain free assistance, deal with paid in-home help, and create plans to care for loved ones. 

869-6737 

Free 

"Green Building" Workshop 

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Meeting Room A, 2090 Kittredge 

Henry Siegel, Architect, on how to use building materials that are healthier for your family and the environment.  

614-1699 

Thursday, July 25 

Combat Medic: World War II 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Memoir presentation by San Francisco physician John Kerner, describing experiences as a combat medic in World War II.  

843-3533 

Free 

California Landscapes: A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

For more information: 527- 4140. 

Free 

Saturday, July 27 

Test Ride Kestrel Bicycles 

11 a.m.-1 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

Free 

Graywater Workshop  

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave 

Learn the ins and outs of reusing water with the Guerrilla Graywater Girls 

548-2220 x233  

$10 members, $15 non ( no one turned away for lack of funds) 

Santa Fe Right of Way Path Walk 

10 a.m. 

Meet at the Ohlone Greenway at Cedar St, in Cedar Rose Park. 

A new path opportunity, recently funded by the City Council. 

649-9874, or http://www.internettime.com/path 

"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  

Grand Summer Rummage Sale 

9 a.m. to 4 p.m 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Cedar and Bonita Streets 

A benefit for ANSWER- Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. Donations and volunteers are needed 

(415) 821-6545. 

Sunday, July 28 

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. 

(510) 527-4140 Free 

Tuesday, July 30 

The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Reading and discussion of Cathleen Miller's personal account of moving from San Francisco to Amish Pennsylvania to restore an old house. 

843-3533 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31 

Twilight Tours at UC Botanical Gardens 

(through August 28) 5:30 p.m.  

200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA.  

Tour the garden at twilight with an expert horticulturist every Wednesday. 

643-2755  

Free with garden admission.  

Mountain Adventure Seminars: Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 p.m.-9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Thursday, August 1 

Putting it Together 

7:00 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave. 

Middle school students of Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp perform dance techniques, spoken word, theater. 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan New National Historic Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Senior Center, 2525 Macdonald Ave. 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Nutrition Career Open House 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Institute of Educational Therapy, 706 Gilman St. 

Become a Nutrition Educator or Nutrition Consultant. 

558-1711 for reservations 

Free 

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 rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

10th Annual Stroll for Epilepsy 

Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo 

The public is invited to join the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California at Six Flags Marine World for a 5K walk/fundraiser. 

1-800-632-3532 for registration 

Storytelling at the Berkeley Public Library 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Storyteller Joel Ben Izzy will present a variety of stories filled with warmth, humor, drama in the Children's Story Room. 

981-6223 

Sick Plant Clinic 

9 a.m. to Noon  

200 Centennial Drive 

UC Botanical Garden; First Saturday of every month. UC plant pathology and entomology experts will diagnose what ails your plant. 

643 - 2755. 

Sunday, August 4 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Monday, August 5 

National Organization for Women East Bay Chapter monthly  

meeting 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 

Discussion of harassment of females employed by the City of Oakland Fire Department 

Monthly meeting: NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN Oakland 

549-2970, 287-8948  

Arts Education Department Open House 

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. 

Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave, Richmond 

Meet teachers, see studios/galleries, info about classes in the arts. 

620-6772 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan a New National Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Public Library, Whittlesey Room 

325 Civic Center Plaza (near Macdonald Ave. and 25th St.) 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Saturday, August 10 

Poetry in the Plaza 

2:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge 

Quarter hour readings by well-known poets, dedicated to June Jordan. 

981-6100 

Free 

Tomato Tasting 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Tasting and cooking demonstrations  

Free 

Tea Bag Folding 

2 to 4 p.m.  

Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave, Albany 

Drop-in crafts program for ages 5 to adult.  

526-3720 ext 19. 

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. 

Monday, August 12 

The First East Bay Senior Games 

10:30 a.m. clinic, 12:30 p.m. tee-off (approximate times) 

Mira Vista Golf and Country Club 

7901 Cutting Blvd. El Cerrito 

A golfing event for the 50+ crowd, in association with the California and National Senior Games Association. 

891-8033 (registration deadline July 29) 

Varying entry fees. 

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 

Saturday, August 17 

Author Reading and Signing: Haunani-Kay Trask 

3 p.m.  

Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave., Berkeley 

Meet Hawaiian author Haunani-Kay Trask. 

548-2350 

Free 

Cajun & More 

Four Live Bands, crafts fair, Cajun food, dance lessons, micro-brewery beer & dance floor. 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, August 18 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

For more information: (510) 527-7470 

Thursday, August 22 

Film: "Ralph Ellison: An American Journey" 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Berkeley filmmaker Avon Kirkland's stirring documentary about the great American author, Ralph Ellison. 

981-6205 

Free 

Friday, August 23 

Teen Playreaders present Bizarre Shorts 

(through August 24) 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - North Branch 

1170 The Alameda 

Playreaders present 20 short, bizarre plays, contemporary and classic. 

644-6850 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

Roller Derby & Big Time Wrestling 

6:30 p.m. 

Richmond Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza 

Roller Derby: Bay Bombers vs. Brooklyn Red Devils, Big Time Wrestling superstars 

636-9300 

$10 Advance, $20 Door 

Monday, September 2 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter  

6:30 PM.  

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley  

Chapter’s monthly meeting. Speaker: multicultural historian, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, received 

the prestigious Valitutti Award for non fiction.  

549-2970 

Free 

Sunday, September 8 

Lifelong Medical Care First Annual 5K Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser 

9 a.m. to noon 

West Berkeley 

Individual and team participation, a health fair, food, prizes, live music, free insurance eligibility screening - fun for all ages. 

704-6010 

To the Editor: 

The recent tragedy of Samantha Runnion reminds me that there is a wonderful workbook available for elementary-school-age children and their parents called Know & Tell: A Child Abuse Prevention Workbook for Parents and Young Children, by Yvette Lehman.  

The workbook, written in progressively intimate language that is warm and nonthreatening, offers a simple, step-by-step way for children to learn how to assess possibly dangerous situations and a tells how to deal with the confusion and fear associated with them.  

I highly recommend it to be used by families and schools. The author can be reached at 647-3442 or at yklehman@earthlink.net. 

Estelle Jelinek 

Berkeley

Medical staff at Berkeley’s only hospital with an emergency room got the go-ahead from city leaders Tuesday to upgrade the interior of its aging emergency department. 

The renovation was 10 years in the planning at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center when it was held up last spring by two appeals filed by neighbors in the south Berkeley neighborhood. Noise and the removal of trees were the residents’ chief concerns. 

But just hours before City Council was expected to rule on the appeals, both were dropped, according to City Manager Weldon Rucker. The appellants had called him late Tuesday afternoon. 

The appellants could not immediately be reached for comment, but neighbors indicated that an agreement had been struck with hospital officials that lead to the dismissal of the appeals. 

“The neighborhood got a lot of assurances,” said Mary Barclay, president of south Berkeley’s Bateman Neighborhood Association. “Over the past four weeks, everyone has worked hard to make sure the issues were going to be resolved.” 

Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board approved a use permit for hospital work in April, but the two appeals had delayed the project. 

While the neighborhood has largely supported the hospital’s renovation project, deliberations about the way it should be done are what racked the planning process for the past decade. Concerns ranged from traffic and parking to the appearance of the new department. 

With the appeals dropped, hospital officials can move forward with expansion of the emergency department and with relocation of the radiology department. 

The hospital’s emergency department sees more than 45,000 patients each year, according to Alta Bates staff. The emergency department was built in the 1960s to accommodate only 12,000 patients, hospital spokesperson Carolyn Kemp said. 

Dismissal of the appeals allows certification of the project’s environmental impact report to stand and it moves forward operational guidelines that the hospital must act under once the new facilities are completed.

To the Editor: 

Pardon my ignorance, but I always thought breakfast grits were nothing more than coarsely ground corn. Silly me. I read the ingredients on the box and discovered I should have earned a degree in chemistry before I sat down to eat my morning cereal. 

No withstanding the fact I have no idea whether the corn is genetically modified because chemical companies fight tooth and nail to prevent dissemination of such information, the white corn is degerminated, I suppose to prevent grits from growing a corn stalk in my stomach – illegally. [And you thought abortion only applied to humans.] 

Chemists seem to love the hydrogenation of added oils. Don’t worry, it’s only partial. Perhaps too much may blow a paying customer away? After all, and according to the Websters Dictionary, hydrogen is an inflammable gas. 

Cereal companies, being health conscience though, also add soy lecithin instead of the more expensive egg yolk-amongst sundry and suspect ingredients too numerous to mention due to lack of box and column space. 

Of course, there are the ever present preservations that hold the grits in [perp¬etuity, just in case I plan to reincarnate and again have a taste for grits. Guess I’ll just have to grow and grind my own corn, organic, naturally. 

Charmaine Soedat 

Berkeley

Berkeley playgrounds are among the safest in the country, according to a nationwide study by the Consumer Federation of America and the Public Interest Research Group. 

The study, “Playing it Safe: The Sixth Nationwide Safety Survey of Public Playgrounds,” found that outside of Berkeley, seemingly innocent recreation yards are sometimes hazardous. Hard surfaces, equipment that is too high off the ground and swings that are too close together pose significant safety risks to children, according to the study. 

“Playgrounds can be wonderful places for children to have fun and face new challenges, but far too many playgrounds contain hazards that can injure and even kill,” said California Public Interest Research Group campaign director Becki Kammerling. 

According to federal data, more than 190,000 children injured on public playground equipment in 2001 required emergency medical treatment.  

Eighty percent of playground injuries were the result of falls – making the playground surface where a child lands one of the most important factors in park safety.  

All nine of the Berkeley parks examined in the study used a federally-recommended playground surface made of sand and hardwood chips or synthetic rubber. But none of the park surfaces were the recommended thickness of 9 inches. 

According to the study, Berkeley playgrounds also have adequate “fall zones,” or spaces to land around swingsets and climbers. Crowding the area with other equipment, by contrast, can lead to dangerous collisions for falling children.  

None of the Berkeley parks in the study had equipment that could entrap or entangle children. Kathy Swartz, CalPIRG campaign coordinator, said this type of equipment – a ladder with narrowly-spaced bars that could trap a child’s head, for instance – are most often to blame for the 15 to 20 children who die in playground accidents each year. 

Perhaps the most high-profile playground danger is chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, a wood preservative and pesticide used in play structures across the country. CCA is a type of arsenic, which is a known human carcinogen.  

Since the mid-1990s Berkeley’s City Council has provided at least $100,000 each year to address CCA and other playground hazards. 

The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department has identified CCA in equipment at 12 of the city’s 48 play areas. In at least two cases the equipment has been replaced. The rest of the effected wood has been sealed to prevent leaks and is scheduled for replacement. 

There are no mandatory national standards for playground safety, though the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has published a series of recommended guidelines. 

California regulations that reflect the federal recommendations went into effect January 2000. 

Parents at Willard Park Tuesday afternoon said, in their experience, Berkeley parks are generally safe. 

“Most of them are pretty good,” said Lisa Cloud, a mother of a 4-year-old who has twins on the way. 

Parents said they simply avoid area parks with dangerous equipment or broken glass. 

The nine Berkeley playgrounds in the study include Grove Park, Willard Park, Peralta School Park, two playgrounds at Malcolm X school, two at Ohlone Park, and a pair at San Pablo Park. 

Retro Poll, a new organization planning to find out what Berkeley residents really think about things, is challenging the polling practices of the major media networks by doing some polling of its own.  

While none of Retro Poll’s surveys are yet completed, the group is developing questions for such issues as the war against terrorism and United States military involvement overseas. They hope to reveal misinformation in current corporate media polls.  

They want to examine public viewpoints, like 70 percent supporting Mr. Bush and ask, ‘What does that mean?’ “ said Kris Welch, a radio host for KPFA in Berkeley. 

Others agreed that vagueness in polling is a major problem. 

“The audience for good qualitative polling information could be quite broad, especially in the Bay Area and even in the corporate media, to varying degrees,” said Peter Phillips, a professor of sociology at Sonoma State University and a Retro Poll board member. 

Retro Poll is made up of media activists and volunteers, including professors from universities across the country.  

The group does not claim to be capable of pure objectivity, but it aims to rework poll questions, polling methodology and to interview a diverse socio-economic sample. 

“In statistical analysis, the same questions need to be asked of republican, democrat, or green, in addition to people from all levels of income,” Phillips said.  

Retro Poll organizer Marc Sapir was interviewed on Welch’s daily radio program and gave a sample of one of the polls. He showed a series of true and false questions designed to reveal how little the U.S. public knows about U.S. military action. 

“I would love the public to be confronted with these questions, although I don’t know what they’ll say,” said Welch. “It’s what Gallop never asked.” 

It costs $15,000 to run a poll, according to Retro Poll. With funding from private donations, grants, and fund-raising benefit events, Retro Poll hopes to meet its goal of performing 10 polls a year.  

On July 30, Retro Poll will hold a benefit called, “Fighting for Clarity,” to raise funds for its first poll. The event will feature comedy, music, and commentary by media critics. Call 848-3826 for more information.

SAN FRANCISCO — Frustrated by the federal government’s determination to shut down medical marijuana clubs, San Francisco is thinking about growing its own. 

The city Board of Supervisors voted late Monday to put a measure on the November ballot that would have city officials explore growing marijuana on publicly owned lots and distributing it to ill patients. 

Supporters said such a program could double as job training for the unemployed. 

“I don’t think it would be all that dramatic a venture,” said Supervisor Mark Leno, who proposed the idea with three colleagues. 

The city already issues medical marijuana use cards to patients who have a doctor’s permission. California was the first state to approve medical marijuana with the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. 

“The health department or some other entity would distribute it over their own counter,” Leno said Tuesday. “We already have 4,000 San Franciscans coming in to get medical marijuana ID cards, now they could also get their marijuana.” 

Leno said he drafted the proposal because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration remains determined to close down medical marijuana clubs in the city and across California. When DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson spoke here in February, Leno was protesting out front with a bullhorn. 

“If the federal government is going to continue to harass and shut down these clubs, then I think it’s the city’s responsibility to take action,” he said. 

Providing job training to unemployed or homeless residents would be “an added benefit to this project if, in fact, it happens,” said Board President Tom Ammiano. 

“If you don’t attempt these things there will never be any change,” he said. “We’ve got to give it a shot.” 

Still, hesitant to take on the federal government without being sure of their own political support, city supervisors voted to put the measure on the ballot. 

“Challenging federal law is a significant step for a city to take,” Leno said. “Before the elected body should do that, I think it’s important for voters to share their opinions. If 60 or 70 percent of voters say ’yes,’ the supervisors would be on very solid ground knowing that voters would be with us.” 

“We have a lot of land,” Leno added. “That’s not going to be a problem.” 

The problem is that cultivating, possessing and distributing marijuana are illegal under federal law. 

“Unless Congress changes the law and makes marijuana a legal substance, then we have to do our job and enforce the law, whether or not it’s popular,” Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman in San Francisco. 

Meyer said if San Francisco began growing marijuana, it would be “business as usual. We’d conduct an investigation, collect the evidence and take appropriate action.” 

Pro-pot advocates in California have already faced a series of federal crackdowns that culminated when agents raided a medical marijuana club and arrested four people just hours before Hutchinson spoke. 

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, who also protested Hutchinson’s speech, was unavailable for comment but has been outspoken in his support of the clubs. Police have refused to participate in any raids and last year city leaders declared San Francisco a sanctuary for medical cannabis use. 

Medical marijuana advocates lauded the ballot measure. 

“The real fight we’ve been having is distribution,” said Wayne Justmann, who’s been HIV positive for more than 15 years, carries the first city-issued ID card and operates one of San Francisco’s 11 remaining pot clubs. 

Canada and Holland already grow and distribute medical marijuana, said Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative. 

“I think San Francisco in some sense is a petri dish for what will happen for policy around the country,” said Jones, whose club was set up to dispense medical marijuana but stopped because of federal pressure. 

The Berkeley Police Department and California Highway Patrol arrested a Richmond drug trafficker suspected of supplying Berkeley dealers with significant quantities of crack cocaine last week. 

Arness Frazier, 35, was arrested Thursday outside his Richmond apartment. Officers found more than nine ounces of base cocaine in his home, which equates to more than 2,500 individual crack rocks with an estimated street value of $25,000. 

The search also uncovered a .38-caliber pistol and 3.3 grams of powdered cocaine. 

Frazier was charged with felony possession of a gun and possession of crack and powder cocaine with intent to sell. 

“He is considered a major drug supplier in that he is above mid-level and he only sells quantities,” police spokesperson Lt. Cynthia Harris said.

The family of an Oakland man who was gunned down in January as he was preparing to testify against a murder suspect who moved closer to suing the City of Oakland today, alleging that police ignored his pleas for protection. 

Chance Grundy, 21, was killed on Jan. 27, weeks before the preliminary hearing of 24-year-old Michael Scott was set to begin. Scott was accused of killing Eugene Abraham, 26, in the 600 block of 31st Avenue in October. 

In June, a jury found Scott guilty of murdering Abraham. The jurors also found Scott guilty of four counts of dissuading witnesses, for allegedly masterminding the killing of Grundy and another witness while in custody at the Santa Rita Jail. 

Civil rights attorney Pamela Y. Price today filed a claim for $3.5 million against the City of Oakland on behalf of Oran Grundy, the father of the slain 21-year-old, and the victim's toddler, Jordan Grundy.  

The claim, which is a precursor to a formal lawsuit, alleges that investigators probing the Abraham murder coaxed Grundy to testify against Scott, and then unbeknownst to Grundy, played the tape to Scott. 

The claim states that in November of last year, Grundy began to receive threats.  

He reportedly requested police protection, but police allegedly told him that Scott did not pose a serious threat to his safety and that they had already notified Scott's associates on the outside that they would be looking at them if anything happened to Grundy. 

“Mr. Grundy and his family detrimentally relied upon the officers' assurances that (he) was not in danger,'' the claim states. “The officers' refusal to place Mr. Grundy in protective custody, or offer him any type of witness protection, and their assurances that they had already taken adequate steps to protect Mr. Grundy induced a false sense of protection.'' 

Based on information obtained at Scott's trial, Price and the Grundy relatives believe that Scott created a hit list from within the jail that included Grundy's name and mailed the list to his associates.  

They also believe that Scott placed telephone calls soliciting the murders of several witnesses, including Grundy, who were set to testify against him. The allegations are that Grundy was never told about the hit list or the telephone calls, which helped a jury convict Scott of dissuading witnesses in the case. 

In addition to suing the City of Oakland, Price says she intends to sue Alameda County, which operates the jail, and Gary Sherrer, who she alleges gave ill-redacted documents to Scott that included Grundy's name and address. 

Sherrer, who once worked in the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, said he had not heard of the intended suit, and added that he couldn't comment on something that he has not yet seen. 

Karen Boyd, spokeswoman for the Oakland City Attorney's Office, said the city had not yet reviewed the claim and so couldn't comment on the allegations either. 

The lead prosecutor in the multiple murder trial of Cary Stayner said in court today that he expects to rest the first phase of his case on Wednesday morning. 

Prosecutor George Williamson said that he plans to call one additional witness after FBI expert in paint, tape and plastics Ronald Menold finishes on the stand. 

“We've got Mr. Menold and then one other witness,'' Williamson said. 

Stayner's lead attorney, Marcia Morrissey filed a motion asking for a continuance in the trial Tuesday afternoon. Morrissey said that after the prosecution rests the defense would need additional time to have its experts evaluate Stayner's mental state. 

“The neuro-psychiatric testing that we undertook as soon as it was recommended has not been completed,'' Morrissey said. 

Stayner, 40, faces a possible death penalty if convicted of the February 1999 murders of Eureka residents Carole Sund, 42, and her daughter  

Juli, 15, and their family friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, of Argentina. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in federal prison after pleading guilty to the July 1999 murder of Yosemite National Park naturalist Joie Armstrong, 26. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges. 

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Hastings told Morrissey that he would not delay the trial because of a defense witness’ availability. 

“We're not going to be captive to a witness for the defense,” Hastings said. 

The majority of Tuesday’s trial proceedings involved portions of Stayner's alleged taped confession in which he was negotiating with FBI agents for concessions, including access to child pornography, in exchange for his confession to the murders of the Sunds, Pelosso and Armstrong. 

“If I don't confess it's going to cost you guys a lot of time and money. I'd like to save you guys that time and money,'' Stayner said on the tape. “What difference is it ... viewing a little child pornography in light of the murders of four people.” 

FBI agent Jeffrey Rinek spoke to Stayner with a great deal of empathy on the tape in an attempt to get him to testify. 

“Christ, we'll send out and get the video and we’ll sit here and watch them with you,” Rinek said. 

Stayner told Rinek and FBI agent John Boles that his lifelong desire to view child pornography contributed to his allegedly committing the murders. 

“Maybe because I never got to see it, these things happened,” Stayner said. 

Stayner also attempted to negotiate two other concessions from the FBI. He wanted the $250,000 reward money that the Carole Sund's family had offered to go to his parents. He also wanted to be incarcerated in a federal prison near his Merced County home. 

Frances Carrington, Carole Sund’s father, said the reward money was offered for the safe return of the three Yosemite tourists and was never paid out.  

Carrington said today's playing of the tapes of Stayner negotiating with the FBI is further evidence of the former motel handyman's depravity. 

“What kind of mind would ask for his folks to get the reward money at the time of his confession and ask for kiddie, what did they call it, kiddie porn,” Carrington said. 

No evidence has been introduced that the FBI ever actually provided Stayner with child pornography. 

LOS ANGELES — The nation’s automakers say they will sue California to block a landmark anti-global warming bill that restricts carbon dioxide emissions from cars. 

The measure, which squeaked by the state Legislature despite a multimillion-dollar opposition campaign by carmakers and auto workers, was signed Monday by Gov. Gray Davis. 

California already has the nation’s most stringent standards for other vehicle pollutants. The new law sets emission standards for CO2 and other greenhouse gases that would apply to new passenger cars and light trucks beginning in 2009. 

It is “the first bill in America designed to combat global warming,” Davis said before signing the measure on a hot, smoggy day along a pine-scented trail in Griffith Park, the sprawling, hilly expanse near downtown. “We are going to set an example for the country.” 

The governor said he believed other states and the federal government eventually would follow suit. 

Opponents quickly condemned the measure, saying it would increase the price of vehicles and would reduce greenhouse gases globally by less than 1 percent. 

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said it would challenge the law in federal court. 

The bill “will reduce the freedom of choice” by pricing sport utility vehicles, minivans and other models out of some consumers’ range, said a statement from the American Highway Users Alliance, a Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group. 

The bill maintains that passenger cars and light trucks are responsible for 40 percent of California’s carbon dioxide emissions. The gases form a heat-trapping blanket in the atmosphere that scientists fear could cause disruptions in farming and the snowpack that provides much of Southern California’s water. 

More than 2 million cars were sold in California last year, making it the nation’s biggest auto market, so the law’s impact on the auto industry was expected to be enormous. 

Davis portrayed the measure as flexible and cost-effective. It doesn’t set any new fuel economy standards or mandate any changes to individual makes of cars, nor does it ban gas-hogging SUVs, the governor said. 

The emission standards would apply to the average pollution from an automakers’ line. Carmakers can partially meet the standards by reducing non-auto pollution, such as emissions from their factories. 

Though the legislation does not affect large polluters like big rigs or other commercial vehicles, environmental groups were jubilant. 

“This bill is an earthshaking event. This is going to start us on the fight against global warming,” said David G. Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

Supporters also included water districts worried about declining snow melt, the state’s largest cities and director Rob Reiner, who was at Monday’s signing. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Although he moved into the top income bracket long ago, billionaire Charles Schwab says he still relates to the small investors who helped transform his discount stock brokerage from a quirky upstart with four employees in 1971 to a financial services icon with 19,100 workers today. 

His empathy for Main Street — and desire for its business — is one of the reasons Schwab decided to run a satirical television advertisement skewering Wall Street for the alleged conflicts of interest that led some analysts to publicly tout stocks they privately derided. 

Schwab is also worried about the recent wave of accounting scandals 

The comedown since the market’s height in 2000 has been especially sobering for Schwab’s company. With trading activity down 35 percent from 2000, Schwab has jettisoned 7,200 jobs since the beginning of 2001. Last year, the firm suffered its first quarterly loss since 1987. 

The slump has ravaged Schwab’s stock, trading now in the $9 range, far below its peak of $51.67 reached in 1999. The downturn has wiped out at least $8.5 billion of Schwab’s personal fortune. 

AP: What do you think of market conditions? 

SCHWAB: In my career, it is clearly the worst market decline. This decline will end. They always do. Then we will have equity markets get back to a sort of normal state of affairs. 

AP: It seems like it’s going to be hard to know when we might be hitting a bottom this time. 

SCHWAB: There is so much in the winds right now. There is complete dissatisfaction with corporations and CEOs and politicians and fear of terror. All these things in combination give people just a complete lack of confidence. 

It’s one of those ugly things you have in a free market system. What is going on is ... correcting excesses of the past. And it’s cruel, absolutely cruel. 

But it is the most incredible mechanism that we have in a capitalist society. And if we don’t let it happen, if we legislate against everything, you end up having a socialist system instead of a capitalist system. Consequently, you have got to deal with the reality of the time. 

AP: Your company has been running ads suggesting that a lot of folks on Wall Street can’t be trusted, that the firms give people misleading advice ... 

SCHWAB: Well, it’s true. Many times you see that a commission-based broker is basically masquerading as a fiduciary. You see the same thing in respect to the analysts that reach over and have close relationships with the corporations and sort of sell their soul when they write up those reports that end up going to retail investors. Structure is the problem, frankly. 

AP: So what do you think needs to be done to start addressing these trust issues? Do we need to start throwing some of these guys in jail? 

SCHWAB: Certainly. Anyone who violates the law should pay the penalty, whatever the maximum penalty is. 

AP: Do we need stiffer penalties? It’s been said that white-collar crimes never really draw big penalties. 

SCHWAB: Well, they don’t get prosecuted. Like we all know, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is badly understaffed. They have been battling for more assistance for years and Congress has refused to give them the resources to do it with. It should be on the footsteps of our good people in Congress. It is absolutely essential to have the maintenance of the integrity of our markets never be in question. 

AP: You are on the audit committees on the boards of both Gap Inc. and Siebel Systems Inc. With all these accounting scandals, has it changed the way you approach your responsibilities on those committees? 

SCHWAB: Well, some of the thinking has probably been amended, given the things that have come to light. 

In each one of them, you have time alone with the accountants and the external auditors. You have time with the internal audit people separately from management. You drill them and you hope the hell they tell you if there is a problem. 

At the end of the conversation, you always say, ’Is there anything we need to know that you haven’t told us?’ You look them straight in the eye and you hope the hell that that’s the moment of truth. That’s what you do. You have got to rely on that kind of thing. 

AP: Do you think this market volatility is driven more by economic concerns, trust issues or a confluence? 

SCHWAB: I think it’s really the economic issues. But the economic issues can be impacted — and that’s what people worry about — by highly restrictive legislation of some kind. 

NEW YORK — When Carol Levey got married, her father gave her some investment advice: Buy stock in safe, dependable companies — the kind that pay dividends. 

Nearly eight years later, Levey wishes she had listened. Her portfolio, which contained mostly riskier tech shares, has crumbled as the market plunged over the past two years. Now Levey and her husband own Exxon Mobil, IBM, McDonald’s and Pfizer, all of which pay dividends to shareholders. 

“It is a little bit of safety,” the Encino, Calif., woman said of dividends. “My parents provided for me, and they didn’t have all these high-flying stocks. They did it the old-fashioned way.” 

During the bull market of the late 1990s, investors turned away from dividends. They were deemed passe in the new technology and dot-com era, when Wall Street’s most successful companies reinvested all their profits to maximize growth. But with a grueling bear market sending stocks to their lowest levels in years, the dividend is back in vogue, touted for giving investors a dependable source of income. 

“It is a certainty in terms of what you are going to receive versus stock prices going up, because everyone believes prices can only fall,” said Joseph Keating, chief investment officer at AmSouth Asset Management in Birmingham, Ala. 

With the market having lost about a quarter of its value over the past nine weeks, a 92-cent-per-share annual dividend from Exxon Mobil looks pretty good, representing a guaranteed cash return of $920 to investors who own 1,000 shares. 

”(Investors) are looking for, as we say, a bird in the hand, and dividends represent that,” said Arnie Kaufman, editor of Standard & Poor’s newsletter “The Outlook.” 

Low interest rates have also worked to make dividends fashionable again. The annual yield on a money market account is 1.8 percent, according to Bankrate.com. But the average yield on dividend-paying stocks in the S&P 500 index is 2.3 percent. 

“Investors are saying, ‘I need a certain rate of income. I need additional income from the common stocks I own,”’ Keating said. 

Stocks that pay dividends recently have also lived up to their reputation as safe — or at least safer — havens in terms of performance on Wall Street. So far this year, the 350 dividend-paying stocks in the S&P 500 have declined about 11 percent, less painful than the 29 percent drop among those that don’t pay dividends. 

Financial advisers have long recommended investors include dividend-paying stocks in their portfolios and for a variety of reasons.  

Dividends are more attractive during bear markets and particularly for investors who are retired and look to quarterly payments to supplement their income. 

With dividends, “you have the ability to wait out the stock market decline and still have some income,” said Steve Wetzel, a professor of finance at New York University’s School of Continuing Education and a certified financial planner. 

Another advantage to dividend-paying stocks is the opportunity for investors to reinvest the money. Rather than get a check, investors can use dividends to purchase additional shares. 

Some companies have responded to renewed interest in the dividend by increasing their payments. Dividends of S&P 500 companies were up 4 percent during the first half of 2002 from the same period last year. 

Procter & Gamble announced earlier this month it was raising its annual payment to $1.64 from $1.52 a share. 

Other companies, such as Ashland Inc., are keeping their dividends steady but have noticed a greater interest in them. 

“In recent months, I have had more questions about the dividend than I have had in my career,” said Paul Chellgren, chairman and 28-year veteran of Ashland Inc., an oil services and diversified chemicals company in Covington, Ky. 

Ashland’s annual dividend is $1.10 a share. During the last bull market, Chellgren said investors and analysts were asking: “Why don’t you eliminate your dividend? It is not important any more.” 

Indeed, back in the years of the bull, there was much less appreciation for companies that shared a portion of their profits with shareholders. The thinking was that if Microsoft didn’t pay dividends, then they were unnecessary, a throwback to an older generation that talked of safe bets rather than stellar returns. 

“We just sort of got caught up with the excitement of tech stocks. We weren’t looking for dividends,” said Levey, the Encino, Calif., investor. 

But investor Sanford Holstein said he’s been buying dividend-paying shares “because of how the market is. You don’t stand a chance.” 

The retired shop owner in Syracuse, N.Y. said, “My strategy now is to protect as much as I can, and earn as much as I can.”

SAN FRANCISCO — The state famous for its sunshine and beaches leads the nation in another summertime staple: ice cream. 

California produced about 145 million gallons of ice cream last year, 64 million gallons more than Indiana, the No. 2 state, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. 

“The dairies have gotten bigger, and there’s more milk per cow, and the number of cows has gotten bigger,” said Karen Dapper, a research analyst for the Dairy Marketing Branch of the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture. “The number of dairy farms is going down, but the number of cows and milk production has gone up.” 

Tulare County, the No. 1 agriculture county in the state, has 312 dairies that brought in about $1.2 billion in milk production alone in 2001. 

“We had the first $1 billion commodity this year and that was milk,” said Tulare County Assistant Agricultural Commissioner Bill Appleby. “A lot of dairies have moved up here from Southern California, where they’re paving over agricultural land.” 

California has more than 2,100 dairies, about 1.55 million cows and about 35 ice cream plants. 

Americans spent nearly $20 billion dollars on ice cream and other frozen desserts in 2000, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. 

Ice cream has become such a part of the American life, that it has surpassed apple pie as the No. 1 dessert — at least in the assessment of John Harrison, ice cream connoisseur. 

Harrison is the official taste tester for Oakland-based Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. 

Using a golden spoon to prevent aftertaste, Harrison tastes about 60 samples a day, examining them for appearance, flavor and texture. He compares his work to that done in another California specialty — wines. 

“I start with the white wines of ice cream — vanilla, vanilla bean — and work my way up to the heavy Bordeaux of ice cream — black walnut, mint chocolate chip,” he said. 

Harrison’s work is so valuable that Dreyer’s insured his tastebuds for $1 million. He also takes care to avoid spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol during the week. 

“On Friday night, I can let the hair down and have a little pepperoni pizza or some garlic mashed potatoes,” he said. 

Harrison developed the flavor Cookies ’N Cream for Dreyer’s, but his favorite ice cream is the nation’s most popular flavor — vanilla. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Voters will decide this November whether the aging system that delivers water to more than 2 million people in the Bay Area will get a much-needed seismic retrofit under a $1.6 billion bond measure city leaders placed on the ballot. 

With an 8-3 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a measure Monday that would help finance $3.6 billion of construction on Hetch Hetchy, a complex of aqueducts that supplies water to 2.4 million homes and runs more than 160 miles from Yosemite National Park to the San Francisco Bay area. 

An upgrade could prevent century-old aqueducts from collapsing in a major earthquake and leaving several Bay Area cities without their main source of water for as long as two months, according to scientists. The system’s pipes and tunnels cross three major earthquake faults — the San Andreas, Hayward and Calaveras. 

The system delivers water to 770,000 people in San Francisco and to 29 suburban wholesalers, which, in turn, serve about 1.7 million people in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties. Seventy percent of Hetch Hetchy’s users don’t live in San Francisco, but in outlying cities such as Palo Alto, Mountain View, Redwood City, Fremont and parts of San Jose. 

However, the water system is owned and administered by San Francisco. 

If approved, the average four-person household in San Francisco would see its monthly water bill more than triple from an average of $13 to nearly $44 by 2015. Suburban rates would rise to an estimated $70 from its current average, $38. 

LOS ANGELES — As the parents of a 5-year-old Orange County girl who was abducted and murdered prepare for her funeral and police search for a 7-year-old snatched off the street in Philadelphia, worried parents are looking to police and school officials for help coping with a phenomenon authorities are dubbing “stranger danger.” 

In the Los Angeles suburb of Stanton, where Samantha Runnion was abducted July 15, about 50 parents gathered for a seminar on child safety Monday night. In nearby Irvine, a “Keeping Your Children Safe” meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at City Hall. 

At the Orange County Fair, police handed out fliers with tips for protecting children from abduction, while hundreds of fairgoers took time out from rides and food booths to search sex-offender databases set up by the California Department of Justice and the Orange County Probation Department. 

In neighboring Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to ask Sheriff Lee Baca to work with radio and TV stations to create a countywide child-abduction alert system. 

In Tustin, police were fielding extra requests for safety presentations at local schools. 

“We are getting a lot more calls than usual for those,” said Stacy Margolin, in the community relations office of the Tustin Police Department. “We had a session at one school scheduled for August and we moved it up because all the parents are concerned.” 

The concern remains despite the arrest last week of Alejandro Avila, 27, of Lake Elsinore. He is charged with kidnapping, two counts of a lewd act on a child and murder in the slaying of Samantha Runnion, who was abducted just yards from her Stanton townhome as she played with a friend. She was carried off kicking and screaming for help. 

Thousands were expected Wednesday at Samantha’s funeral at the Crystal Cathedral, a nationally known church in nearby Garden Grove. 

The abduction and murder garnered intense national media attention, as has Monday’s abduction of 7-year-old Erica Pratt off a Philadelphia street, along with the unsolved disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City home in June, and the Feb. 1 abduction and murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam of San Diego. 

The high-profile cases, coming so close together, have left many parents on edge. 

Phil Pierce, a minister and father of four, contacted police last week because parents at his Irvine church were upset by the Runnion murder and wanted information. 

“I knew we needed to do something to make parents feel a little bit safer and to make kids feel a little bit safer,” he said. 

Det. Tracy Jacobson, a child abuse investigator at the Irvine Police Department who will conduct Wednesday’s seminar, said parents need to be creative in teaching their children how to avoid what Jacobson called “stranger danger.” 

“It’s important to teach your child by example, by reinforcement and role playing,” Jacobson said. “Just explaining what to do doesn’t always work so well.” 

Neena Malik, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, said the spate of child abductions, along with lingering concern about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, have parents on edge. 

“These isolated events of child abductions are getting more national attention. The national attention is a consequence of most people feeling like things are not so safe anymore,” Malik said. 

Taking action — by attending seminars, talking to children or gathering information — can help parents cope with their fears, she said. 

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, who appealed to the public for help during the investigation, said parental concern is a positive response to the tragedy. 

“We never wanted people to overreact. We wanted to make them aware of what we had and for them to pay maybe a little closer attention to their children,” Carona said. 

Juan Rivera, who stopped recently with his children and nephew at the makeshift memorial outside Samantha’s home, said he has reminded young family members about what to do if they are approached by a stranger. 

To prove his point, Rivera turned to his 5-year-old nephew. 

“What are you supposed to do if somebody you don’t know comes up?” he said. 

“I have to scream and run?” said 5-year-old Miguel Trejo. 

“What else?” Rivera asked. 

“I have to tell somebody,” the boy said.

CHICAGO — Passengers who fly aboard planes that re-circulate cabin air are no more likely to catch colds than travelers on aircraft that pump in fresh air, a study suggests. 

Still, all of the air travelers in the study got a lot of colds — significantly more than would be expected in non-fliers. 

Health experts have long suspected that re-circulated air carries more germs and causes more colds. 

Researchers called the latest findings encouraging, because planes that pump in fresh air are being phased out in favor of less costly, more fuel-efficient models with ventilation systems that re-circulate air. 

“Re-circulation of cabin air did not emerge as a risk factor for the development of upper respiratory-tract infection symptoms in our study,” Dr. Jessica Nutik Zitter of the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues wrote. 

The study, published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, involved questionnaires given to 1,100 passengers leaving the San Francisco area and traveling to Denver between January and April 1999. 

A week after their flights, 21 percent of the fresh-air passengers and 19 percent of the re-circulated-air passengers reported having a cold. The researchers said the incidence of colds in non-travelers is about 3 percent. 

Researchers said the high number of colds among passengers in both groups could result from factors unrelated to cabin air, such as stress, sleep loss and poor eating habits sometimes associated with travel. 

Judith Murawski, an industrial hygienist for the Association of Flight Attendants, said the rate of colds in air travelers seemed high and could suggest that cabin air in general is poor. 

Many airlines use ventilation systems with filters designed to remove viruses and bacteria from re-circulated air, but not all do, she said. 

She also said there is no minimum standard for how much outside air is brought into airplane cabins. Her union, which represents 50,000 flight attendants at 26 airlines, opposes a move in the industry to set a standard significantly lower than that recommended for office workers. 

HAPPY VALLEY— Olive fruit flies have been discovered for the first time in Shasta County. 

“This is the farthest north they have ever been,” said Paul Kjos, deputy commissioner of the Shasta County Agricultural Department. 

The were found late last month and early this month in detection traps in the Happy Valley-Olinda area, where most of the county’s roughly 500 acres of olive trees are located. 

The department plans to monitor the traps the rest of the growing season, through September or October, to gauge the extent of the infestation. 

If not controlled, the olive fruit fly, first observed in North America in 1998, can damage a grower’s entire crop, Kjos said. 

“Any fruit that the eggs are laid in are destroyed,” Kjos said. 

Adult female fruit flies lay eggs in olive fruits, but it is the developing larvae that actually damage the fruit, he said. 

Kjos said his department is working with growers, processors and other northern counties to find ways to fight the pest. Tehama County, for instance, immediately to the south, has been spraying orchards from the air and ground with pesticide. 

PHILADELPHIA — Law school applications are up dramatically — the biggest increase in at least two decades — as more young people are deciding the job market out there is just too rough. 

With business schools and other graduate programs also reporting a surge in applications, it’s a big difference from late 1990s, when students skipped graduate school for high-paying jobs and big signing bonuses at dot-coms. 

“With the way the economy is, there’s really nothing I can do right now except go to graduate school and hope that in another three or four years something will change,” said Brett Tishler, 21, who is entering his senior year at Temple University and applying to law school. 

Some of those applying are going straight from college to graduate school. Others have been in the work force for a while and have decided to go back to school. 

Law school applications are up 17.9 percent for 2002-03, the biggest spike in more than 20 years, according to the Law School Admission Council. As of July 5, the council counted 88,418 applications nationwide, compared with 74,994 at the same time last year. 

A record 2,914 applications poured into the University of Connecticut law school in Hartford, up 46 percent from the previous year. The school expects to enroll about 240 people, up from the usual 210. 

“It got very crazy,” said admissions director Karen DeMeola. “Any given applicant could be a perfectly good attorney, or a great attorney, but there’s just no room at the inn.” 

Columbia University’s business school received 7,400 applications this year, up about 26 percent. Some 1,700 applied to the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate school of education, a 38 percent increase. 

“There might be a little bit of a dot-com backlash,” said Tom Kecskemethy, associate dean of the education school at Penn. “Graduate education tends to be a haven for students when you’re choosing between a lousy job market and the prospect of increasing your education, even if there is a price tag attached.” 

In a spring survey of 415 members by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, companies estimated they would hire 36.4 percent fewer graduating seniors this year than last. 

Starting salaries also are down. Computer science graduates saw their offers drop 5.9 percent to $49,957, sliding under $50,000 for the first time since the fall of 2000. Undergraduate psychology majors saw their offers fall 12.8 percent to $26,456, according to the association. 

Medical school applications have been falling since 1996, and interest remains low. Experts said those numbers may take longer to rebound in a slow economy. Most students cannot decide on the spur of the moment to go to medical school; they need a premed education as undergraduates. 

Medical school applications climbed from 37,402 in 1992 to 46,965 in 1996 before starting their slide to 34,859 in 2001, a drop-off attributed to the burdens of managed care and the big money to be made in business, technology and other fields. The 2002 figures are not yet available. 

“It may be bottoming out. That’s the impression we have,” said Dr. Jordan Cohen, president of the Association of American Medical Colleges. 

Stacy Heenan, a 26-year-old television producer in Philadelphia, will start law school next month at Temple, where applications soared 32 percent this year. The Sept. 11 attacks convinced her it was time to get moving. 

“It gave me the sense that life is short, and you’ve got to make things happen — follow your dreams — while you can,” Heenan said. 

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A jury held two retired Salvadoran generals responsible Tuesday for atrocities committed during El Salvador’s civil war two decades ago and ordered them to pay $54.6 million to three torture victims. 

The generals, who now live in the United States, were sued by a church worker, a doctor and a professor who fled their homeland after being brutalized by Salvadoran soldiers. 

The federal jury found that retired Gens. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova and Jose Guillermo Garcia had ignored massacres and other atrocities against civilians. 

Two of the victims, Carlos Mauricio and Neris Gonzalez, were in court and wept as the verdict was read. 

“This has been a long, long struggle for justice,” said Mauricio, who was strung up by his arms, starved and beaten during eight days of torture. 

Defense attorney Kurt Klaus said the generals cannot pay the verdict and cannot even afford to appeal. He had previously advised them not to even fight the claims. 

“I’m disappointed. I wish I would have done a better job,” Klaus said. 

The victims, who also live in the United States, sued under the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act that allows U.S. courts to assess damages against perpetrators of human rights abuses committed abroad. 

The jury was asked to determine whether the generals knew their troops were torturing and murdering civilians but failed to try to stop it or punish those responsible. 

Jury foreman Arnie Esbin said he found the generals’ testimony to be “self-serving” and “inappropriate.” The jury deliberated for 20 hours over four days. 

“This reign of terror involved tens of thousands of deaths and torture,” attorney James Green said in his closing argument. “You have a historic opportunity and a historic obligation to set the record straight and to tell these generals what they did was wrong.” 

Klaus described the men as champions of democracy, like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and said they helped reform their country’s corrupt banking system and its agriculture-based economy. 

“There’s no doubt that what happened in El Salvador was horrible, that what happened to these people was horrible. It was a horrible war, a dirty war,” Klaus said. “But I don’t think the parties that are responsible for what happened to these people are here.” 

PHILADELPHIA — Authorities said Tuesday that a 7-year-old girl was grabbed, kicking and screaming, from in front of her home and less than 20 minutes later a caller demanded a $150,000 ransom to save the girl’s life. 

Police were seeking to question two men who know the girl’s family but wouldn’t say whether the men were considered suspects in the abduction of Erica Pratt. 

Police Inspector Bill Colarulo said they were searching for the men, James Burns, 29, and Edward Johnson, 23, because they may have information that “could possibly shed light” on the girl’s whereabouts. 

The men’s names were given to authorities by two people who witnessed of the girl’s abduction, Colarulo said. 

Erica was playing with her 5-year-old sister in front of their grandmother’s rowhouse Monday evening when two men drove up, called her by name and dragged her into their car as she screamed and resisted, witnesses told police. 

Less than 20 minutes later, Erica’s grandmother and primary caregiver, Barbara Pratt, received the first of at least six calls from a man who threatened to kill the girl unless he received a $150,000 ransom, police said. 

Colarulo declined to reveal details about the case Tuesday but said detectives believed the girl was still alive. 

“I’m confident that Erica is going to be returned safely,” he said. 

He wouldn’t say when the last ransom demand was made or whether the caller offered proof that he had the child. A $10,000 reward was offered for information. 

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — A popcorn plant worker has been diagnosed with a rare lung disease that health authorities have linked to inhaling the artificial butter flavoring used in microwave popcorn. 

Federal health officials are testing other workers at American Pop Corn Co. for bronchiolitis obliterans, also known as popcorn packers’ lung, a severe and irreversible disease. 

The man, who was not identified, still works at the plant. He has a “light case” of the disease that is not life-threatening, company vice president Tom Elsen said Monday. He no longer works in the department where butter flavorings are mixed with other ingredients. 

Elsen said the man’s condition was discovered when a federal health team visited the plant last year after eight popcorn workers in Missouri were sickened by the disease, prompting a national investigation. 

The disease is caused by inhaling damaging amounts of chemicals such as chlorine or ammonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A chemical called diacetyl in the butter flavoring of popcorn may be the cause of the illness found in the popcorn workers, the CDC said in an April report. 

The disease kills cells in the bronchial airway tubes in the lungs and causes scarring, which makes breathing more difficult. 

The CDC says scientists have found no evidence of danger to people who eat microwave popcorn. 

Berkeley ranks second only to Treasure Island when it comes to Bay Area demand for a new ferry service, according to a recent state-commissioned study. The results make the city a leading candidate for commuter boats. 

But ferry service still faces significant political hurdles with state approval hanging in the balance and local critics worried about the project’s economic feasibility and environmental impact. 

Written by the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority, the study found that by 2025, if service is in place, some 2,776 Berkeley residents will take the ferry to San Francisco on a typical weekday. The Treasure Island to San Francisco route would be the most popular with 3,587 commuters. South San Francisco placed third and Richmond was fourth. 

The Water Transit Authority, established by the legislature in 1999 to examine the potential for expanded ferry service, is now focusing on the four communities with the greatest demand. 

Under current WTA plans, construction on a Berkeley terminal would begin in 2009 and service would start in 2010, with trips to San Francisco and perhaps other parts of the Bay Area.  

The agency has not identified specific sites for a Berkeley terminal, but locals say Berkeley Marina and the shorefront at the end of Gilman Street are the leading contenders. 

Advocates say ferry service would be a boon. 

“Ferries are the people’s yacht,” said Linda Perry of the Berkeley Ferry Committee. “Anybody in this town can get out there and really get to know our Bay – all for the price of a BART ticket.” 

Still, ferry service in Berkeley is anything but a foregone conclusion. Next year, the Legislature will consider having the WTA prepare a planning document and a draft environmental impact report to help it decide whether ferry service is even viable. The costs of the service are yet to be determined. 

And on a local level, some city officials and activists have a range of concerns such as ferry service drawing money from other public transit systems, that it might disturb ducks on the bay or create a parking nightmare. 

“You start out thinking it’s a wonderful thing and you want it to happen,” said City Councilmember Linda Maio. “But the devil is in the details.” 

Heidi Machen, spokesperson for the WTA, said the agency will not drain the budgets of other public transit services like BART or AC Transit. The total funding that WTA would need is unclear. 

Machen said the WTA will draw on a proposed $1 toll hike on Bay Area bridges, which would take hold in 2005, and it would seek additional federal, state and local funding.  

The state would ask municipalities like Berkeley, she said, to help pay for the construction of terminals. 

Still, local officials said they are skeptical about the ferry service’s funding sources and they raised questions about issues like parking. The agency is projecting a need for 560 parking spaces at the Berkeley terminal. 

“The basic proposals generally involve building a massive parking garage and encouraging people to drive to the ferry, which is somewhat counterproductive for a public transit system,” said City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Mayor Shirley Dean, who supports the push for ferry service, said anything approaching 600 spaces is unacceptable. But the city could cut down on the number of parking spaces by providing a bus service to the terminal, she said. 

Norman La Force of the Sierra Club said he has a number of environmental concerns regarding the project. Drudging the polluted bay to build a terminal would be a problem, he said. The ferries, he explained, would unsettle the water, preventing ducks from “drafting,” or getting proper rest on the water. 

The WTA’s Machen, though, said the drudging would be minimal and that birds would be unharmed. 

“The reality is, birds are a little smarter than we give them credit for,” said Machen. “Birds tend to relocate as necessary.”  

In the end, Dean said, the city and state should be able to work out any environmental concerns.  

“I don’t think anyone wants to kill a rafting duck, for goodness sake,” she said. 

Mayoral candidate Tom Bates was more cautious about the ability to prevail over environmental and economic barriers. 

“I would be skeptical about our ability to overcome those problems,” he said. “But I think it’s worth looking into.” 

Tonight, the City Council will consider naming Assistant City Manager for Transportation Peter Hillier to a community advisory board for the WTA. Hillier said that if appointed to the board he will bring Berkeley’s environmental concerns to the table. 

The advisory committee has been up and running for a year-and-a-half, but a City Council fight over naming an appointee has left Berkeley without a representative.  

City Councilmembers said they don’t expect any opposition to Hillier’s appointment. 

To the Editor: 

I am the co-host of Unlimited Possibilities, one of the two shows on B-TV targeted for censoring by the proposed measure that the Berkeley City Council is considering. This proposed measure came about because a few people were offended by what we present on our show. A lot of letters have appeared in this forum about this proposed ordinance. They have been overwhelmingly against it, detailing the many dangers of this ordinance within the big picture of taking away our freedoms. 

But allow me to talk about the “small” picture of how this would censor our show and audience. I do the show with Frank Moore. Our show is politically, culturally, and artistically radical. Our show is a 2 1/2-hour variety show offering in-depth conversations about issues that affect us all with a wide range of people, live music, and cutting edge performances, films, and art. Although we get complaints that the show has too much talk, what the few people find objectionable is the cutting edge art... the same kind of art that got Frank targeted by Sen. Jesse Helms in the early 90s. 

This cutting edge art would get the show exiled to after midnight under this ordinance. This ordinance requires producers to label their shows' contents as sexually explicit. “Sexually explicit” shows will be moved to midnight. We don't know what sexually explicit means. But failure to correctly label a show will have your show moved to after midnight as punishment. 

We have always requested our show be shown after 10 p.m. to have the freedom to cover a wide range of topics. But exiling the show to after midnight denies people easy access to it in a very intrusive way. It denies the show “foot traffic,” cutting down the number of people discovering the show.  

It is like moving a store from Shattuck and University to Dwight Way and Eighth... or limiting a politician to halls of 50 or less. Imagine the uproar. 

Linda Mac 

Berkeley 

Tuesday, July 23 

Myanmar (formerly Burma): "The Golden Land" 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Ricky Fishman gives a slide presentation/talk about this isolated and remote land. 

843-3533 

Free 

Q & A with a Personal/Business Coach 

noon to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

For those interested in professional coaching careers, speak with a pro. 

848-6370 

$3 

Wednesday, July 24 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Pharmacist Fred Mayer prescriptions and their costs, etc. 

548-9696  

Free 

Getting Help When You Need It 

7:30 to 9 p.m.  

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annex A 

350 Hawthorne Ave. Oakland 

Free interactive workshop to help caregivers obtain free assistance, deal with paid in-home help, and create plans to care for loved ones. 

869-6737 

Free 

"Green Building" Workshop 

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Meeting Room A, 2090 Kittredge 

Henry Siegel, Architect, on how to use building materials that are healthier for your family and the environment.  

614-1699 

Thursday, July 25 

Combat Medic: World War II 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Memoir presentation by San Francisco physician John Kerner, describing experiences as a combat medic in World War II.  

843-3533 

Free 

California Landscapes: A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slide show 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 

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

Free 

Graywater Workshop  

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave 

Learn the ins and outs of reusing water with the Guerrilla Graywater Girls 

548-2220 x233  

$10 members, $15 non ( no one turned away for lack of funds) 

Santa Fe Right of Way Path Walk 

10 a.m. 

Meet at the Ohlone Greenway at Cedar St, in Cedar Rose Park. 

A new path opportunity, recently funded by the City Council. 

649-9874, or http://www.internettime.com/path 

"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  

Grand Summer Rummage Sale 

9 a.m. to 4 p.m 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Cedar and Bonita Streets 

A benefit for ANSWER- Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. Donations and volunteers are needed 

(415) 821-6545. 

Sunday, July 28 

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. 

(510) 527-4140 Free 

Tuesday, July 30 

The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Reading and discussion of Cathleen Miller's personal account of moving from San Francisco to Amish Pennsylvania to restore an old house. 

843-3533 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31 

Twilight Tours at UC Botanical Gardens 

(through August 28) 5:30 p.m.  

200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA.  

Tour the garden at twilight with an expert horticulturist every Wednesday. 

643-2755  

Free with garden admission.  

Mountain Adventure Seminars: Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 p.m.-9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Thursday, August 1 

Putting it Together 

7:00 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave. 

Middle school students of Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp perform dance techniques, spoken word, theater. 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan New National Historic Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Senior Center, 2525 Macdonald Ave. 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Nutrition Career Open House 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Institute of Educational Therapy, 706 Gilman St. 

Become a Nutrition Educator or Nutrition Consultant. 

558-1711 for reservations 

Free 

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 rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

10th Annual Stroll for Epilepsy 

Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo 

The public is invited to join the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California at Six Flags Marine World for a 5K walk/fundraiser. 

1-800-632-3532 for registration 

Storytelling at the Berkeley Public Library 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Storyteller Joel Ben Izzy will present a variety of stories filled with warmth, humor, drama in the Children's Story Room. 

981-6223 

Sick Plant Clinic 

9 a.m. to Noon  

200 Centennial Drive 

UC Botanical Garden; First Saturday of every month. UC plant pathology and entomology experts will diagnose what ails your plant. 

643 - 2755. 

Free 

Sunday, August 4 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Monday, August 5 

National Organization for Women East Bay Chapter monthly meeting 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 

Discussion of harassment of females employed by the City of Oakland Fire Department 

Monthly meeting: NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN Oakland 

549-2970, 287-8948  

Arts Education Department Open House 

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. 

Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave, Richmond 

Meet teachers, see studios/galleries, info about classes in the arts. 

620-6772 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan a New National Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Public Library, Whittlesey Room 

325 Civic Center Plaza (near Macdonald Ave. and 25th St.) 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Saturday, August 10 

Poetry in the Plaza 

2:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge 

Quarter hour readings by well-known poets, dedicated to June Jordan. 

981-6100 

Free 

Tomato Tasting 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Tasting and cooking demonstrations  

Free 

Tea Bag Folding 

2 to 4 p.m.  

Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave, Albany 

Drop-in crafts program for ages 5 to adult.  

526-3720 ext 19. 

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. 

Monday, August 12 

The First East Bay Senior Games 

10:30 a.m. clinic, 12:30 p.m. tee-off (approximate times) 

Mira Vista Golf and Country Club 

7901 Cutting Blvd. El Cerrito 

A golfing event for the 50+ crowd, in association with the California and National Senior Games Association. 

891-8033 (registration deadline July 29) 

Varying entry fees. 

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 

Saturday, August 17 

Author Reading and Signing: Haunani-Kay Trask 

3 p.m.  

Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave., Berkeley 

Meet Hawaiian author Haunani-Kay Trask. 

548-2350 

Free 

Cajun & More 

Four Live Bands, crafts fair, Cajun food, dance lessons, micro-brewery beer & dance floor. 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, August 18 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

For more information: (510) 527-7470 

Thursday, August 22 

Film: "Ralph Ellison: An American Journey" 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Berkeley filmmaker Avon Kirkland's stirring documentary about the great American author, Ralph Ellison. 

981-6205 

Free 

Friday, August 23 

Teen Playreaders present Bizarre Shorts 

(through August 24) 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - North Branch 

1170 The Alameda 

Playreaders present 20 short, bizarre plays, contemporary and classic. 

644-6850 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

Roller Derby & Big Time Wrestling 

6:30 p.m. 

Richmond Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza 

Roller Derby: Bay Bombers vs. Brooklyn Red Devils, Big Time Wrestling superstars 

636-9300 

$10 Advance, $20 Door 

Monday, September 2 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter  

6:30 PM.  

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley  

Chapter’s monthly meeting. Speaker: multicultural historian, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, received 

the prestigious Valitutti Award for non fiction.  

549-2970 

Free 

Sunday, September 8 

Lifelong Medical Care First Annual 5K Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser 

9 a.m. to noon 

West Berkeley 

Individual and team participation, a health fair, food, prizes, live music, free insurance eligibility screening - fun for all ages. 

704-6010 

STOCKTON — The only things missing from the first day of the San Francisco 49ers’ training camp were the projected 100-degree temperatures — and first-round draft pick Mike Rumph. 

The 49ers kicked off the NFL’s second-earliest camp on Monday under gorgeous conditions at the University of the Pacific. Terrell Owens was smiling, Jeff Garcia was completely healthy and general manager Terry Donahue was in good spirits even without Rumph, one of just two draft picks who haven’t signed. 

But even Rumph’s absence wasn’t enough to cause big problems as the 49ers began eight days of workouts before their trip to Japan to play the Washington Redskins in the Osaka Dome. 

Unlike past seasons, when every top draft choice was expected to contribute immediately to a rebuilding club, these 49ers are already rebuilt. 

“We’ve been looking forward to having increased expectations,” coach Steve Mariucci said. “For two or three years, we were in such a rebuilding mode. We’ve gone through that, and now we have many pieces of the puzzle together.” 

Rumph isn’t expected to be more than a nickel back this season, but his negotiations with the 49ers bogged down on Monday, Donahue said. Since so few first-round picks have signed yet, it’s difficult to assess the former Miami star’s market value. 

“He gets a little further behind with each passing moment,” Mariucci said. 

The only other rookie remaining unsigned is defensive lineman Josh Shaw, a sixth-round pick from Michigan State who’s still recovering from a knee injury. 

But the rest of the Niners seemed to be enjoying what has been an unusual luxury in recent seasons — familiarity with their teammates and their game plan. Twenty of San Francisco’s 22 starters returned from last year’s 12-4 playoff season, with Pro Bowl guard Ron Stone and safety Tony Parrish the only newcomers immediately slated as starters. 

“We know the whole playbook already,” defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield said. “It’s really just refreshing our minds. In the team meetings (defensive coordinator) Jim Mora flew through all the defenses we put in. We pretty much knew them already.” 

Stubblefield helped keep that familiarity fresh by calling his defensive teammates and persuading nearly all of them to spend weeks worth of offseason workouts at the 49ers’ training complex in Santa Clara. 

The 49ers wore shoulder pads and helmets during afternoon workouts, but those couldn’t hide the smile on Owens’ face. The mercurial All-Pro receiver pronounced himself finished with minor league basketball “for six months, at least” and even spoke of becoming a team leader this season. 

“A couple of friends told me I’ll have to step up a little bit, and I’ll try to take that role,” Owens said. “There are going to be times when I might have to say something, but at the same time, I’m going to perform, and let my leadership come from that.” 

It was yet another change of tactic for Owens, who has bemoaned his lack of friends on the 49ers’ roster in the past. But with Owens’ volatile relationship with Mariucci simmering on low for now, the talented wideout seemed happy and healthy — even though he claimed to be “overweight” despite a minuscule body fat percentage. 

“We’ve already ironed that out, and it’s in the closet,” Owens said of his disagreements with Mariucci. “It’s not even an issue. It’s not on my mind. We’re thinking about other things. 

“Guys around here are hungry. They’re hungry for wins and for a championship. It’s been a while since people were like that around here.” 

As the city’s need for more housing is pitted against a burgeoning slow-growth movement, City Council will consider appeals against three proposed developments tonight that could result in 179 housing units, 31 of which would be designated for low-income residents. 

The basis for the appeals includes complaints about too little parking, a plan that is too dense with development and a lack of conformity to the neighborhood aesthetics regarding height and design. The Zoning Adjustments Board had previously approved use permits for the projects, all of which were proposed by Berkeley-based Panoramic Interests. 

The projects include a 44-unit project with 3,000 square feet of commercial space at 2119 University Ave. near Shattuck Avenue; a 100-unit project with 8,500 square feet of commercial space at 2471 Shattuck Ave. near Haste Street and a 35-unit project with 5,200 square feet of commercial space at 2700 San Pablo Ave. near Derby Street. 

Berkeley resident Howie Muir, whose name appears on all three of the appeals, is leading the opposition against the developments. Muir, who lives near the 2700 San Pablo Ave. proposal, is also co-author of the height initiative, a slow growth initiative slated for the November ballot. 

At tonight’s meeting, the council has three options. It can follow the recommendation of the ZAB and dismiss the appeals and move the project forward; send the projects back to the ZAB for further consideration; or void the use permits and set additional public hearings regarding each project. 

According to Current Planning Manager Mark Rhoades, city staff has painstakingly reviewed the projects and has recommended that council dismiss all three appeals. 

“We’ve reviewed the project and we didn’t find new or extraordinary circumstances that would require further review of these projects,” he said.  

Panoramic Interests Project Manager Chris Hudson said if the council sent any of the projects back to the ZAB or held more public hearings the developments would be unnecessarily delayed, and that building more housing is a high priority. 

“Staff has been reviewing these projects for a long, long time and I think they are correct in their response and I hope the council supports them,” he said. “There just isn’t a lot of factual background to these appeals.” 

Muir could not be reached Monday to comment on the appeals.  

Mayor Shirley Dean said she couldn’t comment on the specifics of the appeals but is not happy about delaying more housing. 

“Berkeley is in sore need of more housing and especially affordable housing,” she said. “I’m concerned because Mr. Muir doesn’t even live close to two of these projects.” 

But Councilmember Dona Spring said that while more housing is needed in Berkeley, there must be more assurances that affordable housing will be built for those who really need it – people who earn 60 percent or less of area median income, which is $36,000 for a family of three in Berkeley.  

In keeping with the state’s criteria for affordable housing, the 31 units set aside for low-income units are evenly split between those who earn 50 percent of the median income and those who earn 80 percent of the median income, which is $48,640 for a family of three.  

“I support development in the downtown area but I would like to see height bonuses given to developers who will provide more housing for people who earn 60 percent of the AMI [Area Median Income],” Spring said. “The rents are so high that many people who live in affordable housing can’t afford food or medicine after paying rent.”  

Perhaps the most controversial of the three projects being considered is the 35 units proposed at 2700 San Pablo Ave. During the last two years, the project has been kicked around the Department of Planning and Development, the ZAB and the City Council.  

Originally, Panoramic Interests and its partner in the project, Jubilee Restoration, a nonprofit developer, proposed 48 units and 5,392 square feet of commercial space. The size of the proposal generated intense opposition from the surrounding neighbors who lead the ZAB to reject the developers’ application. 

Panoramic Interests and Jubilee Restoration appealed to the City Council, which was considering the issue when the developers abruptly withdrew the application. Several months later, the developers resubmitted an application for the project, but scaled it down to 35 units and 5,266 square feet of commercial space. Much less neighborhood opposition ensued and the ZAB unanimously approved the use permit in February.  

“We first bought this property four years ago,” said Hudson. “It’s really a shame it takes this long to build housing in Berkeley and it’s why more housing isn’t built here.” 

To the Editor: 

Tom Bates says he's not a leftist, yet he is surrounded by leftists from every corner of town, all hoping against hope that he can unseat Shirley Dean. Tom Bates laments about the loss of rent control, a most important issue to leftists. Just what does Bates mean?  

Passage of Costa Hawkins (vacancy decontrol) does not mean that rent control has ended in Berkeley; it has just been modified from the draconian environment that prevailed under the leadership of former mayor Loni Hancock. Thousands of tenants throughout Berkeley enjoy low rents and eviction controls virtually unprecedented in any American city, yet Tom Bates says rent control is a thing of the past. 

Tom Bates says he can work with both sides to solve disputes. Does he mean he'll convince leftist councilmembers like Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington to change their minds on important issues like housing, development, and sensible conversion of warehouse space? What specifically are the disputes that Mr. Bates hopes to resolve? 

Just what is Tom Bates up to? Is he temporarily disassociating himself from the left, very conveniently, to give us the impression that he is a moderate? Sounds like Berkeley voters are in for a slick campaign of deception from Mr. Bates. 

Leon Mayeri 

Berkeley

BOSTON — Nine white doves took flight from home plate toward Fenway Park’s famous Green Monster, soaring over the outfield where Ted Williams once roamed before turning and climbing over the Red Sox dugout and out of the ballpark. 

Then, one-by-one, current and former Red Sox players took their positions on the field — leaving left field empty except for a garland of white carnations in the shape of a ”9.” 

With a wave from shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, they all headed out to Williams’ former domain to say goodbye. 

The Hub bid the Kid adieu a final time on Monday, as Red Sox fans came by the thousands to pay their respects to the team’s greatest player at a pair of events honoring the baseball and war hero. 

About 12,000 people came to the ballpark in the morning to meander around the warning track past mementos of Williams’ Hall of Fame career. At night, those artifacts came to life in the form of Red Sox greats from Carl Yastrzemski to Garciaparra and dignitaries such as John Glenn, the former senator and astronaut and Williams’ squadron leader in Korea. 

“Just saying his name means excellence in baseball,” said Glenn, who flew more than a dozen missions with Williams. “For me, Ted also stood for excellence in a setting far removed from baseball and for which he is less well-known. ... He never held back.” 

About 20,500 people bought tickets for the star-studded service to remember Williams and forget the fight among his children over whether to have his remains cremated or preserved in cryonic ice. (Williams’ three children declined an invitation to attend.) 

The subject was broached only by former teammate and longtime friend Dom DiMaggio, who drew a standing ovation when he broke from the program with an impassioned plea to scatter Williams’ ashes over his favorite fishing spot, the Gulf of Mexico. 

“I hope and pray this controversy will end as abruptly as it began and that the family will do the right thing by honoring Ted’s last wishes as to his final resting place,” DiMaggio said. “And may he then finally rest in peace.” 

Williams died July 5. Williams’ life was celebrated, with nine “innings” dedicated to No. 9, touching on his life as a young rookie who proclaimed his goal to be known as “the greatest hitter who ever lived”; a veteran of two wars; a tireless charity fund-raiser; and an elder statesman who was inducted into the baseball and fishing halls of fame. 

Fans entering the ballpark for the evening tribute were given a folder with Williams’ stats, a postcard of his Cooperstown plaque and a copy of John Updike’s famous New Yorker piece, “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.” 

Once inside, they said goodbye for good. 

The park was decorated with memories of Williams’ life and his career. Giant banners covered the Green Monster to illustrate three of his biggest passions: hitting, serving in the Marines and talking to kids with cancer. Proceeds of the evening event were donated to the Jimmy Fund, Williams’ favorite charity. 

Stenciled in the infield dirt were the numbers .406, Williams’ batting average in 1941, and 521, his home run total, and “USMC,” just one of many reminders of his patriotism and of the statistics he lost during five years he spent fighting in two wars. 

“What would his baseball records have been if he had not been called back to active duty? Who knows?” Glenn said. “But I never heard Ted complain about that. Not once. Not a word.” 

For five hours in the morning, a steady stream of fans that included families with strollers, camp field trips and even Red Sox first baseman Brian Daubach filed in under a blazing sun to walk along the warning track and see artifacts of Williams’ career. 

The fans peeked in the dugouts and bullpen, pretended to make catches against the Wall and, as they were leaving, had a chance to shake hands with team owner John Henry. 

Two Marines stood guard as fans left a mounting pile of flowers, baseballs and caps and posed for pictures at the base of the center field wall. At night, the bouquets left by fans were used to fill in the No. 9 in left field. 

Williams’ Hall of Fame plaque was affixed to the left-field wall. A dozen more artifacts from Cooperstown were on display under the center-field bleachers, including the bat and ball used when he homered in his last at-bat. 

The Wall also featured a picture gallery of Williams’ career, showing shots of him with Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio and Yastrzemski and Muhammad Ali and former president and fishing buddy, George Bush. Forties music wafted from the speakers while the scoreboard video screen played highlights of Williams career and testimonials from friends and colleagues. 

Billboards hung in the netting above the Green Monster in left field called Williams “An American Hero” and “the greatest hitter who ever lived.” 

Fans also had a chance to sign condolence cards, with many choosing to say simply, “Thanks, Ted.” 

“I saw your last homer,” one wrote. “Awesome.” 

And that’s how the Red Sox chose to finish the program as well, with broadcaster Curt Gowdy narrated Williams’ final at-bats on Sept. 28, 1960. With former Orioles pitcher Jack Fisher on the mound, Gowdy called Williams’ final homer. 

“What a way to go out.” 

Called “"Frankenfoods” by critics because they’re designed in a lab, genetically engineered foods are increasingly drawing attention and raising concerns among Berkeley residents.  

Friday, environmental group Greenpeace transformed a Berkeley backyard into a teach-in, seeking to share information about the unknown safety risks of using genetically modified organisms, known as GMOs, in food. 

“The [biochemical] industry likes to say [GMOs are] an extension of traditional breeding but it’s not,” said Heather Whitehead of the San Francisco Greenpeace office. “It’s an extension of green revolution pesticides and monoculture farming.” 

Between 60 percent and 70 percent of processed food in American supermarkets contains genetically modified ingredients, according to Whitehead.  

Greenpeace wants to bring this number down. Last year it pursuaded local Trader Joe’s chain management to eliminate GMO ingredients in all of the store’s brand products. 

Now they’ve stepped up the battle by taking on the supermarket giant Safeway. Greenpeace has set up tables in front of the supermarkets in San Francisco and Berkeley, and has gathered more than 600 signatures. It has held demonstrations at Safeway corporate offices in Pleasanton.  

As for the cultivation of GMOs in California, Whitehead said that little is done commercially. She sees greater danger in university’s partnerships with certain industries. 

“UC Berkeley has a partnership with Novartis, doing mostly genetics research. Last year they did genetic studies on the corn crop,” she said. “A lot of initial genetic research is needed by industry... and what industry is making money off on their proprietary products is that initial research. They are using our land grant, publicly-funded universities as their research grounds.” 

The health effects remain an issue. 

“I think people are really concerned about it,” Whitehead said. “All of us are guinea pigs right now. There have never been any human tests. They haven’t asked us, they haven’t told us.” 

A recent ABC news poll showed that 93 percent of Americans would favor the labeling of genetically modified foods. 

Whitehead was pessimistic about a recently-introduced Congressional bill that would require labeling. She was more positive about spreading the non-GMO gospel. 

“The goal of this meeting was to share ideas about why GMOs are bad and talk to parents,” she said. “Parents are a group that is very concerned about it.” 

Judith Barish was one such parent. As her children Sasha, 4, and Rafael, 1, ran around at the backyard teach-in, she said, "As a mom, I just got really concerned about the food that my kids eat. We’ve always eaten organic but now we have a heightened concern about the scary chemicals and organisms that might be in our food.” 

Barish was realistic about education and labeling. 

“I think there’s a huge, slow process of educating people,” Barish said. “I think we do need bigger meetings and mass tools of communication but I also think these smaller gatherings where people can sit down and talk face to face is an important part of this.” 

To the Editor: 

Our political leaders need to realize what we taxpayers and 401k pension-savers already know: that our economic system is under attack. 

Three imperatives are necessary to repair our damaged economy. 

1) We need a special prosecutor to investigate the corporate accounting cheats, from the President and Vice President all the way down. 

Their self-serving actions have betrayed the trust that fuels our free market system. They have attacked our country just as surely as Osama bin Laden did, and have caused far more economic damage. 

2) The ill-gotten gains of the stock market cheats must be confiscated. Their bank accounts must be frozen and put in the U.S. Treasury. Take back their money, here and abroad, where their profits are being tax-sheltered by Bush's “tax reform” that allows an “exception for active financing income,” which enables multi-national corporations to shift their money to off-shore subsidiaries, away from our economy. 

3) Rescind the tax loopholes that were passed last year. Bush's repeal of the alternative minimum tax [back to 1986] gave corporations “free” money with no incentive to use it to help support the economy from which they sprang. The estate tax reductions [which the Republicans have tagged as the “death tax”] is the only tax that some well-sheltered wealthy people have to pay. It must be rescinded immediately as well. 

The economy is in the tank and government finances are deep in debt, while security spending is higher than ever and necessary social programs are being cut. It is time to rescind those tax breaks for the rich. Taxpayers need a fair system where those that have benefited most in our country pay the most to maintain it. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

VAISON-LA-ROMAINE, France — Lance Armstrong is taking the suspense out of the Tour de France. 

For the fourth straight year, his rivals are stranded long before the finish. His early success is angering French fans and ruining organizers’ plans to make the Tour less predictable. 

Don’t blame Armstrong: He’s only doing his job. 

“It is what they pay me to do,” the Texan said Sunday. “They say, ’Lance, we want you to win the Tour de France.’ 

“I can’t really concern myself with, ’Is it bad for the event?”’ 

After Monday’s rest day, six stages remained in the world’s toughest cycling race, including three grueling stretches in the Alps. 

Nevertheless, a fourth consecutive title seemed easily within Armstrong’s reach, thanks to his performance in the Pyrenees and on the formidable Mont Ventoux. 

The U.S. Postal Service rider leads his biggest challenger, Joseba Beloki of the Once team, by nearly 4 1/2 minutes in the overall standings. 

Barring injury or illness, or a sudden and drastic loss of form, that advantage is likely to grow in the coming days. 

“Armstrong has shown he has the blood of champions flowing through his veins,” Once team director, Manolo Saiz, told French daily Le Parisien. “He is much stronger than us, we see it day after day. 

“Of course, we will still do the maximum and hope Armstrong has an ’off’ day,” Saiz said. “But it would really have to be a big ’off’ day for us to catch up.” 

Tour organizers saved some of this year’s toughest stages for last in a bid to make the race more suspenseful. In 2001, almost the whole final week was made up of flat stretches, in which rivals had nearly no chance of reducing Armstrong’s lead. 

On Tuesday, riders were to trek from Vaison-La-Romaine, in the southern Provence region, to Les Deux Alpes ski station. Wednesday’s 16th stage is probably the hardest of the three-week race, taking competitors over three exceptionally difficult climbs. Thursday’s leg also runs through the Alps. 

Mountain stages are often unpredictable, but Armstrong looked so strong in the first three that a serious challenge in the Alps seems highly unlikely. 

He won the opening two mountain stages in the Pyrenees, finishing with a sprint both times. 

Although he didn’t win Sunday’s stage on Mont Ventoux, he made the fastest climb to the summit in Tour history. He climbed 5,280 feet over 13 miles in 58 minutes, knocking 53 seconds off the previous best set by Marco Pantani two years ago. 

Frenchman Richard Virenque took the stage, but his victory had almost no impact on Armstrong’s title bid. After the leg, Virenque was 10th overall, 13:12 behind Armstrong. Meanwhile, Beloki’s deficit grew from 2:28 to 4:21. 

During Armstrong’s incredible climb to the top, French fans fearing Virenque would be overtaken jeered the American, and some branded him a drug-user by shouting “Dop-AY! Dop-AY!” (“Doped! Doped!”). 

Armstrong, who has never failed a drug test and repeatedly denied taking banned substances, said his four-year domination of the Tour was likely to blame for the fans’ hostility. 

“Perhaps that’s part of the reason the people are so angry on the climbs,” he said. “They would rather have a new winner every year, a new winner every day, a constant evolution. 

“But I care too much about the event, I care too much about winning to factor that in.” 

To the Editor: 

Our political leaders need to realize what we taxpayers and 401k pension-savers already know: that our economic system is under attack. 

Three imperatives are necessary to repair our damaged economy. 

1) We need a special prosecutor to investigate the corporate accounting cheats, from the President and Vice President all the way down. 

Their self-serving actions have betrayed the trust that fuels our free market system. They have attacked our country just as surely as Osama bin Laden did, and have caused far more economic damage. 

2) The ill-gotten gains of the stock market cheats must be confiscated. Their bank accounts must be frozen and put in the U.S. Treasury. Take back their money, here and abroad, where their profits are being tax-sheltered by Bush's “tax reform” that allows an “exception for active financing income,” which enables multi-national corporations to shift their money to off-shore subsidiaries, away from our economy. 

3) Rescind the tax loopholes that were passed last year. Bush's repeal of the alternative minimum tax [back to 1986] gave corporations “free” money with no incentive to use it to help support the economy from which they sprang. The estate tax reductions [which the Republicans have tagged as the “death tax”] is the only tax that some well-sheltered wealthy people have to pay. It must be rescinded immediately as well. 

The economy is in the tank and government finances are deep in debt, while security spending is higher than ever and necessary social programs are being cut. It is time to rescind those tax breaks for the rich. Taxpayers need a fair system where those that have benefited most in our country pay the most to maintain it. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

OAKLAND – The Oakland City Council will vote Tuesday on an exclusive negotiating agreement with developer Forest City Residential West, which is looking to build on a plot of land that has been deemed as the most suitable location for a new baseball-only stadium. 

The exclusive agreement would prohibit city officials from discussing development plans with any other party, including the Oakland Athletics, on the so-called uptown site, located north of City Hall along Telegraph Avenue, an area that includes the shuttered Fox Theatre building. 

The move, along with a decision to scratch a presentation on the baseball stadium from the agenda, has some baseball fans crying foul, alleging that city officials are ruining the chance of getting a new stadium in Oakland. 

“This site in Oakland is the only viable site for a ballpark,'' says Lil Bartholo, a member of the Oakland A's Fan Coalition. “We fear that (city officials) are setting us up for a situation where the Oakland A's will have no other ballpark opportunities.'' 

City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente says that the characterization is unfair. 

He notes that the baseball team has not expressed an interest in the uptown site, and adds that the city can't afford to put everything on hold at the location, especially when there's the possibility of movement on the long-dormant, blighted corridor. 

“The A's haven't made any decision -- or any commitment -- they've made no indication that they want an uptown stadium,'' De La Fuente said. “I don't know why these people want the A's to force the decision.'' 

The council gave approval to the exclusive negotiating agreement with Forest City in closed session earlier this month.  

At a July 9 meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee, an amendment was passed calling for the agreement to allow the city to keep negotiating with the Oakland A's about a baseball only stadium. 

But a report from CEDA staff signed by City Manager Robert Bobb, a proponent of the new stadium, recommends that the city council not expand the agreement with Forest City to include the baseball team. 

The report says that the proposed inclusion “negates the objective of exclusivity because it would permit the [Redevelopment] agency to negotiate simultaneously with Forest City and the Oakland Athletics.'' 

The report concludes that the amendment would also be costlier and take more time, since Forest City would have to consider the effects of the ballpark in an environmental impact document. 

So far, the baseball team has kept quiet when it comes to talking about a location for a new ballpark. At a news conference earlier this month, team co-owner Steve Schott dodged questions about the team's preference for a new home. 

The news conference was held to address another aspect of the relationship between the team and its host city -- one that the Oakland officials are also expected to consider at the Tuesday meeting. 

City officials are expected to approve a five-year lease extension agreement with the Athletics that would allow the baseball team to keep playing at the Oakland Coliseum until 2007, with a three single-year extension options. 

According to De La Fuente, accepting the lease extension is as far as the city can go with the A's until the team makes further indications of its plans. 

“I'm absolutely ready to work with the owners of the A's when they decide where they want to be,'' De La Fuente said. 

He added that even if the baseball team expresses interest in the uptown location after the exclusive agreement is reached, there is still a chance that the team can work an agreement with Forest City that could lead to an uptown stadium.

SAN FRANCISCO — Apartment rents remain in a holding pattern in most major Western markets except California, where the contrasting fortunes of the state’s northern and southern regions continue to push rates in opposite directions, according to a real estate survey released Monday. 

Pressured by a long run of layoffs in high-tech industries, San Francisco Bay area apartment rents during the three months ended June 30 fell for the sixth consecutive quarter, according to RealFacts, a Novato-based research firm. 

Although rents in most markets remain about the same as a year ago, RealFacts said signs of weakness are appearing in Seattle, Denver, Phoenix and Reno, Nev. 

Although apartment rents in the San Francisco metropolitan area remain the West’s highest, the average June 30 rate of $1,653 is 19 percent below its December 2000 peak of $2,036, RealFacts said. The June rent represents a 14 percent decrease from a year ago. 

Rents in Santa Clara County — the Silicon Valley’s hub — have plunged even further, falling to an average of $1,432 in June, down 27 percent from a high of $1,951 in early 2001. Santa Clara County rents are 21 percent lower than a year ago. 

Sacramento continues to attract more residents fleeing the Bay Area’s high housing costs, keeping it as the only Northern California rental market on the upswing. Second-quarter rents in Sacramento averaged $853, a 5 percent increase from the same time last year. 

Meanwhile, Southern California rents continued to climb, reflecting the region’s healthier economy, experts said. While unemployment has climbed higher throughout the state, the job losses haven’t been as dramatic in Southern California as in the Bay Area. 

Riverside and San Bernardino counties emerged as the West’s strongest rental market with an average second-quarter rent of $857, a 6 percent increase from the same time last year. 

In San Diego, the average rent rose 5 percent to $1,112. Average rents went up 4 percent in Los Angeles to an average of $1,248 while Orange County’s rents edged up 2 percent to $1,215. 

Outside California, rents barely fluctuated, moving up or down by 1 percent or less everywhere but Boise, Idaho, RealFacts said. The firm surveys 6,000 apartment complexes in 19 major markets west of the Mississippi River every three months. 

The San Francisco Bay area’s steady decline in rents is raising concerns that the region’s still-rising home prices are headed for a hard fall in the next year or two. 

A mid-priced Bay Area home in May sold for $413,000 — 21 percent higher than at the height of the region’s tech boom in early 2000, according to industry research firm DataQuick Information Systems. 

Some economists believe the Bay Area home prices reflect an unrealistic expectation of a robust high-tech recovery. 

“The only people that appear to be betting on a near-term tech recovery are the people buying homes in the Bay Area right now,” said economist Edward Leamer of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. “Investors around the world certainly aren’t expecting it.” 

Unless the tech industry recaptures its former vigor, Leamer fears Bay Area home prices will crash, dealing another financially demoralizing blow to households that have already absorbed substantial losses in the freefalling stock market. 

Home prices also are hitting new highs in Southern California, but the accompanying increase in rents make those gains look more rational, Leamer said. A mid-priced home in Southern California sold for $273,000 in June, a 17 percent increase from the prior year, DataQuick said.

LIVERMORE — U.S. supercomputers have been the world’s most powerful since the first high-performance machines analyzed virtual nuclear blasts, climate change and the makeup of the universe. 

Now, one built in Japan with an “old” design runs five times faster than the previous record holder, a machine that simulates nuclear tests at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

Japan’s Earth Simulator supercomputer hasn’t quite rattled the United States like the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik in 1957. But it does highlight some drawbacks of recent U.S. machines — and it has made more than a few scientists envious. 

“This machine is powerful enough that a researcher who uses it can do in one day what it takes a researcher in the U.S. to do in one month,” said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee professor who tracks the world’s 500 speediest computers. 

More than national pride is at issue. Certain research is better suited to machines like the Earth Simulator, whose design was abandoned by most U.S. manufacturers in favor of one that melds better with the rest of their computing businesses. 

Supercomputers are built with thousands of processors that work in tandem to analyze the most complex issues — including nuclear test simulations, aircraft designs, drug creation and others — for governments, research centers and corporations. 

Livermore’s ASCI White supercomputer, like most recent U.S.-built machines, used off-the-shelf processors rather than custom parts specifically geared for high-performance scientific jobs. 

The trend took off in the 1990s, as such processors grew increasingly powerful, making it difficult to justify the cost of developing chips just for the small scientific supercomputer market. 

Now, supercomputers like ASCI White use the same chips — but thousands more of them — as do servers sold to businesses. 

Such machines now make up nearly 92 percent of the top 500 supercomputers worldwide. In 1993, they made up only about 27 percent. 

But some say the move away from custom processors places business concerns ahead of scientific needs. 

“The arguments are all based on strange economic theories — none of them are based on technical grounds,” said Burton Smith, chief scientist at Cray Inc., which still sells custom supercomputers. 

NEC-built Earth Simulator, which will be used in climate and earthquake studies, is faster than all 15 of the biggest supercomputers in the United States combined, Dongarra said. 

It performs 35.9 trillion calculations a second with 5,104 processors. ASCI White, by contrast, performs 7.2 trillion calculations a second with its 8,192 microprocessors. 

“U.S. scientists want to use it,” said Kiyoshi Otsuka, leader of the Earth Simulator’s research exchange group in Yokohama, Japan. 

The high-performance title isn’t expected to stay in Japan forever. IBM, which built ASCI White, Hewlett-Packard Co. and other U.S. supercomputer makers say they are working on even more powerful machines. 

“We could do that in a heartbeat and we could do that for a lot less money,” said Peter Ungaro, vice president of high performance computing at IBM, which sells supercomputers to foreign nuclear governments, research centers and corporations. 

Officials at the Livermore Lab say their machine and others like it offer better price performance than those designed like the Japanese supercomputer. Earth Simulator cost about $350 million, compared with ASCI White’s $110 million. 

“For global climate, (Earth Simulator) is a great advance,” said David Nowak, the ASCI program leader at Livermore. “It’s just a very expensive machine.” 

But supercomputers built with off-the-shelf parts can be more expensive in the long run, said Guy Robinson, research liaison at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, where scientists study everything from climate change to how galaxies form. 

Price isn’t the only factor, however. Scientists say certain research problems work better or are easier to program on one supercomputer type over the other. 

Custom supercomputers, for instance, have bigger data pipes, known as memory bandwidth, which is critical in climate modeling and some nuclear research. 

That can be a drawback for off-the-shelf processors. 

“In one sense, we have a tiny straw for data,” Dongarra said. “And we have the processor, which would like a fire hose of data to come at it.” 

But off-the-shelf machines work best on data analysis such as in genetic research. 

It’s a case of finding the best fit for the research — and budget, said Fran Berman, director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center. 

“From a political and financial perspective, we’re not in an environment where we could build all these different kinds of tools with equal emphasis,” she said. 

J. David Neelin, atmospheric scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said computing is ultimately just another tool, like a laptop is for a student assigned to write a paper. 

A faster machine does not guarantee quality. 

“Are they going to get that essay out any faster or is it going to be any better? Well, their spell checker is going to run a little faster,” he said. “In the end, it’s the thought that goes into it that really makes the essay.” 

SANTA ANA — The factory worker arrested in the abduction and slaying of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion was charged Monday with murder and other counts that could bring the death penalty. 

The charges against Alejandro Avila came a week after Samantha was abducted kicking and screaming outside her apartment while playing with a friend. The girl’s nude body was found a day later. Investigators said she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. 

Avila, 27, was charged with murder, kidnapping and two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty under special circumstances included with the charges: the murder occurred after a kidnapping and the crime involved lewd acts with a person under 14. 

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackackaus said no decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty. 

“I do want to make one thing very clear,” he said. “Anyone who commits an act like this in Orange County will either die in prison of natural causes or be executed. It is almost impossible to overstate the amount of damage this type of crime causes in our community and the entire nation.” 

Avila, who works at a plant that makes pacemakers and other medical devices, appeared at the hearing via video from a jail. He did not enter a plea Monday and was ordered held without bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 9. 

Avila has denied involvement in the girl’s disappearance.

OAKLAND — Negotiations over a new West Coast dock workers contract broke off late Sunday with longshoremen and shipping lines accusing each other of ignoring their good faith offers and ruining what had appeared to be a hopeful exchange of proposals. 

Officials at both the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have been publicly upbeat about negotiations — even as they conceded there was little progress since their contract officially expired July 1. 

Talks this weekend, they said, would foreshadow either a quick conclusion or a protracted dispute over a deal that governs about $260 billion worth of goods that transit 29 major ports from San Diego to Seattle. 

Last week, the union offered what it cast as a fair and reasonable proposal to the tangled problem of how to introduce more efficient technology to the waterfront without making too many jobs obsolete. Shipping lines countered Sunday afternoon and the two sides emerged pointing fingers. 

“They seem to almost reject my proposal out of hand and it’s a bitter disappointment to me,” Joseph Miniace, the association’s chief executive officer, said after Sunday’s negotiations. “This was a melding of both proposals and we’ve come a great distance since negotiations began.” 

A union spokesman responded that the association had hardly budged from a preliminary offer of months ago — and that was galling because the union had offered to accept job cuts for job security as computers do more work on the docks. 

“We offered him everything he asked for. He gave us nothing. Zero, zip, zilch,” said Steve Stallone, a spokesman for the union which represents 10,500 dock workers. “It’s a major disappointment and it shows that he’s not really trying to negotiate.” 

Both sides did approve another 24-hour contract extension, as they have done since July 1. Union negotiators also will present the association’s latest proposal at a meeting of delegates from local chapters that convenes this week in San Francisco, where the negotiations are taking place. 

“I wouldn’t call it a breakdown yet,” Miniace said. “I consider it a significant event, but I wouldn’t say it’s a breakdown.” 

Both sides have promised harmony on the docks. The union downplayed initial murmurs of a strike and shipping lines say they won’t lock out workers unless they determine there has been an organized slowdown. 

With Pacific Rim trade projected to double in the next decade, shipping lines complain West Coast ports won’t be able to keep up unless they catch up with their more automated Asian peers. 

That made technology the focus this contract. 

Early last week, the union pitched a proposal that Stallone said would cost about 600 of the 2,100 longshoremen clerk jobs. The trade-off was that the union would control new jobs generated from increased efficiency. 

The association responded guardedly, saying the proposal wouldn’t cut costs at all. On Sunday, Miniace reiterated his promise that no current longshoreman clerk would lose his job. 

“When you guarantee somebody that I am going to protect your job as I modernize, that is a tremendous offer,” he said. 

He also said his proposal would give longshoremen a 17 percent increase in compensation — wages, health benefits and pension — over five years. He said the union had asked for a 57 percent increase in those costs over three years. Overall, he said, the cost of the contract would rise about $200 million to $1.4 billion. 

The union’s response to the association’s offer will emerge soon. 

About 80 rank-and-file longshoremen from along the coast are set to meet this week in San Francisco. During negotiations in 1999, that caucus offered a chance to debate a draft contract. This year, it could become a forum for the union to brace for battle. 

Already, the union has scheduled a Wednesday demonstration outside the association’s San Francisco headquarters. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers sought Monday to undo California’s strict arbitration standards when it comes to resolving securities disputes. 

The exchange and the association said in a federal suit that the new ethics standards for California arbitrators should not apply in securities disputes. 

California’s rules, adopted by the state Judicial Council in April, “may work to the detriment of investors,” the two stock groups said in court papers. The Judicial Council, the state judiciary’s rule-making arm, enacted the guidelines over the groups’ objections. 

The groups said that arbitration agreements between investors and their brokers should be governed by the less-restrictive rules used by the association and exchange. 

Many brokers demand that investors arbitrate some disputes rather than go to court. 

The suit says California requires an arbitrator to disclose too much personal and professional information, a cumbersome requirement that may limit the number of arbitrators. The suit also says California’s rules make it easier to disqualify an arbitrator. 

No court date has been set. 

EMIGRANT GAP — The U.S. Forest Service is considering allowing the first large rock quarry within the Tahoe National Forest, to provide granite for rebuilding Interstate 80. 

The quarry would cover about 60 acres near Yuba Gap, 40 miles east of Auburn.  

The interstate is being rebuilt between Auburn and the Nevada border for the first time since its construction 42 years ago, a process expected to take another 10 to 15 years. 

The rebuilding will require so much rock that Granite Construction Co. proposed quarrying it nearby, within the national forest, said Jim Robertson, vice president of the Watsonville-based company. 

The proposed quarry is within the 1,370 acres burned in last summer’s Gap Fire, though the proposal predates the fire, Forest Service geologist Bob DeTar said. 

The site is about 1 1/2 miles from I-80. It can’t been seen from the interstate, but is in an area used by cross-country skiers, DeTar said. A private ski lodge is on the county road leading to the site. 

The proposal will undergo extensive public environmental review, he said. 

Granite is the only company that has indicated interest in quarrying rock in the national forest, DeTar said, but the forest service may solicit bids from others who might also use the quarry. 

While other national forests host quarries, the Tahoe National Forest has only a few small gold mines, said Tahoe forest supervisor Steven Eubanks. However, a granite quarry has been operated on nearby private lands, he said. 

BYRON — On a grassy hillside a 30-minute drive from the 21st-century bustle of San Francisco lies a secret from California’s past — rock art left by the region’s original inhabitants. 

They are paintings that time forgot, faint etchings of red and black in tantalizing swirls and patterns inscribed by the Indian tribes who once met here for ceremonies and purposes that now can only be guessed at. 

Getting to the cave paintings isn’t easy. The area is secured by locks and fences. Local parks officials, who own the land, have a caretaker on site to keep off trespassers. 

Time and the elements are slowly destroying the paintings, drawn on the walls of shallow caves amid the rolling hills of Contra Costa County. The rock surface is slowly flaking away as water seeps in from the hillside. But birdlike figures and possibly other animals, which may be representations of tribal gods, can still be seen. 

Some would like to see the paintings made more accessible to the public before they are swept into oblivion. 

“We would love to open this area up so we could tell schoolchildren at an early age about history,” says Tom Mikkelsen, assistant general manager of the East Bay Regional Park District. 

Before that happens, officials would have to find a way to address the concerns of California Indians, who consider the site sacred. They also have to figure out how to keep it from being vandalized or simply loved to death. 

“It’s extremely fragile, that’s the problem,” says Jeff Fentress, an anthropologist who has studied the paintings. 

The paintings, known as pictographs because they consist of symbols, are about four miles from the town of Byron and about 50 miles east of San Francisco. 

The caves are believed to have been in use as early as 500 A.D. and carry a variety of rock art styles. The site is striking — rocky outcroppings jutting out from gentle hills where golden eagles soar. But there isn’t much in the way of food here, few oaks or other nut-bearing trees, leading researchers to conclude the site was reserved for ceremonial and spiritual purposes. 

Tribal traditions link the caves to two other nearby landmarks — Mt. Diablo, now a state park and at 3,850 feet the San Francisco Bay area’s highest mountain, and Brushy Peak, which is about 1,700 feet high. The three sites are part of the creation mythology of the region’s Miwok, Ohlone and Yokurt Indians. 

“For native people, these weren’t casual use places. They weren’t places that everyday people went to,” says Bev Ortiz, an ethnographic consultant who has also studied the pictographs. 

The issue of how to appreciate, but not destroy, ancient sites has been tackled all over the world. In Egypt, the number of visitors allowed daily at the Great Pyramid was cut from thousands to 300 to prevent damage. 

At the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, home to fascinating ruins of the prehistoric Anasazi culture, officials offer guided tours and keep some trails unmarked as they try to balance public access and historic preservation. 

“There are some special rock art sites that we have actually covered up and we now no longer show people because of the vandalism,” says park guide G.B. Cornucopia. 

The tension between ancient ways and modern life has also played out at Brushy Peak, a 1,700-foot mountain about 10 miles south of the Northern California pictograph caves, where a plan to provide more access to the summit drew protests from some California Indians. 

“This site was visited by certain people in our society to conduct private secretive ceremonies,” says Don Hankins, a Plains Miwok Indian. “Not only is it the place of our origin as referred to in our creation stories and songs but it’s also a place where many of our ceremonies stem from.” 

Park officials agreed to monitor access to the peak and work out a way to make sure the area is protected if more trails are open, perhaps through guided tours. But they aren’t getting the budgetary support they’d hoped for — in March, voters defeated a parcel tax that would have paid for projects including fencing, gates and staff to lead tours to the pictograph caves. 

A bill now before the Legislature would give added protection to sacred sites such as the pictographs. The legislation, written by state Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco, would stop approval of projects deemed to adversely affect such sites unless tribal officials accepted mitigation measures, such as allowing public access but keeping the site closed during periods deemed particularly sacred. The bill has passed the Senate and is pending before the Assembly. 

For now, the pictograph caves are surrounded by chain link fences. When the weather warms up, rattlesnakes join the anti-trespasser patrol, slithering through tall grasses surrounding the rocky outcroppings. 

For those who do get to see them, the pictographs are a glimpse of a culture that was all but wiped out by the disease, destruction and dispossession wrought by colonialism and the Gold Rush.

SAN JOSE — Yosemite killer Cary Stayner told FBI agents that he would have struck again if he hadn’t been caught. . 

Stayner’s tape-recorded confession was played Monday to the jury that could give him the death penalty in the killing of three park tourists. 

The confession is the centerpiece of prosecutors’ case, who say it details how Stayner plotted the killings, how he carried them out and how he tried to throw investigators off his trail. 

On the tape, Stayner said he wanted tell someone that he had killed tourists Carole Sund, 42, her daughter, Juli, 15, and their friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, in February 1999 and then six months later beheaded park nature guide Joie Armstrong. But he kept quiet until the FBI interrogated him.

ARGONNE, Ill — With Congress headed into summer recess, President Bush called on lawmakers Monday to make the Homeland Security Department a reality as he showcased new anti-terrorism technology at a national research lab. 

“This Department of Homeland Security is not a good Republican idea, it’s not a good Democratic idea, it’s simply an American idea, and they need to get their work done,” Bush told hundreds of workers at the lab. 

The House leaves Friday on its summer break, the Senate a week later. 

“If they don’t get it done, Congress is setting itself up for a great traffic jam” leading into the weeks before adjournment this fall, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, referring to the trade, corporate responsibility and homeland security measures left unfinished. 

As part of his effort to bolster security, Bush has called on Congress to thoroughly review the 19th century law that bans the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps from participating in arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other police-type activity on U.S. soil. 

Some lawmakers have expressed concern about rushing decisions on far-reaching changes in the bureaucracy that Bush envisions. House Majority Leader Dick Armey said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “It’s time to move forward with this. The president’s got a good plan.” 

In the Senate, a version of the measure by Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., tracks closely with Bush’s plan. It also would augment the department’s ability to gather and analyze intelligence from the FBI, CIA and others. Lieberman’s panel is to take up the bill Wednesday. 

Bush told reporters that “I believe there’s a good chance” he will get the legislation by Sept. 11. 

In his sixth visit to politically vital Illinois, a state he lost in 2000, Bush toured the lab on Monday and viewing new technologies aimed at thwarting terrorism. 

“That’s why I’m here: to look in the eyes of those who possess the genius and creativity of the American people,” Bush said. “Our scientific community is serving on the front lines of this war by developing new technologies that will make America safer, and as you tackle new kinds of challenges, I want you to know, our government will stand by your side to make the job easier.” 

Among the technology Bush saw: A computer simulation of how disasters could affect infrastructure such as transportation and energy conduits; DNA analysis of biological agents; and a portable system of sensors for detecting their release. 

Argonne, an Energy Department lab, is not slated to be absorbed into the Homeland Security Department, but the department would likely channel research dollars to the facility, said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for domestic security chief Tom Ridge. 

A few years ago, at the height of the swing dance revival, Bay Area hipsters could find live music for lindy-hops and rock-steps seven nights a week. But as its popularity ebbed, many hung up their zoot suits and saddle shoes for a different kind of dance. 

Today, salsa and its Caribbean kindred samba have fast become a Bay Area favorite, and a Berkeley nightclub has been attracting young and old, novice and experienced, to step into its polyrhythms. 

Salsa and samba are not, or course, new to the area. The annual Brazilian Carnival celebration in San Francisco’s Mission District has been attracting large and spirited crowds for years. After the last Brazilian Carnival in May, the Down Low club on Shattuck Avenue hosted an evening of Afro-Carribean dancing to keep the energy of the carnival going, said organizer Theo Williams. 

Saturday Williams and his company Cuice Y Clave returned to the Down Low for the third time, presenting “Salsamba Carnival,” which, as the title suggests, is a mixture of Cuban Salsa and Brazilian Samba. 

And the crowd turned out. The club, formerly Mr. E’s, was filled with young and old dancers. Most of the tables were open because few people were sitting down. The dance floor was packed. 

Performing on stage was Oakland-based, Cuban band Orquesta Charanson, whose name comes from another mixture of musical styles – charanga and son. Charanga is a traditional Cuban music played with violin and flute. Son is the type of music made popular in the United States by the Buena Vista Social Club movie and soundtrack. 

With added saxophone, percussion and upright electric bass, the Orquesta Charanson never lost the crowd’s enthusiasm. Between sets the band broke for a DJ to spin music, but the dance floor did not clear. The salsa turned to Carribean-styled hip-hop and the crowd kept swiveling and spinning. 

One of the great appeals of salsa dancing – which it shares with swing– is that it is a partner dance. Rather than the frenetic freestyle bouncing and gyrating of techno or hip-hop dancing, the discipline of salsa steps require response and reaction from a partner – which is why it is also a sexy dance. 

A performance by a Carnival troupe showed another reason why salsa is sexy. In full costume of feathered headgear and sequined G-strings, Sambadat put on a show in space on the dance floor cleared by the crowd. Headed by Tedje Rose, a professional dancer and instructor, Sambadat performed showcase dancing in a chorus line and solo routines. 

The night also featured a freestyle solo performance by Silfredo la o Vigo, a dancer from a small village near Santiago de Cuba who mixed styles and movements in an Afro-Caribbean stream of physical consciousness. 

Williams said the Bay Area is a magnet for performers and enthusiasts, coming from Cuba and all over the Caribbean and Latin America, and even a Peruvian company nearby. And because Down Low used to be Mr. E’s where Caribbean music was a mainstay, people are accustomed to coming to the corner of Shattuck and Bancroft to hear salsa and samba. 

Williams said that there will be more nights like this. “We’re pumping (the Brazilian) Carnival all year long.”

To the Editor: 

The July 5 article on the Police Tower missed the point. The tower is not on the roof but is in the rear of the residentially zoned block. Without consulting neighbors, city staff, not residents, proposed the council item for further study of the tower. 

The new tower was not publicly reviewed in 1997 (and remains out of compliance) and in 2000 was erected on the weekend (also our of compliance). It violated the processes of review in multiple ways. 

Who expected the historic civic center to have a massive 170-foot industrial structure? No other city has had the bad taste to have erected such an embarrassing structure in its city center. It is humiliating to live in a city that has so little sense of taste or respect for itself.  

Would Gordon Wozniak's neighborhood tolerate placement of such a ridiculous structure or such a lack of process? I think not. 

Wendy Alfsen 

Berkeley

Monday, July 22 

An evening of song & resistance 

7 p.m.  

AK Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St. Oakland 

With music from Samsara, James Tracy and David Rovics 

208-1700, or akpres@akpress.org 

$5 donation 

Tuesday, July 23 

Myanmar (formerly Burma): "The Golden Land" 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Ricky Fishman gives a slide presentation/talk about this isolated and remote land. 

843-3533 

Free 

Q & A with a Personal/Business Coach 

noon to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

For those interested in professional coaching careers, speak with a pro. 

848-6370 

$3 

Wednesday, July 24 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Pharmacist Fred Mayer prescriptions and their costs, etc. 

548-9696  

Free 

Getting Help When You Need It 

7:30 to 9 p.m.  

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annex A 

350 Hawthorne Ave. Oakland 

Free interactive workshop to help caregivers obtain free assistance, deal with paid in-home help, and create plans to care for loved ones. 

869-6737 

Free 

"Green Building" Workshop 

6:30 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Meeting Room A, 2090 Kittredge 

Henry Siegel, Architect, on how to use building materials that are healthier for your family and the environment.  

614-1699 

Thursday, July 25 

Combat Medic: World War II 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Memoir presentation by San Francisco physician John Kerner, describing experiences as a combat medic in World War II.  

843-3533 

Free 

California Landscapes: A Geologist's Perspective 

7 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

John Karachewski presents an educational slide show 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 

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

For more information: (510) 527-4140 

Free 

Graywater Workshop  

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave 

Learn the ins and outs of reusing water with the Guerrilla Graywater Girls 

548-2220 x233  

$10 members, $15 non ( no one turned away for lack of funds) 

Santa Fe Right of Way Path Walk 

10 a.m. 

Meet at the Ohlone Greenway at Cedar St, in Cedar Rose Park. 

A new path opportunity, recently funded by the City Council. 

649-9874, or http://www.internettime.com/path 

"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  

Grand Summer Rummage Sale 

9 a.m. to 4 p.m 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Cedar and Bonita Streets 

A benefit for ANSWER- Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. Donations and volunteers are needed 

(415) 821-6545. 

Sunday, July 28 

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. 

(510) 527-4140 Free 

Tuesday, July 30 

The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave.  

Reading and discussion of Cathleen Miller's personal account of moving from San Francisco to Amish Pennsylvania to restore an old house. 

843-3533 

Free 

Wednesday, July 31 

Twilight Tours at UC Botanical Gardens 

(through August 28) 5:30 p.m.  

200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA.  

Tour the garden at twilight with an expert horticulturist every Wednesday. 

643-2755  

Free with garden admission.  

Mountain Adventure Seminars: Introduction to Rock Climbing 

7 p.m.-9 p.m. 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

An introduction to rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

Thursday, August 1 

Putting it Together 

7:00 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave. 

Middle school students of Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp perform dance techniques, spoken word, theater. 

642-9988 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan New National Historic Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Senior Center, 2525 Macdonald Ave. 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Nutrition Career Open House 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Institute of Educational Therapy, 706 Gilman St. 

Become a Nutrition Educator or Nutrition Consultant. 

558-1711 for reservations 

Free 

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 rock climbing including knot tying, belaying and movement. 

For more information: (209) 753-6556 

$115 REI members; $125 non-members 

10th Annual Stroll for Epilepsy 

Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo 

The public is invited to join the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California at Six Flags Marine World for a 5K walk/fundraiser. 

1-800-632-3532 for registration 

Storytelling at the Berkeley Public Library 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Storyteller Joel Ben Izzy will present a variety of stories filled with warmth, humor, drama in the Children's Story Room. 

981-6223 

Sick Plant Clinic 

9 a.m. to Noon  

200 Centennial Drive 

UC Botanical Garden; First Saturday of every month. UC plant pathology and entomology experts will diagnose what ails your plant. 

643 - 2755. 

Free 

Sunday, August 4 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Monday, August 5 

National Organization for Women East Bay Chapter monthly meeting 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 

Discussion of harassment of females employed by the City of Oakland Fire Department 

Monthly meeting: NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN Oakland 

549-2970, 287-8948  

Arts Education Department Open House 

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. 

Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave, Richmond 

Meet teachers, see studios/galleries, info about classes in the arts. 

620-6772 

Free 

Public Meeting to Plan a New National Park in Richmond 

1:30 p.m. 

Richmond Public Library, Whittlesey Room 

325 Civic Center Plaza (near Macdonald Ave. and 25th St.) 

Meeting to gather input for National Park Service to prepare plans that will guide development of historic WWII sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Saturday, August 10 

Poetry in the Plaza 

2:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge 

Quarter hour readings by well-known poets, dedicated to June Jordan. 

981-6100 

Free 

Tomato Tasting 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Tasting and cooking demonstrations  

Free 

Tea Bag Folding 

2 to 4 p.m.  

Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave, Albany 

Drop-in crafts program for ages 5 to adult.  

526-3720 ext 19. 

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. 

Monday, August 12 

The First East Bay Senior Games 

10:30 a.m. clinic, 12:30 p.m. tee-off (approximate times) 

Mira Vista Golf and Country Club 

7901 Cutting Blvd. El Cerrito 

A golfing event for the 50+ crowd, in association with the California and National Senior Games Association. 

891-8033 (registration deadline July 29) 

Varying entry fees. 

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 

Saturday, August 17 

Author Reading and Signing: Haunani-Kay Trask 

3 p.m.  

Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave., Berkeley 

Meet Hawaiian author Haunani-Kay Trask. 

548-2350 

Free 

Cajun & More 

Four Live Bands, crafts fair, Cajun food, dance lessons, micro-brewery beer & dance floor. 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, August 18 

Top of the Bay Family Days 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive, above UC campus 

Enjoy an afternoon outdoor concert in our family picnic area as well as art and science activities and hands-on exhibits inside LHS. 

643-5961 

$8 adults 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-12 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

For more information: (510) 527-7470 

Thursday, August 22 

Film: "Ralph Ellison: An American Journey" 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - Central Branch 

2090 Kittredge St. 

Berkeley filmmaker Avon Kirkland's stirring documentary about the great American author, Ralph Ellison. 

981-6205 

Free 

Friday, August 23 

Teen Playreaders present Bizarre Shorts 

(through August 24) 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - North Branch 

1170 The Alameda 

Playreaders present 20 short, bizarre plays, contemporary and classic. 

644-6850 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

Roller Derby & Big Time Wrestling 

6:30 p.m. 

Richmond Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza 

Roller Derby: Bay Bombers vs. Brooklyn Red Devils, Big Time Wrestling superstars 

636-9300 

$10 Advance, $20 Door 

Monday, September 2 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter  

6:30 PM.  

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley  

Chapter’s monthly meeting. Speaker: multicultural historian, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, received 

the prestigious Valitutti Award for non fiction.  

549-2970 

Free 

Sunday, September 8 

Lifelong Medical Care First Annual 5K Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser 

9 a.m. to noon 

West Berkeley 

Individual and team participation, a health fair, food, prizes, live music, free insurance eligibility screening - fun for all ages. 

704-6010 

Mexican Premier League teams Morelia and Atlas played in front of a raucous crowd at Cal’s Edwards Stadium on Sunday, giving Bay Area fans a rare glimpse at soccer tradition and passion. 

The exhibition game was a bit of a snoozer, with just one goal and few opportunities, but that didn’t matter to the fans of the two teams, who came decked out in red and black (for Atlas) or yellow and red (for Morelia). Plastic trumpets blared constantly from thirty minutes before the kickoff until the final whistle and the crowd cheered loudly for their favorites and booed lustily at the villains. 

Atlas won the game on an early goal from Jose Luis Calderon, who received a feathery flick-on from Martin Machon and slid the ball under Morelia goalkeeper Moises Muñoz. Morelia had a golden opportunity to equalize late in the first half when Hernan Bujan was pulled down in the penalty area, but Tato Antonio Noriega shanked the ensuing penalty kick wide left. Each team hit the woodwork in the second half, but no more goals were scored. 

There were distinct factions to the crowd, which numbered approximately 2,500. Most of the fans seemed to be rooting for one team or the other, but there were scattered faces that was there simply to see good soccer. Cal assistant coach Brad Agoos was one of those, although Sunday’s game could hardly compare to his last experience as a fan. Agoos returned not long ago from watching his brother Jeff and the rest of the U.S. men’s national team at the World Cup in Asia. 

Agoos has played soccer all over the globe, including in our own domestic league, the fledgling Major League Soccer. According to him, the main difference between a Mexican game and an MLS game is the atmosphere. 

“Just look at how many fans showed up with just week’s notice,” Agoos said. “That’s a big part of soccer. Mexicans are a passionate people, and they don’t hold back. There’s not a lot of etiquette at these games.” 

Fremont’s Jorge Parra was wearing an Atlas jersey and hat, clearly identifying which side he was on. But for Parra, 47, the game was mainly a chance to relive memories of watching games as a teenager in Monterrey, Mexico. 

“I haven’t seen a live Mexican game since I was 18,” he said. “Mexican soccer is the best in the world outside of Europe.” 

Daniel Montero, 36, moved to Oakland from Mexico a decade ago, and his son, Eddie, had never seen a Mexican game in person.  

“He’s been to MLS games, but I wanted him to see a Mexican game,” Montero said of his 9-year-old son. “It helps him understand where he comes from. Soccer is life in Mexico. This feels like real soccer.”

Scholars from around the globe come to Berkeley to study a variety of subjects. This month, one of those subjects was trash. 

Sonia Mendoza came from the Philippines. Zini Mokhine came from South Africa. And Shibu Nair came from India. Supported by Berkeley’s Ecology Center and the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance’s Zero Waste Fellowship, the visitors spent three weeks gaining first-hand insights into Berkeley’s waste removal and recycling programs. 

While Berkeley has had recycling and composting programs in place for nearly three decades, less developed nations are just beginning to address the growing piles of waste in their homeland. 

We don’t have anything like [these recycling programs]. Everything [in South Africa] goes in one container," said Mokhine, who works for Earthlife Africa, one of the oldest environmental organizations in South Africa. “I learned quite a lot here.” 

What they learned in Berkeley was to reduce, reuse and recycle and to ‘please don’t burn.’ 

Mokhine marveled at Berkeley’s recycling infrastructure. “Recycling is quite an accomplished process here," he said. “The other thing that was an inspiration to me is the reuse." He pointed to the Urban Ore site as an example of this kind of thrift. 

But the South African man also said that American ways could be improved and that the United States has trash problems too. 

There is a lot of waste because there’s a lot of unnecessary consumption, driven by the profit-making American psyche,” he said. “When you look at some of the materials that are discarded, it totally explains the [attitude]. I wouldn’t copy America on that score.” 

Mendoza, who works for Mother Earth Unlimited in Manila, echoed Mokine’s sentiments. “I learned that people [in the United States] are disciplined, putting plastics #1 and #2 in the right containers,” she said. “But there’s still a lot of waste... directly proportional to per capita income level. We generate a lot less in Philippines.”  

Nair, who works for Thanal Conservation Action Network in India, also offered perspective on America’s ways. 

“[Here in the United States] I saw glass bottles, perfect in shape, being crushed and melted for making glass,” he said. “Actually, that is energy lost. In India [that is] employment for washing and cleaning.” 

Nair offered some positive sentiments about Berkeley as well. “Berkeley has a lot of community-based activities and lots of laws. Americans have 30 years of experience.” 

The common goal of the visiting scholars is to introduce “Zero Waste” programs in their homes. 

While the focus of Berkeley’s Ecology Center is reuse and recycling, the international GAIA’s goal is to eliminate incineration as a waste-disposal means. Incineration is hardly common in the West, but many developing nations are being asked by manufacturers to consider burning as a quick-fix method of getting rid of mounting consumer and industrial debris. 

Incinerators are banned in the Philippines, but not in South Africa or India. 

Dave Williamson, operations manager of the Ecology Center, said the international fellowships were a good platform for information exchange. 

“We got a feeling of solidarity and of confidence. They [the visiting scholars] learned a lot about the people of the United States,” he said. 

Williamson said he learned from the visitors. 

“With plastic, there’s not much you can do with it, so in India they are replacing it with jute,” a fiber for sacking and cordage obtained from two Asian plants, he said. “They also use banana leaves to make disposable utensils [which] are different looking, but first world Americans would feel comfortable using them.” 

The Ecology Center and GAIA have plans to train as many as 100 international colleagues through similar programs.

To the Editor: 

At time when Americans have just caught sight of the tip of the iceberg of corporate malfeasance on Wall Street, it's a bracing exercise to pry our eyes from the balance sheet and glance at what's happening in the far reaches of our global empire where, when people lose out to corrupt corporate management, they pay not merely with their life savings, but with their very lives. 

Remember that at the Bhopal insecticide plant run by Union Carbide in the 1980s, emergency alert systems were deliberately turned off as part of cost-cutting measures meant to protect the bottom line. 

Nearly 18 years later, the death toll from the largest industrial catastrophe in history stands at 20,000. And it is not over yet. 

Now, under pressure from the Union Carbide Corporation, and its parent, the Dow Chemical Corporation, the Indian government is seeking to use part of the Bhopal disaster victim reparations fund to clean up the contaminated soil and water of the region – a financial burden that ought to be borne not by the surviving, disease-ridden victims, but by Union Carbide and Dow. Moreover, as a sweetener to its Hindu voter base, the government wishes to stretch the limited reparations fund to include several districts, populated predominately by Hindus, which are thought never to have been exposed to the toxic clouds. 

Finally, and in a spirit wholly subservient to Wall Street hubris, it seems clear that the Indian authorities will succeed in diluting or dismissing the culpable homicide charges against Warren Anderson, former CEO of Union Carbide. 

What started as a case of sensational corporate negligence far removed from the American public's eye has evolved into a case of election manipulation and government corruption encouraged by unbridled corporate power – a destructive force that Americans have only just begun to examine critically.  

Sheila Newbery 

Berkeley 

By Greg Beacham 

The Associated Press 

OAKLAND – Precious little luck has run the Texas Rangers’ way since Alex Rodriguez joined them before last season. 

When a big dose of good fortune helped the Rangers snap their eight-game losing streak on Sunday with a remarkable victory, Rodriguez hoped it was the start of a bigger change. 

Ivan Rodriguez drove in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded single in the 12th as the Rangers survived three straight innings of peril before rallying for a 7-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics. 

Gabe Kapler had a two-run single and Alex Rodriguez hit an RBI triple in a five-run burst in the 12th as the Rangers escaped the Coliseum with just their second victory since the All-Star break. 

The final score made it look easy, but the 16 runners left on base by the A’s — including nine in the final four innings — suggested otherwise. On almost every key play, the Rangers got the break. 

“It felt so good to sneak one out,” said Alex Rodriguez, who went 3-for-5. “I think we’ve hit rock-bottom. It was nice to come up with a big win. Hopefully, we’re on the way up now. This could change a lot of things for us.” 

Oakland wasted another strong start by Mark Mulder and several chances to claim their fourth straight victory. The A’s stranded two runners in the ninth and left the bases loaded in the 10th and 11th. 

“We finally got some big outs when we needed them,” Texas manager Jerry Narron said. “When you do that, you win ballgames.” 

In the 12th, Jim Mecir (3-2) allowed Ivan Rodriguez’s drive to center field and Michael Young’s sacrifice fly before Kapler and Alex Rodriguez put it out of reach. 

Jay Powell (2-1) allowed three hits and three intentional walks while pitching out of two jams for the victory, giving Texas a rare dose of resilient relief pitching. 

“All it takes is one hit. They got it, we didn’t,” Oakland manager Art Howe said. “It looked like we were taking strikes and swinging at balls.” 

Adam Piatt had an RBI single in the 12th against Todd Van Poppel.

Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson made an official endorsement of Berkeley mayoral candidate Tom Bates at a rally Saturday. He told about 60 of the candidate’s supporters that he was endorsing the former state assemblyman because of their political like-mindedness and their long personal friendship. 

Carson, who said he has had a productive working relationship with incumbent Mayor Shirley Dean, did not endorse a Berkeley mayoral candidate in the last two elections, which were both won by Dean. 

“I didn’t have to give a second thought about supporting Tom Bates,” Carson said, citing their 20-year political and personal relationship. “Tom has focused in on the issues that affect people like affordable housing and the disparity of health care especially among people of color.” 

Also attending the rally were city councilmembers Linda Maio, Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring and Bates’ wife, Loni Hancock. Hancock is running for the 14th District state Assembly seat, the same position her husband held for 20 years before he was forced out by term limits in 1996. 

Carson joins a growing list of political incumbents who have endorsed Bates, including U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee and 14th District state Assemblywoman Dion Aroner.  

Carson said the state is facing a $26 billion deficit that is bound to impact critical housing, health and education programs. He said the personal working alliance he has formed with Bates and Hancock will help the city and county attain state funds. 

“We have to focus in on how we are going to help the least of us, the homeless, the battered, the hungry and the unemployed,” Carson said. “I think, with the economic state of affairs, it’s important to have the best possible collaboration with federal, state and local bodies to figure out ways to deal with our fiscal challenges.” 

Dean, who plans to launch her re-election campaign in August, said that like Bates, she has enjoyed a productive working relationship with Carson while collaborating on such issues as the Alameda County Courthouse, health disparities and affordable housing. But Dean admitted that she wasn’t surprised when Carson endorsed Bates.  

She said in the last election she won 60 percent of the vote without any endorsements from the “political machine” and she’s confident she can do it again. 

“I’m energized to take my campaign to the streets,” Dean said. “I have been a 24-7 mayor and have worked really, really, really hard to bring this city back from the precipice and people can see the difference.” 

Bates said Carson’s endorsement doesn’t have anything to do with a “political machine” and reflects simply what the supervisor feels is best for Berkeley residents.  

“Eight years she’s been mayor and the people are ready for a change and now is a good opportunity,” he said.  

Bates said he has spent nearly 24 hours walking the precincts since his campaign launch July 13. He has discovered that the issue people are most concerned with is education, and he has already begun devising plans to address the issue. 

If elected, he will not draw a salary because he would have to forfeit his state pension plan from the state Assembly, he said. “Instead I’ll take the money that would have gone to my salary and assign a deputy mayor to deal with education issues such as the development of Vista College downtown,” he said. “I want somebody in my office day in and day out to be accountable.”

To the Editor: 

The eruptive surfacing of the corporate accounting scandals in the past few months exposes a much deeper pathology in the human family. Unfortunately, what it demonstrates is that we are not acting like a family at all. With American big-business practices leading the charge, it has become painfully clear that, for the most part, the players on the world stage have yet to see beyond their atomized self-interest and reconcile themselves to the fact that actions have consequences for the entire fabric of human society, including the perpetrators of the socially solipsistic self-serving mantra of the ‘marketplace.’ 

Greed, avarice and stupidity are nothing new in the denouement of this planet’s evolution, or perhaps lack thereof. What is new is the spiraling, momentous effects of unbridled ignorance, in the spirit of infinite opportunism, infesting the mythology that suggests anyone and everyone can have it all.  

Despite appearances, this pathetic condition “inhumane” is not confined to American capitalism. Corruption and the hoarding of economic power has earmarked virtually every social-political community from the inception of the agricultural era and what is commonly accepted as the beginning of history. But it is in American capitalism that the moral pathogens display themselves with such inglorious abandon. Moreover, the technology and communications revolution that the western economic fortress has spawned, has thrown its ugly ethical emptiness smack back in the face of its pollyanna poses and counterfeit commercial smiles. 

In what may be evolution’s greatest ploy, it is this irony wherein lies our greatest hope: To see ourselves for what we are becoming while having the presence of mind and resolve to act upon ourselves before we are all girdled in passive witness to an orgy of rapacious, elitist entitlement and the complicit, convulsive consumption that has come to define modern man and his aiding abetting, better half. 

Marcus O'Realius 

Oakland

Plastic pistol packer files suit 

MINNEAPOLIS — A 72-year-old man has filed a lawsuit over an incident last year in which he was arrested for carrying a plastic pistol while delivering a singing telegram. 

Fritz Herring said he told deputies at the Hennepin County Government Center why he was there and they retrieved paperwork from his pocket that had information about his telegram appointment. 

Still, he was taken to jail and held for nearly 12 hours, he says. 

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Minneapolis, Herring seeks damages for false imprisonment and defamation, among other claims. 

Man bites pit bull 

NEW YORK — Man bites dog. Really. 

Police said a Long Island man bit a pit bull that was attacking his pet Siberian husky, and may have saved the pooch’s life. 

Richard Robbins, 44, said he was walking his three dogs Saturday morning when three pit bulls dashed from their owner’s side and one attacked his husky, Gina Marie. 

Robbins sank his teeth into the attacking pit bull’s head. He suffered multiple puncture wounds in the attack. 

“I wasn’t going to watch my dog die,” Robbins said. 

Suffolk County Police Lt. Kenneth Fasano said Gina Maria “would have been severely injured or even killed” without Robbins’ intervention. 

Judge finds a jury of ‘Gs’ unfair 

MIAMI — A man who won a new trial on federal gun charges because his jury had too many people whose last names started with the letter “G” has been acquitted. 

Roderick B. Carter, 24, of Opa-Locka, had been charged with possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan granted Carter a new trial after Carter’s attorney argued that his client’s right to a jury of his peers had been violated. 

Federal jury pools in Miami are selected by dividing potential jurists alphabetically by the first letter of their last name and then selecting letters randomly. 

Carter’s attorney, David O. Markus, argued that because the jury pool was full of Hispanic names that started with “G” — such as Garcia, Gomez, Gonzalez and Gutierrez — Carter, who is black, could not have gotten a fair trial because the jury did not have a fair cross sample. 

The judge declared a mistrial in May. The original 12-person jury had seven Hispanic members; last week, Carter was acquitted by a jury of six blacks, two whites and four Hispanics.

By Katie Flynn 

Daily Planet Intern 

Vietnam was a country that Berkeley High School teacher Rick Ayers never thought he'd visit. But after five months of planning and a 20-hour plane ride, Ayers made the journey. It was the ultimate field trip for 13 of his students who explored the bustling cities and wet rice paddies. 

“Vietnam was far more advanced than I expected,” said Arose Umar-Bey, a senior at Berkeley High. “You think of a third world country lacking technology, but really it was almost like being at home: People were going to work, going CD shopping.” 

For two weeks last month, the students and four teachers toured the country by bus and stayed in inexpensive hotels. Tran Tuong Nhu, a Vietnamese-born Berkeley High parent, and Lan Cao, a professor at Hanoi University, helped guide the group. 

They traveled to Halong Bay where they swam in the warm ocean water. They visited a traditional Moung village and went to Hanoi and saw the Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Min's Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace. In Danang, they met the family from the film “A Girl from Danang.” And in Hui, the group saw Buddhist pagodas.  

They met with Vietnamese war veterans who told the group about how they won the Vietnam War, which they call the “American War,” through determination and guerrilla fighting. 

“I use to idealize Vietnamese like the ultimate jungle warriors that couldn't be beat,” Ayers said. “But I learned they got beat up too. They just kept going back at it.” 

The group visited the Amsterdam School, where a class of mostly girls was learning English and hoping to one day attend an American college. The United States and Vietnamese students paired up, sang songs, taught each other dances, and went to a karaoke bar that night. 

“It was so great to meet other high school kids,” said Umar-Bey. “We realized we had a lot of things in common and we talked about boyfriends and crushes and parties.” 

The group also met children at the Peace Village, a school for people born with disabilities blamed on Agent Orange, a toxin that Americans used to defoliate the Vietnam jungles during the war. 

“Seeing kids who had these huge physical deformities like the wrong size head or eyes, made such an impression on us... We all started crying when we first got there,” Umar-Bey said. “It’s like looking at what carelessness can do.” 

When summer vacation is over, the Berkeley High students plan to focus on sending funds to the Peace Village, as well as teaching others about it. 

“We got a sense of responsibility and how it is our job to help at the Peace Village,” said Gabby Miller, a senior who has visited Vietnam three times before. Miller said she wished they could have done more for the Peace Village while in Vietnam. 

A highlight of the trip was an unexpected meeting with the vice president of Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Binh, who was a friend of Nhu.  

For Ayers, Binh represented the many years of fighting with the National Liberation Front, the group that opposed the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. 

Ayers and two students met Binh in her office and discussed Vietnam's history while eating litchi nuts and drinking tea. 

“The idea that I, a high school English teacher who was a rather small light in the peace movement of 30 years ago, should be sitting having a cup of tea with Mme. Binh and a few students, seemed almost unbelievable to me,” Ayers wrote in an e-mail about the meeting. 

Next year, the students will present their trip photos, videos and notes to other students. 

“Vietnam is this country filled with amazing stories. Everyone has a story of war, determination and pride,” Miller said. “You almost become jealous that you are not a part of such a proud culture.” 

The trip cost about $1,600 for each person, with some of the expense offset by fundraising. 

“For me it was a real pilgrimage, a trip of a life time,” said Ayers. “I never thought it would happen.”

LOS ANGELES — An unattended suitcase prompted the evacuation Sunday of part of a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said. 

The Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad was notified about 5 p.m. of a suspicious suitcase in the upper level of Terminal 3, said Officer Don Cox, a police spokesman. 

Only the upper level of the terminal, for departing flights, was evacuated, Cox said. The lower level arrival area and all other terminals continued to operate normally, he said. 

“They’re trying to determine who it belongs to and what might be there,” said Cox. “There are no threats, they don’t have anything to indicate that it is a device.” 

Several airlines operate out of Terminal 3, including: Alaska, American, Frontier, Horizon and Midwest Express. 

San Jose woman sentenced  

to jail for hate crime 

SAN JOSE — A San Jose woman was sentenced to nine months in jail after being convicted of a hate crime in which she attacked a man of Middle Eastern descent while shouting slurs during a road rage incident. 

Angel Ann Coley, 28, also was ordered Friday to pay restitution to Mohamed Aram, the 31-year-old man she kicked, bit, and punched in November after using her car to ram Aram’s limousine into an intersection for not getting out of her way at a red light. 

Witnesses told police Coley got out of her car and confronted Aram. She bit his hand, kicked him in the groin and punched him, they said. During the attack Coley called Aram, who emigrated from Egypt six years ago, a “towel head” and “foreigner.” 

Aram tried tossing his cell phone to a passerby to call 911, but the man took the phone and left the scene. 

During her trial Coley maintained that Aram refused to show his identification after his vehicle hit her car — which conflicted with evidence and testimony from witnesses. 

Coley’s sentence comes three weeks after a Superior Court jury found her guilty of committing a hate crime resulting in injury, making threats to commit death or injury, hit-and-run, and battery. 

Fourth week without budget 

SACRAMENTO — California is entering the fourth week without a state budget, which is putting the squeeze on state workers. Legislative employees were the first to go without a paycheck last week, leaving others to wonder who’s next. 

Still, Assembly Republicans maintain they will not vote for the state spending plan that uses tax hikes to help fill a $23.6 billion budget hole. 

Man accused of stealing car caught  

after demanding air 

FAIRFIELD — A man accused of stealing a truck was caught after he threatened a service station clerk with a sawed-off shotgun and demanded two quarters to put air in his tires. 

Shane V. Cavalin was ordered to stand trial on robbery and auto theft charges, which carry a possible eight years in prison. Using the shotgun could tack on an additional 10 years. 

Cavalin allegedly went into a gas station on May 4 and asked to use the air machine for the tires of the stolen truck he was driving. 

The cashier told him he needed two quarters for the machine. Vacaville police officer Brian Larsen testified at a preliminary hearing Friday that Cavalin returned a moment later toting a sawed-off shotgun and ordered the cashier to empty the cash register. 

ACRAMENTO — There are plenty of ingredients easily accessible in California to assemble a “dirty bomb,” or explosives laced with radioactive material, according to a newspaper’s investigation. 

The Sacramento Bee reported Sunday that radioactive materials are scattered across the state at thousands of sites, and hundreds of them hold enough for a “dirty bomb,” according to state and federal records. 

Machines that operate using large amounts of radioactivity have become commonplace in medicine, research and construction. Radioactive material can be found in the lunchbox-sized construction tool used to peer inside pipelines and walls; in the giant irradiators used to purify foods and sterilize medical supplies; in the medical equipment used to cut brain tumors and treat blood. 

In some places, such equipment is left unattended for hours or days behind locked doors, the Bee reported. 

With the exception of nuclear plants and weapons sites, the nation’s system of radiological safeguards is aimed at preventing accidents, not thwarting well-planned thefts. 

“Safety is different from security. We need to do a much better job of controlling the radioactive materials we have out there,” said Steven E. Koonin, a nuclear physicist and provost at the California Institute of Technology who has advised the government on security issues. 

A “dirty bomb,” known formally as a radiation dispersal device, probably would kill no more people than a conventional blast. It would cause far fewer deaths than a chemical or biological attack, experts say. 

But some predict the dirty bomb is one of the likeliest weapons to be unleashed by terrorists because the ingredients are so easy to get and the potential damage in panic and cleanup costs are so huge. 

“I would be surprised if we didn’t see one within a decade,” Koonin said. 

Although medical and industrial uses of radiation are widely documented, The Bee chose not to identify the owners of significant quantities in light of concerns about how simple it might be to gather enough radioactivity to create a “dirty bomb.” 

People have to take safety courses before getting a license to own even small amounts of radioactive materials, but they do not need to undergo criminal or background checks. A federal law to require background checks for hazardous materials haulers is at least two months away from being implemented. 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently reduced the frequency of inspections for most radioactive materials license holders and does not fully check large inventories to ensure their owners know what is on hand. 

SACRAMENTO — California relies too heavily on natural gas to fuel the power plants that generate nearly half of its electricity, leaving the state’s consumers vulnerable to price swings, a new study has found. 

In pursuit of cleaner power, California increasingly has switched to natural gas for its power plants during the past 20 years. But that means higher prices and even electricity shortages if the gas supply dwindles, according to RAND, a nonpartisan Santa Monica-based research organization. 

California produces only 15 percent of its natural gas, importing the rest from Canada, the Rocky Mountain states and New Mexico. 

Consumers already saw their natural gas bills zoom upward during late 2000 and early 2001 because of tight supply, which state power regulators blamed on gas sellers not using pipelines to their full capacity. The industry has denied any wrongdoing. The shortage, however, raised electricity prices because gas fuels 45 percent of power plants in the state. 

RAND, which wrote the report for the Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, projects the state’s natural gas consumption will increase between 18 percent and 50 percent by 2010, mostly due to new power plants. Researchers say there could be supply bottlenecks unless more pipelines are built or existing pipes widened. 

Rather than completely shift away from the fuel, the state should speed the permitting process, boost reliance renewable energy and expand incentives for electricity conservation, the study recommended. 

Coal and nuclear power fuel a third of the state’s power plants. Hydroelectric dams and alternative energy sources comprise the rest. 

RIVERSIDE — A giant cane, the largest member of the grass family, swallows up gallons of water, grows up to a foot a day and is stubbornly resisting efforts around California to control it. 

“It’s kind of unstoppable,” said Kyle Washburn, who was working with crews using tractors to cut through dense growth of the grass known as Arundo donax along the San Jacinto River in western Riverside County. 

So far, the oversized reed has taken over 20,000 acres of riverbed in three Southern California counties. The plant, which is not native to California, sends up new shoots when it is cut down. It also becomes a natural fire carrier when it dries out. 

“The only thing I can compare it to is cancer. It spreads so fast, and it won’t let anything else live in its midst,” said Kerwin Russell, an environmental horticulturist with the Riverside-Corona regional conservation district. 

The cane, with its firm, straight structure, was first mentioned in the Bible and Greek myths, and is considered the best material available for clarinets and other reed instruments. 

No one is sure when or how the plant first came to the United States, but Spanish settlers used it as building material for California missions. 

Since 1960, when the federal government started planting Arundo along riverbanks to control erosion, the cane has spread dramatically. It is now spotted as far north as Willamette, Ore., and as far east as New Orleans. 

“They had the right idea, but they put it near water,” Russell said. “It loves water, and it has no natural enemies here.” 

To control the cane, stalks must be bulldozed, then shredded and, finally, pesticides must be applied to keep the plant from coming back, Russell said. 

LAKE ISABELLA— A 350-acre wildfire damaged or destroyed 10 homes Sunday afternoon and forced the evacuation of residents, officials said. 

Evacuations are underway in the area near Erskine Creek, near Lake Isabella, as the fire moves in a southeasterly direction, said Tomas Patlan, a spokesman with the Kern County Fire Department. It is not known how many homes are in the area and how many people are being evacuated, he said. 

About 75 firefighters and three helicopters are working to save homes in the area, he added. No injuries have been reported. 

The fire erupted about 2 p.m. and the cause is under investigation, he said. 

Authorities are warning residents to stay out of the area. 

Lake Isabella is about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles and about 30 miles northeast of Bakersfield. 

In another blaze, firefighters contained a wildfire that burned 25 acres of brush and destroyed two structures in the hills northeast of San Diego, authorities said Sunday. 

The fire, which began Saturday, briefly threatened the popular Angel’s Landing Country Inn and Resort. 

Two structures, possibly trailers or mobile homes, were destroyed, said Chris Hess of the California Department of Forestry. 

No injuries were reported. 

At its peak, more than 250 firefighters worked to contain the blaze. 

The cause of the fire remained under investigation, Hess said. 

SAN FRANCISCO – As the stock market’s losses piled up last year, brokerage executive Charles Schwab began appearing in television commercials urging individual investors to remain calm. But by early last week, he realized people aren’t heeding his advice. 

“You can start to see people get a sense of panic now,” Schwab said in an interview last week. “You see it in the market, you (hear) it in conversation, you see it in the writings to the letters to the editor. For some investors, it’s getting pretty desperate. Of course, that’s the time you just got to hold your cool.” 

Remaining levelheaded is getting tougher for individual investors caught in the maelstrom of accounting scandals, terrorism fears and economic queasiness that shoved last week’s stock market to its lowest levels in nearly four years. 

Logic says the market should be reaching a bottom, that Monday should yield great deals for investors with extra cash and the desire to buy blue-chip stocks deeply discounted by the waves of selling that have washed over Wall Street. 

But emotions might drive even more people out of the market as they ruminate over the losses reflected in their second-quarter investment statements and realize the damage got even worse during the last two weeks. 

All of the stock market’s bellwether indexes have been badly battered during the last two weeks. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the most famous index of all, got hit the hardest, dropping by 1,360 points, or 14.5 percent, to fall to 8,019. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 141 points, or 14.3 percent, and the technology-driven Nasdaq composite index dropped by 129 points, or 8.9 percent. 

The rapid descent, combined with substantial erosion that had already occurred since the stock market’s March 2000 peak, is bound to cause a lot of soul searching among investors, said Tom Lydon, president of Global Trend Investments in Newport Beach. 

“There are going to be a lot of couples sitting across from each their dining room tables this weekend and one spouse is going to say to the other, ’That’s it. We’ve had it. Let’s get out of the market and take something off the table while we still can,”’ he said. 

This kind of behavior is known as “capitulation” — a phrase used in the stock market to describe a time when exasperated investors throw up their hands and sell all their holdings regardless of the economic circumstances. This phenomenon is the polar opposite of the giddiness — famously described by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan as “irrational exuberance” — that propels markets to staggering highs. 

Historically, the moment of investor capitulation heralds the end of a bear market. That’s the good news. The bad news is no one really recognizes the moment of capitulation until it’s already occurred. 

“I’ve been thinking the market had capitulated for the last three weeks, but it just keeps capitulating,” said Richard Del Monte, an investment adviser in Danville. He said three more of his clients threw in the towel after Friday’s sell-off, telling him to sell all their stocks. 

Most money managers think this is a time savvy investors should be seeking out bargains in the market. “You might see opportunities out there that you won’t see again for years,” Lydon said. 

But don’t tread into the market turbulence unless you have a cast-iron stomach because investment professionals warn the market might plummet even further in the next few days. 

“To buy stocks now, you have to be like the people who traveled across the country during the Gold Rush of 1849,” Del Monte said. “It takes a lot of courage.” 

Canan Korustan of Alamo is already on the prowl for bargains. During Friday’s sell-off, she picked up stock in General Electric and discount retailer Target. If the market falls further Monday, she is eyeing investments in drug company Pfizer Inc. and perhaps a cable company. 

By buying now, she hopes to offset some of her losses on past investments in high-tech companies. The value of her holdings in one-time high-fliers like BroadVision Inc. and Exodus Communications have fallen from $20,000 at the market’s peak to $200 today. 

Korustan, 46, is trying not to glance back as she forges ahead. 

“I haven’t even looked at my stock portfolio in the last three weeks because every time I do I just get kind of nervous and upset,” she said. “I start thinking I was stupid for not getting out a long time ago.”

LOS ANGELES – Acres of brown, blue, red and yellow 40-foot containers fill the shipyards. They run as far as the eye can see, stacked three high, forming long steel corridors down the length of the docks. 

Their contents include nearly everything a consumer could imagine — furniture, clothing, toys, tractors, computers, waste paper, pet food. 

Some goods are on their way to low-cost manufacturers in Asia, such as 2,389 cubic feet of raw cotton destined for Jakarta. 

Others are inbound to shops in nearly every town across America, such as the boxes of butane lighter fluid just arrived from China. 

The profound scale of the operation leaves no doubt that a labor disruption during ongoing contract talks between carriers and longshoremen would reverberate in every corner of the U.S. economy. 

“The effect could be chaotic,” said Monroe Milstein, founder and chief executive of the Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse. 

The New Jersey-based chain of 294 department stores receives about 60 percent of its product through West Coast ports. 

The contract between carriers and West Coast longshoremen expired July 1. Since then, the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have been extending the contract on a 24-hour basis at each negotiating session. So far, the union has disavowed any intent to stage a slowdown, and it has not yet taken a strike vote among its members. 

The PMA has argued that West Coast ports are becoming bottlenecks in the supply chain of goods from Asia because the union has spurned technological improvements in an effort to save about 2,100 clerk jobs. The ILWU says it’s not against technology, but the new jobs must stay within the union. 

Together, goods crossing the docks at the combined Los Angeles and Long Beach ports — the third-largest complex in the world — and at smaller West Coast ports from San Diego to Seattle, represent nearly 8 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. 

Some 4 million jobs around the country rely on the smooth flow of goods through those ports. 

West Coast ports have helped sustain the national economy by funneling billions of dollars worth of furniture, automobiles and automobile parts into the country — the key ingredients of the consumer spending binge that kept the recession mild — said Larry Keller, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. 

The ports also are the gateway to Asia for businesses across the country. 

A large percentage of Asian goods destined for the eastern United States come through the West because it’s often cheaper to put them on cross-country trucks or trains than to send them on longer routes through the Suez Canal and across the Atlantic Ocean. 

The top imports by dollar value through the Port of Los Angeles last year were apparel, toys, computers and office machines, and furniture. The leading exports were resin, raw cotton, waste paper, scrap metal and pet and animal food. 

A work stoppage on the West Coast wouldn’t create much damage if it lasted less than two weeks, Milstein said. But anything beyond that would disrupt his company’s supply of clothes, handbags, belts, perfumes, shoes, furniture and other merchandise coming from Asia, he said. 

“Most everything today comes through West Coast ports,” he said. “Twenty years ago at least half of it was made in the United States.” 

Each year, about 5,500 vessels move through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, some more than 1,000 feet long. Each holds several thousand containers, or “cans,” which are unloaded by 105-foot high cranes that permanently hover above the ships’ berths on the docks. 

Some 34,000 trucks line up each day to deliver exports and haul away the incoming merchandise. 

The Port of Los Angeles on its own sprawls over 3,800 acres of water and another 3,700 acres of land. Eighty shipping lines moved $113.9 billion worth of goods through the facility in 2001 — 35 percent of the nation’s container traffic. 

For business owners like Charlie Woo, founder and chief executive of Megatoys, the port is an irreplaceable life line to his suppliers in China, offering the fastest and cheapest travel time for his goods. 

“The port has made my business competitive in L.A. Without it I wouldn’t be able to survive in this industry,” said Woo. 

Megatoys has found its niche selling toys to small retailers that giant toy companies such as Mattel don’t serve. In 13 years, Woo has built a $25 million-a-year import business that employs 70 people. 

The firm imports dolls, radio-controlled cars and other battery toys from manufacturers in China’s special Shenzhen economic zone. 

The merchandise is loaded into 40-foot containers, which hold several thousand toys each. The containers travel by truck to the south China port of Yantian, and 12 days later they arrive in Los Angeles. Door-to-door delivery costs him $1,500 per container, Woo said. 

Last month Woo brought in an extra $1 million of inventory to cushion his business during any labor disruption, he said. 

“I have no other contingency plans because they would not be economical,” he said.

The decision to add a written essay to the widely taken SAT college entrance exam has raised new questions. 

Can someone from a home where another language is spoken whip out polished prose in English in 25 minutes? If not, does that mean he or she doesn’t deserve to go to a competitive college? 

“The time limit is particularly difficult for kids who have to translate in their head,” says Robert Schaeffer of Fair Test, a Massachusetts-based group that advocates less reliance on standardized tests. In the real world of college, he argues, “if you write slowly or need a dictionary or have to stay up all night, you can do it.” 

On the other hand, the writing test “gets at real behavior,” and the ability to speak, read and write in English is key to undergraduate success, says Wayne Camara, vice president for research at the College Board, the New York-based nonprofit that owns the SAT. 

The SAT changes were prompted when University of California President Richard C. Atkinson proposed dropping the SAT. With 150,000 undergrads, UC is the test’s biggest user. 

UC faculty proved reluctant to go test-free, suggesting development of a new exam, an ambitious plan that never really flowered. Meanwhile, the College Board and Iowa-based ACT, Inc., makers of the rival ACT entrance exam, made changes. 

ACT is adding an essay for California students only; its officials are still working on the format. 

The point is not to keep English-learners out of college, but to measure their ability to write, says ACT spokesman Ken Gullette. “They will need the skills, so to measure the skills and to give them information to help them improve their skills is a good thing.” 

The SAT makeover, which included dropping the often-criticized analogy section and making math questions tougher, was heralded by Atkinson as “a transforming event in the nature of education.” 

But at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, executive director Margaret Fung has heard from several concerned parents and students. 

“It’s clear that Asian families want to be sure their children speak English. It just seems as if that (essay requirement) may put people at a disadvantage,” she says. 

At the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, officials say it’s too soon to know if the new requirement will be a problem, “but at a minimum we know the essay will not improve the situation,” says attorney Victor Viramontes. “The older version of the SAT discriminates against English-learners and on its face the changes do not address the problem.” 

A 2001 College Board report found that students whose first language was not English had a mean score of 455 on the SAT verbal test, compared to a mean score of 517 for those who spoke English first. 

The report also found that students from Hispanic or Asian backgrounds in general had lower verbal scores than white students. 

The essay requirement isn’t a change for UC-bound students. UC already requires the SAT II writing test, which also includes an essay, a requirement that likely will be dropped now. 

The SAT is a “reasoning test” that tries to measure overall academic ability. The SAT IIs are “subject tests,” that try to assess what students have learned in the classroom. UC requires three SAT IIs, writing, math and a third to be chosen from a variety of subjects. 

Patrick Hayashi, associate president of UC, says making the essay a national requirement, along with the other SAT changes, has “the potential of actually helping nonnative speakers because I think it will encourage the development of better writing classes.” 

As for the time-limit complaint, “I think you have plenty of time to write that essay,” he says. 

The SAT IIs have also been criticized, with complaints focusing on the Chinese and Spanish language tests, which are among the options students can choose for the third test. Critics say students from homes where those languages are spoken ace the tests even though they didn’t study the languages in high school. 

SAT II scores count twice as much as regular SAT scores at UC. But UC officials note that any one SAT II score makes up only 25 percent of the total test battery and also point out that mastering a second language is an academic skill. 

UC research shows the language tests don’t have a big impact on the ethnic makeup of students admitted — a hot-button issue at UC, where race-based admissions have been banned since 1998. 

The number of black and Hispanic students dropped sharply immediately after the ban, especially at highly competitive Berkeley and UCLA. Since then, the numbers have increased, although Berkeley still admits far fewer black students. 

Meanwhile, Asian-Americans, who did not get affirmative action, comprise the largest single group at four of UC’s eight undergraduate campuses; at one of those, UC Irvine, they are the majority at 55 percent of the student body. Statewide, Asian-Americans make up about 11 percent of the population. 

Berkeley ethnic studies professor Ling-Chi Wang says he has heard from some who worry that the emphasis on writing is a way to boost diversity by curbing admission of Asian-Americans. 

UC and testing officials deny that. 

Wang, meanwhile, says he is not troubled by the issue, because “I personally strongly support the notion of diversity,” and because he expects Asian-Americans will meet the new challenge. 

Some think it’s a bad idea to put too much faith in testing, revamped or not. 

At Bates College, a small liberal arts college in Maine where applicants aren’t required to submit test scores, students who don’t submit scores end up having slightly higher grade point averages. 

“Do the tests screen out more students who would be successful in college than they help you find? Bates’ answer to that question is a clear, ringing, ’Yes,”’ says Bill Hiss, the college’s vice president for external and alumni affairs. 

Hiss recalls the case of an applicant with a very low SAT verbal score of 400. The student, a Vietnamese immigrant who was valedictorian of her high school class, was accepted, graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in biology, took a year off to found a mentoring program for immigrant students and went on to medical school. 

UC has switched to “comprehensive review” admissions which means they can consider hardships a student has overcome, so it’s possible they, too, would have admitted that student. 

Still, Hiss asks, “Is a controlled writing sample going to help Latino and international and immigrant kids? For most of them it won’t. A writing sample is going to help youngsters who are at the best suburban high schools and prep schools.”

SACRAMENTO – A Gilroy high school’s move toward “academic tracking” that prompted the surprise resignation of the school’s top officials has stirred the debate among educators who say tracking unfairly excludes low-income and minority students. 

So-called academic tracking is a classification system in which students are placed in groups based on their academic ability, with the brightest kids taking separate classes or receiving more challenging coursework. 

Historically, students were placed in high or low “tracks” in elementary school and stayed in those same groups throughout their educational careers. Lower tracks often focused on vocational training rather than intense academic work. 

Although tracking has evolved into many different forms, it still exists around the country today, according to Sylvia Seidel, who runs a professional school development program for the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. 

While schools rarely categorize kids as high- and low-performing any more, many districts do offer continuous honors courses starting in elementary school and running through high school. 

“Tracking is still one of the most highly debated issues,” Seidel said. “There are vestiges of it everywhere, but the trend is moving away from tracking.” 

Most educators agree that students learn best when course work is geared toward individual ability, but critics worry that some students won’t have equal access to the classes if they are deemed as low achieving early on. 

In California, many districts say they are trying to focus on a tough curriculum for all kids, not just the brightest few. 

So when the board of the Gilroy Unified School District announced last week that it would implement a pilot honors program that includes separate classes for some of its ninth-graders, school principal Wendy Gudalewicz promptly resigned, calling the decision “morally and educationally wrong.” 

“At our high school, we’ve made dramatic gains. We’ve doubled the number of students going to college,” Gudalewicz said. “We’ve met (state testing) targets, and all the subgroups have met the targets. When that happens, why put something in place that is going to turn us backward?” 

Gudalewicz, along with assistant principals Cec Bell and Rosa Nieto, resigned to protest the decision, citing fears the district is reinstating academic tracking. 

The ninth-grade pilot program will close the gap in the district’s honors programs, giving priority to kids who took honors classes in eighth-grade and helping pave the way for Advanced Placement classes in 11th- and 12th-grade. 

Gudalewicz maintains that low-income or minority kids who didn’t get into honors classes early on would have trouble breaking into them in high school. 

The program, which will start this fall, was approved after a group of parents turned in a petition with more than 200 signatures and packed school board meetings pushing for the change. 

Jackie Caldwell, who is sending her 14-year-old son, Austin, to a private school rather than Gilroy High so he would have more challenging classes, said tracking is not about race. 

“As an African-American, I support the program,” said Caldwell, who is a member of the parent group that turned in the petition. “Both my husband and I were tracked in the 60s and 70s, and we do not see this a race issue.” 

Caldwell, who attended California public schools all her life, says the move away from tracking hurts high-performing students. 

“We have a daughter in junior high who is also a high achieving student,” Caldwell said. “We’re waiting to see if the curriculum is going to be changed before deciding if she goes (to Gilroy High.) They would have to have an honors program if she did.” 

Gilroy Superintendent Edwin Diaz said that although he was disappointed with Gudalewicz’s resignation, the classes are needed to bring Gilroy High students up to speed. 

“This isn’t such a huge leap,” Diaz said. “The typical model in Santa Clara County and the state is to have some sort of accelerated class.” 

Gilroy, which is south of San Jose, is a rural area that is quickly turning into a bedroom community for Silicon Valley workers. By 2000, Gilroy’s population had grown by 29 percent compared to a decade before. 

At the same time, Gilroy has also seen a rise in low-income and minority residents. More than half of Gilroy residents are Hispanic. 

Diaz said he’s concerned that some parents will choose to pull their kids out of public schools unless the schools offers classes for higher-achieving students. 

“If we’re not able to meet the needs of the whole spectrum of kids, then the public education system is falling apart,” Diaz said. “We’ve spent the last two years improving the achievement of students below grade level. We also have to be mindful and diligent to students that are already performing well.” 

But many school districts, like Sacramento City Unified School District, which groups kids of all levels together in a single class, maintain that students can benefit from a heterogeneous learning environment. 

Lee Yang, assistant principal at Pacific Elementary School, said classes at the school have an equal mix of high- and low-performing students. The high-performing students get extra work tacked onto their homework assignments, while students who have difficulty with the work get extra help from classroom tutors. 

“It’s beneficial to both groups,” Yang said. “Lower-end students get more tutoring and they also get help from kids who are doing well in the class. At the same time, it gives the higher-end kids a chance to apply what they’ve learned.” 

Diaz said Gilroy’s pilot program will benefit lower-achieving students, allowing teachers to devote more time to help them reach their potential. He said that people can sometimes overlook the benefits because the discussion often is centered around “issues relating to access and race and privilege” 

“I made it very clear that if we do end up with these classes, they will be open to everyone,” he said.

By Brian Melley 

The Associated Press 

ALTAMONT PASS – The seemingly benevolent breezes that power giant windmills on these hills also carry pollution inland to one of America’s smoggiest regions, fueling a battle between rich and poor. 

At the center of the dispute is something central to California: the automobile. 

Lawsuits and legislation are pending that would require San Francisco area cars to undergo the same stiffer auto emissions tests required in every other urban area of California. 

“You have the greenest, wealthiest area dumping pollution into one of the poorest areas,” said Bruce Nilles, a former Earthjustice lawyer who has worked toward improving air quality in the valley. 

The Bay Area, which sends significant pollution as far as the Sierra Nevada foothills, has escaped the requirement because of an exemption written into state law by a former lawmaker from the coastal region. 

It doesn’t take sophisticated air monitoring equipment to witness the pollution. 

Nate Moehlman, an engineer and private pilot from Fresno, said that when he flies over the valley, he can follow a path of “gunk” all the way from the Bay Area to Bakersfield. 

Ocean breezes blow east, through the Carquinez Straits to Sacramento and points north, and through the Altamont Pass south to the mountains that rim the valley’s southern border. Currents swirl in an eddy of concentrated pollution east and south of Fresno, which has some the highest smog levels in the nation. 

The debate has illuminated the distrust and even contempt that has existed for decades between the industrial farm region and the city by the bay. 

Valley folk have sensed a holier-than-thou attitude among Bay Area lawmakers and environmentalists they believe are forcing a liberal agenda on hard-working families who farm the nation’s most productive land. 

To Bay Area denizens, the Central Valley is the hot, dusty, backward plain that must be endured on the drive to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite National Park. 

When Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, filed a bill this year require Bay Area residents to pass the stiffer emissions test, Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, blamed part of the problem on tire fires and junk heaps in the valley. 

The Fresno Bee responded with an editorial headlined “Bay Area airhead.” 

Migden said the legislation is punitive, not supported by science and is motivated by “an irresistible impulse to pick on the Bay Area.” 

Still, the state Air Resources Board has found that the Bay Area has had an “overwhelming” impact on inland pollution — 27 percent of the smog in Stockton came from the Bay Area. In the southern end of the valley, where air pollution is worse, the figure drops to slightly less than 10 percent. 

Air pollution control districts in the Central Valley haven’t challenged a state exemption for agriculture that has allowed farms to remain largely unregulated for years. But they have sued the state board to reverse the Bay Area’s smog exemption, which was written during a brief period when the Bay Area met federal Clean Air Act standards for smog. 

The enhanced Smog Check II checks required for every other metropolitan area in California cost most motorists about $10, but much more for repairs if the cars fail to meet the standard. 

Ending the exemption would eliminate an estimated 27 tons of pollutants which contribute to smog downwind, said Ellen Garvey, air pollution control officer for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. 

“It doesn’t do anything to help us but it does help them,” Garvey said. “I think we ultimately want to do the right thing for clean air and we want to do the right thing for our neighbors.” 

A study should be complete by the end of the month on how much of those smog-forming emissions are contributing to inland pollution. 

Garvey said her agency is trying to determine what is cost effective. The enhanced smog check would cost about $5,500 to remove each ton of pollution-forming gases. The same goal could be achieved for $900 a ton if diesel-burning boats on the bay were equipped with cleaner burning engines. 

The legislation passed overwhelmingly in the Assembly, 57-4, in May. It stands a good chance of passage in the upper house. Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, said he might make some changes to the legislation but he will not block it. 

“It’s an issue of fundamental equity,” said Mike Lynch, chief of staff for Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, who fought for years to bring the Bay Area into compliance. “They think they’re special and they think everyone should give them a break because they’re special. Unfortunately, the break comes at the expense of our health and our jobs.” 

Even if the legislation is passed, it is only expected to make a small dent — less than 10 percent — in the valley’s pollution problems. The San Joaquin Valley has failed for years to meet federal standards and needs to remove about 300 tons of pollution, a third of its daily total.

By Chelsea J. Carter 

The Associated Press 

STANTON – DNA evidence found on the body of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion matches that of the man arrested in her killing, The Associated Press learned Saturday. 

A source close to the investigation, who declined to be identified, confirmed a report in the Los Angeles Times Saturday that DNA from the girl’s body matched that of Alejandro Avila. 

The source would not elaborate on the type of genetic material that was used for the match. 

Jim Amormino, a spokesman with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, would not specifically confirm or deny the report, but did say authorities were “100 percent sure we have the right man.” 

“Forensic testing has confirmed our initial suspicion. DNA is a component of forensic testing,” he said. 

Avila, 27, was arrested Friday for investigation of kidnapping and killing Samantha. He has denied the charges and claims he was at a shopping mall on Monday evening when the girl was abducted. His sister, 22-year-old Elvira Avila, told the Orange County Register that he unexpectedly missed a family dinner Monday night, when Samantha was kidnapped. 

The district attorney’s office was expected to file formal charges by Tuesday. 

Samantha was playing with a 5-year-old friend just yards from her home when a man claiming to look for a lost puppy carried her away, kicking and screaming. 

The DNA evidence helped seal a rapid investigation following the discovery of Samantha’s body on Tuesday about 10 miles from Avila’s home. 

A tip naming Avila came into the Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday, and by that evening he was under surveillance, Amormino said. 

Friday’s arrest did not end the emotional turmoil of Southern California parents and children who have taken in Samantha as one of their own. 

Hushed mourners gathered Saturday at an impromptu memorial in the courtyard of the townhome complex where Samantha lived. 

Samantha’s mother ended nearly four days of seclusion to thank the gathered crowd for the support. 

“We will have a service as soon as we can. It has to be perfect. I’m sure you can understand,” she said between tears. “So thank you. It really has been helpful.” 

Tables overflowing with flowers, balloons, cards and stuffed animals have become a magnet for many in the community trying to cope with the fear and frustration brought by the little girl’s murder. An estimated 1,000 people had visited in the past day. 

“If there’s one (killer), there will be another,” said Kathleen Siliuta, 30, who brought her 6-year-old daughter, Alexis. 

Juan Rivera, 36, of Stanton, said his visit was a life lesson for his 7-year-old daughter, Arias. 

“I wanted to bring her to see you’ve got to be careful,” he said. 

“I have to scream and run” if attacked, Arias said. 

Laurance Montgomery, 53, passed out flyers of his daughter, Daniela, who was 14 when she disappeared from her Riverside home ten months ago. 

He hoped the attention to missing children from Samantha’s case might help generate leads to his daughter’s disappearance. 

“Unfortunately, it’s not a good time for the Runnion family or the rest of the community,” he said. 

Several other child murders in Southern California remain unsolved. 

Jahi Turner, 2, came to San Diego from Frederick, Md. just days before his April 25 disappearance from a playground in San Diego’s Balboa Park. Turner, who is still missing, was left alone by his stepfather, Teiray Jones, who told police the boy disappeared when he left to buy a soda. 

Victoria Angelica Ramirez, 10, of the Central California agricultural town of Hanford, vanished at a swap meet in nearby Visalia in 1994. Witnesses said she had argued with her mother and ran off. Her body was later found 30 miles away in an irrigation canal. The case remains unsolved. 

Riverside County authorities have sought a suspect in the kidnapping and killing of Anthony Martinez since April 1997. Martinez was abducted as he played in the front of his home. His body was found in a shallow grave two weeks later near Palm Springs.  

They believe the case is unrelated.

BERKELEY — Last fall, with a GPA above 4.0, an SAT of 1300 and a stint as a varsity golf player and student mentor, Jack Graham applied to the University of California campuses of Berkeley, San Diego and Santa Barbara. 

He was turned down by all three. 

Graham missed getting in by a few hundred points at UC San Diego, where under UC’s new “comprehensive review” policies students can get up to 500 points for personal disadvantages. 

“If my parents would have been divorced I would have gotten in,” Graham says wryly. 

UC officials say it’s not that simple. A student claiming disadvantage due to divorce would have to make a convincing case that it created a specific hardship, say a sudden loss of income. Getting the full 500 points would take a life-altering event, such as being forced into foster care. Meanwhile, academic criteria accounts for more than 75 percent of San Diego’s evaluation system. 

But affirmative action critics are taking aim at the new system, saying it has turned admissions into a sob-story sweepstakes that most benefits blacks and Hispanics. 

“On the face of it, there’s a lot of unfairness in this system,” said Harold Johnson of the Pacific Legal Foundation. The foundation is exploring whether comprehensive review flouts a California law banning race-based admissions at public schools. 

Since race-blind admissions went into effect, enrollment of blacks and Hispanics tumbled, then rebounded. But there has been a reshuffling, with more blacks and Hispanics going to lesser-known campuses such as UC-Riverside and fewer going to Berkeley and UCLA. 

So far, there’s little evidence that the new comprehensive review policies, passed last November, benefit any one group. This fall, in the first year of comprehensive review, blacks, Hispanics and American Indians made up 19.1 percent of freshman admissions. That was the first time the number surpassed the 18.8 percent set in 1997 — the last year of affirmative action. The groups together represent 39.3 percent of California’s population, according to Census 2000. 

However, the number of these “underrepresented minorities” has been increasing ever since the big drop in 1998 — last year the pool was 18.6 percent — and the personal disadvantages scorecard is but one of many factors influencing admissions numbers systemwide. 

UC officials say it appears the incoming class is as academically strong as in previous years and that admissions directors did not find a marked increase in students pleading hardship. 

They describe comprehensive review as a better and closer method of evaluation, looking at not just what a student accomplished but how hard he or she had to work to do it. 

“It was an opportunity for us to look at the whole student’s record, consider all of the student’s attributes while maintaining primary emphasis on the academic profile of the student,” said Dennis Galligani, UC associate vice president for student academic affairs. 

Take the case of Vanessa Vidal, who was accepted to Berkeley this fall. Vidal has an overall grade point average of better than 4.0, was editor of her school newspaper, had tutored other students in a mentoring program and had an SAT score of 1150. 

Neither of her parents has a college degree and her mother is not fluent in English. She attended a high school of 4,700 students, most of whom are low-income. 

UC officials warn that individual cases such as those of Vidal and Graham cannot and should not be compared in a judgment-by-anecdote; there are too many factors involved in admissions. For instance, UC has been placing less emphasis on SAT scores for some time, citing studies showing the test is a poor predictor for how well a student will do in college. 

Vidal sees comprehensive review as a way for admissions officials to see her in context. 

“It is harder for us to get a better education,” said Vidal. She said she didn’t try to spin a hard-luck tale to admissions officials, and simply stated the facts about having to figure out homework assignments on her own as well as help her younger siblings with their work. 

Vidal’s school, South Gate High School near Los Angeles is one where UC has an outreach program, a system of recruitment and mentoring that replaced the old affirmative action programs. 

Graham, who ultimately got accepted into UC Santa Barbara on appeal, went to one of the best high schools in the state, where there was no such program. 

His mother, UC Irvine professor Mary Gilly says she supports affirmative action, but not “this idea of tweaking and doing a formula and playing games to work out the numbers. He would have gotten more points had he gone to a bad high school ... you wonder what’s the point of trying to live in a good school district.” 

UC critic David Benjamin, who runs an SAT prep company in Southern California, says UC is focusing outreach on schools that are predominantly Hispanic and black, bypassing poor whites and Asians and families that “are poor but their parents ... sacrifice everything to send their kids to a better high school. Their kids are not even being looked at.” 

Applicants get extra points for being in college prep programs — UC’s and others. UC officials say they target poorly performing high schools, regardless of race. The truth is, many of these schools are predominantly Hispanic and black. 

Each campus has a different formula for what constitutes hardship and how much it counts. 

UCLA considers a number of disadvantages including recovering from a life-threatening illness, accident or a shooting. 

At Berkeley, admissions officers don’t assign points — readers come up with an overall total for each applicant based on all the information in the file. 

At UC Davis, students can earn up to 250 points for perseverance, which can include difficulties associated with family disruptions, poverty, health and dysfunctional environments. However, perseverance can only account for 2 percent of the maximum point total; academics account for 73 percent. 

Applications are read by at least two people and if they’re more than slightly off, a third person is called in. 

But critics say there’s nothing to stop students from inventing difficult pasts. 

UC is working on a verification system, although Galligani said they’ve been checking up on academic claims for years and “what we find is that students do not exaggerate.” 

Gov. Gray Davis warned today that if the state Assembly doesn't pass the 2002-2003 budget by Aug. 1, there will be a devastating effect on people living with HIV and AIDS. 

"Every day that the budget does not pass, these AIDS-based organizations lose $170,000 a day -- that's over $4 million,'' Davis said. 

Davis made a plea asking the Assembly to quickly pass the budget before the end of the month outside San Francisco General Hospital after touring the hospital's AIDS ward and visiting with patients there. 

The governor, who said he has made it a personal mission to lead California in the fight against AIDS, reports that since he's been in office the state has increased AIDS funding by 51 percent. 

"No state in America is doing more than California,'' he said. 

And although the Medi-Cal funding that hospitals such as San Francisco General use to treat patients with HIV and AIDS will not be affected by a lack of a budget until September, other HIV/AIDS service providers that rely on other types of state payments will be affected immediately, Davis said. 

Davis alleged that state Assembly Republicans are "putting people's lives in jeopardy'' by dragging their feet and not approving the budget in a timely manner. 

"All the gains we've experienced over the last four years are preserved in the budget that the state Senate has passed on time but the state Assembly has yet to pass,'' Davis said. 

"I have proposed a budget in a very difficult year,'' said Davis, noting that lots of cuts were made to balance the budget in the face of a $23 billion deficit. 

"Virtually all AIDS programs have been kept intact, but benefits of those programs can not go to the hospitals and community-based facilities, and the AIDS-based organizations that serve people until the budget is passed.'' 

Davis implored both Democrats and Republican in the Assembly to "do the right thing'' and pass the budget together. 

"They don't have a plan -- they don't like my plan -- but they don't have an alternative,'' Davis said. 

"If they don't have a plan they should just get out of the way and let the budget pass.'' 

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. But in Berkeley, there is a free retrofit. 

For the second consecutive summer. California Youth Energy Services, a program funded by the city and the East Bay Municipal Utility District, is providing Berkeley residents with free energy and water conservation retrofits that save the average resident $200 per year on utility bills, according to organizers. 

The program, which employs 20 Berkeley High School students, is aimed at middle-class residents who do not qualify for the city’s low-income weatherization and house repair programs. 

“This is our concerted effort to go out and focus on a market that hasn’t been touched yet,” said Alice La Pierre, an energy analyst for the city. 

“These are people who have energy bills of more than $20 to $30 per month,” she continued. “It is very possible to have a bill of less than $10 per month.” 

The city spends $40,000 a year on the energy program. 

The students, who earn minimum wage and work 30 hours a week, perform a variety of services, from weather stripping doors, to cleaning refrigerator coils, to installing energy-efficient lightbulbs and “low-flow” showerheads. 

All the services are free, but residents are asked to reimburse the program for the weather stripping and lightbulbs. Low-flow showerheads and faucets, which reduce the amount of water that drops into a sink or bathtub yet maintain adequate water pressure, are donated by EBMUD and are free. 

Last summer, students retrofitted 289 households and four homeless shelters. 

Co-manager David Margoliash said the numbers have slipped a bit this year. CYES has served about 70 households since the program got under way with a weeklong orientation for students June 24. 

“We really haven’t been working at the level we’re capable of,” he said, noting that students are performing one or two retrofits a day when they could be performing three or four. 

The key to boosting work orders, he said, is outreach. Students have canvassed door-to-door this summer, and last week the city mailed out 10,000 brochures about the program. Press accounts, Margoliash added, should help. 

Part of the problem, according to students in the program, is that residents have a hard time believing the program is free. 

“People in Berkeley think there must be a catch,” said Jessica Baron, who just graduated from Berkeley High in June. “There isn’t.” 

Margoliash said the program also has a positive impact on the environment. Last year, CYES retrofits reduced emissions of greenhouse gases by an estimated 185 tons. 

It was the environmental angle that attracted recent Berkeley High graduate Hakan Menda to the program. 

“I thought it was a great idea that I could help the environment and work at the same time,” he said. 

Menda is working on a promotional video that he is hoping will inspire other cities to launch similar programs. 

Residents interested in a free retrofit can call the CYES office Monday through Friday at 428-2357. 

OAKLAND – Oakland police searching for the parents of an abandoned newborn baby girl said they will run out of leads unless someone who knows the mother steps forward. 

The infant was just 2 to 3 hours old when she was discovered lying on a residential lawn in the 1500 block of 22nd Avenue at 2:51 a.m. Sunday. 

The homeowners said they found the crying newborn immediately after she was dropped off, and were alerted of the child by sounds of someone trespassing on their property. The baby girl, who was covered in placenta with her umbilical cord still attached, was wrapped in a plastic garbage bag. 

The dark-haired, 6-pound girl, suspected to be either white or Hispanic, was taken to Children's Hospital Oakland where she was treated for dehydration and is today listed in stable condition. A quick response by paramedics and the family who found her is credited with saving her life. 

Once the baby requires no further medical attention, she is expected to be handed over to Alameda County Child Protective Service and will likely be placed in foster care. 

Police spokesman George Phillips said today that investigators scoured the area near the abandonment, and have probed hospitals for clues that could lead them to the baby's mother or father, but so far nothing has turned up. 

“The only thing we can do is appeal to people who possibly know the mother,'' Phillips said. “We're hoping they'll step forward and do the right thing.'' 

If found, whoever abandoned the newborn could face several felony charges, including child endangerment. 

Under a 2000 state law, the parents could have avoided any criminal prosecution by turning the infant over to medical professionals. The Newborn Abandonment Law allows parents to abandon their babies at any California health care facility anonymously within 72 hours of the birth. They can have the baby back if they change their minds within 48 hours. 

OAKLAND— Police were searching Sunday for the parents of a newborn baby who was found dehydrated but alive in a garbage bag in the city’s Fruitvale district. 

The infant was in stable condition Sunday at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, according to a hospital spokeswoman. The newborn girl was treated with antibiotics. 

Oakland police Sgt. Paul Figueroa said the baby was found just hours after birth about 2 a.m. with her umbilical cord still attached.  

She was wrapped in clothing and did not appear premature. 

Figueroa said the baby’s parents could have taken advantage of a new state law that allows parents to leave babies at any California hospital with no questions asked. Since they abandoned the infant, they could now face criminal charges.